#can you parse it from context? :3

[deanismysavior]

Hold on, I just thought of something. So we've talked a lot about how Mike's love confession monologue feels off and feels narratively clunky, but we don't really talk about WHY that choice was made.

Because here's the thing: the narrative imperfection is in direct conversation with Will's monolgue/love confession.

In both speeches, on the surface level, they seem like they should make sense, that is, until you start looking at the details.

In Will's love confession scene, we see him tell Mike that El "commissioned" the painting for him, which serves as a cover for Will's real intentions in creating that painting. On the surface, it seems like a believable thing El could do out of affection for her boyfriend, until you start to think about it again and realize we've never once heard El and Mike discuss DnD in any sort of depth, and she likely wouldn't be overly familiar with the roles of the party.

We also see Will here say that if Mike felt like El was "pushing [him] away," that it was likely just because she was afraid of losing him. Upon first hearing this, it sounds feasible that given the distance, El could be pushing Mike away, but when we look at the actual context of El's feelings towards Mike over the course of the season, we see her room filled with pictures of Mike and a box full of momentos, and we're privy to the dozens of letters she has sent him. In other words, we can see El's affection for Mike loud and clear, and so can he.

And when Will tells Mike that El needs him, these are sweet and reassuring words, but we've also seen how quickly El dumped Mike in season 3 and how she left without warning to go with Owens and get her powers back, once again leaving Mike behind. In truth, El might love Mike, but she doesn't need him, not like he seems to need to be needed.

Will's monologue is meant to throw off Mike, but we see a few shots within the van scene where it seems as though Mike is confused and processing, as if something isn't quite lining up, but he can't really put his finger on why.

In Mike's monologue to El, it follows a similar pattern. Mike tells El that he loved her since the moment he met her in the woods. From an audience standpoint, having seen Mileven's relationship manifest over the past three seasons, at first this seems sweet. But then as we parse the context of that moment, Mike's assertion rings false as we see him in the first scenes with El confused, afraid of her, and ready to cast her out in favor of finding Will. It's only when she demonstrates that she could help find him that Mike starts to see her as anything other than transitory.

Mike also makes it a point to say that he is "not scared" of El and that he's "never felt that way." While this is certainly something you would hope your boyfriend would say, this, also rings false as we see multiple times that Mike is shocked by her powers, and even accusatory with his famous "What's wrong with you?" line. Mike has been scared of El on MULTIPLE occasions.

He also tells El in this scene that he "doesn't know how to live without [her]." I'd say this is the most up-for-grabs statement that Mike makes, because he does care about and have love for El, but he's also shown twice now that he has lived without her. The first time, when he believed she might be dead, Mike checked in on El every day, but he never went after her. We see some definite signs of grief from his acting out in school and grades slipping, but his life with his friends remains overwhelmingly unchanged in her absence. The second time we see this is in season 4 when they are forced into a long distance relationship. While Mike does still receive letters from El, he doesn't seem lovesick or mopey that she's not around. He joins Hellfire and spends time with his friends. If anything, we get more indication that he's felt the absence of Will more strongly as he directly tells Will that "Hawkins isn't the same without [him]."

He says his "life started that day [he] found [El] in the woods." Another beautiful sentiment, until you look closer. This directly conflicts with Mike's character arc in season 1 in which his main priority was finding Will. It also conflicts with Mike's statement in season 2 that choosing to be Will's friend was the "best thing [he] ever did." Obviously Mike had a life before El, and even after having met her, he still believes that being Will's friend was the best thing he ever did, and not finding El or making friends with El or kissing El.

We also see Mike say here that he "love[s El]" with or without her powers. This has been the crux of their relationship drama throughout the season as Mike continually identifies El as a "superhero" and El, feeling lost without the thing that makes her feel special, goes off to regain those powers, because she thinks that's what Mike wants her to be. And even during that time, Mike refers to El as "Superman" during his conversation with Will. While Mike saying he loves her without her powers here might seemingly resolve this earlier conflict, he then goes on to specifically talk about and focus on her powers in his speech, making his words feel disingenuous.

He then once again refers to El as his "superhero" and tells her she can "fly" and "move mountains," both things that connect back to her supernatural powers and her otherness, but not her, not "exactly who she is" as he claims.

The entire time Mike is giving this speech to El, we see Vecna's vines TIGHTENING around El, not loosening, until she looks over at Max, someone who has over and over again reminded her what it is to be free and to be her own person.

This scene, just like Will's monologue, is meant to function as a form of misdirection, but not necessarily for El, for the audience. As we've discussed on the surface, all of these elements Mike brings up in his monologue should make sense for a couple in love, and to a casual viewer, would probably just be written off as a kind of corny scene, but what we as critical readers of the scene can take away from it is that this scene is intentionally meant to mislead you.

Mike is not talking about his real feelings for El here. He's talking about feelings for the version of El he created for himself in his head. For the larger-than-life savior. Simply, Mike loves the idea of El, but not the person she's become. And El knows that his speech about her, however touching to an outside audience it may seem, does not really reflect her, and that's why we see the vines tighten around her neck.

So what could this mean for season 5 and what does it mean in connection to the Will confession?

I think this heavily suggests that Eleven will be single in season 5 and that she will break up with Mike since he no longer really sees her for who she is. But I also think that this misdirection theme will play out in Byler as well. Just as the audience is meant to slowly piece things together after the fact, Mike is supposed to do the same in his relationship with Will. As season 5 unfolds, I think we'll see Mike get more hints that the painting was not commissioned by El and that the version of him that is loved and needed is not El's, but Will's. Mike, just like us, is supposed to read between the lines right now.

In conclusion, I think the Duffer Brothers may not have actually fucked up as badly as we thought, but instead created some somewhat genius foreshadowing and parallelling.

[kitakataramen]

Hi! I'm sorry if this is a strange or out of place ask, but you seem very knowledgable, and I was wondering if you had any advice. I am learning Japanese, and I can read quite a lot of it without issue. I don't know what any of it means, though... Like I'm seeing the words, and know how to say them, but not what they mean. I don't know what to do. Did you ever go through this? Sorry for the inconvenience.

Hi! I definitely did go through this and continue to do so. I first had this issue when I was studying N5 level material, because that tends to have mostly hiragana and very little kanji, so I could read the syllables but couldn't differentiate where one word ended and another began. There are so many words/combinations of words that sound similar that my brain really struggled to find meaning.

Now I'm studying things in the N4/N3 range and I still struggle, mostly in cases with grammatical points written in hiragana. Often I can understand the individual words, but can't parse out the overall meaning of the phrase or sentence.

My advice as both a language teacher and language learner is this:

Study vocabulary, and start studying kanji as soon as possible! Kanji is essential to meaning in Japanese. The quicker you learn to associate meaning with kanji, the easier a time you'll have. I've just purchased すみっコぐらしはじめての漢字辞典 (Sumikko Gurashi Hajimete No Kanji Jiten) to help myself review some old kanji and learn new ones.

I love using material that actual Japanese students use, and I find that starting from around 3rd grade material is most helpful because by 3rd grade they've started adding useful kanji to the text, but they still have furigana to help you read it.

If you don't have the funds to buy a Japanese exercise book like this (it runs around $27 on Amazon and I believe it is called "The Secret Dictionary of Summiko Gurashi" in English) you can find all kinds of free printouts and materials by grade on this website:

2. Immerse yourself in the language. Quite a bit of meaning is garnered through context and body language, so without these, it can be difficult to understand what you're reading/listening to. You can immerse yourself in different ways; for example, watching Japanese TV (I like to watch it with both Japanese audio and Japanese subtitles on), chatting with someone in Japanese (I used HelloTalk to find people to chat with when I was first starting out), or playing Japanese videogames. The best thing to do is do something you already like and are very familiar with in your first language, but in your target language. This way, you can add some context to what you're reading/hearing, and this will help your brain associate a concrete meaning to the language.

3. Keep a notebook in which you write down any new words you encounter. Personally, I like to keep my notebook on hand when I'm reading. If I encounter a new word or grammar point, I'll write it down to help cement the meaning in my brain. Don't expect to remember everything the first time you read or hear it! While some people are proven to have an aptitude for language learning and can pick up new words and their meanings almost immediately, most of us can't, and some of us struggle harder than others. That's totally okay! Again, you need to find some way to associate the words you're learning with their meaning. Different methods work for different people.

4. Try putting the new words/grammar you've learned in action! Once you've studied something, practice producing that language yourself. You can do this by writing in a diary, or by recording yourself saying it, or using the word/phrase in a conversation with someone else in the target language. This will also help the meaning to stick in your brain better!

5. Keep going! Don't give up. Language learning is not a linear process. You will have periods of progress and periods of stagnation (these are known as language learning plateaus). It's natural. And just because you feel like you aren't making any progress doesn't mean it's true. Set an attainable goal for yourself ("I am going to read this book about cats" or "I am going to play Mario Kart in Japanese") and keep working towards it a little every day, and you'll find you're improving more than you think.

[sonodaten]

The Divine Comedy and You

I’m sure like some myself, there are some others who’ve reached the end of Ch 8 and are wondering what to do while they spend their days grinding for mats, building characters, and unlocking voice lines.

Might I recommend taking a look at Dante’s Inferno? Path to Nowhere’s setting, lore, plot, and a couple of characters pay homage to what is considered one of the greatest literary pieces of all times, and giving it a read through could be a great way to get a deeper understanding of any of the above while we’re waiting for the next story update.

That being said, Dante’s Inferno can be a little…dense, especially if you’re a first time reader! If you’re interested, I’ll have some resources compiled under the read more, and how you could use them (but everyone knows their reading style best, so to each their own).

First, here’s a link to one of the Gutenberg Bible’s online version of the Inferno.

Dante’s Divine Comedy—the Inferno, Pugatario, and Paradiso—was a poem, which is why it’s divided into cantos. The version linked above is a translation from 1997, as the original was written in Italian nearly a millennium ago. This post will focus on the Inferno, as I’ve yet to see anything that really jumps out at me as being sourced from Purgatario or Paradiso, but I could be wrong!

Now, this can make it a little difficult to wrap your head around the prose (I certainly was not born and reading a millennium ago in Italy), so here’s a link to the SparkNotes website. It can give you plain, more modern translations for the cantos, as well as analyses, information and summaries on major characters, themes, and plot points. It’s great if you’re having trouble parsing what a particular canto is saying, or you just need to look something up real quick.

Recommendations:

1. Using both of these together, I also highly recommend taking notes! I found it especially helpful to do so right on the text (download a copy of the pdf and make comments, print the pdf and hand write notes, or if you can grab a written copy and take notes in that/on post it notes and stick them to the pages) because a lot of the times your notes are going to reference the text itself, and it’ll just save you a lot of time and hand cramps if it’s just right there/close by to your notes!

2. Take breaks! Not just to relax your eyes, but also because the Inferno is 34 cantos, which doesn’t seem like a lot but it really is. I don’t recommend trying to get through it all in one sitting.

3. The internet is your friend. Along with a long list of other cultural references (including Greek Mythology), the Inferno includes a lot of reference and commentary on events that were happening during the time Dante was writing it. This link will take you to the Wikipedia page listing them in alphabetical order (note: this includes references from the entire Divine Comedy, but does cite which part and canto each reference can be found). As with all Wikipedia pages, remember to utilize the footnotes and further research when using. Knowing about some of these references/events and the context in which Dante was experiencing them can help make the text easier to understand.

Anyway, that’s all I have! If anyone else has any other tips for read throughs, feel free to add them. Dante’s Inferno (and really the whole Divine Comedy) is an enduring favorite of mine over the years, and I’m more than happy to take this (admittedly golden) opportunity to shill for it.

[dulcieseptimus]

Here is a compilation of all of the bible verses from John, in order of appearance, using the Douay-Rheims Bible. This is a translation Muir directly quotes from throughout the series (thank you @a-big-apple for the annotated locked tomb doc, which has the link to the online bible and lots of other interesting resources and discussions!). 

There is some added commentary from me as well, either to put quotes into context or share some notes I took while reading Nona the Ninth. Obviously, spoilers abound below the cut!

John 20:8: “Then that other disciple also went in, who came first to the sepulchre: and he saw, and believed.” ’The other disciple’ is John, known both as the ‘Disciple of Love’ and ‘Jesus’ Most Beloved Disciple.’ In this part of the Bible, Mary Magdalene discovers that the Tomb has been opened. John 5:20: “For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things which himself doth: and greater works than these will he shew him, that you may wonder.” Interestingly enough, the line immediately after this one is: “For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and giveth life: so the Son also giveth life to whom he will.” John 15:23: “He that hateth me, hateth my Father also.” John 15 is a continuation of a discourse from Jesus to his disciples. Earlier in the text he tells them, “I am the vine: you the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing.” In this chapter John Gaius performs his second miracle of reanimating the bodies of Ulysses and Titania, who he calls both his children and ‘nothing more’ than extensions of himself. This is the beginning of John’s god complex, and how he begins to use his anger on behalf of Earth as justification for all future actions. John 5:18: “Hereupon therefore they sought the more to kill him, because he did not only break the sabbath, but also said God was his Father, making himself equal to God.” In this chapter, after A-- and M-- test John’s abilities, they decide to go public and livestream the resurrection. John 8:1: “And Jesus went unto mount Olivet.” A short one! In John 8, Jesus is being given a test to parse his identity. In NtN, this is where John and the others start attracting attention--and the infamous cow shield.  Interestingly, when answering questions, Jesus writes them out in the dirt with his finger, reminiscent of a later John chapter where he writes J + E + A  + H in a heart on the beach.  John 19:18: “Where they crucified him, and with him two others, one on each side, and Jesus in the midst.” John explains that they finally found out where the money for the cryo project went, and that they realized the trillionaires were just jumping ship and leaving everyone else behind to rot. This chapter focuses a lot on John, and A--, and M--. They were John’s first disciples, and would later die by his side during the siege of the facility. 

John 5:1: “After these things was a festival day of the [Jewish people], and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.” In the dream, John explains how they were made an offer by a foreign government and how A-- and M-- were able to negotiate a nuke as payment. P-- also makes the comment in this chapter that “If they want to make you into a bad wizard, be a bad wizard...they’re not going to listen because we talk nicely, they’re going to listen because we scare the shit out of them.��  John 5 is primarily concerned with Jesus being denied by his community leaders as Christ and trying to bring in his disciples to testify/negotiate on his behalf, eventually getting frustrated when he realizes nothing will change their minds. John 3:20: “For every one that doth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, that his works may not be reproved.” John and the others attempt to prove the FTL project is a scam and are not believed. John 3 is also where the well known verse “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son” comes from, which Muir later quotes in chapter 32: “For she so loved the world that she had given them John.” Also absolutely reading too much into this but-- In John 3, Nicodemus asks Jesus how someone can be ‘born again,’ joking that it’s impossible to re-enter your mother’s womb. In the dream, John talks about how they were all scared of the suitcase nuke so they hid it under the floor, only to be used as a last resort, as blackmail. At the end of HtN, Wake tells John that she called baby Gideon ‘the Bomb’ throughout her pregnancy. The Ninth House Project was also Mercy and Augustine’s plan-of-last-resort to bring down John. And then the Ninth House tried to bury Gideon...and when that failed they spent the next 18 years terrified of her. Hmm hmm. Much to think about.   John 9:22: “These things his parents said, because they feared the [Jewish leaders]: for they had already agreed among themselves, that if any man should confess him to be Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue.” In John 9, authorities come looking for Jesus but his followers cover for him at risk of their own safety.  I believe my note here was “John Gaius is a rat bastard.”  John 1:20: “And he confessed, and did not deny: and he confessed: I am not the Christ.” In context, this is John the Baptist denying he is Christ. Instead he tells them “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord...”  Meta textually this is meant to signal to us (and Harrow)--John is not the messiah he claims to be. He was chosen by the soul of Earth--Alecto--to be her voice, to save her, and he failed, terribly.  John 5:4: “And an angel of the Lord descended at certain times into the pond; and the water was moved. And he that went down first into the pond after the motion of the water, was made whole, of whatsoever infirmity he lay under.” Jesus encourages a disabled man to enter the pool and be healed, directing him to ‘pick up his mat and walk.’ Harrow rejects John as God and wades into the River, eventually to be reunited with Alecto in the Tomb. The chapter ends with “And she stepped into the River. She took another step, and she walked, and she walked.”

[phoenixyfriend]

Thoughts on “Auntie Soka and Little Leia” now that I’ve actually got it posted:

Call it a director’s cut! The process of actually writing the thing, and also jokes made along the way. Link to the actual fic.

Unfortunately, I don’t have the energy for image descriptions, even the text screenshots. Might come back that later. Most of this was DMs with @atagotiak​.

This was an entire thing before I even started writing:

Before I decided on ages and stuff Ahsoka, to Jango, who has had zero contact with Kaminoans: Okay I know I'm a Jedi kid so you hate me but this toddler is your clone from the future. Jango, tired: What the FUCK are you talking about. Rex, barely able to talk: Don't you dare leave me with him, Commander! Ahsoka: I'm not going to leave you I just--I'm so tired I'm so fucking tired I haven't slept in five days and someone tried to kidnap Leia two days ago I am so fucking tired I need help

Ben: [twenty years of depression followed by a 'now I'm safe' breakdown over the course of weeks] Sokari: [whatever the FUCK this mess is]

When Ahsoka mentions there only being three other Jedi at the time of her death,  I was thinking Kanan, Yoda, and Obi-Wan (Leia told her about the latter two living past her). She's not counting anyone that received training after the Temple fell, and she didn’t know about Cal.

When Leia says  “I was adopted and raised by one of the founders of the rebellion, a movement built on the desire to instate freedom and democracy in a galaxy that had lost even the pretense.”

Depa: I'm no therapist but I diagnose you with "incredibly fucked up." Ahsoka: yeah, that’s fair

"Why did you pick Depa for--" She's pretty and I'm gay. Also because of the Kanan thing But mostly I'm gay "It's not a visual medi--" GAY

Empty of context beyond general post-fic AU: "Hey Sokari, we need to engage in psychological warfare against this individual and--" "I'm going to break into his office and leave a threatening note on his desk and leave no other sign that I was there. He'll see that his security is nothing and the only reason he isn't dead is because I'm too nice to kill him." "...okay, not what we were planning, but that works. Why is that your first choice?" "I really like breaking and entering, it's soothing." Ben just standing there with a bland smile like This Is Normal.

"We need someone to infiltrate a highly guarded facility in hostile territory." "So we're sending the Torrent kids?" [sigh] "We're sending the Torrent kids."

Rex and Sokari insist on both going by "Torrent" even though Rex could be a Fett. Jango really wants him to be a Fett. Rex has too many grudges to agree to being a Fett for... a while.

I really hope it's blatantly obvious that Ahsoka's not a reliable narrator for some things Ahsoka: Fett could care less if I died Jango: jfc even if you are older than me I can see you're fucked up. Drink your hot chocolate. Hells. She's got good reason to expect him to hate her as a Jedi! BUT. THAT IS NOT REFLECTIVE OF REALITY

We don’t get a lot of actual characterization for Jango, but the way I played him out here is he has never really parsed that Jedi are people before all this. It's a lot harder to treat them as a monolith when the traumatized former child soldier is having regular breakdowns in your shitty little kitchen

Fett: I respect you Ahsoka: No, don't do that

Ahsoka’s vigilantism is something that, in my mind, she's associating heavily with Zygerria and then the clones.

I figured that she never bothered to learn Quinlan’s teacher’s name but in the process of looking up some basic facts (whether he had a surname), I found that Wookiepedia was forced to give us a VERY wide range of possible death in Legends.

Please take a moment to imagine Quinlan's FACE when Ahsoka initially dismisses him. Quinlan has put a lot of effort into being rogueishly charming! It's very useful for his line of work! He knows to expect either irritation or a return flirtation when he acts like this with people his own age! Ahsoka is not flustered OR rolling her eyes and insulting him, she's just ignoring him and it's a bit of a blow to the ego

This just makes me really happy:

This was the initial comment I made, as a joke What if Maul is just. There. On one of the planets they make a pitstop at. What if Maul exists as the walking problem he is, but fifteen, and Ahsoka immediately tries to kick his ass and drag him back to Coruscant. I do not have room for this plot but What If

Despite not having room for this plot, I proceeded to write this plot.

Maul is kidnapped and it’s the best thing that ever happened to him HE'S FIFTEEN HE'S DUMB AS SHIT AND HAS A BAD ATTITUDE AND YEAH HE'S A DARKSIDER BUT HE'S FIFTEEN

Ahsoka: I sense... Maul [takes off sprinting] Rex: [immediately takes Jango's blaster and runs after her] Jango: Wait who Tholme: Who Quinlan: Who Jango: [looks at Leia] Leia: I don't know who that is either! Ahsoka, already wrestling a teenager to the ground: Oh no, you're a child, REX STUN HIM AND GRAB THE CUFFS, I'M SURE FETT OR THOLME HAS SOME

Fighting him isn't even legal, they have NO evidence of criminal wrongdoing, so first she needs to yell until he admits to something she can fight him about

Ahsoka: When I see Maul, it's on SIGHT Maul: WHO ARE YOU

Ahsoka: The Force didn't give me hands just to NOT throw them when I run into That Crafty Son Of A Bitch

Ben, when they arrive, after the tearful reunion: You... you brought Maul. Ahsoka: Well, yeah, he's fifteen and kinda dumb. I figured we could drag him here and force him into therapy, see what happens. Ben: I can't quite tell through the gag, but I think he's threatening to feed you your own spleen. Ahsoka: Lol, yeah.

Ben is absolutely on team "get Maul therapy" and will fight the Council on rehabilitating the baby Sith But also it's like. Here's your daughter! And your niece! And your daughter's QPP! Also your best friend, but baby, and his teacher, and the biological origin of a number of people you cared for deeply! AND ALSO THE GUY WHO SPENT LITERAL DECADES CRAVING YOUR DEATH, FOR SOME REASON

I just really want Ahsoka lovingly bullying Maul She gives him noogies and the horns don't protect him because girl has reinforced gloves

Maul's only allowed a low-power training saber and his fights with Sokari involve Much Taunting by her and Eventual Screaming by him, and everyone pops by to see: 1. Sokari doing the most absurd flips, for fun. 2. The bullshit that is ataru-shien reverse-grip jar'kai in the hands of someone who makes it work 3. What a Sith lightsaber form looks like 4. Just the general nonsense that is the way these two fight

Tia said “Wrt ridiculous flips. I'm remembering that time she beheaded four Kryst'ad at once.” and I just Rex brings up the quadruple beheading at one point to get someone to stop asking questions and the awkward, horrified silence almost makes him regret it. And then Sokari just snorts and makes a joke about how Rex once speared a slaver point-blank and everyone's just like hello??? "are you two okay" "no"

Maul absolutely starts crushing on Sokari after a 'sword under chin' moment and she's just very "Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh you're fifteen, bye" GO MAKE PUPPY EYES AT OBI-WAN OR SOMETHING

The crushes are the worst part of everything, really, she's an attractive young woman that can kick a lot of ass, and a lot of people are into that! Unfortunately, most of those people are a decade younger than she is, mentally, because all the people her actual age look at her and see a child on account of the 17yo body.

It’s almost a good thing she’s in no place mentally for a relationship.

I just want Ahsoka to wear beskar.... I think that would be Nice........

This AU is also what caused this post.

I'm deeply enamored by the idea that Ahsoka can win fights against "older" padawans pretty much unilaterally, even when they team up 2v1 And then she offers to fight 5v1 "But only if I have permission to fight dirty." Ben approves it, a horror show full of "I fought many wars and will scream in your face or kick you in the balls if that's what it takes" follows She wins. There are no permanent injuries, but her reputation certainly gets weirder. Nobody under the rank of Knight agrees to let her fight dirty again. She just lets that stand because, well, she's not actually a padawan, she's thirty-three.

I’m not going to write this but my brain was EVIL and suggested it:

IT WOULD BE REALLY SAD IDK maybe 9yo Anakin has nightmares about what's happening to baby Ahsoka because bullshit about time-traveling force bonds IDK ANYWAY he cries to Sokari about the nightmares and she's like "oh shit" and it's time to go rescue herself from motherfucker unlimited

It's either that or she's like, expecting to welcome mini-me aaaany day now, for like, several months, before she realizes Something Went Wrong. Anakin’s dreams could even start right as she’s starting to realize something’s off.

Obi-Wan has never had a padawan that doesn't at some point bite Even Luke will, when pushed

OH also once the twins get Baby's First Lightsaber (training sabers, not real kyber), Sokari begs to borrow them for a dumb joke and tells Rex to get on her shoulders for a "Grievous Greeting" and they do The Thing

Jango and Ahsoka wrt Quinlan is just “Do I need to beat him up for you” “You realize I’ve beaten up sith lords before?”

JANGO'S TRYING He's just. "Can we be friends? Can I--can I be the guy that just noticeably gets in the way of a creep on the subway so you can be more comfortable without someone making a scene? I'm fucking trying here, give me a hint."

We didn’t actually figure out Jango’s age until this point. The only reason Fett's age matters is for Quinlan making a Wild Oats quip after Jango says he didn't know about Rex until a few weeks ago, and Fett going "How old do you think I am? And how old do you think the kid is?" and Quinlan getting Very Awkward as he does the math. Rex overhears and lets Quinlan sweat for a bit before saying "I'm a genetically-modified clone someone grew in a tube, he didn't know or have reason to know until he saw me with Sokari." Which is like. Eight additional layers of WTF, obviously, but at least Jango gets to avoid awkward wild oats jokes

Like, you’d expect the rebuttal to be ‘he’s my brother just with a biiig age gap’ or ‘he’s my nephew’

I find it very unfortunate for Quinlan that I've decided his defining characteristic in this context is going to be repeatedly putting his foot in his mouth

He’s trying so hard but "That sounds like a cool thing, maybe I'll ask ab--and it's another fucking trauma."

I'm doing Ahsoka&Jango t w i c e (there’s another fic where I’m doing it)

It’s just a fun dynamic! So much resentful respect.

Like she's twenty seconds away from calling him a bitch at any given time and he's just there like "I don't like you but I do see you move like you're about to tell an entire building to get on their knees with their hands in the air and I can respect that" Also she's probably much less judgmental about using blasters than Obi-Wan is The Maul subplot actually started with me daydreaming about Ahsoka grabbing a blaster for Reasons

I like the idea of Jango just deciding the most Useful thing he can do is help teach the Smol how to fight. He's AWKWARD around Rex and Soka because he doesn't know if there's anything he CAN teach them.

I didn’t actually plan for Tholme to figure out the age thing, he just SAID it and I had to sit there like Wait.

Ahsoka, Rex & Leia: ahhh, children Tholme: you say that like you aren’t children

I liked getting to write Rex's little "I have worked with all of them, and they're all Terrible" He loves them But They once got stranded on a planet that didn’t exist and Ahsoka died and Anakin killed a god.

There was research and discussion as to whether Ahsoka could win against Tholme but seeing as she held her own against Vader, and fought Grievous at that physical age without dying, etc.... yeah, the only thing holding her back was her body not being what she was used to, and she’s had a few weeks go adjust.

“I miss being able to just jump off skyscrapers” is such a jedi thing

Jango: I'll take the gun back if he tries to leave, they can't get far before--WHAT THE FUCK He knows Jedi are scary but he’s still not really used to just how over the top ridiculous they are He knows how to deal with Jedi in battle, not Whatever The Fuck These People Are Doing

Rex isn't even a Jedi, he's just so used to working with them. “Oh yes time for free-falling without a parachute again, same shit as always.”

Tia: I’m imagining Jango freaking out and Quinlan and Tholme being like. Concerned but mostly exasperated Clearly if they’re jumping off buildings it must be serious? But jfc they could’ve maybe communicated a bit more?

Leia: I want to finish my juice Tholme: Quin, stay with her while we go figure out what those two are doing. Quinlan: Wait what

Jango: Oh now he’s jumping off a building too??? Tholme: Sokari, you are not registered! You can't legally jump out windows yet! Jango: What the hell is going on? Is this normal?

We don’t necessarily know how often Ahsoka and Maul ran into each other after Mandalore. There was the later thing on Malachor, but other than that I'm just going with the idea that they ran into each other every year or two and just went for the eyes like feral cats

Ahsoka: I need to kick ass and you're coming with me. Rex: Yeah, okay. [several minutes later] Rex: Whose ass are we kicking?

Ahsoka and Rex

Neloms aren’t a SW fruit to the best of my knowledge, I just wanted to mess around with lemons/melons

Jango: you didn’t think any of this through, did you? Rex: you were there, you know we didn’t "When the Jedi says to jump out a window, I jump out a window."

Tholme’s real composed about stalking the ancient nigh-mythical enemy of his people, very “Life is already so goddamn weird”

This fic has been so heavy on the trauma but then I introduce Maul and suddenly it's the worst kind of comedy Nobody is competent, everyone's a little dumb, the bad guy is just grocery shopping

My propensity for banter has turned this into a six-person buddy cop comedy about Maul buying grapes They spend a significant amount to time ineffectually stalking Maul before Quin suggests the sensible option Quinlan just "You remember this is my literal job and specialty right"

Ahsoka sees Maul and all her brain cells go out the window except "Fight good" Usually she doesn’t need to worry about doing things legally. Maybe she needs to worry about someone seeing her do illegal things but she spent the past 15 yrs in a place where her existing was illegal

I feel like he’s also maybe kinda wanting to reassert that yes he is competent. Bc like. Ahsoka’s been kinda condescending this whole time and also can beat everyone up so. It's not his fault that he's actually the youngest person there, but.

Jango is finding this whole being friendly to Jedi thing a lot more overwhelming than he thought it would be. And overwhelming in different ways.

Maul usually signifies things getting worse and more horrifyingly tragic but he's just a dumb teen that they needed to arrest for his own good.

Quinlan: Look, I'm useful! Ahsoka: I've been through hell, wanna hear? Quinlan: NO. I DON'T. WHY.

Quinlan: I understand the concept of joking about your traumas, I do it sometimes myself! But sith hells that’s a lot of trauma.

Quinlan just wanted her to treat him as a Competent Individual, and here she is whipping out stories about Dying and Gods and the Force insists it's the truth and he just???? And apparently emo darksider over there is a Sith. And just, sure. Why not

A lot of people’s interactions with the time travelling disaster lineage is just

Tholme and Fett arguing and  Ahsoka's just waiting for a moment to pop in with "Hey, when's the last time either of you worked with the other's culture before this mess? Yeah, that's what I thought."

Much like Leia and Ahsoka hurting each other earlier, and Tholme figuring out the de-aging, we ALSO have Fett’s confrontation with Ahsoka being something the characters just did, rather than something I planned.

FTR the only time I managed to trigger myself while writing this fic was the “your behavior isn’t actually acceptable and we’ve all been trying really hard to give you room to recover but you have to at least make an effort to not be a bitch”

Writing about people having PTSD and symptoms of such: Yay! Writing about people having PTSD and engaging in toxic behavior to cope: Shit Ahsoka had... basically my exact reaction. It's "remind yourself that you're in the wrong, that they have a point, and then be overly formal in the apology because fuck if you accidentally make them feel sorry for you when they're the injured party"

Quinlan: Can we be friends? I mean, you're an asshole, but you're really cool. Let's be friends. (He MIGHT be nursing a crush) (Neat mysterious girl who can beat him up.)

Also he realises she's probably nicer when not having a slow-motion breakdown He's like "Huh, you'll probably be less of an asshole once you've gotten therapy."

...also, she pretty and got Nice Biceps

I love writing a good mental breakdown

I was so close to including a "he tried to kill me" just early enough for Jango to wildly misinterpret as her thinking Quinlan tried to kill her. He'd have been very confused, considering Quinlan's the one that called them down in a panic and currently has Ahsoka having her massive breakdown in his lap But

Tia:  I could see Jango interpreting it as idk, Quin resembling someone or for a moment acting like someone who tried to kill her and she had a flashback or something like that

There's absolutely room for a couple reasonable interpretations there And "trapped in a flashback about someone who tried to kill her" is absolutely what's happening! Just. You know. For a different reason. Jango probably wouldn’t assume Quin would hurt her, for one thing he seems to like her, for another even if he did he’s smart enough to pick a way that wouldn’t be so likely to get him caught

I had to step back and actually say “Also I'm just. Wow. I'm really just shoveling QPP Rex&Ahsoka at full speed”

Me, a few weeks ago, joking: Two halves of the same idiot black ops specialist Me, now, entirely seriously: Two halves of the same idiot black ops specialist

Me, belatedly: Oh, Ahsoka being joyfully mean to people was a form of mania she was unconsciously using to build a barrier between herself and her impending meltdown

She went from "just died" to "in charge of Rex and Leia" in like. Two minutes.

Confession: I've been delighting in the mental image of this whole Mess leading Jango to try to retake Mandalore, and Ahsoka loans him a saber for a 1v1 to get the darksaber.

“Can’t I just fight him barehanded? That’s how I did it on Galidraan.” "But the drama, Fett!"

Probably Rex has learned how to use a saber as well, because you never know when you have to borrow a weapon

I later changed my mind to Jango asking her to help, rather than her just sneak-teaching him, but it was funny.

Background nonsense to all this is Ahsoka and Rex, despite Rex being as force-sensitive as a lump of coal, having developed a process where she can extend her sensitivity to him mind-to-mind for weird symbiotic battle trance that scares everyone around them. It’s very similar to Battle meditation.

CONTEXT FOR LEIA BEING WORRIED ABOUT THOLME HIDING THINGS: Tholme is hiding the fact that the Council reached out and told him that the people he picked up might be connected to Ben and Luke, who showed up after the Depa thing but a solid week and change before Jango's ship makes it to the Temple. They asked that he not share that information to avoid getting anyone's hopes up in case the two situations aren't related. Ben and Luke haven't shared enough information for anyone to really be sure if the other three are connected Because the info Tholme has isn't quite the info Jango has, etc. And they can't just say Ben is a future Obi-Wan over comms

I just have a lot of feelings about people trying to do something right and just. Nobody's at fault! Not really! It's just complicated!

Tia: I like how when Ahsoka isn’t doing maladaptive trauma response stuff she’s very mature. And of course she’s had to be but it’s a good like, contrast. Where when she slows down to think about things she’s very sensible

Jango just spends most of this story lowkey wanting Ahsoka to Be His Friend but there's too much baggage that he's only metaphysically responsible for

Local aroace(?) has a squish

Ahsoka: He just wants to get on my good side because of Rex. Jango: I'm pretty sure you could kill an entire army without trying but you wouldn't because you have actual morals and stuff... and when I met you it was because you were killing yourself trying to keep (what appeared to be) children safe... you seem cool please be my friend.......

Ahsoka’s #1 weakness: mountains of trauma Ahsoka’s #2 weakness: she just doesn’t get why so many people think she’s cool and want her to be their (girl)friend

Jango, a 27yo massacre survivor who's killed Jedi masters with his bare hands: [gets lectured on various government structures by a tiny girl that's missing several teeth and needs to sit on books to see the table properly]

Ahsoka was raised in a religious meritocracy but developed all her opinions during a galactic war and then became a vigilante spy, Rex comes from a military cult, Leia is from an inherited monarchy that participates in democracy, Quinlan was originally from what appears to be a dynastic dictatorship, and IDK about Tholme other than that he is also from the religious meritocracy. And in legends Quinlan came to the religious meritocracy after his aunt sacrificed his parents to a vampire cult and then forced him to experience the psychometric echoes of that. There's just. A lot going on.

Leia at least has knowledge about structure and admin in theory that isn't based in either the military or populations under 10k

Jango: I want to be your friend. Ahsoka: Sounds fake.

I am unfairly fond of "Rex destroys a conversation by bringing up his own horrifying childhood and calling it a cult"

"Why does Sokari call you 'Rex'ika'?" "Because she's older than me." "...can I--?" "No."

Nickname privileges are extended ONLY to Ahsoka and older clones. There are no more older clones, so it's just Ahsoka.

Me joking about Star Wars AUs: Would you like a crackship? Me writing actual Star Wars fic: My favorite character type is apparently “too traumatized to have a relationship” so this is at least 90% gen.

I had to pull a scene opening at one point because Ahsoka's skill with not getting shot is actually much less useful than Tholme's clearance levels.

Now I really want a team-up of Ahsoka, Rex, and Jango where they do have to get in a dogfight of the "she flies, we shoot" variety and Fett just has to scream because the speeder thing to catch Maul was one thing, but this....

Ahsoka, before TCW: I know all the traffic rules but I'm not that great at flying! Ahsoka, after TCW: I'm great at flying but if you let me behind the wheel we are absolutely getting arrested.

She went from "knows the rules but doesn't have the skills" to "has the skills but primarily in the form of not getting shot" which! Is delightful! "Bet I can get us through that alley--" "DO NOT"

Jango and Ahsoka are both just very "Is this friendship? Is this camaraderie? My heart's been fried on platonic love by so many murders that I'm not sure anymore." "I've lost a lot of friends. I kind of forgot how to make those."

I have no idea if "hasn't been closer than Alderaan except that one trip to Chandrila" is canon-compliant but ehhhhhhhh It feels plausible enough?

Belatedly realized that I could just explain my optimal Rex&Ahsoka dynamic as just... drift compatible. It's vague enough on the specifics while still digging into the meat of what they mean to each other and how they work together. The terminology is already in existence. I can just use it.

Romantic? Platonic? Familial? Doesn't matter! They're drift compatible.

They are important to each other and that is what matters

I really like the Leia&Quinlan thing. He's just like "This small child needs a friend that isn't super depressed," and decided he's going to be her friend. I keep trying to toss in "Quinlan volunteers to 'baby'sit." She's not much older and she has a Baby Brain, it works out

There's a running bet as to whether Leia will leave the Order the second she turns thirteen, or if she'll let Sokari "train" her for a few years first. And... that’s how I came up with Leia Antilles, Senator of Serenno.

They'll be bullshitting Ben as her new master to "finish out the padawanship" since they can't tell everyone she's really in her thirties and he's conveniently there and already knows everything and was half her master anyway. Like Ben was planning on taking on Luke, but Luke is "six" and even he can't swing that as old enough to be a Padawan, and it's not like Sokari will take more than a handful of years to justify knighthood, sooooooooo

[wingsyliveblogs]

Opinion on all the word among asks? I can imagine they're tiresome but I'd still like to know how you feel about them?

1. I’m having a bit of trouble parsing the wording here, but I assume this is referring to the weird Amity asks I get on occasion? They don’t really bother me, honestly, since I kind of understand where people are coming from most of the time, and I tend to find them pretty funny on their own as well!

2. You know, I genuinely don’t think I can choose between anyone in the friendship trio - it kind of depends on who’s getting the most focus from episode to episode. Sorry I can’t give a more substantial answer than that!

As for my thoughts on Amity’s redemption arc, that’s... an interesting question, but it also feels a bit strange to me? I consider a redemption arc to be specifically a form of character development in which a character comes to terms with the fact that they’ve been in the wrong and works to make amends for their wrongdoing. While problems and tension can still be present in dynamics involving a character who’s been redeemed, I feel as though a redemption arc is considered complete once an antagonist character has stopped being in conflict with the protagonists. 

With this specific context being established, I’m... not really sure what else there is for Amity to do in terms of her redemption arc? She’s befriended Luz, she’s made the beginnings of amends with Willow, and I doubt she’s just going to go back to acting the way she did before. So I could be wrong, but I feel as though that part of Amity’s character arc is more or less complete, at this point?? 

It’s true that she may have to deal with her rich-kids friend group and/or her parents not approving of her decisions later on, and prove that she’s willing to make an active effort to do right by the people she cares about. But at the same time, that’s external conflict that wouldn’t necessarily directly involve the people she’s wronged, and while something like that could be considered part of a redemption arc, I think it’s debatable!

In conclusion, I have no idea and I kind of thought the redemption part of her arc was mostly done at this point and now I’m mildly confused???

3. Yup!

[drwcn]

Hi! I hope you are doing okay with all the discourse going around. Im white and raised in a very white society so i will never have a say in it, but i was wondering, is there any way i can educate myself more in asian/chinese culture? Im aware i consume content thru western lens and because of that i dont really get all the nuances of the shows, but i would like to have at least some backround. Im guessing just watching the shows doesnt give enough of that, can you maybe reccommend some blogs or books to check out? (If you dont thats totally fine and im sorry if i said anything offensive)

Hey friend! Not offensive at all, no worries. Honestly, I’m not too sure. I think just keeping an open mind about things is a really good start. I’m not really sure which blogs to recommend but if I could recommend some dramas? Since it’s probably easier to watch a show then read a book?

《The Story of Minglan》 is a good one to sort of parse out the intricacy of historical Chinese society in the Song Dynasty, keeping in mind that different dynasties have different practices, so even amongst different time periods there were differences. 《The Story of Yanxi Palace》 is another good one for Qing Dynasty (circa 1740s) if you wanna get into imperial harem stuff. (Or you can watch 《甄嬛传》 or 《如懿传》 for harem stuff. I just think The Story of Yanxi Palace is the most palatable, most aesthetic, and most fun out of the three. The other two are kinda tragic?) There are other dramas but I feel they’re not as... accessible?

Chinese historical dramas come in 3 flavours: serious dramas, idol dramas, and those that ride the fence. What I mean by idol drama is...everyone in it is young and hot and the writing is eh and the acting is eh. More often then not there’s a lot of modern elements to it. The Untamed is so popular because it’s idol drama done really well.  (xianxia and wuxia genre used to be more quality when I was a kid, but now they’re kind of ehhhh.) I would say Minglan and Yanxi are both successful because they ride the fence. 

On the other hand, serious historical drama has A LOT of politics and can be quite dry especially if you’re watching it through half-assed subtitles. The actors typically are more seasoned, older. People jokingly say that idol drama is what mom watches and serious drama is what dad watches, and honestly given my parents’ tv habits...it’s pretty accurate 😂.

Some really well known ones from the past 20 years are: 

The 《铁齿铜牙纪晓岚》 series 1-4. I would only recommend part 1-2, 3-4 are not as great. This one has quite a bit of humour but it might fly over your head a bit because of the language barrier. The story surrounds a well known government official and scholar named Ji Xiaolan  纪晓岚, his frenemy and colleague the (EXTREMELY corrupt) prime minister He Shen, and the Emperor Qianlong. For better or worse these three are depicted as both liege and subjects as well as friends. Trying to see Ji Xiaolan and He Shen one up each other while Qianlong tries to balance his court and rule the country is quite interesting. I won’t pretend this is an easy series to follow, but it’s actually quite fun. 

��汉武大帝》 - is about Hanwu Emperor of the Han Dynasty circa 150 BC? He’s one of the most famous emperors of distant history. It’s basically about the course of his life and the many people that featured in it. 

《大明王朝 》- my memories of this one is very vague, but it is about the Ming Dynasty (the dynasty before the Qing Dynasty c. 1500,1600.) 

《The Advisors Alliance 军事联盟》-  2017 two-part television series based on the life of Sima Yi, a government official and military general who lived in the late Eastern Han dynasty and Three Kingdoms period of China. circa 150 AD. 

As a side note, a lot of serious dramas for a while now have been focused on the Qing Dynasty, just because it’s the last imperial dynasty before Imperial China fell into decline, WWI and WWII ravaged the country and communism happened. Even a lot of idol drama are about the Qing Dynasty (I feel like I should do a post about this, just to string things together haha). 

So for the Qing Dynasty, because they are Manchurian, their last name is Aisin Gioro or in Chinese Aixin Jueluo 爱新觉罗. Their earlier emperors are much more well known than their later ones and have been the focus of MANY dramas. (You’ll notice their names in the beginning spell very different than the Chinese names you’re used to, but once they take over China, the emperors’ names start to become more and more mainland Chinese and less and less Manchurian.) 

Nu’er Hachi 努尔哈赤/ Nurhaci - The granddaddy of Qing Dynasty, but was never officially Emperor of China during his life time. 

Huang Taiji 皇太极 - Nurhaci’s oldest son. He led the campaign against the Ming Dynasty but died before the campaign was over 

Fulin 福林, Emperor Shunzhi 顺治 - Huang Taiji’s 9th son. He is the real first Emperor of the Qing Dynasty. His uncle Duo’Ergun 多尔衮/ Dorgon was his regent as well as his commander-in-chief. Dorgon was the one who won the war against the Ming Dynasty and instated his nephew as the Emperor. Fulin was 6 years old when this happened, and now you may wonder why the fuck is that? It’s because Fulin’s mother, Huang Taijii’s widowed concubine Consort Zhuang (name: pu’erji-jite bumubutai  (pinyin) 博爾濟吉特 布木布泰/ Bumbutai Borjigit, Da-Yu’er 大玉儿) remarried her brother-in-law Dorgon. Whether Bumbutai and Dorgon were actually in love is....contestable. Certainly one of my favourite serious dramas that depict this part of history is《大青风云》. 

Xuanye 玄燁, Emperor Kangxi 康熙 - Fulin’s third son. Very famous. Very long reign. Serious drama associated 《康熙微服私访记》， 《康熙王朝》

Yinzhen 胤禛, Emperor Yongzheng 雍正 - Xuanye's 4th son. His reign was highly contested because some ppl believed he forged the succession document. It’s probably not true. He was an efficient emperor but very austere, very severe. Not well liked. The best serious drama about him is probably 《雍正王朝》and the aforementioned《甄嬛传》. The former is 100% politics and a fictional re-telling of historical events whereas the latter is 100% harem drama and 100% made up. 《步步惊心》is an idol drama about a girl who transmigrated back to this time and fell in love with Yinzhen. Lol. 

Hongli 弘历, Emperor Qianlong 乾隆 - Yinzhen’s 4th son. I think he’s the longest living/reigning emperor of Chinese history. SOOOOO many dramas were made about him or set in his reign. Of the serious drama category:  《铁齿铜牙纪晓岚》 that I mentioned earlier is really good. There are others but I won’t name them here.  《如懿传》 is a serious drama about his harem, but really terrible? I really didn’t like it (just my personal view). Incidentally it was released around the same time as《The Story of Yanxi Palace 延禧攻略》which is also about his harem and MUCH better in my opinion, because the actor for Hongli in Yanxi is much better skills-wise. 《还珠格格》was the OG idol drama about Hongli’s children. I gave a brief synopsis about it here. It was made in the 90s but damn...so nostalgic. 

There’s many more emperors after him, but they’re not as important. 

Okay yeah, so I’m not sure if any of this is really helpful, but definitely watching serious drama gives you much better context and understanding of Chinese culture than idol drama. I mean when the drama has flying and magic...the historical relevance sort of falls to the side. 🤣

ADDENDUM: I made a typo earlier. Fulin is Huang Taiji’s 9th son, not Nurhaci’s son. Also Abahai is Huang Taijii’s mother’s name (wikipedia lied to me on this one XD). 

[kyidyl]

Kyidyl Does Archaeology - Part 1

About me, and about the site.

I’m gonna have to do this in parts because I tend to be, uh...wordy.  Actually...ok, so I believe very strongly that knowledge does no one any good behind a paywall, but I also have a hard time parsing it down for social media because, well, people are complex but also ADHD.  So if you guys have any feedback for me that’d be awesome.  I’ll probably do these as a series so they don’t get overwhelming to read.  Tag for ‘em will be kyidylCL

A caveat to all of these posts: archaeologists walk a fine line between “I’d love to tell you about this and here look at this cool thing” and “I don’t want to share a colleague’s forthcoming paper on social media before they publish it and also fuck looters”. We classify anyone who *isn’t* an archaeologist as a looter.  Because even when you find artefacts just lying around, as soon as you pick them up they’re removed from context and become near-useless for scientific research and data.  When we remove them we capture all that information via a prescribed methodology.  When other people remove them they tend not to.  And you can tell how legit someone is by how much they care about the context.  Context is key, that’s why we’re so meticulous.  Anyway so I can’t tell you where the site is specifically because I’m not allowed.  I also, though, have been heavily involved in this project so I’m mostly going to be telling you about my own research so it’s ok to publish it on social media.  Anyway, that’s why if you show an archaeologist something you just like found they’ll be like “gee...thanks...well...I don’t want to squelch your curiosity, buuuuuut...” 

A little bit of background on my involvement with this site: I’m a newly minted archaeologist.  I’ve had my MS a little over a year, and I’ve been doing things in that time to keep up my skills and get the field hours I need to be a registered state archaeologist (it’s basically just like a professional license for archs.) bc I didn’t get enough in school and my dissertation is on genetics and cannibalism (and if you want to know about *that* I’ll tell you, but in another post.), so yeah.  Anyway.  I’ve been volunteering with the local archaeology society, and they’re great.  They found this site because two of the members grew up in the area and just knew of its existence.  So I volunteer with them and am one of like 3 people they know who have a degree so I get to be really involved - probably more than I would be otherwise just cause people with my credentials are in short supply for them.  I’m basically the only member with a degree, and the rest are consultants they bring in for stuff like this (including the RSA who works the site - the site director.).  

Before a site can be dug there’s a lot of prep work involved.  It varies based on what kind of money you’ve got and access.  We have lots of access - it’s on private land owned by someone who is childhood friends with a member of the arch society - but almost zero money.  Before I showed up, in summer 2018, they did a series of what are called shovel tests.  Basically there’s a grid laid over the site and where the grid lines intersect they dug a round pit down to what archaeologists call “the sterile layer”, IE, where there’s no evidence of human activity.  Basically, you dig small holes to see if it’s worth digging big holes and in this case it was worth it.  

When I started working with them, I took all of the material from the test pits and sorted and catalogued it.  We’ll come back to this in the next post, so remember this.  Pause.  

I forgot to tell you where the site was.  Like not specifically, I can’t do that, but I CAN tell you that it’s in the Shenandoah valley.  Wanna see pics? Yeah, you wanna see pics (I took all of the images I’m gonna be posting so I give myself permission to post them. :P): 

The site is too big to get in one pic, but this is the far end looking towards the mountain.  The field continues off to the left of the shot.  

Here’s a nicer pic of the mountain: 

And another one cause it’s super pretty: 

And here’s my view when we’re eating lunch:

And here’s an artsy shot of the cows I pass on my way in, because who doesn’t love cows? ;) 

The site has been occupied for a long time (how long? Well, that’ll happen in the pottery post soooorry. ;), and I think you guys can see why.  It’s also on a slight ridge overlooking a river so it’s near fresh water, easily defensible, and is fertile.  Speaking of which... 

It’s also what archaeologists call “highly disturbed”. See, after the colonizers drove the natives out of the Blue Ridge mountains, they started farming the fertile land in the valley.  This site was farmed for several decades, and not only that but during the civil war they dug a big ‘ole defensive trench through the middle of it.  So whilst farming disturbs the finds, it tends to a, only be a max of 15 inches deep and b, keep the finds in the same relative area they’re pulled out of.  And we can tell where that layer ends (I’ll show you that in the post about our pits bc I don’t think Tumblr will let me add more pics.), so even though it destroys features and damages things it’s a lot less destructive than, say....building a giant war trench and shooting at each other.  

The site is an entire settlement.  It’s...several acres in size.  There are burial cairns in the woods around it, and some rumors that human remains have been found there in the past - although we have not, as of yet, found any (much to my personal dismay because, well...bioarchaeologist.). 

So who lived here? Well, when the colonizers drove out the natives they didn’t exactly keep good records about who lived where, but generally speaking the site is on both Massawomeck and Manahoac land. We don’t know which group lived there, and there were other groups coming and going in the general area so it could have also been Piscataway or Potomac or even one of the later nations that formed the Iroquois.  Based on the age though I think the best candidates are the Massawomeck or Manahoac.  

Next up, the prep work I did for the site and dig! 

(aaaahhhhhh hopefully I didn’t forget anything. x.x)

[utilitycaster]

I apologize but I kinda missed the JH thing, could I ask for a quick recap, or where I can find it

J.H. were the initials on the cart that held the stolen item in the caravan Cyrus was guarding. They were also Ashton's letter, which Imogen saw.

For this, and similar questions, here are places to find things that happened on Critical Role:

1. Transcript search my beloved. It automatically pulls from the YouTube playlists, so sometimes it's on a bit of delay if someone on the CR side forgets to upload the most recent video to the playlist specifically. If that happens, go to the most recent episode in question, open the transcript, and ctrl+F your heart out. Anyway this is the best bet if you're not sure when it came up.

2. Dani's official recaps (less searchable, but easier to parse for context)

3. CritRoleStats's live tweet compilations, now on their site so you do not need to go to the Bird Site (derogatory)

4. Critical Role Wiki episode pages

[itsclydebitches]

So RT said Winter apparently DID try to reach out to Whitley, but Jac stopped her (somehow) and told Whitley lies about his sisters. 4 things: 1. Not shown in the fucking show, as usual 2. It takes away any accountability Weiss and Winter had for leaving him 3. It takes away Whitley’s agency, because apparently he’s not allowed to have formed negative opinions about the “heroes” on his own accord because of mistakes they made 4. WHITLEY IS STILL SYMPATHETIC SO WHY ARE PEOPLE HATING HIM?!

The number of times I've heard some version of "This important bit of lore/motivation/characterization was discussed by the writers, but there's no indication of that in the text" is really amazing. Granted, the knowledge that Winter once tried to reach out to Whitley can't compare to something like, say, an entire semblance driving an antagonist's every action... but it's the trend that's the problem as much as the specific instances.

Even if Winter did try to reach out, that doesn’t sound like a solid excuse when we don’t know how Jacques “stopped her.” She clearly had access to Weiss, sneaking onto the Schnee property to spend a lot of time training her. Yeah, we can (again) come up with a number of headcanons like, “Oh, because Whitley is Jacques’ favorite he monitored his upbringing in a way he never did Weiss’. Weiss was another lost cause to his mind, so she was allowed to rebel like that” but again, not in the show. If we go by what we actually see on screen, Winter doesn’t even seem to know her brother exists. If we go by this little bit of supplementary info, Winter tried once and then… didn’t care enough to try again. Or try differently. Or try harder. It might sound harsh given that she was also an abuse victim and was pitting herself against both her personal and political enemy, but we have to remember that this is in the context of a) her helping Weiss so much and b) Weiss ignoring Willow’s direct request to assist her brother. The picture this paints is less than stellar, a picture in which the two older sisters really just didn’t care about their youngest sibling.

As for the lies, of course he lied! I fully agree that Whitley should be allowed to form his own opinions, but regardless it’s not at all surprising to me that Jacques would fill his head with nonsense. We do have evidence for that in canon, between Weiss believing lies about the faunus and Whitley believing lies about the barbarity of the huntsmen. “Jacques lies out his ass” is by no means a revolutionary concept, to us or the characters. Which just circles right back around to Winter and Weiss’ inability to apply their experiences to Whitley’s. They know their father taught them a bunch of nonsense because they lived through that too. Weiss had a whole arc at Beacon where she (rather rushed, but still) learned, “Wow, all that stuff Father said about the White Fang and the faunus and my intrinsic superiority needs to be reevaluated.” So when she, the older and now more experienced official huntress, appears on her childhood doorstep and sees her little brother spouting that same sort of rhetoric… don’t you think she would go, “Huh, I should probably teach Whitley what my team, my professors, my friends, and my sister helped teach me"? I personally can't imagine living through something that made me act out as a defense mechanism, emulating this learned behavior, and then seeing my sibling go through the exact same experience only to come to the conclusion, "Wow, they're just an asshole."

Instead of realizing that Whitley is a younger version of her, Weiss just argues with him, dumps punch on his head, ignores him, threatens him, sends him to his room, and then is interested once he proves that he’s got intellect and resources to share. Any one of these scenes wouldn’t be much of an issue (the punch bit in particular is, I think, a little blown out of proportion by the fandom. It’s not that embarrassing, it doesn’t hurt him, and they did need to find some way to inspect the house), but the pattern as a whole? It doesn’t imply that the Schnee sisters care.

And you know what? Let them not care! They’re human beings and we could have easily had a story where three abused kids turned away from each other rather than towards one another. Weiss could actually struggle to care about someone else while spending time in her hated home again, her father in the next room getting chummy with her boss. This could have been a more nuanced look at how people don’t always do The Right Thing when they’re working through their own troubles… but the story never cast a critical eye on Weiss’ choices in that manner. Or Winter’s. Instead, everything from Weiss hugging Whitley to Willow putting a hand on her shoulder is treated like an earned moment when, in fact, incredibly little (if any) work has been done to parse through these emotional problems. When we end the volume with Winter looking down at the mother she hasn’t reconciled with, the brother she ignored, the butler she’s never spent screen time with… I don’t feel anything. I think the show wants me to feel something — here's Maiden Winter #connecting with her family after the tragic death of her sister — but we just don't have the groundwork for that.

[abarbaricyalp]

hello friend!!! can I ask 8, 18, 22 and 36 for the fanfiction writing asks please? <3

You can ask anything you want, any time you want! 🌻🌻🌻

8) Post an out of context spoiler from a wip

Sam's fingers were still on Bucky's jaw, Sam's breath ghosting over his parted lips. "You taste like wax."

Bucky raised his shoulders lightly. "I have a better reason than most."

18) Do you enjoy research? Which fic involved the most research?

Yes! I love research! I work for an academic library and I was an English major, so that's usually one of my favorite aspects. It also helps me to really get my head around what I want the story to feel like, aesthetic/ history/ atmosphere wise.

I have a WIP (that I'm crazy about but which may never see the light of day) that has required a lot of leg work because it's both historical fiction and also incorporates fic contemporary literature. Of things that have been posted, I did a lot of research for my swamp thing au which didn't end up in the story (yet?). And I did a fair bit of research for my western au which did more or less make it into the fabric of the story. I have a pirate au that I was working on for the bingo that has been temporarily shelved that I've also done a lot of reading for.

22) Do you title your fics before, during, or after the writing process? How do you come up with titles?

Almost always after, like when everything else is filled out on AO3 and I'm staring at the little red note about needing at least one character. I do have a few that I knew the title of before or as I was working on them, usually things with song lyrics as the title because the song usually inspired the fic some how. Not always though, sometimes I'm frantically scrolling through music begging for any title to stick out, lol

I use songs or quotes too often, tbh. When a title doesn't come straight to me, I try to parse out singular words (or a short phrase) that kind of sums up the fic. That's how I named Momentary Eternity and Take It Slow. (Both E) I also sometimes just ask what the most pretentious string of words I can put together is, which is where The Truths Beneath Our Ribs came from.

But my favorite title is The North American Superhero in a Domestic Situation which I just knew had to be that fics title. I still want to do a whole series with that title.

36) What fic are you most proud of?

Hmmmmmm. Hilariously, all of the fics that I love are some of my least interacted with. I think the one I really like what I did with it is Quiet Birds Circling in Flight because I don't usually do quieter character studies and that fic is always something I come back to.

Thanks so much for asking!!

[kitsoa]

(1/3) I was thinking about your posts on the final world, specifically the line “what if Sora from Yozora’s perspective, is a character whose heart was replaced by another’s?” I might be crazy but isn’t this what happened when the Kingdom Key chose Sora in KH1? Because Sora was never meant to be a keyblade wielder, so the heart of the “protagonist” of KH the videogame/story was replaced by another’s. Maybe in this context “Sora” is simply meant to refer to “main playable character”?

(2/3) After all, Yozora was also “replaced” but still goes by that name. So what Yozora is expecting is a “scrapped main character” version of Riku? I don’t know if there’s an IRL equivalent of that tho. I say this because I believe that a keyblade is the medium through which a IRL player interacts with the game/world of KH. Almost all the playable characters are keyblade wielders after all(mission mode from 358/2 is the only counter I can think of but that got scrapped in final mix so)

(3/3) According to KH1, Sora was never meant to be the main player character (maybe a vessel for Ventus’ heart, a la Riku’s “just a delivery boy”) but became so anyway because of the keyblade (player)’s influence (the start of KH’s own recognition of its fictional nature/creating emotional connections, becoming “real”). Am I putting too much emphasis on an almost 20 year game??? Probably. Just wanted to hear your thoughts on this basically crack theory.

Oh hey there Anon, I really like how you're thinking. I'll admit that I often dismiss the "Sora wasn't chosen by the Keyblade" factoid because BBS really muddied the keyblade inheritance big time. 'Kingdom Key chose Sora during Riku's fall" is a great twist in KH1 and thematically helps solidify Sora's image as a relatable protag-- and most of all it's still true. But knowing that keyblade itself isn't an entirely unique ability as it was in KH1, the 'Player Character Power' has a slightly less ardent ring to it. That said, the KK blade specifically is extremely synonymous with the player character (see: Roxas and Xion's blades) and I love the idea that the object alone is the mark of the protagonist because it's thrillingly cold to imagine! The idea that Sora is, for some reason a fraud of a protagonist would thematically explore what it means to be 'special' and the nature of stories to demand the 'special' from their characters. It's rather cyclical in a way, which could be the entire point in describing the entire game-player feedback loop.

Your observation has me really considering this aspect of Sora's identity in the meta-narrative. I default on the idea that he is firmly the heart of the series as its protagonist but there is something to be said about the fact that he wasn't meant to be it. That it's the keyblade itself that grants him this abstract role in the story. It's actually very powerful thing in this analysis. The entire exchange with Yozora is challenging to parse and I was forced to use the context of the meta-narrative to read the meaning behind the identity mix-up. Applying it to Sora in a poetic reversal helps explain the strange hostile/rescue motives of the secret ending while also playing big-time with the metaphysics of a literal character recycling. Yozora is recycled Noctis. A self-aware recycled Noctis. The real chilling thought is if Yozora is right in his assumption. Sora as a recycled Riku could be quite the statement. Thank you for playing in that sandbox of crazy thoughts with me.

[watch-grok-brainrot]

TGCF End Theme Translation

不散 (《天官赐福》动画片尾曲)  Bú sàn Not Scattering ("Tian Guan Ci Fu" Dong Hua End Theme)[1] 飞绫绕风 如梦 Fēi líng rào fēng Rú mèng Flying silk coils in the wind, like a dream 本无聚散 Běn wú jù sàn Originally, there was no gathering and scattering 殷红漫天 似真似幻 Yān hóng màn tiān Shì zhēn shì huàn Dark red filled the sky; seemingly real, seemingly an illusion  银蝶 翩然 濯花瓣 Yín dié Piān rán Zhuó huā bàn Silver butterflies, flitting, sprinkling over petals[2] 谁言无缺 日幽月暗 Shéi yán wú quē Rì yōu yuè àn Who speaks of being whole; the sun hidden, the moon dim[3] 偏爱在绝处参无间的恨与贪 Piān ài zài jué chù cān wú jiàn de hèn yǔ tān Biased love during desperation partakes in the hatred and grief of hell[4] 烈火隐去 野草复燃 Liè huǒ yǐn qù Yě cǎo fù rán The raging flames fade, the wild grass burns again 此消 彼长 再循环 Cǐ xiāo Bǐ zhǎng Zài xún huán This vanishes, that grows, cycling over again 大千世界 卷轴璀璨 Dà qiān shì jiè Juàn zhóu cuǐ càn In the great wide world, Upon splendid scrolls 亦邪亦正处 听谁叹 Yì xié yì zhèng chù Tīng shéi tàn In a place of evil, In a place of righteousness; who do we hear lament? 何来聚散 又何来忘返 Hé lái jù sàn yòu hé lái wàng fǎn Whence came gathering and scattering, and whence came lingering 何来魔障 又何来虚幻 Hé lái mó zhàng Yòu hé lái xūhuàn Whence came demonic influence, and whence came illusions 且看拂尘之下 桃源满山 Qiě kàn fú chén zhī xià Táo yuán mǎn shān Yet look below the horsetail whisk, paradise everywhere[5] 飘然而去 羽化成仙 Piāo rán ér qù Yǔ huà chéng xiān Floating away, levitating into immortality 飞绫绕风 如梦 Fēi líng rào fēng rú mèng Flying silk coils in the wind, like a dream 本无聚散 Běn wú jù sàn There was originally no gathering and parting �� 啊;  啊 啊 Ah ah Ah ah 烈火隐去 野草复燃 Liè huǒ yǐn qù Yě cǎo fù rán The raging flames fade, the wild grass burns again 此消 彼长 再循环 Cǐ xiāo Bǐ zhǎng Zài xún huán This vanishes, that grows, cycling over again 大千世界 卷轴璀璨 Dà qiān shì jiè Juàn zhóu cuǐ càn In the great wide world, Upon splendid scrolls 亦邪亦正处 听谁叹 Yì xié yì zhèng chù Tīng shéi tàn In a place of evil, In a place of righteousness; who do we hear lament? 何来聚散 又何来忘返 Hé lái jù sàn yòu hé lái wàng fǎn Whence came gathering and scattering, and whence came lingering 何来魔障 又何来虚幻 Hé lái mó zhàng Yòu hé lái xūhuàn Whence came demonic influence, and whence came illusions 且看拂尘之下 桃源满山 Qiě kàn fú chén zhī xià Táo yuán mǎn shān Yet look below the horsetail whisk, paradise everywhere 飘然而去 羽化成仙 Piāo rán ér qù Yǔ huà chéng xiān Floating away, levitating into immortality 何来离散 又何来悲欢 Hé lái lí sàn Yòu hé lái bēi huān Whence came separation, and whence came happiness and sorrow 何来痴缠 又何来臆断 Hé lái chī chán Yòu hé lái yì duàn Whence came irrational entanglement, and whence came subjective judgements 纵是天命使然 无欲则善 Zòng shì tiān mìng shǐ rán Wú yù zé shàn Despite being dictated by fate, kindness stems from the lack of desires. 道生万物不散 Dào shēng wàn wù bú sàn All things arose from Dao and they do not scatter[6] 花树飘曳 云端 Huā shù piāo yè Yún duān Flower and trees float in the wind, reaching the clouds 本无消散  Běn wú xiāo sàn Originally there was no dispersion[7]

[1]散 can mean to scatter, to part, to disintegrate. Based on all the ways the two characters 不散 are used, I chose scattering to try to encapsulate all the meanings/applications.

[2]Per baidu, a definition of 濯 is, 淋；浇 [aka sprinkle]. i think this is the best definition to use. Wash doesn’t fit the imagery at all here, even if it’s the more common definition of the word. 

[3]I know 幽暗 together means gloomy but i think it works to separate the hidden and the dim since the imagery is preserved in english

[4]Potentially if you parse the sentence as 偏  爱在绝处 参 无间的恨与贪 instead of 偏爱 在绝处 参 无间的恨与贪: In desperation, love partakes in hell’s hatred and grief. Also, the use of the character 绝 is so much fun considering hua cheng is a 绝 but i don’t think i could have found a way to include that in the interpretation and have it make sense. 

[5]Note that the horsetail whisk is a daoist weapon. Also 桃源 which means peach spring can be a reference to a piece of prose titled 桃花源记 written during the 400s CE by 陶渊明. The story describes a man who wandered into peach blossom spring to find the people living in harmony and untouched by society. Utopia is possibly the most analogous English concept. But in this context paradise works too.

[6]The reference, I think is 太虚不能无气，气不能不聚而为万物，万物不能不散而为太虚。”which is the void must have qi. qi must gather and become all things. all things must scatter and become the void” (or, instead of scatter, disintegrate) but the song  also talks about how people gather and scatter so the choice of word for 散’s wordplay is FINICKY.

[7]Even though we see the character 散 here, it’s part of a binome so I chose a different word instead of scattering)

Also, the word for levitating in this case, 羽化, literally means to turn into feathers. it's really pretty but i forgot to make a note earlier and am LAZY. ope.

Also for the lines that read 本无XX, you can think of it instead as XX were not inherent. This occured to me after I posted, of course. YAY. orz.

[redantsunderneath]

DC COMICS: Incoherence as Not-a-Bug-but-a-Feature (Spoilers for Batman 89-100)

Due to the emergence of the new Batman villain character Punchline, I wound up buying the last 12 issues of Batman and reading them in a single sitting. I’ve had trouble following DC comics for a while, constantly feeling that they were in trouble since back in the mid 2000s (with a glimmer of hope here and there). The act of reading DC comics has been a frustrating experience, where individual good stories and runs were laying around in the context of a lot of things that didn’t make sense while the company’s thrust felt chaotic and ideas not well blended. Every status quo change seemed hard to figure out the rules of enough to parse the context.  We’ll get into the background of this, but my reading today of this extended stretch of comics that keeps losing the plot in favor of a fever dream of what’s happening at the moment with specific characters that refuse to cohere, it became obvious that what I had been looking at as subtext or critique was actually the text. I could see the messed up trees but was missing the the forest the universe was trying to describe.

What happens in these issues (Batman current series 89-100, I missed the beginning of the first of 2 arcs) is rolling war between the major Batman villains and the heroes (plus Harley Quinn and Catwoman), which shifts into a Joker and Joker adjacent vs. all as the Joker double crosses everyone then manages to steal Bruce Wayne’s fortune.  We meet 3 new baddies – Underbroker, whose schtick is putting ill-gotten gains beyond the reach of the legal system (with an explicit line to rich globalists drawn), the Designer, who back in the day offered the four A list Batman villains plans to achieve what they most wanted, and Punchline, who is your toxic ex’s new millennial GF who really has it in for you (there is also a new good guy Clownhunter, which is a whole different thing, and a new costumed detective that predates Batman).  This doesn’t convey the chaotic nature of what is happening issue to issue, but there’s more than one Batman hallucinogenic spirit quest, dead characters ostensibly walking around, a plan revolving around the Bat’s origin story that tells some version of it several times, and a no-nonsense declaration that the Joker, as the Devil of the Batman spiritual system, cannot die.   The whole thing has the effect of convincing you there is no definitive sequence of events, only versions.

Alan Moore’s Killing Joke is not a favorite of mine, for a number of reasons.  But the ending holds up.  The Joker has done terrible things there is no antecedent for, and Batman wonders aloud if this never-ending dance they do ends in anything but both of their deaths; can they uncouple from the unhealthy duality the cycle of which simply repeats.  The Joker responds, well, with a joke about two lunatics trying to escape an asylum.  One jumps the roof to the next building, while the other is too scared to try.  The escapee offers to hold a light while the other crosses on a beam but he says no, no you’ll just cut the light while I’m half way across.  This not very funny joke nonetheless has a bunch of resonances – BM and Joker as conspiring co inmates, BM wanting to break out, a commentary about their natures (almost a reversal of the frog and scorpion story where the scorpion won’t go because he knows how this ends), but mostly it implicates BM as the one who is enabling the cycle, the reason why it won’t end.  They both laugh uproariously, and the ambiguous final panels can be read as the fundamental realization of his complicity causing BM to kill J.  A lethal joke indeed… except, next month, we see the both of them again.  In broader context, the ceaseless cycle of the diad is reaffirmed.  This has been hellaciously sticky as an idea in the Batmen universe.

My realization of what DC has been doing is pretty banal in its pieces. Marvel has “ground level” heroes while DC has a mythos, a pantheon.  Their archetypal makeup is strong, the seven JLA members lining up with the pantheon of Greek gods and the Chakras weirdly closely.  DC has big characters that are somewhat flat which they can use tell big bold individual stories that are cool the way legends and fables are cool. But these stories require bold strokes that a bit incompatible with each other. People get attached to these iterations. Meanwhile, Marvel trucks in soap operas where the characters give you an empathetic stand in and are narratively flexible. Marvel events are usually about the writer vs. the company, asking you to sympathize or deconstruct the creative impulse amid efforts to impose control or order.  DC’s events are about editorial vs. the audience, the shapers vs. the forces of the world.  It may seem obvious, given this description, that DC’s focus is on an archetypal tableau though it may be less obvious that this tableau is under extreme pressure from expectations when trying to tell ongoing tales month in, month out (or semi-monthly in some cases). The stories are constantly compared against the big stories that have gone before, and the audience’s ideas of the characters exert pressure to push them in directions that capture “the” version they believe in.  This circle is not possible to square.

DC and Marvel both have a multiverse of sorts.  DC used to tell “Elseworlds” stories which were later tucked into pocket universes.  DC invented crossing over between “realities.”  DC’s continuity is heavy baggage and they began to have “Crises” to resolve the narrative incompatibilities.  These only made things worse as you can’t get rid of the past people have a relationship with – it will come back.  Now you have to explain that away too.  Marvel just lets it lay – forget about the iffy stories, they count, sure, just no one is ever going to talk about them unless they have an angle.  Marvel continuity is all angles and amnesia. This is just easier to do with dating and rent and your ancient aunt’s medical bills than with Gods. Marvel’s multiverse is about sandboxes that you can always dump into the mainframe if they work (and never really mention the sandbox again).

There is a shift that occurred in the industry in the 2004 to 2005 era that is less remarked upon than many upheavals in comic’s history. Marvel had gone through a period of incredible new idea generation in the early 2000s after a late 90s creative cratering but had just fired the pro wrestling inflected soul of that moment (Bill Jemas).  DC was coming off of a period of trying to do moderately updated versions of what they basically been doing all along. The attitude was “yeah we’re under stress from the combined history of these characters, but we got to keep telling the stories.” Geoff Johns was one voice of DC over the 99-04 period that showed potential - he seemed to get how to find the core of characters and push them into a new in sync directions if they over the years have lost a clear identity.  But mostly he had internalized a basic schism between something mean that the audience wanted, and something good and wholesome about the characters themselves, and figured out how to mess around with this in a equilibrating fashion.

Interestingly, the ignition point of the main forces that were going to blow DC over the next decade and a half was a comic that had virtually nothing to do with any of those main forces. Brad Meltzer, a novelist, was hired to do a comic called Infinity Crisis, which sold extremely well and was, justifiably or not, recognized as an event.  At the same time, everyone also kind of hated it because the dark desires of some DC fans were pushed forward just a bit too much for comfort and for a comic with Crisis in the name it didn’t do a whole lot other than “darken” things.  Nonetheless, this lit an “event” fire at both companies.  Marvel chose a shake up the status quo for a year, then do it again, pattern and was off to the races (I have written about this, and more, here) while continuing its Randian framing of beleaguered do-gooders opposed by rule making freedom haters.

As this was playing out, Dan Didio quietly took power in DC Editorial.  His outlook was more Bloomian – he seemed to spark off of writers who exhibited anxiety of influence. He recognized Johns was the one person they had could be promoted into something of a universe architect, starting work on two key projects from which the rest would evolve. The first, was bringing back Hal Jordan as Green Lantern and diffracting the GL universe into its own symbolic system, with parts frisson-ing other parts, and almost a Magic the Gathering color scheme of ideas. The other was to build up to Infinite Crisis, which would become the model for most of their universe changing events until the present day.

The basic frame is this: DC heroes want to be good (in a sense of their inherent nature) but forces outside form a context that makes them fall.  It’s a very gnostic universe, DC.  They  examine reflections of the concepts, invent scapegoats for certain tendencies (see Superboy Prime as entitled fanboy, Dr. Manhattan as editors that try and fail to mend things, etc), make characters violate principles, rehabilitate them, then show that the world if anything is more broken than before.  This is kind of Johns’ thing and it fits Didio’s narrative as historicval tension fetish.  But then came Scott Snyder (not to be confused with Zack) who began to work on Batman in 2011.  Since then, as much as Justice League is pushed as the central title and Lex Luthor has been pimped, Batman has been the core of the universe and the Joker the core villain.

Snyder had the same continuity conflict wavelength but was significantly more meta and able to contain multitudes than Johns.  He was the first to make an explicit mystery of how there could be several Jokers around at one time (who are the same but not, he posited 3 – man, Christians!) that seems prescient given the near future coexistence of filmic Jokers that are not able to be resolved.  I believe he was the first to begin to tease out an idea – that different versions of things in comics are not a diffraction or filter effect, a using the set of things that work best for that story and leaving the rest, but are a matter of the archetypal system of the audience coming apart. From an in story perspective what appears to happen is that multiple versions of incompatible things exist in the collective unconscious of the continuing narrative, and this is something that the characters may become conscious of.  

The run I just read is written by James Tynion IV building on the above trends.  The trick seems to be going all in on the Jungian aspect (at Jung’s most religiously epiphanic).  The Designer was a progenitor and adversary to Batman’s predecessor and his intellectual approach eventually defeated the detective… broke him.  At some point in early Batman history, the Designer brought the top four Bat-baddies together and offered each, in turn, a plan to achieve what they most desired: the Riddler, a way to achieve an empire of the mind; the Penguin, power; and Catwoman, money.  They are all elated as they await the Joker to come out.  The Joker emerges with a furious Designer on his heals and promptly shoots him dead.  He explains that he didn’t like his joke in the form of a fable – the devil offered four people the path to their greatest desire: the three chose earthly things, but the Joker’s wish was to be him, to become the devil.  The story proceeds to suggest that the Joker just exists, he is present as a necessary component in the system.   You can kill him, yet he is alive.

DC has been using physics metaphors for the nature of their reality since Flash of Two Worlds in 1963.  The multiverse as a continuity concept was their idea and the holographic universe of the hypertime was a thing.  It seems like since Dan Didio took over, they’ve been heading towards a concept of broad superimposition, of measurement effect being weak, of the universe being like a quantum computer with all possibilities coexisting and the story instantiating not one reality but a path through all the possible ones.  By making Batman trip balls through quite a few issues and relive his origin from different angles, the story is one of its own instability and the heroic task that confronts our hero is attempting to actualize the world.  The Joker is the Devil in the sense of lack of fixed meaning, of relativistic chaos, of the world not making sense because it’s unmoored nature with ultimately no knowability.  Batman, in this story, functions as a postmodern knight crusading against the impossibility of epistemological grounding.

There’s more going on, sure.  One plot is, literally, defund Batman.  There is rioting, people brainwashed by being exposed to toxic ether, people paid to go to theaters even though they will die as a result, and questions about neoliberalism similar to that one Joker movie. Punchline has no personality yet (Tynion’s not the best at that) but she serves well as a generational foil for Harley – a rudderless ideological vacuum susceptible to Joker-as-idea-virus rather than an unfulfilled MD who felt alienated due to the structures of her life and was seeking escape into structureless possibility.  The Designer stuff is both continuity play (See why they changed from goofy villains to more “realistic” ones! Look how pulp heroes informed superheroes!), a comment on the nature of a longstanding narrative (strong intentions die out as Brownian motion overwhelms momentum), and a lawful evil/chaotic evil setup of the dualism of apocalypses (overdetermined authoritarian vs. center does not hold barbarism).  But the thing that ties this to the past decade and a half of DC is the sense that the reality is fluid and susceptible to change or outright s’cool incompatibility.

This is different than other flavors of meta in superhero comics.  Grant Morrison believes the archetypes are stronger than the forces that seek to bend them.  Alan Moore wants you to deconstruct your sacred cows and probably hates you personally.  Marvel might play with self-awareness, but effortlessly resolves inconsistencies after it’s finished playing.  DC, at this point, allows you to watch the waves solidfy into symbols and dissolve, and the constant confusion and lack of grounding is more of a choice then I thought this time yesterday.  The conflict theory of DC reality has been in full swing but this looks to be turning towards a kind of Zen historicism, holding contradictory things in your mind at once. Warren Ellis’ JLA/Authority book is the nearest comparable text I can think of. I need to call this, but I didn’t even talk about Death Metal, DC character multiplicity as meta-psychosis event extraordinaire.  Comics just keep getting weirder.

[novelconcepts]

1/3 Hi. I finished Bly Manor in 2/3 days! And turned to tumblr, with endless scrolling for more text posts of this show! I stumbled across someone reblogged your tags (it’s the one Dani first grabbed Jamie’s hand) and I’m here for more of your thought on this show. I wonder if you would view it as a tragic love story? I’m sure we’ve all bawled our eyes out with the ending, but I don’t feel sad about their story.I’ve seen many may argue that this is a tragic love story or even the BYG trope.

2/3 But I have to Thanks Mike Flanagan for showing us the happiness of ‘one day at a time’ that of Dani and Jamie! They can easily time jumps five years later and not showing us any of their time together. But we kind of had that happy ending in away. To see them on the screen at the diner discuss winter time, Jamie’s confession at the flowers shop, the moving to the new house, and in the comfort of their bed, and the proposal!!! They gave us this! They showed us on SCREEN!!!

3/3 And I am beyond happy to see them in that domestic setting!! We rarely see this on screen! Like in Hill House, we know Theo and Trish moved and ended up together but we don’t see much of that domestic life!! We have to find shelter in fanfics and use our imagination!! Haha. So yes, I’m sad but also I’m not. Haha donno if that makes sense.

So, when I watched the first time. And they got through the scary ghost story with 45 minutes left in the show. I had the biggest sinking feeling. I was like “here we go. Here’s where it falls apart. This is gonna be devastating, Dani is going to be the new big bad and we’re gonna end on a horror note.” Which, okay, was stupid in the context of Flanagan’s shows. I know how Hill House ends. I know Flanagan specifically wrote AROUND horror tropes in the explicit interest of giving these people peace. But I’ve been gay in fandom a long time, I am used to people burying those lesbians deep.

And this show...doesn’t fit that trope for me. I had realized several episodes earlier that Carla was playing an older Jamie and that this was probably Flora’s wedding; the accents lined up enough and the story was clearly enough focused on the romance of the au pair and the gardener, so I was on board. And that meant that Jamie obviously didn’t die. So I relaxed just a little, and I let myself just sink into the final episode. And I expected it to just do what you said: skip around. Say “okay yeah, they left together and maybe got a little happiness at the beginning, and then Dani slowly went crazy and/or violent like Viola.”

Instead....instead we see a whole life. Because a whole life isn’t something you can parse out in blocks of “you get twenty years, you get fifty years, you get eighty years”. A life is one day at a time. Never knowing how many more are on the other side of the sunrise. Never knowing how far the road stretches. But you keep walking anyway, and if you’re in love, you keep your hand in theirs as you go. And you make travel plans knowing you might not see Christmas—but that you MIGHT. And you buy a flower shop to run together knowing it might go under—but it might also LAST. And you move house, and you bicker, and you make out and make up, and you reassure each other and go to bed smiling and kiss away the tears and you...live.

It never felt like a BYG story for me because they didn’t lose each other for shock value or because they were queer. They got a good 12-15 years together, and those years were happy. And then one of them died, and died on her own terms to save anyone else from being hurt or trapped in that glue, and the other is still in love. Still telling the story. And frankly, from that final shot, I’d argue that the thing that kept Dani going for so long was love—and when love keeps you going, and love keeps you alive in the hearts of your loved ones, you are not gone. Dani for me still loves Jamie, always. Is always there with and for her. And I can’t remember the last time I got to see my future—a gay woman living with and loving her wife—played out onscreen with such tenderness. Saying yeah, this ends. But it ends organically. It ends like all stories end. And it’s beautiful because of what was here while it went on.

[davidmann95]

How'd you like the new Death Metal special (and, more broadly, this week's comics)?

pretenderoftheeast said: Comics this week (12/9/2020)?

Batman: Black and White #1: The first of a platter of anthologies today:

* The Tynion/Moore story is predictably fire.

* JHIII is JHIII. Also he does a really nice surprising story about how Batman’s relating to this moment of the time, but let’s be real, you’re here because JHIII, and be assured he is JHIII as helllll here and it’s great.

* Dini/Kubert plays as the former building a story around accommodating requests by the latter, but that’s not a bad thing, and glad to see Kubert’s kept up the pace since his DK3/Up In The Sky creative rejuvenation.

* Ok I’m a philistine who has no idea what that Emma Rios thing was about but it was certainly pretty.

* Wilson doing Batman is surprisingly disappointing, but Smallwood doing Batman definitely isn’t.

DC’s Very Merry Multiverse: Not a very merry time! I hate to say it given this should be so geared to my interests, but this is the weakest overall effort we’ve gotten from one of DC’s quarterly anthologies in a good long while, at least among those I’ve picked up. Not to say it’s a dud, there are several nifty little stories in here including the much-hyped first appearance of Kid Quick (destined to become the Flash of Future State) and really almost everything here reaches ‘pretty okay’. But for $10, and a creative space that should reach so much more than ‘pretty okay’, I don’t know that this is a justifiable recommendation unless you’re understandably desperate for all the President Superman content you can get your hands on.

Tales of the Dark Multiverse: Flashpoint: I’m surprised I got it too, but the preview grabbed me and in practice it was a fun, mean little high-concept adventure of Reverse Flash being a total cock.

Wonder Woman #768: Credit where it is due, this has been getting a bit better in its closing stretch.

Dark Nights: Death Metal: The Last Stories of the DC Universe: This ruled. Obviously there was the one story folks are most interested in, but almost all of the tales in here lived up to being a ‘final’ story of sorts for their leads.

* The Titans bookenders were pretty nice even if it’s hilarious that their big rallying cry basically amounts to “by god, our book may be shit, but we’re valuable IP so we’ll never be cancelled!”

* Green Lantern is basically an epilogue to Johns’ run sans the baggage of bringing back Johns (that we get in two weeks with Secret Origin and god forgive me I’m so looking forward to that), and definitely one of my favorite efforts from Lemire.

* Wonder Woman’s the stinker in what’s nominally her own event. I can parse the roots of most bad Superman stories one way or another, but I just can’t understand what’s behind most bad Wonder Woman stories beyond that the people handling it simply don’t give a shit.

* Astonishingly, the Green Arrow and Black Canary chapter in here might be my favorite of the bunch? Simone at her best, a really sweet slice of playful, sincere romance about two characters I’m not by default invested in but ended up quite caring for here.

* This Aquaman story is everything I generally hate in Aquaman stuff, a big long maudlin speech about the weight of the world as he swims through a black featureless ocean, except here between the real heart Sebela brings to the script and the mood artist Christopher Mooneyham manages to evoke, it all clicks together.

* The Batman Family story feels like it can’t quite make its pacing work, but it’s still a heartfelt little ode to the theoretical power of the concept.

* Hey, that Mark Waid guy? Turns out he can write him some Superman. It’s not perhaps the total barnburner you might have expected - I imagine he’s saving his biggest hits for later - but it’s a very solid execution of a gangbusters concept, and Manapul steals the show with absolutely sensational, gorgeous scenic Superman imagery. I’mma say 60/40 in favor of them doing a Superman project together on either a main book or Black Label (I know Manapul was supposed to be locked into a creator-owned thing with Scott Snyder but that was ages ago), because this is a paring that’s yielded some immediate results and I imagine everyone knows it. And given my upbringing, nice to see a big, iconic, beautiful Superman story with him rocking the mullet.

Anonymous said: Haha holy shit Crossover is literally Cates taking that page where Spawn meets all the corporate heroes locked up and spinning it out into a series

Anonymous said: Does Crossover #2 hold the crown for the funniest, dumbest, most baffling opening page ever?

Crossover #2: Readers I’m not too big to admit I laughed my ass off at the first page, and at least a little bit for the actual reasons intended. The sense of homaging that Spawn scene in the context of a book about “Gosh, isn’t IP the best folks?”, or Cates’ dialogue...(shall we say) proving why he likes the concept of ellipses enough to name a character after them aside though? That it’s already crossed the line with its central metaphor from “indefensibly insensitive in its ridiculous self-centeredness” to “out-and-out cartoonishly offensive” somehow actually makes it more rather than less palatable; there’s no longer the secondhand embarrassment of waiting to see how bad Cates is going to handle this, it simply is the worst it could possibly be and readers have to accept and perhaps revel in the sight of him stepping on rake after rake. I cannot wait for him to finally give an interview on this book where he explains what the hell he thinks this looks like, and I hope my dad keeps somehow enjoying it forever because I totally wanna see what pit this descends to next.

Penultiman #3: This is absolutely agonizing and probably the most relatable take on a ‘superman’ ever.

Home Sick Pilots #1: A new creator-owned book from Dan Watters (whose big two credits include the stupendous “Afraid of America” with John Paul Leon in the last Batman Secret Files, and the upcoming Future State: Superman/Wonder Woman) and Peter Cannon’s Caspar Wijngaard, this new book set against the backdrop of a Californian high school’s punk scene in 1994 describes itself as “Power Rangers meets The Shining (yes, really)”. The former influence isn’t much in play yet, but thus far this is a book that merges building tension and freewheeling dopey teen bullshit to an extent that’s subtly impressive as hell, and seems likely to proudly take a place among the current horror comic renaissance.

Warhammer 40,000: Marneus Calgar #3: Ok again I don’t have any experience with this franchise but you’d better believe that cultural osmosis was enough that I popped for BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!

King in Black: Namor #1: Kurt Busiek’s return to Marvel...sucks? Such is the power of Knull I guess even if he doesn’t manifest within the actual story here, this is a complete nothing of a comic and I’m not tuning in for issue #2.

Avengers #39: Eh, I’m not liking Aaron Avengers when it gets remotely serious nearly as much as when he’s doing stuff like having them finally help Blade with all those vampires or Captain America assisting with the delivery of an exploding space-baby in the back of a muscle car.

Anonymous said: That new Guardians of the Galaxy was something else. What do you think the odds are that Comic Books, with a decade or two of hindsight, recognizes Ewing as one of the best to ever do it?

Guardians of the Galaxy #9: I lack much context here beyond recalling from an interview that this is Ewing’s way of grappling with the ideas from Steve Englehart’s original unrealized vision of Star-Lord’s character arc, but wherever it stems from this is a hell of a comic.

S.W.O.R.D. #1: This is everything I’ve wanted from the non-Hickman X-books since the moment HoXPoX ended, and so much more, and also it is basically hilarious that Ewing is all but explicitly using his clout to force Marvel to let him to Ultimates3 under a currently cancellation-proof banner. Most importantly of all, Ewing has already mastered the subtle art of writing not merely Magneto, but the infinitely superior Jonathan Hickman Magneto. And good lord Schiti and Gracia, I already knew they were top-tier but these pages’d make a grown man cry.