#really disconnecting from social spheres to really get my own opinion set

[valorxdrive]

Gotta speak my truth.

A reason why the passion has dwindled on this blog, why I've sought other avenues. It hasn't really been the drought of content as much as the issue in what's already here. In short, it's the new angle of SQ's direction with the KH series that leaves me uncertain.

It all begins with a game called KH3, moreso, how it really feels like it was a title that didn't care about itself in terms of a grand finale or the fans who wanted a solid conclusion before a new chapter.

I genuinely dislike it with a whole lot of my heart.

I'll dip into why down below! Stick around for the ride if ya like.

I've sat here across the years genuinely contemplating it. Seeing people heavily defend it (myself too at one point), though who abhorred it for seeing things sooner (or just took it too far.) Had discussion with friends and it truly clicked to me what bothered me so much with the KH3 title.

It genuinely does not give a fuck. In a bizarre way, this is the first time I've seen a video game, even with it's complicated history that's just so utterly prepared to be finished with itself.

What struck me the most about this is how done it was with dealing with Xehanort as an antagonist. Bringing no connection with him to the worlds, or to the main cast, how he was simply relegated to the hurdle that had to be surpassed. This in kind extends to the heroes dealing with him too, that remains connected. So that brings the question, what did warrant all of their attention?

Verum Rex and Union X. Two aspects which are vividly 'new'-, the more exciting, new grounds to no longer have to bring concerns with the current epic that was being made.

The way these things were shoo'd in at the expense of the characters and the wonder of the KH world really miffs me. So much of the actual effort was made in turning KH3 into a springboard FOR these concepts, the new beginning and it allows for the keyblade war to be entrenched in a piss poor execution.

Another aspect I'd love to really dive on, being a Sora blog, is Sora's particular journey. This holds a firm eye towards the Disney worlds and mixing it with the cast of characters in there, and the KH originals. You can entirely omit the Disney journey and have literally nothing change. From the moment you hop from Yen Sid's tower, to the moment you go and save Aqua, this part of the game from the story perspective is entirely pointless. To those who care about the story. To those who CARE about disney 1 for 1's (like singing Let it go in new graphics fml), who are more concerned about the shiny new Verum Rex (vs XIII reboot) or the perspective of the Union X things, it'd be a fine enough meal.

I want to actually dig into why however. It's a simple angle, they don't care about his current goals in lieu of bringing shiny new worlds in akin to jingling car keys. The goal of finding a means to bring Roxas back, and in order to draw back the Power of Waking that found itself lost in DDD.

Both of these don't require external adventures. It needs insight, it needs the retracting of old grounds, and I'm damn sure that the perspective of Disney was not going to allow for that. So on this front unless a heavy push was warranted, I genuinely wouldn't of seen it changing. How are you going to find clues for Roxas in Arendelle for example?

Unless Sora has more Heart related ventures after each world, what in the fuck was this roaming going to do to unlock the power of waking again? A journey to find something important in KH is usually coupled by heavy character development, a way they come to re-look at how they see the surrounding world, their situation and themselves. The fact that a completely unrelated situation from Sora, despite his caring nature was the trigger to unlocking this.

For Ventus's disembodied heart to say it was always there was a pitchfork through the heart of this.

The fact that they've always said that recovering this power was essential for saving Aqua, when you literally can hop in and kick her butt, prompt no connection of ripping corruption away or anything via the Power of Waking says more than enough. You genuinely see that by the end of a lot of main cast characters being nods to the audience, or bots made for exposition, they've outright abandoned these concepts before your eyes.

I genuinely could continue on but this has become bloated.

For the journey for the current cast, the premise of KH3 is perfect as an adventure and inevitable showdown, but the execution is atrocious (the raw lack of opposing parties facing each other, showcasing the threat of Xehanort set to end all reality), and would genuinely require an entire game overhaul. Again, the execution. This extends to so much of the story decisions, to a LOT of the gameplay (whole dif can of worms) on top of that. I've really needed to recognize this and really have my genuinely lens set on it, no other opinions diluting my opinion on the matter.

I can understand why people who KH3 has the laughing stock/joke of the series.

Recognizing this has felt refreshing to me. It gives me a more distinct image that down the line, I really don't mind taking a canon divergent perspective at all. The mythos of KH and so much it has built is a fever dream of the best proportions, I however, genuinely want to carry on that I tenderly love which has always been the try and true flame of this series. I won't let nostalgia blind me, nor the ~future excitement~ either.

My nostalgia and my value as a fan is worth something to me. Nomura and co genuinely have to begin cooking again for me to gamble in that corner again.

[markrodriguezphoto-blog]

Evaluation and Conclusion:

Through this project, my intention was to make visible the invisible; the longer something is present in our lives, the less we seem to notice it. This same thing applies to our attachment to our mobile phones. These devices have taken over our mind and body, they have taken control and it’s almost as if they are the centre of our lives.

I have taken the task of making this addiction visible through photography simply by showing the sheer numbers of people of their phones as I stood on to one side. I was personally surprised by the quantity of people with mobile phones in their hands, sometimes not even in use. There were parents who were more interested with what was happening on their phones than their children who stood beside them, as well as children who could barely even talk using tablets that they could barely hold with their hands. The tragedy is that social media makes society less social and mobile phones have us disconnected from the rest of the world around us the moment we are connected to it.

My workshop tutorials have been very useful to me in my development as a photographer. They have helped me in my projects as I have gained a greater understanding of how the camera works and what settings to use in different situations, as well as how to edit these photos later on in programmes such as Adobe Lightroom. I have enjoyed my experiences in these workshops very much and have valued them highly. I have put these experiences to good use during my projects, such as in street photography where I have held the camera chest height and acted casually as I release the shutter to make it less obvious as some people might not like their photo being take by a stranger.

My research has proved useful to me as I gained an understanding that monochrome images prove to portray a message with more emphasis when trying to spread a message. The photographers I have researched have all provided me with some sort of knowledge that has helped me throughout this project to help me put across my message. Vivian Maier has reminded me that photography isn’t about being known. It is a passion that you hold within you through life and continue to practice this passion every day. It is based upon your own opinions and ideas, the way you see things and the way you capture them, not how other people want you to. Elliot Erwitt has taught me that photography has no boundaries; there are no correct answers or set ways of doing things. You do not have to stick to a particular style of photography. It is an opportunity for you to carry out your own ideas how you want to, whether it be to portray thoughts or a message, or for a comedic purpose, it is entirely up to you. I chose to study Mimi Mollica as his documentary photography was fitting to my concept. His work helped me visualise how my project can be carried out in a more documentary manner. His work is also usually based on current on-going situations and relevant topics. It is because of this that I had chosen to research his work and study him further. He shows that sending a message to the viewer is far more than an image being monochrome, but rather the importance of composition of the subjects in the frame. Jana Styblova inspired me to work with the food colouring to visually represent the chemical dopamine in our body. Her Acrylic Reactions have inspired a more abstract take on my project, in contrast to the more standard street photography aspect that I had thought of at first. In addition, I had researched some videos of people dropping food dye or ink in water, and how it would spread across the empty space in the water to create unique lines and shapes. This had me inspired to try it out for myself in an attempt to visually represent dopamine.

Body, Public:

For body and public I decided to focus on street photography to help expose our addictions to phones. I thought, where else better to capture masses of people using their phones than out in the public on a busy street? I found this to be very successful as I was able to capture just that. The sheer number of people on their phones was rather intimidating to me as it is something that I have never really noticed until now. Even though I was part of society and contributed in my own way to certain things, I felt alone and disconnected as I watched the majority of people looking down at their mobile devices and not caring about the world around them. However this did make it easier for me to take photos of them as they paid very little attention to everything around them. Everyone around me had a place to go to, a place to be, something to do and something different on their minds. They were all different people, however they all had that one thing in common, the relationship between them and their smart phones.

I feel that I have accomplished my task in trying to make it more obvious to people that we all have an addiction within us and its right in front of our eyes every day. The images I have taken for these particular sub-topics within the whole of my project have all been candid from a third person point of view on modern society the reality of what it’s like day to day. However to further accentuate this addiction I could have perhaps created a photo through setting scenes of two individuals on their phones. They could be in a relationship or not, and one of them could be on their phone while the other sits with their hands in their pockets and looking around. Perhaps they could be having a conversation, but one of them is distracted by their phone too busy taking photos or sending a text to someone who isn’t even there. Furthermore, I could have gathered a group of people and have them looking down at their phones and have someone who isn’t on their phone stand in-between them. This is to show the contrast between the majority of society nowadays and the few people who don’t own a mobile device or simply aren’t using them. We are in an era where not owning a smart phone is considered out of the ordinary.

Space, Private:

For these sub-topics within my project I decided to visually represent the chemical dopamine in our bodies when we use these devices. My idea was to place a smart phone in an empty space and drop ink or food dye around and on top of it, and watch as the colours would spread into the area and mix to create different colours. This kaleidoscope of colours represents dopamine and it would appear as if the smart phone was the source of it. The mobile phone represents someone’s private life. Every phone is unique to its owner as everything inside of the phone is personal to them; it is filled of their private and personal lives in the forms of photos, texts, and social media accounts. I managed to get a hold of a broken smart phone from a friend who didn’t want it anymore. This smart phone was broken in half from the inside out, and I thought this was perfect as I could show the dopamine inside of the phone. The first photo shoot was done as a test, to see how the idea in my head would look like in real life. The blue and gold began to mix into green and spread into the empty space around the phone which is exactly as I had thought. I carried out the same method with red and blue food colouring and got similar results. I then had the idea of dropping all of the colours into the water in the order of the colours of the rainbow. This would represent the happiness we feel from the dopamine. However I then let the colours mix as they turned into black and consumed the phone slowly to the point where it wasn’t visible anymore and I found this to be very effective as this darkness represents how this addiction to our phones can destroy our lives and ruin relationships, just like all addictions.

If I were to carry out this idea again I would perhaps get a hold of a working phone and have it switched on submerged in the water, to show how the light cannot go through the darkness as it gets consumed. In addition I would experiment with different coloured ink as it has a different fluidity and texture in comparison to the food dye. It is thicker and comes in more colours. Furthermore I would change the vase from a sphere type of shape to a more rectangular fish tank type of vase. This is because I found that the sphere shape would reflect light back at the camera and show the reflections of the room, whereas a more rectangular and flat surface would counter this effect. Perhaps I could have even used more than one type of phone to show how smart phones come in such wide and varied shapes, sizes and brands.

Conclusion:

I feel that modern technology such as our mobile phones are such useful and important tools in our everyday lives. It has allowed me to contact my loved ones back home through texting or video calls through social media such as Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram or Skype. It has allowed me to share moments from somewhere else in the world instantly, so that I can let them know exactly what I am up to or what I have done today. I feel connected with my family and friends every day, despite being in a different part of the world and in a different time zone. I use my mobile phone on a daily basis and there’s never a day that goes by where I haven’t talked to one of my friends or my family. This means I can always be at ease that if something bad were to happen I can be in touch instantly or if I need to ask someone something, I can do so in that same moment and get a response within seconds. Modern technology not only makes my life easier because of its ability to connect with people from all over the world, but also because we have the power of the internet for all of our needs; be it shopping, social media, asking questions, research, travelling etc.

On the other hand, modern technology has taken over society and the way that we operate as individuals as well as a community. We have become so dependent on our mobile devices and technology in general to get through our day that it has changed the way we do things, the way we communicate, the way we travel and the way we operate throughout the day in general. It has connected people in the masses however also split society into its individual atoms. The technology we harness has proved itself to be powerful and revolutionary on so many different topics through history. The internet is an example of such a revolutionary advancement in technology. It is very beneficial to us all in so many different aspects for all sorts of reasons, but it also has the capability to be very dangerous; not necessarily in a direct manner but indirectly too. We, as a species, have become so reliant on these devices and the internet, that if the day came where the internet would suddenly switch off, the world would come to a sudden halt and cause a worldwide crisis.

[iquey]

How to have a GOOD TIME on Tumblr

Is it still possible?

I have a lot of love for art, design, and social media, and designers love to tackle problems and look for a variety of ways to solve them.

After sort of falling away from Tumblr, (Due to a loss of interest, being busy with work, and getting tired of seeing lots of repetitive drama in some spheres of it) I retreated to very casual use of a rant/vent/anime/aesthetics account on mobile, and instead migrated to twitter for most of my online social interaction. This led to some improvements in my overall digital life. What twitter lacked in depth and the immense emotional discourse very prevalent on Tumblr, it made up for with expedience, conciseness and ease of blocking harassing agents. After about a year of being very inactive on Tumblr and trying to progress somewhat with adult life, I'm happy to return with the experience and some tips learned from the post-2016 Election trenches of the twitter-verse. Rule #1 The online world is (mostly) your oyster.

Follow who you want to follow, and unfollow those who no longer enrich or add value to your web time. This is ESPECIALLY true if you pay for your own internet bills (not only a Wi-Fi Router, but mobile data counts too.) Don't spend a dime of your time on bothersome accounts. Block whatever you need to block. Don't get roped into feeling socially obligated to carry out arguments or discourses that are going nowhere or are simply created for the sake of starting a crap-flinging contest. Block swiftly, and don't make a production out of it. They will know who they are eventually if they're the determined type with no life. If you need to turn off anon messages for your own mental health, just go on and do it. If you're a character themed or ask blog and feel you need anon messages for traffic, you still aren't obligated to reply to everything. It's your blog.

Which leads to... Rule #2 Be yourself. Value yourself, and value your content. If you don't like someone else's content, see Rule #1. If there's something truly harmful, promoting violence, hatred, or illegal activity, the report button exists for a reason. If you're that mad that something exists and the mods of Tumblr are slow to remove something, you can get your friends and followers to block the post or username creating strife. As for your own content, revel and enjoy what you create and the fandoms you participate in. People will be jerks sometimes and it sucks, but feeding the trolls helps nobody. Fed trolls just come back. If someone is trying to play you, but you're not sure, watch some YouTube videos on dealing with internet trolls, or abusive personalities. Usually just blocking and ignoring or muting works.

Rule #3 If you want to be political on Tumblr, that's totally fine, but PLEASE take time away from Tumblr to cultivate your own personal sense of morality, ethics, knowledge of civics, economics, environmental issues, race, culture, gender, sexuality, and basic human psychology. You will probably be much happier if you don't let Tumblr be the one and only yardstick for what's right and wrong and everything in between in our world. If you get into your own echo chamber too much, the thought styles can become very "all or nothing." which can cause a lot of anxiety for anyone with a nuanced opinion on anything. Didn't I just say the online world is your oyster, and you should only follow blogs that you like? Yes, sure. That doesn't mean you make them your only slice of the world you ever see ever. Duh. Chances are not all the blogs your follow are going to stick to their main topic 100% of the time, 24/7, anyway. Sometimes there will be world events that appear in your feed no matter how focused you try to make your follows. Sometimes you'll want to participate in the fray of topics, and other times, you'll just want to take a nap or work on other things. But having Tumblr as your main source for political views can lead to awkward disconnects between how you want things to be and how things currently are, whatever the political situation is where you live: from the most liberal of metropolitan eras (which despite seeming like utopian LGBT havens on the outside, still have their share of problems), to the most stereotypically conservative, white-bread rural suburbs (Where a lot of great people might actually live). And that disconnect can definitely trigger a lot of pain. Maneuvering your own personal role in social justice movements is many parts knowing who you are and who you want to be first, where the issues in your sphere of influence currently stand,  and where you really want things to go. It can take years to build a solid sense of core values and political leanings. Don't feel too awful or in a rush to get everything right overnight, or ever, because perfection is the enemy of sustainable progress.

Rule #4 FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS WHOLESOME AND DESERVING OF MERCY, STOP BULLYING MINORS. Tumblr is a venue for users 13 and up, so a large portion of the accounts here are probably 13-17 year olds. They go to school, have friends, have families, and all the stress comes with living in the world that exists today. What they really DON'T NEED is the 18+ crowd punching down on them for making honest, even "cringeworthy" mistakes, posting art that may not be expert-level quality, or having the courage to post their own picture online, especially if they're LGBTQ, or closeted. And they don't need people DOXING and harassing them. If you are in your 20s, or more, and a teenage user bothers, annoys, or even says very hurtful things to you, YES it can still hurt a lot. Young people are capable of being very mean, sure, but at the end of the day it's the elders who are expected to show responsibility, be a good role model of behavior, and supply the more mature response.  As for the teens on Tumblr, if you're dealing with a problematic butt-face, you can block them. If they push the envelope into threats or potential violence, just take screenshots and report them. Please try to remember that there are older people on Tumblr who do care about you, and want you to have a good experience, and adults who bully and harass minors are just wimps who are not the kind of people you should want to associate with.

Rule #5 If things just get too damn awful but you still love your feed, there's always the option of setting your account to private.  

Give your URL (or personal Tumblr if you have a separate Artist/Business page) to people who you trust, and Trust with a capital T.  It can be more complicated if people are being rude on your business related Tumblr, and you may have to prioritize the fires you're willing to try and put out. In order to best use your energy, it may just take a solid PR campaign and a lot of work to rebuild a reputation if you've been mobbed by trolls or a smear campaign for any number of reasons ranging from a minor mistake or misunderstanding, to a bigger problem that may have truly been your fault. Take some time to learn from the experience and reevaluate what you can approach differently or better the next time you do your online presence.

 Summary! 1. Make Tumblr your oyster (Or whatever favorite food you like to eat. I think oysters are kind of gross actually.) 2.  Value yourself and your content. Don't let likes and reblogs determine your whole day.

3. Develop your own personal sense of values away from Tumblr's political weather. Social Justice is about actually helping people, not ego gratification. The issues our world faces will be constantly changing and reacting long after Tumblr becomes totally obsolete, and kindhearted people with a willingness to learn and act will always be more effective at social change than a follower count.

4. Stop Bullying Minors. Just stop. Take callout/cringe culture with a grain of salt and skepticism. Resist the urge to join a mob-train. Unless you're roasting an established, public figure, adult asshole, you may never know who you're bullying until it's too late.

5. Go on private mode with a trusted network of friends if you need to. It may not always be fair, but do what works, when it works.

It seems the way to redeem the experience of Tumblr is to just not be passive about how you use it. If you just "Let Tumblr Happen To You," your results may vary. Sometimes you just have to grab the wheel and steer your blog and what you follow into a more positive, purposeful, or individualized direction. Even for those of us who use Tumblr mainly just for laughs and to shoot the shit about memes, I hope these tips can be helpful!