#the name and the verticalness are the only things in common

[locally-normal]

There's a little more in another thread but. An infinity category is a common generalization of spaces and categories. You can think of it as categories enriched in spaces up to homotopy - instead of a set of maps between two objects, there's a space of maps.

Space means simplicial set, which I mention in the other reblog chain, roughly a simplicial complex. So in particular there's n-cells for each n, which we can think of as n-morphisms. So a space is an infinity category, the 0-cells (vertices) are objects, the 1-celle (paths) are maps, the 2-cells are 2-morphisms, etc. Just like CW complexes, every space is weakly equivalent to some simplicial set.

There's also the infinity category of spaces, where the objects are spaces, the maps are continuous maps, the 2-maps are homotopies of maps, 3-maps are homotopies of homotopies, etc.

Any 1-category is an infinity category where the 2-cells are just a commuting triangle, so, two composable maps and their composite. A 3-cell is 3 composable maps and their composites, which is you draw them do indeed look like a tetrahedron. Etc. This construction is called the nerve of a category and is fairly classical.

In this setting, the infinity category of spaces plays the role which in 1-categories is played by the category of sets.

You can have an infinity category of (small) infinity categories, where your maps are functors and your 2-maps are natural isomorphisms etc. Interestingly, infinity categories are a generalization of 1 categories and not really a generalization of 2 categories. This is because for n>=2, every n-map is invertible. In spaces in fact every 1-map (path) is invertible, just follow the path backwards. In the category of spaces, your paths (continuous maps) aren't invertible, but your 2-cells are, since every homotopy is invertible. Sometimes you'll see (infinity, 1)-categories because of this, the 1 means n-maps for n>1 are invertible. Occasionally you really want to think about the (infinity, 2)-category of small (infinity, 1) categories, which is the actual generalization of 2-categories.

A big thing in infinity categories is that composition of two maps isn't defined on the nose, but rather only up to a contractible space of choices. You can't say that the composite of f and g is h, instead you say the space of composites of f and g is contractible. So in any universal property, the best you hope for is a map unique up to contractible choice. In 1-categories, people sometimes search for maps that are actual equalities rather than isos, infinity categorically this kind of strictness is brutally hopeless, everything exists up to equivalence only. Which on the plus side means you can avoid a lot of strictification arguments.

Otherwise, in general anything you can do in 1-categories you can do in infinity categories, because a bunch of smart people did a lot of very hard work which makes it possible. Limits colimits kan extensions monads adjunctions Grothendieck constructions slice categories symmetric monoidal structures, you name it.

They let you work with spaces (and spectra) up to homotopy, which is nice. For example the smash product of spectra is famously difficult to define on the point set level, people searched for a definition for decades. In infinity categories it's 'easy', there's a unique monoidal product with some basic properties, because we're only working with spectra up to homotopy. And not having a specific model doesn't really hurt us at all, unlike the classical situation.

Other fun facts, every space is a colimit of points, this is effectively just like building a CW complex out of cells. Compare, every set is a colimit of the singleton set.

Let me know if there's anything in particular you'd like to know about infinity categories!

Is the reason why the fundamental group of a space is not enough to classify a space something to do with how we lose information when we take loops upto homotopy?

There is usually no canonical/unique homotopy between two homotopic loops. So can we say that the second homotopy group is talking about these homotopies upto homotopy?

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Swirlypod

Debut: Super Mario Bros. Wonder

YIPPEE YAHOO! A brand swirlin' new snail fresh for 2023! It has been quite a long time now since we've gotten a new Mario snail, and even since I've posted about one, since I covered all the snailiest Mario snails a while ago. But lookie here! Snaily snaily snail for me to see and for you to view!

Swirlypod is so delightful! To get this out of the way first, yes, its eyes are not on the ends of stalks. Yes, this is good and okay. Some snails are like that! Especially freshwater snails. And that's the kind of snail that this snail seems to be! While sometimes seen on land, it is also seen emerging from (poisonous) swamps. It can breathe that!

Swirlypod's face is just so, so precious. Its big, innocent, curious eyes experiencing the world in the way only a snail could! Its big ol' bulbous antennae, more bulbous than they have any right being, more like a nudibranch's than a normal snail's! And its mouth! I think that's its mouth? It's like three scrumbly tentacles ready to scrumble down some delicious fungus!

Did you know that the salt marsh snail Littoraria irrorata is able to FARM fungus? They damage marsh grasses to create large wounds for fungus to grow in, and even use their own poop as fertilizer! Snails can FARM!

Yes, indeed, what a wonderful snail we have here! Thank you, Super Mario Bros. Wonder!

...Hey! That shell comes right off! Now it's all Pod, with no Swirly! Does this mean Lime is The Impostor? I may have just asked you, but that was rhetorical. Don't ask me, because I don't know! Removable shells are a common ability for cartoon snails, and of course, the turtles of this world also have removable shells. I think it doesn't really mean much at all! Though, the idea of a "hermit slug" is very amusing. A snail who can't be bothered to grow its own shell. Maybe it wants to switch shells for different styles sometimes. A slow victim of fast fashion!

Wonder is one of those games where Koopa Troopas retreat into their shells when stomped, so Swirlypod is sort of a way to have Beach Koopa in the same game as the more standardly-behaving Koopa! Once it gets back on its foot, it will try to squirm back into a shell, if one is available. You can give it back! Just drop it down at your feet, and Swirlypod will have a home once more!

Another thing that sets Swirlypods apart from Koopas is that they are sticky slimy and can slither up and down vertical surfaces! Just like in real life! They don't only climb on the left and right sides of surfaces, either. They can even go on the surface facing the screen! Not just anyone is allowed to do that!

I am saving what may be the best tidbit for last! There is a good chance Swirlypod's bulbous antennae look familiar to you. That's because they look just like Leucochloridium paradoxum, the green-banded broodsac, everyone's favorite snail parasite! The flatworm that inhabits a snail's eyestalks, making them look more like caterpillars to get a bird to eat them so they can continue their life cycle! Swirlypod definitely isn't supposed to be like, ACTUALLY infected by this funny worm, but I think the resemblance is very much intentional, between the shape and coloring. And that is so awesome to see! This isn't even meant to be a scary snail or anything, but they represented a freaky parasite anyway!

[bethanythebogwitch]

It's October and I want to talk about something creepy, so this Wet Beast Wednesday is about the lancetfish. These things look like what would happen if a fish became a vampire. Lancetfish are the only members of their family, Alepisauridae and consist of two species: The longnose lancetfish Apleisaurus ferox and the shortnose lancetfish Apleisaurus brevirostris. While they are often caught as bycatch, there is still a lot we don't know about them.

(image: a lancetfish held by an angler. Its body is long, skinny, and silvery. Its dorsal fin extends down most of its back and is supported by a series of long, thin spines. Its head is pointed and the moth is very wide. It has a large, green eye. The tail is out of frame)

Lancetfish are long and skinny fish capable of reaching up to 2.08 meters (6.8 ft). Their dorsal fins are especially notable, stretching down most of their backs and being spiny, resulting in one common name for them being the "handsaw fish". The fin likely gives stability when the fish swims fast and can fold down. The fin is situated in a groove so when it folds down, the top of the fish is smooth and reduces drag. Lancetfish are also one of the relatively few fish to have an adipose fin. The mouth is large and opens very wide. It has long, skinny teeth that point backwards and are adapted to hold onto struggling prey. Their bodies have no scales, only smooth skin with pores for the lateral line. The name "Alepisaurus" means "scaleless lizard", a reference to their body shape and lack of scales. The stomach can expand to hold a very large volume. Lancetfish lack swim bladders and are simultaneous hermaphrodites, posessing male and female gonads at the same time. They show some anatomical differences from other hermaphroditic fish, including testicles that are independent from the ovaries.

(image: a lancetfish held by a child on a boat. More detain can be seen on the dorsal fin, which includes four spines that grow long past the webbing. The tail ends in a forked fin.

Lancetfish are found worldwide except for arctic regions and are more common in temperate to tropical waters, but have been found as far north as Greenland. They are found in the mesopelagic (twilight) and bathypelagic (midnight) zones, but sometimes swim closer to the surface and can be found at a huge variety of depths. They are unusually large for fish that live in those areas. They are generally believed to be solitary, but may gather together to mate. They may also be migratory, as they have been reported seasonally appearing and disappearing in some locations. Lancetfish do also travel to colder waters if food is scarce. They are predators with extremely wide diets that include fish, cephalopods, tunicates, and crustaceans. They are also notoriously cannibalistic, as lancetfish show up in the stomachs of other lancetfish very frequently. There have even beec cases of scientists finding a lancetfish inside of a lancetfish inside of a lancetfish. They are so well known for cannibalism that they are often named "cannibal fish". Lancetfish are likely ambush predators. Their muscles are gelatinous, which is unsuitable for chases but does work for sudden bursts of speed. They most likely hang motionless in the water, waiting for prey to pass. How lancetfish reproduce is unknown, but they are probably broadcast spawners.

(image: a lancetfish in its natural habitat. It is suspended vertically in the water, with the head pointing up. Its dorsal fin is folded back)

One interesting feature of lancetfish is how slow their digestion is. Lancetfish are often found with undigested or partially digested food in their stomachs. One hypothesis is that They digest food slowly wile living a low-energy lifestyle to make the energy gained from each meal last as long as possible. Another is that the stomach acts like storage and will only begin digestion if the fish is low on energy. This provides an interesting avenue of research. Lancetfish caught as bycatch or that was up on beaches can be dissected to investigate their stomach contents, which are so much more pristine than those of other species. This means each lancetfish acts as a net, containing tons of specimens that give us a good (if biased) look at the bathypelagic food web and local biodiversity. Scientists are starting to find a lot of plastic in lancetfish stomachs. It is hypothesized that some of this plastic may be ingested by prey who practice daily vertical migration bringing tiny pieces of plastic down into deeper waters where they are ingested by larger predators. Some plastic pieces found may be too large to be explained by this method alone, such as a fragment of a black plastic bag around the same size as a hand towel found in one lancetfish. This is part of growing evidence that shows plastic pollution is not just a problem for the surface as was previously though, but exists throughout the water column.

I told you, its a vampire fish (image: a close-up of a lancetfish head. Its mouth is open, showing the teeth. They are long, skinny, and sharp. Most are short, but a few on the top and bottom are much larger than the others)

Lancetfish are not commercially caught as there is no market for them. Their gelatinous meat is considered unappetizing, though it is also said to taste sweet. They are considered pests in longline fishing industries for taking bait intended for other species. The amount of lancetfish bycatch is increasing, possibly indicating population growth due to overfishing of their competition and prey. Known predators of lancetfish include tuna, cod, opah, salmon sharks, and sea lions. Because of how deep they live, not much is known about any conservation needs

(image: a juvenile lancetfih. Its body is green and translucent and much shorter than that of the adult. The head has the same shape as the adult. The dorsal fin is much smaller and less distinct. The body is curved at the spine and the internal organs are visible through the skin)

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: Heraldry

Heraldry - is about showing people who you are.

In England, it started in the later 1100s, when knights began to wear helmets, and they couldn't be recognised. So they began to paint unique combinations of colours, shapes and animals, called their 'arms', on their shields and banners. Only one person was allowed to use these arms. When people saw a knight wearing them in a battle or tournament, they could tell who he was.

It is the science and the art that deal with the use, display, and regulation of hereditary symbols employed to distinguish individuals, armies, institutions, and corporations. Those symbols, which originated as identification devices on flags and shields, are called armorial bearings.

Strictly defined, heraldry denotes that which pertains to the office and duty of a herald; that part of his work dealing with armorial bearings is properly termed armory. But in general usage heraldry has come to mean the same as armory.

The Colours of Heraldry

The 5 traditional colours are, with their heraldic names:

Red = Gules

Blue = Azure

Green = Vert

Black = Sable

Purple = Purpure

Plus the two 'metals':

Gold or yellow = Or

Silver or white = Argent

There are also 'furs', the most common being:

Ermine: representing the white winter fur of stoats, with their black tail tips.

Vair: representing squirrel skins, in blue and white.

If something (say a dog or badger) is shown in its natural colours, it's called proper.

Conventional representations of tinctures used when it is not possible to print the actual colors:

Heraldic Ordinaries

Ordinaries - the simple shapes used on heraldic shields, against a colour, metal or fur background. If you are making your own design, choose one of these main ordinaries:

Fess = horizontal stripe across the shield

Pale = vertical stripe down the shield

Bend = diagonal stripe

Chevron = like a house gable, pointing upwards

Cross = a plain cross

Saltire = a 'St. Andrew's cross'

Chief = bar across top edge of shield

Bordure = border round edges of shield

Pile = downward-pointing triangle

You can also divide your shield into two colours, either vertically or horizontally, or into four different-coloured quarters.

You don't have to use an ordinary, but if you do remember to never put a colour on colour or a metal on a metal. Try to remember this heraldic rule: colours don't show up well against colours, or metals against metals. This also applies to charges.

Heraldic Charges

Charges - emblems added to the shield, on the background, the 'ordinary', or both.

There can be one big charge, or several smaller repeated ones. Here are some of the common charges you could use:

Crosses - of many different types

Stars

Rings

Balls

Crescents

Diamonds

Flowers

They can be any colour, but remember never put colour on colour, for example a green star on blue, or metal on metal, for example a white flower on yellow.

Many knights also used animals as charges.

Animal Charges

Any animal - either one big one or several smaller - can be used as a charge. They can be shown in many different ways, for instance:

Rearing up (rampant) - like the lion and the hare in the pictures above

Standing (statant) - like the dog

For birds, with wings outstretched (displayed) - like the eagle

Walking along (passant) - like the other lion

If the animal is looking towards you, it is also guardant or 'on guard'. So the lion in the picture is passant guardant.

The ancient royal arms of England are 3 golden lions, one above the other, walking along on a red shield: or, in heraldic code, gules three lions passant guardant or.

Just to make things more complicated, lions passant guardant are also called leopards - but they don't have spots.

Choosing Your Animal

Animals symbolised different qualities. So for instance:

Lions = bravery

Dogs = faithfulness, reliability

Stags = wisdom and long life

Eagles = power and nobility

Badgers = endurance or 'hanging on'

You could also design your own animal charge.

For instance a cat, horse or other favourite pet.

Or you could choose a fabulous beast...

Fabulous Beasts

Though often used as 'charges', these fabulous beasts never really existed.

But some people believed they did, maybe because they'd heard about them in stories made up by travellers to distant lands, like crusading knights or merchant adventurers. Pictures of them also appeared in 'bestiaries', a popular kind of illustrated medieval story-book.

Here are some you could use:

Dragon: the earliest and most common fabulous beast, also used as a badge by Romans, Anglo-Saxons and Welsh. A brave and cunning defender of treasure.

Griffin: a combination of lion and eagle. Symbolises watchfulness and courage - and also guards treasure.

Cockatrice: a cross between a cockerel and a dragon, supposedly hatched from a cock's egg by a snake or toad. Could kill by looking at you, and symbolised protection.

Manticore or 'man-tiger': a fearsome man-eating creature with a lion's body, man's face, tusks, horns and a deafening trumpet-like voice.

Cadency

Cadency - the use of various devices designed to show a man’s position in a family, with the aforementioned basic aim of reserving the entire arms to the head of the family and to differentiate the arms of the rest, who are the cadets, or younger members.

Heraldic works in the 16th century refer to cadency marks as:

a label for the eldest son during his father’s lifetime;

a crescent for the second son;

a mullet (five-pointed star) for the third;

a martlet (a mythical bird), the fourth;

an annulet (a small ring), the fifth;

a fleur-de-lis, the sixth;

a rose, the seventh; and so forth.

Sources: 1 2 3 4 ⚜ More: Writing Notes & References

[objectheadzine]

WELCOME TO THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE OBJECT HEAD ZINE!

In celebration, the 2024's edition will be a Grab Bag - draw whatever object head you like (so long as it fits the guidelines, see below). In Lieu of a theme, all submissions MUST HAVE ASHLEY (the megaphone mascot) in the piece! Feel free to make him as large or as small as you want in the composition. He can be hanging out with your characters or he can be on a flyer, just so long he's somewhere in the picture! Reference of all his outfits can be found here. But don't feel like you're restricted to his previous outfits. Feel free to dress him up in anything you'd like. Content is also free for whatever! You want to date the lil man? Go for it! You want to tease or go on the attack? Also fine! Ignore him and let him live his life? Sure thing.

ALL submissions will be accepted as long as they fit guidelines and each person has a limit of up to 3 submissions. Submit your pieces to the zine email objectheadzine(@)hotmail(.)com along with the email/website/name you’d like to be credited as. (Feel free to omit emails if that is more comfortable). When you’ve finished your piece(s), you are allowed to post them to your blogs as long as you link back to the zine blog! This will be a DIGITAL ZINE ONLY and will be available free upon completion (donation optional).

The guidelines are as follow:

Illustration-quality works in either digital or traditional mediums. Both colour and b/w acceptable; background required. *BG can be as simple as a pattern or colour block! Avoid utilizing a camera to submit your images, please use a scanner. 

The default size will be 6″x9″, 300 dpi (1800px x 2700px) but feel free to go larger or smaller, so long as it follows those proportions. Please work in a vertical format.

For consistency’s sake, keep faces to a minimum (You can have eye(s) or you can have mouth(s) but don’t have both in a humanoid arrangement.)

Ashley, the megaphone head mascot, must be included in your piece. He can be small in the picture or a large factor but he must be included. When submitting, if he is not obvious, please point him out to me. References are found here.

Please go for original characters (or fanart of your friend’s characters) and not so much established object heads (e.g. the popcorn and soda heads from No More).

If you want to include humans, that’s fine as well but keep the ratio of people to object heads 1:1.

Content should be at most PG-13: Romance is fine but after-hours business should not be implied, Blood is fine but no gore. In the end, use your common sense.

Feel free to draw a comic or just an illustration! A comic counts as one submission.

Some facts about Ashley that could help with your piece: He's 5'2", he's of Chinese nationality, he's a TV show host, he's a bubbly, happy-go-lucky kind of guy and he has a Samyoed dog named Cotton!

Note that if a submission does not meet the above guidelines, I will either reject your submission or suggest improvements that would help your piece fulfill them. Please email me at objectheadzine(@)hotmail(.)com if you have any further questions and I’ll do my best to reply promptly. If you do not receive a message from me within a few days, please send it again. Final pieces submitted should be either in PNG or a one layer PSD file format.

Want to share your piece as you're working on them? Come on over to the Object Head Zine discord!

THE DUE DATE FOR SUBMISSIONS IS NOVEMBER 9TH.

[fishenjoyer1]

Fish of the Day

Happy Tuesday, everyone! Today's fish of the day is the strawberry squid!

The strawberry squid, also known as the cockeyed squid, and scientific name Histioteuthis heteropsis is known for their distinctive eyes. Living in the twilight zone (mesopelagic zone) of the ocean, stretching the depths of 200 meters to 1,000 meters, these squid have a unique method for the intake of light in their native range and ability to spot prey and predators. But first, let's go over their range and habitat. The strawberry squid lives exclusively within the twilight zone from 200-1000 meters, undergoing diel vertical migration (a daily migration taking place at night where deep sea animals move upward to predate on various plankton and active nekton) when most predators in shallower waters rest. During the day these squid can be found anywhere from 500-700m, but during the night they are found from 300-400m. Range wise, they can be found in the California and the Humboldt currents, which border the Western coast of the United states, and then further South to the Equator, with the squid living out past the continental shelf.

With an entire name focusing on it, the strawberry squid is best known for the unique eyes they have developed. Due to living in the mesopelagic twilight zone of the ocean, only 1% of all sunlight that is present at the water surface can be visible at even the shallowest sections of the zone. These different eyes are designed for seeing better in light/darker areas of water, with the larger eye focusing on looking upward to spot the shadows of prey cast in the water above them. The smaller eye looks downward in the water column to focus on flashes of bioluminescence that could warn of prey or predators. These eyes are the same size when young, but develop as the squid ages. The other, and more common name for the strawberry squid is focused on their general coloration, and the photophores scattered around the body, which are visually similar to strawberry seeds. Photophores can be found on many different deep sea animals, and are small light producing organs, which are only found in the Histioteuthis family of squids, which contains only the strawberry squid and a close relative. These photophores are used for counter illumination, to hide from both predators and prey. 

The diet of the squid is made up of shrimps, fishes, and other deep sea squid. These prey are captured by ambush, as the squid very carefully searches for them visually before sneaking closer until it is in range to lunge, wrapping its tentacles around prey and biting down with the sharp beak. They can grow up to as long as 13cm, with only about 5 inches of mantle length.  Very little is known about their reproduction or mating, but squids in the Histioteuthidae family lack a specialized mating tentacle, and rather rely on small packets of sperm masses it can send out, which will then find the female squid and meet eggs held within the single ovary. Other than this, the lifecycle of this squid is entirely unknown, leaving many things about them a mystery for now.

That's the strawberry squid! Have a wonderful Tuesday, everyone!

[mimicha-arts]

Qian Jin

Hello and sorry. I’m here again with my “catch the details faster than the frame changes.” Let's talk about Qian Jin! I'm pretty sure we'll learn new information in the next episode because of the flashback, so I want to get ahead of things a little and play bingo ;)

SPOILERS FOR S2

1. Romeo and Juliet Many have discussed this, but we will go deeper. One of the main key points in the s2 is the Romeo and Juliet theme and poster, which we now know is related to Qian Jin's story.

In my opinion, his whole scene with the poster looked very personal, hardly just "symbolism" of his feelings after losing his wife or something like that. And here I will try to explain why. Because, most likely, the actress on the poster is Qian Jin's wife. Her name was shown for such a brief moment that I actually nearly lost my mind while trying to capture the frame. So, her name is probably Chen Nan (陈楠). And I really don't think it was necessary to include such details if they are minor.

Well. Pure speculations. We all remember that initially everything was wrong with the case, the suspect in the murder of Qian Jin‘s wife after some time committed suicide and left a note with a confession. Although I can read some words, I can't rely on my eyes, so I can't string them together into complete sentences. But what I can guess is that there are two characters in the signature, and the surname kinda looks like Zhuang (庄).

So. Which character also has the surname Zhuang, who has already been "shown" in the series… On the same poster of "Romeo and Juliet", where the actress, theoretically, was Qian Jin's wife… Yeah. Zhuang Shuai (庄帅)

Okay, this could all be a coincidence, my imagination, speculation. But is these details actually connected, for now, until this has been refuted, I suspect that the story of the murder of Qian Jin's wife was much more personal and deep. Like, now we are convinced that after he found out about Cheng Xiaoshi's ability, his motivation is obviously to capture Cheng Xiaoshi in order to rewrite the past. Likely to save his wife (?). But I'm not sure how much more complex it will be?

If any of this is confirmed, I rather think that Qian Jin's wife was killed by Zhuang Shuai out of jealousy. I also need to say, for now I don't think that 戴绿帽子 is a possible situation here, seems TOO cruel for me, but who knows.

2. Qian Jin and details Eyes. We were all confused because Qian Jin's eyes were not common, but icy yellow. In fact, his eyes can be said to have three states. I also note that sometimes pupils are not drawn or too small because of 2D graphics, so I take into account only obvious close-ups. First type: present, yellow eyes with a vertical pupil. We see that kind of his eyes in most of his scenes. The same type of eyes are in his character design pictures and intro.

Second type: present, yellow with a round pupil. This type of eyes appears specifically in episode 4.

(Technically) third type: the past, yellow eyes with a round pupil. In all the close-up scenes in flashbacks, his pupils are round.

Abilities: It's hard to guess, but at the moment I don't think he personally has any special abilities. It seems to me, given his one line, that Qian Jin relies more on his skills, plans and his people, treating abilities (at least in this situation) in a rather lenient way. Also, his real words sound more special and poetic - If there is a way to reach the sky, it will be difficult to fly away even with wings (friendly reminder, I'm not a translator or native speaker)

But there is one dubious detail. OK. Speaking of gloves, he probably uses gloves to avoid accidentally touching Li Tianchen and getting controlled, which is a pretty logical conclusion after episode 8. But. At some point, while talking to Li Tianchen, when the frame points to Qian Jin, there is a rather small movement of the hand and the sound of either the rustle of clothes, or the sound of something being handed over (ep 7, 1:22-1:28). This was weird.

This may be a trick, but at some point, when it gets to 7pm, Qian Jin claps his hands. And given to Cheng Xiaoshi's abilities, we know that clapping can be a means of activating/disabling an ability.

Speculation: Since we can't fully rely on changing the shape of the eyes, pupil, eye color, due to the change in visual "rules" compared to season 1 + animation errors, but for now I'll make assumptions.

In fact, in some of these scenes, Qian Jin may be possessed by Cheng Xiaoshi (which is trite, but possible)

Someone uses their abilities on Qian Jin, they are in cooperation. This person either possess him either they watches events through Qian Jin's eyes from time to time, as if through a camera.

Qian Jin gave something to Li Tianchen in the car, and that will play a role in the plot.

The change of eyes is an attempt to show the change in his personality, but I don't think it's that simple.

3. Something beyond my understanding

The man with a hat. They are obviously connected, and I already wrote a big theory about this, if the man in the hat turns out to be Liu Xiao, let's not dwell on this, if you want to read, click on - Person in the shadows.

Dates In his intro, although there is some information, as always, the year is not indicated. Obviously, the current year is still 2021 (according to s1). But in the second season, we are not shown specific dates anywhere (even with the twins, although we can find out their year of birth by literally subtracting 19), and here. There is an event, there is a blurry date. Not specified. I guess something is wrong with time already or is this a hint that it doesn’t matter, because the events are looped / will be erased.

Player and music And probably the most ??????? thing. When Qian Jin is in the car, there is a VERY short frame before he takes the call. If you catch it... here is a player on the screen. The music is Symphony of Fate (生命交响乐). And the player does not have a "back" button, only forward.

Time is like music, yeah. Thank you for reading once again ~ I hope episode 9 gives us more information and answers some questions though… *cries*. Feel free to discuss!

[eggshellsareeat]

Alright, here's my review of Parkour Civilization as a (retired) actual Minecraft parkour player on how well it represents high-level Minecraft parkour. Spoilers and infodumping below!

Minecraft Version

Most parkour players play 1.8 or 1.12. Modern Minecraft has a couple fundamental movement changes, namely making walls harder to jump around.

Accuracy: Low

Walk-Only Parkour

Walk-Only parkour kinda sucks because fundamentally, it's significantly faster to walk diagonally (e.x hold w and d) than to walk straight (this is not true of sprinting: it is faster to sprint straight than diagonally).

Evbo_ also misnames some jumps, but that's a running theme and I'm not going to knock it too much. For what it's worth, a "one block vertical jump" is more correctly called a "one block + one", or "1+1" for short.

Accuracy: Low

Backwards Jumps and 360s

Backwards jumps don't really exist, but 360s are genuinely used for flair in the parkour scene. It's seen as very gutsy and impressive to 360 particularly risky jumps.

Could they bribe someone? Maybe.

Accuracy: Sort of

Multiple Jumps "In a row"

This exists in two forms: "chaining" and "onlysprint".

A chain jump is a jump which doesn't have enough starting space to get the speed to do the jump. Therefore, you need to do the previous jump and the chain jump in a row, "chaining" the two together to complete the course. Check out 10 Jumps to 10 Jumps to see this taken to its logical extreme.

It's not to be confused with "chain jumps", which are jumps on chain blocks.

Onlysprint is a harsher ruleset, which will auto-fail the player if they stop sprinting for any reason--this includes hitting walls. Courses are incredibly difficult, check out Iris for a great example.

Ultimately, it's a thing, and it's impressive.

Accuracy: Close-ish

Parkour Battles

Accuracy: What did you expect

Parkour Practice

At the pro civilization, there's an arena where players can practice jumps for risky courses. This is shockingly accurate.

"Rankup Parkour" is a format where courses are very long and have no checkpoints. Think of them like Foddian games, except parkour rankups predate Getting Over It by a good couple years.

So how do you do jumps at the very end of a map? Simple: leave, build them in a creative world, and practice them there. This is an incredibly common practice, and single sections of parkour can take multiple hours as a result. It's good fun.

Accuracy: Spot-on

That hidden barrier path at the one part of the pro course

This is a very common thing on older maps, which tended to have significant amounts of bullshit. Particular shout-out to the ceiling doors on JC IX, a set of 20 teleportation doors where 19 take you to random past points in the map and the 20th takes you to the end. No, you don't know which is which, they all look identical.

Accuracy: Accurate

Water bucket jumps

Water jumps are a thing, but water bucket clutches would qualify as "obstacle" and not pure parkour. I don't play obstacle, so I can't comment further

Accuracy: Low

Brewing stand jumps

They don't give effects, but I want to give them a mention for being the most annoying hitbox in the game. Evbo_ gets that one right.

Accuracy: Medium

The parkour champion

There's a lot of different types of parkour, so whoever's the best is pretty up for debate. They definitely don't rule over the parkour lands with an iron fist, though.

Accuracy: Low

The parkour god

Is kyroh still a meme?

Accuracy: Medium

The triple neo

Finally, we get to the end of the video. Evbo_ does a triple neo, and all is good with the world (presumably, haven't watched the sequel yet). Not much to nitpick here. Triples are hard, especially for new players. I personally see them as certifying a true parkour-er. When a Minecrafter does a triple neo, they get their wings. It's a real hallmark of a jump, and a great place to end the movie.

Although it's common enough to have a standard momentum which the parkour champion does NOT build, opting for 4bmm instead like a psychopath.

Accuracy: Medium

[electronicwitchcollection]

What nicknames do you think bleach men give their S/O?

Since you didn’t specify, I’m just going to choose a bunch of my favourites 💜

Shunsui

Ok, so I feel like I’m the only person who hates when Shunsui calls their SO “petal” 🤢 Don’t ask me why, I just hate it 😂

Shunsui is a man who would have endearments abundance, here’s a few I think are his most used.

-For his partner Love/my love. This isn’t used for everyone, just you. You are his love, everything he feels in his chest when he sees you, it’s subtly telling you he is in love with you every time he says it.

-He would use my sweet, my darling, my perfect, before your name. He would use them teasingly and in the purest form of affection.

-If you were to be brazen, surprise him with a new underwear set, or wrap yourself up in nothing but his clothing, he’d call you a little minx.

-Beautiful. Cliche, but he means it with every fiber of his being.

Urahara

I don’t think he’s one for pet names. He loves YOU, and loves saying your name.

though I think he would ironically call you babe. Snuggled up watching a film where some guy kept calling the girls babe made him scoff, after you teased him about it, he purposely called you babe a ridiculous amount of times

“Babe, you ready for bed babe? Want me to get you anything before we go babe? Need help babe? Babe, let me tuck you in babe”

Since then he’ll call you babe when he’s teasing you or trying to get you out of a bad mood. Anything to get you laughing again.

Shinji

This suave guy is all about the pet names, to the point you often question if he actually remembers your real name.

Doll, babe, chick, darlin’, sweetness, precious, princess, All incredibly common and will be used every time he addresses you. He likes calling you Trouble, naughty girl, good girl, when he’s teasing you. Kensei

Idiot

Aizen

I don’t particularly think he would give nicknames either, or any endearment 😂 His lordship is far beyond the drivel of lesser beings. Your name will surfice

Grimmjow

Not a captain, but the boys on my brain 😂

Woman, girl, bitch. Pretty much any word describing females. Grimmjow is all action, he’d rather SHOW you how he feels about you than tell you with weak words.

Jushiro

This sweet man could give sugar diabetes 😭

My dear, I believe he would use the most, because you are so dear to him. Darling, sweetheart and love are also consistently used. I think if you’re having a particular tender moment, he’ll call you “my heart”

Gin

Darlin’, just something about the accent, makes the word darling sound so much hotter 🥵 he’s a wind up, so expect things like Shorty, half stack, vertically challenged, munchkin. Anything to get a reaction out of you.

[jesawyer]

I'm really interested in hearing about the thought process behind Brother Guy not being the victim in the final version, as well as where his backstory we learn about in Act II might have come from. Considering Act II also introduces the Sommerfeld family, was there a background decision at some point of "hey, we need to acknowledge what is happening with Jewish people in this setting?" Is Guy's story and approach to everything going on meant to sort of contrast with the Sommerfeld's (i.e. Guy as a descendant of forced converts vs Rachel and Benjamin as Jewish people active within their community)?

This element of the game just really keeps sticking in my brain, and I'd love to learn more about what was discussed behind the scenes!

He was never intended to be the Act I victim. When working on prototypes, I try to approach them with the explicit declaration that everything we use will be thrown out. It doesn't mean we will throw everything out, but that needs to be the attitude.

Prototypes are built for effect rather than for establishing pipelines. I.e., the prototype is about creating an experience we can all agree on. The vertical slice expands that experience but builds it "the right way". Vertical slice content usually winds up in the game so it should not only be the experience that you want, but it should be built the way you expect to build (most of) the rest of the content.

If we lean too heavily on material we made in a prototype during our vertical slice, we may incur debt because those things may have been built badly, or oddly, or simply in a way that is different from everything else. So while we did use a lot of our prototype material in our vertical slice, the main quest itself was scrapped (as it was always intended to). The murder in Act I needed to fit into a larger narrative framework and Brother Guy's death wouldn't have worked for a variety of reasons.

Some spoilers below:

Cf. the murder of Adelmo in The Name of the Rose. The death of one monk, even under suspicious circumstances, is only of great concern to the abbot because the Papal delegation is arriving. The death of Baron Rothvogel is of great concern to Father Gernot due to his friendship with the Prince-Bishop of Freising.

As far as Guy's background, I thought it was important that the story addressed various things happening to Jews around Europe at the time. The early modern period was very turbulent for Jews and I thought that should be reflected, even if it was happening in side stories. His experience is not the experience of the Sommerfelds and his way of dealing with prejudices toward his ancestors is certainly unique.

We didn't want to make historical prejudices central to the identities of people in Tassing or Kiersau for the same reason we didn't delve deep into things like corporal spousal/child abuse (though characters like Franz and certainly Lenhardt are clearly emotionally abusive at least) even if that were quite common in the period. The topics are so severe that they would likely derail focus on the other plot and thematic elements. Characters like Vácslav also indicate there are background prejudices at play that keep him in the company of charcoal burners and executioners. Anyway, even if the people of Tassing and Kiersau had likely been indoctrinated with prejudices, they have bigger fish to fry, so to speak.

[fluffystevefest]

Fluffy Steve Fest really flew by! Thank you so much to everyone who shared their creations or showed their love and support - the round-up of daily masterlists (with a side of fun statistics) is coming on July 10. In the meantime, be generous with your likes, kudos, reblogs, shares, and comments! 💙

THEME ★ STEVE'S...

Fluffy Steve Fest Day 7 - Steve's...less common friendships by @bulkyphrase ★ Rec list ★ Pairing: Multi ★ It's the final day of @fluffystevefest! Sunday's theme is "Steve's..." and I've decided to focus on Steve's rarer friendships. So please enjoy this list of lighthearted stories featuring some lovely platonic Steve rarepairs.

Fluffy Steve Fest Rec List: July 7: Steve's... by @ephemeralbutterfly ★ Rec list ★ Pairing: Multi ★ Hello everyone! I am doing daily themed rec lists for @fluffystevefest. The fics are related (some more loosely than others) to the daily prompts. The number of fics for any given day and prompt varies, but I have at least one fic for each day. There's also a wide variety of fic types and ratings, so I hope there will be something for everyone. The lists are vertically long, so I've put them behind a cut. The longest list for the last day. Once again a grab bag.

Coming Around Again by @polizwrites ★ Fic: 572, G ★ Pairing: Steve/Bucky ★ When Bucky calls Steve out on an old habit, he remembers the first time they shared an apartment.   

Day 7: His Wickedly Wild Menace by @mercurial-chuckles ★ Fic ★ Pairing: Steve/Reader ★ As a Systems Engineer, you were working on a machine in the gym. To your great dislike, a rookie bullies your trainee, and you can't help but show the rookie his place. Unbeknownst to you, the Avengers were vetting out the recruits before physical strength tests, and they see the whole thing. You capture Steve's interest.

yours, steve rogers by @meidui ★ Fic: 1k, G ★ Pairing: Steve & Avengers ★ Life seems to slow down, gentle and forgiving in a way it has never been before, and Steve gets into writing letters.

PROMPT ★ CHILDHOOD

For the First Time by @thebrooklynnway ★ Fic: 3.2k, M ★ Pairing: Steve/Tony ★ Steve is six years old when he meets Tony. He kisses Steve on the cheek, declares that they are best friends for life, then makes his way down the ladder of the treehouse. Steve watches with a blush on his freckled cheeks, a mixture of happiness and something he doesn’t really understand swirling in his heart.

I Drew it for You by @darthbloodorange ★ Fic: 100, G ★ Pairing: Steve & Sarah ★ Steve draws something for his mother.

de-aged steve fic recs <3 by @meidui ★ Rec list ★ Pairing: Steve/Tony ★

PROMPT ★ HABITS

Expensive Habit by @darthbloodorange ★ Fic: 100, G ★ Pairing: Steve & Tony, Steve & Avengers ★ It sort of just happens...

PROMPT ★ FIRST TIMES

Name Change by @ijustreallylikecaptainamericaok ★ Fic: 396, T ★ Pairing: Steve/Scott, Steve & Cassie ★ Scott had seen a similarly shocked pause before, back when Paxton went from Jim to Papa.

Thawed Interest by @darthbloodorange ★ Fic: 300, T ★ Pairing: Steve/Bucky, Steve & Avengers ★ Steve experiences his first crush since coming out of the ice. The Avengers have thoughts...

PROMPT ★ HAPPY ENDING

World's Best Dad-Venger by @darthbloodorange ★ Art ★ Pairing: Steve & Avengers ★ Summery: A retired Steve wakes in the morning to find a gift left by the young heroes he helps train.

Happy Ending by @americas-ass-writing ★ Fic: 1.3k ★ Pairing: Steve/Reader ★ Happy endings were something from fairytales. The real life didn't offer this. Steve would know. Every single piece of happiness was taken from him after way too short. His dad, his mom soon after, Bucky (who luckily returned to him), his own life. After trying to reclaim what he could of his life things looked better. He had friends, a found family, a sense of purpose... only for it to be taken far too soon. After the fight with Thanos everyone went their separate ways. Tony quit to be with his family, Natasha went on a lengthy solo mission. Sam and Bucky went on their own adventures after Steve gave the shield to Sam, too tired to continue being cap. Being someone he just isn't anymore. Thor went back to new Asgard. Bruce went to California. Which leaves Steve alone in New York. Alone to pick up the shambles of his and everyone else's life. Alone.

[aemiron-main]

Father And Son: TFS, Brenner, Cat Stevens, The Cycles, Cat’s Cradle, 8:15gate, Radiationgate and Cat’s In The Cradle

So, during TFS, Brenner says the following to Henry, specifically saying “father and son” to him at the end:

Which, that made me think of the 1970 Cat Stevens song, Father and Son, because Brenner’s dialogue is worded the EXACT same same way as the song title:

And you might be thinking “this is a stretch, Brenner just saying ‘Father and Son’ doesn’t mean it’s connected to the Cat Stevens song, ‘father and son,’ is a common phrase, right?” and usually, I’d agree- however, Cat Stevens, and specifically, the EXACT ALBUM that Father and Son is on has ALREADY BEEN REFERENCED in ST specifically in the context of Brenner.

Where?

In the newspaper (because of COURSE it’s the newspapers again)- look at Brenner’s crossword here:

It says “tillerman’s beverage,” as one of the hints- and the answer is tea. As in Tea for the Tillerman. As in the exact album by Cat Stevens that Father and Son is on:

And not only does it appear in Brenner’s crossword, but they specifically showing him crossing that one off:

And there’s him having written the answer in, down vertically from 60- “tea”:

And what is the song “Father and Son” about? Well, it’s basically about what the title says- a father and his son. But specifically, it's about a the difference in perspective between father and son re: his son leaving/it's about the generational divide between father and son, and was written about the idea of a son wanting to leave to join the Russian Revolution.

This is also all interesting regarding the idea of anachronistic song references in TFS, specifically, songs from the 70s, such as Chuck E’s In Love being referenced in TFS versus Father and Son being from 1970:

And while I don’t think Brenner himself was necessarily referencing the song (although it’s possible because as evidenced by him knowing the answer to that crossword, he’s clearly aware of the album Tea for the Tillerman), it’s still yet another reference to a 70s song in TFS.

And speaking of TFS, Father and Son was originally supposed to be a musical (and of COURSE there's an Edward involved LMAO):

Versus the musical number in the church in TFS and the musical Oklahoma being reference repeatedly in TFS/Ted Wheeler sings a song from it.

However, there’s also more to this whole ST referencing Cat Stevens thing- because it’s something I talked about on discord quite awhile ago-

-but basically, summarizing those screenshots, this all connects to “I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight,” playing over a scene of Karen in s3, because that song has these lyrics:

And that “curtains are closed, cat’s in the cradle,” lyric is interesting for the following reasons:

a.) the whole “behind the curtain” thing in ST plus the whole TFS play/curtain thing

B.) “Cat’s in the cradle,” versus the book Cat’s Cradle from 1963 by Kurt Vonnegut- which has some VERY interesting connections to ST.

So, in Cat’s Cradle, the narrator is a writer that introduces himself as Jonah (but his name is really John and he’s never named again), and he sets up the plot as a flashback. The plot centers around when Jonah was planning to write a book called The Day the World Ended about what people were doing on the day of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

Which, the connection to Hiroshima is interesting considering what I talked about in this post regarding how 8:15 gate connects to Hiroshima & to James’ radiationgate posts.

And in the book, John also includes snippets from religious texts called The Books of Bokonon. Most of the events of the novel occur before the narrator was converted to his current religion, Bokononism.

And while researching for his book, Jonah heads to Ilium, New York, the hometown of the late Felix Hoenikker, who was a co-creator of the atomic bomb, because Jonah wants to interview Hoenikker's children, coworkers etc.

When he gets there, Jonah finds out about a substance called ice-nine, created for military use by Hoenikker and now likely in the possession of his three adult children. Ice-nine is an alternative structure of water that is solid at room temperature and acts as a seed crystal upon contact with ordinary liquid water, causing that liquid water to instantly freeze and transform into more ice-nine. Among several odd unfoldings in Ilium, the narrator meets Hoenniker's younger son, Newt, who recounts that his father was doing nothing more than playing the string game "cat's cradle" when the first bomb was dropped.

Which, all of the ice-nine stuff has me staring at the lack of water in the UD, and the song “Cold As Ice” playing during S3, during a scene where Mike has a Lynx behind his head (which, the Lynx thing is something I’ll come back to in this post bc it ties into all of the “cat’s in the cradle,” stuff, esp being in the same season/possibly the same ep as that Karen “cat’s in the cradle scene” and Victor’s burning cradle scene vs the taxidermy lynx in the Creel house).

And also, the book even has its own Papa- the dictator called “Papa” Monzano, who is introduced when Jonah goes to the fictional Caribbean island San Lorenzo, which is also where Jonah gets introduced to Bokononism.

Bokononism was founded by Bokonon, who was a former leader of the island, and who created Bokononism as part of a project to give people hope and community in the face of the island's poverty. As a deliberate attempt to give Bokononism an alluring sense of forbidden glamor, the religion is outlawed, which forced Bokonon to live in "hiding" in the jungle.

Which, Bokonon hiding in the jungle reminds me of all of the stuff re: Henry supposedly hiding in the darkness versus Will hiding in S1.

And also, Papa Monzano, threatens all Bokononists with impalement on a large hook (despite the fact that Monzano himself secretly practices the religion, and the hook punishment doesnt really get used)- which this makes me think of all of the impalement imagery in ST, such as Billy being impaled by the fleshflayer-

(which is extra interesting considering the visual parallels between this shot of Billy’s impalement pose versus Vecna’s attic pose & how Vecna also gets impaled by the tentacles when they plug into him)

-plus Phineas Gage having been impaled by a rod-

(which is ALSO extra interesting considering how the Phineas Gage scene/“No Longer Gage” ties into TFS with Alice saying that “Henry” is “Not Henry,” and how right before that Alice-Henry exchange, Henry had these weird appendages grow out of his back, which is extremely visually similar to the Vecna attic scene I just mentioned, and therefore also ties all of this back to Billy’s impalement, especially considering the parallels between Billy and Max versus Henry and Alice, although Henry doesn’t treat Alice the way Billy treats Max, there’s still parallels + Max has unending Henry parallels, especially re: sibling death & Billy’s death vs Alice’s death)

And also, Monzano has an adopted daughter, Mona- which, that immediately makes me think of Patty being Mr Newby’s adopted daughter, especially considering Mr Newby’s Brenner parallels, such as Mr Newby having stolen Patty versus Brenner stealing kids-

-AND Mr Newby being very authoritarian/dictator-esque when it comes to how he runs the school & how he runs his family.

And also, Monzano is ill from cancer- which, as we know, there’s SO many references to cancer in ST, considering what I’ve talked about re: the connections between regen healing and cancer plus the idea that Peter Owens may have had cancer.

And also, Monzano wants his successor to be Frank Hoenikker, who was both Monzano's personal bodyguard and, coincidentally, Felix Hoenikker's other son. Frank achieved this position by giving "Papa" Monzano a piece of ice-nine.

However, Frank doesnt want to be the new leaser and somewhat randomly offers Jonah the presidency. Although Jonah is surprised at at first, he accepts after he finds out that this means he’ll get go marry Monah. Soon after, the bedridden "Papa" Monzano commits suicide by swallowing ice-nine, whereupon his corpse instantly turns into solid ice-nine.

Papa Monzano being bedridden has me staring directly at Brenner Sr (who Brenner Jr also calls Papa), who was bedridden and dying after his return from Dimension X.

Frank Hoenikker admits to giving Monzano ice-nine, and the Hoenikkers explain that when they were young their father would give them hints about the existence of ice-nine while experimenting with it in the kitchen. After their father's death, they gathered chunks of the substance into thermos flasks and have kept them ever since.

Which, this has me staring at the scene of the Bingham kids in the kitchen, and how Peter Bingham puts in “too much salt,” versus the salt and ice used for sensory deprivation tanks, versus ice-nine, PLUS “Peter” Bingham versus what I mentioned earlier about Peter Owens and cancer, PLUS what I mentioned about Mr Newby versus all of the parallels between Mr Bingham and Mr Newby and Suzie versus Patty etc etc.

And after Monzano dies, celebrations for Jonah’s presidential inauguration begin, but during an air show performed by fighter planes, one of the planes malfunctions and crashes into the seaside palace, causing Monzano's still-frozen body to fall into the sea.

Instantly, all the water in the world's seas, rivers, and groundwater transforms into solid ice-nine. The freezing of the oceans immediately makes tornadoes ravage the earth, but Jonah manages to escape with Mona to a secret bunker beneath the palace. When the initial storms subside, they emerge and search the island for survivors, and discover a mass grave where all the surviving San Lorenzans committed suicide by touching ice-nine. Grieving for her people, Mona follows suit and dies.

This makes me think of a.) the complete lack of water and complete lack of people in the UD, and b.) all of the bunker stuff in ST, specifically, the NINA bunker + Murray’s bunker, and how Murray has a bunch of Creel references in his bunker, like his his Billie Holiday record + his WW2 posters which then also connect to the Peter Pan and Skull Rock and Eddie-Edward stuff but that’s a post on its own- but that also makes me think of what I said earlier re: Phineas Gage getting impaled because Scott uses that skull graphic that reminds me a lot of Murray's poster:

I also now have to wonder- if the UD was once a normal timeline that got devastated in some apocalyptic manner, could there still be PEOPLE there?? In bunkers?? After all, we’ve only seen UD Hawkins, but if the UD extends to other parts of the world, then what if there’s an UD NINA bunkers that still has living people inside of it??? Or hell, what about Murray’s bunker in the UD?? They’ve never shown it to us, but for all we know, there could be living people/alternate timeline versions of people in there, having survived however long it’s been since the disaster.

And at the end of the book, Jonah lives with some other survivors in a cave- versus TFS Henry having ended up lost in a cave in Nevada, and ending up contracting the shadow as a result, and Brenner says that Henry “changed, like my Papa,” due to Henry’s time in the cave, which brings us back to what I said earlier about Brenner Sr.

And anyway, setting all that aside and going back to the other reason why that “cat’s in the cradle,” line fron I Just Died In Your Wems Tonight is interesting, there’s also C.) “cat’s in the cradle,” versus the song Cat’s Cradle by Harry Chapin.

Which, “Cat’s in the Cradle" by Harry Chapin is about a father not being able to find time for his son and then his son growing up without him and not being able to find time for his father- basically, the son becomes just like his father, ironically, as a result of his lack of interaction with his father, which, the whole “becoming his father,” thing has me staring DIRECTLY at the lines in TFS re: “you have to BE your dad”:

And the “Cat’s In The Cradle,” thing is extra interesting because that song CONSTANTLY gets misattributed to Cat Stevens, who has an album called Cats Cradle:

Which, that reminds of all of the mistaken identity stuff in ST, especially regarding Brenner and Richard vs Martin/the identity mixups there and Eddie Munson delivering subtext for Edward & Eddie Munson being wrongfully accused of murder & Victor also being wrongfully accused by Wayne versus “the man who did this,” and how that connects to Brenner.

And speaking of “cat’s in the cradle,” there’s also all of the cradle imagery with Victor:

And there’s also all of the cat imagery in ST, specifically the silver cat/lynx stuff in S3 versus the stuffed silver cat/lynx in the Creel house and Victor talking about a wildcat:

Not to mention that again, that lyric is from “I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight,” versus Henry literally “dying” in Victor’s arms:

And it’s also interesting that this seems to be a REALLY specific song choice for S3/they really wanted “I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight,” because the use of this song is anachronistic, as S3 is set in 1985, and I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight was released in 1986- which is also interesting considering what I talked about earlier re: TFS and song anachronisms.

Point is, I think that Brenner’s TFS dialogue re: “father and son,” is meant to reference the Cat Stevens song “Father and Son,” and that there’s a bunch of other connections re: “cat’s in the cradle ,” and Vonnegut’s “Cat’s Cradle,” and Harry Chapin’s “Cat’s In The Cradle,” and all of Victor’s cat and cradle imagery.

And I also won’t be surprised if we get the song Father and Son on the s5 soundtrack.

[taro-pdf]

tell me about the sunfish

OH BOY DO YOU KNOW HWAT YOU HAVE DONE??? HERE I GO:

(IDs in alt text.)

So there's this family of fish called molidae, yeah? and in molidae there's three families, Mola, Masturus, and Ranzania, and five species.

All of them have weirdo tails, in that their tails are like, gone. Their caudal fin is very stunted and used like a rudder, while anal and dorsal are used to propel. See below.

That's a Mola alexandrini and Mola tecta (drawn by yours truely), aka gian sunfish and hoodwinker sunfish! Molidae start their life as teeny tiny larva only a few cells large, and only a few of the thousands eggs released make it to adulthood. Molas are also the largest boney fish. The largest recorded Mola is M. alexandrini, with the most recent record breaker being about 11 feet long and weighing 6,000 lbs. Thats about 3.4 meters & 2700 kg! !!! WILD.

Despite being ginormous, Molidae as a whole are actually really low in nutritional value. See, the fish of Molidea's diet is soft squishy low calorie things they can inhale. They inhale because they can't close their mouths; they're always open, looking extremely surprised. So they eat things like jellyfish, zooplankton, and squid.

And how they go about eating is really cool, too. All the genus Mola dives thousands of feet in the ocean! Durring the day, most of their prey is down there due to the "diurnal vertical migration"--zooplankton travel up at night and down durring the day. Mola's eyesight isn't the best, so they dive durring the day to have better light.

Funny thing is, they don't have swim bladders. How do they move through the changing pressure? Their bone's and flesh just happen to be about the same density as water, so they just hang out wherever they stop swimming.

Another funny thing, Molidae are cold blooded. And the ocean is cold! this limits how long they can dive for. Older, larger adults can dive for much longer than smaller ones. Regardless, when they come up they have to warm up again, which they do by lying parallel and sunning themselves. Which where the Mola mola's common name comes from! Ocean Sunfish!

The larvea don't sun themselves, though, because they are not the same shape as all. Observe the bean!

The larvae try their best to survive, but most of them die. Thats why Molidae adults produce so many eggs---they (read: have evolved to) to essentially cross their fingers and hope some of them survive to adulthood.

Once adults, their survival chances greatly increase for a lot of reasons. One, their skin is mostly tough cartilage, hard to bite through, though sea lions and orcas do try. Then, like said before, they are pretty low in nutritional value. And finally, that I know of, they are open ocean fish. It doesn't always feel like it, but the ocean is very big. It's not often that molidae come across predators.

They do come across reefs fairly often though, and there are some interesting behaviors they exhibit. Like many other fishes, they let cleaner fish clean them. For more pesky parasites, they float at the very surface of the water and let seabirds eat the parasites off their skin.

Speaking of skin, i most recently learned that M. alexandrini changes color, and it can do it quite rapidly. It seems like when they are startled they can make their patterns more bold, a display showing just how large they really are. These patterns remain relatively stable & can be used for identification.

[umbralaether]

Hello! You can call me Blue, and here you can expect lots of my hyperfixations. Primary content is listed in the bio above, and I tag them all accordingly. If you need something specific tagged, let me know and I’ll include it in my common tags :)

My Dragon Age sideblog: @glitteringdust

I like writing and do take requests should anyone wish for something specific, bear in mind that I sometimes take a bit to create due me being super picky about what I share lol

Writing links: bg3 & ffxiv

Basic Info

Character’s full name: Eisha Pantera (ee-sha pan-terra)

Birthday: 10th sun of the 2nd Astral Moon

Race: Keeper of the Moon Miqo’te

Class: Summoner, Astrologian, Reaper

Ships: G’raha Tia (Main ship), Haurchefant, Thancred Waters (AU), Azem x Emet Selch

Screenshot tag: eisha screens

Lore/Answers: eisha lore

Azem: Astraea

Physical appearance

Age: post endwalker -> 28

How old does he/she appear: 25

Body build: Slim w/ lean muscle 

Eye color: Aqua (post shb left eye became pale aqua)

Glasses or contacts: neither

Skin tone: blue-gray

Distinguishing marks: faded dark blue tribal marks across cheeks; vertical scar over left eye

Hair color: dark blue with light blue highlights 

Type of hair: medium thickness, straight texture  

Hairstyle: short w/ a crown braid  

Overall attractiveness: unintentionally alluring  

Physical disabilities: post-endwalker she has bouts of muscle spasms due to fluctuating aether

Usual fashion of dress: relaxed, modest, casual

Favorite outfit:

Ala Mhigan gown in raptor blue

YoRHa Type-53 bottoms of casting

Shadowless boots of casting

Jewelry or accessories: usually wearing the edengate earrings, Cait sith neck ribbon, Halonic auditor’s bracelets, crystarium ring and amaurotine ring 

Personality

Good personality traits: Caring, Forgiving, Easy-going, Patient, Polite, Smart

Bad personality traits: Avoidant, Anxious, Self-Sacrificing, Passive, People-pleaser

Mood character is most often in: Inquisitive & calm

Sense of humor: finds joy in the small things in life; puns and cheesy jokes will make her laugh

Character’s greatest joy in life: helping those who cannot help themselves, and reuniting with her soulmate

Character’s greatest fear: failure, loss

What single event would most throw this character’s life into complete turmoil?: a death of one of her loved ones. Loss is not something she wants to go through at this current moment

Character is most at ease when: she’s near the beach & can hear the waves

Most ill at ease when: she has to make a public speech

Enraged when: mercy is not shown when it could be

Depressed or sad when: life is lost because there was nothing left to do 

Priorities: finding happiness & making it for others; have a family; publish a memoir

Life philosophy: treat others how you would like to be treated

If granted one wish, it would be: to live in a fair & just world where everyone looks out for one another

Character’s soft spot: *cough* villains who just needed love instead *cough*

Is this soft spot obvious to others?: Hopefully not, she would be so embarrassed 

Present

Current location: the Lavender Beds

Currently living with: her husband, G’raha Tia

Pets: Pickle the Lunatender, Squash the Royal Lunatender

Religion: “You can only save yourself”

Occupation: Adventurer & food connoisseur

Finances: well off due to a friend’s crafting business

Family

Mother: Elesia Pantera  

Relationship with her: complicated. Eisha was supposed to become the matriarch of the clan once she became of age but instead she ran away after they fought about it. Then the calamity hit and she never got to see her family or clan again.

Father: unknown

Relationship with him: never met him, no clue if he’s alive

Siblings: a sister, Elva Pantera, who died when Eisha was 13  

Relationship with them: estranged before her death, because her mother had chosen Eisha instead of her to lead.

Spouse: G’raha Tia

Relationship with him/her: soulmate.

Children: currently expecting one child, gender unknown at this time

Favorites

Color: Blue

Least favorite color: Brown (just not her style)

Music: a fan of violin and piano

Food: ramen; breakfast foods; sushi; pasta dishes

Form of entertainment: reading, sightseeing, cooking!

Location: Thavnair

Weather: Clear skies with any range of heat!

Most prized possession: all of her trophies from her battles

Habits

Hobbies: cooking, reading, exploring

Plays a musical instrument?: she is learning ukelele 

How she would spend a rainy day: snuggling up indoors with warm food and a good book/her significant other

Spending habits: impulse purchases for herself & others happens quite a bit 

Smokes: occasionally 

Drinks: special occasions 

What does she do too much of?: daydreaming, thinking, & learning

What does she do too little of?: taking a breaks & getting proper rest  

Combat skills: healing, magic arts, recently competent at physical combat    

Nervous tics: tends to tap her fingers on the table, or  mildly lash her tail 

Usual body posture: relaxed

Mannerisms: is formally polite around new people, bordering on shy. When she gets to know someone, she is sure to remember things from past conversations to catch up on.  

Peculiarities: will occasionally feel the aether of those who have passed on around her. Has flashbacks of pre-sundering events that feel like dreams.

Traits

Optimist or pessimist?: realist. both bad & good happen in equal amounts

Introvert or extrovert?:  introverted

Daredevil or cautious?

Logical or emotional?: leans more towards emotional but it is situational

Disorderly and messy or methodical and neat? Methodical and neat, everything has a place and she knows where it is.

Prefers working or relaxing? She becomes guilty when she takes a day off, and likes to stay busy.

Confident or unsure of himself/herself? She is confident in her abilities, yet unsure about her mental fortitude.

Animal lover? Adores all creatures of every shape and size!

[haru-dipthong]

Translating Split Cards in MTG

For those that don’t know, some cards in magic the gathering look like two cards stacked sideways, called “split cards” - the gimmick is that you can cast either side of the card (or both at the same time if it has fuse).

Usually they have a cute naming convention in english. In the Guilds of Ravnica card set, each split card had names with alliteration: e.g. Incubation//Incongruity, Depose//Deploy, Find//Finality.

What’s great is that they preserve this in the Japanese versions too! My favourite is probably Find//Finality.

採取//最終（さいしゅ//さいしゅう）(saishu//saishuu)

採取：The act of picking up or gathering things found on the ground, such as shells, rocks, or plants. This is pretty much exactly the flavour of “Find”, which is opportunistically gathering back dead creatures.

最終：A common word which means “last” or “final”. Could be used to describe the final act of a story, someone’s final breath, etc. Also very exactly matches what they were going for with “Finality”.

By themselves they’re fine translations, but together they’re amazing, maybe even better than the original english card name. The two names sound super similar when spoken aloud and only have one character different between them! It’s alliteration taken to the extreme!

Aftermath Cards

Another type of card that tends to have a cute naming convention is Aftermath cards. These cards are similar to split cards in that they’re two cards in one, but the difference is you need to first cast the top half, then you can cast the bottom half from your graveyard. In english they’re all named after common phrases that have a “to” in the middle: e.g. Onward//Victory, Spring//Mind, Refuse//Cooperate, Start//Finish.

This means that each half of the card has a card name that works individually, but when placed together in a phrase like “onward to victory”, the card as a whole takes on a new meaning.

The way they handled the translation here is genius. Instead of using phrases made up of multiple words, which wouldn’t lend themselves well to card names in japanese, they instead chose to use 四字熟語 (yojijukugo, four-character compounds. Incidentally, yojijukugo is a yojijukugo itself). Let’s look at the translation for Onward//Victory.

先手//必勝（せんて//ひっしょう）(sente//hisshou)

先手：Making the first move in a game or sport. Can also be translated as “taking the initiative”. Works fine for the card effect, which is making your creature more recklessly powerful without increasing its toughness. With a name like this you’d kinda expect it to grant haste, but whatever.

必勝：Simply means “certain victory”. Basically a word-for-word of the english.

先手必勝：When joined together, these two words make a yojijukugo that means “the early bird gets the worm” or “victory goes to the one who makes the first move”. How cool is it that they replicated the trick of having each half of the card have a meaning, but when combined as a whole it takes on a new meaning!

I also love that they seem to have prioritised matching the name with the mechanics and having a good 四字熟語 pairing, instead of prioritising translating the english phrase directly. A great example of that is Refuse//Cooperate.

機略縦横（きりゃく//じゅうおう）(kiryaku//juuou)

機略：The resources you have available. Often used in a set phrase: 機略に富む which means to be resourceful. This is super different to the english name, “refuse”, but somehow works with the card effect much better! Refuse doesn’t actually refuse anything, but it does deal damage to the opponent based on what spell they’ve cast: I’d say that works better for “being resourceful” than refusal.

縦横：This word is made up of the kanji for “vertical” and the kanji for “horizontal”. It can mean literally “vertical and horizontal” but also “in every direction” and “acting as one pleases”. Again, totally different to the english “cooperate”, but it describes the card effect much more completely! If you copy your own spell, you’re “covering all angles”. If you copy your opponent’s spell, you’re “acting as you please”. Both this and the one above are brilliant translations just on their own.

機略縦横：Very resourcefully using tactics adapting oneself to the requirements of the moment; playing it by ear; acting according to circumstances. The card as a whole is all about responding to your opponents’ spells, and turning whatever they throw at you back at them, so it fits perfectly. Such a smart translation.

Now, I only picked the really good translations to single out here, but there are a few aftermath cards that use very obscure 四字熟語 which don't make much sense when split in half, or in the case of Rags//Riches, Destined//Lead, Never//Return, and Mouth//Feed, don't actually use 四字熟語 at all. I wonder if there were better translations possible for these!

PS: I wrote this whole article and then, while I was looking for a hi-res scan of 機略//縦横, I found a much more comprehensive article by a japanese language university lecturer covering basically the exact same topic. Link to that here: https://wesleycrobertson.wordpress.com/2020/12/01/word-play-localizing-split-card-themes-in-magic-the-gathering/

[objectheadzine]

WELCOME TO THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE OBJECT HEAD ZINE!

2 months left!

In celebration, the 2024's edition will be a Grab Bag - draw whatever object head you like (so long as it fits the guidelines, see below). In Lieu of a theme, all submissions MUST HAVE ASHLEY (the megaphone mascot) in the piece! Feel free to make him as large or as small as you want in the composition. He can be hanging out with your characters or he can be on a flyer, just so long he's somewhere in the picture! Reference of all his outfits can be found here. But don't feel like you're restricted to his previous outfits. Feel free to dress him up in anything you'd like. Content is also free for whatever! You want to date the lil man? Go for it! You want to tease or go on the attack? Also fine! Ignore him and let him live his life? Sure thing.

ALL submissions will be accepted as long as they fit guidelines and each person has a limit of up to 3 submissions. Submit your pieces to the zine email objectheadzine(@)hotmail(.)com along with the email/website/name you’d like to be credited as. (Feel free to omit emails if that is more comfortable). When you’ve finished your piece(s), you are allowed to post them to your blogs as long as you link back to the zine blog! This will be a DIGITAL ZINE ONLY and will be available free upon completion (donation optional).

The guidelines are as follow:

Illustration-quality works in either digital or traditional mediums. Both colour and b/w acceptable; background required. *BG can be as simple as a pattern or colour block! Avoid utilizing a camera to submit your images, please use a scanner. 

The default size will be 6″x9″, 300 dpi (1800px x 2700px) but feel free to go larger or smaller, so long as it follows those proportions. Please work in a vertical format.

For consistency’s sake, keep faces to a minimum (You can have eye(s) or you can have mouth(s) but don’t have both in a humanoid arrangement.)

Ashley, the megaphone head mascot, must be included in your piece. He can be small in the picture or a large factor but he must be included. When submitting, if he is not obvious, please point him out to me. References are found here.

Please go for original characters (or fanart of your friend’s characters) and not so much established object heads (e.g. the popcorn and soda heads from No More).

If you want to include humans, that’s fine as well but keep the ratio of people to object heads 1:1.

Content should be at most PG-13: Romance is fine but after-hours business should not be implied, Blood is fine but no gore. In the end, use your common sense.

Feel free to draw a comic or just an illustration! A comic counts as one submission.

Some facts about Ashley that could help with your piece: He's 5'2", he's of Chinese nationality, he's a TV show host, he's a bubbly, happy-go-lucky kind of guy and he has a Samyoed dog named Cotton!

Note that if a submission does not meet the above guidelines, I will either reject your submission or suggest improvements that would help your piece fulfill them. Please email me at objectheadzine(@)hotmail(.)com if you have any further questions and I’ll do my best to reply promptly. If you do not receive a message from me within a few days, please send it again. Final pieces submitted should be either in PNG or a one layer PSD file format.

Want to share your piece as you're working on them? Come on over to the Object Head Zine discord!

THE DUE DATE FOR SUBMISSIONS IS NOVEMBER 9TH.