#love mashing two shows together to create an amalgamate

[biscuit-munchies]

cheeky Jimmy doesn't come out too often, but when he does he comes in swinging.

[kitauthor]

Finding synergy between being a technologist and a word weaver

In technology, there's a dichotomy between those who are "computer people" and those who don't consider themselves technologically inclined. Among the authors I speak with, this usually leads to their brushing away opportunities or systems for their business (and if you claim it on your taxes, then it's a business) rather than dealing with the frustration. However, I've found that as an author technologist, I'm discovering that technology has the ability to enhance my creativity, to make my job as a word weaver easier, rather than more difficult. And I say that as someone who works in technology who has been known to laugh, shrug my shoulders, and say "It's a computer. Turn it off and back on again and see if that works." Now, I'm not talking about AI or autocomplete/automatic suggestions, or any thing that does the work for us. I believe that work created by actual humans, rather than mashed together from an amalgamation of different works and then spit back out by a computer, will always be superior. Sure, about half the time the suggestion that Word or Gmail gives to complete a sentence is correct, but it's not because I'm working on some fiction story or great magnus opus. Instead, the fact that Google can complete a sentence is because we say, "I look forward to hearing from you" or any number of benign, repeatable, throwaway phrases, thousands of times a day. So when you start to type "I look..." into your email, Google says "aha, I know what that's going to say" and finishes it for you. An author technologist is someone with a passion for technology, who uses it to help themselves make the business side of their writing easier. There's a synergy between the creativity of finding a specific software solution (For example, I'm currently experimenting with and on the hunt for open source website analytics, to get my data out of the hands of Google.) and the creativity needed to sit down and write this blog post, or get another 1000 words on one of my many WIPs. Being a word weaver doesn't just mean print, or digital text, either. For me it's part of my work hosting the shows on the MuseCharmer Network and finding technology, like the platform I use to distribute our podcasts, that works best for me and helps me to own all my data and processes. It may seem odd to find someone who is as much a technology coach and virtual assistant as they are a creativity coach, but to me, the two go hand-in-hand. I'd love to hear your thoughts about this. How do you use technology to stay more creative? Read the full article

[hnybnny]

properly introducing my main fanservants!!!

LOTS OF PHOTOS/ART AND SUCH UNDER THE CUT BUT LIKE,,,, THIS IS JUST. A QUICK INTRODUCTION. TO MY PRIMARY SERVANT BASTARD CHILDREN- (in order of appearance; Sebastian Moran, John Watson, Enola Holmes, Columbia, Thomas Edison (True), Nicolas Flamel, Captain Stormalong, Edgar Allan Poe)

Feel free to hop in my ask box if you wanna talk about them or have any questions!!! Thank you for reading ily- 

Colonel Sebastian Moran (Assassin)

My primary servant OC by far! Professor James Moriarty’s chief-of-staff and right hand man- the second most dangerous man in London, after the Napoleon of Crime himself. Nicknamed ‘Basher’ or ‘Tiger Jack’, among others..

Moran is- or was- the most skilled marksman in the British Army, before he was dishonorably discharged. There are only a handful of men on the face of the continent able to shoot as well as he. As well as being an unnaturally skilled shot, he is a devoted sportsman and big-game hunter, and has notoriously tangled with tigers by himself in India- a predator that rather aptly describes the man himself. He authored two books, and his feats are still legendary in India, where his record 'bag of tigers' still goes unmatched. Although his outwards appearance was that of a respectable London gentleman and honorable military veteran, he gained a reputation in the evil underworld and was recruited by James Moriarty, serving as his 'chief of staff' of his criminal empire as well as his personal assassin for jobs that required his peculiar skill with a rifle.

The man is, as one Chaldean staff member puts it, a 'stone-cold badass'. He has a nerve of iron, and is vehemently loyal to both Professor Moriarty and his Master. He lives for danger, and the thrill that comes with 'kill or be killed' situations. Moran is also extremely easy and obvious to read- smiling 'like an idiot' when happy, and 'frowning like thunder' when angry. He does rather enjoy killing people, and is overall a man of few morals (although still having more than the Professor)- which, paired together, is what led to his leave from the military as he's practically a walking example of the 'Colonel Kilgore' trope. The more challenging the kill, the more enjoyment he gets out of it. As a strange upside, Moran has no illusions of how he's a right bastard.

"Ask anyone who knew me in the army, and you'll hear the same things about Basher: tiger in the field, bounder in the mess; a good man to have your back, but a bad man to show your back to; trust him with a fight, but not your sister, your wallet, or a deck of cards."

His Noble Phantasm, which represents his unmatched skill with a rifle, is called  BEBR DER KHANH KHALI - Persian for ‘the tiger in the empty house’. 

The bullet shot is, unlike others, a specially-made expanding revolver bullet which makes Moran unable to be likely linked to the kill. Much like a ghost or a tiger stalking its prey, he is completely silent in his attack, and the target can never see him coming before they're already dead- and just as quickly he is gone, seemingly disappearing into thin air without a trace.

No matter the conditions or distance, as long as Moran can see his target in some way- whether by the naked eye or through his scope, or perhaps in some other manner- his shot is guaranteed to hit its mark with deadly accuracy.

Also, if you find him not wearing his coat, it’s probably because he gave it to Jack. He loves knife child. They deserve proper clothes.

(source: amon-sheep on twitter)

(source: manalmmune on twitter)

[[LINK TO HIS CHAPTER IN MY FANSERVANT FIC]]

--

Doctor John Watson (Caster)

The famed Boswell and best friend of the great detective himself. Aman who is most like his traditional origin, as opposed to the heavyset comedic figure modern media tends to make him out to be- aka the Watson that is described by Doyle as a former rugby player, an army man, and popular among the fairer sex due to his handsomeness, intelligence, and charm. 

He quickly becomes a proper ‘fatherly’ figure in Chaldea and especially to Master, due to his big dad energies, despite never having the chance to be a father in his life. Chaldea also appreciates finally having a proper doctor that isn’t a Berserker or... whatever’s going on with Ascelpius. Watson is Holmes’s life compass, the loyal companion always by his side who balances the detective out. 

Although he’s a caster, he also wields his trusty wartime revolver, and is curious in that, unlike most casters, he has one offensive Noble Phantasm- it’s his secondary, and his primary ‘Conductor of Light’ crystallizes Watson's role as a 'whetstone' for Sherlock Holmes's mind and unmatched stimulator of his famous flatmate's genius. As Holmes himself summarizes, “It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but that you are a conductor of light. Some people without possessing genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it.” This Noble Phantasm is purely supportive, serving to bring out the absolute best in an ally- whether it be manifested in power, magic, or inspiration- and temporarily unlocking a vast wealth of potential that they might not have even known they had. The exact limitations or bounds of it is not known, as it can seemingly extend in purpose as far as Watson or his Master might need it to in a given situation- able to provide buffs, grant moments of unmatched mental clarity or courage, and even unlock hidden abilities and Noble Phantasms if the moment is dire enough. His secondary NP is one he rarely uses, and hates to do so, because of the bad memories it dredges up- called ‘The Reichenbach Solution’, it creates a reality marble recreation of Reichenbach, with the roaring waters and a single shot from Watson himself sending the enemy tumbling off the falls to their demise. 

Watson was old friends with Moran in the army, and reconnect during their time in Chaldea (despite Holmes and Moriarty’s protests), and he also joins the ‘author squad’ and spends much time with them. He is a rational man and sturdy as they come, always there when needed; whether it be to patch up wounds, help solve mysteries, or to help Master deal with all the mental trauma from their adventures (because holy shit they need HELP-). Also Also he probably just straight up adopts Mash, he and Holmes are her new gay dads.

(source: gomooink on twitter)

--

Enola Holmes (Ruler)

If Sherlock is the representation of all great detectives, then the teenage Enola Holmes is the representation of all female sleuths. Originally far too weak to be a servant- her source material being extremely modern (Enola Holmes series by Nancy Springer), she contains the essence of the great detectives of the fairer sex, but most importantly of two Divine spirits- Athena and Persephone (not Ma’at, despite what the image says-), both Greek goddesses. Athena is the dominant of the two, and a maternal figure to Enola, while Persephone is content just to sit back and enjoy the ride.

The younger sister of Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes (and sometimes, the mysterious elder sibling Sherrinford), Enola is much like her more famous brother- similar in lanky stature and physical features, including the prominent hawk-like nose. She is plain in appearance but behind bright eyes hides an intelligent, clever mind, albeit a stubborn and hard-headed one. She is a rebel at heart, resisting the efforts of society to shove her into the mold of a perfect subservient Victorian woman. Enola often uses being underestimated due to her sex and age to her advantage, and, like Sherlock, is quite adept at the art of disguise. With her Spirit Origin also containing figures like Nancy Drew and Miss Marple, Enola is a talented private investigator with a knack for seeing things from angles that other’s can’t- like that of a woman.

Also yeah, she gay. Keep scrolling. She would like to hold hands with Mash very much. 

(enola w/ her brother mycroft; source, dewa-chan)

(concepts for her ascensions, mostly cemented, again courtesy of dewa-chan who i owe my life to always and forever-)

--

Columbia (Ruler)

The Divine Servant calling herself Columbia is a complex individual. At face value, she is the personification of the United States of America, often visualized as a goddess; a quasi-mythical figure first written about by the enslaved poet Phillis Wheatley during the Revolutionary War in her work To His Excellency, George Washington. Columbia is, in fact, an amalgamation of two lesser Divine Spirits. One of them is the Roman goddess of liberty, Libertas. The majority of personifications of liberty are merely aspects and appearances of her, including the Statue of Liberty and the unidentified woman in the painting Liberty Leading the People, leading to Libertas having a more powerful- if rather confusing- Spirit Origin compared to most other minor Roman deities. The other is Columbia herself; a goddess first encountered by Chaldea during the odd adventures with Paul Bunyan. She is the symbol of America, and although she is technically a goddess, she is not worshiped- instead existing as an anthropomorphic personification akin to Uncle Sam. She is a goddess crafted by humankind, a manifestation of the thirst for freedom and equality that resides in the heart of man.

However, her existence is still closely intertwined with Libertas, having come from her 'lineage'; Columbia explains that if other personifications of liberty were to manifest, such as Marianne- the French icon of liberty, they would have to have Libertas accompanying their own Spirit Origin to be anything more than a Phantom. Columbia is not only linked to the nation carrying the name America, but to the land itself- in her earliest incarnations she served as a representation of the Americas- both South and North- to those across the Atlantic. She protects all who walk across the great frontier, and all those who have walked it before. Geronimo often voices his hopes that she is the same goddess that brought the first peoples of the yet-unnamed land delicious maize in abundance; Columbia only ever gives a knowing wink, always keeping the answer to herself.

Columbia tries to speak like a newscaster- that is, without an accent- to hide that fact that her true accent as a Servant is the thickest fucking New York brogue you can imagine. AYYYY, SHE’S WALKIN’ ‘EEEEERE!!!!

She has two Noble Phantasms- a support one, her main, called ‘ TORCH OF THE NEW COLOSSUS: THE DREAM OF A NATION ‘, and an offensive albeit rarely used NP called ‘ STRIKE FOR FREEDOM: DO NOT WEEP, FOR WAR IS KIND ‘ that has anti-Country parameters /because it straight up fuckin’ manifests the american military from all across its history-/

Columbia is just... a big country mom. who can grow to the size of the statue of liberty. whoops. 

[[LINK TO HER INTRO CHAPTER IN MY FANSERVANT FIC]]

--

Thomas Edison (True) (Caster(?))

BASTARD MAN. BASTARD. This Thomas Edison, though being initially called an Alter, is actually the True manifestation of the ‘Wizard of Menlo Park’ without the influence of so many presidential heroic spirits. To match Tesla, he’s a 5*. I have him as Caster but... that’s still up in the air, tbh. 

He will steal your Noble Phantasm and claim it as his own. It’s actually one of his Skills- ‘Intellectual Copyright’. It blocks an enemy's ability to use their Noble Phantasm, sealing it for a length of time, while also buffing Edison in return- the strength of the buff received is proportionate to the strength of the sealed Noble Phantasm. This embodies Edison's habit of taking other people's ideas for his own, and while he often improved upon them, he still claimed them as solely his creations. He can copy the abilities of others and shape them to his own needs, always at the ready with a lawsuit in hand if anyone dare complain!

He is not allowed around Ivan or Ganesha due to his history with elephants and electrocution.

His Noble Phantasm (he may have more than one, he gets VERY shifty when asked) is a manifestation of his most terrible and deadly creation- the electric chair. He can also create a reality marble of a fantastical Menlo Park, a thriving center of innovation and invention, using his Territory Creation. 

Did I mention he’s a bastard? God, he’s a bastard. He’s incredibly intelligent BUT HE IS A BASTARD. He’s Evil alignment (arguably, may be Chaotic Netural-). It pains Tesla to admit that he actually likes normal Edison (furry man) much more. 

Ask him what he did to Louie Le Prince and he’ll sock you in the jaw and take off running (and also not answer). 

--

Nicolas Flamel (Caster)

The Alchemist, the great and immortal Nicolas Flamel himself. He’s a sad old lanky Frenchman DILF dad who misses his wife a lot, and is always ready to throw hands with Merlin and/or Paracelsus. He’s a potential candidate for the Grand Caster class, but is behind Solomon and Merlin in ‘line’.  Flamel was a successful French scribe who would gain a reputation as an alchemist after his death in 1418- or at least, his presumed death. He was rumored to have been successful in his creation of the Philosopher's Stone, an artifact with the ability to transmute base metals, and with it was able to create a way to achieve immortality. This Stone was his magnum opus, and he was the first to successfully create it- a fact he makes sure that Paracelsus is aware of at all times.

Also, much like Merlin, he’s not a true Servant. This is THE Nicolas Flamel. But... what happened to Perenelle, his wife? He does not like to talk about it.

He enjoys peace and quiet, educated debate, and reading. Flamel gets on quite well with his fellow Frenchman Dantes, as well as with Waver/El Meloi. 

THE DRAGONS OF FLAMEL (Skill): Flamel summons a staff of Cadeceus. Carried by the Greek god Hermes in mythology, it is said "...wake the sleeping and send the awake to sleep. If applied to the dying, their death was gentle; if applied to the dead, they returned to life". In the hands of Flamel, it can stun an enemy or counteract the effects of a stun-inducing skill upon an ally. As well as that, it can channel the effects of its corresponding god-named element mercury, able to dissolve many metals like silver and gold at will. However, like mercury, this skill is extremely volatile and prone to backfiring violently on Flamel if overused.

ELIXER OF LIFE (Skill): The ultimate alchemical creation- the solution, part of Flamel's legend, that granted he and his wife immortality. He keeps a small flask of the elixer on him at all times, and can be used in a pinch to heal all of Flamel's physical wounds, or that of a singular ally. However, it is not enough to grant an ally immortality, nor is it enough to heal multiple mortal wounds. The substance takes exactly one week, given the right materials, for Flamel to remake and refill his flask with some of the elixer.

He has two Noble Phantasms, one being ‘The Stone of the Philosphers’, and the other being ‘The Book of Abra-Melin the Mage’.

[[LINK TO HIS INTRO CHAPTER IN MY FANSERVANT FIC ALSO THERES A LATER CHAPTER WHERE HE ATTEMPTS TO THROW HANDS W/ PARACELSUS]]

--

Captain Alfred Bulltop Stormalong (Rider)

Captain Alfred Bulltop Stormalong is, plainly put, pretty much a nautical version of Paul Bunyan. Like Bunyan, he can change his size at will, growing to huge proportions. His giant ship was said to have hinged masts so as not to catch them on the moon, and had a stable of Arabian horses on board for his crew to get from one end of the ship to the other! Stormalong is said to have had a lifelong rivalry with the fabled Kraken- but unfortunately for the legendary sea beast, it got summoned alongside Stormalong and has begrudgingly taken up residence in his hat in a somewhat smaller form.

His main weapon (not drawn) is a ship's anchor he wields like a flail. His pipe is really just for the aesthetic as he can't use it to smoke, but it does blow bubbles! His Noble Phantasm is The Courser and the Kraken (Massive all-enemy damage + stun).

He’s a good boy who loves boats, the water, and clam chowder. 

--

Edgar Allan Poe (Foreigner)

The alcoholic author himself, Edgar Allan Poe is a Foreigner-class servant, being linked with the King in Yellow- Hastur the Unspeakable.

Sometimes you can find him locked in a tiny pitch-black closet with Dantes and Sherlock, all three of them puffing away in utter silence on their tobacco. Hastur most often takes the form of a multi-eyed raven chillin’ on his shoulder, and is capable of speech- if prodded, he will shit-talk the patrons of Poe’s fellow foreigners. He really doesn’t like Cthulhu and Yog, even if Poe has psuedo-adopted Abby, WHOOPS. Hastur, to his credit, is the least malevolent Elder God/patron in Chaldea- though if he is seen chatting with Moriarty by any servants or staff, Master must be alerted immediately.

True to form, he’s very macabre, with a unique dramatic way of speaking much like his writings. He’s unsettling and creepy, but has impeccable manners and likes to chat (he’s very lonely-). He enjoys a good mystery, and is prepared to find Arthur Conan Doyle if he be a heroic spirit and beating the snot out of him for treating Holmes so poorly- Poe was the inventor of the detective fiction genre, after all. Most of skills manifest visually as references to his most famous works. His NP is ‘ A DREAM WITHIN A DREAM : THE CRY OF THE YELLOW RAVEN, NEVERMORE ‘ 

He doesn’t know what a ‘Hot Topic’ is, but it sounds intriguing!

And no, he doesn’t know what the hell was up with his death either. Weird shit happens in Boston.

[pixelgrotto]

Calling Cthulhu, part one

In 2019, I began to get serious about delving into the world of H.P. Lovecraft. Thanks to pop culture I’d had a passing familiarity with his stories and the creations within them - in particular that octopus-faced star spawn named Cthulhu who now even has his own children’s books - but the deliciously unsettling appeal of the Mythos created by America’s first cosmic horror writer wasn’t truly apparent to me until I played my first game of the tabletop RPG Call of Cthulhu.

As someone primarily coming from a Dungeons & Dragons background, I found Call of Cthulhu to be a breath of fresh, eldritch air, sporting an elegant system that’s nearly as old as D&D and has, since 1981, reliably served as an excellent alternative for players who would prefer to solve mysteries rather than kill monsters. But while D&D’s had several video games translating its tabletop feel to a computer space, the specific “Call of Cthulhu” license has only had a handful of electronic efforts bearing its trademark, even though you can find the “Lovecraftian” label applied to dozens of games these days (many of which bear only passing references to the uncanny, otherworldly horrors hinted at by Howard Phillips Lovecraft). The handful of officially licensed CoC games that do exist are a mixed bag of janky oddness, which is perhaps appropriate considering that they’re all dealing with the idea of humans learning about ancient, insanity-provoking horrors. 

Since I love a deep dive into the jank, I’ve decided to play all of the licensed Call of Cthulhu games over the next few months to see how they fare. I’m skipping one - Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land - since it was originally a mobile game ported to the computer, and there’s no option to currently buy it on Steam. In its place, I’ll be checking out The Sinking City, a 2019 release which looks much better...and was almost a CoC game before the license got pulled away in the midst of development.

Kicking things off are Shadow of the Comet and Prisoner of Ice, two CoC point ‘n click adventures that were released by Infogrames in 1993 and 1995, respectively. Both games have fallen into the cracks of history, obscured by stronger adventures from those same years made by Sierra and LucasArts, and while I like to think that my tolerance for point ‘n click nonsense is higher than most peoples...I can see why. 

Shadow of the Comet, for one, has nice production values. The graphics are solid, though occasionally garish (the sky is a little too blue) and sometimes bordering on parody (the character portraits seem to be traced versions of famous actors, like Jack Nicholson). The music, while minimal and kind of tinny, could also be interpreted as dread-building, which is a good quality for a horror game to possess. But these positives fall before the big negative of the control scheme, which feels like it was created by developers who intentionally ignored the point ‘n click standards of the era, like the famous icon bar engine of Sierra or the SCUMM verb system of LucasArts, in favor of a clunky amalgamation of keyboard and mouse that makes navigating your character and item hunting about as much fun as having a Mi-go remove your brain. 

The plot for Shadow of the Comet is also a flabbergasting beast. It begins as an obvious riff off of Lovecraft’s famous The Shadow over Innsmouth story, with a reporter named Parker investigating a New England town named “Illsmouth.” Instead of uncovering a village full of Deep One hybrids, however, the game’s plot quickly diverges in an impressively scattershot manner that prompts some truly dumb puzzles. At one point, while trying to figure out why the locals worship Hailey’s Comet, which passed by Illsmouth years ago and is somehow connected to the Elder Gods who manipulate the place, Parker transforms into a bird and talks to a Native American who spouts mumbo jumbo that makes no sense. At the end of the game, Parker prevents the resurrection of...one of the Elder Gods (it’s all frightfully unclear, even if you have great familiarity with the Cthulhu Mythos) and in a decidedly un-Lovecraftian finale, the townspeople meet him at the docks, cheer his victory, and all yell out a THANK YOU PARKER chorus as if this is an episode of Scooby Doo. 

Is Prisoner of Ice any better? Well...not exactly. The control scheme’s superior (or normal, I should say), but with chonky polygonal models replacing clean sprites for the characters, the game arguably sports a wonkier look than Shadow of the Comet’s clean pixel art. And the story once again goes nuts faster than a little kid reading the Necronomicon. The beginning’s strong, with a claustrophobic submarine setting that sees crew members falling victim to monsters unleashed from cold icebergs, but then the game straight up becomes Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, with the dull military protagonist Lt. Ryan traversing the globe (alongside a woman who seems suspiciously like Fate of Atlantis’ Sophia Hapgood) to keep the Nazis from unleashing eldritch forces upon the world. Then Parker from the first game shows up again, which I guess is sort of nice fan service, and a time travel sub-plot gets tossed into the mix at the eleventh hour, because Lt. Ryan is secretly a chosen child from the future who’s destined to save us from...I don’t know, Dagon mobs or something. It feels like a 90s comic combined with Cthulhu Tech, the mid-2000s tabletop system that mashed Cthulhu and anime mechs together, and I suppose if that kind of weirdness is your jam, you should...maybe give Prisoner of Ice a try?

And that’s really all I can say about these two early Call of Cthulhu efforts. They’re not great, but for hardcore Cthulhu heads, they might be worth the pocket change it takes to purchase them on Steam or GoG, if only to witness curios from another era. After Prisoner of Ice, the CoC license would remain unused for quite some time, even as games that have retroactively been labeled Lovecraftian, like Quake and Eternal Darkness, came and went. In fact, it wouldn’t be until 2005, a full decade after Prisoner of Ice’s release, that the Call of Cthulhu name would emerge once more for a little Bethesda-published effort entitled Dark Corners of the Earth...a game that would be a step up from these two experiments in the point ‘n click space, but still full of copious, maddening flaws. I’ll dig into that one next time.

[redwoodrroad]

ive been tagged??

Rules: Answer the questions in a new post and tag 20 blogs you would like to get to know better. aahhh @rebellion042 tagged me what a Cool person go check out her blog and follow her

Nickname: Gray and uh...........gary.

Star sign: pisces

Height: tall enough

Last thing I googled: rand miller (and by extension robyn miller)

Fave music artist: Electric Light Orchestra (!!!); MUSE; Tears For Fears; U2; BORNS; Florence + the Machine; Jefferson Starship; lots more lol

Song stuck in my head: “When I Was a Boy” by Jeff Lynne

Last movie i watched: Rogue One yusss

Last TV show i watched: Brooklyn Nine-Nine eyyy

What are you wearing right now: white jeans, striped blue socks, a purple long-sleeve shirt with “Atlanta, Georgia” printed on it (from an airforce base), and glasses

When did you create your blog: uhh. Like two years ago? A year and a half since june of 2015.

What kind of stuff do I post?: lol mostly meme shit. sometimes art, sometimes fandom stuff. we're talkin glee, star wars, dragon age, dishonored, and an amalgam of other things i love.

Do you have any other blogs?: not on tumblr! I have a livejournal and an AO3 by the same name if those count.

Do you get asks regularly?: lol nope. sometimes @thetaabster1 sends me bullshit but she's been lacking lately (hack)

Why did you choose your URL?: redwoods are my favorite tree, cedarwood road was my favorite u2 song when i created this blog (so i mashed them together), and the extra "r" is a reference.

Gender: male

Hogwarts house: Ravenclaw!

Fave colour: teal!!

Average hours of sleep: im gonna say 8. thats 5 or 6 on rough nights, 11 on the best nights.

Lucky number: 4

Unlucky number: uhh all of them? heck bro im unlucky as shit

Fave characters: OHHKAY any of my main player characters (da: aidan cousland, james hawke, maxwell trevelyan; mass effect: grayson shepard; gw2: eridunis, arkus hypericum; in no particular order); corvo attano, the outsider (holy fuck); dorian pavus, anders, alistair theirin, leliana, wynne, varric tethras, dorian pavus (yes i have him twice); KURT HUMMEL AND BLAINE ANDERSON; logan thackeray, caithe (from guild wars 2); joker, tali vas normandy, garrus vakarian, james vega (what a hunk); about all the main cast of b99 but holt is at the tippy top; and finally aragorn. gotta end it with aragorn.

How many blankets do you sleep with?: two not including the sheet (so three).

Follower count: 135, no bots. hells yeah.

alrighty lets tag some nerds: @luxaleigh, @incantamina, @thetaabster1 (gonna tag u again my salty samandra), @caedein, @empress-of-elsewhere, @kizzychii, @renmorris, @suitfer, @tacogrande (idk if riley tagged you but??? lol???), and @anyone else that wants to do this cool thing

[archidoview]

iDENTITY: VIRTUAL REALITY THERAPY FOR CULTURAL IDENTITY CRISES

BY MINH TRAN, ALAN MA, & YI NING LUI

Testing Period: 01/2016-01/2017

Name: Patient X

Birth date: 18/08/1994

Age: 21 years old

Lived in: Konghai City (Vietnamese colony of Shanghai, with many Hong Kong immigrants), Londsfield (Huddersfield settlement of London)

Occupation: Architectural Assistant

Abstract:

The following report on “iDentity”, investigates a new Virtual reality therapy treatment for patients suffering from a cultural identity crisis. Computers have generated 3-dimensional labyrinths that relate to patient X’s childhood, teenage, and adult years, as she moves between Konghai City and Londsfield. A supervising therapist will monitor patient X, and the simulated experience will consist of an Oculus (visual immersion) and a sensory plug connected to the patient’s spinal cord (recreating kinaesthetic, olfactory and auditory effects.) Finally, the patient will be asked to rebuild her virtual world, so she can destroy certain memories and reconstruct others. The treatment aims to empower her with a sense of creation and control towards her own iDentity.

Introduction:

VRT has proven effective in treating various phobias such as fear of flying, and its immersive tools can be used as a meditative tool. The use of “exposure therapy”, where the safe, controlled exposure of an uncomfortable situation helps patients overcome their distress. Patient X shows symptoms of cultural displacement, feeling detached from her family, and struggling with both language difficulties and cultural lifestyle differences. The following report allows the patient to confront some of these insecurities.

Stage One: (Childhood)

The following sessions investigate patient X’s childhood, in particular her residencies in Konghai City and Londsfield. A Vietnamese street house amalgamates with an English boarding-school house, creating an architectural specimen of her past.

The patient enters the virtual reality and finds herself sitting on a passenger seat on the London Underground. The train seems to be coming to a halt, and a sign on the station platform reads “Euston Station.” Instead of the train doors opening, a ladder descends from the roof, and the patient climbs up it into a Victorian terraced house. A circular window shows a cloudy day outside. Empty cup noodles boxes lie scattered on the floor, and the patient takes a right down an outdoor corridor to avoid the mess. The virtual reality glitches, and the patient falls down a set of stairs, through an eletrical utility pole into a Vietnamese street house. She follows the sound of a woman’s voice into a living room, and the air becomes heavy with humidity. The patient notices dishes being laid on a lazy susan, and the delicious smell of bittermelon soup lures her towards it. Sitting at the table, a melody starts to play, and it seems to be a strange remix of the Vietnamese national anthem and a church song. At this stage, the places that impact patient X’s iDentity aren’t related so much to nationhood, as the home is simply seen as a centre of felt value where familial and biological needs are satisfied.

Stage Two: (Teenage years)

The following sessions investigate patient X’s teenage years, in particular the Asian and Western festivals that she celebrates. This coming-together of people helps her foster ties with loved ones, of whom she holds close to her iDentity.

Unlike previous sessions, when the patient enters her virtual reality this time she finds herself in a fully constructed world; a Wonderland of Festivals. She stands before what looks like an amusement park, its neon lights shimmer in the dark, and various stage sets, theme rides and playgrounds overlap each other. She enters the park through a large gate lit by huge, glowing neon mooncakes, and finds herself on sandy ground. Simulated families light lanterns that sit in rings around them, yet Greek columns and a twinkling Christmas tree remind the patient of Londsfield’s St George’s Square. Inside a brick house, the patient re-experiences her first English Christmas, watching the Queen’s speech and eating pigs in blankets. A huge conveyor belt with illuminated pumpkins churns into motion, signalling for her to board a dragon boat and row herself towards a mini Times Square. She climbs a rooftop terrace to watch the countdown on a flashing billboard, and around her simulated people hug and kiss.

There is a sharp, snapping sound, and the Christmas tree’s twinkling star tumbles to the ground. The patient realizes that all the stage sets are in fact temporary structures, fixed onto steel trusses. The wonderland’s changeability challenges the patient to think of her iDentity as multi-layered. Differences in specific traditions seem minor, as she realizes the wonderland is all about celebrating things with loved ones.

Stage Three: (Early Adulthood)

The following sessions investigate patient X’s early adult years, where her university experiences build her character and shape her iDentity.

The virtual reality that the patient enters this time is the most complex she has seen so far. A hurtling mini bus ride gives her an overview of the glittery kingdom, and she alights near a Chinese pagoda. The ground starts moving and the patient finds herself having to run, past Big Ben and the London Eye on what feels like a familiar path. Elements of Konghai City glitch in sharp, intermittent bursts, as dim sum boxes whizz through the air and dense currents of flying windows zoom by. The patient finds herself spending an extremely long amount of time in a university’s architecture studio, surrounded by students drawing and making models. She realizes that she loves being surrounded by other creative people. When she finally escapes the studio, the patient finds herself in a pub where the architecture students are now eating pork baps and drinking pints of IPA. Feeling tired, the patient follows the faithful light of the BT Tower to the Victorian house in the centre of the labyrinth, where she can exit the virtual reality.

The dazzling chaos resembles the most exciting and challenging chapter of patient X’s life so far. The exhaustion of studio work, the good crits, the bad ones, the bad break-ups as well as the life-long friends that patient X makes all shape her now extremely multi-layered iDentity.

Stage Four: Build your World

Until now, the patient has been following controlled stimuli in the context of treatment. The following exercise allows the patient to explore and re-invent her iDentity labryinth. This exercise is essential for closure: she can now inspect the layers of her iDentity and re-invent it.

The patient begins by creating a safety island of “home” in the centre of her universe, mish-mashing an architecture studio with a Vietnamese street house. Pretty neon signs and British street lamps light her way into the unknown as she steps leaves the house, and dumplings and pork baps are served to her on a hybrid lazy susan merry go-round. She starts to organize the other constructions of her memories, grouping similar ones together. The patient realizes that eating dim sum with her family is not too different to bonding with classmates over a few pints, and creates a “Festivity Funland” where ladders and bridges connect simulated social gatherings. She also creates challenges for herself, as her simulated family reside in a house quite far from her, forcing her to be independent and making herself cherish them more. Interestingly, she chooses not to delete any memories, and makes a “secret vault” inside a fragment of a big ben-pagoda, so she can examine nasty experiences for future reference. Bamboo scaffolding shows the paradigm is still under construction, as the patient should not feel her iDentity is fixed in any way. Murky forms in the blank space around her blur in and out of view, the world is in limbo and it is waiting to be filled with even more dazzling creations.

Conclusion:

“iDentity” is a virtual reality therapy treatment that investigates how cultural environments and their built forms shape one’s sense of selfhood. VR-based therapy has already proven effective in treating various phobias, and it is a powerful tele-medical tool. After completing the VR-therapy treatment, the patient now has a greater self-esteem and feels less inhibition towards her cultural insecurities. The patient can access her iDentity labryinth whenever she wants on her Oculus Rift, and this 3-D model has not only become a treasure trove for her memories, but a map of her history and critical inquiry of herself.

http://blankspaceproject.com/

[gokinjeespot]

off the rack #1146

Monday, January 9, 2017

 We're in the deep freeze right now in Ottawa with more snow forecast. This winter has been great for my cardio and arms. I like to think that my weight gain over the holidays is due to muscle build up and not from eating too much. I'm taking the old X-Trail into the dealer this morning to get my driver's side door fixed. It won't unlock so I have to climb in from the passenger seat. I wish cars still had bench front seats like in the old days, then I wouldn't have to contort my body to get over the stick shift.

 I spent most of Sunday at a Card and Comic Show with my partner Chris R. I forgot how much fun it is to hang out and talk comic books with like minded fans. It's just a small monthly affair at an arena so no special guests or people cosplaying, just collectors looking for stuff. It's worth being there even if we only break even.

 U.S.Avengers #1 - Al Ewing (writer) Paco Medina (pencils) Juan Vlasco (inks) Jesus Aburtov (colours) VC's Chris Eliopoulos (letters). I don't know when this story was written but there are statements made in here that seem to reflect what happened in the U.S.A. during the recent presidential election. Al thinks that the villains are now in power. Not if this new Avengers team has anything to say about it. This is an excellent introduction to all the team members so even for someone who has never read a Marvel comic book before can get these characters right away. I just wish they could have come up with something different for a villain than the gold skull guy.

 Batman #14 - Tom King (writer) Mitch Gerads (art & colours) Clayton Cowles (letters). Batman gets very handsy with Catwoman on the cover by Tim Sale. He's got a hand on her face, his right hand in her left hand and a hand on her back. Maybe the hand on her back is a mechanical one that comes out of his utility belt. A no prize goes to by friend Chris L. for spotting that. In part 1 of "Rooftops" the Bat and the Cat have a date night. In the morning she goes to Blackgate prison for her many crimes. I say that's not going to happen.

 The Unstoppable Wasp #1 - Jeremy Whitley (writer) Elsa Charretier (art) Megan Wilson (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Not Janet van Dyne, who has been around since 1963, but a younger Wasp for a whole new generation of fans. Nadia Pym may not be a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant but she is for sure the daughter of Hank (Ant-Man) Pym, founding Avenger and recent super villain that melded with Ultron. She is also a genius and an escaped Red Room scientist. I know it sounds complicated but Jeremy does a great job of recapping her origin story. It's a good thing I'm a fan of Gilmore Girls because this Wasp talks a mile a minute. Guest stars include Ms. Marvel and Mockingbird for some serious girl bonding. Girl Power is the focus of this series. I could give it to any of my ten nieces and I think they would enjoy it.

 The Flintstones #7 - Mark Russell (writer) Rick Leonardi (pencils) Scott Hanna (inks) Chris Chuckry (colours) Dave Sharpe (letters). Woohoo, it's the Great Gazoo. Too bad he's only recording the evolution of the citizens of Bedrock and doesn't do any magic like the cartoon show character. I loved the Great Gazoo and how he would help Fred and Barney get out of trouble.

 Deadpool the Duck #1 - Stuart Moore (writer) Jacopo Camagni (art) Israel Silva (colours) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). I suppose that's less confusing than calling this 5-issue mini Howard the Deadpool. This mash-up might be new to you younger fans but I remember Amalgam comic books. You had to be there. Howard and Wade get melded together with a little help from Rocket Raccoon and off we go. The rest of this story will probably involve trying to get the two separated. If you're a fan of any of these three oddballs you'll enjoy this.

 Superman #14 - Peter J. Tomasi & Patrick Gleason (writers) Ivan Reis (layouts) Joe Prado (finishes) Marcelo Maiolo (colours) Rob Leigh (letters). Here we go with a new story called "Multiplicity". It involves the consumption of the life forces of all the Supermen from the Multiverse. Shades of Spider-Verse. It starts with Superman: Red Son trying to escape capture and meeting "our" Superman. The bad guys want the New Superman (the Asian one) and after the Superman of Earth 23 shows up with his Justice League Incarnate, they go off to rescue Kenan Kong, not a great ape Superman but the Chinese one. As you can probably tell there are a lot of heroes here and plenty to keep you reading. I wonder who the Big Bad is?

 Champions #4 - Mark Waid (writer) Humberto Ramos (pencils) Victor Olazaba (inks) Edgar Delgado (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). Lots of action this issue as the team works together to escape capture by blue Atlanteans. I like all these kids and the team dynamic is fluid and interesting to watch develop. There's a new member waiting in the wings and I am looking forward to seeing this one in action because I have never read any of their comic books.

 Justice League vs. Suicide Squad #3 - Joshua Williamson (writer) Jesus Merino (pencils) Andy Owens (inks) Alex Sinclair & Jeremiah Skipper (colours) Rob Leigh (letters). The real bad guys of team three are formally introduced this issue. What did I tell you, the Justice League and the Suicide Squad have to work together to keep Max Lord's team from getting a weapon that will help him take over the world. Oh, and they want to kill Amanda Waller while they're at it. Can I get a bwa-ha-ha?

 Moon Knight #10 - Jeff Lemire (writer) Greg Smallwood (art) Jordie Bellaire (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). This issue starts the 5 part "Death and Birth" story where I hope we finally see Marc Spector's multiple personality disorder cleared up once and for all. I am sticking with this book because I have been a fan ever since he was created as Marvel's version of Batman. Jeff's writing is solid but I have to admit that Francesco Francavilla's art almost turned me off this book.

 Hawkeye #2 - Kelly Thompson (writer) Leonardo Romero (art) Jordie Bellaire (colours) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). Kate's belligerent attitude is starting to get on my nerves. If she continues to be a jerk I will stop reading this book. I like feisty but I don't like arrogant.

 Nova #2 - Jeff Loveness & Ramon Perez (writers) Ramon Perez (art) Ian Herring (colours) Comicraft's Albert Deschesne (letters). Sam meets Richard Rider and there's a whole lot of catching up to do. I loved the scene with the Champions. Taking a kid into a space bar isn't a good idea especially if there are bounty hunters there. I am enjoying this new book quite a lot so far and I think you should give it a try.

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