#more overly detailed analysis that nobody asked for!

[slightlyrebelliouswriter23]

do you think that cardan would have married nicasia is she hadn’t betrayed him? how do you think jude and cardan’s story would have played out had she been faithful??

this is a complicated answer nonnie, but in short: no. i don't think he would have. or at the very least, even if she hadn't betrayed him, there were still a number of things that would've made for an unhappy relationship between them.

Why Nicardan has always slept with the fishes

i think most of my conviction in this theory is best supported by two scenes in the series. the first being the scene in The Wicked King where Cardan confronts Nicasia about her mother's desire for them to be married.

"'Would you marry me, then? Tie the sea to the land and bind us together in misery?' Cardan gazes at her with all the scorn he once reserved for me." (Chapter 13, p.123, TWK)

here, Cardan basically admits outright that he would be miserable in a marriage to Nicasia. miserable. and i don't think this has anything to do with Nicasia's betrayal, either.

it's very clear that he still cares for her feelings, even after she did what she did. he hates Locke for making her cry with his games with the twins. he is very sympathetic towards her in QON when word comes that Orlagh has been shot. so despite her betrayal, he is still capable of these feelings for her on a purely platonic and/or sympathetic level. yet, he says they would be miserable together.

and i think this is something he realised long ago, in HTKOELTHS, when Nicasia takes him to the Undersea for the first time.

"And even though her enchantment protected him, he could still feel the oppressive cold and the stinging of salt in his eyes. Salt that curbed his own magic. And darkness, all around. It didn't feel like the expansiveness of splashing through a pond. It felt like being trapped in a small room." (Chapter 6, p.65, HTKOELTHS)

if there is one thing we know about Cardan, it is that he hates being trapped, both literally and figuratively. this oppressiveness he feels being in the Undersea is so detestable to him that he could barely stand to be there for more than a few minutes. imagine what it would be like for him to have to help Nicasia rule over such a realm.

and in that same scene, Cardan does think about this, what it would be like to be Nicasia's consort:

"The weight of the sea seemed to press down on him. He no longer had a sense of up or down. One was always suspended, fighting against the current or giving in to it. There would be no lying on beds of moss, no barbed words easily spoken, no falling down from too much wine, no dancing at all." (Chapter 6, p.67, HTKOELTHS)

Cardan realises here that to be with Nicasia would mean giving up everything which brings him joy. sure, maybe those things are inconsequential to survival. but they are also the things keeping him going. they are his life rafts, without which he would be well and truly sunk, both in the Undersea and in his own despair.

for Nicasia, being without the small pleasantries of life is not a problem. she is from the Undersea. she is used to the cold. she is used to the harshness of living, and has no need for such luxuries.

"'We would be legends,' she [Nicasia] tells him. 'Legends need not concern themselves with something as small as happiness.'" (Chapter 13, p.123, TWK)

but the same is not true for Cardan, who wanted so desperately to be loved, not despised, that he broke a magically bound crown to prove to himself that he could be.

in the Undersea, however, Cardan knows he would not be afforded the same benefit of the doubt:

"He might be as inconsequential as he was in Elfhame, but even more powerless and possibly even more despised." (Chapter 6, p.67, HTKOELTHS)

so there are many things working against Cardan's happiness in a relationship with Nicasia:

he must learn to like being in a cage.

he must give up everything which brings him joy.

he must learn to live without the possibility of being loved.

even if Nicasia had not cheated on him, i cannot think Cardan stagnant enough to just carry on in his miserable ways. i think he would've come to the same conclusion he did after Nicasia's betrayal: a formal, long-term relationship with her would have stripped him of his most fundamental needs.

Nicasia's betrayal was simply a happy (or not) catalyst that pushed Cardan into sooner realising his desire for something that was not her.

–Em 🖤🗡

more thoughts on Nicardan

more theories

[linkspooky]

Your analysis are interesting but feel overly bias since many aspects of the story you forgo despite them being influencers. In the case of the villains, so much of what makes them redeemable to the audience is seperate from their interactions with the heroes, the heroes only get to see violent killers and mass murderers who they have to stop and protect people. They are a immediate threat, so their not going to pull out the therapy chairs mid battle and that is not a flaw.

You phrase things like Shigaraki is only responding to violence against him which is false because through most of the story he was the one initiating attacks on the heroes (USJ, Hosu, Forest training) it's only after Kamino but by this stage he's already established himself as a dangerous threat to children and society - post Kamino it was mostly other villains but the reason Heroes attack his experiment is in response to intelligence of PLIF's planned attack. Heroes are mainly responsive.

I do agree with the point that there is a cycle of violence that has to be broken because the story has set up a good illustration of it's escalation but while the story reasons why the villains want to attack society that let them down doesn't change how the villains are going about that in a violent and deadly way that is going to spark a suppressive response - it's not necessarily faultly judgement on the heroes to respond based on their knowledge and what has traditionally worked to protect.

Your analysis of Bakugou I disagree with. Horikoshi takes care when writing All Might because everything he says has value and he never lies. Additionally violence in heroics is not inherently wrong as many of your meta's imply, so much All Might says to Bakugou, it's not wrong to seek being strong (so that is not regressive) and Bakugou seeking of strength and win is to be like All Might "I will win, that is what heroes do". Bakugou and Deku do understand each other on a personal level, pt1

“ Bakugo’s focus is still being stronger than the bad guys, rather than on saving people. It’s still all about winning to him”. This is not true. Since Kamino Bakugou’s development has prioritised saving. Leaving the battle with the purse snatcher to save All Might and the civilian from the lap post while also saving the people’s belongings, saving his team in joint training, saving Natsuo instead of fighting Ending, Saving Deku because he knows how self sacrificing Deku is and how that will get

that will get him killed. Furthermore he even forgo seeking more strength at Endeavours to look for what he was missing as a hero. Denying all this of his character is reductionist.“Bakugo was set up to learn something, and he didn’t, and that’s character regression! – again this is not true. He did learn, hence he started to actually progress as a hero whereas before when he was not learning he was punished for it. I am not saying the majority of your analysis is wrong – like Bakugou not yet

like Bakugou not yet dealing with his trauma or guilt both to All Might and Deku which leads to self harming battles and suicidal acts of saving but I do think a big flaw in your arguments is to ignore that Bakugou’s character has been exploring other aspects outside of strength and power to improve himself. You also cut off the part of the internship arc where Bakugou listens to Natsuo after the fight with Ending and after that Bakugou does think of his hero name signifying he’s grown somewhat

grown somewhat in thinking about what hero he wants to be – especially since atonement is what Bakugou mentions in chapter 284. Your analysis make great points but also feel very bias because you cut out a lot of information, information the story mentioned and connects up There is a difference between knowing the character’s fundamental flaw – how to deal with the feelings of guilt and weakness beyond simply pushing passed them unaddressed- and claiming they have not grown at all or regressed.

"..but All Might didn’t show up that day because he was turning a blind eye to his responsibilities." <- WHAT! You can't just put that in your analysis like it's fact. All Might might have been saving people at the other end of the country. Same with your writing on Gran Torino, lets ignore that Nana asked the opposite of what you claimed for him not to interact with her family to protect from AFO.

Okay, anon. I’m going to reply with more politeness than you’ve shown me. Your main problem seems to be that I don’t mention the hero’s perspective as often as you think I should, or the positive aspects or intentions of the heroes. However, what you call bias is incorrect because it’s simply the essential tool of making an argument. 

Literary Criticism is the art or practice of judging and commenting on the qualities and character of literary works. It’s an analysis, interpretation and/or evaluation of works of literature. It is essentially an opinion, supported by evidence, related to theme, style or setting. All literary criticism is opinion based, it is a personal response to the text. I have always been forward and upfront that I consider myself to be using literary criticism. The best I can do is make my argument and support it with panels. Because these are my arguments that come from my head, they are inherently personal. 

It usually includes discussion of the work’s content and integrates your ideas with other insights gained from research. Literary criticism may have a positive or a negative bias and may be a study of an individual piece of literature or an author’s body of work. (source.)

 You are supposed to include your ideas whether positive or negative because the act of reading in itself is a cooperation between reader and author. Without audience response, a manga is simply a bunch of drawings on paper. It’s a story that exists only within the author’s head. However, people respond to texts in different ways, that’s the beauty of literary criticism itself. A story doesn’t have to be told in one way, it can be told in many ways. 

Literary criticism is by its nature personal? I received two asks which asked what I thought about whether Bakugo has trauma from being kidnapped, and then an ask on whether I thought Bakugo was thinking on the relationships between heroes and villains. Whether Bakugo has progressed in saving people is not relevant, because I don’t think Bakugo cares much about the villain’s perspective at all and that to me is the more pertinent thematic question.

If I think the central theme of the text is “Are villain’s worth saving” then I’m going to include arguments that relate to that theme. The act of presenting an argument means I’m going to look for evidence that supports my side of the argument. 

If I wibble back and forth if I add “I think” if I constantly bring up the other side of the argument, those are things that are only going to serve to weaken my argument. My goal is never to talk about things like they’re objective facts but rather present them as I see them.

Can you please try to understand what it’s like anon, to receive messages asking for my thoughts, and then when I share them? For free. On the internet. To receive criticism for... sharing those same thoughts. 

Your argument starts with a personal argument against me, accusing me of biased and being unfair. However, I’m not writing whether or not you should like or dislike certain characters. I’m trying to make arguments about themes, Ideas, and justify my own observations on those matters. Once again, all text is a response through a certain narrow lens, because it’s impossible for someone to talk about a text from every single angle possible and mention every single detail. (The posts would be so, so, long and they’re long enough already. What I’m using is a story lens. 

For example, there’s a feminist lens. 

What does it mean to read through a feminist lens? The feminist lens allows us to look at text through the eyes of a feminist to closely analyze how women are portrayed and presented in comparison to men. Feminism- a movement for social, political, economic, and cultural equality between men and women; campaigns against gender inequalities.

A Narrative lens is by its nature reductive. You are reducing a text that can (and should) be read many different ways into one lens. It’s like if you’re writing a story from a first-person perspective, you can’t have a character telling the audience other people’s thoughts unless their a mind reader, because you have to carefully consider what point of view you’re TELLING the story from.

In the opposite case when analyzing a text under a certain lens, you have to carefully consider the point of view you’re READING the story from. 

My blog is titled “No Heroes, Only Villains”. I have made it clear in the past that I’m arguing in favor that the central theme of the story is “Do villains deserve to be saved? Are heroes contributing to the violence of the system.” I read the story through that lens, and make arguments in favor of that lens. 

I am, in fact, completely at liberty to say that All Might neglected his responsibility towards Shimura Tenko. Because the THEME of the STORY is that Shigaraki was created by the neglect of everyone around him and hero society as a whole. All Might is told years later that Shigaraki was captured by All for One and tortured for years, and rather than take responsibility then and there, he handed it off to Gran Torino. If the story is continuously building up the idea that the people who could have helped Shimura Tenko in some way, didn’t end up helping him, then I can respond to that idea. 

It’s a repeating motif. Shimura Tenko being alone in the street waiting for one hero to save him when nobody did. In real life it probably wouldn’t be anybody’s fault, yes. It would just be a sad accident. However, in stories, there are always reasons behind the characters actions. The reason why is because the authors intentionally craft stories to make some theme come across. So, in regards to theme, All Might did contribute to the fact Shigaraki did not get saved. Not only that, but if you were to not hold All Might accountable that only weakens his character. 

Characters are stronger when they are at fault. Characters are stronger when things are decided through their choices and actions. Otherwise a story is a bunch of things, happening to people. All Might chooses not to try going after Shigaraki when Gran Torino advises him to treat Shigaraki like any other villain and that choice means something. 

Other things are things that are just, already obvious? I think the story already makes the case clear enough the good intentions of the heroes, so my commentary on it is unnecessary or redundant. The story already tells us how good All Might is, the story already holds Nana Shimura, Toshinori and waxes on about their good qualities. I’m simply offering a different perspective.  If I can find evidence of the text of my perspective then the argument is valid.  It doesn’t have to be right, it just has to be supported. Another thing is, while it may be true that the villains are dangerous and bad people there are countless cases of villains at least trying to make their arguments, and plead their cases to the heroes, only for heroes like Endeavor to completely brush them off, or tell them to shut up. Shigaraki gives an entire speech about his perceived flaws with the hero system and Endeavor doesn’t even listen and tells him to just die. So yes, I think it is fair game to say that the heroes for the most part are blind to their own faults. Maybe in real life people wouldn’t have to listen, but it’s a story. The point of villains appearing in a story, and pointing out those faults to the heroes, is to have them confront those faults. The confrontation of those faults is what leads to character growth. If the villains weren’t supposed to be right to at least some extent they’d always be chaotic evil monsters. They’d be captain planet villains. The heroes have to be wrong to at least some extent because otherwise there’d be no story because the character has to learn over the course of the story. 

 The goal of literary criticism isn’t to be right, to have my opinions be more correct than the opinions of other people. You and I are able to have two completely opposite opinions of the text and neither of those opinions negates or cancels out the other. They can in fact coexist because we are different people of different perspectives that simply read things differently. 

The goal of literary criticism is to do the best job I possibly can of making my argument easy to understand, which is why I present a clear argument, don’t contradict myself, don’t use wishy-washy language.

I’m being polite and responding to you, but please don’t do this again. As I said, it’s my firm belief that my opinion doesn’t contradict yours in any way. I wouldn’t try to go out of my way to invalidate your argument like this. I love hearing about people’s different perspectives on the manga, and talking with people with different opinions than my own, but only if they’re willing to play ball with me. 

[laceymorganwrites]

The damn jacket

Word count: 2,210

Pairing: none rlly

Warnings: swearing, mentions of drugs, like a sentence of Mötley Crüe slander xD, um bad structure??

A/N: this is a mess. modern AU, kinda character analysis, idek but it was fun. Inspired by @pirate-shrimp  (if any of u catch the MSI reference I will marry u on the fucking spot)

Kid had bar vibes. He was the kind of guy you found sitting in the corner of your local pub, just far away from the others not to be forced into a conversation but also not far away enough to seem lonely.

He was the local phenomena of the man you didn´t want to get close to but whose story you wanted to know at the same time. The guy who pushed people away because he was more scared of hurting them than being hurt.

Hell, he doubted he could get hurt anymore at this point, over the years he´s lost so many friendships, been betrayed so much by the people he considered the closest to him, it was laughable.

Maybe that was why he didn´t let anyone get close anymore, why he always seemed so distant, his thoughts stuck in a past long gone or perhaps a future he knew he´d never have.

A good for nothing college drop out, those were the hard facts he had to face every day.

It wasn´t because he was dumb that he quit, far from it. Kid wasn´t thrown out, he quit himself because college was too restricting for him. There were some classes that were nice enough, but working towards exams really wasn´t his style, he wanted to do something, anything really.

People like him didn´t have it easy, society measured your worth in degrees and results. But what if the way was so much more fun than the end result?

Kid had a lot of jobs to make a living, never staying in one though, he got bored so easily. How could anyone expect anyone to keep doing the same routinized thing for over 40 years? It was insanity. To him anyways.

Being punk, never fitting in, living the life of sex, drugs and rock n roll…. It all seemed so much more fun than it really was.

Kid´s band was a bad ripoff of Mötley Crüe, though some might argue that the band itself was.

Yes, he fit into some stereotypes that he was so sick of hearing: playing in a band, being that eccentric lead singer that caused too much trouble for his own good, though the second part wasn´t true anymore. Lately he just wanted people to leave him alone.

It was nice being a small town band, the bonds with your audience were so much stronger, it felt like hanging out with friends rather than playing a show for money. Kid never wanted that feeling to end, he never wanted to end up like those big bands who lost their spark, who lost that glimmer in their eyes, their racing heart when Killer counted and initiated their first song, the immense feeling of belonging whenever the crowd would sing his words back to him.

This.

This was what he was made for. Passion. That was what was missing when he was studying, he needed to do things, be that sketching or tinkering with his car or writing everything down that was going on in his head.

In truth Kid started writing because it all got too much, too many fake people around him, too many people acting like his best friend and leaving him cold the next day, too many people telling him they loved him and then spitting at him, gossiping behind his back.

A part of him missed the times when he cared, when he was shocked and hurt by this. By now it´s become so common, like the energy drink before work.

Kid didn´t have the dream rockstar life, not the one where people looked so cool shooting up in those movies, that shit was fucked up and society was sick for portraying it like that.

He only had bad experiences with drugs, living in a small town like this he saw the addicts everywhere, sad creatures who couldn´t support themselves anymore, who got dependent on things that destroyed them because nobody would help, because nobody gave a shit about them. Why would they? They were good for nothings who couldn´t work ten hours in some shitty job that didn´t pay them enough to pay rent.

The system wasn´t corrupt? Yeah, bullshit.

The problem he faced was that of a fleeting society, a society that sped up so much, never once slowing down and looking around to see what was out there. They never thought about expanding their horizons.

Schoolings were looked down upon, but at the same time cheered for. It was so strange… the craft was dying but also needed.

Nothing held value anymore, nothing lasted, nothing strove to.

Kid was happy with his life as it was now. He hated being selfish and arrogant but learned that a certain amount was needed to survive, you needed to look out for yourself before you could look out for anyone else. A local rockstar, frequent bar visitor, the best mechanic in town. All those fit him so well but at the same time he looked the part, oh how he hated it sometimes. The acquaintances he made because of his looks, because people spread rumors about him, making him more myth than man, it was pretty tiring.

Especially when they all were disappointed by the rather bland truth.

Not that Kid was bland in any way, it was just that people expected so much more from him, they wanted him to be this rebel, this punk, this heartbreaker.

Expected him to have tattoos and piercings but the truth was that he had such a low pain tolerance it was embarrassing. Yes, he bore every punch and kick he ever got without any complaints because there were parts of him that told him he deserved it, parts that hated him more than anything else.

Just try it…. there´s nothing you can do that I haven´t already done myself, you can´t hate me more than I hate myself.

Ah yes, the typical phenomenon of this generation: being way too soft and overly sensitive.

That was it, they weren´t more considerate and aware of their mental health and other people´s wellness, of identity and morals, of things that got swiped under the rug because ´it was always this way´. Why the fuck would people so desperately try to keep something misogynistic, racist and homophobic up? Just because it existed the majority of time doesn´t mean it was a good system.

Fuck, it never was.

And Kid was sick of everyone playing down those things. So what if he was a fucking crybaby and didn´t get humor? He wouldn´t take this shit anymore, yeah it mostly didn´t affect him but he got angry beyond belief for the people it did affect.

It wasn´t fair.

He couldn´t do anything? It wouldn´t matter anyway? It wouldn´t make a difference? So fucking what. He´d never know if he didn´t try.

Just now Kid finished up his work at the garage, closing up shop for the day. It was a busy day, many people who were driving through came to him to do a check up, others came by for their regular reparation. He loved that busy meant fun in his world. He was so fucking happy that he could do the things that brought him joy, that burned like a fire in his heart. And no, he didn´t care how cheesy that sounded.

Washing his hands and closing the door behind him he called Killer to let him know he was done. Killer was also just now finishing up his shift at the record shop. Now was their time to rehearse, band practice was always the best part of the day, though quite honestly most of the time it was just the guys hanging out and having a good time. And they wouldn´t have it any other way.

Kid grabbed his jacket and locked the doors before making his way to his car.

The jacket. That damn jacket.

It was where it all started. He bought that old thing from his first ever pay at the garage, his boss told him to spend it on something nice for himself, something that´d make him a man. He didn´t ever ask what he meant by that, his boss said weird things at times. But this was true, at least in a sense.

It was the first time Kid ever stepped foot inside of a second hand store and it was like heaven revealed himself to him, it was pure paradise. Just going through the aisles, finding treasures like no other, it became one of his favorite things to do.

The jacket was the first thing that ever caught his eye, the firs thing he purchased. The black leather with the yellow and dark red details, the skull on the back… it was calling to him. Those were his favorite colors, he didn´t even have to think about it before he bought it.

But what about it made him a man? It was just a jacket after all. But that´s where you´d be wrong.

It was so much more than that.

The very next day he started wearing it religiously, he noticed people staring at him at the streets but this time it wasn´t because he was a loser, it was because he looked fucking cool. The jacket boosted his confidence immensely. And it showed.

His boss complimented him and said that from this day on his journey was only beginning, and how right he was with that.

It was the day he reconnected with his high school friend Killer, he didn´t even know he was back in town, let alone working at his favorite record shop and searching for a band to play drums for. So Kid got his first guitar and played it to death, jamming with Killer and searching for others, thus meeting Heat and Wire, the coolest guys on earth.

He grew so much, finding more and more passion in his life, only his jacket stayed the same. He decided that it was time to change that.

Kid went to the crafts store and bought red leather protectors with a quilting pattern, sewing it to the shoulders of the jacket. He also decided to pimp the skull, making it his own personal jacket in painting on the goggles he wore at work, two knives as a cross because it was edgy and of course: his hair. His untamable hair that would never hold up so he got used to wearing any sort of silly glasses, sometimes even the goggles from work. Hair gel was a lie to him, so was hairspray.

He painted bright red flames in homage to his dyed hair, yeah, it wasn´t just a phase.

Everything was coming together.

He grabbed his stupidly large square blue sunglasses that made him look like a dad. Yes, Kid had a dad style. He loved second hand shirts more than anything, not the boring ones, the ones with the stupidest prints, he wore dad shoes like no one´s business and he was proud of it. He was the cool dad, the cool dad with the big car and puns that were so bad they somehow got good again. But damn, did he have talent with words. Screw not being able to formulate shit in speech, that man could write like a god, or rather the devil. Because, let´s be real, the devil sounds so much better on the mic.

Starting the engine, he drove home to at least make some room to sit for his friends, on the way he shopped for groceries too. Now that he was home he got the snacks, drinks and notebooks ready as well as the tons of pens where he never knew which one worked but never threw any away because somehow he thought he´d exchange the mines. Yeah, as if.

He threw on a black shirt and some black joggers before tying his hair up into a tiny ponytail, still his bangs fell in his face as always. It was annoying so he clipped them back with some black hair clips. He didn´t care if he looked stupid with that, at least he could see clearly now.

But getting a hair cut? No way, he looked too cool for that.

Kid opened the door when the others came and sat down on the couch with his acoustic guitar, lately they decided to play around with reimagining their songs after supporting and motivating Kid to sing rather than growl. He had such a nice guttural and gruff voice, these imperfections when singing, the edges just made the song that much more genuine.

Listening to Kid you just couldn´t help but get mesmerized, the way his biceps flexed when he held the guitar, the emotions in his eyes, the way he frowned and squinted whenever the lyrics got emotional and close to home, it made you want to protect him, to keep him happy, to keep this alive, this wonderful world he created for himself.

The others also scribbled down ideas and practiced new melodies, tried out new lyrics and solos. After a while work mixed in with private chats and the night faded into distant, nostalgic laughter and the crinkles around Kid´s eyes that showed how much it all meant to him.

[ilkkawhat]

Rating: Teen Characters: Nick Stokes Word Count: 1,570 Summary: What if Nick had ended up in the sensory deprivation tank on that campus? Notes: An AU to the events of 11x16, Turn On, Tune In, Drop Dead. Also happens to fit with the Whumptober prompt #24, You're Not Making Any Sense

shoutout to deltajackdalton who gave this a read for me!

read on ao3 or read below:

Flickering bulbs flitter light in and out of the campus hallway. He thinks nothing of it, the initial unease of the atmospheric crime scene had long since faded. He had gotten over the cluttered nature of the neglected hallway, the overgrown nature of the scientist’s laboratory that really reminded him of Grissom’s office, with the almost hoarding of materials that lined every inch of the walls, shelves curving in an almost collapse from the weight of all that’s stored on it.

He had gotten over the 333 on the door that he tentatively walked through, without a second thought of his guardian angel’s warning to him. He shoves the coincidence into the furthest recess of his mind, where he keeps all of the other discomforts he collects from the disturbing, horrific crime scenes, putting off the time for existential dread and crises for later, when he’s not working...when he’s supposed to be sleeping.

Besides, he’s been in the room before.

But not alone.

Though he has a sneaking suspicion backed by the fact that he had heard a clattering noise that drew him here in the first place, that really, he’s not alone.

He connects his gun and flashlight at his wrists, walking slowly and taking in every detail he can, searching the shadows for signs of movement and finds himself tossing aside the plastic flaps of the draw curtain to find the decorated tank in the center of the room, no longer occupied by any corpses, but still half filled with water.

He shines his light in, half expecting to find another corpse, but instead the void is solitary, luring his head in for a few seconds before he hears a noise behind him--

Mid-spin, something knocks into his arm brandishing his gun, it clatters to the floor--he quickly raises his other, his grip on the flashlight readjusting to brandish it as a weapon--but then his neck is chopped and he falls back, not to the floor, but slamming into tensely contained water--

“No!” he shouts, his fingers keeping grasp on the flashlight as he tries to kick his feet onto the lid that seals him into the complete darkness of the tank. He pounds his fists on the wall--or it the ceiling?--as he flails his body in the water, no longer still in his panicking presence.

The flashlight’s beam bounces around him, further disorienting him--he can’t tell if he shuts it off, or just simply shuts his eyes to rid himself of the sight of just how small the space is, how his legs don’t quite fit--he’s bent at the knees, his elbows keep bumping against the walls--a sharp slap to his angled nerves only serves to deepen his hysteria as this situation is far too similar to one he endured nearly six years ago--

“LET ME OUT OF HERE!” he demands in what he feels, is an embarrassing scream.

There’s a sliding, grinding sheathing of metal across the outside of the box--it reminds him of the door closing and locking on a prison cell--teardrops mix with the water that he’s indirectly splashing onto his own face--his gulps for air are short and strangled, the only noise that echoes through the sudden silence of his new tomb, besides the scraping of his splitting nails against the metal.

He tries to reign himself in, quiet himself--perhaps his assailant will think he died, open up the lid, and he can escape--

Moments pass. Minutes. Hours? The only sound he can hear is his own.

He slows his breathing, intensifies its weight but the air is thick. Too thick. He has no support this time around, messy calculations with changing numbers as he tries to account for the air he’s already wasted, for just how much water is in the tank, for the dimensions of this depriving container that is robbing him of more than just air, it seems to be robbing him of life.

His body agrees--though internally he’s still on an everlasting fire that the water can’t extinguish, physically he feels his muscles relax. Limp, almost, as his hands slide down and plop into the water. His feet continue to press against the lid, but the strain on his leg muscles falters, his knees wobble in a weak twitch as the wet fabric of his clothes settles into a cold slap against his pruning skin.

He closes his eyes, longing for the whir of the fan and finding himself daring to miss the green glow in opposition to the harsh white of the flickering, waterlogged flashlight.

Even the beads of water that slide down his face remind him of the ants crawling on his skin. He wishes for the itching burn instead of this freezing numbness.

Wishes so hard, that when he opens his eyes and pulls up his flashlight, he finds that the scratched metal surrounding him morphs into a wallpaper of packed dirt, dark veins connecting the malleable material slammed against the walls around him.

A large circle expands between his feet, a spotlight that flickers on--though really, it’s just him fumbling with his flashlight that he accidentally aims at his face--he pulls his feet together to cover it, the light disappears.

“No, no, no, no, no,” he begins to cry.

There’s no tape recorder to tell him what he did to deserve this (his job,) nor to leave his final words (that he won’t really get to say, his final breath will surely be a final anguished scream.)

There’s no glowstick to replenish the dim light; the flashlight is losing its life just as he’s losing his, though he does find a certain comfort in the darkness, unable to see the fine details such as his own terrified reflection in front of him. Instead, his vision fills with his favorite colors, bright and vibrant and providing him with nostalgia for the overly colorful tones of his childhood, before the spectrum was tainted with greys and darker variants splotching over his innocence. He tries to envision the outer coloring of his prison, the swirling pastel chalk to mask the horror of darkness inside.

There’s no gun to end it all instantly, instead he’s forced to just...float. Wait for it. Wait for the final ounce of air that will enter his body, for the final exchange of oxygen for his production of carbon dioxide only to be left hanging by a thread that snaps away from existence as he knows it.

And though he knows it’s coming, he’ll never know when.

He’s worked this job long enough to know that life is too short, death is a certainty, and it doesn’t discriminate between those who deserve it, and those that do. If things ever seem too good, they most definitely are.

Just like the night at the restaurant.

The tears begin again, and through the choking sounds of his own sobs, he swears for a second...that he hears a knocking.

“H-hello? I’m in here!” he cries out with hope, and is surprised at the response.

“Hang on, buddy, we got you! We got you!” a muffled yell, a distinctly familiar voice.

He puts his hands to the ceiling, pounding, as if that would speed up the process of building this link to the past, an opportunity to hear a ghost’s voice, perhaps even converse with him--

“Get me out, pl-please!”

“It’s okay, shh, shh, it’s okay, it’s okay,” the voice soothes him.

“Wa-wa-r-rick--” he gasps sharply, as being told that “it’s okay” seems to send his body through a whole new wave of panic, searching for the state of being in such a way. To be filled with the air that is being painstakingly drawn out of his body. Filled with blood untainted and unthinned, flowing under healthy skin that isn’t shriveling like a raisin. Filled with energy to think, to feel, to move. Filled with a satisfied appetite that keeps his body from growling at him, berating him for not only its dehydration but its starvation as well.

Filled with love, which is what each word that speaks to him is lined with trace in--if he had a sample brought to the lab for analysis, the results would be one hundred percent friendship. Companionship. Confirmation that in this world that always seems to knock him down, going so far as to lock and bury him away so deep that no soul could find him, that he’s not alone.

“I got you, Nicky, I always got you…”

He presses his hands flat, drops of pressurized blood dripping onto his face but he keeps his darkness-adjusted eyes focused above, waiting for his angel to rescue him--

The lid at his feet is opened.

He’s pulled out, screaming.

They try to be gentle, limiting their touches as he flounders on the ground.

He’s overstimulated.

And slightly embarrassed, but mostly upset.

Deprived of all senses, of course his mind defaulted to the box. Anybody who knew what he had gone through could see that plain as day--which is why nobody says anything beyond asking, “are you okay?”

They know he’s not.

But worse than that, he was deprived of an opportunity. One final conversation with his departed best friend.

“Throw me back in,” he rasps out in a weak plea to his caretaker, before he falls into a boundless void of sleep.

[schnowydays]

The “Herne and the Red Kite” Analysis Nobody Asked For

WARNING: This is probably a very long and unnecessary post. 

Wah, so at first I was quite nervous on posting this at all because this is just so embarrassingly long and it is really overly thought out. Plus no one even asked for it and there does not seem to be a need for this since the song is kind of straightforward. But, I still put work into this so I’m going to post it anyways cuz it would feel like a waste if I didn’t. Plus, I’m immensely busy with school right now, so why not just let this fester while I’m away? So,,, here we go:::

Okay, so this was spun out by this post and I just became so interested in what the heck this song was about. I’ve always loved listening to it but I had no idea what the heck was going on - who is Herne? A red kite?? Does this relate to Hadley and Rosalie???

Plus, I love reading analysis on stuff so, here I am, attempting to make my own.

Anyways, to give a quick overview, I am going to be analyzing both the words and the instruments used in the song, going strictly by the studio recording. Everything here will be MY OPINION ALONE so it could be possible that I am horribly wrong on certain things. This research was INCREDIBLY LIGHT so there are probably a lot of details that I missed. Plus, I don’t really have strong music or literature knowledge, nothing beyond what you’re taught in high school. I’ll try to clear up the blocks of text with pictures or videos of things I think are helpful. 

I’m basically going to be the English Teacher who finds meaning in everything meme. You know, the:

So, without further ado...

Background

The Song Itself

As we all know, “Herne and the Red Kite” was written by Hadley Fraser and was released on his EP Just Let Go. Although it was released in 2014, I’m not entirely sure when this song was written, so it could have been really any time before then. Just to get it out there, based on what others have already said (from that post, yes), this song is most likely to be about Hadley and Rosalie Craig. Here is the song itself if you’ve (somehow) never heard it before. You can also listen along and read at the same time :D

Characters in the Song

Herne

Based on only a Google search, “Herne the Hunter”, an English folklore ghost, is really the only thing that shows up. He is mentioned by Shakespeare in The Merry Wives of Windsor in which he is described as “the ghost of a former Windsor Forest keeper who haunts a particular oak tree at midnight in the winter time” (Wikipedia). He is associated with the Windsor Forest and the Great Park in Berkshire. He basically does a lot of not cool stuff, like making cows produce blood instead of milk and making trees die. Another version states that he was made so that parents can scare their children into being more obedient. Herne is also the surname of a bunch of people. Because Herne is such an interesting name to use for a song like this (why didn’t he pick literally anything else??), then there is probably some intention behind the use of this name and probably the connotations that come with it.

Red Kite

So, apparently, the Red Kite isn’t actually a kite but is actually a kind of English bird. Fun fact, during Shakespeare’s time, it was considered to be an insult to be called a kite because this bird, back then, was regarded as quite a lowly bird since it was literally associated with trash. It was related this way because it eats dead things haha... However, it was hunted intensely until it became basically extinct except for a few in Wales. Over time, as the population began to thrive again, the Red Kite became a celebrated symbol of Wales (probably) (source). 

According to a lot of different sites, apparently Red Kites also have some meaning to them. I think the most consistent and most important one is how they are a connection between the living and the underworld. This mystical connection binds well with Herne being a folklore ghost who, of course being a ghost, is probably dead. So, already, they are a pretty good match.

A good thing to note as well, birds, in general, are usually used to symbolize freedom. Also, as far as I can tell, there are really no previous stories or songs or works or whatever about Herne and Red Kites together. 

Hadley and Rosalie’s Relationship

I got this information from here (brought up by @peonybooks​ in a chat, thank you!!)

So, depending on where you look, in 2008 or 2009, Hadley and Rosalie met on the set of A Christmas Carol production in Birmingham, although at the time, they were both dating other people. A piece of the set had fallen on Rosalie during that time and basically destroyed her arm. However, she was determined to swiftly come back to the stage because she was afraid that if she hadn’t, she’ll never be able to come back at all. That, and “because [she] had fallen in love with [Hadley]” (my feelings waaa).

Once the production was over, Hadley shipped it back to LA while Rosalie stayed in London. Hadley returned a year later and called up Rosalie for a drink. It was then discovered that they had actually liked each other this entire time!! They just never told each other. They lived together in Crystal Palace after that and married in 2014. This makes it around the time that this EP was released. 

Hadley and Rosalie as Herne and the Red Kite

Something interesting I noticed was the relation of their names to these characters. H is for Hadley and Herne. R is for Rosalie and the Red Kite. 

Of course, this little fun fact breaks a bit if Hadley is using his real first name, Robert, haha. The “Red” in “Red Kite” can also be a relation to how Rosalie has red hair (thanks @alittlepawblog​ hehe).

Also, something worth noting is how Rosalie sings all the lines that are in Herne’s perspective, and Hadley sings all the lines about the Red Kite’s perspective. That trade-off is quite neat, actually. They are both narrators together in this story, but they are swapping who talks about who. It makes the whole song feel like they are speaking for each other together. 

Lyrics and Instruments

I think for this part, I am going to break it up by when each person sings. So basically, whenever there is a new singer or if they start singing together, that will be a new section. Italics are lyrics, regular print is the analysis.

Instrumental

The story is introduced by an accordion. To be honest, it sounds quite static, or maybe even stoic. There is not a lot of feeling in it, maybe to demonstrate how Herne and the Red Kite’s lives were like before meeting each other.

The sprinkles of hi-hats spring the beginning of the song, which consists of a guitar melody, bass and a violin. The violin has a recurring melody that is highlighted every time there is an instrumental break. It could perhaps represent Herne as both Herne (and subsequently Hadley) is mentioned throughout the song consistently, while the Red kite is only mentioned after the introduction. 

Rosalie

Herne lived alone, lived alone in a wood Staring at swallows, wishing he could Join their migration from flower to flower Finally deciding to rest on some bower

Herne is introduced right off the bat, making him kind of the main character. That, and the fact that he has the most lines in the song directly about him. Makes sense if Herne is supposed to stand in for Hadley, since Hadley wrote this song. The fact that he lives in the woods also fits nicely with how he is supposed to be a ghost associated with the Windsor Forest and the Great Park. 

The lyrics state he is lonely and stares at swallows, wishing he could join them and fly far away visiting beautiful things (“flower to flower”). Swallows are typically symbols for very very good things, like happiness, protection, connection, conflict resolution, etc. The words “finally deciding to rest” kind of makes it like he has been on this long trek for happiness for a while. He’s been doing this search for so long that he just has to rest, finally. And, in case you didn’t know like me, a bower is “a pleasant shady place under trees or climbing plants in a garden or wood” (thanks Google). 

So, just to recap Herne is a lonely ghost who doesn’t want to be this way. He wants to be happy, have a connection with something, but being isolated in the wood just doesn’t let him do that. This may indicate how lonely or just duller things seemed to be for Hadley before he met Rosalie. He didn’t feel a true connection or see true beauty, something he desperately wanted to experience, until her. 

BOTH

With another With another

Albeit being very short, these can potentially have meaning behind them. “With another” - another what? They also start singing together here for the first time. Perhaps the “another” is each other, Hadley and Rosalie, or a foreshadow that Herne will be joined by another person or being soon, a sort of set up for the Red Kite, who is introduced in the next line. 

Hadley

Herne lifts his head and the Red Kite goes drifting by Suddenly in love with something that caught her eye

Hadley now sings but from the perspective of the Red Kite. Notice before that Rosalie sang the last verse, but all about Herne. They kind of mirror each other in this way. 

With the video above, you can see how, while they drift, the Red Kites move their head a lot. Maybe this is a normal bird movement and I’m just too dumb to know, but they seem to be actively searching below them. I think this derives from how they are scavenger birds. However, instead of spotting food, she spots Herne and is “suddenly in love”. This could parallel into real life, where Rosalie might have seen Hadley in passing on the production and experienced love at first sight. These lines indicate that Herne (Hadley) has clearly seen the Red Kite (Rosalie) as well, probably having the same love at first sight moment, something that can be inferred once the song progresses into the next Rosalie verse. 

In this verse, the accordion returns as well, possibly indicating some remnants of the past sadness still lingering. There is uncertainty. However, a new instrument is also introduced simultaneously: the mandolin. To me, it kind of sounds very happy and bright and hopeful, especially in the plucky way it was used. This new instrument, as well as the potentially cheesy representation (rip me), can indicate that something new and exciting is going to begin.

BOTH

Something that's shining so bright in the sunlight Let's hope we never...

If we’re sticking with the definition of bowers being shady, then should it not be very unlikely that the Red Kite or Herne have spotted each other at all? Perhaps through this line, they are saying how unlikely their relationship was to have occurred, but when it ultimately did, it was glorious. In the following line, they say “Let’s hope we never lose that thing that shines in the sunlight ever again”. Maybe it was just so unbelievably good, so amazing, that they were afraid that they would lose it because it just feels so unimaginable. Besides, this flips well into reality since they never told each other they liked each other and kept it secret for a whole year!! PLUS, they were dating others when they first met!! Very unlikely relationship indeed. 

...then again, this could just be them saying the other is really great haha. 

The accordion is fazed out as if the longer Herne and the Red Kite gaze at each other, the past sadness and loneliness are slowly melting away. The violin returns, swelling into the next line. 

BOTH - HADLEY MELODY, ROSALIE HARMONY

...lose that thing that shines in the sunlight ever again

Them singing together makes it like they are in total agreement with each other.  It’s like Hadley is making this statement in the melody, and Rosalie supports wholeheartedly with her harmony. From Hadley to Rosalie, and Rosalie to Hadley, they feel like the other outcompetes the sun (the sun!).

Instrumental

The violin melody from the beginning returns, as does the guitar melody. However, after the violin does its melody once, the trumpet now copies it! If the violin represents Herne because of how both he and the violin are introduced at around the same time, then the trumpet could represent the Red Kite, bringing new a much more vibrant, bold and triumphant vibe to Herne’s life. Plus, the fact that the trumpet copies the violin’s melody probably means there is a connection between the two. This would make it somewhat like an instrumental duet or could also possibly foreshadow that something very good is about to happen. 

Rosalie

Only one Herne and not enough wood Climbed up the bower and atop it he stood Called down the Red Kite from high up above Come land down here and be my love

Herne feels so attracted to the Red kite that he feels a physical pull to her, so much so that he climbs up on top of the bower. With not enough wood, he’s too far away from the Red Kite, and with only one Herne, it feels like nothing is there to support him in what he is trying to do. So he calls down the Red Kite to be with him instead, kind of like how Hadley called Rosalie for a drink all those years ago. It was him that reached out at the end that called her to him. “Be my love”, they will soon declare to each other during/after that fateful meeting. 

This also begins the hunter-bird relationship, if we are going to take this a little more literally. Hunter and bird relationships are very mutualistic. They help each other, with the birds guiding the hunters to their targets and the hunters paying them back in some way, usually through food or other means. 

BOTH

Forever Forever

Singing together, they both want to be together forever (haha, pretty obvious?)

Hadley

Red Kite flies down (he's waited his life for this) Whispers to Herne something, whispers, and then a kiss

As the Red Kite flies down towards Herne (as Rosalie gets closer to Hadley, or comes to meet him), Herne (Hadley) thinks that “he’s waited his life for this”. This goes back to the beginning where we know that Herne really wanted to go beyond the wood to see new beautiful things. Now someone beautiful has come to him instead, making his once isolating and lonely world so much more dazzling and loving. 

They also whisper, which is a pretty intimate choice of word. And they kiss! Literally spelling out a loving relationship. The happiness, love, protection, connection that Herne (Hadley) yearned for, for such a long time, is finally here. 

The mandolin also returns, the hope has its pay off! It continues to play throughout the rest of the song until after a few “Herne and the Red Kite” repeats at the very end of the song.

BOTH

Something that's shining so bright in the sunlight Let's hope we never... 

BOTH - HADLEY MELODY, ROSALIE HARMONY

...lose that thing that shines in the sunlight ever again

Once again, they repeat these words, as if to reaffirm this message that they are the best thing to have happened to each other. This is also at the end of the song, you can interpret as the end of this segment of the story, but the start of something beautiful. As time goes on, this magnificent idea they hold of each other never changes, despite anything that happens. 

Instrumental

This instrumental segment sounds like a slightly altered version of the instrumental breaks we’ve heard before. It is a lot more energetic, with the first threeish notes being kept from the original, but now tacked on with something extra. Overall, it just sounds so much happier than the instrumental breaks we’ve been getting before. 

BOTH

Herne and the Red Kite (repeat)...

This line is repeated 12 times (yes, I counted). The overall feel just sounds so triumphant and happy, like we’re celebrating. The joyous melody has the mandolin fade out, and if you really listen, the trumpet and violin seem to be having a very animated conversation with one another, calling and responding to each other and at times responding really quickly. The same guitar melody that we hear during the instrumental breaks is back as well.

Instrumental

All the instruments fade away, with the violin’s recurring melody closing the celebration off until there is only the guitar left. With only the violin standing out at the very end, it's nice that the original solo melody is now surrounded by all these other exciting things, making it kind of say that Herne is still Herne, but now he is surrounded by so many wonders now that the Red Kite is here. With the guitar having its ending solo, It makes it sounds like this is a tale gone by, and now we talk about it as if it were a folktale or a legend. It kind of feels like we’re just talking about this story around a campfire instead. Herne and the Red Kite grew old and grew old together, closing off the song like a musical “happily ever after”. 

Extra Stuff

Interesting Notes

The way it is written sort of sounds like a children’s poem, describing a simple but cute story

The song, overall, personally has a folklore vibe to it haha

There are a few pairs that can be picked out

Herne and the Red kite

Hadley and Rosalie

Male and Female voice (duet)

Violin and Trumpet

Accordion and Mandolin (Accordion is replaced by the Mandolin)

Any time the two sing together, it kind of just reinforces the narrator aspect of things, how they seem to be telling us the story of how they met and ultimately fell in love from a long time ago

Unanswered Questions

Why use Herne of all figures? Herne is supposed to be a very scary ghost. If it truly is supposed to represent Hadley, does this mean he identifies with the ghost in some way? Or did he derive some meaning from Herne’s presence in the works he shows up in?

Conclusion

Waa ok, that’s all I have for now about Herne and the Red Kite. If you made it to the end, thank you so much!! Truly appreciative that you read all the ramblings <3 

Here is the super general story: Herne was yearning for something more and was feeling lonely. Then he saw the Red Kite drift by, and for both of them, it was love at first sight. He desperately wanted to be with her, so he called out to her despite the odds or the distance, and as she descended to him, he felt excited that his loneliness was finally going to end. From then on, they shared a happy and joyous relationship until the end of time. The end~

The writing of this post took much longer than the actual light research and speculation part of it. Again, I might be completely wrong because this is just what I think is going on, and I might also just be looking waaaayyy too deep into things. If this is truly a proper, or at least somewhat proper, reflection of Hadley and Rosalie’s relationship, then I feel incredibly soft :’) 

If you have any other ideas, or if you agree/disagree with my analysis, please let me know!! I’m really excited to see what others have to say. :D

Until next time, I guess haha

[jasmineon]

In-depth and overly long analysis of Jameson Jackson's Jolly Jaunts that nobody asked for

I've been thinking about the end of 2019 ego videos a lot recently, especially JJJJ. I've theorized about this video an what it means in a lot in other posts but I've never really talked about the pacing and how the video was designed to make the viewer feel, and I really wanted to put my thoughts out.

First off, how it's shot. In sharp contrast to CHASE, which had beautiful shots from multiple angles and perspectives, with all kinds of different lenses and shots (which I might make another post talking about), JJJJ is a verrry static video (which is not a bad thing). It's head on, and it's just you and JJ and the stage. And it's designed to be that way. For one, it's in line with old style films. Old movies used to have very simplistic camera angles and was cut a lot less than modern productions, and both JJJJ and his original power hour capture that style very nicely. Perhaps more importantly, it's shot head on since it's supposed to be viewed as a show, a presentation. We're not watching, we're being shown.

Secondly, the pacing of the video. It starts off very wholesome and appeared to be light and happy, but going into the video, we all knew what was going to happen. I mean, Sean literally showed us in the teaser picture the previous day. And it was Halloween. And this was such a brilliant move on his part, because despite the happy, cheerful nature of the video, the only thing you the whole time is unease and anticipation. You know something is going to happen, and you can barely focus on what's happening because you're so busy looking for glitches. Yet while you're doing that, you can't help but be suspicious of the story that JJ is telling, because the paranoia you're feeling has conditioned you to not trust anything. And the brilliant part is that Seán planned it that way perfectly. You can't tell if it's a misdirect and the story of the puppet show means nothing or if it's all secretly revealing/hinting at stuff. Chad's appearance totally confused me, and I can't help but question everything about it and what it means. And the story of the murder! Does it mean anything? He looks like JJ, does that mean something or is Sean just messing with us? It still bugs be and I absolutely love it.

Finally, the ending. It's all been about that since the moment the video started and everyone knows it. It's very reminiscent of the end of his power hour, with Anti breaking in and taking control. Time is broken after all. And this time it's on a whole other level. Sean acting, oh my goodness, it's so good. Every time I watch it, I silently scream at JJ to fight Anti, even though I know how it ends. It tugs at my heart strings (pun intended). Sean’s acting as JJ and the way he portrays him makes me genuinely care about this character that we’ve only seen once before (twice if you count the original Try to Fall Asleep from Mayhem 2018).

Due to the way the CHASE was shot, it felt very clear as a viewer that this story was part of a larger universe (ie the fishbowl lenses, the wide camera shots, the hints at other characters and storylines). And despite the fact that JJ is shot head on from one angle, it still portrays that its part of a larger universe. We don’t even need to see Anti anymore to know he’s planning something involving all these characters.

I love storytelling through camera work and visuals and picking them apart for details like this. I truly can’t wait to see what Sean does with JJ next and how he’s going to fit into the rest of the storyline! :)

[the-desolated-quill]

It’s Summer And We’re Running Out Of Ice - Watchmen (TV Series) blog

(SPOILER WARNING: The following is an in-depth critical analysis. if you haven’t seen this episode yet, you may want to before reading this review)

I’m not going to lie. I was incredibly sceptical going into this. This isn’t the first TV adaptation of a classic novel to go beyond the source material and try to continue the story, and they nearly always suck (see The Handmaid’s Tale and The Man In The High Castle). There’s a reason why books end where they’re supposed to end. If the author intended to carry the story on, they would have done so. This is why I get angry when the TV industry arrogantly oversteps the mark and try to continue a plot that has already come to a satisfactory conclusion. Doing a sequel to Watchmen, a story that hinges on the ambiguity of its ending, is just utter madness to me, and allowing Damon Lindelof to write that sequel borders on moronic at first glance. This is the man behind the TV series Lost, a show that ran out of steam within the first couple of episodes due to the fact that the plot was complete and total bollocks and the fact that nobody could be bothered to come up with satisfying answers for these ludicrous mysteries and series arcs beforehand. They were just making that shit up as he went along. Now you’re handing Lindelof the keys to one of the most intricate and detailed comic book properties of all time?! Fuck, why don’t you just let JJ Abrams direct the next Star Wars mo- Oh yeah, I forgot, he already did that.

Thankfully, judging by this first episode anyway, HBO’s Watchmen is nowhere near as bad as Lost. It’s certainly far more engaging and coherent. Does that mean I’m looking forward to the rest of this season? Well... I don’t know if I’d go that far. I’m definitely intrigued though.

HBO’s Watchmen is a sequel to the graphic novel (Lindelof called it a remix, but come on. Grow a pair and call it what it is. A sequel). Superheroes are still illegal, Robert Redford is now the President, Rorschach’s death has inspired a white supremacist cult, and it’s raining squid.

Yeah, the raining squid thing feels like the only egregious bit of fanwank in here, to be fair. Maybe they’re going somewhere with this, but I have my doubts. Are we supposed to assume that Ozymandias has been making squid rain for the past thirty odd years in order to keep up the whole alien invasion ruse? Why squid rain? And why is everyone so nonchalant about it? Shouldn’t people be just a bit concerned by this, considering what happened in New York?

Speaking of Ozymandias, we see him riding a horse and writing plays for his butler and maid in some fancy mansion. Quite what the significance of The Watchmaker’s Son is, I don’t know. All I do know is I’m not going to be able to sleep at night without thinking about Jeremy Irons’ thighs from now on, so thanks for that.

Putting my cynicism aside for a moment, I do like what Lindelof is trying to do here. He’s not merely cashing in on the Watchmen brand. There is a genuine effort to do something fresh and different with this material, and I commend that. Watchmen’s central theme has always been about power, but whereas the source material focused mainly on its relation to sex (Comedian’s hedonism, Nite Owl’s impotence, Rorschach’s mummy issues and the sexual objectification of Silk Spectre), the TV series seems to be zeroing in on race as a topic. This I applaud. Expanding on certain areas that the graphic novel only ever really touched upon is a great idea. This doesn’t feel like a repeat of the graphic novel, but rather a clarification of it, exploring areas and themes that Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons may have overlooked. This helps set this series apart from the outset. 

The opening scenes where we see the Tulsa Massacre of 1921 is a pretty harrowing way to start. I’m ashamed to say I had no idea about the Tulsa Massacre prior to this, and we could have a whole other discussion about why schools seem to have been avoiding teaching specific topics like this in favour of the broad strokes of the Jim Crow era, but now is not the time. The fact that it’s depicted here sets the stage for what’s to come. Some have criticised the show for the length of time the opening focuses on Tulsa, claiming that it sensationalises the pain of black people at that time. I personally don’t think it does. It’s not overly graphic or gratuitous, at least in my opinion, but it is a very shocking way to open a series. Some might say even upsetting, but I think it’s important that we saw this because it’s relevant in setting the tone for the episode and indeed the season as a whole, as well as letting the audience know that this show isn’t going to fuck around or shy away from more sensitive topics, and I can respect that. Unlike Zack Snyder’s overly stylised adaptation from 2009, Watchmen the HBO series is grounded very firmly in reality.

Let’s discuss characters. This episode mostly focuses on Angela Abar, also known as Sister Night. Regina King has given some terrific performances in the past and this is no exception. She’s simply phenomenal. The way she switches from light-hearted wife and baker to violent, no nonsense vigilante cop. The shift is noticeable and yet both personas feel like they’re aspects of the same character. It’s exceptionally good. It also helps that the character herself makes for a great protagonist. Having survived the ‘White Night’ four years prior, where the Seventh Kavalry attacked the families of forty Tulsa police officers in response to the government giving special reparations to the victims of racial injustice, Angela has become cynical and battle hardened. She has no sympathy for Kavlary members and is willing to skip due process by beating one of them to a pulp and bundling him in the back of her car. She’s angry and in pain, and yet retains the audience's sympathy. I’m interested to see what happens to her over the course of the season.

I also really liked her friendship with Don Johnson’s character Judd Crawford. Johnson is a charismatic performer and Crawford is a charismatic character. He really dives into the olde western sheriff persona and seems to be having a lot of fun with it. Crawford is the only other character, besides Angela, who stayed on as a police officer after the White Night, and the two characters seem to have a great relationship. They laugh and joke around and there’s clearly a mutual respect between the two. I genuinely like this character, which is what makes his murder at the end so much more heartbreaking. Not to mention all the little details that force us to realise he may not be what he seems. We see him sniff cocaine in private and there’s a photo on his desk featuring the kid from school who aggressively asked Angela why black people deserve reparations. It doesn’t necessarily mean that Crawford himself is racist, but there’s clearly more going on with him that we don’t know about.

The final character of interest at the moment is Tim Blake Nelson’s character Wade Tillman, aka Looking Glass. We don’t know anything about him yet other than he’s a human lie detector, which I find very intriguing and I hope will be explored further as the show goes on. There’s a lot to play around with there, and the moral implications are tantalising. A conviction based not on physical evidence, but rather on the observations of one man. Even Sherlock Holmes has to back his deductions up with evidence, and yet Looking Glass clearly doesn’t need to. That just raises so many ethical questions. What if he has a particular bias towards someone? What about burden of proof? What if forensic evidence contradicts him? If Looking Glass is supposedly that accurate, does that mean the police will side with him regardless? It’s a great premise for a character and I really like Nelson’s performance, giving him a cold and detached personality that contrasts beautifully with Angela’s.

The characters and ideas are solid, however where I feel the show is lacking is with the consistency of its world building. Let’s analyse. This is an alternate history where Nixon used superheroes to extend his term limits, but after the New York attack at the end of the graphic novel, he’s been kicked out in favour of Robert Redford (nice nod to the source material there by the way. lol). As a result, black people got reparations for the racial injustices their ancestors went through and police are now unable to openly carry firearms without special permission from Panda (literally a cop wearing a panda costume). However, after the events of White Night, the government agrees to allow cops to wear masks to protect their identities, hence why quote/unquote ‘superheroes’ like Sister Night and Looking Glass are around despite the existence of the Keene Act. These are, in effect, legal vigilantes. Except already there’s a problem with conflicting messages. I like the idea of masked cops. In the current age of Black Lives Matter and police accountability, it makes sense and could be interesting to explore. However this is hindered by the whole ‘no guns’ stuff. Again, not a bad idea. America’s current gun laws are, to put it mildly, woefully inadequate. What if we went the other way? What if not only was it near impossible to own a gun, cops couldn’t even use a taser without special permission. Both ideas could work... but not at the same time.

Cops being allowed to wear masks creates the effect of empowering them through anonymity, and runs the risk of officers overstepping the mark and normal citizens being unable to hold them to account. But on the other hand, we’ve also got cops whose lives are constantly at risk and who are hindered in their duties by an overprotective nanny state, which effectively depowers them. So... which is it? It can’t be both. I like the scene where Panda reads the law about how the use of firearms can only be permitted in extreme circumstances, and everyone just angrily shouts him down because it tells us how the police feel about this new system. The fact that they’ve made one cop the sole arbiter of these new restrictions and forced him to dress like some ridiculous furry demonstrates the sheer amount of disdain they have towards this policy. But having said that, with the masks on, they have the power and freedom to break into people’s caravans and basically kidnap and assault them without consequence anyway. So what the fuck are they complaining about? It just doesn’t gel together. Either have it that the rules and regulations of the police are the same as our world except that cops can wear masks now, which has led to an increasing problem of police brutality and corruption, or have it that the police are being too heavily restricted and so a few have chosen to turn toward more ‘unorthodox’ methods of crime fighting out of frustration. Pick one and go with it.

Then there’s the Seventh Kavalry. Again, not a bad idea. In fact I love it. A white supremacist cult that’s taken Rorschach’s journal as gospel and have banded together out of a fear of being sidelined in a more liberal world. Very relevant and very interesting. Except... well... there’s not an awful lot to it, is there? In the original graphic novel, there was no clear bad guy. Ozymandias believed he was doing the ultimate good by killing millions of people to save the world, and everyone reluctantly went along with it. It was morally complicated. This, not so much. They’re unambiguously evil. The end. So what? What is there to discuss? It just feels lacking compared to the graphic novel and it runs the risk of creating a conflict that’s too clear cut. Obviously we’re going to end up siding with the cops, regardless of what they do, because the alternative is objectively bad. Hopefully Lindelof is going somewhere with this, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t say I was slightly concerned.

So on the whole, would I say I enjoyed this first episode? Well... I’d say I did, but with reservations. There’s some good characters and ideas that could be interesting to explore and develop, but its execution feels a little shaky in places. Hopefully the episodes to come will offer further clarity.

[bondsmagii]

last of the cult stuff under the cut: just a few asks and questions that haven’t been asked yet! pretty intense discussion of some nasty stuff (no gory details, but a decent overview of examples of every type of abuse) just as a warning.

no problem! I honestly didn’t think more than like, five people would read it lmao. but I’m glad it’s out there, because yeesh. hope you have a good day too!

man, I’m glad that the post gave you some kind of clarity, then. I understand how difficult it must be to sort out worry and paranoia from actual cause for alarm, but I think in this case you’re definitely not mistaken and are right to feel uncomfortable. I’m not a cult survivor myself, but even I feel uncomfortable seeing the way people get on over there, and I’ve felt that way for years. the fact that you’re not the only cult survivor who’s told me that you’ve spotted certain behaviours/agree with the analysis is... very terrifying, if I’m honest.

from my experience, it’s wiki-specific. there are hundreds, if not thousands of casual fans out there, and to my knowledge nobody who’s casually involved has found themselves in trouble/having a mental breakdown/whatever else goes on over on the wiki. the off-wiki fandom (known sometimes as the satellite fandom) has had some weirdos, but it’s in the same way as every fandom has weirdos. not great, but nothing beyond what you’d find in other communities of a similar size. the only major drama I’ve seen is when staff has been a dick to people for RPing characters “wrong” or whatever. 

you’re likely fine if you’re just chilling offsite and just reading the SCPs and stuff. things tend to only get wild when you actively join the wiki. however, I would recommend being careful, if SCP stuff is a kind of comfort thing for you. everyone I’ve known who’s had mental breakdowns/bad experiences with this shit has been in a bad mental place and relied too heavily on the universe for escapism, and there’s a lot of creepy people lurking around who are not good for you when you’re in that state of mind. enjoy yourself, read the SCPs, look at cool fanart, but make sure there’s room for other interests in your life and stay away from joining the wiki (and everyone who’s prominent on it), is my advice.

I truly have no idea. I can think of several things off the top of my head, and that’s just what I know about. if there are things you know about, there’s bound to be things you don’t.

severity ranges, but it’s all been nasty, abusive shit. there have been incidents where a member of site staff has been constantly excused despite absolutely abhorrent behaviour -- guilt tripping, tantrums, verbal abuse, threats, being nasty to newbies, accusing people of all kinds of things, playing the victim, just general emotional/psychological abuse -- because they’ve been liked by other staff members, or because they’ve been useful to the site. I recall one person actually actively scaring some members of staff before, but because higher ranking staff liked them, they were allowed to remain for much longer than they should have.

then you get shit like the stuff going on with a certain ex-staff member who’s been confirmed by multiple sources to be physically and sexually abusive, and who has openly admitted to using the SCP wiki as a way to find sexual partners. they have been overly sexual in spaces with minors and have even attempted to make plans of a sexual nature with at least one minor. they are also severely emotionally and psychologically abusive, and have been the abusive partner in several relationships (everything from sexual assault to emotional abuse to physically beating one of their partners). this person was banned, but the reasons were kept vague, and they still have friends on staff who shelter them and vouch for them. I believe this person is, or at least was, a moderator on a very popular SCP Discord server. (if you wish to know who this person is, message me privately and I’ll let you know. this person needs to be avoided, but as they accuse their past victims of spreading slander every time their name comes up, I’d rather keep the heat off of innocent people.)

there was also the case where a literal pedophile was allowed to remain on the site for an undisclosed amount of time. they were finally banned, but the reasons were kept very vague, and the lack of information and transparency makes me suspicious that some staff members knew something was up and turned a blind eye to it, though I have no idea how many of them (if any) knew the severity of it. I mean this guy was an actual, honest-to-god pedophile, so like. yeah. staff’s cover-ups cover the entire board of shitty behaviour. considering the close nature of staff on that site, I would say that even if they’re not all guilty of actively covering up, they are absolutely all complicit. 

he’ll likely be fine! as I said in one of the above asks, it’s generally only the wiki that does this shit, and people who are casual fans tend to be normal about it. if he just watches the videos and reads the articles, but doesn’t get involved with the wiki community, he probably won’t see any of this nonsense. everything I’ve observed has been over ten years of watching -- for obvious reasons, staff behaviour is often subtle and undeniable. it’s also not an intentional cult, so it’s not like they’re going to be out there recruiting. as I’ve said before, it’s not that it’s a real-life cult, but it has cult-like behaviour. he should be fine so long as he keeps his distance, and uses the list of staff as a People To Avoid list lmao.

[comicteaparty]

June 29th-July 5th, 2020 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party week long chat that occurred from June 29th, 2020 to July 5th, 2020.  The chat focused on Without Moonlight by Tantz Aerine.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

Comic Tea Party

BOOK CLUB START!

Hello and welcome everyone to Comic Tea Party’s Book Club~! This week we’ll be focusing on Without Moonlight by Tantz Aerine~! (https://withoutmoonlightcomic.com/)

You are free to read and comment about the comic all week at your own pace until July 5th, so stop on by whenever it suits your schedule! Discussions are freeform, but we do offer discussion prompts in the pins for those who’d like to have them. Additionally, remember that while constructive criticism is allowed, our focus is to have fun and appreciate the comic! Whether you finish the comic or can only read a few pages, everyone is welcome to join and chat with us!

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 1

1. What did you like about the beginning of the comic?

2. What has been your favorite moment in the comic (so far)?

3. Who is your favorite character?

4. Which characters do like seeing interact the most?

5. What is something you like about the art? If you have a favorite illustration, please share it!

6. What is a theme you like that the comic explores?

7. What do you like about the comic’s story or overall related content?

8. Overall, what do you think the comic’s strengths are?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

I really like the flash forward aspect of the beginning - keeping the scene in the back of your mind really helps keep things tense as you see the story build towards the scene we see at the start.

(it also helps with the tone - it would be pretty jarring to go from kids stealing food from trucks to the scenes where bodies start dropping if we hadn't established that dark tone early on)

One thing I like about the comic is how the text colors switch based off languages - blue is greek, black is german, red is english, and i believe green is italian. Really makes the language switches easier to keep track of in the back of your head.

I like the comic's theme of... "your actions have consequences", essentially. There are dozens of moments where something bad happened because of one character's action or lack of action, and it's a matter of... when there are so many factors, who should be held responsible for these bad events?

RebelVampire

I like that the beginning of the comic is...more light-hearted despite the situation? I mean it's tragic and I don't mean to paint the situation lightly, but it's also kids and kids are like beacons of hope. So despite it all there were happy smiling faces. Before the chaos descended. My favorite moment in the comic so far was probably when Basil was rescuing Fotis and Wolff decides to let them go. It was a rare moment of humanity where there was no whose side is whose. Just two people doing a bro favor because neither thought a child deserved to be tortured. My favorite character is Basil. Basil really is just the down-to-earth dude he kind of finds that balance between doing what's right but with principle. And he also gets going when the going gets tough. And I'm sure nothing ever bad happened to him in this comic. My favorite characters interacting are probably Fotis and Martha right now. I like this dynamic that they're brought together by tragedy. So it's kind of interesting to see that bond, while also kind of experiencing this weird age gap where even though Fotis is much younger, he grew up almost instantly cause of tragedy. Something I like about the art is just kind of the grim color palettes. The comic is not overly bright, and I think this choice really enhances the grim situation of the comic. It also adds more of a sense of realism because WWII is serious business and was not fun at all for anybody. For themes, I love that the comic kind of explores demonization vs. humanity, especially through Wolff. It is always extremely to demonize the side you're not on, and we see Wolff both do this himself and be a recipient of it. And the comic really wants us to ask are they monsters, or are they still, unfortunately, humans doing really shitty things.

As for the comic's overall story, I love that not only is it historical in its setting, but just that the comic really throws no punches. You have people dying in gruesome ways, torture, espionage, double agents, greed, etc. Just like everything you'd expect regarding war. In regards to strengths, honestly, what I just said above. So many stories are really, really terrified to actually go deep into that grim reality that is war. And even fewer are willing to show that war very rarely has heroes since at the end, it's people killing people which is not cool. And I think this really makes the comic stand out since there are parts that are gonna stick with me for years.

Comic Tea Party

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 2

9. What is your takeaway in regards to the comic’s themes about war and the horrors and tragedy that happen because of it? In regards to these themes, how do you feel about Arthur Wolff, and do you think it’s possible for him to be redeemed and/or at least forgiven?

10. What do you think the comic has to say about survival and hope, especially when humans are faced with the most horrid of circumstances? What moment stood out to you the most regarding this? Also, who do you think will survive the story?

11. Do you think anything will actually happen to Orestes in regards to his actions so far? If so, what unintended affects might occur because of whatever does happen? Additionally, what do you think will happen to his contact, Iris?

12. How do you think the events of the story will continue to change Fotis, and will it be for better or for worse? What about the other children? Given the historical base, what do you think they’ll even do once the occupation ends?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

RebelVampire

My takeaway from the comic is that war sucks, nobody wins, everyone suffers, and that even good people do some terrible stuff in the name of survival. However, within all that, we're all essentially human and have the capacity for good. Which is why I feel Wolff is an important character, since he's that shining beacon that reminds us that people on the worst side of history possible can still take a step back and go, "Wait a second." As for redemption and forgiveness, I think this is a yes an no. Can he redeem and forgive himself as far as he's personally concerned? Maybe someday. Will others? Probably not in a million years. In contrast to the above, I think that the comic also has strong messages that, even in the face of desperation, humans, as a whole, have a tendency to fight and that, much like everybody in Star Wars, will always have hope. As for the moment that stood out to me the most, I think it was actually the beginning when the kids are risking everything to get supplies. They know it's dangerous, and yet they persevere and don't give up despite being who'd you think would give up first. As for who will survive, maybe Alex cause Alex is toeing the line of safety and staying out of the spy drama. I think Orestes still won't be dealt with for a while, and if anything, will be the victim of vigilante justice because someone didn't want to wait for even a sham trial. I think that they won't realize in his traitorous ways though he really did help out, and will find themselves more at odd with the Nazis. As for Iris, she probably gonna die. Cause that's what happens when you play double agent. I think the events of the story really aren't gonna do good for Fotis, and, at the very least (and assuming he's not dead), he's going to be bitter and have a ton of PTSD. Probably the same for all the children, and I think overall they'll just feel lost once the occupation ends cause normalcy forms fast.

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

Thank you so much for all the thoughtful analysis and commentary @RebelVampire ! I'm so glad that you have found all these themes in my story

Comic Tea Party

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 3

13. What are you most looking forward to seeing in regards to the comic?

14. Any final words of encouragement for the comic?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

RebelVampire

I am most looking forward to seeing if Fotis has some epiphany about the horrors of the path he's on. Right now I kind of think he's just kind of...going through the motions and acting mostly on anger. And so I'm interested to see if this will be the case throughout the rest of the story or if at some point his brain stops for a moment and goes "Hey wait a minute these are some pretty serious implications." I think either could change how his character development proceeds. My final words are that I admire this comic's bravery and risks. A lot of creators don't want to write about things like WWII because it's still a little too close to home and painful. But I think these topics are important to show with historical fiction cause not only is it an opportunity to teach about lesser known history in greater detail, but an opportunity to otherwise humanize an event that comes off different when you're just reading facts in a book. So bravo to this comic for doing that.

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

@RebelVampire Thank you so much! You honour me. Researching this comic has been both a revelation and a painful affair. As for Fotis, you're very right he IS very angry and very grieved at this point in time. We'll see how he will be soon! I can't begin to say how much your words warm my heart thank you again.

Comic Tea Party

BOOK CLUB END!

Thank you everyone so much for reading and chatting about Without Moonlight this week! Please also give a special thank you to Tantz Aerine for volunteering the comic and creating it! If you liked Without Moonlight, make sure to continue to support it via some of the links below!

Read and Comment: https://withoutmoonlightcomic.com/

Tantz’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/withoutmoonlight

Tantz’s Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/tantzaerine'

Tantz’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/TantzAerine

[sunnydwrites]

Avoiding Clichés in Your Story

Hey everyone, Abby here with another writing post! Today I’m here with a question from @itzyourenchantingwriter, who asks:

Just wanted to ask whether you are free enough to make a post on how to avoid clichés in designing the plots of a dystopia or utopia story?

And here we are! Let’s dive right into it.

What is a cliché and why should I avoid it?

A cliché is defined as being something that has become overly familiar or commonplace. Think of comparing blue eyes to the ocean or the sky; it’s been done a thousand times before, to the point you might roll your eyes at reading such a description.

In your first draft, and maybe even your second, clichés are effective for helping to build your own personal mental image. However, when actually used in writing, it’s more common than not for them to take away from the originality of your story. Because we’re writers with the power of editing, we have the chance to build a real mental image for our readers.

The Problem with Completely Avoiding Clichés

What are some of your favorite tropes? Personally, mine are Fake Dating, Enemies to Lovers, and Friends Become Family. Have these been done over and over again? Absolutely. Have I gotten bored of them? Absolutely not.

Here’s the truth: clichés cannot be completely avoided. From comparisons to phrases to plot devices, they’re everywhere. It’s when they’re done over and over in the same way that they become cliché. Cliché phrases can easily be manipulated to paint a more vivid, unique mental picture. But tropes as clichés are much harder to dodge, simply because they’re everywhere.

So when does a trope become a cliché? 

There’s a difference between predictable and predictable. There’s a shift somewhere in there, and that’s where the line is drawn.

Predictable is when there’s still an element of surprise. I know these enemies are going to fall in love, but I don’t know what’s going to spark it. I don’t know when it’s going to happen. Predictable is like an in-depth analysis of a trope use; it’s unique while still following a standard. 

Predictable is like looking at the same trope from afar. You know they’re going to fall in love at the end of it all, so what’s the point? It’s been done a thousand times anyway, so there’s no purpose in reading it in the first place.

And you know what? Maybe you’re right, imaginary person. Maybe they all do follow the same general premise, but maybe that’s why I as a reader like it so much. With a lot of tropes, there is a given amount of freedom for the writer to make each situation unique. That is where you can un-cliché your situation, if you want to do something like Enemies to Lovers. You know how it will turn out, but not everything has to go as planned. This is still your story, and you can still make it so.

Make It Your Own!

If you want to get in-depth with it, everything is a cliché. Everything. Everything has been done before, but not the way that you can do it. The secret to hacking clichés is to not think of them as clichés at all. Instead, they’re parts to your story that are popular among other writers, but that doesn’t mean they’ve all done it the way you’re planning to. Build your world and your story, fashion them to your tastes.

Find those little in-between spaces and take advantage of them! Think of clichés and tropes like templates. There’s a design you can follow, but plenty of places to personalize. Add in those details that cater to your story, and each one will make your situation a little more unique.

Let’s give a quick example, say the Fake Dating Trope. Here are some quick ways it’s suddenly more than a template, already more unique to a given story.

One of them is a spy.

One of them has to kill the other.

They need it to be a public relationship but nobody really cares.

Just these three details, and each one morphs the story a little more. Suddenly it’s hard to see the situation as only the Fake Dating Trope.

If your situation isn’t only one thing, there’s a good chance it’s not a simple trope or cliché. Just go for it! Really integrate it into your story.

Moral of the story: don’t go out of your way to avoid clichés and tropes. Just personalize them!

[meggtheegg]

Oh my gosh! I can't believe that you answered my last question about the different Zoe Murphy interpretations! You are very good at these characterization posts! Would it be alright if I asked about the different actresses's Alana interpretations as well? (Diamond, Gabi, Phoenix, Kristolyn, Olivia) I love hearing about how different actors interpret a role! Thank you for taking the time to write such a detailed analysis on these talented actors!

You are the sweetest! Thank you so much!For Alana, I haven’t been able to see Diamond yet, but I’ve seen all the rest, either in person or in bootlegs and they’re all so different and that makes them really interesting to analyze! Alana’s the character that went through the most rewrites, and I think she may be the one most open to interpretation because of that.

With Kristolyn, you can tell that she had some level of training in comedic acting. Her timing was consistently so good that even lines that you wouldn’t expect to get a laugh out of had you falling out of your seat! Though, you can also tell that comedic relief was one of the major things she had in mind for the character, and a lot of emotional moments tended to get passed over for comedic purposes. That said, you still definitely get glimpses into her deeper side. She puts on a smile to hide her loneliness and is willing to do and say anything to get people to notice her. She’s that kid who was told she was “gifted” in elementary school, but is now struggling, at least emotionally, which leads to a weird mix of having both a superiority and inferiority complex. She latches onto Connor’s death, partly because she relates to him on some level, but mostly because it makes her feel like she’s being noticed for doing something important. Her Alana really reminds me of a lot of kids in my school. When I was in eleventh grade, a kid in the grade below me died in a car accident. He wasn’t a particularly nice guy, and he always marched down the hallway with his group of loud, angry, self-proclaimed “redneck” friends, terrorizing a lot of other students. But, when he died, the people who had rolled their eyes or tensed up a little when he would walk past were sharing stories on social media about the tiniest interactions they’d had, talking about how “his smile would light up the room” or “he had the best sense of humor.” They believed it, too. When someone dies, especially that young, you forget about the bad things and you hold onto those little, positive instances that connect you. All Alanas do this, but Kristolyn’s, especially, clung very hard onto those little moments with Connor until she truly believed that they were bigger and more important to her than they really were.

Olivia’s Alana is very robotic and she approaches people with a very obviously pre-rehearsed speech. But, she rushes through what she’s saying. Even with practice, she’s nervous and awkward. She’s the one, out of all of them, who is the worst with people. It isn’t until the Connor Project that she even has a chance of being a part of something. Where Kristolyn’s Alana was that overly cheerful girl that nobody really noticed but probably didn’t dislike, Olivia’s Alana was probably actively isolated. She was “weird.” Different. She connected to Connor not because she thought his death was important, but because he was as isolated in life as she was. And, in convincing people to embrace and mourn Connor, with all his imperfections, maybe that acceptance would spread to every kid who doesn’t fit in. At first, it did, and she thrived, but then people started moving on and she grew desperate. The Connor Project was a chance to remind the school of that grief they felt. To keep it hovering in the back of their minds so they might see someone like her and think twice before making judgments.

Phoenix’s Alana is genuinely really sweet, but has very little perception of how her actions impact others. She goes through life kind of blissfully unaware of everyone but herself. She feels isolated, but it feels like she doesn’t even realize that until Evan tries to call her out during Good For You. Her Alana thinks she’s special, but she approaches everyone else the same way. She doesn’t view herself as above them, really. She just knows that she’s smart and gets good grades and sees nothing wrong with bragging and inflicting herself on other people because she wouldn’t mind them doing the same. She seems the least rattled by both Connor’s death and the death of her grandmother. There’s just kind of an air about her that she’s book smart but not very emotionally intelligent. She feels things, but doesn’t quite process those emotions until she’s under duress. Then, it all comes pouring out. Her involvement in the Connor Project really does seem to start out as her jumping onto another extracurricular, because that’s what she’s always done. It’s an impulse. But as it goes on, it gets personal. So personal that she’s willing to do anything to see it through.

When it comes to Gabi, there is no skirting over one major difference: she’s white. Where the other Alanas have the subtext that they probably have been told that they have to work harder and do better than their white peers just to be seen on the same level, Gabi’s Alana doesn’t have to think about that. She’s probably an overachiever because her parents are pushy. She’s expected to graduate at the top of her class, and she plans to. Her Alana seems like she would be really nice if you could actually get to know her for who she is, but she’s been shaped into a very practiced, fake person whose interactions, though not negative, never quite seem genuine. She’ll probably get to college, fall apart, and completely reinvent herself. You can see that beginning in her approach to the Connor Project. Much like Phoenix, what starts as another thing for her college applications turns into a major passion project. She starts to realize how ridiculous and fake everything in her life is, and by the end, she genuinely cares about the inherent tragedy in Connor’s story and sees some startling similarities between herself and him. As Evan gets more pulled into his lie, she’s becoming more grounded in reality, and that clashes, hard. Posting the note is her final act of desperation, and probably of defiance. She’s angry at the world, she’s angry at Evan, and she has to get the orchard built, because if people would do it for Connor, that means they’d do it for her, too. That’s something tangible and real and it means so much more to her than everything in her life that’s come before it. 

[superseoexpertsingapore-blog]

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Search Engine Optimization Methodology / Specific Expertise

Can your expert SEO Company only optimize static websites constructed in basic HTML? An upstanding SEO company will have experience working with websites in all the common programming languages and technologies, PHP, ASP, ASPX, HTML, Cold Fusion, Flash etc..

Does your SEO Company have experience optimizing both static and dynamic websites? Can your SEO Company optimize using various e-commerce packages and interfaces such as Monster Commerce, Yahoo Stores, OS Commerce, Storefront.net, Volusion?

Depth Of Optimization / Piecemeal Services

The most basic search engine optimization companies around don't actually perform search engine optimization at all- they are merely submission services which either manually or automatically submit your site to various search engines or directories. Submission companies are typically very inexpensive since no actual coding, linking, or content development takes place on your actual website. Typical pricing runs around $19.95 to $399 per month for these submission type services.

A mid level optimization company gets their hands more firmly on the marketing handle by editing code, analyzing keywords, building links, and adjusting / writing fresh content for your site. They also may do a pinch of off-site optimization, such as press releases, article submissions, and blog writing. Typically, firms of this middle level range charge between $399 and $850 per month.

The highest level search engine placement firm performs the duties described for mid level optimization companies, but also is responsible for conversion tracking and analysis. The emphasis on off-site optimization is also much greater and time consuming. This means that high level optimization firms are essentially responsible for discovering what is working and what is not working throughout the entire customer experience - from initial search through conversion. More man hours per month also means a higher fee that search engine firms must charge to cover their costs. The usual pricing range for these firms' are 850.00 all the way around $10,000 a month, but normally, you are going to be considering fees over the $1,000 per month range.

A piecemeal marketing firm is one that Treats different pieces of an optimization effort as different entities. By way of instance, an optimization provider might charge different fees exclusively for"linking" or"content construction." This piecemeal approach can be damaging. Successful optimization is the synergy of numerous attempts on multiple fronts, sometimes simultaneous, and at times in series. Piecing together different facets of an optimization effort generally reaps poorer outcomes than a thorough plan.

System Of Evaluation / Reporting

The Vast majority of search engine optimisation businesses cringe at the idea of enabling their customers to rate their job. A search engine optimisation firm does the reverse. There are four tools we advocate using in tandem to assess an internet search engine optimization firm's work / functionality.

1. Actual Time Statistics / Conversion Analysis Software

Being Able to determine visitors conversions and gains in real time may be useful window in assessing the way your SEO Firm is doing. Possessing the ability to find out who's coming to your website, from what search engines they're coming from, and also the specific keyword phrase used within the search query is a vital tool.

2. Positioning or Visibility Reports

Being Emailed bi-weekly placement reports about the special keywords that you are interested in rank highly for could be incredibly helpful. A presence percentage, that's the proportion of people which are discovering you for key words which are important to your company - to the Major Search Engines - Google, Yahoo, AOL, and MSN can also be significant. Ensure that your company does not overdue the automatic search engine inquiries but the search engines might consider this spamming their databases.

3. Alexa Rating:

You May download the Alexa Toolbar right now from alexa.com. This provides you a good review of the overall traffic trend throughout the previous 3 months for your site compared to other existing websites. In case you've got a brand-new site, chances are you won't even possess an alexa score or observable data in any way. The alexa score additionally shows you, generally speaking, how your site stacks up- visitors wise- compared to your opponents or business affiliates. The lower your alexa score the more visitors your website is generating compared to other websites in the alexa universe. Please be aware, if your website has an alexa score of"1" this does not mean that you would be the most visited website on the net - it probably means you're running a Yahoo Store- in this circumstance, it's identifying Yahoo's general visitors, rather than your personal website. A general tool in this way may provide you a fast general impression of visitors growth and tendencies. Be cautious though, the amounts are generalities (like the tv Nielsen Ratings) rather than absolute figures.

4. Google PageRank

You can download the Google Toolbar right now by visiting google.toolbar.com. Click the options tab and then wait for the"display PageRank" step. You'll have the ability to learn how Google is evaluation the significance of your website on a scale of 0-10. As an optimization firm proceeds with your effort you may check occasionally to determine how the amount is increasing. The normal site might observe a PageRank growth of one or two points within the duration of an optimization effort. Remember it is a lot easier to boost your PageRank in the ends of this spectrum. Since you approach higher PageRanks it gets more difficult to your score to balloon.

Due Diligence: Corporate Goals / Industry And Keyword Research

How Does the SEO Company you're considering perform its up-front legwork regarding your company, business and company objectives? Can they ask questions about:

What your company goals (both short and long Word ) are, your business, your competitors. What key words are now working for you? What PPC (Pay Per Click) phrases are effective? What PPC engines (Adwords, Overture, MSN/Live) are now powerful? How your website is made? Is your website static or dynamic?

What applications does your SEO Firm use to execute its own key word research?

How about Wordtracker, WebCEO, or Keyword Elite? What about the fundamental Overture keyword suggestion tool or the generic Google keyword suggestion tool provided by Adwords. Can they use a mix of the fundamental tools? What about proprietary key word investigation methodology? Do they've dedicated tools which were developed in house, or with a third party?

Customer to Account Manager Ratio

Not many SEO Firms prefer to market their customer to account supervisor ratio. This is actually the ratio representing the amount of customers that every account manager manages at any particular time. The lower the number of customers each account supervisor helps, chances are the greater the service and also the greater the amount of personal attention. We advocate a search engine optimization accounts supervisor supports significantly less than thirty customers at any particular time.

Man-Hours Per Month

The Amount of person hours per Month your SEO manufacturing department really dedicates to your company is essential. It's more than clever to request a time period allotment quote before starting an optimization effort. Everything you expect to get and what's actually delivered ought to be appropriate in line.

Business Structure and Size

Can Your SEO Company include a notebook computer with your account manager working from his cellar sitting with a salivating golden retriever? Is your SEO firm a bureaucratic nightmare which compels you to complete trouble tickets if you require help immediately?

Your Ethical search engine optimisation firm ought to be somewhere inside the sweet spot of not too little rather than overly big. You need individual focus, but you'd also like to understand there's more than 1 head, calculating your next company moves.

Direction

Does your Ethical search engine optimisation firm have a good management team? Can they have a management staff in any respect? Are the companies you're considering privately held or publicly traded? Is the owner of the optimisation firm an absentee landlord or a energetic member of the SEO community? It's not from the question to request the curriculum vitae or resume of all the forces which are, in actuality, it makes great sense if you're entrusting this business with not just your company but your own livelihood. In the end, SEO professionals don't have any board certification which you may count on in order to look at their history.

Standing / Importance

Has Your SEO Company received multiple complaints through the Better Business Bureau? Assess the better business bureau reports and see whether there are unresolved complaints. From time to time customers could file complaints, but we think it's the timely handling of those inquiries that are even more significant when thinking about an optimization company to utilize.

Past Results / Company SEO Rankings

Each SEO Company Must have detailed reports concerning previous client successes. The reports must include specifics regarding optimization objectives and timelines. Reporting on previous clients should additionally focus between and within multiple businesses. You need to always know about a foundation point - in which a specific customer started out before the optimization firm commencing an SEO effort. Is your SEO company itself doing badly at the search engines? A reduced Google PageRank (under a 5) could be a sign your SEO company has not existed for so long as you might like.

References / Company Shelf Life

Each SEO firm Should have strong references across fields and industries in the business to consumer businesses in addition to business to business arenas. Applicants ought to stem from not just the previous six months, but if arise from years before your introduction together with the business. If your SEO company performs good work, customers must be around for many years to sing their praises.

Prices / Pricing Structure / Up front Fees

Prices Should be in agreement with the support that the business is supplying - a la the"Consistent Value Proposition" educated at Yale School of Management. A $49.00 per month effort run by a credit card company that doesn't specialize in search engine optimization may not be the best option for an in-depth or higher level optimization effort. An SEO firm should also just offer costing when they have a very clear comprehension of your organization, goals, and the job entailed. Blanketed price structures may result in frustration, unrealized expectations, and finally collapse. Additionally fret if your optimisation company demands a whole six month payment up front so as to simply"get started."

The Perfect optimization provider charges an up front charge and yearly recurring fee that's commensurate with the services which are actually being done. A premium excellent optimization company that operates on your website using 30-60 man-hours a month can't possibly charge a $49.00 each half an hour to execute its services.

Redundancy

A Nasty case of the bird flu strikes your unsuspecting accounts supervisor right where it counts! Is it true that your optimization firm have the capacity to easily transition the present condition of your effort to a different skilled optimization pro? Each SEO firm needs to have a system where knowledge concerning existing accounts are readily deducted from 1 person to another. If there will be a tragedy seeing your accounts supervisor, you need to feel comfortable your company continues to flourish whatever the conditions.

Quality Control

Each SEO company needs to have Someone overseeing your account supervisor to make certain every last"I" is dotted and each"t" is crossed. Your account supervisor ought to be accountable for the achievement of your effort, but an additional pair of eyes may sometimes be required to include yet another variable weighing on your side of succeeding.

Promises / Results Timeline

We have heard SEO Companies guarantee first page listings in Google for aggressive phrases in 48-Hours. If your SEO sales agent is overzealous and unrealistic, it ought to be an indication that this is probably a company to steer clear from. Gaining search engine listings might be hard fought, a time-consuming struggle that comes from diligent work and smart preparation.

Production Staff Quality

The production team should Be split between account managers and technical production technicians. Account managers would be the heart of an advertising effort management and execution. Account managers need to have the ability to execute each the real coding, linking, and articles structure for every single customer. As an advertising effort grows and increases in sophistication, they ought to have the ability to call upon their service staff or manufacturing department to finish technical work orders for every customer. The more technical every member of the manufacturing section, the more effective they'll be at finishing their job (thank Henry Ford with this).

Location / Proximity

When you telephone your Account supervisor or SEO firm would you hear some curious two beeps Prior to being joined to an individual functioning without air conditioning overseas? Not a fantastic sign. It Is Very Important That you employ a search Engine placement company whose sales force works in tandem with its own Manufacturing department. There should be no disparity between what you Were offered and what was actually delivered. The SEO genius working in your own Consideration needs to be in a position to understand your company, business, and Company goals fast, with no overseas static jamming up communications.To get more detail click https://www.bestseo.sg/seo-expert-singapore/

[skyland-logos]

Zodiacs; The Follow Up

This is the continuation for my previous post about the sides. Their Zodiacs.

In the last post, I finished it off by saying the following;

Patton; Libra

Roman; Leo

Logan; Capricorn

Virgil; Virgo

Now, I am going to talk about how these seem to fit the best, for me, with the sides. Let’s start off with Patton and go down the list that way.

I see Patton as a Libra because I have a friend who acts like a real-life Patton that is a Libra and references off of a few websites I researched off of. Libras love balance and peace.

They try to avoid any conflict and want balance in their lives. He apologizes to Thomas when he realizes that he and Logan were talking over each other and making it hard for him to make decisions. Always tries to help out whenever Thomas is having a dilemma and tries his best to add in what he can.

“ Libra signs can sometimes seem wishy-washy when they are asked to make a decision” which makes them seem like they’re absent-minded or lazy, but in the end their decision will benefit most people. Yet, a “Libra representative has to be careful when talking to other people, for when they are forced to decide about something that is coming their way, or to choose sides, they suddenly realize that they might be in the wrong place and surrounded by wrong people”. He somewhat freaks out under pressure when he is told to do something and slowly follows along because he usually follows his heart, so when he is told something to do, it slowly goes through him to do it

They only really seem unhappy when they are treated unfairly because of their likeliness of fairness. I see this more when he gets left out and joins back in randomly which happens a few times (”potato” and patty-cake with Valerie) where he just kind of does what he wants. 

 “Libra are often self-sacrificing for the good of the team or the family”. He keeps his own emotions, besides happiness, inside for the sake of everyone else and to keep them happy. Cares more for the others more than himself.

They also like to have a say in things, but don’t want to be in charge. This is what Patton do a lot of the time when he and Logan fight or when he joins bantering between the others. He mostly puts small inputs of his own thoughts into the group conversations.

They can be;  “Cooperative, diplomatic, gracious, fair-minded, social”, but they can also; “Indecisive, avoids confrontations, self-pity”. I think you can kind of see these in his personality a lot more since they are the strengths and weaknesses.

Next is Roman;

I see Roman as a Leo but there are other zodiacs that you could pick that would work for him.

“Leo likes the big picture, not the small details and fine print. Things that are too complicated, involved, or boring, they have no patience for.” He tends to push the others ideas out of the way when ever they are long and boring, but when he has the reigns on the project or dilemma, he usually tries to face the big picture than the smaller problems. 

“Leos, not unlike the lion of a pride, need to be adored. If they are ignored or go unrecognized for some contribution they will feel hurt. All Leos like to know that they have been seen and appreciated.” Hint to “Not talk about me?” and when he complains that he wasn’t in the latest video.

“They are dramatic, creative, self-confident, dominant and extremely difficult to resist, able to achieve anything they want to in any area of life they commit to.” Roman is very much so dramatic, creative and self-confident like Leos are and he tries to help Thomas so he can achieve his goals in life that he commits to.

“They are natural leaders and don’t often do well in situations where they have to take orders from others.”  “Able to use their mind to solve even the most difficult problems, they will easily take initiative in resolving various complicated situations.” “Self-confident and attractive, this is a Sun sign capable of uniting different groups of people and leading them as one towards a shared cause, and their healthy sense of humor makes collaboration with other people even easier.” He does try to help the group by finding out new ideas and different ways to go about a dilemma. He also has a great sense of humor, if you do find his name calling as humor, plus he also likes Patton’s jokes.

“They are in search for self-awareness and in constant growth of ego.” “As for love, I’m in between princes and princesses, I am on a solo quest to save...myself.”

Thirdly, Logan;

I changed up Logan’s a few times since he was hard to find one for, yet he seems more like a Capricorn.

“They are masters of self-control and have the ability to lead the way, make solid and realistic plans, and manage many people who work for them at any time.” “Highly intellectual, good with numbers and analysis, this sign is not often loud, but they are most definitely the muscle and the power behind the very successful machine.” “Capricorns are the superheroes when It comes to making realistic, logical decisions. Their ability to cut through the red tape and see the bottom line is what makes them a real asset to any relationship or occupation where teamwork is valued.” You can view “Losing My Motivation” for that where it does show all of these ideas in his personality.

“Capricorn people are the type that are goal oriented and driven to succeed despite all odds.” “They will work long and hard hours toward a purposeful goal. Achievement is everything to a Capricorn.” He tried to do these things in “MOVING ON, Part 1/2″ where he is mostly goal driven to figure out the best way to help Thomas move on. He also does this in “Losing My Motivation” and “The MIND VS. The HEART!”. 

“Unfortunately, this element also makes them stiff and sometimes too stubborn to move from one perspective or point in a relationship.” “Its influence makes these people practical and responsible, but also cold, distant and unforgiving...” He shows his stiff/stubbornness in “The MIND VS. The HEART!” when he tells Morality that, from a logical standpoint, he is fine though Morality says not to speak over Thomas, but continues to banter with him over this. Also, from the outlook of him, he seems cold and distant because he isn’t a feeling.

“For this reason they tend to take life very seriously and are not tolerant of those who do not.“ He seems to not like Roman and Patton’s outlooks on life because they are dream/fantasy-like shown in “Growing Up” and “Alone on VALENTINE’S DAY!”.

“They are natural born leaders, politicians, mathematicians, and diplomats. Capricorn people tend to guard their hearts closely and well. To get close to a Capricorn may take some time, but once achieved, well worth it.” “Because they are so dedicated to the big picture and the minute details, they can seem dull to others, who don’t understand the active internal nature of the Capricorn. While seeming almost emotionless on the surface, the Capricorn’s mind is always running on overdrive” Shown in “MOVING ON” parts one and two it shows all of these things that are told above. He gives Patton a new jacket since they have slowly become closer and he seemed emotionless to the others while he was actually running over things quickly to try and help Thomas’s loss

“Capricorn have a dry sense of humor and their sarcastic wit is only appreciated by those who find humor everywhere.” “-Because you’re an airhead” “-You  malodorous scent-urion,oh!”

“Often they can be the less imaginative of the signs and refuse to face the facts about a situation because it would signal that they were wrong about something (which they hate).” “They will learn from their mistakes and get to the top based solely on their experience and expertise.” Roman: Yes, You were completely right! Logan: I know. Roman: meaning you were right about initially being wrong. Logan: *sterner* I know. 

Finally, Virgil;

It was hard to figure out Virgil’s too! Yet, I found that Virgo fits him pretty well and...Virgil...Virgo. Pretty similar words.

“Virgos are always paying attention to the smallest details and their deep sense of humanity makes them one of the most careful signs of the zodiac.” “Constantly worried that they missed a detail that will be impossible to fix, they can get stuck in details, becoming overly critical and concerned about matters that nobody else seems to care much about.” “Virgo people are mild mannered on the surface, but underneath there is a flurry of activity. Their minds are never quiet; always thinking, calculating, assessing.” “They loves making something out of nothing.” This is what Anxiety mainly can be, an overthinking/worry in your mind that makes small things big. Virgil does that to Thomas a lot when he makes mistakes, going to parties, unstable sides, or sometimes...whenever. Remember “My NEGATIVE Thinking” and “Taking on ANXIETY”.

“This is a sign often misunderstood, not because they lack the ability to express, but because they won’t accept their feelings as valid, true, or even relevant when opposed to reason”. This seems the case when Virgil’s character was finally fully developed. He was often misunderstood as “The bad guy”. He was pointed out for many problems due to him causing Thomas anxiety. That’s why he hopped out of the group in “ACCEPTING ANXIETY”. He didn’t want himself to bother or get in the way of the sides and Thomas anymore. 

“This sign would do well to carefully consider the situation and the task before agreeing to take it on.” “Virgil: I've got a bad feeling about this Thomas;I've got a bad feeling about everything that's why we're doing this” he is usually forced into situations before he can agree on it because Thomas and some of the sides choose to just press on without giving Virgil a thought on how he’s feeling besides Logan, and sometimes he, too, also does that.

“They do not tend to be loud or bossy, but are brilliant strategists and an asset to any team.” In “Losing My Motivation”, he helps out Logan by giving him some ideas about who the culprit is. He can be very essential to the team when they aren’t forgetting about him and teasing him.

“They are not loud ‘look at me’ signs, but rather prefer to be the strong, silent type.” This shows up in “The Sanders Sides 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS!” where they go to sing and he doesn’t want to while his fight or flight acts up. Along with that, he thinks his gift for Patton is dump because its not as amazing as everyone else, yet it still has a nice compliment in it. (A misleading compliment)

“Virgo are opinionated and have no problem sharing their opinions, even when they should not.” Think of “My NEGATIVE Thinking”, “Am I ORIGINAL?”, “A New Year of Lying to Myself... In Song!! “, and a lot of other videos because he is one source of Thomas’s reasoning.

Now, that’s my own opinion on why they are those zodiacs personality wise not by date, so if you needed references for a fic or an idea for their personalities, I hope this helped. That’s all folks! Thanks for reading! This took longer than expected.

references are here and here.

[ibiloyea1]

10 REASONS YOUR MANUSCRIPT WAS REJECTED

In this blog post, am going to discuss or describe some of the most common reasons for rejection of manuscript for publication in most reputable journal.

Peer review is an integral part of scientific publishing that confirms the validity of the science reported. Most rejection comes from this area or part of publishing. The two common types are closed, double blind and open reviews.

Nobody likes rejection. If you have spent a lot of time and effort on your latest research and it's manuscript/report [article or paper or thesis], only to have it turned down, it could be so discouraging and really hurts. Be it Scientific, Social, Organization or Management journals, articles get rejected for all manner of reasons.

Like a wise saying, “what is worth doing is worth doing well!” Every journal editors, peer reviewers, and manuscript reviewers are specialist in their fields and works within the law and guidelines given by the journal administrators or management. If your article is rejected, what could be the most likely reasons?

1. The manuscript fails the technical screening! Before a manuscript gets passed to the Editor-in-Chief or Managing Editor of a journal, the editorial office will undertake some basic checks. The main reasons for rejection of papers at this stage include:

-The paper contains elements that are suspected to be plagiarized or it is a weak article , salamis writing.

- The paper is under review at another journal (i.e., submission to multiple journals at the same time isn’t allowed).

-The manuscript lacks key elements such as a title, list of authors and affiliations, main text, references, or figures and tables.

- The quality of the language is not sufficient for review to take place.

- Tables and figures are not clear enough to read.

- The paper does not conform to the journal’s Author Guidelines which include the format [Microsoft Word, Latex, etc] referencing style, formating and structure.

2. The paper or rather the Topic and Aims does not fall within the journal’s Aims and Scope: If the paper won’t be of real interest or similar paper had being published recently or it won't be of value to the journal’s audience, it’s unlikely to be accepted. When choosing a journal to submit to, always make sure you read the Aims and Scope so you have an understanding of the type of articles the journal is looking for. For more tips on choosing the right Aims and Topic, see the FAQ and guidelines provided by the publisher or association in the journal help section. Make use of the Chief chosen for you.

3. Ethical Reasons: Ethical standards for publication exist to ensure high-quality scientific publications, public trust in scientific findings, and that people receive credit for their ideas. This is important to avoid: data fabrication and falsification, plagiarism, ‘authorship gifting', etc. Many journals have tools and processes in place to identify researchers that engage in unethical behavior. If you are caught your manuscript may be rejected without review and your institution informed.

*4. The research topic isn’t of enough significance or contribution to knowledge: That is, if the objectives of the research and hence the paper isn’t contributing significantly to advancement of knowledge or solve the gaps in other similar research it will definitely not interest the journal’s audience, it will likely be rejected. It may be that the paper’s findings or reports are precise , ambitious but not beneficial or is having poor recalls or that the manuscript is clearly part of a larger ongoing study.

5. The research is over-ambitious: If the authors have been overly ambitious or all-encompassing without clear delimitation and reasonable scope as may be seen in the topic wordings and the objectives.

Definitely, the results and interpretation will be flawed. In these cases it may be more appropriate to adjust the topic to indicate specific direction and clear aim. You may divide the work into a series of smaller research projects, pick one and do a good literature review noting the flaws or gaps or challenge to which you are contributing .

6. A clear hypothesis hasn’t been established: The question behind the research may be unclear, poorly formulated, or not relevant to the research field. Carrying out an extensive literature review can help guide your hypothesis or research question, appropriate methodology and the test statistics. For example the problems of imbalance data in data science, the alternative to two ways ANOVA for repeated meadures which are Categorical datasets, or lack of efficiency in a model used by a researcher.

7. The manuscript is incomplete: The paper might contain observations but is not a full study, or it may ignore or overlook other important work in the field or refuse to use descriptive statistics or graphs where it is expected. It may be after reporting a significant discovery, you fail to explore the pattern or occurrence so as to advise on possible cuasative factor or area of further research. Manuscripts always include or contain datasets, code, figures, and statistical programming used, also interactive visualizations and computational notebooks.

8. There are flaws in the procedures, presentation or analysis of the data: * Major flaws might include a lack of clear control groups or other comparison metrics, non-conformity with recognized procedures or methodology (which makes it difficult to repeat or replicate the work), or the lack of a statistically valid analysis or test. This is often the result of using a method or model on a data that haven't satisfied the conditions or assumptions. It could be incorrect equations or codings, inappropriate or unclear labelling of tables and figures, etc.

9. Flaws in the manuscript’s arguments, discussion and/or conclusions: You should be logical, and your presentation and arquement structured and valid, - supporting the conclusions reached by the paper. If the conclusions reached cannot be justified on the basis of the rest of the paper, or they ignore large portions of the literature, the manuscript will be rejected.

10. Language, style of writing, article structure, and spelling issues: The language, structure of the paper, and any tables or figures need to be of good enough quality for the paper to be assessed; if this isn’t possible, then the paper will be rejected. It’s always a good idea to ask others to check your paper before you submit it – a second pair of eyes can help pick up any errors you might have missed.

If you aren’t confident in your English writing skills, *use the service of proven freelance text and technical editors. Aside, most* publishers offer English Language Editing services which you can use before submitting your paper.

Finally, you can also use Templates provided by the journal, virtually for every journal and thesis there is a template or similar publication to guide you. Look for a good mentor, possibly within your research lab. Some journals have helpful resources you can use. For instance, the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors has detailed guidelines on authorship that are useful for scientists in all fields.

Reviewing a few journal issues for content and format, before submitting your paper, is highly recommended. And, when you have chosen the journal you think is the best fit for your study and your goals, it is usually a good idea to also identify your second- and third-choice journals.

Keep in mind that revisions and improvement are part of the publication process and actually help raise the quality of your manuscript.

References:

1. William Stafford Noble. Ten simple rules for writing a response to reviewers. PLOS Computational Biology 13, e1005730 Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2017. Link

2. Helen Eassom (2020): 9 Common Reasons for Rejection. Author Marketing, Wiley [Online article]

3. Springer blogs: Writing and Publishing Scientific Papers

*Be free to ask questions please.*

[itsfinancethings]

New story in Politics from Time: U.S. Intel: Russia Works to Undermine Biden as China Opposes Trump’s Re-Election

(WASHINGTON) — U.S. intelligence officials believe that Russia is using a variety of measures to denigrate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden ahead of the November election and that individuals linked to the Kremlin are boosting President Donald Trump’s reelection bid, the country’s counterintelligence chief said in the most specific warning to date about the threat of foreign interference.

U.S. officials also believe China does not want Trump to win a second term and has accelerated its criticism of the White House, expanding its efforts to shape public policy in America and to pressure political figures seen as opposed to Beijing’s interests.

The statement Friday from William Evanina is believed to be the most pointed declaration by the U.S. intelligence community linking the Kremlin to efforts to get Trump reelected — a sensitive subject for a president who has rejected intelligence agency assessments that Russia tried to help him in 2016. It also connects Moscow’s disapproval of Biden to his role as vice president in shaping Obama administration policies supporting Ukraine, an important U.S. ally, and opposing Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Asked about the intelligence assessment Friday evening in Bedminster, New Jersey, Trump appeared to dispute the idea that Russia was disparaging Biden. “I think the last person Russia wants to see in office is Donald Trump because nobody has been tougher on Russia than I have — ever,” he said.

But the president seemed to agree with the intelligence indicating China didn’t want him reelected. “If Joe Biden was president, China would own our country,” he said.

Evanina’s statement, three months before the election, comes amid criticism from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other congressional Democrats that the intelligence community has been withholding from the public specific intelligence information about the threat of foreign interference in American politics.

“The facts are chilling,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., wrote in an op-ed published Friday evening in The Washington Post. “I believe the American public needs and deserves to know them. The information should be declassified immediately.”

The latest intelligence assessment reflects concerns not only about Russia but China and Iran as well, warning that hostile foreign actors may seek to compromise election infrastructure, interfere with the voting process or call into question voting results. Despite those efforts, officials see it as unlikely that anyone could manipulate voting results in any sweeping way, Evanina said.

“Many foreign actors have a preference for who wins the election, which they express through a range of overt and private statements; covert influence efforts are rarer,” said Evanina, director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center. “We are primarily concerned about the ongoing and potential activity by China, Russia and Iran.”

Concerns about election interference are especially acute following a wide-ranging effort by Russia to meddle in the 2016 election on Trump’s behalf through both the hacking of Democratic emails and a covert social media campaign aimed at sowing discord among U.S. voters. Trump has routinely resisted the idea that the Kremlin favored him in 2016, but the intelligence assessment released Friday indicates that unnamed Kremlin-linked actors are again working to boost his candidacy on social media and Russian television.

The White House reacted to Friday’s news with a statement saying “the United States will not tolerate foreign interference in our electoral processes and will respond to malicious foreign threats that target our democratic institutions.”

Tony Blinken, a senior adviser to Biden’s campaign, responded that Trump “has publicly and repeatedly invited, emboldened, and even tried to coerce foreign interference in American elections. … Joe Biden, on the other hand, has led the fight against foreign interference for years.”

Democrats in Congress who have participated in recent classified briefings on election interference have expressed alarm at what they have heard. They have urged the U.S. intelligence community to make public some of their concerns in part to avoid a repeat of 2016, when Obama administration officials were seen as slow and overly deliberate in their public discussion of active Russian measures in that year’s election.

Pelosi and Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, both California Democrats, said Friday that they were “pleased that Mr. Evanina heeded our call to make additional details public about Russia’s malign interference campaign.” But they also criticized him for naming Iran and China “as equal threats to our democratic elections.”

When it comes to Russia, U.S. officials assess that it is working to “denigrate” Biden and what it sees as an anti-Russia “establishment” among his supporters, Evanina said. U.S. officials believe that tracks Moscow’s criticism of Biden when he was vice president for his role in Ukraine policies and his support of opposition to Putin inside Russia.

The U.S. statement called out by name Andrii Derkach, a pro-Russia Ukrainian lawmaker who has been active in leveling unsubstantiated corruption allegations against Biden and his son Hunter, who used to sit on the board of Burisma, an Ukrainian natural gas company. That effort has included publicizing leaked phone calls.

Democrats, including members of the Senate intelligence panel, have voiced concerns that an ongoing Republican probe into Hunter Biden and his work in Ukraine would parallel Russian efforts and amplify Russian disinformation. That investigation is being led by Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, the chairman of Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee. He has denied any wrongdoing.

Though U.S. officials allege that China has its own preference, Friday’s statement did not directly accuse Beijing of election interference or taking action to prop up Biden.

Instead, the statement said, China views Trump as “unpredictable” and does not want to see him win reelection. China has been expanding its influence efforts ahead of the November election in an effort to shape U.S. policy and pressure political figures it sees as against Beijing.

The Trump administration’s relationship with Beijing has taken a starkly more adversarial tone in recent weeks, including the closure of China’s consulate in Houston and an executive order Thursday that banned dealings with the Chinese owners of consumer apps TikTok and WeChat,

“Although China will continue to weigh the risks and benefits of aggressive action, its public rhetoric over the past few months has grown increasingly critical of the current Administration’s COVID-19 response, closure of China’s Houston Consulate, and actions on other issues,” the statement said.

The top foreign policy adviser of China’s ruling Communist Party, Yang Jiechi, said Friday that “China has no interest in meddling in

U.S. domestic politics.”

On Iran, the assessment said Tehran seeks to undermine U.S. democratic institutions as well as Trump and divide America before the election.

“Iran’s efforts along these lines probably will focus on online influence, such as spreading disinformation on social media and recirculating anti-U.S. content,” Evanina wrote. “Tehran’s motivation to conduct such activities is, in part, driven by a perception that President Trump’s re-election would result in a continuation of U.S. pressure on Iran in an effort to foment regime change.”

During a panel discussion later Friday at the DEF CON hacker convention, federal cybersecurity officials were asked which foreign threat they considered most serious.

“I don’t think I would say one is scarier than the other, per se. Certainly some of these adversaries are at little bit more experienced,” said the National Security Agency’s election lead, David Imbordino.

“I couldn’t agree more,” said Cynthia Kaiser, the FBI’s deputy chief of analysis for national cyber threats. “If if you ask me what the biggest threat is, it’s the kind of constant drumbeat or influence campaigns that are going to make people feel like they are less confident in our (elections) system.”

____

Tucker reported from Stonington, Connecticut. Associated Press writers Jonathan Lemire in Bridgewater, New Jersey, and Frank Bajak in Boston contributed to this report.

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How Does Credit Repair Work?

Bad credit spells tough life, period. And that is probably why you want to know how to regain a good credit standing. Whether you are already in bad credit, or you see yourself heading there, or even if you have no credit history at all, the information I’m just about to share will give you much insight on how credit repair works.

Before delving into the core of the matter, allow me to first show you how life gets tough with bad credit.

Negative effects of bad credit

Bad credit has far reaching consequences. It is just too bad that people find themselves in bad credit. If it were avoidable, well and good, nobody would be in such a mess. But life at times gets to a point you have to default a loan. Life pushes you to the corner and you have to skip that mortgage payment, not just for a month, but for 2 or even 10.

So you finally end up with this unimaginable credit score. You ask, what are the consequences of a bad credit score?

Let us look at the 5 most alarming ones.

1.   You will find it very difficult to start your own business

Setting up your own business requires some form of credit, unless you are overly financially endowed. Access to credit facilities also helps when you run into cash flow difficulties in the course of running the business. Bad credit denies you the much needed access to such credit facilities

2.  Limited access to utilities

The firms that deal with provision of utilities such as cable internet, electricity and phone network normally check your credit standing when you declare an intent to sign up for their services. Bad credit will force them to require you to pay huge deposits.

3.  High interest rates on credits

The financial society has already lost some trust in you. If financiers and suppliers decide to give you any credit, they will do so at higher interest rates than they offer to others. Sounds discriminatory, but that is the truth of the matter.

4.  Difficulties in securing rental houses

What Landlord would rent his apartment to you if he knows for sure you are a defaulter? Your guess is true – few. The real estate sector involves humongous investments and no home owner is ready to lose even a cent.

5.  No employment

Many employers will shy away from bringing on board a marked defaulter. They argue that your bad credit standing may negatively affect your job performance.  

This said, the aim of every individual in such a financial state should be to get out of the predicament and return to normal life. You may employ a variety of strategies. These include:

Seeking the services of a credit repair company

Do-It yourself credit repair

Changing your spending habits

Long Term strategy

Let me elaborate these strategies one by one:

Seeking services of a credit repair company

When in bad credit, you can contact credit repair companies to help you gey out of the mess. With a good search, you can find reputable companies that have mastered the art of improving people’s credit scores. How is this possible?

They do this in 3 simple steps:

They first request for your credit report from the relevant credit bureaus, including Equifax, Experian and TransUnion

They then identify negative items on your credit report which they can request to be removed. Your credit standing improves when these items are kicked out of the report

The credit repair companies finally employ a number of strategies to see to it that the negative items on the report are removed. If negotiations fail, they move on to file a dispute against the creditors on the negative items in the report

Such companies have helped many individuals get out of their debts. The advice they give is also worth the try. Of course they require some monthly payment for you to enjoy their services. As an individual, you may not have the know how or the confidence to dispute certain items. Time may also be a constraint on your side. Think of moving from office to office to get all these issues dealt with. 

So go ahead and hire their services if you are such kind of a person. I am saying so because in the next strategy, I will disclose how you can personally do what these credit repair companies do.

When hiring the credit repair companies, make sure to closely examine the list of services they claim to offer. You will come across terms such as:

Bureau challenges

Creditor interventions

TransUnion alerts

InquiryAssist

Report watch

Cease & Desist Letters

Score Analysis

Credit rebuilding

Score assistance

Personal dispute managers

Personal finance and budgeting tools

Etc.

We will not get into the finer details of these services. We now move to the do-it-yourself strategy:

Do-it-yourself credit repair

The good news with bad credit is that you can handle it all on your own. Just depends on how handy and aggressive you are.

To do this, follow the 2 steps outlined below.

1.  Obtain your credit reports

This is the first thing you ought to do in your journey to recovery bad credit. You will need the full credit reports from the three credit bureaus – TransUnion, Experian and Equifax.

The AnnualCreditReport website offers the reports for free, but just once a year.

If you so wish, you may call the Telephone line 1-877-322-8228 to make inquiries.

There are also some apps on Google Playstore which are able to track your credit score. Such include the Credit Karma, CreditWise, myFICO, Experian, and Credit Sesame, among many others.

A credit score of 800 is very good. Anything above 700 is considered good. In case you fall below the 700 mark, your chances of qualifying for loans decreases. A score of below 600 is definitely bad. The worst score you can have is 300.

2.  Identify the errors in the credit report and dispute them

Take time to scrutinize your credit reports for errors. The reports are certainly not error proof – it humans who compile them, and human is to err.

Start with your identity information, including your name, address and social security number.

Move on to your list of credit cards and ensure that all items recorded therein are captured correctly. Highlight all errors as you come across them. Remember you need to have solid proof that the such and such entries are a mistake. This will require the support of bank statements or other utility bills.

You can now use the above evidence to file a dispute with the credit bureaus.

Change your spending habits

This is a long journey you should embark on after the negative items on your credit report are resolved. The three sure ways of improving your credit scores are:

Pay all your bills on time

Pay all credit card debts

Keep away from credit

To achieve the above three, you need to purposefully change your spending habits. It all starts with a budget! Yes!

Get to know your monthly income after after tax deductions. You may wish to refer to this as the net pay. Now make all deductions made on your income on items such rent, mortgage, car loans, health insurance, life assurance, etc.

What do you remain with? How much can you spare for groceries? How much are you willing and able to dedicate to entertainment? What of gym membership, trips, investment?

Write out all this stuff on paper and purpose to follow it to the letter. Always resist impulse buying whenever you are out in full display of hundreds of attractive merchandise.

In addition to disciplined spending, make sure you pay all bills on time. Every bill on your table definitely has a deadline. Whether it means setting reminders or physically displaying the pending bills on notices, do all you can to meet the deadlines.

This requires some bit of planning on your end, so that you have the funds available every time you need to pay out some bill.

Another thing to look at is the credit card balances. What is your outstanding debt? How much can you pay off every month? Focus on clearing all debts, even if it is after 1 year.

In this change-of-life moment, restrain yourself from applying for new credit. I understand how tempting it is especially when the offer comes with discounts n purchases. Such may be beneficial, but in times of debt, they are a trap to drive you further into credit worthlessness.

As you work on the above, keep checking your credit score on any of the apps I suggested above. I guess you will notice the figure rising bit by bit. Be patient in this process – it is never an overnight thing.

At this juncture, let us look at the cost implications of credit repair.

How much does credit repair cost?

If you choose to go the credit repair company way, be ready to spend between and 0, or even higher, every month as service fees. Most companies offer packages in which you pay a specified monthly figure until your credit standing improves to the level you wished. 

As usual, the more costly the package, the more the services you will be offered. Always compare and contrast different packages and companies to get the best bargain for your money. It is funny how you have to spend more money to get out of debts.

And this leads us to the scam question: Are credit repair companies a scam?

No and Yes.

Of course, as in any other industry, we have the genuine ones, and the scammers. The genuine credit repair companies will diligently walk you through the steps of improving your credit. I cannot deny that scammers have infiltrated this market.

Such are the companies that will jog your mind with technical lies just so to ensure you pay the monthly fee for the longest time possible.

Others will guarantee you positive results, whereas we clearly know that credit repair is a trial and error undertaking, especially on the section of removing bad items from the credit report. Yes you venture into it but you are never sure of the outcome.

Do your homework well. Search diligently for the best company whose rates you can afford. Read tons of reviews on the shortlisted companies and have the general feeling of the customer experiences with those companies.

If you choose to go the do-it-yourself way, you have no professional fees to pay. Just remember that you may have to travel and pitch camp from office to office as you seek to sort things out.

Let us now wind up this discussion with a look at some of the misconceptions of credit repair.

Misconceptions of credit repair

1.  Only open accounts are included in a person’s credit report

This rumour has found place in many a people’s hearts. So they take to closing their credit accounts with the hope that the bad elements in that account will be stripped from the overall report.

In many cases, closing such a stubborn account ends up further hurting your crdit score. What more, the bad details will remain on your report, and it may be hard to follow up on them because you no longer have access to the account.

If you have behaved well with a given account for some good amount of time, closing it in the wake of bad credit is not sensible enough. Think of how you can improve your credit score through working on the accounts

2.  Opening many lines of credit will improve your credit score

Let us get this right. Your ability to operate multiple accounts and handle multiple bills does not translate to a higher credit score. This may in fact turn out risky and lower your credit score.

3.  Paying off loans earlier than the deadline will improve your credit standing

This is not entirely true. The credit reporting system has no reward for prepayment of loans. They just consider the payment deadline. Quite interesting!

Endeavor to have an excellent credit standing for your own good.

Credit Repair Attorney Free Consultation

When you need legal help to repair your credit, please call Ascent Law for your free consultation (801) 676-5506. We want to help you.

Ascent Law LLC 8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite C West Jordan, Utah 84088 United States Telephone: (801) 676-5506

Ascent Law LLC

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