#siobhan: visual

[blake--winter]

𝚂𝚒𝚘𝚋𝚑𝚊𝚗 “𝙱𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚜” 𝙱𝚎𝚊𝚞𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚝.

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐈𝐗 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐄

[mcq-heartmark]

[vagueeyes]

When we get home, shall we book to see Salad Days?

Siobhan Finneran as Edith & Reece Shearsmith as Gerry INSIDE NO. 9 | S9E1 "Boo to a Goose"

[caitmayart]

Bulk Ask Responses!

Heya! I've been getting a bunch of asks re: Cloudward, Ho! and I figured I could answer them all in one place ♥

Starting off strong @wogglywiggler ;D Van is amazing and I can't wait for yall to see Siobhan's incredible performance as her - she's got LAYERS, folks!!

You're welcome, Anon. Live thirsty my child ♥

SOMETIMES IT'S NOT INTENTIONAL BUT ALSO I'm a raging pansexual and I find everyone attractive so I do my best to translate that to my drawings. I'm so glad I am apparently the queen of dnd thirst characters tho ;D

Hi @eembezzle!! GOSH that's so cool, I never really think of my art as like... super recognizable but I'm glad yall knew it was me! ♥

The second part of your ask is very similar to this one from @whookami :

and this one from @graciousred :

So I'll answer them all together!

The process is different for the PCs vs NPCs, but all in all I work through coordinators and art directors. I rarely get the chance to 1 on 1 with talent. We work with a wonderful app called Airtable, which makes everything nice and organized and easy to deal with when you're drawing a bajillion characters. PCs I get mood boards and written descriptions, and we go through several rounds of ideation before landing on finals. They take the longest by far!

NPC-wise, I'm given a write up of the character and the timestamp for when they're introduced in the season. If they have a battle mini, I get reference pics of that, too. Yep, minis are made WAY before character art! I listen/watch the "stringouts" aka uncut/unedited footage of the sessions to get the vibe of the character, as well as any secret things that are important later i.e. someone in disguise, like The Skulker vs Johnny Manhattan in NSBU, or if there's some kind of historical importance to a character/secret hidden on their person that is important to visualize. These get done in batches :)

I wouldn't be able to get this done without the awesome dropout team - especially Eve, Skye Loremaster, and Alison ♥

As for Projection Illustrations - that's done before filming! We work closely with the battlemap team (love you Rick, Alison, and KC) and the projection engineers (GOATS Derek and Ruby) to make the beautiful sets the players and viewers get to enjoy. We actually work on the sets DURING film schedule - and CH has a LOT of art yall will get to see. There were times we finished the art the day before the episode was filmed!! But, the art has to be done before the cameras roll, as they're projected live behind the actors.

Hi @seasonofhotness! Thank you so much - I have my con schedule on my website (caitmayart.com) and I try to keep it as updated as I can. I'm currently waiting to hear back from NYCC, but I did apply! Cross your fingers for me ♥

Oh goodness @lady-writes that was totally unintentional, but I SEE IT NOW WHOOOOPS

I just wanted to make Daisuke look like the suave bastard he is, and Zac embodies him so well it must have leaked into my drawing haha!

Thank you all SO MUCH for the love - I can't wait to sail CLOUDWARD, HO with you all!!

[thesezombiestastelikeashes]

Normally I post about Dimension 20 on my main blog but a thing happened on Adventuring Party and I'm gonna talk about it

So watching through the Episode 2 Adventuring Party, something really amazing happened at 2:15 ish. And now I'm gonna talk about consent and content in Tabletop and how @quiddie and Izzy (and everyone else at the table) absolutely fucking nailed it

Edited because I cannot believe I spelled Aabria wrong so many damn times in a row I'm so sorry

Specifics below the cut for spoilers and content warning: parasites and squick

The notes for DMs (and players) to take away from this:

Look for soft no's, even if you know your players. Make space for a no, even if you are excited. Once the no has been said, move on and no complaining that someone's comfort level isn't the same as yours.

So Brennan asked a question about the parasites, Chipmunks, and bear in Adventuring Party to clarify if Chipmunks and Parasite were one in the same or different entities (it was just the chipmunks being massively fucked up)

Aabria, as DMs who put their entire heart and soul into making a campaign often do, went to start explaining the basis for the parasites (link to ribbon worms, very content warn, dead dove do not eat). The table reacted. Brennan does a very physical ick response, Erika's face was very "I am listening to something gross", while the rest of the table looked interested in that way nerds do when they don't know what they're walking into. And Izzy said "I want you to stop."

Aabria just said ok, told the camera/audience to google it, and they moved on.

And I wanna talk about what a baller move that is on Aabria and Izzy's parts. (And Quiddie if you see this please tell Izzy she's an inspiration and I adore her and all of the compliments)

So first and maybe least controversial: Aabria

-While giving the explanation of the fucked up thing she slows down her talking (I'm not sure if it was intentional but it seemed it so I'm gonna talk about it) Instead of rushing through the explanation the way people excited tend to do she said everything slowly, gave lots of pauses to be interrupted, and really took the time to let the party know what she was describing was icky

-While doing the describing, she looked around the table. Not just at the person with the biggest visual reaction, but you can watch her make the rounds with her eyes to look at everyone and make sure they all know she is still engaging with them and checking in on them

-Her "ok" is so pleasant. It's not just polite, it's not just kind, it's upbeat and pleasant to listen to. There's no judgement in it, there's no "but I wanted to keep talking about this thing" its just "ok"

-And that's the fucking hard part, letting someone know you've heard them without any judgment or disappointment when they want you to stop talking about something

And now Izzy

-Most people aren't going to applaud someone for saying "I want you to stop" to a DM explaining something but I will. A+ Izzy

-She found her boundary and enforced it and felt comfortable with it

-She did it in such a specific way "want" instead of "need"; "I want" instead of "You need", not to mention the full firmness of it where it couldn't be misinterpreted (A+, hardest part)

-The flick of her eyes to the rest of the table, I can't tell if she's checking in with other people's comfort level or just watching Brennan's arm thing, but the way she looks at her fellow players is just such a Thing that I cannot Words about, whether its checking in for their comfort or looking for support for hers its an important look that I might be reading too much into.

Now some other important beats

-No one comments that Izzy made Aabria stop.

-Brennan says he can connect with Aabria later about it, without mentioning any of the content, and Siobhan and Jasper make the note of "maybe don't google it" but no one mentions the content after Izzy says it

-They just move on. Like even if it briefly sounds like they might hit back onto it (we'll never know what Erika was leading to with their "I've always been obsessed with") they just move on immediately

It's a goddamned masterclass of consent at the table. Aabria checking in and looking for soft no's and giving space for hard no's and then once a hard no was thrown immediately shifting the entire direction of the conversation was amazing.

[operationslipperypuppet]

I've never listened to/Watched naddpod, not yet anyway, and it sounds good like all the dnd stuff out there. Is it multiple campaigns with different people, or how does it work?

Oooh my favorite type of question!

So NADDPod has long campaigns with the same players and DM plus a few bonus campaigns where the same four people which roles (like who DMs)

Murph is the DM for the main campaigns and Emily Axford, Jake Hurwitz, and Caldwell Tanner are the players. There are three main campaigns at this point, campaign 1 started in 2018 and ended in 2020 and has 100 episodes, campaign 2 started in 2020 and ended in 2021 and has 41 episodes, and campaign 3 started in 2022 and is ongoing, currently with 50 episodes.

Caldwell DMed a mini campaign that spanned several months and was then part of the break between c1 and c2, which is called Trinyvale and has 22 episodes. Emily DMed a mini campaign that was also during the c1 to c2 gap with 7 episodes called the Mavrus Chronicles. She’s also the DM of the 4 episode mini campaign that is starting to drop today and will come out between this week and next week.

There are guest PCs in campaigns 1 and 2. Lou Wilson, Zac Oyama, Siobhan Thompson, and Brennan Lee Mulligan have all guested and been part of arcs in the campaigns.

In a similar way to D20, it’s a comedy show that kinda focuses on comedy first and dnd second sometimes. It will also hurt you a bit, like all good stories can.

It’s also entirely theater of the mind, because it’s a podcast, but Murph manages to create insanely complex and visual encounters in every campaign and it’s truly so much fun to listen to every time.

If you’re planning to listen (and I hope you are, it’s a wonderful show), the hardest part can be wondering where to start. I personally started with campaign 1, and I do recommend that to people personally because you can miss some inside jokes and they are learning 5e at the beginning so if you’re big into mechanics it can be easier to listen to the parts where they’re not exactly getting things right all the time first. However, you by no means have to! As long as you’re starting with an episode 1 (c2e1, c3e1, trinyvale e1) you won’t miss out on anything and you can move through the campaigns in any order! (C3 does take place in the same world as c1, 200 years after c1 ends, but if you listen to it first you can absolutely consider c1 to be a prequel).

And because I’d be remiss to not mention it anytime I recommend this to someone, sooner than you’d think possible in c1e1, there’s a conversation about dragon pussy. If you think it’s a funny good time, you’ll love the show. If you hate it, the show might not be for you.

Anyway, thanks for the question and everyone should start listening wherever their pods are cast!

[stuffedwithlove]

In the latest gamechanger episode, i'm not sure if anybody else noticed but when everybody was being introduced again- the players in the 2nd round earliest- but yeah when they were introduced again for a very short second their title cards displayed a pun on their name relating to the loop !! in case you guys need it i decided to grab pics and stuff !!

[Photo ID: 7 images of contestants and guests of the episode's intro cards. Mike Trapp, Ify Nwadiwe, Siobhan Thompson, Sam Reich, Brian David Gilbert, Josh Ruben and Grant O'Brien. Except the names have been altered so that they reference the episode's 'time loop' theme and instead of their actual names they say 'Mike Trapped', 'Infinity Nwadiwe', 'Siobhan Thompsagain', 'Same Reich', 'Brian Déjà Gilbert', 'Josh Rewindben' and 'Grant O'Rerun'. Ify, Sam and Josh's cards are affected by visual effects like a glitched tv. End ID.]

[alecvolturi]

Revamped (haha) Mobile Navigation

Hi, Welcome to my blog! This post is where you can find things like my tagging system, helpful links, and some info about me.

Helpful Links

Quileute Tribe's Move to Higher Ground (MTHG) Project

Truth vs Twilight

Anti-Racism Resource Carrd ~ created by @renegadepack

Free Archive ~ A free place to download books+, like The Twilight Saga

The Twilight Saga Shortfilms Links

Twilight Spotify Playlists

About Me

I'm Emily, mid 20s

I read a lot, I'm currently reading the empyrean series as well as rereading the hunger games.

You can also find me on ao3, discord, and tiktok.

You can follow the books I read/own on bookshelf, Goodreads, and StoryGraph.

My Writing

Uses of a Secretarial Desk Series ~ Demetri & Felix

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

For Reading

#fanfiction recommendation #fic rec #twilight fanfiction #twilight imagine

Fic Rec Page

Twilight Character Page

Other Vampire Media

Tagging System

My Personal Tags

#original ~ any original post I make is tagged with this

#my headcanons / my headcanon ~posts with my headcanons

#tag talk ~ for posts where I talk in the tags

#sin tag ~ synonymous with nsfw, started when nsfw was banned

#about me ~ for posts with information about me, or things I relate to

#Interactions ~ for posts where I interact with someone, I also tag the blog name of who I interact with

#add on ~ for posts when I add something

#self reblog ~ for when I reblog my own post

#ask, #answered ~ for any asks I have received, also tagged with anon/anonymous or asking blogs name

#my edit / my edits ~ for all my visual memes/editing content

#my writing ~ for my writing content

#child!jane / #child!alec ~ for canon twin content

#twilight aesthetic ~ for aesthetic pictures

Specific Character Tags

#*character first name* imagine ~ any imagine or fanfiction content for that character

#for *character name* / *character name* vibes ~ content that makes me think of a character

#*character name* ~ content for a character, if they have no last name and/or I don't know it then it's just their first name.

The Volturi

All members ~ #volturi / #the volturi / #volturi vibes

Aro Volturi ~ #for aro #aro vibes #aro imagine #aro volturi

Caius Volturi ~ #for caius #caius vibes #caius imagine #caius volturi

Marcus Volturi ~ #for marcus #marcus vibes #marcus imagine #marcus volturi

Jane Volturi ~ #for jane #jane vibes #jane imagine #jane volturi #child!jane

Alec Volturi ~ #for alec #alec vibes #alec imagine #alec volturi #child!alec

Demetri Volturi ~ #for demetri #demetri vibes #demetri imagine #demetri volturi

Felix Volturi ~ #for felix #felix vibes #felix imagine #felix volturi

Heidi Volturi ~ #for heidi #heidi vibes #heidi volturi

The Cullens

All members ~ #the cullens #cullen coven #cullen clan

Carlisle Cullen ~ #for carlisle #carlisle vibes #carlisle imagine #carlisle cullen

Esme Cullen ~ #for esme #esme vibes #esme imagine #esme cullen

Edward Cullen ~ #for edward #edward vibes #edward imagine #edward cullen

Bella Swan / Bella Cullen ~ #for bella #bella vibes #bella imagine #bella swan #bella cullen <- for vampire bella

Alice Cullen ~ #for alice #alice vibes #alice imagine #alice cullen

Jasper Hale ~ #for jasper #jasper vibes #jasper imagine #jasper hale

Rosalie Hale #for rosalie #rosalie vibes #rosalie imagine #rosalie hale

Emmett Cullen ~ #for emmett #emmett vibes #emmett imagine #emmett cullen

Renesmee Cullen ~ #renameme

Other Character Tags

#nomad ~ nomadic vampires have this tag

#human ~ human characters have this tag

#newborn / newborn army ~ for newborn vampires

Other vampires

#the denali coven, #carmen denali, #eleazar denali, #garrett, #garrett denali, #Irina denali, #kate denali, #tanya denali, #the egytian coven, #amun, #kebi, #benjamin, #tia, #the Irish coven, #liam, #maggie, #siobhan, #james, #victoria, #victoria sutherland, #laurent, #the Mexican coven, #lucy, #maria, #nettie, #riley biers, #bree tanner, #the romanian coven, #stefan, #vladimir, #Alistair, #peter, #charlotte, #joham, #huilen, #nahuel

The Shifters

#jacob black, #leah clearwater, #seth clearwater, #embry call, #quil ateara (V), #sam uley, #jared cameron, #paul lahote, #brady fuller, #collin littlesea

Humans

#charlie swan, #renee dwyer, #phil dwyer, #billy black, #sue clearwater, #harry clearwater, #emily young, #angela weber, #mike newton, #jessica stanley, #ben cheney, #tyler crowley, #lauren mallory, #eric yorkie, #mr banner, #mrs cope,

General Tags

#vampire / vampires #headcanon #icons #polls #quiz #mutuals #not twilight #headers #dividers #nsfw #fanart #twilight fanart #incorrect quotes #<- prev tags #queue #tropes #twilight #new moon #eclipse #breaking dawn #breaking dawn part 1 #breaking dawn part 2 #the twilight saga #twilight saga #fanfic #quotes

Divider's by Plum98, firefly-graphics, and silkholland

[consanguinitatum]

David Tennant's Plays: An Experienced Woman Gives Advice (1995)

I haven't done a thread on any of David's plays in a while, so I had some time yesterday to rustle one up about his 1995 play, An Experienced Woman Gives Advice. It premiered 28 years ago yesterday (which was why I chose to do a deeper dive about it) so let's get into it! An Experienced Woman Gives Advice (I'll use EW to refer to the play from here on out because what a long title!) would be David's first time performing onstage at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester.

Prior to winning his role in EW, the last play David had done was What The Butler Saw as Nicholas Beckett, a role he was warmly praised for. What The Butler Saw ran for two months at five different venues around England before closing its run at the Nottingham Theatre Royal in late May 1995.

EW's playwright, Iain Heggie, had seen phenomenal success with his 1987 tour-de-force, A Wholly Healthy Glasgow. But in the years afterwards, Heggie had produced only a few more plays before deciding he'd rather go back to teaching and let his writing commence at its own pace.

Originally written as a miniature sex comedy, EW was long in development, and received further script development workshops at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow in 1992, and at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh in 1993.

Its world premiere would see Heggie's return to the stage.

Initially, it might have seemed odd that EW - with its Glasgow setting, Scottish writer, and fully Scottish cast - didn't make its debut in Scotland. But because Heggie and the Royal Exchange had similar actor-centered outlooks and many of the artistic directors in Scotland preferred a more visual style, Heggie chose to work with the Royal Exchange (who liked his work anyway) and the play made its debut in Manchester.

Previews for EW began at the Royal Exchange Manchester on 21 November 1995, with an opening day of 23 November 1995. It had a small cast of five: Siobhan Redmond as Bella, David Tennant as Kenny, Jenny McCrindle as Nancy, Alastair Galbraith as Irving, and Alexander Morton as Stick. It was directed by Matthew Lloyd, and its assistant director was Marianne Elliott.

The set, which was designed by Laurie Dennett, was quite sparse - a communal back garden and garden shed of a block of Glasgow tenement flats. The music was composed by Paddy Cunneen, who fans will recognize from many other projects he did with David, some of which I've previously done deep dives into (like Sunburst Finish, The Pillowman and Bite).

The three-act play had a runtime of 3 hours and 20 minutes, with two intervals - one 15 minutes in length, the other 10 minutes in length. It closed its run on 16 December 1995. Tickets were priced from £5.50 to £18, with matinees on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

The action takes place on two Sunday mornings and opens with Bella, who's a 39 year old teacher, gardening in her back garden. We learn she's in a three-year long relationship with a live-in toyboy lover, Kenny (DT) who's a former pupil and 15 years younger than her. And that he didn't come home the previous night.

Bella calls Kenny her "charming, fallible boy", and she treats him like one. Former lovers say he's "tall, kind of blond, with a lovely lean build" and "incredibly rich brown eyes." There’s "just no resisting him,” and he's "bastardly good looking.”

David in rehearsals as Kenny (from program of An Experienced Woman Gives Advice)

In a series of interruptions from people passing into the garden, Bella (Redmond) dispenses advice to the inquiring strangers Nancy and Irving (Galbraith), and learns Kenny spent the night with another woman...from the woman herself, Nancy (McCrindle), who doesn't realize who she's told. What Bella does with this information - and how her meticulously cultivated freedom of choice lifestyle shatters, especially given her first love, Stick (Morton) lives nearby - is what the rest of the play explores. We see love, lust, and lies play out as Bella makes her choices.

And there's a scene with Bella and Kenny...and sex behind the doors of a rocking, exploding garden shed!

I haven't been able to locate a production script of the play to see whether this scene was enacted onstage, but Heggie's published script book says this scene, where Bella strips Kenny of his clothes piece by piece before they go into the shed to have sex offstage, had some brief nudity. None of the play reviews I've been able to find mention any nudity, though one article about the play does state that due to "strong language and the sexual nature of the story, the play is not suitable for children under 15." (I don't know how much weight I should give this particular article, however, because it also calls the lead character "Maggie" rather than "Bella"!) Anyway, if this scene was included in the play, it would be the second known instance (the first being that now-infamous What The Butler Saw full frontal nude photograph) where DT was onstage in the buff!

Speaking of reviews, they were wildly different - some found it hilariously funny with barbed, sharp dialogue, while others found it fatiguing. David's "able portrayal" as Kenny was praised as part of an extremely talented cast, and his was called a "great performance".

David and Siobhan Redmond earned Manchester Evening News Theatre Awards (MENTA) nominations - Redmond for Best Actress, and David for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. They also earned British Regional Theatre Awards nominations; Redmond for Best Actress and David for Best Actor. The play itself was also awarded a MENTA nomination for Best New Play. Redmond won both her nominations; David and the play didn't.

Photos from the play are almost nonexistent. I haven't located any images housed in any archives anywhere...so far. That doesn't mean they're not out there, mind you, just I haven't found them yet! I did manage to find a few of horrible quality while digging around in newspaper archives (I'll refrain from venting here about the quality aspects of digitizing newspapers, as that's a rant for another day) but it's a damned shame. I mean, in one of these, David just looks like a David-shaped black hole with floating arms! Nevertheless, I'll leave them here.

Something else I found fascinating during my research was that, like many venues, the Royal Exchange had a tradition of scheduling at least one informal discussion with the director and members of the company for each of their productions. While I didn't find any information on whether a discussion of this sort occurred during EW's run, I have to assume it did. Ah, to be a fly on the wall for that!

And that, my friends, is pretty much the story of An Experienced Woman Gives Advice! I wish I knew much more about this play, but like many parts of David's theatre career, wide gaps in our knowledge remain. But I keep on looking.

Thanks for reading!

[panlight]

anon again! I was looking at Smeyer's FAQ for breaking dawn and say this bit about the chess pieces, "Breaking Dawn‘s cover is a metaphor for Bella’s progression throughout the entire saga. She began as the weakest (at least physically, when compared to vampires and werewolves) player on the board: the pawn. She ended as the strongest: the queen. In the end, it’s Bella that brings about the win for the Cullens."

I don't know that much about chess but that doesn't seem right. Bella's shield helped but she doesn't seem as powerful as Jane or Alec or Kate or whatevs who can really hurt people. Or does Smeyer just mean she's the most powerful piece on the Cullen side?

Okay here's the thing: I was a pre-teen chess champion. I was the first kid in my elementary school to win the school chess tournament both years I was eligible to play (4th and 5th grade) but then I realized that competitive chess stressed me the hell out AND was completely optional and I stopped playing. I mean other than casual games with family or no-stakes online chess with strangers. No tournaments. I'm probably no better than the average adult at this point, idk.

But I have some Chess Experience, is my point. And the thing about the queen is that yes, she's the most powerful piece on the board, but it's more in OFFENSE. She can move in any direction she wants, as many spaces as she wants. She's a powerful attack piece.

Bella's shield, however powerful, is not an offensive weapon. It's defensive. So in that sense, the metaphor doesn't quite work. Bella's value is in how she can protect HER side, not how she can attack the other side. For me, Bella's maybe more like a rook (or the castle if you aren't into chess terms). There's a special move the rook can do to protect the king (called 'castling'), kind of like shielding him. Or maybe Bella's shield is more like the entire row of pawns protecting the other pieces. The point is her gift protects her side, but doesn't attack the other side. She brings about the win because the Volturi decide it's not worth trying to fight with Bella blocking their powers, not because Bella can actually attack them in a special way.

I get what SM's going for here, and it's not a terrible metaphor, it's just not quite right in terms of what the queen can do vs what Bella does. But I get that a pawn becoming a rook or a pawn becoming a whole row of pawns wouldn't be as impressive as a visual metaphor as the queen. I think it would have worked better if she didn't directly compare it to that final non-battle, and rather more generally compared it to like "weak human (pawn) becomes powerful vampire (queen)."

And as an aside, I do lowkey resent the idea that Bella brings about the win. To me, it was a group effort. Yeah, her shield is a big part of it. But who trained her in using the shield (Kate!)? Who willed a victory (Siobhan!)? Whose centuries of friendships and connections brought these forces together in the first place (Carlisle!)? Who brought back Nahuel to give the Volturi the excuse they needed to bail (Alice!)? To reduce it to "yay Bella saved the day!" seems to be an oversimplification but again, I get the metaphor. It's a nice visual.

[fillingthescrapbook]

Let's Talk About: Burrow's End and the Red Warren

First and foremost, much props and kudos to the art team this season. We're only at the premiere and they've already blown me away. The visuals are amazing. The shadow puppets? Truly astounding.

I don't really have the mental capacity to be processing anything right now, but holy shit. Holy Shit. Aabria, Brennan, Siobhan, Rashawn, Jasper, Erika, and Izzy have gifted us an amazing lived-in world right off the bat.

Earth. Of course Aabria had to do it. Of course.

Rashawn is my MVP for this episode even though everyone was great. But Rashawn… Rashawn had this amazing radio-quality to her voice that makes you want to listen to an old-timey audio drama with the worst plot lines and still get invested. The way she uses that power in her voice to truly bless us with her performance in this episode… Wow.

We're off and straight up running in the first episode, and I truly believe Aabria is gonna kill some stupendous stoats. I am afraid. I am also very excited to see where the next episode takes us.

Holy shit.

[fashionbooksmilano]

Fashion Fictions

Edited by Stephanie Rebick

Contributions by: Himikalas Pamela Baker; Julian Bleecker; Lucie Chan and Zoë Chan; Clinton Cuddington; Hélène Day Fraser and Keith Doyle; Amber-Dawn Bear Robe; Siobhan McCracken Nixon; Stephanie Rebick; Andrea Valentine-Lewis; and others

Vancouver Art Gallery, 2023, 184 pages, 200 ill.,24x32cm, ISBN 97811988860176

euro 38,00

email if you want to buy booksinprogressmilano@yahoo.it

Fashion Fictions surveys experimental design practices that exist at the intersection of fashion and other modes of cultural production. International in scope, the exhibition explores the increasing influence of research-based, materially driven practices on the global fashion scene, while acknowledging the proliferation of creative practices that challenge the aesthetic, material and technological conventions of fashion. The title of the exhibition is drawn from artist and technologist Julian Bleecker’s influential essay “Design Fiction” (2009) in which he extends the term first coined by critic and theorist Bruce Sterling to argue that the most innovative, transformative work is produced in the spaces between fact and fiction, the present and the near future, and the scientific and the fantastical. All of the designers in Fashion Fictions occupy these liminal spaces, using fashion as a means to unite seemingly disparate sentiments and to propose new possibilities for aesthetics, bodily forms and, more ambitiously, how we exist in the world. Drawing on various cultural traditions, science fiction, technology, and an interest in the natural world and sustainability, designers invent fashion objects that act as visual manifestations of new realities and celebrations of hybrid identities. Rather than presenting retrofuturist visions that recycle the space age imagery of the 1960s and 70s, these designers are proposing new trajectories and new possibilities for the near future. The exhibition is comprised of three thematic sections: Material Futures, which includes work that features technological and scientific innovations in materials research; Aesthetic Prophesies, which highlights designers’ fusion of cultural traditions with speculative creations; and Responsible Visions, which investigates how designers are incorporating adaptive reuse and upcycling into their explorations.

03/04/24

[deusluxuria]

Random JJBA ending-credits animations I've come up with in my brain but I just have to write them instead because I cannot animate or even really draw lol

( Spoilers: Part 3 / Stardust Crusaders, Part 5 / Golden Wind, Part 6 / Stone Ocean, Part 7 / Steel Ball Run )

"Ghosts" by Siobhan Donaghy : Giorno trying to use Gold Experience to heal the Earth. Live-action or animated sequences of climate change disasters in reverse (i.e. the BP oil spill, wildfires, birds and fish dying during heatwaves, etc.), matching with how the vocals in the song are in reverse.

"Some Velvet Morning" by Primal Scream and Kate Moss : Doppio in his crappy apartment, doing some menial task like folding laundry or washing dishes, while dancing to the song. Not because he's happy, but because he's trying to be happy. It's hard to interpret what the lyrics mean, but I like to think it's about someone who feels very powerless in their situation and they're anticipating waking up one morning to everything suddenly being okay. During the song, there are imaginary colored lights in the room as if he's in a nightclub, somewhat obscuring how grungy and bleak his apartment is. But once the song ends, the lights suddenly disappear, and he sort of collapses on the couch with his head in his hands.

"I Know the End" by Phoebe Bridgers : The apocalyptic ending of Stone Ocean. It shows every Part 1 - 6 character's most cherished memories, before showing all of them sort of disintegrating into thin air and being replaced by a massive, silent, eerie void.

"Kim's Caravan" by Courtney Barnett : Once again, Giorno trying to reverse climate change with his Stand, despite how he's just one person and simply not powerful enough to do it by himself. At the end of the song, Giorno dies, having exerted too much energy in his attempt.

"Goumari" by D33pSoul and Habib Belk : The Stardust Crusaders group embracing Kakyoin (who never had any friends) as a dear friend of theirs. Mostly they're all in a nightclub in Egypt having fun. But during one of the slower parts of the song, Kakyoin is being lifted up on their shoulders.

"Deadwood" by Garbage : Mostly focusing on Doppio (who survived after Diavolo died). It took Diavolo's death for him to realize that Diavolo was abusive and was preventing him from being happy and having his own life with his dogmatic, controlling behavior. The main visual is a panning shot of many Golden Wind characters, who are lying down in a pink and gold river full of floating flowers, as if being purified from their trauma. There are flashes in between recalling the abuse that each character went through, and then of them escaping the abuser (or escaping a different bad situation).

"My First Lover" by Gillian Welch (content warning: abuse, drug use, graphic imagery -- in this paragraph of the post, not in the song) : A rather bleak sequence of Johnny and Gyro's lives before they met each other in the race. Both abused drugs and alcohol, slept around as a form of self-harm and thrill-seeking, accepted and didn't bother to leave abusive romantic partners. There are flashes of shaky camera shots showing bruises, vomit, blood, torn clothes, trembling hands, dangerous sleezy taverns, the open mouths of people screaming, the broken mirror that Johnny accidentally threw his dad into.

"New Skin" by Siouxsie and the Banshees : A more confident, assertive version of the same idea in the "Deadwood" one (Doppio breaking free from Diavolo). Definitely would be in live-action. There is a row of dancers in the background who are all wearing the same outfit and hair as Doppio, except they all have flesh-tone stocking material obscuring their faces. Doppio himself is in front at a microphone and rather jovially singing and moving to the song. There are flashes here and there of Diavolo being trapped in the death loop created by Gold Experience: Requiem. Towards the end of the song, the dancers slowly and aggressively rip off the material covering their faces. They are all completely different looking people, conveying that Doppio can actually embrace every part of his personality and identity rather than having an abuser simplify him to once face.

[crystallinearts]

so hey guys, I'm doing NaNoWriMo this year! if you want, come be writing buddies with me! https://nanowrimo.org/participants/aj-strong

and check out my latest project, which I'm hoping will be my first published novel (if I'm able to publish it for people to read for free somewhere uwu), The Lovely Disaster Sideshow! It's a mystery, horror, adventure, historical, weird mishmash that takes place in a Victorian Era circus!

Here's the cover, and below the cut are some bullet-point details about the main characters!! Let me know what you think so far, and... well, get ready for me to do very little else throughout November XD

ABIGAIL HUGHES AND EULALIA "LALI" HUGHES

Mother and daughter protagonists

Abigail (late 20s) is missing a hand and Lali (6 years old) is unable to speak due to trauma (Abigail’s missing hand and Lali’s trauma are both from the accident which killed Abigail’s husband)

They fill the jobs of whatever needs done within the circus after joining; cooking, mending, running errands

Abigail occasionally performs with Bharata after he teaches her tricks on how to live without one hand

Lali enjoys working with Estelle and Cedar particularly, but the entire circus is protective of her as their youngest member

Native English

RINGMASTER

The circus ringleader, the master of ceremonies who runs shows and hires new workers

A friendly fellow (late 30s-early 40s) who welcomes anyone into the circus, regardless of disabilities or age, as long as they can work in some way or another

Creative in describing the sideshows to attract the attention of the public

In reality a cold, calculating bigot who is bitter toward, resentful of, and disgusted by the ‘freaks’ he employs in the circus

Native English

GWYNN

“The Eyeless Albino” visual oddity (pure white hair, no eyes)

A young man (early 20s) who is completely albino and was born without any eyes

He is entirely blind and relies on other people (most often Bharata and Siobhan) to help him around, though he’s learned to navigate most of the circus by sound as long as he has landmarks to go by; new areas confuse him until he learns the layout

His skin burns incredibly easily, meaning he often carries a parasol to block sun rays even when it’s cloudy

(His parasol also double functions as a makeshift cane) Welsh and a little English

SIOBHAN

“A Marvelous Mouth” sword swallower and fire breather

A young woman (early 30s) who is a former prostitute, leading the Ringmaster to capitalize on her relaxed gag reflex to make her into a sword swallower (and, occasionally when the shows need that extra oomph, fire breather)

Quite heavily tattooed, at least for the time period, she sports many tattoos on her arms, legs, back, and hands, as well as one on her neck; this causes many people to view her as a degenerate and adds to her ‘freakishness’ for the circus

Irish

CAIN AND ABEL

“Two-For-One Twins” visual oddity (conjoined twins)

Two young men (mid 20s) joined at the hip, they’re unable to be separated and sometimes have issues with moving around; they have separate bodies (two arms each, two legs each, separate torsos, separate heads, etc.) but their bodies are fused at the hip and doctors have all told them separation is too risky

They get along fairly well, with the occasional sibling fights, though they feel isolated even from the rest of the circus, stemming from only having had each other for most of their lives, especially given that they were the most recent additions before Abigail and Lali

Native English

ESTELLE

“Silent Angel” trapeze artist

A young woman (early 20s) who is almost entirely deaf and can only hear (barely) if someone is shouting right next to her ear, she cannot speak very well and prefers to communicate in other ways

She can’t read or write, but she’s made up her own variety of gestures (basically an individual sign language) to speak with the other circus performers, and she can read lips quite well

Short, petite, and kind… and will simply walk away from anyone who treats her or her friends cruelly

Spends hours teaching Lali her individual sign language, so that Lali can communicate even though she’s too traumatized to speak verbally

French and English

BHARATA

“One-Armed Wonder” knife thrower

A young man (late 20s) who has only one arm, and is perceived by many others as very clumsy; every household he’s worked for has set him up to fail by assigning him tasks that simply can’t be done with just one arm, leading him to find a belonging in the circus

Wanting to prove everyone wrong, he trained to do something that others thought couldn’t be done with only one arm: knife throwing… and is very good at it

He’s sympathetic toward Abigail and tries to teach her every single tip he has about how to live without one arm/hand

Indian

CEDAR

“Crystal Ball” fortune teller/palm reader/astrologist

A young nonbinary person (mid 20s) who was ostracized from society when they refused to answer to ‘she’, who ran away from home after their parents tried to beat them into conforming

No physical disability aside from dysphoria (which is obviously helped when they’re around supportive people who respect what they want to be called), and very supportive themself of the people in the circus who do have disabilities

Rather easygoing in terms of interacting with other people, they tend to simply go with the flow, but they’re also incredibly perceptive which is what makes them such a good fortune teller; while they do study palmistry, astrology, and tarot, they also employ the use of cold reading techniques (“might as well take advantage of all the gifts I have, including observation, right?”)

Native English

SALEM

“The Lizard Man” visual oddity (has X-linked ichthyosis resulting in scale-like skin)

A man (late 30s) who was cast out from society because of his strange appearance, stemming from his medical condition; people have been ‘terrified’ of his looks before, not to mention fearing that whatever he has is ‘contagious’ (despite him knowing from experience that he’s not)

Soft-spoken and gentle in general, but if one hits the right buttons he’s very capable of getting violent, particularly in defense of his friends

He has anywhere from 1-3 animals (that he’s nursing back to health) in his tent at any one time, even though he’s allergic to anything with fur… he has a soft spot for reptiles, though he adores all animals

Native English

[nikolaraftis]

Which animals do you associate each of your characters with?

Love questions like these!! Because I actually put thought into animal associations when I make and write my characters, it's so fun. It not only has to do with visual traits and personality, but also plot-relevant symbolism. They're not major clues to anything, but sort of just fun add-ins? Part of the accumulative things that lay the path some characters go down? Also, not all of these of entirely significant symbolism, because some of these characters are were-creatures or half-creature or other folkloric beings and those influence associations.

Zena Moralis - bear (hint: this is why Athanasios takes the form he does when he reincarnates)

Geronimo - barn owl (note: his animal companion is Alfreda, the barn owl who just sort of hangs around)

Echo - scorpion

Florence Escoffier - fox

Kamali Wynn - cat

Esmeray Badawi - freshwater/river fish (if you had to associate her with a specific one, pick a species in Turkish waters. I don't have a set one yet, but she is from the rivers of alternate Turkey (for mermaid reasons)).

Dorian Nathair - sea serpent (...listen, it surely counts)

Siobhan Healy - swan

Bloodboot Mercer - wolf

Penelope Mercer - lynx

Sunita Vitaliya - crow

Shadow King - raven

Hektor Moralis - snake

Eamon Moralis - magpie

Hames Jespersen - gargoyle/dragon (okay, I know they don't count as animals, but they're very Him, so)

Quillon Romero - butterfly

Orna Healy - moth

Willa Healy - crocodile

Admittedly, this is a long cast, and there are yet more characters, but these are all the ones that have animal associations in my mind.

[brokenhardies]

for context; madoka is the daughter of eikichi mishina from p2. her initial persona is laura bullion, also known as della rose, member of butch cassidy's wild bunch. she has a very goth/visual kei theme to her design as seen in this amazing drawing by @latenitewaffles ;