#collecting crumbs like a total jester

[lunian]

I noticed a very little detail and difference in first dialogue with Inquisitor in Veilguard, regarding (as i believe) to a romance with Dorian

Two Inquisitors had one difference in a world state - a romance, nothing else.

When Rook asks for "spy support" on the North, Inquisitors had different answers and I was confused, because I def remembered that Lavellan (who romanced Solas) said that

Then I got back to check and Inqusitor who romances Dorian shortly said that which I didnt understand for some minutes

So you mean, it's an implication to good old Trespasser ending which mentions rumors that Dorian's Amatus visited Tevinter to work together? Maybe even more often than I imagine, but new Blight on the South separated them.

Moreover, of course, he had been a spy for Inquisition while being here (good thing he was a Rogue then)

Well, if it's not a little good detail someone bothered to add for Dorian's romance then I am damn delusional lol

[acepalindrome]

I’m actually seriously thinking about a big Gundam-esque mecha-space-war-drama AU for the Mighty Nein and the kind of mechs they would pilot because I’m that much of a nerd:

Nott: her mech looks like a walking junk yard. It’s a weird patchwork mess made from the parts of at least five different mechs and it looks like it shouldn’t even be able to start...but it actually works amazingly well. It’s super fast and evasive, has great long range weapons and has a stealth system that makes her basically invisible to the enemy until she’s already sniped them off. No one can pilot this thing except for Nott, half because no one can figure out how to work this metal chimera except for her and half because the cockpit is so full of junk and trinkets she’s collected that you’d have to be as tiny as Nott to fit in there.

Caleb: his mech also looks like trash due to a lack of maintenance. There’s rust and dents and missing parts, it’s makes a variety of strange and concerning noises, the cockpit has a weird smell no one can get rid of...it’s prone to malfunctioning, but it’s crazy powerful when it works right. A direct hit at close range from one of his cannons can obliterate a small mech. Of course, getting that close is a bad idea because because it’s a true glass cannon, and it wouldn’t take much to wreck this thing. Everyone thinks it’s going to self destruct one day, but Caleb refuses to even consider getting another one.

Molly: of course he’s got the most stupidly flashy mech imaginable. He’s constantly painting parts of it with new bright colors or modifying it with cosmetic parts that are totally useless in a fight but look really cool (to Molly, at least.) Rumor has it his mech used to very plain and no-nonsense and purely functional, and belonged to someone named Lucien. Molly changes the story every time someone asks how he got his mech so no one knows the truth about it. His fighting style is wildly reckless and his mech ends up with at least minor damage after almost every fight, but he pays back any damage he takes tenfold. He’s flown naked at least one.

Jester: she’s the team mechanic and responsible for most of the repairs, but she much prefers fighting to fixing stuff. Her mech looks deceptively adorable; she’s not as crazy about her mech’s looks as Molly, but what’s wrong with painting some cute pink hearts all over her ride? But underestimating her because of the cuteness is a deadly mistake; she can pack a hell of a punch. She’s fitted her cockpit with soft cozy pillows, symbols of the Traveler for luck, and a compartment just for snacks. There are always crumbs on the floor.

I’m still thinking about the last three for this AU. I just love giant robots.

[katanyktos]

a year older

it seemed like this moment never had to come. This is a year after the longest summer of our lives. The summer between high school and uni wasnt actually that long jow that i have to recollect memories but god it sure did feel so long. It seemed like it never had to end. But god it sure did end. Boy, how did that summer end, my friend.

My friend

you are one year older and it feels like the ice aged has passed over us. my own birthday between the sumers. yours between the beasts that predate men.

another year of keeping legacies alive.

Since its your birthday i give you a present. its an ancient tradition to give a loved one a present on the day he grows older and the present has always been rather humorous.

Since i love to collect photos these presents involve your own photos but... spiced up.

in a totally innocent way.

you used to love it, remember? no longer no shorter than a year ago.

you actually love d it so much you just had to show off

you showed it to her.

Her.

I renamed her W.

And i used to hate her.

And recently i learned that i love her.

How many things a year changes, huh?

She once told me that the first time she saw me was at the poetry night at school and that i was intimidating. She used the word "lion" while describing me and i have to admit of all the things that have been said to me the ones she said are still the most flattering. And thats why i could never, EVER, tell her how much i just hated her.

i hated her feom the side eye i gave your phone in class.

Always messaging her.

long text full of meaning, instead of the nonsensical amswers you reserved me.

i hated her for the time she made your make up for the school play.

Just imagining her so close to your face.

i hated her for the months she put in making a jacket for you and giving it to you just before your birthday, since by then the weather starts getting too damn hot for a jacket.

im being serious she put about three months of work in the damned thing.

and me?

i... i made you a meme.

Thats the moment.

If i really have to be fair with myself thats the moment i just knew i had lost.

i kept hoping against it, i kept believing that maybe just maybe i had a chance with you and then...

just as i predicted it.

You got to her.

you wanted her for so long, god. not as long as i wanted you though, and thats just so unfair. Its so unfair that i couldnt get to you no matter how hard i tried and yet.

and yet my dear you have to believe something wild happened during the shortest fall of our lives, because the crumbs i offered to the shrine made up a mountain, for i still lay them everyday.

im the last atheist that keeps respecting the traditions of this decaying mountain temple.

shes gone.

She was a beautiful flower that bloomed for no more than half an autumn and then decided to just crumble apart. and there was a reason for her to.

the truth is that the wily person learns from the mistakes of their kins. and i learned from you my dear. you did indeed make quite a number of mistakes and guess what?

you are one year older and theres no one to show off my offers to.

its only me now

and the new followers that you made up for your new shrine of course.

who even knows anymore what kind of life you are leading out there my dear.

all i know is the ghost of a jester wont die off easily.

the countdown is about to start

there are exactly 21 weeks for me to live her.

thats the magic i decided.

you dont have to pay me anything but i speak the words into existence: im gonna make her mine

im gonna try and im gonna do it

and just as youre mine now

shes gonna be mine then

one year older

and i could still be a winner

[nofomoartworld]

Hyperallergic: The Trickster Artist Behind the I Spy Books

Walter Wick, model for “Entertaining the Guest” from Can You See What I See? Out of This World (2013) (all works part of the Collection of New Britain Museum of American Art, all photos by the author for Hyperallergic unless otherwise noted)

MIAMI — When I was young, I thought the famous I Spy books were designed purely for entertainment. Each book in the series, authored by Jean Marzollo and published by Scholastic Press, features photographs by Walter Wick of elaborately arranged objects, accompanied by instructions to locate specific items in the colorful morass. The images have a preternatural warmth, exquisitely lit and glowing. Every book has a theme — I Spy Christmas, I Spy School Days — and the first book (simply titled I Spy) contains several, with chapters like “Toys in the Attic” and “Make Believe.” Unaware that their purpose was ultimately educational, I treated them like contraband during classroom “reading time,” trying to find books large enough to cover them and pretend I was reading those instead.

Walter Wick: Games, Gizmos, and Toys in the Attic installation view at the Lowe Art Museum

Walter Wick: Games, Gizmos, and Toys in the Attic, on view at the Lowe Art Museum (operated by the University of Miami), is a traveling retrospective of Wick’s career as a photographer, illustrator, and children’s book author. The show takes viewers from his early work as a student at the Paier College of Art and a puzzle-maker for Games Magazine, to his photos for I Spy and other books, including A Drop of Water: A Book of Science and Wonder and the Can You See What I See? series. Painted in ketchup and mustard colors, the exhibit also doubles as an educational space for kids, with placards directing young viewers to compare particular images or count the number of, say, real marbles in a mirrored maze of toys.

Walter Wick, model for “Puss In Boots” from Can You See What I See? Once Upon a Time (2006) (detail)

Wick still makes books for children, and it’s comforting to see that while he now shoots digitally (rather than on film), his approach remains largely unaltered, setting up intricate tableaux vivants of toys. Wick grew up in Connecticut, where he cultivated an early resourcefulness, repairing broken hand-me-down toys from his siblings and building skateboards for neighborhood children. He’s maintained this sense of play throughout his career — two early black-and-white photographs, “Goal Posts” and “Flooded Soccer Field” (1974), work like optical illusions, with the identical objects in the former appearing drastically different in size, and the water in the latter creating reflective images.

Walter Wick, “Mirror Maze” from I Spy Fun House (1993), pigmented inkjet print

Wick would continue to create more tricks of the eye, at once fantastical and cerebral and totally mesmerizing. “Mirror Maze,” an image from I Spy Fun House, depicts several toy animals in a mirrored room, some emerging from archways that seemingly lead to nowhere. In “Crazy Columns,” a triumphal arch appears to have three columns, but only two actually emerge from the top. “The Amazing Mirror Maze” (sensing a theme?), which Wick submitted to Games before working for the publication full-time, features dolls in a mirrored labyrinth. It’s difficult to know which are real.

Walter Wick: Games, Gizmos, and Toys in the Attic, installation view at the Lowe Art Museum

Even when illusions aren’t part of the image, there’s a fun novelty to each photograph. In “Balancing Act,” created for the Kids Gallery of the Connecticut Science Center, Wick balanced 117 objects on a Lego block without any adhesive (stepping on a Lego is excruciating, so I’ve never doubted their strength). And the models used for his Can You See What I See? books are the exhibition’s most delightful components, with detailed dioramas of fairy-tale castles, haunted houses, and beach shacks presented alongside their accompanying photographs. Wick photographed and zoomed in on these models until everything tiny became massive, a child’s eye-view of a microcosmic world. In “Entertaining the Guest,” from Can You See What I See? Out of This World, jesters juggle and dance for seated royals. The accompanying model allows viewers to see details omitted from the photo; there’s even a button to switch on the dining hall lights.

Walter Wick, model for “On a Scary Scary Street” from Can You See What I See? On a Scary Scary Night (2008) (detail)

What is it about very small versions of regular-sized objects that feels so charming? Though I was drawn to Christmas dioramas and Polly Pocket’s crumb-sized accessories as a kid, it’s not simply the whimsy of childhood that makes tiny things so attractive. Consider the Tiny Kitchen video series, this hamster eating a penny-sized burrito, or the work of miniature artists: there’s an explicable appeal, even for adults. Though it’s been attributed to creating the feeling of control — it’s easy to imagine oneself as the ruler of a pint-sized, self-contained kingdom — I don’t buy it.

Walter Wick, “The Treasure Chest,” from Can You See What I See? Treasure Ship (2010), pigmented inkjet print

While Wick’s photographs aren’t presented to scale — a plastic elephant grows to the size of a real one; a cardboard android, knee-high in reality, becomes a skyscraper in a robot city — the brain understands them as toys, diminutive pretend worlds presented up-close. To complicate them with illusion and games enables full, meditative immersion into these mini-universes. The desire for this sort of magical escape isn’t just confined to childhood. Indeed, at this exhibition, I lamented that “touching the art” was prohibited, mostly because I wished to jump inside it.

Walter Wick: Games, Gizmos and Toys in The Attic continues at University of Miami’s Lowe Art Museum (1301 Stanford Dr, Miami) through September 24.

The post The Trickster Artist Behind the I Spy Books appeared first on Hyperallergic.

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