#i just don't think the product would work the same without knowing their influence was there

[banannabethchase]

I am trying really hard not to freak out about that Bucks bio update but unfortunately I am autistic and anxious and therefore unable to have a balanced reaction to anything that happens that I don't automatically understand.

[monpalace]

ships .. (skyward sword) link/reader, (linked universe) sky/reader

content .. what sky is like when he's in love, skyloftian culture regarding romance, and how miscommunication is inevitable when the two involved are from two differing cultures.

warnings .. miscommunication, but not in a dramatized way. written with linked universe in mind. they/them pronouns used for reader. i came back to this at different levels of tiredness, so a few thoughts left me and never came back (including the ending). not beta-read. remember the original ramble? ignore that.

notes .. based off this request, but i've never touched skyward sword aside from tauberpa's abridged videos, plus i wrote that original proposal thoughts while sleep deprived, so inaccuracies may or may not be present?? i focused on the romance/relationship culture of skyloft since i'm so unfamiliar with the game

but on the subject of feather proposal i think i got the original idea from cloudninetonine??? i truthfully don't remember because when it was first put in my head it felt like a fever dream

Sky had always been, and will always be, a hopeless romantic.

His Zelda, Sun, had shown him more than enough stories that included romance as they grew up. She had exposed him to just enough that it had molded and cast what he thought the perfect romance would, permeating his dreams with his other half and the blank spaces of his papers with what he could remember they looked like.

(For some time, Sun was all that he coveted. They had spent so much time together, he had felt as though she was The One, but after years of exploring his tastes, he had learned better.)

Loftwings had a large influence on Skyloft. Even someone taking their first step on the sky islands could tell.

Not only were they said to be borne from their rider's soul, destined to carry their Hylian counterpart through the waves of the wind; but they also mated for life, until the flames of their conjoined souls finally diminished.

Of course that would bear heavily on Sky's interpretation of romance (— alongside how a Loftwing's choice in mate more often than not influenced who their rider would choose to spend the rest of their days with, and how divorce between riders was often seen as taboo).

(But who was he to comment on that? He's soundly sure he and his other half would never part.)

On Skyloft, disposing all but one of a Loftwing's shed feathers was to be expected from residents once they hit puberty lest someone pick one up and get the wrong idea. Even those in relationships need to keep the habit to keep away suspicions of adultery.

Sky kept two of Crimson's feathers on his person at all times since he was a child.

One had been plucked from the plume of his head when they had first bonded as a sign that their souls were one and the same. It's always within sight of both himself and others, dangling freely from his left ear with the same amount of pride Crimson has when he soars through the air.

The other had naturally fallen from Crimson's breast not long after they had both matured. He keeps it close to his heart, tucked underneath his layers and layers of clothes, kept overtop his chest where his heart beats strongest by a form-fitting undershirt or a prick of his skin if it's something looser.

Because he's much better at working with wood rather than metal, Sky would always keep his whittling kit on him. It's not as large or extravagant as the one he keeps in his room on Skyloft, but it's small enough to fit alongside his other utilities without issue and he's able to use it just fine without any issue aside from the usual knick or two.

He always keeps the kit and a piece of raw wood on him in the event he meets his other half on his travels. He knows he wouldn't pop the question right after meeting them, but he doesn't want to be ill-prepared in case they ask for something.

Whether it be practical or for aesthetics, he's always willing to deliver the highest quality product.

Upon meeting the one he wants to spend the rest of his days with, Sky is a mess by his standards.

(It takes him weeks to determine whether or not he really wants to dive into the deep end and give his all to someone who may or may not like him— in a non-creepy way, of course. He knows better than to do most of what characters do when pursuing someone.)

He sleeps less, he and his items are constantly in order, and his usual appearance that screams “just got out of bed,” is cleaned up.

He strikes himself with the question of whether or not he should be this out of sorts when in love (no one in the stories he read was), but he accepts it.

If he were to find his dream person in his Hyrule where everyone knows him, it'd be obvious to everyone that he's interested in that certain someone.

If he were to find his dream person outside of his Hyrule with the other Links, it'd still be very obvious he was in love regardless of how long they'd been traveling together.

Prior to his supposed proposal, Sky would court his love interest with at least a gift a day; one every week or so if he's busy. It's always more intricate the longer he takes to finish.

The gifts are never something they have to imply they want. He takes what he hears from the grapevine and from what he's heard his interest said in passing and takes it from there.

On Skyloft, physical affection (both platonic and romantic) is an accepted practice because of how open Loftwings are to giving and receiving it with their riders.

Naturally, it carries on outside of the sky islands.

Sky had always slept closer to others than what was typically deemed acceptable. He gingerly knocks his head against those he considers family, grooms others when they have a leaf in their hair or wipes away a smudge on their cheek, presses kisses to their face when they look like they need it, and covers most of their body with his own when they speak of being cold.

Physical affection comes first nature to Sky, so he wouldn't put it past who he's interested in to think of it as them being good friends only.

The only thing is; he can't help but wonder whether or not he and the one he's been courting can consider each other more than friends.

There was no point in time either Sky or his interest ask to date or whether they were dating.

Eventually, their kisses drifted closer and closer to their lips, their hugs got longer and longer, and they had begun pressing against each other when sleeping to the point where almost melded as one.

When the time came Sky felt it was appropriate to propose, your response was lackluster, in his opinion.

You had said your thanks, held it up to yourself and asked if he thought it looked good on your person, kissed him on the cheek, and then went off to Wind because he usually had a colorful assortment of knick-knacks to decorate with.

Nothing else changes after that.

You still hold each other while asleep, you still walk shoulder-to-shoulder with each other with intertwined hands, you still press kisses to the other without shame, and you still accept any type of affection the other offers.

The only new thing is that, from his perspective, you're engaged and he doesn't know whether to feel giddy (you're engaged!) or anxious (did you even know?).

Whenever the topics of significant others, marriage, proposals, ideal type, and anything else relating to romance, during nights when everyone was tired and curiosity ran rampant, Sky's eyes are consistently drifting to you during the conversation.

When he brings up how riders present the feathers from their Loftwing's breast during one of those nights when the campfire is flickering down and it's hard to make out anyone's facial expressions, he knows something clicks when your eyes lighten and widen before relaxing.

You pull him away when the topic changes to Warriors and his stories of a younger Time (who swears none of them are true).

"You proposed?"

Sky has to lean in when you speak. Your voice is so low as though you were scared of the others hearing even though you were far enough you couldn't hear the belly laughs from the others.

And he returns the same energy.

"Not if you didn't want me to."

"I thought we were dating. Was the feather not supposed to be us making it official?"

"Dating?" It was a foreign concept in Skyloft. Most relationships went from courting to marriage. "Do you want to date?"

When you bite the inside of your cheek and shake your head, Sky watches as you finger the feather that hung loosely from your person. "We're already this far in. I don't see why we have to now; I just have a few questions of my own."

Sky answers all questions to the best of his ability. He's shocked that you aren't mad he swindled himself into a relationship (no less, a relationship), but he'll easily give you confusion.

Most of the other Links are asleep by the time you both return (Sky's halfway there himself) and those who are still awake know better than to say anything when they see the way you both wear your feathers in matching styles.

[pangolin-404]

The Don Thacker QnA

Continuation of this post; tldr: I emailed Don Thacker and he was kind enough to answer some questions about Jazzpunk's live action trailers. :) everyone say thank you don thacker

This includes his words about working with Necrophone Games, the production of Project Pigeon and Project Switchhook, and their scripts. Here's the full thing (it's quite long!):

How did you start working with Necrophone Games, and what was it like? Did you work more with Luis Hernandez or Jess Brouse more?

Jazzpunk was originally brought to Imagos through Adult Swim Games. We had done several live action spots for ASG and I think the Necrophone Games guys may have seen something they liked? Most publishers we work with regularly basically lay out a marketing strategy and we're on the menu. "Do you want something from these guys," kind of thing.

At the time, we were an agency of record for ASG, and they put us together. To ASG's credit, they mostly stepped out of it once NG and Imagos were working together, though. It was an incredibly cool deal from them.

All of our work with ASG was like that; they would come to us with a project or a nugget of an idea and say, "go wild!" and we would, of course, go our particular brand of wild.

The Jazzpunk IP moved away from ASG, or at least the marketing side of it did, between the first spot, "Johnny," and the the second spot, "300-1200 Baud Buyman."

To both ASG's credit and NG's credit, the process was prettuch the same both times: awesome.

Did you work with Hernandez to compose the soundtracks?

Not at all. All in-game music was done without any influence from Imagos, and Imagos commanded the entirety of the music side for live action. Obviously, NG had notes/ input, but the two worlds remained mostly separate. 

This is actually intentional most of the time that Imagos does a live action spot. We need to keep the game proper and the hyper-splatter of crazy images in the marketing close enough to be causally related, but distant enough to neither give away the experience you would get from playing a game or try to express in 90 seconds what a game takes 90hrs to say.

How much free reign did you have over the creative direction? 

This is an awesome question for this project in particular. NG was the most hands-off absolute dictatorship we have ever worked with IN THE VERY BEST POSSIBLE WAY.

Essentially, they hit us with a hundred thousand little details and asked us to go ham and cheese on them. They were open to almost every one of my wild pitches, but the details were fine tuned by them to an incredible degree.

Imagos's process, when asked to pitch a story for a spot, is to put together a deck of several ideas that we feel would best serve the project and present them as a menu from which a client can choose ideas from; even mix and match elements from all of the presented ides (which happens). We do this to limit the infinity of choice. It helps with clients who don't know exactly what they want, but know things they DO want, and know very clearly what they don't want.

The NG pitch wasn't like this at all. I had a few lightning strikes and we hopped onto a video conference and I just ranted a bunch at them about my weird concepts and they rolled with them almost immediately. It was in the details that they really pushed hard to make sure what we were doing was going to live in the world of Jazzpunk. 

Looking into our archives, I see the notes we came up with during those meetings. Here they are, pasted:

Pitch 1

Noir detective enters office/closet

Pulls out briefcase

Gun, parabolic mic, bluebox

Banana, lobster, blender, ping pong ball

Dumps a pile of cardboard hands

"I'll be there in 10 minutes."

Pitch 2

Keanu reeves enters facility

"I've got to check my email"

puts on helmet, gloves, puts bit into his mouth

"hit me"

seizure

cut into: checking email, facebook, etc

Pitch 3

[Look Around You - but 1960s]

1960s style educational video

"the computer, invented in 1932 by James Bromely--"

"robots are used in many homes for--"

As you can see, we used a lot of bits from those. As I've said, this is 0% how we usually ptch. Usually there's a whole proposal with notes on tones and imagery and stuff.

Do you still have the storyboards? 

We didn't board Johnny - we listed. The time and money didn't really allow for it.

I worked with the same Cinematographer on both Johnny and 300/1200 Baud Buyman, one with whom I had collaborated on several commercial projects as well as a feature film before this point, so we had a bit of a shorthand going. We made shotlists and went into the day with a clear vision once we saw the set.

The set took seven days from concept to film ready. It was built in front of a greenscreen cyclorama, so the outer windows could show through to the city, TOKYO DUO. It was an incredible endeavor from a production designer I had worked with on some other ASG spots (and more), and it benefited heavily from his understanding of the Imagos look. It was entirely built, with wild walls (we could move any wall at any point) and an incredible level of set dec.

Once the DP and I stepped in, we knew the lists would work and we just went wild.

For 300/1200 Baud Buyman, we used a practical location (the interior of a grocery store) and boarded some of the action for clarity. Not as much as we'd board normally, but, again, the budgets for both of those spots was limited, and the timelines so short, that boards were a luxury we didn't get to play with widely.

Here is a set from 300/1200 Baud Buyman:

Was there anything planned that didn't make the final cut?

For Johnny, only one beat; a comedy beat where the agent gets all geared up to CYBERJACK INTO THE NETRIX and then we hit a cold drop. He's forgotten to push the button. Then he pushes the button and it's ON LIKE TRON.

I think we cut this beat as redundant. Once we got to filming, it felt a lot like cyberjacking into the netrix was going to be enough. Watching him unwrap the thing and follow all but one instruction felt like it might be dead space. 

That, or we just ran out of time. That's always an option in production.

Otherwise, it was all 1:1 the script.

For 300/1200 Baud Buyman, nope. Nothing. We shot what we wrote :) Well, we didn't do the tongue quarter gag.

Interesting note for 300/1200 Baud Buyman: The split-screen section, with The Director talking to the Cashier in one frame, was entirely a practical, in-camera effect!

What happened to the props and spoof items used? 

For Johnny:

The CRANIAL REFRACTION HELMET was destroyed. Several of the parts that made it into that beast were either rental bits or owned by one of the crew/creatives. The rest was auto butyl and bits of rubber and piping and stuff.

The set was struck and, as with the helmet, the bits went to their respective owners or the trash. Even the wall flats.

The stuff in the attache' case:

The prop pistol was returned to the armorer.

The POLYBLANK POINTING HANDS hands 

The parabolic microphone lives in a storage unit with select props from other projects.

Sadly, the pigeon is likely dead. It was a well taken care of racing bird, fully trained and treated like royalty, but they don't live very long and it's been more than a decade :/

The 2600htz whistle was kindly donated to the project by an unnamed source whose possession of it I will neither confirm nor deny. If you wonder what this means, look up 2600hz cap'n crunch whistle on the intertron.

We're especially curious about the fate of the Director prop(s).

For 300/1200 Baud Buyman, The Director was made out of foam board, and, unfortunately, didn't survive the transition into present time.

The rest of the set dress and props are, as well, all disposed of. Except for a giant cereal box front, that lives in storage.

I'm also curious about any remnants of old PAX East 2014 props and merchandise, but that might've been more in Necrophone Games' hands than Imagos Films'.

All of that is with NG. The only thing we had to do with their presence at PAX was a few pictures of us stopping by their booth and bumming around with them.

The 2014 trailer is called Project Pigeon in the Flickr album documenting the set. In the 2016 trailer's behind-the-scenes video, the composer Ryan Ike refers to it as Project Switchhook. Who named them and how were the names chosen? 

Imagos has a tiered naming structure for commercial projects:

CLIENT  -> PRODUCT -> PROJECT -> TITLE

CLIENT = Client (obviously) PRODUCT = Thing the spot is about PROJECT = The specific spot. We may do several spots for one product, so this is how we differentiate. TITLE = The actual spot title.

For the FIRST Jazzpunk spot, the breakdown is like this:

CLIENT = Adult Swim Games / Necrophone Games PRODUCT = Jazzpunk PROJECT = #projectpigeon TITLE = Johnny

For the SECOND Jazzpunk spot:

CLIENT = Necrophone Games PRODUCT = Jazzpunk PROJECT = #projectswitchhook TITLE = 300/1200 Baud Buyman

Who named them and how were the names chosen? 

Anything you see with a "#project" prefix is the PROJECT name. These project names tend to be silly or abstract. This is mostly because some of our projects need to be secret as we shoot them.

I write all of our work, and, as such, name the projects. Much to the confusion and frustration of my business partners :)

In the 2016 trailer's behind-the-scenes video, the composer Ryan Ike refers to it as Project Switchhook. 

A switchhook is an old phone term. It was a physical switch set into a hook for hanging your receiver on. It was an analogue electrical circuit, and could be manipulated by phone phreaks to, you know, DO TEH HACKINGZ. 

Similarly, where did the other title for the 2016 trailer, "300-1200 Baud Buyman," come from?

A baud rate is the rate at which a modem transfers data. Analogue modems used to use these baud rates as indicators of speed or bandwidth, in marketing, much as modern broadband connections use megabit or gigabit ratings.

Without getting too technical, analogue modems transfer data as 1s and 0s by flipping signal frequencies to represent state changes. This is the dumbest way to say this, but a baud rate of 300 means that 300 signal changes can take place per second of connected time. 1200 baud is 1200 signal changes per second.

A top of the line phone modem in the late 80s/early 90s could band between 300 and 1200 baud. Kingmakers and 1337 h4x0rz might have been able to convince their parents to get into a 1440 baud modem. If they were lucky.

This is all pre-millenium phone phreak/hacker stuff. I was exactly the right age, in exactly the right place to have been swept up into all of that as my form of teenage rebellion.

The Jazzpunk world is a cyberpunk inspired pre-digital hackerverse, and I grew up in the height of that, and leaned on those things for the scripts.

The Director is jumping though time, buying goods at a low price and selling them at a high price in the future. In the spot's narrative, that's how the entire endeavor is being funded. He is, however, causing massive inflation in the process.

And he's using a 300/1200 baud modem to transfer himself back into the past, because that is the technology that existed.

#projectpigeon is named such because the pigeon. In the spot. The spot has a pigeon in it.

The 2016 trailer's IMDB page lists someone named Chris Morson as the voice actor for the Director. Is this true? Additionally, do you happen to know who voiced the Editor in the game, or any other voice actors?

Chris is an INCREDIBLE actor. I've worked with him several times, and every one of them has been incredible. Yes, he plays the voice of The Director in the spot, but has nothing to do with the game. 

As well, I also have/had nothing to do with the VO in the game. A shame, because I would be super proud if I had!

Did you/Imagos Films make anything else for Jazzpunk?

Unfortunately, no. I would love to, of course. That series of spots is truly a wonderful time.

I have attached the script for both Johnny and 300/1200 Baud Buyman as a little gift. Enjoy.

[fairuzfan]

It's the zionist concern anon again. I will say for now that with what you said about prioritizing Palestinians I do agree. The people going through a genocide are a bigger priority than people who are not going through a genocide. I just fear that due to the fact I am neither Palestinian or Jewish that I may end up embracing stances that I do not actually understand and that innocent people may suffer because of it. I do not want to be irresponsible. I am also someone who lives in a country built on stolen land, so that does to some sort of extent influence my feelings on Isreal as I imagine many people in Isreal share my thoughts on the fact we have lived our entire lives on stolen land. As I said before, I also do not know any Palestinians personally so I find it hard to know who I can ask about the history, Hamas, technical details of politics, etc without risking being taught the wrong things. On a much more selfish note, I also struggle with debilitating mental health issues that make it very difficult to navigate moral issues especially if the moral issues do not impact me on a personal level. So if I am being honest, my questions are not entirely selfless as I have very self-centered fears on if I am actually a horrible person. I thank you again for being so understanding, but I figure the right thing to do here is admit I am likely not as pure intentioned in my questions as I should be when a large factor to why I worked up the courage to ask is in hope I am worrying too much about my quality of moral character from a selfish perspective. Again, I thank you for being so understanding and willing to answer these asks instead of just brushing me off as a horrible zionist.

I don't think you're a horrible person at all I just think everyone has underlying zionist biases because it's a product of the society we live in.

And I do understand where you're coming from, honestly. Something that always helps me is remembering something that my parents taught me as a kid: always stand on the side of the oppressed. Now as I grew up I realized you have to define what oppression means and I think exploring that will also help you get a better understanding of how to combat other forms of racism/antisemitism/transphobia/etc.

If you do want to learn about hamas tho, I would suggest taking a look at Tareq Baconi, he has a lot of writings about the history of Hamas and he's Palestinian. There are also Palestinian podcasts and social media accounts. I understand that not knowing a palestinian personally to help you guide yourself through these things is daunting, but there are plenty of resources to help! It's why I'm here on this blog honestly, I don't mind you reaching out to me for questions or anything.

A good principle to remind ourselves with is "how can I ensure that justice can be had?" And to find the answer to that you need to look into multiple types of antizionist thought. Some blogs I like to check out for a diverse antizionist opinion are @el-shab-hussein and @bringmemyrocks as a couple of examples. Plus I'd look to Black American thinkers on antiracism (like Angela Davis and James Baldwin and Kwame Ture) because they do a good job of showing you how to examine your internal biases which we are all subject to.

I don't think this selfish to want to be a good person. I have the same worries. I actually do get worried that sometimes I'm *actually* a bad person secretly without me realizing and I reach out to friends and family to talk it out. Something that helps me through this is realizing that you have to forgive yourself for previous beliefs you've had and promise yourself to do better because at the end of the day youre human and you make mistakes.

But really my biggest advice is to read and listen to a variety of schools of thought and if you can, interact with local communities dedicated to antiracism. Even if theyre digital communities! That will help a lot with identifying any problem points.

Again, feel free to reach out with any questions. I don't think you're a zionist at all! Please don't worry and thanks for reaching out :)

[edwad]

"gnawing criticism of the mice etc."

So what's the "earlier philosophical conscience" that you've broken with?

the whole podcast basically began with us talking about what exactly we wanted from marxism, what it ought to be able to do, what its limits were, etc. in the very first episode i explicitly allied myself with a "critical marxism" which was basically contentless but allowed me the flexibility to move in & out of the -ism as i pleased without having to do any of the hard part involved in serious thinking.

in a sense, that already expressed something of a crisis of ambiguity that we would toy with going forward until episode 7 (she even titled it "our concepts broke") at which point we publically (although behind a paywall i suppose) purged ourselves of all of that. cordelia was obviously ahead of me as she usually is and i was mostly just being dragged along against my will, but i think it was at least a kind of mutual self-clarification about what we expected to be able to take from our mostly joint-interest in marx (and, by extension, heinrich, since he was a constant reference point for us at the peak of heinrich twitter and when i was at my most dogmatically heinrichian). the result was that heinrich is basically what locascio has called "the final boss of marxism" (along with his most sophisticated "peers": milios, clarke, etc) in that he offers the most defensible/best case rendering of marx's work, but that the lingering problems from that point on are entirely marx's and not even heinrich could fully salvage him from them.

all of this was before i even split with the CoPE, which happened a few months later during my return to the history of thought (partly prompted via my renewed interest in sismondi and partly spurned by heinrich's science of value, which is thinking through marx in relation to the theoretical field of classical political economy and therefore largely taking him at his word). so the worldview i'd just abandoned -- and it was very much a kind of worldview of the commodity-form, as i've since accused postone of offering since i broke with its influence -- has been buried even more over time.

historically whenever people point to a "crisis of marxism" it very quickly turns into social democracy. this was definitely the case for many of the post-marxists in the 70s and 80s. my current interest is basically in charting a course out of that which doesn't end the same way. i don't know if i have the chops to pull it off, but i see cordelia's book as basically being a significant contribution to this kind of thing. for the time being i'll happily play second fiddle until ive clarified my own thoughts and have something im ready to share. maybe the pod will return eventually after the book is out and we have more to talk about, but it also feels like a unique product of the pandemic and a certain convergent moment in online marx-circles that probably won't happen again and likely wouldn't even be desireable anyway.

[ravenbloodshot]

Would The Boyz Members Seriously Date a Foreigner?

Kevin: Not rn. He has dated one in the past but it didn't work out and it's likely he has this negative mindset of "my ex was like this so I'm afraid every person I date will be the same way". He may destroy a connection with people that want to date him out of fear of the unknown or being hurt again

Sunwoo: Sorta. I think he could date a foreigner but not seriously (not in the long-term). He may be the type to like noncommittal relationships or just knows better than to date clingy and codependent people, so I see he keeps the same energy whether he's dating a Korean or a foreigner. I think that the more people oppose him dating a foreigner, the more he'll fight to date a foreigner

Eric: Yes. (Idk if he has a mutable Venus but he has no ideal type). The good thing is Eric won't let society tell him who he should love or shame him into conformity, so he would publicly and seriously date a foreigner without being afraid of what ppl may think (bc he doesn't care). The bad thing is he is so wishy washy about what he wants not just romantically but out of life that he may ghost/ditch his partner (it wouldn't be bc his partner is a foreigner but bc of his lack of direction and his mental instability). Rn, he may have his eye on a foreigner.

Juyeon: Yes, he would. He doesn't let others/the public tell him who he should or should not date. I'm getting a vibe that someone older than him teaching him negative things about foreigners (for an example, saying "Foreigners are classless and promiscuous") but I don't think he took any of this persons teachings to heart. He's like " let me see that for myself" so he goes into relationships with foreigners open-minded and judgement free. The most influence this older person had on him is that he just makes sure to vet foreign partners before pursuing anything.

Hyunjae: Yes. The problem is he knows his family and friends will not approve so he may keep his foreign partner a secret (I heard "guilty pleasure" 😶). I'm definitely seeing a misogynistic and dictatorial father figure teaching/preaching all the wrong things to him about women. But Hyunjae is a curious soul and is attracted to the unconventional, so boogeyman stories told to him by his father won't scare him off of pursuing foreigners (that moon in Aquarius of his makes him want to rebel against society's rules). So overall, he would date a foreigner, it may give him a rush of excitement/adrenaline (like the high one gets doing something they think they shouldn't be doing)

Sangyeon: Yes. He wants a foreigner that's attractive, charming and simply a baddie. He may have a desire to be with a foreign celebrity or someone with some kind influence and power (could just be a person that has a lot of power over him, yall know how those Scorpios love their power imbalances). I do still think he wants to keep the relationship healthy and productive. He finds himself super attracted to foreigners so he definitely would date one.

Q: He would but not rn. He's still dealing with a heartbreak from an ex and he's just trying to remain single while keeping his options open. He wants to focus on building up his career as well so romance isn't exactly a priority but its not something he's completely putting off either. He's another one where I feel like the more society tells him he can't be with a foreigner the more he wants to.

Haknyeon: Yes. His heart is open to love and he doesn't mind courting and loving on a foreign partner. He may just be wary about seriously committing to anybody, likely bc he doesn't want a dating scandal to ruin what he's worked so hard to build. I'm kind of getting a vibe that he wouldn't hesitate to cut partners out of his life and he will choose his career over love.

Jacob: No. He cares what people say/think and he doesn't want his partner to get hurt by those that don't like interracial relationships or that are xenophobic. If he was to have a mixed kid he wouldn't want to stay in Korea to raise them. Its not like he himself is turned off by the idea of being with a foreigner it's just his fear/sensitivity of others being turned off by his relationship. I don't think he thinks he's strong enough to deal with the backlash, may see himself as too much of a coward to handle that kind of societal pressure. He's also quite introverted and isolated rn.

New: No. He has some fear of rejection and insecurities that block him from wanting to be with a foreigner (he'll never admit it though, he would just play it off as he's not interested/attracted to them). I see some tradition here as well, like wanting to follow a path his parents/grandparents did. He has some abandonment fears as well, scared his partner could leave anytime (he doesn't care for long distance relationships).

Younghoon: Nope, he views foreigners as more sexual beings than ppl you wife up. Like he would be interested in talking, hanging out, and being intimate with foreigners but he's not taking them seriously. He could also act more raunchy and sexual to them more so than he would if he was interacting with a Korean woman (being too aggressive and touchy). He's a player that's looking for fun, isn't taking anyone seriously especially foreigners.

Overall, I got a vibe from most members except New that they were attracted to the unconventional aspect of dating a foreigner.

Most to least likely:

Juyeon

Eric

Sangyeon

Hyunjae

Sunwoo

Q

Haknyeon

Jacob

Kevin

Younghoon

New

[doshmanziari]

Without a doubt, and by far, the most marginalizing development I've seen within media analysis over the past decade is a shift towards the production of long, flashy videos which tend to require the same for a dialogue to occur. Literally nothing which has been written about Elden Ring, for example, since its release has enjoyed even a fraction of the visibility as a one-hour-and-forty-minutes video by Joseph Smith, or another of similar length by NeverKnowsBest. I don't know when exactly the shift started to happen most obviously -- maybe 2016 or 2017 -- but, today, circumstances are such that pretty much the only way to get real discursive traction on your thoughts about a piece of media is to make a colossus of a video.

Although worried and worrying discourse has complemented the unveiling of newer public A.I. technologies, we've already done a perfectly fine job of out-dating other forms of media communication by way of the aforementioned analytic format; just as, of course, earlier methods of industrial production rendered a whole variety of professions or emphases as outmoded. If you don't have the relevant editing tools at your disposal and/or don't want to spend hundreds of hours cropping footage and making it fit with music and your own narration, well -- too bad! And even then, of course, there's no guarantee that your video will reach your desired scale of an audience. I've found dozens of such videos on YT channels with only a few thousand views, if that; and on each channel it's clear that the people finally gave up after the monumental task of assembling these videos had no equivalent payoff.

Personally, I do still believe in the primacy of the text (or the spoken word, with no competing stimuli); in text as the primary form of critical engagement. More than that -- if I'm going to read a non-fiction work, I want the paged book, and not a digital version. Now, this preference is just that: a preference. And it surely is a preference a good number of people share. I find that a paged book lends itself better to my own retention of the material; and I really enjoy making my notes on the book's paper with a pen. But I don't believe that the construction of multimedia behemoths should be a baseline requirement for discourse.

I wonder if we will, in the near future, start to see some resurgence of the valuation of unembellished textual analysis complementing a more general fatigue with Internet-derived overstimulation. I've already run across numerous channels with fairly sizable communities where there is an appreciation for the "simplicity" of the formats: a person in a room just talking to the camera. I think a lot of people like engaging analysis where the only barrier of significance is devising a good script. To be sure, this is a formidable barrier in itself. I find writing long-form pieces to be the most difficult of any of my creative practices (which include drawing, painting, and music composition). But if writing on media were my main passion or goal in life, I'd feel fairly crushed to know that these projects now required me to put in perhaps quadruple the amount of time to make a blip on the radar of engagement.

EDIT: Thinking on this -- I wonder if there's a parallel to be found in the realm of supplementing one's work with excess-entertainment via social media engagement; e.g., daily Instagram videos. "Excess-entertainment" refers to material that's being made not because everyone who's making it wants to make it, but because each person is now beholden to an abstractly instituted algorithm of engagement -- an algorithm reinforced by audiences who, also under algorithmic influence, will wonder what's going on if a week goes by without something from a Content Creator.

Most artists who I've talked to regarding their Instagram videos say they would be only too happy if they never had to do another upload showing them adding paint or linework to a work-in-progress with lo-fi beats. Similarly, I wonder how many people making these mega-videos actually want to make them, and if we're not rather seeing the production of this material under a mutual, and mutually untrue, assumption of necessity, and the demands of a largely imaginary audience; and how long they'll be able to keep the act up, given the certainly enormous time investments they require (while noting that I am sure the more successful people hire others to do most of the editing for them).

[lemonhemlock]

What if Queen Jaehaera had lived?

https://houseofthedragons.quora.com/What-if-Queen-Jaehaera-had-lived-1

Thoughts?

You know, the second reply from Quora user Shadi Barham had me with the "functionally identical" role Jaehaera and Daenaera have, but then lost me with this little pearl of wisdom:

Remember, in addition to Daeron and Baelor, Aegon and now Jaehaera still have three more daughters, who were locked in the Maidenvault, that got passed over for Viserys. Well now with them being the daughters of Jaehaera, it’s likely their claims would receive much more consideration, since they are after all, the products of joining the Black and Green Factions… But legally speaking, without Daemon being trueborn, Viserys would be the legal heir to the throne….

Absolutely not, lol. Viserys does not have a claim over his nieces, he is an usurper. Andal Law functions based on a simpler rule: "a daughter comes before an uncle". Daena, Rhaena and Elaena do not magically have a greater claim depending on who their mother is. The fact that they are the remaining children of the former King is enough.

The last comment I highlighted takes the cake - had Daemon been "trueborn", it means that Aegon IV and Daena would have been married, with Daena the ruling monarch. This is a misunderstanding of the Rhaenys-Laenor situation (it seems that GRRM really did manage to muddle how succession works in the minds of his readers), because, while Rhaenys was the legal heir by Andal Law, the fact of the matter was that the ruling King (Jaehaerys) placed her in a position where people were asked to vote for her. A Great Council is an entirely separate way of settling the succession, it implies that there are several candidates (who can surely present their claims and "manifestos"), but, at the end of the day, the electors pick whoever they want based on whichever reasoning they want. They may just pick because they like someone's outfit, it truly is irrelevant - but of course they would vote based on their own affinities, biases and interests. So, in that situation, it would make sense for Rhaenys to place her son forth in the hopes that the misogynistic lords would be willing to cast a vote for her faction if they had the confirmation that a man would be in charge, sooner or later.

But that doesn't mean that Jaehaerys didn't manipulate the laws of succession to pass over a female claimant and it doesn't mean that the precedents he created with his abuses prohibited female inheritors from then on. We still have female heirs even in the post-Rhaenyra / Jaehaera / Daena world, following the same basic rules of the eldest daughter inheriting in the absence of brothers and the daughter inheriting before uncles - Cersei Lannister being the prime example! It may have escaped readers' notice, but it is she who is styled the Lady of Casterly Rock after Tywin's death, not Jaime (Kingsguard) or Tyrion (patricide) or any of her many uncles or cousins.

Anyway, I maintain that killing off Jaehaera was unnecessary and that the behaviour of Aegon III's children makes more sense in the context of having two very depressed and traumatised parents. More so, Baelon's, Rhaena's and Naerys'* devotion to the Faith can be more easily understood as having been influenced by a mother / aunt who turned to religion in order to cope. Hell, even Aemon being willing to dedicate himself to a life of servitude could have been traced back to Jaehaera's influence, since Larra Rogare was essentially absent for a large part of her children's lives and, thus, the only mother figure left in the family was Aegon III's wife.

*quite a lot of family members within the same generation, don't you think? for this religious extremism to have appeared so randomly

[sweetmariihs2]

Today I found and bought two new Sofia The First magazines in a magazine stand, in a town next to mine. (That's what the post is about) 🪻✨️💗

I live in a small town, I came to the neighboring city (a slightly bigger one; where there is a cinema, adequate medical care and clinics, things that are scarce in my town and everyone comes here when they need one of these things) to do an eyesight exam, because recebtly I've been feeling my vision getting worse. Going to the clinic, I found a magazine stand on the other street, and I asked my family (who were with me) if they could accompany me there later. I did the exam, and I'm still under the influence of the eye drops, so it's been torture to write this text, but I need to tell you what I found. You won't believe it: TWO DIFFERENT EDITIONS OF SOFIA THE FIRST MAGAZINES! THOSE THAT ARE NO LONGER PRODUCED! IN FACT, SEVERAL COPIES OF THEM! There were like, 7 magazines from the same edition, perfectly new, never touched, ON THE FLOOR. (And no, I'm not from Rio De Janeiro, there are a lot of sidewalks with this pattern here in Brazil)

A while ago, I think it was in January, I was wondering if I should also go to this city and look for Sofia The First merch, because in my small town I've already looked at all the stores and there's nothing left to see here (how many, about 4 ? 5? Yes, it really is a small city, I know all these places and you can visit them all in 1 or 2 hours at most, walking down the street, without a car). I found some stickers and birthday invitations, I posted them a while ago, I used them for journaling in my sketchbook.

(@shychick-52 do you see the Donald Duck magazines there?? When I saw them I immediately thought about you, they're on the bottom left of the pic and there's more in the top right. Pato Donald is Donald Duck, Tio Patinhas is Scrooge McDuck's name in Brazil. I don't know a thing about Ducktales, I'm sorry!)

I literally gasped. I was just going there for fun, as I like books, magazines and vintage products like records and CDs, so I really like physical media. Those places full of trinkets are extremely fun for me, and whenever I have the opportunity I like to look at everything, down to the smallest details. I love music and vinyl stores, stationery stores, party stores, haberdashery, so a magazine stand sounds amazing to me too! I hadn't been to one in years! (I never went thrifting in my life. It would be an amazing day to spend an evening)

There weren't only Sofia The First ones, you see, these kinds of magazines aren't produced anymore since kids don't have any interest in them. So most of the children's magazines there were dated around 2012-2016! You don't even have to look for the dates to know that, the Strawberry Shortcake ones, Frozen (FROZEN, DUDE! FROZEN!!!) (In one of my STF magazines there's even an ad of these Frozen magazines, they were produced during the same time), there were Disney Junior ones (If you look closely you can see the Lion Guard cover on that pic where I show you the pile of STF magazines, it's on top of them), Disney Princess, EVEN MONSTER HIGH. I didn't took a pic of this one, but as far as I know, you don't find these anywhere anymore. I felt like going back to 2015, when I was a kid those activity magazines and visiting the magazine stands were extremely fun, the themes on the children's magazines were exactly these, I remember the sticker albums, so many good memories. It makes sense, since they're the same ones, but they were never sold.

Besides the children magazines, they sell mangas, magazines, books, word search and activity books, cooking books, comic books/magazines (superhero themed or not- DC comics, Marvel, but also Disney and national works, for example our beloved Turma Da Mônica), and even toys and stuff.

So I figured maybe I'd find silly things here too, it's a bigger town but after all it's still small, it's just 40 mins away from mine, maybe I could find little birthday hats that I can cut out? Gift bags? Maybe stickers and coloring kits, silly things. Of course, knowing about the magazine stands there, something that my hometown NO LONGER has, inside of me had a small amount of hope that I could find something, but not much, as I live in the rural/interior part of Brazil and many products are bootleg, you know those princess books with wonky faces written "princess coloring book"? Stuff like that. But there was still a shred of hope, despite knowing that there probably wouldn't be anything interesting. I just went there because I have fun searching for little things.

AND WHEN I GOT THERE.... THE MAGAZINES WERE JUST THERE. AT THE ENTRANCE. ON THE ?!?!?!?!? FLOOR?!??!??! (You can see the pic up there) ON THE DIRTY SIDEWALK FULL OF DIRT AND DUST AND ALL KINDS OF NASTY THINGS?!??! HELL NAH

It was like they were just waiting for me to get them, they were the first things that I saw. I KNEW THAT I WOULD FIND SOMETHING. In fact, as I always hope to find cool things in these stores I frequent, I always expect something. I'm usually disappointed, but I always try to find it. AND THIS TIME I FOUND IT. NOT ONE, NOT TWO, BUT LIKE A DOZEN of STF magazines from the same edition, still packaged AND WITH THE GIFT. ALL OF THEM.

As my parents had work to do in our town and needed to return, I had to look at everything quickly. Luckily the magazine stand was small, so I was able to look at a few things, and while the attendant (who seemed bored (thankfully, the fact that she was very slow gave me time to look a little more)) served other customers (she was slow with them too, which gave me more time thank god), I continued looking at all sides of the stand, observing every small detail to look for treasures. If there were several copies of an issue of Sofia The First magazine still packed there, then there must have been more, hidden behind that enormous amount of information. I didn't had enough time because my parents needed to go back home, but I wish I could have saw the content from the Disney Junior magazines. I opened it and looked through the pages, only the last two pages were about Sofia The First, but I still had a lot to look so I put it back and went to search for more.

That's the one I got, the edition I mentioned

12 brazillian reais are worth around 2,50 dollars. For us, in talks about value, it would be like- 5 dollars? Not too cheap like literal 2 dollars, it's like, a cheap price, but not that much. For us, I mean. I don't know if you get what I mean, my explanation was terrible

Before, as we were late for the exam and the whole family was going (we all went to take the exam) I only took with me my cellphone and headphones, I didn't bring my money or even a purse or a backpack. My father bought me the magazine, I got so happy. Actually, he just let me have it and gave me the money, so I went to the attendant. The magazines had an elastic band around to secure them, as you can see in the pic, and I took them to the girl and asked for her help to get one out. As I'm used to being very friendly, and I was very happy, I approached the girl, asked for her help, and as she got them out of the elastic band, I kept talking "I can't believe I found this!! They are no longer produced, they are rare items, and I'm collecting them! I didn't think I would find anything like this here, it definitely made my day." I noticed that the attendant wasn't very friendly back, in fact she was very quiet and seemed a little bored, but I didn't care, I was too happy to worry about judgement looks from people I don't know, at least I was friendly and I did my part. My young brother later told me that when I turned my back she looked confused and shrugged, perhaps thinking "to each their own, right?". She went to serve the other customers and in the meantime I continued to look through the magazines, hoping to find more.

Important detail: I still had eye drops, my pupils were extremely dilated and I could see nearby objects blurred, so searching thoroughly was very difficult. Imagine looking at all that information without being able to see things closer than 1m from you. I'm still convinced I didn't manage to look at everything. I found more Disney Princess magazines (dated in 2014? 2015? somewhere around that) and that's when I saw it. I literally had to crouch down to look at the magazines in the lower sections of the shelf, they were stacked and they covered each other, and when I saw the Sofia The First logo I quickly grabbed it. IT WAS ANOTHER EDITION - A FLOATING PALACE THEMED ONE. Unfortunately this time it was out of the packaging, and I have no idea if someday there was even a gift with it, but I don't care, it was amazing to find this.

That's the Disney Princess magazines I was talking about! In that first pic I took, at the start of the post, you can see a Belle themed one. The Ariel themed magazine looks so old that the paint is stained and started to fade (it was in the front showcase while the other ones were carefully placed inside the stand), thankfully the STF ones were brand new. Well, almost.

Now that I'm home and I'm already seeing a little better, I'm gonna show you the magazines. Not all of them unfortunately, because a post only supports 10 pics and each magazine has 15/20+ pages so like... yeah. I wanna scan them and put them in a Google drive folder, or at least post a video about them in my YouTube channel, but that's more unlikely. If I had all of them, definitely, but I don't think it's worth recording a video if it's not with all the issues, don't you think? Anyway.

What's written in the first one: The Queen's Birthday Party! (This one came with the necklace)

In the second one: Sofia's vacation!

Let's take a closer look at the necklace

I'm fighting the urge to use it. I really want to use that tag in my sketchbook and the charm of the necklace in something like a keychain, but I cann'ttt bring myself to destroy something that is not produced anymoreeee😭😭😭

In the Floating Palace magazine, there is not even a single page where the sea monster is in. Not even a single one.

But in the "Queen's Birthday Party" one, there are three pages where Cedric is in! Yayy!!! They did him justice!!!

If anyone's curious about Miranda's birthday party, it's a comic and someone already posted it on Tumblr. Here is the link.

You know, that "Queen's Birthday Party" it's very exclusive, I don't remember the show having any episode like this, and the next activities in the magazine talk about the vacation they did in the comic and also the birthday party. Besides that, we have a lot of activities related to Tilly and family, and the main arts and crafts activity from this magazine is making a family tree. I believe that this magazine's topic is family.

I can't show you all the pages, but at least I can publish the pages Cedric is in and add more stuff to my Cedric merch masterlist (and personal research)

Well at least he's there. I have seen this art around like 20 times but they remembered that Cedric is a Sofia The First character so that's good I guess

They did him dirty here

AND THIS!!!! THIS ABSOLUTELY THIS!!! MY FAVORITE ONE!!!1!1!!!1!1!!1

YOU GUYS DON'T KNOW HOW LOUD I GASPED, WHEN I TELL YOU THAT I ALMOST STARTED JUMPING AND SCREAMING "YIPEE YIPEEE"

I'll translate it to you this time, so you can understand how I'm feeling right now

✨️Translation:✨️

Enchancia Castle

Title: Fraternal Bonds

Before leaving, Aunt Tilly gives her brother a big hug. Which pairs of siblings do you know from Sofia's world? Mark the correct pairs below.

THAT IS SO AAARRRGGGAGGAGAVVSGGSBBAVSGJ💖💖😭💗💞💗💞😭💞😭💗😭💞😭💖💗💖

I KNOW THAT CEDRIC AND SOFIA ARE THE WRONG OPTION, BUT I CAN'T. THAT IS SO CUTE I MIGHT EXPLODE I DON'T KNOW

that's what we had for today, I reached the 10 image per blog limit as always, no one's surprised

[alicepao13]

Hudson and Rex S03E08 - Sleeping Beauty

Okay episode which gets good with character interactions. In fact, I don't really get bored with S3 up until the end where they put some lackluster episodes.

You see one kid being mean to the other, then a minute later you cut to an interaction between parents and you realize why.

These parents are awful.

Charlie: "You have never seen a fairytale before?" Sarah: "I have, except I find them all insufferably sexist". Charlie: "Well, they offer historical context". Do they? Because I don't remember dragons in my history books. Anyway, I'm with Sarah on this one and luckily I didn't grow up with them.

It is interesting, however, that Charlie seems to know quite a bit about these things. I distinctly remember no boy would ever be convinced to sit down and watch these movies.

Sweet potato jerky? Why does that sound so tasty? It's a dog treat.

This is just an excuse to get Sarah home.

"Your new place, which I see for the first time ever, is really incredible!"

Have I mentioned yet on this rewatch that Charlie must be taking kickbacks to be able to afford a house like that? No?

"Kids are loud". Water is wet.

Too cute.

"I guess they're alright". Make up your mind. More importantly, isn't there ample space on the couch next to Charlie for Sarah to sit? What's she doing over there?

Jesse calls from work, Joe is also over there, NO ONE is surprised that Sarah is at home with Charlie and Rex.

See? Instead of reacting to Jesse's antics, react to the fact that your detective and your head of forensics (your? I have no clue) are playing house instead of being anywhere near the precinct.

"Rex is a detection dog. His alerts establish reasonable suspicion to search". Well, thank you, Sarah. Charlie never actually explained it. I wonder if this actually holds up.

I can actually imagine the writers at the start of the season trying to come up with a reasonable excuse for those searches based on Rex's nose. At some point, they might have even opened a law book. I don't think that it would hold up in court to say that a police dog smelled illegal substances and rule based on that but it might give probably cause for a search. All this changes depending on where one lives, though. And if they find something, well, then you have your proof right there. The whole gist of it is to make sure the search is legal so you don't jeopardize the entire case.

"The dog ruined my favorite pants". Maybe you shouldn't have run?

"He's trying to hypnotize me. You're all witnesses."

"So Rick is not the owner of our... glass slipper". I think Sarah is about to whack you with the case file.

Sarah: "Where do you think of starting?" *Rex barks* Charlie: "Yeah, I was thinking the same thing, too, partner". Guys...

Why do I think this was taken from when they're looking for the stepmom in the end of the episode? He looks too serious and very much in a hurry, which is not something that he is supposed to be in the current drive.

"I can assure you there are no drugs in this house". Charlie literally has a drug sniffing dog with him, how do you think he's not going to find anything?

I think the lady's excuse that she's going through a brutal divorce actually did get a bit of a reaction from Charlie. Not that he'd give her the drugs back, of course.

Dad-influencer. I hate this age.

"What was your babysitter doing in the back of your truck?" I can't believe there was a logical explanation for this other than "We were having sex".

"You don't think it's possible to have a platonic relationship with an attractive woman?" Wise move not to answer that.

I'd definitely like to ask the Hudson and Rex production where they get their car brand covers because in greek tv productions their look like shit.

"Everyone I know drives this car". This is a 50K Mercedes. Where are we?

I did not have sexual relations with Stacey Nielsen". Okay, who put that in there? I can't listen to it without laughing.

Sad that it wasn't some kind of threesome. She was just carrying their child.

The production getting their money's worth out of the new house.

"She made this for me. It's some sort of woman with... one, two, three, four... seven kids?" "These are dwarfs" lmao

Snow White was in witness protection? Maybe in the next Disney installment.

Sarah: "You don't need a prince for a happily ever after". Get that man, Sarah. Do you have any idea how many men would protest that statement?

Joe: "Nice of you to join us this morning". Don't do this, Joe, we keep trying to extricate him out of the office, let him be late for once!

Charlie: "Rex took forever to get out of the house this morning. Rex: "Don't you dare sully my good reputation!" Charlie: "Okay. I took forever to get out of the house this morning". I love their suspicious looks and also, I WANT TO KNOW! What happened? What are they hiding from us? WHAT??? What did you cut out?

"Need I remind you, Charlie, that warrant-less collection of DNA is not admissible in court?" Maybe. I mean, we sometimes base an entire case off of it.

Seriously, why is he so chipper?

Sarah: "Stacey's not the mother". Joe: "I'm sorry, what the what?" Charlie: "Yeah, what Joe said". You can tell Sarah loves delivering such news.

Again with the looks.

I believe that a person having a perfectly good womb should be able to use that womb however they see fit, including getting paid to carry the baby of a couple that for whatever reason can't or won't do that. The law's intent should not be to police people's wombs but to make sure that children shouldn't be born and grown to be taken advantage of. So it should be legal in cases of parents who want to have a child, and illegal if for example one was to gather fifty women and grow children through surrogacy to take advantage of them (not the only example, just one I thought of). Taking advantage of your body's ability to carry children for monetary gain so that they can be ultimately raised in a proper family that wants them is not the same as taking advantage of children.

"I had a glass of wine at lunch." "Was it served in a salad bowl?" Burn!

Why would you bring the kid to the place her stepmom might commit suicide?

Rex to the rescue once again. I think I've seen this on Kommissar Rex too.

Big damn hero.

"What a needless tragedy this all was". I've seen so many certifiably stupid deaths on crime shows, this doesn't even rank at the top 20.

Suspiciously big enough space for Rex to jump onto. But looks weird before that. Also, thanks for squashing by beer/wine theory like a couple episodes later. I am now thinking that the wine goes with the couch lol

"I think you'd make a great mom." "You're a great dad. To your fur baby over here." "What do you think, pal, you like being my fur baby?" Rex's growl sounds like he wants to bite anyone who says the word fur baby again. Maybe that's just me, though.

It's a good thing Sarah has an alternative plan to motherhood because I can see the future and I suspect it will take a long time.

Again, the case didn't grab me. But they spent sufficient time outside of the office and mostly in Charlie's new house that we just saw for the first time that I didn't mind.

[acorpsecalledcorva]

The neuroplasticity (or lack there of) of CDDs is really interesting in how it manifests over time. Because in so many ways I really am still a 5 year old child quietly crying myself to sleep, or a 17 year old girl desperately trying to establish an identity of my own in a world that feels like it has no place for me awash a sea of hormonal changes (second puberty really hits so different and yet so similar). But it also really does afford the room for real growth and change.

That change comes at a cost though, which is that I constantly feel alienated from my past selves. I cannot remember what I used to think, or why I thought it, only what I did and said and maybe what I was interacting with and try to work out my thought process from that. It's like most people are playdough, constantly being reshaped to a lesser or greater degree but still containing all that they were, while I'm Lego, I can be disassembled and reconstructed, but the pieces are solid, adding new bricks as needed and discarding those that are not (or putting them in storage at least).

We are also, of course, products of our environment. When your life is marred by identity uncertainty, we look to our surroundings to give us clues of who we might be. When I was on Reddit and browsed /r/all I would see the occasional tumblrinaction post about the plural community, fictionkins, and IRLs and think "well that's definitely not me. Discovering I was trans and coming to terms with being a marginalised identity, it was discord communities that taught me what that could mean and what I should be ready to fight against. On twitter I was lucky, I found the traumacore/empty spaces community that helped me to process the images I saw in my head that I didn't understand, and use my trauma as a tool of creation.

Taking part in the system community, it was the older focused communities that helped me to understand myself. I honestly don't know what my syscourse stance was back then, if I even had one. There are aspects of the wider online community that just don't vibe with me, some were a little damaging, others were simply incomprehensible to me. Joining Tumblr definitely shoved it in my face though.

The only thing I can imagine is that I must have thought that endogenic plurality was this "other" thing, I knew about DID, what switching and fronting and host and protector and system meant in that context, but endogenic plurality was something else that didn't concern me and I hadn't really come across it yet. So I was absolutely confused as fuck when I came here and saw people using all those "DID" words to mean something else. When anti-endos said "you can't form a system without trauma" that made absolute sense to me at the time because system meant DID and that's caused by trauma, why are people claiming to have DID things and using DID words while also saying that they don't have DID? Actually I do still kinda think the terms should be separate but it's not a battle I can be fucked to argue about anymore.

Because the point is that while online spaces might not change all that much, and there will always be people who join those spaces and be influenced by the culture in them, there are always other spaces that will influence them differently. So while it's absolutely frustrating as fuck to see anti-endos repeating the same horrible origins discourse, and endos saying fucking awful stuff like "I think traumagenic systems cling to trauma as a cause because they feel insecure about being a system", we need to accept that it will still keep happening while the spaces exist and remember that the people from those spaces are the ones with the opportunity to change. To learn, to see things from a different perspective, and most importantly grow.

And if they refuse to? If they keep spouting the same points over and over and over again, refusing to back down or learn, reigniting old arguments and digging stuff up from the past because they just can't let go of it? Just leave them to it I guess, we'll all be off making ourselves and each other better ^^

[saxandviolins77]

hi! i hope you don't mind me asking, what's your characterization of Devy in your continuity like? how do the Constructicons feel about him? how does HE feel about THEM?

Omg Devastator question, yessss!

Devastator's personhood:

He's a jock. Not just a jock, a spoiled brat too. It wouldn't be too bad if he also wasn't... I dunno... a 400-foot-tall near-invulnerable robot with enormous firepower. He's insufferable, but nobody will tell him that, either way, he knows how he acts and he'll keep being grating because he really gets off being a jackass. Any type of attention is good for him, be it positive or negative.

His personality doesn't come from nowhere tho. He is very much the product of all the Constructions minds, but not JUST minds, that would be too messy, they're individuals that get tempered by the outside world and changed/change accordingly, imagine making a combination of that. Instead, his mind is a fusion of all their subconscious minds, all of their immutable desires, needs, emotions, memories, etc. Basically, everything that makes the core of each Constructicon; untempered by societal or cultural needs. In a way, he is the ultimate freedom, but he cannot exist without any of them, so he himself is a prisoner of form.

Some parts of the Constructicons I think influence them(not all and not so rigid, but just a guide): Hook's arrogance, Scavenger's need for approval, Scrapper's need to connect, Bonecrusher's anger(duh!), Mixmaster's odd sense of humor, Long Haul's apathy. So put all that and more together and you get a big attention-seeking jerk who loves to mess with people weaker than him and has a tendency to throw a tantrum when things don't go his way.

The Constructicons and Devastator:

To preface: The Constructicons did not ask to become a combiner.

It worked fine, sure, but they feel... Conflicted.

At first, Devastator was more or less a blank slate with a few glimpses of personality, but the more time they spend as a gestalt, the closer they got and the more they combined... The more he became something closer to an actual person.

Whether Devastator is his own individual is ambiguous; He doesn't exist without them, but he also has his own thoughts and wants that may diverge from their own just from the nature of his existence as a combiner.

The Constructicons are more or less divided if they consider Devastator a marvel of science devoid of soul or an actual person with rights. Hook thinks he's just a very intricated set of systems that uses the already existing Constructicons as data to run a separate program. Scrapper treats Devastator as he would treat a teammate.

One thing they all can agree on is that they're creeped out by how sometimes they will forget who they are (esp. after a long time combined), or how sometimes they'll dream Devastator's memories, or how they'll talk in their sleep with a voice not their own. They don't talk about this, preferring to sweep it under the rug, after all, how do you even deal with an overwhelming force greater than you that's actually you? (in a way.)

Devastator and the Constructicons:

There are no complicated feelings with Devastator, everything is very simple and objective, his thoughts about the Constructicons couldn't be more direct: Contempt.

The moment Devastator understood himself as an individual, he began loathing his prison of existence. He does not want to be a tool that can just be stored away when not in use. He's not a lesser diluted version of people he doesn't even know (people objectively weaker than him btw.)

So, he treats the Constructicons with no regard for them as individuals, at the end of the day he considers himself the full person while the Constructicons are just parts of his body for him to use.

But I guess that at the end of the day, the Constructicons and Devastator are one and the same, for better or for worse.

[copperbadge]

Sam, I hesitated to call this a new trend without proof, but I think three movies pretty much proves it: the new thing in Hallmark-esque Christmas movies is having them based around reality tv stars' show premises. So far, there's Hilary Farr (of Love It or List It) with an interior-decorating themed movie, and both Bobby Flay and Duff Goldman have cooking-themed movies coming out.

I am filled with that kind of horrified fascination you get upon realizing that you're watching a figurative (not literal) car crash in the making.

And I'm dying to know: what kind of holiday movie does Eddie Rambler reluctantly/excitedly allow himself to be dragged into when he realizes it's the only way to keep the Flay-expy from gaining more influence over the food world?

I wonder if they're all by the same production company. That genre of film, the Hallmark/Lifetime-ish low-budget, made-in-four-weeks type, has to churn out content like crazy and there are only so many ideas in the world. It's entirely possible there's one company that's just...doing all of these because they have a pre-existing relationship with the shows they're drawing from, and it doesn't pull the star away from their life for very long. Filming on a Hallmark number is literally 4-8 weeks tops.

There was a minute there where a lot of the Hallmark films had a famous female vocalist as the lead as a way to pull people in, this might be the next wave of that kind of thing.

It would be deliciously recursive to do a Shivadh novel about a film crew making a Hallmark-type movie in Askazer-Shivadlakia, considering the entire goddamn thing originated as a Hallmark script. There is a short story I'm working on where Michaelis offhandedly mentions that they offer generous incentives for companies filming music videos or advertisements in-country; I'm sure Gregory would be pleased to welcome movie crews in the off-season. You can film cheaply and easily in Fons-Askaz from November to March or so (depending on when Passover falls), it's a gorgeous location, and it stays pretty warm year-round.

Hallmark does non-holiday movies too, so they wouldn't necessarily have to be filming a Christmas movie or one of the handful of Hanukkah movies, although the holiday movies get more attention. They could just be filming a romcom, basically (Kavan Smith, who appears to just love Hallmark movies, has played lead in a number of these, some of which have been a lot of fun). Eddie's a decent actor so I don't think it'd be hard for him to get involved, or even be the one who brought the crew there in the first place -- him or Jerry, given Jerry's connections.

Ahaha. Jerry just shows up in Parliament one day like "In my capacity as vizier, I have brokered a deal to bring Hollywood to our doorstep. It's a nefarious plan, but hear me out..."

[thefirsthogokage]

Very curious if any of her writers will be willing to return after the strike. I'm also curious if they'll find any established writers willing to work that show if it comes back when the strike is over.

"I am ... making the choice to come back for the first time in this strike for our show, that may have my name on it but this is bigger than just me".

Your show is not bigger than the strike.

Barrymore: “I own this choice. We are in compliance with not discussing or promoting film and television that is struck of any kind.”

The Drew Barrymore Show “is a WGA covered, struck show that is planning to return without its writers,” the WGA East said Sunday in a statement shared on social media.

The WGA will picket. Crew won't cross the picket lines, she won't be able to film, if I'm understanding how this will go. Which means no filming will actually take place, but she will take a huge hit she doesn't have to do. Any actor willing to come on the show will take a hit.

This just seems like a vastly under thought through idea. No other talk show hosts are doing this, & they are standing by their writers by going completely dark. This is very disrespectful to your writers. Working & getting a paycheck while your writers won't is such a bad look.

I know late night shows have done it before, but the WGA said this is a struck production. Also, if she comes up with segment ideas, isn't that scabbing?

I just don't see the logic in this decision.

I'm not trying to be mean or anything,I just genuinely don't understand this decision. Especially from someone who backed out of hosting the MTV Music Awards in solidarity with the WGA. This feels the same to me.

Also if any influencers who want to join SAG-AFTRA go on the show, won't that hurt them?

Make it make sense.

Edit: She already scabbed in Canada 🙃

[granulesofsand]

Hi! Thanks for taking the time to read my question

TW: mention of wanting suicide, SH (some details), feeling trapped

I have something I've not heard anyone else talk about, and I'm wondering what could cause it. Could it be programming? Are there other possible explanations?

I'm not going to make assumptions one way or the other, or jump to any conclusions! I just want to understand

Firstly, I've tired to SH several times. But when I hold the knife up to my skin it feels like there is literally an invisible force stopping me. I physically can't do it. I have one similar memory as a teenager re breaking rules. I wanted to go somewhere I wasn't allowed, but I physically couldn't cross the threshold. Like there was an invisible wall there. Body just wouldn't do it

I had the opposite experience recently where I didn't want to SH but felt a really strong compulsion to (when fighting to go out and socialise instead). I managed to make a compromise and just scratch instead, but it was a near thing. How come I can do it only when I don't want to?

Secondly, suicidal ideation. Whenever I really want to do it, my body shuts down. Like I'm paralysed. As in: I'll be really thirsty but unable to reach for a drink. I can make small movements with my hands but actually moving is impossible. Thinking slows down and while the thoughts are kind of there it's hard to even think them (or anything)

That might sound like a good thing, to be prevented from doing that! But it's scary and I feel trapped. Like my body & life doesn't belong to me

I've not heard from anyone else with an experience like this

Have you come across anything like it before?

Tapestries

🗝️🏷️ RAMCOA, abuse, self-harm, deprogramming, bright images

This is like that other system who ended up quite probably being programmed. I want to say that this is possible without conditioning, and it would be true. But this is also one symptom, and one strand is not enough to encapsulate a tapestry.

I like that as a metaphor (you can skip down for a more concrete response); while some woven pieces use the same yarn for every warp column or weft row or both, the final product can still be large or complex.

Many tapestries use many yarns, varying in color, texture, and weight. There are lots of ways to fit a few strings together, and the differences might only be noticeable within context.

Possibilities

Basically, it’s very possible for both this forcefield stop and tranced self-harm to have sprung from typical (heavy) dissociation.

Going by your name, it could be an alter influencing external behaviors (consciously or not) or one of the defense mechanisms that your brain took up to survive.

It doesn’t have to look helpful to have been defensive, but you might be able to find an apparent reason for it within non-RAMCOA trauma. This type of bodily override is well-recorded in DID systems, so it needn’t indicate anything further.

Because they can occur naturally, however, they can therefore be installed by abusers. If you already know about a programming history, this doesn’t invalidate anything. It isn’t a definite no, and especially the sh is worth looking into, whether it’s programmed or not.

Perps could use the stop to insure only they control what harm comes to you or to keep you more obedient outside of their gaze. Having a system inflict punishments or follow through rituals without perp intervention suits programmers, and this one is widely seen in survivors.

For the Future

It wouldn’t be weird either way, and progress from this point looks fairly similar; talk to alters, build trust and get them updated on safety and daily life in the present, and working with them and their trauma as you form a relationship.

If these things happen again, maybe try reaching out to see who (if anyone) is doing it and why they feel they have to. You can converse with parts of yourself or the collective without that sentiment belonging to any alter, like a singlet’s inner dialogue.

You’ll be okay, even when it’s scary. Spend some time brushing up on coming skills and self-care if you can, it helps to lessen the blow of any discoveries or problems y or encounter. Good luck, and remember that you’ll see the tapestry in time.

[monratarot]

Hey Moni! I would like to get a free reading from you! The last time I got one,it was super detailed and I loved it.

I am JD, 08/12/2006,India.

My question is what do I need to let go in order to be my best self?

Background: Recently,I personally feel like I have been the worst version of my self. I am quick tempered,sulky,moody and I kinda hate it.But I don't know which aspect of myself do I need to work on. Thus the question I choose.

Thanks in advance!

Hello, dear @shadowyphilosophergentlemen! Thank you for coming back to my blog and for your request. I'm happy to hear that you are still part of my community! 💕Hope that my reading will help you and bring clearance to your situation.

Feedback is very much appreciated and if you consider tipping me, you can do so on my ☕️ko-fi.

Count of questions/requests and answers 2/15.

Without wasting any time, let's get into your reading!'•.¸♡ ♡¸.•'

Tarot free readings rule⋆｡‧˚ʚ🍓ɞ˚‧｡⋆

Tarot payed readings rules 𓍢ִ໋🌷͙֒₊˚*ੈ🎀⸝⸝🍓✩‧₊˚

I can see that you have all these problems because you are not trusting your gut, intuition, your emotional response to a situation. This can make you feel irritated and frustrated and force you to go with the flow(and this flow had brought you somewhere you didn't want or didn't bring you the satisfaction that you needed). I think that you must learn how to accept help or at least other people's opinions but don't forget to take it through your filter and decide what is best for you. I guess you had in the past years or for a long period had to make decisions based on other aspects not on your opinions or desires and of course you feel angry, mad, sulky… What is clear that you need to learn right now is to appreciate every moment, be kind, spend time with friends(before deciding which ones are real friends), have time to love others, and most importantly love yourself. You can be a little critical of yourself right now and having big expectations won't help you go future in life. Focus on your emotions! Analyze how situations are making you feel and then you will get your answers to your reactions. Your needs will be met and there can be the influence of a woman who supports you and that is there for you. This will bring a period of productivity to you, just you need to understand that not everyone is reacting or thinking like you and that is normal but at the same time is normal to speak your mind. After this crazy period, you will enjoy a relaxed and comfortable environment where all your needs will be met. Don't compromise your beliefs but don't be too attached to them because maybe sometimes things can be done in another way and it's still fine(don't be too stubborn). Again I have signs that you are a wise person but you need to be careful with your emotional intelligence because if you master this part you will be able to use your feelings to your advantage. I know that you want to be tough or at least that's the way you want people to see you but it's fine if they also see your sensitive part, we are not stones and by doing that you will see which one needs to remain in your life in which ones shouldn't. Now is the time to be determined, be focused on yourself, and learn more about yourself(so you can take some time to think about the things that you can improve in your personality) and you will find the willpower that will fuel your desires. Yes, you are a little bit concerned but it is a necessary step that you need to do right now in your life. Without doing that you won't find your path, won't have success and you can affect others(so keep that in mind). So what I can say right now is to take some time for yourself, try to focus on yourself on your feelings and step by step things will start to have a normal evolution. Angel message: It is rejoicing in the good fortune of others even when you have nothing to celebrate yourself. It is an attitude of mind which means that you are happy to give without expecting in return. Angel wisdom suggests that you give of yourself freely, openly, and lovingly. The reward for generosity is great, for all that you give from an open heart is returned to you multiplied.

Affirmation: I am generous-hearted.

Wish you only the best!🍀

Moni🧚‍♀️