#op you have no idea how much i appreciate you articulating this the way you did

[impandgnomes]

"[feeling] extremely upset for Stan" I FEEL THAT GOD I WANTED TO HUG THE LITTLE SHIT SO HARD HE'S ONLY 10

I remember after I finished watching YGO/Assburgers (on the insistence of someone else since I'd avoided them for the longest time), I kind of spent like five minutes staring into nothingness and thinking about my life; partly because of Stan, and partly because of the dynamic of these two in this saga. When taken as a whole, it's a weird and interesting take on coming of age and Tratt feeling creative burnout (I still remember the entertainment news articles going around basically saying "no you dipshits SP isn't ending yet stop panicking" lmao). I can see why it's a major moment in the show for some people on that front alone.

It's not Kenny Dies tier in episodes I'd never watch again (long story, but yeah also another time I wanted to hug Stan), but as someone who could honestly say they've both been a Stan and a Kyle over the years, idk how people could think Kyle's some irredeemable evil bastard for how he acted in these eps, especially since he's a literal child. He tried to stick with Stan, but it was beyond his scope and ability to handle to the degree he was set up to have to do. I've felt hurt by that crap before, but I've come to understand. It took me until like 16 to realize what I was dealing with was depression ffs - what my middle school thought mental health education was came to "hey fellow kids you must be sad because your time management is bad look at this fun jar of beads as a visual :))))". For how purposefully silly the presentation is, Stan not being able to handle what's happening to him and none of the adults in his life really helping correctly breaks my heart on a deeply personal level. There's others in my life who I feel were the same in different ways and thinking of that for them is just...fucking ow.

I sometimes feel bad for my reactions when other people's mental health got too much for me when I was younger - I would have probably been a little similar to Kyle. These days, I realize a lot of the time I was dealing with something beyond my paygrade as a very overprotected kid who was going through a lot himself and has tried to do better since (I did usually try to get teachers, parents etc. involved where I thought it would help though). Sometimes I hope I really have, but I'm never going to stop trying anyway.

Hey, apologies if you’ve covered this particular thing before but one of the arguments against Kyle in ygo/ab is that in it apparently he can hang out with the fascist, abusive pos he’s dealt with most of his life but not Stan. I have my own halfbaked rebuttals to this idea, but you’re generally better with this kind of thing so thoughts?

Hhhh god this take is so painfully frustrating. I have already kind of gone loosely over it here as well as expanded on other stuff related to this topic.

But yes here we gooooo

Kyle didn’t abandon Stan in You’re Getting Old and Assburgers and I’m honestly really disturbed at how so many people in this fandom seem to think Stan is somehow entitled to Kyle’s constant affection and presence as well as believing that because someone is depressed, you must entirely disregard your mental health and happiness to put them first, even if they behave extremely unpleasantly and treat you poorly because of their mental illness. I’m not here to say that Stan is a bad person or somehow the real villain of these episodes- He’s NOT. He’s a child suffering with depression and it leads to him acting in ways that are hurtful to others because he doesn’t understand his poor mental health and isn’t being given the support and help he needs from his family and medical professionals. I also don’t think that the people pushing this idea actually BELIEVE that you have to put your own mental wellbeing aside for others in favor of theirs- At least not the vast majority of them. But somehow the fandom has became so utterly blinded by this idea because we only see the episode from Stan’s perspective and the fandom itself has just sort of skewed the general idea around the episode in ways that are blatantly untrue to what actually happened in it and it’s lead to people carrying on these annoying brain dead takes. 

I’m going to go over YGO and AB again in less detail than I have in the past- The link I sent has a lot of script backing up my information but I’m going to try going over it again here.

In You’re Getting Old, we see Stan increasingly struggling throughout the episode with his mental health as he falls into a deep depression. He suddenly can’t find joy in anything he used to and is frustrated and upset because of it. The only thing that does give him an inkling of happiness is being with his friends, but he can’t help but continue to complain and vent about anything the boys are doing no matter how hard they (particularly Kyle) tries to find ways to make him feel better and different things that he might enjoy. In the episodes, Stan isn’t just sad and mopey, he constantly talks about how shitty everything his friends find interest in is, making his problems everyone else’s. Once again, I do NOT think this is because Stan is a bad or selfish or mean person, nor do I think it’s fair to hold this behavior against him. He’s ten, he’s never had this problem before nor does he understand why he does. He’s frustrated and sad and the only thing that seems to improve his hurt feelings is to loudly tell everyone how unhappy he is and justify why things are making him unhappy by calling them bad. His behavior is extremely relatable and sympathetic I think to almost anyone who’s been depressed, myself included. 

BUT. I ask you to also look at the episode from KYLE’S PERSPECTIVE. Stan’s birthday passes and suddenly, nothing he does makes his best friend happy. Everything he likes and enjoys is called shitty and bad and stupid and he feels utterly helpless to fix these problems that are far out of his control or understanding. And somehow forgotten by the fandom, Kyle DOES TRY. A LOT. But like Stan, he is only TEN. There is only so much he can do, and he can’t understand or relate to the pain Stan is feeling. He doesn’t know how to fix it, and knowing how frustrated Kyle gets in other cases when he can’t fix or help something, he’s probably feeling entirely helpless and irritated towards himself that he can’t solve Stan’s problems. There’s not really any sign Kyle doesn’t care about Stan suddenly because Stan is “no longer fun” or something like that. He just can’t really fix him??? And it’s not fair to put that on Kyle’s shoulders alone?? 

We don’t know how much time goes on between this last scene and the next when Stan catches his friends hanging out without him after pretending to be sick, but honestly I don’t really think it matters. The point is that Stan is understandably hurt to find that his friends don’t want to hang out with him as much as they used to, but I don’t think that is something he’s entitled to? Like, you’re not entitled to the constant attention of other people no matter what you’re going through, and they’re allowed to have space from you if they want it even if it’s because they’re struggling to handle your mental health. Can this come off as cold and cruel? I think so in some cases. I do agree that just abandoning a friend because of their sudden switch in mental health would be a bit nasty even if it’s entirely someone’s right, but that isn’t even what happened despite how hard the fandom tries to argue this. 

In this scene, Kyle admits guiltily that he did lie about being sick because he needed a break and wanted to enjoy something without being constantly told everything he likes is shitty is bad. It makes sense he wouldn’t tell Stan- He knew this would only hurt him even though it’s completely fair of him to want some space. Kyle’s words here aren’t the most eloquent, but I remind you that he is a child who doesn’t understand what Stan is going through. He’s not mean, he’s blunt, and while he could’ve been nicer, I don’t think it’s fair to hold it against him considering his age and understanding of the situation. 

Stan is hurt that his friends don’t want to not be around him. Kyle tells him quickly that it’s just one movie, and I don’t think it’s fair to assume Kyle is lying here considering more information we learn later. Stan begs to join them. Kyle tells him he can as long as he doesn’t complain the whole time. Stan proceeds to complain while watching despite his friends asking him to stop over and over again, and Kyle, finally fed up, storms out followed by Cartman and Kenny. Stan follows and is told by Cartman that they don’t want to hang out with him anymore, and then he and Kenny leave. In both the scene where Stan catches his friends lying and this one, Kenny and Cartman leave the moment Stan confronts them with little to no concern as to how Stan’s feeling or ever trying to mend the situation or explain themselves. I’m only noting this because I find it really funny that the fandom tries so hard to villainize Kyle as somehow being the worst friend ever in this episode but Kenny McCormick is never at all mentioned for how quick he was to completely drop Stan- Way quicker than Kyle who never even fully does so. I’ve even seen people try to make Kenny mad at Kyle for these episodes or critical towards him??? Like?? Did you not watch it??

But moving on from that, Kyle tells Stan that he’s changed. Stan tells Kyle that the world has changed, and Kyle tells him back that he doesn’t want to view the world in the way Stan is trying so hard to make him see. Once again, I don’t think Stan is bad for this- He wants someone else to understand how much pain he’s in so that they can help him and empathize with him. Kyle understandably doesn’t want to see the world in the same horrible way Stan has begun to, however!! And while I don’t blame Stan for wishing Kyle understood him, the way the fandom somehow expects Kyle to just dive headfirst into trying to view the world in the horribly negative way Stan is is sort of ridiculous and unfair??? “Oh man, my friend is depressed so now I have to be depressed too so that I can understand exactly how he’s feeling and fix all of his problems”- Putting aside that this isn’t really a realistic expectation for Kyle to just somehow do, it wouldn’t help and it’s pretty nasty to imply Kyle is bad for how he reacts to Stan’s words here. Once again, I agree that Kyle could’ve been better with his words here, but he doesn’t understand depression or how to help fix it or what to say. 

This is the last of the dialogue between Stan and Kyle in this episode. From this, we can see Kyle hasn’t “abandoned Stan” and there’s more evidence of this in the future. Kyle has begun to set boundaries and wants space from Stan, he wants to be able to hang out with people who don’t insult everything he likes and who are fun to be around. He hasn’t DROPPED STAN. Stan isn’t entitled to constantly hang out with Kyle and Kyle is entitled to be apart from him and do things with other people sometimes! This isn’t disloyal or cold for him to do??? 

After this, Randy and Sharon divorce and Sharon moves herself and the kids out. This would have been a relatively long process that realistically should’ve taken place over like… Two or three weeks at least, if not a month or longer. But it’s pretty ridiculous to act like only a day or so passed since YGO and AB. In this montage, we see Kyle hesitantly approach Stan from behind when he’s sitting alone. He stops and then sadly walks away, seemingly not knowing what to do and giving up on helping at this moment. Later, we see Kyle playing video games with Cartman, and he smiles, enjoying himself. I’m going to expand on Kyle and Cartman’s relationship later but this is relevant. 

Moving on to Ass Burgers, we see Stan is still depressed after the long time period that was heavily implied to have passed. Kyle and Cartman are back to arguing about aspergers. They leave the bus stop to go ask Kyle’s dad about it and Stan doesn’t follow. I guess you can argue Kyle abandoned Stan here?? Once again, I don’t think that Kyle is responsible for constantly tending to Stan and making sure he’s included, especially when Kyle has seen in the last couple of weeks that Stan has no interest in being involved (nor has he ever really liked being around Kyle and Cartman’s spats). Either way, I don’t think Kyle does anything that horrible here- At most you can argue maybe he could’ve been a bit more attentive?? Idk. 

In the next scene, the boys are returned to class for skipping by Officer Barbrady, and the class starts talking about aspergers leading to Stan blowing up and telling everyone to shut up. He’s sent to Mr. Mackey’s office which leads to him falsely being diagnosed with aspergers instead of anyone recognizing his depression. 

Later on, Wendy approaches Kyle in the hall. She asks Kyle about Stan, and he tells her that he’s tried to call Stan and hang out with him, but Stan has only gone even more downhill since his diagnosis. This implies that an even longer period of time has passed between the beginning of Ass Burgers and now, so this is probably even MORE time that Kyle still hasn’t just dropped Stan like the fandom likes to imply. Either way, it feels like a month or so has passed AT LEAST since Stan’s depression first started and now. Kyle is harsh with his next words, though I feel really bad for him here? He clearly cares a lot and feels horrible for Stan, but also frustrated and tired and hurting himself. Calling Stan a black hole was definitely not a good thing to do, but once again he’s 10 and yada yada doesn’t know better. He says he can’t keep doing this, that the negativity is hurting him and even making him become depressed himself. And finally, Kyle says he needs to let Stan go. So this is the scene, if any, that Kyle truly “drops” Stan, though even then I hesitate to so quickly call it that because of future actions he takes. 

But yeah, so. This is it? This is why Kyle is such a horrible cold friend who doesn’t actually care about Stan?? Really?? Because he prioritized his own mental wellbeing?? It’s so fucking exhausting hearing this take, seeing people perpetuate the idea that Kyle has to let himself be hurt or else he’s a bad person. That he is somehow at fault for Stan’s worsening mental health. It’s a legitimately harmful idea, and once again while I don’t think most of the people spreading this take about Kyle actually believe these ideas, I really worry someone make take it to heart and think that they have to put their own wellbeing aside for the sake of someone else just because they’re struggling because they don’t want to be like Kyle in this episode. The episode itself isn’t even blaming Kyle in all of this. It’s just the fandom completely misunderstanding a lot of things because of the point of view being mostly from Stan’s and disregarding a lot of information the episode gives relating to Kyle in favor of having their helpless depressed baby who everyone hurts because no one loves him and that’s relatable, I guess? I don’t know. I can’t get into the minds of people who spread this idea but more often than not it just feels like they want to have Stan as their ‘does no wrong stand in’ to cope with their own problems and poor mental health, and while I think coping through characters is fine and entirely valid (I do as well), it’s really uncomfortable and frustrating seeing it come at the expense of other characters and spreading faulty ideas like this.

Kyle decides that he’s going to try and embrace everything moving forward with positivity because he doesn’t want to fall into the same depressive slump Stan is stuck in, and that leads to him furthering his friendship with Cartman with the Cartman Burger stuff. 

In the next scene, Stan is forcibly made drunk for plot reasons. It makes him feel happy and okay again, and he ends up running back into Kyle. The following scene is why I don’t think Kyle ever truly drops Stan despite saying he’s going to. He doesn’t tell Stan he doesn’t want to see him anymore, the most he really does is tell Stan that things can’t just go back to normal, and he has other priorities now- Cartman Burger, which I guess could also be taken as being his friendship with Cartman himself if you’d like. He holds Stan, tries to give him advice about trying to take a “left turn”, and is genuinely glad to see Stan seemingly doing better even if he’s critical about him being drunk. Stan falls back into his old habits of insulting everything, and Kyle immediately recognizes this as Stan not “changing” which I agree is unfair of Kyle, but again, he’s a child and doesn’t understand depression or what Stan is going through (Especially with how Kyle has learned to deal with his own mental anguish which I expand on in the essay I linked earlier). Cartman urges Kyle to come back to work and Kyle starts to. Stan tells Kyle he loves him, and Kyle immediately comes back until Stan insults him and Kyle once again walks away. I don’t think Kyle has (at least not fully) dropped Stan here??? He’s setting??? Boundaries?? And not tolerating Stan insulting him, drunk and depressed or not?? Kyle seems accepting of the fact that their friendship is seemingly coming to a close but he’s still letting Stan be in his life and seems open to letting things improve. He just doesn’t want to have to be the one to fix it because he doesn’t know how and his own mental health was previously declining.

Stan is continuously forced to drink by the people supposedly giving him therapy, and ends up captured by a bunch of food restaurant mascots- dumb plot stuff. When sobered up, he’s interrogated by them. They don’t believe him about his failing friendship with Kyle, and basically put him down for walking away from his friendship with Kyle just because he was “feeling down” which obviously is unfair to Stan and not what happened. 

Stan is forced to go back to Cartman Burger with a gun aimed at him to find out why the food tastes good. Kyle doesn’t know and clearly doesn’t realize Stan is being genuine when he claims he’s in danger in large part because he was previously claiming crazy shit when he was drunk. Kyle says the he’s sorry about what Stan is going through but the negativity is “poison” to him, which is pretty cold but ten year old who doesn’t understand- Plus at this point, Kyle seems frustrated Stan won’t respect his boundaries which isn’t justification but is at least why Kyle is probably being so blunt at this point in the first place. Stan apologizes but says he can’t help being depressed. Kyle points out that Stan verbally insulted him before, Stan claims to not realize what he was saying. Considering he’s a ten year old who was forced to drink, I think that’s fair but Kyle’s perspective is as well. Kyle relents and says he doesn’t know the information Stan needs, Cartman does. 

Plot stuff happens and Stan becomes fed up with all of this stupid stuff, finally seeming to realizes that the people from his therapy are only hurting him and that accepts that things have changed and that it’s okay for life to move on even if he didn’t initially want it to. I don’t think I need to reiterate all of this but yeah, it’s just really sad how the episode ends with Stan finally okay with the changes in his life and ready to start new only for it all to go back to normal entirely, and then at the very end we see that he’s gone to drinking to cope with his depression. It sucks. I hate these episodes, not because I think they’re poorly written but they just generally make me extremely upset for Stan. But that’s basically everything with them revolving around Stan and Kyle. 

As for Cartman and Kyle, I find it kind of frustrating that people view Kyle’s hanging out with Cartman so shallowly? Like, I don’t know. I’ve seen better worded meta on this in the past that I can’t find now relating to Cartman always immediately jumping in as their friend the moment Kyle or Stan aren’t together, and it’s very true. He suddenly isn’t insulting either of them (particularly Kyle) as much anymore. Now he acts like their friend and tries to get close with them, and this is pretty much because he can never compete as the best friend for Stan or Kyle when put against their counterpart, not when they’re getting along. He’ll always be second in getting the attention he craves from them. So instead, he’s mean and annoying and though the attention isn’t positive, it’s still attention and he’s getting a lot of it, especially from Kyle who’s so quick to fight against him if Cartman tries to anger him. There’s plenty of scenes and episodes where he immediately fills the space left by either Stan or Kyle being missing from the duo, and it feels very intentional on Cartman’s part. Even in Ass Burgers itself, Cartman takes deliberate steps to separate Stan and Kyle when they’re talking, watching closely when Stan comes to Kyle drunk and swooping in to get between them when it's convenient to break them apart again. He wants to be the center of attention with both of them, especially Kyle. He wants them paying attention to HIM, not each other, and if he can get in there when they’re not happy with each other to come off like the good guy, he’s going to do it. He’s just manipulative like that, and Kyle, oh so ready to see the good in people, even those as bad as Cartman, is ready to forgive and forget if he sees an improvement and to believe Cartman truly is becoming a better person. Kyle is easy to manipulate like that- Or at least he used to be, I think he’s learned to be more distrustful since then but at least at the point in time these episodes came out, Kyle was always very quick to believe in the good in people and believe they were genuine when they showed improvement. We see this even in later episodes like Ginger Cow when Kyle for a moment seemed very ready to believe Cartman when he came to apologize for lying. I don’t think it was as simple as “Kyle picked Cartman over Stan” like some people like to imply. 

Anyway, sorry if any of this is rambly or messily written. It’s hard to go over the entirety of an episode completely through text, and I’m sure some parts are a bit slow, but I hope it’s generally understandable and easy to read.

[xenosagaepisodeone]

ok 3.0+1.0 longpost -_-

it’s difficult for me to describe how I feel about 3.0+1.0 as a film because it’s artistic vision is just a 25 year cultivated response to the otaku fixation on nge. this film hardly feels like it can stand on it’s own feet as a coherent story -- it’s constantly introducing and reinterpreting symbols, contexts and concepts in order to lay down some kind of grounded world while also wanting to be evocative of the freeform flow of feelings occurring in EoE/Ep25/26. if this movie was it’s own thing and just living in the shadow of it’s predecessor, I could probably live with it and maybe even say that I liked it, but it’s flip flopping on if it wants the metanarrative to drive the story or if it wants to erect a new mythology of Eva altogether completely squanders maximizing the potential of doing either. what were left with is a very cowardly iteration of the message at the end of nge -- “human connections are important, even if they can be painful” becomes “ if we show you what you wanted to see for the past nearly 30 years, will you grow up now?”

"Defeated" feels like how I would describe the ethos of this film.

reiQ’s farmer adventures were cute, but in a way that felt bittersweet- because this character is not actually rei. not simply because she is not ayanami, but because she carries no actual development from her previous iterations like the other characters of rebuild. reiQ answers the question of “what if rei was actually as moe as she looks in official art” but forgets to pull the rug out from beneath you to unveil the depths of her turmoil. while Ayanami would say “I am not your doll to control”, reiQ has almost every aspect of her character dictated to her by other people - and this is depicted as fulfilling and human (because Anno wants you to get a job and have kids). not even her name is her choice. her sudden death only exists to serve as a motivator for shinji. I wanted to believe that this was some commentary on how a relationship without pain and loss cant exist, but it seems unlikely as rei (1, 2, 3, Q, Ayanami, lilith, etc) does not have an arc in this film. also the TV production quality of the village segment made it feel like I was watching a 12 episode sol as opposed to an actual film.

funnily enough, my feeling towards reiQ made me feel retroactive distaste towards 1.0 and 2.22. I’ve never thought rebuild was good, that much has never been a secret. 1.0 and 2.22 however carried enough over from the original series that it felt like the original characters were picking themselves up and getting better. I was happy seeing asuka, who had previously spent 26 episodes and a movie being miserable, open herself up to happiness. I was happy seeing rei connect more with shinji. even if the characters had to become simplified versions of themselves to find their own peace, it didnt feel thatbad. I didn’t realize until 3.0 came out how little this tetralogy had to it beyond puppeteering iconography and hoping that fans find meaning in it. 3.0 and 3.0+1.0 carried the same conviction of 1.0 and 2.22 of showing you characters you like doing things you wished they did, but with the support of the original series environment withering away to unveil half baked ideas, convoluted plots and meaningless regurgitation of every meaningful image this series has produced. seeing rei stripped even farther than her bare bones as reiQ put into focus what I thought I appreciated about 1.0 and 2.22.

there were a few times throughout this movie where I was trying to figure out what it was that anno was trying to say. as stated in my op paragraph, the film does carry it’s own simplified message about how important it is to grow up and face the real world, but this message largely betrays the framing. its cowardly. the pain that shinji experience does not come from the Other anymore, it is all self inflicted. learning to endure hardship simply became a matter of overcoming your own feelings, because now everyone else in your life effortlessly accepts you. there are 3 girls with who dont have any problems anymore and a solarpunk empire that would be all over you if you simply stood on your own two feet. there is no asuka experiencing hedgehog dilemma with shinji, there’s only asuka who exists so shinji can learn how to confess to a girl. there is no misato constantly subjecting shinji to a interplay of projecting her issues onto him and attempting to mother him (with varying degrees of success), there’s just shinjis step mom who accepts that she is responsible for him (which feels GREAT to see but feels bad when you think about what it sacrificed to get there). for a guy whose complicated relationship with otaku culture has bled into his work, you would think that idealistic fantasy of the real world wouldnt be the crutch of the delivering his message. when I say that “defeated” is the ethos of this film, I mean that it is so lacking in purpose compared to its predecessors that it wears itself thin trying to superficially have something for every conceivable audience while throwing out the meat of why people liked those things in the first point.

I was surprised to see that it was gendo who survived as the most introspective part of the film. i’m conflicted towards how I feel about a gendo redemption arc, but I feel as if his instrumentality sequence itself was decently shot (I hate having to compare it to ep 25/26 but it lacks the artistic flare for such a big budget film) and very well articulated. there’s a beautiful story in here about realizing your parents are people and parents realizing the responsibility they owe to their children, but I wish it could have been explored in a different film where characters are less held back by their established canon. honestly watching this whole sequence made me wonder if anno is still friendly with goro miyazaki LMAO

I was largely uninterested in the fight scenes, I think the only one that genuinely made me feel something was the one towards the end where asuka turns into an angel. the poor fight choreography coupled with weird shot composition and the overbearing usage of cg makes fight sequences overbearing and kind of difficult to decipher. cg fights are largely 1 eva vs a swarm of enemies that take up the screen, all of them having the same line weight which just ends up making all parties involved look like a mesh of colors. there arent real stakes for the most part either, asuka and mari tear through waves of enemies with effortless precision accuracy in a way that isnt visually or technically impressive.

believe it or not, I don’t actually dislike Mari. Mari enacts what Anno sought to do with the Rebuilds -- to destroy Evangelion. Mari (literally!) falls out of the sky into the story and is not gripped by the pain of the hedgehog’s dilemma as she exhibits her adoration for most things. her romance with shinji is intentionally analogous to how anno perceives his relationship with his wife -- that she saved him by encouraging him to live in the real world. the actual, textual ridiculousness in her character is softened when you realize that she’s just another component of his 4 movie long exhibition of telling everyone his life is better now that he’s successful and has a hot and talented wife.

is it worth complaining about all the crotch or ass shots. i think we all feel the same way about it. anyway i have more thoughts but these are my loose ones.

[20dollarlolita]

Submission from found-sheep

@found-sheep​ submitted to 20dollarlolita:

I was wondering if you might want to give me some advice on designing my first jsk?

I was planning a white cloud applique kinda border on the skirt, with a sheer overskirt with a few small metal stars scattered on it.

I don’t know if the bodice should be printed or solid, where the bows should go or what else to add to make it more balanced…

I’d like it to be more classy than sweet if possible, Your eye for design would be greatly appreciated

That’s a really cool idea and I love the cloud applique idea. It’d be a good way to get more detail from the print and get that cool color balance.

So, before I want to talk design, I wanted to do some research into what you have.

Okay, so, first of all, Design Mood Board Time:

Full View.

There’s your design in the middle. I did some level adjusting and color inverting to try to value block it out like I imagined you’d probably want to have.

It’s vaguely arranged on this sort of axis concept, but there’s a lot of just going by feel.

There’s two advantages to the mood board like this. The obvious one is that this is several examples of each of the main pieces of your design, so that you can get an idea for what are ways it could be executed.

The other advantage is the general image concept. When you look at a lot of star-print JSKs, what common stylings do you find? Do you find those often in JSKs with bottom-heavy prints? How do overskirts and prints interact?

Making the mood board is a pretty research-heavy experience, because in addition to finding what things you choose to include, you find what things you choose do not fit. The final result only gives you my opinion of what I think fits the theme.

(Mood boards are super useful when you’re working with directors who don’t have a ton of experience with the specific thing that you’re directing, because if they don’t like a concept in your final design, they often can’t articulate why. Busting out your board allows them to point at a thing they do or don’t like, without them being able to stray too far from the original idea, so that you don’t have to talk Peggy out of putting a 1990′s mullet wig into 1901 farm life again. In fact, if I’d started that show by giving the director a mood board of actual 1901 farm life and asking if she actually wanted accurate 1901 farm life, I could have saved myself a lot of headache. It’s also very satisfying to have a actor’s mom scream at you THEY SHOULD LOOK LIKE NORMAL NUNS and you can pull out an image of 41 different kinds of ‘normal’ nuns.)

So, now that I’ve given you my opinion in the form of 40 pictures, here’s my analysis:

When I was grabbing images, I didn’t find that I was trending towards any specific brand or time period, but that Indie brands popped up as often as major brands. If the pieces I found in the mood board tended to trend to a specific brand or year, you’d probably want to either embrace that, or modify it so that it didn’t trend in that way.  It was pretty easy to find classical pieces with this kind of detailing. If it was very difficult to find more classical pieces with these themes and detailing, I’d tell you to reconsider your genre, but I don’t need to tell you that, so that’s good.

The hem AND the overskirt AND the big applique AND the color change between bodice and skirt AND the interaction between your blouse and your neckline would probably be too much going on. If you’re attached to the bib, you could go full OP on this, which might look nice. That’d let you match your fabric for your cloud hemline with the fabric in your bib, which could be very harmonious.  Otherwise, you can save yourself a lot of work and make this an underbust JSK, where your blouse will do the heavy liftying as to making this coordinate. Bibs on JSKs are very difficult because you have to make your blouse match properly. Underbust jsk avoids this problem by making the blouse the only contrast. A lot of the dresses on the “bib” axis are actually underbust with a blouse under it.

Overskirts on top of heavily contrasted prints (or what you’ll simulate with your reverse scallop applique) seem to work well. Overskirts come in several shapes, so check out which one you like best. Heavy lace can be applied to an overskirt and still look boss, so check that out. You’ll also have to decide if the overskirt is sewn into the JSK, or if it’s detachable. If it’s detachable, can you use it for other looks with other dresses? Also, if it’s detachable, what does this look like without it?

Thirdly, you have space people in your print. There’s rocket ships, and there’s alien ships. Are they going to work in the narrative of the dress at all, or are you going to just pretend they’re not there? It’s possible for you to work them in thematically even without losing complete sight of classical lolita–a very little bit of very carefully placed silver lame goes a long way in terms of space theme–but you need to decide if you’re going to do that, or if you’re going to be okay with them feeling the tiniest bit out of place.

I could sketch out a re-design, but you didn’t ask me to re-design this and I don’t want to take that fun away from you. If you do want me to do that, let me know. I just wanted to present some of the choices I think you could make here.

You have a really good idea going on there, so don’t lose sight of that! I hope I helped. Happy designing!

[perpetuallyfive]

some thoughts on Endgame

I always find it a lot easier to write very long rants about things I dislike than praise about things that I like. It just feels like the good things are obvious, you know? So compiling them in lists feels a little pointless.

It’s why I haven’t written anything about Endgame yet. I honestly thought Infinity War was pretty average at best, so the fact that I fucking loved practically every single minute of Endgame kind of caught me by surprise. It checked so many of my boxes that it’s almost hard to even articulate. 

So much of what was good about it honestly felt almost inevitable.

Mark me down as pretty confused then as I read some of the negative responses. Like... obviously, I’m just being dense. Nothing exists, especially on the internet, without some negative response. And I don’t even mean that in a pithy way. People are really different and what works for one person doesn’t work for everyone.

Which brings me back to my earlier point.

Just because I thought some of this stuff was obvious or amazing doesn’t mean everyone did, so here are a few observations, in an unordered list:

The way that time travel works in the movie is deliberately left a little vague, in my opinion, to allow wiggle room for the multiverse moving forward, especially as they expand into streaming services.

They do however clearly say that you cannot change your own past. Bruce says it. This means that Steve absolutely is not in our timeline, whatever the writers might say about it now. He’s not. In our timeline, he knew Peggy married someone else. That’s in his past. He cannot change his past in his own timeline. Therefor he cannot change who Peggy marries in his own timeline.

Seriously, he’s not in our timeline. They’re just wrong.

This means you have a million possibilities in fanfic for all the things Steve did that sent out ripples in his own new timeline or the many multiverses he could have created. It’s a fucking candy shop.

Try not to be too hard on the writers for having no idea what they’re talking about, I guess; it’s hard writing characters that are way smarter than you.

Am I less than charitable toward the writers because of their dumb takes on Natasha in defending why she’s not a part of the funeral at the end? Yes.

Just put a fucking second wreath there, god damn, would it have been so hard.

Framing Nebula’s storyline as a bad thing, which I’ve seen a few times now, is frankly insane to me. She isn’t, as the daily dot put it, killing herself. She missed her chance to save her sister five years ago and has regretted it every since. The second Gamora is at stake this time, she makes it clear that she would sacrifice anything (even someone who looked like her), to prevent losing her sister again. That’s great shit!

I am bummed we don’t get original Gamora back, but I’m also intrigued by the soft reset this does on her relationship with everyone in the Guardians. I wonder what their plans are with that in Vol 3. In many ways, her healing process away from Thanos was sidelined in the first two films and this allows the possibility of reframing that as more central to the focus in the third. Fingers crossed.

More Gamora and Nebula in general but especially in Guardians 3 please; I might threaten to retroactively like this movie less if this is the last we get of this much attention on their relationship, please and thank you.

The problem with the MCU crossover movies is they have to exist as two things at once. They have to be a movie that works as its own thing with good timing, pacing, structure, and an end that feels conclusive. They also have to pay off minor characters that mainstream audiences might not care about, as part of larger world building and the stories shared across an entire universe. Endgame, in my opinion, did a much better job of it than Infinity War or Ultron. (it’s hard to compare it with Avengers, when the scale was much more intimate.) 

No but really, I don’t think a lot of us in fandom have an appreciation for how many people don’t know any of this shit we take for granted. A shocking number of the people I have spoken to IRL who are entirely apart from fandom didn’t even know what “on your left” was a reference to and were actually a little confused by that moment. 

Just think about that and understand the levels this movie has to operate on at all times. It’s almost enough to make me feel bad for the writers, except they still said dumb shit about Nat, so I’m good.

I did actually love all the more subtle callbacks, like Natasha’s necklace and T’Challa knowing Clint’s name, but the direct quotes were pretty great too, especially Steve’s reaction to “I could do this all day.” Super charming.

Another awkward thing about the crossovers is they have to try to level the playing field slightly and there are some Avengers who are just way more powerful than others. Carol was disappointingly absent, but she’s also insanely OP. It’s why Thor got depressed and it’s why the Russos now say that Hulk will have limited use of one arm. They nerfed some of the classic Avengers, but kept Carol full powered just off in space. That’s preferable, so long as she gets more screen time later and jesus please fix the wig. Or just do the actual haircut now that it doesn’t have to be a secret.

Please dear god the hair is great in concept but seriously if there’s anything about the straight agenda ruining Endgame it’s how borderline soccer mom they managed to make that hair look.

Natasha deserved better and I think we can all agree on that, but here’s hoping that her prequel is deliberately designed to echo the destination we know she’s headed toward and to give her a better resolution more in line with what she deserved. I want to believe that they didn’t give her a full ending entirely because they knew she still had a movie coming up and didn’t want to create that sense of finality that might keep audiences from seeing it. Here’s hoping they can make it work. 

Like specifically with very different writers, please. Hopefully a woman. You’ve maybe heard of them before, one of them wrote Guardians, the movie that nobody thought could work and fucking made it work. Yeah.

Tony and Steve were always headed in opposing directions at the end of their arc. This has been covered. Tony went from living selfishly to living selflessly. He went from a playboy bachelor, to a husband, to a father. His one priority when he decided he had to save the world wasn’t even himself, it was specifically keeping his daughter in existence. He went from a selfish dick with daddy issues to someone whose only priority was being a dad.

it was perfect. Like people can say otherwise... but they’re wrong.

 I’m an expert on this, clearly. Tony’s death was perfect. 

THEY FINALLY GAVE ME RESCUE. I loved everything about it, from Tony planning it carefully for a long time -- like obviously I think it’s because he was customizing the design to be more in line with Pepper’s wants and values, like it is in the comics -- to the fact that it actually does look more defensively focused but still super capable in battle. I want to watch this movie a billion times, honestly, but this scene in particular. I need to know everything about what her suit can do.

Steve was always going to end up settling down. We don’t actually know what he did in his own timeline -- again, IT’S NOT OURS -- so there’s a chance he was still a bit of a troublemaker, but honestly the five years seemed to take a lot out of him. He doesn’t always need a war, and that actually is forward momentum and growth. I get that some people are against the idea and think that getting to be with Peggy was somehow a step back, but I’m not sure I buy that.

Tony taking out the arc reaction at the end of IM3 wasn’t actually about him erasing his trauma or leaving it behind, and Steve getting to be with Peggy doesn’t erase his growth. It was part of it.

Theoretically Sharon was always an option, except the audience (and fandom) response to her was pretty terrible, so actually she wasn’t.

And not to just keep harping on points made in an article that I think is frankly pretty terrible, but Steve going back to the past instead of settling in the present wasn’t about compulsory heterosexuality so much as it was about a franchise that is going to keep making movies needing to keep the next decade of films in mind. 

If Steve is still around in the now, that will always linger as a nagging question. The same way that people can’t shut up about where Carol was for the last decade, Steve hanging around in retirement refusing to help would hang over the next phases of movies like a cloud. Putting him in the past lets him live (which he deserves) and clears the slate.

Let Steve rest but, more than that, dear god won’t you please let Chris Evans rest too.

This goes back to how these movies, especially the crossovers, have to work on almost too many levels and it’s frankly shocking that they manage to do it and still have moments of sincere humanity and sweetness. 

Like I’m not going to try to oversell it, but seriously fucking think about the fact that one of the most successful blockbuster movies of all time actually has quiet moments where people talk about trauma, loss, parental abuse or neglect, failure, and depression. 

Hey remember when the movie gave us acknowledgement of Rhodey and Nebula’s disabilities? In the possibly going to be most successful movie of all time, they had characters with disabilities say how they’re different now but it’s okay, they work with what they got, and they bonded over that and it was so fucking shocking for me and BEAUTIFUL. Just a reminder for us all that THAT happened in the movie that may actually pass Avatar to become the MOST SUCCESSFUL FILM OF ALL TIME.

Just allowing another moment to let that sink in while I try to wrap this up (for now).

ps I can’t believe this movie made me have nice thoughts on Ultron, which I fucking despise with most of my being. 

Actually I might have to take back every nice thing I said, just because of the Ultron thing. How dare you, film.

But still lol at the fact that even talking about Ultron for a few seconds was enough to make Tony Stark pass the fuck out. Hard same, Tony. 

LOOK OBVIOUSLY I LOVED MORGAN STARK. I AM EXCITED ABOUT MORGAN STARK. SHE IS A PRECIOUS PERFECT ANGEL AND I LOVE HER.

SHIT.

So this is a totally incomplete list but here you go. Some of my thoughts on Endgame.

[mujeeburrehman]

A “5-Year-Planned” Kitchen Remodel in Brooklyn Heights

For Lauren, years of planning paid off for a kitchen remodel in her Brooklyn Heights home

“After” photos by Miao Jiaxin for Sweeten

Written in partnership with Sweeten homeowner Lauren DeMattia

Homeowner: Lauren posted her Brooklyn Heights kitchen remodel on Sweeten to create a multi-functional space

Where: Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn, New York

Primary renovation: A kitchen in a 700-square-foot co-op that sweetens the living space too

Sweeten general contractor

Sweeten’s role: Sweeten matches home renovation projects with vetted general contractors, offering advice, support, and up to $50,000 in renovation financial protection—for free.

Renovation plan: living in the space

To say I won the real estate lottery might feel like an overstatement, but after a short hunt, I found a Brooklyn Heights co-op in a 1920s building. It had everything I had been looking for—two bedrooms, a corner unit, lots of windows, high ceilings, and a single block from multiple subway stations. The only drawback was that the place needed a lot of work.

Before moving in I did some things that really needed doing: putting in new hardwood floors, fully gutting the original bathroom, and installing updated electrical and lighting. At the time, the idea of touching the kitchen was out of the question—and budget. But it was, thankfully, the newest portion of the apartment and didn’t necessarily need work yet. It also had a weird layout that didn’t exactly scream a clear solution.

I’m a bit of a perfectionist, so I had a plan for my remodel. The key was living in the apartment long enough to come up with the right solution before demolition started.

Planning the new kitchen layout

Ultimately, I knew I wanted a kitchen that felt open to the living room with lots of storage (this is NYC). I also wanted a new layout that still provided some sort of entryway and coat closet.

As soon as I moved in, I began thinking about and talking about my most recent, “brilliant” plan for the kitchen layout to friends and family. First, I was set on an island, then a peninsula, and then I thought about moving the plumbing. I realized that I had to narrow down what was (and wasn’t) working for the kitchen.

Slideshow:

They created a sleek bookshelf that also hides my radiator and air conditioner units…

The layout technically had a lot of counter prep space, but it was in two separate areas, so I often had my back to my guests while I cooked. I loved the giant coat closet within the “entry,” but keeping it meant my options were limited. The appliances were in decent shape, though oversized for the space. A weird drop ceiling over part of the kitchen made it feel disconnected from the rest of the living room. This ceiling, coupled with a half-height wall that separated the front door from the kitchen, made the kitchen feel smaller than it actually was.

Adding a drop ceiling

Five years and probably quite a few exasperated friends and co-workers later, I settled on a plan for the kitchen. There would be no island and no peninsula. Everything was out from floor-to-ceiling. The huge coat closet was partially removed to make room for custom cabinets, panel-ready appliances, and a new drop ceiling that mirrored the curve of the floor transition from new tile to my existing hardwood floors.

With the coat closet gone, I decided to expand the closet in my bedroom to make up for the lost space. Aesthetically, I’ve always loved blue cabinets and knew that I wanted to do darker kitchen cabinets with a lighter floor and a whiter countertop with some wood accents.

I chose a separate cooktop and oven because the space I had for the stove was much deeper than a traditional countertop and I wanted to take full advantage of the space I had. I also wanted the appliances to look seamless and fully integrated. Plus, I hate the weird space that always happens between a stove and the cabinet where dirt and food collects.

Two prep zones

To get more workable counter space, I moved the stove to another wall. The original location of the refrigerator was a perfect spot. The sink remained on its original wall and was centered in order to get counter space on either side and keep it close to the cooktop/oven. By doing this, I created two zones for prep on each side of the sink.

Once I made the decision about the sink and cooktop/oven, I knew that the old coat closet had to be downsized to make room for the refrigerator. I opted for a panel-ready refrigerator because I felt like opening the front door and having a seamless wall of cabinetry would help mitigate the fact that you were walking right into the kitchen. Functionally, I was also trying to create a triangle between my sink, cooktop/oven, and the refrigerator.

Just to the left of the refrigerator happened to be the perfect location for a pantry. I had some built-in, pull-out drawers earmarked for my pots and pans and a simple pull-out wire drawer (it was super easy to install!) for my pantry items. With storage, food, and the refrigerator covered, I used the remaining space to the right of the refrigerator to create a new coat closet.

Slideshow:

Seamless transition between kitchen and living area

Based on the way my apartment “boundaries” were, there was a funny niche on the TV wall into which a counter and cabinets were installed. With the new design, there’s storage below where my microwave and toaster oven live and “open” storage above to display my pretty kitchen items. The glass doors open and can be tucked away so the countertop can be used as a bar top for parties.

I also wanted to have a place to eat. By pushing my living room furniture closer to the window, I made room for a new dining table and chairs. I had the pendant lights installed over the table. Extra work had to be done to build out the beam in the ceiling to hide the electrical boxes.

Much like the kitchen design, the idea of a built-in at the window had been on my mind since I bought the apartment. With a millworker already doing custom cabinets, I figured the built-in should be done as well. A sleek bookshelf was created that also hides my radiator and air conditioner units that were always annoyingly off-centered from the windows. I selected a “piano” finish on the top of the bookshelf for easy cleanup. I’m looking forward to exercising my hopefully-green thumb.

Slideshow:

Tip: Consider all possibilities

I optimistically planned for a “quick” two-month renovation, during which I lived in the second bedroom with all my possessions and a microwave. Of course, it took almost three months before I could move back into my own bedroom, and another two months before the project finished.

My advice for anyone preparing for a renovation: take your time. Do your research; debate all the possibilities. It was better to wait and mull over all my plans (for years!) before making the investment. Using Sweeten helped with the process of finding a contractor. I appreciated being able to read references and see photos of previous projects, which helped me see the quality of each contractor’s work.

Brighter and more functional home

Renovating my own space as an architect was good and bad: good because I knew what I wanted and how to articulate it to the contractor. But also bad, or rather tricky, because I knew exactly what I wanted and expected a specific level of quality and detail.

The final result was worth the discomfort and occasional tears. I’m incredibly happy with my new space. The kitchen is so bright and open,  and the layout is functional with tons of storage. Bonus: I was even able to make space for a proper dining table! Now, instead of talking to my friends about renovating, we talk about about the next time they’re coming for dinner.

Thank you, Lauren, for sharing your Brooklyn Heights kitchen remodel story with us!

Materials Guide

KITCHEN RESOURCES: Cabinets: Custom. Cabinet knobs: Simon’s Hardware & Bath. Quartzite “macaubas” countertops and backsplash: European Granite & Marble. Appliances: Bosch. Floor tile: Mosaic House. Floating Shelf: Custom. Dining table and pendants: Room & Board. Dining chairs: Overstock.

LIVING ROOM RESOURCES: Sofa: Crate & Barrel. Rug: Rugs USA. Table: DIY by the homeowner.

—

Hiding the fridge is a great design trick for elevating the look and feel of your kitchen.

Refer your renovating friends to Sweeten and you’ll both receive a $250 Visa gift card when they sign a contract with a Sweeten general contractor.

Sweeten handpicks the best general contractors to match each project’s location, budget, and scope, helping until project completion. Follow the blog for renovation ideas and inspiration and when you’re ready to renovate, start your renovation on Sweeten.

Source link

source https://civilco.construction/a-5-year-planned-kitchen-remodel-in-brooklyn-heights/ from Civilco Construction & Interior https://civilcoconstruction.blogspot.com/2021/02/a-5-year-planned-kitchen-remodel-in.html

[civilcoconstruction]

A “5-Year-Planned” Kitchen Remodel in Brooklyn Heights

For Lauren, years of planning paid off for a kitchen remodel in her Brooklyn Heights home

“After” photos by Miao Jiaxin for Sweeten

Written in partnership with Sweeten homeowner Lauren DeMattia

Homeowner: Lauren posted her Brooklyn Heights kitchen remodel on Sweeten to create a multi-functional space

Where: Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn, New York

Primary renovation: A kitchen in a 700-square-foot co-op that sweetens the living space too

Sweeten general contractor

Sweeten’s role: Sweeten matches home renovation projects with vetted general contractors, offering advice, support, and up to $50,000 in renovation financial protection—for free.

Renovation plan: living in the space

To say I won the real estate lottery might feel like an overstatement, but after a short hunt, I found a Brooklyn Heights co-op in a 1920s building. It had everything I had been looking for—two bedrooms, a corner unit, lots of windows, high ceilings, and a single block from multiple subway stations. The only drawback was that the place needed a lot of work.

Before moving in I did some things that really needed doing: putting in new hardwood floors, fully gutting the original bathroom, and installing updated electrical and lighting. At the time, the idea of touching the kitchen was out of the question—and budget. But it was, thankfully, the newest portion of the apartment and didn’t necessarily need work yet. It also had a weird layout that didn’t exactly scream a clear solution.

I’m a bit of a perfectionist, so I had a plan for my remodel. The key was living in the apartment long enough to come up with the right solution before demolition started.

Planning the new kitchen layout

Ultimately, I knew I wanted a kitchen that felt open to the living room with lots of storage (this is NYC). I also wanted a new layout that still provided some sort of entryway and coat closet.

As soon as I moved in, I began thinking about and talking about my most recent, “brilliant” plan for the kitchen layout to friends and family. First, I was set on an island, then a peninsula, and then I thought about moving the plumbing. I realized that I had to narrow down what was (and wasn’t) working for the kitchen.

Slideshow:

They created a sleek bookshelf that also hides my radiator and air conditioner units…

The layout technically had a lot of counter prep space, but it was in two separate areas, so I often had my back to my guests while I cooked. I loved the giant coat closet within the “entry,” but keeping it meant my options were limited. The appliances were in decent shape, though oversized for the space. A weird drop ceiling over part of the kitchen made it feel disconnected from the rest of the living room. This ceiling, coupled with a half-height wall that separated the front door from the kitchen, made the kitchen feel smaller than it actually was.

Adding a drop ceiling

Five years and probably quite a few exasperated friends and co-workers later, I settled on a plan for the kitchen. There would be no island and no peninsula. Everything was out from floor-to-ceiling. The huge coat closet was partially removed to make room for custom cabinets, panel-ready appliances, and a new drop ceiling that mirrored the curve of the floor transition from new tile to my existing hardwood floors.

With the coat closet gone, I decided to expand the closet in my bedroom to make up for the lost space. Aesthetically, I’ve always loved blue cabinets and knew that I wanted to do darker kitchen cabinets with a lighter floor and a whiter countertop with some wood accents.

I chose a separate cooktop and oven because the space I had for the stove was much deeper than a traditional countertop and I wanted to take full advantage of the space I had. I also wanted the appliances to look seamless and fully integrated. Plus, I hate the weird space that always happens between a stove and the cabinet where dirt and food collects.

Two prep zones

To get more workable counter space, I moved the stove to another wall. The original location of the refrigerator was a perfect spot. The sink remained on its original wall and was centered in order to get counter space on either side and keep it close to the cooktop/oven. By doing this, I created two zones for prep on each side of the sink.

Once I made the decision about the sink and cooktop/oven, I knew that the old coat closet had to be downsized to make room for the refrigerator. I opted for a panel-ready refrigerator because I felt like opening the front door and having a seamless wall of cabinetry would help mitigate the fact that you were walking right into the kitchen. Functionally, I was also trying to create a triangle between my sink, cooktop/oven, and the refrigerator.

Just to the left of the refrigerator happened to be the perfect location for a pantry. I had some built-in, pull-out drawers earmarked for my pots and pans and a simple pull-out wire drawer (it was super easy to install!) for my pantry items. With storage, food, and the refrigerator covered, I used the remaining space to the right of the refrigerator to create a new coat closet.

Slideshow:

Seamless transition between kitchen and living area

Based on the way my apartment “boundaries” were, there was a funny niche on the TV wall into which a counter and cabinets were installed. With the new design, there’s storage below where my microwave and toaster oven live and “open” storage above to display my pretty kitchen items. The glass doors open and can be tucked away so the countertop can be used as a bar top for parties.

I also wanted to have a place to eat. By pushing my living room furniture closer to the window, I made room for a new dining table and chairs. I had the pendant lights installed over the table. Extra work had to be done to build out the beam in the ceiling to hide the electrical boxes.

Much like the kitchen design, the idea of a built-in at the window had been on my mind since I bought the apartment. With a millworker already doing custom cabinets, I figured the built-in should be done as well. A sleek bookshelf was created that also hides my radiator and air conditioner units that were always annoyingly off-centered from the windows. I selected a “piano” finish on the top of the bookshelf for easy cleanup. I’m looking forward to exercising my hopefully-green thumb.

Slideshow:

Tip: Consider all possibilities

I optimistically planned for a “quick” two-month renovation, during which I lived in the second bedroom with all my possessions and a microwave. Of course, it took almost three months before I could move back into my own bedroom, and another two months before the project finished.

My advice for anyone preparing for a renovation: take your time. Do your research; debate all the possibilities. It was better to wait and mull over all my plans (for years!) before making the investment. Using Sweeten helped with the process of finding a contractor. I appreciated being able to read references and see photos of previous projects, which helped me see the quality of each contractor’s work.

Brighter and more functional home

Renovating my own space as an architect was good and bad: good because I knew what I wanted and how to articulate it to the contractor. But also bad, or rather tricky, because I knew exactly what I wanted and expected a specific level of quality and detail.

The final result was worth the discomfort and occasional tears. I’m incredibly happy with my new space. The kitchen is so bright and open,  and the layout is functional with tons of storage. Bonus: I was even able to make space for a proper dining table! Now, instead of talking to my friends about renovating, we talk about about the next time they’re coming for dinner.

Thank you, Lauren, for sharing your Brooklyn Heights kitchen remodel story with us!

Materials Guide

KITCHEN RESOURCES: Cabinets: Custom. Cabinet knobs: Simon’s Hardware & Bath. Quartzite “macaubas” countertops and backsplash: European Granite & Marble. Appliances: Bosch. Floor tile: Mosaic House. Floating Shelf: Custom. Dining table and pendants: Room & Board. Dining chairs: Overstock.

LIVING ROOM RESOURCES: Sofa: Crate & Barrel. Rug: Rugs USA. Table: DIY by the homeowner.

—

Hiding the fridge is a great design trick for elevating the look and feel of your kitchen.

Refer your renovating friends to Sweeten and you’ll both receive a $250 Visa gift card when they sign a contract with a Sweeten general contractor.

Sweeten handpicks the best general contractors to match each project’s location, budget, and scope, helping until project completion. Follow the blog for renovation ideas and inspiration and when you’re ready to renovate, start your renovation on Sweeten.

Source link

from CIVICLO Construction & Interior https://civilco.construction/a-5-year-planned-kitchen-remodel-in-brooklyn-heights/

[ianb0hen]

sooooooooooo purcon3 let’s do this

so we actually got there on thursday (james blunt was on our flight in like wtf????) and waited around to check in and explored what was around the hotel food wise so then went upstairs to get ready to get ready for little mix. then we went downstairs to ask at the desk where to buy a ticket for the trams and we saw rob checking in lol we had to point out where the lifts were cos that boy was not gonna go in the right direction.

anyways little mix and the vamps were fucking lit the crowd was so loud they were v good. so we went back and slept day 1 done

day 2 we explored some more got some pretzels it was chill. it was also really warm i was like wtf this isn’t what i signed up for. and then we like queued to register which only took like an hour and got our tickets to rob’s concert. we went upstairs got changed, did rob’s concert. ngl the crowd pissed me off. like a whole bunch of people were talking over him while he spoke and while he sang it was really rude???? i didn’t get why you would pay to go and not even listen to him. but i kept accidentally making eye contact with gil while i was singing along and i got embarrassed lmao.

day 3 first thing we did was matt’s lounge which got me so nervous i wish i recorded it on my phone but i thought it would be like rogue where you kept your bags somewhere else so i didn’t think i would have been able to but oh well. so matt answered some questions and like it went silent and he like looked at me and i put my hand up to ask something and he said “oh good i was going to pick on your because you were just sat there smiling” which i know i do i just can’t help it listening to him talk about his ideas and what he has to say makes me really happy. so yeah i asked what his favourite song in moana is and he got sooooooooo happy cos i know he loves that movie and he went on about it and was telling the other people who hadn’t seen it that they had to see it. he said there might be something cool happening next season, it’s not set in stone but if it happens it’s something he thinks everyone needs right now. and that something cool is gonna happen in the first part of the comic con panel and if there’s a livestream people should watch it. he asked who had travelled to be here and we said we were from england and he was like “where?” and we were like south west and he was like “but where?” and we were like bristol and he was like “but where?” and we were like farmer country and he talked about how he wants to move out of la eventually and go to oregon and set up a farm and be completely self sufficient food-wise and how he’s planted stuff in his garden and he really wants macklin to be surrounded by nature i thought that was so interesting and cute 

so then after that there were panels and tbh i can’t really remember a lot but so photos i got two pictures with matt i got a kiss on the cheek (in which my eyes are closed and i got to retake the day after) i still got a pic of it tho and i kinda prefer it but i didn’t like the print out of it i just like the photo of the print so probably still a good move and then i wanted a full body hug without my face in it and i had to show him a pic on my phone and my hands were shaking so much when i tried to open it he was like ‘you’re okay it’s okay’. like i fr don’t know what happened to me this con cos at asylum 16 i was so chill but he made me so nervous and emotional at this one??? it was so weird. but yeah so we did that and then i did my rich and he said he liked my outfit and i was rly surprised i was like ‘OH! thank you!” and we did judging faces at the camera and i got a hug with rob because i don’t have a photo with him at all so yay. 

then we got food and then did karaoke which was LIT we were second row and gil like posed for my camera (it’s my sister’s but i was taking the pics at that point) twice and rob smiled at us and matt gave us the mic during boulevard of broken dreams like and i was looking down and when i looked up at him he was already looking at me and smiling i wish i had taken pictures but it made me freeze up. but yeah i got some great photos 

day 4 we had our r2m pictures first and we gave them sunglasses and were like “pretend you’re cool” and rich was like “pretend????? we are cool” and we were like ok dude and then we were like so you know in kings on con when you’re in the cupboard and matt’s like “rich is right you’re fuck up rob we want you gone!!” can we do that and after we took it they were like that’s so good and then i had my matt retakes and i actually bought another one with him in the morning lmao whatever i’m trash i’ve accepted it and i got one of us holding hands too because my last one rogue didn’t INCLUDE OUR HANDS IN THE PIC WYD but yeah so that was that it was then just panels for the rest of the day for me my sister had some other pics with rich and gil but i was done. the panels were odd, the questions were kinda generic and i felt like rich was lowkey done lmao and like i don’t think some of the jokes landed with the audience idk it felt like a v different atmosphere to the crowds in england. but yeah i also wish people would ask matt more questions???? i feel like he barely gets asked anything at r2m panels and it makes me kinda sad lol cos he’s actually really smart and heartfelt i wish he had the chance to speak more.

but anyways autos happened and okay i felt really emotional i wrote out a letter for matt in the queue just basically thanking him for coming to conventions and his openess with the fans and like thanking him for using his platform in the way that he does and the way he’s so positive. i told him in it that i don’t actually watch the show anymore but i come to the cons because of him mainly it was stuff i wish i could say to him but i thought it would be more articulate if i wrote it down so. i felt like i knew i was gonna cry on him so i wanted to do his auto last to kinda prepare myself more but he didn’t have a queue so we had to do him first :) so we went i had him sign my photo and like i thanked him for coming and i handed it to him and i could see my hands shake and i like felt my face crumple and i welled up and i was like “sorry” and he was like “no don’t cry” and i was like “i don’t know why i’m crying sorry” and he was like “as long as they’re happy tears yeah” and i was like yeah and thanked him again and like while we queued for gil like i still felt myself tearing up i never actually cried but like i just felt on the verge for like the whole of gil and rich’s queue lmao and i like saw him read it while we were queuing and i was like oh god no i want to take it back no and so my sister got her gil auto and then we did rich’s and he said i photograph really well and that i’m a very pretty person and omg rich is just so calming like to be around??? like matt made me feel so like emotional this weekend and rich was just like so chill and calm. so then we did rob and i had him sign my photo and we talked to him about his concert on friday then i had him write out my tattoo for me and when i said what it was he smiled and he looked idk so genuine when he looked at me and thanked me for coming so then i um and ah over getting a second matt auto mainly because i didn’t want my last interaction with him to be crying on him but then i thought i still might cry on him again if i got another so i left it and we hung about.

so then matt finishes autos and he leaves the room, he looks at me and i waved bye to him and he like stopped and came over and said “i read your letter. thank you so much for doing that for me. I will definitely keep coming back to cons for you” and he said to my sister “i don’t know if you feel the same way” and she was like “she wouldn’t let me read it” which was true lmao and he said it was so sweet and he would be coming back and my sister said about asylum and he said he should be due for the one next year and that we had to pester wayne to get him rob and rich to come and then we hugged him and that was that. i’m so happy he did that it literally made my weekend. 

then the closing ceremony happened and gil sang music of the night and i died and yeah we all sang the musical version of carry on my wayward son it was sad and made me emo that was the last episode of supernatural that i actually watched so (bar matt’s most recent one). then we went to get food and my sister had to go up and get the ice cream sandwich she ordered and all the guests turned up we were like ffs and then they ordered and said bye when we left and then we waited like 10 mins before leaving cos we didn’t wanna look like we were following them lmao.

yeah i was a great weekend, it was kinda odd cos it didn’t actually feel like it was happening while it was??? and it doesn’t actually feel like it happened as i write this??? like i’m sad that it’s over but also in a hollow way????? but also matt’s friend on twitter screenshotted my tweets and matt liked the tweet so he saw me saying mark sheppard is a shady ass which is

so yeah day 5 we explored but we couldn’t really appreciate it cos it was fucking 31 degrees and then we flew home 

i have work tomorrow i don’t want to go i just want to lie in bed and be sad about matt not being my best friend. anyways that’s everything i think i love rich i love rob and i love matt very much i hope i get to see him again next year 

[prodigaldaughteralice]

alice liveblogs infinity war

we’re watching infinity war finally and I’m already mad at it or being grimdark

(spoilers I didn’t like it. also there’s some vague SU and PMMM spoilers in here because I ramble.)

like the end of Ragnarok was SO GOOD with the asgardian refugees and then they just fucking kill them all and the whole pre-credits bit was just pointless

also they pretended to kill Loki and that guy is never actually dead but it pissed me off

also I’m sad I’m so sick of Cumberbatch because I really like the idea of having a straight up wizard in your main party of superheroes

I’m glad Banner got to hug the shit outta Tony though

I really like this spider-man! I haven’t seen his movie yet but he has the goofy wisecracking that I loved about the comics as a kid DOWN

IRON MAN SPIDER SUIT?

why does tony stark have a samsung POS for a phone

and the Guardians show up and the mood immediately lightens; I am SO GRATEFUL TO THEM AND OH MAN MANTIS IS HERE I LOVE HER

HI THOR

your last movie was way better than this one

drax has the hugest boner for thor and I do not blame him but I would understand it a little more if he still had his luscious hair

THE FAMILY FUCK UPPERY COMPETITION I THOUGHT THAT WAS A TUMBLR JOKE

“all words are made up”ilu thor

okay who tf is this now in the fancy apartment with a glowy thing in his head am I supposed to know this????? THAT’S FUCKING VISION???????

also is that scarlet witch with him? I should probably point out that I watched Civil War once and I did not pay much attention because it was annoying the shit out of me

yep that’s scarlet witch here come her glowy things

designated girl fight time ughhhh

oH MY GOD STEVE ROGERS SHAVE THAT BEARD OFF RIGHT NOW nat what did you do to your hair did the director decide there could only be one ginger woman

oh I’m glad they got an excuse to reuse those awesome monster designs from the first Avengers flick in this flashback with baby Gamora

okay though I know they probably did it to make him look more like the comics but I cannot take Thanos seriously with that fucking CHIN he is committing hideous atrocities and now I am just annoyed and my immersion is broken

it is so obvious Gamora knows where the last stone is that I genuinely hope the secret is actually something else

...drax. why. stop eating. mantis you have saved me from that terrible joke I love you.

at this point it’s making me genuinely sad that I’ve been spoilered about the dust thing. like. I know he’s gonna get everything? I know he’s gonna ~win~ and oh my god drax fucking stop

THANK YOU MANTIS YOU HAVE RESCUED ME THIS DAY

FUCK YEAH GAMORA ABUSIVE DAD STABBING

oh jesus the blocks of clay/strips of paper effect is freaky as shit

jesus jesus this whole scene is freaking the shit out of me god ugh why there is no genuine point to dragging this scene out it’s just Suffering there are times in my life where I would be okay with it but Ugh

it genuinely took me a few seconds of Weird Romantic Music for me to remember they paired nat and bruce off in that one movie that was some weird shit can we just move on

YOOO IT’S WAKANDA TIME

...that was disappointingly brief

okay there is way too much torture in this movie. that’s the issue. physical emotional et cetera too much torture

I love spider-man though he’s a good boy

strange and tony are both the exact kind of arrogant asshole that you’re supposed to identify with but instead just annoys the shit out of me and spider-man is this scene’s only saving grace 

okay this new philosophy for Thanos since they can’t have him being in love with Death bc that would lead to Deadpool issues... it’s very... Kyuubey.

FUCK NO NEBULA SHIT BABY I LOVE HER AND THIS IS BULLSHIT I’M SO MAD JESUS THIS WHOLE FILM IS ABOUT TORTURE AND I HATE ITjesus jesus nope nope stop nope this is bullshit fuck

thor speaks groot and I am relieved but I miss movies where the default was thor speaking groot and there were only occasional dips into misery

why is thor trying to get a new hammer there was a whole deal in his last film about how he doesn’t need the hammer AND A ROBOT EYE? so they’re just gonna tear apart all the symbols of his character development? whyyyyyyyyy

groot put down your fucking ds

...is that peter dinklage as a giant I kind of love that

I’m glad Nebula pulled herself together I love herrrrrrr

they’re on a planet called Titan!! GAAANEYMEDE AND TITAN, YESSIR I’VE BEEN AROUUUUND... BUT THERE AIN’T NO PLACE IN THE WHOLE OF SPAAAAAACE... LIKE THAT GOOD OLD TITAN TOWN

“you’ll have to restart the forge... awaken the heart of a dying star” okay so it’s a side quest

mantis is bouncing around I love her

did Peter just adopt Peter as an uncle

...is that red fucking skull? like from hydra? why is there a nazi in space

the stone demands a sacrifice UGHHHHH this is DUMB this movie has no idea what genre it is so it’s just taking the superficial cliches from every one it finds

ughhHHHHHH and it’s gonna count her as ~someone he loves~ even though he’s just been a dickwad fucker who’s tortured her her whole life THAT ISN’T LOVE ASSHOLES ughhhhh fucking shit also attempted suicide on screen definitely did not make my night any better fuck this fuck this fuck this movie with a bread knife STOP HAVING DRAMATIC SHOTS OF HIM CRYING THIS IS BULLSHIT.

oh and now he’s floating in the void. on a cloud. in a pond. great. I don’t care.

wait all that and it’s not even the big stone for the back of the hand???? it’s a lil knuckle one???

rhodey just pranked the shit out of bruce and the mood whiplash is killing me

I fucking love shuri okay every second we are in wakanda is a gift and a relief from the rest of the movie

...explosions. of course.

“and get this man a shield” FUCK YES

I would like to interrupt this to point out that my cat is a perfect loaf on the floor and I love him

...suddenly there are monster hordes? where did they even come from? I mean out of the ships obviously but this is fucking stupid

oh my god all the wakandans with their badass ranged spear technology and then bucky is just standing there with a fucking gatling gun

black panther is a badass and I appreciate action sequences when they’re well done but this is not tied together enough for me to be invested I guess?

okay but there is legit zero explanation for why thor isn’t dying in the heat of the star? like. he just Decided Not To Die??? like. I would be fine if he was like “I have expanded my powers since I moved past my hammer, I think I can take it” or whatever but they just decided to have him be like “IT’LL ONLY KILL ME IF I DIE” which is just. dumb. 

ohhhh so they’re resurrecting him with the axe. which is not a thing we ever said the axe could do. okay. okay sure. sure. fine.

groot handle is badass but there’s been so much torture and self harm in this movie that having him whack his own arm off just is not fun even if he regrew it immediately

I’m glad thor is glowing again though.

ughhhhh thanos’s philosophy is so dumb I’m so done with hearing it YES DROP THE BUILDING LAPIS LAZULI THIS SHIT awwww he just got back up again I mean I guess BD did too DID DRAX JUST FUCKING HAMSTRING HIM

don’t you dare call him an insect arachnids aren’t insects ya purple dingus

NEBULAAAAAAAAAAA

they look like they’re gonna succeed but it’s too early in the movie and I want them to succeed right now so this movie will be over but also bc whatever they do to get him out of this will feel dumb

“he is in anguish” I DON’T GIVE A SHIT.

DO NOT ENGAGE DO NOT ENGAGE SHIT

ughhhhHHHHHHH. GAMORA WOULD NOT HAVE WANTED YOU TO FUCK OVER THE OPERATION LIKE THIS. GODDAMNIT.

...any tree can drop an apple, he’s gonna drop the freakin’ moon?

BUCKY SPINNING WITH ROCKET IS HILARIOUS I LOVE IT also thor and cap’s moment of banter see THAT is what I like about these movies when they’re done well

scarlet witch is OP as fuck and I love her

designated girl fight x4????? we can mix it up a little okay????

bruce arguing with hulk is somehow relatable???

I love spidey’s robo legs tbh they’re super fun HE CAN’T REMEMBER NAMES FUCKIN RELATABLE

okay yes I still love having a wizard in the party I just wish it wasn’t THIS guy

did you just fucking stab tony that’s bullshit

“spare his life and I will give you the stone” WHY THAT IS A SHITTY DEAL TO MAKE HE’S ALREADY DYING ANYWAY this is a trick, right?

ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

vision’s thanos-sense is tingling and I wanna go to bed like screw this

put some fucking sleeves on you big grape flavoured asshole

do we even know why Wanda’s energy is the only one that can destroy the stone? Was that explained and I missed it?

YO SHE BROKE THE THING

“I understand, my child... better than anyone” NO YOU DON’T ASSHOLE YOU KILLED THE PERSON YOU’VE BEEN MANIPULATING AND HARMING HER WHOLE FUCKING LIFE FUCK YOU

...he just undid it with the time powers THAT’S CHEAP AS FUCK ughhhhhhhhh also he just put that narrow oval gem into a nearly circular and much larger setting so fuck that

FUCK YEA THOR ugh this isn’t gonna stick is it ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

is that baby gamora UGHHHH “what did it cost?” “everything” I DON’T BELIEVE ANYTHING FAUX-SENTIMENTAL YOU SAY

and it’s time for the dusties. I got spoiled this happened but I don’t know who all it happened to

fuck this though

genuinely so pissed STOP TAKING THE BEST ONES NO NOT SPIDEY FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCJ YOU FUCL UOI

fuck this entire fucking movie

ughhhhh and I really like the actor who plays Thanos he’s awesome in everything else I’ve seen him in but this entire movie was like. there was no point? they shoved so many people into one place that there were just sidequests instead of a plot. I want to go to bed tbh. Maybe I will be able to articulate my irritation later but UGHHHH.

[therichmondpapers]

Why Liberalism over Socialism?

This is a harder question than Libertarianism or neo-Liberalism because I feel more able to clearly articulate the aims and strategies of Libertarianism and neoLiberalism because the words are defined a little more narrowly. Socialism is defined so broadly, by so many people, in so many different ways that it’s really very difficult to talk about as a whole. I’m therefore using this essay to break down my understanding of Socialist thought and the distinctions within it. Sadly that means this essay will, again, be a little bit of a self indulgent and pompous self referencial jargon-fest… sorry. So I’m going to start by breaking down Socialism into different blocks and giving an overview of my understanding of them. I don’t think I will manage to perfectly and accurately encapsulate them and I’m not going to suggest that I have the requisite knowledge to understand them all perfectly or as their proponents understand them. I also want to slot Socialism into my version of the political compass that I started talking about in ‘Why Liberalism over Libertarianism?’. So I’m going to deal with three broad categories: -The utopian version of Socialism and its relation to Marx’s notions of fully formed Communism but also non-Marxist understandings of Socialism. -Narrowly defined Socialism including, but not limited to, Marx’s lower form of Communism, i.e. Socialism -Broadly defined Socialism including Social Democracy and Social Liberalism. I’m going to start at the end and deal with that broad definition. Here Socialism seems to be basically anything that isn’t anarcho-capitalism or at least Libertarian or neo-Liberal Capitalism. Firstly I just want to say that I think this is an extraordinarily broad definition but it is used both by those on the right but also by people on the left, at least in English speaking countries, including people like Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jeremy Corbyn and the Owen Jones wing of the UK Labour party. This is a big enough topic, I think, for its own essay so I’ll save that for ‘Why Liberalism over Social Democracy?’ and limit myself here to defining the scope of what fits into this bracket of Socialism and what doesn’t. Here allowing private ownership of Capital, along with free markets, is compatible with Socialism so long as there is a strong welfare state, co-ops are allowed and the state is willing to regulate the market not merely to ensure strong competition but also for the good of citizens generally. This is clearly distinct from Laissez Faire capitalism and the usual doctrines of monetarism as it relates to neo-Liberalism. I would personally call these ‘mixed systems’ rather than Socialist ones but I do acknowledge that Socialism has a broader history beyond simple Marxism and doesn’t necessarily have to involve the ending of private ownership of Capital. Any more than that I’ll save for the other essay. A brief aside into Stalinism and Maoism. I appreciate that they come under the broad definition of Socialism due to state ownership of assets and indeed are the first thing people think of when they think of Socialism but I honestly believe they are just not at all representative of any of the philosophical underpinnings of any Socialist thinker. Just as the Nazi’s may have called themselves National Socialists but be wrong, I don’t buy the idea that Stalin or Mao were enacting Socialist ideals just because they say so. If anything better analogies would be other authoritarian regimes like old imperial China, Nazi Germany or Fascist Italy. Ok so now back to the first item on the list- utopian Socialism. I think it’s important to deal with this so as to get to grips with the ideology but it’s important to acknowledge that very few people are claiming that utopia is literally possible or at least possible in the current moment. That’s simply a misrepresentation. I want to compare and contrast it with anarcho-capitalism. I would argue small or zero state capitalists are either arguing that unregulated capitalism will result in a perfectly structured society where the “right” people will be at the top OR that capitalism unleashed from restraints will abolish hierarchy and lead to every individual being able to get anything they want (at least it will take equal effort for any individual to achieve any particular personal goal). Basically unlimited negative liberty will lead to unlimited positive Liberty, or at least as much positive liberty as can possibly be achieved. I obviously don’t think this is how it works in the real world and I’d argue almost everyone agrees on that. I think Utopian Socialism is the mirror of this on the left. In what I’m describing as Utopian Socialism (or what you might call Marxist Communism or Luxury Space Communism if you spend too much time on Tumblr) would be an ideology arguing that the dissolution of class boundaries (and probably private ownership of capital) along with society being run collectively by people for the benefit of all will automatically result in everyone achieving maximum fulfillment. This isn’t necessarily perfect negative Liberty (even when it’s stateless) because there is a some assumption that Society isn’t going to let you do something that might help yourself but reduce equality or the common good, but nonetheless there is something close to perfect positive Liberty because everyone can have what they want and be fully fulfilled. (Or as close to this as is possible.) I don’t believe this is any more possible than the utopian vision laid out by anarcho-capitalists. To achieve the perfect positive Liberty you need to allow more variation and inevitably what people want will conflict in ways that will require some “sacrifices for the common good” that will limit people from getting what they want. Marx himself points this out, arguing that perfect equality is impossible without restrictions on liberty and even then it is impossible in every dimension. If you set wages at an equal amount per hour then those who work more are wealthier, an inequality, but if you set wages equally per person then those who work longer hours are losing out in terms of leisure time. And what if someone has more dependants, like children? The point being that there are some practical limitations. The response to those practical limitations must be either a compromise where authoritarianism is used to bring people into line or else more variation is accepted. This is just as true of Liberalism. Ideally I would want absolute negative Liberty and absolute positive Liberty. The ability to be left alone when I want is simply more attractive to me than the social harmony utopian Socialism offers, but I am forced to accept that it isn’t possible to achieve perfect positive Liberty without some sacrifice of negative Liberty. Therefore Liberals must either accept the poverty, inequality and lack of opportunity of Libertarianism and neo-Liberalism or else accept more government action in order to correct for those problems. Socialists face a similar choice and that brings us to practical but narrowly defined Socialism. By practical and narrowly defined Socialism I mean the ideological space that is possible to achieve and fits with Socialist goals but is clearly distinct from other ideologies. So where Social Democracy is sometimes described as Socialism, it is also Capitalism. I want to look at the ideological space that is clearly not Capitalism, Conservatism, Liberalism or Authoritarianism. It is ONLY Socialism. I believe the best space for this is the mirror image of the ideological Capitalism I described in the last essay. I believe that it must be a space where private ownership of capital is either non-existent or extremely rare and capital allocation is done in some other way. It must also be distinct from Liberalism in that while Social Liberalism may recognise the importance of society in the lives of the individual, Socialism’s starting point is society and the common good. This doesn’t require the wholesale disregard of individual rights, that would get you back to the authoritarian doctrines of Stalin or Mao and almost inevitably brings back class distinctions, but it does require a social and community oriented mindset. I believe this can be done in broadly two ways- Democratic Socialism where what is acceptable/the best way to live for the happiness of the individual and the community is decided by simple majority and Liberal Socialism, where more than just basic minimum rights are guaranteed to every individual and there is an expectation that the community must allow a little more leeway for individual choice and action even while, because this is still Socialism and not Social Liberalism, the individual is expected to make concessions towards the community. Liberal Socialism is, to me, the Socialist counterpart of Liberal Capitalism, what we call neoLiberalism, I would argue they are both Liberal versions of their own ideologies but are not Liberalism itself. Essentially this splits narrowly defined Socialism into: one form of true Socialism that has more regard for positive liberty and one that only prioritises positive liberty in so far as basic minimum rights for all. So, to finally get to why I’d choose Liberalism over Socialism. There is an argument to be made that people are simply not able to be as happy under a Liberal individualist system and that every individual needs guidance from the community and from society. I recognise and understand that argument, however, while some people may genuinely be happier in a more community oriented society some will not and I simply believe that it is more effective to provide social and community outlets to those who want it under Social Liberalism while also providing more space and protection FROM community for those who want it. I do not believe that the narrowly defined Socialism I’ve laid out here is necessarily bad or evil but I do believe it falls into the trap of assuming that everyone (or at least most people) in Society deep down want broadly the same things as the proponents of Socialism. I don’t believe this is the case and I do believe that the wants and needs of individuals in terms of what they want from the society they live in require us to build a society with wide variations and options that allow us to fulfil the wants and needs (as best we can) of both the most ardent Socialists and the most committed Capitalists. While I acknowledge that neoliberalism does not and can not do this I believe that social and radical Liberalism can do this task better than any other system of thought or ideology. That’s why I believe in Liberalism over Socialism.

[rachelmorris305]

A Jewel of a Space, Worth the Wait

An architect spends five years dreaming and planning her own home

When she discovered it, Lauren DeMattia loved everything about this 700-square-foot, 1920’s Brooklyn Heights co-op—except the kitchen. As an architect, she knew that living in the space would be the best way to determine how to design it to work for her lifestyle. After much back-and-forth, she decided to move the stove to another wall to gain counter space, lose a large closet, and install built-ins and drawers for storage. She didn’t realize her journey from bad design to a “wow” kitchen would take such a long time, even before she found Sweeten, but she’s glad it did. After she posted her project on Sweeten, she was able to achieve a layout that worked with the space she needed to cook and entertain with abandon.  

Guest post by Brooklyn Heights homeowner Lauren DeMattia

To say I had won the real estate lottery in 2012 might feel like an overstatement, but after a short apartment hunt, I found a co-op in Brooklyn Heights that was everything I had been looking for—two bedrooms, a corner unit, lots of windows, high ceilings, and a single block from multiple subways. The only drawback was that the place needed a lot of work.

Before moving in I did some things that really needed doing: putting in new hardwood floors, fully gutting the original bathroom, and installing updated electrical and lighting. At the time, the idea of touching the kitchen was out of the question—and budget. But it was, thankfully, the newest portion of the apartment and didn’t necessarily need work, yet. It also had a weird layout that didn’t exactly scream a clear solution. As a bit of a perfectionist, I wanted to live in the apartment long enough to come up with the right solution before I started knocking down walls.

Ultimately, I knew I wanted a kitchen that felt open to the living room, with lots of storage (this is NYC), and a layout that still provided some sort of entryway and coat closet.

As soon as I moved in, I began thinking about and talking about my most recent, “brilliant” plan for the kitchen layout to friends and family. First, I was set on island, then a peninsula, then thought about moving the plumbing. I realized that I had to narrow down what was and wasn’t working for the space.

The layout technically had a lot of counter prep space, but it was in two separate areas so that I often had my back to my guests while I cooked. I loved the giant coat closet within the “entry,” but keeping it meant my options were limited. The appliances were in decent shape, though oversized for the space. A weird drop ceiling over part of the kitchen made it feel disconnected from the rest of the living room. This ceiling, coupled with a half-height wall that separated the front door from the kitchen, made the kitchen feel smaller than it actually was.

Five years and probably quite a few exasperated friends and coworkers later, I settled on a plan for the kitchen. There would be no island and no peninsula. Everything was out from floor-to-ceiling. The huge coat closet was partially removed to make room for custom cabinets, panel-ready appliances, and a new drop ceiling that mirrored the curve of the floor transition from new tile to my existing hardwood floors. With the coat closet gone, I decided to expand the closet in my bedroom to make up for the lost space. Aesthetically, I’ve always loved blue cabinets and knew that I wanted to do darker kitchen cabinets with a lighter floor and a whiter countertop with some wood accents.

I chose a separate cooktop and oven because the space I had for the stove was much deeper than a traditional countertop and I wanted to take full advantage of the space I had. I also wanted the appliances to look seamless and fully integrated. Plus, I hate the weird space that always happens between a stove and the cabinet where dirt and food collects.

To get more workable counter space, I moved the stove to another wall. The original location of the refrigerator was a perfect spot. The sink remained on its original wall and was centered in order to get counter space on either side and also close to the cooktop/oven. By doing this, I also created two zones for prep on either side of the sink.

Once I made the decision about the sink and cooktop/oven, I knew that the old coat closet had to downsize to make room for the refrigerator. I opted for a panel-ready refrigerator because I felt like opening the front door and having a seamless wall of cabinetry would help mitigate the fact that you were walking right into the kitchen. Functionally, I was also trying to create a triangle between my sink, cooktop/oven, and the refrigerator.

Just to the left of the refrigerator happened to be the perfect location for a pantry. I had some built-in pull-out drawers earmarked for my pots and pans and a simple pull-out wire drawer (it was super easy to install!) for my pantry items. With storage, food and the refrigerator covered, I used the remaining space to the right of the refrigerator to create a new coat closet.

Based on the way my apartment “boundaries” were, there was a funny niche on the TV wall into which a counter and cabinets were installed. With the new design, there’s storage below where my microwave and toaster oven live and “open” storage above to display my pretty kitchen items. The glass doors open and hide away so the countertop can be used as a bar top for parties.

I wanted to also have a place to eat. By pushing my living room furniture closer to the window, I made room for a new dining table and chairs. I had the pendant lights installed over the table. Extra work had to be done to build out the beam in the ceiling to hide the electrical boxes.

Much like the kitchen design, the idea of a built-in at the window had been on my mind since I bought the apartment. With a millworker already doing custom cabinets I figured it was time to have the built-in done as well. A sleek bookshelf was created that also hides my radiator and air conditioner units that were always annoyingly off-centered from the windows. I selected a “piano” finish on the top of the bookshelf for easy clean up. I’m looking forward to exercising my hopefully-green thumb.

I optimistically planned for a “quick” two-month renovation, during which I camped out in the second bedroom with all my possessions and a microwave. Of course, it took almost three months before I was able to move back into my own bedroom and another two months before the project was officially finished.

My advice for anyone preparing for a renovation: take your time. Do your research; debate all the possibilities. It was better to wait and mull over all my plans (for years!) before making the investment. Using Sweeten helped with the process of finding a contractor. I appreciated being able to read references and see photos of previous projects so I could see the quality of each contractor’s work.

Renovating my own space as an architect was good and bad: good because I knew what I wanted and how to articulate it to the contractor. But also bad, or rather tricky, because I knew exactly what I wanted and expected a specific level of quality and detail.

The final result was worth the discomfort and occasional tears. I’m incredibly happy with my new space. The kitchen is so bright and open, the layout functional with tons of storage, and I was even able to make space for a proper dining table. Now, instead of talking to my friends about my renovation, I get to talk to them about the next time they’re coming for dinner.

KITCHEN RESOURCES: Cabinets: Custom. Cabinet knobs: Simon’s Hardware & Bath. Quartzite “macaubas” countertops and backsplash: European Granite & Marble. Appliances: Bosch. Floor tile: Mosaic House. Floating Shelf: Custom. Dining table and pendants: Room & Board. Dining chairs: Overstock.

LIVING ROOM RESOURCES: Sofa: Crate & Barrel. Rug: Rugs USA. Table: DIY by homeowner.

A post from originally from Sweeten

[hollywoodjuliorivas]

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EDITORIAL New York Voters Can Make Crooked Politicians Pay EDITORIAL Willie Horton, Updated for the Trump Era OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR With Manafort, It Really Is About Russia, Not Ukraine OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR Marco Rubio: Tax Reform Should Help American Families Loading... OPINION Advertisement Opinion Buddhism Is More ‘Western’ Than You Think Robert Wright THE STONE NOV. 6, 2017 Continue reading the main storyShare This Page Share Tweet Email More Save 98 Photo “Golden Buddha, 2005” by Nam June Paik. Credit Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times Not long ago I was accused of something I hadn’t realized was a bad thing: clarity. Adam Gopnik, reviewing my book “Why Buddhism Is True,” in The New Yorker in August, wrote: “He makes Buddhist ideas and their history clear. Perhaps he makes the ideas too clear.” Underlying this allegation (which I vigorously deny!) is a common view: that Buddhist ideas defy clear articulation — and that in a sense the point of Buddhist ideas is to defy clear articulation. After all, aren’t those Zen koans — “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” and so on — supposed to suggest that language, and the linear thought it embodies, can’t capture the truth about reality? Gopnik seems to think that this drift of Buddhist thought — its apparent emphasis on the inscrutability of things — largely insulates it from scrutiny. Buddhist discourse that acknowledges, even embraces, paradox may “hold profound existential truths,” Gopnik says, but by the same token it has, as a kind of built-in property, an “all-purpose evasion of analysis.” So apparently people like me, who would like to evaluate Buddhist ideas in the light of modern science and philosophy, should save our breath. The question Gopnik is raising isn’t just an academic one. Every day, millions of people practice mindfulness meditation — they sit down, focus on their breath, and calm their minds. But the point of mindfulness meditation isn’t just to calm you down. Rather, the idea — as explained in ancient Buddhist texts — is that a calm, contemplative mind can help you see the world as it really is. It would be nice to critically examine this powerful claim, but if we can’t say clearly what Buddhists mean by “the world as it really is,” then how can we examine it? How can we figure out — or even argue about — whether meditation is indeed drawing people closer to the truth about reality? The cultural critic Edward Said famously used the term “orientalism” to refer to a patronizing way Westerners sometimes think of Eastern cultures and ideas — as charmingly exotic, perhaps, but as deficient in various Western virtues, including rationality and rigor. Said was talking mainly about Middle Eastern cultures, but much the same could be said of Buddhism: Western thinkers may cherish its art and its cryptic aphorisms, and may see meditation as therapeutically useful, but many of them don’t imagine Buddhist thought playing in the same league as Western thought; they don’t imagine a Buddhist philosophy that involves coherent conceptual structures that can be exposed to evidence and logic and then stand or fall on their merits. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT Continue reading the main story This condescension is unfounded. Not only have Buddhist thinkers for millenniums been making very much the kinds of claims that Western philosophers and psychologists make — many of these claims are looking good in light of modern Western thought. In fact, in some cases Buddhist thought anticipated Western thought, grasping things about the human mind, and its habitual misperception of reality, that modern psychology is only now coming to appreciate. Consider a quote that Gopnik employs in suggesting that appraising Buddhist philosophy may be a fool’s errand. It is from a Zen Buddhist who, in analyzing a famous text called the Heart Sutra, wrote this: “Things exist but they are not real.” I agree with Gopnik that this sentence seems a bit hard to unpack. But if you go look at the book it is taken from, you’ll find that the author himself, Mu Soeng, does a good job of unpacking it. It turns out Soeng is explaining an idea that is central to Buddhist philosophy: “not self” — the idea that your “self,” as you intuitively conceive it, is actually an illusion. Soeng writes that the doctrine of not-self doesn’t deny an “existential personality” — it doesn’t deny that there is a you that exists; what it denies is that somewhere within you is an “abiding core,” a kind of essence-of-you that remains constant amid the flux of thoughts, feelings, perceptions and other elements that constitute your experience. So if by “you” we mean a “self” that features an enduring essence, then you aren’t real. Now, you can argue with this line of thought — with its characterization of the self, its definition of “real” and “exist,” and so on. But the point is that this line of thought is clear enough to argue about — just like the lines of thought Western philosophers produce. In fact, David Hume, an emphatically Western philosopher, made an argument against the reality of the self that is so similar to longstanding Buddhist arguments as to make some scholars (including, as it happens, Alison Gopnik, Adam’s sister) suspect that Hume had encountered Buddhist thought. In recent decades, important aspects of the Buddhist concept of not-self have gotten support from psychology. In particular, psychology has bolstered Buddhism’s doubts about our intuition of what you might call the “C.E.O. self” — our sense that the conscious “self” is the initiator of thought and action. A particularly famous experiment seems to show that, before we are consciously aware of deciding to perform an act — push a button, say — the physical processes that initiate the act are already underway. Other experiments suggest that our minds are good at fabricating reasons that we do certain things and hold certain opinions — and that the fabrication happens unconsciously, so that the conscious mind is itself duped into believing these stories, along with their implication that the conscious mind is running the show. Newsletter Sign UpContinue reading the main story Sign Up for the Opinion Today Newsletter Every weekday, get thought-provoking commentary from Op-Ed columnists, the Times editorial board and contributing writers from around the world. Sign Up You agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. SEE SAMPLE MANAGE EMAIL PREFERENCES PRIVACY POLICY OPT OUT OR CONTACT US ANYTIME If much of this sounds disappointingly free of the charming paradox commonly associated with Buddhism, I have good news: There is a paradox that can surface if you pursue the logic of not-self through meditation. Namely: recognizing that “you” are not in control, that you are not a C.E.O., can help give “you” more control. Or, at least, you can behave more like a C.E.O. is expected to behave: more rationally, more wisely, more reflectively; less emotionally, less rashly, less reactively. ADVERTISEMENT Continue reading the main story Here’s how it can work. Suppose that, via mindfulness meditation, you observe a feeling like anxiety or anger and, rather than let it draw you into a whole train of anxious or angry thoughts, you let it pass away. Though you experience the feeling — and in a sense experience it more fully than usual — you experience it with “non-attachment” and so evade its grip. And you now see the thoughts that accompanied it in a new light — they no longer seem like trustworthy emanations from some “I” but rather as transient notions accompanying transient feelings. Note how, in addition to being therapeutic, this clarifies your view of the world. After all, the “anxious” or “angry” trains of thought you avoid probably aren’t objectively true. They probably involve either imagining things that haven’t happened or making subjective judgments about things that have. In other words, these thoughts are just stories the brain spews out; they are often manifestly misleading, and abandoning them will tend to leave us closer to clarity than embracing them would. Mindfulness meditation can be enlightening in another way, too. It can make us more aware of how our buttons get pushed — more aware, say, of how people or things we encounter trigger certain feelings and certain stories and thus certain behaviors. Somewhat like “Western” psychological science, mindfulness can illuminate the workings of the mind. There’s a broader and deeper sense in which Buddhist thought is more “Western” than stereotype suggests. What, after all, is more Western than science’s emphasis on causality, on figuring out what causes what, and hoping to thus explain why all things do the things they do? Well, in a sense, the Buddhist idea of “not-self” grows out of the belief undergirding this mission — that the world is pervasively governed by causal laws. The reason there is no “abiding core” within us is that the ever-changing forces that impinge on us — the sights, the sounds, the smells, the tastes — are constantly setting off chain reactions inside of us. Indeed, this constant causal interaction with our environment raises doubts not only about how firm the core of the “self” is but, in a sense, how firm the bounds of the self are. Buddhism’s doubts about the distinctness and solidity of the “self” — and of other things, for that matter — rests on a recognition of the sense in which pervasive causality means pervasive fluidity. The kind of inquiry that produced Buddhist views on the human psyche isn’t scientific; it doesn’t involve experiments that generate publicly observable data. It rests more on a kind of meditative introspection — somewhat in the spirit of what Western philosophers call phenomenology. Yet Buddhism long ago generated insights that modern psychology is only now catching up to, and these go beyond doubts about the C.E.O. self. For example, psychology has lately started to let go of its once-sharp distinction between “cognitive” and “affective” parts of the mind; it has started to see that feelings are so finely intertwined with thoughts as to be part of their very coloration. This wouldn’t qualify as breaking news in Buddhist circles. A sutra attributed to the Buddha says that a “mind object” — a category that includes thoughts — is just like a taste or a smell: whether a person is “tasting a flavor with the tongue” or “smelling an odor with the nose” or “cognizing a mind object with the mind,” the person “lusts after it if it is pleasing” and “dislikes it if it is unpleasing.” Brain-scan studies have produced tentative evidence that this lusting and disliking — embracing thoughts that feel good and rejecting thoughts that feel bad — lies near the heart of certain “cognitive biases.” If such evidence continues to accumulate, the Buddhist assertion that a clear view of the world involves letting go of these lusts and dislikes will have drawn a measure of support from modern science. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Gopnik thinks that attempts to corroborate Buddhist ideas with modern science run into a contradiction. After all, Buddhism is in a sense suspicious of “stories” — such as those stories that mindfulness meditation can help liberate us from. And, Gopnik says, science is just “competitive storytelling” — which means, he says, that Buddhism is “antithetical” to scientific argument. He writes, “Science is putting names on things and telling stories about them, the very habits that Buddhists urge us to transcend.” Well, this irony doesn’t seem to have deterred the Buddhists who, a couple of millenniums ago, compiled the “Abhidhamma Pitaka,” which puts names on lots of mental phenomena and tells stories about how they relate to one another. And it doesn’t seem to bother the Dalai Lama, who has embraced science as a legitimate way to test Buddhist ideas. I agree with Gopnik on one thing: There are parts of Buddhist philosophy that, even when properly understood, seem paradoxical or opaque. But these tend to involve the same issues that drive Western philosophers toward paradox and opaqueness — for example, the relationship of consciousness to the physical body. Language is indeed (as notable Western philosophers have held) incapable of encompassing all of reality, and I’m pretty sure that the human mind is incapable of comprehending all of reality. 98 COMMENTS All we can do is clear away as many impediments to comprehension as possible. Science has a way of doing that — by insisting that entrants in its “competitive storytelling” demonstrate explanatory power in ways that are publicly observable, thus neutralizing, to the extent possible, subjective biases that might otherwise prevail. Buddhism has a different way of doing it: via meditative disciplines that are designed to attack subjective biases at the source, yielding a clearer view of both the mind itself and the world beyond it. The results of these two inquiries converge to a remarkable extent — an extent that can be appreciated only in light of the last few decades of progress in psychology and evolutionary science. At least, that’s my argument. It may be wrong. But it’s an argument that can be engaged by anyone willing to engage it — which is something it has in common with Buddhist philosophy and Buddhist psychology.