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snow-whiteandred-rose · 5 years ago

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He proposes to you - Hyung line

A/N: Hey everybody, this took me a little bit longer. I´m sorry, but I finally did it. So lean back and enjoy my writing. Vanessa :) word count: 4,4 k

Namjoon

You sighed and leaned back in your chair. Your back hurt because you already sat to long at your desk but the work didn’t do by itself and you had to finish the interpretation until tomorrow. At the moment you were dealing with ‘Pride and Prejudice’ in college and you have to write an interpretation about this novel. The relationship of the main characters Jane and Mr. Darcy had to be analyzed by looking at the living conditions of that time. The deadline was the day after tomorrow and there was still quite a bit missing. You really loved that novel and you had read it so many times, not to mention watching the movie, so it was an easy task for you to write this interpretation. You could say that your hearts blood is flowing into it. You remember how you went insane when you read the book for the first time, because you could not understand their pride. You wanted to shake both characters to finally talk honestly with each other. A look on your phone showed you that you have three missed calls from your boyfriend and quickly texted him back to say that you were sorry. He answered that he will come around and bring along something for dinner. You sighed again but this time it was because you thought about whether you two will ever get married. Namjoon and you were together for four years and he never talked with you about this, so you didn’t know his intentions. On this subject, you didn't want to make the first move, and you didn't really want to be the one to propose. Not that you find it abnormal for a woman to propose, but you were just too proud. You smiled when you noticed that you weren’t better then the two Protagonists. Maybe you should also overcome your pride when it was what you wanted and you know your boyfriend. Maybe he wanted to marry you two but just kept putting it off because he had so many other thoughts in his head. A few seconds later you heard the door open and Namjoon entered the apartment. “Y/N, I’m home,” he called and you walked out of your room to greet him. “Joonie, I’m happy you are home now.” He hugged you and stroke with his fingers above your back. You linger a short time before you were interrupted by the growl of you stomach. He laughed. “I’m sorry I was so busy with my essay that I haven't been able to get anything to eat.” “Seems like I’m coming home to the right time... at least I'm punctual for once.” Namjoon said and separated from you to entered the kitchen and brought some plates. You closed your eyes when you took the first spoons of your food. It was always a good feeling when you were hungry and you could finally eat something you liked. “How was the studio today? Did you guys made any progress?” You asked him. “Yeah it was good until Jimin and Taehyung started to fight about Dumplings,” he sighed and rolled his eyes. “What? Why they fought about it?” “They fought about eating them before or after practice. Could you believe it? I sent both out after a while to clarify this. They came back after a while but ignored each other. I have never seen them like this, I hope they are okay. I mean... dumplings really? I will see how it will be the next days before I will talk to them. It is better when they handle it on their own.” He explained and didn’t seem amused. “It’s gonna be alright, you will see. Don’t worry. They are friends and it is normal to fight. By the way... you always do a great job as a leader.” You cheered him up. “Thanks Jagi, but enough about me. How was your day?” “I am still writing my interpretation, but it will be finished soon. It's really fascinating how you empathize with the characters when you are in the matter. Sometimes both characters just drive me crazy and I just want to yell at them because it could have been much easier,” you started to get upset. “I can understand you, both characters should have spoken to each other properly and put their pride aside much sooner. But luckily, it had a happy ending and everything worked out fine. Imagine if we had lived at that time. Your parents would have married you to me right then and there to keep you safe.” His words made you tensed up because it was the first time that he spoke to you about this subject even if was only via detours. Besides, you did not want to realize that this was the main reason why you "should" have married him if you had lived at this time. “Luckily we live now and that isn’t longer necessarily reason to get married. There are so many other reasons like love and be together with his soulmate, caring for the other one, trust and loality,” you answered and blushed a little bit because you had the feeling that you spoke out of your soul. “I agree with you and by the way these are all descriptions that apply to us, so what do you mean? Should we get married?” He simply said and your mouth remains opened. “Did you mean that?” “Of course, why not? I have wanted to marry you since we started dating. You are everything I have ever wanted. To only reason why I have never asked you is my schedule. I don’t want my wife to be alone all the time and I know it isn’t easy...” He said and you could see the sadness in his eyes. You stood up from your chair and sat on his lap. “What is going to be easy in life? We love each other and that is everything that counts,” you leaned your head against his chest and smiled. “Than let’s get married! I hope you've really thought this through. After all, I'm not the best man in my own right, and I can't lose our wedding rings.”

Seokjin

It was one of the last concerts of the tour, so your boyfriend was finally back in Seoul. The last three months you two were apart. Logically it was a world tour and he traveled to an uncountable number of countries over the world. Because of your job it wasn’t possible for you to join him. You were really upset about that. You didn’t like it when you were apart from each other for so long, it was really hard. But even the distance couldn’t harm you. Jin and you always wrote each other or made video calls. He also sent you a picture everyday he visited a new city. Even when he was upset that you couldn’t visit him, he understood it and didn’t give you rejection. Your job was important as well. And then finally after all the waiting it was the day when he was back in town and they had the last final concerts in Seoul. You couldn’t think straight the whole day because you couldn’t wait to see him again. You were a nervous mess when you arrived at the Stadium and showed the security your pass and they gave you a smile when you entered. You walked a few steps until you heard Jins loud laugh. It wasn’t to overhear and that sound you would recognized under thousands of other noises. You felt like your chest was going to burst so hard your heart was beating. The first one you saw was Jungkook who was about to drop everything to hug you. “Noona! I’m so happy that you are here. We missed you.” You smiled while hugged him back. “Hey Kookie, I’m also happy that you are back. It was a little bit boring without you guys.” “Next time you really have to join us! It’s gonna be more fun with you and also Jin hyungs whining that he misses you became annoying the last few days. So I’m glad that this is over now.” The youngest rolled his eyes and you tried to hide your smile. “What am I hearing? I have never complained!” There he was, your beloved boyfriend you also missed so much. “Princess! You are here!” Jin called and pulled you tight. You throw yourself in his arms and rest your head against his chest. It was so good to feel his arms around you. “Oh, no? And who was it who always made a face mask the last evenings, because his handsome face is so stressed by crying?” Jimin threw in and put his armes around you two to cuddle and you chuckled about his words. “I can’t remember, it wasn’t me... and enough now! I don't want you bugging her after the first few minutes.” Jin defended himself and tried to push Jimin away from you so he could be alone with you. “You can do it with out us by the way,” Jimin laughed but pulled Jungkook away with him to give you two some alone time, even if it was just for a few minutes. When you were alone he put your face between his hands and leaned his head forward to connect your lips. You put your arms around your back and pulled him closer to you. It was the first kiss after three months and it felt like your first kiss ever. Far to early he separated from you and with his thumb he stroke above your cheek. You bit your lower lip and missed his lips already. “Did you miss my handsome face Princess?” Jin asked you caused you to roll your eyes. “Yes of course but much more I just missed all this, you around me. I have even miss your bad dad jokes.” “Oh by the way...” he was about to tell a joke. “That doesn’t mean that you have to tell a joke now... save it for later.” “You'll be laughing so hard you won't be able to sleep tonight.” “We will see but I think you have to get ready now.” You said and reminded him were you were. “You are right. Then I'm gonna make sure that my face gets even more handsome if that's even possible.” He laughed and drags you with him in the dressing room. As you entered you were greeted immediately by all the others who hadn’t yet seen you and it gave you a warm feeling of security. It was nice to realize that they missed you too and it felt like home. For the next hour you sat there and watched them all get ready together and put on the first stage outfit and suddenly it was time for them to perform. You could hear all the Armys scream and calling their names. You hugged each of them before they entered the trapdoor and wish them good luck. Jin gave you a wink before they drove up and the crowd cheered. You loved watching them perform and how they blossomed when they were cheered on. For the next two and a half hours you could feel like a fan too. The only difference to the others was that you were backstage and Jin's girlfriend. One or two times there were tears in your eyes, because you were so carried away by everything and because it was so good to see them together on stage. And then it was almost over and everyone started to say goodbye. Their words did not make your emotional state any better and your boyfriends words as well: "I would also like to thank someone very special this evening... my wonderful girlfriend. I'm sorry I haven't been able to be with you for the last 3 months. I thank you for always being there for me and supporting me. Princess, can you come up on stage, please?" What? You're freezing. You didn't see that coming. You saw Jin looking in your direction, but you just shook your head. Whatever it was, you were sure he could tell you later. "Y/N now, come on." Jimin and Taehyung jumped in your direction. "Come on, trust him. You don't have to be afraid," Tae whispered to you before they took your hand and pulled you onto the stage until you stood in front of Jin. "Y/N I know it's not always easy being my girlfriend. I'm so glad you're here. You're my home and everything is easier with you around. You give me strength even in the darkest hours and I know that I always want to be with you. So I'm going to ask you an important question now," he pointed into the stadium where suddenly Armybombs started to light up until a very simple question was read. "Will you marry me?" You were speechless, it was a far too beautiful and incomprehensible a moment. "Yes, yes, I will Jinnie!" you say, throwing yourself into his arms. Everyone around you started to cheer and the members congratulated you one by one. The fact that Mikrokosmos was played as the last song didn't make it better. Your make-up, which had already ran off anyway, was now even more ruined, but never mind. Jin gave you a handkerchief so you could at least remove a part of it. At the end you float in a balloon over the audience and said goodbye to everyone. Jin hold you tight and you smiled and couldn't be happier.

Yoongi

You couldn’t hide it, you were worried about him. It was obvious that he was sick and he still beat the nights around his ears in the studio to work on his mixtape. You knew that there was a deadline he wanted to meet but exposing his body to even more stress than he already had was just not good for him. You already had a fight about this yesterday morning and your concerns only made him blame you for not understanding because you never were in a situation like this and you never will be because you weren’t an Idol. His words really hurt you because all you wanted was that he took care of his body and health. But it’s no use. In the evening (or better say night) he came home exhausted as everyday and fell into bed coughing and sniffling. You rolled your eyes but you couldn’t resist to look at him. His face was white and he had beads of sweat on his forehead. It was obvious that he had a fever. Even when you were still a little angry about his words you wanted to take care of him. So you got a cold cloth and sat down beside him. You started to carefully dabbing his face. He shrugged because of the coldness but relaxed when he noticed that it was just you. “Jagi...I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean it, like that” he mumbled but it was quite hard to understand him and you noticed how tiring it was for him to talk. “Shhh, It’s okay, I’m here. I will take care of you,” you answered and pressed a soft kiss on his forehead. He closed his eyes again and leaned into your touch. You freshened up that rag and observe how his breathing became deep and calmer. You were just getting up to get yourself ready for bed when you heard his quite murmured words. “Mm... mmmaarryy meee.” But before you could say anything he turned around a bit and you could just hear his soft snores. He couldn’t really be serious... Yes you two were a couple for already 3 years but you never thought Yoongi even wanted to get married. For sure it was the fever and he didn’t meant it. But you must admit that the imagination of you and him in front of the altar made you happy and now when he “started” to bringing the topic you hope that it became real. Even the next morning you tried to act normal and didn’t let it on. Yoongi was still in the bedroom and you already were awake and started to made some medicine for him. If you couldn't stop him from going to the studio, then at least you wanted to take the best possible care of him and try to make it more bearable. So at first you made some Onion juice and Sage tea against the cough and sore throat. For lunch you made him some chicken soup, as your mom always says: is helps every time. You were still tinkering when he entered the kitchen. “Morning Jagi, what is all this?” You smiled at him and answered:”I made you something against the cold. I want that you felt better, so I searched the internet for some good home made medicine.” You could see how his eyes light up with your words, he was touched. He lifted the can with the onions and pulled a disgusted face: ”What’s this?” “That’s onion juice, helps against your cough. Stop looking like that! It really helps!” You laughed and hits him playfully. “I hope so! I better not turn into a frog after this!” You rolled your eyes and concentrated on your work again. Yoongi stood behind you and put his arms around your waist. He rested his chin on your head. “I’m really sorry for yesterday, I was just frustrated... I know that isn’t an excuse. I hope you forgive me,” he said sadly. You turned around in his embrace and fold your arms behind his neck. “I know, that you didn’t meant it. I didn't wanted to put so much pressure on you, I was just worried. But it is your decision.” He stroke with his thumb over your cheek. “I seem to remember very faintly that I have said it before in the night, but I repeat it again... Marry me.” You tensed up and looked shocked in his eyes. “What?” “Marry me, please,” He repeated his last words. “Do you really mean it? I didn't know you even wanted to get married,” you said thoughtful. He sighed and took your hands in his and looked shyly on the ground. “Yes, I never really thought about it before, but during the last days I noticed once again how happy I can be to have you. You take care of me even though I'm an idiot and don't deserve it. But I love it so much, I love you so much and I want to take care of you as well. Please be my wife.” You were shocked, it was rarely that Yoongi revealed his feelings that way and it caused that a few tears appeared in your eyes. “Oh Yoongs, at first, Yes you are an idiot sometimes, but you are my idiot and second you don’t have to marry me to take care of me, but Yes! I’d love to be your wife.” Your words made him smile and rolled his eyes at the same time. “Really? I try to say something romantic and then you make fun of it.” He pulled you back in his arms and he rested his forehead against yours. “I’m sorry when I destroyed your proposal. I loved your words. They were really cute.” “I love you, Jagi.” And then finally he tilted his head down to kiss you softly.

Hoseok

“And why did I have to do these mysteries to find you? Why can’t we just met at the address you gave to me?” You signed and dropped the note with the start coordinates. “Because so it is more fun! Don’t worry you will see, when you find me.” He put his hands on your shoulders. “But why we can’t make the tasks together?” Now it was his time to sighed. “Because it doesn’t work with my surprise but you have Y/F/N, she will help you. I really think it’s gonna be fun,” Hobi answered and quickly looked on his watch, “Oh, I it’s getting late, I have to go. See you later love, I can’t wait.” He gave you a soft kiss before he left the apartment and let you back alone. It was your seventh anniversary and it was tradition that always Hobi planned that day for the two of you. So the last times it was sometimes extravagant like a sightseeing trip in another city or just a comfortable evening when you both have dinner together. This year it was obviously the first one. Today your energetic boyfriend was more excited and jittery than normal. It was a little bit scary because you never thought that this was possible. Even when you were just happy to do something comfortable with him like a movie evening and cuddle on the sofa, you played along to make him happy because you didn’t want to ruin his efforts. You loved the way he was focused on the things he loved to do and you knew the efforts would be worthwhile. A quarter of a hour later your best friend knocked on your door and it was your sign that it was time to go. So you took the note and the compass he gave you and opened the door. “I’m so exited!” Your best friend yelled and hugged you. “Of course you are. Nothing I wouldn't have expected. I’m so happy that we can do it together. You know the destination?” You wiggled your eyebrow. “Yes I know it, but that doesn’t mean that I will tell you. We have to do the tasks,” she she admonished you. “It was worth a try. So I hope you can tell me how I have to use the GPS tracker.” You both spend a look at the instructions and it wasn’t difficult as expected. After a few minutes you got the hang on it and you were on your way to your first destination. Surprisingly it was your old school Hobi and you had visited together. There was a lot of activity in the schoolyard, so it won't be noticed that you two are entering the school building. The tracker leaded you to your old classroom which was now empty. You smiled when you looked around and the memories came back. Sometimes it felt like it was yesterday that he picked you up after class to ask you out on a date. You went towards your desk and sat down. According to the tracker this must be the first destination. “Do you see something?” Your best friend asked but you shook your head. “Maybe you have to look in the desk.” No sooner said than done and you lift up the tabletop. A letter came to light and you smiled when you recognized his hand writing. Congratulations! The first stage has been completed. I don't know if I ever told you how excited I was back then. But it was the best decision of my life to summon up the courage to asked you out. Do you remember our first date? Go to that place and you will find the next instructions. You ran your fingers over his writing and smiled. “It’s so cute. You both really deserve each other. I’m so happy that you have him,”Y/F stood right beside and had also read his letter. “Me as well. So come on, let us go to the place of our first date... The ice cream parlour.” And so it went on from station to station. All the places you visited where places where you both had experience something together. It was a time travel through your shared history like your first kiss, when he told you that he loved you and so on. The one place you couldn't do anything with was the last. It was the address of a remote park and the last hint also wasn’t very meaningful. “You think we're really in the right place? I've never been here before. Maybe we entered something wrong,” You asked your friend concerned. “Trust me, it’s the right address. I have to leave now. The last path you have to go on your own.” “What? Why?” “You will see and don’t forget: it’s your anniversary,” she winked and hugged you to goodbye. You shrugged your shoulders and went along the path. Around you there were green meadows and many beds with colorful flowers. At the end was a white arch which was overgrown with green tendrils. Under him stood Hobi and waited of you. You smiled when you saw him and ran towards him. “Thank you for everything, it was so touching to recall all these memories.” “I’m glad you like it, sunshine. But it still isn’t the end of our journey. I have one last thing I want to say” he answered and you noticed that he was really nervous. “Hobi it’s just me. You can tell my everything.” You took his face in your hands and he took a deep breath before he started to talk. “Sunshine, I love you. You a the reason for my positivity because you always support me no matter what. All these memories you saw today wouldn't have been anywhere near as beautiful without you. We have experienced everything important in our lives together. So I thought that we also should go this part together,” Hobi took your hands and and looked at you,“Sunshine will you marry me?” You hold your breath before you fell in his arms. “Of course, Hobi. I will.” It was the moment when you two started to cry in each arms. After a few seconds he separated from you and reach in his jacket to bringing out a rectangular box. It was a gold ring with a green diamond. “I hope you like it, the stone reminds me of your eyes. That’s why I choose it.” “it's so beautiful, thank you so much.” “And now that we've cleared that up, we can finally enjoy the evening together,” he smiled and kissed you again.

#bts #bts imagines #bts reactions #bts scenarios #bts fluff #bts hyung line #yoongi x reader #namjoon x reader #hobi x reader #jin x reader #bts suga #bts jhope #btsjin #bts namjoon

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farming-for-affection · 5 years ago

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Age and Past History Headcanons

Listen, as a retiree someone who’s age rounds to 30… it’s a little weird to imagine dating some bachelor/ettes because they could have graduated highschool yesterday. So I try to imagine them a little older, and give legitimate reasons for them to still live with their parents or to not really have jobs. Enjoy!

For Sebastian and Maru

Maru - Currently 22 years old. Maru was born during a turbulent time; Robin was dealing with the divorce from Sebastian's father, while Demetrius struggled to rapidly fill the role of father and step-father. Maru remembers little of the conflict, however, and grew up happy, energetic and curious. She loved the logic of building and simple machines, and the small block cities she built gradually evolved to include working streetlights, automated toy cars, and public transportation. Her love of building and engineering only grew as she aged, making Demetrius proud. Through school she surmounted all the challenges of math and physics, but often struggled with English and history, finding the old stories of old men boring compared to the pursuit of robotics. Robin often forced Maru to go to the library to study, to keep her away from the experiments she kept in her room. It was there she met Penny, who loved helping Maru through her essays, and the two became fast friends. After graduating high school, college seemed the next option, but Maru hesitated due to the large number of general classes she would be forced to take. Electing instead to take them through an online community college, she is slowly fulfilling her college degree while deciding on which engineering school she'll apply for.

Sebastian - Currently 28 years old. His parents divorced when he was 6, and shortly after was held back a grade due to the emotional stress. He often felt like an obligation more than he felt like a child, as every other weekend he was shuffled to the city to be with his dad. The long drives encouraged a love of video games and their creation, and he would begin experimenting with rudimentary code as early as middle school. Though he disliked being the oldest in the class, Sebastian and Sam ended up in the same grade; when Sam struggled with math, Sebastian helped him study and the two became friends. They bonded over their struggles with their parents and a love of music, mowing lawns together to afford their first instruments. Sebastian always dreamed of moving to the city as soon as he turned 18, but the logistics of money never panned out, and instead he got an associates degree in programming while still living with his mother. “Just one more year,” he tells himself every year, but as winter passes again and he realizes he’s almost 30, he wonders if he’ll ever live the life he’s dreamed of.

#stardew valley #stardew valley fanfiction #stardew valley sebastian #stardew valley maru #expanded sebastian to fit in line with the rest of the them

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mysticdragon3md3 · 5 years ago

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So I finally watched Promare. TL;DR review: I smiled so much my face hurt. ^_^

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

I was a little worried about watching this movie subtitled in the theaters, because my eyes don't read subtitling as fast as they used to. But thankfully, I was able to keep up. And I'm really glad I did watch it in Japanese, because I was able to hear Galo use the kabuki cadence! ^U^!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Along with his mie poses, it was just like the aragoto genre! LOL *U* I love it!!! Really added to his other references to Japanese culture. From his favorite weapon, to those traditional firefighters he kept lecturing about, to even his taiko drummed theme music! It was very cohesive. ^__^

I watched Professor Thorig's review before watching Promare, and though I stayed away from the spoiler section, it did tinge my perspective a bit. They mentioned some things that I started to look out for.

I think Trigger just wanted an excuse to experiment with CGI. LOL ^o^ There was SO MUCH COMPUTER ANIMATION IN THIS MOVIE. O___o I seriously didn't expect it. Usually anime series/movies isolate computer animation to certain sections where they really needed its help. But Promare was like Trigger wanted to use the whole movie to experiment, play, and get experience with computer animation, in any little way that they could practice. I had heard that squares and triangles were used to symbolize different factions in the story. But I feel like Trigger just picked those shapes because they are the easiest, most basic building blocks for computer animation. I mean, as a studio more well known for their frequent, fluid, and lovingly-indulgent hand-drawn animation, it's kind of weird how much computer assistance this movie had...Unless playing and experimenting with computer animation was the point of this movie. If this is one of their initial big steps into really using computer animation, it would also make sense to start with the basic shapes (triangles, square) and then just build the art style of the entire movie around that. So that rather than being a limitation in their current CGI capabilities that they were restricted to working with, it seemed more like an intentional cohesive style. Anyway, I thought it looked awesome. ^u^! All of it. *U* I've always loved and preferred stylized art styles.

I only caught 2 Trigger/Gainax references. Obviously the big drill for a multi-pilot mecha, was like Gurren Lagann. But also, after Kray Foresight excused his destruction of buildings by saying everyone in the ark was already in underground shelters, I was so sure, one of the protagonists would accuse him of lying again. But no one did. In fact, no one said anything. There was no response to that line, to give it any kind of real relevance to that scene or contextualize its purpose of being said in this movie. Then I realized it was an Evangelion reference. ^o^ LOL

Like many other people, I saw "The Marvel Symphonic Universe" video essay by Every Frame a Painting, and can't stop thinking about it whenever I watch a new movie. But anime and videogame soundtracks seem to generally be less effected by the homogenization or invisibility of music scoring in contemporary Hollywood. I haven't stopped listening to Persona 5's soundtrack for the past 2+ years. And I am just amazed by the music of Promare. Even just Lio's theme has so many layers and things going on in it. *o* Promare has so much distinct music, that's meant to be noticed, sticks in your head after the movie, resonates with climactic scenes, and I'm re-listening to it right now. ^_~ Trigger knows how to make music to get you pumped. ^-^

Also very surprised to see Production I.G. in the credits. *o* I mean, I know Trigger and Production I.G. worked together before, but I didn't know they were working on Promare together. O.o

One thing that bothered me was how Lio kept saying the Mad Burnish pride themselves on not killing anyone, but then at the end, he's setting fire to the whole city? And I really expected the story to back-up what Lio said by revealing that the pharmaceutical building they attacked at the beginning, was actually up to shady stuff. But they never got around to that. So then 30 years of "terrorizing"/"attacking without killing", and no one innocent was killed while setting _entire_ buildings on fire????? Meh, whatever. This movie wanted you to be assured of Lio's goodness, but at the same time, a Trigger anime has got to have giant city-wide destructive battle scenes. ^^; This movie was too much fun to drag logic into it.

I find that a lot of Trigger properties have this moment where logic just isn't happening, but ya don't care. LOL Usually, I say that anime emphasizes conveying emotional experiences, so when it works on an emotional level, logic is negligible. And even when Hollywood movies do that, we can forgive plot holes. But wow, Trigger really takes advantage of that! LOL But hey, they've built up the cache! All their characters are always so immediately endearing and cool, that you'd forgive them for anything and go along with whatever ride they take you on. Sometimes things happen, it's not explained why (sometimes only after the fact), and you just have to go along with it. Why are they punching the planet? Meh, it looks cool. Why are they fighting inside the ark? Why does it look like a sunlit skyscraper city inside? Why is the volcano's magma acting sentient to help Lio? When was a Burnish able to give another human their fire? How was Lio’s arms able to regenerate after they were turned to ash, after he made ash sound so final before, even enough to overcome Burnish fire’s regenerative powers? Why is this able to do this? So we can get to the next plot point. Or in the case of Deus Ex Machina: Because it looks cool. ^o^ Sometimes the lack of explanations make the stakes vague at some points, but I'm sure that's just because I'm stupid. I feel like everything is assumed to be explained by emotion and "fighting spirit", and thankfully, those are my jam, so I'm fine with it. ^o^

And I feel like some of the names referenced Greek mythology, but I couldn't remember enough to know why. Like Aina's sister Heris, was pronounced like Eris...who I think was a moon goddess of the moon's phases? ...Oh wait. “Eris was the ancient Greek goddess and personification of strife. She...was the force of suffering for mankind, and she delighted in the pain of humans.” (https://www.reference.com/art-literature/were-powers-greek-goddess-eris-8d18b7664ac3d43b) Well, I’m glad Heris didn’t “delight” in the Burnish’s suffering, even though she had to put them through a lot of that strife. Then there were terms for the ark/spaceship or something. I can't remember, but it sounded like terms I had heard in Greek mythology or something. Even the name of the city “Promepolis” sounded very ancient Greek. And the final mecha at the end too, “Deux Ex Machina”... But then there were lots of Roman mythology references too. Like Vulcan. And Ignis’s name was Latin. Possibly along with the other Burning Rescue members. o.o?

Also surprised to find so many now "old school" A-list dub actors cast in this movie. Johnny Yong Bosch was Lio Fotia?!? O.o I gotta hear that now. Crispin Freeman as Kray Foresight. I wonder how much he contrasted Kray's mostly quiet tone vs when he went crazy near the end? And it was so cool to hear Kari Wahlgren also in this movie, after she dubbed Haruko from FLCL. And always good to hear Michael Sinterniklaas, Matthew Mercer, and Yuri Lowenthal. ^-^ I gotta start paying attention to all the new dub actors' names from nowadays too. ^^;

JUST A WARNING THAT THE NEXT PARAGRAPH IS PROBABLY CONTROVERSIAL. DON'T @ ME. I WON'T RESPOND.

One of the biggest things that Thorgi commented about Promare, was the "currently relevant real world reference" that the metaphor of this movie's story was. Thorgi was very vague about that in the non-spoiler section, so I tried to figure out what he could have meant, while I was watching Promare. At first, I thought it was just about racism and prejudice. But at the point where the pizza maker was getting arrested, he wasn't even a terrorist, and his skin was brown...and the Freeze Force was coming in like over-militarized police, AFTER the leader of the "terrorists" was arrested and everything should have supposedly been peaceful now...and Aina started disputing Vulcan's arrests by pointing out that such arrests were only according to special anti-terrorist laws and shouldn't be lawful during peacetime, especially vs a non-terrorist, but Vulcan was over-extending the special circumstances of the anti-terrorism laws anyway, even vs non-terrorists, just so he could arrest people for just existing...And then I realized that the Freeze Force was characterized by ICE bullets and ICE weapons, and these ICE officers were running in to arrest people who were just peacefully living their lives, and treat them like terrorists... It became painfully clear that this movie may have been talking about a lot of the problems going on in America right now. (I say "may have been", because I realize how arrogant it is to assume everything is about you/your culture. So I could also be wrong. Then again, Thorgi even noted that the pizza scene looked just like New York City's Times Square. And they were eating _pizza_! Isn't that one of the things that NY prides itself to be known for?) And I'm glad! It pisses me off when people blindly brag about how "perfect" America is, by *assuming* everywhere else sucks (when they haven't even looked at other cultures), and get angry if anything about it is criticized. Not only is not criticizing systems the complete opposite of what all my schooling in American history/culture advocated about American rebellious spirit, but that's how you get a society that builds up festering problems. And if there are too many blindly nationalistic people in America, then I'll gladly welcome other cultures/artists to criticize what we're letting happen over here. Then again, Promare could all be just a very generalized metaphor about discrimination anywhere. After watching the movie, I watched Thorgi’s spoiler section and he mentioned that the movie released on “Bi Visibility Day” and implied Galo might be bisexual/homosexual after the CPR scene was framed kind of romantically and really held on it. Frankly, that CPR scene between Galo and Lio was very different from the previous similar scene when Lio tried/failed to revive a Burnish girl who turned to ash anyway. Compared to that scene, the Galo/Lio CPR was more like a kiss. So maybe Trigger was very intentionally trying to allude to LGBTQIA+ minorities also being discriminated against, with their movie’s metaphor? I would very much like Galo as bisexual representation to be confirmed canon. ^-^

#reactions #promare #movie ticket #figure photography #nendoroid #spoilers #spoiler #spoilertastic #ryuko matoi

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storm-driver · 7 years ago

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Lauriam.... yes, I’m finally talking about him

Yada yada, time paradox, yada yada, killed an innocent child, pbbt. Done, in the past. Nothing to care about.

Theories floating all over Tumblr for the past 2 weeks consisting of mostly insane time traveler Marluxia exfuckflower have definitely caught my attention. Don’t worry, people in my ask box. I’ve been crafting this theory for a while. And it’s fucking pissing me off where I ended up. ‘Cause no, it’s not satisfying. And yes, IT MAKES SENSE. I’m so mad where I ended up after pouring so much time into this. I was expecting something incredible and... to be honest, touching? But, no. Tetsuya Nomura stomped on my heart. Again.

I’d recommend cranking up some tunes ‘cause this is gonna be a doozy. Might I recommend this? Personal favourite ;)

Let me introduce you with a question... Can just one essay make you feel respect for character development and feel righteous anger with an overwhelming need for justice? Hopefully by the end of this, your answer will be yes.

I know what you’re thinking. Am I talking about how Lauriam ended the existence of a young girl who had an exciting life and lots of adventures ahead of her? ‘Cause you probably already feel some anger and resent the actions he took. But it will only get stronger.

So, who is Lauriam?

Lauriam is a “new” character recently introduced in the JP. version of Kingdom Hearts Union Cross. I bet you can already see who else he resembles, and that is, of course, Marluxia.

“WE FINALLY GET STUFF ON THE ORIGINAL MEMBERS OF ORG. XIII??!?! HECK YEAH!”

YEAH, IT’S COOL. Except, time travel, which isn’t.

With Lauriam, AKA, pre-Marluxia, being in Union Cross, and now taking on a HUGE role as a Union Leader alongside our cast of The Cool One With The White Hair, Hot Topic, Fedora Boy, and the Cinnamon Roll, this only proceeds to screw with the plot in a manner that fans really don’t appreciate.

As if it was bad enough having Sora and Riku time travel in an official console installment. Now Ventus is located in past, present, future, closet, attic, etc. AND Marluxia is in the past WITH HIM??? Where in the world is Nomura going?

straight into the depths of hell tbh

And here’s where you go, “We already KNOW how ridiculous this is! Prove that it’s all going to be okay, Storm! Please, I’m gonna cry!”

I already did cry, don’t even worry. I got tissues. But you want this to make sense? To be logical? You want me to prove that everything in Marluxia’s character arcs from CoM to 358/2 Days to Union Cross was intentional? That Nomura managed to plan this all out and has been leading us on for how long?

Let’s start right in Chain of Memories. There’s not a whole lot to go off of here, since nothing is hidden behind any pillars. Marluxia straight up tells the viewer what he’s after: the power of the Keyblade.

He commanded Naminé to shackle Sora’s memories so that he may control Sora through his stubborn will to protect Naminé. In a way, it let him gain control over the Keyblade.

Alright, so we know Marluxia is after the Keyblade itself and will go through VERY harsh means to get one.

This trend only continues in 358/2 Days.

Forgive the cruddy quality, but of course notice how Marluxia is continuing to pursue the Keyblade. Not only does he want to have someone with one, but he wishes to wield one himself.

Marluxia goes through any means to obtain a wielder for a Keyblade, but longs for one of his own.

And here’s where things get really interesting...

We are given quite... shocking information in the newest update of Union Cross: Lauriam, Marluxia’s original human form, was from the Keyblade War era.

Not only that... He’s a UNION LEADER!

Not officially, of course. This is where your heart swells and tears pour from your eyes because the only reason Lauriam is a Union Leader is the misfortunate “death” of our former Strelitzia.

How she died? It’s not exact. But I’ll elaborate as best I can. After analyzing the video and dialogue a few times over, I’ve come to the terms that Strelitzia died in the same terms Eraqus had died: a direct Keyblade strike to the body that in turn, destroyed the body and released the heart. Where her heart went? No definite evidence.

But I’m not here to elaborate on Strelitzia. Let’s get back to the flower boy.

Evidently, he’s MUCH younger than we see him in future games. So it’s safe to say he won’t be turned into a Nobody for quite some time. He offers the same hair color and style and even talks in a similar way: a very controlled dialect where his sentences are carefully structured so as not to give away a true motive. This is Marluxia, alright.

So this is where things get touchy. How is it that Lauriam is a Keyblade Wielder and Marluxia isn’t? The answer is simple: Marluxia knows he is capable, but doesn’t have the means to summon his Keyblade.

This is NOT the first time this sort of problem has occurred in the games. When I say that he can’t summon the blade, I really do mean that his heart is incapable of summoning it. First and foremost example is Sora.

He is not a true Keyblade Wielder. The blade he wields was intended for Riku and was only given to Sora because he was he next closest person to a heart of Light. And it shows. In Hollow Bastion, Sora loses the Keyblade to Riku. Albeit momentarily, it was simple proof that Riku’s heart was stronger than Sora’s. Sora was not able to wield it.

This next one you’ll probably try to counter through use of, “HE’S A NOBODY, HE LITERALLY CAN’T-” But I raise you a Roxas being able to use a Keyblade despite not being Sora at the time.

deal with my bullshit

I’m talking about Xemnas and Ansem.

For the same reasons as Sora. They both had experience wielding Keyblades in the past, but they both lacked the strength of heart to wield one. Hell, they even called this out in Dream Drop Distance. Riku told Ansem that the reason he lost control of the Keyblade was becaue he gave into Darkness and his heart became weak.

Marluxia knows what he’s capable of and longs for the return of his power, but can only make do with what’s in front of him. His heart is not in the right place and so he has no blade.

He hungers for power. It’s just a part of his character. Hell, he was a traitor to the Organization, threatening to overthrow Xemnas and be the new leader. And it’s what leads to his downfall.

But not only was he a traitor to the Organization.... He betrayed the Dandelions.

Think about it: lusting for strength, attempting to overthrow the superior, literally tormenting a small child to manipulate another child into becoming a puppet. And don’t even get me started on what would’ve happened with Roxas if Marluxia had gotten to spend more time with him.

Every single one of these details is power-hunger! Marluxia goes through ANY MEANS NECESSARY to get into a position of leadership, or at least gain more strength. It’s not surprising to me that he killed off possibly the most frail of the Union Leaders and took her place.

And it doesn’t stop there. Oh, no. Remember Back Cover?

YEAH, SORRY, I’M BRINGING IT UP. DEAL WITH IT.

In Back Cover, it’s revealed that a traitor was supposed to spark the end of the world through the use of Darkness. This traitor is completely unknown besides assumption and suspicion. A few people have managed to fit the role, but no one fit quite right. Each of the Union Leaders, that is, Ira, Invi, Aced, Gula and Ava, have tried to stay pure and keep to their Master’s assignments.

Who, of all people, steps HEAVILY out of line to not only MURDER SOMEONE, but simultaneously screw up the fates of hundreds of young wielders because they wanted to get into a position of power?

LAURIAM! Lauriam is the traitor that the Master of Masters wrote about!

“Uh, Storm. That’s actually not too convincing.”

Alright, kiddo. Let’s get real deep here. I’m bringing up a cutscene from Back Cover.

Remember the one where Ava was taking care of an injured Gula? And he came to her and told her about what was written on the Lost Page? What was it he said again?

“The one who bears the sigil.”

“THE ONE WHO BEARS THE SIGIL.”

IT’S RIGHT IN FRONT OF US!

NOMURA SPELLED IT OUT FOR US! LAURIAM IS THE TRAITOR!

And you know what?! IT ONLY ADDS UP EVEN MORE! He’s so desperate for power that he becomes a Union Leader by force. BUT IT’S NOT ENOUGH. What else is their to conquer?! KINGDOM HEARTS!

What let’s him utilize the access to Kingdom Hearts? THE X-BLADE!

The ancient weapon that, if destroyed, would plunge the World into Darkness! And then there’s the Traitor, WHO PLUNGES THE WORLD INTO DARKNESS!

IN SUMMARY:

Marluxia wants the power of the Keyblade and he wants it for himself.

He once wielded a Keyblade but is unable to because of his weak heart.

Lauriam bears the sigil and betrayed the Dandelions.

Lauriam attempted to conquer Kingdom Hearts through use of the X-Blade, but it was ultimately destroyed and the World was cast into Darkness.

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ec-sanderssides · 7 years ago

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Priorities

Sorry this took so long. I just really wanted to get this right. It’s a topic that’s quite close to my heart, so it needed to be perfect. I hope you like it. Also I’m tagging @obviouslyelementary because I thought you might appreciate it. Anyway, enjoy.

The other three weren’t being subtle.

Logan wasn’t sure how they hadn’t figured it out by now. If he, the least emotionally-driven trait, had been able to deduce the reason for the stammered words, lingering looks, and “accidental” touches, surely the three of them should have been able to.

He really hoped they realized their mutual attraction to each other and became romantically involved soon. He could only take so much sighing and pining in the mindscape. To this end, he had begun to leave the three of them alone with each other more. Begging off movie nights, stepping out early from family dinners, claiming the need for work more and more often in the evenings.

He didn’t mind. Really. While he did enjoy spending time with the others, he recognized that they might not be comfortable admitting their romantic affections to each other while he was present. And he understood the importance of such connections to others, despite never experiencing romantic attraction himself. So he could stand to spend a few nights alone.

He made sure to keep this thought firmly in mind as he quietly slipped away from the living room, where he could see the others making a blanket fort. Morality’s idea probably, although the other two didn’t seem to be complaining.

When he reached his room, he went to pick up the latest book he had been reading, The Song of Achilles. It had been recommended to Thomas a while back by one of his fans, and Logan had been intrigued enough by the concept to pick it up.

However, while the book was well-written and engaging, as Logan stared down the pages, he just couldn’t muster up the enthusiasm for it. Perhaps something less romantically oriented would be better for tonight. And besides, he did have papers to grade.

Setting aside the book, Logan pulled the pile of essays into his lap, absentmindedly uncapping a red pen. He hoped the others were having a good night, and that they would sort themselves out. They were his dearest friends, and the closes bonds he would ever have. He wanted them to be happy. They deserved it, and each other.

Thankfully it was only two weeks later, before Logan’s quiet meddling had bore fruit. Somehow, it has seemed crass to press for more detail, one of the outings he had excused himself from had resulted in confessions spilling out, and the three were now happily dating. Logan was glad for them.

Only,he couldn’t help but feel the tiniest bit of dissatisfaction. For him things hadn’t changed that much. Some part of Logan had thought that once all the romantic feelings had been worked out, he could resume his routines with the others. And yet, he still tended to duck out more evenings that not.

It wasn’t as thought the others were unwelcoming, but there was definite sense of awkwardness and intrusion now. Logan had sat in on one movie night after the three of them had gotten together, but had left halfway through the first movie. The way the three of them and acted had felt so much like a date. And well, who wanted a fourth wheel on their dates? They were probably glad he had left.

It wasn’t as if he never saw the others. Morality still made time to cook with him, an activity Anxiety had little interest in, and Prince was abysmal at. Anxiety still let himself be dragged into impromptu debates. And Prince still dragged him out into the forest to identify whatever new creature or animal he had found this time.

So really, this new distance between them was nothing to be concerned about. In fact, it should have been expected. Romantic relationships were prioritized, Logan knew this well. It was only natural for the other three to focus more on each other now. It was logical even.

(And yet, despite all his rationalization. Logan still felt small shred of loneliness slip into him. He forced himself to ignore it. There was nothing to be done)

In the weeks that followed, Logan kept to his new routine. He had to say, it did do wonders for his productivity. And he’d still had time to finish several books he had been meaning to read for quite some time. So it wasn’t all bad.

He had also been sure to express his happiness for the others at multiple intervals, as well as assuring them that he himself was quite content.

As such, he thought he had been able to conceal his more selfish feelings, but something must have slipped, as Morality had approached him.

“Hey, buddy,” the more cheerful said, smiling, “What’s up?”

‘Not much,” Logan said, glancing at him. “I’m just doing some prep work for upcoming videos.”

“Anything pressing,” Morality asked. His tone was seemingly light-hearted, but there was an edge of something else. Logan couldn’t place it.

“I suppose there’s nothing too urgent,” Logan replied cautiously.

“Sooo, you can come hang out with us this evening,” Morality said, wheedling. “We can watch Big Hero 6.”

Logan felt an excuse automatically rise from his lips. “I’m sorry, Morality, but I also planned to do some grading this evening. Perhaps next time.”

“Will there ever actually be a next time, or do you plan on avoiding us forever?” Prince interjected, leaning against the doorway.

Morality turned and frowned at him. “Roman…”

“Look, Morality, I know you said you would handle it, but quite frankly, I want answers.” Prince said, coming more fully into the room. Anxiety trailed after him.

Morality sighed, then looked back at Logan. “He, he does kind of have a point. You haven’t been spending much time with us lately. It’s a little worrying.”

Logan felt his shoulders hunch a little. He hadn’t intended to worry them.

“My apologies,” he said softly. “I only hoped to make your more comfortable.”

Anxiety raised his eyebrow skeptically. “Dude, what part of avoiding us like the freaking plague was supposed to make us more comfortable?”

“I just didn’t want to intrude,” Logan explained. “The three of you are romantically linked now. I am not. It was only logical to give you space to explore and enjoy your new affections without the awkwardness of my presence.”

“Just because we’re dating doesn’t mean, we don’t want you around!’ Morality exclaimed.

“That’s not what I meant,” Logan hastened to assure him. He hesitated before continuing. He had never told the others about his orientation. It had seemed unimportant before. But perhaps now was the time to come out, as it were.

“I’m aromantic,” he stated simply, not letting his face reveal any of his nervousness. “I do not, and likely never will, experience romantic attraction. There’s nothing wrong like that, and I’m perfectly content as I am. But back to the situation at hand.”

He took in a deep breath, one hand going up to adjust his glasses, the only hint as to his agitation aside from his pounding heart. The emotionally charged atmosphere was getting to him.

“Despite not experiencing romantic attraction,” he continued. “I am aware of its importance to others. I know that romantic relationships are held to be the most important form of relationships, that they are prioritized over platonic ones. As such, after the three of you got together. I realized that your new relationship would be your priority, and sought to make that easier for you, by excusing myself when necessary.”

He looked up at them. The three of them seemed oddly upset looking.

He gentled his tone. “It’s nothing bad,” he told them “And I don’t mind distancing myself a bit. I’ve become enormously productive actually. Perhaps this all was for the best.”

He pulled his lips up into a smile. It didn’t feel fully natural.

“Now if you’ll excuse me,” he said. “I’ll go back to my room to work.”

He turned away from others, and began walking down the hallway. Everything he had said had been true. (So why did he feel so sad?)

Back in the common area, Anxiety was the first one to break the silence that had followed Logic’s departure.

“This feels wrong,” he said flatly. “I don’t know how we can fix it, but this feels wrong.”

The words snapped Patton out of his stupor. “I agree,” he said, running one hand through his hair. “I know he said everything was fine, but this doesn’t feel fine!”

“Yeah, and all that bullshit about how he shouldn’t be our priority,” Anxiety said, shoving his hands in his pockets. “What was up with that?”

“I don’t know,” Patton sighed. “Roman, what do you think?”

But there was no response from the royal.

“Roman?” Patton turned to look at him. The other side was on his phone. When he felt the other two staring at him, he looked up.

“What?” he defended himself. “I was looking up aromanticism. I’d never heard of it before”

“Whatever,” Anxiety said, turning back towards Patton. “Seriously, do you have any solutions? Because I’ve got nothing.”

Patton pursed his lips. “We could try making him show up to things like movie nights?” he suggested uncertainly. “Don’t take no for an answer?”

“If he feels like he’s intruding, that’s not going to stop even if we make him show up,” Anxiety replied, shaking his head. "Try again.”

They went on for a few minutes like that, Patton offering ideas, Anxiety pointing out the problems with each one. Finally Patton threw up his hands in frustration.

“I give up!” he said. “I just want some way to show him that he’s just as important to us, and that we care about him, even if we aren’t dating him. Why is that so hard to figure out?”

“Actually, I may have a solution,” Prince said, still staring at his phone. Anxiety and Patton turned to face him.

He looked up. “Have either of your heard the term ‘queerplatonic' before?”

When Logan came down for breakfast the next morning and saw the other three waiting for him with expectant looks on their faces, he could help but to groan internally. He really hadn’t been trying to cause a fuss.

“Salutations,” he said, pretending to be oblivious to the atmosphere. “Are those waffles?”

“Logan,” Morality stepped forward, and it seemed there was no avoiding this. “We have something to ask you.”

“Yes?” Logan said, arching an eyebrow.

“I was doing some research on aromanticism last night,” Prince said, stepping forward, “and I came across something interesting. I assume you’re familiar with the concept of queerplatonic relationships.”

Logan’s brow furrowed.

A queerplatonic relationship, a relationship that is not romantic but involves a close platonic emotional connection beyond what most people consider friendship. The commitment level in a queerplatonic relationship is often considered to be similar to that of a romantic relationship.

He was familiar with the term, but he wasn’t sure why Roman was bringing it up.

“Logan,” Morality was saying, his voice gentle. “We want to be in a queerplatonic relationship with you.”

Logan’s brain broke. They-they couldn’t possibly be asking what he thought they were asking.

“Wh-what?” he managed to stammer out, scrambling to get his thoughts back in working order.

“We want to be in a queerplatonic relationship with you,” Anxiety said boldly, moving out of the shadows. “Because all that bullshit before, about priorities and stuff, none of that’s true. We care about just as much as we care about each other. You’re not some freaking intruder.”

“I, be that as it may,” Logan said carefully. “You can’t be serious. This wouldn’t be like the bond the three of you share, and quite frankly, alloromantic people tend to hold romantic relationships in higher esteem.”

“Who cares if it’s different?“ Prince said, sounding frustrated. “My relationship with Anxiety isn’t anything like my relationship with Patton, but I still love them both. Neither of them is less important than the other. And as for the second part, do you really think so little of us? That we would value you less simply because of who you are?”

“I, well, no” Logan began, his head now really spinning, but his traitorous heart was oddly hopeful.

“We love you,” Morality said simply. “Even if we’re not in love with you, we love you. And we want to show you that. The only question is, do you feel the same way?”

Logan squeezed his eyes shut.

“Yes.” he whispered. “Yes, I do. I always have. You, you’ve been my closest friends, the deepest relationship I’ve ever had. You’ve been my partners, in everything.”

Arms wrapped around him. “Then that’s the only thing that matters,” Morality murmured. “We can figure out everything else later.”

Another set of arms. “Does this mean you’ll come back to movie nights?” Anxiety asked. “Because it’s not the same without someone else to snark with.”

Prince’s arms wrapped around all three of them. “I’m so relieved this worked out,” he exclaimed. “I love a happy ending!”

Logan couldn’t help but to laugh. Even if he’d had Prince’s imagination, he never could have imagined this. Standing in the kitchen, surrounded by the warmth of his friends, no, partners, Logan felt his loneliness melt away. He had been wrong before, about the priories.

He had never been so happy about being mistaken.

#logan sanders #patton sanders #virgil sanders #roman sanders #sanders sides #polyam sanders #kind of?#I really hope you guys like it #this was really emotional to write #fanfic #my fic

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writingsofawanderingwonderer · 7 years ago

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Fixing “Genius Jerk” Characters

This is a follow up to this previous article I wrote.

Okay, so I've been seeing several articles, academic thesis essays, Twitter threads, and thought-pieces on the idea that TV geniuses in stories these days are smart, and use this as an excuse to act like a jerk. Works like BBC Sherlock, House MD, and Rick and Morty were mentioned.

What's disappointed me quite a bit is that I haven't really come across a piece that suggests solutions to this growing cliche. There's been (really good and thoughtful) explorations on why it started and why it's problematic, but nothing along the lines of, "Dear writers, this is how you avoid this writing pitfall."

So since a lot of great writers have covered the other aspects, I'll try to delve into this particular area.

First, some ground rules on my perspective on which genius-type characters fit into this trope, and where. Think of it like a spectrum or greys, rather than black-and-white:

- I can't judge House MD properly. I tried watching the series, but I couldn't get into in. It's super-weird to see Hugh Laurie play an American when I'm soooo used to seeing him in Jeeves & Wooster and A Bit of Fry & Laurie.

- I still stand by my idea that Sherlock is more of a grump than a jerk. He's anti-social, and I think the world needs such people. Grumps are honest. Brutally-honest. No one likes to be the first one to yell, "The Emperor has no clothes!" * but the grumps of the world do it for us.

*(Or in this case, "The police are useless!")

To me, Sherlock's case is not so much like "being stuck in line at the cashier w/ someone using a check," so much as "watching a healthy person throw their health away (and burn their money away) by smoking. Also, they're smoking next to a 'no smoking' sign, a baby carriage, a puppy, a person using a medical breathing apparatus, and seriously, why is no one else but the grump pointing out thatthere'ssomethingwrongwiththis?"

Is it a feeling of superiority? Yes, but it's a feeling placed on a character that should know better. Not a character who is "just not a genius."

Maybe it's also because I find Sherlock's comments funny, so I give it a pass (I'm pretty sure everyone in the audience laughed when he shouted at the police, "Where is her case?! Did she eat it?"). I like to think there's more to it than that, however.

As an example of what I mean, look at his interactions in an early scene in the first episode:

- Calls Sergant Donovan out on her unprofessional behaviour.

- Also, she calls Sherlock names first. In front of Watson. After being told that Lestrade (her boss) that Sherlock was called in to help her.

- Sherlock gets frustrated that the police are acting incompetent. It is, after all, their job to solve mysteries. Sherlock volunteers and is not paid by them.

When your police are these guys, there's a problem.

I don't think Sherlock ever crosses the line into being a jerk rather than an honest grump, but that might just be me.

- Rick crosses the line. He's a jerk just to be a jerk. He believes that being nice is what "less-smart people do to hedge their bets." If anything, Rick's attitude hinders him because (if you think about this logically) if you're nice to a person, they'll likely want to help you back. If you're rude to the person, they'll try to actively brick-wall you (like, you know when someone rudely asks you for directions, so instead of giving directions to them at your normal speed, you try to explain the directions in the slowest, most complicated way possible in the hopes that they'll be late for whatever they're trying to get to, and then they hopefully learn their lesson and ask for directions more politely next time? It's like that).

I'm getting a wee bit off-track. Moving on...

- Henry (from The Book of Henry) also crosses the line. Folded Ideas did a great postmortem video that touches upon why Henry comes off as unlikable in the film, even though the film tries to establish that he's popular at his school.

Okay, now that that's outta the way, I can give some suggestions on how to avoid this trope.

Actually, I'll have to quickly give some reasons why this trope exists, and why it feels recent.

A long time ago--we're talkin', fairytale-era of storytelling here--physical strength was seen as a more obvious strength. So to teach children/the audience that strengths of intelligence, the hero of a story would be a trickster who used their intelligence to get out of a dangerous situation and/or solve the main conflict.

However, with the Internet and modern-conveniences, it's now actually reversed: Being smart is seen as more important than having muscle. Even action films tend to have the hero save the day through some sort of "trick," using a plan, improvising a plan, or exercising intellectual strategy.

So, how would a writer remedy this? Well, having social skills is also very important, so instead of making the hero "smart by physically weak," make them "smart but socially-awkward."

However, this became a problem when people started to see social awkwardness as endearing and likeable. Even to other characters. Adorkable, you might say. I think the breaking-point for audiences across the globe was Bella Swan’s clumsiness being framed as her main flaw. Being awkward became a strength rather than a weakness.

So, what were writers' solution to this new problem? What was the next step in the evolution of the archetypal genius?

Make them smart, but also a jerk.

Ah. Here we are now.

"I am not good at people skills, but I'm smart and that should be rewarded."

Oh dear.

Now, some writers have gotten around this by implying that the hero will become less selfish and more selfless as the story progresses. It's their character arc. Rick and Morty and BBC Dirk Gently are examples of this, but it raises a possible problem: What will their weakness be if they lose this flaw? Will they turn into a flawless--and therefore, less deep--character?

But until I see these character arcs fully come into fruition (and since BBC Dirk Gently was cancelled, that seems unlikely), we won't know if they'll feel flawless and boring.

With genius jerks, there's also this sense of theme. Something like, "Everyone else is a sheep. I dance to the beat of a different drum, so I'm better than them." Which is something that, as I grow older, I find less and less... charming. (It's also a mindset that I'll hopefully explore more deeply in my upcoming detective games.)

I get why it's a popular idea. And I get why I loved it so much when I was a lot younger...

When you're in school, you feel different from other students because you all have different tastes and are forced to stay in close proximity to one another for several years. You feel like the only outsider because you feel like everyone else is hanging out with everyone else. "Everyone else is a sheep."

But as you get older, you realise that just about everyone else was feeling the exact same thing at the exact same time. It now becomes, "There's no such thing as a 'normal, average' human. We all have a story."

There are still jerks and idiots out there, but you'll find that just because you didn't see a stranger as eccentric or outstanding, that doesn't make them a sheep.

Oh, by the way, the above is also linked to a cliche I'm getting rather sick of where a writer/character automatically thinks that if they wear a kooky/colourful outfit, that automatically makes them an eccentric character. I'm sorry, but just trying to copy the Fourth Doctor's outfit does not make your character have a personality like him too. It's the equivalent of designers who think that just sticking some gears on something will automatically make it Steampunk. As Sir Terry Pratchett put it, "It takes more than heavy mascara and a pale complexion to cross the divide."

The Fourth Doctor. Not just a colourful scarf.

Okay, okay, I'll try to stay on-topic...

Ahem.

Another problem is that the detective/scientist/genius/etc can only be as smart as their writer. That's why you end up with episodes of 2016 MacGyver solving problems in really dumb illogical ways: The writers probably don't have a bachelor's degree in physics and chemistry.

You know, that thing MacGyver is supposed to have?

I really need to write a review for 2016 MacGyver, it was so disappointing compared to 1985 MacGyver.

Oh, right. Back to genius jerks.

So let's sum up the problems of writing genius jerks:

- It can make the character insufferably unlikable.

- It creates the theme, "I am not good at people skills, but I'm smart and that should be rewarded," into the story.

- It creates the theme, "Everyone else is a sheep."

- It's becoming overdone.

These are the reasons why it's hard to avoid the genius jerk trope:

- If they're a genius, them need to have a flaw to counter-balance that.

- Being socially-awkward (rather than a jerk) is no longer seen as a true character flaw.

- Fully-removing the "jerk" aspect from the character (through a character arc) makes them flawless (boring).

And now, for the writers out there, here are some ways to solve this problem:

- Go back to making the genius hero's flaw being not physically-strong:

-- The problem with this is that their foil character (read as: their partner) is usually the physically-strong one. So having the genius become physically-strong can wreck their relationship dynamic. They are meant to complete each other.

- Make the genius' flaw being a coward:

-- Wheatley's portrayal in "Blue Sky" (Portal 2) is a brilliant example of this. He's not the brightest bulb, but he can hack terminals very well and knows the workings of the lab facility better than Portal 2's protagonist, Chell. He's so cowardly, he tries to leave Chell to die near the beginning of the plot. But by the end, he becomes willing to give up everything for her.

-- Johnny Powell (The Darkness II) is also a good example. He's an expert in darkness relics (magical objects you collect throughout the game so that he can identify them), but he's very meek (one of the early missions requires you to rescue him). However, near the end of the game, he actually gets to save you instead.

- Make the genius book-smart, but not street-smart:

-- Maybe they've studied in an academy in a safe, secluded part of the story's world, away from the main conflict of the plot. Maybe they're young and inexperienced, but have self-taught themselves some very useful knowledge. Either way, the genius is lacking in experience, so even though they're smart, they're not quiet cut-out for the dangerous situations they'll need to face.

- They're smart and nice, but evil-aligned:

-- You know how I've said that grumpy doesn't equal being a jerk? Well, being nice and polite doesn't equal being good.

-- Raven from my favourite noir film, This Gun For Hire is an example of this. He's a rare example of a noir protagonist who doesn't start out as a detective. He's a gun-for-hire assassin. He's introduced by shooting a man to steal documents for someone (who turns out to be a baddie). However, we also see Raven stop to help a little girl retrieve her toy ball before he leaves (which is very nice of him, considering that the police are coming and he has to get out of the building fast). He eventually not only brings justice by solving the mystery, but he also decided to switch to the good side.

Anything I’m missing? Let me know!

#series #films #animation

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agnesatsmith · 7 years ago

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Advice for the Newest Smithies!!

Class of 2021 and transfers, you’re either already at Smith now or are moving in tomorrow!!!! I’m sure you’re feeling simultaneously terrified and elated to meet your HONS and fellow housemates. After the empowerment program I did in Japan, I’ve also been thinking a lot about things I taught the high school students there that I really wish I’d known before entering college... So here’s what I have to say to the newest Smithies! Bear with me through some of the oldies but goodies...

DON’T BE AFRAID TO MAKE MISTAKES. I can’t emphasize this enough! You’ve probably heard this a million times, and I never really took this piece of advice seriously but I’ve learned so much from doing dumb things in college. If you’re kind of shy in class like me, it’s really hard for you to raise your hand and talk in front of class--especially a larger class. When I got an answer wrong, it was soul-crushing and a horrifying experience. Even though it sucks and feels terrible, it’s guaranteed you won’t make the same mistake again and that’s what really matters! a. I will also add that this applies to learning things outside the classroom. Chances are you’re going to learn a lot about social justice, other peoples’ cultures, racism, classism, LGBTQ+ issues, etc. And let’s be real, none of us know everything about these issues, and that’s okay. You mess up, you apologize, you learn, you move on. Done. I’ve done my fair share of saying insensitive and rude things, but just keep an open mind and listen to what other people have to say!

TRY NEW THINGS. Yeah, yeah, I know you’ve heard this a lot, but I really encourage you to put yourself out there and do things you didn’t think you were interested in. Get involved in house council - that was one of the things that really got me involved in the house community. Learn a new sport via an ESS class even if you hate sports like me. Take classes where you don’t really know anything about the subject--you might find yourself with a surprising major you hadn’t thought about before.

Breathe. Take a break. It can be easy to get caught up in the excitement of living in a new place, surrounded by new people, with the ability to try so many new things. For me, it was incredibly overwhelming. When you need to, take personal time for yourself--sit back, watch a few cat videos, play some games, etc.

College might not live up to your ideals. And that’s OK. I didn’t have any friends for the first few weeks of college. I lived in a single, all by myself surrounded by sophomores and juniors that were too intimidating for me to talk to, and the other first-year became friends with each other quickly but I didn’t. But guess what?? I made friends--it was just slower than I’d imagined. Something, at some point, is probably going to go wrong while you’re in college and just remember that’s normal. All colleges tend to overinflate how perfect your college life is going to be, and even though you’re going to love Smith, not everything is going to go smoothly. I struggled a lot to find a place for myself at Smith in the beginning, but sometimes it takes more work to make a space for yourself where you can be happy. You can do it!!

If you get sleepy in class, bring some cereal/food with you!! Most professors are fine with students eating in class, and if you (like me) tend to fall asleep during certain parts of the day or are incredibly sleep-deprived after that all-night you definitely shouldn’t have pulled but did, my solution is to eat furiously to keep my mind awake. Any food works for this, but I personally like nibbling on some Froot Loops so as to pace myself for my other classes.

Talk to your professors if you need help. Professors kind of scare me at first, especially if I’m not doing well in a class, but the ones at Smith are always so open to talking about anything and are always so understanding. They really make time to help you when you ask for it--so if you need help in any way, please let your professors know!

Keep eating healthy!! I had a truly awful time adjusting to Smith’s food--not because it was bad, but because I wasn’t used to the kinds of food they served here. At home, I eat Chinese food daily (plus cereal), and eating non-Chinese food for weeks on end was... definitely a change for me. I don’t really like salads because usually at home we ate cooked vegetables, and I found Smith’s variety lacking compared to the tons of different vegetables my mom cooked at home. It took a long adjustment period before I was eating healthy again, and even now I still struggle with it. Even if you now have the chance to skimp on something, don’t do it!!!! Eat healthy! It’ll pay off in your ability to keep working hard.

Keep your room clean. I’m really terrible at following my own advice, but I’ve found that keeping my room clean helps me think. It’s also really satisfying? Sometimes when I’m really frustrated with an essay that won’t come out right, I take five minutes to clean up a little so I can take a step back from the essay and get a sense of satisfaction from having a nice, clean room.

Make sure you have backups of your in-progress papers. You never know when disaster will decide to strike your laptop.... You don’t want to rewrite a 5-page paper.

Don’t forget to use your free $25 Campus Center Cafe money!!!! At the end of the year it will disappear. Buy those mudslides. Treat yourself.

GET EXCITED!!!!!!!!!! You’re almost at Smith!!!

Disclaimer: there is no logic behind how these were numbered. These were what helped me power through my first two years of Smith, and I’ll be relying on them heavily to get through the next two. New Smithies--this is a really scary time, but don’t worry too much because you will learn and adapt. I can’t wait to see the Class of 2021 soon!!!!!! I’ll see you when I move back in on Sunday ❤

#Smith College #Advice #College

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md3artjournal · 6 years ago

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11:02 PM 12/20/2018

The talk today about Tatay's "living trust" and taxes/insurance/expenses to be paid yearly after he (and Nanay) die, kind of made it clear to me that I have to go get a job.

For a while now, I've been coming to accept that I'm not good at being an artist. Not just my mediocre skill in making art (regardless of how much praise I get for my clay sculpting, and regardless of how mesmerized I am by craftsman artisans), but that I'm not SUITED to making a living as an artist. I'm uncomfortable marketing myself; not just feeling like I'm boasting, but also I have no confidence in myself to even try it, let alone do it on a regular basis. I'm afraid of networking. I'm afraid to take comissions (and the associated horror stories I've heard dealing with clients). I'm afraid to even get around to making an online shop. I'm afraid to try signing up for more conventions because just buying tables gives me probably anxiety attacks. I'm afraid of freelancing. Etc., etc. Even if the work I produced was any good quality, I'm just not happy doing these other things associated with selling my art. I'm not SUITED to this job.

The more I thought about it that way, the more I had to accept that maybe I was suited to working for an employer with an ordinary (cubicle/office) job---Maybe I would be HAPPIER that way. Like Kuya said when I called "not it" as my dad's executor, I'm "not motivated". I probably am best suited to just having an employer take care of me, so I don't have to think about health insurance, money, security, etc. I mean, I already do that. I don't think, and I'm not motivated to become ambitious enough to take care of myself. From my fundamentally suicidal point of view, it's all futile. Maybe the me now, would be happy in a job where I don't really have to think, where I only pretend to work most of the time, and where I just feel unfulfilled, again. I did say when I first got laid-off and returned to art, that by the time I'll need to return to an office job, I'll probably WANT an office job by then. This must be what past me was talking about.

Lately, I've been thinking about how I can't even do my daily figure photography project earlier in the day; I keep procrastinating until near midnight. Do I really want to do art, if I keep procrastinating it? Why haven't I been drawing daily again, after the business of Thanksgiving died down? Is it just more proof that art isn't really what I want to do? It's such a painful reality to accept, because when I don't produce art, I get really sad. And often, I don't even know why, until I realize how long it's been since I've made something that made me feel accomplished, worthwhile, or at least the catharsis of expressing myself. I can't decide whether I really need art at the basis and center of my lifestyle, because without it I go crazy or want to die, but also at the same time, I don't make much effort to do it more often. Do I want my life to be about art or not? And do I even like making art? When I get spare moments, it's not what I do. Maybe this is just a hobby. ;_;

Maybe I need to really prove my acceptance of my low artistic skill by relegating art to a side portion of my life. Make it just a hobby. Lots of people express themselves only on the weekends and after work. I know I failed to do that last time, with my last cubicle/office job, and I was miserable, and eventually suicidal. But I gave myself all this time for 7 years to make all the art I thought I wanted to, that I dreamed about while stuck in a cubicle...And I didn't do it. So maybe it's time to accept that (producing) art isn't really want I want my life to revolve around. (That statement makes me feel so sad. ;_; )

I know that lots of artists describe art lulls and procrastination with great frequency, but I need to make money. Tatay might die soon, and I need to pay for his medical care, this house, taxes, insurance, etc. I don't think much about grownup issues, since I don't seem myself as (yet) grownup. But I just need to make money now, so I don't have to worry about things.

Often times lately, I find my day done and wasted, and I think that if I at least had a job, even one I didn't care about, where I'd just pretended to be busy most of the time, I'd at least have the accomplishment of having gotten money for our family to live on. I could even earn the cash to not feel guilty being a figure collector. Would I be happy as just a consumer? I tried that before as my source of fulfillment, and the answer was that I was still just kidding myself and becoming suicidal. So no, it didn't work. But at least earning money daily, regardless of my lack of effort, would be accomplishing something.

Maybe I should still sell art on the side? Lots of people have a day job, PLUS an Etsy/online shop or occaisional artist alley conventions. I could still do Anime Expo artist alley every year or even help support PMX every year, and not have to worry about making enough profits to support myself because it would be just a side job---hobby. ...But after a day at work, even if all I did was sit at a cubicle and just pretend to work, I was always so (emotionally/mentally) exhausted that I couldn't do anything enjoyable after work. That was why I always became depressed, even though I had all the security (money, health insurance) that everyone told me I would need to be happy. That was the entire reason why I determined that I needed to make art/the fulfilling thing in my life to BE my JOB. That was my logical conclusion. I'm just so afraid to try again (being an office worker), on something that seemed to have already been proven wrong for me. But I guess if I really need to start getting several $100,000 into my Savings account, then I'd have to risk a second try. (Maybe this time, I'd be able to avoid all the stupid "office politics" which was actually just so-called adults acting like the worst parts of teenager stereotypes---Even though they were supposed to be adults!!!)

I guess I just have to accept being miserable either way. I didn't think I'd live this long. I first wanted to suicide when I was 11. I didn't want to make it to 13; I didn't want to become a teenager. Then I chickened out and most definitely didn't want to become an adult, so I didn't want to reach 18...then 21, when I chickened out again. ~__________~;;;; Now I'm just waiting to die. But if I'm too lazy for even that, then maybe I have to start actually making money to make a suspected future life easier for me.

I still don't think of myself as an adult. I occaisionally still daydream about things I'd do when I "grow up" (how I'd arrange a kitchen, groceries I'd prioritize on a shopping list, etc.)...but I still feel it's not reality. This past Tuesday I watched "Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse" and a YouTube video essay talked about how Peter B. Parker hasn't moved from his same spot he had as a teenager, because he's still doing the same things he was doing as a teenager (and that was why he wasn't ready to take the next step in his life with Mary Jane who wanted that parental phase to start). I'm still doing all the same things I did as a kid. I'm still in the same room, letting my parents do all the thinking, never taking the initiative to be ambitious, nor try new things, etc. I'm still in the same spot, like Peter. I never grew up. And I don't really want to. But I've got to at least earn money, if I keep chickening out on killing myself.

I wonder what I'm supposed to do. I often hear advice about remembering when you were a kid, and what you wanted to become. When I think about that, I recall wanting to be dead. I didn't think I'd live this long. The only thing I thought I wanted to become was a scientist, but even back then, I felt like I was just playing pretend or lying. It was just a cool thing to say because I recognized all the abilities that open up with scientific knowledge, and I like mad scientist characters in cartoons. But college was a wake-up call to realizing that I didn't like doing science as much as I had just allowed everyone's expectations to push me there, because I didn't want to think for myself. But I got there and felt so alone and didn't know what I was doing...My dad had said years ago that if you really like something, you'll find yourself doing it on your own, without anyone else's prompting. And without the external affirmations of the science identity from others, once I got to college, I realize that science in and of itself, didn't give me joy. It was a lonely slog of continually feeling lost, continous invalidatiions, and lack of accomplishments or self-esteem/self-pride. So what am I supposed to do? I chose art because after sampling a bit of everything through the required college core classes, my art class was the only one where I was ambitious, excited, and fruitful. I thought it was a sign that I actually cared for something, in and of itself. But then I get to these 7 years of "making a living as an artist" and I mostly spend my days not doing art. When I was in my cubicle job, I dreamed and dreamed of the time to make art, and now I don't do it. I spent so much time in that office job, "goofing off" by writing and writing, and sometimes I think that's a sign that that should be what I do with my life. But I'm not good at it...Or maybe I used to be, but not anymore. Sometimes, I see my current days, wasted online, checking social media, whipping up collector campaigns, writing essays about fandom, and just participating in fandom...And I think that maybe that should be what I'm supposed to do with my life. I do it automatically afterall. Maybe I should legitimize it with a Media Studies degree or go back to school for psychology in parasocial relationships, public pedagogy, and the function of fictional stories and fandom in the process of being a person in real life... But then I remember how suicidal and miserable I was in school, and how even classes I chose, even classes in fields that I had inadvertantly proven to be proactive in and must therefore intrinsically like, were all made into miserable slogs that I again underachieved in. I can't go back to school. I don't want to feel that way anymore. In my current lifestyle, I am the happiest I have every been. I still get depressed sometimes, but it's not something daily beaten into me as soon as I wake up, until I wish I'd never wake up again---And why can't I get the guts to suicide already!?!?!?!?! School isn't about learning anything or thinking. It's about getting grades and a diploma. And I used to think that was enough to take care of networking for me. But even going into school for a 2nd time, knowing it's more about networking than anything else, I still don't think I could do it. I can't socialize. I think I'm even anti-social. And forget extra-curriculars to prove myself as a collaborator to potential future employement avenues. I was so aware of my inability to do more at school the first time, I didn't take any double majors or minors. Because I knew that all I wanted to do, was get home from class and be a fangirl. Watch cartoons, draw, write fanfics, read novels, write my own oriignal stories, draw comics, make website shrines, read other people's fandom participation, create content, make fan-works, etc. I just couldn't do more than one grownup thing at a time, when I needed time for my self-esteem-saving, life-validating hobbies. How to make those hobbies a job?... Maybe it's time to give up. Because I don't have much time left and I need money to survive. ...I really don't like giving up though. I have no ambition, I've been burned too many times on the few cases I've tried to be proactive,...But for some reason I still can't let go of persistence/determination. But maybe it's just anothe perspective on laziness. Too lazy to leave my stable office job, too lazy to change majors a second time, too lazy to move from whatever position I was in. Other people might look on from the outside and may have thought to themselves that I was at least "determined to see this through" or admire my "persistence", but I was just too lazy to move from even a tough spot. I really should be dead. When i was little, I used to rant to myself that I was so freakishly lucky all my life that if I ever found the diety that was keeping me alive all this time, when all I wanted to do was be dead, I'd punch them. But now I'm older and I realize it was all the people in my life who care about me, who had been keeping me alive...And I can't very well punch them. ~o~! There are people going through miserable horrors in the world, and I can't be happy just surviving... ;_; In recent years, I've wondered if being unhappy despite having all the commonly prescribed reasons to be happy, was a sign of my having a mental illness, like depression. In recent years, I've had bouts of paranoia and delusional ravings that further proved the irrationality signifying mental illness. And knowing that, it seems logical, that maybe if I just got treatment, solved this askewed mental perspective, I'd just be able to be happy with all the things that everyone says should make me happy---Maybe I'd be happy with a job that makes money and give me security, maybe I'd be happy doing art on just the weekends, maybe I could handle going back to school without becoming suicidal semi-daily again---But it's just so hard to get therapy when my problem is talking to other people. Like, I can't cure my social anxiety, when the prescription is "talking to another person". The last time I was forced into it, I tricked the therapist(s) into thinking I had a different problem, so I wouldn't have to talk about my real problems. I couldn't even talk during today's conversation about my dad's plans after his death and my mom reminding us all to make ourselves financially secure when they die, because I was already fighting to not cry. I can't have any serious conversations without crying---even when I'm not in trouble! How is someone like me supposed to function as a grownup?!? I just don't think I'm suited to being alive. I'm not enthusiastic enough with making a living as an artist, I'm not happy in a financially stable office job, I'm too socially anxious for retail jobs, I'm too afraid of that level of depression returning if I return to school, I'm too afraid to netork or try new things/projects/careers,...I don't even have any dreams or future hopes! I'm not cut out for this being alive thing.

#please ignore my idiocy #venting #quitting art #depression

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dorothydelgadillo · 7 years ago

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The Future of SEO: How AI Will Produce Better Content Marketing

Technological innovation presents new challenges in any industry and advances in artificial intelligence and content marketing are no different.

Self-teaching algorithms have made search engine optimization (SEO) more abstract and difficult to master, which means it can feel harder to rank, attract an audience, and ultimately, gain customers with content marketing.

Source.

However, while innovation brings challenges, it also brings great opportunities for those ready to evolve and learn how to harness the new technology.

I’m going to show you how artificial intelligence (AI) will shape the future of content marketing to make it even more effective as well as some ways it should already be shaping your strategy today.

But first, you need to understand how artificial intelligence is shaping the new SEO landscape…

Search Engines Are Developing Minds of Their Own

For decades, Google (and its competitors) based its ranking on rule-based logic. Granted, it was very complex rule-based logic, but nevertheless, at the end of the day, it was hard-coded rules. This meant an SEO expert’s primary job was to find and exploit the rules.

There were keyword hacks, then backlinking hacks, and so on, but not all these exploits were bad.

For example, if you can create content that generates a lot of legitimate, authoritative backlinks, you’re probably creating valuable content readers want to see.

That’s why for years, Matt Cutts was Google’s key SEO spokesperson.

Between his online videos and public speaking engagements, Matt would explain how Google’s algorithm and updates worked for marketers so that they could create websites and content that lined up with the way the search engine wanted it.

But in the early 2010s that started to slow down and in 2014, he took leave from Google.

The SEO world was shocked and worried. Who would explain all this complicated black magic to us? Then it got worse. In 2015, Google announced his replacement wouldn’t be a public persona.

This was the beginning of the end of an era of (moderate) transparency from the search king.

They still make major announcements, like the switch to mobile-first indexing, but otherwise, they’re pretty tight-lipped about their algorithm updates now (which happen about 3 times every day).

To be fair, some insiders at Google have even admitted they aren’t entirely sure what RankBrain (a key element in its algorithm) is doing to generate results anymore, which means that SEO has become even more of an art than a science.

And Google isn't the only one. Since 2013, organic reach on Facebook Pages has been plummeting as well.

Way back in 2014, Ogilvy warned major brands that they should expect this metric to trend toward zero:

Source.

But very few heeded this warning until it became a reality.

While it’s made our jobs a bit harder, this is actually a golden opportunity for marketers.

The aim of all these investments in artificial intelligence and machine learning is ultimately to provide a better user experience and make happier customers.

As marketers, don’t we want the same thing?

As these platforms become more effective, you can expect the results they drive to match. Features like private (formerly “personal”) search results will drive more qualified traffic to the right places:

Instead of creating content with mass appeal for the sake of better search ranking, you’ll be able to create content that speaks directly to your audience -- meaning more qualified traffic.

Now, let’s take a look at how AI is being used to create better content, develop better strategy, and leverage dynamic hyper-personalization (and where it’s going next).

AI Will Create Better Content

Based on a survey of more than 350 AI experts last year, researchers believe AI will be able to write a passable high school essay as soon as 2026 and a New York Times bestseller by 2049.

In fact, two years ago, Gartner predicted that by 2018, “20% of all business content will be authored by machines.”

The Associated Press has even been publishing thousands of pieces of completely automated stories since 2015.

If you're skeptical that computers can’t really write effective content that plays to the reader’s emotions, you’d be right. We’re not quite there yet. The best content is still written, at least in part, by humans.

But AI-assisted content creation is very powerful and very real.

Content Tools Capitalizing on AI

You might not realize it, but many of the tools you’re using are already built on fundamental AI technology like Machine Learning or Natural Language Processing (NLP).

I use Grammarly, for example, on every piece I write to help catch more obscure homophones (two words that sound the same but have different meanings and spelling, like "knew" and "new") and language conventions my spell checker won’t (and editors don’t want to deal with.)

Furthermore, companies like CoSchedule have created tools that analyze and break down your headlines to provide actionable insights that will increase your click-through rate:

One of my favorite AI tools for content marketing is Clearscope.

Clearscope analyzes the top 30 results on Google for any keyword you enter and then gives you data (like that below) and actionable advice on how to write content that can compete with them:

Part of the way it does this is by analyzing other common keywords that appear in those articles so that you can work them into your piece naturally:

This is critical because Google’s algorithm is now much more focused on search intent, not exact keyword match. This means keyword stuffing is less effective and quality, well-written content is more likely to rise to the surface.In fact, you can even rank for keywords that aren’t found in your article if you satisfy the intent of that query.

All of this is possible because of advances in AI technology like machine learning and NLP, and it’s power doesn’t stop at the tactical level.

AI Can Optimize Your Content Strategy

One of the biggest challenges of content marketing is answering critical questions like:

“What type of content do my customers really want?”

“How do I move customers from one stage to the next?"

The traditional strategy is to research and develop buyer personas, but artificial intelligence promises to answer these questions better than ever before without all the planning.

By analyzing website traffic, email interactions, and social media behavior, AI helps you develop a more detailed profile of your target audience and what they like.

One popular brand that uses this technology already is Fender Guitar, which works with Crimson Hexagon to provide AI-powered customer insights.

After analyzing their current audience, Fender found that it skewed heavily toward men, explaining why they were having a trouble connecting with female customers.

The traditional solution would be to having a big meeting, create customer profiles, and make assumptions about what female guitarists wanted. If the marketing team decided to invest a little more, they could even interview some female guitarists and ask them directly what would want, but unless they interviewed thousands, they'd have to hope the few women they questioned represented the diverse national market.

Plus, people are notoriously bad at explaining why they make decisions.

Fortunately, using Crimson Hexagon, Fender Guitar was able to skip past these sloppy techniques that rely on assumptions, self-reporting, and hope.

AI-powered customer insights from Crimson Hexagon allowed Fender Guitar to create a more targeted approach based on content that was designed to attract the female demographic.

For example, they found that bassist, Nik West was popular among their target female audience. So, when they found this video of her jamming out on a Fender guitar, they paid a little bit of money to boost it on Facebook so that more potential customers would see it.

When that brand image marketing seemed to work, they expanded their relationship with the artist and started creating more promotional material by having her sample and showcase their products:

youtube

AI Will Improve Attribution Analysis

Another problem for content marketers is measuring the impact of content further up the funnel. In other words, determining which content is actually leading to closed customers.

Most conversion reporting is done on a last-touch basis, which gives all the credit for a conversion to the most recent click or source of that traffic.

Source.

But most customer’s journey’s aren’t so simple. Customers need to interact with your brand more than once before they are ready to buy:

Source.

In fact, 47% of consumers interact with 3 to 5 pieces of content before taking a next step. For instance, fashion and apparel consumers often read 7+ pieces of content — perhaps from influencers and fashion blogs — before taking the step of purchasing. In this case, the last attribution model isn’t reflective of what’s really happening because the relationship has been nurtured over multiple steps.

An effective content strategy is designed by developing pieces around questions customers

will be asking as they move through different stages of the marketing funnel:

Source.

We can more clearly represent how consumers go through the purchase cycle by using more sophisticated attribution models like the one below:

Source.

However, there is still significant room for improvement.

The last click attribution model only measures a small piece of the actual consumer journey, rather than following results from the first piece of content consumed to the actual purchase.

It’s crucial to know what content and ads work — and don’t — in each step of the journey in order to duplicate and scale effective campaigns.

Tools like Google Attribution -- and even HubSpot -- are addressing the problem by connecting all your channels into one unified data set.

At the same time, companies like Demand Jump are taking this even further by developing algorithmic attribution models that analyze customer behavior to determine what content is driving them through each phase and eventually conversion.

Source.

AI Will Bring Dynamic Hyper-Personalization

With Google's and Facebook’s algorithms leaning heavier toward targeted content that is highly relevant to the user, marketers need to up their efforts to deliver hyper-personalized content and recommendations.

With AI, you can have a better understanding of your audience and prescriptive attribution and, in turn, know what content moves customers from one phase to the next.

In fact, marketers ranked targeted content delivery the most substantial impact that AI will have on marketing.

Source.

Nurturing & Upselling

For instance, you can use this information to offer more relevant content upgrades and recommendations like Single Grain does with the example below:

Dynamic Landing Pages

Closely linked to optimized content delivery are “dynamic landing pages and websites” and “hyper-personalization of content.”

Based on segmentation data, dynamic landing pages follow the same principles as email segmentation: give the consumer the content that’s relevant and compelling for him/her.

Let’s look at two different landing pages on HubSpot:

The first is clearly targeted at small business owners and marketers, while the second page is centered around larger enterprise brands.

HubSpot is able to deliver these different messages using a feature called “Smart Content” that changes the message based on the information the website/brand has already gathered about the user.

While brands are already using strategies like these, artificial intelligence will only make it easier to customize pages to tailor to customer interests based on even more variables as illustrated by the graphic below:

Source.

Cross-selling

eCommerce companies like Amazon are already using machine learning like this to drive better product recommendations and increase sales through cross-selling.

I’m sure you’ve seen this block when browsing:

Amazon suggests products you would like based on the purchase you’re considering -- providing the consumer a value-add, social proof, and, of course, increase average order value.

It’s been extremely effective, with independent research from McKinsey citing 35% of Amazon purchases are due to its recommendation algorithm.

Unique Experiences

Landing pages and recommendations are cool, but what if you could actually serve completely different experience to readers based on their profile?

In other words, what if you could show every user something new and unique to them.

You’d be able to form a closer connection with the reader right off the bat by speaking directly to their interests, right?

You might be surprised to learn that this is already happening, but if you’re active on Facebook, you’ve probably even seen it in the form of these videos:

youtube

Although the template was designed and animated by humans, the main content of this video (along with those celebrating friendship anniversaries and more) is programmatically selected by autonomous algorithms to engage individual users.

This one template can be used literally billions of times every day, but is still unique every single time it’s seen.

Companies like Narrative Science are taking this even further by developing artificially intelligent writers that can create multiple versions of the same story targeted to different audiences.

Here’s a sample they produced that covered a baseball game all the way back in 2011.

Notice the embellished language in the piece that was shown to fans of the team versus the more neutral language for general readers. It was completely machine written:

Pretty cool, huh?

As impressive as it is, this technology is still primarily used for sports and financial reporting for two main reasons:

There is tons of similar content out there to train this algorithm because they are fairly routine and standardized.

It’s easier to feed the system numbers and outcomes and let it spin a story.

But it still serves to show you that you can leverage computers to spin content with multiple angles for different audiences if you feed it the proper data.

Obviously, this part of the technology will be well-developed long before AI is composing content from scratch, but the idea of these two aspects combined is almost scary.

You’ll need to keep a human editor on staff for a while, but computers will probably be doing the heavy lifting sooner than you might expect.

A New Age of Content

The future of SEO might not be as far off as you think. Artificial intelligence is driving a new age of hyper-personalized content based on detailed data about your audience that previously wasn’t possible.

Marketers who continue to rely on old-fashioned hacks and tricks will find themselves left in the dust as these algorithms get better at matching individuals to the content they want. However, if you keep pace with technology and find ways to incorporate these innovations to create better content and strategy, you’ll reap the benefits of a new age of content marketing, more powerful than ever before.

If you’re a marketer looking to improve your link game, check out our ultimate guide to link building. You can also check out our 1 Million Backlinks Analysis Series, featuring companies like Lyft, Dollar Shave Club, Airbnb.

from Web Developers World https://www.impactbnd.com/blog/seo-ai-content-marketing

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iletaittempsdevivre-blog · 7 years ago

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fineartsbuildingnewyork · 10 years ago

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“PAINTING,” A MULTI-MEDIA EXHIBITION ASSERTING PAINTING’S EXPANSIVE NATURE AND RELEVANCE

The early to mid-1970s were a time of great artistic experimentation in New York City. The proliferation of downtown alternative art spaces, such as 112 Greene Street, the Kitchen and the Clocktower, provided new venues for the exhibition of art of all forms from radical painting to film, video, performance, and conceptualism. The massive eleven story Fine Arts Building (FAB) provided such a space for showing experimental work through not only its many “alternative” tenants, but also its commercial galleries and even in its empty spaces. In 1974, when gallerist Julian Pretto began inviting guest curators to assemble shows in empty areas of the building, he was not only supporting artists, but also providing a space for a slew of young curators to organize and hold exhibitions very early in their careers.[122]

[Cover image of Annina Nosei’s Discussion. New York: Out of London Press, 1980.]

Annina Nosei (Nosei-Weber at the time, having been married to gallerist John Weber) was one of such guest curators. Born and raised in Rome, she came to the United States on a Fulbright grant to study and teach after writing her master thesis on Duchamp. In 1968 she published a collection of interviews with major American artists entitled “Challenge to the System: An Inquest into the Artistic Situation in the United States.”[123] Active as a curator and critic, in 1976 she organized an exhibition to be held at the FAB called Painting,.

[Exhibition announcement for Annina Nosei’s Painting, exhibition at the Fine Arts Building January 17-27, 1976; Marilyn Lenkowsky was handwritten on to the announcement (original copy accessed at the NYU Fales Library, Downtown Collection).]

Simply titling an exhibition Painting, had significance. In name alone, regardless of intention, the exhibition was entered into a long-running and highly contentious debate between those who proposed we had reached the “end” or “death” of painting and those who, vehemently opposed to such an idea, asserted painting’s continued and infinite significance both in theory and in practice.

The “death of painting,” or the idea that painting had ceased to be useful or relevant as a medium of artistic expression was not a new argument, a point which has been well rehearsed by defenders of the medium. From as early as the first century when “Petronius declared painting dead in Satyricon,” to Delaroche’s response to the invention of the daguerreotype in 1839, and then to artistic statements made by Malevich, Duchamp, Rodchenko and Reinhardt in the twentieth century, antagonistic claims toward painting have persisted. Painting’s supporters faithfully rebuked such statements as naive, objectionable and firmly invalid, citing as evidence artists’ continued interest in investigating the medium.

In the case of photography, painting’s attack came in reaction to technological advancement, not surprising today considering the cycle of adoption and abandonment of an endless stream of new electronics and applications. During the Renaissance, it was painting that provided technological advancement in the form of Brunelleschi’s invention of linear perspective, allowing for the realistic portrayal of depth on a two-dimensional surface. By the 19th century, the ability to capture and represent reality using photographic means incited questioning around the necessity of painting.

[Demonstration of Brunelleschi’s method of linear perspective using reflective material and pinholes in order to render the illusion of space on a two-dimensional surface (image in public domain).]

Attacks on the medium also came from within, from painters who felt they had made significant artistic advancements. As early as 1911, many painters began dispensing with recognizable subject matter, in the form of what may be Modernism’s greatest innovation — abstraction.[124] Liberated from the “encumbrances of illusionism,” artists displayed works with no discernible subject matter along with declarations of intent via manifestos, lectures and criticism.[125] Malevich exhibited a painting consisting of a black square on a white ground in his “desperate attempt to free art from the ballast of objectivity.”[126] Though Kazimir Malevich felt strongly about painting’s supremacy, the radical nature of abstract painting opened the door for future artistic innovation in other media as well. Alexander Rodchenko exhibited three monochrome canvases in 1921 titled, Pure Red Color, Pure Blue Color, and Pure Yellow Color and later stated that by doing so he had “reduced painting to its logical conclusion” and “affirmed: it's all over.”[127] Marcel Duchamp, originally a painter, put forth his readymade objects to challenge notions about art and artistic process, but also to indicate his belief that painting had become an industrial object itself. In the 1960s, Ad Reinhardt exhibited his “black or “ultimate” paintings, claiming them to be the last paintings that anyone can paint.

[Kazimir Malevich, Black Square, 1915 (artwork published on tate.org.uk)]

[Alexander Rodchenko, Pure Red Color, Pure Yellow Color/, Pure Blue Color, oil on canvas, 1921.]

Other theories about painting’s demise came from painters who had evolved their practice toward less rigid or medium-specific definitions. Allan Kaprow, considered the creator of “Happenings” in the 1950s and 1960s, expressed the theory that Abstract Expressionist Jackson Pollock had destroyed painting.[128] In his 1958 essay on the subject, he claimed the innovations put forward by Pollock — “the act of painting, the new space, the personal mark that builds its own form and meaning, the endless tangle, the great scale, the new materials” — had led us toward the finality of Modernism. He cited as evidence Pollock’s tendency toward the ritualistic in process, and in result, toward paintings which “ceased to become paintings and became environments.”[129] He noted the acceptance of these advances by art departments and textbooks as having contributed to the destruction of painting and pointed toward a future where craftsmanship and permanence should be forgotten and perishable materials should be used in art. This would set the stage for the rise of conceptualism and performance art.

The debate heated up significantly in the 1960s as a response to Minimalism and the reductive formalism of Clement Greenberg. In a 1965 essay titled “Specific Objects,” sculptor Donald Judd, who had abandoned painting, said “the main thing wrong with painting is that it is a rectangular plane placed flat against the wall. A rectangle is a shape itself; it is obviously the whole shape; it determines and limits the arrangement of whatever is on or inside of it.”[130] Judd’s polemic considered painting to be antiquated and linked to illusionism. He favored three-dimensional works which expanded into “actual space.”[131] Sculptor Robert Morris also designated painting to be “an antique mode” in his essay “Notes on Sculpture” and put forth for consideration as an advancement in art the experiential nature of viewing a Minimalist sculpture. Critic and art historian Michael Fried added in his essay “Art and Objecthood,” that Minimalist sculpture’s focus on the viewer’s experience (through “theatricality”) made art indistinguishable from one’s experience of the world and he contrasted this phenomenon to the “presentness” of viewing a painting which he described as requiring continual renewal.[132] Both Morris and Fried’s essays appeared in Artforum’s 1967 Summer issue, dedicated to American Sculpture.

[Robert Morris, installation in the Green Gallery, New York, 1964. Seven geometric plywood structures painted grey.]

Many Minimalist artists were also critics, asserting the dominance of Minimalist sculpture through such essays as well as disparaging reviews of painting exhibitions and articles about painting.[133] Frustrated with what she described as the “inescapable delusion” among such critics, the painter Jo Baer wrote a letter to the editor of Artforum in 1967 defending painting. By responding to specific points in both Judd and Morris’ arguments, Baer countered that if all sculptures are not simply statues or boxes, then all paintings are not simply pictures, meaning painting is not limited to or by illusionism as had been described. Baer stated that “the only limits to the materials of painting are those of technology and the eye’s discrimination in seeing reflected light.”[134]

The 1970s produced an onslaught of artistic experimentation, including the continuation of Minimalism and Conceptualism as well as experimental film and video, earthworks, audio works and performance. Among this plurality of art forms, the debate around painting continued to manifest itself both in discourse and artistic practice. By 1975, Max Kozloff, critic and executive director of Artforum, acknowledged that “evidence accrues of a great, unbreachable schism opening up...between painting and other art modes.”[135] The debate was so heated that both Artforum and Art-Rite magazines dedicated full issues to the subject that year, the former representing the critic’s perspective in the leading intellectual art journal, the latter a free publication produced by writers, curators and artists who were more collaborative and immersed within the artists’ perspective.

[Cover of Artforum’s special painting issue September 1975 (original accessed at The Museum of Modern Art Library).]

[Cover of Art-Rite magazine’s 1975 special painting issue (original accessed at The Museum of Modern Art Library).]

Artforum published their special painting issue in September 1975. The previous January, the magazine had mailed a brief but heavily loaded questionnaire to artists inquiring about the prospects for painting in the current decade. Introducing three questions by stating that painting had “ceased to be the dominant artistic medium,” Artforum claimed that artists who were making “the next inevitable step” worked with “any material but paint.”[136] They presumptuously asked painters to describe how this cessation had affected their need to paint. They asked what possibilities are exclusively provided by the medium of painting and what energies and ideas in painting are worthy of attention.

Painters’ inflamed responses were printed alongside Artforum’s hostile questionnaire. Beyond expressing anger at having been asked to defend their choice of existence, painters responded from diverse vantage points. Some staunchly defended painting as the best medium, believing it to be the most direct means of image-making and referring to its formal offering of a “stable, flat ground” with the greatest “flexibility of form.”[137] Digs were made at the money and resources consumed by the scale of many earthworks and the artistic and physical limitations imposed by the use of objects (light bulbs, car fenders, rope or broken glass) in Conceptual art. Artist Tony Robbins, who today works extensively in computer visualizations of four dimensional geometry, believed that “painting, more than film, video, or sculpture, is free to investigate such a space because only in painting is it possible to present space per se, free of objects and gravity.”[138]

Other artists cited painting’s historical link as a sign of the medium’s credibility. Painter Wolf Kahn said, “painting is valuable just because of its long history and, since it is so deeply embedded in Western civilization, of all the visual arts it needs the least justification.” Artist Allan McCollum felt strongly that “every new painting created is linked by its very nature to every other painting in existence.”[139] The painters and artists who responded believed painting to be part of an “infinitely varied and infinitely repetitive world tradition” that would live on indefinitely.[140] They took offense by Artforum’s proposed idea that art existed in a linear progression of innovations leading from painting to the “next inevitable step,” therefore rendering painting obsolete. Such an artistic mandate for innovation seemed out of line with the concerns and interests of painters who were focused on extending the limits of the medium itself or, as the painter Gene Davis said, “perhaps, working within those limits.”[141] Abstract painter Edwin Ruda said, “Painting is as painting does with its own brand of intelligence and discriminatory power...and with as many possibilities before it as after it.”[142]

Many pointed out that this “ludicrous” attack was coming from critics and did not necessarily exist between artists. In discussing a performance by Gilbert & George, abstract painter Stephen Greene said he was interested in the work formally and psychologically, regardless of medium. He did not feel threatened by it as a painter and said, “Whatever interests me, interests me no matter where I find it.”[143] Pointing to the debate on the merits of painting versus sculpture during the Renaissance, some who responded to Artforum felt there was simply no need to argue in support of one medium over another. Rudolf Baranik, of the New York School of painting felt that “the energies and ideas in painting which merit attention may seem technically unique, but they are not autonomous in a significant sense. Medium partisanship is always naive and can be harnessed for both—desperate forced innovation and nostalgic retrograde conservatism.”[144] Allan McCollum believed “all art, ultimately, complements all other art, however discordant and perplexing the differences may appear in the interim.”[145]

Because Artforum had linked painting’s demise to what they perceived to be painting’s two opposing ideologies, abstract and representational, some addressed abstraction in their response to Artforum. In a similar manner of logic to that used in the argument against medium partisanship, Greene stated, “there is no valid reason that either abstract or figurative painting has to triumph over the other.”[146] Paul Staiger acknowledged that “abstraction and representation as a central issue is of little use,” and that “painting was never bound up exclusively with any one set of problems.” He added that “the artist has always used his materials on a personal theoretical level” and that “there is no appeal to the great historical verdict.”[147]

At the swell of this continued debate and only a few months after the Artforum special painting issue, Nosei put on the exhibition Painting, at the Fine Arts Building. In doing so, she made a strong statement about the primary historical legacy and continued relevance of painting as an artistic medium of expression. The title Painting, or Painting comma, alludes to a list or series beginning with painting and continuing on without definition. This lack of specificity after the comma seems to indicate that subsequent items in this list don’t necessarily succeed, but build upon and/or continue from within painting. The title allows one to envision that harmonious artistic endeavors are present that both honor and stem from painting’s historical legacy. Nosei’s exhibition included not only painters who were actively exploring the boundaries and fluidity of the medium of painting, but also artists working in film, video or performance who referenced or built concepts and imagery from painting in those works. It seems she wanted to illustrate both continued experimentation within painting and the co-mingling between experimentation in other media and the legacy and tradition of painting. The inclusion of a plurality of media in an exhibition titled Painting, demonstrated her curatorial objective and encapsulated the debate around painting as it had manifest itself in artistic practice and discourse at the time.

Included in the exhibition was Marcia Hafif, an artist truly engaged with the dialogue around painting. Though her body of work also includes photography, film, sculpture, and installations, in 1972 she began a series of monochrome works that explore the methods and materials of drawing and painting. She has continued this exploration for over four decades, questioning “the discipline by exploring and experimenting with types of paint (acrylic, oil, egg tempera, ink, watercolor, enamel) and supports (canvas, wood, paper, wall).”[148] In 1978, Hafif articulated this investigation in an essay titled “Beginning Again” published in the September issue of Artforum. In the essay, Hafif lamented the current “options open to painting,” in which representation seemed to have lost credibility and abstraction had seemingly progressed to its end.[149] She felt the only way for artists to proceed was to “turn inward to the means of art, the materials and techniques with which art is made.” She wanted to “vivify it by beginning all over again,” through “an analysis—or deconstruction—of painting.”[150]

Her essay focuses on abstraction and Hafif discusses monochromatic thinking, the construction of support and ground, decisions about how the surface and edges are painted, and even how a monochromatic work should be hung. She concludes that “painting has been able to gather new energy by throwing things out and starting afresh.”[151] Hafif believes strongly in the potentialities of abstraction and the open, receptive nature of monochrome painting.

For Nosei’s exhibition, Hafif used Prussian Blue watercolor to paint directly on an entire wall, painting around an existing doorway. In relation to commentary later also expressed in her essay, it seems she had surpassed the notion of using abstraction to simply flatten out the canvas or to move shape to the edge by completely abandoning the use of canvas or stretcher as support and deconstructing the painting as an object. If abstraction served as a means to eliminate the figure-ground relationship of representation, but a monochromatic painting on a support became the figure on the ground of the wall, than Hafif sought in her wall paintings to eliminate that relationship. She wrote that “even one painting (hung) alone appropriated the wall to itself.”[152] By extending the wall painting all the way to the edges and meeting the adjacent walls, Hafif caused the wall itself to lose its quality as ground, transferring the composition from the wall to the surrounding architecture.[153]

[Marcia Hafif, Wall Painting: Prussian Blue, Julian Pretto Gallery, 1975, noted by Hafif to be very similar to the wall painting she created for the Painting exhibition (© Marcia Hafif).]

Wall painting represented only one area, in an inventory of fifteen major series, that Hafif has explored on the subject and history of painting, including as she lists them: “Pencil on Paper, Acrylic Paintings, An Extended Gray Scale, Oil Studies/Mass Tone, Watercolor, Egg Tempera on Wood, Ink Drawings, Wall Paintings, Neutral Mix Paintings, Broken Color Paintings, Black Paintings, Transparent Paintings, Roman Paintings, French Paintings, and Enamel on Wood.”[154] Obviously Hafif felt strongly that there was much about painting which remained to be investigated. She made clear in her essay that it would be individual artists who would decide whether or not continued investigation was necessary.

A number of artists included in the Painting, exhibition were interested in exploring the spatial boundaries of painting through three-dimensional works, three of whom—Ron Gorchov, Marilyn Lenkowsky and Ellen Phelan—were subsequently included in a 1980 exhibition on the subject at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.[155] In the early 1970s, Gorchov had developed a saddle-shaped support with rounded edges, over which he stretched the canvas. He has said that he found this device so interesting, that he was unable to do anything else for a time after, and felt compelled to focus on refining the support.[156] With his shaped canvas, Gorchov modified the traditional rectangle, affecting the painted surface in a way that it both recedes and advances simultaneously “curving in as well as out from the wall.”[157] Critic Phong Bui placed Gorchov within a consensus of collective thinking in which artists who questioned the viability of painting were experimenting with the canvas. He noted that these artists sought to “revive the relevancy of painting, without taking a defensive stand.”[158]

[Ron Gorchov’s studio circa 1975 (published in Art-Rite magazine 1975, accessed at The Museum of Modern Art Library).]

Gorchov has stated that the choices he makes when painting (form, content, color) are completely spatial. He expressed that “painting is about space and proportions and where things go” and stated that “form, if it is not the right color, it is not in the right place.”[159] Gorchov paints his canvases with both opaque strokes and thin, airy washes and renders two prominent symmetrical forms or marks in contrasting color to the monochromatic background. Though composed symmetrically on the canvas, the forms are biomorphic and asymmetrical. Gorchov was interested in the correspondence between the painted surface and overall structure. Bui points out that Gorchov desired “to create formidable structures that are comparable to sculptural objects” without violating “the integrity of the painting surface as a two-dimensional domain.”[160]

[Installation view showing Gorchov’s curved support and canvas, 2006 (photo published by MoMA PS1 on the occasion of a 2006 exhibition titled Ron Gorchov: Double Trouble).]

Critic Roberta Smith noted that in the second half of the 1970s, Gorchov pushed American abstract painting away from Minimalist austerity toward something more explicitly expressionistic. Gorchov worked to push forward the boundaries of the medium of painting. He said that painting “is an ideal way to criticize the work you already admire because that way you can take the best things in it and try to make your work be the next consequential step.”[161] He considered artistic progression to be compatible with his philosophy, and has pursued decades of such progression within the medium of painting.

Marilyn Lenkowsky was similarly stretching canvas over three-dimensional wood frameworks in 1976. Typically triangular in shape, hung on the wall and monochromatic, her loose painterly brushstrokes built up and remained visible on the surface in contrast to the imperceptibility of the artist’s hand found in works of Minimalism.[162] It has been said that one is always aware of form in her work, due to the distinct edges, but also that the image (or color) seemed to have soaked in and to be coming from within the material.[163]

[Marilyn Lenkowsky next to one of her triangular works which explored painterly boundaries through three-dimensional paintings (image published in Art-Rite magazine 1975).]

In speaking about influences upon his work in 1977, Gorchov said that after the painter John Graham and sculptor Tony Smith, it was younger artists who had the biggest influence on him, like Lenkowsky and Lynda Benglis. In discussing her own work in relation to Gorchov and other artists who were present for an interview in Art-Rite magazine’s special painting issue in the Spring of 1975, Lenkowsky said, “there is art that projects and art that searches—art that’s interested in finding something out. And all the people here want to find stuff out by doing art.” Lenkowsky was aware that she and her peers were relentlessly investigating art’s boundaries though she laughed at the quest’s potential futility. As she stated, “sometimes it seems funny to me or ludicrous that I’m spending my whole life doing something that I don’t even have a concept for—and I’m looking for something and I don’t even know if I’ll find it and if I found it, if I’d know it...”[165]

In contrast to Gorchov and Lenkowsky’s relative focus on shaped support, Ellen Phelan’s painting investigation has been broadly cast throughout her decades-long career across a number of areas, including abstraction, deconstruction, three-dimensionality, plein air landscape painting, and figuration. Her experimentation in these areas did not occur linearly, but with concurrent phases, looping back, and seamless fluidity between dimensions, medium and realm. Before moving to New York, Phelan had already begun dealing with “the problem of image/object” by taking “the canvas off the stretcher, folding it into zigzag shapes, and painting on both sides,” which she equated with Robert Morris’s felt pieces.[166] She became acquainted with Gorchov in 1973, and like other artists including Lenkowsky, was working with structural ideas.[167] In 1975, she showed what are referred to as her fan pieces, essentially floor-standing painted structures on canvas, supported from behind by wooden bars. The pieces resemble hand-held paper fans, though fully splayed and human-sized. Many thought of them as sculptures, but Phelan has said she considered them paintings and described them as her way of “stretching painting.”[168] They were a continuation of her earlier deconstructive work, but painted on only one side and relating to the shallow space of Cubism.[169]

[Ellen Phelan, Fan, wood and Pariscraft, ca. 1975 (image published in Bomb magazine Summer 2004).]

While Phelan created and showed other three-dimensional pieces in the late 1970s including tall vertical floor standing sculptures, in 1976 she spent the summer in the Adirondacks and began drawing and painting landscapes. Despite a perception by some that landscape drawing was kitsch or ironic, Phelan ignored the pressure of academic criticism and pursued what interested her in painting. At the same time, she continued to work in abstraction, creating paintings on modular groupings of L-shaped or square aluminum panels or on canvases with cutouts through to the wall like early metallic paintings by Frank Stella. Phelan’s cut-out paintings were large, horizontal canvases of gestural abstraction, with the perimeter of a rectangle cut-out in the center. Even when working in abstraction, Phelan was interested in juxtaposing painterly and geometric forms.[170]

Phelan later began a response to what she called the “prohibition against figuration” as she painted dark, mysterious portraits of her childhood dolls. She also created paintings from drawings or photographs and revisited her interest in painting still-lifes and landscapes. Critic Ken Johnson summarized that "Ellen Phelan has painted her way through a number of phases over the last three decades...what has remained consistent, besides an always assiduous care for the craft of painting, has been the Modernist tension between material surface and illusory depth and a postmodernist play between romance and irony."[171]

Painter and art historian Tom Wolf also dealt with abstraction and representation throughout his career. His piece in the Painting, exhibition was a large diptych made of two panels of plexiglass. Wolf painted on both sides of the plexiglass, a technique he continues to practice today. On the far side he painted a plane tilted in perspective and on the front he painted a dark but translucent colored layer of paint so that what was painted on the back showed through to the front. At the time of this exhibition, his work was abstract and quite flat, however over time it has become more spatial and perspectival. A couple of years after the Painting, exhibition, Wolf began depicting a representational image on the backside so that the viewer looked through the transparent colored layer of paint to another painted image underneath. He has experimented with painting this image by scaling it up from a photograph, or by over-painting and incorporating the actual photograph into the work. He determined that the paintings would be more effective if the images underneath were recognizable, hence the use of photographs. He continues to experiment with that juxtaposition today.

[Tom Wolf in his studio in 2014 holding a work similar to the ones included in the Painting, exhibition at the Fine Arts Building.]

A student of Tom Wolf’s at the time, Evriah Bader, was also included in the show. Her small, three-dimensional woodworks were narrow plywood panels, one foot long and less than one half inch wide. On the surface, Bader rendered letters and symbols with a typewriter covering the surface though illegibly. They were described as odd and intimate, structured visually and independent of language.[172] Bader was included in a number of shows around the time of the Fine Arts Building exhibition, although she is not practicing today. Along with others from Nosei’s show—Hafif, Judy Rifka and Daniel Buren—Bader showed work in the inaugural Rooms exhibition at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center in June of the same year and in the following year, her non-representational works were included in the Hallwall’s exhibition New Abstract Objects which also included Phelan.

In Art-Rite’s special painting issue, letters exchanged between Bader and artist and art historian, Alan W. Moore, were published discussing Bader’s works, her practice, and her future. With abbreviations for paintings (“ptgs”) and references to a recent party, they read like letters between teenagers. Describing them as “blotched” on all sides with paint, Moore goes on to discuss the visible layers of plywood in Bader’s works as looking as though one could flip through them and find more paintings. He asserts that in these works Bader is saying “‘no’ to the whole idea of the ptg [sic] as a privileged image, a single surface made particular by paint.” The thin nature of the pieces, for him, referenced illusionistic space—a door ajar, a crack of color. Bader responded by addressing her painting’s relationship to the wall saying,

I find greater pleasure in denying objects their usual precedence in our perception and alternating instead between peripheral vision and a sense of focus. More than to acknowledge, you have to confront the wall (and by extension, the world). As i [sic] see it, it’s the wall, not my paintings, that is the “literal” part of the interaction.[174]

In regards to the scale of her work she said,

when a thing is as tiny as half an inch wide (which is actually pretty big), knowing that it exists, being aware of it, is as important as seeing it. Once you know, you can never not know, and that goes just as much for knowing what's painted on a surface that you can’t quite see as it does for knowing what the sides are like when you’re looking at the front.[175]

This notion is quite true in that the concept of Bader’s narrow wooden paintings linger with you, long after looking, even if witnessed in documentation only. Furthermore, Bader’s references to scale and the perception of scale in relation to the spectator’s body echo the concerns of the Minimalists.

[Evriah Bader, Untitled, ca 1975, (photograph by Yuri, image of artwork reproduced in 1975 Art-Rite magazine).]

Bader further commented in her letter, “to make more and add more to the world is an increasingly suspicious proposition: the emphasis is always on more.”[176] In Nosei’s files, the following quote existed beside Bader’s name,

I have had to do much grappling with I and am understandable[sic] a little reluctant now. She, a less frightening opponent, is worse; source of myth. Perhaps my future is the out. Current plans; the reinforcement growing more peripheral. The tangibles, so easily equipped, may suit themselves. No presence in bulk alone. I believe in economics.[177]

Perhaps this aversion to adding more to the world provides some explanation as to why she has not continued practicing as a visual artist today.

Another artist in the Painting, exhibition, Judy Rifka, has worked fluidly within the space between abstraction and representation and continues to do so today. Her work often includes a gestural line indicating drawing, whether the line is formed with graphite, paper, or painted canvas. The images may be either complete abstractions or loose representations of hands, bodies, or settings. At times she has projected and traced onto the canvas or cropped and repeated images. She has worked with unorthodox materials such as mesh and cardboard, collaging and constructing her paintings on plywood, on the wall, and on paper. She has created shaped canvases, extended her paintings from support to the wall and created objects, large and small, which exist in the space between painting and sculpture. Rifka has always had an experimental approach to her work, showing in downtown nightclub, the Mudd Club, and at the performance space, Franklin Furnace. She exhibited along with the more than one hundred artists who participated in the 1980 “Times Square Show.” Associated with Collaborative Projects Inc. (Colab), Rifka is also a video artist and has collaborated throughout her career on projects across all media—film, performance, graffiti and digital art.

[Judy Rifka, Tone Poem XDLTE, 2013, Collage (image of artwork courtesy of Trestle Projects on the occasion of the 2014 exhibition Judy Rifka: Star Street).]

Though fully embracing the freedom to work across all media, when asked in 1975 about the importance of having a given area to express thought, Rifka pointed out that people who reacted against painting “still use our wall to project their slides against.”[178] She said, “I’m not concerned about being a painter doing painting; I’m much more interested in being an artist, with indications of everything I say and do being art, and also that drawing is the natural vehicle between physical existence and pictorial existence.”[179] Collage is also a consistent element in Rifka’s work. It has been noted by critic Robert Curcio that Nosei displayed a strong interest in collage as a curator. He recalled her discussion of language and collage as “connective tissue” and her belief that collage is “a method of production fused with the artist’s specific personal language, all speaking to the viewer and the world for them to decipher.”[180]

[Judy Rifka, Tone Poem XDLTE, 2013, Collage (image of artwork courtesy of Trestle Projects on the occasion of the 2014 exhibition Judy Rifka: Star Street).]

Demonstrating both experimentation across multiple forms, but stemming from painting, as well as the use of collage was the artist Carolee Schneemann. Nosei included Schneemann’s film, Fuses, in the Painting, exhibition at the Fine Arts Building. Schneemann had created the film a decade prior and described the process as “painting frame by frame.”[181] She discussed the elements present in the work as, “breaking frame, collage, montage, superimposition, fugal sequence.”[182] In regards to subject matter, Schneemann’s film featured her and her boyfriend, the composer James Tenney, having sex, however the images are somewhat abstracted due to her manipulation of the film.

When asked by filmmaker and critic Kate Haug whether a nude woman artist can be both image and image maker, she replied that she, “had to get that nude off the canvas.”[183] Schneemann was not comfortable with painting’s tradition of the nude as “frozen flesh to art history’s conjunction of perceptual erotics and an immobilizing social position.”[184] After filming the sexual act over time, as well as capturing footage of observation by her cat, Schneemann is said to have then stained, burned, and drawn on the film, cutting and layering images to create the final work.[185] Curator Maura Reilly observed that film was a natural extension of the canvas for Schneemann and called Fuses a filmic painting.[186] Schneemann herself said in 1993, “I’m a painter. I’m still a painter and I will die a painter. Everything that I have developed has to do with extending visual principles off the canvas.”[187]

In addition to painterly film, Nosei also included video in the exhibition. Ernest Gusella, like many of the artists active in the Fine Arts Building, displayed interdisciplinary tendencies, excelling in music, biochemistry and visual art. He received a gold medal in undergraduate painting at the San Francisco Art Institute and initially supported himself by working commercial art assignments and teaching, while painting hard-edge, abstract, shaped canvases.[188] After moving to New York and creating fiberglass works for a time, he stopped painting upon seeing his work “mixed in with a bunch of other artists’ work in the gallery. He said, “it all looked like commercial trash.”[189] Gusella has spoken of his evolution from painting as a result of “an old artistic fantasy” in which one could use sound to create images. He wanted to combine sounds and visuals, feeling frustrated and confined creatively. He said, “painting was frozen,” and pointed out that “the Greeks believed that music is the highest art because it can’t be captured.”[190] Gusella first started experimenting with video after encountering Woody and Steina Vasulka and Nam June Paik at the experimental art space, The Kitchen. He described a collaborative and encouraging environment among those gathering there. Of his initial experimentations, he recalled that he “started with black and white video, put mirrors in front of an oscilloscope, and used the Putney synthesizer to create the sound....I’d make a kind of permutation...multiplying the image. It was all abstract because I came out of abstract painting.”[191]

[ Ernest Gusella, Videotape, 1974 (image of artwork published on Video Data Bank at the School of Art Institute of Chicago).]

Gusella’s piece in the exhibition, titled Video Taping, is a distorted-looking, silent video with a split-screen; with one image appearing on half of the screen and its negative image on the other half. The visual is Gusella removing tape which has been applied to a sheet of glass between himself and the camera. Part performance, part exploration of abstract image perception, Gusella uses the technical aspects of video as the subject of his art.[192]

[Ernest Gusella, Videotape, 1974 (image of artwork published on Video Data Bank at the School of Art Institute of Chicago).]

Artist and critic Douglas Davis observed a common criticism of video artists stating that they are unable “to create new image-systems devoid of the memories of painting” and noted that others complained artists were jumping on the video bandwagon as “an electronic extension of Duchamp” in attempt to demolish the art object. Gusella was aware of such hostility toward video at the time, acknowledging that filmmaker Jonas Mekas called it “old wine in new bottles,” but he felt strongly that continued experimentation could go on indefinitely.[194] He said, “It’s like the prophet said, there’s nothing new under the sun...It’s only how different people respond to the wheel that keeps spinning around.”[195]

As many of the painters in the Painting, exhibition explored the spatial boundaries and characteristics of painting; those working in film, video, and performance from a painterly tradition considered also the temporal aspects of painting. Painter and video artist Hermine Freed observed as early as 1976 that “our sense of time has been so radically altered in the last quarter-century that it seems impossible today to consider visual perception without its temporal component.”[196] In video, but also in film and performance, the process is also the product and the works are communicated both visually and temporally.[197]

One artist in the exhibition, performance artist Ralston Farina was particularly focused on the element of time and declared it specifically to be his medium. His mission statement, preserved in The Museum of Modern Art’s library reads,

I am a time artist. My medium is time. My art reflects the surprises and the unexpectedness of everyday events. I’ll pour a box of dog biscuits and portable radios fall out...The timing will surprise you and the music will make you laugh. I use stylistic tendencies as a painter would color. Every show I do is different and of the time.

Farina was interested in programming his audience’s memory and, as critic Holland Cotter observed, he wanted his works “to exist only for as long as it stayed in a viewer's mind.” Cotter noted that this evanescence worked in contrast to the commercialization of the art world (and specifically painting) where art is geared to be sold and preserved.

[Exhibition announcement for time-based performance by Ralston Farina at Artists Space in the FAB; Farina was also included in the 1976 Painting exhibition (original flyer accessed in The Museum of Modern Art Library Performance Artist Files).]

Conceptual artist Daniel Buren, who created a work in situ for the exhibition, was also opposed to galleries and museums as “safes” for works of art. By consistently using pre-fabricated, alternating white and colored vertical stripes in widely varied conceptual installations since 1966, Buren has sought to challenge the notion of art exhibition from within these institutions. In some ways, there are similarities between Buren and other painters in the exhibition in their transformation of architectural space, but on the other hand his disdain for cultural institutions and traditional painting separates him. Buren said that “the ambition of the work...aims at nothing less than abolishing the code that has until now made art what it is, in its production and in its institutions.” Lest his philosophy be misconstrued as coinciding with Duchamp, it was pointed out by curator, critic, and dealer Jeffrey Deitch that Buren has positioned himself against the readymade or the idea that a gallery space or cultural institution could endow “an ordinary bottle rack with sacred art status” or “turn cheap art materials into valuable aesthetic commodities.

[Daniel Buren, Souvenir photo: “Within and Beyond the Frame” work in situ 1973 fabric, paint, steel cables; Work in situ for Daniel Buren’s solo exhibition at the John Weber Gallery in New York in October and November 1973. (© Daniel Buren / ADAGP, Paris).]

Douglas Crimp used Buren’s work as a primary example in his seminal essay titled “The End of Painting” in 1981. He commented,

It is fundamental to Buren’s work that it act in complicity with those very institutions that it seeks to make visible as the necessary conditions of the artwork’s intelligibility. That is the reason not only that his work appears in museums and galleries, but that it poses as painting. It is only thereby possible for his work to ask: What makes it possible to see a painting? What makes it possible to see a painting as a painting? And, to what end is painting under such conditions of its presentation?

Crimp goes further to interpret Buren’s intentions, “For he knows only too well that when his stripes are seen as painting, painting will be understood as the “pure idiocy” that it is.”

Crimp’s essay, which appeared in the magazine October, aggressively challenged the medium of painting. He heavily criticized Barbara Rose’s 1979 exhibition titled American Painting: The Eighties considering it a desperate attempt to affirm painting’s significance without asking critical questions. He closed his statement by saying that once Buren’s works are visible and interpreted clearly, “the end of painting will have finally been acknowledged.”

Connections can be construed between all the artists in the 1976 Painting, exhibition both in terms of the focus of their work and personal connections in the mid-1970s art scene in New York City. Hafif and Phelan had studios next to each other at PS1. Gorchov and Lenkowsky were friends and later married. Bader was Wolf’s student. Buren and Rifka were included in PS1’s Rooms exhibition. They all participated in the downtown arts scene, among which the Fine Arts Building played an important role. But most importantly, each of these artist sought to tease out, advance or investigate painting and its practice, to predict and participate in its evolution and future and to assert or refute its end.

Despite their efforts and Nosei’s astute curatorial approach to the Painting, exhibition, it would be idealistic to imagine that a single exhibition would resolve the issue. The debate continues today, as it has since the first century, and likely will ad infinitum. Regardless of the debate, painting continues and is certainly not dead. As the painter R.B. Kitaj said, “Passions for pictures like the Tempesta [sic] and for picture-making will always live in the race of men and women...Artists have always painted and drawn the human figure and they always will. Many people will understand this...the impulse is in our bones.”

Footnotes below

122 Phil Patton, “Other Voices, Other Rooms: The Rise of the Alternative Space,” Art in America, July/August, 1977, 88.

123 Annina Nosei Weber, Discussion, New York: Out of London Press, 1980.

124 Leah Dickerman, and Matthew Affron, Inventing Abstraction, 1910-1925: How a Radical Idea Changed Modern Art, New York: Museum of Modern Art, 2012, 7.

125 Ibid,13.

126 Kazimir Severinovich Malevich, The Non-Objective World: The Manifesto of Suprematism, Mineola, N.Y., Dover Publications, 2003.

127 Aleksandr Mikhaĭlovich Rodchenko, A. N. Lavrentʹev, Jamey Gambrell, and John E. Bowlt, Aleksandr Rodchenko: experiments for the future : diaries, essays, letters, and other writings, New York: Museum of Modern Art, 2005.

128 Allan Kaprow and Jeff Kelley, Essays on the Blurring of Art and Life, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993; Originally published as Allan Kaprow,‘ “The Legacy of Jackson Pollock,” Art News, 57, no. 6, October 1958.

129 Kaprow and Kelley, Essays on the Blurring of Art and Life, 1993.

130 Donald Judd, "Specific Objects," Arts Yearbook 8 (1965), 94.

131 Ibid., 94.

132 Michael Fried, Art and Objecthood: Essays and Reviews, Chicago [Ill.]: the University of Chicago Press, 1998. Originally published in 1967.

133 Amy Newman, Challenging Art: Artforum, 1962-1974, New York, N.Y.: Soho Press, 2000.

134 Jo Baer, “Letter to the Editors,” Artforum, Vol. 14, No. 1, September 1977, 5-6.

135 Max Kozloff, “Painting and Anti-Painting: A Family Quarrel,” Artforum, Vol. 14, No. 1, September 1977, 41.

136 Max Kozloff, “Painters Reply...,” Artforum, Vol. 14, No. 1, September 1977, 26.

137 Wolf Kahn, “Painters Reply...,” Artforum, Vol. 14, No. 1, September 1977, 27.

138 Kozloff, “Painters Reply...,” 32.

139 Kozloff, “Painters Reply...,”30.

140 Dona Nelson, “Painters Reply...,” 30.

141 Gene Davis, “Painters Reply...,” 26.

142 Edwin Ruda, “Painters Reply...,” 34.

143 Stephen Greene, “Painters Reply...,” 27.

144 Rudolph Baranik, “Painters Reply...,” 26.

145 Allan McCollum, “Painters Reply...,” 30.

146 Greene, “Painters Reply...,” 27.

147 Paul Staiger, “Painters Reply...,” 35.

148 “Marcia Hafif: About the Artist,” Hammer Museum, Accessed March 8, 2014, http://hammer.ucla.edu/made-in-la- 2014/marcia-hafif/#.

149 Marcia Hafif, “Beginning Again,” Artforum, Vol. 17, No. 1, September 1978.

150 Ibid.

151 Ibid.

152 Ibid.

153 Jean-Charles Massera, Marcia Hafif, From the Inventory, catalog for the exhibition in 1994 at the Kunsthalle Barmen in Wuppertal-Barmen, 53-59.

154 Ibid.

155 The 3 Dimensional PAINTING exhibition also included Lynda Benglis, Stuart Diamond, Ralph Humphrey, John Obuck, Barbara Schwartz, Frank Stella and John Torreano.

156 Early Work by Five Contemporary Artists, exhibition catalogue, November 11-December 30, 1977, The New Museum, 1977.

157 Judith Tannenbaum, 3 Dimensional Painting, exhibition catalogue, August 2-November 9, 1980, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, 1980.

158 Phong Bui and Robert Storr, RON GORCHOV: DONDE SE OCULTA EL ALMA/WHERE THE SOUL HIDES, Centro Atlantico de Arte Moderno, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 2011. Published by Ediciones Turner, S.A., Madrid. Distributed in the U.S.A. by Artbook, 8.

159 Ron Gorchov and Nathlie Provosty, “RON GORCHOV with Nathlie Provosty Webexclusive,” The Brooklyn Rail, April 2, 2014, Accessed June 2014, http://www.brooklynrail.org/2014/04/art/ron-gorchov-with-nathlie-provosty.

160 Bui, and Storr, RON GORCHOV: DONDE SE OCULTA EL ALMA/WHERE THE SOUL HIDES, 8.

161 Ron Gorchov and Robert Storr, “Ron Gorchov in Conversation with Robert Storr,” The Brooklyn Rail, September 2006, 24- 26.

162 Tannenbaum, 3 Dimensional Painting, 1980.

163 “Painters (Group One).” Art-Rite, Spring 1975, 31-32.

164 Other artists present in the casual conversation printed in Art-Rite magazine were Barbara Schwartz, David Reed, and John Torreano.

165 “Painters (Group One)”, 34.

166 Phong Bui, “Ellen Phelan with Phong Bui,” The Brooklyn Rail, February, 2009.

167 Ibid.

168 Ibid.

169 Ibid.

170 “New York Reviews.” ARTNews, 1985, 133.

171 Ken Johnson, "ART IN REVIEW: Ellen Phelan," The New York Times, April 5, 2002.

172 New Yorker, February 7, 1977.

173 Alan Moore and Evriah Bader, “Evriah Bader,” Art-Rite, Spring 1975, 20.

174 Ibid.

175 Ibid.

176 Ibid.

177 Ibid.

178“Painters (Group Two).” Art-Rite, Spring 1975, 38.

179 Ibid.

180 Robert Curcio, “Annina Nosei,” ArtVoices Magazine, accessed June 2014, http://artvoicesmagazine.com/2013/03/anninanosei/.

181 Carolee Schneemann: Imaging Her Erotics: Essays, Interviews, Projects.

182 Ibid.

183 Ibid.

184 Ibid.

185 Scott MacDonald, "Carolee Schneemann's "Autobiographical Trilogy," Film Quarterly 34: Vol. 1, Autumn 1980, 27–32.

186 “Painting, What It Became,” Carolee Schneemann: Within and Beyond the Premises, New Paltz: State University of New York Press, 2010.

187 Carolee Schneemann: Imaging Her Erotics: Essays, Interviews, Projects. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2002.

188 Victor Ancona, “Ernest Gusella: Pleasing Artists and the Public Alike,” Videography, February 1978.

189 Julia Dzwondkoski and Kye Potter, “The Sky Opened Up with Answers,” Onestar Press, 2009, 75. 190 Ibid., 77.

191 Ibid., 76.

192 Ancona, “Ernest Gusella: Pleasing Artists and the Public Alike,” 1978.

193 Douglas Davis, “Video in the Mid-’70s: Prelude to an End/Future,” Video Art: An Anthology. ed. by Ira Schneider and Beryl Korot. Harcourt, 1976, 196.

194 Dzwondkoski and Potter, “The Sky Opened Up with Answers,” Onestar Press, 76.

195 Ibid., 76.

196 Hermine Freed, “Where Do We Come From?, Where are We?, Where are We Going?,” Video Art: An Anthology. ed. by Ira Schneider and Beryl Korot. Harcourt, 1976, 211.

197 Ibid., 211.

198 Ralston Farina, “Mission Statement,” Museum of Modern Art, New York, Artist Files.

199 Holland Cotter, “Nothing to Spend, Nothing to Lose,” New York Times, accessed October 31, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/01/arts/design/rituals-of-rented-island-performance-art-at-thewhitney.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.

200 Daniel Buren and Philippe Hunt. Reboundings: An Essay. Brussels: Daled & Gevaert, 1970.

201 Jeffrey Deitch, “Daniel Buren: Painting Degree Zero,” Arts Magazine, vol 51, no. 2, 88-91.

202 Crimp, “The End of Painting,” 72.

203 Ibid., 86.

204 Ibid.

205 Kozloff, “Painters Reply...,” 28.

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