#at some point it was re-anglicized to

[dude1818]

Time for a Dennou Coil rewatch while we wait for The Orbital Children to start next week

I love that the classic handphone survives past the end of the existence of cell phones. The first iPhone came out the year this aired, so the flat phone wasn’t in the zeitgeist yet, but this is such a better skeuomorph for an AR phone than holding your palm to your head. That could mean anything

I adore how all the bots, daemons, and code snippets are cute little yokai. It’s very Shinto, but cyperpunk. I also hadn’t realized the first time I watched this show, but every character is always wearing the AR glasses, it’s just that the art style makes it so that you can barely tell. Their facial expressions aren’t blocked at all, and it’s very clever

I had completely forgotten how strange this was. Yeah this is a world in which AR is as widespread as smartphones are in ours, but it’s this specific town with the killer drones and hostile enforcement of the digital space. There’s absolutely no reason for it

[languages-with-ian]

And another question re: Gaelic post…can you talk more about Scots, and how it came to be seen as the more “educated” language compared to Gaelic, as well as how the language is viewed now?

Barrie quaisten!

SCOTS

Scots is another Anglic language closely related to English. There is heated debate (often, unfortunately, along political party lines) over whether it should be considered a language or a dialect. However, the linguistic consensus is that Scots is indeed its own distinct language, complete with its own vocabulary, grammar rules, and historical character. It's akin to the relationship between Danish and Norwegian - while they share a relatively recent common ancestor and have influenced each other over the course of history (however lop-sided that influence may be), they are indeed separate languages.

Around the 600s CE, a new language appeared in the southeast corner of Scotland, back when this area was under the control of certain new-ish arrivals to the island who spoke a Germanic tongue. At this point, Middle Irish (modern Gaelic's immediate ancestor) was the court language of Scotland, and would remain so until the reign of David I, crowned in 1124. Scots is said to have begun diverging from the Northumbrian Old English dialect in earnest by the 1100s, although records of the language are sparse before about 1375 (the beginning of the Early Scots literary period) owing to Viking and English "meddling" (some light raiding here, some plundering there, general theft, and so on). Owing to its Northumbrian origin and heavier Scandinavian influence (stemming from close ties with the Danelaw), Scots has more of an Anglian and Norse character to it as opposed to its relatively more Saxon-y, Norman-y cousin to the south (i.e., English). Scots has also had much closer contact with languages like Scottish Gaelic and even Pictish and Cumbric (which I'll be sure to cover in a future post), and as a result has been influenced in its vocabulary and phonology.

It has several dialects of its own, broadly categorized by location, ranging from Borders Scots to Orcadian Scots and everything in between. (And we can't forget Ulster Scots, a dialect brought to Ulster during the 1600s by Lowlander planters.) Due to this variation, modern Scots has no clear standardized form, though linguists have made several halfway-serious attempts over the past century or so to standardize orthography.

But what's been going on with Scots between David I and the present day? Let's dig in.

David I (in Gaelic, Daibhidh I mac Mhaoil Chaluim), who reigned from 1124 to 1153, initiated the proliferation of proto-urban societies across his kingdom. These societies were called "burghs", or "touns" in Scots, and they'll come in handy later. At about this same time, Norman French began to infiltrate the Scottish nobility, and Gaelic began to decline as a language of prestige among higher levels of society.

Once the 1200s started to creep around, the northern dialect of Early Middle English that would become Scots began expanding ever northward towards the Forth-Clyde line. This dialect was called "Inglis" by its speakers, and over the next century, it began to supplant Norman French and Gaelic as a common language within the burghs. The 1300s saw this "Inglis" tongue grow in prestige and it began to eclipse Norman French at even the higher levels of society, particularly within the courts. As the 1400s approached, it even began to replace Latin as the language of ecclesiastical and royal court proceedings.

The 1400s saw a relatively rapid geographic spread of Scots at the expense of Gaelic, which was cornered into the Highlands, Western Isles, and small pockets in the Lowlands (viz. Galloway, where Gaelic survived at least up to 1760). By the early 1500s, Scots began to be known as "Scottis", and Gaelic, which had previously been referred to thus, was now being dubbed "Erse" ("Irish") in attempts to otherize Gaelic. The 1500s saw the advent of Middle Scots, which was, in my amateur opinion, the golden era of the language, owing to its undisputed support at all levels of society across most of the kingdom. Around this time, a loose written standard did exist, but the language was still written how it sounded and regional variation was commonplace.

1567, however, saw the coronation of James VI of Scotland (note: James I of England and Ireland as well from 1603 on). His famous Bible translation (KJV) helped to set in motion the gradual Anglicization of Scottish society as it was dispersed among the population. In 1603, the Union of the Crowns brought Scots-speaking and English-speaking nobles into closer contact, and English gradually began to dominate the speech of the Scottish nobility (this exchange would produce what is now Scottish English, a distinct standardized dialect of English that some argue is one end of a linguistic spectrum, at the other end being "braid Scots").

Beginning in 1610 and continuing through to the 1690s, Scottish planters from across the western Lowlands and the Borders began to settle in Ulster, the northeastern region of Ireland. Over time, this group of people would come to develop their own regional identity, the Ulster Scots (or, often in a New World context, Scots-Irish). Their local dialect of Scots, while maintaining a Lowland character, picked up various influences from Hiberno-English (particularly in phonology) and from the Irish language (various contributions of vocabulary).

By about 1700, written Scots, at least in an official capacity, had become almost completely Anglicized. An example of an Anglicized convention introduced to Scots writing is the "apologetic apostrophe", an apostrophe that was inserted into a Scots word where an English-speaking person might expect a letter to be (for example, the Scots word "wi" (in English, "with") would have been written wi'). In 1707, the Acts of Union (Note: Panama played a role) seemed to solidify a shift in the upper-class opinion of the Scots language - what scarcely 150 years before was seen as the national language was now looked down upon by the nobility as "uneducated speech" or "bad English".

However, things looked different from a lower- and middle-class perspective. Contrary to high society, the common people began to take a renewed interest in the Scots language, and a literary revival began. This mid-1700s revival gave us such world-famous names as Robert Burns, Walter Scott, and Thomas Campbell. It was at this time that Scots transitioned from Middle to Modern Scots. However, features such as the apologetic apostrophe were retained during this period to gain wider readership among an English-speaking audience, a market that now effectively spanned the globe. (Meanwhile, the Highlands and Lowlands each experienced their own set of Clearances, and Scotland's diaspora began their journey to the edges of the empire.)

By the early 1800s, this "Scots fever" (NOTE: not a technical term) had reached the upper classes of society as they increasingly turned a Romanticist eye to the literature of their homeland, while simultaneously keeping Gaelic at arm's length. Since this point, there hasn't been any sort of top-level, government-sanctioned, institutional spelling reform or rulebook published on Scots orthography, although this hasn't stopped a wealth of Scots poetry and prose from being published through the years.

Since this era, there has been a relatively steady stream of interest in the language, though recent government initiatives have been taken to attempt to ensure the survival of, and increase interest in, Scots. This 2010 study by the Scottish Government sheds some light on modern public perception of the language within Scotland itself.

Over in Northern Ireland, the Ulster-Scots Agency was established as part of the wider Belfast Agreement of 1998 in efforts to promote the language and wider culture.

It's not all roses these days, however. A couple of years ago, it came to light that a North Carolina teenager had been, for over seven years, writing entries on the Scots Wikipedia, without any knowledge of the language. One Reddit user remarked that this teenager had caused "more damage to the Scots language than anyone else in history." (Perhaps take this with a grain of salt.)

Would you like to help protect the language?

The best way to protect a language is to learn it! If you click that link, there are several resources for adult learners of Scots to start their journey. My perennial advice, though: once you've got the basics down, use it! Find a Scots speaker and stumble your way through a conversation. Don't be afraid of making mistakes! (Note: everyone makes them.) One resource I've used in the past to learn some basics is the Open University's (entirely free!) Scots language and culture online course. All you need to do is sign up and work through the modules!

Follow for more linguistics and share this post! If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

[nobrashfestivity]

Re: Rothko and identity politics - his words tell some of the story but not necessarily all of it. He was a Latvian-born Jewish immigrant who anglicized his name as an adult because of concerns about anti-Semitism. Much like Hollywood, it's not surprising that artists in earlier generations made choices to assimilate, and either felt that their identities did not have a place in the art market, or that they were safer leaving them behind. The idea of art as an ideally frictionless experience, where the viewer doesn't have to or need to think about the artist, feels like a very consumer-oriented one. I understand the point of view that when identity statements feel more and more mandatory, it makes some artists feel ghettoized or objectified for their identities, and that's not great. In either case it's hard to get away from the idea of art as a commodity.

(Love your blog, read it daily!)

Thanks for your message.

I am not sure I understand your point. It seems like you're suggesting because of discrimination, artists need to use their cultural identities to help level the playing field. I think in Rothko's case, of course, but simply changing his name is a little different I feel than what's being talked about here.

I think it's become a question of hyperbole that galleries love and many artists love because it makes them seem serious and talented. It confronts the viewer with this kind of academic assertiveness trying to scare them into thinking the art contains something they cannot see.

It's kind of detrimental to people actually learning about art if every dumb John Currin nude has to be filtered though a "My experience of being probed by aliens has lead me to this soulful expression about the liminal space between Bart and Lisa."

It is a complex issue, absolutely, and I'm not for banning anyone from doing anything, quite the opposite. I want everyone to enjoy making and experiencing art, even the cork-sniffers. And i do believe that effort must be made to bring in people that were discriminated against in the art world.

It's simply that it's bad enough to suffer through a "Is this a pile of rags on the floor or a Bushwick art exhibit" experience without the extra intellectual terrorism.

for as long as this has been around I am always amazed how accurate it is-

[the-eclectic-wonderer]

re: Dorothy and Italian. In Triple Play it's said Sophia really pushed an American identity to Dorothy, so if she was really doing her best for Dorothy to assimilate and be seen as American she might not have taught her Italian and Dorothy might only have picked up what she heard around the home. (This actually plays into a headcanon I have that Dorothy and Phil's names were Anglocized, bc think about it. Especially with Gloria in the mix.)

Ooh, this is really interesting!! I haven't watched Triple Play in a while and I completely forgot about this -- I'll have to go jog my memory soon. Thank you for the tip, anon!

I very much subscribe to your hc about Dorothy and Phil's names! Dorothy actually gets called Dorotea by Italian-speaking characters in the show a couple of times (for example in S3E22: Rose's Big Adventure), and Phil could very well be an anglicized and shortened version of Filippo. Gloria speaks for itself, of course. :)

Speaking of this: I'm pretty sure Sophia also got her name anglicized when she immigrated from Sicily! The original Italian spelling is Sofia, but it's pronounced in more or less the same way as Sophia. I'm willing to bet she just said 'Sofia' when she went to get her documents (if she got any documents at some point...) and it was written down with the American spelling. This happens fairly often to immigrants, as far as I know!

[randomvarious]

Falco - "Der Kommissar" 1981 Synthpop / Neue Deutsche Welle / Pop-Rap / New Wave

I think something that's lost on a lot of people when it comes to hip hop music is, really, just how quickly it managed to spread after scoring its first ever hit in 1979, with The Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight"—which was also, remarkably, just the second song that the genre had ever released up until that point. There seems to be a general presumption that the music largely remained within the confines of the New York-metropolitan area, but as I'm about to show you, that notion is actually pretty false.

See, what I think most Americans have never really come to realize is just how deeply seismic of an event the release of "Rapper's Delight" was on a global scale. It was a modest hit in its home country, reaching #36 on the Billboard Hot 100, and it did prove to a lot of New Yorkers who frequented the hip hop parties that this hobby of rhyming rhythmically and extemporaneously over extended disco-type breaks could actually be successfully metabolized into dollars, which people originally had their doubts about. But where "Rapper's Delight" actually performed much better commercially was in Europe: it went to #5 in Austria; #3 in the UK and West Germany; #2 in Belgium, France, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland; and #1 in the Netherlands and Spain.

And for Europeans who were hearing that song in 1979 and 1980, with all its pervasiveness, the fact that it sounded pretty much unlike *anything* that they'd ever heard before, and that rapping was also easily replicable, there was no doubt that "Rapper's Delight" was going to then end up inspiring a whole lot of different musicians to try their hand at something like it too.

So, while we largely tend to think of some of hip hop's earliest records as being made solely by New Yorkers (actually, the Sugarhill Gang were impostrous nobodies from New Jersey), that's actually pretty shortsighted, because some European acts were quick to start incorporating it into their own music too.

And such was the case with Austrian pop sensation Falco, who released his country's first known hip hop record in 1981, with "Der Kommissar," which also served as his breakout single, managing to not just top the charts in German-speaking countries like Austria and West Germany, but the ones in Spain and Italy too. Now, "Der Kommissar" is certainly not hip hop as we've come to know it; there's no DJ or record scratching, or a sampled or re-created beat; and first and foremost, it's a Neue Deutsche Welle (German new wave) tune. But there is clearly a lot of rapping on this record, and there's little doubt that the sudden Euro-popularity of "Rapper's Delight" is what initially sparked that fuse. I mean, this is before Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five even released "The Message" in 1982, mind you—another very early hip hop cornerstone. That's how early we're talking here. So, pretty fascinating when put into that context, no?

Now, maybe if you're an American, you're far more familiar with the 1982 Anglicized cover of this song by UK band After the Fire instead, as the video for it received heavy rotation on MTV, which then led to significant radio airplay, and then eventually a peak at #5 on the Hot 100. But Falco's German-language version is the one that came first.

And while Falco's only really rippled in the US, managing to reach just #74 on the Cash Box chart and #10 on the Billboard dance chart, the success of After the Fire's version appears to be what actually helped propel it into a very minor US hit in the first place. And that's just sort of funny, right? Like, the only reason that your record's even selling a little bit in such a huge market as the US' is because some other band who covered your song in English the following year is getting almost all of the limelight for it? That's a fun dynamic, huh? But Falco would still end up making *serious* inroads in the US a few years later anyway, with his terrific chart-topper, "Rock Me Amadeus," which also happened to have a bunch of rapping in it too.

So, ultimately there were two videos that were shot for Falco's "Der Kommissar" and this is the one that was released in the US. It's a very low-budget affair, in which Falco performs in front of a screen that shows footage of police cars traveling with their blue lights on, as he continuously makes like he's running away from them. And the song's about a couple who are on the run from the law—the titular 'kommissar'��so this very literal depiction certainly fits.

And actually, there were a lot more records from outside the US that both incorporated hip hop and also predate the release of "Der Kommissar" too. I came across this very enlightening list recently on RateYourMusic that shows what the earliest known hip hop release is for a bunch of different countries, and a lot of them happen to be from way earlier than you've probably ever thought! 🤯

Evidently, hip hop's been a global phenomenon for a bit longer than many people seem to realize 👀.

More fun videos here.

[clarenecessities]

✨🍀 re: wow toons (idk what that is so pls enlighten me!)

AHAHAHA YES!!!! <-sicko voice

✨- How did you come up with the OC’s name?

🍀 - What originally inspired the OC?

these go hand in hand so i'm doin' 'em together >:3c so wow toons are what you call your different world of warcraft characters, of which i have... 12? 15? some multiple of three. i shall describe each of them in turn bc you've inadvertently activated my trap card.

Sétanta - my very first wow character. he's a worgen bc obviously i'm going to pick the werewolf race, come on. i made him a druid bc i heard you could turn into even more animals and this pleased me. He's named for Cú Chulainn (Hound of Culann), who renamed himself that as a kid. I pronounce it 100% wrong, with an /s/ at the start and a /t/ in the middle, but that's what happens when you learn all your words by reading as a small child. i pronounced seamus See-Miss until i was like 16. it could be worse.

Seidrin - As I was fleshing him out i accidentally went way too hard on his mom's backstory, so when I wanted to make a tank she was the natural choice. her dad is the wolf god Goldrinn, who I decided (fancifully) to pretend was named for galdra, one of the kinds of norse magic. -inn being the masculine name suffix, i changed it tothe feminine -in and named her for seiðr magic instead. went with a d instead of a th bc logan very wisely pointed out the "-drin-" mirrors Goldrinn.

Crimthann - Sétanta's dad. I wanted to make a healer and I was like you know what would be really funny? If I named his dad after another guy who renamed himself for an animal. And Crimthann (an old irish name meaning 'fox') is often alleged to be the birth name of St. Colmcille, 'church dove'. so i made him a priest but unfortunately priests are very boring to play so he's... languishing.

Donn - I wanted to make a Horde character but I didn't know how to play anything but a druid so I was like... surely, this will work. I was gonna name him Donn Cúailnge after the Brown Bull of Cooley but it turns out you can't put spaces in the names. But Donn (shockingly) wasn't taken so... here he is! Tauren druid!

Jettion - I was bullied into making a dracthyr, the newest race, bc they have a fun starting quest. Dragons in wow have name suffixes according to their 'flight' (color) and he's a male black dracthyr (who are like anthro dragons) so his name had to end in -ion, and often the black flight's names start with shades of blade, so... it was either Jetion or Jettion, and I liked Jettion better bc it looks like Jettison.

Shannock - We all made vulpera, the little fox people together. but i'd already used the name Crimthann. so I was like 'maybe sionnach'? but if you can believeit some bastard already snagged it. so i went with a rough anglicization. i should play him more.

Lokworg - I've twice been bullied into making a monk bc supposedly they get fun later on & i just need to keep doing quests with my pals, but my pals are much faster than i am and outstrip me quickly. The first monk i deleted bc i don't care about him and honestly lokworg's not doin' much for me either. His name's orcish, lok is song/cry (noun) and worgs are the large, extra smart wolves orcs ride as mounts. More or less 'direwolf song'.

Rumpelteazer - Peer pressured into doing the worgen starting quest & I wanted someone who could learn to pick locks one day, so rogue it was! Originally named Scátha (irish for shade but also kind of an oblique reference to scáthach, the scottish warrior woman who trained Cú Chulainn (and my own pseudohistorical ancestor)), but I kept pronouncing it wrong and was listening to Cats 1998 soundtrack and... well... he's a rogue! and Mungojerrie was taken!

Ulfhedrinn - in keeping with the norse theme, he's named after the Ulfheðnar (singular Ulfheðinn, wolf+what's basically a hooded vest made of fur) that were an appropriately lupine variety of berserkers. I wanted to make a Horde healer and i was like you know... i haven't made this insane little family big enough yet.

Galdrulf - Okay, honestly? He was supposed to be Ulfhedrinn. We were starting with new Horde characters and we were gonna level together, but I got so lost in the customization sauce that I forgot Ulf's particular flavor of orc starts at level 10 instead of 1. So I panicked and made a warrior, and I named him galdr+ulf bc I'm not very creative under pressure.

Fuil - Bullied into making a dark iron dwarf but i'm not clear on why bc we never got farther than unlocking them? guys? are we doing anything with these? irish for blood bc he's going to be a Blood Death Knight. one day. probably.

Tigernmas - I was peer pressured into making a Demon Hunter, whom I wanted to name Crom but noooo, that was 'taken', so I named him after a pseudohistorical king that got himself and 75% of the men in Ireland killed worshipping Crom Cruach.

you know i'm sensing some themes here. a lot of irish. a lot of peer pressuring. jesus christ is seidrin my only woman? she doesn't even use the fpose model no wonder they keep he/himming me

[alatismeni-theitsa]

Γεια σας, αυτό το ανέκδοτο δεν είναι πολύ ευχάριστο να ακούγεται, συγγνώμη για αυτό 😅 Recently, a family member tried to justify why the British Museum doesn't have to return to Greece ( in this case ) the stuff they stole. I was working for myself on a summary of Greece's history and she suddenly came in, looking specifically at what I was writing. It was regarding how many stuff from there is nowadays in the British Museum, and during the conversation she started to justify me why they don't have to give anything back to Greece: Since we're Spanish, she used as an example to justify her nonsense "but what if muslims come now and say we need go give them the buildings that were made here during the Al-Ándalus era?" we... Don't need to give any buildings back. It's not the same thing. It's still so... Akward for me to think that a grown adult thinks that places such as the British Museum can keep their stolen stuff because according to her, it's the same situation as the one with Greece. It's not? Ma'am? The Greek stuff in the British museum was stolen? The buildings built here during the Al-Ándalus era weren't? You can't compare it... 🥲

Oh hiii! Thanks for your message! In the second part of my answer, please allow me to give some comments because you gave me a great chance to provide some interesting linguistic context for anyone who learns Greek.

(I hope this doesn't discourage you from writing me more Greek, you are doing great and you'll do even better! But let me know if you don't want any corrections 😅 The last thing I want is to bring anyone to an awkward position)

Part 1: The nonsensical family member

Okay, what the hell was this family member saying 😂 First of all, you can't move whole buildings, so even if Muslims made all these buildings, they couldn't get them back unless they re-conquered the land. That's how all people globally re/claimed fortresses and other strategic points in other countries.

Now, if Spanish the Spanish went to Muslim territories that still belong to these Muslims, and stole stuff, then yes, the Muslims are entitled to get them back! And if Spanish Christians stole stuff from Muslim communities inside the country and now exhibit them in museums without their consent, the artifacts should still be returned! What a wild concept, wow 😂

Why don't you ask that relative how she would feel if thousands of ancient and medieval Spanish stuff the Spanish people created and were proud of, were stolen and smuggled out of the country after the Spanish resisting and getting killed, and then these artifacts were exhibited in England because "the Spanish are not able to take care of them" in 2022? Curious to know her answer 👀

Part 2: Greek language quirks

So, the English word "anecdote" is an Anglicized word from Greek, "ανέκδοτο", as you probably know. "Ανέκδοτο" literally means "something that hasn't been published". English took it in the literal sense, while in Greek now it has also gained a metaphorical sense of "joke" and it's used metaphorically many times (for written and oral jokes). In the context of your Greek sentence, it means "joke" but my understanding is that you meant it as "an incident that happened to me". In this case, we use "περιστατικό" (= incident).

The part of "να ακούγεται" is implied, so we skip it entirely in Greek, in this case, and all similar cases. We don't use it as in English like, "too sweet to eat". We always say "too sweet". The structure of "It's nice to have"/"It's good to eat" doesn't exist. In some cases we say it, but with passive voice. "It's good the vegetables to get eaten", "it's good the news to be heard". ("Είναι καλό να τρώγονται τα λαχανικά", "Είναι καλό να ακούγονται τα νέα"). And we usually put "Καλό είναι" at the beginning of the phrase. "Καλό είναι αυτά τα νέα να ακούγονται". There is no strict structure of sentences in Greek. Some linguistic trends are created, however, and this shows where the importance is given, in such sentences.

Full sentence in Greek: Γεια σας, αυτό το περιστατικό δεν είναι πολύ ευχάριστο, συγγνώμη για αυτό

Hopefully, there are no more similar περιστατικά in your life because oooh my god, this person's opinions made us both see red 😂😂😂

[zedazone]

I left a comment on a YouTube video by Jessie Gender and nothing I ever say on YT gets looked at by anybody, BUT I think I made some great points about Christianity and white supremacists and stuff, so I’m importing that shit over here: Jessie’s extremely thoughtful and personal video essay Part 1 for context [watch Part 2 as well]

Just a small thought to add RE your incredibly valuable discussion of race at about the 23 minute mark- I think that a lot of what white people might be yearning for when they go grasping desperately for the  threads of their own 'cultural heritage' [and grab onto the scaly tail of white supremacy instead] is stuff that was largely lost due to the spread of Christianity and how it sought to culturally homogenize the 'white' experience? So-called 'pagan' traditions and cultural values were deliberately snuffed out and replaced with Christianity in a way that profoundly separates any modern English or Irish or Polish or Swedish person from any cultural heritage that is not just a part of  monolithic Christian 'whiteness.' These days we're seeing a lot of alt-right bros fetishizing ancient Scandinavian and Nordic clothing and magical staves [I hate every day what they've done to the Ægishjálmur], but those dudes are often neither Scandinavian by heritage nor sincere practitioners of these ancient religions [mostly by dint of said religions being lost to time - most of the artifacts out there have significance that can only be guessed at due to deliberate destructive measures taken by Christians who believed that they were snuffing out satan’s influence]. They don't ever seem to recognize that the colonialist spread of Christianity is to be blamed for both their alienation from their own heritage and their envy and resentment of BIPOC peoples’ frequently much closer connection to their own, and that it's also responsible for permanently obfuscating their native cultural roots. What's worse, they see Christianity as a vital PART of their roots, melding their own romanticized notions about what ancient Nordic culture and tradition may have looked like with the bigoted, monotheistic Christian sentiment that theirs is the sole ordained righteous way of being and living - the same sentiment that crushed their cultural roots to BEGIN with. It's not JUST that immigration to America  socially requires names to be anglicized and capitalism to be the thing by which their entire identity should be defined - it’s that the United States was founded by puritans, and that Christian dogma shaped the unspoken 'rules' of what American culture ‘looks’ like- white anglicized homogenization, Under God. So frequently, these men slide deep into violent, racist ideologies with the full certainty that their violence is morally justified and divinely ordained - it's frustrating and tragic, and I don't know how we're supposed to teach  modern white people how to have a healthy relationship with religion and race in this current sociopolitical environment, but I DESPERATELY hope that we can find a way.

[seewetter]

That might be the result of how internet virality works. "Woke" is like a recognizable brand name. If people take this concept and introduce it into French or another language, it's recognizable and that increases how many people share the concept.

A lot of the internet these days watches English internet content. There are Portuguese kids in Portugal that now only (!) speak Brazilian Portuguese because they watch Brazilian YouTubers.

The French people who complain about anglicisms (and social progress) all probably still exist -- but they don't have an equally catchy or memorable "brand". So their idea doesn't get widely adopted, because the "wokisme" users don't have to put effort into being understood.

It's worth noting that in Nazi Germany, anglicisms were fully permitted and frequently used, because the Nazis were mainly interested in power, not in principles. This is also the reasoning behind declaring Japanese people "yellow Aryans" and declaring French people subhuman (even French people in the French parts of Alsace-Lorraine, where the border kept changing over centuries and Germans and French on both sides of the border were usually 1st degree cousins and stuff like that). The face of reactionaries in power is often the face of reactionaries who make compromises, of reactionaries who combine monstrous ideas with defenses against other monstrous ideas -- be international, but also literally a nazi. Use American influences in your language, but also reject "wokisme" as American influence on French culture -- out of principle, of course.

They are clowns trying to garner fame and power for clown politics.

Another example: When general Trujillo ruled the Dominican Republic, he ordered his troops to kill all Haitian immigrants. But Haiti and the Dominican Republic occupy the same island, Haitians and Dominicans are often related to each other all that jazz. The result was the infamous "Parsley massacre" where soldiers forced people to say the English word "parsley" and then killed people who said the word wrong. Soldiers would spare one person who said the word correctly and then kill that person's sibling as a "Haitian" for saying the word "wrong". Also you may have heard of an obscure event where people's skin colour was used to justify slavery.

The point is: reactionaries don't care. You will never find what they do "new and unpredictable" once you realize that they fundamentally don't care. They are driven by motives like

(1) selfishness (and cynical use of reactionary politics)

(2) pride that leads to reverse psychology

(3) pride in their own views which means pride in not learning how to question their own views productively

(4) pride in their group of peers who groomed them into not questioning the ideas of the group

(5) being propagandized and thus not knowing what's going on

(6) being surrounded by indications that anyone who disagrees with them is trying to trick them.

That's not a recipe for learning. Except learning how to constantly re-invent the lynch-pins (pun intended) that their group revolves around, which tend to be affirmations of human rights violations and attacks on basic freedoms.

Because they re-invent these lynch-pins all the time, you'll get something like "wokisme" all of a sudden. Reactionaries aren't like the polar opposite of progressives: many of them are quite supportive, even sincerely supportive, of various progressive causes -- that common ground is where they will draw their ideas from and literally re-invent some horrible new way of interacting with the world around them. It's not particularly French and it certainly isn't unpredictable, because predicting the specifics of this doesn't really matter. It doesn't matter what the next reactionary buzzword is, it only matters that it could be *anything* aside from a deeply thorough self-reflective and scientifically principled support for universal human rights and freedoms. That's like the only thing reactionaries will never surprise us with. Everything else is something they will try... sometimes leading to hilarity when their clowning becomes to obvious and sometimes leading to horror when they implement some new method of attaining power to kill and/or suppress others.

The motives I listed above can give you a good idea of how flexible reactionaries are.

(1) selfishness > you don't believe the things you say, so you say just about anything

(2) pride that leads to reverse psychology > hurt your opponents by any means, including by saying just about anything in pursuit of your goals

(3) pride in their own views which means pride in not learning how to question their own views productively > shift around the things you say in pursuit of your goals, say just about anything as long as you don't have to change your views

(4) pride in their group of peers who groomed them into not questioning the ideas of the group > your group can't be wrong, so say just about anything to defend them

(5) being propagandized and thus not knowing what's going on > you are receptive to other people saying just about anything and then repeating it yourself, spewing the same just about anything from your own mouth, thoughtlessly

(6) being surrounded by indications that anyone who disagrees with them is trying to trick them. > just about anything they say is probably a trick, but just about anything you do or say is justified

There's no type of reactionary that isn't capable of saying almost anything. Like I haven't seen Trump praise Satanism or condemn the Supreme Court for their overturn of Roe vs Wade, but that's because he's a panderer. But that aside, that guy will say just about anything.

It's not uniquely French for people to be like this. What do modern reactionaries even share in common, in terms of their views? Do Matt Walsh and JKR agree on feminism? Do Shapiro and Rubin agree on gay rights? I've seen right-wing YouTubers be cyberbullied by other right-wingers for their green hair. I've seen reactionaries try to push for every reactionary thing imaginable like Trump is right now and I've seen the super-subdued Poilievre approach, where the reactionary politics are sanded down so fine quite a few sincere centrist liberals can't even spot them. All these people share in common is that they treat the human rights and basic freedoms of other people as expendable. That's their only shared trait. They don't even agree whose human rights are expendable, they just agree that human rights aren't universal. And I'm not even sure JKR is fully self-aware enough, for example, to realize that this is her current position and activism. Like she knows she hates trans people, she knows she is trying to stop them by any means, but does she fully realize that she is violating the basic human decency towards other human beings? She probably thinks that is justified. She probably doesn't fully realize the importance of that form of universality, maybe she thinks its a patriarchal trick or something.

With reactionaries, nothing should be truly surprising, because "reactionary" is not a political ideology, its a wastebasket taxon. They are people defined only by the fact that they've crossed the line into an acceptance of human rights violations (if it's the right humans). That's why they could be anyone and say anything. That's why it's reasonable to assume that anybody could become them.

If we assume that reactionaries all have to fall for specific ideas or commitments first, then we locate the danger in the wrong place. Reactionaries aren't all working together, their global rise has led to cooperation, but they are ultimately just people who don't have sufficiently humane solutions to important political problems. What they share in common is their incompetency at achieving a solution that would make everyone (except a hater) happy. Genocidal reactionaries (for example) have settled for genocide because the alternative seems expensive and because they haven't learned the skill to stop their brain from succumbing to an urge to kill. Diplomacy seems (is) more complicated than bullets and they don't have the spine to put down the gun. They are hacks. They are skillful only at making everything worse...at making the world hate their country and their people or them personally. And because they are so one-sided, they end up taking pride in that.

Wokisme is just another product of circumstance, just as reactionaries are a product of circumstance. There's no secret formula that would predict the invention of this new silly word, but it's not unpredictable because something like wokisme is the only thing reactionaries are capable of. French reactionaries copied an English word because they didn't have anything intelligent of their own to say. They are launder an anglicism into the French language because all they do all day is launder ideas of other people to make them work for them. They are a waste of time and they are very predictable. We can beat them.

The French term "wokisme" is fascinating bc one might expect the French people who complain about woke to be the type of French people who also complain about Anglicisms, such as "wokisme." A testament to the French compulsion to be reactionary in new and unpredictable ways.

[coinandcandle]

The Morrigan Deity Guide

This is a re-do in the "deity deep dive" format of my original Morrigan post!

Who is The Morrigan?

The Morrigan is the ancient Irish Triple, or tripartite, of war and death, but she is also goddess of sovereignty, the land, and prophecy.

The name Morrigan, or Morrigu, is the anglicized version of the Gaelic name Mór-Ríoghain, which means "Great Queen" in modern Irish.

The old name has been linked to the proto-indo-european word Mór (terror) and Ríoghain could relate to the Latin word Regina (queen). (Wiktionary)

It’s debated whether she is one deity with three aspects or if these three aspects are sisters that create a triple goddess.

If they are sisters, their names are likely Macha, Nemain, and The Morrigan, their collective title being The Morrigu or The Morrigna. (The spelling of these will differ throughout your research if you choose to do your own after this post)

Their names could also be Macha, Nemain, and Badb, though the name “Badb” may have been a title for spirits/gods who wrought havoc on the battlefields and incited terror in the opposing side. (See “The Ancient Irish Goddess of War” in references for more info).

Other names involved with these sisters are Anand and Fea.

It’s not unlikely that The Morrigan’s identity would change between the many different groups in Ireland throughout time.

Parents and Siblings

Her mother is Ernmas, father is unknown.

Siblings have included Ériu, Banba, and Fódla, who make up the triple goddess of spirit and sovereignty of Ireland.

As well as Gnim, Coscar, Fiacha, and Ollom, as her brothers.

Lovers or Partners

The Dagda, with whom her relationship is of great importance for the Irish holiday Samhain.

In some iterations of her lore the Morrigan falls for Irish Hero Cú Chulainn but her feelings are not returned.

Children

Mechi, who has three hearts that each contain a serpent.

Epithets

The Goddess of Death

Morrígu

The Morrighan

The Great Queen

Phantom Queen

Badb-Catha

Nightmare Queen

The Washer at the Ford

Notes

Due to the many myths and legends surrounding The Morrigan and she is also associated with the Fae and the Banshee—a creature that generally takes on the form of an old woman who wails in mourning to announce the coming death of someone in the family.

The Morrigan is most notoriously a shape shifter and deity of magic.

In modern day paganism and witchcraft, some choose to worship The Morrigan as one deity with the sisters as aspects, others choose to worship her as a triple goddess consisting of three sisters. Neither of these can be said to be entirely right or wrong and vary from person to person, even from an academic point of view.

Though there are similar beings throughout Celtic mythology, The Morrigan is unique to Irish mythology.

Stories that prominently feature the Morrígan include Táin Bó Cúailgne (The Cattle Raid of Cooley), Cath Maige Tuired (The First and Second Battles of Moytura), and Lebor Gabála Érenn (The Book of the Taking of Ireland). (Mythopedia)

Fulacht na Mór Ríoghna (Cooking Pit of the Morrígan) in County Tipperary, and two hills in County Meath known as Da Cích na Morrígna (Two Breasts of the Morrígan) are both locations in Ireland linked to The Morrigan.

Modern Deity Work

Correspondences

Disclaimer - Many of these are not traditional or historic correspondences nor do they need to be. However, any correspondence that can be considered traditional will be marked with a (T).

Rocks/Stone/Crystals

Obsidian

Onyx

Silver

Carnelian

Deep green, black and red stones/crystals

Herbs/Plants

Dragon’s Blood

Apples

Nightshade

Roses

Cedar

Cloves

Mugwort

Belladonna

Juniper

Animals

Crow (T)

Eel (T)

Cow (T)

Horse (T)

Wolf (T)

Raven

Symbols

Triple spiral

Crow

Offerings

Blood (be careful with this please!!)

Wine or Mead

The stones and herbs listed above

Imagery of the animals or symbols listed above

Food that you’ve made or a portion of your meal

Jewelry

Art made of her or inspired by her

Coins

Honey

Dark chocolate

Candles and/or wax melts; incense

Meat

Milk

Note: If you’d like your offering to be a bit more traditional, try burying it or sending it down a stream, but only if it is safe for the environment if you do so!

Acts of Devotion

Exercise/Work out (especially if it's challenging!)

Activism

Read/write poetry for her

Research her

Celebrate Samhain

Take up a competitive sport or activity

Standing up for yourself

Keep in mind that these are only some ideas for offerings and correspondences! Items and activities that connect you to her in a more personal way are just as good, and often better, than those you find on the internet. As with any relationship, feel it out, ask questions, and be attentive and receptive!

References and Further Reading

The Morrigan - World History Encyclopedia

The Ancient Irish Goddess of War by WM Hennessey (via Sacred-Texts)

The Morrigan - Druidry.org

The Book of the Great Queen by Morpheus Ravenna

The Morrigan - Mythopedia (Mythopedia also has a bunch of references and further reading of their own that I suggest you look at if you’d like to do your own research!)

[misnomera]

On racial stereotyping of the Haans in TMA...

Right so as someone who is ethnically Chinese I have NO FUCKING clue how I didn’t notice this more distinctly in my initial binge of tma (going too fast and not paying closer attention to character names and descriptions, probably) but the Haan family storyline is, all horror elements aside, pretty fucked up in terms of racial representation re: stereotyping. This got long as hell, but please please please take a moment to read through if you’ve got time for it. thanks.

To start off, the Haans are one of the few characters in tma with an explicitly specified race and ethnicity—Chinese—and pretty much the only explicitly Chinese characters in tma, other than the mostly unimportant librarian (Zhang Xiaoling) from Beijing. But like, Haan isn’t even a properly Chinese surname, at least not in the way that it’s spelled in canon (it should be Han, one a. A quick google search tells me that Haan as a surname has...Dutch origins??).

Of course, that could be chalked up to shoddy anglicization processes within family histories, which certainly isn’t uncommon with immigrant families, so I’m not going to dwell on names too much (although I also find it interesting that John Haan’s name is so specifically and weirdly anglicized that he changed his own surname?? Hun Yung to John Haan is a very big leap of a name change and frankly not very believable. ANYWAY, this is not that important. I don’t expect Jonny, a white Englishman, to come up with perfectly unquestionable non-Cho-Chang-like Chinese names, though it certainly would be nice. Moving on).

What really bothers me about the Haans is how they almost exclusively and explicitly play into negative Chinese immigrant stereotypes. I don’t even feel like I need to say it because it’s like...it’s literally Right There, folks. John Haan (in ep 72) owns and operates a sketchy takeout restaurant. They’re all avatars of the Flesh—and John Haan is Specifically horrific and terrifying because he cooked his wife’s human meat and fed it to his unknowing customers. Does that remind you of any stereotypes which accuse Chinese people of consuming societally unacceptable and ethically questionable things like dog/cat/bat meat (which, if it’s not already crystal fucking clear, we don’t. do that.), which in turn characterize us as horrible unfeeling monsters? John Haan’s characterization feeds (haha, badum tss) directly into this harmful stereotype that have caused very real pain for Chinese people and East Asians in general. 

And Jonny does nothing to address that from within his writing (and not out of it either). And, speaking on a more meta level, Jonny could’ve easily had these flesh avatars be individuals of any race (like, what’s Jared Hopworth’s ethnicity? Do we know? No? Well then). Conversely, he could’ve easily, easily had a Chinese person be an avatar of any other entity. So why did he have to chose specifically the Flesh?

(This is a rhetorical question. You know why. Racial stereotyping and invoking a fear of the other in an attempt to enhance horror, babey~)

On Tom Haan’s side, Jonny seems weirdly intent on having other characters repeatedly comment on his accent (or rather, lack thereof) in relation to his race. Think about how, in ep 30 (killing floor), the fact that Tom Haan had spoken a line to the statement giver in “perfect English” was an emphasized beat in that statement, and a beat that was supposed to be “chilling” and meant to signify to us that something was, quote-unquote, “not right” with Tom Haan. Implicitly, that’s saying that it was unexpected, not “normal”, and in this case even eerie, for someone who looks Chinese to have spoken in fluid, unbroken English. Mind you, the line itself was perfectly scary on its own (“you cannot stop the slaughter by closing the door”), so why did Jonny feel the need to note the accent in which it was spoken in? Why did Jonny HAVE to have that statement giver note, that he initially “wasn’t even sure how much English [Haan] spoke”? 

This happens again in episode 72 with a Chinese man (and again, his ethnicity is Explicitly Noted) who we assume is also Tom Haan. This one is rather ironically funny and kind of painfully self aware, because the statement giver expresses surprise at Haan’s “crisp RP accent” and then immediately “felt bad about making the assumption that he couldn’t speak English,” and subsequently admitted that thought was “low-key racist.” Like, from a writing perspective, this entire passage is roundabout, pointless, and says absolutely nothing helpful to enhance the horror genre experience for listeners (instead it just sounded like some sort of half-assed excuse so Jonny or other listeners could say “look! We’ve addressed the racism!” You didn’t. It just made me vaguely uncomfortable). And again, having other people comment on our accents/lack thereof while assuming we are foreign is a Very Real microaggression that east asians face on the daily. If Jonny needed some filler sentences for pacing he could’ve written about Literally anything else. So why point out, yet again, that the crazy murderous man was foreign and Chinese? 

At this point, you might say, right, but yknow, it was just that the statement givers were kind of racist! It happens! Yeah sure, ok, that’s a passable in-universe explanation for descriptions of Tom Haan (though not John Haan, mind you), but the statement givers are fake made up people, and statement’s still written by Jonny, who absolutely has all the power to write overt discrimination out of his stories. And he does! Think about just how many minor (and major!!) characters are so, so carefully written as completely aracial, and do not have their ethnicity implicated at all in whatever horrors they may or may not be committing. Think about how many lgbtq+ characters have given statements, and have been in statements, without having faced direct forms of discrimination, or portrayed as embodying blatant stereotypes in their stories (though lgbtq+ rep in tma certainly has their own issues that I won’t go into here). Jonny can clearly write characters this way, and he can do it well. So why, why, am I being constantly, repeatedly reminded in-text of the fact that the Haans are East Asian, that they’re from China, that they’re Chinese immigrants, that they’re second-generation British Chinese or whatever the fuck, and that they’re also horrifying conduits for blood, gore, and general fucked-up-ness? It’s absolutely not something that is Needed for the stories to be an effective piece of horror; the only thing it does is perpetuate incredibly harmful and hurtful stereotypes.

And listen, I love tma to bits. It’s taken over my blog. I’ve really loved my interactions with the fandom. And I am consistently blown away by Jonny’s writing and how well he’s able to weave foreshadowing and plot into an incredibly complex collection of stories. But I absolutely Cannot stop thinking about the Haans because it’s just. It’s such a blatant display of racial stereotyping in writing. And I’ve certainly seen a few voices talking about it here and there, and I don’t know if I’m just not looking in the right places, but it certainly feels like something that is just straight up not on the radar for a lot of tma fans. And I’m disappointed about that. 

Just, I don’t know. Take a look at those episodes again and do some of your own thinking about why these characters had to be specifically Chinese (answer: they didn’t.). And in general, PLEASE for the love of god turn a critical eye on character portrayals and descriptions whenever they are assigned specific races/ethnicities (Some examples that come to mind are Jude Perry, Annabelle Cane, and Diego Molina), because similar issues, to an extent, extend beyond the Haans, though I haven’t covered them here. 

You shouldn’t need a POC to do point out these problems for you when they’re so glaringly There. But for those of you who really didn’t know, hope this was informative in some way. I’m tired, man. If some of the only significant Chinese characters you write are violent cannibalistic men with a perverted relationship with meat, just don’t do it. Please don’t do it. 

EDIT: Since the making of this post Jonny has acknowledged and apologized for these portrayals on his twitter and in the Rusty Quill Operations Update, which went up September 2020. A long time coming, but better late than never. This of course doesn’t necessarily negate the harm done by Jonny’s writing, and doesn’t make me much less angry about it, but is appreciated nonetheless. For more on this topic there’s a lot of productive discussions happening in my “#tma crit” tag and in the notes of this post

[triviareads]

re: your feelings on the name Kathani.

I agree that Kathani is not a real name -- in fact, that's my primary issue with it as well. It's not traditional by any means and the closest approximation I can find is "kathan" which literally means sentence in Sanskrit. So no, I don't like the name itself. I much prefer Katyayani (another name for Durga) -- if one wants to keep the "Kat" at the beginning -- or even Kalyani (in fact, I much prefer Kalyani).

But as to your point on it being an unsavory example of Indians having to assimilate in foreign countries like Great Britain, I don't find that aspect as troubling as it is historically accurate. Our ancestors were forced to give up their culture when they moved, whether out of necessity or desire for future economic opportunity. We still have to give up large portions of it today. My first and last names get mispronounced every single day, despite my best attempts to correct them (I live in the US, by the way).

Given that Mary in the show was raised by English parents and seems Christian, it makes sense that she would prefer to give Kate an Anglicized name, even if that name is not Kate's birth name. I find that aspect of Kate's upbringing interesting -- moreso than Edwina, it was Kate who was truly caught between two worlds. As an Indian immigrant, I heavily relate to that aspect of her character and I enjoy seeing it explored (respectfully) in fanfiction. It makes me uncomfortable when people arbitrarily dismiss it.

Was the Indian representation in Bridgerton good? God no. They completely fucked up the background of the Sharmas with the last name (North Indian), the terms they called their parents and each other (Amma/Appa - South Indian, Bon - Bengali, Didi - North Indian), and it seems like they know how to speak Marathi and Hindi which would point to a North Indian/Maharashtrian background but is supported by very scant information about the Sharma family background. Ultimately, it was culture soup and I hated it. But I don't understand why it's a crime to keep Kate's Indian name in fanfiction and have her background fleshed out more.

I want her to be a non-Anglicized Hindu Indian simply because that is what I am and being able to imagine her background makes me happy. Is that wrong?

No it's not wrong. It would just involve ignoring a portion of my family's history I'm personally not able to and would rather Kate have a white name and be from Somerset.

"Our ancestors were forced to give up their culture when they moved, whether out of necessity or desire for future economic opportunity. We still have to give up large portions of it today..." It's true to some degree (but not if say, you moved from India in the nineties vs. like, the 1800s where it would have been forced on you. And progress means that we wouldn't have to give up our culture in the name of economic opportunity), but do you not find that disheartening? I'd rather remain defiant to whatever degree I can rather than just be like "oh well we were bound to assimilate anyway". I refuse to give up my name, my religion, my culture, and my language and will do my utmost best to pass the more vital aspects of my culture onto my children. And I have the privilege to be able to do that while someone like Kate likely didn't, which is why I personally can't see myself in her.

Regarding giving Kate an anglicized first name and a part of the diaspora having anglicized last names because their parents gave it to them or they're Christian, yes, I mentioned that when I said in my original post "This is obviously discounting those who were born with "white" names for whatever reason...". But Kate was not given an anglicized name upon birth; her birth name is apparently Kathani.

And look, as a modern child of Indian immigrants, unlike you, I can't imagine myself in Kate's shoes because that would be ignoring my history. I know the history of women like Kitty Kirtpatrick and Helene Bennett who were forced to give up their names and religion upon moving to England. I know that in the year Kate and her family immigrated the British East India company were waging war against the Marathas, the Nepalese, and continuing to annex parts of the subcontinent via violence, genocide, and war in an effort to subjugate the Indian people. I personally differentiate myself from someone like Kate because and can't really see the my modern immigrant experience reflected when I watch someone like her on TV. I see Kate as a woman of the past, and someone whose background was not given the respect it was due. Rather than twist my mind into imagining a racial utopia I just can't bring myself to, and because this story was supposed to be primarily romance, I'd have rathered her be Kate Sheffield from Somerset, played by Simone Ashley.

[off-in-the-moors]

Joseph Kavinsky analysis, part 2

aka no voice and no dream pack

Warnings: spoilers for the whole Raven Cycle, mentions of: drug-use, abuse, death, s*cid, xenophobia

Part 1 // Part 2

Before starting, I wanted to thank for likes and support, not only on part 1 but also on my other posts. I was writing this more for the catharsis, after months of seeing and not really speaking about a lot of stuff. It’s nice to know, somebody read it. Some say, Kavinsky is their comfort character and, well, he will stay with me for a very long time. But enough of that. Let's talk about the point of view, xenophobia and the Dream Pack.

PoV

The running motif in TRC is, all antagonists get PoVs. No matter if they appear in one book (like Whelk) or reoccur (like the Greenmatles). The reader gets multiple chapters with their backstories, internal thoughts and goals. This move by the author is a double-edged sword, on one hand we get a better understanding of them but on the other, by knowing them better they become less effective antagonists and the air of mystery and surprise of what they're up-to/what they know is lost. E.g. In TDT we are first told about Colin Greenmatle and what is he capable of, making him a good threat for our main characters. But when we finally meet him in BLLB, with his attitude and scenes like dissing Ronan's Latin grammar or making cheese crackers while his wife is held at gun-point, he becomes more of a comedic antagonist than a villain to fear.

But here's the thing: I already lied to you. In TRC, all antagonists get PoVs, except for Kavinsky. It's a odd exception from the rule, considering Gray Man in TDT and The Wasp Demon in The Raven King, also got PoVs. But why? There are two things to look at. One I already mentioned. By giving a character PoV, the reader gets better understanding of them. By not giving Kavinsky one, Margaret didn't give anything to make K or his actions clear or understandable. By not knowing his motivations, K is left to pure interpretations, but how the reader will do it mostly will be influenced by his demonetization. Of course, not everybody will just accept what the book tells them without thinking for themselves but most fans don't.

"Bang", he said softly, withdrawing the fake gun. "See you on the street."

Alone, this single line can be interpreted in many different ways. Is it K being angry and threatening Ronan? Or maybe Joseph breaking inside because he was proofen, he really has no one? It all depends on the reader.

Second, when asked on her tumblr, if she'll ever write anything from K's pov (in 2015, before The Raven King was published), M*ggie said she won't, because: she already explored that type of character ("the thoughts and motivations of a powerful, suicidal, creative person with few inhibitions") in Sinner (2014, spin-off/companion book of her older series, The Wolves of Mercy Falls, 2009-2011 for the main three) with Cole St. Clair; that writing through PoV of such character is emotionally and mentally draining for her (which is understandable); and even if she wanted to explore it again in the future, she would through a different character's lenses than K's.

Let's talk about St. Clair.

The characters of Cole and Kavinsky have some similarities: both are drug addicts, who are rich.

That's where they end.

Cole was a famous musician, having the stereotypical rock-star life (drugs, alcohol and sleeping with fans included) with good family relationships, while K was a son of a mobster who tried to kill him and a mother who was a drug-addict herself. While their perspectives would have similarities, there is also other problems. Cole St. Clair already got PoVs in his series and a stand-alone book, Joseph Kavinsky got nothing and will get nothing. Cole had friends that cared for him and helped him, Joseph Kavinsky had his Dream Pack (which whom we don't know what type of relation he had) and his customers who we can safely say, only cared for what he can provide them with, he tried to befriend or start a relation with Ronan who rejected even the idea of it and no one even reached out to him. Cole got his happy ending and (hinted at) a girl he loved, K got rejected by everyone and committed public suicide. (Now, I heard a opinion that K didn't commit suicide, because the dragon killed him. Here is the thing, K could move out of the way multiple times, even Ronan shouted to him to move. But he didn't. He watched the dragon fly towards him and just said "The world is a nightmare.". He choose death.)

People wanted K's PoV, because they wanted to know, what pushed him to do what he did in TDT. But, in my opinion, even if M*ggie gave K pov, she would use it to further demonize him than to make the reader understand him more. She already did write a whole post exaggerating and straw-manning the canon, just to also say "Kavinsky has a very logical backstory that leads him to this place". A backstory we as the reader never truly see and one she forgot to write into her book. At the end, she truly cared only about Ronan.

Xenophobia

The Raven Cycle is a very flawed and problematic series, there are already many other posts taking about racism, misogyny, lack of diversity and many other issues with it, but in regards to Kavinsky, I'll only touch on the xenophobia. (I could talk also about portray of metal-illness, but I'm not the person to talk about it and I would feel comfortable with it.)

Kavinsky is a stereotype of a Slavic person, one we see in American media since the Cold War, especially in 80s movies. The Evil Russian trope. The son of the mobster, drug-addict, forger who can get you anything even illegal stuff, a thief.

When describing Kavinsky, one of the things Ronan mentions is: "refugee's face, hollowed-eyed and innocent". One could argue, "refugee" has many meanings, but boiling it down, is a person who came to the country to escape and seek a refuge. Many people moved to America to find a better life, in the believe of the American Dream, and many of them where driven to do that, especially from ex-Eastern Bloc countries. Kavinsky's Bulgarian, unknown if an immigrant himself or a son of immigrants, but the point still stands.

About Blue’s comment "import from somewhere else" I don't need to say much. First, obvious: You don't import people, only foreign goods, like cars. Second: this shows, he is "the other" in the eyes of the characters.

There is more to it, then just the physical description. We need to look at the outfit he wears. White tank top, white sunglasses, a small earring in one ear and a gold chain around his neck. This gives two images: one of a typical douche-bag, party asshole and the rich kid; the second of a Slavic stereotype, especially of a Russian criminal. If Margaret wanted to make K even bigger stereotype, she would dress him like a dress/gopnik, in a tracksuit.

The thing is: M*ggie could had saved the situation if she had subverted the stereotypes. E.g. K didn't wanting anything to do with the crime live, his family was forced into by circumstances or K being the guy to get stuff from, but he isn't doing it for any gain.

The truth is, K being Bulgarian doesn't add anything to his character, except for xenophobia. (Personally, I tried to find where the surname "Kavinsky" came from. It is Slavic, that much I can tell you for sure, but the rest is my speculation and searching. My best guesses are: Russian (it appears most commonly in Russian, after USA and a use in Russia set novel) or Polish (because it has uncanny simulates to the surname "Kawiński", if it was anglicized like e.g. "Kamiński" into "Kaminsky"). This isn't a common surname and with Peter from the To All the Boys trilogy and the musician, it's hard to find any information.)

But for now, K's portray is one of the many issues.

The Dream Pack or the lack of it

The Dream Pack is the unofficial name for K's group, with whom he parties and races (the canon name is "Kavinsky's Pack of Dogs" which is ugh). They're unfortunately, a non-characters. It's bolt to even call them background characters. Their portray, or again, lack of it, leaves them as props, their only role is to be K's followers and to show K as a leader on a equal ground as Gansey. We're lead to believe, they are like Kavinsky, yet another raven boys, and to make are main characters so “not like the other raven boys”. Problem rises in connection to the previous point, out of four members, only one has an English surname.

Prokopenko is a Ukrainian surname and for his description, we get "ears like wingnuts", "crooked shoulders" and his voice as "milky with drugs". It's said he had "recently attained official crony status", and was noted being in close desecrate to K for a while. Later we discover Proko is a forgery, a dream creature like Matthew and Aurora. It's heavily implied the real Prokopenko is dead, but if K had something to do with it, is unknown. He is the only character to "chortle", which Margaret said she hates and also "fratty boys and the chortling men they turn into". From this we can deduce, that not only the Dream Pack and people at K's parties but all raven boys (with the exception of the main characters) were writen like this on purpose as the personification of everything M*ggie hates. We are also informed, he drives a Golf.

Skov, who according to a deleted scene, full name is Blake Skovron, is polish (or at least anglicized version of it). In said deleted scene he's described as "major asshole, minor bigot" (unfortunately I couldn't find it to confirm it). The only canon stuff about him is: he drives a RX-7 (Mazda RX-7).

Jiang is Chinese, making him one of three canon Asian characters we see in the series (not counting Henry's father, because he's just mentioned, same goes for the Vancouver crowd). Like Proko, his role is a little bigger. In the Raven King, after Ronan finally returns to school after a long time of skipping, he tells him: "Hey, man, I thought you'd died". Ronan doesn't respond, but tells the reader he doesn't want to see Jiang outside of his car, racing. The only other thing we know about him: he drives a Supra (Toyota Supra).

Swan is the only one with an English name, but all we know about him is: he drives Volkswagen Golf, one that matches Proko's.

(For future writers: what car a character drives, isn't a personality trait.)

With the already minimal diversity, this shows the non-Americans as the antagonists or at least "the worst". On the opposite side, we have our main characters. Richard Campbell Gansey III, who has the whitest and British name I ever saw; Adam Parrish, born and raised in Henrietta, Virginia; Ronan Lynch, son of a Irish immigrant, whose Irish identity starts and ends on tit-bits; Blue Sargent, who is half-tree and ambiguous, but was drawn as white by the author multiple times (Yes, I am aware of the Instagram post, but Margaret herself said, she isn't confirming anything that isn't already written in her books. She couldn't even confirm Adam's hair color and made a joke out of it.) The only exception is Noah Czerny, whose surname is Slavic (probably Czech), but this bares no effect on his character.

The Dream Pack are the whole communities babies, created by head-canons and fanons, their relations with Kavinsky and themselves are explored, who they are as people, their appearance, their interests... This is beautiful how many different versions and interpretations of non-existing characters is there. (I, myself also made a version for a rewrite, based partly on the fanon.)

But at the end of the day, the fans did the author's job of creating believe friend group and in the end, their only function was to show, Kavinsky is a king, just like Gansey.

[gayregis]

netflix witcher and netflix witcher fans really showcase the absolute Audacity of americans using foreign (in this case polish) words they don't understand and cannot pronounce right at all for absolutely no fucking reason like what was the point?? what was the point of butchering my language haven't yall had enough???

really agreed. sorry if this sounds like kind of off-topic or a tangent, but i swear i’ll loop it back around to your point eventually — i was discussing about jaskier’s name in the server earlier with @nightimefairy and the decision from lauren to keep it in polish in the [obv. american but important for content] netflix adaptation.

to an english-only speaker, the word “jaskier” doesn’t sound really different than any other name in the witcher, it does not translate the meaning that it’s the name of a flower.

jaskier/dandelion’s name being obvious to the audience as being the name of a flower is important, because it helps define his character if only by name. i remember when i first learned of the character, i really was like, that’s a strange name, no one is called dandelion from birth, and why would someone be called after a flower. of course months later when i read the tower of the swallow (or perhaps minutes later when i read the wiki, because i wanted spoilers ahaha) it was a mystery that was solved for me. but if he hadn’t been named his translated name — dandelion — i would have totally had missed this and not understood at all that his name is the name of a flower and not like, a “normal” name that one would totally give to the child they bore. but overall, this name of a flower suggests to the reader that buttercup/dandelion isn’t his real name, making them wonder what it, and thus his other identity, could possibly be. and we all know that artist-types tend to have a stage or a pen name under which they perform or publish, so dandelion having this name cements for the reader that he is such an artsy-type.

then of course, a buttercup or a dandelion being a small yellow flower makes it not an especially masculine name, and additionally these flowers are largely considered weeds... that’s two things we can tell about the character right off the bat. and since they are yellow flowers with golden petals, we can understand another thing about him — he’s blonde, it’s a fitting nickname due to his hair color. and of course, blondes carry with them many different literary and modern media tropes.

additionally, the name not being translated in english adaptations prevents it from carrying any other linguistic cleverness or connotations — for example a similar-sounding word for the original polish jaskier, “jaskrawy,” meaning vivid/vibrant/brilliant, or similar-sounding words for the english translation dandelion, “dandy,” a historical term for an effeminate or foppish man (think “yankee doodle dandy,” who ‘stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni’... i.e. basically ‘did something foolish and called it fashion’) and/or an colloquial expression to indicate pleasure or happiness (“oh well, that’s just fine and dandy!”, sort of like “swell!”)

although it’s not a perfect 1:1 translation, as a dandelion is not the same flower as a jaskier (buttercup), the name carries a very fitting connotation with it for the character, which can be used to understand him (and of course he is not the only one, for example, milva being named after a red kite, regis meaning king)

however, when you don’t translate “jaskier,” and leave his name as-is, this leaves the english-only speaking audience completely missing everything i just talked about. you won’t understand a thing about his character by knowing that his name is jaskier, because english-only speakers don’t know what a “jaskier” is, and they also don’t have the vocabulary in polish to understand the connotations in that language ...

and this is the entire point of translations. to translate meaning from one language to another — often imperfect, as is the nature of language, but necessary when trying to bridge gaps of understanding.

and when you deliberately don’t translate, you get english-only speakers thinking that they know how to pronounce words in polish because their favorite british boys on screen said a polish word aloud a few times. and you get anglicizations of words that don’t make any sense at all — for example... “jas” or “jask” as a nickname, when that’s not how polish language functions (to my knowledge) and there are specific conventions for making pet names or nicknames in the languages (with diminuatives?) (to my knowledge).

to me, it demonstrates, from both the american creators and the audience, the white american perspective that other cultures and languages are easy to understand and take from, as long as you think that you are being respectful (not that you ARE being respectful, only that you determine yourself to have good intentions). the approach lacks any actual respect, carefulness and preciseness, and most importantly actually talking or reaching out to people of that culture & language, so you are not just trying to do something yourself that you don’t know shit about, but that you can learn from others (and make friends along the way hopefully).

but as you said — what was the point?

in my opinion a lot of the point of including untranslated polish words in the netflix adaptation was part of the marketing towards the polish audience (and perhaps books audience?) that they attempted, with relatively little success. lauren proclaiming on twitter that she’s loved these books and read them dozens of times, the youtube videos with the actors reading scenes from the books with sound effects edited in (to me, reminiscent of the polish audiobooks, but the polish audiobooks have better quality), the games with the actors trying to guess what witcher-relevant polish words mean in english.

when in reality, it’s obvious they didn’t really care (or at least, the people making the top decisions) didn’t really care about making a books-faithful adaptation (this isn’t even attempting to touch the topic of making an adaptation that respects the origin culture of the witcher).

of course from the trailers (and casting... re: cavill and batey, who don’t look like their characters’ book equivalents) everyone could tell that this wasn’t an “adaptation of the books” like they sometimes advertised it. but if they were able to show, hey, we didn’t change this one name of this one character to english, hey, we have read the books, look, we are literally reading them on camera! ... then they might get some more polish books fans to give the series a watch, meaning more people to buy into a netflix trial which then all too easily leads into a subscription because people forgot to cancel or enjoyed the convinience of netflix and ‘hey what’s $10 anyways,’ which leads to money for them, which is how they gauge their success. they don’t give two shits about respecting anything, because that doesn’t give them any money.

i do find it amusing though, because they’re like “we have the amazing minds so much better than sapkowski to improve on the witcher and we’re truly just visionaries who are taking the books into an inspired direction and it’s not an adaptation, it’s so much more” while also being like “we respect the books so much and we worked with sapkowski and we really wanted to be faithful to the books and this is an adaptation where we really thought about the canon material” like just choose a marketing ploy and run with it, you’re going to tire yourself out running between both camps. though it does look to me like finally in season 2 the mask will be off because they’re adding so many new OCs and plotlines they really won’t be able to pretend they cared about the books at all (e.g. geralt throwing axes from trees)

[simscapades]

“Essence of a Sim” Challenge by @trumpets0ng

EA has made some unfortunate design/fashion choices for their pre-made sims & townies. We’ve all made them over at some point or another, but often they come out looking very, very different from their original conception.

This challenge is to make over pre-made sims with only subtle changes & tweaks, so that they look like a better version of themselves instead of someone else entirely.

The only major rule, is to keep the “essence” of the sim’s being. This means their racial and/or ethnic features, and overall body type. (i.e. don’t make fat sims thin, curvy sims straight bodied, make androgynous sims masc/fem, straighten natural sims hair, westernize/anglicize sims of color, etc.) You can tweak these things and change spacing/proportions, but not erase them outright.

Feel free to change hair their lengths, styles, and fashion ‘til you hearts content! You can change skins, but only to a comparable color. (EA’s skins still suck after all!)

You don’t have to tag me, but I’d love to see what you come up with! This is just for fun, so tag friends if you want.

Thank you @fataleromeo for tagging me in this. I’m always up for a challenge. It gives me a reason to spend hours in CAS and on pinterest(like I don’t do that already lol)

So here’s a… revamp/re-imagination of the Behr sisters from Windenburg. I’m pretty sure I went a bit overboard with them for this challenge but hopefully I made Candy and Yuki some justice.

Edit: Oh forgot! If you see this and feel like doing it. Tag you're it :)

[inventors-fair]

“Two Mechanics” Commentary: It All Comes Together

Well, this was a surprisingly popular contest. I know there was a fair bit of hype for it, but we got enough entries that I had to worry about shutting people out. That’s unusual to say the least, but quite pleasing to know that so many people are engaging.

I’m going to take a lesson and look at these from the lens of intention rather than explicit nit-pickiness. There will be a “nitpicks” part at the end, but that’s just for minor improvements if need be. I make small mistakes like that all the time, and if you wanna ignore that and focus on the commentary, feel free to do so. However, the nitpicks are reflections of polish. The extent to which something has nitpicks does affect judgement. 

Additionally! If you’re reading this, we’d like to know: do you read your own commentary, all the commentary, or do you skip it entirely? And if you’re skipping some or all of the commentary, what would help you engage with it? I would like to point out that reading the comments on everyone’s cards can potentially help with your own experimentation in the future and help with design choices. However, if that’s not what you’re after, we would like to know how to improve that experience.

Some cards are marked as “JUDGE PICKS,” which are cards that were close to being runners-up or winners but, for lack of space, are presented here as examples instead.

Let’s get to your wonderful blends.

@abzanhero — Herald of the Saviors (JUDGE PICK)

What I like: I really never expected to see Imprint and Fateful Hour on the same card together. I like how this is a strange, fragile tutor that can really improve the late-game if you adjust it just right, but in a build like Solemnity/Unlife Combo, this can be an insane win-con.

What we can improve: There’s not much to improve upon here. My two main issues are that 1) there’s an expectation that Fateful Hour cards have a smaller effect that’s improved by the hour (Gather the Townsfolk) although that’s not a requirement, I suppose, and 2) Imprint could have just been a search/exile clause, and there’s no real need for it to have that specific keyword. That said, there’s no reason that it couldn’t have it; it’s just minor flavor questions.

Nitpicks: “Fateful Hour” should be italicized. Mechanically, you need to point out that there needs to be ��tokens that are a copy of a creature card exiled with Herald of the Saviors,” as the ETB trigger can be copied.

@aethernalstars — Collective Knowledge

What I like: Blue toolbox is a pretty fun archetype, and I do like that last option the best of all. It’s a pretty crazy mill strategy that can work really well with wheel effects. Spiral/Crypt builds could use this card for sure.

What we can improve: Without reminder text, anyone looking at this card without extensive rules knowledge would be absolutely lost. I get the vibe you were going for, but this card begs for reminder text. At uncommon, there’s no excuse for this many options without it. I understand that you might have been extremely cluttered for space with reminder text. In that case, that should have been a clue to go back to the drawing board. Flavorfully, I’m also getting major clashes between the two mechanics you’re using. Escalate is a vibrant, exciting feel of increasing public power. Cipher is a covert and subtle mechanic antithetical to Escalate’s vibrancy. I don’t understand what feel this card was going for at all.

Nitpicks: See notes about reminder text.

@askkrenko — Mocking Goblins

What I like: Goblin Diplomats comes to mind here. I can imagine that on the table in a 4-5 person commander game, this could get amazing in the late-game. Putting Overload on a permanent is actually pretty interesting, and I’m fairly certain that that actually works, right? I can’t think of a reason why it wouldn’t. Because of the multiplayer aspect I imagine that if this was drafted it would be in a Conspiracy-type set... Wow, yeah, this would be a fun limited card.

What we can improve: There’s not too much to improve here mechanically. I will say that the name and flavor text aren’t grabbing me at all. It’s been done before in similar ways, and heck, that’s fine for tropes. Just could have used some more spice.

Nitpicks: Definitely needed reminder text here, once again, as most non-evergreen mechanics do.

@bluebread-mage — Vorel, Rejected Strategist

What I like: I actually didn’t know Vorel’s full story, so I appreciate you adding that in there. It gives an interesting explanation of the mechanics you chose to use, and this is a slightly different version of +1/+1 counter interaction that I’ve seen around for contests like this, so kudos for that.

What we can improve: I won’t go ahead and say that this card straight up doesn’t work, but the hoops you have to jump through to make it actually do anything are difficult to say the least. So, you have Riot, and he gets a counter, and all your creatures gain evolve. Do you play a creature after that? Probably not if this is turn three. But then next turn... How do you get a counter on Vorel now? And if you do, without the means of a specific continuous counter generation like Forced Adaptation, you’d need to cast a spell to give him a counter, which means that you’re probably spending mana, which means you have less mana for a big creature, which means that the creature you DO cast probably won’t trigger evolve, and — do you see where I’m going with this? He’s asking for too many resources to make the effect worthwhile. I love the flavor idea. I love what you tried to do. It’s just not practical in gameplay terms.

Nitpicks: Your “evolve” reminder text should have been reworded to show what it would do for every creature; as it is, it would only do Vorel, which isn’t what your rules text says.

@col-seaker-of-the-memiest-legion — Diabolic Seer

What I like: So, I was reading the text, and then I got to the last line, and I was really pleasantly surprised that you brought the exploit back around to add the flash clause. Pretty great name, too, if a little meta; if the cards you were riffing off didn’t exist already, it would be radical.

What we can improve: In short, this card is balanced, assuming that:

You’re not playing any sacrifice strategies in the two colors with the most sacrifice strategies.

You don’t have any other creatures to search up a recursive win condition.

In constructed, you’re not playing fetchlands.

You’re not searching up further answers after already searching up recursion.

...and that’s my main issue with this card. Repeatable tutoring is absolutely bonkers good in literally any format whatsoever. Four-mana repeatable tutoring is, to say the least, broken. And you’re potentionally giving it flash? That is, IMO, a break. Small personal notes: I don’t know why this card doesn’t have a subtype; and the flavor text is vague. I don’t understand the character’s goals, role, or place in the world.

Nitpicks: “...put it into your hand, then shuffle your library. Until your next turn, if a creature was exploited this turn, you may cast that card as though it had flash.” Additionally, I understand the artist is Nataša Ilinčić, but I had to go on a Google expedition for that. Anglicizing to “Natasa Ilincic” may have been a better choice.

For those interested, the artist is actually fantastic. Check ‘em out HERE.

@corporalotherbear — Underworld Escapist

What I like: “Spirit Rogue” is an interesting combo that I like. Gives some neat little feeling of why it’s an escapist, or at least it’s a complimentary type. I also enjoy the idea of the escape being an adventure flavorfully.

What we can improve: ...does this card work? SHOULD it work? So it goes on an adventure, you cast it normally, it dies, you cast it from your graveyard on an adventure, rinse and repeat. Okay, that’s probably what you were going for. In that case, my goodness, this needs to be rare. Nigh-infinite recursion that can make bodies is probably too powerful. Personally as well, I understand the Amass and the flavor text, but what does a rogue making an army have anything to do with escaping? And why would it be an escape if you can cast it from your hand first? I’m really iffy on the eventual flavor of it all.

Nitpicks: None, as I understand the comprehensive rules would need to either be rewritten or re-explored for the second side to work. Hm, but wouldn’t it be cool if it was “You may send ~ on an adventure from your graveyard.” But, again, that’s more of a hypothetical question than even a nitpick.

@dabudder — Davriel, Pact Breaker

What I like: Bringing back characters for further exploration is always fun. We got a couple cool folks from WAR, certainly, and it’s always a pleasant surprise.

What we can improve: I just straight up don’t like the gimmick at all. Planeswalkers shouldn’t even have gimmicks, IMO. The first ability is fine, I would respect that if the rest of the card was completely changed. Fateseal is an unfun mechanic that, on this card, you can activate easily. I don’t have much to say about this card because of how it’s based in unfun gimmicks. I read through the wiki to get an idea of what Davriel’s like, and while I do appreciate how you tried to capture a lot of complexity in a single card, this isn’t it. I feel you’re trying to tell a massive story in a way that it doesn’t need to be told.

Nitpicks: Make sure you change your rarity, which I will assume was a mistake.

@deafeningsandwichpeach — Tempting Angel

What I like: Well, this card is weird. And I need to clarify, this is in the “What I like” section because I do like weird. It’s not broken, which is fine. Wow, though, the... Exile then Show and Tell and all? On a 9/9 flier? This card would destroy some games, and I could see it being a cube all-star and a crazy commander blink monstrosity. Once this hits the board, it needs to be removed IMMEDIATELY. Oh, and then... Containment Priest nonsense. Man, this could be a wacky card.

What we can improve: I will say, that a 9/9 body may be way too big. A six-mana 6/6 may have been more appropriate, and more balanced. In the late-game, if your opponent doesn’t have great draws, they’d probably be out of a card to put onto the battlefield. I have the feeling this couldn’t be a draftable card for that reason alone... Eh, maybe I’m just paranoid.

Nitpicks: Flying and Convoke need to be separated by a comma, not a semicolon. I think the same can be said for “permanent” and “then” in the second line.

@dimestoretajic — Gruul Rampager

What I like: That flavor text is friggin’ phenomenal, man. It’s a Gruul feel, it’s an orc feel, it’s a berserker feel. You captured an uncommon feel as well, too. I like how it’s a little more red than green, even though the two are definitely in good alignment with each other.

What we can improve: +1/+1 counters and -1/-1 counters should not go on the same card. Full stop. I know it’s mechanically cute, and I’ll be honest, I like how they work on this card. But it’s one of those Magic rules to avoid confusion and to stop weird triggers. The game can handle it, but it’s not fun to figure out. There’s acceptable weirdness and then there’s just inherent guidelines.

Nitpicks: Why does this card have a color indicator? Also, you misspelled “Berserker” in the typeline.

@evscfa1 — Burning Trails (JUDGE PICK)

What I like: This is a very difficult card to judge. Searching up two lands is powerful, but there are more efficient ways to do it eternally, so this card itself isn’t broken. Jund Lands and Gruul Ramp love it absolutely. I’m thinking of this in commander because, well, there’s no other reason for a rare ramp spell like this. I’d hate to open this in draft...or would I? Slightly different/better/multicolored Cultivate isn’t the worst thing in the world, possibly. This card is making me think. The versatility is pretty interesting as well, and I can see where land-matters cards would like it.

What we can improve: I’m really torn on whether or not this card needs both kinds of recursion, because as interesting as it is, my gut really isn’t understanding why they both NEED to be there. Is there an interaction I’m not seeing? I don’t think so, I think it’s just different recursion, and yeah, there’s lands-in-hand-for-retrace, plus the sacrifice to filter, but that’s just efficiency, not necessarily synergy. Honestly, this could also be an uncommon for that cost, I think. It would be a powerful-as-all-getout uncommon, but it just doesn’t feel rare to me in terms of crazy power level.

Nitpicks: None.

@forteleijon — Cordeceyp Crawler

What I like: Well, besides your lovely photograph, I think that the mechanics you chose work well flavorfully. A mutating fungus that can crawl out of the grave is pretty cool!

What we can improve: Firstly, if you can, I would highly recommend downloading Magic Set Editor for complex cards like this. Secondly, did you forget the escape cost about exiling cards from your graveyard? Otherwise, you can just cast this from your graveyard every turn without restrictions like Gravecrawler. I mean, this card isn’t Hogaak, but still. That probably wasn’t your intention, but once again, we come to reminder text. Rare cards sometimes eschew reminder text in complex sets, but mechanics like Mutate demand reminder text through and through. 

Nitpicks: Since “escape” is a verb on almost every creature card that uses it, the last ability can say “You may have Cordeceyp Crawler escape mutated onto target creature you control” as opposed to a trigger. Additionally, is that a misspelling of “Cordeceyp?”

@fractured-infinity — Emmara, Voice of the Conclave

What I like: I’m sort of content with the fact that Emmara is everyone’s Selesnya favorite. In terms of this card, I think that you chose two good mechanics to represent her and her guild. PT checks out, mana cost checks out, wording all checks out.

What we can improve: ...but she doesn’t do anything by herself, and that feels a little frustrating to me as a rare card. There’s nothing inherently or objectively wrong with this design, and there are plenty of proliferate cards that just proliferate by themselves. I would much rather have had a rare card that did at least something to make those abilities better. What if she made a token upon entering or placed a counter or something? I dunno, I’m just iffy on her power on the board.

Nitpicks: The word “Populate” you put in the reminder text should be lowercase.

@gollumni — Danz, Ascenscion Assistant

What I like: “Demon Noble” is a great typeline. I can see how this would make politics very, very complicated. Do you want to build around having no cards in hand and perhaps using the graveyard as a resource? You can discourage people from attacking and make political blocks as well. This is a very political card!

What we can improve: I can’t think of any specific improvements to this card. I think that it’s one of those cards where you yourself don’t want to be the monarch, and that’s a complex idea that I don’t know will always work out well in a draft environment like this may be intender to supplement. After all, 99% of limited games are won through combat damage. Such is fate. I think for this particular contest, I’m a little saddened that Partner doesn’t really...do anything. This contest was supposed to be about two mechanics interacting, y’know? And Partner is a mechanic that doesn’t really interact with any other on-card mechanic in the same way that our winners did.

Nitpicks: “Ascension” is misspelled in the name.

@greensunzenith — Eversworn Tombguard

What I like: Hell yeah, this card is cool. A knight sent to protect a grave or graveyard? Well, it’s not mechanically tied to your graveyard, but maybe it’s a burial site! I see that Orzhov symbol in the background. Interesting, how they might be using new techniques to protect themselves on a new Ravnica. This is an amazing draft card with possible constructed potential. I’m a big fan.

What we can improve: Besides the eternalization being a Bolas mechanic, I feel that, unfortunately, this is one of those cards where the Afterlife mechanic would be better being a different one, or no mechanic at all. Of course, that’s not your fault, and this contest asked for it. If you’re saving this card for a cube or a custom set, I would replace Afterlife with just a death trigger. Maybe it would read better, if you want to keep Afterlife, as “Eversworn Tombguard has afterlife X, where X is its power.”

Nitpicks: None.

@haru-n-harkel — Wistar, Lab Rat

What I like: I was absolutely not expecting a multicolored adventure or even an off-colored adventure. This poor ratty is going off and learning about everything, and then they come back and distribute their knowledge. So strange! Adventures are interesting cards for sure. I’ll have to find the download for that, because I just scoured my MSE and I can’t seem to find it. And you know what, I was going to gripe about keyword counters technically not being a “””new mechanic””” but whatever, that’s a personal interpretation that doesn’t change the fact that this is a fine card.

What we can improve: Is this supposed to be on Eldraine? I don’t really understand why this card is black at all. What lab are they supposed to be in? I see “lab” and I think “Innistrad” but that’s bias... What does research have to do with returning a creature? Are scientists clerics? ARE they a scientist? The gist of what I’m getting at is that this card has a couple cool mechanical ideas but I have no idea what it’s really supposed to represent. I don’t get a sense of place or strong meaning from this card.

Nitpicks: It’s hard to tell the difference between abilities in the main body; another indentation might fix that, or it may just be too much text. And also... This is the pettiest, most useless nitpick I’ve ever given, but your set symbol in this specific frame is really hard to distinguish. I would futz around with it for a bit.

@hiygamer — Woven Repetition

What I like: I can see how you got clever with this one. The splice and the rebound make for some interesting combinations. The cost is probably appropriate, if a bit high. You’d want to make some really carefully calculated decisions, unless you’re just pitching lands, to give that big spell rebound.

What we can improve: Rebound absolutely needs reminder text. Someone opens this in a booster pack and it’s going to be a head-scratcher for sure. I’m glad that it works (Thanks, Cast Through Time!) because I almost thought that it didn’t, but man, a lot of players will be confused with this at common. That’s the major issue; was that a misclick or something? This is most definitely an uncommon or rare card for complexity alone. Personally, I think that it would be best to also only exile one card, and you know what, this really could be mono-blue. What’s the white in it?

Nitpicks: None.

@i-am-the-one-who-wololoes — Steam Blast

What I like: Yup, that is indeed someone getting blasted by steam. It’s a solid bounce card that feels both Izzet-y and could see play on any other world. It’s a powerful spell in the UR archetype that could see plenty of nice draft play. The consensus is that the replicate will indeed see the entwined-ness. Hm, will it see more than one mode? Complex ideas at play here!

What we can improve: I know you have a style to maintain, but modal spells are significantly improved by the bullet points, and this card is hard to parse. As a rare, while complex, it’s a lot of colors to invest in a removal spell. Fine for an archetype, but I suppose that’s the nature of replicate. I don’t know, this card just doesn’t grab me. Maybe it’s the name, maybe it’s the nature of rare removal. There’s nothing inherently ‘wrong’ with it, though.

Nitpicks: None.

@ignorantturtlegaming — Heartwarming Reunion

What I like: This is indeed a feel. You chose a good image and flavorful bond for this card. With a few tweaks, this could actually be a really powerful GW archetype card with some great draft implications and enchantment synergies.

What we can improve: There are a few things to work on with this card.

The name “Heartwarming Reunion” implies a moment that would best be represented on an instant/sorcery card. I’m thrown off by its continuous nature.

Soulbond doesn’t affect how a creature is cast. “Nontoken creatures you control have soulbond” and it would affect them like Rhythm of the Wild. 

What does bolstering have to do with being a reunion? A relationship I can see but there’s a massive flavor disconnect. Also, it should be “paired creatures” and not “creature pairs.”

I understand what the flavor text is trying to do, but it bunches up the text above it and also doesn’t say anything that the name hasn’t told us already.

In short, there a few great ideas but they’re stuck between a couple of stumbling blocks.

Nitpicks: The last ability should be shortened to “Paired creatures you control have lifelink and vigilance.”

@joecurryat — Forsaken Devotee

What I like: I remember seeing that art a little while back, the Eldrazified Vampire. I loved Innistrad’s art direction. Anywho, though. I think that indeed Monstrosity is a fine enough mechanic for the Eldrazi. 

What we can improve: See above comments about reminder text. The first thing that comes to mind is the fact that it’s a human cleric. Even excusing the vampiric origins of the art, why is it becoming monstrous? It feels like there’s a disconnect between what the card wants to be and what it is. Annihilator was certainly...a choice. If you play this on turn 5-6 and monstrosify it on turn 7, you get a 9/9 lifelink with annihilator. The desire for powerful cards is strong, but annihilator isn’t fun, was never fun, and needs a major overhaul to be fun again. This card just isn’t it. Additionally, and this is more polish, but what on earth is that flavor text trying to say? Who’s saying that? Who is them? If it’s that hard to parse, it’s even harder for it to add meaning to the card.

Nitpicks: “has,” not “gains.”

@kavinika — Undercity Thug

What I like: The Ravnican (I’m assuming) undercity is a fantastic place for all sorts of mercenaries. The name’s not going to win any awards, but it gets the job done in a cool and flavorful way. That’s a very strong exploit ability, and would almost be first-pickable in a lot of drafts. The extra potential removal makes this formidable.

What we can improve: See notes about reminder text. When looking at this contest, we were hoping that there would be instances where the two mechanics compliment each other. This is the second revolt/exploit combo of this contest, and I’m a little frustrated that they don’t have any meaningful interaction. Sure, they both involve potential permanents leaving the battlefield in different roundabout ways, but it’s not attacking on the same turn that it’s exploiting a creature. The distance just isn’t working.

I usually don’t comment on this, because I respect the fact that we’re not professional writers, but that flavor text needs serious revision. An active antagonistic oppressor is fine in a game about conflict. The language is... Well, it needs revision.

Nitpicks: None.

@koth-of-the-hammerpants — Ceaseless Soul-chief. (JUDGE PICK)

What I like: “Orc Spirit Warrior.” Hell. Yes. It’s a big smasher, a big finisher, an anthem, a warlord, and they’re so full of souls and anger that they’ll return even stronger than before. I want to draft this card, I want to build casually with this card, and I want to see a world in which this card can come back strong again and again. 

What we can improve: I can’t think of any significant improvements. I will say that it might have been better, unfortunately, if this card was not a spirit. I can make my personal justifications however I want and I may love it, but ghosts probably shouldn’t have other ghosts in them.

Nitpicks: “Chief” definitely needs to be capitalized.

@machine-elf-paladin — Legacy Forger (JUDGE PICK)

What I like: The name actually captured me. it’s a great warrior name for sure. Mentor and Renown are two +1/+1 counter mechanics that don’t necessarily have amazing synergy, but you made them work here. This is a powerful combat tool, great use of mentor in green, and makes combat complicated for your opponents. Really awesome use of just using keywords to get your point across! Simple and effective.

What we can improve: The flavor text could use some clarification. Reads a bit clunky.

Nitpicks: Are you using MSE M15 Mainframe? If not, I would recommend it so you can get the flavor bar in and space out the words more.

@misterstingyjack — Promenade Parade (JUDGE PICK)

What I like: You can be aggro in a pinch, or you can wait and go a little wider, and even pick up a better token in a pinch! This is a pretty cool card that makes fantastic use of Ascend to bring across a flavorful card. “If you have the city’s blessing, the city grows with citizens.” Like — that’s so awesome?? I loved how you made a really surprisingly happy card in the aftermath of an otherwise dark event. And heck, it’s not a bad card either.

What we can improve: The only real “issue” that’s not even an issue is the flavor text and the name/flavor combo. The flavor text itself is in “gets the job done” territory, which you know what, that’s fine, they don’t all have to be Hemmingway. But I would also assume a Parade would be, like, a bigger event, and you could get a lot of people there. Right? Am I going crazy? This is a serious reach, so don’t take this as a design critique per se. All polish and pedantry. You did good.

Nitpicks: None.

@morbidlyqueerious — Swarming Platoons

What I like: I had to read this a fair bit to really get what was going on here. This is actually really complex, and I like the implications of what’s going on! You can get a 4/4, a 2/2 and two 1/1s, or two 2/2s. Like, that’s a lot of options in two words and two numbers! I think that I actually like the mechanics of this card a lot more than I had upon originally considering it. That text would make for a really great sort of Modern Horizons-y card.

What we can improve: I’m really lost as to how you decided to place this card in the universe. Servos are artificially created inventions, sure, so...are they natural now? Is that how Kaladesh is evolving, per your flavor text? Why is it offering answers? I don’t really see the question. You’ve made it a construct, and yet calling it nature. And the name “Platoon” is a soldier-y thing, and doesn’t convey an insectile invention feel. In short, fantastic mechanics, flavor is all over the place and confusing.

Nitpicks: “Platoon” also doesn’t need to be pluralized. 

@naban-dean-of-irritation — Starforged Legion

What I like: That’s a badass name, so that’s a great start. I’m amazed that that second ability is only a single sentence that I actually can’t find any flaws with, so that’s impressive to say the least. I assume this is sort of Theros-based? “Starforged” seems to imply that, but you know what, even though I can’t place it, this card makes me want to learn more about the world. That’s a point in its favor.

What we can improve: I don’t think there’s much to improve aside from the fact that it’s narrow. Incredibly narrow. Unfathomably narrow. Seriously, getting this card to work at all is an absolute mess of mana. Many players would love it, and I mean, fifteen mana for thirty power across six creatures would be pretty cool! But god, the effort that would have to go into making this really work and live the dream... Maybe it’s okay, you know? It’ll never see any play outside of someone’s five-color kitchen sink mess-around-and-find-out deck, but... Shoot, y’know, maybe that’s how it’s supposed to be. Can’t call it a winner, but it’s a winner in my heart.

Nitpicks: None.

@nine-effing-hells — Arcanist of Ulamog.

What I like: I will definitely admit that I did not expect devoid to show up again. I also did not expect a processor wizard. You know, this card has some interesting multiplayer aspects. Your opponents also have flashback, but that flashback can be used for your own cards to copy, and... Heh. This is a cute idea with some technical interaction that I like a lot.

What we can improve: This card is also basically unplayable without dampers. Giving all cards flashback? Unless you have Leyline of the Void, Drannith Magistrate, etc, but in limited, that’s going to backfire like nobody’s business. And if your OPPONENT has either one of those cards, good lord... Yeah, this feels like a crazy bas time for you the controller. Sure you get a 4/4 for four out of it, but I don’t think that’s enough to combat the amount of crazy flashback you’ll be getting to oppose your plans. Could be fun in multiplayer though.

Nitpicks: That wording on the second ability seems correct. Someone smarter than me might find something wrong with it. Worth checking a rules guru.

@partlycloudy-partlyfuckoff — Pharika’s Forgotten

What I like: Using dredge was a bold, bold choice. Despite it being a broken mechanic, the fact is that in a vacuum this card could work really well. I think in limited there could be some fun graveyard shenanigans for eventually getting this card back or for using other resources from your graveyard. Honestly, this card is not top-tier, and it has to be that way, because otherwise whoo boy that would be a mess. No, it’s middle-of-the-road, pretty natural, pretty great, pretty synergistic, and not the worst it could have been for using a still-broken mechanic.

What we can improve: I don’t think there’s much that needs to be improved, even though this didn’t really grab me by the throat and make me build around it. I’ve never been one for reckless self-mill but I love mill as a strategy. Who am I kidding, this card’s probably fine. Would make for an INSANE cube uncommon.

Nitpicks: 1). “...mill three CARDS.” 2) Missing two closed parentheses. 3) Needs an emdash after Escape and no space between the dash and the mana cost. 4) “Exile” should be capitalized. And the fifth you already knew about, so don’t worry too much.

@rasputin-gold — Resonant Call

What I like: This card caused a lot of potential discussion in the chat. The ruling is something completely unusual and would have to have a lot of crazy stuff following it in the comprehensive rules. In general, the consensus was that it worked, and it would have a lot of statistics around it that people would talk about. Interesting cost, interesting wording, and the name is actually kind of weirdly nice.

What we can improve: And this card is unfathomably broken. If you have four copies of a card you haven’t drawn, and you’re going first, and you put a single counter on Resonant Call to name something, assuming 51 cards left in your library, what is the probability that you hit the named card? ... I don’t know my math that well, but in limited, if you have a single card you haven’t drawn that you’d like to cast for free, you have a little over a 60% chance of hitting that card. For a common, this is insane and build-around-able for cheating out literally anything you want faster than most any other card. And that’s pretty busted. I don’t think this concept is salvageable. It’s just too risky. Also, see notes on reminder text. 

Nitpicks: Not a critique, but is that a flea in the art?

@real-aspen-hours — Seedsower Oke

What I like: This card is pretty delightful. They’re a druid, a tree, and they make little tree babies. What’s not to love? Convoke is a fantastic mechanic, EVOKE is a fantastic mechanic, and this card could be used for a variety of getting things on and off the battlefield. It’s a card I’d love to see in limited and I think for a very casual commander audience it could work well too. I don’t think that conceptually there’s much to improve upon with this card. It’s got a great feel and I like who they are.

What we can improve: I feel that you could really have made this a 4/4 or even a 4/5. It deserves better stats for a big tree boy! That’s all, just one degree more of pushing to really make him good.

Nitpicks: Evoke should always be the last ability on a card.

@reaperfromtheabyss — Zataz, Renegade Researcher

What I like: I’m going to assume that there are some three-color counter cards in this archetype that you’re envisioning? Or at least, three-color draft support. It’s pretty reminiscent of Master Biomancer, actually. That’s not a bad thing, because that card was great, and as a three-color legend that makes artifact dudes this card is pretty great too. I would have to see a lot of support to make him work in a draft, but 100% he would be an awesome counter-based commander.

What we can improve: There aren’t any major gripes with this card. He does feel...busy. Maybe it’s the frame, maybe it’s the nameline. But I’m seriously questioning “Vedalken Elf” Those are two majorly separate species that aren’t connected in any significant way, and maybe you’re going for a Simic kind of blend but honestly, it’s far more confusing than innovative.  

Nitpicks: Perhaps you could have just said “Zataz’s power” instead of the full name. Wouldn’t have made a huge difference, but.

@shakeszx — Recurring All

What I like: Two-mana 3/3s are a big risk. Aggressive greenery is pretty standard for the archetype and often shows up in competitive aggro builds, so I appreciate you channeling this. Cute name, too! 

What we can improve: I’ve already talked about +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters, and again, it’s cute how you’re making them work here, with the evolve and all, but they just don’t belong. Maybe it’s just me but I also don’t understand the flavor text at all. Do the Golgari have an ooze issue? I thought they liked oozes. Slime Molding says otherwise. Boros would have made sense, perhaps Azorius. Not Golgari.

Nitpicks: Use shift+enter to separate quotes and attribution in your flavor text on MSE.

@snugz — Roar of Revival

What I like: Confession: I never played Battlebond and don’t like team Magic at all. So, forget all that, let’s talk about it from the perspective of someone who DOES like that sort of stuff! This card is invaluable. A big win, pulling life out of your butt and going crazy. Big life gain isn’t my favorite thing either, but you managed to make it new and improved and flavorful and interesting and gave it camaraderie. 

What we can improve: I don’t really have any major improvements for this one. It’s everything that a lifegain spell can be. I think my only caution is that, well, this only really works in 2HG. You gotta target two players, and in commander, that other big multiplayer format, this card is useless. Actually, in basically any other format this card is useless. Unless you want to play Tainted Remedy combo. ... Hmmm...

Nitpicks: This card might read better as “Each of up to two target players gain X life.” Or, if you wanna keep 2HG stuff, “Two target players each gain X life.” Also, have you considered reinstalling to the newest MSE? You don’t have to, you just seem like someone who could really push that stuff to its full potential.

@somethingtothatextent — Expansive Growth.

What I like: It’s an interesting use of cost mechanics. Overload necessarily costs more, but Convoke helps it cost less. I like that balance! The method of making rare cards feel rare and making their effects seem awesome isn’t always easy to do. I think that you dipped into some nice territory here.

What we can improve: Firstly, the name doesn’t feel as expressively creative as it could be. Without even a little context, the complex/unique mechanics lose a bit of touch. Mechanics are more important though, and I think that the way you were forced to make this mechanic happen resulted in the wording being really clunky.

Now, I do have a potential solution: Imagine a card with: “Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control, then you may double the number of +1/+1 counters on target creature you control.” So the spell now can give a counter and potentially double another creature, OR you can go ham with it like your costs want to. Does that make sense? I want to play with this card for sure. It’s good! It’s straight up a good card! Just needs world placement and some wording adjustment.

Nitpicks: None.

@sorustyitshines — Phagus, Eater of Worlds

What I like: Mythic dragons are always a smash and a hit. The devouring of historical permanents combines with the flavor text in such a way that actually makes the flavor text kind of moot. Like, it’s eating history! That’s pretty great! Hardcasting this card will always make for some groans, but the reduction gives it an appropriately mythic status. I think that it’s really powerful as hell, but it’s not unbalanced, I don’t think.

What we can improve: Really, the only major improvement is the name and the mechanical link. “Eater of Worlds” has been done in a lot of IPs. It’s cute, but. Mechanically, I feel disconnected between the cost reduction and the devour. Both of them have an interesting flavor link, I’ll give you that. They just don’t have anything to do with each other, and you’re building effectively two different decks. The things you might sacrifice to Phagus aren’t going to help you cast it again, right?

Nitpicks: “Haste” should be lowercase. The ellipses in your flavor text should be a comma and the period after “all” could possibly be a colon. Or, tbh, this card would be fine without it. That’s a lot of text. Also, I’m curious as to why you need “historic permanents” (which should be “historic permanent CARDS”) instead of just regular historic cards. The card’s already hinted at the fact that it can eat concepts.

@starch255 — Frantic Recruiter

What I like: Replicate now can indeed work with casting permanent spells, so kudos for that. I just had to look up casting and copying and the comprehensive rules for how replicate and rebound work, and as far as I can tell, yeah, this works exactly how it should! I feel the kinda Boros vibe throughout this, and casting from exile with a bunch of tokens, well, yeah, that can be pretty gnarly. A bunch of 1/1s are interesting. What you’ve done is effectively made a RW Reclaim the Wastes that can be doubled. And... You know, I wanna build with it, so that’s cool. Rally the Peasants forreal.

What we can improve: See notes about reminder text. This card is super confusing without it. If you had printed the reminder text I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have needed to look up all that other stuff, harrumph. (I probably would have anyway.) In all seriousness, all my notes about reminder text are here to express that complex ideas need space and you can’t ignore that it’s a necessity especially for ideas like this.

Nitpicks: *GAIN haste UNTIL END OF turn, not “have haste this turn.”

@thedirtside — Lunch Break

What I like: This was one of the most popular and loved cards in the mod channel, so take some kudos there. We loved it. “I’m gonna exert myself and get some food. Y’all can wait for me.” It’s pretty obviously silly, and that’s honestly great. I’ll be honest, silly cards like that outside silver-border rarely win contests, but they’re good for a laugh as long as they’re good.

What we can improve: The first iterations that you submitted, however, were a lot better in my opinion. There’s no reason for this card to be an instant, right? If you’re doing this during a declare attackers phase, that’s not going to change much from if you were to do it during your precombat main phase. Also, the wording really got messed up. I feel that you could have spent more time on flavor text as well. The card’s feeling is great up until then.

Nitpicks: So, a revised card would be a sorcert that reads. “Whenever a creature you control attacks this turn, you may exert it. If you do, it gets +1/+1 until end of turn and you create a Food token. (An exerted creature won’t untap during its controller’s next untap step.)”

@walker-of-the-yellow-path — Spellchaser Hound

What I like: Doggies! Yeah, I don’t even need to see the good boy to know I love him. Mutate feels fresh and funky, the counters are reminiscent of Ikoria without necessarily being set there, and there’s some potential for flavor in the dog fetching more prowess counters as things get crazy.

What we can improve: I really do appreciate the prowess counter reminder text. It might not say what prowess counters do, but that’s another issue. And the fact that you need that shows what we already kind of knew about prowess triggers: they’re complex as hell. Ability counters are...frankly, they’re awful for memory issues as is if you don’t have some kind of ability to remember them and they get equally weird with older cards that check and give permanent abilities... The point is, ability counters are weird as is, and prowess counters are pretty egregious. I don’t think this card is a mistake, but I think it’s really, REALLY complex in the world of Magic, and I would watch out. For what, exactly? ... Don’t worry about it. 

Nitpicks: If you don’t have a certain frame, you can ask the chat or ask for a mod who can do their best to make a render of cards like miracle/mutate/etc. The MSE Discord also has a tech support section.

@wolkemesser — Orca, Doom of Argenti

What I like: You managed to make me look up ancient Dominaria lore and yes indeed, Orca and Argenti are Magic people and words that make sense of it all. Gotta love that deep stuff! 

What we can improve: See above notes on reminder text. See above notes on +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters. But on this card, it’s especially egregious; she enters with haste, perhaps, she dies, then she returns with persist and a +1/+1 counter and starts all over again, and is basically unkillable because the counters will cancel each other out. Additionally, from what I could find, I don’t understand why she’s an Elemental when the story and her Oracle text mark her as a Demon. With flavor, I also don’t really understand the flavor text at all. She’s based on the real Orca, right? Any in-world flavor text would probably have been more appropriate.

Nitpicks: None beside the aforementioned ones.

I’m going to go hug my dog. Please keep questions and comments about commentary in mind, and if you’re reading this, be loved and be safe. Tomorrow enters a new dawn, a new time... Hm, time.....

—@abelzumi