#(for context: I Bike For Transportation)

[orcelito]

Nothing like. Being in -19°F windchill on my way to work (ow ow ow ow) and then it's so cold the heaters just can't keep up with it so ur in 53-57°F throughout ur shift while touching cold things (drinks. Milks. Fridges. Agh.)

I have hand warmers but I feel so wrung out just from trying to survive this fucking cold. And I still have to do inventory.

[diocletianscabbagefarm]

Looking at comments in this silly bike helmet debate does show me how many people are used to painted bicycle gutters without separation from car traffic as the optimistic high end of cycling infrastructure.

I suspect helmets never caught on here (though the authorities are trying) because of a number of factors such as 1) overconfidence due to riding a bike - often alone - since being a preteen if not a toddler, to the point it’s second nature 2) most trips being short and a part of other activities such as riding two-three streets over to the local shop or public transport, rather than being classified as a separate category of activity like a sport, like “jogging” is different from walking. It strikes me that North-Americans often classify it more like a sport and I’ve heard multiple cycling advocates talk about the way this is a hurdle as cycling is dismissed by car drivers as a leisure activity rather than legitimate means of transport 3) the benefits of a helmet are seen as rather marginal because the streets are already pretty safe here (car fatalities occur at one tenth the rate they do in the US for example) because a) since the 70s Dutch street design has tried its best to physically separate bikes from the biggest danger on the road (cars) through segregated bike lanes, curbs, barriers and foliage in between. According to design guides mixing is only allowed in places where cars drive very slowly (30km/h, or about 19mph) and the volume of traffic is very low b) city design routes cars and bikes through different routes through the city to common destinations (the most direct route for a cyclist might be a straight shot through a residential neighborhood while the cars are routed along the highway around the city) to avoid them coming into conflict with each other. This is called “ontvlechten”, meaning ‘to disentangle’ c) most drivers are not overtly and actively hostile to cyclists. Almost all of them cycle too, so they tend to be aware and deferential to cyclists because they know what it’s like to be outside their steel cage.

Because of this, the hassle of using a helmet is likely seen as not really worth it, because the context doesn’t necessitate it as much. Here’s some typical Dutch street design.

Look at that sweet sweet separation.

I mean if I had to cycle on what passes for biking infrastructure in North America where you’re wedged on a tiny painted lane between SUVs trying to run you off the road for daring to infringe on their sacred asfalt while needing to go onto the road to circumvent rows of cars parked in the bike path, while trying not to get launched into the air like a SpaceX rocket due to potholes, before the bikelane inevitably simply ends and you need to bike on the road for a couple blocks before it resumes… I wouldn’t be wearing a helmet because I simply would not be fucking cycling at all.

[vellaphoria]

14. Is there a character or ship you were so sure you would never write/draw but now you've changed your mind?

6. Show us a bit of a WIP!

👀👀

3. NoTP?

Thanks for the ask!!! <3 I'm gonna do this out of order so that the fic excerpt can go beneath the cut 14. Ironically, DickTim XD When I first started in this fandom I was strictly in the Dick & Tim tag. This was at a point where there just wasn't very much there though, so eventually I ran out of content and tripped face-first into DickTim. Then I ran out of content in that tag and decided that the only way to stay sane was to learn how to write more of what I wanted to read

3. That's a bit of a tough one for DC, since I tend to just be uninterested in most of the ships. Though I personally have a strong aversion towards Joker x Harley (or whatever the ship name is). It's just not my thing :P 6. An excerpt from the Recursion epilogue/followup that I'm gonna finish someday:

Most of the equipment isn’t salvageable. And what is salvageable isn’t exactly transportable.

All in all, he leaves the warehouse with a flash drive full of blueprints, his Red Robin gear, his bike, and the bag he’s been living out of for longer than he really wants to think about. 

Still, there’s an exhilaration to traveling light, taking barely anything with him as his motorcycle speeds down semi-empty streets. The neon drenched backdrop of Gotham flies past him in a blur. He takes each turn too fast. He feels alive. 

At the junction that would take him to the outskirts of the city and Wayne Manor, he nearly takes a wrong turn, forgetting for a moment that Dick hasn’t set up shop there for a long while now. Some backtracking later and he finds the correct turn-off, bringing his bike down into the tunnels that run beneath the city. 

When he finally pulls into what serves as the Bunker’s garage, Dick is already waiting for him. He lurks at the edge of the room, looking uncertain about trying to approach as Tim removes his helmet and shoulders his bag.

He’d stuck to civilian clothes on the way here; jeans, a long sleeve shirt, and a beat-up leather jacket to keep out the wind as he rode.

Dick seems to have had the same idea. The sweatpants and threadbare t-shirt suggest that he came straight down from the penthouse. 

It feels strange to see each other without layers of kevlar and nomex between them. At least when it's this them, here and now.

In the present, he hasn't seen Dick look so casual since before Batman's disappearance became well known and Gotham became a living hell. In those days, they were all but living in their suits, ready to go at a moment's notice. 

Tim is pretty sure that he's been going at nearly that pace ever since. And, from the dark circles beneath his eyes, he suspects that Dick has as well. Back on that rooftop, he hadn't had enough emotional distance from the situation to see how Dick looks just as exhausted as Tim feels.

He gets off the bike, stashing it in an open spot. It isn't until he removes his bag from the back of the bike that Dick approaches.

“It’s good to see you,” he says, quietly. When he smiles, it's faint, and a little sad.

“You too," Tim says.

He steps closer, not entirely sure what he's intending to do. 

Dick doesn't seem to know either. But he opens his arms, just a bit, and-

The hug is a careful, fragile thing. Threaded through with the knowledge that a single wrong move could shatter them. Still, when he tries to pull back, the arms around him tighten as Dick keeps him pressed against his chest. 

Tim lets him. It feels good to be close. To have Dicks’ hands on him, despite the context. 

There are some nights when he wants to rage at him, throwing objects and insults across the room to try and find some way to make everything make sense. But then there are the nights when all he wants is this: to be wrapped in Dick’s arms, feeling nothing but the strength of his muscles and warmth of his skin. 

Tim gives in, leaning into it, pressing his own hands into Dick’s back. 

There’s a kiss against his forehead, then his temple.

“I missed you,” Dick says, against his ear. 

“Missed you too,” Tim whispers back. 

When they finally pull apart, it almost feels like it's too soon. His body aches with the phantom feeling of being held.

The deceptively simple solution here would be to take Dick's hand and lead him upstairs. It would be so easy to say that he doesn't want to be alone tonight, to ask Dick for his company and for whatever else he'd be willing to give.

Dick can be very giving when he's trying to make something up to someone.

But… no.

Tim said they would talk about this, and he doesn't quite trust himself to let himself have this again without first untangling the mess in which they've caught themselves. 

So he stays content with the way that Dick’s hand cups his face, lingering a moment before he turns to lead Tim further into the Bunker. 

He saw the blueprints back when Bruce was first having the place built, but he never saw the finished product. It looks very efficient. While the Bat Cave was adapted to fit the space, The Bunker was clearly built from the ground up with a vigilante operation in mind. Everything fits together like clockwork, with some notable exceptions.

There are strategically placed empty spaces. They pass by two work benches full of half-finished projects and a third that’s entirely empty. A row of storage lockers is meticulously labeled, with the exception of the one to the right of the one labeled for Dick’s personal use. 

When he glances at Dick, it’s clear that he’s very purposely not looking at any of them. Trying to not call attention to it. 

The implication of it all makes something in Tim ache a little. For all that his reasons for leaving were justified…

They have a lot to talk about. (asks are from this post)

[love-kurdt]

Swooping, Sloping, Cursive Letters: 37

word count: 609

warnings: mentions of being roofied & SA

PLEASE READ THIS IS ME TRYING FIRST, AS THIS STORY RELIES HEAVILY UPON THE CONTEXT OF TIMT

October 21, 1990

Dear Will,

Something happened to me this past weekend. I was roofied at a party. I don’t know who did it, but I do know that I was sexually assaulted and tried to bike home immediately afterwards. Thankfully, Warren Blakeley, one of my old English 101 classmates saw me on the side of the road and saved my life. I don’t remember much of this happening; I’m basically retelling the story from his point of view.

Once he got me into the car in one piece and asked about what exactly happened, I couldn’t string a single sentence together. After a few minutes, I apparently started telling a story about two boys in the middle of the apocalypse who had a conversation about death in the basement. When Warren told me this later on, I knew exactly what conversation Drugged Mike™ had been referring to. I was suddenly transported back to when the Vecnapocalypse was still in full swing, and we were on our last mission in the Upside Down. 

“It’s a miracle we’ve made it this far,” I said, and let out an exhausted huff from running. You cautiously sat down next to me on the couch, trying to catch your breath.

“Yeah, I guess,” you shrugged. I turned to look at you with an incredulous expression.

“What do you mean, I guess? We’re alive, aren’t we?”

“Just that… sometimes I think I shouldn’t be. That you guys would be better off if I had just died in the Upside Down the first time around.” I’d never heard you sound so defeated, not since the Shadow Monster possessed you in ‘84.

“Will, you can’t actually believe that,” I protested, grasping your hand between both of mine in an attempt to prove how much you meant to me. Your other hand lifted to meet the back of mine so our palms were sandwiched together.

“I do,” you glanced down at the musty cushion below us. “I shouldn’t be alive, but I am. And because I am, I’ve dragged you into this mess with me, and for what? So we can go down in a tangled mess of limbs and vines?”

“I would do this a hundred more times if it meant I got to go down in a tangled mess of limbs and vines with you.” I hated how cliche I sounded, but it made you crack a smile, so I considered that a win.

“Now you’re just being stupid, Michael.”

“It’s true!” I grinned. “And if I’m stupid, you’re stupider.”

You rolled your eyes. Beautiful. “Uh-huh.” The two of us burst into a fit of giggles, and the fact that we were in an alternate dimension with Vecna breathing down our necks became a distant priority, even for a few seconds. Once our laughter died down, your eyes lifted to meet mine.

“Hey, Will?”

“Yeah, Mike?”

“You should be alive,” I told you with as much sincerity I could possibly convey. “And I don’t know what I’d ever do without you.”

“Thanks… me neither.”

And now I do know what I’d do without you. Because you’re not here anymore. And I think I finally know how you felt when you didn’t feel like you should be alive. I could have easily died this weekend. I could have died… and the last thing you would’ve said to me was “You’ve done enough.” It kind of brings me satisfaction thinking about how shitty you’d feel if you’d lost me for good.

Or maybe you wouldn’t feel anything at all. I wouldn’t be surprised if you didn’t even grieve for me. I suppose I deserve it.

Love,

Mike

-

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[makima-s-most-smile]

Trigun Ultimate 2 (Part 4)

Will this volume ever end? Why do I have so much to say?

OOOOooOOooooh, it is woowootime. Nyehehehehehehe *continues to say even more about its favourite character!*

Trigun Ultimate: 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4 Trigun Maximum: 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 5.2, 6.1, 6.2, 7.1, 7.2, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 9.1, 9.2, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, 10.5

Chapter 6: A gathering of demons

Oh, I love how nightow portrays the vastness of the desert. How much is an ile? How big is this planet? Is it earthlike? With no oceans and all... are the cities splayed out? I am European and live in a big city conglomerate. In two hours, I can switch countries and visit like 20 different cities. This picture reminds me of the "Wild West". I remember American friends being shocked at how connected everything is and how we Europeans see distance. For them a 4-12 hour drive is totally normal and you are still in the same state. I can only imagine that No-Man's-Land is even worse than that.

But what does that entail? Is travel between cities something regular or something you only do if you try and get work or flee from something? There is the big trade between the cities, but those have to be the outliers. Sandstreamers being something like trains. I imagine that they are mostly used for commerce, then. Transporting people has to be a lesser side hustle.

But how long does the journey with a bus between the cities take? I'd say days with the thoughts I just had.

I leave the Wolfwood introduction panel out, because of the limitations for pictures, but damn, it is good. It also took me too long to realise that this was not fabricated, but that Wolfwood literally had a bike mishap. His whole interaction with Vash reads differently for me when I take this into consideration.

Three things. 1. what I like about Wolfwood’s design is that if you don’t take the tit window and the facial scruff into consideration, he is dressed like a typical Japanese salary man! A nobody, one of many. Black short hair with suit, he could be a 0815 background character/random casualty in nearly any anime/manga. But here, he falls out of the line. All in black in the desert heat, that is suicide! He is not dressed like the others in typical western clothes. He’s an outlier from the start but at the same time a very usual sight for us readers!

2. I love how silly and welcoming he is. He is just a very charming random dude. We next to never see him interact with random people after this, so we miss this side of him in the later volumes. But he easily fits in and connects, even as a weird outlier. He is an idiot, but an idiot with street smarts.

3. Maybe because I am not a native English speaker, but I stumbled more than once over the word “tradesman” as a colloquial term for assassin. Kinda a roundabout way to say, hey, if you’re interested in me, I may provide you with more information and maybe I have the kind of skill you’re looking for. Tradesman basically means person with a specific skill, so not elaborating on that, but letting people mock him always reads for me as Wolfwood playing with being caught/putting his “profession” down/offering work. That he has a good eye is shown on the next page with him immediately realising who Vash is (at least he know the bounty pics and knows how to look. Wolfwood is not faceblind!)

Without the context of Milly being especially perceptive, this always read for me as Vash being absolutely annoyed by Wolfwood and being distrusting, when in reality he seems to be already warming up to him. Like with us readers, Wolfwood has wormed himself into his heart already. Who could deny Wolfy?

“‘Bout time I left, anyway.” Rings differently when you know him more. Wolfwood is a person that has his foot already out of the door to be not a burden to anyone nice. And we learn that in his introduction.

Wolfwood looks so damn fucking young there. I always have big problems in discerning ages in Manga. But even with his scruff, Wolfwood looks barely out of his teens.

When I think about the different WooWoo-versions, I always deck '98 as the oldest in his mid to end thirties, Ultimate barely 20, Trimax 30 max and Stampede... Sorry, StampWolfwood, you are still in your teens for me. You are baby.

I always remembered Wolfwood as a liar by omission, but damn, he is doing everything but spelling stuff out.  “Not exactly just that…” Damn, and he looks so pained. Vash surely zoomed in on it. I now believe, the only reason why we know stuff so late about Wolfwood is because Vash never asked or tried to pin Wolfwood down.

The following pages is Wolfwood sharing his money with the orphans and I love it. We get to know Wolfwood as a very perceptive, benevolent and honest guy, who seems to be desperately begging for people to see him, to ask more about him. As much as he is funny, we also see someone who sees himself as a burden and who is burdened by a big responsibility and who still shares and gives as much as he can. No wonder Vash smiled with such earnesty. Wolfwood is the personification of what makes him still have hope in humanity.

Chapter 7: The demon’s eye

You know him just for this little bus drive and you already trust him with that info, Vash. Wolfwood is part of the team now, wether they realised it or not. Like I said in the chapter before, the journey must take longer, so they may have had a few days to bond.

He knows what happened. We learn in the next chapter why Wolfwood is there. It is easy to put two and two together for him.

Or regrets that they have to part ways and Wolfwood has to go back to being the Punisher. He had a short dance with Lady Death and then a little vacation where he could be human.

As much as we learn that Wolfwood hates his predicament, it is his duty. There is a reason why he does what he does.

It is kinda sad that Wolfwood left immediately. Nightow, most likely, had other stuff planned, but the cancellation of the magazine kinda threw a wrench into it. I kinda like how '98 did it with Vash and Wolfwood having their own little adventure on the journey.

Funny observation. People are there, because there is gunshots. Not children’s laughs or anything, it is gunshots that show that people are there. What a shitty world they live in.

08: The fifth moon

Did Legato control the corpses? Or did he “take in” the survivors and used experiments on them? Nicholas knows his bounties. Without him, I wouldn't peg them as the Slavers.

First of all, the hint/info that Vash and Knifes are both not human. A man between a rock and a hard place. A well-prepared dead man, but a dead man either way.

Since we as a reader already have a bond with Wolfwood, he is our point of reference for a "normal" human reaction to the shit that goes down. Nightow regularly flashes back to Wolfwood's reaction to it all. Either so we don't forget that he is part of the EVUL or to bring down that point how fucked up Knives is (especially with the SA-symbolism). People with uteri will agree either way that the scene with the sister being that pregnant and Knives bursting out is… massive body horror.

At least both legs and one arm are smashed, pelvis most likely, too, his head is squished into his torso, neck broken? and I have no idea how else he is crumbled up. Paper doll Legato

Vash didn’t only shoot himself to regain control. He shot Knives, too! He shot Knives to get free, but it was already too late.

While someone else (I am sorry, I am bad with names D; If I find you again, I will link your post) has put it brilliantly how Knives taking control over Vash can be read as assault, there is something else I’d like to point out.

Knives is the only person in the whole story who has been able to take control from Vash. We have seen him fight so many people, like Neon, Monev and others, but Vash never was not in control. He put rules upon himself that constricted him, e.g. the pacifism, but those constrictions were by his own decision. Vash takes into consideration that he may die, but it is by his own free will and as we have seen, he is a bit suicidal. Likewike, Vash gives people all the agency, all his agency. He mostly reacts to their decisions towards him. Knives is the only person in the whole world who is able to take away Vash’s agency and he uses that power over him. Not going into powerscaling or such a thing, but it shows what a powerful player Knives is.

Again, Wolfwood is our focus point for human reaction. Dude is scared out of his mind and mixing both brothers. Messengers of God coming to cast down judgement on us? That would be Knives, not Vash. But he demands an answer from Vash, with whom he already formed a connection. Wolfwood may feel even somewhat betrayed, as hypocritical as that is.

[therighthandofvengeance]

Photo Analysis 1/?

a few things: 1. how have I never seen this photo before? 2. do I need context? not really. 3. do I want said context? very much so. 

I’m going to count this as prologue to the analysis of John and Delenn’s body language with one another, but first I want to establish a bit on the photo at large. there’s so much going on! in this essay I will... 

General 

Okay so let’s start with the bicycle itself. A bicycle is a means of transportation. It’s an impetus for movement. Moving, going, transition- transition is a huge motif throughout the show. Think of the titles of the episodes: Points of Departure (s02e02),Point of No Return (s03e09), Objects in Motion (s05e20), Objects at Rest (s05e21). Now is also a good time to mention that it’s a tandem bicycle, built to be used by multiple people at a time, just like a certain space station that unlike its predecessors, hasn’t been sabotaged or dragged through time.  A bicycle like this would work best when everyone pedals 1. in the same direction and 2. operating at the same speed, AKA being on the same wavelength, as if they were an army of light. Another note on this bike is the horns. One, they’re bike horns, so there’s an increased enthusiastic vibe from it- mature enough to save the galaxy and youthful enough to trust that faith manages. Then, there’s the positioning of the horns. Let’s go down the line, shall we? G’Kar’s horn is upward towards Londo, Londo’s faces the camera, Garibaldi’s is up and outwards yet angled towards Londo, Lochley’s is parallel to the ground and facing Garibaldi, and Sheridan’s upward-facing horn is rendered inaccessible by Delenn’s proximity to it.  So: G’Kar and Garibaldi give Londo their attention because he easily draws it, and can be very annoying- thus his own horn faces the camera. Lochley’s horn is backwards, facing Garibaldi, because her attention is in facing her past, which parallels the alcoholism Garibaldi relapses with in the fifth season. Sheridan’s horn faces upwards (*wink wink*; *nudge nudge*). Finally, in regards to the bicycle, it’s a great color for a children’s hospital. It’s a color of confidence and vitality, a color of blood and impulse- but most of all, it’s a color of love. Love, of course, being essential to endurance. And to quote one Susan Ivanova, “Babylon 5 endures.”

G’Kar

He’s the only one with both of his feet on the ground, a direct opposite to Delenn, a notion compounded by the fact that they’re the only two not smiling with their teeth in the photo, and the furthest from one another. This could be interpreted as G’Kar is enamored with the idea of the death of the enemy race in the same manner Delenn was when she was the newest member of the Grey Council- something she tries to put behind her as much as possible. It could also be a tie to being the most grounded and “down-to-earth” of the characters. He’s also not focused on the photographer as he’s staring at Delenn. There are multiple ways in which this could be interpreted, especially as everyone else’s attention is directed at the camera, but it keeps Delenn as the focal point of the picture.

Londo

Alright, here’s everyone’s favorite character endowed with a shrapnel of a moral compass outside of his attaché: Londo Mollari. He’s in the moment, enjoying himself, but is it because he has attention or because it’s a good photo-op for the Prime Minister of the Centauri Republic? There’s not much of a variation between his behavior and the average of the others, so I have less conclusions to draw, but given G’Kar’s expression, he’s genuinely having a good time. 

Garibaldi

Now, Garibaldi isn’t actually seated on the bike, unlike everyone else. He’s up higher, like one might do to survey their surroundings. He’s setting distance between himself and Londo, thereby lessening the regulated distance he has with Lochley. This mirrors the way that Garibaldi comes around to apologize to Lochley at the end of the fifth season, and how the distance between Garibaldi and Londo is increased as Garibaldi returns to Mars with Lise as his permanent companion, a contrast to Londo’s permanent companion, the Drakh Keeper. Lise keeps Garibaldi away from alcohol, Londo is dependent on it for his freedom.

Lochley

Lochley doesn’t have her feet on the pedals, she’s taking up less space. She’s not contributing to the maneuvering of the bike so much as she is its stability. She’s squatting, something one might do to gain easier access to a smaller space, or how one might attempt to approach someone / something that would otherwise find it intimidating. She’s the only one without her hands on the bars, too, it’s very “Look, no hands!”- the absence of the necessity for control is exactly why she has such control. Her hands are just in her lap, as if she just wants to start a dialogue- the approach she uses both with Bester and Garibaldi. She sit further back in her seat, towards Garibaldi and away from Sheridan. 

Sheridan

Let’s get the obvious out of the way: he’s in-between his ex-wife and his wife. He’s in-between his past and his future. His link is just barely visible, the last of his attachment to the station (as the station a military base, and as John a soldier) as it fades into the history books. He’s got neither of his feet on the peddles because he wants to live in the moment. His Wife Guy™ Face is diluted not because of the presence of his ex-wife, but because of Delenn’s possessiveness- the last time someone took away an important man in her life, she instigated a war. 

Delenn

She’s everything, including the focal point of this photo- ironic, since a basic of photography is the Rule of Three. 

Alright now that I’ve gotten Some Thoughts™ out of my system: LET’S TAKE A MOMENT TO APPRICIATE HOW MUCH SHE’S LEANED INTO JOHN’S CHEST, OKAY? GIRLBOSS x MALEWIFE and I’m here for it. (That’s Delenn’s Atonement™ face, and we all know it.) She’s got her hand on John’s horn and she knows it.  Her legs are sticking out, a contrast to Lochley’s crouching.

Many, if not most bicycles, have triangular frames, since triangles are the strongest shape. Delenn is the frame of the Interstellar Alliance. She created it, she served as both vice president and president. She supports John, and therefore everyone around them, much like the bicycle is the support and the unifying force of everyone on it. (That’s not even touching her roles as Satai or Ambassador or Entil’Zha / Anla’Shok Na.) There’s still the part where a bicycle is a means of transportation, and therefore transition. She’s even wearing the dress she wears on the White Star- you know, where they’re going from point A to point B... in literal moments of transition? Delenn may be the biggest motif for transition in any form of media, especially a “cisgender” character (as the voice-altering technology wouldn’t allow for proper masculine characterization). 

Final Notes:

The dynamics are reflected so well in this photo, it’s amazing

There’s so much hot potato with the two collective brain cells in this photo

Sheridan and Delenn are literally holding hands in this photo and that's nothing additional for me to comment on as part of the analysis itself when everything is so obviously presented, but I love them very much and I needed to bring it up

[kuntlady]

Malèna

Giuseppe Tornatore’s Malèna is notably less charming than his 1988 classic Cinema Paradiso. Tornatore’s ever-present nostalgic sense of longing is apparent in both films, but whereas Cinema Paradiso spans the lifetime of a young man, Malèna is much smaller in its scope, focusing on just a couple of years during the main character Renato’s adolescence and his brief but intense infatuation with the titular Malèna. It’s this obsessive infatuation that replaces Cinema Paradiso’s quiet and magical nature with an overt and increasingly sinister pubescent sexuality. Yet, Malèna’s shorter breadth and its more portentous subject matter allows for Tornatore (if however indirectly) to provide a thorough commentary on the ways in which the female body is commodified, 

For Tornatore, the cinema world is forever stuck in the 60s. Despite being filmed a decade later, Tornatore’s nostalgia for post-WW2 Sicily carries through from Cinema Paradiso into Malèna. However, Tornatore breaks away and sheds Cinema Paradiso’s 60s-Fellini-inspired nonlinear narrative structure that was ever so potent in classic Italian cinema and lets the audience get the full brunt of the troubling and often violent events in the film and experiencing them as they unfold in front of Malèna’s teenaged main character, Renato.

Italy enters World War II on June 10, 1940. On this same day, Renato receives a new bike and we hear the salesperson saying “the frame is British, the gears are French, and the brakes are from–I forget. But the chain is Sicilian–always keep it greasy” (Malèna 2:03). This scene not only echoes Tornatore’s past commentary on Sicillian industry, specifically the fishing industry in Cinema Paradiso, but deftly establishes to the audience the context in which this Sicilian society is operating: though the bike is constructed from parts collected off bikes made in other countries, there is a through-line of pride embodied in the Sicilian chain. When Renato gets his bike, a symbol of youthful freedom and–more practically–a means of transportation, Malèna \ introduces its first reference to the theme of masculine adulthood. His friends inform him “you’re a man, like us” to which Renato asks “so I can join the gang?” (Malèna 4:05). The bike offers Renato his first steps into adulthood, and his attempts to assert himself into masculinity are the driving force for which the movie proceeds.

Later that day, Renato’s friends catch sight of Malèna (portrayed by Monica Bellucci), a beautiful woman whose husband is fighting in North Africa. Due to her beauty and her perceived sensuality, the group of young boys frantically run to watch her walk down the street, cutting through an alley to see her again as she turns a corner. It’s clear this has become a frequent activity for the group. This ritualisation of the performance of their male gaze as we hear them commenting on her body and bragging to each other about what they would do to her makes the audience immediately aware of Malèna’s physicality. This objectification is further enforced by the film itself. The first time Malèna appears on-screen we first see her physicality rendered through the male gaze as her body is represented through a fragmented collection of close-up shots of her legs, breasts, lips, and hair as she gets ready. 

This “male gaze” is noted in Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, where Laura Mulvey argues “Hollywood cinema was structured along a threefold gaze (by the audience, the camera and the characters) that looks at women from a male point of view and regards them as mere (sexual) objects.” (University of Westminster, 2020). While not a Hollywood film, Malèna’s portrayal of Monica Bellucci’s character immediately drives this idea of the male gaze home. The rest of the film plays out solely through the gaze of Renato as he becomes immediately infatuated with Malèna and follows her everywhere, watching her the entire time. Even in moments of intimacy Renato is voyeuristically watching her through a peephole he made in her window shutters, with one of the most touching scenes in the movie being inextricably linked and befouled by his gaze. As Malèna dances with her husband’s portrait to the melancholic romance song “Ma l’amore no”, the camera focuses on fragmented close-ups of her legs, breasts, and slightly transparent dress. The camera and the audience are again solidified in Renato’s gaze as the shots focus on her sexual physicality and not her emotion or love. 

As Renato’s naive sexuality towards Malèna continues to grow, he becomes witness to the male gaze that Malèna lives under. At this same time, we see the pressures that Renato is subject to in regards to his masculinity. Initially, to Renato, Malèna offers the strongest way to graduate into his masculine adulthood. As he fools himself into thinking the love he feels for Malèna is requited, which, to Renato–a teenage boy eager to perform his masculinity–means he must protect her. Tornatore shows us that Renato’s fantasies involving Malèna are not always sexual: we see Renato imagining himself to be Tarzan swinging across vines to save her, a wild west cowboy shooting bandits trying to rob their stagecoach, and a gladiator fighting in an arena to win her favor. These are all artefacts of Renato’s conditioning to believe that love is inextricably linked to his own expressions of physical masculinity.

As the story progresses and Renato increasingly feels it impossible to interact with Malèna directly, he pursues other avenues to both prove his masculinity to his community and to Malèna herself. Sicilian children, at this time, wore shorts and a short sleeve button down shirt. His shorts are referenced multiple times throughout the film as a symbol of his immaturity, and Renato feels ostracised from his friend group, who all have the more grown-up long pants. Renato steals from his father in order to get pants tailored for himself and is inevitably caught and reminded forcefully that he is too young. Renato’s next foray into adulthood is when he steals a booklet of paintings featuring nude women and masturbates for the first time. This is Renato’s first physical entry into his sexuality beyond just fantasy, and he does so while imagining the women in the booklet are all Malèna. We can see that, regardless of how Renato aims to assert his masculinity, it is inexorably linked to his sexualisation of Malèna.

On the other hand, Malèna goes through her daily life never noticing Renato. The only time we see her apart from Renato is when she is walking down the street being watched intently by the townspeople. In fact, Malèna doesn’t exist on-screen in this film without the presence of men seeing her–even in her moments of solitude it is Renato’s voyeurism that places her in the world. In doing so Tornatore implies that Malèna lacks an individual personhood, and is only formed through the very act of her being perceived. 

This constant “seeing” that plays a major theme in this film pushes Malèna more and more outside of the society of Castelcuto. Women are angry at her for seemingly seducing their husbands, frequently belittling and spreading rumors of sexual promiscuity as she walks past. The men only spit crude remarks about what she would be like in bed, catcalling and jeering at her, then turning to their friends for approval. The one thing the two agree upon: Malèna is anything but a Madonna, so she must be a whore.

It is this dichotomous and damaging categorisation that causes a cacophony of overlapping voices and sharp, jolting close-up cuts to the enthralled faces of on-lookers whenever Malèna makes a public appearance in town. And yet Balluci’s portrayal of Malèna would make it seem as if she were none the wiser. Malèna only ever looks at the ground when she is out, and Balluci’s sophisticated and emotional performance gives strong credence to the depth of Malèna as a female character.

When Malèna’s husband is reported dead in the war she is left penniless and nearly starving to take care of her father. Already having subsisted while her husband was deployed, her ill-deserved reputation has now made her “unhirable” in town and the women refuse to sell her food. When trying to buy groceries from the only man who would sell to her, she admits she doesn’t have enough money to pay him. The man then caresses her hair and informs her “that’s no problem. I’m sure we can find a way to make you some money” (Malèna, 55:25). Immediately planes are heard overhead, and Castelcuto is bombed, ultimately killing Malèna’s father in the attack. At his funeral, as townspeople line up to wish her condolences, the same man who brought her groceries reminds her of his offer, showing that even in her deepest mourning and most human of moments, she is still seen as a sexual object to be used rather than a person deserving of sympathy.

A beautiful and poignant scene results from this act of deprecation. Malèna, her hair dyed a light scarlett, walks confidently into the plaza, turns her gaze forward for the first time, puts a cigarette in between her lips, and waits. In a beautifully framed close up of Malèna’s face we see a dozen men’s arms come in off screen instantly offering a lighter for her to use and her eyes are filled with a subtle grief as she allows one man to assist her. This scene represents Malèna’s understanding that she must wield the sexual power she holds over the men in this town to help her survive. She is the object of the women’s scorn and the men’s sexual fascination through no act of her own, and it is through their objectification that she ultimately must become the thing they rumoured her to be.

Having had resorted to sex-work for some time, Malèna finds herself in the clientele of German soldiers. Her short hair is now dyed blond–the exact opposite of the classically Italian long, jet-black hair Malèna had in the beginning of the film–represents truly how far she had to turn from her old self in order to survive. Upon American liberation, her affiliation with the German officers is the excuse the women of the town needed to enact their brutally violent punishment against her perceived transgressions. This woman, who had done nothing but attempt to feed herself and secure her safety, is dragged out of the hotel in her underwear and beaten by the women of the town, cutting off her hair and pulling at what little clothing she has:

When she is dragged into the same square where she adapted (sic) her new persona, when her nakedness is exposed to every eye that once pandered after her, she is grotesquely reduced to a destroyed shell of herself. When the torment is completed and her hair is held triumphantly by the jealous townswomen, she breaks her muted disposition of indifference and lets out a guttural screech of agony.

(Escober, 2015)

Her screech of agony isn’t directed at the women who beat her, though: the shot is filmed from within the crowd of on-looking men, somewhat obscuring the audience’s view of the violence, and as Malèna gets up off the ground, naked and bruised and covered in dirt, she turns to the men and cries out at them; and at us. Bellucci’s acting in this scene is incredible. Having solidified her intricate understanding of the character with the cigarette scene, the deftness in which she places Malèna’s pain into this scream leaves the viewer with a deep, intrinsic understanding of the message: the men had done this to her, however indirectly. Standing in front of them naked and beaten was the physical manifestation of the extent of their sexual violence against her. In refusing Malèna her personhood, in reducing her to her physicality, in holding her constantly in their sexualised gaze, she had been forced into becoming the person they seemed to so desperately want her to be and then left her abandoned to be ravaged by the world they themselves made.

Tornatore’s Malèna shows, astutely, both sides of the coin. Malèna’s sexuality and value is inherently tied to the objectification that Renato and other men place upon her and ultimately lead to her direct downfall at the hands of the towns-women and the indirect way in which Malèna is robbed of her personhood leads her there. We also see Renato’s increasing sexual consumption of women being hoisted upon him by the societal expectations of masculinity. Renato’s forward progression into manhood is referenced multiple times throughout the film and each attribute that attains him a new chapter of his adolescence–the bike, the long pants, the masturbation, and the fantasies–are all portrayed as the necessary metamorphoses that will bring Renato into adulthood. Furthermore, his naive conceptualisation of romance is inseparable from his want to flee from childhood and into the masculine archetype of the protector and his insidious sexualisation of Malèna. 

[egenvs3000f23]

Blog 5!

Hello all! Since this week is uprompted I thought I would write this post about my experience with nature while living in another country for study abroad!

This past summer I had the chance to go to Grenoble, France. Grenoble is a city in the valley of three mountain ranges. It is phenomenally beautiful! Being in the bowl of these mountains, the city had a really interesting relationship to the outdoors, people lived there and would travel from all over France and Europe to come to this outdoors hub. In the winter the city offers amazing skiing, and in the summer offers outstanding hiking and biking. 

What amazed me the most about this place was the infrastructure surrounding access to the outdoors. There were reuse gear stores where people could pick up hiking equipment, shoes, bike repairs, clothes, you name it all for an affordable price. Outdoors gear thrift stores! Not only was equipment accessible but there were city buses, a part of the normal fare, that would take passengers up into the mountains on a shuttle bus. Myself and friends used this to our advantage and were able to do many amazing hikes and escape the city cheaply and with little to no effort. Without this transport none of us would have been able to enjoy the mountains and small towns near the city as they would otherwise have been only accessible by car. Bikes were also everywhere!! There were bike stands and on them hundreds of bikes, everywhere you looked there was someone biking or bikes lining the streets. This is not a rare sight in Europe but it was on an extreme in this city due to the outdoors incentive, as well as the challenges posed by air pollution. Since the city is in the mountain valley the geography prevents airflow and results in the city having one of the worst air pollution indexes of France. As a result there is an emphasis on getting cars off the street and people out of the city into nature to take a break from the air pollution.

There is also a gondola that leaves from the downtown. It is cheaply priced to make it accessible to all as well as to give citizens who cannot hike the opportunity to get up to the views the mountains provide. At the top of the gondola there is an old fort and some hiking trails with nature and historical/cultural interpretation on them. These signs talk about the formation of the mountain ranges and the battles that have been fought there. It was an amazing form of interpretation because not only was it nature but the history of the human experience of nature within it. In Grenoble there was  a big emphasis on community. People would buy and shop local, hang out in parks, spend time in the mountains, and at the top of this Gondola there would be events for the public run with the amazing view.

It was interesting to gain this perspective and to be able to think about it in the context of this course. Nature interpretation happens naturally when urban infrastructure prioritizes it.

Here are some photos!

Thanks for reading :)

[peatbogbody]

Reposted from mastodon, long post under the cut

OP posted by me. I guess it does look like I’m making a definitive statement:

Because I'm seeing Discourse on this, here's my take as a non-vegan who's interested in resilient food systems/lifestyles.

I just don't think it matters that much if you're vegan or not. In my limited understanding, it would be better if we As A Society consumed less meat/dairy/eggs/leather/etc produced by the industrial animal agriculture system and if you're able to swear it off completely I think that's great. But also it would be better if we consumed less plant products produced by the industrial plant agriculture system because it's also polluting and full of human rights abuses.

So in my view, it's as always, less about "what individual consumption choices should I make in the context of the global industrial capitalist system" but "what choices are available that make myself and my community more resilient in the face of that system"

When looking at how to fulfill one's needs and those of one's community in ways that are less dependent on fragile, destructive global supply chains, i.e. growing/foraging food hyperlocally, in many locales a more plant-heavy diet is likely going to be the most feasible and safest. In my view that's the main reason it's worth experimenting with reducing the amount of animal products you consume.

(Also I don't say this type of thing often but omg vegans it's literally hurting your cause to pretend meat and dairy and eggs aren't good. They're amazing and sometimes there really is no good substitute.)

(AND vegans (namely white vegans LBR) learn to cook challenge, you not knowing how to use seasoning, fats and oils, or just how to cook vegetables properly, is the reason non-vegans think vegan food is bad.)

Reply from some rando who doesn’t follow me:

I'll preface this by saying that everyone's diet is their own choice, and there are like a billion factors that go into it, most outside of any individual's control. I personally am vegetarian even though I think it would be better for me to be vegan, so I'm not one to make absolute statements about what people should or should not be eating.

There are definitely lib vegans out there who think their personal decision to not eat meat, ride a bike, and shop at whole foods is going to personally save the planet. But I really don't think vegans as a whole buy into that philosophy nowadays, it's mostly an image promoted by companies trying to sell vegan products (which my stance on is beyond the scope of this already too long reply)

A big part of the reality of the situation is the inherent inefficiency of using arable land to produce animal feed. You're right that plant agriculture has a lot of problems, but the best way to reduce those problems, is the reduce the amount of plant matter we grow for animal feed. Around 70-80% of the worlds soy crops are solely dedicated to animal feed. Most calories fed to animals are metabolized by the animal to keep itself alive, even comparing specifically protein intake to protein output has the same issues. This is also ignoring the costs of transporting animal feed to the animals themselves, water usage, waste byproducts from industrial farming, and other issues that I'm sure you're already aware of.

There are small scale farms and traditional hunting practices that either do not suffer from or heavily mitigate the vast majority of these issues, but it's not possible to produce enough meat from these to meet the current demand in the west (mostly America honestly).

I think hyperlocality and foraging is interesting and has a place, but is not specifically the solution for all areas. I think here you're again pointing to the land usage of agriculture as a major issue, and again I'd agree, but I'd also say the solution is reducing or eliminating the amount of crops grown for livestock.

As for the last 2 points, I rarely if ever see any vegans saying that animal products don't taste good, and there are also plenty of omnis who can't cook so this is a really weird point to make IMO.

My response:

Well first off, I'm working off the belief that it's not wrong in principle to kill and eat animals or use other parts of them. That's a whole other discussion but it's important to make this clear.

Nothing of what you said really contradicts what I said or believe. I should also be clear that I'm not trying to write a dissertation here and most of what I post on the internet tends to be just me brain-dumping and throwing shit at the wall and are not necessarily the totality of what I believe or meant to be a well-rounded argument.

I'm very aware of the high percentage of crops that goes into animal feed, and I think it's undeniable that as a whole it's imperative that overall meat consumption should be *reduced*, especially in places like the US. I also think if more people made personal choices to reduce their own consumption of animal products, it would be a lot easier to see that reduction on a nationwide scale.

I would say *a part of* the solution is reducing the amount of crops grown for livestock but I don't think we should expect that to be *the* solution, for one thing, the calories and nutrition people would have been getting from animal products will need to be replaced with an equivalent amount from plant sources.

This post is literally just about the debates I've been seeing about whether people, individually, should be vegan, and on that level, like I said, I just don't think this debate is worth having. If people like being vegan I think that's great and I love vegan food and I personally have been working on gradually transitioning over to more plant-based options. But as I said I think the main reason to do that is more for purposes of de-accustoming oneself from a lifestyle that's so dependent on global supply chains that as we've seen are incredibly fragile and also have complex and devastating impacts on the planet and people. I think for a lot of people, a more resilient lifestyle will necessarily be one that involves fewer animal products.

But if someone can't or just doesn't want to be vegan it's just not a huge deal and it doesn't mean they hate animals, and it's a waste of time to try to convert those people. I just think there are more interesting conversations to be had about our food systems.

The parentheticals are not part of my main point lol hence the parentheses, and they're mostly sarcastic, but I literally do see people downplaying the role meat and animal products play in people's livelihoods (and not just in food applications), and I've had a depressing number of horrible bland vegan stews and also a ton of amazing vegan dishes where the difference was literally spices and proper application of Maillard reactions, and it just makes me sad that someone might try something from the first category and think that's all vegan food is. It's not that deep.

Anyways.

[forabeatofadrum]

Ljubim te (3/24)

AO3 | S&C  

–  

DETAILED

Luckily, Blaine’s phone has charged during his trip to the pizza place and the Maxi Mercator. Google Translate tells him that zvezda means star in Slovene. Or Slovenian. Google says both words are accurate.

Blaine catches himself in the mirror and he looks like he just rolled out of bed, which is fairly accurate. He didn’t even gel his hair. He looks like a mess and he considers refreshing himself up, but Kurt is waiting for him, so Blaine rushes back to the park.

Kurt sees him immediately.

“Well hello stranger,” he says with a smile.

They are practically strangers, that’s true.

“Hello yourself. Long time no see.”

Kurt claps his hands.

“I am not a tour guide, but I am a fellow American living in the city, so I can already take you to the best burger place in town,” Kurt jokes and Blaine barks out a laugh. Kurt then asks what Blaine has already seen from the city, and Blaine shamefully admits that he’s only seen the road from his apartment to Park Zvezda.

“And this big road from the inside of the taxi,” Blaine nods towards the road. All the busses and taxi’s pass it. The Mercator that he saw yesterday evening is also on this road.

“Slovenska Cesta,” Kurt tells him, “I am pretty certain that cesta means street. Same goes for ulica. Let’s start there, yeah.”

“Are you learning Slovene?” Blaine asks as they walk down the Slovenska Cesta.

Kurt shakes his head.

“No, I am only here for six months and everyone speaks English,” he says, “Of course I am picking up things as I go from context, like the cesta and ulica. I already know that vse means all, and popusti is sale. So popusti vse or vse popusti means that everything is on sale!”

“Ah yes, priorities,” Blaine laughs.

“Exactly.”

They turn right on Čopova ulica, the street that leads to Prešeren Square, or Prešernov trg in Slovene. Blaine can understand that trg probably means plaza or square. Prešeren Square is one of the most well-known places in Ljubljana, Blaine does know that. He isn’t fully unprepared. Before his departure he looked up some information about the city and the country.

Seeing the places in real life is still different. The square is surrounded by beautiful buildings with detailed decorations. There is a statue of Prešeren, where people can sit underneath, and also a city model of Ljubljana’s city centre. You can cross the Ljubljanica, the river, to go to the other part of the city centre through the Triple Bridges, the Tromostovje. They walk over the middle bridge.

Also actually living here is different. Blaine isn’t here as a tourist, which is the main target for all the travel blogs he’s read beforehand. No, he’s here for serious business.

Kurt gives him a small to do list, based on his first week here.

“Get an Urbana card for public transport,” he starts, “I get student discount and I travel for max €20 a month, but usually a bus trip is €1,30 for 90 minutes. This includes transfers.”

“Alright.”

“And apply for a Temporary Resident Permit as soon as possible,” Kurt continues, “Print the forms at home, fill them in, and hand them in. You can’t do this digitally, so be prepared to wait eight hours for a small ten minute conversation.”

“What the fuck.”

Kurt nods.

“Yes, I now understand why there was already a line before opening hours and why people took lunch and books and pillows with them. It’s rough.”

“It sounds rough.”

“I also highly recommend downloading the Travana app for the bus schedule and the Bicikel app for BicikeLJ, the bike share system, although I also must add that biking here seems to be hazardous.”

“… Fun.”

“Oh, and a fun tip, but every first Sunday of the month, entrance to museums is free!”

“That is legitimately fun.”

“My last life tip is for the Boni, but you’re not a student, so it doesn’t apply to you.”

“The… what?”

“The študentska prehrana. Boni. Whatever you want to call it,” Kurt says with a shrug, “It’s a student meal system. Students can get cheap food at most restaurants for a small price, twice a day with a four hour interval between them. I think it’s a max price of €4,30 for a main course, side course, something healthy and water.”

Blaine lets out a whistle. The travel blog writers did write about Slovenian food, but he didn’t really pay attention to them. He went for pizza as his first meal. God, he truly is an American. He should take up on Kurt’s offer to see the burger place.

Kurt shows Blaine around. The city centre is very small compared to other big cities. Kurt jokes that the city centre is basically two large streets, divided by the river. Blaine would argue that there are at least four streets!

Of course there is much more to Ljubljana centre than those two or four streets, but it is indeed small.

Kurt shows him some of the more well-known places, like the Town Hall and the market place and of course the Dragon bridge. Ljubljana loves dragons.

They walk for hours and Blaine is parched.

“Can I buy you a drink?” he asks Kurt.

Kurt looks surprised.

“Oh?”

Blaine nods.

“As a thank you for the tour. It’s the least I can do.”

“Well, how can I refuse?”

They walk back to the Prešeren Square. There are a lot of cafes at the river on both sides. Kurt recommends Slovenska Hiša, so that’s where they’re heading.

Once they sit down and their drinks have arrived, they get to know each other some more. Blaine honestly didn’t expect to make a potential friend on his first full day in the country. He hadn’t really planned on it, since he’s here temporarily and for business, but he’s glad that Kurt decided to save his pizza. His actual life is back in Los Angeles, but it is nice to take a break from it. After all, that’s why he’s here.

Life in Los Angeles doesn’t stop, though.

It must be early morning in Los Angeles, because Quinn is awake and she’s calling.

“Oh, sorry about that,” Blaine shoots Kurt an apologetic look, “It’s my girlfriend.”

“Your girlfriend,” Kurt says quietly.

Blaine nods.

“Be right back.”

–   

End notes: All the tips that Kurt gives were things that I learnt as a student living in Slovenia in 2020. I have no clue if all of it still applies (if, for example, some things have changed or some services no longer work the way they did), but aaaah nostalgia. I especially miss the Boni system. If you want to know more, here is a post with some Boni photo’s that I took while living there.

[historyherstory]

Welcome to Chapter Six notes!

As I mentioned on ao3, this is definitely more of a history-lite chapter but it definitely exists in the tapestry of some really defining historical context.

The chapter does make reference of the rather scattered influx of Easy Company members - while the names I picked are largely unsubstantiated (if anyone has a record of which Easy Co members rejoined the company on which date, you have gold at your hands and please do share). The best I can really get at triangulating who was present on D-Day (and then D-Day +1, +2, so on and so forth) are the casual references made about others in individual biographies. I definitely took a lot of liberties with who was present.

Due to the confusing nature of the D-Day drops (planes broke formation, against order, to try to evade “flak” - anti aircraft fire from the ground) the paratroopers were scattered throughout Normandy, some as many as 13 miles (or more) from their objectives. Oftentimes this worked out (as the original drop zones were actually well guarded by Germans). An added bonus is that due to the chaotic and spread out nature of the landings, Germans really had no clue as to the big picture - what was the objective? How many allied paratroopers had landed? What geographic region were they in? 

However, due to the chaos (not landing where they were meant to) plus the difficult terrain (see: Hedgerows, not a walk in the park) it took some paratroopers days to get to their company. In some instances, they actually hooked up with other companies (such as someone from Able or Dog or Fox fighting alongside Easy). In others, they were actually fighting alongside other regiments (several Easy Co men were with the 82nd Airborne for several days after landing). 

All of this is to say: taking into account the near immediate losses (when plane chalked #66, Lieutenant Meehan’s, went down virtually all of Easy HQ went down with it) plus the slow centralization of troops, Easy was never really up to full force at any point during the Normandy campaign.

This chapter also had some less than direct allusions to the consequences of living in an occupied country. As mentioned in previous references: the allotment of goods via ration tickets to the French, under German Occupation, basically indicated a 1200 cal/day maximum. In a time where people were (often forced to) do manual labor, walking or biking rather than using mechanized transport, while it wasn’t completely dire straits, the people of France (especially in the cities) were hungry.

Studies have actually shown that children who grew up during the Occupation were measurably shorter on average, than prior generations. Infections were more frequent (and more fatal) due to weakened immune systems among the people. By 1942, the mortality rate in Paris is reported as being a staggering 42% higher than in 1932-1938. This is incredibly lengthy, but also extremely insightful regarding the psychological state of the French during occupation (and how the physical realities of the occupation, such as shortages and malnutrition) contributed to it.

When a character from occupied France is written about in ways that suggest observers finding them looking “sharp” or with obvious bone structure in places it shouldn’t, they’re observing the consequences of yearslong sub-par nutrition and its physical cost. 

Nazi Germany requisitioned food for its own people and let others pay the price: in some locations like the work camps and ghettos, it’s starvation diet allotments that led to very rapid decrease in conditions. In others, like France, people were getting fed, but their vitality was lost over months (and years). Of course, if someone were in the countryside with more availability to resources due to having land and working it or maintaining livestock, the situation was much less acute. Similarly, those with expendable wealth could use their resources to augment their ration tickets via black market purchases.

[justcallmedust]

Came home from work to more work, third day in a row.. obviously aggrieved. Somehow the husband turned it around on me, who the fuck knows how.. but he’s still going, hours .. hours .. after I’ve even said anything. All I said was that I’m really frustrated with the fact that no one that lives here seems to be able to see the filth we live in. Everything is so fucking filthy. Food and garbage all the fuck over the place and everyone just steps over it. Like it’s maddening to come home from 8 hours of sweating, lifting heavy dirty things and walking usually while carrying or transporting heavy dirty things for miles and miles every shift.. and walk into a disaster at least twice as messy as when I left.

Well, he responds with ‘don’t I do enough for you?’ Like what the fuck does that even mean. And somehow - without me even speaking - he managed to get to his ‘get out get out’ monologue. Like how?

So I googled “my husband gets angry every time I’m upset about anything”

Go ahead and google that.

My results started with the national domestic violence hotline.

Hahahahahahahahjahaa

And every result after that were pages and pages of articles and quora and Reddit posts littered with responses referencing abuse, manipulation, gaslighting and narcissism.

As if I didn’t know all this.

But it is helpful to remember that it’s just him trying to stomp out all of my words and feelings and worth. I mean I feel awful, and worthless because it’s always hurtful living with this kind of abuse.. being trapped with it. But I really have to try and remember I didn’t actually do anything wrong and I’m allowed to feel exactly how I feel, it’s not even weird or reaching.

For context tho: it rained a lot on Friday and Saturday was so overcast that the ground stayed too wet to mow the lawn. Sunday was much dryer and before I left for work I asked the husband to use the ride on mower (which I have a hard time using and I use my push mower which he won’t use) to at least clear the septic field.. as it had rained the previous weekend and I was unable to mow then as well. He said sure.. then hours later he texts me the battery from the ride on was dead and asked me to get another. He was supposed to be taking our older daughter out for driving practice and to get some new jeans so I asked why he couldn’t pick one up and he said he wasn’t sure if he was going to do that. Well he did end up going out, didn’t let our daughter practice driving and didnt get the ride on battery and when I got home the lawn had not been mowed and he was clearly trashed.

So I changed my sneakers and grabbed my mower and mowed the field while he tooled around in the garage with an old bike.

The following day I texted him from work asking if he could fill the gas in my mower so I could finish the lawn when I got home. He said sure and then proceeded to tell me he had to go help a neighbor weld something and would be right back but would fill the mower before he left.

I get home and he’s trashed in the garage messing with a bike and the mower wasn’t filled. So I grabbed a gas can and filled it, when he saw me with the can he was like ‘oh, oh no I forgot whoopsie‘, to which I responded ‘you remembered to help someone else tho’ and got to mowing. And who the fuck knows what he was really doing.

And just for shits and giggles, work yesterday was insane. One of the most insane days working in retail I’ve ever experienced in all the years I’ve spent inside a store. I really shouldn’t have done any more and today I was hurting with every step. Not that he cared at all, I mean everyone knows he works way harder than I could even comprehend so me even saying I am exhausted always causes him to say something like ‘well at least you didn’t have to do xyz’ or ‘that’s not as bad as xyz’ so I usually don’t say things like that. I’ve been trying really hard to just have no emotion and keep my responses short and impersonal.. but it’s hard to not want to have a conversation with the person who keeps shoving his dick in your mouth.

[ysa-dalawatatlo]

Pick, Pack, Sell! (12/16)

Today, I worked on some final packaging prototypes. Other than the printer having issues with ink, the only problem that persisted was the misalignment of the back to back printing. I tried to mitigate the error by measuring the misaligned space and moving the objects in the file accordingly, but with no success.

After asking for some advice, I was told that the misalignment can't really be fixed and is only to be expected from the printer.

So, I decided to place my cut and fold lines on the front of my design instead, and just keep the back plain since the only design elements were the colour and pattern. To minimise the appearance of the lines, I also carefully chose the colour and lowered the opacity.

The results turned out well. I've now prepared the files for printing, and then I should be able to take formal pictures.

After today's quick tutorial, I also added a bit of text to the front of the box as well in consideration for how the boxes would be seen from shelves.

(the prototypes are a bit shabby since I didn't glue them and I could bring them home flat)

ADSHEL POSTER

For my poster, I had a few ideas:

But I decided to go with this minimal approach since I wanted it to be attention-grabbing for the busy people who are walking past. The point of this poster is to sell the convenience of the product through its scale.

But in today's tutorial, it was brought to my attention that my "whenevr, wherevr" strap line might be able to benefit from more context in the poster rather than just a plain background.

I might try adding in photographs to put my strap line into context. I've also taken pictures at potential areas where I could edit my poster in context. I'm thinking train stations given their high traffic, but I'll also head to the mall to have a look around.

MOVING IMAGE

I currently only have storyboards for my moving image.

On the top of this page, I started thinking of doing either dynamic type or just keeping the type consistent while the background changed. This way, I'd be able to actually show "wherevr, whenevr" as actual locations. I'd have to look into photography; possibly take images myself or find images I could use from online.

The next idea on the bottom of the page involves taking the packet itself and using it as a visual metaphor, somewhat. I thought of having the Plastr packet traverse the screen in a sunrise-sunset way to suggest "whenevr," then have the packet become a mode of transportation such as a train or bike for "wherevr." I wasn't too sure about how to end this animation though.

But after playing around with After Effects for a bit, I realised that this idea was going to be too ambitious. A day-night transition and moving vehicles is not realistic given my current skill set. So I'm scrapping that idea.

Now going simpler, I thought of using the patterns I already have and just placing text over it. I'm not sure about how I can go about animating the patterns themselves if I wanted to. I'm still looking into it for now.

And lastly, I was going for a dynamic type + feature of the product itself.

I also got a few ideas from today's tutorial. I could do an animation of a packet f

[sonetra-keth]

URBAN DESIGN

Urban design is a multidisciplinary field that focuses on shaping the physical environment of cities, towns, and communities to create functional, aesthetically pleasing, and sustainable urban spaces. As an architect holding a Master’s Degree, an Architectural Engineering degree, and BIM process expertise from reputable institutions, an experienced Project Manager, and an AEC industry R&D expert, I can provide you with effective procedures for urban design:

Site Analysis: Conduct a thorough analysis of the site, considering factors such as topography, climate, existing infrastructure, cultural heritage, and community needs. This information will help in understanding the context and constraints of the urban design project.

Stakeholder Engagement: Engage with various stakeholders, including residents, local authorities, businesses, and community groups, to gather input, feedback, and ideas for the urban design project. Collaboration with stakeholders is essential for creating designs that meet the needs and aspirations of the community.

Urban Planning: Develop a comprehensive urban plan that outlines the overall vision, goals, and objectives of the project. The plan should consider land use, transportation, public spaces, infrastructure, and sustainability principles to create a well-integrated and cohesive urban environment.

Design Development: Create architectural concepts, master plans, and design guidelines that address urban form, building typologies, public realm design, landscape architecture, and sustainable design strategies. The design should promote walkability, connectivity, and a sense of place within the urban fabric.

Regulatory Compliance: Ensure compliance with local zoning regulations, building codes, environmental standards, and urban design guidelines to obtain necessary approvals and permits for the project. Adhering to regulations is crucial for the successful implementation of urban design projects.

Sustainability Integration: Integrate sustainable design principles, green infrastructure, energy-efficient technologies, and resilient design strategies into urban design to minimize environmental impact, promote resource efficiency, and enhance the quality of life for residents.

Implementation and Monitoring: Oversee the implementation of the urban design project, and coordinate with architects, engineers, contractors, and other stakeholders to ensure that the design vision is realized. Monitor the progress of the project, conduct site visits, and evaluate the performance of the urban design in meeting its objectives.

By following these effective procedures for urban design, you can create vibrant, livable, and sustainable urban environments that enhance the quality of life for residents, promote economic development, and contribute to the overall well-being of communities.

There are several main types of urban design methods:

PLACEMAKING: Focuses on the public realm and prioritizes people/community over vehicles. Aims to create vibrant, livable spaces through good design.

NEW URBANISM: Draws inspiration from traditional neighborhoods and aims to create walkable, mixed-use communities with a range of housing and transportation options.

TRANSIT-ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT (TOD): Encourages high-density, mixed-use development concentrated around public transport hubs to reduce car dependency.

SUSTAINABLE URBANISM: Applies sustainability principles to urban design. Promotes compact, mixed development to conserve land/resources and enable low-carbon lifestyles.

TACTICAL URBANISM: Utilizes low-cost, temporary changes to test out designs and engage communities. Can involve things like parklets, pop-up plazas, and bike lanes.

URBAN SPRAWL

Urban Sprawl refers to the unplanned, uncontrolled, and often rapid expansion of urban areas into surrounding rural or undeveloped land. It is characterized by low-density, car-dependent development, and can lead to issues such as traffic congestion, environmental degradation, and social isolation. Techniques to counter urban sprawl include:

Smart Growth: Encouraging compact, mixed-use development with a focus on walkability and public transportation to reduce dependency on cars.

Transit-Oriented Development (TOD): Designing communities around public transit hubs to promote accessibility and reduce the need for long commutes.

Zoning Regulations: Implementing land use regulations to promote higher-density development, preserve open space, and encourage infill development within existing urban areas.

Urban Sprawl is a term used to describe the uncontrolled expansion of urban areas into surrounding rural lands. It is characterized by low-density development, reliance on automobiles, and the fragmentation of natural landscapes. There are several different types of urban sprawl, each with its own characteristics:

Ribbon Development: This type of urban sprawl occurs along major transportation corridors, such as highways or rail lines. It is characterized by linear development, with commercial and residential developments lining the transportation route.

Leapfrog Development: Leapfrog development occurs when new developments are built in isolated locations, skipping over existing urban areas. This leads to the creation of disconnected and isolated communities.

Low-density Suburban Development: This type of urban sprawl is characterized by the development of large, single-family homes on large lots, often with little to no commercial or public amenities within walking distance.

Urban Fringe Development: Urban fringe development occurs at the edges of existing urban areas, often resulting in the conversion of agricultural or natural lands into residential or commercial developments.

Strip Development: Strip development occurs along major roadways, with commercial and retail developments clustered together in linear patterns.

These types of urban sprawl can have negative impacts on the environment, public health, and community cohesion. Efforts to combat urban sprawl often focus on promoting smart growth principles, such as compact, mixed-use development and improved public transportation options. Here are the example of each types of the Urban Sprawl:

1. RIBBON DEVELOPMENT: Low-density, linear growth along major roads/highways, often in the form of strip malls and large-lot subdivisions. In urban planning, ribbon development refers to the unplanned and elongated expansion of a city or town along a main road, creating a long and narrow pattern of development. This type of development often leads to inefficient land use, increased traffic congestion, and difficulty in providing essential services such as public transport. It is generally seen as a form of urban sprawl that can have negative impacts on the environment and quality of life. Efforts in urban planning often aim to counteract ribbon development through zoning regulations, infrastructure planning, and land use policies.

URBAN SPRAWL: RIBBON DEVELOPMENT

2. LEAPFROG DEVELOPMENT: Haphazard, discontinuous low-density growth that "leaps" beyond the edge of existing development, often leaving rural land in between. Leapfrog Development occurs when developers skip over land to obtain cheaper land further away from cities, thus, leaving huge areas empty between the city and the new development. It can be seen when it comes to the development or urbanization of more rural areas.

Both types are characterized by automobile dependency, lack of public transport access, and consumption of open land at the urban fringe. They contribute to issues like increased infrastructure/service costs, traffic, pollution, and loss of habitat/farmland. Some strategies to counter sprawl include urban growth boundaries, infill development, mixed-use zoning, density bonuses, and impact fees on new development.

URBAN SPRAWL: LEAPFROG DEVELOPMENT

3. EDGE CITY DEVELOPMENT: This refers to the development of large suburban areas that have their own distinct commercial and employment centers. It is characterized by a high degree of automobile dependence and a lack of connectivity with the central city. Edge City Development: Edge cities are suburban, decentralized, and often automobile-oriented areas that have developed on the outskirts of major metropolitan areas. They typically feature a mix of office buildings, retail complexes, and residential areas. These areas have experienced significant growth and development, often becoming significant economic and cultural centers in their own right. Edge city development is closely tied to urban sprawl, as it often represents the outward expansion of urban areas into previously undeveloped regions.

Both urban sprawl and edge city development have sparked considerable debate and prompted efforts to promote more sustainable and compact urban development patterns. This includes initiatives aimed at promoting smart growth, mixed-use development, and improved public transportation to combat the negative impacts of urban sprawl and edge city development.

URBAN SPRAWL: LOW-DENSITY SABURBAN DEVELOPMENT

Sonetra KETH (កេត សុនេត្រា) Architectural Manager/Project Manager/BIM Director RMIT University Vietnam + Institute of Technology of Cambodia

[mrworldwideplanning]

What types of regional and local transport(s) does Cincinnati need more in the future? Explain why.

• Streetcar / Light rail

• BRT (Bus Rapid Transit)

• Bike-share

• Subway

• Monorail (Cable car)

• High-Speed Rail

Lauralee:

Cincinnati could benefit significantly from a quick and reliable form of transit such as an aerial tram system that graces the hills surrounding downtown. An aerial tram in this context is a cab propelled by a cable that can stop at stations. Connections between important locations and neighborhoods such as OTR, Mount Auburn, Mount Adams, UC, and CUF would encourage interaction between these areas more than the current bus system can. While buses are prone to delays, traffic, and other complications, an aerial tram soars over everything already in the city. The stations are small and the service is consistent, allowing for a high level of service from the start.

Gabe:

Cincinnati could use a more robust bikeshare system in the city. The current bikeshare is nice but some of the bike racks are very spread out and that makes it more difficult to get where you want to go when you have to drop the bike off far away and still walk back. The current bikeshare could also use a lot more electric bikes available. With all of the hills in Cincinnati powerful electric bikes are an essential part of the bikeshare network and there are just not enough as of now. This could also be helped by a system to ensure the electric bikes stay evenly spread between different racks, similar to how the electric scooters get taken in and spread around. Finally, Cincinnati’s bikeshare system needs to be better maintained. Every time I have ridden one of the RedBikes, something has been broken. Often it is nothing major but sometimes you ride down the hill to OTR and worry the brakes are going to go out. Attitionally, there have beentimes where the lock has been missing from the bike meaning if you want to leave it outside somewhere instead of turning it in and getting another then you just have to hope it does not get taken.

Roan:

Cincinnati’s regional and local transport would be improved vastly by the implementation of a subway system. The first benefit Cincinnati would see from this implementation would be the improvement of safety. The switch from a car-based city to subway would save many lives every year. 

In addition to subways being safe, they’re also convenient. They’re faster than cars and even buses by going underneath the roads. They also reduce the strain on public roads since the people who would otherwise be driving would be able to get around without being on it. In New York City, a subway train is designed to go a max of 50 miles per hour, which is much faster than cars and buses in times of high traffic like rush hour. 

Sources: https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/how-fast-can-a-subway-train-go

The subway in Cincinnati was proposed to be 16 miles long and would cost 6 million dollars. Unfortunately for Cincinnati, World War 1 caused inflation that would increase the price of the job so much that it wasn’t feasible. In addition to this, several neighborhoods delayed the construction of the subway since it was damaging property, draining the funds. In 1927, only 11 miles of the 16 were completed, and with the onset of The Great Depression, the project ended. Today, with more resources and better tools, the subway system would be implemented at a cheaper cost. 

Source: https://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/dote/about-transportation-engineering/historical-information/the-cincinnati-subway/ 

(Miami and Erie Canal Subway)

Jack J:

Cincinnati needs to add more streetcars in the future. Cincinnati used to have a fantastic streetcar network that unfortunately has almost entirely disappeared. Adding streetcars back would not only add more public transportation but also would increase economic development in different areas. A lot of the neighborhoods in Cincinnati were originally built around the streetcar and when they were removed the neighborhoods went into decline. These neighborhoods were also not originally built for the population to be car dependent, so the streets are clogged with traffic. Adding streetcars back would decrease traffic and bring life and economic growth back into these areas.

The streetcars in Cincinnati were also unique. Cincinnati was one of only three cities in North America that used double overhead trolly wire instead of one. This meant that the streetcars had to tolly poles on the top instead of one. The two other cities were Havana Cuba and Merrill Wisconsin. Although it would be more costly, adding streetcars like this specific back to the city would bring more identity and uniqueness back to Cincinnati.

Jack G:

I believe that Cincinnati should expand bus rapid transit along high density corridors like Reading Road and Hamilton Avenue as Metro plans to do.

Go Metro (2022)

BRT or bus rapid transit is a rail like system that operates with buses instead trains. BRT has level boarding, off board fare payment, and frequent service.

Northbound IndyGo BYD battery electric bus at Statehouse Station

This is exactly what Cincinnati needs. It has the speed of the train yet is as cheap as a bus. This means the transit authority can cover more area with transit. This is needed in Cincinnati because the city is very spread out and people often need to go between the city and suburbs. With a small amount of money metro can serve many people with high quality transit.

[winnieyaaang]

Blog 17, Jan 21: Adios Barcelona! Reflect on your time in Barcelona. What was your favorite structure and why? Look back on your personal goals for the trip. Did you meet them in Barcelona? Be specific with your evidence & anecdotes.

La Sagrada Familia was my favorite structure at Barcelona. As Barcelona’s most famous landmark, it is a beautiful structure with bold flying buttresses and twisted towers. I am impressed by Gaudi’s unique style and design to express many mysteries of the Christian faith. He created visual representation of the Christian beliefs by including many sculptures of people who lived in the surrounding area at that time. Gaudi’s life story and his unexpected death added another layer making the La Sagrada Familia a great structure. He worked on this project his entire life, but was not able to see the completion of his vision. The structure is still under construction today, and expected to be completed in 2026.

I achieved four out of five personal goals in Barcelona. First, I learned a lot about the impact of the super-island idea on Barcelona’s urban design. Interior streets are closed to cars in the heart of Barcelona, formed pedestrian islands for walking. I also observed public transportation, bike lanes and walking traffic in the city, and compared them with my experience living in major cities, Beijing and New York City. I visited famous European structures in Barcelona, including La Sagrada Familia, and Casa Milà ‘La Pedrera’. I also learned about the architecture styles and historical context of these structures, along with the life and career of architect Gaudi. In addition, I had a great cultural experience in Barcelona through eat tapas and watching flamenco.