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monkeyspawnskydiamond · 3 years ago

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Prostitution: A Word That UN Women Does Not Want to Hear

by Barbara Crossette

https://www.passblue.com/2015/03/31/prostitution-a-word-that-un-women-does-not-want-to-hear/

On the eve of a speech Ruchira Gupta was to give on International Women’s Day in New York as the recipient of a Woman of Distinction award, she got a strange email. Gupta, who has collected numerous awards for her work against sex slavery in India — including an Emmy for her 1996 documentary, “The Selling of Innocents” — was asked in the message not to speak on prostitution “or put UN Women on the spot.”

The email came from the organization that had chosen Gupta for its highest award, the NGO Committee on the Status of Women, NY (NGO CSW/NY), which supports the work of UN Women and the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, whose annual session was about to begin on March 9. The NGO Committee had itself used the word prostitution in its announcement of the award in January.

“I was surprised that the UN was trying to censor an NGO, and that they should tell me not to speak on prostitution, when my work was with victims of prostitution,” Gupta said in an email interview to PassBlue. She is the founder of Apne Aap (meaning “self empowerment” in Hindi), a multifaceted support group for women trafficked into sex slavery in Mumbai and other South Asian cities. Apne Aap now has international reach.

In her speech at New York’s iconic Apollo Theater, where UN Women’s executive director, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka of South Africa, was also on the program, Gupta ignored the request and chose to speak forcefully “to represent the voices of victims and survivors of prostitution” in her own organization and others around the world. In late 2013, UN Women, in a note on the issue of terminology, had said it would use the terms “sex work” and “sex workers” and “recognize the right of all sex workers to choose their work or leave it and to have access to other employment opportunities.”

UN Women’s decision and recommendation not to “conflate sex work, sexual exploitation and trafficking” sounds outrageous if not ludicrous to people like Gupta, who work in the squalid brothel quarters of Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and other cities, to which young girls from around South Asia are lured by traffickers — or sold by poor families — into a life of miserable bondage, with no chance to make choices. In her speech on International Women’s Day on March 8, Gupta said the youngest girl trafficked into bonded labor she has met was just 7 years old.

“The pimps would hand over these little girls to the brothel keepers . . . and these girls were locked up for the next five years,” she said. “Raped repeatedly by eight or ten customers every night.” By their 20s, Gupta said, their youth is gone and bodies are broken, and they are “thrown out on the sidewalk to die a very difficult death because they were no longer commercially viable.”

In January 2014, 61 South Asian victims and survivors of prostitution as well as women’s groups representing communities marginalized by caste, class and ethnicity and antitrafficking organizations helping girls and women “trapped in bonded labour and other forms of servitude” wrote to Mlambo-Ngcuka to protest the new UN Women policy of avoiding the word prostitution.

“We do not want to be called ‘sex workers’ but prostituted women and children, as we can never accept our exploitation as ‘work,’ ” the letter signers wrote. “We think that the attempts in UN documents to call us ‘sex workers’ legitimizes violence against women, especially women of discriminated caste, poor men and women and women and men from minority groups, who are the majority of the prostituted.”

They are still awaiting an answer from UN Women, Gupta said.

Censoring comment about violence against girls and women is not new in the Commission on the Status of Women or in the UN more broadly. Nafis Sadik, the outspoken executive director of the United Nations Population Fund, or UNFPA, from 1987 to 2000, said in an interview in 2013 that there had been numerous attempts to silence her, often from pressure by governments.

Sadik was told at a session of the commission several years ago, for example, not to relate a story from Zimbabwe to illustrate the hazards women face when trying to use contraception. “This man’s wife wasn’t getting pregnant, and apparently he discovered that she was taking pills,” she said. “And he killed her because she made him look embarrassed [in front of other men]. Furthermore, that defense was being accepted in the court: that you can’t humiliate the husband.”

Groups working with victims of sexual slavery in developing countries often see a widening gap between Western women — particularly “academic feminists,” in Gupta’s view — and the women working to help the most exploited girls at street level in some of the world’s most dangerous slums, where pimps and brothel owners may be not only slave masters but also killers. Gupta had a knife held to her neck on one occasion when she was filming her award-winning documentary. Women rushed to surround her, separating her from her would-be attacker, and saved her life.

The women working with victims and survivors of sex trafficking and bonded prostitution who signed the letter to UN Women fear that campaigns in richer nations, almost all of them in North America and northern Europe, will lead to more moves to decriminalize pimps and brothel keepers — making not only sex workers but all aspects of the sex industry legal.

This is not the only issue that has opened fissures between the richer, progressive nations or societies where women construct views of social change based on their own advanced social and legal environment or well-intentioned views of developing nations’ cultures. They do not always reflect what most poor women — the majority of women in the world — who lack power over their lives really need and want.

Twenty years ago, many Western feminists and officials in countries of the global North dealing with international aid programs criticized campaigners against female genital mutilation or child marriage in developing nations, excusing these harmful practices as “part of their culture.” There are still affluent women who have enjoyed the liberating benefits of contraception for decades who argue against promoting family planning in the developing world, believing that women want to have as many children as possible — sons in particular — because their social status or the family’s economy may depend on fertility.

Global Connection Television - The only talk show of its kind in the world Such condescending Western attitudes began to change, sometimes dramatically, after the transformative International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo in 1994 and the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, an event that Gupta says has inspired her work ever since. Women in distant lands are now being heard and taking the lead on issues close to home.

Gupta and her like-minded colleagues who signed the letter to UN Women were asking to be part of the discussion on prostitution — in a global context.

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moonsubinpr · 3 years ago

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[Lee Soo Hyuk — 35 — he/him] Introducing MOON SUBIN. Word on the street is they are a PRESS SECRETARY FOR THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY affiliated with the DEMOCRATIC PARTY. Though they are RESERVED and INTIMIDATING, they can also be DEPENDABLE and HARDWORKING. In the chaos of New York City, they’re sure to fit right in.

Biography. Ask. Wanted Connections.

I. WRITER’S INTRODUCTION

First of all, I want to introduce myself. You all can call me Jackie, and I am a twenty-one year old graduate student residing within the Eastern Standard Timezone (EST). I have been roleplaying for about 10 years now, however, I took a hiatus from writing on Tumblr due to migrating to other platforms that are more mobile friendly in terms of writing. Now that I have a greater availability, as well as not fond of the newfound style of roleplay on platforms such as Twitter or MeWe, I have returned in hopes to better develop characters and build better connections with other writers. Aside from writing, I enjoy spending quality time with my cat, going out to explore newfound areas, thrifting, reading, and watching random reality television shows. I look forward to getting to know everyone! Feel free to message me for plotting, headcanoning, or for a casual conversation.

II. BASICS

NAME: MOON SUBIN

AGE: THIRTY-FIVE

DATE OF BIRTH: 1986 MAY 31

GENDER: CISMALE

PRONOUNS: HE / HIM

SEXUALITY: PANSEXUAL

HOMETOWN: IOWA CITY, IOWA

AFFILIATION: THE GOVERNMENT

JOB POSITION: DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S PRESS SECRETARY

EDUCATION: BA IN JOURNALISM FROM NYU

RELATIONSHIP STATUS: SINGLE

CHILDREN: NONE

POSITIVE TRAITS: ELOQUENT, INDEPENDENT, INTELLIGENT, RESPONSIBLE, MATURE, REASONABLE

NEGATIVE TRAITS: RESERVED, BLUNT, INTIMIDATING, DEMANDING, SARCASTIC

FACECLAIM: LEE SOO HYUK

III. POINTS ABOUT THE MUSE

Moon Subin was born into a rather average household in Heukseok-dong, Seoul, South Korea. His mother, a down-to-earth woman with a contagious smile, worked alongside her mother as a food vendor in one of the city’s largest market. The two were acutely known for their blood sausages as well as jangeo-gui (grilled eel). In fact, this is how the young woman met the young businessman. Running from a class with only a few cash in hand, he stopped at mother’s spot, asking for anything he could get with the amount of money available. She laughed at his lack of time management, and he only stated that he’ll make time to see her better next time. The following day, he returned and sat to chat with the woman.

Subin was unplanned. The two were not yet wedded when discovering that the woman fell pregnant. However, never did the young couple refer to the baby as a mistake. Rather, they saw Subin’s life as a blessing to better plan for their fast approaching future. During the time in which the woman was pregnant, the man was offered an opportunity to continue his university studies abroad. Sent to Iowa City, Iowa, the young couple packed their belongings and settled within the United States. It’s in this city where Subin would be born, granting him American citizenship despite his parents yet to become naturalized citizens.

Falling in love with the environment, the mother and father went through various means in order to further extend their stay within the country. From a student visa to a work visa, the father was granted more time to better prepare for the examination of becoming U.S. citizens. While his father began to work in a local company specializing in medical prosthetics, his mother worked at a local Chinese restaurant where she befriended Chinese immigrants who helped her with assimilating into the culture.

Subin grew up in an environment where he witnessed the benefits of hard work. His parents worked many hours in order to provide for him as well as to their community. He found this to be admirable, and this encouraged the young boy to succeed in his academics so that he could provide for his parents in the future.

He became interested in the field of communications due to constantly acting as the translator for his parents when making doctor appointments or trying to pitch the best deal at a cars dealership. Words were fascinating, and he especially thought this was the case after reading a number of novels written by authors such as H.G. Wells and Amy Tan. His interest in communications got him involved with the morning news at his middle school and high school. During his four years at high school, he also participated in Model UN and the Debate team. These involvements were the result of his great achievements in social studies courses, and his teachers encouraged him to get involved with these extracurricular activities.

Due to awards achieved in high school, he was granted a scholarship to attend New York University in New York City. Although his parents did not want him to leave their home, they eventually came to terms that this would be good for his future successes. Thus, he went to attend NYU for a Bachelors in Journalism with a minor in Politics. Thanks to amazing professors and establishing connections through networking events, the young man was able to maintain a number of internships---such as volunteering for the current Governor’s former campaign in the creative team for marketing. He later volunteered alongside CNN professionals, and he gained an internship experience with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office as Press Office Intern. By the time he graduated from university, he’s already met a number of influential, powerful people of the big city.

Upon graduation, he was able to get a job at the Manhattan District Attorney Office as Press Officer due to his wonderful performance during his internship with the office. He held this position for two years before being promoted as Deputy Press Secretary for the office. However, in less than 2 years, he was able to maintain the Press Secretary position due to the former Press Secretary’s leave to another office. In another year, he was granted the position of Deputy Director of Communications for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. Subin held this position up until he was given the opportunity to work as the city’s District Attorney’s main Press Secretary.

During his years working for the city and learning about the mishaps behind the scenes, Subin has been able to learn a lot about the dirty truth. He is aware that some of the crimes dealt with in the office are a result to the existing gangs within the city. Although his DA remains slightly oblivious to the people surrounding them, Subin maintains awareness due to the connections he’s established during interviews as well as conferences. They threaten Subin to keep quiet. They ask Subin to twist the truth. He does what keeps him safe, but he holds the knowledge close to his heart. The quiet man knows a lot----perhaps more than what the gangs wish for him to know, and this can be dangerous. One never knows what he can do with all of this knowledge. He could expose them to the public whenever he dares to do so. If he really wanted to, of course.

But, for now, he keeps quiet. He does his job and remains cordial with those he establishes some sorts of connection with. If someone he cares about, though, ever gets hurt, he’s not sure what he’ll do. No one knows.

IV. WANTED CONNECTIONS

Any and all possible connections within the Government. I would love to further develop and establish connections within the affiliation in order to better understand Subin’s position in the government as well as with Law Enforcement, for he works within the District Attorney Office; therefore, he has connections with lawyers as well as officers. This can be good or bad, I am open to all possibilities.

For those in Media, Subin is responsible for addressing those in Media in order to report information given by the DA. Those in media could have interviewed Subin, have gone to a number of his press hearings, as well as questioned his intentions or morales within this position. Anyone who does not trust him is very much wanted. A person who trusts him a lot is also wanted.

To those in any gang, people who has paid him or threatened him to withhold information from the public is very much wanted. Give me some angst in regard to perhaps threatening his family. Perhaps people question how Subin can offerd such a luxurious home or car, and this could be due to payments accepted from those within these organizations. I am open to anything.

I am also interested in a secret relationship that should not be a relationship, however, the two continue to pursue one another in sexual and romantic rendezvous. Subin is not entirely the most relationship-orientated person, however, due to a lot of stress within his career, some fun would be favorable.

#pinned.#wb.intro

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aer-in-wanderland · 4 years ago

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구미호뎐 | Tale of the Nine Tailed - Lost in Translation EP01

In which my sister and I sat down with a pint of mint chocolate chip and wrote down everything that occurred to us while watching the fan-subbed version of TotNT EP01. Contains mild spoilers.

Prologue

We open with an excerpt from the Hyeonjoonggi (현중기・玄中記), which the internet informs me originated in China sometime between 265-317 CE. In Korea in particular, gumiho are typically thought of as being female, but this is an example of a classical text that says they can be either. From what director Kang Shin Hyo said at the TotNT press conference, the premise of TotNT began with the idea of challenging this base assumption by making the gumiho male and placing him in modern-day Seoul. I would translate the passage as follows:

When a fox becomes 100, it can become a beautiful woman, or become a man who has relations with women. A fox that lives for 1000 years communes with the heavens and becomes a cheon’ho (heavenly fox). Its gifts are like that of a powerful shamaness; it can perceive things more than 1000 leagues distant.”

To my sense, the passage was introduced to show precedent for the existence of male gumiho in traditional folklore, as well as to illustrate that foxes over 1000 (cheon’ho) can be closer to deities than monsters.

On to the show. The year is 1999. I’m surprised the subs left ‘Fox Ridge’ untranslated as Yeou Gogae since it seems like it would be relevant information that the place where the accident takes place is somehow tied to foxes.

When the imposter parents (who I believe are also foxes) chase little Ji Ah up into her room and her not-dad says, “You little brat!” (or at least, that’s what the subs we’re watching say), this is an example of what’s called ‘code switching.’ His phrasing is somewhat old-fashioned, which in this case helps to give the impression that he’s not human since it’s the cant of creatures in traditional fairytales. For anyone studying Korean, the line is, “요 년 봐라,” where ‘nyeon’ might mean anywhere from ‘girl’ to ‘wench’ or even ‘bitch.’

Okay, I have to ask. Does no one else in Seoul drive on Fox Ridge? How did Ji Ah have time to go home, get attacked, and then be returned to the scene of the accident (I’m assuming by Yeon) before anyone came across it?

Also, how did Yeon know where to take her? He tells grown Ji Ah that he just happened upon her after catching the scent of blood, but I get the sense there’s more to the story than that. I feel like this is part of a larger pattern wherein Yeon goes out of his way to rescue someone and then pretends as if he didn’t.

Episode 01 Title Card: What Happened on Fox Ridge

According to Yeon’s alarm, our current timeline begins on Saturday, August 29, 2020, and he has a wedding to attend. 2020 yet no COVID19? I guess this really is a fantasy drama. ;p

The BGM playing while Yeon gets ready is called ‘The Fox's Wedding Day,’ or, more literally, ‘day when a fox goes to be married’ (Yeou ga shijip ganeun nal) and it’s actually Yeon’s theme. I was expecting his theme to be the track entitled ‘Gumiho,’ but I guess not lol

The sun-shower. In both Japan and Korea, a sun-shower is known as ‘a fox’s wedding’ (kitsune no yome-iri/yeou ga shijip ganeun nal), so this is already cluing us in that the bride is a fox (I say ‘bride’ because both these phrasings typically apply to a bride marrying into her husband’s house. The phrasing is different for grooms, who ‘receive’ the bride). This is what Yeon means when he arrives at the wedding hall and says, “That’s because a fox is getting married today.”

It’s strange to me that the bride’s identity has completely dropped out of the subs. She’s Yeou Nui (literally ‘fox sister’), a folklore character of the Brothers Grim-style horror school of fairytales. Her thing is that she’s a gumiho who preys on families with only sons who desperately want a daughter. She insinuates herself into their lives, brings calamity down upon them, and finally, eats their livers. Like most fairytales, there are many permutations of her story, but many of them feature her saying she’s consumed 999 livers. I understand where - absent this context - some people might have seen Yeon as the bad guy here (spoiler: he’s not).

The subtitle here for Yeon’s line says: “But you need to know that changing your identity isn’t as simple as you think.” What he literally says is:

Yeon: How did you go to ground so completely? You think that if you change your face and your identity, your blood-stained past will change too, right? But changing lives isn’t as simple* as changing subway lines. [*Note: ‘simple’ is in English]

This is the first real dialogue we get from Yeon, and one thing it’s doing very intentionally is showcasing just how much he’s adapted to modern life. It does this both with the content of what he says (talking about changing subway lines), as well as with the amount of English loan words he tosses around. So I personally would have kept the bit about the subway in if I had been translating.

Yeou Nui’s line was translated as, “Please forgive me,” but it should more properly be, “Spare me,” or “Let me live.” Yeon is an enforcer, not a judge. (Also, ‘forgive’ is another word entirely).

Yeon’s line that’s subbed, “Listen, you fox. How could you dare dream of having a happy ending after eating so many livers?” is the result of what’s called diagonal translation, which is an unfortunate side-effect of subtitling conventions. What he literally says is:

Yeon: Yeou Nui, after eating the livers of countless adoptive parents and older brothers* how can you dream of a happy ending?

[*Note: The word he uses for ‘brothers’ here is 오라비들, which is a semi-antiquated word, and again, the sort of language used in folktales]

Yeon’s line, “Here’s a piece of advice” is more literally, “Here’s a bit of advice stemming from experience,” which is the first hint we get in-drama that he’s been in a similar position.

Nam Ji Ah

We get our first introduction to adult Ji Ah as she narrates the script she’s editing for her TV program on her way to the wedding hall. When Jae Hwan worries about her changing the script without the writer’s permission (again lol), Ji Ah's response translated literally would be:

Ji Ah: Then let’s go with this. PDs’ livers have to be swollen or coming out of their bodies.

That’s a pretty disgusting image in English, so I don’t blame the subs for changing it to something more sensical and less graphic. But as a cultural note, in Korea and Japan, having a large liver means to be gutsy or brave. Ji Ah’s character description similarly describes her as, ‘a woman whose liver is [so large it’s] coming out of her body,’ meaning she’s about as gutsy as it gets.

Okay, call me a cynic, but I loved Ji Ah’s line about not being able to digest wedding food due to the choking atmosphere of forced happiness pfft

Jae Hwan saying, “Who knows? You may meet your destined partner at a place like this,” as Yeon walks by in the background = Jae Hwan unwittingly hitting the nail of the head #1

Lol Yeon acting like a bored kid held captive at a dinner party while the wedding takes place. Bless Lee Dong Wook because I’m sure it’s all ad libbed. I feel like this could be a game: spot the LDW ad lib.

The Wedding Hall Incident

When Yeon returns to her dressing room after the wedding, Yeou Nui changes tactics from begging to putting her hackles up and challenging Yeon. Linguistically, that’s marked by her code switching to an archaic cant. Yeon, however, remains unfazed and responds with the most modern thing possible, completely undermining her bravado:

Yeou Nui: Oh former master of Baekdudaegan, what authority have you to condemn us?

Yeon: Get a hold of how she’s talking (rhetorical). Hey, if it wasn’t for you I would’ve been watching American TV shows while eating ice cream today!

Okay, I love the way Yeon materializes his sword. I thought he was (un-)transforming his umbrella at first, but he later does it with a plank of wood so I assume he can do this with pretty much anything?

On the topic of his sword, I posted a gif set not long ago referring to it as a sa’ingeom (사인검), literally ‘Four Tigers Sword’ (referring to the year, month, day, and hour of the tiger when such swords were supposedly forged). You’ll notice it doesn’t have a cross-guard since they’re traditionally ceremonial swords rather than actual weapons. The first sa’ingeom were made during the reign of King Taejo (1392-1398), but I assume they gave him one despite it being somewhat anachronistic because they’re also said to cut down evil spirits and ward against calamity. Mostly, though, it looks really cool and is very traditionally Korean.

Not for anything, but I love this BGM track that’s playing during the wedding hall fight (‘The Uninvited’). This short action sequence was so great. I wish we could have seen more of Yeon hunting down supernatural baddies. Also more of those gumiho eyes. More gumiho everything in general.

As he stabs her, Yeon’s line to Yeou Nui in the subs was rendered as, “Don’t do something stupid like falling in love in your next time.” I would have translated this as, “If you’re reborn, don’t do something so [useless] as falling in love.” Again, for anyone studying Korean, the phrase is ‘사랑 따위" (sarang ddaui). ‘Ddaui’ means ‘such a thing as,’ and it’s always used to disparage whatever proceeds it. There’s no good way to communicate that disparagement in English grammatically, so I opted for ‘useless’ in an approximation.

The BGM that plays the first time Ji Ah spots Yeon leaving the wedding hall is called ‘White Pupils’ (or literally ‘white eyes’). The imagery typically associated with that is death, so I’m curious what inspired the track title. Maybe they mean ‘white eyes’ like the fortune teller since it’s used at fateful moments?

“Who knows? That may be the story you were destined to cover.” = Jae Hwan unwittingly hitting the nail on the head #2

“Were they mass hypnotized or something?” = Jae Hwan unwittingly hitting the nail of the head #3. Thank you, exposition fairy. ;)

Okay, when Ji Ah and Jae Hwan examine the scene, Ji Ah’s line is subbed, “I need to see what that woman of this love story looks like,” which is ungrammatical in addition to being wrong. What she actually says is:

Ji Ah: I need to see the face of that protagonist of the Romance of the Age. [And I believe the ‘protagonist’ she was referring to is actually Yeon ;) This is bordering on meta, seeing as he’s actually the protagonist of the epic romance that is TotNT]

Kim Soo Oh

The BGM playing while Yeon sits in the park people-watching and then looks pensively at his hand is called, ‘Thread Rings.’ Between that, what LDW alluded to in his VLIVE, and some still cuts I saw of deleted scenes from EP16, I’m convinced there was something more to those rings that got cut due to time constraints. ㅠㅠ

Fun fact: This scene between Yeon and Soo Oh was the first scene of the drama that they filmed.

When Soo Oh asks Yeon what he’s doing there, the sub for Yeon’s response was, “Nothing other than waiting for someone.” That strikes me as off in tone as well as pacing. I would have translated it as, “Just.....waiting for someone.” (which is literally what he says).

When Soo Oh asks Yeon why he’s waiting, the sub says, “Because a fox can only love one person till death.” I don’t really have a problem with that translation, but what he literally says is, “Once a fox takes a mate they never forsake them. Until death.”

Sub: “How are you coping with that?” / “Not well.” > Literally: “Are you okay?” / “I’m not okay.” I actually like the sub here since it better conveys how precocious Soo Oh appears in this scene. He seems to alternate between precocious and adorably dim throughout the drama depending on who he’s with, though when he’s with Rang, it’s mostly the latter pfft

When Yeon turns down Soo Oh’s offer of friendship he says, “Your nose. I’m not big on men with runny noses. And human lifespans are too short to be friends with me.” Yeon's use of ‘men’ struck me as funny since I guess to someone over 1600 years old, an 8 year old and an 80 year old aren’t all that different. Also, Yeon giving serious life advice to an 8 year old is adorable. He talks to him like he’s an adult.

The Afterlife Immigration Office

Between the BGM and the way the camera pans up the endless levels of shelving, did anyone else feel like Yeon entered Hogwarts for a sec? (not complaining) ;)

For the record, Yeon uses banmal with Taluipa and calls her halmeom (granny). In contrast, Hyeonuiong is pretty much the only character Yeon speaks to in jondaetmal and addresses respectfully as ‘elder’ (eoreushin). He speaks to Ji Ah’s parents politely as well, but it’s mainly because they’re her parents.

The text introducing Taluipa’s character wasn’t translated in the version we’re watching but it reads: ‘The god who rules over the River of Three Crossings (Samdocheon), the boundary between this world and the next.’ The hanja for her name (奪衣婆) refer to her traditional role, namely, removing the clothing of the dead for her husband to weigh on the Uiryeong’su (su = tree) to measure the weight of their sins. This is the same tree that the Uiryeong’geom (the wooden sword that appears in EP13), is allegedly carved from.

Lol Taluipa saying she has to keep up with the times but also using a computer that’s positively ancient (come to think of it, it’s probably from the 80s since that’s her favorite decade)

Again, I’m surprised that Yeou Nui’s character name dropped from the subs completely. The subs here just say, ‘the female fox.’

For Taluipa’s line, the subs say, “You’re to obey the order and capture who you’re sent after,” but that’s a loose approximation. More literally, it should be: “If the higher ups say to bring someone in, then you just have to bring them in.” I’m only mentioning it because the line implys that both Taluipa and Yeon report to someone higher up the chain of command. Otherwise they may be misconstrued as Taluipa’s orders.

Yeon’s line, “My compulsory military service has gone on for 600 years. How could I not go crazy?” is hilarious when you consider that Korean men are required to complete 2 years of military service, and even that often feels like an eternity, so I think for any Korean, the idea of 600 years of it is just exceptionally cruel. The line is iconic enough to have been included in Yeon’s character profile.

I noticed this a while back, but ‘mountain god’ is being consistently translated as ‘mountain spirit.’ Technically, Yeon is (was?) a god, if a low ranking one in the grand scheme of things (the Korean word is ‘sanshin’ where ‘san’ = mountain and ‘shin’ = god). I understand the use of ‘spirit’ though, since he’s not a god as gods are typically thought of in western mythologies.

Lol Yeon sticking his fingers in his ears (I would bet money this was also an ad lib)

Taluipa has a line that’s subbed, “Foxes never stay in debt.” More literally, it should be, “They say foxes repay eunhye no matter what.” You can find my explanation of eunhye here.

Wow, the subs really dropped the humour ball on Taluipa’s line here. First off, she says, ‘Right now’ in English. And while the sub says “Do you want your freedom back?” what she literally says is. “Do you want to be discharged?” (since Yeon had just likened his duties to military service).

On his way out, Yeon actually tells Taluipa, “Halmeom, you’re going to go to hell” (which is not the same as the underworld/afterlife as it said in the subs. Taluipa’s job is literally to ferry souls, so she goes to the afterlife all the time anyway). Also, when he says “I’ll pray for it everyday,” his phrasing is that of an elderly person pfft

As I mentioned, Yeon speaks formally to Hyeonuiong, who in return affectionately calls him Yeon-ie or Yeon-ah, which I find adorable.

Lol I’m not used to Ahn Gil Kang playing such a friendly character. Seeing him wheedle Taluipa with aegyo is hilarious.

Code Red

Somewhat of a side note, I can’t help but wonder, is Shin Joo’s last name ‘Gu’ because he’s a gumiho, a la My Girlfriend is a Gumiho (2010)’s Gu Mi Ho-ssi?

I wish the subs had just left ‘Lee Yeon-nim’ as-is, instead of changing it to ‘Mr. Lee.' As a general rule, I’m in favor of preserving character forms of address when translating.

Personally, I would have translated the name of Ji Ah’s TV program as: ‘In Search of Urban Legends’ rather than ‘Unveiling Urban Legends.’

I really like the dynamic between Ji Ah and writer Kim Sae Rom. “Should we fight?” / “Yeah, let’s fight~” How great is it that this drama doesn’t have a single catty, bitchy, stuck-up or otherwise obnoxious female character?

For anyone keeping track, Shin Joo speaks to Yeon in jondaetmal while Yeon speaks to Shin Joo in banmal, underlining their master/retainer dynamic.

Side note: There are actually multiple ‘types’ of jondaetmal: what I think of as ‘neutral polite’ (i.e. simply adding ‘yo’ to the end of all your sentences), the more formal polite (i.e. ending with ~[seu]mnida), that which elevates the subject, and that which lowers the speaker. The interplay of the four allows for varying degrees of politeness. The way Shin Joo speaks to Yeon is pretty much the highest degree. That doesn’t mean they aren’t close. Polite language can indicate distance but also level of regard irrespective of distance. This applies to Rang and Yoo Ri as well.

Again, Shin Joo calls Ji Ah ‘PD-nim’ but that became ‘that female director’ in the subs. PD-nim is a respectful (and non-gendered) form of address, and it’s perfectly suited to Shin Joo’s genial and deferential personality, so I wish the subs had just kept it.

I read an episode recap where the recapper mentioned she wasn’t sure what Shin Joo’s deal was. At the time I was confused, but now I think I get it. In the subs, Shin Joo says, “When I’m a seasoned veteran? I’m now up to the point where I’m wondering if I’ve turned into an actual person.” What he actually says is:

Shin Joo: No way~ How long have I been living in this (the human) world? Recently, I sometimes even have an existential crisis wondering, ‘Am I a person or a fox?’

[So he flat out says he’s a fox here, but that wasn’t reflected in the subs.]

Fun fact: this was Hwang Hee’s first scene that he filmed with Lee Dong Wook, and the BGM as they exit is Shin Joo’s theme.

I love the way Lee Dong Wook played this scene where they pay their tab. That is all.

It’s only as Yeon and Shin Joo exit the restaurant that we see that the sign out front reads ‘The Snail Bride’ (Ureong Gakshi). This is another folktale in-joke, since the snail bride’s whole thing is that she cooks delicious meals for her human husband everyday.

For the record, the Snail Bride (Bok Hye Ja) also uses honorific language towards Yeon and calls him ‘Lee Yeon-nim.’ I just assumed it was in deference to his ex-mountain god status, but it turns out she has a personal reason for holding him in high regard as well that we discover in the final episode.

As Yeon and Shin Joo walk away, Shin Joo’s line is subbed, “That show’s actually quite famous.” Since Korean doesn’t require a subject, the sentence is somewhat ambiguous, but I understood him to be referring to Ji Ah herself rather than the show since he says: “[Something is] really famous around the broadcast station.”

Lee Rang

Lol Kim Beom. How are you 32 years old?

I love how sharp and no-nonsense Ji Ah is. It’s so refreshing to not have to wait for the characters to catch up to what the audience already knows.

Rang’s theme that plays as he transforms back into his suave self is so iconic. The music director (Hong Dae Sung) really is a genius. It’s funny when you think about how different Rang’s theme is from Yeon’s.

Fun fact: Kim Beom shared in his Instagram LIVE that Rang ‘picking the wrong shoes’ was actually intentional. He was testing Ji Ah to see if she’d notice.

Okay, Rang says here that he likes, “everything about her (Ji Ah) from head to toe,” (not in a romantic way but in a grudging respect/she’s fun to toy with kind of way) but what happened to that? Are we supposed to assume that he would have liked her if she hadn’t been the object of his brother’s affection? But he approached her knowing that’s who she was...? I don’t know. I do know I wish they’d had more scenes together. Their verbal sparring is great.

Side note: One Korean fan nickname for Rang and Yoo Ri that Kim Beom liked was ‘Hoket-dan,’ playing off the Korean for pokemon’s ‘Team Rocket’ (Roket-dan) and mashing it together with the ‘ho’ from ‘gumiho’ haha

Yeon’s obsession with mint chocolate ice cream is a hilarious counterpoint to his status as a cheon’ho and his ex-mountain god title. Point to the writer. In Japanese, this would probably be called ‘gap-moe’.

When Yeon tells the man behind the counter, “When I’m indebted to someone, I’m obligated to return the favor,” he’s once again talking about eunhye. As a fox, he’s supernaturally bound to repay good deeds done for him. As far as I’m aware, this is unique to the drama and not part of the traditional gumiho lore.

Yeon eating ice cream like a happy kid XD Lol Lee Dong Wook, how are you 39?

Fun fact: Yeon’s line when he answers Rang’s call, “The number you have reached doesn’t exist, you punk” was an ad lib by Lee Dong Wook. The combination of the formal phrasing found in a typical voicemail recording followed by ‘you punk’ is particularly funny. It’s so witty I actually wouldn’t have known this was an ad lib if LDW hadn’t confessed as much himself.

“Let’s meet.” / “I refuse.” / “I’ll set your house on fire.” Hahaha What is with these brothers? Are they 1600+ and 600, or 16 and 6? Are the zeros silent??

Bus 1002

Ji Ah: “If possible, pick a different dream. I’ve been on the clock for 22 hours straight now.” I like Ji Ah so much. She’s unpretentious, intelligent, honest, driven, resourceful and witty.

Lol As Ji Ah struggles with the old man, you can hear Yeon offscreen urging the driver to get moving. Only he calls him, ‘driver yangban.’ Yangban is originally a word for a nobleman, but much like the word ‘lady’ in English, what was once a term of respect is now...not. lol Also, I’m pretty sure this was another ad lib by Lee Dong Wook since it happens entirely in the background.

This scene with Ji Ah piggybacking the old man is so classic spooky-folktale. I love it.

"You’re the only person I saw.” *Close up of the totem pole* They managed to make that whole sequence creepy despite nothing actually happening. Cool cool cool.

So our old drunkard is revealed to be a Mokjangseung (mok = wood). Jangseung in general are totems that stand at crossroads and the entrances to villages. tvN published some backstory info explaining Ji Ah’s past with this particular Jangseung and why he elected to save her which I translated here.

Aaaand we’re back at Fox Ridge. I can’t believe I only just noticed this, but the episode title could refer equally to the accident in Ji Ah’s past and this bus accident in the present.

Of course Rang staged the accident at the site of Ji Ah’s greatest trauma. Also, the fact that he knows that about her is telling.

Appropriately, the BGM playing as Ji Ah arrives at the scene of the accident is ‘Fox Ridge’ (Yeou Gogae). Iconic.

Back over to Yeon. The first time I watched this I wondered where on earth he was heading in that downpour but it turns out he was in pursuit of Rang, who had given him the slip.

Seeing Yeon limping injured through the rain ㅠㅠ Also, while Yeon later tells Ji Ah he carries his umbrella everywhere because he hates his fur getting wet, he clearly isn’t bothered here, choosing to keep it sheathed on his back instead. I guess all bets are off when he’s in Gumiho Mode.

Detective Baek and Ji Ah speak in banmal and he calls her ‘Nam Ji Ah,’ which I assume means they’ve been friends for a while.

Wow, good for Ji Ah for having made note of the exact number of passengers in the midst of all that chaos. I certainly wouldn’t have.

Hospital Encounter

So after Rang gave his brother the slip, Yeon realizes the next day that he’s at the hospital thanks to the news article Shin Joo reads out to him. Idk but I like that shot of the two of them heading out. There’s something vaguely Avengers about it. Which is maybe not surprising given that was another early influence for the show.

I liked this conversation between Ji Ah and ‘Soo Young.’ We get to see Ji Ah’s own resolve and drive in the advice she offers: “Even so, I hope you’ll become strong. It’s way more fun to be a PD than a victim.”

As with when he arrived at the wedding hall, the cinematography + BGM as Yeon approaches the hospital with his red umbrella is just A++

The BGM playing when Ji Ah spots Yeon approaching the hospital information desk isn’t on spotify or anywhere else that I’ve seen. It reminds me a bit of the ‘Tubular Bells’ theme from the Exorcist (a movie I actually haven’t even seen). If anyone knows what it is, I’d love to know.

“My only talent is my face~” pffft Also, decidedly untrue.

When Ji Ah tells Yeon, “Yes, I’m scouting you, but not for that,” She literally says, “but not for that genre.”

And now the subs say ‘Fox Ridge.’ Okay, then.

When Yeon says, “From the sound of it, it won’t be well made,” ‘well made’ is in English. Again, the peppering of English through Yeon’s speech makes him sound more modern.

When Yeon says, “Plus, I’m very devoted” his line is more literally, “Plus, contrary to how I look, I’m the devoted type.” Are you saying you look like a player? pfft

Yeon is such a big softie, so why does he keep threatening to kill people? Does he not realize they might take him seriously?

For this entire conversation (interrogation?), both Yeon and Ji Ah are switching back and forth between polite speech and banmal, almost on a sentence by sentence basis. On the whole, it gives the impression of a verbal sparring match.

“It’s not as if this was a blind date. No thanks on a second one.” lol I do enjoy cheeky Yeon.

Oh, I love that Ji Ah thinks on her feet. Using her leather bag to lift Yeon’s fingerprints was a smart move. Although, I’m not entirely convinced it would work that well in real life.

The ‘grim reaper’s outfit’ exchange was a coordinated ad lib between Lee Dong Wook and Hwang Hee. I mean, of course it was lol Casting Lee Dong Wook is the gift that keeps on giving.

Was that supposed to be Yoo Ri entering ‘Soo Young’s’ hospital room in those boots?

Minor detail, but ‘Soo Young’ calls Ji Ah ‘eonni’ meaning ‘older sister.’ It’s common convention in Korean to refer to people by familial ‘roles’ that fit their general age range even when you’re not actually related. I could digress, but I guess I just find it jarring when they have her addressing Ji Ah by name in the subs since Ji Ah is older and virtually a stranger.

Okay, when ‘Soo Young’ hears that Ji Ah lives alone, the smile she gives is effectively creepy.

The contrast between ‘Soo Young’s’ narration and the events of what actually happened on the bus that we see as viewers is great. Point to the director.

Wow, Rang really just slaughtered a whole bus worth of innocent people without a thought. I feel like we all managed to forget that about him as the show progressed. Hats off to the writer and to Kim Beom’s compelling performance. I actually worried initially that Rang would remain a one-note character because that would have been such a waste of Kim Beom, who is a fantastic actor. I’m so glad that wasn’t the case.

I love the subversion of viewer expectations when it turns out that Ji Ah knew all along that ‘Soo Young’ wasn’t who she claimed. This is something TotNT does repeatedly and well. We get both the dramatic tension of her being in danger and the satisfaction of her having had the upper hand all along. Point to the writer.

I’m pretty sure Ji Ah knocked that pitcher over with the express intent of using a shard from it as a weapon. Point for character consistency. Past or present, Ji Ah is apparently a ‘stab first, ask questions later’ kind of girl.

The Brothers

“Hey you! I clearly told you I didn’t want a second date?!” Haha Oh, Yeon.

I saw comments from Korean fans about how Yeon burst into her house with his shoes on here, and now I can’t not think of them when I watch this scene: ‘Entering the house with your shoes on...in the Republic of Korea...Ha...��, ‘Even if you bust the whole house apart, you have to take your shoes off before entering...’ lol

I love Yeon’s line that’s subbed as, “As if, brother.” In Korean, it’s “Do you want to die, little brother?” The word he uses for ‘little brother’ is ‘아우야,’ which, while still used occasionally today, is an antiquated word Yeon might just as easily have called Rang 600 years ago. It’s also, in contrast to the first half of his sentence, quite an affectionate term of address.

Rang’s line subbed as, “It’s a long story, but the family has a dirty past,” should more properly be: “It’s a long story, but you might say we come from a broken home.” Saying they have a dirty past makes it sound like they’re the mafia or something. Also, as a fun language note, the expression is literally ‘a bean-powder household.’

“Are you worried I’ll be sucked into the Underworld?” should be: “Are you worried I’ll go to hell?” Not sure where they got ‘sucked into.’ Rang just means when he dies. Also, I wish the subs would do a better job distinguishing between hell, the underworld, and the afterlife. They’re three different words.

“It’s because you embarrass me, that’s why.” Lol at the way Yeon covers his eyes. That’s definitely another ad lib from Lee Dong Wook.

When Rang calls time here, he actually calls Yeon ‘hyung.’ I suspect this wasn’t in the script but rather something that slipped out subconsciously on Kim Beom’s part, since the writer was clearly saving that word for when it would hurt us viewers the most. ㅠㅠ

Yeon’s line is subbed, “Old habits really do die hard,” but it should properly be: “You still haven’t fixed that habit?”

“If you don’t find it until the end of the next month, this woman will die.” This should actually be: “If you can’t find [that] by the next end of the month, your woman will die.” The subject is actually omitted so it’s unclear to what exactly Rang is referring, which is intentional. I also understand hearing ‘your woman’ (ni yeoja) as ‘this woman’ (i yeoja), but when they later flash back to this conversation they use a different take in which the line delivery is clearer and I’m confident it’s ‘your woman.’ This also explains Yeon’s confusion, since at this point he didn’t even know she’d been reborn.

I Waited for You

For anyone wondering how Ji Ah got into Yeon’s apartment, apparently his house code is 0000 lol

From his expression as he discovers and then watches the video she secretly took of him, I feel like Yeon is impressed with Ji Ah in spite of himself and I’m 100% here for it.

For the record, from this point forward, Yeon and Ji Ah use banmal with each other. Ji Ah has a tendency to speak to many of the supernaturals in banmal, which is honestly the opposite of what I would have opted for in her shoes.

Yeon’s question of, “How did you come here?” could mean either, ‘What brings you here?’ or ‘How did you get [in] here?’ in Korean, and honestly they’re both valid haha

Minor note, but she actually says his Korean age is 36, which would be 35 by the typical reckoning...except he’s actually ~1636 so it’s a moot point, really.

Ji Ah’s line, “Now I can proudly say that it’s fate,” translated more literally would be: “At this point, it really is fate and not coincidence.”

I feel like Ji Ah’s strategy of throwing herself off the balcony here is possibly the only thing she does in this entire show that strikes me as dumb. Like, I’m pretty sure if Yeon hadn’t been both benevolent and able to fly (and she had no guarantee that he was either), letting her just fall here would have been the easiest way for him to resolve the matter/the only thing he could have done.

Yeon’s line, “Did you just test me?” is one of the rare instances in which he code switches to archaic speech. I guess using his gumiho powers put him in a Gumiho frame of mind. ;)

On the whole, I prefer the instrumental OST tracks to the lyrical ones, but ‘Blue Moon’ is just sooooo catchy. I wish they had continued using it more.

And that concludes Episode 1. I’ve never posted anything like this before, but hopefully it was at least mildly interesting. Let me know what you think.

#tale of the nine tailed #totnt #lost in translation #I've never done this before so think of it as an experiment #this is what happens when language nerds watch dramas #korean language #korean culture #kdrama #구미호뎐

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thebrightsessions · 4 years ago

Photo

Entertainment Spotlight: Felix Trench

Felix is an actor based in London. In audio drama, he plays Rudyard Funn in Wooden Overcoats, Phil Cheeseman in Zombies, Run! and the narrator in Quid Pro Euro, the last of which he also writes. TV includes work for the BBC and Channel 4, and he has performed in theatres around London. He is part of the improv team The Present Company, one of the house teams for The Free Association. He lives on a boat on the Thames from where he runs online pub quizzes every Tuesday. Felix grew up in a British family in Brussels.

You’ve worked on multiple Podcasts in the past. What drew you to the medium?

I grew up listening to radio sitcoms and other radio comedy; it's a common thing in many British homes, broadcast around the time people are making supper. There's also new radio drama and soaps interspersed throughout the day so I was very familiar with what modern audio drama sounds like.

In a country of 65 million with one dominant state broadcaster, there's fewer opportunities to work in radio drama than there are people who want to and I didn't fancy getting caught in a cycle of pitching. I was lucky enough to know good people in complementary fields who wanted to work with me, so we did that for about a year then put out a podcast with what we'd come up with and sat back to see if anybody listened.

That's what got me in. But it's the community of creators that kept me here. Over time, I got to make friends and act with people making brilliant work all around the world in a way that I really wasn't expecting. Although there is a lot more to listen to than there was five years ago, we're still only at the beginning of finding out where this is going and I'm looking forward to what's coming up.

You run pub quizzes: do you have a favorite quiz question or topic?

That's right! I've run them as a side hustle in pubs and online for most of the last decade. In pubs, I love anything that's a measurement because it produces a physical reaction. For example, if you ask How high is a tennis net?, half the pub will hold their hands out in order to mime tennis nets at the other half.

You have to ask questions that people have a chance of getting or it's not fun for them, and when I ask them online I have to bear in mind that I have an international audience so I can't rely on British culture. It's amazing how much so-called general knowledge is country specific; every country teaches very different History syllabuses for instance, and while I try not to be too Euro-centric, I generally, err, fail. Geography questions are my saving grace. Everyone's seen a map, even if it's skewed to make your home look like the centre of the universe, so asking how many countries border the sea of Japan, for instance, is fair game wherever you're from.

(It's four).

If you could have a conversation with Percy Higgenson-Wyte, what would you ask?

Is there some sort of yearly Order conference where you all meet up in one country? Is it fun?

I feel there's a lot of admin that must go on that's been layered in decades of tradition but also in attempts to find common goals between the different nations. It really should be a branch of the UN.

Describe each of the following in one word: Who you are, what you value the most, and what you’d be if you were a food item.

1. Lucky

2. Variety

3. Butter

Can you share your favorite piece of fan art?

I love this artwork done by @acidtygr in 2016. Lauren was visiting London and helped my team and I at the Wooden Overcoats podcast out at a charity event. The picture shows one of our characters, Antigone Funn, meeting Dr Bright.

Thanks so much for taking the time, Felix! Give Order & Chaos, Chapter Four: Tabula Rasa a relisten right here.

Photo: Matthew Thomas

#entertainment spotlight #the bright sessions #order and chaos spotlight #felix trench

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just-dreaming-marvel · 5 years ago

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FIFTY THREE - THE UNITED NATIONS

LEGACY: A Tony Stark Daughter Story

MASTERLIST

< previous

Word Count: 2,000ish

Summary: Bailey joins Natasha for the signing of the Accords.

When I woke up in the morning, my phone was buzzing off the hook. With my eyes still closed, I reached over at answered it.

“Hello?” My sleepy voice said.

“We’re going to be late,” Natasha’s voice rang through the phone.

I quickly sat up. “Oh, shit.”

“Language,” Tony muttered sleepily.

I rushed out of bed and out of Tony’s room, jumping over the furniture on the way to my own room. “I’ll be down in ten.”

“Make it five,” Nat said before she hung up.

I hurried and put on my black pants suit before tying up my hair in a professional looking pony tail. I hopped out of my room, heading for the door, as I was putting on my shoes.

“I’m heading to the signing with Nat!” I yelled to Tony, who was still in his bed half asleep.

“Have fun!” He yelled back.

“You know it!”

Natasha was waiting in a town car when I arrived outside. I slid into the backseat beside her.

“I’m sorry,” I immediately apologized once the driver began going. “It was a long night.”

“I’m sure it was,” Nat teased, wiggling her eyebrows at me.

“Not like that!” I playfully smacked her.

“I know,” she chuckled. “How was the date?”

“Really good.” I couldn’t help the goofy grin that formed on my face.

“I’m glad. I only wish that you two were comfortable enough to come out to everyone.”

“Me too,” I sighed as I looked out the window. “How comfortable are you with signing this?”

Natasha sighed. “Like I told Steve, staying together is more important than how we stay together.”

“That sounds like the slogan for this whole thing, not your actual opinion.” I eyed her knowingly.

“This is my family. I don’t like the idea of the government tearing it apart. I know you feel the same.” The car came to a stop in front of the UN and the driver came around to open our doors.

“I’ve never been out in public like this without Tony or Pepper,” I nervously whispered as Nat and I were escorted into the building.

“Don’t worry. It’ll just be a bunch of politicians signing a piece of paper. There’s nothing to be worried about.”

But for some reason I really was worried. There was something in the air, something weird, I could sense it. We were escorted to one of the top floors of one of the highest buildings in the complex. Politicians were chatting and assistants were rushing around preparing for the meeting. I followed Natasha around, blending right behind her as an assistant would.

“Excuse me, Miss Romanoff?” A UN staff member came up to us.

“Yes?” She replied.

“These need your signature,” the staff member said, holding the papers and a pen out to her.

I glanced around, surveying the room. I could feel eyes on me. I looking around until I met some curious brown eyes. A young African man was staring at Nat and I, he couldn’t have been much older than I was. I could sense his discomfort with being around so many politicians. He made his way over to were Nat and I were standing, he eyes never leaving mine until he was closer to Natasha.

“I suppose neither of us is used to the spotlight,” he said to Natasha, but some how I felt it aimed towards me.

“Oh, well, it’s not always so flattering,” Natasha responded.

“Who is he?” I mentally asked Nat.

“Prince T’Challa,” she answered, “of Wakanda. A few of his people died in Lagos.”

“You seem to be doing alright so far. Considering your last trip to Capitol Hill… I wouldn’t think you would be particularly comfortable in this company.”

“Well, I’m not.”

“That alone makes me glad you’re here, Miss Romanoff.” I felt that he genuinely meant what he had just stated.

“Why?” I quickly asked, causing the two to look at me. “You don’t approve of all this?”

“The Accords, yes. The politics, not really. Two people in a room can get more done than a hundred.”

“Unless you need to move a piano,” an older man joined in.

“Father,” T’Challa greeted.

“Son. Miss Romanoff,” the man greeted. “And you are?”

“Miss Bailey,” I answered, holding my hand out to shake his. He tenderly took it.

“King T’Chaka,” Nat greeted. “Please, allow me to apologize for what happened in Nigeria.”

“Thank you. Thank you for agreeing to all this. I’m sad to hear that Captain Rogers will not be joining us today.”

“Yes, so am I.”

“If everyone could please be seated,” a man called over the speakers. “This assembly is now in session.”

“That is the future calling,” T’Challa stated. “Such a pleasure.” He nodded to the both of us.

“Thank you,” Natasha said before she linked arms with me and guided us to our seats. “That wasn’t smart,” she whispered when we sat down.

“What wasn’t?” I questioned.

“Telling them your name.”

“They don’t know my last name. For all they could know is that Bailey is it.”

Natasha simply rolled her eyes, looking up at the podium. King T’Chaka was heading up to speak. I surveyed the room once more, my worry from before growing as I continued to feel that something was off.

“When stolen Wakandan vibranium was used to make a terrible weapon,” the King began, “we in Wakanda were forced to question our legacy. Those men and women killed in Nigeria, were part of a goodwill mission from a country too long in the shadows. We will not, however, let misfortune drive us back. We will fight to improve the world we wish to join. I am grateful to the Avengers for supporting this initiative.” Out of the corner of my eye, I could see T’Challa tense up, noticing something outside. “Wakanda is proud to extend its hand in peace.

“Everybody get down!” T’Challa shouted right before an enormous explosion went off between two of the buildings, destroying the conference halls windows and part of the room.

Natasha grabbed me, forcing us under the table. An overwhelming amount of grief flooded me, forcing tears to prick my eyes. I peaked over the table to see who’s emotion I could possibly feeling. T’Challa was rocking his dead father in his arms.

Once we were sure that no other bombs were going to explode, a task for entered the room and began escorting everyone out.

“Dad’s never going to let me out of his sight again,” I stated as Nat and I headed down the stairs.

Once we reached outside, medics checked us out. Soon after, Nat and I found a bench to sit on. A buzzing sounded in Nat’s pocket. She took it out to see that it was Tony. She gave me a sad look, before turning to the edge of the bench to answer it. People were running around every which way. Whispers that the bombing was caused by the Winter Soldier were being said. And for some reason, I couldn’t fully believe them. I could feel the grief again, suddenly. I looked to the side to see a stunned T’Challa sitting on the bench next to us. There was a cut on his head. I slowly got up and moved to sit next to him.

“I’m very sorry,” I said to him, sadly.

He glanced me as he played with a silver ring between his fingers. “In my culture, death is not the end. It’s more of a… stepping-off point. You reach out with both hands and Bast and Sekhmet, they lead you into the green veldt where… you can run forever.”

“That sounds very peaceful.”

“My father thought so.” T’Challa slid his ring onto his finger, his grief turning into anger. “I am not my father.”

“T’Challa. Task force will decide who brings in Barnes.”

T’Challa clenched his fist. “Don’t bother, Miss Bailey.” He stood up, his anger now fully overpowering his grief. “I’ll kill him myself.”

And with that, he walked away. I stared at him until he disappeared into the crowd. I couldn’t help but wonder how I would feel in his shoes. Would my grief turn into anger? Would I be able to run a country? And why was I feeling that Barnes was not the cause of this? That he was not the answer. Someone had to be setting him up. But who? And why? I was absentmindedly staring in the direction, when Natasha set her hand on my back.

“You’re father’s sending a car to come get you,” she stated as I turned to look at her.

“Is he not coming to get me himself?” I asked.

“He says he’s going to stay at the hotel and answer phone calls. There’s too many questions he has to answer before he could be of any help here.”

Before either of us said anything, my phone began buzzing. We looked at it then looked at each other. It was Steve. We huddled together, surveying the area before answering the phone and putting it on speaker.

“Steve?” I was relieved that he called.

“You alright?” I could feel his worry. But not through the phone. He was nearby.

“Yes.” I looked around to find him standing across the street, a cap and dark sunglasses on. “We both are.”

“We got lucky,” Natasha stated, frowning as she stood up. I stood up with her, my eyes never leaving Steve’s figure. “I know how much Barnes means to you. I really do. Stay home. You’ll only make this worse. For all of us. Please.”

“Are you saying you’ll arrest me?”

“No,” I quickly said in place of Nat.

“Someone will,” Nat continued. “If you interfere. That’s how it works now.”

“If he’s this far gone, Nat, I should be the one to bring him in.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m the one least likely to die trying,” Steve stated as he hung up.

“Please don’t do this,” I begged Steve.

“I have to, B. He’s my best friend… Did you sign them?”

“We never got to that. And you know I wasn’t there to do that. I can’t pick a side. Please don’t make me.”

“I’m afraid that’s where it’s going to end up, B.”

“Miss Bailey,” an agent pulled me out of my head as he approached. “I have a car ready to take you back to Mr. Stark.”

“Okay, thanks,” I replied.

The agent turned around, guiding me to the car. I looked around one last time for Steve but he was gone. Natasha had disappeared as well, probably in search of Steve. I sighed as I followed the agent to the car. I got in it to find Tony there waiting.

“Nat said that you were staying at the hotel, answering phone calls.”

“Change of plans,” Tony stated, a regretful look in his eyes. “I’m sending you home. You can’t be involved in this more than you already have.”

“Dad, no. I’m more of use here. I don’t need to take sides on the Accords to help with the clean up.”

“No!” He yelled. I flinched. “I almost lost you today…” He looked at me sadly. “I promised to keep your family together and, honey, I’m trying. But I can’t worry about you getting in the crossfires here at the same time. You’re going to take the jet to the compound, where you’ll be safe. Wanda and Vision are there still.”

“So, I’ll be a prisoner then? We’re back to that?”

“I’m trying to keep you safe!”

“I don’t need your protection!”

“You’re going home! End of discussion.”

Then, before I knew what was happening, Tony pulled his hand out of his pocket, revealing a syringe in it. He quickly stabbed it into my neck and released what was in it . My world went black.

next >

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soaringsearingphoenix · 4 years ago

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7, 45

7: Do you have any tattoos or piercings?

No, but if i did I would want something geometric and green. If, one day, i can get a tattoo that lets me photosynthesize i will get one immediately. Until then, though, i dont know if I'm committed to any aesthetic for long enough to make it permanent. I LOVE the way tattoos look but I really can't think of one for myself that's worth it to me ("it" being the whole process of getting a tattoo.) Anyhing I have in mind is kind of "go big or go home" and I'm not ready to go big. I doodle on myself a lot when I have sharpies available. But in general i prefer to go unadorned.

As for piercings, I dont even really like non-permanent jewelry so piercings don't have a lot of appeal to me. I do wonder, if I had conductive piercings, if it would affect how frequently I experience little static shocks. I feel like i get shocked a lot but it probably has to do with the fact that I skitter around the carpet in socks and wear a lot of fuzzy jackets.

45: Do you fall in love easily?

No but reading that question got the Chet baker song stuck in my head, which I love and which I will sing with a soft heartbroken lanentation to the fullest of my ability

I mean... I kind of do, actually, it's just really rare. Like, in a Hozier "fall in love a little bit every day" sense for sure, I do that frequently. I love easily. But like, people that my mind lingers on are very unusual, and even when I have a crush it's rare that I would say I'm IN love. If I fall in love, it's easily, but that's a big IF.

I wrote a lot about different types of love when i was describing the domains of my TTRPG world's homebrew god system, which is divided into six domains. Roughly summarized, there is Familial love, a steady supportive kind that is as much for found family as blood relatives. There is Passionate love, which views relationships as a thing you build and maintain, it's "i am going to love you on purpose." There is Companionate love, which is the kind built from circumstances, places you already feel strongly for, it's the kind of bond you build at summer camps and concert venues and late night road trip Dennys stops with people you feel deeply connected to in the moment who you may or may not ever talk to after it's over. There's Community love, which is the love that makes you care for others around you, the kind often born of a shared history, something you feel on holidays or at festivals, even at sports games and in fandom spaces, when you are part of the thing being celebrated. There's Life love, which is caring for other living creatures simply by virtue of their being alive and a part of the world you live in, which remembers that people are animals too and celebrates our place in nature. And there's Observer love, which is a love for the beauty that exists in the world, it's what you feel in moments when you see something majestic - the crash of a thundering waterfall with rainbows dancing through its mist, the silence of a snowfall glittering in the first light of dawn, the expanse of stars above you when you're far from the city, it's a love of the here and now and of the memories you form from experiencing the world.

And like... I wrote it for a D&D campaign, y'know? I was trying to elaborate on how Halflings celebrate emotion more in their culture, as opposed to the Human kingdom which saw the emotional aspects as secondary to the gods' tangible domains (stone, metal, water, air, life, and mind). But as I was writing it all down in a fervor at 2am I realized that it actually touched on something in how I view the world, and it's been a useful framework for understanding and describing my own feelings.

It's that third one - Companionate love - that REALLY hits me when it hits me. Put me in a box with a small group and tell me our time is limited and I'll find someone to fall in and out of love with on the very last day.

Model UN conferences were like that, in the crisis committees - there was always someone I thought I'd keep in touch with, someone I wanted to become good friends with, and then we all went home and had a good night's sleep and realized we knew nothing about each other.

I had a friend in middle school who I used to have sleepovers with a lot, talking about the meaning of life at 2am over video games on the Gamecube, and whether or not I was in love with him I was certainly in love with that experience. We still talk, but we don't have the same relationship now.

In the shuttle from the airport to college, I chatted with another student as the sun gradually set over the expansive desert, and we watched the stars out the window, whispering to each other in the dark about our individual plans for the future and of our love of learning, and we were seated right beside each other but it was too dark to see each others' faces, and in that closeness I was a little bit in love

I guess it makes sense that I would represent this kind of love in the god of water, given the sort of things I romanticize. They are god of change, god of impermanence, god of fleeting things that you know you will find again in another form. Their people are sailors, and their love is a thing you find in taverns and the songs that fill them. The love in togetherness that fills you with resolve to face the cold lonely days ahead. The love that you know you will come back to at the end of the voyage, that will have made the cold and lonely days worth it.

It's the late night slumber party kind of falling in love, and it's wonderful. And it's not automatic. I don't consider myself truly in love with EVERY person I've ever stayed up late with, or with every person I've whispered to about the hopes and fears I normally hold close. But there's something really special in it. In being quiet with someone. In being tired with someone. There's an unusual depth in that bond, but there is also something to be cherished in the fact that it carries no expectations or promises out of the comfortable, drowsy darkness and into the clarity of morning. There's a specific vulnerability in the sleepless times where your usual walls are down a little bit, and I think that kind of vulnerability is side by side with falling in love. And there is a particular love in being able to see yourself living with someone, and I think that's somehing you learn thether you feel for someone in the quiet moments with them.

So, uh... to wrap this up. I don't fall in love often, and so I wouldn't say I fall in love easily. But when I do, it feels so comfortable and so simple and so obvious that it's easy to say it's easy as I'm feeling it.

#now i wanna talk about my dnd pantheon lmao #the goddess of metal and passionate love is a trans lesbian and her domain is one of my favorites #because like her whole theme is creating and shaping things and the care that you put into that #SHE has piercings and tattoos and also a prosthetic leg and she's very fun to draw #the metalworking theme came first. i came to the physical domains before i added the emotional aspect #but it felt right that like. a god of smiths should represent love as something you forge. love as a thing thats fiery and malleable #and also it explains why jewelry is still a traditional gift for courtship and weddings in this world but like so are weapons and armor #thanks for asking!!#long post

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soleilng-blog · 4 years ago

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#communication support

Online Conference International MUN 21.0 searching for delegates!

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IMUN has been sponsored and supported by the United Nations specialized organizations like UNDP, UNESCO, IOM as well as by The Australian Embassy in Vietnam & Thailand. IMUN is recruiting Interns from different schools & universities with some exciting benefits like stipend, sponsored trips to the next IMUN conferences, work with IMUN Team, etc. At IMUN, your voice matters!

After 12,000 students, 80 countries and five months, we are now at the 21th edition of IMUN Online Conference 🤩 International MUN

This time, we look at the basis of child and human trafficking and what the international community can do to address this very sordid issue. Besides this, we tackle issues like marine biodiversity, racism, trade war and mental health during quarantine. Register now for just 9 USD and be a part of this landmark conference 🔥

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- Have the opportunity to give comments on social issues and develop English speaking and listening skills

- Experience the space of a standard United Nations Model Conference at home

❗Period: September 5th-6th, 2020 (Time zone: 12:30PM-6:00PM, IST)

❗Mode: Zoom

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(To get the best support in the registration process and attend the conference, please inbox me for more information)

If everyone has any questions, please feel free to text me.

🔴Committees & Topics 🔴

➤UNDP (United Nations Development Programme)

Topic: Fallout: Tackling climate change effects on marine biodiversity (SDG 13 & 14)

➤UN Women

Topic: Empowerment through equality: Equal pay for equal work

➤WTO (World Trade Organization)

Topic: Global Trade War 2020: World vs China

➤SOCHUM (Social Humanitarian and Cultural Committee )

Topic: Mitigating modern day Racism and Xenophobia

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Topic: Freedom for All: Putting an end to human trafficking

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Topic: Mental Health in 2020 - Quarantine Edition

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ceciliatan · 5 years ago

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InVocation, an art installation by Midori

Today I was inspired to ship off this ancient, grungy Mac keyboard (see photo) that has been gathering dust and grime in my office for over 20 years. I’m in the midst of cleaning out my office in general, unearthing all kinds of interesting things in the excavation, but this one was sent not to the dumpster but to Midori, who is collecting objects from queer sex workers around the world to be woven into an art installation she’s calling “InVocation.”

She texted me to ask if I considered erotica writers (or myself in specific) to be sex workers, and here’s what I told her: “I don’t think most sex workers would consider us part of their group, but I do, at least from a political coalition standpoint, because erotic writing work is subject to different laws and restrictions from other writing work on the basis of the sexual content. We’re treated differently, our product can be outlawed or flagrantly destroyed with no recourse for us, our books are hidden, etc.”

When you write erotic work, even places like Patreon restrict you. Even when what you do isn’t illegal, they make your page un-findable from the search bar (you have to know exactly what URL to put in to find any X-rated artist). Amazon does the same, plunging not only individual books but sometimes whole keywords into the “adult dungeon” where they languish, unfound by searches. Erotic writing is reportedly more likely to be pirated or stolen than non-erotic writing, as some people both feel shame about buying it and NO shame about ripping off a mere “sex writer.”

Erotica writers have to fight harder to get paid than non-erotic writers do and we’re offered less for our work (compare the $50 a story standard for erotica anthologies to the 8 cents a word standard demanded by the Science Fiction Writers of America = $200 for a 2500 word story). This despite the adage “sex sells.” Even in the wake of 50 Shades of Grey, the top selling book in English-language history, many bookstores still have no erotica section, and those that do have one often won’t label it visibly. Some stores won’t carry it because they believe it’s illegal to sell to customers under 18 and they don’t ID their customers. And so on.

All those barriers — moral, structural, logistical, societal, and legal — makes making a living as an erotica writer even harder than making a living as any other kind of writer.

I’ve been living with this reality for so long that I sometimes forget it’s there. But at the RWA conference a couple of weeks ago I took a step back and had it hit me all over again. So many of the avenues for building a career, gaining readers, promoting a book, and so on are restricted to non-sexual content. For example, Facebook ads are a huge part of most of the marketing campaigns of top-selling books these days. But Facebook won’t let us advertise a book that’s too sexy unless we can plausibly make them look “clean.” (Heck, even the website where 50 Shades was first posted as a Twilight fanfic and built up a huge following had rules against explicit content! They were just ignored…)

Anyway. Midori is creating a sculptural art installation at the Leslie Lohman museum in New York City, as detailed in her post here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/i-need-your-help-28998508

The sculpture will be part of an exhibition called ON OUR BACKS, and it couldn’t be more up my alley. To quote from the exhibition’s description: “This exhibition explores the history of queer sex work culture, and its intimate ties to art and activism. [It shows] queer and transgender sex workers’ deep community building, creative organizing, self-empowerment, identity/desire affirmation and healing and the use of pornography as a deft tool for queer and trans liberation.”

Read the full description here: https://www.leslielohman.org/project/queer-sex-workers

My manifesto, as I’ve been banging the drum since 1992, is that stories change lives. Fiction changes hearts and minds. And I write about sex and sexuality because our society has so many fucked up ways of thinking about those things that the only way to change people toward thinking about them another way is to tell them a story. I write a lot of science fiction and fantasy to change the viewpoint as far from “normal” as possible, but even a story like Daron’s Guitar Chronicles is saying the same thing: we who don’t love within the narrow confines of society’s enforced “normal” of heterosexual vanilla marriage need freedom in this world to exist and to express ourselves as fully accepted human beings.

So, yeah, off my grungy old keyboard goes. I had thought maybe I had one of my old old original laptops — I had a Toshiba T-1000 back in 1989! — but it appears I recycled them long ago because of fears their batteries were dangerous to keep around. But I have clung to a lot of ancient tech. Macs haven’t used keyboard with this style of connector since… 1997? You can see from the grime on it that this keyboard had a lot of mileage on it.

Midori wrote that what she is looking for is objects that were used in sex work that we’ve held onto but we’re ready to let go of. “Objects, which even as you hold on to them, you would like to let it go, give it a new home, recognize that it doesn’t need to take up space in your drawers or storage or heart, or something you’d like to respectfully let it dissolve into the universe. ” I didn’t have a dried out old lipstick case, but I did have this.

I’m looking forward to seeing the final installation.

from cecilia tan https://ift.tt/2GYK3qi via IFTTT

#cecilia tan

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nicolepremier · 6 years ago

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Nano’s Knife

I’m currently writing a Nano/Akira fic and it occurs to me that I need to explain to everyone what’s really going on with Nano’s knife and its mysterious inscription that appears on so much iconic TnC merch. I was planning to write a brief summary in the author’s notes, but I wanted to go into a little more detail here, since I thought some of you might be curious.

Fandom lore would simply state that Nano’s inscription reads “wish” in some mysterious language, a symbol that he “wishes” to meet Akira again, and leave it at that.

It’s a lot more complex than that. And spoiler alert - the inscription on that knife does not literally read “wish” in any language.

For starters, there is some confusion in the translation from Japanese to English. The word the Japanese use that is translated to English as “wish” is 願い (negai), and that word has another meaning, a meaning that contextually makes a lot more sense. “Negai” also means “prayer,” and the context that it is used in throughout Nano’s route suggests that “prayer” would have been a more accurate and appropriate translation. For example, when Akira finds Nano sitting alone in the church with the black kitten, Nano says that he is there because he is “wishing” for another person’s happiness (obviously Akira’s, though that goes completely over Akira’s head) because it’s the only thing left to one whose fate has already been determined (referring to himself). What he’s actually doing is praying for Akira’s happiness. You don’t go to church to “wish,” you go to “pray.”

This distinction becomes very important when translating Nano’s knife inscription.

The inscription on Nano’s knife is written in Elder Futhark, a pre-viking Norse and Germanic rune system. (Though popular perception today simply refers to them as “viking runes.”) Being of Scandinavian decent from a family who loves anything and everything to do with vikings, I recognized the writing immediately since the same runes are on a ton of decorations all over my family’s home.

If you try and translate Nano’s runes phonetically, you get “hingath,” which is complete rubbish and means absolutely nothing as far as I can tell. It most certainly does NOT mean “wish.”

There is some additional complication due to the fact that N+C is horribly inconsistent with the runes from one set of merch to the next (presumably because they mean nothing to the designers), and the designers sometimes write them in ways that make the inscription even MORE nonsensical.

I actually sent a number of the different versions of the inscriptions to a professor friend who studies runes in several dead languages, and he came up with exactly the same nonsensical gibberish I did - it’s badly written Elder Futhark mixing several time periods that says nothing. He said it wasn’t all that uncommon for people to write nonsense runes on all sorts of stuff just because they like the look of them. For example, a well-known rune translation guide book has runes going around the cover which translate to “These runes don’t say anything, but they sure look cool, don’t they?”

But I wasn’t satisfied.

Elder Futhark is not purely a phonetic language like the Latin alphabet. The god Odin “sacrificed himself to himself” by hanging on the world-tree Yggdrasil for nine days and nights, receiving no form of nourishment from his companions. At the end of this ordeal, he perceived the runes, the magically-charged ancient Germanic alphabet that was held to contain many of the greatest secrets of existence.

The fact that the runes have, since their conception, been thought to be imbibed with magical powers is the reason they have been so extensively used by modern Neopagans in so much of their ritual practice. Simply the act of inscribing the runes, or keeping inscribed objects close, can confer power and blessings. Each rune has multiple meanings, but keeping that in mind, I believe I have cracked the code of Nano’s mysterious knife inscription.

The knife isn’t a “wish” or a symbol of a “wish” - it’s a “prayer.” It’s a prayer to the old gods.

Name: Hagalaz, “hail.” Phoneme: H. Meaning: destruction, chaos, change, invocation

This is a common invocation to begin a prayer to petition the gods.

Name: Ingwaz, “the god Ingwaz.” Phoneme: Ing or ng. Meaning: male fertility, the beginning of something, the actualization of potential via sacrifice

He must offer a sacrifice. The old gods don’t work for free. One must give something up in order for one’s prayer to have a chance of being answered.

Name: Ansuz, “an Aesir god.” Phoneme: A (long and/or short). Meaning: prosperity, vitality.

He’s calling on one or more of the aesir gods for help - Odin, Thor, Frigg, Tyr, Loki, Baldur, Heimdall, Idun, and Bragi.

Name: Thurisaz, “Thor, Giant.” Phoneme: Th (both soft and hard). Meaning: danger, suffering, solitude. (Note that this rune is often written with shorter vertical lines so that it looks more like an angular D. Both versions appear on different TnC merch.)

He wants an end to his suffering and solitude. His prayer is a desperate cry for help.

To be clear, I do not believe that Nano is a time traveling viking, or even of Norse decent - if he were, he might have written a more sensible inscription that actually meant something in one of the Scandinavian languages - all of which use the roman alphabet nowadays, and that is NOT the alphabet that Nano’s book uses, since Japanese use romanji as well and Akira has never seen those sorts of letters before. No one writes books in Elder Futhark these days. Here is what I believe happened:

Nano was the son of academics. He mentions in Kou Un (his official afterstory) that his father whose face he can’t remember made the knife. That’s not a normal skill, and even a rudimentary knowledge of Norse runes (and Norse gods) isn’t common knowledge among the general populace. This is consistent with how Nano dresses and presents himself - he isn’t the sort of person who puts a lot of thought into his clothing, but he likely tends to subconsciously gravitate towards what some part of his brain still registers as “normal” - things his father might have worn, and which he probably wore himself as a child before he was taken to ENED. His primary hobby is reading, and his eloquent speech and precise pattern observation makes clear that he’s quite intelligent, despite his naivety and eccentricity.

I headcanon that Nano’s father was an engineer, and his mother was a history professor (probably NOT in Norse studies), both of whom worked for a Russian university with government funding in South eastern Russia, in close proximity to both China and Japan. His father may have been involved in the design or manufacturing of weapons during WWIII. Likely both parents had an interest in historical reenactment and were eager to involve their children. Nano likely spent a good deal of time with his mother as a child since his father would have been kept extremely busy during the war. He was almost certainly taught to read at a very young age and given books on his mother’s favorite subjects to keep him occupied while she worked. When he developed an interest in vikings and Norse mythology as a young boy, he was almost certainly encouraged to pursue it. Therefore, although he was raised Russian Orthodox Christian, he was aware of (and likely fascinated by) mythology from various cultures. His speech in the game illustrates that he does indeed have a distinct interest in Christian mythology in particular, and likely that of other cultures as well, given that his only known possession was a knife inscribed with Elder Futhark. His father likely recognized his interests and made the knife for him as a gift, then let him help inscribe it with a prayer. To a little kid who really liked vikings, that was probably very exciting, so it isn’t surprising that the knife would become his most prized possession, even after his memories were altered and he could no longer remember anything else about his family.

After Nano’s family was killed, he was put into an overcrowded Russian orphanage, then later taken away by the Japanese for use as a nameless test subject in what was often lethal experimentation. At that point he was so scared that he was willing to try just about anything. Having no control at all over his own fate, his only recourse was to pray for salvation. When no one answered his prayers and his circumstances kept going from bad to worse, he almost certainly started to lose faith in the Christian god, and tried to invoke the old Norse gods in hopes that maybe he was just praying to the wrong god and there was still SOMEONE out there who would listen. He may even have forgotten what the inscription on the knife actually meant, only recalling dreamlike bits and pieces. It was a prayer. To be completely honest, I find it completely unrealistic that Nano could have kept that knife hidden for so long from ENED, given that it’s fairly large, he had no privacy, was watched 24/7, and only wore a medical gown inside the facility. I think it is slightly more likely that he was allowed to keep it, given how submissive he was to the researchers, since the end goal was to brainwash him into BECOMING a weapon himself.

In the end, when Nano had lost all hope and knew he was about to lose even himself… the sacrifice he made to invoke his final desperate prayer WAS the knife itself, his last remaining possession, the last reminder he had of his humanity, and with it his last remaining hope of salvation. He gave it all to Akira, in hopes that maybe one day, they would meet again.

Now, Nano’s fate, and his salvation, depends entirely on Akira.

#Togainu no Chi #Nano (TnC)#Nicole Premier #headcanon

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nerdygaymormon · 6 years ago

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"Truth and the Plan" actually has nice nuggets here and there. I took interest in it since I could feel the spirit restraining Elder Oaks from saying everything he wanted to say when I heard it at General Conference. My points will mostly be feminist points because there is doctrine backing those up instead of just faith and revelations of LGBT members, which can be extrapolated to show that might hold true to points about LGBT topics. 1/?

The first point that really stood out to me was the one telling us to oppose abortion with no qualifiers. Opposing abortion without discussing when abortion is needed is against previous doctrine and if someone blindly followed that without researching the actual stance of the Church, they would be supporting maternal death, which the Church is against. The True to the Faith reference book discusses this. 2/?

Confusing gender, distorting marriage, and teachings that discourage bearing and nurturing children are much more from toxic masculinity and an oppressive patriarchal society than anything else. Women don’t want children if they have to do it alone and if men view themselves as the higher authority in marriage when they do nothing, marriages are unappealing. These are clearly points confusing gender in a way to discourage family life, more than the LGBT community. 3/?

I think societies view on gender is what is messed up and the Church would do well to fight it (but they might not realize it because I see a lot less toxic masculinity now that I live in Utah), but I guess we have to leave that up to non-binary and gender non-conforming individuals to fight it. I’m rather salty about the fathers abiding toxic masculinity to neglect their children because that was my father. This might be why I was sick when my ward was to discuss the talk. 4/?

I would’ve been un-Christlike as I pointed out that the with the change in curriculum the Church has been pointing fingers at the mothers to pick up the slack instead of reprimanding fathers for not doing their part. President Hinckley would not have let this fly. He would’ve called out the brethren, but maybe they are waiting until Priesthood session to do it. I could go on about this for a long time, but I will call this tangent done. 5/?

You reblogged some good points to bring up with the family proclamation quotes pointing to doctrine instead of culture. The talk discusses opposition and how it is always present and show that being gay has opposition from Satan (hate is only ever from Satan if someone argues otherwise). You can also testify that you know that you have a part in the plan and I would argue that part of that is being a great source of help for LGBT members. 6/?

It also talks about how we have to learn things with faith and not just secular knowledge, this might be where you can talk about taking steps of faith and how you have spiritual knowledge that you are right in trying to find love. It also warns about sources you turn to for truth and you can discuss that you have truth about yourself and what you are to do with your life through spiritual methods and not by listening to popular opinion. 7/?

The default in Church culture is anti-gay, you clearly have to have strong conviction and faith to stick around when everyone says go away. True conversion instead of living the standard because that was how you were raised. Along with saying don’t take popular opinion as truth, beware of anonymous sources. Beware of me and seek nuggets of truth in the talk yourself. Your ward will be lucky to discuss the talk with you in the congregation. You will not be afraid to speak the truth. 8/8

—————————————————————

WOW!

Thank you so much for sending this.

Here’s some other good nuggets from that talk:

God is a loving father to ALL of us

We all came to earth to have to make choices (LGBTQ people in the church have some high-stakes choices to make)

Christ is our Savior and already paid for our mistakes & sins

Our earthly relationships can be eternal

We honor individual agency

Children should be treasured and seek for best conditions for their development & happiness (

—————————————————————

I’m interested in what you mean in your first paragraph. That Elder Oaks wanted to go more hardcore but the Spirit kept him from doing so?

You brought up a number of important points, thank you for that. I’m going to comment on each of them.

1st Point - You’re correct, the Church’s standard allows abortion in certain circumstances. We don’t judge the baby’s life to be of greater value than the mother’s.

2nd Point - Confusing gender roles - It seems to me that what we know about Heavenly Father has Him primarily doing things we’d associate with a woman as outlined in FamProc. Unfortunately FamProc doesn’t say men should help nurture their children, which is sad to me.

3rd Point - Opposition by Satan includes the hate aimed at LGBTQ people. Another part of this is us being excluded from God’s great plan of happiness, surely that would not be what a loving Heavenly Father would want.

4th Point - Personal revelation is an important part of spiritual knowledge. So many LGBT people have shared with me about the moment that God made it clear to them that they are loved as they are, that this is how they’re meant to be.

5th Point - The church has an anti-gay culture and many people use talks like this one from Elder Oaks to justify saying homophobic things. Why just this week I was in the stake offices processing temple recommends and someone made a joke about getting out of jury duty by saying they could never find a gay man innocent due to the Church’s teachings - how is that acceptable?

6th Point - We need to be careful about the sources of information and that includes what we were taught at home. That is an excellent point. Too often people look for sources to confirm what they already believe. Where the church leaders can speak about the spiritual meanings of things, we can’t dismiss that science says cishet is not the only standard, variations of gender beyond the binary exists, more than one sexual orientation exists.

—————————————————————

Thank you for the vote of confidence!

The EQ instructor contacted me and asked me to share some thoughts with him about this lesson. That’s a good sign. Your anon messages have helped me think thru how I might reply to him.

#Anon made so many great points

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thepatricktreestump · 6 years ago

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I Love Her Anyway: Chapter 6

A/N: holy guacamole! my stats are alive, my inbox is popping, i have new followers, and people are actually reading my writing??? i feel like my blog just got revived, thank you! thank you! thank you!

tag list: @un-amoosed-padalecki @mtb04308 @dragonqueendany @cupcakesweetness @kitykatnumber @svintsandghosts @greatheromuffinpalace @echoloki @geekybeauty8793 @jigglypuff1999 @timisnotmontydlc @galaxy-moon @lugialagia @pageoftheclouds

All day, you couldn’t help but wait for the time when you’d be in his car, him driving you home. You tried not to give yourself any expectations, but you couldn’t help it. All night you were imagining giant chandeliers and a gorgeous ballroom, four stories with elevators and butlers and maids, lavish furniture and an indoor swimming pool, a golf course in the backyard along with a private lake. After all, he was the richest businessman in the town. Your father was lucky enough to work for him, much less you. Just the thought of stepping into his home made your heart skip a beat. As you entered his office that morning, you tried to contain your excitement, but couldn’t help it. As soon as you set both of your coffees down, you wrap him up in an embrace and bury your face in his chest as you giggled with glee.

“Someone’s rather excited today, hmm?” he can’t help but laugh himself. God, you loved him so much. You were terrified to ever tell him though.

“Just can’t wait for tonight,” you admit, blushing. “I hope what I’m wearing is okay.”

“What you wearing is just perfect, darling,” he reassures. You’ve picked out a blush colored blouse with a floral skirt and you spun around for him, making his smile widen. “It’s almost just as cute as you are.”

“Whatever,” you roll your eyes. “So what do you have planned for me today?”

“Before we begin, I just want you to know that packages came in last night,” he gestures to several bags that are waiting on the sofa for you along with a box which you assume the dress is folded in. “However, I think we should wait until tonight to open them.”

“Thank you,” you beam.

“Today both of us have a lot going on,” he returns to the subject. “We have a business conference across town. That’s why I had planned dinner for us tonight as a celebration for sitting through an entire day of boredom.”

“W-wait,” you stammer out. “I’m coming with you, sir?”

“Why of course,” he replies. “I need a secretary to take notes over the information we discuss. There will be food and drinks there, along with several presentations, a meeting, and speakers. It’s about the San Antonio project, the one with the four-lane bridge.”

“Oh yes,” you nod, although you’ve emailed so many projects in just the past three days this one doesn’t seem to stand out in your mind.

“We’ll be leaving in fifteen minutes and stay there until the end of the day, but we will come back here to gather our things and then leave from this location,” he explains.

“Hold up,” you stop him. “Fifteen minutes?”

“Why yes, darling. There’s no time to lose. You’ll need to bring your laptop and several files,” he instructs. He says it so casually and calm you have to check the clock to make sure he’s not making this up. You’ve just walked into his office, you can’t believe he didn’t tell you to arrive earlier. Then again, you’re dependable when it comes to showing up on time and never disappointing. You pride yourself in this conclusion.

In just a couple minutes, you find yourself in the backseat of a taxi with him with a briefcase on the ground. There’s tinted windows and the driver seems to be distracted, so you don’t feel too bad when he reaches for your hand in the back and lets you lean on his shoulder. You feel so strange, being out of the office with him, sitting in the back of a cab, being able to touch him. If you had told yourself several weeks ago that this would be happening, you wouldn’t have believed it at all. You notice him squeeze your hand and then move it towards your thigh, making your breath hitch. The driver switches the radio station and turns up the song playing and you close your eyes as you feel his hand move farther up your thigh. Why would he being doing this here? In the back of a taxi? Wasn’t he just as afraid of getting caught as you were? Even if there wasn’t an age difference, you still shouldn’t be doing this!

“Brendon,” you hiss. “Cut it out.”

“What?” he whispers, glancing at you and making your insides squirm. “You don’t want to have a little fun?”

“I do,” you whine softly. “But what if he sees us?”

“He won’t,” he reassures, then travels his fingers underneath your skirt, making you bite down hard on your lower lip as not to moan. “Is this okay?”

You nod your head several times, your legs already trembling as he reaches to drag his fingers across your panties. You want it so bad. He shouldn’t be surprised that you’re already wet, but he still lets out a small hum as he begins to move your panties aside and drags his fingertips against your folds. You’re dripping for him. He slides a finger up and down before pushing it in slowly, your head tilted back and your legs instinctively closing together shut, and he has to take his other hand and pry them open before slowly working it in and out of you. He’s about to add another when the driver takes a rough turn, making his finger press deeper and causing you to yelp aloud. He instantly retracts his hand in his lap and you shove your skirt back down to your knees.

“Everything alright back there?” the driver wonders. “I know a hit a bump on that turn, sorry about that.”

“It’s o-okay,” you clear your throat, still shaken up by the prior events, nervously straightening out your skirt, legs still trembling. “D-don’t worry about it.”

“Just wait until later,” Brendon whispers in your ear, and you melt as you watch him stick his finger in his mouth and suck your juices off of it. It only makes you even more wet.

The following minutes until you arrive at your location, Brendon stares out the window. You assume it’s for the same reason he had once kept his eyes glued to his computer screen, because if he takes so much as one look at you, he won’t be able to control himself. When the cab stops, you thank the driver, Brendon hands him a tip, and then he helps you out of the cab and carries the briefcase for you, helping you onto the sidewalk. You don’t get very far.

“Mr. Urie!” a reporter rushes towards him, catching him by surprise. “Before you go, can we please ask you some questions about the conference?”

“I’d be honored,” he smiles. “First let me introduce you to my newest secretary, Miss y/n Jackson.”

“Lovely to meet you,” the reporter eagerly shakes your hand.

They ask him all sorts of questions about the upcoming project, things about how the architectural culture has shifted throughout the years, what kinds of collaborations he’s looking forward to, and even presses him on some touchy subjects as to how much money he’s made the last year or why he hasn’t reached out to a certain company in the past few months. You stand there, perfectly poised, glued on smile and false attentiveness. You aren’t listening to anything he’s saying, but rather just focusing on his voice, the highs and lows and the different tones. You wish you could just record him and put him on an endless loop. It’s like music to your ears.

Before you know it, it’s time to go, and so he ushers you into the building where there’s thousands of other men dressed identical to him, along with their secretaries and assistants and other coworkers. It’s a bit breathtaking, seeing so many people in one place, all dressed up in suits and blazers and ties and heels. You take a seat towards the stage and Brendon gives an apologetic smile towards you as if saying sorry for taking you along. You tell yourself it can’t possibly be as boring as he says, and even if it is, nothing could ever come close to your old algebra class from last semester. Much less, you’ll be sitting right beside him, and if you ever get bored, you can just stare at him. In fact, you silently tell yourself that’s honestly what you’ll probably be doing the entire time you’re here.

When the speaker opens up the power point presentation and begins to speak, you pretend to act interested, opening up your laptop and taking a skeleton of notes. However, you’re only taking glances at the man sitting just a couple feet away from you. You make note of the stubble covering his chin and cheeks, the way his plump lips press together in thought, how he furrows his brow. You look at the different shades of brown found in his eyes, the chestnut and mocha, tan and honeycomb, burgundy and cocoa. His hair is done up effortlessly each time, strands in a perfect swoop upwards only to fall down, styled somehow both messily and flawlessly at the same time. You’re so fucking infatuated with him it’s ridiculous.

“Hey,” he nudges you, waking you up from your daydream. You’ve lost track of what had been happening. “It’s time to move. Come on, we’ve got a luncheon to go to.”

“Right,” you nod, staggering up from your seat and following him. There’s a massive ballroom filled with tables and chairs, waiters running around pouring glasses of wine to each table and placing baskets of bread rolls down as well. You take a seat alongside him and some others do as well. As soon as they’re served the soups and salads, they instantly chatting about prices of piling, which doesn’t seem the most interesting of topics to you.

After poking your salad around with your fork, the waiters clear the table and begin to set down a variety of appetizers including raspberry jam drizzled brie, caviar on crackers, toasted ravioli, and onion blossoms. The second they are set down on the table, your eyes grow wide. “Eat up,” Brendon chuckles at your reaction, reaching for several petals of the onion blossom and dipping it into the sauce before taking a bite. The food is absolutely gorgeous. All of it.

The rest of the meal consists of plenty of other delicacies you wouldn’t even dream of. Steamed lobster, veal chops, roasted lamb, and slices of salmon are displayed upon the table and you don’t even know what to go for first. You sip on your Shirley Temple and slowly pick up a plate of your choosing before going to work. It tastes absolutely divine. You’re just glad nobody’s talking to you so you have time to devote simply to scarfing down food. This has to be the best thing you’ve ever tasted in your entire life. Well, other than Brendon’s lips. You chuckle to yourself at the thought. If any of the people at this table had known the kinds of things you two had been up to… God, you would hate to know what would happen.

Dessert comes next, which you can’t even begin to describe. You would’ve eaten more but you’re already stuffed and can only manage to grab a couple bites of tiramisu and a small serving of Sakura jelly, along with a handful of macaroons. “Enjoying yourself?” Brendon smirks at the way you stare at your empty plate with complete awe. “You look kind of stunned.”

“I am,” you confess. “That has to be hands down the best meal of my life.”

“I’m glad,” he beams. “Sorry I can’t give you all my attention, I promise I’ll make up for it tonight.”

“Don’t worry about that,” you narrow your eyes. “You’re at a conference right now, you have other things to attend to, people to talk to, a reputation to keep up. There’s no need to babysit your little secretary.”

“Thanks for your understanding,” he sighs. “I’m sorry, I promise it will be over soon.”

When you walk back into the hall, there’s more speakers and meetings, and at one point, you almost even doze off. He was right, it was quite boring. By the end of the day when you get back in the taxi, you find yourself falling asleep on his shoulder. You dream of being at the meeting and him tugging you towards the bathroom in the middle of one of the speakers, locking you both in a stall and making out with you, pressing you up against the back of the door and- he shakes you awake. “S-sorry,” you quickly stammer out, getting up from him.

“It’s okay,” he insists. “I know you were tired, it’s alright. But we’re here. It’s over now.”

You try to shake the thoughts from your dream out of your mind as he helps you out of the vehicle, pays the driver, and then you both enter the elevator together. It’s just you two, and as soon as the door closes, you wrap your arms around his waist. “I was having quite an interesting dream before you woke me up,” you murmur, glancing up at him.

“Were you now?” he raises an eyebrow, amused by your sudden behavior.

“It involved you and me skipping one of the talks at the conference to have a little naughty fun in a bathroom stall,” you confess, a smirk tugging at the edge of your lips. “A shame it didn’t happen, really.”

“I hope you know you’re far too precious to fuck in a bathroom stall,” he narrows his eyes. “Or this elevator for that matter. You deserve nothing but a bed full of satin sheets and red rose petals, my love.”

“I don’t care where I am as long as it’s with you,” you argue and he sighs, kissing your lips. His tongue is about to slip into your mouth when you hear the elevator ding and you immediately back away from each other, swallowing your nervousness as several workers file into the elevator beside you. Some greet Mr. Urie while others simply check the time on their watches, glad to be out for the day.

That’s when the thing you least expected to happen, happened. Your dad got into the elevator, eyes lighting up upon seeing you. “Y/n!” he grins. “How’d work go today? I think I overheard someone say you left with Mr. Urie for the big San Antonio conference? Fun stuff, huh?”

“Y-yeah,” you nod awkwardly. If only he knew you had just kissed your boss. Well, technically his boss too. Fuck.

“I hope she’s behaving for you. I told her your expectations remain quite high,” he jokes with Mr. Urie and Brendon simply laughs. Behaving would be the last word you’d use to describe how you’ve been handling your new job. More like misbehaving thanks to Brendon.

“She’s exceeded my expectations, really. Truly exceptional, your daughter,” he gives a polite smile. “Mr. Jackson, I cannot tell you just how glad I am to have her working for me. She took plenty of notes and learned quite a lot today. I’m sure in a few weeks she’ll know this job like the back of her hand.”

“Beautiful,” your father beams. “Y/n, you said you were going to the mall with your friends after work? Will you need a ride?”

“No, I got one,” you reassure. “Thanks for asking though.”

“She might get home late,” Mr. Urie warns, making you tense up at his comment. “She’s been telling me about how excited she is to go see this movie with her friends afterwards, but the showing doesn’t begin until eleven and they might not even get out until one.”

“Oh, that’d be just fine,” your father waves off. “Just make sure you have a ride and you’re able to wake up early for work the next day.”

“Perfect,” you give a fake grin, secretly wondering where the hell Brendon’s going with this. Why would he need you to stay later? Much less, as late as possibly one in the morning? Not that you were complaining, but he was making you a little bit nervous.

As soon as you got out of the elevator and reached the floor, you and Brendon stepped out and walked into the office. “Ready for tonight?” he wonders. “Thanks to that little conversation with your dad, we’ll have plenty of time.”

“About that…” you stare at him strangely. “Why?”

“Why I would want to spend more time with you? That seems like a ridiculous question,” he says flatly. “You know I’ve always wished we had more time together.”

“No,” you shake your head. “Why so late?”

“Guess you’ll find out tonight,” he winks, picking up the bags and the box from the floor and then pressing a kiss to your forehead. “But you’ve got to get there first to find out.”

“Right,” you draw the word out, picking up your purse and drawstring bag with your clothes inside.

His car is luxurious, a fancy black Bugatti Chiron with electric blue trim. You’re almost afraid to even touch it. Getting inside only has you twice as amazed, and he can’t help but chuckle at your reaction to all of this. First at the luncheon and now in his car, he must think that you’ve never seen anything in your life compared to him. He lived and breathed money, and while your dad worked for his company as an accountant too, your lifestyle didn’t amount nearly enough to his. Yeah, you had a pretty great life, you got three meals and your own bedroom along with a closet full of clothes and your own cellphone, but you weren’t spoiled either. You worked your own job and paid for your own hobbies and interests, plus your parents taught you to be humble and keep your head on straight. Brendon on the other hand, didn’t even have to say a single word to become a show off. Just his possessions spoke millions for him already.

“You can relax,” he laughs, starting down the street and making note of the way you haven’t been able to exhale as soon as you’ve sat down.

“I’m just a little awestruck, that’s all,” you admit, forcing yourself to ease into your seat. You look at him smiling back at you.

“This thing can reach 260mph,” he says casually, and you instantly shake your head.

“Please don’t fucking show me,” you beg, only making him burst into chuckles.

“I promise I won’t,” he insists with a laugh. “Just sharing a fun fact.”

“I think I’d vomit if I ever heard the price of this thing,” you confess. “Jesus, I knew you were rich but holy shit. I think I might pass out when we roll up to your house.”

“Probably,” he teases, reaching out to hold your hand. You quickly take it, squeezing his hand as he sped up a little bit once you hit the highway. “But don’t worry, I’m right here beside you.”

“It’s just a lot,” you sigh. “God, I still can’t believe this is real.”

“Well you better believe it baby,” he grins. “Cause it’s only going to get more unbelievable from here.”

“Trust me,” you smirk, giving a laugh of your own at this point. “I don’t think you need to tell me for me to know.”

#i love her anyway #miss jackson #panic! at the disco fanfiction #brendon urie fanfiction #panic! at the disco imagines #brendon urie imagines #panic! at the disco x reader #brendon urie x reader #tagging is for losers

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obsidianarchives · 7 years ago

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Black Woman Creator: Kiesha Richardson

Raised in Philadelphia in a house full of women (grandmother, 4 aunts, and mother) Kiesha Richardson learned early on the importance of solidarity and support among women. She is the founder of Ge’NeL Magazine, a woman-operated geek and pop culture website devoted to creating high quality from a woman’s perspective to combat sexism and racism in the gaming world. She is also the owner of Ge’NeL Media, LLC, a small startup that edits and creates content for businesses and brands. When she’s not working, she’s leading her World of Warcraft guild, traveling the world and playing faux-tographer, or relaxing at home, watching Netflix or reading comics with her pups. We spoke to Kiesha about Ge’NeL and being a creator.

Black Girls Create: What do you create?

We create geek culture and gaming content from the perspective of women because most of the outlets are dominated by white men. When I go to different websites, their communities are pretty toxic and they don’t try to fix or address it. It’s just “sexual harassment is ok and it’s normalized” so I figured it was time we do something different. Through my research, I didn’t realize that there were more places for women, especially women of color, to express their geeky side in a safe space. So one of the things I wanted to do is instead of creating a safe space I want to change the narrative. Make sexual harassment, racism, and homophobia no longer normalized.

BGC: What inspired you to create this site?

I personally got tired of trying to play different games and being called the N-word or told to go back to the kitchen, or that I shouldn’t be playing games when someone would hear my voice. It just got really tiring. The last straw came when I was streaming and a couple of friends and I were just having fun, minding our own business, and this dude came into my stream channel and said “show me your n***r tits or get the f*** out.” When I talked to other women about it they would say “oh it’s happened before,” and I thought it shouldn’t be normal. So I tried talking to other organizations I was writing for and the response was “we don’t want to get political.” I thought “thanks for being an ally,” and decided to do my own thing.

BGC: Why do you create?

I create because first of all, I just love writing. It was the natural outlet for me. But I also create so I can just stop this nonsense. We don’t have to deal with this stuff anymore and we should at least get larger platforms to take notice and do something. Some of the gaming companies and developers are trying, but it’s not enough. It’s so pervasive and if you go to different forums or gaming groups and try to have this conversation, there is a lot of pushback. But when you ignore it, you’re not addressing the problem and you’re letting it spread, so we have to do something.

BGC: How did you get interested in gaming?

I’ve been gaming since I was 8 years old, in the second grade. My childhood best friend had an Atari and I got hooked on it at her house. We would exchange different cultural things; she wasn’t allowed to watch music videos so she would come over to watch videos and I’d go over to her house and play games. So we would switch off that way and I’ve been playing ever since.

BGC: When did you realize that gaming was a part of your identity more than just a hobby?

When I lived in Germany with my parents, I took a semester off of college to move. My brother, cousin, and I would have sleepovers in each others’ room and play games all night on the weekend. We would take turns playing different games like Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, and others to see who could beat the map. It became something that was a part of us. When I ended up working in Iraq running a recreation center, I was the only one who knew how to set up Xboxes and Playstations and set up tournaments. So it was what I did and how I knew gaming was just me.

BGC: What was it like to take something like gaming to a different country and culture? Is it easier to connect or is it just another cultural exchange that needs to happen?

It’s definitely easier to connect with people through gaming. I operated the recreational center for the US and UN forces. You can’t make people forget that they’re in a war zone, because we were definitely in the thick of it, but what I could do is give people a place where they could at least relax for some time, and that was through video games. It was how we connected and how we communicated and found commonalities where there weren’t many to be found. I made so many friends that I’m still friends with today. When they would have a bad day or be stressed out, they would come and just talk about games. Video games were a way of bridging a gap in communication.

BGC: Who or what inspired you to do what you do?

I’ve loved writing from a very young age. My grandma, Nancy, always inspired me to write, even when I would get in trouble for my writing. I actually think getting in trouble for my writing made me want to write more. When I was in the fifth grade I was supposed to write a Halloween story and she said she wanted it to be scary, to “let our imagination fly.” Well, my imagination flew too far because she called a parent/teacher conference to ask if I was being abused or if anything was going on at home because the details in my story were too vivid. When my mom assured her there was nothing going on, she asked if I plagiarized and I was shocked because I did what she had asked me to do.

BGC: Something that I’ve noticed is that the things that either got me in trouble growing up or made me feel ostracized are the things that I’m not most successful with. Have you noticed that as well?

Yes, I do notice that. I’ve always been a bit rebellious and it got me into a lot of trouble. My mom used to tell me “sometimes you have to know when to close your mouth. It doesn’t matter if you’re right or wrong, just know when to shut up,” and now I’ve found that it’s helped me out a lot. Sometimes you have to say what you have to say and ask for forgiveness later.

BGC: Why is it important for Black women to create?

We need to be the authors of our own stories. For too long other people have been telling our stories and that’s something that we need to change. We need to change that narrative. I love Black men, I do, but our story isn’t always intertwined with theirs and we’ve had different struggles throughout history. Angela Davis talked about how the Civil Rights Movement left Black women out just like the women’s suffrage movement left Black women out. We need to be the authors of our own story now and it’s time, it’s important for us to do that.

BGC: How do you balance creating with the rest of your life?

Is there such a thing as balance? I’m not exactly sure yet. I want this to be my career, to be honest. When I was going through my divorce, writing was the only thing I could do. I couldn’t get out of bed. I’d always lived with depression but going through that divorce, it was crippling. The only thing I could do was write, I’d be in bed with my laptop and I could write. It was a way for me to transport myself out of my circumstance and when I think about that and how writing saved me in addition to gaming, I think the balance is just living and not letting one overtake the other. They both saved my life, creating and writing helped me and video games helped me, but I have to make sure to go outside every once and awhile I guess.

BGC: How does writing help your mental health? Do you ever find that writing hurts your mental health?

I think helps because a lot of times it’s not easy to talk about what you’re going through with other people. When I write, it’s a way for me to communicate how I’m feeling and what’s going on with me. I noticed when I first started blogging and I started writing about depression, there were other people who were feeling the way I was feeling and that was important to me. So when I do write about mental health I try to keep in mind that I’m not alone. People may not have the exact feelings but they’re feeling a similar way. When I write, I try to take into account self-care when it comes to mental health issues. So when I write, I try to make sure that other women know that they’re not alone and know that taking care of themselves is a part of taking care of their mental health. One of my coworkers once said “muting you is my self care for the day.” Sometimes you have to mute the negativity. It’s definitely easier said than done but don’t be afraid to hit that mute button. Take care of yourself and do it in a way that makes you feel good. People think self-care is one size fits all and it’s not. You have to figure out what makes you happy, no one else is going to make you happy. Things won’t necessarily make you happy, but something might. People say “material things won’t make you happy,” but shoes do for me. Figure out what makes you happy and try something new. I think that goes a long way towards helping your mental health.

BGC: What’s important to you when you’re building a community and working with other writers, especially when you’re trying to serve underrepresented groups? What do you try to focus on when working with other people?

Passion, empathy, and understanding that there is a problem that we want to address and that we are going to be the voices to do it. There is no such thing as a perfect person and there are no perfect writers. I have people on my team who have no writing experience, no writing background, but their stories are beautiful. I can work with someone who is not really a writer. What I can’t work with is negativity, internalized sexism, and putting down other women. With me being a streamer, I come across so many people, especially guys, who have a problem with women who show cleavage when they stream, but they’re marketing and are full of life with energetic personalities and these guys only reduce them to what they're wearing. Then you have some women who will piggyback on that and say they’re making streaming worse for the rest of us. How? They’re working, it was nothing to do with the boobs, I mean guys (and some women) will look, no doubt, but that’s not going to keep them watching. It’s about positivity and being understanding of all women and their struggles. You don’t have to like all women, that’s not realistic, but you don’t have to put them down. I’m not going to be negative and when I look for people to work with I look for that positivity. Are you uplifting other people or are you trying to tear people down because you don’t have your own stuff going on? Positivity. Empathy. Sisterhood. Solidarity. That’s what I want the community to be regardless of racial, ethnic, religious, or cultural backgrounds. I want women to be able to be themselves. I want to uplift us all without having to step on someone else. Having male allies, that’s fantastic. Guys who come to the site think Ge’NeL magazine is anti-male and it’s not, we just don’t want to be shit on. We’re tired of the racism and sexism and xenophobia. I didn’t know there was an entire community of Muslim women gamers but they don’t say anything because of how they’re treated on social media, so we have to uplift each other. But I’m also not going to try to let someone take over the narrative of Black women. Our story is our story and it’s okay for us all to have different stories, to just be different chapters in the same book.

BGC: Do you have any advice for new creators who are just starting out on their journey?

It was hard for me to get to the point where I was getting paid writing gigs and I can’t remember where I heard the quote but someone said if there are no opportunities create your own. So that’s what I did, I didn’t give up. I started putting everything single thing I did on my resume when it came to writing. Don’t be afraid to go to content mills to get the experience that you want or need. Research, read, you can’t be a writer without reading. If you don’t understand the content you’re trying to create or how other people view different types of content, then you’re not going be successful.

BGC: Do you have any future projects that you’re thinking about working on?

Not exactly with Ge’NeL but there is a non-profit in Augusta called Girl Warriors that takes at-risk girls and introduces them to tech and other avenues outside of the environment that they’re currently in. I’m also going to be editing a book as well.

As for Ge’NeL, I’m still trying to find more writers. Unfortunately, we don’t have a budget to pay, we’re all volunteers at this point. But I’m looking for writers, editors, and I am putting together a pitch deck to get some funding for Ge’NeL and to maybe start a stream team.

BGC: Where can we find you?

You can find me on twitter @onewildflowerz, same for Facebook and Instagram, or you can find Ge’Nel at @genelmag on Twitter and Facebook.

#magazine #gaming #writer #nerd culture #streaming

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newstfionline · 4 years ago

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Friday, April 23, 2021

A Global Tipping Point for Reining In Tech? (NYT) China fined the internet giant Alibaba a record $2.8 billion this month for anticompetitive practices, ordered an overhaul of its sister financial company and warned other technology firms to obey Beijing’s rules. Now the European Commission plans to unveil far-reaching regulations to limit technologies powered by artificial intelligence. And in the United States, President Biden has stacked his administration with trustbusters who have taken aim at Amazon, Facebook and Google. Around the world, governments are moving simultaneously to limit the power of tech companies with an urgency and breadth that no single industry had experienced before. Their motivation varies. In the United States and Europe, it is concern that tech companies are stifling competition, spreading misinformation and eroding privacy; in Russia and elsewhere, it is to silence protest movements and tighten political control; in China, it is some of both. While nations and tech firms have jockeyed for primacy for years, the latest actions have pushed the industry to a tipping point that could reshape how the global internet works and change the flows of digital data.

Businesses scramble for help as job openings go unfilled (AP) It looks like something to celebrate: small businesses posting “Help Wanted” signs as the economy edges toward normalcy. Instead, businesses are having trouble filling the jobs, which in turn hurts their ability to keep up with demand for their products or services. Owners say that some would-be workers are worried about catching COVID-19 or prefer to live off unemployment benefits that are significantly higher amid the pandemic. Child care is another issue—parents aren’t able to work when they need to tend to or home-school their children. For some people, a combination of factors go into their decision not to seek work. When Steve Klatt and Brandon Lapp set up interviews for their restaurant and food truck business, they’re lucky if one out of 10 or 15 applicants comes in. “The people who do show up, all assume their unemployment is running out,” says Klatt, whose business, Braised in the South, is located in Johns Island, South Carolina. Businesses of all sizes are struggling with hiring even with millions of Americans unemployed and as increasing numbers of people get vaccinated and look forward to a more normal life. A Census survey taken in late March shows that 6.3 million didn’t seek work because they had to care for a child, and 4.1 million said they feared contracting or spreading the virus.

How Free Should Free Speech Be? (NYT) Brendan Hunt, an avid Trump supporter from New York City, will be the defendant in the first federal trial—starting this week in Brooklyn—that will force jurors to dive deep into the national debate over how much the government should police violent rhetoric in the wake of the January 6 Capitol attack. Hunt wasn’t in Washington for the insurrection. But two days after the attack the 37-year-old posted an 88-second video online entitled: “KILL YOUR SENATORS.” According to the government’s complaint, Hunt says in the video: “we need to go back to the US Capitol” ahead of President-elect Biden’s inauguration and “slaughter” members of Congress. “If anyone has a gun, give me it,” Hunt says. ‘I’ll go there myself and shoot them and kill them.” The jury will have to decide whether the video and three other social media posts Hunt made crossed the line from free speech into illegal threats. The trial could be a bellwether of how authorities balance the pursuit of serious domestic threats with constitutional protections for political speech.

Argentina COVID-19 deaths near 60,000 in pandemic’s ‘worst moment’ (Reuters) Argentina is facing its “worst moment” of the COVID-19 pandemic, the country’s health minister said on Wednesday, as deaths from the virus neared 60,000 amid a sharp second wave that has forced the country to re-impose some lockdown measures. Carla Vizzotti warned that the South American country’s healthcare system was at risk, especially in the metropolitan area around capital Buenos Aires, which had forced the government to restrict movement and suspend indoor activities. “We are living through the worst moment of the pandemic now,” she told a daily briefing, adding the country was seeing an important rise in the circulation of new variants, with the virus surging in the capital and beyond. “It’s growing exponentially in most of the country.”

Putin warns against crossing Russia’s ‘red lines’ (CNBC) Russian President Vladimir Putin, in his annual State of the Nation speech, warned on Wednesday against provoking his country, promising a swift retaliation against anyone who crossed “red lines.” Moscow will respond “harshly,” “quickly” and “asymmetrically” to foreign provocations, Putin told an audience of Russia’s top officials and lawmakers, adding that he “hoped” no foreign actor would cross Russia’s “red lines,” according to a Reuters translation. Putin also touted the country’s planned investment in expanded military education, hypersonic weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles—while insisting simultaneously that Russia wants peace and arms control agreements. The 68-year-old leader condemned what he described as the constant tendency of international actors to blame Russia for wrongdoing, saying it had become like a sport. The speech came against the backdrop of deteriorating tensions with the U.S. and EU, and follows the recent imposition of sanctions on Russia from the Biden administration over alleged cyberattacks, human rights violations and a Russian military buildup along the border with Ukraine.

US-backed Afghan peace meeting postponed as Taliban balk (AP) An upcoming international peace conference that was meant to move Afghanistan’s warring sides to a power-sharing deal and ensure an orderly U.S. exit from the country has been postponed, its sponsors announced Wednesday. They cited a lack of prospects for meaningful progress. The decision to delay the conference came several days after Taliban insurgents, who are key to peace efforts, dismissed the U.S.-promoted conference in Istanbul as a political spectacle serving American interests. As peace efforts stalled, Germany’s Defense Ministry suggested NATO military planners were contemplating a possible withdrawal of international troops from Afghanistan as early as July 4. That’s more than two months ahead of the planned Sept. 11 pullout date.

North Korean hackers (New Yorker) The North Korean government has produced some of the world’s most proficient hackers. At first glance, the situation is perverse, even comical—like Jamaica winning an Olympic gold in bobsledding—but the cyber threat from North Korea is real and growing. Like many countries, including the United States, North Korea has equipped its military with offensive and intelligence-gathering cyber weapons. In 2016, for instance, military coders from Pyongyang stole more than two hundred gigabytes of South Korean Army data, which included documents known as Operational Plan 5015—a detailed analysis of how a war with the country’s northern neighbor might proceed, and, notably, a plot to “decapitate” North Korea by assassinating Kim Jong Un. North Korea, moreover, is the only nation in the world whose government is known to conduct nakedly criminal hacking for monetary gain. Units of its military-intelligence division, the Reconnaissance General Bureau, are trained specifically for this purpose. In 2013, Kim Jong Un described the men who worked in the “brave R.G.B.” as his “warriors . . . for the construction of a strong and prosperous nation.”

Xi hits out at ‘the unilateralism of individual countries’ (Financial Times) Xi Jinping has called for a new world order, launching a veiled attack against US global leadership and warning against an economic decoupling of the two superpowers. “International affairs should be handled by everyone,” the Chinese president told the Boao Forum for Asia, an event billed as the country’s answer to the World Economic Forum in Davos. Last year’s summit was cancelled because of the coronavirus emergency. Xi did not name the US in his 18-minute speech but he took aim at Washington’s efforts to decouple supply chains and bar critical American semiconductors and other high-tech goods from being sold to Chinese companies such as Huawei. “The rules set by one or several countries should not be imposed on others, and the unilateralism of individual countries should not give the whole world a rhythm,” he said.

Spy mania (Foreign Policy) Last Thursday marked China’s annual National Security Education Day, a spectacle of paranoia that began in 2016 where citizens are reminded of the need for vigilance against foreign agents, saboteurs, and others undermining socialism. The first time it was held, posters warning of threats posed by seductive foreign boyfriends went up throughout the Beijing subway system. This year, the People’s Daily issued a handy infographic for spotting a spy. State media made examples of others, such as the case of a 20-year-old student “bewitched and abetted by foreign forces” after interning for an unnamed foreign media outlet. There is serious conviction inside the Chinese party-state that the West is fomenting a “color revolution.” In Xinjiang, Beijing has used this perceived threat to accuse long-time Uyghur members of the Chinese Communist Party of separatism. It also drives concerns about Western culture that have led to the removal of foreign textbooks from schools. In Hong Kong, the first National Security Education Day since the law that effectively ended its autonomy last year saw a major propaganda push aimed at children and schools.

Indonesia looking for submarine that may be too deep to help (AP) Indonesia’s navy ships on Thursday were intensely searching for a submarine that likely fell too deep to retrieve, making survival chances for the 53 people on board slim. Neighboring countries rushed their rescue ships to support the complex operation. The diesel-powered KRI Nanggala 402 was participating in a training exercise Wednesday when it missed a scheduled reporting call. Officials reported an oil slick and the smell of diesel fuel near the starting position of its last dive, about 96 kilometers (60 miles) north of the resort island of Bali, though there has been no conclusive evidence that they are linked to the submarine. Indonesia’s navy chief of staff, Adm. Yudo Margono, told reporters Thursday that oxygen in the submarine would run out by 3 a.m. on Saturday. He said rescuers found an unidentified object with high magnetism in the area and that officials hope it’s the submarine. The navy said it believes the submarine sank to a depth of 600-700 meters (2,000-2,300 feet)—much deeper than its collapse depth estimated at 200 meters (656 feet) by a firm that refitted the vessel in 2009-2012.

Australia officials seek to ban casual wear—even on video calls (Washington Post) In a nation where top officials can be seen pounding through the surf in skimpy Speedo swimwear, a plan to force a strict dress code on Australian civil servants has the workers fighting for the right to bare arms. An 11-page “dress and appearance” code mailed to employees of one of the country’s largest government departments in February lists Ugg boots, flip-flops and sportswear such as football jerseys among the items deemed too casual even for Casual Friday. But for people working in hotter parts of the country, a directive banning sleeveless clothing—including dresses and women’s blouses—was the one that really worked people up into a sweat. The rules at the Department of Home Affairs apply even to those working from home and taking video calls, a move labor unions say is a blow to workers who have stuck it out through the coronavirus pandemic without air conditioning in their homes. On Wednesday, Fair Work Australia, an independent workplace tribunal, ruled that the department should have consulted with its employees on the changes. Yet the country’s leaders aren’t always known for their sartorial choices. Prime Minister Scott Morrison, working from his official residence in Canberra in November while in quarantine after an overseas trip, was pictured by his photographer wearing business attire on top—an open-necked pink business shirt and navy jacket—paired with pale blue swim shorts and white flip-flops.

Missile from Syria lands in Israel, triggers Israel strike (AP) A Syrian anti-aircraft missile landed in southern Israel early Thursday, setting off air raid sirens near the country’s top-secret nuclear reactor, the Israeli military said. In response, it said it attacked the missile launcher and air-defense systems in neighboring Syria. Israeli media later described the Syrian missile as an “errant” projectile, not a deliberate attack deep inside Israel. In recent years, Israel has repeatedly launched air strikes at Syria, including at military targets linked to foes Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, both allies of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Such strikes routinely draw Syrian anti-aircraft fire. Thursday’s exchange was unusual because the Syrian projectile landed deep inside Israel. The Israeli military described the projectile that landed near the nuclear site as a surface-to-air missile, which is usually used for air defense against warplanes or other missiles. That could suggest the Syrian missile had targeted Israeli warplanes but missed and flew off errantly.

Dolphin intelligence (Science) Like members of a street gang, male dolphins summon their buddies when it comes time to raid and pillage—or, in their case, to capture and defend females in heat. A new study reveals they do this by learning the “names,” or signature whistles, of their closest allies—sometimes more than a dozen animals—and remembering who consistently cooperated with them in the past. The findings indicate dolphins have a concept of team membership—previously seen only in humans—and may help reveal how they maintain such intricate and tight-knit societies. “It is a ground-breaking study,” says Luke Rendell, a behavioral ecologist at the University of St. Andrews who was not involved with the research.

Humanitarian system not listening to people in crises, says UN aid chief (The Guardian) The world’s multibillion-dollar humanitarian system is struggling because unaccountable aid agencies are not listening to what people say they need and instead are deciding for them, the UN’s humanitarian agency head will say this week. In a startling analysis of the programme he oversees, Mark Lowcock, the coordinator of the UN’s aid relief operation since 2017, will say he has reached the view that “one of the biggest failings” of the system is that agencies “do not pay enough attention” to the voices of people caught up in crises. “The humanitarian system is set up to give people in need what international agencies and donors think is best, and what we have to offer, rather than giving people what they themselves say they most need.” “In Chad and Cox’s Bazar [in Bangladesh] and other places too, people in dire humanitarian need are frequently selling aid they have been given, to buy something else they want more—a clear indication that what is being provided does not meet people’s needs and preferences. Unfortunately, these are not isolated examples. Last year, more than half the people surveyed in Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Chad, Nigeria, Somalia and Uganda said that the aid they received did not cover their most important needs.”

#headlines #news

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hg47 · 4 years ago

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47 Reasons Why I Fear Islam - (Reason 28)

-28-Yes, moderate Muslims can be productive members of Western society; but only if they are “Bad Muslims” according to their own religion, or if they are “deep-cover agents” playing a “long-range” or “sleeper” game for the eventual destruction of non-Islamic forces. ++++------- http://www.amazon.com/Into-Infidels-Lynn-Editor-Copeland/dp/0882643452/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1380152447&sr=1-2&keywords=INTO+THE+DEN+OF+INFIDELS In the book INTO THE DEN OF INFIDELS Edited by Lynn Copeland is the story of Leila, who as a child, hears about this wonderful person going around doing good. Innocently, she asks her father to get her a Bible so she can read about Him. Her father erupts into a rage and beats her face black and blue, while shouting at her that THE BIBLE IS CORRUPTED! CHRISTIANS ARE INFIDELS! ++++------- http://www.amazon.com/Myth-Islamic-Tolerance-Treats-Non-Muslims/dp/1591022495/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1380476667&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=MYTH+OF+ISLAMIC+TOLERANCE+%28THE%29+edited+by+Robert+Spencer In MYTH OF ISLAMIC TOLERANCE (THE) edited by Robert Spencer the different value systems of Islamic ideology and Judeo-Christian traditions are compared. For Jews and Christians, wars are hateful, while peace is the ideal. For Muslims, wars are divine; to die during jihad against Infidels is the highest act a Muslim can perform. ++++------- A quote from Saudi imam Sheikh Muhammad Saleh sl-Munajjid: “Muslims must…educate their children to jihad.” ++++------- http://www.amazon.com/Islam-Terrorism-teaches-Christianity-violence/dp/0884198847/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1380596025&sr=1-1&keywords=islam+and+terrorism+mark+a+gabriel In the book ISLAM AND TERRORISM Mark A. Gabriel, Ph.D. argues that whenever a Muslim in the media says that Islam is a religion of peace, that this statement is: A) Wishful Thinking. S/He sincerely believes s/he can explain away the unpalatable parts of the Koran. (@hg47 – or s/he takes the orthodox long view that once Islam conquers the entire world by war that peace will reign, and that therefore, Islam is a religion of peace because the ultimate result will be peace, regardless of how many billions of Infidels have to be murdered to accomplish this. Considering that different Islamic sects hate each other nearly as much as they all each hate the Jews, this calls for some seriously heavy-duty wishful thinking!) B) Deceit with the intent to attract converts or lull the enemy Infidels into a false sense of security. ++++------- http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2010/August/Islamization-of-Paris-a-Warning-to-the-West/ Dale Hurd on the Islamization of Paris, France, and how this should be a warning to the West. Muslims, because of their growing numbers and constant threat of violence, have extorted the French government to give Muslims a privileged status. ++++------- tweet ~ Now the Mid-East/North-African Youth are blaming their leaders for their problems. I bet their new leaders will shift blame to Israel & USA. ++++------- http://townhall.com/columnists/michaelbrown/2013/05/26/is-radical-islam-normative-islam-n1606129 Michael Brown on whether the millions of peace-loving Muslims who dislike violence in the name of Islam are believing in conformity to the essential nature of Islam. ++++------- http://www.patheos.com/Resources/Additional-Resources/How-Pervasive-Is-the-Threat-of-Political-Islam-David-French-06-06-2011.html For me the most interesting statement from this article by David French about the conflict between Islam and Israel was this sentence by an Israeli official, talking about every Muslim move against Israel: “Our difficulty is that we begin any UN process with the automatic opposition of all 57 members of the OIC.” @hg47 says - Just as the GOP within the House of Representatives marches in unison firmly against anything President Obama tries to accomplish, so the Organization of the Islamic Conference begins with 57 votes in the United Nations against anything Israel attempts to accomplish. ++++------- http://www.amazon.com/Stealth-Jihad-Radical-Subverting-America/dp/1596985569/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1380589061&sr=1-1&keywords=stealth+jihad+robert+spencer In STEALTH JIHAD Robert Spencer writes about what Ibrahim Hooper of CAIR said about Muslims in America secretly practicing polygamy, saying that Islamic scholars differ on whether polygamy is proper within the United States. Spencer argues that this is more evidence of Islamic supremacism. Many Muslims believe that they may disregard American laws if these laws conflict with Islamic teachings. (Muslim ghettos are ruled internally by Sharia law where women are property which may be beaten and/or raped at will by their owners.) @hg47 says – Here in the States, we have our own home-grown pliggys. The Mormons. Several years ago, best estimates gave the Muslims at least double the number of secret plural marriages as Mormons. I’m willing to bet that Muslims are now 3-5 times the Mormons in active secret practicing polygamists in the good old USA. Go, Islam! ++++------- tweet ~ If Muslims put down their weapons…a prosperous Palestinian State in 1 year. If Jews put down their weapons…the end of Israel in 1 week. ++++------- http://wizbangblog.com/content/2011/04/05/poisoning-islam.php Jay Tea argues here that targeted acts of blasphemy against Islam, deliberately committed by those in the West in such quantity and quality as would send the Islamic hard-core extremists into frothing fits of rage would indeed cause violence and deaths, but might also tilt moderate Muslims away from supporting the extremists. ++++------- http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2011/0304/Why-Europe-is-turning-away-from-multiculturalism Robert Marquand on avoiding naiveté about violent jihadi cells in an open society but also not denouncing millions of patriotic British Muslims. ++++------- http://www.npr.org/2010/12/13/132026958/iraqi-christians-flee-wave-of-targeted-violence Christians in Iraq get threats by verbal phone calls, threats by text messages, letters mailed to them with bullets inside. The message: leave Iraq or die. ++++------- http://www.citizenwarrior.com/2009/05/terrifying-brilliance-of-islam.html Citizen Warrior on how all Infidels in non-Islamic states are enemies, and how deceiving the enemy is useful in war. ++++------- http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2010/eu_terror1036_10_20.asp Oskar Freysinger, the leader of the Swiss People’s Party, covers many things in this excellent speech. I highly recommend you click on the link and read it all. (I have linked to it many times in this book, on the theory that readers who just drill down to follow points on Islam that hold a personal interest to them may find the link on one of their few drill downs.) One key point is that Muslim ghettos governed internally by Sharia law in violation of the laws of the host nations are creating internal invisible borders within Western nations which are growing in size and numbers, and which regard this territory as holy Islamic land which may never be taken from Muslims under threat of jihad and holy war, just as Muslims will forever attempt to retake the territory of Israel. ++++------- tweet ~ I am suspicious of any religion whose holy books are statistically more Anti-Semitic than Hitler’s MEIN KAMPF. ++++------- http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/hate-trial-for-farright-politician-geert-wilders-2097090.html This article is on the Wilders hate trial. Prosecutors argued that Wilders was inciting hate against Muslims. Wilders argued that he was telling it like it is. As a result, Dutch voters are rethinking their religious tolerance because of immigrants who may be taking advantage of the Dutch system. ++++------- A quote from Saudi imam Sheikh Muhammad Saleh sl-Munajjid: “This is the greatest benefit of the situation: educating the children to jihad and to hatred of the Jews, the Christians, and the infidels.” Educating your children to war? Educating your children to hate Jews? Educating your children to hate Christians? And Muslims consider this a proper education?? ++++------- http://www.prisonplanet.com/did-911-really-change-everything.html This article is a piece of work. Did 9/11 really change everything? Or was it simply an excuse to implement existing plans? @hg47 says – Conspiracy buffs should check out the above link. Sadly, I actually agree with much of it. Personally, and this is just me, I think Cheney was the real boss, and (lightweight) Bush was his front-man, subtly controlled by flattery, repeated suggestions, and appeals to “the right thing to do.” My take? After 9/11 there was a HUGE We-Need-To-Kick-Some-Muslim-Ass impulse in American culture; the Pearl Harbor syndrome. Unfortunately, there was no logical target, and we did not want to attack Saudi Arabia. However, a case could be manufactured against Iraq, long a desired area to do something about. Just as Muslim preachers use pretext to fire up a Muslim mob during sermon and aim the mob at a detested Infidel target, I believe the United States used pretext to attack Iraq, claiming “Weapons Of Mass Destruction.” In my view, Colin Powell was the sanest man in all of this. He repeatedly argued against attacking Iraq. Ultimately, though, as a former soldier and former General, Colin Powell saluted his Commander-In-Chief and followed orders (destroying his own reputation when no WMDs were found, after Powell’s persuasive voice to the world). Whether Cheney really thought there were WMDs in Iraq, or whether he gave orders to fabricate the evidence, I don’t know. But Cheney got Bush fired-up, and Bush got Blair fired-up, and a Coalition was born. In my opinion. Go, USA! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +Go-To-29+ +Go-To-Beginning-Of-47-REASONS-WHY-I-FEAR-ISLAM+

#islam

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amandajoyce118 · 7 years ago

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Black Panther Easter Eggs And References

Instead of doing a Six Sentence Sunday this week, I thought I’d finally get around to writing up and sharing some Easter eggs and references from Black Panther. I’ve now seen the movie twice, so I think I’ve got a fair amount, but I’m also sure there are going to be things I missed.

If you haven’t yet seen this movie, there are spoilers in my list! So. Many. Spoilers. You have been warned.

I’m not going to give you everyone’s comic book history and what’s been changed for each character for the movie, but what I will say is that I think this is one of the few MCU movies where every single named character exists in the comics, which is pretty fantastic.

The Marvel Comic flip.

Before the Marvel characters and logo appear on screen, the studio still uses the flipping comic book pages to give you a little nod to their history. Usually, the images are the same for the MCU with the Avengers you see across Phase 1. This time, if you blink you might miss it, there’s a Black Panther symbol in those pages.

The history of Wakanda.

The movie’s opening has a father telling his son (you might have that it was T’Challa getting the story when the movie first opened, but that’s definitely Erik being told the story by his father) the story of vibranium landing in the middle of Africa, tribes separating, and Wakanda being built around the vibranium mound. He also details the lineage of Black Panthers. All that is almost exactly out of the comics. The MCU often changes bits and pieces of the story, like it does for T’Challa’s father dying when he’s an adult instead of a boy, but this stunning set up is almost exactly the same.

Oakland, 1992.

Oakland happened to be where director Ryan Coogler grew up and it’s also where the Black Panther political movement was born in the 60s - shortly after the comic book character made his debut. I’m not sure if 1992 is a significant year for him because it’s not for Black Panther. The previous comic book series ended in 1991 and another volume wasn’t published until 1998. It was considered a particular “bloody” year by local papers though. There were 167 known murders that occurred in Oakland that year, which apparently was a record at the time. Since that’s particularly dark, let’s also note that the Oakland Athletics (that’s baseball, folks), finished first in the American League West that year. (When the movie returns to Oakland at the end, that’s also a nod to Coogler’s real life dream: to be able to give back to the community that raised him. T’Challa puts a Wakandan Outreach program in place. Coogler spoke in some of his very first interviews about wanting to bring his movies to Oakland, to film there, to generate revenue for the city, to work with kids that live there in arts programs.)

Public Enemy.

One of the posters on the wall of the Oakland apartment is for Public Enemy, which seems appropriate for a guy in 90s Oakland who wants to bring power back to his people.

The MCU timeline.

The movie references it being a week since the UN conference and T’Chaka’s death, so it’s set right after the events of Captain America: Civil War, putting it right before Spider-Man: Homecoming and Doctor Strange, but also possible happening during the last few episodes of Agents of SHIELD’s third season. So, don’t expect a crossover there.

Killmonger’s mask.

In addition to being inspired by real life ceremonial masks worn by the Igbo, the mask also draws on comic book inspiration. Killmonger wears a mask very similar to the one in the movie during his first confrontation with T’Challa in the comics.

Killmonger’s girlfriend.

So, this might not have been intentional, and this might not even really be an Easter egg, but one relationship long time comic book readers will remember is that of Killmonger and Madam Slay. Madam Slay had trained leopards (and we do see leopard-like spots in Killmonger’s costume later), and she was his right hand for a few issues when Black Panther stories were being told as part of Jungle Action comics. She had a thing for knives and wanted to help Killmonger kill T’Challa. Of course, she was also Wakandan, so maybe the woman seen in the movie isn’t her.

Klaue’s arm.

The cannon in Klaue’s arm is inspired by the comic book design. He has a “sonic cannon” in his arm in the comics, which gets something of a shoutout when he says it’s sonic mining equipment that was used to give him the arm in the movie.

Shuri’s buns.

When T’Challa meets his family off the plane, Shuri’s hair is in a couple of buns. That’s your Star Wars reference as it was meant as an homage to another princess in a galaxy far, far, away. Letitia Wright confirmed the nod in an interview.

“What are thoooose?”

I hear this is a nod to a famous vine. LOL Okay, I have to admit that I was never into vine, but everyone in the theater under 30 found this hilarious. I found it more adorable that Shuri bases her shoe design on Back to the Future. But hey, we all find different things funny.

Mount Bashenga.

Shuri’s lab is inside a mountain named for the first known king of Wakanda that becomes Black Panther. He’s even named in the opening sequence of a bed time story.

M’Baku makes a move toward Shuri.

During the challenge, as M’Baku talks about the things he disagrees with in Wakanda, one of them is “a child” being in charge of the technology. In the comics, M’Baku specifically wants to get rid of all of the futuristic tech in Wakanda. He also, at one point, kidnaps Shuri. So, that brief moment struck me as a nod to that.

So, I’ll also note here that M’Baku is a big departure from the comics, but a lot of things were kept to provide a nod to the source material. Like Nakia calling him the “Great Gorilla” when she meets him because the villain name Man-Ape is pretty racist, no? Her term is more a sign of respect. The skin he wears over his shoulders? A nod to him killing a White Gorilla in the comics in a ritual that gives him the strength and stamina of the animal.

(Also, side note: the movie cut, but set design kept, the Jabari tribe loving the wood from a sacred tree in the mountains and using that to build their homes with. It’s in direct contrast with the high tech Vibranium. Winston Duke also worked with a dialect coach so his rhythms would be closer to different Nigerian dialects instead of South African dialects to differentiate himself from the rest of the main cast, setting the Jabari apart from the rest of Wakanda. It was also his idea to do the barking/grunting sounds as a nod to the comic book source material, but to give the Jabari a way to make an entrance and shut people up.

Okoye complains about that wig.

Honestly, this only struck me because Danai Gurira has to wear a massive wig for her role as Michonne on The Walking Dead. I know she’s spoken at length about loving that role, but I immediately thought her character’s hatred for wigs was a nod to the fact that she spends so much of the year in one.

The Pan African flag.

The stripes of the Pan African flag are green, black, and red, so when Nakia, T’Challa, and Okoye walk into the underground gambling ring in Korea and stand at the guardrail, you’re seeing that flag brought to life. (And for those who think that’s reaching for symbolism, Ryan Coogler confirmed in an interview that was the intention of the costuming decisions in that scene.)

Stan Lee’s cameo.

We all recognize Stan Lee by now, but in case you missed him, he’s one of the gamblers. He talks to Agent Ross and takes T’Challa’s winnings when he leaves them behind.

“Every breath you take is mercy from me.”

T’Challa says this line to Klaue in the movie, but in the comics, he said it to someone else. He said it to Namor following the arrival of Thanos in Wakanda. T’Challa and Namor have a complicated frenemy-ship, we’ll say. I kind of hope Namor (since the rights are back with Marvel) gets to make his debut in a Black Panther movie.

Vibranium from Sokovia.

When Agent Ross and T’Challa chat in the casino, Ross mentions the guy he’s dealing with also having been traced to the events in Sokovia. So, just in case you needed another big flashing sign for an MCU connection, there you go.

The story of El Dorado.

Klaue tells the story of a Golden City, and how people searched for it in South America. In addition to trying the movie to the legend of El Dorado, it’s also a nod to the capital city of Wakanda in the comics, called the Golden City. It’s where the royal family lives and where most of the activity takes place in the comics.

Another broken white boy.

When Shuri makes the comment that there’s another broken white boy for them to fix (after the CIA agent is brought in to have his spine repaired), I actually didn’t think about the fact that Bucky Barnes was cryogenically frozen in Wakanda for safe keeping, though I’m sure plenty others did, but of Hunter, T’Challa and Shuri’s adopted brother. T’Chaka saved the boy after his parents died in a plane crash over Wakanda and raised them with his children. Hunter grew to be jealous of T’Challa and the leader of the War Dogs. He was a sometimes enemy of his adopted brother. Of course, the post-credit scene makes it clear that Bucky is standing in for Hunter since the kids even call him by Hunter’s comic book name, “White Wolf,” even if the timeline doesn’t quite add up.

The influence of African cultures.

Yes, Black Panther is a comic book movie, but Black Panther also takes a whole lot of inspiration from different African cultures. For example, the Dora Milaje are inspired by the Dahomey Amazons, an all female military group that essentially died out after the mid twentieth century. The costuming, the body modification, the language, and even the hairstyles in the movie are all rooted in different African cultures. This twitter thread does an amazing job at explaining so much of what you see in the movie.

It’s also worth noting that you won’t see a Wakandan character in the movie with relaxed hair. Why? The country was never colonized. I believe it was Lupita Nyong'o who explained in interviews that the idea of relaxing kinky hair was brought about by colonizers shaming Africans for their looks. Because Wakanda has never been colonized, the residents have pride in something as simple as natural hair.

War Dog assignments.

The “War Dogs” are referenced several times, but outside of Nakia being called a spy, there’s not a whole of information about them. So, the term War Dog is actually in reference to the Hatut Zeraze, which are the “secret police” in Wakanda in the comics. T’Challa actually disbands them when he becomes King because he doesn’t like the idea of sending out people to assassinate others around the world, which is one of their jobs. The movie appears to have made them literal spies instead of assassins.

Shuri’s gauntlets.

I’m sure a lot of people noticed that she built her gauntlets to resemble the heads of panthers. While that’s obviously a nod to the Black Panther being Wakanda’s hero, it’s likely also a nod to Shuri becoming the Black Panther in the comics. She takes her brother’s place when he’s gravely ill and she also becomes the Queen her country needs.

Over the waterfall.

The moment where Killmonger tosses T’Challa over the edge of the cliff? Taken exactly from the comics. T’Challa survives that fall as well, though he doesn’t get help from M’Baku in the comics since they were enemies as well there.

War Dog cities.

When Killmonger and W’Kabi discuss which War Dogs have responded to his plans to take over the world, they are in very specific cities. New York, London, and Hong Kong are mentioned. Those also happen to be the cities that house Sanctum Santorums in the Doctor Strange movie, which means they’re hot spots for magic, lines between realms, etc. (Though this could be a coincidence as they’re also well known and well populated cities that world wide audiences would recognize.)

Killmonger’s Black Panther suit.

I already mentions that he gets leopard-like spots on it, which could serve as a nod to Madam Slay’s leopards, but there’s more. Black Leopard was the name used for Black Panther briefly in the comics to distance the character from any politics. Killmonger also had a sidekick in the form of a leopard he called Preyy. The gold tones in his costume - and particularly the look of the necklace - are a direct callback to what the actual Black Panther suit most often looks like in the comics as well.

T’Challa wrestles a rhino.

The scene where Black Panther takes down a rhino? Pretty much exactly out of the comics. In his very first comic book run in Jungle Action comics - the run is actually called Marvel’s first graphic novel - he had to wrestle a rhino to the ground in the same way.

Alex R. Hibbert.

The young actor, famous now for his role in Moonlight, gets a cameo at the end of the movie as the little boy who chats with T’Challa about his ship. Ryan Coogler is a big fan of Moonlight and has said that the director actual gave him a lot of support in his career. Hibbert gets the last official line in the movie, though there is a mid credits scene and a post credits scene.

#black panther #black panther easter eggs #marvel comics #mcu #marvel easter eggs

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