#halloween 1981...not really but it seemed relevant

[violetthistle1]

Excerpt from As Many Times as I Need To by Violet_Thistle on Ao3.

“Look at me!” Remus shouted this time to get through to him the only way he ever could, with harsh words and a commanding voice. It worked like it always did, Sirius raised his head and looked him in the eyes with bloodshot, tearful ones. 

What!?” Sirius cried out in anguish.

“I know that the world has told you that it was your fault, that you sat in that prison and convinced yourself that it was your fault. I know, because I was doing the same thing. But I need you to hear me when I say, it wasn’t your fault.”

“Moony it was–”

“No, it wasn’t your fault, and it wasn’t my fault, and it wasn’t James fault. It was Peter’s.” 

“Moony—”

“It wasn’t James’ fault that he was too trusting, it was Peter’s fault for not being trustworthy. It wasn’t your fault for not trusting me, it was Peter’s fault for taking advantage of that! It wasn’t my fault for believing you betrayed me, it was Peter’s fault for framing you!” Remus was sobbing now.

“Moony–”

“And it’s Voldemort’s fault for believing a stupid prophecy by some half-baked seer, and it’s meaningless, it is, it’s all so stupid and they shouldn’t have had to die because of it–”

“Moony–”

“ –And they shouldn’t have been fighting the war at all, but it’s not your fault, it never was!” 

“Moony!” Sirius shouted because now Remus was spiraling.

“Don’t! Don’t stop me! I’ll keep saying it as many times as I need to for you to believe it!” 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/59320471

[bigstupid69]

I love your headcanons what kinda horror movies would the choir like - 🐀

Oh boy this is gonna be a lot I bet so I'll put my thoughts under the cut;

I'll give them both horror movie picks relevant to the time period (before and during 2009/8) and ones after

These are all movies I have seen before so I'm sorry about the repeats, and you may not agree.

Ocean

I'm so torn between having Ocean be absolutely terrified of horror movies or being like a horror snob. Y'know the type to criticize unnecessary amounts of violence and gore, and only actually enjoy films if there's some deeper meaning out of it. She seems like those type of insufferable people. Like the female equivalent of the men obsessed with American psycho. She definitely hates most campy horrors and slashers as well as things similar to the saw franchise. I think she'd definitely enjoy some of those genres by picking it apart with a feminist lens though. So I feel like she'd definitely be more of a fan of psychological horror, but definitely stuff that isn't absolutely terrifying to watch like Hereditary.

My picks are; Rosemary's Baby (1968), The Silence of the Lambs (1991), The Stepford Wives (1975)

More modern picks; Last Night in Soho (2021), Midsommar (2019), I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020)

Noel

People who think he wouldn't like horror movies are completely wrong. Considering his ideals in his monologue, he would probably enjoy films with lots of gore. I think he'd definitely be into the saw franchise with Mischa. He'd also probably enjoy a lot of suggestive and or queer coded films as well. Also probably has a guilty pleasure for cheesy romance driven films, but he would not let anyone know that.

My picks are; Repo the genetic opera (2008), Rocky horror picture show (1975), society (1989), Re-animator (1985), the lost boys (1987), I think he'd also maybe be into the buffy the vampire series (1997-2003)

More modern picks: X (2022), terrifier 1 and , 2 (2016-2022), warm bodies (2013), only putting this here since it ran for a longer time but the vampire diaries (2008-2016)

Mischa

Mischa's "canonically" favorite film is Saw 5, so obviously he'd be into the saw franchise and films like that. I think he'd really just also be into slashers, definitely the kid who dressed up as ghost face for Halloween with the mask that could squirt out blood. I think he'd also like horror comedies quite a bit as well.

My picks are: The saw franchise (canon?), scream (1996), sleepaway camp (1983), Friday the 13th (1980), the evil dead, and evil dead 2 (1981/1987)

More modern picks: The cabin in the woods (2011), the purge (2013), the scary movie series (both modern and time accurate 2000-2013)

Ricky

A mix between cheesy/funny classics and pretty much anything sci-fi. Not sure if he's into that much gore in the films but definitely isn't as picky as Ocean so it's not a complete turn off. Regardless his favorites are pretty much anything sci-fi but he makes exceptions.

My picks are: Rocky horror picture show (1975), little shop of horrors (1986), Alien (1979), lifeforce (1985), mars attacks (1996)

More modern picks: Annihilation (2018), Nope (2022), color out of space (2020)

Constance

I also think she'd really be into horror, she'd definitely be more into campy films and also have a soft spot for classic horror movies from her childhood. She's definitely not innocent and does probably enjoy some more fucked up ones on occasion however.

My picks are: scream (1996), Jennifer's body (2009), Coraline (2009), Shaun of the dead (2004)

More modern picks: Wendell & wild (2022), Anna and the apocalypse (2017), the babysitter (2017), happy death day (2017)

Penny

I feel like she would watch a lot of varying horror movies. she'd enjoy ones she could connect to in a way, but also just enjoy less meaningful ones to her and are just full of camp. Along with Constance she also enjoys a lot of horror movies from her childhood especially because of being slightly detached to it because of everything she's gone through at such a young age. (headcanon but also kinda true)

My picks are: Carrie (1976), Coraline (2009), The shining (1980), all the previously mentioned classic slashers, not a horror film but this is only for my gf; heathers (1988), hocus pocus (1993), child's play series (1988-2019)

More modern picks: Pearl (2022), bodies bodies bodies (2022), Possum (2018), the fear street trilogy

[cooltrainererika]

Belated Halloween post! (Caution! FGO Character Spoilers!)

So here I am when I’m supposed to be submitting my final Hetalia stuff... But instead I show, publicly, that once and for all, I’ve fallen down the Fate rabbit hole and can’t get out. Last year was a Hetalia blowout, this year, I went all out with a Fate idea I’ve wanted to do for a long while. ...Unfortunately it dragged into the next day. Whelp.

So it’s (or was) Halloween at the Chaldea! And the Servants are dressing as... Themselves?

As someone who likes researching whatever she finds an excuse to research, I’ve had this idea since forever and I finally did it. Though there’s some ideas I still wanted to do but couldn’t (Galahad and Proto Arthur almost made it... Almost... And someday, Cù, someday...), I’m still proud of myself!

Sorry if characterization is a bit off, I’m a bit new.

King Arthur/Sonic (Sonic And The Black Knight)

I debated whether it should be Sonic or some other options, but Sonic it was, since it was most simple. ...And Artoria looks a lot less goofy than I expected here, and while that’s a bit disappointing it’s also kind of adorable. Maybe it helps that Lion Saber is a thing, and I used her as a reference, though I still wanted to go for a more comically serious effect and Lion Saber seems to be a child. Also it goes great with her green eyes. I want to do an entire set with Sonic and the Black Knight sometime! Maybe after Percival finally gets a design because he’s still AWOL. Wanted to draw the other clothing option in a different group shot, but I ended up spending way too much time on this so maybe some other time. ...Maybe after the other knights finally join. Though I can still do it without them. And maybe after Proto!Mordred finally gets a design, since yes that’s actually kind of relevant.

Sir Bedevere The Wise (Monty Python and the Holy Grail)

No contest. While there’s also the simple fact that Bedivere seems to rarely show up in visual media, like, at all, I’ve gotta say, for an outfit out of a comedy movie, this costume looks so... graceful on Fate!Bedivere, and it’s one of the less goofy ones. Just by a different person being in it the whole feel of the outfit changes. Also he looks like an actual, honest-to-god knight instead of an anime JRPG fantasy knight. I love how he looks in it. It fits him like a glove.

...And yes, that is a coconut bucket. ...Maybe there’s a lot of Almond Joys in there? Because I’m one of those weird people who actually kind of likes Almond Joys. I wonder if candy makes clopping hoof noises as they rattle around.

Mordred (Excalibur (1981 film))

The punchline to the opening comic. Just... This thing is so amazingly, gloriously, deliciously gaudy. And it’s played completely seriously. When I saw it I KNEW I had to use it for this gag, because I can totally see Mordred having Lucina’s fashion sense. Between this and Bat-Nipples, did the 80s have something about nipples? But she looks... Surprisingly not-tacky in it? I guess it’s helped by the fact that at the moment my artstyle is pretty flat. It’s pretty hard to shade with colored pencils getting in the way... Or maybe it’s just the lack of helmet.

Sir Gawain (Prince Valiant)

Almost went with an Animal the Muppet hood due to Animal playing him in Muppet King Arthur, but couldn’t decide on the rest of the outfit and this was easier to draw and I wanted to see Gawain in this tunic. I wasn’t disappointed.

Sir Launcelot (King Arthur’s Disasters)

Lancelot’s hair was hell to draw. Seriously. But yeah I had a lot to sift through with Lancelot, then I found this. Lancelot looks surprisingly good with a fake mustache.

Sir Galahad (Camelot 3000)

Augh I wanted to draw you too Galahad... Oh well, have a Samurai Mashu. She looks surprisingly natural in it. But really, I want to make an entire set with Camelot 3000, the absurd premise produces results that were basically exactly what I was looking for.

Sir Tristan (円卓の騎士物語 燃えろアーサー/Moero Arthur)

An old, old Japanese cartoon. The joke was supposed to be this bulky armor on the usually relatively lightly-dressed Tristan, but he ended up in the back. Whelp.

Merlin (Merlin (2008 BBC series))

I’ve been seeing this series everywhere recently, so why not. It fits that Merlin is aged down over there, just like in Fate.

Sir Gareth (Iron Man comics)

Gareth barely shows up in visual media. But I saw this brightly-colored cameo that was apparently in a silver age Iron Man comic, and it was good enough. Though I didn’t draw the weird headpiece thing because I drew her last and I had little time. She unfortunately couldn’t fit on the page with the others.

Dr. Henry Jekyll (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931 Paramount film))

EEEEEE my waifu! Of course it’s only natural that the gothic horror duo/trio show themselves in a Halloween drawing. While the 1931 Jekyll doesn’t have an iconic outfit, much like most Jekylls, I decided to make his outfit grayscale, much like it looked on film, for uniqueness. It was actually one of my first ideas. This is why I didn’t use the white bow tie look that was seemingly used most often in posters. Though I guess, to him, he still isn’t really wearing a costume so much as just regular outdoor wear and the most unusual thing about it is that he’s wearing it indoors.

Mrs. Edwina Hyde (Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde)

Yes, this movie exists. There’s an actual movie where Hyde gets Nyota’d. Seriously. There’s also a card game with a Nyo!Hyde, weirdly... But yeah, Hyde tends to get more interesting costumes than Jekyll, but in the end the most outrageous had the biggest advantage. Plus it’s a simple outfit, and she wields a knife, and it’s an excuse for Hyde to act all Femme Fatale-y, because I write him as basically a hetero Angel Dust from Hazbin Hotel, so it was little contest. I drew him intending for him to be crossdressing, but it looks like this could plausibly be a Nyota Hyde lol.

Frankenstein (DC Comics)

Holy cow she rocks this outfit. In my style at least. Comics are a gold mine of unique outfits so I rely on them quite a bit. This outfit was taken from the character’s most recent depiction. From what I know, I have a hunch that DC Frankenstein would get along well with Fran.

Robin Hood (Robin Hood (Disney))

Ohhhh yes. One of the first concepts I came up with. Instead of going full fursit-lite like Artoria, I went with a simpler one, and I only realized after drawing a bit that there’s a bit of fanserice there too lol. His Servant design already reminded me so much of the Disney Robin Hood, and I HAD to see him in fox ears

Jeanne D’Arc/Tart (Puella Magi Tart Magica)

Jeanne has so many incarnations and clones, but I stuck with this simple but beautiful one from the Madoka series. The outfit kind of looks like a white palette swap of Artoria’s, but it’s different enough from Jeanne’s usual outfit unlike those like her SNK or Inazuma Eleven counterpart’s, and it suits Jeanne a lot. She looks great in white/pink, I’ve gotta say.

Joan of Arc (Clone High)

Was not expecting to do Alters, but there’s been some buzz around this show lately, and then I find out about her. After hearing “Goth Joan of Arc clone” I pretty immediately thought of Jalter. This is a Jalter counterpart. Change my mind.

[dalekofchaos]

An analysis of Michael Myers as he's portrayed only in the original Halloween

From reddit user silviod

When we think of Michael Myers, we think of The Shape - standing, staring, white mask and blue overalls. We think of the music, and the relentless pursuit. We think of the iconography of the killer and his permeation into horror and cinema. What we generally don't think of is the human, and that makes sense: John Carpenter has often described him as being 'almost supernatural' and 'a force of nature.' In Halloween itself, released in 1978, Michael Myers' psychiatrist, Dr. Sam Loomis, describes Myers as being "pure and simply evil." He is evil personified, and that is it. But let's get into a bit more detail here, because despite everything, the Michael Myers that we see in the original Halloween has flesh and blood and hair.

Let's just get one thing out of the way straight away: Michael Myers isn't Laurie Strode's brother. This was, of course, a twist invented by the alcohol-infused mind of Carpenter and Hill for the 1981 sequel and has no relevance here. I'm talking specifically about Michael Myers as he's presented in Halloween and Halloween only. So we open with the POV shot of Myers killing his sister Judith. He walks outside and his mask is removed by his parents - he's near catatonic, and seems shocked at what he's done. Bullshit to all those who say he had a blank expression - that is not the fucking look of an expressionless kid. It might not be much, and his shock doesn't imply he's less evil, it just shows that this is probably his first exposure to anything of the magnitude of murder. Skip to years later, and Michael is 21. Let's outline the moments we spend with Michael, as well as his actions and the way he holds himself. Loomis and a nurse are going to Smiths Grove to pick him up and take him to be tried as an adult. As they approach the sanitarium, they notice many wandering inmates in the darkened fields. As Loomis gets out to investigate, Myers leaps onto the car from behind like an animal. He's swift and quick, and is already playful in his actions. He makes noise on top of the car to startle the nurse, then smashes the side window and tries to grab her. He jumps down, throws her out the car and hops in. He drives away. Now he embarks on his 100 mile plus road trip to Haddonfield.

On the way, he stops at a garage, kills a guy there, and steals his overalls. He arrives in Haddonfield, breaks into a shop and steals a mask. He returns to his old home, eats a dog, and sees Laurie walk up to the door. He decides to start following her, so he hops in the car and does so. He follows little Tommy, Laurie, and Laurie's friends. He stands on the streets and in gardens and intentionally exposes himself, then hides. He's letting them know that he's around. In my head, Myers was always robotic, with surgeon-like stillness, but he really isn't like that. He holds onto the trees as he hides behind them and leers out from the side. He stumbles and knocks a plant over when watching a girl in her house and backs away quickly as it made noise - or was this intentional? Either way, he's not anywhere near as robotic in his mannerisms as I remembered.

His stalking is deliberate and unsubtle. He doesn't give a shit if people notice him, as long as the ones he's targeting do. He's really getting off on this. Eventually, he decides to actually start killing them. He sees Annie naked, as she spills whatever-the-fuck-she-spills on herself. He watches her this entire time - these scenes constantly have Myers presence, because he's constantly there. At this point, he's staying within a tiny radius: just two houses. He's got everything else out the way now His sister's gravestone was successfully retrieved earlier and he's already popped that into the house ready to decorate his house-of-horrors. The killing begins. He's stalked for at least twelve hours, and by now he understands the people he's watching and he's figured out their interpersonal relationships. For a man who does twelve hours of stalking, his kills are pretty quick. A strangulation, a cut throat and a stabbing. It seems this isn't the ultimate goal for him, it's just the final piece in a long chain of excitements. When he killed Judith as a kid, he watched her first. It's probably likely that, for hours, days or weeks before the scene that opens Halloween, he was watching Judith not with eyes of a younger brother, but eyes of a killer.

He kills Annie and then takes her corpse upstairs where he positions her on the bed. He waits again, this time for someone else to arrive. Lynda and her boyfriend rock up soon after, so it's time to start killing. Michael has paid the least attention to these two in terms of stalking, so he gets to business quite a bit quicker. He lets them have sex - yes, this is a matter of him allowing them to, because he was there the entire time. Then, the guy goes downstairs to retrieve some beers. There, Michael makes a noise and then hides in a closet, waiting for the guy to investigate. He lunges out the closet and pierces the guys' chest, nailing him to the wall with the knife. The guy dies, and Myers does what is now considered one of his trademarks: his head tilt. He probably had a similar experience after killing Annie, but it cuts pretty soon after that one so we don't get to see it. Nick Castle - the actor portraying Myers - was told by Carpenter to act like a kid who had pinned a butterfly to a board: it's almost as if there is an element of curiosity here. And that's where we get to an interesting point: Myers has been catatonic and lifeless since the killing of his sister 15 years ago. Not a word spoken. We imagine Myers sat in his room, all day, every day, staring. Staring at the walls. He grew. He went through puberty. He grew into a man. All whilst in this state. It's not unreasonable to surmise from this that he's probably, on some level, in a state of arrested development. What could there be to develop him? He was, presumably, a normal child, in a normal household on a normal street in a normal school, before he murdered Judith. Whatever was brewing inside of him took over when he killed Judith, and he froze in that moment - he'd have to. He spent all of his time thinking about that kill, because if not, why would he instantly start trying to memorialise, to relive? Why bring his sister's gravestone to his new house of mayhem if he didn't have some affinity to it? Michael Myers is still that six year old boy, and he's still got that curiosity. Whatever it is that drives Michael to kill, it's in the same state as it was when he was six: he likely killed Judith out of curiosity, and here he is again. He's amazed that he just pinned someone to a wall! Wow, no longer does he only have one kill to fantasise about, but he's wracking up more and more.

He then follows this firey curiosity with another infamous Myers moment - he takes a bedsheet, cuts out two holes, puts it over his head, puts his recent victim's glasses over it and heads upstairs. He opens the door of the bedroom and stands there, then after a moment, edges himself closer. After a while, he strangles her and she dies. But let's think about this: after killing that guy, whose name I have just completely forgotten, he cuts holes out of a bedsheet and wears it like a ghost. What does this say about Michael Myers? He roamed around the kitchen searching for scissors, cut out eyeholes, put the bedsheet on over the mask he's already wearing and puts the glasses on top of that. Is this his sense of humour? Is this just a method of getting closer to his victim without her knowing, so she's easier to attack? Some people say it's that, but Michael Myers simply wouldn't care about that. She was in bed, naked, a few feet from him. If he opened the door as himself or as the bedsheet, it wouldn't matter. He's just curious, and weird. He wanted to watch her for a while. By doing this, he can see her not just in a state of fear, but in an unalarmed, happy state. He didn't know what she'd do, but he was curious and excited to see it. His decision to do this also shows his creative flair - even if he is celebrating an ode to Judith's original kill 15 years ago, he's doing different things. Lynda was in a bedroom, naked and post-sex with her boyfriend. The environmental factors were almost the same as Judith's original kill. If Michael was simply trying to recreate the kill as an obsession to the original kill, he wouldn't be adding new elements. Hes building on the old memories, he's improving himself, pushing himself.

So he starts piling the bodies in different ways: hanging upside-down in a closet, shoved onto a shelve and laid on the bed below his sister's gravestone. Now he waits for his next victim. Laurie comes, but this time she manages to fight back. There are two schools of thought now: was Laurie his final girl, or was she meant to be another victim? Was his plan supposed to end with Laurie, or was she simply going to be another body? Based on what we see, he wanted to fill that room, and likely the house, with bodies. Clearly, he had planned what he was going to do for a long time. In his head, as he sat at Smiths Grove, he thought specifically: I'm going to take Judith's gravestone and surround it with more bodies. Either that, or this is all just on a whim, but I don't buy that. He escaped for a reason, on the anniversary of her death. He knew what he was going to do all along.

I don't think Laurie was all that important to Michael's plan. If he had successfully killed her too, he'd have continued to just find more and more bodies until he couldn't anymore, setting the house he was in as a giant mousetrap for the people of Haddonfield to fall into. But he couldn't because Laurie kept attacking him and he kept falling.

Now let's look at Michael's invincibility and supposed supernatural abilities. She stabs him in the neck with a sewing needle and he falls to the ground. It takes a while for him to get back up, but a wound like that likely wouldn't kill straight away. Sure, it would incapacitate, but we've learnt that Michael can be very "inhumanly patient" when he wants to be, what with his time at Smiths Grove as an example. He gets up and continues - does he feel pain here? Did it affect him at all? The fact he was down for a while implies, at least to me, that Laurie did manage to strike a fatal blow with that needle, otherwise Myers would get up straight away. Either that, or he didn't feel it, and simply allowed her to get away a bit to continue the chase. We've already established how much Michael enjoys the chase and the stalk, so of course he's going to give her that edge again. Then she stabs him in the eye with a coathanger and then in the chest with his own kitchen knife. Fatal blow. He falls. She gets the kids out of the house, and then he... gets up again. What was he experiencing? What was he thinking? He does think, because he isn't an empty vessel, so what was he thinking? Was he confused that he wasn't dying, or was his single desire to kill so overwhelming that he was able to override everything and continue? Either way, he goes for one last attack, where she demasks him. Here, we see that his eye is messed up. So his body does respond normally to physical stimuli - his eye was stabbed so the eyelid curls up. He bleeds. He's definitely human.

Then he's shot six times, falls out of the window and gets up again. This is the moment that a normal human being couldn't survive, so how did he? He must've been baffled! But anyway, through all this, we have to imagine the same scenes playing out not with the globally-recognised Michael Myers horror icon, but with the man behind the mask. He's a weird 21 year old guy who killed his sister when he was six and now he's back. He does weird shit. He's curious about kills and amused at the ways he does them. He stalks and watches. He used his sister's gravestone in his new rituals. He's just a young guy who really fucking likes killing. I don't want to explain why - it wasn't druids, but it might be that he's a pure incarnation of evil. But even if he is, he isn't just a shape. He clearly has a personality, and enjoys the way he stalks, and understands humans and how to get under their skin. If we imagine the same film but without the mask, it's a different picture. He's just a complete fucking weirdo, and somehow, his pure desire to kill grew so overwhelming that it broke reality and transcended life and death, and allowed him to become something more - his giver of death allowed him to escape it himself. This is Michael Myers. Haddonfield weirdo.

Now, I don't want to denounce the concept of evil here. I don't want to portray the concept of evil as being bound to the supernatural - it's often described Myers is the incarnate of pure evil and therefore he is a force of nature and unstoppable/unkillable - not human. There are many cases in real life of men who are truly evil - or at least commit heinous acts in the same vein Myers does - and this is the real world, where there is no supernatural. His ability to withstand stabbings and gunshots is not related to that, and is, to me, the ambiguity and amalgamation of the character of Michael Myers: all of Michael's personality traits are the perfect bedding for pure evil in a supernatural sense, but this doesn't negate Michael from being a human being who has lived 21 years and has his own personality, thoughts and internal lexicon. There is a precise logic and rhythym to Michael, and that's precisely because of the way he's portrayed: hes curious, playful, intelligent, agile, sadistic and childlike. He's inventive and creative and driven. He's Michael fucking Myers!

[inknerd]

October Wrap-Up 2018

So! October’s soon over, autumn is in full bloom and I’ve read some books! It’s been an interesting month - I’ve started and finished my three weeks of practice at school as part of my teacher education programme, and I really feel like I’ve learnt a lot! I did show up in the middle of reading exercises and poetry introductions, so you could say I felt at home, at least!

CIRCE by MADELINE MILLER ★★★★★ | 352 pages | 2 days to read | Published 2018

Like...there’s wasn’t even the slightest doubt that I would LOVE this books - but wow, what an AMAZING book! If you liked The Song of Achilles, you’re probably going to like this one. + Just, everything! Circe as a character, the magic and scenery, the fact that we got even more Achilles/Patroclus inbetween the pages??? I loved everything. I was especially pleased to get to know so much more about Circe in general? Like the thing with Odysseus took a while to even get introduced, and all the background information and everything about all the other gods and nymphs - perfect. - Can’t really find anything to complain about. You should go read it. All I hope for now is that M. Miller decides to write even more about characters in Greek mythology.

WILD EMBERS: POEMS OF REBELLION, FIRE AND BEAUTY by NIKITA GILL ★★★★☆ | 150 pages | 2 days to read | Published 2017

I ordered two of Gill’s poetry collection, and this one was the first one to arrive. Lucky enough, I liked it! So I’m looking forward to reading the next one. + Some of the poems I really liked, but I was more amazed by some of the fantastic one-liners that were in most of the poems. - I felt somewhat...underwhelmed? by the poetry at times.

AVGRUNDENS ÄNGLAR by MAGNUS NORDIN ★★★☆☆ | 284 pages | 1 day to read | Published 2013

This is a book I normally wouldn’t be interested in, but at the school I did my teacher’s practice on they read this for class, so I decided to read it! + I was actually pleasantly surprised, despite knowing already that Nordin is a good author. It was a fast-paced and intruiging read, and it was nice seeing how it all came together in the end. - Some of the dialogues and scenarios felt pretty cliché, and the book also had this typical “school book feeling”, like this is the kind of book they’d force 15-16 year olds to read.

WEIRD THINGS COSTUMERS SAY IN BOOKSHOPS by JEN CAMPBELL ★★★★☆ | 120 pages | 1 day to read | Published 2012

Ah, okay, you know those tumblr posts talking about hilarious (and very frustrating) costumers who just ask the stupidest questions? If you like those you should totally read this! + I mean, what is there to say? This book is hilarious to read even if you’re not a book seller or a reader. - Idk, the first part is the funniest? then the second part while fun didn’t make me laugh as hard.

THE GOLDFINCH by DONNA TARTT ★★★☆☆ | 864 pages | *whistles awkwardly* | Published 2013

Okay, so I had a hard time rating this. It took me a long time to read it, or rather I read like 1/4 in like 3 months and then the rest in like, a week? and by the end of it I was like “...okay”. + Tartt’s writing is amazing, okay. The language, the structure, all the info pumped into the story about art and everything is so interesting to read about. I also quite liked the ending, which is what I’m usually critisizing when it comes to most books? So yeah. - I didn’t really connect with the main character? Or any character really. And at many points in the story I wondered “but what is the point with this???”. It’s a really dense book, in many ways, and I would recommend it at the same time as awkwardly shaking my hand and say meh?

THE WITCH DOESN’T BURN IN THIS ONE by AMANDA LOVELACE ★★★☆☆ | 208 pages | 1 day to read | Published 2018

So according to goodreads I rated The Princess Saves Herself in this One 4 stars, and I can’t remember enough of it to know if I actually liked it more than I did this one, but oh well. I enjoyed reading this, anyhow. + I especially liked the poems dedicated to other media like The Handmaid’s Tale or Hamilton, it was fun catching the references! Also? The red text on all that white? So pretty.  - While I really liked some of the poems, I can’t say I got a favourite, and it just wasn’t completely my style, I guess?

FIERCE FAIRYTALES: POEMS AND STORIES TO STIR YOUR SOUL by NIKITA GILL ★★★★☆ | 176 pages | 1 day to read | Published 2018

Gill’s second poetry collection that also has a fairytale theme!!!???? I knew I was going to like it. + Okay, first of all: The Cover? Amazing, stunning, beautiful. I liked the poems in this collection more than in Wild Embers, for some reason, maybe because anything with fairytales in it makes me like it like 50% more. - I didn’t get a clear favourite and at moments I sort of, didn’t agree with the interpretation of the fairytale? If that makes any sense. 

THE COLLECTED POEMS by SYLVIA PLATH ★★★☆☆ | 349 pages | 21 days to read | Published 1981 (Poems from 1956-1963)

It seems to be a month of poetry, huh? This I’ve been reading for a while, simply because it was so long; practically all of Plath’s poetry, of which I wasn’t familiar with at all before. + Sometimes they really got to me, and I noticed I liked a lot of poems one year only to drift away the other, which was interesting. In the back of this collection there was also an article about Plath’s life and other bonus stuff with notes on some of the poems (how and why they were written etc.). - I somewhat wish I’d bought the poetry collections as they were when published by Plath rather than in one thick book. It made it very slow to read. I also was quite bored with some of the poetry, and I’ve come to the conclusion that I prefer Plath’s writing in prose rather than in poetry.

TASH HEARTS TOLSTOY by KATHRYN ORMSBEE ★★★☆☆ | 367 pages | 1 day to read | Published 2017

Lately I’ve been so excited to read more books with asexual characters in it, and this was high on my list! (Well, it’s not a very long list. Yet) + I always love to read about fandom and all that includes, and I’ve never read a book about people making a youtube series before and I thought Ormsbee was very creative regarding the Anna Karenina retelling. The friendships in this book was also something I enjoyed. - With that said I didn’t think this book was that special? There were several relationships dramas that I wasn’t overly interested in and in the end it left me wanting for something more (but this can once again also be because of me not being super interested in contemporary)

RENEGADES by MARISSA MEYER ★★★★☆ | 552 pages | 2 days to read | Published 2017

I’ve heard so many people reading and liking this book, and it sounds just down my alley! Superheroes and supervillains? Sign me UP. + All the characters and their respective powers and hero-names were all so creative and fun to read about. I like the detail going into their costumes and also the sides’ different aesthetic in general. And, the ending? Awesome. I’m so pumped for the next book in this series! - I did find the world Meyer described interesting, but it also left me with some questions that I hope are answered in the sequel. I’m also surprisingly not very invested in the main romance? Like, it was sweet but I had expected something more of it.

THE PRICE GUIDE TO THE OCCULT by LESLYE WALTON ★★★★☆ | 272 pages | 3 days to read | Published 2018

I really liked The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender, so I was so excited to read another magic realism book by Leslye Walton! + The atmosphere of the story and the scenery were PERFECT for autumn and Halloween, so I definitely read this book at the perfect time. The story of the Blackburn family and their powers were so interesting to read and the magic system was so cool and horrifying at the same time! - The main romance (and the side ones) felt like they sort fizzled out by the end, and I also felt like a lot of the action scenes or choices Nor and company made were so cliché in contrast to Walton’s otherwise magical and original writing. And also, the ending? It was good but will there be a sequel??? Because that ending is not satisfying to me if there’s not a sequel, and I think there won’t be, so.

GOOD OMENS by NEIL GAIMAN & TERRY PRATCHETT ★★★★☆ | 412 pages | 14 days to read | Published 1990

Okay, so I actually started reading this about a year ago, but for some reason I forgot about it and started reading something else. Then, a couple of weeks ago, I saw the trailer for the upcoming TV-series adaption of this book and went “NOW I HAVE TO READ IT”. + Like, it’s hilarious. Not much to say there. Just, the characters and their personalities and all the anecdotes about history and the Bible were just so spot on funny. The story in itself is also so such an interesting and fun concept. - I think I’ve had the same small problem with Gaiman’s work before (haven’t read anything else by Pratchett) and that is that while all the characters introduced are skillfully made and bring some relevance to the story I always want to get back to the main characters (or who I, personally, see as main characters) rather than read about a random construction worker or delivery man (but okay, the chapters with the delivery man was super funny).

[holytheoristtastemaker]

Readers with exceptional taste in film will have no doubt been ecstatic to hear the recent news that The Matrix trilogy is getting a fourth instalment, with Keanu Reeves and Carrie–Anne Moss making a leather–clad comeback (if you haven’t seen the original saga, it’s kind of complicated; here’s a short synopsis). Aside from indulging my passion for highly quotable dialogue and unwarranted overuse of CGI, I’m bringing The Matrix into a UX blog because it’s full of allusions to real–life psychological principles. As a UX practitioner, I’m interested in patterns of thought and behaviour that influence how people make decisions when using an interface. So without further ado, here are few principles found in The Matrix that are relevant to experience design, starting with Zipf’s Law. 1. The principle of least effort (sometimes called Zipf’s law)        Neo swats off Agent Smith single–handed. Retrieved from GyfCat. “Come on. Stop trying to hit me and HIT me.”Zipf’s law relates to choice. If there are several ways of achieving the same goal, people will usually choose the least demanding course of action – they’ll choose the blue pill.In the 1940s, linguist George Kingsely Zipf pointed out that an abundance of words exist in natural languages (like English), but humans typically communicate using a relatively small selection of these words. This is due to our tendency to communicate efficiently, using the least effort possible. In the 1980s, librarian Thomas Mann noted the same pattern when people look for information in libraries; people tend to stop searching as soon as minimally acceptable results are found. Today, it’s easy to see how this plays out; how often do you peruse page three on Google?The principle of least effort is so foundational to a great UX design that you might not even recognize it when you see it. To borrow a metaphor from Jared Spool, founder of User Interface Engineering: “Think of it like a room’s air conditioning. We only notice it when it’s too hot, too cold, making too much noise, or the unit is dripping on us. Yet, if the air conditioning is perfect, nobody says anything and we focus, instead, on the task at hand.” It sounds like common sense and a simple idea, and indeed it is, but its effect on how we design products and services is profound. Carving out and designing for the path of least resistance is a challenge that most organisations online still don’t get right. For further reading, I’d recommend Steve Krug’s “Don’t make me think” which is superb at explaining what’s involved in simplifying users’ tasks at an interface level.  2. The principles of grouping (Gestalt principles)       Cypher was quite happy to go on living in the Matrix. Retrieved from Shazoo. “…there’s way too much information to decode the Matrix. You get used to it, though. Your brain does the translating. I don’t even see the code. All I see is blonde, brunette, redhead.” Gestalt principles relate to the human trait of seeing disparate elements as a complete object. Like when Cypher was caught enjoying the matrix a little too much (he really was the worst). Our brains constantly try to perceive meaning and order even when we’re looking at something that is random or incomplete. This means UX designers should be aware that users may discern meaning from how you position items, patterns, colours and content, whether or not you’ve planned for it. For example, one Gestalt principle is the ‘Law of closure’, whereby people tend to perceive incomplete shapes as a whole object before they see any individual elements. Law of closure. Retrieved from Interaction Design Foundation. 3. The continuity principle       The two options offered to Neo didn’t look too different at first. Retrieved from Youtube. “I know what you’re thinking, ‘cause right now I’m thinking the same thing… Why oh why didn’t I take the BLUE pill?” The continuity principle may have been at play in The Matrix, which states that similarly looking and positioned items are similar and related to each other. The stakes were much higher in choosing the red pill, but the way Morpheus presented it to Neo made it seem less scary – after all, it was the same size and shape as the blue pill. Perhaps if the red option was presented in a syringe, or locked in a guarded safe, or concealed in a jar of Marmite (yes, I’m aiming to be controversial) he may have thought a little harder about swallowing it.       The continuity principle can encourage users to consider more products. Retrieved from Amazon. Think about how Amazon presents recommended products. One minute you’re looking for a sweet–ass black leather cyber–punk trench coat for Halloween, and next you see a row of long, tailored designer jackets, each image having similar proportions, spacing and white backgrounds. It’s an excellent technique for cross selling. 4. The principle of loss–aversion        Trinity and Neo. Retrieved from SciFiMovie.com. “This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. Remember, all I’m offering is the truth. Nothing more.” People hate losses more than they love gains. Some studies have suggested that the thought of making a loss can have twice as much impact on our decision making as the opportunity to make an equivalent gain (Dawes, 2004; Tversky & Kahneman, 1992). Morpheus made the blue pill sound like a loss: ‘wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to’. In other words, if Neo picked this option he knew he would lose his one opportunity to learn the truth about his reality. A good example of this principle at play is in pet insurance marketing. Most of us with pets have no real idea of their genetic history or the likelihood that they’ll have future illnesses. Do you as an owner risk it (and get lucky that you don’t rack up expensive vet bills) or fork out for insurance ‘just in case’? Petplan in the US play on this by emphasising the potential financial impact of ignoring insurance for your little furballs.                                             Pet insurance advert. Retrieve from NNG. All of the messaging a company communicates plays a part in UX. Remember though, there’s a fine line between showing customers that you know about their needs, and trying to scare the money out of them. 5. Framing        Neo weighs up the choices. Retrieved from Energy Matters. “Remember, all I’m offering is the truth. Nothing more.” A similar but subtly different principle of psychology is the “Framing effect”. It relates to how people react to a particular stimulus dependent on the context in which it is presented. In a study by Levin and Gaeth in 1988, consumers rated several qualitative attributes of ground beef that framed the beef as either “75% lean” or “25% fat.” The consumers’ evaluations were more favourable toward the beef labelled “75% lean”. More importantly, the magnitude of this effect lessened when consumers actually tasted the meat.        Cypher enjoys a virtual steak in The Matrix. Retrieved from Youtube. In another study (1981), Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman asked participants to choose between two treatments for 600 people infected with a deadly disease. Treatment A would result in 400 deaths. Treatment B had a 33% chance that no one would die, but a 66% chance that everyone would die. Each treatment was presented in a positive and negative frame. For example, for treatment A: Positive framing: Save 200 lives. Negative framing: 400 people will die. Treatment A was chosen by 72% of participants when framed positively, dropping to only 22% when framed negatively. Framing can very much influence thoughts, perceptions and ultimately behaviour based on how things are presented or communicated. Morpheus told Neo that he was only offering him the truth – coincidentally, that’s exactly what Neo was looking for. He could have said “Hey Neo, do you want to wake up in a robot incubator covered in fluid, get beat up a bunch of times and lose everyone you love?” Still the truth, not so persuasive. In the online world, persuasion is a powerful tool. The effect of framing, when applied correctly, can influence customers to take the path that you carve out for them. Conclusion The principles of psychology tell us that humans typically behave in common ways when exposed to particular patterns of design. But understanding human differences is the lifeblood of UX and service design. Getting to grips with people and their uniqueness as well as their similarities is what keeps the UX and Service design industry so in���demand and highly valued in the ultra–connected, consumer–centric world of 2019. Remember, your customer is not Keanu Reeves in the movies. Online, people are typically lazy, impatient, biased and fearful of loss; scared of going down rabbit holes with a product or service. Businesses and creators of interfaces and services should make their customers feel motivated and confident to follow the path of least resistance. Keep those red pills tucked away, seem unattractive if found and ensure your users remain calm and feeling in control. And keep them away from the matrix of complexity. We’re not all the chosen ones.

http://damianfallon.blogspot.com/2020/04/what-matrix-teaches-us-about-design_2.html

[lapuntaalta-blog]

Culture Is not a Costume

Halloween is one of the most notable holidays in America that is cemented in the action of getting dressed. From decorating homes, to assembling our own costumes, this day is about indulging in the fantasy making that fashion offers. While many dress up and in the name of fun, there are still real repercussions for what people make a costume out of. In the case of a school in Idaho, several faculty and staff members committed the crime of turning Latinx culture into a hodgepodge of gags. The Huffington Post recently reported about this school in Idaho where these staff members were suspended after they all dressed up as both Mexicans and Donald Trump’s promised U.S. border wall. The photos of this group’s costume quickly went viral and the Middleton school district announced on Saturday the suspension of all the members involved. This context is necessary for understanding the argument that this paper will make about how the issue of cultural appropriation was present in these people’s costumes. Using the framework of fashion as a sign system, and as system with its own grammar, I hope to argue that cultural appropriation in fashion is something that deserves attention because of the ways in which this action of dressing up can maintain hegemonic ideas of racism.

Paying close attention to the details in the staffer’s costumes shows how the actual construction and design of the costumes relies on a racist rhetoric. As Alanna Vagianos writes, “half the group is dressed as the border wall, which reads ‘Make America Great Again,’ while the other half are holding maracas while dressed in ponchos and sombreros’” (HuffingtonPost). This text is spread out across cardboard painted to look like a wall and it is held up by three women who are each wearing outfits related to the colors of the American flag. The issues with this representation is evident if one considers that “Language and dress are…constituted organically by a functional network of norms and forms” (Barthes 8). Barthes point is that the culture that produces the symbol, in this case fashion, attaches both a set of ideas about that thing and ideas about who wears that thing. While, “Make America Great Again,” may not explicitly seem racist, we must consider the ideologies that this costume relies on to garner meaning. To clarify, this is a racist ideology because the idea that Latnix bodies, or non-citizens, should be policed and excluded stems from a white supremacy framework. The part of the costume that is the wall is also a symbol referencing the building of borders that the Trump administration has argued for. The symbol of the wall is racist in the ways that the Trump administration has used moral panics to label Mexican immigrants as threats to both the identity of the country and to the safety of its people. As Barthes would argue, this costume gains its meaning from the discourses its referencing. Otherwise, it would just be cardboard with words on it. But this way of thinking sits outside of the scope I have chosen to analyze the costume with. By considering how fashion gains its meanings from ideas and expectations produced by society, there is a clear way of connecting part of this costume to racist ideas about exclusion in the United States.

These staff members are guilty of poor judgement in dressing up as Mexicans because of how they relied on stereotypes to inform their costumes. In her book Fashion, Desire and Anxiety one of Rebecca Arnold’s frameworks for looking at fashion is how it impacts how we understand and discuss the body. This is a relevant concept to consider because if fashion helps us define the body than fashion also plays a part in shaping how we think about race and culture. Because these are things connected to our body. The image of some of these staffers holding maracas, wearing sombreros, fake mustaches and ponchos relates back to my earlier point about how costumes rely on symbols to gain meaning. This group chose these elements to represent Mexican people because of how these signs convey this identity and culture. Again, it should be noted that these are stereotypes rooted in racist representation. I argue that this incident is offensive because of how the costumes that represent Mexican culture are again derived from historically racist stereotypes. The Latinx identity is presented as something comical and commercial, assembled through cheap and easily accessible garments. Arnold would argue then that the impact of this costume is that the legitimacy of the Mexican identity, and its body, is lost then. Thus, this costume can be seen as perpetuating racist ideologies because it relies on stereotypes, taking away the legitimacy of the Mexican identity.

Another reason that the Idaho faculty and staff’s costumes are offensive is because of how fashion, like speech, can be misread. Because The Huffington Post did not a statement from any of the staffers suspended, the motives of these costumes are unclear. But in thinking about how, “as with speech [fashion] cannot say what we really mean because we don’t have the right ‘words.’” (Lurie 34) it is fair to say that there was no attempt to communicate that this was parody or not meant to be racist. In no ways am I stating that the decision from the Middleton School District to suspend the teachers should be contested, rather I am arguing that people must be aware of the ways that clothes do not often communicate what we want them to. In the same ways that connotation, grammar and style impact the clarity and meaning of a sentence, so does the arrangement of a garment. In the case of this costume, there is no clear way of identifying if the parody happening is directed towards the Trump administration, Mexican people or maybe even both. Again, both groups relied on racist discourses in order to convey what they meant. But there is no evident part of this costume that also conveys malice. It becomes difficult to argue what was the impact of these costumes. Referring back to Lurie’s and the other scholar’s works, I believe that they would argue that this is not a matter about whether the impact is right or wrong. Rather this instance shows how costumes and dressing up is a method of communication connected to power and representation. Costumes, like other forms of fashion, also have depth in their meaning.

The incident in the Middleton School District of staff members being suspended for wearing offensive costumes is a clear example of how understanding that fashion can have a non-verbal impact is important. While there is validity in calling upon freedom of speech, this essay was focused on exposing why the costumes were offensive and this dressing up was a mistake by the staffers. In a statement released by the school district and reported by The Huffington Post, Middleton stated, “As hard as these events are for ALL involved, we must learn from this and be better as an entire staff for our students, parents, and the community we represent.” The consequence that these staffers received is again only appropriate when considering what discourses and ideas informed the costumes. From the details in the costumes like the writing on the wall, to the cheap artifacts meant to represent Mexican people, this essay hoped to argue that costumes have meaning and an impact on society.

Works Cited

Arnold, Rebecca (2001). Fashion, Desire and Anxiety. Print.

Barthes, Roland (1967). The Language of Fashion. Print.

Lurie, Alison (1981). The Language of Clothes. Print.

Vagianos, Alanna (2018). “Idaho Elementary Teachers Who Dressed Up As Mexicans And The Border Wall Suspended,” The Huffington Post. Web.

-Will S.

[violetthistle1]

Excerpt from As Many Times as I Need To by Violet_Thistle on Ao3.

“You were right!” Sirius shouted. “When you said ‘I wish you trusted me half as much as you trusted James’, you were right.” 

“Cariad, no one trusted anyone, that’s why we were losing.”

“Wrong. James trusted. James trusted everyone. James even trusted you, I was the one that talked him out of including you.”

“Sirius, James’s trust is why he died!” Remus said.

“You take that back!” Sirius spat.

“Pardon me for ever speaking against perfect James, may his memory never be tarnished!”   

Sirius silently sobbed. “I know he wasn’t perfect, but it breaks my heart to think that the thing that brought him down was that he trusted too much. That’s not what brought him down, I brought him down! It was me!”

https://archiveofourown.org/works/59320471

[violetthistle1]

Excerpt from As Many Times as I Need To by Violet_Thistle on Ao3.

“I didn’t make it easy on you. I was such a piece of shit to you Moony, and you were out there saving lives in direct opposition to Albus! And what was I doing? Questioning your loyalty?” Sirius broke down again. 

“Hey, we don’t need to rehash this again and again. Yeah, you made mistakes, I made plenty of my own! I kept too many secrets. It’s hard to see someone as loyal when they hold everything close to their chest.” 

“I didn’t get it then. I didn’t understand why you kept so much to yourself. I just wanted to know everything, I thought it was my right. I get it now. There’s so much I never want to think about again, let alone talk about and you’re so good about letting me have my peace. I never did that.” 

“Is that something I’m good at? I always wonder if I should be doing more for you. You were always good about getting me out of my doom spirals. I mean, usually I didn’t appreciate it at the time and it ended in a shouting match, but at least I wasn’t stuck anymore. I sometimes don’t know how to get you unstuck these days.” 

Sirius sighed. “Me neither.”

https://archiveofourown.org/works/59320471

[violetthistle1]

Excerpt from As Many Times as I Need To by Violet_Thistle on Ao3.

“What did you do?” Sirius asked.

“I went to Godric’s Hollow.” Remus responded.

“Oh. Shit.” 

“Yeah, I was feeling especially masochistic. It was actually good though. I didn’t know it, but every Halloween there’s an impromptu vigil. There were hundreds of people, they came and lit candles and left flowers and cried. Then they left. I stood among them, no one recognized me. It was…it was...” He couldn’t explain what it was like to see these people who were alive and safe because of James and Lily’s sacrifice. The flowers and candles weren’t enough. Nothing would ever be enough. He could never be enough to make up for it. 

“Now you’re crying too,” Sirius said as he raised a hand to cup Remus’s cheek. He brought his hand up to match the gesture. 

“It’s okay. It was inevitable.” 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/59320471

[holytheoristtastemaker]

Readers with exceptional taste in film will have no doubt been ecstatic to hear the recent news that The Matrix trilogy is getting a fourth instalment, with Keanu Reeves and Carrie–Anne Moss making a leather–clad comeback (if you haven’t seen the original saga, it’s kind of complicated; here’s a short synopsis). Aside from indulging my passion for highly quotable dialogue and unwarranted overuse of CGI, I’m bringing The Matrix into a UX blog because it’s full of allusions to real–life psychological principles. As a UX practitioner, I’m interested in patterns of thought and behaviour that influence how people make decisions when using an interface. So without further ado, here are few principles found in The Matrix that are relevant to experience design, starting with Zipf’s Law. 1. The principle of least effort (sometimes called Zipf’s law)        Neo swats off Agent Smith single–handed. Retrieved from GyfCat. “Come on. Stop trying to hit me and HIT me.”Zipf’s law relates to choice. If there are several ways of achieving the same goal, people will usually choose the least demanding course of action – they’ll choose the blue pill.In the 1940s, linguist George Kingsely Zipf pointed out that an abundance of words exist in natural languages (like English), but humans typically communicate using a relatively small selection of these words. This is due to our tendency to communicate efficiently, using the least effort possible. In the 1980s, librarian Thomas Mann noted the same pattern when people look for information in libraries; people tend to stop searching as soon as minimally acceptable results are found. Today, it’s easy to see how this plays out; how often do you peruse page three on Google?The principle of least effort is so foundational to a great UX design that you might not even recognize it when you see it. To borrow a metaphor from Jared Spool, founder of User Interface Engineering: “Think of it like a room’s air conditioning. We only notice it when it’s too hot, too cold, making too much noise, or the unit is dripping on us. Yet, if the air conditioning is perfect, nobody says anything and we focus, instead, on the task at hand.” It sounds like common sense and a simple idea, and indeed it is, but its effect on how we design products and services is profound. Carving out and designing for the path of least resistance is a challenge that most organisations online still don’t get right. For further reading, I’d recommend Steve Krug’s “Don’t make me think” which is superb at explaining what’s involved in simplifying users’ tasks at an interface level.  2. The principles of grouping (Gestalt principles)       Cypher was quite happy to go on living in the Matrix. Retrieved from Shazoo. “…there’s way too much information to decode the Matrix. You get used to it, though. Your brain does the translating. I don’t even see the code. All I see is blonde, brunette, redhead.” Gestalt principles relate to the human trait of seeing disparate elements as a complete object. Like when Cypher was caught enjoying the matrix a little too much (he really was the worst). Our brains constantly try to perceive meaning and order even when we’re looking at something that is random or incomplete. This means UX designers should be aware that users may discern meaning from how you position items, patterns, colours and content, whether or not you’ve planned for it. For example, one Gestalt principle is the ‘Law of closure’, whereby people tend to perceive incomplete shapes as a whole object before they see any individual elements. Law of closure. Retrieved from Interaction Design Foundation. 3. The continuity principle       The two options offered to Neo didn’t look too different at first. Retrieved from Youtube. “I know what you’re thinking, ‘cause right now I’m thinking the same thing… Why oh why didn’t I take the BLUE pill?” The continuity principle may have been at play in The Matrix, which states that similarly looking and positioned items are similar and related to each other. The stakes were much higher in choosing the red pill, but the way Morpheus presented it to Neo made it seem less scary – after all, it was the same size and shape as the blue pill. Perhaps if the red option was presented in a syringe, or locked in a guarded safe, or concealed in a jar of Marmite (yes, I’m aiming to be controversial) he may have thought a little harder about swallowing it.       The continuity principle can encourage users to consider more products. Retrieved from Amazon. Think about how Amazon presents recommended products. One minute you’re looking for a sweet–ass black leather cyber–punk trench coat for Halloween, and next you see a row of long, tailored designer jackets, each image having similar proportions, spacing and white backgrounds. It’s an excellent technique for cross selling. 4. The principle of loss–aversion        Trinity and Neo. Retrieved from SciFiMovie.com. “This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. Remember, all I’m offering is the truth. Nothing more.” People hate losses more than they love gains. Some studies have suggested that the thought of making a loss can have twice as much impact on our decision making as the opportunity to make an equivalent gain (Dawes, 2004; Tversky & Kahneman, 1992). Morpheus made the blue pill sound like a loss: ‘wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to’. In other words, if Neo picked this option he knew he would lose his one opportunity to learn the truth about his reality. A good example of this principle at play is in pet insurance marketing. Most of us with pets have no real idea of their genetic history or the likelihood that they’ll have future illnesses. Do you as an owner risk it (and get lucky that you don’t rack up expensive vet bills) or fork out for insurance ‘just in case’? Petplan in the US play on this by emphasising the potential financial impact of ignoring insurance for your little furballs.                                             Pet insurance advert. Retrieve from NNG. All of the messaging a company communicates plays a part in UX. Remember though, there’s a fine line between showing customers that you know about their needs, and trying to scare the money out of them. 5. Framing        Neo weighs up the choices. Retrieved from Energy Matters. “Remember, all I’m offering is the truth. Nothing more.” A similar but subtly different principle of psychology is the “Framing effect”. It relates to how people react to a particular stimulus dependent on the context in which it is presented. In a study by Levin and Gaeth in 1988, consumers rated several qualitative attributes of ground beef that framed the beef as either “75% lean” or “25% fat.” The consumers’ evaluations were more favourable toward the beef labelled “75% lean”. More importantly, the magnitude of this effect lessened when consumers actually tasted the meat.        Cypher enjoys a virtual steak in The Matrix. Retrieved from Youtube. In another study (1981), Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman asked participants to choose between two treatments for 600 people infected with a deadly disease. Treatment A would result in 400 deaths. Treatment B had a 33% chance that no one would die, but a 66% chance that everyone would die. Each treatment was presented in a positive and negative frame. For example, for treatment A: Positive framing: Save 200 lives. Negative framing: 400 people will die. Treatment A was chosen by 72% of participants when framed positively, dropping to only 22% when framed negatively. Framing can very much influence thoughts, perceptions and ultimately behaviour based on how things are presented or communicated. Morpheus told Neo that he was only offering him the truth – coincidentally, that’s exactly what Neo was looking for. He could have said “Hey Neo, do you want to wake up in a robot incubator covered in fluid, get beat up a bunch of times and lose everyone you love?” Still the truth, not so persuasive. In the online world, persuasion is a powerful tool. The effect of framing, when applied correctly, can influence customers to take the path that you carve out for them. Conclusion The principles of psychology tell us that humans typically behave in common ways when exposed to particular patterns of design. But understanding human differences is the lifeblood of UX and service design. Getting to grips with people and their uniqueness as well as their similarities is what keeps the UX and Service design industry so in–demand and highly valued in the ultra–connected, consumer–centric world of 2019. Remember, your customer is not Keanu Reeves in the movies. Online, people are typically lazy, impatient, biased and fearful of loss; scared of going down rabbit holes with a product or service. Businesses and creators of interfaces and services should make their customers feel motivated and confident to follow the path of least resistance. Keep those red pills tucked away, seem unattractive if found and ensure your users remain calm and feeling in control. And keep them away from the matrix of complexity. We’re not all the chosen ones.

http://damianfallon.blogspot.com/2020/04/what-matrix-teaches-us-about-design.html