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heloflor · 2 years ago

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I have to say, one thing I absolutely love about the Sam and Max Telltale games is the side characters and more specifically how they all have at least some “oddness” to them, which not only makes Sam and Max feel like they do belong in this town instead of being the outsiders other people react to, but it also makes it possible for the duo to form genuine friendships with some of those people (which is also helped by the continuity this trilogy has).

All of them are eccentric in their own way, I mean :

- Bosco is a paranoid conspiracy theorist and is afraid of enbies

- Sybil keeps changing professions, and between that and how she evolves in S2, it feels like she’s sometimes in her own world/gets in her own head a lot

(And also, between her being really nice to the titular duo and her overall personality, she and Max could easily be besties. I mean c’mon ! He always goes to stand near her + gets involved in her love life + the S3 finale. He’d 100% be her gay bff and also possibly babysitter since he likes kids so much !)

- Flint Paper is a lot like Sam and Max on the police brutality aspect (and the three of them working together is great. There’s a single braincell between the three and not a single one of them uses it. Except Sam occasionally, if he’s not too busy fanboying over his neighbor with Max)

- Superball (my beloved) feels like one of the more grounded characters but at the same time he’s never seen taken aback by the weird shit happening around him and has no issue rolling with it. He’s also pretty mysterious at times and even straight up teleports in 304

(I’m not going to mention his love of doors as him being eccentric because, between that and how he expresses emotions differently, plus the musical number and his voice impressions showing he has an artistic side, I can’t help but view him as autistic. Heck you can also add him taking the “please don’t hang up the phone” thing way too literally in S1. So the love for doors feels like a special interest)

- Jimmy and the rest of the rats are some kind of mafia or street gang

- The C.O.P.S. are a bunch of old sentient machines trying their best (also Buster Blaster reminds me of Lord Hater from Wander with the way he screams all the time and I love it !)

- Harry Moleman is a creep who somehow keeps getting involved in the story through new jobs

- The Soda Poppers are pretty self-explanatory (gotta love how everytime they show up I’m like “oh, it’s these assholes again…”)

- Hugh Bliss is a literal sentient bacteria cult leader

- Girl Stinky is a literal cake and apparently a mermaid ? Like, her design has always been mermaid-oriented but apparently it’s because she truly is one

- Grandpa Stinky is that kind of grumpy old man who can and will throw hands with a 13 years-old

- Abe is the douchy head of a broken sentient statue who can’t do anything right aside from speeches (and he gets lectured by the local married couple after messing up his relationship in S2, which I find very funny)

- Featherly is a talking actor chicken who was literally found at the beginning of the universe that one time for some reason ??? It was very funny tho

(Also off-topic and I’m not sure if this was on purpose or not but isn’t Featherly technically trans ? I mean, he’s explicitly told to be a chicken in S2, not a rooster, and is even capable of laying eggs, but he uses he/him pronouns and refers to himself as a man)

- Santa Claus isn’t taking shit from anyone and hates kids

- Jurgen is a gay emo teen stereotype (who would absolutely have many social media accounts were those game made in the 2010s)

- Sal is a cockroach himbo who’s kinda just going along with the craziness around him

- Papierwaite literally tried and sort-of managed to summon some demi-god, demi-god who turns out to be pretty chill. And the duo is symbiotic. Oh yeah and Papierwaite has powers and may or may not be immortal (I think him living this long might be due to Norrington ?)

- Mama Bosco, despite acting more like the voice of reason, still remains the wacky kind of scientist, with her creating portals to other dimensions and being pretty nonchalant about the risks of it

- Skun-ka’pe is a hyper-intelligent alien who lets his ego and slight naiveté take the better of him

- Sammun-mak is a child with enormous powers and a god complex

- and the list goes on

I just really like how the world of Sam and Max is eccentric in itself. It’s not just the two main characters who are “weird” while the rest of the city reacts to their weirdness. Every character has their own thing going on and I love how it makes this world flow.

#Sam and Max #SamandMax #Telltale #Sam and Max spoilers #(should I put a spoiler tag for a game series that's a decade old ? Then again I'm not sure how well-known those games are...)#I'm not going to tag all the characters mentioned here...#Flor talks #gotta love how the more it goes the less I'm describing what makes these characters weird #and instead is just describing them in a few words #(plus adding a few personal thoughts for some of them)#Also does this post count as an unpopular opinion ?#I mean apparently the fandom isn't the biggest fan of the Telltale trilogy due to all the problematic stuff #which I 100% understand #but at the same time man did I enjoy watching stuff from these games #and when the 3rd remaster comes out I'm absolutely buying the whole trilogy

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mercurytrinemoon · 4 years ago

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Another post on Moon signs you can drag me for

Before we get into the actual thing, I'd like to say this post initially started as something else but ultimately, what I tried to put across is, sometimes Moon signs aren’t that easy to decipher. It’s easy to grasp overall characteristics of the signs and then learn how to identify their specific traits. But what people seem to forget it that Moon represents the deepest side of us & our inner world - it’s uncommon to really see someone’s side of it unless you really pay attention. Sometimes I’m surprised to see what someone’s Moon sign is even if I know this person well. Meaning, people usually hide that part of them - or they just simply process it internally and others can’t see their emotional reactions. It’s also uncommon for folks these days to fully express their emotional needs so it gets even trickier to pin-point their Moon characteristics. I don't think I have to mention this but, of course, your entire chart should be taken into account, as well as house placement, aspects. Personally, I like to also look at Moon's dispositor.

Let’s start from my friends, Gemini Moons, who, I feel, get a bad rep for not showing their feelings and scanning every emotion like an AI. Nah-ah. I know this one Gemini Moon whose immediate emotional reactions aren’t very cerebral in the sense of processing everything in the mind and intellectualizing it aka, what people like to label as being un-emotional. Instead her reactions are often fast (air energy) but physically expressed through Mercury (Gemini Moon’s dispositor) and Sun (overall identity) – she has them both in Aries. She’s a crybaby who can burst into tears in a matter of seconds. So she’s not something that would stereotypically be assigned to a Gemini Moon. But what I did notice is that all Gemini Moons tend to have this weird look on their face when they’re processing stuff. As if they were about to have a brain malfunction; they stop and have that specific worried look. They also like to either gossip or tell stories (either real or made up lol); they’re great with words - they can talk for hours if they feel comfortable with you. They just crave interaction and mental stimulation. Their quick reactions tend to make them effortlessly witty. Even if they’re a withdrawn Gemini type, they make up for it through social media and technology or just a quiet exploration. My shy Cancer pal with Moon in Gemini is now a brand/website designer and an instagram queen who travels the world. This is great energy for content creators in general. And don’t forget that Geminis need to have their fingers in many pies. It’s because they always have a backup plan… and they get bored easily so they need that chaos around them to feel at home. They like to have options in everything, which is kind of funny cause it’s hard for them to make up their minds and actually choose something. And they store a lot of information in their brains… I feel like it must be exhausting, no?

On the other side of the axis, whenever I see someone with a Sagittarius Moon, I can immediately say “yup, a Sag Moon indeed” (probably thanks to my Sag stellium), meaning, they all seem the same to me. Sag Moons often find comfort in exploration - best if it’s literal travel. They always seem to need to free themselves from their surroundings, family, roots or their own culture to discover something new and exciting, even if it’s only in the imaginary words - through books, movies and other medias. Their happiness always lies somewhere else from where they currently are. Like, I think all Sagittarius Moons that I know have left their parents and went their own paths early on. And they have this yolo attitude. Just like Sagittarius Suns, they’re massive dorks, probably also obnoxious… sometimes in a REALLY annoying way. They’re either a) very wise and curious b) lil preachy and stuck up c) just plain dumb clowns with no filter. But they’re all funny. And they take things lightly, with a natural ease. This means sometimes they may offend other people just because they assume everyone’s as chill as they are; „relax! I was just kidding!” - that’s a phrase you’ll hear from them often… I mean, unless you’re a jokester yourself and you’re unmoved by their sarcastic or teasing words. They have somewhat spiritual or philosophical nature so besides making you laugh, be prepared for deep monologues. They want to believe everything will eventually fall into place. It’s also hard to bring them down - or I should say, it’s hard to make them acknowledge that they're feeling down - they always try to distract or cover it up with a joke, usually a self-depricating one. If Sagittarius Moon (or Sagittarius in general tbh) is telling you that they’re unhappy, then it’s serious.

I’ve noticed there comes a point in life for a Libra Moon where they just have enough. They’re too nice for everyone and one day they wake up and yell about how they have to do everything for everyone and everyone wants something from them and bLah bLah. Makes me think of when Bieber was this overly nice kid and then he was like “I’M NOT TAKING PICTURES WITH FANS ANYMOREEEE AAGhJFJFUWIUq”. Yup, a Libra Moon, everyone. They know how to charm and appeal to people, I think overall they’re easily liked by others. Sometimes it’s simply because they like to kiss people’s ass just to avoid being rejected. That’d be a Libra Moon’s nightmare. They like other people’s company too much. And they thrive in relationships and in a big circle of friends. What they hate is confrontations (like every other Libra placement omg). They may be good mediators when it comes to other people but if they’re involved in an argument they get sooooo passive aggressive. They just don’t know how to handle conflicts - it’s as if their nervous system wasn’t designed for emotional outbursts (because, you know, everything needs to be peaceful and harmonious Venus-style). A fussy or angry Libra Moon will suddenly get loud as they blame someone for something… and then they’ll leave the room cause they’re scared to even hear the other side of the argument. Or, alternatively, they’ll make a doormat out of themselves just to stay quiet and avoid causing any rift. And making decisions? I think it’s common for them to have two different romantic interests and feeling so dramatically torned between them *Alexa play Agony from Into the Woods*. Then when they decide, they have problems breaking the bad news to one of them.

On the other end we have Aries Moons. *deep breath* Listen, I think I’ve said enough about having Moon in Aries (or rather purely dissing it) but last time it made a bit of controversy so why not wreak even more havoc. I have a good description for this one: I will punch you but be gentle with me cause it’s easy to break my fragile heart. So basically, imagine putting Buttercup and Bubbles into one person. And honestly, I need to say this, women with this placement are just hot badasses, look at friggin Angelina Jolie. The queen of badass. The queen of hot. People say because Aries folks move quickly (literally and figuratively lol), they often get bored with whatever got them excited last week... or yesterday. Ha, yeah, right. You get their heart to open up and they’re going to have their eyes for you ONLY, like a lil puppy. Give us treats and we’ll build our world around you. But NOT in a clingy way by any means, we need our space and independence after all. My lil niece is an Aries Moon and ever since I started playing guitar with her, she became my #1 fan or something. That’s the energy. But we get easily bored with day-to-day stuff so yeah, there’s that. Innocent and clumsy yet raw in their emotions - so there’s potential to make mistakes sometimes (or a lot of times) or having this tunnel vision, like „I want this and I don’t care about anything else!”. And then excusing it with some „but the heart wants what it wants” crap (looking @ ya, Selena Gomez). They experience constant inner movement and turbulence that needs a physical outlet in order to feel satisfied. WE NEED PASSION IN OUR LIVES, OKAY?!?!?? now leave me alone

Aquarius Moons aren’t as cold as you might think. People like to describe them as if their Moons actually disappeared from their charts: dEtaCheD, uNeMotiOnaL, tHey fEeL nOtHinG. It’s just they don’t sit and dwell on things, they find solutions to the problems. If something doesn’t make them feel right, they just leave that situation. They do care about other people’s well-being, they’re very sensitive in that regard, they’re humanitarians after all. Yeah, they detach, but from their own emotions - in order to make sense of them. They may seem like snow queens sometimes (and this comes from an Aqua rising) but they’re really friendly and if you pique Aqua Moon’s interest, they’re going to be curious about you. They like new exciting things so if you’re cool enough, you have their attention. Usually they’re pretty progressive as well and can’t stand injustice. That’s why you’ll see them standing up for those who are in need. Uranian energy gives them a specific type of sharp intuition and wit. Idk they’re just cute in a quirky way. But this buzzing, fast energy is a great recipe for anxiety, over-thinking and frequent changes of heart. Similarly to Sadges, they need constant exploration and stimuli. Intelligent, people-oriented (but not people-pleasing! Look to Libras for that), individualistic. They definitely need their own space and independence. Their decision-making is fast and it’s easy for them to just say „screw it, I’m doing this”. My Aquarius Moon friend just casually decided that she’s moving to Turkey cause nothing in our city (or even country) seems interesting or helping her expand… So she was like, see ya suckers, I’m leaving.

Leo Moons shine from within. You’ll spot them from a mile away even if they’re on the shyer side. They’re all lil stars no matter their profession. Very expressive people & easily excitable. Art galleries, live shows, theater - they love a creative environment even if they don’t pursue that lifestyle themselves... One of my Leo Moon friends is an art junkie – suggest taking her to an obscure play at the local bar, a music festival, a weird museum – she’ll say yes in the blink of an eye. And she loves discussing these things. A Leo Moon may not see themselves as artistically inclined, but usually sooner or later they at least try dipping their toes in music, arts, acting, dancing... you name it. They’ll learn a simple 3-chord song on a ukulele and then play it to you in excitement. Imagine a lil kid making you a puff piece and being super proud of it. Sometimes they just need some encouragement. Remember, Leos feed off of praise, that’s their fuel. Doesn’t mean they’re all proud, egotistical people but what it does mean is that they need a lil assurance to gain their self-confidence. I lived with a Leo Sun/Moon for almost 15 years (who’s a musician btw so yeah, a classic creative Leo type) - he did have some issues lol but ego wasn’t one of them. Drama followed him everywhere but I’m pretty sure he disliked it himself. BUT, with that being said, I feel like Leo Moons tend to dramatize themselves internally. People say it’s something Virgos or Geminis would do - because of their tendency to overthink, but Leos can just go straight to a worst-case scenario in their heads simply because they exaggerate everything. So don’t be surprised to see a Leo Moon feeling down and anxious. On the bright side, be their cheerleader and they’ll give that to you in return. They need sparks and dullness kills their upbeat spirit. They need to feel their own heartbeat so the feeling of excitement is crucial for their well-being. Romantic, giving and kind. They’re fixed fire so once they’re set on something or someone, they give their all and are rather loyal.

I feel like my chart low-key tells me I should dislike Taurus Moons but I just want to melt in their arms and just stay there? Like, forever? Low maintenance but a bit slow-moving and stubborn. They won’t settle easily, at least not officially, so you need to have a lot of patience with them. They need 3 things to feel secure and at peace: physical stimuli, time and a stable place they know they can always come back to. And it’s not like all of them are total lazy homebodies, they may be active spirits & travellers but they are going to have a reallyyyyy nice cosy flat somewhere near their childhood place (gotta be be close to their moms, you know). Not necessary materialistic but they may have one thing that they collect throughout their entire life and they won’t. ever. get. rid. of. it. There needs to be at least one constant in their life - like you know when Elton John decided to go to therapy but one thing he stuck to was shopaholism? Very Taurus Moon of him. Also, they’re very affectionate. In fact, may have issues differentiating between affection and passion - this is actually something Taurus Moon and Aries Moon have in common. Pro tip - and this is in regard to all Taurus placements - don’t smell bad when you’re around them (I mean, don't smell bad in general, no one likes stinky people lol). They have a sensitive smell. Doesn’t help that they like to smell everything. EVERYTHING. I swear, Taurus, stop sticking your nose in every single thing!!! You don't need to know how that piece of utensil smells like. Jeez.

Scorpio Moon (shoutout to those who remember me accidentally calling them sporpio last time I made a post on Moons lol). I honestly don’t know what to tell you... I feel like all you hear about Scorpio Moon is 100% true, there’s nothing to debunk here. It’s the Moon of extremes. Prone to jealousy and surpressing emotions; severe trust issues; they’re instigators. I was low-key bullied by a few Scorpio Moons when I was in school so there’s that. Very secretive and private. Scorpio Moon will be like “I’m in control of the situation!!!!” and you’ll just look at them and think, yeah, right, looks like the situation is controlling you. But keep being in denial, sure. Like, don’t get me wrong, Scorpios in general can be TOTAL SWEETHEARTS OMG but ya’ll have issues. Even celebrities who have this placements... Think Beyonce or Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus... I feel like they have issues lol, especially with control and the need for everything to be perfectly the way they want it to be. To be fair, that’s probably why they’re all so influential and high status: it’s either their way or highway. They need constant reinvention; they’re the ones to wake up one day and decide they’re going through a spiritual awakening blah blah. They also like to talk about dark and shocking topics while having casual lunch with you... So like, be warned that you may end up with a depressed mood after talking to them for 10 minutes. And their mood swings... don’t even get me started on that.

I don't know where to start with Virgo Moons... I feel like they're very calculated and nit-picky but they're a lot warmer than Virgo Suns. I think I called them softies in my last Moon post. Very sweet people but prone to anxiety. You gotta experience seeing them having a heart attack over someone mixing bananas with milk or messing with their stuff that’s been put in a perfect arrangement. I saw a Virgo Moon once literally squealing shouting "YOU'RE GONNA RUIN YOUR LAPTOP WITH THAT SUPERGLUE!!!" Highly entertaining to watch, not gonna lie. Gordon Ramsay has his Moon in Virgo - it’s conjunct Uranus and Pluto so that’s an extreme but I think him being fed up with people over small inconsistencies in their food prep is a perfect example of this energy (btw his chart is hilarious, it literally explains EVERYTHING). They're VERY picky with their food as well, just as Virgo Suns tend to be. Like, they’ll only have a specific type of single origin coffee or they’ll be vegan or something. Self-critical over their work, which is a plus... except for when finishing a simple task takes them a few hours because they want to make it perfect. They take everything seriously. This of course doesn't mean they're total bores - on the contrary, Mercurial energy gives them witty approach and a talent for choosing the right words at the right time. Tho they can be a bit awkward or shy with it. Can be as bubbly as Gemini but the grounded earthy energy gives them more practical and almost nurturing nature - earth signs are providers after all and Virgo is the sign of service - helping others is like their second nature. I’ve noticed they often find comfort in devoting themselves to a choosen task - this is why if they pursue something, they’re really good at it. They’re also very likely to dissect their emotions.

I’m not a fan of water Moons in general but Pisces Moon is the best water Moon in my opinion. Maybe because I like Pisces overall. I think it’s like a tweaked Sagittarius Moon - just more internalized, withdrawn & gloomy. But unlike Sag, who has a tendency to be an adventurous optimist, Pisces likes to focus on the negatives instead. Obviously, they can be very upbeat, they’re Jupiter-ruled after all, but there’s somehing whiny about them lol. Just like Sadges, they dream big and have their standards put up sooo high but if there's not much active energy in their charts, they’re often too passive to actually fullfill any of that - or I should say, they’re stuck daydreaming about it, believing it’ll just magically manifest for them... OR they do everything with an apathetic approach. What I do like about them is that they’re funny. And really chill - sometimes to the point of coming off as confused or hazy. I feel like a lot of them would just love to sleep all day... or sit by the lake and just think about the world. Most of them are also compassionate folks - again, maybe a bit too much. Hey Pisces, you don’t have to take everything to heart, it’s okay. On the bright side, they have big imagination and the ability to disconnect and just create. I have a few Pisces Moons in the family: one’s that sleepy artistic type with grand visions, one is an asshole-ish but funny entrepreneur with a questionable work ethic and one is a witty IT guy who’s actually a workaholic and likes to shut in his own world of computers and numbers or whatever he does there... So there’s this factor of tunnel vision, escapism and, on the more negative side, being kinda iffy and almost addicted to the way they want things to be. Once they set their eyes on something it’s done deal…

My issue with Capricorn Moons is that they're often trying to be sooooo mature omg, like, loosen up a bit. It usually starts when they're in their later teens... They can be the most rebellious kid that likes to have fun and suddenly they'll be like "I'm too old for this ugh grow up" *judgmental stare*. My 18-year old niece once literally roasted my sister that she's in her 30s and still doesn't have her own place (well so do I so I guess she also indirectly roasted me as well???). And she was SO deadpan with it. Because she herself wants to be independent and start a family before turning 25. This is classic Capricorn Moon energy. They suck out joy out of everything lol. Of course, OF COURSE, it depends on the whole chart but I feel like worst-case scenario is that at one point in their life (or maybe even a few times throughout it) they go through a massive shake-up that makes them change their attitude and re-evaluate their structures. There's this multi-instrumentalist Yvette Young - she's a sweet, funny Cancer/Leo mix but her Moon is in Capricorn. She used to be a competitive pianist but the pressure that was put on her has led her to severe health issues. Like yes, she’s now an extremely talented musician - thanks to family’s expectations & a rigid schooling system (Saturn) but it did cost her a lot. She has recovered since then but I think it's a perfect example of this energy. It’s very ambitious and hardworking but emotionally demanding in the sense that you have to actually put your emotions aside in order to deal with the rest. Another thing, because Moon can be associated with family, there's often a weird dynamic surrounding this topic. I don't think I've met a Capricorn Moon that had a completely healthy and happy relationship with their fam or one of the family members. Or, alternatively, there can be a strong bond between one of them but usually created in the atmosphere of hardships.

Last but not least, Cancer Moons. I had three school friends with this placement and all of them made this sad, whiny face as they said „oh I don’t knoooow anymoreee” when they were feeling torned or frustrated. To be fair, two of them are water Suns so for them, it added to the mushyness. All Cancer Moons I know are family people or better yet, baby people. One of those school friends is now a guidance counsellor, working with kids; the other turned her instagram into a gallery of her own child after she gave birth. So much kid content, omg. There’s also something very indecisive about them… or I should say, hesitant. They’re not very fast at making decisions. Also, what’s interesting, they’re kind of like walking libraries, they remember a lot – so they store a lot of information in their brains just like air signs but they process it in a completely different way – emotional, obviously. I think this also makes them hold grudges a lot. For them it’s more of a question of „how does it make me feel?” rather than „how valid is it?”. There’s certain stubborness in them in that regard because they don’t keep their minds open. It’s also hard for them to walk away from people and situations, like a crab pinching you with its claws – it won’t let go. Sensitive but not easy to open up; very protective of themselves and their loved ones & they tend to shut down in their crab shells. But they may crave connection and the feeling of belonging. Also very caring and with a big imagination. They’re very receptive of their environment so mood swings are a thing for them.

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jmdbjk · 3 years ago

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In the beginning

Jimin and Jungkook, Part One.

“When did you think Jimin and Jungkook started being together and how do you think it's going?”

I have thoughts but I need to preface it: I do not know anything for certain, these are just my opinions from what I’ve watched, learned and observed up until now. And after starting to organize and type this out, I realized I can’t do a methodical timeline type of thing. My brain just can’t do it. I also cannot be so detailed as to show specific examples of everything or go through it month by month because my mind does not catalog stuff like that. And there is no way to touch on every single aspect because there is SO MUCH WE��VE SEEN AND SO MUCH WE KNOW. I have a tendency to step back sometimes and consider the big picture of it all.

So this is my general synopsis of what I think from what I’ve seen, but it is very long and more or less a series about the different topics surrounding their “togetherness.”

In the beginning, Jimin and Jungkook were young, ambitious, talented boys who had a dream or an idea of a dream and were fortunate to have the opportunity to go for it. The early years (2013, 2014, 2015) together were spent developing their idol personas in the context of that industry at that time. From what I’ve learned, the idol system, especially at that time, is very cutthroat, competitive, chaotic, hardcore, somewhat questionable in how they treat the young people vying for spots in an idol group. It is not for the faint of heart. Reading about k-pop idol culture was eye opening for me and makes me even more surprised that Jimin almost totally shuns social media these days since he was such a “classic” idol at first.

Once BTS was formed, BigHit and the members spent a lot of blood, sweat and tears (see what I did there?) working out their dynamic/sound/look and in the process they became a team as close as brothers...they became family, with their own families included. You might call it their “tribe.” They built a tribe. And a good one if you ask me. The company has grown along with BTS and seems to be transforming the K-pop industry in positive ways. (I get actual hate for saying positive things about their company.)

Anyway. These two did not exist in a vacuum. Working, putting out music, choreography, performances, travelling, Jimin and Jungkook were with the other members 24/7, 365 days a year, with literally very little time off to pursue anything else. They were surrounded by the rest of the members, their staff and the mechanisms of their profession, forming and building relationships between each other and everyone around them.

As happens in a team of people who are working together, their relationships are as different as their personalities...some “click” with others and some maybe not so much and I don’t mean that in a negative way, I mean each person brings their own dynamic to the relationship and sometimes two people will really connect more than the others. I think BTS has that rare element of all the individuals are able to recognize their strengths and weaknesses and work together to make the final product/goal a total team effort. They have a mutual respect for each other.

In Jungkook, Jimin probably saw someone who was very similar to himself: loves to perform, loves to dance, has a dream, sets out to achieve it. Jimin the natural leader and Jungkook his team mate, dongsaeng, the boy who was a little shy in social situations, is introverted but had this drive to achieve the same dream as Jimin’s. So Jimin being Jimin, takes him under his wing.

I think during the first two or two and a half years, their bond was mostly a mentor/protege relationship because:

1. Jimin had the work ethic of someone trying to prove to everyone that he was good enough to fit the idol mold and that extra effort did not escape Jungkook. Jungkook really admired Jimin’s determination.

AND

2. Jungkook needed emotional guidance. He debuted when he was 15 years old y’all. A child! He just didn’t know what to do in situations that were unpredictable. Jimin was still not an adult either but he thrived with Jungkook by his side.

This relationship so far resulted in them supporting each other within the team. They fed off each other’s energy. How can you not be attracted to someone like that? It’s fun and exhilarating to be with someone like that.

Jimin had a maturity beyond his years and knew what was expected of an idol. Jimin had a laser focus on his ambitions and goals. He’s even stated them before: he wanted to attend an arts high school and he did. He wanted to become an idol trainee and he did. He wanted to audition and be part of a group and he succeeded. He achieves everything he sets out to do. In his words: he can make his own way. Very confident, very goal oriented, very focused.

Jungkook perhaps wasn’t as articulate in this way and did not have the social skills and leadership skills that Jimin possessed. Jungkook was still figuring out what he really wanted to do, hence that minute when he considered ditching singing to devote his time to being a dancer. Jimin straightened him up on this it seems and Jungkook followed Jimin’s advice. They told us that themselves.

They’ve joked many times that Jungkook copycats Jimin but I believe Jungkook really learned a lot about how to behave in social/public/interview situations when they were on camera just by watching Jimin very closely all the time. When else was he going to learn some social skills? He always seems very interested in how Jimin behaves and reacts. I think he wanted to be comfortably expressive like Jimin. Or maybe he just liked looking at Jimin like the rest of us! Some say its because he had a crush on Jimin and perhaps that had something to do with it as well. Regardless, Jungkook watched his mentor closely and eventually came out of his shell.

And my thinking is, because they became close, because of Jimin’s personality, perhaps Jungkook’s parents trusted Jimin with the responsibility of being Jungkook’s liaison/emergency contact for his family. Your kid is across the country, hell, across the world...doing who knows what with who, maybe Jimin provided a little stability in that aspect.

Again, this was all happening while they were balls to the wall working day in and day out...working their asses off, living together, eating, sleeping, showering together, stinking up the bathroom, 24/7 literally 365 days a year.

go to Part Two...

#jikook #kookmin #minkook #that's a very small table for seven man-boys with large appetites #who's idea was it paint everything that awful blue?#so far there are 6 parts to this thing #bear with me

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sserpente · 3 years ago

Note

your blog is such a safe haven for me honestly. I have personally never seen this much hate in a fandom before and it's kinda crushing me tbh. This is probably the most creative influence Tom ever had and the majority of people seem to hate it. He literally just said that he was going to play Loki for as long as people want to see him and after all of the shit thats happening right now, I'm honestly terrified that he's gonna quit after the second season. I just want people to be reasonable ffs.

Aww! You saying that my blog is like a safe haven makes me so happy, love! ♥ You're always welcome to fangirl about the show with me here!

Let me tell you this: Thinking back to when Infinity War came out, I, for example, was so salty with the producers and the directors for killing Loki off the way they did and the reason for why they did it that damn, I was caught up in a stage of grief and anger that I too voiced online. It was nothing bad, god beware I never attacked or insulted any of the people involved in making that film beyond saying things like "that was a very stupid decision" but I still decided to calm things down and deleted quite a few asks I had answered around that time. I still stand by my initial reaction though and it's okay to disagree and voice your opinion and to vent as long as you're being respectful, that is perfectly valid (I only recently answered an ask about some aspects of Thor: Ragnarok that I don't really agree with myself, for example) but I for myself learned that it's just not worth it to get this worked up and to start heated discussions or repeatedly address/counter people's negativity, let alone be rude and disrespectful towards the creators, that's something I don't want to and will not do, neither in real life nor on my blog and I'd rather focus on the positive sides instead. In other words, I respect your opinion on the Loki show and I am happy to listen to what you have to say but I don't want to be confronted with negative aspects of what you personally think is wrong with it 24/7 (which is also why I decided to stop scrolling through the majority of the Loki tag for a while). Unfortunately, at the moment there are way too many people out there who believe that they have to take every bit of what we liked about the show and (passive) aggressively explain why those bits are actually bad because [insert reason].

With that being said, I've only spoken to Tom twice so I couldn't possibly speak for him but I think it's safe to claim that with how intelligent, humble and reasonable this man is without a doubt, he rises above that--he left Social Media for a reason, after all. I'm sure he knows that he has lots of passionate, honest and respectful fans who appreciate his work (regardless of whether they liked all aspects of the show or not). So don't worry, love. Tom doesn't just act for a living. He lives for acting. His passion for his profession and the fictional characters he plays is one of the many reasons he is my favourite actor. A bunch of anonymous trolls online couldn't possibly take that away from him. And we got his back too. ♥

#loki #loki spoilers #loki show #loki show spoilers #loki series #loki series spoilers #loki positivity #loki show positivity #loki series positivity

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lucywritesreid · 4 years ago

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With Heaven Above You

Summary: A particular case has got the BAU stumped. They’re all working overtime to try and catch the killer. But something happens along the way, and y/n is the only one who can solve the case in time…

Warnings: Mentions of swearing, details of crime scenes/gore.

Notes: Not sure how many parts this is going to have yet, my first go at something with a few chapters! I want to thank @theoutsidersladies for all their help in coming up with the ideas and discussing the plot with me! This one is a lot of talking (sorry) it’s just setting up for future chapters! I’ll have part 2 ready tomorrow! I’m not sure how many parts there’ll be yet. Possibly 5/6. Thank you for all your support, it really means a lot!

Word Count: 1.5k

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Morgan sighed and pushed the photographs away from him, burying his head in his hands.

“Unfortunately, no, this takes our total body count now up to seven,” Hotch replied sternly arms folded across his chest. You were always amazed at his ability to seem concerned and distanced at the same time. Whilst the rest of the team were gradually losing their composure over this case, he always stood clear headed and controlled. A lighthouse in a storm.

“That means his timescale has increased. He’s gone from a cooling off period of a couple of weeks to a few days,” JJ commented whilst picking up the photographs that Morgan had slid across the table. You watched as she studied them closely, sighed, and turned them over so they were face down. You really didn’t want to see what was on them but you knew you had to.

Turning your attention to the computer screen a small gasp escaped your lips as the photographs were now displayed in full view. Garcia hesitated before pressing the remote control to allow the slideshow to begin. There wasn’t much that made your stomach turn, especially after your years with the BAU, but there was something about what this unsub was doing that really made your skin crawl.

“Who’s the victim?” you asked timidly almost afraid for a response. “This one’s Lacey Petterson, 37. Her husband reported her missing last Tuesday and she was found this morning,” Garcia coughed, “positioned like this outside her place of work.”

“Where did she work?” JJ responded. There was a definite moment of silence before Hotch answered the question. “A pre-school.” A collective shudder went through you all. This unsub was taking victims who had steady, respectable jobs and then making a mockery of them. They were showing up outside their work places after the most gruesome and horrifying torture imaginable. A firefighter, a librarian, two police officers, a lawyer, a nurse and now a teacher. “The only real link with the victomology then is their professions. They didn’t live near each other. As far as we have seen they had no social links and didn’t even commute in the same area. Did Lacey Petterson have any other connections that we know of?” Spencer asked. As he spoke, you felt the comfort of the palm of his hand reach up and settle on your thigh. Displays of affection at work were reduced to a minimum, but Spencer knew just how much this case was bothering you and the slightest touch from his hand was settling you back down again.

The team continued to discuss the aspects of the case. Garcia demonstrated from her research how the latest victim had no social ties to any of the previous ones. She then handed out the medical examiner’s report and you all sat in silence while you read the horrific ways he had tortured and mutilated her body before putting it on display. The conversation went back and forth throughout the room, each discussing possible motives, geographical possibilities of future victims (Spencer’s speciality) and how you were going to catch him. You all settled on the fact that he was obviously loving the attention from the case. Each victim had been posed in a public setting and there had been a flood of media attention. The press were referring to him as the ‘career killer’ but you all had your suspicions that he was probably thriving off that nickname.

Then you moved onto potential future victims.

“I hate to be the one to say it,” you chewed on your lip nervously as you spoke, “but could we be targets? I mean, this guy has already gone for two local officers. An FBI agent would provide him with the perfect amount of press coverage.”

“What are you thinking, y/n?” Hotch asked. You felt Spencer’s grip a little stronger on your leg. He knew exactly what you were going to say next and it obviously made him a little uneasy. “I think one of us needs to try and bait him out. Go on TV and be interviewed about him. Taunt him a little. Make him angry. I feel like that would be a good way to lure him out.”

It was a very likely possibility that if he did go after one of the team that somebody was going to get hurt. All of his victims had suffered immense torture. They’d been starved, gagged, stabbed, shot, electrocuted, poisoned. All reports had stated that this torture had began immediately into their capture and not stopped until their deaths. “It’s a good idea,” Morgan shrugged. “I’d feel a bit more like we were doing something to catch the son of a bitch.”

“And you would like to be the bait, y/n?” Hotch asked. The warmth of Spencer’s hand on your leg quickly shifted as he moved to fold his arms. You didn’t dare looking over to your left. You knew he didn’t like you putting yourself in harms way but wasn’t going to say anything because you were at work. “Yeah I think so,” you replied swiftly, “I feel like I could give this guy a piece of my mind.” The mood in the room lifted a little, small laughs being heard but you were unsure who it was. Probably Derek.

“I think she’d be a good choice. A young, pretty FBI agent mocking him on national television would surely give us the rise we’re looking for,” said Rossi. “I’d be happy to help y/n prep for questions if we wanted to go head with it,” JJ added. She smiled reassuringly across the table, showing her support.

“Okay, we’ll set up the press conference for tomorrow afternoon.” Hotch confirmed. “Rossi, Morgan, I want you to go to the latest crime scene and gather all the information that you can. Garcia, keep digging into the lives of our victims and see if there’s any chance they may have crossed paths. JJ, Prentis, talk to the other victims families and see what you can get from them. I’m going to go talk with the police chief about implementing a curfew. Reid, Y/N, stay here and go through the profile with a fine toothed comb.”

Everyone was quick to jump up and act on their instructions. Although he would never admit it, you had the slightest suspicion that Hotch had left the two of you together because of your willingness to be a potential victim. Perhaps he thought you’d end up in an argument and didn’t want it to be out in public.

Before you had any chance to speak to him, Spencer stood up and made his way to the door. “I’m going to get us both a cup of coffee,” he said without looking at you.

“Spence, please…” He turned to face you and smiled softly. You could see the dark circles were more prominent around his eyes. You felt a sudden sense of guilt for sleeping all through the night, sleeping softly next to him, when it was obvious his night wasn’t the same. You would never say that you profiled Spencer, but you had a certain intuition that told you exactly what and how he was thinking at all times. You’d never felt closer to another person in your life, and neither had Spencer. You worked together, lived together, loved together. And the idea that something bad would happen to one of you… You knew all too well that the other one wouldn’t be able to survive it. “I know this case has been hard on you, honey. I don’t want to make it worse…”

He sighed and rubbed his fingers on his temples. “I know you’re not, y/n. I just don’t think I can bare to think about you in this situation.” He gestured towards the pictures still displayed on the screen. “I can’t stop thinking about these pictures. These people. The thought of it being you is just… unbearable.” He stifled a yawn. “I haven’t slept properly since this case started. There’s something about it that we’re missing and I just can’t put my finger on it,” he smiled weakly. “I do think you’re right about needing to taunt him out. I think it’ll work. I just can’t…”

“We’re just gonna have to catch him first,” you interrupted. “Nothing’s going to happen to me, or to you, or to anyone else on this team.”

Spencer smiled back. “Let’s get to work”

End of part 1

#spencer reid #spencer reid fic #spencer reid imagines #spencer reid x reader #spencer x y/n #dr reid #dr spencer reid #dr reid x y/n #criminal minds #criminal minds fanfiction #spencer reid x you #criminal minds fic

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a-day-in-the-afterlife · 4 years ago

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The 14th Department (AFTERL!FE) Meets the Demon Brothers and Undateables (Obey Me!)

Lucifer

Noah heard he has a dog. He is staying far away from the pretentious eldest.

Oldest big brother? You better believe Youssef finds a kindred spirit, even if they differ wildly in personalities.

Louis lives for the almost regal aesthetic Lucifer has got going on. Lucifer, in turn, lives for the day Louis will stop talking.

Quincy finds this whole trip preposterous (“What the heck is the Devildom? What happened to the Underworld?”) and does not like Lucifer’s condescending attitude (it conflicts with his own!).

Ethan doesn’t like Lucifer—proud and arrogant people with no reason to be so are not to be respected. Lucifer despises Ethan for the same reason.

Day! Will! Not! Go! Near! Lucifer! He’s so scary! But Cerberus is his best friend now (Nine-Nine who?).

Nine and Theo together find out that the eldest demon is into classical music and spend hours discussing early compositions with him.

Ell cannot be around this demon! He is a fallen angel! He tries to be nice (and because Ell is kind, so is Lucifer, even if the sickly sweetness of the angel drives him up the wall), but every good wish is punctuated with a sneeze.

Lucifer is so overworked, so by way of his calm disposition and love for meditation, Jamie helps him find ways to relax.

The eldest demon’s general demeanor astonishes June. How manly he is!

Likewise, Sian can’t go near Lucifer without feeling nervous. The man drips dominating energy!

Verine can’t understand the eldest’s love for classical music. Rock is infinitely better.

Mammon

Um, Mori and him are best friends. They together cause trouble in the House of Lamentation and in the 14th Department with their many get-rich-quick schemes.

Gaudy and expensive taste? Sign Louis up.

Ethan says ‘no’ to the demon’s general pomposity (it reeks of low self-esteem) and by God, doesn’t he own anything that depicts an iota of class?

Mammon is one speedy demon—how can Kirr not appreciate his fleetfootedness when it would bring him so much use whilst hunting? Apart from that, Kirr has no respect for that reprehensible thief, for the very idea of stealing brings back terrible memories.

Always belittled by their peers, Day and Mammon find a kindred spirit in each other, and Day is always reminded of his past life when he sees all the gold that Mammon professes to possess possesses.

Kati bit him twelve times because no dumb tsundere was going to steal his (cough Aitachi’s) spot as cutest in the Department!

Licht is eclipsed by Mammon’s demon form because how is he able to pull off wearing so little clothing so well? He must take notes. When he learns that Mammon is a model, too, he goes berserk with delight.

Cyrille finds the secondborn exceedingly stupid, although he begrudgingly gives him credit for being pretty decent at math.

Sian spots a fellow tsundere and runs away, because oh my God, it’s so obvious that Mammon likes this MC person!

Leviathan

Games? Social awkwardness? Extreme interest in things that no one else seems to care for? Cyrille has found his soulmate!

Aitachi and Kirr cringe at how Leviathan spends his leisure time, but are intrigued because they have never seen such methods of gaming and media consumption before.

Leviathan is forever at Quincy’s mercy, for the fellow demon has no qualms of absolutely crushing Levi’s already non-existent self-esteem.

Even though he loathes to admit it, Sian really likes the rhythm games Leviathan plays, and the thousands of idol posters in his room make him strangely nostalgic of his past life.

June wonders how Levi can go so long without feeling the overwhelming need to burst into a sprint now and again.

Theo almost kills the thirdborn because how is his room filled with so many Demonrito and Hell Mountain Dew containers? What filth!

Speaking of filth, Licht finds some of Levi’s dating sims and oh my darling, some of them are quite … lewd.

Ghilley and Leviathan together construct an elaborate Lego model of a castle from the anime My Sister Is A Fairy Princess, And Her Suitor Is Secretly An Ogre From a Land Far Away And Wants to Eat Us All, And It’s Up to Me to Save My Sister’s Kingdom.

Ethan can’t even walk past Leviathan’s room without a disapproving “tut.” Has the demon no discipline, despite being rumored to be the Grand Admiral of Hell’s Navy?

Kati spends all day poking at the cute monster and waifu figurines situated in Levi’s bedroom. He thinks Azuki-tan is cute, but not as cute as him, and anyone who says otherwise will get bitten!

Aitachi likes to rifle through Leviathan’s anime sword replica collection and giggle because in combat, they would be of no more use than a toothpick.

Satan

Finally! Someone with sense! thinks Ethan. Boy, do these two get along, right down to their educated and proper mannerisms to their mutual hatred of Lucifer.

Verine can’t go near Satan without coughing violently because the forthborn always has some manner of cat hair on him, no matter how diligently he preens.

Cats are infinitely better than dogs, so Noah sticks close to Satan.

Cyrille thought he had found a friend in Satan, who always has his nose in a book, but it turns out, Satan is more philosophically-and-intellectually-versed, while Cyrille is more scientific.

Nine likes Satan, for he is as calm as himself. Strangely enough, they both seem to have hidden wrathful feelings and bond over this.

Kitties! :D is all Day can think when he sees the fourthborn.

Youssef enjoys Satan’s company, too, for they both are anthropological in nature—always watching, but never interfering until there is a need.

Blond and princelike are the two of them, but Louis is sorely disappointed when Satan’s royal appearance is merely a façade of darker emotions to come, where Louis enjoys life in its every aspect. “How disappointing art thou, Satan!” Louis throws rose petals in distress.

Kirr and Aitachi try to hunt one of Satan’s cats, thinking it was some kind of Devildom’s finest prey. Satan does not forgive them for the attempt.

Theo sneezes the moment he enters Satan’s room. Although everything is in its place and not truly messy by any means, he refuses to let the stacks and stacks of books sit idly by when they are begging to be put in shelves!

Quincy and Satan each add to their respective repertoire of curses in their time together. It does not bode well for anyone in the House of Lamentation or 14th Department.

Asmodeus

They are … essentially the same person, so you can bet your ass that Licht and Asmo absolutely live for each other’s company. They literally spend hours modeling clothes together, discussing fashion, gossiping about their romantic exploits, and praising their overall appearance.

Louis joins in too, although he mostly stays for the latter, and the three vanquish away many nights complimenting their own and the others’ looks.

Sometimes Asmo likes to sew patches and sequins onto his clothes and mend them to his own design, and Aitachi, who likes to sew, learns many different ways of stitching from the fifthborn, although he hates the fact that Asmo, like Licht, never shuts up about what an “adorable and cute warrior” he is!

Asmo has to know Kirr’s hair care routine, which Kirr gives in one, succinct sentence: “I wash it. Sometimes.”

Nine has to constantly flee Asmodeus’ presence because it is in his nature to compliment the Soul Reaper on how absolutely beautiful he looks.

Kati expects makeovers, all of which should emphasize his cuteness, every other day.

Don’t ask how long Mori spent calculating how much money Asmo spends on beauty products, because he wept at the end of it.

Verine refuses to step a foot into Asmodeus’ room because do you know how much his sinuses are going to bother him when he spends even a second into a room so deeply entrenched in the fragrance of flowers and perfume?

Ghilley is used to a personality so akin to his roommate, Licht, so he has no qualms in dealing with Asmo and quite likes the gossip he is quietly able to distill from the fifthborn.

Beelzebub

Brothers in their flaming orange hair, June gloms onto Beel with astounding loyalty (Theo refuses to admit jealousy, but ...), especially when he hears of his dedication to his twin.

Cyrille has to interrogate Beel on the structural integrity of his wings in his demon form because there is no way that such a flimsy apparatus could lift a demon of Beel’s stature even an inch into the air! Also, how much does Beel exercise if he expects to gain muscle and burn off the infinite calories that he consumes? It is a scientific mystery.

Day likes snacks, Beel likes snacks! Everything is right in the world (even if the demon accidentally mistook Day’s hair for a mint ice cream cone).

Jamie is constantly offering fresh fruits and vegetables to the sixthborn, but even though he eats them willingly, Beel much prefers foods that will actually fill him up for a short amount of time.

Again, Ethan is appalled by the lack of discipline Beelzebub shows. The demon is simply a slave to his appetite and deserves nothing less than scorn.

Theo cannot decide if he likes or hates the fact that Beel leaves a trail of crumbs wherever he goes. On one hand, he gets to clean, but on the other hand, it’s so messy ...

Even though he has many misgivings of fallen angels, even Ell cannot help but like Beel! As long as he is fed, the demon is very sweet and kind.

Noah likes Beel, too. Something about his easygoing and generally cheerful personality pleases him to no end.

Beel tried to eat Kati’s hair, thinking it was a yummy bun. Sadly, he got bit more times than Mammon.

Youssef is a good cook and is thereby followed by Beel wherever he goes. The kind Soul Reaper doesn’t mind, though.

Belphegor

Noah likes how Belphie takes things easily and calmly, although it probably wouldn’t hurt for him to get more exercise.

Belphegor is even more of a conundrum to June than Leviathan was. He decides that next time he goes to the Devildom, he’s going to bring an extra pair of running shoes because the demon most certainly was wanting of physical exertion!

Kirr is absolutely astonished at the unguarded and completely lax way Belphie sprawls out in the House of Lamentation, sleeping. If he was an enemy tribesman, he would have no trouble in taking the demon down as he slept.

“This kind of laziness is not fit for a warrior at all!” cries Aitachi any time he seems Belphie dozing off.

Jamie likes Belphegor’s way of thinking. Sometimes, sitting under an apple tree in the sweltering summer heat after a hard day of work just causes one to be overcome with the desire to take a nap.

Youssef tries to brew Belphie a cup of espresso, but the caffeine just doesn’t seem to have an effect on the Avatar of Sloth.

Although he is slightly disheartened by the fact that his quiet footsteps seem to have no effect on the seventhborn, as he is always asleep, Ghilley revels in the prospect of drawing unsavory graffiti on the demon’s face when he slumbers.

Day sometimes tries to rouse Belphie, and Belphie, in turn, tries to kill Day.

Like his observations on his twin, Cyrille cannot fathom how the demon could sleep so much. How could one body need so much rest?

Simeon

Ell loves him. How can he not? He is the perfect angel! He is also very curious as to how the Celestial Realm of Obey Me!’s world works compared to the one in AFTERL!FE.

His whole aesthetic mesmerizes Louis. There’s something so tranquil but regal about it.

Licht wants to know where he can get an exact copy of Simeon’s outfit because darling, it's gorgeous.

Youssef probably spends more time around Simeon than he should, but his calm demeanor is so refreshing compared to the chaos in the 14th Department and the House of Lamentation.

Kirr and Aitachi together lament with Simeon on the struggles of working with technology. Why is it so difficult?

Something about the angel’s holy air makes Mori very much not inclined to ask him how much the gold clasp on his cape is worth.

Quincy hates the “pretentious” and “stuck up” angel and bickers with him almost as much as he bickers with Ell. Simeon never responds to his goading, although ... he does get a bit prickly when Quincy criticizes Luke or the Celestial Realm too harshly.

Encouraged by the prospect that he can actually breathe in the (fresh-smelling) presence of Simeon, Verine enjoys his company, but is perpetually annoyed by the fact that the angel seems to pity him for his condition.

Ethan can’t hate Simeon, either. He is the sole honorable character he can find in the entire Devildom, even though he has to admit that it seems that the angel is hiding something.

Day really likes Simeon! He’s so nice and is always ready to play with him.

As a man of science, Cyrille scoffs at Simeon (and Luke’s) unfaltering belief in religion.

Luke

Kati bites him on sight. Luke just seems irritating and how dare he think himself cuter than him!

Aitachi sympathizes with Luke, for they both lament on not being taken seriously because of their age.

Luke reminds him a bit too much of a chihuahua for Noah to be too fond of him, but the little angel means well, so Noah suffers his incessant barking out of (Kind)ness.

Day is a human puppy ... and Luke is an angel chihuahua. They get along great, although Luke makes it his most important goal to Christianize Day, who seems to believe in other things!

Quincy wonders when Luke will stop talking and is constantly entertaining thoughts of hastening the day when he will. Likewise, Luke wishes the “horrible demon” would go away forever.

As a fellow angel, Ell finds Luke to be great fun. It’s strange though, Luke seems to always be expressing the opposite of what he’s feeling in typical tsundere fashion, but he never sneezes.

Sian finds Luke to be of the utmost annoyance. He’s so short (heh) and yappy and annoying!

Kirr wonders if the little angel will make a good hunting dog, but after he realizes that Luke has a lot of trouble keeping his mouth closed, he thinks better of it.

His dealings with Day cause Nine to be an excellent caretaker of Luke when Simeon is away. You just have to deal with exuberant personalities like his carefully, is all.

Ghilley and Licht give Luke “five stars” in terms of cuteness. The young angel does not approve!

Theo stays far away from Luke. Children are walking crumb-and-stain-factories and he is not going to get dirty.

Solomon

Quincy and Solomon exchange many spell incantations and curses and keep the rest of the Soul Reapers, angels, and demons in an uproar with their constant shenanigans.

When he notices that Solomon has many fortune-telling artifacts in his room, Kati rifles through them all (without permission), much to the sorcerer’s amusement, especially when Kati discovers many supposedly unpleasant things about his future.

Although Quincy and Solomon are the true troublemaking duo in terms of pranks (Satan helps, sometimes), Day and Solomon are almost equal in measure, although much of Day’s rogurey is an accident, and he never means to cause any harm!

Licht is instantly enamored by Solomon’s cape—what style! You can see the entire Milky Way embroidered on it (Cyrille instantly assures him that that is not actually the case)!

Ghilley can’t help but wonder why anyone thinks Solomon is shady. He seems to be a pretty upstanding, if chaotic, guy?

Youssef admires the humanity of Solomon. In a land of angels and demons and even Soul Reapers, it’s good to have someone so normal.

Unlike Ghilley, Ethan definitely notices that something shady is afoot when Solomon is around. Because of this, he tails the sorcerer wherever he goes, for he’d rather not a ruckus be caused.

Sian has many questions for Solomon on the status of idols in the Human World since he left it. What are the newest trends? The most popular groups? The most admired dance moves? He wants to know it all.

Barbatos

Cyrille finds the whole time-travel aspect of Barbatos’ powers intriguing and derails the butler from his duties for hours in attempts to understand the nuances of this overpowering concept.

Ethan privately thinks that he looked much better in a butler suit than the demon. What is even going on with the front of his outfit? A diligent and uncomplaining demon is Barbatos, and Ethan has to respect him for that, even if he is a position so beneath his own.

He’s so scary! D: thinks Day, even though Barbatos is nothing but kind to him.

Kirr likes the fine fare that Barbatos cooks, although he laments not being able to win “the mind game” against the butler, who he spends many hours staring coolly at.

Theo and Barbatos spend many an evening chatting about the best way to maintain the most perfect state of cleanliness.

The strong smell of detergent follows Barbatos sometimes, and Verine can never bring himself too close to the demon. However, he has to begrudgingly admit that if it weren’t for the overwhelming stench of chemicals, he would be breathing in a suffocating cloud of dust particles, so he has to thank the butler for that.

Jamie gives Barbatos many good recipes for fruit pies and Youssef can’t wait to try all the (possibly) delicious recipes that Barbatos recites to him.

Ghilley, unfortunately, finds it very difficult to sneak up on the butler, for Barbatos has seen all Ghilley’s attempts to scare him in all the timelines he has observed.

Diavolo

This bumbling idiot is the ruler of the Devildom? thinks Ethan with great distaste. However dignified Diavolo might be, Ethan cannot see past the blindingly cheerful mask he puts on and finds it most undignified.

A fellow royal! How is Louis supposed to resist striking a long-winded conversation? Diavolo entertains Louis’ pompous and overbearing self and they find each other most delightful.

Licht positively drools over Diavolo’s demon form outfit. Just how he is pulling off that much style?

Quincy finds much enjoyment in disrespecting the Prince of the Devildom to no end and is always disappointed when Diavolo responds to his insults with a tolerating smile.

The Prince of Demons and the son of the Demon Lord are titles that are essentially the bane of Ell’s existence, but he manages to be most respectful toward him, even though he is shaking in his shoes and wondering when all their interactions will come to and end.

Day lived like a king in his past life and is not even remotely fazed by the enormous amount of finery found in the Demon Lord’s Castle. He is, however, enamored with the Little D’s, who, when not insulting him, are great fun!

Diavolo’s lifestyle of luxury is basically Mori’s dream, so he takes every opportunity to make notes of the expensive furniture and ancient pieces.

Noah and Youssef like how down-to-Earth Diavolo is, despite his high position. They feel as if he has something to hide, but for the most part, he is a jolly fellow and they enjoy his company.

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blackjack-15 · 4 years ago

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Hunting For Some Buried Story — Thoughts on: Ransom of the Seven Ships (RAN)

Previous Metas: SCK/SCK2, STFD, MHM, TRT, FIN, SSH, DOG, CAR, DDI, SHA, CUR, CLK, TRN, DAN, CRE, ICE, CRY, VEN, HAU

Hello and welcome to a Nancy Drew meta series! 30 metas, 30 Nancy Drew Games that I’m comfortable with doing meta about. Hot takes, cold takes, and just Takes will abound, but one thing’s for sure: they’ll all be longer than I mean them to be.

Each meta will have different distinct sections: an Introduction, an exploration of the Title, an explanation of the Mystery, a run-through of the Suspects. Then, I’ll tackle some of my favorite and least favorite things about the game, and finish it off with ideas on how to improve it. Like with all of the Odd Games, there will be a section between The Intro and The Title called The Weird Stuff, where I go into what makes this game stand out as a little strange.

If any game requires an extra section or two, they’ll be listed in the paragraph above, along with links to previous metas.

These metas are not spoiler free, though I’ll list any games/media that they might spoil here: RAN; STFD; mention of FIN; GTH; mention of SPY.

The Intro:

We’re two-thirds of the way through the meta series officially (yay for meta #20!), and what a way to cap off that marker: with the last of the Odd Games.

And my land, how Odd it is. And that’s ignoring that in August of 2020, this game was very quietly discontinued — speculated to be because of the…well, pseudo-brownface in the game.

Oh yeah, we’re starting with that little bomb.

Before we truly begin, however, let me state one fact: the controversies over this game do not make it any more interesting, unfortunately. I don’t know how a game can be both this objectively bad and this objectively boring as a mystery, but RAN is an example of many, many impossible feats in the video game industry (boring yet bad, controversial yet uninteresting, finicky yet sluggish in controls, so it might as well begin as it means to go on.

I’m also stating here for the record that I’m not really going to focus on the social aspect of this game; it’s always been out of the scope of these metas to focus on current events or social issues, and race is such a hot button issue that no matter what anyone says, someone gets mad. Besides that, it’s really not an interesting tack to take with this meta, not when there’s so many things to talk about regarding RAN as a game and/or as a mystery. If you came into this meta expecting a breakdown as it relates to any social issues, this might not be the meta for you.

If you came for a beat-down on RAN, however, you’re in the right place. Get comfy.

Ransom of the Seven Ships had all the pieces in place to make it a great game; we’ve got Bess and George in the (weird, plasticky) flesh, a fascinating and beautiful location, a historical background based in Spanish exploration, the Age of Piracy, and treasure hunting…all of these are great, honestly, and it’s part of what makes RAN so offensively bad — it could have been really great.

Instead of a wonderful game based around pirate treasure, however, Nancy plays games with monkeys, drives on the world’s slowest golf cart, and trusts the only other person on the entire freaking island when he says he didn’t kidnap her friend. Even though he is the ONLY OTHER PERSON ON THE FREAKING ISLAND.

This game is based off of a Nancy Drew mystery entitled “The Broken Anchor”, which actually is fairly close to the plot of the game — the girls win a contest (though in this case it’s one they didn’t even enter) to go to the Bahamas, Nancy arrives (with Carson) and can’t contact Bess or George, there’s a mysterious treasure, etc. etc. In part, I think, RAN’s problems come from following the book too closely, as there’s really very little to the plot of the book. Game plots necessarily have to have a little more meat to them, as you can’t spend the whole time with Nancy pontificating on the scenery or food (as she is wont to do), and RAN is missing a lot of meat.

Specifically, the meat that it’s missing is any suspects at all. Like I said, there’s only one other person (other than Nancy, Bess, and George) on the island, and it’s ‘Johnny Rolle’ — a self-professed fisherman and loner who’s boat has been wrecked by the monkeys.

There are way too many effing monkeys in this game, side note. How I wish the monkeys were a side note.

Nancy, despite her normal M.O when a kidnapping of a friend has taken place, just kinda rolls with his story and accepts it, digging pointless holes in the sand while he definitely has Bess trapped. And then there’s the weirdness with the monkeys trying to kill her as she scales a sheer cliff wall.

Honestly, if I go any more into it, I’m just going to end up tearing it apart piece by piece, and that’s for the Fix section. So let’s move on to the specific things that make this game truly the capstone of the Odd Games.

The Weird Stuff:

This game is, first and foremost, a story about personal revenge — or, at least, that’s the big takeaway, no matter what HER actually intended for it to be about. After being busted by Nancy (and Lillian, and Ralph, but he apparently doesn’t care about them), Dwayne sat in prison stewing over his ignominious defeat at the hands of a teenaged sleuth until he heard about the supposed treasure on Dread Isle. His greed for the treasure combined with his hatred of Nancy began to fester together, culminating in a slightly complex but ultimately stupid plan to get both money and revenge.

This is a motivation unlike any we’ve encountered. Sure, a handful of Nancy Drew villains have sworn their revenge on Nancy (most notably at this point in the series Helena from VEN), but no one has actually done it — until Dwayne.

This should have made the whole game feel intensely personal — and indeed, bringing back tokens and things from Nancy’s past cases and locations should have built to that. However, the game never really comes to a fever pitch of a feeling of someone is watching Nancy and actively hates her, even though it makes a few attempts. More than any other game, Nancy should have been scared here — and it’s odd that she isn’t.

The second odd thing here is the returning villain. I don’t think this is a bad thing at all — I love the idea of a returning villain — but I do think it was a mistake to pick Dwayne Powers. At this point in the series, STFD was hardly a well-known game, and was generally unplayable due to technological advances.

Yes, later STFD would get a bit of a sprucing up and become playable again (and this game, funnily enough, would be relegated to the ‘unplayable’ pile — Dwayne never can win, I guess), but that didn’t matter at the time that RAN was coming out.

There were several better choices — VEN’s Helena, SHA’s Shorty, DOG’s Emily (who had already received a mention recently in DAN) — so why go with Dwayne? Did they pick him on purpose because no one would suspect (or rather, remember) him? Was he the most obscure villain they could think of? Mitch Dillon (who never appeared really) from SCK would have been an equally obscure but somehow more frightening choice. I’m really at a loss to figure out why they chose Dwayne, of all people.

The third thing that makes this game odd is the lack of suspects. Sure, they give a hat-tip to the Gibsons perhaps being hidden on the island (which, let’s just say, they shouldn’t have — never use as a red herring something that would have made the game so much better), but Dwayne/Johnny really is the only suspect.

I have no idea if they were rushed, if they thought that his different identities counted as extra suspects, or if they just wanted to try something different with this game, but it in no way worked. It’s so mind-bogglingly simple to figure out who kidnapped Bess that it makes Nancy look like she’s quite a few sandwiches short of a picnic.

The last Odd thing that I’ll hang on is how incredibly out-of-character Nancy is in this game. We’ve only seen Nancy work kidnapping (or supposed kidnapping) cases a few times in the series as a whole — FIN’s Maya, RAN’s Bess, and GTH’s Jessalyn — but in both FIN and GTH Nancy takes them very seriously, being harsher and more impatient with less time for people’s lies and stories than she usually is, and really feeling the pressure of the clock.

It makes sense; even discounting the Missing Mom trauma that sits deep within Nancy, the first 48 hours of a kidnapping are basically the only window that she has, statistically speaking, to find the victim still alive and okay. She nearly flies off the handle at the suspects in FIN, and digs uncomfortably deep even at very touchy subjects in GTH.

It then stands to reason that, with FIN in the past and GTH in the future, that Nancy would react similarly in this case. Bess is one of Nancy’s best friends, and the friend that we’re shown most often (think of the flashback in SPY; Bess is the one who comes over after Kate and Carson’s fight) around Nancy, like in CRY.

You’d think that, in the face of Bess’ unambiguous kidnapping, that Nancy would be raising hell — contacting anyone she could, taking no prisoners, ripping Dwayne’s tarp down, turning the island upside down, etc. — but instead, she’s calm, almost relaxed, spending time playing games with monkeys and driving aimlessly around the island.

It honestly makes no sense that she’s like this. This is one of a small handful of games where Nancy is deeply, personally invested, where she has a quick running clock, and where the stakes are deadly yet somewhat unknown.

Nancy comes into this with no background, no contacts, no ability to really look things up, and no help — George’s meager efforts do not count — and yet she acts like there are really no stakes. It doesn’t make me dislike her, it doesn’t make me fold that into her characterization — it just makes me say “wow, the writing is really bad here, huh”.

The Title:

Ransom of the Seven Ships is an amazing title; there’s really no getting around this fact. And for the bare bones of the game, it’s more than a suitable title. You’ve got the word ‘ransom’ doing double duty — meaning both treasure and the price to return someone who’s been kidnapped — you’ve got the ships indicating pirate treasure, and that also tells us we’re probably on an island.

Honestly, this is a far better title than this game really deserved (which is half the reason for this meta: turning the game into something that deserves its title). It’s certainly far better than “The Broken Anchor”, its source material, while keeping a pirate-y nature about it. While it’s a little different than most Nancy Drew games’ titles have been up to this point — as they’re usually “The (Adjective) Noun of Location” or “The Adjective Noun”, that’s not a bad thing at all.

This title really does make me sad with how wonderful it is. It deserved so much better. Same with Ship of Shadows, which is also boss.

The Mystery:

Having won an all-expense paid vacation to Dread Isle in the Bahamas (which should have been their first clue that something hinky was afoot), Bess invites Nancy and George along with her. Nancy arrives the day after the cousins, having stayed for a later flight because of a prior engagement with Carson, and is greeted by a frantic George who tells her that Bess has been kidnapped, that the owners of the resort – the Gibsons — aren’t there, and that she’s been worried sick.

Nancy, naturally, senses something Amiss, and sets off to explore the islands, beginning from the pink sand beach where Bess’ water powered golf cart (yes, I know) is still sitting. She discovers Bess’ shoe next to the only other person on the island — a fisherman named Johnny Rolle from Jamaica — and sets off to explore the rest of the island.

Along the way she finds notes from Bess’ kidnappers, instructions on digging for treasure, twisting island paths, and monkeys. So many friggin monkeys. All of whom Nancy must appease in order to progress in her hunt for one of her oldest friends.

Yeah.

As a mystery…well, what is there really to say about the mystery? It should have been over the second Nancy found Bess’ shoe right outside Dwayne’s camp where a Suspicious Tarp Just Big Enough To Hide the Body of a Young Adult was hanging. An intelligent way to draw it out would be to have Nancy discover Bess there, but for Dwayne to pull a fast one on her and trap her below…but this isn’t the fix section, so let’s just move on past that.

If you weren’t going to add in any new characters or suspects, it might be best to have this game flip from a whodunnit to a howdunnit/howcatchem after the first third; as it is (aka since I’m going to add far more characters in The Fix section), we’ll move right along to the suspect in question himself.

The Suspects:

Yes, I know that this part should just be “The Suspect”.

Believe me, I know.

Wearing a whole cornucopia of masks, Johnny Rolle — aka John E. Poole — is an Australian accountant, hiding from ‘bad clients’ by painting himself brown and adopting a horrible (and horribly stereotypical) Jamaican accent. Nancy discovers his ‘true’ identity by finding an ID with his name on it while he’s still in the ‘Johnny’ disguise. Of course, this ‘true identity’ isn’t his true identity as all…

Dwayne Powers —aka Owen W. Spayder — is sitting underneath the bad wig, bandana, brownface, and horrible accents, and is voiced in this go-around by HER’s chameleon of many voices, good ol’ JVS. After hearing about Dread Isle’s rumors of treasure and their monkey research lab shutting down from a volunteer at his prison (yes, we’re already way too complicated for this game), Dwayne started planning to get the treasure and get revenge on Nancy at the same time.

As the culprit…man is Dwayne horrible. He’s so stupid that it really kills me that Nancy actually falls for his act, because it makes her even stupider. It’s not a good plan, it’s not well thought out, it’s not even a complete plan — it relies on too many unknowables. What if Nancy and George had just stormed his camp and found Bess? What if Nancy figured out it was him? Like, I know Dwayne is an egotist, but this is just dumb.

Before I eviscerate any more, let’s just move on to the few good things in this game.

The Favorite:

The best thing about RAN (other than its music, which as always is super good) is honestly its location. Dread Isle is beautifully and uniquely rendered, and doesn’t look like any other game with the pink-sand beaches, beautiful horizon line, and foliage all befitting a Bahamian resort.

I also like the idea of a returning culprit; while it wasn’t handled well here, I do think it’s a great idea as quite a few culprits have promised revenge on Nancy at the end of their games. Do I think it would have been better if it was Helena, who promised revenge only 2 games ago, rather than going back 18 games to a game that most hadn’t played due to lack of availability? Of course; but the idea behind it was sound.

I don’t have a favorite puzzle or favorite moment; even Dwayne’s dramatic reveal is ruined by the fact that Nancy is at all surprised that he was wearing a disguise and, once again, that the only other person on the island was responsible for kidnapping her friend.

The Un-Favorite:

As far as this section goes…there’s a lot that I don’t like, but there are a few things that stand out more than the rest as truly un-favorite.

My least favorite thing about this game, as you might be able to guess, is that it makes Nancy seem so stupid. We’ve had 19 games of Nancy (mostly; this meta series does go over the exceptions) figuring out clues, chasing bad guys, and solving puzzles without breaking a sweat, and then for this game she’s fooled by some makeup, a wig, and a bad accent? At least in STFD Dwayne put some effort into his work; this is just sad, and it’s even sadder that Nancy falls for it.

My least favorite moment in the game is probably the first conversation with ‘Johnny’. Nancy finds Bess’ shoe, gets strung up in a trap, and then believes that the guy sitting a few feet away is innocent and telling the truth? It’s a moment that truly sets up what a crap shoot this game is about to become, and that alone is enough to make it my least favorite.

My least favorite puzzle is anything to do with the monkeys; playing games with them, scaling the cliff, talking to them, talking about them — literally anything. I don’t like monkeys on a good day, but to have so many puzzles in the game revolve around playing their stupid little games with them? Not a good thing at all. Especially since getting around the island (and, of course, the monkeys live quite far away from anything else on the island) is so aggravatingly slow and clunky — it makes everything feel like a total slog.

The Fix:

So how would I fix Ransom of the Seven Ships?

My gosh, just remake the game.

More seriously, there are quite a few things that I would do in order to make playing through RAN a little more enjoyable and a lot more story-driven (and in line with Nancy and George’s characters). As always, I’m trying to keep this as close to the actual game as possible with few or no huge changes, so Dwayne will still be our culprit, Bess will still have won his giveaway, and Dread Isle will still be the spot of El Toro’s treasure.

The first thing I would do is get rid of Dwayne’s brownface/first disguise, and have him be the Australian accountant named John E. Poole, running from Bad News clients who he didn’t allow to cheat come tax day. That sets him up as a good guy to begin with (if a little foolish to cross such powerful clients), and gives a reason why he’s not staying at the resort (he’s trying to hide and not leave a paper/money trail at the same time). He should be staying in a little homemade hut, not with a Suspicious Tarp Obviously Hiding Bess, as he would have had to been on the island for a while to perfect his disguise (and seem trustworthy to the people at the resort).

I would also have the game take place on Nancy’s 19th birthday; if we assume she was barely 18 at the time of STFD, that makes it about a year that he would have been plotting and escaping and setting up this contest and such. It also makes sense as to why Nancy would have a banquet-thing with Carson and why Bess invited her and George — it’s a fabulous birthday party trip, even for the well-off Nancy Drew. That would also add to her anger — this was a great present that Bess (and George) gave her, and Dwayne has just straight-up ruined it.

Another change that would help the atmosphere is to have at least half the game take place at night. I would have the game take place over roughly two days — it ends the night of the second day — so that you can see the island at night. A lot of the demands made by ‘the kidnappers’ should be done at night — treasure digging, in particular — so as to not be more disruptive to the island than a missing persons case would already be.

Of course, one of the biggest things to do would be to add more suspects.

The Gibsons — both of them — should definitely be there at the resort. I’d have one half of the couple be in the resort during the day, and the other at night, so Nancy can interact with them both differently and have different tasks/discussions with them. Perhaps Mrs. Gibson is an expert on the island’s ‘lore’ — El Toro’s treasure and stuff — while Mr. Gibson is more up on island life and is the law enforcement liaison for the island (who can effectively deputize Nancy to help with the search for Bess).

I would also add one other guest who was supposed to check out right before the first note from the kidnappers came in, and is now stuck on the island until the case is solved. What I’d probably do is make them a Secret Australian (to contrast with Dwayne’s fake Australian accent) — sporting an English accent due to a posh upbringing and studying in England for most of their school life, living in England somewhere (maybe near Blackmoor Manor for a cool Easter egg) — who is Very Grumpy about this and thinks Bess ran off to explore and just got lost. I’d probably make them unhelpful to the last — even when Bess is found and had definitely been kidnapped, to just shrug it off and to board the plane to get home as quickly as possible.

The last person I’d add in is someone working the desk — specifically, an older teenager who is very cagey about themselves and how they know what they know, but who seems to know a lot more than they let on. This person would, of course, end up being a member of ATAC, and once Nancy figures it out, would be able to connect you with help from the Hardy Boys. This ATAC member would be scoping out the Gibsons for evidence of getting guests under false pretenses, but would ultimately change their suspicions to Dwayne and help Nancy and George catch him. Through this ATAC teen, the Hardy Boys could use outside information to give Nancy information about monkeys, the island, treasure, El Toro, and anything else that she encounters, as well as spread their feelers out about the Gibsons, the other guest, and John E. Poole.

I would of course want to improve the tone, which would be helped by having more people on the island — Nancy should feel scared that Bess disappeared with this many people around, and it should feel personal. As the game goes on, even with the added help, the walls should feel like they’re closing in. I would include way more second chances, traps, threatening notes, maybe even recordings of Bess screaming or scared or in pain — something that might push the rating to E+ because, quite frankly, the situation calls for it.

Mechanically, I would put way less focus on the monkeys; they really shouldn’t control everything on the island. Keeping them for a minigame and location is cool, but they definitely shouldn’t have their place of prominence in the game.

I would also remove the fact that you can control George. Out of all the games where I think controlling people other than Nancy would be great, this is not one of them. As worried as Nancy should be, this is George’s cousin — practically her sister, from how close their families are and how much time they spend together — and George would probably be in a State. Sure, she can help with some of the tech stuff, but the player definitely shouldn’t be playing as her in this game. It just feels forced, and it’s not necessary.

Would these changes make RAN a fantastic, award-winning game? No, honestly, they wouldn’t. In order to do that, you’d probably have to scrap the game entirely and start over with even barer bones. But I do think it would help to make it at least better and more playable, and I think that’s a win. Let RAN be remembered for its returning villain and its kidnapping plot, not for being the game that everyone skips during a replay of the series.

#nancy drew #clue crew #nancy drew games #ransom of the seven ships #nancy drew meta #RAN #video games #long post #my meta

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shitsngiggles666 · 5 years ago

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I am not one to use social media, but this whole sh*t show is something I will not take sitting down. I’ve seen some messed up things on the internet, but the cyberbullying by the “Camily” is really disturbing me. Before I get to my criticisms and thoughts, I will briefly address Luke Deacon. The allegations against him are not without evidence, namely from a public social media account. One of these allegations is very serious, and can be considered “revenge p*rn which can actually lead to charges in the UK. I’m not sure if it’s the same in the UK, but in my country Luke can be legally labeled as a sex offender if convicted! This is all I know of the situation but since many of Luke’s fans are underage girls who are also fans of Queen and the Bohemian Rhapsody movie I don’t feel this issue can be totally ignored. I consider Luke “innocent until proven guilty”, as I am an inhabitant of Freedom Land. The first issue I will address is both of Cam’s parents, as I want to discuss them before the “Camily” as they’re not directly involved with the cyber bullying, at least to my knowledge. I admit that I have never met John or Veronica Deacon. I have no knowledge of the intimate details of their family life, and their parenting skills. I do have a fair amount of knowledge of John‘s time with Queen as he is my favorite surviving member of Queen. I find researching his life and trying to understand someone who seems an overlooked and complex figure in music. Yes, John is Cam’s father and to me he’s an interest, a subject I enjoy learning and trying to understand him like I do with other things I’m interested in. Meanwhile, to Cameron he is “dad”. I understand that it must be hard seeing people on the internet either make untrue statements or discuss aspects of one’s father that isn’t flattering. I get it, But Leopard (my nickname for the victim) made it clear when replying to asks that she doesn’t know things and addressed when discussions involved speculation or rumors. She also made it very clear that she didn’t like discussing John’s competence as a father and his children. These subjects made her uncomfortable but she still addressed them in a respectful way. John Deacon was a part of one of the biggest bands in the world. People are going to discuss him. Leopard didn’t do anything wrong. She admitted that John Deacon had flaws but was still sure to admit that she doesn’t know the whole story. I think her attitude is reasonable. I saw the stream the night Cam’s parents came on stream. At first I saw it quite humorous with a boomer bumbling in, ignoring his surroundings. He almost seemed senile. But as the stream went on things got uncomfortable and my attitude changed. Cam’s parents were doing the right thing as loving parents. They came over because Cam has a history of not managing his diabetes properly. His father (his mother explained) was becoming worried about his son’s glucose levels and tried to contact him. When he wouldn’t pick up his phone his father became worried and the two went over. Cameron was peeved and rude to them. I don’t think John cared about if people on the internet saw him. He was too focused on making sure his son wasn’t in danger and that his phone was charged. He only left when he knew his son’s levels weren’t too low and his phone was charging. He even mentioned off screen that he brought some treats (I have no idea what he said, and if it was a favorite sweet or what) from the store. I’m just making an observation of a stranger peeking in, but I think it’s clear John adores his son. Maybe the scant bit of interaction I observed of John Deacon as a person (instead of Queen’s bassist) was of a devoted father who was telling his adult son “I love you, I want you to be happy and I will be devastated if anything happened to you” without saying it verbally. People have different ways of showing their love. I know (per interviews with John) he experienced loss at a very young age when his father passed away. I don’t know John’s personal thoughts and relationship with Freddie Mercury and how his death affected him personally, but watching someone’s health decline due to AIDS is probably an upsetting and unforgettable experience. I bring these two examples up because this to me suggests Cam’s dad knows first hand how delicate and precious life is, wisdom that Cam seems blissfully unaware of due to his disregard of his parents’ anxiety. Cam obviously knows his father better than I can ever, but sometimes it’s good to have a different perspective. On to Mama Deacon. Yes, she was shouting at her adult son while he was live on stream. Like Cam’s father, she was completely in the right. When she said they were making sure Cam “wasn’t dead” and that Cam’s life was at stake, she was not being overly dramatic. If a diabetic’s blood sugar is too low their body can actually go into shock and than into a coma. If one doesn’t manage their diabetes this can happen and it can kill you. Diabetes is a life threatening condition. I’m not a diabetic, and I’m sure it sucks and isn’t easy to manage. Cameron is an adult at 27. His parents will not always be around to help him. If he wants to live by himself his priority should be learning to manage his diabetes without his parents’ help. His life literally depends on it. His glucose levels is far more important than his streaming career. Until he proves he can consistently manage himself to them his glucose levels are their business. Additionally, since they pay for his flat it’s technically their’s and thus can come over when ever they want. If anyone was being “inappropriate” it was Cam. His mother carried him for nine months, at age 43. For a woman her age, pregnancy can be risky and very hard on her body. She has cared for her son’s health issues, helped him through school and has loved him unconditionally. She seems to have done everything she can to protect Cam and pushed him to be the best person he can be. And this is only what I’m aware of. At her age, she should only leave her home when completely necessary to protect herself from Covid-19, for she is in the age group most at risk. Her son wouldn’t even leave his chair to greet her. Do you know how my parents would react to me if I acted the way Cam did Sunday? Most people can only dream about the privileges Cam has. Again, I don’t know everything about Cam’s life but what I saw was a mother and father trying to do what is best for their son. If Cam is so concerned about his parents’ privacy, why didn’t he turn off his stream? He could’ve even walked off to talk to his parents rather than continuing to play and yelling at them from his chair? This whole situation can be solved simply by Cam answering his phone, keeping it charged or even walking off camera to talk to his parents rather than barking orders from his screen. As I said earlier, to them their son seems more important to them rather than their privacy. Cam makes such a big deal over their privacy but I think he also has to respect his parents’ feelings and all that they do for him. Part of respecting them should include making a better effort to take care of himself. Five hours without food excepting a bowl of cereal could give me low blood sugar to the point of trembling and not being able to concentrate. Since Cam did just that, maybe his parents’ concern of his blood sugar is not without merit. Cam mentions his mental health issues and depression. One of the ways to help stabilize his mood would be stabilizing his blood sugar. The Camily should consider my words as they criticized Cam’s parents’ behavior. I have addressed the Mama and Papa elephant in the room, I will now focus mainly on Cam’s “Camily”. Due to time restraints, I will address the Camily in a later post. In the mean time, there is a difference between “haters” and critics. A hater says things simply to hurt or insult. A critic disagrees for a reason. If anyone thinks I’m a hater that needs to be “bunny blocked” go right ahead. I don’t care what strangers, many of them children think of me. I think bunnies are cute. Send me bunny emojis if you all think I’m spreading hate. This will only lend more evidence that the Camily is leading an internet harassment campaign. BTW I have been owned by pet rabbits since I was seven. Let me tell you, Mr. Bunny is unhappy to know his good name and image is being used as a symbol to bully. No, I am not jealous of Cam. I am proud of my family and wouldn’t trade them for any other. My dad has a profession I consider noble and was the one who raised me. The same goes for my mother. My extended and nuclear family includes firemen, a priest, nurses, teachers, librarians, a researcher studying cancer, a lawyer and engineers. None are famous but I don’t care. They are good people and it doesn’t matter how much the public knows about them or how much they earn. What matters to me is that they work hard and have a strong moral character. If you do wish to harass me, I ask of one thing. Show my post to Cameron Deacon and have him read my post (and any later ones I hope to soon put up) on his Livestream. If Cameron thinks I’m being a bully or am wrong about anything, please have him show this to his parents, the two people who love him more than anyone else does. If they think I’m wrong about anything or am bullying their son, have them PM me so we can discuss. Do not bully anyone who posts or likes this.

#Cameron Deacon #Camily #cyber bullying #cults #John Deacon

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aplusblogging · 4 years ago

Video

youtube

Portrait of a Lady on Fire: The Female Gaze in Film A video essay by Ella Boers and Ella Walken

This is two of my classmates’ joint final project for Sociology. I loved it so much I asked for their permission to share it here. Hope you enjoy it too!

Transcript under the cut, since the auto-generated captions are mostly accurate but punctuation is good for comprehension.

TRANSCRIPT:

“Boers: In 2019, French screenwriter and director Céline Sciamma released her fourth feature film, Portrait of a Lady on Fire. Following the narrative of two lesbian women, the movie highlights their story of love and art, and explores a woman's place in the society of 18th-century France. Sciamma's presence is a rarity in the heterosexual male-dominated film industry, as she is an out lesbian making films about her lived experience regarding sexuality. Her knowledge of queer womanhood manifests in quiet ways; a soft smile or longing gaze quietly and authentically conveys the depth of the love and respect women have for one another. While each of her films highlights stories which explore gender and sexuality, we will be focusing on Portrait of a Lady on Fire, where Sciamma portrays her characters as complex and multi-dimensional women.

Walken: Historically, women in film are portrayed as subordinate, less important, and one-dimensional in comparison to their male counterparts on screen. This unequal depiction of women in the media—called the "male gaze"—is everywhere in film, from more obvious movies such as Transformers and The Wolf of Wall Street portraying women as objects of pleasure for the heterosexual man, to Disney princess movies that more subtly objectify women through their sexy clothing and unrealistic body proportions. This is largely due to the movie industry being predominantly male-run, as producers continue to churn out the same material that has proved to be successful in the past. However, in recent years cinema has slowly been transitioning to a more accepting, equal, and diverse set of stories and characters.

Boers: Where the male gaze fixates on medium close-up shots of women from over a man's shoulder, shots of a woman's body, or scenes where a man is actively observing a passive woman, Sciamma directs the camera work in Portrait of a Lady on Fire so that it centers on her character's expressions and body language, revealing in them the complexity of the women's dreams and aspirations. In fact, Sciamma's execution of the female gaze encapsulates the women so well that when a man is shown on screen—an occurrence that only happens twice in the film's entirety—it comes as a shock to the viewer.

Walken: The main plot of Portrait of a Lady on Fire follows Marianne, a painter commissioned to do a portrait of bride-to-be Héloïse before she leaves for Milan to marry. As Marianne and Héloïse's relationship morphs into a passionate romance, the commentary on artist and subject becomes all the more apparent. Yet, as the relationship continues to blossom, it is still handled with the utmost care. Despite the fact that homosexuality was maligned in the setting of the film, Sciamma steers clear of any tired tropes in queer cinema, which often display and occasionally exploit trauma. Although the story is not unrealistic to its time period, the film chooses to take a caring route, never allowing a hint of the hate of the outside world to pervade into the relationship the couple shares. Even amidst a plot surrounding the painting of a woman's beauty, we as viewers experience with the characters what it means to be observed by a respectful female gaze rather than the aforementioned assertive male gaze, discovering a world where women can love and be loved for more than just their looks.

Boers: But beyond the directing and writing of camera work and plot, Sciamma's gaze extends—or rather, brings us back—to the 18th century, addressing limitations and societal norms that created obstacles for women, many of which still exist today. Marianne's profession as a painter was rather frowned upon for women of her time, and while girls of the middle and upper classes were encouraged to partake in the arts, taking it to a level past a leisurely hobby was viewed as losing sight of her priorities. Even women who did make the bold decision to pursue a career in art were restricted by their lack of access to art education. At the very simplest level, female painters were prohibited from studying live nude models, as it was considered indecent to do so. Their lack of education on the human anatomy limited the genres of which they could paint, and many, like Marianne, turn to portraiture for their primary specialty. On top of this, Portrait of a Lady on Fire touches on the life of an unmarried woman, challenging the common perception that a woman of that time is either married or to-be-married by instead portraying these women as content, having actively chosen their single lives.

Walken: A final important aspect of the female gaze in Sciamma's film is her attention to the complexity of women in all social classes. Similarly to Marianne and Héloïse, who fall into the higher classes of society, housekeeper Sophie is portrayed as complex and driven, despite her lower place on the social ladder. Towards the beginning of the film, Sophie finds out she is pregnant and enlists the help of Marianne and Héloïse in terminating her pregnancy. In addition to the abortion side-plot, all three women—no matter their economic status—are shown cooking, playing games, and enjoying the company of one another. In one particular scene, the two upper-class women work together to cook a meal while Sophie works on her art. Although a simple cinematic gesture, by including this small moment, Sciamma establishes Sophie as a character who is more than her work, and is allowed pleasure even by the women who she is working for.

Boers: Upcoming films such as Promising Young Woman and Wonder Woman 1984 continue to normalize the placement of women as main characters, centering the stories around the complexities of their lives and the depth of their potential. However, Sciamma's storytelling is unique in her ability to uplift women on screen without making a large gesture of it. Her film shows that the empowerment of women can be achieved through tender care, as she quietly explores the story of Marianne, Héloïse, and Sophie through the careful nuances of their friendship. Unknowingly, we are engulfed into a world where women have agency, where they can love, and where they have a depth to their character and dreams. Portrait of a Lady on Fire reflects the strength of the women in our modern world, and shows in its subtlety how to properly paint an image of a woman.”

End of transcript.

#Portrait of a Lady on Fire #video essay #film analysis #queer cinema

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asocier · 4 years ago

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hi it’s time for me to talk about aito for as long as i want.

i’ve hit aito with some major character development since i created his blog back in like uhhh 2016 or some shit like that and i don’t think i get the chance to talk about that development bc 1) aito is a meme for most of his interactions and 2) i rarely have strong muse for him buT HEAR ME OUT OKAY.

i think one of the major things i added to aito’s story is the fact that he’s a 1.5 generation asian american, meaning that he was born overseas but came to america with his family at an age where he was aware of and could understand cultural aspects of his home country. in aito’s case, he came to america when he was four, so he was old enough to understand his surroundings and communicate with those around him. as such, aito still holds memories from when he was living in tokyo with his family, the family’s big move to america, and the adjustment period he went through upon arriving in california.

language was something aito struggled with for some time. he had grown up in a household where the potential to speak english existed since his parents learned english earlier in their lives in school to help with their respective professions, but english was rarely spoken in the home. as such, aito knew mostly japanese and basic english when he was first enrolled in school, so he spent some years in esl classes to help him learn the language. it was a little difficult for aito to really make friends because he was a little awkward, had very niche interests, and “talked funny” as some of his peers would say, but once aito assimilated more into american society, he really assimilated.

american pop culture was something he was greatly fascinated with besides his niche interest in electronics, circuitry, and other unusually advanced subjects for a kid. along with pop culture came american history, and ... that’s kind of where his view on his new home country shifts.

cw: race discussion, social justice, racism (??)

land of the free, home of the brave, america’s romanticized in history books, and i think it’s rare to really get taught the bad and the ugly, the nitty gritty, especially when it comes to asian americans in america unless you seek that stuff out or hang out with really woke friends who are passionate about social justice for asian americans. anyway, i think for aito, there eventually comes a time in which he starts to question his status as an immigrant, as a minority, and begins to notice how people treat him because of how he looks and how he speaks. like, aito specifically, out of all my asian-identifying muses, really experiences a moment where he realizes he’s an outsider, and it’s both bittersweet and ironic to him that he adores specific aspects of american culture while, historically, the country has alienated asians and asian americans for a good chunk of time.

growing up in los angeles, aito definitely isn’t the only asian around since there are particular parts of l.a. county that many asian ethnic groups call home, but that doesn’t really excuse the fact that he still experienced microaggressions growing up fueled by the model minority myth, which suggests that asian americans are the most hardworking, the smartest, the best of the best when it comes to minority groups. this idea is a myth. this is a myth that was perpetuated by the majority in america to pit minority groups against each other, but it’s so engrained in how people see asians in america that it’s incredibly frustrating.

aito’s family came to america sort of because of a “brain drain” where professionals emigrate out of their home country to work elsewhere. aito’s father secured a nice job in the states, so that’s kind of the big motivation as to why the family even moved. the fact that aito’s parents both have professional jobs, have a college education, and are financially secure makes it possible for people to bring up the model minority myth when speaking about his family, and it’s this myth that leads to aito’s peers thinking he’s like, a genius, good at math, a nerd, shit like that. the fact that aito’s interests lie in s.t.e.m. subjects seem to play into this myth as well, but like -- the guy has genuine passion about these things okay. the real problem lies in the fact that this myth is being upheld in a problematic way without taking into account how asian americans aren’t a monolith, and long story short aito just has a long of silent anger about the history of asians in america.

that doesn’t really stop him from consuming american media though, and he assimilates into american society pretty well once he’s older. his accent is minimized, but he still has brain farts about idioms sometimes ( but that might also be due to the fact he doesn’t get nearly enough sleep and is scatterbrained ). despite having a silent anger, he is still a pretty easy going guy. he likes to make people laugh, loves his memes, loves his desk toys and hands-on activities. likes the science museum, likes learning in general, hates the education system. but in some verses, he does take on the role of an educator, whether that be in higher education or otherwise, so it’s sort of inevitable that he puts up with it even after he graduates with his master’s.

he’s a smart guy, but he does dumb shit. so i guess that makes him a little dumb too. is very family oriented as well, so he always puts his parents first along with extended family members. uhh he also used to fight a lot in high school when he went through his rebellion phase and kind of fooled around a lot exploring his sexuality up until like, his second year in college where he calmed down and became a lot more mellow and put relationships ( sexual or romantic ) on the back burner. it’s still on the back burner tbh and he’s kind of bad at flirting but it’s okay he’s cute and a good partner so shoot your luck!

anyway this has been my very long discussion about aito ouo

#uhhh there's a lot of talk about race in this so heads up ig #cw: racism mention #cw: long post #( aito ) headcanon;

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gaslitbyamadman · 5 years ago

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Aphorisms On Madness, Philosophy, & Society (from my book, Gaslit By A Madman)

Aphorisms On Madness, Philosophy, & Society (from my book)

Wittgenstein on Otto Weininger.

Wittgenstein once said about Otto Weininger: “If you were to reverse all of his assertions, they would still be equally fascinating and worthwhile. ” That tends to be how I view all utterances. (If only SJWs thought like this about all utterances!) This is much closer to truth as aletheia, the Greek and Heideggerian notion, rather than strict formal, propositional veracity.

If you believe in truth, you are delusional!

.......Thus, as things became even more extreme, and relativism spread from ‘values’ to truth itself, we increasingly began to see the crazed spectacle of Professors of Psychiatry ‘scientifically’ labelling everyone who simply happens to have different beliefs from themselves as ‘sick’ and ‘delusional’i. e meaning they have a ‘fixed false belief’. while their prestigious, highly rewarded colleagues in the Humanities, Philosophy or Literary Studies department loudly proclaim there is ‘no truth, only interpretations’! No doubt somewhere or other, the two doctrines have been combined and solidified in the very same individuals such that if you still believe in ‘truth’, you are delusional, i. e you have a fixed ‘false’ belief and require urgent ‘treatment’! Pretty deranged, eh?

Truth as the best healer

Real truth saves lives; real truth works better than any pill. Especially for the honest.

On self-identity and freedom of conscience

Nowadays, if a ‘woman’ came into a psychiatrist’s office and professed to be a Champion Bull, raring to butt horns in the otherwise peaceful long-grassed meadows of her youth once more . the good Dr. would quite rightly feel obliged to continue the interview in aggressive snorts and threatening raking at the carpet, like any other modern, non-bigoted professional. But if this erstwhile proud Minator were to opine that there is no such thing as ‘schizophrenia’ or ‘mental illness’, someone’s professional opinion would be gravely offended and someone else’s dosage – that of the poor, once righteous monster -- would be judiciously and roundly quadrupled.

Excessive codes of 'civility' as cause of hateful outbreaks

Excessive codes of 'civility', which rule out certain antagonistic, strongly felt forms of speech, when such cosy 'civility' is not truly felt are one of the leadingyet most over-looked causes of hatred and violence. The reason that throughout society and on all social media websites especially there is enforced civility is because the powers-that-be were afraid of people's differences being worked out in a peaceful manner and them growing united and thus harder to control and dominate.

Psychiatry’s inversion of health and sickness.

In all discernment between healthy and pathological behaviors, the key thing to be aware of is that the nature of the former is to be a deliberate, willful action -- realizing one's 'true will' to quote Aleister Crowley -- whereas that the latter is to be picked up unconsciously or half-consciously from one's environment, sometimes with a dimly conscious but burgeoning awareness that it is vulgar, stupid or slavish. Psychiatry precisely inverts the true nature of this dichotomy, labelling healthy, i. e willful liberation as pathological, and unhealthy, slavish unthinking conformity as healthy: it is the exact opposite. "Its sickness is for its traits and the traits of its parts to be traits by which the soul does not do its actions that come about by means of the body or its parts, or does them in a more diminished manner than it ought or not as was its wont to do them. Al Farabi

Harm, punish, or 'treat'.

If you harm, punish or 'treat' an bad man, he might just re-consider his wicked ways; but if you harm, punish or 'treat' a good one, he is often liable or prone to re-consider his good ways.

The disadvantages of self-control.

The exhortation to self-control is really an exhortation to obedience and submission. (When they said I lacked 'self-control', what they actually meant was I wasn't controlling myself according to their demands. and they proceeded to take actual selfcontrol away from me) If we are really going to free ourselves of the crippling influence of convention and actually arbitrary, oppressive socalled 'authority', we probably ought to rid ourselves of all self-control that is not absolutely necessary.

Real change.

The cave-dwelling masses and everyday non-mental -patients, while all too fatuously and recklessly embracing ideologies of social 'progress', are frightened of a real change in their Being and locked into a pattern of stagnation and decay. The madman, (remember, the etymological meaning of the word 'mad' is to 'change') at least in the normative, ideal sense of that term, (as well as often he or she who is solabelled), has awakened to the need for spiritual becoming, both in himself and others.

Madness and Art.

Madmen and poets are alike: they both give freer reign to their emotional and linguistic expressions than is considered decent. And, both of them too, do it largely for socially admirable, therapeutic reasons. Albeit the 'mad' one is more often misunderstood, since people forget that all life, and the unartistic life most of all, is a good opportunity for art, for therapy.

The unartistic life is the most drab, automatic, unredeemed kind of life, in which salutary disruptions are still possible No one blinks twice if they see an eviscerated heart in an art gallery nowadays. But if they see an eviscerated heart while it is still in someone's chest. That's magic.

Autobiography of values as requisite.

To counter-act the tide of artificial, false pretenses to expert, scientific 'objectivity', and the docile, herd-like conformity that actually entails within social science, within the healing professions, and within society a whole, I propose that a personal account of one's life-story, focusing on how one came to arrive at one's central, integral values, become a standard for all such careers. This would be a move towards bolstering the development of personality and character throughout society, preventing people from hiding entirely behind their professional veneers, and presencing the real-lived experience and actual, rather than false selves, of individuals. I don't propose this merely as a helpful task for the 'professional' on the way to qualifying, but as a central piece that he must present to his or her clients/patients. A kind of C. V., but, as I say, with the focus on HOW HE CAME TO HIS CENTRAL CONVICTIONS ABOUT LIFE

‘Recreational’ drug use is medicinal drug use.

The potential of currently illegal substances such as LSD and DMT, as well as more common and less potent ones such as marajuana, to provide radical new, mad vistas of consciousness, and so heal the mental sickness with which mainstream society is so disastrously afflicted ( see the work of Terence Mckenna), is no less important than their capacity to treat physical illness or relieve physical pain. While all substances can potentially be used ill-advisedly, the depreciation of supposed ‘recreational’ uses ignores the dire and gaping need even so-called ‘normal’ people have for fresh inspiration, hedonic sustenance, and the health benefits that all true enjoyment, relaxation or true insight brings. It merely repeats the fallacious and artifical seperation between these supposedly mutually alien aspects of ourselves, a long with the superstitious, ascetic and crude utilitarian privileging of the mere functionality of ‘health’, over the supposedly wicked nature of happiness in this world --- a sad residue of religious puritanism and centuries of slavery to sadistic dogmas of control --even though it is only Epicurean pleasure that ultimately justifies life itself. This attitude is so pervasive and so perverse that it simply cannot be under-stated.Ravi Das, a neuroscientist at University College London who is researching the effects of ketamine said: “The potential benefits are definitely downplayed in face of these drugs being used recreationally,” he said. “People view their use in a research setting as ‘people are just having a good time’. ”From this vantage point, must one not wager the theory that almost the whole of modern medicine, most obviously in terms of mental illness, but even in its approach to illness as such --- including physical illness- -- as simply a form of prolonged Christian hatred-ofthe-flesh and jaw-dropping sado-masochism on a mass scale ? That is why Prof. David Nutt equated the barriers to research to the Catholic church’s censorship of Galileo’s work in 1616. “We’ve banned research on psychedelic drugs and other drugs like cannabis for 50 years,” he said. “Truly, in terms of the amount of wasted opportunity, it’s way greater than the banning of the telescope. This is a truly appalling level of censorship. ” Ignoring the importance of psycho-active drugs for promoting health is bad enough, but to ignore or denigrate the importance of pleasure to this aim, is like discounting the use of the eyes in driving to work in the morning! --.

Beyond rational self-preservation ((lock him up! He's a danger to himself.

.!)

. Enlightenment thinkers such Thomas Hobbes and John Locke tried to appeal to and foster what is called man's rational selfpreservation, inserting it above all other goals as the centrepiece and pivot of the whole of society. Notice here the two concepts, reason, on the one hand, and self-preservation, on the other, are heavily intertwined, which still remains the case today. Madness, on the other hand, is commonly associated with throwing caution to the wind, tightrope walking over a precipice just for the sheer Hell of it, and embracing a variety of dangers that may very well end in personal extinction. However, when one considers the nature of our own inevitable mortality, is making selfpreservation our highest goal really so rational? In order to face life in all its grim reality, is it not necessary, at some point or other, to eschew 'rational' self-preservation for a bold leap, (if only in the imagination, if not outward practice), towards an affirmation and embrace of this inextricable fatality? Especially if one seeks to give birth to something greater than oneself, like the Christ, and take on the grave sacrifices that sometimes requires. In other words, rather than 'rational self-preservation', isn't the ability for the‘insane self-annihilation’ of loving sacrifice equally, or an even greater sign of maturity - or of true morality? Thus also the Buddha would seem to have it, who equally, in view of the passing away of all earthly things, preached 'Loss of self' rather than the steady incremental Lockean accumulation of an estate that is eventually destined to perish anyway; he who is said, out of compassion, to have given his life up to be voluntarily devoured by a starving tiger. Reminds me of those ‘voluntary patients’ on the ward that I was on!—.

Consequences of the dehumanization of madness on the collective mind.

The villifIcation of madness and the various phenomenon which are labelled as ‘mentally ill’ in our society, such as ‘grandiose delusions’, ‘hallucinations’, ‘paranoia’, etc. , a long with all the other countless represents a form of collective repression that not only has unspeakably dire results for those so labelled, but wreaks utter havoc on the collective unconscious and the collective conscious. Rather than being the shamen, the spiritual leaders of society, such men and women are quietly tortured and cast into ignominy. Thereby, society is not only deprived of its natural guiding elite, but everyone in society is trained to feel a senseless (‘paranoid’) fear and hatred of their own deepest spiritual roots, that prevents them re-connecting with these forbidden aspects of themselves and manifesting their true potential. Take for instance ‘paranoia’. This stigmatization of questioning the benevolent motives and fundamental agendas of one’s government is one of the most cynical and blatant causes of that government getting out of control and the citizenry failing to protect their own rights and freedoms. The same applies to all the other associated phenomenon of madness, which as has been argued, represent a perenial bed-fellow and midwife of intellectual and spiritual awakening. Just as the criminalization of drugs produces an association between drug-use and general criminality that does not exist independently, re-validating society’s negative view of drug-use in its own eyes, so the category of mental illness and the inhumane, disabling treatments with which those who fall subject to it suffer, is not merely a product of but re-inforces and creates society’s negative attitude to those who manifest these various ‘mad’ phenomenon. All the while, the fact that the sacred key to everybody’s own selfrealization is so maligned and spat upon understandably produces a deep, unacknowledged sense of disconcertedness and pessimism in the population as a whole, the root cause of many other of society’s ailments and self-destructive tendencies. In truth, the real mental illness is the senseless conformity which the ‘mental health’ establishment sacralizes. This sanctified madness then, unconsciously aware of its own shortcomings, in order to sustain its own self-conception as reasonable and sane, is driven to ever more fervent quest to identity and persecute those it delusionally deems ‘mad’, for the sake of externalizing and thereby gaining some sense of control over its own deepest insecuries, and having an Other to label & stigmatize in opposition to which it can re-affirm its own false, insecure and groundless sense of Self

The question is.

why do 'sane' family members (& Dr.s & nurses) have such an enormous problem correctly even identifying their 'unwell' relatives extremely normal human needs? ~Max Lewy

#aphorisms #frederick nietzsche #madness #foucault #medicine #mental health #philosophy

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dentistmarketingduringcovid19 · 5 years ago

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Dental Marketing Tips and Ideas for Dentists

Imagine that: Your dental clinic has gotten so popular you are asked to create the rounds the day talkshows at which you reach reveal actors to whiten their teeth with strawberries, baking soda, and a charcoal briquette. Pretty awesome?

Okay... you may not desire to be considered a star dentist however I'm sure getting leads and much more patients will be probably pretty at the top of you list to cultivate your own dental small enterprise enterprise.

Dentistry is just a field, irrespective of what condition you are in. Cities such as Los Angeles have over 10,000 listings of dental practitioners on Yelp. There exists a office on every single block and also at every strip mall at most city. There is a great deal of competition and you are likely to wind up getting their bits, when you are not designed with the advertising tools.

I understand you've probably tried to employ a marketing business or SEO firm to help improve your clinic plus you were guaranteed yields by them but couldn't send. They had no clue exactly what these actually do to you and left it all seem really confusing that you find yourself ostensibly cutting them a test.

The insanity will stop the following.

You want to create yourself knowledgeable about which online advertising strategies ACTUALLY operate to help improve your clinic. Once you realize these advertising approaches you'll be able to request your SEO company how they're doing these activities and also make them demonstrate testimonials on the way they accomplished those aims. It's probably time for you to kick them and search for somebody In case they can not.

Here's What your SEO Company SHOULD Do for youpersonally:

Optimizing Your Website for SEO

Tracking your AdWords Daily and Making Good Adjustments

Assessing and Managing Your Local Listings and Review Sites

Fixing Your Dental Office's Yelp and Actively Helping You Push to Get Good Reviews

Creating New and Engaging Content About Dentistry in Your Website

Promoting Your New Unique Content Though Article Share Sites and Social Media

Assembling Strong Backlinks with Reputable Sites to Your Website

Auditing Your Dental Office Manager and Making Sure They Truly Are On Task

Helping You Build a Good a Good Sales Funnel So Your Leads Turn Into Patients

Offer You Easy to Understand Reporting and Statistics

Building Strong Backlinks

For the web site to rank well on Google you need to create a reputation . How would you do so? You want to obtain confidence with Google by building traffic from other dental sites. If Google sees a respectable dental-related site or site links to a website, it basically says to itself,"Hey, this trustworthy site thinks that this dental website is worth mentioning. Let's bump it up a few ranks." Using enough, backlinks, along with the years that your internet site will probably proceed upto front page for.

Managing Your Yelp and Review Sites

You might hate Yelp however, the simple truth is that it's actually the very first thing folks might find about your clinic. You can not hide from Yelp as it is the users that induce your list when you did not make one. A excellent online advertising company assisting you to develop strategies about the best way best to have patients that are joyful to render reviews and will probably always push one to find reviews. There are also review websites such as Google My Business, Yellowpages, Superpages, Manta, and more they ought to be managing foryou.

Whenever you do receive yourself a poor review (it's inevitable, almost always there is a individual who renders you ) your dental advertising team should inform you about it and also coach you about how best to write a valuable reaction. Often times a client will raise their score of you personally or will be seen by additional sponsors if they don't

Optimizing Your Website for SEO

Your web site has to be optimized for SEO so as to rank well on Google. There are numerous things Google actively seeks this as portable responsiveness, metatags and descriptions, page loading times, proper HTML and CSS, etc.. Each one these problems will need to be addressed as a way to construct a base for the online advertising. Your web site should work to be able to make the most of your financial commitment decision and convert.

Claiming and Managing Your Local Listings

If you would like to draw patients away from out your city or only from the competitors, you need to begin somewhere. Your online advertising firm extend from there and should make certain you control the city. A significant portion of that is making certain most your Local Listings and Review web sites are maintained and well examined. The presence you have the higher you may appear on maps and Google searches. Your site will begin standing for cities of course, when your SEO team does their occupation you're going to be pulling patients from all around the nation.

Creating New and Engaging Dental Content

Google loves engaging articles, and fresh. Genuine and the interesting your material is more, the more Google values your own site. Many advertising businesses assert to compose unique cut and paste articles. Ensure that your SEO company providing and is researching share-worthy articles which engages any own customers. Just take a while to learn this material that your SEO company was writing to you personally. When it's crap to you Google also believes it's crap and wont value doing it.

Promoting Your Unique Dental Articles

Creating articles fails . An outdated obsolete SEO plan was to produce a lot of useless articles and materials since much dental relevant key words as potential (e.g. Dental Implants, Cheap Dental Implants, Low Cost Dental Implants, etc.. ) in a post assured Google's robots pick this up and position well. That really is black-hat practice that is awful. Google would like to find people talking it, linking it, viewing it, and speaking about the essay. A dental SEO company allocate funds in to boosting the articles they've written to you and instead will focus significantly on creating quantity of articles.

Managing Your Dental AdWords

Lots of you have probably tried AdWords for the clinic and also have not seen a fantastic yield. It is just as if you are simply throwing money. AdWords is space since you are always competing with tens of thousands of companies and dentists with budgets which may just dismiss yours off. Some businesses spend between $10,000 - $60,000+ monthly on AdWords. If you should be managing your AdWords it yourself is improbable you have the individual hours to use its own features for the maximum. With key words costing between $2.50 - $8.00 per click on you have to be somewhat careful and accommodate new strategies fast. The concerns go with your site designer or IT profession that are not pros at AdWords managing it.

Here's are a few fundamental questions to ask your own AdWords supervisor:

What's the Auction Insights reports?

Answer: A report which shows how your campaign will be acting vs. the competition.

What Ad Extensions Have you been currently really using?

Sitelink - Additional connections on your advertisement

Call-out - Additional descriptive text below your advertisement

Structured Snippits - Extensions which emphasize aspects of your solutions

Telephone - Shows your telephone number

Location - Shows a map with your advertisement

Inspection - Highlights third party testimonials in your advertisement

Up are our advertisements turning what internet web sites for the Remarketing effort?

What key words that are are you currently really using?

Answer: Your supervisor ought to be searching through your research phrases and exluding key words You Don't want to appear to (e.g. Gold Teeth, Free Dental Implants, Dental Schools)

There are some issues if a SEO firm oversees your AdWords. As a SEO company has many customers, your accounts has hauled to a AdWords manager who has experience that can result in you losing money. They focus with extend and volume inexpensive rates but produce outcomes that are good.

Auditing Your Office Manager and Tracking Their Performance

It's rather simple to develop with plans that are tailored to aid your business generate leads and convert them but it's just another thing to employ them to the daily routine of office. Therefore everybody is executing A dental advertising and advertising business will work closely to be certain that they're managing your staff.

There are particular matters your workplace manager has on top of such as ensuring that the staff is earnestly requesting happy patients to get reviews, calling direct leads to a timely fashion, or ensuring to record essential data just such as the position and conversion speeds of your leads accordingly that your advertising and advertising and advertising campaigns might be corrected to find the maximum return on these. Your advertising company ensuring all activities have been done and ought to really be auditing your office manager.

Building a Good Sales Funnel

It's possible to spend tens of thousands on SEO and AdWords and receive tens of thousands of leads but in the event that you do not possess a sales funnel, then you will find yourself losing them. A dental online advertising business will produce an activity to help convert those leads. That is carried out using a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) applications that handles and analyze customer connections throughout the sales funnel.

In plain English this means if somebody gets out a questionnaire on your landing page requesting about a dental implant, then you have an activity which raises the likelihood they convert out of a lead to some patient if they cancel appointments, so do not answer your telephone, or ask to get called a day or two after because they'll undoubtedly likely probably soon be out of the town. Good earnings will frighten one induce and also team them develop in to paying patients and to be consistent so that that they really close. Every interaction has been monitored where the flow on your connection is therefore that you may understand.

Creating Easy to Understand Reports and Statistics

Most SEO businesses provide their dental customers complicated mechanically generated reports to demonstrate how"good" their numbers really are many of the metrics just do not matter.

Statistics Important For Your Dental Marketing Campaign

Internet Site Unique Visitors - The Quantity of New Visitors into Your Site

AdWords Clicks - The quantity of clicks that your AdWords campaign is currently becoming

CTR (Click Through Rate) - How likely an outcome will click on your AdWords advertisement after seeing it.

Total Phone Calls - How many telephone calls have been created through landing pages and your Web Site

Entire Leads - How many prospects that your Dental Internet Marketing firm is currently creating through SEO and AdWords

Result in Appointments - The percent of prospects which become appointments

Appointments to Shows - The percent of appointments that appear

No Shows - The percent of prospects Which Make appointments but not appear

Physicians - The amount of prospects which become paying patients

Cost Per Patient - The quantity of marketing dollars which will need to be spent to have a guide and convert them.

With numbers and useful and accurate reporting you as well as your online advertising team may create alterations that are educated to your promotional initiatives that will assist you to spend money.

Whether your objectives are in the event that you want to raise your income to eventually become profitable or to develop into a world dentist to the stars, you have to put money into internet dental advertising. When you have found the correct organization to work well with you ought to be knowledgeable about what SEO and AdWords methods will be effective therefore they can be audited by that you and be certain that you're getting your money's worth. Whenever you and your advertising team are employed in full harmony, you can start to finetune your efforts and finally enlarge the range of your company and ideally open more techniques. Please do yourself a favor and make sure to check out these great resources that will be sure to assist you in creating a successful online marketing strategy: ‘’click here’’

Area Based Marketing (Local SEO)

So as to prevail over close by contenders for new patients searching for a dental specialist in the zone, your dental work on promoting must incorporate advancement for neighborhood look. To get the best outcomes, ensure you have a precise posting over numerous online indexes, utilize nearby watchwords in your SEO system, and urge current patients to leave positive audits on locales, for example, Google, Yelp, and Facebook.

Enhance for Mobile

In 2016, portable web perusing overwhelmed work areas just because. Today, versatile utilization keeps on rising, which implies that notwithstanding area-based promoting, you'll have to ensure you enhance your site for the portable client. Here are the manners by which portable plan and SEO contrast from work area:

Versatile clients have less screen space, so you'll need to restrict boxes of long content.

Structure your site with effectively available symbols or catches that make it simple for site guests to call or solicitation an arrangement right away.

Versatile clients react well to video, so your site and web-based media pages ought to have important and drawing in video substance to build sees.

Improving for versatile is one of the most significant parts of an effective advanced promoting technique for dental specialists.

Remain Engaged with Social Media

Online Media is an incredible method to give your training an individual voice. It permits you to furnish devotees with modern, applicable data, for example, tips, intriguing measurements on oral wellbeing, and pictures of your training and representative culture so they feel as though they know you. The key is to fabricate a relationship with likely patients by offering correlative data. This assembles brand mindfulness, sets up the trust, and improves the probability that your training will be at the bleeding edge of their brains when they're prepared to plan an arrangement.

Notoriety Management

Most of the imminent patients base their choice to plan an arrangement on positive online notoriety. Your online notoriety is most generally spoken to by surveys on Yelp, Google, and web-based media stages. Despite the fact that you can't satisfy everybody 100% of the time, checking your audits routinely and immediately reacting to both positive and negative ones shows the worth your training places on understanding fulfillment.

Email Marketing Campaign

Conveying content right to your patients' inboxes permits you to give them complimentary instructive articles on keeping up dental wellbeing, admittance to neighborhood wellbeing assets, occasional advancements, and in any event, charging data. You can likewise make it a stride further and fragment your rundowns by socioeconomics so as to offer more customized content. Email showcasing is one of the structure squares of a dependable connection between your patients and your dental practice.

Remain Human

In conclusion, one of the most significant parts of any advanced showcasing effort for dental specialists, computerized, or something else, is the capacity to stay human and compassionate. In the event that you need a bigger crowd to consider your business, you have to show you're put resources into the network. Individuals need to give their business to organizations with a soul. Attempt to partake in-network occasions and offer free or ease administrations to the individuals who are oppressed or underinsured. It's advantageous to make a move and feature your responsibility to everyone's benefit. Potential patients will react well.

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