#dr seuss meta

[weirdly-specific-but-ok]

whoville celebrates christmas, implying there was a who jesus. discuss.

If there is a Who jesus, there is a Who Aziraphale and Crowley, and it was these two.

Aziraphale and Starmaker/Angel Crowley on laudanum, respectively, are "Ned McDodd" and "Sally O'Malley". Aziraphale is trying to explain a magic trick. Crowley is smiling at her crazy boyfriend.

Also consider: Who Jesus was just Aziraphale trying to be angelic, but he was executed by the sans-cullottes for eating crepes in a famine. The First Coming in Whoville was actually the equivalent of our world's French Revolution.

Christmas in Whoville is when everyone indulges in hedonism and gluttony to honour the immortal Aziraphale who somehow survived the execution miraculously, since that must have been God's will.

Crowley dresses up as Santa so she can go to the North Pole and look at the Aurora Borealis and all the stars. Aziraphale is very glad that his misdeeds led to Crowley smiling in that way she does when she looks at the night sky.

Crowley knows all the kids in Whoville by name, and knows what each of them love. She gets them the best presents.

Every Christmas, she adds a star to the sky for Aziraphale. No one knows about it but them.

Discuss.

[school-of-roses]

📚How to Read an Academic Paper📚

"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go." —Dr. Seuss *̥˚✧

Reading an academic paper can be as much of a challenge as finding the source in the first place, if not more so. Knowing how to approach the process can help take you from struggling through it, to learning what you need to know in the least terrible way possible.

Structure of a Paper

Academic papers tend to follow a similar format.  APA is as follows:

Title 

The name of the paper, authors, dates, etc.

Abstract 

A short summary of the paper.

Introduction 

Introducing the paper. Sometimes this is written before the experiment starts. You often find the hypothesis here for an experiment. Sometimes it’s written after, but they’ll usually write it as if it was written before.

Methods and Materials 

How they did it and what they used.

Results of the Study 

What they found and how they analyzed it.

Discussion

What they concluded from the results and why, often with sources from other similar papers.

Conclusion 

What this means and what they concluded.

(No Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion [IMRaD] you are most certainly not RAD. >:( )

How to Read Papers by Type

Different papers from different fields can present unique challenges to reading and understanding.

Start with the abstract. Once you’re done reading the abstract mosey on down to the conclusion!  Ignore the middle bits! Most of the time the middle bits are there to tell other researchers “I gotta make sure this is up to the standard of academic research!” Once you’ve read it once you can go back to the Method and judge how they performed it.  However, at first this is a lot so go read the conclusion!  It should be short, sweet, and tell you what they have spent the last so-and-so pages arguing. This will make it easier to understand.

It may seem counterintuitive to go in this order because we are taught to read books top-to-bottom left-to-right, but academia is full of clowns who speak in code.

Humanities Papers

Humanities papers are the most likely to dunk the format of a research paper.  They are also usually based on the researcher’s interpretation of a primary source.

Because humanities papers are often based on the researchers' (albeit very educated) opinion it lends itself to a critical analysis of everything from translation to cultural or social bias from the researcher much more easily. (What primary sources did they base their conclusions on?  Would you have done the same? What have other researchers said? In the cultural context of the time, does this translation make sense?) However, this tends to come after you’ve successfully understood what the researcher is trying to say.

Primary Source

A primary source is first-hand knowledge of something. These can include a writing from a time period by someone who was there, a record made at the time, a photograph, or even an artifact.

Secondary Source

A secondary source is second-hand knowledge. These are the papers written on the subject, textbooks, and accounts written by the people who were not around when it happened. They are not inherently worse than secondary sources, and are very important for spreading knowledge, but research based on secondary sources tends to be a compilation of a lot of research rather than direct investigations. [See: Historiographies. Synthesized studies. Meta Analysis.]

Scientific Papers

The abstract is your best best friend!!! They are not hiding the ball, it’s in the abstract.  Then once again take yourself on a trip to the conclusion. Scientific papers almost never deviate from this format. Read it once, twice, and thrice again until you understand what the abstract is saying.  This will help you understand the whole paper better.

Additional Complications for Scientific Papers

Experimental design can be, and has been, the subject of many an entire college semester for many people.  Don’t expect to understand it outright if you’re new! For the results of most studies, the relevant concept is going to be "statistical significance". This is the probability that the results were found by chance.  It is generally decided ahead of time based on what is being measured and notated similarly to p<.05. This means that the statistical probability of getting those results by pure coincidence is small enough to be significant.

Often in the discussion section you’ll see the author talk about their sample size, their potential biases, and the limitations of their experimental design (if they don’t the other academics will laugh at them). While you can look at this yourself and decide, this often gives a good idea of where there could be room for error.

Qualitative vs Quantitative

Qualitative data is the how, what, and why of research. Quantitative is the numerical measurements. [Think “quality vs quantity”.] There are different statistical terms and analyses for these different types of measurements, but that could be a whole course, let alone document, in and of itself. They use big words like they’re being sponsored by WebMD and Webster both.

Think of it like this: if you do an experiment and adding something to someone’s drink causes it to taste sweeter, that’s a qualitative measurement.  If you’re adding something to someone’s drink and it raises their blood pressure from 100 to 120, that’s a quantitative measurement. Differentiating between them can be tricky, but a good tip to keep in mind is if it’s studies with people is that qualitative research is usually done with small groups of people - often 100 people or less, while quantitative research will often be upwards of the hundreds. This is because with quantitative research you often need large sample sizes for the data to be meaningful. 

There are many types of qualitative research, including interviews, ethnographies, oral history, case studies, focus groups, record keeping, different kinds of observations, etc, while on the quantitative research side of things, we have our surveys, descriptive research, experimental research, correlational research, comparative-causal research, and more.

Causing you Problems

Those are the general rules and advice, now let's talk about how they are broken.

Style

The structure of an academic paper differs by style. APA sticks to this format very strictly.  However, Chicago (my mortal enemy) is going to have footnotes to contend with, but could still have an abstract and a conclusion. If it has neither of those, lament them, shame them, and curse the author to the pit before skirt skirting your way to the first paragraph (approximately the abstract or introduction), and the last two or three paragraphs (approximately the conclusion). They tend to have generally the same information as would be found in a labeled heading.

The code clowns not only said “make it complicated”, they made it complicated across several different paper writing formats. If by some unholy tragedy you find a writing in MLA? Bite the author with your real teeth, and hope your highschool prepared you for this. At the very least MLA tends to be easier to read by starting at the beginning.

Jargon

Academic papers are often incredibly dense! Academia knows this!  Please don’t be afraid to look up words you don’t necessarily understand!  It’s not shameful! Shame them for using big words, like the pompous elites they are, and pull out a dictionary. Understanding is important! If all else fails, no one needs to know you looked up a word, you can just do a quick Google search and look like a pro.  I do it all the time.

Plus there are often tons of educational materials for learning academic jargon because no one is born educated. They had to learn it, they are just expecting their audience to be someone who has already gotten a degree on the subject. It’s dense and boring, “no one else is reading this shit, surely,” they think while dunking a donut in a cup of hot Red Bull.

[christian-oc-tournament]

More propaganda for Naphtali! I thought I'd share a little of his Origin Story (in a meta sort of way).

So, way back in January of 2020 (before the world went nuts), I was playing around with these music challenges. You know, create a character from a shuffled playlist kinda thing. I was working off of this one in particular:

And HOO BOY.

First song (the appearance one) was the freaking Grinch song. And not just any version, but specifically the Jim Carrey Grinch song.

(That's where the weird looks and features came in: I decided to take as many of the lyrics literally as possible. I accidentally got a bit of personality too, in that he's very pleased with his looks. He also does silly voices.)

Second song (the personality one) was "Grim Grinning Ghosts", and specifically this version:

(VoicePlay was a huge favourite of mine for years - thanks to this video, a lot of the ghost characters look like the members of the group!)

So from here, I got that he was spooky, and a bit silly and mischievous, but maybe not even really realizing he was spooky? And that he lived in a haunted house and socialized with ghosts all the time. (When I first came up with it, his now best friend was a ghost too!)

The third song (the rather vaguely worded "partner relationship" one) was just called "Enchantment". No lyrics, just music and whispery sounds. Like so:

I don't know why, but the vibe I got was "housekeeper".

At the time, she was just his assistant or something, but she was under some kind of enchantment, and also whispered a lot. Nowadays... most of that is still accurate, I guess. Except that now, there's a LOT more to their relationship than just assisting. ;)

By now, I was starting to get the idea that this was an unusual guy. Grinch, ghosts, AND enchantments.

But then I hit the "family" song.

And suddenly, this monster guy with a haunted house and an enchanted housekeeper has three 1970s kids showing up on his doorstep, and he has no idea what to do with them.

That's when it started to stick.

Then, fifth and finally, I had the name song. This one took a good bit of research initially, but I took my cue from the title:

"Prometheus" and "Flint" seem to have always been around (both having to do with fire). However, his middle name was harder. I almost named him "Corydon", "Baltair", "Boris", or (I can't believe I considered this one) "Alphonse".

In the end, I finally settled on "Naphtali". And am I glad I did!

It's funny, though, because after I gave him these names, I started thinking. I like tying in names with themes. But what happened was that, not only did I find themes to tie in, I ended up discovering some extremely vital plot points, the makings of the book, AND the very title of the story: The Prometheus Curse!

Of course, he's gone through a lot of changes since then (I think I was initially getting the vibe of some spooky supervillain way out in his haunted house all alone - back before I drew him, anyway!). And everyone else has changed and grown too. But I still love this story, and this world, and especially these characters.

In a way, this silly challenge gave me the entire story.

Or, it might be more accurate to say, if Naphtali hadn't come along, dancing to the music of these five songs, The Prometheus Curse wouldn't exist.

Vote for Naphtali, y'all! Keep him going to the next round! :D

.

[joethetoonfanandoutcast]

New creatures in Trolls Band Together

What are they? They look like a mixture of Dr. Seuss things, Muppets, and Rolie Polie Olie characters.

DreamWorks just keeps surprising us.

Though frankly, I'm also envious. They could have worked as background characters for a meta Tiny Toons/Looney Tunes film I've been wanting.

[leo-in-london]

Shakespeare Becomes a Rapper

I wasn’t quite sure what to write about for this blog as I couldn’t think of anything I’ve seen that’s feature Shakespeare as a character. In search of the revivification, I scoured YouTube and happened upon this throwback.

Epic Rap Battles of History, also know simply as ERB, was a pretty popular YouTube series in the 2010s that often, like Shakespeare, theatricalized historical figures (and sometimes fictional characters). In the above video, ERB pits Shakespeare up against Dr. Seuss. The short video doesn’t seem to attempt to be much more than an piece of entertainment, but it still throws in references to Shakespeare’s works and style of writing; his first (rap) verse is in iambic pentameter, and at one point, he holds up a skull, just like Hamlet does. This Shakespeare makes references to his own works through certain lines he raps and also includes historical facts, such as the bubonic plague.

Meanwhile, Dr. Seuss partakes in the rap battle through his characters, like the Cat in the Hat and Thing 1 and Thing 2. The Cat in the Hat references specific Shakespeare plays, like Macbeth, and Thing 1 and 2  talk about upstaging Shakespeare with their raps. This, plus some of Shakespeare’s own lines, reminds me of our discussion on meta theatrically, or the breaking of the 4th wall, as those participating in this rap battle acknowledge the performative aspects of Shakespeare and his works, as well as his lasting legacy.

[argentdandelion]

The Crime a Moose Can Get Away With

A Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose and Green Lantern: The Animated Series "Prisoner of Sinstro" Comparison

Who is more corrupt or unjustified in choosing to let people die: the future supervillain, Sinestro, or a big-hearted moose?

Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose Plot

The plot starts with Thidwick inviting one Bingle-Bug who's in some mild discomfort to ride on his antlers. The Bingle-Bug invites more "guests" to live on Thidwick's horns without Thidwick's permission, who cause him pain. Guests point out and exploit his "big-heartedness" and say he's made his horns a "public hotel", which is certainly not the case. One guest, a Zinn-a-Zu bird, causes him physical harm by plucking out 204 of the hairs on his head to make a bird nest on his antlers; another guest, a woodpecker, drills into his antlers and causes him pain. The guests' sheer peskiness, and Thidwick's belief he can't remove them because they're his "guests", make his other moose friends leave him.

The seasons change to winter, and his other moose friends leave for better feeding grounds on the far southern shore of the lake. Though there's no more food ("moose-moss") for Thidwick to eat there anymore, the guests say Thidwick has no right to take their "home", his horns, to the far end of the lake. More and more guests pile onto him, including fleas and a hive of bees.

Then he's pursued by Harvard Club Hunters shooting at him with a bullets like hail, all while carrying 500 pounds' worth of guest-weight. Cornered at a spit over the lake after an exhausting chase, Thidwick realizes all moose shed their antlers at this day in winter, and throws his antlers, guests aboard, off himself and into the direction of the hunters, as he joins his moose friends at the other end of the lake. In the final page, there’s view of his old shed horns on the wall of the Harvard Club, with the following:

"His old horns today are

where you knew they would be.

His guests are still on them,

all stuffed [taxidermied], as they should be."

"Prisoner of Sinestro” Plot

In "Prisoner of Sinestro", the Green Lantern Sinestro saves a mysterious alien, Neuroxsis, from a space-frigate run by the Spider Guild, an organization known to torture and devour prisoners in its care. In a homage to the film The Thing, Neuroxsis unpredictably “mind-jumps” from one person to another, using their bodies to try to kill the others crew members.

After realizing what’s happening, Sinestro creates a foolproof way to determine who’s under Neuroxsis’s control at any given time: he depressurized the spaceship. Neuroxsis’ possible hosts all wield “power rings”, devices linked to the bearers’ minds which will only create life-support fields for the individual users under the dangerous conditions if the users are presently in control of their bodies. Sinestro claims the ship’s cell for prisoners (“the ‘Sciencell’”) is the only room still pressurized; Neuroxsis will have to jump back to his body inside the Sciencell to save itself.

Though Neuroxsis does jump back to his body, Sinestro later reveals he “must have forgot [he] compromised the chamber’s seal” when the escaped the cell himself earlier in the episode. Though he easily could have saved Neuroxsis while he was in a state of shock from being unable to breathe, he did not. As Neuroxsis dies, he says “Justice is served”, and explains what happened to another character, Hal Jordan, who did not witness the interaction:

Sinestro: "I must have damaged the venting system when I escaped. The criminal's body suffocated before his mind returned." (not true)

Hal Jordan: "Thaal...the Green Lantern code…"

Sinestro: "I didn't kill him, Jordan. I simply didn't save him...in time. A tragic accident. Perhaps it's for the best---you wouldn't want Neuroxsis getting loose on Oa, would you?"

Similar Antagonists

The pest-guests and Neuroxsis have some broad similarities: they exploit the protagonist(s)’ kindness, take over their body or bodies without consent and override their desires, and deliberately harm their targets’ body or bodies.

Thidwick’s houseguests “took over his body” in the sense of physically burdening him up to the point he had to carry 500 pounds while fleeing the Harvard Club hunters, plucking out 204 hairs from his head to make a nest (when there was no information saying it was the only option, at that), “outvoting” him from swimming to the other side of the lake, and leaving him in an area where there was no more food. The houseguests also mistreated Thidwick for months, judging by the passage of the seasons. Neuroxsis takes over crewmates’ bodies more directly: his species can explicitly “take over another’s body and will”, and the person so taken over does not recall what the mind-jumper has done with them afterward. Neuroxsis’s motives are more sinister: he jumps from person to person to get them to kill each other, ostensibly to get to Oa with no witnesses or suit its murderous desires. Unlike with the pest-guests, Neuroxsis's mistreatment lasts for hours, at most.

Though the pest-guests’ decisions would lead to Thidwick likely dying of starvation, Neuroxsis’s whole goal was killing everyone. Unlike for Neuroxsis, the pest-guests wouldn’t actually benefit from Thidwick’s death.

Morality of “Not Saving”

Both Thidwick and Sinestro choose to “not save” the antagonists, in situations where they believed the protagonists would die without intervention.

There’s some ambiguity between how much Thidwick understands of the hunters’ motives and their actual motives. They say they “must get his head for the Harvard Club wall”, not specifically “antlers”. If Thidwick can understand humans, perhaps he would have thought the Harvard Club Hunters only wanted to kill him for the wall, and the guests would be safe, if annoyed that Thidwick shed his antlers. However, they did take his head-less antlers (plus pest-guests) at the end. The line “His old horns today are where you knew they would be” suggests it can be expected the hunters would be interested in his head-less horns, even though they claimed to specifically want Thidwick’s head. If Thidwick thought there was a high chance the hunters would kill the pest-guests, he committed a murder-by-inaction, or wanted them dead and let the hunters do the dirty work.

Sinestro’s legal guilt is also ambiguous. It’s unclear whether Thaal didn’t remember his method of escape compromised the Sciencell’s integrity until later on, or whether he was outright lying when he said the Sciencecell would be safe. Either way, given how quickly he fixed the seal later, he clearly avoided easy methods of saving Neuroxsis’s life that would not put himself at risk of harm. He wanted the outcome of Neuroxsis dying: when Neurxosis is dead, he unnervingly says “Justice is served.” and tells Hal: “Perhaps it's for the best---you wouldn't want Neuroxsis getting loose on Oa, would you?"

What Does the Work Think?

Both Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose and Prisoner of Sinestro have meta-messages framing characters’ actions.

At first, the narrative of Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose suggests Thidwick is doing the best he can in this situation, accommodating his 'guests' and not being rude. However, the description later shifts from “guests” to “pests”, and the narrative calls Thidwick “poor Thidwick” (as in “pitiable”) and blames the pest-guests for Thidwick being trapped. The final line is most condemning: “His guests are still on them, all stuffed as they should be”. The book, therefore, shows a meta-message of the guests being terrible people who should be punished with death, rather than only illustrating their deeds and characters’ reactions to them.

In “Prisoner of Sinestro”, everyone knew before Neuroxsis’ death that he was one of the most wanted criminals in the galaxy, though no one knew for what at first. By the moral standards of the show and real life, that’s not enough information to determine whether Neuroxsis should be killed or “not saved”, After all, one of the crewmates, Razer, was originally a criminal in the hateful, cult-like Red Lanterns: he acted to kill thousands of people, his actions led to the death of one Green Lantern, and, like Neuroxsis, he was once held captive in a Spider Guild prison. While Neuroxsis is portrayed as scary when people figure out what’s happening, when Neuroxsis is dying, the treatment shifts. The musical cues while Sinestro lets Neuroxsis die, Neuroxsis’s weak flopping and pained breathing noises, and Sinestro’s unsettling dialogue conveys the feelings of “Sinestro is morally suspect” and “Sinestro letting him die is sad and scary”.

If one’s aware of outside materials, Sinestro’s actions are further cemented as immoral. In many Green Lantern works, Sinestro later founds the evil Sinestro Corps who gain their power by terrifying others. In contrast, Thidwick’s choice never leads to his descent into evil, no one criticizes his choices, and everything is perfectly happy for him in the end. (Unfortunately, the author cannot find the plot of All Aboard Thidwick, written by a different author and ostensibly a sequel of sorts.)

Who is More ‘Evil’?

If the ship (other than the Sciencecell) were still depressurized, even if Sinestro sealed the Sciencell up again and saved Neuroxsis’ life, Neuroxsis couldn’t mind-jump into another host without risking suffocation within seconds. He could have been safely contained, so Sinestro did not “not save” Neuroxsis as the only way to preserve his own life or the life of others.

One could argue Thidwick simultaneously distracting the hunters and lightening his load by throwing his horns to them was the only way Thidwick could survive. However, Thidwick’s smile before and during the part he throws his horns, and the insouciant attitude of his dialogue in that moment, make his thinking awfully suspicious. He isn’t troubled at all by the possible fate of his pest-guests when he ends up with his moose-friends at the other end of the lake, either.

Both situations might fall into the legal idea of “duty to rescue”. In the words of Wikipedia, it’s a concept that states “a party can be held liable for failing to come to the rescue of another party who could face potential injury or death without being rescued.” Who should be persecuted? Who is more corrupt, or unjustified in his actions: a Seuss moose or Sinestro?

[invincibleweasel]

Nitpick November: Day 3,4, 5 & 6

Nitpick 3: Why is Penny’s blood green? If we are meant to believe that she was built to blend in with the rest of humanity, why give her such an inhuman colour for her internal fluids? What if Penny got injured while on a mission with her old team, and they see her green blood. Her cover would be blown.  Considering the fact that Penny bleeding in the first place seems to be a new addition to Penny 2.0 which begs the question, why give her the ability to bleed? Why give her the ability to feel pain? These weren’t features she originally had. She shrugged off the truck in Volume 2 like it was nothing, just a scratch. It really brings into question what Pietro was thinking while making Penny 2.0. Nitpick 4:

Adam’s main colour is red, supposedly. Why does he wear predominantly black then? If this was post Fall, I would understand. Wearing more and more black as a visual representation of his growing obsession with Blake, that would’ve been good. But he doesn’t. He wears more black than red in all appearances that we’ve seen him in. What gives? Why not dress him in mostly red for the Black Trailer and then following the Fall he starts to wear more black. 

Nitpick 5: The Colour Naming Rule leaves much to be desired. It isn’t necessarily bad, conceptually. But there’s a lot of loopholes that come with it. Any name can be associated with a colour with enough leaps in logic and reaching. And that isn’t even getting into the fact that it doesn’t even have to be the first name that is colour associated. Just the last name will do. It’s why we have names like Jacques, James and Ghira which have no colour meaning, but are still accepted as following the rule because of their last names.  What’s stopping them from naming characters generic names? Weiss Schnee could easily be named Karen Schnee, after all, she gets the colour meaning from Schnee, doesn’t she? Even then, you could get a colour out of Karen as it can mean ‘pure’ potentially bringing to mind white. Which brings me to my next issue with the rule, a name’s meaning could bring to mind different colours depending on who you asked. One person might think that ‘pure’ brings to mind white, while another might think of black as a ‘pure’ colour. It’s vague and there’s no objective right or wrong answer to it.  Another problem I have with the rule is that names reference things that don’t exist in Remnant to get their colour meaning. Dr. Bartholomew Oobleck for instance, gets his colour green from the oobleck substance from the Dr. Seuss book Bartholomew and the Oobleck. This wouldn’t be too big of deal if the rule was purely from a meta standpoint. But the rule actually exists in-verse, meaning Dr. Seuss and his books would have to exist too to get this colour meaning. The same applies for Ghira, who takes his name from Bagheera. Does The Jungle Book exist in-verse as well? Nitpick 6:

Heels. Why does almost every female character in this show, regardless of occupation wear some sort of high heels, stilettos or wedges?  Now, this isn’t to say female characters can’t wear heels. They obviously can, and for some characters such as Weiss, Cinder or Glynda it makes perfect sense. It works character wise. But characters like Blake, Pyrrha, Neo, Winter and Raven? Highly trained fighters who partake in a lot of movement while fighting shouldn’t be wearing heels that would likely inhibit said movement. Even Nora in the words of Ein Lee who worked very closely with Monty was originally in high heels and had much longer hair in Monty’s original sketch, before Ein Lee changed it. This honestly wouldn’t be too big of an issue if the creators were a group of women who wanted to make their own show of badass women. But it isn’t. The truth of the matter is that these characters were made and designed by three cishet men. They are the ones who chose to give their spartan inspired character super high platform heels with a mini-skirt and no upper armour. They are the ones who gave a random heart-shaped boob window to their Nordic warrior. They are the ones who gave the audience long lasting shots of a female character’s body for the audience’s enjoyment and nothing else. They are the ones purposely gave their black thief an even skimpier outfit than the one she had originally, just to show off her breasts more.  These were all decisions the creators purposely made regarding their female characters’ designs, who were all minors at the time. The creators have a problem with unnecessarily sexualising their female characters and it needs to stop.

[carolinafloresprieto]

“Por qué encajar…..

[countessofbiscuit]

5, 6, and 19 for the fun meta ask if you're still doing that?

I am indeed! Thank you for the ask :)

5. What character that you’re writing do you most identify with?

Bo-Katan, probably (yes, every iteration, in one way or another lol)

6. What character do you have the most fun writing?

I answered Riyo previously, but Fox is on the other side of that favorite touch piece. Like her, he’s got limited screentime, but it’s enough to establish some key things about his character, either explicitly or by inference. Unlike her, he’s almost universally reviled by casual fandom and it pisses me off 🙃 Who knew spite-writing could bring so much joy? >:D I like justifying his actions within the narrative; doing so is also a great springboard for worldbuilding more about the Coruscant Guard and where it sits in the civ-mil security apparatus of the Galactic Republic.

Also, he’s just sexie. I basically write him as my iron-pumping, fast-n-furious freshman-year boyfriend if that boyfriend had a brain and different demons. There’s something just personally satisfying in that, especially because it aligns so well with what I see as Fox’s canonical circumstances.

19. Is there something you always find yourself repeating in your writing? (favourite verb, something you describe ‘too often���, trope you can’t get enough of?)

I’m a sucker for the short ‘u’ sound, especially in verbs. I have a tendency towards assonance and alliteration because … idk, that’s just how words are filed in my head. I know writing guides will be like ‘don’t keep the thesaurus open when you write!’, but that’s not helpful advice for people with language difficulties. I don’t want to purple-prose shit, obviously, but I also don’t want my stories looking like adult Dr Seuss :p

On a broader level, I tend towards sitcom in my writing. Maybe it’s just the 90s kid in me, maybe it’s because I watched A LOT of them at a formative period in my life when I started to understand myself more. So that sort of set-up—small cast in a small setting dealing with something ironic—is what I fell into doing when I started writing fanfic; I wasn’t really conscious of it until I’d built up a good number of stories and was like … “huh.” It also just happens to be a great template for missing scenes, which are some of my favorite things to write.

Fun Meta Asks for Writers

[onecornerface]

"Actually, Dr. Seuss Enterprises made the decision themselves with no prompting from any angry SJW mob." This is not true. The angry SJW mob has been hassling Seuss Ent. for years, and they set up a commission because of that mob, and the commission told them to "voluntarily" remove the books. Claiming that there are no powerful societal forces supporting censorship is straight up gaslighting and it is beneath you.

Since writing the original post, I have been led to recognize that there was apparently much more external influence on Dr. Seuss Enterprises than I had initially assumed. I’m not sure of the details, so I don’t know how strong the pressure was or what form it took. But I’ve seen both critics and supporters say there was such influence.

Whatever the actual situation, my initial assessment definitely was overconfident and oversimplified. I shouldn’t have made the post without checking things out more thoroughly, and it was below the standard I usually try to hold myself to.

Here’s where I was coming from: My main concern was to put the middle-ground possible view out there (i.e. ”the books contain racism, but shouldn’t be discontinued”), as a view which was worth articulating and discussing-- to improve the conceptual clarity of debates which seemed polarized by the false dichotomy between “the books contain racism and should be discontinued” vs. “the books don’t contain racism and shouldn’t be discontinued.”

Sometimes these middle-ground positions are true. But even when they are false and a more partisan position is true, I think it’s generally bad when the discourse fails to acknowledge & discuss the middle-ground possibilities explicitly. It seemed to me this was a problem which was prevalent in the Seuss discourse I was seeing, and which my post could help avert.

This meta-level concern was my main interest in making the post at all. I was, and still am, pretty uninterested in the object-level Seuss controversy.

Unfortunately, I wrote the post from a position of relying too heavily on my initial vague impressions of the object-level concerns of the discourse, without doing enough research on it to check if these impressions were accurate. I still don’t know much about it, and I won’t be making another post about it unless I do a lot more research first-- which I have no motivation to do.

My uncharitable impression of the “cancel-culture-has-gone-too-far hysteria” was largely based on my impression that a lot of people were buying Seuss books as a way of protesting the discontinuation without knowing that they were actually giving their money to the people who’d decided to do it. So it seemed they were making a ‘buycott��� decision which they wouldn’t have made if they’d known more. But maybe my own impression was incorrect.

Moreover, as I initially wrote the post for Facebook (rather than Tumblr) where I have a lot of friends who support the discontinuation, I was probably also biased toward trying too hard to overtly differentiate my position from an anti-SJW position. So I would say that element of the post was beneath me.

Just to be clear, I do not believe that “there are no powerful societal forces supporting censorship,” and I have never believed this. We’d probably disagree on various substantive details of particular controversies, and I’d probably be agnostic on some particular issues where you might be confident, but we would both agree there are indeed powerful and bad pro-censorship forces. This includes powerful and bad pro-censorship forces on the left.

Finally, it seems like you’re accusing me of arguing in seriously bad faith. I am not arguing in bad faith, and I wasn’t arguing in bad faith when I made my original post. At worst, I have only been overconfident, uncharitable, and biased-- in the manner I’ve described above-- and I probably also worded my position badly. These are bad things, epistemically and morally. But they are mundane faults which are at worst a very distant cousin to “straight up gaslighting.”

Actually, your suggestion that I have engaged in “straight up gaslighting” is really excessive and uncalled for. Maybe you’re really only suggesting that I was doing something too similar to gaslighting, or that I was at risk of veering into gaslighting if I didn’t become more careful, or something along these lines. But from the wording, it really sounds like you are indeed accusing me of straight up gaslighting.

I hope I have provided some reasons to believe this view about me is incorrect, in part by clarifying my thought process in writing the original post, and admitting to what I consider to be the actual plausible faults in how I went about doing it. I’m not sure how much object-level stuff I was or wasn’t wrong about, but my assumptions were unwarranted due to insufficient research, and the problem is that I posted without knowing enough.

Writing this reply has been very helpful in clarifying my thought process for myself, and I hope it will be helpful to some readers as well.

But I resent the accusatory manner in which the ask was written, and I don’t think I owed this kind of self-critical response to such a message. I have written this for the benefit of myself and readers, and as a supererogatory benefit for you as well, but not out of a sense that I owed you any such response.

This sort of ask really puts me on the defensive and tempts me to turn off anonymous asks. Please do not accuse me of “gaslighting” or arguing insincerely. Feel free to accuse me of being wrong, biased, overconfident, or even unreasonable, or of wording my position badly (and backing it up with evidence). Preferably in nicer language, but still, I’ll probably take it.

I like having an option for anonymous asks, since I think anonymity sometimes can help people write uncomfortable but valuable questions or comments. But if I get accusatory asks of this sort in the future, I will more likely set the “ask” feature to require non-anonymity. In that case, anyone who wants me to prove to them that I’m arguing in good faith will have to first present some initial evidence that they are arguing in good faith, and unfortunately complete anonymity without a username cannot provide this.

[cybercitycomix]

New Product released on Friday August 18th, 2017.

Aliens Covenant: Neomorph + Xenomorph

Aliens Series 11

Dorbz Naruto

Heroes of the Storm Series 3

Meta X Justice League: Decks + Packs

Mystery Minis: Walking Dead “In Memorium”

Mystery Minis: Dr Seuss

Pop Game of Thrones: Wun Wun

Yugioh Code of the Duelist Packs

[goodbyenorthernlights]

the once-ler

AS A CHARACTER: 

Disclaimer that you still need to stream this movie for me and I haven’t seen it so this is just going to be my impressions.

He seems like a decent character, although the movie seems to suffer from the situation wherein expanding a short children’s picture book or fairytale or similar thing into a full length movie with character arcs usually requires shedding some of the magic, which isn’t like, a thing You Should Never Do, imo, there’s value in both kinds of stories, but there’s still a definite sense that in trying to build upon the book they came out with something that was a different animal than the original.

The fact that they decided to make him basically Just Some Dude as opposed to an ambiguously human green entity kind of exemplifies it- I can see why, if you’re going to make a story about someone who gets corrupted by his own capitalist ambitions and eventually redeems himself at the end, you would want him to have a face and stuff, and you want the audience to see themselves in him, but would it be thaaaaat hard for audiences to see themselves in a weird garden hose monster man???

Still, I do remember reading a really insightful meta piece on him and the movie and how his character is sort of a critique of the capitalistic idea of success, so I always wind up thinking of that whenever I think of him.

I just don’t think he’s ever going to be as cool to me as the live-action version. I mean, seriously, look at this dude.

Anyway, I’m going with 2.5/5 for now but I do think he’d probably earn a higher score if I ever see the movie.

IS HE SEXY:

He’s. Cute? Like he’s not quite pretty enough to twig my “eheheh bishies” buttons but he’s also about as far from being a hunk as you can get. But he’s not repulsive or anything, he’s just sort of there, like a potato that people bewilderingly insist on referring to as sexy.

I think he would be hottest in contexts where he is being whumped on, but I have not pursued Lorax fan content enough to have much of an opinion. I’ve told this story before but my first and only foray into Lorax fandom was innocently going “Oh yeah, the movie was released recently, and I like Dr. Seuss, let’s check out the tag!” and immediately being confronted with explicit oncest art.

Like honestly, no shade to anyone who was into that shit, even back then I was like YKINMK but seeing porn when you don’t expect to see porn is a bit of an “EUGH” button and also at the time my revulsion towards incest stuff was stronger, enough so that, while clonefucking normally doesn’t necessarily trigger it, the usage of the “oncest” label did squick me the fuck out.

Also I heard someone made an askblog for an AU version who was made entirely out of cum which is gross as fuck to picture and is a fact that will never ever ever leave my head.

Anyway, 2/5 in general, 0/5 if he’s actively trying to be a sexy dom and/or made out of cum.

[fanbun]

Seuss Tales: From Page To Screen

Below the cut is an essay I wrote about Dr. Seuss adaptations after I was inspired by watching Green Eggs and Ham on Netflix. In the essay I examine the changes that adaptations have made to the original stories and how they have evolved over time. If you’re interested, please give it a read! :D

-

The tone of a Dr. Seuss book has proven particularly difficult to reproduce in any lengthened retelling. It is much like attempting to expand a poem into a novel. Somewhere during development, the original form will fall away to fit the new medium. And while artifacts of the original may still be present in the final product, such as a line or two, it is likely that those artifacts will feel disconnected from the product as a whole. In terms of Seuss, this is usually classic rhymes from the original stories that the audience expects to be included in the adaptation. Even if an audience member has had little exposure to the source material, they can usually identify these moments when a character starts rhyming for no particular reason. Of course, it must be said that some adaptations mimic the original tone better than others, and in those cases the product feels much more cohesive.

Since it is so difficult to expand a short story, the safest decision when making an adaptation is simply to be faithful. In the past, Seuss adaptations stuck much closer to the source material. How The Grinch Stole Christmas (1966) set the standard for the many Seuss TV specials that came after it. These specials utilized a narrator that would read the book nearly word-for-word and had an animation style that stuck as close to the original illustrations as possible. Where padding was necessary to extend the run-time, it was usually done by including songs and extra animation sequences. This form of padding didn’t typically disrupt the flow of the story since the songs featured rhyming in them as well, and the added animations were used to bring Seuss’s world to life. Dr. Seuss himself even wrote the lyrics to many of the songs. Thus these first Seuss TV specials were as close to direct adaptations as the public was ever given.

So when did the trend change? Well Seuss died in 1991 and in the year 2000, a live action comedy film starring Jim Carrey was released based off of How The Grinch Stole Christmas. Ironically, the very same title that started the initial animated Seuss renaissance. It was not only the first feature length film based on a Dr. Seuss property, but it was also a major financial success as it offered a new take on the familiar story. After all, the original animated special was already so beloved. The producers had to try something new to entice people to go see it. So what was created was a movie about the character of the Grinch, that followed the general story of the Grinch, but was entirely divorced from the classic tone and presentation of a Dr. Seuss book. Additionally, it made alterations to the characters and plot in an attempt to add depth and expand upon the story. This live action Seuss trend didn’t last for long, however, and it came to an end after The Cat in The Hat (2003) left a poor taste in the public’s mouth.

Jim Carrey would later return to voice the quirky titular elephant of Blue Sky’s Horton Hears a Who in 2008. This time animation was back in the form of trendy CG. The humor was modern but not quite as edgy as in the live action movies, and the trailers promised a more authentic Seuss experience for the youth at the time. Though the age of CG animated movies was an attempt to return to form, they couldn’t escape the adaptational dilemma of trying to stretch short stories into full movies. Horton Hears a Who (2008) remained faithful to the book’s plot but was padded with plenty of gags that tended to outstay their welcome. In contrast, Illumination’s The Lorax (2012) padded its run-time by expanding on the Onceler’s character and introducing new characters, including an all new antagonist. This, although showing clear ambition, ended up being a controversial decision as many viewed it as obscuring the book’s intended message.

Interestingly, Netflix’s Green Eggs and Ham series (2019) is mostly padding. In fact, there is hardly anything in the show that resembles the original book aside from the two main characters, Sam-I-Am and “Guy”, and the aforementioned Sam’s affinity for green eggs and ham. And yet it manages to feel more like a Seuss story than many of the adaptations that have come before it. No doubt this is partly due to its traditional 2D animation style, though the inclusion of many Seussian creatures and contraptions should not be overlooked as an important factor. It is terrible as a direct adaptation, but as an expanded retelling it is brilliant. The writers were given a book so simplistic, with such a straightforward moral, that they only needed to follow it loosely to deliver on its message. They took a couple characters, a handful of words, and rewrote it almost entirely. And really, that was the only smart choice for a series that spans 6 1/2 hours in total.

One of the most drastic departures from the book was the decision to make the plot revolve around Guy and Sam smuggling an exotic animal (named Mr. Jenkins) in a briefcase to return it to the wild. This concept alone turns it into a completely different story. So much so that I’d argue the title of “Green Eggs and Ham” hardly fits as a descriptor. Still, the theme of animal protection is entirely in line with the types of morals found in Dr. Seuss books. This recurring message is made even more evident since the villains work for a serial animal abuser who keeps live animals on display as status symbols. I could have easily imagined that a separate Dr. Seuss story existed with this same plot.

But what is perhaps most interesting to me about the rewrite is that, along with convincingly portraying a story based on Dr. Seuss, it also adds its own modern sensibilities into the mix. Not merely by way of adding humor and references like some adaptations before it, but through the story’s structure itself. First of all, it is a multi-episode animated series with emphasis on continuity. Secondly, it fleshes out the personalities and backstories of the characters over time. And thirdly, it at once represents and transforms the source material in something of a metatextual exercise. The narrator’s tendency of breaking the fourth wall is a perfect example of this. He even acts as an audience stand-in at times, commenting that he wasn’t expecting to see the events that occur during the opening scene from a Seuss adaptation. Or at another point humorously asking “Was this in the book?” This brand of meta comedy made me take note of the more daring writing choices like the shocking reveals about Sam and the B.A.D.G.U.Y.S. toward the end of the season. Once again, the writers deliberately added complexity where there was originally very little.

Crucially for fans of the book, the rewrite doesn’t betray the original moral of Green Eggs and Ham. Rather it adds a layer of depth to that moral’s execution. In the book, the plate of green eggs and ham represents the characters’ willingness to try new things. It is the same in the series, however the unexpected journey the two leads embark on is what is given the most narrative focus. After leaving his comfort zone, Guy’s emotional attachment to Sam is what makes him finally try the green eggs and ham. It is a symbolic gesture of how far his character has come from the beginning of the show. He initially wanted nothing to do with Sam or Mr. Jenkins, but then he got to know them and discovered how much he cared.

So although it is risky to create an adaptation that changes much of the source material, it can absolutely be worth the risk. There is boundless creative potential to be found in transformative works, and that potential may be realized if given the right amount of passion and dedication. Sure, it might upset the purist in us, but the original already exists. Why not make something new out of it? Cut up pieces of the poem. Rearrange the words and add a new perspective. Some people will always consider doing so to be ruining a classic, but others might view it as a masterpiece all on its own. In the end it is up to personal opinion whether an adaptation is good or not, but nonetheless I think we should celebrate the cultural significance of these stories that leads us to recreate and retell them time and time again.

[momentofmemory]

Tagged by @capsgrantrogers 💜

Icon: i actually just changed it!! it’s a modified panel from the amazing spider-man #537 (civil war tie in: the war at home pt. 6). peter asks steve how he handles public pressure and steve gives his famous “no, you move,” speech. it’s a very nice moment between the two. <3

Content: predominately marvel but with a splash of b99, sw:tcw, art history/meta, and lotr. for my personal offerings:

gifs—mcu (steve rogers, peter parker, natasha romanoff, and my og6 & ny boys sets) and a tiiiiiiiiny of b99 and sw:tcw. 

writing—mcu!Peter Parker and misc.

Letter color: black, unlike my coffee (which always has milk).

URL: lifted from the quote “you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory,” from the heart’s domain (but often attributed to dr. seuss).

Header: made by me; exists because i made the base image for a set and then wound up falling in love with the colouring. 

Blog title: steve’s famous/infamous line first appearing in captain america: the first avenger.

tagging: @sersis, @feeisamarshmallow, @downey-junior, @jackmanhugh, @the-inarticulate-chikin, and @dindjvrins (with the obligatory should you desire but no pressure, etc., etc.) 😊

[monkey-network]

Good Stuff's Best of 2019

WARNING: Just wanted to say cheers to you for making it through another year. I send you best wishes for next year to be fruitful. Thank you, take care out there, and enjoy. (Best of 2017) (Best of 2018)

Dedicated to Russi Taylor, John Witherspoon, Rip Torn, Tartar Sauce, Caroll Spinney, Peter Matthews, and the many of KyoAni lost in the arson incident. You all did wonderful; rest in peace.

Welp, I figured the last year of this decade would be the most chaotic one by far, then again everything peak after 2012. As for now, I am counting down the best cartoons/animations/comics I’ve seen and loved this year in no particular order other than #1. Same rules apply: No sneak previews of future projects, no repeats, and this time anything goes.

Runner Ups: Superman Smashes the Klan, Marvel’s Aero, Infinity Train, Enter the Florpus, Amphibia, Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart, Helluva Boss, Meta Runner, Lego Movie 2, Forky Asks a Question

Anyways, Badda boom bang whiz, let’s do this shizz...

10. Super Mario Bros GT

Nostalgia can be quite a mystery, especially one that can come out of nowhere. Super Mario Bros Z kicked so much ass as a kid that now, it still frustrates me to this that it got a cease & desist from Nintendo, even the reboot from the same person couldn’t last long. But the gods have offered a slight miracle in the form of this new spiritual successor that has heart and soul put into every pixelated frame. There is much to celebrate with Youtube animation, where many say it’s dying due to the algorithm and all of the site’s corporate bullshit, but it’s stuff like this which helps me understand why we should celebrate. Against all odds, channels like Smasher Block willfully put their works out their for the people and continues to because on top of getting a little dough, it’s what they want to do.

9. DC SUPER HERO GIRLS (2019)

Awwwwww yeah, this is She-Ra and the Princesses of Power done right. Diverse female squad, each given a quality screen time to truly shine (Beecher especially) on their which makes the episodes where they’re all together feel earned and joyous to watch. Certainly reminds me of Friendship is Magic, which is coincidental since they were created by the same woman. I’d like to think this and MLP G4 were the answers to Faust’s cancelled project Milky Way and the Galaxy Girls where multiple personalities collide to one extraordinary superhero team of girls capable great feats that are lifted from their insecurities or drawbacks. And on top of this being a fun series to kick back to all around, it’s a comforting, somewhat aspiring thought to consider.

8. JOKER

I am somebody that rarely goes to the theaters to watch a film; you have to hook my tight just for me to even think of buying a ticket, no less plan to. But honestly, Joker was worth the hype, the ticket, and the fact that it wasn’t the incel uprising that buttfuck normies tried to make it out as. It’s lower on the list because in thought, there definitely could’ve been some tweaks to the dialogue and a couple scenes that I felt didn’t work in the long run. But really, this movie to me worked because of the escalation that leads to a cathartic climax and ending that left me in actual tears. I don’t give a shit if it “doesn’t fit”, having Frank Sinatra sing the film's credits put me in shambles. Joaquin Phoenix was phenomenal as Arthur, and this movie felt authentic in its many details. This is definitely up there with my favorite comic book films of all time. Good thing, too, Spider-Man was taking up most of that shelf.

7. TUCA & BERTIE

This series being what I can’t help but say is a spin-off to Bojack Horseman, a show I respect, was enough to pull me into watching it. But it being like Bojack where it’s tight-roping between a bouncy comedy and a grounded drama was what kept me around for more. It is a damn shame this was cancelled after one season (while 13 Reasons Why gets FOUR seasons like what the fuck), because while this did feel enough like a complete series, I was certainly interested for more because I really enjoyed it all. I have my issue with a couple choices in the show, but I am sure this series would’ve addressed them later down the line. I can see why some women would find this personally endearing, it felt like the personal stories of actual people, and it deserved better. Either way, I enjoyed this series and I recommend it just as much as Bojack.

6. PRIMAL

Genndy Tartakovsky is that kind of cartoon creator where you feel he’ll go beyond if you give him the right amount of space. He’s not a perfectionist like John “Dirty Diddler” Kricfalusi, but with things like Hotel Transylvania and Samurai Jack, he certainly has proven to have the range in animation where you know how he plays. Primal showcasing his noted skill in dialogue-less storytelling and dynamic action scenes, able to convey everything clear with its ruthless yet careful protagonist and his dinosaur friend, all on top of the most luscious backgrounds. This is a series that definitely feels like Genndy’s taken what he’s used from his previous works and putting it together for a brutal yet passionate look at the prehistoric life. He truly brought us an adult series to enjoy and to look forward to more in the coming year.

5. SPINEL

Bet you didn’t expect a character to be on this list, eh? Spinel is the best thing to come out of Steven Universe in general; makes me wish she was in a better movie. The crew certainly did their darndest to make her not only an enjoyable and connectable character through and through, but a very versatile character that the fandom could take in any which way. Call it corny, but Spinel perfectly represents SU as a whole: a lovable goof that can certainly mean business but deep down is deserved of a hug because of what she’s gone through. Wish she had a more satisfying resolution in her respective debut, but really it’s the balance between those three elements mentioned that makes Spinel almost eternally wonderful.

4. MOB PSYCHO 100 II

As someone that doesn’t like reading, I’m a firm believer that the best animations or visual medias elevate the writing to a memorable degree; the visuals hook to the point where you want to think about what you saw and how it was conveyed. Mob Psycho 100, for two seasons now, does this in spades where Studio Bones throw them bones in animating one of the most dynamic animes of the modern era, providing the writing and characters a proper chance to flex its muscles. The characters are especially what makes this and MP100 as a whole work so well, the story being about a boy learning to be more sociable as well as emotionally stronger all while helping others understand maturity and empathy. For more on this, I recommend Hiding in Public’s video(s) on Mob. But with the animation, Bones was able to provide a sense of impact and immersion to the moments that matter, not making it an overstimulating mess, and putting some respect on ONE’s webcomic art style. 

3. KLAUS

Hands down, this is a great Christmas movie. Take away the animation and you have a charming, wanna say ground and authentic, story about the makings of Santa Claus. With memorable and likable characters, a nice escalation in terms of the plot, and moments that are/can be so satisfying, they can bring you to tears. A couple overdone tropes in the road that doesn’t make this the most perfected story, but those sincerely minor compared to everything else that makes this story the best. Now. Add in the animation, and you have a gold, nay a platinum animated story of the year where the visuals definitely enhance the story to a degree where they’re undoubtedly inseparable. The visuals alone is enough to check this movie out and it’s eye-opening when you learn of how it’s all done. Klaus is a film that did it’s job and then some, and I hope this will be well remembered as a classic holiday film for it deserves that status.

2. BEASTARS

I’ll be fair, I’m mostly referring to the manga and not the anime but since the anime premiered this fall, it counts. Because be it the anime or the series overall, Beastars has such well intricate world building all while offering a little something for everyone (violence, romance, slice of life). The story is well paced and even when we aren’t focusing on the main characters momentarily, Itagaki is surprisingly able to make every supporting/side character we come across memorable in their own way; like I said before, the city is much a character in this story. Oh yeah, and the mangaka is the daughter of Keisuke “Grappler Baki” Itagaki, that in itself is a treasuring bit of trivia for this. Everything about Beastars is enticing and Studio Orange certainly helped in giving this series more of a following.

1. GREEN EGGS & HAM

Well, well, well. Guess Netflix is three for three in terms of bringing its best foot forward among its few steps back each year. The best term to describe this series is surprising. Surprising that this is a Dr. Seuss story that got expanded a 13 episode series, that has fleshed out characters, fun hijinks, an easy story, lovely emotional, more quieter moments... on top of being 2D hand drawn animated. I mean, what else is there to say? Green Eggs and Ham is to Dr. Seuss what Seven was for Final Fantasy, what Friendship is Magic was for MLP, what watermelon was before a nice menthol cigarette. This definitely took the top spot because to me, it was able to bring many good elements from the previous entries and knot it all together into a well kept bow that I never knew I wanted until now. I’m genuinely glad this show got to exist the way it is and I am hoping, praying, that the second season keeps that momentum up.

That leads us to the actual number one which is

1. STEVEN UNIVERSE FUT-

Total Dramarama is now the two time World Heavyweight Champion, babey. Will 2020 give us a quality contender? Will the streak last another year?

Stay tuned, and always seek out the Good Stuff.

[blessedrestlessness]

In “The Cat in the Hippie: Dr. Seuss, Nonsense, the Carnivalesque and the Sixties Rebel” Kevin Shortsleeve writes of Black Panther Party leaders liberationist exegesis of Bob Dylan’s “Ballad of a Thin Man”, explaining: “Dylan intended no such reading but authorial intent is not required for nonsense to produce an inspirational effect.” Shortsleeve doesn’t use “nonsense” in a pejorative sense here, but in a literarily precise way, indicating that puzzling mode of intellection at play in the works of such writers as Lewis Carroll, Edward Lear and the mid-Sixties Dylan; a mode similar in some respects to that of the Zen kōan. So-called “nonsense” is not senseless, in fact, but evades prosaic sense. What it transcends is not rational intellection per se—and certainly not insight—but merely “logic” narrowly (i.e. incompletely) defined: the logic (falsely so-called) that allows for the continuation of the complacent and consumeristic consciousness of the prosaicentric and non-meta-meditative status quo.