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musicarenagh · 7 months ago

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Getting to Know Didier Recloux: Music, Inspiration, and Life Guys! Today, we're discovering the universe of Didier Recloux, a Belgian composer who makes music on another level in London. It was in the family that music was in his veins, where instruments and melodies from his Polish side surrounded him. Recently Didier put out his latest single "First Walk" and it came with a sweet music video. This song isn't only about music, it is about feeling lonely among many people when you are surrounded by others and still you feel so alone. The song was influenced by the novel and it includes a bit of jazz and rock to create contemporary atmosphere of a refugee finding comfort in disorder. While with Didier, he is always seeking expiration from everything close to him, whether it's a script, or just an ordinary moment of life.His music style? It is rather a combination of all the sounds he loves with a small portion of atmosphere and emotion. Besides this, when Didier is not making music, he loves to explore languages, art, and think deeply about life's big issues. And even though music is everything to him now, he recalls that he would still be involved in music in some way if he wasn't a composer. Unwind, relax and accompany us on our journey to meet the man behind the voice, Didier Recloux. Watch First Walk below https://youtu.be/tFy7GZcxCnE Follow Didier Recloux on Facebook Twitter Spotify Youtube Instagram What is your stage name Didier Recloux Is there a story behind your stage name? It is my birth name Where do you find inspiration? When I write for film I get it from the script, the images, for my latest album I was inspired by a novel from French author Philippe Claudel What was the role of music in the early years of your life? I had an important role for me, on my mother’s side, my grandparents were Polish and everyone could play a instrument so I grew up surrounded by a lot of different musics and instruments Are you from a musical or artistic family? Yes one side of my family was very musical Who inspired you to be a part of the music industry? It was a live broadcast of a Madonna concert on television, at the end of the set she came back on stage for encore, the public went crazy and she looked so happy, I thought it must be such a wonderful thing to touch people with music [caption id="attachment_54756" align="alignnone" width="2000"] Getting to Know Didier Recloux: Music, Inspiration, and LifeGetting to Know Didier Recloux: Music, Inspiration, and Life[/caption] How did you learn to sing/write/to play? I studied at the music academy from the age of 6, later I took some private lessons, masterclasses in New York, Berklee online, the rest was just learning whilst working and getting experience What was the first concert that you ever went to and who did you see perform? It was Pink Floyd for the “Momentary Lapse of Reason Tour” in Werchter, Belgium How could you describe your music? It changes from project to project but I guess I would say a combination of all the different musics I have listened to in the past, I like things that are melodic, but also dark, atmospheric, moving Describe your creative process. I usually do some research in what the project is about, I write a lot, words that trigger feelings, what I want to convey, who the characters are, I then write the main themes and start developing the music What is your main inspiration? Everything I see around me, a situation, a story, a book, life in general What musician do you admire most and why? George Michael, unbelievable voice, great songwriter, producer, he could do it all, Steven Wilson, extremely versatile, he seems to be everywhere and very productive, his music touches me deeply many many more but the list would be too long ! Did your style evolve since the beginning of your career? Yes definitely, it is probably a bit leaner Who do you see as your main competitor? I try not to see anyone as a competitor, it just creates

unnecessary stress, there will always be someone better out there so I just try to improve on who I am. What are your interests outside of music? Languages, art, spirituality, travelling If it wasn't a music career, what would you be doing? Probably still something related to music in some ways What is the biggest problem you have encountered in the journey of music? Self doubts, thinking that I still don’t know enough, in a way it is a good thing as I always try to improve https://open.spotify.com/artist/0cyKyCM9wHRPUbm0Kj4ySR?si=kQu9-AypSFiHp_zMqcGV5g&nd=1&dlsi=011c49171da545fa If you could change one thing in the music industry, what would it be? It is what it is but I guess the amount of money paid to artists by streaming platforms. Why did you choose this as the title of this project? It was the title of the novel I was inspired by What are your plans for the coming months? I’m working on a new release in June and on my next album, for the end of the year Do you have any artistic collaboration plans Not at the moment What message would you like to give to your fans? I would just thank them for listening to what I do!

#Music #DidierRecloux #DidierReclouxdropsFirstWalk #DidierReclouxFirstWalk #DidierReclouxoutwithFirstWalk #DidierReclouxreleasesFirstWalk #DidierReclouxwithFirstWalk #FirstWalk #FirstWalkbyDidierRecloux #FirstWalkDidierRecloux #FirstWalkfromDidierRecloux

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solarishashernoseinabook · 4 years ago

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Hi! Sorry to bother you. I’ve seen you do image descriptions and I was wondering if there was a specific way to do them? I’m on a discord server with someone who is blind and someone had the idea of learning how to make image descriptions for when we send photos.

Not a bother at all, Nonnie! I mainly figured it out by trial and error but I hope I can help ^-^

So there’s two things I try to keep in mind when doing image descriptions: one, is the description easy to understand, and two, if I only read the image description, would I be able to recognise the image if I saw it without the description?

Easy to understand is a HUGE thing. Image IDs should always be written in plain language! If your image ID includes slang, you’ve done it wrong. One reason is obviously that slang isn’t universally understood. I saw a video description where a woman from an old black and white movie threw a man over her shoulder onto the floor, and the video description said something like “she fucking yeets him over her shoulder”. It was sort of funny...IF you could see the video (like I could) and IF you knew what “yeet” meant. But in a few years when we’re not using “yeet” anymore (it’s already declining in use), would anyone understand the description? Also avoid long words or specialised terminology. Not everyone has a large vocabulary or familiarity with what you’re describing. So for example, I could describe a photo of a kid in a doctor’s office by saying “a pediatrician looks at a child’s dermal abrasion”, but it would be understandable to more people if I said “a doctor looks at a child’s scraped knee”.

Recognisability varies depending on what exactly you’re describing. If it’s just text, that’s easy - just transcribe what the words are. But if it’s art of a character, a simple description like “An image of Katara from Avatar: The Last Airbender” doesn’t narrow it down at all. Is it a screencap from the show? Official box art for the DVD sets? A drawing from one of the comics? Fan art? If it’s fan art, is it in a more realistic style, or cartoonish? Is she wearing her standard outfit? What’s she doing in the picture - just standing still, or waterbending, or what?

Image IDs do get a bit tricky with art tbh, because you can’t pass value judgments on the art. I can’t say “a really well done picture of Katara” because it’s not up for me to decide if other people are going to like it. I can say “a drawing of Katara in a realistic style” or “a simple line art drawing of Katara”, but if I think the drawing is really cute I just confine that to the tags so the artist knows what I thought of their work.

(And yes, do image descriptions for art! Blind people or people with low/partial vision might not be able to see it, but at least that way they know what it is instead of not being sure if it’s a photo or screenshots of text or what. And hey, maybe they’ll appreciate the description of it and think it’s a cool concept!)

When describing videos, always transcribe the audio (even if it has closed captions like many tiktoks do - if the person using a screen reader has, say, dyslexia and can’t listen to the audio, the captions won’t help them much) as well as do a description of the video - I see SO MANY descriptions that just do one or the other or do both but only half way and it’s so frustrating!

Finally, some minor points to keep in mind:

Screen readers can’t always interpret colourful text or text in special fonts, so a description of those is always good

A picture is worth a thousand words, but most image descriptions can be less than 100. Going on too long can just get really boring to listen to and make it harder to interpret the image because the person listening has to remember a lot of details

Don’t put image descriptions under a cut, even if they’re long! It’s an accessibility aid, it shouldn’t be harder to access

Screen readers can’t always read misspelled words, so it may be necessary to change these for clarity

Stick to the point of the description. I post a lot of funny screenshots from Duolingo, but when I do, I don’t describe things like how many lives I have left or how far I am through the lesson because that’s not important, and describing what the program actually looks like doesn’t help anyone either. I just list the sentence and its translation and mention its from Duolingo - context and joke is all that’s needed

Finally, it’s okay if you’re too tired to do an image description! That happens to me a lot. Look through the notes for one that’s already been done or like the post to describe it later

Hope that helps! ^-^

#asks #image IDs #transcription #accessibility #Anonymous

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ocadusitespecific · 3 years ago

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In conversation with Ryan Whyte

Behind the scenes of the 2021 OCAD U Pollinator Photo Exhibit's winning photo.

Post by Victoria Ho, Sustainability Coordinator

Photo of Ryan Whyte in his garden © Jennifer Purtle. All other photos © Ryan Whyte

Pollinators reveal otherwise invisible connections between a garden and its urban context.

Today we are featuring Ryan Whyte, winner of the inaugural OCAD U Pollinator Photo Exhibit. The purpose of the exhibit was to encourage the OCAD U community to be curious about their own backyards and to celebrate the hundreds of pollinator species that can be found close to home in a range of habitats. We were thrilled by the responses and the creative captions that captured joy, silliness, and reverence for our wonderful pollinators that hold up our ecosystems and food systems.

Name: Ryan Whyte

Title and role at OCAD U: Chair, BA Honours Program in Visual and Critical Studies, Associate Professor, Faculty of Arts & Science

VH: Why pollinators? What sparked your interest in photographing pollinators?

RW: My partner and I maintain a small container garden. At a certain point I became obsessed with the behavior of pollinators in our garden and realized that they constituted a fantastic photographic subject and a fascinating subject of research. Pollinators are interesting for many reasons. Their proximity—their presence just outside our door, and in any urban garden—is a reminder of the urban networks of life that we usually ignore as we go about our business. Urban planning, for instance, because it is driven by developers, almost never takes the presence of nature into account, and yet cities host important ecosystems. Pollinators reveal otherwise invisible connections between a garden and its urban context.

Pollinators are also fascinating from an evolutionary perspective. The symbiotic relationship between plant and pollinating insect is a result of co-evolution, a dramatic example of a staggeringly complex network of mutually imbricated developments within a dynamic evolutionary process. I am not a scientist, but a historian, and for me this symbiosis and its evolutionary context and history is interesting and humbling because its immense complexity echoes, and indeed surpasses, that of historical events, and the challenge of understanding it echoes and surpasses that of understanding a historical event through the multidirectional interrelationships of its context and its past. Just as the complexity of the natural world will always at some point escape our grasp, so with the complexity of history.

Another lesson we can take from pollinators lies in the convergence of systems of signification in the act of pollination. Pollen is both food and reproductive material. Its operation depends on multiple forms of signification converging on the same site, whether the visual signalling of flowers (extending beyond human vision into the UV range perceptible by many pollinators), the chemical communication of plants, the markings of insects (one kind of pollinator, the hoverfly, visually mimics bees and wasps), electrical communication between bees and flowering plants (we are just beginning to learn about this phenomenon), or insect social communication such as the famous dance of the bees. This should be interesting to artists, because it suggests a model of complex, multivalent signification that puts the simplistic, reductive language of so much contemporary art and literature to shame.

VH: Pollinators are amazing. 75% of the world’s crops depend on them. They enable flowering plants to reproduce. They prevent soil erosion. They are both critical to combating climate change and are under threat due to climate change. Do you have any climate action strategies you can share with us?

RW: If you have the means to plant a garden, you can help pollinators. Easy-to-grow, common garden plants that attract many kinds of pollinators include mint, catnip, oregano, basil, tomatoes. Unlike most self-respecting gardeners, I let everything bolt, because I want my plants to blossom and attract insects as soon as possible. The very best thing you can do is plant species native to your region, since these will draw native pollinators. The Xerces Society provides excellent resources:

https://xerces.org/bring-back-the-pollinators

Another thing you can do, whether you have the means to plant a garden or not, is familiarize yourself with local pollinators. I recommend the iNaturalist app and site. This allows you to photograph insects, upload your photographs and connect with an enormous network of naturalists who will help identify them. Your photos and identifications can then be used by scientists. This is an amazing example of citizen science, producing millions of data points that sustain research in new ways and improve our understanding of the natural world.

The best way to help pollinators is first to understand them.

There is a wealth of information that a layperson can glean from citizen science; for example, if you encounter a species unfamiliar to you, you can use the app to see how many individuals have been identified in your region and find links to in-depth information about that species. I began using iNaturalist last summer, and to date have documented and identified 85 species of insect in our tiny container garden on the fifth floor of a downtown Toronto apartment. This has prompted me to research these species, to learn, for example, which ones are native to the region, and which have been introduced by humans, thus enriching my understanding of the Toronto ecosystem and the challenges it faces. The best way to help pollinators is first to understand them.

VH: Your previous research subjects have included fashion, gastronomy, and cross-cultural exchange in eighteenth-century print culture. Do pollinators relate to your research or figure into your teaching at OCAD U?

RW: Pollinators relate to my research on the history of food and its representations in art. I would say that my photographs relate to my research on and teaching of 18th-century art, in their appropriation of rococo aesthetics, and engagement with Enlightenment ideas about the perception of nature and the aesthetics of wonder. At the same time, photography, gardening, and amateur entomology are an escape from the pressures and constraints of academic life. We all need hobbies as vehicles for passions, for inspiration, to find different ways of thinking and being. For me, nature, even in the smallest urban garden, is infinitely restorative.

VH: There are over 360 native bee species living within the GTA and the average Toronto yard apparently hosts 50 bee species. Yet, the active lives of pollinators are often quietly underway without human knowledge. What do you hope that viewers will learn or appreciate from these images?

RW: I hope that viewers will enjoy a sense of awe and beauty in the natural world that I find so moving, and such a balm for the soul, and that they will gain a new awareness of the insects to which we have so many connections despite our ignorance and destruction of the natural world.

VH: Where do you live and what locations feature most frequently in your pollinator photos?

RW: I live in downtown Toronto, quite close to OCADU. All my photos are shot in our small container garden on the fifth-floor terrace of an apartment building.

VH: What equipment do you use? Any advice for shooting images of pollinators?

RW: I use a DSRL and a macro lens. These are far from the top of the line, which is a reminder that your photographs depend more on what you do with the gear than on the gear itself. You can take incredible insect photos with a cell phone and a cheap macro lens attachment.

Photographing insects is difficult. My best advice is practice, practice, practice. The joy of digital photography is that you can take thousands of photos, as you learn, at no expense. Over time, you will become familiar with the possibilities and pitfalls of different camera settings. A challenge of macro photography is its extremely shallow depth of field, and a challenge of insect photography is that insects move quickly. So, you must experiment with shutter speeds, aperture settings, ISO settings, ways of angling the camera relative to the insect body, etc. You can use a flash, which allows a smaller aperture and wider depth of field, and freezes rapid movement; or more advanced techniques like focus stacking, and more advanced gear associated with extreme macro photography such as focus rails, microscope lenses, etc. (Because I am interested in a natural aesthetic, I don’t use a flash, nor use the techniques of scientific and laboratory photography.)

With practice you also learn to identify some species by sight, which allows you to become familiar with how they move, how skittish they are, how to approach them, what time of day and in what weather they fly, which plants they like, etc. Macro photography reveals details imperceptible to the naked eye, and in so doing trains the naked eye to perceive things it did not see before. For me this is the essence of insect photography, a practice that imparts an intimate, embodied knowledge of the natural world and prompts still further research into each of the species I encounter. The opportunity to learn is limitless.

My gear: Nikon D5600, DX Micro Nikkor 85 mm f/3.5, a cheap set of extension rings (I usually use the 36mm), and a set of close-up (macro) filters that I rarely use. My shots are all hand-held with no flash.

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Thanks Ryan for sharing about your world of pollinators! You can check out more of Ryan's images amongst the other photo submissions online at the 2021 OCAD U Pollinator Photo Exhibit.

Learn more about sustainability at OCAD U: www.ocadu.ca/sustainability

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theultimatenonbinarynerd · 4 years ago

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Roman's Angst Playlist

So recently, I decided to do an angst playlist for Roman followed by Logan. I might do one for the other sides in the future. Also if you don't have Spotify and want me to make it a youtube playlist then please let me know.

So im going to explain why I chose certain songs and why I think Roman would listen to them when he feels sad.

Okay I saw this as a tik tok audio used for Virgil Cosplay but when I listened to the lyrics it (no pun intended) screamed Roman.

If you listen to the lyrics closely it details exactly how Roman feels. He feels denied of being himself.

"You wanted me to show more interests

To always keep a big bright smile

Be that pinky little perfect princess

But I'm not that type of child."

That just exactly seems like what he forces himself to be to keep the others happy. He feels like he has to be perfect.

Pft so why this of all Disney Songs, Mel? Well, im glad you asked. I would have chosen I Will Go The Distance if it wasn't already on Roman's plus it's too subtle, we're looking for songs that openly state Roman's issues. Reflection is perfect for Roman and a lot you artists in the fandom agree with me. It perfectly represents how Roman doesn't feel good enough for the other sides.

This song perfectly represents how Roman feels about Patton. He is constantly risking it all to gain Patton's approval but he never gets anything in return from the father figure. I'll do a full analysis in the future.

You know I had to put Hamilton on here and burn definitely replicates perfectly how Roman feels after svs redux. This song also represents how Roman feels about Janus as you forget how badly Janus treated Roman during the original svs and can lying be good.

I'm sorry I had to put one song about feeling like a monster. Roman hates his flaws and his mistakes. This song is perfect as like if suggests Roman hides his demons.

Slight language warning here but I had to include this song. Roman constantly tries to look out for the others and change for them. Yet they're holding the gun, it perfectly represents how betrayed Roman feels especially by Thomas and Patton. He made self-sacrifice and they don't defend him after the moustache comment so he thinks they agree with Janus. He thinks all of his friends have betrayed him after how much he tried to change for them.

Please don't cry but I added this song because I think this is Roman insulting himself. He feels like he's such a rude bully and that he never makes the others happy. He's essentially telling himself you're going to rot in hell because all you do is bully the other sides.

A less subtle version of Broadway here I come so yeah it fits.

Pft apparently everyone in the fandom once said this suited Virgil well not anymore. This pretty much probably somes up all of Romans feelings after he sinks out during pof. He like the fandom is probably villainizing himself. I don't think Romans gonna join the dark sides but unfortunately, I think he will try to duck out without everyone noticing. After that comment from Janus, he's blaming himself for everything. Trapped in self-loathing till the next episode.

So I've reached the audio limit so ill have to link the next few songs.

https://youtu.be/cRTjksM3YAs

youtube

Here me out change the lyrics from man or muppet to good twin or bad twin. Roman is going to be reflecting a lot after pof.

https://youtu.be/1rfSHisyHdc

youtube

Due the old man on the throne telling Roman he probably shouldn't be so mean is Patton. Also it just suits Roman more than Remus for some reason.

https://youtu.be/sENM2wA_FTg

youtube

It just suits Roman because he doesn't want to change who he is.

https://youtu.be/ulJXiB5i_q0

youtube

Your gonna kill me but imagine Roman singing I dreamed a dream straight after the original svs. Roman feels like especially after svs redux that all of his dreams have been taken away from him.

https://youtu.be/Rl3ELiPXFRo

youtube

First comes the blessings of all that you dreamed but then comes the curses of diamonds and rings. Who can you trust?

All of these lyrics scream Roman-like im sorry that every single imagine dragons song suits Roman. Like if I'd been irrational this playlist would have been just imagine dragons songs.

https://youtu.be/SL_YMm9C6tw

youtube

Like how could I not include this one on here, Roman has constantly been told by Logan that his dreams are stupid.

https://youtu.be/mw5VIEIvuMI

youtube

Like ever since getting into this fandom this song has a whole different meaning to me instead of just calling this a female power ballad I keep relating this to Logan and Roman pleading to be listened too. Ahh please get Roman and Logan to sing this as a duet Thomas.

https://youtu.be/8v_4O44sfjM

youtube

No caption made it just feels like Romans heart.

https://youtu.be/w6g1yQV0dIY

youtube

Roman feels lost this is going to be his battle after he stops blaming himself every time Thomas has a problem.

https://youtu.be/r5yaoMjaAmE

youtube

Ok, this does suit Logan but it also suits Roman. Despite how mean he can be to cover up his insecurities he is still offended by the others biting back.

https://youtu.be/JFYedt-KnB0

Now the last song is if only from the first descendant's movie. It perfectly represents Roman's inner conflict, after Patton and Thomas giving up on him he doesn't know what's right and wrong anymore.

Ok so that was my Roman angst playlist and I hope you enjoy it I put a lot of hard work into it.

@roman-sanders-appreciation-blog @misconceivedcapricorn @royalprinceroman @roman-appreciation-central

@princemesscharming @prince-romansanders @princessglittermageline

#Spotify #roman sanders #sander sides #ts roman #sanders+sides+theories #roman angst #romangst #sander sides playlists #patton criticism #janus criticism #character thomas criticism #from romans point of view

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nighttimepixels · 5 years ago

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Just wanted to let you know that... I'm trying to learn the little sign language, at least a little bit with your comic. It's always been a language I wanted to learn, both ASL and my native language, in fact. Say, why snd how did you learn this language ? If it's okay for you to respond, of course, I don't want to urge you or step in a line I didn't know was there

Oh, that’s awesome-!! I’m so honored you liked it ;v;

To answer your question - I’m not fluent in ASL, not at all! But I’ve picked up bits and pieces over the years for a lot of reasons. Some of it was media I enjoyed, more came from having a few friends that were struggling with selective mutism and wanting to be there for them even with a few signs, and more yet was just… personal interest!

I’ve learned everything I know of ASL online, but I of course rec joining a class or even just community group if you have access!

There are several wonderful sign dictionaries out there - with videos, picture sequences, and GIFs of the signs in action - and that’s a great place to start just picking up a few that are most important. Also… videos on Youtube, allllll the way. The great thing about ASL too is that even if your sign vocabulary is still small, if you learn your sign alphabet, then you can make tough spots work by spelling out words - and asking for the official sign by spelling the word out!

The thing to remember about ASL too is that… it isn’t just a ‘modifier’ to English.

There’s a lot of ease and benefits to the obvious crossover, but… there’s culture, there’s tics, heck, there’s different grammar rules! A lot of ‘extra fluff’ is left out of ASL because it’s absurd to leave it in, it’s not needed, and it’s just not part of the language for good reason, and more importantly, without detriment.

For example- in Part Two of the comic, I show Brick signing along to the dialogue as in-fic, “seems like I…. made an impression.” Now, in spoken English, we can envision the tone used, and so on, really easily, right? And the signs translated to that sentence. However… the actual signs used strictly translate to:

seem

impression.

A big reason why I chose those, in that order, is because part of Brick’s story is that he isn’t yet fluent in ASL - he’s still learning, and is actively searching for words & their corresponding signs! I get the feeling he’s ‘thinking’ in spoken English, and is translating in sign as best he can. (but idk, @popatochisssp is obviously the best one to ask on that front, I’m just interpreting and checked a few details with her as I was working on it X) )

I considered adding the sign for “big” in there before impression, but for space & dialogue translation reasons I ended up leaving it out - even though, tonally, that might well be what someone signing would choose to get across the same impression - or just emphasize ‘big’ using their body language!

That’s one of the things I love most about ASL- that it is just as expressive as a vocal language, despite what it seems like a lot of people think. Maybe it’s bc I’m an artist & animator, but the use of the body beyond just the ‘hand motions’ is just as important… and relays a lot about personality, just like someone’s voice and basic, more simplified body language might.

(On top of this, consider ASL’s different grammatical structure - you can read more here, it’s really cool - but basically, commonly you’ll see Subject-Verb-Object or Subject-Verb order; and if time is involved, then you might see something like “WEEK-PAST I WASH MY CAR” or, depending on the user’s vernacular, they’ll favor the subject-first style, and sign “MY CAR WEEK-PAST I WASH”. Point is, there’s variation just as in spoken language, and reasons behind those choices!)

.. okay I’ve rambled too long XD

Basically, I myself started learning bc I was interested for several reasons, both personal and bc I’m a nerd who happened across ASL content online (a couple bloggers, a few stories). I recommend just keeping it in your personal orbit as much as possible if you’re interested in learning! Read comics with sign, check out shows/movies with characters who sign, and definitely check out bloggers/youtubers who sign (and I always rec people who are HoH/deaf and/or mute most of all!)

TL;DR, if you get nothing else outta this post but are curious about Sign Language here’s some video-based Signing Content to get you interested/follow!

Things Not to Say to a Deaf Person (feat lots of BSL - British Sign Language - actually! But it applies across the board and is cool to see signing folk bust some bs)

I Can’t Hear Myself Speak! [CC] by Jessica Kellgren-Fozard, who is a lovely disability advocate & queer lady who is also Deaf/HoH! She talks about how she can’t hear herself speak in this video, and the varied ways deafness/being HoH can be manifested, and a bunch of other related things. (Link includes the playlist she has for her videos on Deafness - she signs in BSL, so don’t worry if you know only bits of ASL and don’t cotton on to her signing!)

ASL time - Top 10 Basic ASL Phrases for Beginners by Nyle DiMarco! You might’ve seen him around - he’s that super nice deaf model who went viral in the past few years on a few videos! He’s got a short series about basic ASL (and him being cheeky) that’s actually a big fave of mine bc he phrases it like a conversation, not just disjointed phrases.

How I Learned Sign Language From My Deaf Boyfriend by Sign Duo! Honestly, their whole channel is great. Tons of vlogs, they both sign the whole time of course - and they’re just really relatable, they feel like conversations - plus they’re both just really likeable. I strongly recommend any content that actually features two+ people fluently signing, but these two are great and informative. Also, I recommend their video My Deaf Boyfriend: Why He Doesn’t Use His Voiceif you want to know more about that cultural choice/inclination. Remember to turn on closed captioning if you aren’t fluent in ASL! :)

How Do Deaf People Experience Music? an interview featuring Shaheem Sanchez, a stellar deaf dancer and actor. Like I said earlier, I really really recommend learning about Deaf/Signing culture alongside the signs themselves. The context is incredible, and honestly, broadening your understanding of any marginalized group by learning their stories as told by them is a good thing in my opinion.

Dos and Don'ts of Interacting with the Deaf Community [CC]by The Essential Sign. Again, turn on CC if you’re not fluent in sign - her videos are great! This one’s a great cultural one for those new to signing/who want to learn about deaf culture. She busts some common misunderstandings and shows some course corrected alternatives that are actually positive, and encourages you how to move forward without stumbling over insensitive landmines! Similarly I super recommend her video What is Concentration Fatigue? (with RIKKI POYNTER) [CC]which talks about something you don’t see mentioned as often, I think - precisely what’s on the tin.

… aaand I’ll leave it there for now, I think those are good starting points and a variety of styles! Deaf/ASL-fluent vloggers are a great resource and way to, even if you’re isolated/don’t have a practice community, get regular exposure to sign as well as actual first-hand (heh) accounts from people who sign in their everyday life!

#night answers #about the Tangles comic #about sign language (but yeah disclaimer I'm not Deaf/HoH and am just attempting to learn as I go!)#I'd have to say that Sign Duo probably have the best ongoing vlog channel of this list (for ASL - Jessica's channel feats BSL so I rec that #but all these are good #idk just - stoke that curiousity!#that's always my stance #the fact that you're interested is so so good #hopefully this helps! most of all the videos i'm guessing pfff #thanks for your kind words ;v;#kyonesan

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mrsrcbinscn · 4 years ago

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Franny Robinson HC Infodump #7: More Music Stuff

tw: mentions of psychedelic use (it’s clear it is in moderation but)

Cover Contributions To Tribute or Charity Albums (and other notable covers):

King of the Road: A Tribute to Roger Miller - Franny recorded a cover of The Moon Is High (And So Am I) for the album. There’s a really cute video uploaded on her YouTube channel of her recording the song and she’s playing acoustic guitar and dancing around in place as she sings in several takes. It’s one of the few internet videos where her husband is seen, because sometimes the camera pans to the sound engineer booth when he’s sitting next to Serghei, her go-to sound guy.

She participated on the charity album BBC Children In Need: Got It Covered, since England’s been her home from nearly twenty years now. She sang a slowed down, gentler version of Pat Benatar’s Shadows Of The Night. (inspired by that being a song I vividly remember my mom singing to my siblings and I lmao)

For the album The Music Is You: A John Denver Tribute, Franny sang Rhymes and Reasons.

On a John Prine tribute album released in 2017, Franny and the other half of the duo Dara & Danny, Daniel Maitland, recorded In Spite Of Ourselves for the album.

For a Connie Francis tribute album, Franny sang Where The Boys Are

Franny, along with black country singer Erica James, curated a Charley Pride tribute album, featuring solely country or country-adjacent singers of color. “Charley Pride, when I discovered a black country artist, as an Asian-American growing up in the 80s, that was amazing to me. Because little Cambodian me was like, ‘wow, so you don’t gotta look like Dolly or Willie to love this music.’ Everyone thinks country and bluegrass music is white people shit, but it ain’t. It was always a mix of folks influencin’ it. DeFord Bailey paved the way for Charley Pride, who paved the way for Darius Rucker, who paved the way for Jimmie Allen, Willie Jones, Mickey Guyton, Erica right here, and non-black POC like myself and Dan(iel Maitland). It was such an honor to get to curate this album with Erica. Amazing.” Franny recorded Does My Ring Hurt Your Finger for the album.

On the Tracy Lawrence tribute album Good Ole Days, she recorded As Any Fool Can See with him

She was featured on Brooks & Dunn’s Reboot, recording She’s Not The Cheatin’ Kind

During a SiriusXM session, she sang Gretchen Wilson’s When I Think About Cheatin’, and the performance w/ent viral

On a Leonard Cohen tribute album, she recorded A Thousand Kisses Deep and that cover also became popular

During a Spotify Sessions recording with Seoul Hanoi’d, Franny recorded a cover of Marcy Playground’s Sex & Candy, which also blew up, prompting Seoul Hanoi’d to officially release it on their 2018 album. It was the second of five singles off of the album, and Franny in the music video was Hot ™

During a Spotify Sessions recording as a solo artist, Franny recorded a cover of Kris Kristofferson’s From The Bottle To The Bottom

Khmer Music:

Franny, for the most part, does not record or perform pop music. However, she’s collaborated on tracks with Cambodian pop singers

She writes a lot of songs used in the soundtracks of Khmer tv dramas, and sings a lot of them as well

She’s known as The Soundtrack Queen in Cambodia

In addition to a lot of songs for film and tv, she’s released three albums entirely in Khmer. A jazz album comprised of original songs and Khmer language versions of classic jazz songs; and two in the indie/alternative style of music similar to Seoul Hanoi’d

And she’s recorded Khmer versions of several of her most famous songs

With other Cambodian diaspora musicians, she regularly collaborates on special covers of iconic Khmer 60s and 70s songs

Songwriting

Franny’s even more active as a songwriter than a recording artist. She’s got over 1,000 songwriting credits to her name.

She began writing songs “when I was 11, but they were atrocious, unsalvageable things. The first song I wrote that ever saw the light of day even after heavy edits was first thought up when I was thirteen.”

Franny is openly bisexual and explores that in her songwriting-- however, most of her songs about women or her sexuality that she wrote “pre-2009-ish” she’s scrapped or sold to other artists. Why? “Look, I’ve been married to my husband for almost twenty years now. And that doesn’t make me any less bisexual. But a lot of the songs I’ve written about women are from the perspective of a thirteen through twenty year old me, and at forty, I’m not the best narrator for those stories anymore.They are my lived experiences and my lived feelings, but I want to see how someone actually going through that will take it and interpret it. The songs I write about women loving women now are about characters I make up for the purpose of storytelling so they’re about women closer to my age, it’s about big girl love, not adolescent love.”

Common themes in Franny Sor Robinson songwriting: geography, vivid imagery like she’s showing you a picture of what she’s singing about, Buddhist themes, Christrianity (she’s a Buddhist but grew up in the Bible Belt so she’s very familiar with Christian themes), alliteration

Franny came under a degree of controversy in 2014 with the release of a song called “The Sabbath” because it was a tasteful song about how much she likes sex with her husband after they’ve been apart for a while, and Franny was like “you know you’d think the pearl-clutchin’ folks would be glad I practically worship my husband, but I forgot women ain’t supposed to actually enjoy sex.”

She's written another really sweet song about making love with her husband that did Not get hate because it was Acceptable TM and pretty romantic actually. Think along the lines of Josh Turner's Your Man or Dierks Bentley's Come A Little Closer. Songs deff about how they wanna get down but sweet.

After Franny retweet a clip of that Tyler Childers song in 2019 with the caption “big relate”, she was asked in a tweet if a follow up to The Sabbath was in the cards. Franny replied with “there’s a demo recorded for a song I wrote about six years back and that’s that on that.” Yes, Franny Sor Robinson indeed has written a song about masturbation. She’s performed the song live a few times, however, it is still unreleased officially

Franny’s written songs with lyrics alluding to her family’s experiences under the Khmer Rouge and escaping and resettling around the world, she cleverly hides them among her albums so people accidentally digest some education

Cornelius is the well-documented muse for “every love song I’ve written that I don’t specify in the album notes or an interview is written about a character. My husband is the love of my life and had given me twenty years and counting of great material to write about.”,

Franny’s been on both ends of this story. In 2019, a song Franny wrote but didn’t record became a smash pop hit after she and her producer sent it around to other producers. They recorded Franny’s demo in mid-2017 and they and the bigger pop producer that worked on the song with them listened to over 20 demos of the song until they found the right person to sing it.

And in 2013, Franny got a huge boost to her fame when she was the featured vocalist on a pop song that became a global smash hit. Franny doesn’t typically do like...super top 40 pop type music, but she liked the song so when her agent suggested she record a demo for it and send it back to the producer looking, she was like “sure, okay” and then was absolutely surprised that they chose her over some of the names she knew also recorded demos for the song.

Misc. Music facts

In 2019, a group of NYU students (where she did her undergrad) made a Franny Sor Robinson tribute album project; the majority of the students were Asian students in the university’s music programs who cite her as a big inspiration for them pursuing music. She 100% cried

For the Netflix show Just Trust Me that she co executive-produces, Franny is also one of the people who soundtrack the show

In 2020, to celebrate the 10 Year Anniversary of her biggest solo album’s release, she pulled a The Story And Cover Stories (we stan Brandi Carlile) where it was re-released along with cover versions of each song by other artists including some of Franny’s biggest living musical influences. All proceeds for the album were donated to Cambodian Living Arts.

Franny has openly admitted in interviews to using mushrooms, LSD, and DMT before in songwriting sessions. Her stance is Kacey Musgraves’ stance. Franny quote from 2019, “Used responsibly, I think psychedelics are a worthwhile experience to have. But safety and education are key. I truly don’t believe they are party drugs. Psychedelics aren’t a party, they’re a deeply spiritual and philosophical journey.”

#&&...hc #i should have slept but it is 6:15 am and here i am

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snowflake-of-destruction · 4 years ago

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Danger of the Deep

AKA: I can’t write a quick, few line caption to save my life Part 1/8. Based off of the first picture of THIS POST where Aqua is posed all sexy but also looking like she wants to eat someone

Part 2/? of Mermaid AU that needs a name

Timeline-wise this takes place long after the plot that may or may not ever happen because this is just a casual exchange of out of sequence fun mermay snippets. @shaky-mayhemm have a surprise Naminé and some interesting questions raised about Ventus. We hadn’t discussed Ventus yet but I am confident the shared brain is in the same place. These are now things that are happening. I incorporated your language barrier headcanon so now we say Roxas is a rebel who hung out around human ships enough to learn language pre-AU canon. Enjoy my word vomit. Read more for length

Naminé knew she should count herself fortunate. Perhaps, she should even feel honored. Aqua didn't come out of the water for just anyone, even now, verging a year after The Kingdom Below--an imperfect translation of the mercity's true name, Naminé was sure, but one that had stuck after Riku had told his rambling story and one that none of the merfolk, including their blue haired young leader who typically found every occasion she could for objections, protested--had become more open secret than legend amongst half the seaside town of Destiny. The young artist didn't feel lucky though. She felt like she had swallowed a live eel that was slowly making it's way down her throat, however, as the mermaid regarded her with eyes adapted to hunting underwater, too wide and too bright to pass for human, that were still one of the merfolk's more humanlike features.

The queen was beautiful, no doubt, despite her scales and other oddities. They all were breathtaking in their own ways. Naminé saw at once why the crew of the Dawnfire had fallen in love. The greater mystery was how they forced themselves to come back to land. That didn't mean, however, that Naminé wasn't at least a little unnerved by the rulers of the sea. Personally, she would have preferred to admire them from afar, catching a flash of a fin in the distance she could sigh dreamily at, wondering how it felt to cut through the water, fast and free. She hadn't voiced that preference though, at least not in so many words. She had sputtered concerns that she wasn't the one to come to for a royal portrait, no matter how unorthodox the kingdom or ruler, and she'd asked if it was safe, but she hadn't made it clear that it wasn't only the safety of the mermaid posing on land that she was worried about. So here she was, propelled by curiosity and her inability to say no, standing in the sand, trying to capture the balance between seductive beauty, the unsettling other, and the danger of a predator.

"Do you need another bucket of water poured over you?" Naminé asked, peering around her easel more obviously than the quick darts of eye she had been doing previously, speaking slowly so Aqua could read her lips. She failed at keeping eye contact before the merqueen even answered. Did all merfolk not blink or was it just a quirk of Aqua's?

Aqua let out the short chirp Naminé had already learned meant no. The blonde girl repeated the noise under her breath, further committing the intonation to memory. She had a feeling she would be practicing imitating the dolphin-like noises of the merfolks' native tongue in her room that night. Ventus had warned her that the queen wouldn't speak English to her. She'd wondered aloud why the rest of Aqua's people hadn't taught her yet. Ventus had smiled, shook his head, and corrected her gently. Aqua knew English. She simply refused to speak it. According to Ventus, Terra was becoming quite fluent in mermish under his tutelage however, which begged a question Ventus refused to answer. How did he know mermish so well in the first place, well enough he'd taught Riku even before he started teaching Terra, when he'd been the last to meet the creatures of the deep?

"Alright then. Tell me when you do." Naminé found speaking loudly enough she could be sure the air didn't steal her words before they reached Aqua difficult. It was silly. Aqua was fully beached and may even need help to return to the water if the tide didn't shift again before she was done posing for Naminé , but the artist was helpless against visions of what her tail could do (moving with enough speed and force that if it hit you it could temporarily paralyze you, containing enough muscular power it could snap bones easily, yet demonstrating enough dexterity near the fin that it could wield tools and weapons) and of a flash of pointed shark's teeth that Naminé wasn't sure if she'd imagined or not that forced her to think in turn of those blue eyes full of life turning empty like a shark's as well. Naminé swallowed her baseless fear and the imaginary eel, and painted in lines indicating the delicate gold chains that Aqua wore twined around her wrists, her tail, and anywhere Kairi and Xion could convince her to drape them. Naminé had heard that story multiple times from multiple sources, how gifts given to the younger mermaid princesses inevitably found their way to decorating Aqua and making her look "queenly."

"Calm." The single word almost made Naminé drop her brush. "You are..." It was clear Aqua wasn't used to using her throat to form human words. Though her enunciation was careful and clear, there was a hesitance and strain evident. Blue brows furrowed and Naminé could almost see Aqua sorting through vocabulary in her mind. "...Part of my school."

"School?" Naminé repeated dumbly, meaning coming to her a moment later, a swarm of colorful fish swimming in formation through her mind's eye.

"You were taken too?"

The fragmented question brought Naminé back to a time she'd rather forget. A lightless brig on a ship that never was. She'd known Xemnas had other "guests" while she was there. Demyx was innocently chatty and Xigbar, Marluxia, and Larxene all pointedly, manipulatingly so. She hadn't found out all the details though until her rescue (accidental rescue, she'd never been who they were there for) by the crew of the Dawnfire.

Namine nodded, but didn't go into the detail Aqua may not have cared about of the how and why and ransoms never paid.

"That will never happen again." Aqua's eyes did darken like a shark's but Namine's visions were changing. The vengeful queen of the sea dragging Marluxia down a trench where light never shone, tail squeezing the life from him before the pressure could. "You are Terra's and you are mine."

"Thank you. " Namine had trouble with her voice again, for much different reasons than before. She'd pour all she had into the portrait of the noble warrior matron of the seas.

#kingdom hearts #aqua #namine #mermaid au that needs a name #snippets #the painting is going to be a gift for terra obviously #one day i'll write terrqua #promise and a threat #mermaid au stories

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keepyourpantsongohan · 4 years ago

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Ayesha Liveblogs Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card S1

Not to be someone born in the 90s but wow this is a change from the more simple animation style new anime truly likes things shiny, intensely bright and round lmao

Ah I guess the prologue is just a reanimation of the original anime finale? That’s fair it helps you reintegrate if it had been nineteen years for you

“That way, you’ll realize who you consider to be your Number One” Eriol’s advice has gotten less cryptic since he stopped lying

“The person I love the most... is you” Lmao didn’t Syaoran ALREADY do this confession in the final battle this is like in Naruto the Last where Naruto just forgot that Hinata had already said she loved him

Fdshkfjhkjdfhksjhfkjh wow Yukito appearing with a flower background and shine effect and softened face is this a style choice or is this just Toya Vision™

I think Toya’s voice IS different rest in pieces I still respect u bro

“How do I feel about Syaoran” [Pan across Syaoran in floral background] It is a style choice how very shojo manga of you

I’m really very confused by the references to Tokyo Tower bc I’m pretty sure they were battling at Tsukimine Shrine did I miss something??

No I just checked it was definitely at the shrine in the anime did THEY not check or were they like ‘hmmm not enough drama only Tokyo Tower for our battle backdrops pls’

This is the third or fourth flower backdrop in the first ten minutes jkhkdjhg the floral effect artists said ‘I WILL BE SILENT NO LONGER’:

I DO NOT understand the chronology of this the bear exchange was the last scene in the anime is this before or after the finale???? If it’s after then why is Syaoran still in town

Rjhkjhgkj is the entire point of redoing this episode so Sakura could also give Syaoran a bear

“Toya was too embarrassed, so he had me bring it over and went back to his room” Lmao @ Toya sending his boyfriend to be nice to his sister in his place

If this show does not stop the floral cutaways I will not be able to take it seriously it is Ouran High School Host Club levels of intensity jdshfkjshdfkjhsdk

“Will you wait for me?” “Yes! I’ll wait! I’ll be waiting!” I think they threw out all continuity just so they could establish that these feelings were for sure mutual for the setup of the sequel series

That, or the original series so heavily discarded manga continuity that they are trying to walk it back to something more accurate without any real explanation

Rffkghkfghkdfhgkj if they’re referencing the original anime bear scene what was the point of that stupid prologue SO WHAT IS THE TRUTH

“My name is Mike. I’m from Portland” LOL references to Americans in anime are always so funny

“Now I can stay in Tomoeda forever” did u bring ur mom and sisters orrr

Gosh I’m actually quite thrown by how quickly this romance escalated it took them 57 episodes to just use each other’s first names and now it’s taken them one (1) episode to Commit 4Ever At Age 13

HAHAHA do they have smart phones now? Always on the cutting edge

“I Am a Stuffed Animal” some of the quirky captions ARE worth it

“Make sure you tell him... even the smallest things” Yue has become more of a romantic since he got closure and a part-time boyfriend

“I never knew! Thanks for telling me!” “Never change, Li-kun” kjhgkjhdkj STILL MY GULLIBLE BOY some things don’t ever change

Is that a dragon?? They are really expanding this magical universe

It bears repeating the polar opposite levels of pacing from the two shows it’s only episode one and they’ve already established so many new rules and powers

I don’t blame them for it though bc they have to put forward some kind of plot progression

There were so many visual effects in that scene I couldn’t even tell what was happening lmao it’s like reading manga battles

“But why are these things happening in Tomoeda again?” I mean not to point fingers but Syaoran’s arrival is fairly recent

“Did Wei-san come back with you” “No, just me. But he said he’d come to check on me in a while” HE’S 13?? CHILD. WELFARE. LAWS!!!!

“I wish that I could’ve used it as a reference” “For what?” “To make something that would look wonderful on you” LMAO now that Syaoran and Sakura are a thing He is Included in the outfits

“’Great to have you’ so you can do what?” don’t bully ur sister Toya, u r both happy with your respective relationships now

WHAT ARE THE STAKES OF KERO PRETENDING TO BE A PLUSHIE TOYA IS LITERALLY DATING THE MOON

I understood “Gale” but what exactly is a “Siege” card this feels a little abstract

“We managed to keep him in the dark” did u tho? Again. Moon boyfriend

“So it happened in her room” Did u put a protection spell on that bear or something Syaoran

I genuinely do not tire of Syaoran and Sakura’s shared gullibility this couple is morosexual solidarity

How convenient that Sakura’s new key just announces whenever there’s a new clear card to collect lmao

I meant what I said about Toya’s love language being touching Yukito somewhere above the shoulders

“You’ll find out when the time comes” Dfddjhfjkdhf Toya what are you going to DO

Two cards in one episode is quite a bit for ep 3 I guess they’re trying to give her some more fighting options lol

Is the implication of the way Sakura just happens to be coming across magical phenomenon that Clow Reed didn’t make his cards but just harnessed magic that existed in nature

For no reason other than my own suspicion I think that something funky is going on with Syaoran’s powers

“That person was almost the same height as me” I mean so was Eriol

“Sakura and the Lovely Transfer Student” we know by now transfer students mean that shit’s about to get real

“And then you slept with your belly uncovered” “I did not!” Toya’s gentle bullying to distract Sakura is always weirdly sweet

“Your brother is so funny Sakura” CHIHARU’S RIGHT STAN TOYA

SHINOMOTO ARE YOU SHITTING ME JHDFGHDGDFDD WHY DOES IT RHYME

“I hope we can be friends” if I know anything about this show this means she’s going to do something very shady immediately

I wonder if this will be the season that Tomoyo’s filming of everything Sakura does finally becomes plot relevant

I do think it’s weird that Sakura trusted a new key without questioning it

“I’m changing back” LOL @ YUE TRANSFORMING INTO YUKITO JUST TO AVOID PEOPLE I’M STARTING TO REALLY LIKE HIM

DGSJGSJDGDJGSFFSJDHJS YUKITO APOLOGIZING FOR YUE LEAVING RUDELY THAT’S MY POLITE AND HANDSOME MAN WHO HAS NEVER DONE ANYTHING WRONG IN HIS LIFE

I KNEW Syaoran was being suspicious!!! Talking about Sakura with Eriol in secret phone calls

“I came here to be ready for that time, when it comes” current theory is that Syaoran has NO powers and that’s why he is not running out of his classroom for teenage battles with the Forces of Nature

“How much has Yukito-san been eating?” “Not as much as he did when you were in elementary school, but he still eats a lot for his size” This must be a strange conversation for their dad to listen to but I like how this is code for Does Yukito Have Magical Chakra Exhaustion

“Um, I just... Phone call” said Sakura, as she was forcibly moonwalked away right in front of her friends’ eyes

LOL is Tomoyo being unable to film Sakura going to be a recurring joke

“Don’t worry about it” “I have to, when it’s about you” Syaoran really going Full Boyfriend Mode huh

I’ve never questioned it in until precisely this moment but who pays Kero’s phone bill?? Is it Tomoyo? Who is the account holder for this stuffed animal did she establish Kero as a legal person

“Momo-chan, let’s be friends okay?” I feel like this has to be immediate foreshadowing for Momo being alive

[Cucumber cut incorrectly] “Gotta show Yuki” hjkfhksjdhfkjhd rude of Toya but the caption kills me

Ddjkhfkjdhfjkdhfkjh the pure juxtaposition of this energy:

Tomoyo: They have other things to do

Chiharu, thinking that it’s a romance thing: [Winks]

Syaoran and Sakura: [In the shadows while threatening music plays]

“I didn’t feel... anything” oh NO why r their magic senses NOT tingling

I feel like I have been had, they had an episode called the “Song of the Moon” and Yukito didn’t even show up?? Rude

SCREAM this magical FaceTime call is much funnier than I could’ve imagined

“Yukito is in a recitation club, which he takes very seriously” GDGJFGJGJHGDG Yue very respectful of not occupying Yukito’s time with magical shenanigans LMAO

“And we’ll make them the cutest oxygen masks you’ve ever seen” Tomoyo, like the background effects artists in this anime, will not be stopped

Well colour me inaccurate I guess Syaoran can use his powers and he can do a fancy new sword thing

I like this flying scarf it’s the first of the new cards with a personality

Poor Syaoran always so serious to being a Teenage Wizard is hard

Wow I bet there’s NOTHING weird about the fact Akiho lives in Eriol’s house it’s just pure happenstance (said no one)

“Could we um, go out together?” I think this is the first time someone has explicitly scheduled a date in all 80+ episodes

I really do enjoy Toya’s never-ending list of temp jobs lmao

“Still going on, huh?” Toya’s older brother senses are unparalleled

LMAO IS THIS A 15 YEAR OLD BUTLER

Ghgjhfjfjhfjh what is the scale for these heights why is Kaito twice the height of these 13-year-olds

Unsubtle shot of this man’s pocket watch echoing Sakura’s dream

I’ve never seen a more Rich Person Reaction than Akiho getting upset that Katio, a service worker, stated that taking care of her was his job hfkjdhfkjh

“I came to Japan because there was a book I wanted”

1. VERY Rich Person thing to say

2. Wow I wonder which of you has a MAGICAL BOOK that’s been doing weird things lately

“What language is it” “I don’t know, but I’ve learned to read it” me when I hear people speak South Asian languages LMAO

Why does everyone keep referencing the Time That’s Coming? Toya, Syaoran, Eriol... they’ve all caught Mizuki’s affliction of vague and unhelpful prophecies

*One more go to jail Mizuki for the road

I hope that these stupid FaceTime calls with Yue are in EVERY episode from now on

Does the fact that he’s listed as Yue-san in Sakura’s phone mean that there’s a phone for each personality omg

OMG I just realized the ep title (Sakura’s Thrilling Aquarium Visit) must be a throwback to “Sakura’s Heart-Racing First Date” which was not a date but took place at an aquarium. Cute!!

GJHGSHJGFSGH Yue is me whenever people talk about video games:

Kero: Hey, Yue, play an online game with me

Yue: [Hangs up immediately]

“I made you wait” “Nah, I got here too early. It’s still twelve minutes before our meeting time.” I think she and Yukito had this exact exchange in that early ep

“She doesn’t have magical powers, but she’s oddly perceptive” I hope that Meilin’s one and only magical power is precognition lmao

Omg every time someone in this show speaks English I am so thrown

“I wasn’t sure how I should look at him” awww Syaoran trying to re-establish himself in the family

I guess this aquarium HAS changed in that it developed a security system for when the tank breaks [youknowwhathatisgrowth.gif]

LOL I guess it’s convenient to have an invisibility cloak when ur breaking and entering I was wondering how they were going to deal with their criminal behaviour in the age of cameras

Ep 10. Sakura’s Unbelievable Juvenile Detention Centre

Weel weel weel looks like Sakura isn’t the only one with new powers nice ice Syaoran!! I missed their tag team fights

OH MY GOD IF THIS PHOTO ALBUM ACCEPTS THE CONTINUITY OF THE SECOND MOVIE THEN SAKURA AND SYAORAN HAVE ALREADY! DONE! THEIR! CONFESSIONS! WOULD YOU PICK A LANE

“You want the person you like to eat good food” Besides the fact Kaito is twice your height and therefore probably an adult... u should not make advances on people u employ - this is all very bad-vibes-no-jutsu

I am shocked that it took this long for Sakura to notice that her new cards paralleled the old cards

Syaoran is staring at Kaito like he murdered his spouse in a previous life

“So he has Moon magic too?” UHHHH WAS SYAORAN’S MAGIC ALWAYS MOON-BASED I FEEL LIKE THAT’S NOT CLEAR

Also very unclear why Eriol keeps leaving her on read if he’s talking to Syaoran what

I love how Kero has independent friendships and communications with both Yukito and Tomoyo lmao

How many times has Penguin Park been destroyed by now

“Perhaps your dream is gradually progressing” Progressing into what exactly the Battle of the Nice Thirteen-Year-Olds

Why is it that magic in this universe comes with above-average athletic ability LOL

Once again, without a body/personification, these cards seem harsh

Kaito seems like too much of a red herring a la Mizuki so I’m going to assume the other presence we see is someone we either haven’t met yet or smth really fucked up with the rest of the main cast

I’d lose my mind if it was Toya but I genuinely hope not he’s too nice

I honestly missed Meilin ever since she chilled out a bit she’s very fun

“The emoji in her message definitely looked thrilled” [Bob Dylan voice] For the times they are a-changin’.....

“I don’t know when it’ll happen, but when it does you’ll know” Toya.......

Toya’s absolutely nonplussed reaction to his Moon Boyfriend never ceases to amaze

Yukito: [Sighs and floats into the air to wrap in a wing cocoon]

Toya: [Sitting and staring unfazed]

Also am I crazy or was that transformation on purpose bc it really had the energy of ‘Fine if you won’t talk to me maybe you’ll talk to Rude Magical Me!!’

“Did I change again?” GUESS NOT LMAO

Also it’s fun how as different as Yukito and Yue are, their shared brain cell says ‘TOYA COMMUNICATE WITH MEE’

“But ever since Syaoran came back, he’s had something important on his mind” People don’t give Sakura enough credit for her emotional intelligence

Can we take a minute to appreciate Sakura’s outfit fashion ICON

What is this Furry card that makes u dress up in ears and a tail lmao

“I’ll treasure [these cookies]” “I’d rather you ate them” LOL

My Furry card prediction gets more and more accurate with each passing second (even a broken clock’s right twice a day)

Uhhhhh Syaoran what did u sell to the moon devil to be able to cut through the space-time continuum

Sakura: NO THAT’S MY EMOTIONAL SUPPORT SYAORAN

SCREAM this family and their circle of hair cutting (also if Yukito cuts Toya’s hair, does Toya cut Yukito’s? Or does it not grow bc magic jfhkfh)

“I’m pretty sure that was middle school English” Sakura hearing English is me hearing French LMAO

“Sucks, doesn’t he?” MEILIN PLS

Djhfjkdhkjfhjk Tomoyo’s immediate rage at being the centre of attention

SAKURA DOING MAGIC RIGHT IN FRONT OF OTHER PEOPLE OMG

“Surround the entire mansion” Very subtle Sakura I’m sure no one in your whole town will notice

“I hear her father specializes in archaeology, so he might have some interesting books” “Have I mentioned Sakura-san’s father to you before?” [Dramatic cut in music] WELL

Oh my GOD did Kaito just turn back time bc he regretted what he said immediately? Honestly a mood

Also: BITCH

“You’re so alike, and not just because of your names” I have to say I’ve been thinking since her first appearance that Akiho looks like Nadeshiko so if they’re not related I will be surprised

“Sometimes watching good people makes me feel sad” well damn Meilin

I’m going to guess this Teenage Robot is the equivalent of the fight card that Meilin fought upon her introduction

Aw HELL YEAH SAKURA AND MEILIN TAG TEAM FIGHT WOOOO

“Aren’t you and Syaoran doing too much for those you care about, and forgetting to care about yourselves?” WELL DAMN MEILIN U R THE NEW TEENAGE SUPERHERO THERAPIST

“Can I call you ‘Sakura’ from now on, too?” AHHH THESE KIDS

LMAO AMAZING IT TOOK 13 STRAIGHT EPISODES FOR MOMO TO EVEN TWITCH

“We are indeed progressing... toward that time” I feel THREATENED

Once again I cannot stress strongly enough how much I love physical comedy

Sakura: They don’t seem to be causing any harm

The dessert rolls:

GOD the roll cakes eating each other to form one giant monster Babushka doll roll cake jhfjkdhgkdjhgkj incredible

EXCUSE ME MA’AM WHY WAS THERE A DEMON GIRL IN THE REFLECTION OF THIS SHATTERED CARD

“Please laugh again” Akiho is v nice I really hope Kaito isn’t mean

“Once a magical contract is formed, it can’t be broken, unless something really serious happens” [Quirrel voice] Can anyone tell me what foreshadowing is?

“What do you feel” “I think it’s a card” Very observant Sakura I think they gathered that

When Sakura gets all four of the base elements is Momo going to turn into a 200 pound giant rabbit

I like that every time Toya is concerned about Sakura, Yue appears suddenly to discuss the matter seriously with him [Gay and Wondorous Life of Caleb Gallo voice] He’s in this relationship!!

“When you’re angry or upset, it shows on your face, even if you don’t say it” Yue IS in this relationship woooow

“When humans realize they’re talking to a fox, they won’t sell you mittens. In fact, they’ll catch you and put you in a cage.” UH who is the fox in this metaphor not Sakura I hope???

Years later Syaoran is still winded if Sakura makes too much eye contact khgkghkjg

The fact that Yukito reads at a children’s hospital... truly one of The Nicest Not-Humans On Earth

Well with each passing episode we have less and less reasons to trust these cards and Kaito the Young Magical Butler

Ever since Kaito reversed time, I cannot shake the persistent thought that Akiho IS Nadeshiko. That’d be weird but u know... I’ve seen this show do weirder

“Your sweets look better” “No, yours!” Grandpa witnessing this date

“Also if Sakura-chan goes to college or wants to do something else, he wants to help” TOYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

“Any further, and you won’t be able to return” NADESHIKO BE MORE SPECIFIC

“It was my robe” Wait what ur family is a magical society or smth and somehow u don’t know Akiho??? How in the whomst

Everyone in this anime is like, ‘Haha Yue looks mad’ as if Yue does not look mad every second that he’s alive

KHKJHKFJHKJFHJ GRANDPA MASAKI REALLY GONNA GIVE SAKURA A HOUSE AND TOYA NOTHING LMAO WHAT’S IT LIKE TO BE THE LEAST FAVOURITE GREAT-GRANDCHILD LOL

“Nadeshiko would talk to things that weren’t there, and try to reach an understanding with things that couldn’t talk” 91 EPISODES LATER AND MR. KINOMOTO FINALLY ACKNOWLEDGES MAGIC?? OKAY

AND HE KNEW BOTH SAKURA AND TOYA HAVE HAD MAGICAL PROBLEMS FOR 3 YEARS!!! MR. KINOMOTO WHAT KIND OF HANDS-OFF PARENTING

“I want me to tell me [about your pain] too” wow this is the CALL-OUT EPISODE

“The house they live in was once torn down and replaced with an amusement park” were the continuity errors of accepting the second movie... A PLOT POINT?!?!?!

DAMN U KAITO I REALLY WANTED THINGS TO BE OKAY FOR AKIHO

“But I’ve got a great poker face” “Yes you do. But Yue does not” JKHDKJGHKJSHGKJHDKJGHSDJGHKJH BY DIALOGUE ALONE IT’S LIKE WHENEVER ANYONE SEES YUE’S FACE TWITCH IT MEANS HE’S HAVING AN EMOTIONAL BREAKDOWN

Yue: Evil magic looming overhead is bad for your wifi signal actually

“I will obtain these new cards. So I can use the relic I took from the association to activate that magic spell” Kaito really laying out his motivations out loud in a library. Insensible. Vague and probably misleading. 1/10 villainous monologue

Sakura’s powers are WILD she can duplicate the strength of her magic

“Power that’s too strong will bring unhappiness to its owner” SYAORAN :((

I feel like the only way this can end is Toya giving Sakura magical noogie so she doesn’t have to carry all of her powers like the reverse of what he did for Yue-kito

THERE IS TOO LITTLE TIME LEFT IN THIS SHOW FOR ALL THE ANSWERS I NEED THERE’S ONLY 20 MINUTES AHHHH

THERE ARE 12 MINUTES LEFT AND STILL NO ANSWERS!!! WHAT HAPPENSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

I GOT ABSOLUTELY NO ANSWERS OH MY GOD?!?!?!?!

#ayesha talks anime #ayesha liveblog ccs #liveblogging #long post

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starberry-cupcake · 4 years ago

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I’m a bit tired of these yt reviewers who have always had the possibility to go to NY to watch musicals at least once or twice a year, and come at me all like “movie musicals shouldn’t exist anymore, leave that for the theater”.

Even outside the whole post-apocalyptic aspect of the pandemic, not everyone can go to the theater. Not everyone lives in a country with a developed theater environment, or has a theater environment that includes musicals, not every musical is adapted to multiple languages and produced in other countries, not every country can produce their own musicals, not everyone can access theaters for several reasons and not everyone is born into a family that would take their kids to broadway to watch les mis at age 5. And, added to all that, not everyone even has access to bootlegs, not everyone can trade and, as wild as this sounds, not everyone is capable to make out what the dialogue, plot and lyrics say from a random recording, whether that is because of a language barrier or any other requirement of captions, or even communicate in a trading community properly because of this too.

So yes, even if the adaptations so far have had questionable results, even if there are more conflicting ones than good ones, movie adaptations of musical theater still offer to some people access to musicals, with subtitles, closed captions, a variety of accessible venues and formats, and other added elements through which we wouldn’t have seen or been presented to some of these things.

If pro-shoots of musicals (and not concert versions) were more openly available and distributed in a way that was as accessible as movies (perhaps something producers would have to think about now, with the world as it is), maybe we could have another conversation, one that would be solely about the need to adapt material into another format and the artistic implications of that. But when it’s an added step into allowing the accessing of material, and these people’s privileged ass won’t mention that in their reviews, I have a problem.

Blame the people in charge of the adaptations but don’t try to take away an option for those who don’t have an alternative just because it’s the same to you.

Also, while I’m at it, miss me with that theater kid prejudice towards people whose first experience of a musical was through the movie adaptation because I’m tired of that too. Let people discover things in peace.

#luly rants #long post

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kierongillen · 5 years ago

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Writer Notes: The Wicked + the Divine 44

Spoilers, obv.

I'm aware that this is either going to be a relatively short one or an epic one. The risk of the latter is that rather than just talking about the issue, for the first time I'm free to talk about the series as a whole, and so talk about some of those other choices. There'll be some of that, but it would warp the nature of the notes, and give some false perspective. I can talk about it being over now, sure, but talking about it all means I'm not talking about this element. Not least because I can't talk about it all – there's still the question of issue 45.

But still. There's a lot to talk about, and a lot of hard things in here to do. We knew where we going, but the devil is in the details. The devil's everywhere.

Jamie/Matt's Cover

Minerva finally gets her head-shot. I was a little worried that people would realise exactly what was happening to Minerva here, but I didn't see anyone realise she's falling, and speculate why. Of course, I knew what it was and couldn't not see it. That's how it works.

It's a striking last image though – this is an especially blank glance, in the middle of all the motion. Matt's pink/white nimbus is really powerful too.

Emma Rios/Miquel Muerto

Emma's one of our favourite artists, and we were so glad that we managed to get her before the end. Emma's always someone who gets this evocative drama of it all – this is obviously a momentous cover, but you don't know the moment until reading. Laura and Lucifer being a core relationship, and the hint of leaving. Miquel does strong, atmospheric things with the colours as well. It's a great cover to end the story on. On - Pretty Deadly is back on the same day as 45, and I can't wait. Gets!

IFC

In terms of minor things we did which have a big emotional effect, changing the gods' names to their human names was certainly one. It sits there and stings.

Page 1

This issue is particularly tightly wound, so we set the clock on the issue in this one page.

I had a couple of people wonder where the cops came from. I presume it's because the delay in publication – the "we have to go now because of woden's tape has revealed we're almost all complicit" is the only reason why they went for Minerva immediately.

For a page that's so tightly wound, Jamie does some great establishing here. Opening panel with the fire in top of Valhalla, to link to last issue. A shot with all these people in it – a character beat, and three extremely dialogue low panels.

Page 2

Riff on Better The Devil You Know.

The weird rhythm in WicDiv is the arcs-which-take-place-in-a-very-short-time and arcs-which-take-place-over-months. Faust act, Rising Action, Imperial Phase II, "Okay" are the over-a-short time. Fandemonium, Commercial Suicide, Imperial Phase I and Mothering Invention are the extended ones. The closest to one which does both is Faust Act, which spreads its action over a week or two.

Page 3

Lovely stuff in here with Jamie, in terms of character work – obviously this is Lucifer hamming it up, but seeing individual responses around the room is a hell of a thing. Minerva's a total mess here.

Valentine giving up clever insults at this point is probably a thing.

Page 4-5 "Bothersome" is a very Lucifer word. The expression in panel 2 is also key Lucifer – that eye-roll of it.

Laura's captions also arrive mid way through – key, as they're clearly going to be key. I was thinking of having them at the start of page 3 as well, but we can let us live in the moment.

Laura's performance tentacles is a lovely panel – seeing how Matt works the colours on the space. The blues fading to white, the reds. Honestly, this is making me miss working with Matt already, and seeing how good he and Jamie are together.

Callbacks here to Lucifer in the first arc – the cycle of it all.

"There were two girls in hell" makes me well up. |It's one of my favourite Jamie expressions in the issue.

Page 6-7

When planning the larger structure of WicDiv, I was aware that I made certain calls in hope I would be able to save people. The early "death" of the Heads was actually a way to protect them. I was aware that characters who were in play were far more likely to die, as they had more chances to do so. I knew I could likely save the heads, so by making them heads, I made it more likely.

I originally planned for Dionysus to die, but I couldn't bear it. His hubris was real, but the idea that someone could give so much without anyone really caring or doing something for him was too heart breaking, even for me. I realised during Rising Action that I could actually save him – the pieces were already in play, and I just had to lean into those relationships to lead to Baph's choices. At the start, I wasn't sure where Baphomet ended in year 4 – part of me thought he'd survive, as I didn't have that final beat for him at the start. That I didn't have a hard end for Baphomet always made him open to the story finding another purpose for him – which is an end which I can't imagine any other way now. WicDiv is an awful necessary machine.

That applied to Lucifer too. She was a darling, obviously, but she was always going to be trouble. Part of me was aware that she could come back and almost immediately get killed again. I'd like her to make it out, but it was possible she wouldn't.

So, as I said last time, when I realised she was the final opposition I was pleased – that was perfect to the themes and the structure.

I wrote in my synopsis that Laura uses a performance to touch Lucifer and convince her into renouncing her godhood, and left it at that.

There it sat until I came to script it.

Because, in all honesty, I had no idea how Laura was going to convince Lucifer to give up her godhood. I just trusted that there would be some way Laura could reach her. Or, really, I hoped there was – because I knew if I wrote something that didn't feel convincing to me, I wouldn't do the scene. Lucifer would have died instead.

So, the day came when I was scripting this sequence, and I started writing, and wondered what the performance would be, and I just wrote "Laura descends the Ananke head sequence and drags Luci back."

Then I leaned back, a little shocked, because that was clearly right, and so clearly fit with what the series does – a final deconstruction of one of our core visual icons, giving a new way to look at the sequence and think about it. It was just there. As if it was there all along. Or just the sort of thought that emerges when you've been obsessed over this fucking thing for five years.

I'm aware of the weird resonance as well – Laura's finding a performance to save a friend is me finding a performance to save a character. WicDiv was a weird book.

Jamie and Matt go to town, of course – the melting faces are just painful, and wonderfully done. The fleshy reds, the fires. How Clayton uses the captions across the page to play with pacing...

I originally suggested we do it completely as the WicDiv spread, with Laura crawling across the centre spread and making her way up – that it would be treating what is meant to be two columns as a space was decided to be too much, so instead we went with flipping to a subjective perspective on a space that we've only experienced from a single objective outside viewpoint. That's got magic too.

Page 8

A long time to get to this kiss, right?

We moved the dialogue around a little to nail some moments – we had the magic effect on the final panel so the transition to the next page wasn't too much.

The annoyance of Eleanor in the last panel is just my everything. I described it to Jamie by using a metaphor of me in my early thirties, having split up with an Ex, and torn between various places, including seriously wondering whether, after everything, the simple answer to my sexuality stuff was that I was just gay. How annoyed I would have been, after all those years, if it was that. Just a "Oh, FFS. I'm just gay! Why didn't I get that earlier? Why have I wasted all this time? What a fucking fool I am."

That.

Page 9

Repeat of core WicDivian imagery, turned to a different purpose. After these magificent godly reveals, we do this very normal world.

Yeah. This would have been a happy place to end the series.

Page 10

Laura wants to be better, of course. It's easy to say you want to do better.

A+ Cassandra-ing in the background there.

Page 11

Now, Minerva is dead in a few pages time, and she is a genuine monster, trapped in a system of her own making. But I didn't want to send her into the void thinking she had that horror awaiting her. I can't forgive her, but I can give her a little peace.

Title drop, of course, with a wonderful expression by Jamie. There's a lot here.

Okay, let's do this.

"Okay" is a phrase that's haunted WicDiv. We've come back to it multiple times – it's a fascinating word in the English language, and has caused problems for people translating it, in the mixture of ambivalence and optimism in it is really tricky. Clearly, we use everything inside the word.

It wasn't my Dad's last words, but it's the last exchange I remember with him. Everyone else was out, and I was helping him back to his seat. He says to me.

"Son, I know this is strange, but I can't help but think it's going to be okay."

And I can almost imagine my eyes bulging out of my head, as I wanted to howl at him: no, Dad. It really fucking isn't.

This comes up almost verbatim in the first arc, with the exchange between Laura and Lucifer before she breaks out. The series is about many things, but my Father's death was the core inspiration for it, and that "It's going to be okay" haunted me and it.

I don't think this is what my Dad meant, clearly, but it's how I've ended up metabolising it. I've been signing "It's going to be okay" when I sign Faust Acts, partially as it's the WicDiv phrase, partially as a secret-promise-that-they-won't-all-die-and-there-is-hope and partially because "When death comes, it's okay" is that buried in it. If I had to boil the book down to a sentence, it'd be it. It means different things depending how you look at it. That's all I've got.

Page 12

I talk about Solving The Equation of the third year, and Dio being in play for this section is absolutely part of it.

That first panel. I said that the cast were all people I'd have killed to be at various stages of my life. Umar is someone I try to be now. I don't succeed, but he's a worthy goal. Kind is not soft and all that.

While the silent panel is something you've all seen before, it's worth highlighting how good Jamie is. The favourite gesture of the scene is the eyes upwards of Cassandra – I don’t remember Jamie using this angle before, and it's really striking. I suddenly miss that I won't be working with Jamie again for a while. Have fun, Jamie. You were the best.

And now, this.

Page 13-14-15

"It would take a real monster to kill a kid" is one of those lines that have been sitting in the files since the beginning.

There was a fan artist in the WicDiv community early on who kept on doing these totally charming portraits of Baal and Minerva playing around in a big brother and little sister way. Every time I saw them, I felt both love for the art, and a sadness. "In four years time, you are going to have a terrible day."

That's one of the weirdest things of the last four years – that. Knowing that stuff is out there.

Looking at this at a little distance, I see the elements in – the standing on the edge, the "Please Don't" and all that. I sigh. This is awful and upsetting and that page turn is one of the hardest in the series. I wish Valentine would forgive himself, but he couldn't.

This is the sort of thing I want to write a lot about, and want to write nothing. I think I'll keep it as just the facts, in terms of trying to plot this.

Occasionally you get to a knot – I knew Valentine had to kill Minerva, that Valentine couldn't bear to live after that was done and that Minerva had to die after Baal gave up his powers. How to you put those three together, without introducing something else.

C asked "Where does it happen? Could it happen somewhere high?" and the rest was there. Falling being the repeating WicDiv image as well.

I think I pictures this actually side on, without the drop. Jamie's choice is better, just because of the eyes.

The three panels is something we're returned too, but choosing the distance was key. You know it's there, but I didn't want to revel in the dead bodies. This is a different kind of death to many of the ones in the book, and has to be treated as such. Any more blood than shows they're dead would be obscene.

I sigh again. I note that Matt does the lights on the guns perfectly, but I want to highlight craft. The shot of eveyrone waiting is a huge thing – Inanna's grief, Dio stepping in, and the crossed arms of Cassandra...

I think it was when I was plotting the second year at WicDiv that I realised that I couldn't see a way out of this which didn't involve the majority of the cast ending up in jail for a while. I was okay with that, as it made some sense. It's thematically resonant for a few ways – it's a choice which shows their acceptance of their acts, and their actual humanity as well as an understanding of their power, and lots more.

However, due to all the straight, white characters being dead, it does mean that a all-queer all-PoC-minus-Lucifer cast going to jail, in the current jail system. That said, while far from perfect, the UK is not the US. I don't think I could have written this ending in the US. Even in the UK, I safety-proof it conceptually as much as I can.

They are all queer, and almost all PoC... but they are also superhumans (and mostly rich.) They have a degree of power, and options which are not open to other people... and it is their one chance to try and navigate this space with no-one else (either them or other humans) getting killed. It's their last chance to act in good faith to the rest of the species.

I wouldn't trust the system if they were people without their resources. They're not. And this is the least-worst choice I can see.

I'm sure some of you will disagree with me on that.

More safety-proofing – Voluntuaryism is an anarchist idea. "The only true order is voluntary order" basically.

18-19-20

This is a lot of space for a sequence which is relatively minor dramatic weight, but as we segue towards the end, we want it to breathe a little. Plus there's the matter of the page turns – the previous interstitial was about pushing that as well, so both the "surrender" and Laura's final headshot are on a turn.

Matt's lighting in this sequence is wonderful – I said to Jamie that I was thinking of almost suggesting we're changing genre before Laura steps in. It's a "The special forces go after Batman" sort of sequence. I was thinking of the one from Batman: Year Zero, which is some top class special forces entering darkened environments.

Another moment of the weird-colouring-in-a-balloon, and the actually living in the moment.

Taking the guns is more safety-proofing, showing they are not acting in blind faith of the system. That Laura can take the guns also shows that Laura likely could walk out of prison any time she wants, and the rest will be able to do the same too.

(Not that the people in power know they don't presently have access to their big ones, of course.)

We originally has Cass shouting that final line, but had it much more matter of fact. This is kind of past shouting.

21-22

Yeah, this is calling back all manner of stuff. Back to the courtroom.

Jamie asked me a lot about the final expression, as is only right. This is a story where we've used head shots a lot, normally with pose. This is something else.

Worth noting that Laura couldn't be sentenced to life imprisonment. She's 18 so would be sentenced for "custody for life". Not that the story actually says what she's been sentenced to that either – we cut before the sentence is given. Don’t expect a firm answer to that in next issue either.

But they all have been sentenced to life, in the obvious metaphorical way. Laura has been depressed and self-destructive to the point of a death wish throughout. At the end, she's decided to try to live.

I count that as bitter sweet, and I count that as a win. I'm proud of her. I'm proud of them all.

I'm in tears now.

24-28

And we were when compiling the letters page. Thanks you lot.

Jamie and I both had really intense feelings about the final cover. It's clear why we've kept it secret (it gives away Laura survives) but to see this young woman we've been writing about older was incredibly moving.

Laura was 20 years younger than me at the start of WicDiv, and she's 20 years older than me at the end. Feeling suspended between the two poles, identically. The duality of it, one more time.

I love this cover so much, and I loved these characters, this book, you lot.

Thanks for reading.

#WicDiv #the wicked and the divine #Writer notes

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kaylorevidence · 6 years ago

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TS7 Era Masterpost

A masterpost dedicated to everything gay Taylor has done this in this era so far!

If you’re more interested in reading the version on my website, here’s the link to that as well.

Performing with Hayley Kiyoko (again) - December 5, 2018

As we all remember from the Reputation Era, during the tour Taylor brought Hayley out as a surprise guest.

In December the tables turned and Hayley brought Taylor out during her performance at the Ally Coalition Talent Show. It's an event centered around raising money for LGBT Youth.

They performed Delicate, which has been claimed by the gays (Taylor agrees). She was a happy bean, and everything was right in the world.

Also, this happened.

Surprising a Gay Couple - February 23, 2019

Taylor surprised Alex Goldschmidt and Ross Girard at their engagement party. Taylor sang King of My Heart for them as well!

ELLE Essay - March 6, 2019

For the US version of Taylor’s Elle article, she wrote about 30 things she’s learned in the last 30 (technically 29) years.

Here’s a quote that really stood out:

“We have to live bravely in order to truly feel alive, and that means not being ruled by our greatest fears.”

Sounds an awful lot like this part of her pride speech right?

“But it’s even more brave to be honest about your feelings and who you love when you know that that might be met with adversity from society.”

If you pay close attention to the numbers in the essay, the colors resemble the lesbian pride flag (different shades of red and pink). Here’s Taylor in her lesbian pride flag dress from tour too!

Rainbow Instagram Post – March 14, 2019

TEP Donation – April 8, 2019

Taylor donated $113,000 to Tennessee Equality Project, an organization that supports LGBT rights. Mike Curb from Curb Records also matched Taylor’s donation!

Single Announcement – April 13, 2019

Last October, Taylor posted this picture of her and Andrea playing Scrabble. Seems harmless right? Hahaha, no. This is Taylor Swift after all?? Fans speculated that because of the caption and the fact that National Scrabble Day is April 13th, that something would be happening that day. April 13th is also a day that was stamped on the calendar Taylor released.

Fans ended up being correct. On April 13th, Taylor announced that something (presumably a single) would be released on April 26th, 2019. April 26th also happens to be Lesbian Visibility Day. Coincidence? I think not. Here’s another post with tons of notes pointing out what day the 26th is as well. There’s no way Taylor didn’t know what day this was.

Yellow Suit & Rainbow Rings – April 14, 2019

Taylor posted a close up of what appears to be her in a yellow suit wearing two rainbow rings.

It was eventually noticed that Taylor was wearing the two rainbow rings on her ring finger on her right hand. Here’s a post explaining more about what that means. There’s been heavy speculation that her and Karlie are engaged (I’ve also gotten it confirmed 4 times) so Taylor wearing those rings on that ring finger is quite interesting.

TIME 100 Gala - April 23, 2019

While performing New Year's Day at the gala, Taylor very clearly sings "I want HER midnights" not once... But TWICE. It happens around the 21:15 and 21:58 mark. The second time is much clearer than the first, as it seems she worked up more courage throughout the song. Obviously this was important for many reasons!!

Other than this iconic moment, this is one of the clearest "hers" we've ever gotten from Taylor.

A few days later, the media started to pick up on it as well:

Vulture

“My personal favorite theory hails from the Kaylor shippers, the faction of Swifties that believes that Taylor Swift and her former BFF Karlie Kloss were romantically involved. The theory is that Swift has been dropping hints about her love for Karlie Kloss since the Reputation era. On Tuesday night, Kaylor shippers picked up on something crucial: During Taylor’s performance of “New Years Day” at the TIME 100 Gala, Swift seemingly changed the lyrics from “I want your midnights” to “I want her midnights” not once, but twice. “New Years Day” is the final track on Reputation, which, in theory, could segue into the “next chapter…”

Buzzfeed News

“Then when Swift performed at this year’s Time 100 Gala, she apparently switched the lyrics in her song “New Year’s Day” from “I want your midnights to “I want her midnights.”

Single Release - April 26, 2019

The song is about individuality, and the video is chock-full of rainbows. Here's a great analysis of the video. It's all very gay.

V Magazine Article - April 28, 2019

V Magazine wrote an article noting the queer undertones to the new single, and Taylor liked it on Twitter and Tree retweeted it.

ME! Lyric Video - May 1, 2019

A smaller nod to her queerness, but worth noting I think:

Entertainment Weekly Cover & Interview - May 9, 2019

On the cover, Taylor is seen wearing a pride pin. She also confirmed in her likes on Tumblr that it *is* a pride pin, shutting down any talk that it isn't. Taylor also liked this on Tumblr in support of her queer fans after the cover dropped.

As part of the spread, Taylor talked about how intoxicating, lovable and sexy Jodie Comer is as Villanelle in Killing Eve. Killing Eve is a show that revolves around Villanelle (a psychopathic assassin) and Eve (a MI6 agent) that are obsessed with each other. Taylor also talked about being obsessed with Killing Eve's creator, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, and talked about how she likes Fleabag (another one of PWB's shows). In an interview after the BAFTA's in May of 2019, Jodie said she ran into Taylor at the Globes earlier that year and that Taylor said she watched Doctor Foster, another show Jodie was in. Seems like Taylor binged all of Jodie's shows just like the rest of us. She's truly one of us!

On top of that, Taylor noted that she likes King Princess, a queer artist that makes explicitly queer music. Her latest single is called Pussy is God. That means that Taylor is familiar with King Princess, Hayley Kiyoko, and Kehlani (Taylor added Honey to a playlist).

Within the spread Taylor also said:

“This time around I feel more comfortable being brave enough to be vulnerable, because my fans are brave enough to be vulnerable with me. Once people delve into the album, it’ll become pretty clear that that’s more of the fingerprint of this — that it’s much more of a singer-songwriter, personal journey than the last one.”

Which is very reminiscent of her Pride speech from June of 2018 when she said:

“You guys, June is Pride Month, and I think a lot about how it’s very brave to be vulnerable about your feelings in any sense, in any situation, but it’s even more brave to be honest about your feelings and who you love when you know that that might be met with adversity from society…”

She also said something similar in her ELLE essay in March of 2019:

"We have to live bravely in order to truly feel alive, and that means not being ruled by our greatest fears."

Playlist by ME! - May 24 and May 31, 2019

Taylor created a playlist for Apple Music that included many LGBT artists explicitly singing about women. Here are a few of them:

Holy - King Princess (only on the first version)

Cheap Queen - King Princess

Back in My Arms - Carlie Hanson

Follow My Girl - The Japanese House

I Want to Live with You - Alex Lahey

When promoting her playlist using her animoji, she was wearing a sweater with a pride heart on it as well.

🌈HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!!!🌈- June 1, 2019

In kicking off pride month, Taylor took to Instagram to post a copy of the letter she sent Senator Alexander in regards to the Equality Act the House passed.

Within her letter and Instagram caption, she used language that appeared to include herself within the LGBT community. She proceeded to like these posts on Tumblr as well (x) (x) (x)

She also kicked the month off by donating to GLAAD!

#taylor swift #ts7 #masterpost

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sickwomantheory · 5 years ago

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Hedva’s Disability Access Rider

August 22, 2019

Over the last few years, I’ve received more and more invitations to speak and/or perform at arts and literary institutions (often internationally). In doing these events, I’ve learned a lot about my own capacity and how working with institutions tends to go. So that we can work together better, now, when I am invited somewhere, the first thing I do in response is send my Disability Access Rider.

Accessibility is just starting to take root in how institutions understand and work with disabled artists and communities. They’ve often never heard of “access intimacy” before, or if they have, they don’t know what it means in actual practice. I’ve found that my access rider is often the first of its kind that they've seen.

I decided to make my access rider public because many people have asked to see it, and I’ve heard from a range of folks—from other crip artists, to abled curators who want to work with us—that this document has been a useful model for them.

I welcome anyone who wants to use this as a template for your own rider, or to share with institutions who invite you to do stuff. And I invite anyone working within the institution to use it too. Please copy/paste and circulate!

—

Hedva’s Disability Access Rider

Thank you for inviting me to contribute to your event! I am disabled, so for me to be able to participate, I need support from my hosts. I also require the events I’m part of to be accessible to the disabled community.

This means that we’re going to have to embark on access intimacy together (if you don’t know what that is, please click here to read this article by Mia Mingus). Before I can commit to that process with you—and honey, it is a process!—please take a moment to read the below, and let me know how you can support each item. If you need more specifics about any component, ask me. I’m happy to clarify and assist where I can. If you can’t provide something on this list, let’s have a conversation about it. I am more interested in accessibility as something for which we work together, rather than a punitive standard I measure you against.

Below my requirements is a list of references that give more insight to where I’m coming from.

0. Money—

Access should not be funded solely by me, the disabled individual (e.g., taken out of my fee or production/materials/travel budget), but shared with the institution, and/or city, state, and/or federal funding. The fact that it is often funded by me, in more ways than just financial, signals how inaccessible the world is. Please join me in carrying this weight.

1. For scheduling—

I require all of the below to be confirmed and agreed upon by contract at least three weeks before the event takes place. Trust me, the more time there is to work out all the logistics, the better. Accessibility takes a really long time and it’s messy af!

(For the commission of new work, or an event that requires a more long-term relationship, we’ll need to have a conversation about time.)

I require at least 48 hours after arriving to acclimate before I can participate in any public events. I’ll need to fly home the day after the event.

2. For the entirety of the trip—

I require a care person to assist me. I cannot travel alone. I prefer to bring a care person with me, because we will already have a relationship and they will know what is needed. Their travel, lodging, food, and transportation must be paid for by the host, as mine are.

3. For air travel—

The flight cannot depart before 15:00. The airport cannot be more than one hour away from my house. Nonstop is preferred. If a layover must happen, it cannot be longer than two hours. I need to be picked up from, and taken to, the airport. I must have an aisle seat on the flight, because I use a cane. This has to be booked in advance. On transatlantic flights, I require an economy seat with extra leg room, premium economy, or business class. Depending on my health, sometimes I require wheelchair assistance at the airport. Please check with me about this before booking flights.

4. For lodging—

I require my own room, bed, and private bathroom in a non-smoking room that has a window. I prefer hotels to air bnbs. The lodging has to be a reasonable distance from where the event will take place. I require an elevator if there are more than two flights of stairs. I require meals to be paid for by my host. My food allergies/intolerances are: no nuts, seeds, shellfish, cephalopods.

5. For the event itself—

I cannot participate in anything before 16:00. I, and my audience, cannot sit for longer than 90 minutes without a 15-minute break. I require a dressing room/backstage area, and would not be bothered if fresh flowers appeared there. On the stage, I require a cushioned chair with a back for the entire event; I cannot stand.

6. For the accessibility of the event—

I require that the event take place in a wheelchair accessible space, no exceptions. I require every effort be made to provide both CART and sign language interpretation for the event; at least one of these has to happen. I require all-gender restrooms at the space. I require spaces to be as scent-free as possible (see reference below for more info). If someone makes an access request, I require that the hosts make every effort to provide it.

If you can’t provide what’s been requested, tell me with enough time before the event so that we can find a solution.

7. For the publicity of the event—

I require that the accessibility information of the event be posted with all materials that include my name. This includes information about parking, elevators, wheelchair and all-gender accessible restrooms, CART, and ASL interpretation during the event. Best practice is to be transparent and as detailed as possible about how the space is, and is not, accessible.

For example, if there is one step, anywhere in the space, say so and where it is, and if there are any additional routes. For example, if only CART is being provided and not ASL, say so. For example, if the parking is a five-minute walk, or a fifteen-minute walk, from the space, say so. For example, if the space must be kept at a noticeably cold temperature, as it is in most archives, say so (in this case, I’ve seen an institution provide blankets: a good idea!).

A contact email and/or phone number must be posted with all materials that include my name, in order for people to request specific access items.

8. For the documentation of the event—

I require open/closed captioning of all video documentation. I require textual image descriptions (alt text) for all photos posted online. I reserve the right to approve all final language published that includes my name. NOTE: I use they/them/their pronouns.

9. In case—

Because I have chronic illnesses, I may have to cancel the trip at the last moment if I have a flare. This doesn’t happen often, but it has happened. If there’s a way that I am able to participate remotely, I will.

10. For the future—

It would be so cool, and you’d make me and my friends and many others very happy, and you’d increase the attendance of your events by a lot, and you’d become a working part of building the kind of world that needs to be built, if you would follow this document not just for me, but for all your work in the future.

References—

Accessibility in the Arts: A Promise and a Practice, by Carolyn Lazard

Access Intimacy, and Crip Solidarity, by Mia Mingus

Access Docs for Artists website, by Leah Clements, Alice Hattrick, and Lizzy Rose (the resources listed there are for the UK)

Fragrance Free Femme of Colour Genius, by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

Thank you to Neve Mazique Bianco, Carolyn Lazard, Park McArthur, Constantina Zavitsanos, Amalle Dublon, and Jordan Lord for their support and feedback.

#johanna hedva #disability access

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scyllua · 5 years ago

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While chap.203 hasn't stirred that much of a reaction in the Japanese fandom as the previous chapter did, it prompted many fans to emulate Sugimoto's art style. Nothing of this comes as a particular surprise, as the chapter serves as sort of a recap of the events from vol.14 (the Abashiri Prison assault)... and because Sugimoto's drawing talent would be on par with his sniping skills.

The highlights of this chapter have to do with the confirmation of the Russian sniper's identity and goals and the hint at Noda pursuing the plotline regarding the Partisans. It was rather obvious who that Russian sniper was from the very moment he (re)appeared in the manga, but given this is Golden Kamuy and the weird things that have already transpired in the plot made me think it's a very crazy Meiji era the one they are living in, I'd rather wait for the author's clear confirmation on ANY matter before taking anything for granted. Let us not forget that, for starters, I think most of us had already assumed our Russian sniper pretty dead. We can always speculate, however, and this chapter leaves enough room to reflect on a certain other sniper (this one, Japanese and now one-eyed) and how soon (or not) he could make it back to the plot.

I should work on my summaries so they aren't that long. In the meantime and to everyone who had the patience to read my previous chapter post: thank you very much and fear not, for I have no random movie comments to make here! There should be some fan comments, of course, and the usual warnings about mistakes and mistranslations apply as well. Onto the fun of two amateur artists sharing their Ogata fanarts then!

In short, as no further shots are made, Tsukishima believes Sugimoto got to the sniper and Asirpa runs off to meet him. Meanwhile, Sugimoto and the sniper -now confirmed to be Vasily- overcome the language barrier by using the latter's hand-drawn pictures to explain to each other the circumstances in which they crossed paths/met Ogata. Upon the arrival of the rest of the group and after Asirpa recognizes Vasily as probably one of the men who ambushed them in the frontier, Tsukishima explains to him Kiroranke is already dead and they don't know about the current whereabouts of Ogata, their only purpose in Karafuto being finding Asirpa and going back with her. As a rather annoyed Shiraishi complains to Vasily for shooting him, it's revealed he can't speak because of the shot wounds he sustained. As Sugimoto's group resumes their journey, Vasily keeps following them on horseback from a distance. They deduce he's now keen on meeting Ogata again and engaging in another snipers' duel, and that he's sticking around convinced the wildcat will eventually come after them. Questioned by Asirpa, Sugimoto says as long as they're still looking for the Ainu gold, there's always the possibility of Ogata coming back; as per his motivations, Sugimoto adds it might be that Ogata is simply messing with them as opposed to being after an actual goal. In their way back, the group visits Svetlana's parents to hand them a letter she wrote; even though Sugimoto would rather search for Sofia and find out the truth, he understands their primary purpose in Karafuto has been fulfilled already. The chapter ends with Sofia meeting Gansoku and Svetlana in a port city in Russian territory. After exchanging a few hits, Sofia invites Gansoku to come with her, but he turns down the offering, stating he'll travel west with Svetlana. Sofia then states she'll go to Hokkaidou in pursue of their hope... and revenge.

Ever wondered why streets are always so conveniently empty whenever there's a chasing or a shooting going on? I have, even if my question is probably answered in the same question already (because... they're so conveniently empty: easier to describe, draw or animate, and with a minimum of casualties, as well!) In any case, and even though our group seemed to be the only bystanders at the time the shooting began, there's now the usual traffic and activity you'd expect in a town street. In fact, a man in a sled is just walking down the street when, alerted by Koito and Tsukishima not to come that way or otherwise risk being shot, he good-naturally asked what the soldiers are doing. Tsukishima comments it seems as though Sugimoto has already done his magic, ie. he did what he's best at (hint: it isn't sniping or drawing, as we'll see in this chapter), and Asirpa runs off to meet him.

Here follows some good 4 pages of Sugimoto and Vasily proving the language barrier isn't an hindrance when it comes to relatively difficult tasks, such as explaining the events from vol.14 up to that point or how both of them have survived being shot in the head by the same sniper. It turns out Vasily has made enough drawings of Ogata to start his own Pixiv account -putting aside the fact that he's one century ago from that website being created-; actually, Vasily could begin posting full illustration logs, as he even took the care and time to draw the wildcat sporting different expressions, including one smiling. I'm suspecting he might have more study sketches of Ogata in the fiction than author Noda in the real world. This would pose a question for me: just how well could he see Ogata during their snipers' duel? In the extended passage as it was compiled in vol.17, they do spend many hours watching and studying each other... but let us not forget that Ogata's face was obscured in such a way, Vasily couldn't tell for sure where it was him or not. Well, following last chapter's caption at the end, I'm just going to assume here Vasily has nothing short of a photographic memory, sharpened to perfection through his sniping skills, and that he could commit to memory the features of a man he only seemed to have caught fleeting glimpses of partly because the wildcat is unforgettable. Being shot can arise that kind of reaction in people, after all. Going back to the chapter, and given the amount of Ogata portraits he has, Sugimoto asks him whether he's been requested to find him -bounty hunter-style, we may speculate-, but then Vasily uses some of his many (MANY) drawings to explain he went into a showdown with Ogata... and lost. This chapter's title could be translated as "portrait" (似顔絵, nigaoe), though its exact meaning would be more in the lines of a "drawn sketch/picture of a face". Why, yes, a portrait indeed, only that the term in Japanese suggests it isn't as precise as a taken photograph, but a close enough depiction.

I'm always making jokes and complaining about the cast in this manga being so prone to trust in others no matter what terms they might have been on in the past, but I have to admit that being able not to hold grudges, apart from preventing bitterness and anxiety in addition to other negative feelings, also helps greatly when it comes to pace the story forward. Remember how Sugimoto was about to kill Vasily in the best of Friday the 13th traditions (only that less bloody I might presume, given this is still a seinen manga and not a R-rated story), all of this happening in the previous chapter, 7 days ago in real time, 2 pages prior in the manga, like 10 seconds previously in the story's timeline? Well, let's put aside all that negativity for the sake of a couple of souls bonded by the same sniper (different bullet obviously, same rifle and all) sharing an artistic moment.

In addition to their fanboying over Ogata -for the wrong reasons, though, as they'd be both after the wildcat to settle some scores-, Sugimoto and Vasily manage to summarize the manga from vol.14 up to that point, using their respective drawings to explain to each other the events. "Explaining to each other" wouldn't be a wrong statement in this case because they do appear to be understanding the other quite well through the drawings, some gesturing, and the usefulness of somatic language, even though Vasily doesn't seem to know Japanese (as he's puzzled at Sugimoto's questions). When he produces drawings of Kiroranke, Shiraishi and Asirpa, Sugimoto explains to him the latter two aren't related to the Partisans: the bad guy here, no doubt about it, is Ogata, as he emphatically conveys by hitting his portrait with his fist. Now in quite the roll because Vasily is assimilating the ideas very fast (as he also hits Ogata's portrait), Sugimoto then explains he was also shot by the wildcat... and reveals his artistic sense might be on par with his sniping skills. ...and while I'll keep joking about his awful aiming until the day he finally manages to shoot anything down -as opposed to pummel or pierce it with his rifle or affixed bayonet-, I won't make much fun of his artistic capabilities because, I'm afraid, he might draw better than I. As I state in my blog's sidebar, I color manga panels partly because I can't draw a straight... or crooked... line for the love of it.

Sugimoto explains Ogata was in cahoots with Kiroranke -and as well as the readers, he doesn't how for how long-, shot him in the head in Abashiri Prison and then ran away taking Asirpa with him. Unlike their previous exchange, I can deduce Vasily didn't get a single word of any of it, as he mistakes Sugimoto's drawing of himself for a spider. And I must confess it took me some time to realize Sugimoto drew himself being shot: those tendril-like things sticking out of his head -that Vasily takes for a spider's legs, it seems- are meant to show the bullet's trajectory when impacting him. A parenthesis here: Let's just check Sugimoto's drawing of Ogata running away on horseback. I don't pretend to make fun of it, but I still find quite the noteworthy detail that he draws Ogata with an arrow sticking out of his right eye, and not sparing even the lock of hair that frames his face. Or at least, I'm assuming that's a lock of hair on Ogata's head. The caption Sugimoto writes in katakana reads, "Ogata escaped". That scene, may I add, has been a fan favorite -mine included- and a source of inspiration for many works in the Japanese fandom. Some speculative fanworks have to do with the circumstances Ogata runs away, and thus some fans have posed quite the questions, ranging from where he got that horse, to whether it didn't hurt too much to ride it in such conditions as, you might remember, he was wearing a hospital gown only and had no underwear to speak of. If you take a closer look at the panel, however, you'll notice Ogata is carrying a sack when he's riding away, implying he managed to gather his belongings and probably a couple more things for the road, and thus wouldn't be dying on us due to exposure or some painful horse riding to wherever it was he ran away .

Back to our amateur artists (because I'm assuming Vasily's main occupation revolves about being a sniper... with an eidetic memory for faces and some outstanding artistic talent as bonus) and resuming his recapping of the latter half of the manga and unabated by the debatable poor reception his drawing skills might be getting, Sugimoto explains Asirpa involuntarily shot an arrow that hit Ogata in the eye. Here comes a short passage -it's a single panel, in fact- that killed my Japanese pretty dead, so I wouldn't risk a translation of it... though I think, it seems to me, I could grasp that blah blah etc. etc., Sugimoto further and quite lively states Ogata's death would have "stained" Asirpa -meaning, would have dirtied her hands-, and thus he saved the wildcat because he'd do anything in his power to keep everything surrounding her pure for her sake. The actual word in Japanese he uses is 綺麗 (kirei), which you might know as meaning "cute" and "pretty", but it can also be understood in the sense of "clean", "pure" or "neat." Given Sugimoto literally uses 汚い (kitanai), "dirty", "unclean" or "foul" (used as a verb in this case) to describe how Ogata's death would have impacted Asirpa, I'm going with "pure" in my previous sentence. ...I'm aware my explanation of Sugimoto's statement makes it sound as though he's belittling saving Ogata, but I can reassure you that his lines are way more poetic and moving: it's just that my Japanese -and my English, come to that- is just that lacking, sorry about this! The scene is more moving because Asirpa arrives at the precise moment to hear Sugimoto's words, but he doesn't notice her.

The rest of the group arrives and cuts off Sugimoto and Vasily's artistically driven moment of plot exposition, though. And now, please allow me to state that God bless Tsukishima for being himself, acting as the sane man every story needs, accompanying the group in this journey, and knowing Russian, not in that particular order: I'm 100% convinced this manga wouldn't progress half as smoothly as it does weren't he around. And Tsurumi and Koito wouldn't be probably around either if he didn't have that presence of mind and swiftness of action, specifically when projectiles and explosions are involved. After Asirpa says she thinks Vasily was part of the group of men that ambushed them in the frontier, Tsukishima explains to him Kiroranke is already dead and Ogata ran away, his whereabouts unknown to them. Their only purpose in Karafuto was to find Asirpa and go back with her, he adds, and they have nothing to do with the Czar's assassination by the Partisans. Vasily says nothing in the metaphorical sense, as he keeps quiet and seems to accept the explanation. Now, and I've already written above, I've always complained about the GK cast for being this trusty and, let's say, think nothing of the repeated risk of a headshot by accepting in their ranks a traitorous character who left their previous party after shooting a couple people in the head, but I have to admit yet again the characters being this quick to understand, accept and come to terms with practically anything and everything does help move forward the plot. Very much so.

I wrote Vasily said nothing in the metaphorical sense because it's revealed -just as we were speculating- he can't speak due to the shot wounds he sustained during his duel with Ogata. Once outside, Shiraishi complains to him about shooting him; when our Escape King snaps whether he doesn't have anything to say or it's just that Russians don't know how to apologize (he literally asks whether there are no words for apologizing in Russian), Vasily shows him his face, prompting a reaction in Shiraishi that might make readers grateful we aren't shown the state of his lower face. Sugimoto comments at that moment he might not be able to speak due to those wounds. I was also wondering whether Vasily knew or at the very least could grasp a little Japanese. It seems to me he might not after all, as there are some panels throughout the chapter that show him with an interrogation mark -indicating he isn't understanding- when Sugimoto was talking to him. In the above panels as well, Tsukishima seems to be translating Shiraishi's complaints for him.

Just before the group resumes their journey, Shiraishi tells Vasily -in not so kind words- to go back to Russia, but he's shown to keep following them from a distance. Shiraishi ponders whether he doesn't believe Kiroranke is already dead, but Asirpa points out he used the back of Kiro's wanted poster to make some of his drawings, leading her to conclude he isn't interested in the latter anymore. As discussed by the our main protagonist trio, it seems Vasily is sticking to them under the belief they'll eventually cross paths with Ogata; as Sugimoto puts it, given he's still alive, he considers their snipers' duel to be not finished (I suppose a more poetic way to put it would be, "as long as he draws breath, he can keep fighting"). The immortal also thinks there's always the possibility of Ogata coming after them because of the Ainu gold, prompting Asirpa to wonder if that's actually his goal: let us not forget he showed quite the intent to kill her (chap.187) and thus, eliminate the one person who holds the key to solving the tattoo puzzle. A somewhat serious and pensive Sugimoto comments it might be that Ogata... is simply messing or toying around with them. Cue a full-page panel depicting a lynx (in Japanese, an ooyamaneko) crossing the path in the snowy forest. (I should point out I'm assuming it's a lynx because of its ears, making it very similar to the one shown in chap.169, vol.17.)

A not-so-random fan comment here: I always refer to Sugimoto as not being the sharpest knife in the drawer. Actually, I'd say he's the kind to smash the drawer against a wall and use the sharpest fragments of it to cut open whatever it is he might need cut, even if I'm compelled yet again to admit his approach, while not the most strategically planned, tends to work. But he also seems to be quite understanding of others in addition to his natural kindness, and it comes as not much of a surprise then that he could be the person with the better grasp at Ogata's personality. Or the only person who might have any grasp on it at all, in any case. I must say my opinion of Ogata's character pretty much coincides with that of Sugimoto as he stated it in chap.196 and now in this chapter: specifically, that Ogata doesn't have a particular motivation to act as he does (apart from being driven by the most negative and dangerous of his traits, of course). I think his character isn't meant to have any specific motivations or goals other than being chaotic for the sake of it; however, as Noda has given a background to every single recurrent and relevant character in the manga and spares no revelations for some of them no matter how far into the plot we might be (the most recent flashback regarding Koito's past should be an example), I can't discard the possibility of the author having in store some plot twist or equal revelation about Ogata.

Given Sofia is the only one who knows the truth now (I'm assuming here Sugimoto thinks Ogata might have sided with Kiroranke for a reason that lies with the Partisans' intentions), our immortal comments he'd liked to look for her. He's aware, though, that Tsukishima and Koito's mission was to find Asirpa and get back with her to Hokkaido, whereas Tanigaki joined in the entourage for the sake of the girl as well and thus, they should have no reason to pursue other ends at the time. They still stop by the lighthouse to hand Svetlana's letter to her parents, and just as the manga implies they won't be going after more subplots, Asirpa points out Sofia was planning to reunite with her comrades in the continent and then go back to Japan: she wouldn't just run away to Europe after everything that just happened.

Right in cue, Sofia meets Gansoku and Svetlana in a port town in Russia. Just as Gansoku seemed to be involved in yet another cathartic moment pummeling around men who can't put a dent on him, he's challenged by Sofia but refuses, stating he only fights other men. He's quick to change his mind and declare the world does have many surprises in store ("The world is so wide!") after Sofia not only punches him, but manages to get in quite the equal grounds with him. This yet again poses another question for me: given Gansoku is one of the toughest men in this story -in the strictest physical sense at the very least: we can't forget everything Nikaidou has gone through the manga, after all-, how come Sofia can beat him so badly? The obvious answer would be that Sofia happens to be just that tough -or the toughest woman of the Meiji era-, but since this is a Shueisha and a Jump-published manga, I also want to believe she might be using Haki to hit that hard. Just as Nami in One Piece, her blows manage to harm a man's heart and soul.

Before their fight can further escalate (but after Sofia has pulled off the almost obligatory Rip Open my Shirt scene, only that she isn't exactly wearing a shirt and the scene isn't that common when female characters are involved because of censorship), Svetlana intervenes and stops them, saying it'll be quite the problem for her if Sofia kills her bodyguard. Implying here she was at least sure of what the outcome of the fight would have been. The three of them have a talk then and Sofia invites Gansoku to join her, but he turns down the offer and explains both he and Svetlana intend to make their way to the west, to the cities where a larger population means a larger possibility to find stronger people (to beat the **** out of them in more cathartic instances, I'm presuming). As Svetlana asks Sofia where she's planning to go now, she replies that she's going to Hokkaido... for their hope and revenge.

I should note I'm not including any more panels of Sofia in this chapter because I'm assuming Tumblr would flag this entry otherwise. I was never told why they put my blog "under review" when I barely had any posts on it, so my best guess has to with an entry I wrote explaining about the terrorist groups that operated in my country. I made that post partly because to poke some fun at Sugimoto's wielding a hammer and a sickle in chap.145 (vol.15), and how that would have been merited a ban for this manga were some conservative Congressmen in my country to see the panels (the largest terrorist group operating in my country originally followed the Communist ideology). Well, as Sofia begins exchanging blows with Gansoku, she uncovers her torso and her breasts remain visible for the rest of the chapter, even when she's speaking with him and Svetlana in the freezing Russian landscape. Her breasts are so big, they cover part of the chapter's title in the last page... making me suspect Tumblr could flag this entry just because her nipples are equally big.

Some (more) fan comments on this chapter: The story is unfolding as I'd anticipated in a very broad way, as it seems Vasily will stick around with the group for at least some more chapters. While none has proposed an alliance, I don't think any will have any inconvenience cooperating with each other as long as their goals align: even if it's true Sugimoto's group isn't that elated at the possibility of meeting Ogata again, they're obviously expecting to cross paths with him in the future, and extra help is always welcomed. Specially if things come to a sniper against another sniper, I'd say: the manga is hinting at another confrontation between Vasily and Ogata. After all, Noda is a noteworthy narrator and all of his plot elements turn out to be relevant (even those related to food and cultural traditions which could have been seen at first as more trivia-informative to the reader than important to the plot), so I don't think he brought Vasily back to the story for no reason. Or just to show off Vasily's artistic talent, in any case, * ahem *. The plot would still have to take shape, but it seems to me all elements are aligning so that Noda can solve several pending subplots: Vasily's reappearance can tie up with the plot regarding the remaining member of the Partisans trio, Sofia, and also provides the proper scenario for Ogata to make it back to the story. It'd be a viable, solid and swift way to focus in the current open subplots before focusing on the main premise of the Ainu gold in Hokkaido.

I'd just speculate then about how soon the subplots would meet a resolution. I'm wondering whether we'll see the rest of this arc taking place in Karafuto, as Sugimoto's group has already made their way back to its southern region, whereas Sofia is in Russian soil, but making her way to Hokkaido. If Vasily doesn't have any trouble with following them to Hokkaido -given he's already in Japanese soil-, then I see no reason as to why the action might not unfold in the island that is the main stage of this manga, but I'm thinking this arc could wrap up while the group is still in Karafuto. We'd need to see at least one more chapter to see how things progress from this point on; unless Noda suddenly feels like jumping back to Hokkaido and showing us what Hijikata has been up to since vol.18 and whether Tsurumi reunited with his men already, with the arc “introduction“ over and the situation laid out to both the cast and the readers, chap.204 should serve as the starting point for the resolution of the current subplots.

My last fan comment of the entry has to do with Vasily. While I'm happy to see him back in the plot and sticking to the protagonist cast for the time being (and hoping he stays in the plot and with the cast for at least the remainder of this volume), his personality as shown in the current events has caught my attention. I wouldn't say he's that different or plain out-of-character in comparison to his first appearance in vol.17, but it's also true he now acts carefree enough as to join Sugimoto in a fanart-sharing moment, and is more emotional as opposed to his cool-headed demeanor during the ambush in the frontier. And adding to his minor hairstyle change, he also looks more youthful now, even if the only we get to see of his face are his eyes. We'd need to see more of him in upcoming chapters to have a better grasp at his character... but if you'd ask me, I'd say Noda has made some changes to his personality, or rather, is shaping his character in a different, though not drastic, way. Why? Well, it seems to me Vasily would fit our protagonist cast and all the weird things bound to happen in this convulsed Meiji era just fine and even better now; in comparison, the group he first appeared as part of acted colder, more focused and serious. Until we see more of him, I'm just going to assume Noda decided to give his character another direction because Tsukishima was plenty of a sane, serious man for the group. Any more sane men in the same group at the same time and I might begin doubting what happened to this manga.

#golden kamuy #fan talk

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borisbubbles · 5 years ago

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Eurovision 2010s: 195 - 191

195. Ilinca ft. Alex Florea - “Yodel it” Romania 2017

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[2017 Review here]

Is this a shock boot? Well, “Yodel it” kind of slaps but it’s not without its problems, sadly enough. It’s one of those over-the-top, ridiculous genre fusion entries that sap your fucking soul if overexposed to their overpowering loudness. Fortunately, I didn’t listen to “Yodel it” for over a year, so I’m fully able to embrace it shittasticness. “Yodel it” is a geiser of mirth in a fruity folk/schlager package. It has a silly, but relatable message about burn-outs buried underneath mounds of yodeling and a language that vaguely approximates coalminer’s English <3 It’s not a song that I would listen to on repeat (which is something I greatly care about), but it slaps. However, the best part of this entry has to be dynamic between Alex and Ilinca. You know how the greatest ESC duo’s of our time, such as ZalaGasper and The Common Linnets had amazing onstage chemistry. Illinca and Alex, otoh-

- actually have so little chemistry it circles back into hilariousness .There’s a strong sexual undercurrent here, where it’s clear that Alex is desperately trying to get into Ilinca’s lederhose panties and she is 100% not interesting in doing anything non-platonic with this insectoid creep. This nomance’s glorious conclusion came during Selectia Nationala 2018, the Ilinca-fronted jury mercilessly shived Alex’s song in the heats. True love really runs deep, y’all~

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194. Victor Crone - “Storm” Estonia 2019

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MORPH! I’ve actually somewhat warmed to Victor and I don’t feel the least bit sorry!🤭 Naturally, the song is still counterfeit Aviicii material that should be pulverized underneath a hydraulic press.

However, somewhere between the semifinal and grand final I realized that Victor, the arguably the Whitest Dude in the history of White Dudes (you know the type: handsome dopey face, no discernible personality, offensively inoffensive, leather jacket, guitar, the Lisa Rinna hair, handkerchief hanging from the belt), was middle-aged spinster catnip, resulting in a sudden, hilariously bloated televote score for a song that was ignored on both Youtube and Spotify <3

And I’m, sorry but that’s just hysterical to me. The idea that, out of the myriad of hot guys in this year, the catladies fainted in droves for Victor is beyond hilarious. It’s fucking hysterical. Older women and nobody fucking else.🤣 Did I mention his surname is the poetically appropriate “Crone”? MILK THAT CAREER OF SINGING AT RETIREMENT HOMES, MY SWEET WHITEBREAD PRINCE! MILK IT TO THE LAST NOTE!!!

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193. Moje 3 - “Ljubav je svuda” Serbia 2013

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Speaking of catnip, “Ljubav je svuda”’s trinity of campy drama, female-fronted trash and ethnobop is a trap for the unassuming Eurovision-obsessed homosexual. Naturally, upon selection many, myself included, instantly started the pyramid-building and human sacrifices at the altar of Moje 3 and their hilariously literal interpretation of shoulder angels. 🤭 Sadly, for some fucking reason, Serbia decided to dress them like Indonesian fertility demons and it all fell apart as a mildly amusing, but utterly NOT-wigsnatching hot mess. 🙄 Is it unfair to blame NevenaBore for the floppage? Well, considering that Mirna single-handedly carried the song and Sara is a facial expressions goddess...

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192. Anmary - “Beautiful Song” Latvia 2012

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Welp I guess I lied when I said I wasn’t cutting Anmary soon, lmfao. 😂 Anmary’s placement on the list appeared a lot further away in the spreadsheet, don’t @ me!!!

Like Moje 3, Anmary was a force of hilarity upon her selection. NF Beautiful Song is.. a thing of beauty. It’s unfiltered Baltic INSANITY at its peak. Sharing this wonderful caption with you because it’s too iconic to hold back:

Beyond the general cheesy schlager we find on display: crazy eyes, unfathomable hubris, a dress change from an ugly dress into an even uglier dress, terrible ‘English’ (omg the Mick Jagger line, kills me every time. “JAGGERMICK”😂 holy fuck i am deceased. Refering to him as if he’s like.. the antagonist of a Lewis Caroll novel <3) it has the full fusedmarc package!!!

Un-very-fucking-fortunately, Latvia decided to lather Beautiful Song up with the Dettol brush and the end result was... still pretty funny, lol? It served some ~Real Housewives of Daugavpils ~ realness, with its cocktail party-chic aerobics as Anmary’s disaster notes echoed through the void of the Crystal Arena.

However, it was significantly less funny than the original, which is killing for an entry whose entire appeal rests on its hopeless, cheesy incompetence. At least she got a call from the Jaggermick out of it~ ________________________________________________________________

191. SuRie - “Storm” United Kingdom 2018

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[2018 Review Here]

Storms don’t last forever, remember~

You’d be inclined to believe that SuRie ranks this high ONLY because of spillover sympathy due to the stage invader and well... that certainly DID factor in my final ranking. Not everyone is able to recover from *that* blatant display of FUCKING ASSHOLERY as unscathed as ms Susanna Marie Cork did. What a inspiring display of professionalism.

However, by that time I had already warmed to “Storm” itself, whoops! You see, as generic as “Storm” is (are “Storms” the new “Shines”?), SuRie is one of those performers that just has tonnes of natural charisma and manages to brighten any shitty song by her mere presence. 🤗 That she turned that stage invasion into a moment of self-empowerment is only the cherry on top of the sundae. BRING HER BACK BBC!!! She may not be the artist the UK deserve, but it’s artists like her that they need.

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#Eurovision #Eurovision Song Contest #United Kingdom #Latvia #Serbia #Estonia #Romania #Ilinca #Alex Florea #Yodel It!#Victor Crone #Storm #Moje 3 #Ljubav je svuda #Anmary #Beautiful song #SuRie

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