#murals are just an example btw

[greencarnation]

in northern ireland during the troubles (and before) catholics used murals as a way of both claiming territory/identity and taking up space in public when they couldn't march. it was a way of forcing their voices to be seen and heard when the media and the government were against them. it was a way of protesting. i will elaborate later but do you get me. marching, posting - all good but not the only way to resist. there is so much in our arsenal and we aren't exploiting it. you don't need 100k followers or ten thousand people marching with you to make your voice heard - you can start now, alone. make it impossible for palestine to slip from public consciousness, make everyone know and everyone remember

[felassan]

The Art of Dragon Age: The Veilguard Deluxe edition (DA:TV artbook bonus stuff). [source, via]

"The deluxe edition features: - An elegant foil-stamped slipcase and cover - Gilded pages - A ribbon book marker - Two lithographic art prints housed in a sleek portfolio" [source]

It looks like the two lithographic prints are this mural (which is from the 2020 TGA teaser iirc) and this art of Solas with a wolf by Matt Rhodes (which is from the Gamescom 2020 video iirc). The packaging's color theme-ing is black and gold, reminding of this version (that pic is from 2021) of the game's branding/color theme-ing, and also of course bringing to mind the Golden/Black City. the Golden/Black City was featured on the vinyl cover arts.

The knife here on this cover looks like the 'blue lyrium' [?] dagger, but also simultaneously not like it.

This artbook cover one is more gnarled in appearance and the 'ring' of the handle isn't complete (the way the 'broken' handle could almost be an Evanuris headpiece-shape... if it was a bit more symmetrical, it would look like Elgar'nan's headpiece).

It has extra spiky bits protruding off it too and it looks like something is growing on it. Maybe this is what happens if/when the blue [lyrium?] dagger becomes red (Blighted)? because this gnarled kinda vibe reminds me a bit of Meredith's sword Certainty in DA2, and of that body horror way in which red lyrium growth looks on people. It also reminds me of the tendrils of Blight corruption on walls and the ground and stuff in DA:TV screenshots, and the gnarled red lyrium darkspawn we've seen (look at this darkspawn's back for example).

Or maybe there's simply more than one dagger? There's two rising Evil Gods.

in the background of that image is the now-familiar geometric patterning with the concentric rings around the outside that tend to represent the Veil, and also the multiple almooost-overlapping circles/spheres inside that is suggestive of an eclipse* (something which we can see in the DA:TV screenshot with the dragon, which keeps coming up, which speaks to a lot of the pertinent imagery/symbolism e.g. Elgar'nan overthrowing his father the Sun and darkening the sky, and something which to me makes sense in a Witcher-style Conjunction of the Spheres kinda vibe, multiple realms colliding, like, if you tear down the Veil, you're bringing two 'bodies' or realms together to 'overlap' once again - the Fade and the waking world). [*in the 'eclipse' link there it's just searching the word on my blog btw, since I've banged on and on about that lots before and I don't wanna repeat myself loads in this post hhh]. the placement of the dagger over that design and what it represents makes sense; as we saw in the gameplay reveal video, the dagger was part of Solas' ritual to tear down the Veil/move the Evanuris prison.

On this cover, we can see two eyeballs in two of the corners (the eyes remind me of the Inquisition hairy eyeball, the eye motifs cropping up around Lucanis, Pride, and the Fade peacock feather/eye motif [image from this post]). in the other two corners is a sword that reminds again of Certainty. Meredith brandishing the sword is part of this DA:TV mural in the bottom left, underneath Ghil. surely not a coincidence. :D maybe a Certainty-like sword is the final corrupted form of the dagger, or one of them? in TN, the red lyrium idol changed shape enough that a ritual-blade sprang from its base.

the background of this middle cover also contains triangles, reminding of ancient elven artifacts and ancient elven magic-tech (like with Bellara, the Veil Jumpers etc) and the recurring triangle symbols in DA art around Fade/Veil/magic-y stuff (example from the Tevinter Nights map below).

The cover on the right has more geometric patterns, circles, rings etc. (all these patterns remind of the art in the vinyl booklet btw). and, in the center, the eye again. 👁️

[abanbas]

btw the way sire draws is based off of the dark crystal's art work and has similar vibes to H.R Giger. It's both whimsical and gorey. Like all of his drawings of Solas have him literally ripping into his own head and tearing skin off. It has Mythal looking tainted and blighted (which never happened but its symbolic) and the murals he copied all look far more grave than solas depicts them.

the drawings of his friends are all distorted by whatever Sire sees them as. Which do change as he progresses. Most of them are very positive though, almost weird religious coded (Sire doesn't worship anything but connections, which is why he has so few deep ones. If he loves you, you might as well have andrastian zealot or a qun absolutist at your feet, not that he can't see wrong doings it's just...he's less willing to give up on you..) for example in my canon since Sire deeply respects Davrin and Neve, they both are ALWAYS depicted with their heads facing upwards or directly at the viewer (davrin is almost always looking up and neve is almost alway looking at YOU), even when Neve becomes hardened, Sire depicts himself as beneath her, with his head faced away or down until they mend a bit more.

It would take me MONTHS mabe YEARS to depict his art perfectly bc im a mediocre hobbyist but just know Sire is deeply gifted when it comes to visual arts from dance to painting/drawing..not actually amazing at an sculpting but magical parlor tricks he's also amazing at.

[simmillercc]

SIMS 4 - CHANGING INFORMATION IN SIMS 4 STUDIO FOR MULTIPLE SWATCHES SIMPLIFIED

This tutorial can also be viewed on GOOGLE DOCS.

WHY I MADE THIS TUTORIAL

The purpose of this tutorial is to help creators and simmers alike simplify and speed up how to change information in the Warehouse tab in Sims 4 Studio for multiple swatches, especially if you have more than one section that needs adjusting.

So, let’s say you’ve created an entire package with 15 swatches and have saved your package. Then you realize, OMG I forgot to change something in Warehouse mode and now have to go in and change each swatch separately. (cue dramatic music)

I don’t recommend this for only a few swatches, though, because, while helpful, this is not a one shot process, but it will save time for those packages with several swatches that require fixing/changing in the Warehouse tab.

For the purposes of this tutorial, I am using the example of changing the Composition  Method in a lipstick with 31 swatches from 4 to 0. It is entirely possible to make multiple changes using this process. Literally anything in the Warehouse tab that you need to change and have applied to multiple swatches can be done. 

Note: Sims 4 Studio already allows for changing information in the Studio tab on multiple swatches. This is only helpful for Warehouse mode.

I have also used this method to change the diffuse ratio on a set of walls that were supposed to be three panels wide for a wallpaper mural, and forgot until after all of my swatches were in and the package was saved. This would normally have to be done 3 times for every swatch, so the work is tripled! Multiply that by 20 swatches and you can see it’s just too much. I could have started over with a new package, but then I would have to change the catalog name, price, any categories like color and whether it’s paint or wallpaper, ambience effects, if it reduces bills, bring in all the diffuse (texture) files (there’s a trick for bringing in new diffuse files as well, all in one shot btw), and possibly more! With makeup and clothes, or buy mode objects, there are even more categories to be sure match your project.

To simplify, you’ll be saving your color palette, exporting your texture files, changing whatever is necessary in the Warehouse tab, and re-importing your textures. There are a few more steps involved, but everything is explained here in detail with pictures.

Rest assured, it takes a while to read this tutorial, but once you do it a few times, you will complete the entire process very quickly!

----------------------------------------------------

You can view the entire tutorial on Patreon, Google Docs, or the Sims 4 Studio website in the tutorials section. It is currently still in the Creator Help section on S4S, but will be moved shortly.

[sittingupwiththedead]

Historically most gangs started in places and communities where cops would not go, or where dangerously corrupt.

Extortion of protection money doesn't start as extortion it starts as insurance and investigation. If the bodega is paying you protection money they're not just doing it so your guys won't rob them they're doing it so that if ANYONE robs them you will find out who did it, and you will do something about it because the cops sure as hell won't. And by do something I mean find the fucker and put him on the ground because nobody fucks around in your territory. And maybe Vinnie at the bodega is having trouble paying his rent so you buy the building and instead of protection he's paying you rent yeah? and maybe instead of $500 a month or whatever it is You tell him you'll take just under an equivalent value of cartons of smokes this month and call it even yeah Vinnie? (this by the way makes Vinnie complicit in your criminiality because now he has to cook his books to hide the cigerettes yeah?)

The illegal (read untaxed) selling of booze and cigarettes is still an ongoing problem in many both urban and rural areas btw: If you wanted a way to diversify Hood's operations and move him away from the harder drugs hand rolled/stolen cigarettes and bathtub gin/moonshine might be a way to do it. Besides Batman stories are always at their best when there's a hint of the old school gangsters in it. And let's be honest Batman popping open a crate of expecting to find heroin or oxys and instead finds cartons of Malboros is a hilarious mental image.

The chop shop idea is great, especially if he has bounties. "Steal this asshole's car" or "Steal this type of car". Also if it's a personal vehicle you can alot of ID info out of registrations. Use the registration info to hack a bank account and just skim.

If there's isn't a shitty dying high school in/on the edge of the Narrows I'd be shocked so he have him fund the vocational programs. After school clubs, the idea about selling books to make money as well as encourage literacy (Jason also seems like the kind of troll that would make sure a good chuck of it comes from banned book lists). The mechanic class kids who show real promise get jobs at the mechanic shop covering the chop shop, kids in the art class get money to paint murals his gang can hide their tags in. Free breakfast and Lunch programs. Etc

A free clinic he aggressively enforces as a neutral zone and makes damn sure his guys know is a neutral zone. Needle exchanges.

Going back to the free breakfast and Lunch programs food is a fantastic way to create loyalty even in unexpected places. We have documented instances for example that, in certain towns in the Americna West when miners where injured and couldn't work the local brothel, and their favorite workers there seeing to it that groceries where delivered to the men's wives. Also eating together builds inter connected bonds in humans -it's one of the fastest ways to make us pack bond. You could have Red Hood literally hold dinners for his guys with him sitting at the head of the table. Even if he doesn't eat (depends on how you wanna do the mask situation) make him literally-clearly- 'the founder of the feast'.

Just some ideas. Hope it helps!

(I really wanna read this fic!)

The hardship of planning an elaborate fic about Jason and his crime lord-ing is figuring out how tf to run a crime empire with morals. Oof.

[hanfugallery]

笠帽limao, a general term for a type of Chinese hanfu hat, characterized by a wide brim. The primary form had already appeared during the Shang and Zhou dynasties( 1600 B.C.-256B.C.), and its invention was naturally related to shading from the sun and rain, with a large brim that could both block the rain and shade the sun. In ancient China, limao笠帽 were made of many materials, including bamboo baskets, pouches, ramie, yarn etc. The shape of limao笠帽 is with usually large brim, round, square or pointed tops. The later it was developed, the more it resembled today's hats. In the Ming Dynasty this hat was called a damao大帽, yet it's been around before Ming, inherited from the Song Dynasty and earlier dynasties.

The picture below shows two limao unearthed from the tomb of the Yuan Dynasty minister Wang Shixian汪世显.

Then let's take a look at what the limao笠帽 looked like worn by Ming Dynasty soldiers.

What about the damao大帽 worn by non-military officials and civilians in Ming dynasty?

So how did the term of damao in Ming dynasty come about? The origin of damao is recorded in an ancient book of the Ming Dynasty, san cai tu hui《三才图会》(1607). This book is an encyclopedic book written by 王圻Wang Qi and his song 王思义Wang Siyi, who were literature scholars and book collectors during the Ming Dynasty. Here is the quote 《三才图会》:“大帽，尝见稗官云:国初高皇幸学，见诸生班烈日中，因赐遮荫帽，此其制也，今起家科贡者用之。” Generally when Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty, saw the students taking the imperial examinations sweating in the scorching sun, he gave them damao to protect them from the sun. 

The image below is a painting from the Tang dynasty, showing that the basic shape of the damao differs little from that of the Tang dynasty.

The 平番得胜图ping fan de sheng tu is currently housed in the National Museum of China and is considered to be an accurate portrayal of the Ming dynasty's army and is of high reference value.

The above is the consistent history of limao笠帽 in Chinese hanfu. limao was a very common hat in all Chinese dynasties, worn by all classes. The basic shape with a high top made of black gauze and a knotted cord appeared early on. Of course, hats with brims is a common thing for every culture and are found in all parts of the world, just as Eastern and Western civilizations coincidentally documented the prehistoric Flood.

For those interested in more specialized and complete information, here is a ten-minute video detailing the history of limao. 

To summarize, limao was first seen in the Han Dynasty terracotta figurines, called li笠, and documented in writings in the ancient book 急就篇(48b.c.-33b.c.), but the brim was not as big as it is now, in the Northern Dynasty(386-581), limao was inspired by the Xianbei people whose ancestors were nomads in ancient Siberia, so the brim was widened, and the top of the hat was added (recorded in the Northern Dynasty mural) and is almost the same as now, after the consistent development recorded but not limited to the Tang Dynasty terracotta figurines and Song Dynasty paintings, especially that Fanyangli influenced the limao style of the Yuan dynasty, and then the Yuan emperor Kublai Khan added curtains behind the limao, and beads and feathers according to the Mongolian custom, and then Ming emperors removed the curtains in the early Ming dynasty, forming a variety of styles. 

Facts about damao in Ming dynasty

1. damao was influenced by limao of all the previous dynasties, and arose spontaneously. ✔️

2. damao usually have round top, but there were also other forms of top, such as the quadrilateral.✔️

2. In the early Ming dynasty, influenced by the Mongolian style of the Yuan dynasty (Mongolia added the beads according to its own nomadic style), damao used the gems or beads as a string. ✔️

3. In the middle of the fifteenth century, Emperor Yingzong abolished the bead-string, stipulating that the damao could only be worn with plain string. ✔️

4. The adornment of damao was mainly on the top, with jewels, feathers, and red tassels.✔️

5. From ancient paintings, the decorative method of inserting feathers on one or both sides of the hat, is found in the Ming Dynasty and previous dynasties.✔️

6. damao usually matches with wangjin网巾, a kind of mesh scarf tied back the bangs neatly. ✔️

Now high-priced hanfu stores are making the damao exactly according to the Ming Dynasty style, and are considered historically accurate. However, some middle or low priced hanfu store are lazy and don't make it accurately, so the details are confused with another country' traditional hats with brim, or even worse. A few days ago a famous chinese artist accidentally used the picture of damao of that lazy store as reference to draw her super popular characters and post it on twitter, it could be controversial and offensive to some people from another culture who are not familiar with hanfu and lead to misunderstanding. And then she experienced cyberbullying which is really bad. (btw she also provides the correct ancient Ming portrait as a reference though

I have cautiously observed, and must state that the damao she drew does not show a very clear feature that significantly different from the Ming dynasty damao of a traditional hat from another culture, and I think one reference picture of damao from taobao store does have a slight problem and is ambiguous. Incidentally, the non-damao hat that worn by the other character has also attracted criticism is no problem and actually called yishanguan翼善冠, one of the traditional types of hats for Chinese hanfu, which I will describe later.

Well, you get the idea.

In a more general sense, was the ancient Chinese costume culture, while retaining its original form, influenced by xiyu culture (a general reference to non-Chinese countries on the Silk Road, the ancient cultures of Western and Central Asia and the ancient states, xiyu西域 literally meaning western region) and nomadic cultures such as xianbei culture? Yes, especially in the Tang Dynasty. For example, yuanlingpao圆领袍/rongfu戎服. Did ancient China radiate its costume culture to its neighbors(not all of them), leaving behind similar or even convergent forms, while at the same time they developing their own local characteristics? Yes.  If a culture had close contact with China in ancient times, but is geographically separated from China by a long distance or even by the sea, the later its identity will become stronger, and what used to look like Chinese clothing will become less obvious, such as the kimono. 

Here are examples of the basically accurate damao in style of ming dynasty by hanfu store. It does not contain all the types.

[ayellowcurtain]

After all these "*years"* I still be pissed at the fact, that we didn't get a proper conversation between Sobbe, letting us and them know about each other more as persons. In other skam remakes, there was like a special feeling every scene that each of the characters still learns about the other, but in wtfock, since the actors have known each other already, they do not show or try to show this feeling of getting know the other, which is bad and inconsistent for the developing of the dynamic and relationships of Sobbe. Even in the first scene, when Robbe enters and sees Sander for the first time, his (Willem's) face doesn't show a total surprise, it's more like: "dude, what are you doing here?", like if Robbe knew Sander before. (I get that it's because of the actors only). But because of this fact I still can't ship Sobbe, because I don't understand, WHAT DID THEY FIND IN EACH OTHER, LIKE IN PEOPLE, IN PERSONALITIES OF EACH OTHER, LIKE WHAT DID THEM MAKE TO FALL IN LOVE. I don't know, other evak couples just don't have this problem. Their were played, btw, by people, who didn't know each other before skam though... So they have this aspect in their interactions, like "I don't know you yet, but I tryna to", idk... Sobbe is communicating through touches, but I don't buy it. Maybe, it's my pansexual is showing, but it's what it is.

I get what you mean. I talked about the “lack of conversation” in WTFock a few days ago with some other anon. But to me - a very, very, VERY shy person, very romantic too, very reserved - I don’t really need to see them talk, to be honest. 

And like I said a few times too, Sander, to me, feels a little shy too. He’s loud, confident, but I don’t think he opens himself up that easily. Even with Britt, I always felt like he was showing just the “surface” to her. 

Because he’s all the way or no way in every aspect of those words. 

And mostly about everyone, he’s a “no way” because he doesn’t care enough to show people the good, the bad, and the ugly. He doesn’t care enough to make small talk. He has very little patience. He wants people to decide right away what they want, no need to explaining why, how, when. If you want it, then do it, don’t talk about it: Take your clothes off and jump in the pool, kiss me in front of your school, put your shoe out and let me make a big scene for when you wake up, let me dress up in a costume to take you to a romantic date. 

Even with Robbe sometimes Sander doesn’t really know how to go about things. When Robbe told him he wanted to go to the police, Sander was a little louder than usual and than necessary, saying how they got lucky, how they were alive and that’s all that matters. And then he realized that’s not how most people go about things, so he talks more calmly again, talking about how they love each other, etc. During WTFock Down, when that conversation comes back again, he tells Robbe about how that bar is theirs, that they can’t let them attackers win, etc. He sees how uncomfortable Robbe gets and he says they’ll try and try and try until Robbe is comfortable. With the first try about the ~cyber sex~ Sander looks frustrated when Robbe changes his mind and then it takes him a few seconds, and he apologizes. 

Sander is not the best at communicating, he probably thinks it’s a waste of time. And Robbe doesn’t really need to communicate, for once. At least he doesn’t think he has to say most things. He seems relaxed and living a dream when he’s with Sander and things are going good between them. He’s probably tired after all his problems with his parents, so for once he doesn’t want to argue, to be reasonable, etc. 

And even with his friends, he’s not the one to tell the boys Sander was the one to paint the mural (Jens is, even though he keeps looking at Robbe, hoping he’ll say something, but Robbe doesn’t, until he has to, because Jens doesn’t know how he and Sander feel). 

When he’s with Milan at Zoe’s bedroom, Milan is the one to say that Robbe is into guys. When he’s about to tell Zoe about Sander, he looks so shy, taking the long way to Zoe’s bed to talk. 

When he’s with Noor, she’s usually the one to say things, the one to lead them to do things, she pushes him until he breaks (the night he says he can’t breathe when he’s around her or something like that). 

And I really get Robbe in this part because he wants to save himself the trouble. It’s his life, his relationship and he doesn’t care enough to go around telling everyone about what he’s thinking, feeling, what’s going on with Sander. It’s their thing and he doesn’t think the others have to know how it is. 

With their first scene I do think Robbe looks confused about who the fuck that rude guy is so I don’t know. He even thinks about it for an extra second before telling Sander his name. 

Even with different types of shyness, I do think Robbe and Sander have a lot of middle ground. They both seem to enjoy their bubble too much to the point where they don’t care to talk to others about how they feel, about how they got together, etc. Even if we’re not seeing, we now know Robbe is also into some type of art, photography, videos, etc. So they do have interests in common, with Sander showing Robbe all about Bowie, about his family traditions, about his art and how passionate he is about it. 

A good example is Sander’s zoom birthday party. Robbe barely says anything, he lets the boys do their show or whatever, wishes his boyfriend a happy brithday and he talks when Sander is basically not around. Another example is in the same clip, when he takes his clothes off, Sander plays like Robbe is just another one of the guys, taking his shirt off. They don’t really ~flirt because the boys are all there. 

We also know Robbe loves to hear Sander telling about his feelings for Robbe. He keeps asking what did Sander sees in him, about where his “fairytale” is (asking Sander to send the videos he was making during lockdown), about if Sander really “misses him that much”, what he “misses the most”, etc.

They love their love, they like being in love, talking about their love, being around each other and nobody else. 

(With Druck and Skam España I got this feeling that you’re talking about, where they didn’t talk until things were already happening.)

[sofia-nox]

explain why thor is such an asshole, pls

Oooh man, do not get me started on it. Please heed a few warnings before reading: 1) Of course, this will mostly revolve around Thor's treatment of Loki. 2) Please note that this is NOT a post about Loki's own actions, and that I will NOT cover them in detail. 3) Please remember that English is not my first language, so if anything is unclear, forgive me! You are always free to ask me for clarifications.

Let's go movie by movie.

Thor 1: Thor treats Loki like a lesser being, and his friends along with him. Thor mocks his magic, calling it tricks, and Vollstag makes a jab at his 'silver tongue'. Now this might be considered silly and unimportant, but let's not forget that were a simple warrior or, God forbid, a servant to mock a prince (as seen in the movie, both cases) they would get the whip at best and death at worst. Both are let go without consequence, and while Thor might not be the main perpetrator of this violence, he both excuses it and does not discourage it. That enables people to consider Loki unimportant and inferior, and to consider his orders as inconsequential (e.g. the guard who was supposed to tell Odin they were about to go to Jotunheim). Judging by how casual everyone seems about the treatment of the younger prince, it is clear that this is a regular occurrence, and it will set the precedent about the Warriors Three, Lady Sif and Heimdall's own treason later in the movie.

Another occasion in which Thor behaves like an asshole is in Jotunheim, when the tells Loki to "know his place" -immediately before starting a fight with Jotuns over being called 'princess'. He starts considering them a little more than beasts and "monsters to be slain" only when Loki (who has a stupid and questionable but nonetheless understandable motive behind it) tries to destroy their Realm. This, of course, after spending most of his life as a warrior and an imperialist, son of a man who was as bloodthirsty as they come (see Ragnarok's murals). They want us to buy that a lifestyle of more than one thousand years has been changed by three days spent in the company 'of mortals!' (Frigga)

Her tone says it all on how they consider the humans: if not beasts to be slain, then beasts who do NOT need to be slain. Inferior beings, at any rate.

Avengers (2012): after a lifetime together, Thor does not seem to notice that Loki, the would-be conqueror of Earth, is in pain and clearly not himself. Loki is clever and a strategist: he would never attack Earth in such a "visible" manner. It goes against Loki's nature, as he is shown to be the more diplomatic, less impulsive of the two. This denotes either a serious lack of knowledge about Thor's own brother's personality (which would be difficult and weird, as they have "played together, fought together") or simple disregard of it. Moreover, he calls Loki's legitimate anger over how he has been treated "imagined slights", insisting that Loki is only trying to conquer Earth because he (Loki) knows Thor cares for it. He is apparently completely unaware that Loki is acting in a very OOC way, and does not ask himself any questions over it. At the end of the movie, he slaps a muzzle over Loki's mouth, apparently without reason, since Loki does not need to use his voice to use his magic. I found this especially assholish, since this prevented Loki from explaining himself, had he wanted to (and he might have wanted to, since I would guess that the choice was between Thor and Odin, and so it is obvious that Loki would have picked Thor to confide in, if he had to absolutely do so).

Thor 2: during Thor 1, Loki had asked Odin: "So I am nothing more than a relic to be put aside, until such a moment where you may have use of me?" Boy, this was basically a harbinger, since Thor uses Loki exactly in that way. He does not visit Loki in prison, he does not allow Loki to mourn their mother with him, considers Frigga's attempts at easing Loki's (eternal!) punishment as INDULGING Loki. Thor threatens him with death should Loki betray him, and tells him that once their mission is complete Thor will return him to his cell (which, btw, puts Loki in the very delicate position of deciding whether to kill Thor and escape once he is out or return to his eternity of solitary confinement quietly, but I digress). Not once doesThor try to understand Loki's motives, ask him what the hell happened to him after he fell into the Void, or try to talk to him, so Thor either really took all of that OOC behaviour during Avengers 1 at face value (which would make him pretty stupid), or he simply does not care.

Now, let's analyse a particular scene, the famous "Trust my rage" scene. We all know what happened before Loki said this (Thor almost punching him) and from his expressions and body language, I believe it a safe bet to maintain that Thor has already hit Loki in the past. You do not behave like that if you think the person in front of you would never hit you, and you do not look surprised when they stop themselves.

"But they were enemies! Loki had already-" yes. They had been enemies, though how much was Loki's own free will during A1 is a big question mark. What is important is that they are working together RIGHT NOW, and you do not punch people you need to work with.

Lastly, Loki had literally to die in front of him (THE SCENE WAS FILMED AS IF IT WERE A REAL DEATH AND LATER NEVER EXPLAINED. LOKI DID NOT FAKE HIS DEATH.) to have some way of not returning in the dungeons and not having to kill Thor.

Thor Ragnarok: do I really need to explain? I think not. His treatment of Loki is monstrous and the manipulative behaviour he has with Bruce Banner, Hulk and Valkyrie is despicable. Just watch the damn movie, it is enough to give anyone the creeps.

IW: "You really are the worst brother".

EG: never once mentions Loki. Thor apparently has been fighting depression because of his death, and he never once speaks to him, or says his name. He behaves rudely and is generally unpleasant to his teammates and particularly Peter Quill, with whom he seems to have a bone to pick.

My conclusion: Thor is an asshole, friends and neighbours.

Also, didn't Thor threaten Tony Stark in AoU by grabbing him by the neck, all because he wasn't getting his way?

@piccolaromana @miharu87 @blacksuitofdoom @nikkoliferous @lasimo74allmyworld @meblokison @goldensillydragon and anyone who wants to join, please feel free to add to my rant! I was very Loki-centric, so if anyone has other examples, they will be much appreciated.

(Let's remember that Thor cannot really be trusted to behave in a good way with his friends, since he apparently can't manage that with the man he calls brother.)

[chedelat]

ohhhh i can talk about him for hours. and my tags are actually pretty messy as i look on them so i try to explain what i meant here. and first of all: chernyshevsky was living in the nineteenth century russia, i think the context of his views is important here.

chernyshevsky was, i think, the main figure of russian nihilism. he was also, if you will, a feminist, and explicitly stated that, as long as women are opressed, love between a man and a woman is not possible. real love is not possible while women are subordinated to men and men don't view women as persons, it can be only between equals. the new people he described in his novel "what is to be done?" are those, among their other characteristics, who believe men and women to be equal. and there's also a chapter where the personification of love explains to a main heroine that 1) there was no true love in the "old"/"previous" world, only men's ownership of women, 2) her (love's) kingdom, or the next world, is to be achived only when women are independend and equal to men, and this "kingdom" is described as a socialist utopia too.

his views on the equality and love also included criticism of the institution of marriage (it was almost or totally impossible to get divorced at his time). chernyshevsky argued that marriage prevents women from choosing to be with who they love as they are forever tied to their husbands who view them as their property and, again, not persons and equals. (fun fact: he was deeply in love with his wife and because of his beliefs basically begged her to have lovers other than him if she ever feels like that. for the equality! and, well, for her being free to choose and follow only her heart and not social norms).

so. he describes the next world, the new people and their beliefs and says that, well, unless you reject traditional worldview where women are considered men's property, you can't have true love. and this rejection of traditional worldview (basically "old world") is the main characteristic of the new people -- and also his understanding of nihilism (and his contemporaries'. take turgenev for example -- he is not approving of nihilism but describes it in similar terms). so, nihilism here is a rejection of traditional order and traditional morals. such as women's inferiority, permanence of marriage, and capitalist/feudalist social order! and this rejection (i.e. nihilism) opens a path to a better society, while acceptance keeps everything as it is. there is a background character in chernyshevsky's novel who is trying to fight against the development of the socialist workshop the main herione (one of the new people) established. his actions are described as reinforcing opressive status-quo. i also think this character is middle class in some sense and generally a representation of the middle class and status-quo, to which this socialist workshop, in this character's own words, is a threat. so, here's wreaking havoc on the middle class too >:) (btw just in case: this character is even more background in the published version of the novel and the chapter about him was almost totaly cut off due to censorship. but it's still possible to find the original version!)

and another example of wreaking havoc on the middle class: by choosing true love instead of arranged marriage, main herione "wreaks havoc" on her middle class family that expected her to marry a wealthy and higher status man, and not a student without a coin in his pocket. her mother is shocked and angry, her plans are spoiled by her daughter's nihilism! she dared to reject the established order of things and refused to obey to her parents! everything turned upside down!

so, i was thinking about the parallels between chernyshevsky's novel and the next world mural for a plenty of time. and well, i think the connection to the nihilism of russian socialists can be made, but this nihilism is, basically, just their socialist beliefs.

(my remark about the context was made, obviously, to clear things up about the position in society women had at that time & place. now it changed and the problems are different and chernyshevsky is not as relevant obviously, so the message about true love and its political connotations are different in his novel and in de, but i love to find parallels between things i like and i feel like the sentiment might be somehow similar still. true love cannot be in the world as it is now!)

I think the next world mural is a nihilist mural

Russian nihilist were called "New people"

the belief that the world is beyond saving (too late for us)

"next world" could be interpreted as the world after the pale covers it fully, which is the goal of the nihilist innocence St Miro

they were doing all kinds of assassinations, sabotage, destruction etc. (wreak havoc)

Russian nihilism has a connection to socialism and anarchism (on the middle class)

(text sources: x x x )

[theharellan]

Since you mentioned Solas as an artist, how about a meta on that - his relationship with artistry, how long he's been painting, does he do other types of art or only frescos, etc. ?

send me meta | accepting

Solas has been painting since he lived in the village he references when you ask about him and his life. Granted, the scale was different, and much smaller. The first art form he learned was pottery, and from there he began to paint on them, often with crude paints made of plants and water. This isn’t to say that prehistoric painters or plant-based paints are crude, btw, I mean he was experimenting and often the recipes failed. As he learned he started to use more complicated binders, like animal fat or bone marrow, as well as learning to use bones to make black pigments or charcoal to draw on things.

Once he began travelling, the art he pursued changed and grew as he tried new techniques and met new people. He learned how to use hollow animal bones to spray paint. It wasn’t until he came to Mythal that he began to paint murals, and his first attempts weren’t technically frescoes. His first attempt was painted on dry wall, and began to flake soon after. This was actually deeply disappointing to him, but the person who commissioned him was excited by it. Art by one of Mythal’s favoured was a commodity, and that it was suddenly a temporary thing, doomed to flake away in a hundred years or so, which in Elvhenan wasn’t a particularly long time.* This made it a commodity. Irregardless of how they felt, Solas hated it and experimented and consulted with other artists until he found the technique he uses in Inquisition.

As I mentioned in my last ask, Solas also took up music. He’s not a master, and never will be, in part because it’s not as accessible for him as drawing/painting. However, one of his closest friends, Miolvun, played the harp and he wanted to surprise them by learning how to play with them, so he learned how to play. If you handed him a cello or a flute now he could probably eventually remember how to play, but he’d likely refuse. Not only because he’s sort of forgotten, but also he knows maybe one or two songs from this era. Again, he used to sculpt, but that’s been lost with the Veil, and he’s been known to pick up a pen now and then, but overall finds he’s better at talking than writing. Or at least more comfortable.

Solas also paints a lot with the Fade. Probably the best example of this is in one of his first dreams with Ian (who is black/white colourblind), where he paints his dreams for him. For Solas, magic is, in a way, art. Nowadays he distinguishes between magic he uses for art, practical magic, battle magic, etc, but in his early years (before he ever knew war) all magic seemed like art to him. Lighting a fire with a spell was art, creating something with a thought, dreaming. His relationship with artistry was much closer when he was younger, as he aged it became more of a hobby or coping mechanism, depending on his state of mind.

So yes, he does far more than frescoes, in fact he primarily does charcoal sketches. He keeps a journal as a sketchbook, but for most of his first year in the Dragon Age and after joining Inquisition he hates most of what he creates. The world is flat, nothing seems real, and that reflects in his artwork. I wrote a drabble here about how Solas draws Ian changes with time, and not just Ian but the entire Inquisition. His perception changes, and so does his art. Despite a lot of the conflict Solas is experiencing throughout Inquisition, however, once he gets to that place he does have a much healthier relationship with his art. He draws people he meets at the Crossroads, memories of old friends, memories of people he never met but is glad to have known through dreams. At least, until Trespasser, when he just kinda paints vent art all over the place.

Aside from sketches and frescoes, Solas also paints in watercolours. They’re more casual and meant more for him or as gifts. He’s also been known to paint the faces of the children who live in Skyhold after one particularly precocious one insisted (though she had to wait a week for him to mix the paint– he wasn’t about to apply fresco paint to her).

*I base my hcs for this first mural off the degradation of The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci. Even within a lifetime the figures from the painting began to blur and flake. Da Vinci’s technique was a bit more complicated and had more thought and knowledge behind it than Solas’, but to get an idea of what I mean when I say it starts to flake pretty fast it’s a good reference point.

[nbrook29]

What did you think of Antwerp? Did you like it?

I was an intense day, packed with all those locations I wanted to see and I walked everywhere instead of taking the tram for example so I didn’t even have time to stop and just take in the city I think. I mean, I think it looks like a great place to go to the uni there, it has nice vibes. Almost all of the wtfock locations seemed smaller than I thought, which I guess is that film magic 😅

Antwerp seemed like a very industrial city. I think my favorite place was in the skatepark in front of the mural. I don’t have a strong opining tbh cause I was there for only one day. For example, I like Brussels much more after 4 afternoons of walking around than I did on the first day. With cities I have it the same way that with people - to most, I need to warm up to 😌 and you know, I think the best way to get to know the place is to hang out with someone who actually lives there which I didn’t have enough time to do this time. I always use Bumble for that (btw I thought I would so I started swiping and I had a match with that blond guy DS had the clothing challenge with and went to the festival with last year 😂)

Next time I’m here for work, I will choose Ghent and Leuven to check out 😁

[muthur9000]

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As part of our creatives series, Wayne Haag answers some questions on Science fiction and fantasy, also giving us some insight into his work.

Clara Fei-Fei: My first encounter with your work was for The Fifth Element (which I LOVE). I always wondered what sort of design requirements did you have to meet for the movie? Did you speak to Luc Besson about what he wanted?

Wayne Haag: As a matte painter I didn’t have to meet any design requirements, that was all taken care of by the concept designers.. who were Jean-Claude Mézières and Moebius, among others. I just had to paint to their designs. Within the scope of the matte painting itself, there are mini design problems or choices and those I discussed with my supervisors and Luc a few times for the various matte painting shots I worked on.

CF: What’s your favourite Scifi movie? 

WH: Alien with Empire Strikes Back a very very close second. I know Star Wars isn’t strictly science fiction, more fantasy but for me, it’s about a sense of wonder and they both have it. I still have every Marvel Star Wars comic btw.

CF: Wow awesome! And who is your favourite character from any Scifi movie/comic/game?

Favourite character… I don’t have a favourite actually… If pushed I’d have to say Luke Skywalker, he’s the archetypal hero we all relate to.

CF: If you could enhance your body using robotics, what abilities would you choose?

WH: Eyes… Mine are going! Visibility into a much larger part of the EM spectrum – IR, UV, X-ray etc, zoom capability, heads-up display – data overlay, distance measurement, image capture…

CF: What inspired you to pursue work in concept art? For anyone wanting to pursue the same line of work, where do you suggest they start?

WH: I had always wanted to be an artist, always wanted to make images. It was never an option to not be an artist. This has encompassed professional photography, matte painting, illustration for publishing, concept art, mural painting, oil painting. Start drawing and painting, nothing more to it than that. Learn what you need to be a competent illustrator and the rest will follow.

CF: Could you give me an idea of what it’s like during production? What sort of guidelines you are given and what’s your average turn around time for the work you have done?

WH: That’s a large question. Every production is different, the vibe is different, some are relaxed some are stressful. It’s why I prefer to work from home mostly. Gigs like Alien you have to be there every day in house which is fine, can’t be a hermit all the time! Guidelines are simple – make this scene/shot look awesome – There’s the script, here’s the director’s brief now paint something that fulfils that brief. Don’t care how you do it, just get there.

Turn around time can vary from several (6 to 8) quick paintings in an afternoon to an evolving painting over several weeks. Not continuous of course, but bigger paintings I might have 3 or 4 days, it may sit around for a bit when you finally get feedback and you jump back onto that painting and off it goes into the cycle again. Some finish quickly and get approved just as quickly and you never see it again. Some hang around like bad smells!

CF: What is your favourite piece you ever created?

WH: One of my oil paintings, titled Sky Burial #2. It encapsulated everything I love about sci-fi, sense of wonder, mystery, story, history, spaceship wrecks, the desert.

SKY BURIAL #2

CF: What variant of the Xenomorph is your favourite? 

WH: The original.. because you didn’t see much of it. It was the implied cold-blooded violence that was scary, not so much the beast itself – which was scary as hell in its own right, I just preferred the implicit horror.

CF: I really loved Daniels cabin in the Covenant, what work did you do on that?

WH: The design for Daniel’s cabin evolved quite a lot for many months. A couple of concept artists had started the process, set designers etc, all working towards the final. My contribution was to bring the design language in from the other interior sets Steve Burg had designed and made it feel more modular like you would find on a ship. Then it was a matter of painting a couple of frames that illustrated the lighting and mood, which is my main area of interest.

  Daniels Cabin on the Covenant

White Room

CF: I read that the white room is inspired by 2001, what aspects of the movie did you consider when creating this set?

WH: Firstly, no one concept artists create ‘the set’, it really is an army of people that have some contribution at some point along the way, from top to bottom. The overall layout was inspired by a physical location in Sydney that they wanted to use but could not, so the decision was made to build the set at Fox. I had plans for the location and built that in 3D to scale. Then as I mentioned above, I paint the scene up for lighting, mood and composition, ie. camera position and lens choice. (which was used by Ridley on the day of the shoot).

No references to 2001 were used, not by me anyway. I approach each painting/set as a real place and try to work out how I would shoot it if I were really there, what kind of lighting situation, time of day, weather, season etc etc. Unless the director specifically references another movie, I go with my own references and ideas that I think to fulfil the script/story.

  Before

After

CF: What work did you do on the mothership in The Crossing and Alien: Covenant? What other aspects of the engineer city did you work on?

WH: I didn’t do any design work on the Mother Juggernaut, that was all Steve Messing. As we all have access to the 3D resources, I used the model he built simply as a prop within the greater scene. Again, setting up composition, lighting, mood. Although I did build the city and surrounds in 3D as one big model to scale so that everyone could see how shots would look if you were standing in the plaza. The 3D allows me to place human figures in the correct relative scale to a known real-world camera and the renders provide a basis with which to paint on.

My model of the plaza was based on Steve Messing’s original plaza layout. As the set designers finalised buildings and sets, I would incorporate them into my huge Maya file, kind of like a master file. Then I’d place 3D cameras around matching pov’s Ridley wanted.

Like all film designs, they grow, evolve and change. The final city you see in the film is quite a bit different from the city I built, so the VFX guys had further developed the city layout as per Ridley’s ongoing massaging.

  Image converted using ifftoany

Image converted using ifftoany

CF: What was the inspiration for the shower scene?

WH: T&A as far as I can tell…

CF: (lol)

CF: Do you have a list of the art pieces you infused into the movie?

WH: Not really, when you’re working on a film you don’t have time to immerse yourself in the art references and meaning, least I don’t anyway. All art choices are Ridley’s, I just create the scene as if it were really there and I shot it with a camera. The decision to not use the Francis Bacon triptych in the white room was solely due to licensing costs, nothing more than that. The Bacon estate wanted too much money. The Bugatti chair was also a licensed design and the prop was to be destroyed in front of lawyers once shooting wrapped.

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CF: What pieces of yours made it the final film? Was there anything that didn’t?

WH: What pieces had an influence you should ask, concept art never makes it into the film per se, it is a tool for solving creative visual, technical, financial problems. How will this set look? How big will it be? How much VFX will be needed for that shot, how will the DP light the set etc?

It’s an internal document that hopefully answers the director’s, art director’s and production designer’s questions. If not, try something else, or remove things from the artwork. For example, I had two statues out front of the Cathedral and was asked to remove them from the piece. If that artwork had been disseminated throughout the production, someone may have assumed those statues were to be made and start spending money making them!

There are several paintings I did that you can see as shots in the film, they aren’t exact, but the overall compositions had been faithfully translated.

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CF: What would you say has been your favourite project to work on?

WH: Fifth Element, The Wolverine, Alien Covenant, three best projects of my career.

CF: What is it like working on a large scale production such as Alien compared to smaller scale ones?

WH: Depends on who you’re working with and answering to directly, i.e. production designer. Some large-scale projects are overly corporate and anal, smaller ones are creatively easy going. It can also be the reverse too! Alien was super creative, very easy going (hard work, long hours but no BS!). Great people all around. Some tv commercial gigs can be a giant PITA, some smaller directors can sometimes want to prove themselves by having too much attitude and want to override your ideas, big directors like Ridley don’t have those insecurities and are therefore great to work with.

CF: Congratulations on winning the award for your work on Alien: Covenant.

WH: Thank you!

CF: Is there anything you are working on currently?

WH: I just finished working on a pitch project for Pixar and as I write this, doing concepts for a Chinese comedy film shot here in Australia.

CF: In future what sort of opportunities would you like to be involved in?

WH: Well I currently work freelance, for the most part, I teach part-time (at Production Art Department PAD http://www.productionartdepartment.com ), I’m starting to put out video tutorials of how to paint etc and I need to get my arse into gear and get back to oil painting my own project. As far as the future is concerned, I’d like more time to paint my own work.

Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my questions, I look forward to having you on Yutani Podcast soon.

  Creatives: Wayne Haag As part of our creatives series, Wayne Haag answers some questions on Science fiction and fantasy, also giving us some insight into his work.

[izakk-tiberius-kyle]

FUCK IT I'm just gonna talk about it-

This man's home is CLUTTERED in such a homey way. It's like an ISpy book but LIT THE FUCK UP in mood lighting.

String lights?

Fairy lights?

Lava lamps?

Random cute lights?

Galaxy lights? Multiple

Lamps lamps lamps-

JUST LIGHTS SO MANY LIGHTS.

NO BIG LIGHT FUCK THAT THING.

Obviously STICKERS EVERYWHERE

So random notes, things he cut out, posters, magazine pages etc taped to the walls.

A whole wall dedicated to family and friends in an array of unique thrifted or hand made frames and Polaroids he drew on and sticker bombed-

His bedroom? The biggest example of this.

That's his safe space

You can't see an inch of his navy blue walls but he took the time to paint every wall anyway because he couldn't NOT.

His bed is covered in a nest of thrifted or handmade quilts, blankets, stuffed animals, and pillows. The only thing bought new is his mattress.

His desk? Covered in projects and blue prints. Sticky notes of doodles (some he saved from @ni0x btw) and reminders of things he needs to do later. Little figurines and fidgets to help him focus and think.

Obviously the desk is covered in stickers.

His ceiling? Glow in the dark stars, tapestries, more random things taped up, lanterns, curtain lights, fake vines and plants hanging down, random ropes of things like pearls, beads, buttons, dried fruits, etc just hanging down.

His floor? Covered in layered old vintage rugs and occasionally some random thing he just tossed onto the floor and forgot to pick up.

His bathroom? Serene and surprisingly simple. Just a couple paintings he did hung up and a mural of the forest on the walls. He tiled the shower himself using old mosaic glass he just found scrounging around or thrifting (most if not all his stuff is thrifted, stolen, or he just found or made it) and he made Van Gogh's Starry Night out of them. Floor is more simple with seafoam green diamond tiles. Sink he painted with tile paint and put cherry blossoms on it.

His kitchen? So so cozy. Small and compact with dark mahogany cabinets Jason helped him install, pink faux marble counters because he just fell in love with it. His stove is an old bronze colored thing that looks straight out of a steampunk concept. He found it and refused to leave it behind. His fridge is just an old white fridge but it's covered in his massive magnet collection from places his been, thrift shops, gifts from other people's travels, and pictures alley kids drew him, the rest kept safely in a box under his bed.

His dining table is just an old red door he turned into a table by attaching old broken off black table legs he found and added a food safe coating over the paint, still leaving the old cracked and chipped look. His centerpiece being a purple crystal shaped vade filled with origami roses he made with Cass and Damian out of Magazines.

His chairs are all mismatched, there's four out, a plush green arm chair with a leaf pattern embroidered into it and pinewood, a red painted chair he just tossed an old baby blue cushion onto, a yellow stool he painted pink roses and vines onto, and his favorite chair, a soft plush navy blue armchair he stole from Lex Luthor's office when he was 15. He sits in it every time he eats.

His hallway is wallpapered with an old purple floral wallpaper he found in an old basement exploring abandoned homes, it was discolored and a little stained, but he loved it. The walls lined with pictures of newspaper clips of his family both in and out of costume.

His living room is like an old witch grandma's paradise. A large worn but so so soft deep yellow couch in the center, trinket shelves filled with random trinkets he's found over the years covered the walls, ranging from crystals, bones, toys, bottle caps, buttons, etc. His ceiling pained like a cloudy day. No tv to be found, just a projector screen and a projector on the cluttered coffee table. The table being an old hand made thing an old lady he used to be neighbors with let him have before she passed away. It being covered in books and random screws, paint brushes, bullets, and always at least two coffee mugs he forgot about.

The entire left wall of his living room is lined with random mismatched bookshelves filled with books, varied interests can be found in these books. Some of the shelves are just multiple tiny shelves stacked up onto each other. Lined from ceiling to floor.

I need to know the vibe of Izakk's home

(oh man I don't think Tumblr lets you add enough pictures to one post for this I got so much inspo-)

[happiness-in-oblivion]

Senior Szn No. 2: Thoughts on Moving

~~ Full Disclosure: This post is quickly becoming an excuse to post all the beautiful parts of this state, so get ready for more pictures than actual words. But hey, a picture is worth a thousand words ;) ~~

I am 100% sure that when it comes down to pulling out of my driveway for the last time, I will bawl my freaking eyes out. That’s because despite being an Aquarius, I have emotions.

Let’s make this perfectly clear: these are my current thoughts on leaving New Mexico (AKA the land of enchantment). I am not saying that I currently hate my state or that I never had fun; on the contrary, I’ve enjoyed all eighteen years here. But it’s time to talk a bit about the current state of Albuquerque, NM. 

Yes, the same Albuquerque that brought the nation Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. The same Albuquerque that has (don’t fight me on this) the best green chile around. 

Because I don’t want to make this a post that seems to be hating on my hometown, I will begin with all the positives.

Pros

1. diversity and mexican/latin@ empowerment

The OG homies and I at the local paleteria. Let me tell you, this is the place where I come to break my healthy eating. Also, that happens often.

In 2016, New Mexico was announced as having the largest Hispanic population at 47%, with California coming in second at 36%. So I guess you could say that we slay. 

From what I’ve mostly encountered in ABQ, being cultured is something to be extremely proud of. Albuquerque is filled with multiple perspectives, and we function. Now, I did say mostly, because I have encountered some dumbasses that thought calling me “lamb chops” and telling me my Greek father had to lower his standards to marry my Mexican mom was actually funny. But that kind of ideology is quickly shut down.

I thought this kind of inclusion was extremely common. In that sense, I guess I was in this naive bubble. When I spent the summer in California with my dad in 2016, I was a bit shocked by the state with the second highest population of Hispanics.

BTW, we were staying in Palo Alto, which is definitely important to mention. We had to drive to a separate city limit to eat flautas and Caldo de Rez, which we found weird. And then, as we drove down El Camino Real and took a random turn, we found a run down street that was filled with Spanish signs advertising hair salons, supermarkets, etc. The blatant street segregation was the biggest culture shock I’d ever received.

The only true purpose of that little rant was to emphasize how wonderful New Mexico is. Although there are definitely neighborhoods that are predominantly Hispanic, New Mexico’s roots proudly seep into culture and diversity. Good segway… :)

2. proud (albu)quirky culture

New Mexicans pride themselves when it comes to: breakfast burritos, green chile, luminarias, flamenco, and so on.

Now that I’ve stated the obvious, I’ll talk about my personal favorite part of Albu-quirky. Because of the diverse community that Albuquerque fosters, we have really cool and local spots to just chill and hangout. As I write this, I am thinking about the countless coffee shops and bookstores that display a bit it of our very common quirkiness.

Pretty rad mural outside of Zendo. I often come here when I am trying to wear my cool new glasses and baby blue turtleneck, if you know what I mean. This mural is one of countless examples of beautiful downtown art.

When it comes to coffee shops, I think Albuquerque has a very desired vibe. After taking a few classes, I usually end up at Winning Coffee. Located right across the street from campus, Winning is where hippies come with their wild dogs while they gain insightful stories from homeless people. I’m not lying. it’s also located next to a movie poster store that features classics (even from Audrey Hepburn!). When you walk inside, you’re greeted by refreshing and new art on the wall with every passing week, a calendar filled with poetry slams, and a makeshift bookstore by a retired man who sells amazing vintage cover books for cheap. I mean, c’mon, what is not to love?

You see, other than Starbucks, most coffee shops around here aren’t chains, so they each have their own unique style and vibe. Depending on the mood, I may end up at Winning, or I may go down one block and sit in the bucolic setting that is Limonata (yes, like the drink). Here, you can enjoy homemade crepes and empanadas. And I don’t usually drink caffeine, but their chai’s are to die for.

Limonata: “Good Food, Good Coffee, Good People”

Also, I can’t forget the fact that this obviously looks like a house, because it definitely was. The bathroom literally has a bath tub that they have expertly filled with plants to make you experience a jungle in a few minutes.

Heck, there’s a coffee shop in Taos called World Cup that has different currencies as its wallpaper. it’s literally a hole in the wall, and people simply pin new and refreshing culture on the wall for the heck of it.

That adobe architecture though, am I right?

4. cheap concerts

Although I have not been to a concert in a hot second, that does not correlate to a decline in awesome ass shows in this city. In fact, this past summer Khalid came on over, and most of my friends hopped into the venue with at most an $80 ticket. (Let me point out that I am upset that I didn’t go and had I not been in another state I would have quickly hopped in as well)

I will admit it’s not always fun when an artist you really enjoy didn’t include New Mexico in their tour because they don’t think we’re in the country. BUT, the ones that do include us experience a great crowd. And, not being New York does have its perks. Cheap tickets for an unforgettable night? Perfect bargain.

I was in seventh grade when I attended my first concert. The tickets were $35 to see Sara Bareilles and OneRepublic. I went with my little sister and my friend and her mom. The venue was in our local casino, which includes an open view of the beautiful sky and a scenic landscape as the background. Right after the opening band, Harper Blynn (check out their collab with Sara Bareilles too), my sister and I went to their bus in an attempt to meet them, and meet them we did.

When they found out it was our first concert ever, they gave us a free signed copy of their CD, took pictures with us, and signed their names all over my seven-year-old sister’s arm in Sharpie. It was AWESOME.

5. badass nationwide events 

If there is one thing that New Mexico is known for, it is for our rad balloons. You know, as in hot air balloons?

Every year, Albuquerque is home to the International Balloon Fiesta, where hot balloon aficionados can come and either display their artwork of a balloon, or sip some Piñon coffee and eat a breakfast burrito while watching each beautiful hot air ballon go up into the most spectacular sunrise.

Seriously, to come to this thing requires a lot of might from Burqueños. I mean, I enjoy watching the balloons over the interstate on my way to school, but I am never in the mood to wake up at four in the a.m. only to wait in an hour of traffic to battle for a parking spot a mile away from the park grounds. On top of that, you’re pretending not to freeze your ass off as you slyly inch closer to the balloons with fire.

This is not the only time Albuquerque is seen internationally. We also have the Lantern Festival in October, where people can enjoy a mini version of a hot air balloon (basically). But hey, that’s not all.

I had to talk about Festival Flamenco Internacional. OMG. What a week. Every June, the National Institute of Flamenco brings incredible flamenco artists to teach classes and perform. For a week in the year, people between New York and Japan fly to Albu-quirky to learn from the hottest (artistically and literally) artists.

This picture has an incredible story, so hear me out. So all summer, my friends and I fundraised to see these amazing people and their art. Well, the opening night of the week, our director managed to sneak us into the very prestigious gala as waitresses and servers. After the amazing show where I spent the entire time internally crying, we returned to the party only to find our dance idols on the dance floor. They were regular people jamming to salsa music. It was so surreal! And then, our amazing director asked them for a picture with all of us. I am hugging Claudia Cruz to my left, who was one of my teachers for the week. Throughout the week, we had genuine conversations, and she even told me I was a good dancer with a followed wink. She messages me on facebook to remind me that I’m awesome and she can’t wait for the day to come when I visit her in Spain. Like, are you kidding me?!

(Also picture from left to right: Claudia Cruz, me, Sage, Marco Flores, Agueda Saavedra, Madison, and Jose Manuel Alvarez)

6. nature

This is another given that comes hand in hand with living in New Mexico. Although I will admit sometimes I may not be a complete outdoorsy person, I do genuinely enjoy the beauty of NM. I mean, the mountains that surround Albuquerque prevent pollution from reaching the sky that blesses the citizens with orange and red hues with every sunrise and sunset. Also, there are countless hikes to go on, and the view is spectacular. It’s a tradition with family and friends of ours to go on a weekly hike during the summer. Then, we go to Marble Brewery and enjoy tacos and beer (I don’t get any beer; oh well).

This was the view after a hike on the mountains during Thanksgiving Break.

Just a casual picture taken by my friend while hiking around Tent Rocks. Nothing too unusual, right?

Current Cons

Now that I’ve extensively covered all the amazing things that NM has to offer and have probably already lost several readers, I will go into the initial motivation behind this post. Although I admit now that after writing all the things from above, it seems like the list below doesn’t deserve to be mentioned. But trust me, it needs to be.

1. violence

Albuquerque got recognition from the NYTimes, and not the good kind. BTW, this was published in 2014, and it claims that the “rate of violent crime in Albuquerque is nearly double the national average.”

Don’t get me wrong - violence in ABQ has always been present. Before, however, it was usually localized violence. By this, I guess I mean that if you knew the places to avoid, you didn’t ever have to actually witness the gang violence or the constant murders. In other words, you could live in Albuquerque reading of the violence but never having to ever witness it. 

Well, that has definitely changed.

During this past week, a homeless man has exposed himself to my dance class, my mom witnessed a man piss on the side of my neighbor’s house while walking our dog, and a lot more serious stuff (trigger warning ahead).

Specifically, a man was hanging onto the side of the bridge overlooking the major freeway for 13 hours. This happened literally right outside of my house. As we drove back form church, we saw a herd of policemen trying to calm this poor man down. He did not yield until 1 a.m., and he was transported to the hospital safely. It was absolutely horrible. Even worse?

Two days later, my friend told our group chat that her stepfather (who is a cop) had to respond to a call that a sixteen-year-old boy was on the side of a different bridge. As the cops approached the bridge, he jumped. He didn’t die; instead, he is faced with irrecoverable brain injury. 

Like you’ve got to be fucking kidding me right now. How the hell did Albuquerque become so violent? From the influx of desperate homeless people walking down Central, to the shooting that happened right outside of my dance institute, Albuquerque has definitely become a place where violence is beginning to occur on a regular basis. And the worst part? I think I am starting to become numb to it. It’s not normal to think these things are normal.

2. 49th in education

So, this report is from 2017. Believe it or not, this is actually a step up from 2016. We were a solid last in the country for education. And I genuinely didn’t think that education in my state was that bad. That’s because, despite me absolutely despising my school, we are number one in the state for education. That means that while I was receiving a buttload of homework and a ridiculously difficult education, other public high schools would rank as an F on academic abilities. But do you know what I think of all of this? It’s fucked. 

I don’t know if this is nationwide, but I didn’t know it was not normal to spend most of the day studying for statewide tests. In other words, New Mexico had the SBA (Standardized Based Assessment). Most of my school day involved multiple choice questions and answering reading comprehension questions that would be featured on the annual standardized test. And trust me, it’s not the teacher’s faults. Most teachers were forced to stick to this because if students did not receive good scores, teachers and schools would be in major jeopardy. 

This kind of thinking didn’t end in elementary school. While I was supposed to be reading a new chapter for a striking English book in sixth grade, we’d instead sit in front of our computers, reading pointless passages about horses and spaceships that we gave no fucks over and were expected to write an analytical essay comparing the breed of horses with the flight of spaceships. You’re thinking, wtf? Exactly. It’s pointless.

**I am now begging you to actually click the link I am posting here, because it’s definitely the most important one here. Enjoy this slam poem, “Love Letter to Albuquerque Public Schools.” In it is Olivia Gatwood, a personal inspiration of mine that I got to meet and speak with in September and will see again in April.**

3. “land of entrapment” / “university near mom”

This one is really silly and I guess I put this as a comedic conclusion. I guess in a gruesome way, because of the education many teenagers receive, we seem trapped (bringing the infamous nickname above). I know that personally, before I actually took college courses outside of the state, I did not picture myself at any top-ranked college. In fact, some people around me don’t even consider a college. Not because they’re too lazy or not into higher education, but because it is not practical. It is not practical to attend college courses if you have family  members that need an income from you now, not in four years.

I hate when people judge other’s circumstances. Genuinely, Albuquerque students will often end up at the University of New Mexico, which is not a bad university at all. And yet, in this land of entrapment, it is also humorously deemed the “university near mom.”

I guess what I mean is that after all this effort and living in this weird ass situation of shootings and standardized testing, my generation still feels trapped, constantly looking to move. And that’s what happened to me. I was given a glimpse of what independence looked like, and I immediately jumped at the opportunity to leave New Mexico.

I’m glad I wrote this post. At the end of this, I wonder if anyone is actually left after this long rant that was both good and evil. And yet, I already see the day I miss this place coming sooner rather than later.

Thanks for sticking around. :)

[cybermoonmoon]

“Cat Heaven”

In heaven cat's read much more than they ever did on Earth. If you walk down a street up there ya can always tell where a cat lives by the big pile of magazines, and papers piled by their mail boxes. Their enchantment with the written word is why so many librarians in heaven are cats. In Valhalla cats tend to speak so much more than the did down here. In heaven that wonderous tax free Candyland to come. In that user friendly free lunch realm. It's not odd for them cat folks to strike up conversations with passers by. Being so well read up They gots the lowdown on the whole shebang.  Indeed they've a particular fondness for all that Sufi prose'n poetry stuff.  They have made good hippies,...well they did, but ya know. Any listener to Cat Cable Radio will be familiar with their lovely programs on the subject. Matter of fact cats being naturally introspective. They're fascinated by the concept of the Eternal. Hey Heaven ain't nothing if not just that. Cats are among the few species up there that get it. Well the Jovian Balloon Fish get it,...Lady Bugs get it ,...not many more. Them folks and cats are doing most of the research on the nature of the Un-Ending. Serious shit that. There's all this, but heaven or not cats is still cats. In them bright Tinkerbelle realms of the free lunch, and no tax leans. cats walk on the ceilings. Say you're chilling in you beach front digs in Candyland, and looks up. Cats! Ya ceiling is crawling with them guys. Whole bunches calmly padding about doing their cat thing. They even fall asleep up there. Ya has to poke'em with a broom to get the down. Btw they plays the accordion too. Not easy without fingers, but com'on it's heaven. They also have full spectrum vision up. I mean beside the usual seeing ghosts infrared, and through walls,...up there they sees through time, and space. Everything is 200 octaves higher than most. The universe is all neon to them. Which explains a lot. Them little guys loves colors. Explain their loud ties, and why they paint their houses like Peter Max posters. Most of the murals at the Department of Dreams is done by cats. When you're having one of them wild wooly vision things,...cats did the special effects. They can swim too. Heaven's Coney Island is mobbed with cats. The weekly Coney Island Cat Ballets are a sight. Heck even Christians like them, and there ain't much up there they do. They's real disappointed no one is being tormented or burnt up for being a Beatnik or Negro or Queer. Sour hateful bastards. Oh one last thing is just how many cats there 'seem' to be hanging around the beatific districts. In heaven you see souls,...all of them. Humans chickens, and such have maybe two or three tops.

Bleeping cats have nine...well okay them Balloon fish guys from Jupiter have 38 each, but that's another story. Well that's enuff for now. There's plenty more ya know. I once did a book about heaven. All it's levels departments, and goings on. Mostly how management tries so hard to keep folks interested, and smart.  For example with all that time. Everybody up there has 48 advanced degrees in near everything. All this to prepare for the next level,...don't ask no one knows, and the Big Guy ain't talking. Stay Tuned. ( The posts below are a bit more depressing, and serious,...enjoy.)

[mexcine2]

Everybody Loves a Clown, So Why Don’t You? (Super-Mystery Comics 4/4, October 1944)  

When did the “scary clown” trope begin? Perhaps there have always been people who found clowns disconcerting and frightening, but the popular culture image of clowns seems to have been (generally) benign for many years.  There were exceptions, and since we’re discussing 1940s (“Golden Age,” if you want to sound like an expert) comics in this essay, consider the multitude of clown villains (alright, maybe half a dozen), not even counting The Joker (who isn’t exactly a clown, but looks like one).  Who fought bad clowns?  Bozo the Robot (in 1941; I wonder if this was somehow subliminally responsible for the later “Bozo the Clown?”), Mr. Scarlet (“The Black Clown”), Green Hornet, Madame Satan (“The Jester,” that’s a kind of clown, right?) the Star Spangled Kid (and Stripsey!), and the Bouncer, to name a few.  [On the heroic side we’ve got “The Clown” who lasted for a mere 2 issues in 1941, and “The Jester,” who had an 8-year run from 1941-49.]

But, after the Joker, the most successful (if, by “successful,” you mean having your sinister plans repeatedly foiled, often getting a savage beating for good measure) clown villain was “The Clown,” the nemesis of Magno and Davey.  Magno and Davey were a super-hero duo for lesser comics publisher Ace, and appeared in 47 (well, Davey was there for 44) stories between 1940 and 1947, mostly in Super-Mystery Comics but with a run in Four Favorites as well.  They met “The Clown” in 24 (51%) of their adventures!  Now that’s a nemesis!

The Clown originally wore a yellow outfit with a green ruffed-collar, belt and boots (over striped boxer shorts, as revealed in one story), although in later issues the colour scheme was reversed so that green predominated (the cover art wasn’t always consistent with the interior art in this respect, however).  Facially, he resembled a balding Joker, although—due to colouring inconsistencies--sometimes he had pasty white skin (especially on the covers) and sometimes mostly flesh-coloured skin (in most interior stories). The Clown seems to be wearing a thin, black domino mask, or perhaps it’s makeup—in one story, he’s badly hurt and lying in a hospital bed without his costume…but the mask is still on! (Maybe it’s a tattoo?)

The Clown was introduced as “the craftiest, most vicious arch criminal of all time,” and in his first few appearances he (a) wrecks a library, (b) tries to burn the American flag, ( c ) sets off explosions in the subway (and vows to “kill MILLIONS”), (d) exploits refugee children, (e) assaults senior citizens and (f) repeatedly commits brutal murders. The Clown has no apparent super-powers, but is an inventor (a chemist, according to the first story) and uses a “degravitating solution” so he can make “long leaps” (in a few stories). He wields a sword and likes to use various types of gas.  The Clown doesn’t seem to have a particular idée fixe or a long-term villainous goal: he occasionally claims he wants to “rule the” country or--less ambitiously--”rule” crime in the USA, but in later issues he’s primarily focused on getting revenge on Magno and Davey.

One thing to mention about The Clown is that there’s no particular reason he’s called “The Clown.”  He doesn’t have an origin story, he isn’t based in a circus, and he doesn’t use clown-like gimmicks to commit crimes.  He doesn’t even rattle off evil-but-humourous quips as he’s doing bad things.  Maybe he just likes the way the costume feels and looks. Or perhaps The Clown was created because somebody at Ace Magazines read Batman 1 (Spring 1940) where The Joker was introduced. The Clown made his debut in Super-Mystery Comics 1/5, December 1940.  A coincidence?  I think not…

The cover of Super-Mystery 4/4 is signed by “Ferstadt,” about whom more later. Early Magno adventures were drawn by Jim Mooney in a significantly more realistic style than Ferstadt’s work; later issues and covers were done by various artists including Rudy Palais, L.B. Cole, Walter Davoren, Harvey Kurtzman, Tony DiPreta, and the Ferstadt studio.

I didn’t (and, to be honest, still don’t) have a great appreciation for Louis Ferstadt’s comic book art. Golden Age comic book artists fall into several categories, including excellent, competent, and terrible.  Ferstadt’s drawing isn’t terrible, but his work seems deliberately distorted, cartoony and intentionally crude.  However, my respect for Ferstadt grew considerably when I saw some of his non-comic book work.  Louis Goodman Ferstadt was born in 1900 in what is now the Ukraine, and moved to the USA with his family at age 10.  Ferstadt studied art and then went to work producing commercial art, newspaper comics (including a strip for “The Daily Worker,” published by the Communist Party of the USA), murals, and comic book stories.  He also established a comics studio in the 1940s; among his employees were L.B. Cole and a young Harvey Kurtzman.  Ferstadt and/or his studio contributed to comics published by nearly every company of the era, including DC, Timely, Ace, Harvey, Hillman, Fox, Better, Holyoke, and Quality.

A glance at images of Ferstadt’s murals and paintings indicates he was a talented artist, but that the type of stylisation used in these media did not necessarily translate to comic book art. There are several other possible explanations, including (a) Ferstadt didn’t consider his non-political comic book stories to be worthy of his full efforts (although the cover of Super-Mystery Comics 4/4 isn’t bad at all—many artists tended to lavish more care on cover art, for obvious reasons), and/or (b) some of the comic book art attributed to him is actually the product of less-experienced artists in his studio (Harvey Kurtzman went to work for Ferstadt when he was just 18, his first professional job).

Super-Mystery Comics was published from 1940-49 by Ace Magazines. Interestingly enough, while a variety of features appeared in each issue, the “Super” type of stories predominated for the first 6 years, then the superhero characters (Magno, The Sword, some lesser costumed heroes like Buckskin and Vulcan) were dropped and “Mystery” (well, crime-type, mostly) stories took over for the final few years. It’s almost as if they planned it that way when they chose the title!

Magno was the comic’s star, appearing on the cover of the first 29 issues of Super-Mystery Comics before yielding his spot to the non-costumed crimefighter Mr. Risk (Magno came back for one more cover, shortly before he was dropped completely from the comic).

One of the interesting things about the cover of Super-Mystery October 1944 is that the image of Magno is so small (and his assistant Davey is even smaller, and has no face).  The dominant figure on the cover is The Clown, looking rather more feral than usual as he brandishes a stick of dynamite.  Although there are some scenes set in a circus in the interior story (which is about The Clown using trained rats to steal stuff and murder people), the cover is mostly symbolic, which was prevalent in the Golden Age (the presence of a particular villain on a cover usually signified that character’s presence inside, however—the comics didn’t cheat that much).

Magno wasn’t the most charismatic superhero, but he was the best Ace had, and yet this cover reduces him to a tiny, almost irrelevant figure and makes The Clown the center of attention.  Covers highlighting a colourful nemesis were not unknown during the Golden Age: The Joker appeared on 22 DC covers during the 1940s, and Captain Marvel’s main villain Sivana on a dozen.  Lev Gleason’s The Claw can be seen on 11 covers in this era, although (a) he was a “starring” villain (sort of like Fu Manchu) and not just a secondary character in a superhero strip, and (b) 7 of these covers just show The Claw as a thumbnail image, alerting readers that his misadventures were included in that issue.  Over at Timely, The Red Skull shows up on only 6 covers of the Forties, compared with 11 stories in which his character menaced Captain American and/or the Young Allies.  The Clown made 10 cover appearances (including one thumbnail-only image): most of these covers depict him in combat with an equally-sized Magno, so that this particular issue of Super-Mystery Comics stands out as an especially Clown-centric cover.

Three other clowns are shown on the cover of Super-Mystery 4/4, each mimicking The Clown but with firecrackers rather than dynamite.  My favourite is the fellow at left wearing a bowler hat and a fake “horse” body: he has a delightfully evil look on his face, and the fact that he’s a “real” clown (as opposed to The Clown, whose makeup and costume don’t really resemble a circus clown) makes him a bit more sinister. Just look at him! He’s creepy! Bowler-Hat is about to be pranked by Prone Clown, who’s lighting a firecracker under his compatriot’s horse-butt: this is more like it, a typical clownish thing to do, and not at all weird or nightmare-inducing.  In the background (but still larger than sidekick Davey) is Tall & Moustachioed Clown, setting off multiple firecrackers in one of his ludicrously oversized hands.  Risky, but comedy requires taking risks!

[As an aside, the banner across the bottom of the cover annoyed me with its apparent error—CHUCK Full of Action and Excitement—until I did a (very little) bit of research, and learned that “chuck full” is an acceptable if “less common” (and probably out-dated) spelling of “chock-full” (which, it is claimed, was originally “choke-full”).]

The cover of Super-Mystery Comics 4/4 (October 1944) is colourful and amusing, if not an outstanding example of comic book art.  However, the backstory of Louis Ferstadt and the prominence of The Clown in superhero Magno’s oeuvre make it “chuck full” of interest.  Alright, perhaps not chuck full, but reasonably interesting.  To me, anyway.

[btw, if you think this blog entry was timed to capitalise on the U.S. release of the new film version of It (2017), you’re...partially correct.]