#im saying that one it's important to know how to separate the retelling from the og source and not conflate the too
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sukibenders · 11 days ago
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Me, when I see modern retellings of Greek myths that are actually worse than the original---- from woobifying some gods and making them innocent meow meows to demonizing and villainizing others (eg. Demeter and, yes, even Hera), ignoring how they are morally grey and can't just be lumped in with a modern viewpoint at all times, making the goddess and other female figures "girlboss" but also riddled with undertones of misogyny/internalized misogyny and victim blaming (you see this a lot with retellings for Medusa, especially regarding Andromeda because if they aren't making her a girlboss than they hate on her for being a damsel, which isn't even bad, or even make her the "other woman" 😭), or make characters like Perseus the bad guy, even though he was literally sent/went on a dangerous, life threatening quest to save his mother (and himself lowkey) from an abuser and then went to save Andromeda, who he loved even though these retellings try to say otherwise, from death:
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#greek myth#greek mythology#and i want to clarify that im not even a classics connoisseur (as much as i want to be) but it's still frustrating to see how some of these#modern retellings treat the og source material and yes this includes pjo as much as i love#like im tired of the gods being painted as either black or white (while always demonizing the goddess 😒) bc it erases nuances#also like...if they were full on bad i don't think they would have had many worshippers but that's just me#and to say that your retelling is more “feminist” but then u sneak in more misogyny than there was to begin with---#also people hating on andromeda or making her self sacrificing bc she doesn't fit into your ideal vision of feminism sucks too#like there is nothing wrong with being a damsel who ends up being rescued by her future love (who she had 9 kids with)!#medusa retellings specifically medusa/perseus retellings are problematic too bc they'll paint her as some villainous woman or push her to#the side which is gross when you remember that andromeda is/supposed to be a black woman yall aren't slick#or having demeter be villainized to suit a ship but also not giving persephone anything either or how hera is just reduced to the evil step-#mother just--- ugh!#and im not saying that all retellings are bad or that u can't like them no#im saying that one it's important to know how to separate the retelling from the og source and not conflate the too#(as well act snooty about it just bc u like the retelling more)#and two to realize that many of these retellings are deeply flawed and problematic and shouldn't be put on high pedestals either#looking at u lore of olympus#so much more i could say but so little time#dni if you can't have a collected conversation#leave my boy perseus alone!#he's like one of the least problematic male figures out there and you're reducing him for what?
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pub-lius · 11 months ago
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What in your opinion makes a good/well written history book? Can you give some examples?
i miiiight have talked about this before like 6 months ago so you might be able to find more info from me on this but idk. to answer this, im just sitting on the floor in front of my bookshelf HEJWBW
So contrary to popular belief, there are just as many factors that go into a non fiction book as a fiction book, and they all have their different styles. to make the comparisons im making, im gonna keep it between Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow, Black Flags, Blue Waters by Eric Jay Dolin, Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger, The Three Lives of James Madison by Noah Feldman, and John Laurens and the American Revolution by Gregory D. Massey and George Washington’s Indispensable Men by Arthur S. Lefkowitz, just referring to them by their author(s)’ last name. these are all books i have on hand that ive fully read and annotated
Most history books will be in a biographical or chronological style, where they retell events relating to a person or period in order, and others will take a more narrative style, like what Kilmeade and Yaeger have done, but this is often used to enhance understanding by not constantly referring back to previous events. neither one of this is better or worse, but they open different opportunities for how the author will broach certain subjects.
this is where we get into the author. just like in fiction, the author’s opinions, biases, and preferences alter the way the book is written, mainly because they will highlight certain information that they personally believe is important, and their historical reasoning will reflect their personal biases.
the two authors that i think are most different in this respect are Feldman and Chernow. as we all know, i really don’t like Chernow, for the primary reason that his evidence is contradictory and his theories tend to be misogynistic. the contradictions in his book make it hard to take anything he says at face value and it eliminates all chance of his book being easy to read, along with the fact that he is very wordy.
when it comes to Feldman, his biography of James Madison is a lot shorter than anything Chernow has ever touched with a pen, even though Madison lived a great deal longer than Hamilton. this is because Feldman utilizes brevity more in his writing. the thesis of his book is in the title: that Madison’s life can be broken down into three sections, and he spends the book proving that while also describing his life. this book is therefore more academically reliable, but also easier to read and more trustworthy. he also uses sources for each one of his claims and chernow just pulls things out of his ass but thats neither here nor there.
speaking of sources, when you’re buying a book, flip through the index and see if they have both primary and secondary sources listed. they almost always do, but it’s important to make sure. don’t trust a book with no primary sources. there also should be a LARGE index, like enough that when you separate it from the rest of the book you’re like “oh! i dont have as much to read as i thought i did!” not only does this give you hope that you might have a life outside of this book, it shows that the book has been thoroughly and adequately researched
another factor is how much information is in the book. this has less to do with how long it is and more about the subject matter along with the length. for example, Dolin’s book is about pirates, which are largely very obscure historical figures, so you can infer that the book will be less about the individuals and more about the time period, being the Golden Age of Priacy. and it is! and there’s nothing wrong with that, its just going to give you less information on the individuals.
now when it comes to a book like Massey’s, it seems like an adequate length for a biography of one person. however i think a larger issue with Massey’s book is that he doesn’t give you the full picture of a lot of things, and that is my biggest gripe with this book. he doesn’t give the reader a lot of wiggle room when it comes to making their own theories, because he tends to state his opinion first and give minimal evidence afterwards.
im always on here ranting and raving about how good of a job Lefkowitz did, but he doesn’t really fit the criteria ive mentioned here. his book isn’t in formal writing (which isn’t a requirement but i prefer it), he leaves out a lot of details, and his book is pretty lengthy. however i think he can really be praised for just easiness to read. the truth is, history is boring, and its hard to find authors who don’t make it worse. Lefkowiz’s book is well sourced and well written and does give a really good picture of the time period and a good starting point for further research, and that is how you become my favorite book and my most frequent recommendation
its always gonna depend on your personal preferences and biases. studying history isn’t about getting rid of your biases, and more of using them as a tool or at the very least factoring them into your research. my biggest tip: just keep reading! find what you like and what you don’t bc im still doing that. get nitpicky. get funky with it. GO TO THE LIBRARY‼️
and remember kids, Ron Chernow meets his maker when he encounters me in the Denny’s Parking lot, bare fisted and ready to throw down. you can’t outrun destiny, Ron.
(for legal reasons, that’s a joke)
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rwby-redux · 4 years ago
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Im curious...Have you read rwby fairy tales? If so, are there any alterations you'd make to it?
Alas, I have not. Even if money wasn’t tight right now, I don’t think I could justify buying it. On one hand, I don’t want to spend $13.49 on a subpar book. On the other hand, I sort of have to get my grubby paws on it at some point if I want to properly deconstruct it.
Fortunately, there’s the RWBY Wiki.
I’ve read over the synopses for each of the fairy tales, and at the end of the day, I’m sort of…underwhelmed. It’s not that they’re awful, strictly speaking, they’re just not terribly impressive. They don’t take any risks, nor do they deviate from the tropes, themes, and conventions already heavily-established in the show. They feel more like bland retellings of things we already know, rather than any new information that believably feels like it belongs to the world and setting of this universe.
There’s also another issue I have with the book—specifically, the issues surrounding transmedia worldbuilding and supplemental storytelling. The underlying problem isn’t necessarily its content, but rather, what it represents from an industry standpoint. Before I answer your second question, I hope you don’t mind if I take a minute to explain my thoughts on the matter.
I’ve touched on this before in my deconstruction post on the Grimm, but to reiterate: secondary media should be used for introducing interesting but not wholly relevant information separate from the main or central story. This material should either directly/tangentially expand upon in-universe conventions and worldbuilding elements; or, it should introduce content that couldn’t otherwise be organically incorporated in the main show without detracting from the central plot.
What secondary media shouldn’t be used for is revealing crucial lore that’s integral to the main story.
In the fairy tale The Indecisive King, a monarch offers refuge to a widow who lost her family and home to a Grimm attack. Meanwhile, the king is gifted a magical crown by an admirer. The crown, as it turns out, can reveal visions of the preordained. When used by the king, it shows him a difficult choice he’ll have to make, one which leaves him paralyzed with indecision due to the lack of favorable outcomes. The widow is able to assuage his fear and paranoia by gently pointing out that he has burdened himself with a problem he can’t—and may never be able to—resolve. She imparts the same advice that the king once gave her: that he must keep living and not succumb to doubt, in spite of not knowing what to do. The king, reassured by her words, removes the crown, and the two decide to seal it away.
The crown, as you might’ve guessed, is the Relic of Choice, and the king is almost certainly one of Ozma’s past incarnations.
We’re given a confirmation of this by Eddy Rivas during a Reddit AMA:
“It's important to keep in mind that these are fairy tales being passed down that are being transcribed for an audience -- so I wouldn't say the likelihood of them being 100% accurate is very high.”
For the record, the accuracy Rivas is talking about is in regards to the Relic’s appearance (a redditor wanted to know if the Crown actually had red jewels embedded in it, like how it’s portrayed in the book).
The Relic of Choice, much like its counterparts, is inseparable from the overarching plot of the show. Salem is going out of her way to collect these MacGuffins. Knowing what their powers are is a big fucking deal.
So why, on god’s green earth, would the writers introduce that information in a book that will (a) only reach a fraction of the intended audience, and (b) exists outside the primary corpus of their work?
That remark I made earlier about the price tag wasn’t just a joke. The writers have now hidden major pieces of their story behind a paywall. Which isn’t to say that the writers shouldn’t be allowed to profit off of their IP, or that they can’t make a living off of their products. They absolutely have that right.
But the Crown is a key part of the lore, and it was introduced in a book before it ever got an explanation in the show (which, at time of writing, is currently nearing the end of Volume 8 and the Crown still hasn’t been discussed by any of the cast). And that’s not even addressing how “special” this Relic is—Ozpin’s gone on record saying that he made the Relic of Choice “a bit more challenging” for Salem to retrieve. The writers made the deliberate choice to generate hype over this particular Relic.
So why reveal its powers in a book that ultimately has little influence on the series’ main platform? A complete story—and its intended experience—should be accessible in full through the medium in which it was originally introduced (or is still primarily told), not divvied up and scattered across secondary media, like comics, mangas, books, or mobile games.
Imagine if the writers had introduced Jinn in a book instead of the show. How insane that would’ve been.
And I haven’t even mentioned the other problems that RWBY’s had in the past with transmedia storytelling. More often than not, it tends to contradict the canon, [1] retcon the lore, [2] or straight-up gets declared non-canon shortly after being released. [3]
Suffice to say, this book was already on my shitlist well before I read the actual fairy tales.
Speaking of which…
While there are lots of things I could say about each individual fairy tale, there are two I really want to talk about:
The Shallow Sea and The Judgement of Faunus
Both of these stories are creation myths for the Faunus. The first tale (The Shallow Sea) reminds me of the creation myth told by the Khajiit of The Elder Scrolls, in which the Daedric Prince Azura bestowed three gifts upon the fastest, most beautiful, and most clever creatures on Nirn. The Khajiit were those chosen from amongst the Altmer, described as “forest people torn between man and beast.”
Similarly, in The Shallow Sea, a shapeshifting deity known as the God of Animals wished to invite humans to his homeland of Menagerie. He decided to tour Remnant’s surface, looking for those who were special and that he deemed worthy. He constructed a ship that sailed his chosen to Menagerie, and upon arrival, instructed them to leap into the water. The price they paid for living on the island was their humanity; in forfeiting it, those that jumped and waded through the shallow sea were transformed into the Faunus. The God of Animals washed away the humans who lacked faith and refused to join the others.
The second story (The Judgement of Faunus) once again features the God of Animals as an arbiter. Humanity and the remainder of the animal kingdom waged war against each other, one of envy, hatred, and jealousy. The God of Animals offered to intervene and declare once and for all which group was superior. The two parties agreed, convinced that he would rule in their favor. A fog was cast over them, and when it cleared, the humans and animals were revealed to have transformed into the Faunus—a race that was better than their previous forms, and retained the positive qualities of both human and animals.
Personally, I don’t find either story particularly creative or interesting, but that’s more of a preference-thing than a valid criticism. What is a valid criticism, however, is the racist overtone to both stories.
Does anyone else remember this scene from Volume 1?
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A Faunus civil rights protest. | Source: Volume 1, Episode 1: “Ruby Rose.”
One of the demonstrators is carrying a sign that says “We Are Not Animals.” It’s established in the first episode of the series that a massive component of Faunus discrimination is rooted in their perception as animal-people. Humans use this conflation to persecute them. Faunus, in turn, actively reject the comparison.
You can imagine, then, my annoyance with the book when it tells us that the Faunus’ primary deity is a god of fucking animals.
Also, can I just say how ignorant and offensive it is that the writers keep trying to homogenize the Faunus? Just because they’re all part of a vague, larger ethnic group doesn’t mean that they all share the exact same culture. There’s no reason why a Faunus whose family has lived in Mistral for generations would necessarily hold the same religious beliefs as a Faunus born in Vacuo. For that matter, why should we assume that the Faunus see themselves as divided by nationality? What if their cultures (and by extension, religions) were aligned with Faunus-specific demographics? Like a group of avian Faunus who live in the mountains and venerate a god of the sky. Or Faunus with gills, fins, and webbed hands, who live on coral reefs and worship the ocean.
It just makes no sense that a group as diverse and as widespread as the Faunus would all believe the exact same thing. Or that the thing they believe reinforces harmful stereotypes.
So, to answer your second question: The majority of the fairy tales (like The Warrior in the Woods, The Indecisive King, and The Shallow Sea) are getting the axe, either because they’re uninteresting, contradict the lore, or detract from the worldbuilding. Other stories (like The Girl in the Tower and The Two Brothers) are being dramatically altered because they no longer fit the backstories of the characters in the Redux.
And, of course, I’m adding in my own homebrew folk stories and myths. A few that I’ve already hammered out include The Nameless Blade, The Sundering of the Stars, The Vagabond, The Northern Lights, and The Pale Lady. Their existence in the Redux primarily serves to flesh out the lore and develop the cultures of Remnant.
The Nameless Blade in particular is one that I’m really eager to talk about, since it deals with Huntsman superstitions. But that’s a post for another day. This one’s already long enough as it is.
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[1] The World of RWBY: The Official Companion states that James Ironwood isn’t a councilor, even though in V4.E2 - “Remembrance,” James tells Jacques that he holds two council seats.
[2] In Volume 3, Wind Dust was originally green. After The World of RWBY: The Official Companion was published, the color of Wind Dust was retconned from green to white, and green was repurposed for Plant Dust (which has yet to appear in any official media outside of the guide).
[3] Several of the Grimm introduced in RWBY: Fairy Tales of Remnant (the Grendel, Lagartodile, Whisp, and Long Tongue) were declared non-canon in a Reddit AMA.
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coolgirl · 5 years ago
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Hey what's Jason's relationship with nocturna? It's the first time I've heard of her😣 and nothing on her wikia mentioned anything about Jason. She seems interesting character and I would like to know more about her.
okay I went. A little insane. Here's a retelling of her pre crisis arc, long as hell  
(this part covers Batman #529 / Detective Comics #363 / Batman #530) ok for some context: it’s pre crisis, meaning this Jason was also a circus boy. He has recently lost his parents, and was taken by Bruce, but isn’t dealing with the loss well, finding himself missing his past life. PLUS Bruce isn’t allowing him to be his partner, and that has him sad as well. 
SO he wants to go back to the circus, since hes lonely and directionless etc.
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NOW. ENTER NATALIA KNIGHT! Shes a villain, think.. Catwoman meets Poison Ivy? She’s a thief, but seduces men to do the stealing mostly. 
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Her backstory is basically that she was an orphan living in the streets, and met who will then become his adoptive parent Charles Knight when she was 12. When she’s already an adult, Charles gets killed, and she finds out he had big money bags bc he was a criminal. and she said. awn man i like being rich. well. time to do crimes.
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she’s rlly into the night and the stars (she was the head of the observatory, which Bruce was funding through his company or w/e)
anyways. she gets away, Jason helps bruce find her (but! bruce wouldnt le him help which rlly hurt jason), and as her and her partner anton are getting away (again) batman catches up to them, but only manages to bring anton to justice, while Nocturna escapes in like. one of those giant balloons idk whats the name
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the issue ends with Nocturna/Natalia sending Bruce money for the maintenance of the observatory and with Jason deciding to leave
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NOW onto the next part. So in this issue we have Jason escaping home, Bruce going to court against Natalia’s partner Anton, and Natalia just vibing around, and she happens to find Jason running away from home, and they have a conversation in which she tries to convince him to go back home.
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but Jason. well.
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So Bruce gets back home and Alfred tells him about Jason running away, and bruce, in real bruce fashion, is all like ughg i shouldve listened to him.. well lets go get him. and alfred is like. sir. do i have to remind u u arent his legal guardian yet. u have no right to decide where he stays.
so bruce is like ugh fine. i’ll go patrol then. which he does, and turns out Nocturna was trying to help Anton escape, and well it fails, and she gets captured too. 
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and that’s that for Natalia… for now ;)
NOW. this isn’t relevant for Natalia & Jason but again some context. Covers um  covers fuck a bunch of issues. SO. what happens in this time
jason goes back to the circus but is deeply unhappy
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he’s still doing detective work. hasnt seen bruce or alfred in a while
alfred visits
case stuff case stuff case stuff it was the clown all along
Jason ends up helping Bruce, since they were both working the same case separately, and they make up
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NOW. a lot of shit happens not relevant to nocturna. Jason isnt robin for a while, then he uses Dicks costume, then bruce gets mad at him for that bc its not his costume, so jason uses his own costume, then dick gives him the robin costume, so jason becomes robin. um stuff stuff happens and all it matters is the panel below.
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NOW! BACK TO NOCTURNA! 
her comeback arc kinda starts in batman #374, where this lady is like hold on.. bruce wayne isnt jasons legal guardian wtf, is he even fit to have a kid?
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so she starts digging around, asking questions 
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and shes like yea this is real fishy, give me that kid
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so bruce and jason try to behave like uh yes no robin and batman business. let that kid be a kid.
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but welp.
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and so.. Jason is taken away :( and both of them are heartbroken :( 
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but u know what! bruce wayne is one stubborn fucker! and he will fight to have the legal guardianship!
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and even if they’re not living together anyomre they’re still the dynamic duo in a way, which like. lol. this lady took this kid away bc she was worried about him but he still ran away.. tch tch tch.
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they’re both rlly depressed about the situation
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AND THATS WHAT U MISSED ON GLEE!!
NOW. SHES BACK. look at this epic cover
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shes now parterning w a dude named nightshade or smth, and he like. rlly wants to hit that, but shes like um pause ⏸️✋my love is the night. the dude, like every other man, is like so im not getting anything from this? fuck u, and leaves. shes like whatevers, ugh how annoying i dont have a partner again & anton is still in prison… &  while shes again chilling she finds out about Bruce trying to legally adopt jason & recognizes jason from the time they talked
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& goes to visit him
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and theres also this dude, whos not rlly relevant for now, will try to stop bruce from adopting jason which will be relevant later hehe (there's a whole subplot with him and bullock but like it's not rlly relevant to Jason n Natalia) (shrug emoji)
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and so. Bruce finds out..
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and so the cover becomes a reality, Bruce and Natalia WILL fight in a chuck n cheese parking lot to become Jason’s parent.. and Natalia may try to pull a reverse card on Bruce
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and well. Bruce rlly has no chance now does he? and turns out Jason wants this to happen since hes convinced he can unreveal Natalia’s secrets from the inside
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and a lil sweet moment between father & son
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and then a moment with Amanda, who, in my opinion, did nothing wrong ever
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meanwhile Anton comes back, tells Nocturna he killed the dude that was bothering her, and she gets PISSSSEDD OFF shes like u TARNISHED the night by SPILLING BLOOD, u absolute BEAST, Bruce gets there, some weird stuff happens that aged rlly poorly, then Nocturna stabs Anton to save Bruce, turns out she knows hes batman, again shes like marry me to have our son (Jason) and hes like no! and leaves. While Bruce tries to find Anton, Jason is like ive HAD IT i wanna go out, but Natalia stops him
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then the next morning Amanda gets her head straight and talks to Jason
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but well Jason is hellbent on exposing Natalia from the inside or w/e, and eventually she gets the custody, even if Amanda tries to convince him and the judge Bruce is a better choice (since she noticed Jason clearly favors him and was in pain when he wasnt at the wayne manor)
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and everyone is coddling Bruce which im adding bc its cute and i miss this relationship Bruce had with Vicki and Julia 
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MEANWHILE, at the knight house. mad hatter is a a weird creepy rat bastard n tries to get control of Natalia & get the information of her brain or smth. Batman gets there & we get a Batman vs Controlled nocturna fight and then Robin also arrives and its Batman & Robin vs Nocturna, but B tells Jason to focus on getting Mad Hatter, which he does and then gets Nocturna back to normal whatever, and she again asks Bruce to marry her, which hes again like no thank u! the issue ends with this page which is rlly sweet imo
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next up Anton is back but it doesnt matter rlly. a woman is tending to him, n because shes blind hes like. im batman. yeah. and she believes it. 
AND then Jason is formally adopted by Natalia
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Jason is still trying to find proof that shes evil, and they share a moment. 
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but jason is like. gotta fight crime! and so Natalia is like well i tried. wanna go be robin a bit?
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Batman & Robin go after mad hatter, and then Nocturna joins them bc shes epic
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and takes jay home bc its a school night smh
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Natalia & Jason spend some time together but Jason still doesn’t warm up to Natalia which like. makes sense since shes a villain and all that, but she tries nevertheless
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and then everyones most hated bitch comes back (Yes, anton) n he attacks Natalia, and then Jason when he hears the ruckus and goes to help
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but gets a chop
but! Bruce was just on his way to visit them so 
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fight fight bruce gets shot in the head n gets amnesia and thinks the dude anton shot & killed was him
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Anton swaps their costumes n makes Bruce believe that Anton is batman not him? or smth
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afterwards Jason blames himself
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and him & Natalia team up to find Bruce which includes.. carrying a corpse around
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for three days (well. nights) anton just runs around stealing n shit dressed as batman, n bruce is. literally chilling on a rooftop. alfred is losing his mind bc !? jason hasnt contacted him!? about what happened!? but Julia comes home and comforts him
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gotham is a lil in chaos with gordon vicki vale n bullock being suspicious, and the girl who was helping anton finds the stuff he stole and realizes hes not batman.
on the fourth night Jason n Natalia find Anton
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n they fight him
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but Anton gets the upper hand w Nocturna so Jason jumps in to defend her
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and then Nocturna defends Jason bc thats his baby
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but Anton doesnt get like. killed w that ofc, and hes like fuck u i’ll kill u one day but when the kid isnt here and after batman has fallen, bye (throws jason from building)
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and Natalia reagroup n well.. some things are said
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bc like even if Nocturna is helping shes a villain.. right? (thinking emoji)
meanwhile Bruce finally got his mind back. not important. who cares. the lady who was helping Anton goes to the police to tell them about Anton/fake batman dun dun dun. but Anton finds out and knocks out the policeman who went w the girl (Tina!) to check for proof n shit.
and guess whos back! amanda!
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back to new dynamic duo
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so Jason the little rascal (can i say hes a rascal when hes doing the hero thing n trying to expose a criminal?) goes looking for proof that Natalia is Nocturna n stuff, and finds some stolen things
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1. singsonging.. hes such a little shit lmaoo, 2. she was worried… pause…
anyways. they have a confrontation 
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in which Natalia swears shes reformed, but Jason doesnt buy it, and is like. im gonna get gordon! and Natalia is like.. do what u think is best
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but. he can’t do it..
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n hes like. well shes not bad anymore.. i wish i could go back to bruce without sending her to prison which… please development..  n natalia DOES want his love..
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AND THEN! BRUCE IS BACK! and he teams up with Nocturna to find Anton, but its just their luck Amanda sees them
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they do sm stuff not relevant and then Bruce is like go back to ur son now, and Natalia is like.. OUR son :)
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well whatever whatever they get Anton, Bruce goes back to being Batman, they clear his reputation, Jason goes back to the manor since Amanda saw Natalia, etc
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(he munches he crunches) also im gonna add this that isnt relevant bc its just so funny, buenos dias alfred
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anyways stuff hapens, like idk 14 issues without nocturna, the most important bit that happened is that selina is back. which she was gone. yeah. but shes back and around.
ANYWAYS! 15 issues later! shes back! some dudes entered her old observatory n were vandalizing and she was like hold up
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meanwhile we have Jason calling amanda bc he well.. misses his mom and as much as he loves bruce and hes his dad its not the same for some reason
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jason in every universe: i miss my mom i want my mom :(
at school Jason overheards some kids talking about Natalia in the observatory
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Jason goes looking for Natalia n turns out Bullock was also trying to see what was happening in the observatory, so they kinda team up for two whole panels to find her
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but Jason is like im not telling u shit.. n goes w Natalia on his own
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google always taking pics
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n they share a moment ;_____;
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n theyre reunited.. now ur gonna have to excuse me bc i didnt download the high quality of the next tec issues n all the download links are sadly broken
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but… what about natalia?
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then bullock finds them
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well bullock lets her go n while retelling the stuff to gordon he has.. a theory
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meanwhile Nocturna.. well Nocturna is back at it again, taking charge of a band of thieves.. sigh. 
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anyways, they talk, theres something weird happening w the sky that may mean the world is ending or smth, and they make up AND make out
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n they have a talk thats basically like. what now? should we be together? well depends if ur still gonna steal. i need funds to get the observatory back in track (HELLO BRUCE IS RICH HE COULD PAY IT..) and hes like oh so ur gonna be a thief again.. and shes like well havent u noticed im only stealing from corrupt rich politicians!? (QUEEN) n theres this gorgeous shot
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n then they go their separate ways bc its fucking batman
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anyways. Selina was also investigating the group of thieves (that were like black masks old gang but he was sent to prison so Nocturna took over etc) and she sees Nocturna leaving and follows her to the Observatory but.. Jason is there too
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Selina wants her GOOOONE she needs to clear her name but Jason is like. over my dead body
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n well ……. the girls are fightinggggggggggggggggggggggggg
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but Bruce intercepts
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n now Batman n Catwoman fight and its like the girls are fightingggggg… 2! but doesnt matter look at them
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and then Selina gets struck by lightning
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n then theres a earthquake bc god what a damn comic, and the observatory collapses, and Natalia is trapped inside
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anyways Selina is in the hospital, Anton is still killing people and knows where she is and is trying to get to her, and this little scene happens with Jason n B
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n while Bruce stays with Selina Jason goes to find Natalia which is so funny like. she went to Natalia, his mom, when Bruce told him to go home and well– we al know that story.
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n now its a race to get to Natalia before Anton gets to her
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n its rlly sad bc like Natalia is ready to die
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but both Bruce n Jason are trying to reach her
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and here comes Jason!
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AND LIKE. the fact she wants to live after all bc of Jason rlly makes me emotional not gonna lie! not gonna lie!
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and no offense but a mother’s love………………………………….. no thoughts head empty
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first of all i hate anton so fucking much. secondly here comes batdad..
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n Jason tries to help Natalia escape and then get back to Bruce who is getting his ass kinda kicked
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guess whos coming in that helicopter.. selina freaking kyle.. the legend.. and she helps Bruce with Anton. 
I REALLY DONT GET THIS TBH LIKE. he puts her into the giant balloon so she can get away but like shes hurt buddy shes gonna die up there.. 
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and. shes gone.
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n Jason is absolutely devastated
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n like. Bruce. as always. is like ok champ i see u got it in control, lmk when u wanna go home
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LIKE HES SO SAD.. OF COURSE HES SAD THAT WAS HIS MOM....
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And thats. pretty much it. Natalia is gone. 
However Jason still grieves her, and when Bruce and Selina are trying to get back together and... hes not a big fan of their relationship.. at all. But bruce tries to pair them up so they can become at least friends, since he loves them both and doesnt want to like. pick between his son and his lover
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and they make a fine team, even if Jason grieving Natalia and how Selina doesnt want to take her place is brought up a couple times :(
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and it gives it a bittersweet ending to the arc
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and well. thats it. thats the Jason and Natalia dynamic.
Natalia reappers later post crisis but well w/o her connection to Jason.. and i really dont wanna talk about the version of her that appears in batwoman comics LOL.  
conclusion: natalia was a bad lady, who at first wanted to use jason to get money from bruce, but then she had a change of heart, and development and became a kind of anti hero? well not antihero just.. she was trying her best man. i wish she hadnt disappeared like she couldve stayed relevant to jasons story without having to be romantically with bruce? bc if u read her comics u can see that she was killed off/voided for batcat to comeback which... typical batcat! anyways. i think she genuinely loved and cared for jason and that jason loved her and cared for her right back :( 
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starlightshore · 5 years ago
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im kinda want to get into this sort of thing so is it okay to ask u a few questions? if not just delete this, but here goes? would u reccomend game maker studio 2, and how hard is it to use in ur opinion? and is there anything u wish u knew at the beginning of making ur fangame?
aw anon you’re so sweet! don’t worry about asking about this, its really exciting to make games and trying new things! i would not say i’m an expert, and i wouldn’t even say i know gml like. at all. i just understand a how the code is used, but now what the code itself is or what to type exactly. like, i understand the theory more so than actually doing it. which is, eh, fine? i’m getting by, and i’m still learning. i’ve only been using gms 2 for 2 months now.
also, i’m using a fangame engine! i feel its kinda like cheating lmao, but its just meant to be a framework to build your own thing off of. and i still need to learn gms2 to use it, and i plan on doing more advanced and complicated things (ie: changing how battles even work structurally.) so. i’m not good at gsm2 yet, but uh, really once you understand coding its not any harder than i’d imagine w/ other professional game engines. compared to unity, i like this better because it seems built on the idea of making 2d sprite games. its SO much more simpler and the userface (while. i’m not a fan of how it has its workspace but whatever) is simple and easy to grasp.
i can’t say for certain if i recommend game maker. its very pricey and doesn’t go on sale often. (big sales i mean, it goes on 15% somewhat frequently) i really, really recommend doing your research first. 
so here i talk about what game engines i’ve used over the last year. (also i hear Godot is good!)
at the end of that post i said this: “TLDR; figure out what kind of game and story you want to tell/make. i could of saved a year’s worth of work if i just sat myself down and realized i wanted to make a completely new fangame separate from my old blog stuff. and that i wanted to make an rpg specifically.“
and so! past me has good advice. figure out the scope and what story do you want to tell. with AL, I know it has 2 chapters, and rn i’m only concentrating on chapter 1. chp 1 has 7 nights and one area where you fight enemies. its very story/character driven and is more so like. a deconstruction of the rpg genre than an actual rpg game. (i know that the word deconstruction is over used as hell, but it is what this is.)
it builds off the themes of the original, while focusing on things that i want to focus on and develop. ut, at it’s heart, is about stories and grief, i’m just taking it to a different extreme and angle.
uh, anyway, i really wish i knew what i wanted to make and understood the source material more and what i wanted to make. i’ve. thought really really hard over what UT means, what message toby was trying to convey, how he did it and what I thought about it. understanding what YOU want from and for your project is the most important thing. WHY do you want to make this? WHAT do you want people to feel and think about when playing? or even, after playing? it doesn’t have to be super deep either.
so, figure out what you what to make, and then you can work on the how. really plan your story, but honestly i wouldn’t recommend planning it in super big details right off. also, super helpful to have a friend help you brainstorm and plot check things for you. (shout out to my friend the sniffer
anyway, don’t plan things TOO detailed because things are GOING to change no matter how well you plan! just try to get get an outline done, then rewrite it 5 more times and then MAYBE you’ll be ready to tackle a more detailed version. then write it 5 more times. i can’t stress enough how important planning is, and how you shouldn’t expect everything to work out even on draft 10! things will work, and when they do, draft 10 is going to look like bad awful nonsense cause you’re at draft 20 now and everything is much more coherent and better. games aren’t written or consumed all at once on the fly. its not a piece of fanart, a fanfic, a comic. its not updated more than once. its out, and then its just out. plan for it.
and real quick, don’t worry about art assets! depending on how you do the art, that’s most likely going to change and its going to be polished LAST. i could go more into how you should think of art when game developing, but thats another topic. just. honestly use shitty art assets and worry about it later.
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kris’ place holder sprite for deltarune ^ it don’t need to be pretty, it needs to be practical.
second advice: start SMALL!!! i feel i should of done this, and frankly i probably will have to sit down and do this lmao, basically, you should make boring small games to learn the basics. I know, i know, nobody really wants to recreate asteroid when you got big ideas of making stories and animations u wanna make. but like. you really need to figure out how the program works and how the code works in theory and practice.
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ok so like, think of coding like this. i got this from a skillshare video series, so uh. i’m going to retell this but in a shittier and likely less nuanced way. sorry
ok so imagine. you’re telling this guy who is trying to get to Gary’s house. now, Gary’s house is just down the road, few houses down, now, you can tell this guy that and he’ll likely find the house just fine. but if you’re telling a robot it’s not going to understand what “down the road” means. what road? how long? it needs instructions that are simple and work in a language it understands.
so you tell the robot “go down two houses, stop at sign until x seconds pass, turn right, go forward 1 house, turn ect. stop at house, ring doorbell. IF Gary answers, go inside; ELSE: do not go inside, wait;
so this what i mean by understanding the theory behind the code rather than the code itself. yes there’s complexities and differences in each language, but they’re ALL based on the same concepts. different program languages are less like different speech languages, but rather different dialects of the same. (uh, like us english vs uk english) its just different rules and “spellings” of the same core concepts.
next advice: don’t be afraid to ask for help! but also! do so within reason! if people are OPEN for helping, be sure do so in the right environment and within what time works for them. compensate people for the time and effort if you can. ALWAYS try to figure out the solution yourself first. often with coding, it can be a simple solution that you could of thought of yourself if you took the initiative to. google is your friend, youtube is your friend! (ok, youtube isn’t, but in this case! yes!) the answer might not always be easy to find, and its perfectly fine to look for help but its good to at least try on your own first!
speaking of which! LEARN LEARN LEARN! be ready to devote A LOT of time to watching and reading about game development. this goes to every game making program, not just gms2. i watch. so many videos on gms. i rec having the video play at 1.5x or 2x speed to cut down time. obvs you still need to retain the information, so speed might be not a good idea then. and its REALLY GOOD to pause and type out the code and follow along. but its also good to just understand the concepts, and theres no harm in rewatching once you’ve understood it  better at a different speed.
things WILL click and work out for you, and its going to be a very time consuming and long journey to get there. i LOVE making this game and telling this story but I also had no idea what i was getting into! and i probably will have more advice once i’m further in, (i’ve only used gms 2 for 2 months!) but thats the best i can say for now! i hope you pursue your dreams and start making things!!! you can do it!!! 
the best time to start is yesterday, the second best time is right now! even if you put a little effort into it everyday, you’ll  build up progress and you can learn SO MUCH over time and theres this whole world of possibilities out there! the world NEEDS your story and your perspective, and i think creating it in anyway you can is necessary for humanity! your work will mean something to someone someday, and i am so excited for you to start your journey!
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tillman · 5 years ago
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top five trans arthurian characters ?(could just be the knights idc)
good lord ok this is hard to narrow down to just 5 because all arthurian characters are trans until proven otherwise. 
lets go by thematically top trans idiots cus i have some thots. this is in less of an order and more of me just going off of who i think of first so enjoy
5: lancelot? hes canonly trans he says so in the vulgate but also hes; been mistaken for a woman before, has a lot of emphasis at least in the vulgate put into how shapely his thighs/hips are, constantly is wearing disguises and tends to do everything in his power to cover up his body/not let people know who he is, hes like genuinely a nice person ? so thats a point for canon trans man, his mom, the lady of the lake, is also trans so like it runs in the family its fine. 
4: im throwing gareth in right after lancelot cus do not separate them.... anyways gareth is so easy to read as trans its almost laughable. his family doesnt recognize him when he comes to court, hes made fun of for having soft and nice hands (yes i get this is kay going i know youre royalty but also as a trans guy w dysphoria about my hands being too “girly” or whatever im going to beat you to death), he has the thematic notes of rising up against the person who kept you down by calling you something you dont identify with/just straight up arent, he also has that young transguy mood of idolizing and tending to flock to older trans men as a father figure/example of greatness w lancelot and the joyous gard gang :-) its all there! gareth is trans and loves his wife and big family ! 
3: also throwing mordred here because do not separate him from his brother but mordred is one of the most common characters ive seen made trans in modern lgbt retellings of legends hes just so good. the pushing of a destiny/role you didnt choose yourself, the grappling with who you are and where youre from, the blood family vs found family, the rebelling against the oppressive force seen in a father figure, i love him. mordred trans.
2: and you thought i would stop with one orkney. jokes on you. theyre all trans. anyways last one ill touch on on this list is aggravain because i need you all to understand he is trans. also gay. he is a flawed character yes and says some disgusting things and im not trying to say hes good or is valid in saying these things or give an excuse or some shit i still think him saying he would “have his way” with a lady is disgusting but he also was an abused teenager living being told with his brother was better than him in all ways and that he was disgusting and evil so he kinda internalized that. this is huge in the vulgate where said line about women comes from, and i tend to read it as a mix of internalized transphobia and his tendency to lie for attention. aggravain is a coward and would neevr do any of this, its why he says it to his brothers, hes trying to get them to lash out at him because he craves any sense of attention from gawain who tends to let him do his own thing in favor of making sure gaheris and gareth are ok and that mordred is being raised ok. god hes such an interesting character i just want to get smoothies with him and explain to him hes important and that also he has to respect women more. god i love aggravain
1: uh those four are my main transes with proof but uhhh OH morgan is trans. also a lesbian and loves her wife the lady of the lake and her girlfriend guenevere. thats it. thank u for ur time :-) 
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offtheheezay · 7 years ago
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ooooogh oo,f ouchies,,, i’m listening to mrcreepypasta’s retelling of Jeff The Killer and,,,,,, i have some feelings about jeff (under a cut)
NOTE: I DONT CONDONE HIS ACTIONS AND NO HE WAS NOT “AN INNOCENT SMOL BEAN” HE DID SOME BAD SHIT 
THE FIRST THING........ He’s from New Orleans and I am too
NEXT THING,, he didn’t kill his brother. now THIS is JTK content i like to see. of COURSE he wouldn’t KILL HIS BROTHER TOO, HE LOVES LIU AND THATS HOW HE FIRST FOUND HIS BLOODLUST, HIS BROTHER GOT PUNCHED AND JEFF BEAT UP THREE BIG GUYS FOR HIM!!!!!! THATS SIBLING LOVE AND JEFF WOULDNT KILL LIU HE LOVES HIM TOO MUCH HES THE ONLY FAMILY JEFF REALLY CARES ABOUT THATS ALL
AND THE LAST THING, JEFF AND HIS PARENTS!! IM DISTRAUGHT (here’s a thing i commented a tiny while ago)  this makes my stomach turn in knots; the way the parents acted. the way that money made Jeff's parents believe that the gang of bullies hadn't done anything to him, that he was the one who fired the gun, that he was the one that disfigured himself. all because there was money. the way his parents told them to "shut up", and the way Sheila cried over the fact that she would be looked down upon because her son had been shot and disfigured. the way the parents valued wealth more than their own children. OKAY... SO...... i can sympathize with jeff. jeff’s been abused by his parents as shown by the way they act (i.e. “Shut up, Jeff.” / “That kid, Randy Hayden, his father is a partner at my firm, did you know that? Did you even think about that when you were assaulting him over your godforsaken bike?”  Jeff had no idea that was the case; he’d never seen those kids before!!!! He had no clue!!!!!!!!!  “You just didn’t think, did you Jeff?” Shelia added. / “His dad is willing to let it all go, but shit son, I have to deal with that at work now. Do you have any idea how much damage this could have done to me, to our family?”)  Liu and Jeff get separated after that, and that pisses me off too because Liu is the only person Jeff gets along with Randy SHOOTS JEFF IN THE FACE AND HE GOES TO THE HOSPITAL HE COULD HAVE D I E D He becomes conscious in the hospital, and he hears his parents talking about him,,,,,,, i? teared up a tiny bit? Here’s a thing I copied from the creepypasta itself
Is he going to be okay doctor?” Jeff’s mother asked. “Oh yes ma’am, your son will be fine, however, he will have a lengthy road to recovery, and will need your support. The flare struck his face and caused 3rd degree burns on his left side.” “How bad is the eye?” Jeff’s father asked.“Hard to say at this point, he’ll need to see an optometrist for further review, but the damage appears quite severe.” “And his face? What about his face?” Jeff’s mother asked, sounding deeply concerned. “Well, we were able to clean and treat the injury in time, so you’ve no concern for infection or anything of that matter. We’ll want him on antibiotics for a while, and he’ll need to have the wound cleaned and dressed on a regular basis, but all in all, your son got very lucky. The damage could have been more severe.” “Doctor,” his mother began again, “What if there is permanent damage? What do we do about that?” “As I said, an optometrist will have to examine the eye…” Shelia Woods interrupted the doctor, sounding more agitated then before, “You’re not listening, not the eye, his face! What do we do to correct his face?” she demanded. “Well ma’am, we have treated his face, like I said, there shouldn’t be a risk of infection so long as you….” She cut him off again, “Not the infection, his…. his appearance? What can we do for that?” “Miss Woods, that’s hardly a concern at this point. Once he is healed and back on his feet, you can possibly explore plastic surgery to repair some of the damage, but honestly, right now, we can’t waste concern on how he looks. What is important is that your son is healthy. He can expect to be back home in a few days, maybe sooner.” Jeff’s dad spoke again, “Okay, thank you doctor. Can we have some time alone please; my wife and I need to speak.” “We’re going to have to home school him now Matt, that’s just what it’s going to be, we’re going to have to keep him home!” he heard his mother rant, her voice sounding frantic. “What? I mean, he probably won’t be able to start school right on time, but I doubt he’ll miss a whole year!” his father responded, trying to maintain a calmer voice. “I’m not talking about that Matt, I’m not worried about him missing a week or two of school. I mean his face Matt, you heard what the doctor said, his face is going to be…. disfigured!” Shelia argued back. “We don’t even know the full extent of the damage yet Shelia, it could be minor, it could possibly heal, and you heard what he said, plastic surgery could be an option in time.” “In time? What kind of time? A year, two years, and what about in the meantime? People are going to see him and they’re going to talk, is that what you want? He’s going to be a…. a pariah! You think anyone is going to want to have him around their kids?” Jeff was hearing all of this, just letting it soak in, slowly. As his mind absorbed the words, he felt that rage return. Sick, rich, dark, that syrup of raw, primal emotion. He wanted to scream at his mother, to tell her to shut up, that he was the one lying here, half his face burned, blind in one eye, all thanks to her forcing him to go over to Randy’s house. He wanted to ask her why she left, why she went off to go shopping or have her nails done or whatever it was that she did. He wanted to know why she’d leave him alone with a kid who just days before tried to jump him and his brother. He wanted to know how she could care more about his appearance than the fact that he was lying in the hospital. this hurt me ^^^ i mean. this kid Got Shot In The Face And His Mother Cares About How Other Parents Will View Her, not her son Who Could Have Died Matt Woods began to speak again, “I just can’t believe he shot himself in the face with a flare gun. I always thought Jeff was more responsible than that.” “Don’t even get me started on that,” Shelia replied, “I couldn’t believe it when Randy and his friends explained to the medics and police how it all happened. Randy was just trying to show Jeff around his house, and wanted to show him the collection of magazines his dad kept in the garage. You know boys; he was probably hoping that a couple of Playboys would be in there or something. Then he said Jeff found the box containing the flare gun, and just wouldn’t stop playing around with it. You should have heard those other boys Matt, they told me that they practically begged Jeff to just put it down before he got hurt, but he just had to show off. I just don’t know where we went wrong Matt. I thought us moving out here to a nice quiet neighborhood would make everyone happy. Jeff though, he just, he just wants to fight us on everything.”
hi im upset and sympathising here. basically his parents made money and dont give a shit about their kids and I Can Relate
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gayholmesian · 7 years ago
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I am a new johnlock blog, I create this one separate from my main blog. I want to write some johnlock fic and don't really know were I want to start.
hey kiddo!so... starting fics can be hard. really hard. (heheheh)but in all seriousness, it depends on what you're aiming for, honestly.no matter what, i would recommend starting with a prompt--and this prompt should be something that you feel like you can explain in detail. what will this prompt lead to? how does it effect the characters? this prompt will differ depending on the length you're intending to make it. for a faster one-shot, your prompt may be as small as "there's a large storm and sherlock and john need to cuddle in front of the fire for warmth", but then for a longer fic, a prompt may be as complex as "sherlock and john are both teenagers and slowly fall in love while attending the same boarding school". au, or alternate universe, is anything where it really didn't occur in canon. au is sort of tricky to explain, because pretty much all fanfics are alternate universe, unless they're exact retellings of an event from a different point of view. using an au does give A LOT of freedom, because then you don't have to be restricted by time periods or realism (as in, you can place the characters in a fantasy setting)if you're kinda stuck without a plot, i actually have a few prompts i reblogged in my #reference (or #ref ... i can't remember which lmao) tag. there's a couple cute ones in there, and you can always build off and change a prompt to make it more interesting.with johnlock, it so depends on what storyline you're starting with.it's always good to know which adaption you're using to tell this story. for fandoms such as the sherlock holmes fandom, there are soooo many adaptions that you need to make it clear in the tags which adaption you're using. this is important for you and the reader. it's important for you because you're basing the mannerisms of this character off the interpretation of the particular adaption.for example, let's say you're writing an alternate universe fanfic where sherlock and john are actors in the 1920s. if you're basing your chacters after the granada holmes adaption, then your holmes will have slightly different mannerisms than your bbc sherlock holmes because of how the actor decided to portray holmes, and they will be pictured differently by the viewers due to them being played by different actors.now, onto the fic itself. i would highly recommend, if you want to make a multi-chapter fanfiction, try to make each chapter on the longer side. the more you can stretch out in a chapter, while simultaneously not overloading it with events, the better. try describing the character's in detail in the moment. what are they feeling? thinking? what's the setting?basically, tap into a hypersensitivity of the moment.ALSO NEVER FORGET characterization!!!! it is VERY important to try to remain in character. try to think like them. what would they say? would watson get in a huff here? or praise holmes here? would holmes make an asshole comment here? or jump around here like a school boy?for this, you're gonna search... weird stuff. like... kidney prices on the black market weird stuff. nothing much i can say here but... well... that's sherlock lolfinally, for the... more... *ahem* adult fics, you've gotta reeeeaaaaaalllly think. like... in depth. think about their actions and how they typically talk, but also use your creativity. hell, we don't genuinely know what sherlock likes to do under the sheets. maybe he's full throttle, or maybe he's more soft and loving. maybe both. who knows! i definitely don't know for sure lol but i still write what i think he may be likewhat im getting at here is to1) have a storyline2) respect the characters & where they came from3) don't be afraid to get into detail4) remember they're preexisting characters, so they have pre-existing characteristics and aspects5) with 4 said, we still don't know everything! get creative in your own way!(alright, that's all i've got lol; anï out)
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lilietsblog · 8 years ago
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this post is going to get 0 notes i know and am not bitter about it at all. anyway fuck all of you im not putting it under the cut
...so reblogging that post about Chinese culture has brought my thoughts back around to my own individualism ideal
it's this romantic image stuck in my head ever since i first started getting my own interests and aesthetic and social circle and music taste (so, ~14)
like. it's not All That I Think Is Good In Life, in fact i have another romantic image, more recent, that... well, not opposes, but complements it to a whole world? anyway that's a different thing
this one is older and sometimes I feel like its an immaturity thing for me but also the more i grow up and analyze it the more i understand how important the core of it is to me
it's an image that comes from songs. russian 'minstrel' songs. filk? folk rock? whatever. they are a thing. and in them there's a thing - a romantic image of a 'minstrel'. obviously these girls (almost excusively girls) are talking about themselves (and grammatical gender wise the minstrel is usually male but also they absolutely mean themselves and its one part sexism one part breaking down gender boundaries I M H O bc just because the world minstrel is male doesnt mean the person it refers to has to be... ANYWAY)
...so yeah, a minstrel. its actually a pretty extensive and specific image. im not sure if its accurate to anything historically, and obviously its not accurate to anything about these people in real life. its a romantic ideal like i said and i have 2 separate OCs based on it with love and care as a deeply secondary but still important part of their design
The Minstrel is a wanderer. He (imma use he for now bc grammatical Russian gender and im gonna slip into it anyway. just imagine its a gender neutral he) doesn't stay anywhere for long. He does not have permanent employment. He does not own property other than what he can carry on his back. He usually doesn't even have a horse or any other means of transportation because he's pretty much dirt poor.
The Minstrel earns money by performing - making up fiction, retelling existing fictional stories, retelling existing historical tales, fictionalizing recent history, etc. If he performs for the wealthy, in castles and stuff, he is usually treated like dirt. Always -this- close to being killed for rudeness towards his hosts. He does not have a permanent patron. If he performs in front of the general public, he's usually able to make ends meet much better, and will often be universally beloved. He will often spread revolutionary ideas, put himself in danger via political stuff in various other ways, spread truth where it is suppressed. Tell the tales of people who aren't normally remembered, tell the other side of the story. One very particular variation probably based on a specific story that I just don't know is a minstrel who inspired a rebellion, then it was quashed with extensive cruelty, then the minstrel was cursed by the people for bringing all that about and must now wander forever, mute. Or something. I know it from like three separate songs, they are very beautiful but not very specific.
An important part of The Minstrel archetype is that he is like this by choice. He might have a home, property, everything, and then just spontaneously abandon it and go be poor. (Obviously the minstrel is able-bodied and able-minded enough to afford to do that. Although historically at least some people the archetype was based on were blind / otherwise disabled, and earned money by singing because they didn't have any other way. Never said this archetype was unproblematic) A minstrel might abandon his lute (or another musical instrument, personally I favor the guitar, sometimes a flute is featured, but the lute is archetypical) and go fight in a war to defend his country. This is a tragedy and a great unfairness. Usually the minstrel will die because he is a musician and not a soldier. It's a conscious sacrifice, nobody can CONSCRIPT a minstrel. Like, he just won't come and there's nothing you can do about it. (A more cynical variation is a young silly minstrel who is TRYING to die a beautiful death and succeeds, except nobody things it's beautiful they just facepalm and go 'well that was tragic and useless')
I have heard like... one whole song about multiple minstrels travelling together. I think the basic idea is that they meet people, then part again, then maybe meet again, like waves, from time to time. Randomly running into each other, spending like a whole week together, then parting until next time is the name of the game here.
All those are surface attributes. They are easy to gather, and I'm not a particular fan of all of them... it's harder to talk about the core of it, the thing that makes me love this despite everything that is wrong with it.
The Minstrel is an individual who is, for the most part, entirely without attachments in all the new places he goes. He does not have friends waiting, he does not have anyone waiting. Nobody knows his name until he introduces himself. Like, okay, maybe they've heard of him, but they won't know it's him until he tells them, and they might not believe him if he does. (A minstrel whose face is actually well known, who is relatively well off and can afford to travel with like... a bodyguard - he's a separate thing, he's not this trope)
There are many stories that imply that when people are utterly alone, when nobody is there to know about their existence, the reality sort of cracks under them, and they fall through, and they might as well have never existed. This trope takes that and says a hard NO. If a tree falls in the woods and nobody is there to hear the sound, the tree itself is still an observer. The Minstrel is somewhere alone, on his own, with nobody's viewpoint to support his existence other than his own, and it's good enough. It's valid. In fact, The Minstrel EARNS HIS LIVING by being just that - a living viewpoint. He tells stories, he shares his perspective. HIS PERSONAL knowledge and understanding is what he brings to the world, and it is valuable. He bears witness. Sure, he can have personal relationships, friendships, but he will leave them and go further forward in a heartbeat. His primary relationship with the world is that he /knows/ the world, and that he /tells/ about it. And the reciprocal relationship is that people know HIS STORIES. If he goes to a new country and hears his own song sung by people there, that is reciprocation, that is validation. He as a physical body does not need to be acknowledged, his presence in other people's minds is via the impact he made, and he himself might as well be a ghost.
(Yet, his physical body doesn't 'not matter'. It matters to HIM, and that is enough. He is a thing in himself, a complete entity, and he doesn't need to see his reflection in mirrors to know himself.)
(The Minstrel can very well be too vain, conceited, or alternatively, filthy and uncouth. In stories that feature echoes of this archetype, it might very well be a conflict that he is All That yet entirely unpleasant to interact with as a person. AND THAT IS OKAY. You might in fact want to try and murder him, and you might even be absolutely justified in doing just that, but you've still just killed a unique person, snuffed out a valuable existence. Hope it was worth it, you murderer.)
The story of The Minstrel is, to me, a story of self-worth. A story of your own story being valuable, no matter who you are, no matter how you are. Just existing, just experiencing things, it already makes you someone of worth. And yeah, the minstrel /tells/ his stories to make his living, but the only reason it works is because HIS STORIES HAVE WORTH. The service he performs is not so much that he sits and talks all day, it's that he travels, that he /listens/, that he /watches/. That he hears others' stories and gathers material for his own. Just being an observer is his profession.
It's... I don't know. I think this is an important ideal to have in mind, an important extreme to acknowledge, no matter how flawed particular incarnations of it might be.
It deserves to be a thing.
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mylifestoryishisstory · 7 years ago
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Stream of Consciousness
I wanted to write. No, I love to write. One of my dreams, is to someday publish a book. A book that in one way or another would inspire people to move, to do something or not to do something, to hold on to hope, or to be just happy about life.
This description is somehow vague. And I know it is. And that is because I dont know how and where to start. Or should I say, what to write. Questions are flooding my brains whenever I try to give it a thought. And I always end up suffering from the so called analysis-paralysis. So here I am, for the longest time, anxious to do something yet accomplished nothing.
Writing has always been a part of me. I was expose to journalism as early as grade school years. I was one of our school's representative to journalism competitions. From there, I discovered its therapeutic effect. I dont keep a journal regularly but whenever I feel too excited, inspired, happy or the other way around, I write. As Im not the type of person who can express herself very well verbally, it has been my way of dealing with what is bothering me. I have friends, lots of them actually. Don't get wrong, these people are amazing. They've been through life themselves and are smart enough to be really good advisers. However, whenever I'm with them, I'd almost always put on the listener's hat. Not that I dont trust them or something, but I just always find writing more satisfying than talking.
There seems to be nothing to discuss here. Maybe some would say, and probably in a high tone of voice to limn irritability : Then write. Just write. Well, there lies my issue. I can write but I don't like what I'm writing. Since its my way of expressing myself, and Im only writing when my emotions are intense, most of my piece are filled with rage, disappointment, frustrations and the list goes on. How would my dream of inspiring other people will become a reality through that?
I wanted to write something that is not about me. I would want my writing to be  separate from me. I want it to be distant from my own thoughts, opinions, character. I want it to feel like when Im reading it, I would not be able see or feel me. I would like it that the protagonist or the antagonist isn't me or similar to my ways. I want a story that is unselfish. But would that even be possible? I mean writing in a way that you distance yourself from your writings? Is it possible to write from the outside? Aaah well, maybe it is! Like when you are writing a news story where you just have to be as factual as possible - no bias, no emotions, no opinions - just facts, plain accurate facts. But how can that inspire people? How can a simple retelling a series of events will make people do something?
And hey, even a news story isn't that neutral after all. News writers find the best angle to sell their stories. And these angles depend on the best judgement of the writer. This just means that another news writer could see and write the story differently than the other, even if they're just tackling the same set or series of events. Thus, there are still emotions and opinions involved. Or this is just me over-thinking things again.
See? This is what always happens. And then I'd feel tired for being so inconclusive to the point that I'd stop writing.
And after quite some time, sometimes after a few days, or weeks or (most of the time) months of ignoring writing and keeping myself busy by drowning myself into a hodgepodge of both important and mundane stuff of life, I'd start crunching some words again. And today is one of those days.
So, back to thinking what to write.
Lord, I’m praying for clarity. So many stuffs are in my head. Please show me those ones that will give you glory. In Jesus, mighty and glorious name, Amen.
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chipsanddespair · 7 years ago
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Clinton Naik
Argh, Im so angry today.
I dont know where this anger came from, but Ive just been cranky all day. I woke up and I just felt bored, and angry because of it, and so complacent and dissatisfied. My whole life, those who are in my life, my body, my bank account, where I stay…just, e v e r y t h i n g made/makes me unhappy. I want it to be better than it is right now. I just wanted some fun activity to wake up and do this Saturday. I wanted a partner to get up with me and motivate me. I wanted a house to myself to wake up and dawdle around in whilst I still woke up. I dont want a dog but I cant let him go. I do everything I can to make sure he is well taken care of still, but at the expense of my own happiness. He is a handful. He is too active and eats anything for any reason. Hes a bulldog but looks like a pitbull, so people judge him by his breed and I can tell they look at us like we are a part of a gang or something and it really pisses me off. It hadnt even reached midday yet and the downward spiral was beginning. I dont have that much money in the bank thanks to my obsessive need to pay back things and not be in debt. Even though Ive set it aside, as in most of what I earned this payday, I still feel snowed under and I will have to use my credit card and thus in turn, pay that back in the future. Earlier I was shown a bit of attitude from Beau about sending him some money to pay back for the times hed paid on my behalf. I thought I sent enough, I cant be sure because I didnt keep track of all the times and what that added up to in the end. Just know this, I have spent well enough on behalf of him too and havent seen compensation for that - it just set me right off to notice this ungrateful trait. I gave what I had left to him. He is the one that quit his job to pursue his passions and cannot control his impulsive preference for fresh cooked food (i.e. take out). This is a personal rant that probably wont make sense. Im not writing it to make sense to anyone. Im just letting whatever needs to come out, come out. Im still pissed off. I dont feel like this relationship works anymore. I dont want to take care of anyone else except myself, maybe I should re home the dog for my well-being. I try my best with him but its just getting too much. It does not help that we live in a small place unsuitable for dogs and we make do with the space we have but its just, no backyard equals poop stops out on the roadside. Anyone reading this would probably judge me, people tend to do that, and I totally get it. I kind of walk the same line as well sometimes. But argh, I just need to complain, pettiness and all. Because Im feeling better as I do it. I had a long phone call today with my Dad. I hadnt spoken to him in ages and it was nice to catch up. I got mad though, he has a knack for not listening. Or you say something and hell say something different as if he wasnt listening. Or hell retell a story hes told a thousand times. I need to be easier on the people who retell me stuff, I just have a big ego and that ego doesnt want to be seen as stupid. Im still mad, but better. I just want to get out of here, I want to drive a thousand miles in one direction and not have to worry about anyone else or any responsibilities. I caught my reflection in the mirror, I exhaled and relaxed my stomach and it spilled out. I look like Im pregnant and my back hurts because of all this weight. Does anyone ever get caught in that pit of despair where they just cant talk. I dont want to cry for help because Im angry at every single person I think Id meet, but I most definitely need some kind of help, or something, I dont know. Conflict is the worst. I need to hold on to hope, and cut this rage in half. Sit down with it for a bit and let it tell me what it needs to. Im not mad at anyone, I truly am not. Im disappointed, maybe, that people cant read my mind, or they arent empaths so they cant understand what I feel and give me what I need. So in turn, I need myself. This is just a slump. A rough patch on the windy road to happiness. They say happiness is a choice, and okay, I choose to be happy now. I have identified my anger, I have identified my dissatisfaction with my current relationship. I have identified that what I am doing now makes me feel somewhat better. I go back and forth still, angry and okay, angry and okay. An annoying song always played on the radio echoes in my head and it only serves to irk me. Is it wrong of me to want the hurricane to come down here and devastate. If it were only me, I would be all for it. No one else would have to get hurt. Im weird like that. I feel like I have such a mundane life that anything like fire drills, floods, tremors, anything that will rip me out of everyday life, those things will liberate me and I will have something else to live for. My basic needs will be more important than my need to go to work and pay bills and expenses. That I will have to survive and experience the thrill of survival rather than crawl through this oppressive corporate world. When I had a freak out like this, mid-January some time, or February. I remember just collapsing in on myself. I couldnt speak, I couldnt feel anything good. I lay down, I wasnt even sleepy, I cried and cried and every emotion was just desolate and I couldnt get up or eat. Beau was there however he could be, but its never quite what I think I need? I appreciate what he does, in all his limited knowledge, but theres something thats missing, compared to someone who has had years in this world and lived an involved and rich life, does that make sense? I need someone, who knows what its like to suffer and have come to terms with their torment, not someone who has known anxiety all his life and not fully reflected upon it. Its not his fault though. Nothing that happens to me is anyones fault, I must remember that. I choose who is in my life, and because of how I have chosen to go about things, I have no one close to me anymore. They are overseas, and available by message but I cant bear to be askedHow are you? How are things? Because I have so little going on right now and I am just not in a mentally healthy space to hear about all the great things others are doing. Does that make me horrible? If it does, Im quite used to being horrible.
POSITIVE. Got to remain positive. Things that are getting me down is: EVERYTHING. BUT, what can I do to fix it?
I am okay for funds. I need to buy me food for the week but I can try and make that a total cost of $50. In that case, I will only have to repay the credit card $100 and that is doable for when the time comes. I will have to pay for gas soon, $60, $160. That is okay. Im taking Beaus rainy day fund for a ticket he racked up using my car and I will also use that for board and pay it back slowly because Im still mad he even dared call my contributionlittle given our circumstances. I will check out the gym tomorrow, have a look around, and when I have the funds, I shall join asap and proceed to go to group fitness classes after work. By the looks of it, the best classes start from Wednesday through to Sunday. Four days of seven is okay! Monday and Tuesday can be swims or dog walks. I need to get my Fitbit charged so I can monitor my calories burned. That being said, before even going food shopping, I need me a caloric diet plan and I will stick to that like no other. Its funny, my biggest personal growths are always from moments between Beau and I that further separate us. I dont know if thats actually good or not but personally I feel motivated to get myself sorted the more he makes me regret wanting to be associated together. That does actually sound really toxic, well see how we are by the years end. I should do a weight loss progress report after this. I need my weight and measurements, do some calculations for calories and then think about what I like eating and fit that into my caloric diet. What I learnt when I was having fun with this last year was that even though 1700 calories is pretty hard to stay at or under, if you go and burn a few 100 at the gym, youre all sorted! You can eat more, you dont feel like youre starving and you get to ride the wave of endorphins because of the exercise - win win!
I feel like theres something missing.
I could tidy the room a bit. I need to buy more tights - they are usually $6 a pair. I think I could get three. $178.
Oh my gosh. I owe a friend a banner designed on photoshop, and because I take a long time to do things, especially creative things since Im not bursting with ideas, that is low key stressing me out because I dont want to let him down. Oh wow, maybe thats why I have such salty feelings :o
I have to set aside some time to do that tomorrow.
On an consistency achievement note, I have been diligently salt water soaking my piercing that was giving me trouble and it looks like its settling down :)
I already feel better. You know what would make it even better, a nice hot shower. Oh yes, I feel way better. Oh hey, and why not stop there, Im going to make me a perfectly tempered hot cup of tea and tune in to a Netflix movie before I say goodnight to my subscription. I feel like rewarding my eyes and brain with the talents of Heath Ledger and his amazing portrayal of the Joker.
So, tonight:
caloric diet to be made
weight and measurements to be taken
tidy room a bit
shower
watch The Dark Knight after cup of tea is made
Tomorrow:
design banner for friend
scope out gym (maybe sign up if they offer something beneficial for me in my circumstance)
check out this yoga/pilates place near house
laundry! clothes, sheets and blankets
give $200 board to landlord
Next three days:
pay off $150 ticket
cancel Netflix
pay car rego $13
Letting out the bad unfiltered helps to clear way for the good. And planning how to get the good gets your mind thinking of how to be productive.
Thank you, blog <3
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alanajacksontx · 7 years ago
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Four tools to build a smarter and more up-to-date in-house marketing team
The SEO community has been fighting with low-quality, outdated and simply incorrect content for ages. How can you educate yourself as well as your team in this abyss of misinformation?
It can be overwhelming to be a new SEO because there’s no way to tell a trustworthy article from a misleading one. In many cases, new SEOs are being guided by outdated advice and get themselves intro trouble.
The other problem is the SEO information overload. There are so many click-baiting articles that keep retelling the same advice again and again. It’s really hard to find really valuable guides these days – it’s usually the same repackaged advice over and over.
Here are four tools that can help solve these problems.
1. Zest
What I’d been usually doing to overcome these two problems was creating my own feed list and only reading what those selected bloggers had to say. There are two problems with that method:
You limit yourself to a certain circle of voices and you are very likely to miss new and exciting ideas from emerging bloggers
The quality of many blogs I added 5 or more years ago have deteriorated
I had pretty much lost hope of finding a decent solution to recommend my team members until I came across Zest.is.
Zest.is is a marketing community of curators, moderators and administrators who select marketing content to only publish the very best of it.
It works through a Google Chrome extension: just have it installed and give it a try. You’ll be impressed by the quality of content there. Every single article is a gem! Katya Rozenoer did a good job describing the Zest content quality assurance process here.
You can:
Search and filter content by tags
Filter your feed by media types to show only Video or Audio content
Sort your feed by most recent, clicked, or shared articles
Furthermore, you can share each and every article you come across there on social media (your followers will be thankful) and even add articles to Slack discussions and Trello boards (I found that option especially useful: Read the rest of the article to get a better idea how this option helps team collaboration).
From now on, I am going to recommend Zest to anyone looking for no-fluff marketing content.
2. Serpstat
I have a confession: I don’t believe in learning without acting/playing. You cannot learn anything by just reading; you need to start implementing that advice into action right away. Therefore I love tools so much that I have spent 80% of my blogging career finding and reviewing SEO tools.
I had started using SEO tools prior to learning what SEO really was, and I still think that’s the only way to go.
There are lots of great SEO tools out there; I won’t overwhelm you here with trying to list all of them. What you really need for your new in-house SEO team is something that:
Can help with multiple aspects of SEO process (keywords, backlinks, on-page, competitor research, etc.)
Can enable productive co-working and collaboration for your team to work on a project at the same time
Isn’t too overwhelming (Your team members should be able to figure it out without additional training, because that’s the point of it)
I’ve tried different tools that satisfy the above criteria, Serpstat being the most recent one.
You’ll find their…:
Overall toolset pretty huge and comprehensive
Their keyword and competitor research tools absolutely awesome. I simply love the selection of keywords I get there as well as the data and filters I can play with.
Their on-page report pretty basic but it will work great for newbies because they will be able to see SEO errors in action
Their rank tracking and backlink tools quite reliable and well-designed
Overall, it’s a must to have a tool like this to let your in-house SEO team play inside daily.
3. Buzzsumo Trends and Alerts
While Zest will help your team access the highest-quality SEO guides and tutorials, Buzzsumo will help them monitor trends and news.
You can set up alerts for common words like “SEO”, “Content marketing”, etc. to get those links delivered to your inbox
You can use Buzzsumo’s “Trending” section to see currently hot articles on any topic
Buzzsumo is using their “Trends score” metric allowing you to spot popular content even before it gets hot.
I wouldn’t offer it to my new team on day one though. They will find too many click-baiting headlines there and will quickly get overwhelmed. Once you have a well-read team who can tell real news from click-bait, it’s time to get up-to-date. That’s when they can start using Buzzsumo Trends.
4. Trello
Finally, it’s important that your team can share links, concepts and ideas in a productive way. Furthermore, it should be encouraged that your team share their findings with each other because it’s in proper communication that true knowledge is born.
I tried using Slack, but somehow the point gets missed in long communication strings there. It’s like a never ending chatroom. Trello is much less entertaining, but it’s much better organized and much more productive.
I like to have a separate Trello board running where all the members can add their must-read URLs as new tasks for anyone else to go through. To keep that list from growing enormous, we keep tasks in the “To read” column for a month before we move them to the archives.
We also keep a separate column for “To-do” items, i.e. articles that inspired some form of action (be it playing in Trello or a quick fix on a company blog). Actionable guides are my favorite articles.
If your team uses Zest for marketing reading, you can add articles to Trello right from your Zest dashboard, which is pretty awesome.
I know Trello is not for everyone. I’ve seen plenty of people who don’t like using it for anything. There are plenty of other productivity tools listed here, so you can pick an alternative.
How do you build an inspired and educated digital marketing team? Please share your resources!
from IM Tips And Tricks https://searchenginewatch.com/2017/08/23/four-tools-to-build-a-smarter-and-more-up-to-date-in-house-marketing-team/ from Rising Phoenix SEO https://risingphxseo.tumblr.com/post/164522169830
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