#and yes i am basing this on dantes divine comedy

[adreamoverlife]

Good news for insane people who like q!french (me)

[pastafossa]

I had a hilarious TRT-related hiccup earlier today when I was seeing a museum with a friend who was in the area.

So we met up, and she and her partner hop into my car. Naturally, I have some music playing softly in the background, specifically the official TRT playlist cause I wasn't thinking and had Matt and Jane on the brain. And after a few songs, as we're driving to the museum and chatting, she, in clearly somewhat puzzled tone, is like, 'what is this you're listening to?' because there's a really random assortment of styles on there thanks to recs from me, all ya'll, my sis, and spotify itself.

And my brain... stalls.

Because these people in the car are Friends but not Fanfic Friends and neither of them even know what fanfiction is. And any explanation will potentially launch a cascading wave of further fanfic explanations until I'm eventually discussing Star Trek slash back in Ye Olden Fandom Times (TM) or knowing me going further back to Dante's Divine Comedy in the 1300s, which was not a powerpoint presentation we had time for. Yet, 'yes this is a 9 hour playlist put together by me and a bunch of readers of my stuff, and by stuff I mean a really long free story I've written based on a tv show simply because I am obsessed, no I do not know all of them personally but we all talk regularly and they bring me songs for the fic sometimes like cats laying birds at the feet of their humans only instead of feeling shock and horror I am delighted and have collected them for the past 3 years and that is why my playlist is gloriously broad in style and scope' is also likely to launch us into explanations we do not have time for. Lying never occurs to me.

"Um. Uh. This is... It's... some... friends who read some of my online work and made a playlist about it."

Her, in the tone that says she knows I'm full of shit and keeping an entire novel series of information to myself: "Oh. That sounds nice."

Nailed it.

You're all my friends now, it's official.

[kimsj90]

HAZBIN HOTEL REWORKING (Worldbuilding)

It’s been a while since I haven’t posted anything due to work.

Let me phrase something about this: The worldbuilding of Hazbin Hotel needs a lot of changes, and I mean, a lot. There are much inconsistencies to explain much more behind the whole facade of Heaven and Hell, like how the souls work, how both Heaven and Hell operates, as well as how Extermination - but we will call that ‘Annual Purge’ - work.

Worldbuilding is something I really want to explore more, especially that I am a Hazbin Pilot Fanatic (Like I have been there since 2019, and I can call out some inconsistencies, but the dynamics were pretty fine just there could be something to flesh out) and the Hunicast Enjoyer.

I would love to thank @pyresol for helping me in this. Don’t worry, it is too long, so I’ll dissect everything.

HELL

Yes. I will try fixing the system of hell as much as possible, so consider having changes to be acquired in this.

As we all know, Hell is a place that is separated from God. I took inspiration of Hell from one of Dante Allighieri’s Divine Comedy ‘Inferno’, since it’s kind of an obvious place in that novel, but I added some of the twists, so it can be at least interesting.

There are two realms of Hell: Limbo and Dis.

Limbo

Limbo is located at the very top of the inverted pyramid, perhaps by looking at the chart above. These are the temporary places for the sinners, but not some of the native, hellborns, etc. Just like in Purgatorio, it was also split into 7 realms, which is based on the 7 deadly sins, so of course, not all Sinners belong to the Pride Ring. It is spreading everywhere due to what sins they committed in the mortal realm. Limbo is based on United Kingdom, and it's led in the constitutional Monarchy - while the House of Magne (or technically, Lucifer and Lilith) were the highest and mainly the Monarch of Limbo, both House of Bel and House of Goetia were in charge/ hold the power to shape Limbo.

Devildom from Obey Me (one otome game I played since Pandemic) will be a main inspiration for Limbo; since Hell is away from God, no light will come through, only darkness.

The heirarchy of Limbo are the following from Highest to Lowest:

Highest: House of Magne

2nd: 7 princes of sins

3rd: House of Bel and House of Goetia

4th: Overlords/ contractor

5th: Native hellborns

6th: Hell’s Residence

Lowest: Sinners

House

The three Houses consists of: - House of Magne: Lucifer, Charlotte, and Lilith - House of Bel: Baal and Astarte - House of Goetia: Paimon

7 Princes + Realms of Sins:

Pride: - Lucifer - personification of Pride (CODED: PURPLE)

- Realm: Rococo Era (Aristocratic Period of France)

Envy: - Leviathan - personification of Envy (CODED: GREEN)

- Realm: Meditteranean Sea District (Likely Aqua theme)

Wrath: - Satan - personification of Wrath (CODED: RED)

- Realm - Texas Ranch, Brawl and Gladiator Tournament (Both are separate, by all means)

Greed:

- Mammon - personification of Greed (CODED: YELLOW)

- Realm: Banks, Las Vegas inspired, Corporate Buildings, as long as it revolves around ‘Capitalism’ and ‘Exploiting the sinners until they’re nothing more than slaves and money makers’

Gluttony:

- Beelzebub - personification of Gluttony (CODED: ORANGE)

- Realm: Food Market, Predator Garden (Lady Peony’s territory), and Bee Hives

Sloth:

- Belphegor - personification of Sloth (CODED: LIGHT BLUE)

- Realm: Simulation

Lust:

- Belphegor - personification of Sloth (CODED: BLUE)

- Realm: Brothels, Bars, Shows

Overlords

Overlords play an important role in shaping and overseeing the society and contractees around them; they are not only considered to be likely equal to the Houses or sins themselves, but also liable + lackeys to the flow of the society. They are like the employers, created to do the very highest dirty job (collecting souls, as well as soul contract). Only hellborns with higher status can become overlords. (Ex. Lady Peony - Gluttony Overlord)

Overlords, also have the command spells to control from a person to the colony of the society (Lady Peony, for example, gave commands to her carnivorous people to hunt down the corpses), however, it only takes a year to recover if it reaches a certain limit. Command spells are given/created by the princes of the respective realm, as part of their branding, and as a way to assert control and power, but not to the extreme. It also has the same level of power as the sins, angels, and fallen angels, however, they only use this benefit for the Hell’s society to flourish.

Due to the nature of the Overlords being hellborns of higher status, command spells are taught throughout the generations of family to keep the society in control. They can also steal the command spells from another overlord, if and only if, one of the overlord is in the weaken phase/ is gone through a certain tradition or practice called ‘Gladiator’. Gladiator is a tournament for the last man standing of the 2 opposing overlords - this - of course - took place in the Wrath Realm. Think of them as how the Olympics happened in ancient times. (Yeah, now you know the idea.)

Also, they can shapeshift into a human since they gain access to the human world.

How does Soul Contract work? It only happens when a human - whether he/she has a desire - made a pact with the overlords of the respective realm. The anonymous member created the store of countless grimoires and spells for the ritual, but were inaccessible and banned due to restrictions until the late 19th century. Only a few were able to claim them and do the whole summoning ritual. Once they completed their contract, their souls will always be bound to them forever, until death and eternal damnation. How about a contract with the princes of each sins? It will require a very painful process.

Sinners

In this version, sinners are the lowest of them all, despite working and living the same normal life as the Native Hellborns.

Sinners were in a form of everything they loathed or were forced to relive the same experience when they were human, whether is using the other person's identity, animal-like features, or anything related to their own crimes and sins committed. It was the punishment God gave to them to experience the real suffering from their own consequences (hence the whole God created hell to separate the saints and vulnerable from the wicked people). The colors are coded on their design accents, and sometimes they don’t match the respective deadly sin they committed. So what do the sinners do in hell as the lowest? They became slaves to the overlords, being the untouchable, and one of the ‘resources’ for the Limbo society to thrive on.

There are rare cases of sinners being eligible to be part of the society (a term they called ‘Hell’s Residence’), however, they will face discrimination due to the nature of the sinners being the lowest of them all. (One example is Johnathan, who is eligible to be part of the society, but also faces discrimination due to his status as a sinner) The requirements are simple but impossible task to do; They have to go through various tortures (they are usually light, depending on the severity of the torture), before they will grant you the eligibility to be one of the hellborns. Ofc they were also given the restrictions.

No access to migration to different realms

Inability to reproduce children with another sinner (adoption is kind of acceptable there)

Their rights were stripped (for the Actual Sinners)

Sinners who are in a contract with the overlord will lose their autonomy

No access to the mortal world

No magical abilities - unless they made a deal, they can acquire that to a limited extent

Marriage with a sinner and a native is considered taboo by the law (punishable by forced separation)

Sinners cannot be killed with hellborn weapons, as they can respawn in a long period of time, and are susceptible to injuries, but is considered the most vulnerable to being killed by 'the Poison that gives them permanent death' from the Annihilators. This is then followed up by being sentenced or on trial - Samael is the highest Judge in Limbo, responsible for giving the sinners the MOST severe punishment, and he always follows the mantra ‘His words, his final verdict’. The real torture is on the City of Dis, and is considered to be the place where everyone should be ready. This one is based on Dante’s Inferno, where King Minos has the final say on what to convict the souls of and then were thrown to a specific punishment.

———

We will talk about Annihilators and Dis, including Samael in my next post.

[crazypossumman]

So I am writing a novel loosely inspired by Dante’s Inferno. I’ve been working on it since eighth grade when I first read Inferno and became utterly obsessed. Anyway, I was very fucked up the other night and then found this in my notes:

“Why My Atheist Ass Loves Dante’s Inferno:

My first point to this argument would be the fact that it is basically self insert fanfiction. My boy Dante really went, “but what if me and Virgil, my favorite poet uwu, had to travel through hell together on a long, sentimental journey in which I am able to learn from him as a pupil does from his master,” and everyone was like, “ok yeah let’s here him out.”

On a more serious note, this text (looking at it individually within the divine comedy) has such a powerful meaning behind it. Dante is traveling through the dark forest (life) and is trying to get to the top of a hill (enlightenment, paradise, nirvana, what have you), but he is stopped by three beasts (the three types of sin). But his end game is still to get to paradise and be with his beloved or whatever. So he still wants to go to the top of that metaphorical hill.

Ipso facto, when Virgil leads him through hell, he is leading him THROUGH the beasts. It’s not some round about way where he skirts these sins. He goes through sin after sin in Virgil’s company, and in beholding the punishments for said sins—which, being an ironic twist on the sin itself, reveal just how ugly the sin itself is—being enacted upon figures he associates with the sin, he is essentially traveling through life while learning from the mistakes of others. That’s as simple as the story is!

But instead it is taken and written in to prose, woven between Christianity and Greek mythos, stretched into a fascinating adventure that captivates and shocks the mind. It was heavily associated with political and religious figures of the time period, which caused it to stick in the minds of its readers (think: if you read that Pope whoever was seen burning in the whatever circle of hell, every time you hear about that pope from then on out, you’re like “oh yeah isn’t that the guy who—“). It integrates well known biblical figures, which created that same association but with something ancient and sacred. Not to mention that, being one of the few religious texts written in the common tongue in its time, it became super wide spread (I mean, their reading selection was limited).

And my third reason would have to do with the amount of classical art and literature it went on to expire. It’s a lot. There’s a painting or two for every critical scene of the inferno, and it is a widely referenced piece of literature in media day-to-day life (think phrases like “stuck in limbo” or “abandon all hope, ye who enter here”). There are also so many translations of the Inferno, originally written in Italian, and most of them contain footnotes, translation notes, interpretations, references, and research tidbits relating to that author’s specific translation. Meaning. Every time you get a different translation. There is whole knew stuff to learn. Base points are always the same, but I love a good fun fact or someone’s individual analysis on a certain piece of symbolism.

Point four: It’s so much extra Christianity-lore. Like sure it’s a headcannon but it reads like official content.”

Writing Tag ↓ | Pinned | Writing Masterlist | Kofi | Etsy

[whatmathgodwrought]

@etruski I hope you replied something like this :

Dear Sir or Madam:

Yes, I am in fact Dante Alighieri, born c. 1265 Anno Domini, and author of the wildly popular epic poem, the Divine Comedy. People thought I was dead, but I was just resting, and long life seems to be some side effect of plane-shifting to the Divine realms, idk. Anyhoo, I would be pleased as punch to sign up for your services, answer fan mail, and collaborate with other authors for academic research and/or smutty fanfics based on the original material. Also if you could hook me up with a lawyer who knows how to get works OUT of the Public Domain and back under the ownership of the original author after hundreds of years of being presumed dead before the advent of the modern copyright regime, that'd be fab.

Ciao,

Dante

Throwback to when I put my name as Dante Alighieri on Academia.edu and received this email

[silverloreley]

Is Italian a similar language to French?

Anon, know you made a far more difficult question than you think it is. Lucky you this relates quite closely to the subject of my next exam, so I can consider it an exercise, lol.

The short answer is: they’re similar but not so much. The most notable differences one can notice are that Italian very seldom has words that not end in vowel, while French doesn’t utter vowel sounds even when they are written. Another difference is the pronunciation of sounds, but to show it I’d need to use IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) or to make audios (which is a big no for me), so I suggest, if you’re curious, to listen to the same song in the two languages (Disney songs are easy to confront, to say) to hear how different they sound.

The mid-long, slightly more technical answer is: both are neo-Latin languages, meaning they both descend from Latin so they’re bound to share similarities on a morphological and lexical point of view that are evident in themselves in written form. They also influenced each other in the centuries, so the relationship is thick enough.

But! The territory now known as France that was once conquered by Romans (in fact, the area that Romans held for the longest time) had its own population, the Gauls, with their own language which, in a certain measure, influenced the Latin spoken there. Then, during the barbaric invasions, the zone was invaded by the Frankish, a germanic population that brought there their own language, from the fusion of those influences, there emerged the Franco-Provençal and other forms, the d’oc and d’oil forms, the latter is the one from which currently spoken French evolved from.

And I promised myself I wasn’t going to write a long answer about the Italian language to add on it, but I did anyway, so here it is, under the cut.

Before that, I’d like to sum up what there’s down here, with a little more:

Italian was created from one of the many dialects Italy had, all of which derived from Latin, by Dante Alighieri (yes, the one I make fun of, but I’ve been studying him as part of my study course for 10+ years so I am allowed to do that from time to time) and then cultivated by people for centuries as a language made only for literature and not quite spoken until the Unity of Italy. During those centuries more influxes entered, but none prevalent to the base Dante made.

Now, to the long one:

Unlike French, Italian, although it is an evolution from Latin, had numerous influences from other languages, but none as strong as French had from Frankish. In fact, Italian is the evolution of the dialect of a singular area of Italy, the volgare fiorentino, aka the tongue spoken in Florence. Now, the discussion is incredibly complicated, so I’ll try to reduce it to the essential lines.

The volgari were the tongues spoken by everyone, at every level, that derived from Latin’s spoken tongue, which was different from the written for a number of phenomena that it’d be too long to explain here. Every zone of Italy, every city even, had its own, and many of them started to evolve a written tradition separated from the Latin one, which was still prevalent. The Sicilian court of Frederich II is known to be the first Italian volgare that produced high-level literature (although there are recent finds that show how this may not be entirely correct, but that calls for more research...).

Enter the Florentines Stilnovisti, a group of poets that started to use their own dialects instead of the Sicilian one, to write their love poetries. Dante Alighieri was one of them.

But Dante was above them. He was a genius (for how much I love to make fun of him, it’s undeniable how great he was at what he did) who first theorized the creation of a tongue that could be the same for all of Italy, the way Latin once was, a tongue which had the same dignity and expressive abilities of Latin, and then HE MADE IT.

The Comedìa (worldwide known as the Divine Comedy) is the result of his work, 80% of the Italian vocabulary can be already found in it, most of the syntax and morphological structures are already in there and he built the tongue from his mother dialect, the tongue spoken in Florence, but not only! He made up words, he used Latin and Franco-Provençal and other Italian dialects and much much more to create a new tongue that became what we now speak!

And yes, then there came Petrarca that set a higher standard for poetry by “cleaning up” the mixed language of the Comedìa, and then Boccaccio became a baseline for prose (the three of them are known as the Three Crowns of Italian language) but the groundwork was made by Dante Alighieri.

And then, centuries later, there was Alessandro Manzoni (as a matter of fact, there would be a few passages in the middle, but this is already long as it is, so I’ll skip to here). By that time, Italian language was, just like the country, not a reality but more of a solid idea (I made some time ago a series of posts about Italian History, in case you want to see what the situation was). It was a language for literature only, with all the heaviness of being old and not quite up to date as it a spoken language was supposed to be. Manzoni had the bright idea to take this novel he was writing and modify the tongue according to how real people in his time’s Florence actually spoke. And it worked marvels! The tongue made by Dante was renewed with the influx of the practical evolutions the people did without even noticing they made!

When the Unity of Italy came shortly after, the tongue Manzoni used was basically adopted by the whole country, the novel I Promessi Sposi became a school book that was functional to teach the language to all the people who spoke only their own dialects and it’s still an essential part of Italian kids’ education today.

[sometimesrosy]

i know what kind of the show the 100 is, but i really expect at least a good ending for bellarke and i hope your spec is right and we get some kind of that with them, in the past years shows did end in dissapointment, so i hope jason is in the group of 12 monkeys, bones, castle, shadowhunters, OUAT....

okay. but are you SURE you know what kind of show The 100 is?

What kind is it? 

Yes, it’s the post apocalyptic sci fi action tragedy, but there are actually two kinds of post apocalyptic stories, the kind where there’s no hope and humanity is doomed and the kind where there IS hope and humanity can be saved.

This one is DEFINITELY the later. Hope is important in this show. THIS kind of pos apocalyptic story CAN have a happy ending, or at least a happy ending that costs a price, a bittersweet happy ending. JR has told us that there would be a “The 100 style” happy ending, and the last time he said that would happen was with one couple in s5, which we now know was Marper, who got to live their lives on their own terms, alone and without people, but in love and happiness and peace while guiding their people towards a new future. I suspect the ending of the series will *match* that description of a happy ending, but with Bellarke, who was HIGHLY mirrored with Marper in the finale of s5.

And seeing as our heroes have had a happy ending with a cost every single season, what we’re watching is a story where there is hope. And *probably* hope for Bellarke.

But. I see that you aren’t really concerned with the story, you’re concerned with if Clarke and Bellamy get together, and this, to you is what’s in doubt, because you’re looking for a romance novel, or bellarke fic or something.

For you, the story ending in disappointment is the story not ending with Bellarke romantically together with a kiss/confession/sex. Or at least that’s what is seems to me, because as I’m watching, I have not felt denied bellarke since season 2. S1 I didn’t ship them yet, not really. S2 gutted me when she left because of bellarke. S3 they were together and closer than ever, S4 okay i was gutted when she was left behind, but had hope for bellarke with the 2199 radio calls. S5 I was not disappointed with bellarke because of that last part of the finale. S6 was so freaking romantic and ended, for all intents and purposes, with that romantic, intimate bellarke hug in the sunrise, so to me, it was clearly romantic bellarke, even without an official kiss(apparently kiss of life doesn’t count)/confess (apparently all the conversation of love and care and pledges not to leave or let each other die, or the confession that he needs her don’t count)/sex.

This is why I ask if you do know what kind of story this is. Because you are acting like my spec about bellarke is based in my personal feelings and not the development of the narrative that I’ve been following, but I don’t know if you have, or you’d see that bellarke is already a romantic story, and has been since AT LEAST season 5, when bellarke shippers abandoned the show because b/e existed, instead of recognizing a canon love triangle when they see one. (I will admit that this has been what has made me most frustrated with the Bellarke fandom. They’re giving us what we want and we’re acting like it’s not happening in canon on screen.)

Like my “spec” is pretending there’s a love triangle, or the love triangle is just an interpretation rather than written in the script, the direction, the cinematography and the acting. 

I cannot tell you if JR will back out of the bellarke love story or not, because I am not in control of what another person creates, but I can tell you that the story of The 100 has been an epic love story, truly from season 1, because it has been about GROWTH, but as a main plot line from season 5, or the end of s4 when he left her behind. 

If you say you know what kind of story The 100 is and you don’t recognize the actual romantic story of Bellarke, then you don’t know what the story is. 

This is not fanon. This is canon. It’s not my speculation. It’s the narrative. JR has called it an epic love story. He has told us it would happen eventually. He has said they were soul mates. He has said they love each other. And the story he is telling has them revolving around each other closer and closer until they connect. 

When I speculate that the story might be following the structure of The Divine Comedy, with the Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise, giving us the darkest moments in the beginning and ending up NOT a tragedy, that’s a speculation that is based on a remarkable similarity to the narrative and also literal allusions to the text and a painting we stared at in TWO seasons to point out the connection and character names like Dante and Blake to make the connections. So yeah. I’m speculating on the theme of the story that won’t, perhaps, be clear until the end, but it’s less a speculation and more a theory-- a theory has evidence to support it while a speculation doesn’t necessarily. 

There IS a point to the story, though. He’s told us there is. And it will be clear at the end. What I’m saying is that in order to tell a good story, he needs to incorporate that point into the whole story so we can follow along and it will all add up at the end. So I’ve been looking for those breadcrumbs that tell us where it’s going. This is what I do, and I’m pretty good at it. Finding those clues. I know not everyone knows how to do that, and I know a lot of people have been gaslighted by those who have been telling us Bellarke is not romantic or not the central relationship, or not the heroes, or are actually the bad guys, or are unimportant etc. 

Back in season 3 after Hakeldama, I wrote a meta theorizing that this whole story was about Clarke and Bellamy coming together. That in order to succeed, they must be together. It was based on some significant evidence from the first 2.5 seasons, but it has been proven correct in the following 3.5 seasons. This show is DEFINITELY about bellarke, the head and the heart, being TOGETHER and saving the world. There were points where it could have been a sun/moon story, never getting together. There were points where it could have remained platonic with no romantic connection. Those points have all been passed now, and they MUST be together and it is ALREADY romantic, so the eventual COMPLETE union of Bellarke is going to be romantic. They are already married, imo, committed, pledged, intimate, loving, devoted, respecting, trusting, and the ONLY thing separating them from what fandom wants is the physical. Because it has already moved into the romantic (EVERY love triangle is a romantic story, even for the losing couple, it’s still a romantic story, therefore, in the IMPOSSIBLE event that bellamy choses Echo over Clarke, it’s still romantic, just a broken hearted romance without the necessary genre happy ending,) it is no longer a platonic relationship.

What I CAN’T do is tell you how it’s going to end. If Bellarke will live or die. They might die and that’s always been a possibility that I’ve said for the end of the series. Here are the possibilities i can see for a Bellarke ending. In all but one (very unlikely possibility) Bellarke are kiss/confess/sex canon romantic, even if they don’t get a happy ever after.

Bellarke alive, together, romantically, married, raise a family and a peaceful society with their friends. (Happy Ever After ending common in the romance genre.)

Bellarke alive, together, romantically, married, have a family and life with their friends but there are more struggles coming, like maybe another apocalypse or political upheaval or violence. (Happy For Now ending also common in the more ‘realistic’ romance genre or romantic stories.)

Bellarke alive, together, romantically, married, have a family.... but not with their friends who are left behind to create the peaceful society. (Marper ending, The 100 Style Happy Ending, as described by JR. Bittersweet. This is the one I think is most likely in some ways.)

Bellarke dead, together romantically before they die, their family and friends go on without them to create a peaceful society. (Happy Ever After for humanity, but not for Bellarke. Bittersweet. A Romeo and Juliet ending, and though Bellarke has never been framed as R&J it’s possible. This could happen. The sooner they get together romantically in season 7 the more likely they won’t get a happy ending.)

Bellarke together romantically, but Clarke dies saving them, and Bellamy carries on in her absence, broken, perhaps eventually settling for Echo, or perhaps not. He creates a peaceful society for their friends in her name. (this is Happy Ever After for humanity, but a tragedy for Bellarke. I believe this was the ending of s4, and I think it’s developed past that so I don’t think it will happen.)

Bellarke together romantically, but Bellamy dies saving them, and Clarke carries on in his absence. The only way I think this could happen is if she has his baby, so carries him with her. She creates a peaceful society for their friends and her children in his name. (Happy Ever After for humanity, but a tragedy for Bellarke. This was the ending of s4 for Clarke with Madi as the substitute child. I believe we’ve developed past that so I don’t think it will happen.)

Bellarke together platonically... i do not think this can happen, it would have to RETURN to platonic partnership, because we’ve left platonic, but let me explore it. Clarke would need to give up Bellamy to Echo because it was “the right thing to do” and Bellamy would need to stay with Echo because it was “the right thing to do,” and neither of them would make the claim on the other. But I believe part of the journey of s6 was about Bellamy CHOOSING Clarke because he loves her. It’s part of the narrative. So he’s already chosen her, so something would have to happen to reverse that decision and I don’t know what it could be. Clarke looks like she’s ready to wait for him. I don’t think this story would have them together platonically with Bellamy sacrificing his happiness being with Echo, who is Ash and doesn’t want to be king/spy anymore, and leaving Clarke pining for her soulmate. That’s a bad story because there’s no reason for them to not admit they love each other. Staying with Echo because he promised is a bad reason and disrespectful to all involved. But okay. Bellamy chooses Echo and Clarke eventually finds someone else and they lead a peaceful society without fully engaging the heart. Oh that doesn’t make sense. They’re the head and the heart. That would not be living up to what Monty asked of them. No it doesn’t work. This ending is already off the table, sorry. Unless JR really is the asshole that you all think he is. If it happens, I’ll admit that you were right and he’s a dick as bad as D&D. But if it doesn’t happen, then y’all need to go apologize to JR for doubting him and hating him and calling him evil and a bad writer. 

Where I am now, I think the most likely is a mix of the above. I think the bittersweet ending will include a happy ever after for Bellarke, like Marper, as they are separated from their friends and family and assumed dead. So Bellarke will die together saving their people, but they won’t die, rather they will be separated from them so they can have their happy ending although it is alone and they’ve lost everyone they love, except each other. It fits the narrative, the circular storytelling, the bellarke mythos, the breaking of the cycle, clarke and bellamy’s characters, the sacrifice theme, the head and the heart, the marper foreshadowing, “together,” wanheda, the survival plot twists where we think they’re dead but they’re not, soulmates, the bittersweet endings, the victory but with a price, etc. 

[dicecast]

No it wouldn't because 1. fanfic is a modern concept from a modern cultural context, forcing it on earlier literature written in very different one is dumb; 2. YOU called anti-intellectual tumblrinas out of conflating religion with fiction; 3. Dante reinvented everything he used to create a wholly new conception, that's antithetical to fanfic.

1) I mean fanfictions first emerges in the 19th century once the notion of literary copyright emerges as a legal concept so while technically it isn’t fanfiction, I think its the same experience.  One of the interesting thing that comes up in looking at the history of copy right is that for the vast majority of human history, most story telling was basically fan fiction, you take an existing story and just make up your own version of it or add your original character do not steal, or create an extra plot line.  

2) Ah ok, that is a more of a fair point, i’m being glib in calling Dante fanfiction because I find it funny but yes ,it is a bit more complicated because when Dante is writing the conception of “fiction” is kinda...unclear.   Because while something like the Bible or the Ramayana being called fiction is absolutely bullshit, The Divine Comedy is trickier because while the Catholic Church did basically adopt it as semi Canon, it isn’t quite written as a religious text.  So its in a weird limbo, it is not intended to be an addition to the theology but it is deeply religious in its design.  And since Dante died a year after the poem was published, the poems semi addition to the Catholic Canon was posthumous, so its actually a bit of a tricky question to say where the Divine Comedy begins and religious theology begins, unlike with the Bible which is not intended as a work of fiction at all 

The reason why I call it fanfiction is that in practice Dante too the existing canon (literally the existing canon) and just made up an entirely new mythology out of whole cloth and added it unto his own narrative.  Which is what fanfiction constantly does, it makes a whole new story based on the original without any imput from the original writers.  The Aenied would be a much more classical (literally) example of this though because the Illiad is composed to be a story rather than purely a theological text.  Though I am also being glib because its funny

3) I don’t read much fanfiction, but I now enough to know a lot of it are total new creations, like some of fanficiton gets to into whole new epic series loosely based on the original works.  Like most fanfiction is terrible, but I think its a valid artistic sub medium like any other.  Even though I kinda hate fan communities, I don’t really want to get into the habit of utterly dismissing fanfiction entirely, its only problem is that it lacks professional critics to try to ensure some degree of equality.  

[dafukdidiwatch]

As Above So Below

This somehow both scared and bored me at the same time

<Lots Of Major Spoilers>

Overview

: After years of searching, Treasure Hunter Scarlet finds a clue that would lead her to the fabled Philosopher's Stone somewhere in Paris. She gathers together a crew to find the stone in the catacombs of Paris, but there are other things that lurk down below.

I would consider myself a big time movie/tv person. Have I seen everything? No. Do I like watching anything? Yeah, I'll give it a chance. I like most genres.

Horror though, I have mixed feelings.

Now, I'm gonna be honest, it was hard trying to go into this movie open minded. I have a love/hate relationship with the Horror genre of movies. Older classics like John Carpenter's Thing, Alien, even Scream are movies I adore. But...modern horror movies are a pain to me. I hate how they use shortcuts to try and scare me with random ass Jump-scare for no purpose other than to scare me. It's ridiculous! I can call out when the jump-scares happen, and they Still scare me because of the freaking sound track!

Anyway. I felt it would be unfair for me to say how much I like/dislike the movie without mentioning my preferences. If you like the newer horror movies, awesome, you do you, but for me, its like one of those gatchapon machines where theres a 50/50,chance you'll like it or not.

With that out of the way, lets Actually start talking about the movie.

The movie is shot in Found Footage style and that already added a tally against it in the 1st minute. I am not a fan of found footage. I know that it's popular to make it cheap and personal, but it makes it so hard to follow what is going on. When they are being chased or attacked, I don't know whats happening! Its too dark to tell, the camera is jostling around making me slightly nauseous, and if it does show something, its only for like 5 seconds unless it is stupidly close! There were parts that felt more like watching a Let's Play of a 1st person horror game. Run Run Run, Punch Monster, Run.

It is due to this 1st Person view that, not gonna lie, I barely followed how they got into the catacombs in the first place. Scarlett was in Iran...then she went to France, then...a church to pick up a reverse vandalizer, club, tunnel, catacombs. I can remember the place order, but like hell can I remember what exactly they were saying. All of that took 30 minutes and I was bored out of my mind. And the things that I do remember, they just sort of randomly popped up? Like, they were discussing on whether to jump into the hole

There are parts of the movie that I think was their attempts to build atmosphere, but sort of came out of left field. They say a pale woman walk away from a club: ok. They see her...directing the creepy ass ghost choir?? No idea what that was about. Then They ran into statues that just....came to life to bite at them??? This,was Never Mentioned as potential threats anywhere, it was as if the movie decided it needs random encounters to fill the climax, which is a shame because the tension in this in the middle was really good.

In the middle, when they are Finally going underground to when things got fucked, had a good tense build up. Showing landmarkers that shouldn't be on their route later on. Local lore of "don’t go down the cursed tunnel" (PSA: If the locals say don't do something, don't do it). They get trapped trying to crawl through a pile of bones. Now that part wasn't scary, but was Very Uncomfortable, especially if you have claustrophobia. They have just...random ass things appear like a Piano and Phone which, these people are dumbasses for thinking those things are natural to be there, but does add a good "what the hell" moment that just pikes on. I thought they might go the whole "vague supernatural tunnel turning tricks and getting them to turn on each other" route instead of "slowing pick one off one by one" type. And maybe that’s what they were trying to have, but it was still random monsters popping out to attack so... c'est la vie. 

Another thing I take issue with is part of the lore they use for the Philosophers stone. First, they use the legends and work of alchemists. And that’s pretty cool. Like mystical National Treasure, unlock secret symbols and solve chemical problems. There was a part where they had to figure out the number of celestial planets in the sky based on what century the stone came from since it kept changing over the years, that part was pretty clever. I didn’t know the information, but i appreciated the history.

But they just add random bits from around the world to be like "ooh they connected" like, ok. They have alchemist lore, 14th century Flamel. Makes sense. Then they add a mummy of a crusades guy. I don't know which crusades, but it doesn't matter since he was used more as a prop than plot device. Hell it might be Flamel himself, I don’t know. Then they throw...Ancient Egypt....Sure. Why not. Alchemists could go to Egypt to learn then stick hieroglyphics and traps in the french catacombs. Given how I don't know anything about alchemists history, I'll go with it.

What I WONT accept is them calling Dante's Inferno Mythology! That is Bullshit! I call BullShit! That! Is where I DRAW THE LINE!!

Because they carved "abandon all hope he who enter here" into the tunnel wall when things turned batshit and thats where i gave up on the lore.

Dante's Divine Comedy is not a myth! It is a poem! A poem written by Dante about Christain ideology of what heaven and hell is like! But the movie doesn't give a shit. The line just sounds cool to have as they go deeper into the tunnels!

If they just went with Dante references and alchemist lore, I would have been fine there. The main reason I got angry at that part with Scarrlet saying about "Dantes myth" is that she knows like 5 languages + 2 dead ones, all this backstory and alchemist stuff, and she doesn't know that inferno was a poem? Yes, part of that is semantics and technicalities, but it sort of pulled me out of the world a bit. Because at that point, it felt like they were picking and choosing lore to fit in because it sounded cool. Have an egyptian trap! Why? Because it was cool! Have hieroglyphic puzzle to find the stone? Sure, don’t know why it’s in France but whatever!  I dont know. It threw me off because it felt like they were adding too much, which is a shame because some of the Dante references like traveling through a pool of blood was really good.

I don't get the visions. I really don't. Like...random pianos and telephones just appear on level one of their journey, that calls out to their memory. Which is...bizzare. Especially since they actually touch the freaking things. Like, don't touch the childhood piano! It will make things worse! Seriously! White people!

You later learn that the visions come from their sins (like the one and only tormented sin they got) and it is only when I googled the end of the movie did I learn that they have to acknowledge their sins or die. Which if you have to google the movie to understand the message, the message didn't go through. And opens up to more questions.

Because there were other people that died that didn't get to see their sin visions. George and Scarlett got taunted with pianos and objects since the 1st floor. What about Benji? He was followed by the creepy ghost choir and fell down a hole. Tell me what sin that means. Do They....all have sins, or did the vague demons here have to kill off the innocent ones first before putting the focus on the true targets?

And Scarlett finding out that the power was in her all along? What? Did she...consume the power? Was it transferred? Did she have it since she was born? Does she still have it? It felt like a bad moment to throw in a self esteem psa in this movie.

I will give the movie credit though, i liked how they were forced to go down to get out. When everything turns to shit and they have to do the same things they did but in reverse order, but still forced to go down, that was good. It adds to the tension of "holy fuck how are they gonna get out is this even the right path?" And that last scene with the manhole, gorgeous. Really truly gorgeous. It just shakes you to the core with what you are seeing.

But Overall.....yeah did not like this movie. Wasn't a fan of shakey cam. Wasn’t a fan of the "gotcha" jump scares. The movie felt a little more uncomfortable than scary to me with the claustrophobia. There were a bunch of times where I had to check how long was left in the movie because I was really bored with what was happening. I did like the use of alchemist lore, the Egyptian trap scene, and the end scene, but just wished they stuck to one part than try to mash up different myths to fit.

And if they wanted to stick with Dante, fine. Apparently this entire movie was an allegory of Dantes inferno. (Thanks google) But while i can appreciate looking back on it in hindsight, it doesn't change the fact that I really didn't "get" the symbolic nature of what they were trying to do in the initial watch. Maybe if I rewatch it I would appreciate it more, but I would just skip like half the movie to the actual cave exploring part because I am not sitting through the full thing again. 

If you like horror movies with historic flair, this might be for you. But its not my cup of gatorade.

[catchester]

I actually think fanfiction is normal and a natural desire.

it's just that for most of human history, men were the ones writing, so it was okay.

Dante's divine comedy was self insert biblical fanfiction.

Chaucer's Canterbury Tales takes its format and inspiration from an Italian writer. This fanfic writer is sometimes called the father of English Literature.

Shakespeare just wrote fanfiction about anyone and any thing. Real people? Here, have some royal family RPF. Mythological tales? No problem, lets borrow from Homer's Illiad, among others. Oh, and lets retell the Trojan War while we're at it.

And of course, how many have written books based heavily on works such as Beowulf, or some simply retold them? Lord of the Rinks is probably the most famous, but there are dozens of others.

King Arthur? Hundreds? Even thousands maybe? If you look at the movies and TV shows it's inspired, then include the unashamed fanfictions based on those, possibly hundreds of thousands. In fact the story has transformed so much over the centuries that it is mostly fanfiction.

Milton's Paradise Lost is the book of Genesis fanfic.

Dicken's Christmas Carol heavily borrowed (possibly even plagiarised) women's fiction what was published in periodical magazines.

The Bronte sisters and their brother wrote (although didnt publish) elaborate RPF about the Duke of Wellington and his sons, creating whole worlds for their characters.

Poe's The Thousand and Second Tale of Scheherazade borrowed the character of Scheherazade from 1001 Arabian Nights.

And on and on, in perpetuity.

It's natural human instinct to want to build on what we know.

No one blinks an eye when scientists take another scientist's work and either improve it, or add to it, or even prove it right or wrong.

But then in the 60s women started writing fanfiction and publishing it in zines. Suddenly fanfiction was bad. It's a bad bad thing, a waste of time, poorly written and frankly, downright embarrassing! Eugh, those women, right? I mean, can you believe the Mary Sue self insert characters? Ha ha, such foollish creatures.

But suddenly self insert characters are okay when Kirt Vonnegut does it, or Lovecraft, or Blake, or Somerset Maugham, Stephen King, Rush Limbaugh, Dante, as mentioned above, and even Dan Brown.

Hell, JG Ballard does it in every book, and in Crash he even gave his self insert his own name. Really, there's a character called James Ballard.

But when men do it, it's self insertion and totally fine. When women do it, it's called an author surrogate, and it is a very very bad thing. It's embarrassing, cringe making, childish.

Middle aged men want to write a book about a middle aged man who is unhappy with his life, doesn't like his kids or his nagging wife, and is contemplating an affair with a girl half his age or less. He'll heavily copy the style of a book he loves, because that's an homage, not plagiarism or fanfiction. Plus, men writing stories that will never earn a dime is fine, it's a hobby, this is an outlet and even if it's awful, he'll improve.

Women of any age write a fanfic story to help them work through some issues using a character they identify with, and no, no, no, no, no! Have you no imagination? Can you not create something original?

Fuck what people say about any of your hobbies or interests. If it makes you happy, it can't be too bad.

Yes, I did pinch that quote from Sheryl Crow.

Oh, sorry, no, *graps imaginary dick through jeans, wipes nose with back of hand, swaggers in like I own the place* I mean, I was inspired by Sheryl Crow. Inspired. I changed "that bad" to "too bad." You see the difference? This is a totally original quote because I am a man.

No wonder so many writers hid their gender behind pen names. They knew they wouldn't be taken seriously if people knew they were women.

a graph based on my observations

[realashergray]

Meet The Writer Tag!

I was tagged by @ink-on-poppies (thank you, dear, we should totally be friends)

1. Have you killed anyone in your WIP? How did they die?

I have killed several characters, considering my WIP takes place in Hell. Dmitri, for example, died of syphilis in 1938.

2. How many words approximately do you write in a good, productive day?

Oof I don’t really check by the day but I suppose around a thousand to two thousand words? When I have time around school and extracurriculars and stuff. For reference, Hell Fire is nearly complete (just needs some final revision before I start reaching out to editors) and is at about 52,000 words.

3. Which one of your OCs do you relate the most too? (Describe them)

Ummmm I relate to all my main characters for different reasons... Alvah is Jewish and gay and very funny, Dmitri is very kind, David is a talented writer and good at academic stuff...

4. Favorite line/paragraph/dialogue from your WIP?

I like this because I feel like Lucifer is a very interesting character in terms of motivations, and also because I think he would have made a great dad. Here:

“Why me? I mean- why did I wake up here in the first place? Am I… Special?” Lucifer shared a knowing look with Proserpina, and grinned again. “You are special, Alvah. Everyone is, in a way. But no, you're not special for coming here, alive. Lots of people do, unfortunately. There's a lot of cracks in our system for the living to slip through. It's just less common for them to make it to the mountain. They usually just die. So, considering you made it here, you can consider yourself extra special. And of course, Dmitri has proven himself, on more than one occasion, to be not only a skilled way-finder, but also an exceptional friend.” Neither Alvah nor Dmitri had any response to that, besides a glow of pride from the compliments. Lucifer saluted, a two finger salute that was somehow casual and impressive when done by the King of Hell. “If that’s all. See you around, Mencher.”

5. Which genre does your WIP belong to?

That’s the golden question, isn’t it? I would say it’s a satire but it’s a much lighter, less cutting satire than most; it’s a modern take on a classic; it’s a fantasy with a bit of horror and romance mixed in; and most of all, it’s a queer Jewish adventure through which I mock the source material. So... Do with that what you will, I guess.

6. Which author do you look up to?

Oh, that’s a good question. I really look up to Rick Riordan, as I perceive him based on his actions so far, but I also look up to a lot of other authors in terms of style. I guess my writing style isn’t really like anyone else’s, so I admire lots of different styles in a way.

7. How did you come up with the title? Is there a meaning behind it?

So, a major theme in Hell Fire is hypocrisy. And hell fire, the actual fire used to punish sinners such as heretics and simoniacs, is the closest thing to a physical manifestation of love. I wanted the title to not only convey a sense of location and pseudo-religious themes, but also have the title represent the hypocrisy of Dante’s The Divine Comedy, which it’s based off of.

8. Do you talk about your stories with your relatives?

Yes, on varying levels of detail. It’s kind of personal to me, and my family members, particularly the cishet ones, are prone to criticizing anything I do regarding social justice, so I don’t share much in detail with those folks. My siblings and “chosen family” of close friends, however, I share much more with.

9. Does writing dialogue or inner monologue come easier to you?

Definitely dialogue. I can hear their voices in my head. I’m told I’m a great conversationalist, so that might be why I have it so easy.

10. When did you start writing?

I started writing Hell Fire in July 2015. I don’t know exactly when I started writing books but I do have a construction paper picture book I made about losing a tooth when I was about five or six?

Thanks for tagging me! I don’t have the energy to come up with another ten questions so these folks and anyone who wants to can do the same questions as me: @toboldlywrite @xanderswriteblr @niva-writes @arwallace @jamesiriuspottr

[labourpress]

Carwyn Jones speech to Labour Party Conference

Carwyn Jones AM, Leader of Welsh Labour, First Minister of Wales, speaking at the Labour Party Conference in Brighton today, said:

 ***CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY***

 I want to begin by extending my thanks to Christina Rees, our Shadow Secretary of State for Wales. Sadly she can’t be with us this week as she’s nursing a broken foot.

 I don’t think there’s any truth in the rumour that she broke it kicking Alun Cairns around Parliament in the first week back, but we’ll ask her when we see her.

 We all wish you a speedy recovery, Chris.

 Secondly, let me say thank you to Jeremy for his continuing friendship and leadership.

Thank you, Jeremy for the dignity you showed in a tough general election campaign.

The Tories came after you in a personal and offensive manner, and you stood up to that onslaught and led the party with great determination and defied the odds.

 This time last year, the Tories thought they were marching to a 100-seat majority. Right now, they’re scared of their own shadows, let alone another general election. What a turn around that is.

 Conference, when I heard Theresa May was giving a speech in Florence, I thought how apt. Not so much in relation to the Renaissance, but more with a thought to the works of that great medieval poet, Dante. It has been clear to me for some time that the Department for Exiting the European Union regard the “Divine Comedy” as some sort of instruction manual. That masterpiece imagines in glorious detail the dark and terrifying journey through the nine circles of hell.

 Well, we’ve been going on our own journey for 15 months and still remain in the first circle of hell – limbo – a remarkable achievement. But, then Dante did have Virgil as his spiritual guide.

 David Davis has got Nigel Farage. The book really is worth a read as Brexit re-interpreted.  At one point, at the close of chapter XXI, Dante witnesses a demon mobilising his troops by using “an ass as a trumpet.”  Which goes to show that every century has its own Boris.

 Conference, this week in Wales we marked the 20th anniversary of the vote to establish devolution in our country.  It was a turning point for Wales, and a turning point for our Party. The list of achievements is one of which we can be proud – and it belongs not just to Welsh Labour, but to the whole Party and movement who made devolution possible.

 ·         Unemployment in Wales - routinely lower than the UK average. More jobs, better jobs – Welsh Labour delivering in Government.

·         Wales, the first country to move to a deemed consent model for organ donation in the UK. People owe their lives to that change in the law. Better laws, saving lives, Welsh Labour delivering in Government.

·         Free school breakfasts in primary schools. Giving children the best start to the day, giving parents a helping hand, giving teachers the attention they deserve in the classroom. Welsh Labour delivering in Government.

·         The attainment gap between better off and poorer pupils in England and Scotland continues to grow – in Wales it continues to shrink. A fair start to everyone in Wales, no matter where you’re born – that is Welsh Labour delivering in Government.

·         Our university students in Wales getting the best deal anywhere in the UK.

·         And who gets the best deal of all? Those students who can least afford university – that is Welsh Labour delivering in Government.

 But, it isn’t just about policy. It’s also about having a voice and someone to fight your corner. This week I gave a cautious welcome to the news that Tata Steel and ThyssenKrupp entered the first stage of a merger deal.  A deal that should safeguard sites and thousands of jobs in Wales.

 Does anyone honestly think that without devolution, without a Welsh Labour Government determined to take measures to save that industry, putting money on the table when others looked away, that those steel jobs would still be in Wales today?

Would the Tories have knocked down walls for the people of Port Talbot, Shotton, Newport or Llanelli? We all know the answer to that.

 With our colleagues in the trades unions, our MPs, our AMs and local councillors, Welsh Labour stood up for the steel industry – and we did what those banners and badges asked us to do – we saved our steel.

 Conference, we are proud to work with our trades union colleagues in Government.

Together we have built a genuine social partnership and together we are making Wales a Fair Work Nation.

 And Conference, earlier this month our Trades Union Act received Royal Assent.

That means that the pernicious attempts of the Tory Government to attack workers’ rights in Wales have been dis-applied, and, once again, workers in Wales have the protections we fought so hard to achieve. Protections everyone deserves.

That’s Welsh Labour delivering in Government.

 Devolution has given Wales a voice. And with Welsh Labour that voice speaks the language of social justice, fairness, good work, decent pay and thriving communities.

 Devolution has given us something else. A new-found confidence. It is something I see every day in young people in work, and in our schools and colleges. So where has that confidence come from? If you could personalise it, you’d have to give credit to my predecessor, Rhodri Morgan. As you know, Rhodri passed away earlier this year, leaving behind a fantastic roller coaster of a political career, a wonderful family and an ocean of anecdotes.  In May the Welsh Parliament held the closest thing Wales will ever have to a state funeral, and we gave Rhodri the perfect send off.

 It started late. It finished even later. In between there was a fantastic mix of poetry, politics, sport, laughter and tears. And at the end, no-one really thought about Rhodri the politician, but Rhodri as a big-hearted, intelligent and inquisitive man who loved his family above all else. A fine role model, who we all miss.

 Rhodri always said that Labour did best when it managed to mix together the mushy peas of old Labour with the guacamole of New Labour. Now, I’ve been in Rhodri’s kitchen and I can tell you that when it came to culinary combinations, Rhodri was not always the person you would go to – but on the politics, he, as so often, was absolutely right.  He was absolutely right about the need for our Party to reflect all sections of our membership, and all parts of this country.

 That was the key to our success in Wales in the last three elections.

 When the Party at UK level was under serious pressure, our unique and united Welsh Labour identity meant we remained relevant and competitive in the Assembly and local elections, when sadly others struggled. It was the unity that gave us success against the odds. And when in the last days of the general election the whole party surged, it meant we, in Wales, were starting from a higher base-line and, as a result, achieved 50% of the vote for the first time in 16 years.

 Our identity as a Party is robust, authentic and complementary to the UK Party as a whole. And, just as a country we will not countenance a roll-back of our devolution settlement; there can be no question of Welsh Labour’s long fought for, and hard won voice being diluted as we look to the future of our Party. I know that both Jeremy and Tom understand this, and I welcome their unwavering support for Wales. Thank you, both.

 Because Conference, we know Labour works best when we work together. Together, we fought a hugely successful general election campaign – not just holding on to what we had, but winning back seats for Labour.

 Vale of Clwyd – according to the bookmakers, Tories were 1/5 on to win. Result? Labour Gain. Gower – according to the bookies, Tories were 1/9 on to win. Result? Labour Gain. Cardiff North – Tories were 1/9 on. Result? Labour Gain.

 Working together we have exposed the Tories on broken promise after broken promise. On rail electrification in the north and the south – and we know what’s coming next – they’ll axe Swansea’s Tidal Lagoon.

 But, because Welsh Labour is in Government – there are things we can do. We are already delivering on our manifesto promises.

 ·         100,000 new good quality, all-age apprenticeships.

 ·         The most generous childcare offer for working parents anywhere in the UK.

 ·         And 20,000 more affordable homes.

 We can also deliver on priorities for the future of our NHS.

 There is no privatisation of the NHS in Wales – and whilst we have a Welsh Labour Government there will be no privatisation of the NHS in Wales. Only in Wales are ambulance crews hitting their targets – because we’ve worked with the service and designed a better way of working. And next week, the Welsh Government will publish new guidance for our pioneering legislation on safe nurse staffing levels in Wales.  

 Conference, Wales is the first country in Europe to legislate on nurse staffing levels. I am proud that Wales has taken the lead in this area, empowering nurses and ensuring the resources are there to care sensitively for patients. Legislation that the Party promised in the UK manifesto in May, already being delivered by a Labour Government in Wales.

 And working together we are making our communities better, fairer places to live.

When Carolyn Harris MP began her brave and dignified campaign to end child burial charges in the UK, we in Wales did not wait for the Tory Government to act. We said, yes, that is the right thing to do, and, as a result, the Welsh Labour Government has announced the abolition of all child burial charges in our country. That is what we can do when we work together.

 And the country needs us to work together more than ever before, as we fight the fundamentalists pursuing a hard Brexit. We are fighting tooth and nail against the Tory power grab, dressed up as the EU Withdrawal Bill. It shows up their Government as simply incapable of listening to other people’s views, or respecting their legitimate interests – in other words, as lacking the basic skills needed to negotiate successfully.

And looking at the way in which they are failing the country in their negotiations with the EU, I guess we shouldn’t be surprised.

 I’m delighted at the support we are receiving from Labour colleagues in Parliament at fighting this real threat to devolution as we have known it for the past 20 years.

I’m also incredibly proud of the work we have done together already – our team in Cardiff Bay has worked hand in glove with Keir Starmer and the front bench in developing our Brexit policies. As a result of that work, in Labour we now have a sensible, evidence-based, economically sound set of principles and ideas that can see this country through Brexit in an orderly manner.  

 Contrast that with the spectacle of the Tory approach. Sorry, correction – the various Tory approaches. Does anyone really know who speaks for them on Brexit anymore?

Where has the Prime Minister of this country gone? If,  before the general election, the country felt as though it had a robot for Prime Minister, we’d now be forgiven for thinking we have a hologram.

 She went to the country and asked for the support of our communities for a hard Brexit, the country said no. The country said no to some other things as well – our older people said no to being taken for granted. Wales said no to being short-changed. Scotland said no to independence. And crucially, our young people said no to being ignored. They said, through their votes, what we all feel - Britain deserves better than this. This country deserves a Labour Government in Westminster.

A Government that actually cares about the future.

 I know that the people of Wales need that more than ever. Under the Tories, we have had to take £1billion out of our public services in Wales. That’s the annual budget of the entire North Wales health board. Our communities are resilient, but they’re being unfairly punished. And with Theresa May and the Tories they will be asked to give yet more. To give up. To give up their livelihoods, their libraries, their leisure centres, and their right to a fair deal. To give up hope. Enough is enough. It is time for hope.  

 It is time for Labour, in Wales and in Westminster.  Standing up for Wales. Working for fairness. Working, together. Winning, together. That’s a future the country hopes for and that’s the country we can deliver. Together for Wales.  Together for Britain.

[dvtsr]

 // WHT IS A REFLECTION?

if(reading == reflection){

    please listen to (Han-Tyumi and The Murder of the Universe);              else (experience great boredom, following reflection is long winded);

}

THE POST-DIGITAL PROTOTYPE

With a project (//brief) this open it was hard to decide where to begin, the post digital was such a colossal topic it was easy to get lost in SPRINT tunnels where you would start fifty micro projects only to abandon them all and be left with nought.

Having grown up with my nose in a book, specifically Sci-Fi epic’s and dystopian thrillers, this studio option was an easy pick. When given the brief, rather than a solid idea I had a feeling I wanted to encapsulate. A pseudo Orwellian future in which we are monitored constantly, not menacingly but very blatantly. 14 year old me would have been disappointed by the mediocralypse we are living through. Instead of a cold judge Dredd / Robocop patrolling the streets it is Siri watching us, reminding us to take an umbrella less we catch a cold.

When I got my new iPhone [TM(TM) TM] I turned off all the regular ad/ tracking settings only to find within a few weeks that without me having ever set anything, it knew where work was, when I was working and when I was coming back home. This was on by default, hidden in settings be-riddled with sudden jargon. 

(the setting was frequent locations) INITIAL BRAINSTORMING:

With all the aforementioned in mind I chose to focus on “looking at screens works both ways.” For the first part of this task I initially wanted to create a book out of paper that would dissolve under certain conditions, or create a publication that reflected my sentiments that I would expand upon in this final segment. However as I continued my research on the “post digital,” I began to think about my own future as both a designer and individual. The design industry is simultaneously competitive and collaborative. I thought a lot about what kinds of clients I wanted to attract, sectors I wanted to work in and what set me apart as my own designer. There are enough/too many Frankie magazine designers already, regurgitating the same grid patterns and shallow works, printing the same idea month after month.  

This is A Magazine, Compendium #3 “Chaos Happens.”  Shown work by: Flutro-Creative Services Unit 

It was from here that I realised that I personally couldn’t make another perfect bound print publication as my own interests didn’t align with this. To expand my practice I decided I needed to buckle down and do something I had little experience in. This is how I landed on coding. Whilst a daunting task I really do believe to evolve and stay ahead of the AI-designer-DoomBots who will inevitably replace us, it’s imperative we learn thy enemy. To bring something other than roast, peas and mash to the dinner table. 

In the same way we swapped traditional waterfall methods in our ideation/prototyping phase I wanted to SPRINT my own portfolio and make use of the opportunity to work on a concept driven design as opposed to a finished work. Whilst AI can mimic human semantics and create pretty websites it is yet to learn to think of it’s OWN ideas and it is this that is perhaps our best asset as flesh and bone.  On the same tangent, I wanted to explore the popularity of computer companionship. With the Mac OSX Sierra update, ‘Siri’ also lives in your desktop. Amazon released ‘Alexa’ and Google retaliated with ‘Google Home.’ All bots designed to assist your livelihood by taking over rudimentary tasks such as adding items to cart, checking the weather or playing music. The real appeal in these bots is not their ability to tell you what time it is in Denmark but their capability for relatively smooth, realistic conversation. How is it in a world more connected than ever, we feel isolated enough to require a live at home robot companion?

Like a housewife from the 50′s, only Alexa can’t stick her head in the oven!

It was from here that I began looking into the feeling of loneliness in the post digital scape. Looking through my phone I found screenshots I had taken from a twitch stream of two google home bots set up such that they could converse with each other (side note: the rise of streaming culture/ Instagram live is an interesting foray into how we consume media and how rapidly it’s changing!! Saving it for another post!!) .

V: “what date” E: “the date you’re going to take me on.” V: “I don’t know we’ll have to see” Too real google, too real  :----(

“If you don’t want to talk about Harry Potter I’m leaving”

Which reminded me of my own experiences chatting with bots. Cleverbot was super popular while I was in primary school as were portable offline versions of this with devices like 20Q. Our romanticism of talking to an algorithm is evidently nothing new. As AI ultimately reflects our own speech, is wanting to imbue human qualities in a string of data the ultimate form of narcissism?  Or is it our collective cry for help, to save us from our own loneliness.  This theory culminated when I read through/devoured The Age of Earthquakes: A Guide to the Extreme Present by Shumon Basar and co. (thx for lettin’ me borrow it Andy).  

Growing up with video games it wasn’t until recently I’d noticed how isolated games that weren’t MMO or server based made me feel. Disconnected almost.  Even open world games like the Witcher never truly asked:

Thus they never responded to my most current emotional needs. It was from there that I decided I wanted to create my own solution to this. I started with idea of collecting meta-data to fill in variables in a block of text. After strenuous research I realised with the time available and my lack of prior experience the code required to string this together was far too complex. From there I dug into machine learning some more,  finally discovering Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS is a corporate orientated tech service which provides servers and API’s to aid in a vast range of analytic type applications. It was pay-per-use however as I was not sending it 10,000 hits at once it was a couple of cents per request.  Unfortunately the AWS Rekognition software (which is infinitely cool, able to recognise objects, faces, expressions, age, gender and gestures with a certain amount of certainty) was region locked to North America and very buggy through my VPN :--(

I did get it to work a few times. Ultimately this was weeks of learning python and wrangling with Terminal down the drain. Deflated I wasted a few too many nights out/at bars trying not to think about my impending failure for this assignment. It was from there that I found Microsoft Azure, a similar service to AWS it provided the same recognition and the added promise of analysing “emotion.” Again I put in my credit card details only to find that the API was locked to North American servers and also too complex to incorporate for my own uses. In my growing list of abandoned ideas, I’d hoped to incorporate the raspberry pi into my project mostly because I really wanted to play with it. I loved the appeal of it’s blank canvas nature and the anarchy within creating your own systems as opposed to simply absorbing what is fed to you. At this point I’m losing a lot of sleep over /getting it done./ I’d watched hour upon hour of Java and then Python tutorial hoping to build this damn application. I then came upon openFrameworks (OF). Similar to Processing, OF is an arts-engineering toolkit, like well fertilised soil is to plants oF makes the coding process easier. However it is still just a nursing ground and to plant and grow your project you still need a firm grasp on the basics and semantics of C++.  It was at this point I discovered  http://www.facetracker.net, an Open CV2  library for ~ tracking dat face ~  Developed by Jason Saragih, it was wrapped for openFrameworks by Kyle McDonald. Most of the resources used in this project ended up being Frankenstein-ed together as I found most online tutorials were either lacking or 7 years old. Equipped with a source code I was still inept at writing a code to utilise this library. This project was like trying to solve a puzzle where all the pieces are made of bubbles and the instructions are in Russian. Luckily for me I love puzzles. I went on self loathing wiki-hole after wiki-hole trying to find help. I had all the parts I just didn’t know how to make them work together.  

* note time stamps * Luckily openFrameworks came with a small library of tutorials which sent me in a better direction. It was 4 am and I was getting delusional when I finally stumbled upon a template Dan Wilcox had developed around FaceTracker for students at Carnegie Mellon Universities School of Art Faculty ( In Pittsburgh USA). This became the skeleton which I broke and rebuilt and furthered to build my own monster. 

I changed the colours on my compiler (Xcode) so I felt more like hackerman B--) From there I did far more math than to my liking to integrate my facial structure into the algorithms:

If I had been more apt at coding I would have liked to have actual face recognition as opposed to tracking. Baby steps, perhaps for my next project. I started with the idea of the book changing large volumes  of text depending on expressions, however it was too difficult to maintain one expression for any extraneous period of time. Coming back to my initial research ( with content driven on current emotional needs) I decided to use poetry. For each relevant emotion I assigned a poem/snippet which I both cherish and relate to a feeling. 

The emotions and poems I ended up with are as follows: Happy: ->  smiling Yes Yes, Charles Bukowski Angry: -> brows furrowed and eyes squinted Snippet of The Divine Comedy - Inferno, Dante Alighieri  Shocked: -> mouth open Alone with Everybody, Charles Bukowski Tired: -> close to the screen Rhapsody on a Windy Night, TS Eliot

Confused: -> Far from screen Jabberwocky, CS Lewis

As emotions are never singular, neither are the outputs. If you show signs of multiple emotions they will clash and play at the same time. The fluidity of the text on screen mirrors the unanchored nature of thoughts and feelings.  I also initially did not have the little face on screen, however found it more charming/uncomfortable to see a visual reminder of your constant surveillance.  Whilst un-menacing it is slightly disgruntling to know you are being watched. Some test screens (as in the opening GIF):

 Now armed with a deliverable software, my next hurdle was submission. I wanted to incorporate a physical art element that grounds the project as something tangible whilst maintaining the romanticism in the playful app, i.e I didn’t want to have it simply downloaded from a boring dropbox or CD as the prototype relies on “ inspiring a hope for a future outcome. ”  To physical represent both my Frankenstein-ed code (which has been passed down forward and tweaked by four generations of people to get to this!! In the spirit of open source I will also upload my version to GitHub) I deconstructed an old hard drive and replaced its casing with old mobile phones. Another technology rapidly evolving and leaving behind carcasses. Building new through old, forging future with the bones of the past. It also includes a charger noose to remind viewers of the potential perils of living entirely online. This is countered by cute stickers and a smiley face to also remind viewers that things moving forwards doesn’t have to be scary.

In conclusion this Studio was like an incredible buffet in which I took way too much food but enjoyed all of it none the less. The book club meetings were incredibly rewarding and a pleasant change of pace from other classes. I’ve learnt so so much from class discussions and just being surrounded by super super suppppperrrr work. These are all concepts/skills/thought processes I’ll carry forward into future works both in academia and beyond. Honestly though my favourite part has just been absorbing other peoples works. Through and through my favourite class ( and the only class I’d come to uni at 9 am for.) 💖🌸💕💗 Thank u everybody for an incredible semester!  

[yaralobeid]

Dante Alighieri

A few years ago, I was in a book store when I came across a book called Inferno by Dan Brown. Some of you might know Dan Brown through his books Angels and Demons and The Da Vinci Code. I’ve read Angels and Demons probably two or three times throughout high school (because I’m a Renaissance and philosophy geek) and I figured if I really liked that, then I’d definitely like Inferno. Most of Dan Brown’s books are boring in the beginning, but once you get through introducing the characters and addressing the issue, it’s impossible to tear away from the reading. Dan Brown’s Inferno is based on the original epic poem Inferno by Dante Alighieri, an Italian poet of the Late Middle Ages. I got really into the book but I really wanted to read the original piece for myself before reading Dan Brown’s Inferno. So I stopped reading Dan Brown’s Inferno, went to the library, and picked out a random translated version of Inferno.  For those of you who don’t know anything I’m talking about, here is some background knowledge on the piece. Inferno is the first “book” of three (the piece as a whole is considered more as an epic poem) in the trilogy originally called La commedia (The Comedy) and later named La divina commedia (The Divine Comedy). The books are broken into three realms of the afterlife: hell, purgatory, and heaven (inferno, purgatorio,paradiso). What makes this piece great (well one reason of many I should say) is that Dante, who was a devout Catholic Christian, wrote this so beautifully that it evoked even non-believers (and many people of other religions). At first, I was disappointed thinking it was strictly a religious (Christian to be exact) piece because I am not religious what so ever. But I was pleasantly surprised as I continued to read the piece. Here is an excerpt from Reading Dante: From Here to Eternity by Prue Shaw that could explain this better.

“Dante works within an orthodox religious framework. Yet the poem is absorbing and surprising in its capacity to move, to provoke and to engage the reader, of any faith or non, with the most fundamental questions about the human condition. Dante is a good catholic but an independent thinker. He is determined to understand what is to be a human being, and the place of the individual in society and in the cosmos – universal concerns that transcend any age or system of religious belief. Far from merely being a spokesman or medieval Catholic orthodoxy, he can reach conclusions his contemporaries found disconcerting and even dangerous.”

Instead of writing it in Latin, like all writers and poets did in his time, Dante wrote his pieces in the Tuscan dialect, which was extremely unorthodox for the period he lived in. This set the tone for Italian writers after him. 

“This Independence of mind is revealed early in the poem, when we find the great philosophers and poets of antiquity – Homer, Plato and Aristotle, among many others—occupying a place of special privilege on the edge of hell.”

This dude literally makes his characters real people who lived before him and during his life (some he may have known personally, some he may have known indirectly, and some he may have never met before and probably just heard of) and places them in a specific circle of hell (depending on how they lived their life or how they died, or to put it bluntly, how they sinned). Adam (yes, the “first man on Earth” makes an appearance, the last person Dante speaks to before entering the Empyrean), Aeneas (the Hero of Virigil’s Epic poem the Aeneid), Brutus (the killer of Julius Caesar), Cicero, Pope Boniface VIII (and many other popes), and even Cleopatra make an appearance! Dante pretty much writes about what Hell looks like and how it’s designed. Basically, its broken into nine circles, each symbolizing a sin. Here are the circles to make it easier:

Circle One: Limbo which contains people who have been unbaptized or are virtuous pagans. Second Circle: Lust Third Circle: Gluttony Fourth Circle: Greed Fifth Circle: Wrath Sixth Circle: Heresy Seventh Circle: Violence Eighth Circle: Fraud Ninth Circle: Treachery

Dante goes through all these circles of hell and interacts with the souls of the dead, learning much about himself and humanity as a whole.

Another excerpt from Reading Dante:

“Dante’s physical journey through this strange terrain is matched by a mental and psychological journey, a journey in knowledge and understanding. The protagonist learns as he goes. By the end, he has not just resolved his spiritual crisis; he has become the person who is capable of writing the poem which records that experience. Specifically and artistic progress prove to follow the same trajectory…”

Dante ties in philosophy, art, mythology, religion and even politics into his piece to question our questions: what is it like to be a human? What happens in the afterlife? How are we judged based on what we do/how we live our life? What is the human condition? 

[clint52318111422-blog]

Girls Writers In Fantasy.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Researchers have recognized a brand new types from great ape on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, locating that a tiny populace of orangutans residing its own Batang Toru rainforest values awareness as the third species of these shaggy red tree dwellers. In best TWENTY, there are 8 and also 12 in leading 30. Despite setbacks of ranking standards, it is actually ture that UNITED STATE is a leading nation in this particular area. Zazzle is a great technique making tailored items for only any celebration imaginable! I believe, if a writer has actually revaled his genuine name, you might address all of them as such, else there is actually a really good main reason why some favor and have developed a pen label to begin with. In Great Britain, the prime minister, the cupboard, as well as the assemblage cooperate in the leadership of the nation. I must admit that I am actually bad of many 'do not' when making my business title. The Boks have been actually reached due to the absence of their overseas-based players as the component drops outside the worldwide home http://mikaels-gym-exercises.info window, and also will name their edge in the future Thursday. You ought to not help make the name a bigger problem than it needs to be actually. Yes, it is crucial yet the even more you search for that best label, the more likely you are to overcomplicate the title. Great whites eat lifeless, sickly and also perishing sea critters, in addition to nearly everything that relocates, or even points that don't move!

There are 1000 of miles of excellent motorcycle roadways in this country and there are countless excellent locations like natural surprises like the Grand Canyon or Niagra Tumbles or historic web sites as well as towns/cities. Sauteed veggies add a hint from sweetness, while the top coating of breadstuff receives an ever-so-slight char that provides a slight problem. Still that is actually likewise essential to keep in mind that much more than any one of those guitarists Blackmore made his label on solos. Dante took Beatrice to the globe's attention nearly 700 years earlier, as the title from the excellent girl in his Divine Comedy. Cushion leading cushions often last a lot longer than standard beds given that they return to their proper shape after each night's rest. Head Of State Nikola Gruevski states the Skopje 2014 job will certainly create a capital worthwhile from the label and also mirror Macedonia's ancient grandeur, but enemies claim that is actually a distraction that throws away required sources in one of Europe's poorest countries. There are numerous points you may do to assist you think of the best label for your company. The name modification was enough to deliver the allotments from the business located in Hicksville, The big apple, soaring virtually 200 percent Thursday. Through reaching as lots of keyword phrases as possible, a specific website elevates its own position in different online search engine like Yahoo and Google.com. Rather than making make believe terms, Its much much better to make use of a domain that contains the actual key phrases that individuals could be actually taking part in Google to discover info. Hosting business typically possess your domain co-hosting dozens domains on a solitary server.

[sometimesrosy]

Do you think the show will end with Bellarke as a family with biological children and Madi ofc. Or, will it end dark with one of them dead etc?

That I can’t say. JR once said that he didn’t know which way he was going to end the series. With hope for the heroes, or the heroes dead but giving hope to everyone else.

However, he said that a few years ago, and I feel like I’ve seen some changes in the show that trend towards the positive, rather than the tragic.

I actually have a theory that he’s being influenced by The Divine Comedy, that this story follows the track of that, loosely. And it’s not a baseless theory, seeing as there is a character named “Dante,” they showed a painting illustrating “The Inferno,” and named episode 3.03 after what was written over the gates of hell in the inferno, “Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here.” 

My original theory was that season 3 followed Dante’s Inferno. And it did kinda. But somewhere in season 4, I realized that Dante’s Inferno was only the first part of the trilogy, and the trilogy was called The Divine Comedy. 

Dante called his epic poem a comedy because, unlike tragedies that begin on a high note and end tragically, comedies begin badly but end well. The poem indeed ends well, with the protagonist, also named Dante, reaching his desired destination – heaven – a place of beauty and calm, light and ultimate good. [x]

Oh. Oh, hey look at this.

HOLY CRAP. Does that look familiar? Like the end of book one a bit? That is Dante and Beatrice at the end of their journey to heaven. [x]

ANYway. I’m flipping out a little bit googling paradiso and dante and beatrice. Divine Comedy is an allegory for morality, I think. I read The Inferno in college, but never Purgatorio or Paradiso. What I’m reading about Paradiso is a bit too heavy on the catholic mindset for me. I am not nor have I ever been Christian although I’ve studied a bit, so is a struggle for me. I’m trying to read through the christianity, which is fair for The 100, because it isn’t a christian allegory, although I’d say it is a moral one. 

But if I’m reading this right, we might have finished up with purgatorio with the finale of season 5, leaving Clarke and Bellamy as the central story and Clarke as the central figure in Bellamy’s life again. It seems as if they will be together during it, as Dante and Beatrice were? HOWEVER, there will be a time when Bellamy thinks he’s lost Clarke. Another Bellarke separation? I’d say definitely on the books. We’ve had one each season. This time I think it may be along the lines of “lost love” rather than a betrayal. So that will be our Bellarke “all is lost” moment, but in the finale they will be together again.

As long as this works on a one season storyline, not a two season one. TBH, the structure is pretty complicated and hard to pin down, because different storylines run on different structures. Some lasting one season or half a season and some lasting 5 seasons or beyond. I’m definitely leaning towards this Dante’s Divine Paradise being Bellamy’s story. So what is Clarke’s? The Illiad? Is she Odysseus or Penelope? Or both? IDK. 

Sorry I fell down the rabbit hole. My original point is that If this story is modeled after The Divine Comedy, that means it will end up well. Because a classic comedy starts out in hell and ends up happy… in heaven. They LITERALLY descended below the earth where they met monsters. You can find parallels in season 3 to the rings of hell. They have THREE realms, underground (hell), earth (purgatory) space (heaven.)  They are ascending and descending all the time. They have wise guides taking the role of virgil all the time (lincoln, maya, monty.)

However I think there is some ambiguity in the end of Paradiso, since humans CAN’T see the face of god. So The 100 will reach heaven and a happy ending, but we won’t really know how it ends for Clarke and Bellamy. (but I do believe them being together will be canon. Although the real Dante and Beatrice remained unrequited, the fictional Dante and Beatrice found true love and were together. Actually Dante wrote the story after Beatrice’s death I think.)

But let’s keep an eye out for that “Celestial Rose” imagery up there. With the symmetry and the central mandala like figure. We’ve already seen it with the final scene and Clarke and Bellamy seeing the new planet. AND we got a sneak peek of another with that bts castle pick. The shape in the arch is ANOTHER Celestial Rose, so that makes me think we’ll have some spirituality on the new planet and I think it will be literal, not metaphorical. I think the alien whatever is going to be like a god. 

I never read Purgatorio or Paradiso and I’m not going to, but I’m seeing a lot of symbolism that it shares in common with The 100, and actually that has been in a lot of science fiction and fantasy and mythology that I’ve read and watched all my life. Maybe that’s why I’m picking up on it here. It’s an archetypal story based on The Divine Comedy, but filtering throughout all sorts of stories we tell.

Let me post this. I’m just thinking things through at this point. Hope you can follow.