#thesis planning

[the-music-keeper]

Objective #17 is done and I have acquired several books that look helpful.

[prideandparchment]

Do any of you have Opheliamachine by Magda Romanska in English, in digital form?

Would like to use it for one of my papers at the end of this semester and maybe even for my thesis but I can't find it anywhere. I only found a copy of it that's getting released in February, 2024.... 🥲

[nolsdoods]

some cinderekis to go with my prince langa design🧍

[yuyu-finale]

trigun stargaze but as vintage sci-fi movie posters 🎥

edit: several people have asked for prints so they are now available here and here!

also, i got a special request for grainier, more vintage-y looking versions (available here and here) but please note that I don’t know how they’ll look when printed! if they’re wonky please let me know!

[deikshen]

What if Heavenly Demons come from being children of a ascended God with a Demon?

Of course, that would be an explanation for why they are relatively few, so powerful, and why the ones we know the most (LBG and ZZL) have their blood diluted. It is practically impossible for a pure offspring to arise between two Heavenly Demons unless it is direct incest. More than a species, they are a direct result of, who knows, a Blood Demon, where 90% of the Blood Parasites' abilities to heal or attack others could come from + the OPness of an ASCENDED GOD.

So it's not just that they've died out after a long lineage. It's that they've ACTUALLY been few and far between from the beginning. The Heavens know that even if immortality accompanies an ascended God and a demon, and even if they leave behind a progeny of, what, ten children over the course of a century?? there would be nothing but an internal war between the heavens and the demon realm to hunt them down. They have the best of both realms. They ARE part light - part dark. They can give in to the abyss in their hearts or embrace the goodness of the heavens. They can be something horrible or the best thing that ever happened to the world.

They are not the legacy of a dying species. They are not the worn-out result of what time and exhaustion do to the powerful. They are… the result of love. The result of a forbidden love that was perhaps kept secret. The result of an ascended God who loved too much, a demon who renounced the evil of their spirit, they are the children of those who betrayed who they were and who they believed for their family.

They are the legacy of something beautiful.

They are a legacy of love.

Imagine Shen Qingqiu, married to Luo Binghe, FINDING OUT ABOUT THAT.

[doriana-gray-games]

friendly sherlock this, bickering sherlock that—what if my sherlock was nothing but kind, warm and pretty much looked up to them until getting their heart broken by L at the pub, from which point they're set on never letting them in again. what then??? 😤

Aww, I'm gonna try and rebalance that interaction a little. I realise for that particular combination it was a little too... harsh. It wasn't intended to be quite so harsh and whiplash-y as that combination became.

I'm sorry anon and anon's MC.

L will try their best ofc, to make things right. Not because they think they deserve your forgiveness, but because they simply have to make it right, or better, or try.

Alsoooooo

The moment gave:

Sherlock an excuse to change the dynamic or demand things of L that they didn't before have. (Maybe now u start arguing? maybe now L has to do the chasing? Maybe mc will change RO?)

Me an excuse to write L grovelling and crying.

MC an excuse to get to know the two new ROs, H and A 😌

MC an excuse to complain to Mrs H and W

MC crying (its great, I love it, it has some great effects in ch5.2!)

You don't have to forgive L. But the game will force you to meet them again. Because of multiple circumstances.

But I shall attempt to rebalance the moment at the bar a little, for this mc and L combination—the soft L route was supposed to be a little angsty, but not quite too angsty, if that makes sense.

Me in the future, trying to rebalance it:

[necrotic-nephilim]

what's fun about shipping Tim with Dick, Jason, or Damian is he has, at some point, hallucinated all of them to comfort himself. even when he doesn't like them or particularly get along with them, he has to imagine/hallucinate them just so he has the power to go on. Tim's concepts of the Robin mantle and what it should be is so fun, because he respects the others through the Robin mantle. Tim worships Dick because he was the first Robin. he wouldn't be Robin if Jason hadn't died in the mantle. and a lot of his frustration with Damian is he feels Damian isn't honoring the mantle correctly. when you ship Tim with the other Robins you can't divorce their identities as Robin from it because Tim will always see them as a Robin first and that's so fun and fucked up. like.

batman (1940) #456

Tim perceiving Dick as *Robin* cheering him on, not Nightwing, which is the version of Dick that Tim actually knows? that's just. wild of him. he will always view Dick as Robin first, his personal hero but also the original of the legacy. his love for Dick is shaped by that.

and then of course, even when he's hallucinating/imagining Jason cheering him on, it's *still* through the lense of being reminded how Jason failed? subconsciously believing that Jason got himself killed because of his actions, and that being a lesson for Tim to learn from? Jason isn't a person to Tim, he's a moral lesson about how to be Robin. any potential idolization he could have of Jason isn't because he loves Jason, it's because of the lessons Jason's death taught him.

and then, even though him hallucinating TIm is from the New-52, which makes characterization all kinds of questionable, i do think it makes sense for TIm to hallucinate/imagine Damian after Damian's death in an attempt to cope with it.

teen titans (2011) #18

to an extend, he sees Damian's death as in part his own fault. and even hating Damian, Tim needs the comfort from this to cope with Damian being gone. he's angry that Damian even was Robin, and has to learn something from Damian's death and how it impacts the Robin mantle, and teenage heroes as a whole. like, Tim can pretend he hates Damian all he wants, even getting taunted by the image of Damian, but there's still an underlying love to their relationship.

i think that's just the fun of shipping Tim with any of them. you will never divorce Tim's views of them from the Robin mantle and how fucking Unwell he is about anyone else who's been Robin before or after him, to the point he has to hallucinate them comforting him when he's at his lowest. it's always going to be a little unhealthy, a little toxic, and driven by Tim's relationship with being Robin as well. i need more Tim being weird about Robin in these ships.

[astriiformes]

Was tagged by @starfoozle to share some of the books on my to-read list for 2025 (thank you, friend, this is a fun one!)

First on my list of reading goals is actually to try to finish at least a couple of the in-progress books I carried with me into the new year, but for this challenge I picked ones I haven't actually started yet -- with the exception of Wonder and the Order of Nature, which I read a chapter of for a class years ago and loved (and which may or may not end up being the beginning of PhD dissertation reading in 2025).

This list is mostly non-fiction, as is my wont, though there are a couple fiction books in here for once -- both recommended by friends, so I'm slightly more optimistic I'll actually read and enjoy them. I hear tell the Rivers of London series even has a canon aromantic character, and that Mongrels is actually good werewolf fiction, so I may scratch a couple itches with my reading this year.

Tagging @marypsue @tam--lin @eternalgirlscout @so-i-did-this-thing @lafseanchai @professionalowl and @eighthdoctor, though of course there's no obligation to participate (I just suspect all of you have excellent to-read lists, haha)

[the-music-keeper]

On my own from here on.

From now on, I will be watching asynchronous class lectures and emailing responses to my professor. I could theoretically get all these responses done in a couple weeks, if that.

Classical History

1. Rice reading. (On music for solo piano -- now we're speaking my language!)

2. Strunk reading. (From Koch, a German theorist.)

3. Watch the lecture video. (I knew I was forgetting something.)

4. Write a response to the assignment given in the video. (A mystery!)

Final Paper

5. Search the Rockefeller and Swem libraries for sources. (Finally nailed down my sources!)

6. Email my contact in Williamsburg. (Email sent!)

7. Find more sources. (I'm really happy with where my bibliography is right now -- I'll have plenty to send in with my preliminary bibliography at this rate.)

Doctoral Applications

This week I'm doing Harvard University.

8. Look at potential advisors' recent research from the last five years. (I have met the potential advisor at Harvard -- his name is Dr. Alejandro Madrid.)

9. Look at dissertations potential advisors have supervised within the last five to ten years. (The man has supervised three dissertations in the last five years. Three.)

10. Find curriculum information. (My hunch was very wrong and I couldn't find a detailed catalog at all.)

11. Get contact info. (The Ivy Leagues don't like you to reach out to professors directly, but Harvard at least has a middleman email you can reach out to.)

Article Project

12. Look at the Schumann articles I found last week. (I compiled a list but I never crossed off the to-do list entry because I didn't read them!)

13. Keep considering what problem my analysis solves. (That's the thing about this paper -- it was a self-contained analysis. So my next step is going to be finding other articles on this specific piece to see what problems they try to solve and how my analysis fills in the gaps.)

14. Read a translation of Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts, the novella I have found out "Der frohe Wandersmann" was originally published in. (For context.)

Thesis Planning

15. Find some more sources. (And keep waiting for the books I've already ordered.)

Adulting

16. Do laundry. (As usual.)

17. Write my rent check. (Last one for this residence.)

18. Plan an itinerary for my parents' visit. (They're coming up for the Fourth!)

19. Keep looking for a job. (Done for the week.)

Wish me luck, y'all!

[abominandus]

stevensaras of the assorted variety. can anyone hear me

[fumifooms]

Your post about falin manifested some Thoughts in me. Seeing how such a big part of her arc was becoming more independent and discovering what She wants to do, mixed with a lot of parts in the manga where she is much more comfortable looking masculine - embarrassed about how blushy she is but not really liking makeup, enjoying more masculine clothes, that one haircut swap where she seemed really happy in laios' cut, it made me realize there's totally some room for even some transmasc falin headcanons! Or at the very least, she's definitely GNC and it would be fun to see that explored in fanfic and fanart... anyway, your in depth analysis posts have really inspired me, got me itching to create some obscure dunmeshi fancontent or analysis now!

Omg…… I’ve never fully thought about it but you’re so right transmasc Falin would go so hard… There’s also how she idolizes Laios a lot… Male older brother role model she puts on a pedestral, could play into her relationship with it. Because of the dragon I like to see her as intersex, including post-canon but beyond that I always saw her as being the more or less agender type that just goes with whatever she feels fits her better, the sort of cis by default for lack of caring about it all that much, not unlike how I consider Laios cis by default but if you dig deep enough there’s otherkin stuff going on in there… Def agree with GNC Falin.

She and Toshiro have some interesting parallels, of being passive and suppressing themselves for the convenience of others, it’s a reason why seeing her being unabashedly entranced by a bug struck him so much— himself being a bug fan and polishing his demeanor to be perfectly respectable. Because of that and including specific details like getting told "boys don’t cry" by Hien- Actually just let me link this excellent post about trans Toshiro. Transfem Toshiro is so compelling and I think pairing it with transmasc Falin would be very interesting… The gender envy of it all, the talks… Need them to go on a trip together post-canon so so bad, life changing self-discovery camping trip

I’ll be munching on this... I love it. Your reblog tags have been a delight, I’m so happy I could inspire you in any way! So looking forward to what you might make in the future

[moongothic]

If being weak is a "sin" in Crocodile's mind, then isn't a painful defeat and maybe even death rightful punishment for it? A punishment you deserve for your crime of "being weak"? That's an intriguing mindset from him because it makes me wonder how Crocodile might view his own past and the things he has gone through? I might not go as far as to say Crocodile "blames himself" for the things he's gone through, as he doesn't seem like the kind of guy who dwells on the past like that. But I do feel like Crocodile has accepted in his mind that things like losing his hand happened because he was weak, and it was his own fault. That he can not blame anyone else for what has happened to him. He fucked around and he found out.

It's just interesting because to some degree, One Piece thematically does agree with this sentiment, this is a world where the strong eat the weak. (One example at the top of my head; Luffy refusing Katakuri's apology when his sister intervened with their battle, saying he should've dodged the attack properly if he didn't want to get hit.) Chaka falling in this scene and being unable to stop Crocodile may lead to the deaths of so many more, including his loved ones, and if that comes to pass, it's is Chaka's own fault. For being too weak. But also Crocodile has twisted that idea; Crocodile is using his worldview here to justify himself and essentially saying he can do this (take over Alabasta and kill a million innocents doing so) and get away with it because he's powerful. When in reality "weakness is a sin" isn't about the survival of the fittest, but how this is a world where the strong are meant to protect the weak. (See: Luffy) (Also how Pell told Baby Vivi in that flashback about how he trains so he can protect the Royal Family; again, he he craves power not to oppress the weak but to protect them)

But, just to get back to Crocodile again, I feel like this worldview might also give us more insight as to how he acts in certain situations post-Alabasta. Like when we see Crocodile towards the end of Miss Goldenweek's cover story, both when he declines to escape from jail and in his Impel Down mugshot, Crocodile has a smile on his face. That really is the face of a man who has accepted his fate, is it not?

"Welp, this is what I get for losing to a child in flipflops"

Or when we see him come collect his debt from Buggy; Crocodile seemed quite relaxed and fully admitted he had assumed Buggy would've ran away before he even got there to collect his money. Of course, considdering his trust issues Crocodile would've been mentally prepared for Buggy skedaddling anyways, but the fact that he loaned the clown money to begin with while assuming he'd probably never get that money back-- like Crocodile knew that was going to happen and he just accepted it. And just rolled with it.

Of course, when things take an Unpleasant, Unexpected Turn, he will blow a fuse. Multiple, even.

Him angy

IDK man this is all just interesting to me

[channelslam]

[why-the-heck-not]

favorite thing in the world is planning & making schedules but as soon as that’s an assignment that I have to do and there’s a deadline? nah no nope no have never planned anything in my entire life and never will again throwing up from the lack of scheduling skills

[peniscat]

i have a job interview tomorrow. i'm stressed

[bunkernine]

been rereading moa and got to the part where percy v jason in kansas with piper. this is mirrored almost EXACTLY to jason v leo @ medeas with piper. it doesnt matter which one of them dies or both of them could but jason and leo are definitely the prophecy kids. this is undeniable. so kansas is where they learn that one male and one female need to die for gaea. i think... leo was supposed to be there instead of percy. leo is the first one to have an eidolon. then jason would get caught and so would piper.... instead percy was a more enticing option than piper so he gets possessed instead. cuz the only reason why Leo isn't there is because he decides to take time to work on the ship... and piper is cautious because her dagger katropis can see the future. SO THIS IS MY THOUGHT: the cyclops try to kill piper + jason. then medea faces leo and jason because she can see the future and she knows these 3 are the kids to kill. then midas freezes leo and piper. then khione just goes ballistic lmao. and cuz they are all failures, GAIA gotta put in the work herself and she expects those 3 to be in Kansas— bacchus even realizes that kansas was a trap and leaves LMAO. when the eidolons fail, khione gets to do round 4 in hoh (the calypso thing).... the monsters tend not to be too picky later on, but i think the one girl one boy was always supposed to be PIPER + JASON/LEO but her dagger and unusually strong abilities gave her an unexpected edge. aphrodite even says, piper can see all possibilities as her daughter.... The possibilities being the ones that medea and the eidolons shouldve gave her: jason or leo, to storm or fire, greek or roman, titans or gods, demigod or mortal. piper's entire issue in tlh is trying to figure out her loyalties and decide if she should betray her friends. piper also CHOSE katropis out of every weapon, the same weapon as helen of troy of all ppl? Piper is ALWAYS put in the position of choosing and putting her heart on line: extremely fitting for daughter of aphrodite and adversary to gaia. i tried thinking, why the fuck does piper have charmspeak.... Its cuz she can take away other people's choices and make them her own- this is the MAIN reason she hates charmspeak too. Are you guys seeing what im saying ... "The prophecy was always about us three" ← i just think piper was intended to be more entangled but some. other. writing choices were made last minute :)