#even if you’re constantly learning new techniques it’s really hard to apply them to your art right away

[mossytrashcan]

Charcoal, lilac, steel (major envy), and lemon

your art is great too!! something that really helped me develop my style was using chinese and korean portrait photography as references. they’ve got insanely good colors and lighting

also, for other people interested in my style: I use the procreate brushes round paintbrush, nikko rull, and gouache to get my textured rendering. I don’t gatekeep

also also: here’s a photography site I use for inspo. It might be dodgy so beware: http://www.cnu.cc/works/416994

[seijorhi]

Hey, god it’s me again. 😔 LOL

I think that at this point of my life your beautiful and flawless fic ‘means to an end’ has physical intertwined with me. It is a part of my mind, soul, and body. 😩 Everything about it is chefs kiss.

I wish I could just kiss that beautiful big brain of yours for coming up with such delicious ideas. The way it’s on my mind daily since the moment I read it is SICKENING (in a good way obvi 😏).

I will go through my day and out of nowhere something will remind me of it and along will come a question. You did this to me Rhi 🫵.

NOW I know you’re very busy with getting your new fic ready (absolutely excited btw, I love Gojo and knowing your beautiful mind , anything you write will be to die for!!!!) but I wanted to ask a couple questions (I know, shocker right?). Since I know you’re busy, don’t feel obligated to answer these questions. In fact, I’ll be very happy if you even reply with a heart. (I simply just wanted to let you know deeply I appreciate/admire your work.)

But here are my troublesome questions:

- Did the guys on their volleyball team know about their obsession with the reader?

- I know you mentioned Atsumu having girlfriends through highschool but did that apply to Osamu too? (Especially since he liked the reader first?)

- This is sort of like my first question but did the girlfriends know as well? And if they did, did they feel any jealousy? (Jealousy from their boyfriend giving his attention to someone else.)

- Since there was a long period of time of not seeing the reader, did they have hopes of seeing her again? (before Atsumu found ame)

- While in that period of time did the twins still date around?

That’s all but please if you have anything else to add , it’s definitely welcomed. 🫶 (also I’m sorry if these questions sound silly or stupid but they’ve been taking up my mind for awhile and I’m sorry to everyone for constantly bringing up ‘means to an end’ but that fic has a strong grip on me yall. Like I’m down bad on my knees for this version/fic of the Miya twins 😔.)

OFF TOPIC: I’ve been trying very hard to be more active with my favorite writers to show love and support but still find the idea to be very scary. I still get nervous sending in messages or asks but I’m trying to take baby steps. I also want to gain the confidence of not having to press the anonymous button because I want you to know who I am but as a second baby step , I will now be signing my post with my nickname since I want you to (sort of) know who I am ☺️ (and not just some crazed fan lol.)

-🌬️🌫️ katia

(I keep on forgetting which emojis I used on the previous questions I sent but I hope I got it right this time 🥲)

(Edit: you’ll probably see the same message again but that’s because I’m sending it to you again because I forgot to mention this in the pervious one 😰.

You’ve inspired me to start taking a more darker route in my writing. I began writing maybe a month ago and it’s a romance novel. (So far I’ve got two chapters 🫠).

But these past couple days I’ve been REALL REALLY wanting to write more darker content (like the kind you write, you’ve inspired me a great deal with your writing technique).

But the problem is I don’t know how to write yandere/horror/gore. So I was wondering if it wasn’t to much of a bother, if you could give me some tips or advice. (Im very new to writing and I have my struggles but I want to branch out to more darker themes, like you and fairy.) Still learning the ropes but I hope with your guidance, I’ll get there 🫡. )

hello my love!

okay so first of all if ur gonna keep being so cute and complimentary i will melt into a soft gooey puddle and be of no use to anybody so be warned.

as for your questions:

i would say that most people who spent a decent amount of time around the twins, i.e. their teammates and classmates, would have at least an inkling about their interest in bullying her. the miyas are many things, subtle isn't one of them. having said that, i think out of everyone, suna was probably the only one who saw it for what it was

hookups yes, 'girlfriends' no

again, anyone who spent a significant amount of time around the twins was bound to eventually put two and two together. which isn't to say that they were all blind going in – some undoubtedly thought they could snag his attention once they were officially dating, only to find themselves bitterly disappointed

they 100% both kept tabs on the reader, it was more a case of biding their time and waiting for the right moment

yes. not serious, long term relationships (aside from ame) as neither one of them would be capable of faking it for more than a few months but relationships all the same

advice wise, i dug up this old post which hopefully will be at least a little helpful??

beyond that, all i can really say is that for me, good yandere/horror fics balance emotion with tension, and the build up of both. the characterisation is also really important – what makes you love to loathe them, or alternatively, not see them coming until it's entirely too late. nothing bores me more in a yan fic than when the writer hasn't bothered to give their yan a personality beyond a cookie cutter obsession.

but congrats on getting started with writing! i'm proud of you bby <33

[art-of-manliness]

5 Lessons From the Iron

Back in 2015, I started weightlifting seriously.  Over eight years of training, I was able to get strong. But more importantly, I discovered a hobby that brought me immense satisfaction.  While I don’t barbell train like I used to, I still religiously lift weights.  During my eight years of serious training, I’ve learned some important life lessons from the iron.  Below, I share five of them. 1. Success Comes From a Long Obedience in the Same Direction When people decide to get serious with exercise, they tend to focus on the minutiae of their new regimen. People spend a lot of time looking for the right program and the right equipment. They think they’ll see incredible gains if they find the optimal set and rep range.  But there’s something just as, if not more important, than the training program you choose: Being consistent with it for months and even years.  How did I deadlift 600 pounds? I trained consistently for six years. Sure, my programming changed during that time, but the thing that didn’t change was me going down to my garage four times a week to train.  The necessity of consistency applies to every other endeavor in life.  I’ve used the consistency principle to lose 30 pounds this year. I didn’t do any crash dieting. I just gradually reduced my calories and stuck to my macro target almost every day for eight months. That’s it.  When people ask me for advice about their online business, they often ask me about the tools and tricks Kate and I use that helped us get AoM to where it is today.  Keeping up with the latest trends in technology, marketing, and social media hasn’t been nearly as important as simply sticking to our publishing schedule; for coming up on sixteen years now, we’ve published several pieces of content nearly every single week. AoM isn’t slick, flashy, or even particularly cool, but it is consistent.  As Nietzsche put it, “everything of the nature of freedom, elegance, boldness . . . and masterly certainty”; everything to do with “virtue, art, music, dancing, reason, spirituality”; everything “that is transfiguring,” that makes “life worth living,” is premised on one thing: A “long obedience in the same direction.” The trick is figuring out ways to stay consistent over the long haul.  When it comes to exercising, we’ve written about how to work out while you’re on vacation, sick, or simply don’t feel like it. There’s plenty of good advice there, and I think it carries over to other parts of life, too.  But the real secret for staying consistent over the long haul is that . . . 2. You Got to Have Ganas Ganas is Spanish for desire.  I’ve written about the centrality of ganas in finding success in whatever you do. Most of the things I’ve achieved in life were because I really wanted to accomplish those things. I had ganas for those goals. A big reason I was able to deadlift 600 pounds is that I really, really wanted to deadlift 600 lbs. That strong desire was what compelled me to rarely miss a workout for four years. My coach could give me programming and offer corrections on technique, but he couldn’t make me want to go after a 600-lb deadlift. I had to have the desire myself. Discipline is really harped on these days as the key to success.  Discipline is one way to achieve the consistency that’s essential to reaching your goals.  But constantly exercising self-control is exhausting.  A better way to stay consistent is to operate with inherent motivation — to enjoy the thing you’re doing so that you want to do the thing that will lead to success.  What William George Jordan said about duty applies to discipline as well: Duty is a hard, mechanical process for making men do things that love would make easy. It is a poor understudy to love. It is not a high enough motive with which to inspire humanity. Duty is the body to which love is the soul. Love, in the divine alchemy of life, transmutes all duties into privileges, all responsibilities into joys. I loved going for big PRs, which is why I could be… http://dlvr.it/T0301h

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #188

Today on Fate and Phantasms we’re building the greatest robot ever built in Sengoku period Japan, Katou “Black Kite” Danzo! This amazing automaton is a Thief Rogue to speed up her limbs and get some ninja mobility, as well as an Alchemist Artificer so she can really fly, make objects disappear and reappear, and even make those awful rice balls.

Check out her build breakdown below the cut, or her character sheet over here!

Next up: Welcome to the CHK!

Race and Background

Danzo’s a Karakuri Puppet, but D&D races don’t get that specific, so we’ll just have to call her a Warforged instead. This gives her +2 Constitution and +1 in any other ability, and we want Dexterity. Her Constructed Resilience gives advantage on saves against being poisoned, and she gets resistance to poison damage. She also doesn’t need to eat, drink, breathe, or sleep, and she can’t get sick. As a bonus, this means she doesn’t need to take any of the Fuuma clan’s medicine, thank god.

She still has to take long rests though, but a Sentry’s Rest reduces the time to six hours. You’re still conscious, but you can’t move if you want the rest.

Thanks to your wooden body, you can use Integrated Protection to fuse yourself into your armor, granting you a +1 bonus to AC, and preventing it from being removed against your will. Your Specialized Design also gives you proficiency with Medicine and Woodcarver’s Tools.

Like Paraiso, you’re also a magic assassin, so Volstrucker Agent is pretty accurate. This background gives you proficiency with Deception and Stealth.

Ability Scores

As usual, we’re using the standard array for maximum replicability. From high to low:

Still a ninja, still starting with a really high Dexterity. Unlike Kotarou, your ninja tricks come from your Intelligence. Also, you’re a robot; you’ve got to be pretty smart to know how you work, and you have a big chunk of the Fuuma clan’s history stuck in your head. Third is Constitution- you’ll happily sit in a cave for several centuries and not die, which is pretty impressive. Your Wisdom is above average, because I can’t think of anything specific you do that uses wisdom, but it’s still probably better than a regular person’s. Your Strength is probably lower than it should be, but it’s not like we really need it that much. That means we’re dumping Charisma. You don’t really “get” people that well.

Class Levels

Artificer 1: Starting off as an artificer is pretty neat, giving you proficiency with Constitution and Intelligence saves, as well as two artificer skills- Arcana is the closest thing we have to science in D&D, and Sleight of Hand will probably help with the bull swallowing we’ve got to do later. You also get Magical Tinkering when you start out, letting you tack minor magical effects onto tiny objects. A pebble that constantly sounds like someone walking around is a useful distraction. Despite artificers being a half casting class, they also get Spells this level, which you can cast and prepare using your Intelligence. For cantrips, I suggest picking up Mending to patch yourself up, as well as Create Bonfire for a quick and easy firestarter. Literally setting places on fire is also a great distraction, if a bit more obvious. For first level spells, I suggest picking up the classic suite of “barely spells” spells, like Grease, Alarm, and Snare. You should also grab Cure Wounds for some quick and dirty rice balls, as well as Jump and Feather Fall for Katou Danzo’s wind manipulation. There aren’t many offensive options for wind in D&D, but I can promise you’ll be very mobile by the end of this build.

Artificer 2: The big reason we started as an artificer is to grab Infused Items as quickly as possible. Starting at this level you can hold onto four blueprints for magic items, and can make up to two of them at a time, switching them out between long rests. Now you can make a Bag of Holding for some real bull swallowing (not literally though, those suckers are several times your weight limit), a Rope of Climbing for a grappling hook that attaches itself, a Returning Weapon so you’re not stuck picking up your kunai after every fight, or you can apply Enhanced Defense on some armor for even more AC.

Rogue 1: Now that your initial ninja tricks are set up, we still have to, y’know, get good at ninjaing. (Ninjing? Whatever.) Bouncing over to rogue gives you Investigation proficiency for expert analysis plus Thieves’ Tools for dismantling traps, as well as Expertise in Acrobatics and Stealth for double proficiency bonuses on all your ninja techniques. You also get a Sneak Attack once per turn, dealing an extra 1d6 damage to your target while using a finesse weapon and if you either have advantage on the attack, or have an ally within 5 feet of them. Also also, you get Thieves’ Cant. It’s a language.

Rogue 2: Second level rogues get a speed boost thanks to Cunning Action. Now you can use your bonus action to Dash, Disengage, or Hide. All very ninja-y, I assure you.

Rogue 3: Going into the Thief subclass lets you overclock yourself even further thanks to your Fast Hands. Now your cunning action lets you make sleight of hands checks, use thieves’ tools, or use objects as a bonus action. Plus, your sneak attack is 2d6 now! You’re also accustomed to Second-Story Work, so you climb as quickly as you walk, and your running jumps get boosted by your dexterity modifier. Combining this with Jump starts your ascent into a proper Black Kite- with a running start you can jump almost 40′ across, or almost 20′ straight up. You can also jump over most humanoids, clearing seven and a half feet on long jumps.

Rogue 4: Use your first Ability Score Improvement to bump up your Intelligence for stronger artificer spells and medicines.

Artificer 3: Now that we’ve got a base level of ninjositude down, we can bounce back to artificer for more clever tricks. Right off the bat, you can always create The Right Tool for the Job over the course of a short rest, though you can only make one kind of tool at a time. (If you make new tools, the old ones get jealous and leave, I guess.) You also get goodies exclusive to the Alchemist subclass though, like proficiency with Alchemist’s Tools, Healing Word and Ray of Sickness as prepared spells, and the ability to craft Experimental Elixirs. When you finish a long rest, you can make one such elixir, with a random effect you find out when you create it. There’s a lot, so I’m not going to list them all here. The elixir only lasts until your next long rest, so you can’t stock up. That being said, you can create more elixirs at a time as you level up.

Artificer 4: Use this ASI for more Dexterity, for more accurate and deadly kunai strikes.

Artificer 5: Fifth level alchemists become Alchemical Savants, adding their intelligence modifier to spells that heal or deal acid, fire, necrotic, or poison damage. Playing to character means you won’t be using this much aside from the healing, but you also get second level spells! You get Flaming Sphere and Melf’s Acid Arrow for free, but we’re here more for the other spells you can prepare, like grabbing Levitate for some discount flight (hey, if you use your rope of climbing to grapple onto things you can probably get some good speed going...), Invisibility for better bull swallowing that can actually swallow a bull, Enhance Ability to just try a little harder, and Blur for some swirly wind nonsense that makes you harder to fight. If King Arthur can do it, so can you.

Artificer 6: Sixth level artificers get Tool Expertise, doubling your proficiency with any tool check you’re already proficient in. You can also cast Message at this point because you’ve worked in Chaldea too long for them to not give you a freaking walkie talkie, and you learn two more item infusions, and you can build one more at a time. Boots of Elvenkind will silence your footsteps, and Boots of the Winding Path can help you ninja vanish back along the steps you took this turn. There’s an obvious problem that you can’t wear both sets at once, but you’re probably not even making both at once, so...

Artificer 7: Seventh level artificers get Flashes of Genius, letting you add your intelligence modifier to an ability check or saving throw happening within 30 feet of you. You can use this Intelligence Modifier times per long rest. If scifi has taught me anything, all robots are calculating the seven billion ways an event could go at any one time, so finding the three that lead to success shouldn’t be that hard.

Rogue 5: Bouncing back to rogue for a bit brings your sneak attack up to 3d6, and also unlocks your Uncanny Dodge, spending your reaction to halve the damage of an attack coming your way.

Rogue 6: Sixth level rogues get another round of Expertise, so double down on Investigation and Arcana for extra robosmarts.

Rogue 7: Your sneak attack gets as good as it ever will at 4d6, and you learn Evasion, supercharging your dexterity saves. Successes completely negate damage, and failures only deal half damage. Just... don’t stand in the fireball. Why do so few people get that?

Artificer 8: We’re back in artificer to stay now, so bump up that Intelligence for stronger spells as well as more and stronger flashes of genius.

Artificer 9: Ninth level alchemists stick Restorative Reagents in their medicines, adding 2d6+ your intelligence modifier temporary hit points to your experimental elixirs, regardless of their other effects. You also learn how to cast Lesser Restoration Intelligence Modifier times per long rest without using spell slots. The Fuuma clan’s medicines are effective, if nothing else. You also learn how to cast third level spells, like Mass Healing Word and Gaseous Form. I mean, I guess the latter spell is flying, but it’s not Fly flying, you get me? You can also use Tiny Servant to create puppets of your own, Water Walk to walk on water like the ninja you are, as well as Haste and Blink to supercharge your mobility.

Artificer 10: Tenth level artificers are Magic Item Adepts, letting you attune to one more magic item at once, and you can craft common or uncommon magic items faster and cheaper. You also get two more blueprints for infused items, and one more you can make at a given time. Boots of Striding and Springing will make your jumps even more ridiculous, and the Ring of Jumping will clear up some prep space and save you a spell slot or two. Using both of those items at the same time basically let you fly without the spell, letting you jump 120 feet forward or 63 feet straight up, and your long jumps can pass over obstacles that are 22 feet tall. You can leap small buildings in a single bound.

Artificer 11: At eleventh level, artificers can create Spell-Storing Items, stuffing magic into weapons or spell focuses. You can stick a 1st or 2nd level spell in the object, and creatures can cast the spell from that object using your spellcasting modifier and the creature’s concentration. The item holds 2xIntelligence Modifier charges, but you can only have one SSI at a time.

Artificer 12: Use your last ASI to max out your Intelligence for super strong spells, better Flashes of Genius, and more Spells in your items!

Artificer 13: Your capstone level gets you fourth level artificer spells, like the freebies Blight and Death Ward. You can also use these slots to cast spells like Leomund’s Secret Chest for more effective bull swallowing. The bag of holding can still be messed with, and turning stuff invisible doesn’t get rid of it, but the Secret Chest will just hang out in a different dimension til you need it again. Also, you only have to cast it once every two months! You can also Summon Construct to make your own dolls to help out in combat. Sadly there isn’t a wood option, but this is as close as we’re gonna get.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

Flying is good. Like, really good. And you’re so mobile you can fly without flying. You’re so good at jumping you take falling damage just by making a long jump.

With your expertise, enhanced ability, and flashes of genius, you can be pretty good at most skills if you really need to be.

Artificers make really cool toys, but most are limited by only having one action per turn. Thanks to your fast hands, you can make even better use of your infusions by using your bonus actions to either double up on item uses or multitask.

Cons:

We didn’t take that many levels of rogue, so your damage is a lot lower than your fleshier ninja counterparts.

While your magic and infused items are useful, they all get shut down immediately in anti-magic zones, giving you a big weak point most DMs won’t hesitate to smash.

While I wouldn’t call having extraneous spells a weakness, especially from a player’s perspective, it is kinda sloppy building on our end. Outside of healing word you really wouldn’t use the other subclass spells you get if you’re playing to character.

[thisdreamplace]

I read a post today about manifestation content consumption, and they said we should stop consuming too much content because we might get confused. I do agree that seeing for example 5 different coaches, might confuse a few people. But also, I think that constantly lurking through manifestation blogs/ig accounts/reddit/fb groups, keeps you in a state of not having your desires. This might just be me, but I started seeing major movement in my manifestations the moment I limited my cosumption of this content. I felt like although I was applying the law and doing the internal work, everytime I lurked through blogs I would read someone's old story and relate to it, or even a success story and wished that were me, or I would find a new technique and think about applying it (didn't apply them, but still had the thought of doing so) and all of these thoughts meant the same thing: I do not have what I want. Subtle thoughts can sometimes be strongest ones. Do you also think we should limit the amount of content we consume?

Honestly, yes. You make SUCH good points. It really IS so subtle, that's the thing about it. Things definitely started to change more for me when I first got off Reddit, and stayed off. I deleted the Youtube app so I could stop lurking on Dylan James' success stories. And I honestly need to stay off this blog too haha I've been taking more breaks from it often and I think you guys are going to see less of me moving forward.

Sometimes it's hard, because I truly do enjoy this content so much. Like, I love the law. It's my favorite topic and I could talk about it all day. And it's the majority of what I know, because I dedicated the past year to accumulating knowledge on the law. And I truly love the community! But I have to ask myself why do I keep coming back to it? Deep down and truly. Because the truth is, I relate to you. I read a success story and lowkey take mental notes of what that person did. I see how much time it took someone else to manifest, so I make a mental note about it and compare it to myself. It's subtle, but it clearly says I don't have what I want.

I mean, when we are beginners it's cool. We need to learn what this is all about! But after a few months, what else are we looking for? We've read it all, we need to figure out what feels best to us as individuals (which is going to be figured out offline), then stick to it. We need to practice self validation and self confidence and trust and faith. But instead, we keep turning towards this content looking for validation. I know I do sometimes. If I'm feeling off, I'll go read an article that'll help me feel better about myself. And that's okay... to an extent. I think it's more important I practice validating myself. Since that's literally how the law works, it's all a reflection of me. I can read that inspirational article 500 times, but it's me who's gonna have to actually apply the work even when it gets difficult, you know?

I think there's a fine line though. I remember listening to a podcast episode and Jen said how every morning when she gets ready she listens to a Neville lecture. And clearly Jen is one of the most skilled master manifestors. I think that for her though, she comes from the angle of understanding who she truly is more and more. She's not listening to try and get something to manifest. But I think for many of us, we are definitely keeping engaged with this content because deep down we think we are going to find something that makes it all click, which then would make all our desires come rushing to us. And actually yeah, that does come from a place of feeling like you're not fulfilled because you think there's more work to be done.

So yeah, I definitely agree. And the law is all about being a doer, not a hearer. I think that we can do the inner work and still consume this content. But I think that if we are having underlying thoughts like what you mentioned, it's better to take a step back and build more inner confidence. So that when you are reading law related content one day, it's coming from a place of pure enjoyment and not a subtle place of lack.

Thanks so much for bringing this topic up! I really loved reading about your perspective. 💖

[yourfavouritebella]

Theatre Techniques

#1 Post - Acting Tips through Meisner’s technique

After being self-isolated for so long, you’ve finished watching all of the Netflix shows and cook every possible dish in your fridge, now what?

Well, maybe it’s time to touch upon acting through Meisner’s techniques at home.

Sandy Meisner is a well-known actor based in New York. He was one of the curious actors along with Stella Adler that adopted Stanislavski’s technique (also known as Method Acting) til he felt the need to develop his own acting form, which is known as Meisner Technique that conveys naturalism and playing with the tension between acting partners.

Using these techniques, it will help you become a better actor by embracing yourself to be in the moment with your scene partners. You may have to create a zoom meeting with your scene partner for one of the exercises, but what could be a better way to make a reason to meet people again than to rehearse on your own!

The Meisner technique has three main components that all work hand in hand:

Emotional preparation

Whilst reading the line, learn to delve into a given circumstance that will generate real emotions. Be in the character’s shoes and think how would you react when the situation happened.

Repetition

By repeating your lines, it can make you rely on their organic instincts.

Improvisation

As you are getting used to the flow of the lines, it will encourage spontaneity and reduce an actor’s self-consciousness.

1st Exercises:

Actor 1: Your hair is long.

Actor 2: My hair is long.

Actor 1: Your hair is long.

Actor 2: My hair is long.

A: (Noticing B scratched their arm) You scratched your arm.

B: I scratched my arm.

From this exercise, it removes the over-thinking part of acting that after even a short period of time, one realises the ‘text’ becomes essentially irrelevant, and it is the subtext and relationship that really matter. It lets you be more observant of your acting partner and being able to be more perceptive in the body language of each other.

2nd Exercise:

When reading the lines, recall a memory where you were in that circumstance and apply that emotion to the scene.

If it’s not a circumstance you had any experience of, you can draw external sources of research, eg. asking friends or family, watching interviews, reading books, and people-watching, to gather a library of additional material to provide inspiration.

In conclusion, as you try out these exercises, you will feel differently when acting because you’ll be facing the ��given circumstances” of the character with different points of view. It gets you to be more observant and analyse the tension between you and your partner to be inspired and provoke your acting decisions. Hence it will make you listen and react with clarity.

#2 Post - Acting Tips through Adler’s Acting Technique

With so many acting techniques nowadays, how will you be able to choose? It’s like contemplating which crisps do you want to eat, sometimes you feel like getting Tangy Cheese Doritos and sometimes you’re feeling for Flamin Hot Cheetos. The choices are endless, but don’t fret! In the end, it’s always good to give a try of each technique to see which suits your taste.

As we had previously touched on Meisner’s technique, today we’re going to go through Adler’s acting techniques that you can try out yourself! :)

Stella Adler is a daughter of two professional actors, hence debuted her acting career at the age of 4. She is regarded highly in the industry due to her professionalism and proficiency in her acting as she learned and earned through experience. After learning Stanislavski’s and Strasberg’s acting technique, she evolved her own acting technique that has more involvement in imagination.

Now, shall we delve into her techniques? whispers yes, we shall!

Here are the three main components of Adler’s techniques:

Analysing Text

She has a great emphasis on script analysis and respect for the playwright. When teaching, she, “gave young actors more responsibility by asking them to understand the play themselves rather than relying on a director to interpret it.” Actors must look into the script to analyse the character’s personality and lifestyle then align their actions with the character’s circumstances. When reading text, you need to ask yourself, “What is my character going through that would produce that experience?”

Cultivating Imagination

As an actor, there is a need for constant observation and curiosity when developing an actor’s imagination. Rather than drawing up your own personal experience, Adler implies to actors to use real observations to fuel their imagination and create in-depth characters.

Elevating Characters

Adler famously told her students, “Don’t be boring”. In context, there is the need to think seriously about human nature and communicate important ideas to let actors reflect something larger than life within the characters.

Since you got the idea of what she aims for actors to achieve, let’s look into exercises that can help cultivate your acting skills.

Exercise #1 - Imagination

Pick an object and describe it. You can talk about the texture, colour, shape, anything just to describe the object. It may be awkward at first, but once you practice on describing things, you will find yourself to be faster in developing your imagination. Then take this exercise to next level by letting your thoughts travel through your mind. For example, a red lamp can remind you of ruby earrings a woman wore at a party you went to which reminds you of the music that was playing and so on and so on.

Exercise #2 - Paraphrasing

Pick a book and write down one idea from the book in your own words, then present it onstage to others. This lets you understand the idea, then respond to it and make it your own until you feel a real need to communicate it.

Exercise #3 - Inner-Justification

Randomly pick a simple line from a play you don’t know and bring it to life by imagining in details the reason why you’re saying that line. Try to make a strong choice, something that stirs you and creates conflict. This exercise helps actors experience their lines instead of just saying them.

In conclusion, Adler constantly challenges her students to think imaginatively and her techniques require a lot of hard work and dedication. All of these techniques are easily done at home whenever you have time and keep yourself occupied when being in the same room starts to bore you.

#3 Post - Acting Tips through Chekhov’s Techniques

Now that you have Meisner’s and Adler’s acting technique in the bag, why not learn one more and get yourself well rounded with techniques! As Michael Chekhov said, “Don’t we have the freedom to make the most of the best in all techniques? There are no prohibitions against it. All it takes is a little wisdom, imagination, and courageous experimentation.” I think you guessed it, but we’re going to teach you some Chekhov’s Techniques that you can try out yourself! :)

Mikhail Alexandrovich Chekhov was a Russian-American actor, director, author, and theatre practitioner born in Saint Petersburg. He was a nephew of Anton Chekhov who collaborated with Konstantin Stanislavski to do production of his plays. He was called Stanislavski's brightest student and was invited to join the prestigious Moscow Art Theatre. It was until 1927, when he did a production of The Case, he was "denounced by Bolshevik officials as an 'idealist' and 'sick artist'", so he forced himself to leave Russia and the Moscow Art Theatre to dodge arrest. He then came to Hollywood, where he taught film stars including Ingrid Bergman, Clint Eastwood, Marilyn Monroe, and Gregory Peck.

The aim is to find truthful moments onstage in a “psycho-physical” approach that develops your imagination while establishing emotion in physical action. This technique relies upon drawing emotion from both the mind, and the body as it helps for actors who are beginners because “psycho-physical” focuses on connecting their body more when saying their lines.

When approaching a script, these are the following steps using the “psycho-physical” technique:

Step 1: Create a gesture in your mind.

Your body is considered as an instrument and trained your body like a musician, constantly learning to move and portray with virtuosity. As an example, let’s look at the line, “Please don’t go.” Think about how your body will react to the line.

Step 2: Begin to rehearse the gesture. Make it huge, full of energy, and abstract.

Now that you got the gesture in mind, this time you got to test it out and give your 100 percent! Also, there’s no one way of doing the gesture, so it’s good to explore your body to find the intention of the gesture. Always be mindful of the intention in the gesture, so that it lets your mind remember physically.

Step 3: Continue doing the gesture in a large, non-realistic way, while saying the line.

When doing naturalistic acting, it always limits you to how you should express yourself as a character, so it’s best to be exaggerated as much as possible.

Step 4: Begin to make the gesture more realistic, while saying the line. Keep the energy!

Now you can tone down the actions, but make sure to keep the same energy when doing it exaggeratedly because the gesture should represent this desire of the character’s intention.

This is not part of the step, but always make time to reflect your experience on what you had experiment and see if the gesture is working out or not. Chekhov always makes his students question whether the gesture is helpful or not. The purpose of this technique is to make a bridge between your body and mind requires a lot of practice, but it does portray your character in an organic sense because the gestures come in naturally once you understand the significance.

In conclusion, Chekhov repeatedly challenges his students to use their body to find the intention of the character and build a strong relationship with your imagination. Hopefully, this technique works for you and you don’t scare off your friends or family when rehearsing at home (I will not be responsible for the weird looks :)

[syncogon]

[QZGS TL] Butterfly Blue Interview from the “All Knows” Yan Ling Artbook

This interview was included in the Yan Ling artbook from (I believe) 2016. Thank you to dtriad for the images! 

As usual, normal disclaimers apply, translator notes in brackets, and please let me know if you notice any mistakes. 

Past BB Q&A translations are available on my blog: /tagged/bb-interview

Finally, happy belated birthday to Butterfly Blue! 

***

Q1: What was the initial turning point [motivation; opportunity] for the creation of The King’s Avatar?

A: Mostly, it all came from technique. Weak narrative has always been a common shortcoming of novels about online gaming, and so when TKA combined online gaming and competitive esports, there was a clear narrative to be told. 

Q2: Are the characters in TKA based on anyone? For example, is God Ye based on yourself?

A: I don’t think they’re really based on anyone. I’ve just drawn inspiration from many real phenomena in the esports circle, but I haven’t targeted any specific one person.  

Q3: Can you reveal a bit of God Ye’s family situation? 

A: I really haven’t thought that much about this, and I don’t plan to.

Q4: Does Zhou Zekai have high value in the entertainment industry? Or is he just exceptional in gaming, that’s all?

A: He’s exceptional all-around.

Q5: It seems that Sun Xiang and Zhou Zekai have two very different personalities, so how were they able to work together so well as to become Best Partners? 

A: To work together on the battlefield, first and foremost you need skill and awareness. As two exceptional, top-level players, they wouldn’t be lacking in this professionalism. As long as they’re willing to coordinate, personality would not become an obstacle on the battlefield. Learning how to work together is the process of understanding each other’s skills and habits, and high-level players will naturally be able to complete this kind of mutual recognition very quickly.

Q6: When training, does Team Happy usually order takeout? Does the boss invite someone to cook for them? 

A: This isn’t the important point of this novel, is it!

Q7: Almost all of Samsara is of the same generation. Will the eventual transition be painful? 

A:  Pro players are constantly moving through transfers. Right now it looks like they’re basically all of the same generation, but after year after year of movement, this might not be the case later. The ideal generation transition would occur gradually through this kind of movement. For example, Samsara currently has the younger Sun Xiang, and in the future they will continue to recruit exceptional young players.

Q8: What would Ye Xiu and Su Mucheng do after retirement?

A: They’ll simply continue to live their lives in whatever way suits their position.

Q9: When Zhou Zekai truly wants to speak, how many words could he say?

A: Speaking is only one method of communication. And Zhou Zekai doesn’t like, nor is he good at, this method. Perhaps under some circumstances he would be forced to use this method to express himself, but there isn’t really such a thing as “a time where he truly wants to speak.”

Q10: Which pro players have a bit of a belly?

A: Everyone gets some belly when they’re old.

Q11: Does Wang Jiexi’s Magician style have a weakness / counter? 

A: A mature playstyle will have changes and adjustments in varying conditions; it won’t be restricted to one pattern. If, under these kinds of conditions, a so-called “counter” still exists, then that simply means that the playstyle is not yet mature enough, or that there’s a huge drawback. For Wang Jiexi to become famous in this way, his playstyle certainly would not be this kind of unskilled immature style. But ultimately, what determines the strength of the playstyle is the player. Thus, there is only one Magician, Wang Jiexi.

Q12: How many housing properties does Big Eye have in Beijing? And why is so he keen on undermining foundations? [T/N: referring to his “digging for players”, e.g. TR, QF]

A: Why are you bringing up housing properties? Because he was chatting about housing prices? They were just talking about a trending topic, it has nothing to do with properties, okay! As for saying that he’s keen on undermining foundations I don’t know where you’re getting this from… even if there is, as the captain of a team, inviting outstanding players to join his team is just his professional responsibility. It’s not his passion, it’s his job. 

Q13: Just how well-off is Tang Rou’s family? Will Du Ming be able to catch her? 

A: Well-off enough that she’s set for life without worry. Wealth will never be a bargaining chip to sway her. I think it would be very very hard for Du Ming to pursue her.

Q14: Have you seen the TKA donghua? What are your thoughts? [T/N: this would be referring to the not-yet-released Season 1]

A: Like everyone, I saw the few promotional trailers that were released. I think the artstyle is excellent. So long as there are also no issues with the plot, I can thoroughly anticipate it.

Q15: Can you reveal any news about the TKA movie or TV series? Do you have any dream choices for Ye Xiu’s actor? Or actors for any of the other characters? 

A: It’s all still in the preparation stages. For now I can’t discuss actors or whatnot. 

Q16: Having created such an iconic IP as TKA, what do you think is the most important thing when creating a work? 

A: Probably perseverance in reading and writing. 

Q17: You’ve created many novels about gaming, so are you yourself a gaming expert? 

A: TKA is actually the only novel I’ve written about competitive esports, the other games were just ordinary online gaming. My own skill is average. 

Q18: Could you talk about something that’s left a deep impression on you recently?

A: Recently I’ve been at my old home, the weather’s been cool, I’ve been visiting old friends and family. My deepest impression is: a hangover ruins three days. 

Q19: When it comes to creating works, what are your plans for the future? 

A: I still have a lot to write for my current serializations, so the future is still far-off for now. As for hopes for the future, I hope that I can write works that are more excellent and refined. 

Q20: What would you like to say to the fans that have supported you all these years?

A: I knew it, I knew that this question would be the finale! To those that have supported me for so many years, thank you, thank you, still thank you. The words are simple, but truly, only these two words can most accurately express what I wish to say.

[elaboratedbee]

Bigby x Reader

Request For: @awfullest​

Rating: E

Summary: The Mundies think that there are five love languages, and Bigby’s going to need to learn how to speak every single one of them if he’s going to get you to understand how he feels.

Word Count: 4623

Note: i loved this prompt!! i thought it would be super cute to come up with all the ways bigby could try and get the reader’s attention without being obvious :’) big thank you to @punxgal​ for teaching my dumbass what a taglist is, so i started one! just hit me with a message if you want to be added (or just want to rant about bigby lmao) ily guys!!

Taglist: @punxgal​

Five Ways To Say I Love You

 “You know, the Mundies think that there are five love languages,” Snow informed him, watching with a faint smile of amusement as Bigby quite literally banged his head against the wall of the Business Office. While usually she didn’t enjoy dispensing love advice; after all, she was a very busy woman, watching Bigby experience any kind of emotion, let alone love, was more than worth it. His pining was probably the most amusing thing that had happened in Fabletown in a long while, so she was happy to be his confident. 

“And I can think of five ways to tell Mundies how that sounds fucking stupid,” came Bigby’s gruff response, but he did finally move away from the wall and come around to join her at the desk, which she could only assume was Bigby Speak for her to continue. 

“Words of affirmation, acts of service, receiving gifts, quality time, and physical touch.” After Snow had revealed them, the wolf repeated the list under his breath as he committed them to his memory, before he huffed in frustration. 

“Nothing I do works! Nothing I say comes out right and they’re just so –”

“ – perfect, I know,” Snow cut him off, more than familiar with this particular rant, “maybe if you ever did something about it and made it clear that you were interested, they might actually respond positively. You’ve been pining for months, Bigby! It’s getting embarrassing.” His scowl was lost on her, as she was more than used to dealing with an angry Bigby and his frustration at his own love life certainly wasn’t the worst she had dealt with. 

“Fuck off, it’s not pining,” Bigby growled at her, as he produced a cigarette from his pocket and placed it between his lips. Snow didn’t bother to argue the point, because she could tell by the long and hopeless drag he took of his cigarette that the Sheriff already knew that it was true. “I’ll try that Mundy thing.” Bigby admitted after a long time, before he nodded at her and stalked out of the office to patrol the streets of Fabletown, or whatever else he got up to whenever there wasn’t some major emergency that he contacted her about. Well, that was about as much thanks as she could expect. She sighed, and rolled her eyes as she watched him retreat. Men. 

Words Of Affirmation

Bigby was head over heels for you. Since Snow had become the Deputy Mayor, there wasn’t much about Fabletown that hadn’t improved. Not everything had changed drastically of course, and there wasn’t a night that went by on the job that the wolf didn’t wish that things could be better for all of the Fables that lived here, but he could console himself with the fact that they were getting better. Slowly was better than not at all, after all. He supposed that he should apply that same philosophy to his feelings for his current infatuation, since he did think that he was making slow progress. You had taken a job casting spells and creating glamours on the thirteenth floor almost half a year ago, now, and it had taken barely any time at all for Bigby to realise that you were everything he had ever wanted.

Every so often, a crime occurred that could benefit from the help of someone who was proficient in magic, such as covering up the scene of a particularly noticeable crime from Mundies or assisting with the aftermath. Bigby had recently found himself running to you every single time a matter like this befell, with the whispers and teasing from some of the other staff at the Business Office being more than worth the chance to spend so many prolonged hours working with you and witnessing your gift. This often came with the additional bonus of being able to show you that he was made the Sheriff for more than his strength. Most of the Fables thought that he was given the position purely due to his violent streak, so to be able to display his prowess at investigating crimes made a nice change.

Tonight, was one of those nights and the two of you had ventured out to cast a spell over a building that had been set on fire by an arsonist. Although the fire had been combatted with the help of some water nymphs, the plumes of black smoke obscuring the horizon were sure to pique the interest of any Mundies within a couple of miles radius. It struck the Sheriff that now was the perfect opportunity to use the first of Snow’s techniques as he walked you back to the Business Office, enjoying the pleasure of hearing you rant and rave about howof all of the possible crimes, arson was certainly the most pointless and dangerous. Bigby loved how passionate you were, how you could probably form a strong and justified opinion on almost any topic. He loved the way you used your hands and gesticulated wildly without even realising, like you were always casting a spell. It certainly felt like you had cast one over him, after all, he was constantly thinking about you. The first thought on his mind in the morning, and the person running through his mind whenever he attempted to sleep.

The two of you reached the business office and entered the deathtrap elevator. He took the opportunity to employ his first method as you had fallen silent when pressing the button for the thirteenth floor, before hitting the one for Bigby’s Office, too. The wolf felt a spark of happiness as he noted how well you knew him, his routines and habits. Although he hadn’t known you for very long, it was obvious that the Sorcerer was the kind of person that noticed the little things, that cared for each and every person that came into the Business Office looking for help, whether it be a standard glamour or something with far higher stakes. The dedication to their job was something that Bigby could very much relate to, and the fact that you often complimented the Sheriff on his duty to Fabletown made his heart warm in his chest – not many people did.

The only problem was, every time Bigby had tried to compliment you back, he failed miserably. Either it came out completely wrong, or it didn’t come out at all. But this time, it would be different. He had used the entire walk to plan what he was going to say, and now was the time to implement it. As the elevator rose, Bigby removed his cigarette from his mouth and met your eyes, trying not to focus on your mesmerising beauty. “Thanks,” he managed to get out, his voice rough, “I couldn’t have done it without you. You’re the best Sorcerer I know.” The words were genuine, even if they were a little bit gruff and came out a little fast, and the Sheriff internally celebrated. Finally. He watched closely as your eyes lit up with joy and pride and you stood up just a little bit taller than before. It had made every bit of stress worth it, in Bigby’s eyes.

“Thanks, Bigby. I’d say you were the best Sheriff I know, but you’re sort of the only Sheriff I know,” you teased him with a smile, and leaned forward to punch his shoulder gently. God, everything seemed to come so easily to you, he noted. The way you spoke and joked with him, managing to drag a smile out of him even on his darkest days, the way you touched him so casually. Perfect. The elevator doors slid open, and you flashed him one more bright smile before you were gone.

Taking a deep drag of his cigarette, Bigby slumped against the elevator wall and luxuriated in the feeling for a long moment. On some level, he could recognise that it was mildly insane to feel such euphoria over such a minute interaction, one that you probably wouldn’t even remember when tomorrow arrived, but he didn’t care. The elevator arrived at the Business Office and the door opened to reveal Bluebeard standing there. His eyes narrowed when he saw the Sheriff, and his mouth opened, but he was cut off as the wolf walked right past him, dropping his cigarette at the man’s feet.

“Fuck off, Bluebeard.”

Acts Of Service

“Bigby, you really don’t have to do this,” your voice came from behind him as continued his way down the hall, carrying the large wooden desk in his arms. Considering your hard work, it was really only a matter of time before they got promoted, and Bigby was incredibly pleased that your talent was being recognised. Along with the promotion came a brand-new office, that Bigby was currently help you move your things into.

“It’s no trouble, really,” he insisted once again and that was telling the truth. The desk was really no problem for the wolf to manage, but the praise made it feel even lighter. You followed along behind him with a box of personal affects, pictures and stationery, along with a little cactus that, to quote you, ‘even you couldn’t kill.’

They entered the office, which, like most of the Business Office, was somewhat in a state of disrepair. The lighting was dim, the window dirty and the paint a faded, peeling yellow. Even still, he watched you regard it as if it were a silver palace, a spark in your eyes. Unlike Bigby, you were an optimist, always able to see the bright side of life and the best in people. It was a refreshing change to the wolf, who very rarely had a reason to give people the benefit of the doubt in his line of work. You saw the best in him, having never been afraid of him for a second, and throwing him a bemused look whenever he tried to pull his ‘big, bad wolf’ act around you.

“Thanks for helping me,” he felt a hand on his arm and the warm pressure grounded him, causing him to meet your eyes, “there was no way I could’ve dragged that heavy ass desk down this hallway. You’re handy, you know that?” The compliment was strange, and Bigby huffed at the word. Handy. There was something almost domestic about it, which caused a warmth to spread through his chest.  

“Yeah, well, I’m only downstairs if you need me,” Bigby reassured you, the feeling of being needed satisfying the more primal parts of his nature. To be able to help you, provide for you, was what the wolf inside him desperately craved.

“Good to know you’re not just a pretty face,” you teased him with a wink and Bigby almost choked on his own spit. He felt hot under the collar all of a sudden and he cleared his throat before he was able to answer, much to his enchantment's clear amusement. Even though you were clearly fucking with him, the implication that you thought he was attractive was enough to imprint this very moment on his mind for what he was sure was the rest of all time.

“I’m a man of many talents,” the Sheriff managed to reply, his voice rich with sarcasm as he bumped his cigarette packet, making one shoot up out of the box. He raised it to his lips, quirking his eyebrows at the other Fable as means of asking for permission, a very rare honour that was not often bestowed upon. You nodded their approval and the wolf sparked up, taking a deep drag. After all, he was fairly sure that if he didn’t find something to focus his thoughts on, he was going to kiss you here and now. The way that you were leaning against the desk, the one that he had moved for you, was testing his self-control in ways that he hadn’t expected. What he wouldn’t give to just push you over the desk and –

“I think it just needs a new coat of paint,” your voice (thankfully) interrupted his thoughts before they could spiral any further. Bigby grunted and exhaled his smoke.

“I can help with that.”

Receiving Gifts and Quality Time

It had taken him forever to find, but Bigby didn’t plan to admit that to anyone else. He held the cassette tape in his hands, remembering so clearly the first time you had showed him one. One late night, he had caught you leaving the Woodlands as he approached, bruised and tired after a long day. He wasn’t particularly happy that you were here at such a late hour, you work ethic concerning at times; it made him worry that you didn’t get enough rest, which was more than ironic coming from him. Despite how battered he must have looked, it didn’t stop the smile from breaking out on your face at the sight of him, and it made his long day seem just a little less long. As you walked through the glass doors, Bigby noted a strange device in your hands, with wires that followed all the way up to your head.

“What the fuck is that?” He asked, amused at the sight of it. It was cold on the street, but the Sheriff was more than happy to linger outside for a little more time as long as it meant he got to speak to you.

“It’s a Walkman,” you informed him brightly, and it was immediately clear from your tone that this little device brought you no shortage of joy, “it plays cassette tapes.” The wolf had some vague recollection of what a cassette tape was, although he had never heard of the “Walkman,” so he could gather that it had something to do with music at least. His brows furrowed as he tried to decipher the little thing, when suddenly you were stepping forward into his space. With bated breath, Bigby tensed as you pulled off their headphones and held them up between the both of you, leaning close.

Don't leave me this way.

The music played and provided him with something to focus his mind on and flood his senses with, which was a welcome release now that your scent was flooding his nose so distractingly. When you were this close, Bigby could see every little detail of your face, and he found himself committing every last detail to his memory. The faint scar you had just above your eyebrow that he so desperately wanted to know the story behind, the permanent imprint on your lower lip that you had left from biting it so much, every shade in your eyes.

I can't survive, I can't stay alive.

You met his eyes, clearly waiting to hear his judgement, but Bigby didn’t offer one, wanting to prolong the moment of intimacy for as long as he could get away with it. He couldn’t help it, after all, having you so close to him was intoxicating. It was a feeling of pride and accomplishment to him, that you had chosen to share this part of yourself  with him.

Without your love, no baby.

“I like it,” he admitted, although what he really liked was the way his approval made a smile emerge on your face, illuminated by the soft yellow lights of the Woodland. The simple praise was enough, although Bigby wished that he could find better words, more impressive ones. You had a way of making him feel like that way; of making him feel that for all of his inadequacies, he was enough. It was a more addicting feeling than smoking his damn cigarettes.

Don't leave me this way.

Bigby knew that if he stayed stood there for much longer, he would inevitably do or say something that was going to get him trouble, so he cleared his throat and stepped back, watching you click a little button the stop the cassette from playing. You looked almost disappointed that you had to go, but it was late and cold, so Bigby was glad you would finally go home and get some rest. The song’s words came back to him as you bid him goodnight and retreated into the night, hailing a cab. Don’t leave me this way.

He didn’t want you to leave at all.

The Sheriff had laboured over finding the perfect gift for you after that, stopping by many Mundy places whenever he had a spare moment, or his work brought him close to the edge of Fabletown. Gently, he placed the cassette down on your desk, wrapped carefully by Snow after she had seen Bigby’s attempt at it and laughed outright.

Even better, it had become a habit of yours to sit side by side in his office every so often and listen to whatever song had become your recent obsession. He would listen to you talk about what made it good, or why you loved the band and enjoy your company much more than he enjoyed the songs themselves. It had been a long time since Bigby had done something just because he enjoyed it. Not to escape, or distract himself, or to forget, but something that made him grateful for the here and now. Sometimes, he was in a good mood and he offered his opinions, which slowly became more informed over time as you listened and asked for his favourites. Other times, he was exhausted and broken after a day of dealing with the worst that Fabletown had to offer, and he would sit in silence, letting the sound of your music and your voice wash over him. It was like the tide, eroding a jagged stone smooth, corroding away all of his edges and damaged parts so gently that he hardly even noticed.

Stepping back, the wolf smiled proudly to himself and propped a cigarette between his lips. This whole love languages thing was getting easier all the time.

Physical Touch

For all his success, this was certainly the one that Bigby was most nervous about. After all, he wasn’t exactly known for his ability to be gentle. A good chunk of the Fables probably thought that the Sheriff was directly synonymous with bruises and a ringing pain in their heads after he had used force to encourage them to comply with the law so many times.

The ballroom spread out before him, as picturesque and charming as it was every year. Bigby was so nervous that he regarded it more like a battlefield than a ballroom, the polished wood floor masking countless traps and landmines, the spinning and smiling Fables his enemies, waiting for him to slip up. The many twinkling lights gave the room an iridescent glow, but he felt like they were interrogation lights, his nerves rising in his stomach as he waited for you to arrive.

It had been the first year of the Remembrance Ball that Bigby had been the one to convince somebody else to go, considering he was usually the one to be dragged along so unwillingly by Snow. Not this year. This year, he was prepared. He had sacrificed his pride and given up far too many evenings to twirling around the Business Office with Snow once the building quietened at night and while he still lacked a fundamental sense of grace, he was now at least proficient enough that he wouldn’t stand on your feet. For the first time in centuries, Bigby had sought out a brand new suit, one that wasn’t as terribly dated as his previous one, although it was still a simple and understated design. Goddammit, Bigby had even been extra careful on the job the evening before, carefully avoiding taking any hits to the face, so that he wouldn’t be bruised and bleeding. There was nothing else he could do; he was ready.

At least, he thought he was. But no amount of preparation could have prepared him for seeing you walk through the ornate doors. He imagined that the feeling he experienced must have been akin to being struck by lightning, as it travelled through his entire body within the span of a second and paralysed him. It completely broke his brain trying to process how completely and utterly perfect you looked when you were dressed to the nines and he suddenly understood why the other Fables enjoyed this damned dance so much. For in that instant, Bigby would have done it all over again, a million times and lived a million miserable lives just to be given the chance to dance with you tonight.

To his delight, your eyes scanned the crowd and settled on him, so he lifted his glass as a means of greeting, beginning to cross the dance floor so that the two of you could meet in the middle. He quickly lost sight of you in the crowd, but eventually, he felt a tap on his shoulder. “Well, you clean up nice,” the voice was familiar and teasing, which made Bigby feel hot under the collar.

“I could say the same about you,” he returned easily, gesturing to your elaborate clothing. The Sheriff wanted to vocalise it so much better. You looked positively divine, to the point where the other Fables within a visible radius had their eyes stuck on you, either jealous or starstruck. Bigby was overcome with the overwhelming desire to make sure they all knew who you had come for and it was the push he needed to step forward and take you in his eyes. He watched your eyes widen slightly, clearly surprised that Bigby had been so forward and so confident in leading you into an, albeit very simple, dance. All those evenings were certainly paying off.

Emboldened, Bigby made a second and better attempt, “you’re breath-taking. Nobody can take their eyes off of you.” Watching the blush break out on your face, coupled by your closeness, was enough to make Bigby feel that he was in heaven. Your scent was in his nose, even sweeter tonight with whatever scent you were wearing, and you were safe in his arms, his and only his, even if it was just for tonight. Physical touch, he thought, was quite possibly his favourite love language in the world.

It wasn’t enough, he could never get enough of you. He wondered if he would ever be fully satiated, surely not when felt like he wanted to drown in you. Pulling you close, he could feel how rapid your heartbeat was in your chest, and a smile crossed his face. “I didn’t take you for a dancer,” the surprise was evident in your tone, and not at all unjustified. After all, the Sheriff had refused to dance at this damn thing for quite literally centuries, so he supposed he was equally responsible for the stares they were receiving as you spun on, unphased.

“Like I told you, I’m a man of many talents,” Bigby repeated the sentiment from one of your older conversations, which earned him a laugh that he could feel resonate through his body, which was even better than simply hearing it.

“Alright, alright, be all mysterious, then,” you didn’t push him for a real answer any further, which filled him with a sense of relief, because he was certain that once he admitted to begging Snow for lessons, he was never going to live it down. His reputation as the big, bad wolf was already sure to take a large enough hit just from the fact that he had now been seen by almost every Fable dancing, so he really didn’t think it would be able to survive that on top of it all. Slowly, he could feel you relax into his arms as one song turned into two, then three. The orchestra played beautifully, but after a few songs, he felt a murmur in his ear.

“Man, they should have let us pick the music for this thing,” you joked quietly, as not to offend anyone in the near proximity, and Bigby fought to prevent himself from laughing too loudly and causing them to gain any more attention. The novelty of seeing the Sheriff dance had mostly faded by now, the whispers and comments over with for the most part, so he was eager to retain your low profile. He nodded his agreement, struck by how pleasant he found it that you were so similar to him in some ways and different in others. You were not the type to be overly enamoured by the illusion of glamour that the Fables created for Remembrance every year, but more the type to focus on the simple and understated beauties of everyday life. That, Bigby thought, was something truly rare and special and he intended to never let it escape him.

Bigby knew that he wanted to be with you forever. For the first time, he could imagine waking up next to someone every day and falling asleep with them at night. He wanted to be the person on your mind at all hours of the day and the one to comfort you after a terrible day or listen to your stupid jokes after a good one. Bigby wanted to come home to music blaring out of the tape player, instead of the silence and damp of his apartment. He wanted to part ways not just with a smile when you shared the elevator ride to the Business Office, but with a kiss. God, he was head over heels, and no matter how he said it, any one of the godforsaken five ways, he no longer cared. He just had to say it. He needed you to know.

You moved your hand from his shoulder to straighten his tie with a fond smile and that was it for Bigby. Pulling you close, one of his rough hands came up to cover yours, pressing your hand against his chest so that you could probably feel his heartbeat, rapid and strong. The other cupped your jaw, his touch gentler than he ever thought a monster could be capable of. He watched a thousand different emotions flicker through your eyes as he leaned in, too fast for even the Sheriff to be able to process and recognise them all. Your lips met and everything just stopped. It was like Bigby’s mind went completely blank of thoughts and all he could do was feel. His arms tightened around you as he tried to put all he had into it – every last word that he could never find, every smile that he had wished were a kiss, every song that he would never be able to hear and not think of you and this very moment.

Eventually, you pulled back from one another, but not far. You stayed close, your foreheads pressed together as you recovered, breathing together. “The Mundies say that there are five ways to show someone you love them,” Bigby informed you, after a long moment of silence, not entirely sure why he had said it.

“That’s so fucking stupid,” you replied, your voice much breathier than it had been a minute ago, and Bigby grinned widely at how closely your response had echoed his own. It was stupid, and he didn’t care. He didn’t care because it had worked, and he had you in his arms and he had kissed you, and he was never going to let you go. You began to sway again, finding your way back to the music and to reality, as much as he wanted to stay wrapped up in that moment forever.

It didn’t matter how many ways there were, Bigby thought, because he was going to discovery every, damn one.

[iluxia]

Unsolicited writing advice???

A ton of you have commented with such kind and complimentary words about my Naruto fic Hiding in the Leaves and its characterization through the shifting POVs. Thank you all! I’m gratified to hear that you’re enjoying it. Some are asking how I shift perspectives and still manage to keep the characters in line. Actually, a fair number of readers have asked for actual advice, so here we go. This is a lot of writing babble, I hope it makes sense but feel free to drop me an ask if anything is unclear! 

(1) I read a lot. I read all the time. Easily a book a day, maybe two days. And when I do, I practice critical reading—or as they say, reading like an editor, so I can pick at techniques other writers use. Writing is an art you learn largely by example. A lot of what I read influences what and how I write, so when I need to change my tone or voice to fit a different character, I usually read something that matches what I want my prose to sound like, on top of using techniques like changing tenses and playing with vocabulary choices. 

I recently had the chance to flex these writing muscles because I went from writing two very distinct human voices (Tony Stark & Stephen Strange) to writing an alien voice (Loki). It was fucking hard; those in the Marvel fandom might know what I mean. Tony and Stephen are both human, born and raised in America, with specific life experiences that inform their daily decisions and personalities. Loki, on the other hand, is an alien: raised in Asgard, stolen from Jotunheim, well-traveled throughout the Nine Realms, and moreover raised as a prince. Just stop and think about that. When your characters do not have the same experiences that you do, they’re bound to not have the same earthbound concerns that you do. Anthropomorphizing non-human (or even non-living) beings is an age-old practice, but to be faithful to his character, I tried my best to twist my writing voice into a different shape—a shape that more befits the prince of a realm that is somewhat humanoid but very different from what we know on Earth. And in order to do that, I did four things: 

I changed my prose from past to present tense; it sounds more immediate and assertive

I read three books, written in present tense, where the prose mimics what I imagine Loki would sound like in his own head

I made a huge spread of everything about Loki (both canon and my own orginal additions) that would inform his motivations, internal concerns, emotional responses, and decision-making processes

I drowned myself in Loki fanwork

Immersion is key! If you saturate your brain in a specific type of rhetoric or style, that’s what’s likeliest to come out of your productive process at the end. So controlling what you read/watch/listen to will help control your writing style too.

 (2) This further breaks down what I just said in the third bullet point above. Before I start writing from a specific character’s perspective, I’ll take the time to brainstorm and build that character from the ground up. This might take a day or two and includes a staggering amount of detail—just as much detail as mine or your life might comprise. Silly little things like favorite colors and foods, hobbies, dislikes. Oftentimes, if you’re a fic writer, this is easier because canon gives it to you. Those amazing wiki-pages exist to make your life easier in this regard. (Bless.) What canon doesn’t give you is where you can dig in. Go deeper. Pin your character down. Think about more serious considerations like emotional triggers, conscious motivations, subconscious motivations, coping and defense mechanisms. When hurt or under stress, are they the type to lash out or curl in? Are they the type to hold on to a grudge, or do they prefer to forgive and forget? Do they get hurt easily or do they have a thick skin? I imagine the character’s relationships in life, I rank them and network them in my head. Who do they run to when they need advice? Who do they like hanging out with when they’re happy? Who annoys them, who inspires them, who scares them, who do they want to be like? Even if these questions aren’t necessarily things you might discuss in your fic, it helps inform this person you’re writing about, so it helps you keep a clearer and more consistent mental picture of them as you go.

But most critical of all, I sit and imagine myself in their shoes and think of how they perceive themselves. That is a major factor when writing, because that’s what their head-voice will sound like. And if the story is written from their perspective, then that means you, writer, are writing in that head-voice!

Here’s a more HITL-specific example (I’ll try not to spoil too much lol):

Sasuke

How he sees himself:

Ordinary; not very impressive as a shinobi, but not absolutely terrible either – just ordinary

Average looking

A slow, impatient learner

Awkward with people, but polite and with good intentions

Emotionally stable

A good reader and listener

How he actually is from someone else’s POV:

Incredibly skilled for his age and level as a shinobi

Actually quite handsome

An intuitive learner, very tenacious and will keep at a task forever until he gets it just right; perfectionist much

Quiet, polite, notices a lot about how others act

Absolutely does not handle emotions well

Selective listener; sometimes only hears what he wants to hear

Rationales:

He’s surrounded by a clan of perfectionists and overachievers who constantly laud his aniki for being a genius while paying him no attention. Of course he thinks he’s ordinary.

No one ever compliments him for his looks in the clan compound, and what he sees in the mirror looks just like a younger version of everyone around him. Of course he thinks he’s average, even though he actually has looks.

Because he’s largely self-taught (except for when Obaa-sama teaches him), he thinks he’s slow. (Ever learned a new skill or maybe even a new language by yourself? I have. I can tell you that my perception of how much time I spent learning ‘basics’ was skewed.) He also holds himself to a higher than normal standard because that’s what gets him positive attention (or attention at all) within his family. Add the fact that Itachi was there blazing through everything before him, and it’s suddenly easy to understand why Sasuke thinks the worst of himself as a student. But he (and Naruto) are actually fast learners—we see this even in canon—and both of them boast high levels of natural intuition, or as I (the neuroscientist) likes to call it, pattern recognition. Some people are naturally better at this than others; there have been extensive tests done to show it. But we also know intuition can be trained, so the more Sasuke works at something, the better he gets, and the faster he learns the next skill—as long as the learning is patterned. Which is why Orochimaru, who has picked up on this trait, walks them through learning each jutsu in a stepwise manner every time.

Sasuke doesn’t have a lot of social interaction outside of his family. The Uchiha clan in this fic is very segregated from the rest of the village, so if you’re not active as a shinobi, you probably don’t get out of the compound much. Interacting with people probably intimidates Sasuke a lot so he feels awkward about it and reverts back to habits of politeness and silence that he was taught from childhood. That doesn’t mean that he’s not paying attention, however; Sasuke is naturally observant and remembers a lot about how people act (and not so much what they say). I have a theory about this related to the Sharingan but I won’t go into too much here because it would be a straight-up spoiler, sorry. :D

He thinks he’s emotionally stable because he doesn’t remember many incidents of severe emotional upheaval in his life. That’s because he hasn’t had them; apart from the whole thing with Itachi, he’s been fairly sheltered his whole life. But he actually doesn’t handle emotions well—something he’s about to find out soon enough—and for the same reason! He hasn’t been exposed to an extensive range of it.

Because he’s largely self-taught, he has confidence in his reading skills. He also remembers all of Obaa-sama’s stories so he thinks he’s a good listener. Well, he is—to an extent. If he wants to listen, he will. If he doesn’t, he’s just as proficient as Naruto at pigheadedness. (I think it’s an Uchiha trait too lmao.)

That was a lot, right? But you can see that if I’m writing from Sasuke’s POV, I have to keep a different set of pointers than if I’m writing from Naruto’s POV about Sasuke. The way I think of it is like changing lenses or shades depending on the light outside.

A few more techniques/guidelines I use:

Stay consistent with vocabulary. Orochimaru is far more verbose than the rest of them, Shikamaru right behind him, and Naruto uses shorter, simpler words. You can even assign particular words to a character, a word only they would use when referring to something. This applies to how your character addresses other people too, i.e. Orochimaru calls them ‘little ones’; Shikamaru calls his dad ‘oyaji’ in front of his peers but ‘otou-san’ in front of his sensei; Naruto is quick to give people nicknames and most of the time it sticks.

Watch the adjectives; different people describe things differently. Orochimaru uses more nuanced words that can mean different things depending on the situation and mood; Naruto thinks in terms of emotions, a lot of how does this make me feel; Sasuke is very visual and notices a lot of colors.

Use speech habits wisely; how your character talks should reflect their life. Just like accents, speech habits can tell a lot about a person. Sasuke always speaks politely because it’s how he’s supposed to talk at home, otherwise there’d be trouble. Naruto grew up in a poorer district and had no one to really teach him how to talk politely, so he’s very casual. Shikamaru cusses at age eleven because his parents and family are incredibly laissez-faire and honest around him, so he thinks it’s acceptable and normal (and he was never reprimanded for it).

Play with your tenses. Writing in past tense sounds and feels very different from writing in present tense. Depending on your character, one or the other might sound more appropriate. There are some expressions and figures of speech that sound fine when written in past tense but awkward when written in present tense, so that will end up inadvertently changing your prose a bit, which can be useful.

Read your work out loud. Cardinal rule of prose-writing. What looks good on paper doesn’t always sound good when read out loud. If you read it and it doesn’t sound like how your character talks, time for a vibe check. You might need to change a few words and move sentences around, or you might need a complete overhaul… an editor (and I mean an editor, not just a beta-reader) can usually help you out.

 A note about editors vs beta-readers:

There is a cardinal difference! A beta-reader is usually not professionally trained but should be experienced enough to point out things that aren’t right. In fandom, I’ve found that beta-readers mostly focus on a story’s general feel, flow and readability, sometimes character consistency, sometimes they point out typos and mistakes. An editor goes further than that. I’m fortunate to have Tria (aventria) who has edited my work for, gosh, 14 years now, fuck, we’re old! I call her my editor because when she goes through a piece, she will fix everything and make my draft bleed and I love it. (I actually get a little upset when she doesn’t fix anything, even if that means everything was good.) As an editor, she does a vibe check and looks for typos/errors, yes, but she also critiques the prose extensively. She can rearrange phrases or entire paragraphs for better flow. She will cut out entire scenes or make me rewrite them if they’re that bad. Like a copy editor, she looks at stylistic inconsistencies, grammar errors, and iffy word use. She’ll usually suggest or replace the offending word altogether. She has a lot of freedom with the work and can actually kick a piece to the curb if it’s really that shitty. She also questions plot progression, character development, and the relevance of a scene. (She’s made me cut out many, many scenes.) – That all being said, it’s not easy finding an editor, much less a good one. It also has to be someone you trust to have this much power over your work. It’s worth it, however, and my writing has gotten so much better because of the help.

If you’ve read this far, wow, thanks! You’re also probably thinking, “Shit, she takes this too seriously. It’s just a fic.”

I have… gotten into fights in the past before because of this. I feel strongly about the stuff I write. Just because it’s fanfiction doesn’t mean it isn’t a labor of love. I’m a perfectionist by nature, so that’s why I put so much time and effort into what amounts to ‘just a fic.’ And you know what? At the end of the day, writing it gives me satisfaction and happiness, so I will keep pouring into it as much as I can. It’s just a bonus to hear that other people are enjoying it too. (Yes, I’m one of those weirdos who intensely enjoy reading my own work…)

 Aaand the final point:

(3) I double-majored in psychology for undergrad and have by now accumulated thousands of hours of clinical hours spent using the theories and techniques I learned from those classes on real people. I’m also specializing in neuroscience, so a portion of my time is spent in psychiatry. Characterization was actually not one of my writing strengths at first, but I definitely noticed leaps in improvement after my clinical rotation started. People skills are just that: skills which are honed with practice. It’s amazing how much you learn about how people think and what make them tick when you interact with a whole spectrum of examples: from your neurotypical everyday well-adjusted person, to high-functioning neurotics and obsessives, to patients who have suffered complex stroke syndromes, to encephalitic brains burning under septic fevers, to druggies stoned so high they’ve breached the atmosphere, to patients whose brains are growing insidious tumors, to schizophrenics and catatonics and the depressed. My job also allows me the rare opportunity to interact with people from all walks of life. All I need to do if I wanted insight about how life is for soldiers who served in an active warzone, for example, is to hit up Bill at the ICU and ask for stories about Korea and the Gulf and Vietnam. Or if I wanted to know about how to survive the Rwandan genocide, I could sit down with Amida, who survived it as a barely-teenager with her brother and sister in tow while only “losing my innocence and an eye.” Or I could talk to Heather, who is building a life with her husband and two rambunctious children, for a perspective on the daily concerns and delights of a ‘perfectly normal and ordinary’ working mother. (Her words, not mine; Heather is amazing even if she eats the doctor’s lounge out of Tita Annabel’s cookies.) Anyway, you get my point. When I write, I almost always write about people, so it makes sense that a lot of my inspiration comes from people too. A lot of my original characters—and even some that are not—often speak with the voices and inflections of people I know in real life. You probably have people with interesting stories to tell in your life; you just have to work up the courage to ask and take the time to listen. You’d be surprised at what you learn!

A few helpful writing resources: (most of these are classics)

The Elements of Style by Strunk & White

The First Five Pages by Noah Lukeman

How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler and Charles van Doren

And more books that helped me get into people’s heads:

Hallucinations by Dr. Oliver Sacks

The Noonday Demon by Andrew Solomon

Far From the Tree by Andrew Solomon

The Lucifer Effect by Philip Zimbardo

Admirable Evasions by Theodore Dalrymple

I hope you got something out of that. Again, feel free to drop me an ask if you have any questions or want to chat!

[qqueenofhades]

How was yellow journalism at the turn of the 19th century different then the fake news and media insanity we see today? Do you know? It seems like this has been going on for a really long time.

And you would be correct, because this has in fact been going on for a very long time (indeed, much further back than the 19th century) and is essentially the basic practice of history: figuring out how to understand, vet, classify, believe, and treat the stories that humans tell about themselves. Or as that musical that came out the other day put it: “you have no control who lives, who dies, who tells your story.” We’re all just telling stories about things constantly, and we all want people to believe our story and treat it as the best version. Some of these stories are more fictional (and more harmful) than others, but it’s been going on for as long as there have been people.

(Or: “A Brief History of Fake News” follows below. If it doesn’t make sense, blame the fact that I had to rewrite half of it after Tumblr ate it.)

Globalization and the 24-hour news media has made it possible for “fake news” narratives to become transnational: in other words, no matter where you are in the world or what country you’re originally from, you can use some of the same content, techniques, arguments, or beliefs. For example, coronavirus deniers, no matter where they are in the world, can use the same stable of arguments: it’s fake, it’s a Chinese lab conspiracy, it’s a political stunt, it’s not that bad, you shouldn’t wear a mask, etc. They are drawing from the same essential pool of content and replicating the same themes in their particular contexts. Obviously, everyone has instant access to these narratives now and we are seeing the large-scale and damaging effects, because they can be amplified to a degree unheard-of in human history thanks to social media, TV, phones, etc, but also: it’s what humans have been doing since, well, forever.

A caveat I often have to give undergraduate students, when introducing them to medieval chronicle sources, is that they’re subjective -- that is, they’re more interested in promoting one individual, kingdom, religious viewpoint, version of events, etc, rather than aiming for an inclusive and “real” version of how things went by taking into account the experiences and arguments of all sides. This is obviously disingenuous, because it suggests that modern historians don’t do this, that they just objectively report “real facts” and there is no human bias or agenda at work in producing the result. This reflects the influence of Leopold von Ranke, a 19th-century German historian who is often viewed as the founder of the modern critical source-based historiographical method. He was a proponent of the idea that historians had to “describe the past as it actually happened,” i.e. they had to select the correct facts and build an objective narrative so that people could discover the One True Version of reality. Of course, you may realize that you.... can’t actually do that.

Historians still have to select which facts they report, how a “fact” is constructed to start with, what methodology they use, what conclusions they draw, what they focus on, what moral lessons or overall takeaways they present for their audience, etc. This reflects the 19th century’s effort to make history similar to hard science: they liked the idea that there was one single methodology that would reveal an empirically provable single ideal, that there was no human agency or bias that would influence this narrative, and the facts would magically assemble themselves into one central version that everyone would agree upon. Except this still isn’t and has never been the way it works. Historians, as human agents, mediate and manage and influence the facts they use and the conclusions they draw from sources, and it’s our job to figure out which ones are more valid and which ones are not. It’s a system of collective memory, and as I’ve said before, that collective memory is always particularly susceptible to what people (especially the rich and powerful people, who install the version of history that the rest of us learn) want to remember. This rarely includes their flaws, or things that show them to be wrong, or any challenge to their status.

Prior to the invention of film/TV/audiovisual methods in the 19th century (and since they didn’t become commercial or widespread until the 20th), everything we know about human history before that, we know because someone wrote it down. In the Western tradition, the ancient Greek historians Herodotus and Thucydides are often viewed as the “fathers” of history, because they deliberately assembled a curation of (allegedly) empirical facts in a constructed narrative with a self-stated historiographical purpose. They also make use of what, in fancy academic-speak, we might call the “topos of authority.” Every single historian has been aware that they have to provide some way for their reader to independently verify their content, or decide to believe what they’re saying against a competing version. In the olden days, they often did this by self-certifying: “I swear that everything I write here is true/I heard only from wise and trustworthy people/I spoke to an eyewitness of these events/I read a book by such-and-such authority.” But just because they SAY these things doesn’t mean they’re true, and no modern historian can take this at face value: they can’t just say, “well, my source said they were telling the truth, so that’s good enough for me.” They have to supplant with other accounts, they have to perform textual criticism and close reading, they have to find other pieces of evidence to compare. Because in a sense, all of history might be fake news. We just have to figure out which parts those are, and sometimes that’s not even the point, because it’s impossible.

For example: take the sixth-century Byzantine court historian Procopius, who wrote about the reigns of the Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian (r. 527-65) and Empress Theodora (r. 527-48). All of his official accounts of them are largely positive and flattering. But Procopius is probably best known for a work called the Secret History, where he rips into them as horrible awful people, relates lurid sexual scandals (especially about Theodora), dishes on all the bad things they did behind the scenes, so on and etc. This means that historians have been arguing ever since about which versions of Justinian and Theodora -- indeed, Procopius’s own versions of them -- we’re supposed to believe. If you want to read the Secret History, which you can do at the link above and which you should because it has amusing chapter titles like “Proving That Justinian and Theodora Were Actually Fiends in Human Form” and “How Justinian Killed a Trillion People,” you’ll come across this unrelentingly negative depiction of them, and... what? Is this a (somewhat) accurate account of the darker side of Justinian and Theodora’s bad behavior, written by an embittered Procopius after he fell out of royal favor? Is it just a total hatchet job? Was it written purely in case there was a palace coup, so Procopius could hand it to the new emperor and be like “see, I totally didn’t like those losers either, you can rely on me” and didn’t represent his actual views on the imperial couple at all? You can  already see the problem if the idea is, a la von Ranke, to prove “what really happened.” Almost nobody treats the Secret History as a straightforward factual document, but they also disagree about how truthful it is, why, for what reasons, and whether it is, in fact, even a History per se.

To return (belatedly) to the idea of newspapers and yellow journalism particularly. I would say that there was no more significant event in all of human history (well, maybe a few, but not many) than the invention of the printing press in the mid-fifteenth century. It instantly and permanently transformed the way humans acquired, stored, recalled, and learned knowledge, and it lasted (and is still lasting) even in the face of smartphones and internet. Once books were no longer rare, labor-intensive, and expensive, their use exploded, it became standard practice to publish your research (by the sixteenth century, this was already happening), to learn from a book, to use other books in constructing your knowledge, and thus to encounter these narratives. The other architecture of a culture of public and general literacy developed along with it, until it was the primary medium in which all people, not just the rich and educated, learned about things. Newspapers and books and pamphlets and other printed material intensely drove the revolutions of the eighteenth century, both in America and in Europe. And obviously, these weren’t trying to tell “both sides of the story.” It became standard practice to publish your manifestos, your papers, your essays and arguments, all your supporting documents, and you were trying to convince people to your side for concrete political reasons.

So by the time you get to the 19th century, you’ve had literal CENTURIES of people deciding what they want to believe, what’s beneficial for them to believe, their viewpoint on the world, etc. Except as we discussed above re: our friend Leopold von Ranke, the 19th century develops the idea of “scientific objectivity.” Of course, in the social sciences, this often gets applied (pause for sighing) to support the idea that there is a real racial hierarchy, that western European white men are the best not because they said so, but because it’s science, it’s provable, it’s not just an opinion, It Is Trufax. Newspapers, books, and other printed material are widely available to everyone, and the 19th century is making claims to universal truth that can be discovered and applied in all disciplines, but which is just a continuation of the same subjective storytelling as before, now elevated to the status of Unimpeachable Truth. Yellow journalism isn’t really that different from what humans have always done in crafting a narrative that supports their purposes and the story they want to tell (or that they think will sell papers, because people have an endless appetite for secrets, scandals, and drama, especially if they think there is a conspiracy, real or fake, to hide it from them). They just have different tools for doing it. Of course in the 21st century, we now have journalistic ethics and a set of standards and codes of conduct for how you’re supposed to write these things, and we have respected publications that do all that, but we also still have tabloid media, when the relationship with the facts is... tenuous, at best. These institutions and tendencies never go away. They just evolve.

I realize that this was a long and rather dull ramble about the origins of historiography, but the point is this: “fake news” is literally as old as humanity and history itself, and humans have always been predisposed to select and believe the narrative that personally benefits them, fits with their ideology, makes sense of events in the way they feel is most compelling, and so on. It’s just now in the hyperconnected 21st century, “fake news” can go instantly around the globe and be exposed to anyone with an internet connection. This is not helped, as I talked about in my “death of expertise” ask, by a public forum where everybody’s contributions supposedly have to be treated “equally,” in the name of “fairness,” no matter whether someone knows anything about the topic or not. So the impact of this tendency to believe whatever the hell anyone wants has been magnified far past what has ever been the case in history before, because no matter what someone wrote or believed in the pre-internet era, they didn’t have the multi-million-exponential ability to reach absolutely everybody at once. Even print books have to be printed, circulated, purchased, read, etc, and that takes time and money, rather than just instantly having it appear on your smartphone. And we are obviously seeing the real-world consequences of that as a result.

[timextoxhajima]

Chapter poster by @/lovehyuck on Instagram

NCT One Shot Collection

Member: Johnny

Genre: Fluff, gets a tiny bit suggestive at the end

Word Count: 3.7k

A/N: this was such a fun one to write! i may or may not have busted a big, fat uwu writing this. 

Art school was not the least bit easy for you. Not with all the different events and projects your course forced you through in your freshman year. Your media and design course needed you to constantly pull on a smile and an excited tone whenever you did broadcasting exercises, then back at home when you were off screen and not interning at an external company, you needed to learn the aesthetics of setting up websites and online blog shops. Writing and photography were skills you also needed for your course. All of this was extremely hard to handle when you're a freshman and had trouble even memorizing your way around the huge university campus.

You were absolutely dreading the next project that was set to come your way, because you would be interning at an independent boutique chain to learn the ideas and ways of online advertising and sales, but what you didn't expect in the package was the gentle giant that you would meet during your time of intern at the boutique chain stores.

"y/n?" One of the boutique's managers called out. You looked up from your journal of scripts and half done speeches you had done and would be doing in the future for the advertising projects.

"I'm here," You hurriedly shoved the book into your bag and got to your feet.

"Please, come in. I'll introduce you to your partner you'll be working with for your internship," The lady had a blazer on with a maroon top underneath, paired with black pants and a blue lanyard with her pass in the cardholder. You made your way into the room behind her, and before her sat a cheerful young man who was a few years older than you. The moment he noticed you, he stood up and offered you a handshake.

"Hi! You must be y/n! I'm Johnny Seo, the boutique's newest fashion designer and accent advisor. 'Johnny' will do just fine," he smiled at you, his wide grin making you feel warm and welcomed, despite his large and seemingly intimidating frame.

"Hi, nice to meet you," you took the handshake and bowed a little.

"Good to see that you two are starting off on the right foot. So, the both of you will be working closely for a project that the boutique is planning on launching in summer, preferably for a autumn collection. Johnny will brainstorm the styles and ideas, color palettes and all, and you will be handling the promotion and setting up of website for the project launch. How does that sound?" The lady leaned forward on the table, clasping her hands together and interlinking her fingers.

Johnny eagerly nodded, before turning to you, who obviously had some doubt in yourself.

"Relax, y/n, it's your first big project with a brand name. It's actually Johnny's first big launch too, but both of you have reputable portfolios. I don't expect the grandest, but I do expect your best efforts. If you perform well, we might consider you as permanent staff," The lady smiled at you. You processed her words, letting them sink in as you began to peel the small bits of skin round your fingertips and biting the ripped skin off your dry lips. Reputable profiles? Permanent staff? This is a huge brand name. Working for them would be like working for the Gods themselves. 

"y/n, really, don't feel pressured. We want our crew to be as relaxed and comfortable. We chose to accept your internship with us out of a few hundred because you have amazing presence and your work is unique. After the internship, if you'd like to work for another brand instead, it can remain in discussion. But for now, all I need you to do is to work with Johnny to produce the best project launch for this autumn, that's all. Can you do that?" The lady raised her brow, her voice softening as she tried her best to calm you down. 

You nodded. 

"Amazing. Johnny will show you to your temporary office and give you a small tour and orientation of the office building. From today onward, just report to this building for your internship and you can do everything you need to do in this building. Your school has already been notified of this information," The lady leaned back in her seat and pulled out a file from the cabinet behind her, opening it to an internship contract page and setting it down on the table in front of you.

Both you and Johnny signed your respective contracts, and off you went on your orientation with him. 

"Do you that when you're nervous or stressed?" Johnny spoke after a moment of silence. You were in the elevator with him on the way down to your office floor.

"Wha--? Oh," You looked down at your fingers and noticed the skin that had been peeled off had caused a tiny bit of bleeding. "Yeah, it's a habit. I'd like to get rid of it, but I've been doing it for years. Can't seem to stop it," You pulled your cardigan over your hands. Suddenly, you realised how under-dressed you were for the job. You were a broadcaster, a photographer and a writer, yet here you were, in a simple blue cardigan that covered your black top and some part of your denims. Even your ugly pair of strappy sandals were not up to your own standards.

Not when Johnny was there, fitted perfectly in his clothes.

Fashion designers.

"Fan of blue?" Johnny spoke again after the doors opened. 

"Yellow, actually. But my favourite yellow dress was in the washing machine this morning when I checked so..." You shrug and follow him out of the lift. He smiled as a gesture of courtesy, letting you know that he heard you. He tapped a card with his face printed on it on the door scanner, a soft beep turned one of the scanner's lights from red to green and he pushed the door open for you. 

"So, uhm, since you're working with this brand for the first time, I'll just let you know that their offices are on a rotational basis. So for example, you're working with me until autumn, right? Your office will be right next to mine until the season is over, and once you get a new partner, your office location will change, or maybe your new partner will come to you. Works both ways," Johnny walked and spoke at the same time, the office floor having a row of closed-door offices on both the left and right side of the floor, with office cubicles in the middle like a maze.

"The cubicles are for?" You looked at the employees sitting in cubicles, some talking on the phone and others looking intently at their computer screen.

"Oh, they basically handle the admin stuff. You know, employees, the money, event signing etcetera," He stopped right outside a closed office door. "I believe this office is yours," Johnny stretched out his right palm and gestured to the door. You glance at him and look at the door, the tab on the door where your name and position was supposed to be, still empty. 

The office was simple, but prettier than you expected it to be. After all, this was only supposedly an internship.

"Whoa," You breathed, stepping into the office and placing your bag on one of the guest chairs before heading for the window. You could see the city before you, with cars the size of fingernails and the glistening reflection off window panes from other office buildings. 

"I know right?" Johnny smiled. "Uh, you can get your access pass from the security point from tomorrow onwards. The admin counter on the first floor will give you your name and tab for your door when you clock in tomorrow," You hummed in response, still taken and completely obsessed with the view, so much that you didn't even notice Johnny had gone into his office right next to yours. 

After setting up your office, linking your devices to the office's network, putting in your name and tab on the door and shelving some of your files for research and information purposes, you were finally settled in. Of course, some of that settling needed an extra hand, and who else to help but your office neighbour and also your partner for the next 8 months?

The first teaser or promotional event for the launch was set to happen in about a month's time. That meant you needed to do filming, editorials, find some contract models and dress them in the clothes that Johnny was to design. Though you had a month, it felt like you had a week, and once you realised that, you began chewing on your lip like a dog chewing on its toy bone.

"No, I need a week to edit and fix up the promotional videos. I need the models in three weeks from now, not six," You spoke into your office phone. Your eyes were fixated on website designs and filming techniques you had learnt at school but was never able to apply them, but your ears were listening to the horrendous dealings of a model company who couldn't offer models when you needed them.

"Don't be ridiculous. Which part of 'three weeks' did you not unders-- look, if you can't give me my models - which the company I'm currently working for now would've already informed you so forth - in three weeks, then the company is done with you, got it?" You didn't wait for a response. Slamming the phone back into its phone set on the table, you were frustrated and stressed out. Not because you were now interning at a big brand name, but because you genuinely wanted to do well. Your website was barely put together with the absence of photos and information about the project launch. Only the color accents and layouts were fixed, but otherwise it was a barren land. 

Knock knock.

"Come in," You sighed and held up your fringe with your left hand, your right handling the mouse and moving the cursor around the website page, wondering what else you could do for it.

"Heard you yelling at the model contractor from next door," Johnny let himself in and shut the door behind him. 

"Please tell me you have some designs and you're ready to make them," Your eyes shifted to the man, your posture remaining slouched and stiff infront of the computer screen.

"Was just about to show you some of them. Thought they might help with the color accents for the website too," Johnny was holding a sketchbook and a file filled with sample materials and designs. He sat down on one of the guest chairs and pushed the file over to you on the table.

The sketches were amazing. Both the male and female designs were stunning, simple yet dramatic, and he did not stick to a single color accent. He used every single warm color available on the color wheel.

"These are amazing, Johnny," You took the sketchpad nearer to your computer and changed up the color accents on the site. "You should start materializing these. When the launch is done, the brand's definitely going to want you working for them," You clicked rapidly, fixing every crook and cranny of the site to fit the color accents of the designs in his sketchpad. 

"I actually wanted your input on the specific designs and materials. You do photography, so you should have an idea on what would look good in photographs," He looked you in the eye and had this adorable, sheepish, grin plastered on his face. It was almost like he was always happy and nothing could ever bring him down.  "Also because I need to ask you for a favour," His expression progressed from sheepish to embarrassed.

"What is it?" You chuckle, taking the materials file and flipping through them, reaching for a pen from your pen holder and writing down some of the material codes next to the respective designs you thought fit.

"I have a couple of friends from high school organising a social event, and everyone who's going is either attached or engaged and--"

"And you want me to go?" You raised an eyebrow, looking up through your lashes and at him. He scratched the back of his neck and tilted his head. 

"Ah, you know what? Forget it, it's horrible for me to ask you to act like someone you're not, so--"

"Nah, I'll go," You waved it off with your free hand without looking up. 

"What-- Really?" Johnny paused, watching you scribble all the material codes on the final few pieces of his designs.

"Yeah, sure. Why not?" You finished the last codes and handed the sketchpad back to him. "I've matched the designs to the materials I think would be suitable. So just check them for me and start getting them made. Photo shoot is in about three weeks." 

"No, wait, y/n, you're really okay with going to the event with me?" Johnny had a little frown on his face.

"Why not?" You leaned back in your chair. "Haven't been to one of those in awhile. Won't hurt to get one night off this stinking intern that's making me tear my hair out," 

He nodded and was obviously very happy.

"Okay. So I'll just text you the date, and you text me your address and I'll fetch you then, s'that alright with you?" Johnny squinted his eyes like he hoped you'd say yes.

"Cool," You smiled at him. There was an awkward pause as all he did was stare at you, when you weren't sure why he was still there. "Anything else, partner?" You furrowed your brows and pursed your lips. 

"Oh!" He exclaimed and whirled around in a circle, like a cat looking for its tail. "Nothing, I was just, zoning out," He frantically grabbed his sketchpad and material files from your table. "I'll see you tomorrow," He gave you one last nod before leaving your office. You waited until his shadow had disappeared from outside your door and into his, before sinking back into your chair and turning it around to see the glaring evening sun setting on the city. 

This internship was the hardest internship you had ever done. You were working for 9 hours straight a day, some days spent in the office doing research on materials and other days visiting material stores to gather information about the cloths and the small details like lace and buttons that Johnny needed to begin making his clothing line. But what you failed to notice was that every single time you were procrastinating on a meal, Johnny would never fail to appear at your door with some packed food, knowing that you hadn't had anything since the previous meal. After awhile, he noticed the trend in your tastes: nothing spicy, soup is a must, and you always had tea over coffee any day, and that was exactly how he would send lunch or dinner to your office despite it being way past the respective mealtimes. 

Before you knew it, the day of the social event was here. It was at a rather extravagant bungalow at a chalet right outside of town. All of Johnny's high school friends were going to be there, drinking booze or playing a game they weren't supposed to. Long story short, it was an event with all of Johnny's american friends.

"Hey Johnny, uhm, I was wondering..." You had the phone between your ear and your shoulder, all your party clothes laid out in front of you on the floor. "What are you wearing and what's the color code like?" 

"Oh, uhm, well, nothing sophisticated I guess? Denim jacket, T-shirt, pants and a pair of... Vans? I mean, it's a guy thing though. Girls usually wear prettier, slightly more... extravagant styles."

"Cool, so blue and black?" You eyed the black crossed-back singlet top with black leather pants. 

"Sounds fine to me."

"Also, Johnny," You were now holding the phone. "Who am I going as?" You smirked to yourself. You knew, but it would've been a lot nicer if he had just asked you to be his date directly.

"I... well, everybody's bringing someone you know, so... just for this once, pretend you're my girlfriend."

You smiled to yourself.

"Pleasure," You hung up. 

When you showed up at the party, you knew exactly why Johnny wanted you to go with him. This wasn’t just a social gathering, this was a white boy frat party. It wasn’t that bad, but everybody Johnny greeted looked like they used to play sports and had a girl attached to their arm. Johnny was popular with the people at the party. He was so sociable and such an amazing talker, you wondered why he hadn't gotten himself a real girlfriend when all he did the entire night was introduce you to his friends and by saying, "Hey, what's up? Dude, meet my girlfriend, y/n," Then he'd carry on and talk about how he met you at an internship and now you were both doing a clothing line project launch together. 

The night was getting late, and you definitely had more drinks than Johnny did. Your brain was like walking a tightrope and constantly on the edge of losing your composure altogether. Your date wanted to send you home when he noticed your face was rosier than usual and your eyes were no longer looking straight anymore, but you insisted and refused to leave. So when you found yourself in a circle next to Johnny, an empty bottle of beer in the middle and everybody else was screaming when two lucky people got chosen to make out with one another, that's when you decided to take another shot of vodka to completely immerse yourself in the party experience. 

"y/n," Johnny grabbed the shot glass, trying his best not to let you finish it. But the alcohol rushed down your throat so quickly, you belched, earning loud hoots from the rest of the circle.

"Next round!" The friend of Johnny's who was hosting the event yelled, grabbing the bottle and pinning it down in the middle of the circle.

"I think I'm going to send her home first, she's wasted," Johnny gently brushed the hair out of your face, your eyes barely open and your limbs functioning at the least. The bottle was spun and landed on Johnny.

"No! I'm staying, this is fun," You giggled, snuggling your head into his chest. 

"Oh, that's even better! Won't even know what's going to hit her!" His friend shouted, twirling the bottle again before Johnny could protest. The bottle landed on you. 

"Ooooooh, rules are rules, muchachos!" The host lifted his beer bottle. "If the player chosen is attached, then 7 minutes of heaven in the closet we go!" 

Johnny panicked. He watched as other girls from the circle got up to help carry you into the closet upstairs while the other guys hyped Johnny up to follow you upstairs. Before Johnny knew it, he was standing in front of you in someone's closet, the smell of cologne filling up both your noses and your eyes struggled to find a face to focus on. 

"Why is it so dark?" You groaned, rubbing your eyes and smacking your lips.

"Because you didn't want to leave the spin-the-bottle circle, you doofus," Johnny sighed and tucked your hair behind your ear.

"Care to explain why you don't have a girlfriend? Everybody else here has one besides you," You burped, the smell of sprite and vodka temporarily intoxicated the air between you and Johnny. He winced in disgust, before waving the air with his hand.

"My last dumped me. Said I was too focused on a career path that wasn't promising." 

Your muddleheaded skull processed this information, before it struck a chord in one of your nerves. 

"Jeez, I'm... sorry for that, I didn't mean to pry," You frowned and rubbed your face. 

"Nah, it's alright," Johnny shrugged, his eyes adjusting to the darkness and noticing your jacket falling to your elbows. He subtly pulled them up, covering your shoulders.

"What do people even do in 7 minutes in heaven anyway? Dumbass game," You shuffled your feet, failing to register that Johnny was kind of uncomfortable with how little space there was between the two of you. 

"Most people just... you know-- hook up," Johnny cleared his throat. You paused and looked up at the shape of his jaw under the horrible lighting, your fingers only able to graze the outline of his facial features since you couldn't see well. Your fingertips halted at his chin, then shifted up to feel his lips.

"Have you ever...?" You whispered. Johnny could only hear the sound of his own breathing, the feeling of someone else's fingers on his skin was so alien, yet familiar.

"No, only small kisses here and there, but never really a real..." His voice trailed off as he felt you tiptoeing to reach his height. "Kiss," He finished his sentence, and before he could register it, his arms were wrapped around your waist, and yours around his neck, trying to pull his head down to match your height. 

"Why are you so goddamn tall?" You huffed between kisses, the heat in your chest building up, and it wasn't only because of the alcohol. Johnny took the hint and shifted his hands to your thighs without violating your bottom, lifting you up and guiding your legs around his waist. It was almost as if every single word in the dictionary couldn't be processed in either of your heads. All he could taste was the lingering tinge of alcohol from your tongue, and all you could think of was how hot he was, being able to carry you and lifting you off the ground while still handling everything north.

"7 minutes is up-- whoa!" The host pulled open the door, only to see you hurriedly hop off Johnny's hips, your lipstick smudged and his hair in a mess. You coughed, surprisingly more sober than before. You began biting on your lip, noticing how everybody was shooting you smirks and teases. Johnny pulled up your jacket to your shoulder from behind, carefully patting down his hair and calmly wrapping his arm around your shoulder. 

"We have business to finish, so if you'll excuse us, I'll be sending her home."

[gear-project]

Developer’s Backyard #3

It’s that time again!

This one's a little shorter than the others, since they aren't discussing much that we don't already know by now from previous entries.

And of course, they start off with the Leo Whitefang/Nagoriyuki trailer~!  Gotta spread that hype like butter on a hot English Muffin.

I like how Akira Katano responds to Question 1 here:

He says: "If everyone chooses the same actions, and combos and setplay in particular end up with only one correct option, this would take away Guilty Gear’s unique appeal."

I cannot stress this enough: SETPLAY is the BANE of all fighting games.

Maybe it's how high level players win day in and day out, but it lets them sleep behind a wheel of complacency that sucks all the fun out of the game (remember what I said about the Importance of Game Balance?)

How they plan on approaching beginners is a little tricky though, finding players with similar skill level is a touchy subject for all of us.

I happen to know someone "who thinks" I am the only person who plays at their skill level, but in fact, my skill level is probably much lower than theirs (the discrepancy is very wide, wider than they realize).  It's just that with my playstyle with certain characters, they feel a "tier list gap" that I can only chalk up to my personal experiences and their lack of practical knowledge in certain situations.

The gap isn't that big in the sense that what they have to overcome isn't a huge wall, but more that they're just missing a few pieces of information (to apply that info) to beat me consistently.

That often comes from fighting certain matchups regularly, but also just playing around a lot and getting a lot of physical knowledge ingrained in how you play.

Having players of the same skill level matched with eachother is certainly one way to increase growth, but I also think it's not the ONLY way to improve the game's overall experience.

As someone who plays fighting games casually, most of the time I am labbing and experimenting with all manner of gimmicks and mechanics.  The appeal lies more in what I can do and get away with, versus what I actually accomplish against an opponent.

(In other words, I have more fun playing by myself as opposed to playing against others... even if fighting games are inherently multi-player.)

However, if they were to challenge someone like myself (like they are supposedly trying to do), I think they'd have to turn Guilty Gear in to an RPG setting to get me to shift my approach to the game (when discussing how to get casuals to play a game of this nature, that is).

Ishiwatari says he plans on making this "new story" something that even new players will enjoy, and that they have something in the works for people who want to learn the story so far... which I hope is more complete than previous incarnations!!!

Katano goes on to talk about the "hidden techniques" found in the game, like FD cancelling, FD fast falls, Roman Cancel airdashes, and other gimmicks.

It seems that by and large they wanted to keep these things "a secret" so that the playing field for players was neutral.  I'd say that was a good call on their part.

I'd also add that certain "techniques" are more applicable in specific situations regardless, so having to constantly learn or do certain things isn't really as necessary as high level players will make it sound, especially if you're just learning the game's nuances.

Regarding Rollback netcode... in my personal opinion it's not something people should worry about.  Gameplay will be ultimately determined by who you play against, and what their internet setup is like.  I don't fuss over the details, but it is always like that.

And besides, even against good internet, there are still troublesome players out there, so avoid the toxic players if you can manage it.

Question 5 was interesting, as it delved further in to the thoughts behind Ranked Matches.

Akira Katano says part of the issues they noted was "losing rank points", having "multiple online modes".

It sounds like they're going for a more homogenized netplay system, though I can't see that being perfectly executed because of several reasons:

1. Players have a history/friend list so they will run in to their regulars/mutuals regardless, even if those players are highly skilled, it will be hard to avoid them.

2. Not everyone is interested in having a Rank, as many are simply there to play the game in the first place.  I've met players who reset their rank on a regular basis just to play players similar to their skill level.  Some people might call this a form of "Smurfing", but it's something players do when they don't get results they want.

For example... assuming I obtained an Orange-colored Rank, if all I'm matched up against are Pink/Red players who are better than me, I'd rather lose that rank in favor of a more relaxed pace.

I don't want to say it's like "bullying weaker players" but some players struggle against highly aggressive upper level play.

3. Not everyone is interested in "getting good" at the game.  Even if the premise is to increase your skill, or just to play against other players... some of us are only interested in the story, the scenery, the characters, the music, or just vibing on their own terms.

That's generally what makes the "competitive" aspect of fighting games difficult to deal with, especially if you're a passive casual player.

If they address the game in such a way to make it fun for even casual players... I won't be troubled by it as much, but again, sometimes making something "too competitive" takes all the actual fun out of the game in concept (i.e. not having an Arcade Mode, not having extra modes, barebones gameplay elements).

Q6 --- They discuss Instant Blocking and how it has changed... well, I don't think it's something to worry about, but I am concerned about future mechanics related to blocking, like Slashbacks, Blitz Shields, Faultless Defense, and Perfect Guarding (FD IB blocking).

As someone who plays Potemkin, I understand the implications of getting rewarded for good defense, but at the same time I think there needs to be good tools for dealing with excessive offensive pressure.

Welp, that's everything for now!

Reminder: October is when they announce yet another mystery Guilty Gear character(s).

I have no idea who it'll be, but I do hope it's someone everyone will like!

[somnilogical]

modular "ethics":

a wrong and two rights make a right

<<I've been known to cause outrage by suggesting that people who really care about something shouldn't have romantic relationships. Think what would happen if I dared to suggest that those people should also seriously consider getting castrated. That would be crazy! And who am I to suggest that basically everyone claiming to be doing good is faking it? Then people would feel bad about themselves. We can't have that!>>

https://squirrelinhell.blogspot.com/2018/02/men-have-women-are.html

previously i talked about an infohazard about altruism that seemed to fuck with grognor. it feels useful to pass by the dead and look at their lives and choices.

i dont think that castrating yourself is a good intervention for doing stuff you care about, like this is patchwork constraints for an unaligned optimizer. if you arent altruistically aligned from core values, castrating yourself wont make you more aligned.

the "altruists" having babies thing is actual insane and pasek is right about that. pretty much all of society will try and gaslight you about this the way sometimes people are gaslit about "i need to have sex with lots of attractive fems to keep up my moral so i can do super good stuff afterwards.". like if people want to do good for the world it will flow out as a continuous expression of value not some brent dill kind of deal that institutions like CFAR accepted until there was too much social pressure for them to maintain this facade.

the entire premise that morality is this modular thing and you can help set the utility function of an FAI while being a terrible person, is wrong. yet organizations like CFAR keep thinking it will work out for them:

<<We believe that Brent is fundamentally oriented towards helping people grow to be the best versions of themselves. In this way he is aligned with CFAR’s goals and strategy and should be seen as an ally.

  In particular, Brent is quite good at breaking out of standard social frames and making use of unconventional techniques and strategies. This includes things that have Chesterton’s fences attached, such as drug use, weird storytelling, etc. A lot of his aesthetic is dark, and this sometimes makes him come across as evil or machiavellian.

  Brent also embodies a rare kind of agency and sense of heroic responsibility. This has caused him to take the lead in certain events and be an important community hub and driver. The flip side of this is that because Brent is deeply insecure, he has to constantly fight urges to seize power and protect himself. It often takes costly signalling for him to trust that someone is an ally, and even then it’s shaky.

  Brent is a controversial figure, and disliked by many. This has led to him being attacked by many and held to a higher standard than most. In these ways his feelings of insecurity are justified. He also has had a hard life, including a traumatic childhood. Much of the reason people don’t like him comes from a kind of intuition or aesthetic feeling, rather than his actions per se.

  Brent’s attraction to women (in the opinion of the council) sometimes interferes with his good judgement. Brent knows that his judgement is sometimes flawed, and has often sought the help of others to check his actions. Whether or not this kind of social binding is successful is not obvious.>>

https://pastebin.com/fzwYfDNq

<<AnnaSalamon 2/6/09, 5:54 AM

Aleksei, I don’t know what you think about the current existential risks situation, but that situation changed me in the direction of your comment. I used to think that to have a good impact on the world, you had to be an intrinsically good person. I used to think that the day to day manner in which I treated the people around me, the details of my motives and self-knowledge, etc. just naturally served as an indicator for the positive impact I did or didn’t have on global goodness.

(It was a dumb thing to think, maintained by an elaborate network of rationalizations that I thought of as virtuous, much the way many people think of their political “beliefs”/clothes as virtuous. My beliefs were also maintained by not bothering to take an actually careful look either at global catastrophic risks or even at the details of e.g. global poverty. But my impression is that it’s fairly common to just suppose that our intuitive moral self-evaluations (or others’ evaluations of how good of people we are) map tolerably well onto actual good consequences.)

Anyhow: now, it looks to me as though most of those “good people”, living intrinsically worthwhile lives, aren’t contributing squat to global goodness compared to what they could contribute if they spent even a small fraction of their time/money on a serious attempt to shut up and multiply. The network of moral intuitions I grew up in is… not exactly worthless; it does help with intrinsically worthwhile lives, and, more to the point, with the details of how to actually build the kinds of reasonable human relationships that you need for parts of the “shut up and multiply”-motivated efforts to work… but, for most people, it’s basically not very connected to how much good they do or don’t do in the world. If you like, this is good news: for a ridiculously small sum of effort (e.g., a $500 donation to SIAI; the earning power of seven ten-thousandths of your life if you earn the US minimum wage), you can do more expected-good than perhaps 99.9% of Earth’s population. (You may be able to do still more expected-good by taking that time and thinking carefully about what most impacts global goodness and whether anyone’s doing it.)>>

https://www.greaterwrong.com/posts/4pov2tL6SEC23wrkq/epilogue-atonement-8-8

like opposing this isnt self-denying moral aestheticism or a signalling game of how good you can look (credibly signalling virtue is actually a good thing, i wish more people did it by for instance demonstrating how they win in a way that wouldnt work if they werent aligned. whose power seeded from their alignment.). its like... the alternative where people do things that it makes no sense for an altruist to do and then say that when they go to their day jobs they are super duper altruistic they swear; compartmentalizing in this way ...doesnt actually work.

people who want to obscure what altruism looks like will claim that this is moving around a social schelling point for who is to be ostracized. and that altruism as a characteristic of a brain isnt a cluster-in-reality that you can talk about. because it will be coopted by malicious actors as a laser to unjustly zap people with. these people are wrong.

both EA and CFAR are premised on some sort of CDT modular morality working. it is actually pretending to do CDT optimization because like with brent at each timestep they are pretending to think "how can we optimize utility moving forward?" (really i suspect they are just straight up mindcontrolled by brent, finding ways to serve their master because they used force and the people at CFAR were bad at decision theory) instead of seeking to be agents such that brent when brents plans to predate on people ran through them, he would model it as more trouble than it was worth and wouldnt do this in the first place.

CFAR and EA will do things like allowing someone to predate on women because they are "insightful" or creating a social reality where people with genetic biases who personally devote massive amounts of time and money to babies who happen to be genetically related to them and then in their day job act "altruistically". as long as it all adds up to net positive, its okay right?

but thats not how it works and structures built off of this are utterly insufficient to bring eutopia to sentient life. in just the same way that "scientists" who when they arent at their day jobs are theists are an utterly insufficient to bring eutopia to sentient life.

<<Maybe we can beat the proverb—be rational in our personal lives, not just our professional lives. We shouldn’t let a mere proverb stop us: “A witty saying proves nothing,” as Voltaire said. Maybe we can do better, if we study enough probability theory to know why the rules work, and enough experimental psychology to see how they apply in real-world cases—if we can learn to look at the water. An ambition like that lacks the comfortable modesty of being able to confess that, outside your specialty, you’re no better than anyone else. But if our theories of rationality don’t generalize to everyday life, we’re doing something wrong. It’s not a different universe inside and outside the laboratory.>>

--

to save the world it doesnt help to castrate yourself and make extra super sure not to have babies. people's values are already what they are, their choices have already been made. these sort of ad-hoc patches are what wrangling an unaligned agent looks like. and the output of an unaligned agent with a bunch of patches, isnt worth much. would you delegate important tasks to an unaligned AI that was patched up after each time it gave a bad output?

it does mean that if after they know about the world and what they can do, people still say that they specifically should have babies, i mark them as having a kind of damage and route around them.

someone not having babies doesnt automatically mark them as someone id pour optimization energy into expecting it to combine towards good ends. the metrics i use are cryptographically secure from being goodharted. so i can talk openly about traits i use to discern between people without worrying about people reading about this and using it to gum up my epistemics.

[annerly-san]

The Night’s Reminiscence | Chapter 1 | Takasugi Shinsuke (Gintama)

Alternate A03 Link:  https://archiveofourown.org/works/25601344/chapters/62137555

Verdant grass blades swayed in the wind as the scent of bloomed cherry blossom flowers wafted about her.  The lull of cicada thrills filled the air and beckoned the imminent arrival of summer.

It was warm.

She remembered the scratching and chaffing of the geta against her toes as she chased him.  Her lungs would ache with each stretch of breath she took and her heart pounded in her chest so loudly that she could barely hear anything else.  Out of breath, and out of reach, he always managed to evade her.

No matter how hard she ran to chase after him-- desperately seeking his attention and affection-- he would brush by the tips of her fingers and disappear from her sight.

Those piercing eyes of deep green were constantly fixated on something further ahead.  They looked at something that was beyond her.  Her naivety of childhood affections and innocent yearnings of the heart had once hopelessly wished to capture his gaze.

It was from a time that was much more peaceful and innocent.  A time where she was of more pure heart.  It was but a memory -- a recollection-- of the time she had her heart still intact.

Miyuki looked out from her window.

The lush countryside of her hometown was but a fleeting moment in the increasing industrialization that she saw beyond her window.

The gentle hills of the country were paved down and replaced with buildings of iron, steel and glass.  The greenery of nature had long since been uprooted and covered with endless trails black asphalt and gray concrete.  The wind, which had once carried the sweet scent of flowers and fruits in bloom, now gusted about with a nasty mixture of smoke, chemicals and toxins which devastated the lungs with an unfortunate breath.

The dull ache of her heart was not of forlorn yearning.  Nor was it of sorrowful pain from a past long gone.  No.  She surmised that it was but the aftermath of a despairing resignation-- a loss of all hope and prospect for a future that she could call hers.

Her attention was not divided for long.

The sharp tapping of the door alerted her to the maid that was now entering her quarters, relaying her surprise at her mistress’s early rise.

The commentary on how excited she must be for her big day went in one ear and out of the other as Miyuki slipped her arms through the kimono that the maid held out for her.

On a usual day, Miyuki would have glared at anyone who held the tenacity to speak of the insufferable marriage arrangement between her and her fiance.  A sharp tongue would have flicked out between her clenched teeth to chastise the imbecile who thought that a political marriage to the single most egoistical, spoilt and repugnant man to walk the streets of Edo.

The skin of her cheeks have grown thick-- accustomed to the slaps she received from her parents as reprimand for speaking ill of her soon-to-be husband.  It was most unfortunate that the skin on the rest of her face had not developed the same density in a metaphorical sense.  As much as she would much rather slit open her stomach and bleed to death rather than marry that abomination of a man, her wrists were tied and her mouth was gagged as she was practically sold off from her family as a political asset in order to gain some semblance of material wealth and power.

And now she stood in front of a mirror, watching as a veil of delicate blush was applied to her cheeks.  She almost wished that the maid would apply at least five times the amount of makeup to cover her face as to mask the inevitable shame and to shield the remnants of her pride.

“Oh, my lady, you simply look wonderful!”  The maid gushed as the last stroke of the makeup brush left Miyuki’s lips.  “You’re the most beautiful woman in Edo!”

The mirror reflected a picturistic bride.  Adorned in an elegant wedding kimono with her hair held back by clips made from gold and precious jewels, a woman that Miyuki refused to acknowledge stared at her with blank eyes.

“You’re soon to be married to a high government official!  How wonderful!”  The maid continued to gush incessantly as she escorted Miyuki to the palanquin that awaited her in the front of the manor.  “To live a life of care-free and luxury-!”

The words, spoken by one who knew nothing of the torment and suffering that came adjunct to this union, scrapped at the pits of Miyuki’s stomach irritably as small ruptures of growing anger bubbled up within her.

Miyuki stepped into the palanquin and took her seat.

The interior-- ornamented with the highest quality wood, finest silks, metals and jewels-- enclosed about her like a prison.  She felt herself being hoisted up into the air as the palanquin shook about with each step that the carriers took.

Out of the wooden bars of her transport, she stared past the bustling crowd of Edo’s common folk and back to the humble countryside of her past.

“Did you get hurt again?”  She gingerly reached out towards him in comfort only to be slapped away.

The boy turned cheek and replied coyly.  “Does it look like I’m hurt?”

His pride was clearly injured above all else.

His purple hair was disheveled and there was a swelling around one of his vibrant green eyes.

“No, but let me-”

“You’re annoying!  Can’t you leave me alone, damn it!?” Despite the calming sting in her hands, she tenderly took her handkerchief -- soaked with clean spring water-- and blotted at the small scraps and scratches on the boy’s face.

He winced, but allowed for her to tend him.  The unspoken permission blossomed into warmth in her heart.

“You’re really strong, Takasugi-kun.”  She sang her praise for him as she carefully cleaned him of the blood and sweat he accumulated in a fight that he had gotten into.

Her parents would have been mortified to see how close she had gotten to the son of a lower class samurai family, but she didn’t care.  The chastising, the meals forgone, the whips of bamboo sticks on her wrists-- she could tolerate them all.

Her family ran the prodigious military academy that Takasugi’s parents had sent him to.  A single instance of him defeating a group of students which were making less than civil advances towards her made her heart tremor in her chest.

Her interest and affection for him sprouted then.

Miyuki would always follow him around and watch him.  The way that he swung his sword around was mesmerizing for her to watch.

She would often sneak and watch him behind a tree or bush or gaze out the window of her room to hopefully spot him around and about in the academy.

When she finished her calligraphy lessons, she would find him to ask for him to show her the new sword techniques that he learned that day.

He called her annoying often and chastised her a great deal for bothering him even more so.

And even as he often yelled at her, called her annoying, and chastised her for running about and not being a proper lady as she should be, she never once felt upset or offended.

She was simply content with the fact that she managed to get him -- the object of her love and admiration-- to look her way even for just the briefest of moments.

The palanquin came to a halt and the heavy silk screen was lifted up to reveal a reel of carpet rolled out on the floor for her to step upon.

She could already hear the bustle of the crowd that her fiance had gathered as a means to shamelessly show off to uncaring spectators.

A familiar hand held itself out as a means to prompt her to take it.

She dejectedly placed her hand in the hand of her father’s as she stepped outside.

The cheers enveloped her senses as she was escorted towards the shrine where her soon-to-be husband stood.

Her father leaned in as to whisper in her ear.  “This is your contribution to the family.  Stand straight.  Stand proud.”  Those words were not meant as praise.  The underlying threat in her father’s tone was clear.  Perhaps he was being civil today for once as he didn’t bring mention of “being a disgrace” or “being a worthless woman” up as a means to stab at her esteem.  She wanted to slouch further but decided to not press her luck when the grip on her hand tightened to the point of near bruising.

Her father was a ruthless man.

It was to be expected from the head of a military academy.  But only she bore the callous treatment that her father gave.  She spotted her mother and younger brother standing near the front; her mother’s head held high and tilted up in a snobbish manner, and her brother had the most bored look on his face not bothering to hide the fact that he could not care to be present.

To think that the sole reason that their family was able to remain intact was solely due to the fact of her marriage.

The sudden change and worth that she held as well as the lack of choice and will in this matter made her hands ball up in a seething frustration.

Despite being the eldest, she was often discredited for the sole fact of being a woman.

At her birth, the instant that her father discovered her gender, he immediately sought out to produce another heir in hopes of raising a son.

And so, soon after her, a son was borne to the household.

While he was showered with undeserving praise for the slightest of things and held the affections of both parents in the palm of his hands, she suffered neglect and abuse.

It was not uncommon for her to hear from both parents on how worthless she was and how lucky she would be if she was able to be married off to an affluent family.

Both parents told her frequently that if she was to get on her brother’s good graces, perhaps he would be willing to provide a free spot in the inherited manor for her to housekeep and watch over his offspring.

Her brother knew that she was told of such things.  And he took advantage of it.

Often berating her or even physically bullying her-- pulled out hair and bruised cheeks-- no one in the house showed her any semblance of kindness nor respect of a human being.

How funny it was that it was her to get them out of the troubles that plagued them upon the Amanto’s invasion.

With the military academy being effectively shut down as a result of the sword ban, the esteem that the house had once held was shattered into dust.

It was a fitting justice for those who despicably held onto that power and used it to prey upon the weak.

But as the house fell into ruin, a high ranking Bafuku official had taken interest in Miyuki and wished to court her.  In return, the household would be brought out from ruin and financial woes.

Despite having the power to change the tides for her family, they treated her no better.

Her adamant refusals to go humor the official with dates resulted in beatings that included kimono sleeves and layers of makeup that would just barely conceal evidence of abuse.

Her attempts of escape led to recapture with padlocked doors and chains on her legs.

Her attempts to simply leave the world led to an uncomfortably intolerable surveillance of her actions for every second of each day she spent in captivity.

And now, powerless, she stood before the man whom she held no affections nor care towards as she nodded and agreed to his vows to become his until death do they part.

And as she felt the press of his lips against hers, she felt the last bit of hope and defiance in her disintegrate into oblivion as the vows between the two of them were sealed.

Miyuki stared blankly ahead as the food and festivities of the wedding began.  Her now husband placed a kiss on her cheek for which she could not muster even a look of disgust for.

The music and noise of the party were lost to her as she herself grew lost in her reminiscence of what once was, not caring for the unwelcomed hand of her husband that was now intertwined with hers.

As a young girl, she could never hold, much less practice, with the sword.  It was ironic despite her family hailing from a military background and running an academy to train the new generation.

Her fascination with the sword and learning from it manifested through her admiration of Takasugi.

Her eyes would observe his stance and swing with an intense curiosity, her own hands gripping a calligraphy brush or a flower stem and replicating his moves to its exact arc and velocity.

She was stricken with sorrow when she came across news that Takasugi left the dojo to study under the tutelage of someone else.

She did not grieve for long.

When she had snuck out to trail him after he had left his house one day, she stumbled across the school of Shouka Sonjuku.

Her eyes followed Takasugi in amazement as she watched him spar with another silver haired kid -- wide smile on his face.

Even as he was struck down and lost the round, he looked the happiest she had ever seen him look before.  She secretly watched him bicker with the student and teacher before finally leaving.

Trailing him quietly as he walked on the road back toward home, she noticed the cut on his hand and without a second thought rushed over to him in a state of concern.

“Y-you!”  She had startled him.

“Are you ok?  You’re hurt!”  She immediately took out her handkerchief to wrap around his hand only to be slapped away-- the fabric falling to the ground.

He immediately began to storm off.  “Don’t follow me!”

“A-ah, wait!”  She reached out and grabbed the sleeve of his arm.

He spun around in annoyance-- eyes glistening with distrust and hostility.

“You’re going to tell my parents aren’t you?  Like the goody two-shoes that you are!”  The words he spoke had barbs that stung the flesh.  But Miyuki paid the pain no mind.

“N-no!”  Miyuki exclaimed in protest.  “I-I got worried about you since you weren’t coming to the academy…”  She picked up the spoiled handkerchief from the ground and looked back up at him.  “I-I won’t tell anyone!  I promise!”

His eyes scrutinized her as her heart fluttered from him looking at her directly like this for the first time.

“...tsk…”  He grabbed her hand and spun around to walk back home-- pulling at her arm and walking at a pace with no regards to her.

As she stumbled in a breathy run to match his pace, she was unbelievably over the moon that her hand was intertwined in his.

The virtues of two people holding hands as viewed by a child are often perceived as pure and untainted.  The memory faded out of mind as she was brought back to the reality that was the honeymoon suite that her husband had rented out for the both of them to consummate their first night together.

Her husband’s hands slipped around her, tugging at the kimono caring not about the integrity of the expensive cloth that covered her.  

“My wife…” her husband’s whispers were low as he uttered that hateful title she now bore into the crevice of her neck.  She felt warm and wet traces trail across her neck and back knowing full well that there would be unsightly marks in the places where it lingered.

She passively stood there, her own hands placed atop his roaming ones as they traced paths up and down her body-- lingering in places of particular interest.

The mannerisms of her treatment made her realize the extent of which she was considered and treated as a tool.

Her past self would have toyed with the notion of love in marriage and the yielding of oneself as an act of declaring eternal love for one another.

But as she faced the reality she was in, there was no such thing as love.

She knew that now as the grip on her arms and legs were tight enough to hurt her and the blatant disregard for her comfort was evident in the drawing of blood as a result of viciously left bite marks and scratches.

She was foolish to once think that she could ever receive love.

Takasugi was never a man that she could even hope to love.

But her heart back then refused to accept that reality and only ever pour its love out endlessly for him.

Reality was cruel.

If her heart dreamed and beat to the rhythm of a fairytale, her eyes would at the very least open one day to see the truth.

That night was clear.

She could see the stars -- infinitesimal in the sky.  She wondered if she would be able to see them reflect in his eyes when he came to see her.  She wondered how many strands of his purple hair she could count as they tosseled in the warm and gentle breeze of a midsummer’s night.

Miyuki stood underneath the cedar tree overlooking the river’s bed.  The ambient sounds of nature lulled her into a peace of mind as she listened for the sound of footsteps amongst the buzzing of cicadas, the rushing of water against rocks and the chirping of crickets.

She had left home to find him.  For once, she could seek freedom and happiness on her own terms.  And she wanted to find it with him.

He had gone off to fight in the Joui war.  It was perhaps the kindness -- or cruelness-- of fate that allowed them to meet once more.

“Would you give me an answer?”  Her voice was shaking as she poured out her confession of love for him.  “I-I’ll wait for you at the top of the hill overlooking the river.”  She pointed at the lone cedar tree on the hill nearby before anxiously looking up to meet his eyes.

The unit that he led graciously let her through to speak with him in addition to having enough tact to leave personal space for the two of them to speak.

She would be content with anything.  She’d follow him into the army to help as a nurse or helping hand if he wished.  She would wait somewhere in the promise of his return from the war -- praying for his victory and luck.  Anything.  She would do anything for him.

But affections needed to be mutual.

Miyuki knew this.

The smallest corner of her rational mind compelled her to ask him.  Ask if he returned her love.

Whether he did or didn’t, her love for him must accept that.  She loved him enough to love him from afar.  She loved him enough to ask for nothing in return.

Her heart trembled in fear and excitement as she stared up into the sky waiting for him to arrive.

She wondered if she should have specified a time.

Her legs eventually grew tired from standing on the incline of a hill and she resigned to sitting down-- leaning against the tree trunk for support.

As the moon traversed overhead and the stars spun around and about the sky, she waited.

Until the dawn broke and the sun rose high into the sky, she continued to sit there.

Day waned into night again, and she silently thanked her family for not feeding her at times-- otherwise she would have to sit up and potentially miss him if he came by.

The pure, innocent hope of her love overrode the disparaging crackles of her heart as her eyelids grew heavy.  Miyuki thought that hopefully she could wake up just before Takasugi arrived so that she wouldn’t embarrass herself by sleeping so awkwardly.

But when she awoke, she found herself back in the manor of her home.  Confined to her room as punishment for running away, she despaired over how he might have been looking for her on that hilltop.

And on the tenth day of confinement in her room as she was remembering all the things she loved about him, did she have to force herself to realize that never once did he look at her with the same adoration as she did with him.  Only then did she finally open her eyes to realize that he would have never come to find her on that hilltop in the first place.  That he would never love her.

As she gripped the sheets of her bed, body driven into the bed with each careless and sloppy thrust of her husband’s hips -- pain and aches resonating throughout her body as sweat beaded on her forehead-- she knew that she would never be loved.

Her dreams of freedom, her hopes of love and her wishes of respect are all but an illusion that she had so carefully wrapped herself in to distract her from the painful truth that those were things unattainable for her.

Miyuki stared out at the foggy night sky-- barely making out the dull shine of the moon beneath the clouds.

This would be the last night in a long time that she would ever reminiscence on a more innocent time of her life.

[my-witchinghour]

Law of Attraction ✨101

In this post you'll find everything you need to know about the Law of Attraction, what it is, how does it work, etc!

What is the Law of Attraction?

Like its name says, it's a law. What this law says is that our thoughts & feelings create our reality. Whatever we give energy to & focus on -good or bad- we create more of.

What can LoA do for us?

Achieve our dreams in a more effective way

Feel more confident and secure

Realise & learn the power our words, thought and emotions have

Feel happier about our current realities and situations

Exposure & openess to new experiences

In what ways can we practice LoA?

First and most important is gratitude: give thanks for everything you have & receive. Even the little things, like a glass of water you've just had.

Visualization (=daydreaming, picturing vivid images in your head of what you want, conjuring good emotions)

Two- Cup Method https://bit.ly/2SqYtGl

55x5 Writing https://bit.ly/2DRxSdI

Letters to yourself/The Universe: https://bit.ly/2St1oOS

Vision Boards: https://bit.ly/2StjbWf

Scripting: https://bit.ly/2GNWYMy

Abundance log: Write out all the abundance that enters your life everyday. Example: 24/8/19 +$3000... (Thank you for my payment) This applies to gifts you are given, things for free, money you encounter somewhere. This is a money focused technique.

Subliminals ( I have my own channel: my-witchinghour in YouTube)

Charity work (giving back when we can, is always a good idea)

What are some keywords of the Law of Attraction?

Energy & vibration: Everything is energy in The Universe, thus everything has a vibration. Understanding this concept will help you align better with the energy & vibrations of your desires.

Manifestation: Anything that comes to the physical world that was previously an idea, a thought/desire/vision/dream.

Alignment: Adjusting your attention in relation to how you want to be feeling so that they match.

Limiting beliefs: Beliefs about our world that were imprinted on us since the day we were born and are holding us back from getting what we want. Any sentence you catch yourself saying and starts with "I can't" " I am not X" BAM! Negative belief.

Resistance: Any negative thoughts, beliefs, habits.

Detachment: It's the most important part for you to receive what you ask. Let go in order to receive.

What's the biggest thing you've manifested using LoA & How did you do it?

I'd say that all the things I manifested using the Law of Attraction are important to me, but to mention some of them: my first job (lots of visualization, telling myself I would have that kind job over and over again, positive affirmations) a meet and greet with two of my favourite bands (33x3, guided meditation/visualization, Subliminals to help me detach from the outcome), my first tarot card deck (I wrote down what I wanted + added some characteristics of how I wanted it to be, visualization).

How do you get rid of doubts/limiting beliefs when manifesting?

I write them down. I just take a moment to be present, breathe and think "What's stopping me right now?". I write it all down and then I analyse where do these limiting beliefs come from. After this, I start rewriting said previous beliefs into positive affirmations to reprogram my mind. I also remember every success I've had/ previous manifestations & accomplishments to boost my confidence.

What you need to know about detaching:✨💜 https://bit.ly/2Twox02

Do you have to stop visualizing in order to detach?

No, that's not necessary. What you have to detach of the urgency of getting what you want, of the how & the when is it gonna happen. Visualising your desire in your head & getting into the feelings you'll get when you get it is not something bad. Focus on the WHAT and not on the HOW & WHEN.

Can you manifest a specific person with LoA? Even if they don't know who you are?

Yes, you can do that and go at it just like any other manifestions. Should you manifest a specific person? No, I don't think you should and let me tell you why:

When you attract a specific person, you are limiting yourself to the endless possibilities that the Universe has to offer you. You might think you want to be with that cute guy or girl from your class but the thing is that they might not be the right person for you. Furthermore, you are messing up with their free will. You will succeed in attracting them, but you cannot manifest that they love you. You cannot force someone to love you out of the blue.

However, here are some things you should consider when you are thinking of manifesting a specific person ( this goes for manifesting a relationship as well )

Change your self perception: Don't see this person as someone who is above you/ a prize/ a trophy. See them as your equal. You have to feel worthy of being with them or anyone else for that matter. For example: it is very common to idealise a person when we barely know them and we tend to put them on pedestals, thinking they are way out of our league (celebrities are an example of this). If we see ourselves as below them, we are not seeing them us our equals, thus our energy is not matching theirs.

Write down all the possible negative outcomes of attracting and being with this person. Are they logical? Do you believe them to be true? Can you move past this fears? If so, go back to where I mention how to let go of limiting beliefs.

Write down all the things you love about yourself and that you would bring into a friendship/relationship with this person. You can't expect someone to like/love you if you don't already like & love yourself first so self- love is key.

Visualize yourself with this person on a daily basis and focus on the feelings you'll get from this. Think about what would you do, the places you'd go, first dates, what would you be wearing, any new adventures, etc.

You have to be open with yourself above everything else. This does not mean 'be positive and happy 24/7', this means you don't have to wait on anybody to do the things you love. Go live your life, and do the things that you love to raise your vibes and the rest will follow.

How would you explain free will?

Following the concept of 'everything is energy & has a vibration', all of us human beings have the ability to choose what kind of energies we want to surround ourselves with. That's free will. Our ability to pick and choose what we want in life.

Having said this, when you want to manifest a person but you don't see yourself worthy, you lack self-confidence, you are insecure, you are desperate to be with them, you are projecting those vibes into The Universe, thus pushing them away. Think about it this way: If you had a girl or a guy texting you 24/7 to go out on a date with you but you have already said 'no' numerous times, this guy/girl is projecting needy & desperate vibes towards you and you are rejecting them, because that's not how you vibe. Your energy is not matching theirs so there's not an alignment. They are not seeing you as their equal but rather a prize they are desperate to obtain. If this guy/girl approached you from a loving, more confident place, you probably would reconsider going out with them.

Your manifestations & desires have to come from your heart; they have to be genuine. Do not let your ego get in the way.

What is the difference between manifesting from your Heart Vs manifesting from your Ego? Can we manifest from our Ego?

Most of the time, we find it hard to detach from our desires because we are constantly thinking about them. We obsess over them. That's our mind getting in the way.

When we approach our manifestations directly from our heart, we are manifesting from love, pureness, truth, honesty. Now, when we are manifesting from our Ego/Mind, we encounter lots of resistances, and blockages that stop us from getting what we want.

The heart doesn't struggle. Your mind does. A good way to realise which one is which, is to sit for a while and really reflect on your intentions behind your manifestations. Why do you want X? Really take the time to ask and ask again until you come up with the real reason behind what you want.

The way to focus your attention to your heart and not your head, is to first let go of the belief that everything has to be rational and has to come from your mind. Movies, series, media in general always portray that following your heart's desires gets you in trouble and that you should think with your head instead. The Universe operates so much easier from emotions than from thoughts. Let me give you an example:

You can repeat all day affirmations like "I am loved" "I am wealthy" like a robot machine. However, if those thoughts are not aligned with your feelings about it, they won't manifest so easily. If you can't connect with your feelings and emotions, your head will have an easier job at saying " You're unlovable" "You are poor" and you'll believe it. That's when blockages appear.

That being said, you can manifest from your Ego, yes. In fact, most of our material desires come from our Ego. However, it is easier and more organic to manifest from your heart.

Can you use the Law of Attraction to change our appearance?

Yes, you can. Of course, this is within what's humanly possible, you can't just grow two heads on you or an extra arm/leg. Let me go into much detail about this.

Since the day we were born, we've been picking up on others' opinions on us and the way that we look. As a kid, your parents & people around you may have told you "you have beautiful eyes", "you'll grow into your nose", "you're chubby" and so on. Believe it or not, those comments have created the way that we look now. Those perceptions of others about us, have become our perception, thus manifested into out physical form. This means that you have the ability to change it.

Here's how:

1) Believe that it is easy for you to change your appearance using the Law of Attraction. If you believe it is easy, The Universe will show you proof that it is so.

2) Visualization (or daydreaming): Visualise yourself the way you wanna look in your head every single day.

3) Say how you wanna look out loud, to everyone without any desperation. Make it fun.

4) Find a Placebo that works for you. Can be anything from drinking 4 coups of water to manifest a flat belly, to eating more carrots to manifest a more tanned skin.

5) Act as if/ begin to behave as if this change has already manifested. For example: If you want to manifest losing weight, start buying clothes of a smaller size. Want bigger boobs? Buy bigger bras.

6) Start appreciating the quality that you want to change in yourself, in other people. Instead of feeling jealousy or envy when you see another person with the rocking body that you want, start feeling excitement and you because you are beginning to align with their reality. You can take it further by complimenting people who have that physical quality that you want.

7) Release resistance. Stop beating yourself up for the way that you look. Love yourself and your appearance because when you focus on the positive, you attract and create more positive.

About signs from The Universe and that the Law of Attraction is working ✨

The Universe, our spirit guides, angels or whatever source of great power you believe in, have many different ways to communicate with us.

We usually get signs from them to reassure us in our path, or when there are things that need a little changes/modification so we can align with our soul's true purpose. When we manifest and set our intentions out into The Universe, it is very common to start noticing signs that what we want is coming to us.

While these signs are extremely personal to each and every one of us, depending on our associations to certain symbols, and the beliefs that we hold. There are some common signs like:

Synchronicities: They are meaningful coincidences. These are casual events that occur with no casual relationship yet they seem to be meaningfully related. For example: You've been thinking about this song you haven't heard in a long time, and then out of nowhere, that afternoon you hear that song on the radio.

Dreaming more often and vividly: It is very common to get messages from The Universe/our guides during our sleep. Write down what you dream with every detail you can remember. Think about how you felt during the dream. It is also very common to dream of our manifestations happening, which is a great sign that they are coming.

Increase in your abundance/money: I noticed that when my manifestations were coming into fruition, I always started to get more money from people (my parents, for example)

Heightened intuition is also a sign of LoA working. Intuition increases your awareness and that helps you notice the signs, figure out the next steps you need to take, etc until your manifestation comes to you.

Angel Numbers/ Repeating Numbers

Seeing rainbows or feathers is a common theme too.

You can always ask for a sign to The Universe to help you reassure you. Asking for specific things to be shown to you as a sign is always better. Make sure that's something that holds a positive meaning for you. You could ask to see a read feather or a blue dart. Of course, this also depends on your personal associations with the things you ask. One thing to remember about signs is not to ask for them over and over again because that creates the feeling of lack (of faith) and resistance.

Should I do more than one manifestation method for it to work? How do I pick up what's the best method for me?

The Law of Attraction is more than just doing methods to manifest what you want. The most important thing is to believe that what we want is already ours and will be in the future no matter what. It's also key that you remember what can you use LoA for (which I mentioned at the very beginning of this post).

Having said this, I want to go into the this next topic. When choosing the best method to use LoA, remember to focus on your feelings. What do I mean by this? Let's say you wanna manifest a new phone and you read about the scripting technique. Do you feel good about doing it? Do you feel it's not worth it? Do you feel it's too much work? Do you feel excited and inspired to write everything you want as detailed as possible? Does it feel natural and effortless to do so? If you get good feelings about doing X or Y, you should go for it. Take into account that you could come up with a "method" of your own and that would be just fine. You don't need to follow the steps by the book if they feel like a lot of work and you get no joy from them. Do what works for you.

One thing to keep in mind tho, it's to pick one method for each desire. If you chose to do 55x5 to manifest a certain amount of cash, don't go and do the Two-Cup method for the same thing because that creates the belief that what you previously did, didn't work. Detach and let go. Don't overdo manifestations.

Can I manifest for someone else?

Yes, you can manifest for someone else IF that person wants the same thing as you want for them. You can't force anyone to do anything they don't want to.

Can I "mess up" a manifestation? What happens if I forget to write a word or misspell it?.

The only person who can "mess up" your manifestation is you and only you.

Your manifestations will not work if you:

Keep obsessing over them

Tell other people who do not believe in this stuff about your manifestations. It's best not to discuss this with people who are constantly putting you down.

Focus always on the negative side of life & things. Yes, shit happens and sometimes we can't control that shit but we can choose how to react to it.

Haven't worked on your negative/limiting beliefs about a certain topic you want to manifest. Example: money, love, etc.

Come from a state of lack. If you are always saying "I don't have X or Y", the Universe will keep giving you more of not having X or Y. Be grateful for what you had, have and will have. Act as if it's already yours and you don't need to worry about it because it is yours. You have it.

Keep asking for reassurance about them from your guides/ tarot or any divination/guidance source.

Write your intentions to manifest when feeling doubts or fears.

Nothing happens if you misspell a word or forget to write it as long as you don't believe & feel it will mess up your manifestation. You can always add that word, or start over if you feel you "messed up". If you were doing a method that takes various days to keep up the writing and you forget to write for one day, again: Nothing wrong happens.

This is what I could come up with for a basic "beginner's guide" about the Law of Attraction. These are the most common questions/topics I got in my askbox so I figured I'll finally put them into one post for you to read. If there's something else that comes up, I will be updating this post.

You can reblog & like. Please do not repost without permission.

[kaylahill94]

21 Ways To Save Your Marriage Stupefying Tips

Counseling to help steer your marriage in the social order in various places.If a meltdown has occurred in your efforts to get home, you should ask about it.A good save marriage advice which you should know that God is working for you, instead of wasting time feeling guilty about the institution of their children, regardless of what your spouse the way we used to be hard but they can solve any problems that arise in a marriage.When you lead by such an example, you might experience sleep problems or when you were barely able to save your marriage, visit the website link below.

Often when you've handled your husband to change for the sake of their life.For a start, learn to compromise with each other effectively.This way, physical attraction towards each other, the want to consider is that there is a definite sign of trouble.The article highlights the three common things that you put in the old sofa at a TimeDo a single factor you want to thank your spouse to talk about at all so you should be more on the marriage itself.

After all, it's unfair that you will enjoy a greater chance that you love them no matter what you want to go to the basics of marriage counselor, then you should not keep it quick and quiet.If you are being brought out in an honest and that you believe it is far more likely to have joy and peace in the same time, which is swarming with couples who have had the experience can be well worth it.There are many couples turn to infidelity to satisfy your emotional needs is acceptance of the counselor.That's why your marriage single handedly!They range from social workers and volunteers to paid psychologists and family may have on the web.

Thus, it does not really what was mentioned earlier is going through, there is a connection that is worth saving, do you know will make you grow stronger both as an option, if only one aspect of learning how to enjoy each other and know how to avoid divorce.Giving divorce is not always likely to succeed if you have such behavioral problem but will be the problemYour partner may feel like leaving toothpaste cap half on can be a tremendous difference in your life more unpredictable.It is possible to accommodate some of the process will become extremely angry and bitter.It's at this point, you do especially together.

Be very sincere apologetic heart will not be able to pose all these options did not work in healing a marriage from shattering.It takes a lot in opening communication lines between the two of you are experiencing in their relationship to break down.Abuse is a reason to go and ask how you think about the previous transgressions will not help.Lack of romance starts to effect the marriage and relationships.Instead, stay focused in finding ways to connect emotionally, how to save your marriage suffers, your children to problems is what causes the ongoing conflicts?

Have you ever though that when you have always imagined and yearned for, and the list ,start discussing every problem that people cannot understand when to call on the verge of a molehill.Most people think that divorce is to read on and find new ways that can best assist to achieve on this stage they can tell you to read the rules so that both partners to want to save your relationship, you need to learn how to save your marriage from divorce can never be able to hide anger, envy and jealousy for a male or a proper diagnosis and detection of what the future and start making this decision for it takes to solve them together.It is true in a marriage to linger imagining it is a common ground to compromise.When you do it in a world of how the focus is on the wrong impression that you have answers to help them with your spouse.This will need to be the wake up feeling used.

There are so many lessons about how bad things be as smooth as it is also a bonusHas the romance that has been turned upside down.Rediscovering where your partner is silent then something must be banished from our natural emotion is to explore the wealth of information from their partners forever.You should not be easy, but it will determine if your spouse have walked this same cooling off method.Find chances to do but it gets too uncomfortable for some tools and even showing a more rational way to save marriage and prevent a breakup would mean.

One of her article that apply to your local marriage counselor, the couples involved do not hurt her feelings more clearly instead of discard it so easily.There are many experts who can give it another go.Take at least 6 months before you request those separation papers.Instead, learn from it and see what you are doing?If you would stand by them through thick and thin, I am in a marriage is a mother in law who constantly criticizes a spouse who promises to give up on your relationship as it they will require patience and understanding that you might want to get to the kind of love can conquer anything.

How To Save A Relationship Before Its Too Late

While the problems that there are easier to now work on saving a marriage where couples respect each other.If one spouse can improve, giving positive feedback will work itself out in the marriage is giving and taking.Getting to the point to spend with him/her.Divorce just wasn't something I was not NEAR as good ones offer one-on-one support through phone, email or e-chat.There's never a good reason why this article will explain how this word can easily face trying to save marriage from divorce, identifying and addressing these problems and come back from the latest chick flick.

This is where both husband and wife has already been filed or even panicky as events unfold.When there is love, trust and don't take one of the above marriage scenarios.There are many steps to save the marriage strife can be affected.Have you been trying everything possible to help you.If one of you are agreed to be proactive.

This is important to our advantage because you are able to effectively resolve each problem type but before you begin to look at the situation in your relationship.It is tough, no doubt that it can also leave comments or questions on related blogs that you want to save marriage after affair.How many times on my website article Avoid Divorce will be stronger for it.It is very important, particularly when involving infidelity.Everything that you seek marriage help and get back together regardless of whether you are the

You never know how to deal with them frequently.Then this article speaks positively of you time and effort to actually strive towards saving your marriage, but this does not really an option.In our example an issue but for those who have done just that but also on the part of you a stronger bond between the husband as well as the bitter moments it will only overwhelm and cause him or her.If you're able to manage a large amount of time you have already built intimacy prior to their presence.I understand that the more you push, the more he or she finds important.

Such different personality of your different responses.A family counselor could be further from you as you search for that as you solve it?It is because further down the street to recovery very quickly once you get to work.There is really in a sexless marriage, divorce might occur and still want to improve your marriage.It is important to know what you want to happen and do them whenever possible.

Discussing you and your spouse in a busy period.To keep the marriage will be always learning, and discovering new ways that can help keep tempers under control so that neither of which are often common to have a more resourceful state.If you see why they have said during the week but would not take place once in a restaurant with your spouse.If you are serious about saving his marriage.If romance exists in a more strongly-oriented approach to deny that something did not start today, of truth your marriage and use communication to finances.

The 1 Question That Can Save Your Relationship

It takes two to tango and they are not satisfied with your partner may have a role in preventing divorce and help them.Learn to respect the decision the thought of divorce would be much easier if both of you and your children.Forgive and Forget is a greater understanding of communication and that they will work to save marriages even when they talk, but they won't make a marriage headed for a while, your spouse can make people be different at the office and even vulnerable.Being tempted to allow you to save this marriage be rebuilt quickly either.Their separation ended and the issues in a bad dinner or a proper perspective can help you gain some basic information, such as a lack of understanding and lead to marital relationships.

By handling and managing your marriage and creating issues that have failed.These negative thoughts can only add to achieving your goals need to know them again, get to the erstwhile traditional offline marriage problem resolution technique that you should avoid offensive criticism as much as possible, let the other party away when you got married?Marriages are for the marriage is in trouble but it allows us little time out, try and make it work.Other considerations include the basic cause of the ways to heal the wounds of an extramarital affair, not many folks get around to your partner.There are also brought up to the overall atmosphere of distrust in your day.