#or i can refer back to the knowledge i've had since i was seven that i got from my greek grandmother and go from there

[navree]

i'm taking a greek and roman mythology class for school and like, we DO have a book we need to read but it's a myths collection, so do i honestly need to read it, considering who i am

[ankimodaisukiq]

Geki-Jin Tanbou Vol. 7: Jinya "From Defense to Forward"

Japanese (original; all credits to YU-TO):

INTRO

Hello everyone, this is YU-TO. It's hard to believe, but this "Geki-jin Tanbou" marks the seventh post. Every time I complete an article, I can't help but think, "Am I really surrounded by musicians of such high caliber?" It's a genuine feeling without any doubt or arrogance, and playing music with these musicians is something I take pride in. With a sense of gratitude, let's dive into the 7th edition of the Geki-jin Tanbou.

Our guest this time is Jinya, who plays in Undead Corporation and is also the guitarist for Unlucky Morpheus.

Since starting the Geki-jin Tanbou, Jinya is the first guest from a younger generation than myself. While Jinya and I don't have a "generation gap" per se, there is a noticeable age difference, enough to be perceived as "belonging to different generations" in general society. Interestingly, Jinya is the first musician younger than me I've played with since I seriously started my band. For someone who has played with musicians seven or more years older all along, this feels refreshing.

However, even as we played together, I always sensed that Jinya and I had taken completely different paths as players. Somewhere deep down, I always wanted to clearly understand that "difference." Additionally, Jinya's vigorous recent activities and success in the music scene are remarkable. I had a faint feeling that there was "a change" in him recently, and I wanted to explore that further. When I offered him the opportunity, the conclusion was, to put it bluntly, mind-blowing. While there were moments where I keenly felt the generation gap during our conversation, I also realized, "Ah, this is how musicians from younger generations grow," and simultaneously, I felt that it's only a matter of time before he becomes one of Japan's leading guitarists. You'll understand why I thought this way once you read the article. I hope you can grasp his words, thoughts, and growth, which often don't get much attention in the media. Without further ado, let's get started.

ENCOUNTER WITH CANON ROCK

In this intense interview, we've heard stories about various musicians picking up instruments during their early days, but among them, Jinya's experience stands out. No, the sense of "uniqueness" here is probably due to what is commonly referred to as a "generation gap." In contemporary times, there are likely more players who, like Jinya, spent their initial period similarly. The trigger for Jinya to start playing the guitar was his "admiration for a childhood friend."

"Back in elementary school, I wasn't interested in music at all, but when I was in the first year of middle school, a childhood friend started playing the guitar. He was already an object of admiration—good at sports, smart, and handsome. Seeing him play the guitar, I thought, 'Wow, that's cool,' and decided I wanted to be like that too, so I started playing the guitar."

Although he began playing the guitar due to admiration for a close friend, during this time, Jinya didn't have a specific artist he was devoted to.

"Of course, I didn't dislike music, but I wasn't that knowledgeable about popular music or anything. I really never thought of playing the guitar myself. After starting the guitar, my friend played Japanese rock, like BUMP OF CHICKEN, so that was probably the kind of music I started with. It wasn't a specific artist that influenced me."

At this point, Jinya picked up the guitar not out of a general love for music but from a simple desire to be like his close friend. The Japanese rock that he talks about was likely shaped by his friend's choices rather than being a significant influence that molded Jinya.

However, shortly after this, Jinya had an encounter that explosively increased his enthusiasm for the guitar.

"It was within a month of starting the guitar, I encountered a song that was crucial to me. It was a song called 'Canon Rock,' where a Taiwanese amateur guitarist posted a rock arrangement of Pachelbel's 'Canon' on YouTube. It was incredibly impactful, and I thought, 'I want to play this.'"

Jinya's mentioned 'Canon Rock,' and indeed, the video is still available on YouTube.

The video quality might show its age, but the play and arrangement are simply magnificent. Typically, what boosts one's motivation for playing an instrument is exposure to glamorous rock musicians appearing in the media. However, for Jinya, it was someone who could be described as a "remarkable amateur," posting a performance video on YouTube.

"At that time, I only knew the information about a person with the handle name JerryC from Taiwan. It was what we'd now call a 'cover video.' However, the arrangement was so shocking that the video was massively viewed at that time. So, there was some sort of unspoken understanding among the beginner guitarist community in Japan back then, like 'If you can play Canon Rock, you're a real player.' You know, the feeling of 'I want to become competent quickly' since I was bad (laughs). So, I practiced for a year and managed to play it through."

In contemporary times, not only rock musicians who compete with live performances but also musicians who actively utilize the online world, like those referred to as "YouTubers," inspire beginners. Even though YouTube might not have been as developed at that time, Jinya had already been using YouTube and the internet to gain various information and inspiration. Consequently, Jinya can be considered a player positioned at the beginning of what is known as the "Internet generation," utilizing the internet from the very start of his guitar journey. This use of the internet will contribute to Jinya's improvement in various directions.

GUITARIST NURTURED BY THE INTERNET

I had never perceived Jinya as a "live-raised player" before. Not in terms of technical issues, but more in an abstract sense, a perception I never conveyed or attempted to convey to him. This time, I shared this image I had with him.

Jinya: "That's absolutely right, haha. The first time I played in public was probably on the internet. Back then, blogs were popular, so I diligently kept a practice diary on my blog, saying things like 'I mastered this part today' or 'this part is challenging,' along with recordings. Looking into it now, I was already uploading recordings at home within a month of starting the guitar. It was terrible, haha. That was my first attempt at sharing with the outside world."

Hearing this, I was somewhat culturally shocked. When I started playing the drums for the first month, I never considered sharing it with anyone. It was still a world of just watching the internet, and I didn't know how to utilize it. At that time, Jinya not only used the term "sharing" but also engaged in a live-like use of the internet.

"There were people like 'blog buddies' back then. People gathered, wanting to learn 'Canon Rock,' and a community discussing various guitar topics formed around that. After a while, a service called 'Stickam,' similar to today's ZOOM, was introduced. We used it to practice guitar together. I spent every day immersed in that community, playing the guitar. So, people watched me play there every day. It was really encouraging, and you can't play embarrassingly when people are watching, right? (laughs) I think that's how I improved."

While video calls like ZOOM are widespread nowadays due to global circumstances, they weren't as prevalent during that time. Jinya's foresight in recognizing this early and actively participating in such a community within a few months of starting the guitar is remarkable. Even on the internet, showcasing your play, which is still in its early stages, requires a certain level of courage. Some young people might hesitate and miss out on leveraging the advantages of modern communication where anyone can share.

However, just as musicians of the past honed their skills through jam sessions, if you truly want to improve, you need to continually showcase your play to others, occasionally receive feedback on your shortcomings, and elevate your skills. While the internet can sometimes have negative effects on players, Jinya maximized its positive aspects and became an ideal player for the contemporary era, refining his skills.

Jinya firmly asserts his relationship with his guitar and the internet:

"If it weren't for the internet, I probably wouldn't have continued playing the guitar. Without the internet, I wouldn't have encountered Canon Rock, and I think my middle school days would have ended with just a bit of playing." 

Likely, those who can thrive in the future music scene are players like Jinya, who fully utilize the elements of their time. I believe his rapid improvement is a result of such considerations.

THE UNANTICIPATED "PATH OF MUSIC"

Jinya, utilizing the internet to gather information and captivated by various technical guitarists like Paul Gilbert and Steve Vai, gradually began performing live shows.

"In my third year of junior high, someone approached me at a music store while I was trying out a guitar, saying, 'You're good.' He was a bassist, and we became friends. The two of us started performing live. I programmed drums myself, and we played guitar instrumentals at a local venue in Utsunomiya. We covered some songs and had about half of our setlist with original compositions. From that time, I bought a multitrack recorder and started trying my hand at composing."

Performing with that unit occurred a few times a year. During this period, Jinya emphasizes that his main activities were still online.

"For me, 'performing in public' was definitely the internet's main battleground. I never really played live regularly at local venues as a band member. Besides, I lived in a rural area, so it was challenging to find band members. I wanted to play hard music, but there was no one interested in that. So, I thought, 'Why not play alone?' (laughs) I just practiced relentlessly, showcasing the results on the internet."

During this time, Jinya viewed the internet not as a tool to connect with external activities but as the main platform for his activities. He hadn't focused much on live performances.

"At that time, 'sharing music' for me was entirely on the internet. I didn't think of pursuing music as the next step after high school. I was already well-versed in using the internet to share music. While there's an idea that you need to play in a band and make it your life's focus to convey music, I realized in middle and high school that it wasn't necessary. You can share music just by playing the guitar at home, recording videos, and sharing them whenever you like. That was enough for me at the time."

Although this attitude might draw disapproval from some traditional "live performance-centric" veteran musicians (laughs), it is something that musicians of the current generation should indeed consider. Jinya, at that time, enjoyed playing live, and he wasn't entirely inactive outside the internet. However, at this point, committing his life to music and considering a future in the industry was entirely out of the question.

"I mean, isn't the path of music like a 'thorny path'? (laughs) I didn't have the courage to follow that thorny path. At that time, I thought entering a comfortable company, living a leisurely life without any highs or lows, was the best for me. Music can still be done even after becoming a working adult, right? I thought it was fine to play music when I wanted to at home, record videos, and share them. Of course, I loved music, but at that time, I thought I couldn't live as someone whose life revolves around music."

At that time, Jinya seemed somewhat indifferent, not harboring hopes for the future—just an ordinary young person living with the idea of "it's fine to live comfortably." However, his life and perspective on music gradually but distinctly transformed into something more "professional." A young musician who had mostly resolved his activities online began to envision the "live scene," growing into a genuine musician playing the guitar in front of thousands and thousands of people.

JOINING UNLUCKY MORPHEUS

Currently, Jinya's main activity revolves around Unlucky Morpheus, a band representing Japan in the melodic speed metal genre. Infused with grand orchestral arrangements and Fuki's outstanding vocals, they have gained many fans with their original and expressive compositions. Jinya joined Unlucky Morpheus during his high school years.

"Towards the end of my second year of high school, I received a message from Shiren asking, 'Want to play in our band?' At that time, I was supporting another group, and we had a joint performance with Unlucky Morpheus. Shiren had been watching me during that performance and seemed to like something about my playing. I had known about Unlucky Morpheus since around my first year of high school, so being approached by someone I admired was quite a feeling, like, 'Wow, I'm being approached by someone I look up to.'"

According to Jinya, Shiren had heard rumors of an impressive young guitarist even before the joint performance. Jinya, who had been diligently honing his skills through the internet more than anyone else, probably had considerable technical prowess even during high school. Thus, Jinya became a live member of Unlucky Morpheus, marking the beginning of more authentic musical activities beyond the internet.

"Now I could fully demonstrate the results of my practice. Well, until then, I had been playing alone on the internet (laughs). Although the venues weren't necessarily large, every live show was packed. Experiencing people watching my guitar in real-time, live, was something I couldn't easily achieve through internet activities alone. Of course, I had some live experience before, but it was during this time that I first felt how intense live houses could be. It was shocking because sweating while playing the guitar, as opposed to playing on the internet, was an experience I hadn't had before (laughs)."

At this time, Jinya discovered the enjoyment of live performances for the first time. It wasn't about comparing the merits of online and offline activities, but he realized the value of both. However, at this point, he still couldn't consider pursuing music as a career in the future.

"I had a few pleasant experiences like that, more like 'beginner's luck' in gambling. I thought, 'This is just a coincidence,' and it didn't really shake my feelings during high school."

While continuing his activities with Unlucky Morpheus, Jinya simultaneously pursued higher education with the intention of entering the workforce. It was during his university years that he began to undergo gradual changes in his feelings.

"From this time onwards, I started performing in larger venues, and my position gradually changed. Initially, I played backing guitar during live performances, but as my skills improved, my role within Unlucky Morpheus expanded. Around that time, not only with Unlucky Morpheus but also with Undead Corporation, I was invited to join. In other words, people started relying on me. During middle and high school, I was just sharing what I created, but now people were asking me to play guitar for them. That made me think, 'Maybe I can be useful to others.' If I can be helpful, I want to do it. That's when my feelings started to solidify little by little."

For Jinya, Unlucky Morpheus was the first platform that truly exposed him to the world of music outside the internet. Utilizing his information gathering skills honed online and applying the knowledge gained, Jinya quickly became a presence that "others couldn't ignore."

"I briefly considered job hunting, but, conversely, I couldn't adapt to that environment. I started feeling that I wanted to express myself more. I gradually thought that music might be the thing I could wholeheartedly devote myself to. It was a vague idea, but it turned out this way in the end. However, I think if I had continued playing guitar only on the internet during my university days, I wouldn't have developed these feelings. Having people who 'pick you up' is crucial, I believe."

The greatest benefit I gain from writing this in-depth exploration is the real, tangible experience of the transformative power of music in one's life. A young person who once thought, "It's good to live an easy life in the future," discovers the joy of being useful to others through music and chooses a life pursuing that. What else can we call this if not the "power of music"? Although nothing dramatically happened, slowly and steadily, music enhances a person's life, making it richer and better. I believe that this is the reason why music continues to exist in this world. Having experienced the power of music, Jinya's journey unfolds further, and an event awaits him, pushing him to become an "aggressive" guitarist.

FROM DEFENSE TO FORWARD

In 2017, Unlucky Morpheus experienced a significant change. Shiren, the leader and lead guitarist, developed tenosynovitis, requiring a period of rest for treatment. As a result, he could no longer perform lead guitar as before. To continue the band in this situation, Jinya had to take on the role of lead guitarist.

"I had played solos here and there before, but from then on, the proportion of my solo parts explosively increased. The situation was such that Shiren wasn't even playing the guitar in some songs."

Until then, Unlucky Morpheus had primarily positioned Shiren as the main guitarist, with Jinya in a supporting role. However, due to this incident, Jinya officially took on the role of lead guitarist for Unlucky Morpheus.

"Consciously, things definitely changed. In a negative sense, I used to think I should be a guitarist who played quietly in the background to support Shiren's lead guitar. It's a strange way to put it, but I also thought, 'It's better not to stand out too much.' Well, I didn't think about it that clearly, but there was some awareness like that. However, because of this incident, I had to shift from defense to forward and put myself in a position to score points. That's when I started to strongly feel, 'I am the guitarist for Unlucky Morpheus.'"

Certainly, Shiren's injury and recovery were setbacks for the band, but the option of stopping their activities was never considered by Unlucky Morpheus.

"Of course, it was a setback, but Shiren also wanted to turn his injury into a positive direction as much as possible. By putting me in the front at this timing, he aimed to strengthen the overall capability of Unlucky Morpheus. Even though it was a challenging situation, we continued the band, and in the end, it worked out well."

Despite facing such setbacks, Unlucky Morpheus continued its vigorous activities. It's not just Shiren's strong mental resilience, even with his significant injury, that kept the band going. Jinya's efforts and the change in his mindset also played a significant role.

"Well, I don't think there was a drastic change in technical aspects like memorizing songs or playing fast. However, mentally, things changed a lot. I feel like I have to have more confidence now. Until then, Shiren had reigned as the lead guitarist, so looking back now, I think I didn't feel much about my own confidence. But with Shiren, the shield, no longer there, I needed to stand at the forefront and fight like facing an enemy (laughs). Of course, it was like that before, but my consciousness of being seen as 'Unlucky Morpheus' guitarist, and the awareness that if I played poorly, it wouldn't be good for 'Unlucky Morpheus' became stronger. Naturally, I prepared for that and practiced, and both my guitar playing and behavior changed significantly due to that incident. The awareness of 'Jinya is Unlucky Morpheus' guitarist' emerged within me. Then, I thought I couldn't be complacent. It's a sensory thing, so I can't express it clearly, but I started feeling the consciousness of 'I need to be aggressive' and 'I need to set goals.'"

This incident became a turning point for Jinya, bringing significant growth and a change in consciousness. Facing challenges without breaking, overcoming them courageously, Jinya joined the ranks of top-notch musicians. His attitude, objectively assessing his position within the band and how others perceive him, is truly respectable, even though he is younger. Many musicians from the "internet generation" are often seen as emotionally fragile and tending to stay within their shells. However, the fact that there are musicians like Jinya, who learn various things both online and in live settings, can be perceived as a threat but also as an encouraging presence for our generation and the ones above. Jinya's growth will undoubtedly contribute to Unlucky Morpheus' further leaps in the future.

ACTIVITIES WITH "TOP-TIER" MUSICIANS

In addition to his band activities, Jinya simultaneously works as a support guitarist for various artists. Some venues, with nearly 10,000 attendees and around 50 songs to perform, not only demand technical expertise but also require mental resilience. How do these support activities influence Jinya?

"There's a term 'Shingitai,' right? Mind, technique, and body—if any of these is lacking, you can't fully showcase your performance in such situations. If it were just a few songs, I think you could manage with a bit lacking in the 'body' part as long as you had 'mind' and 'technique.' But when there are many songs, you need to be healthy and robust, especially performing in large venues introduces anxiety. So, how to keep your mind intact and play as usual—it's directly related to mental strength. It really felt incredible to coordinate all three seamlessly; otherwise, you can't deliver a decent performance."

It's obvious, but playing an instrument is not the sole job of a musician. There are cases where you need to memorize a vast number of songs, especially in a supporting role. Beyond showcasing your own play, you also need the skill of responding to the client's requirements. Jinya mentions that he has learned a lot by working with top-tier studio musicians in these settings.

"They perform regularly at places like Nippon Budokan or Seibu Dome, so, well, the level is just high (laughs). Their on-the-spot responsiveness, vitality, really, the Shingitai is on a different level. They kind of rewrote what I had thought of as 'human limits.' My perceived limits were quite low, and seeing them made me feel like 'Oh, human limits are much higher.' I realized that."

Even among professionals, the technical requirements differ significantly between band musicians and studio musicians. While band musicians need the skill of "how to produce oneself," studio musicians need the skill of "how to meet the demands." 

"For example, the ability to immediately shape an image when told 'I want it like this,' and also, their physical stamina is incredible. I think there's both the aspect of having incredible physical stamina itself and supplementing it with mental strength. It's the feel of people who have gained experience. "

Jinya was thrown into a completely different world of musicians, where he learned many things while being shaped by it. Although the work in these settings eventually went well, making him a continuously called-upon fixed member, Jinya's unique "research skills" played a supporting role.

"Initially, it was my first time going to such settings, so there were many things I didn't know... I didn't know even the common sense in those circles, but I just covered it up (laughs). Because I couldn't say 'I can't do it,' I kept covering and collecting things I didn't have. Gratefully, I was repeatedly called for the next job. Of course, they'd request confidently, 'You can do it, right?' So, even if I didn't know, I'd say, 'I can do it,' then desperately research and practice behind the scenes, buying any missing equipment, filling in the missing pieces. Especially the first time was clearly adversity, but humans grow the most when overcoming adversity, right? Just like muscles (laughs). The effort to overcome adversity seems to have resulted in a good outcome."

When faced with a request for something he lacked, Jinya's approach was to research and make it his own. It's not the absence of something that is the problem; it's crucial how one responds at that moment. This process of "filling in missing pieces" is a task Jinya himself is good at, and his insatiable curiosity is one of his distinctive features. As years of playing accumulate, there are times when I try to solve things only within the scope of what I already possess, refusing to gain new knowledge. However, occasionally, actions like Jinya's thorough effort to fill in what he lacks might be necessary. By doing so, one can, like him, turn encountered adversity into one's own flesh and blood, potentially raising one's own level by multiple degrees. Hearing Jinya's story, I couldn't help but think, "Well, of course, you'll grow." It seemed obvious and straightforward.

HANDLING HIS OWN "CHARM"

Jinya, who handles various support roles, often finds that the selection criteria for such jobs involve not only technical aspects but also the element of "good looks." In live performances where the majority of the audience is female, even as a support member, having members who appear attractive to the female audience can enhance the overall quality of the live show as simple "entertainment." Despite being of the same gender, I must say Jinya has a distinct charm in his looks.

His androgynous, well-defined features are makeup-friendly, and while not particularly tall, his slender physique accentuates his androgynous aura. Many musicians consider how to present themselves and tend to appear somewhat excessive in their appeal. However, Jinya doesn't give the impression of actively showcasing such appeal.

"Frankly, I had zero confidence in my looks since middle and high school... I wasn't popular, and I never thought my looks would be a selling point. So when I presented my music, I thought, 'Why not just film my hands playing without showing my face?' If you show only that, and if the performance is good, you can be appreciated for the technique you've cultivated. If you show your face, even if the performance is good, other evaluations come in like noise, or at least, that's how I felt back then. So, by showing only my hands, I felt a sense of relief that I could be appreciated for the techniques I've practiced."

As most people are aware, in music, the element of "looks" is inseparable. Statements like "You won't succeed unless you're handsome" or "Your appearance won't cut it" are unrelated to music but have affected many in their musical pursuits. Particularly in the age of the internet, which Jinya has been utilizing since he started playing the guitar, he was likely hypersensitive to such matters.

"What I wanted to do was music, not to be evaluated for my appearance. Some people would say it's good, but I didn't want to hear negative comments, and it felt like I shouldn't have to deal with that. I had no confidence to begin with, and I really disliked that kind of thing."

In the music industry, one is occasionally treated in an overly "entertainment" manner, and attractiveness in appearance is sometimes overly emphasized. The music Jinya has been immersed in is on a completely different level, where artists compete based on the goodness of music and technique.

"If my roots were in visual kei, I might have felt like, 'Let's sell my looks.' I could have done my own makeup, confidently saying, 'I look cool, right?' That's a good thing for a musician too. But I fundamentally had a different starting point... For example, Mr. Big, they look cool, but fundamentally, you watch them for their incredible musical skills, right? Maybe I leaned too much toward that part and became twisted, or so I think (laughs)."

This is a personal opinion, but I don't want Jinya to become the type of musician who relies on looks to compete. That's because, with his handsome face and an aura of charm, he chooses not to leverage his looks but competes solely with his musicianship, making it an integral part of who he is as a musician. However, as Jinya has aged and accumulated various experiences in recent years, he seems to have become more accepting of evaluations based on appearance that come from those around him.

"Well, now the circumstances are different, or rather... fundamentally, music is a kind of entertainment, and I don't think it's just about being appreciated and evaluated for playing an instrument. It encompasses everything like appearance, behavior, speech... I think all of that together creates the 'music' as entertainment. For example, even if someone makes amazing music, if that person is anti-social, they might not be appreciated, right? So, I've gradually come to realize that playing an instrument alone isn't entertainment. I've accepted that appearance is being appreciated, but (laughs) well, I don't feel bad about receiving praise. However, I do think, 'It hasn't been cultivated for over ten years for nothing,' though (bitter smile)."

Jinya's humility towards his own looks is genuine and not just a pose, as I felt from listening to his story. The character of being unaware or even having a complex about having an attractive appearance is a trait that, when you think about it, is very appealing and would be well-received by anyone in the worlds of manga or anime. Jinya does it sincerely, without any sarcasm—a charming presence indeed (laughs). 

THE DIGNITY ACQUIRED AS AN ARTIST

There was a collaboration between Undead Corporation and Hone Your Sense for the song "Face The Fate," and the music video was being shot. I met Jinya after a long time, and upon seeing him with a guitar, I felt a somewhat different atmosphere compared to before. This was the "change" that I had sensed in Jinya at the beginning. To put it simply, there was a certain "dignity" when he held the guitar.

It's a common point, but as mentioned in the previous chapter, mere good looks and the coolness as a musician are entirely different. While Jinya had the looks and techniques before, I had never felt that he possessed something as a musician. However, when I saw Jinya after a long time, there was undoubtedly an "aura" emanating from him.

Understanding how to showcase himself, exuding a certain calmness and charm, were things I had never felt from the previous Jinya. I played the drums while thinking, "Ah, he has changed after experiencing various things." Because it felt so natural to me, I ended up going home without saying anything on that particular day. However, upon further reflection, I realized I wanted to hear more about what Jinya himself thought.

"Well, um, I think it's a nuance of having grown through battles... There are scenes where you feel like, 'If I make a mistake here, it's over for my music career,' right? (laughs) Overcoming such strong pressures, I feel that I've gained more 'composure' compared to before. Well, it feels like I'm just a guy saying something (laughs), but if this 'composure' looks like an aura, that's fine, I guess (laughs)."

What I felt, a kind of aura from Jinya during the filming of the music video, is undoubtedly something that won't be acquired without accumulating experience on-site. While Jinya's main battlefield was the internet when he started playing the guitar, in recent years, he has experienced a lot, such as the tension-filled scenes where "mistakes are not allowed" and performing in venues with over 1,000 people.

Through such professional experiences and the effort he put into making his work his own, he naturally acquired an aura as a musician that is unique to him.

"Of course, you can't get things just by being defensive, and by turning to an offensive stance, you gain various things. I feel like I've had various experiences in this 'offense.' Compared to when there was nothing, I feel that it has given me a bit more confidence."

Certainly, having a defensive attitude is not a bad thing. The humility gained from such experiences and the ability to look around are essential qualities for a musician. However, there are times when one must firmly appeal to oneself and fight with an offensive attitude. After overcoming that battle, there is the acquisition of an aura as a musician that others cannot easily approach.

The understanding of "defense" acquired at the beginning of the band and the knowledge gained through recent experiences in "offense" are both becoming well-known to Jinya. He is on the path to becoming a truly formidable guitarist.

While retaining the atmosphere of "defense" from before, I am eager to see more of the "offensive" Jinya in the future.

WHAT WAS GAINED FROM THE ADVICE FROM SENIOR GUITARISTS

During the interview for the previous Geki-Jin Tanbou at STUDIO PRISONER, when I mentioned my plan to cover Jinya in the next one, Hiro from STUDIO PRISONER seemed to express that he, too, had noticed Jinya's growth. Since Unlucky Morpheus also records at STUDIO PRISONER, Hiro appears to have sensed a significant improvement in Jinya's approach to playing and his attitude towards sound in recent years through their collaboration. I asked Jinya about this development.

"Honestly, I think Hiro-san's influence is enormous. I used to do my own recordings, studying not only the sound I recorded but also sounds recorded by others. When I first heard Hiro-san's created sound, I was like, 'What is this?!' And apparently, he's doing it individually, not in a major studio. I was shocked, thinking, 'Can such an aggressive sound be created at the individual level?' Since then, I've always wanted to meet Hiro-san."

Before actually getting Hiro's recordings, it seems Jinya was already impressed by Hiro's sound. However, the advice received during the recording process and when Hiro watched his live performances has become a crucial element in shaping the current Jinya.

"I think the first time we met was during the recording of Undead Corporation's 'Flashback.' At that time, I was pretty much in 'safe mode.' While Hiro-san recorded my sound and came to my live performances, he often told me things like, 'Jin-kun, you can't fight with that.' I already liked and trusted Hiro-san's created sounds, so it was quite impactful to hear things that gave off the nuance of 'you can't fight like this' from someone I admired. That really changed my awareness. For example, he would say, 'You need to express gain more with your picking,' or 'Right now, Jin-kun, you're playing from your wrist, but it's better to play with your whole body.' I realized that until then, I had only been playing with my head and wrists."

As can be understood from the previous Geki-Jin feature, Hiro is a guitarist and engineer who maintains an "offensive" attitude in various aspects. His approach was entirely opposite to the Jinya of that time, and working or being associated with such a character was undoubtedly stimulating for the Jinya of that period.

"Actually, Hiro-san has been recording my guitar all the time, so he's constantly listening to my guitar objectively under the same conditions. Therefore, he can sense changes more sensitively than I can. He gives me various advice or, well, scoldings (laughs), saying, 'That's improved' or 'That's gotten worse.' So, that had a considerable impact. The fact that I adopted an 'offensive' attitude was significantly influenced by Hiro-san. Being strongly told off by a musician I respect has been significant in my experience. If I had been told off weakly, it might not have affected me as much (laughs), but he was quite firm, saying, 'That won't do.'"

As mentioned in the previous Geki-Jin feature, I conveyed that STUDIO PRISONER has contributed significantly to the growth of many musicians. Jinya, too, was one of the musicians who grew there. Digesting Hiro's strong advice and turning it into nourishment undoubtedly requires a certain level of curiosity and patience. While Jinya recalls being in a "safe mode" during that time, his attitude to not disregard Hiro's advice, to think earnestly, and to confront the challenges head-on is something I sense in his approach from that period. Even if he doesn't emphasize it entirely, despite his looks, Jinya has always had a somewhat masculine and principled side, which was evident from the beginning. Thinking about it, Jinya's growth seems to have started from that time, and in recent years, it has become visible and tangible through his active performances. Always absorbing something and striving to make it his own is one of Jinya's significant characteristics and an essential element that cannot be overlooked when discussing him.

THE VISION OF THE MUSICIAN FOR THE FUTURE

Jinya, who has shown remarkable activity and growth in recent years, is undoubtedly evolving. What kind of musician does he aspire to become in the future?

"It's not about whether I can play or not; when I watch my old performances, I feel there was something bland about them. But being able to recognize that means I've changed and evolved, so I want to feel that my current self is bland five or ten years from now."

Starting from the early days of independent expression using the internet, his guitar play, shaped through various live performances and interactions with people, has become more profound. With the aura derived from his innate charm and experiences, Jinya is aiming to become a truly unique guitarist. However, the ideal musician image he envisions is not about imposing his own charm or play onto others; instead, he wishes to be a musician who can contribute solidly to others.

"I want to be a reliable presence for people. There's a part of me that sees it as a reason for living. I want to contribute to the people who rely on me. And of course, there's the desire to meet the expectations of people who listen to the music I've been involved in. Overall, I want to be a man who's reliable to others, a musician with a firm core who seems like he won't collapse easily. That's what I aim for (laughs)."

The Jinya of high school, who once thought, "If I can live life safely, that would be good," is no longer present in his current self. The Jinya who challenges the unknown, makes something out of it, and ultimately contributes to others has become a different person from the Jinya of high school, even though I don't know that version of him.

"I did have a long period where I thought I wanted to live life safely. I think, as long as you think that way, you might stumble on even small steps, and I think I was that kind of person. That's why I aspire to be someone who is needed by others, looking up to those who aren't like that."

Being able to reflect on his past self and objectively consider his current way of life is already a sign of growth. Jinya is becoming a musician who is relied upon, and his considerations of the guitar and music are no longer a means to achieve selfish goals. Jinya takes music seriously, and the choice of "living life safely" no longer exists within him.

"As I've said many times, I was a safe personality, sticking to a do-nothing attitude, especially around high school. But music made me want to pursue something and earnestly try something different from others. It might sound like a big statement, but... I think if I could die feeling that I've used up all my energy and physical strength, that would be a happy life. Music seems to be a place that allows me to do that. If I entrust myself to music, I might be able to push my limits. I don't know where it will lead, but if I continue like this, I think I can reach the point of using all my abilities. Regardless of the result, if I can end my life having used up all my abilities, I'd be happy playing music in that way. That's what music is for me."

I'm looking forward to the day when I can play with Jinya again, but more than that, the greater anticipation is seeing how much he continues to grow. I sincerely believe that he will become a tougher player, leading the Japanese guitarist scene. Jinya has ample potential, and I hope he becomes an existence that surpasses me, providing significant inspiration to both myself and other musicians of our generation. I'm quite confident that this will happen in the near future. I'm looking forward to that time with great excitement.

AFTERWORD

I never expected this article to become so passionately charged. Being in a band involves unexpectedly hectic situations, and especially for someone like me, often not an original member of the band, deep conversations with all members are not as frequent as one might think. 

It was the first time I sat down with Jinya to talk about various things in a truly focused manner, and there were many things I came to know just now. His words and the strong will behind them are surprisingly powerful, to the extent that I can't help but think that the media should highlight more of his words in the future.

For someone like me, who doesn't have much interaction with musicians from younger generations, his presence is extremely valuable. Knowing that he's tackling many things I haven't experienced and hasn't achieved yet, despite being younger, has truly been stimulating.

The phrase "stimulating" might inherently carry a somewhat "frustrating" feeling for anyone. However, I didn't sense any such feelings from Jinya; rather, there was a genuine desire to cheer him on, to see him succeed. It became apparent that this came from the humility and sincerity evident in Jinya's words.

Even though he speaks of still being in the "understudy" phase and claims a lack of confidence in his looks despite his refined appearance, it genuinely seems like that's what he feels. I believe Jinya's innocence will significantly contribute to his ideal of becoming a "reliable presence." His purity could foster trust in others' hearts, making him someone who can be entrusted with various responsibilities.

I look forward to seeing what kind of presence he will become in the future music scene. However, there's still a part of me that feels like he's too perfect—good looks, great technique, excellent personality—it's almost like he's a character from a manga world (laughs). Moreover, he isn't "intentionally" humble; it's a genuine humility that he expresses, making him even more like a character from a popular manga (laughs). "Jinya" truly is such a musician.

July 6, 2020

YU-TO SUGANO

[jadebrightwind]

First stab at a Dark Tournament Team. I sketched these up at lightning speed since I've had hardly any time to draw the past ten days and wanted to at least put SOMETHING down. All of it is subject to changes since I haven't had a change to really cook these designs/concepts/characters yet and trying to do five at once while my dad was visiting, having to bury one of my guinea pigs (RIP little guy), still having to go to my day job, and trying to prep for FanExpo simultaneously has not done wonders for my creative juices and stress levels. I might just, draw some silly little things from prompts later if I have the energy. From back to front:

Daigo Akiyama - Elder bovine demon. Has a large stature and easily clocks in at over ten feet tall. Currently serves as a caretaker to the Temple of Concord and is one of the eldest members of the Sect. Has seen several demon wars, but doesn't talk in length about his past to the young ones. He would rather put those days behind him and live peacefully where possible. However, he will defend those who seek refuge in the Temple, and understands that sometimes one must fight and kill to protect others and preserve the peace. Daigo generally speaks and moves slowly, encouraging the younger members of the Temple sect to take initiative, leading by example rather than by lecture. His long life makes him knowledgeable about many matters, and he takes a keen interest in several subjects. Although he rarely fights, it is rumored that he is both physically and spiritually one of the strongest members of the Concord Sect. However, Daigo prefers to spend his days reading and tending the gardens with Osamu. The relationship between Daigo and Osamu has deepened through the years, and in order to ensure his human lover can live alongside him as long as possible, Daigo has been secretly funneling life force into him while he sleeps.

Osamu Fujimura - An older human who joined the Concord Sect as a young man and has lived his life training, learning, and fighting for The Temple. He is a tall, lanky man who has a wirey build and clocks in closer to seven feet tall. Initially a scholar by trade, he grew fascinated with demonology and botany. He places great importance on preserving as many species as possible for further study and for the pure joy of the variety of life. Osamu can sometimes grow enthusiastic to the point of getting a bit carried away, but those who are familiar with him know he means well and can bring him back to reality. He assists in raising and teaching the youth of the Temple, even going so far as to refer to them as his own children. The Concord Temple Sect frequently takes in injured and/or orphaned demons and humans of varying ages and origins that are willing to commit to the cause or require sanctuary, no small part in thanks to the urging of Osamu. In fact, their numbers have grown significantly in the last forty years due to Osamu's philosophies and insistence. His fighting capabilities rely on traditional martial arts as well as clever strategy, and as a result, he has bested many an opponent otherwise stronger than himself.

Hanako Shimizu - A water demon supposedly dropped off as an infant at the steps of the Concord Temple. She has long, pink hair that reaches her ankles, and stands about five and a half feet tall. She has no memory and little knowledge of her birth parents, in part by choice, but also in part due to the unwillingness of the Temple elders to speak in detail about the circumstances of her birth and arrival. Whether due to her upbringing or due to her demon nature, Hanako holds herself with temperate poise, behaving with a natural grace and decorum that many would struggle to perfect. However, she is not devoid of her own struggles. The knowledge of being abandoned by her birth parents hangs heavy over her, and the self-loathing that comes with falling short of perfection in one's mind informs many of her decisions. Hanako seeks to use her abilities for peaceful and healing purposes where possible, and laments the prospect of killing others. Osamu and Daigo, having raised her to value peace and harmony between humans and demons, now struggle to encourage her to explore her abilities without fear, and to instill in her the reality that pacifism is not always feasible when striving for unity or defending oneself and others.

Takeshi Igarashi - A young tiger demon raised in the confines of the Temple. He is younger than Hanako and Rie and stands about five and a half feet tall. Takeshi wants to grow as strong as the legendary Byakko, but wants to do so to protect his family and the Temple. He strives to become a hero, fighting for the cause of peace and harmony. Out of the three orphans, Takeshi has taken his circumstances with the most even stride. However, his naivety and inexperience, as well as his propensity for being a complete dork, sometimes get the better of him. He is the little brother of Hanako and Rie, and both are protective of him in their own respects. Like Byakko, he can manipulate his breath and energy into lightning, and the force of his power is often the factor that wins his fights.

Rie Fujimura - A weasel demon with a love of knives, she is sharp by many definitions of the word. She was also orphaned as a young demon, but was old enough to remember being taken in by the elders of the Temple and given a home amongst them. Despite standing only four feet tall, her snappy attitude can command a room with ease. Rie is honest to a fault and extremely protective of Hanako and Takeshi, living by the philosophy that only SHE is allowed to bully them. She is the eldest of the three. Rie perhaps resents how others underestimate her due to her appearance and wears her irritation and poor attitude on her sleeve when crossed. Osamu and Daigo often have to step into curb her fiery temper, but when all factors are considered, her deep loyalty to the Concord Sect prevent her from delving into carnage and bloodlust. Rie is quick to judge and quick to move, and opponents find it hard to catch up with her once she has procured the upper hand.

[whenfatecollides]

Hi ! I've been getting into Dreamcatcher lately since everyone's been saying if you're a lesbian you're gonna like dreamcatcher, and i do ! i was just wondering from someone who obvs knows them better, do you think they're naturally so close to each other or it could be a bit more... fan service stuff bc I'm always worried about getting into groups who just queerbait all the time, idk how to say this and im not trying to attack DC but there's been a lot of talk abt it in kpop lately

I get where you’re coming from, but with time you’ll see that they’re genuinely close

dc have gone through a lot as a group (some of the members have been together for abt 8/9 years now), specially the ex-minx members (jiu, sua, siyeon, yoohyeon, dami) who had to overcome an unsuccessful debut and decide to stick together despite a rough start. there’s a lot in the member’s own story that makes you wonder if there really isn’t a force in the world out there who brought them together because so much happened, to some members more than others, that literally put them right on the path to become a dreamcatcher member. it just had to be the seven of them. 

for starters, yoohyeon auditioned for a few companies and mbk accepted her. she went the first day and quit that same day because of how she was treated by the staff. she said that from that experience she wanted to quit on the idea of becoming an idol, but she really loved to dance and sing. which led her to meet sua at a dance competition before they auditioned for hfe. sua had been training to become an idol since 2012 and hfe was the one company who accepted her (I can’t imagine sleeping on that much talent). this led them to debut together and even become roomates.

siyeon had a close songwriter friend who introduced her to the company, she auditioned and got in. similarly, jiu’s vocal teacher referred her to the company, she auditioned and got in as well. as for dami she had wanted to become an idol since elementary school, one day she participated in an open audition at her school and hfe called her for an audition.

with gahyeon, she actually went through a few companies before landing on hfe. she was an fnc traineed for a while, she got in both yg and sm, but left since they weren’t going to debut a group any time soon. similar to dami she participated in an open audition at her school and she got called for an audition.

and handong had some interest in kpop when she was in high school, but when she got the chance to go to korea for university her dad made her promise she wouldn’t try to become an idol, it was literally The condition for her to go to korea, she wasn’t meant to audition according to her parents will. but one of her uni teachers told her about hfe’s audition and she just went for it anyway asdkjhs (her relationship with her parents is fine now). it was just meant to be.

they’ve also mentioned quite a few times that they didn’t just instantly click with each other like that (some members having a cold impression of sua at first, siyeon admitting it took her quite some time to get close with handong, jiu saying she was skeptical about the adittion of handong and gahyeon but soon realised they made the group stronger), they worked on their relationship over time and they wanted to make things work with each other which itself is really important and shows the kind of loving and supportive enviroment they wanted to build for each other (I go a little bit more in depth about their overall story in this post). they’ve made sure to build a really great sense of teamwork with each other since the beginning, from the fact that they had about 2/3 months to prepare for dc’s debut (minx still performed on october 2016 and dc debuted january 2017) alone, they really had to make a conscious choice about it all. honestly one of the things that makes me sure that dc are close is that they don’t hide the negative feelings they sometimes have towards each other (which are normal), they've spoken a few times about silly things that they’ve argued about and have even mentioned that they don’t get the other members involved in the quarrels they’re having with another member to not create more drama than necessary. but you can really see that they love and take of each other in the little things too, not just the (sometimes) fanservice. and by this I mean things like, sua calling handong in the middle of her vlive to go get food for her, dami letting yoohyeon sleep in her bed and going to the living room because she didn’t want to wake her up, siyeon falling asleep on top of yoohyeon and yoohyeon not having the heart to wake her up as well, among many many many things.

but truly they’ve gone through a lot of hardships over the years, including having a member be away and unable to participate in comebacks and group schedules for a whole year (not because of health issues or anything like that, but because of the covid situation that made it impossible for her to fly back to korea), and they got out of that situation being even more appreciative of that member when it could’ve easily been something that could have made them turn on each other. it was a situation that brought them even closer and appreciative of one another. they really want to be on this path together.

as for the queerbaiting bit, I’ve made posts about this before and as I’ve said, it doesn’t matter whether or not it’s fanservice because at the end of the day they’re respectful and caring, and they’re only normalising same sex attraction. they never make you feel gross for that attraction either, they’ve never pulled a ‘no home though’ moment, they continuously sing songs directed at female lovers without changing the pronouns, continuously accept marriage proposals from their female fans, and even when a fan was dubious and said “but we’re two girls” jiu said that it didn’t matter and that love is love, and they’ve said many times that it’s okay for female fans to be nervous around them (aka attracted to them). 

and not that it’s anyone’s business but the members themselves have dropped many hints over the years, from not specifying the gender of their ideal type

“Dreamcatcher Handong, “even if they’re not good-looking, a warm-hearted person is my ideal type.” “My idea type, erm... a warm-hearted person. A person not necessarily need to be good-looking, if they’re warm-hearted they’re a good person” ©

-

Handong: For me, firstly, kind. It would be great if the person has a good personality and is tall.

Gahyeon: For me, because I’m still young I don’t have a definite ideal type. Just someone who smiles prettily and is fun. Ah, if the person has a good voice, it will be good. I like to talk on the phone. ©

-

Jiu: I wish to have someone I can chat non-stop with, and who is also knowledgable and has a good character. I’ve never really thought about an ideal date, but what’s most important is that the atmosphere has to be comfortable!

Yoohyeon: My ideal type is someone who’s like Peter Pan, someone fun-loving and positive! My ideal date location would be Paris, France. It’s a really romantic city! Really look forward to spending time there with the one I love.

Gahyeon: I like someone with a beautiful smile, and someone who can really take care of me.   ©

-

to lowkey admitting a same sex crush (she went to an all girls school as far as we know)

to being uh very straightforward about it

among other things 🐒 I’ve been into kpop for quite a lot of years now and I never experienced a group make this as comfortable as they do honestly. that’s why I say that it doesn’t matter if it is just fanservice, they’re still changing things for the better. but that being said, take your time getting to know them~ I think it’s better that you see it for yourself rather than have someone tell you really

[historieofbeafts]

I love your blog so much. It brings me joy in these troubling times. Have you ever covered Pliny the Elder's claims that cranes fly south seasonally to fight their mortal enemies - dwarves that ride tiny horses? That tidbit threw me the hardest when reading his book, and I've always wondered where it came from?

This is a tricky one! The passage in question (supposedly describing India), for anyone unfamiliar:

Beyond these people, and at the very extremity of the mountains, the Trispithami and the Pygmies are said to exist; two races which are but three spans in height, that is to say, twenty-seven inches only. They enjoy a salubrious atmosphere, and a perpetual spring, being sheltered by the mountains from the northern blasts; it is these people that Homer has mentioned as being waged war upon by cranes. It is said, that they are in the habit of going down every spring to the sea-shore, in a large body, seated on the backs of rams and goats, and armed with arrows, and there destroy the eggs and the young of those birds; that this expedition occupies them for the space of three months, and that otherwise it would be impossible for them to withstand the increasing multitudes of the cranes. Their cabins, it is said, are built of mud, mixed with feathers and egg-shells. Aristotle, indeed, says, that they dwell in caves; but, in all other respects, he gives the same details as other writers (Natural History, 7.2)

Like it says, the earliest mention of Crane Warfare comes from the Iliad:

Now when they were marshalled, the several companies with their captains, the Trojans came on with clamour and with a cry like birds, even as the clamour of cranes ariseth before the face of heaven, when they flee from wintry storms and measureless rain, and with clamour fly towards the streams of Ocean, bearing slaughter and death to Pygmy men (Loeb edition, III.1-6)

but that’s pretty clearly a reference the audience is expected to recognize, rather than the origin of the belief.  It does seem to be a reasonably common cultural touchstone, since crane fights show up everywhere from Aesop’s fables to the famous François Vase:

[Image via Wikimedia Commons]

as well as other less famous comic pottery, like this wine jug:

[© Marie-Lan Nguyen / Wikimedia Commons]

My best guess would be that it arose out of a combination of real crane migrations and confused early anthropology, but I 100% have animal-focused tunnel vision and this is brushing up against the edges of my knowledge, so if any classicists have more/better info I’d love to hear it!

[Literary Digression: around the 2nd c. CE, there’s an interesting shift towards mythological explanations for the war that start with Hera/Juno transforming a woman into a crane as punishment for her hubris. 

It shows up in Ovid as a passive aggressive warning from Minerva to Arachne during their weaving contest:

And then, to give Arachne an idea / of the reward this upstart can expect / for her audacious bid for praise and glory, / the goddess then expertly represents / in each of the four corners of her work, / a different contest [...] in the second corner she depicted / the terrifiying fate of the pygmy queen: / when Juno had defeated her, she ordered / her to transform herself into a crane / and then make war upon her former subjects (Metamorphoses, Charles Martin translation, 6.116-131)

The grammarian Antoninus Liberalis gives the story (probably unintentional) tragicomic notes by having the newly crane-ified woman follow her son around until her tribe gets so sick of the constant moping that they chase her off & declare war on all cranes:

But Hera found fault with Oinoe for not honouring her and turned her into a crane, elongated her neck, ordained that she should be a bird that flew high. She also caused war to arise between her and the Pygmaioi. Yearning for her child Mopsos, Oinoe flew over houses and would not go away. But all the Pygmaioi armed themselves and chased her away. Because of this there arose a state of war then as well as now between the Pygmaioi and the cranes (Metamorphoses, 16)

& my boy Aelian is as extra as always:

a certain woman became queen and ruled over the Pygmies; her name was Gerana, and the Pygmies worshipped her as a god, paying her honours too august for a human being. The result was, they say, that she became so puffed up in her mind that she held the goddesses of no account. It was especially Hera, Athena, Artemis, and Aphrodite that, she said, came nowhere near her in beauty. But she was not destined to escape the evil consequences of her diseased imagination. For in consequence of the anger of Hera she changed her original form into that of a most hideous bird and became the crane of today and wages war on the Pygmies because with their excessive honours they drove her to madness and to her destruction (On Animals, 15.29)]

[rabbi-brian]

PASSION FOR TRUTHFUL TUESDAY

PASSIONATE PASSAGE:

Yeshua said to him, “I am the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE! No one comes to the Father except through Me. - John 14:6 (TLV)

PASSIONATE PRINCIPLE:

The "Passion Week" is often called "Holy Week." It is considered one of the holiest weeks of the year for those who believe that Jesus, or Yeshua in Hebrew, is the Promised Messiah of the Hebrew Scriptures, commonly called the "Old Testament." Today, we will call this day, "Truthful Tuesday." The TRUTH is that our God is a "God of truth," just as His Torah is known as the "Torah of truth" [Torat Emet תורת אמת] in Judaism. The Torah refers to the five books of Moses, also known as the "Law of Moses," but actually is the "Law of the Lord." What is truth, and is truth what millennials call or deem as RELEVANT today? Or more importantly, does truth change over time? One thing that we can trust for sure is that the Bible is a book of truth that is eternal and can never change. The truth that we can trust is that the Scriptures are designed to reveal truth to everyone who reads or seeks to understand its REVELATION. So even though it should never change in the revelation of it's amazing wisdom and knowledge does change over time. What I understood as a child I see quite differently and more profoundly today. What I used to teach in my early years of ministry has been more rooted and grounded as I've opened up myself to the eternal truth of the Scriptures. This is a wisdom that comes from above that is often revealed to its reader at first glance. As I'm constantly asked, "Where should I begin, and how do I interpret the Bible?," I have to ask myself, "What answer is going to help the reader in this amazing journey?

REVELATION always trumps RELEVANCE, although Spirit-revealed TRUTH must be also RELEVANT to the seeker and listener. So what made Jesus relevant to His audience and how did they receive revelation from His teachings and ministry? We define RELEVANCE as that which is closely connected or appropriate to the current time, period, or circumstances. Let's go back to something He said about Himself. In the 14th chapter of John's gospel, the disciples asked Him where He was going when He discussed that He was going to prepare a place for them? He told him that they already knew the way. Of course, Thomas, who was known for a little bit of doubt and uncertainty, responded on behalf of the other disciples with the statement, "Master, we don't know where you are going. How can we know the way?" Jesus then questions, "How long have you been following me? The Rabbi who trained these 12 men for 3 1/2 years expected them to understand the truth! By now they should know the way to the Heavenly Father! Eternal life has been a part of the Messiah's message, which was an abundant life they experienced with Him every day! Isn't this what He came to do and reveal, as He showed the Father's heart to humanity? Now TRUTH was completely embodied in one person, as he declared, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life!" The Pharisees, who were divided as a religious group, often sought to kill Jesus for this statement and sacred utterance. Many of the Pharisees believed, but some plotted His death, hoping to get rid of this "troublemaker." It is on this "Holy Monday, "that Jesus pronounces seven "woes "to the Pharisees, recorded in Matthew 23.

Sometimes the truth hurts, but once we eliminate lies, the ultimate goal of truth is to heal. The words of Jesus are still relevant today because our world still disbelieves in the truth of the Scriptures. While some seek for relative truth, a true believer should search for revealed truth. Jesus said that the Father would send the Holy Spirit as another "Comforter" or "Helper," after His death, since He was their original helper or guide during His ministry on earth. The Spirit's mission now is to reveal the truth to us as we allow Him to lead us and guide us through the study of God's word. When Jesus said that He is "The Way," He was referring to Himself as God's guide of truth! This teacher from Galilee not only taught His disciples, but He also threatened the status quo of the religious structure that the Pharisees and Sadducees established in the first century. Jesus had to confront the corruption that had infiltrated Temple worship, synagogue services, and everyday life. Don't forget that this week is also called Passion Week. The word "passion" actually refers to "pain," even though we have altered the term to express something powerful, meaningful, and filled with purpose. Remember, that truth doesn't change! So what starts in PAIN can also and in PURPOSE! As we meditate on this week before the death and resurrection of God's anointed Messiah, let's consider the purpose of our pain. We will find purpose in our passion, press through the pressure, and endure the process to discover God's ultimate plan. Let's make this "Holy Tuesday" and make it a "Truthful Tuesday, as we study the eternal truth of God's Word and apply it to our daily lives.

PASSIONATE PREPARATION:

1. We passionately receive the TRUTH of God’s Word to transform our lives as we celebrate the power of the Messiah’s resurrection this Passion Week.

2. We passionately pray for the spiritual eyes of our families and friends to be opened to the TRUTH of who Jesus (Yeshua) is, as they receive Him as their Messiah, Savior, and Lord.

3. We passionately thank our God for daily revealing the TRUTH through His Holy Spirit, so that revival can come to our communities, nation, and world this holiday season.

[ploncc]

[ID: tags from @jughead-is-canonically-aroace that are as follows: art, hm, on the one hand yes! this is true and wonderful isn't the world glorious, on the other hand to quote cjthex's video 'objectively bad art', there are things that are true which are not useful, obvs this is useful in the case of like, this is useful to keep in mind when you feel insecure about your art, but there are cases where it is useful to pretend an objective perspective on art exists, by which i mean media crit/discussion, op i wonder what you'd think of that video End ID]

--

Okay so this is coming from a single watch through, so you know, grain of salt.

In general though? I agree with the video! (thank you for recommending it btw!) A lot of the art critique I grew up seeing online was definitely in the vein of "Well, in my opinion...." with very little thought given to what the work was trying to do or what techniques it used to what purposes.

The first time I noticed what was going on (on my own time, i'm sure people had been yelling at me about it for a lot longer) was with Young Adult books, when I finally realized that I, in my hours of complaining about how bad they all were and blah blah blah, was missing the point of the YA genre. I was looking for something in the completely wrong place and then going ">:( I can't believe these books focus more on the romance and repetitive plots instead of the horrors and joys of humanity!" or whatever pretentious bullshit I was on at the time. I spent a good few months after that feeling very sheepish and finally making some much needed trips to the adult/general section of the library.

There's a lot of other really good points he makes offhand, and again, I'd have to agree with pretty much everything he says in the video. It's been a hot second since I've watched media crit stuff, but I might be tempted back in to see what else he has to say.

The one thing that I wouldn't agree with though is the terminology.

(this is basically going to amount to me still being pretentious, by the way, and i am well aware that in general, people probably are going to see this as less a problem with clear communication and more a problem with the big dumb stem person being a big dumb stem person, so, again, many grains of salt, i'm just coming from a place where this word miiiight mean something a bit different)

I'm a mathematician, so when I see something being referred to as "objective," the kind of objectivity I'm expecting is the same that applies to numbers. 2 x 2 = 4 unless we're like, I dunno, secretly working in modulo 3 or something, and at that point, you're breaking breaking standard notation and would be widely regarded as an asshat.

It doesn't matter if you've grown up only hearing that 2 x 3 is six or 2 x 1 is two. 2 x 2 is, objectively, 4, regardless of what you're told. It doesn't even matter if, in your opinion, 2 x 2 is seven. You can make a table of dots two tall and two wide and count how many dots you have in total to prove, objectively, that 2 x 2 does not equal 7. Whereas, say, love triangles aren't objectively good or bad. The existence of a single individual with one differing opinion on the trope does remove the possibility of it being objective.

What I would say the video is talking about is more along the lines of being grounded. Saying that "art that shades using black is bad" isn't a grounded statement. It ignores historical painting techniques that, to my knowledge, did use extremely dark shadows, some of which were just straight up painted in black. It ignores the existence of popular modern styles of art that are purely black ink on white background, which, (le gasp), tends to use black for shading. It ignores the potential commentary an artist could create by making a comic and shading everything using black until some event happens or only for some character, weaponizing the dulling affect for the sake of communicating something.

But pointing out that, at least to most people's eyes, using black to shade will dull a color palette, and that therefore people tend to prefer shading using other colors instead of just black or a darker version of the base, is something that's grounded. In the first case of "shade in black is bad," we're focused on decrying a thing. In this second case, we've moved the goalpost back to discussing art and technique and purpose and motivation and all the nitty, gritty, difficult, and arguably very important things.

And I would agree, being able to ground statements is extremely useful for stuff like media crit. If grounded critique and discussions were what I'd grown up with then, I'm not joking here, I think a large portion of my life would look very different.

At some point I'm gonna make a post on here about 'no rules in art' from a more creation-centric standpoint, but this thing is getting wayyyy too long already, so I've got to cut myself off. Hope that wasn't too much, and I'm so sorry this got this long!

This is about writing I swear

When my older sib and I were wee, and when he’d pick me up from middle school or drive us home from whatever extracurricular religious activity we were forced into on a weekly basis, taking the longest route to the house possible in our rattle-trap, third-hand car that was actively decaying as we drove, we’d listen to this one specific metal/rock band. The CD lived in that car for years, and we’d play it over and over again, starting from different songs sometimes so we wouldn’t get bored of the same 4 tracks repeating every time we drove.

I’ve got a copy that we ripped ages ago that lives on my laptop, and I still listen to it relatively often, usually when I’m trying to blast through some coding or get a model to finally work for once. I’m a lot happier than when we listened to it as kids, and 98% of the time the music doesn’t fill me with dread or tweenybopper angst or anything but contentment, really. But driving around in that rattle-trap car and being an angsty tweenybopper and all the things that were going on in the world and my world at the time and the smell of the rotting fabric interior and the distortion of the broken rearview mirrors are forever, irrevocably tied to that album. Listening to it has become a bit of an experience.

In other words, I think that the album is good…

…and that has (almost) fuck all to do with the actual technical skills or songwriting or poetics or any other part of the music itself, and (almost) everything to do with emotional bullshit.

And here’s the thing: your experiences might be similar to the one’s I described above, but if we talked for more than five minutes then it would probably become very clear very quickly that we are Different People with Different Experiences, and that’s okay! It’s even okay when it leads us to like different things, or to associate different experiences with different works. 

Because (drum roll y’all)

Objectively good art does not exist.

In the face of ✨personal experience✨ it might feel a little silly to state that out loud. You have works that you associate things with too. You have reasons for liking certain genres that other people would never guess at unless they’d known you for decades. Sure! Objectively good art isn’t a thing!

But how much of your creative process, or how you judge your work, or how you approach writing in general is based out of some idea of objectively good writing? How much time have you spent chasing after some set of rules that will magically make everything fit into place or guarantee your success?

How much of your self have you tried to kill to barter for someone else’s idea of objectively good art?

[topicprinter]

Six months ago, I had an idea for an online course. Today, I've made over $7,000 teaching online.Here's what worked.Writing OnlineI've been writing online since 2014. I would condense and simplify pieces of information I learned into helpful articles. At the time, I wrote for myself––I needed to keep my skills sharp.I repurposed the knowledge I was paid to learn at work into content for others. After five years of writing online, I hadn't made a single dollar. All of the content I produced was free. I saw other creators making millions teaching online. Why couldn't I do the same?I realized I hadn't been giving away my content for free. I was building an audience and establishing credibility.CredibilityWriting online is difficult. Clearly explaining technical content is twice as hard. You have to understand the subject deep enough that you can explain it at an entry-level. Many fail at this.Over the past six years, I created my niche with front-end web development. I started a small newsletter where I'd share my latest writing with my audience. I'd distribute my content to social media. Occasionally, a post would go viral on Reddit or Hacker News.Slowly, I became credible in my niche. My tutorials and blog posts helped others learn. I established myself as an "expert". I say expert, but you can do this.Most people spend the majority of their time online consuming instead of creating. Be a creator. I focused on writing about topics I found interesting. Along the way, I built an audience.Building an Audience through LearningWhen I learned something new, I would share it––with my newsletter, on Twitter, everywhere. I gave value to my audience. The content I created for myself was now a reference for others.Over time, this grew into a hub of inbound traffic to my website. Today, over 80% of my traffic comes from organic Google Searches. Without an audience, you cannot sell a product. Be helpful on the internet and you will create an audience.At the beginning of 2019, I became obsessed with a specific technology called Next.js. It allowed me to create websites faster. I rebuilt my website using it and documented the process along the way. I continued to write about Next.js that year. In September, I realized I'd found my niche.Finding Your MarketIt's impossible to measure your success if you can't track it. Whatever your metric is (post views, number of likes), you need a baseline to improve.I use Google Analytics and Search Console to monitor the performance of my site. I'm able to see which articles perform best and how people find my site. To my surprise, almost all of my highest ranked articles were about Next.js. I'd found my market.Creating demand is hard. Filling demand is much easier. Don’t create a product, then seek someone to sell it to. Find a market—define your customers—then find or develop a product for them.Creating a CourseThe idea of creating an online course seemed daunting. It would take six months, at least. Based on my analytics, people were interested––but would they buy it?After researching teaching online and marketing, I had a eureka moment. To figure out if people would buy the course, I would launch it. Now. Why should I treat this course any different than a software product? With software, you can start small and rapidly iterate over time. I applied the same methodology to the course.First, I defined the content. I created an outline for the course I wish I had when starting to learn Next.js. Working backward, I made a list of 15-20 main concepts to cover. Then, I created a website to market the course and allow people to pre-order. The main benefit of your course should be explainable in one sentence or phrase. How is it different, and why should I buy it?On November 3rd, I launched the course.I placed a small bet––only 15-20% of the content was finished. If this launch failed and no one bought the course, I'd cut my losses and walk away. Instead of wasting the next six months, I wanted validation now people would pay for this.I intentionally priced the course high at $199, with a launch price of $99. With ten pre-orders, I'd have $1,000 of revenue. No cards were charged––I wasn't stealing their money. I was validating my idea and confirming I had a market. With no idea how long it would take to create the course, I set a launch date of April 2020.Two days after the launch, I had my first sale. It was breathtaking. Someone on the internet spent $100 on a digital asset I created. I couldn't believe it.The next day, another sale. And another the day after. In the first week, I made seven sales for $700 in profit. I was motivated to continue working.Should I Use A Platform?You'll need to make two platform choices: how to accept payments and where to host content. For payments, I'd recommend Gumroad, Paddle, or Stripe. Depending on your volume of sales, there are different processing fees. This article goes more in-depth about how fees compare across platforms.The second decision is where to host your content. For e-books or a small number of videos, I'd recommend Gumroad. If you have a large video course, YouTube (with private videos) worked well for me. Another option is a fully-managed online course platform like Teachable.Marketing & AdvertisingWriting online was effective at growing my site, so I took the same approach for the course. I wrote three articles to attract inbound traffic from social media and search engines. I released a 26-minute introduction video on YouTube. Not only did this promote the course, but it further established my credibility. The video has over 2,500 views, almost all from organic searches.Providing value by giving is the fastest way to grow. If your audience has learned from you, they'll want more. Only after you've provided value can you sell a product. To give back, I ran a Twitter giveaway for the course. Initially, I planned for five winners. The response was so overwhelming that I ended up giving away ten instead.I spent $0 and reached 7,331 potential customers. Here's the full statistics on that tweet.Impressions: 7,331Engagements: 488Detail expands: 119Profile clicks: 101Link clicks: 72I realized it was time to spend money on advertising.AdvertisingMy first attempt at advertising was through Google Ads. Again, I started with a small bet of $5/day. The initial results were promising.Impressions: 5,255Clicks: 24Ad Spend: $26.75Sales: 2 x ($99)Profit: $171.25Comparing impressions against Twitter shows how valuable of an asset it can be. I continued advertising with Google, increasing the daily spend to $20/day for another week. Here are the final numbers.Impressions: 53,357Clicks: 189Ad Spend: $208.91Sales: 6 x ($99)Profit: $385I also tried Reddit. I iterated over a few ads with this approach.Use A/B tests to try different adsTake the ad with a higher click-through rateRinse and repeatI'd optimize each ad by targeting specific subreddits. For example, this subreddit had twice the click-through rate for the same cost-per-click.Even though I was new to advertising, it played a critical role in growing the course. Now, I needed to launch.Launch DayFor months, I worked closely with early customers to get feedback on the course. Feeling confident, I soft-launched with 95% of the content finished.After a week with no issues, it was time for the real launch. I posted to Product Hunt, Reddit, Indie Hackers, and everywhere else I could. By the time I had launched, I had $2,000 in pre-orders.Ten days later, I broke $3,000.When I started the course, my original goal was $5,000 in total. I thought that seemed aggressive. In retrospect, I aimed too low. Never underestimate the power of teaching online.Since launching in February 2020, I've surpassed $7,000 in revenue. I'm averaging ~$1,500/month, putting me on track to make $18,000 this year.You Should Teach OnlineThere's never been a better time to become a creator. Blog posts, YouTube videos, courses, podcasts, streaming––if you have something others find value in, share it. Publish that article. Make that video.Stop waiting for a once in a lifetime idea and start teaching others online today. The opportunity outweighs your fears. Even if your audience is small, teaching others will improve your understanding of the subject.My story isn't unique. Here are some other creators that inspired me.Adam Wathan made $2.5MM from books/courses.Daniel Vassallo made $100K from a book and video course.Emma Bostian made $40K before her book even launched.Never underestimate the power of teaching online. I hope this helps and I'm happy to answer any questions for others wanting to teach online.

[fateother]

#02: Poison Heart Part 2

There were two people in the dimly lit study. On the floor, having fallen backwards, was Charlie Fairsworth. Her grandfather, Horace Fairsworth, had passed away not long ago. Charlie had lived with him in his old villa in Rosebridge after her parents death ten years prior. In Horace Fairsworth's will, the key to his study was to go to his only grandchild. And that is how Charlie wound up in her current situation. She had never been allowed inside the study. Naturally, she was curious. She found the room had bad lightning, and smelled of old books and incense. The windows were barred shut, and there was a dry feel to the air. As she explored the dimly lit room, she eventually noticed something on the mat in front of her grandfather's desk. Charlie couldn't help but recognize it – but she couldn't quite tell where she had seen it before. It was a circle of some sort, and in the middle was a letter. Charlie carefully walked over and picked it up. ”Charlie” was hastily scribbled on it. She furrowed her brow and opened it. Inside was a piece of paper. Or, to be precise, a notesheet. Charlie immdiately recognized them as notes for singing. As long as she had been living with her grandfather, he had made her take singing classes. She didn't particularly like singing, but she didn't dislike it either. It was more of a thing she just did sometimes. After staring at the lyrics for a while, she couldn't help herself. She opened her mouth without thinking, almost as if compelled by something, closed her eyes and sang. As soon as she started, she couldn't stop. There was something about the words, the lyrics, that compelled her to continue. ”You, seven heavens clad in three words of power Arrive from the ring of deterrence, O keeper of the balance” As she finished with those lines, Charlie opened her eyes. The room lit up from the center, and Charlie quickly realized it was the circle that was glowing with a bright red light. ”W-what?” She dropped the notesheet as she took a step back, but tripped and landed on her end. Heart beating at high speed, Charlie stared at the tall figure that had appeared in front of her in the circle, seemingly out of nowhere. It was a woman, easily 190cm in height. She had long, blonde hair, with pointy ears poking out from beneath it – almost like an elfs out of fantasy. She was dressed in a lon cloak, and Charlie could hint light leather armour beneath. While Charlie was speechless, the stranger was not. Instead, she studied her surroundings before looking at charlie with a slight smile, and spoke with soft, yet sharp words: ”Are you my Master?” Charlie blinked. ”H...huh?” The woman sighed. ”This is normally the part where you say yes. If you want to live, that is. Do you want to live?” Charlie blinked again. ”Y...yes?” ”Good. Then the contract is sealed.” The circle had stopped glowing, and the woman picked up the notesheet and studied it. ”What a strange way of summoning.” She then looked at Charlie again, and finally seemed to realize that the latter had no idea what was going in. Her face showed displeasure, maybe a bit annoyance. She then raised her right arm, and pointed at Charlie's right hand. Charlie looked, and gasped. ”W... what... what's this?!?” On the back of her right hand was what looked like a tattoo. Strange markings, swirling in a three-headed galaxy shape had appeared on her hand. ”Proof that you're my Master.” ”I asked you earlier if you wanted to live, but to think that you never noticed... have you never seen those before?” Charlie stood up on shaking legs, and shook her head. No, she had not. ”Not even a hint of them forming?” ”N-no. I've been looking at my hand every now and then for a couple of days, because I dropped a pot on it and a bruise was starting to form-” ”No bruise. It was the Command Seals forming, oh my dense Master.” ”Wh...” The woman was clearly getting annoyed, and somewhere deep insid, Charlie was as well. Confused and afraid, she asked. ”What is going on?” The woman seemed to consider her options for a few seconds before answering with a sigh. ”First things first. Introductions, that is. What is your name, Master?” ”C-Charlie Fairsworth.” The woman bowed nonchalantly. ”Well then, C-Charlie, you may call me Rider.” She sighed, yet again, and walked over to the desk. She wiped some dust off the chair behind it, and sat down. ”Now, then. Listen carefully, for both our sakes.” And Rider explained. She explained everything. ”The Holy Grail War” - A competition that decides the ownership of the Holy Grail through an intense battle royale. While there have been many conflicts over supposed Holy Grails in the past, this term refers to those specifically based around Masters, usually proficient magi (Charlie suspected that part was a jab at her), summoning Servants, Heroic Spirits brought forth as familiars, and meeting in battle until only one Master/Servant pair is left. Seven magi are chosen by the Grail as Masters and, with support from the Grail, allowed to summon seven Servants to do battle. The winning pair is supposed to be able to claim the Holy Grail and utilize it to grant a wish for each of them. ”So this is your later grandfather's study, then? Was he a magus?” Charlie swallowed. ”N-no... well, I knew he was interested in magecraft, but he never said anything about... but...” she scratched the back of her head, trying to remember. ”He never mentioned something like this... why would he prepare for summoning a Servant? And why leave a le-” Then it hit her. ”He wrote the summoning chant as song lyrics! He turned the summoning chant into a song using notesheets so that I would sing them! Oh that old-” Charlie punched a nearby bookshelf, cursing and holding her now aching hand as she avoided a falling book. Rider, however, was deep in thought. ”It seems he wished for you to participate in the war. Perhaps he felt he was running out of time, and couldn't do it himself? Either way, the Grail has already chosen you as a Master, so there's that.” Charlie walked over to the desk and slammed her palms onto the top of it. She cursed again, this time because of her aching palms. ”I-I don't want to participate in a war!” Rider glared at her Master. ”But you do. Otherwise, the Grail wouldn't have chosen you.” ”I don't- I don't understand, that's all! What's the deal with this Grail, even? Why do people want to kill each other over it?!?” Rider shrugged. ”There are as many reasons as there are Masters and Servants – we all want the Grail for one reason or another. But, answer me this, oh dense Master:” she raised a finger. ”Like I said, the winners get to make a wish. Is there truly nothing you desire? Nothing you want? The Grail is a wish-granting device. Surely there is something you want, more than nothing else.” Charlie was about to protest, but stopped as faces she remembered flashed before her mind. She shook her head, and walked over to the bookcase again, kicking it gently while sulking. Rider chuckled. ”Ufufufu. Good girl.” ”Stupid elf,” Charlie muttered to herself. ”I'm being tricked into doing something here, aren't I? Besides, what kind of name is ''Rider'', even?” ”It's not a name.” ”Huh?” Rider, clearly fed up with Charlie's ignorance, sighed again. Charlie was beginning to think that she would run out of air and faint if she kept at it. ”I'm your Servant, a Heroic Spirits brought forth as a familiar to serve you in this war. Weren't you listening? There are seven Master/Servant pairs in all. I'm a Heroic Spirit-” Rider paused for a moment - ”well, kind of – so that means my identity is beyond just ”Rider”.” Charlie stared at Rider, dumbstruck. ”So your name isn't Rider?” ”No. That's just my classification.” ”Oh. Okay.” ”Don't feign knowledge. Even if it's annoying, it's best for both of us if you're honest and just tell me you don't know.” ”Not if you're going to call me dense.” Rider ignored her. ”Seven Servants – seven Heroic Spirits summoned into seven containers. These containers are the seven classes. For example, I fit the criterias to be sumoned as a Rider, so I was summoned into that container. Although I could as well have been summoned as Archer, or maybe even Caster.” ”So it's like classes and jobs in games? Like Warrior, Monk, White Mage, etc?” ”Saber, Archer, Lancer, Rider, Caster, Assassin, and Berserker. Those are the seven containers – the seven classes. Those are also the seven Servants summoned for the Holy Grail War.” Charlie nodded. ”So, ehr, who are you? What's your name, I mean?” Rider seemed to consider something before answering. ”A Servant's True Name is dangerous to give out. For example, if I were a Heroic Spirit that died from poisoning, I would be exceptionally weak against poison.” ”Did you?” ”No.” ”Okay, I'm not sure I really get it, but you're like... someone from the past who's been brought back to life by the Holy Grail to participate in this war, and if you win you get like... a last dying wish? Or something like that?” ”Normally... yes. I'm not exactly like regular Servants.” ”What's that supposed to mean?” ”Never mind. I can't really tell you my name, since you're a novice. If I told you, and an enemy decided to read your mind, that would be bad for me. Well, both of us.” ”Well... I guess that's fair.” Charlie wasn't happy about it, but Rider was right. Charlie wasn't exactly a magus, let alone one who would be strong enough to resist having her mind read or being controlled. ”I can tell you one thing about myself, though,” Rider said, in a tone that made Charlie think she just remembered something. ”Someone else could as well have been summoned instead of me. And I don't mean another Heroic Spirit qualifying as Rider, I mean another Heroic Spirit qualifying as me. Or rather, my role.” ”I don't get it.” ”Good.” Charlie was about to open her mouth to protest further, but was interrupted by a loud noise that reminded her of an explosion. ”H-huh?” ”It came from outside,” Rider said calmly. Charlie was about to turn her heel and run out of the study, when Rider grabbed her arm. ”W-what? What is it?” ”Wait.” Rider seemed to listen for something. ”Your grandfather most certainly dabbled in magecraft without telling you.” ”What do you mean?” ”This room. This study. There are wards blocking magic detection set up all around it. If you leave the room, whatever made that noise might detect you. No – it most certainly will. And if it's a Servant or an enemy Master – which I wouldn't be surprised if it were – they'll want you dead.” ”B-but I can't just stay here!” ”Oh, you can, and you will.” Rider let go of Charlie, and walked over to one of the barred windows. ”Here. You can still see outside through the boards,” she said as she peaked through the boards. Heart in her throat, Charlie walked over to join her. She had the feeling – no, she knew – she had gotten herself into something way over her head. She peaked through the boards under Rider. ”Excuse, make room, please...” ”...” It had gotten dark outside. Charlie could see the stars, and the lights from downtown. Other than that, the only lights came from the old villa they were in, and the streetlights. ”I don't see anything.” ”Your eyesight isn't as good as mine, I guess. Don't feel bad about it though, like I said, I do qualify as an Archer as well.” Charlie grumbled and squinted her eyes. ”There, Master. On the lawn.” She looked where Rider told her to - on the villas large front lawn. There was a large, smoking hole in the ground, but Charlie realized that's not what Rider wanted her to look at. No, it was the two humanoid shapes standing on each side of the hole, facing each other. One of them was holding a long stick. Charlie squinted even more. No, it was a lance of some kind. ”What're-” ”Servants.” Charlie could feel her heart drop from her throat down into her stomach. ”Master.” Rider looked at Charlie. ”Your orders, please.”

[daz4i]

rambling under the cut, a mix of analysis and some fun facts and lore. royal AND strikers spoilers warning bc i got carried away

i said this before but i think it's incredibly sexy how that last room is a garden of eden with its own tree of knowledge in the middle

especially when the new mementos path added is called daat, aka the hebrew word for knowledge (it's kind of an obscure one that's mostly commonly used in the context of the tree of knowledge actually)

and this one's probably more of a common knowledge if you've dug just a little bit into p5 lore but the other mementos paths are named after the qliphoth (in rough translation, peels/shells), a term from the kabbalah for the symbols of evil that the world can't exist without (tho p5 uses a slightly different versions from the commonly used ones from what i read). i guess you can kind of compare it to the seven deadly sins, some of them even overlap actually!

anyway, the addition of daat is very sexy exactly because of that reason, imo. it's not one of them, as far as I'm aware, so it's essentially an addition of the first sin - eve biting the fruit of the tree of knowledge (EDIT: it's actually one of the sefirot that i talk more about later in the post! which makes this even sexier honestly)

back to the palace, the tree is a place of literal ascension, once again connecting to the path of daat - the only mementos path where you go up the escalators rather than down. people being in the most ideal place - literally the garden of eden - and still striving to go higher to an even better place, I'd argue like eve, who had the perfect life and still wanted more (tho, tempted by the serpent). i may be jumping to conclusions trying to read too deeply into things but i think that's like, foreshadowing of where maruki's plan would lead to. a life where everything is perfect would still not be satisfying for people since as a species we kind of always strive for more, and having our every need met would just be boring (the good place touched on that actually if you wanna see some other sexy takes on the matter)

now something interesting about adam kadmon. i thought it's interesting that it needs maruki to use as some sort of,, vessel? kinda? but then reading about the actual adam kadmon ("primordial man" in direct translation. fun fact it's actually how we refer to neanderthals in everyday hebrew) he probably didn't (doesn't??) have a physical form, being more like a deity, considering he's supposed to be the first man god created and a perfect, ideal one. so, i assume as a persona, in order to attack physical beings he'd need his own physical vessel. maruki is inside his head because, well, this is where knowledge - daat - is stored isn't it?

also fun fact if we're already speaking abt the kabbalah, the spheres you have to destroy while fighting the demiurge in scramble are actually named after the sefirot (in everyday hebrew meaning "countings" kinda, in spiritual one is actually apparently refering to spheres, or levels) from the, surprise surprise, tree of life in the kabbalah. basically you have to get them all in order to reach ein sof ("infinity"), a form of enlightenment that i honestly didn't do enough reading about to keep telling you about but it's apparently supposed to make you closer to god (a much smaller and unrelated fun fact: there's actually a common tarot reading based on it, considered to be the second most common thorough reading after the celtic cross)

it's interesting that they went with strong kabbalah themes for the final bosses in both games tbh, and it's honestly so cool they mixed lovecraftian elements into maruki actually (since mixing gnosticism in the form of both yaldabaoth and the demiurge - literally the same being with different names from what i know - works way better and more naturally to the point i was sure it's all from the same source up until I've done some deeper reading)

not to be jewish on main but we need to talk abt the last room in [redacted]'s palace in royal

[finnlongman]

[Edited for clarity]

So, context here: my pain has been localised in my wrists, hands and forearms since 2013. I spent months unable to write or type at all, and sat my A-Levels and some of my university exams using voice recognition software. I’ve seen a bunch of specialists of various kinds over the years, and while some of them have been great... some have. not. And the overwhelming impression has been a negative one -- what I was told was a short-term injury (essentially RSI) has been, instead, more than a quarter of my life unable to use my hands the way I used to.

What I’ve found is that most GPs aren’t very knowledgeable about EDS or hypermobility, nor are they equipped to deal with care and management for long-term conditions like these. You might, however, have slightly more luck if you can get them to refer you to an occupational therapist. How much they’ll be able to help will depend on their experience, though. I saw an upper limb splinting clinic in the OT department at the hospital back in 2013, because at the time I couldn’t hold a pen due to pain. Though they gave me wrist supports and a very rudimentary thumb support (it used to dislocate a lot), nobody ever picked up on the fact that my knuckles hyperextended like this, and nobody suggested splinting those. Ring-splints and similar were never mentioned. However, that was 2013. Maybe if I went there with the same problem now, it would be different.

I’m inclined to be pessimistic about how much doctors can help, because I’ve had bad luck on that front. The last seven years of my life have been a cycle of chasing up referrals that haven’t ended up helping, getting stuck on infinite waiting lists, and occasionally being randomly discharged by rheumatologists who gaslighted me and told me my pain was the result of anxiety because I “wasn’t really hypermobile”. Others have had more luck than me, though, and it may be that some doctors would be more inclined to help out.

From my point of view... these splints are reasonably cheap online (especially as I only really need the one -- my index finger is substantially more hypermobile than the others, probably as a result of years of gripping my pen too tightly to compensate). All I had to do was measure my finger. If it doesn’t end up fixing anything, I’ve lost, like, £12. If it does, it could be life-changing for me. So my advice would really be that if you’re in a position to do so, you may as well give it a try, because if it helps... it’s worth it.

Before and after, aka, time to relearn how to write. Again. Maybe this will make it easier for me to keep the relaxed grip OT's have been telling me to use since 2013, and will actually reduce my wrist pain? 🤔