#i like the science/maths parallels

[moths-in-hats]

teen wolf x marvel: lydia martin as the hulk

For Lydia Week 2023: Day 3 - What-If Wednesday

[faaun]

shaking of leaves by into it over it is genuinely one of the top songs of all time

[peachhoneii]

"You are a dumber, sweatier version of him."

Ford and Stan conformed to society's expectations of twins and their individual pursuits throughout their entire lives. Ford is the talented, gifted academic. We know he can play piano extremely well. His abilities aren't restricted to the sciences obviously. In contrast, Stan is demoted as the less intelligent, less gifted twin. In many cases, especially in his father's treatment of him, he's perceived as the dumb twin.

After listening the GF commentary podcast and rewatching the show, we've all come to the general consensus that Stan isn't dumb. Stan can't be dumb. He lacks Ford's academic gifts but is able to recreate the portal using advanced sciences, maths, and etc. This man who didn't finish high school at best is able to understand and recreate the concepts his brother included in his journal.

The more I read and rewatch I can only assume Stan has some kind of learning disability that went undiagnosed. Let's not forget, Stan and Ford were likely born in the 1950s. There were not many resources for children living with dyslexia or adhd or add or any person living outside the "norm." Or he was lazy, felt defeated in trying to make good grades especially after what his dad when he got an F-.

They can never make me like you, Filbrick Elmer Pines. If he has no haters, then I'm dead.

While I don't want to say Ford treated Stan like he was dumb, he treated Stan as if he was less intelligent than him. Stan used to cheat off of his tests in school. We saw that. This behavior is another parallel/contrast between Mabel and Dipper. It highlights how close they are and how well they understand each other.

In Journal 3 Dipper says, "Can be a real friend when she's not doing one of her bits. She's smarter than people give her credit for, and often acts the way she does just to drive me insane."

This isn't to imply their dynamic is perfect. It isn't perfect. There are bumps and a few potholes in the roads, but Dipper always treats Mabel as an intelligent person, knows she sleeps on her own gifts so she can do her bits. The difference between Ford and Stan is that I don't think Ford wanted to accept Stan's gifts and would only begrudgingly internally.

The show doesn't highlight Mabel being treated as the dumb twin. She's treated as the silly twin with more emotional intelligence than Dipper. She can be selfish, but she's also considered more mature than Dipper. Hirsch definitely sees her as more mature in a way to Dipper.

The parallels are simply so beautiful to me. I appreciate how they're not 1:1 parallels, y'know. They can fit in each various slots but serve similar roles for each other.

[unpickled-olive]

Realizing that, while I like Destiny lore, what I love is Seth Dickinson's writing.

The Final Shape was a lovely story and the characters' archs were all emotional and satisfying. Maybe a nostalgic tear was shed for Cayde bonding with his reformed, resurrected killer.

But the things that have kept me coming back for 9 years were missing. I thought there'd be concrete answers about the Traveler, or some more thorough insights into the Witness, or even good lore on the Dread. I was hoping for another great lore book to join the ranks of Books of Sorrow, Unveiling, Mysterious Logbook, Marasenna, Last Days of Kraken Mare, etc. Some philosophy and horror, a genesis or exegesis or thorough backstory on a yet unexamined character/species.

Sadly, I didn't find those. The Dread's origin is that the Witness made them. Do they think and feel? TBD. The Traveler's conclusion was something like "you just have to have faith <3." Fine for the characters, but not for the readers/players of a 10-year-old mystery.

There's some nice things. The Micah-10 Traveler interpretations are cool, as is her origin story. And the foreshadowing still has me excited for the Dreadnaught, a yet unseen Disciple, etc. But I think key parts of what made Destiny lore so alluring for me are diminished.

Maybe it's the layoffs at Bungie. Maybe it's new writers going in a different direction. Either way, the aspects of sci-fi/space fantasy—ancient mysteries, metaphysical warfare, _____—have taken the back seat to personal drama that frankly isn't that interesting or fleshed out.

Maya could be an interesting antagonist, but she needed more backstory than "this simulation was evil or something" and more nuance than "the Vanguard are coercive, so I will coerce all of humanity." Why not explore what her presence means for the Vex, or the other simulations helping Praedyth escape the Vault?

The Witness trying to sway various characters was fine, but that has been covered so many times, especially in Beyond Light.

All that said, back to Seth: their absence in TFS made me realize how huge their presence in the lore was for my love of Destiny. I finally went and read their original works. What an incredible writer.

First, I read Exordia, the first/only entry into a dark mindfuck of a space opera. Its horrific in abstract ways: mysterious alien monoliths that poison reality around them. It's horrific in grounded ways, too: the alien invasion plays off of parallels with the Anfal campaign and the US involvement in Iraq. It's campy at times (with a villain who shouts "I love genocide!") but also profound. There's souls and date, but also math. There's also my favorite trope: mysterious, ancient architects.

After that, I read Baru Cormorant—all three books in a month. It's tragic and inspiring and genius. Originally I couldn't get through the first chapter because of the "fantasy" label. I've already read Earthsea and wasn't in the mood for wizards on boats. But I had the wrong impression. Understandable, because there is just no succinct way to label it.

Is it even fantasy? Honestly, I still don't know.

What it is is its own world. One that the inhabitants haven't fully mapped. One whose past is a must and whose future is uncertain. It's about hegemony. It's about purpose, obsession, and revenge. It's about revolution and community.

The colonizer culture is a kaleidoscope of different influences. Seafaring. Peri-industrial. Eugenic. It strikes me as something like 17th century Britain with a 20th century grasp of science. They don't have guns, but they do have both Greek fire and lobotomies. The story plays with different cultural views on indigenous rights, race, sexuality, and gender in ways that commentary real life while serving as interesting world building.

This story also weaves an insane amount of intellectual concepts into it. But rather than bog it down, they lift it up. The fate of the republic hinges on a myriad of different questions: is evolution Lamarckian or Darwinian? Can mathematical proofs usurp cultural hegemony? How do economics influence history? Most importantly, can you destroy the enemy from within before it destroys you?

It is not just cerebral, but tragic and heartbreaking. I saw the end of the first book coming, and yet I was devastated by the last chapter. Crushed like no ending has ever really crushed me. I didn't want it to happen.

There will likely be some time before the final book comes out, which is understandable. So much research goes into these. So many plot threads need to be woven together. So many mysteries not yet confronted.

This is all to say: if you like what I like about Destiny–thorough examinations of ancient mysteries, sci-fi takes on souls and magic, fantasy takes on science and technology, obsessive characters and vividly fucked up monsters, cancer and math as motifs, metaphors manifesting, and genius characters written by genius authors–give Seth Dickinson a chance.

[eunimaybe]

theorising : us in parallel worlds

୨୧ ; you and jake sim are in completely different orbits! how did you defy the laws of physics and end up with him?

pairing! physicalsciencesmajor!jake x historymajor!reader | wc. 0.8k | warnings: possibly incorrect science and uni terms, attempted humour, probably cringe EN-

🖇️ : jake version is out now!! this was so cute to write and the reader is so me i can’t do maths and physics either ㅠㅠ need jake to tutor me frfr

so you see

you’ve never been maths and science smart

you’ve always been better at the humanities subjects and the languages, even from middle school

you are the history, geography and literature ACE.

well, jake’s the opposite

he devours maths equations and quantum physics papers for breakfast and proceeds to choke over basic history — more under cut!!

“when did the first world war end?”

“uh, i dunno. BUT did you know something can be a wave and a particle at once?”

jake was the kid that memorised the digits of pi FOR FUN.

he’s the guy who understood organic chemistry and quantum physics when he was nine

like you didn’t even have a consciousness when you were nine how tf was jake understanding quantum physics

of course jake’s a physical science and engineering major

you meet him at uni in your history department because he was waiting for his friend to come out of lecture

and DAMN he’s a lil cutie

you just watched him leaning on the hallway wall whilst you were sitting on that one random really comfortable sofa in the corner

you were NOT expecting him to suddenly stroll over to you

like why is that guy walking over to the sofa WHY IS HE LOOKING AT YOU

he's just here to ask you where the hell the lecture hall for the class that teaches history about people who died a lightyear before is

and you’re just like “oh, you mean ancient history? it’s right over there, room 204.”

he shoots you the most beautiful smile you've ever seen and says "thanks" before leaving

you're just kind of sitting there staring at his retreating figure

WHY IS HE SO SO CUTE????

it might not show but jake's also silently thinking about that

how did he not notice someone like you sooner?

like you're perfect it doesn't matter that the campus is huge and you two are different majors HOW HAS HE NEVER NOTICED YOU

you never even got to know that guy's name and you're scared that you won't ever see him again

you're just mentally kicking yourself for not asking for his name (and number)

you only manage to find him through intensive, if not obsessive internet research with your best friend

you learn that this cute guy's name is jake sim and that he's double majoring in physical sciences and engineering bc he's a lil crazy

how is his skin glowing with that kind of schedule

you always look for him in the university hallways YOU EVEN GO TO THE SCIENCES DEPARTMENT

but you never find him (it's because jake's poking his nose into every history lecture hall instead of being in his department trying to get a glimpse of you)

like he even goes to the philosophy lecture halls bc you sometimes go to them for fun

it’s giving zeno’s paradox omfg ITS GIVING PAULI EXCLUSION PRINCIPLE (except yall aren’t an electron)

but in one of your university's annual festivals you get to see him again!!

you were just in line to buy some lemonade with your friend when he lines up behind you

he recognises you straight away and gives you that smile that's been embedded in your memory for the past month and says a little hello

your friend just leaves because she's been getting daily updates about this guy named jake sim with pictures included

you're just left alone with him and you're so busy staring at him that you don't hear the lemonade stand cashier ask what you want to order

jake buys you a cup of lemonade SUCH A GENTLEMAN

you two have so much fun together at the festival

jake evens wins you a plushie with the darts at one of the stalls

"how're you so good at that? those games are designed to make you lose."

"you just need to understand the science behind it."

turns out jake is really easygoing which you didn't think was possible from an engineering major

you two make plans to meet up together and study at the science department library

tell me why the science library is so much better than the one you go to.

the sofas are so much more nap friendly and it just looks prettier yk

jake helps you with your maths and science studies

you thought you would be free of maths and science once you graduate from high school but turns out basic classes are in the core curriculum

it was a very big disappointment when you found out WDYM YOU STILL HAVE TO DO CALCULUS

you barely managed to do long divisions in primary, you can't do this shit anymore

it's okay, not only is jake really really smart, he's also really really patient

in return, you help jake boost his shitty core humanities grade

he's been barely scraping by

"y/n, i swear, i can memorise dates and all that stuff but i can't with the essays."

jake confesses to you during one of your little study sessions

he sends you a cute heart on the desmos graphing calculator (such a nerd omg)

you two are THE power couple

you get As in your maths and science now and the professor doesn't give you dirty looks anymore

jake managed to boost his grade as well DREAM COUPLE FRFR

heeseung jay sunghoon sunoo jungwon ni-ki

✉️: @icyy-hoon

[twoa-plus]

it’s 2:00am and this is more of a character thing than a genuine theory but *claps hands for the drama* same coin theory. what if both of the stans are bill

or like. a parallel to him. like i said this isn’t a super serious theory i’m mostly just back on my character analysis bs lol

so i haven’t gotten to talk abt this much but i am a firm believer in that there is not a superior stan. from a personality perspective this is obviously entirely subjective, but i mean that there isn’t a superior one when it comes to their objective traits and how useful they are

ford is. ford. i don’t really have to say anything here he’s super smart can play the piano or whatever etc etc. however one thing that i will say that i think is important here is that i am like. 99% sure this man has a higher tolerance to The Horrors than other humans do. dude spent 30 years in that portal and came out pretty much the same level of crazy, and we all saw what happened to fiddleford. i know fidds saw bill take off his exoskeleton or whatever but u can’t convince me that ford traveled the multiverse - with all sorts of monsters and non-3d dimensions and god knows what else - for 3 decades and didn’t see some shit that would make anybody else lose it. like at this point u could tell me this guy could have a casual conversation over tea with cthulu and be fine and i’d believe u

as for stan - and i mean this in the absolute best way possible i love this guy - he’s like the world’s most charismatic cockroach. he’s fantastic with people and just straight up refuses to die. for the first point i don’t just mean this in the conman way, when it comes to the people that actually matter stan always manages to win them over in some way or another (soos, wendy, the kids, ford, etc) and one does not simply survive for a decade on the street without needing the occasional favor from someone who actually likes you. “oh but rico-“ man when u’ve been living as a homeless criminal for a decade and the list of people that want to kill u consists of 1 person and the government u’ve done pretty damn well. anyways as for the cockroach point, he’s alive and has his memories. i don’t even have to say much here stan went through all of That, lived through the series itself including The Literal Apocalypse, metaphorically (something something people are just a collage of their life experiences) died at the end of it all and then came back to life. that’s hardcore as hell man. in a less literal interpretation of the “refusing to die” bit, he’s also just. insanely determined. the biggest example is ofc him never graduating highschool and yet teaching himself god knows how much math and science and whatnot over the course of 30 damn years because he just refuses to believe that he can’t save his brother. stan pines is a force of nature i swear

[additional note while im already ranting about this guy, im not a personal believer in the “stan is just as (academically) smart as ford” theory. first of all i feel like this entire theory is kind of rooted in the idea that he has to be/be on the same level as “the smart one” to have value, which is an idea that the stans’ entire backstory is based around criticizing, and i think stan has something just as if not more valuable than freakish intelligence - raw fucking grit. he wasn’t the one to open the portal back up because of some intellectual advantage, he was the one to open the portal back up because he wanted to, god damn it, and best of luck to you if you’re gonna try and stop him.]

anyways as for the same coin thing, everybody knows the stan part. his casual references to the impending apocalypse, “you’ve been buying gold, right?”, him being such a good conman, etc etc. while i’m already ranting about stan’s determination, bill’s got that too - he’s been trying for like thousands of years to take over the world and he just Won’t Stop. point is there’s a lot of character traits they share

(i know in the original same coin post a pretty major point is stan not making a deal with bill, but i think that could probably be pretty easily explained without the need for divine intervention. the only times bill makes a deal with someone without them summoning him first is after he’s kind of left on a loose end with gideon, and everyone knows stan wouldn’t fall for his lies in the first place)

bill also shares a lot of traits with ford, though. both have some kind of physical anomaly (bill’s eye & ford’s hands), both can see/understand things others of their species can’t, they’re both egomaniacs (listen i love ford but the guy has issues), etc. u could even argue that, at least at the time they meet, they have some kind of connection through their loneliness

so. with the theory of “bill was reincarnated to make up for what he did,” what if it wasn’t just stan? what if he was split in two, and his “reincarnation” is both of them? they’re flawed enough to make it a lot harder for either of them to take over the world (ford’s lack of social skills & stan’s lack of freakish academic knowledge), and they have something bill doesn’t - each other.

bill is alone. that’s his whole problem. he killed everyone he loved, treats everyone new he meets like shit, and now he’s Like That. throughout it all, the one thing the stans have always had - even if it was just in their memory - is each other. “oh but ford-“ shhhh. shhshhshshshhsh. shut up. ford has Problems but i genuinely don’t think he ever stopped loving stan. love is weird, first of all, and secondly he clearly never stopped trusting him. no matter what he might say about stan being a liar or a conman or whatever, who’s the one person he goes to when he’s forced to admit he needs help? ford is a weird guy and has an… odd way of showing it but he loves his family just like the rest of the pines and i will die on this hill

i’ve been writing this for over an hour straight and i think my brain is melting but i’m sure at this point u get the idea. both of the stans, together, serve as a parallel to bill, and the one thing they have that he doesn’t is love. that’s what killed him.

something something killing an interdimensional dream demon with the power of friendship and this gun i found

[badcaninecemetery]

[a list of overhaul headcanons that i've been obsessed with + soft x reader imagines]

he's kind of low-energy, so i imagine a lot of his hobbies would be similar.

given his physique, he'd probably enjoy working out, exercise, and/or yoga. he'd listen to documentaries about scientific discoveries while doing the mindless and repetitive movements. he'd intently watch a creative recreation of the discovery of tiktaalik and then forget he'd been cycling for over an hour.

i definitely think he'd be into reading too. typically he reads autobiographical nonfiction, but i'm sure he could be swayed into more literary nonfiction. he'd also read academic/scholarly journals/publications. he'd spend hours reading and reading.

playing strategic/mentally stimulating board/card games would interest him too. it's to keep his wits sharp, and perhaps hone in his poker face more and more. he probably did this a lot when he was younger, but then it became a hobby so he just does it to keep his brain thinking.

he'd also be into things like wine making or custom metal work, something that he can build and create. chemistry is something he really would enjoy, and there are endless possibilities there. he probably brewed beer and things like that when he was younger to earn pocket money and get himself further out there, but it stuck around too.

along those lines, he spends a lot of his time studying and working on his technical skills. he has many things he has to practice and learn, and i don't think his hunger for knowledge is satiable. he'd dedicate time for learning languages that might help him one day. science and math become some of his favorite things to do to pass the time—it's like doing crossword puzzles to him.

when he was really little, i think he probably tinkered with model kits. he's a little too shy to show those off though, but they're still hidden away in a closet just in case he ever wants to attempt them once more.

—

imagine kai tells you that he has a surprise for you, so he leads you into the living room and reveals with a gesture a board game. his eyes are crinkled around the edges, so you know there's a smile underneath that mask of his. you'd play with him, only for him to obliterate you every. single. time. it's typically chess because he teases you that it's your skill level—and you should be glad he didn't pull out the checkers board (or worse, go fish).

imagine watching him fiddle around with experiments. he shows you the elephant toothpaste one and you both would watch in horror whenever it starts exploding out more than it was supposed to. whenever you ask what happened, kai admits that perhaps he shouldn't have been focusing on your reactions as much. but whenever he's not doing anything in particular for you (and he totally doesn't do those things to impress you), the two of you just parallel play in the same room. he's busy, writing notes down in that doctor's scrawl of his and staring down intently through his bulky jewelers loupes; while you're relaxing on the other side of the room, perhaps doing something quiet and easy like drawing, or knitting, or writing, or researching.

imagine soft jazz in the background during these things. kai slowly turns to face you with a hard stare whenever you start playing your mix of sad jazz. he shakes his head softly, telling you he's not going to examine the medicinal samples in his petri dishes to billie holiday's "the man i love" (which makes him shift from foot to foot awkwardly because of the lyrics). a sly grin starts to stretch across your face as you switch it to old german jazz (the kind that plays in those 1930s men's fashion instagram reels), and you start doing a little dance towards him, shaking your hips and shimmying. kai's eyes are wide, but he's unable to not succumb whenever you lightly grasp his hands and loosely swing his arms back and forth (he's imploding internally).

imagine making him a rap, rock rap, and/or nu metal playlist. it's sometimes heavy and emotional or bitter, and sometimes it's nice for him to lean back and grimace at the ceiling whenever he listens to the words. so you hook up your phone to a speaker, then hit shuffle. his head is leaned against the back of the couch, eyes closed while the playlist cycles through. one second cypress hill is playing, the next it's eminem's fack. kai's face contorts into dissatisfaction before his eyes open and he pointedly looks at you, but you just snicker and say it's like a game of russian roulette. i wonder just how many times this song is hidden in this playlist? kai just sighs in acceptance.

imagine kai gushing to you (in a definitely calm and composed manner) about some or the nonfiction/journals he reads, or documentaries he's watched. sometimes he'll throw a word out there that you don't know, but he's very willing to explain what it means. he's brief and precise whenever he elaborates the information, and he'll offer to let you read/watch the materials too. you'd definitely sit down and read/watch it (even if it doesn't particularly interest you, but you know kai enjoys it).

imagine the two of you getting into stuff to do together like reading theory (you wouldn't stop jokingly spamming links to the communist manifesto and industrial society and its future at three a.m. in the morning—but then you both dipped in émile durkheim and kai was immediately enthralled). or doing something like learning animal taxonomy (you wouldn't stop calling the centipedes little lovers). or something simple like drinking coffee (or whatever you'd prefer at that moment) in public and people watching.

so many little things to pass the time, just brief smiles and witty glances behind coffee steam.

[tenno-aster]

Schism by Tool is the definitive Albrecht and Loid ship theme.

I believe Schism perfectly encapsulates the thoughts of two men of science and logic attempting to quantify and rationalize the incalculable: there love for one another.

This Sisyphean task of realizing their love by measurable means leads to the difficulty of their relationship. They understand they work together like two cogs in a machine. They don't know how, and the cold need to understand comes to overshadow their love. The schism forms. The physical and measurable breaks down. They struggle to find the "pieces that fit." There is bitter determination and frustration.

Sonically, Schism (as well as the other songs on the album Lateralus) incorporates pattern and math prominently. The instrumentals fractalize outward in booming repetition. Vocals chant in droning parallel to the growl of Voidtongue.

The imagery of a temple as a metaphor for a relationship even matches well to the Entrati aesthetic. Even looking at the music video, one can't help but be reminded of The Murmur and the Vessels haunting the Entrati labs.

It all feels almost intentional the more I listen to the song.

[smolerthanthediagram]

Just saw a post about how studies path is different for everyone and it reminded me of how I loved the Good Will Hunting reference in Community and how it shows some interesting anti ellitist views about career choices and social class

Im adding a link of the scene in question for context but for those who can't watch it, in s1 ep24 there are some math students struggling to resolve a puzzle on a green board. Then they are gone and Troy approaches, takes a chalk, stares at the board, ans just goes away with the chalk lol, before stopping at the water machine to drink, but sees it's not working, so he then proceeds to repair it like he has been doing this his whole life. Then he leaves and two plumbers, who saw the scene, come to talk to him, too late.

First the gag is really funny, like textbook setup payoff joke, but with a double payoff because the first one is that Troy is not good at logic so it shouldnt be a surprise he doesn't resolve the puzzle. But because we all know good will hunting we are still expecting it. But this would have been unsatisfying/unfinished if Troy would have resolved nothing at all, and so instead he repairs the pipes of the water machine, and this is how we get to see his actual gift : repairing stuff.

Troy in this gag is a mirror of Will : just like him, he is in a life path that can't make him discover and exploit his true potential ; like him his speciality is almost a gift, something he has intuitively, and that he is always good at, and can get him to prestigious places (Troy later learns he is the chosen one to plumbing school AND AC repair school, and even becomes the Messiah of the latter and saves someone's life and restores justice with his gift - s3 ep 22). But on the surface, Troy has an opposite path from will : while Will starts as a janitor and ends up as a student, Troy does the opposite: he starts as a student and becomes a worker of manual labour, something that, in our world, is seen as less valuable, and a downgrade from his former status. But not in Greendale. Here the ac repair school is like this masonic organisation that controls Greendale's budget and by doing so holds the actual power, because they are the only ones who can actually guarantee their students a job at the end of their cursus.

And while it sounds crazy, it is not far from the truth. Speaking for myself, I tried (and failed) a master degree in human sciences only to find out I wouldn't have been sure to find a job with it anyways because long studies are not valuable anymore, whereas almost all the people I know who did short studies and more manual labor are in a more stable situation than me. I also have ADHD, and I'm almost sure Troy has as well which explains in part the struggling in this capitalist élitiste system. While classes give Troy a hard time to focus or study, repairing is something Troy is actually good at, and the series explains it by making a parallel with air conditioning and people, because "the true repairman will repair men" (s3 ep 22). Troy seems to actually use his high emotional intelligence (yet again something seen as less valuable than logic etc) to repair stuff because he know how things and people work. It doesn't matter if he doesn't have extended knowledge about everything because he is best at focusing on what's just before him and between his hands. This way community shows another look on manual labor and it's actual value, because let's not forget that without it the whole society litteraly falls appart.

PS : just a reminder that I know that choosing a job is very often not motivated by gift or passion because capitalism and so the ones in power need poor people who have nothing to lose to do the physical, hurting labor while the rich get to choose. This post was just taking about these jobs are seen as inferior because they are mostly done by people with low education, but that doesn't mean these jobs don't require actual skills and knowledge, on the contrary. Just wanted to clarify a bit

[minaloywhore]

hey, it's been a minute, but let's talk about dark academia that isn't as euro-centric cause i'm like, really sick of it lmfao

(also, i'm white and live in the US! people who aren't white and who don't live in the us, lemme know if there's anything I'm missing!)

yeah yeah, dark academia, learn a dead language. latin is good because of science, but have you ever considered learning arabic? lots of our math stuff comes from arabic and the scholars in the baghdad house of wisdom (hell, al-gebra)

or maybe learn sanskrit! like latin is an "academic language" in the west, sanskrit has similar connotations in the indian subcontinent, with many historical records having been written in sanskrit

hell, if we're talking liturgical languages like latin, why not try church slavonic or coptic?

please stop romanticizing only european architecture. its beautiful and stunning, and so is architecture from all over the world! just as a couple examples:

st michaels golden-domed monestary

 the bibi-khanym mosque in Uzbekistan

the tomb of askia in gao, mali

machu picchu

the iron pagoda in Kaifeng, china

etc etc etc!!

read academia from all over the world!! there are scholars in india and china and kazakhstan and south africa with wonderful writing about their own histories and cultures, you just have to do a little google scholar search to find it!

look at oral histories and folklore from all over the world! like blue from osp said, if people consider the witcher (which is just medieval poland) as exotic, what will they do when they read gilgamesh or the monkey king? look at the wonderful parallels between our bodies of folklore and mythology and oral history, like the floods in the bible and in gilgamesh!

that being said, look for sources written BY the people who are telling these stories. outsiders have their own biases and agendas, so read anything about different cultures than the author (especially ones that no longer exist) critically and biographically. looking at you, snorri

be more chill about people with bodies that you dont think are normal. be more chill about people with bodies that you don't think should be wearing DA clothing, or that you think are doing it wrong. they have every right to wear DA clothing, and they're doing it better than you are.

understand that if you're in a position to be enjoying DA, you're probably privileged. use that privilege for good, fight for what is right, and listen to marginalized voices. if you fuck up, acknowledge that you fucked up and work to right the wrong and not do it again, but don't take someone telling you you fucked up as a personal attack. it's not.

i acknowledge that the land i live on was originally stewarded and lived upon by a native american tribe that no longer exists because of european colonization. i acknowledge their (and the tribe that survivors of the colonization in my area went to)'s right to the land.

[cravingpepsimax]

hs reference like a flashbang aside, choosing a dave and rose excerpt activated something in my brain. (stan voice) it’s just like them. in a way

one is a certified journal writer mastering the arts of the horrors and homosexuality, while the other’s a comic drawing “”cool”” twin with a touch of big brother worship. ford a constant knowledge (light) seeker. stan and the motif of fire. the similarities obviously stop at the surface level traits but thats actually so funny

actually, i wouldn’t say the similarities are surface-level at all!

both ford and rose deal with the Horrors, yes, but there’s more to that. the reason they deal with them is for the same endgoal — obtaining knowledge. this even results in them both being taken advantage of a nigh-omniscient, devil figure (doc scratch vs bill). like you mentioned, she journals, but i’d also like to point out her walkthrough. kanaya reads her walkthrough, not knowing the identity of rose, creating an idea of her in her head, using it as a reference for her own journey… hey, doesn’t that sound familiar?

also, like, horrorterrors aside, you’re out of your mind if you don’t think ford would have a book called “grimoire for summoning the zoologically dubious”. like, title alone, that’s a ford thing.

like ford, rose thinks of herself as a character in a story, rather than just… a person (light player moment). she’s surprisingly calm about sacrificing herself to create the Green Sun, like how ford had resigned himself to being trapped in various hell dimensions, as long as that meant his dimension being safe from bill. also, they’re both nerds that are terrifyingly good at combat.

the rose-ford parallels aren’t shit compared to the dave-stan parallels, though.

they’ve both got a father that isn’t easily impressed, that pushes them to learn how to fight and how to fight well, who wears sunglasses 24/7. they both seem to have complicated feelings about their father, despite their father being shitty & abusive.

despite their detached appearances, both stan and save genuinely care for those close to them, and will do drastic things to protect them. becoming davesprite, dying for jade, actually just dying a lot in general (time player moment), and sacrificing himself for the Green Sun are just a few examples of this.

neither of them really want to do what they’re doing, either. dave doesn’t like time travel. it’s complicated. it’s scary. he’s afraid of his own mortality, and time travel involves a LOT of death. not just his own, either — if he fucks it up, he could end up killing literally everyone. but he does it anyways, because he has to.

stan hates science and math. growing up, he struggled in school, even with the smartest kid in school being his brother. but he still taught himself everything he needed to know to get the portal up and running — with only a third of the instructions. he did shit he hated, complicated shit he hated, for 30 years, because he had to. despite ford criticizing his recklessness, there’s not a single timeline where ford gets sucked into the portal and stan DOESN’T try to save him. and, just like how dave sacrifices himself for the Green Sun, stan’s willing to have his memory wiped for the sake of beating bill. sure, the Green Sun might’ve led to dave god tiering, but dave didn’t know that — just like how stan didn’t know his memory would come back.

they’ve also got the whole “i’m not a hero” thing, despite regularly doing heroic things.

(also, couldn’t find a gif of it, but ford calling stanley a hero both in the show after his sacrifice & in the journal)

also, just… read the aspect descriptions for light and time and tell me that isn’t ford and stan. especially time for stan.

…also, erm, fitting the themes of this blog, dave has… some stuff going on

also apparently davesprite and his rose may have gotten together according to the hs book commentary but i don’t own those and i can’t find an actual like. image or anything so don’t quote me on that lmao

[ashleyfilm]

Questions tag game!

Thank you to @baronessvonglitter for the tag!

Do you make your bed? No. I'm terrible about this. I live alone so I'm just like who cares.

Favorite number? 23. I grew up obsessed with Michael Jordan and I also had a dream in high school about a shirt that had a 23 over the breast pocket and the next day I found a shirt just like it with a 23 on the breast pocket and of course bought it.

What's your job? I'm a tv producer and director. I work in true crime tv.

If you could go back to school, would you? I would love to audit a class or two, but not fully go through it again. I hated math and science so much. I have been thinking of taking spanish classes to help with my learning, duolingo only helps so much.

Can you parallel park? Yes, and not to toot my own horn but I'm pretty damn good at it.

Do you think aliens are real? I have no clue. But I will say that assuming we're the only human-like species in the entire Universe seems impossible.

Can you drive a manual car? I cannot, wish I could. My older brother tried to teach me once but he got so irritated and mean that I quit.

What's your guilty pleasure? I try to not feel guilty, I grew up religious and I had to work really hard (still working) to get rid of my guilt. Agnostic and Proud! But this is for fun so I'll say I love Dirty Dancing Havana Nights, I like watching dui body cam footage when people act wild, and every time I do a road trip I listen to Michael Buble and sing with all my heart. :)

Tattoos? Oh boy, so many tattoos. Counting...Counting...carry the one... I think I have 30 and I'm going to get another at the end of the month.

Favorite color? Black. Dark Green. Dark Purple. Dark/Royal Blue

Do you like puzzles? I love puzzles. The last one I did was a huge Pennywise puzzle, it took forever but was so satisfying in the end. Maybe I need to start another puzzle.

Any phobias? I'm afraid of needles (ironic with tattoos I know), claustrophobia, sometimes heights.

Favorite childhood sport? Baseball. I played little league on a team with all boys and I was good at it. My dad was baseball obsessed so it was fun to do that and have him proud.

Do you talk to yourself? I do talk to myself but I have a dog, Wednesday aka Winnie, and so I talk to her a lot. Hahah.

No Pressure Tags: @burntheedges @somedayheaven @cheekychaos28 @saradika-graphics @mermaidgirl30 and always, if you see this because of me and want to do it, please do! :)

[justarandombrit]

Ride The Cyclone (and Legoland) as random things my friends (and teachers) have said:

Ezra: "Shut up I'm communicating"

Ezra: *Proceeds to make bird sounds*

Constance: "End of conversation. I'm a penguin"

Noel: "I love the French! THEY MAKE CROISSANTS!"

Tammy: "What, you're going to do your Art homework in your Science book?"

Penny: "No, I'm going to do my Art homework and my Ethics homework in my Science book"

Miss Peachery, talking about Penny: " "I'm 23, I can look after Ezra", she says, after she drowned Ezra in a bathtub"

Ocean: "I was doing it subconsciously!"

Noel: "I'm subconsciously kicking you in the head"

Karnak: "Unfortunately, I can't remove people's heads"

Constance: "Do they have organs for the children?"

Jane: "Oh, like Santa?"

Constance: "Does it look like a "b"?"

Ricky (signing): "No, it doesn't have wings"

Ocean: "I didn't know how murder-y the murder was!"

JK-47: "Because then I can be loaded and get a sick nanny"

Ricky (signing): "I keep tripping over parallel dimensions"

Penny: "There's a lot of weird maths things. They're called teachers"

Noel: "That's intense"

Mischa: "I'm an intense kinda guy"

[thischarmingmandalorian]

@almostempty tagged me in a v nostalgic questions tag and I must!

Do you make your bed?

I'd actually rather perish than make a bed ever!

Favorite number?

17! It's the day of my birth, and both the year I was 17 and 2017 were the best times of my life!

What's your job?

I teach English!

If you could go back to school, would you?

My DREAM JOB is to own a funeral home so I'm always toying with the idea of going back to school and getting a Mortuary Science degree. But I'm really bad at math, chemistry, and the nearest school is 2 hours away. So it may forever remain a dream.

Can you parallel park?

Baby I can barely regular park.

Do you think aliens are real?

Like, deep down I know they are, but my tiny walnut brain can't comprehend that being the truth so yes but no but definitely yes.

Can you drive a manual car?

Baby I can barely drive an automatic.

What's your guilty pleasure?

Going to Disney World and not riding a single thing.

Tattoos?

I've got 5!

Favorite color?

Yellow! Specifically mustard yellow, that like, 1970s someone smoked in this room and the walls are stained kind of yellow.

Do you like puzzles?

In theory yes! I love crosswords and sudoku but my ADHD makes physical puzzles impossible. Also the cats don't help.

Any phobias?

FROGS. And the dark.

Favorite childhood sport?

Dance! I danced from ages 3 to 23!

Do you talk to yourself?

So much that people stare at me in public.

[irishcoyote]

Inflamed Sense of Rejection: Chapter One

~~~~~~~~~~~ Author's Note: This is that Angel Face backstory I was talking about. His name is Caleb Handover because I'm not going to call him Angel Face the whole time. There will be no "spice" because I type this on a school computer and honestly I want to expand my writing abilities. ~~~~~~~~~~~

This is a horrible way to start a journal, probably the most over-done and unintriguing sentence used to start a story, but my name is Caleb Handover. I’m 16 years old, and I live in Wilmington, Delaware. I go to Mt. Pleasant High School, class of 2001. That makes me a Junior.

It’s boring. Every single day is the same. The ducks pass over the sky when I’m walking to school, and it looked cool when I was nine, but nowadays it just feels like I’m watching someone drive to work. 

Delaware duck schedule: 6 AM, wake up to the same alarm as everyone in the neighborhood. 7 AM, fly to the pond for breakfast and a bath. Pass by that blond kid again. 

My hair was born white. People on the street asked my mom while she was pushing the stroller, why do you bleach your baby’s hair? 

She never did. 

 First period is Advanced Placement Calculus. I’m thinking about ducks. Derivatives, ducks, hyperbolas, ducks, factorials, ducks, integrals…

My mom called my hair duck-fuzz.  

I like math, but I only say that because high schoolers have to like something. If you say you don’t like any subjects in school, you sound like a wannabe-dropout loser. I’m 16 years old and taking AP Calculus. I don’t think I’m a wannabe anything, but I don’t think I’m genuine, either. I’ve already done the warmup question on the board. Find 34! It’s just a factorial. Does anyone see me?

“Caleb Handover?”

Only during attendance. 

I raise my hand until my elbow is about six inches off of my table, parallel to the smooth, fake-wood surface. Not high enough to seem like a geek, but still giving effort.  

Invisibility is a science.

“Here.” 

There’s a pause. My hand stays in the air.

“Caleb Handover?” my teacher tilts his chin up and surveys the room, his pencil hovering over my name, ready to write truant. 

“I said I’m here,” I said louder as I raised my hand higher. My pen balances between my peace-sign fingers. My teacher flicks his eyes to me, and his eyebrows soften. He adjusts his glasses. The sad taste of desperation lingered in my mouth after essentially begging to be accounted for.

“Oh, hello Caleb. Sorry I didn’t see you.” My teacher laughs dryly and clears his throat. “Serena Hofstadter?” 

She has mono. 

“Gordon Jacobs?” 

That’s how Serena got mono.

For a moment I picture Serena and Gordon as Romeo and Juliet during the final act. Gordon drinks from a tall, crystal vial of mononucleosis extract and collapses. Serena, covered head-to-toe in orange spray tan and blonde highlights underneath her Shakespearean garb, discovers him on the floor and gives a tearful soliloquy before kissing him feverishly in an attempt to drink the mono from his lips. In the end, they’re both bedridden, and everyone knows. 

In fair Delaware we lay our scene.

I don’t know why, but I’m angry at them. Serena and Gordon. My knuckles turn white as I grip my pen harder, gritting my teeth and thinking about my peers who go to parties to drink and kiss and do drugs. I didn’t even think parties were a real thing until I started listening to rich kids’ conversations. 

“I got home so late last night…” quote from the boy wearing the same clothes as yesterday.

“I’m, like, so hungover.” quote from the girl wearing sunglasses indoors at 8:30 AM.

“Her house was so tacky.” quote from the girl whose locker is head-to-toe in sequins and leopard print, who uses perfume to cover the smell of anxiety pheromones. 

I’m not jealous, and I’d rather have lifelong diarrhea than be in the same boat as these kids, but it would be nice to have a life. 

It would be nice to be a part of something bigger than myself.

~~~~~~~~~~~ Author's Note: Please let me know what you think, and if I should keep writing this. It would be appreciated :)

[maleyanderecafe]

The Science of Staying Awake (Visual Novel)

Created by: viscereye

Genre: Horror

The Science of Staying Awake is a pretty interesting take on yanderes and I'm not just saying that because I have a bias for more pathetic ones. It's a bit surreal at times and spooky, all while having a looming character who seems to be mostly harmless but still causes pain while interacting with him. If you are interested in this game, you can find out more about it at @tsosagame.

There are a couple endings that are related to the achievements for this game, so I will mostly go through the good endings and briefly mention anything that might help with the lore of this game.

The story starts out with you in class after having two all nighters and barely staying awake. You tough it out and stay awake- either by getting something from the vending machine or through willpower. After that, you go home and attempt to flop on your bed to sleep, only to land on what looks like a strange person. He introduces himself as Vance, and when you touch him... your sanity feels as if it's slowly dropping. Regardless of if you continue to pet him, eventually, you stop to prevent yourself from going insane and he gets angry. Vance attempts to make you continue to touch him, he cries happy that you can finally see him.

From there, there are a couple of endings. Bad endings generally occur when you run out of sanity. I'll go over the two good endings since they describe mostly what is going on, but there is a walkthrough with all the endings and achievements that you can find here. There's also one other ending that helps to explain it, so I will try to explain that ending too.

For one of the endings, you run into the broom closet only to have Vance appear inside and hug you. Trying not to lose all of your sanity, you punch him, however he pins you onto the floor. Vance ends up kissing you with blood in your mouth. Eventually Vance gives in, promising to stay away from you, and Vance talks about how romantic it is to have a piece of you inside of him and vice versa. Calling this romantic, will lead Vance to admit that he didn't mean to hurt the you and that he didn't mind getting roughed up. Vance is incredibly happy to finally be with you. After getting a kiss, you go to sleep, with Vance disappearing, leaving a heart behind.

Another ending, you end up successfully running away, and goes to buy a hotdog because you're starving. At the park, Vance comes to greet you, though staying far away from you. You mention that you haven't slept in two days. Vance states that he's aware of this and he explains the situation a bit better. Vance and you seem to be in different realms of reality (so to speak), and that because of you insomnia, you are able to see him (but no one else can). After a hug, he leaves and you go to sleep, with him disappearing.

In the final ending, you are able to lock Vance in the closet and question him. Vance explains that he and you are on different planes of reality, living in the same space. While Vance can always see you, you can never see him unless you're sleep deprived and Vance always longs to touch you and get close to you since he loves you so much. Vance talks about how it is his fault, and how he understands why you can't trust him. After sleeping, Vance is gone.

There is an extra end credit scene months after the encounter where you end up falling asleep in class. You see what seems to be Vance inside of a flowery meadow. After a brief talk, and a reassurance from Vance that you will see him again. A student wakes you up before you go back to your dorm. You try to make sense of realities. Starting with parallel lines where they would never meet, moving onto the idea of tangent lines - only seen once and never again, something that you find sad before hoping and looking at a sine function (I don't remember the name of it, I'm not a math student lol) believing that they will meet again in the future.

The Science of Staying Awake is honestly really cool in concept. Putting aside my love for pathetic yanderes, the idea of a yandere that is in a different plane of existence, always watching the person you love but never being able to interact with them is very tragic concept, and once you finally are able to see him and hold him, it just causes you to go insane. I really do think that its a unique concept that was explored. Watching how this seemingly pathetic and whimpering yandere actually causes your sanity to go down is pretty terrifying all things considered, especially since it's not always easy to escape. The end credit gives hope to the two seeing each other again, and the way you use math concepts to talk about how you and Vance are able to see each other is pretty meaningful (at least to me), though it is less of science and more of math, but I guess the Math of Staying Awake doesn't really roll off the tongue the way the Science of Staying Awake does.

Anyways, speaking of pathetic yanderes (because I have to continue my propaganda of people making sad whimpering yanderes for me, obviously), Vance is really cute in the way that he acts, wanting to be pet and held, even at the scary expense of causing your sanity to drop, so desperate to finally be able to have you touch him. Even in bad endings, he seems remorseful, not wanting you to die or causing you pain, but so desperate that he wanted to touch you that he ends up killing you instead (whether intentionally or not). Scary but also a whiny guy, so very cool and cute. In one of the newer endings, Vance promises to leave but only if you eat a piece of him. Eating it will make him leave, but the feeling of him never goes away. If the MC refuses, then they will simply eat them instead. It's pretty interesting just how much Vance wants to be a part of us. How lovely.

I like the idea of having a bar for sanity and awakeness (though I guess awakeness doesn't really do a whole ton? Maybe I missed something, haha) and the different unused endings and different endings are neat too. I think actually that awakeness will affect if the MC can see Vance still since that's how they're able to view it initially.

Overall, The Science of Staying Awake is a fun game, with a cool yandere and concept. I really hope that it gets a lot of fans because I think it's very good and I would love to see what else the creator would like to make.