#orient cycle

[batcii]

I think it's been crossposted already but guess I should post this here as well! The cover for The Raven Boys graphic novel I have been working on for the last couple of years is finally out! If you're wondering why I haven't posted art in a while it's because all I've been doing is drawing these kids non-stop (in between teaching, and pottery, and following my chickens around).

It has been such a pleasure to work on and an enormous amount of pressure to get them just right. It's an impossible but worthy goal, and as a fan of the books myself I know just how much people care about this series. I hope once you get to see it in August 2025 you'll be rewarded for the wait. You can read more about the book here, and find preorder links here.

[nohymn]

i was refreshing on the wonweek and sunday exchanges and this one still tickles me because so much is said.

i already surmised before this that sunday wasn't someone who took well to being "pitied" in his eyes [something to do with his pride, as well as his rhetoric with the weak and the strong and how he factors himself into this; that's something i can write a rambling post about another day], but having it confirmed was delightful. there's something there with his strain for condescension in contrast that i can't place.

and of course there's the elephant in the room of how he responds better to criticism and critique than he would someone genuinely showing him sympathy. punishment and disappointment will make him move, but smothering him won't. if he's met with condemnation, he can ruminate but do something about it, because he's given something to work with, and it goes against his perfectionism, which is a struggle in of itself; but there's not really much he can do with someone feeling sorry for him, and it makes him feel small and weak when there's this constant urge to fix something. it isn't conductive.

[phoenixiancrystallist]

Month 10, day 2

Made changes to the runes so they look the way I wanted them to, plus also some subtle color adjustments on them that will animate (eventually). Will it look like fire the way I want it to? I dunno! We'll find out together lol

I'm also working on redoing the curtains but those weren't ready to render yet, I'm still fucking with the cloth physics simulation. I could just sculpt the curtains but like why?

[homovulcanensis]

Kara ben Nemsi should have been woken up by a muezzin at least once. (The first prayer is at sunrise!) He does not strike me as a morning person and I bet it would be hilarious.

I almost fell out of bed. Somebody somewhere was shouting, causing me to awake with a startle. In such a big city as Bagdad, a fire would never be out of the ordinary. Alarmed, I ran to the little window with the bars in front of it and forced it open. Gladly, there was no smell of fire. However, the shouting was now louder.

I listened to the words and realized that I had acted like an idiot foreigner. I sighed and returned to my bed. Naturally, my panicked actions had woken up my dear friend Halef as well.

"Sidhi, has the muezzin scared you?", he laughed, quite amused by the spectacle. I could not disagree with him. However, my eyes were already falling shut again. I just grunted deeply.

"You are so much of a Christian, habibi. Nearly falling out of your bed from the words of Allah.", Halef kept on laughing. I ignored the endearment and soon was sleeping soundly again. I always held that the early morning was never good for any activities.

[regulusrules]

Hey 😅 idk if ur an expert but since you mentioned studying orientalism & stereotypical depictions of foreign places in western media, do you have any specific resources or advice for creatives who want to break the cycle of harm? Obvs "do research" but I guess asking you is part of that, ahaha

Heya love. This is INDEED breaking the cycle and doing research, so thank you for popping up here to ask!

For resources on what to read/watch in order to break free from the eurocentric grip, I wrote a long ass post here dividing references to videos, documentaries, books, and literary works. If you're done with these and looking for more, definitely DM at any time! I would be more than happy to provide additional references, since it's been my field of study for so long :D

As for advice, well, I'll tell you this:

DON'T BE AFRAID TO ASK!

Literally the common problem that I always find between western and eastern discourse is being misunderstood. The language barrier causes shit, believe me, especially in the historical context of how this whole east/west thing had happened. Orientalism stems from the fact that the west propagated an image of the east without actually seeing where they come from or what they're trying to say. The east is misunderstood because the interpretations of the west of them is what stuck instead of their actual thoughts and beliefs.

So, if you have a Muslim-Arab friend, don't be afraid to ask them why they pray five times or why women choose to wear hijab. If you have a Christian-Arab friend, don't be too quick to dismiss the fact that they exist (typical western stereotype that Christianity is ours only) ((even though Jesus was from Bethlehem, Palestine lool)). If you have a Jew-Arab friend, ask them what they think about the situation in Palestine, and you will be shocked by how genuinely supportive they are of Palestinians. And if you have any Arab friend who identifies with any other religion/doesn't at all, p l e a s e be willing to ask and listen.

Every person in this world is so unique. And trust me, you won't find two middle eastern countries similar, let alone the typical propagated western message that "all Arabs are the same." I kid you not, cities from cities there also differ, just like in states if one day you go to texas and the other day drop at hawaii. The beautiful uniqueness of eastern cultures has to be experienced first-hand to be conveyed.

So whenever you're looking for an answer, ask. Ask and never be afraid of not being answered, because people actually want to be heard. I've learnt sooo much more from engaging with people than from my theoretical studies, so if you have the opportunity, go book a plane to the pyramids you've always wanted to see and actually experience the wonder of communicating with the people there and learning their cultures. These countries are safe, safer than I have personally ever felt in Europe, because they are so people-oriented and warm. Videos won't tell you that. You gotta see it for yourself, love, and you gotta talk about your experience and convey their actual beliefs to those around you in a similar position.

Ask, and you will always be answered. And in the process, you will have the time of your life. Believe me.

[iridescentis]

For fun I decided to look over all of my internet history that is still available to me to try and create the most accurate timeline of my fandoms over the years and I think this is it! I also included the platforms I was primarily using for each since that's relevant to the fandom activity I was participating in :)

There are more fandoms I have dabbled in and I might be forgetting some but these are the main eras of my fandom experiences I think.

[sergeifyodorov]

was thinking about the ovi auston web weaving you made back in may and your tag that said you werent gonna bring sid and connor into it and i get it but also. i want to bring sid and connor into it

i did too i just didn't want to. make that webweave 3 million miles long. also didn't want to bring mitch and nicke into it because that's the same deal.

i WILL leave u with this: each time sid and ovi won one of their cups, they had to go through each other to get it. good signs in the future for leafsoilers truthers?

[littlehoundthings]

Do I enjoy Ashe suffering? Yes.

[pluralsword]

To be continued? Hopefully we'll do more- but if you are looking for more sword mutuality stories, the orientation terminology we use here is something we originally rolled out in early 2022 in Day of Multiflame, ended up using for ourselves, and intend to use for other fiction we're slowly working on.

When we got a toy of Twitch, it struck us how similar her helm is to IDW Arcee's (especially the WFC videogame/EXRID 2012-2014 frame IDW1 Arcee had) and how she is somewhat like Windblade, and the former had dual yellow swords in the comics while the latter had them with a toy! Unfortunately Twitch can't hold her wing blades easily, we used blu-tack to do that, we might try filing down the back ends near the pegs to be holdable in a 5mm port- but that tack made it look like her blades had hilts... and so we ended up here!

We don't have a WFC/EXRID '12-'14 Arcee done *yet* (actually still waiting on parts) but here is a comparison below so you can see what we mean. Take care y'all! :3

[thescreaminghat]

tired and thinking too much about things in my mind askew but also suddenly wondering what annerose was supposed to represent in reinhard’s entire worldview. even though she’s been freed from the tower she must exist only as the proof of reinhard’s noble act: without him she would be living among the vengeful and gluttonous nobles, unlike now, where she is still living with the same trappings of royalty but it’s ok because the people don’t have bad ideologies i guess. was she even a person before reinhard’s career really began to take off. every time she’s on screen it feels like we’re looking at the madonna, some otherworldly presence unspoiled by the grime of human history (prime example is when hilda first meets annerose in her secluded cottage, the place is so romanticized it feels unreal, even unnatural). and the stiltedness i think comes from the fact that we know that none of this is true. annerose was essentially sold into being the emperor’s concubine. in its most literal sense she isn’t a virgin, isn’t some “untouched, innocent” woman who must not know of the world’s wrongs, because she’s lived through them already. perhaps her otherworldliness comes from her compassion, her moral virtues, her devotion to her brother. but would anything have changed if she had died instead of kircheis. was her grace and kindness so central to guiding reinhard’s character that her living being would have successfully overshadowed any impact that would have accompanied her death. yet even with the benefit of hindsight the narrative/narrator never truly speculates on the other half of it. because ultimately annerose exists as a concept---the justification used by “good” and “just” rulers, the sanitation of individual trauma to turn history into an epic. the longevity of reinhard’s reign in the narrative sense is premised upon the purity of his intention. what if annerose hadn’t been a victim “in the right way,” choosing anger as her reason to encourage reinhard instead of the mute graciousness superimposed by the narrative. does it even matter if the results are the same---the framing suggests that “yes, it does matter,” because the optics of saving a damsel are vastly different from saving a witch, even if they experience the same injustices. imagine the prince dying, not from the illness plot screwdriver purposefully used to remove him when he has fulfilled his purpose in the story, but because he chose to do the “right” thing for the “wrong” reasons. 

[rotisseries]

ok what about ganondorf what are your thought on him (SO SORRY FOR ASKING HIM HE'S THE ONLY NON-LINK NON-ZELDA GUY I KNOW)

actually you're so good. I have lots of thoughts on ganondorf. by which I mean I have thoughts on ganondorf's potential not thoughts on him as the character he currently exists as

[sail-southern]

America's Cup 37 Updates - 03/17/2024 - What's New In AC-Land?

Check out these recent articles and videos focused on the 37th America’s Cup, to be held in Barcelona, Spain in October of this year!

[thatboxylady]

i have a kinda silly Jetstorm headed canon that if you pet his head right between his head fins (horns???) his wings flutter happily, same goes for if you pet his back between his wings . of course this requires you to get close to and also (Primus forbid) touch him so basically no one knows this but him and Thrust perhaps lol

NO NO THIS IS GOOD 100/10

[homovulcanensis]

Why does Kara ben Nemsi keep on comparing the Orient to the Wild West? Like, once every two pages? We get it babe, you're missing your boyfriend that you are not allowed to mention during this book series. But please get a grip on...

[beesorcery]

down bad. down horrendous. down unbelievable. down ungodly. down inexplicable. down unfathomable. down outrageous. down quite frankly institutional