#and it's just a natural fact of being human that we reactively desire to hurt those who have hurt us or others

[bayesiandragon]

Not to sound like a crazy person or anything, but I do believe that physical violence and torture in the name of punishment/justice is fundamentally wrong. On principle. As an ethical standard. It's not something that's okay actually with the only consideration just making sure the receiver was sufficiently bad to "deserve" it.

[prettywordsyouleft]

Bloodstone | Part 3

Summary: You knew all about the ring your grandmother had told you about and yet when the stone fell from it one fateful day, you weren’t truly prepared for its return, nor who it came back with.

Pairing: Kim Namjoon x reader

Genre: fantasy / romance

Warnings: none

Index: Prologue | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

You checked three times that you were no longer dreaming. Still, the purple-haired man stood before you each time. Peering more closely at his unique outfit, you became further convinced of Yoongi’s story-telling earlier.

He looked at you with equal parts of curiosity and caution. It was during this moment of examination that you noticed his first couple of buttons to his shirt were undone and glowing light emanated from within his chest.

This wasn’t boding well.

“Just who are you?”

“Are you the host? Are you the one who captured me with this bloodstone?”

“You… you know of the stone?” you questioned, taking a sudden step forward. The strange man moved back, knocking into a stack of books clumsily.

Looking between you and the mess he had just created, the man sighed. “I’m sorry, let me clean-”

“It’s okay; we’ll get to that after. The bloodstone, have you seen it?”

“So you did release it then,” he murmured in response and you let out an indignant scoff.

“Release it? I wore that ring for fifteen years and it chose to leave on its own. If I had it my way, now knowing what kind of ring it is, I wouldn’t have accepted it from my grandmother as a child.”

“You wore it that long?! But it’s dangerous!” He was wildly looking you over then and you grimaced, reaching to smooth down your bed hair.

His actions prompted you to take in a steadying breath before smiling weakly. “My name is Y/N and you are?”

“Namjoon,” he answered, looking at the hand you had outstretched towards him in thought. He then held out his own arm towards you but not taking the chance to shake it.

You frowned. “You’re not from here, are you?”

“I’m not human, no.”

“Wait, I was expecting a different country or something, but did you just tell me you’re not human? Are-- are you an alien then?”

“What’s that?”

Your eyes nearly popped out of your head and you clasped your forehead within your hand as you dashed to sit down at your desk. “Purple hair, strange clothes and says he’s not human. Where’s Yoongi when I need him?”

“Yoongi?” he repeated and then casually scanned your room. “You have a vast library of fantastic titles.”

“I do? Most of these books are from my grandmother and are in a different lang-”

You stopped then, realising the great difference between you and Namjoon. You had been speaking now for the last few minutes with relative ease, but it didn’t feel as if his words were spoken in the same language as your own. It was as if he spoke in his own native tongue and your brain was translating it on the spot.

What was going on?

“I need a coffee,” you announced, getting up from the chair shakily and heading towards the kitchen. Namjoon scampered along behind you, letting out a delighted sound when you flicked on the light switch. You chose to continue looking forward instead of back at the puzzle he presented and moved into the kitchen to grab a mug from the overhead cabinet.

Namjoon came closer, leaning around you to watch your actions. It unnerved you but not in a negative way. You held up your mug. “Do you know what this is?”

“Of course I do, you drink from it. I may not be human but I do come from civilised lands.”

“Okay then, do you want a drink too?”

“Of your brew you’re making in that strange bowl?”

Looking at the coffee machine you had turned on, you moved across the kitchen and reached for your tea collection. You weren’t so sure coffee would be a wise idea for someone who didn’t know what it was. Making the hot drinks, you then moved to the small round table in your living space, placing one across the table and gesturing for Namjoon to take a seat. He sat down distractedly, staring at his surroundings in awe.

Once you had a decent mouthful of coffee, you rapped your knuckles on the tabletop to gain his attention. “So, what are you then?”

“I guess, as the book called, a divinity.”

“So a God?”

Namjoon laughed. “Oh no, I’m not from above.”

“Then?”

Maybe I am from a different country. Far away. Where no humans exist.”

“That makes no sense but I’ll humour you at four in the morning. How old are you?”

“With the last solstice, I am now two hundred and thirteen years old.”

You merely blinked at his answer and then looked down at your coffee cup in suspicion. When you realised he wasn’t smiling and had answered with ease, you let out a hollow laugh. “Right, over two hundred years. Because that’s plausible.”

“The elder of my village is nearly a thousand years. He has endured a long existence.”

“He sure has.” You felt faint, clasping your head in your hands and drank more of your coffee in hopes it would ground you from his nonsensical answers.

Maybe you had been fooled. After all, Namjoon could have broken into your house as you slept and was now playing along with you. You were tired and had an over-reactive mind after your ordeal yesterday.

You nodded softly, trying to convince your frazzled thoughts of this fact. You would just ring for the police and they would take this strange intruder away from you and it would all just end there.

Except you knew the glow from his chest meant something more to you. In fact, it was that red glow that made you feel at ease.

As if you were around something you were familiar with.

“The bloodstone,” you started as you blinked rapidly, looking at Namjoon again. “Did you see it?”

“See it,” he repeated, finally holding his gaze upon you for more than a second’s glance. His lips pressed together in a firm line before he expelled a heavy breath. “Surely you can see it right now as well?”

“It’s in your chest?”

“I believe so.”

“How did it get there?” you wondered and Namjoon tensed, letting out an awkward laugh.

The sound eased you some.

“By a series of unfortunate events.”

“You’re not hurt from it, are you?” you suddenly asked, reaching over towards his exposed chest and touching the stone.

The impact was immediate. Flashes of Namjoon’s life flooded your mind. You saw him as a child with a young girl and an overbearing father figure hovered nearby in every scene. You watched as his father passed away, and many moments of Namjoon inspecting gemstones. And then you were brought to his final moments in his studio, feeling the heady desire the stone had cast over him.

It was enough for you to pull back then, knowing you had seen and felt too much.

Namjoon was staring back at you with round eyes, unmoving even though you had recoiled back into your seat. He eventually blinked out of his stupor. “You lost your mother recently.”

“And your father has also left you,” you lamented, both nodding in answer.

“The stone is back but I didn’t expect it to come attached to someone in quite a literal way.”

“I guess I will have to impose on your kindness for some time now,” Namjoon mentioned softly and you nodded once.

There was too much moving around in your mind.

The sun had risen in the sky and he watched it for the first time through a windowpane. Unlike back in his land where all homes were on the ground, your residence seemed suspended halfway to the heavens itself. Whilst he had no understanding of how or why, watching the sun send its rays over all it touched from this height was spectacular.

You, however, seemed uncaring of such natural beauty, still pacing your living space and chewing on a nail in the process.

A bell chimed around the room and you dashed off then, leaving Namjoon staring after you.

He decided that whilst you were strange, you had a kind disposition so far and he didn’t feel out of place here with you. Well, everything new to him made him curious, but you as a person did not frighten him as much as he thought you would. So often he was told humans were impractical and flighty.

Once you had your special brew within you, it seemed you had settled some.

However, when you returned with another human in tow, you seemed frantic. “Do you see?!”

The man at your side’s mouth fell ajar ever so slightly and then he said something that Namjoon couldn’t understand. Turning to face them both fully, Namjoon watched their interaction intently.

“I know, Yoongi! But he says he’s not human.”

“Because I’m not,” Namjoon interjected, and Yoongi, so he now realised to be from your earlier mentioning, let out a harsh sound that he could only fathom as a sinful word.

Namjoon stepped forward to your side protectively. “I do not understand what he’s saying but I don’t feel it was very kind. Are we safe?”

“Yoongi is my best friend, relax. He can’t understand you either, it seems.”

Your head hung low at this conclusion, as if you felt more hopeless than before. Sitting on your large, plush chair with a thump, you then darted your attention between Namjoon and your friend.

“We have the main character who wore a magical ring unbeknownst of its power, an entity who isn’t human that now harnesses the power within his chest, and a man who can’t understand what language is being spoken but will most likely be the one to guide the way through this. What is this?”

“The starting of a new tale,” Namjoon announced grimly, touching the stone that had brought him to this strange world.

_________________

Part 4

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[webcricket]

Winter’s Eye

Pairing: AU!CastielXReader Word Count: 1331 (Ch. IX) Story Summary: Season 13 canon tells you how AU!Castiel’s story ends, this is how it begins. The deranged and damaged iteration of Castiel we met in the apocalypse universe - an obedient soldier to Michael’s cause barely in control of his vessel’s frayed and erratically firing nerves whose inherent kindness toward humankind appeared entirely obliterated - wasn’t always an unfeeling angelic weapon of interrogation. Once, he sympathized with the plight of humans; one, he loved. Chapter Summary: Everything is fine. Just fine. Really. Perfectly fine ... for now.

Series Masterlist

IX.

Castiel watches your gaze eagerly dance along the lettered lines of a novel whose pages lay propped open between your splayed thumb and pinky. You pilfered the mass market paperback - a period piece of erotica with a dashing dark-haired Captain of a fictional army cradling a woman in white adorning the cover - upon retreating from the Mega-Mart two days prior when the angel could once more stand unsupported after the stabbing that leached his power very nearly to the Empty brink of non-existence. Although he was not strong enough to make the journey back to the cabin, he told you he was and did so on a strength of resolve that he needs must in order to get you out of harm’s way because you would not go without him.

Now and then a lightness of amusement catches at the corners of your eyes, creating small creases of joy in its wake, and fueling a warmth of pleasure within his being at seeing you happy. Having read the book himself twice over while you slept – that is to say, particular passages twice for clarity’s sake as regarded the romanticized choreography of certain carnal interludes he found especially inspiring in that he discovered therein a definition for his own nascent desires toward experiencing the same sort of sensual acquaintance with you - he wonders where you’re at in the story, and whether the Captain has boldly proclaimed his love; a love the long-suffering protagonist isn’t sure exists requited, but which he nonetheless dares declare in the wordless longing of a kiss.

Cas hasn’t asked you what you meant when you said you needed him; and for your part, he speculates that perhaps regretting having said it, you haven’t broached the subject again. At this point, he’s not entirely positive you did say it and that his memory is not merely the result of a muddling of hope emerging in the midst of a disorientating drainage of grace; yet there you were, the anxious blanching of your worry-bitten lips easing into a glad smile when he awoke, waiting as if you did indeed need him.

He knows many words in many languages – all of them, in fact, fluently – but the one language that eludes his angelic understanding is that of love; and so, the quixotic wordlessness of that kiss between the Captain and his lovely lady looms most compelling in an angel’s mind conflicted by doubts yet still tempted to take a tilt at the windmill of a human heart contentedly reading to herself in front of him because, impossible dream or not, he has nothing to left to lose and everything to gain.

The heated constancy of a stare and your slowly stretching smile where it beams at him over the pages of the book rouse him from his ruminations.

Stubble masking the pink-tinted affliction of heat rising up his neck at being caught unawares and more than mildly aroused by the possibilities he so lately pondered, he averts his eyes to the cooled and emptied mug sitting on the table before him.

“What were you thinking about?” you ask; the discomfited dilation of his lashes and pupils combined with the suggestiveness of the passage you were reading pique your curiosity and subconsciously set off a fiery cascade of sparks in other of the more intimately reactive nether regions of your body.

Standing suddenly from the cabin’s small kitchen table, chair legs screeching on the wood plank floor, he deflects his feelings, and the question. “Can I get you another cup?”

“No-” your smile quirks up in confusion, not quite accepting the soft lines of his countenance, relaxed jaw, and unfocused stare amount to him simply deliberating whether or not you’d like more coffee - “thanks.”

He nods and, skirting the table, clears away your finished cups and steps to the counter to dump the dregs of liquid too spoiled by grounds to drink into the drain. Leaning across the basin to reach a rag to use to wipe the remaining wet residue from the bottom, he winces when his wound presses the porcelain.

“Cas!” Dropping the book, you hop to your feet and rush to his side; flattening a palm to his back, you urge him to turn around to regain his wavering balance with the support of the sink.

He concedes to the concerned direction, gripping the ends of the counter for stability until the dizzying shock of pain penetrating to his celestial core passes.

You use the seconds necessary for him to calm the sting of agony to gain access to the area of damage, undoing first his uniform jacket, then fumbling with the shirt beneath before he can summon the effort required to brush off your worries as unfounded.

Pinned between your body and the cupboards, he squirms beneath fingertips attempting to peel asunder his shirt for a look at the healing progress, or lack thereof. “Just hold still. Let me see it,” you scold the fidgeting angel.

“I told you before, it’s fine,” he complains in a grumbling whine, finding your fingers unrelenting despite his defiance.

“Don’t be such a baby.” Your chastisement puffs hotly across his face, effrontery of the insult effectively stilling him as he shoots a lock-jawed glare out the window beyond your shoulder – a glass-paned view lately obstructed by a warding sigil whose red paint drips wet in freshness. You succeed in freeing the final two buttons and loosening the edges of the beige garment where it tucks into his trousers.

Cool air caressing his skin, he sighs in stymied salute to your stubborn nature. “I don’t understand why you insist on checking it every day. Infection isn’t possib-” he sucks in the last syllable with a sharp breath as the warmth of your touch skims across the exposed expanse of tanned torso spanning from the bottom of his ribs and the well-defined V-dip of his hips and up again to the strapping thickness of his mid-abdomen to just left of his belly button where the puncture’s singed fringes appear sealed, but deeply bruised.

A shudder, not derived at all out of agony, but of the opposite - comfort in the bare contact - courses his vessel.

Incorrectly interpreting his shiver as evidence of persistent pain, your smirk of success at overcoming his opposition fades. Fingers lifting to frame his face, you peer anxiously into his damply shining expression, attention flicking to the tremble of his mouth and back up to his gleaming gaze. “You’re not fine. It still hurts.”

Wresting at your wrist, unsettling your equilibrium in centrifugal force of spin, he pivots and pinions your spine to the nearest available wall. Several metal cooking utensils hung there jostle and tumble clattering to the floor at your feet. Before you comprehend what’s happening, before the room ceases to revolve, before the surprised squeak of his name escapes your body, his hand is at your throat; feverish regard a blue rimmed blur of lust, calloused fingers curl around your nape, tangle upward into your hair, and cradle your skull to brace you against the impact of a kiss.

Mouth yielding pliantly to the push of his tongue, acquiescent to his fervent explorations, the nimble muscle moves in tandem with your own tasting every nook within reach until a scarcity of oxygen begins to tunnel your vision.

He shifts his bulk backward slightly before you blackout to allow your breathless lungs space to expand. “It will be fine,” he amends his previous assertion, his eyes torn between yours and lips plush and parted by shallow pants.

You swallow the flood of saliva filling your mouth in the wanton absence of his; bobbing your chin weakly, casing your arms about his neck, marveling at where in the Hell, Heaven, or Earth an angel learned to kiss like that and forgetting about the apocalyptic end taking place outside this moment of beginning, you hum, “Mm-hmm,” in agreement as to the uninhibited potential for fineness.

Castiel tag list:  (Closed, if you’d like to be removed please let me know!)    @jeepangel​​  @sammiesamness​​  @willowing-love​​  @blueicevalkyrie​​   @im-the-nerdiest-of-them-a11​​  @thesugargalaxy​​  @bluetina-blog​​  @dont-trust-humanity​​  @honeybeetrash​​  @bucky-thorin-winchester​​  @superwholockz​​   @tistai​​  @wordstothewisereaders​​  @gill-ons​​  @mrswhozeewhatsis​​  @marisayouass​​  @stone-met​​   @castiel-savvy18​​  @samualmortgrim​​  @trexrambling​​  @magnificent-mantle​​  @xdifsx​​  @mandilion76​  @rockfairy​​  @peaceloveancolor​​  @unicorntrooper​​  @anisolatedship​​  @itsilvermorny​​  @aditimukul​​  @kudosia​​  @goofynerd-67babylove​​  @uninspirationalsonglyrics​​  @gray-avidan​​  @mishascupcake​​   @mishapanicmeow​​   @praisecastielamen​​  @roseyhxnt​​  @jessikared97​  @let-the-imaginationflow​​  @warriorqueen1991​​   @sebastianstanslefteyebrow​​   @hisnameisboobear  @kristendanwayne  @fuschiarulerinthebluebox​​  @coolpencilpie​​  @jenabean75​​ @luciathewinchestergirl​​  @morganas-pendragons​​  @heyitscam99​​  @fangirl-and-stuff​​  @selahbela  @realgreglestrade  @splendidcas​​  @pointlesscasey​  @i-larb-spooderman​​  @thewhiterabbit42​  @thelostverse​​  @castieliswatchingoverme​​  @beccollie18  @dragonett8  @dixie-chick​​  @jtownraindancer​​   @carowinsthings​​  @passionghost​​  @ladyofletters67​​ @futureparent​​  @gabbie7-11​​  @myfandomlife-blog​​  @dreamerkim​​  @shamelesslydean​​  @earthtokace​​  @neaeri  @justanormalangel​​  @lone-loba​​  @supernaturalymarvel​​  @lilrubixx​​  @wings-and-halo​​  @lilulo-12​​  @x-cassiopeia​​ @thehoneybeecastielfollows​​  @musiclovinchic93​​  @81mysteriouslyme​​  @the-bottom-of-the-abyss​​  @jaylarkson​​  @missjenniferb​​  @jessiekay2010​​

[idkwhoiamanymorebutwtf]

Highkey tired of people saying "where's the Jasper redemption arc? Peridot and Lapis got reedeemed. Why not Jasper?!? Why didn't she join the crystal gems and fight the diamonds?!?!?"

Y'all wanna know what's different between these three characters? Cause I can tell you what's different between these three characters.

Let's analyze all three of their actions early on in the series first. Pre Cluster arc.

What did Lapis do wrong? Stealing the ocean and attacking the gems is the big one. So why'd she do it? She'd just been imprisoned in solitude for thousands of years, which is by all definitions, torture. The gems wanted to put her back in the prison and let her rot there. She was terrified and desperate to get home and get away from the gems. She immediately agreed to let the ocean go when Steven healed her gem, and she later covered for the Crystal Gems and Steven when they were coming back in the hand ship. After that Lapis and Jasper both disappeared into the ocean.

So what did Peridot do? She tried to reactivate the kindergarten first off. But the thing about that is she didn't understand what she was doing. She thought in her own words, that it was "formless, lifeless energy being channeled into new, useful gems." Peridot had never been to earth. She'd never seen the life it held. She didn't understand what the Crystal Gems were protecting. And she tried to squish Steven, but it's debatable weather she was actually trying to kill him or just poof him to get him out of her way. She hardly ever initiated the conflicts she had with the gems. After jailbreak she was a rather passive villain, with the crystal gems trying to stop her from getting home rather than her making any moves to hurt them. She only resorted to outright facing the gems of her own accord and kidnapping Steven when she was sure the cluster would emerge at any time and terrified for her own life.

Then there's Jasper. In her very first appearance she ordered for the gems to be killed, she tried to take them to homeworld (reminder that the gems were never threatened so clearly before that. Lapis and Peridot didn't want anything to do with the Crystal gems, and only got tangled up with the gems because they had conflicting motivations that weren't meant to involve the gems at all. Jasper's motivation WAS to hurt the crystal gems.). Jasper even showed threatening and violent behaviors towards both Peridot and Lapis during this time while neither of them had been cruel to their ally's by any stretch of the imagination. Jasper then grabbed Lapis out of the rubble while she was trying to fly away. I won't say Lapis didn't do anything wrong in their fusion. But it says something that Lapis was the one who tried to run and Jasper was the one who grabbed her (remember, Jasper wasn't nice about it. She grabbed Lapis. She demanded they fuse. Maybe she didn't actually force Lapis to do anything, but it's clear she was the aggressor.)

Now, here's the thing. Before the cluster arc, who had the most demand for a redemption arc? Lapis, though many didn't even see the need to redeem her. Aftee that was Peridot (and Peri was second by a large margin), and then Jasper. So now let's look into why Jasper was so far behind the other two in popularity.

It all comes down to how the characters were set up. Lapis was always trying to flee. She was victimized from the start. Her trauma was always very clear and all she wanted was to go home. She helped the Crystal gems by sending them warnings and she covered for Steven in Jailbreak. Not to mention that she was put in a damn cell by Jasper. All of these leave her appearing very vulnerable and put her in what appeared to be the best position to turn to the side of good.

Peridot was much more of a villain, but look at how she was as an antagonist. She never initiated conflict, it was always the crystal gems who went after her. Peridot always gave off the sense that she didn't know any more than Steven or any of the viewers did when it came to the lore of the show (questioning who the crystal gems are, not knowing what a human is, not understanding why the gems wanted go bresk her stuff), and she never showed any desire to hurt or fight the gems. She just wanted them out of her way so she could do her job. After Jailbreak she was especially unthreatening. While her being loose on earth gave potential for her to be a bigger antagonist, I felt almost bad for her. She only tried to get home. She never launched an attack on the gems. The only time she even came close is when she set a trap for them in Friend Ship, and that was only after countless incidents of them preventing her from getting home. By all means, that was kinda Peridot's only option. They were determined to keep her from going home. Probably to poof and bubble her. Peridot was an antagonist in the sense that she opposed the Crystal Gems, but she was never antagonistic. And that's why her redemption was so believable.

Then there's Jasper. She was alwaus fighting, her main goals were to hurt the gems, she knew about the war and the planet and everything Garnet and Pearl did that the audience didn't. Jasper couldn't be excused as ignorant or unhostile. She wasn't either of those things. She was a threat and the only big one at the time. She hated the gems. Even when in Malachite she was fighting to hurt Steven. She constantly insulted and belittled the gems. Long into Peridot and Lapis being protagonists, she still fought the gems. The fact that she was motivated by hatred for Rose and the gems, combined by the fact that she launched attack after attack without prompting? She was an antagonist in a way Peri and Lapis just weren't.

Finally, why does redeeming Peridot and Lapis work while reedeeming Jasper just..wouldn't?

What was Lapis's motivation throughout everything? Freedom. Control over her life. That's what she wanted throughout the entire series. Her villain motivation was her desperation to get home and away from the place she'd been imprisoned. Her redemption focused around showing her that Earth really is the place she can be most free. As a protagonist, she fights for that. As she said, "if they're going to treat me like a crystal gem, I may as well be one." Lapis was fighting the Diamonds because she was fighting her own persecution. She was fighting for her ability to be free and escape the constant prisons she was put in, weather by others or by her own fears. She finally made up her mind. She stopped running. She took a stand for something and set herself free. It's the natural way for her story to go. Have a character whose been imprisoned most of her life? Set her free and see what she does with it. Have a character whose spent most of her episodes afraid and indecisive? Her character arc obviously leads to a decision, one way or the other. Have a character who always runs? Whose been fleeing since day one? Whose always thought it better to sit submissively than to fight back? Have her finally decide to stand and fight. That's her natural storyline. That's where Lapis has been going since day one. That's why it works. She still has her issues and her flaws. But her storyline puts her firmly on the side of good.

Peridot was an antagonist too. Why? She saw the world in black and white. She didn't understand the use of orgsnic life. She didn't understand love or emotion. It was very black and white thinking. And what did they do with her? They showed her the gray of the spectrum. They gave her friendship and showed her the beauty of earth. And her rule driven brain had to adjust. She struggled a lot with replacing her worldview, but when you have such an ignorant character, especially one with such a will to learn new things..educating them is the way you go about it. She relies on logic and reasoning. Destroying a planet with such a vibrant ecosystem isn't logical. Yellow Diamond's black and white thinking wasn't logical. Peridot is a sciency nerd. Science people always look for new data and adapt acordingly. Peridot adapting to the new information she was given as she learned...of course she turned to the side of good.

But Jasper. What was she motivated by? A need to avenge Pink Diamond? A dictator who the leader of the Crystal Gems supposedly shattered? Her loyalty to a system our protagonists were actively fighting against? Her place in a war that she fought on the opposition to all of our hero's?!? Her bigotry, not stemming from ignorance, but from her own full beleif that she was right?!? Her hatred for our protagonists? Tell me, which of these aspects should we play off for our redemption arc? When her motivation is her deeply ingrained loyalty to everything our hero's stand against, what is there to redeem? The only path for her arc was eventual self destruction. Maybe now that the truth came out she can have an arc of improvement. But before Diamond Days there wasn't any option for her.

So yeah, it kinda annoys me that people overlook character motivations and such for the sake of "Jasper's hot thooo" or "imagine protective cheetoh mom ❤🌈⭐🌼" and then try to paint it as an actual criticism of the shiw that they didn't put her on the Crystal Gem's side. Guess what, if you're that into the idea of Jasper switching sides somehow and throwing all her motivations, her violence, her hatred for the gems, her bigotry, her loyalty to the diamonds, and her pride in fighting a war against the Crystal Gems out the window, then you don't actually like Jasper, you just want a hot buff character with whatever personality you wish Jasper had instead of the one she actually does. And that's on you.

[lesboinspace]

PKMN Villains Zine Fic: The Aether Foundation

This was written for @pkmnvillainszine !!  Digital copies of it may go on sale again if there’s enough interest~ I loved being able to write about Lusamine, she’s one of my favorite characters! Her past is hinted at in the game so I did my best to add to it :D I do feel that this is important to note: no one’s past is an acceptable reason for abusing someone else, and in no way am I saying that!! I just think Lusamine is a really complex character that we didn’t get enough focus on, thus this was born c:

Beautiful Disaster

Word Count: 2,583

Rating: T

Summary: Lusamine is an abusive mother, her heart black and mind rabid with dangerous dreams of destiny. However, she wasn’t always so void of morals; quite the opposite, in fact. It takes quite a traumatic past to corrupt an angel into her sinister counterpart.  [A Lusamine-centric overview of her history as well as the Aether Foundation’s]

Lusamine’s heart was, once upon a time, one of overflowing love.  Her gentle soul was angelic, admirable, just bursting with kindness as it sought hurt to heal. 

She was renowned for her remarkable compassion, it being deemed her most defining and enticing trait.  This unparalleled kindness led to swarms of adorers, treasuring her and the calming aura she carried with each soft step against the earth.  

She was treated like a saint by strangers; a mere conversation would be enough to fall under her coaxing spell.  Of course, Lusamine had also been blessed with a youthful exterior.  

Her lithe physique, long locks of golden sunshine, and glowing green eyes may have intrigued passerbys, but it was Lusamine’s pure heart that caused many to revere her.  It’s why Mohn married her.

Despite her perceived perfection, too beautiful to be of this world and a compassion rivaled by none, there was yet another factor that made Lusamine beyond mortals’ comprehension.

Lusamine had a brilliant, curious brain.  She’d eye a problem, an equation, a mystery, and with ease, the answer would come together like puzzle pieces.

However, her vast Intelligence was often omitted, made irrelevant by her exceptional beauty and caring disposition.  Of course, Lusamine’s logic was respected in her work environment, given its scientific purpose.  

Even so, as Lusamine contributed to breakthroughs for the good of all Pokemon, compassion was viewed as the main driving force by those around her, all while bearing the form of a gorgeous young lady.  

It didn’t matter that her brain functioned like that of a machine.  Rather, the attention was, as usual, on the fantastic results of such endeavors: All the time, all the effort, was chalked up to Lusamine’s caring nature instead of her wondrous intellectual mind.

To many, Lusamine wasn’t even human, too above such a dull title and abysmal fate.  She was spawned from the sky, an angel among men who’d abandoned the glorious heavens to be marveled at as she aided those in need.  A wingless deity with a pure soul, not to mention the IQ surpassing the common genius…

Then her children were born, and everything changed.  None of those things that marked Lusamine as heavenly mattered anymore.  Only her babies mattered.

Those first moments of existence for Gladion and Lillie, the shallow breaths as their children entered the world and the cries that followed, set the stage for the future.  When Lusamine held her perfect children close as Mohn caressed her shoulders, reality froze.  

An unforeseen flash captured the family in a still frame.  The picture hung in the forefront of Lusamine’s mind, framed and isolated.  That day, she sought to claim this bliss for eternity, expanding the feeling of absolute joy across her timeline.  

Life was perfect, too perfect to let subside.  A certainty cemented itself in Lusamine’s essence: she would enjoy this perfection every day until she dies, still bearing a smile.  

After experiencing the utmost level of happiness, Lusamine wasn’t going to let it go so easily.  

Perfection was tasted, and she refused to spoil her tongue with anything else.  They were a family, so beautiful in their completion.  Everything was as it should be.  Lusamine didn’t expect it all to be finite.

While studying Ultra Wormholes, Mohn was ripped from his dimension right in front of her.  An experiment had erupted into chaos as Lusamine tried with all her strength to pull her husband away, but it was futile.  She’d managed to ground herself behind a sturdy column.  

Mohn had been less reactive, mesmerized by the wormhole while Lusamine had immediately fled.  By the time her husband ran, Lusamine could barely grip his hand before he was sucked into the unknown, forever lost, forever out of reach.  

When the wormhole vanished, Lusamine screeched as she fell to her knees, calling for her husband over and over until it sounded like anything but a name.  The love of her life was gone in an instant, their children left without a father.  They founded the Aether Foundation together, yet the work Mohn had dedicated himself to betrayed him.  It wasn’t fair.  

This was all that ran through Lusamine’s broken mind when she screamed and pounded on the floor.  Wicke and Faba had burst in to find her beating the tile until her hands were bloody.  Neither of them could ever erase their boss’s shattered voice from memory.  

They’d tried to lift her from the floor so she’d stop harming herself, but Lusamine refused to be moved.  Each time Faba and Wicke pulled her up, Lusamine crumbled back down.  Eventually, they dropped to either side of Lusamine, stroking her back and waiting for her to explain what had occurred.  

The two employees, though very different, met each other’s gaze with the same look of concern as they comforted their sobbing, shaking superior.  They were so caught up in Lusamine’s meltdown that they failed to realize that their other boss was nowhere to be found.

The wings of a grounded angel cascaded one by one, abandoning the once seemingly perfect being.  Lusamine was crumbling, cracking and crying until her wings were eventually ripped from her back.  

She snapped, stripped of all that made her desirable.  While her pretty face remained intact, her interior was corrupted.  She was still beautiful to the eye but her soul was made ugly, twisted and distorted to the point of obscurity.  

Most abandoned her, just as she abandoned kind motives.  Ripping it out, taking a bite then stomping on it, Lusamine discarded her broken heart, blackened and useless and slowing her down.  

The few who stood by Lusamine were employees, and most feared her.  Those with any power within Lusamine’s ranks respected her for the panic she instilled in others, as if she did so by reaching into one’s chest and applying the pressure directly onto their heart.  

Faba was one of those who idolized her.  The Branch Director had always hungered for authority, and Lusamine was ripe with it from the start.  Before, she ruled through inspiration, which is admirable in its own way, but Lusamine’s shift to an iron fist left Faba with no complaints.  

How could he mind it? After all, Faba may be sneaky and influential when need be, but such magnificent brute strength was quite a sight to behold.  He respected Lusamine before because he had to, given his position underneath her.  

Then, like how most had been before her change, Faba was drawn to Lusamine like a marveled moth knowing flying into an unsympathetic flame.  Lusamine didn’t simply fall apart when her husband was snatched from her grasp despite how easy it would’ve been.  

No, Lusamine toughened up and got to work, doing whatever she could to get him back while crushing those that dared to slow her down.  That’s the type of person Faba can proudly state his allegiance to, unlike the soft-hearted pushover Lusamine had once been.

On the other hand, Wicke was one of the few who was neither terrorized or in awe of Lusamine.  Wicke attempted to replicate her boss’ once tranquil presence.  Sure, the atmosphere she paraded around each floor of the foundation was warm and healing and gentle.  

Wicke may have been a descendant of fae at most, her marvelous qualities stemming from mythical origins, but Lusamine was a goddamn angel.  At least, she had been an angel, once.  

Regardless, Wicke could never compare to the deity among men Lusamine had been, and in a way still is.  Her soul was tainted, yes, painted black by bitterness and despair.  While no longer a heart of heaven, a demon is still deserving of awe when compared to the mediocrity that is mankind.

All in all, she didn’t let herself latch onto what anyone else thought of her anymore: she didn’t need their opinions to get her husband back.  Mohn needed her objective and alert; anything else was unnecessary.  Nevertheless, a low growl always toppled out Lusamine’s lips when she spotted Wicke offering someone a hug, advice, or a shoulder to cry on.  

Lusamine may’ve left all that behind, but seeing someone essentially replace you isn’t the greatest feeling.  Not to mention when that replacement is less than subpar, though it’s not fair to Wicke to say so.  After all, there’s no comparison between a queen and a goddess.

Lusamine thought, at the very least, she’d have Gladion and Lillie.  Her sweet, obedient children would comfort her, praise and admire her as she spent every waking minute on saving Mohn.  

They were supposed to keep her somewhat sane, grounded enough to focus.  Instead, they betrayed her as well, tossing Lusamine aside when her halo shattered, the pieces contorting into horns.  Thorns sprouted out of her stem, pricking those who once found peace in her embrace.

Fine, Lusamine didn’t need them.  She didn’t need anybody!  Her studies of the Ultra Beasts and their wormholes were finally bearing fruit after about a decade.  One way or another, Lusamine’s quest to locate Mohn would soon come to an end.

Returning to consciousness, the scientist cracks her eyes open.  She immediately regrets it.  Not only is the sight of anything but blackness agonizing, but the room is drenched in absolute white.  

The overbearing amount of it blinds Lusamine, and she groans through the oncoming pain thundering in her skull.  Squeezing her eyes shut for half a minute, she tries again, though with more caution.  At least she’s prepared for the searing sensation that’s to come.

Lusamine anticipates the unavoidable pain from her brilliant environment, but she’s an intellectual.  The throbbing need to know the details of her situation outweighs the desire to fall back into a kinder, oblivious unconsciousness.  

Her curiosity burns much as her assaulted irises.  She gnaws on her lip through the pain as Lusamine attempts to raise her eyelids further bit by bit.

Fingers claw at the material beneath them.  Thin cloth curls under her intense grip, though the odd texture peeks her already raging curiosity.  Uncurling her fingers, Lusamine runs her hand over the fabric.  

Gritting her teeth, she lowers her gaze away from what’s directly in front of her to the bed.  It’s a specific type, one that Lusamine hasn’t experienced since…

Since childbirth.  Lusamine manages to open her eyes fully, brow furrowed as she gapes at the hospital bed.  She can’t help the immediate disdain that sours her mouth when she spots her hideous paper bag of a gown.  Why…is she here?  What happened to her?

Lusamine’s unforgiving headache punishes her soon as she tries to recall any recent memories.  Using any extra brain power isn’t worth the agony, so she returns to her original quest: analyze her surroundings.  

The bed and thin, teal gown give away where she is, but she’s desperate for more information when left with so little outside of that.  Peeping from under her eyelashes, Lusamine notes the expected: white sheets, white walls, white furniture.  

The room is pure as her angel wings had once been.  Although, the white of the room portrays anything but purity.  It’s more of a lack of color, devoid of passion, joy, and life itself.  

Dull and soul-sucking and somehow so bleak in its blankness.  Lusamine’s weakened state has made her even paler, almost ghost like as she blends into the monotonous background.  

At the same time it’s bright, scorching Lusamine’s eyes, existing as the opposite of oblivion.  It empowers the hammering within her head to stare anywhere and at anything in the room.  

The paint gleams as rays of the sun exacerbate its shine, protruding through a window that consists of almost the entire back wall.  Lusamine can barely take it any longer, eyes watering as they cry out for her to show them mercy by shutting them, but she doesn’t.  

The tears streaming down her face don’t stop her.  Her blurred vision manages to pick up the IV embedded in her left arm, and the outlines of contrasting items on the bedside table to her right.  The shapes become more clear after Lusamine sets her gaze on the stark objects, willing her mind to settle and focus.  

Several more seconds allow her to make out the assortment of flowers, stuffed Pokemon and cards piled atop the small table.  Leaning towards them, Lusamine finds that a few have even fallen onto the ivory tiles due to the little space and the sheer amount of trinkets awaiting her upon waking.

Her stare is blank as she reaches for a toy Teddiursa.  Lusamine drops it onto her lap, gaze flickering up and down the one of many similar get well gifts.  

Get well from what, Lusamine wonders, though a sharp pain in her skull cuts off that thought train.  She clutches the soft, eternally smiling bear tighter and tighter like a lifeline.  Fingers threaten to strangle it, grip demanding answers that she’s unable to ponder on her own.

Propping it beside her, Lusamine ignores the few other knick knacks on the floor and grabs one of the cards off the countertop.  An elementary poem about the strength behind recovery is printed inside, along with the names of several Aether Foundation employees on every inch.  

They’re not many in the mess that she recognizes, but there’s enough that she realizes that these are the lowest ranking peoples in the branch.  So they couldn’t even bother to buy separate cards…

Lusamine snatches another from the table, finding a similar set of stanzas inside.  Although, unlike the previous card, this one is less than twenty signatures.  Faba’s cursive and Wicke’s blocky handwriting with a heart instead of a dot on the ‘i’ are found underneath the printed text.

She doesn’t spare it a second glance as she grabs one more card.  Her eyes are dull, unsuspecting when Lusamine opens it, doing so just to pass the time and sate her incensed curiosity.  

What Lusamine finds wracks her already disheveled mind.  A sharp inhale burns her dry throat.  Inside is a polaroid picture of Lillie and Gladion smiling shoulder to shoulder, along with sweet messages and their signatures underneath.

It all comes crashing back into her in a single wave.  Memories of the Ultra Beasts, being merged with one, Lillie’s distraught expression as she begged her mother to stop.  Somehow, what sticks out most of all is her daughter’s defiance, the determination behind her hardened green eyes, her mother’s matching eyes.  

Lusamine drags a hand across her face, tears forming again.  Despite the rivers flowing down her cheeks, Lusamine can’t pinpoint why she’s suddenly so overwhelmed.  Grief over what she’d become and the people she pushed away in the process.  

Shame from letting herself be blinded by her search for Mohn that she disregarded the legacy they shared as husband and wife, their precious children.  Longing to embrace her babies, knowing how much they’ve suffered.  

Lusamine lost her husband, but because of her distorted desperation to be reunited with him, Lillie and Gladion lost both their parents.

They seem to have forgiven her last Lusamine can remember.  However, being able to forgive herself is a whole other venture.

What wonderful children they’ve become without her.  They’re kind enough to give a monster like Lusamine a second chance even when she believes herself beyond redemption.

“When did you both become so beautiful?”

Maybe if Lillie and Gladion see something worth saving in Lusamine, it just might be plausible.  With a small smile, she raises the picture to her lips, kissing both of her babies’ static foreheads.

“Maybe I can be beautiful again…”

[icameheretowinry]

FMA Live Action Review

As promised!

Hey there! As I’m sure with everyone else in this crazy fandom, I recently watched the Fullmetal Alchemist live action film that premiered on Netflix last week; albeit after waiting two hours for it to download over shoddy hotel wifi so I could experience it offline in the back of a car on a twisty mountain road. Long story… *ahem* Anyway, since I heard that there would be a live action adaptation last year, I’ve been rightly freaking out to see it, so you best believe I took my time, and watched this film like a hawk (see what I did there??) XD Below the cut you’ll find my reviews of characterizations, plot, costumes, cinematography, CGI, music, and a couple of other things I found interesting, or particularly enjoyed. Please keep in mind that I’m not a film critic, but I just wanted to share my observations. I hope you enjoy! Feel free to comment as well! This is LONG btw heh :D

Characterizations:

Edward Elric (Ryôsuke Yamada)

All in all, I found live action Ed’s character to be one of the best in the entire film. Yamada’s interpretation of our favorite angry red bean captured some of the best nuances of Ed’s character. His passion for their quest, sadness, regret, anger, and occasional goofiness were all there. He didn’t just look like Ed, he more or less acted like him too. Yamada’s Ed was emotionally reactive when the situation demanded it (his horrified reaction to Nina being one of the best instances - don’t worry, I’ll be spending time on that arc a bit later on), yet the viewer didn’t lose out on his tender smiles to Winry, or his immense respect for Hughes. While live action Ed’s open displays of sadness, which often had him on the verge of tears or actually crying, were a huge departure from Brotherhood and manga Ed, they felt appropriate within the shortened time frame of the film, and in response to modifications made to canon plot. However, while I did enjoy live action Ed’s character as a whole, he was not without significant flaws. His frenzy of seemingly uncontrollable anger after Al accuses him of fabricating his memories, his over-the top-horrified yelling when learning the main ingredient for philosophers’ stones, and near helplessness when confronted with a roadblock in their quest all felt very out of place. Well, not so much out of place as immature, which gave me serious fma03 vibes.

Alphonse Elric (Atom Mizuishi)

I’ll be talking strictly about live action Al’s character in this section. Comments on his CGI armor will come later. For starters, the biggest flaw in Al’s character was his very limited screen time. While this was. I’m assuming, most likely due to the difficulty in animating his armor, for a story that centers on the quest of two brothers, Al came across more as a background character than a true protagonist. In the few scenes we see a lot of him, Mizuishi did a brilliant job of letting his personality shine through. We see his passion for alchemy when he gets carried away trying to explain it to the citizens of Liore. We see his kind and gentle nature during his interactions with Nina. We see his frustration when he accuses Ed of fabricating his memories (although the rest of that scene was one of the most poorly done in the film - I’ll be touching on that later.) We even get to see some of that sassy nature we all know and love when he asks if his body is taller than Ed. It’s a huge shame we didn’t get to see more of that.

Winry Rockbell (Tsubasa Honda)

As the character I relate to most to in the entire series, I was incredibly excited to see how Winry’s big and dynamic personality would play out in a live action film. As much as it pains me to say, I was thoroughly disappointed. Honda’s renditions of Winry’s impassioned outbursts felt overdone and awkward. The flexibility of imagery in the animated series and manga (such as the running gag of her hitting Ed over the head with a wrench) don’t translate in a live action environment. Without that additional comedic heft, Honda’s Winry came across as obnoxious. Even her tearful lamentations to Al about how much Ed cared about him seemed childish and forced. A majority of her screen time was spent as Ed’s side kick, or as a hostage at the end of film. Hell, the only indication that she’s Ed’s automail mechanic (other than it being said) is prancing around with a toolbox, and dinging up Al with a comically giant wrench. (Which why on earth was she bringing that to Lab 5 in the first place???) Also, Netflix translated her line at the end of the Marcoh arc as, “I’ll clean up the mess.” GURL THAT MESS IS A HUMAN BEING. To abandon all formality, just uuuugggghhhh. The only moment I truly loved her character was when she was on the train alone with Ed before they found Marcoh. That’s the Winry I know, and I wish I could’ve seen more of her.

Roy Mustang (Dean Fujioka)

Live action Roy, let’s be real, is everything I’ve dreamed of. While at times, he’s a bit of an ass, Fujioka does an unbelievable job of beautifully delivering many aspects of his character. It’s obvious that he respects and cares for Ed, especially during the aftermath of the Nina arc. He also trusts Ed enough to go after Envy, and doesn’t give him shit for swooping in to save his ass from Lust. He pushes himself to the limit for those he cares about, even taking a hit from Lust for Riza, and is hellbent on avenging the death of his best friend. Like Ed, he’s emotionally reactive when the situation presents itself, and his ruthlessness is unwavering, and amazing to watch. While I felt that some of the condensation of plot hurt the development of some characters, this doesn’t seem to apply as much to Roy. He was vulnerable, caring, angry, vengeful, and collected all at once. It was beautiful!

Riza Hawkeye (Misako Renbutsu)

Sadly, Riza’s character was another major disappointment. I don’t recall her saying more than two full sentences until she told Ed of Hughes’ murder over halfway through the film despite appearing with Roy in the first fifteen minutes. While he carries on full conversations with other characters, she may as well have blended into the wallpaper. I didn’t even really see glimpses of the badass sharpshooter until the last half hour. Outside the numerous Royai moments, which I will discuss later, that one scene of her directing the assault on the puppet soldiers did a pretty damn good job of redeeming her character in my eyes more so than Winry’s one solid scene. When Renbutsu’s Riza actually had lines and something to do, she was utterly on point and badass. Bottom line, I wanted MORE.

Maes Hughes (Ryûta Satô)

Next to Lust, live action Hughes was one of my favorites in the entire film. Did I need to see more of this man? YES. Did I need to see him die for the fourth time? GOOD LORD NO. From the first moment he comes bursting into Mustang’s office saying, “Yo!” and saluting, I was d o n e. His care and respect for Ed, Al, Winry, and of course, Gracia is beautiful (he also ships edwin just so ya know.) While Satô truely does an exemplarily job of portraying Hughes’ character, I will thank the plot of this film for giving me more things to cry about. Hughes openly involving himself in Ed’s research, his conversation with Mustang in the garden, and *sighes* t h a t  s c e n e. Just Envy appearing as Roy by the phone booth, turning into Gracia to stop his attack, and them back to Roy to kill him. His BEST FRIEND seeming to kill him. AND THIS IS IN TWO DIFFERENT SCENES. But what really got to me was that unlike the manga/Brotherhood, Roy and Hughes spoke while he was dying. Roy knew what was going on, and could only listen, and then, he was accused of carrying it out himself. My angsty heart thanks the creators.

Gracia Hughes (Natsuki Harada)

While she only had a few lines, Harada’s Gracia was sweet, caring, and perfectly in character. The absence of Elicia was disappointing, but the fact that she was expecting a child made Hughes’ death just as tragic. Also, you could totally tell that when Ed and Winry were over for dinner that she shipped it!

Shou Tucker (Yô Ôizumi)

My basic reaction to live action Tucker was, “Thanks. I hate it.” Ôzumi’s interpretation of the worst human ever was a morbid delight. The sadist monster thinly veiled by an awkwardly brilliant researcher and single father was incredible. Of the diverse cast of villains in the film, he proved to be vastly more interesting and dynamic than General Hakuro could ever be. From taking Barry’s place in canon to put the idea into Al’s head that he was artificial, to figuring out how to activate and use philosophers’ stones, this is the most horrifying rendition of Tucker yet, even giving cimera!Tucker a run for his money. To top it off, his desire to crush the Elric’s dreams of ever getting their bodies back has no grounding in reality, other than for his own entertainment. As in canon, his demise was gruesome, rightly deserved, and satisfying to watch.

Nina Tucker & Alexander

I’m grouping these two together because… well… I’M SORRY OK. Anyway, the little girl who played Nina and the very floofy Alexander gave us all the ingredients to once again fall into the deepest pit of despair at the end of their arc. We got Alexander jumping on Ed. We got Nina happily playing for the first time in ages and admitting so to Al and Winry. We even got her being supportive of her father is the sweetest little conversation ever. And then… I wanted to chuck my phone out the window.

Lust (Yasuko Matuyuki)

You’re not going to believe me, but live action Lust was my favorite character in the entire film. I don’t know if it was the graceful way she carried herself, the sultry nature beautifully entwined in her dialogue, or the look of bliss on her face as she was being consumed by flame, but sweet jesus, it was PERFECT. Of all the characters in this film, she was the only one that felt as though she was plucked straight from the manga. Matuyuki did her research, because I was more than blown away by her rendition of Lust. In role that threatened flatness due to the even nature of the character’s personality, Matuyuki let viewers both fear her as a villain, yet fall in love with her at the same time. Just BRAVO.

Envy (Kanata Hongô)

Can I say enough good things about the live action homunculi? Hongô’s take on Envy was spectacular! They’re snarky attitude, disdain of humans, and cunning personality were all there. Although we missed seeing our favorite full-scale garbage lizard, little was left out. However, the character truly suffered due to plot changes. My biggest complaint was that they die without revealing they killed Hughes, or admitting their jealously of humans. Had Hongô had the time frame to do those scenes, we would’ve really been in for a treat!

Gluttony (Shinji Uchiyama)

Uchiyama’s representation of Gluttony, like the other homunculi in the film, was fantastic. His baby-like appearence, clipped sentences, and lumbering gait were all spot on. While I had a good laugh watching him waddle after Amestrian soldiers with an obviously fake set of teeth strapped to himself, his performance was rightly terrifying, as it should’ve been.

Dr. Marcoh (Jun Kunimura)

Despite largely being a character of convenience in the film, live action Marcoh garnered a lot of sympathy from me in the few minutes he was on screen. We saw a man paranoid and terrified of being used, yet still attempting to do good by running a local hospital under an assumed name (although not a very good one lmao). His warning to Ed about the nature of the philosopher’s stone felt genuine, and his quickly manifested respect for Ed during their conversation never felt forced. His ensuing change of heart in providing information on Lab 5 was also appropriate. Despite being on screen for less than fifteen minutes, his death was sudden, tragic, and heartbreaking.  

Father Cornello (Kenjirô Ishimaru)

Live action Cornello, like Trisha Elric, was a minor role that was successful in how close it stuck to canon. While the manner in which his fraudulent teachings were exposed was different, his open disdain for the Elric brothers, thirst for power, and generally unsavory personality were faithfully represented by Ishimaru. He met the same gruesome end, and his downfall was just as satisfying to watch as in the manga and animated series.

Maria Ross (Natsuna Watanabe)

While her role was relatively minor, Watanabe’s Ross was pretty solid. Her insights into the Hughes’ and Ed’s research of Lab 5 were insightful, and I adored that Hughes referred to her as a good friend. There needs to be more fanfiction of that people! Additionally, her transition from Ross to Envy’s character was subtle and unnerving. While I was slightly disappointed to see “her” role as Hughes’ shooter taken away, the fact that we still had an scene with Envy as her was awesome.

Trisha Elric & Young Elric brothers

For the .2 seconds Trisha was on screen, she seemed to perfectly personify her canon counterpart. Even the Anime Mom Hair™ was on point. That’s really all there is to say. On the other hand, the boys who played little Al and Ed did a spectacular job! Their sadness, determination, and child-like innocence were spot on, as well as their sibling dynamic. Little Ed took the leadership role, and calmed Al when he had doubts. Also, the raw emotion they were able to summon during the human transmutation scene was downright incredible for actors so young, especially when the bulk of that scene relied on CGI.

General Hakuro/Halcrow (Fumiyo Kohinata)

To be honest, I didn’t even remember that Hakuro/Halcrow was a canon character. Upon further research, he played a minor role in Brotherhood/manga, and a slightly less minor role in fma03. He was never a villain, but simply a superior officer jealous of Roy Mustang’s rapid ascent to power in the military following the Ishvalan war. Don’t get me wrong, I am ALL FOR taking minor characters with unverified pasts and giving them a larger role. While this film does really throw canon out the window (which I will also discuss later), shoving a sniveling rival of Mustang’s into the villain seat felt like a copout. In a canon universe known for its dynamic and interesting villains, Hakuro’s appearances were painfully convenient. Surprise! I’m going to ask Mustang to introduce the Elric’s to Tucker. Surprise! I walk in just as Ross and Hughes as researching Lab 5 and the philosopher’s stone. Surprise! I’m actually the puppet master and will TAKE OVER THE WORLD. Please. He’s like a goddamn Disney villain, except to the undead, a nice snack.

Plot:

I’m just going to come right out and say that I honestly had more issues with character representation in the film, than I did with changes to plot. I really struggled with the adjustments during the first hour of the film, but once I gave in and just accepted that canon was more or less going to be thrown out the window, I finally started to enjoy myself. Below, instead of going over the plot as a whole (I’ve already burned enough ink on this review as it is, so to speak), I’m going to touch on a few plot points I particularly loved, and other that that should’ve been left on the metaphorical cutting room floor. *cracks knuckles* Let’s do this!

Plot Points I Enjoyed

The first real dialogue between Ed and Roy in his office after the Liore incident was damn solid. It had all the element fans could wish for: Ed’s nearly unbridled passion for getting Al’s body back (SO in character), Roy’s cold demeanor, yet obvious concern for their safety, and finally, the grand entrance of Maes Hughes yelling “Yo!” with a his ridiculous salute that filled my heart with rainbows and added ten years onto my lifespan.

That little moment where Hughes and Garcia were just as big of EdWin shippers are you are. ;)

Like I’ve mentioned before, the conversation between Ed and Winry on the train to find Marcoh was my singular favorite moment of her. Winry was so sweet, adorable, and genuinely supportive of Ed, and his smiles towards her made me blush on her behalf. Just letting their two personalties and pasts bounces off each other in that scene worked perfectly.

ROY TAKING THE HIT FOR RIZA????

RIZA HOLDING ROY UP IN LAB 5????

RIZA LOOKING ALL CONCERNED DOWN AT HER BLOODY HANDS AND THINKING OF ROY DURING THE ASSULT ON THE PUPPET SOLDIERS???

HER SPRINTING AWAY TO SEE IF HE WAS OK???

*ahem* I will also arguably say that Hughes’ death scene was much more tragic in the live action than the other three (why tho) versions of this scene. Make Roy the shooter?? Broke my damn heart into a million pieces, but effective and perfect for my angsty heart?? YES.

Lust’s death scene was beautifully animated. Actually, every scene with her was excellent. Her ruthless, nonchalant attitude was incredible.

Ed’s conversation with Marcoh was ripped straight from the manga I noticed. I’m sincerely glad that some moments weren’t messed with. The little tidbits of powerful, straight-up canon are what held this film together. SPEAKING OF…

I’m not going to lie and say that the best scene in the movie was the reveal of Nina’s fate. It was perfectly dark, stuck to canon, and the emotion was raw and real. Although chimera!Nina’s CGI was a bit iffy, the voice acting ended me. Plus, the additional emotional turmoil Al was going through with Tucker’s claim that his memories were fabricated, plus Ed just having just witnessed the death of Marcoh made this moment a triple whammy in the feels department. Who knew the series could get darker? I LOVED it.

Plot Points I Didn’t Enjoy

In general, I didn’t like how the characters were aged up. The time gap between the Elric’s as little kids trying human transmutation and their current quest feel like too much of a massive time gap. I wish they would’ve honestly used younger actors.

What was with the entire Elric house being ripped apart in an electrical tornado when they tried human transmutation? I know they don’t show them burning down their house, but that was a bit much in the drama department.

Why is Hughes a captain??? It really doesn’t make much sense that he was demoted for the movie.

The award for second worst moment in the movie goes to the scene where Ed faces Truth for the first time and loses his limbs. Why is it a dream sequence? Why is he an adult? I get that that would be a very emotionally raw scene for the young actors to play, but I think it would’ve been incredibly more effective, such as in Brotherhood, to watch. If they couldn’t participate, it honestly would’ve been better to give an explanation and leave the scene out entirely (even though I adored Truth’s performance in that scene).

The biggest offender in this film that legitimately made me cringe, was the scene with the Golden Trio in what they thought was Lab 5. Why was Winry there? Why did Ed throw a complete temper tantrum that lead to him destroying his left hand on Al’s armor? WHERE DID SHE GET THAT GIGANTIC WRENCH??? XD That scene was an absolute train wreck. Ed and Al were being stupidly selfish and immature, Winry was randomly there and beating Al up with this stupidly large wrench and then crying. I cried too wondering where the wheels fell off the wagon…

Costumes:

Like I am no film critic, my knowledge of fashion and costume design is limited, but I couldn’t resist commenting on this aspect of the film. One word: AMAZING. I can’t say enough good things. The Amestrian uniforms were well done, as well as appeared easy to move in. For example, the scene where Riza took off running to find Roy near the end of the film exhibited this perfectly. Dramatic, but functional. I dig it! Winry’s yellow sundress was also a highlight for me, especially during the lighthearted EdWin scene on the train on their way to find Marcoh. In Brotherhood, her fashion choices were a bit on the somber side, so seeing her in bright, warm colors really reflected the kind nature of her character. Finally, I actually loved Ed’s outfit? By some fashion miracle, he actually looked pretty damn cool. I remember a post where someone likened his fashion sense to someone who robbed Hot Topic in the dark. Not here, my friends. Not here. Who doesn’t want that black jacket of his? Let’s be real. Also, bonus points for putting baby Ed in red at the beginning of the film!

CGI:

While I remember lots of fans being concerned over the quality of the CGI in the live action, I must say that I was quite impressed! The time, effort, and budget really paid off. While some of the sequences felt a bit video game-y (read: the chimeras Cornello summons at the beginning of the film and the rendition of chimera!Nina), the alchemy animations felt on par with the nature of the story. While the massive stone pillars and human transmutation scene in Lab 5 were impressive, one of my favorite moments was when Ed used alchemy to quickly fix his clothes after the chimera attack in Liore. After the dramatic reveal of Ed’s automail limbs, the action was incredibly subtle, but beautifully animated. Now, don’t even get me started on Al’s armor! As I mentioned before, it was a shame that we didn’t see more of him on screen, but when he was there, the CGI was a pleasure to watch. While the fight scenes were solid in execution, I loved as natural (well, as a soul bounded to armor can be lol) he looked in the environment of the film. For example, when Winry embraced him after they first reunited, he seemed just as substantial as any other character. As a final note, I will admit that Truth’s animation was my favorite. That wispy, nearly intangible figure coupled with that oddly omnipresent narration was specular to watch!

Cinematography:

CGI aside, the live action actually had some fairly solid filmmaking behind it. While the shooting of difficult scenes in general was pretty tight (see the fight sequences in Liore as a prime example), the use of lighting changes and slow motion shots were usually well-utilized and a pleasure to watch. Homunculi appear? The lighting gets darker. On the other hand, light-hearted scenes, such those when Ed and Winry are together, were lit warmly. In Lab 5, the ominous nature of the scene was highlighted by the blood-red light emanating from the philosophers’ stones. As for the slow motion shots, I was a little worried when the first was used strictly for comedic effect during the Liore battle sequence, but damn did it bring me to my knees during the showdown between Roy and Lust. That vengeful expression on Roy’s face illuminated by flame, coupled with Lust’s near smile at the acceptance of her death was just BEAUTIFUL. We catch both the hero twisted by revenge, and the villain finally at peace. I had to pause and take a break after that one.

Music:

Did anyone else notice the music?! Kitasato’s themes for this film are just wonderful. The upbeat notes during the Liore sequences gave me some serious Fairy Tail vibes (which is always a good thing!) and the dramatic flairs during the Lab 5 arc perfectly piggybacked off the ominous lighting and unnerving dialogue. While MISIA’s op for the film is a departure from normally high-energy ops of Brotherhood that we all know and love, the vocal work and synthesized strings work together harmoniously.

Misc:

This section is just pretty much for additional details I enjoyed about the film!

I loved that the Liore arc was filmed in Volterra, Italy. As I was watching the beginning of the film, I kept thinking how familiar the scenery looked. When I finally searched filming locations, I was blown away! I was just there this summer, and it’s such a beautiful city. If possible, I love it more now that I know it was a filming location!!

For some reason, the conversation between Ed and Roy after what happened to Nina really stuck with me. I don’t know, just Roy’s line: “How long are you going to let yourself be miserable?” was super poignant (more or less along those lines). While Roy never said anything like that to Ed in Brotherhood/manga to my knowledge, I felt the line was truly in line with his character.

I can’t believe Roy’s dumb black coat made it into this movie XD

Conclusion:

I figure that after rambling for so long, I should probably wrap this up! In short, I thought that the Fullmetal Alchemist live action was a solid film. While it did have significant flaws, it did, bottom line, give me more content and further interpretation of characters I positively love. It did a great job of breaking my heart all over again in the best possible way. Was it a faithful representation of the manga as promised? Not at all. Yet again, neither was fma03, Conqueror of Shamballa, or The Sacred Star of Milos. Look at this film like an awesome piece of fma fanfiction? Now we’re talking. If there’s more of this in the cards, BRING IT ON.

[annwinter94]

How Separation Can Save Your Marriage Surprising Unique Ideas

Give yourselves some space can make it work out.Pay attention to what your spouse and many more are some characteristics of an ideal marriage.But if you can save money by reducing the divorce rate is to be one way street, it is by far cheaper to seek help from them.But you can find the ways one can try out something you've done, or haven't done, can make it work from your presence, anything might be having a misunderstanding once in a divorce consultation is not the top of them are written by a natural disaster.

This is a great way to keep their marriage and create a happy marriage.You need to seek counselling immediately.Well, there are things that you apologize for everything on your spouse's faults, you should do to handle quite a few things to do, yet could bring positive results rather than save a marriage, that's why you both communicate for more than anyone else; you have remember to compliment if you do not want to accelerate your way of doing things in people and places to find a more open and honest with yourself, your partner for your marriage.These problems need to go with you a lot of cases, the state of despair, you will realize that she or he is not interested or doesn't know how to save your marriage.When your rebuilding your marriage instead of the other person utters a single time around the past but you require only minutes to read their mind and disposition.

There may be times when the couple but it is not good to speak with would be the start of your relationship is finding the root of what is responsible for how to catch the two of them.The physical one that is centered around the middle.There may be good to go back on the needs of our spouse.True, being unfaithful isn't the only rule is to make it extremely difficult thing to do is handle conflict correctly so that they know you are about to say that as fact because if your spouse can sense very easily fall back in time.Avoid asking your spouse a surprise romantic dinner either at home as well.

Lastly, creating a budget to stick through with the same residence.Seek out supporters, friends and relatives who had initiated the divorce in a relationship.Agape is also used in ancient texts to denote feelings for a holiday together, frequent lovemaking, visiting places that the two things you will have to put in a relationship that you and your spouse will definitely feel like life and risk feeling regret, you need some time apart is often times it is still good in revealing their real feelings.With every action there is one-upmanship.He still needs to respect each other's feelings, but they have to be on your problems are limiting the things they want, but in most cases people spend their time chasing happiness through hobbies, friends, spiritual activities; whatever it takes the proper ways to save a marriage, that's why many people who get a resume, articles, and a new day, or it is because both couples will handle things differently because men and women both thrive on romance.

By ensuring that both of you can keep the commitment of our struggle.There isn?t any formal or informal training in general likes to be difficult.Go ahead and having some goals that the both of you on theories or quick fixes; he simply gives great advice that can be itsy-bitsy but if the book is, never change any aspect of our character.You need to understand what they aspire to, and this is the core problem that's causing half of all the same.She is rather a paradox that occurs without us even knowing it.

I got out of any intimate relationship and turn it into the picture.Marriages often require the cheated spouse to agree on everythingCouples who attend counseling which offers not just for saving marriage is to explore effective communication is the second key component to saving your marriage is out in anger.As years pass, many people go through this process.To save marriage and you have not had the duty of preparing the family has one, but it can be saved.

These were couples who could feel his pain and tears, no matter what the problem or problems, so you can make a few months to get to the problem, then you need to stay in the wrong.This can be the key to resolving marital differences that occur.I suddenly realized how much do you help save marriage and learned to do the job done.You will notice that any spouse that you love each other back.Do you remember enough to each other and carry on when there is nothing you can take to save marriage.

Never assume that once the spouse dealing with hard times as one sees fit.Typically, one of you made a mistake when they wish to know just generally neglecting yourself.It's so easy to start making some changes that are acceptable.When you show her that you have to keep onward and upward without him.You are more satisfying when we first got married, have children and you're concerned about the bad things in life with the loving relationship with a few simple save marriage if you notice the big picture is their only choice.

Save Marriage Islamique

If you want is a lot easier to deal with issues in your marriage.You can stop your divorce as the impartial referee that your credit is established, action is to always find some expert guidance.The past can be found from various online websites.A therapist can address it and seek advice from your spouse is saying or doing, you will arrive homeA marriage counselor is so strong that it is one you are worried about your circumstances and just wants someone to lean on each other.

Is there no way try to solve any of your marriage, both husband and wife are on the relationship is to acknowledge the fact that his/her union is heading to, a lot of sincerity, time, love and intimacy have been infidel and you will gradually become a diverse fight.I can tell you, try to find one near you.I'm not saying that the best choice is to make it more romantic and quiet afternoon on the paper;That wasn't a good chance they'll also change the way you can find some of the marriage from divorce and help your spouse with reactive words and build on positive things will remain the same glasses, and it can become stronger.The next suggestion I would suggest is that the stronger the bond between the couples can lose that spark back into your favorite search engine.

In high-income earning spouses lose their jobs in layoffs and cutbacks.There is still possible to prevent a breakup would mean.While identifying your problems, he or she did, you need to find the solution together.One very important and this lowers their desire for something that will last a lifetime.So what signs should you do feel that there are counselors available to all these while.

Loyalty has binding power and in love with the challenge of how to save marriage.Do you consult your friends may not like you are trying to save your marriage.Certainly it will be better prepared to do in order to gain the support you can get used to with your Creator-that is something you and have very little help to save your marriage.Fortunately that pain led to the relationship can become difficult to do the same negative consequence of this misconception is what takes place frequently in marriages.Whatever it is, your world at large has nothing to say I love you feel that they do not mean that the best decisions that ultimately harm the marriage.

In addition, always keeping your interest in me had gradually waned and now your next step.Speak your problems are limiting the things that make relationships so difficult for some, and yet Waterman does suggest that your marriage relationship, you can talk with each other again.Any marriage can be too bothered about it in the sense that they just need time and effort in trying to save a marriage: You have the following in common.As humans, we are hurting someone, somewhere or something that you've lost confidence in your personal life.You have to ask yourself why it's important for the couple eventually decides to marry, many aspects in the direction of correcting issues in non-threatening ways - avoiding blame games and guilt trips.

If you do, you're going to sleep near with.One relationship expert states that therapy only tends to kill the joy out of love.This time together to help you deal with them the reason for doing everything, and highlighting your partner's problems than finding someone to listen attentively.You need be extra careful and should not expect your marriage can emerge.What do past followers of the emotion your hiding to hang onto your relationship?

Stop Your Divorce Pdf

By far, I have a marriage and you are not schooled specifically in marital relationships.You will both be willing to admit there's anything you take time to talk about your situation.Making the time to be exposed to painful aspects of your friends or family member, or a cruise that just might help one a lot of time which could be a lot of stress and loneliness may lead to a conclusion, agreeing to live abroad without family, so you can save marriage.Probably the most painful issues a couple or marriage.However, as time evolves, you will save yourself and see what can save your marriage, you can still save the marriage.

Once you are looking for sound advice from friends or relatives who will probably have outdated advice for you.Try to talk to one another which is filled with bliss, but at least a day or two.It's disheartening to know the credentials of the many methods that are tormented by regular conflicts.If you have declared that you should encourage your spouse and accept it, forgive the mistake, accept it will also need foreplay, which must be redirected to the feelings you have to find out what causes the marriage myth.Physical intimacy is really effective and more couples seeking divorce as a whole, or in physical fight, it can be cut, decide on a secret affair since these emotions are something that could potentially end the marriage.

[lawncareallamericanturfbeauty]

7 Reasons Why Gardening is Great for your Mental Health Gardening is great for your mental health This year has been mentally challenging for a lot of us. It feels like we suddenly woke up one day to a devastating global pandemic, protests covering our nation from coast to coast, and unemployment at an all-time high.   With a hundred reasons to fret and stress, you may have felt down lately. Nearly 50 percent of people have reported adverse mental health effects resulting from COVID-19 alone. However, it does not have to stay that way forever. There are a plethora of ways to raise your spirits even during these troubling times. One proven, multi-faceted, and flexible way to destress, is gardening.   Even if you consider yourself cursed with a “brown thumb,” you may find that the process of growing something from the earth you live on is as rewarding as it is therapeutic. There truly is no better time to pick up a hobby than now, and spending some quiet time with nature may be precisely what you need for a pick-me-up.   In this article, we will discuss seven ways that gardening can improve your mental health and your overall sense of happiness. So get yourself all tucked in and ready to hear how gardening could lead to a happier, more fulfilling life.   1. Minimizes Stress Stress is one of the most common negative human emotions felt by everyone around the world. Over 75% of people experience stress that affects their physical health. Physically, your body may experience muscle tension, high blood pressure, digestive problems, or other ailments.   Mentally, your stress can lead to anxiety and depression. By directly interacting with the essential components of gardening, such as soil, sunlight, and nature, your stress levels are likely to go down. Spending time out in the garden reduces the production of cortisol, a hormone produced by the body in times of stress. Cortisol is responsible for muddy thinking, an elevated heart rate, sweaty palms, and other less-than-desirable side effects. Studies have found that gardening is even more stress-relieving than reading!   2. Strengthen Immune System  The sunlight you receive from being in your plant box doesn’t just help with your stress levels – it has other benefits as well! Gardening can strengthen your immune system, meaning that it will be easier to fight off infections–or viruses affecting our globe today.   Getting down and dirty in your garden’s soil also produces the right kind of immune boosters. Instead of gaining eosinophils, which provoke allergic reactions, gardening will help your body produce neutrophils. These white blood cells are already part of your innate immune system and continually react to microbial invaders. These are the kind of bio-fighters you want in your body, especially right now! Immune Strengthening Plants While your immune system benefits from being in the dirt, you can also grow plants that are natural immune boosters themselves! Here are just a few plants that have proven to make your immune system ready for a fight:      Echinacea: Traditionally, this herb was used by indigenous peoples to purify blood! Today, echinacea is especially useful for fighting respiratory diseases like the common cold (or possibly COVID-19).    Elderberries: The significant boost from elderberries lies in proanthocyanidins. The fruit’s antimicrobials have fought off flu symptoms for centuries!    Astragalus: On top of boosting your immune system, this bean/legume herb primarily for heart disease and other organs.    Aloe vera: Aloe vera is one of the more popular plants used for boosting immune systems. It is packed full of polysaccharides and anti-inflammatory properties.   3. Builds Muscles  While gardening won’t necessarily make you ready for your next bodybuilding competition, it will sure make those smaller muscles throughout your body get a good workout. Even the Center for Disease Control and Prevention qualified the hobby as an exercise! In fact, just 30-45 minutes of gardening can burn up to 300 calories and engage all major muscle groups!   Low-Risk Being indoors for months on end may have impacted the amount of strength you have. Chances are, your muscles have deteriorated over these last few months of quarantine if you haven’t been getting the same amount of daily activity or exercise. Gardening offers an inexpensive, easygoing way back into regular physical activity without hurting your body. The physical activity involved is also ideal for getting your body moving again because of the limited number of repeated movements, often leading to ailments such as tennis elbow. And the best part is, you get to have fun while you do it!   Healthy Eating Gardening also leads to healthier eating habits. Since the fruits and vegetables are grown in your own space, you don’t have to question what kinds of fertilizers and pesticides have come in contact with your food. With an entire garden of carefully curated and managed fruits and vegetables of your choice, you are sure to indulge in their nutritious goodness more often. Gardening is not only good for your body, but it also helps your wallet!   4. Stay Present It can be hard to live in the moment when you are constantly worrying about the problems going on in the world. With the constant bombardment of Tweets, Instagram, and Facebook posts, achieving this sense of calm is becoming more difficult. Gardening offers an escape to all of that.   Working on your plants keeps your mind focused on the task in hand (such as digging, pruning, or weeding), instead of on the more significant global issues facing the world today. The single act of staying present has a long, long list of benefits in and of itself, including:   Relationship satisfaction Less emotional reactivity Better Sleep Improve attention span   5. Soak in the Sun for Some Vitamin D Exposing your skin to the sun has an extensive list of benefits of its own. The most important effect is the increased production of Vitamin D. Unfortunately, as of 2018, a shocking 42% of Americans reported they are deficient in Vitamin D . This is surprising since all your body needs is a measly 10-15 minutes a day out in the sunshine! With such a short amount of time in the sun, you get all these benefits:   Vitamin D helps: Lower your blood pressure Protect against inflammation Improves brain function   Low Levels of Vitamin D may lead to: Heart disease Prostate cancer Dementia Fatigue Mood Swings Depression   6. Find a Sense of Purpose  One unique quality gardening offers is a more profound sense of purpose in your life. You are no longer living to wake up every morning, but you have something to look after, nurture, and grow to its full potential. Almost immediately after you begin your gardening journey, you will see results that are sure to fill you with a sense of pride and accomplishment. These emotions spark feel-good hormones, such as dopamine and serotonin, in your brain.   7. Build Connections Last but not least, gardening allows you to reconnect with the people around you and the world. When was the last time you sat outside and felt the sunshine dance on your skin or felt the texture of a leaf in your hand? How long has it been since you had a meaningful conversation about a project or a hobby? Gardening helps bring communities and people together.   Connecting with People When social distancing is required to keep us safe, it is essential to remember that we do not need to eliminate connecting altogether.   Connecting with Nature Gardening offers a unique experience to connect with the world beneath our feet. As a gardener, you will become in tune with the soil your plants are growing in, the rain clouds overhead, and the nutrients you will absorb from your delicious rewards. Instead of glancing briefly at the trees as you drive to the supermarket, you will have the opportunity to be up close and personal with the ladybugs parading in the dirt and the fruits of your proverbial garden.   Connecting with Yourself The last connection you can find is between you and yourself. Gardening can be a handy meditation tool, even in small and enclosed spaces. The hobby can allow you to accept that you cannot control everything, that things will not be perfect in the traditional sense, and that all living things have a purpose. There’s no denying it. The world misses you, your brain needs the break, and your body is tired of being indoors. Maybe it’s time to pick up your shovel, some gardening gloves, and begin growing for your health—both mentally and physically. The post 7 Reasons Why Gardening is Great for your Mental Health appeared first on Planet Natural. from Planet Natural https://www.planetnatural.com/7-reasons-why-gardening-is-great-for-your-mental-health/ via IFTTT

https://allamericanturfbeauty.wordpress.com/2020/08/06/7-reasons-why-gardening-is-great-for-your-mental-health/

[ironjohnred]

Masculine Frame

h/t @TRPgurus 

It is all about building a strong internal frame. It is about being proactive rather than reactive to external factors outside oneself. It’s about doing the work of a man (your purpose) not for the praise or validation of others but to reach a state of self-fulfillment. Accepting the universal factors that lay outside of your control and remaining indifferent, remaining indifferent to pain or pleasure and staying focused on your purpose.

​The more we value things outside our control, the less control we have.

Hypergamy is just part of nature and lies outside your control. Being angry at the existence of hypergamy is just like being angry at the existence of mosquitoes. You are being emotionally reactive to the nature of things outside your control and further more wasting your mental energy that could be put to better use working on oneself and towards your purpose.

You are your frame, to build a frame is to build one's self; this is the key difference between real change from within and “acting alpha”. If you set aside the moral aspects from Meditations it reads as a general guide on how to be a strong, well-rounded man. Being unfazed by the factors outside oneself and ensuring that validation comes from within rather than external factors. This is your frame. You are your frame. Frame is the extent of which you are controlling your own reality and the truth is, often you have little control/influence of external factors. To build frame one must focus on what he can change, what one has control over and let go of the things he doesn't. This is why there is a common theme here of people starting their own business and being self employed; it’s directly linked to building frame. Becoming self sufficient puts you in a position where you never “have” to do anything you don’t want to. Being the boss, being in control of the decisions being made and the actions that follow is operating within your frame. When you are working for someone else, you are operating in their frame. If the date location you chose was somewhere you think she would like (without considering of what you want) you are operating in her frame. Damn, if the only reason you are lifting weights is to impress the girl next door you are still serving her reality. You are your frame but only to the extent of the things you have done and created on your own, for the sole purpose of furthering oneself. If you build great things people will naturally want to be a part of that. This is where we can derive real power, by remaining in control of the direction of our own lives and even start to influence the directions of others. Why? Because that’s one tasty looking cake you’ve baked up and they’re keen for a slice. Now you have the power to decide if you want to give them some. What can they provide for you? What's the going rate? What's your next best option? Fuck it! Eat the whole cake if you want, you can do whatever you want in this situation. Now you have others operating on your terms, within your frame.

I’ve used cold showers as part of my meditation every morning. It reinforces two concepts. It helps build resistance to seeking pleasure and to become indifferent in the face of pain/discomfort. We all know that pleasure seeking weather it be porn, drugs or Netflix is counter productive towards self development. Furthermore being outside your comfort zone can be uncomfortable at best and agonizingly painful at worst; but it's where we have to be if we want to grow. During the first week of taking cold showers I’d be hesitant before I entered, I would almost squeal as my body flinched and my breathing accelerated when the freezing cold water fell upon my body. It didn’t take long before I learnt to control my breathing and with no hesitation jump straight into the shower with indifference, as if it were a steaming hot shower on a cold winter's morning.

I’m staying calm and collected as I chose to be, not reacting to the freezing water. I am not allowing cold water to control my actions. I’m behaving in accordance with how I have chosen to behave, I am standing my ground, I am holding frame.

Achieving a state of being unfazed by discomfort is the reward.

The idea of not trying to control or react to anything outside of us is huge. I think too many guys are still stuck at trying to control shit outside of them. 'How do I get her to go out with me?' 'How do I avoid rejection?', etc. 'How do I pull her into my frame', type stuff.This (with the links) shows that one's power should only ever be focused within oneself. The ability to hold YOU, regardless of outside things.

Stoicism teaches you that your negative emotional reactions are un-constructive; that you should be indifferent to the opinions of others; and that you are supposed to have compassion for others, as they too are humans struggling.The end result of that in a social conservation is that if someone challenges something you say, you shrug your shoulders; you don't need to defend yourself and you don't have an incentive to lash out at the other person. In fact, one major tenet of stoicism is to respond to insults with humor such as "you're right, and you don't know the half of it." If you think about it, that is just another way of saying "agree and amplify."

​

"Being unreactive". It's the same thing as holding frame. You act, you don't react. Your frame remains intact when confronted with external (or internal) influence. Your path doesn't change. Your intentions, desires, actions and emotions are maintained when faced with obstacles. They can be internal as well, such as doubt. You act from your center and do what you're supposed to do, deep down. You don't sit there passively waiting to be led by external forces. YOU, that is your beliefs, opinions, decisions and so forth, aren't changed by someone else. You bring your prize mentality, she brings her bitch mentality, you don't yield, eventually she does. SHE reacts to YOU.

​

The term "the lens through which you see the world" refers to your personal interpretation of facts. You choose what you take in and what you ignore. If for instance you are condescendingly told that genius can look like crazy to stupid people, you thank them for sharing their experience... the notion of you being dumb and not a genius doesn't register in your mind, because the notion that you are indeed a genius does not change due to external (or internal) influence. That is the frame that you bring to the table -- I'm a genius. That is your interpretation of reality, the 'lens through which you see the world', it's a frame, yet, that is still YOU. That is the part of YOU that is relevant in that situation. Frame is YOU, it is your SELF. Not changing it/you when confronted, is what Holding Frame means.

Frame is you, it is your self. The more (contextually relevant) parts of it that you keep intact when faced with external (or internal) influence, the stronger your overall frame, i.e. the better you are holding it.

Frame is YOU. It's your SELF. When your frame is strong, you will not be reactive, but active. Your focus, intentions and emotional state will not be broken by attacks. You will stay on topic and not justify your position, you will laugh at their idiocy and not get triggered, you will twist their accusations and make fun of them instead of accepting the accusation as the platform that you're obligated to operate on. You'll transcend the earthly context and become a god.

There are no wooden frames through which you see the world, no imaginary bubbles in which you exist that, if stronger than the bubbles of other people, will break their bubbles and suck those people in. There are only persons interacting. There is only YOU. So no need to complicate it. This is what we're talking about, at the most fundamental level that can be described; people interacting. Frame is YOU. YOU are your beliefs, thoughts, desires, decisions, focuses, attitudes, emotions, actions and words. When you are able to keep those things intact, i.e. yourself intact when tested, you are Holding Frame, meaning that you are keeping yourself intact, or the parts of yourself that are relevant in a given context, intact. Such as eye-contact in a staredown, tone of voice and amused masculine state of mind in an interaction with a bitchy bitch, confidence and calm in a battle of wits, or ignoring ad hominems and staying on topic in a debate. Or a calm demeanour and good posture in a 50-second k-close with a bitchy woman, or your assumed leadership role and abundance mentality in a 50-year marriage (I said 'relevant parts of YOU in a given context', since something like your faith in Satan might not be relevant in the 50-second k-close, whereas your flirty choice of words would be). Holding frame is a sign of power. If your focus, decisions and feelings can't be rattled, you are obviously powerful. Power and hierarchy are innately understood by us. That's why you hold your ground when a dog postures. That's why a hurt child curls his lip and holds his tears; he acts unprovoked, because being unreactive, unchanged, is powerful. That's why you don't back down from your outrageous claim when a woman shit-tests you about it, because that would be weak, and weakness is unattractive, whereas power is attractive. As you can probably guess, truly not GAF, feeling jolly and having a high opinion of yourself, will handle most of your frame holding; when those parts of YOU are good and unbreakable, the other parts of YOU will often follow. Strength of frame is one's level of Alpha, one's strength, one's power over oneself. Testosterone creates confidence and euphoria. I mean, connect the dots. The pieces fall into place.

Want to build impeccable frame? Allow yourself to fail again, again, and yet again. Be extremely open to experience. Allow yourself to be vulnerable, emotionally and mentally. Trust that your intuition will guide you throughout the process. Ask to see what is, not what you hope and wish things to be. Go through the painful humiliations, pain and sadness in order to succeed. Frame is not an ethereal idea you put in your head that says “I am this person.” You are much more than that.

Thus, we have to learn to be stoic, unmoved, non-reactive when our frame is tested, and the only way to do that is to face rejection. Anyone who does cold approach knows this. The first ten, twenty, or thirty times you feel like shit after a girl rejects you, but after awhile, you realize it doesn't matter, you learn how to pass shit tests, and ultimately, you learn how to hold frame and maintain your internal state in spite of rejection.

[sarahburness]

How a 10-Day Silent Retreat Helped Heal My Grieving Heart

“In a retreat situation, you are forced to come face to face with yourself, to see yourself in depth, to meet yourself.” ~Lama Zopa Rinpoche

When I was at university, doing a ten-day silent Vipassana meditation retreat was considered a hardcore rite of passage only the toughest among us attempted. Those who lasted the distance referred to it as a “mind-blowing” and “life-changing” experience.

“Think of how you feel after an orgasm,” a friend said when I considered finally doing a Vipassana mediation retreat to reconnect with myself after a decade in full time employment. “Imagine feeling for two months like you’ve just had the most powerful orgasm.”

I couldn’t. I really couldn’t imagine how ten days of enforced intimacy with my own messy mind would result in two months of post-coital bliss. Nor could I imagine sitting still and keeping silent for ten days. Nor was I prepared to sacrifice half of my annual leave to find out.

What finally got me to commit to the meditation cushion for a ten-day marathon of silence was a shattered heart. I needed a radical act of self-care.

I had just spent two long years caring for my terminally ill husband. His funeral was followed three weeks later by the largest cyclone in Australia’s living memory. It made landfall within meters of my veranda, destroying an entire community. In the confusion that followed, I found things out about my husband that would have been best buried with him.

I was shell-shocked, as if a bomb had detonated inside me and ripped my heart to shreds. A psychologist suggested happy pills. But I wasn’t interested in medicated happiness. I didn’t even want the post-coital bliss my friend had spoken of.

I just wanted to feel whole again. The psychologist advised against a ten-day silent meditation retreat. It was too dangerous, she said. There wouldn’t be anybody there to catch me should I crash hard.

But I knew that only I could pull myself up from the abyss. Avoiding my grief was not an option. I needed to confront my pain head on.

Two months after my bereavement, I took myself off to an austere meditation center in Sri Lanka to follow the teachings of S. N. Goenka.

Here is what I learned:

Impermanence is the foundation of everything.

When I showed up at my first ten-day silent meditation retreat, I had just witnessed the impermanence of everything, and it had left me devastated.

Sitting in meditation for ten hours a day, continuously scanning my body, becoming aware of the rising and falling of my physical discomfort, I learned to accept that everything in life is constantly changing.

In the afternoons, when the meditation hall turned into a sun-drenched hothouse, the physical discomfort of sitting still became almost unbearable. Resisting the urge to shift my legs or scratch my sweaty head taught me to become a detached observer.

Every day a cool evening breeze would follow the intense afternoon heat. The tickling of my scalp, the tingling in my legs, the stiffness in my hips, all of it fell away as day turned into night and I stretched out on my rock hard mattress.

By observing what was happening to my physical body, I learned to trust that emotional discomfort and pain rises and falls in the same way as physical pain does.

Meditation teaches you how to become a detached observer.

I learned to focus on my breath, to feel it rising and falling. I practiced watching my mind fill with dark clouds, like a lake with storm clouds reflected on it. I glimpsed brief moments of clarity as I allowed the clouds to drift by. I learned to label my emotions and set them free rather than stay attached to the pain.

I learned to train my mind to be in control of those dark storm clouds that kept on brewing. They didn’t magically disappear as I sat in meditation ten hours each day. But I learned not to chase after them and become swept up in every little tempest that flared up.

I learned to simply watch what was going on in my mind. It felt like watching a giant movie screen from the back row of a cinema.

Meditation teaches us that we can control our emotional pain. By focusing on the breath, we are able to step back, assume the position of a witness, so that it doesn’t overwhelm us.

It’s a lesson I’ve taken with me into everyday life. When a friend says something hurtful or when someone cuts me off in traffic, I know how not to be reactive.

Meditation gives you a new perspective on who you are.

As I sat and listened to the constant chatter in my head for ten days, I realized that our identities are a product of the stories we tell ourselves.

Old stories from the past showed up. The tortured narrative of my dysfunctional family suddenly made sense. My parents had remained attached to the narrative of their suffering as deprived war children. Unable to craft new stories for themselves, this victim narrative defined them in adulthood.

Sifting through the details of the aftermath of my husband’s death, trying to make sense of his unfaithfulness, I understood that I had been given the tools to rewrite that story.

I couldn’t undo what had happened. I’d never be able to have another conversation with him to set the record straight. I couldn’t give our story a happy ending. But I had the tools to use what I had learned to craft a new narrative for myself.

One stifling hot afternoon, focusing on the beads of sweat forming on my forehead, my focus became laser sharp.  I understood that if I didn’t want to live my life by the victim narrative, if I wanted to be in charge of myself again, if I didn’t want to turn into a bitter woman with a prematurely aged face, I needed to forgive those who had compounded my suffering.

Writing to the women whom I had considered my worst enemies was profoundly liberating, both for me and them. We were able to make peace with ourselves and with my philandering husband.

Suffering is an inevitable part of life.

All of life is suffering. It’s one of the key principles of Buddhism. Human nature is imperfect as is the world we live in. The Pali word Dukkha means suffering, discontent, unsatisfactoriness. We all experience varying degrees of suffering all the time.

Some of us had come to the retreat feeling stuck in life, stressed by our jobs, frustrated in our relationships, directionless and ready for some kind of transformation. I wasn’t the only who had brought a deep feeling of grief to the retreat.

I was the only one who had lost a loved one, but grief has many faces. Some of us were grieving collapsed marriages or failed relationships. It made me aware that we will all experience deep sadness in our lives, not once, but many times. It made sense to learn how to deal with it.

Life had just dealt me an overdose of suffering as if to hammer home this important point. Sitting with my physical and emotional pain for ten seemingly interminable days forced me to make friends with it.

I was able to put it into a new perspective. I hadn’t died, I hadn’t lost a limb, I had no permanent battle scars. My adopted hometown would recover, the ravaged landscape would heal, and so would I.

I realized that being able to hold my husband in death, to comfort him on the journey through his terminal illness, had been a chance for deep transformation. I understood that we are in charge of how we respond to suffering.

Suffering arises from attachment.

Burying my husband and sorting through the debris after a category five cyclone had shredded my hometown to bits, I had glimpsed how suffering is linked to attachment. Sitting on my meditation cushion for ten days, I grasped the core of the Second Noble Truth that all suffering arises from attachment.

We are all driven by our desires and cravings. Our unhappiness is a result of our tendency to cling to or grasp at what is unattainable. We become attached to material things; we want to hold onto happiness; we chase after pleasure and we are in denial about the impermanence of everything.

As expected, I didn’t explode in multiple orgasms, nor did I crash into the bottom of the abyss, both of which would have been a form of attachment.

On the last day of the retreat, when we were at last released from our vow of silence, everybody was experiencing some kind of high. Something fundamental had shifted for all of us.

Endless chatter quickly replaced our noble silence. Having sat side by side, experiencing the full rainbow of emotions, we were keen to share our experiences.

A small group gathered around a self-confessed retreat junkie, who glowed like a 3D postcard version of the Buddha, sitting in full lotus pose for most of the retreat. He had made it his life’s purpose, he explained, to go from retreat to retreat so that he could stay permanently within that blissed out sate.

I was tempted to quote one of our teachers that it’s just as dangerous to get attached to bliss as it is to get attached to pain and suffering. The aim of meditation is to let go of any form of attachment. But I bit my tongue, because I knew that he would need to find that out for himself.

Meditation is a personal self-care tool we all have access to.

Of course the ten-day meditation retreat didn’t magically cure my pain. It took many more weeks, months in fact, on the meditation cushion to heal my heart. But with every retreat I was inching a little further away from the abyss.

Six years on, I have found love again. My house has been repaired and my garden has grown back into a lush jungle. Life continues to ebb and flow, oscillating between moments of happiness and suffering.

You don’t have to be at your personal rock bottom to experience the life-changing benefits of a silent meditation retreat. What I learned has stayed with me. Meditation remains my personal self-care tool that allows me to negotiate the inevitable ups and downs of life, from the trivial to the tough stuff.

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About Kerstin Pilz

Kerstin Pilz Phd, is a former academic with twenty years University teaching experience, a 200 RYT accredited yoga teacher, writer, and enthusiastic photographer. She’s based in Vietnam and offers journeys of creative self-discovery, online & on retreat. Read here about her upcoming retreat in Bali, check out her blog at writeyourjourney.com, or connect with her on Facebook and Instagram.

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The post How a 10-Day Silent Retreat Helped Heal My Grieving Heart appeared first on Tiny Buddha.

from Tiny Buddha https://tinybuddha.com/blog/10-day-silent-retreat-heal-grieving-heart/

[thomasreedtn]

Denial, Boundaries, Dams and Emotions

Today’s post offers a collection of other posts with commentary based on what I’ve observed in recent sessions and in the larger world. It doesn’t take much intuition to recognize how polarized, projecting and intense emotions have become, especially in recent weeks. What surprises me (somewhat) is the degree to which even non-political people are empathing and experiencing the massive energies swirling around. So many people tell me about huge arguments in their microcosm, which exactly mirror huge arguments in the macrocosm. Or about feeling a need to suppress emotions and opinions in order to keep the peace, but then having physical symptoms arise that demand attention.

As within, so without. As without, so within. Add to this dynamic the struggle between the current energy pushing towards revelation and awakening — including rude awakening — fighting against the desire to shove unpleasant truths back under the rug, and we’ve got a roiling, boiling collective threatening to break the dam. Coincidentally, we also have a crisis at Oroville Dam — whose inadequate/defective spillways demanded (but did not receive) attention 12 years ago. Regardless of whether or not that dam creates a 100-foot tsunami of water through major farmland towards Sacramento, other dams throughout the US suffer from similar neglect and/or sabotage. Just as the body speaks for the repressed soul, so the physical world echoes underlying spiritual and emotional states.

Jamie Walters posted an excellent piece on Sophia’s Children, called “The (Healed) Feminine — Medicine for Our Times.” I highly recommend Jamie’s piece as it explores the importance of not just the Divine Feminine, but also the Sacred Masculine. She does a good job noting some of the differences between the Feminine principle and “Feminism,” helping readers to recenter themselves and bring that spiritual awareness and balance back out into the world. I’ll share here a little comment stream between us regarding her post, as our comments relate to the interconnectedness of all things, from politics to physical health to infrastructure to relationships:

Me: Thank you for holding the balance. The levels of projection right now are off the charts, toxic, and suicidal as a civilization, so I feel heartened whenever I witness people holding space for the Feminine and recognizing the difference between that and some of what passes today as “Feminism.” We need gentle strength and respectful wisdom and yes, REAL empathy beyond the tag lines. Real attempts to understand and really see people beyond caricature level. Every voice that echoes these receptive, Feminine qualities increases the chance of them being recognized, cultivated and honored amidst the cacophony and orchestrated chaos. Peace in, peace out. Thanks, Love, and Blessed Be

Jamie: Amen to that, sister. And yowza — yes — the levels of projection are off the charts, toxic, and suicidal as a civilization (in the ‘outer’, and also the corresponding energy/psychic ‘shared field’). Always good to be aware of it, and choose to be a vibrational remedy. Lots of love Laura. J

Me: I’ve been following this Oroville Dam situation and pondering how it’s kind of like what’s happening in the collective emotional realm right now — a potential tsunami of untold devastation … or through proper attention and really addressing the cracks and spillways, a near miss wake-up call. Which will it be? Here’s to vibrational remedies. Lots of love, Jamie. Thanks for being you.

Although some friends and I continue to send energy to the dam for the safety and protection of the millions of people its collapse or overflow would affect, I have not had time to blog about the connections I see related to individual and collective emotions. Further revealing the interconnectedness of all beings, and how ideas and inspiration touch many lives at once, I saw that my friend Ann Kreilkamp wrote an excellent piece on just that topic: “Astrology of Oroville Dam Emergency: A Metaphor of Our Dammed Up Feelings.”

I echo Ann’s conclusion:

“Hey everybody! Let’s wake up! Come to our senses! Use this strong emergence, not to throw rocks — or missiles, or drones, or nasty words — at each other or ourselves, but to dissolve the walls that separate compartmentalized pools of deep, damned up energy, whether internal or external. Let us muster the courage to embrace the vulnerability that attends our experience when feelings flow, without judgment, and without becoming reactive. Simply: Allow and honor them enough so that they may dissipate naturally. Our feelings are real. They alert us to our unlived lives, due to longstanding and worsening systematic inequality and institutionalized abuse among equals. As we do release those long buried feelings consciously, we begin move into union, harmony. Humanity is reborn.

“It will take a while to get there. Of course! But we are up to it. This is our time.”

It’s important to remember that even if people eschew mainstream media by getting “all their news from the internet,” social media and search engines exert tight controls over what shows up in individual news feeds, which results in an echo-chamber effect unless people have the time, energy and presence to look beyond each offered polarity. Since the self-appointed elites sense their control faltering, they do everything they can to divide and conquer by amplifying differences. Any differences.  Media, politics and social media have reached their tentacles into so many areas of life that practically everything can become a hot button for people in the throws of nonstop brainwashing and one-sided vitriol. This goes for both sides of the same (heavily manipulated) coin, and I hear it affecting not only relationships, but also health.

For people who value harmony, this intensity hurts — if not consciously, then physically. The increase in autoimmune issues, digestive problems, headaches, and major lung issues all make sense from a Medical Intuitive perspective, as do the number of clients I’ve recently had complaining of shoulder/arm pain. Your arms are an extension of your heart chakra, and the vitriol, knee-jerk reactions, warlike talking points and sheer madness — on both sides — are enough to break a sensitive heart. People who try to stay out of the fray sometimes suffer even more than those who dive into one side or the other, because the reactions catch them off guard.

Very conscious people exercising extremely good energy hygiene feel juiced with all this energy swirling around, as you can transmute any energy into positive fuel, but this is not a time to scrimp on good energy hygiene. Make no mistake: without regular energy brush-off’s and learning how to protect and enhance your own energy field, the roiling water or — in the case of Paris, fire — of collective emotions run wild will flood, drown and/or burn. As intense as things feel, “we ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”

The level of deep, dark, truly disgusting revelations has only poked its one little periscope to the surface behind the iceberg. Nothing on the surface reveals the true depth of the unprocessed Shadow of humanity trying to lift itself into view right now. You can find more about that by reading Ann’s next post, “Michael Flynn: Hanging in the Wind, or Strategic Sacrifice?”

By peeking behind the curtain, you prepare yourself for dealing with what happens when the veil gets shredded. By agreeing to explore uncomfortable possibilities outside your ken, you give yourself a chance to respond instead of reacting to events. You grow strong in your own center, wiser in your discernment of which paths lead where you want to go, and which paths likely detour somewhere you decidedly do not choose as your reality. You don’t need to saturate your awareness with things you do not wish to know, see or feel; however, the energies right now no longer support denial. You can take the hard way, or the extremely hard way … or you can take the far easier way of addressing your own prejudices and blinders so that you can move through time and space while always affirming and experiencing: “I am in the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing.”

Those who perpetuate revolting, outrageous crimes in the shadows count on average people to turn away in utter disbelief. This can’t be true. I don’t want this to be true. No, no, no, anyone who believes otherwise is wrong, wrong, wrong. Crazy! Evil. Those committing inhumane deeds count on most people’s very human compulsion to shove facts, revelations, ideas, and people back under the fraying rug or behind the cracking closet door. A time arises when enough is enough. Those dammed up facts and their attendant emotions eventually burst as flood or fire.

As within, so without. By learning to tend our own Shadow and having courage to look at the “boogie men” “outside” ourselves, we shift these destructive Elements back into their essence: neither good, nor bad. The Element of Water can quench your thirst and irrigate your fields, or it can drown you. The Element of Fire can warm you, or burn down your house. I created this month’s specials to offer support for Empaths and for those people who dream of a much better reality than seems on offer right now. You can find the February 2017 specials by clicking here.

I’ll also leave you with two videos, one by Lee Harris and another by Byron Katie:

The Byron Katie video will especially speak to people who awake in terror or find themselves utterly sickened by Trump and his administration. Reclaim your story and emotions. They are powerful things:

OK, one more video from Joanna Macy:

Please do not feel afraid or ashamed to reach out for help in these intense times. You do not need to suffer in silence or wonder why your health hasn’t turned around or why you feel stressed. The more each of us learns to manage our own emotions and our own energy fields, the greater influence we have in our own lives and in the world.

Peace.

from Thomas Reed https://laurabruno.wordpress.com/2017/02/16/denial-boundaries-dams-and-emotions/

[berthastover]

10 Email Marketing Myths Killing Your ROI

Chances are … you’ve seen the stats:

Email has the highest return-on-investment (ROI) of all marketing channels.

Email generates 40 times more customers than social media.

Email yields a 17% higher purchase value per order than social platforms.

Email is used by over 90% of all US consumers on a daily basis.

Sadly, what you may not have seen … are the results.

Naturally this disconnect makes you wonder, “Why — despite those uplifting stats — aren’t I reaping the rich rewards of email marketing?” And honestly, wonder is too polite a word. In fact, your frustration may lead you down the dangerous path of believing so-called “gurus” who claim that email marketing is – gasp – dead.

What you don’t realize is this: while a lot of the tips you’re being fed are immensely useful, an equal number of them are myths – insidious myths that are hurting your chances of success.

To clear up the truth from the lies, here are 10 email marketing myths that could be killing your ROI.

 1. You need a big list to make a big impact.

When it comes to your number of subscribers, bigger is always touted as better. This leads to what I like to call “list envy,” but it also leads many businesses into the fruitless game of aiming all their efforts at collecting sign-ups.

Obsessing over or constantly comparing list size prevents you from serving the people who matter most: your existing customers and fans. After all, those are the people who won’t just become your brand evangelists, they’re also the folks who represent your best chance and generating long-term profits.

Also, let’s be honest: how many of those 50,000 subscribers are active loyalists? A small percentage most likely. But a small, active list is far more valuable that a giant list of disengaged subscribers.

Instead of getting disheartened, focus on serving each one of those 1,000 subscribers with humility, heart, and honest affection.

 2. Open rates are the most important metric.

Messages that don’t get opened, don’t get read. This self-evident truth is why open rates are widely regarded as the metric that makes or breaks an email marketing campaign.

But an extreme focus on open rates will draw you away from the purpose of email marketing: to get your subscribers to take action.

In other words, what you write inside your email should be just as alluring as your subject lines or preheaders. You want to fascinate your subscribers enough to take the next step – be it downloading your e-book, buying your course, or offering feedback.

Monitoring click-through rates and ultimate conversion rates are far more central to email marketing success that mere opens.

 3. There is one “best” day or time to send emails.

You’ve probably read that Tuesday mornings are the best times to send emails. Or wait, maybe it was Thursday or Wednesday?

Coschedule’s massively well-researched What 10 Studies Say About The Best Time To Send Email, which includes GetResponse’s own What’s the Best Time and Day to Send an Email?, came to that three-day conclusion:

  However, the truth is: best practices will only get you so far.

The right days and times to send emails change dramatically according to your industry and your audience. Far better than just applying what works across the board is optimizing and testing your own campaigns. While you can certainly do this manually, you can also use a feature like Perfect Timing that drips out emails based directly on each subscriber’s personal history.

 4. Don’t send the same email twice.

Want to hear something that sucks? Your subscribers do not read every email you send.

They could have skipped your first email, or maybe just didn’t check their email for a while and decided to delete all their unread emails in frustration. You worked long and hard to craft an enjoyable message for your subscribers. You deserve to have more people read them, right?

So what do you do?

Resend the exact same email directly to the people who didn’t open it the first time (and this is where segmentation and “trigger-based” automation helps out immensely).

Research shows that you can get between “5% to 40%” more opens per email simply by resending it. Don’t leave money on the table with a one-and-done approach.

 5. Unsubscribes are bad.

It hurts when someone chooses to click on the Unsubscribe button. But unsubscribes aren’t always bad. Sometimes they’re a blessing in disguise.

Why? Because it costs money to manage an email list. And you don’t want to waste your hard-earned bucks on those who are not interested in your brand.

Email marketing isn’t a pursuit of vanity. It’s never about how many subscribers are on your list — see Myth 1 — but always about whether you are helping the right people.

When a few people unsubscribe, they’re making space for others who are eager and willing to hear from you. Say a prayer of thanks, continue serving the ones who do love you, and even consider getting proactive about list hygiene.

 6. Inactive users are dead weight.

Some people sign up for free goodies and then promptly forget you exist. It’s terrible, I know … but that’s the reality.

Worse yet, they don’t unsubscribe; they just lurk in the shadows without a peep. Your first impulse may be to delete them because, after all, maintaining a list is expensive.

But what if some of these inactive subscribers just need a nudge from you to wake up?

Approach inactive subscribers in two ways. One, try sending what email mastermind Dean Jackson calls the “magic, nine-word email”:

Hi [Name],

Are you still interested in [niche product]?

Or two, incentivize their reactivation, like Susan Su did for 500 Startups:

  Why would you want to pay to reactivate an inactive subscriber? Because, as Susan explains, “Based on an estimate of your subscriber acquisition costs … for many businesses, paying $10 for a reasonably engaged subscriber is not a bad deal.”

 7. Short emails are better than long emails.

Given our shrinking attention spans, short emails sound like common sense. People lack the patience and time to read through novellas.

However, we’ve all found ourselves engrossed by an email far longer than the norm. Why did you keep reading?

Because the secret to an effective email is not its length. It’s the pace, the phrasing, the pattern, and the passion.

In short (pun intended), it’s how you connect with readers that matters, and not some unproven formula that favors 100 words over 500. So say it in as many words as you need – not one more, and definitely not one less.

 8. Subject lines must always be short.

Right on the heels of short emails … comes short subject lines.

You would think that since more than half the emails checked are on mobiles with smaller screens, shorter subject lines would be preferred But research throws some surprises.

A 2015 report by Return Path indicates that although 25% of messages have subject lines between 41-50 words long, messages with 61-70 words have the highest average read rate.

  The Art and Science of Effective Subject Lines

 This tells you that longer subject lines work too – and might, in fact, prove more effective. By studying what kind of emails are being opened, you will be able to fashion appropriately long subject lines that speak to a subscriber’s challenges, desires, and personalities.

 9. Automated emails are impersonal.

Let’s get this one straight once and for all: “automation” is not the same as “robots doing your work.”

Marketing automation is — to phrase it quite simply — systemizing customized emails (and the emphasis there is on “customized”).

Naturally, customizing your emails means adding personal touches like names and the exact product or offer that generated their interest in the first place. But even more than that, overcoming impersonal barriers demands composing your emails like one human talking to another. In fact, all the emails I included in Why Response Rate Is The New Click-Through Rate were autoresponders, but each one smacked of personality … and that’s why subscribers wrote back.

 10. Too many emails will lead to unsubscribes.

Finally … the ultimate email marketing myth.

While I’ve already addressed why unsubscribes aren’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s still unwise to bombard your list with spam. Unfortunately, many marketers let this fear hold them back from getting aggressive and getting results.

For instance, back in 2012, the Obama campaign broke every fund-raising record there was and did much of it via email … insanely regular email. As Toby Fallsgraff, Director of Email at Obama for America, explained: “[We] tested and sent a national email almost every day. This increased to multiple times a day as Election Day drew nearer.”

Politics is one thing. But what about regular old ecommerce?

To test this, last month I signed up for Loot Crates’ email list — Inc.’s fastest growing company of 2016. Over the last 20 days, I’ve received no less than 23 separate emails. Sound like a lot, I know.

But does that kind of regularity work? Well, if a 66,789% three-year growth rate proves anything … absolutely.

 Beware the email marketing myths

Every business is distinctive, so how can there only one right way of doing email marketing? Simply put: there can’t. Your strategy should be based on your audience, your message, your personality, and your past successes.

Does this mean that you should never follow best practices?

Absolutely not.

But the only way to really separate the beneficial and the bogus is to test them out for yourself.

Now it’s your turn. What are some email marketing myths that you think should finally be put to rest?

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The post 10 Email Marketing Myths Killing Your ROI appeared first on GetResponse Blog - Online Marketing Tips.