#chess piece for ominous foreshadowing

[venelona]

New picture I drew of myself cuz I wanted an updated art for my masterpost ✌

[atamascolily]

One critique I have seen of the whole "Homura (or her double) is/becomes Walpurgisnacht" theory for WnK is that it's "too obvious and therefore won't happen". This is so funny to me because a certain degree of predictability is actually a sign of good writing--the best plot twists do not come randomly out of nowhere, they are heavily foreshadowed earlier in the work, even if this is only obvious in hindsight. Or, to quote one of my favorite pieces of writing advice ever from Kurt Vonnegut,

Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To hell with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

In other words, as the story progresses, the number of possible routes dwindles, until only one path remains. The best endings not only make sense, they are inevitable.

From this perspective, the original Madoka Magica TV series is one of the most predictable shows I have ever watched, dropping exposition with remarkable precision and clarity at steady intervals. It's like watching a chess master at work, moving the characters from square to square until suddenly--CHECKMATE!

On my first viewing, I blinked when Mami demonstrates how a grief seed purifies a soul gem in Episode 2. "Wow, that looks just like a soul gem," I said to myself. "And it powers their magic, too? That can't possibly be a coincidence. Magical girls and witches are connected in a symbiotic relationship, but it's clearly meant to be a secret, so let's see where this goes." Later on, of course, the show makes a big deal of how Sayaka is refusing to purify her grief seed and the ominous but unnamed consequences that would come of it, and it was abundantly clear to me at that point that magical girls transformed into witches when they ran out of magic, several episodes before the actual reveal.

Likewise, when Madoka didn't immediately become a magical girl after hearing Kyubey's offer in episode 2, I took this to mean the show was actually about her journey to become a magical girl (and not being a magical girl, an important distinction), and she would only make her wish in the final episode after she was fully aware of the consequences. Sayaka's narrative role was to leap headlong into her wish, and show us exactly what the downsides were--through her failures, Madoka's hesitation would not only be justified, but that knowledge would inspire her to reform the clearly corrupt magical girl system entirely (an impression supported by Kyubey's speech by the fountain where he tells Madoka she has the power to become a god).

You might think that seeing these big plot twists coming would ruin my enjoyment, but quite the contrary--it was so refreshing to feel like I was on the same page as the author and that my careful attention to detail was rewarded. Paradoxically, it made me love the show even more precisely because I could see the twists before they happened--as if I was watching the show for the second or third time already. The best plot twists deepen the experience, allowing us to fully appreciate and savor them on subsequent viewings. It's why tragedies tell us in the beginning that the hero will die; the drama and suspense are not so much in what happens, but how and why.

I mention all of this not to try to impress people with how smart I am (when it comes to predictions about the future, past performance does not guarantee future success), merely to explain why I trust my instincts when it comes to this show, because they've served me so well before. Unless Gen Urobuchi and SHAFT have completely changed their approach with Walpurgis no Kaiten, I expect every single twist to be carefully foreshadowed in advance, just like previous installments--and therefore, inherently predictable, at least in theory. Whether we currently have all of the information and/or interpret it correctly are entirely different questions, of course.

Despite its reputation for obfuscation, I have found the original PMMM anime to be remarkably straightforward in its storytelling approach, and I hope that Walpurgis no Kaiten will be no different in this regard. Thus, I see no need to second-guess myself or to assume that the simplest approach is automatically off the table in favor of something more complicated.

That said, if you don't personally care for the idea that Homura and/or her double is Walpurgisnacht, or you are skeptical it will happen, that's fine. But "it's too predictable, therefore it can't happen" is not an argument I can take seriously given my own experiences.

[vilevileposting]

I'm really enjoying my first reading of Homestuck

I forgor to post this after Homestuck Book Club!

In my notes for Week 3 I talk a little about not really knowing how this blew up and how niche it feels, but I think the picture is forming. WV: Ascend demonstrated that even without really knowing what's going on, Homestuck definitely has the narrative pull to bring me along for the ride. Compared to that, a 13 year old trying to read the thing her friends like probably won't care that she's not picking up on all the references and programmer humor.

My discord status has been RANCOROUS for several weeks. I think the time may be nigh to make a second homestuck reference.

Week 3:

539: Not convinced that John’s dad’s room will be much of anything. Maybe that’ll be the point where John learns his dad doesn’t give a shit about harlequins and the harlequin thing was all a misguided attempt to connect with his son! But if that’s what that is then what John walks in and sees is probably a normal room as opposed to like some FMA shit.

543: The combination of a book whose girth is known to be lethal with a system whose velocity is known to be lethal is interesting.

544:

As a metaphor for the disconnect between you and also you’re the guy who knocked over your grandmother’s ashes and cleaned them up like shit. Where are those ashes now, John, were you careful with them?

554: Lethal momentum through a wall, baby!!! I still get credit for seeing the future even when it’s heavily foreshadowed.

556: Southern colonel? ☹

592: Does this guy have Kamina glases…

614: Based on how I’ve heard Dave’s name more than John’s as a fandom outsider, John really kinda is the other guy.

629: Blood Loss in the Big Easy sounds like a made up nonsense phrase that somehow captures the intended vintage vibe but it turns out New Orleans is actually called the Big Easy.

636: I bet I can annoy Char by incorporating the phrase “that’s really all there is to say on the matter” into my vocabulary.

644: TOBY FOX ARRIVAL

645: I’m constantly struck by how niche this all feels. I haven’t gotten any answers to why homestuck blew up like it did, and I think I won’t until I get to the trolls.

651: I bet that mystery silhuette is GG

672: Damning hole in my “this guy is a shadow demon” theory – no sharp teef

687: Lot of king hatred for a guy who isn’t a shadow demon in a cosmology that literally or metaphorically uses chess pieces…

691: Bro eats green… Me too man.

696: CAR DEPENDENCY!!!

699: Chess board…………………

704: Raising my eyebrow at the ominous planet

708: Me reaching this page marks the first time anyone has thought about Tab since the Tab mine collapse in 2013

713: Hidden message vibes from this page.

714: How could I forget sburb is green. Sburb is green, this guy eats green, think about it!

716: I think Cal sacrificed himself to save Dave, hence the face turn to thinking puppets are awesome and being rancorous. Also – kernelsprite prototyped with dead bird!

756: I don’t even know what a cliffhanger is, Andrew Hussie. I am reading this webcomic five thousand years in the future, cliffhangers are nothing to me. Your world is laid bare for me at my leisure.

757: Coolest shit ever. Whole lot going on. Just want to flex that I noticed the sburb rocket is in the crater of Rose’s house, complete with wizard hand. The next crater we see is John’s house, which bizarrely grows a tree, then a sburb fruit, then we see that sburb fruit is also a weird pod that the (other) other guy seems to be living inside, or emering from. After that we see a crater next to a volcano, and we see the meteor actually hit somewhere that’s clearly uninhabited and explicitly an ocean over. Also with a MASSIVE hole where the volcano used to be. There’s a chance GG is a mountain hermit but no matter how you dice it, with only three meteors they were never all going to be accounted for. John’s dad is a sleeper hit, what a badass. Those fools put him in the trick cuffs and now he’s going to tear through hell doomslayer style. Rose’s mom also seems to have a secret tunnel to the lab, which has a spirograph on it! Dave’s brother in the relative present seems like he might actually be the coolest guy ever between the hat and confirmed kamina glasses, so he might actually be 100% the kind of guy Dave thinks he is. Final note: the symbols for latitude and longitude look like the wandering vagrant’s tattoo.

[sapphic-yang]

RWBY Volume 7: Chapter 11 - Gravity

Thoughts & Theories

1. So Salem killed Summer...Ooof. I’ve been thinking for awhile that the reason people don’t about Salem is that she’s be en imprisoned for a long time. And since Salem hunts Silver-Eyed Warriors and she’s at least part Grimm, it stands to reason the SEWs keep petrifying her. I’m thinking Summer tried to and failed. Kudos to CRWBY though for making these shots of Summer chilling. Last volume we saw her on this cliff bathed in dawn light, smiling and happy. Now we see...the truth? Ominous dark clouds, the grass is wilting...

2. “Ironwood no! I trusted you!” said literally no one. Just as the cowardly lion couldn’t find his courage, the tin man couldn’t find his heart. He’s willing to do anything to stop Salem, but he refuses to learn that stopping Salem from burning the world doesn’t mean anything if you do it for her. Salem loves to Divide & Conquer. So Ironwood finally flipping out is not surprising, but I love the foreshadowing form episode 8 of Cinder’s chess piece troll.

And he does get bad-ass point for getting his skin burnt off. Not enough points to stop the girls from sending this dictator plummeting to earth before the volume’s done though.

3. Ironwood mentions the ‘timeline’ like Cinder did last episode. Not sure what to make of that...perhaps just artistic mirroring, or is their another level of this scheming we haven’t gotten to yet.

4. While JNR are obviously team RWBY ride or die, I’m curious how Clover will react. He seemed shocked, and I have a feeling because of his feelings for Qrow he’s going to turn on Ironwood. The theme of the Volume is Trust Love, the other Aesops refuse to have relationships that would cause them to follow their hearts, but now Clover does.

We also don’t really see how Penny and Winter react...could this split them up? I’m thinking yes.

5. Team RWBY vs the Ace-Ops. Oh Boy. Predicting Ruby vs Harriet & Yang vs Elm.

Marrow (he looks so sad to be doing this!) would be a cool fight vs either Weiss or Blake, not sure which will fight Vine. I doubt any of the Ace-Ops will die though. Or possibly, Just a straight up Blake and Yang vs Elm and vine, while Ruby races Harriet and Marrow...lets Weiss go. If Winter’s getting those Maiden powers, Weiss should be there.

6. Ruby was so good in this episode. Defying Ironwood at every turn, I’m so proud! Her writing has really improved over the last couple volumes and this scene is the new peak.

But I’m worried bout those eyes. She had trouble activating them last episode, and now we see her breakdown causing them go haywire, just like with Pyrrha. Will she be able to rein them it when it’s time?

7. I’m kinda worried about Jaune. Yang flipped when she found out Cinder was alive, he may explode. Especially since he’s undoubtedly having Beacon flashbacks.

And BOY IS THIS SHOT FAMILIAR!

8. Winter’s going to die...I get the feeling Penny is going to leave her to confront Ironwood about his BS and Cinder will follow her right to Fria.

It’s very possible she gets the powers before Cinder gets to her. But as we saw with Raven, experience matters. Cinder’s had her powers for, what, a year? I think Winter is done for sadly.

9. Well....shit, Oscar got kidnapped for realz this time! I’m guessing Neo??

10. Bees sighting of the week: I love that Yang immediately defends Blake when everyone leaps on her about Robyn. So cute, so hot, so loving. Also, the way she flinched back when Ironwood asked if she was with him...*Adam flashbacks* much?

[irarelypostanything]

Song Analysis: “The Rise and Fall of Humanity”

Song: Deep Blue

Artist: Arcade Fire https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDIRT_NEMxo

This song is most commonly known as the concluding piece in “Boyhood,” though I am honestly not sure why they chose this particular one.  The tone is ominous and a bit dark, which I personally did not find very fitting, and the subject matter is very different.  Am I missing some deep meaning in Boyhood?  It’s quite possible.  I discovered this song from a chess.com article, not from that movie...I liked the movie but for different reasons.

*****

Kasparov, Deep Blue, 1996.  Some people on forums were quick to point out that this is the match in which Kasparov won.  So why that particular year?  Some thing it was a mistake, whereas others think this was a deliberate choice for Arcade Fire.  Man’s final triumph.

Now I know “The Rise and Fall of Humanity” sounds like overkill, which I will confess to, but it hints at something I have been feeling for a while: If mankind falls at the hands of computers, it’s not going to be because of some Skynet or Matrix-like AI.  We won’t make it that are.  It’s going to be because some idiot software engineer at the DoD misprograms something, or because some genius senior engineer programs something correctly.  One of my favorite movies is Fail-Safe, released right in the middle of the Cold War, and it features the premise of an unstoppable American computer program that is set to nuke Russia.  Russia does not want this.  The United States does not want this.  The two world powers are in direct contact, but the so-called fail-safe system was so hellbent on retaliating against the Russians that no one considered how to stop it if it went off by accident.  

Nowadays, all this talk of UAV’s and self-driving cars gives me pause.  Ever hear of those two bidding programs that caught each other in a loop, and ended up screwing over both companies?  Picture that, but with super-weapons.  

Here in my place and time And here in my own skin I can finally begin Let the century pass me by, standing under the night sky Tomorrow means nothing

Whenever I hear this song, I picture the tech portion of some emerging market in San Francisco or a spot in the valley.  Maybe you start with blood cells, maybe you start with the night sky, and then I just picture TOMORROW MEANS NOTHING as a giant subtitle.  Because that’s the perfect line for the song, in a nutshell.  There is nothing optimistic to be said about technology, about computer science, about software and AI and big data and what have you.  It’s just something that eliminates passion, that makes us subhuman.  I don’t completely agree.  Maybe Arcade Fire doesn’t completely agree.  But the speaker of this song, in those three words, states his position.  We don’t matter.  In the universe, we are insignificant.  

We watched the end of the century Compressed on a tiny screen A dead star collapsing and we could see Something was ending Are you through pretending?

I’m not really sure if this part of the song foreshadows the chess game, or if it’s about what comes way after.  Chess programs are better than humans.  The best human alive, who was probably Kasparov for a long time but is now someone else, can’t even touch the computer chess programs we’ve developed.  Is it really such a big deal that we’ve been surpassed in chess?

According to the speaker of the song, yes.  This is like our final bow on the world stage, and the United States isn’t resigning to China or to Russia or to some future human power.  No, the entire human race is about to take a final bow for the new dominant force.

You could have never predicted that it could see through you Kasparov, Deep Blue, 1996 Your mind's playing tricks now Show's over so take a bow And leave it in the shadows

Again, a bit strange that 1996 is the year.  Is the focus still on chess?  I think we shift away in the last stanza.  Computers could beat us at chess by 1997 or so, but what about now?

Hey Put the cellphone down for a while In the night there is something wild Can you hear it breathing? And hey Put the laptop down for a while In the night there is something wild I feel it, it's leaving me

And there it is.  The final stanza.  Perhaps the ending note of the song is meant to be ominous...it does have this final echo, after all.  But maybe, just maybe, the song is optimistic.  There’s still something alive, something passionate, and we can find it if we look up from our screens.  Is that all this song is?  A plea to go outside more and look up from our screens?

Or is this ambiguous song suggesting that technology itself is alive, that the essence of what made us human is what’s leaving?  Every time I look to the technology, the data metrics, the machine-generated graphs and those app stats our generation seems to love so much...it feels like a lack of passion.  It feels like we’re not human anymore, but just entities that seek to drive up numbers of some kind.

And so, in that final bit, the song takes a stand.

Passion.  That’s what might keep us from going cold.