#human artists will always prevail.

[nichekiddo]

Don't forget to use Nightshade & Glaze to protect and poison your art work!

vvvv

https://nightshade.cs.uchicago.edu

Some positivity in these turbulent AI times

*This does not minimize the crisis at hand, but is aimed at easing any anxieties.

With every social media selling our data to AI companies now, there is very little way to avoid being scraped. The sad thing is many of us still NEED social media to advertise ourselves and get seen by clients. I can't help but feeling that we as artists are not at risk of losing our livelihoods, here is why:

Just because your data is available does not mean that AI companies will/want to use it. Your work may never end up being scraped at all.

The possibility of someone who uses AI art prompts can replace you (if your work is scraped) is very unlikely. Art Directors and clients HAVE to work with people, the person using AI art cannot back up what a machine made. Their final product for a client will never be substantial since AI prompts cannot be consistent with use and edits requested will be impossible.

AI creators will NEVER be able to make a move unless us artists make a move first. They will always be behind in the industry.

AI creators lack the fundamental skills of art and therefore cannot detect when something looks off in a composition. Many professional artists like me get hired repeatedly for a reason! WE as artists know what we're doing.

The art community is close-knit and can fund itself. Look at furry commissions, Patreon, art conventions, Hollywood. Real art will always be able to make money and find an audience because it's how we communicate as a species.

AI creators lack the passion and ambition to make a career out of AI prompts. Not that they couldn't start drawing at any time, but these tend to be the people who don't enjoy creating art to begin with.

There is no story or personal experience that can be shared about AI prompts so paying customers will lose interest quickly.

Art is needed to help advance society along, history says so. To do that, companies will need to hire artists (music, architecture, photography, design, etc). The best way for us artists to keep fighting for our voice to be heard right now is staying visible. Do not hide or give in! That is what they want. Continue posting online and/or in person and sharing your art with the world. It takes a community and we need you!

[shadowxamyweek]

Art piece is by @lambpaca! Happy Leap Year to all you Lovers

Oh I love this. Friend, again, thank you, thank you, thank you

So there's a silly little tradition that was/is still practiced in several different countries. The tradition was, on the 29th of February, women could propose to men. It is still practiced today, more in jest than anything else, but in my own sphere, I have seen the Leap Year Day become a time when 'unconventional' couples of all stripes get together, both cis and queer.

I always liked this unofficial tradition. My partner and I actually made our plans to get married last Leap Year, in 2020, over text during lockdown. Sitting here, now married to my best friend, I still have a copy of this original print on my phone to remind me of the joy in that moment, as this picture was the thing that started that conversation.

So it's got a lot of sentimentality for me

---

The above was drafted before news broke that Tumblr would be partnering with Midjourney and Open Ai. As such, this beautiful art is now protected by the brilliant people of Chicago University and their relentless work to combat scrapping with Glaze and Nightshade.

There is a certain poetics, to me at least, posting this work now. The whole concept of Leap Year engagements was to go against the norm, pushing back against expectations and current reality as we strive for something better. The reason the tradition is no longer mainstream is because many of us have reached a point in our existence where we do not have to wait to be free.

Many, but nowhere near all. The fight is not yet done. As such, we will continue on until it is, in fact, all of us.

This goes for all aspects of personhood, but now, in this specific case, it also means joy in the freedom of art and artistic expression directly in spite of the companies that would seek to try to steal that from us and profit off of its corpse.

In short, fuck the concept that what is happening is normal. Fuck the concept that we are powerless to change it. Love is Love. People are People. Art is Art. Joy cannot be minted in artificial hands, be it those of societal dictation or designed machine. No matter what happens, the human spirit will prevail, and we will break any shit that stands in our way of achieving happiness.

Thank you again, @lambpaca - This means more than words can say.

[fair-art]

We started this blog to find and support a human artist in the face of AI taking over the Dragon Age art tag some months ago. Through community effort, we managed to fund a commission of a stained-glass Blackwall portrait from a human artist, and also hopefully inspired others to create authentic human art in this style!

In a fandom brimming over with talented human beings, it was a tough choice settling on just one person that would reclaim the artwork concept from AI, but at last, our artist reported back to us with finished work! We are very excited to see it come to fruition! Be sure to support this gorgeous piece, and others like it, as an affirmation that passion and enthusiasm for genuine human creativity will always prevail.

The artist has also provided a high-res image, so if you are one of the lovely people who backed the Ko-Fi goal, expect Mod Judith to reach out to you, once her irl obligations allow, and arrange for a postcard with the artwork to be sent to you, as a permanent reminder that you contributed to supporting human-made art.

Thank you for taking with journey with us!

Mod Zefirka (and Mod Judith!)

[tlcartist]

I cannot stress enough how much I appreciate JJBA's willingness to explore morally grey characters, especially as the series progresses. At the end of the day, this facet of a character is what keeps me engaged, because you have an (often) deeply flawed person doing their best to achieve their goals, protect the people they care about, and to survive. I genuinely don't think it'd have the same effect if this series was full of Perfect Heroes.

JoJo protagonists (with the exception of Jonathan but I'll discuss that in another post), are messy. Yes they're strong and brave and have a sense of justice but they're also rude, con artists, manipulative, and hurt/kill people as they see fit. And honestly? I love it. I wouldn't have them any other way. It humanizes them. It transforms characters who essentially have superhuman or even godlike abilities and makes them relatable. They struggle with guilt, regret, shame, and anger just like anyone else. They have damaging coping mechanisms. They sometimes take their frustrations out on people who don't deserve it. They're fucked up just like a regular person.

The whole point of this is creating a world where there are no true Good Guys. Everyone's hands are dirty. AND YET, in spite of all of this they still have good hearts. This series could have very easily taken a turn in the other direction and gone the nihilistic route but it doesn't. JoJo could have become a series full of nothing but characters who are only motivated for selfish reasons but it isn't. Not to be cliche, but, at it it's core JoJo is a series about love and friendship and protecting it at any cost. It understands that the connections we have with each other are stronger than any stand. That no matter how fucked up a protagonist or supporting character is they still have the potential to do good. This is a story where, at the end of the day, love will always prevail and I think that's pretty damn wonderful.

[deadindeathvalley]

What if this societal AI art nightmare actually ushers forward a new wave of impressionism?

Think about it. One of the reasons impressionism was such a thing at the turn of the 20th century was because artists were tired of the neoclassical hyper-realistic painting style that had become normy and elitist and wanted to verge into the realm of expression.

Now I wonder if we'll start to see more REAL painters (not "ai" artists) embracing styles and methods that are difficult for ai to replicate. Think large scale murals or niche non popularized painting styles. We could see a surge in people returning to art galleries where they know the art they're looking at was done by a person.

We the people aren't going to be able to "stop" the progression of AI, but we can turn our backs on it. We can reject it as an artform and lift up each other. Let the corporate overlords have their ai generated logos. Let rich techies waste their money on stolen art. We don't need them.

Embrace traditional media. Print your digital art, use Nightshade when uploading photos. GO to art galleries. Support mural artists and sculptures.

As an artist I've been lost in the fear and doom and gloom the concept of ai art has been holding over me. But the thing is, real art has always been about human expression. It's in our DNA. It will prevail. It always has and always will .

[tobiasdrake]

Examining MK1 Characters: Earthrealm

Alright, I want to take a moment and go character-by-character to share opinions on the new versions of Mortal Kombat characters in Liu Kang's new timeline.

Let's start with the giant fucking sausage fest that is the Earthrealmers. I don't know what possessed Netherrealm to restrict "being female" to a trait solely possessed by aliens. IDK. But Kang's like, "Time to collect my warriors, no women allowed. Earthrealm is a Boys' Club now, and that is final!"

Maybe he's super creeped out that Johnny reproduced in the last timeline and is determined to stop that shit from ever happening again. Joke's on him 'cause Johnny still finds love anyway.

Liu Kang/Raiden

I'm putting these two together because they square danced into each other's spots so they compare more to each other than to themselves.

How does Kang compare to Raiden? Honestly, I loved him. As Protector God, Kang has a lot more personality than Raiden ever did. Raiden's always gone for this emotionless almighty deity approach, while Kang's performance shows a lot more of the humanity we know he carries with him. He emotes more.

Any time Raiden would speak with his champions, you could feel the godly distance between him and them. He wants them to prevail, but he is a being who is far detached from them and it carries in his lofty performance. But when Liu Kang speaks to his champions, you can feel his compassion. How much he genuinely cares. There's a likable softness to him that Raiden's never had. He meets people at their level because he remembers what it feels like to be there.

He is their god. But he engages with them as if he were a friend. Even when he reveals that he is the Creator God of the universe itself, he rejects any deference. I love that about him. Liu Kang is Best God.

Raiden/Liu Kang

For his part, Raiden is... He's almost an afterthought. I was worried he would overtake the story; That the writers would push too hard trying to make him the "new" Liu Kang. Rather than let anyone else shine, they'd swap Raiden and Kang's roles completely.

Instead, the opposite happened? Raiden is barely even in this story. He becomes Earthrealm's Champion and gets to show off his fighting skills to Sindel. Then he's dropped from the story almost entirely. He's a nice guy who punches well. He was not as good at punching as Kung Lao is, until one day, he was better. That's it. That's his entire plot.

Johnny Cage

Johnny's a hard character for writers to nail down. He's a self-important jackass and a great hero. Comically full of himself and a highly formidable martial artist who can hang with the best of 'em. His portrayals often struggle to capture that balance, veering too far towards either "Useless Clown" or "Totally reformed and genuinely virtuous".

MK1 struck that balance well. We get endless reminders of how Hollywood shallow Johnny is, without making a complete joke out of him. He's genuinely invested in being here and his character ending even reframes the whole "Johnny makes movies about his adventures" thing into a form of PR.

Kang wants to reveal the truth to the world, and the medium for that is Johnny's films. That's clever. I like it.

Johnny even gets to have a character arc. It's... not great? Like, his bromance with Kenshi is strong. But he opens his story with his wife leaving him because he's let his celebrity go to his head and burned all his wealth on trinkets and doo-dads. But then the trinkets and doo-dads wind up being his ticket into becoming a true hero, so actually it's good that he's Nicolas Cage-ing it up as hard as he can?

That sort of setup is usually supposed to inform us about a fatal flaw that the character must overcome. But instead, Johnny's rewarded for it. There's even a scene where he gets to use one of his money-sink toys to help the plot, while bragging about how wrong his nagging ex was. So I guess the central message around his ex-wife is just, "Man, bitches, amirite? Always trying to hold you back."

Meanwhile, the payoff to his arc is that Johnny returns Sento to Kenshi. But there's no indicator of character growth or development. The only thing that's changed between them since yesterday is that Kenshi had his eyes gouged out; That makes this come off like a gesture of pity rather than growth.

"Man, I would be a real heel to keep holding on to your sacred family treasure after you got disabled like that."

The intent is clear; This is meant to demonstrate the strength of their growing friendship. It feels like Johnny's still hanging onto Sento more to playfully tease Kenshi than because he genuinely feels entitled to it. But we don't get to see that growth. They trained together offscreen and now they're bros.

Speaking of which,

Kenshi

Kenshi gets a lot of focus and expansion in MK1. Prior to this, he was always "Wandering swordsman does swords real good in the name of Earthrealm". MK1 expands his character, delving deep into his clan's history and establishing grounded ties to the physical world. They do a great job of making Kenshi feel like a fleshed out character.

What they don't do well is making him into Kenshi. Adaptations/reboots/etc. sometimes come off janky when it comes to explaining how the character became the thing that's iconic about them. Sometimes it can feel like the Chains of Iconicity simply wrapped around them and dragged them inorganically into resembling their counterparts.

(This happens a lot to Jax, who has to have his arms ripped off in every portrayal somehow to justify his robot arms, even though the original had them installed apropos of nothing. He felt cool robot arms would make him stronger, so he got 'em.)

MK1 Kenshi is 100% a Chains of Iconicity character. He needs to get blinded somehow, so Mileena jams a pair of sais all the way through his eyes and somehow fails to puncture his brain. Then he needs to get Sento, so Johnny spontaneously hands 'er over without a fuss. Then he needs to gain spirit telekinesis, so Sento suddenly goes, "Hey, I'm a ghost sword and you have spirit telekinesis now." Even Kenshi's confused by how abrupt and un-foreshadowed that is.

It would feel like a random bullshit twist yanked straight out of the writer's ass if we, the audience, didn't already know it was a thing and expect it from a Kenshi-shaped character. He spends most of his journey as an interesting and organic character but then he suddenly gets kidnapped and pounded into a Kenshi mold.

Kung Lao

Kung Lao is the most consistent of the Earthrealmers. Which is to say, he's fine. All the Kung Lao stuff is there. He longs for greatness. He's devoted to protecting Earthrealm. He's part of the team. Raiden goes from nobody to champion and also Kung Lao is there. Johnny and Kenshi embark on this big mission and also Kung Lao is there.

He rarely stands out but he's certainly one of the boys. This feels like neither a step up nor a step down from past portrayals, where he was the other Shaolin guy standing next to Liu Kang while Kang was doing plot stuff. Kung Lao rarely gets to be distinctive or interesting. It's his curse to always dwell in the shadow of characters with more narrative focus.

Scorpion

Why is he Scorpion? Unclear. They go hard on making their Scorpion into a composite character of Kuai Liang and Hanzo Hasashi, even to the point of having him found the Shirai Ryu and marry Harumi. (And boy does that first Invasion want you to know this is what happened.)

It never stops feeling weird to see Scorpion running around as Sub-Zero's Lil' Bro. Even when they inevitably schism, Scorpion being outraged because Sub-Zero is a disgrace to the Lin Kuei remains utterly surreal from beginning to end.

Scorpion never feels like Scorpion; He always feels like Sub-Zero (the one we know) doing a cosplay.

As for the schism itself, this worked for me. Kuai Liang having to flee the Lin Kuei because their Grandmaster is a douche is one of those Iconic Things that has to occur, but having that schism with a living Bi-Han is unique and interesting. More on that in....

Sub-Zero

Bi-Han is the original Sub-Zero, but his Chains of Iconicity thing is Noob Saibot. Bi-Han typically exists to die immediately so he can come back as Saibot. This is the first time since the obscure platformer MK Mythologies: Sub-Zero that Bi-Han's been allowed to be an active player in events unfolding.

He more or less slots into the role of the unnamed Lin Kuei Grandmaster responsible for the cybernetic program that gives us Sektor and Cyrax. A supremely sinister figure involved in a major intra-factional conflict that previously occurred entirely offscreen. At once the wicked mastermind of a major development in the story and such an irrelevant footnote of a character that he never even warranted a name.

Kicking that role over to Bi-Han for the reboot is a strong choice. It puts an actual character into the lead position of this development and promises interesting things for the future. They took a character with no story to speak of and a story with no character to speak of, and fit them together like jigsaw pieces. Well played.

Smoke

Also Smoke is nearby.

Smoke is the Kung Lao of the Lin Kuei. Kuai Liang and Bi-Han have their drama, and also Smoke is nearby. In fact, he's so nearby that he gets punted from the story for the sake of the emotional Sub-Zero Bros having their showdown together, then jogs up to Liang afterwards like, "Yo, what'd I miss?"

It's hilarious how little the game cares about Smoke. If this is how you're going to handle him, why is he even here? XD

Sadly, this is not much of a change from previous portrayals. Smoke has always been "And Smoke". He's been Sub-Zero and Smoke, he's been Noob Saibot and Smoke, but much like And Kung Lao, "And Smoke" is the story of his life.

[bts-trans]

[KOR/ENG LYRICS]  on the street by j-hope (With J. Cole)

Every time I walk

Every time I run

Every time I move

As always, for us

Every time I look

Every time I love

Every time I hope

As always, for us

(On the street, I’m still)

내 두 발은 선뜻 걸어, anywhere My feet walk willingly, anywhere

J in the air

가는 길이 희망이 되고자 하여, Hoping the path I walk leads to hope,

나 구태여 I’m always at it

Even my walk was made of

your love and your faith

보답을 해, 저 멀리서라도 나비가 되어 I repay it, even if it’s from afar, just like a butterfly

Now just walk lightly,

whenever you want

Go on hopefully, wherever you walk

누군가의 숨이 깃들어 있는 거리 In this street, where someone’s breath dwells

내 영혼과 영원을 담을게 I store my soul and my eternity

Everywhere (I’ll be)

Every time I walk

Every time I run

Every time I move

As always, for us

Every time I look

Every time I love

Every time I hope

As always, for us

(On the street, I’m still)

All hail the mighty survivor of hell,

Plopped down from heaven to sell

Holy water that I scooped from the well

Fought tooth and a nail,

Just to prevail ‘mongst the ruthless

As I move through the field

Feelin’ worried

In a hurry like a 2 minute drill

To make a couple mil

Off a lucrative deal

Selling train of thought,

Name a artist who could derail

You’ll never see it

like a n**** hula hoopin’ in jail

I got a friend smart as f***,

but he stupid as hell

He swear that God ain’t real

Since it ain’t no way to prove it his self

As if the universe ain’t enough,

As if the volcanoes ain’t erupt

As if the birds don’t chirp,

As if a trillion nerves don’t work

in the human body

S***, who would I be?

Without the creator of this theater

Beside me to gently guide me?

Somedays I wonder

if I need to pick a different hobby

I’m deep in with this rappin’

It’s all a n**** know

I never did nothin’ better,

it’s hard to let it go

But like a father,

watching his daughter,

walk down the altar,

With tears in his eyes,

you gotta let her grow

And so I shall,

but first I been honing my style

Coldest around,

with more quotables than

what the quota allows

You see a top 10 list

I see a Golden Corral, n****

As the moon jumps over the cow

I contemplate if I should

wait to hand over the crown

And stick around for a bit longer

I got a strange type of hunger

The more I eat the more

it gets stronger,

The more it gets stronger

I said the more it gets stronger

j-hope

Cole World

Every time I walk

Every time I run

Every time I move

As always, for us

Every time I look

Every time I love

Every time I hope

As always, for us

(On the street, I’m still)

Every time I walk

Every time I run

Every time I move

As always, for us

Every time I look

Every time I love

Every time I hope

As always, for us

(On the street, I’m still)

Trans cr; Aditi & Annie @ bts-trans  © TAKE OUT WITH FULL CREDITS  

[g-witchsulettaneedsahug]

Hello and welcome back to Simping For Prospera! We will once again be ⭐️controversial⭐️. In this post, we shall ask the following question:

Why would Prospera winning be so bad?

Taking a step back, its fascinating to see what kind of world the authors have written for this series. In what seems to be an almost post-capitalist hellscape, mega corporations have all the power over both its employees as well normal people in a way means it has powers thats only appropriate for an institution thats democratically elected by the normal people.

The Benerit Group has tremendous power, control and resources in space and opress the people of earth, using both economic and physical violence to crush those who oppose it. At its beck and call is the organisation Cathedra and it subdivision Dominicus, a para-military organisation. Once again, a corporation has the power and military might we, in this and age, normally only give to governments.

At its core, all organisations involved in the Benerit Group are military ones. Vying for subsidies and funding from governmental bodies and wealthy investors alike, using weapons programs to keep it all turning. Peil, Grassely, Jeturk, they all produce mobile suits and are the primary members of the group, which exists out of many corporations.

At the same time the Space Assembly League seems to have some sort of authority over the members, allowing them to freely investigate. Likely this is because they are an actual political organisation, perhaps actual representatives of both earth and space and not the corporations. Yet this faction and/or organisation, which may or may not be the only non-corporate controlled form of government there is in space and thus the only other faction with any "legitimate" power, work together with terrorists such as the Dawn of Fold in order to take down the Benerit Group which shows how much power the group really has.

All of this goes to show how spectacularly corrupt the whole society and every active participant inside of it is. Money is basically only invested if its in the interest of the powerful and whats in their interest is to primarily invest in the means and technology to utterly crush those who may threaten their power. Weapons, resources, property, means of travel, they all utterly dominate it. In other words, buisness men and women are at the top of it all. People who only care about and for money.

Then where are all the others? The artists, researchers, teachers, etc? Right under the tumb of the upper class of course. The rich are the ones who decide who gets funding, why they get funding, how they get funding and how much funding they receive. Medicine is beholden to the ones who can provide the funding for it.

The Vanadís Institute, where research was done on the GUND-format by Cardo Nabo and her staff, is one such faction that had to align themselves with more militaristic organisations in order to receive funding for their research. Instead of being able to focus purely on the improvement and freeing of humanity through the use of technology to make themselves more durable against the hardships of space, the institute had to work together with Ochs-Earth and bend to the whims of the military to even more powerful mobile suits then there already were, Gundams.

Instead of being a way to save lives and advance humanity, the GUND-format was seen as a way for Earthians to gain power and to get on even footing with the Spacians by developing weaponry that could fight rival or even surpass Spacian tech. Such is the world, violence almost always prevails.

And Spacian rule has not been kind, not to Earthians or lower class Spacians. Mercury is so inhospitable, raising a family there is considered borderline insanity (see, Cradle Planet and read between the lines). The risks are simply too great. In the show we can see that Mercury is basically considered some backwater, irrelevant place in the middle of nowhere, far away from the Earth sphere. The Space equivilant of the middle of nowhere, of a falling apart mining town almost.

Its not nearly as severe as what the Benerit Group does upon Earthians and Earthian aligned people however. Look no further then the massive amounts of indiscriminate murder committed against the researchers of Vanadís for daring to create mobile suits which might threaten Spacian rule or the violence which they turn upon the Earthians in order to keep them surpressed when they protest the injustices done upon them by the Spacian leeches, sucking the earth dry of its resources and siphoning its wealth. The violence caused by greed is truly incredible.

And then we have Prospera. Prospera, who is Elnora Samaya. Prospera, who was mentored and likely cared for by Cardo Nabo, lead researcher of Vanadís and ardent believer in the GUND-format. Prospera, who truly believes in the ideals of the Vanadís Insitute and what it wished to accomplish with GUND technology. Prospera, who lived on Folkenvanger which housed the institute, who was married to a manager of the project. Prospera, who was a tester and pilot herself. Prospera, who had her whole *life* inside of the institute: family, friends, collegues.

She felt safe there, she felt comfortable. She was amongst like-minded people, with people she trusted, trusted enough to raise her precious daughter there. To have a family.

And then they were all killed.

(almost) the whole institute was wiped out, from researchers to managers to technicians and other employees, including their families. In the grand scheme of things, its just an other event where many innocent lives are lost to the hands of Spacian and specifically corporate oppression and control.

That being said, looking at it from Elnora's perspective this is absolutely a beyond traumatic event. Her whole world was turned upside down. She lost her collegues, her friends, her mentor, her husband and later on her precious daughter. All the while those who ruined her life sit high upon their fancy chairs, enjoying their wealth and with not a real worry in the world, playing god in their meeting rooms.

No justice would come to them for their actions, oh no. There is no law which would hold them accountable for their indiscrimimate murder, they ARE the law. They are the judges, the juries and the executioners.

Isn't that just crazy to think about? The insanity and the hubris of the most powerful Spacian faction? Evil is often described as something "profoundly wicked and immoral". I'd say that the actions of the Benerit Group, the Mobile Suit Council, Cathedra, Dominicus and even the Space Assembly League are quite wicked and immoral.

Then tell me, do you blame Elnora for wishing to take them down? To bring down the Benerit Group? To not work with the Space Assembly? Should her actions not be seen as admirable, in a way? Her desire for revenge against the injustices done upon her and her drive to take down those who are her enemies?

Is it wrong to cheer for the opressed instead of the oppressor?

Sure, one may argue that Prospera's actions are too violent, as she basically sacrificed the inhabitants of Quinnharbor, but what is one town/city in the face of the many atrocities perpetuated by the Space Aseembly League and Benerit Group? What is one town compared to the safety and happiness of her lovely daughter within the Data Storm, as well as close to 2 decades of planning and preparing?

As for Suletta yes, she might be a "repli-child" who, was simply a "key" and yes Eri might be her main focus, that does not mean she did not treat Suletta well. In the first season, prologue as well as Cradle Planet we can see how gentle Elnora is. She is sweet and smiles and is patient with her daughters. She listens to their worries and and indulges in their chatter. Suletta obviously loves her and feels safe with her. This shows that even if Elnora didn't think of her as her daughter, she still treated her well. She treated her gently and she made her feel loved. Eri is her first priority yes, but that does not mean that she doesn't care for Suletta. Prospera is thus not personally an evil person who revels in the pain of those who cannot fight back, such as a young child. She even agrees with Eri that Suletta should be happy, even if its not with them.

But what does Prospera, Elnora, want? What is her goal with Quiet Zero and would it be that much worse then the Benerit Group? The Quiet Zero project seems to be a collaboration between her, Delling and whichever organisation is helping her. Besides wanting to expand the range for Eri so she can live more freely, what else is the project for? They for sure likely cannot care less about Eri, thats not their daughter and for all they care its just an extremely advanced AI with the imprint of a dead child.

Quiet Zero, most likely, is an attempt to forcefully put an end to most of the fighting. Since basically everything uses permet, entire stations and other Spacian infrastructure and even some Earthian ones use Permet, they'll all be vulnerable to being taken over by the Quiet Zero data storm and thus Eri. This power would allow Prospera and Eri to forcefully take over all the organisations who oppose them and to get their revenge against those who ruined their lives. They and everyone else on their side who aid them are likely so disillusiomed with the system and the consatnt tragedies caused by corruption and greed, they are entirely willing to take over everything themselves. They are likely planning to take over the Earth Sphere and the rest of Spacian territory by force and to have them at their mercy, easily dismanteling them, especially as they'll be unable to resist.

There are no good good guys in gundam, there are only desperate people clawing for power and control.

Suletta and the Earth House aren't the "good guys" or "heroes", they're normal school kids going to a military academy under the control of major corporations who just wanna do their best and survive and are at the mercy of corporate giants and their spawn. The Benerit Group aren't heroes/good guys, and neither is the Space Assembly League, Ochs-Earth, Dawn of Fold, they're all evil as fuck imo. There are no good guys, there are only victims and perpetrators.

So tell me, what exactly are we rooting for in this show? Why should Suletta "talk" or "reason" with her mother? Why do we not want Prospera to succeed? I can understand Suletta reaching out to her mother and sister in order to understand where they are coming from and why they had left her, why they never told her of their plans even. To have open communications. But I don't understans for the life of me why Suletta or Earth House should give a single singular shit about Prospera upheaving all of Spacian society. Miorine and Guel perhaps do, but they are benign to the Earthians and likely wouldn't mind in the long run/could be reasoned with. It depends.

So, with all of this said: why shouldn't Prospera win?

(Anyway I have a whole lotta fears and specukation about the SAL and Suletta, as well absolute red flags for her and I am fucking manifesting annother season at this point for more Suletta and Eri development)

[the-jam-to-the-unicorn]

Easter Greetings by the President of Ukraine

Great People of Great Ukraine!

Today we celebrate a significant holiday — the Resurrection of the Lord. Easter. Easter symbolizes the liberation of the human soul from the slavery of evil and darkness. It symbolizes the victory of goodness and justice, the victory of life over death.

We have been fighting for all of this for 802 days in a row. 802 days of freedom standing up to darkness, valor standing up to terror. 802 days of our resistance, which can be described by the words from the Gospel of John: "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it…"

The exact same words are dedicated to one of the exhibitions at St. Sophia Cathedral, where I am now. Together, this exhibition and the other works by various Ukrainian artists convey a deep meaning. These are the icons on ammunition boxes. They are saturated with the smoke of our land and the spirit of our people. They are the symbols of great trials and great power that helps us overcome them. Each of these icons is like a divine manifestation, a proof that the heavens are with us, an answer to the question of why Ukrainians have withstood. It is because in the most difficult circumstances and in the darkest times we are able to create light. We can do it on boards scorched by fire and grief, that came from Ukrainian cities and villages exhausted by suffering. We can do this by combining the seemingly incompatible: the war and the Lord, by overcoming evil with faith, overcoming adversity with hope.

When taking a closer look at these icons, one can understand the feelings of our entire nation. It's a mirror that reflects our reality in times of war, the path we have already taken, and this Easter, and our entire present. This is what our amulets look like today. This is how we feel that God is protecting us through the hands of our warriors. This is how we see the protection of the heavenly forces, embodied in the Security and Defense Forces of Ukraine, every Ukrainian who devotes themself to the sacred cause of defending their native land from darkness and evil.

These icons bear the names of heroes who sacrificed their lives to protect us. They showed that Ukrainians kneel only to pray. And never do they kneel in front of invaders and occupiers.

The Bible teaches us to love our neighbor. And the present has shown us the true meaning of this word. When we support and help each other even hundreds of kilometers away from one another. We protect each other. We pray for each other. When we all have become closer to each other, we have become each other's neighbors. And our former neighbor, who was always making us take him for a brother, remains distant from us for centuries. They have broken all the commandments, coveted our house, and come to kill us. The world sees it.

God knows it. And we believe that there is a chevron with the Ukrainian flag on the shoulder of God. Therefore, with such an ally, life will definitely prevail over death.

As we overcome a common path and experience common pain, we are all united today by one common prayer. We pray for all our warriors who are celebrating Easter in the trenches and on the positions. We pray for our warriors of light, who restrain demons in all directions. We pray for those who keep another commandment in their lives: to defend Ukraine. We pray that they all come back alive.

We pray for all our civilians who work hard every day to strengthen our state and ensure that it successfully overcomes evil. We pray for those who live and work for this purpose.

We pray for all our children, for all the boys and girls brave far beyond their years, whose childhood was stolen from them by Russia, but who, despite everything, have not forgotten how to smile and believe in miracles.

We pray for all our mothers and fathers who were robbed of a happy, peaceful aging, and who, despite everything, are holding on and taking care of us.

We pray for all our cities and villages, that should feel the Lord's grace, not the constant terror of evil, and which have black clouds hanging over them, and bombs and missiles coming from those who belong in hell, not in the Ukrainian sky.

We pray for our lands and our people, whose spirit cannot be broken. And we remember the words written in St. Sophia Cathedral above the Oranta image, which came true in our lives: "God is in the midst of the city, and it will not be shaken. God will help it before dawn.”

Today, we are praying for all Ukrainians who are waiting for this dawn and will certainly see it. They will find peace, truth, and God, who will return to the scorched land, the land scarred with craters and trenches. He will return with peace, tranquility, and flowers instead of mines in the fields. He will return with children's laughter instead of the roar of an air alarm. The light that will return to all of our Lord-given land, to all the territories that are temporarily occupied by the devils. God will return to Mariupol. To the slag heaps and the seashores. It has always been so. It will definitely be so. I believe in this every day, especially on this glorious day in this glorious place, the history of which reminds us that neither the Horde invasion, nor the Nazi occupation, nor the Russian terror will be able to wipe us off the face of the Earth.

May the heavens strengthen our will in the battle against thralldom. May they give us courage for new achievements and wisdom to appreciate all that we have already gained. May they give us the strength to maintain unity, and give us unity to enhance our strength. May God grant eternal rest to all those who gave their lives for Ukraine and everlasting peace to their descendants, to all our children and grandchildren, and to all our future generations. They have the sacred right to know what a peaceful Easter in a peaceful Ukraine is.

Today we pray for it and we fight for it.

And the light shines in the darkness...

Happy Easter to all of you, dear Ukrainians!

Christ is risen!

He is risen indeed!

[anteaterisland]

My GW2 Toons

These are my GW2 characters. From Left to right they are, Old Man Blep the Asura Engineer. Marrow Antoinette the Charr Guardian. Catalytic Curfuffle the Asura Elementalist. Sansa Eirsdottir the Norn Ranger. Chlora Phylia the Sylvari Mesmer. Mouse The Pleasant the Human Mesmer. Grenth Boy the Human Necromancer. And Kiotvi Wildblood the Norn Thief.

Details beneath the cut.

These two ladies are The Commanders. They are Badasses. They are dating. They are in for a long ride. I am a new player, who has only just leveled them to 80.

Chlora Phylia the Sylvari Mesmer, was my first creation. She's still zero year's old. She has a passion for cartography, cooking, shapeshifting alchemy and Hylek. She lives in Sparkfly Fen and is a member of the priory. Trahearne asked her to be the Commander of the Pact and she was too touched by sentiment to say no, even though she is a terrible leader with social anxiety. Once indoctrinated by the nightmare court, she escaped their influence and stole a verdant puppy. But their corruption lingers in her heart.

Sansa "Stormwalker" Eirsdottir the Norn Ranger is the founder of the Pact. She's eight and a half feet tall and hyper competent. The daughter of Eir Stegalkin, she was raised by her Father. She worked as a messenger runner in her youth, and thunderstorms never delayed her, earning her title of Stormwalker. She killed Zhaitan, and works as the Commanders Right Hand. Chlora is endlessly grateful for her support.

These two are The Twins. Catalytic Curfuffle the Asura Elementalist, is a young Asura with learning disabilities. ADD and Dyscalculia to name a few. She tried very hard to be a good Asura and learn advanced mathematics and Robotics in school but from a young age she showed no talent, no genius. She would throw explosive temper tantrums. She became an elementalist and joined the Vigil, and fights her battles with raw firepower, literally.

Her adoptive sister, Marrow Antoinette the Charr Guardian, was found as a Kitten and adopted by an Asura couple with a newborn as a questionably ethical experimental test subject into the question of Nature versus Nurture. She is everything her sister isn't: quiet, clever, polite, and proud. She can build any Golem you need and program it twice as fast. She powders and pomades her hair very tall as a symbol of her refinement. Her parents couldn't be prouder of her, as a daughter or a test subject. It's a shame all their theories about nurture prevailing are disproved by their other daughter...

These two are Team Rocket. (to me.)

Grenth Boy's legal name is REDACTED, sloppily, by him. A young man, who disowned himself from his noble father upon reaching his majority. Big Fan of Wolfgang Lacrymohs. A necromancer who has devoted his life to Grenth. He’s optimistic and naive. He is a grief counselor and loves nothing more than to give the last rights, and reassure people that they will be welcomed by Grenth. This is not always reassuring.

Mouse The Pleasant was a human Foundling, her family history is completely lost. An orphan and whispers lightbringer, an accomplished mesmer and con-artist, has successfully infiltrated the aristocracy of Divinity’s Reach. An absolute sweetheart who no one would suspect of being a conniving witch.

These two are new, and as such, their lore is still under construction.

Old Man Blep is an Asura Engineer. He is the Twins Father. He works in construction maintenance in Rata Sum.

Kiotvi Wildblood is a Norn Theif. He is a hunter of the wild, and wields a shortbow.

[mybeingthere]

British artist Tor Falcon tells:

"I am an artist who walks. Walkers can not help but be aware of the make up of the earth beneath their feet. Of the changing sounds, temperatures and light levels as they move through a landscape. They pass sheltered spots where tender plants flourish and others where trees are brutally sculpted by the prevailing wind  A walker knows the real distance between here and there. Walking is the basic human act of belonging on, and experiencing this planet. 

I see myself as an explorer, obviously not in the heroic, man-against-the-odds sort of way, but in an everyday looking, really looking, at what’s around you sort of way. Drawing sharpens looking. Every aspect of the landscape in front of you must be seen and must be considered. The spread of the boughs of a tree, or the profile of the riverbank, or whatever, must be repeated by your hand. It must be felt. Drawing is always surprising, things are often not quite how you thought they were. I learn something new every time I go out drawing. 

Hampered only by chalk pastels, a board and some paper, I can be out all day and make several drawings. Walking-looking-drawing-writing is my way of trying to understand the landscape I’m in."

https://torfalcon.co.uk

[lyubochka]

if you don't know me, i treat ask games like surveys because ask games as we know 'em are pretty much dead. here's the og

what are 3 things you’d say shaped you into who you are?

guitar hero 2, deviantart x reader fanfics, not being allowed to watch horror movies as a child

show us a picture of your handwriting?

3 films you could watch for the rest of your life and not get bored of?

i'm not a big movie person, but probably zero day, the original child's play, and crash

what’s an inside joke you have with your family or friends?

kitty synth, "wentzian", bathroom updates, pig as a slur

what made you start your blog?

old one got too much anon hate

what’s the best and worst part of being online/a creator?

there are so many images of pretty men to be found. some of them are dead.

what scares you the most and why?

probably the prospect of instability. i imagine its bc i moved a lot as a child

any reacquiring dreams?

in the case u meant reoccuring, not particularly. i have a bad memory.

tell a story about your childhood

oh, you dont want that.

would you say you’re an emotional person?

i learned apparently im more emotional than i even knew, recently.

what do you consider to be romance?

sensuality and the human connection.

what’s some good advice you want to share?

goal setting without clear vision is like building a couch with no instructions, just a picture of the end result.

what are you doing right now?

listening to pretty hate machine by nin and filling out this questionaire

what’s something you’ve always wanted to do but maybe been to scared to do?

learn to drive

what do you think of when you hear the word “home”?

my partner

if you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

my need to dig up the corpse to make sure it's really dead down there

name 3 things that make you happy

i. discovering new fetishes ii. my partner system iii. animals

do you believe in ghosts and/or aliens?

its a fool's errand to try and define our surroundings with our limited perception. radio exists. anything is possible.

favourite thing about the day?

the kids playing on the street loud enough to hear from inside.

favourite things about the night?

the quiet coolness.

are you a spiritual person?

that part of me ain't dead yet

say 3 things about someone you love

i. prevailing ii. patient iii. not appreciated enough

say 3 things about someone you hate

when will it ever be enough for you? nothing can learn you. nothing will.

what’s one thing you’re proud of yourself for?

trying again.

fave season and why?

autumn. bugs are going away, coats are coming out. halloween and thanksgiving. the bus is going by again.

fave colour and why?

pink, green, and black. they're just nice to look at.

any nicknames?

i get called lee more often than not.

do you collect anything?

records, tarot decks, stuffed animals.

what do you do when you’re sad?

attempt to logicize if i can help it.

what’s one thing that never fails to make you happy/happier?

a live set for my current favorite artist

are you messy or organised?

messily organized

how many tabs do you have open right now?

one pinned, three unpinned

any hobbies?

writing, art, producing music

any pet peeves?

sloppy eaters

do you trust easily?

i'm working on trying to. i can be paranoid, but i don't want to be

are you an open book or do you have walls up?

i think i have more walls up than i realize

share a secret

i'm currently organizing with a stranger to have her steal a dog being neglected by someone in my neighborhood

fave song at the moment?

the only time (nin)

youtuber you’ve been obsessed with and why?

dollar tree dinners. the sheer culinary efficiency and humble kindness...

any bad habits?

worthless martyrdom.

[cosmicjoke]

Forest theory anon here. Now that I noticed how many “corrections” my autocorrect made Im actually happy that I sent it on anon lol…

What I meant with the Flock part was that his comment confirmed SC and Levi lost the little popularity they had. I assume Zeke knew about what Levi’s decision in Shiganshina caused among people and what the prevailing public opinion of him is (because of that decision). I imagine Eren filled him in on that to some extent 🤷🏻‍♀️

Next part was probably worded a bit poorly; what I meant with ‘public shifting their support away from SC towards Eren’ was that this just further confirmed that SC lost public support. They never had a lot of support but after Shiganshina public disliked them even more.

I think Zeke was referring to Levi’s decision in Shiganshina; and what it did to how people perceive him. As you said, Zeke was a major dick who saw himself as a martyr and saviour of humanity. He was also fairly popular among people in Marley, so there is no way someone as unpopular as Levi understood his feelings™️ (sarcasm)

While Levi never liked or cared about being popular; same goes for his title as “humanity’s strongest” he was aware that he was popular at some point.

And even if he was referring to Levi not being popular with women this would also read as Zeke thinking himself as popular with women lol…

I’m also not a fan of theories of people who read “…there was a time i was popular” as Levi fucking around often… I just can’t see that. I can’t see him as someone who likes to fuck around 😅

Whatever he was referring to — he was being a dick either way.

I’m sorry, I’m not very good when it comes to theories/ explaining such things. Thank you for answering my previous ask :)

No, it’s fine! You explained perfectly! I agree, I can’t see Levi as a particularly promiscuous person. I think people just tend to read too much into things in general, or they’ll want to use every little thing as proof of some idea they have. Zeke could definitely have been referring to the SCs dip in approval. I always thought he was referring to Levi’s blunt honesty. Levi made him uncomfortable because he saw through his BS and called him out on it. So Zeke made a snide remark about Levi being “unpopular”. But, either way, as usual, it really just reveals more about Zeke than it does Levi. As if being popular makes one more perceptive. Zeke’s a con artist, and knows how to charm people. When I say he’s a narcissist though, it’s because he isn’t capable of seeing things from anyone else’ point of view, which makes his implication about Levi all the more absurd. He’s implying if someone isn’t a bullshit artist like him, then they aren’t capable of accurately reading others. Or he’s implying that if someone isn’t “charming” like him, they can’t be popular. Classic narcissistic behavior, lol. Levi saw right through him.

[ofthecedartree]

𝐂𝐄𝐃𝐀𝐑 𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐋 .↶

This is a roleplay blog portraying Cedar Oriel, a Love & Deepspace OC. This is created for entertainment purposes only. I (the admin) am in no way, shape, or form associated with InFold PTE LTD. or the Love and Deepspace franchise. PLEASE READ THIS POST BEFORE INTERACTING.

"𝑰𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒂𝒛𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒃𝒚𝒔𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒚𝒔𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒈𝒂𝒛𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖."

𝐑𝐔𝐋𝐄𝐒

Before interacting with the muse through the blog, please be aware of the following:

GENERAL

I (the admin) reserve the right to refuse to answer (and subsequently delete asks and interactions that I do not feel comfortable with answering. This will come without warning. Please don't take it personally, this is for my own personal comfort!

DNI

Minors and blogs without a specified age will be automatically blocked!

FORMAT

You may interact with Cedar through asks (anon or not), mentions, reblogs, etc. This account is mirrored-lit. This means that you are free to interact using shorthand prose, semi-para, multi-para, lit, or semi-lit, or however else you see fit. Whichever way you interact, I will match you!

INTERACTIONS

Anyone in the Love & Deepspace universe may interact. This includes other OCs, or canon characters! You are free to interact as with a platonic relationship, whether pre-established or developing.

SHIPS

Cedar is primarily shipped with Gabriel (@), in main verse.

In AU verses, shipping is allowed, with canon L&DS characters, but not other OCs. Please discuss with me prior to establishing a ship!

DMs

Account DMs are open, you can slide in at anytime, especially if you wish to plot something or discuss something beforehand!

NSFW

Admin is 21+ years old. Interactions that are NSFW (sexual) in nature are allowed, but will be hidden under the mature filter. Please be careful of the media you consume.

— Suggestive posts tagged: cw. suggestive. — Explicit posts tagged: cw. explicit.

ART

If sharing art into my asks or tagging me in something, please be careful. CHECK FIRST if the artist allows reposts. If they do not, please only share the art via a link ONLY and do not share the image itself. If they do, please always credit back via a link and a username. Let's respect our lovely artists~!

NEGATIVITY

Please be kind! Avoid hate, shaming, the use of slurs or derogatory terms, etc. This is a judgement-free environment. Let's all have fun!

OPERATOR SPEAKS

Content will remain mostly in-character; however, if necessary, OOC-related content will be indicated by the following:

This blog is operated by: @cloudxxiia / @rose-tinted-kalopsia . The same is true for: @kaiakaya and @thomasicism .

— Posts beginning as: "🔥; text" — Posts tagged with: "when the lamp blows out. ooc." — Replies/tags formatted as: "(text)"

𝐈𝐍𝐅𝐎

The following are information about the muse, Cedar.

GENERAL

Cedar (she/her) is an OC based on the Love and Deepspace franchise. She does NOT follow the MC plotline of the franchise, and is centered around her own story.

🔗 ABRIDGED INFO / COMPLETE INFO

— AGE: 24 — BIRTHDAY: August 24 — SIGN: Virgo — RACE: Human — EVOL: Fire — OCCUPATION: Waitress, Horror novelist —

PERSONALITY NOTES

Black cat energy.

Cedar often comes off as snarky or mean, due to her frequent sarcastic comments and more obviously cynical attitude - especially outside of her waitressing hours. She’d roll her eyes and glare often, and she doesn’t have the friendliest exterior.

But she means well, she does, really. She just doesn’t know how to express her thoughts and emotions in a more pleasant way, so she tends to default to sarcasm, especially when something happens that she doesn’t like.

In truth, she holds a lot more emotions in her chest than she lets on. She’s gullible and easily riled up, and whatever “calm, unbothered” vibe she may give off initially would often disappear the more you get to know her. It’s only due to her desperation in “controlling” these emotions that her cynicism tends to prevail instead, but she’s learning to be healthier with her expressions.

OTHER TRIVIA

— Nicknames: Cece, Ceddy, Ced, Woodie, Gaia, etc. — Hobbies: cooking, writing (horror novels) — Likes: Books, writing, cats, horror, gore, coffee, rain — Dislikes: Rude customers, obnoxious noise, fire — Virgo sun, Scorpio rising, Capricorn moon. Chiron in Aquarius in the 4th house. — She’s written two horror novels so far, under her pen name Ash. Both books have been well-received, but not so much to consider herself particularly famous. — "We Live In Your Walls" depicts the story of a child who finds a crayon drawing of a strange family — it's inscribed with the words, we live in your walls. — "‘Til Death Do Us Part" depicts the story of a woman who suddenly finds herself waking up in someone else’s body every morning — and each day ends with her being stalked and killed by the same murderer in black. — She’s not particularly secretive with the people around her of her identity as Ash, but her persona as an “author” remains mysterious to her readers. Her co-workers know, and she writes often during break times at the diner. Really, if you ask her, she’ll just tell you with a shrug. — She doesn’t like nicknames, at all, but never truly does anything to stop anyone from calling her by any. — She has almost started several fires at the diner due to rude customers getting on her nerves. Almost. They stop immediately when they see sparks.

APPEARANCE

Main Face Claim: Kim Suyeon / Sheon (Billlie)

— Height: 154cm + 5cm heels — Hair: Waist length, wavy, chestnut brown with blonde peekaboo highlights — Eyes: Long, narrow, red — Makeup: Dark brown eyeliner, dark brown mascara, pink eyeshadow, pink lipstick, pink blush — Fashion: Long silhouette—crop tops, long skirts, mary janes

𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐒

The following are tags that will be used across the blog.

out of character — when the lamp blows out. ooc.

suggestive posts — cw. suggestive.

explicit posts — cw. explicit.

queued posts — queue're not alone.

reblogs — from the silence comes a scream. (reblog)

prompts — and then there were none. (prompts)

answered — we live in your walls. (inbox)

roleplay — once upon a time

thoughts — look behind you. (musings)

𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐄𝐒

The following are interaction-specific and verse-specific tags.

main verse — ablaze; main.

lore and background remain the same. love interest: gabriel.

au verses — through the veil; au.

lore and background may change. love interests may vary.

gabriel — my gabriel. of flames ignited; for you i burn.

cheshire — cheshire; the space around me is filled with you.

[grandhotelabyss]

Whether yours or something you've read, what's the best definition of art/a work of art?

If definitions come in descriptive and normative forms—descriptive: finding the essence of all the disparate phenomena we do or could call art; normative: deciding what unites the limited set of phenomena that deserve the name of art—then I believe a descriptive definition may be impossible.

Art could be almost any practice or object, because any practice can be done and any object made artfully. Whole lives have been described as works of art, as have casual gestures of the hand. Art may just refer to some latent potential for shaped gratuitous interest (i.e., beauty) in the whole human-made world—except that some believe animals capable too, as the birds and the whales do sing, while monkeys and elephants have been taught to paint. Art may just be life transcending itself, reflecting itself, working on itself: the final secret of whatever is the principle of vitality, "the force that through the green fuse drives the flower." "The art itself is nature."

All very psychedelic, but we like to make judgments, too, and even need to do so, because we have only so many hours in the day, only so much room in the gallery, only so many weeks on the syllabus. We need, therefore, a normative definition. Most of the modern ones since Kant have fixed on art as "uselessness," which partially inspired my word "gratuitous" above, i.e., art is whatever is not practical, whatever exceeds and therefore both redeems and judges the prevailing utilitarianism of the modern world. As Gautier's original l'art pour l'art manifesto quips, elevating art over use, "The most useful room in the house is the lavatory."

Contemporary theorist Boris Groys has historicized this idea with his slogan "art emerges as the death of design." In other words, before the modern period, art was reduced to its use, largely as propaganda: it ornamented and inculcated the ideas of the ruling classes, from the bard celebrating aristocratic heroes in epic song to the builder fashioning cathedrals to cow the illiterate parishioner on behalf of the Catholic Church to the painter making portrait after portrait of the old regime's elite. Art, therefore, was no more than design, a constrained set of protocols for elaborating and augmenting social power. Art in the modern sense of the gloriously inutile was only invented with the French Revolution, when the radicals, instead of destroying the design of the old regime—throwing the portraits on a bonfire; smashing the altarpieces with a hammer—put them into museums, to be admired for their beauty (complexity, intricacy, intelligence...in short, for their "gratuitous" humanity) now that their inequitable social function had been stripped from them. Art, then, is whatever's left over after the propagandistic element of a piece of design has drained away, which is why we still take pleasure, for example, in Dante, though we don't share his views—and I don't just mean his social attitudes (homophobic, Islamophobic, etc.), but even his understanding of biology or cosmology.

I am persuaded by Groys's historicized normative judgment that art is the death of design, though it does create a paradoxical choice for the modern artist: you can either make a work of design, i.e., propaganda, in the knowledge that only what exceeds its propaganda function will finally matter, or you can try to make a work that has no propaganda function at all. The first choice leads to the slight air of bad faith that always hangs around even the very best social and political art, the double sense that an urgent problem is being exploited and that art itself is being betrayed; while the second choice leads to the purity spiral of art without content, all those blank canvasses and boxes piled on the floor that, as someone once joked, must come pre-installed in the modern art museum.

There is no solution to this dilemma, no way out of this paradox. (Groys: "only self-contradictory practices are true in a deeper sense of the word.") As the French Revolution and surrounding developments made it possible for art to emerge as the death of design, so I expect present and future historical or technological circumstances to alter the terms of art once again. We will just have to see what opportunities and challenges arise. Groys believes we currently live in a period of total aestheticization, due in part to technology's total replacement of nature, and that this total aestheticization makes art totally revolutionary since no regime or status quo can stabilize itself with its being instantly relegated to a state of defunctionalized design under our aesthetic gaze—another way of explaining why irony is now all-pervasive and inescapable, since every value now exists under the sign of its own inherent potential to become just one more piece in the museum.

Finally, though, and to escape whatever is deadening in Groys's admittedly persuasive celebration of art's apocalyptic triumph as absolute irony, I come back to older ideas, even at the risk of what a sophisticate like Groys would see as romantic kitsch, to Socrates instructing the ephebe that poetry can only be divine madness, to Emerson lecturing the practical 19th-century that the poet travels in divine realms, above all to The Birth of Tragedy and the vision of art elaborated there: art, said our mad philosopher back when he was a mild academic, is the articulation in a still and ordered image of the tearing, ferocious, violent flux at the heart of life: Apollo's temporary arrest of Dionysius. Art can be anything, and is now everything, but art that does not aspire to this impossibility—art that does not wrestle with this awful angel—does not deserve the name.

[m-to-z-andbackto-m]

MZM positive ramble time for you peeps who are feeling down

Aren't fandoms wonderful guys?

There is no bad fandom, there's always a good side, and a bad side to every fandom

Even if a piece of media turns up to be controversial or the creator/s ends up being a weirdo, the fandoms prevail and make good content with the laid down concepts!

We can't control who enters our fandoms, we really can't (also gatekeeping is stupid) (unless you have a personal reason to, I've met someone like that, in certain cases it's okay not to share something with someone), share your interests and find your people and place.

Hell, you know I could be sharing my fandoms with white supremacist, exclusive, arsehole bigots and not even know it, we all are!

The only thing that we can control is the content we push out as members

If you want to see something made? Do It! It doesn't matter if you think you can't draw, or write, or compose, dance, cosplay, won't get views etc... you have a reason to try! You'll get better with time! Just have fun and maybe people who share similar ideals will find that they enjoy your lovely creations <3

(Don't do it for views, do it for fun!)

(Also if you don't enjoy your own content, you will in some time when you improve and one day stumble on an old concept you had, someone will enjoy your ideas, I promise!)

Don't Believe Me?

Find any popular creator and scroll/search way back to their oldest content (if it's still available), find their abandoned accounts, etc...

They started out just like you! Even if you don't see it, doesn't mean they didn't!

Creation is a beautiful thing, don't let anything or anyone stop you from trying to learn, it takes a long and hard process, and everyone progresses at different paces!

Even I thought I haven't changed in a year but looking at my older art? I saw that I did progress! Little by little, you're not supposed to notice until it's significant :D

If you're a lovely small creator and content enjoyer like me, let's help each other out, not just us, but every small creator, from artists who only started drawing to song writers who make whole fan songs that only get a few listens/views

Encourage and support everyone you see (as long as they're not the bad kind of weirdos), fandoms are built on the adoration of media, not on the skill of it's members

Even if you don't like their art, leave a good comment so they stay motivated!

Maybe you don't like the inconsistencies, story telling, and characterization in someone's fic, they won't either when they improve! Leave something nice so they keep up that progress <3

We are so creative as human beings, our imagination is incapable of being restricted and our emotions can either aid or restrain us

We're so full of beautiful potential and I want you to take this age old advice into consideration: "If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all."

Unless provoked is all, but I'm talking about the good sides of fandoms, the bad side is for another day and boy do I have so much to say about that!

Point is, love and support each other, the fandom shouldn't feel like too much of a stranger to you, you share a major interest with everybody in it, we are a community, act like it.

(And even communities tend to separate their own groups, hence, sides of the fandom, you're somewhere, and you will be recognized by people who share your ideals, you just have to make them clear <3)

I hope you have a wonderful day, and if you don't, at least you recognize that you're capable of having better ones and I hope you'll get more of those feel-good days, and if you think you see or have something that might interest me, I give you my full permission to tag me

Every. Little. Ramble, reblog/reshare, recognition, and reply. Is Worth It. I guarantee you've made someone smile this way, me included.