#big massive genuis connection there

[kate-bishops-waifu]

Dream Violet

A/N: Hi and welcome to the shortest fic I will ever publish. It is currently near 2am and I'm thinking about maid au. Roughly mid to late 30s setting.

With all the gentleness and care of a mouse slipping past a cat the little maid placed her employer's lunch tray upon the coffee table. It was a very fine table, and an even finer tray but you might not know that by the way their owner placed her booted foot upon the tables surface. Really they ressembled more closely those of a laborers footwear, something you might never expect to adorn the feet of a young lady. Certainly not of a young lady who lived in upper Manhattan, with all the fortune and wealth one could dream up.

She lay quite lazily, her head resting upon her hand, pressed comfortably against the plush pillows, one foot tucked up and the other outstretched. The lady wore not a fine dress, no pearls or necklaces, not even an earring, but a dark suit. That of a man's. Most knew her simply as Kate.

Kate struck quite the intriguing figure, and the maid was momentarily entranced. It was difficult not to be. She picked up the coat, which had been discarded without care and went to hang it up, but was startled by Kate's waking.

“Ms. Potts?” She inquired in the form of a yawn.

“Pardon me Ms?” The maid replied.

Kate sat up straighter, turning in her chair to examine the creature who was not in fact her old cook. She wore a face of confusion for a moment before her eyes widened in remembrance. “Sorry, I don't think we've met before?”

“It's Ms-” the maid began to respond, but Kate held up a hand.

“You're first name, please. Mom makes this place too formal.”

“Ophelia then, Ms.”

Kate pouted at this, scrunching her nose in distaste. She sat up a little more and began rolling up her shirtsleeves.

“This is your first day?”

“Yes Ms.” Ophelia attempted a smile.

Kate stood, and started to roll her shirtsleeves down again. She was not petite or particularly ladilike in any way, though her hair was long and in style.

“Please call me Kate. Everyone does.” She stretched a hand out in offering.

[popculturebuffet]

Amphibia Reviews: The Sleepover to End All Sleepovers/A Day at the Aquarium

Last full episode before hiatus! The Kids have a sleepover in the castle that starts like the Princess Diaries 2 and ends in unspeakable horror, while the Plantars try to spend one final day together without getting sad. Sort of like everyone these days without the final part. One last ride under the cut. 

Whelp it’s the end for this batch of episodes which is sad, and i’ll genuinely miss covering these every week. Yeah I have other coverage incoming with Ducktales coming back, eeeee, and current Loud House coverage.. but it was still nice to have something to cover this summer and something to watch every week during this blighted year, as i’ve mentioned before there weren’t any BAD episodes just hard to cover ones and I think by the end I figured out how to do that.. mostly by stopping straight up recaps for more condensed ones. Point is I had fun, grew as a reviewer, and it was a good way to kill a few saturdays, sundays and one or two mondays, and that ain’t bad at all. So before we come back for halloween, let’s send off weekly amphibia coverage in style for now, unless it comes back in November and I look stupid, with this week. Let’s go. 

The Sleepover to End All Sleepovers

Well this one took a turn. It was also an excellent one as we got more insight into Marcy and Anne’s friendship with Sasha, and some truly excellent horror. Yes, horror.  The Plantar kids head to the castle for the evening for a Sleepover. Turns out the king finally did find something, as did Marcy who’s playing coy about what they found in the hidden library I forgot to mention last time because I was covering 4 episodes at once. Anyway King Keith David has a meeting with them tommorow. So the kids are staying with Marcie to have a fun night together while Hop Pop has a night without the kids to get something head to toe.. it’s better not to ask. They also annoy Olivia who goes off to drink.. juice. Yes the hard juice that comes with a lemon wedge and speedoed servant newt. 

It’s also our ambigously gay duo’s first sleepover without Sasha, but their confident they can do this themselves while Sprig is hoping i’tll be good as his first sleepover (And has a creepy closeup about formative memories) Cue a fun montage of everryone annoying olivia and getting into hyjinks round the castle from sillys tring, which is shot from critters, to painting moustaches. It’s fun stuff.  Then we go from fun stuff to...

As , in order to stay awake, as being the bastion of pleasantness she is Sasha refused to let them sleep till sunrise, Marcy and Anne initate a SCARE DARE! A SCARE DARE! is a scary dare where the person who dosen’t complete it goes in the book of losers. Which of course was Sasha’s idea, both in general concept and the dares done. What a well adjusted young lady!  So naturally our heroes go into the basment they were told to stay out of. They get pass Lady Olvia because she’s passed out drunk on hard lemonade, living the dream as it were. ,Anyway they.  find a bunch of tombstones, and then Marcy and Anne taking a selfie (Say desecration) wakes the dead... all because they were both playing chicken. One has to imagine how the kids talking with hop pop would go

So yeah the ghostly horror terrors chase the kids, who somehow end up in Marcy’s room. So she just has a passage from a floating graveyard contaning horrifying eldtirch ghosts to her room.. a room the king put in for her. Someone protect this child. 

So our heroes soon have to deal with the ghosts but luckily sprig’s mirror catching it reveals the mirrors, which were foreshadowed earlier by a hall of mirrors leading into the corpse room, making the ghosts solid and allowing our heroes to fight htem back. Our heroes are exausted, Marcy and Anne reveal that they also chickend out on the scare dare so it’s okay, and Oliva arrives. It’s go time.  Final Thoughts: A fun episode that quickly pivots into a great and nightmare inducing one perfect for spooky season coming up soon. I do generally wonder just WHAT those things are, and it’s great setup for whatever’s abotu to come. And while I didn’t mention it in the recap we also get sprig finding some sort of painting and it being of the king, a toad and a frog.. we don’t get to see it clearly so it could be someone else.. but.. it’s clear the king likely has ties to what happened before. But what DID happen before? what are those ghost things? what’s the king’s angle? 

Yeah I have no answers for now on what the king’s plan is, or how inocent he is or if that’s his dad, just that something’s clearly wrong. And the omonious chess metaphor told us that.. yeah I do think that bit was kind of a mistake as otherwise while we’d probably still question the king, we would be more conflicted as evidence piled up versus “yeah something’s clearly wrong. “ Then again we genuiely don’t know what his motives or plan is or how well intentioned he is or anything other than he SEEMS nice, and that said game could be a necessary evil for all we know. We just don’t have enough information, even with the ominus bits, to truly know what’s going on and what kind of villian the king is. If he is one at all the show could pull a massive swerve on us.. I mean I doubt it he probably is evil, but I wouldn’t put it past the show. For now let’s move on so I can do more wheel spinning and what not...

Day at the Aquarium

So it’s time for another audience with the king. Turns out he and Mar-mar found out a LOT. Or Marcy did at least, as the above makes clear the king may of known ALL OF THIS already, and just needed Marcy and Anne to think he didn’t long enough for his evil plans. But we do learn a LOT about the gems, the box, and what it does as well as how to fix it... 

So let’s not waste time since some of you probably don’t have episode acess this early and want to know: Turns out the calamity box is an interdimensional travel device, and, as far as the king tells us anyway, the king’s ancestors went around from world to world as explorers, possibly the group seen in the picture and just as likely the king himself hiding his role in things. Now how much of the explorer part is TRUE remains up in the air, especially since history also painted Columbus an explorer, including when I was in school, and not you know.. an idiot and a colonizing bastard. History is written by the winners after all so it’s hard to know what’s true, only that the book is likely real: While the king COULD’VE planted it to lead marcy, or had one made up, a fake would’ve been spotted immeditly as we’ve established Marcy is a master detective with batman level deductive skills. Or Elongated Man but I wanted most of you to get the refrence and his adaptation versoins so far haven’t been the kindest to ralph. Anyways, point is that con wouldn’t work on her so the book IS real, as is it’s info on the box.. i’ts just hard to tell what was left out or if this was written before utter diastaer and apocalypse insued. After all Gravity Falls Journal 3 is all fine and dandy about bill before the giant passage about bill not being trusted written in blood and Ford going into a paranoid tailspin after realizing his friend is actually a horrifing monster, literally and figuratively, so we don’t know WHAT could’ve been hidden in a nother book the king could’ve removed at any time before  Marcy got there or while she was away on a mission.  But yeah while we know there’s probably more to it this is sitll big information, the box connecting to 4 other worlds other than amphibia, which not only opens up the story possiblities but the fan fiction, and that each of the gems can be recharged at three temples, each one of the gems responding to a diffrent trait judging by the symbols, each representing our girls; Purple is strength, and thus sasha, Blue is Heart, Anne, and Green is Brains, Marcy. I do like thisd as it tells us more but only raises further questions, hooking the audience more. It’s great stuff. But our heroines now have a goal.. but unforutnately the Plantars need to go back and Anne can’t go with as Marcy wants her close. It’s harvest season soon and the Plantars have been away long enough. So they have one last day, though both marcy and the king are apologetic and the king offers them a large tissue and upon getting no response just gives it to them as next time we see them with it. it’s both a great gag, and a nice show of kindess from the king and possible diabolical mastermind. 

So the Plantars decide to spend their final day with Anne at the aquarium, as it always cheered her up. This goes south as eveyrhting from the eels to the giant kraken to the coral reminds them of their past and leaves the poor group sobbing. Even a water show goes sideways as Sprig sees an eel, but it does lead to the group fighting off the stingrays at the show in an utterly stunning fight sequence. Not the best i’ve seen this month.. but only because I binged what I missed of rise of the tmnt this month and that show’s final figh tis an utter showstopper, as are most of it’s fight, but this is easily on par with most of them. Fluid, well done and emotoinal. Our heroes get thrown out of course, but the thought counts and they decide one last throughly them memory is better than nothing.  The final scene is naturally an utter gut punch as we get tearfull goodbyes (sprig and anne forever). Their crying, i’m crying we’re all crying and Hop Pop promises they’ll see each other again. Because family always finds each other. My heart.. it’s too full. here have an apporiate song...

Let’s see how i’m doing. 

Yeah so two things: I’m not going to be able to stop sobbing thinking of this scene so let’s move on and how have I only NOW refrenced gilmore girls on this blog?

But yeah the scene is utterly moving as the Plantars leave and Marcy realises something. She likely was keeping Anne close because she just got her back... but realizes she’s being selfish. It’s not SAID on screen but it’s clear both in Hailey’s voice acting and from the animation what’s going through her head. It’s utterly captivating stuff. So she tells Anne to go with them.. offically because they should have someone they can trust keep an eye on the box, which is a good idea honestly given just giving it to a royal messenger is just asking for it to be stolen. So Marcy will stay behind and prepare, and since she mentioned it before likekly try to find Sasha as she earlier stated they HAVE to find her.. and given what we see with the recharging that’s both because she misses her friend no matter what she’s done, and because she’s vitally important, while Anne goes with the Plantars to get the box and have some more time before they say goodbye forever, with Marcy coming to wartwood to pick it and anne up for the first temple. Because nothing terrible’s ever happened when a plucky youth with a sword went to three seperate temples, especially involving a guy with a beard and full plate armor. 

Marcy stares off, sad her friend and possible crush is gone.. but unederstanding that this is what she needs, and that she can’t hold her here.. Anne needs to see her family off.. and we get a tearful reunion as Anne chases after them, passing her friends from “Scavenger Hunt”, and reunites with her family. But of course we can’t end on a happy moment, as we cut back to Marcy whose utterly sad.. and the King who says he has a proposition for her, one she’ll find most agreable. 

But yeah we end on that bit of ominus as we close till october. 

Final Thoughts: Yeah if it wasn’t obvious this was a great one. Great plot progression, great animation, great emotional hook, good jokes which I dind’t get into for time, and tons of stuff to leave fans wanting more just before the break, but without a HUGE cliffhanger. Sure we don’t know what the King’s planning, but that aside our heroes are still together outside of marcy, and we haave a lot to look forward to whenever the show gets back. I’m hyped. Your hyped. IT’s a good note to go out on, especially since last weeks eps were also excellent and it looks like things are about to pick up. When next we meet it’s an inconsequential, probably, anthology episode, though it should be fun, then whenever new episodes return, wether it be just in november or more likely in February, our heroes return to wartwood! And we’ll find out what everyone’s been up to. Hopefully Ivy didn’t leave sprig. We’ll see. Until then, you can check out this blog for more recaps, as I said i’m covering ducktales as it comes back monday and loud house whenever I can get my meat hooks on the new episodes, and until then say safe and go team venture!

[baadfabrykittyadv110]

WEEK 8 LECTURE / / Quills, Thrills & Earthquakes - A talk on letter & petition writing

/ / /

Please & Proposals

It may have been sincere, funny... (kids have a great directness and brutality to their tone of voice when writing)

An apology, write a letter that could be a protest, even to something inanimate

The love that goes into making a letter, magnifying glass, making writing from the sun - you choose your words carefully because it takes a long time to do (@textfromthetrenches - the idea of taking the original media, mixes media and forms of messaging/communication) - - - 

The love that goes into making a letter, Bob & Roberta Smith, multiple examples of manifesto work, an open letter for what he feels passionate about (letter to Michael Gove, rethinking the role of creativity in society) - simple, yet extremely powerful statements - a love and craft goes into not only the presentation but the choice of words themselves

/ / /

Rejection & Replies

Persistance, Andy Warhol rejection letters, rejection letters from university ...

Buzz Aldrin, replies, sincere, beautifully written and from the heart, a very personal and unique tone of voice - - -

Fan mail, social media gives another dimension to the form, replies from stars (interesting insight, powerful message just by the fact that they replied)

/ / /

The cover letter

*‘Dear Sir’ Robert Pirosh cover letter 

The idea that your future self is speaking to your present self - “Dear (me)”, Yours sincerely, the (you) of the future”

*What makes a letter great

It is from someone specific to someone specific

It is to the point and makes a point

It treats the reader as an equal

It starts or strengthens a relationship

*Wendi Aarons, Austin TX Open letter 

*@VirginTrains to @Adam  - modern conversation, brand image/response team on social media

/ / /

People Powered Petitions

Noble missions, campaigns - press coverage and lots of people gathered

Can become something bigger, one campaign turned into ‘One’ The Campaign To Make Poverty History WWW.ONE.ORG (tackle big and complicated issues)

We don’t need a genuis to solve the issues, just someone who tries to make the change

‘Change.org’ The world’s platform for change, connects people across cultural borders to support causes they care about

/ / / 

Popular Failures

Over a million people signed to not fire host from TopGear (people coming together to protest for what they feel passionate about, about who they don’t)

AVAAZ The World In Action - online activist movement - ‘David & Goliath’ style, people again coming together to perform huge, meaningful acts

Finding the right spokesperson to drive the project forward

38 Degrees people. power. change. - online presence with stunks can feat massive obsticles and make a difference

/ / /

How to use people power

Start a petition

Share your petition

Get media on your side

Twist the arm of who matters

/ / /

How to sign off - “a bug-bear of mine” - you can read a lot into it.

Your sincerely = smarks of insincerity 

Kind Regards = your tie is tucked in your pants

All the best = a solid, dependable option

/ / / 

Laurie Anderson’s tips for life 

1. Be afraid of no-one, fear nobody

2. Get a good bullshit dectector and know how to use it

3. Be tender always