#built like a greek statue lmao

[go-against-fate]

One of the things that i absolutely adore in cpsm manhwa is when they include lloyd and/or javier in the form of art . makes me really happy

[fromevertonow]

Suzanne Collins is one of the few contemporary writers who realizes the importance of names in her stories and the significance they bear. They add so many layers to the story, additional meanings that otherwise would not have existed.

The original trilogy:

Katniss: named after a plant of which you can eat the roots. Her father taught her where to find it and told her that “as long as you can find yourself, you’ll survive” (quote may be a little bit off, but it’s from one of the early chapters in THG). Additionally, the leaves are in the shape of an arrowhead, referencing her skills with the bow which her father also taught her how to use.

Peeta: literally bread lmao. But bread is one of the basic nutritions humans need, a little bit goes a long way to keep you alive. Peeta’s presence in Katniss’s life also kept her alive, literally and figuratively—the burned bread he threw her in the flashback and their complicated relationship.

Primrose: a plant with medicinal purposes, even more significant in light of her work as a medic in Mockingjay.

Gale: literally means “strong wind” and considering that in every encounter with Katniss he’s caused some reaction, he pulls her into directions she maybe initially doesn’t want to go in. Additionally, his name also represents his determination and steadfastness in his beliefs.

TBOSAS

Lucy Gray: named after William Wordsworth’s poem “Lucy Gray” which is about the titular character of the poem who got lost during a blizzard. She literally got lost in snow. Rachel Zegler sang this poem in two parts on the original soundtrack of the movie. When Snow asked who the girl in the song is, Lucy answers that she’s a mystery, just like her.

Snow: aside from the obvious snow references, I think his name is most significant in relation to Lucy and the poem. The only one who knows what caused her disappearance is Snow. He is the reason that Lucy is gone. But her traces in the snow are still visible. He will always remember her because the memory of Lucy has manifested itself in every part of his life.

Coriolanus: named after the Roman general (and also the titular character of Shakespeare’s play), Coriolanus wanted to attack Rome and become its ruler. He was scorned and celebrated by the people, only to be later exiled from the city by them. In TBOSAS, Coriolanus is the star pupil at the Capitol’s academy but sent into exile to the districts after he won the Games with Lucy through cheating.

Volumnia: Coriolanus mother who played a part in his ascent to power. In TBOSAS, she almost serves like a mentor to Coriolanus, teaching him how to think in terms of power.

(Edit) Sejanus: a roman soldier who was betrayed by the roman emperor Tiberius, just like the future president betrayed him.

(Edit) Plinth: got this info from here, but it was too good not to include here. A plinth is a base for a statue or vase to stand on. After Sejanus’s death, all of the Plinth fortune was given to Snow for being such a good to friend him. It was this money that skyrocketed the Snow family from poverty to filthy rich. The Plinth money was the foundation upon which Snow built his power.

There are so many other names that have historical (mostly Roman and Greek) connotations—Plutarch, Seneca, Cinna—but also regular names like Trinket and Beetee bear meanings that represent the character beautifully.

Names are important. For any lover of literature or (aspiring) writers, please look closely at them. They can shape your story into something unique.

Feel free to correct me if I’ve said something wrong. I know there are many names missing, but I can only add so many examples ✊🏻😔

[praazlwurm]

Giratina's Temple and the Celestica Ruins

aka Giratina/platinum clan theory is back (also sorry for using mspaint lmao)

So we all know about the Shrouded Ruins, yeah?

(This is the only spoiler warning for Pokemon Legends: Arceus you're gonna get)

Spooky. Ever-cloaked in mists and mystery, surrounded by black-stoned cairns like graves and home to the giant Odd Keystone that once (?) housed 108 souls. Very ghost-centric.

Well what if I told you it was a temple?

Greco-roman temples (and, problematic or otherwise the celestica are absolutely greco-roman coded) are constructed relatively uniformly, with an outer later of columns holding up the roof and an inner layer holding up an internal structure, providing additional support, ect.

We have a perfect in-game model to project from, too, in the Temple of Sinnoh (pre-explosion). You can see that some of the smaller columns are sometimes decorative - likely they held up torches or, in the case of the two nearest the 'altar,' offerings

So knowing that style and having the remaining structures we do see in-game, we can approximate a lay out of what the building may have looked like.

What makes this a temple, however, is more open to interpretation. My evidence to support that it is is actually the blue-tinged pedestals seen within the outline of the building - the place(s) of honor in any temple. Irl, the inner structure - the cella - was often fully-walled in, though sometimes this was constructed via wood and other materials that don't withstand time.

Now, ENORMOUS shout-out to pokemaniacchris and the incredible Crimson Mirelands Archeological Survey Project for a really detailed, in-character breakdown of the ruins structures throughout the mirelands. I can only assume the 'surveyors' hadn't reached Mt. Coronet yet in their explorations.

Pedestals like these (at least superficially similar) are found beneath dozens of statues around Mt. Coronet, including beneath Giratina, Palkia and Dialga in the Sacred Plaza area. Now, I know I'm supposed to be claiming that this is a temple to Giratina, but if we work on the assumption that the four pedestals corollate with Giratina, Palkia, Dialga, and Arceus, a new conclusion can, perhaps, be drawn:

That whoever built this temple saw all four of them on the same 'level' of power or -- and this is my hc taking over -- if the statues were placed in a certain orientation (see below) that they saw Arceus and Giratina on equal footing, with Dialga and Palkia one rank below.

And there is, imo, more evidence to support this disruption of the 'creation trio' into two pairs on equal footing, found in the Celestica Ruins! So, among the structures there are two notable, circular buildings that the Greeks also utilized, called tholoi (plural). Irl, tholoi were a mix of secular-use and small-scale temples, and seeing as these two are small (maybe 10ft across inside?) I would maintain the claim that they're small temples.

And they align/mirror each other just as the statues of Palkia and Dialga do.

This part becomes pure conjecture, but I like to think the smaller structures in the ruins might be other small-scale temples for the various mythicals, honoring each much as the Greeks honored a pantheon.

Lastly, the CMASP describes the "Gapejaw Bog Complex" as being potentially an entire agora all its own and I can't agree more. Such evidence would support the idea of there being two groups of Celestica (Note: Not the Clans.)

I actually found myself wondering if the mirelands weren't always quite so swampy, and instead flooded at some point in the past with the depressions around Gapejaw - left by housing foundations - filled in with swamp water.

At the end of the day, I think there's a lot of evidence that the Celestica revered Giratina as well as Arceus, Dialga and Palkia - at least early on. Something happened to cause this schism, and the Old Verses/Plate inscriptions point to an outburst of rage from Giratina -- though, in "pick a god (and pray)" I actually argue it was mispercieved on the part of the Celestica and this misperception is what caused Arceus to despair and withdraw.

Open to discussion!! fellow nerds please interact!!

[xamaxenta]

I would like to hear about Canon Sabo x modern Sabo please 🙏

This would imply that canon MAS all kicked the bucket tho LMAO but thats okay they get reverse isekaied into the modern world instead and meet their modern selves and its really dumb but also sexy bc i say so

Canon Sabo is taller than his modern counterpart, like they all have a slight difference compared to their canon self

Modern Ace is still shredded by modern standards but canon Ace is like built like a greek god marble statue level perfect musculature like the kind that is physically impossible to obtain IRL, he also has softer hair and more freckles

Modern Marco is just as tall as his canon self but his hair is streaked with grey and its a duller blonde colour, he still has a chest tattoo but its a different design entirely with an anchor as the focal point (trying to keep the same shape language of the wbp tattoo lol)

Modern Sabo is shorter than his canon self by a few centimetres, he’s also leaner more bean sprouty but just as mouthy, his scarring mostly covers his face and shoulder and not the entire left side of his body like canon, his hair is also curlier

Anyway… canon Sabo falling exactly on top of his modern self and immediately pins him, chokes him out like who the fuck are you why do you look like me!? Face stealer!? What devil fruit is this??? Paranoia, he died he thinks who is this? Why is he behaving like that? (Afraid, panicked) but relinquishes his chokehold on himself just to hear him out because its not often you look into a mirror and see horror, fear

Modern Sabo spits out a curse and decks him, throws a punch for the first time in his life because if this is a dream it wont hurt and holy fuck its like punching a brick wall and his wrist and knuckles and everything hurt but the other. Self of him the bigger one is smirking like hes totally okay with getting punched in the face and hes just??? Who the fuck are you to come here and choke ME out im just living in my fuckin house man

[dissvicious]

Mostly for Rory and Skye since Blaze is at least grey spec aro as far as I’m concerned:

What’s their type? What would their ideal partner be like or what are attributes they enjoy in other people or make them look twice?

Aaaand one for Blaze because I don’t want to leave him out but it’s not romantic: What are some not actually downright despicable things that make him not want to be friends with someone? Of course nobody would want to be pals with Mr Killyouall MCEatsbabies, but what are some things that he just dislikes? Stuff like „Only talks about themself“ „Thinks they are smarter than everyone in the room“ „Condescending“ „Rude to elders“ etc? What gets him to dislike someone the fastest?

Hi anon! Thanks for asking!

It's kinda funny that the exemple you gave as "platonic turnoff" for Blaze describe Rory pretty well lmao

Anyways ! To answer you:

I think that for Skye appearance is important. Not in a "you have to be built like a Greek statue otherwise I won't even look at you" kind of way, more like, the look you know? That's what could catch her eyes at first glance : colored hairs, flashy outfits, handmade clothes... People with alt style in general. Then if you have to dig a little deeper I would say that the best way to actually seduce her would be to genuinely be interested by her. She would 100% fall for someone who is kindly, honestly curious about her : not because she's Buggy's daughter, not to talk about her brothers, just her.

If you ask Rory what his ideal boyfriend would be I'm pretty sure he would answer with a 150 pages organizer with subcategories describing what's are ABSOLUTE no go and what are really understable and NOT AT ALL exclusive criterias, such as : knowing the difference between baroque and classical music, having basis knowledge in chemistry and physics, being a little bit taller than him but not too much, etc etc.. fact is he's a dumb teen boy with hormonal changes and he would totally fall for a himbo flexing his muscles in front of him. May I had that the way his future partners will treat Vernes will have a STRONG impact on the wellbeing of the formation.

About Blaze so - he is indeed aroace, he could have a kind of one sided queer platonic relationship but that's all. To answer your question eh, that's a rough one! I would say that two things can really make him dislike someone: being mean to his family, and being rude with animals. I think that if someone look too much like Rory he will have some issues with him because of their complicated relationship. However what could make him really get along with someone is whenever he meet another completely destructive idiot. No wonder why Luffy is his favorite uncle!

[yonemurishiroku]

I've arrived.

My most sincere apologies, it took me a while to formulate coherent thoughts for this specific topic and before I knew it, three weeks had passed. 😢💀 Please know that it's such a great honor to be asked for input, I'm feeling like an old sorcerer helping the hero on his quest to defeat the demon king right now.

Anw. Regarding this new book, ngl I didn't have much expectation for it (mainly because I'm incapable of caring about anything beyond Nico rn), but your suggestion did spike some interest. I don't know much about Greek mythology, though, the part about Hecate makes a lot of sense as far as I can tell.

So, let's just assume our beloved Alabaster C. Torrington is in the limelight today. What do we have here

From the perspective of a reader, I find the idea of a returning TA army member - one supposedly still holding onto the old conflict wayyyy back in ss1 - would be a glorious cap for the franchise. Why, you ask? The reason's clear: the PJOverse is built upon the success of the original 5-book Percy Jackson books, so to bring up it again, along with addressing the untied knots and resolving tension, would make a fine ending. It's like to return to where you belong. It gives a feeling of completion, also a kind of nostalgia - if you see this book as the tribute the what's gone in ss1 (As in: Luke's death, the gods' promise etc...)

However, it's worth taking into consideration that this book, should this be about Alabaster and Percy, might not create the same effect as those from the old days. Firstly, it's because Son of Magic in general and Alabaster in particular are not widely known enough to guarantee attraction. Most of the fandom doesn't even know who he is, and Alabaster basically belongs to Haley Riordan. You can argue that the appearance of Percy, the fandom's favorite, should make up for it. While I do believe this is true on a certain level, I reckon the decline in engagement in CoTG, the latest release that featured the original trio, should speak for something (tho this is my subjective observation, obsvly there are no research statistics atm jasdjadha). I reckon the old fans that were die-hards of the OG PJO just grew out of their childhood series and/or have no interest anymore lol.

In short, imo, should Rick decide to pick Alabaster and his Luke-Castellanist ideology as the stars of this new book, it would be a satisfying tribute to the OG series, but also risk low engagement.

On to the content.

I'm convinced that the return of Alabaster, the remnants of the TA, would fit nicely with the current course of events.

You see. In SS1, it's established that the gods' mistreatment of their descendants is the main issue that needs to be addressed and resolved. However, we can see in HOO that the gods might not be that reliable (or responsible, for that matter), but there are times when they'd come to the demigods' aid (just bc that's the only way to defeat Giants). And then on to TOA, the protagonist is not (just) a demigod anymore, but a god, whose story is about self-realization and re-evaluation of one's worth, growing out of your thousands-year-old frame.

-> You can see the progress, the changes it's gradually taking. Things are getting better. It gives the vibes of hope - that the gods are changing (with Apollo as the first sign), and Luke's wishes may not go unheard.

Now, who's better to address that than a vengeful enemy - who's still hellbent on taking revenge on the gods he hates so much? It's the contrast that accentuates the change.

(I wouldn't say how it might turn out since every vision I have of Alabaster involves a certain amount of blood - and we can't have that. But i figure a fight between Alabaster and Percy might suffice lmao i need some action alright).

Another thing about this - and this should be my own interpretation. Hecate is also the goddess of crossroads. I'm not sure if the Three Faces are interconnected with this status of her, but let's just say that this heralds a difficult choice that must be made.

Interestingly, this can happen to both Alabaster and Percy - at least, in my scope of imagination. For Alabaster, it's quite clear: to hold onto his grudge or to accept the gods' new change and let go. Hecate is Alabaster's mother, who, as far as I can tell, does care about him on a certain level. Perhaps, she wishes for him to release himself, and thus embarks on a roundabout to make him do just that. For Percy, however, it's a little bit of a reverse that traces back to my personal headcanon. I believe that Percy actually isn't that fond of the gods and the hidden spite he held might as well make him another Luke had things gone slightly different. Well, what if this time Alabaster invokes some well-kept secret, and maybe that 'things' do go differently then? Well obvsly Percy wouldn't go haywire or st but just the possibility of that is thrilling----

On the topic of that Dark!Percy. Hecate is also Hazel's mentor. This may sound completely random, but here's a thing about Hazel and Percy's friendship: Hazel is Nico's sister, the product of one of Percy's failures, and also the person, due to her honest nature, believes wholeheartedly in Percy's goodness. Hazel is also an underdeveloped character, IMO. That is to say: Hazel seeing the darker side of Percy, and learning about the old feud and the horrible things that had transpired before her resurrection sounds like an enthralling idea to me. There's also another layer of Hazel-Percy-Nico-Bianca thing but i digress lmao.

This is everything I gotta say i guess. my thoughts are kinda jumbled at the moment since i wrote all this down in one go. 🥺 Again I'm over the moon to act like a wizard consultant/ lady-of-the-lake. hope this entertains you somehow!

okay so like hear me out. You know how we’re getting Wrath of the triple goddess? I have a little theory about what could be happening. I might be wrong though.

so anyone remember Son of Magic, Alabaster Torrington. Right? Hecate is known in the myths as a goddess with three faces. Which in a way could be called triple or a trio you could say. Now does anyone else remember Alabaster saying he’d get revenge on Percy when he least expected? So, I believe we’re going to be getting an Alabaster cameo along with him finally trying to get the revenge he so swore to invoke.

But that’s just my theory. Again I might be wrong but this has been I can about since the book was announced.

[delicrieux]

imagine a marvel dark acadamia AU 👁👁

t-this .... ask..... possesed me... i—

Also I would not mind doing like a 100000 part series of this lmao!!

sub rosa

There were five of you, at the start. You, a soft voiced, dreamy-eyed pupil of English, studying in the most prestigious little somewhere amidst wild nature and lonely faced statues; Anthony, tall, flirtatious, awfully pretentious and always wearing and expensive ironed suit, muttering math equations and never failing to point out the flaws in most simple logic; Steve, a well built student of Politics whose kind face twisted into a fanatic frown at the mere mention of injustice; Robert, of shy disposition and awkward walk, always dragging along at least one Chemistry tomb; and Natasha, from the department of Psychology, a vixen with vivacious red hair and a catlike look that could read you at first glance as easily as a book. At the start neither of you got along: Steve was too passionate for Anthony, Robert was a pushover, Natasha fancied making your head spin. And how this friendship formed you cannot place in an accurate timeline, in one defining moment. The five of you were thrown together by chance and became something equally as magnificent as terrifying.

The halls are old and smell of chalk. Deep green tones complement the dark waxen wood and your ghostly face reflects on black-white checkered tiles. It’s late. The moon hangs like jewel. Warm yellow lights illuminate the otherwise empty space. Your footsteps echo. The English department is as silent as a grave, and no one should really wander around this late but ghost and ghouls. Alas, you finally reach the class, the one down the hall with the rose painting inside it, the one no one ever uses. You stop by the door and fix your hair before knocking seven times in a mellow pattern. A secret code. Without it you would never be able to get in.

The door creaks open and Steve smiles when he realizes it’s you. He steps aside and you enter, hearing bits and pieces of ending conversation. Once the door closes the students turn to you. Anthony, in his rightful place, at the center (always the most important once, he should’ve studied theater with his love of theatrics and drama), turns to you with a wine glass in hand and smirks; Bruce merely waves from one of the empty seats; Natasha takes a sip of her drink and winks. You note an unfamiliar figure sat beside her and the two of you lock eyes.

“Finally.” Anthony breaks the silence, his tone weaving between annoyance and amusement. You shoot him a glare. He merely raises a brow, “You are always late. This is your department.”

“Aw, Tony, can’t stand anyone stealing your spotlight?” Natasha questions in a sing like tone.

“As if anyone could.” He mumbles into his wine.

“This is Wanda.” Steve explains behind you and you startle at his gentle voice. You stalk to the woman and extend your hand to her, which she shakes with an uncertain smile. From up close, her features obscured by the dimness of the room, she looks lovely-eyes, death-touched — a witch.

“Pleasure.” You mutter before pulling away. Natasha shoves a drink into your hand.

“She and her twin brother enrolled this September.” Steve explains.

“She’s not mute, Steve.” Anthony drones, hopping on the teacher’s table and loosening his tie, “Let her speak.”

“I—“ Steve’s cheeks burn purple in the moonlight, “I—never...”

The tension is cut off with Natasha’s laugh. The whole room stops to listen.

“You two are too cute.” She says, then turns to you, “What were you doing?”

“Reading.” You state simply.

“You can read?” Anthony questions.

You frown, “You can rot.”

“Is it... always this lively?” Wanda asks.

“They’re usually trying to stab each other by now. This is pretty tame, so far.” Steve mutters.

“That’s because I hid all the knifes.” Bruce pipes up.

“Traitor.” Anthony hisses, “How will I cut up my toast now?”

“Ask your maid?” You inquire, pleased at his dismay. He scoffs. “Anyway—“ As entertaining as it is to irritate him, more pressing matters are at hand, “I did not know we were recruiting new members.” Your tone is matter-o-fact, though not unkind. Wanda stiffens under your stare, “Do pray tell, why are you here?”

“Because I want answers.”

“To what?”

“Everything.”

Ah!, you think. All of you have gathered here for the exact same thing. Knowledge. To seek answers to questions that cannot be explained yet; to reach a higher plain of consciousness; to become the modern day equivalents of Greek Gods.

You smile at her and it is the first genuine smile she has received today, “Well then. You will fit in nicely.”

[autumnsky]

That transcription and sociolignuistic analysis of the “does running water hurt vampires” scene! Under cut because it’s a whole short paper. The transcription is done with a simplified version of the Jefferson transcription system.

I still can’t believe I not only handed this in for marks, but got 100% lmao. Prof’s only comment was “I didn't know you could sociolinguistically analyze the speech of a vampire coven until I read your assignment.” 

Transcription

1   Dracula:     Any city (.) built over running water is a place that we (.) as vampires should approach carefully.

2   (3.0)

3   Isaac:         Running water,? (.) I’ve never heard of that affecting vampires.

4   Godbrand: Death by running water hasn’t happened in ma?ny centuries

5   Hector:      Why not,?

6   Godbrand: Look arou?nd. We moved into the middle of countries.

7   Hector:      I’d been told that vampires couldn’t cross running water

8   Godbrand: I’ve been on boats (.) I’ve had baths.

9   Isaac:        When. ((Godbrand gives him a look but does not verbally respond))

10 Hector:      Baths aren’t running water though. are they.

11 Godbrand: Course they are

12  Isaac:        How can baths be running water. The water’s stopped being poured when you get in.

13  Carmilla: The Greeks used to bury us on small islands because the graves would be surrounded by running water

14 Godbrand: I think I would feel (.) like running water would probably kill me.

15  Carmilla: Really? (.) Do you feel like poison would kill you? Of course you don’t <it’s a thing you learn.> It’s not like we’re given a manual for being a vampire=

16  Dracula: =ENOUGH!

Short Paper

           The above dialogue transcription is from Netflix’s Castlevania, Season 2: Episode 2: “Old Homes” and the speech situation is a war council between Dracula and his generals on which city they should focus their troops on, which gets side tracked by an argument over if running water affects vampires and if so, what that affect is. The setting is the throne room of Dracula’s castle. The participants are Dracula, Isaac, Godbrand, Hector, and Carmilla. Each participant has their own agenda in the surrounding conversation but during the part that is transcribed the only ends are the generals to exchange their knowledge of running water affecting vampires and Dracula to make them shut up. Act sequences include line 1 as a warning, line 3 being a statement used as a prompt for explanation, line 4 as either a barely related statement or an explanation for why Isaac hasn’t heard of this vampire lore (rather than elaboration on said lore, which Isaac seems to be prompting), lines 5 and 6 are a question/answer adjacency pair, lines 7 and 8 are a statement and denial, lines 9 and 10 are both criticisms phrased as questions (the implications being “you are unhygienic” and “you’re speaking nonsense”), line 11 is another denial and line 12 is another questioning criticism, line 13 is an unrelated statement, line 14 is a sort of suggestion, line 15 is another criticism (first as a question before being outright), and line 16 is a demand. The key/emotional tone is annoyance and confusion. The mode is spoken, and the type varies between characters but is generally informal. Conventions of interaction are broken multiple times with barely related statements but there are also instances where conventions are followed, such as questions being answered, and statements being acknowledged. The genre is conversational.

           This segment is meant to be comedic, which at least partially explains why it is very informal compared to the formal setting of a throne room in which the conversation takes place. Further explanation may be that the generals are expressing a subtle disrespect towards one another by consistently no-naming instead of addressing others with their proper titles, in addition to their thinly veiled insults. This is in notable contrast to how they usually address Dracula with variations of “Lord Dracula” and “my lord” though it is not evident in this short segment, effectively establishing him as having the highest status but refusing to address other generals in a way that might reflect more than equal or lesser status. Dracula’s power status is evident in this segment specifically by the way he does not involve himself with the side-tracked argument except to put an end to it with a command of a single word (line 16) which the generals obey. Despite being a fair distance from most of the other people in the room, Dracula does not raise his voice or speak quickly in line 1. This may be in part because most of his generals presumably have heightened senses, but it also shows that he is confident that the rest of the room will stay quiet and listen closely. There is also a noticeable beat after Dracula’s statement in line 1, where the generals wait to speak longer than they do with each other, possibly in case he will say more. The generals are much less worried about making sure other generals are finished before speaking, although they do not have a high enough involvement style that they overlap their lines.

           That said, one might interpret the way Isaac and Hector both incredulously question Godbrand (lines 9 to 12) as a show of solidarity. They never directly address each other but they both express doubt about the same subject which might count as an indirect agreement. Isaac and Hector are together second in command to Dracula while also being criticized for being the only two humans in Dracula’s inner court, and therefore have the most reason to get along.

Hector is implied to have lived in the Mediterranean before moving to the castle, so Carmilla’s seemingly random fun fact about old Greek vampire burial traditions (line 13) may also be an attempt to gain Hector’s approval as part of her plan to manipulate him into betraying Dracula. By switching the topic right after Isaac asked a question, even something as unimportant as why Godbrand would think baths count as running water, Carmilla may also be using a positive face threatening act to undermine Isaac’s authority and create a rift between him and Hector.

Overall, the conversation is referential with much expressive, and some phatic, subtext. It is also worth noting that the segment transcribed does not have a very solid opening since the transcription does not start at the beginning of the scene but rather at the beginning of the off-topic tangent.

 References

Ellis, W. (Writer), Deats, S. (Director), & Wan, S. (Director). (2018). Old Homes [Netflix series episode]. In Castlevania. Powerhouse Animation Studios.

Herk, G.V. (2018). What Is Socioloinguistics? Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

[alextriestowritestuff]

Blood Of Olympus Read W/ Me

This was the worst book of the series by far. I almost didn’t finish it. I think my thoughts are going to be rather short but they’ll still be below the cut for spoiler reasons. There will also be Trials of Apollo spoilers so I highly suggest not reading this if you haven’t caught up with those books! Let’s get into it.

I’d like the start by saying what I like: Nico/Reyna POV. I loved their relationship (which I didn’t see coming at all) it was very big sis-little bro vibes. I love that Nico finally found a place and his budding relationship with Will. What’s funny is though I knew Will would be his love interest (You can’t avoid them in fanfic at all) I thought he’d be more like super sunshine/super happy and that would contrast with Nico’s emo nature. But he was just chill and was like Nico, stop being a dumbass, we’re friends. I think fanfic gave me a different impression of what he’d be like (Granted I never read the fics, just summaries) and I was surprised that he was not like that. It’s not bad or good, just pointing it out. 

Oh and Nico telling Percy he liked him and Percy just being like ‘say what?’ I didn’t expect Nico to actually fess up to that one but Percy’s reaction was gold. 

The best moment in this book is Reyna taking down Orion by herself. She was that BITCH. Correct me if I’m wrong but the only other person who defeated a giant by themselves was Percy right? In the Battle of Labyrinth when he fights Antaeus? I think Antaeus was a half-giant though because Percy, a demigod, managed to kill him without the help of a god. Anyway, Reyna was everything in that scene. Oh I lied, he took down Polybotes too. They’d be unstoppable together (though I love Percabeth). She was about to sacrifice herself too!! What a queen. I respect the crap out of her. UM Jason you really picked the wrong girl lmao. 

I appreciated the Thalia cameo (because again, I didn’t re-read the Lost Hero so I haven’t seen her since the last time I read the PJO series) and the mention of Zoe. I hope Kenzie didn’t really die though, I liked her. 

And that’s all the good I have to say about it. Now for the bad...so much bad.

So after thinking about it, I realize that what makes HoO so different from its predecessor series is that there’s no consequences. The closest we got to consequences was Annabeth and Percy falling into Tartarus because they weren’t saved in time. No one important (protagonist/good guys side) died. Leo was resurrected (And I looked it up and found out that he came to Camp in the Trials of Apollo series so everyone knows he’s alive). Even for the Tartarus one, we didn’t even get a PTSD arc. It would’ve been helpful to have Percy or Annabeth’s POV in this book to wrap up that subplot. Instead we get two lines about their time in Tartarus and when Percy brings it up, Annabeth tells him not to mention it. So no PTSD arc. Got it. But we can just casually mention that Octavian committed suicide (which I don’t care for that ending at all).  Right.

The HoO books are boring because there’s no consequences. I never felt true fear apart from Percy/Annabeth being in Tartarus. In the Last Olympian, mortals were put to sleep, Annabeth was gravely injured, Silena and Beckendorf died. Luke and Ethan died. There was no magical save for them. Blood of Olympus had NO stakes, coupled with a weak, slightly developed new characters made it a bad series imo. It also doesn’t deliver on the questions posed in the book.

Hazel’s curse is still active, no descendant of Neptune has taken it away. I read the wiki summary for every book of the Trials of Apollo (The last one isn’t out yet) and there’s no mention of her curse being lifted. I think Frank’s stick is resolved imo being that it’s safe in the fireproof pouch but for some readers, they don’t think that’s resolved. Kym told Percy he’d have to face his fatal flaw. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t feel as though he did. Percy also never helped Leo find Calypso but Ig that’s null because he never got the chance to. Also is Black Jack, Frank’s grandmother, Hylla okay? Orion said Hylla got away but I was hoping for another cameo. 

Let’s talk about the villains/the entire quest of the Seven. The quest was boring, Nico/Reyna/Hedge’s quest was 100x more interesting and they were transporting a freaking statue. The quest of the Seven was fight this minor god/villain who is working for Gaea who promised them something (Even Jason has a line where he makes fun of this), outsmart/fight them, get to Athens where all the monsters are. Percy and Annabeth’s blood awakens Gaea. The gods come down which makes me angry because most of them weren’t helpful throughout the series. Poseidon wasn’t in this series at all. He didn’t even send a symbol or talk to his son who went missing. I’m pissed that the battle against Gaea wasn’t even in Athens! I’m pissed that they got slapped to New York, like what? The gods really couldn’t poof them back there, they gave some excuse but it was still bs. But I guess Rick needed Argo II to get back to NY so Leo can turn festus back into a dragon. But anyway, the gods come down, the demigods work with to defeat the giants in less than two pages. The giants that were poised as a massive threat for four books straight. Defeated in mere minutes. We don’t even get a cool battle description, they just hack and slash at them and they’re dead. Huh? 

Percy, Annabeth, Hazel, and Frank were reduced to background characters and I understand they don’t have a POV but I never felt that characters who didn’t have a POV in a certain book were ever forgotten/not utilized. They didn’t really get to do anything. 

We also don’t really see the Roman and Greek gods all that much. I know they’re the same people, different Greek and Roman personalities. But like I thought their Roman side could be seen a bit more but they were having difficulty maintain one persona throughout the whole series. I can tell you what the Greek gods are like and how they interact w/ each other based on the throne room scenes/anytime they help demigods in PJO/HoO. But Roman gods as whole? I can’t tell you how they even interact with each other. 

But wait, it gets worse. There’s not even a formal recognition thing like there was at the end of the Last Olympian (where Percy is offered godhood and Annabeth is given position of architect) there’s a little meeting with the gods and the Seven in which Jason is like give minor gods shrine and the gods aren’t really all that interested in what he has to say. There’s no thank you demigods. No, thanks Annabeth and Percy for literally going through Tartarus and Hazel for sacrificing yourself at 13 back in the 1940s. And the rest of them sacrificed something too. Like damn, no wonder why Luke was always like the gods don’t care about their kids. 

Gaea was built up to be a big bad (honestly not really, she talked trash the entire time/sent people to do her work) and the woman is easily overpowered by the three demigods. She’s not even awake for 20 minutes and she goes down. WHAT?? 

Overall, it was anti-climatic and totally did a 180 on everything else established in this series-the fact that Gaea was such a major foe and turned out not to be (that SEVEN demigods had to take her down, not just 1 like Percy’s prophecy) and the giants were to be feared too but they get taken down. At 200 pages in, I dead ass wanted to DNF, it was so boring. I gave it a one star because although the good I mentioned was really great, it doesn’t save the book. So for me, this series had every book be 3 stars or under except House of Hades. 5 books and I only really was able to like one and get through it easily and it still had issues. Like what?

Lastly, I want to touch on Jason. I still think he’s bland though I appreciated him giving Nico a hug at the end there. Again from ToA/being spoiled over the years, I learned that Jason died and I won’t be reading ToA but I read the summary of the book where he died and um, wow. I don’t feel anything for his death but the fact that he and Piper broke up sent me into a laughing/anger rage. Laughing because they really said ‘I love you’ at the end of BoO and they didn’t even make it a year lmao. And the fact that PIPER, miss always insecure in her relationship with him, McLean broke up with HIM. WOOOOOW. But it made mad because I listened to her complain/fawn over Jason for 4 freaking books (not counting tSoN) for NO REASON cuz they ended up breaking up. Overall, I appreciated what Jason, Hazel, Frank, and Piper did in the HoO series because they were helpful but I couldn’t connect with their characters. I’ll admit that in BoO we got a little bit more bonding between characters which is what I asked for in my last read with me and I like the Percy/Jason scene underwater and Piper/Annabeth scene from the beginning. I do think some relationships were summarized when they could’ve been shown--i.e. Annabeth/Reyna/Piper friendship but they have potential. 

The bonding was good, it was just too late. It should’ve happened in MoA/HoH as well. Random but I also hate how Leo was treated (esp. by Jason and Piper) throughout the series and I’m glad he got out of that mess. He was reduced to a deus ex mechanic and that wasn’t cool. The Seven wouldn’t have been able to do this quest without him. 

Sooo I guess this is it. I don’t think I’m going to read another Rick Riordan book again unless I hear something drastic happens to Percy or Annabeth/Any of the PJO characters and Reyna. I’m strongly reconsidering removing him as my fav author. I still love the PJO series but this one was not it. I don’t know if Rick was on a tight deadline for these HoO books but it was just poorly executed. I don’t regret reading the series, I think reading HoH was worth all the time I spent reading this series. I wish I had just read a summary of tSoN and MoA, especially because I already read them years ago and knew I wasn’t into them from my first read. I wasted my own time by doing that. So if I had done that I would’ve gotten to just read HoH and then only be disappointed by BoO as opposed to three books. It is what it is. It’s nice to be in the loop because I always see these things about HoO characters and spoilers so now I know how it went down. 

But that’s it guys, thank you for reading this entire thread and the ones before it. I have a lot of opinions and I don’t think I’m in the minority by saying I didn’t like this series overall. I will get back to my writeblr content and I will leave you guys with my final ratings for the series (My rating system may seem generous compared to my read with me thoughts but I personally don’t give less than 3 stars to books that plot wise made sense. It may not be the most compelling plot or have the best characters but if it made coherent sense, I have to give it at least a 3.) :

The Lost Hero: This score is based off of my original reading in 2012/2013 and my thoughts on the main characters in that book, I give this a 3/5 stars

The Son of Neptune: 3/5

The Mark of Athena: 2/5

The House of Hades: 4.5/5

The Blood of Olympus: 2/5 

Worst book of the series: Mark of Athena (Blood Olympus is a close tie but the Nico/Reyna really saves it from this spot) and best book- House of Hades. 

[coeurvrai]

Guess what? I’m back on my bullshit and that means getting through more chapters of this book, no matter how much I don’t like it. I took a break because stuff came up and then I just needed to chill for a few days cause like, otherwise I’m never gonna get through it.

But I’m here now and being here means starting this off again with another Nadya chapter. I am absolutely delighted to find out what this brilliant plan of theirs is gonna be to infiltrate the palace and then assassinate the king. We start off, ofc, with another excerpt from the Codex of the Divine.

There are no ancient records of the goddess of light, Zvonimira. There are whispers, rumors, threads of truth or fiction that say that she is the youngest in the pantheon, but who truly knows how the gods come to be? Like Alena, Zvonimira has never bestowed her powers upon a chosen cleric.

Well, usually they are just ARE or they are born from other gods. Also, I don’t know why we have a goddess of light. Like that’s Fine, nothing inherently wrong or stupid about that, but considering we have a limited pantheon (of 20, if you can’t remember), the fact that “light” doesn’t somehow inherently come under either Alena or Krsnik or even Horz’s domain is just like, okay lmao

Nadya and co. are now making their way to Tranavia, now that Parijahan is in a state to make the trip. Malachiasz mentions that blood magic is a part of daily life and taking it out would be VERY, very bad.

“It builds over time, magic does. Especially blood magic. It’s so accessible. You don’t have to have a true affinity for it to use it in small spells; you just need to know how to channel your own blood through the written conduits. After enough years pass, it becomes routine—fishermen cast spells to keep lines from breaking, bakers cast to keep their bread rising, the like—removing it would fundamentally destroy what has built the country up.”

So, the impression I’m getting is that blood magic is capable of just basically anything and everything. “Magic builds up over time.” There, fixed. Also what does that even mean? How does magic build up? Do you mean your reserves of magic build up over time, so it’s easier to tap into? Do you mean in like the environment, in a sense, that everything is just imbued with blood magic? Also I assume purchasing books or pages must be cheap or very accessible cause otherwise how does anything work? 

But what if you can’t access an Arcanist (a person who writes the spells), then what do you do? The mention previously of Malachiasz writing his own spells, and that people normally get pre-written/pre-loaded, but like why? If different occupations need different spells to help along with their job, that’s a lot to rely on a presumably specific sect of people to write them out for you. Also how was blood magic even discovered in the first place? Because the pages are the inherently magical thing, right? The blood just activates it for you to use.

“Sew that into the sleeve of your coat. Cutting the palm of your hand and fingers hurts more than cutting the back. The razor is treated so the cuts won’t scar.”

Treated with what, magic? Also I don’t know enough about biology or self harm to say whether cutting the back of your hand hurts less, or why would you care about scarring? Does a build up of scar tissue mean that it will be harder to cut yourself/draw blood, especially if you keep doing it to the same place?

So along the road to Tranavia, there are shrines placed all over the place and Nadya wants to attend to every single one.

After the third one they passed, Malachiasz stopped to wait for Nadya while the others walked on ahead.

She could feel his gaze on her as she worked. This shrine was dedicated to Vaclav so Nadya was taking extra time to ensure it was spotless when she left it. Vaclav was a darker god, chaotic and strong-willed, and Nadya was careful to stay on his good side.

Vaclav is the god of forests and truth, btw. But like what? We never got that impression from what little we’ve been told so far about him. He blessed some triplets with a Russian, Greek, and Roman name respectively, and Nadya has used his power two whole fucking times. Also what makes him “darker”? Aren’t they all shining beacons of holiness and divinity? The fact that he’s chaotic?

Like she’s used his powers before and there was no mention of Nadya having to do anything special or specific to use them, she used them as brazenly as she uses the rest, whenever she remembers that she is a fucking Cleric with access to divine magic.

Nadya and Malachiasz get into a bit of a tizzy about her stopping to clean them all.

Like he was trying so hard to comprehend her strange, pagan ways but simply couldn’t.

PAGAN?! You might argue that Nadya is referring to herself as Malachiasz would refer to them BUT PAGAN!? ISN’T YOUR RELIGION THE MAIN ONE? ISN’T YOUR RELIGION THE ONLY ONE? HOW IS YOUR RELIGION PAGAN WHEN IT’S THE MAIN FUCKING ONE OF THE WHOLE BLOODY WORLD. SHOULDN’T THE TERM PAGAN BE AS INSULTING AS “HERETIC” OR “ABOMINATION” BECAUSE IT IMPLIES INFERIORITY. TRANAVIA DOESN’T HAVE A FUCKING RELIGION, THEY ARE ATHEIST BY ALL THE WORLDBUILDING WE’VE RECEIVED SO FAR, WHY PAGAN?! 

“Having power granted to you, and acknowledging that beings of power exist, isn’t the same as acknowledging that those beings are benevolent or even sentient.”

Sentient? Is Malachiasz impyling that the gods aren’t sentient??? How the fuck does that work then, Malachiasz? Also how is that even relevant? Being benevolent or sentient doesn’t inherently tie into holiness (or power), so I don’t know what the fuck you’re on about. Holiness is to do with things "dedicated to a religious purpose or a god; revered in a religion; perfect or flawless.” 

Like of course one doesn’t beget the other, because those aren’t synonymous at all. Anyways, Malachiasz says that Nadya doesn’t have free-will cause she follows what the gods say.

“I absolutely have a choice.”

“Do you?”

“You’re still alive.”

He immediately fell silent.

I chuckled, I admit it. In another book, this would be much funnier but also darker and effective. But as we’ve all learned over this, this doesn’t matter because it’s an empty threat.

“They talk to me, you know,” she said as she used her sleeve to scrub a patch of lichen off the statue. “They all have their own quirks and desires. Some of them talk to me regularly: Marzenya—my patron—Veceslav, Zvonimira. Others only give me magic when I ask. Some regularly deny my requests. They’re not mere concepts.”

I have seen nobody regularly deny your requests, Nadya. All of the gods so far have bended to your requests and prayers of magic, including Zlatek - who apparently doesn’t like you whatsoever - and Alena - who you’ve only prayed to once before and apparently doesn’t give her powers to Clerics. Also Zvonimira hasn’t said jackshit, nor been mentioned since like the first or second chapter. And the other two I GUESS you could claim talk to you regularly, though only by the needs and whims of the plot.

[momo-de-avis]

#so art forgery in its essence is what 19th century academics would have wanted can u expand on this and art forgery in general? i'd love to learn more!

I meant it as in: the concept of formalism - that art is born out of art itself - was at its peak. Fun story: Wincklemann the dude who created the concept meant that art as history were cyclical, meaning that if it happened once it was gonna happen again. Only you had to recreate the social conditions (and for some reason, the weather) for that to happen. Only for him the perfect world of beauty had already happened in Pericles’ era, and so all we had to do was copy it. Of course he was unaware of how gay and mysoginists the greeks were back in the good old days and was romanticizing the whole thing, but still. He also had no idea he was looking at roman copies of greek statues and he actually believed the statues he was looking at were greek lmao

So that meant you had to copy the art of this great century to become a true master. That was ingrained in the idea that drawing was in itself a act of rationality, because to draw required a set of skills only the Intellectuals ™ could put forward. So in a way, there was something of a forgery in the way academics did their paintings (which is why none of them survived in the general public’s memory, instead we point out the one who pushed art forward by breaking these rules - the Monets, the Rousseaus, the Delacroix, etc). Academics weren’t really interested in the idea of originality, rather in maintaining centuries old of tradition (the academy as we know it dates back to the 18th century) and originality as concept begins to be deepened with 19th century art philosophy, particularly when we see concepts such as the sublime or the pictoresque (although I am honestly tempted to say as a concept it wasn’t really thoughtout until the 20th century but I’m not 100% positive about this).

Like I said, when the bank of England was built (today the only thibg that survives is the façade) by John Soane, people criticized it because they thought that if it was destroyed and found under the rubble in 100 years, people would think it was a classical bulding and not Neo-classical. Ingres himself intended on that anacronic feeling - he wanted to be Rafael’s buggest lesson.

A lot of these people tried recreating the context. John Soane was part of an enthusiastic group of archeologists and architects who travelled to Rome and Greece to draw the classical buoldings before hand, and this is the century when historians jerk off to romantic notions of medieval and antiquity (and gave us all the misconceptions we know today), so there was a social context for this to happen. Like, if Souto Moura were to make a manuelino monument today, we’d collectively tell “what the fuck, dude” becausd it doesnt make sense in our time.

But that was not the case back then. These doofus really wanted all in in the glorious romans.

So its funny af for me to see art forgers going through such lengths to recreate a bit of history that never existed because thats exactly what a lot of them did to fool academics. Because everyone hates academics, there’s no going around that.

These guys copy not just the technique, but they imitate their style to the littlest detail. I dont remember if its mentioned in the post but there was a dude who said he found a compeltely new Frans Hals. It was sold on Sotheby’s and held proudly in exhibitions. Ten years later, turns out it was a forgery lmaoooo art historians were shocked because they believed it was a unique painting and they came forward with admiration saying “listen, I don’t know who the fuck did this, but they know their art history way too well to have fooled us all” (they only found out it was a fake bc they analyzed the paint – which they should have made it in the first place lmao)

Tl; dr: art forgerers know a shit ton of art history and of painting and they are only doing what was preached by academics for centuries until it was not lmao

[polyx]

Get to know me tag:^)

I was tagged by @criminalmastermine

Name:

Polyxeni

Gender:

Female

Star sign:

Virgo/Sheep

Height:

170 cm

Put your music on shuffle, what are the first six songs to pop up?:

Ok because I listen on Soundcloud, Spotify and my folders on my phone, I’ll do 3 separate :^) Spotify 1) VIXX LR – Chocolatier 2) BTS – Lost 3) MOBB – Hit me (feat. KUSH) 4) Taemin – Thirsty 5) VIXX – Dynamite 6) BTS – Moving on (Ok it’s pretty obvious that I use Spotify mostly for k-pop lol)

Soundcloud 1) Sunday – Only 2) Sofi Tukker – Hey Lion 3) マクロスMACROSS 82 - 99 - 葛城 ミサトYEBISU (YUNG BAE EDIT) 4) Vantage // - Patrick Converter (ft. Chrollo)

5) M.RUX - Rembetiko Mon Amour // ρεμπέτικο αγάπη μου 6) Seiun – otogibanashi My folders on my phone 1) Lorde – Liability 2) Clueso - Achterbahn (Handgepäck Version) 3) Incubus – Pistola 4) Lana Del Rey – Once Upon A Dream (Maleficent OST) 5) Little Boots – Working Girl 6) Banks - Haunt

Grab the nearest book, turn to page 23 and write line 17:

“(…) because “a realisation that comes from society itself” could “already contain a reform (…)“. (roughly translated from German)

Last time you played air guitar?:

Uhm… I don’t know ^^° I rarely do it tbh… I usually dance

Celebrity crush?: The first person that comes into my mind is Lucy Lawless :^)

What’s a sound that you hate/love?:

I love it when it’s 4 in the morning and my window next to my bed is open, and the rain softly hits the glass and no car drives by, or when you sit by the beach at about 7pm in Greece in the summer, when most people had their share of sun and leave the beach, and the water softly hits the shore and a seagull are audible somewhere in the distance, or when you float in the water and your ears are under the water and  you hear the water and your heartbeat… also the soft flat breathing of the person laying next to you, or the rustling of the fabric of your bedding when you lay down to sleep… Idk I like a lot of subtle sounds. I hate hearing my joints cracking because I feel like I am breaking apart or something (?)

Do you believe in ghosts? How about aliens?:

Ghosts not so much, aliens? Definitely.

Do you drive? If so, have you ever crashed?:

I’ve had my licence for 5 years now and I never crashed :3 I don’t drive much though.

What was the last book you read?:

Simon Beckett – Totanfang / The Restless Dead (original title)

Do you like the smell of gasoline?:

Hm… kinda.

Last movie you saw?:

Fack Ju Göhte 3

Worst injury you’ve ever had?:

Broke my left arm.

Any obsessions right now?: A lot, although I should focus on studying: k-pop (like the biggest obsession atm), writing/reading fanfiction, drawing (my go to instant stress reliever), gaming (I still need to finish Hellblade!!), music overall, manga, my succulents (my babies)

Do you tend to hold grudges against people who’ve wronged you?: Yes. I try to forgive or forget (or both) for my sake, but often it doesn’t work.  

In a relationship?:

Yes.

_______________

SECOND VERSION

Appearance:

I have long brown and blue hair, brown eyes and a long thin nose. My face is quite rectangular, and I have olive skin tone (but pretty light compared to others). I am chubby and well-proportioned I’d say. My nails are always short (except for holiday season because my nails won’t constantly break like during work) and usually some kind of varnish is on it. 50% of the time I wear clothes with some kind of pattern on it or colourful stuff, 25% of the time black and 25% pink shit, and always my casio on my wrist. I have 2 tattoos and 4 piercings, one stretched earlobe. Usually I wear make-up, and everyone knows me for wearing colourful eyeshadow.

Personality:

I am quite outgoing and like spending time with my friends and family and partner, but as much as I love having people around me, I need time to be alone. I just need to. I try to have an open ear for other people’s problems, but be prepared I might cry along with you because I am a very emotional person (like on Friday I was in a concert and started crying because the song was so touching lol). I’d say I am quite confident, but I need time adjusting in a new environment before returning to my confident self. At work I am the most patient person, but with my family I tend to be impatient a lot and I hate myself for it, but it’s getting better. I am very creative and love dwelling on details on random stuff (like I could tell you for an hour why I like a particular song for example). That’s also a reason why I can’t get shit done sometimes because I daydream a lot. Like… a lot… one person told me I remind them of Luna Lovegood because I seem trapped in my own bubble. I love arts. I used to be super tidy as a child, but now I am quite messy. I am often late (sorry to anyone affected by this v.v°). I love travelling. My bag is always ready for my nomad life, as I am always on the go.

Abilities:

I speak 3 languages! Also I draw and make jewellery. Also I have the ability to make a mess out of my room in the shortest amount of time, just watch me :^) professionally I am a druggist (but not the one working at a pharmacy, mind you) and I have a bachelors degree of trade and commerce. Also I’m a certified trainee instructor.

Experiences:

Well? I don’t know what this refers too… Maybe some random shit: -I used to do traditional greek dance as a kid. -I’ve never left Europe (sadly), but I’ve travelled to London, Vienna, Paris, Berlin and other cities. -When I was a smoll bean, I went to the central plaza of my dad’s village in Greece and returned with a puppy in my arms. My grandmother kept the pupper. -I love freaking LOVE technology, when I used my huge ass multitalented wireless printer for the first time and printed something via my phone I almost cried in excitement. -I can stop reading a book if it’s boring. -Once on my way home I sat in the tram, and there was a group of friends, drunk, pretty loud and happy, they were wearing traditional Bavarian clothing (Tracht), and they were …deaf! And one of the girls sat opposite to me, and complimented my hair, like we talked without using words, only by using our facial expressions and our hands, and she grabbed on piece of her hair and pointed at mine and we laughed, and then she offered me some of her vodka and I was so yolo at the moment I accepted, although I don’t accept drinks from strangers usually. I had such a blast these 10 minutes we spent together on the tram, I often think about her, and hope she is doing fine :’) - I remember as a young girl, I was sitting on an old faucet which was built in the short wall framing my grandparents’ house, and I was starring at the sky in disbelief. There I was, a young city girl, born and raised in Munich, sitting on an old faucet somewhere in an small village in Greece starring at the beautiful nightsky, seeing something I’ve never seen before. There were so many stars, just…so… so many stars… thousands and thousands of shiny dots across a black canvas. And they seemed to be alive. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Till this day, I remember this night, and I hear my mom asking what I was doing out there alone, surrounded by the wild noises of thousands of bugs around me. It has been more that 10 years, and this night is so vibrant in my memory. I will never forget this moment till my dying day. Still, I often spent time in Greece watching the stars, always in the back of my mind what my grandma told me once: don’t count the stars, it brings misfortune. - I pierced my ears on my own (…stupid). - I pretty much had my hair dyed any colour of the rainbow (except yellow, but I guess blonde counts?). - I’ve been to A LOT of concerts.

(I have some negative experiences too of course, but I don’t want to dwell on them) My life:

I still live with my parents, because I cannot afford anything on my own atm, but also due to other circumstances. Till the end of September I worked full time, now I started studying sociology (BA). I have been employed in the company I work for for 10 years now, and I love my work although it’s tough :’). I have a little sister who I love dearly, and she is making me a proud big sis:). My parents are the best parents, seriously you could not wish for better parents. I am super grateful to them for all I’ve been able to do in my life and all the love and support they have given, and are still giving me. Also, I’m so proud of them. The thought of what my parents have gone through makes me cry. I used to think I don’t have a lot of friends, but I do! And they all are beautiful unique personalities, I love them! I live the nomad live, as I feel I’m rarely home, always on the go. My co-workers are the sweetest people, I love seeing their faces light up when they see me :’) (ILY!!!) And my partner… there are no words to describe what sweet of a person he is. A puppy is nothing against him. I want to cuddle him forever. I am online a lot, but I don’t get involved with a lot of people online, safe for… 2 :’D Rach and Mine! I usually admire from afar, and fangirl in the tags for example. Overall I wake up everyday being thankful, my life is good! I appreciate every moment. I am blessed.

Relationships: I’ve only had 2 lmao, and I’m still friends with my first partner. Random stuff:

Ups I think I answered this earlier already…

THIRD VERSION

Relationship status:

In a relationship. We have an imaginary daughter lol.

Fave colour:

All hues of blue! Basically every colour but blue is the most dear to me.

Lipstick or ChapStick:

Lipstick for sure. I always have one in my pocket.

Last song:

Shahmaran by Sevdaliza

Last movie:

Fack Ju Göhte 3

Top 3 shows:

I don’t watch TV, neither do I have the time for series (I have GOT on halt, as well as “Halt and Catch Fire”) … But “The Vision of Escaflowne” is my favourite series of EVER. The story, the characters, the music, the art, the world building, I could cry it’s so beautiful. Also the whole ATLA and TLOK Series, it is so good!!! *cries*

Top 3 ships:

Oh man… ok. I’ll go for Amorra (Amon and Korra, TLOK), Truhan ( Gohan and Trunks, Dragonball Z) and basically every possible VIXX ship, because I love them all (but Wontaek though…)

I’d like to tag @valkerymillenia, @abnaxus, @coolera but you don’t have to do it if you don’t want to :’)

[dogsplayingpoker]

bc here’s the thing

digital art is kind of a different ball park but if you make a piece of art in any form, eventually it will cease to exist

if you paint a mural on a building, the building will eventually fall, or the wall will be painted over, or a new building will be built right beside it

if you hang a painting in a museum, the Ravages of Time will eventually fade the paint, the paper will crumble, and after a certain point there’s nothing restoration can really do for you

when the sun implodes and the universe experiences heat death every copy and online pic of the mona lisa will either be destroyed or be forgotten or be meaningless

time is going to ruin all ur art just like its gonna ruin all our lives lol and i think a lot of artists create art partially to immortalize themselves, thinking it will carry on after they die, thinking people will remember them but like 1.how many beautiful works of ancient egyptian art do we have that people still love and that’s stood the test of time, but the artist’s name hasnt. yknow. how many greek statues, how much shit from the bronze age. who made stone henge, etc. you’re art could outlive you and carry on your name but it could also just outlive you period. and i think that’s great but it seems scary and contradictory to a lot of artist’s motivations 2. people in the future aren’t gonna Get It, even if your pretentious explanation of the symbolism of the painting is perfectly in tact. people won’t know your marble statue was originally painted in bright colors and will form a universal idea of your cultures aesthetic that’s entirely different from what it really is/was. at best youll make the mona lisa, and everyone will accept that its great for whatever reason its great, and they still won’t Get It. 3.people will eventually not exist, and before that will probably forget all about everything that’s ever had to do with you. you’re art could live on thousands of years, but it won’t be immortal.

you’re gonna be forgotten. at least to the best of our knowledge etc. etc. yknow. there’s gonna be a point where no one remembers leonardo di vinci, or where no one’s around to remember him. time is fake but we’re still gonna get lost in the sand of it n shit.

so.

why were people so upset when someone destroyed a monet when the monet is Eventually gonna be destroyed anyways? i think a similar question is like, why are people upset when you ‘desecrate’ a flag?

i mean obvs people don’t like anything that even subconsciously reminds us we’re gonna die and lose everything and the things we like can be taken away from us. obviously if you go to this museum every month or every year or week or day and you like looking at that painting its gonna be upsetting when it’s not there anymore. and if you just like or respect monet or like or respect ~Art~, its a reasonable first reaction to be upset. i think obvs nobody really LIKES when something they know someone worked hard on and is appriciated and is ~Beautiful~ gets destroyed for above reasons^.

but like in my opinion isn’t that kind of the whole point??? the guy who steals the monet is expressing that he loves it so much he’d like to keep it for himself (or sell it lol), and they guy who punches it is expressing that he hates it and it sucks. the problem people take w/ it obvs is that both of them are like, ‘ruining it for everyone else,’ and i understand that but if you’re aware that each art piece has a lifespan, don’t you want it to have like, an exciting death??? lmao i’d rather a museum full of my art be burned down than for all the pieces to quietly fade and crumble, personally the whole point of art is the passion and Drama of it all right so isn’t it fitting??? or at least more interesting??? to have a work of art meet an end thats sad, or dramatic, or funny, or ironic, or in some way ends up adding to the artistic meaning of the piece at the end of the day? i like monet’s style, i think its cute. yknow but like honestly that painting was old as shit. we don’t Get It, monet himself would probably be rlly annoyed hearing people posture abt it. most living and death people don’t know shit about monet and why the fuck would they the story of that painting is revived and continued. it got people to talk about an old ass boring-ass landscape of some water.

it made people feel things and argue about shit, yknow

i think that’s kind of the best service some stranger 140 years down the line could do for you? in a way he drummed up some advertising for monet and allowed him to live on a little more for a little longer??

like

if you make a statue that looks like garbage, cool, if you’re statue actually gets mistaken for garbage and gets thrown away, i’m more interested, now it has a story, now its making more of a Commentary About Art And Shit. and thats..a good thing???

[culebral]

REALLY  LONG  CHARACTER  SURVEY.

RULES. Repost, do not reblog !  Tag 10 !  Good  luck ! Tagged by: my dash Tagging: fuck off

BASICS. FULL  NAME : R.chard G.cko. NICKNAME/S :  R.ch, R.ch.e, R.ch.e R.ch, R.cardo, R.chardo, Four-eyes, Specs, Glasses, etc. AGE : 29 years young. BIRTHDAY : 11 | 03 | 87. ETHNIC  GROUP :  Caucasian/ White. NATIONALITY : American. LANGUAGE/S :   Fluent english and ancient Xibalban dialect. SEXUAL  ORIENTATION : Heterosexual. ROMANTIC  ORIENTATION :  Gray-Heteromantic. RELATIONSHIP  STATUS :  Single. CLASS : Upper Class. HOME TOWN / AREA :  Kansas City, Kansas, U.S.A. CURRENT  HOME :  Classified. PROFESSION :  Co-runs a truck stop. Mid-boss, Lord of Collecting Tribute. Due to the sensitive nature  &  illegality of undisclosed vocations, he’ll exclusively state he operates a roadside service station without divulging its locale.

PHYSICAL. HAIR :   Thick, dark, and sable hair; frontal crest ( located on the crown part of his head ) is just a tad bit longer than the rest. EYES : Ice cold eyes that seemingly burn holes into whatever they’re affixed to. NOSE :  Greek nose, straight as shit. FACE :   Oblong broad with a strong af jaw. LIPS :   Thin and parched, almost always in the shape and form of a line. COMPLEXION :   Pale. No different than he was before, truth be told. BLEMISHES :  None. SCARS : He had a shit ton of scars on his legs and arms as a sprout but they’re gone af now. TATTOOS :  He doesn’t go for that shit, no. HEIGHT : 193 cm . WEIGHT :  112.4 kg . BUILD : Beetroot. Wide shoulders, large chest, a tad bit of tummy ( just a tad ) with narrow-ish hips and legs. FEATURES : Dedicated, ambitious, Intelligent, ambitious, perceptive, ambitious, reserved, ambitious. ALLERGIES : He had a peanut allergy before but he doesn’t anymore. USUAL  HAIR  STYLE : Depends. Usually well-kept but the fringe gets in his face if not kept tame by pushing back with gel. USUAL  FACE  LOOK : Indifferent. There is seldom any trace of varying emotions on his face; he hides them well. No way of knowing whether he wants to kiss you on the lips or bite you on the face, proceed with caution lol. USUAL  CLOTHING : Black blazer, white button collared shirt, black slacks, ties ( again, black. ), and metal capped oxford shoes.

PSYCHOLOGY. FEAR/S : Powerlessness, loss of control ( lol ), failure. ASPIRATION/S :  To get out of that bank robbin’ ditch, d UH. Wants to get out of being considered second best, tbh. POSITIVE  TRAITS : Intelligent, Rational, Idealistic, Patient, Organized, Observant, Profound. NEGATIVE  TRAITS :  Nitpicker, Greedy, Selfish, Dishonest, Secretive, Manipulative, Vengeful. MBTI :   (INTJ)  The Architect. ZODIAC :  Pisces. TEMPERAMENT :   Choleric SOUL  TYPE / S : Thinker. ANIMALS : Tiger ( outlined here ) VICE  HABIT/S : Cigarettes, binge eating, and finding faults in people. FAITH :   Agnostic, raised Roman Catholic. GHOSTS ? : Doesn’t give a shit. AFTERLIFE ? : Nay. REINCARNATION ? :  On the fence. ALIENS ? : Doesn’t give a shit. POLITICAL  ALIGNMENT :  Left. ECONOMIC  PREFERENCE :  Indifferent. SOCIOPOLITICAL  POSITION : Depends. EDUCATION  LEVEL : High School graduate, some university.

FAMILY. FATHER :  Ray G.cko ( deceased ) MOTHER : ew. SIBLINGS :   S.th G.cko ( older brother by one year ) EXTENDED  FAMILY : Eddie Cruickshank ( Adoptive uncle; Good friend of Papa G.cko back in the day.) NAME  MEANING/S : The Germanic first or given name R.chard derives from German, French, and English “r.c” (ruler, leader, king) and “hard” (strong, brave), and it therefore means “powerful leader” while a g.cko is a lizard from what i’ve read. HISTORICAL  CONNECTION ? : To be determined.

FAVOURITES. BOOK : Anything from cultural studies to true crime. He doesn’t really do favorite certains in this department. MOVIE : The Wild Bunch, María Candelaria, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Godfather, Network, Dracula, High Noon, Stagecoach, Salon Mexico, Scarface, The Rico Brothers, etc. 5  SONGS : Famasloop   —   Choro Dance, Tito & Tarantula —   after dark ( spanish version ), Federale —    The Blood Flowed like Wine, Blues Saraceno — Criminal, Bauhaus   —   Dark Entries. DEITY :  Hephaestus, Blacksmith of the Gods, Lord of the fire, forge and volcanoes. And even though he’s got the vast tendency to be underestimated by most, he is brilliant and ingenuous being known for his gruff and calculated exterior who, more often times than not, has built his way out of trouble without any guidance of the sort. MONTH :  March. SEASON : Autumn. PLACE :  Texas for now. WEATHER : Scorching desert hot. SOUND : Guns firing, static on the phone and/or television, tires screeching on the road, hissing in the distance. SCENT/S : Cigarette smoke, gunpowder, new car. TASTE/S : Fresh blood on your tongue, the upshot of smoking one too many cigars, and all american provisions, bruh. FEEL/S : Snake scales, that chill running down your spine as someone’s watching from afar, and a punch in your gut. ANIMAL/S : Lizards, snakes. NUMBER : 2. COLOUR : Black, White, Red.

EXTRA. TALENTS : Picking locks, planning jobs, fixing cars. Referencing shit. Getting on people’s nerves, his brother’s especially and overthinking. BAD  AT :   Keeping stable relationships with other people. Shit’s been hitting the fan real fucking fast, not even gonna lie lmao. TURN  ONS :  Women’s legs and feet may or may not be at the top. TURN  OFFS : Where do I start, lmao . He’s what I personally like to call the protoype of shallow as fuck. HOBBIES :  He likes to draw. Binge watch movies and cartoons, throwin’ knives, fixing stuff. TROPES :   Asshole with a heart of gold according to the show ( it’s a load of fucking bull ), Heartbreaking, tear jerking childhood with a boozehound dad and no mom. Smart nerd glasses wearin’ guy does all the work but doesn’t nearly get as much credit as he deserves according to the show squared. AESTHETIC  TAGS : Cigarettes, desolate roads, moonless skies, static, the faint sound of the tv going on all throughout the night, ashes and smoke, tumbleweeds, fast food, roadhouses, motels, hard liquor, firearms, vaults, gloves, video tapes, skin magazines, snakes, cactus, broken vinyl records, music cassettes, true crime news headlines and/or articles, money, blood, classic cars, eyes, fangs, eye glasses, hands, beer posters, crime scenes, tire marks on the road, ashes.

FC INFO. MAIN  FC/S :  Z.ne H.ltz ALT  FC/S :  B.ll Hader and Quentit Tangerino. OLDER  FC/S : None YOUNGER  FC/S : L. B.n.t VOICE  CLAIM/S : Z.ne H.ltz GENDERBENT  FC/S :  No.

[snippets-of-another-world]

weird musings:

my taste in terms of both aestheticism and physical attraction is definitely towards ppl who are (at least somewhat) curvy or muscular or both, but this has a very weird effect on my self-image combined with an old eating disorder. i’m mostly recovered, but i still get dysmorphic abt not being thin. it results in such a weird spectrum of self-disgust to “damn, look at those luscious thighs” lmao? sometimes both? like, at times i will see myself and think “gracefully built” like a greek statue and also “disgusting, unclean” because i can no longer see my bones. it’s so exhausting. i don’t know if i want to not care or if i want to lose weight or what.