#dante | maxim

[reblrths]

aristotle and dante discover the secrets of the universe, benjamin alire saenz // while the child sleeps, sonya undresses, ilya Kaminsky // strangers, ethel cain // the naomi letters, rachel mennies // chance with you, mehro // robin's egg heart(break), ashe vernon // from eden, hozier // tyler knott gregson // seizure, louise gluck // Maurice, e.m. foster // the song of achilles, madeline miller // mastermind, taylor swift // Maurice 1987 // clementine von radics

@riiseandfall

[of-pale]

[vngful]

[danicadenniss]

DreamWorks Trolls

Branch: Troll Of The Wildglade

Chapter 9: Call Of The Night

In Trolls Brotherhood AU, after Branch is injured by David Kane/The Black Manta, while they were rescue by the Alpha Sapphire, Harriet healing him for his strength, Poppy remembered she got punished by her father for touching the elephants and caused a chaos, in the Wildglades. Branch remembered his mother comfort him, since he was a baby, since his father's sacrifice himself to save his family from threat. Warning: this is going to be violent, blood and gore.

That night, Branch had a little trouble sleeping inside his tent, especially when he's hearing a scream from the other trolls, he walked out of the tent. He walked slowly, he saw the trolls scream in horror, the dogs barking at them and the forest were set on fire.

The troll: No! Please! (cried out in a desperate tone as the wolf dug it's fangs deep into his throat.) AAHHHH!

Branch: No...no,no,no,no...this...this can't be happening! (looking up at Dante Reyes and his hunters captured the trolls, and cutting down the forest.)

Dante Reyes: OHHHHHHHH! Troll, it's time to destroy the trees and burn down the forest. (The forest were captured in flame, Branch gasped)

Bounty Troll Hunters #1: We found him! (The trolls screaming in terror, their hairs turned white as they running in horror, Arthur Slugworth and his partners used their butterfly nets,they're caught them, grabbed them and they put them in a giant maroon bag.) They're in the bags.

Troll #1: No! Don't hurt us! Please! Don't hurt me! Please!

Troll #2: Please! I don't want to die!

Branch: Let's them go! (Opened his eyes, tears streaming down his cheeks as he looked up at Ignacio in horror, Ignacio Carapax with an evil smile, his eyes wide and breath heavy.)

Ignacio Carapax: (clapped his hands with an evil laugh) It's the only way...

Alder run to see him, he is captured by Dante Reyes with his knife. He stabbed his head, he then pulled his knife out of his head, he threw him at him, the dog sunk it's fangs deep into his throat, the dog growling fiercely as Branch indeeply is shocked to see his mother and his grandmother are found dead.

Branch: Mom! Grandma! No! Please, no! You are a monster! You killed my mother and my grandmother! Just my father! (The hunters laughing wickedly, he sobbing in fear, before everything faded to back.) NOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Branch: AHHHH! (screamed as he jumped up in his tent, sweat pouring down his face as he panting heavily, looking around himself in complete panic...) It...it was just a bad dream. (Sobbing, his heart still racing in terror from the nightmare he had just woken up from.) He then walked out of the tent. As he climbed up the fence and watch Sky, flew going back and forth and all around wildly.

Branch: Hey, bud. You might want to see me, and calm me down now. People are trying to sleep, you know, (Sky grunted and looked at him) What's the matter, Sky?

Poppy: (opened her eyes and getting up by looked at him and his dragon friend) Don't remember me from before? (they heard Gloria recognized about the Wildglades, Dr. Ferrier warned everyone about Reyes and his hunters will burn the forest down to ashes. Branch gasped and his heart still racing and shivering in his fear of the fires. The brothers looked at him as he scared and they were worried about their father's sacrifice during the attack and the fires in the forest)

John Dory, Spruce, Clay and Floyd: Branch?

Floyd: We heard you scream from your tent, and why are you scared? (Branch sobbing) Oh no!

Spruce: You dreamed of that's man who kidnapped us in our home and I was very sad about Dad's death.

John Dory: WAAAAAAAAH!

Everybody walked and see the brothers comfort him and they see Abacus Chunch arrived in the tent, he brought an Hokkien psychic medium nun who nun clothes named Joyce Reynolds and her Egyptian British assistant Alessandro Longo, who wears black suit with navy blue belt around his waist, they see Airazor flew in the camp and see them and introduced herself.

Poppy: (her jaws dropped) Who's are you?

The brothers: (their eyes opened wide) What's are you?

Airazor: Very good question, but my name is Airazor, I am a Maximal warrior and I will protect the nature from harm. Clay, that is your brothers, John Dory, Spruce, Floyd and Branch, since your father's sacrifice himself to save all of you and your family, the Maximals and I saved you and your friend Viva, they were children, we met them in the forest during the fire cause explosion and a madman was killed in the fire.

In the flashback, Clay and Viva ran out of the bag, he see his father's sacrifice himself to save them from the hunters.

Young Clay: Papa! (Viva grabbed his arm and run, the wood twitched down, they scream and then Optimus Primal threw the wood over it and Hernan Reyes groaned in pain, Cheetor raced down and Airazor grabbed them and they escaped from the forest as they can.)

Teenage Dante Reyes: Dad!

Past Hernan Reyes: Dante, you have to go!

Airazor: (Baby Branch crying and wailing in fear, they got out of the forest, Dante and the hunters get in the jeep and then the fires cause explosion and Hernan Reyes scream and groaned in pain, by burning him to ashes. Thorn panting heavily in his injury since he sacrifice himself to save them from the hunters.) Your father defeat him, until he died from his injury since you were a babe, you three were children. Was your grandfather's land and your father spoke up for his last words in his dying wish.

Past Thorn: This is my home. This was my father's land. This is my land and my sons will rule it when time comes! And his children will for generations to come! We'll protect it and our family with our lives. Never...come...back!

End of the flashback, Branch knew that land was his grandfather's passing to his father as the new leader, before he died, since he was a baby and he lost his father and he is in his heart.

Branch: I understand how you feel. You would have love it there. Guys, we would love it there. There's miles of untouched land, fresh air, food, and water to enjoy, the sun shining all day, the stars ever so clear and brightly though the nights, and kind creatures all around. The Wildglades is our home. Ever been there?

Floyd: Since, Clay found us, since we were captured by Dante Reyes and his hunters take us to the arena, a soldier almost hurt us and Branch got injured by David Kane.

Branch remembered when he was a month old, his mother had told him the story about the creatures, she'd ever known.

-Flashback-

Ivy: Why are you still awake? (standing in the doorway of Branch's room. A month old baby Branch was in his cradle.) Well, I have a cure for that: a story, (walked down and carried him gently while sitting on her chair.) And this one is true. Long ago, in olden days, the forests surrounding our village was visited by herds of one of the most sacred creatures in the world: the dragons, dragons are majestic and great. While most creatures would easily come towards you without worry, but only special dragons will choose very special people to be their partners. (Branch cooed and opened his eyes, giggled) Because I was one of those people choose by them. I had a dragon for a friend, or should I say, we were family, his name is Phoenix and sometimes, he's so fast it's like he's flying with the wind itself. His scales was bright and orange like the sun. His horns and tail, scarlet like the scorching blaze and piercing blue eyes. I've known him since he was a baby and we've grown up together the death of his mother. (Branch cooed) One night, Phoenix's herds was attacked by invaders and his mother was killed as a result. I was there that night and managed to protect him until your grandfather Oak came to our rescue, sending the enemies away. Since then, we've been together, riding every day and feeling the wind in my hair every time we rode. It was the sheer joy of freedom that we cherish the most when we ride, but nothing is more precious than the bond of our family. (Branch cooed and giggled) Of course I do. I love him very much, just as much as I love you, your brothers, your father and your grandmother. You see, my son, as we've reached adulthood, Phoenix has received the call of the wild and freedom while I received another call: the call of love. While he longed for freedom, I've set Phoenix free because that is how he should be. We said our farewells and he went home to his herd as its leader. I miss him to this very day, but I have my life and he has his.

Young Floyd: Mommy, what are you telling about dragons?

Ivy: Of course, Floyd but actually I did. Once more. I saw him again years later after marrying your father. It was before you were born, while you were born while you, Branch and your brothers were growing inside of me and your father, since the day we met.

Young Clay: MOMMY! There's a monster in my bed and it's going to eat me. (Ivy, Floyd, and Branch gasped, Ivy with a heart warming smile, and she comfort him when she tells stories about a dragon named Phoenix. John Dory and Spruce yawned and talk to their father, Thorn smile proudly makes and take them back to beds. They continue with the story.)

Ivy: When John and Spruce were little trollings, I was pregnant with Clay, your father, your brothers and I were alone until Phoenix appeared before us, but he wasn't alone. He brought his whole family with him.

Baby Branch: (happy smile and giggled) Mama, haha!

Young Floyd: Did he had kids? (Branch cooed)

Ivy: At that time, he had two and one on the way, he has a son, the oldest and strongest. He's a ginger dragon scales with dark brown horns and tail and brown eyes. He's the one who represents Phoenix the most. I called him Blaze. And his daughter, Misty,is the smartest. Her scales bluish grey, a teal horn and tail, and green eyes. With her pelt blending in the mist and fog, she can avoid being detected from enemies. And his mate, a beautiful, elegant dragon with white scales, horns and tail were cerulean with teal streaks, and blue-green eyes. I called her Bella for her beauty. Seeing Phoenix and his family has brought me hope of the family, after you and Clay were born, I was pregnant with Branch, seeing Phoenix and his family has brought me hope of the family I will later on and I did moment of my life. Well, that and after marrying your father. After that, I've never saw him again, but I am sure that he's happy with his herd, freedom, and family. God want all of us to send us all to be freedom from threat. (she rubs her nose with his, making them giggle. She then kissed his forehead.)

Floyd: Goodnight, mommy, goodnight, Branch. (Branch yawned and closed his eyes, he's fast asleep, she put him back to his cradle.) I love you.

Ivy: Love you too, (she sang a lullaby for her son)

-End Flashback-

The brothers sighed, thinking of their home and their mother and their grandmother waiting for them, and Branch saw the water of reflection, about their father.

Branch: Father, I know you're out there somewhere. We truly miss you and everyone also back home. I know that this place is better than the arena, but it still isn't home.I wish you were here so Clay mentioned you sacrifice yourself for saving us from the hunters' attack and the fires that we can see you, we were captured by Dante Reyes and his hunters, we were rescued by Clay, Viva and their friends at least one more time. (hopefully as he felt weariness taking over him.)

Airazor: Your father, he is up in his heavenly home, was your grandfather's land call The Wildglade. He live in you and your brothers and you see him in the water of reflection. (Branch gasped and looked up to see the sky, the clouds appeared to shaped like his father's spirit.)

Voice: (echoing) Branch...

Branch: Huh? Hey, I'm not sure but I have a feeling that you won't hurt me. (raised his hand and petted his nose which he purred in result. But then, Branch took another closer look at the dragon and his colors rang a familiar bell in his mind.) Phoenix?You're my mother's dragon, aren't you? Am I suppose to get on you?

Voice: (echo) Branch... (his eyes widened at the soft voice, the warm light of the sun falling exactly over him, some sort of aura around him making him look angelic.

Branch: (gasped and smile) Father? Father! (The brothers looked at their father Thorn who is a spirit of the Spirit World.)

Floyd: (gasped) Father, is that really you?

Spruce & Clay: (gasped) Dad?

John Dory: Daddy! (With his tears of joy)

Spirit Thorn: Oh Branch, boys, my sons. I am here.

Branch: But how?

John Dory: Daddy, we missed you! (Sobbing)

Spirit Thorn: Well, after I sacrifice myself, against Henan and his hunters to destroy our home. After I died from my injury since I became a spirit of the Spirit World. The hunters led by Henan Reyes' son Dante Reyes.

Branch: What!

Floyd: Father, you're watching over us, Clay saved us from harm, we got beaten by a soldier.

John Dory, Spruce and Clay: How?

Spirit Thorn: And I've missed you as well. But, I am happy that you are here now. I've watched over you five and your family and how you've grown since then. You boys come so far from the innocent little boys you were to the proud, strong, and brave warrior, you will take my place as the new leader of Glade Clan by to defeat Talons Bounty Troll Hunters and they will be peace with the humans. Does she have a name?

Branch: Her name is Poppy, she looked very depressed and she live in her bunker, I try to make her smile, and we been to train to defeat Talons and we will be peace with the humans and the forest will be safe. (The brothers looked as he disappeared from the night sky.)

Spirit Thorn: Will you sing for me, my sons? I want to hear the angelic voice you are so gifted with.

Branch: Dad, it would be our pleasure. Just know

Floyd: Father?

Clay: (sobbing) Where is he?

Spruce: (started to cry and sobbing)

John Dory: Daddy? (Sobbing)

Spirit Thorn: But you will be strong and you boys will be brave. Your mother and your grandmother are back home, waiting for you boys. But most of all, I'm always with you boys, even when you boys can't see me. I'm here.

The brothers: We know that now.

John Dory: Daddy?

Spruce: Dad?

Clay: Dad?

Floyd: Father?

Branch: Father, we love you.

Spirit Thorn: And I love you, boys, forever and always.

The brothers gasped for air and noticed they're back inside the tent. Branch placed his hand on the face and felt wetness from the tears he had shed. Poppy looked at them, he took a deep breath to calm himself down and wiped his tears. Harriet heard a spirit came from the outside, Noah, Elena, Tej, Roman and Ramsey saw Branch sobbing, since they see their father for the first time since his sacrifice and death, they were still depressed at the thought of his leaving. A South Korean man named Han Lue who wearing a navy blue suit with a black belt around his waist, she talked to them about the Wildglades, Elena puts blanket on them. Harriet talk to them until morning.

I hope this is going to be next chapter, our family passed away from their illness, old ages and others. They are in our hearts.

[thealmightea]

🔁 reblog if you ship this couples like me...

[ come back for more to check for the newest because believe me when I said this will continue til the end of time ^^ because apparently I like collecting ships like collecting stamps or coins or cards. ]

[ there's canon and non-canon (probably semi-canon too) here, so if you don't like them as a couple/don't ship them/your ship is not here, don't come at me pls T.T ]

[ if there is good movies or series that you want to recommend to me and you think I should watch them, reply on my post down below at the end of this post or send me a message ;) ]

in alphabetical order

9-1-1 - Eddie and Buck (Buddie)

9-1-1 Lone Star - Carlos and T.K (Tarlos)

Addicted - Gu Hai and Bai Luoyin (Haioyin/Heroin)

Addicted - You Qi and Yang Meng

Alles was zählt - Deniz and Roman (Dero)

All of Us Strangers - Adam and Harry

Arrêstes avec tes mensonges - Thomas and Stéphane

Animal Kingdom - Deran and Adrian (Derdrian)

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Aristotle and Dante (Aridante)

As The World Turn - Noah and Luke (Nuke)

Brothers & Sisters - Kevin and Scotty

Call Me By Your Name - Oliver and Elio (Olio)

Casualty - Jez and Mickey

Class - Matteusz and Charlie

Cuffs - Simon and Jake

Days Of Our Own - Sonny and Will (Wilson)

Dead Boy Detective - Charles and Edwin (Charwin)

Degrassi - Dylan and Marco

Degrassi - Miles and Tristan

Degrassi - Riley and Zane (Ziley)

Demain Nous Appartient - Rayane and Jack (Jayane)

EastEnders - Christian and Syed (Chryed)

El Cor De La Ciutat - Iago and Max (Maxiago)

El juego de las llaves - Valentin and Daniel

Emmerdale - Robert and Aaron (Robron)

Eu Não Quero Voltar Sozinho and Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho - Gabriel and Leonardo

Élite - Omar and Ander (Omander)

Eyewitness - Lukas and Phillip (Philkas)

Fellow Travelers - Hawk and Tim

Firebird - Roman and Sergey

Fisica O Quimica - Fernando and David

Free! - Makoto and Haru (Makoharu)

Free! - Rei and Nagisa (Nagirei)

Free! - Sōsuke and Rin

Freier Fall - Kay and Marc

Glee - Blaine and Kurt (Klaine)

Goede tijden, slechte tijden - Lucas and Edwin (Ludwin)

Grey's Anatomy - Nico and Levi (Schmico)

Hannibal - Hannibal and Will (Hannigram)

Hawaii Five O - Steve and Danno (McDanno)

Heartstopper - Nick and Charlie (Narlie)

Hit The Floor - Zero and Jude (Zude)

How To Get Away With Murder - Connor and Oliver (Coliver)

Hunter x Hunter - Leorio and Kurapika (Leopika)

In The Flesh - Simon and Kieren (Siren)

Interview with The Vampire - Lestat and Louis (Loustat)

Julie and The Phantoms - Alex and Willie

Kuroko no Basket - Aomine and Kise (Aokise)

Kuroko no Basket - Kagami and Kuroko (Kagakuro)

Kuroko no Basket - Kiyoshi and Hyūga (Kiyouga)

Kuroko no Basket - Midorima and Takao (Midokao)

Kuroko no Basket - Murasakibara and Himuro (Murahimu)

Legacies - Ben and Jed (Benjed)

Les Misérables - Enjolras and Grantaire (Enjoltaire)

Looking - Eddie and Agustín

Looking - Kevin and Patrick

Looking - Richie and Patrick

Love and Deepspace - Sylus and Xavier (Crowstar)

Love and Deepspace - Zayne and Rafayel (Snowfish)

Love Simon - Simon and Bram

Love Victor - Victor and Benji (Venji)

Man In An Orange Shirt - Steve and Adam

Man In An Orange Shirt - Michael and Thomas (Berrymarch)

Mario - Mario and Leon

Matthias & Maxime - Matthias and Maxime

MCU - Steve and Bucky (Stucky)

MCU - Spiderman and Deadpool (Spideypool)

MCU - Wolverine and Deadpool (Poolverine)

Merlí - Pol and Bruno (Brunol)

Merlin - Arthur and Merlin (Merthur)

Merlin - Percival and Gwaine (Perwaine)

Mo Dao Zu Shi / The Untamed - Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian (Wangxian)

Nadie Nos Va A Extrañar - Alex and Rafa

O Beijo do Escorpião - Paulo and Miguel

One Live To Life - Oliver and Kyle

Oz - Chris and Tobias

Please Like Me - Arnold and Josh

Please Like Me - Geoffrey and Josh

Prisma - Daniele and Andrea (Dandrea

Queer As Folk - Ben and Michael

Queer As Folk - Brian and Justin (Britin)

Queer As Folk - Drew and Emmett

Queer As Folk - Ted and Blake

Raw - Geoff and Pavel

Rebelde -Luka and Okane

Red White And Royal Blue - Alex and Henry (Firstprince)

Roswell New Mexico - Michael and Alex (Malex)

Rykter - Mathias and Erik

Salatut Elämät - Lari and Elias (Larias)

Sala Samobójców - Aleksander and Dominik

Schloss Einstein - Noah and Colin (Nolin)

School 2013 - Heungsoo and Namsoon (Heungsoon)

Sense8 - Lito and Hernando

Sex Education - Adam and Eric

Shadowhunters - Magnus and Alec (Malec)

Shadowhunters - Raphael and Simon

Shameless - Ian and Mickey (Gallavich)

Skam - Even and Isak (Evak)

Skam Belgium (Wtfock) - Sander and Robbe (Sobbe)

Skam France - Eliott and Lucas (Elu)

Skam Germany (Druck) - David and Matteo (Datteo)

Skam Italia - Niccolo and Martino (Martinico)

Solo - Oskar and Milo

Spartacus - Agron and Nasir (Nagron)

Spartacus - Barca and Pietros (Bietros)

Station 19 - Travis and Emmett

Suits - Harvey and Mike

Supernatural - Dean and Castiel (Destiel)

Tatort Saarbrücken - Adam and Leo (Hörk)

Teen Wolf - Danny and Ethan

Teen Wolf - Derek and Stiles (Sterek)

The Eagle - Marcus and Esca (Mesca)

The Halcyon - Toby and Adil

The Magicians - Quentin and Eliot (Queliot)

The Maze Runner - Newt and Thomas (Newtmas)

The Night Shift - Drew and Rick

The Old Guard - Joe and Nicky (Joenicky)

The Originals - Aiden and Josh (Jaiden)

The Quarry - Dylan and Ryan (Rylan)

The Silmarillion - Melkor and Mairon (Angbang)

The Society - Sam and Grizz

The Walking Dead - Aaron and Eric

Torchwood - Jack and Ianto (Janto)

Verbotene Liebe - Oliver and Christian (Chrolli)

Voltron Legendary Defender - Keith and Lance (Klance)

Waterloo Road - Preston and Kai

Young Royal - Wilhelm and Simon (Wilmon)

Yuri! On Ice - Victor and Yuuri (Victuuri)

... to be continued ...

❣ Give me some recs pls ❣

❣ If you want to read the stories/fics about them, from talented and great authors, you can look for it on my list of collection archives, created each of the couples. ❣

[acronym-chaos]

Luka (Alien Stage) ID Pack

[PT: Luka (Alien Stage) ID Pack].

[ID: A purple thin line divider shaded at the bottom. End ID].

Names

[PT: Names].

Adonis, Adrian, Alden, Allen, Beau, Bella, Blaine, Cai, Charisma, Cris, Damica, Dante, Dashiell, David, Dorian, Duncan, Emalie, Finn, Jesse, Joyse, Julian, Julie, Kaelan, Keiran, Lalita, Lawrence, Laycee, Leif, Lennon, Lila, Lucian, Maisie, Maxence, Maxim, Nathaniel, Roland, Sterling, Vanessa, Victor, Xavier

Pronouns

[PT: Pronouns].

App / Applause / Applauds, Beat / Beats / Beats, Cha / Char / Charm, Chor / Chord / Chords, Da / Daz / Dazzle, Echo / Echos / Echos, Ha / Harmony / Harmonys, Mel / Melo / Dy [Melody], Note / Notes / Notes, Pass / Sion / Sions [Passion], Ry / Thm / Rhythm, Shi / Ne / Nes, Sing / Song / Sings, Spot / Light / Lights, Sta / Stage / Stages, Star / Stars / Stars, Tune / Tunes / Tunes, Voi / Voice / Voir

Titles

[PT: Titles].

[Pronoun] Who Lives for the Applause, [Pronoun] Who Sings with Passion, A Star of the Spotlight, The Alluring Presence, The Captivating Performer, The Manipulative Contestant, The Melodic Prodigy, The Musical Sensation of the Stage, The One Driven by Passion, The Spotlight's Favorite, The Stage's Winner

[ID: A purple thin line divider shaded at the bottom, End ID].

Requested by anon

Also tagging: @id-pack-archive

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Sphinxmumps Linkdump

On THURSDAY (June 20) I'm live onstage in LOS ANGELES for a recording of the GO FACT YOURSELF podcast. On FRIDAY (June 21) I'm doing an ONLINE READING for the LOCUS AWARDS at 16hPT. On SATURDAY (June 22) I'll be in OAKLAND, CA for a panel and a keynote at the LOCUS AWARDS.

Welcome to my 20th Linkdump, in which I declare link bankruptcy and discharge my link-debts by telling you about all the open tabs I didn't get a chance to cover in this week's newsletters. Here's the previous 19 installments:

https://pluralistic.net/tag/linkdump/

Starting off this week with a gorgeous book that is also one of my favorite books: Beehive's special slipcased edition of Dante's Inferno, as translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, with new illustrations by UK linocut artist Sophy Hollington:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/beehivebooks/the-inferno

I've loved Inferno since middle-school, when I read the John Ciardi translation, principally because I'd just read Niven and Pournelle's weird (and politically odious) (but cracking) sf novel of the same name:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inferno_(Niven_and_Pournelle_novel)

But also because Ciardi wrote "About Crows," one of my all-time favorite bits of doggerel, a poem that pierced my soul when I was 12 and continues to do so now that I'm 52, for completely opposite reasons (now there's a poem with staying power!):

https://spirituallythinking.blogspot.com/2011/10/about-crows-by-john-ciardi.html

Beehive has a well-deserved rep for making absolutely beautiful new editions of great public domain books, each with new illustrations and intros, all in matching livery to make a bookshelf look classy af. I have several of them and I've just ordered my copy of Inferno. How could I not? So looking forward to this, along with its intro by Ukrainian poet Ilya Kaminsky and essay by Dante scholar Kristina Olson.

The Beehive editions show us how a rich public domain can be the soil from which new and inspiring creative works sprout. Any honest assessment of a creator's work must include the fact that creativity is a collective act, both inspired by and inspiring to other creators, past, present and future.

One of the distressing aspects of the debate over the exploitative grift of AI is that it's provoked a wave of copyright maximalism among otherwise thoughtful artists, despite the fact that a new copyright that lets you control model training will do nothing to prevent your boss from forcing you to sign over that right in your contracts, training an AI on your work, and then using the model as a pretext to erode your wages or fire your ass:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/13/spooky-action-at-a-close-up/#invisible-hand

Same goes for some privacy advocates, whose imaginations were cramped by the fact that the only regulation we enforce on the internet is copyright, causing them to forget that privacy rights can exist separate from the nonsensical prospect of "owning" facts about your life:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/21/the-internets-original-sin/

We should address AI's labor questions with labor rights, and we should address AI's privacy questions with privacy rights. You can tell that these are the approaches that would actually work for the public because our bosses hate these approaches and instead insist that the answer is just giving us more virtual property that we can sell to them, because they know they'll have a buyer's market that will let them scoop up all these rights at bargain prices and use the resulting hoards to torment, immiserate and pauperize us.

Take Clearview AI, a facial recognition tool created by eugenicists and white nationalists in order to help giant corporations and militarized, unaccountable cops hunt us by our faces:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/20/steal-your-face/#hoan-ton-that

Clearview scraped billions of images of our faces and shoveled them into their model. This led to a class action suit in Illinois, which boasts America's best biometric privacy law, under which Clearview owes tens of billions of dollars in statutory damages. Now, Clearview has offered a settlement that illustrates neatly the problem with making privacy into property that you can sell instead of a right that can't be violated: they're going to offer Illinoisians a small share of the company's stock:

https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/14/clearview_ai_reaches_creative_settlement/

To call this perverse is to go a grave injustice to good, hardworking perverts. The sums involved will be infinitesimal, and the only way to make those sums really count is for everyone in Illinois to root for Clearview to commit more grotesque privacy invasions of the rest of us to make its creepy, terrible product more valuable.

Worse still: by crafting a bespoke, one-off, forgiveness-oriented regulation specifically for Clearview, we ensure that it will continue, but that it will also never be disciplined by competitors. That is, rather than banning this kind of facial recognition tech, we grant them a monopoly over it, allowing them to charge all the traffic will bear.

We're in an extraordinary moment for both labor and privacy rights. Two of Biden's most powerful agency heads, Lina Khan and Rohit Chopra have made unprecedented use of their powers to create new national privacy regulations:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/16/the-second-best-time-is-now/#the-point-of-a-system-is-what-it-does

In so doing, they're bypassing Congressional deadlock. Congress has not passed a new consumer privacy law since 1988, when they banned video-store clerks from leaking your VHS rental history to newspaper reporters:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Privacy_Protection_Act

Congress hasn't given us a single law protecting American consumers from the digital era's all-out assault on our privacy. But between the agencies, state legislatures, and a growing coalition of groups demanding action on privacy, a new federal privacy law seems all but assured:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/12/06/privacy-first/#but-not-just-privacy

When that happens, we're going to have to decide what to do about products created through mass-scale privacy violations, like Clearview AI – but also all of OpenAI's products, Google's AI, Facebook's AI, Microsoft's AI, and so on. Do we offer them a deal like the one Clearview's angling for in Illinois, fining them an affordable sum and grandfathering in the products they built by violating our rights?

Doing so would give these companies a permanent advantage, and the ongoing use of their products would continue to violate billions of peoples' privacy, billions of times per day. It would ensure that there was no market for privacy-preserving competitors thus enshrining privacy invasion as a permanent aspect of our technology and lives.

There's an alternative: "model disgorgement." "Disgorgement" is the legal term for forcing someone to cough up something they've stolen (for example, forcing an embezzler to give back the money). "Model disgorgement" can be a legal requirement to destroy models created illegally:

https://iapp.org/news/a/explaining-model-disgorgement

It's grounded in the idea that there's no known way to unscramble the AI eggs: once you train a model on data that shouldn't be in it, you can't untrain the model to get the private data out of it again. Model disgorgement doesn't insist that offending models be destroyed, but it shifts the burden of figuring out how to unscramble the AI omelet to the AI companies. If they can't figure out how to get the ill-gotten data out of the model, then they have to start over.

This framework aligns everyone's incentives. Unlike the Clearview approach – move fast, break things, attain an unassailable, permanent monopoly thanks to a grandfather exception – model disgorgement makes AI companies act with extreme care, because getting it wrong means going back to square one.

This is the kind of hard-nosed, public-interest-oriented rulemaking we're seeing from Biden's best anti-corporate enforcers. After decades kid-glove treatment that allowed companies like Microsoft, Equifax, Wells Fargo and Exxon commit ghastly crimes and then crime again another day, Biden's corporate cops are no longer treating the survival of massive, structurally important corporate criminals as a necessity.

It's been so long since anyone in the US government treated the corporate death penalty as a serious proposition that it can be hard to believe it's even happening, but boy is it happening. The DOJ Antitrust Division is seeking to break up Google, the largest tech company in the history of the world, and they are tipped to win:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/24/naming-names/#prabhakar-raghavan

And that's one of the major suits against Google that Big G is losing. Another suit, jointly brought by the feds and dozens of state AGs, is just about to start, despite Google's failed attempt to get the suit dismissed:

https://www.reuters.com/technology/google-loses-bid-end-us-antitrust-case-over-digital-advertising-2024-06-14/

I'm a huge fan of the Biden antitrust enforcers, but that doesn't make me a huge fan of Biden. Even before Biden's disgraceful collaboration in genocide, I had plenty of reasons – old and new – to distrust him and deplore his politics. I'm not the only leftist who's struggling with the dilemma posed by the worst part of Biden's record in light of the coming election.

You've doubtless read the arguments (or rather, "arguments," since they all generate a lot more heat than light and I doubt whether any of them will convince anyone). But this week, Anand Giridharadas republished his 2020 interview with Noam Chomsky about Biden and electoral politics, and I haven't been able to get it out of my mind:

https://the.ink/p/free-noam-chomsky-life-voting-biden-the-left

Chomsky contrasts the left position on politics with the liberal position. For leftists, Chomsky says, "real politics" are a matter of "constant activism." It's not a "laser-like focus on the quadrennial extravaganza" of national elections, after which you "go home and let your superiors take over."

For leftists, politics means working all the time, "and every once in a while there's an event called an election." This should command "10 or 15 minutes" of your attention before you get back to the real work.

This makes the voting decision more obvious and less fraught for Chomsky. There's "never been a greater difference" between the candidates, so leftists should go take 15 minutes, "push the lever, and go back to work."

Chomsky attributed the good parts of Biden's 2020 platform to being "hammered on by activists coming out of the Sanders movement and other." That's the real work, that hammering. That's "real politics."

For Chomsky, voting for Biden isn't support for Biden. It's "support for the activists who have been at work constantly, creating the background within the party in which the shifts took place, and who have followed Sanders in actually entering the campaign and influencing it. Support for them. Support for real politics."

Chomsky tells us that the self-described "masters of the universe" understand that something has changed: "the peasants are coming with their pitchforks." They have all kinds of euphemisms for this ("reputational risks") but the core here is a winner-take-all battle for the future of the planet and the species. That's why the even the "sensible" ultra-rich threw in for Trump in 2016 and 2020, and why they're backing him even harder in 2024:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckvvlv3lewxo

Chomsky tells us not to bother trying to figure out Biden's personality. Instead, we should focus on "how things get done." Biden won't do what's necessary to end genocide and preserve our habitable planet out of conviction, but he may do so out of necessity. Indeed, it doesn't matter how he feels about anything – what matters is what we can make him do.

Chomksy himself is in his 90s and his health is reportedly in terminal decline, so this is probably the only word we'll get from him on this issue:

https://www.reddit.com/r/chomsky/comments/1aj56hj/updates_on_noams_health_from_his_longtime_mit/

The link between concentrated wealth, concentrated power, and the existential risks to our species and civilization is obvious – to me, at least. Any time a tiny minority holds unaccountable power, they will end up using it to harm everyone except themselves. I'm not the first one to take note of this – it used to be a commonplace in American politics.

Back in 1936, FDR gave a speech at the DNC, accepting their nomination for president. Unlike FDR's election night speech ("I welcome their hatred"), this speech has been largely forgotten, but it's a banger:

https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/acceptance-speech-at-the-democratic-national-convention-1936/

In that speech, Roosevelt brought a new term into our political parlance: "economic royalists." He described the American plutocracy as the spiritual descendants of the hereditary nobility that Americans had overthrown in 1776. The English aristocracy "governed without the consent of the governed" and “put the average man’s property and the average man’s life in pawn to the mercenaries of dynastic power":

Roosevelt said that these new royalists conquered the nation's economy and then set out to seize its politics, backing candidates that would create "a new despotism wrapped in the robes of legal sanction…an industrial dictatorship."

As David Dayen writes in The American Prospect, this has strong parallels to today's world, where "Silicon Valley, Big Oil, and Wall Street come together to back a transactional presidential candidate who promises them specific favors, after reducing their corporate taxes by 40 percent the last time he was president":

https://prospect.org/politics/2024-06-14-speech-fdr-would-give/

Roosevelt, of course, went on to win by a landslide, wiping out the Republicans despite the endless financial support of the ruling class.

The thing is, FDR's policies didn't originate with him. He came from the uppermost of the American upper crust, after all, and famously refused to define the "New Deal" even as he campaigned on it. The "New Deal" became whatever activists in the Democratic Party's left could force him to do, and while it was bold and transformative, it wasn't nearly enough.

The compromise FDR brokered within the Democratic Party froze out Black Americans to a terrible degree. Writing for the Institute for Local Self Reliance, Ron Knox and Susan Holmberg reveal the long shadow cast by that unforgivable compromise:

https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/045dcde7333243df9b7f4ed8147979cd

They describe how redlining – the formalization of anti-Black racism in New Deal housing policy – led to the ruin of Toledo's once-thriving Dorr Street neighborhood, a "Black Wall Street" where a Black middle class lived and thrived. New Deal policies starved the neighborhood of funds, then ripped it in two with a freeway, sacrificing it and the people who lived in it.

But the story of Dorr Street isn't over. As Knox and Holmberg write, the people of Dorr Street never gave up on their community, and today, there's an awful lot of Chomsky's "constant activism" that is painstakingly bringing the community back, inch by aching inch. The community is locked in a guerrilla war against the same forces that the Biden antitrust enforcers are fighting on the open field of battle. The work that activists do to drag Democratic Party policies to the left is critical to making reparations for the sins of the New Deal – and for realizing its promise for everybody.

In my lifetime, there's never been a Democratic Party that represented my values. The first Democratic President of my life, Carter, kicked off Reaganomics by beginning the dismantling of America's antitrust enforcement, in the mistaken belief that acting like a Republican would get Democrats to vote for him again. He failed and delivered Reagan, whose Reaganomics were the official policy of every Democrat since, from Clinton ("end welfare as we know it") to Obama ("foam the runways for the banks").

In other words, I don't give a damn about Biden, but I am entirely consumed with what we can force his administration to do, and there are lots of areas where I like our chances.

For example: getting Biden's IRS to go after the super-rich, ending the impunity for elite tax evasion that Spencer Woodman pitilessly dissects in this week's superb investigation for the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists:

https://www.icij.org/inside-icij/2024/06/how-the-irs-went-soft-on-billionaires-and-corporate-tax-cheats/

Ending elite tax cheating will make them poorer, and that will make them weaker, because their power comes from money alone (they don't wield power because their want to make us all better off!).

Or getting Biden's enforcers to continue their fight against the monopolists who've spiked the prices of our groceries even as they transformed shopping into a panopticon, so that their business is increasingly about selling our data to other giant corporations, with selling food to us as an afterthought:

https://prospect.org/economy/2024-06-12-war-in-the-aisles/

For forty years, since the Carter administration, we've been told that our only power comes from our role as "consumers." That's a word that always conjures up one of my favorite William Gibson quotes, from 2003's Idoru:

Something the size of a baby hippo, the color of a week-old boiled potato, that lives by itself, in the dark, in a double-wide on the outskirts of Topeka. It's covered with eyes and it sweats constantly. The sweat runs into those eyes and makes them sting. It has no mouth, no genitals, and can only express its mute extremes of murderous rage and infantile desire by changing the channels on a universal remote. Or by voting in presidential elections.

The normie, corporate wing of the Democratic Party sees us that way. They decry any action against concentrated corporate power as "anti-consumer" and insist that using the law to fight against corporate power is a waste of our time:

https://www.thesling.org/sorry-matt-yglesias-hipster-antitrust-does-not-mean-the-abandonment-of-consumers-but-it-does-mean-new-ways-to-protect-workers-2/

But after giving it some careful thought, I'm with Chomsky on this, not Yglesias. The election is something we have to pay some attention to as activists, but only "10 or 15 minutes." Yeah, "push the lever," but then "go back to work." I don't care what Biden wants to do. I care what we can make him do.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/06/15/disarrangement/#credo-in-un-dio-crudel

Image: Jim's Photo World (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/jimsphotoworld/5360343644/

CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

[vish-the-wanderer]

CoTE opening quotes

a list of the opening quotes in classroom of the elite:

What is evil?- Whatever springs from weakness. -F W Nietzsche, The Antichrist It takes great talent and skill to conceal one's talent and skill. -La Rochefoucauld, Reflections or Sentences and Moral Maxims Man is an animal that makes bargains: no other animal does this - no dog exchanges bones with one another. -Adam Smith, An Enquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations We should not be upset that others hide the truth from us, when we hide it so often from ourselves. -La Rochefoucauld, Reflections or Sentences and Moral Maxims Hell is other people. -Jean-Paul Sartre, No Exit There are two kinds of lies; one concerns an accomplished fact, the other concerns a future duty. -Jean Jacques Rousseau, Emile or on Education Nothing is as dangerous as an ignorant friend; a wise enemy is to be preferred. -Jean de La Fontaine, Fables Abandon all hope, ye who enter here. -Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy, Inferno Man is condemned to be free. -Jean-Paul Sartre, Existentialism and Humanism Every man has in himself the most dangerous traitor of all. -Kierkegaard, Works of Love What people commonly call fate is their own stupidity. -Schopenhauer, Philosophical Writings Genius lives only one story above madness. -Schopenhauer, Parerga and Paralipomena Remember to keep a clear head in difficult times. -Horace, Odes (Carmina) There are two main human sins from which all the others derive: impatience and indolence. -Franz Kafka, The Zurau Aphorisms The greatest souls are capable of the greatest vices as well as of the greatest virtues. -Rene Descartes, Discourse on Method The material has to be created. -Florence Nightingale, subsidiary notes (female nursing into military hospitals in peace and war) Every failure is a step to success. -William Whewell, Lectures on the History of Moral Philosophy in England Adversity is the first path to truth. -G G Byron Don Juan To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions;  both dispense with the necessity of reflection. -H Poincare, Science and Hypothesis The wound is at her heart. -Vergil, Aeneid If you make a mistake and do not correct it, this is called a mistake. -Anonymous, Analects People, often deceived by an illusive good, desire their own ruin. -Niccolo Machiavelli, Discourses on Livy A man who cannot command himself will always be a slave. -J W V Goethe, Zahme Xenien Force without wisdom falls of its own weight. -Horace, Odes (Carmina) The worst enemy you can meet will always be yourself. -F W Nietzsche, Thus spoke Zarathustra

lmk if you'd like explanations as to how these epigraphs relate to the story

[eresia-catara]

whats the significance of Guido having red hair?

Sorry anon I took this long things have been a little rough lately, but do know that this answer has been in the back of my mind constantly.

So, I'm not saying this is what dgr actually meant because I am not an expert in this field (I talk as if I were an expert in any field lol) so I'm writing this as my personal interpretation jsksj but anyway here's the deal:

pre-raphaelite art developed inside a cultural context that was rediscovering irrationality in all its forms and was fascinated with all that was exotic — meaning, all that is far away, both in time and space. This, especially going towards the northern regions of Europe, meant a special interest in the Middle Ages (far away in time and, due to the prejudices of previous Enlightenement, maximally superstitious/magical = irrational). This means that when we read a pre-raphaelite painting we have to be strongly focused on symbolisms, because that's what their art was: a thought, a message, conveyed through a set of elements that redirected the mind to something else, something more that is beyond what we see. Art is a means to an end, simply put; it's never the point.

Now, a recurring symbol in this art is women with long red hair, such as

Hair in general has always been strictly linked to the essence of a person, going from personality to their position in life. For example, in Mediterranean territories, brown hair is the most common, so if a person has a different color it means they are uncommon in a way or another. In this perspective, in the Middle Ages blonde was usually associated with purity (we can see that the virgin Mary was usually depicted as blonde, but women in poetry were also described as blonde). Red was more often associated with force, be it good or bad. In the Bible, David has red hair because he is destined to great things, but also Saul and Caiaphas are described that way and they were inspired by the devil. In art, Judas has red hair, and when he kisses Jesus, he too has red hair. Red hair is ambivalent, it is however preeminently irrational and goes beyond the earthly dimention; if a person has red hair it essentially means 'hey look out! this person brings consequences'.

And what about hair that is long? Long hair is associated with women, and as it's also associated with sensuality (since hair was considered a main instrument of seduction), women often kept it up as a form of modesty. Thus long hair that is not tied up stands out, again, like the colour red. It tells us the person is not common, they are special in some way (at least in art, because in society you were simply considered a wh0re if you weren't young enough lol), they stand apart from the crowd because they do not follow conventions.

This also makes long red hair extremely sensual, for example.

If we go to dgr's painting where Guido has long red hair, well, the picture speaks loudly, to the 19th century observer. Guido brings consequences, he stands not among the commons because he, as a being, does not conform to social codes and formalities and conventions. He is an irrational force, in the sense that what he brings cannot be understood through analytical thinking and Reason and science but rather through a synthetical approach (what I mean is: imagine a set of stairs, where the bottom is absolute ignorance and the top is absolute knowledge. Analytical thinking means understanding step by step as you go up, synthetical is like being teleported from the bottom directly to the top). And in fact what does Guido have that is so special? He is the friend that found out Dante's talent, he's the means through which Dante achieved divinely-willed (not profane, not rational) glory, he's an omen (irrational). Guido brought a consequence: Dante. And by having him read Guinizzelli's poems we have a temporal continuity from the old masters to the new ones, from old art to new art, from old knowledge to new knowledge.

but do we also have to exclude the possibility that Guido is simply sexy haha

[reblrths]

CLOSED STARTER | @riiseandfall

he was told to rest -- maxim couldn't. perhaps he was simply being difficult, but the worry that resided in every limb of his body could not rest if he wanted to. he was scared to sleep, scared he'd wake up somewhere he wasn't before he closed his eyes, scared he might have missed someone to check up on, scared he might not wake up. irrational, but there nonetheless. it was late now, late enough for showing up on someone's doorstep to be considered rude unless otherwise invited, but maxim couldn't stop thinking about him.

when the door opens, maxim simply blinks a few times. the balcony feels like a lifetime ago despite it being less than twenty four hours. he doesn't react immediately, trying to will himself to catch up to the moment. he takes in certain details in small parts: dante is alive. he's wearing a long sleeve shirt. he's slightly disheveled. there is something peeking past his collar. dante is alive. the worst is assumed immediately, a fear max doesn't think he'll ever quite be able to shake again, that dante was there, too, hidden somewhere in the dungeons of snow's mansion as he was. he wishes he could remember distinctly what he'd heard, that it didn't all blend together, but now he's just staring at the marks peeking out, just barely seen if you didn't focus, and hasn't made any move since dante opened the door. there's a reason dante wears shirts like these. maxim made note of it a long time ago -- this is bad.

after a moment, his dry mouth finally makes the effort to move. how long has he been standing here? "are you -- what -- dante," he says. "what happened?" he asks softly, as if one side of his face wasn't completely covered in bruises, as if he wasn't breathing shallow and ragged because of his ribs and he wasn't a shell of the man he usually is when around dante. he wants to reach out. he still hasn't moved. "are you okay? did they-- what did they do?"

[kidcapes]

How ATLUS Got Dante From Devil May Cry Into Shin Megami Tensei III: NOCTURNE

As I'm sure you can tell from the title, I just finished a video covering the publicly known behind the scenes details surrounding ATLUS and Capcom's collaboration on Nocturne Maniax edition. In my opinion this is a pretty interesting moment in ATLUS history, and I think even fans who are avid readers of staff interviews will learn something new.

Document Transcript

For anyone who requires a transcript to follow along with the reading of the document within the video:

Dante receives a request to "kill a fiend" from a gentleman in a suit who calls himself "Louis Cyphre" and lands in Tokyo, where he is dragged into the "Tokyo Conception". Then, while wandering around Tokyo, Dante encounters the true hero and engages him in a fight to the death in order to "kill the Fiend". However, Dante is convinced through the battle that there is an ulterior motive behind the request, and resolves to set out with the hero to discover the true purpose of the request and, possibly, to carry it out.

"…. I'm always ready to take you down"

Dante had lost his father's inherited magical power after being drawn into the Tokyo Conception. It is the magical power that activates the Devil Trigger and transforms him into a form that maximizes the power of majin [Fiend]. Thus Dante, in such a state, is in the greatest danger. Not satisfied with achieving creation in another world, Beelzebub, the "Tyrant of Chaos," appears in Tokyo, twisting the dimensions in his insatiable pursuit of power.

Beelzebub revived at each attempt, no matter how many times he tried to strike him down. Mentally and physically pushed to the edge of the cliff, Dante's father Sparda's voice rang in his ears.

"…Dante, leap into the chaos. The true opponent you must defeat is not such a boy, nor such a revolting demon. It is the fallen angel from the depths of chaos! Now leap in! I'll lend you my power!" Dante, determined, accompanied Beelzebub to the dimensional hole that Beelzebub had distorted and expanded, and jumped into it himself.

"Boy, I won't let you die. After all, I'm the one who's going to kill you."

Dante was calm, realizing everything. Throughout his journey with the boy, he learned that the request was for a "Fiend Battle Royal," a trap set by Louis Cyphre, and that by falling into the trap, he learned of the true enemy he was to defeat. In the depths of the converging dimensional hole, Dante activates his Devil Trigger, transforms into his true majin [Fiend] form, and is about to deliver the finishing blow to Beelzebub.

"Let's rock, baby!"

Right after that voice rang out, the dimensional hole was completely sealed, and the protagonist found an "event item (tentative) [menorah/candelabrum]" dropped nearby…

[hornyforpoetry]

Winter Reading Challenge

Every season I like to give myself a challenge to read. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to finish almost any of the ones I had in the autumn challenge (I'm not a procrastinator, I swear, I just have very little free time). This time, I tried to include in the list books from several fields, from prose to poetry, philosophy, theater and theater theory, biographies. There are many Russian authors in this list, it seems to me that they fit very well with the cold season. Let's hope that this time I will stick to reading more. Wish me luck!

From December 1st - February 29th (European calendar)

Leo Tolstoy – ”Childhood. Boyhood. Youth”

Leo Tolstoy – ”War and Peace”

Fyodor Dostoevsky – ”The Double” (1846)

Fyodor Dostoevsky – ”Demons”

Ivan Turghenev – ”Rudin”

Nikolai Leskov – ”Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk and other short stories”

Anton Chekhov – ”Novellas and novelettes by Anton Chekhov”

Nikolai Gogol – ”Dead Souls”

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn – ”One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich”

Mikhail Bulgakov – ”The Master and Margarita”

Maxim Gorky – ”Mother”

Vladimir Nabokov – ”Lolita”

Marguerite Yourcenar - "A Coin in Nine Hands"

Marguerite Yourcenar - "A Blue Tale"

‌Franz Kafka - "The Metamorphosis and other stories"

Edgar Allan Poe - "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket"

John Edwards Williams - "Stoner"

Ovid - "Metamorphoses"

Dante Aligheri - "The Divine Comedy - Inferno"

Giovanni Papini - "Gog"

Plato - "Phaedo"

Aristotel - "Metaphysics "

Marcus Aurelius - "Meditations: Thoughts to Myself"

Immanuel Kant - "Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics Article Talk "

Niccolo Machiavelli - "The Prince"

Emil Cioran - "The Trouble With Being Born"

Peter Brook - "The Empty Space"

Jerzy Grotowski - "The Poor Theatre"

Antonin Artaud - "The Theatre and its Double"

Martin Esslin - "The Theatre of Absurd"

Salvador Dalí - "Diary of a Genius"

Vaslav Nijinsky - "The Diary of Vaslav Nijinsky: Unexpurgated Edition"

August Strindberg - "The Ghost Sonata"

William Shakespeare - "Titus Andronicus"

William Shakespeare - "Coriolanus"

Maxim Gorky - "The Lower Depths"

Racine - "Britannicus"

Goethe - "Gotz von Berlichingen"

Frank Wedekind - "The Spring Awakening"

Aeschylus - "The Oresteia" (Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, The Eumenides)

[vngful]

You know what . At this point i dont think im ever gonna get into a serious relationship bcus i find it impossible to believe that you can impress me more than my favorite character?! LMFAO

[typhlonectes]

Modifications in Subterranean Salamanders

by Dante Fenolio

In 1971, one of my heroes, biologist Ron Brandon, wrote of "modifications" that he observed in obligate subterranean salamanders (species no longer inhabiting surface environments).

These are adaptations to permanent life in groundwater and cave waterways - or to terrestrial cave habitats in the adult form of the Grotto Salamander species group as well as metamorphic West Virginia Spring Salamanders.  

Among these modifications was a flattening and broadening of the head - relative to surface inhabiting plethodontid (lungless) salamanders.  One hypothesis for the observed modification is that more teeth can be incorporated into the mouth.  

The widened mouth, with an increased tooth count, improves prey capture/handling efficiency. In an environment where feeding opportunities are scant (groundwater habitats) every feeding opportunity must be maximized. 

Brandon also listed these body changes as modifications to an obligate subterranean existence: reduced eyes and pigmentation, reduced number of trunk vertebrae, and elongated appendages.  

Certainly a trend toward a permanent life in water has been observed. In general, salamanders attain permanent life in water, in a "juvenile" body form, via neoteny (sexual maturity of an animal while it is still in a larval form) or paedomorphy (retaining juvenile features as an adult).  

Everything we have learned in the following 50 years has taught us that Brandon's "modifications" are real, are useful in subterranean habitats, and allow subterranean salamanders to survive in challenging and difficult environments below ground.

photograph of Texas Blind Salamander by Ryan Hagerty | USFWS

[put-me-out-of-my-destiny]

In my post about expanding on Nero's Buster mechanic, I mentioned wanting to incorporate Tomboy's moves into Nero's standard moveset. Let me elaborate on that.

Tomboy's air attacks, Bloody Queen Air and Red Queen Air EX, would be the easiest to incorporate.

Bloody Queen Air is a Revolver-like move that slowly sends Nero to the ground as he spins, slashing with Red Queen. I would incorporate this into his air combo, making it his new Air Combo B (performed by performing the first hit of the air combo, pausing, then pressing the Attack button again), making his Roulette Spin his Air Combo C.

Bloody Queen EX is a downward swing, followed by another downward swing that sends Nero to the ground. I would give this a similar input to Hard Way, performed by holding and releasing the Attack button.

Incorporating the ground attacks is tricky, but not impossible, provided another change is made to Nero's moveset.

In Devil May Cry 5, Nero's Devil Breaker moves and his Devil Bringer are mapped to different buttons (Circle/B and R2/RT by default). However, if the player could utilize the directional pad to manually select Devil Breakers rather than cycling through them in an inflexible order, perhaps they could also select Nero's Devil Bringer instead, using the same button to control it as they do to control his Devil Breakers.

I'm picturing something a little similar to Dante's Style Wheel from Devil May Cry 4, with Nero's Devil Bringer occupying the same position as Dante's Darkslayer style. I'm thinking that switching from one Breaker to another would destroy the currently equipped Breaker, but the player should be able to switch between their current Breaker and the Devil Bringer easily.

The only significant downside to this is that Nero would no longer be able to use Bringer Knuckle during their Devil Breaker moves, not without some very time sensitive directional pad presses. The Devil Bringer moveset I designed doesn't really have a Forward action, maybe some way to queue a Bringer Knuckle that will activate on Nero's next attack? Maybe holding or repeating the input could delay the activation further, up to three attacks ahead? It's a bit of a complicated solution, but it's worth exploring.

But with all this in mind, perhaps Nero would still have access to Maximum Bet and Showdown with his Devil Bringer selected, but with a Devil Breaker selected he'd be able to perform Tomboy's ground attacks, Red Queen Combo EX and Bloody Queen, with the same inputs.

Red Queen Combo EX is a series of heavy slashes, ended with a fourteenth extra heavy slash. It reminds of Force Edge/Mirage Edge Combo B, in which Vergil alternately swings Yamato and his secondary sword, ending with a leaking circular slash. I think this move would be activated with either Maximum Bet's or Showdown's input, but would only continue as long as the player mashes the Attack button, a little bit like Dante's Dance Macabre.

Bloody Queen is an attack that sends Nero forward and upward, and while it could use Maximum Bet's or Showdown's input, there's actually another option I like better, that occurred to me due to how much Bloody Queen reminds me of Vergil's Rising Star. Rising Star is performed when the player holds the Attack button during Rapid Slash, so perhaps Bloody Queen could be performed when the player holds the Attack button during Streak. I like this because it would make room for Nero to have a brand new Red Queen attack using either Maxim Bet's or Showdown's input.

And while I touched on this in the previous post, I want to reiterate that I want Tomboy's EX Shot to be incorporated into Nero's standard moveset too.

In past entries, the player is basically obligated to remap the Gun button in order to take full advantage of Charge Shots, so one change I'd make is mapping Color Up to Back-To-Forward + Gun, and have Blue Rose automatically charge so long as at least one Color Up shot is available.

On top of this, if the player uses the Back-To-Forward + Gun input with all three Color Up shots available, Nero will enter the manual aiming stance associated with Tomboy's EX Shot.

[of-pale]

Dante is maximizing aerodynamics here. The gloves are for warmth and the tinsel garlands are for style. Do not question it!: