#indonesian experimental

[theramenrater]

white curry

[rotomicity]

TGCF art from 2021 which were very experimental and very much something out of my comfort zone but am still so satisfied with

(gonna ramble more under the cut 👉 )

My main inspiration for these were definitely classic storybook illustration styles and the watercolor-like illustrations included inside the tgcf books which depict hualian's daily slice of life routines as seen below

I wanted to capture that feeling of warmth i got from reading but i also went with the storybook look because their relationship (and by extension broad strokes of the entire plot) really did feel like something out of actual myth or legend; i'm chinese indonesian and was raised surrounded by chinese culture + values so tgcf felt VERY familiar to me, it threw me back to my childhood reading or listening to tales about chinese deities, i'd say the storybook image definitely came into my mind pretty quickly bc of this

I find this style somewhat hard to replicate now but if i could or have the time to, i really want to continue the 'companion pieces to chapter titles ' concept i did with the last 2 pieces (which are of the same chapter title but i was just indecisive 😭😭), i even had 3 more planned based on my favorite titles before burning out back then

[afeelgoodblog]

The Best News of Last Week - May 15, 2023

🐕 - Now It's a Paw-ty

1. World's oldest ever dog celebrates 31st birthday

Bobi was born on 11 May 1992, making him 31 years old, in human years. A big birthday party is planned for Bobi today, according to Guinness World Records.

It will take place at his home in the rural Portuguese village of Conqueiros in Leiria, western Portugal, where he has lived his entire life.

2. The FDA has officially changed its policy to allow more gay and bisexual men to donate blood

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced that they’ve eased restrictions on blood donations by men who have sex with men in an effort to address blood shortages. The new policy recommends a series of individual risk-based questions that will apply to all donors, regardless of their sexual orientation, sex, or gender. Gay or bisexual men in monogamous relationships will now be permitted to donate blood.

3. Illinois passes bill to ensure community college credits transfer to public universities

The Illinois General Assembly has passed a bill that would help community college students transfer to public universities.

It would ensure that certain classes taken at community colleges could be transferred to any higher education institution in the state. Some schools currently only count community college coursework as elective credits.

4. Brazilian President Lula recognizes 6 new indigenous territories stretching 620,000 hectares, banning mining and restricting farming within them

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has decreed six new indigenous reserves, banning mining and restricting commercial farming there. The lands - including a vast area of Amazon rainforest - cover about 620,000 hectares (1.5m acres).

Indigenous leaders welcomed the move, but said more areas needed protection.

5. More than 1,000 trafficking victims rescued in separate operations in Southeast Asia

More than 1,000 trafficking victims were rescued in separate operations in Southeast Asia over the last week, officials in Indonesia and the Philippines said. 

Indonesian officials said Sunday they freed 20 of their nationals who were trafficked to Myanmar as part of a cyber scam, amid an increase in human trafficking cases in Southeast Asia. Fake recruiters had offered the Indonesians high-paying jobs in Thailand but instead trafficked them to Myawaddy, about 567 kilometers (352 miles) south of Naypyidaw, the capital, to perform cyber scams for crypto websites or apps, said Judha Nugraha, an official in Indonesia's Foreign Affairs Ministry.

6. A peanut allergy patch is making headway in trials

An experimental “peanut patch” is showing some promise for toddlers who are highly allergic to peanuts. The patch, called Viaskin, was tested on children ages one to three for a late-stage trial, and the results show that the patch helped children whose bodies could not tolerate even a small piece of peanuts safely eat a few.

After one year, two-thirds of the children who used the patch and one-third of the placebo group met the trial’s primary endpoint. The participants with a less sensitive peanut allergy could safely tolerate the peanut protein equivalent of eating three or four peanuts.

7. Critically endangered lemur born at Calgary Zoo

The Calgary Zoo has released pictures of its newest addition, a baby lemur. The zoo says its four-year-old female black-and-white ruffed lemur, Eny, gave birth on April 7. The pup’s father is eight-year-old Menabe. The gender of the pup has not been confirmed but the Calgary Zoo says the pup appears bright-eyed and active and is on the move.

The black-and-white ruffed lemur is registered among the 25 most endangered primates in the world, due mostly to habitat loss and hunting.

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That's it for this week :)

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[shikariiin]

Any ideas for James lore?

I have a-lot for James! He's indonesian first of all, an experimental build engine imported by Sir Topham hatt. (Indo rep LETS GOOO)

But mainly, because he's biological class : meaning he have a family back home, I would like to explore that aspects of him.

Personally I love his Vain, Attention seeking, cringe fail pissbaby personality, but I want to expand him to be more than that, having moments where he have to think about others too.

He have 2 younger brothers and a mother, his father died when he was (an equivalent of a) 15 year old, having to grow up too quickly and needing to take care of his mother. I think that's one of the reason why he chose to work overseas, to support his family back home, and to express himself as freely as he can.

Anything that he likes, he's passionate about it, he's Tidmouth shed's Best cook and he's damn proud about it, he gets his cooking from his Dad, he used to teach him how when he was little, and I feel like he would be the type to get angry if food gets wasted.

Oh! And funfact, he makes all of his clothes by himself (except his black livery era, that was an old uniform) he loves to batik, making a whole design by himself while also sewing them to his clothes, he almost never lets anyone touch his coats, would fight for it if it ever gets taken from him.

I'm finna end it here, I'm still developing him and also the other steam team, taking off attention from Edward a bit HAHA, Thank you for the ask🩵

[fatehbaz]

Madras [...] [was] the English East India Company (EIC)’s most important settlement on India’s Coromandel Coast [...]. [T]he town’s survival as an EIC colony often depended on the deployment of medical and natural historical knowledge in regional diplomacy during a critical period of its existence. [...]

---

Established in 1639, the English East India Company’s settlement at Madras (also known as Madraspatam or Chinapatam, now Chennai) had quickly become the focal point of EIC operations on the Coromandel Coast. By 1695, Samuel Baron described it as ‘the most considerable to the English nation of all their settlements in India whether ... in reference to the trade to and from Europe, or the Commerce from one part of India to the other’. The later attempts to establish trades to China and Japan, to resettle the Indonesian archipelago, and to gain a foothold in Bengal, were all directed from Fort St George. [...]

Browne [an English surgeon] used his patrons in the Mughal establishment and the Company hierarchy to build up a lucrative business supplying drugs to the camps of the Mughal generals. Browne’s contacts in the Mughal army were also useful for the Company [...].[D]uring the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, Madras was in a difficult position. [...] Again, Company officials turned to the network of surgeons with access to the Mughal hierarchy [...]. In 1707, the year of the Emperor Aurangzeb’s death and a time of political unrest in the Mughal Empire, Bulkley was sent to Arcot on a mission that combined medical and diplomatic aims. While there, he also collected several volumes of plants and information about their medicinal virtues. [...] The network of contacts that could be built up between physicians, who had the advantage of close personal access to those at the centre of power, was an important way to exchange information and gifts. [...] Knowledge of plants and the means of employing them was thus crucial to establishing the East India Company’s position in India [...].

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The Company’s gardens [...] also revealed, in their beds and borders, the networks that Madras was embedded within, as ships brought seeds and plants from other Company settlements, the territories of the rival European powers, and places of regional trade [...]. The surgeons used their space in the Company gardens to experiment with local plants and to introduce crops from around the world. [...] Both Browne and Bulkley also raised plants they received from their networks of correspondents overseas: Browne describes growing China root, a popular medicinal substance normally identified with Smilax China, rhubarb, cinnamon trees from Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and wild agallo, benjamin and camphor from Manilla. [...]

[T]he scramble for the manuscripts or [plant] collections [...] [demonstrates] that the acquisition of natural knowledge was a crucial part of the competition between European trading companies to acquire and exploit the wealth of the Indies. Each of the two surgeons [Browne and Bulkley] [...] also sent a huge amount of plant materials to various correspondents in Europe [...]. Among the contacts that the surgeons maintained in England were several London apothecaries including his brother-in-law, who ran a shop in Bread Street, and Mr Porter, a drug-gist in Cornhill Street. The circle of botanists who received collections from the East Indies formed a close, though not always friendly, group of experimenters and gardeners who constituted the overlapping membership of the East India Company, the Royal Society, and the Society of Apothecaries.

The web of contacts that the two surgeons maintain within the colonial world of the Indian Ocean were invaluable because they provided them with the materials necessary to make Madras a ‘centre of calculation’ by supplying them with materials on which comparisons and connections to their own collections could be drawn. [...] Bulkley wrote at a time of transition in both England and India. [...] However, it is clear at least that by the time Bulkley died in 1713, being buried at the end of his garden, the United Company was more securely established at Madras, as expressed in its now immaculate gardens.

---

The networks of doctors had been crucial diplomatic actors in a critical period during which many believed that Madras was fated to be eclipsed altogether. [...] It was the new relationship with the rulers of Arcot established by these doctors that eventually enabled the Company to consolidate its base at Calcutta.

The surgeons’ collections reflect the hybrid environment of early modern Madras and the networks – maritime, military and diplomatic – that the doctors were embedded in [...]. Many details are missing from this reconstruction of the practice of medicine and botany in the early colonial city. Unlike the contributors to the Hortus Malabaricus, we never learn so much as the names of the Tamil and Telugu-speaking doctors who were so crucial in collecting and revealing the medicinal uses of the specimens the surgeons sent to London. Nevertheless, the role of these collaborators was clearly crucial. [...]

The collections of these two surgeons, who were key players in the transformation of politics and botany in the region, straddling local and international concerns, in many ways provide the perfect portal through which to view Madras as it was transformed from a trading post subservient to the interests of regional powers to a major player in British colonial expansion.

---

All text above by: Anna Winterbottom. “Medicine and Botany in the Making of Madras, 1680-1720.” In: The East India Company and the Natural World, edited by Vinita Damodaran, Anna Winterbottom, and Alan Lester. 2014. [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me.]

[bumblebeeappletree]

The name Aglaonema is not so well known in Australia, but in Indonesia, the genus of plants is so popular it has its own theme song. Tammy and guest presenter Sean Salim, ‪@onlyplants‬ visit plant breeders Mia and Greg Hambali to see the wide range of Aglaonemas they are growing.

Greg Hambali is well known in plant circles for producing some of the world’s best-loved cultivars, but of all the plants he has worked with, the Aglaonemas are the heroes in his greenhouse. He has bred about 100 hybrids.

His daughter Mia learnt the ropes from her father at his Bogor nursery and now runs her own nursery in Bali.

Mia shows Sean some of the behind-the-scenes tricks of the trade – using a paintbrush to move pollen from one parent plant to another – and explains the patience needed to wait for results: sometimes up to eight months for seeds and then even longer for the hybrid plants to grow before you can select the best plant from all the thousands of ‘babies’.

Greg shows Tammy some of the many cultivars he has created. Tammy is used to seeing these plants in shades of green, but here there are pinks and reds in a whole range of combinations. It is the colourful plants that are most popular, especially the red ones, because in Indonesia red is associated with bravery and luck.

The main parent that brings these red tones to hybrids is Aglaonema rotundum, from the island of Sumatra. Greg compares this plant to salt in the kitchen – “without it all the dishes are bland”.

Because each individual hybrid is different there is always an incentive to keep trying to see what the next combination will bring.

Mia shows a huge pile of boxes filled with labels of hybrids that have been deemed a ‘failure’ – not different or interesting enough to propagate. She says her father has produced more than 10,000 ‘failures’ in his lifetime. “I’ve already made more than 1,000 failures and I intend to make any more before I achieve success,” says Mia. “A failure is not the end of the world. We keep doing what we’re doing and we never give up.”

Behind the nursery is a huge experimental garden. It’s more like a personal jungle than a garden, with something new at every turn.

Sean finds a Paradise Palm similar to one that he killed by underwatering - he says it should never dry out and likes acidic soil and bright shade.

Tammy finds a Philodendron ‘Java Beauty’ with leaves almost as big as her!

For decades Greg has been working on breeding Salak – a palm with a sweet firm fruit that’s an important food in south-east Asia. It’s also known as snake fruit because of the pattern on the fruit’s hard outer skin. The skin is peeled off, like a rambutan, revealing a white, soft fruit inside with three segments, each with a pip in the middle. Tammy is surprised to taste both sour and sweet at the same time.

Greg aims to breed a fruit with even better flavour – and on a palm with fewer large spikes on the stems, so it is more gardener-friendly!

Rest in peace:

Gardening Australia expresses great sympathy for the family of Greg Hambali, the incredible plantsman, fondly regarded as the Father of Indonesian Aglonema, who died a few months after filming this segment, on November 4, 2023.

He will be deeply missed by his family and plant lovers in Indonesia and around the world.

Featured plants:

Aglaonema cv.

Aglaonema rotundum

Paradise palm (Licuala mattanensis)

Philodendron ‘Java Beauty’ syn. Thaumatophyllum cv.

Salak (Salacca zalacca)

Filmed in Bogor, West Java

[mobblespsycho100]

old notes; but here they are

story synopsis -> Mutants, dangerous and twisted individuals with great power, are heavily monitored on Pulau Gieserik, a secluded and top secret island in Indonesia. A research facility IMI (Indonesian Mutant Institute) claims to have noble goals of protecting the regular citizens of the country from the threats of mutants, but are they really doing so for the benefit of the nation? Or are they shrouding a much greater conspiracy that lies beneath the surface of "protection"?

what the story i think abt in my brain is abt -> The eyes of calamity, eyes that belonged to the very first mutants in human history. A long time ago, there was a great war in Indonesia where humans and those monsters fought. The Calamities were defeated in Indonesia, and though their power brought devastation— killing millions in fact— the truth is that their eyes were taken, subduing them.

Those eyes are now used for unethical experimentation. They grant unique abilities and are not counted as abilities that can be nullified by a power disrupter/ability dampener, making them incredibly powerful and sought after. The Eyes of the Mindless, Mindful, Masquerade, Mystery, Marauder, Mausoleum, and Marksman. Seven sets of Eyes, Fourteen powerful bearers. The battle currently fought among them may be more destructive than the Calamities' war against humanity...

[historyhermann]

“Amphibia” Emphasizes Chosen Families and Self-Acceptance

What if a Thai-American girl wakes up and finds herself in a world filled with talking frogs? Amphibia answers that question. Anne meets new friends, enemies, and tries to figure out her purpose in this strange world.

Reprinted from The Geekiary, my History Hermann WordPress blog (it will be published on there on Dec. 26), and Wayback Machine. This was the forty-second article I wrote for The Geekiary. This post was originally published on June 25, 2022.

Amphibia is an animated adventure-fantasy-comedy series by Matt Braly, an animator of Thai descent. He is also known for directing episodes of Gravity Falls and Big City Greens.

As a warning, this recommendation discusses spoilers for all three seasons of Amphibia.

Amphibia centers around a 13-year-old Thai-American girl, Anne Boonchuy (Brenda Song), who is transported by a music box to another world with her two best friends, Sasha Waybright (Anna Akana) and Marcy Wu (Haley Tju). In this wild land, filled with marshes and tropical environments, she meets talking frogs and other creatures, including a family of frogs named the Plantars.

This family is headed by the overbearing and traditional grandfather, Hop Pop (Bill Farmer). He has two kids-of-sorts: an excitable frog named Sprig (Justin Felbinger) and a spunky pollywog named Polly (Amanda Leighton). All of them live on a farm of their own in the close-knit town of Wartwood. As Anne bonds with the Plantars, she learns what friendship and being heroic means.

This all-ages animated series is filled with diversity, especially from its characters and voice actors. The latter are of Chinese, Indonesian, Pakistani, Japanese, and Thai descent. The show compliments this with wonderful animation, music, and background art.

Unsurprisingly, the series has been been nominated for four Annie Awards, one Daytime Emmy, and a GLAAD Media Award since it began airing in 2019. It includes some voice actors I'm familiar with, like Tress MacNeille and John DiMaggio, who voice characters in Disenchantment, as well as well-known gay actor George Takei.

From left to right: Sasha, Marcy, and Anne with "cool anime" powers in the final episode of Amphibia, floating the air like anime heroes or Kid Cosmic protagonists

Amphibia is more than a series centered on a girl who is adopted by a family of talking frogs. While there is the classic conflict of good vs. evil, there is also a focus on family separation, self-acceptance, and trauma. As I wrote previously, all of the main protagonists have trauma on same level or another, as the friendship between all three of them faces hardships and strains.

This is all mixed together with fantasy and sci-fi elements, and even occasionally situational comedy acts. These complex characters are written in such a way that you become invested and concerned about them, even after ending the series. The series also has plotlines focused on human and animal experimentation, and robots.

This series is part of a recent set of diverse Disney animated series. Others include The Ghost and Molly McGee, a supernatural fantasy, and will-be-ending horror comedy and fantasy The Owl House. Upcoming series such as Iwaju, Moana: The Series, Tiana, Cookies & Milk, Hailey's On It!, and Marvel's Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur portend a continuation of this focus.

In the case of Amphibia, Braly based the series on his trips to Bangkok, Thailand where he thought he was an outsider. He also was inspired by video games like The Legend of Zelda and Chrono Trigger. In previous interviews he said he wanted to make the main character a Thai-American because there were few Thai protagonists in TV series or films that he watched as a kid. As a result, he has said he become influenced by the Mortal Kombat and Sonic the Hedgehog franchises.

In a December 2021 interview, Braly noted the themes of immigration, alienation, and xenophobia drawn from his own experiences. All of these themes are deeply integrated into the series. Some of this is heavily informed, according to Braly, by the 1990s series, Pepper Ann. Braly also noted that frogs were chosen for the series because they are metaphor for change and their connection to Thai culture.

Lady Olivia (right) looks at General Yunan (left) lovingly and tells her she wouldn't mind "settling down" in Wartwood with Yunan.

Amphibia is rightly praised for illustrating issues like emotional manipulation, bullying, and delightful characters. The series could also be praised for broadening "ethnic-racial representations" like Craig of the Creek and Elena of Avalor. This is something that groups like the socially conservative family-oriented non-profit, Common Sense Media, would praise.

A 2021 report from the organization notes that when people of color are portrayed stereotypically, it causes harmful views to be promoted among White audiences. This is coupled with underrepresentation of specific groups, such as Latine and Indigenous people, and misrepresentation of others.

Little mentioned is LGBTQ representation in Amphibia. Although it isn't as direct as other recent series, like Dead End: Paranormal Park or The Owl House, Braly stated that in the show's finale, they left it open as to whether someone thinks of Sasha, Marcy, and Anne romantically or not, as he loves shipping. He called it the "greatest expression of love for characters."

This gives queer fans who ship Marcanne (Marcy and Anne), Sasharcy (Sasha and Marcy), Sashanne (Sasha and Anne), or even all three in a relationship together some solace. This the case even if this so-called "Calamity Trio" are only be "gal pals" in the show's canon.

Even so, Sasha was hinted as bisexual in the show's final episode, and confirmed as such by Braly, as I noted in an earlier post. Her voice actress, Akana, is bisexual herself. She voiced Daisy in magical girl esque Magical Friendship Girl Squad: Origins and Magical Girl Friendship Squad. In the case of Daisy, Akana argued that Daisy was bisexual. However, other crew members argued she was a lesbian, and possibly trans, leading to confusion among fans.

Coming back to Amphibia, Sasha joins other LGBTQ characters such as Frodrick Toadstool and Toadie who were confirmed as a gay couple by the show's creator. More significantly is Yunan (Zahra Fazal) and Lady Olivia (Michelle Dockery) as lesbian couple. There's also Ally and Jess who run an Internet video channel together. Their colors are based off the bisexual and pansexual flags.

It is also implied that Mr. X, voiced by RuPaul, is gay, and there are some other minor LGBTQ characters. Similar to Sasha, the sexual identities of these characters are never directly stated. Mr. X is an effeminate FBI agent assisted by a silent assistant named Jenny. After Anne and frog family escape to Amphibia, Anne's birth family convince Mr. X to hear them out and to be on the same side against Andrias. This results in the military and FBI assisting Anne and her friends in the final episode.

The relationship of Yunan and Olivia, was embraced by reviewers like Jade King, who calls herself "TheGamer’s Queen of Gay Cartoons." Braly told King that the ship of these two characters was their favorite ship. He called it "very organic" and "awesome." Fans were jubilant about the news, and fully embraced it. It undoubtedly helped that Fazal was inspired by the protagonist of Darkwing Duck in voicing the character.

Considering that the final episode has a ten year time-skip, it makes the series ripe for a possible spin-off or continuation that happens in that time skip, with different protagonists than this series. While some are conflicted about a spin-off, the show could go a route a la Steven Universe Future, focusing on the aftermath of a victory, with Anne, Marcy, and Sasha having to pick up the pieces.

All three seasons of Amphibia are currently streaming on Disney+, YouTube TV, and Prime Video.

© 2022-2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

[afterhoursxp]

my life so far.

i've been studying why (maitim) was first, hindi talaga naka typecast: hindi ko alam bakit sila masyadong linguistics. dapat kasi mga Malaysian, Indonesian, Thai, Burmese ang tawag sa kanila.

sunod, papasok pa kami sa school: after work, papasok kami sa mga experimental at ground-zero na classroom.

sunod maraming conference.

lifelong schooling mangyayari talaga. kukuha ka pa ng job sa essaywritingservices, tapos sasagutin mo mga lumang tanong mula sa opisina.

oo, kailangan ng bahay na medyo malaki at pasikot-sikot talaga: maraming daan ang kailangan.

kailangan talaga ng iba't ibang sistema ng transaksyon. maraming palitan ang mangyayari.

kunyari, sa dlsu gokongwei college of engineering, maraming eksperimento at pagdadahilan ang magaganap...ukol sa eksplanasyon ng mga methods of engineering, maraming mga salita ang gagamitin para magpabatas ng modernisadong engineering.

[mybeingthere]

Often I like unknown paintings. That's what happened here - first I found the pictures, then I went to look for the name - it is Arrington de Dionyso. There is some information below too. 

Arrington de Dionyso (b. 1974) is an Olympia, Washington-based artist and experimental musician. He was a member of Old Time Relijun since the 1990s. During Old Time Relijun's hiatus, he formed a new band based on Indonesian music called Malaikat dan Singa. De Dionyso directed Reak: Trance Music and Possession in West Java, a documentary film about the music of an Indonesian trance ceremony; the film was shown by the Olympia Film Society in May, 2016.

[wordsandrobots]

IBO reference notes on . . . actual, proper original characters

Someone asked if I had a cheat-sheet for the OCs in Wishing on Space Hardware and I realised I did not, but it would be an extremely good thing to have. So here we are.

This covers the characters who are wholly original and not based (even inadvertently) on extras in the series itself – you can find those here instead. Though, saying that, I have included Gabriela here as well because the character model I used is a literal baby, so doesn’t really count.

I didn’t cover absolutely everyone, but all the main recurring OCs are covered plus a couple I’m just rather fond of.

One note – I'm writing these for the time period extending from The Ares Affair onward, which is P.D. 333, ten years on from the start of Iron-Blooded Orphans proper. Since my stories cover a lot of the intervening time, their ages will vary depending on which one you're reading.

Now for a spoiler-preventing cut in case you want to go into the the fics blind!

Civilians

Sri Chaifin

AKA Eugene's Awful Girlfriend (according to Yamagi)

Profession: Treasure hunter Archaeologist

At 27-28ish, she's older than most of Tekkadan would be at this point. Of Indonesian descent, with straight black hair worn in a bob-cut, palish skin, twinkling brown eyes (Eugene's description) and dimples. Generally quite mischievous, sly or sarcastic of expression. Pretty tall: she's on the edge of six foot, only a little shorter than Eugene. Slim and leggy. Usually dresses in practical, hard-wearing clothes; can be persuaded into a suit to schmooze with potential contacts but will not like it.

Primary distinguishing mark is the failed Alaya-Vijnana at the base of her neck. Caused by a loss of nano-machine cohesion rather than outright rejection, it's left her with a vestigial whisker – a series of hook-like protrusions mingling skin and metal – an extreme nerve damage. Reprogramming the nano-machines and infusing more restored her mobility, however, and she can use the not-quite-a-whisker as a machine interface albeit in a more limited sense than a functional A-V system.

Definitely not as mercenary and selfish as she behaves. Genuinely cares about the history she's dedicated her life to uncovering. Probably smart enough not to unleash killer robots on everybody.

Eldin 'Doc' Chaifin

Profession: Medical cyberneticist

In eir fifties, as tall as eir adopted daughter and twice as broad. Golden brown skin that's seen a lot of Martian weather. Gey dreadlocks worn wound up on eir head. Utterly unflappable. Projects an aura of not giving a shit, but has an excellent bedside manner, especially for kids who've had important limbs blown off.

Some skeletons in the closet, and not just the unethical experimentation on people who've had bad reactions to Alaya-Vijnana surgery. Widely trusted to give care to any who need it, background, affiliation or convictions be damned. Religiously observant: ey attend temple services weekly. Possibly started out in a wealthy family but if so, ey haven't had anything to do with them for years.

Principled, blunt and fair. Loves Sri deeply, which is reciprocated despite a lot of mutual exasperation. Accent tends vaguely Scottish. 'Chaifin' is a made up name, in grand Gundam tradition.

Victor Handa

Profession: Plumber, community organiser, workers' rights activist

One of the many people to lose family in the Dort Riots, Victor exemplifies the colony inhabitants' resilience in the face of the massacre. Taking it as a sign that things need to change drastically and hyper-aware of the backsliding by the Dort Company since the initial awarding of increased rights, he has fought for improvements ever since.

Stocky, of mixed Japanese and Moroccan heritage, and perpetually unable to grow a decent beard, he is a mainstay of efforts to build a sustainable alternative to Company control. While generally softly-spoken, he is driven by a great deal of righteous anger at the injustice of the world as it currently stands. Reliably found at the forefront of strikes and marches, and if not there, then doing work behind the scenes to make such collective action possible.

A staunch pacifist, he is sharply at odds with Otta, his adoptive sister. That said, he holds no ill-will towards her and appreciates the lengths she goes to in order to keep her activities away from his.

Ilyana Sevenstark

Profession: Technically a PA?

A short woman of Indian descent with light brown skin and black hair, which is usually held back with a silver clasp of plain design. Holds herself stiff and awkwardly. Often gives the impression that she'd prefer to be elsewhere, mostly because she would, especially if elsewhere involves less human interaction.

A child of misfortune. Having lost her parents in a debris zone, she was left in the care of one of their old shipmates, scraping a living on Jupiter Gamma. With only an ancient drone to call friend, she dreamed of striking it rich and escaping to a better life. Eventually taking destiny into her own hands, she snuck aboard the Saisei in search of a job with one of the big-time salvage crews, but only narrowly avoided serious harm at the hands of the worst Teiwaz has to offer. Following this, she was taken in by Nikolai Critchlow – one of the conglomerate's financial chiefs – and was set to work managing his collection of ancient relics.

While not the worst use for her eidetic memory and technical skill, she chafes at living as Critchlow's indentured assistant and still hopes for a big score that will set her free.

Rachida Phiri

Profession: Member of the African Union ruling council

A very tall and grand Nigerian lady, I introduced her with long black hair done in box braids but she certainly changes styles often. This is not personal vanity; she is an adroit politic operator and tailors her appearance precisely to whatever it is required for her position, be that following the latest trend or adhering to a long-standing tradition.

Charming, sociable and warm, her family has been in politics for decades. Has at least one uncle who was in a position of power during the Dort Riots and likely a whole heap more relatives among the movers and shakers of her bloc. Takes her position very seriously, being a 'good' councillor in the sense of always putting the African Union's interests first.

A consummate player of the game of geopolitics.

Oliver Tang

Profession: Martian Union representative for the Noachis Region; Minister for Science

A crusty, craggy gentleman. Middle-aged, extremely experienced with politics, cynical as all get-out but with a strain of optimism running through it that aligns well with Kudelia's aims for Mars. Not always strictly an ally, he has nevertheless acted as a mentor and advisor to her.

Oliver greatly admires Kudelia, considering her to be hope for the future of the system he's helping build. Has been part of the independence movement since at least the Noachis July Assembly and helped push for greater autonomy within his home region. Following the formation of the Union, he continues to represent that region's interests and has garnered a reputation of being stubborn, obstinate, but ultimately reasonable when it comes to matters of the public good.

One of the few fellow politicians who can sincerely be counted among Kudelia's friends.

The Turbines/Arca Defence Solutions

Claire Metz

Profession: Mobile suit pilot

Formerly a crewmember on one of the Turbines' many freighters, Claire transferred to work directly under Azee's command following the restructuring of the group after Naze's death. Initially a trainee pilot, she is coming into her own as an active combatant.

A slim black woman of about thirty-five, slightly above average height, she has a somewhat downcast personality but can be relied upon to keep her head in a crisis. A competitive streak means she has strong feelings about family board-game nights.

Gabriela Turbine

Profession: Wannabe mobile suit pilot

At sixteen, Gabriela is one of Naze's oldest children. A frizzy-haired ball of chaos hiding behind a very unconvincing sweet-and-innocent act, she wants nothing more than to follow in Amida's footsteps and fly mobile suits for a living. Puts most of her brothers to shame in terms of work-ethic, and probably a bit too brave for her own good.

The loss of her father and so much of her immediate family casts a shadow over her life. As much as she tries to ignore it, there's no denying a lot of her actions are driven by wanting to live up to those who are no longer around.

Barrett 'Barry' Turbine

Profession: Teenager

The splitting image of Naze, which is about where the resemblance stops. Absent-minded, non-confrontational and shy, Barry would far rather spend his time painting his nails (or indeed anyone else's) than on the family business. While he doesn't resent pitching in, it's clear he's far from a born spacer and even his mother, Ria, isn't sure there's a place for him in Teiwaz's transport divison.

One day he'll figure out what he wants to do with his life. Until then, it's probably best not to let him loose on any heavy machinery.

The Colonial Liberation Movement

Otta

Profession: Freedom fighter/terrorist (delete as applicable)

Otta would be unremarkable in appearance if she didn't shave her hair down to show off the constellation patterns tattooed on the sides of her head (these reflect stars visible from her home colony of Dort Four). Also the perpetual air of restrained violence sets her apart from the crowd.

Of medium height and build, with fairly dark brown skin (darker than Victor, at least) and a piercing stare, Otta is a blunt and forthright. Having lost her parents to police violence during the Dort Riots, she is dedicated to freeing the space colonies and prepared to use any means necessary to achieve that goal.

In the absence of the firepower necessary to challenge Earth directly, she seeks to chip away at Gjallarhorn's control of outer-space, wrecking both their reputation and public support with acts of terrorism. To this end, she's been building alliances with other groups, including a certain set of Martian radicals.

Saji Watts

Profession: Freedom fighter/terrorist (delete as applicable), mobile suit pilot

A scrawny space-rat who worked for a private military company on Mars before it suffered unexpected losses while running security on an archaeological dig, Saji was paid to infiltrate the Martian Union Military to facilitate a mobile suit theft. Though he didn't initially believe that strongly in the cause of the dissidents who hired him, he has come to enjoy fighting alongside them.

Serves as a backup combat pilot for Ride's group, using one of the Leopard-type 'suits that he helped steal. Cheerful and prone to bragging, he fits in well with the ex-Tekkadan members.

Joshua Riva

Profession: Freedom fighter/terrorist (delete as applicable), hacker

Small, slight, pretty, with blonde ringlets and big eyes, Joshua looks like he wouldn't say boo to a goose. Actually, he'd probably scream if confronted with live poultry of any kind. But his strengths show when he's behind a keyboard, hacking his way through cyber-security measures like there's no tomorrow.

Fell in with Otta several years ago, as a fellow orphan of the Riots and hater of the status quo. His skills have been invaluable to her cause, as have his connections to other like-minded hackers across the Earth-sphere.

Gjallarhorn

Almandi Iverson

Rank: Resource Major

Profession: Manipulative bastard Mobile suit engineer

Honestly could be mistaken for Yamagi if you squinted really hard while their hair was dyed blonde. But where Yamagi's looks trend more, um, Japanese pop star (seriously, have you seen his original concept art??), Iverson is overtly Nordic in appearance. Medium height, wavy hair (naturally brunet), narrow features, pale white skin, a sharp nose, thin mouth, ice-blue eyes. Also pin-point perfect make-up at all times: Iverson aims deliberately for androgyny, the better to meet expectations.

Age-wise, they're approaching their forties, if not already there. Physically, they are never an imposing presence but can project authority when required. Their rank of 'resource major' is a lesser one than that of a Regulatory Bureau major or an Inspection Bureau specialist major, but they are take care to be indispensable to their superiors, to even out the difference. Recklessly brave when it comes to things they're interested in.

A friendly veneer and a professional attitude cover a deeply cynical personality. Iverson cares only about fulfilling their own objectives and will do and say anything to get their way. When they don't, expect their temper to show, quick, nasty and vindictive.

Atticus Briar

Profession: Power systems engineer

A big, jolly man, Mediterranean in appearance – possibly Greek? A friendly presence and a people person, enthusiastically working his project teams as ridiculously hard as he works himself. Something of a prodigy in his youth. Continued down the pure research track while Iverson – his peer and someone he assumed to be his friend – went into project management.

Also, Briar is trans. I don't know if that came through in Of Obsessions and Erotemes, but I'm planning to make it explicit later. This is one of the reasons he thought he'd made a genuine connection with Iverson. Sadly, he wasn't politically savvy enough to realise they were just using him.

Was genuinely crushed by the betrayal, having believed he'd found a kindred spirit. There are too few of those in Gjallarhorn.

Pelle Torvalds

Rank: First Lieutenant

Profession: Test pilot

Looks like a retired Viking. Burly, bearded and gruff. Dirty-blonde hair turning iron-grey. Good belly laugh. Excellent drinking buddy. A very pleasant person to be around, if you're in the same kind of military culture.

Also has absolutely done lots of shady shit on behalf of Gjallarhorn, some of which haunts him to this day and some of which is shrugged off as just being part of the The Job. No, those categories do not map neatly on to the things he should, ethically speaking, feel bad about. Less tormented by his past than thoroughly tired of it. Chose to be a test pilot in order to try something new that wouldn't send him back into old patterns.

Cares a lot about his comrades, without being overly expressive about it.

Ahmed Fahim

Rank: Second Lieutenant

Profession: Test pilot

A young Turkish man of medium height and indifferent build, who insists on wearing a cap at all times unless ordered not to. He frequently gives the impression of being bored by everything or actively asleep. Then he gets behind the controls of a mobile suit and turns into hell on legs.

Ahmed is one of the most naturally talented pilots in a generation. By rights he should be serving in the Arianrhod Fleet or another of the elite units. But his father was implicated as responsible for the shuttle crash that killed the old Lord Kujan (Iok's dad) and his family's honour and reputation were irrevocably tarnished. He was relegated to a regional support base until Iverson recruited him.

At this point, his ambitions don't extend far beyond doing what he's good at for as long as possible.

Mackenzie Croft

Rank: Captain

Profession: Test pilot

An English-descended bruiser, basically distaff-Dante? She's from Jupiter and I head-canon he is as well so . . . yeah. A big, muscly women with close-cropped red hair, square features, and a deep-seated brittleness to her personality. Her self-worth is bound up with having gotten a place in Gjallarhorn after being born out of an affair between an officer and a Jupiter 'commoner'. She was allowed in, like Ein, on the basis of the family connection and has struggled with prejudice and her own hot temper getting her into trouble.

Iversion pulled strings to get her assigned, making her captain of the test pilots because they assumed she'd be easy to control. Her fear over losing her privileged position makes her quick to turn on anyone who threatens the stability of the operation.

She should be more sympathetic than she is, but sadly she is more likely to lash out than understand she's being used against people she should be making common cause with. So it goes.

Lowri Lin

Rank: First Lieutenant

Profession: Test pilot

Short, compact, slightly sallow-featured, with mid-length black hair she keeps tied back, in her late thirties. The fundamental joke regarding the case of mistaken identity between her and Sri is that there is absolutely no way they could be confused for one another if you stood them side by side. Her name (which I realise I have previously been misspelling) is Welsh and so she probably is as well.

Rather quiet even before events caused her to become disillusioned with Gjallarhorn, she prefers to play with cards than engage in conversion. Bonding with the other Goibniu pilots has brought her a little out of her shell and allowed her to revisit her true passion in life: being a teacher. She tends to use unexpected tactics for mobile suit combat, which puts her ahead of the rest in mock-battles.

There is a lot going on under the surface. The displacement card-playing and Lin's quiet compliance with Iverson masks a growing resentment that is gradually blossoming into full-blown rebellion.

Kipchoge Ordsley

Rank: Second Lieutenant

Profession: Test pilot

A few years younger than Shino and looks younger still. His mother is Kenyan and his dad was African-American; has very dark skin, very gangly limbs, and generally resembles an enthusiastic scarecrow. Possessed of a sweet, open face on account of being a sweet, open kid. Keeps his hair cut short though never totally shaven off.

Eager to please, happy to be here, talks way too loud, way too much. Underneath that, though, he's acutely aware of his shortcomings as a member of Gjallarhorn and, increasingly, of Gjallarhorn's shortcomings. Has wanted to fly mobile suits since he was very little and is low-key willing to do anything to keep hold of the chance at doing so. His conscience and empathy put hard limits on that attitude, however (along with some other things hardly worth mentioning here).

The goof of the bunch before Shino came along. Then there were two goofs.

[notpoet06]

Experimentally started learning Indonesian, now I’m really invested 😭

[lcurham]

SEAPAVAA poster - expanded cinema in the Asia Pacific

There’s a book from 2017

Jurriëns, Edwin. Visual Media in Indonesia : Video Vanguard. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, 2017. Print.

There is an exhibition catalogue for this work By Krisna Murti https://www.youtube.com/@TheKrisnart

Learning to queue up to the ants (status queue) = Belajar antri kepada semut : performance video installation, Soemardja Gallery-Bandung Institute of Technology, December 10-23, 1996.

https://www.cobosocial.com/dossiers/krisna-murti-interview/

Experimental Film Forum in Singapore https://expcinema.org/site/en/directory/experimental-film-forum

2010 A new festival is born in Singapore. The first edition of Experimental Film Forum, subtitled 'Experiments in progress...' will be held next May 20-23 at the Substation Theatre. Highlights include a programme of local experimental films curated by filmmaker Victric Thng with emphasis on the work of Tania Sng; a workshop and screening on S8 films directed by Russel & Gozde Zehnder; a panel on the history of experimental films in Southeast Asia, the recent spate of experimental films and the direction of experimental cinema; and a symposium on distribution and the 'Human Frames' project by Lowave co-founder and filmmaker Silke Schmickl.

https://www.objectifs.com.sg/experimental-cinema-in-southeast-asia-panel-discussion/

EYE Film conference 2022

Umi Lestari - Indonesian cinema scholar

Kultursinema as a method - Mahardika Yudha - program in Arkipel - Jakarta Intl Doc and Experimental Film Festival - Arkipel due May

Southeast Asia film festival Thailand December https://www.southeastasiafilmfestival.com/

2017 - experimental film in Manila

https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/lifestyle/artandculture/600799/fdcp-s-xperimento-pelikula-to-screen-13-experimental-films-for-free/story/

FDCP’s Xperimento Pelikula to screen 13 experimental films for free - Xperimento Pelikula" curates 30 years of avant-garde works from Miko Revereza, Melchor Bacani III, Rox Lee, Ramon Jose "RJ" Leyran, John Torres, Yason Banal, Tad Ermitano, Raya Martin, Tito & Tita, Martha Atienza, Jon Lazam, Cesar Hernando, Eli Guieb III, and Jimbo Albano.The films were made in workshops held by the Mowelfund Institute and Goethe Institut Manila in the '80s and '90s, which Shireen Seno of Los Otros and Merv Espina of Generation Loss sifted through.

Los Otros, building experimental film in the Philippines

https://www2.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/interviews/los-otros-shireen-seno-john-torres-interview-experimental-film-community-philippines

Asian Film Symposium https://www.objectifs.com.sg/afs2015/

Singapore, Substation

Video art histories south east Asia 

https://asialink.unimelb.edu.au/arts/resources/stories-and-insights/the-rise-of-video-art-in-east-asia

Refocusing on the Medium: The Rise of Video Art in East Asia at OCAT Shanghai, assembled 25 works from key protagonists in video art from Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and mainland China. 

OCAT Shanghai, 27 December 2020 – 21 March 2021Artists

Katsuhiro Yamaguchi, Nam June Paik, Yoko Ono, Keigo Yamamoto, Kim Kulim, Takahiko Iimura, Shigeko Kubota, Park Hyunki, Soungui Kim, Wang Gongxin, Ellen Pau, Chen Shaoxiong, Geng Jianyi, Zhu Jia, Yuan Goang-Ming

Curator

Kim Machan (Director, Media Art Asia Pacific MAAP Brisbane)

Publication date: May, 2021, commissioned by Asialink Arts.

https://www.maap.org.au/collaborator/kim-machan-2/

Bangkok experimental video https://en.bacc.or.th/archive/336.html

Running for a long time, curator Komson Nookiew

https://knookiew.blogspot.com/

Asst Prof Komson Nookiew Fine Art Department,
 King Muangkut's Institute of Technology, Ladkrabang, Bangkok


Experimental film festival 2012 beff https://expcinema.org/site/en/directory/bangkok-experimental-film-festival

[axl-ul]

When you get this, please respond with five things that make you happy! Then it send to the last ten people in your notifications (anonymously). You never know who might benefit from spreading positivity. ♡

Thanks a lot for the ask, dear anon! Kudos and love to you, 3rd lovely random citizen <3 (I guess that from now on, all of the anons will be named Random Citizen, sorry, I love Megamind movie too much and that line even more).

Things that make me happy Edition no. 3:

Sinbad: Legend of Seven Seas (artstyle? check. voice-acting? check. cute doggo Spike? double...no...triple? no. all the checks in the world. and the ost, especially the chase with sirens? *le chef's kiss*)

long walks in the nature (double points if it's a forest)

Indonesian psychadelic (experimental) rock/metal (thank you, DreadOut credits for shaping my music taste the right way)

DreadOut (I've only played the 1st game so I can really talk only about that, but still, I really loved every second of it - except for the headmaster, screw you and your scissors, Jerry)

playing Skyrim (all the roads lead to Rome? Wrong! All them roads lead to the stealth archer built)