#(this was due to seeing fashion in the lens of my body not fitting into the things I liked therefore not thinking fashion was something for

[artificial-condition]

Having a gap year was really great for me because it was the first time in my adult life that I was able to just sit with myself. Figure myself out. Work on myself. Even though I had been an adult for several years, I feel like I really matured in my year of nothing. I now feel much more firm in who I am, even with opposition; I have always been a big pushover, letting other people do whatever they wanted and letting my desires go to the side, but now I am much more likely to assert what I want and tell people no. I’ll just do and be without analyzing what others want or expect of me, and it’s so refreshing to let that go. People really do grow in the cracks

[sciapod]

Bathtub Photoshoot 💦

Pairing: Henry Cavill x First Person-POV (Female, or at least X wears a bra and has breasts)

Summary: Little private photosesh' with Henners and then some.

Warnings: Dry humping but let's just call it grinding. Edging. 18+ to be safe!! Contains smut. You might be able to find the tiniest bit of angst. And bit of fluff.

Word count: 2.5K

Not beta’ed! I take full responsibility for this fuckup.

Inspired/prompted by this post by @cavillfics

Masterlist

I obviously don't own Henry Cavill, nor do I know him IRL, so it goes without saying that this is a figment of my imagination.

(I took the liberty to edit the photo just a bit and don’t know who to credit for the original edit. Let me know if you know, so I can give credit where it's due.)

Happy reading 💦

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“Babe, I've got an idea! Can you do something for me, please?”

When I heard you coming through the front door, I rushed to meet you there. You were finally home again and was hanging your jacket on the coat rack when I found you.

“Oh, well,” you reply, “I really want to just lean back, maybe take a shower or something. It’s been a long week, babe. And hello, by the way.”

You step over to me, reach around my waist and pull me against your firm body.

“Mhm, you smell lovely,” you whisper in my hair. I sigh, then wiggle myself free of your embrace.

“Henry, listen,” I look up at you with my best attempt at puppy eyes. You breathe deeply and turn your face, scratching mine with your stubble. It sends shivers through my body.

“Okay,” you hum as your hands roam my body, finding their way to my bare thighs then sneaking up beneath my robe, “tell me.”

I grab your hips and press my core against your thigh as I lean backwards, looking up at you, “I want to take some pictures … of you.”

Your face goes through a range of emotions; surprised, suspicious, smirking, friendly and finally incredibly charismatic: Front-page-style smile.

“That’s the one!” I say with excitement.

“Which one?” you tease, furrowing your brow and looking all suspicious again.

“You know perfectly well, you buffoon!” I say, as I slap your chest playfully.

My entire body lifts when you laugh. You kiss my forehead and twirl some of my hair between a few fingers. Your eyes shift, gazing at various areas of my face. I sigh, then reach for your hands, the one playing with my hair and the other, which I find gently caressing the lace of my panties.

I hold your hands between us and look up at my man.

“You do realize, of course, that you are basically a Greek god carved out of stone.”

“I have been told so, yes.”

“And you do realize that every artist needs a muse, a model, to create from.”

“I have a faint idea of that, yes,” you say, smirking down at me.

“And I happen to be short of a project, and subject, for my portfolio.”

“I see,” your smile broadens, “but what does that have to do with me?”

“Henry!”

My declining patience must have been obvious somewhere in my face or perhaps my exclamation, because you burst out laughing, throwing your head back as you do so. I can’t help but melt a little.

“Tell me what you need me to do, darling,” you say, stroking my hands with your thumbs. I feel warmth spread through my chest. Your face softens and I feel the warmth spread further down.

“Fuck,” I breathe, casting my eyes to the floor. I’m suddenly filled with all kinds of insecurities, imposter syndrome and such, but there’s a reason why you’re my man. You sense it immediately and lift my hands to your lips, kissing them sincerely.

“You’ve got this, babe.”

I sigh, “I know, sweetheart. It's just… Urgh.”

You kiss my forehead.

“Tell me your idea.”

“I…” My voice breaks. You lift my chin up with a single finger, as if it were suddenly light as a feather, forcing me to look into your striking blue eyes.

“I don’t know,” I finally exclaim. “I didn’t have a concrete idea. I just knew that I wanted you to be in the photos.”

You smile, almost apologetically, “Okay, look. I really want to help. But I’m so damn tired. I’ve got an idea, though, of how we may be able to hit two birds with one stone.”

“Okaay?” I say, a slight tinge of hope seeping into my core again.

“I need a bath–”

“–I can’t take a nude picture of you!”

You laugh again, but shake your head, “No, silly. Let me finish.”

My cheeks flush scarlet.

“I need a bath, but instead of taking a shower, I’ll jump in the tub. Once in there, you can have me do whatever you want.”

I squint my eyes, then see a lightbulb flash on.

“YES!” I almost yell, running my hands up your torso and leaning in for a kiss.

“Yes,” I repeat, then press my lips against your sculpted ones. It is as if your lips curl to a smile amidst the kiss.

“Yes,” I say one last time, meeting your eyes, “If you get the water running, I’ll collect my gear.”

Your hands go wandering about on my hips again, dragging my robe up and making my hairs stand on end. You look down at me with a confident smile, saying, “great minds think alike.”

I fight off the urge to kiss you again and instead draw away from you. You catch the waistband of my robe and it slides off as I step away, revealing the new set of lingerie I’m wearing underneath. I stand, looking at you with what I imagine is the expression of a suspicious feline. You, on the other hand, make a low whistle and shake your head in slow motion, clearly surprised and pleased to see what I was hiding beneath. Then you nod toward the living room, signalling I get on with finding my camera.

It takes me a few minutes to find the right lens. When I enter the bathroom, you’re in the process of unbuckling your belt. The tap is running and there’s already a bit of water in the tub.

“Wait,” I say, stopping you just as you’re about to pull your jeans down, “I think I want you in the water dressed.”

You stare for a moment, shrug, say “sure,” then proceed to tug your jeans over your perky bum again.

“Right, erm,” I think for a moment, “No, you know what? Lose the pants, but keep the t-shirt on.”

“Lose the pants,” you repeat and let your jeans fall to the floor. As you stand back up, I realize something.

“We might have a problem,” I say, eyeing the hefty bulge in your boxers.

You follow my gaze, noticing the same problem, then nod in agreement.

“But then again,” you say, “what did you expect, looking like that?” you hint at my open robe and lingerie.

We both shrug, then burst laughing.

“I guess we’ll just have to make it work!” I say, “Now, in the tub with you, buddy.”

You feel the temperature of the water and deciding that it’s decent, turn off the tap, step in and lie down. There’s not a lot of water in there, but I’m assuming it will do. You look up at me with anticipation, “Now what?”

I squint at you, finding the bulge slightly distracting, basically towering above the waterline like another Burj Khalifa. Obviously, you notice my lack of response.

“Hey, babe!” you say, snapping me out of it. I feel my nether region clench.

“Okay, okay!” I shake my head to wake up. You shake yours too, smirking at me.

“We need to do something about that,” I say.

“I can try to hide it?” you suggest.

“How?” I squint. It’s a mastodon of a package you has stored down there, I think to myself.

“Anyway, I need to find a position to photograph you from.”

I begin taking random photos of you from various angles and perspectives, simultaneously adjusting the settings on the camera as I do so. Meanwhile, you roll around to one side, then the other, then back again. The squeaking sounds of your body rubbing against the sides of the tub while you change poses makes the whole situation rather comedic, and I'm convinced you're doing it even worse on purpose. Determined to be somewhat professional, I try to ignore your distractions.

“It’s a good thing we have such good lighting in here,” I say, gazing around the small room, pretending to be focused and ignorant of your attempts at sabotage.

“How do you want me, babe? I feel like… I don’t even know? A fish out of water,” you say, doubting your own wording, “or something like that.”

I sigh, “I know, I get it. I need to think. We’ve also still got that… situation… going on.” I gesture at the, no less apparent, tent between your legs.

“Okay,” you say calmly, “I’ll just lie back and relax, while you think of something.”

“Good.”

As you settle into a comfortable position, I mentally run through the various “golden rules” of photography that I can remember.

Then it’s as if I notice the obvious. The absolute god-like adonis carved in marble in front of me: My initial inspiration. Your white t-shirt, soaked from all the turning and splashing around you did, is sticking to your chest and abs, enhancing the lines of your muscular torso, yet still in a perfectly suggestive fashion; somewhat similar to the drapery you see on these same sculptures. In a fit of impulse, I crawl up to stand on the edges of the tub.

You open your eyes –awoken by my scramblings– fear in your eyes as you reach for me, “be careful, babe!”

“No no, darling! Stay put!” I say, “I’m perfectly safe. It’s dry. My feet are dry. I’m stable, but thank you.” I smile, reassuringly. Suspicious yet accepting, you lower your arms and lie back down. I notice your eyes trail down my exposed body. Lust now clear as daylight in your gaze.

“I think I’ve got the photo soon, babe, then we’re done,” I explain. “Just close your eyes for me.”

You shake your head and smile, then do as I said.

Your head rests on the back of the tub, but your fingers begin fidgeting … around your nether region.

“Are you uncomfortable?” I ask between photos.

“No…” you smirk, eyes still closed, but you shift and rest your hands awkwardly on your stomach instead.

“We can’t have that,” I say, “you’re covering the main part of the photo,” I tease.

You open your eyes, still smirking but not saying a word.

“And you’re revealing, exposing, what we need to hide,” I try to hold back my laugh.

“Okay,” I continue, “what about… what if you hold your t-shirt at the hem and stretch it down to cover your crotch. Place your other hand casually beside it. Yeah, like that! Exactly, babe. Beautiful.”

I take a couple of photos and look at them on the tiny screen.

“Right, hold that pose, but just… kinda relax, if you can. I’ll take a few shots more and then you’re done!”

You close your eyes again and begin taking deep breaths, lessening the tension that must have been building in your shoulders over the last few days. As peace falls upon your face and body, I take the last photos. After quickly reviewing them on the tiny screen, I decide that I’m done. I turn off my camera and place it on the shelf above the tub before crawling down to sit on the edge of the tub, my feet in the water between your legs.

“Okay, it’s a wrap!”

Your eyes flash open and you let go of your t-shirt. The fabric bounces back, revealing your hairy tummy, teasing me. You look up at me with mischief, then give your member a squeeze.

“Get down here,” you say, almost ferocious in your voice.

I feel myself get all giddy with sudden anticipation as you rise like Poseidon from the water. Before I can do anything other than yelp, you pull me down onto you and with a splash and a thud I land against your rock-hard body. I'm instantly soaked.

“Finally,” you mutter, drenching my face and neck with hungry kisses. Your hands tease the collar of my robe before sliding it over my shoulders. Your eyes explore the curves of my upper body, then you adjust me so that I sit straddled upon you. You don’t speak a word, but your eyes and body say everything I need to know.

I feel your girth throbbing against me. You slide my robe all the way off and without taking your eyes off me, you cast it aside. Then your hands slide up my body. You cup my breasts tenderly, admiring the lace and how the new style of bra suits my breasts. You lick your lips as your thumbs begin stroking my hardening nipples. I sigh and begin grinding against the tip of your member.

You sit up and proceed to kiss and bite the flesh of my breasts. Gently holding the lace aside with your fingers, you capture my nipples between your teeth, ever so gently, before circling your tongue around them with exquisite attention. While squeezing my breasts together, you kiss them one after the other, back and forth, before venturing up to my collarbone and neck. All I can do is whimper and moan.

Then you grasp my hair, pulling my head back. Between kisses and bites on my exposed neck, you breathe damp, sultry words onto my skin. Expressions of how I’ve been a tease, how patient you’ve been and how much you want me now. I want to answer, but I can’t do anything but mutter incoherencies; your throbbing cock eagerly pressing against my core and thus stealing all of my vocabulary.

My breath quickens as I grind harder, cursing the fabrics that keep our cores from meeting, merging. Then you push me towards you, allowing our lips to meet in hungry kisses. My bra loosens. You must have managed to open and take it off me with your other hand, before also casting it aside. You grab at my liberated breasts, then sit up and pull your drenched t-shirt over your head. It lands on the bathroom floor with a splash. My hands instinctively seek the wet fur of your stomach and chest, momentarily squeezing your pecs, then wander south again.

Your eyes read pure hunger and you buck your hips. As I fall back down from the jump, my core meets the powerful strength of your pelvis, bucking yet again. I gasp, overcome by a mixture of arousal and humor. You buck again, a laugh escapes me and somehow, after a few times of this, you’ve managed to free your erection from your boxers. I didn’t notice, but at some point you must have turned on the tap again, because I see you turn it back off. I guess this increased level of water also explains the more slow-motion-like sensation I experience as I land back down on your pelvis; a somewhat softer landing than before. In my own defence, I was entranced and my mind was not functioning at 100%, hence the questionable description. Anyway, both our hips are now submerged under water and I simply shake my head at your mischievous ways. You smirk and pull me down to a deep kiss, slapping my ass through the water, making more water splash all over the place. Everything in the room is certainly wet by now.

I grind against your exposed and infinitely hard cock as your fingers slider under the lace. Your hands grab my cheeks with determination, enhancing the force and enabling you to better thrust against my grinding motion. The friction is causing short-circuits in my brain, making me see colours that aren’t there. My first climax is staggeringly near, but just before I get to release, you buck your hips again, making me scoot off your cock. A devious grin is smeared across your chiseled face.

“You had me waiting, sweetheart. Now it’s my turn to tease.”

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Thanks for reading my shitpost! Please leave a comment of your thoughts, however nonsensical they may be 💜🙏

Tags in the reblog 🖤Let me know if you want to be added or removed from the list.

[entracteofevil]

Character Introductions

Entr’acte of Evil, page 14-36

“Come, kneel to me!”

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Riliane Lucifen d’Autriche

(Kagamine Rin)

The princess who rules the Kingdom of Lucifenia. For her arrogant behavior and proud personality, she is despised by her people, called the “Daughter of Evil”. She and her servant Allen are twins, but as she’s lost her memories of when she was young she doesn’t remember him. Her life was endangered in the civil war with the revolutionary army, but with Allen’s help she escaped from the palace, and later came to live in a monastery.

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AkunoP’s comment

Her character isn’t very complicated in construction, following the template of the ‘willful girl’. I guess she’s developed a bit more than her portrayal in the song. Though I did want to write more on how she grows after joining the monastery (haha). I do regret not being able to do that. It’d be nice if I could write about that somewhere.

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*This character was based on the VOCALOID 2 Character Vocal Series 02 Kagamine Rin of “Kagamine Rin/Len” published by Crypton Future Media.

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-Her monastery outfit is cinched together by a strap tied at the left side on her waist. Her back is the same design as her front.

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-These are the accessories that Riliane wears on her person (rough depiction). There’s a lot of simple items that just have a gem in the middle, but they are still quite expensive.

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Ichika’s comment

*Princess outfit: She has a kind of light and fluffy dress design with a lot of lace and ribbons to show her more adorable side. There’re a lot of rose motifs on her decorations. I wanted to have her hold onto some connection with her and Allen’s parent, so I drew her necklace to look like it was it was made out of something Queen Anne wore.

*Monastery outfit: She’s a novice nun, so her skirt length is a little short. It’s a simple outfit that’s just overall a bunch of sewn together cloth, but as she’s a former princess she has the kind of setup of wearing it well. Though she’s probably a bit bad at her work. Or maybe I should just say she’s not used to it.

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“How’s the flavor, Princess Riliane?”

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Allen Avadonia

(Kagamine Len)

A boy who works as a common servant in the Lucifenian royal palace, despite possessing substantial skill at swordplay and horseback riding. He has a very mature personality, but occasionally he’ll show a bit of boyishness in his expression. He is actually Riliane’s younger twin brother. He wishes for Riliane’s happiness more than anything. He helps Riliane escape during the civil war with the revolutionary army and takes her place, being executed as the princess.

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AkunoP’s comment

He was the hardest character to write (haha). Despite being a protagonist. Mostly in that I would worry that I was making him seem too young (though he is young), and that his youth in itself was a bit difficult to write. Fourteen-year-old boys are tricky. Even now I don’t think I’ve really got a handle on it (haha). There were a lot of parts where I felt like I messed up.

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*This character was based on the VOCALOID 2 Character Vocal Series 02 Kagamine Len of “Kagamine Rin/Len” published by Crypton Future Media.

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-The ribbon that ties his hair back looks to be a butterfly knot. His shoes are a simple loafer design.

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Ichika’s comment

*Servant outfit: He’s a servant, so he has clothes that are easy to move in. In order to show a bit of his boyishness I made the lower cuff of his outer jacket a bit too big for him. His pockets are decorative. I think he should take off his upper coat when doing more strenuous work.

*Traveling outfit: I made his coat a little bit loose, so that it could be worn as-is above his normal clothing. I was thinking about various things when I drew it—like making sure he has a relaxed formal air even when he’s attendant on the princess, that he’s alright even if it rains as he has a hood, that it’s one-size-fits-all, etc.

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“To me, you are a very wonderful person.”

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Michaela

(Hatsune Miku)

A servant who serves Lord Keel, and originally a spirit that lived under the great earth god, Held. She has an inquisitive personality, and her hobby is people-watching. She chose the appearance of the ‘original sinner’ as her human form when she reincarnated. She is beloved by everyone for her kind and sociable personality, as well as her beautiful looks and singing voice. She’s always worrying about her dear friend Clarith, and also this “love” that humans have.

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AkunoP’s comment

This one was also hard to work with (haha). On a fundamental level, she’s less the “of Evil” Miku and more just straight up “VOCALOID Miku”. Like the whole “Miku is an angel” thing from the early days. I think it was through her relationship with Clarith that she was finally able to set herself apart as the “of Evil” Miku. I’ve still got a few more developments for her yet (haha).

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*This character was based on the VOCALOID 2 Character Vocal Series 01 “Hatsune Miku” published by Crypton Future Media.

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-The sleeves of her town outfit are lined with lace. They are three-quarter length.

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Ichika’s comment

*Town outfit: Given that she’s meant to be adorable, her outfit was made with a kind of fluttering look in her sleeves and such. There are a lot of parts where two sleeve ends  overlap. I drew her to be more of a diva than a servant in appearance. Also, while her pendant is a scallop in shape, its size is close to that of the end of her thumb.

*Village outfit: As she’s sort of German in style, I drew her with the image of the German Fairy Tale Road in mind. As I have the personal idea that it’s a hand-me-down from Clarith’s mom, the skirt for her dress is a little too long. I didn’t get the idea that she was dressed all that fashionably in the village, so I made it so that this one had no ribbon.

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“I—I’m sorry! I’m really sorry!”

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Clarith

(Yowane Haku)

A servant who works at the Keel estate alongside Michaela. She’s a Netsuma girl with white hair and red eyes, and she has suffered persecution from the Elphe people due to being an ethnic minority. It’s because of this that she developed her catchphrase, “I’m sorry for being alive”, and her pessimistic personality. On a fundamental level she’s clumsy and not really good at anything, but she does have skill in cooking. She also likes plants and animals, and she takes very good care of saplings.

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AkunoP’s comment

She’s the character that’s the closest to my “real self”. “I’m sorry for being alive” is actually my real life catchphrase (haha). So she’s easy to empathize with. She has a few odd points but she’s really the most normal, “everyman” character in the story. Haku herself was originally conceived not as a VOCALOID but as a “master”(song producer), you know.

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*This character was based on “Yowane Haku”, a derivative of the VOCALOID 2 Character Vocal Series 01 Hatsune Miku published by Crypton Future Media.

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-The length of her hair goes down to slightly above her knees. She also tends to use the bangs on the side of her face to hide her ears.

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Ichika’s comment

*Town outfit: On the whole she’s like Michaela, but I made her design more simple to express a grown-up and “in the background” air. I didn’t see her as someone to wear particularly girly clothes, so her collar is a bit more masculine. I think four out of five times she’d have Michaela help out with the ties on her back.

*Monastery outfit: I designed her sleeves to be neat so that it would be easy for her to cook, which is her main strength. As they don’t have any ostentatious stuff like hair decorations at the monastery I tearfully cut down on her ribbon… It’s a useless detail but her waist sash is supposed to be in a granny knot.

*Village outfit: I put her in a simple, full dress that’s easy to put on. I had intended for her outfit to both show that she was an outsider and be something that Clarith herself picked out to not stand out in a village, which ultimately gave me this image of a slightly overdressed outfit. Hence her design coming out like this.

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“I ain’t broken the fountain yet, yannow!”

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Chartette Langley

(Kasane Teto)

A maid who serves in the palace, and Allen’s childhood friend. Due to her frightening strength she excels at heavy work, but struggles with more delicate tasks and is often breaking things inside the palace. The princess is fond of her for her outgoing personality, and they will sometimes take tea-time together. During the revolution she engages in a duel against Mariam, one of the Three Heroes, using a broadsword larger than her own height.

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AkunoP’s comment

I like this character (haha). She was easy to work with. I wish I could have had her do more. She didn’t get to do anything in the second book, so I’ve been thinking about maybe having her show up in the third book.

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*This character is based on “Kasane Teto”.

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-During the duel she took on the style of wielding a sword larger than her own body. For that reason her outfit was made to show ease of movement.

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-The broadsword is of a simple design, but that’s overpowered by its sheer size. It sort of has the image of a blunt weapon more than a slashing implement.

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Ichika’s comment

*Maid outfit: The ends of her sleeves are precisely folded back. The hem of her skirt is frilly and puffs out a bit, as the style of the maid outfit in the country of yellow. The hem is also slightly short, as she does a lot of running around. The ribbon at her collar had been red at first to match her hair, but I figured that it wouldn’t be red in the country of yellow so I changed it to yellow.

* Resistance outfit: She’s a peasant, so she has light armor on her casual wear. The coverings for her wrists were a bit more unrefined at first. I drew her leg armor in to serve as a sort of counterweight for when she swings her sword around. As such, they’re supposed to be much heavier than they look. She could probably mortally wound someone with one kick.

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“Please…keep what I’ve said a secret.”

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Ney Phatipe

(Akita Neru)

A maid who serves in the palace, and the adoptive daughter of the head maid and one of the Three Heroes, Mariam. She does all her work flawlessly, but it’s countered by her being a gossip and loose-lip, which results in some turmoil occurring. She’s favored by Riliane, and becomes a source of information for her. Her true identity is that of Marlon’s thirteenth princess, Ney Marlon.

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AkunoP’s comment

Like Clarith, Ney is a character that I had a concept of since the very beginning. She was originally a childhood friend of the twins who stood in a sort of “big sister” role, and wound up becoming “another servant”. She’s the character who’s changed the most from how she was in the beginning. I actually had plans to make her into a joke character (haha).

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*This character was based on “Akita Neru”, a derivative of the VOCALOID 2 Character Vocal Series 01 Hatsune Miku published by Crypton Future Media.

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-I considered several different ways of her tying her hair when she’s an assassin, but how she ends up being in that situation is a secret.

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Ichika’s comment

*Maid outfit: The basics are the same as Chartette’s maid uniform. Only the hem is longer, to show the difference in work and her personality. She feels like the kind of person to wear her maid uniform so well that she could do her work from start to finish all day without anything out of place. She was trained by her adoptive mother.

*Assassin outfit: She’s doing espionage activities, so it’s an entirely black uniform. The main focus was ease of movement. The boots are made of a soft fabric to make it harder to hear her footsteps. Her ponytail can be bundled up and pushed under her clothing depending on the situation. It probably just barely gets in. –Fits in.

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“…Stop mocking me.”

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Kyle Marlon

(KAITO)

The king of the island country of Marlon (the “Country of Blue”), and Riliane’s fiancé. Riliane adores him, calling him her “dear”, but he falls in love at first sight with Michaela when meeting her in the mansion of his friend, Keel, and so breaks off the engagement on his end. He is no match for his mother, Empress Dowager Prim, something he’s a bit ashamed of.

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AkunoP’s comment

I’m so sorry, but he’s the one I care about the least (haha). Frankly I seriously didn’t want to write him all that much. These novels aside, don’t expect me to make KAITO this cool overall. Though he’s a pretty toothsome character, with how many turns he gets.

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*This character was based on the VOCALOID Character “KAITO” published by Crypton Future Media.

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-The basis for his masked appearance is a certain sha[redacted]. It’s a simple outfit, but the decorations it has here and there are gaudy in a minor way.

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Ichika’s comment

*Main outfit: As he was designed with a theme of solemnity, his whole appearance is composed with a precise and stiff feel. The collar of his jacket is designed like a suit. His sleeves are meant to feel a bit stern. I drew his outfit with a sort of square image of the country of blue in my head, so he’s light on the curves. Since he’s a male character I put more emphasis on being chic than flashy.

*Disguise outfit: I drew this to feel like the sort of typical outfit of the country of blue. But the quality of the fabric is a grade above that of the average person. If I were to draw in any armor it would let slip what country he’s from, so he’s just got the one sword as equipment. It’s the same sword he wields in his king outfit, but he tries to hide it.

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“Let’s go, everyone.”

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Germaine Avadonia

(MEIKO)

Allen’s adopted sibling who lives in the town below Lucifenia castle, and the adopted daughter of Leonhart, one of the Three Heroes. She’s dependable and cares about her friends, but that comes with the snag of her being a little crude. In actuality she’s quite smart, becoming the leader of the Resistance and earning the people’s respect.

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AkunoP’s comment

At first, I had wanted to make her into a classic, genuinely heroic character…But I guess that got a bit warped. Like Miku, there’s a lot of influence taken from her character as a VOCALOID. I want to write about her past sometime. She’s an unexpectedly pitiable character, who winds up not having a lot of influence.

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Ichika’s comment

In addition to being based on Leonhart’s armor, the insignia above her chest is taken from the hilt of his sword, so in that sense it’s like her equipment has inherited her father’s will. It’s lighter armor, given that as she’s a woman there’s more emphasis on maneuverability. As it prioritizes heroism over sex appeal, her legs haven’t been left exposed.

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*This character was based on the VOCALOID Character “MEIKO” published by Crypton Future Media.

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“You working hard, kids?”

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Leonhart Avadonia

(LEON)

Allen and Germaine’s adoptive father, and one of the Three Heroes. He’s the captain of the guard of the royal family, but he clashes with the princess over their different opinions. An unparalleled drinker, he often drinks the night away with his daughter Germaine.

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AkunoP’s comment

Among the Three Heroes, he’s the one that came to mind first. He vanishes pretty quickly from the story for someone who was present in the plot of the Daughter of Evil since its original conception… Though I guess he does get to do more in the bonus story, so it’s all good. He’s a bit of an old fogey by the Daughter of Evil era. I did have some other more detailed ideas for him, but ultimately wound up not using them.

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Ichika’s comment

He has solidly built heavy armor. The main colors of his outfit are red and white, but there’s a single thread of yellow on his mantle alone to symbolize the people of the country of yellow.  The mantle is part of his uniform as captain of the guard; he didn’t have one during his hero days.

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*This character was independently made based on VOCALOID “LEON” published by ZERO-G.

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“Lucifenia will very soon be overthrown.”

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Elluka Clockworker

(Megurine Luka)

A court sorceress who served the previous monarch, and one of the Three Heroes. Her predictions are never wrong, and so there are many who trust in her in the palace. She has lived for a long time, and is carrying out the task of collecting the “Vessels of Deadly Sin” as a favor to the great land god Held.

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AkunoP’s comment

It’s the postscript character! (haha) Originally I planned for the sorceress role was going to be played by a different character, but then I swapped her out when Luka was published, resulting in her ultimately getting the best role. Personality-wise she’s similar to how I am when I’m drunk (haha). So, like Clarith, I’m quite fond of her, and she’s easy to write.

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Ichika’s comment

It’s a bit hard to tell with the robe on, but despite not looking like it she actually has some degree of exposure. Mostly her shoulders and legs. Her outfit was designed to look bewitching. The jewels at her hip are taken from her VOCALOID image character. After Riliane, she probably has the most accessories out of anyone else.

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*This character was based on the VOCALOID 2 Character Vocal Series 03 “Megurine Luka” published by Crypton Future Media.

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“Yes, the green onion, the Very Amazing, Green Onion.”

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Gumillia

(Megpoid)

A sorceress in training who serves in the palace, and Elluka’s apprentice. She is very close with Michaela, and was originally one of the spirits who served Held alongside her. She picked the form of Elphegort’s first female prime minister, Gumina Glassred, as her appearance when reincarnating as a human.

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AkunoP’s comment

She hardly got to do anything at all…Since she hasn’t had a lot of influence on the story at present, I think I’d really like to give her more to do in the third book (haha). I think she’s the character with the most potential. She was originally a spirit, and is a sorceress to boot. So, expect great things from her in the future!

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Ichika’s comment

As she’s Elluka’s apprentice her outfit design is made to resemble hers, though it also shows a more apprentice-esque childishness in it. But I also see her not changing her outfit even after her training his passed. Like Elluka, she has a single jewel around her hip.

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*This character was based on the VOCALOID 2 Artist Vocal character “Megpoid” published by Internet Co., Ltd.

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“I am one of the Three Heroes, Mariam Phatipe!”

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Mariam Phatipe

(MIRIAM)

She once engaged in espionage as one of the Three Heroes, but now she serves as the head maid in the palace. Her personality is extremely rigid, but she has her kind side as well, and there are many who admire her. She prides herself on covert work, like running secret intelligence.

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AkunoP’s comment

Her appearance is meant to feel like a gorgeous, cool beauty. In conception she’s this badass secret intelligence operative, but in the end she wound up being a dud spy (haha). She was completely useless, and failed to see what was happening with her own daughter. Her position is sort of that of everyone’s stern mother. Though the “Of Evil” series is full of stern women, and all of them are strong.

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Ichika’s comment

She does have a theme of being a rigid, cool beauty. With this sort of masculine air, too. Her outfit is a bit old-fashioned, bearing in mind the image of the previous queen’s reign. I pictured her being able to move a fair bit whatever her uniform, so I think it would always be prim and proper, without anything out of place.

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*This character was independently made based on VOCALOID “MIRIAM” published by ZERO-G.

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“We have a favor to ask of you.”

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Anne Lucifen D’autriche

(Sweet Ann)

The old queen of Lucifenia, and the mother of Riliane, who admired her. She often said she wanted to “build a country where children can live with a smile”, and devoted her energies into the strengthening and expansion of her country. Like her husband Arth I, she passed away from the incurable “Gula” disease.

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AkunoP’s comment

She’s sort of like what Riliane could have turned out like if she’d been raised properly. Strong, kind, and popular. Only, I’m sure she must have been more mischievous when she was younger. She probably had reckless adventures and passionate romantic stories, but I’ve got no plans to write any of them (haha).

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Ichika’s comment

I drew her with a theme of a queen’s strictness and a woman’s gentleness. Actually, her character design is the one I liked the most on first drawing it. She’s not too gaudy, but I’m really happy her outfit conveys a sense of stability in its place.

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*This character was independently made based on the VOCALOID 2 “SWEET ANN” published by PowerFX.

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“That’s just common practice among merchants.”

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Keel Freezis

(Hiyama Kiyoteru)

A famous merchant who conducts trade in Elphegort, while being an immigrant from Marlon. He serves as the head of the trade association, and is also proficient in handling information. He’s an old friend of Marlon’s King Kyle. He has three children.

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AkunoP’s comment

The no.2 super afterthought character (haha). At first I had no plans for him to do anything at all, but when I tried giving him a few more scenes he turned out to be a pretty fun character; I ended up shortening Kyle’s role to compensate (haha). It was a lot of fun to write a character so cheerful. And it was pretty amusing to have him be such a doting parent.

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Ichika’s comment

As he’s a merchant, he wears shoes and an outfit that are both easy to walk in. His uniform base is the country of blue. Fundamentally his robe is for use in business discussions, and is supposed to easy to remove when it gets hot or gets in the way. I would imagine he probably dresses down a bit outside of occasions where he’s conversing with royalty and nobles.

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*This character was based on the VOCALOID 2 Vocaloid teacher “Hiyama Kiyoteru” published by AH-Software Co. Ltd.

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“Tell me the story of the ‘Daughter of Evil’!”

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Yukina Freezis

(Kaai Yuki)

The eldest daughter of the wealth Elphegort merchant Keel Freezis. She’s very attached to her servant Clarith, and often has her wrapped around her little finger, being both naïve and mischievous. She has a hobby of writing stories, and excels at it despite her young age.

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AkunoP’s comment

She’s going to be more active in the third book. She’ll be a main character!! (haha) She becomes the author of the Freezis Fairytales, and the official teller of the story. Come to think of it I did buy the Yuki software the other day, so I might make a song for her after this.

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Ichika’s comment

Frankly she’s the most fun when drawing. While heavily basing her off of her original character image, I also gave her a more chic and mature air befitting a merchant’s daughter. I’m happy I was able to make her appearance show how doted on she is by Keel.

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*This character was based on the VOCALOID 2 Vocaloid student “Kaai Yuki” published by AH-Software Co. Ltd.

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“I was the same as you…Evil.”

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Gast Venom

(Gackpoid)

A skilled mercenary who heads a mercenary band, called “The Demon of Asmodean”. During the revolution he stays at the palace until the end under Allen’s request, and fought against the revolutionaries using a weapon called a katana, something unfamiliar to the Evillious region.

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AkunoP’s comment

He’s got a mystery for so few appearances (haha). I’ve given him a ton of backstory but I haven’t shared any of it. Like that he’s a descendant of Venomania, that he isn’t actually [redacted], none of it’s been shown in story. And he got killed by an amateur girl (haha). In that sense I guess he’s more pathetic than Kyle. I’d like to get some of it out someday though.

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Ichika’s comment.

I made him more Japanese in style to give him a foreign feel. I drew his outfit and his equipment to be like the protective armor of a swordsman. His outfit’s meant to have a slightly feminine component to it, like having a feminine sash at his waist. He’s got a decent amount of layering in his clothing. His physique is meant to feel pretty lean.

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*This character was based on the VOCALOID 2 Artist Vocal character “Gackpoid” published by Internet Co., Ltd.

directory

[thefolliesofmen]

History in the Making - Panel Discussion

Hi folks!  Today I was honored to be a part of Concordia’s History in the Making Conference and speak on the making of meaning through Death Tourism. As not everyone was able to attend, or just prefer learning in a different format that isn’t Zoom, I figured I could at least share my slides and speakers notes here for posterity.

As these are speaking notes, please excuse if I do not catch every grammar or spelling mistake, but I hope you enjoy them nonetheless. 

Today I am going to be going through how meaning is made at Death Tourism sites, and how that meaning changes over time. To do this, I am first going to explore some brief definitions of death tourism, the history of it, and how it is viewed by the general public. So please buckle up and join me as we go on a speed run through three prominent dark tourism sites – particularly what they are, how they qualify, and how meaning is made around them through the perspective of thanatourism. The site we will be using are Pompeii, Salem, and Chernobyl.

In my introduction alone, I used a mired of terms interchangeably. Death Tourism, Dark Tourism, Thanatourism, and just for funsies I am going to throw another one in there, Disaster Tourism. Some scholars will separate all these terms to represent specific aspects of the field, the site in particular, and the intentions behind the visitors themselves.   Foley and Lennon are often credited with coining the term “Dark Tourism” and have defined it as a “product of the circumstances of the late modern world.” Intent is something that will come up often during my talk, as it is hard to concretely define a field like tourism that has so much to do with the intentions of the people taking part in it as well as the people presenting the history. Today, I will be using these terms fairly interchangeably. A definition to start us off: Dark Tourism taps into the macabre, secret, and shunned interests of humans; the world we create; and the one we leave behind.

The Macabre The Secret The Shunned Creation and Destruction Are real and valid reasons for someone to visit a site I said before that the intention of the visitor is a hot topic when trying to figure out how to define this field. Most of us have probably been to Death Tourism sites and have never really thought about, because it fit into a different category in our mind. The image here is a graveyard, which makes sense on the surface to count as death tourism especially if you are visiting it for a reason outside of knowing someone who is buried there – this cemetery in particular is Old Burial Hill Cemetery in Salem Massachusetts and would be a hotspot for that, as it was a filming location for Hocus Pocus, Old Burial Hill Cemetery in Salem Massachusetts. Dark Tourism deals largely with the commercialization of sites associated with large amounts of human suffering and death. Commercialization can happen in a variety of ways, whether it be through charging admission to a specific site, merchandise and materials relating to the event, or economic benefits that are by-products of the sites being visited, such as surrounding towns gaining revenue from hotel rentals, meals, etc.

Since the enlightenment, European and North American cultures have taken a strict stance on separating the dead from the living. Death occurs in buildings, cities, countries removed from us and we only see the sanitized version – the more removed we are from something with our engagement with death the better it is. That isn’t a hard and fast rule however, because the distance from the death and disaster in question can be spatial or temporal in nature, as long as there is some kind of way in which you can convince yourself that all this death and destruction happened to an Other. Caitlyn Doughty, a mortician who found notoriety through her YouTube Channel Ask a Mortician has done some research on what she refers to as the “witch to kitsch factor”, that being how much time has to pass before it is socially acceptable to take tragedy and make it into a thing of entertainment? My argument here however is that, the meaning that a dark tourism site creates and is created unto it has both to do with the temporal separation between the entertainment and the tragedy, but also the spatial and cognitive space between the two. I know I am probably preaching to the choir when I say that history permeates pop culture, and the line between tragedy and entertainment can be seen here. Pompeii occurred close to 2,000 years ago and is now a 13 years old Doctor Who Episode wherein even an Alien that alters many historic events, even this could not be stopped. Salem Witch Trials took place over 300 years ago, and the Halloween edge of kitschy witches have taken over the narrative of Salem, as the town has gained even more infamy in recent years due to the popularity that Disney has continued to experienced in the 26 years since its release. Chernobyl occurred 35 years ago. It is most recently a 2019 somber but still drama packed mini-series on HBO exploring the disaster and aftermath. These are not the first nor are they the last instances of Pompeii, Salem, and Chernobyl influencing popular culture.

The temporal and spatial separation that I just spoke of is what Foucault would use in the argument that dark tourism sites are examples of Heterotopias. That, and the Othering.

These dark tourism sites are marginal spaces, that are infused with the juxtaposition of sameness and contradictions. Foucault breaks down what a Heterotopia is through examining its:

Precise and determined function within a society, but can still have multiple functions

The power to Juxtapose the incompatible

A break with traditional time

Presupposition of opening and closing the isolation and penetration

Illusions of real spaces that create and Other

Each of these criteria hit on the combined need for things relating to death and destruction to be both intimate to our experience of the world, but also separate from us in a way in which we can walk away from them afterwards and cease to think about it. Dark Tourism is assumed to be an escapist pastime in which we as humans can displace our fears of death, decay, destruction, and general apocalyptic fears onto this physical place – particularly because of its seemingly socially acceptable mode in which we can grapple with these kinds of topics. I said before that it was after the Enlightenment that death became removed from our day to day life. But before that? It was common and fashionable to interact with death on ones down time – morgue tours in Paris were all the rage, with some people even asking to be locked in the display room with the unknown corpses to scare their friends and other visitors.

Death has been removed from us, and so these romanticized ideas of escapism and morbid contemplations are the simplistic and incomplete theories as to why people are drawn to Thanatourism.

Now don’t get me wrong, while I say that these theories are simplistic and incomplete – I am not denying that they have some merit and nuggets of truth and wisdom to them. We come back to intent. Why people engage in Disaster Tourism does not interest me so much as what their interaction with the field tells us about our own society. We make meaning out of everything, that is who we are as academics but also who we are as a general species. But how do we make meaning out of sites and events through the lens of dark tourism? I believe that the reasons we are so fascinated with these sites, outside of just general morbid curiosity (pun intended) – for starters, our fascination with these places, I posture, has to do with our false yet engrained belief that we are no longer experiencing such death and suffering anymore. This all happened in another time, in another place, to another group of people. Our fascination shows our ignorance. We think, Pompeii happened so long ago, it is more of a story than anything. We think, Salem will never happen again, we are past the time of believing that witches walk among us. We think, Chernobyl was the fault of the Soviets, we are a democracy. We don’t think – that this could happen again and is still happening.

I have mentioned Pompeii, Salem, and Chernobyl quite a bit now – lets get into how they are case studies for us making meaning out of dark tourism sites. First up: Pompeii The eruption of Mount Vesuvius and subsequent destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum was first recorded in the letters of Pliny the Younger to Tacitus. On October 24th  79 AD,pumice stones and ash started pouring down onto the city, killing part of the population before those who were unable to escape were buried by the hot volcanic ash and burned alive by pyroclastic flow. By the end of the day, the city was buried in six to seven meters of debris, and it remained as such until its re-discovery in the seventeenth century. During his tenure as the lead archaeologists working to recover Pompeii from 1863-1875, Giuseppe Fiorelli is credited with not only the Fiorelli process of pouring plaster of Paris into cavities in the ash to discover what created those cavities – but he was also a driving force behind excavations being done on the city from the top down, rather than the streets first to further pillage the homes that were uncovered.

Pompeii is a special case when it comes to tourism of Roman ruins. To Victorian and Edwardian tourists – Pompeii was a disappointment to finally see. Mary Beard discusses how to these visitors, the depictions of Pompeii in art and literature, outshone the real ruins. From the beginning of tourists coming to the site though, it was always known that what they were coming to see and what would shock them the most, were the casts of the bodies that had been excavated were front and center as soon as you entered the site along the aptly named Street of Tombs. For most of its history, Pompeii has existed on this marginal plane, being both a city of the living and of the dead. Rome as a whole has always been plagued by the stereotypes and ideals placed upon it by people outside of Italy’s borders – namely it being an eternal city that should be temporally static, anchored in its own heritage – and Pompeii has been subject to the same expectations in many respects. has been constructed many times since its unearthing. First, through its own use as a city, and then during the Romantic period as a theme park for tourists, and even in the modern era as a place of education and where “the processes of historical discovery are laid bare”. The overall shift in identity for Pompeii was its change from a city of the living, where people went about their daily lives, to a city of the dead populated by corpses and ruins, now being re-populated annually by millions of tourists. Because Pompeii is a ruin, empty of life, and so far removed from the present reality in terms of time, it is very easy to project meaning onto – both meaning for itself and meaning for the visitors.

One of the darkest moments in American history was the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. The “largest and most lethal witch hunt in American history” began in Salem Village (now Danvers, Massachusetts) when several young girls, including Elizabeth Parris, who was the daughter of the town minister Samuel Parris, began to experience “fits” that had no discernable cause other than what the town doctor declared to be bewitchment. While the accusers themselves and many of the “witches” they targeted lived in Salem Village, the Town of Salem was where the hangings took place, with the first ones occurring in the fall of 1692 when Sarah Good, Elizabeth Hose, Susannah Martin, Rebecca Nurse, and Sarah Wildes were executed. From the Fall of 1692 to the summer of 1693, there were 20 executions, 19 of which were hangings and one pressing.

Salem is a place of societal ruin. The entire community turned on itself, before coming to the confusing conclusion in 1702 of the magistrates declaring the trials that were held unlawful, and decreeing that the good names of the victims be restored. I mentioned that Salem Village is now know as Danvers Massachusetts and while Salem and Salem Village, share the terrible history, Salem Village works hard to separate itself from the narrative, as seen by it renaming itself to Danvers in 1752. It desperately wants to be removed from the story of the witch trials, when arguably it has more geographic claim to the narrative than Salem itself. Danvers has gone about making visiting any sites within its border nearly impossible. Homes and buildings related to the trials that remain in situ have continued housing families and businesses, memorials have little to no parking available, and heavy traffic on the roads makes it difficult to visit them as a pedestrian, meaning only a specialized tourist who was bound and determined to see the locations would make the Herculean effort to find them. For Salem, the buildings that it claims connections to the trials have either been moved or demolished in the time since the witch trials, and key places like the exact location of the gallows have ended up being lost to memory. The markers that denote the locations also denote their own inaccuracy and obscure the events that took place during the trials – thus disappointing tourists when they learn of the deception. Salem capitalizes on a false authenticity of place It is not through education that Salem profits off of its dark history, but through the kitsch-based fascination of pirates and witches existing in one of the oldest colonial ports. The Salem Police Department logo even contains a witch motif. With souvenirs, dungeon experiences, and large events such as a Witch’s Walk, Salem revises the tragedy in its history in a way that romanticizes and idealizes it, similar to the way that Disney movies present history. There was a monument erected to the victims of the witch trials in 2017. It stands apart from the rest of the city in aesthetic and in placement, silent and innocuous that it can be missed: it does not loudly advertise its existence like the rest of Salem. It works in the way that dark tourism sites overall do, in the fashion of “visitors deciding the meaning”. By being ambiguous in its specific design, it allows for the tourist to see what they think is fitting for a monument, whether that be the gallows, a jail, or a ruined building.

Chernobyl to this day still has the reputation for being the world’s worst nuclear accident. Through a surge of energy to Reactor #4, the unit caught fire on April 26th, 1986, leading to its rupture and explosion later that same day. As people fled and were evacuated from their homes, with instructions to leave everything behind as they were promised they would be able to return in a few days, Pripyat, the closet town to the reactor, was re-born as a ghost town. Across the Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia, an estimated 200,000 people have died due to radiation exposure, and an even greater number of people suffer from ongoing health conditions. As expected, the argument for the inclusion of Chernobyl in these case studies is that it represents a man-made ruin through the folly of trust in technology.

With Chernobyl, it is important to remember that it took place against the backdrop of the Cold War. The USSR and America both had agendas that they were trying to further in their coverage or lack there of, of the reactor blowing. Seeking any advantages they could claim in exposing or concealing the situation, inflating or deflating the numbers of people harmed. It wasn’t until 2011 when Ukraine finally allowed tours to take place through Pripyat, before this it was only illegal tours led by members of the surrounding communities or family members of those impacted by the exodus. The tourists have a wide range of reactions to the site – expressing indifference to the history, excitement about the danger that they perceive, and some individuals even schadenfreude, pleasure of witnessing the misfortunes of others. For dark tourism concerns, it’s authentic for being in situ, adding the aura of the place to the experiences and representing death in a more immediate way. Chernobyl is prime for the romanticization treatment of media due to being within the living memory and located in Eastern Europe, a place that is already seen and depicted as a foreign Other to many, adding to the forbidden allure of visiting. With the rise of social media, the number of tours to Chernobyl see spikes in the fall and winter, when the nature around the abandoned ruins is dying and decaying as well, lending itself to the desired aesthetic for people to show off that they visited. “Chernobyl is both real and imagined,” where one can go explore and tell others about later – but it is also staged. Knowing that people are drawn in by the heterotopic binaries of the real and the contrived, items within Chernobyl and Pripyat are posed to illicit the maximum emotional impact when photographed, the creations of juxtapositions within a juxtaposition itself.

Death Tourism deals with sites of ruin, that are explicit reminders of the circle of life and death being indiscriminate. Tragedy has happened here, and it will happen again. Someone was here before, and someone will be here after, until one day in which there will no longer be an after for humans to inhabit. The meanings of these sites and those who visit them is continually in flux, and relates largely to the society that is taking note at the time. But how we make meaning of these sites tells us about our current society, whether we like what we are hearing or not. It is romantic to think that we only travel to dark tourist sites because we are contemplating our own mortality, but it is ignorant to forget that history is a spiral – events will happen again if not in the same circumstances. Witches are replaced by minorities and religious groups that we don’t want to understand. Natural Disasters like Vesuvius are happening more and more as we continue to ignore climate change. Chernobyl will not stay the worst nuclear accident in mans history for very long, as every year we outpace ourselves in technological advancements. A hopeful part of me wants to think that we are participating in Dark Tourism because we want to learn from our mistakes, but the way history is presented to the visitors, both intentionally and unintentionally and interpreted, seems to always come back to schadenfreude. Death has been removed from us for so long that we seek it as a macabre pleasure, one that society doesn’t allow us to have – and that’s fine, but only when it is the death and suffering of someone else, somewhere else, sometime else. Our fascination stems from ignorance, but not from wanting to learn from our mistakes, but from a place of relief that it wasn’t us. ________________________________________________________________ I hope you enjoyed this! I know the writing isn’t as high quality as a paper traditionally would be, but if there seems to be interest I can do future posts breaking down each site further <3  Thanks! 

[jadekitty777]

Snapshot Aesthetics

OKAY BUT FG WEEKEND? WHO’S CRAZY IDEA WAS THAT.

You better know I want to participate though xD I didn’t plan to have an entry for today but, well, things change lol

Day 1: Outfits

Rating: K

Words: 2.2k

Summary: Clover's job was simple: Get the model to pose properly, smile, and take the shot. But the new hire, Qrow, was about to throw a wrench into that simplicity... in more ways than one. [Fashion Model AU]

Ao3 Link: Snapshot Aesthetics

~

Snap!

The sound of his camera shutter going off was almost inaudible under the early morning hustle that had overtaken the studio. Clover inspected the shot of Elm displaying back on his LCD screen. He shook his head, calling to the stagehand, “Lower the forelights! There’s too much washout!”

“You got it boss.” She saluted, stepping off the scene to go tinker with the fluorescents.

Th telltale sound of stilettos had his head turning, seeing Willow striding over, lips pursed with annoyance. “Are we ready yet?”

“Almost.” He assured, showing her the picture. “Just a bit more tweaking on the lights and we’ll be good to go.”

She placed a hand on her hip, scanning the team critically. “Good.”

“Everything alright? You look…” He mulled over all his safe adjective options, “Unhappy.”

She sighed exasperatedly. “Qrow is causing a bit of a ruckus back in dress. Won’t let Kali even do his makeup.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “I don’t know what I was thinking, listening to Taiyang.”

“It’s probably because the new guy’s pretty.” And related to Raven, he thought but didn’t dare utter the runway model’s name aloud. If he did, then it would make his manager think of her ex-husband and Raven’s agent, Jacques Schnee. That was a nasty pandora’s box he’d rather keep closed.

Nevertheless, it certainly wouldn’t be the first time she hired someone simply based on an affiliation they had to someone in Jacques’ team, thinking it as some retroactive way of getting back at him. Taiyang himself was one such decision, also ironically due his connection with Raven. Though, he’d heard the two’s relationship had been more… carnal in nature.

The plus was, Taiyang had worked out great. He was handsome and jovial and easy to direct on set. Clover’s only hope when he learned of the new hire was that the same could be said for Qrow; but, it was sounding like he had his twin sister’s notorious diva-like personality, if Willow’s frustration was anything to go by. Which meant he was in for a long day.

“Light check!” Elm called, flexing both arms proudly like a muscle builder.

He snapped the shot, then nodded at the quality. “Perfect!”

Willow swiveled, heading for the door. “Let’s get started then.”

~

Over the course of the seven years Clover had worked for Trendy magazine, he’d discovered that each fashion designer had a specific ‘taste’ they were going for when it came to showing off their line-up and he’d learned to pose the models accordingly to keep their clients happy and coming back for each issue. So, he kept certain things in mind with each designer’s desires, like how Sienna preferred her poses to be as dynamic and wild as possible and Camilla wanted proper posture and a bit of elegance.

Unfortunately, today’s clothing line was from Roman and Neo. Which meant balancing the two designers’ conflicting requirements of flamboyance and subtlety into one picture. It tended to lead to a lot of small changes for limb placement and expression before he ever even rose his camera.

So, it tended to be a relief when the snap sounded off and he said, “Alright, you’re done!”

“Oh, thank god!” Tai slumped over immediately, rolling out his shoulders. “I think my neck has a crick in it.”

Clover snorted. “Alright drama king. Go take a break.” He turned towards the doorway, calling, “Who’s next up?”

He heard Kali’s faint, “Get in there. And stop messing with your hair!”

A gruff voice he didn’t recognize replied, “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Before Qrow Branwen walked into the room and stole his breath away.

Though he’d joked before, Clover hadn’t actually known what the man had looked like. He rarely did see new models before their first shoot. But now that he was, it had to be said that maybe Willow had indeed hired Qrow simply for his beauty. In almost every way, he was like a softer version of his sister. Where her skin was striking alabaster white, his had more of a welcoming ivory tone. Where her eyes were bright scarlet, his were a gentle vermillion. And where her hair was an ink black, his held streaks of dusty grey that somehow was just enough to make him appear refined, but not old.

Combine that with Roman and Neo’s classy “modern early-1900’s” style, and he looked absolutely dazzling. It was one of their simpler pieces, but dress had made sure he wore it well, especially with the plain, long-sleeved, white dress shirt that someone had decided to undo the top few buttons off to frame a cross necklace hanging sideways. Pulled over that and adding some muted color was a double-layered vest that buttoned from the bottom of the ribs down. The inner layer was a slate grey while the outer layer was a deep charcoal and had a tasteful embroidery design flowing down the sides. The matching dark grey slacks were fairly standard but nicely fitting to the man’s ridiculously long legs. Completing the picture were some shiny cap-toed black dress shoes.

“So uh, how do you want me?” Qrow asked, fidgeting with the cross-shaped cufflinks of his shirt.

Splayed across my bed. Clover shook himself of any indecent thoughts, nodding towards the set that mimicked an old parlor room. “Center stage, leaning back on the table.”

He nodded, crossing the room.

As they passed each other, Tai offered a thumb’s up and a cheery, “Good luck!”

The little half-grin Qrow offered his friend left Clover floating.

Not that the other man was going to need any well wishes, as he’d decided on something fairly simplistic. As Qrow took position, he directed, “Alright, I want you to rest your hands on the table, in view. Keep your fingers spread out.”

“Like this?” He settled them by his hips.

“Mm no. Spread your arms further apart. Position your hands the other way, pointing opposite directions. Yeah – like that! A little more for the right hand. Relax your shoulders more. No, no not that much.” And on and on it went, as Clover altered each little angle and body part until he had the exact position in mind. Yet, despite the ease of what he was asking for, Qrow’s inexperience meant he had to spend twice as long getting things just right.

It quickly became clear by his 60th order that the older man was growing a bit exasperated.

Clover eyed him up and down. Hummed thoughtfully at the position of where his ankles crossed, the toe of one dress shoe pointed down. “Okay, tilt your left heel just a bit more.”

“Is all this really necessary?” Qrow grumbled, trying not to move anything else but his foot.

“When the client is picky, yeah. And stop clawing your fingers. Keep them flat.”

The other man breathed in and out slowly, carefully resting down his hands.

He gave him another once over. Frowned.

The tension he could easily see doubled as Qrow demanded, “What now?”

“Maybe we should try something different.” He considered.

The words were met with Qrow groaning out, “You got to be kidding me.”

And Willow cutting in, “Go with it. We got to get this shoot done before noon!”

He glanced at his wristwatch. Shit, was it really almost eleven? He still had four other designs to go. “Yeah, alright. Qrow, just try to relax your muscles a bit.” He rose his camera. “Alright, now smile.”

He did, stretching it as big as he could.

Clover looked at him over the lens, raising a brow. “I said smile, not look like you’re trying to imitate clown make-up.” Ignoring the other’s sarcastic laughter, he mulled it over, then snapped his fingers. “Ah, I know! Give me the same one you gave to Tai when you first walked in.”

He could tell it wasn’t quite right when it didn’t have the same cloud nine effect on him as before, but with the clock ticking in his head, he took the shot.

“Alright, that’ll do.” Clover said.

“We’re done?” Qrow asked, not moving an inch, as if worried he’d change his mind.

“Yep. You’re free as a bird.”

That earned him a real laugh. “That was awful!”

For the hell of it, he took another shot.

~

There was always such a sense of relief when Clover submitted the photos to processing. From there the team would do whatever touch ups were necessary before it went in for print. Normally, the rest of his day was done, but he had another engagement at a rally across town that would keep him busy well into the evening. So, he found himself stepping into the break room, intent on grabbing a cup of coffee and heading on his way.

He was surprised to find Qrow there, huddled in one of the corner tables. He was dressed down, back in his casuals, but still managed to make a t-shirt and some slacks look like runway material. They met gazes briefly, before the elder man’s eyes dropped back to his phone, not saying a word.

Already short on time, Clover was content to leave it like that, but as he finished mixing his coffee together, guilt seeped in. If they were going to be working together, then one of them had to take the first step and it was much harder for the new guy to take it.

“You did good today.” He spoke.

Qrow scoffed. “You kidding? I was a disaster.” He groaned, running a hand through his hair. “I’ll be lucky if they ask me to come back.”

Ah. So, he wasn’t a snob - he was insecure. Clover could work with that.

“Ah come on. It wasn’t that bad.” He crossed the room, turning the opposite chair sideways and falling into it. “You’re just a little stiff. A few more of these and you’ll relax.” He paused, then added, “Oh, and take it a little easy on the people in dress.”

“They were trying to poke my eye out! Whoever invented eyeliner is a demon.”

He guffawed heartily. “It’s not that bad.”

Qrow sighed, ruffling a hand through his hair. “Still, I don’t know what I was thinking, letting Tai convince me to take this job.”

Seemed Tai was doing a lot of that lately.

“I’m not a model. That’s my sister’s gig. And…” Qrow gestured to himself. “I mean, look at me.”

“Oh yeah, I’m sure it must get tiring getting all those calls from Mr. Universe asking you to come reclaim your crown.” He countered.

“Tch, if anyone’s got a crown to go reclaim, it’s probably you.” A second later, he seemed to realize what he said and hid his face in his hand. “Oh my god, I didn’t just- I’m sorry, that was inappropriate.”

Clover couldn’t stop grinning. “Relax gorgeous. You’re in the right business to be making comments like that.” He took a sip of his coffee. “Don’t feel so bad, either. You’re not the only one self-conscious around here. Winter? Breaks out before every shoot. James? Has a scar right here.” He ran a finger above the line of his right eyebrow. “And by now, we’ve got to be giving Tai a complex with how much gets altered in processing.”

“He certainly had a lot to say about last month’s issue.”

“Well, you know, we gotta follow those trends and freckles are in.” He was sure there was a lot of talk on the questionable ethics of digitally changing people’s appearances to portray an unobtainable beauty, but it was a topic he wasn’t too interested in engaging with. In the end, it all just came down to the paycheck and keeping people’s jobs. Because if a model couldn’t sell the clothes they were wearing, then they weren’t going to get to keep modeling them.

Qrow leant back, crossing his arms. “Wonder how much they’ll change about me.”

“Well, they’ll definitely take out those cute wrinkles you get around your eyes when you laugh.”

“I wasn’t laughing?”

“Not in the first shot. But I may have…” He shrugged sheepishly. “Taken another one, right at the end? You looked more natural.”

Qrow blinked. “Well. Alright then. Guess that’s why you’re the expert.” His gaze drifted past Clover’s shoulder at about the same time he heard the footsteps. “Hey Tai. All done?”

“Yeah.” The blond replied as he stopped at their table, eyeing him suspiciously. “Hopefully the company flirt wasn’t giving you trouble.”

“Oh sunshine,” Clover drawled, playing it up as he bat his eyelashes at the other man. “I hope you know you’re my one and only.”

He snorted, rolling his eyes. “Save it for the guys actually swinging your way.” He nodded to his friend. “Come on, we better get moving if we want to get the girls on time.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Qrow stood. “It was nice meeting you Clover.”

“Same here. Looking forward to working with you.” He replied sincerely. A pleasant little warmth tingled through him when the sentiment earned him an adorable smile.

As he watched him go, Clover cast his earlier worries aside and decided that this truly was the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

[haikyuu-imvgines]

Hello can I have a Haikyuu match up please? I’m 19, Sagittarius,164cm,workaholic,perfectionist but gets stressed way too easily. I wear specs contact lens sometimes, Long dark brown hair, rather chubby cheeks,Long eyelashes (some say I look like a doll) but I have a rbf too:(. With strangers I’m very quiet shy reserved low presence. With close friends(few of them) I’m loud weird crazy savage sarcastic sassy as heck. Im very emotional and sensitive but I don’t admit. I cry when I’m stress (pt 1)

I study a lot I work very hard too hard sometimes that it’s not good for me physically and mentally. I love dancing, music, cute fairy like stuff. My favourite colour is pastels. My fashion style is chic or girly depends on my mood 😂. Body size wise is okay but not fit I’m too lazy to exercise 😪. I play piano guitar guzheng and percussions. I have low confidence and need constant reassurance. I have depression (slowly recovering 😊) and major trust issues due to those ‘friends’. (Pt 2)

I let people vent to me even those that I’m not close with and try to give decent advice. I’m loyal to my friends and to my friends too. But if I’m once hurt I tend to give up easily and not try again in fear that I will get hurt again. Thank you so much so sorry if this is Long hope you have a lovely day 🙏🏻😩😭💙 (pt 3)

Oh crap i love skinship too I love hugs a lot. And I would like a male Haikyuu match up too (the 164cm Sagittarius girl) sorry for the spam omg 😭🙏🏻💙(pt 4)

-----

I match you with... Sugawara Koushi!

Suga would first realize his crush for you when he spotted you attempting a difficult task, you were clearly focused but the expression on your face made it seem like you were angry at the problem, and he loved it. He’d go up to you and ask you if you needed any help, and from there your relationship formed. He knows that you work hard and are always focused on your studies, but sometimes he’ll realize that exhaustion is creeping in and pull you away from the books to cuddle with him until you fall asleep together. If you’re stressed and are adamant on him not seeing you cry, he will reassure you and tell you that it’s okay to cry if you have to, he will never judge you and he’ll be there for you to make you feel okay. Suga would love to take you on random shopping dates, the both of you helping each other find new outfits, and him trying to convince you to get at least one matching outfit with him. Suga will be your #1 supporter, encouraging everything you do; from studying, to your music, to helping you recover. Suga will help you out if you’re ever hurt by anything or anyone, and he will always make sure you know 100% that he will be there for you. Also, hugs, hugs,hugs; long hugs, side hugs when you’re waiting in lines, hugs while cuddling, Suga will give you all of the hugs you want <3

6/24/19

[angioponder]

ultimately walking

Fandom: VIXX OT6 (Platonic/Friendship) Genre/Warnings: humor, crack, fluff  Word count: 1556w

author’s note:  also on AO3 (@angioponder) hb to my cuppycake.<3 hope this brought a smile to your lovely face. being your best friend and roommate over the years made me so happy. thanks for letting me love you with gifts like this. i miss you lots!

list of the songs referenced are at the end. enjoy~

Hakyeon awoke due to someone beating harshly on the door of his brand new apartment. He feigned sleep in hopes that whoever was outside would leave, thinking the flat to be empty. But after a pause of silence, the banging only came back louder and harder. 

A barely open, one-eyed peek at the phone he dragged out from under his pillow told him it was ten in the morning—quite a bit later than he usually got up due to all the unpacking he had to do the night before.

Wondering who it could be, he begrudgingly left the comfort of his warm bed, lugging the sheets over and around his body as he tried very hard to send messages from his brain to his foot to move in front of the other, and vice versa. At some point, it didn't really matter how he got to the door, as long as he could keep himself upright and moving forward to open the damn thing and send whoever interrupted his sleep far, far away.

When Hakyeon reached his destination, he leaned—more like ungracefully banged his forehead due to sleep deprivation—against the door to peer through the peephole. As soon as his eyes adjusted to see past the lens properly, he threw his sheets off to the side and practically ripped open the door to reveal his bandmates standing out in the hallway. Now fully awake, he was about to hug them all happily for following through with visiting him in his new home, but that died when he saw how visibly apprehensive they were.

“What? What what is it? What?” Hakyeon did a sweep across all of them really quickly.

Taekwoon was sporting coffee stains on his white sweater, Jaehwan was holding Special K under one arm and a bowl of milk in the other, Hongbin was wearing that god-awful green scarf that made him look like your gossipy neighborhood auntie, Wonshik was sleep-standing until he woke himself up with a snore, and Sanghyuk was, well, he was big. So, really nothing out of the ordinary.

Hakyeon relaxed a smidgen, crossing off the possibility of them being physically harmed in some fashion. Something was still off, but he couldn’t figure it out at the moment. He pointedly looked at Taekwoon, who was chewing on his pale fingers.

“I take it you you're not here to visit your most favorite hyung just because you realized your undying love for him and miss him very, very much ever since he moved out.”

“Well…y-yeah?”

“Oh, honestly!” Hakyeon mocked a shocked gasp, “Humor me a little bit more than that. I'm hurt.”

“Yes! I mean yes! Definitely all that—yes, yes but also,” Taekwoon glanced to his side at the other four who have a mixed array of emotions on their faces, all their lips held tight in a line. “I don’t really know what happened but,” he seemed like he was trying to come up with an explanation but settled with, “something’s wrong with them.”

“O-kay?” Hakyeon tilted his head. “Something’s always wrong with them, but I have a really bad feeling that’s not it.”

Taekwoon clapped his palm over Jaehwan's general face without missing a beat. Unsurprisingly, Wonshik did the same to Hongbin and Sanghyuk, reducing whatever retort all of them were making into muffles. When it looked like their protests directed to Hakyeon were over, Taekwoon and Wonshik retracted their hands.

“It’s not the usual thing this time just—” Taekwoon shoved them all forward towards the doorway, “we might want to be indoors for this.”

Everyone shuffled inside towards the bare living room, past the stacks of empty boxes that have been tetris-arranged inside of each other. It was a good thing too, Hakyeon thought as he watched them try to fit themselves on his couch in vain, limbs spilling over the armrests and all over the carpet on the livingroom floor of his one bedroom apartment.

“So, what’s this about?”

Nobody replied. Taekwoon nudged Hongbin with his elbow and pointed his chin towards Hakyeon. Hongbin sighed deeply then opened his mouth.

“I'm singin' in the rain,” he sang with heavy dread, “Just singin' in the rain. What a glorious feeling,” he drawled in disdain, “I'm happy again.” The whole room watched Hongbin continue his song as he dragged his body listlessly around, with a few half-hearted heel clicks here and there. By the end of his… performance of sorts, Hongbin was clenching his whole body in what one could only describe as mortifying agony. Jaehwan and Sanghyuk was, laughing at him, as is expected.

“That was… a great rendition,” Hakyeon clapped slowly, hesitantly. “So… what I got from that was Hongbin’s been practicing for a musical he got casted in, and he wants my feedback? Well, I’d say you need to fix your face a little. You look incredibly sour for someone who’s supposed to be happy after a great date with your lover.”

“No, no, you don’t get it,” Taekwoon tried, “he’s—”

“—running for his life, from Shia LaBeouf!” Wonshik launched himself off the couch and burst into song. “He’s brandishing a knife, it's Shia LaBeouf! Lurking in the shadows,” he bellowed, “Hollywood superstar Shia LaBeouf!”

“ …What? Is going on?” Hakyeon shivered as Wonshik, wide eyed and distressed, climbed on top of the coffee table and proceeded to bust out some very dramatic, interpretive dance moves. “What’s happeni—Wonshik are you biting my thigh!?”

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out! Ever since you left, it comes out like this whenever they try and speak as if—”

“If you were gay,” Jaehwan chimed in harmoniously, “that'd be okay. I mean 'cause, hey!” he pranced on over to Taekwoon, “I'd like you a-ny-way. Because you see,” he locked arms with him, “If it were me! I would feel free to say that I was gay, but I'm not gay!”

Taekwoon pried himself out of Jaehwan’s tight grasp and tried to cling on to Hakyeon while confetti and glitter magically rained down on them—wait what?

“They won’t respond in anything but singing and dancing,” Taekwoon said, “I even looked up their symptoms on the interne—”

“The internet is for porn!” Sanghyuk sang enthusiastically. “The internet is for porn! Why do you think the net was born? Porn! Porn! Porn!”

“You're joking, right?” Hakyeon said as Sanghyuk continued screaming porn repeatedly while holding his hands in a recitation handclasp and bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet to the melody in his head. “Taekwoon, come on. This can't be serious.”

Then out of nowhere, Jaehwan, Wonshik and Hongbin—almost escalatory and frantically so—resumed singing and dancing their own respective songs on top of each other in a jumbled mess, all at the same time.

Hakyeon was starting to feel slightly delirious.

“I seriously think they're cursed or something, Hakyeon.” Taekwoon said as chaos ensued right before their eyes. “Wonshik wouldn’t be doing all of this out of his own volition, especially not Hongbin,” he commented as they watched all the self-loathing radiate from Hongbin’s body. “Though I'm not sure I can say the same for Jaehwan and Sanghyuk.”

While that seemed to be true, Hakyeon couldn't ignore the red tiredness under their swollen eyes. Maybe something actually happened, then.

“So, what now?”

“Come home,” Taekwoon said, trying not to make too much eye contact, “with us?”

With us. Hakyeon paused. Come home.

His eyes drifted next to Taekwoon, where a group photo from the night of their debut five years ago was hanging—the only decorative item on display in the whole apartment aside from his favorite family portrait.

“You think it might ‘break the curse’ they're under?”

Taekwoon looked at him with those eyes and shrugged. “Worth a try.”

Truth is, watching them take up what was once a large amount of space in his one bedroom flat made him feel almost suffocated, that is, if it he didn't adore them all so, so much. But it was a familiar, loving type of suffocating, where it was difficult to not feel loved when it surrounded him from corner to corner. Moving out was such a bittersweet thing. Hakyeon may not necessarily enjoy every single moment of living together, but he does miss them—all the time.

Real curse or not, he’d do anything for them at the end of the day. Unfortunately for him, he wouldn’t be able to leave them die in a ditch, even if he tried. And they’d do the same for him, probably.

“Fine,” Hakyeon groaned. “I'll pack enough for the weekend and go.” He stomped into his unmade bedroom, pretending to be irritated. “I must be cursed to be bonded with you all forever.”

On Sunday night, the main door of their dorm finally shut after saying goodbye for roughly an hour, leaving the living room a little colder and quieter than it was. Jaehwan, Wonshik, Hongbin and Sanghyuk turned to Taekwoon.

“Should we play pretend again so hyung will come back and stay over next weekend?”

“Or, or maybe play it up a little more so we can extend it to weekdays too?”

“No, no we might make it too obvious!”

“Hyung can be dense as a humidifier, what are you talking about?”

“Yeah, I miss him too.” Taekwoon shook his head and laughed to himself. “Now go research more musicals for next week.”

author’s note:

a wee bit late but we realized it was april fool's yesterday right before posting this ahahahaha so fitting!

Singing in the Rain by Gene Kelly Shia LaBeouf by Rob Cantor If You Were Gay by Avenue Q The Internet is for Porn by Avenue Q

[laur-rants]

Fic Update -- Wolfbann

Chapter 6 - With an Open Heart

Fandom: Dishonored Ship: Corvo/Daud, Past Jessamine/Corvo Rated: Mature Chapter Synopsis: Corvo goes looking for a friend.

AO3 Link

Previous :: First :: Next

It was a while before Corvo ventured downstairs to the bar after Callista.

He had let her go on ahead after they had briefly spoken that morning: he still desperately needed to clean up, and while it felt good to finally be rid of the sweat of Coldridge and the grime of the Wrenhaven, the bath itself left him feeling all out of sorts.

First off, the scent of soap was pungent in a way it never had been before. It got rid of the dirt, to be sure, but it washed away the smell of himself and replaced it with a sharp, overpowering odor. It filled his nose in a way that burned; he mused on requesting a softer soap, maybe something less perfumed and more neutral. It would be better to smell of nothing than something so strong it gave him a headache.

Second, his body was just so different now, and bathing was really the first time he had allowed himself to look and understand what had really changed. Outwardly, he didn't look that much different: his build was thinner from months of malnutrition and his hair was due for a trim, but that wasn't what unsettled Corvo the most. Instead, it was the sharpness of everything: of his eyes, of his teeth, of all his muscles and bones and edges. From one view, he looked normal: from another, he barely recognized himself, instead glimpsing the wolf barely concealed under his skin.

It was so dissociative it made his stomach flip and his heart pound. He tried not to think too hard on it.

Truly, the biggest visual difference was his arms: streaking across both triceps and ending near his shoulders were long, deep scars, four for each arm. No doubt they were from when the giant wolf that had killed Jessamine and turned him, a lasting reminder of what he endured that day.

He frowned, running a few tentative fingers over the sensitive flesh, noting how the skin was healed into deep valleys. The nerves under the scars bunched into huge concentrations of magical energy: just brushing across them made his claws itch to grow, his body aching for fur and teeth. Corvo's jaw clenched tight against the shiver snaking down his back, willing his body to stabilize. The growl rumbled out -- too deep, too guttural -- and he hastily covered the gouged lines with a shirt before the feeling got any worse.

From somewhere in the back of his mind, a flash of bemusement made itself known -- a totally foreign emotion that was completely detached from his current state of mind. He stiffened and tried to focus on the intrusion, but as soon as his mind reached for it, the feeling was gone, fleeing and disappearing as quick as it came.

Corvo took a deep breath, doing his best to steady himself. He looked around; despite the privacy of the powder room, he no longer felt alone. Skin crawling, he changed the rest of the way as quickly as he could, wanting to get out of his head sooner rather than later.

At least his Royal Protector coat was dry by the time he emerged from the bathroom. Being dirty but not rancidly so, the garment still carried his scent, making the worn, heavy fabric a comfort as he worked his way down to the main floor.

That was, of course, until he realized that someone new was waiting there for him.

He was talking with Sam and Callista when Corvo walked in and Corvo immediately turned his eyes to him. A squirrelly man hiding behind round glasses, he spoke fast and high and smelled of grease and machines, of wood and something like whale oil. He also seemed to have no sense of personal space; he leaned far too close to Callista, and the way she looked pained and uncomfortable made Corvo's hackles rise.

Corvo's arrival, however, became a welcome distraction. The stranger noticed him and immediately jumped to his feet, walking over to Corvo in a skittering fashion that reminded his hindbrain far too much of the rats that bit back.

“Oh, Corvo, just the, ah, man I was looking for!” He stumbled over the word as he offered a hand to shake. Corvo glowered down at it, making no move to reciprocate. That seemed to be enough of a hint; the man laughed hesitantly and backed off.

“He doesn't bite, does he?” Corvo saw him mouth back to Callista and Samuel, and Samuel was quick to catch Corvo's annoyed eye. Sam cleared his throat, motioning to the man.

“Corvo, I hope you slept well. Let me introduce you: this is Piero Joplin, inventor and general tinkerer. He lives next door and keeps the place running for us.”

“Slept fine, thank you Sam,” he growled out, pushing past the new arrival unceremoniously. He sat down next to Callista at the bar; flanked now by both Sam and Corvo, she visibly eased. “Callista informed me last night her uncle is in a dire situation, so I may be heading out soon.”

“Oh, leaving already?” Sam said, a hint of dismay in his voice. Corvo's lip twitched; he would have found Sam's sentimentality fake if he didn't already know he was being entirely genuine.

“I think it should be a return trip, seeing as Callista would enjoy reuniting with her uncle again.”

“Ah! A mission,” Piero chimed in. “Corvo, I knew this was coming inevitable, it's why I came looking for you.”

Corvo tried to ignore Joplin as he tutted over, already tired of the man, but when Joplin fished something out of his jacket and handed it over, Corvo found his interest renewed.

“What,” he breathed out, eyes catching on the metallic glint. “is this?”

“It's a mask,” Joplin explained quickly, gingerly setting it down on the bar. “I made it after a fitful bout of dreams. It started as a sort of muse but now I'm sure it is for you. The whole city believes you are the Empress’ killer, so if you need to go out into the streets, you might as well do it with your face covered.”

Sam and Callista leaned over to also catch a glimpse of the mask. It was a crude, grotesque skull; dressed in folded metal over a piecemeal frame, sewn together with wire more than welded. It grimaced up at the motley group, glass lenses shining in the light, giving the toothless smile a macabre sort of life to it. Corvo lifted it in his hand, finding it surprisingly light.

Sam hummed in approval while Callista turned her nose up, scoffing.

“You said you saw this in your dreams?” She sniffed out, watching as Corvo turned it over in his hands. “More like out of a nightmare, if you ask me.”

“Dreams,” Corvo remarked dryly, thinking of his own last night. “Interesting.”

“The lens is adjustable,” Joplin went on to explain. “You can use it to scope, if needed. If I understand correctly, with your condition you could easily hide your face by simply transmorphing, but this is good for when you still want to stay completely anonymous.”

“It will certainly make what I need to do easier,” Corvo agreed, storing the mask in his inner coat pocket. He cast an absent eye at Joplin who seemed to wilt under the direct eye contact.

“Thank you. What do I owe for this favor?”

Joplin twitched so forcefully his glasses nearly fell off.

“W-what? Lord Corvo you owe nothing, it was simply a personal project that got out of hand and proved useful, it's not-- nothing please.”

Corvo frowned, throwing an eyebrow at the lot of them.

“You're providing room and board, I'm using your food and water. Even if I'm out of sight, there should still be some sort of--”

Callista put a hand on his arm, drawing his attention away.

“Being able to bring back my uncle is more than enough payment, Corvo,” she offered gently. “You don't have to do anything more.”

His stomach twisted unpleasantly but he didn't press the issue. He swallowed down his pride on the matter and nodded, silently vowing to bring back something, either before or after Emily was reinstated on the throne.

Taking his nod as resignation enough, Callista pulled a piece of paper out of her shirt and placed it in Corvo's palm. He unfolded it: it was an address, one located just outside the Tower district, near the bridge.

“This is Geoff's apartment here in the city,” she explained. “I don't know where he is, but if there was any place to start, that would be it. He tends to keep a thorough work journal, which he stores in his home office desk. It could give you some clues on where he is, maybe why I haven't heard from him, if he's even still okay…”

She trailed off, her face going pale as she pursed her lips together. Corvo didn't need a vivid imagination to know what she was possibly thinking. He tucked the address into a satchel, nodding.

“Got it. I'll head out this afternoon, though how I'm going to get close to the bridge without being seen, I'm unsure.”

Sam cleared his throat, looking positively smug as he adjusted his scarf and lapels.

“I think I can help with that, Lord Corvo, if you're willing to take it.”

“I'll get you as close as I can, Corvo, but it'll still be a ways to the apartment,” Sam said to Corvo as he steered his boat through the waterways. In front of them at a distance the Kaldwin Bridge loomed: tall, imposing and indomitable, it was commissioned by Jessamine's father and was the largest bridge over the Wrenhaven.

It was also teeming with guards and crackled with the energy of Sokolov’s Wall of Light. Above the streets, the sound of the citywide announcements boomed ominously:

“Be on alert, Dunwall citizens! The criminal and heretic known as Corvo Attano, responsible for the death of our fair Empress, has escaped prison. If spotted, do not approach, and instead notify your local Overseer or Watch Guard immediately!”

It continued on, speaking of plague and curfew, but it always rotated back to him, and he shuddered under the weight of the city's hatred.

“You're a pretty popular topic these days,” Samuel mused lightly, but the worry crossed his face as he looked back to Corvo. “You going to be okay out there?”

Corvo eyed the riverbank, searching for a good route to the rooftops. In his pocket, he felt a foreign beat next to his own; he ignored it for now and instead reached in next to it, wrapping warm fingers around cold metal. He pulled the mask out and eyed it carefully before turning it over and allowing himself to disappear behind it.

It was a simple thing -- no magic involved -- but when Corvo slipped behind the mask and adjusted the lens, he felt something else rise up in his chest, and his earlier anxiety fled in the face of a newfound confidence.

He nodded to Sam in response, his body thrumming with energy.

“I'll be fine,” he rasped out, voice already morphing into a growl. “Wait here, I'll be back soon with news.”

Sam nodded back, quietly tying his boat down, hiding it in the shadow of the bridge.

“Good luck, Corvo.”

Corvo jumped lightly onto solid ground, eyed his trajectory carefully, let his claws grow, and pulled the power of the Void into his hand.

The Outsider had told him that he would know how to use his powers when the time came for it; on instinct, the deity had said, amusement coloring his words. He let that instinct flow into him now, tugging at the magic coursing through his veins, and directed what was gathered into his palm.

With a sigh and whisper of Void, his body dissolved and rushed forward in a trail of smoke and light. He reached his destination in an instant, his claws and feet reemerging from the magical fog around him. Corvo gasped, letting the air find his lungs once again as his head wrapped around the dizzying effects of what just happened.

He chanced a glance back behind him; the boat sat meters away, with Samuel eyeing him curiously. Sam waved; in another clench of his fist, Corvo was rushing away, the wind howling in his ears as he pushed forward again, more wraith than wolf or man. He coalesced and leapt again, quickly finding the rooftops, where he could own the city skyline.

It was heady; it was powerful. Corvo surged himself onward; deep in his chest, something pulled and sang and relished in this freedom, pure and adulterated. The wolf in him begged to come out fully, to be more than just claws and teeth hiding behind mask, to leap and howl and hunt and scream.

He settled for laughing, loud and long and rough, muffled by the mask but the sound still rang true in his ears. It all felt so right, like he was a teen in Karnaca again, with his body just as agile and able. He found himself wanting to do nothing more than just relish in this feeling for the rest of the day, leaping from rooftop to rooftop, impossible to catch or corner.

A heavy and rhythmic thump beat against his chest as he moved, louder and louder as he traveled, filling his thoughts and countering his own heart. He slowed, catching his breath and willed himself back to reality.

Geoff's apartment. He needed to find it.

The thump in his coat grew more insistent.

From behind his mask, Corvo's jaw clenched. Carefully, he took the Outsider's other gift out of his pocket, peering down upon the mechanical monstrosity known only to him as the Heart.

It had a clockwork sort of face, a glass window behind which cogs of metal and steel turned with each beat. He wasn't sure if the beat of the Heart kept the cogs turning, or if the turn of the cogs kept the Heart beating. He grimaced at it, involuntarily squeezing the leathery surface, wondering what the whale-wolf god was possibly thinking when he gave Corvo this item, what it could even do for him.

Against the pressure of his palm, the Heart sighed. And then, it spoke.

“This city, your face… both are now equally unrecognizable. But is the change skin deep, or does it burrow to corrupt the very core?”

Corvo stiffened, breath hitching as his eyes widened. The voice was more in his head than in his ears. It was distantly feminine. And disturbingly familiar.

His grip tightened again, and the whisper of a voice drifted from the Heart as its beat quickened.

“Where have the good men and women gone? I know many secrets, many pasts, but not the future.”

“What,” he choked out to the Heart, hating how his voice shook. “What do you mean? What are you saying?”

“Your thoughts are in disarray. The city has turned on you, has transformed you. You need allies, now more than ever.”

“Allies...Geoff,” he concluded, trying not to dwell on the other truths of the Heart, nor on the voice it was speaking with. He looked away from the Heart and felt a sense of amusement from it, followed by affection. It was so warm and soft in his hand, as if molding to his palm because it belonged there. It beat against his hand and he felt it nag at his mind. He looked back at it, snarling from behind his smiling mask.

“The Outsider said you'd help me find my way home,” he said to it. “I know its not home, but ...can you also point the way to Geoff Curnow?”

“Geoff Curnow,” it sighed out. “A friend, an honest man, one of few left in a world that stamps out any hope it finds.”

Corvo opened his mouth to question, but like a compass, the heart began to beat towards the path he needed to take, it's pace hastening as he headed the right direction. With tentative steps and careful jumps Corvo made his way across the rooftops, far above the cobbled and plague-ridden streets below.

As he slowed his speed to move less recklessly, Corvo gave himself a few moments to investigate Dunwall proper. The area of housing around the Bridge varied in quality; the high lives of the nobles lived in near isolation, islands in a desolate and plague-destroyed sea. The manord somehow managed to stay clean, with well manicured landscaping even in the middle of the city.

Past the wealth and radiating outward, the deterioration was exponential. Corvo noticed the prevalence of condemned buildings, of the weepers that hobbled in the sewer walkways under the city, of the increase of gang members, of the violence of the City Watch against the citizens they were supposed to protect.

“These are dark days,” the Heart mourned. “The sickness drapes over Dunwall like a burial shroud. Oh, how her people suffer!”

Corvo swallowed and couldn't help but agree. Jessamine had tried desperately to help her people and stop the onslaught of plague that had appeared a few years ago, but in her absence, the city had spiraled.

“There is more than one kind of wolf prowling these streets,” the Heart added, and Corvo said nothing to refute it. He moved on, and so did the Heart, the beat of it coaxing him onward to his destination.

It wasn't long after that Corvo stumbled upon the apartment he was looking for. In fact, he almost passed it by; the place was nondescript but well-kept; if anything, nothing more than the average living space. Corvo leaned over the roof and peered down onto the fifth story balcony, checking the area as the Heart beat wildly in his pocket.

A sharp inhale told him nobody was home. Carefully, he slipped down onto the balcony, landing lightly and without a sound, making sure to not disturb any of the potted plants. He looked at them curiously; they were dry, left out in the hopes of the coming rains, but not so dry that they hadn't been left out for more than a day. Quietly, he stepped over any fallen leaves, crouched down and crossed the apartment threshold.

Whoever Geoff Curnow was in his private life, it certainly wasn't lavish. Moderately furnished with more than a few shelves covered in details and papers, Geoff held a few heirlooms here and there, signs of his family, or perhaps his interest in the military. A few paintings lined the walls of the living space; Geoff appeared to be a fan of boats, as well as plants.

Corvo breathed carefully, letting his senses do the bulk of the investigative work. It was dusty; but not overly so: as if the air had been turned off for the day with just a ceiling fan left on to lazily circulate. The space was neat as well; not ransacked or stolen. There were dirty dishes in the kitchen sink but no food on the counter. Overall, no signs of a struggle.

And still, the Heart beat incessantly in his hand.

“What do you want me to find,” he muttered at it irritably.

“If you cannot find it,” the Heart offered, “perhaps it is unseen.”

Corvo huffed; that was entirely unhelpful and completely arbitrary advice. He stuffed the object back into his inner pocket, hoping to focus -- when his eye caught the jet black indentations of the mark on the back of his left hand.

He stared at it, lip curling unconsciously as he flexed his fingers. Gently the magic unfurled from the mark like steam, and fingers were replaced with long black claws.

Instinct, he caught himself thinking. Silently, he closed his eyes, breathed, and called for the Void.

He gasped; the magic flowed outward and so did his senses, pulsing out to reveal an unseen mosaic of information. He staggered as scent trails bombarded his mind, as items vibrated and glowed in his vision, of sounds reverberating in his ears and off the walls.

His brain reeled. He shook his hand out with a growl; the trails disappeared and left him with just the bare level of the apartment.

“The Void reveals many secrets,” the Heart mused thoughtfully. Corvo frowned at it, growling.

“Not funny,” he said, teeth clashing. It seemed to amusedly disagree.

Nevertheless, Corvo steadied himself, called the Void to his hand and tried again.

This time, it was easier. His nose was strained but he could focus now, picking out and prioritizing important scents and spots. A particularly strong scent led Corvo to an adjacent side door; Geoff's bedroom. It was here that Corvo realized the scent was of Geoff himself: through the veil of the Void it was a heady mix of sweat, of sea salt and aged wood and mountain rain. The lye of his soap sat sharp in his nose, while the bergamot of his aftershave created a pleasant undertone. A handkerchief near the bed was particularly strong with it; Corvo examined the fabric before storing it in a satchel, hoping to commit it to memory later.

Slowly, the layer of the Void lifted from his senses, letting him examine the room more naturally. It was a standard bedroom, complete with a bed and side table, a few articles of clothing strewn here or there. At the far end of the room, a desk sat, covered in paper and notes written in a hasty hand. Unable to stop his curiosity from bubbling up, Corvo beelined over to investigate.

Callista had mentioned a diary that Geoff kept for work, so Corvo spent a bit of time looking for any semblance of the book. Within the desk drawer he found just that; the small moleskine journal sat clasped and closed; Corvo opened it, flipping carefully through the pages.

“He had a male lover, once,” the Heart added. “He killed, to keep it secret.”

“Well aren't you just a fount of knowledge,” Corvo murmured back to it. It didn't reply, however, so instead he went back to the book, looking for any clues to Geoff's whereabouts.

Finally, he was able to find what he was looking for, on the very last page.

26th Day, Month of Nets

Life has been hectic, the plague just keeps getting worse, and now the Royal Protector is out of prison and at large. And yet, I still worry more about my men and Callista than I do for myself. Perhaps that's why I can tell Burrows is going to make a move soon. Not because Corvo is out of prison and I know unsavory information, but because I'm going soft, I'm less diligent now. Maybe I finally just got tired of running.

Campbell approached me at work; wants to have a meeting. He says it has to do with getting more Overseers into the streets to help along with the Watch. And it is tempting: the plague is wearing my men thin. But I know what Campbell’s involvement in all this is, so I have to expect the worst.

Either way, I'm a man of my word. I'll meet the High Overseer tomorrow, at the Abbey. It wouldn't look good to disappear now. I just hope I don't disappear soon after.

Corvo's throat caught as he swallowed. The 26th Day of Nets? Was it that far into the year already? He knew that he had been in prison for at least two months, and that it wasn't yet the Month of Rains… but how open was his window of opportunity, here? Was he already far too late to help Geoff?

The placed still held his scent, and the plants weren't too long neglected, so perhaps… perhaps there was still a chance that he wasn't too late.

Quickly, Corvo stashed the book into his satchel. Without a word he turned to leave, walking back to the balcony as fast and as quietly as he could. He looked out over the street, fist clenching as he called to the Void. He thought he heard a shout from somewhere below, but it didn't matter; he was gone, his figure dissolving and jumping up to the roof in a blink of an eye. Claws scratched against the stonework tiles, gaining traction as he leapt his lithe body forward again.

It was already past midday and Corvo didn't want to waste any more time. His hand glowed with the magic of the Mark as his skin flowed off of him, smooth as silk. In its place fur sprouted, his limbs grew, his body doubled in size. Another leap through smoke and his lupine form emerged, whole and filled with magical energy.

The sensation was entirely different from when he transformed in the prison. This felt real, natural; unpleasant, but not painful. Like changing out of a too-tight outfit. He surged onward, the power of his limbs intoxicating as he easily traversed building after building, keeping the silhouette of the bridge in his sights.

“You may change, but you stay the same...a heavy heart always did beat in your chest.”

Something sad panged in him: the words of the Heart, stored amongst the magic as he traveled. The soft statement was bittersweet, but he had no time to dwell on it.

Someone was going to die. He needed to make sure that didn't happen, not again.

He was human again when he finally landed in Samuel's boat, the smoky tendrils rising from his body like steam. Sam started as he appeared, jerking out a doze as the mask turned a sharp, glassy eye on him.

“Corvo!” He exclaimed, before clearing his throat and looking around. “Is everything alright, did you find the apartment?”

“Yes,” he rasped out, voice heavy from exertion. “And we have another stop to make.” Corvo steadied himself, pulling the mask up and off his face.

“How close can you get me to the Abbey of the Everyman?”

[healthcarescoop]

Is Our Healthcare System Systemically Racist? If So, How Do We Fix It?

February 26, 2021

Two heady questions to address here. The death of George Floyd changed a lot of things in our world, notably shining a light on all things that could be considered to be motivated by racism (e.g., police brutality). Now it seems that the spotlight is shining on health inequities, prompted by differences in COVID outcomes when viewed by race and ethnicity.

Before 2020, the causes of health inequities such as prevalence of diabetes, heart disease and cancer were largely deemed to be due to socioeconomic factors such as household income and education level. It’s now become familiar to view healthcare stats - particularly COVID stats - through the lens of race. This can be misleading when we know that the transmission of COVID is impacted by people’s housing situation, the kind of jobs they hold, and their use of public transportation (socioeconomic factors!) The home page of the COVID tracking project (covidtracking.com/race) states “Nationwide, Black people have died at 1.4 times the rate of white people”.

A continuation of this race-specific narrative is that our healthcare system is systemically racist. How else could disparate health outcomes be explained? Good question. Let’s discuss.

First we need to understand what it means to be ‘systemically racist’. I struggle to get my head around this, as racism is an expression of prejudice, hate, bias and bigotry between individuals. So how can a system exhibit a behavior? I found the following definition of systemic racism, written by Nancy Krieger of Harvard University::

“. . . the totality of ways in which societies foster racial discrimination through mutually reinforcing systems of housing, education, employment, earnings, benefits, credit, media, health care, and criminal justice”

This convoluted definition suggests that multiple systems - of which health care is one - work together to reinforce discrimination. I believe that health care in Krieger’s definition of systemic racism is misplaced. Everything else in her definition fits within the realm of ‘social determinants of health’ (or wellbeing). It’s well known that social determinants of health - the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age - have outsized impacts on health inequities. I completely agree with that assertion. As they say, one’s zip code is the best determinant of health status. Health care (in the context of an entity that provides care, not as an employer) is not a system in which people grow, live, work and age.

When it comes to health care as a service, there are disturbing examples of discrimination and biases exhibited by providers (doctors and nurses) that have undoubtedly had devastating effects on individuals’ health. Some physicians probably still hold antiquated beliefs that there are biological differences between races, which should have been debunked by the Human Genome project of 2003 (which demonstrated that the human species shares 99.9% of our DNA with each other). One such erroneous belief is that Black and Latino patients have a higher tolerance for pain than white patients, which leads to white patients being two times more likely to receive pain medication for painful long bone fractures than Blacks and Latinos. If these practices still happen in light of the findings of the Human Genome project, then I think it’s fair to suggest that racism between individuals in the health care system still exist. Race-based practices are abhorrent and need to stop.

I can’t find any compelling examples of what it means for a health system to be ‘systemically racist’. I’ve heard the argument that states choosing not to expand Medicaid tend to be in the South, which have a high proportion of African Americans, and that this is an example of structural racism. I was so disappointed to hear this sentiment spoken by Dr. Richard Besser, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and former acting director of the Centers for disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Likely a very intelligent person who can’t see that there are surely multiple reasons why states have chosen to not expand Medicaid, not the least of which is politics?

I’ve read about allostatic load, the cumulative wear-and-tear on the body’s system owing to repeated adaptation to stressors. In the context of health inequities, the hypothesis is that people who are subjected to the chronic stress of racism have worse health outcomes. While this certainly sounds plausible, and the hypothesis continues to be tested (https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/weathering-what-are-the-health-effects-of-stress-and-discrimination), I don’t see how a systemically racist health care system plays into this.

Regardless of the absence of any hard evidence of ‘structural racism’ in healthcare, it seems to be a fashion now to suggest that it is present. This concept has made its way into the employer health care space, as evidenced by a recent webinar put on by the Northeast Business Group on Health in January 2021 titled “Battling Racial Health Disparities in Employer-Sponsored Healthcare”. https://nebgh.org/event/battling-racial-health-disparities-in-employer-sponsored-healthcare/

While most of the suggested remedies for addressing racial health disparities in the employer-sponsored healthcare system were focused on social determinants of health, there were a few ‘anti-racist’ remedies:

- Provide apps for diverse populations in order to create a clinical environment that doesn’t mirror the racial trauma of the outside world. Examples include “Liberate: Black Meditation App”, “Ayana: Finding the Ideal Therapist”, and “Health In Her HUE: Find Your Black Doctor”

- Strong-arm health insurance companies to help employees connect with culturally-similar providers, demand that black and brown providers be paid more

The fact that a human resources professional proposed that provider compensation differ by race is beyond the pale. And illegal.

So, is our healthcare system systemically racist? No. And any efforts to ‘fix’ this non-existent problem are misguided. There are too many factors behind healthcare inequities to devote any resources to fixing the nebulous, unprovable concept of a systemically racist system.

[fuse2dx]

September ‘20

Paradise Killer

Putting it out there front and centre that I know some of the folks involved in creating this, and clearly I’m devoid of sufficient integrity to be impartial. You know, it’s best to get these things out there, with the internet being what it is. 

It’s a whodunnit set in Paradise, with your character having been brought back from exile and tasked with solving who’s responsible for the mass-murder of the island’s core council. There’s a clear set up with one guy already due to take the fall, but it quickly becomes apparent that the island’s populous of weird deities - who perhaps have too much time on their hands - clearly have more of a stake in this than they’d like you to know. You’re left to investigate at your own pace, poking around crime scenes and places of interest, but also soaking up the island and its vibe as a whole. Getting reacquainted with its residents is a massive chunk of this, and if their out-there names, colourful outfits, and eccentric behaviours weren’t enough to draw you in, there’s more serious manners such as allegiances and motives to start peeling back the layers of. Titbits of info gleaned will often give you the opportunity to eke more out of someone else, and although the game does a great job of subtly nudging you to where loose ends might best be chased down, you’re given the freedom and ultimate responsibility on when to start wrapping things up at trial.

Given the potential for disorder in its narrative structure, the game’s job in cataloging all of your gathered information is crucially neat in its execution. The free rein that allows you to be as orderly and meticulous as you choose is welcome, as is the gentle push towards the truth of things. But there’s also just enough space to sink into convenient falsehoods - even to present them at trial and make them stick, if you can pass on that conviction - and it’s this freedom that really sets it apart from its contemporaries. Helping this is a fully realised island you can move about in and investigate, rather than doled out chunks of  exposition by chains of talking head sequences. More salacious secrets are typically locked behind puzzles or specific items, but there’s also a particularly inviting nature to the architecture that suggests playful acrobatics - dashing, double-jumping and the like - be used to explore out-of-reach areas. 

The look is tinged in pinks and blues, giving a suitably welcoming glow to Paradise. It’s warmth is helped massively by the soundtrack that runs throughout it, bringing pleasant, jazzy saxophones and subtle, warm electronics into its city-pop inspired stable. There’s a great voice running through its veins too - one that operates in its unspoken thoughts, the descriptions of its collectables, even the interface and the sub-headers as you enter new areas - just about damn everywhere. It’s smart, it’s cynical, and it’s snappy, and is a regular factor in keeping a smile on your face even in the moments that get closest to being downtime. Bias be damned! I can say, hand-on-heart, that it’s a game that not just nestles in comfortably among its peers, but stands tall among them. 

Moon

Cult status can be a double edged sword. For anything cult - movies, albums, games, you name it - there’s that risk that if put under a modern lens, they can be painfully of their time. Cherished by those that were there, perhaps, but impenetrable - or even worse, alienating - for those without that context. Previously a Japan-only PS1 title, Moon has held such status for 20+ long years, but on its return, lets you know very quickly that a lot of what it had to say was timeless.

Its sending-up of RPG tropes is pretty spot on - the game-within-a-game that your character boots up got a big belly laugh out of me almost immediately, and then leads into a montage of a hero’s journey through a world that you’re then later transported into to pick up the pieces. See, the ‘hero’ in the game is kind of a jerk - barging into people’s homes, taking things out of their cupboards, killing all of the wildlife, and so on - and while this likely sounds very familiar, Moon prompts you to remove that filter of normal game behaviour, and instead asks that you try and be a bit more conscionable and pleasant. Acts of kindness to others are repaid in love, a tangible currency that grows your love level, allowing you to spend more time in its world before you need to rest and begin your day’s busy-bodying anew. Observing the routines of the world’s inhabitants is key to making good on its many grievances, and although these are straightforward enough at the start, some of the later challenges relied on some more tenuous thinking - to which, I’ll put my hands up and say that I turned to a walkthrough. These more patience-testing moments might have been a good way to pad things out in ‘97, however it’s a bit steeper an ask today, when I daresay most people will be visiting this as more of a curiosity. Accepting a helping hand doesn’t stand in the way of these scenarios delivering on the charm, surprise, or humour they originally aimed for, though. Labelling it a parody or a spoof might work as a descriptive shortcut, but it’s never mean spirited, and clearly loves the subjects it pokes fun at - there’s a wonderfully self-effacing humility throughout it.

Given Final Fantasy 7 - often cited as a common entry point for many modern western fans of JRPGs - didn’t even arrive in Europe until after this originally released, it’s not hard to understand why it wasn’t considered for localisation at the time. The audience certainly didn’t exist at scale, and simply wouldn’t have had the gaming experience or vocabulary to appreciate it. Not only can we now better appreciate it as the tongue-in-cheek love letter it is, but the message of compassion and thoughtfulness is something that’s more essential today than arguably ever before. 

Spelunky 2

This was always on my radar as a likely ‘game of the generation’ contender. I’ve been playing the original game on and off now for around 8 years - it’s followed me as a regular part of my gaming diet across 4 different platforms, and crucially, all the way up until the night before this finally landed on my PS4. Without getting too philosophical about it, it’s a very important game to me. Despite all of the time playing it, thinking about it, talking about it, or even reading the gosh darned book about it, I never once thought to assume I had the answer for what would make a fitting sequel. Thankfully, the team behind it had more ideas, and the faith in their convictions.

All of the crucial components of the original are here in abundance, and added to with a restrained modesty. Its randomly generated levels are more complex, and offer more distinct ways of hiding secrets, all while a subtle but slick graphical overhaul does great work in making them look more organic than ever before. More complex fluid physics allows for more transformative ways of opening up levels, and mounts might add some quirky new dynamics to things, but crucially, things under the hood beside this remain largely the same.

Perhaps more importantly, Spelunky 2 understands the fervent player base centred around the original game, and uses their knowledge and familiarity to challenge them anew with clinical precision. Things are just similar enough: the title screen, the tutorial, many of the enemies, and the stages that you find them in - they’re tweaked, yes, but still familiar. On top though, there’s enough that’s new, or changed in a minute yet specific way that makes it very clear that things are going to be uniquely dangerous all over again, and that your muscle memory is more of a liability than a crutch. The curve of learning the game - understanding and tempering its dangers, and the slow, cautious, pulling back the curtain of its newer secrets - is still pitched in the same utterly compelling way as before, though. Rather than being harder outright, or just more lumped on top, it finds a way to make new players and familiar faces alike to learn to play Spelunky all over again, and it’s a total joy to have that opportunity. It’s everything I didn't realise I wanted in a sequel, and it’s breathed a new lease of life into a game that I wasn’t even bored with in the first place. 

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 & 2 Remastered

The original THPS was proper lightning in a bottle stuff; while its countless sequels eventually drained every good idea bone dry, and it left countless half-baked spin-offs in its wake, it’s hard to be mad, or surprised, when the original formula was so potent. Underpinned by a brilliant combo system that called back to arcade-style score chasing, in tandem it also nailed the kind of goal-based mission objectives that became so common after it. This is before you even get on to the way that skateboarding’s irreverence, fashion, and music were curated and presented in such a way that they left a mark on an entire generation. Sports titles are often glossed over from a critical perspective, but there is no escaping the quality and impact of this series. 

This remaster tries to capture it at its zenith - and although they’re arguably off by a game or two, depending on who you talk to - it’s generally welcome that some of the ideas from later games are pared back. What it does with these first two games is for my money, the gold standard of what a remaster should do - it makes them look and feel like you imagined they did at the time; smooth, detailed, and responsive. Please, don’t make me go back and look at what the originals actually did look like, because I don’t think my poor brain could take it. The kitchen sink has been thrown at everything surrounding the game, with more relevant and diverse skaters brought into the fold, menus upon menus hiding a wealth of additional challenges, and a soundtrack that celebrates the older, punkier roots of the game, but also shines a light on some musical features that are perhaps more relevant to today’s youth. It’s all handled with a surprising elegance.

It’s a great new way to introduce the series to people, and also a nice outlet for old hands, with my only real criticism being that I had blasted through both of the original tours within a day of dropping the disc in my system. Yes, I could chase high scores endlessly, and yes, there’s a park builder and an abundance of multiplayer modes - but if you’ve finished these games before and just want to revisit them with a new lick of paint, don’t be surprised when it dries out fast.

[jeffybruce]

It’s not very often that I can say I am humbled or awed by one of my subjects but along came Anthony and all that changed. I happened upon him via the NY POST and thought here is something that deserves attention on so many levels. I don’t wish to dwell on the adversity of his life but I would rather speak to his perseverance and fortitude when it comes to living his life with his wife.

I couldn’t be happier that he consented to do this interview and I couldn’t be more thrilled that it has actually come to fruition.

You may ask what any of this or Anthony himself has to do with my overall topics of fashion, style and those who are creative. Before you try to figure it out let me clear it up for you simply with the fact that this man has chosen his conveyance of creativity through his body. In other words, he wasn’t born looking like this and it wasn’t happenstance that he looks like this; yes, he is absolutely genetically blessed with  good looks and from what I can gather an incredible disposition  which is certainly more than I can say  about so  many who are more fortunate.

At any rate, given the political climate in this country at the moment I thought this might be the time to feel good and about ourselves and read about someone who is actually a genuine hero and a survivor in the truest sense of the words. You will read about it all in his own words  ... so …  Keep scrolling and keep reading and remember there but for the grace of  god  go I … Anthony puts everyone’s life in perspective and if it doesn’t then you’re just a  hollow shell.

Jeffrey Felner: Can you sort of give us a brief self-history/biography that brought you to this point?

Anthony Catanzaro: I was born on Long Island; my father was a fisherman and my mother was a seamstress. I am the youngest of 6 children and my roots go back to Sicily to a small town called Sciacca where my mother and father came from.

As a kid growing up, I was very nervous often having to be picked up form school several times due to the fact that I was extremely uncomfortable and constantly worried about my father who at the time was suffering from lymphoma. I didn’t know whether my father was going to live or die and my mother being an Italian immigrant didn’t know what to say to ease my fear; my siblings were much older so by that time they had all left home. I was a 15-year-old kid without much of a positive influence around me.  That all changed when my sister found a boyfriend whose name was Louie and he became like a big brother to me. He took me to Madison square garden to see WrestleMania. This is where I was first introduced to my childhood idols Hulk Hogan and Randy “Machoman” Savage. I was amazed at the energy and persona that these guys exuded.  When Hulk Hogan came out and waved that American flag, the crowd went crazy. That’s when I knew for the first time in my life I wanted to have that same effect on people but I wasn’t sure how to go about it.

I soon turned one of the empty bedrooms in the house into a workout room. This is where I developed not only my body but my confidence. When I was 18, I was working in a home improvement store when a photographer came in to buy some material for a photo shoot and he asked me if I ever modeled before and proceeded to tell me that I was very handsome and had a great body and that hd like to lens me some time. I took him up on his offer and the next thing I knew I was on the cover of an evening wear catalogue. Here I am a kid driving a pickup truck delivering construction materials to suddenly I’m a  kid wearing silk underwear and posing in silk bathrobes. I quit my job at the home improvement store and began a career as a hunk modeling dancing and fitness training.

JF: Let’s not ignore the elephant in the room, you have been a model, bodybuilder, trainer, actor and you have been a stripper, but you have also faced unimaginable odds along the way… can you speak to the best and worst and why?

AC: I consider myself to be a very lucky man I have a beautiful wife who would die for me, I have friends that love me all over the world, I made a career out of doing what I love to do regardless of all the obstacles I have faced in life and I still consider myself to be very lucky!

Being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease is a very scary thing and believe me when I tell you that I battle it both day and night. It’s a far cry from when I didn’t have one ache in my body to now having every part of my body ache 24/7. I’ve felt great for my entire life, my body never failed me, and I always had complete control over it. So, you can just imagine how frustrating it is to have this disease and not have any control over my body. Parkinson’s disease robbed me of all the things I love to do but I know that this is not the end for me because I have faith that one day I will be normal again. I’m a believer in positive thinking and I will remain positive until the very end.

  JF: If you could invite any 5 people to dinner who would they be and why?

AC: Arnold Schwarzenegger he has been my inspiration throughout my entire bodybuilding career, Sylvester Stallone I’m a huge Rocky fan and would love to break bread with the Italian Stallion himself, the late Christopher Reeve as I’m a huge Superman fan and he was by far the best Superman to ever hit the screen,  Steve Reeves I consider him to be the best-looking bodybuilder that ever lived always wanting to pick his brain over a mean  and lastly,  Jesus, imagine sitting next to Christ and sharing a meal with him, just imagine … I don’t think there anything more powerful than that.

JF: Growing up, did you have a plan for yourself or a mentor you wanted to emulate, or did you just wing it? ... Explain please

AC: As a kid growing up I always saw myself as being the best. I always believed in this and thought I’m not better than anyone but nobody is better than me. I always believed you can accomplish anything you want in life if you put your mind and heart into it. I always saw myself as a success. To me success does not only come in the form of money, it comes in the form of gratitude as well. When you help someone, when you show compassion when you give unconditionally, you are a success. We are all God’s children and we should all recognize the fact that we all need to be helpful to one another. We should all lift each other up instead of knocking each other down.  I always wanted to be remembered as a Superman …  a guy who would always be there anytime anyplace without asking anything in return.

 JF: Given your incomparable discipline and drive, where do you see yourself in 5 years?

AC: To be honest with you if you had asked me this question prior to having Parkinson’s I would have known exactly what to say.  But at this time, I really don’t know what to say … but, all I can say is where I hope to be in 5 years is to be healthy and happy living on a nice tropical island alongside my wife … to be able to enjoy one another, to be free and most of all to be happy.

“People at the gym are motivated by me and inspired by me. Someone came up to me the other day and said they were amazed by my never-give-up attitude. I want to inspire people to keep going regardless of age or ailment,” he says. “Dancing is part of who I am. I feel like I’m stripping away Parkinson’s.” April 22, 2019 NY Post     https://jeffybruce.blogspot.com/  FOR MORE IMAGES

[chpatdoorsl3z0a1]

Review: The Fujifilm GFX 50S is the Lamborghini of Medium Format

Quick history lesson. The original Lamborhini motor vehicle wasn’t the supercar you know today. They were tractors. Yes, tractors. Full-fledged farm-going vehicular tools.

Ferruccio Lamborghini always loved cars and owned Ferraris, but he hated the quality of them. Frustrated, he approached Enzo Ferrari and gave him a piece of his mind and told him how to improve his cars. Enzo’s response went something like, “Leave the car making to me, you stick to making tractors.” Batman now drives a Lamborghini Aventador.

Fast forward and cross universes to cameras. The giants such as Hasselblad and Phase One have been untouchable and left alone to rule the medium format world for some time. Sure, there’s Pentax and Leica, but it’s more like buying a Mazda Miata or a 4-door Porsche — it’s not what you think of when sports car or medium format camera comes to mind. But here we are with Fujifilm, originally a film company, pulling a move like Ferruccio Lamborghini; they’re opening the doors to somewhere that’s otherwise been locked for what feels like all of eternity.

Phase One makes amazing medium formats that few ever touch but all hope and dream of. Hasselblad is quite similar but have introduced something that seemed ground-breaking, a mirrorless medium format in the Hasselblad X1D. Now, just like Ferruccio answered to Enzo Ferrari, Fujifilm has brought out the Fujifilm GFX 50S.

Will this be a classic like the Lamborghini Diablo? Or is this a Mazda Miata in disguise? Well, I’ve got the keys and this is what I’ve learned.

Body Design and Ergonomics

I’ve got mixed feelings on this one. When you look at the X-Pro2, you think rangefinder. When you look at the X-T2, you think old film SLR. When I look at this, I don’t think retro medium format camera. It looks like an X-T2 that got a medium format sensor back permanently attached to the back of it. Now to be honest, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with this. This is a professional camera with professional pricing so function should take priority over form. It just feels like an area that didn’t get the attention that it deserved given Fujifilm’s recent history of creating cameras that are as beautiful to look at as they are to use.

But here’s the thing about the looks of this camera: you completely forget about it the moment you hold it and to take a shot. The grip is extremely comfortable with a generous cutout for your middle finger, and don’t even get me started on how good the thumb grip is on the back of the camera. Fully customizable buttons mean this camera makes logical sense to its owner.

Although it seemed awkward at first, the side loading battery is a really nice touch for those times you’re swapping batteries on a tripod; it doesn’t save a lot of time but it’s welcomed. The C setting on the lens is huge plus too. As much as I love the aperture rings on Fujinon lenses, sometimes there is piece of mind knowing you won’t accidentally twist it.

But on to that EVF. To be honest, this is the feature that blows everyone away when I show them this camera. No one expects it to come off because it looks and functions like an extension of the body rather than an ugly appendage after thought. Can’t say the same for other mirrorless cameras with removable EVFs.

Being able to remove the viewfinder completely, add a tilt adapter, or use it in typical fashion allows the camera to be tailored to any situation for size and comfort. I absolutely love using the tilt adapter set vertically so I can get the camera low to the ground. Of course you could use the tilting LCD but at 1PM in the afternoon on a cloudless sky, using any back LCD to judge exposure or focus is near impossible.

My only issue with the camera’s design? The neck strap mounts. This is the one part of the camera that feels retro and I wish it didn’t. While in theory, having a adapter that quick disconnects the neck strap is a great system, two issues arise. Neck straps get extremely twisted because they’re able to spin freely on its post. Secondly, if you’re using a wrist strap and connect it to one post, it puts a lot of tension on that adapter and it seems like after time the adapter is going to bend.

The Sensor

This sensor is huge, there’s no doubt about that. But it’s important to understand why this larger sensor is so awesome. It’s resolution, dynamic range, and highly subjective but always talked about “medium format look”.

Image quality. Larger sensor, larger pixels, and greater signal-to-noise ratio equals sharper images with far more detail than you could ever want. Take a look at the following image. Then take a look at the image next to it that it was cropped from. It’s one thing to make a high megapixel camera, but it’s another thing to make one that looks good when zoomed in way past 100%.

Dynamic range. Unreal is the only word that comes to mind. Really, it feels like you’re cheating. With this camera you’re able to pull out detail from the darkest shadows with no noise at all. What this means is I’m now able to shoot natural light and forego using a light for fill because there is just so much data in these RAW files. Just take a look below and see what bumping the exposure by 5 stops in Lightroom does.

Medium Format Look. Ask four people what the medium format look is and you’ll get five different answers. In my experience with this camera, my subjects look almost as if they’re standing in front of a fake background. The longer focal length lenses used in medium format compress more of the background into a single plane and my subjects “pop” out of the image in front of that background. Moving from X-Series APS-C cameras this difference feels pretty pronounced. From a Canon full-frame camera, not as much so, but it’s still there.

So in a nutshell, that’s the Fujifilm GFX 50S first impressions. Looks good on paper. Results seem to back it up. But cameras are about more than specs, pixel peeping, and this isn’t the first medium format camera. Over the past two weeks I’ve packed my schedule with a wide variety of scenarios to see how it handles and here’s what I’ve learned and experienced in each scenario.

Landscape

No, this isn’t a hardcore purist’s landscape photo but I tend to put people in them so you have a sense of size and perspective. The first thing that I felt was the weight of the camera. Similar to my old 5D Mark II, but drastically heavier than their X-Series line means it’s too soon to get rid of those; they still have a place in my backpack. For this hike I used the Peak Design Everyday Backpack 20L which fits a GFX, GF 32-64mm, GF 63mm, vertical grip, EVF + Tilt Adapter, and tripod with lots of extra space.

Unfortunately, the EVF + Tilt Adapter doesn’t fit in this bag while attached to the body. In fact, it didn’t fit in any bag I had at home. The height of the camera increases drastically and the EVF extends back, lengthening the camera body by a good amount. When it came to using the camera I opted to stick with the EVF just because of the sunny conditions that would make seeing the back LCD difficult. I’ve taken shots at this exact spot on many occasions and it takes a lot of adjustments in Lightroom and creative masking in Photoshop to get someone to standout; they easily become lost in the image as the background tends to consume them.

Not with the GFX though, Alicia seemed to stand out from the image more and so did the road to the right of her. The only way I could describe the difference is that the road feels closer than it used to with the XF 18-55mm f/2.8-4 on an X-Pro2. Aside from that, the dynamic range just saves you time. You don’t need to shoot multiple exposures and blend them with luminosity masks or use ND filters to blend exposures in camera. I can easily push the shadows slider without the image falling apart, all while maintaining a really natural image.

Backlit

Due to the lack of phase detection autofocus, this was a little trickier. The GFX really needs a contrasty spot to focus on or it won’t focus at all. However, if face detection works, it locks on confidently, but due to the heavy backlight and lack of contrast it doesn’t always do so. Besides the focus, the greatest strength lies in the shadow recovery. I can easily bump up the shadow slider to + 100 in Lightroom and all of the dark areas come back naturally with no noise introduced. Whereas on a older camera with less dynamic range, it would have shifted the image in an ugly way.

Artificial Lighting

A huge let down to many people was the 1/125th of a second sync speed, everyone said it should’ve been higher, but it hasn’t been an issue for me at all. In fact, I’ve had the opposite problem. Getting the depth of field desired could require shooting at a smaller aperture between f/5.6-f/11. In a dark environment like a forest, that could mean dragging the shutter along at 1/30th-1/50th of a second if you’re trying to maintain base ISO for greatest dynamic range. That translates to this camera needing to sit atop a tripod more often than not when shooting with lighting.

But in this camera’s defense, I’ve been able to handhold a few of those shots and get amazingly sharp images without image stabilization. The above shot was taken in a shady baseball dugout on a bright sunny day and the shutter speed was 1/100th of a second with no ND filters used. Of course if she was out in the sun, the sync speed would be an issue but that’s what ND filters are for. With HSS in the near future and global shutters on the somewhat distant horizon, lenses that lack leaf shutters aren’t that big of a deal.

Lifestyle/Commercial

Focus is so important when you’re blowing up these images large and the face detection does that so well. Similarly to the X-Pro2, I put complete faith into the face and eye detection and it nails it every time. If for some reason I can’t use it, the 425 focus points are amazing as well. I’d rather place the AF exactly where I need it rather than focusing and recomposing. Sure, it’s a lot of focus points and using the joystick on the back can be slow, but that’s where the touch screen becomes oh so handy.

I found that taking my face away from the viewfinder and tapping where I want to focus was quicker than using the joystick and slowly moving across the viewfinder to get the right AF point. However, one issue has carried over from the X-Series bodies. When my subject is just a little wider than the AF point, more often than not, the camera will focus on the background instead of my subject. Zooming in and checking focus is easy with the EVF but it’s one thing I wish I wouldn’t have to worry about.

Do You Drop Used Corolla Cash for this Camera?

I need to print large, I need more dynamic range, I have a ton of old medium format lenses to adapt, I just sold my Mom’s Prius without her knowing and I need to burn this cash before she realizes it’s missing. All valid reasons to buy a GFX 50S. Reasons you shouldn’t? I only post on Instagram, I switched to mirrorless because my SLR was causing back and neck problems, I make my living photographing Supercross, I have $200,000 in student loans from grad school.

I know that photography is about the person and not the camera, but with this camera, to a certain degree, it kind of isn’t. The dynamic range is a huge selling point and it changes the way you can shoot entirely. Being able to pull out all of that detail in the shadows with no noise at all is huge. Not only does it speed up the shooting process, it speeds up the post-processing as well. So if you’re someone who sees value in that, which should be every working professional, I would consider jumping ship from whichever brand you’re currently loyal to.

But beside the ease of use and lack of processing required, that medium format look has been a huge gain. I’ve sent some of the photos to the companies I collaborated with for these photos and they’ve asked what I did differently. Exact words were “something special” and “a different type of clarity than you normally produce”. On my end I haven’t done anything different, so if the medium format system does that much for me, I think it’s a way to differentiate yourself from others in a subtle way. You just need to decide if that difference is worth the entry fee.

Is the GFX 50S a Lamborghini?

Undoubtedly yes, it’s a Diablo. Or a Countach. The Fujifilm GFX 50S is the camera that will start to democratize medium format the same way the Canon 5D Mark II democratized film making. Focal plane shutter means you can adapt medium format lenses or full frame lenses and get crazy thing depth of field. Electronic viewfinder, 425 autofocus points, and face detection are all selling points to pull people away from their full frame cameras or their slow medium format DSLR.

Sure, there are some sore spots to some like the sync speed or lack of phase detection autofocus. But at the end of the day when you’re looking at the images on your computer you’ll still tell yourself damn, I just drove a Lamborghini.

About the author: Allan Higa is a Hawaii-based lifestyle and travel photographer. You can find more of his work on his website, or by following him on Facebook and Instagram. This post was also published here.

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[wickedbananas]

Easy Marketing Investments to Improve Your E-Commerce Store

Posted by KaneJamison

At least once or twice per month, I talk to a small e-commerce store owner who wants to invest in content marketing. Often times, I have to break it to them that they’re not ready for content marketing.

You see, before you spend a bunch of time generating traffic from your target audience, it’s important to make sure those visitors get the best experience possible while browsing your store.

So, in this post, I want to give store owners and e-commerce newbies a clear idea of where they can invest their time before investing in more paid and organic traffic to their sites. Many of these can be accomplished for less than $1,000 or a few hours of your time.

With a few small-scale investments you can help drive performance on conversions, SEO, and more.

So what are they?

Rewrite Your Weak Product Descriptions

Take Better Product Photography

Build Lookbooks & Product Collections

Start Adding Product Videos

Upgrade Your Review Software & Process

Let’s look at these opportunities in detail, and better yet, show you some actual examples of what your site could look like.

Rewrite your weak product descriptions

From product details to features and benefits, product descriptions must pack a lot of information in a short format. You may have overlooked some missed opportunities.

If you answer “yes” to any of the following questions, consider investing in improved product descriptions.

1 - Does your current product page copy speak only to your ideal customer?

If you’ve built buyer personas for your brand, make sure the copy addresses the appropriate persona’s unique pain points and concerns. Bland descriptions meant to appeal to everyone — or just bots — aren’t as effective.

This high chair example from 4moms.com focuses on the three things that matter to their audience: single-handed adjustments, spilt-food prevention, and easy cleanup.

2 - Does your copy focus on benefits rather than features?

You can list features all day long, but customers really want to know how your product will make their life better.

The Amazon Echo sales page does a great job of focusing less on the technical features of the product, and more on the cool things you can do with it.

3 - Are you describing your product with the same words that your customers use?

Using the same language that your customers do will help you better communicate with your target audience in a way that sounds natural for them and touches on their pain points.

A simple way to find these words is to do some reverse engineering. Start by looking at customer reviews and feedback you’ve collected (and those of your main competitors as well) to pick out common words and phrases that satisfied customers are using. From here, you can tie that customer language back into your own descriptions.

I was shopping for a new tent last week and saw this awesome reviewer on Amazon drive home a point that the copywriters had missed. If you read that entire review, the phrase “family tent” is mentioned about 13 times.

But if you read the product description, "family tent" only shows up once. The description fails to mention many of the benefits covered by the reviewer: lots of pockets, sleeping arrangements, ability to catch a breeze but keep the doors closed, etc.

There’s an opportunity here for a competitor in the tent or outdoor space to improve their own product descriptions for the same tent (or even put together a larger guide to family tents).

4 - Are you telling your product’s story?

The folks over at Rogue Brewing understand that the people buying gifts from their website are probably passionate about well-made products, not just well-made beer. Here’s a great example from their site that tells the story of their 28-year search for a decent beer shucker (bottle opener):

Take better product photography

Photography matters. Research from BigCommerce suggests that 67% of consumers consider image quality “very important” when making a purchase online.

Good product photos do more than just show shoppers what you’re selling — they provide context and help customers visualize using your products. Plus, high-quality photos will reduce product returns that happen due to misleading images.

So what can you do to upgrade your product photos?

Smartphones aren't going to cut it

Use a DSLR camera, not your smartphone. Although modern smartphone cameras can take higher resolution photos than ever before, you’ll get better results from a DSLR. Lower-end models start at around $500 — try finding a used body online and spending more money on a better & cost-effective fixed lens that can handle video, too.

Build a cheap lightbox

Create a lightbox for well-lit photos with a solid white background. For less than $10, you can build your own lightbox that will vastly improve the quality of your product images.

Use creative angles

Shoot products from multiple angles. Be sure to include several images on every product page. The more perspectives and viewpoints you have, the better customers will be able to judge your product.

It's OK to tweak & process your images to make them pop

Process your images with filters that enhance color and overall image quality. Photo filters resolve poor lighting or color issues and vastly improve your product photos. Just try not to get carried away with dramatic filters that distort the color of your products, as this can be misleading for the buyer. Here’s a good example from ABeautifulMess.com showing the difference before and after image edits:

If you don’t have time or the inclination to take your own photography, outsource it to a professional. No matter what route you go, know that upgrading your product page photography is well worth the investment.

Build lookbooks & product collections

You can also provide more context for your products through lookbooks, which showcase your products in use. The term “lookbook” is mostly common in the fashion industry, but the concept can be extended to a variety of industries.

The photos in the lookbook for Fitbit’s Alta model of fitness tracker help shoppers envision themselves wearing them. Fitbit’s lookbook also establishes a brand lifestyle promise — impossible with product photos alone. Even better? The various photos are clickable and take you to the product page for that color/style of wristband:

Product collections are another great variation on this strategy. In this “Mediterranean Collection” page on Coastal.com, shoppers get an opportunity to shop by “style,” and to see examples of the glasses on actual faces instead of just a white background:

As I alluded to before, this isn’t just an opportunity for fashion sites. The trick is to make sure you're showing your products in action.

Plenty of other retailers have an opportunity to show off their product in use, like these photos from the Klipsch website showing off their soundbars in various settings:

Car accessories? Same thing.

Heck, even office furniture is easier to purchase when you see how it looks in a workspace.

Start adding product videos

Adding video to product pages is another relatively low-budget improvement you can make, yet it has extreme value for shoppers and your bottom line.

Why? Because video’s ability to quickly educate shoppers is a powerful conversion tool. Eyeview Digital reported that including video on landing pages can improve conversions by as much as 80%, and ComScore indicated that online shoppers are 64% more likely to buy after watching a video.

So how can you put video to work on your product pages?

Whether you’re demonstrating a how-to or simply showcasing a product and outlining product details, adding video on your product pages provides a whole new experience for online shoppers that helps overcome purchase objections and answers their questions.

Video also allows you to give shoppers a more complete overview of the product and to go beyond static pictures with a story element. These engaging visuals can help shoppers envision themselves using your products in a way that photography alone simply can’t.

Zappos is well known for including videos on what seems like every listing, but what’s more impressive to me is how much personality and brand voice they show off. While shopping for boots recently, I have to say Joe was my favorite video personality:

Click image to open product video in a new window.

If you’re up for taking this on with a DIY approach, it’s reasonably easy to create your own product videos at home with the right equipment. Or, outsource this project to a local professional or videographer for hire.

Upgrade your customer reviews software & process

In the current e-commerce landscape, competition is fierce — and there’s always someone willing to deliver cheaper and faster.

That’s why social proof is more important than ever before. Research from eConsultancy shows that 61% of consumers indicate they look to product reviews before making a purchase, and that product reviews are 12x more trusted than product descriptions from companies.

Customer reviews make your product pages more effective, allowing shoppers to evaluate the product based on real customer opinions — and can help you spot product issues.

I’m listing a few common platforms here, but you should really check out Everett Sizemore’s guide to product review software, which has some great insights on the performance of the entire marketplace of product review software options, including technical SEO concerns:

BazaarVoice

Yotpo

Trustpilot

PowerReviews

Traditional product reviews may not be right for all stores...

The best option for you will depend on the tool’s ability to integrate with your store, your preferred functionality, and your budget. Sometimes, traditional product reviews won’t be the best choice for your product or store.

In this example from ThinkGeek, they’ve opted to just let people leave Facebook comments rather than any product reviews at all. Which makes sense, because they’re Star Trek garden gnomes, and it’s not like you need to tell people whether they were the right size or not. Even better than Facebook comments, they also solicit product photos via social media on their #geekfamous hashtag.

Here’s another example where my favorite wallet company, SlimFold, simply highlights great product reviews that they received from press and customer emails. While it makes it harder for them to solicit new reviews, they only have a handful of products, and this format allows them to put more emphasis on specific reviews.

There are many different tools that will allow you to showcase elements of social proof like ratings and reviews, so take your time carefully reviewing different options to see which is the best fit for your needs and budget, and if normal product reviews aren’t the right fit, feel free to take a different approach.

Make enough of these small investments and you should see big improvements over the long term.

Tackling these small investments — as your schedule and budget allows — will dramatically improve the overall user experience and the effectiveness of your e-commerce store.

Consider which aspects are the most important to complete first, and then start doing your research and put together a strategy for how you’ll prioritize these site upgrades. With a well-thought-out plan of action, you can focus on the projects that will drive the best results for your business, rather than trying too many different tactics all at once.

Looking for more ideas? Take a look at our guides on product page optimization, category page optimization, and conversion rate improvements for e-commerce.

This is by no means the complete guide to investing in your e-commerce store, so in the discussion below, I’d like to hear from you. What creative ways have you improved your e-commerce site content in the past that boosted conversions or organic search?

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What is a Photo Meetup? Are they worth going to? Where can you find them?

Are photo meets worth going to?

Do you have to be a professional to attend?

Is this only for amateurs?

How much is it to go?

Am I going to get a bunch of new instagram followers because the models at the meets have thousands of followers?

Is it only for photographers?

How do I find photo meets near me?

Can I go to be a model?

How often are there meets?

Should I bring all my gear?

Is it safe?

How many people go to the meets?

What is the photographer to model ratio?

These are all questions that I had, or questions my colleagues had when we wanted to attend our first photo meet, and didn't really know what to expect. The very first time I went to a meet, it was StreetMeetLA one that I really wanted to go to because I started seeing it trend on my Instagram explore tab. I started seeing more and more posts of the same model but shot from different photographers, on the same day. Photos of guys and girls dressed in Dia de los Muertos candy skulls, holding smoke bombs, along with fire breathers, and some of the coolest and scariest make up looks I have ever seen! I wanted to go so bad because I have never really shot actual models, I mainly shot landscape because I didn't really know anyone willing to model for me... Besides my girlfriend and occasionally some pigeons after I throw a fry or two. 

I'm going to dive into what to expect at a photo meetup, who can attend, when these meetups occur,  where you can find them, and whether or not it's worth going to? If you’re new to meetups, I recommend reading the full article and subscribing to our newsletter.

 Who can go to photo meets? Certain restrictions?

So you would think that the simple answer to ”who can go?” is pretty straightforward, but actually, there's a little more to photo meets than just the models and photographers. There are a variety of creatives in the photography community, where photographers and models are the main attraction but aren’t the only ones who co-exist at these meetups. You’re probably saying “yea yea, there are make up artists and hair stylists maybe?” and the answer is of course yes. However, there’s actually a lot more than just that!

Here’s just a list I could think of at the top of my head, but I know there’s plenty more.

Dancers

Fire-Breathers

Hobbyists

Professionals

Beginners

Hair Stylists

Sponsors

Influencers

Youtubers

Digital & Film Photographers

Models

Makeup Artists

Videographers

Designers

Graphic Designers

Publishers

Bloggers

Editors

Yes, even fire-breathers!

People go to these events for some of the following reasons.

Connect and Network with other people that have the same interests as them.

To try and create something to add to their portfolio or collection.

To inspire others and entertain.

They just want to be a part of a community that they can feel welcome in.

To show off their skills and make friendly competitions.

Grow their social network profile.

To help others build their social status.

To get over stage fright.

To start feeling confident in their own body.

To search for a new passion for something or to grow and master their own skills.

There are plenty more reasons why people go to these events, those are just ones I’ve heard from others or from personal experience. The biggest one though is for networking, you meet so many amazing, talented, and creative people at these events. If you are thinking of going to one, just go. Go to a few different ones, by different communities, and get a feel for each one and see which one you fit in. The best thing is, no age limit on any of them that I have seen. Every single meetup I have gone to, there are a variety of people and ages, and they are usually in public places.

Below is a video for you to see for yourself, what it’s like to go these meets, who are the people that go, and some inside to the @OCCreators community.

Also, a very special shout out to Maddie Snyder (@Masque.Era) for hosting our first photography/cinema vlog!

This is our first video for the P-Log, Hope you enjoy!

The best thing about these meets are how nice the community is. Every person I have encountered has always been so nice and supportive. In our video, we interview a few of the people that showed up. Some professional and some beginners, and even a hobbyist with a 1936 Graflex Film Camera, Frankenstein-ed with a projector lens.

Interview

Model Eliden

IG Handle: @Eliden__

She has done runway and some shoots in the past but her modeling career hit a pause when she had her children. She did not hesitate to get back into modeling, the second she could. So now she is a mother to 2 beautiful children. Yay! For #ModelMoms

We asked Eliden:

Who is your favorite photographer?

“They call him the Sexy Guy!” **Laughs

She says she does not remember his name, but what she loved about “The Sexy Guy” is that he had very strong communication. He knew how to pose her and make her look the best she could look as far as posing, and lighting.

Who do you draw inspiration from?

Tyra Banks

Photographer jesse

IG Handle: @WolfsAndCrows

He’s been to 10-15 different meets, and he is a beginner photographer that like black and white, along with some color pop. He started doing photography going on hikes and taking pictures of flowers, and posted them online. Someone messaged him and suggested he go to “StreetMeetLA”, a photography community in Los Angeles that hosts one of the biggest photography meetups in Southern California.

Jesse says he did not have a lot of fun at the StreetMeetLA meetup due to the fact that they are extremely overcrowded because of popularity. He then found smaller photography communities that he enjoys.

I will have a list of meetup communities towards the bottom of this article.

Designer/Model Jessika

IG Handle: @Jesssickaaa

Jessika came to the meetup looking stunning with a yellow skirt and matching crop top that she designed herself. If you didn’t watch the video, you have to check it out. She made it from a 3X size skirt!

How long have you been doing this? How long have you been making clothes?

“I started when I was a kid, but I went to school. I went to FIDM for fashion…”

She went to the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising for Fashion, then started a blog and making clothes since 2012. You can check out her blog here: fashionplayhouse.wordpress.com

We highly recommend you go check out her stuff!

Photographer Andy

IG Handle @Andypham7

Andy had a 1936 Graflex film camera with him. The lens was Frankenstein-ed onto this camera and being used at the meetup.

How do you work this thing?

Watch the video for full instructions! WOOOHOO!!

How did you start photography?

“Actually I’m really new to it, I didn’t get serious until 2016.” It started at Burning Man 2016 when a guy tripping on LSD came up to Andy and told him he was a photographer, he told him “you have the vision!”

Andy decided to pull out his cell phone, and he took a bunch of photos. Then one of the photos he took got featured on Burning Man’s profile and got over 18,000 likes!

So how much is it to go? And where can I find them?

So depending on which community you decide to try out, there are different price ranges. Some are free and some aren’t but usually the ones that aren’t, have perks to paying.

I have seen some on Meetup.com but most of the ones I have found are on Instagram by simply searching “Photography Meetup”

Heres a list of Meetup Communities that I know from Southern California:

@StreetMeetLA - @IE_Shooters - @Empire.Meets - @MeetUpss - @CaliforniaMeetups - @LM.Meets - @OCCreators - @tfti_la - @maskdemons - @retro.ladies - @ie_niteowls

@retro.ladies says to bring your automobiles as props, because their meetups include that!

Please comment below if you know more, so I can add to this list!

How often are the Meets?

Each community usually has a meet once a month, sometimes more. So just check to see how often they post fliers.

Am I going to get a lot of Instagram followers because I am taking photos of models with thousands of followers?

No, if you haven’t figured out how Instagram works nowadays, then you need to do some research. Instagram followers come naturally. If your work is good, people will follow you. If it is not, then they won’t. It’s simple.

How do I sign up to be a Model? or Fire Breather or something?

Simply message the group, they will tell you :)

Can I do whatever I want at the photo meetup?

No, everyone who participates has to abide by a few simple guidelines. If you can not follow these simple rules, then you are NOT WELCOME to the photo meetups

Respect EVERYONE. If someone is being disrespectful, it needs to be brought up so that we can find a solution. The meets want you to feel safe and feel welcome. Speak up, if you don’t feel comfortable, safe, or welcome because of someone.

Respect your SURROUNDINGS. These events are usually free, at a public area, that is NOT OWNED BY YOU! So do not leave any trash, drink alcohol, smoke weed, or do anything that should be done at home in private. The laws are still applicable, there isn’t some invisibility cloak for anyone that disrespects the properties they host events at. Even worse is some meets take place in a private studio property, just because you paid to get in, does not mean you paid to be invincible. RESPECT OTHERS & YOUR SURROUNDINGS

Do not come to the meets with the intent of picking up chicks or dudes! Do not come to with the intent of getting models numbers for your private home videos. DO NOT BE A CREEP! That’s what Tinder is for.

These meetups can get crowded. DON’T WORRY IF YOU DIDN’T GET ANY GOOD SHOTS. There are meets at least once a month, or message a model you saw at the meet and schedule a 1 on 1.

If you go to a meetup and exchange info with a model because you took photos or whatever, don’t leave the model hanging. They took time and effort to buy an outfit, get their makeup done, and are getting in front of your camera. Have the decency to send them at least a message telling them why they didn’t get something from you. It’s like ordering something very important to you on amazon, and then checking the mail every single day, with no notice that the package was delayed, or even worse, never shipped.

Lastly, If you share content that you are in, but someone else created. or Vice Versa. CREDIT them! That content would not exist without the creator or model. Treat the creator or model good by tagging them in the photo, the description, as much as you can. There is a myth that needs to be busted right now!

You should want to tag everyone involved in the creation of the photograph or video, because it’s just attracting more attention to the subject. It’s tagging and notifying the persons followers that you tag. It’s a WIN WIN to TAG the OWNERS and MODELS of the CONTENT!

So why is it such a hard thing for thing to share? Stuck in 1st grade?

Should I bring all of my gear? Is it safe?

As much as I want to say it is safe because Spider-Man got our backs, but we live in a very cruel world. So my answer is, it is as safe as each community allows. What I mean by that is, some of these events get so big that they get out of control. Tons of traffic is caused, people getting mad because of there being too many photographer, not enough models. So depending on the event, as long as things are managed correctly, it will be safe.

Bringing all of your gear is not a good idea in my opinion, unless all of your gear consists of everything fitting into a bag.

What is the average Photographer to Model ratio?

Always more photographers than models.

All in all, Photo Meetups are really for anyone that wants to be a part of a community, to build content with other artists, and to grow together.

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Disclaimer: This blog post contains affiliate links. I may earn a small commission to fund the baby diapers for my daughter, if you use these links to make a purchase. You will not be charged extra, and you’ll keep me supplied in diapers. It’s a win for everyone, really.

I only recommend tools that I personally use and love and I always have my readers' best interest at heart.

The Gear I used for the video:

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV ------https://amzn.to/2QGhgt2

Canon 50mm f1.2 ------- https://amzn.to/2C5xibL

Canon 24-70mm f2.8 ------ https://amzn.to/2QI8A5g

Sony A5000 ------ https://amzn.to/2Psv89O

Zoom H4N -------- https://amzn.to/2A2UJkA

Feel like this article is missing something or I left something out? Please leave a comment below.

[cogcniamhmitchellhnd1a]

Clean White - Research

Arnold Schwarzenegger by Richard Avedon

In this photo, you can tell that Avedon wanted to try and perceive a strong and stern persona about Schwarzenegger. You can tell this by the way he has not only angled the model/actor but, also by how he has angled himself in order to dive deeper into the character he wants to create.

The layout of this photo is very simple. Schwarzenegger has been positioned in the middle of the camera lens with his upper body offset at an angle to create a strong and powerful pose. With his facial expression, instead of a straight, calm face, he has kept up with the fierce look with an arched brow and harsh lines.

The lighting involved in this set up features one light sourced to the right of his face. This helps create a harsh and dark shadow amongst the left side of his face. The benefits of having the studio light like this is because the light falls onto the high points of the face which helps cast the strong harsh shadows amongst the other parts of the face. This helps to create the overall strong and powerful character that Avedon was trying to perceive from the beginning.

Leonard Bernstein by Richard avedon

Compared to the photo of Arnold Schwarzenegger, this photo feels as though it is trying to create a calm story like image. Avedon may have approached the lighting layout completely different due to the facial features of Bernstein.

The layout is very relaxed and composed. Avedon’s main goal here could be a ‘biography’ series of images which would try to involve having a relaxed model to fit in with the life story persona they are trying to be involved in. Bernstein is positioned directly in the middle of the camera lens. This could possibly be used for the reader to feel engaged with Bernstein when reading about him. Avedon has gotten Bernstein to also position his arm so he can rest on it, this is possibly to create a more formal approach to the photoshoot. 

The lighting involved in this set up is sourced from the upper left hand side of Bernstein's face. This helps create subtle shadows which falls softly on Bernstein’s face unlike Avedon’s photo of Arnold Schwarzenegger where the shadows are harsh. This helps to create the overall calm and comforting character that Avedon was trying to achieve from the beginning.

Cate Blanchett by Annie Leibovitz

During this shoot with Blanchett, you can tell that Leibovitz as a photographer is very relaxed and doesn't have a controlling manner about her when it comes to taking photos. You can tell this due to the expressions Blanchett is using in the series of images. The photographs are based in a studio with the main objective being Vogue.

The layout of the photo is very relaxed with the frame being cut in close to take in more of the creativity coming form both Blanchett and Leibovitz. Compared to Avedon’s techniques, Leibovitz has gone for a more “you choose how you want to be photographed” approach. My reasoning behind this is because when you look at any other photographers work, they are a more staged/do this, do that technique which sometimes feels too put on for some people. Whereas, looking at Blanchett, you can tell that she's been advised to be funny/be you, that person you want others to see and not just another “actress”.

The lighting used in these photos are coming from up above Blanchett. This could possibly be due to the use of a beauty dish which helps the light fall naturally and create soft shadows cast on and around Blanchett.

Susan Sarandon by Annie Leibovitz 

This shot of Sarandon is possibly focussing more on the elegance and grace of being older in Hollywood. I have come to this conclusion because of how bare looking Sarandon is within the image. The comparison between this photo and the one of Blanchett is that this feels more like a sophisticated, formal but relaxed shoot where as, Blanchett’s would be more about creativity and showing off the true her.

The layout is very similar in both shoots with the actresses. A slight difference would be that Sarandon’s is a lot fuller in the sense that you see more of her upper body in the frame compared to Blanchett where your main focus of attention is up close and personal with the facial expressions where you can't look away from it. This helps link with the objective of capturing the grace and elegance of Sarandon who is in her seventies. Leibovitz has Sarandon set up in the middle of the camera frame but glancing off towards the back of her shoulder. This can be seen as a popular beauty/fashion pose which also helps in regards of capturing the elegance of the actress.

The lighting used in this photo is coming from the upper and central part of Sarandon’s face. This could be possibly due to the use of a beauty dish and/or the use of a soft box attachment which helps the light fall naturally and create soft shadows cast on and around Sarandon.

Jack Nicholson by David Bailey

With these two photos of Nicholson, you can sense that Bailey wanted to show two sides of Nicholson off. One side being approachable, calm and collected where as the other side is more funny, crazy and possibly scary if you are a younger person due to the expression used in the second photo. The series of photos were taken in studio and are based on a project by Bailey in 2012.

The layout of the image on the left hand side is your typical ‘actor type’ headshot. It is a very formal setting with Nicholson positioned in the middle of the frame. The lightning set up for this features a soft box source coming in from the right hand side of Nicholson’s face. This helps to soften the features on the face which compliments the type of photo Bailey was trying to achieve. 

The layout of the image on the right hand side is very much the same structure. The difference being that Bailey must have gotten Nicholson to speak or insult him during the shoot which has gotten this reaction. My reasoning behind this is because his mouth is open in a manner that looks as though he is shouting at or just simply talking to Bailey. What also points me to this conclusion is with the turn in his head, he is reacting as if he is forcing what he needs to say, out and so, appears as if he has been insulted or something similar to that. The lighting set up is still the same as the photo next to it with a soft box source to the right of his face and falling on all the lines creating a harsh and strong feature.

[muradokodon]

Sunglasses For Male

Making this experiment I did much more readable I put the entire job in one web page. While it's hard to maintain a precise period or reasons these sunglasses have actually expanded very popular, several media looks absolutely contributed to it. Celebs compatible as Kanye West and Britney Spears have actually been seen draining them during efficiencies. However, Everything about Vision advises this trick to purchasing goggles for evening snowboarding: try the safety glasses on in a dark area with a solitary light bulb on. Consider the light bulb with the safety glasses on. The set is not best for evening snowboarding if the light appears distorted or it is also challenging to see. These sunglasses had actually ended up being the following large thing particularly after Audrey Hepburn was spotted wearing them in the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's in 1961. In addition to the non-branded sunglasses, lots of leading fashion homes likewise release a collection of developer sunglasses. Due to the fact that not all sunglasses will look or really feel right when they are put on, having a slim face could be irritating. Nonetheless, it does not have to be so difficult. Sports Optics advises picking running sunglasses with One Hundred Percent UV security. You should think about just how much the sunglasses lens block unsafe ultraviolet light, and also just how much the fit of the structure obstructs the sunshine. Since exposure is a factor in night snowboarding, an antifogging lens is required. Wraparound sunglasses a functional choice, but they are not one of the most stylish selection for females. The GG represents Gucci as well as the 1827 or any kind of numbers in that situation state the version number whereas the'S' just means Sunglasses. Gucci's sunglasses do not come with an identification number much less like their various other items. Glasses generally come in 3 forms, the eye glasses or eyeglasses or the get in touch with lenses, which numerous have actually started using Online Optiker nowadays and also the sunglasses (shielding the eyes develop the warm effect of the sunlight in addition to worn for fashion). Obtain unchain suggestions on longitude to discharge Ray Ban co-pilot sunglasses for guys consisting of finding the best deals. I use glasses as well as am always trying to find good sunglasses as my eyes are extremely conscious light. As a result it is best to buy sunglasses that aid you protect among one of the most lovely organs of the body, the eyes. Sometimes they use the sunglasses to hide their determine, because their private life is unknown to public, yet paparazzi deeply appeals to the chatter of incredibly celebrities, they attempt every way to uncover stars on roads or other locations. There are likewise several benefits relating to exactly how you buy your sunglasses, I normally discover glasses on-line are more affordable and also just recently got some sunglasses from Vison Express, they have an actually great 'Virtual Uploader' application, merely submit an image of yourself & try out different versions prior to dedicating to acquire, actually valuable!