#wynn rambles

[plentyghosts]

Ppl on tiktok talking about disliking kid characters on Bluey cus they do stuff that's kinda mean/stupid sometimes is so wild to me. How is this show for toddlers too morally complex for you?

[hotvintagepoll]

How are the more recent Dracula castings affecting the movie?

When we last left off, Jimmy Stewart (Jonathan) had just beheld Mary Philbin (the agonized woman) getting eaten by wolves. (this being a vintage film we do not actually see her get eaten. we are given a haunting image that subtly conveys her getting eaten which is somehow ten times worse). He stares, shocked and bereft, out his lonely black-and-white window in Castle Dracula. The movie has gotten very solemn and a little bit artistic.

SMASH CUT to Omar Sharif (!!) and Leonard Nimoy (?????) on board the Demeter! Omar Sharif makes total sense for this role and is conveying responsibility, stoicism, nobility. Leonard Nimoy is thanking god and his agent that he finally got onto a film that doesn't have him in the pointy ears. (he is still contractually obligated to call the strange cargo they have on board "fascinating.")

Back in England, our heroines Setsuko Hara (Mina Murray) and Judy Garland (Lucy Westenra) are sitting by the seaside cemetery, enjoying the ramblings of old seaman Mr. Swales. because Mr. Swales is played by Ed Wynn, this is less "crusty old sea man giving bram stoker's idea of a British dialect" and more "the movie is suddenly produced by Disney in the 1960s and everyone is having a GRAND time because this man is Silly™." his various tales of suicides, deaths at sea, child abuse, and familial hatred are all suddenly very harmless and cute and Setsuko Hara is wondering where all the Technicolor came from.

Back in Hell on the Demeter, the movie is sliding back into black and white as the fog gets thick and the crew is picked off one by one. Omar Sharif is shooting for an Oscar with this one. He is terrified stoicism personified. Leonard Nimoy has hit his stride and is doing that brand of feverish madness the amok time fans know so well. We catch a shot or two of Gloria Holden's Count, but she is mostly veiled in mystery.

In Whitby, a plucky reporter sees a ship coming in: Ethel Waters is on the case! You know if anybody is going to book it on to a ship with a corpse tied to it (rip Omar) with 0 issues, it's going to be her. She's after a story, by god, never mind that mysterious dog!

Speaking of that mysterious dog, it's headed up the hill toward the cemetery. Boy, I hope it doesn't run into Mr. Swales. Seeing an Ed Wynn character get killed off in gruesome fashion this early in the movie would be a pretty horrifying tonal switch! I'm sure he'll be fine though, the movie seems so lighthearted and comedic now :)

[jupiterlandings]

Was gonna make a post about Sophie wrote under the pen name DJW since people say the book is her perspective events and the movie was Howl whispering in Miyazaki’s ear after years of mourning the accuracy of his portrayal & semi-jokingly threatening sue his beloved wife for defamation but the only one who would be 100% honest about what happened in that castle is, in fact, Calcifer. In this essay I will-

[thatrandombystander]

If Lucanis can just frequently see Spite walking around and talking almost like a hallucination, do you think Anders and Wynne could see the same with Justice and Faith? How often did they have to resist staring and glancing at the spirit to avoid looking too suspicious or offputting?

[devotedlystrangewizard]

"datv looks silly" hey remember when we judged a corpse in a box in inquisition

[nocapesdahling]

I’m on my first full watch of Justified and loved seasons 1 through 4, enough that it’s already in my top shows ever. Now, season 5 is… well, let’s just say I’m finding it a bit weaker than previous seasons to put it nicely. So I figured I’d try to compile some bright spots as I go to help me (and anyone else who might like/need them) reach season 6:

- Raylan’s still handsome as anything (as Rachel said in the first season, it definitely helps him get away with things). Sigh, I like to watch him walk. Also, his accent is a little heavier in this season (in my opinion), which I think is a great acting touch. Side note: Raylan remains a disaster but I love him anyway.

- The comedy duo of Boyd and Wynn

- Loretta McCready, I adore you.

- Wynn’s interrogation with the BB gun

- Raylan and Boyd being Raylan and Boyd in episode 4. “Raylan Givens, are you flattering me?” They dug coal together okay, their flirting and intricate courtship rituals are incomprehensible to anyone but them. Though I love how all the characters are like you're not fooling anyone. The way they leaned back against the bar and looked at each other — Boyd try not to look so fond of the lawman who keeps interrupting your criminal activities.

- Tim Gutterson and Rachel Brooks

- Tim and Boyd playing Scrabble. I loved the little glimpse of this and wish the scene had been longer. Like what word did Boyd play that he asked if Tim wanted to challenge? Who was winning? Inquiring minds want to know.

[maythedreadwolftakeyou]

i know we are making all the old man jokes about Emmrich but lets be real with bioware's history of age portrayal (wynne was only 49, divine justinia looking wizened despite being 'young and fresh' only a few years earlier), some in-game conversation in Veilguard is bound to reveal that he's like. a fresh 40 to be honest

[jjammy-skies]

Haiiii I made headcanons for all of the Dragon Age Origins and Awakening Companions :3 (Note: Oghren doesn't get one bc. he makes me uncomfy.) Origins:

Alistair: Abyssinian; Extremely energetic and athletic, like observing people and need a lot of attention

Morrigan: Siamese; incredibly intelligent, mischievous cats. Not great in groups unless well trained

Leliana: Scottish Fold; Adaptable, friendly, family cats who get along great with most other cats

Sten: Persian; Curious yet quiet, very solitary cats that can take a lot of time to warm up to people, tend to bond best with a single person

Wynne: Russian Blue; Elegant and intelligent, somewhat aloof and affectionate cats, adapt fine to groups but prefer to be one-on-one with people

Zevran: Somali; Very chaotic cats unless very well trained, energetic, intelligent, and need a lot of attention and playtime to keep entertained

Shale: Manx; High prey-drive, affectionate, talkative, and tend to bond best one-on-one

Awakening:

Anders: Bengal; Curious and adaptive learners, tend to be good therapy cats, very talkative

Nathaniel: Bombay; Mischievous, sneaky, and outgoing, do well in homes where they get to be the center of attention

Justice: Sphynx; Curious, social, active cats who like to be apart of whatever activity is happening, tend to mimic what people do

Sigrun: Burmese; Small, athletic, and friendly, they tend to get along well with other cats and loves to play

Velanna: Toyger; highly intelligent and energetic, require a lot of attention and are very talkative when they want something

I plan on doing this for the DA2 and Inquisition companions when I get there :3

[sparklebeamx]

I realized I haven’t posted any of my other wynncraft characters here. So I’m starting off with Skyris cause it’s a crime on my part for me not sharing her sooner. I love her so much QwQ

Some doodles

Some info about her down below

Also to note that this is the wynncraft counter part of her.

Skyris Nariyama

Age:25-26

Pronouns:She/Her

Height:5’8

Family: Altair(Older Cousin),Electra( Younger Cousin)

Voice Head canon: Dorothea (FE3H)- Allegra Clark

Class:Mage (most likely riftbender archetype)

Skyris is a traveling songstress, but she wasn’t always one to begin with. Being the daughter of a captain back in Detlas,her teens were spent training to be a soldier.But years later, she decided that being a part of the army wasn’t for her.

Skyris always had a love for singing and writing her own songs. After leaving the army , she became a traveling songstress, hoping her music will bring joy and even raise the morale of others. She wasn’t alone, as Altair, Cyrus, Tavaris and Adrian tagged along with her. The five of them traveled through Wynn and Gavel. Despite traveling with a group it doesn't mean there wasn't any hardships, one night,her and the others almost fell to a sudden ambush of corrupteds. They fought for their lives, Skyris fighting alongside Tavaris to make an opening for the group to escape and eventually they did. It was a night survived, a moment that Skyris and the others will remember.

Though, the group would have one more event that still affects them to this day. Tavaris, one of Skyris’s closest friends since youth and fiancé, was severely injured during a mission of theirs. Skyris stayed by his side, taking care and healing him to make sure he survives, making sure that he stays with her a bit more.

One day when Skyris came back from a supply run, she and the others were met with an empty bed. No signs of Tavaris. No letters. Some personal items are missing. He was gone. Skyris broke down that day, running rampant to nearby areas TRYING to find him. But she didn’t…her love was gone. The others and eventually her, believed that Tavaris didn't want to pass in front of them and went off to do it on his own terms.

It took her years to heal from that day,from Tavaris…

Years later, she decides to give herself another shot at being in a relationship,perhaps… It was time to move on . During a time in Gavel, a certain soldier caught her fancy, It was Elphaba. The two of them didn't get along at first ,which led to a bit of rivalry. Skyris enjoys this , messing and teasing Elphaba any chance she gets, only because she wants to see her again. Eventually the two get to talking and actually get to know each other. Putting their little rivalry in the past, they get into a relationship . Skyris is glad to have a partner to love , though at the back of her mind she hopes the same thing doesn't happen again.

Other notes:

•Born and raised in Wynn

•Skyris also likes to do some tailoring , even does custom orders

•Skyris is the one that thought Electra how to tailor clothes

•Don’t let her looks fool you as she can be quite the scary one to deal with if you’re not on her good side

•She can and will beat your ass

•Likes to make fun of Altair whenever she gets the chance

•Her staff is based off of Robin’s( from HSR) mic

•Lowkey would be the type of person to sing the most beautiful ballads and then listen to music the complete opposite to that. Deadass would listen to heavy metal

•Main element is air

[ulfrsmal]

just finished Assassin's Apprentice and I have thoughts about the Fool & Fitz's friendship, not just it being developed off-page but in general. no spoilers for the rest of the series pls i'm starting Royal Assassin today tl;dr: the Fool and Fitz are consistently, canonically othered by the people in Buckkeep in different ways, yet similarly enough so that we can say "like recognises like". they are friends because nobody else understands what they go through day by day -- because nobody else is othered like they are. they can be intrepreted as joining forces to remain more or less sane, and/or less lonely, in an environment that does not, nor wants to, support them. also they may both be queer in different ways

basically, their friendship was forged quickly and offpage in a way that can feel like a copout, but which to me was not. it makes sense to me! both are alone and lonely and othered by the people in Buckkeep, albeit in different ways, plus what we have of their characterisation supports this too. Fitz canonically is alone and lonely, and he canonically considers friends those he spends some time with. eg Molly, who i can't argue was a true friend to him, but whom Fitz def saw as that. Fitz and the Fool live in the same place (give or take a tower a stable or three), they saw each other semi-regularly at best, and for Fitz this Creates Friendship. The Fool also makes fun of Fitz in the same way he makes fun of everyone. this is important because most people look down on, and make fun of, Fitz specifically because he's Fitz The Bastard. he's set apart from everybody else in Buckkeep in this way. but the Fool doesn't do that: he treats Fitz in the same way he treats everyone else. for someone like Fitz who's only had negative attention, this neutral attention must feel like praise outright. thus: Friendship on the other hand: the Fool. his physical description sets him apart from the dark-eyed, dark-haired, ruddy-from-being-outdoors, people of Buckkeep (Farseer line especially). his profession also sets him apart from every other non-royal, non-nobility person. (i've done no research but i've been told that historically irl court bufoons had physical disabilities, eg dwarfism. i accept corrections & info about this, i know i could very easily be wrong). Basically, nobody sees the Fool for what/who he is, they only see his profession in the same way that they only see Fitz as The Bastard. no nuance. the Fool, by virtue of having lived in Buckkeep for longer (and perhaps being older and/or more developed than Fitz), must have recognised this similarity between them fairly quickly. plus he dreams about Fitz. Thus: Friendship

there's another angle i didn't touch upon for lack of info but here it is too: queerness.

to me Fitz read like aroace (he didn't get Molly's implying/expecting him to ask her to marry him, for example, nor the "catamite" reference which could've been understood by context if not through the actual word). Besides, the Wit can be taken as a Gay Analogy/Allegory, which would only add to his (canon) queerness! the thing is: idk about the Fool. not yet. so I cannot say if this plays a part into their shared bond/friendship.

but the Fool already has a very Gender Thing going on canonically, there's an italics at the beginning of a chapter that's basically him telling people to mind their own fucking business when asked what gender he is, so like. Fitz and the Fool are arguably part of the same community, aka they're both queer, just in different ways perhaps. will need to read more about the Fool especially to expand on this X)

[zac-yang]

Recovering the maternal in art

Thoughts on Hamlet #1

A crazed rant on Hamlet, art in modernity, Susan Sontag, and female power in Christian theology

The feminine urge to be daddy's mommy. — — Natalie Wynn, Contrapoints

This is the first of my series of meditations based on Shakespeare’s Hamlet, which I have been studying as part of English literature A-level. It is the basis on which I expand into wider general reflections on culture and philosophy, linking to other things I’ve read or watched recently.

This piece begins as art criticism about excessive author presence in modern art, with allusion to Hamlet as an embodiment of such modern artist. But then it kind of diverges into a theological tangent and ultimately an argument about gender and female power in Christian myths.

It doesn’t really neatly belong to any specific literary category. It is essay-like, but is full of poetic logic. Perhaps just read it as a kind of unhinged diary entry or notes app notes that should have stayed in the drafts.

— — Z

1

Modern authors, perhaps due to their peculiar awareness of themselves as authors, have felt this exceeding sense of self-inflicted obligation, that they have to force their authorships onto the audience, to make them aware that what they’re seeing, is in fact, created by them. And not just by the world.

‘What a piece of work / Is a man!’ Hamlet, II, ii, 301–302

What I mean by this could be seen most obviously in the attempt that modern authors try to push “message” into their works, or simply the conscious attempt to have any message at all. Consciousness is really the crime here. There is a kind of forcedness in modern art, a lack of the grace, the relaxed effortlessness that is so prevalent in classical, canonical art. Modern art is always agitating, in a permanent state of anxiety and uncertainty in whether it has “correctly” communicated its message to its audience.

Notes: Hamlet is seen by many as Shakespeare’s most philosophical play, his most message-heavy work, with deep contemplations on the nature of existence.

The long soliloquies of the eponymous prince has long been described as rigorously academic in style, perhaps most famously, in the ‘to be or not to be’ soliloquy. It is the most decontextualised soliloquy uttered by the prince, in which he solely speaks on the conceptual matters of life and death.

Yet this intellectual aspect of the play might perhaps what Shakespeare precisely is trying to satirise here. A tormenting, self-cannibalising, painful intellectual interiority, emerging in the early modern West, with its deep Christian moralism and inhuman rationalism, is here presented as precisely what drives the main character, and those around him, into misfortunes.

‘O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!’

Hamlet, II. ii. 538

The dramatic forcedness of Hamlet's messaging is perhaps most evident in the almost ravage-like scene in Gertrude's chamber (III, vi), in which he almost embodies the incestuous and murderous Nero. 'Let not ever The soul of Nero enter this firm bosom. Let me be cruel, not unnatural.' III. ii. 366-368

Susan Sontag said that art should be flirtation, not rape. Well, many modern art feels like rape to me. They feel like rape in the way that they try to force one singular thing onto its recipient. It refuses a defused, tender sensuality that slowly transmits and triggers desires through a landscape of polyamorous tenderness. Instead, it is strictly patriarchal, scriptural, the word of the Father, of God, Author The Creator. There is a violence to it. But more so there is a naivety to it.

The violence is in the naivety. In its brutal attempt to not appear naive, but rather adultly, scholarly, fatherly, like the son who resolves the Oedipus complex by identifying with the father to escape the fate of castration. The dwarf dressed in the giant’s robes.

‘But two months dead — nay, not so much, not two-

So excellent a king, that was to this

Hyperion to a satyr, so loving to my mother

That he might not beteem the winds of heaven

Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth!’

‘My father’s brother, but no more like my father/ Than I to Hercules’

Hamlet comparing his father to his uncle, the current King Cladius, and himself, I. ii. 138–142; 153–154

This is the modern author. The anxious son, boy, fearing castration, if not already castrated, living in the shadow of the father, haunted by him, resenting his mother, the wanton, the whore, the true artistry of the world.

Hamlet (1949). Laurence Olivier

True art is always promiscuous. She is the Saint of All Sins. The Virgin in the Brothel. The Whore in the Church. The Holy Witch. The High Priestess of Filth. She is a woman. She is mother. The Oracle (whose words are obscure because they’re divine, not to Him the God, but the real, hedonistic god of music and joy, through whom she is enlightened in darkness). The Sea. Shall I moor tonight in thee.

Twilight, Contrapoints, Natalie Wynn

He, the God, and Her, Nature, whose fundamental battle is once again reenacted in this.

Genesis 1:2, the Spirit of God moved upon the face of waters. God moved on top of the sea, God on nature, man on woman, reason on art, this is the fundamental violation, the real original sin, the forbidden fruit of knowledge, brought forth by Himself through his very presence. The fault of the Fall is not in us. It is in Him. For to be holy is to be aware of the profane, as the opposite is equally true. Therefore to be profane, to be sinful, is precisely to be aware of the existence of the hallow. To learn about it. To aspire to it. Without sin, there would be no God. Like there would be no man without woman.

‘Whatever is the subject of a prohibition is basically sacred’.

‘The taboo does not banish the transgression but, on the contrary, depends upon it, just as the transgression depends on the existence of the taboo: “The transgression does not deny the taboo but transcends it and completes it”.’

Georges Bataille, Eroticism: Death and Sensuality

‘That discourse one might call the poetry of transgression is also knowledge. He who transgresses not only breaks a rule. He goes somewhere that the others are not; and he knows something the others don’t know.’

Georges Bataille, Story of the Eye

Notes: St. Augustine of Hippo wrote that original sin is transmitted by concupiscence and enfeebles freedom of the will without destroying it. But isn’t will also what precisely drove one (Eve) to the origional sin? Perhaps the will is much like Kant’s conception of freedom, a thing that creates its own limits.

Without an elusive ideal to aspire to, we will never be aware of our skin-felt wretchedness. The fruit is not only planted by God, it is God, it is God who eats the fruit, it is God who is the fruit being eaten, and it is God who is watching all of this.

I find it interesting. The closeness between the angel and Satan. Almost mirror images. In Michelangelo’s painting of the sin of Adam and Eve from the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

The decision to have the woman be the one to eat the fruit therefore, is interesting, on multiple levels. She is the original sinner, but also the one closest to God. For the fruit is God, but the fruit is also sin, and it is through the death of the man that she (gives birth to) achieves salvation. She is sin, but she is sin in grace, the glorified sin, the sin made divine, the virgin who gives birth, saved from stoning (here she also mirrors the other Mary, the other permitted sinner, Mary Magdalen), who gives birth to the man who is going to die, through which she successfully redeems herself. She is the mother, and she is the sinner, the original in both, and in both she is holy.

Eve is Mary and Mary is Eve.

The tree of death and of life in the Salzburg Missal: Eve gives the representatives of the old covenant the fruit that brings sin and death from the tree of paradise. Mary, on the other hand, gives the faith hosts, the bread of life. — — The New Eve (Latin: Nova Eva) is a devotional title for Mary, the mother of Jesus. Since the second century, numerous Eastern and Western Church fathers have expressed this doctrinal idea as an analogy to the biblical concept of the New Adam.

The man is essentially an accessory to her, a passage through which she penetrates through to achieve her eventual goal. He is only a thing that she decorates herself with. The baby in her bosom. The man on her laps (Pietà). The feminine urge to be daddy’s mommy. The gravedigger, whose death goes unmentioned, outlived everyone. Her blue robe is serene, like the halcyon sea.

Sandro Botticelli’s Madonna and Child, painted in 1480, shows a reflective Mary in deep blue.

Z

17.03.2024

(with notes later added 24.03.24)

Source:

Susan Sontag, Against Interpretation, On Style, The artist as examplary sufferer

Natalie Wynn, Contrapoints, Twilight

Georges Bataille, Eroticism: Death and Sensuality, Story of the Eye

Janet Adelman, Man and Wife Is One Flesh: Hamlet and the Confrontation with the Maternal Body

I have also posted this on Medium.

[plentyghosts]

[Puts on a colorful, short-sleeved button down shirt] ohhhohoho... yes..... YES

[veshialles]

they fucking centrist-ified my cool undead grandma, what the fuck

[hermitsandcrafts]

There are a couple black markets in wynncraft so I'm kind of on the fence of where Shade-e-e's would take place.

I think for my wynn au it would be right in Selchar, as it is a trade town, and would be a great business to fund Etho's adventures on the side. Most of the others in the guild are aware of Shade-e-e's but they don't know what is actually sold there.

I like to think that the NHO members know what's actually being sold at shade-e-e's, whereas most of the hermit guild just shrugs towards it.

Even if Etho is never as theatrical about it, he is just a big con-man as Scar is and they have a mutual respect over it.

Also list of people in the Know about shade-e-e's: Beef, Doc, Bdubs, Scar, Joel, and Iskall

X had so much fun w/ that service on hc s7 that I feel he deserves to be a main buyer but doesn't know Etho runs it

Thank you to my mutual @katkat030 for making me rethink and miss shade-e-e's so much that I've included it into my au now

[crows-of-buckets]

Man. I love vivenne and I think she is overly hated by dragon age fans but also. I wish there were more option dialogues to actually debate her debate her. Like so far the dialogue has just felt like her lecturing me on why mage freedom is bad, despite my Inquisitor being a mage who grew up completely separate from the circle, and is doing perfectly fine yk? There may be more dialogue along that line later on but I can't remember it rn. Also you can SEE how hard they tried to tone down how bad the circles were in dai she says something along the lines of "most circles are lenient and you can leave and go anywhere you like" girl what are you talking about???? There was a little bit of that in dao (Wynne joining The Warden and Finn helping the Warden find Morrigan) but it definitely was not just an easy thing anyone could just DO from what I remember. That doesn't even bring up the fact that some mages don't even get a chance at their harrowing and are made tranquil even before trying it (like how Jowan was going to be made tranquil. I mean he was a blood mage but shhh) Also she says something about "a mage blew up a city with the snap of their fingers" I'm assuming she means anders and. I will have you know that he made that bomb all himself no magic whatsoever. Anyone could do that lmao

[sunlessveils]

How I look trying to figure out how to reveal oc lore in a little drawing rather than just rambling