#mini deep dive

[dearopheliaimsorry]

Hotch and Morgan got me like girrrlll

Mayhem: 4x01

"Hotch! You're opinion matters to me."

"My life matters to me, and I have and always will entrust you with it...Would you do the same for me?"

~silence~

I have so many thoughts about this.

It addresses Morgan's trust issues and weird "my life doesn't matter that much"/"Hero"/"Big Sibling Syndrome -esque" complex.

Demonstrates how close the two are (worked together for YEARS now so makes sense.)

Shows how Hotch trusts him with such ease.

And the fact he is asking not for Morgan to save him but to let him save Morgan. To try to trust him. Something about the latter is so much more intimate and intense than the former.

I love interpersonal relationships!!!!! This show makes me very happy. I love to study people and relationships and how we interpt (often through writing) people and relationships.

Sorry if I read to much into this lol. I'm a lit nerd and my fav thing is to read into things.

Love, Cassie

[fantasyinallforms]

OK, this is a mini non-bagginshield-related deep dive that I would like to use to showcase how we collectively as Hobbit fanfic writers are not using Thranduil to his full potential when he interacts with dwarves.

By that, I mean to say Thranduil can speak and understand Khuzdul just fine.

Exhibit A: Thorin says the below line to Thranduil in Khuzdul. (Khuzdul bottom and English on top)

Exhibit B: Thranduil's response

This elf is at least seven thousand years old and has lived near Erebor for the entirety of its creation, abandonment, and reclamation. It totally makes sense that he learned a thing or two, and you can't tell me this version of Thranduil wouldn't be petty enough to rub that use of their secret language in their faces. The dwarves would be pissed, but also, what can they do about it?

Do with this information what you will. I trust you all to use it unwisely.

[fallstaticexit]

[centrally-unplanned]

I was listening to this cast by The Weeb Crew, with SteveM as a guest, going through some other Evangelion video and dissecting the mythical memetic tropes it buys into. Which was a lot of fun, I recommend the cast, and the video they are critiquing is a bit of a grad-bag of zombie memes about Evangelion from the 2000's, which yeah have aged poorly.

One of the ones they get into is the idea that Evangelion's TV ending was "intensely unpopular", and Anno & crew were getting like bombarded with death threats and stuff. Which happened at some level sure, but certainly wasn't the median response. The video actually sites the "emails" shown on screen in End of Evangelion as evidence:

And like, bro those emails are fake! The staff wrote them for the movie, they didn't use real death threats or fan mail, that would be a huge legal liability. Not saying they are analytically useless or anything but, you know, you need to know that.

Anyway, SteveM mentions that of course there was pushback against Eva's ending, but actually the big wave wasn't interior to the fandom - instead it was sparked by Eva "going mainstream" discourse-wise. In particular a review essay by social critic Eiji Otuska (who is also a former lolicon creator ding ding ding) that was published after the finale aired sparked a widespread discussion in the media by other critics. He links to the essay in their discussion....except he doesn't. He thinks he did, and then when they look, its just someone else mentioning it in an article in 2003:

Bitter disputes broke out on online bulletin boards, with some critical of the producers for failing to provide a clear-cut end to the story, and others who praised the finish for being "typically Evangelion-like." But when commentator Eiji Otsuka sent a letter to the Yomiuri Shimbun, complaining about the end of the Evangelion series, the debate went nationwide. "The debate that erupted over the ending went way beyond our calculations," Gainax's Sato chuckles. "Anno probably knew what was going on. He realized that media other than anime had taken notice of Evangelion."

Which triggered in me the thought - why doesn't he have it? He references it in his own work after all. As you can guess, after some searching I am pretty sure I know why; no one has it. Its never been scanned or reprinted in an accessible format! It definitely is important in the history of Evangelion - I have seen this claim in other contexts, the essay that sparked a discourse, and you can find many works about Evangelion citing Otsuki (generally later works, like an article published in September of 1996 which you can buy) But what the article article said is only discernable via the clues dropped from second-hand accounts.

So can we find it?

First of all I need to figure out what is even being referenced. Searching through contemporary Japanese sources, I dug up an extremely handy find:

A somehow-still-existing 1997 fan page by a Japanese otaku (I'm giving you this stuff auto-translated btw, what would you do with a wall of kanji?) who extensively catalogued every media mention of Evangelion. I am sure they missed some, but they didn't miss a big one like the Otsuki letter - which we know from the above interview appeared in gigantic newspaper Yoimiuri Shimbun:

This gives us three candidates; given that we know it was written after the finale aired, and that was March 27th, 1996, our most likely candidate is the April 1st essay; I was able to find a secondary source mentioning the review was "immediately" after the finale, so I think that nails it.

Which alas does not bring up anything! Try as I might I cannot find any extant blog post, or scanned image, or long quoted form. But after trying the usual methods I did realize something - unlike my average document hunt, this is Yoimiuri Shimbum, a newspaper, a big newspaper. Which means they probably have their own archive, which I might be able to access. and low and behold, they do! And my university research services actually have an account!!

Incredibly blessed by this stroke of luck, I went digging for everything containing "Evangelion" and "Eiji Otsuka" in 1996, and found it:

And it's fucking blank. If the article is scanned or anything it will have that "Japanese Text" you see on the first result, or "Scanned Image" tag or something. I swear its like the only ones not scanned, all the random ads and list of best sellers are all there, but the entire cultural essays section is just an archival void. Shot in the skull right at the finish line.

Alas I am out of ideas of this one - its a newspaper, no one is selling this on Yahoo Auctions. Though hey, at least now we know the title:

"オウム」を超えるはずが... / It should surpass Aum...", 876 characters long.

"Aum" by the way is Aum Shinrikyo, the cult terrorist group that conducted the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin gas attack. Which you can imagine really took the chattering classes by storm; it was the culmination of a series of "extremist" actions that began in the 1980's that built up a narrative of societal decay and alarm. It really isn't surprising that Otsuka linked Evangelion to Aum Shinrikyo; the apocalyptic connections were obvious, there was even an episode of the show that had to be changed due to the attacks as the production team thought the events were too similar. And additionally, if this essay was gonna spark a "societal backlash", it has to say something controversial right? I have definitely seen other critics like Hiroki Azuma discussing Eva in relation to Aum as a "social phenomenon" - I am betting Otsuka is the source of that comparison being so ubiquitous.

From other sources like people on twitter and other articles, I can pick up a few other details on what it contained; apparently he referred to Evangelion's finale as a "self-help seminar" for otaku and lambasted the idea of airing one of those on TV. And from his other writings I think you can certainly piece it together - essentially seeing Evangelion's self-involvement and hyper-introspection as a product of the same societal malaise that birthed Aum Shinrikyo, while failing to deliver a solution that could "go beyond" that. Which, the shit you said about media in the 90's, I want a hit of what he's having! But while today its quite obvious that groups like Aum were, sure, saying something about society but turned out overwhelmingly to be fringe weirdos as opposed to canaries in the mental institute coal mine, at the time this was very much the zeitgeist.

Still, I don't really care all that much what it says - its an important artifact! It started the "Eva discourse boom" that broke out of otaku circles and launched Evangelion into a cross-societal phenomenon! We should have a record of it, it should be preserved. I will ruminate on it, and see if any other ideas pop up. And meanwhile if anyone out there happens to see what I missed definitely let me know.

[tiktaalic]

been watching a lot of hbomb due to the vid drop which means now i'm getting. hold on. i have to block a tumblr user. which means now i'm getting a lot of sarah z recommendations and i finally went oh alright let me look at her uploads surely i can give her a chance. only to get really mad when i see she got 2 million views on regurgitating tumblr posts INCORRECTLY about what happened to destiel surrounded by other #tumblranecdotes .

[kingwaino]

i have done...an absolute deep dive into blues and folk music tonight. it was 100% one of those blink and three hours have passed type of deals. worth it though.

[shima-draws]

Okay I legitimately need to break from watching OP for a bit because A. I’ve been binging nonstop and I need to actually like. Be a human person and do something else other than sitting and watching TV for 6 hours straight And B. I’m at Sabaody now and I’m fucking SCARED man. Things are so fun and lighthearted rn and I know it’s all going to shit soon and my heart isn’t READY for that yet,,

[raayllum]

I am fascinated by the Skywing elf holding the coronet wearing a blindfold, and its implications re: the justice or nature of the justice of Aaravos' imprisonment and what that means regarding Harrow's choice to take the blindfold, out of Lady Justice's implements. Do you have any thoughts on this?

I'm very very curious as to why Skywing elves specifically, and if they'll be almost Valkyrie-esque inspired with the Startouch elves having their quasi-Valhalla. There is also extremely old concept art out there in which Aaravos' design was very different (no long white flowing locks and I forget if elves had horns yet) with almost priest-like robes and a blindfold:

Which, given the parallels between Harrow and Aaravos to begin with from a thematic standpoint, and Harrow's emphasis on the blindfold, is probably noteworthy. We also see another blindfolded elf with horns that form an almost broken looking halo on the Star chart map:

The Startouch elves are already seen as gods, to a degree ("Have our Gods died? Where do the fabled Great Ones hide?") and Lady Justice is indeed the closest thing to a religious figure (deity or otherwise) that we see Katolis have. It wouldn't surprise me if the Startouch elves are so removed from like, mortality (and indeed, S5 confirmed they are seemingly pretty damn Immortal) that they're completely indifferent to the plight of everyone else, under the guise of being 'impartial' and therefore fair judges. Aaravos' first short story supports this as well (although he is, of course, a biased source like any other):

The stars, after all, had no interest in the lives of mortals. The stars are arrogant, blinded by their own incandescent light. As though nothing else in all the universe could burn so brightly, so beautifully! As though nothing else could be so cruel!

The Skywing elves we do see in something other than nomadic lifestyles (Nyx or generally in Tales of Xadia) are Ibis and the other Dragonguard, who although fled, both served the Draconic Royal family (and Ibis unto death). This makes me wonder if the Celestial Elves are like, a group of Skywing elves chasing this idea of Freedom and complete detachment from the world, which they see the Startouch elves as having succeeded (transcending mortal existence/bounds and all that) and aspire to. Something like a self appointed Dragonguard / a sort of Lujanne esque guardian to watch over whatever the Starscraper holds for the Startouch elves (and they may have lost a Quasar Diamond along the way?) and to "uphold" Startouch ways, as it were. Which like - at a certain point you can't be impartial without being neglectful and therefore cruel, so... We'll see where that goes.

For more thoughts on Lady Justice / King Harrow / Ezran, you may like this oneshot I wrote forever ago here <3

[spurgie-cousin]

It’s finally happening. Baby Waller #6 is a girl. We finally get to find out if the are doing P/D/P/D…. Or P for boys or D for girls.

me remembering the Wallers are pregnant again

[alltimefail-sims]

In honor of me rising from the dead I think its time I talk about my two(?) fav lore families in the sims franchise the smith-curious and the spector-beaker families and I guess also the singles as well - lore anon

Hello lore anon and welcome back! ❤️

Sorry I took a minute to answer this, it has been a crazy busy couple of days! I'm going to put my whole response under a read more because I have lots of thoughts on this topic!!!

We all took for granted how insane and amazing TS2 lore was. God, I pour one out for her everyday RIP.

Anyway, let's get into this! ↓

Strangetown is my favorite world in TS2 as well! No one is surprised by this I'm sure. I actually ended up tying it (and some of its townies 👀...) into my Strangerville story because I just couldn't help myself. But I'll be honest - the family tree stuff with Lola/Chloe/Jenny/Pollination Tech 9 has always made my brain melt a little. I'm a visual person so I had to reference their family tree as a guide for our conversation. I'll provide the one that I used below!

Lore-wise, you have to start this conversation by talking about alien pollination and normal sim reproduction. You just can't avoid it. For me, I've always seen them as completely separate entities... otherwise Jenny is married to a man who, for lack of a better term, knowingly banged and impregnated her father lmfao. But not only that - if they were the same, that would imply that aliens are abducting people and engaging in sexual relations with them (with willingness or unwillingness not playing a factor; sim abductions can happen to sims who want or fear them) and this is kind of reductive and uncharacteristic of what we know about their species (plus the implications are icky imo). Therefore, I never thought that Pollination Tech 9 would view Lola and Chloe as his children, even though they technically are, in the way that Poli Tech wouldn't view Tycho as his child either (nor would Pascal regard Poli Tech as the father either).

If I'm recalling correctly, I don't think sims are necessarily aware which alien pollinated them in game (even though each sim neighborhood in TS2 has only one Pollination Technician, therefore making all the half-alien babies in that neighborhood half-siblings by default within the limited span of the game). I also don't know that male sims in TS2, from what I remember, are aware they've been pollinated because they're always surprised to find they're "pregnant," meaning there likely wasn't any a-typical intercourse happening that they could connect to the pregnancy (even if, let's be honest, Pascal might have been down for that). I think of pollination as an act similar to cloning, (the wiki says through "advanced technology") or as the name implies it could also just be a consequence of coming into proximity with their species (their name being a reference to reproduction methods of flora by pollination, for example). But realistically... it's a fictional simulation game, and in the case of TS2 it was super campy and a knowingly-leaning-into-the-outrageous kind of simulation game (which I loved and miss). So who knows!

All that to say that I agree; regardless of how the baby process works for aliens, it is still an absolutely crazy family tree lmao. But on the bright side... that at least implies that Pollination Tech 9 wasn't into his wife's father, nor might he be aware that Chloe and Lola are his children. 😅 But I'll stop here because if I think about it for too long, I think my brain might explode lmao. Still, I'm inclined toward the belief that the messiness adds to the flavor! 😂 The Sims team today could never write such a juicy bit of lore. My ass ate their dynamic up.

Also, quick note, JILL HAS EYES IN THE BACK OF HER HEAD?! THAT IS WHY SHE WEARS THE PIGTAILS? WHAT THE HELL?! Gonna look this up -

Holy shit!!! This fact is equal parts incredible and terrifying. Thank you for bringing this my attention. I can't believe I did not know this before this moment. What a (horrifying) little legend.

Oh I loved (and still love) Nervous Subject and Pascal together. Just thinking about that ship makes me giggle because it was one of my first exposures to "shipping" and "fandoms" as a preteen. I always put them together and had them raise little Tycho to fulfill Nervous' family aspiration. (I should note that I was also an avid JRO enthusiast. Johnny has two hands, why should he have to pick between Ophelia and Ripp?) Another interesting layer to the Ophelia/Olive/Nervous family is that Ophelia would be unaware of her direct relation to Nervous (1st cousins)! I loved playing around with this; Olive was a very secretive person who had a dark side for sure, so I'm sure Ophelia would have a lot of questions following her aunt's death (the first being why her aunt's inheritance is going to some rando named Nervous lmao). Plus, who says Ophelia didn't know her aunt was taking people out? She might not have known why, but she had to know all those deaths around Olive couldn't have been coincidental. That's messed up on its own lmao. I like to think that once Nervous and Ophelia meet, they become close and he even helps care for her in a weird-older-brother type way. I just know they would trauma bond lmao.

I didn't care for Loki or Circe (I never played with their household), so I don't have super strong opinions on them. That being said, I love reading people's theories on their connection to the Curious brothers. I think the ongoing feud with the brother's and their connection to Nervous is the most interesting part of their story, but my ideal ending for them would have been being exiled from the town and their careers in general for their shady practices. Pascal seemed like the science antithesis to Loki and Circe who seemed to believe that it was okay for scientific truths to come at the cost of the wellbeing of others. Also, I think Circe is too hot and too evil for Loki AND Vidcund. That's woman commits many crimes, but her taste in men is up there as one of the worst things about her lmao.

Lastly, LAZLO. He's so silly goofy and so chill in comparison to his brothers, and he's definitely the black-sheep of the family. I love how in comparison to Vidcund and Pascal, his personal life is pretty typical and mild. He's just vibing as a third party witness to the chaos. He didn't sign up for any of the drama, yet you know he's a ride-or-die. In my mind, he's also the cool uncle. He'd catch Johnny smoking and be like, "Gotta share little man." He's the best. Little Fun fact - when I watched season 4 of Stranger Things, I couldn't unsee Lazlo Curious every time Argyle opened his mouth.

If you don't see it, that's okay. I can't unsee it though! He's high af, he's precious, he's always has snacks, he will take down the government or transport a dead body for the homies. He should be protected. I totally, 100% agree that Nova is his child!

WHEW sorry for blabbing! Strangetown was a doozy and you're right that the Bella Goth situation adds a whole other intricacy (which I'll definitely be talking about in her specific deep dive post).

So glad to have you back! 🤗

[sentient-rift]

Dibs x99!!!

Whoa! x99?! I'm honored!

Well, back at ya! x9999!

"*Gasp* IT'S OVER 9000!"

[not-xpr-art]

Art deep dive #3 - How important are the "rules" of art?

Hi!

So it's been a longgg time since I did one of these, but I've recently noticed something in the way people talk about art online today, especially the idea of 'art rules', that I've found interesting so... let's talk about it!

(just fyi this is a series where I ramble about art-y things and pretend I know what I'm talking about lol)

How important are the "rules" of art? ~

If you're an artist you've probably heard some version of the phrase 'you need to learn the rules in art in order to break them'. Effectively this refers to learning the basics of art like anatomy, colour theory or perspective before you completely do away with them to create something stylised, deconstructive or even abstract! Even beyond this particular idea, I hear so many artists online (as well as in school) talk about the importance of learning the 'art rules'.

And to some extent, I agree with this sentiment! I think you need to have some understanding of how to draw things, and more specifically knowing why we draw things certain ways. An example of this is the 'don't use black in shadows' rule, which is referring to the fact that there are no true black shadows in nature, and using other colours as shadows can keep your work from looking too 'flat'. And despite me knowing this, I have definitely used black as shadows in my work, especially when I want to create some intense chiaroscuro or drama! But I know that when I want to create something realistic, using black in the shadows would probably be a bad idea lol!

But the thing is... What do I actually mean when I say 'art rules'?

Who decides what rules make up the way things should be drawn/painted/sculpted/etc and why should we follow them in the first place?

There's certainly a set of rules for how to draw things in particular styles (as in, if you want realism you probably need to follow some specific proportions lol), but those don't apply to all forms of art! Similarly when it comes to something like colour theory, there are colours that will help you create a harmonious work, but that isn't always relevant!

Abstract and conceptual art (amongst others) are forms that don't necessarily require a sense of balance or even artistic integrity. Much of the last century of art history was specifically about throwing away the old ideas of how art 'should' look and be made. The Dadaists and works like the 'Ready Mades' of people like Duchamp challenged the idea of 'art rules', and as chagrin as I am to agree with anything Duchamp has ever done, it WAS effective in completely reshaping the art world.

So we know that much of art doesn't have to rely on art rules. However, when I look at the online art community, and even my own experiences within art education, there seems to be a return to the idea of 'learn the rules first, break them later'. Those rules being the things I mentioned earlier (proportions, anatomy, perspective, colour theory, etc), things that make up the basic art education that's been taught in art schools for hundreds of years.

Except... I haven't really answered the who or why have I lol?

There's obviously no one individual guy who one day was like 'I'm gonna make up some art rules for people to follow until the end of time!', but rather the things we now consider the 'basics' of art can mostly be traced back to Antiquity (as in Ancient Greece). And I do consider it integral to say that the things that are globally seen as 'art rules' are things that have specific origins in Western countries of Art History.

It's no great secret that the History of Art has a racism problem, and the fact that the majority of artists considered part of the 'canon', and the ones who were venerated and taught as part of art education for many years are white men from western and central Europe...

Art from other continents don't always have the same ideas of 'art rules', and when these were first introduced to Europe, they were written off as 'naïve' and 'primitive' because they didn't conform to the European idea of 'art'. And in a way I think that this (obviously) racist ideology has fed into our current concept of 'art rules' pretty much entirely revolving around Western standards of art (which usually positions realism above all else, with the significance and symbolism of art become less important).

Let's next tackle the 'why' of art rules. I've already mentioned why you would follow rules in a practical sense, but beyond that is there any reason for following these 'art rules'? I think fundamentally it all comes down to what we consider the purpose of a particular work of art. If your goal with a piece is specifically about creating a realistic work, then it definitely makes sense that you would follow them. But art that is more instinctual or personal, or art that is abstract, or even art that is pattern/purely aesthetic based, all have very different intentions for their creation.

So why, in 2023, do so many artists (and art schools) still push this idea that art has a rigid set of rules that you have to learn, and only once you've learnt them can you then completely disregard them? Rules that we know stem from European art history and also only apply to a certain sort of art. I think in a way it all comes down to a way to quantify what 'good' and 'bad' art looks like. If there are really no rules, and you don't need to have basic understandings of anatomy or perspective in order to be an artist, then I think to some people it means that can no longer say that in order to be an artist you need to put in a certain amount of 'effort'.

In conclusion... Is there even a conclusion to this lol?

Personally, I think that there's definitely value in learning the Western ideas of art rules that we consider the 'basics' (things like anatomy, perspective, etc) if you want to improve your realistic drawing skills, but don't think you need to learn everything about art rules in order to become some accomplished or 'real' artist lol

Art is first and foremost about creativity and expression, so really just have fun with it!

~

I hope you enjoyed this mini (informal) essay! I actually haven't written one of these deep dives for over 2 years lol!

Btw, let me know your thoughts on this and whether you agree with it lol!

If you liked this feel free to check out those other one, or my art advice tag (where I attempt to give advice to beginner artists lol...)

[helreginn]

"Your mother's blood was clotted and your brain is made of glue," Came the small and viscious voice from the tiny frog that sat atop Hel's crooked finger. If frogs could smile, he would be doing so. Smugly.

"Frauki!" Hel exclaimed admonishingly, "Too far." Having said that, she couldn't hide the amusement in her own expression.

[violent138]

Character Design: Masks

In The Batman (2022), masks are a recurring motif, (hello, the movie begins at HALLOWEEN) emerging repeatedly during the film. Masks are at the heart of the movie's themes of identity, purpose, and the past. I thought this motif and the characters it applies to are interesting so here goes:

Catwoman is the only person in the Batman whose suit doesn't represent who she really is. She is no more or less herself while donning it, hence all the scenes where she doesn't have it on. She takes her mask off to be her (and we see this when she loses her disguise while trying to kill Falcone and in all the rooftop scenes). Her outward appearance is always deception, wigs, her mannerisms, and her clothing. Her burglar suit is another tool, but it is not who she is. Merely looking at her outward appearance tells you nothing and misleads.

Gordon, Falcone, Alfred, and Penguin are examples of characters who don't wear masks AND are always fixed as themselves (personality/motivation-wise). This does not mean that they don't lie or deceive, but that they have no need to wear masks to achieve their goals.

Riddler wears a mask, but it's more like a crown. It's a symbol, but he's always in his identity and illness. Like Selina, Riddler changes his external appearance and name, but his suit is an extension of his most accurate, most free self. Riddler is not fully powerful without his mask, which disrupts his ties to weakness and cements him both as an everyman, an outsider, and an inspiration. So Riddler and Selina are contrary in that regard. However, the gang from the start of the movie, and several criminals do wear masks. And like the Riddler, these masks are unifiers that allow them to freely achieve goals and desires.

Batman or Bruce Wayne, is slightly boring, as there have been endless analyses on the man and the mask. But for completeness sake, Batman is a culmination of several of the characters listed above. His mask does partly showcase who he really is, but simultaneously, he's more or less always tortured Vengeance (mirroring the Riddler). Later, the mask parallels more of Selina's characterization, where it doesn't represent him fully, and is an object of fear, even as he becomes more symbolic of hope. His mask frees him to be who he really is, cuts him off from identity (unlike the Riddler), and puts him at odds with those who don't wear masks. The design of it also separate him from both Selina and the Riddler, as it is more solid and well formed, while theirs are suggestions right now, incomplete. He's in a middle ground of people, not able to be one or the other, both freed by and constrained by who he is.

Fin

[fly-sky-high-dragon-hoard]

Not to generalize fans but it's been a reoccurring theme on my dash to see artists I follow either being poked fun of or "criticized" for their rw art or character interpretations and it has me like

?????

[charlie-pippin-faraday]

i really wanted some more in-depth episodes on some more of the afc richmond players - i want more dani rojas, jan maas, richard, bumbercatch, zoreaux, and even isaac. but i don’t think there will be enough episodes of ted lasso left to give me what i want :(