#that had changed to this era of indie

[ohdarlings]

2014 british indie …. you just had to be there

[askagamedev]

How much executive meddling occurs in the game industry and development cycles?

There's practically never executive meddling in indie games because there are practically no executives involved. In AAA games, the vast majority of executive meddling comes in only one situation - when the development process for a game goes off the rails and is in danger of going far over budget, missing their ship date, and/or missing their minimum shippable quality bar. This wasn't always the case back in the PS2 era, where publishers were much more hands-on about wanting and demanding certain things, but the high profile failures in large part due to executive meddling have significantly changed things over the past twenty years. Nowadays, studios are given "enough rope to hang themselves" - a free hand to do exactly as they like until they cause their own imminent demise.

I've worked for a lot of publisher-owned studios in my career. I've worked at studios owned by Sony, Microsoft, Activision, and Electronic Arts. I was there in the early executive meddling era and I've been here for the post-meddling era. Since 2006, every studio I've worked at has been given enough rope to hang itself. The ones who don't hang themselves are the ones who are disciplined about the scope and the feature set of the game they are building. They have a schedule, they have a feature set, and they stick to it. You may have guessed the kind of games these tend to be - the franchise games with regular release schedules and the live service games with regular content updates all hope to stay in this lane.

Every game that I worked on that was not good had key problems that could be traced to the team's leadership being unwilling to commit to major choices. This results in a negative feedback loop - developers aren't willing to put in their best work only to see it tossed out, which leads to half-assed prototypes, which leads to the leadership changing their minds. This process typically repeats until the publishers get nervous at the lack of progress and the impending ship date, which leads to pressure to commit, which leads to a brutal crunch to ship something at the end.

When executive meddling happens, it's typically to replace the waffling leadership with somebody whose goal isn't to build the game that was promised, but to get the ailing project to ship at all. The publisher may also call in [rescue operators] to try to save the project if they need experts in key fields. Executive meddling happens when the project absolutely needs to ship and doesn't have the option of [delaying the release].

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[centrally-unplanned]

I watched two documentaries recently that were very "2000's nerd culture" which I thought were very fun! In like a meta way as cultural commentary, of course, it is me after all. The first was Indie Game: The Movie, a 2012 documentary on the making Braid, Super Meat Boy, and Fez. It is a "creator-focused" documentary and in particular for the latter two games the film crew actually filmed them mid-production & release, which does make for some authentically heartfelt scenes.

So in a certain sense all eras of documentary will contain this, but the 2000's going into the 2010's was absolutely rife with a new wave of films, often supported by crowdsourcing funds like Indie Game was, primarily concerned with the self-legitimization of niche subcultures. By creating something cohesive, academic, and prestigious like a documentary, the film can codify the subculture as "real" and "worthy", and additionally lend credence to narratives about the subculture that have grown prevalent. And to be clear, this is not a criticism, even if there are parts that are - all meaning and identity is forged in similar ways. But for nerd culture in the 2000's, there was a particularly intense need for this process, because this was the era of nerdom going mainstream. That level of culture shift generated demand for all the above, which films like this aim to supply. There were lot of films of this type - we made a brony "documentary" propaganda film guys, nothing was exempt.

Indie Game is overwhelmingly the story of outsider artists bleeding and dying for their art, which will triumph above all odds. And it leans, heavily, into the bleed; at one point Phil Fish (creator of Fez), openly states he might commit suicide if his game fails. Much screen time is spent on personal sacrifice, financial poverty, the "doubters", etc. This is of course a classic tale for artists, but if I may be so bold that is something of an easy sell - emotionally, narratively - for someone writing the Great American Novel. It is maybe harder to sell if you are making this?

(Cover art by Bryan Lee O'Malley btw - very era appropriate!) How do we make "dude in hat solves puzzles" worth the Starving Artist life?

We do that by positioning these games not as games, but as paradigms. These games, by dint of being the independent vision of unitary creators, are making games that Big Gaming never could. New digital means of distribution are allowing artists to cut out the middleman of publishers, groups that corrupt the real vision of creators. And with no barriers to development, now anyone (maybe...even you?) can make games that can compete in the big leagues. Indie games through this lens are a different product than mainstream titles, and these creators are opening doors. And their suffering is going to be financially rewarded with success and money to boot! That is the narrative Indie Game is selling to its audience of gamers, to understand why the indie games they bought and loved are meaningful.

And to be clear, as much as I am about to deconstruct this, it isn't like totally false or anything. Starting in the late 2000's digital platforms like Steam, more accessible development tools like Unity (released in 2005), and so on did in fact make smaller games appealing to more niche markets more viable, and by virtue of their nicheness yeah they can do things big budget games maybe can't. These creators absolutely had passionate visions for their games, sacrifice for your passions is fine (not bashing that part here), hats off to them. Indie games in this era would absolutely "change gaming".

But not really in the ways this narrative wants them to, nor with the "meaning" people of the time expected it to have. For one, there is a conflict in this documentary of them wanting to highlight "bold new visions" and also wanting to highlight...popular indie games. This is Super Meat Boy, for example:

Yeah, never had a 2D platformer blob guy dodging traps before in gaming! "No see its retro" yeah retro to what, old games? Like those Nintendo made back in the 90's, which you explicitly mention in your documentary? You know, niche indie studio Nintendo? This isn't a bash, at all, at the game itself, but instead the idea that "AAA Studios would never"; they totally would, and always did. There has never been an era where the large gaming studios weren't also making creative games, but for this narrative they need to be propped up as static for it to make sense. And the actual niche indie stuff that big studios wouldn't touch don't sell well enough to justify being in this film!

And the idea of the "solo developer" is also, hm, let us say a bit sus. Not that these developers weren't solo or small teams, they were (though ofc a solo core creator will often have dozens of helpers on supporting roles that get sidelined in this "unitary vision" narrative); but that such a model is all that new? How big do you think development teams were in the 90's for so many classic games? The original Pokemon Red/Blue game had less than a dozen core developers (the total staff list, including American localizers, is ~30 people - Super Meat Boy meanwhile seems to have 16 for comparison). You wanna bring up the dev teams for PC-98 visual novels? They were made in an Akihabara cave with a box of pixel art scraps by like 6 people! You think those games didn't have "unitary creative visions"? Small gaming companies have always been a part of the ecosystem, getting niche titles funded & published using insane magic and pure luck. The "indie boom" is better seen as a change in the numerator.

Though what did change is that, by being self-published, development was approachable by outsiders in new ways. Though even then, this is a bit of a lie - Jonathan Blow of Braid was an industry veteran, and everyone here plays the "convention circuit" and networks with people like the PAX crew and Xbox representatives. But with the games being published by an individual over a studio, even a studio of a half dozen people, it is far easier for the audience to see the creators as "one of them". No office, no suits, just a man in his gamer den banging out his dream. That aesthetic is core to why this narrative was potent at the time, and why making a documentary to codify it was seen as compelling. It takes an already ascendant idea, polishes it, packages it as nonfiction, and then sells the idea back to the people who invented it. LIke so much media, to be clear! I always enjoy seeing it, it is the dialectic of culture in action.

I also find it very funny to see a documentary made in 2012 playing tropes that will become far more ~problematic~ just around the corner. Burnout and work-life balance - in a documentary where a developer, crying, discusses suicide if his game fails, to remind you - is pretty much never mentioned, and a successful game launch is absolutely presented as justifying endless crunch. You would never see that today. The only women in this documentary are wives and parents - which is very amusing, because the co-creator of the film is a woman! No one thinks gender is relevant to mention. Boy would that change in a few years.

Indie games today, of course, are just a segment of the gaming market. They are incredibly common now, so much so that most people lose money making them, people discuss oversaturation, big studio companies have "indie wings" to cover consumer preference ranges, etc. There is no magic in it anymore, it is just dev strategy. So yeah, very enjoyable as a representative time capsule in a strain of culture that is pretty much gone now! The Capital-R Romantic Era of indie gaming; what a time.

In the next post, we are going much more niche, so stay tuned for that. Or don't, I don't know you, and like this was a loooot of writing. Maybe i'll, idk work on that for the next one? ...I probably won't -_-

[dreaminrainbows]

Happy 28th lovies!

September was such a hectic month, i had three concerts in the span of a week, one of which was Louis', the end of the Festival Louis Era, the start of uni and my fav F1 driver being dropped (i was also deep in my Veronica Mars feels for a chunk of the month). It has been a rollercoaster of emotions to say the least but here are all the fics i read this month that made it a million times better!

Consider leaving comments and kudos, feed your authors the attention they deserve!

My Hands at Risk, I Fold by yourgorgeouscolors | [43.7k|

"Sometimes, when Louis first wakes up, he thinks he’s back in the hospital, and panic hits him." Or, Harry is a famous popstar, Louis is a famous football player and one injury changes everything.

Deemed and Delivered a Crime  by LetTheMusicMoveYou/ @letthemusicmoveyou28 | [35.4k]

Harry keeps his voice low and calm. “I need you to listen very closely because I’m only going to say this once.” When he’s only greeted with silence on the other end, Harry continues. “For every hair that is harmed on Louis Tomlinson’s head, I am going to break one of your bones. And then when you’re reduced to a pathetic little pile on the floor, my men and I are going to kick around your limp carcass in my garden for footie practice. Do you understand?” There’s a few more beats of silence, before the voice on the other line answers. Still sounding calm and unbothered by Harry’s creative threat. “I’m glad you received our message Mr. Styles. Are you ready to settle on a suitable sum for Mr. Tomlinson’s release?” (Or the one where Harry is the most feared mob boss in London. Louis is his ex-husband who left that violent life two years ago to teach Uni. His peace is shattered when he’s kidnapped by Harry’s rivals).

you are half of me (and I am all for you) by angelichl/@angelichl | [24.7k]

One Direction, an obscure indie rock band, is about to embark on their first cross-country tour, living out of Louis' beloved van named Patricia. Harry is in love, and Louis is oblivious. Or is he? Featuring skinny-dipping in Texas waterfalls, getting lost in the desert, stargazing under the New Mexico sky, performing in front of crowds that grow in size each night, and falling in love on the road during the greatest summer of their lives.

Please Tell Me That You've Got Me by ColourfulSuitmoon/@colorfulsuitmoon | [20.6k]

“This was a pleasure, ladies. I’ll see you tomorrow,” Louis says. He then turns to Harry and gives him a smile. “I’ll see you tomorrow too, kitten.” Harry is stuck staring at the door where Louis just disappeared through. “Did he say…” Harry starts. “Kitten,” Florence says with a nod. “Harry…” “No, it’s just a fluke. It doesn’t mean anything,” Harry says firmly. Or a world where the nickname your soulmate will call you appears on your chest on your 18th birthday and Harry wakes up with the only name he hates.

Chasing Feelings by Neondiamond/@neondiamond | [20k]

When homicide detective Louis Tomlinson first gets assigned to work with detective Harry Styles, the newest addition to the Doncaster police station, on the biggest case of his career, he’s less than enthused about it. There’s a serial killer on the loose, and Louis has no time to waste working with a newbie, despite how attracted his inner Alpha may be to Harry’s sweet scent. Along the way, he finds he may have been too quick to judge the Omega.

Language Of A Petal by bittersweetsin/@bittersweetsin | [15k]

“Wait, you're reading Divin-“ “-Divined Souls? Yup,” Harry finishes for him. Starving off a grin, Louis says, “Have you actually been stalking me all this time and just lied about not knowing me?” “Guess we’ll never know.” or Louis is a librarian, and Harry comes in all the time to return books he’s finished reading. Every time Louis opens the book to check for any damages, there’s always a flower hidden in between one of the pages, specifically on a paragraph that has a deep meaning.

Heat and Greet  by HoldingOnToChaos/@holdingontochaos | [12.4k]

Harry and Louis are co-workers who are excited to represent the company they work for and do an important presentation at a week-long conference in Yosemite. It's just their luck that Harry slips into heat while there. Panicked at the thought of missing the presentation, Harry asks Louis to help him through it. And how could Louis deny the omega he's been dreaming about since they met?

I Feel It When My Heart Beats by QuickedWeen/@becomeawendybird | [10.6k]

Harry offers to be her best friend Liam's fake date to his work Valentine's Day party, and the night takes an unexpected turn.

One Minute Old by crimsontheory/@ireallysawanangel | [9.2k]

“And he left you,” Niall interjects, the venom clear in his voice. “That asshole left you high and dry and broke your heart.” Of course, Niall remembers that. Louis may have told him everything—minus the sexy parts—and Naill, being the overprotective mother friend that he is, took offence to that. “He didn’t break my heart,” Louis refutes. He was hurt and confused by it but he wasn’t heartbroken. And apparently, he’s still hurt by it if the way it felt seeing Harry yesterday was any indication. “You were pretty smitten with him and then you spent days moping around your apartment after he left. I think that’s called being heartbroken,” Niall points out. “Okay, okay, I was upset. We get it,” Louis says, trying to move past it. This isn’t ‘poke fun at Louis’ emotions hour’. “Anyway, I called to tell you that he showed up at my door yesterday.” “To beg for your forgiveness I hope.” “No, he’s—” Louis stops, unsure how to phrase it. “He’s pregnant. And I’m the father.” Or, a one-night stand of Louis' that he never thought he'd see again shows up at his door six months later.

Ride My Sleigh Tonight  by kingsofeverything/@kingsofeverything | [9k]

In exchange for free food and drinks at Liam’s office holiday party, Harry pretends to be his boyfriend. But this is not that story.

Tight As A Tourniquet by reminiscingintherain/@reminiscingintherain | [7.4k]

“Mum?” “Yes, poppet?” “Could I do your job when I’m a grown-up?” “I don’t see why not, sweetie,” she agreed. “You can do anything you want, as long as you put the work in, and dedicate yourself to it.” Louis Tomlinson has always wanted to be a midwife like his mum, but in a world where it's expected for Omegas to be the caregivers, how is he going to manage his career when he presents as an Alpha?

Now That I've Found You by allwaswell16/@allwaswell16 | [6k]

Harry Styles has a great job working for his brother-in-law’s construction company. He has just one small problem. His concrete sub-contractor just quit, and he needs a foundation built as soon as possible. One fateful turn brings him exactly what he’s been looking for—an experienced concrete construction company that happens to be owned by the most beautiful man he’s ever laid eyes upon. Or Louis is a long haired, sweaty construction worker. Does anyone really need to know more than that? Harry doesn’t think so.

There's No Better Love by QuickedWeen/@becomeawendybird | [5.3k]

Louis has just started seeing this girl, and he can't stop thinking about her. Turns out the power of positive thinking is real.

The Nest by Blue_Green28/@bluegreen28fics | [5k]

Harry is a very particular omega who doesn't like to have items of Louis' in his nest until he secretly starts to steal them for it. or, 5 times one of Louis' personal items is missing and 1 time he finally finds them.

Profound Bond by babyhoneyhslt/@babyhoneyheslt | [4.6k]

Harry Styles, an Angel Of The Lord, is sent on a mission to save hunter Louis Tomlinson from the deepest pits of Hell in order for him to fulfill Heaven's plan.

The World Will Open Its Arms by lululawrence/@lululawrence | [4.5k]

Harry scrubbed at the countertop. It wasn’t even dirty, but it was three in the morning and the girl who was supposed to relieve him over an hour ago never showed. He was now on hour ten of his shift and his feet hurt and his back ached and he was trying not to cry, thanks to more fucking judgmental alpha truckers who could smell it on him. Of course they could. He practically lived at the diner. The entire place reeked of it. Unbonded pregnant omega.

Alone and Back Again by LadyLondonderry/@londonfoginacup | [4.4k]

Harry Styles has very few enemies, and even fewer friends. On the outskirts of the village, past the stream but before the river, sits a small one-room cottage, cool in the summers but draughty in the winters. In that one room cottage sits a cooking pot over a fire, a smaller selection of woodworking tools, and a nest of furs that is the pride and joy of one lonely omega. Or, what does one do when a feral alpha shows up in town ready to be executed?

The Rose & Dagger  by galastyles | [4k]

The first time Harry went to a session at The Rose And Dagger, he told himself it was a one time thing. The second time, he said it was to get the idea out of his system. By the fifth visit, he stopped making excuses.

Up on the Roof with a School Girl Crush by HelloLovers13/@hellolovers13 | [3.9k]

Harry was just trying to get some work done and have a quiet night in. He did not expect to become host to a drunken Louis, who had overestimated his Halloween costume's ability to fly.

He's An Angel  by cc_horan28/@cc-horan28 | [2.7k]

As the sun set over the horizon and they reeled their lines in, Louis saw a glint off the beach. They began to head back to where the horses were tied, and the glint solidified, turning into a vague shape that was… Coming out of the sea? Louis couldn’t believe his eyes as he saw what looked like a man just walk out along the shoreline to where their rides were tethered. The shopkeepers and locals were all whipping to stare at him, but the man seemed completely unbothered.

Just a Little Taste, Babe by allwaswell16/@allwaswell16 | [2.6k]

Harry’s been pining over Louis Tomlinson since their sixth form days. Now, he’s backstage at Louis’ concert and trying not to embarrass himself.

HOT TO GO! by allwaswell16/@allwaswell16 | [2k]

When Harry does something weird at the barricade, he leaves Louis’ show devastated and hoping he can somehow make things right. Or the accidental pervert fic

A Tight Space  by haztobegood/@haztobegood | [2k]

Niall pushes the bedroom door open. A huge mass of brown fur bolts between his legs. Louis startles with a hand to his chest. “What the fuck was that?” “Oh, that’s the cat. I told you Liam found a stray a few days ago. That’s him.” “Are you sure that’s a cat?”

and in those rare moments by we_are_the_same/@so-why-let-your-voice-be-tamed | [2k]

London, May 23rd, 2025 Interview with Harry Styles, popstar, bisexual icon and philanthropist, by Louis W. Tomlinson.

for your eyes only (i’ll show you my heart) by moon_rose25/@darkinfinity | [1.9k]

Louis quickly opened his eyes and scanned the room, his eyes stopping on the sofa on the far left side. There was a man, turned with his back towards Louis, and based on his slow rise and fall of his back he guessed he was sleeping. If he had to guess, it was probably an omega, based on the faint scent. Or omega Harry has touch depri and finds comfort in alpha Louis’ scent

How to Fire a Tailor by LadyLondonderry/@londonfoginacup | [1.8k]

Harry Styles is a tailor. His best paying customer is an eccentric duke. Also Niall is there.

Singing Like a Bird 'Bout It Now  by QuickedWeen/@becomeawendybird | [1.8k]

Dr. Louis Tomlinson is worn to the bone, but only has a few patients left before the end of the day. One of those appointments takes quite a few twists and turns.

Cosy Cashmere  by red_panda28/@red-pandaaa | [1.5k]

“Hey,” Harry smiled back, stretching out a hand. “So, I was thinking,” Louis started as he stepped closer to the couch, tangling the finger of his unoccupied hand with Harry’s. “We could go get some new nesting stuff for my upcoming heat? Well, I’m gonna go anyway, but I thought I’d ask if you’d like to come with me.” “Alright, give me like, fifteen minutes to change and then we can go,” Harry said. OR Louis and Harry go shopping for new nesting stuff

Curiosity by HelloLovers13/@hellolovers13 | [934]

Fae Harry lets curiosity get the best of him. Human Louis is intrigued.

Expresso by reallynotmemoi/@reallynotmemoi | [880]

Louis falls in love at first sight with a boy from his Tuesday lectures, and proceeds to make a fool out of himself in front of said boy. But maybe not all is lost…

****

saccharine desire by DaddyAlphaLouisBabyOmegaHarry/@bottomhaztoplou | [682]

During Louis' rut, a new kink is discovered.

Tumblr only allows me to add 30 pics BOOHOO!!

Anyways Happy reading!

Don't be shy leave comments and kudos!

You have no idea how appreciated they are!!

[xinfinityl0ve17]

- WHAT's IN? Pictorial ワッツインピクトリアル 1998年7月

All the photo credits to kamitribute

I did a translation on this magazine. If you'd like to correct me please feel free! I hope you enjoy!

"I want you to open your heart and feel. I believe that as humans, there are moments when we can feel something and change ourselves due to unexpected triggers..."

MALICE MIZER

Human Science High Sciety Syndrome

— I’ve lived this way. That’s why, after entering society and starting MALICE MIZER, I feel like I began to think about humanity. The more I think about it, the more negative I feel. Yuki, you’ve had a bit of experience as a salaryman, right?

Yu~ki: Ah, but at that time, I was surrounded by really good people, so I was very fortunate. I feel like my life has always been supported by wonderful people. However, once I entered society, I started to feel the difference between the adult world I envisioned as a child and reality. While I understand that people have their own circumstances, there were times I became almost socially anxious with each encounter. But with MALICE MIZER, there are moments when closing myself off from the world allows for better expression.

— Being blessed by people, does that mainly refer to the members?

Yu~ki: That’s right, of course.

— What about you, Kozi?

Ko: I’m very grateful. As a child, I liked sci-fi manga, and I was thinking of talking about that. However, I recently realized that the reason I started pondering questions like, "What is humanity?" is rooted in something different. It’s about dreams.

— You mean the dreams you have while sleeping?

Ko: Yes, yes. I keep having dreams with similar scenarios, so I started to wonder why. I believe dreams make us conscious of what lies in our subconscious. What exists in our subconscious is likely suppressed by our daily lives. For example, as a baby, I would cry when I was hungry, unable to suppress my desires. But as I grew older, I learned to control myself. I think that the raw essence of my consciousness is suppressed and exists in the unconscious.

— By the way, Kozi, you mentioned that you were attention-seeking in elementary school, right?

Ko: Yes, I wanted to be the star of the school play. I was also the sports committee president (laughs). I think over the years, I became more suppressed and turned into a darker person.

— In MALICE MIZER, do you think you’re trying to liberate that suppressed unconscious?

Ko: Perhaps that aspect is there. — Lastly, I’d like to reflect on the history of MALICE MIZER's performances in terms of expressing " What is humanity?"

— What kind of discussions did you have among the members?

M: Things like the flow of time—past, present, future. Is destiny predetermined? Where is the end of the universe? That sort of thing.

Ko: We used to talk about these things naturally back then.

M: Yeah, it wasn’t like, "Shall we discuss this?

— Were there expressions of "What is humanity?" in your indie-era stage performances? Perhaps in the opening?

M: Hmm, yes, in the live shows...

Ko: I put my heart into the openings (laughs). In the early days, everyone was still playing their instruments properly, so there was only the opening where we would come out empty-handed.

M: When we performed at Shinjuku Loft (a live house), in the opening, the three of us, Kozi, Kami and Yu~ki came on stage suddenly and started fighting. Of course, there was music playing in the background.

— What were you specifically trying to express with that?

M: That’s a really difficult question. Just try to imagine it (laughs).

— I kind of get it...

M: Also, in the opening, I would pull Yu~ki, who was chained, onto the stage and whip him. Yu~ki looked cold and frightened, like a doll.

— That sounds like SM play.

M: We expressed "What is humanity?" in the world of SM. At that time, we didn’t really have any happy performances. The name MALICE MIZER...

— It comes from malice and tragedy, right?

M: So, we’re trying to express the malice and tragedy that lurks deep within humanity, which is why there are many cruel elements.

— Chains were one of your signature techniques, right?

M: Also blood (laughs). In the early days, we used paint for that, but it evolved over time. We were constantly experimenting with detailed performances, setups, and stage designs from our indie days, leading to the wonderful stages of MALICE MIZER today.

Ko: It’s true that our past is what brought us to where we are now, but we’re still in the middle of experimentation. Our attitude of always trying to create something new will continue.

M: There’s no end to it. The audience is also a part of creating our stage. So I want them to open their hearts and watch and feel. I believe there are moments when people can feel something and change themselves due to unexpected triggers. I, too, didn’t know what I should do as a teenager, but I was able to change because of a certain trigger, and I sometimes receive letters from fans saying the same. I would be happy if MALICE MIZER’s CDs or live shows could serve as that trigger."

[whencyclopedia]

Native American Enslavement in Colonial America

Slavery was practiced by the Native Americans before any Europeans arrived in the region. People of one tribe could be taken by another for a variety of reasons but, whatever the reason, it was understood that the enslaved had done something – staked himself in a gamble and lost or allowed himself to be captured – to warrant such treatment.

This model changed with the arrival of the Spanish in the West Indies in 1492 and their colonization of that region, South, and Central America throughout the 16th century. Native Americans were then enslaved simply for being Native Americans. In North America, after the English arrived, Native Americans were at first enslaved as prisoners of war but, eventually, were taken and sold to plantations in the West Indies to clear the land for expansion of English colonies.

This practice continued throughout the colonial era aided and encouraged by Native American tribes themselves up through 1750 and, after the American War of Independence (1775-1783), natives were pushed into the interior as African slavery became more lucrative. Even so, the enslavement of Native Americans continued even after slavery was abolished by the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in 1865. Americans got around illegal enslavement of natives by calling it by other names and justified it in the interests of "civilizing the savages". The practice continued up through 1900, dramatically impacting Native American cultures, languages, and development.

Native American Slavery & Columbus

Native American tribes were incredibly diverse, each with their own culture, and far from the cohesive, unified civilization they are often represented as under the umbrella term "Native American" or "American Indian". Each tribe understood itself as inherently superior to others and although they would form alliances for short periods in a common cause, or for longer periods as confederacies, they frequently warred with each other for goods, in the name of tribal honor, and for captives, among other reasons.

Men, women, and children taken captive were then enslaved by the victorious tribe, sometimes for life and other times for a given number of years and, in still other cases, until they were adopted and became members of the tribe. People could also be enslaved as hostages, held to ensure compliance with a treaty, and in some tribes, people were not only enslaved for life but any children born to them were also considered slaves, thereby creating a slave class long before the arrival of Europeans.

This model changed after the arrival of Christopher Columbus (l. 1451-1506) in the West Indies in 1492 and the Portuguese in 1500. Columbus kidnapped natives he brought back to Spain as slaves on his first voyage and sent over 500 back on his second. Between 1493-1496, he implemented the encomienda system, which institutionalized Native American enslavement throughout the Spanish colonies of the New World, and, by the time the French, Dutch, and English began colonizing North America, the Transatlantic Slave Trade was already established.

Continue reading...

[industrations]

Your new pfp is throwing me off because I associate “blond chibi profile art” with fen SO MUCH that I saw your new art and had a genuine moment of: “Wait, fen does art now? And why does it look so much like Indi’s art style??” hgljflhshk my brain is broken, I fear

The brunette association is strong. Years of rehab needed.

Hahaha yeah i’m someone who’s very particular about my pfp as well. I usually keep them for long periods of time because autism lol. And it took me so long to get used to the blond and blue instead of the red/brunette

It’s funny tho because fen is actually not a blonde anymore and changes hairstyles faster then i can say their username so i owe him a new pfp

Also @alarainai art era when?

[mrs-stans]

‘A Different Man’: Oscar-Nominated Makeup Artist Explains the Link Between Storytelling and Prosthetics

Mike Marino, who also worked on HBO’s “The Penguin,” earned his third Oscar nom for the Sebastian Stan film about self-acceptance

Face masks from the making of "A Different Man" (A24)

“I’m basically a storyteller, just with the skin on a character’s face,” explained Mike Marino, the prosthetics maestro whose reputation is fast becoming as lauded as movie makeup legends Rick Baker and Stan Winston.

At this year’s Golden Globes, Marino was acknowledged not once, but twice by winning actors on stage: First by Colin Farrell, who is unrecognizable in HBO’s “The Penguin”; and then by Sebastian Stan, who won for his role in the dark indie comedy about disfigurement and self-acceptance, “A Different Man.”

“That was a huge compliment,” Marino told TheWrap of the shoutouts. “People were texting me that night — producers and actors and heroes of mine like Rick Baker — joking, ‘These are the Marino Globes.’ I’ve been doing this for my whole life and I’m just super thankful and fortunate to do what I do. Prosthetics work isn’t the crazy, booming business it once was, but I’m following in the footsteps of my mentors and trying for greatness every single time, because that’s what I learned from them.”

Makeup artist Mike Marino and actor Sebastian Stan on the set of "A Different Man" (A24)

For his work on “A Different Man,” Marino notched his third Oscar nomination in the makeup category (shared with David Presto and Crystal Jurado). His previous noms were for “Coming 2 America” (2021) and “The Batman” (2022), but “A Different Man” is in a whole other key – the lowest budget of Marino’s three nominated movies, by many millions, with a svelte shooting schedule of just 22 days.

Directed by Aaron Schimberg, the story follows Edward (Stan), a man with facial disfigurement whose insecurities worsen after he undergoes a treatment to improve his face. After the change, he meets Oswald (Adam Pearson), a warm, chatty Englishman with the same facial condition as pre-transformation Edward.

A few weeks before the film began production in 2022, Marino was contacted via text message by Stan, who is also an executive producer on the film, asking if the makeup artist could lend his prosthetic gifts. Marino, who is based in New York, where the movie would be filmed, was intrigued.

“I read the script and thought, ‘This is totally strange and original and I need to do this,’” he recalled. “We’re living in a time where everyone’s trying to look as perfect as possible, and this story actually has something to say about that. Edward goes through this metamorphosis, where he becomes a handsome guy like Sebastian Stan, but after he loses his face, he doesn’t know who he is.”

With Pearson as a blueprint (the actor, who made his film debut in Jonathan Glazer’s “Under the Skin,” has neurofibromatosis), Marino crafted a three-piece silicone prosthetic for Stan’s character.

“In a previous era, it would have been seven or eight pieces, but the majority of this was one main piece, with also a tiny eyelid and a lower lip,” Marino shared. “And with Sebastian, we got it down to a two-hour application, once the hair and the eyebrows were glued on.” While not filming, Stan wore the makeup on the streets of New York City, both to test its credibility and to feel the reactions of passersby, a theme that the film handles with a mixture of poignancy and irony.

The story also called for several stages of makeup, as Edward is experiencing his facial transformation. For a scene in the bathroom, Marino paid homage to a moment from an 1980s ghost horror classic.

“Aaron, Sebastian and I, we’re super film geeks, and we watched that nightmare sequence in ‘Poltergeist’ where a guy in a mirror peels off part of his face. The funny thing is that for that movie, they only had one shot to get it right, so [screenwriter] Steven Spielberg stepped in and did the peeling himself. Those are his hands in the scene. For us, Sebastian had the responsibility to get it done just right, which he did perfectly.”

Marino also cited “The Elephant Man” as his favorite movie — the one that most determined the path of his life and career — and is grateful that critics and audiences have understood the ideas in “A Different Man” on similar terms.

“David Lynch captured the beauty and the humanity of Joseph Merrick in that film,” he said. “And I love the reactions to Adam’s performance in our film, which prove that people get it. People love Adam when they see him and talk to him, and it doesn’t matter what he looks like and all that superficial stuff.”

The history of movies, Marino mentioned, is notable for the contributions of makeup artists, as far back as Lon Chaney in the silent era and Jack Pierce, who worked on the original “Frankenstein.” Marino is an avid devotee of their efforts and even studied as a protégé under Oscar-winning makeup man Dick Smith (“The Godfather,” “The Exorcist,” “Amadeus”).

“I look at my work as who I am,” he said. “I’m not just a hired gun, which sometimes people want on their production. I have to be interested in the material and feel that it’s right, like with this movie. I love to approach a character and ask, ‘How did this person grow up? How do they live? What are they thinking?’ Makeup is storytelling.”

[blazehedgehog]

what was the deal with games media and forums during the 2000s being so harsh and in many cases downright unfair towards games that wanted to experiment or do something interesting? part of me feels that is why the 2010s had so many massive game series pumping out boring and "safe" games.

We were a lot more ignorant back then. You have to figure that games media has a definitive age, right. Now we had video game magazines going ball the way back to the 80's, but it feels like there was a real boom in game magazines in the 90's with things like EGM, Gamepro, Game Players, Game Fan, Nintendo Power, Game Informer, Edge, Next Generation, PC Gamer, CGW, Tips & Tricks, PSM, etc.

But the age of the industry back then... even if a lot of the writers were in their 20's, 30's, and sometimes even 40's, the readers were all pretty young. I started reading gaming magazines when I was 11. And to some degree it felt like the industry grew up with us. It also reflected the wider era as a whole.

We used to be a more innocent people. More ignorant. Unaware of the wider world at large. American white males (the primary demographic for gaming magazines) lived in this tiny little bubble where they got to feel like they were kings. The world was their oyster. Racism? Nah man, civil rights solved that back in the 1950's. Racism is over. We beat the nazis in the 40's, they don't exist anymore either. Women belong in the kitchen making us a sandwich. I'm American, I'm straight, I'm white, I'm a man, and that makes me the center of the known universe. As long as I have beer, boobs, and bacon, my life is perfect.

And the thing about being comfortable is that people like to be comfortable. Comfort usually means cozying up with something you already know you're going to like. A known quantity. So that's this era, right: repeating familiar ideas and milking them for all its worth, completely unchallenged, because nobody is comfortable when they are being challenged.

But widespread, modern internet access began to spread across the world. Smartphones and social media connected us more closely than we ever have before, both for better and worse. And suddenly all those Straight, white, American males are rubbing elbows with very different international cultures than they're used to, and the perspective on American life begins to shift. The veil is lifted. Eyes are opened for the first time. The world is a very different place than what most Americans thought it was.

Racism? Not actually solved. Nazis? They're still out there, actually. Women? Minorities? Equal rights are not as equal as it sounded. Plus, we trample all over other cultures constantly. And bad actors are rapidly trying to muddy the waters so they can continue to operate unopposed. Welcome to the real world.

Some people embraced this new knowledge with open arms. Learning, and growing, and changing, seeing fresh perspectives and new ideas. And other people just wanted to stay comfortable, sticking their heads in the sand, and trying to deny what was now right in front of them.

My point is, as a people, a worldwide planetary entity, we're a lot more diverse now. We're a lot smarter and more accepting of others. We're a lot more mature.

And then there's something I haven't touched on and its the fact that corporations love "comfort", too. They love being able to avoid taking risks and feeding us the exact same content in perpetuity. But with the indie game boom, more people than ever before can put their art out into the world, which just drives diversity even more.

My point being that we used to be pretty dumb and ignorant, but some of us are less dumb and ignorant nowadays.

[goodluckclove]

A Meandering Insight into Writing Stronger Dialogue

So I'm taking it easy today. It's cloudy in Portland and I would like to do some drawing. But I also thought I would do a weird new thing for me and maybe offer some writing advice into the void about creating stronger dialogue.

I've said before that I am easily angered by how most writing advice is phrased. At the same time, I get that for a beginning writer, my go-to guidance of "watch movies, read books, figure it out" can be like crazy intimidating. So I'm going to try and be more flexible. It might be helpful, it might not be.

There are a ton of information available about writing stronger dialogue. I've looked at a few videos and found an amount of useful tips. Listening to the way people talk is super useful, and eavesdropping on conversations in public places (without being a creep about it) is a super great way to do that. But for the most part I came away realizing that people giving advice on stronger dialogue are, almost entirely, just crazy biased.

Even the concept of "writing stronger dialogue" is - somehow both complicated and vague. It's dependent on genre. It's dependent on the era, the laws of the universe and the whims of the narrative as a whole. I can think of many examples in which part of what makes a story stronger is the fact that the dialogue is what some would consider "weak". One of the videos I watched had a man use Tommy Wiseau's The Room, a famously incoherent cult movie, as an example of bad dialogue.

And he's absolutely right! Part of the mystique behind the film and it's director/writer/producer/lead actor is that Tommy Wiseau insists he's born and raised in the United States, despite that just. Not being possible. So when he writes a script it turns meandering, disjointed, confused and deeply melodramatic. But when this well-meaning YouTuber revised a scene to be "stronger" in terms of dialogue between the two actors, it turned The Room from longstanding classic that still has ongoing showings at arthouse movie theaters, to some mediocre indie movie with nothing that really captures attention. It's clearer and more direct. The video creator claimed it was likely what Tommy Wiseau's original intent was. I would argue Wiseau's intention also involved a sense of soap opera emotional highs and lows - a tone that is not served a bland, weirdly subdued script revision.

I think asking "how do I write stronger dialogue" is a question a writer can only answer from within. The question to ask outside parties, perhaps those with more experience in the craft, is "how do I write dialogue that works better to fulfill my goals and the goals of my story"? You might not like the way I write my own dialogue, and that's fine. But it absolutely does what I want it to do, so I'd say the second question is one I can try to answer.

Be Honest With the Reader - And With Yourself

This is not an easy thing for me to do, but I'm going to have to call out a quirk I see a lot of newer writers do. I do it with love, because it's something I did myself a lot when I was starting out. You start writing and you form a character who's really cool, but they're also smarter than you are! Or funnier! Or more charming! What do you do???

It's an easy issue to face, and every time I see it I want to sit down with the writer and tenderly say Shh stop it. Change the character, the approach to the scene, or your perspective on how you write them. Stop going the way you're going it is almost certainly not going to be interpreted the way you want it to be.

It's the worst when I see people struggle with a character they view as "funnier than them". And they might try and crowd source for tips and tricks on how to be funny. And while I can see this potentially being a jumping off point to something useful, for the most part I find myself wanting to scream HEY DONT DO THIS THIS IS NOT HOW IT WORKS.

I'm not gatekeeping being Funny. I'm saying straight up that I truly think every human being has some sense of humor, even the ones that have been told enough by others to internalize that they "aren't funny". You are! If you have ever made yourself smile or laugh, you are funny! And more people than you think will also find you to be funny!

Humor is incredibly varied. Because of this, there is a Lot of comedy that will probably do nothing for you. You might be numb to prop comedy, for instance. So if you tried, unironically, with full sincerity, to write and perform a new prop comedy routine, it would very likely not turn out well. I personally am pretty attuned to inauthenticity in writing, and it's the easiest way for me to toss a book (or my whole TV if it's a movie or show) right out the window.

If you want to learn more about writing comedy, start with what makes you laugh. If it's something someone else wrote, maybe look into what that person says about comedy. The person who made you laugh will know more about helping you write comedy than a stranger online who might have an entirely different sense of humor.

Write What You Have a Frame of Reference For

I got told "write what you know" a lot when I was starting out. Usually by people that weren't writers, which makes sense, because that phrase is trash and it made me so angry. Because at 13, when I seriously started writing, I didn't know a ton of stuff. So feeling like I was that limited created a sense of distrust in myself that is just not helpful when you're starting out.

But if you rely on what you have a frame of reference for, things get a lot vaster, and only more expensive over time. You might not know anything about going though a divorce, or becoming an assassin, or turning into a vampire. But maybe you've had a falling out in a relationship, or you've started a new job in an industry you're unfamiliar with, or you've felt lonely and isolated and scared. If you focus on the latter, the way you connect to the circumstances on the narrative, it's way easier to craft compelling characters.

This is debatably less crucial for more experienced writers. I personally, after 10+ years in the medium, still find crucial to have some kind of investment and connection to every character I write, even if they're bad people.

If a character is smarter than you about a certain subject, don't focus directly on that. They're an expert in Quantum Biochemistry? Oh man you know anything about that. So if you aren't confident in your ability to learn and absorb enough on the field to have it be a plot-crucial element, maybe you're light on the references to that characters background and career in exchange for a greater emphasis on something that you have a better grasp on. Or you can narrow the scope - maybe your quantum biochemistry expert is a professor or a researcher, two careers that might be far more accessible. In many cases, micro is more impactful than the macro.

What you're able to do will naturally grow as you grow. And when you're starting out, you should absolutely feel welcome to be overambitious. Take risks, do something new, fuck up spectacularly and don't let that stop you. But if you're looking to improve something like dialogue, I would say it comes down the angle of the character that allows you as the writer to connect to them. Even if you don't agree with their actions. Even if you have nothing else in common with them. If you get some connection that makes the character something other than "person more interesting than I am" it becomes a LOT easier to write for them.

Also maybe don't take a majority of dialogue advice from people who exclusively engage in books and movies you hate. Don't do that. It doesn't matter they they went to film school. They will probably not help you.

[ruruvxz]

Perfect style she doesn’t try — CRUEL AFAIR

The Woman Who Left Too Soon; Lara Raj, the lead singer and coveted music producer for Katseye, has never felt the need for useless romance. Don't get her wrong— she loves a good chummy romance, but it was never really for her. That could partly be blamed on her past lover, who abruptly left her just to become some indie artist, but then again, the tides change, and so do the people. And what the— she's famous now, she's unstoppable, she can pull anyone, so why the hell is the woman who left her in the dust, pretending to be all buddy-buddy with her.

PROFILES∿ payroll advocates

#masterlist, #nightmare blunt rotation

Y/N ❀ yntopia & hamsterlover717

"if all the evil lesbians came together and made one evil lesbian, it would be Y/N." This is the Ramona flowers people tell you to STAY AWAY from, she will always be the no.1 self sabotager, at this point you don't need to get someone to ruin her relationship, she destroys it herself. The type of manic pixie dream girl that you'd most likely see in your worst romcom nightmares, than in a young adult novel dream. But to give her some credit, her heart is always in the right place, and does everything in the interest of others.

JENNIE KIM ❀ jenniekim & prettygirlzz

"Not sisters, sisters in arms" Jennie has always been Y/N's older sister figure. Since she got picked up by the music industry at a fairly young age, she taught Y/N the ropes of what it took to be a musician and even taught her some dances here and there. Despite not talking a lot due to conflict schedules, she has always been someone Y/N could rely on, so much so, that whenever Y/N has relationship issues she runs to Jennie first than anyone else. Although, she can be a bit too blunt at times.

AERI UCHINAGA ❀ aerichandesu & aeriopium

"get out of my comments man! go do something" No.1 nosy nancy, loves drama and loves being a nonchalant instigator, who somehow always starts all the drama in the gc and on stan accounts. Also Y/N's biggest defender and ENDER! They became friends on complete accident during a fashion show over their collective love for the brand chrome hearts, and have been inseparable since then. Is usually seen egging on and enabling Y/N with her bad decisions, but if ever confronted she says "free will! yolo!"

YUNJIN HUH ❀ jenaissante & jennifersbody88

"Birds of a feather, we will always flock together" Yunjin has seen all the phases of y/n, from when they where toddlers in child acting classes, to preforming on the same stage together. She has been by y/n's side like a rock, even through y/ns hoe era, she never once questioned her. Although they are the main perpetrators for beefing on the timeline, everyday theres a new fight to be made.

NING YIZHUO ❀ imnotningning & jpegningning

“So what if people find you weird?” One of sweetest yet sassiest woman y/n has ever had the pleasure of being friends with. She’s more on the reserved side, but that also makes her a great observer, most of the time the assumptions she makes about people are right. Her advice giving isn’t the best but trust she can smell a fake friend from a mile away— she actually met y/n when she helped her escape from a house party!

YOONCHAE JEUNG ❀ yo0n_cha3 & yooninurwalls

"You know what, hell yeah." No one knows how she got in this groupchat, she said she was friends with Eunchae, Yunjin's fellow member, and Ahyeon, Jennie's fellow label mate, but in complete honesty she doesn't know how she ended up in this group. The token evil little sister every group needs, and also unironically the most sane one out of the 5 girls. She helps mediate most conflicts with her fun and whimsical charm, and is Jennie's personal favorite among all the girls .

[greatworldwar2]

• Fokker D.XXI Fighter

The Fokker D.XXI fighter was designed in 1935 by Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker in response to requirements laid out by the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army Air Force (Militaire Luchtvaart van het Koninklijk Nederlands-Indisch Leger, ML-KNIL). The D.XXI was designed as an inexpensive, rugged, and compact fighter aircraft that would possess respectable performance for its era.

On November 14th, 1934, design proposals for a new fighter aircraft were submitted by Fokker to the Luchtvaartafdeling (Dutch Army Aviation Group). Fokker's design team, led by Erich Schatzki, and based at the firm's newly completed plant in the southern district of Amsterdam, had sought to incorporate and combine various new concepts and recent features from successful fighter aircraft, including the previous C.X and D.XVII aircraft. The proposed aircraft was a low-wing monoplane which adopted an entirely enclosed cockpit; initial design work had been conducted in cooperation with British engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce, and it had been originally envisaged that the type would be powered by a Rolls-Royce Kestrel IV. Projections of the aircraft's performance included a maximum speed of 420 km/h at an altitude of 4,350 meters, a range of 888 km, and an altitude ceiling of 10,000 meters. The planned armament included rifle-calibre machine guns or 20mm cannons, which were to be embedded into the wings and fuselage.

In early 1935, the Luchtvaartafdeling signed a contract for a single prototype of the proposed fighter to be constructed for an evaluation to be performed by the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army. This prototype, designated FD-322, which was powered by a single Bristol Mercury VI-S radial engine which drove a three-blade, two-pitch propeller, performed its maiden flight at Welschap Airfield, Eindhoven, on March 27th, 1936. According to aviation author G.H. Kamphuis, the prospects for series production of the new fighter looked doubtful shortly after the first flight was performed due to a high level change in Dutch defence policy; Minister for Foreign Affairs Hendrik Colijn informed the Ministry of War that, in response to the changing international situation, a higher priority would be placed on building up a substantial bomber capability over new fighter aircraft. In addition to the Luchtvaartafdeling's interest in a trainer aircraft, the service had also attached great importance to the concept of a heavily armed 'cruiser' aircraft capable of performing multiple mission types. Further doubts and confusion were added by the emergence of a competing aircraft proposal in the form of the Koolhoven F.K.58, which had also been designed by Ir. Schatzki. It was decided that the D.XXI and F.K.58 should participate in a series of comparative tests against one another, leading to the D.XXI prototype being dispatched to Soesterberg Air Base, Utrecht, in November 1936. However, head-to-head testing between the two types was delayed by the F.K.58, which did not perform its first flight until September 1938.

During 1937, the Dutch government gave funding and its approval for a limited expansion of the Army Aviation Group, which resulted in an order being placed for 36 Fokker D.XXI fighters, to be powered by the 830 h.p. Bristol Mercury VII or VIII engines. According to Kamphuis, Dutch interest in the D.XXI had been revived, in part, due to an examination of the first aircraft by an evaluation board, which itself had been conducted due to interest expressed by the Finnish Air Force, which itself would result in export sales being made to Finland. On July 20th, 1938, the first Luchtvaartafdeling D.XXI conducted its first flight, after which it participated in test flights prior to deliver to Soesterberg. On September 8th, 1939, the final aircraft of the first batch of 36 was delivered. Even as the domestic demand for the D.XXI was being questioned, the type had attracted the attention of a number of foreign governments. In 1937, the Finnish government decided to place an order for an initial batch of seven aircraft, further negotiations were also conducted towards the acquisition of a manufacturing license, under which Finland proceeded to domestically produce further aircraft as well. Throughout 1940 and 1941, the Finnish State Aircraft Factory set about reconditioning the aircraft that had been used in the Winter War for continued service; an additional 50 D.XXIs were ordered in 1941, which were powered by the Pratt & Whitney R-1535 Twin Wasp Junior engine, acquired via Sweden. The Danish government ordered a pair of D.XXI fighters along with arrangements for its own manufacturing license. The Danish D.XXI fighters were powered by a 645 h.p. Bristol Mercury VI-S radial and carried a Madsen 20 mm cannon under each wing. Ten aircraft were completed by the Royal Army Aircraft Factory in Copenhagen prior to the German invasion of Denmark in April 1940. The Second Spanish Republic also acquired a manufacturing license for the D.XXI. Reportedly, a total of 50 fuselages were manufactured on the Spanish production line; however, the Spanish plant in which the fighter was being produced was overrun by Nationalist forces before any of the Spanish-built aircraft were completed.

The Fokker D.XXI was a low-wing monoplane fighter aircraft. Following standard Fokker design practice of the period, it featured a welded steel tube fuselage that was largely covered by fabric, including the flight control surfaces; element forward of the trailing edges of the wings were covered by detachable aluminum panels instead. The wings were of a wooden construction, being composed of two box spars attached to ribs made of plywood. The aircraft was outfitted with a fixed spatted undercarriage with cantilever legs; braking was provided by independently-operated pedals using compressed air. The cockpit of the D.XXI was fully enclosed by a plexiglas hood featuring large sliding sections, and was entirely jettisonable in an emergency situation to enable pilots to bail out. Pilots were protected against turnover injuries by means of a pylon built into the structure of the aircraft set behind the seat. Fuel was housed in a 350-litre (77 imp gal) tank located aft of the engine. The main armament consisted of two pairs of 7.92mm M36 FN-Browning machine guns, one pair housed within the wings, carrying 300 rounds of ammunition each, and the other pair within the forward fuselage and shooting through the propeller blades, carrying 500 rounds each. Upon its entry to service in 1938, the D.XXI represented a significant leap forward for the Dutch Army Aviation Group, whose fighter force had until that time consisted of aging biplanes with open cockpits. The new Fokker quickly proved to be an extremely sturdy aircraft, being capable of attaining a speed of 700 km/h in a dive.

The Fokker D.XXI was first used in combat by the Finnish Air Force during the 1939–1940 Winter War between the Soviet Union and Finland. Upon the war's outbreak, a total of 41 aircraft were in Finnish service, all powered by the Mercury VIII engine. On December 1st, 1939, the D.XXI achieved its first victory with the shooting down of a Soviet Tupolev SB. The Fokker was evenly matched against the aircraft of the Soviet Air Force, and its rugged design with a radial engine and fixed undercarriage made it well suited for Finnish conditions. As the Winter War continued and newer models of Soviet fighters appeared, the Fokker D.XXI proved to be increasingly underpowered and too lightly armed to compete; plans to arm the Fokkers with 20 mm cannons were dropped, and only one fighter was armed with two 20 mm cannons and two 7.92 mm/.312 in machine guns. The conflict between Finland and the Soviet Union was resumed in the Continuation War (1941–1944), the D.XXI was again a key element of the Finnish Air Force. During the first air battle, six Mercury-engined D.XXIs shot down a pair of Soviet Ilyushin DB-3 bombers. Several Finnish Air Force pilots became fighter aces with the Fokker D.XXI.

Although the order by the ML-KNIL was cancelled, the Luchtvaartafdeling (Dutch Army Air Force before World War II) placed an order of 36 aircraft, which were all delivered in time to participate in the war against the Germans in May 1940. On May 10th, 1940, the day that Germany launched its invasion of the Netherlands, 28 D.XXIs were serviceable and ready for operations. That first day, six D.XXIs escorted a formation of Fokker T.V bombers to attack the Meuse bridges to hinder the German advance; they were intercepted by nine German Messerschmitt Bf 109s, and during the ensuing dogfight, one Bf 109 was shot down and two more damaged for the loss of one D.XXI and two T.Vs. That same day, a flight of D.XXIs intercepted and shot down 37 out of 55 inbound Junkers Ju 52 transports which had crossed the border during the early morning. Due to many aircraft becoming unserviceable as a result of battle damage after the first day, it was decided to regroup at Buiksloot, north of Amsterdam, on May 11th. For the following four days, missions out of Buiksloot were flown by D.XXIs flying in both solo and small formations to escort friendly units as well as in the search-and-destroy role. Sorties against the numerically superior German forces continued until the middle of May 14th, at which point news of the Dutch capitulation reached Buiksloot, upon which both the remaining aircraft and the airstrip were destroyed to prevent their use by the Germans. Out of the original force of 28 D.XXI aircraft, eight fighters had remained airworthy. The D.XXI, although much slower and more lightly armed than the Bf 109, performed surprisingly well in combat due to its manoeuvrability. It was also one of the few aircraft that could follow a Stuka bomber into its dive. Nonetheless, the numerical superiority of the Luftwaffe led to the destruction of most Luchtvaartafdeling D.XXI fighters during the campaign. The LVA (Netherlands Air Force) scored a total of 38 victories against the Luftwaffe during their struggle against the German juggernaut. 16 of those went to Fokker D.XXI pilots.

A Mercury-engine Finnish-built Fokker D.XXI, FR-110, is on display at the Finnish Air Force Museum, Jyväskylä, Finland. This is the highest scoring (10 victories) D.XXI airframe. It was the mount of Lt. Viktor Pyötsiä during the Winter War. In 2022, a flyable replica was completed at Hoogeveen Airport by veteran aircraft restorer Jack van Egmond. A number of original parts was used and the plane was built according to original Fokker build specifications as Jack van Egmond is in possession of 397 out of 416 Fokker blueprints.

[louisisalarrie]

Hello, how are you? I wanted to ask what are your thoughts about the image that Louis has now, I see different opinions, obviously I don't buy that image from Louis but I see that many complain for analyzing "Louis or Harry lol but I still don't understand why Louis wants to sell that image of a bad boy" or he just has to do it? I don't buy that and I think not even many of the fans do it because I see that there is something that does not close. What is your opinion about this? Thank you if you answer

Congrats, you just won a front row seat to the show! Welcome!

Listen… images are a funny thing in this industry. You see people rebrand themselves all the time - shifting genres for a wider reach, change up of clothing style, doing a feature/collab with an artist that’s quite different to them, showing more of their life on Insta, creating deeper artist to fan relationships etc. all goes into a shift in image. And it’s, 99% of the time (and specifically if it looks unnatural or it’s a very big change), a way to get a wider fanbase and tap into the markets that they don’t have a lot of fans in.

I find the 1d boys the absolute best example of this, because they all went different ways with genres and styles and everything, and stepped so far away from the 1d image to create a fanbase that wasn’t just 1d fans. It was pretty much do or flop at that point - there wasn’t really a choice.

And, to keep their solo careers their own, their solo managers were keeping a close eye on what the others were doing, how it was working for them, and what demographics of the 1d fandom were left, really. Like what were those fans listening to now? If Harry tapped into the younger fans with very poppy songs and wild outfits, how could Niall step into a space where he gets more of an indie/folk maybe slightly older fanbase? How could Zayn insert himself into the r&b scene and solidify himself as not just an ex boyband member? What markets are left to access that are currently doing well on the charts and have somewhat of a crossover for 1d fans?

And I find this interesting because the boys, from very early on, already liked these genres. You can tell by their writing, and they were open talking about their musical influences from early on. They were then, after 1d ended, allowed to create music in genres they were interested in, and loved, and it’s really cool to see. It was like… they were set free and jumped and ran to whatever genre their heart desired, but there was definitely sway there on which way to go. They had to really push them into these markets and make sure the crossover with each other was limited, to prove that they were there own standalone artists and to create fanbases that didn’t listen to them during 1d. They are now solo artists in their own right.

Anyway, I know you’re talking about image like personality and fan dynamics etc more, so I’ll get to that.

Fuckboy/Bad boy Louis, whatever you wanna call that era, kicked off in like mid-late 2014 and then big time in 2015. Smoking darts and the weed video and more swearing, one night stands leading to… whatever, partying every night… he became so far removed from what a boybander should be. And they always had like… a bit of an edge to them, but his image got fully sabotaged to set up the stunt that shall not be named. His image was absolutely thrown in the fucking bin. There goes his “long term gf funny happy giggly lad” to “drunk party boy lothario who is too cool to care”. And if you think that was natural, was all him rebelling, it wasn’t. Those guys weren’t allowed to do anything, very strictly stuck in their hotel rooms, Larry was covered up to project a happy little innocent boyband that your kids looked up to. But alas, the Louis sabotage began.

People often think it was because he was starting to bite back at management more, which im sure has a part of it. But also, their teams, and the Azoffs, and many other high profile execs were noticing that 1d wasn’t gonna last too much longer. The cracks were starting to show, and who’s gonna make the most money off their solo career? Harry. He was the frontman by the end of it. He’d stunted so much before, and was known to be a serial dater, that he’d be easy to stunt again. It wouldn’t be randomly off brand to shove him with a hot chick who’s gonna tap into a new fanbase for him. He’s easy to market. He writes good music. He’s pretty, and he has the biggest fanbase. Cool. Done.

So, Harry was whisked away with promises of greener grass, and Louis was left with a tarnished image, an ongoing stunt, and bad restrictions on his career (don’t even get me started on the way SC manipulated the beginning of his solo career). And I have no doubt he was partying, drinking, smoking etc., but 99% of the time was an image thing. So, he ended up being 1d’s resident bad boy (Zayn was until he wasn’t), and he had more of an edge to him. A bad boy is a classic image to market. Girls looooove a bad boy. So, you’ve got this guy leaving a poppy boyband with a bad boy image, who wants to lean towards a rock/alt/indie genre, which is arguably the best place for him to be with an already established image like his.

So yeah he smokes cigs and pot and loves a pint and vodka, but it’s very… in your face. It’s sometimes so glaringly obvious that it’s a major part of his image that, while the drinking/bad boy vibe is meant to seem authentic, it looks less real. I’m sure some of it is, in fact, authentic, but it can come off a bit blatant with how it’s pushed. So anyway, I don’t think the smoking/drinking is pushed as much now as it was for a while there, which is good. But it’s a strong part of an image and good for the market he’s in, that’s for sure. It also keeps his fans a bit older too.

I do think that having watched him for so many years that he does push away his softer parts, as many of you would agree with me. He’s got more of a tough thing going on, and again, that major stunt has affected his image so much that it’s hard not to talk about. It just adds to the bad boy rock n roll star thing. Some more icing on the cake. But he’s been media trained/given whatever image suits/pushed to be someone for 15 years now… he’s better at hiding and compartmentalising his true self. He protects his real self a lot more now, and this image works, and him and all the boys are much more private. We see what they want us to see.

Anyway the short of the long of it is that whatever image he’s got going on for him right now, is still working. Maybe with LT3 he’ll push away from it a little more, or maybe he’ll double down. It’s hard to tell. There are definitely ways to crack into other markets, if he wants to do that, and I have a few strategies and thoughts on the matter… but for now, I think it’s doing what it’s meant to do, it’s more authentic than his 1d image, and he seems comfortable in his skin wearing the footy gear and the singlets. I just wish we got more of his genuine personality as he’s just so guarded (absolutely not blaming him here) these days. But we know him, we know his personality, we see what’s real and what’s not, and I hope in this next era, we get more of his true self.

[coimbrabertone]

Formula One's 1963 Christmas in South Africa

The Formula One World Championship initially struggled with the whole "World Championship" thing.

The initial calendars consisted of a smattering of European races and also the Indianapolis 500...which nobody from Europe (except Ascari) ever attempted, while nobody from the Indy 500 came over to F1 either, not in those days anyway.

Hell, come 1952, and with Alfa Romeo and Maserati pulling their factory teams - leaving Ferrari as the only major team left standing - the championship was run to Formula Two rules, meaning that it was neither Formula One, nor much of a World Championship, amusingly enough.

By the time the 60s rolled around, things started to change.

The Indianapolis 500 had faded off the calendar as the United States Grand Prix settled on a home at Watkins Glen, New York.

In 1962, it was joined by the South African Grand Prix, and in 1963, by the Mexican Grand Prix.

The first seven rounds of the 1963 season were in Europe, but then two rounds in North America with the USGP and the Mexican Grand Prix, followed by a trip to South Africa at the very end of the year, made for a more international appearance.

Now, it was still very much western - keep in mind, this was Apartheid era South Africa, so this is a far cry from a diverse and inclusion calendar - but three continents was an awful lot better than one.

The position of the South African Grand Prix on the calendar was also noteworthy, as it typically occurred in the last weekend of December, so between Christmas Day and New Years.

In 1963 for instance, it was held on December 28th at the Prince George Circuit in East London.

That's three days after Christmas, now consider practice and qualifying, flying the whole circus down to South Africa, and the fact that the non-championship Rand Grand Prix at Kyalami took place two weeks earlier, and...I'd imagine a significant portion of the F1 grid spent their Christmas on the Cape.

Jim Clark would be in high spirits, having been the runaway championship leader in 1963 and sealed up the title by winning the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

A BRM 1-2 at Watkins Glen - with Hill ahead of Ginther - would keep Graham and Richie happy as well, but Clark bounced back to win the Mexican Grand Prix in what was, at that point, just him and Lotus padding their stats.

John Surtees, meanwhile, began the South African adventure with a win at the Rand Grand Prix in his Ferrari, giving him reason to be confident going to East London as well.

Speaking of Hill, Ginther, and Surtees...

They were all fighting for best of the rest behind Clark.

American Richie Ginther, driving for BRM, sat in second on 29 points. He hadn't won anything yet, but he was the most consistent all season, having only retired once in France. That consistency was working against him though, since only the best six results counted for the championship. As things stood, Ginther would need to finish at least third to improve his points total, which in turn would knock his fourth place from the Belgian Grand Prix off the table.

Graham Hill in the other BRM, meanwhile, sat on 25 points and had two wins to his credit - Monaco and Watkins Glen - along with a podium at Silverstone and a fourth in Mexico. Hill also technically finished third at Reims, however, that required him to push his car over the line, therefore, the points did not count.

Hill could sit on the Jedi Council, but he was not awarded the rank of Master.

Anyway, this meant that Hill was behind, but he had the overhead to increase his points tally while Ginther didn't. On top of that, his two wins to Ginther's zero meant that Graham would win any tiebreakers.

Motorcycling world champion turned Ferrari driver John Surtees, meanwhile, sat on 22 points courtesy of a fourth at Monaco, a third at Zandvoort, a second at Silverstone, and his win at the fearsome Nürburgring. He also had the overhead to catch Ginther, but from seven points back...he'd need to win.

Could Surtees make it two from two in South Africa in 1963?

Well, not if Jim Clark had anything to say about it. The Scotsman put it on pole, followed by the Brabham teammates of Jack himself and American Dan Gurney. Surtees was a respectable fourth though, and with his teammate Lorenzo Bandini between him and the BRMs, maybe he had a chance after all.

Alas no, because Surtees' engine would blow after forty-three laps of the Prince George circuit.

Even if it hadn't, there was no stopping Jim Clark that day, who won by a minute over Dan Gurney in the Brabham - who, fun fact, took the Brabham team's first fastest lap that day - then it was Graham Hill completing the podium. South hemisphere boy Bruce McLaren was fourth, followed by Lorenzo Bandini in the Ferrari, and midpack regular Jo Bonnier completed the points in sixth.

This was Jim Clark's seventh win of the season, and because of the whole best six results thing...it turned out to be completely unnecessary. Clark already had the perfect season in the books - like I said, he was just stat padding on the fools.

Fortunately for everyone else, by 1964 the skill-based matchmaking caught up to Jim Clark and the Lotus team would stumble that season, handing the championship battle over to Surtees in the Ferrari and Hill in the BRM, a battle which Surtees would eventually win by a single point.

The South African Grand Prix, however, was not held in 1964, as it had slipped to New Years' Day, 1965, acting as the very first race of the 1965 season instead.

Jim Clark would win in East London, would miss the Monaco Grand Prix to compete at the Indianapolis 500 - which he won - and then proceeded to win the next five races in Formula One. Once again capturing the perfect season.

This can only mean that there is a direct correlation between South African Grand Prix at East London and Jim Clark dominating the championship. The evidence is there people.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this little blogpost about the time that F1 raced mere days after Christmas.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year, a Happy Honda Days, a Lexus December to Remember, and a Toyotathon is On to all, and to all a good night.

[fatehbaz]

The [...] British quest for Tahitian breadfruit and the subsequent mutiny on the Bounty have produced a remarkable narrative legacy [...]. William Bligh’s first attempt to transport the Tahitian breadfruit [from the South Pacific] to the Caribbean slave colonies in 1789 resulted in a well-known mutiny orchestrated by his first mate [...]. [T]he British government [...] successfully transplanted the tree to their slave colonies four years later. [...] [There was a] colonial mania for [...] the breadfruit, [...] [marked by] the British determination to transplant over three thousand of these Tahitian food trees to the Caribbean plantations to "feed the slaves." [...]

Tracing the routes of the breadfruit from the Pacific to the Caribbean, [...] [shows] an effort initiated, coordinated, and financially compensated by Caribbean slave owners [...]. [During] decades worth of lobbying from the West Indian planters for this specific starchy fruit [...] planters [wanted] to avert a growing critique of slavery through a "benevolent" and "humanitarian" use of colonial science [...]. The era of the breadfruit’s transplantation was marked by a number of revolutions in agriculture (the sugar revolution), ideology (the humanitarian revolution), and anticolonialism (the [...] Haitian revolutions) [as well as the American and French revolutions]. [...] By the end of Joseph Banks’ tenure [as a botanist and de facto leader] at the Kew Botanical Gardens [royal gardens in London] (1821), he had personally supervised the introduction of over 7,000 new food and economic plants. [...] Banks produced an idyllic image of the breadfruit [...] [when he had personally visited Tahiti while acting as lead naturalist on Captain James Cook's earlier voyage] in 1769 [...].

---

[I]n the wake of multiple revolutions [...], [breadfruit] was also seen as a panacea for a Caribbean plantation context in which slave, maroon, and indigenous insurrections and revolts in St Vincent and Jamaica were creating considerable anxiety for British planters. [...]

Interestingly, the two islands that were characterized by ongoing revolt were repeatedly solicited as the primary sites of the royal botanical gardens [...]. In 1772, when St Vincentian planters first started lobbying Joseph Banks for the breadfruit, the British militia was engaged in lengthy battle with the island’s Caribs. [...] By 1776, months after one of the largest slave revolts recorded in Jamaica, the Royal Society [administered by Joseph Banks, its president] offered a bounty of 50 pounds sterling to anyone who would transfer the breadfruit to the West Indies. [...] [A]nd planters wrote fearfully that if they were not able to supply food, the slaves would “cut their throats.” It’s widely documented that of all the plantation Americas, Jamaica experienced the most extensive slave revolts [...]. An extensive militia had to be imported and the ports were closed. [...]

By seeking to maintain the plantation hierarchy by importing one tree for the diet of slaves, Caribbean planters sought to delay the swelling tide of revolution that would transform Saint Domingue [Haiti] in the next few years. Like the Royal Society of Science and Arts of Cap François on the eve the Haitian revolution, colonists mistakenly felt they could solve the “political equation of the revolution […] with rational, scientific inquiry.” [...]

---

When the trees arrived in Jamaica in 1793, the local paper reported almost gleefully that “in less than 20 years, the chief article of sustenance for our negroes will be entirely changed.” […] One the one hand, the transplantation of breadfruit represented the planters’ attempt to adopt a “humanitarian” defense against the growing tide of abolitionist and slave revolt. In an age of revolution, [they wanted to appear] to provide bread (and “bread kind”) [...]. This was a point not to be missed by the coordinator of the transplantation, Sir Joseph Banks. In a letter written while the Bounty was being fitted for its initial journey, he summarized how the empire would benefit from new circuits of botanical exchange:

Ceres was deified for introducing wheat among a barbarous people. Surely, then, the natives of the two Great Continents, who, in the prosecution of this excellent work, will mutually receive from each other numerous products of the earth as valuable as wheat, will look up with veneration the monarch […] & the minister who carried into execution, a plan [of such] benefits.

Like giving bread to the poor, Banks articulated this intertropical trade in terms of “exalted benevolence,” an opportunity to facilitate exchange between the peoples of the global south that placed them in subservience to a deified colonial center of global power. […]

---

Bligh had no direct participation in the [slave] trade, but his uncle, Duncan Campbell (who helped commission the breadfruit journey), was a Jamaican plantation owner and had employed Bligh on multiple merchant ships in the Caribbean. Campbell was also deeply involved, with Joseph Banks, in transporting British convicts to the colonies of Australia. In fact Banks’ original plan for the breadfruit voyage was to drop off convicts in (the significantly named) Botany Bay, and then proceed to Tahiti for the breadfruit. Campbell owned a series of politically untenable prison hulks on the Thames which he emptied by shipping his human chattel to the Pacific. Banks helped coordinate these early settlements [...] to encourage white Australian domesticization.

The commodification and rationalist dispersal of plants and human convicts, slaves, the impoverished, women, and other unwilling participants in global transplantation is a rarely told narrative root of colonial “Bounty.”

---

All text above: Elizabeth DeLoughrey. “Globalizing the Routes of Breadfruit and Other Bounties”. Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History Volume 8, Number 3, Winter 2007. DOI at: doi dot org slash 10.1353/cch.2008.0003 [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me. Presented here for commentary, teaching, criticism purposes.]

[xinfinityl0ve17]

MANA-SAMA.NET

Twelve hours during a part-time job feels so long, especially at night; it’s almost terrifyingly long.

Mana chan kept shouting, “This theme is difficult!” and Kami kun kept asking, “Mana chan, don’t you have anything?” (laughs). It seems these two aren’t very bound by numbers...

Anyway, Mana chan’s part time job era... It’s full of valuable stories!! Hehe ♥

MALICE MIZER

--So, the theme is "The Fear of Numbers."

Mana: Hmm... That's difficult.

Kami: Haven't you ever noticed when the numbers on a clock are all the same? Like when you look at the time and it's 11:11?

--Does that give you an eerie feeling?

Kami: No, I'm actually happy (laughs). Also, when I'm talking on the phone at night and I look at the clock, it's always 2:14 AM (laughs). It's the witching hour (laughs). And it happens almost every day.

--Do you have any thoughts, Mana?

Mana: Hmm... (laughs) This theme is tough... Hmm...

Kami: Also, I have an obsession with lining up the number 7. I used to go to pachinko parlors a lot, so getting 7s was a thrill (laughs). Ah, that's not scary at all (laughs).

Mana, do you have anything?

Mana: Hmm... When I was a boy, I was a bicycle enthusiast. I even had a speedometer, and it only went up to about 60 kilometers, I think. I was obsessed with maxing it out.

Kami: That's the fear of speed.

Mana: Yeah, I was pushing the limits of speed. The bike I had wasn't a Roadman, but it was a sports-type with gears and semi-drop handlebars... You don't see them much nowadays.

Kami: They were popular back then. The ones with the light on the side.

Mana: The more gear shifts, the better. Five-speed was common, but with six-speed, it was like, "One more gear!" (laughs).

Kami: Speaking of numbers, I save 500 yen coins (laughs). Last year, a friend gave me a piggy bank that can hold up to 300,000 yen, and I'm close to reaching the goal. How long did it take you to save?

Kami: One year! When I talked about it, a fan once sent me a 500 yen coin in a letter (laughs).

Mana: Really? Well, I’m saving 10,000 yen bills (laughs).

Kami: So I make sure not to spend any 500 yen coins. Even when I shop, I make sure to get change in 500 yen coins, or I exchange five 100 yen coins for a 500 yen coin at the convenience store (laughs). Mana, do you have anything else?

Mana: Hmm...

--Like the fear of having to wake up in the morning?

Mana: Oh, even if I have work early the next morning, I stay up until around 5 AM, so I do get that "Oh no, it's already this late" feeling, but that’s why I always sleep in the car during travel.

Kami: Because we’re so busy, sleeping in the car becomes something to look forward to.

Mana: Yeah, it's really enjoyable (laughs).

Kami: It's almost like that's what keeps me going (laughs).

Mana: Yeah, but during our indie days, I was the one who drove.

Mana: I was the designated driver (laughs). Back then, mornings were terrifying. I had to wake everyone up by phone.

--Did you wake up all the members?

Mana: Yes, I’d call them to wake them up and then go around picking them up in the car. That was really something. It was like hell; I did it while crying (laughs). There were members who wouldn’t wake up no matter how many times I called (I wonder who?). And there were people whose phones wouldn’t even connect (laughs).

Kami: By the way, I’m never late. Unless I’m stuck in traffic or something, I always arrive on time when we have a meeting. Mana, do you have anything else? (laughs)

Mana: Ah! The fear of numbers! I used to work part-time at a rental video store, but when the sales weren’t great, I’d rent out videos myself.

-- Really? Were you in a position of responsibility?

Mana: There were morning and night shifts, and I was the manager for the morning shift, so if the morning sales were bad, it was my responsibility. When no customers came, I would wander around the front of the store, getting anxious (laughs).

-- Well, you can’t exactly solicit customers at a rental video store (laughs).

Mana: Exactly. You can’t just say, "We’ve got good videos here!" So all I could do was wander around (laughs).

Kami: I just thought of something! The fear of numbers! In the band I was in before Malice Mizer, the current drummer and I were born in the same year and on the same day. It was terrifying (laughs).

Mana: I just thought of something else too (laughs). I used to work a part-time job inspecting cups at a factory. That factory had cups endlessly going around 24/7 (laughs). I worked 12-hour shifts there, but since the cups were constantly moving on the conveyor belt, there was no end to it. It was terrifying. Plus, it had a roof but no doors, so in the winter, the cold north wind would blow in while I just watched the cups… (laughs).

--That sounds like a tough job.

Mana: It was tough. It was torture (laughs). Nowadays, even if your hair is dyed, it’s socially accepted, but back then, if you had a part-time job, it was limited to handing out tissues or working in a factory (laughs).

Kami: Yeah, or working for a delivery service.

Mana: "Yeah, like at those places where the packages come down on conveyor belts (laughs). I was once in charge of handling packages going to Tokyo, and while other people only had a few packages coming their way and were taking it easy, I was getting a constant stream of packages (laughs)."

Kami: "Even now, when I see the baggage counter at the airport, it reminds me of those days (laughs). Those 12-hour shifts felt so long, especially the night shifts—they were terrifyingly long."

Mana: "Yeah, yeah, and for 12 hours, the cups kept coming endlessly. By the end, I was even seeing hallucinations (laughs)."

The end // From Vicious Magazine