#heres another example lol

[plumbus-central]

needy

[turtleblogatlast]

One of the earliest examples of Leo’s “I’ll do my own thing to accomplish our goal without discussing it with my team first” is in episode one. It’s super, super quick, and ultimately inconsequential, but it subtly sets up a great precedent that I think is very interesting.

When the boys need to grab the medallion from Splinter without Splinter noticing, Raph, Mikey, and Donnie huddle together with Raph taking the lead in trying to devise a plan to get the mystic device. Meanwhile, Leo slinks away and grabs the device by clocking the situation (by knowing his father well enough to predict his actions - something he does with each family member multiple times in the series) and making a move on his own.

It works out perfectly fine, and is ultimately the best move, and it’s honestly okay that he didn’t consult everyone for something so small when it’s such a non issue to get it, but it nicely sets up how this tends to go in the series, including how it goes in the movie.

To be honest episode one is actually really good at setting up a lot of things for each character in the long run, this is just one example that caught my attention, as small and unassuming as it is.

[marley-manson]

Hawkeye and Frank are the two most diametrically opposed characters on Mash. They clash politically, ideologically, emotionally, intellectually, and even physically on more than one occasion. There is virtually nothing they agree on. But they do have one significant similarity: both Hawkeye and Frank are notably, pointedly effeminate.

Hawkeye is the central protagonist, so he's written to be likeable, even admirable, especially in the first five seasons of the show when satire dominated rather than character drama. He's the character who makes the correct political points and voices the show's ideology, and male audience members are encouraged to identify with him and aspire to be like him. He's witty, he's smart, he's charismatic, he dodges consequences a lot, he's highly skilled in his work, and he has a strong personality and natural leadership qualities.

Frank is the main antagonist up until the end of season five. He's written for audiences to hate him, mock him, and occasionally be horrified by him. He's dull-witted, incompetent, awkward, easily led and manipulated, and always gets his comeuppance. Few audience members are likely to aspire to be more like Frank Burns.

And yet, while most likeable protagonist/detestable antagonist duos in American popular media would also be differentiated in terms of gender performance as a matter of course - the effeminate villain being a standard stock character, always set against a ruggedly masculine hero - Mash takes a different approach.

From his core personality as a sniveling, weak-willed follower, to the way other characters, including Hawkeye, routinely make fun of him by comparing him to a woman or insinuating that he's gay, Frank Burns certainly fits the part of weak, emasculated villain. What's more interesting, and much less commonly seen in Hollywood media, is that Hawkeye is portrayed as just as unmanly, and just as, if not more prone to having it pointed out in the show.

Often Hawkeye's jokes at Frank's expense include the implication that Hawkeye is attracted to him himself, and not necessarily as "the man." He jokes, "Guess it's a marriage, Frank. I know I can do better, but at my age, can I wait?" in Hawkeye, Get Your Gun; he switches from calling Frank one of his vampire brides to taking the feminine part in post-coital pillow talk after siphoning his blood in Germ Warfare; he kisses or tells Frank to kiss him in Major Fred C. Dobbs, For the Good of the Outfit, and Bulletin Board, etc.

Other times, the jokes Hawkeye makes about himself are virtually identical to the jokes made at Frank's expense - their respective attractions to Margaret as a potentially dominant sexual partner, eg, with both Frank and Hawkeye portrayed as eagerly submissive. For instance, in 5 O'Clock Charlie Hawkeye jokes about tying Frank to Margaret's tent, then dismisses the thought with, "He'd probably love it. I know I would." And Hawkeye/Trapper and Frank/Margaret are sometimes paralleled as dual couples, Hawkeye and Frank usually being framed as the more feminine partner in each.

And of course, unconnected to Frank, there are many, many more examples of Hawkeye's effeminacy, both in jokes and in personality traits.

Hawkeye is a self-professed coward who is loud and proud about how terrified he is to be stuck in a war zone. He's emotionally open and highly empathetic, always willing to listen to others' problems and discuss (or scream about) his own. He abhors institutional violence and faces every enemy combatant with his hands firmly in the air. When authority is thrust upon him he strives to relinquish it, and uses it as little as possible.

More shallowly, he has little interest in sports and exercise, derides masculine hobby magazines like Field and Stream and Popular Mechanics, is incapable of performing mechanical tasks to the exasperation of others at least four times (Comrades in Arms which explicitly frames this emasculating, In Love and War, Patent 4077, and Hey, Look Me Over), mocks traditional masculinity in many ways, and enjoys musical theatre and Hollywood gossip. And he makes and takes literally hundreds of jokes about being unmanly and having sex with men himself, many more than he makes at Frank's expense.

But while the jokes are at Frank's expense and meant to belittle him, they're rarely made at Hawkeye's expense, especially in the first five seasons. Hawkeye doesn't make the jokes out of self-deprecation, he makes them out of pride and a desire to differentiate himself from the army men he's surrounded by. He's almost always in on the jokes others make about him, rather than offended - Potter telling him to file a paternity suit against his rival in Hepatitis makes him laugh delightedly, and Trapper's remarks on his effeminacy, such as Miz Hawkeye in Hot Lips and Empty Arms, are sometimes lightly teasing but always a regular aspect of their dynamic that Hawkeye enjoys playing up. Frank doesn't make any jokes directly mocking Hawkeye's masculinity that I can recall, beyond vague "pervert" and "degenerate" remarks, which, while often historically homophobic, in the show's context tend to be treated as a reference to his heterosexual endeavours.

Frank's effeminacy is a point of mockery and derision, but Hawkeye's is a point of pride, and not intended to make him any less likeable to an audience. Antagonists don't get to score points off of Hawkeye by mocking his feminine traits, but Hawkeye makes fun of Frank regularly by mocking his feminine traits.

This difference in framing can partially be explained by the nature of their respective gender performances.

While Hawkeye and Frank are both effeminate, they're effeminate in many opposite ways. Frank is weak-willed while Hawkeye is strong-willed. Frank is unappealing to most women, while Hawkeye is something of a lady's man. Frank cannot face his fears to rise to a challenge, but Hawkeye can. But on the flipside, Frank refuses to admit to fear while Hawkeye openly proclaims it. Frank strives to attain authority while Hawkeye refuses it or takes it on only begrudgingly. Frank is obsessed with guns to a freudian extent while one of Hawkeye's most famous monologues of the show is a speech about refusing to carry one. Frank worships the concept of traditional masculinity even while he can't perform it himself, while Hawkeye mocks the concept and would refuse to perform it even if he could.

The Sniper is an excellent case study of these contrasts. In this episode, Hawkeye is effeminate and at ease with it, while Frank is desperate to prove himself masculine. Frank and Margaret flirt with strong Freudian overtones while Frank shoots a gun while nearby Hawkeye flirts with with a nurse with a line about "tasting" her. Hawkeye connects with the nurse he's wooing by relating to how scared she is and huddling in fear with her, while Margaret demands that Frank prove his masculinity by going out and taking down the sniper himself. Frank carries a gun while trying to approach the sniper, while Hawkeye carries a white flag. Frank tries to make fun of Hawkeye for wanting to surrender, but he can't bring himself to approach the sniper while Hawkeye does.

This contrast of gender performance is a consistent aspect of Hawkeye and Frank's dynamic throughout the show, but The Sniper makes it a central theme so it's a useful example to show how their relationships to masculinity are a deliberate aspect of their dynamic.

And while Hawkeye makes fun of Frank's femininity, it's significant that he also regularly makes fun of Frank's masculinity - his love of guns (eg The Sniper), his sexual affairs (eg the exchange about Frank as a "fantastic performer" in Yankee Doodle Doctor), his numerous attempts to exert authority (eg Welcome to Korea), his desire for socially approved success (eg Hot Lips and Empty Arms), etc.

Both masculine and feminine sides of Frank are comprised of negative character traits, while Hawkeye embodies the best of both - emotional expression and healthy ways of coping by talking about his feelings; bravery but not machismo; intelligence and skill as a doctor rather than an officer; empathy and a willingness to listen; sexual prowess but largely through his love of foreplay rather than his dick game (which, in the context of the early 70s, is a somewhat feminine attribute that distinguishes him from a typical traditionally masculine man); etc.

Hawkeye demonstrates some of the most appealing and healthy qualities of both masculinity and femininity while Frank demonstrates, or strives to demonstrate, the more toxic qualities of both. Through including a few positive masculine traits in the mix, the narrative is able to depict Hawkeye as likeable, admirable, and desirable in his effeminacy while Frank is depicted as loathesome in his. Hawkeye gets one of many, many women in The Sniper by showing vulnerability, while Frank only appeals to Margaret, and Margaret is portrayed as borderline pathological in her sexual attraction to violent masculinity (the scene where Frank excites her with his gun, for example, also includes an electra complex joke, and there's a running rape kink gag in this episode as well).

Another aspect to consider when it comes to differentiating Hawkeye and Frank's respective femininities is hypocrisy. Similar to how Frank and Margaret's affair is mocked because they can't admit to it while Hawkeye and Trapper's affairs are glorified, part of what makes Frank's effeminacy so mock-worthy, while Hawkeye's feminine qualities are a source of pride and rebellion, is that Frank refuses to admit to them.

Frank desperately wants to be the ideal heroic army man and often play-acts the part, poorly. When Hawkeye mocks him by calling him a woman, for example, he's drawing attention to Frank's failure to live up to his own ideals. And when Hawkeye calls himself a woman, he's mocking those same ideals. The message is that Frank is pathetic not so much for failing to be traditionally masculine, but for wanting to be traditionally masculine at all.

Ultimately the ways Hawkeye and Frank perform masculinity and femininity are pointedly in opposition, from which masc and fem traits they embody, to how proudly they embody them. The show itself draws attention to these gendered similarities and differences between Frank and Hawkeye through a constant barrage of jokes, and even whole scenes and episodes. In this way the show portrays Frank as a hypocritical loser who wants to be masculine but fails to embody all but the worst traits, and Hawkeye as a cool, admirable guy who disdains the traditional pillars of masculinity and embraces his own effeminacy.

[kithj]

i've been playing veilguard lately and i have to say the dialogue in this game is some of the most frustrating i think i've ever seen in a choice RPG like this. Rook is locked as a friendlier character, which isn't a problem, but this lock out has resulted in a lot of the dialogue lacking in variation.

i chose the "Block it out" option here only for my Rook to say "Block it out. You're safe" but "You're safe" was already its own separate option-- this isn't how you write dialogue choices. again, i don't have an issue with Rook being friendly, but you shouldn't railroad players into certain dialogue.

if they wanted "You're safe" to be the common/reconvening dialogue, then it shouldn't have been made a choice at all. the wheel could have been something like this:

nice: "I'm right here with you."

aggressive: "Block it out."

panicked/confused: "Shit. Talk to me. Please."

-> all reconvene at "You're safe."

and this is a repeated problem. i've favored the aggressive options this entire time (which aren't really aggressive to begin with) but Rook will almost always still wind up saying the nice option instead. another example is early on:

again i chose the more aggressive "Maybe you should have" choice only for Rook to say something along the lines of "Maybe you should have [...] But we have to support each other now." (it's been a minute since i played this part so it may not be exactly word for word but i remember even then at the start of the game being annoyed that she still worked her way back around to saying option 1)

it's not that Rook is friendly, it's that she's literally saying dialogue options that i did not pick. it's fine for there to be a common dialogue repeated across choices/flavor texts, but not when it's the literal choice text itself. it feels like i'm being railroaded with every dialogue.

[pendraegon]

thesis updates: sent the draft to my advisor -> she said it was "incoherent" and that she was "shocked" at my work and instead of telling me anything in detail as to what's wrong directs me to the writing center then proceeds to cc my committee members saying that she's at a loss with what to do with me -> was confused because... did i send her the wrong draft?? it seemed pretty solid to me?? like i was genuinely proud of it??? -> next day she sends me another email saying that actually my draft isn't bad at all and it just needs some reworking ???????

[nattikay]

How to use tìftang (the apostrophe thing) when naming your Na'vi OC

The most important thing to note here is that tìftang is not decorative!! It’s not just there to make words/names look cool! It’s a consonant and represents an actual sound (specifically a “glottal stop”, aka that little catch in the back of your throat when you say “uh-oh”). Adding tìftang to your OC’s name will affect the pronunciation of said name.

When using tìftang in your OC’s name, you want to make sure it’s next to at least one vowel (a, ä, i, ì, e, u, o) or diphthong (ay, aw, ey, ew).

✅ Ka'ul ✅ Ka'nul ✅ Kat'ul

It CANNOT go between two consonants—this is a VERY common mistake!!

🚫 Kat'nul This is not pronounceable! It’s like having a character whose name is meant to be pronounced “Bob” or “Jimmy” but for some reason spelling it “Bokb” or “Jimtmy”.

The reason for this is Na'vi syllable structure. Tìftang can start or end a syllable, but it cannot go in the middle of a syllable, because it cannot cluster with other consonants.

For practical examples of what that means, let’s look back at the previous examples:

Ka'ul can break down into either [ka'][ul] or [ka]['ul], so tìftang is either ends the first syllable, or begins second syllable.

Ka'nul breaks down into [ka'][nul]; tìftang ends the first syllable.

Kat'ul breaks down into [kat]['ul]; tìftang begins the second syllable.

So what about Kat'nul? There are a few ways to break it down, and none of them work. [kat'][nul] and [kat]['nul] are both invalid because, while the tìftang is at the end/beginning of the syllable like in the other examples, it’s clustering with t or n. Remember that tìftang cannot cluster with other consonants!

The other way to break it down—and probably the way most people unfamiliar with Na'vi would be thinking—would be [kat]'[nul], with the intended pronounced syllables just being “kat” and “nul” with the tìftang thrown in to look cool and alien. This doesn’t work because again, tìftang is not decorative! It is a letter with a sound (one that’s not even really physically possible to pronounce properly between a t and n even without the syllable rules), not a punctuation! Kat'nul-pronounced-Katnul the Na'vi is just Jimtmy-pronounced-Jimmy the human. Just spell it Katnul!

Speaking of clustering, here’s another mistake I see sometimes (though a little less commonly):

🚫 K'atnul

This is also not pronounceable, because while yes the tìftang is next to a vowel, within its syllable it’s clustering with k. Remember that tìftang can only begin or end a syllable; it can’t go in the middle of one like [k'at]!!

Now, here’s a quick thing to be aware of. Remember earlier on I mentioned that tìftang must go next to a vowel or diphthong? Let’s talk about diphthongs real quick:

A diphthong is what you get when two vowels merge into a single sound. Na'vi has four of them. They are written ay (a+i), aw (a+u), ey (e+i), and ew (e+u). That said, you could have a names like these:

✅ Kaw'nul ✅ Key'nul

…but not like these:

🚫 Kow'nul 🚫 Kuy'nul

Why does the first set work but not the second? Because in the first set, the w and y are not standalone consonants, but rather part of the aw and ey diphthongs. In the second set, however, ow and uy are not diphthongs, so the w and y are regular consonants, which means Kow'nul and Kuy'nul don’t work for the same reason as Kat'nul: tìftang cannot go between two consonants. (changing the spellings to Kou'nul and Kui'nul would work, however!)

tl;dr - to assess whether you are using tìftang correctly in your OC name, ask yourself three questions:

1.) Is it next to at least one vowel (a, ä, i, ì, e, u, o) or diphthong (ay, aw, ey, ew)? ✅ Ka'ul ✅ Ka'nul ✅ Kat'ul ✅ Kaw'nul 🚫 Kat'nul 🚫 Kow'nul

2.) Does it begin/end its syllable? ✅ [ka'][nul] ✅ [kat]['ul] 🚫 [k'a][nul]

3.) Is it clustering with other consonants? 🚫 [kat'][nul] 🚫 [k'at][nul]

If your answers are yes, yes, and no, in that order, then congrats!! You have used tìftang correctly!

If your answer is no to the first two or yes to the third, you can fix it one of three ways:

Move the tìftang to a valid position: 🚫 K'anul -> ✅ Ka'nul

Remove the tìftang completely: 🚫 Kat'nul -> ✅ Katnul

Add a vowel: 🚫 Kat'nul -> ✅ Kate'nul, ✅ Kat'enul 🚫 K'atnul -> ✅ Kì'atnul 🚫 Kow'nul -> ✅ Kowa'nul

Now go forth and tìftang responsibly! :D

[cryptid-jamie]

Mystery twins Headcannons

Mabel pines

Bisexual (obviously)

Realized at a young age (like 13-14) she liked girls and was very open and confident in it

Falls in love easily (sapphic girly fr)

Dated a lot throughout middle and high school and would immediately claim they they were the one (the longest one was two months lol)

Loves going to parties and always goes all out in the outfits (Goes to every and all pride events she can)

ADHD and autistic (all the pines are autistic but ya’know)

ADHD causes her to hyperfixate on her arts and crafts projects and can cause her to pull all nighters and forget to eat or drink

Has trouble focusing on things that don’t directly retain her interest (as seen in the show lol)

Very talkative

Stimming types

Arm/hands flapping

Pacing/running in circles/Spinning/ rolling around on the ground

Hair chewing

Vocal stims

Frequently changes her aesthetic all thought high school like every week

Makes her own clothes

Impulsively changes her hair (shaved it half off once because she saw some on TikTok with a half half shaved off with it dyed and thought it looked cool)

FaceTimes Grenada and Candi back in GF every night

After graduation she gets accepted into art school in Oregon

Travels down to gravity falls on holiday breaks and most weekends

Sells clothes online for extra cash (college is expensive lol)

Dipper pines

Trans masc

New he was a boy from a very young age but socially transitioned right before leaving for Gravity falls (like on the bus there lol)

Thinks Grunckle Stan doesn’t know but he was there when Dipper and Mabel where born (cannon I think) so he knows but is waiting for dipper to tell him before he brings it up

Has only officially came out to Mabel (as off the start of the summer;comes out to Stan at the end of summer before leaving where Stan reveals that he always known lol )

Autistic (duh)

His autism presents through lack of proper social skills, special interests, and stimming

Stimming types

Chewing (rip his pens lol)

Pacing

Repeating words/phrases

Special interests

Mysteries/Conspiracies

Cryptids/monster

Wears pretty much the same outfit every day lol (flannels too bro thinks he’s Alex hirsh)

Is into the unexplainable for the same reason as ford

He feels like an outcast so we relates a lot to Cryptids because who’s more of an outcast then the moth man

Develops a proper friend group (like two to three other people ) in high school they’re also nerds lol

Started dating Pacifica northwest one summer but his friends don’t believe him

“Like yeah dude you’re dating Pacifica Northwest the richest girl from a small town in the middle of nowhere yeah and you also got chased by an army of gnomes that was trying to marry your sister, sure dude.”

One day she shows up and everyone is shocked lol

Runs a ghost hunting YouTube channel and all his videos are real but everyone thinks it’s fake cause it’s to much evidence

After graduation he moved down the gravity falls full time and takes Ford’s apprenticeship

Take night college classes in film for that ghost hunting show he mentions in that one episode

[kickbutts-singsongs]

Is this anything?

[hdusa]

are the songs on your playlist mostly for specific seasons/eras/moments or are they mostly more general songs for the overall character? what are your favorites and why?

in the spirit of recent events these are the songs I put on after every stream to really feel everything that happens

[scalpelsister]

also this isnt really proper shade at larian or anything and the writing of this game is SAURE good so dont take it this way but.

i sure do wish. Minthara was not villain batted as hard as she was. Her being locked to "evil" runs and being mutually exclusive with several party members. Her being nothing more than a miniboss for your average player- who does not even know shes a potential party member! Her being so chronically unloved by the community because... shes the "evil" companion. Hell, even the amount of people saying frankly really edgy shit about killing her or hurting her completely unprompted lmao. Like I genuinely think shes been pretty unfairly demonized both by the community and by the meta of just like... the game itself because she's really actually..... kind of, dare I say, sweet? if you get to know her. ugh.

[akkivee]

it’s the way sasara and rosho’s solos express themes of moving forward, but rei’s is him stuck in his past 😭😭😭

[littlespoonevan]

it's really interesting rewatching season 2, particularly in light of s7 and how obvious tim made it that he regretted killing off shannon, because they don't really do much with eddie and shannon's storyline when she's alive. other than the ep where she comes back, the christmas ep and the ep where she dies we don't see a lot. and while they absolutely have chemistry and there's potential there for an interesting story with shannon wanting a divorce, it's not all that different from the way they phone it in with other love interests eddie has had.

and it's just cemented even more to me that what really makes eddie and shannon interesting is what we get in eddie begins. bc their scenes in eddie begins are so fucking meaty. their arguments, the tension, the clear way in which they know each other despite there being a massive disconnect/breakdown in communication - all of that is what makes my brain whir because there are So Many layers and there's so much to unpack and even though it's eddie's ep, the insight we get into shannon and her perspective is fascinating.

and now i'm wondering if that's when tim realised it too??? if he saw just how good their scenes could be when given the depth their conflict needed and realised he might've been too trigger happy??? bc like, they Do have some interesting scenes in s2 that 100% hint at their issues and cement the how much history they have together but their eddie begins scenes are honestly unparalleled. and none of this is to say they could've or should've stayed together had shannon lived but they'd already set up a very interesting dynamic with the 2x17 divorce conversation that could've played out over at least a season if they wanted it to (while also leaving the door open to have shannon leave or have them reconcile down the line depending on how things go)

[jelixpo]

When does boo refer to Luigi as 'our' sweet luigi is there a possibility that Luigi and boo have a hidden past that only they know about?

nothing more hidden than what's already present in the Luigi's Mansion games

[quietwingsinthesky]

oh, yeah, another thing i noticed that was odd about s5 in comparison to earlier seasons was how much they relied on like. not the history of the doctor, exactly, but the image of that history. whether from little easter eggs of the first doctor’s picture popping up everywhere to i think the two(?) times in the season we get a montage of past doctors. and i honestly can’t remember anything like that happening earlier (with the exception of the time crash short, which felt more substantial to me and was also like. 7 straight minutes of david tennant being allowed to fangirl.)

and i say ‘the image’ because hell knows the RTD era was pulling from doctor who past left, right, and center, but it rarely felt like a moment of ‘look at this old thing, you remember old thing? old thing was cool and so are we for continuing it.’ and more like ‘here’s a species/character/etc from classic who. and here’s how they’ve changed and fit into the new world we’ve built for the show.’

I guess, the difference here for me is that. i haven’t watched classic who. s5 shows me a slideshow of doctors and to me, those are the guys i once ranked by how sexy i think they are. and not much else. i don’t have an emotional connection to an image. but take, say, school reunion? an episode that was my favorite even back when i was a kid specifically because i adored sarah jane? i had no idea who she was then, i only just figured out a little bit ago which doctor she traveled with, and exclusively all i’ve watched of her is that episode in s2 and the sarah jane adventures. and yet, that episode, without the context there for me, managed to make sense to me. i’m sure it was probably even more impactful to fans of sarah jane from classic who, but it didn’t lose its impact without that knowledge.

so, that’s a shift. i don’t want to say it’s a negative one, exactly, because maybe people who have seen classic who like these references and i’m missing something. but, to me, it feels a little more shallow.

[vegaseatsass]

Just finished Beyond Evil. I can say with conviction that this drama contained the absolute most craziest intricate rituals to touch another man's skin that I've ever seen. Like normally I'm not that into AUs but I would read a million Beyond Evil AUs just to see authors try to capture whatever the fuck was going on between LDS and HJW in new settings.

"You PROMISED you would replace our coffee grinder that burns people but gets the job done with a fancy latte maker! You betrayed the customers, you betrayed me, I thought I meant something to you, I thought we HAD SOMETHING."

A year later, after defeating the evil corporate coffee conglomerate headed up by Han Ki-Hwan "You're - you're installing a fancy latte maker? Now? When I thought we could celebrate-grieve together? But WHY? WHY DO WE NEED A LATTE MAKER?? The customers are fine with the coffee grinder that burns them!! As long as you stay here in this coffee shop with it!! As long as this thing between us doesn't have to end...."

[creaturefeaster]

Hey man!….I hope this is not a personal or invasive question, but do you use a study method to keep knowledge in your mind?...

even if there is some topic that doesn't interest you?...

thank you…

Not invasive at all! I've never been asked something like this, and I'm honored to be asked to elaborate.

These levels of approach might not work for everyone... but I'll do my best to explain some methods that work for me. Also I get really wordy here so I hope you're ready for a read ^^;.

One thing I like to do to try and retain learned knowledge is to approach it from an angle that suits me best. That can mean attempting to absorb the knowledge through something that I know I work well with-- I love documentaries, and dry explanatory video essays on youtube as well. That's what works for me, even when it comes to subjects that normally don't interest me.

Finding the right voice, especially ones with a level of passion and ability to explain the more confusing parts of topics that tend to gatekeep me from truly understanding what I'm hearing, finding something like that always a must for me.

Another thing I sometimes do is view the topic through a lense that pertains to my interests. Every topic, every subject out there, will always intertwine with another topic or subject. Nothing is absolute. It is very likely whatever topic is boring or hard to keep a grasp on for you, will be in some way connected to something else that you are able to focus on, something you already have an interest in.

I never cared about geology in the past, or the composition of rocks and minerals. It was not my thing. Still sorta isn't, but I know that in some ways, it is relative to my favorite interests: biology & chemistry. Looking at geology through the lense of biology has allowed me to understand and remember things that I simply could not get myself to beforehand. And once you have the basic understandings of something, whether or not it is something that interests you... it becomes a lot easier to learn more about it, and retain it as well.

☆Did you know that almost half of limestone is composed of CO2, and the other half calcium, combined into calcium carbonate. This material is often derived from shells of marine life like mollusks. These creatures make their shells from the elements in their environment, taking in calcium and CO2 to make this calcite, which is eventually discarded, eroded, and pressurized into the solid rock we know as limestone. That's why it's often chalky or comprised of odd speckles or shapes-- or even just visible fossils and shell fragments. Those are shells, made by animals by processing elements that had NO clue they were gonna become a rock one day!

That all being said, few people in the world are fine tuned to remember everything. Keeping notes is the easiest thing to suggest, if you know what information you need to keep in mind you can write it down for later. The most famous of people in regards to their awarded subjects are remembered because of their documentation of the topic. That's just notes but written more eloquently.

But also... I get it, notes do not work for everyone. So sometimes you have to take it a step further. If you're seriously wanting to commit to being able to remember things on a subject, whether or not it's of interest, another good way is to become as hands-on with the subject as you can get. Learning (and interest) emerges through experience. Depending on who you are it can be very hard to learn through words alone. Becoming involved in what you're learning is key.

I don't necessarily mean this in the literal sense-- one cannot be hands-on with the subject of history, for example. It is in the past, and all you can do is read about it if you want to learn about it directly. But! For example: Becoming involved in movements that concern you, and community acts that work towards a change in the world is current history... And in it, in being a part of history, you will have a new perspective towards everything that has always driven history. It's likely you will encounter things you have never considered, or never had put into perspective before, and this alone can contribute a lot to better understanding-- and remembering!-- the subject of history.

Repetition is also an important tool for remembering. You know how almost anybody past grade 4 can finish the phrase "The mitochondria is..." ...the powerhouse of the cell? Because they drill it into your head. I personally have the best time with this method. So a lot of the time I will watch/listen to the same documentaries over and over again, or read the same scientific papers many times, typically in tandem with doing something that I like (music, games, walking). Over time this knowledge that I am absorbing will become something I can recite before it's even elaborated upon, because I've seen it over and over again, and it's positive memory reinforcement because I'm also making the experience more enjoyable at the same time.

I have never cared about learning quantum mechanics either, but one time someone asked me about it and I didn't know the answer (and I hate not knowing the answer to something!!!!), and I went on a several week long binge of every audiobook relating to quantum physics, triple times over, while out taking care of my chickens and geese. And I guess now I understand how the movement of every waveform of every particle of every atom in the universe affects every other atom in the universe, and--

☆--hey, did you KNOW that these waveforms are the same things that determine the seemingly 'random' nature of radioactivity and breakdown of atoms and particles, the breakdown of which can lead to fleeting particles, their trajectory in which is also determined by these waveforms, and given the right trajectory and placement in the universe, can trigger a chance fluke in an atom of a protein just by bumping into another particle in the right way, which will then denature said protein, and if said denatured protein is integral to a cell of a living being, depending on it's placement and importance, can then in turn generate a cancer. I still don't have a heavy interest in the theory of quantum mechanics, but I do know it has a deep woven role in biology and the existence of life. And I try my hardest to incorperate that knowledge into the things I write and create-- my favorite kind of note-taking.

To sum that all up... Finding interest in relativity, recording the knowledge you intend to gain, repetition, trial and error, and engaging as directly with the subject as you can... those are the methods of study that help me best. I hope this helps you out a little.