#i connect to the craft more than the emotional core. its almost like i appreciate the emotions it’s radiating and what i feel

[angstics]

saw a post a few days ago that said something like “itd be hard to find an mcr fan whose mental health hasn’t benefitted from the band”. i dont know if i can say my chem has done that for me. the processes of happiness, company, intellectual stimulation i get from the band aren’t special to it. i cant reward something for its ability to be loved. the very material of mcr is special, but i cant think of an instance where it helped me mentally. doesnt make me feel less alone or more understood. doesnt make me want to better my health. doesnt make me discover new things about myself. they arent holding my hand. they arent getting me to fix my heart.

the music just delights me. im about the functions. the way it works feels perfect. i love that i can so easily translate the instrumentation into images and emotions (summertime solo as devotion, destroya drums as a heartbeat). i love how the storytelling is clearly derived from movies and comics. i love the mythos that is constructed by band and public and fandom. i love how cleanly they can portray feelings i relate to. i love this tour. it works like nothing else in the world. all my happiness is sourced in the functions.

perhaps this is just how i feel today. i know i felt a connection btwn my self-understanding and the band a few months ago. tho i question that feeling now as having been influenced by others.

[venuskind]

On my path towards self mastery almost all of the pivotal, disruptive, and hard moments were to be faced on my own. Which does not mean that I ever was without loving connections ready and capable of holding space or being with me. No, it was an internal knowing that made it clear to me that to meet this moment in the way befitting it necessitated me to stand alone. 

Standing alone in the face of a challenge or adversarial energy necessitates me to let go of the conditioned ideas of weakness, not-enoughness, and the fear at their core. It either calls on me to trust my knowing or past experiences more than the quivering voices or the embedded sensations in this body. 

These are moments I have to live from vision, or spirit, to help the physical and emotional transcend the artifice of limitation they have been bound to. 

Every moment of courage, of feeling fears and resistances and 'doing it anyway', are moments that help unlearn more fundamental distortions held in the mind-body system that consistently belie reality in favor of cultural narratives and fears. This is why I speak of liberation. We need liberation from these ties that would bind us to endless repetitions of human history and suffering.

When I use the term 'self mastery' I envision a learning and knowing of the small egoic and identified self as well as a gentle but firm re-education at the hands of the Self that is beyond duality, time, and space. All beings experience varying levels of self mastery depending on their experiences and the trajectory of their Soul path. Not all of us are willing to keep moving towards suffering, face the truths behind our wounds, and embrace a greater reality and consciousness beyond the limited niche of human making.

This path will inevitably ask us to not only endure but also precipitate willingly losses upon losses of  people, places, beliefs, memories, behaviors, habits, though-patterns. It necessitates us to make the ultimate sacrifice, to the ego, by letting go of our identification with our personality, personal stories, body, and other ideas about self. Which goes way further than a mere ego-death, which denotes a letting go of selfishness or self-centered perception. 

Releasing all identifications comes with the understanding of the illusions this world we perceive, and lives we live, are woven from and of touching on the true nature of our being. 

Beingness that is found at the core of our experience and perceptions is genderless, formless, unlimited in its expressions, and not bound by time and space. It is not caught up in the dramas of maya with their relentless repetition of pain, suffering, harm, or seeking of pleasure to escape them. 

Beingness is observant yet not judging. For what is there to be judged when all is of the One? It reposes in a loving equanimity as the play of consciousness in duality, form, and forgetting unfolds within it.

The lives and identities we believe to have crafted, the attributes we claim or reject, they all are mere shadows dancing within the grand movements of consciousness. 

Consciousness keeps creating and destroying along its path of evolutions and self exploration as Beingness witnesses it all.

From time to time I need to remind my human to release her grip on identifications in order to dance with more ease and grace along the play of consciousness. It is like reminding the actor to follow the lead of the director and not get lost in self importance and thereby miss out on being part of a great play. 

To have the knowing and tools to move between human perception and Beingness, to learn to use the

greater picture view of Beingness in service of a more harmonious resonance with the frequencies playing out all around is a hard earned gift of this path. A gift only few will appreciate or understand as to many others any actions or non-actions arising from this knowing look weird or crazy.

Yet looking at life from a vantage point that suffuses human perceptions with greater perspectives of consciousness and Beingness allows for a perception of life which reveals a 'hidden' humor and playfulness in the unfolding of existence. Allowing me to look at what seems hard or impossible, from a strictly human perspective, as a fun challenge to be tinkered with and mastered. 

There is unspeakable power and freedom in understanding that nothing can be lost nor gained, not in death nor in incredible wealth or success. 

This knowing liberates me to explore possibilities in more subtle and novel ways, to choose play in 'serious' moments and thereby align and dance with the slip-stream of consciousness that is manifesting what we call life experience. 

This is what this cluster of consciousness is here for: to play, explore, create, deconstruct, rebuild, dance, and most of all BE with all of existence. I am not here to play it small and along old scripts, I have come to question and rewrite what is mine to change, I have come to render all scripts obsolete as I walk a new path in the void, leaving stardust in my steps for others to be inspired or intrigued by.

In every moment I repose in BEing and open to what is witnessed I am speechless at the infinite ways life is being lived in what only seems to be a consensus reality. How thin the veneer of consensus is, how magnificently diverse and wondrous the perceptions and storylines chosen are. How little it would take to release suffering and live a freer and more magical life. And how vehemently identities, identifications, and fears are fighting any attempt at liberation. 

How beloved the jailors are to the prisoners while the liberators seem silly, dangerous, or any other form of objectionable. 

To see with clarity the game at play tempts the human in me to intervene whenever there are threads of attachment in need of releasing. To see it also awakens a desire to share the wonderment and contemplation of it all with others. To express the mix of awe and compassion that arise in observing humans navigate life in their individually chosen way. Being in wonderment of the multidimensional shimmer of existence.

And it challenges the human to release the desire to change what is witnessed, to accept reality as it is, to honor the choices of others even and especially when they are self-destructive and persistent, to trust the higher wisdom at play in the long game of consciousness evolution. It takes constant reminders of the fact that we are engaging with Maya and her illusions, while absolute reality knows no loss, harm, or pain as all is One and in fluid harmony. Reminders to step back, check herself, and to free herself from identification with dualistic perceptions and to be mindful of the 'costs' of such entrapment.

But most deliciously Beingness gives the body-mind extended experiences of peace, equanimity, and bliss which gently wash away attachments to distorted perceptions and fears. Which in turn makes the challenging and hard things far easier and deepens trust in Self, the dimensional gateway to Beingness and Oneness.

Art by Nat Girsberger

[pocket-void]

Care to tell us what's swimming around with the Suits AU, like what are the powers that are unique to each suit? Queens vs Kings?

Boy oh boy, I sure would! O///o Any AU I make will always be on an infinite “ask and you shall receive” basis lmao- >///< (Except Church Stop, which I plan on continuing when things settle down) You sent this ask at like a wild time but I finally wrote some stuff for ya so I hope it makes sense. o///o The Sleight of Hand AU is really heavy on worldbuilding so it may take some extra work.

So, here’s vaguely how the suit courts are organized and what each rank kind of entails (I say vaguely, but you know it’s going to be wildly long):

Diamonds - The Regal Suit

The Diamond court is known, or would like to be known, throughout the land as true royalty. They are opulent, noble, and unbelievably full of themselves. Their powers stem from their manipulation of worldly elements, able to craft their own visions of beauty into their surroundings. However they are also skilled in cunning and slightly underhanded methods to get their way. They are determined and headstrong folk who aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty, which may explain why they are in fact the origin of curses in this universe. They are crafty and have keen eyes that are able to very efficiently determine things about someone’s character, and make excellent negotiators.

The common folk of Diamonds are a lot less uppity and posh, but they do have a semi-upper class feel to them. Not because they’re all well off or anything, the land they reside in is just very rich in resources and well maintained in appearance, and it’s within their culture to be on the more refined side of things. They’re skilled in crafting and producing various luxuries, with tailoring being a rather appreciated activity. Art is a huge part of their society, whether it be painting, sculpting, music, even things like landscaping and interior design, etc.

Spades - The Intellect Suit

The Spade court is full of the world’s greatest mages and scholars. They’re always on the search for higher power, and are deathly efficient at their jobs. It is a solid meritocracy in the Spades court, but it is also brutally unforgiving. Spades are proud folk, not of their status, but of their abilities. The work one must go through to reach the top is almost unimaginable by others, and so it has slowly grown corrupt by those unwilling to relinquish their position and admit they’ve been outdone. The Spade court is a terrifying force to be reckoned with, as they wield the most destructive types of magics connected to the forces of nature. They are rather intimating diplomats that take things very seriously.

Spades tend to be natural quick learners, and they adapt to changes in their environment rather easily. Though the enclosed space that is the higher courts have impeded this ability in some. The common folk of Spades are actually very open minded, although unfortunately are also heavily influenced by the court. Many take interest in sciences, research, invention, various types of craftsmanship, innovation, and more. They are knowledge loving and respectable people who seek to learn new things when they can. People good at multitasking or jack of all trades types tend to be Spades.

Hearts - The Angel Suit

The Heart court is full of healers and judges. They are considered the arbiters of justice and peace. Over the years however they have grown perhaps overly defensive, and the armor once used to protect themselves have now grown thorns to harm others. People of the Heart court have witnessed brutality and war, and their reactions have turned away from peace and instead towards shutting others out of their territory to protect only themselves. Harboring another suit is considered a high crime, and you will most likely be jailed and questioned for it if caught. Interlopers deemed spies likely face execution, but that is standard in most courts nowadays...

The people of Hearts are kind and genuine. They hold much empathy in their cores, and most citizens are somewhat attuned to the emotions of others. The idea of “soul mates” originated and was popularized by Hearts! Citizens here are down to earth and know the value of a hard day’s work. They respect labor and jobs that benefit the community, and as such farmers, medical workers, local guardsmen, and various others are very well liked. “Soul Smithing” is actually something invented by the people of Hearts; an amazing technique that has found a way to heal broken cores. Not everyone can perform it, but the people who can are basically invaluable.

Clovers - The Warrior Suit

The Clover court is full of people will strong wills and even stronger resolves. They will do the things they set their minds to, and their beliefs only compliment their strength. They are determined, persistent, and relentless in their quests to do what they think is the right thing. Unfortunately that belief has now been directed towards war efforts, and they’re stubbornness has done little but blind them to the suffering of common folk for the sake of the “greater good”. Perhaps they have become misguided, and they’re confidence prevents them from admitting they are wrong.

The citizens of Clover are free spirited and independent. They’re hard working and very self reliant, living mostly solitary but rather impressive lives. Clovers are natural warriors at heart, willing to fight for the things they believe in and the people they care about. The people here hold magic that serve to empower themselves, and it’s said that their cores glow the brightest in times of peril. There is a myth about the “Four Leaf Clover”, which is a story about a legendary hero who possessed strength beyond strength. Half of the legend has been forcefully erased by the court, but its original ending claims that the four leaves were not symbolic of the Clover’s lone strength at all, but rather how powerful the hero felt they came together with their companions to triumph over all.

*Quick note! The generalizations of the citizens of each court are of course very generalized and does not perfectly apply to every citizen. ^///^

Now on to Ranks! This is already kind of long so I’ll simplify a bit for this section. >///<

Every citizen is born with two things at birth: A core and a rank. Cores, which determines your suit, are determined by your parents and general ancestry. It is very rare for couples of different suits to be together, especially in the current times with tensions so high. Instead of hearts, the people of this world just have cores in their chests. They do a few things under select circumstances but I’m not going into that right now snsjbksjf, for all intents and purposes they are basically “souls”. How one determines rank is decided at around age 5-7, because it’s a more innate sense. You yourself will know what rank you are, 

JOKER - Highest possible rank. A myth amongst the populace, since nobody’s actually heard of anyone with this rank. It’s said that JOKERs possess qualities and abilities of all suits. It is currently used as a symbol of revolution in the hopes of reuniting all the suits by an organization of the same name. All members identify as JOKER in solidarity to set aside their differences for the common good.

King - Highest rank in society. Kings are one’s with immense power and magic, said to be able to manipulate reality itself. They are incredibly rare, but those with this rank are seen as natural leaders, and will surely accomplish unthinkable things.

Queen - Queens are a diverse group of powerful mages, and are basically the ceiling for power level for each suit specific magic type. They have a very impressive and respectable amount of power, and tend to highly specialize in one to three skills/magics. 

Jack - Typically high ranking generals or soldiers. Jacks are hardy and very durable, with cores as strong as their wills. They tend to be more physically impressive rather than magic oriented, but it’s not uncommon for Jacks to wield magic alongside their weapons.

10-2 - Are considered “citizens”. It doesn’t mean they’re just completely powerless, and yes the numbers do kind of dictate specific things you may be more attuned to, but in general these are the people who populate the land the most. The higher the number, the more likely you are to be naturally gifted in some way at some kind of specific thing, but that doesn’t mean lower numbers can’t be better than you at something. There are special meanings attached to some numbers, like how 7s are lucky or how 4s tend to be more grounded, but these are kind of more like your zodiac than anything.

Ace - The trick up one’s sleeve. Aces have long been the wildcard of society. They usually end up being really good at one thing, but in a way that nobody else had thought of. They tend to be much more closely related to the magic of their own suit, while also having some sort of spin to their magic. It’s a little difficult to describe exactly, but Aces are comparable to “geniuses” who are incredible in one aspect, but lacking in what many people consider more “common”.

I suppose that’s all I’ve got for now. o///o

[titusmoody]

2021 Q2 stuff

Games

Return of the Obra Dinn -- Very different. A great experience to play, it doesn’t use any typical “gamer” skills or knowledge. It also hit on a lot of my personally prefered sensibilities (stories self-contained to ships, non-linear storytelling, mysteries, and meticulous attention to detail)

Kentucky Route Zero -- Even more different. I’m glad I played it for the atmosphere, though it didn’t click with me the way Obra Dinn did. Extremely atmospheric and cool, but also has a strong academic curiosity to it.

DOOM (2016)-- Okay, we’re back to regular video games. Everything about this one seems very carefully crafted. I had a good, mindless time with this one.

Spider-Man -- Not as well-crafted as DOOM, but also less juvenile. I also had a good, mindless time with this one.

Metroid: Samus Returns -- Feels like Metroid. The moment-to-moment combat is different than Super Metriod and Fusion, which is a nice way to keep things from getting stale.

TV

Shadow and Bone -- Sometimes tropes exist because they make for good stories. This show was a good example of that.

Pani Poni Dash -- WTF Japan, in a good way

Princess Tutu -- Much like I felt about Cowboy Bebop, this show was very well-made and I had an easy time appreciating what it was doing, though in the end it’s not the kind of thing that’s really for me

Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid -- Pleasant to watch, mostly lighthearted but could definitely have emotional moments here and there to keep you interested.

Kakegurui -- Shows like this are the reason anime fans are so self-depricating. It was thoroughly trashy, but I’d be lying if I said that the trashiness didn’t lead to a lot of fun.

Love, Chunibyo, and other Delusions -- An excellent comfort-watch. About a high-schooler trying to run away from his cringe-y middle school phase. I definitely have criticisms of it, but I’m also definitely going to watch it again.

Devilman Crybaby -- I swear, Masaaki Uasa takes the most overdone premises and portrays them in such bonkers ways that they become pretty cool. This isn’t one of the best examples of that, but it still works.

Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket -- Part of Gundam’s brand is that it shows the effect of wars on individuals. This is a great small-scale example of that. 

She-Ra -- It’s good. The plot kinda meanders and the backstory lore is presented confusingly/unclearly at times. But the central characters are good enough to carry at least a few seasons, and the secondary characters really elevate the whole thing. I was personally very fond of Scorpia as well as the way the writers used Entrapta both in the plot and as a character foil.

Chernobyl -- Second time watching this, it’s definitely a favorite. 

Movies

Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again -- You already know what this is like and whether or not you enjoy the sort of thing it is. 

Moulin Rouge -- It’s hard to watch Mamma Mia without thinking of this one, so I watched it soon after.

Minari -- My personal reward for being fully vaccinated was to go to the movies by myself. This was a good movie, though overshadowed by the circumstances in which I saw it. I would’ve been very happy to be seeing anything.

My Fair Lady -- An iconic pop-culture touchstone. Not my favorite musical, for sure.

Interstellar -- This movie is in the odd position of currently being my favorite Christopher Nolan movie despite the fact that I don’t like it nearly as much as I liked either The Dark Knight or Memento when I saw those for the first time.

The Perfect Storm -- George Clooney, big wave.

Legally Blonde -- I didn’t hear the term “sitcom” until oddly late in life, and when I heard it, I assumed it meant movies like this where there aren’t a ton of jokes, but the characters are constantly in inherently funny situations. I don’t like this type of humor that much.

Jurassic Park -- A big “moral” of the movie was “don’t trust computers to do anything important” but today it’s hard not to get the message as “never underpay your system administrator” instead.

Apollo 13 -- Pretty good

ET -- I really didn’t like this movie and I don’t quite know what it doesn’t do that Jurassic Park and Indiana Jones do. Imminent danger seem to be part of it, but I don’t think that’s the whole picture.

The Day After Tomorrow -- *shrug* I had fun watching it

Pearl Harbor -- expected it to be bad, it was bad. It was definitely bad in interesting ways, and was almost good a lot of the time.

Die Hard -- I was looking for suspenseful movies with clear character motivation and this fit the description. It was good, though I didn’t like it quite as much as I hoped to.

Star Trek V -- Star Trek is often silly and I just can’t get on board with some of the silliness, like the last part of this movie.

Terminator 2 -- Yeah, I do like suspense. I don’t think I’ll look back on this as a favorite, but I was pretty into it. Moreso than Die Hard.

Cast Away -- Pretty good

Predator -- Somewhere between Die Hard and Terminator 2. I was a bit bored by the end, which ironically was the part that most closely resembled what I was looking for.

Braveheart -- I think romanticising medieval Europe is fun and cool. Unfortunately this movie has some creepy sexual hang-ups as well as rampant “no step on snek” energy that ruin the whole thing.

Redline -- Just a cool looking movie

State of Play -- I forgot the whole plot of this already, but I enjoyed it

Troy -- It’s not as bad as its reputation suggests, though the end does get really over-the-top cheesy

Demon Slayer -- I liked going to the movies by myself so much the first time that I did it again. This time it was in a much more full theater and I was one of very few people over 17. Fun action anime movie, though.

Gladiator -- I’m so disappointed that I didn’t connect to this movie, since over and over I felt like I was very close to loving it. I think the revenge motivation was what ultimately prevented me from really getting into it.

K-19: The Widowmaker -- Hell yeah, extremely tense submarine scenes, that’s exactly what I wanted.

The Manchurian Candidate (2004) -- The movie felt like it wanted its premise to feel plausible, but it really didn’t. Still pretty good, though

The Big Lebowski -- Still not a big fan of this one. 

The Naked Gun -- This confirms that my sense of humor has not gotten more refined since age 17 or so. I still thought this was pretty funny.

Dances With Wolves -- Mostly just boring. 

Angels and Demons -- Even at age 15 the book’s riddles and clues premise felt a bit too contrived. The movie has the additional disadvantage that verbal explanations are the most boring way to resolve questions, unlike books where words are all you have.

Chinatown -- Meh, a fine detective story but nothing really clicked with me. The director’s life is wild, though. He escaped the holocaust, had his pregnant wife murdered by the Manson family, and is currently a fugitive from justice for raping a 13 year old.

The Core -- Like The Perfect Storm, appealing in the “so bad it’s good” way.

Porco Rosso -- Think the type of character study of Kiki’s Delivery Service, but about a middle-aged man, so it doesn’t resonate with Miyazaki’s audience enough for many people to talk about it.

Uncut Gems -- My second time watching it, it’s definitely a favorite. Between this and A Serious Man, I seem to love extremely stressful movies about mediocre jewish men.

The Manchurian Candidate (1962) -- Interesting to compare/contrast with the other version. I like both

Galaxy Quest -- another movie that fits my personal definition of what “sitcom” should mean. Again, not my favorite type of humor

Fantastic Planet -- Looks like something between the animated sketches in Monty Python and Pink Floyd’s The Wall. Very weird, it personally really worked for me.

Scarface -- I think romanticising organized crime is fun and cool. 

In the Heights -- colorful, catchy, happy and fun. 

Books

The House in the Cerulean Sea -- a good comfort-read. very simplistic and a little clunky and amateur-ish, but ultimately pretty cute.

There There -- not a comfort-read at all. A super raw look at the modern life of a variety of Native American situations. Very harsh but also interesting.

Six of Crows -- Fine YA fantasy fluff.

[kagemajaya]

pet - A beautiful and tense journey through the peaks and valleys of memories

Winter 2020, Geno Studio - 7/10

Hiroki appreciates the idyllic imagery of the landscape of memories

This season has been bountiful for me and pet was one of the main contributors to this success. Despite my avoidance of tense and emotionally exhausting topics, going through pet was easy. First and foremost, pet was a champ in the department of visual storytelling and I expected nothing less from my favorite director Oomori Takahiro. Whilst I don’t always fall in love with all the stories he adapts into anime, I know that he will never make a show that underestimates its audience and that the story will always have heart. And pet didn’t disappoint.

The main attraction of the show for me is the depth of emotion and the psychological struggles it portrays in characters I actually care about.  Of the main foursome, Hiroki was an immediate favourite with his sweet, naive and just nature, followed by an interest in his “boyfriend” Tsukasa, mostly because of the creepiness he exuded but also because he still wasn’t unlikeable - he did really care for Hiroki. Their relationship, of course, was a big draw in itself - immediately intimate and full of innuendo, much like the rest of the narrative around the co-dependency between image users who give and receive peaks from each other (peaks represent the best memory that make up the entire psyche of a human being.) This almost surface-level subtext never disappointed despite all the drama surrounding each other’s value in each of these four characters.

I’m not one to say no to an intense bout of connecting in memories.

In some cases the relationship drama made me sad - because why couldn’t Hayashi prioritise Tsukasa? Why was it always Satoru who came first? It gave me a dark pleasure in some - Tsukasa’s intense need for Hiroki to be with him drowned out his need for Hiroki to be okay. He just needed him around no matter what. In others, it made me stray away from the emotional core a bit - who cares about this supernatural Chinese mafia and their politics? I’m not one for the gangster stories. I need beauty and elegance in my crimes rather than grit. I was also a bit suspicious about the extremely over-the-top vibe in some dramatic scenes. Tsukasa confronting Hayashi felt almost hammed up to me.

At the end of it all, pet delivered a finale that made the uninteresting bits suddenly interesting and made the interesting but confusing bits all the more deep. A lot of the drama was actually caused by the limited emotional capacity of these four, who had a different developmental period than normal people. They couldn’t create their own memories and they didn’t feel their own emotions until someone else came to save them. The nicer, more naive and newer pets like Hiroki and Satoru felt exactly like that - pets. They were not treated as equals and were clearly tricked into all sorts of situations they didn’t want to be in. More importantly, they didn’t even want to think, they didn’t know how to form their own opinions, but despite the lack of basics in emotions, they still grew those. It was easier to see that they were indeed limited in their capacity to not feel (because they felt a GREAT deal) but in their capacity to make sense of it and control it.

The older, cleverer characters like Hayashi and Tsukasa looked well-adjusted on the surface until past halfway, where we could see the cracks in their armor. Hayashi prioritised his younger “child” Satoru, not because he didn’t love Tsukasa but because he thought Tsukasa could have been a lost cause in the hands of the Company, whereas he had been able to take care of Satoru till recently. Thinking back on it, this fact didn’t make me feel relieved for Tsukasa because in the end he was relegated to a secondary position, but it made sense. Hayashi was not cruel, he only had the capacity to prioritize one particular feeling (or person in this case.) He had even thought of Hiroki and wanted to bring him out despite not even having met him but more than anything he had to get Satoru out.

Hayashi’s protective feelings for Tsukasa were more hurtful than warm. After all, he was always the “too.”

Tsukasa, himself, was acting in a lot of scenes but this was not true for all scenes where he was emotional - despite giving the impression. The confrontation scene with Hayashi was as hammed up as the scene where he was putting on a performance for Satoru, but the truth is he was just unable to express himself in a way that was genuine. His emotional baggage was of course far bigger than this. After all, he even groomed himself a perfect pet after he was betrayed by his peak giver. He wanted someone to trust and he could only trust someone who would be on his side unconditionally. His actions (and thoughts) made it obvious that he didn’t see Hiroki as an equal, but the question is was that also his feelings? If anything, Hiroki (and Hayashi) were put on a pedestal and he could not live without them. However, he didn’t really understand how to go about keeping them without thinking about himself first. He had been self-centered for so long that it was impossible to think of anything other than himself. He’d never learnt to.

Tsukasa’s perfect world.

And the Company - I didn’t care about this plotline until the last episode where the connection between Katsuragi and LianLian was revealed. And what a way to end it! Suddenly I was emotionally connected to the evil goon, doing the bidding of his superiors and nothing else the whole season (and he had no gay storyline to boot, so a tough sell for me :)). 

The sad ending was coming from miles away - but pet also surprised me in that regard. The ending could be viewed in two different ways. The source material had been a completed manga for a long time until recently, in which case, it looked like the “stupid” ending of the naive pets, looking optimistically into the future, never likely to have what they want. We do now know that a sequel is starting that focuses on the lives of Tsukasa, Hiroki and Satoru after this point, and I, for one, am excited to see a somewhat happy follow-up to this tense but strangely sweet psychological drama. We might end up finding out about more rules surrounding how memories and images work (though that plot itself is not necessarily my main concern.) And who knows? Maybe Hiroki and Satoru will really bring Tsukasa to their peak and Tsukasa will relearn how to make memories and they will live happily ever after. A girl can dream...  Though I still must add, the conclusion is a perfect one as it is, not entirely sad, but really just two fool’s dream that we can also choose to believe in.

The peak that bestows hope on all who is destitute

Putting aside the story elements, the show itself is crafted superbly both visually and narratively. The imagery was almost never outright explained but always visible and giving a pleasant rush to me when I noticed them.

Don’t kill the innocent pets! They understand nothing about the evils of the world they live in. 

The dissonance between thoughts, feelings and actions of the childish but equally deep main four was showcased well in all dialogues, but especially in the confrontation scene between Tsukasa and Satoru in episode 12. Both characters didn’t suspect they were wrong despite both of them being half-wrong. The pacing of the dialogue allowed both their thoughts and actual words to be conveyed but also showed us in great detail how underdeveloped they were emotionally. Their understanding of those external to them was somewhat complex, it’s not like any normally raised human being can figure out all the things that were happening in that situation, so it was realistic that they wouldn’t understand it all. More importantly, their self-awareness levels were way below the threshold that would allow them to flourish in a cruel environment, surrounded by people who were hellbent on taking advantage of them and seeing them merely as pets. It made for a fascinating watch - the cleverness of it all was the depth of the characters who I’d classify as idiots in a lot of ways. As someone who very rarely enjoys idiot characters, I’d call this experience an orgasmic pleasure.

Takes one to know one.

One last word about Ueda Keisuke, the seiyuu of Hiroki. The genuineness and sweetness portrayed in the character hugely owed to the great voice work of the actor. I had heard him in Oushitsu Kyoushi Heine before as the titular character Heine and noticed his distinct tones, but hadn’t felt anything beyond that. Hiroki’s performance, however, affected me to my core. Looking back on Heine now, I really appreciate the sense of distinctiveness he can grant the characters he plays. Heine was not an attractive character for me, so I didn’t care at the time as his voice fit him perfectly - it was not particularly attractive. With Hiroki, he put on a performance with a completely different range of emotions that retrospectively, I can put Heine together with Hiroki,  and see what a great voice actor he is. Here’s hoping for more roles for Ueda in the future! (Apparently he is a stage actor as well, but selfishly, I hope he becomes a full time seiyuu.)

Ask me again in that voice, you sweet little child.

The overall tension and the focus on two young men and their relationship, in addition to the matter of their survival within a gangster world remind me of Banana Fish but I must caveat that I intensely dislike BF for failing to do all the things pet did perfectly - from a genuine relationship and real characters other than the very main character, tragedy as a harrowing storytelling medium rather than the sake of having it there (and without respite,) drama that is not cheesy despite being over-the-top in places (with good reason) and imagery that served the narrative which closed the loop, without leaving any threads untouched. 

As the pull of the show is the emotional co-dependency between the male cast for me, I have a hard time narrowing down my actual recommendations for pet. There are so many of them, and they are not necessarily similar to the show in other respects. I will name a few of my favorites here if you are up for gay love/obsession as a theme in tense, non-romantic anime, with characters who aren’t quite in touch with their emotions: Shigurui, Saraiya Goyou, Kenpuu Denki Berserk, and 91 Days might do the trick. Let me know your thoughts!

[drooliasnott]

Return To Dust, My Love

Very recently, the last few evenings of my relaxation time have been spent languorously re-digesting my views as an adult on the Barry Sonnenfeld feature films, The Addams Family (1991) and The Addams Family Values (1993), based on the original characters by artist Charles Addams. Although there have been many adaptations over the years of the distinctly macabre and darkly wonderful family life of the Addams clan, no other cinematic versions grasp the mythology quite like these movies do. And in light of the brand spanking new trailer for the 2019 animated feature, which I admit had caught me completely off guard and a little alarmed, I thought no better time exists than now to delve back into exactly what kind of black magic it is that makes this source material just so enjoyable and unique. 

Though the Sonnenfeld films are nearly undeniably the jewel of the franchise, one cannot examine the Addams Family appropriately without appreciation for its origin. The energy and attitude generated at its inception by Charles (Chas) Addams for The New Yorker in the late 30′s feels unique even for the time. At 150 single panels, the original comic was a divisive satire on the modern 20th century family that was not only cheeky and clever, but also at times very beautifully rendered. Chas himself was an enthusiastic if not sometimes obsessive artist, often described as drawing with “a happy vengeance.” The through line of the story continues to this day to be positive relationships found within a family. All this plus a heavy splash of aristocratic dignity thrown into the mix, and The Addams Family has proven from the beginning to be a very distinct and sometimes even delightfully surprising blend of flavors. 

 Despite the fact that Chas Addams had already well established his characters by the time he came in contact with writer Ray Bradbury, their connection is felt in every further adaptation of the title. While Addams continued to serialize his strip in The New Yorker, Bradbury separately had begun his own endeavor in creating a monster family of sorts, The Elliotts, beginning their narrative with the short story “Homecoming” in 1946. All tales concerning the Elliotts involve the clan slowly gathering together in a mysterious house at the top of a hill, while each short focuses more intimately on the powers of a different, particular family relative. All Elliot stories were later collected in a book, From The Dust Returned, published in 2001, but portions of it have existed in different publications long before then, most notably Bradbury’s famous The October Country. Finding a kinship between them, Addams and Bradbury discussed a potential long-format collaboration, though unfortunately this never came to fruition. However, Addams did supply an original illustration for Bradbury’s “Homecoming”, which is still in use as a dust cover today. The striking resemblance the Elliott House shares with the Addams house is but one of many aesthetic touch points which will last for the rest of the series.  

The groundwork for the series was strong enough to launch several adaptations over the subsequent several decades, finding more palatable viewing content in the mostly forgettable and very safe 60′s television show, which was plain enough to get the Addams Family strip banned from The New Yorker for banal taste, until editor William Shawn’s retirement in 1987. Meanwhile, the 70′s offered an explosion of further efforts to market the title to children and average american joes, producing TV specials and animated crossovers to mixed results.  

It wasn’t until the 90′s when Orion, who by then had inherited the production rights, decided to begin work on a feature film. With a simple return to the story’s roots, the company assigned first timer Barry Sonnenfeld to direct 1991′s The Addams Family. The process was fraught with setbacks and pitfalls, and when the budget rose too high for the struggling company to justify continuing further, the decision was made to sell the film to Paramount, who finished the production and handled distribution. Though it was also met with mixed reviews, it was commercially successful enough to merit the stranger, longer, and bizarrely even brighter sequel, The Addams Family Values. 

Returning to the core of what made the original content special, both 90′s films focused heavily, if not borderline exclusively on matters of familial struggle. However, unlike many of the earlier adaptations, the 90′s films also took great care to place special emphasis on elements of the family which do function well, something which is delightfully counter-intuitive overall. A particular portion of that credit goes to the fantastic casting of the films, the warm and vivacious Raul Julia as the erratic, sensual, and often charmingly innocent Gomez, Anjelica Houston as the ageless, witchy, white-marbled Morticia, Christina Ricci as the irreverent, sharp-witted outlier Wednesday, and Christopher Loyd as the bug-eyed, emotionally un-tethered uncle Fester all make for a very difficult call on whose performance is best above all. Dana Ivey is a delight to hate as Margaret, and Judith Malina is a joy to laugh at as Grandma, but it is really the core cast that shines beyond any previous actors, and it is because of this chemistry that the family relationships can really resonate. Two dynamics in particular stand out as specifically exceptional;

GOMEZ AND MORTICIA ADDAMS

Opposite most long term monogamous relationships portrayed in media, Gomez and Morticia have a sustained romance which continues to burn more and more fiercely as time goes on. However, what makes their marriage unique as a film element is not necessarily their passion (and subsequently very active sex life,) but the equality found present within the marriage. They not only share common interests, (and possibly distant relatives?) but also take into consideration the same moral and social obligations. They value each other’s opinions, and both seek to create situations where the other can live as their best possible self. They are uninhibited in their public declarations of affection, and are adamantly devoted to their children, the family as a whole, and preserving the generations-long Addams way of doing things. They strongly adhere to old traditions, but as a couple they also are surprisingly malleable, attempting to navigate difficulties as a unit, though admittedly Gomez is occasionally a bit less good at doing this.

Gomez and Morticia consistently present a unified front to the Addams clan, and serve as the centerpiece in any scene they inhabit together, even in the very Ray Bradbury-esque gathering of Addamses for Uncle Fester’s surprise party during the finale of The Addams Family. The party is in celebration of Fester, but it is really Gomez and Morticia who serve as the jewels of the scene. It is the strength of their affection on which the emotional crux of the finale swings. What further enhances the succor of this particular relationship again falls to the actors, as time and time again Raul Julia shows a rending vulnerability in the way he portrays Gomez. It seems Gomez is still half-stuck in childhood, or maybe he lives in some tumultuous place inbetween as his innocent heart tet-a-tets with the passionate desires of a man. Morticia in turn seems ageless and timeless, a solid rock on which Gomez can throw his emotions again and again, and it is their intense and unique personality peculiarities that in the end fit them together in perfect harmony.  For a family as bizarre as the Addamses, their relationship is healthier than any other relationship found in canon, or in general just in film at large. 

   WEDNESDAY ADDAMS 

An interesting blend of sociopathy, pragmatism, nihilism, isolationism, and just plain attitude exists in tandem inside Wednesday Addams. It would be too basic to call her an outsider, because though she is aware of her differences, she makes no effort to enhance, emphasize, or change them in any way. She differs even from the Addamses in her nuclear family, citing specifically in The Addams Family Values to her dorky crush Joel that if a man were to ever love her unconditionally, to devote his life completely to her, that she would pity him. This seems a direct call-out of her father Gomez, the coldness of which is both cutting and fitting. She follows up by rebuffing Joel’s clumsy advances with saying she would murder that same, loving man. A literal death threat is as true to her character as much as it is a dime-turn from her behavior towards Joel in the film leading up to that moment. As a young woman, she has already begun to clearly define herself as free and independent, even within the context of the family.

 Wednesday’s views on the relationship her parents share is one of cautious distance, while she also still has her own loving, healthy relationships with both parents individually. Though they love one another, in almost every case Wednesday tends to slant slightly darker, taking the more macabre path of her own accord in a family already well-suited to that kind of thinking. She is both sharper and wittier than her father, and crueler than her mother, and often interacts with Pugsley as if he were a sort of accessory at worst, or sidekick at best. She shows him solidarity as an Addams, but also constantly tries to expunge him so she can be the only child, which is a vendetta she furthers at the birth of Pubert in The Addams Family Values. Many comparisons have been drawn to similar characters of the time, of Lydia from Beetlejuice and Nancy from The Craft, but I would argue Wesnesday’s alignment falls closer to the Daria camp, as she is already firmly established in her thoughts about the neutral impact of family, the trouble with idiot boys, and the negative experience of outside society. Wednesday is purely independent, and resonates a sense of deep internal knowledge and self-worth that extends beyond the parameters of her identity as merely an Addams, and in that way she makes a strangely excellent role model. 

Following the success of both The Addams Family and The Addams Family Values, the series moved on to a saturday morning cartoon of parallel quality with the animated Beetlejuice cartoon. A following additional live TV series, The New Addams Family, also made it to broadcast, but the opinion of most viewers is that the entirety of it should be thrown in a river and destroyed forever. A cancelled Tim Burton adaptation also briefly existed, counteracting the 90′s film aesthetic which seemed pretty much already to be a restrained version of his personal flavor of set design. This leads to today, and the beginning of this meta, when this afternoon I saw the trailer for the 2019 CG animated reboot of the franchise, inexplicably also titled The Addams Family.

Though I respect the nature of some reboots, stylistic updates for one thing seeming somewhat necessary to keep old content fresh, the new trailer immediately had me skeptical. Though the new designs very closely resemble Chas Addam’s orginal designs from The New Yorker strip, something vital seems to be missing, and there is a strange liberty taken with some of the new character models which feels disharmonious, and even borderline disrespectful. And though The Addams Family has a rich and storied history of zany one-liners and satirical cheekiness, the lines delivered in the trailer seem to fall flat. Though many series in this franchise in past have been saltine cracker level boring, one would expect a reboot this late in the game in the popular Pixar-launched CG style would be an opportunity to inject new life back into the old series. But something seems off, and this in turn brings me at last finally back around to the 90′s films. 

The reason the Sonnenfeld 90′s films were good is easy; they have a subterranean classiness. Pulling Bradbury back into it, the earliest and best iteration of the series is infused with a rich, sensual, and genuine darkness. Bradbury's stink is all over the films, from the set design to the Addams Family reunion ball, to the serious performances given to obscene, ludicrous roles and a questionably weak script, by very talented actors. The suburbs seem more ridiculous when the pastel, unfeeling beastliness of uniformity is stood up next to dark, dank, meaty, loving weirdness of oddballs. To make satire work, one has to play a game of balance. Without salty, sweet will never taste quite right, but balance in storytelling has many levels. Visual balance is one thing, but one must also have careful emotional balance. The 90′s films maintain an underlying level of sincerity and integrity, which is what is required to counter the punchy, often goofy scripts and scenarios. The films were good because they had just as much heart as the Addamses themselves, and without heart, a movie will never have any true substance. 

The track record this franchise has with creatively successful projects is pretty poor, but one can hope the example of cult excellence set by the 90′s movies will infuse into some part of the future film, and maybe into further projects later down the line. Voicing your opinion on pop culture subject material is something I believe in as a means to guide new content created in the future, so if you have thoughts on the new movie after it airs, let the world know! Help create the kind of content you want to see in the world by building a healthy, respectful discourse. Only time will tell if the 2019 Addams Family will be any good, but I’ll keep watching till then.

If you enjoyed reading this, drop me a line and let me know! I’m considering writing more meta for other films, and have dabbled up until this point with TV meta, so if you’d like more content in this vein I’d be glad to hear it. Suggestions welcome, though no timetable is attached. Thanks for reading!

[ebaeschnbliah]

KILLING  THE  BEST   FRIEND

________________________________________________________________

After the events shown in Sherlock BBCs ‘The Final Problem’ it really looks like the connections between ‘the skull’, the ‘best friend’ and ‘sacrifying/killing the best friend’ are one of the most important components of the whole story. If not the most important at all. And on a metaphorical level it makes all the sense in the world too.

If you like, enjoy this idea under the cut …

Four cases, four characters, four different stories and each one circles round ‘the death of a best friend’.

a scientist (Frankland)

a detective (Sherlock)

a friend (anonym)

a sister (Eurus)

The Hounds of Baskerville

Little Henry witnesses how his father is murdered by Bob Frankland, his best friend. The scientist and Henry’s father are compared to Sherlock and John.

HENRY: Well, mates are mates, aren’t they? I mean, look at you and John.

For a subtext-reading I recommend @sagestreet ‘s ‘Follow the dog’ meta.

The Reichenbach Fall

JIM: Your friends will die if you don’t. SHERLOCK: John.

The showdown on Bart’s roof leaves two ‘dead’ men behind. Each of them forced the other one to commit suicide. And by doing this, Sherlock kills John’s best friend …. himself.

The Abominable Bride

EMELIA: Swiftly now. No Tears.

A ‘faithful sister’ asks an anonymous friend to kill her. This starts a war which divides ‘the world’ and lets loose invisible armies, raging furies, a monstrous regiment, a mysterieous cult ... subdued for a long time and not allowed to raise their voices. 

The Final Problem

There are no dog bones in the well as expected. What emerges out of the water of the well is the skull of little Victor, who once had been Sherlock’s best friend. 

In TFP the human skull in the hands of Sherlock’s best friend John, closes the circle backwards 

to the skull on the mantlepiece in the living room of 221b Baker Street

to Sherlock, who introduces that skull as ‘friend of mine.’ and

to John’s question ‘So I’m basically filling in for your skull?’  

The ‘skull’ and the ‘friend’ are merging into one another …. thereby connecting Victor, John and RedBeard.   (More on that topic X)

And then, there is Eurus, the ‘other one’, the sister who supposedly put the skull/the friend in the well. Eurus, who wears a knitted cardigan very similar to John’s jumper. Another connection.

The ghost and the skull

a sister can be called a nun

a headless nun is a sister without a head, without a face, without a skull

Sherlock once had a case … code word ‘headless nun’

a headless nun can be a very effective ingredient of a ghost story

Sherlock accuses Mycroft … ‘You turned my sister into a ghost story:’

Sherrinford is the abode of ‘ghost sister’ Eurus

and in the well at Musgrave Hall lies a skull … 

A headless ghost sister and a skull without a body. This still untold story seems to be all about some dramatic division in the past and because of that it almost screams for an end with a ‘reunion’ of skull and body. Of head and transport? Of intellect and emotions? Because ‘just a head’ - even the most cleverest one - isn’t able to exist on its own forever? And eventually the neglected ghost of a body, treated like transport, necessary but annoying, for far too long ….. awakens, begins to stir and demands to be heard. 

In other words: .... a snowcaped mountain starts rumbling, becaus it actually is a volcano ….

“Sherlock Holmes, again, must have sexual impulses because human beings tend to -- most human beings, not absolutely all, but that's the majority. The fact is, he decides to put all that in an iron box to make his brain work better. Of course, the fact that that iron box bounces around and shakes and bangs from the inside is what makes the story interesting. He wants to rise above us like a snowcapped mountain, but he's actually a volcano, and that's where the story is. That's where the story is. You know, you shove Irene Adler in front of him, and he just falls apart like most men would.”

Steven Moffat on Sherlock (IGN interview, February 2014)

On a metaphorical level, what does Irene represent in this story? Sexuality. Irene is Mrs. Sex.  I wrote about it in ‘Explosive ... it’s more me’.  Jim Moriarty - Mr. Sex - represents Sherlock’s very own sex drive. Irene and Jim, both are gay and it looks very much like both are returning by the end of TFP.

Experimenting with  metaphors

The metaphor creates the world - the time and place; the who, what, when, where and why. Metaphor literally means to "carry over," to substitute one thing for another. To describe one thing by means of another. To describe something that is unknown by the use of things that are known.  (Metaphors in story writing and moviemaking)

Exploring the story told in Sherlock BBC has always fascinated me. And this fascination multiplied since the day I started to suspect that there’s maybe more to discover in it than the already highly interesting, coded subtext …. that even the surface level of that story might consist of carefully crafted metaphors used by the creators to paint a picture. The picture of Sherlock painting a picture inside of his own mind. A picture of himself.

SHERLOCK: Oh, hello again, Archie. What’s your theory? Get this right and there’s a headless nun in it for you. ARCHIE: The invisible man could do it. SHERLOCK: The who, the what, the why, the when, the where?  (TSOT)

That this story isn’t only told from Sherlock’s POV but - for the first time in history - Sherlock Holmes himself has become the storyteller. And all the stories he creates and tells himself inside his head - on a mind stage - are presented through Sherlock’s own metaphors, acted out by different characters, clothed in varying costumes, hidden behind masks, some distorted, some made visble by mirrors. 

The truth of the matter is that the underlying universal structures of great stories hide some amazing bits of wisdom concerning who we really are and who we were really meant to be, and what we can do to become fully realized human beings - but to keep these amazing hidden bits of truth potent and relevant, the metaphors that express them have to be constantly renewed and kept fresh - i.e. the underlying story and message stays the same but the costumes and other outer trappings have to keep changing with the times.  (Metaphors in story writing and moviemaking)

Metaphors in storytelling have been used since humans are telling their stories. And inventing, creating or rewriting stories can also have a great healing effect that should not be underestimated. 

In oral and written language, using the medium of picture imagery, metaphor speaks directly to our imaginative faculties, bypassing our rational brain. Such metaphoric byways and pathways enable us to explore the ideas, forces, and powers that lie behind or beyond our rational thought. Metaphors reach deep into our soul imagination and, simply stated, “touch our heart.”  ... In Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s book The Little Prince we learn a simple secret from the fox:  “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; What is essential is invisible to the eye.”   (Therapeutic Storytelling)

Basically, this is the advice that Ella Thopson, the changeable therapist, gives at the beginning of the story, in PILOT/ASIP:  “.... and it will help so much to write about everything that’s happening to you.”

Metaphors of ‘change’

There exist some key metaphors to express change and inner transformations, that are present in the literature of all world cultures (X).

Transitioning from caterpillar to butterfly

Awakening from the dream of reality

Uncovering the veils of illusion

Moving from captivity to liberation

Purification by inner fire

Going from darkness to light

Moving from fragmentation into wholeness

Moving through life events as a journey or path

Returning to the source

Dying and being reborn

Unfolding the tree of our life

It seems that more than one of those examples can be discovered in Sherlock BBC. 

The metaphorical killing of the ‘best friend’

As the saying goes: ‘Old skin has to be shed before the new one can come’. Before any significant change can happen, traditional opinions and views must be challenged, altered and overcome. In The Big Question I tried to work out the core problem Sherlock seems to be dealing with:

There is friendship and there is love, between Holmes and Watson. Ever has been … unchanged … for more than hundred years. I guess no one would deny that. But a loving friendship is not the same as a romantic and sexual relationship.  

If the traditional relationship between Dr. John Watson, the ‘fixed point in a changing age’, the eternal ‘best friend’ of Sherlock Holmes should change into a romantic and sexuell relationship, it makes sense that on a metaphorical level:

first the facade needs to go

then the ‘best friend’ can be killed

to finally make way for the ‘lover’

And if this change comes to pass through Sherlock’s own investigations, deductions and conclusions, it makes also sense that it is Sherlock who sacrifices himself in his role as Mary/facade and then shoots John/best friend in his incarntion as Elsa/Eurus …. just as it happens at the end of TST and TLD.

Sherlock’s ‘I love you’ confession in front of a mirror, directed at a mirror, followed a little later by the statement of his former facade ‘I know you two; and if I’m gone, I know what you could become’ ... happens in the very next episode. 

A fitting and promising developement of a story that deals with the reunion of intellect and emotion and the metamorphosis from ‘best friend’ to ‘lover’.

Nonetheless, S5 would be highly appreciated at this point. :)))

I leave you to your own deductions. Thanks @callie-ariane for the scripts.

January, 2019

@gosherlocked @raggedyblue @sarahthecoat @possiblyimbiassed @spenglernot  @loveismyrevolution @sherlockshadow @sagestreet

​

[katrinajg]

So, the AO3 editor and I have been at odds these last few days because for some reason it wouldn’t accept the changes I was trying to make to a section of my latest chapter since it totally kiboshed like 10+ paragraphs with no rhyme or reason. 

I finally got it fixed by, so the missing paragraphs are present, but if anyone doesn’t feel like searching the chapter for the bits you missed, I present that scene here for your convenience. 

- - - -

...Nick goes back to surprised in the blink of an eye. He stares at Deacon, uncertain. “Are you…serious, kid?”

“As a deathclaw attack.”

Nick still stares at him, wavering

“See, I realized something when I was talkin’ with JH. He knows everything about me and because of that, when he tells me shit that I don’t wanna hear, I end up listening to him (after a fight) because…he’s got all the pieces, ya know? He sees it all. Even though the things that he says to me are almost exactly the kind of things you’ve already said me, but I don’t take you seriously because I’ve, like, withheld the last pieces, and it… shouldn’t be like that. With us.”

Deacon closes the distance between them and lays a hand on Nick’s arm. “I know that this isn’t gonna be happy fun times because the past is like my least favourite topic, but we’re partners, Nick. In every sense of the word, and you deserve to be let in that last little bit, more importantly, I want you in.”

“Jack…” Nick breaths, overwhelmed.

“Took me long enough, right?”

Nick huff a breath of laughter. “Yeah, as annoyin’ as it was, but I woulda waited forever for you.”

“Surprise! You don’t have to. For just five easy payments of $19.99 you can have it all!”

“Jokes on you then, ‘cause I already had it all. I have you.”

Deacon considers continuing to make light of the situation, but he’d rather bask in the saccharine sentimentality of that last statement. So, he does.

They end up on the couch that used to occupy the spot that Nick’s bed used to back when Ellie still lived in the agency. He sits close to Nick, but not close enough to touch. It’ll be easier to talk if he can just power through it rather than having Nick try to comfort him. He appreciates where that comes from, but its better for him if he gets it out first before the comfort comes. It’s easier to feel worthy of it then.

And Nick being Nick, goes for the jugular first question out. “The Outcasts, kid. What did they do to you to warrant…that.”

Deacon sighs and wishes they could have built up to this, but he supposes that by now, Nick has most of the picture figured out. He wouldn’t be much of a detective if he didn’t, so the questions he’s going to ask are things that either aren't clear or there’s too much of a variation in versions for him to believe anything but the source.

So he starts back a bit and explains that after the Brotherhood and the people he had gathered to the cause defeated the Enclave forces at the Purifier and then again at Raven Rock (here Nick nods, indicating that he’s heard this part of the tale from someone already), glossing over the part where he almost died at the Purifier because that’ll just veer the whole conversation off, that he returned to Raven Rock, while the Brotherhood were busy preparing for their strike on Adams Air Force Base.

“I had this idea of what kinda person Eden was after listening to him talk on the radio for months, and I just couldn’t reconcile that…naïve vision with reality. I wanted Eden to be the person I thought he was, but I also knew that he wasn’t and that I couldn’t let the Brotherhood get a hold of him.”

“Is Henry that person now?” Nick asks, voice carefully neutral. Huh. Deacon can’t remember actually making that connection out loud, but again, he is dealing with a detective.

“Yes and no? I mean, that idea was based on a public image that was carefully crafted to appear human, but Eden wasn’t human, and neither is JH, so he’ll always be…different in some ways than a human, but I do trust him. He’s not the same person he was.”

Deacon continues with his story, giving a synopsis of that conversation in the wreck of Raven Rock, that he’d meant to destroy Eden before the Brotherhood arrived to pick through the crumbling ruin, he how he learned that it was Eden that rescued him from Braun’s clutches and that the Enclave had kept his father’s body as a peace offering.

“Before telling me all that, Eden asked that I spare his life. Take a copy of his core programming on a holotape.”

“The one you used to keep in your pocket all the time,” Nick says, putting the pieces together rapidly, and Deacon nods. “I had wondered what happened to it.”

“I plugged it in.”

“So, have you decided if its gonna save the Wasteland or destroy it?”

Deacon shrugs. “I won’t really know until it happens, will I? But I’m optimistic.”

After he had the modified holotape in his hands and the remaining programming was purged from the ZAX computer, Deacon knew he had to hide the tape. He might fool the Brotherhood for a while, under the assumption that an Enclave soldier wiped the system before the Brotherhood scribes could get there, but he knew that eventually, they would come to the conclusion that he might have had something to do with it.

He did consider for a time about hiding it in the deactivated bomb in Megaton, but after seeing the town again with all its people, Deacon couldn't risk the Brotherhood tampering with the bomb and causing it to go off in their efforts to find the tape. So, in the end, he decided to give it to Amata to hide. After all, no one could get into a vault if the residents didn’t want them in; that’s what he thought anyway. Deacon hadn’t counted on the Outcasts ability to get into places they weren’t welcome, nor had he considered that after Sarah Lyons confronted him about the missing data that she would go so far as to sick the Outcasts on his vault.

“I thought after everything we’d been through together, that Sarah would trust me about the data,” Deacon says, anger dampened somewhat by time. “But, she was more concerned with bringing the two halves of the Brotherhood together rather than a few vault dwellers.

“I hated her for it. Still do. I thought I meant more than just a bed warmer. But to be fair, she was my pathetic attempt at a replacement for Amata, so I suppose she was just as cut by me as I was by her.”

Funny how now that he talks about it, he sees her side of the story somewhat. Not that he’s any less angry about it, but he can understand how she must have felt when she realized that Deacon didn’t care for her the same way she cared for him.

“So…these Outcasts killed Amata?”

“They killed everyone in my vault, Amata included.” He takes a moment swallow through the grief that brings up. “Probably first since she was Overseer.”

Nick touches his arm for a moment as he says, “I’m sorry, Jack.”

“Yeah. Me too.” Then, Deacon curls in on himself as he says, “Ya know, I’m angry at her too. For not giving it up. I coulda done something about that, but I couldn’t keep them from killing her. Mostly, I’m angry at me for giving it to her in the first place.”

“You couldn’t’ve foreseen that, kid. It’s not your fault. Hindsight is always 20/20.”

“Maybe, but what came after was totally in my hands to control.”

And so here they are. At the crux of it all. The reason he left. The reason he couldn’t stand to look at his face in the mirror anymore. The reason why it was easier to spin a few dozen lies in place of one terrible truth.

He tells Nick about finding the vault, about having to see his whole family dead, shot in the back while running, a few with discarded 10mm pistols by their sides and holes burnt in their chests from laser fire, and about finding Amata and holding her cold body and crying. Even Andy, their Mr. Handy, was dead, so he had to haul all their bodies to the incinerator himself.

That gave him a lot of time to think and stew in his rage.

When he realized that they hadn’t even got what they wanted he was furious, beyond even rage. He both cold and calculating with it, and on fire with the need to destroy everything, it was like no other emotions existed in the world, had existed, or would exist.

“I scared Sarah that day I went to see her, demanding justice. Hell, I scared the whole damn Citadel and it was full of Brotherhood soldiers in power armour with Gatling lasers and me in crappy leather armour with only a cloak of righteous fury to protect me.”

“I believe it.”

“I wish you didn’t.”

Nick doesn’t respond to that, just touches Deacon’s arm again to reassure him that it doesn’t matter. Not to him. Deacon wishes he could feel like that. Even after everything that JH said to him and made him acknowledge. Knowing that he was in the right and feeling that are so very different.

“I didn’t get what I wanted from her, what I thought I should’ve gotten. Sarah said she’d punish the Outcasts responsible for the slaughter ifI gave her the data—the holotape. I refused. I could only imagine what sort of fresh hell they would bring on the Capital if they got a hold of Eden’s program. If Eden’s program got a hold of them.”

When he left the Citadel, he was already planning how to lure the Outcasts to him to kill them. It’s hard to say that aloud, that he could be so calculatingly cruel, but it’s the truth. He couldn’t assault their base in the Capital, Fort Independence, without dying in a spectacular fashion (at this time, the Outcasts still hadn’t decided to rejoin the Brotherhood, even though the two were tentatively working together on a few projects, most notably, Adams Air Force Base), so he had to lay a trap and ambush them.

That’s how they ended up in Megaton.

“I just had to send out a few rumours about the data being stashed in a lockbox in Megaton, and make sure that few people saw me out of town. The Outcasts couldn’t resist the opportunity. The rest you saw.”

Nick is quiet for a moment after the story and Deacon is certain that more than an hour has passed. He wonders if Leslie is supposed to be back sometime this afternoon.

“So, were they all responsible? The ones you…went after.”

“Some were, but if you want numbers, I don’t have them. If they had the Outcast orange on their armour, I killed them. It didn’t matter then if they were responsible or not.”

Nick sighs. “Well, I can’t say I’m glad that you did that, kid. ‘Specially seein’ as how you’re still dealin’ with the effects of it.”

“Ya, well, join the club.”

Nick gives him a look before he shifts closer. “Jack, I don’t mean it like that. I don't want people to have to do things like that to get justice. I hate that you had to do it.”

“It’s kinda funny, but JH almost said the exact same thing about this subject. And he actually agreed with you about the destroyin’ random shit thing because of basically the same reasons.”

“Go figure.”

“So, what else do you want to know?”

Nick asks some more questions about Braun; he seems incapable of letting that particular dog lie. Deacon would be annoyed if he wasn’t certain that something horrible was going to eventually happen on that front, but he does hate having to think about Vault 112. Then he asks, much to Deacon’s amusement/amazement that he remembered the offhand comment, about how Lincoln got his head back.

And somehow because of that story, which among the stories Deacon has is a good one and one he doesn’t mind sharing, Deacon starts remembering funny things that happened or things that were interesting and don't have that cloud of Brotherhood or Enclave hanging over them. Like Canterbury Commons, Oasis, Sierra and her Nuka Cola museum, or that med-x trip of an adventure at Point Lookout.

Just talking about a story, begets another story, and they all rush to come out.

It isn’t until his stomach is grumbling that Deacon realizes how long he’s been talking. Uninterrupted. Leslie hasn’t returned and Nick still grinning about the talking vault boy bobbleheads that Deacon hallucinated while on that swamp drug. He won’t be grinning when Deacon tells him that the riverboat operator took out a chunk of his brain.

Maybe he’ll just leave that part out.

[cryptovalid]

Star Wars Episode VIII: the Last Jedi...

...is not going to go the way you think. Ended better than it started. I honestly can’t tell anyone if they’re going to love or hate the movie. I understand why it’s so divisive, and I’m not even sure how much I do like it, all told. But I appreciate its ability to surprise me, at least. My only concern in this analysis is the story, and making up my mind about it is harder than I want to admit. SPOILERS under the cut.

Ok, here’s a quick synopsis of the plot:

After the events of the last film, the first order have discovered and attacked the last rebel alliance stronghold, prompting Leia, Poe, Finn and all the other survivors to flee in a small number of ships. Their problem is that the first order has technology that can track their fleet even when they jump to hyperspeed. During the chase, the Rebel leadership dies, with the exception of Leia, who uses the Force to FLY UNAIDED IN THE VACUUM OF SPACE, barely surviving.

This causes a rivalry between the new leader (Laura Dern as Admiral Holdo), and Poe Dameron. Holdo insists that the fleet keep moving forward, while Poe begs her to do something more, as their fuel is running out. Ultimately, this leads Poe to conscript Finn and Rose to recruit a codebreaker so they can disable the First Order’s tracking tech. He even stages a mutiny against Holdo to make sure this plan succeeds (it doesn’t. This entire subplot ends in disaster for the Rebellion).

Meanwhile, Rey meets up with Luke Skywalker, who doesn’t want to join the rebellion, stating he can’t save them. Luke refuses to train Rey at first, fearing she will turn out like Kylo Ren. He implies that there is an inevitable hubris in the Jedi, and it must end. We later discover that Luke, suspecting Ben Solo had already turned to the dark side, had to suppress the urge to kill Ben. Seeing his mentor standing over his bed, lightsaber drawn, is apparently what drove Kylo Ren to join the Sith. 

Rey discovers that she has an involuntary psychic link with Kylo Ren, through which she feels that he is conflicted about his evil deeds. Failing to convince Luke to join her, Rey seeks out Kylo Ren and allows herself to be captured by him. Supreme Leader Snoke then orders him to execute Rey after interrogating her, but Kylo tricks Snoke and kills him instead. 

Rey then attempts to persuade Kylo to return to the light, but he chooses to take Snoke’s place, Rey and Kylo fight to a draw. Rey escapes and Kylo chases the Rebel Fleet to their destination. It is then that we see Admiral Holdo’s plan: to take small, undetectable craft down to a remote rebel base, while their remaining cruiser lures the first order away. And it would have worked if the codebreaker Finn and Rose recruited had not betrayed them. In order to save the Rebel ships, Holdo stays on the cruiser and rams it into the First Order flagship at lightspeed, sacrificing herself.

This only buys them a little time, as the few survivors of the rebellion are now trapped on a planet, assaulted by ground forces. Rey arrives, but is unable to stop their bunkerbusting canon. Finn is ready to sacrifice himself to save the rebellion, but is stopped by Rose. Luke shows up and confronts Kylo, buying Rey enough time to sneak the rebels out of the back of the bunker. In the end, Luke dies. The Rebellion is still on the run, and Kylo Ren is leading the First Order.

First, let’s start with some things I liked, since they are less complicated than the things I disliked.

I like the idea that Luke is disillusioned with the Jedi Order and doesn’t want it to continue. Honestly the movie could have done more to dive in to his criticisms, as I feel they could have made the movie a great deconstruction of the Jedi’s commitment to authority and violence, or their messages about healthy relationships and emotions. It even has the potential to comment on political attitudes toward violence in the real world. As it stands, it seems like the only reason Luke is initially hesitant to join Rey is his fear of her power, fear that she will betray him like Kylo Ren did. Which is not a criticism of the Jedi, but a criticism of his own mistrust of Kylo. It’s not a bad arc, but I would have liked to see a more strident critique of Jedi teachings. 

i like that the movie has an egalitarian message at its core: The Jedi aren’t really special, and Rey’s parents are not tied into the history of Star wars at all. I think the idea that the Force is a power passed down through a couple of bloodlines really undercuts the message that it connects all living things. It’s good to change it up and imply that anyone could tap into the Force, that it belongs to everyone. 

Leia, Finn, Rose and Poe all survive the movie, even though their deaths seemed almost certain at times. The stakes are up for the entire movie, and anything seemed possible. Deaths are numerous but meaningful.

The climactic battle with Snoke is a nice subversion of the expected ‘Lightsaber duel’, and I really like how it did not redeem Kylo Ren, underscoring his emotional immaturity, alienation and deep need for control instead.I also enjoy how this movie shits all over the First Order’s dignity, without trying to make them look cool.   

I really enjoyed the actual plot twists in this movie. Sadly, I spent most of my first viewing frustrated by my own expectations. At times I was convinced that Finn and Leia would die, and that Reylo would become canon. This mercifully did not come to pass. 

The plot elements I did not like are a bit more complicated. I was particularly frustrated with the power struggle between admiral Holdo and Poe. It was very convenient from a plot standpoint. From the beginning, it was obvious that Holdo had a plan she was not sharing with Poe. He doesn’t trust her, so he even goes so far as to stage a mutiny against her. Because of the framing, I spent most of the movie frustrated with both characters. Either one could have communicated a little bit better to prevent most of the movie’s drama. The subplot about finding the codebreaker felt useless anyway.

The movie also isolates Finn and Rey from each other completely. Considering how fun their dynamic was in TFA, this is not an improvement. The whole subplot with Finn and Rose meandered around, and didn’t really reflect the urgency and tone of a high stakes death march through space. Ultimately, nothing Finn and Rose did actually had a positive impact on the Rebellion. This isn’t necessarily an objective flaw in the story, I just dislike that Finn has become a secondary character. Also the Kiss from Rose at the end was completely unexpected. Unlike Rey, Rose doesn’t really get a chance to form a bond with Finn, since their subplot doesn’t involve any real choices to define their characters in contrast with each other. Given how much I like the actors and characters, this is a waste. I was sure, given the context, that Finn and/or Rose would die. Small mercies, I guess. 

Comparatively, the movie spends a lot of time trying to make Kylo more sympathetic, which really rubs me the wrong way, especially because of the way his character parallels real life bigots and spree killers. He fits into a growing real life trend of white men who become desillusioned with basic decency when they don’t get what they want, and lash out violently in retribution. Episode VII made it crystal clear that Kyle Ron has spent his entire adult life murdering and torturing unarmed people, participating in a explicitly fascist regime that enslaves children and commits genocide. All the while, several people give him ample opportunity  to opt out, and he threatens to murder them every time. The only time his supposed ‘conflicted’ nature actually stops him from murdering is when he’s emotionally invested in his victim already. Redeeming a nazi-analog is not impossible, but it is also not cheap. Making minor exceptions to your violent outbursts is not a sign that you’re a good person at heart. It’s typical abuser behavior. How much slack are we supposed cut this asshole? Did he really turn to the dark side simply because Luke thought he already turned, contemplating killing him? Sure, this is traumatic as fuck. Is Rian Johnson aware of what this means for the nazi analogy? Will this be dealt with in more detail in the next movie?

It is no secret that there are many Kylo Ren apologists out there. People downplaying his own agency and the severity of his crimes. Shipping him with Rey, a woman he has kidnapped, threatened, assaulted and violated. It’s hard not to see this movie as vindicating or at least baiting them. It matters, in the end, how Kylo’s arc wraps up. And honestly, I can’t think of a way to redeem Kylo Ren that wouldn’t be gross. How could Kyle realize that murdering people was wrong all along, given the chances he’s been given? What message does that send to victims of abuse? That no matter how many times he’s shown you that he feels entitled to hurting you, you have to keep being compassionate because he will eventually, when things look really bad for you, make a sacrifice to save you, redeeming himself? Is it even possible for a murderer as wilfull and committed as Kylo to make a heel turn, given that he’s already tried to kill everyone he cares about?

I’m also a bit confused about this movie’s message about the Jedi. Luke hems and haws about continuing their traditions, but there’s no actual attempt to get into a discussion about it. Yoda tells Luke to teach Rey, but destroys the texts when Luke hesitates to. And then Luke dies without speaking to Rey. Maybe I shouldn’t expect a thesis statement here, but I think strong opposing arguments would make it clearer what the movie is trying to say.

So it should be clear why The Last Jedi is so polarizing. It doesn’t go the way anyone expected it to, and it deliberately steps away from anything that came before it. Whatever you think Jedi used to be is now obsolete. Anyone can tap into the Force, and it doesn’t come down to special blood. That’s bound to alienate long term fans who are really invested in canon. I actually like this, and the way it sets up future stories to have their own meaning.  

On the other side, the movie really focuses on building expectations for Kyle Ron’s redemption and makes Finn, Poe and Rose partially responsible for the death of the rebellion, sidelining them in the process. Again, this isn’t an objective mistake, but I do not like it at all. I really like Finn and in particular, his relationship with Rey, which is absent in the movie.

Kyle Ron is a good villain, but trying to build empathy for him actually backfires. Yeah, discovering your mentor uncle thinks you’re evil and wants to kill you is fucked up. Feeling seperated from your parents sucks. But it doesn’t excuse Kyle’s many crimes. Trying to redeem pseudo-nazis is a bad idea both in-universe and as a story to tell in 2017. It should have something more substantive to say if it wants to go that route.

All in all, this movie was a mixed bag for me. I think it will be for a lot of people, depending on what they’re looking for. If you aren’t really invested in Finnrey, Poe, the Jedi Order and the Skywalker Dynasty, or Kylo Ren being recognized as entitled and awful, you’ll probably enjoy this movie more. 

[anycontentposter]

The year in photos: Jordan Drake and the art of crying

Preface*

Crying is a highly evolved human trait. Tears can be an indicator of fear or stress. They can simply be a mechanism to flush out the eyes. Or they can convey joy and pain, heartache and elation. Distilled to their very core, tears are the truth. Tears are a most sincere way of reaching out for human connection, and so I would ask the reader to hold this concept tightly as they bear witness to Jordan and his experience. I would ask of the reader a willingness to reach out to Jordan and internalize that sincerity through the medium of the photograph.

Before we start this journey for connection I feel it necessary to reveal that these photos were not taken once per month as this slide show suggests. The human spirit does not follow a schedule and these powerful moments were captured as they birthed themselves upon the stage, if you will, that is DPReview TV. They will be shown in an order that does not harness itself to chronological accuracy, but rather is akin to a musical composition intended to stir the soul in its entirety. Let us begin.

* In case you're not familiar with DPReview TV, here's the backstory: In many of their weekly video episodes, our hosts Chris and Jordan feature a photo of Jordan curled up in the fetal position. It's a bit of a running gag, Jordan's soul isn't really tortured by demons (or so we've been told). If you have't discovered DPReview TV yet, you can find episodes here.

January

The photo before you was taken in Wayne, Alberta. All around us the harsh, weather-worn canyons stood silent sentinel to Jordan's struggle. The roadway symbolizes not only a means of transition but also a vector of impending danger. The bridge a final gateway to salvation from that state of being. Yet Jordan has collapsed short of his goals and instead must simply cry out as the valley bears witness. It is the Panasonic S1 which allows that moment to be appreciated by all.

February

This is a local city green space in Calgary named Shepherd's Park. The brutal metal grating causes Jordan discomfort as he hesitantly lies down upon it. Our hero clings tightly to his Panasonic GH5, monopod, and headphones, the tools of his expression. They are also like a prison to him, a concept further sustained by the rigid framing of the metal gantry. He is trapped, but perhaps he has also chosen his prison. Is the Canon EOS 90D not also a prison to his struggle?

March

Ah Seattle! Your charming hills, and quiet neighborhoods set the stage for this next humanistic landscape. The monochromatic nature of this image serves a dual purpose. It simplifies the intent capturing the banality of the environment. It also requests the viewer to bring their own experiences to the artwork. Have you not found yourself clinging to sanity in a car port? Have you not also smelled the stench that lingers in such places? Jordan is experiencing this very thing, here on the pavement, and in doing so brings about a deep connection with you the viewer. You are both crying in a driveway now. The Nikon Z50 sees you both.

April

Not all tears represent sadness, or misery. They can be uplifting and joyful too. Their power lies in the expression of both the heights, and abysses, of human emotion. Jordan is a self proclaimed cinephile with a passion for movie-making, and a deep appreciation for the craft. The mural sang to him a moment of pure elation, straight from the celluloid. He was overcome and found himself compelled to dance, drowning in a symphony of joy. I was humbled to have captured it with the Nikon Z7. It did not falter.

May

A quiet stillness falls over an autumnal lake. Jordan falls over a picnic table. An Olympus EM5-3 clicks once. A singular truth is revealed. It occurs only in this unique image. Jordan lies now left to right. Left to right. Profundity.

June

Wait! Hey Jordan, run up the highway and lie down in the middle. Do I have to? Yes! It'll look great, do it. What about traffic? Do it! - Friendship - GFX100

July

This image is a personal favorite of mine. Notice the strong leading line drawing the eyes to our reluctant hero. The organic shapes, the smooth curves, the magenta hues, all speak to a sense of the living body. We witness a childhood. We witness a birthing. Is it a skatepark, or is it a womb? The Fuji GFX 50R reveals the truth, but only you can interpret it.

August

Leitz Park. Wetzlar, Germany. One would be forgiven for assuming the common stereotype that Leica is only style, engineering, and precision. On the most superficial level they create cameras as works of art. However, when one digs deeper one finds a company defined by its people. Its people are defined universally by their kindness and their willingness to give. Here they have given him an opportunity to create with the pinnacle of their lens technology. Jordan is a person of deep emotion, and once again he is overcome. His face speaks only truth, his elation is clear, his gratitude is given. The Leica SL2 brings this sincerity to the forefront. It simply whispers 'Thank You.'

September

The smartphone has arrived, a harbinger of change in an industry that never wants to. Its message is a whisper that will grow into a cacophonous roar. Many of us hear only a gentle song on a winter's breeze. Jordan however is not one of us. His senses are astute and his understanding is omniscient. He hears the roar and it is deafening. The shrill call brings him to his knees, and he must curl up in the fetal position or risk madness. I produced the Pixel 4 from my pocket and so I am the one to blame. This picture is my guilty confession.

October

Why is Jordan sitting up? He always lies down in the filth and the muck. He is mine to create with. Never questioning, and always accommodating. And yet we see him spared from the veritable ocean of grime which surrounds his small island of respite. Is the pursuit of pure art less important than his comfort? Should we not all sacrifice for our craft? Does the Sony a7R III not also deserve this tribute? Is pain and suffering not the fertilizer of the sublime? However, he is safe and warm. He cries because I am furious with him, and yet he remains dry. That is why this photo sucks.

November

I call this photo 'Goldilocks'. The one on the left is too proud. The one on the right is too demure. But the one in the middle is just right! Also the astro-turf and garish display of cheap plastics communicate my personal statement about rampant and wasteful consumerism. How it effects workers, environmental factors, and our social consciousness, et cetera, et cetera. Taken with the Fuji XT3.

December

Our last photo is a palate cleanser of sorts. It is not a statement about the inherent duality of our existence. Nor is it a dissertation about Jordan's emotional state. It is not a symphony or a poem. It has no higher purpose as art, nor does it ascend to the realms of the sublime. It simply is our Christmas card picture to all of you for supporting us during 2019! We appreciate the opportunity you give us all to entertain firstly, and educate secondly. Thank you so much to all of our friends and compatriots at DPReview for all your hard work in making our show possible. Here's to an excellent 2020 and all the promise the New Year will bring. Oh, I almost forgot, this was taken with the Canon 5DmkIV.

Read more about this at dpreview.com

https://coolarticlespinner.com/the-year-in-photos-jordan-drake-and-the-art-of-crying/

[hotspreadpage]

How to Use Documentary Filmmaking Techniques to Craft Memorable Content

“Those who tell the stories rule the world.” – Hopi Native American proverb (apocryphal)

When Facebook announced the latest changes to its news feed in January, its intention was clear: to reduce further the amount of content users see from brands and publishers, particularly what it deems low-quality “engagement bait.”

Across the industry, this latest update has been interpreted as the final nail in the coffin of organic reach. Strategies can no longer rely on short, snackable pieces of content that only seek to momentarily pause people’s attention while they scroll through their feeds. Building your audience wholly (or mostly) through rented social sites isn’t going to produce sustainable results anymore.

Building audiences through rented social sites won’t produce sustainable results, says @drmckee. Click To Tweet

Marketers have to produce stories that transcend these ephemeral 15-second cotton-candy spots to create loyalty beyond the “like” button.

So, let’s talk about producing content that your audience not only wants to consume but will seek, content that’s deeply and personally relatable, content that people interact with and share with their networks.

While there are a multitude of ways to create truly memorable and compelling content, I believe documentary storytelling has amazing potential, partly because I see so few brands using the format well. (Full disclosure: I work for a documentary film company so, yes, I am biased but only because I’ve seen firsthand how effective this form of storytelling can be.)

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: How REI Is Unlocking the Power of Long-Form Video

Vans embodies skater culture

In 2001, apparel brand Vans sponsored the feature-length documentary, Dogtown and Z-Boys, chronicling the early skateboarder culture of Southern California. While Vans funded the project, the filmmakers retained creative license. There are no Vans ads running along the bottom of the screen and no gratuitous shots of major characters wearing Vans outfits head to toe.

Of course, some of them did wear Vans shoes. Or hats. Or T-shirts. But as the brand was already making inroads into skateboarding culture, it felt natural to see Vans apparel in the film.

Flash forward to this decade and Vans is still producing documentary films to capture the attention of its customers. Living Off the Wall is one of Vans’ documentary video series, a series of short films in which we meet punk rockers, skateboarders, tattoo artists, and other young people who not only exist but thrive outside of the mainstream. Vans created the content to both celebrate its 50-year-old “Off the Wall” slogan and reaffirm the brand’s values: authentic, individual, fearless, youthful. The series has attracted almost 300,000 views, while the Vans YouTube channel has more than 348,000 subscribers.

Why is the series effective? Why do people watch it? Everyone wants to belong to a culture or community. People want to see inside the world of like-minded people. Vans customers and non-customers alike watch these shorts to experience subcultures and characters they either identify with or are fascinated by. Though Vans’ first film project was released in 2001, the brand is still creatively knocking it out of the park in 2018.

Customers and non-customers watch Vans shorts to experience characters they identify with, says @drmckee. Click To Tweet

Essential elements of an audience-grabbing documentary

At the heart of documentary filmmaking is the art of telling a good story, and the best have a few ingredients in common.

Story landscape

For a documentary film to resonate with an audience, it should feel authentic. A brand-made documentary must be honest and true to the brand’s values and culture. Just as importantly, it also has to appeal to the target audience’s interests.

Think of a Venn diagram in which one circle is your company’s core values and the other is your audience’s passions and desires. The story landscape lies at the intersection: a setting your audience can’t help but be curious about or drawn to, and where your company can embody its human side.

A great example of an artfully crafted story landscape is from outdoor-clothing brand Patagonia. 180 Degrees South is a 2014 feature-length documentary that follows a small group of young men on a journey to the farthest reaches of Patagonia (the place, not the brand) in South America. The film firmly resides within that intersection between the brand’s core values – high-quality clothing made responsibly and a commitment to conservation – and its customers’ aspirations – experiences and appreciation of the outdoors and adventure travel.

This film does not show Patagonia products (though it does include conversations with Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard). Instead, the film explores the complexities of environmental conservation in countries where the need for economic development threatens some of the most wild and stunning scenery in the world. The documentary – and the brand behind it – was covered widely in the media, including major global publications like The Wall Street Journal.

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Powerful story archetype

The strongest stories in any format feature a hero facing some type of conflict. Frodo taking the ring to Mordor. Rocky fighting for the championship belt. Every doctor on every TV show who persevered to save a patient’s life. Documentaries are no different. Before you begin crafting a story, you must identify a hero and his or her conflict.

Before you begin crafting a story, you must identify a hero and his or her conflict. @drmckee #storytelling Click To Tweet

The hero’s journey is a classic story archetype in which the hero has a clear goal underlined by an emotional import with obstacles to overcome along the way.

Consider how Intel’s documentary, Look Inside: Jack Andraka (produced by Venables Bell & Partners), follows the classic hero’s journey.

https://player.vimeo.com/video/84062536?color=ffffff&title=0&byline=0&portrait=0

INTEL – “LOOK INSIDE- JACK ANDRAKA” from Dana Shaw on Vimeo.

Sixteen-year-old Jack won the grand prize at the 2012 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair for his part in developing a new method to detect pancreatic and other cancers.

The film is only two minutes, but it’s a strong example of the hero’s journey: An underdog high school student with a goal of fighting cancer overcomes multiple obstacles to successfully develop a new diagnostic technique and win a prestigious award. Intel and Venables Bell did a fantastic job finding and telling that story.

Relatable hero

While every story should have a hero, I’m not necessarily talking about the good Jedi taking on the evil empire. Anyone can be a hero if framed correctly, particularly if the person is a compelling character.

Is the person entertaining, like the vibrant characters in Dogtown? Is the person quirky or fascinating to watch? Does he or she have a passion for something that the audience can feel burning through the screen like Intel’s Jack Andraka did? Above all, is the hero relatable to the audience? Will the hero create a connection? Will people care about what happens to him or her?

The central character shouldn’t be a scripted corporate mouthpiece because that won’t feel authentic to the audience. A corporate insider usually sits outside that story landscape sweet spot. Avoid this mistake and push for compelling over bland.

Church’s Chicken found a number of compelling characters for its documentary series Fast Company. Each episode follows a group of people competing for the title of world’s fastest drummer in a speed-drumming competition. If you’re looking for characters best described as “a little bit quirky,” the world of competitive drumming has them to spare – and that’s why this series works so well.

Fast Company, Episode 1 – Presented by Church’s Chicken from Church’s Chicken on Vimeo.

Church’s Chicken wanted to increase brand awareness and traffic. Fast Company not only achieved those goals but delivered a significant uptick in sales at Church’s restaurants.

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Where to begin?

I’ve touched on a few different aspects of brainstorming documentary stories. Now let’s talk about how you and your company can best use the documentary format.

Find your story

Story finding isn’t always easy. How often do you stumble across a slam dunk of a story like Intel’s Jack Andraka? Here are a few tips to help you identify and develop strong stories your audience will want to see:

Always be looking. Create a story database and capture interesting ideas when they surface even if their use or relevance isn’t immediately apparent.

Don’t take your own stories for granted. What might be routine to you could be fascinating to your audience.

Be creative. Don’t let your objectives rule your concept development. Ideate the stories, then map them to your objectives to see what aligns.

Think about the voice. Who’s the best fit to share the story you’re telling?

It doesn’t need to be epic. Often, the smaller, more intimate or personal stories can be the most powerful.

The smaller, more intimate or personal stories can be the most powerful, says @drmckee. #storytelling Click To Tweet

Don’t DIY your dental work

You wouldn’t have your company’s payroll accountant do your root canal, would you? Work with professionals who know how to create and produce documentaries with a proven track record (and a proven show reel). If you have professional filmmakers and storytellers in-house, great. If you don’t, find them elsewhere. Bring in people from the entertainment industry. After all, that’s where the best practitioners are working. And, believe it or not, many do make themselves available to work on projects for brands.

While hiring an industry pro may be more expensive than buying a camera for the marketing team, the right person adds massive value to your project through experience, business savvy, distribution expertise, and metrics know-how.

Manage hopes and fears

Any discussion with internal stakeholders about producing a video too often results in the question, “Will it go viral?” Strike that phrase from all conversations. Most people can’t define what it means to “go viral” anyway, never mind connect it to concrete business goals. Instead, get specific. Identify your objectives. Who do you want to interact with your documentary? How? How many video plays do you expect? How many new subscribers would be considered a good result? Define success so you have a goal to aim for.

Also, keep your fears in check. You may worry that outsourcing to an external team risks diluting your story’s power or making it more generic – after all, they don’t live and breathe your brand every day. However, the opposite result is more likely as filmmakers know how to weave your company’s values into a story without being heavy handed.

You are armed with the basics of a successful brand documentary approach. Now get out there and bring your clients’ stories to life.

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A version of this article originally appeared in the May issue of  Chief Content Officer. Sign up to receive your free subscription to our print magazine every quarter.

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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

The post How to Use Documentary Filmmaking Techniques to Craft Memorable Content appeared first on Content Marketing Institute.

How to Use Documentary Filmmaking Techniques to Craft Memorable Content syndicated from https://hotspread.wordpress.com

[umusicians]

UM Interview: Mother Mother

Canadian Indie Rock band Mother Mother have made their imprint in the Canadian music industry. With over a decade in the music industry, the band have carved their own unique niche in the industry, leaving with them a sense of indivdiduality and awe. Last month, the band recently released their latest record ‘No Culture’. Of ‘No Culture’ Singer Ryan Guldemond commented "No Culture is about something that a lot of us wrestle with in isolation - identity". Amandah Opoku sat down with Ryan to go into more depth about ‘No Culture’, upcoming tour dates and more! Check out the interview below!

Amandah Opoku: Hello Mother Mother, thank you for sitting down with us! Before we kick off this interview, what is your favourite song on radio? Ryan Guldemond: Currently I’ve been really enjoying “Hands To Myself” by Selena Gomez.  I love the super dry, loud whisper vocal performance, and the production itself is very crisp and spacious.  I can turn it up loud without things becoming brash. I do appreciate when radio tracks achieve size in sparsity. Oh yeah, and the guitar part is killer - very sweet and melancholic, which is my favourite emotional convergence in music. AO: Of the songs that have been released within the last year, what are your favourite lyrics you’ve heard that you wish you had written? RG: There’s this line in a Zola’s song called Swooner that’s pretty clever: “That incandescent girl of Incan descent”. Maybe too clever, but it made me smile, and ponder.  I like punchlines that are at once both humorous and thought provoking, driven by word play.  

AO: You recently released your album ‘No Culture’ what was the inspiration behind the albums creation? RG: I was inspired by a personal transition I was making at the time from debauchery to clean living. In doing so I uncovered how deeply I identified with the former accompanying persona, so themes of identity and authenticity are strong in No Culture, often centering around loss, grief and nostalgia. The title itself was born from this experience: the shedding of culture, or societal affectation as a means to become a truer version of yourself.   AO: How did the studio and writing process for ‘No Culture’ differ from your last album ‘Very Good Bad Thing’? RG: There was more emphasis on the songwriting. I spent a lot of time with our producers down in LA writing, and fine tuning the architecture of each song before we even began recording. It was important that every motif, beat, lyric, texture was “perfect” in that they supported the core identity of each song, and the album as a whole. Nothing was for the sake of itself. Once the songs were ready, the recording was quick and clear. That was a new methodology for us, coming into the studio with an almost paint by numbers approach. Everything was laid out, we just had to connect the dots. AO: Writing and working on this record, did you ever encounter a period or moment of uncertainty? How did you overcome this? RG: The writing process was riddled with uncertainty. The confidence I lost by changing my lifestyle spilled into the creative process, and I began to judge my output severely, effectively creating a condition of good old fashion writer’s block.  But I just worked through it. Kept churning out ideas until the kernels of gold started to appear. Bad ideas, or mediocrity is crucial in the mining of the good stuff. They clear a path for unfiltered, raw creativity to travel through. That was a big lesson in all of this: discovering, or reaffirming that the cure for stagnancy is simply the act of doing. It could be anything. Beat your head against a wall until it takes on a pleasing rhythm. Then start singing over top of it. Before you know it, you’ll have an album’s worth of material. If it’s a shitty album, don’t record it. Just keep beating your head against that wall and gradually things will improve. AO: Of ‘No Culture’ what are you most proud of? RG: I think of how honest it is, and how uncomfortable it was and still is to be that honest, and how that signifies change and evolution. I can easily look back at old writing and think, I miss that devilish irony and sardonic bent. But to do that again would be disingenuous, and easier. So I guest I’m proud that I took the harder path in creating a new body of work, speaking from a new voice, even though I wasn't entirely used to its timbre. AO: Of the sounds on your latest album ‘No Culture’ were there any particular musicians or artists that influenced the sounds/direction of the album? RG: I don’t know about specific musicians, but we were definitely inspired by certain production aesthetics, like the simple and visceral quality of hip hop beats and the lush and dreamy synth-scapes of the 80s. AO: What was the biggest challenge you encountered working on ‘No Culture’? RG: Digging up the themes and finding its sentimental identity. I really didn’t want to write 10 songs about various things that were unrelated to each other. It was crucial that this body of work meant something, had a purpose, and acted as a whole. Considering the shaky place from where I started, this was a challenging and daunting prospect. But somehow it found its shape and its voice. And there really wasn’t an A-ha! moment or grand epiphany. It happened over time, of its own volition. AO: In essence, what does ‘No Culture’ represent to you? Is it a statement? Almost, an act of rebellion? RG: To me No Culture represents peace in aloneness. Finding the acceptance of yourself without imposed identity. So yes, it’s a statement. We are suggesting that this a good practice, and by doing so we are criticizing the way so many of us cling to our identification tags, be them cultural, societal, professional, religious etc, in order to feel validated, superior, and as though we belong. Culture of course can be a beautiful thing, adding texture to the human condition, but when it becomes the source of divisiveness, war and oppression, then we lose the very thing which it aims to celebrate, and the one thing we all have in common, humanity. AO: Why should somebody stream or pick up ‘No Culture’ off the CD shelf? RG: That’s an interesting question. It begs a solicitous response, which is hard for me. Someone from the label would give a much better answer, but I should try my best here. I’m not sure I think anyone “should” do anything with our record, but I suppose if someone was looking for a type of music with an emphasis on melody, vocal harmony, lyrical depth and big production, than No Culture would be a good contender. I feel like this album is visceral first, then cerebral. You can listen to it and react physically and emotionally without dissection. But should one crave a more intellectual experience, that is also available within the lyricism and thematics. Someone recently described the album as a trojan horse to a deeper experience. I liked that. AO: In this digital age of streaming where music fans can now consume immediately thanks to apps such as Spotify, Pandora and Tidal to name a few. What are your thoughts on streaming? Do you think they’ve been a positive or negative effect to the music industry? RG: I guess both, but to be honest I start to snooze when this topic comes up at the dinner table. For whatever reason I can’t seem to care about how the music industry evolves or devolves. But I guess streaming is something that’s still somewhat anarchic, cuz people aren’t getting paid and whatnot, but I assume that will work itself out. They’ll figure out how to monetize this digital shitstorm of free entertainment and I can see that being a very good thing. Not necessarily for the industry, in a capitalistic sense, but for humanity, and the balance of things. I don’t think anyone should be walking around with squillions of dollars. Not for doing anything, but especially not for making music. I think celebrity and rich-people culture is kind of unhealthy for the human collective consciousness, so anything to topple those pedestals I believe to be a good thing in the grand scheme of it all. AO: You’ve been a band for well over a decade, what’s one thing you learned as a band that you wish you had known when you first began? RG: I wish we were better at branding in the start. Understanding what the Mother Mother experience was, and reinforcing that in every aspect of the band, be it music, art, wardrobe, sentiment, philosophy. I think we could still get better at that, but in thinking about it now, it’s not really something someone tells you and bam, you’re good at it. It takes time for identity and cohesion within a group to form. I’d also tell myself to write more. Just fucking write, write, write little buddy. Don’t divide life from art. Meld the two, and write songs about it. But this the same thing I’m telling myself today, and will be telling myself in 50 years. AO: Going back to your bands roots, when it comes to finding a name for a creative or collection it’s often a process. Mother Mother may have not been the name you arrived to initially and maybe it’s meaning to you has changed over the years. Today in 2017, what does the band name mean to you? RG: Well we were originally just Mother, and I called us that because this guy at college wouldn’t shut up about how great of a band name that would hypothetically be. His fervour became mine I guess. So it didn’t really mean anything in the beginning. Then we had to change our name because there were other bands called Mother. So we un-inventively called ourselves Mother Mother. So that didn't really mean anything either. What does it mean today? I really couldn’t tell ya. I guess it’s just the name of our band. AO: Besides music, what are your hobbies? RG: I like cooking and taking photos, Jasmin loves yoga, Molly likes crafting, Ali is a big soccer buff and Mike, the new guy… hmm.  Tattoos? Could that be a hobby? He’s got a body suit, so he’s running out of room. Gonna have to find a new hobby. AO: In support of ‘No Culture’ you are currently on your Canadian tour followed by some recently announced dates with KONGOS, what can fans expect from you on the tour? RG: Tons of energy, a very tight set which draws upon our entire catalogue, a couple of very masculine covers sung by the girls, inane and existential stage banter, a drum solo. We definitely take pride in making a proper show of it. I feel like there’s an art to crafting the perfect set, with a contour not unlike that of a story book. You can expect to be taken for a ride when you see us live. AO: Thank you for sitting down with us Mother Mother! Before we end this interview, is there anything you’d like to say to your fans, your supporters? RG: Thanks for employing us!

Connect with Mother Mother on the following websites: https://twitter.com/mothermother https://facebook.com/MotherMotherBook https://instagram.com/mothermothermusic https://youtube.com/mothermothermusic

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The year in photos: Jordan Drake and the art of crying

Preface*

Crying is a highly evolved human trait. Tears can be an indicator of fear or stress. They can simply be a mechanism to flush out the eyes. Or they can convey joy and pain, heartache and elation. Distilled to their very core, tears are the truth. Tears are a most sincere way of reaching out for human connection, and so I would ask the reader to hold this concept tightly as they bear witness to Jordan and his experience. I would ask of the reader a willingness to reach out to Jordan and internalize that sincerity through the medium of the photograph.

Before we start this journey for connection I feel it necessary to reveal that these photos were not taken once per month as this slide show suggests. The human spirit does not follow a schedule and these powerful moments were captured as they birthed themselves upon the stage, if you will, that is DPReview TV. They will be shown in an order that does not harness itself to chronological accuracy, but rather is akin to a musical composition intended to stir the soul in its entirety. Let us begin.

* In case you're not familiar with DPReview TV, here's the backstory: In many of their weekly video episodes, our hosts Chris and Jordan feature a photo of Jordan curled up in the fetal position. It's a bit of a running gag, Jordan's soul isn't really tortured by demons (or so we've been told). If you have't discovered DPReview TV yet, you can find episodes here.

January

The photo before you was taken in Wayne, Alberta. All around us the harsh, weather-worn canyons stood silent sentinel to Jordan's struggle. The roadway symbolizes not only a means of transition but also a vector of impending danger. The bridge a final gateway to salvation from that state of being. Yet Jordan has collapsed short of his goals and instead must simply cry out as the valley bears witness. It is the Panasonic S1 which allows that moment to be appreciated by all.

February

This is a local city green space in Calgary named Shepherd's Park. The brutal metal grating causes Jordan discomfort as he hesitantly lies down upon it. Our hero clings tightly to his Panasonic GH5, monopod, and headphones, the tools of his expression. They are also like a prison to him, a concept further sustained by the rigid framing of the metal gantry. He is trapped, but perhaps he has also chosen his prison. Is the Canon EOS 90D not also a prison to his struggle?

March

Ah Seattle! Your charming hills, and quiet neighborhoods set the stage for this next humanistic landscape. The monochromatic nature of this image serves a dual purpose. It simplifies the intent capturing the banality of the environment. It also requests the viewer to bring their own experiences to the artwork. Have you not found yourself clinging to sanity in a car port? Have you not also smelled the stench that lingers in such places? Jordan is experiencing this very thing, here on the pavement, and in doing so brings about a deep connection with you the viewer. You are both crying in a driveway now. The Nikon Z50 sees you both.

April

Not all tears represent sadness, or misery. They can be uplifting and joyful too. Their power lies in the expression of both the heights, and abysses, of human emotion. Jordan is a self proclaimed cinephile with a passion for movie-making, and a deep appreciation for the craft. The mural sang to him a moment of pure elation, straight from the celluloid. He was overcome and found himself compelled to dance, drowning in a symphony of joy. I was humbled to have captured it with the Nikon Z7. It did not falter.

May

A quiet stillness falls over an autumnal lake. Jordan falls over a picnic table. An Olympus EM5-3 clicks once. A singular truth is revealed. It occurs only in this unique image. Jordan lies now left to right. Left to right. Profundity.

June

Wait! Hey Jordan, run up the highway and lie down in the middle. Do I have to? Yes! It'll look great, do it. What about traffic? Do it! - Friendship - GFX100

July

This image is a personal favorite of mine. Notice the strong leading line drawing the eyes to our reluctant hero. The organic shapes, the smooth curves, the magenta hues, all speak to a sense of the living body. We witness a childhood. We witness a birthing. Is it a skatepark, or is it a womb? The Fuji GFX 50R reveals the truth, but only you can interpret it.

August

Leitz Park. Wetzlar, Germany. One would be forgiven for assuming the common stereotype that Leica is only style, engineering, and precision. On the most superficial level they create cameras as works of art. However, when one digs deeper one finds a company defined by its people. Its people are defined universally by their kindness and their willingness to give. Here they have given him an opportunity to create with the pinnacle of their lens technology. Jordan is a person of deep emotion, and once again he is overcome. His face speaks only truth, his elation is clear, his gratitude is given. The Leica SL2 brings this sincerity to the forefront. It simply whispers 'Thank You.'

September

The smartphone has arrived, a harbinger of change in an industry that never wants to. Its message is a whisper that will grow into a cacophonous roar. Many of us hear only a gentle song on a winter's breeze. Jordan however is not one of us. His senses are astute and his understanding is omniscient. He hears the roar and it is deafening. The shrill call brings him to his knees, and he must curl up in the fetal position or risk madness. I produced the Pixel 4 from my pocket and so I am the one to blame. This picture is my guilty confession.

October

Why is Jordan sitting up? He always lies down in the filth and the muck. He is mine to create with. Never questioning, and always accommodating. And yet we see him spared from the veritable ocean of grime which surrounds his small island of respite. Is the pursuit of pure art less important than his comfort? Should we not all sacrifice for our craft? Does the Sony a7R III not also deserve this tribute? Is pain and suffering not the fertilizer of the sublime? However, he is safe and warm. He cries because I am furious with him, and yet he remains dry. That is why this photo sucks.

November

I call this photo 'Goldilocks'. The one on the left is too proud. The one on the right is too demure. But the one in the middle is just right! Also the astro-turf and garish display of cheap plastics communicate my personal statement about rampant and wasteful consumerism. How it effects workers, environmental factors, and our social consciousness, et cetera, et cetera. Taken with the Fuji XT3.

December

Our last photo is a palate cleanser of sorts. It is not a statement about the inherent duality of our existence. Nor is it a dissertation about Jordan's emotional state. It is not a symphony or a poem. It has no higher purpose as art, nor does it ascend to the realms of the sublime. It simply is our Christmas card picture to all of you for supporting us during 2019! We appreciate the opportunity you give us all to entertain firstly, and educate secondly. Thank you so much to all of our friends and compatriots at DPReview for all your hard work in making our show possible. Here's to an excellent 2020 and all the promise the New Year will bring. Oh, I almost forgot, this was taken with the Canon 5DmkIV.

Read more about this at dpreview.com

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