#Curiosity Questions

[jenuinelycurious]

I was wondering I know Leo is your favorite he’s mine too tbh love putting him through it. I was curious what’s your thoughts and opinions on Raph what’s your favorite iteration of him?

(sorry for the late response--gotta love training season at work pft)

Honestly, I love all the boys for individual reasons, and they're all my comfort characters depending on some situations (I've loved tmnt since I was a literal toddler, so I've grown up with them and often have moments of "what would they say in these moments" and it's helped me thru some things).

I have noticed that in my older adult years, I appreciate Leo more than I use to as a child because I 1) understand and level with many of the things he has gone thru in series/movies and 2) am also trying to find my own individual control in my life while trying to find tranquility and peace

WITH THAT!

Raphael:

So, I'm going to be honest about my history with his character for the first time:

I did go thru a time in my life that I had a hard time enjoying Raphael, because he was my mirror (87 and 03). Extremely sarcastic/sardonic, and passionate to the fault of becoming irrationally violent. My mom was very much like my Splinter, while my sister was like my Leonardo during this time. And as much as I didn't like myself, I also found it hard to love myself, which also caused me to find it hard to love and enjoy his character.

However, something happened. I joined weight training in high school. And I then realized why Raphael exercised so much, because it was super cathartic to my passionate emotions, good and bad. It was then that I started to feel the sparks of not only loving myself, but fully enjoying his character and no longer seeing him as my mirror.

I truly, honestly think from my own experiences that Raphael is a wonderful character to showcase that having intense emotions is not a bad thing. But having those strong emotions control you, instead of controlling where you point them at, is a very good lesson to not only learn but visually see in his character. He shows that relationships with family and friends might be complicated, individualism and all that, but loving those people shouldn't be hard. I have seen iterations where his passion flares up and he will respond irrationally without waiting and does something he can't take back (TLR) and I've also seen iterations where he struggles to truly understand the lesson that his passion is controlling him, not the other way around (2k12). And I've also seen iterations where he hides his passion behind sarcasm (87) or goes very hard on leaning his passion into the physical side (MM).

This might be an absolute hot take and unpopular opinion, idk, but I honestly greatly enjoy two versions of Raph: Bayverse Raphael and Rise Raphael. Mainly because in such short amount time, we see the entire package of his character in both of these.

Now, there are still iterations I haven't seen/read of him and his family that I do plan on watching/reading, so my enjoyment opinion options may change. We'll see.

This ended up being a lot longer than I anticipated, but I do hope I answered your curiosity :]

[inkskinned]

this is just my opinion but i think any good media needs obsession behind it. it needs passion, the kind of passion that's no longer "gentle scented candle" and is now "oh shit the house caught on fire". it needs a creator that's biting the floorboards and gnawing the story off their skin. creators are supposed to be wild animals. they are supposed to want to tell a story with the ferocity of eating a good stone fruit while standing over the sink. the same protective, strange instinct as being 7 and making mud potions in pink teacups: you gotta get weird with it.

good media needs unhinged, googling-at-midnight kind of energy. it needs "what kind of seams are invented on this planet" energy and "im just gonna trust the audience to roll with me about this" energy. it needs one person (at least) screaming into the void with so much drive and energy that it forces the story to be real.

sometimes people are baffled when fanfic has some stunning jaw-dropping tattoo-it-on-you lines. and i'm like - well, i don't go here, but that makes sense to me. of fucking course people who have this amount of passion are going to create something good. they moved from a place of genuine love and enjoyment.

so yeah, duh! saturday cartoons have banger lines. random street art is sometimes the most precious heart-wrenching shit you've ever seen. someone singing on tiktok ends up creating your next favorite song. youtubers are giving us 5 hours of carefully researched content. all of this is the impossible equation to latestage capitalism. like, you can't force something to be good. AI cannot make it good. no amount of focus-group testing or market research. what makes a story worth listening to is that someone cares so much about telling it - through dance, art, music, whatever it takes - that they are just a little unhinged about it.

one time my friend told me he stayed up all night researching how many ways there are to peel an orange. he wrote me a poem that made me cry on public transportation. the love came through it like pith, you know? the words all came apart in my hands. it tasted like breakfast.

[wickedzeevyln]

Smarten Up Mom and Dad!

Nurture your child's love for learning by fostering interactive reading experiences. Explore the importance of parental guidance in comprehending books, encouraging questions, and fostering a deeper understanding. Discover the joy of shared learning.

I grew up in an environment where as a child once you are handed a book you are supposed to read and become an embodiment of intelligence without taking into account whether you understand what you are reading or not. That is not how you grow appreciation for learning. While books are wonderful gifts, parents should understand that for this learning tool to do its job, it is their duty to find…

[hulloitsdani]

Everyone congratulate The Order on the adoption! Look at their new son!!!

[serpentface]

how do you come up with the ways cultures in your setting stylize people/animals/the world in general in their artwork, i.e. jewlery, rock carvings, statues, etc? Each culture in your world seems to have a very unique "art style" and I love it a lot - makes them seem that much more 'real'. This is something I struggle with a lot in my own worldbuilding and I'd love to pick your brain if possible 😁

I think a starting point is to have a research process based in the material realities of the culture you're designing for. Ask yourself questions like:

Where do they live? What's the climate/ecosystem(s) they are based in? What geographic features are present/absent?

What is their main subsistence method? (hunter gatherer, seasonal pastoralist, nomadic pastoralist, settled agriculturalist, a mix, etc)

What access to broader trade networks do they have and to whom? Are there foreign materials that will be easily accessible in trade and common in use, or valuable trade materials used sparingly in limited capacities?

Etc

And then do some research based on the answers, in order to get a sense of what materials they would have routine access to (ie dyes, metal, textiles, etc) and other possible variables that would shape how the art is made and what it's used for. This is just a foundational step and won't likely play much into designing a Style.

If you narrow these questions down very specifically, (ie in the context of the Korya post- grassland based mounted nomads, pastoralist and hunter-gatherer subsistence, access to wider trade networks and metals), you can direct your research to specific real world instances that fit this general idea. This is not to lift culturally specific concepts from the real world and slap them into your own setting, but to notice commonalities this lifestyle enforces - (ie in the previous example- mounted nomadic peoples are highly mobile and need to easily carry their wealth (often on clothing and tack) therefore small, elaborate decorative artwork that can easily be carried from place to place is a very likely feature)

For the details of the art itself, I come up with loose 'style guides' (usually just in my head) and go from there.

Here's some example questions for forming a style (some are more baseline than others)

Are geometric patterns favored? Organic patterns? Representative patterns (flowers, animals, stars, etc)? Abstract patterns?

Is there favored material(s)? Beads, bone, clay, metals, stones, etc.

When depicting people/animals, is realism favored? Heavy stylization? The emotional impression of an animal? Are key features accentuated?

How perspective typically executed? Does art attempt to capture 3d depth? Does it favor showing the whole body in 2 dimensions (ie much of Ancient Egyptian art, with the body shown in a mix of profile and forward facing perspective so all key attributes are shown)? Will limbs overlap? Are bodies shown static? In motion?

Does artwork of people attempt to beautify them? Does it favor the culture's conception of the ideal body?

Are there common visual motifs? Important symbols? Key subject matters?

What is the art used for? Are its functions aesthetic, tutelary, spiritual, magical? (Will often exist in combination, or have different examples for each purpose)

Who is represented? Is there interest in everyday people? Does art focus on glorifying warriors, heroes, kings?

Are there conventions for representing important figures? (IE gods/kings/etc being depicted larger than culturally lesser subjects)

Is there visual shorthand to depict objects/concepts that are difficult to execute with clarity (the sun, moon, water), or are invisible (wind, the soul), or have no physical component (speech)?

Etc

Deciding on answers to any of these questions will at least give you a unique baseline, and you can fill in the rest of the gaps and specify a style further until it is distinct. Many of these questions are not mutually exclusive, both in the sense of elements being combined (patterns with both geometric and organic elements) or a culture having multiple visual styles (3d art objects having unique features, religious artwork having its own conventions, etc).

Also when you're getting in depth, you should have cultural syncretism in mind. Cultures that routinely interact (whether this interaction is exchange or exploitation) inevitably exchange ideas, which can be especially visible in art. Doing research on how this synthesizing of ideas works in practice is very helpful- what is adopted or left out from an external influence, what is retained from an internal influence, what is unique to this synthesis, AND WHY. (I find Greco-Buddhist art really interesting, that's one of many such examples)

Looking at real world examples that fit your parameters can be helpful (ie if I've decided on geometric patterns in my 'style guide', I'll look at actual geometric patterns). And I strongly encourage trying to actually LEARN about what you're seeing. All art exists in a context, and having an understanding of how the context shapes art, how art does and doesn't relate to broader aspects of a society, etc, can help you when synthesizing your own.

[saturdaysky]

a little divine appreciation

-

God Gale is endgame for Mayhew, and Mayhew couldn't be more pleased 😌

their mutual wizard disease brought them to some pretty low lows, but hey, ignore the tragedy, they're gods now! first order of business is a little worshiping at the altar 😏

Here's the sketch, which I also like:

Got majorly inspired by these lovely photos, one of which I used as a pose reference.

[thatsbelievable]

[casualavocados]

I actually think it's more complicated than that. I think, if bad people think it's bad, then, maybe it's good.

HIS DARK MATERIALS 2.01 | The City Of Magpies

[ottiliere]

hey! I've spent the last year working on a book with my buddy lindsay dane @myskyperevenge that we're getting ready to start sharing publicly. it's about (emotional parasitism? psychic parasitism? and LOVE of course..I think you guys have a general idea about what to expect from me in terms of subject matter haha, so maybe the less i specify the better.). pdfs of the first chapter wil1 be up for free sometime next month. in the meantime, have you heard that 8tracks is working again? here are playlists for the two lead characters. a bit premature maybe, but I'm really excited to share this with you!

lynn's playlist: 8tracks | youtube

cam's playlist: 8tracks | youtube

[sensarna]

OK, I'm calling it now

His stupid redhead ass is going to lose an eye and then use the artifact as a prosthetic

And not because Magnus lost/sold his eye, but because Markus is unlucky/lucky enough that it might as well happen

[electropylon]

fiction books owned by David Lynch, currently up for auction

Player Piano - Vonnegut / A Spy in the House of Love - Nin / Atlas Shrugged - Rand / The Moon is Down - Steinbeck / The Kalevala / Selected Tales - Grimm / Strange Pilgrims - Garcia Marquez / Siddhartha - Hesse / The Complete Stories - Kafka / Lolita: A Screenplay - Nabokov / Kafka on the Shore - Murakami / The Maltese Falcon - Hammett / The Universe, and Other Fictions - West / A River Runs Through It - Maclean / 映画の乳首、絵画の腓 (Nipples in Film, Calves in Paintings) - Takimoto / Vulgar Remedies - Journey / Ladies and Gentlemen - Ross / Zibaldone - Leopardi / Pulp - Bukowski / The Quiet Sound of DISAPPEARING - Rayston / Selected Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke - Rilke / The Long Division - Nikitas

The Painted Bird - Kosinski / The Trial - Kafka / ? / Metamorphoses - Ovid / Forgiving the Angel - Cantor / Port Tropique - Gifford / The Lady in the Lake - Chandler / Elephant Bangs Train - Kotzwinkle / The Metamorphoses, The Penal Colony, and Other Stories - Kafka / The Up-Down - Gifford / Writers - Gifford / The Cry of the Owl - Highsmith / The Enlightened Heart - Mitchell / The Oreseia - Aeschylus / See A Grown Man Cry - Rollins / Now Watch Him Die - Rollins / Bad Dirt - Proulx / The Ring - Wagner / Juve in the Dock - Allain / The Catcher in the Rye - Salinger

? / Unknown Unknowns, An Introduction To Mysteries - 23rd Triennale Milano (Exhibition Catalogue) / Cellar Door - Greaud / Peter Pan - Barrie / That Motel Weekend - Donner / The Crying of Lot 49 - Pynchon / The Killer Inside Me - Thompson / The Sisters Brothers - DeWitt / Oh God, The Sun Goes - Connor / Domu: A Child’s Dream - Otome / The Toxic Cloud - Brown / The Atheist Wore Goat Silk - Journey / Lost in Mongolia - Friend / Behold a Pale Horse - Cooper / One-Eyed Jacks - Smith / The Librarianist - DeWitt / Consumed - Cronenberg / Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe - Chandler / The Complete Works of William Shakespeare - Shakespeare

if you want to look at the nonfiction (wellness, meditation, art & design, pinups etc) the link is here

[happyheidi]

How many followers do you have Heidi?

More than enough ❤️

I think it’s important to remember that the number of followers you have don’t define your worth or the value of your content!

Ppl should focus on creating and sharing content that resonates with their target audience/community, rather than get caught up in the numbers. ♡

[mariana-oconnor]

A question that has always intrigued me

If you want to reblog so I can get a wider sample size, I'd be most grateful.

[paingoes]

questions for conditioned characters

A) do they know what conditioning is? B) do they understand that they've been conditioned? C) how does this understanding, or lack thereof, affect their perception of themselves?

[dexterkronos]

Why MothJohn when OwlJohn?

Okay so like being serious here; what's with everyone assigning Monster Johnathan Sims into being a Moth? Why can't he be an owl?

This has bugged me an inordinate amount and in true Eye Lady fashion, I'm gonna try to prove my propaganda ideation has merit (and also unravel this bloody mess).

--------------------------------------

Please help me unravel this with your own theories/responses/knowledge this is critical for my AO3 Magnus x (OwnSeries) AU

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Points for OwlJohn:

Owl symbolism in the Magnus Institute's logo

Owls (mainly the Little Owl) are associated with the Greek Goddess Athena (Goddess of Wisdom, Warfare and Handicrafts), and the Eye is a Wisdom-based Entity fragment.

Being an Owl (Athena) puts them at odds with Spider (Arachne), thus being reflective of the Eye (Watching) and Web (Acting) mindsets.

Harpy John! Like, hello???? Bird wings??? Being a big floofy owl creature like Eda Clawthorne from The Owl House????

Owls blink super quickly so like, metaphor for not being able to close eyes?

Points for MothJohn (so far)

Mentions of a 'chrysalis' in MAG 162

Death's-head Hawkmoths are apparently tied to supernatural/evil things?????? [Source: Wikipedia..? (i cant remember)]

Moths apparently represent transformation and rebirth??? [Source: some website labelled the "Tarrant Country College" idk i took a cursory glance]

Quote about being between a moth and a pilgrim [MAG 164..?] (Courtesy of @cirrus-grey )

Moths can have eyes on their wings to scare off predators (Courtesy of @nonbinarytoast)

If I've missed anything, please tell me because I'm genuinely curious for the sake of the Magnus-(Own Series) AU I'm cooking on AO3.

Might even try cooking a MothJohn vs OwlJohn propo image, or use one of my Archivist OCs for the Magnus-(OwnSeries) AU. Or both. Or all three.

(Also yes I know about Sphinx!Jonn and Dragon!John variations but there's no. bloody. owls.)

[drowned-cypress]

“Do you mind if I play some music?” Robin asked, shuffling through her PDA.

“What is music?” Al-An asked.

Robin had to stop and think about that one. “It’s… a form of expression,” she answered, setting the PDA aside.

“Expression?”

“Communication. Art,” Robin clarified. “Music is a combination of sounds using rhythm or harmony or melody or words, or some combination of those, which attempts to communicate complex or elusive ideas and emotions.”

“Is this not already a function of your system of language?”

“Well, yes, but music isn’t nearly so precise, and there’s an aesthetic component to it as well.”

“If it is not precise, why utilize it?”

Robin frowned. “The value of music isn’t in its utility. Music is often very beautiful, though not always. Usually music is just… more visceral than language. We experience it on an emotional level.”

“It is instinctual?”

Robin opened her mouth, then shut it again. Oh. Al-An wanted an explanation from a biological standpoint. “There is evidence of a biological basis for music. There have been arguments that it was an adaptive trait for our ancestors–a means of social cohesion when living in large groups, to convey and regulate emotions. It’s a kind of communication that’s thought to be older than language. Some research suggests that language evolved from music.”

“I would be interested to hear an example.”

Robin shrugged and scrolled through her PDA’s menu system to put on one of her favorite songs. It was a mostly instrumental piece, but it had choral accompaniment. She always felt like it conveyed triumph in adversity and a kind of breathless elation, the joy of success. It made her feel like she was flying. She closed her eyes and listened. There was one part of the song that never failed to give her chills.

“I believe I understand,” Al-An commented once the song faded to silence. “It has an impact on your pulse and breathing. It makes you move differently. This response could come from a kind of synesthesia endemic to your species, connoting combinations of sound frequencies with specific emotions in your brain’s emotional centers.”

Robin fidgeted with her PDA as she thought about that. He had apparently been observing her reaction as much as he had been listening to the music. “You’re probably not wrong, but the experience isn’t universal. The emotional responses people have to specific pieces of music depend on the kind of music they’ve been exposed to in the past, especially during their developmental years. It’s like language in that respect: a learned social behavior. Also, musicality isn’t limited to just humans. Plenty of other animals enjoy, and even make music. For example, there are many species of bird native to Earth that produce complex melodies as part of their calls.”

“My people have encountered species with complex vocal calls before. We have determined that those calls often elicit an emotional response in other members of the species.”

Robin nodded. “Exactly. Humans are not unique in that respect.”

“So music is the vocal call of humans?”

Robin hesitated. “We don’t really think about it like that, but you wouldn’t exactly be wrong to interpret it that way. Music can serve some of the same evolutionary functions as animal calls. Though, while humans are incredible vocal mimics, we use instruments as well as our voices to make music. These days though, music is mostly viewed as entertainment.” Robin paused before asking, “Does your species have a call? Even if you don’t use it anymore, I’d be interested to know more about the evolutionary origins of your species.”

There was quiet as Al-An gave the question some thought. “No, we do not have a vocal call,” he finally said. “We did not evolve a biological means of creating complex vocalizations. However, before we evolved telepathy, our ancestors first expressed emotions through bioluminescence.”

Robin’s eyes widened. “I would like to see that. That sounds amazing. Do you still have bioluminescence? Do you make visual displays with it as an art form?”

“Yes, we have kept the bioluminescence, but while we can control it to a small degree, it is largely an involuntary part of what you would likely call our limbic system.”

“Ah, so more like body language.”

“That is accurate.”

There was a long moment of quiet between them as Robin thought about what Al-An had said. “Didn’t you describe the network as a kind of harmony of strings?”

“Ah. Yes, but in a metaphorical sense. I had not realized your species utilized harmonies.”

“But you understand the concept of harmony? That’s a musical concept.”

“It is a known phenomenon. My people find the mathematics of sympathetic resonance to be aesthetically pleasing.”

Robin blinked. They found the mathematics to be aesthetically pleasing, but they held no opinion on the actual sound? She supposed that explained why he didn’t really understand music. Or perhaps they did have their own music, but it was unrecognizable in comparison to what she had played. “But why use that metaphor?”

“It is…” Al-An made an inarticulate, frustrated noise. “Trying to describe the sensation of the network to you is trying to describe a sensory experience you have never had using a communication method that is imprecise and inadequate for the task. Your language does not contain a word for the sensation because no human has experienced it. The best I can do is use one of your own senses as metaphor. It is like describing your tactile ability to detect vibrations as similar to your ability to sense temperature. They may be somewhat similar, and serve similar functions, but are by no means the same.”

“Ah, so the network doesn’t sound like literal strings.”

“No, it does not sound like anything at all. But as a metaphor for the network, the concept of harmony is appealing. Each individual has their own frequency, and when grouped properly, interactions may produce resonance. Your sense of hearing also works better as a metaphor than any other sense you possess, because humans communicate primarily through hearing.”

Robin chewed her lip, thinking. The picture he painted of his species was very alien: they didn’t produce complex sounds, and communicated through telepathy and bioluminescence. It sounded fascinating, but she didn’t want their differences to become a wall between them. “Will you still be able to communicate with me once you get your own body?”

“You need not worry.” Al-An’s usual monotone carried a softness Robin was not used to hearing. He was getting better at picking up on her emotions. “Even if I could not calibrate my telepathy to a frequency you are able to receive, I would still be able to produce sounds in your range of hearing through my cybernetic components.”

Robin smiled. “Want to hear more music?” she asked, changing the subject.

“Yes,” Al-An replied with a kind of eagerness that made Robin’s smile widen. “Please, proceed.”