#negatively impacts other people and the impressions it leaves on society. have them fight the system.

[biprotagz]

stolas' reaction to being banished into poverty made me incredibly uncomfortable (to the point of nausea) and i hate how the show provides little nuanced commentary on it and doesn't delve into it.

[inrainprose]

how do you feel about sakura as she is in canon?

(Sorry long answer ahead)

I know a lot of people have strong (negative) feelings about canon Sakura. Can't count the number of people reading my fics who commented how they had never liked her before and were liking her for the first time here or things like that.

I don't really feel that way. I don't because I don't analyze Sakura's actions and characterization in canon as real aspects of her characters that deserved to be analyzed.

To keep it simple, Naruto's characters are all pretty bad. Because they are inconsistent and not very deep, and most of their actions and decisions are not driven by their characterization - or only on the very surface level of their one main character trait - but by the needs of the plot and story.

What opinion can I have on Sakura? She's just a female character written in a story where female characters don't amount to much, and I don't even know her. None of her character traits are things that I inherently like or dislike, any action and decision can be motivated and make sense to a character and therefore be enjoyable, whether we agree to it or not. Take the fangirl thing. It could and should have been a point of growth for her, something she outgrew and reflected on. But she didn't because it's not a real character trait. It's dropped because the story has changed and there are other things going on now and that's it. Same goes with her feelings for Sasuke. It's never put into question, never challenged, never worked on. It's just a thing on a list.

I find it hilarious that for the sheer amount of flashbacks we get at all times the story is so bad with setup and payoff, with dealing the consequences of their words and actions. She insults Naruto? Sasuke insults her? They hurt each other? Who cares. It doesn't have any impact on their opinion of each other and what they think because this is not a dynamic story. Things are how they are. Change is too hard to handle. That also ties into the problem Naruto have that it equals backstory with characterization, as if one thing happening to a character was a direct pipeline to the explanation for who they are and what they do.

What is written on Sakura's character sheet? She's in love with Sasuke. She has a mean/badass streak. Later on, she's very strong and also a healer. What else? What else, huh? Her hopes and dreams, her motivations, her relationship with her family, her inner world, where is it? Footage not found.

And on that matter I don't think other characters are treated much better. It's more obvious with Sakura because she's the worse out of all the mains I guess, we see her so often and with so little development, the frustration is real. But a lot of characters leave me with the same impression. Even Sasuke, for all I love him, and Gaara too, even freaking Naruto, no one is safe from this mess. I love their chore concept, I loved them when I first saw them on screen and for their first few arcs because they did have some consistency holding up. And I just kept loving them after, even if I didn't agree with anything that was going on, even if they were just so stupid and out of character, to me, at times.

And when I met Sakura and loved her all the same. I loved all of them really. I was so in love with Naruto, the show, with the excitement and joy it made me feel. It used to be something I looked forward to all day, just go home from school so that I could watch Naruto again. I watched the first 100 episodes several times in a row. And I had no problem with Sakura. She was just part of it all, she was on par with them with depth and lack of thereof, with her place in the story. I had no critical views of the place of women in media and society in general and she was even an improvement from what I was used to from female characters, since she did fight, she did was a warrior equal to her peers, at least on paper.

So I don't feel strongly about canon Sakura, just like I don't feel strongly about any Naruto canon anymore. That ship has sailed. I will just keep loving it because that's what happens to the thing you imprint on in your formative years, and I'll also keep finding it worse and worse because it doesn't hold up to the scrutiny of analysis without crumbling down in a horrible mess.

THAT BEING SAID I have to add that I think Sakura is just... She's fine. She's fine, she's not that bad, she's fine. She's worse in Shippuden because they all are and nothing makes sense there, but even then she's fine. I honestly don't get what all this hatred is about, apart from base misogyny. She's not worse than most, in Naruto or any other stupid shonen from the time we were so obsessed with. In canon she mostly suffers from no-development-allowed syndrome but that's on the bad writing. Otherwise she's just. A gal. And not a terrible one at that.

[awomanofscience]

HEADCANON: On Carina and "filthy pirates"

・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

TL;DR:

Carina has a Canonically disparaging view of pirates that I believe is influenced by her upbringing within the fold of "polite" society, the fact she's not a perfect character, and her treatment at the hands of Jack and crew. Their shared adventure and her familial connection (via. Barbossa) somewhat challenges this perception. More, positive encounters with pirates and a better understanding of their motivations would do this better. Eventually, I think she'd find certain elements of the pirate's life appealing (freedom from social constraints, fighting back, etc.).

*Longer explanation under the cut*

Throughout Dead Men Tell No Tales and her spin-off novelisation, it's pretty obvious that Carina has a disparaging view of pirates. There's evidence of this everywhere:

Calling Jack a "filthy pirate" during their near-execution

Expressing no moral opposition to his execution, unlike her own ("Kill the filthy pirate. I'll wait.")

Repeating the insult "filthy pirate" several times throughout the film

Refusing to believe one of Jack's crew could have an educated parent ("You're telling me your mother was academically inclined?")

Taking offence to Barbossa suggesting her father was a thief, particularly because he's a pirate ("The memory of my father will not be defiled by the tongue of a pirate!")

Regularly using "pirate" as an insult/judgement of character

Her perception of pirates doesn't really change until towards the end of the film, when she learns that one of the most infamous pirates of her time - Barbossa - was her father all along.

As an otherwise unusually progressive personality, why does she automatically take this view?

Carina is a product of her upbringing in "polite" society

For all the hardships she's endured throughout her life, financial/social hardship isn't really one of them.

Unlike pretty much every orphaned child in her time, Carina is neither condemned to the streets nor to a workhouse. Instead, she's sent to a "children's home" run by a rich and charitable benefactor in the countryside. This is highly unusual for her setting, given that the first real orphanage in the UK - The Foundlings Hospital - was opened in 1741. The orphanage movement didn't really take off until the mid 19th century, and although a few places did exist beforehand, most parentless kids were simply... abandoned. Some went to monasteries, others to work (and likely die) in workhouses. Some ended up on the streets. But very few were admitted into care.

In this care, Carina was also fortunate to get some semblance of an education. She's literate, well-spoken, has a higher-than-average understanding of the world around her, and is even tutored to near-fluency in Italian. The objective of this education is to turn Carina into a young lady worthy of polite society, and who can take up a working position in an upper-class household.

And this is what happens. Her first job is as a maid to the extremely wealthy Lady Devonshire, but she doesn't stay in this position for long. After bonding over their love for astronomy, she's taken in as a Lady Devonshire's ward. This is emphasised to be an elevated position that earns her a room in the estate, relief from her duties as a maid, and even curtseys from the other staff. She's in this role for four years before she leaves for St. Martin, directly before the events of the film.

The point of this context is to show that whilst canon!Carina has absolutely suffered hardship and discrimination (I am by NO means saying that 18th c. orphanages were good places to live), she still had a relatively privileged and sheltered life, compared to others like her, before DMTNT. She was brought up by and lived in "polite" society as a member of it in her own right, and so naturally reflects some of the attitudes that she doesn't yet know to challenge.

Before DMTNT, her perceptions aren't challenged

Carina doesn't live in a period where privileged society understood the links between social/financial desperation and piracy. Until you either lived or saw it for yourself, what evidence did you have to know to challenge the narrative? Carina grew up far removed from anywhere where she could see or experience it first-hand, and had nothing but stories and what she was taught to go by. And let's also be honest - real-life piracy could reap violent and unjustified consequences for innocent people. Without ever meeting a pirate for herself, or having a sympathetic example to relate to, how can see them as anything but the bogeyman?

Carina isn't a perfect person. She's highly flawed, and only truly understands how social barriers have impacted her and influenced her choices. Part of her journey throughout DMTNT is learning how they impact others, too.

Her first impressions of pirates don't exactly challenge them either (tw: sexism, objectification)

Carina's first encounters with pirates include being tricked and thrown off a building, bound and held captive, continuously condescended for being a woman, sexually objectified, and countless other pretty shit things that don't really do much to challenge what she thinks she knows.

Jack's crew treat her pretty awfully and belittle her throughout most of the film, and Jack's has his moments too (undressing scene on the boat, anyone?). I actually take issue with this narratively as a lot of this treatment makes no sense given the events of the previous films. But it's "canon", and it's pretty reasonable for Carina to feel negatively towards the only pirates she's met under those circumstances.

She isn't shown any respect from a pirate until Barbossa gives her the wheel of the Black Pearl, and even then we get that stupid line from Mullroy/Murtogg: "Sir, you wouldn't allow a woman to steer your ship...?"

Honestly? Throughout most of the film, Carina doesn't get to meet a "good" pirate who she can empathise with. By the end, she has both a shared experience and familial connection to begin the process of challenging her perceptions, but little else to take it further.

Do I think her views would continue post DMTNT?

No, I don't. Finding out Barbossa was her father was the first "big" step towards canon!Carina empathising more with at least one pirate. But even then, I headcanon that she would have a really hard time coming to terms with it, and the objectively awful things he's done, once the initial emotion wore off.

What Carina needs is to meet not awful examples of pirates that don't interact with her exclusively with put-downs, discrimination, and objectification, and learn more about what motivates them/the hardships they're often trying to escape. I think later conversations with both Will and Elizabeth would go a long way towards this in Canon, and am hoping to explore this with other characters here too.

I actually think Carina would eventually find some elements of piracy attractive. The idea of living a comparatively "free" life outside of society's constraints, and getting to "fight back" against the authorities that have persecuted her for so long.

BUT, I don't believe she'd ever really be on board with violence and acting against the innocent. Not outside my more "Dark Carina" verse anyway.

Does she take this view towards everything she's taught by society?

Absolutely not. I am not saying at all that Carina accepts all truths as taught by society as being absolute truths, including ones that don't relate to her. She is not discriminatory, or judgemental, and society was (and is) in many, many ways. But it's easier for her to accept "all pirates bad" as truth when there's significant evidence to support it right in front of her.

Summary? It's hard to challenge what you're taught as an absolute until you know how to. Carina does this well in some areas, but not in others - and that includes piracy. DMTNT gave her nothing to challenge her perceptions, so I'm going to do it here instead ;)

[dantesinfcrno]

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐓𝐔𝐃𝐘.

I N  S U M M A R Y   –––   𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒕𝒚𝒑𝒆 ; the explorer . 𝒆𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒂𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒎 ; two .  𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆 ; slytherin . 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒚 𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒆 ; four .  𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒖𝒂𝒈𝒆 ; physical touch . 𝒎𝒃𝒕𝒊 ; istp . 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 ; chaotic good .  𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒖𝒔 ; runespoor . 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏 ; sagittarius . 𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 ; sanguine .

𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒕𝒚𝒑𝒆 ; the explorer .

the explorer archetype’s goal: to live an inspiring and fulfilling life. the explorer is authentic, curious, and independent. they want to answer questions such as: “why am I here?” or “what is my purpose?”. the explorer wants the freedom to forge a unique path and focus on self-discovery and the meaning of life. although one to criticize the establishment, the explorer would rather venture down their own path than put up a fight. just as much as they crave freedom, they also strive to help others feel free. their biggest fear is feeling trapped.

C L O S E  R E S U L T S   –––   the rebel + the caregiver .

𝒆𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒂𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒎 ; two with a three wing, sexual/social instinctual subtype . 

twos are empathetic, sincere, and warm-hearted. they are friendly, generous, and self-sacrificing, but can also be sentimental, flattering, and people-pleasing. they are well-meaning and driven to be close to others, but can slip into doing things for others in order to be needed. they typically have problems with possessiveness and with acknowledging their own needs. unselfish and altruistic, they have unconditional love for others. their basic fear is of being unwanted, unworthy of being loved. the twos with a three wing are more driven and extroverted. they’re supportive and empathetic, and tend to search for the spotlight. they fear being unwanted or worthless, and avoid this by building personal connections with others and working hard to meet the needs of the community. their most basic desire is to be loved and accepted, and they may express this by being extremely attentive and attached to other people. they also tend to suppress their own negative emotions, which, when done frequently, can lead to high levels of stress or unexpected outbursts.

the subtype that exudes the most raw charisma and sexual energy, sx/so. they may identify so strongly with whatever they’re involved with that they often become the symbol of its core essence, and sometimes its lead agent for change. hardly content with the status quo, this subvariant seeks to alter the fundamental structure of something while at once embodying it’s purest or most extreme form. they enjoy pushing other’s buttons, especially those resistant to their modes of expression. may exploit and seek to redefine sexuality to reflect their own colorful and uncertain understanding of it. can feel pulled between wanting a life of maximum intensity and reassuring episodes of peaceful convention. motivation: to impact others, question assumptions, challenge convention. familiar roles: provocateur, activist, exhibitionist.

C L O S E  R E S U L T S   –––   type seven .

𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆 ; slytherin .

the slytherin house is known for being associated with a tendency to look after their own. they are always striving to be the best, but will never leave their own behind. they’re cunning, resourceful, determined, and ambitious. slytherin has produced its share of dark witches and wizards, but members are not afraid to admit it.

C L O S E  R E S U L T S   –––   gryffindor .

𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒚 𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒆 ; four .

predominantly homosexual, but more than incidentally heterosexual.

𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒖𝒂𝒈𝒆 ; physical touch .

a person whose primary language is physical touch is, not surprisingly, very touchy. hugs, pats on the back, and thoughtful touches on the arm — they can all be ways to show excitement, concern, care, and love. physical presence and accessibility are crucial, while neglect or abuse can be unforgivable and destructive. appropriate and timely touches communicate warmth, safety, and love to you.

C L O S E  R E S U L T S   –––   quality time + words of affirmation .

𝒎𝒃𝒕𝒊 ; istp, the virtuoso or the artisan .

an improviser type, best at handling crisis situations. their core needs are to have the freedom to act without hindrance and to see a marked result from action. their energies are focused on skillful performance, variety, and stimulation. they trust their impulses and have a drive to action. some of their unique themes include: actively solving problems, observing how things work, unsettled by powerful emotional experiences. virtuosos are actually quite enigmatic. friendly but very private, calm but suddenly spontaneous, extremely curious but unable to stay focused on formal studies, virtuoso personalities can be a challenge to predict, even by their friends and loved ones. their decisions stem from a sense of practical realism, and at their heart is a strong sense of direct fairness. instead of being overly cautious though, they are likely to go too far, accepting likewise retaliation, good or bad, as fair play. while they’re creative and energetic, istps are known for being stubborn, reserved, and prone to risky behavior.

𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 ; chaotic good .

a chaotic good character acts as his conscience directs him with little regard for what others expect of him. they make their own way, but they’re kind and benevolent. they believe in goodness and right but has little use for laws and regulations. they hate when people try to intimidate others and tell them what to do. they follow their own moral compass, which, although good, may not agree with that of society. they do what is necessary to bring about change for the better, disdain bureaucratic organizations that get in the way of social improvement, and place a high value on personal freedom, not only for oneself, but for others as well. they usually intend to do the right thing, but their methods are generally disorganized and often out of sync with the rest of society. 

𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒖𝒔 ; runespoor . 

the runespoor patronus is very rare. it is cast by a very complex witch or wizard, an individual who has deep thought and uncommon understanding of the world. it is said that each head of a runespoor has its own job, there is the head that decides what the creature will do, the head that often drifts off into fantasy, and the head that criticizes the other two. someone who casts this patronus is precise in decisions they make, but they can loose themselves in deep thought. they are incredibly wise and often live to bring greatness to their names. snakes are symbolic of change, fertility, healing, energy, and the duality of good and evil.

𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏 ; sagittarius sun ; libra rising ; scorpio moon . 

restless, cheerful, and friendly, sun in sagittarius people are generally on the go. they have a love of freedom, and a disdain for routine. generally quite easygoing, sagittarians make friends with people from all walks of life. they have an often blind faith in people, and in the world. their optimism is infectious, although it can get them into trouble from time to time. these are curious people who love to learn. the need for escape is generally strong, and some come across as a little irresponsible. 

sagittarius sun / scorpio moon people are independent, capable and usually successful at whatever they are doing. there is the sound judgment and great wisdom of the sagittarius combined with the scorpio’s determination and ability to turn everything they want into a project. they’re intense and astute, but can also be temperamental, blunt and hypersensitive. discrete and intelligent, they will come up with great plans and strategies that will help them advance quickly in both professional and personal life. renewing themselves is one of their abilities. they love to dig deeply into unusual subjects and the exotic and the uncharted fascinate you. they seek to experience as much as possible in life and they are sensual and pleasure loving. they always get up from falls, no matter how many times they are setback or personal misfortunes they encounter.

the sagittarius sun / libra ascendant is known to be clever, intelligent and educated. their environment is delighted by their charming personalities and the joy they have in life and so, all hearts are easily won. these people know exactly how to take center stage and thus gain popularity. they have amazing artistic and psychological skills, besides their exquisite taste and knowledge on how to deal with others.

𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 ; sanguine / choleric blend .

sanguines are naturally people-oriented. they have an active, positive movement in a favorable environment. they influence their environment by encouraging others to work together. the sanguine is by far the most versatile of the four temperaments and has the potential for the widest range of behavior due to possessing the widest range of emotions. they are extroverted, fun-loving, playful, activity-prone, impulsive, entertaining, persuasive, easily amused, and optimistic. they are enthusiastic, expressive, tend to be very affectionate, and are word smiths. sanguines are very competitive, and they usually like sports of any kind. they tend to be disorganized and easily forgetful, and sometimes have difficulty controlling their thoughts and emotions. they fear rejection or not making a favorable impression. individuals with this personality have a hard time doing nothing and engage in more risk seeking behavior.

the sanguine-choleric combination is driven by the primary need to be accepted socially and the secondary need to get results. they are more assertive than the other sanguine combinations, being very persuasive and making good debaters! they have an outgoing interest in others and the ability to gain the respect and confidence of various types of individuals. they exhibit poise and confidence in most situations, especially social events, and will become bored without activity and social involvement.

[eclipsemanipulation]

Choose: YES or NO to photo Manipulation.

Introduction to photo manipulation:

Photo manipulation involves transforming or altering a photo using various methods and techniques to achieve the desired results. Some photo manipulations are considered skillful works of art, while others are considered unethical practices, especially when used to deceive the public. Other examples include use for political propaganda, low-turnout rallies, but images of people are added to the photo. The photo itself is manipulative in shooting by finding the right angle to display as many people as possible, or to improve the appearance of a product or person. It can also serve for fun and practical joke like the latest case of Bernie Sanders meme. Depending on the application and the purpose, some photo manipulations are considered to be an art form because they involve the creation of unique images and in some cases, the signature expressions of art by photographic artists. Other examples of photo manipulation include modifying photos using ink, paint, airbrushes, or duplicate exposure, snippets and negatives together in the darkroom, scratching instant movies, or using software-based manipulation tools applied to digital images. This technique was used in the former communist countries to retouch photos of the history, such as the disappearance of political leaders from historical or other meetings. Software applications have been developed for digital image manipulation, ranging from professional applications to highly basic image software for casual users.

"Pollution" photo:

Edited photo

Original photo

Pollution is a global problem that affects all of us. We are all aware of its existence but very few people try to make a change in the current situation. I covered the faces of the couple to protect the privacy of the people in it. The photo could be used to illustrate an article about the pollution of the marine world, and it would be somehow sarcastic. The biggest problem of this century is pollution which is not only warming the climate, but also making our lakes, rivers, oceans and seas acidic. Thousands of debris are dumped into the sea, which is why many countries are protected by wetlands and sanctions. I also added a can of Coca-Cola next to the swimmers to raise the alarm for urgent measures. An article a few weeks ago pointed out that in the beautiful beaches of Bali the debris has invaded the sand, because due to the pandemic, many hotels that take care of cleaning them have closed. This pollution endangers not only human life but above all water’s life. Due to the pollution many animals that communicate using ultrasound now have difficulties communicating with each other. I think that the manipulated photo is an outcome of millions of photos that show the same situation of pollution (but the others on the internet are without people on it). I don’t think that tourists would ever go on vacation in places where the cans or other debris are floating at the surface of the sea. The non-edited photo could be used and give the message to the viewer: Love your planet and do what you can to protect it, to prevent pollution and to spread the right message. Whereas, the edited photo gives the wanted message to the public, it can be misguiding as it doesn’t represent the truth in the moment and place when the photo was shot. In my opinion the edited or unedited photo cannot be used as press photography, because it doesn’t represent “pure” news. It is not linked to a specific event or lifestyle and the purpose of the edited photo is just raising awareness toward people and pollution. If an article would be realized, this should not be the main photo, but serve as an attractive photo to read the news, and after reading the article, people could do extra researches and get more information about the topic. In both cases, if we use the original or not original photo, we fulfill the meaning that the photography has. As in the Smithsonian Project, the impact on the society in this case will be how photography changes a full cycle of what we see, what we remember, what we do, the place we choose to go, and also what we want (to change or not the future).

“War” Photo:

Edited photo

Original photo

In the case of this photo I covered the face of the little girl for ethical reasons, and I also intensified the colors of the writing in order emphasize directly on the message. The photo was taken in peacetime, in a place where no fighting is taking place, but where an artist has written a well-known slogan all over the world (if I were to choose a picture of war there could be mutilated, dead, massacres as in the case of Syria or Iraq). We could use this photo best in an article on world wars, to give a message of peace. Since 2011 over 800 thousand people have lost their lives in war, and 108 million people were killed in wars in the twentieth century, so it is very important to focus on the bright side of that. The photo is an artistic realization, not a direct image from the war, which makes it more unique, and the purpose is to raise the sense of peace and positivity. It shows the future and the faith of rebuilding and healing the traumas of the new generation.

I think it is a perfect tool to deliver and promote the reality of peace and the impact of the wars on societies. In my opinion, it can also be used as press photography to impress the viewer and raise the curiosity of reading the article linked to this photo (but I would not prefer to use this photo as press photography). Edited or unedited image, both lead to the truth and they do not misguide the public as the message to deliver is clear.

Advertising photo:

Edited photo

Original photo

Shades and colors in this photo were edited to add sharpness and contrast making it look more appealing. It can be used for articles in magazines or advertisements online as well as in advertisement for fashion, perfumes, promotion of a new song (as a cover of the album), or for an artistic exhibition. It can also be used as press photography to record an event where the image was used, to show the sales that was done, or for lifestyle stories. My inspiration for this creation was retracted by Richard Avedon’s work. Today more than never, the photography is the core of marketing.

The better a “product” is presented the more it will sell. Since the manipulation of this photo is not touching the ethical rules, it can be used freely whenever is needed. The photo above will not mislead the public and it will showcase the product it was created for. The photo doesn’t have added objects and has a wide range of use. It will serve the purpose even if the public will not see the original image, meaning that we can use the edited or unedited image, even though in my opinion the edited image is more powerful. It can be used as press photography for the purpose to write about an event that will occur or had occurred, or as an article linked to the design field, and even to the tendencies of the lifestyle.

Art vs press photography:

The difference between an artistic photo and a press photo lies in serving the truth. In the case of the photos I used, they are more artistic. Art photography is open to interpretation, whereas press photography uses images without any explanation. Press photography is spontaneous, and is used in recording news, lifestyle stories and different events with the intent to capture the image and to write a story without leaving room for bias and attract the public to read more about it. On the other hand, art photography is a created vision of the photographer. The artist in this case is free to capture images that make sense for him and have an interpretation of the subject.

These photos were taken from www.pixabay.com website, there is no mention of author name. These images are not protected by copyright and are for free use.

References:

www.pixabay.com

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/23/bernie-sanders-inauguration-meme-heres-the-story-behind-the-photo.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photograph_manipulation

https://www.history.com/news/josef-stalin-great-purge-photo-retouching

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_of_images_in_the_Soviet_Union

https://www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles/press-photographer#:~:text=Press%20photographers%20take%20photos%20for,current%20events%20and%20lifestyle%20stories.

https://sites.google.com/site/shootingthetruth/Home/modules/module-1/learning-activities-week-1

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/marine-pollution/#:~:text=Marine%20pollution%20is%20a%20combination,and%20to%20economic%20structures%20worldwide.

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/the-trash-keeps-coming-bali-s-iconic-beaches-are-buried-in-rubbish

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_by_death_toll

https://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/06/books/chapters/what-every-person-should-know-about-war.html#:~:text=How%20many%20people%20have%20died,150%20million%20to%201%20billion.

https://sites.google.com/site/shootingthetruth/Home/modules/week-7/course-notes-week-7

https://www.avedonfoundation.org/

https://gagosian.com/artists/richard-avedon/

[michellebai2-blog]

Week 1: Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things

What biases do we see in the individuals in the film (remember biases are not just racist)? What biases are you noticing that you have which others may not share? What part of this film can you add to your primary research? How might these interviews inform your ideation for your term project? 

The individuals are biased towards people who live a simple and minimal life. In a way, it feels like they are assuming everyone who does not live under the “minimalistic” lifestyle is not truly happy and cannot find who they are. I understand that the producers and all the interviewees are trying to promote the minimalism. However, the way they expressed it makes people who purchase/fight for products on sale on Black Friday or Cyber Monday monsters who cannot take control of their lives (maybe I am being a little dramatic here, but this is the impression it gave me). Furthermore, from what I can tell, most or all of the individuals in this film are fairly successful or wealthy to begin with—before adopting the minimalistic way of life. Thus, they at least don’t have to worry about their basic needs in everyday life for a few years. I previously read somewhere that often the more wealthy people are the ones who adopt this minimalistic lifestyle, while blue-collar workers or even people in poverty tend to collect their items and belongings. I feel like the phenomenon I’m seeing here is that wealthy people/families would focus more on the “quality over quantity” idea and have the “less is more” concept. On the other hand, people/families who are not as well-off might not be comfortable to give/throw the items they purchased away just to achieve this “living more deliberately with less”. What I am saying is that I agree with compulsory consumption, fast fashion, purchasing items one does not certainly need… are bad for the society and maybe personal development, but in the documentary, they are only focusing on a confined group of individuals who do not represent America as a whole.

I also became aware that the individuals being interviewed in this documentary are mainly white males. There might be some correlation between being this and what I previously mentioned (being affluent/well-off). Also, I see the documentary as trying to promote Ryan, Joshua, and their book rather than the actual idea of minimalism (ironic how they are saying advertisement is bad for society but in a way creates a documentary to advertise themselves).

I think some idea mentioned in this film reflects on the current situation of society. For example, more and more people have hooked up to this perfect, “delusional” life that celebrities and influencers promote on their social media, creating this dissatisfaction in their own lives. Thus, lead to the materialistic additions and the urge to live this ideal life by mindless and compulsory consumption (can take a toll on one’s finance and the environment). Throughout the film, individuals believe that we should value people around us more and pay less attention to material needs. Having strong attachments to people in our lives makes sense but it no longer does once the attachments spill over to objects and materials (focus on human relationships and interactions rather than focusing on human’s need to obtain something).

In your own words, explain a paradigm shift you think will have the greatest impact on the future of design, as it relates to your own interests (cite any sources, link to any articles).

I think since technology is rapidly developing, everything will be digital and on “cloud”. People will start to look at problems and/or the unknown with this fast-growing technology. This can go into many if not all fields—from medical treatments (devices) to transportations (spaceships, aircraft, cars…). Moreover, using technology to make our lives easier and simpler. Like in China, it is kind of rare to see people use cash, everyone uses their phone to purchase goods. Most of the time we don’t even have to bring a bag with us leaving home, all we need is a phone. Through this example of change, I believe that many other areas/countries may adopt this way of life and minimizing the items we have to carry. In a way, everything is getting smaller and more intelligent, making people’s lives easier each day.

Besides, a lot of work or jobs will be substituted by machines or AIs in the future. Therefore, designing or programming those items will be a huge part of the near future.

How might your biases affect the way you think about athletes & injuries?

I think some biases that I have about athletes are that they tend to get injured a lot, they are role models, they tend to be fast (physically and mentally), they only wear athletic wears, they are muscular and very built… Some biases about injuries are that they are always bad, they tend to be harmful to the human body, everyone will/already got injured at least once in their lives… There are many assumptions that not only do I think about athletes, I feel like when it comes to a group of people, it also rises to stereotype instead of just purely biases. Through these biases and stereotypes, people will assume others as what society thinks and portrays them (judging the book by its cover). This creates a limiting box for everyone as they fit into at least one of the categories. For athletes, not all of them are role models, some have a chaotic personal life, some do drugs, some bribe to win… I believe people are people, the biases can affect them positively or negatively, however, it will be very hard to escape this stereotype. 

[makeste]

more discussion about BnHA 237, and the “bystander effect”

Makeste, it’s been hinted for a long time now that Tomura had personally experienced the bystander effect when he was younger. When he had his little therapy talk with Midoriya at the mall he was pissed at how the people around him were just going about their lives and ignoring other people’s problems, thinking only about themselves. And when Midoriya pointed out that a hero would arrest him, he brought up that although anybody’s quirks could let them fight back and perhaps stop him, no-one would do so if he went on a rampage- their complacency and trust in hero society meant that they couldn’t conceive of such a thing happening to them, and so they would default back to letting heroes or the authorities arrive and save them, rather than saving themselves. Like sheep to a slaughter, they just couldn’t bring themselves to act, because they would rather support a peaceful society that protects them than willingly fully endanger themselves.

I actually liked that Horikoshi made it clear that some people were willing to help Tenko, so it wasn’t that Tenko coincidentally wandered into a street full of uncaring assholes, but his ghoulish appearance was a major factor in driving off the help he so desperately wanted. Just, looking at him, you can see the kid’s gone through something horrible, and if they got involved, they might have risked whatever caused it to happen to them next. They were scared of him, and didn’t want to risk getting involved in something they weren’t equipped to handle. Better to leave it to police, or authorities who have trained for similar situations and can protect themselves. Whereas the ‘defenceless’ citizen could tell at a glance that Tenko was something beyond their ordinary lifestyles, an unspoken threat to their peace and safety. Maybe some did call the police and authorities and Tenko had wandered off. But you can see why, for a society that, because of the whole ‘restrict your quirk and don’t perform heroic actions without a licence’ stuff, has been taught that they’re supposed to act normal and not get involved in dangerous situations or criminal activity, helping Tenko was too personally involving for those citizens.

You also got a hint of that when Tomura was restrained at the bar- the flashback’s words even spell out that “before long a hero will…everyone said things like that, but they all ignored you, didn’t they?” Maybe AFO had a hand in helping Tenko get isolated here. He could have had a subtle quirk that manipulated their emotions and fears to drive them to ignore Tenko, or he could have simply just used his connections to stifle any calls or reports of Tenko’s appearance to the proper authorities, and left him in the ‘care’ of the nearby public. Personally, my money’s on the latter. Either way, his appearance here definitely rings too good to be true- he was probably shadowing Tenko whilst he walked through the streets- but I get the impression that he honestly didn’t do much to make the general public act the way they did towards Tenko. He just let the boy experience the isolation and apathy of a society focused on ignoring danger unless there’s someone authorised to handle it.

It’s actually something that’s pretty common in some Japanese media. There’s a great example of this in the Anime ‘Psycho Pass’, set in a futuristic society that’s kinda a mashup of Minority Report and Mega-City One, wherein a city-wide monitoring system called the ‘Sybil System’ constantly monitors people’s emotional and mental states. Should they exceed an accepted threshold that denotes how likely the person is to committing a crime even in advance of them committing any crimes, that person is pursued by law enforcement and either arrested or executed, so they don’t spread undue stress and emotional instability to people around them and cause more people to become ‘crime co-efficient’.

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(interrupting here to add a *spoiler warning* for season one of Psycho-Pass, just in case anyone is planning on watching it at any point, which I would recommend actually; it’s a pretty good show.)

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 The main Villain of Season 1 is a psychopath that, due to his unique mental mind-set and view of people, doesn’t register as9)crime co-efficient when thinking about or committing crimes, rendering him effectively invisible to the system and incapable of being judged or sentenced under it, which is a problem since it’s illegal to hurt others unless authorised by the system. Despite this advantage, much like Shigaraki, the villain can tell how screwed up the world he lives in is, and seeks to awaken others from their blind dependence on the Sybil system, to think and act for themselves. In ep 14, he starts distributing helmets that shield the wearer from the Sybil System’s monitoring, allowing others to commit crimes to their heart’s content. This leads to a harrowing scene where a helmet-wearing stalker, in the middle of a busy, crowded street in public, walks up to his target and beats her to death with a hammer, in full view of everyone. No-one does a thing to stop him, their dependence and complacency making them think it’s some kind of performance art piece, incapable of thinking that it’s anything sinister or a problem for them to take action against. Even as the woman screams for help, they don’t lift a finger, and the Sybil monitoring robots actually start cornering the victim as she bleeds out, confronting her on how her emotional stability has exceeded the acceptable threshold, and she’s now crime co-efficient, even as she dies.

This isn’t the last time the Villain performs social experiments to demonstrate the inherent flaws of humanity in a society that lets a system control and define their actions. He lures the protagonist to an isolated room with a chasm in the middle, no way for them to cross to him, but no obstacles on his side to hide behind. Thanks to his invisibility, even as he speaks of killing more people, admits to his guilt, and tells the protagonist that he will keep hurting more people to prove his point, the Government-issued gun keyed to the Sybil system won’t fire on him. The villain has located and loaded an ordinary gun and left it on the protagonist’s side, challenging them to use it to shoot him dead. The system is incapable of judging him, so the only way for the protagonist to save lives is to take action without it, to act on their own initiative and do the right thing, even if it’s illegal in the eyes of society. The villain is fully willing to risk his own life if It means he can wake one person up for their society-wide bystander syndrome and make them act and think for themselves.

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(END PSYCHO-PASS SPOILERS)

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 Honestly, I’d love it if, going forward, Shigaraki took similar steps to underline the inherent flaws in a hero-worshiping society, running social experiments that force heroes to avoid participating and ordinary civilians to make the heroic actions and save the day, just like the twin ferry scene from ‘The Dark Knight’, perhaps closely monitoring everything so he can publicize how they made the correct decisions if the government tries to condemn them for taking illegal actions to save themselves. It would be a great way of causing an indirect attack on ordered society. And freeing up people to use their quirks more freely would also tie into the MLA’s vision of society, so that could be a case for what’s left of the army to work with Tomura for now, rather than get steamrolled by Giganto again and their cause forgotten.

If that’s what ends up happening, then that could be the main cause for Deku and Shigaraki to clash time and again against each other, as Midoriya keeps interfering in these experiments and performing heroic deeds to save those in need. Because the one thing that’s always been consentient about Deku- powerless or not, legal or not, he will step in to save someone regardless of the reasons not to get involved. It’s a shame, really, that Tenko and Midoriya didn’t meet when they were kids- you know Deku would have helped him because he needed it, regardless of the potential danger.

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first off, I just want to clarify that I do understand this scene, and I understand that the series has been clearly hinting at a scenario like this almost from the start. I can also understand and accept the logic behind it. it’s just that I dislike it. I understand the point it’s trying to make; I just disagree with it. I think it’s cynical and dystopian. I think the world is better than that, and I think people are better than that. I’m not gonna go into a whole rant, but there’s this psychological phenomenon called negativity bias that basically means that negative things tend to leave more of a psychological impact in general than positive things. put that together with the constant bombardment of negative shit in the media and online and basically everywhere, and over time that tends to lead toward people perceiving the world as being worse than it actually is. this is something that really bothers me about modern online culture, actually, because the overall effect it has on a lot of people (myself included) is to leave them feeling overwhelmed and depressed, and depression in turn drains your energy and makes it more difficult for people to actually do anything about the bad shit. which, I suspect, is intentional on the part of the institutions responsible for most of said media. let’s energize the far right, and dishearten and discourage the left.

but anyways, that’s getting off track and veering towards territory I don’t have the spoons to discuss further lol. okay, so back on topic. a lot of people pointed out that we don’t actually know whether anyone called the police or not, and it’s very possible that they did. this is a fair point. as for AFO subtly having a hand in influencing the passerby’s emotions as well, I’m all for that too. that was always my original theory. because it’s always been clear that, at least from Tomura’s perspective, this is exactly what went down -- something bad happened, and no one tried to help him. we’ve always known that was the case. I just hoped that it wouldn’t prove to actually be the case, and that we would learn that Tomura had misunderstood, or that AFO had intervened. I didn’t hope for this because I thought it had canon support and was logical; I hoped it because I, personally, disagree with the supposition that the average person, when faced with a situation in which a child is in trouble and needs help, would not help, regardless of the potential danger to them. my own personal belief, supported by my admittedly limited personal experience, is that they would.

lastly, I have seen Psycho-Pass (the first season, anyway; I need to check out season 2 one of these days) and enjoyed it a lot, actually. but it’s one of those things I enjoy simply as a what-if, kind of like The Hunger Games. it’s great entertainment if you’re in the mood for some dark and gritty stuff. but it’s a very 1984 type of worst-case scenario government-controls-your-thoughts type of story, and not something I personally would go “oh yeah, I could see this happening in real life” while watching it. it’s more of a fun cautionary tale warning people about the potential consequences of taking extremes too far, even in the name of the greater good. plus it has these really awesome guns that transform and look really cool and splatter the shit out of people. and Amano did the character designs, so if you liked the character designs in KHR it’s definitely worth a watch for that alone, just putting that out there. 

anyway. I’ve completely run out of time, so I’ll just post this and I apologize for not wrapping up my argument neatly. or, you know, at all sob.

[baconpal]

talkin bout fire force

shit boys it’s been too long time for another unprompted juvenile rant about manga, click keep reading if you’re insane and keep scrolling if you aren’t 

So Fire Force anime starts in just about a week and I decided to just read it all instead of waiting for any anime. It took a while to read all of it and now I just kind of have a lot to say about the manga, the anime, and the author. So here we go. 

I actually have a lot of good things to talk about, but I’ll get the bad shit out of the way first:

THE WRITING

idk his name it doesn’t really matter since he’s made like 2 things he’s just the soul eater guy; his art style has always been charming and the action scenes keep improving but his actual narrative writing is real bad. I’ll talk about the characters themselves since I actually think FF’s characters are a ridiculous improvement from soul eater, and the setting/aesthetic are on point as well but the plot is just as bad if not worse than whatever soul eater was.

The story is riddled with what should obviously be throwaway characters that keep being brought back and doing something evil and unexpected because it’s a shounen manga and if you aren’t being betrayed then the plot isn’t moving forward, or someone introduced as an obviously villainous character just kind of agrees to be friends in a couple chapters. This is used as a constant cycle of introducing both a set of “evil” and “good” characters, then one of the old “good” sets of characters does something evil and the newest “evil” guys turn out to be good. It’s not interesting or shocking to have a character you can’t even remember come back and act like they’re important, especially if it’s repeated over and over.

FF pretends to have some kind of politic overtones where religions and businesses and such act as their own entities and betray each other and prey on the civilians, but you see absolutely none of the impact anybody’s actions have on the world despite ridiculous things constantly happening and world shaking truths being brought to light over and over, nothing happens. Villains will also  have ridiculous unbeatable abilities but then just be ignored, such as making zombie apocalypses or controlling minds and such. This is also likely a concession of being a shounen manga, where you can’t expect readers to read every single chapter, and usually on a week to week basis, so every chapter needs to have its own big shit happening, even if there’s no plans to follow through on anything. 

The worst part about the writing is how much stuff that the reader didn’t know about and has no idea what it is is passed of as some shocking twist when it’s introduced. This mostly happens with powers and with new factions. There’s a ridiculous amount of times where a new group steps in as the bad guy like mentioned earlier. But for the powers, there’s so many things layered on top of an actually acceptable power system that just seem to cause a DBZ type of escalation of power without the fight scenes actually becoming that much crazier at all. On top of the simple 2nd/3rd generation fire fighter powers, the main character is meant to utilize the adolla burst, the adolla link, the preacher’s divine protection, the okay hand emoji that makes you go fast, the breath of life, and superfire fighting. None of that means anything to anyone and are just used as “MC needs to be better at something but only temporarily” over and over. It’s similar to Maka and Soul’s deals with the devil in soul eater except much more common and with absolutely no downsides.

Also not the fault of the writer himself but there is not ANY good translation of this manga out there holy shit. There’s so many incredibly obvious puns and connections and choices of words to be made that are just entirely ignored, the typesetting is always awful, and no name for moves, characters, or even the title are ever agreed upon. It took until the official release titled “Fire Force” before people stopped trying to call the manga “Burning Firefighter Squad of Fire”.

THE ANIME

Just a bit more bad to say before I go into all the shit about this manga i actually like. The anime looks awful. A lot of anime does right now, very little of note has been coming out or seems to be coming in the future, which is usually the case but its not getting better and that sucks! 

But specifically the fire force anime, following up after soul eater, has absolutely none of the visual charm translated from the manga to anime, the voice casting is absolutely abysmal, and there’s nothing to give me hope in it, not enough to even give it an episode most likely. People might try to defend David productions because woah man I love jojo!!! but they’re pretty fucking bad at animating anything. The choice of color is gross and the visual effects are bland, which is a bad place to start for a show that will contain tons of fire and other bombastic effects. Big shame.

OKAY ONTO THAT GOOD SHIT

CHARACTER DESIGN

The visual designs in soul eater were cool if a bit janky, and the actual concepts for characters were far from astounding, usually being able to fully describe characters in single words and not having much development outside of combat abilities. But Fire Force has some of the most tight characters I’ve seen in a while, they’re all simple and focused with strong thematic elements.

Ya’ll know me, hopefully. I really appreciate simple designs and simple characters. Complicated does not equal deep, and simple does not equal shallow. The characters in fire force will usually embody a concept, or a concept and its exact opposite, and be never waver from their design. I’ll talk about em for specific characters when I get to em but even lots of minor characters are very well focused and I appreciate it.

SHINRA

The main character, and while his grocery list of special abilities and “chosen one” kinda shit is annoying, he starts of as a very strong introspective of the weight of your actions vs the impression you give of in the eyes of society. The easiest way to describe it is through the very obvious identity struggle he goes through of wanting to be known as a “Hero” but instead being “The Devil”. All Shinra ever does is selflessly save peoples lives and put himself at extreme risk, he tells everyone and their grandma that they can call on him when they need a hero, and yet his visuals consist of a dark haired punk who constantly smiles a sharp toothy smile, his ability that he uses to fly in and do kamen rider kicks with spews fire from his feet in the shape of pointy wings, and this fire puts a heavy shadow over his face, giving him a monsterous siloutte. It’s not at all subtle that he just looks as evil and menacing as possible, and so his reputation is constantly negative no matter how kind he is. It’s not explored all that deeply but it is still a strong contrast.

ARTHUR

What a fucking idiot. What an absolute buffoon. This stupid fuck functions as a very simple gag character by being nearly too dumb to function and living in a made up reality as a fantasy knight, but is also able to exist as one of the strongest characters in combat. His ridiculous power is handled in a much more engaging way than Shinra’s. As instead of layering multiple chosen one abilities on him, he becomes weaker or stronger depending on his suspension of disbelief. The more in character as a powerful knight he becomes, the stronger he is. It’s a clean way to make a funny delusional characters struggle actually mean something to the people around them, instead of being left to his own devices or constantly told to fuck off. And while I said the plot isn’t very good, the smaller character beats can be very powerful. For example, It was already pretty easy to just accept Arthur as he was, but his family situation is explored late into the manga, and it’s shown that he began to live in fantasy to escape from his families arguments and poor living conditions. His parents take advantage of his disconnect and abandon their home with him in it, leaving all their responsibilities to him with a note saying he’s now the king and has inherited their castle. This pushes him to an even more absurd degree of fantasy in order to just live out his life knowing he was unloved and unwanted. It very understated how you can make a character that’s mostly used for jokes still be very easy to connect to and empathize. 

TAMAKI 

This one is likely to be the hottest take made from me here today, but this is the most interesting character in this series for a variety of reasons. 

Visuals out of the way, the fire fighter outfits everyone wears already look cool as shit and big puffy coats just get me goin, this girl absolutely rocks it on top of having twintails and a cute face. That’s not objective in anyway this is just a character designed to bait specifically me and its fucking working, okay? The writing is the actually interesting part.

So something that’s usually not even worth talking about is fan service. Show of a girls titties cus its what dudes in their teens want to see, its free (You)s for shounen manga, and soul eater was full of it. It was pretty bad in soul eater and could come at jarring and unneeded times for characters that didn’t seem to exist for any sexual reasons. It was a very poor way to include fan service. 

Fire Force also begins in a similar spot, the 3 main girls that are around in the beginning chapters are occasionally seen changing or in a bath or covered in water or whatever, with one particularly bad spread of them with the classic no nipple no vagina bodies all standing together in a shower. Its awkward and stiff and even as a fan of anime tiddie it just wasn’t worth having. 

But then that wildman just does it. He creates one single character to put literally every single ounce of horny energy in to. A character who exists to fall over and get her tits pushed into someones face, but pushed to a cartoonish extreme. It sounds silly to try to pass off fanservice as funny, but it is. It’s so ridiculously intended and impossible and always varied that its actually fun to see her do something stupid and for something to happen. Sometimes its just her ass landing on a dudes face (god i wish that were me) or her body being exposed and drawn in pretty high detail. Sometimes instead they get an entire dude stuck in her shirt after just tripping in a way that is not not being sexual to the reader at all since you see absolutely no skin. She’s simply destined to be put into lewd situations in universe, not in regards to the manga itself. For an example, here she is just standing completely still, and suddenly becoming naked, drawn in a distant, goofy way: 

It’s stupid. It’s definitely still fan service, but it’s just ridiculous. And that’s way more interesting than having every girl in your series randomly get naked at some point. Despite being insane it still works on boys, as Tamaki is the most popular girl in the series by far, ranked as the second most popular character consistently. 

Tamaki also leads to the single best chapter of the manga where a horribly designed throw-away assassin who was beaten by her returns for revenge, but just ends up as a short, self contained, well paced comedic story of love. 

And guess what, she’s still interesting outside of being funny and having fan service. Her cartoonish luck is essentially treated as her actual power, and her fire cat abilities aren’t explored too deeply during most of the series, but this is done for a greater purpose of essentially spitting in the face of high stakes. Tamaki easily witnesses the most deaths in the series, and most of them are cruel and unusual. She witnesses children being killed by a man who inspired her, she sees people she just met be beheaded in some gruesome shots that aren’t anywhere else in the series, and she gets involved in all sorts of life threatening situations. She still just falls over and gets naked. She’ll have fairly serious fights where she tries her hardest or the people around her are completely serious, and without bringing any direct attention to it she still ends up showing skin. There’s a point where every single character is at risk of dying at once to a trap set by the enemy, and Tamaki quietly laments over how she’ll be the only one to survive. She is completely aware of her ridiculous luck and her complete immunity to stakes, which is honestly just great.

Even beyond that, Tamaki is slowly being built up as more and more of an actual character, she has a short backstory section where her own hard work and effort is basically ignored by everyone around her, as if her success in life is only a result of her good luck, which is a feeling that hits very close to home to me (fuck you if you’ve ever discredited someones hard work because they’re “””””talented””””). And in the most recent couple of chapters, shes made an active effort to train alongside Shinra and Arthur, who both value the improvements they can make to themselves through hard work. No other characters in the cast make conscious efforts to improve from their status in the way Tamaki does. She moves up from a joke character to now trying to stand along side the main character as a useful and though out character. It’s a genuinely wonderful character to have been developed and the best thing I’ve gotten from this author.

VISUALS AND COMPOSITION

Okay enough about the characters, the last little thing I wanna touch on is just some of the absolutely bonkers kinds of compositions in this manga. One of the villains has an ability that is explained incredibly poorly. Pretty sure it’s just a time slowing ability that has nothing to do with fire but whatever. The pages where he uses the ability have this absolutely sick warped look to them that plays with the panels in a way that couldn’t be depicted in any other medium. Just look at this shit.

Every panel has a different background and yet still describes a single cut in time. It might not really mean anything, but that’s fucking sick dude.

Another pretty interesting one is this one kid named Nataku, who has an ability forced onto him by a maniac with a motif of stars for eyes, who dies immediately after. This event is shown to have absolutely traumatized him not because its directly said, but because this dead character appears constantly in panels with this kid, sometimes taking up the entire background to yell at him, or being an almost impossible to see spec lingering behind him. Nataku is also drawn in this strange sketchy style where he seems to be melting, and sometimes melds into shapes that resemble this dead character, such Nataku’s mouth becoming the fucking eyeball of the dead guy, star pupil and everything. It’s just such a specific and horrific way to depict that kind of identity trauma and it really stuck out to me.

I’LL SHUT UP NOW

And ye that’s about it. It was a lot of rambling and there are still lots of little things i like about the manga, good designs and cool fights and stuff but i just wanted to talk about the things that were really noteworthy to me. 

It’s been a long time since I’ve spent 4 hours just typing about stuff but if you actually read any of this, on this dead website of all places, you’re cool. Hope you found something interesting too.

[socialmedialearner]

Social Media & Participatory Culture

What is a participatory culture?

Social Media is not very social if there is a lack of participation. People posting new things, sharing creative ideas, and collaborating on issues makes Social Media interesting and productive for our culture. Jenkins et al. (2009) states that a participatory culture in social media is an area where creative expression is allowed with no limits, there is a strong focus on engagement, and where people feel that they are gaining meaningful social connections with one another. It is a culture where we become producers of online media instead of just viewing others content. The rise of a culture like this allows for us to become digital creators and encourage others to do the same. This is important because we can make meaningful connections with others who have the same vision as us when we create content. We also can learn new things when we decide to collaborate with someone who has been an inspiration for us. Many people scroll through social media, but without creators of content we wouldn’t be on social media at all. Supporting a culture where freedom of expression and creation is encouraged leads to more meaningful and diverse content on social media, and brings people together with common interests and ideas.

A producer vs consumer mindset: what is it? and how is it growing?

Consumers of social media content enjoy watching and sharing others' ideas, but producers of social media content drive our trends, leave lasting impressions on us, and help expand our learning. The article by Hinton and Hjorth (2013) states that producers all create content online and it can be anything from commenting on an article to uploading a video. They state that the real difference is that a producer intends to create content that will be shared and consumed by others. From this, we can look at producers as true contributors on social media platforms. Examples of contributors include podcast hosts, blog writers, and photographers. The list doesn’t stop there, and anyone who creates content to be shared and received by others can be looked at as a contributor on social media.

New contributions are happening everyday as I can see through many people creating podcasts. Younger people are creating content because they are inspired through seeing others have such a success in that role. The Ted talk by Jenkins (2010) shows that 65% of young people have created and shared digital content online, and that a third of them have shared it outside of their immediate community. This is fascinating because we can see that younger people have become huge contributors of social media. Personally, I can see it everyday on social media outlets. Famous You tubers who give out money to charity and Instagram influencers who bring new trends to us before corporate entities can create the trend themselves. However, I do hope to see more people contributing meaningful content on social media in the near future. Many of my followers like and retweet content but very few actually are contributing. I inspired my friend to start sharing fighting tutorials and videos because he is an MMA fighter and from him doing that he has inspired a couple people to actually start the sport. This shows that we need to become advocates of making this culture happen, because inspiring one person to share their passion can lead to others adopting that passion as well. 

My inspiration to create

I find inspiration to create based on the feedback I get from other people. I like to post short videos to my stories (Instagram and Snapchat) giving people tips on wellness, motivation, and fitness goals. I like to combine psychology and motivation to help people start their goals instead of just dreaming of them. My inspiration has come from people telling me that I made a difference for them. When I first started posting fitness and wellness tips I had a friend tell me that I motivated her to start getting active in her free time. For me that was a big inspiration to keep posting new things and made me realize that people are actually listening even if they don’t respond to you right away. I have continued to post things like this and have received feedback from people saying I helped them and they have shared my content with others. I have now been inspired to potentially create a podcast this summer with my friend where we discuss things related to psychology, relationships, fitness and how combining and using these concepts can help create a holistic viewpoint on wellness in your life. 

Creation of content during COVID-19

We have all seen new and interesting ways people are creating content during COVID-19. Celebrities are speaking to us through social media, Musicians are hosting live concerts from their living rooms, and people are starting new video blogs where they read to children. This is fascinating to me because during this situation people are becoming producers of social media and more importantly they are learning through social media now as well. I have seen teachers post on their Facebook about how they are using social media tools to engage with their students in a time where they are unable to gain a face to face connection with them. This is important because it can help the students regain a sense of meaning during this time where things do not feel quite right. This situation is not ideal and it has impacted almost everyone in a way that makes them either go to online learning, spend more time on social media, or use the internet to find updates about the situation. My hope is that this can lead to something great for the future of social media learning. What I mean by this is that I hope this can help shift thinking on how online learning can be greatly beneficial and that people can become more digitally literate during this time period. There are potentially going to be many changes to our society in which some may be negative, but I am hopeful that one of the long lasting positive changes is that people realize that online learning and digital creation will remain and become more prevalent after this situation. 

I would also like to share some ways that I have become a producer of new content during the COVID-19 situation. I have made a couple Facebook posts giving people tips on how to be less anxious or depressed if they are struggling in this time of isolation. A few people gave me good feedback and shared it with their friends. This made me feel good and has inspired me to continue to give some tips every week on how to stay well during this time period, mentally and physically. I have also been going outside and taking pictures again as well and sharing them with people too. Nature is the one thing we can experience alone that helps you gain more meaning in life rather than just sitting in the house all day. I hope that myself and all others can continue to share meaningful and inspiring content during this tough time, and that we continue to do so even after we go back to our normal lives. 

In closing, we must remember that even though we must be physically distant during this time does not mean we have to be socially distant. Social media still gives us a platform to connect, create, and share with our friends no matter the distance from one another. 

References

Hinton, S., & Hjorth, L. (2013). Understanding Social Media.

Jenkins, H. (2009). Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture. doi: 10.7551/mitpress/8435.001.0001

Jenkins, H. (2020, March). Participatory Culture TEDxNYED.

[just-astrology-stuff]

@vecchiasignoras

Aquarius sun, Libra moon, Scorpio rising.

Constant and positive, you seem to be very acceptant of how diverse people are but are still underpinned by some controlling tendencies. You think only of how to be more refined and how to use your intelligence to help as many people as possible. You are true revolutionaries who are able to make people rise and support your own opinions. What makes you tick is the questioning others’ authority and imposing your own. You're kind, imaginative and witty but you can also be gullible, proud and self-conscious. Your perfect partner would be someone who understands and accepts that you are quite detached. You really need to care more about yourself and less about others. Its possible you leave projects half done. You always think ahead of your time as you are true progressive creatures. But you need to impose your ideas more strongly. This would be very important. It’s essential you don’t think of yourself as a radical when doing it because your impact would be truly valuable, and the results of your actions will most likely be very impressive. While having a large social circle, only a few will be really close to you. You will never need to deal with any psychological problems because you are honest and always express what bothers you.

Optimistic, you don’t like to deal with people who are negative and shrewd. Your ideals are high but if only you would learn how to be more practical. Unlike a typical Aquarius, you are a strong person, passionate and jealous. You are a fighter, always throwing yourself into a fight that does not always end with your victory. You have a strong will, and you are determined to fight to the end. You have a very developed tendency to criticize, and you are happy to refute the theories and views of others. You have an insatiable thirst for disclosing secrets, including how these or other things are arranged and why they work. Your likes and dislikes are sharply expressed, and you always stand guard over your interests. In discussions and rhetoric you can find a beautiful expression to your picky disposition. You are very attached to parents and family and you can become a true homebody if your parents do not specifically encourage you to look for friends outside the family circle. If you have brothers or sisters, they probably will not be very lucky in life. Your father treats you well, but luck sometimes turns away from him. You have many friends in the artistic world and among people who have weight in the society.

You can be a hypocrite. You demand absolute freedom for yourself, but treat your relatives as your property. You are incredibly self-confident and constantly impose your opinions on others. It seems to you that those who listen to you should admire and gladly swallow the pearls of wisdom that you utter. Whereas words and thoughts of others are dismissed by you as insignificant. You are ambitious and your ego demands success, not only for the sake of achieving material prosperity, but for the sake of universal recognition. With your ability to criticize, you could succeed in occult sciences, chemistry, philosophy and even the police. You are attracted to the marine business and work in the government. In your youth, your life will not be very easy, and financial affairs are unstable. Mature years will bring you prosperity. You will probably have two different sources of income and two professions.

Well-being will come to you, so never give up. You're overall a pretty wise person, so don't let yourself get overpowered by your dark side. Don't let stress get to you either. You've a nice mixture of Air and Water energies so do use them wisely when needed. Meditate love yourself. Know the difference between ego and self love. You'll do great love, you can overcome anything! All the best.

[funkymbtifiction]

Enneagram 3: The Performer

Healthy Threes pursue being known and loved for their true self, rather than merely to look good or their accomplishments. They still love to set goals, rise to challenges, and solve problems, but do not base their self-worth on these things. They balance their abundant energy between work, rest, and contemplation, and embrace the art of being rather than doing. Since they feel valuable, they are full of tender benevolence focused on the common good. They have nothing to prove and celebrate your successes, rather than compete with you.

Three Traits

Threes tend to over-achieve and need to win

Threes believe you must earn love through achievement

Threes worry bad performance may cause them to lose value with others

Threes struggle not to find failure unacceptable

Threes hate to admit to their mistakes

Threes may fabricate their achievements to impress others

Threes may struggle to tell the difference between their authentic self and their fake image, and may believe the illusion

Threes are social chameleons

Threes may do feelings instead of have feelings, mirror them but struggle to recognize and connect to their emotions

Threes may want the perfect family but choose work instead

Threes are usually skilled multi-taskers

Enneagram Wings & Health

3w2: are charming and intimate, often at home in front of the camera, full of lust for attention and achievement. They can become angry or hostile when they feel unappreciated or ignored. Often direct their energy toward helping others succeed, and in earning rewards for achievements.

3w4: struggles to reconcile their need to perform and project an image with their 4-centric desire to be authentic and different from others; this makes them more introspective and in touch with their emotions and shame than the other 3s. They are sensitive, artistic, creative, and intense, focused on crafting ‘the right image’ for the public. They may be pretentious.

Under stress: Threes act like unhealthy Nines, through slothful behaviors (time-wasting or busying themselves with unimportant tasks to avoid more challenging ones). They appear exhausted and overworked, lose their optimism and charisma, wallow in self-doubt, and lose all interest in maintaining their external appearance.

When feeling secure: Threes move to the positive side of Six, where they become warmer, more in touch with their feelings, and aware of others’ emotional needs. Their defensiveness and competitiveness fades and gives them more energy to devote to their relationships. They want to connect to something bigger than themselves and no longer need to be the center of attention.

Advice for the 3: learn to have some down time for contemplation. Find someone to help you toward authenticity instead of illusions. Base your definition of success on your feelings, desires, and values, not external influences. Discover your true self, before your life falls apart and forces you to search for answers. You can be successful as your true self. Remember what you sacrifice in racing to cross the finish line. Go on vacation, and leave your work at home. Let someone else lead once in awhile, and stand behind them. Find a close friend you can be honest with, who still loves you even when you’re a total disaster.

Influences on MBTI Types:

ISTJ: more prone to leadership and comfortable with attention than other ISTJs; may develop a strong desire to ‘achieve’ on a competitive level, and show little interest in undertaking the work of others unless it promotes their personal success; may sacrifice personal values to ‘get ahead’ in the professional sphere, and be out of touch with what truly drives them; will channel their productivity into areas of strength, where Si-dom precision can cause them, through repeated behaviors, to become ‘the best.’

ESTJ: may have severe workaholic tendencies, which will result in further stinting inferior Fi development, rendering them unable to know what they truly want in life instead of simply pursuing monetary success; Si and 3 will fight over wanting the ‘ideal’ family image, but not being able to maintain it on an emotional (inferior Fi) level; often highly competitive in their field and aggressive in competing for attention and praise.

ISFJ: a down to earth but charming type, often focused on impressing their friends and family with society-influenced status symbols (the best car, the nicest house, the coolest purse, the cutest boyfriend); may say and do things just to impress others, and desperately covet and seek out their attention and praise (and need their approval and for them to be ‘in awe’) but have trouble talking about their true feelings or even admitting to them; not having ‘true’ friends will cause insecurities; may be prone to severe Si/Ti loops in which one analyzes past failures and mistakes. Prone to staying in their ‘comfort zone’ and very upset if they fail at something they have done a thousand times perfectly before.

ESFJ: will be in charge of every group, at the forefront of each public appearance, and will constantly step forward to lead, with the desire to impress others and win their approval; may find it hard to let others succeed, or to ‘lose’ anything they feel they should have won; tends to have tons of friends, but few they can turn to when their life goes in the toilet; may maintain illusions about success even when they have failed, for fear others will have no use for them unless they maintain the illusion. Si will make them specialize in a few strong personal areas (and become ‘indispensable’ to their work / organization) and Ne fear what ‘could happen’ if that goes away / being their true self; has inferior Ti problems of not being able to self-analyze / detach from their persona.

INTJ: more prone to leadership and comfortable with attention than other INTJs; may develop a strong desire to ‘achieve’ on a competitive level, and show little interest in undertaking the work of others unless it promotes their personal success; may sacrifice personal values to ‘get ahead’ in the professional sphere, and be out of touch with what truly drives them; may fall into the trap of unrealistic Ni-dom thinking that if they cannot bring their perfect vision into reality, they are worthless, and/or focus on personal symbols of ‘success’ (something that represents their entire success, such as an expensive car or watch); will play out ‘symbols of success’ through inferior Se (lavish taste).

ENTJ: may have severe workaholic tendencies, which will result in further stinting inferior Fi development, rendering them unable to know what they truly want in life instead of simply pursuing monetary success; high Se will make them incredibly focused on impressive / expensive symbols of personal success (gorgeous partners, expensive clothing / cars, luxury items, etc); often extremely focused on their personal appearance; may ‘put all their eggs’ into one basket, and base their self-worth on whether or not they can achieve their great, over-reaching (maybe impossible) personal vision for the future.

INFJ: often excessively symbol-focused, prone to tunnel vision, and much harder on themselves for perceived laziness and failures; the drive of 3 will develop inferior Se into ‘action mode’ but high Ni may make them severe upon themselves if they lack perfection or miss their goal by mere inches; sometimes prone to unreasonable expectations and standards of personal behavior; often gregarious and well-liked, but hides anything ‘unpleasant’ that shatters the illusion of perfection; very focused on appearances, somewhat out of touch with their true feelings, and prone to Ni/Ti loops (analyzing and refining their future vision, rather than seeing external factors that could alter it).

ENFJ: an over-achiever who may take on more than they can handle, due to their aux-Ni tendency to neglect details; extremely image-conscious and often intent on impressing others through symbols of their success and/or wealth; Fe-dom will make them want to build true connections, but also further obscure their true feelings (and ignore them, in favor of social harmony); may feel the need to perform constantly, and earn everyone’s approval; often reads whether people will be ‘useful’ to them or not (Fe/Ni) and tunes out those who are not; has inferior Ti problems of not being able to self-analyze / detach from their persona.

ESTP: the ultimate smooth-talking successful businessman type; a natural charmer and performer, who uses tert-Fe to woo people but often does not know what is real (the persona) and what is not (his/her true self); Se-dom + 3 results in an extreme focus on sensory impact, which means this type is ruthless about others’ physical appearances and their own overall sensory presentation; often good at reading subtle signs in other people, and may deviate from already nebulous morals to ‘achieve’ or ‘get ahead.’ May fail, with inferior Ni, to consider the consequences of being insincere or lying to impress others.

ISTP: an effective and flashy problem solver, more prone to consideration toward the long-term benefits of certain decisions (or consequences of actions) but totally unable to access or deal with their feelings (especially negative ones) in healthy or productive ways; like all the Se types, image-conscious and sensory-pleasure-driven (pursuit of ‘impressive’ toys that scream to the world ‘I am successful’).

ESFP: focused on momentary success and pleasures, and prone to Se/Te looping to get it (leaping on success in the short term, in whatever way they think will earn the most attention), which means under-development of aux-Fi (which may also cause problems with Fi’s desire to be truthful / authentic and 3’s desire to impress). Se-dom + 3 results in an extreme focus on sensory impact, which means this type is ruthless about others’ physical appearances and their own overall sensory presentation; may fail, with inferior Ni, to consider the consequences of being insincere or lying to impress others.

ISFP: more outward-focused than other FiSe types, unable to gauge what will impress others, so focused on what THEY would find impressive in someone else; puts a lot of strain on inferior Te to out-perform the competition and perform well, sometimes exhausting oneself in the process (may fall into 9-ish qualities in-between bouts of extreme hyper-focus and energy). Strong emphasis on sensory appearance (meticulous presentation, pride in one’s appearance, and, like all the Se types, may exercise, maintain hair / nails, etc) and a search for a personal vision (aux Ni) that could set them apart.

ENTP: the ultimate smooth-talking successful businessman type; a natural charmer and performer, who uses tert-Fe to woo people but often does not know what is real (the persona) and what is not (his/her true self); Ne-dom + 3 will make it hard for the ENTP to ‘find their true self’ or get a strong sense of their limitations and/or true abilities (instead of Ne-dom exaggeration). May be too opportunistic in the moment, or deviate from their nebulous moral standards, to get ahead; could find it hard to be sincere with others or get in touch with their feelings. Former failures may haunt them for decades through inferior Si.

INTP: 3 will bring out more Fe in this INTP than in other types; they will want to succeed in their field and achieve public recognition, awards, or other socially-recognized forms of success; prone to methodical work, and less inclined to throw their ideas into the world without Si-driven detail-focus than others, since any failure and/or half-baked hypothesis will threaten their personal image.

ENFP: often good at using their intuition to get a read on potential ways to succeed and on leaping on those chances (Ne/Te loop), which means under-development of aux-Fi (which may also cause problems with Fi’s desire to be truthful / authentic and 3’s desire to impress). More image-focused than other ENFPs (want their appearance meticulous and crafts it to please others and/or show their success). Former failures may haunt them for decades through inferior Si.

INFP: more outward-focused than other FiNe types, but focused on intuiting what will impress others and/or on achieving personal goals, based on former experiences (something they saw another person do, which impressed them, and they want to emulate through similar achievement – Fi/Si + 3); puts a lot of strain on inferior Te to out-perform the competition and perform well, sometimes exhausting oneself in the process (may fall into 9-ish qualities in-between bouts of extreme hyper-focus and energy), but also struggles with indecision and self-doubt (Ne) while falling prey to Fi/Si loops about past mistakes or failures (and fearing they cannot perform well in the future).

- ENFP Mod

[elonasblog]

Dreams About Ants

Creepy crawlies are not simply the longest living bugs on earth, yet they have been around for 130 million years. Their significantly planned settlements and imaginative nature are very symbolic in our dreams, but they can appear for certain reasons.

Underground creepy crawlies can be agent tending to your particular strength, energy and dedication; or a non-literal reflection to your tangible framework. An abundance of advancement, disillusionment and misgiving associating with your regular presence plan.

They can moreover be related with thing that are playing with you. Depending the setting of your dream you will be outfitted with clues to help you with finding the importance.

Dreams About Ants

A particular creepy crawly isn't extraordinarily splendid, it can't smell or hear; but underground bugs in a state, functioning as a gathering do bewildering things. Underground creepy crawlies emerge in our dreams metaphorically, they can address a both lucky or deplorable significance depending your lifestyle.

Creepy crawlies can radiate an impression of being minor aggravations or agitating impacts that have all the earmarks of being pretty much nothing and minor in your life. It could in like manner propose your aunt.

Underground bug dreams can convey your thought with respect to your enthusiastic viewpoint, things that might have all the earmarks of being close to nothing and unimportant. Breaking down considerations and opinions that makes like a base (state) suggesting imprisonment. What's meddling with you of late?

Separating an underground bug state underneath the earth is by all accounts like the frontal cortex that assembles stores of neurons. One neuron is futile with out various neurons, near how the underground creepy crawlies move to complete things.

Could this be associated with your tactile framework? Bugs going about as nerve cells to impart information? Could this super animal be the individual, society or how your psyche is wired? Do you need support from others to complete a goal?

Bug Symbolism In Dreams

Superhuman strength (lifts on different occasions its weight)

Creepy crawlies fight till death

Social occasion name: equipped power or region

Social bugs

Sharp

Creepy crawly Dream Meaning

To dream of Ants On A Wall resolves minor issues or weights that have been metaphorically worked by you. Dividers emerge in our dreams to address confirmation or limits that monitor us. The house tends to your cerebrum or psyche, as the underground creepy crawlies are minor aggravations that need sorting out. They could come as people, things or thoughts that are adverse.

Whenever you dream about Killing Ants it tends to killing off critical capacities or tasks, or issues that have been bothering you for eventually. Review that they move altogether and work aggregately; this could be something you are self undermining

Seeing Red Ants point the visionary towards shock and antagonism. Red in our dream often centers to shock that stays with the visionaries mind or conditions that are causing issues for them. They are similarly connected with fire creepy crawlies which tends to crabbiness and possible danger in the event that this isn't controlled.

Aching for Black Ants might be related to the shadow side of the visionary. This might address negative thought plans, rehearses, energizes that can be insane.

On the off chance that you are Bitten By Ants in your dream it tends to leaving your cutoff points and surpassing others. Creepy crawlies potentially eat when they are prompted if you get unnecessarily close to their progression. Then again, being eaten might be related to your instinctual side, or possibly being impacted working to hard.

[maidenoftheforestlight-blog]

You are literally a disgusting degenerate thinking that a young fucking child is "exploring her own desires" by trying to deal with a grown man who has threatened to rape her. I bet you gross ass would think that the creep who kidnapped poor Elizabeth Smart was just trying to keep her safe. The irony of having a problem with incest but not with pedophilia you piece of shit freak.

Firstly, I want you to know that I don’t appreciate this abuse or this accusation and the sheer hatefulness of this post, the fact that you went on a personal attack over shipping, is both a ridiculous overreaction and grounds for being blocked.

But I’m going to give you a chance and try to reason with you first. Because, rather like Sansa, I like to believe the best of people. I think you’re better than how you’ve presented yourself. 

 Now, I feel like if you’re going to treat these characters as if they were actually real people in a real world that plays by the rules of modern society you would find an incestuous relationship between siblings (and as a person who comes from a family of adoptees- not that that’s your business- the fact that they’re really cousins makes no difference to me. They are siblings and love each other as siblings) just as abhorrent as a potential future relationship between Sansa and Sandor… two people who regardless of their age difference have made a huge (overwhelmingly positive) impact on each other and canonically have a relationship with romantic tension.

 If you have a problem with the Sansan romance, take it up with GRRM… he’s the one writing it into the series. There are a lot of couples with big age differences in the asoiaf universe (e.g Jaime and Brienne have exactly the same age gap). If you’re ok with cousin incest because of “medieval times were different” (an assumption on my part, I know. I actually have no idea why you’re ok with incest in this fictional world but I’m going to also go ahead an assume that you’re not ok with incest in reality… A courtesy you unfortunately have not extended to me) then it strikes me as odd that you’re not also ok with GRRM’s use of “big age gaps were common back then”… especially since both things actually aren’t really all that historically accurate to most of medieval Europe… Certainly not as general practices like they are in Westeros. 

Most Sansan shippers ship this relationship because of Sansa’s actual feelings and character development that arise out of this relationship. And no… there’s nothing wrong with people who were also once thirteen year olds reading into the fact that a thirteen year old is exploring her own desires and sexuality through fantasies about an older person that authority figures wouldn’t consider appropriate for her… Because most of us were thirteen years old once (or are thirteen years old now) and most of us had crushes or fantasies about people we could never be with (or even should never be with! gasp!). But here’s the thing about fantasy and fiction, they allow us to explore sides of ourselves that we must otherwise repress. For young women in particular, fantasy can serve to free us (at least in our minds) from the constraints of “socially approved” expressions of sexuality or desire. 

For a character like Sansa whose arc is so concerned with the role of women in society and the acceptable expression of femininity, as well as thoroughly policed and controlled female sexuality… It’s important that her “sexual awakening” is prompted not by some kind of Westerosi ideal of masculinity, not at all by a man that any traditional Westerosi Patriarch would choose for his daughter, not by the handsome golden prince of the fairytales Sansa was spoon fed from infancy- the very stories that blinded her to much of what is wrong with her society… No, rather than that shining paragon of Westerosi patriarchal culture, Sansa becomes attracted to Sandor Clegane. A man that for all his many faults (and no one denies that he has many) is also truly a victim of the system, of childhood abuse and neglect, who has never known kindness or compassion, who has been dehumanised by everyone on account of a deformity caused by his own brother (a brother who was rewarded by society rather than punished!) to the point that he is called a dog and treated like a dog… like a Beast, in fact. Because that is what GRRM is reconstructing here; the Beauty and the Beast story. What makes a man become a Beast? What about Beauty triggers change in him? What about Beast makes Beauty start to feel for him…and later fall for him? To see the man hidden behind the ugliness? These are the things GRRM is examining.

Regardless of what you want to believe anon, young teen girls do have sexual fantasies… a good number of them have such fantasies about people way older than them… It’s a thing. If that resonates with a reader who is or was a teenaged girl, that doesn’t make them “disgusting” or a “pedophile”, not does it make GRRM a pedophile. Just as I am sure you do not promote the acceptance of incest in the real world, I think you should really open your mind to the possibility that just because someone finds a fictional relationship with a large age gap interesting, and would like to see where the author takes that relationship in future (keeping in mind that Sansa would likely have been 18 or older by the time she was reunited with Sandor if GRRM had been able to stick to his original plan), it doesn’t mean they even like or accept relationships with large age gaps in reality, even between adults. Accusations of pedophilia are just beyond the pale. You have no idea what people behind the computer screen have gone through in their lives or what their friends, family, acquaintances or colleagues have gone through. You just don’t know. I would ask that you stop to think more carefully before you post any kind of serious accusation like that to anyone again. Especially over anything so trivial as preferences in shipping in a fantasy series. 

Lastly, I know you sent me this message anonymously with the intention that I would “fight back” and get into some kind of argument with you. Maybe you thought I would sling insults back at you and also accuse you of horrible, sick crimes. I’m sorry that I haven’t provided you with that entertainment. That kind of drama simply doesn’t interest me and further more, I think it is beneath both of us as rational human beings who are capable of understanding the difference between fiction and reality. I seriously considered not replying at all and simply blocking you, but I decided not to do that in the end. Because I believe in giving people the chance to prove that they can be better than their negative first impression. So I leave it up to you. If you want to discuss literature with me like a rational, polite, adult, then I’m willing to put this behind us.

But I do not suffer trolls. If you post hateful messages to me again you will be blocked. 

Have a nice day. 

[aion-rsa]

Wynonna Earp Season 4 Episode 10 Review: Life Turned Upside Down

https://ift.tt/3lXH8By

This Wynonna Earp review contains spoilers.

Wynonna Earp Season 4, Episode 10

Like most good-but-not-great episodes of this beloved show, “Life Turned Upside Down” is an instance of Wynonna Earp biting off more narrative than it can effectively chew in one, hour-long installment. What starts as an episode that promises to delve further into Wynonna’s alcohol abuse and other mental health struggles and how they affect her loved ones quickly veers into a more action-forward story that sees Waverly kidnapped by her worst nightmare and BBD upper management initiating a plan that could end Purgatory (and some of our favorite recurring characters) forever. “Life Turned Upside Down” could have been three excellent episodes of television. Instead, by trying to shove all of this story into one installment, it ends up being one pretty great yet ultimately overambitious episode of TV.

“You know, I really thought we’d have a few years between your transition from fun drunk to mean alcoholic.” “Well, we don’t all have the option of happily ever after.” I’m sad we will never get to see the version of this episode that more fully dives into Wynonna’s current mental health struggles and alcohol dependence. Alcohol abuse is often glamorized and glorified on TV and film, especially when it comes to the lone, stoic warrior trope. It’s a depiction rooted in toxic masculinity, and especially in the western, a genre from which Wynonna Earp gets many of its narrative conventions. There’s a misunderstanding that toxic masculinity only impacts cis men, but that’s far from the case. In a patriarchal society that over-glorifies a constructed masculine ideal, toxic masculinity can affect anyone, and we see some of the worst of what that can look like in Wynonna’s Season 4B struggles. “You’re hunting all of the time. You’re not sleeping. You’re isolating yourself.” “No, I’m hunting alone, so until a new Chosen One rolls into town, whose old enough to drink…” Here, Wynonna equates being a “Chosen One” with alcohol dependence because, for her, they are inextricable from one another; she cannot comprehend a way to do this “job” without this particular coping mechanism.

What Wynonna Earp gets radically right in this episode opening is the focus on how this kind of “lone wolf” mindset affects other people. (“You seem so…” “Dedicated to keeping my friends and family safe?” “…Really sad. And lonely.”) One of the myths at the root of both toxic masculinity and toxic individualism is the idea that any one person can be an island. That it is possible to lock up your pain so tightly inside of yourself that it won’t touch anyone else. But to be human is to affect and be affected by the people around you. We touch one another, even when we try desperately not to, and this is something toxic masculinity and the glorified depiction of “the lone wolf” get so incredibly wrong. When you self-destruct, that self-destruction doesn’t happen to just you; it happens to everyone who loves you and, often, to people who don’t love you too. That knowledge can’t necessarily stop people from self-destructing, from feeling incredible pain and acting in harmful ways because of that pain, but hopefully it can get them one step closer to seeking help outside of themselves and realizing that, in doing so, they’re not just helping themself, but also helping everyone they touch.

This rich thematic exploration propels “Life Turned Upside Down” forward, but we never really get to see it come to any kind of fruition in this episode. Once Waverly, Wynonna, and Nicole leave the homestead after Wynonna and Waverly’s rough, raw, and probably helpful fight, the world butts in, as it so often does. Waverly is chased into the Ghost River’s mind-altering fog, and Wynonna and Nicole are desperate to save her. Initially unbeknownst to them, Waverly’s situation is even worse than they could have imagined: Waverly’s demonic “twin” Jolene is back, and she’s continuing her lifelong dedication to psychologically torturing (and then also physically torturing) Waverly.

Jolene is a manifestation of all of the negative thought patterns in Waverly’s head: Demons are just fallen angels [and] you’re one of them. / Does it ever get boring playing the role of damsel in distress? / Those are all of the lives that Wynonna has had to snuff out to save yours. Imagine the weight of all of that blood on her hands. / Stupid, selfish little angel. In Season 3, Jolene was ultimately unsuccessful in getting Waverly to die by suicide because Waverly was able to see the love and support her family and friends give her freely, and hear the untruth in Jolene’s lies. This time, Waverly isn’t able to do the same and it probably has at least something to do with how much Wynonna’s misery has been affecting her baby sister. There is more than one way to keep your loved ones safe and, while Waverly’s apparent turn to avenging angel is 100% not Wynonna’s fault; it also might not have happened if Wynonna’s definition of “keeping her loved ones safe” wasn’t so toxically narrow. Just because your pain belongs to you doesn’t mean it’s doesn’t sing to others, stirring up their own pain in return.

In accepting the dark narrative Jolene is whispering in her ear, Waverly makes a similar decision to the one Wynonna has been making since they got back from the Garden: To go it alone. To believe that there is something inherently and inescapably dark about her power. To tell herself hat she must get her hands bloody to keep her sister’s hands relatively clean. Something tells me that, in seeing Waverly make her own version of the choice Wynonna has been making these past few months, Wynonna might finally understand what Waverly was trying to tell her at the beginning of this episode: She wasn’t judging her; she was trying not to lose her.

Elsewhere in the episode, BBD’s much-discussed “upper-est management” have finally come calling, and it’s bad for pretty much everyone we know and love. Someone named General Graham is rounding up all of the “assets” left in the Ghost River Triangle and either killing them or loading them onto a metaphoric ark to get the heck out of dodge before the memory-altering fog swallows the entire region in just a few days. I was a little confused by the plot mechanics of all of this (maybe because I was so invested in what was going on elsewhere in the episode?), but it seems like there is a larger fight Graham is planning for. He spoke of a silo in Montana where he plans on bringing the supernatural people he’s rounded up in order to regroup and continue the fight. This all implies that the Big Bad, which is probably not the memory-altering fog but rather Eve or, and stay with me here, perhaps Waverly? Our favorite Sudoku-player ends the episode by ascending (or descending?) into some kind of dark angel, brought about by Jolene’s torture and the temporary belief that Wynonna is dead. “Your journey is over, Wynonna Earp,” Dark!Waverly tells her sister. “And mine has just begun.” Yikes.

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Ultimately, I’m not sure the beginning of this episode matches the end. At the beginning of the episode (and in previous episodes), the series seems to depict that Wynonna’s alcoholism is a problem, but then the episode promptly swerves into demonstrating how the story that Wynonna tells herself that fuels that alcohol abuse (that she needs to kill to keep her loved ones safe) is actually kind of true. Wynonna does do a pretty good job trying to save her sister, even if ultimately she is unsuccessful. (Because Waverly isn’t saved, is she? She may not die, but she is forced to transform into something she explicitly says she does not want to be: “I don’t want to be an angel. I don’t want to be a demon. I just want to go home.” Rather: “I can be a hero and a wife.” That is Waverly Earp’s dream and, over the course of this episode, she seemingly moves away from that path.) Over the course of this review, I’ve thematic tracked a path between Wynonna’s self-destructive behavior and the path Waverly takes at the end of this episode, but, if this was what Wynonna Earp was going for with “Life Turned Upside Down,” they needed to connect the dots a little better. If not, well, then the point still stands.

As with other episodes of Wynonna Earp that don’t quite nail it for me, “Life Turned Upside Down” was still a hell of an episode to watch for anyone who cares about these characters and this show. Even when Wynonna Earp isn’t at 100% in terms of plot or theme, you better believe that the characterization and the actors who bring that writing to life are top notch. From the intervention to “It’s my fucking turn, Wynonna” to Rachel picking flowers to lay next to Casey’s corpse, I was emotionally riveted. And, while it’s different for every story-consumer, that’s what I care about the most. The rest is icing on the doughnut.

Additional thoughts.

Wynonna calls herself a “chip off the abusive asshole block.” So much of the insecurities and issues that the Earp sisters deal with can be traced back to their abuse asshole father. It is, frankly, very impressive that Wynonna and Waverly were able to grow into such loving adults, given what they had to endure as kids.

Speaking of which: “Purgatory’s not a place where people get to be kids.”

“You’re my family.” “No, I’m not.” Poor Rachel. But also: she seems to be the most well-adjusted one here right now?

“Nobody wants to be an Earp. Earps always end up alone.” More story-lies that Wynonna tells herself that most likely started with her father.

R.I.P., Dallas.

Also: Mercedes!!! Are you OK?

“I’m kind of medium on the hair.”

“Clio’s the new Clanton heir and send the reapers to feed on a bus full of seniors.” Um, that is quite bad?

“I made you an apology castle roll.” I am so sad that Casey died.

“Those are humans… and Freddy.”

“I will come back to you; I just need her more.” While I did generally love the characterization in this episode, as previously mentioned, it didn’t work for me how vehemently Doc and Jeremy reacted when Wynonna chose to save Clio over them. I think they would have trusted that she had a plan? Then again, maybe they’re just terrified for their lives.

Rachel is so sweet.

I continue to feel bad for Billy.

“Get your hands off my sister, you unholy bitch.” Peak Molly Weasley vibes.

“If we cannot use our brawn, let us use our heads.” I love Doc so much.

“That is, as they say, my bad.” Again.

Did anyone else feel like the BBD subplot was just a carousel of people coming to break the BBD prisoners out and failing?

Obligatory Lauren shout out.

I love this show’s commitment to exposed midriff.

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Obligatory Dolly Parton shoutout.

The post Wynonna Earp Season 4 Episode 10 Review: Life Turned Upside Down appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[untoldmusicpromotion]

The Dares - Bad Faith EP

The Dares are an alternative rock band from California, comprised of Ben (guitar/vocal leader), Matt (drums/vocal backing), Brandon (bass/vocal backing) and Anthony (guitar/vocal backing).

1. Radical 2. Hangfire 3. Bird Brain 4. Bad Faith 5. Will To Resist 6. Bailey 7. Back In Town

As a fan of the group since roughly 2009, I’m thankful to have been able to experience their growth over the years; their very distinctive and catchy sound has remained strong. In their newest EP, Bad Faith, you get so much depth within each component – I’d suggest that you really focus on the messages presented.

Kicking off with “Radical,” there are beachy notes joined by deep lyrics. It exudes this idea of being stuck in a negative space. Strung with feelings of not wanting to live for the expectations of other people; pushing through the “tidal wave” that’s about to crash down on you. “Radical” is a prominent start to an EP that’s packed full of similar intensity and upbeat instrumentals.

“Hangfire” unquestionably contains more rock elements. It is addressing the confusing nature of trying to figure out if someone is sticking around. One thing that I’ve always respected about The Dares is their impeccable lyric writing. Their style has been consistently complex in a world where too many people are using bland vocabulary to express themselves.

A representation of being held back, “Bird Brain” is about not following the routine that is forced upon society. There are hints of rebellion and fighting restrictions. Inspiring freedom with a great sound and lines such as, “here’s to shaking things up, to tearing them down, this town is yours and mine now.”

Really enjoyed the beat in “Bad Faith.” Matched with fantastic vocals, it is highly entertaining and fun to follow. This track features a sick purely instrumental moment shortly after the halfway point, which I think had a brilliant impact on the track. The vulnerable honesty was a highlight for me.

Although “Will To Resist” is the shortest song on the EP, I appreciate what it contributes; it has a profoundly simplistic approach. This will resonate with anyone who is feeling a bit misplaced regarding who they are. There is a powerful inner voice being portrayed here.

“Bailey” has undertones of a spy movie or something in the beginning… am I the only one who thinks so? A nice strength flows from start to finish, leaving me gratified and intrigued.  “Your words are cheap, I won’t believe them again” shows a rightful bitterness from being burned too many times by someone, but the lyrics that follow emphasize conflicting thoughts of still needing (or wanting) them.

Pleasantly impressed by how “Back in Town” rounds out the EP with an almost beautifully haunting essence. As with all The Dares music, it’s fairly open to interpretation. Although I’m sure they have their original thought process and intent, it’s amazing that people can relate to each track differently.

After many years of supporting these guys, I’m honored to have finally been able to write about them and Bad Faith! Hope you love The Dares as much as I do.

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Alex Kilgore, Untold Music Promotion

[anoverloadofmusings]

To Make Some Sense Of This Year

I’ve lived two very different lives, like many of my generation. I have the presence everyone can see. My social media feeds. The version of my experiences that I get to shape in the retelling. I travel the world, confident and charming. Then there’s the other side, the confusion, the struggles. The loves and the losses. I find this disconnect between the two difficult to handle sometimes. This year, often. It is hard to pretend to be one or the other. Maybe that’s why I’ve finally decided to put this all down. To connect the dots and accept the contradictions, and be comfortable with the multifaceted person I am. It’s cathartic, in a world where it’s a virtue to not find catharsis in a public, online outing. But I want a release from the dualism I’ve been carrying with me and hope this will help with that. I’m sorry if it seems intense, but sometimes life just is.

I hope also, that whoever decides to read this can give me the benefit of the doubt, and believe me when I say that I understand my life in comparison to others. I know where I have benefited where others have not, just where I have struggled where others have not. I do not blame a single person in my life for my struggles this year. I have no bitterness, just feel a hell lot of regret, and a hell lot of love. I am constantly growing, constantly making mistakes. My experiences might have contributed, but I am full, rounded person, and I could’ve done a lot of things a hell lot differently. Feel free to criticise me and my actions, just know that I have often done the same.

The most appropriate place to begin this I guess, is admitting that I’ve been on autopilot for much of the last ten years. After my Dad died in 2010, my Mum married again and moved back to France within three years. That relationship never really healed, after clear, incomparable differences between my stepdad and I, where he insisted through his actions that my Mum would have to choose between us. I let it go though, and got through University, lived abroad for a while, built up an impressive portfolio of photography and filmmaking, before moving back to London in 2017, and I felt generally happy with the way I had restructured my life. I was generally well liked, had interesting travel stories to entertain people with and assumed like everyone else I would fall into journalism.

I was 26 by this point, and was carrying with me an awkward truth I was extremely ashamed of. Not only was I a virgin but I had never even kissed a woman, never been intimate beyond a few chosen words and glances. What might seem trivial to many now at the time was a heavy weight. That summer that finally changed, and though it was a lovely experience with a fantastic woman, I did question why I had put so much emphasis on this for so long. It was intimate yes. But it was fun. Light. There was no earth-shattering sensation. If there was something behind that heavy weight - it wasn’t sex.

A couple years passed, and I did well in my masters, my subsequent job, along with a few dating and hookup experiences along the way. I guess by this point I felt like I had cracked the right autopilot switch. I had given up trying to understand what that heavy weight had been to me for so long, as I had enough fulfilment in my life, enough goals to keep me focused. I just kept busy, barely remembering to count the days as they passed.

Then, in early winter, I started seeing a girl. I then - miraculously - mended the incredibly complex relationship with my stepdad, after years of fighting. In early spring, I left my job and tried somewhere new - in the city. By the end of March all these things had crashed down around me. All the support I had gotten used to, it vanished. I fell into a place where I am only now beginning to recover from. Some words used for this have been depression, deteriorating mental health, emotional immaturity, quarter life crisis etc. Whatever it is, it triggered something extremely deep lying in me. Now I have had anxiety issues - like many people - for a long time, but these were all under my control by this point and I had worked myself into a healthy place to deal with them. This breakdown ruined it all. I lost all control of those anxieties, lost all motivation in my job and the two following jobs. My relationship with my family broke and has not yet recovered. I became so, unhealthy dependent on this girl for my validation that after she left, I felt so inadequate, and all those anxieties from my past swarmed back, infesting into all the corners of the structure of the strong life I thought I had built up, and multiplying like a disease. I do not want to burden any reader with the technicalities of this mental state, as I do not want to indulge them anymore, but for those who can’t identify - you lose interest and passion in everything, so nearly all of those photos and smiles you’ve seen me pull since then have been some of the hardest and forced I’ve ever had. I never hated myself as much as I did then.

I let those issues wreak havoc over my entire life. I dragged friends through months of apathy. Of speaking to them about the same, limited topics. Colleagues had to sit and watch me struggle knowing I could not reach the potential I showed in my interview and they would have to let me go. I saw myself weigh heavily on this girl, even suffocating her and draining her energy. But for so long, when family and work left, she stayed and she cared. When she finally decided to take her happiness into her own hands and make up with her ex, I realised what had happened that I had never experienced before. I had fallen in love. Not the way I imagined I would have, and honestly not how I would’ve wanted to. Not when I was like this, completely unable to show anyone my best self. And not a healthy love either, not a love built around my dependency.

I think I can rationalise the impact people can have on our lives if you consider we are all built up of experiences. Some of them are fleeting, they happen and we forget them with ease. Other experiences, days or people leave a mark. Sometimes that mark hurts, which we then try to hide or run from. It can ache to remember it, so we burry it. Other people can awaken those hidden away experiences. This girl, she wasn’t perfect, but she did not leave a hurtful mark. I can still barely think of a time she insulted me or deliberately tried to hurt me. I still find it so easy to reflect positively on my time with her. What she did - unknowingly to herself and to me - was give me a certain affection I had never experienced, throughout all those years since my dad died, and perhaps before. I think it was so normal for her to give, it’s probably normal for most people come to think of it. But it was quite profound to me. I’ve been fortunate with my friendships - some of them are deep and will last a lifetime, but I did not realise I had lacked what she gave me. It was given even more significance for happening at the same time as the relationship with my family - seemingly the rock that our strength and love is meant to be built on - diminished in the form of multiple emails from my stepdad labeling me a leech and a failure. In the face of that, her affection was an intense reminder of what I did not have from my family. It was a short relationship, and its significance will probably fade in time, but while she was in my life I was endlessly confused. And just because I had no idea how to manage feeling appreciated like that.

It’s easy now to understand why I’ve fallen so far back this year. Without sounding unbelievably cheesy, I’m really not sure what the fuck I was doing before this year began. I was a functioning member of society but I rarely had a moment of pure happiness or fulfilment, satisfied with just feeling good. And that’s not to say a relationship is fundamental to happiness, it’s just, to me, I just felt like a passerby until then. Realising now, that the lack of a constant family figure showing me love in my life - especially in the last ten years - has meant that I just stopped expecting it, if I ever expected it to begin with. And for so long since March I have felt the same, perpetually trying to find the same level of purpose in my life without a lover’s validation. This core understanding about the necessity of self validation takes everyone their own timelines to figure out. And even then, once you realise you need it, it’s another thing finding it. Initially I dated a bit and found myself transferring all that affection and need for validation onto other women so quickly, despite knowing how unhelpful and wrong that was. I’m sorry for the women who had to experience that. I’m sorry for the friends who saw me suffer and said all the right things but knew they would just have to watch me suffer a bit longer before I worked it out for myself. My purpose was gone, and I couldn’t find it anywhere, as I didn’t have a clue where to start. Then I started to indulge it, I started to ‘like’ being so low with no self esteem. It felt familiar, more familiar than confidence or success. Sympathy from others brought out similar feelings of comfort that she had given me. It became like a cruel addiction, as if I wanted to see how far I could dislike myself and drive off the rails. I failed probation after probation, not able to feel even slightly present behind a desk. I somehow kept getting jobs but continuously found faults in them, and indulged them too. I saw issues with managers which were not issues. I lost myself and argued when I didn’t actually care about my point, I just wanted to feel anger. I gave up so easily, so quickly, and forgot all the things I loved, hobbies, friendships.

But this isn’t a sad recollection. At least that’s the paradox I find myself in sometimes. Perhaps another reason why I indulged this negativity for so long was because it felt good to feel. I had never felt as good as I had felt over that winter, with her, in my job, with my family, and never felt as low as I did in the months following. Even in the miserable moments there was a part of me which loved feeling so emotional. It just felt good to realise I wasn't just a passerby anymore. I’ve always been sensitive but I had never felt that level of emotion. And it was a different level at times, both the highs and lows. I still remember a tear falling down her face as we said goodbye and the force of emotion which hit me like a hurricane. I indulged it all. I let the vulnerability which I had once tried to champion completely define me.

There’s a lot of things that could’ve happened differently. I could have gone to therapy years ago, and not dismissed my anxieties so easily. I could’ve acknowledged the emotional impact my Dad dying and my Mum leaving would end up having on me in the future. If I had done that I could’ve taken sick days at work this year and breathed, reflected, then gone into work the next day. I could’ve made better decisions, chosen better places to move to, better jobs to apply for. I could’ve done a lot. If I had tackled this all before, things might have turned out differently. Then again, maybe they would’ve happened just the same. I know now though, that things happened the way they did because I was unaware what I had been missing for most of my life, and when it came I was overwhelmed. But it had to happen at some point. It’s really because of that that I just can’t hate this girl. She was not perfect. Somebody else with different baggage maybe could’ve maybe helped me get through this. They could’ve loved me back. Her preference of talking through social media was tough to deal with at times. But what she did do was help me realise what I had denied, while on autopilot for all those years. In a way, that was her saving me. And she did it with kindness, and a warm heart. If there’s anything I’ve held onto throughout all of this, it’s that I will not let anything that happens after make me forget the countless phone calls to make sure I was alright, the encouragement when I was at my worst. She deserves her happiness now and I’m proud of myself that I can focus on that, when I could’ve hated her for leaving. That gratefulness helps me sleep at night. She is a good person. As traumatic as it all turned out, I am grateful she was my first love.

And people do get better. Sometimes it takes going through an experience like this to give you all the tools you need to get better. And it doesn’t just switch back on like a light. I am building my life up again now, but instead of rushing to the top I’m taking my time firming up the foundations. Bit by bit. I recently dated someone for nearly two months and though things could’ve developed, I found myself controlling my feelings while I was seeing her. I managed to get to know someone while not making them my emotional dumping ground. I kept that in check. That might seem small, but to me that's a success. It’s one small victory on the way to being the Jeremy I know I’m want to be. I know I considering other people's mental space better now. Therapy is helping. Learning how to move on from people who don’t understand your value, even when I want to help them find theirs, is helping. Slowing everything down, is helping. It’s still a terrifying idea, to be out in the world - standing tall and pushing through a challenge again. But it is achievable, and it is achievable because I know so much more about myself now. I don’t quite love myself yet, not to the extent I know I should. But I like my voice. I like my mind. I like how I empathise with people. I like how I earn peoples’ trust.

If you’ve got this far, thank you. I hope you can sense what I’ve felt through writing this. I don’t really want any sympathy anymore for what I’ve been through. I just don’t want to carry this around, in a lengthy, confused state of mind anymore. I want this out there, written down, where I can see the words whenever I lose focus and remember everything happened the way it did for the best. People entered and left when they needed to. I let experiences drag me right down and almost wreck my entire life, and I need to remind myself, and anybody who reads this who doubts me, that no matter how trivial this experience might sound, that pulling myself back up - with the help of a few, extraordinary people - is a sign that I am not broken.

Fuck knows I’ve made mistakes. Fuck knows we all have. I’m sorry for those I’ve hurt during all this. I hope you can forgive me, and understand I will become better because of it, and will reward you for your belief in me if you wish to give me the opportunity to do so.

And finally, though this is purely cathartic, and I am speaking more to myself than to anyone else, I hope if anyone reading can relate to any of this, to reach out like I did. To friends, family, therapy, whichever. You’ll be endlessly amazed about the capacity that people have to love and to help. There are some people I haven’t named here but they know who they are. Perhaps not appreciating that in the people around you, and expecting it purely in the arms of a lover is where I got it all wrong. But I got plenty else wrong too. And now I have a lot of time to make up, and do it all better this time.