#they serve no purpose except to fulfill my desires as i cater to my target audience of : myself

[omegalomania]

hello 8 days ago you drew some very cool mania fan art and you said the narrative isn’t relevant but have you considered…..it is relevant to me ? (please share)

dklfldkjflkd ALL RIGHT WELL if you're asking thennnnn

oh my god this got so fucking long. im putting it under a cut because it contains a) a fuckload of text and b) some concept drawings and stuff that i threw in there cause why not.

(for anyone unaware, the ask is referring to this art i posted without much context a little while ago, though it also relates to this one.)

so basically back when mania was like, the new hotness, there was only one big like popular bandom au based around it and frankly i fucking hated it. i dont want to get too mean but i really did think it kind of sucked and it felt like a bunch of missed opportunities and it fizzled out cause the creators sucked anyway but even on a conceptual level i was just so over it. so a couple weeks ago i get heated about this in the groupchat and go "what if i just invented a different mania au, but better." and no one told me to do it but i just went for it anyway because this is what happens when you leave me alone in a room i just start Making Shit

so behold, an au that caters to no one except me, birthed from spite. literally all the file names for these are labeled "mania spite au" and so on. this came from a desire to meld themes from the album into a semi-cohesive narrative

so whats the narrative? GLAD YOU ASKED

for the central "antagonist" i decided to use the mania entertainment group concept, which is something fob toyed with in marketing the album but never really did anything with. so, fine. here's this massive entertainment-based company and they're fucking huge. they're fucking massive. think disney, basically.

employees at this fuckoff massive company include 3 ordinary dudes: patrick, a sound engineer; joe, an electrical engineer; and pete, a dude with a position in admin.

for various reasons all three of them are just kind of drifting in this state of not really wanting to be there but not having a lot of choice. patrick is neutral about the work he does but isn't really in love with it, mostly just keeps his head down and minds his own. joe hates the work, hates the ethos, hates the ideology of the company works for, but seeing as MEG is so big there's basically no alternatives so he has to grit his teeth and do it. pete basically inherited this big shot position in administration but feels fundamentally directionless and didn't actually engage in the work out of a genuine passion for it buuuut it's not like he can just walk away from a really good position especially without a fallback plan.

that's the backdrop. inciting incident?

an interdimensional demigod gets stuck in MEG's basement.

kinda anyway.

theres a rupture in the fabric of spacetime. and out spills this guy, the demigod of instability. since he's, you know, fundamentally unstable, he basically broke into this reality by mistake and gets himself stuck. and because MEG is a big shitty company and their only morality is profit incentive they look at this dude and go "hey, free power source” because hes yknow, an interdimensional minor deity so he’s kind of got a lot of power at his disposal at baseline.

so yes theres our setup. three guys working at this shit company, and one glitched up demigod who's stuck being exploited directly by said company. and he doesnt get a name right away i guess cause hes a freakin god Why Would He but yeah that guys andy.

also fun fact those glowy glyphs hes got instead of tattoos are the same fictional language we see the little girl in the young and menace video speaking.

SO anyway andy is stuck in the basement of a fuckoff massive company having his power leached/exploited and he's desperate to escape. so one night he takes advantage of the fact that hes literally the avatar for the very concept of instability and blows the building power, in the process zapping the three dudes closest to his physical location. like so.

dudes all black out, pass out, and when they wake up they're subtly different though they don't know it yet. joe, patrick, and pete have all become god-infected and since andy is a deity of instability, they’ve all been infected with subsets of that power. each of these powers relate to their mentalities at the point of infection as well as certain lines and themes that exist on the album.

joe is infected with temporal instability. glitching forward and backward in time, temporal looping, shit like that. this is mostly restricted to his own personal timeline; he can affect his own future, not anyone else’s, cause he isnt exactly a god here just a god-infected mortal.

patrick is infected with kinetic instability. basically this means he gets control over the way things move; speeding or slowing momentum, switching directions ,etc.

pete is infected with material instability. essentially, he can alter and phase states of matter. he can’t fundamentally alter the molecules in an object, but he can alter the way those molecules are arranged.

side effects of god infection include but are not limited to: hearing the voices of other god-infectees in your brain! hearing that god try to communicate with you in Your God Damn Dreams! accumulating more and more otherworldly traits the more you use your weird new god infection powers! and MORE

the long and short of it is that andy uses this newly established mental link to say “im stuck in your shitty company’s basement please help” and eventually they do that. they break this guy out and in the process end up on the wrong side of the mania entertainment group, the law, the entire city, the world...basically they’re fucked and literally all they have is each other.

i also wanted to draw predominantly from the album themes, at least as i interpreted them. i figure it’d be pretty tasteless to do a straight up narrative About a mental breakdown. instead i look at the elements present in the album as stuff that can be paralleled in a narrative. no, the album does not deal literally with being some kind of extradimensional entity, but it does deal with the idea of feeling heavily isolated, misunderstood, and like you have no friends. the album does not deal with going on the run from a super-powerful corporate conglomerate that wants you and your friends in their custody, but it does deal with the idea that society expects you to adhere to certain strictures, and deviation from those will be punished. mania as an album discusses what it is to feel dissonant compared to those around you - how you can feel innately monstrous, or incorrect, or like your flaws make you fundamentally impossible to love. that’s part of the reason i like the idea of physical transformation being displayed on each of the guys as they use their otherworldly god infection powers more and more; as they become a little more decoupled from how reality expects them to be, they start to look less “perfect” in the eyes of how the world expects them to behave. but it’s those flaws that give them strength, bind them together, and allow them to relate to one another. not fitting in, which makes them so miserable at first, becomes crucial to how they eventually become drawn to one another.

if this whole thing sounds like an excuse for a cosmic found family trope youre right thats what this is because who the fuck do you think youre talking to.

in order to make that big long illustration i posted earlier, i basically drew a bunch of busts as concepting, got carried away, and then cropped them down. here are the full images if anyone is curious.

interdimensional demigod of instability andy. the glowing sigils all over him shift and swirl and never really sit in one place which means i don’t have to worry about consistency when i draw them ho ho

joe gets this inky pinky distortion/corruption deal the more he uses his temporal instability powers. it never consumes him completely and it doesn’t hurt or affect how he moves around but it can look pretty alarming, especially when wee little bits start flaking off him.

patrick’s design is perhaps obviously based on those llama things that fob got sued over lol cause a) i think patrick getting horns is great and b) again i wanted to draw from the album’s marketing. using his kinetic instability powers starts with sprouting horns and then comes the teeth, the fur, etc. idk how far i want this kind of corruption to go but it could be gnarly if he becomes a big furry werebeast at some point like that’d be fun.

pete’s design doesn’t go as hard as i originally wanted it to but i liked how it turned out too much to alter it. he gets four stubby little horns and volcanic veins like lightning bolts jagging up all over his skin. the veins are the giveaway that he’s using his material instability powers, but the more he uses them he eventually gets himself some horns too.

all four of the guys get rad glowing eyes cause im a sucker for that shit

ALL RIGHT I THINK THATS IT. again i literally just invented this thing during my lunch hour at work out of spite and its just something i think is fun to dick around with. i dont have any serious thoughts about it or whatever but im flattered literally anyone is curious about it so THANK YOU FOR ASKING

[moriganstrongheart]

On Firefly, Mediocrity and Problematic Media

When I first set to writing this, I intended to write a review of Firefly. I had recently rewatched Firefly and its tie-in, semi-sequel movie Serenity with my fiancée, and I wanted to express my thoughts on it. But I put the original first draft aside after writing two sentences and did not revisit it until months later. By then, I found I was no longer interested in reviewing Firefly, opting to explore issues of underlying misogyny and mediocrity in media instead. I think that Joss Whedon’s work is a good case study for these problems, as he exists simultaneously as a folk hero of sorts when it comes to speculative fiction, and as the harbinger of the now divisive Marvel Cinematic Universe. And Firefly being so beloved by its fans, I think it's worth diving deep into its problems to illustrate my points.

Perhaps the best way to demonstrate Firefly’s problems is in how it appeals to its fans. While I find the character interactions the best aspect of the show, I’m sure that quite a few fans—primarily young, white males—are attracted to the space western setting of the show and all the trappings that come with it. The Verse is filled with guns, alcohol, rape, savages and prostitutes—everything a new frontier needs, or so I expect is the intent. I don’t think these are ever the focus of the show, nor are they something Whedon ever places on a pedestal as ideals to strive for. But they are a part of the worldbuilding, and so were included with intent. There has been a debate for several years among fans of speculative fiction on whether worlds inspired by historical periods or specific cultures should include these so-called “less favourable” aspects of that period or culture, or if the speculative nature of the fiction should allow for their exclusion. I want to make it clear that I am in the second camp; I don’t believe that just because a fantasy world is set in a medieval time period that women shouldn’t be allowed to be knights, or that aliens or people of colour have to necessarily be slaves in a colonial space opera. It is speculative fiction after all, and we are under no obligation to hold ourselves to any supposed cultural or historical accuracy.

This is, of course, ignoring the fact that the cultural and historical accuracies being strived for have flawed origins, having been decided by academics with their own bias, or even maybe their own agenda. I would make further arguments that historical fiction and literature are themselves often coloured by the author’s intent, and so certain aspects are accentuated while others are ignored or downplayed in order to tell a specific story—often to the detriment of minority groups. It’s impossible to divorce bias from one’s work, no matter how objective the work claims to be. This has been proven time and again, evidenced by the revision of textbooks throughout the years.

Regardless, counter arguments to the exclusion of “less favourable” elements are normally that doing so waters down the source material, diminishing its authenticity and, more interestingly, it represents a disagreeable emotional sensitivity on the part of the opposition. This point of view assumes that the opposition is averse to certain perceived realities in the world, and that the narrative they want to ascribe themselves to would be unrealistic and, as such, not entertaining. In reality, all parties are involved in some form of escapism. The outcry for realism is a smokescreen for the desire to keep a specific form of escapism, one which can only be described as a violent, misogynistic power fantasy. The source of this outcry—again, predominantly young white males—sees the inclusion of bigotry and sexual violence as essential to their viewing experience, as they take enjoyment out of them. That isn’t to say that having violence, sexual themes or social inequality don’t have a place in fiction; they just need to have a purpose. Without purpose, they are only there to service the twisted fantasies of the target audience.

For an example that brings us back to Firefly, it never really feels like Irana’s career as a courtesan serves any other purposes than as an excuse for partial nudity, sex scenes and for Malcolm to call her “whore” on the regular. There are times where her position as a high-ranking courtesan opens doors for the Firefly crew, but this is a contrivance of how courtesans work within the Verse, and not a part of the skillset she has accrued to become a courtesan. The only true exception to this—that I can remember—is her role in grooming the magistrate’s son in the episode Jaynestown, which directly affects the primary conflict. Apart from this instance, none of her meaningful contributions to the plot necessitate her being a courtesan. She could have just as easily been someone with social or political clout. However, this wouldn’t have allowed for her to be the ship’s prostitute, there only to drive Malcolm up the wall and have someone he could call “whore” without guilt. As such, it became necessary for Whedon to not only make her a sex worker, but to create an entire system around her which would give her importance to the plot. In essence, he wanted his cake and eat it too. It’s disappointing, as the idea of having a sex worker being an important member of the main cast is interesting enough as a concept to explore. Ideally, this person would be treated with respect by others for their work, and their value should come from them as a person, not from a fabricated social status.

As a side note, I acknowledge that most people in the show respect Inara, but it is because of her fabricated social status and not because of who she is as a person. The only people who respect her for who she is and what she does are women and the one person of colour on the crew.

There are a lot of other small decisions within Firefly that show Whedon’s intent, such as the characterizations of River’s mental illness and Jayne as a character. I can’t help but wonder if Firefly were produced today on HBO or Netflix, if the showrunners would have allowed the inclusion of far more sexual violence and bigotry in hopes of attracting a larger audience. Because while we have collectively become much more cognizant of issues like diversity and the portrayal of women in media, shows with portrayals of sexual violence and bigotry tend to perform better overall. Unfortunately, the vocal minority shouting their preferences on social media only helps to reinforce this trend.

However, I don’t want to make the wrong impression. Sexism, racism, violence and bigotry are not the focus during Firefly’s runtime. In fact, Whedon generally does a good job of representing healthy relationships, strong female characters and positive representation of people of colour. For example, Zoe and Wash’s relationship is very admirable, and Kaylee is perhaps the best character on the show. The problems exist beneath the surface, informing everything from story conflicts to character motivations. Whedon comes off as a guy just wanting to have some fun, someone who is cool and trendy, just rude enough to be interesting, but knowing where to draw the line. Really though, he’s just the best of a bad lot within the entertainment industry. A lot who are, unsurprisingly, white men catering to their younger selves.

As a white man myself, I am constantly checking myself and the works I create to ensure I am providing a compelling story while avoiding trappings indicative of a male power fantasy. Because of the environment I grew up in, it can be easy to rely on tired old tropes instead of thinking of meaningful and interesting things to write. Does that mean that catering to the needs of a diverse audience is too difficult, and as such, is detrimental to the creative process? I don’t believe so, despite what many may believe. If anything, it forces writers to think of novel, more captivating stories that don’t rely on tropes and power fantasies to work. I believe that the reason people have become so weary of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and similar works is because they all rely on a power fantasy to function. I myself have grown tired of seeing the same story over and over, and it is only in the last decade that I realized the reason for this is that most people behind the works I consume are—again—white males catering to their younger selves.

This has led me to question if it’s right for me to have my voice heard at all. Would I not just be another straight, white male entering a space already filled with the same? Perhaps, but I don’t think the intent of fostering diversity in media is to exclude white people. In fact, if people like Whedon were the worst in terms of what white males have to offer the entertainment industry, I think we’d be in a better place. The problem is that the majority of the media we consume today is problematic and doesn’t allow for any variance from what’s trending among a young white male audience. All I can do is hope that shows like Firefly can be used as a learning experience for creating more compelling and varied stories. Stories should rely on interesting characters, worlds and the interactions in between them to be entertaining, and not on fulfilling the twisted power fantasy of the audience under the guise of realism.

[thecloudlight-blog]

New Post has been published on Cloudlight

New Post has been published on https://cloudlight.biz/gradeup-mobile-app-review/

GRADEUP MOBILE APP REVIEW

Re you making ready for exams? The virtual technology brings most of the things toward you in addition to unfastened. You don’t most effective require top stuff to study additionally you want a mentor to assist and apprehend. Today I will speak approximately an accessible method to cater your examination desires.

The grade mobile app is advanced to assist college students getting ready for tests for Bank Exam,

SBI PO, Bank Clerk, IBPS PO, SSC CGL, SSC MTS, CHSL 10+2, JEE Main, UPSC, GATE, CTET KVS, MBA CAT Exams 2017. The app offers to take a look at notes for SBI PO, SSC CGL 2017, SSC CPO, NEET & CTET in Hindi & English as well as get unfastened mock tests and each day GK updates.

You need to sincerely download the app and you’re prepared to speak about doubts & questions with other college students and professionals. The app has nearly every subject matter that will help you prepare for the whole syllabus, get entire notes and expert observes plan.

It has observed fabric in both Hindi and English languages. You can practice day by day – new daily checks on all topics, based totally on final year papers and ultra-modern sample. The app maintains you up to date with day by day GK and modern-day affairs. There are quizzes to practice on Reasoning, Quantitative Aptitude, GK Update, Current Affairs, Banking, SSC and so forth.

Also, it comes with numerous video tutorials for JEE Advanced, CAT, SBI PO, SSC CGL, Bank PO, Clerk, and different Banking & SSC exam coaching. Is it absolutely beneficial?

Mobile App Development: What Companies Don’t Get

Did you already know a median patron in India spends around eight to ten hours per day on their smartphones which surpass the time spent on TV or some other media?!

While this time is getting increased whilst you examine this, most manufacturers assume that getting a cell app created for their business will fetch them favored results. But, alas, the sport is not that clean.

Is the app true sufficient to interrupt the complete muddle of mobile apps and make the area for itself?

Is it prepared with a unique thing that’ll maintain the audiences glued to it? These are a few essential questions that maximum of the mobile app improvement corporations forget about to invite their customers. A clever agency could usually make sure that you have answers for those before you choose mobile app creation on your commercial enterprise. The business of app advertising and marketing has come to a point wherein a new app is launched each single day. To stand out, a brand should be clean approximately its USPs and the way their app could replicate the equal.

Hike, an Indian messaging app that went global and gained the hearts worldwide is a traditional instance of a cellular app that made its space thru unique propositions. Achieving large-scale utilization all around the global is something that every app wants to reap, and in 2012 Hike took the road for reaching it.

Though humans today are crushing over WhatsApp, Hike is until the date a higher option when it comes to connecting with pals and circle of relatives overseas. Just undergo the list of features Hike gives (and WhatsApp would not) and you would get our point!

The concept of stickers became delivered by means of Hike and it still policies it Sending messages to offline users is best to be had in Hike A choice to conceal each verbal exchange with the assist of hidden mode, a feature still now not to be had in WhatsApp Presence of referral rewards

A subject for every verbal exchange

Stories that stays surfaced for 48 hours (its 24 hours in WhatsApp) With these particular capabilities, Hike has been capable of keep a worldwide appeal. Like Hike, each business enterprise ought to think – what purposes it seeks to serve via an app, what are the cache areas of its target market that an app might resolve, does that decision come from an app always or is there any other path that is to be had. Once solutions for these questions are clear, the employer can choose mobile app improvement for its commercial enterprise/services/merchandise. So now that you have decided to layout a mobile app in your commercial enterprise, right here are few things that need to be kept in thoughts.

Decide the motive of the app

Is it for information, is it an extension of your provider to the consumer; or a manner to attach lower back to the employer? Give cell users a cause to continually open the app with the aid of imparting well timed, applicable facts. If you want the app to attach again in your enterprise, determine out what connection that must be. Set up tracking mechanisms to determine how to follow up with purchasers.

Aspects That Drive Startups to Invest in iPhone App Development

A cell app has grown to be a key advertising tool for companies in this age of mobility. However, with this type of range of mobile systems, it will become a chunk intimidating for startups with limited budget constraints to decide on which option to make investments for app development. This is the motive for which human beings basically bear in mind the choice of constructing apps for a single platform that could bring high-quality effects at constrained means. Thus, it is vital for corporations to have an in depth evaluate of the advantages of each those systems.

Android and iOS are the two essential mobile working structures every of which comes with their unique features and functionalities. However, with a greater scope of revenue generation and better usability, iOS enjoys greater benefit over Android.

Safety

Nowadays, mobile packages require an excessive degree of security. Apps for on-line purchasing, making price and extraordinary different offerings switch incredibly personal facts thru the servers. While considering this fact, iPhone apps provide the extended capability to customers. The approval system of App Store throughout iOS platform is pretty strict which, restricts the malicious ones to get through it. Apple has given prime emphasis on consumer data protection regardless of length or form of gadgets and accordingly, it holds more safety as compared to Android devices.

Compatibility

Android helps through a number smart devices within the market. However, the iOS devices are constantly in sync with every different. This, in flip, helps the developers and enterprise proprietors to put more attention on improvement rather than its compatibility strolling throughout specific gadgets. Furthermore, Apple controls the iOS software program atmosphere and is only accountable for all of the modifications in it. Since the employer manufactures all its gadgets via themselves, consequently, they experience integrated manage over its software program as compared to Android OS. Moreover, Android has made efforts to upgrade its functionalities, upload big garage space and increase processor pace which, will permit corporations to expand function-packed programs.

Greater Specification on App Development

Developing iPhone apps provide greater scope to builders to work precisely across a small variety of iPads and iPhones. On the contrary, Android hosts more than 12000 devices across a range of displays, processors, and versions. Experts often propose clients expand an iPhone app and iterate it as consistent with the updates for obtaining proper user comments.

Though Android allows you to connect with a broader target audience, iOS person group is more unswerving and engaged. Thus, being a startup with the important intention to display manufacturers on the forefront for increasing revenue, building an iPhone app will function the best desire.

An Unbiased Va says Review From Someone Who Didn’t Join

Over the beyond two weeks or so, I’ve gotten numerous messages approximately this new employer Va says. The truth is instructed, I get messages all the time approximately new groups approximately to release and those are usually looking to pitch me on their deal so I typically don’t pay these messages any thoughts. But every so often, my interest gets piqued and I’ll take a short appearance if there’s a large name tied to the enterprise. Such is the case with Va says. The name Dallin Larsen is big inside of the Network Marketing enterprise. Years ago, Larsen released a little employer called Monavie that revolutionized the purposeful beverage space internal of the MLM Industry. When I heard he was launching Va say, I desired to take a look. So in case, you’re a person who’s attempting to find facts about Va say, appearance no similarly. In this Va says Review, I’ll go into all the information you may want earlier than you be part of. With that said, I do want to reveal that I am no longer a Va says distributor nor am I affiliated with them in any manner so you’ll be getting an, in reality, impartial attitude at the corporation and the enterprise opportunity.

First things first, if you’re critical approximately joining it is vital that you check out the corporation’s leadership.

Having the fine merchandise to the marketplace and a beneficial reimbursement plan is exceptional however if the organization management isn’t always good, any fulfillment you enjoy can be brief lived. Va says is being launched by means of Dallin Larsen. Larsen might be first-rate recognized for constructing Monavie to a Billion Dollar agency in 5 years. During its time, Monavie created many fulfillment tales and ruled the Industry. Before that, he helped USANA revel in explosive growth. Without a doubt, he has a music document of achievement. After searching on the pleasant in their merchandise and a number of the leaders getting concerned, it, in reality, looks like Va says might be considered one of the largest launches of 2017.