#great question! my answer is kinda conceptual but hopefully helpful!

[corviids]

Since you’re one of the most prolific content creators for Lucemond, and you always answer your asks so eloquently, I was wondering if you could share some insight. When Aemond and Lucerys were first introduced and people latched onto them as a ship, it was easy to see why this pair seemed fated. Mirror images, Shakespearean tragedy vibes, second son syndrome, etc. it’s always been easy to see in both canon universe and the fandom why Aemond is so tied to Luke. He’s obsessed with him for obvious reasons (eye!) and jealous of Luke’s status so it’s easy for fans to make the jump from hatred to obsession to lust to love (be it toxic or wholesome in their headcanons). But the more I think on it, what do you think would draw Luke to feel the same in any regard to Aemond? Aemond is both pretty pathetic in the book and in the show. Authors and artists have their own takes on the two falling for each other mutually because the nature of fanfic and headcanons allow for it. But lowkey I can’t really see Lucerys actually becoming interested in Aemond while vice versa it’s SO easy to see Aemond falling for Luke. Could you give your own insight on why you think either show Luke or book Luke would become interested in Aemond in any sexual/romantic capacity? Asking as someone who is trying to find the logic in this pairing because they trying to take a stab at writing for them. It’s so easy for me to conceptualize reasons why Aemond is obsessed/in love with Luke, but I’m struggling with canon reasons why Luke would be interested in Aemond. Luke has everything Aemond does not making him a giant fixture in Aemond’s desire for glory—while on the other hand Aemond is just some dude who Luke stole as eye from and then never talked to for a decade (at best he’s a rival?). I know this is also difficult to answer because the characterization of book Luke and show luke are so different so seeing the necessary requirements of him falling for Aemond are vastly different too. Thoughts? Basically me asking you to explain to me how/why Lucemond works so well despite my own difficulty in seeing Luke’s interest in Aemond. Thank you!

hmmm i’m trying the best way to articulate this cuz you ask a good question and i wanna give an answer that isn’t just “targaryens horny for each other”

i don’t think luke would be attracted/want aemond for anything he could “give him”. like you said, aemond doesn’t have much to offer beyond his literal self. i think lucemond works specifically because of their unique dynamic which cannot be applied to their other ships. luke, as a person/character, is mostly characterized by his innocent bravery, vulnerability, and insecurity — which aemond is directly linked to a lot of those feelings in luke. personally, lucemond (in writings) only works when there is proper build up to it (so no real insta-love).

to me, luke’s attraction to aemond is an evolution of his fear and dislike of him. given luke’s upbringing and the relationships he’s had as an example, i envision him as being weirdly receptive to,,, non-traditional courtship and behavior. i don’t think he’d go out of his way to initially seek aemond out (i’m a proponent of aemond is down bad to an atrocious degree, as evidenced by his canon obsessive tendencies) but when it’s initiated, he kinda likes it. luke is much more emotionally driven. i don’t think his attraction to aemond would be for rational or even reasons that can be entirely understood and i think that’s the beauty of the ship.

but again it comes down to how you write to that point! this is just a bit of my own thought process when it comes to writing luke. my tldr is that i think luke’s interest in aemond would stem as a response to a mixture of familiarity, fear/caution, as well as thrill. (there’s also the fact that i think luke has “i can fix him” energy. not necessarily optimistic but something that stems from a feeling of never being good enough and needing to prove he can be)

[snailspot]

Just found out your blog and really like it ^^ can I ask u when did u start realising your drawing style and how can you get inspired when drawing?

Hi hello! Firstly, thanks for sending the ask, I almost never get these so it’s always appreciated when I do uwu. 

Every time I get asked either of those questions I don’t really know how to answer them? But I’m gonna try and answer the inspiration one first. I get inspired by so many things it’s hard to keep track of, though probably the biggest inspiration nowadays is my life, as fucking cliched as that sounds. I feel like a lot of my art has become more autobiographical than it used to, so a lot of my drawings and paintings are an attempt at representing the kinds of things I’m feeling and thinking at the time. I’m also pretty inspired by music, since I feel like it has such a great capacity to represent emotion more than any other art form, and also books, I love to read (mostly lame shit like art-history and philosophy :^) and a lot of that kinda stuff helps inform at least the conceptual side of my drawings. Though I guess with these kinds of questions people are more looking for specific artists so I guess my main artistic influences right now would be Jenny Saville, Mark Rothko, Egon Schiele and Lucian Freud, but it’s rare for me to be directly inspired by them, it’s more their thought process and the kinds of themes they tackle that interest me more.

I guess for the style question, I don’t think style was ever really a conscious thing that I “[realised]” or actually developed but it just came to be as a result of drawing a lot and how drawing over a long period of time transformed into its own thing. Looking at my own work, I really don’t think I have a style? Most of my stuff seems so disjointed aesthetically, dunno how much of it is that cohesive...

Hopefully, that answers your questions? I’m not very articulate so I’m sorry if the above seems like the ramblings from a gross swamp-hag :)))

[couldbestudying]

Hi! I'm a student in year 12 sitting the hsc this year, and happened to stumble across your wonderful blog! Regarding your post about offering guidelines and such for mentioned subjects, I was wondering if you could share your wisdom on how to efficiently study for legal studies (especially with memorising all the important legislations and case studies ) and ext 1 English? (I'm studying Language and gender, and I feel as though memorising textual evidences for 4 texts might be difficult)

hello! first of all, thank you for your question! i’m going to break it down per subject just to make it a little easier because this will probably get quite convoluted otherwise:

1. legal studiesi honestly feel that a combination of really well-organised and broadly-sourced study notes with ongoing creation of essay plans is the BEST way to go here! to be clearer, my notes that i referred to throughout the year and in the lead-up to assessments of course included the basics: definitions, judgements, explanation of any relevant legal issues etc. however, they also included a broad range of evidence, which i found in textbooks, teachers’ resources, other students’ notes, even through more detailed research of actual case law and specific sections of relevant legislation which can be found on a quick google search! colour-coding your evidence by type is also so important so that you can include a variety of types in your responses: if markers can see that you’ve only used legislation and cases in your response, it will inherently not be as strong as a student who has referenced media articles, statistics from AIC or BOSCAR, or any compounding international law on top of the more ~basic~ forms of evidence. memorising all this once you’ve found it can be kinda tricky and seem really intimidating when you look at the mountain of conceptual content you already have to know. however, in the leadup to exams, compile a list of past questions or scan the syllabus for potential essay questions (take a glance at the ‘learn to’ column in your syllabus as well as the themes and challenges right at the top for these). just be super brief, and break down the 3 or 4 paragraphs you would use to respond to each question by Point, Explain, Evidence, Link. once you’ve done a few of these, try to pick Evidence or even overall paragraph concepts that can be used to effectively answer MULTIPLE questions. there are quite a few case studies or legal issues which can be utilised to answer a broad range of questions, and if you study selectively and efficiently you will easily be able to locate these and use them across a broad range of responses. when it comes closer to exam time, especially trials, ask your teacher to go over these broader ideas with you. for example, issues surrounding police powers can be broken down into a whole essay of themselves, but can also be used to talk generally about the criminal investigation system, as an assessment of the balance between rights of society, victims, and offenders, an assessment of whether justice has been provided etc. you can compile these on flashcards, make a table, whatever you wish, in order to actually memorise. test yourself with friends, or even talking yourself through how you would answer a question can be a valuable way of remembering your relevant content!hopefully that’s clear, and as you go further through the course, this idea will become a lot more evident, especially when it comes to your options, where you can discuss ideas from your contemporary issues section for almost every essay question!

2. ext 1 englishunfortunately i didn’t do language and gender, so i can’t help you in terms of concepts, however, i think every extension student is just as intimidated by the idea of discussing 4 texts in a detailed manner! by the time trials come around, you will likely have developed a very detailed understanding of your module and what a high-level critical response demands. i think if, over the year, you are working towards nailing what your overall evaluation of your texts are in relation to your module, then you will be able to mould your response to any question to be very personal and authentic. having flexible evidence that hits across a few key points of the module will ensure your success here. if you’re the type of person that prefers to memorise a full essay before going in, please make sure your teacher checks it thoroughly for its versatility, or a trusted mentor of some sort. not answering the question in an elegantly written 1600 word pre-prepared essay will be marked worse than somebody who has written 1000 words and been flexible in ensuring their essay and texts are moulded to fit the question well. i think that preparing a table for each of your four texts, noting around 8 broad examples for each, will be more than enough in allowing yourself to respond well to any question. test this out as well! look through past questions from the hsc or your school’s past papers and just note a quick response you would make in terms of your overall thesis, and then evidence you would discuss for each of your texts to support your specific judgement.your examples really don’t have to be super long, either. i personally feel that memorising pages of quotes that are 8 lines long each is a waste of time. a few long ones are ok, but short sections that really highlight a stylistic compositional feature that adds something meaningful to discussion of your module are just as ok if you break them down and link them well to your question! of course, you may even be studying a theatrical text or a film, in which case you may not even have to memorise quotes - just ensure that you are analysing techniques relevant to your given text type and can describe them well. if you have time, namedropping a few critics that you may research over the year can also add a great level of depth to your textual evidence and elevate your essay!

hopefully that has helped! don’t be afraid to reach out if you would like further clarification! additionally, i do have a bunch of tips for constructing unique and engaging ext 1 essays aside from just memorisation of meaningful evidence, so if anyone is interested in those, let me know xx (i just didn’t want to make this response longer than it already is omG)

[purplerakath]

Conceptually Awesome - Shay Powers

So with Shay it’s a lot more of what she isn’t than what she is. This seems like a zen trick thing to make myself sound smart but honestly this is my best description for what’s going on. See, nothing about Shay on paper is all that interesting until you say what they don’t do with her.

What’s so Great About Shay Powers?

So what we start out with, perfect student top athlete Olympic hopeful, is pretty great. Not all that dynamic or confusing... but then they made some writing choices that could be labeled dubious, and then suddenly she gets better. And this isn’t plot dubious, this is characterization dubious. In the same way that biology nerd made Tiny something great, what Shay isn’t suddenly adds a new layer to her.

I’ll just get onto the subsections and hope my rambling answers make sense.

She isn’t Romantically Confident

Sex is a big part of this show, for a show with a bunch of underage actors playing underage characters with a general air of ‘this is for kids.’ So a lot of the stronger, confident, female characters get written into one of two styles of physical confidence. Either the ‘I’m the hot female lead and I’m sexy’ style, or the ‘I’m the tough no-nonsense Michelle Rodriguez type who hopefully won’t die like every Michelle Rodriguez character.’ Shay is neither, because however confident she is in her body athletically, it doesn’t translate to her dating, dealing with her peers, or anything like that.

This is part of why having her side by side with Lola is great, because Lola is all too comfortable and confident in her features. And even without Lola telling Shay she has the butt of a four year old boy, Shay is still well and truly unaware of her own attractiveness. Which is directly feeding the ‘Shay is ace’ theory, which I’m entirely down for. But that divide, because when it comes to Degrassi ladies, Shay is by far one of the most confident (with reason) on the show past or present... but it falls away in the one area that should be most obvious.

She isn’t Socially Aware

So Next Class hit us with a huge helping of racism awareness. But one of the interesting choices was to have Shay ask the question. Now part of this might be directly comparing how Switched at Birth handled racism, but the choice to have Shay not know immediately the banner was racist, was a curious choice. As it meant Shay was well sheltered from anything negative. Now Shay’s home life is probably the most stable of any Degrassi kid ever, but to have her be as alien to racism as Frankie was (only more willing to listen than Frankie) was a call they made.

Intersectionally she has zero understanding of classism, which goes on the list of things I wish the show wrote better with her and Tiny as a couple. Given what a huge part of Tiny’s character is. Suburban bubble syndrome is kinda here, she isn’t in as bad a spot as Frankie’s princess bubble, but this is what’s going on. And honestly seeing the interplay between Shay and Tiny + Tiny’s past would be really good to help things along (along the lines of having Conner there with Dallas during his racism plot).

Sidebar: So I’m keeping this one short because I’m having trouble coming up with all the words I need to express myself. There’s a certain level of personal matter feeding this, but that’s not an excuse I’m making. I might revisit this with a bit more detail if I get a chance to rewatch everything. But Shay is a good character who needs more real plots S4-6.

Perfect Setting - Athletics Drama

So if Shay had taken that training camp that wanted her to apologize for having a view, a series set there with all the cutthroat rigors of athletic training would be fantastic. Putting the character where they can drive full out for their dream, but see all the bumps in the road, and try to balance it with personal sanity would be lovely.

And of course there would be some race/class/sexism+lack of sex bashing that would come from such an environment. Shay would, unquestionably, be the lead. With someone much more socially capable as the lead rival/antagonist.

[theparaminds]

Keshi’s music isn’t for every moment in life, no, instead his music is specific in the situations it hopes to embrace and stamp with its mark. A drive in the dead of night, a fight that ends in forgiveness, a regrettable phone call that still leaves you longing for more. The emotions he articulates in sound are that of human connection, and more so, the balance of positivity and loss it leads towards.

Don’t get it wrong, his music will be there for you whenever you need and want it, but the true power of his lyrics and ideas will strike when you least expect, when you’re lost for an answer and misunderstanding the questions. His music is for souls lost, for souls in love yet confused, for souls dreaming, and for souls of sorrow sick with isolation.

It’s a tender and soft set of production brushed over with a hauntingly vulnerable voice, a voice we all know from our own heads, our own hearts. Keshi is not just a musician, but a reflection of our own insecurities and worries of tomorrow. And in this, in his understanding of the universal fears we all face, he takes our hand and reminds us we’re not alone, and reminds us that no matter what, the sun will continue to rise.

PM: Our first question as always, how's your day?

K: It's been pre good, can't complain. To be honest, the music is starting to take off so fast I can't keep up. Its rewarding in that regard.

PM: Have you found it a little scary since its been picking up?

K: Yeah, it's overwhelming, surprisingly stress-inducing, but it's what I live for. It's the most fulfilling thing.

PM: I'd love to start with your sound and the uniqueness of it. You're someone who has changed their sound but has kept the core elements of it intact. It's definitely more structured as opposed to the classic lo-fi style. Where did change come from, how did it help you as an artist?

K: I've always been a songwriter first, that's always what I've labelled myself as before I even ventured into production. When I think of growing, I think lo-fi as a gateway to production as a whole and the most important thing to me has been to create a soundscape that is very dynamic. I've always tried to do that, no matter what I was making. After some time working acoustically I got really tired of it and kinda got tired of music in general. And that's when the lo-fi started taking off and I was falling in love with certain producers ability to incorporate non-musical elements into their music, like rain or cans popping open. I just thought of music of a series of glued together sounds and lo-fi was the best way to conceptualize that. Of course, the inspirations were tomppabeats, In Love with the Ghost and Joji, and that’s where I was just honing the producing craft, shifting away from just a songwriter.

PM: Other than those who inspired you in a lo-fi way, when you were growing up, what other artists were pushing you to get into music?

K: The very first musician I listened to seriously was John Mayer, and he opened a whole new world for me music wise. He showed me how to do things on the guitar I had no idea you could do. Chord progressions you don't usually hear and unconventional sequences, he was really able to explore the fretboard in that way. He really exposed me to songwriting, which as I mentioned earlier was my first real driving interest. As well, I'd say Drake because after years of John Mayer I just got some listener fatigue, even though I still loved him. But Drake showed me that hip-hop could be melodic and not obnoxious, which was my impression of it at the time. 'Take Care' really changed my views, and honestly, I listened to it really late, like sophomore year in college. And around that time, when I was just so into Drake, was when I had this unfortunate performance in LA and I wanted to quit music. I just realized I had to go back to the drawing board, knowing I had to change something.

PM: Are you able to speak about what happened at the show in LA and what went wrong?

K: Basically I had won this competition in Houston, they then flew me out to LA to perform against the other winners from around the US. When you win a competition like that you feel like you're pretty good at what you do, but once you get to next level with people on your skill level, you realize you aren’t AS great as you thought you were. I guess it was disheartening and I didn't feel like I was being the artist I wanted to be, there was something that was lacking.

PM: And that failure led to the growth and positivity that you're seeing now, I'm guessing?

K: Yeah, it was really that performance that spurred the moments leading up to the creation of Keshi.  I went and made this Soundcloud account under that name, not telling any friends or family, as I wanted to change some aspect of my music without being under scrutiny. At the time the only listeners I had were those friends and family, so to do that was scary and liberating. I felt free to make whatever I wanted, just see what catches on. I really was just making sample-based lo-fi hip hop and trying to practise production. But eventually, I released my first song with lyrics, ‘if you're not the one for me who is’, and it did well for itself, but it wasn't until ‘magnolia’ got picked up by the channel 'Anime Vibes' that things started to really take off. And the thing is with these youtube aggregators like Anime vibe or Ambition is that they really get to help who makes it and who doesn't, they've established this consistency as a curator with a good ear and this relationship with their viewers who trust them, so at that point whatever they feed to their followers they'll eat up. And being there and being put on by that really just sparked what I see before me today.

PM: Does the name Keshi mean something and why did you choose that as the word to represent you?

K: I get this question a lot lately, My name is Casey but my girlfriend and childhood friend is Japanese and every time I go to their house, to this day, still they call me ‘Keshi’, so it's just a username I picked and it was supposed to be anonymous, but still me with a nostalgic charm. I didn't think people would take to it honestly, I thought I would end up under a different name eventually, Keshi was just supposed to be a demo account.

PM: How has being in love and those sort of experiences helped you as a musician and have some of your inspirations grown from that aspect in your life?

K: For sure, in the beginning when I wrote songs they all tended to be love songs. But I feel like the one aspect of the whole relationship ordeal I really like to poke at is the extremely vulnerable state you're in with someone, because not only are they the person who is there for you the most, they're also the one who could hurt you the most due to how close you've allowed them to be. And that bittersweet aspect of love, in general, is something I love to touch on, I have this strong fear of loneliness and that shows up in my music as well. I guess when you delve into everything Keshi says and sings, people may find it romantic, but it's extremely selfish, it's supposed to be an unbalanced raw emotion, which is whiny, and moody, but people can relate to that which I'm glad about.

PM: When you speak, you mention Keshi in the third person, do you see him as a separate person and as a vessel for your creation?

K: I don't really see Keshi as myself, I see him as a separate entity and kind of as a musical project more than anything.

PM: You also have a beautiful arm sleeve tattoo, I was just wondering what that art means to you and what you would say to anyone on the fence about getting them?

K: Thank you, I appreciate the love! To anyone afraid to get them I would just say to go get one, If you're curious about them, you're engaged enough to try them, it's not gonna hurt! In regards to my own, when I went to Japan to meet my girlfriend's family, I wanted to get a traditional tattoo by someone who knows the craft, if you get my gist. I found a guy and he was gracious enough to work with me and give me a beautiful Japanese sleeve.

PM: To look back at your music, you’ve been on this incredible stretch of releasing music that's growing and improving, I wonder what your vision looked like at the beginning compared to now and what's shifted since then?

K: I've always just wanted to make great art, I think that now I've found a really sweet spot in my music where I can do that and I can narrow down on the sounds I want to do. I guess when you start growing you stop looking at the start line and then just start looking at the race; one day you may have 2000 more listeners than the last and you can only think that it's not good enough because last week you had 5000. You need to step yourself away and become grateful for where you are and what you've done. Don't stop chasing the dream but don't lose sight of the growth.

PM: As well, do you have any upcoming projects people should look out for and how does it compare to previous work?

K: I think the stuff recently has been a progression since the earlier music, more dynamic and =more energized than before. I do have a project on the way hopefully around November-December, it'll be an EP with '2 soon' included. The songs are done, I'd like to announce the songs are finished. At this point it's an internal conflict of when to release and how to market them. I don't want to give too much away, but long story short, I've got shows planned for January and the dates will be announced soon, and the first show will be in LA.

PM: How are you preparing yourself this time for performing in LA and having a good experience?

K: Back then I didn't have an idea of what I wanted to be, but Keshi is so fleshed out and he knows who he is and what music he wants to do. At this point, I need to get some equipment sorted out and then we're good to go, it'll be an amazing show.

PM: What would you say is your favorite song of your own and why?

K: It's definitely 'if you're not the one for me who is', for a couple of reasons. The first is because it conceptualized Keshi and what he is today. But the main reason is that it explores this duality of relationships I was talking about earlier, explained perfectly with the title. On one side of the coin, the aspect of having only one person who matters so much in the world, but also the fear of loneliness because if they're not the right one, then who else could be? I loved that dichotomy.

PM: Do you have a favourite video game of all time?

K: Holy shit yes. It’s gotta be Nier: Automata, oh my god that game changed my world. It came out a year ago and was a really revolutionary beat em up game kinda like Devil May Cry, it was just so artistic and beautiful.

PM: What would you say has been the best memory of last year, something that sticks out as super positive and special to you?

K: I haven't told anyone this, but basically I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life so I just ended up where I am today. Kinda dreading work and dragging my feet. At the beginning, I wanted to go to Berkeley School of Music, which is every kid interested in music’s dream. Of course, my parents pushed me to something stable, and I always resented that decision. But because I didn't, I'm here now, if I went there I would've been doing something different and Keshi wouldn't exist. Well, one day at my day job I got a message from a guy who's attending Berkeley and he was telling me how he loved my work and was wondering how the hell I did what I was doing. I was just so stunned, I don't know if it was irony, the whole time I wanted to go to this place but in the end, I didn't really have to go. It really was the most validating for my music and knowing I was doing the right thing.

PM: Do you have anyone to shout out or anything to promote? The floor is yours!

K: So, as I said, I have shows getting ready in January and there is new music coming soon, thank you so much for listening and thanks so much for taking the time to get to know me a little bit better.

Follow Keshi on Instagram and Twitter

Listen on Spotify and Apple Music