#Go forth and conquer little text post

[arthurfoxy]

My friend’s great-great-whatever grandmother was a woman living by herself on a farm in the early 1800s. One night she noticed some noise coming from her cellar, so she took out the chainsaw and parked herself next to the door, which was kind of like a trap door. As two men poked their heads up, she cut them off with her chainsaw. Like whack-a-mole but waaaaay more violent. She is my icon.

[most-tragic-character-tournament]

About to sign off, but before we go, @pokeninjager-ghost-art has organized a discord server for Antigone fans/Greek lits and Ninjago/Lloyd fans to hang out and have watchparties! I’ll mostly just be lurking, but here it is if anyone would like to join. It’s about 95% complete; full membership will take a little time to grant for each person, but we wanted to post it here when we still had the chance. Go forth and conquer in the name of our queen and king!

[santaclausdeadindian]

Ah, a communist, charming...

uhm...

"boycott china in general"

that is your gotcha, me being hypocritical, lol?

btw, if you would scour my posts a little harder, you probably could find me doing that in a post or two

you might be surprised by this, I have seen people here having problem with the concept of a linear timeline and people changing opinions and attitudes about stuff they learn more about or getting exposed to

in short, while I always saw those three as great evils, their rankings have shifted in the last few years

I was not crying crocodile tears over the genocide, nor do I question it, I merely pointed out to commies like you that it is indeed happening.

I do not care at all, anymore.

In fact, I rank communism as a lesser evil now, not that its less evil, mostly on account that it will inevitably collapse anyway, while islam as the most successful death-cult in history, seems to be the greatest threat to everything else. Communism will not last in china forever, one day they will overthrow the regime or it will collapse under its own weight. In the long run, they will be fine.

You do have a point technically, in those two example you brought up, Sudan is mostly muslim against black muslim, yes, should have put it that way, but they do genocide the very few remaining christians, but sure, that is more on a racial level, because, surprise, islam is also racist as shit, and the arabs in particular are extremely racist, like hold my beer china racist. So I was inaccurate about the primary target of the muslims who are committing the genocide. As per usual.

On the other hand, the ethiopian conflict (I mean this latest one) is against the tigray people to my knowledge and those are christian while the PM is called Abiy Ahmed and is an Oromo, who are muslim majority... I did turn out to be wrong, he is pentecostal, so this one can go to you, I suppose, not that it really make a dent in my overall point that

islam is genocidal, always have been and always will be.

And I have no problem saying that India is doing the same (actually, they do not to the same degree, but are on the trajectory).

So what? Hinduism is also horrid, but unlike the aforementioned evil ideologies, they never really bothered anyone, other than their fellow indians with it. Like literally, India is the one civilization that just sat on their asses for millennia, did they ever went forth to conquer? Not to my knowledge.

They also tend to integrate reasonably well into western societies and apart from some mildly annoying to gross stuff they do on occasion, they pose no problem in my experience. The other three are outright in opposition with it.

So in short, you made no point with this.

And to the final point in this Gaza nonsense. It is not a genocide.

They send texts to every phone in the areas they are about to attack. How the fuck is it their fault that Hamas uses meat shield tactics? Also, why the fuck would I take Hamas by its word? I do acknowledge, that Israel does a lot of evil shit. Happy?

To be perfectly honest, I do think judaism is also has a shitton of fucked up and evil shit in it. There is also like what, 20 million of them? yeah, they do have a ridiculously oversized influence and yes it is a huge problem, but not on the same scale and they also tend to be problems that can be solved legislatively, even if it is hard, because of the aforementioned influence and I do kinda had the notion lately that at least some jews are very much fine with flooding Europe with the dregs of the shittiest societies available, but knowing full well that it is gonna be biting them in the ass, hell, it already does, I just dont see that as anything else, than the usual brain melt that has been plaguing the west.

hope this cleared it up for you, buddy

AHEAD OF THE United Nations Security Council action to consider the Palestinian Authority’s application to become a full member of the international body, the United States is lobbying nations to reject such membership, hoping to avoid an overt “veto” by Washington. The lobbying effort, revealed in copies of unclassified State Department cables obtained by The Intercept, is at odds with the Biden administration’s pledge to fully support a two-state solution. In 2012, the U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution granting Palestine the status of a non-member observer state. The diplomatic cables detail pressure being applied to members of the Security Council, including Malta, the rotating president of the council this month. Ecuador in particular is being asked to lobby Malta and other nations, including France, to oppose U.N. recognition. The State Department’s justification is that normalizing relations between Israel and Arab states is the fastest and most effective way to achieve an enduring and productive statehood. While clarifying that President Joe Biden has worked vigorously to support “Palestinian aspirations for statehood” within the context “of a comprehensive peace that would resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” a diplomatic cable dated April 12 details U.S. talking points against a U.N. vote for Palestinian statehood. The cable says that Security Council members must be persuaded to reject any proposal for Palestinian statehood — and thereby its recognition as a sovereign nation — before the council’s open debate on the Middle East, scheduled for April 18. “It remains the U.S. view that the most expeditious path toward a political horizon for the Palestinian people is in the context of a normalization agreement between Israel and its neighbors,” the cable reads. “We believe this approach can tangibly advance Palestinian goals in a meaningful and enduring way.” “We therefore urge you not to support any potential Security Council resolution recommending the admission of ‘Palestine’ as a U.N. member state, should such a resolution be presented to the Security Council for a decision in the coming days and weeks.”

[probably-haven]

Hello!

So I’m the anon who asked for more Archon War Venti headcanons and I just loved it! I really like reading your headcanons cuz some of them are similar to mine but mostly are headcanons that I didn’t think of so it really is nice to read and see your thoughts about Venti!

I feel like as if I’m asking too much but could you keep doing these types of headcanons? Like it doesn’t have to be Archon War headcanons but like some headcanons about Venti’s relationship with the Ragnvindrs and Gunnhildrs. Because the first Gunnhildr was the first one who prayed to Barbatos and the first Ragnvindr was his friend who left but came back and I really wanna hear your thoughts on that!

And I’ve decided to get off anon cuz you just replied to my texts and I wasn’t expecting that so I’ve got a short confidence boost that I am completely taking advantage of! And thanks for the advice! or uhh comment? observation? I’m not entirely sure but thank you for that! I’ve heard that be said to me a few times and I have been trying to be more, uhh, assertive so thanks for that!

rfouierjkhfkecs i actually came across information on Gunnhildr and the "Red-haired warrior" yesterday when i was doing more research into the rebellion against Decarabian and I was like "wow this would be really fucking fun to research and theorize on, but its too specific/niche to include unprompted no matter how much i want to" but bestie you prompted, and im literally so happy right now because I didn't think I'd ever really get the chance to post about them!

also lmao yeah, i tend to try and reply to as much as I can, since it's a good feeling when someone does and all. but yeah, no problem! I’m glad you felt confident enough to reveal XD. 

This may be structured a bit more like analysis/theory/just citing canon things at first before it gets into a more headcanony format.

ehe i have so much free reign on this it's lovely

More Archon War Era Venti: one two three

spoilers for Venti's backstory and Diluc's(kinda, i think, just in case)

first things first, laying down some canon background because before yesterday i hadn't heard of either of them outside of that one cutscene.

the very reason Decarabian had his storm wall up in the first place was because at the time Andrius had declared war on him- and his tower, and the city of Mondstadt by extent, were basically constantly under attack by Andrius's blizzards, which since he was still alive back then, were a lot bigger and covered basically what seems to be the whole of Mondstadt outside the barrier.

This meant that people had two options. Live in the city under Decarabian's oppression, or live outside the barrier, and brave the blizzards of a warring god... which was not a good idea

but the Gunnhildr clan(not yet called that) tried- and they almost died because of it. In the midst of a blizzard, the clan chief's daughter, named Gunnhildr(which the clan would be named after later) sent out a prayer that was heard by a wandering wind spirit. And the faith of that prayer gave the spirit enough power to create a small shelter to protect them.

When her father past, she became the new leader and also a priestess. She would later lead the clan to fight Decarabian alongside four others. And basically the Gunnhildr Clan ended up as like sworn protectors of Mondstadt

-

as for the red-haired warrior, who is basically assumed to be the earliest known ancestor of the Ragnvindir clan(im gonna refer to as Ragnvindir for convenience sake, even though "Ragnvindir" is technically a different character from Vanessa's era)theres not much information on him, but heres what i have from the various wiki's

- he was a wanderer

- one of the first to use the sign of windblume to find other rebels(so he's intelligent)

- actively propped up the nameless bard so he could watch as the tower was destroyed

there's this little tidbit too from the Windblume Ode bow's description that im probably gonna talk about a considerable amount too: "Atop the ruins of the ancient tower, amidst the cheers, songs, and tears of those who had newly won their freedom. A red-haired warrior turned his back on the newborn god, hidden like a single raindrop in a tidal wave of humanity. He was first among those who passed the secret sign of Windblume, the one who wove threads of dawn throughout the long night. His name has since been lost to time, but his deeds are still remembered in song." followed later by "The fate of this clan will likely never change: they shall ever live in the darkness and bring forth the flame of dawn."

-

Now I'm going to start with the Ragnvindir(geez, why's it spelled like that tho)

My idea of his character is basically formed by a mix of Ragnvindir stereotypes and just generally analyzing text.

So what do we know about Ragnvindir's for sure? they are shady motherfuckers- or at least they rarely operate in the spotlight. also damn, these guys are more cursed than anemo vision wielders- like the only one who didn't canonically lose someone close to them was Crepus, but considering that Diluc doesn't exactly have a mom..... he probably did

so what do we know? - he was close with the nameless bard - he was intelligent - he likely operated primarily from the shadows "ever living in the darkness" - he was a wanderer - he abandoned Venti during the celebration - but his deeds were still remembered in song, so Venti and him were likely still close

now the question of the century: how will i choose to interpret "turned his back on the newborn god"? And honestly, I'm- not sure- at first i assumed he abandoned him completely- but Venti did still make sure to carry on his memory- which could just be Venti being Venti, but for the sake of sanity, this is how I'm interpreting it.

A lot of things happened to the Ragnvindir that day. He lost a friend, saw another become a god to replace the one they had conquered, and he saw his goal, his reason for being in Mondstadt, come to fruition. "see the world through my eyes" the bard had said, and the Ragnvindir had been a wanderer even before. Sure, the people had won freedom, and that was to be celebrated, but he's intelligent to recognize that people would likely see him as one of the key figures in leading the rebellion. And for him this was a solemn time, and ending to a chapter, and not being one to operate in the spotlight, the last thing he'd want is to be swept up in festivities and attention at a time like this.

It also likely didn't help that he's probably smart enough to understand the idea of "power corrupts," and seeing the wind sprite just readily accept the mantle of Archon was likely not the most comforting thing to happen in the given situation after all. But Decarabian was gone, and Andrius had ceased his blizzards, so without a word, he slipped into the crowd and left, a wanderer once more.

-

now back to Gunnhildr

she was the first to receive an anemo vision from Barbatos, no I do not take criticism on this "the power bestowed on her by Barbatos" like please, they basically said it.

It also mentions that she crowned Venti with laurels(symbol of vistory) after the battle- the book Biography of Gunnhildr additionally says "the Gunnhildr Clan will continue honoring the legacy of its ancestors and its duty to the Anemo Archon: to protect Mondstadt, the land and all who inhabit it, forever."

I really like this because it conveniently ties into my past headcanon about Venti granting visions to the people of Mondstadt and having them be the ones to erect wind barriers and defend the city in his absence.

So in the Archon War I like to imagine that the Gunnhildr clan had a lot of people who were actually granted visions and were basically in charge of protecting it from those who would attempt to ambush them.

Mondstadt essentially became known for this- the fact that the mortals within it were strong enough to fend off the force of a god without support from their own.

but regardless, Gunnhildr, as she had before, served as a priestess to Barbatos, the closest thing that Mondstadt had to a ruler, and yet she only took charge of prayer and protection.... i hate to just- equate them to their descendants- but to an extent- her role was kind of like a merge between Jean and Barbara- Except with a whole lot less structure.... i really dont want their characters to just be carbon copies of the descendants but- c'mon, the comparison was right there.

anyways besties- back to Venti so i can tie them in

The Archon War was one of the worst times for Venti in his entire life thus far. And the time immediately after Decarbian's fall, while Gunnhildr and the Ragnvindir were still alive, was the key period of time in which things could have gone very differently.

Venti is the god of freedom. That's a reoccurring theme and I think I've made that abundantly clear. But during this time, Venti was anything but free.

I've mentioned before how he would stay far from the city of Mondstadt so the shockwave of his death wouldn't reach him, should he fall.... well- Venti is new to a lot of things- godhood- humanity- war- freedom- and at this point he was trying hard to figure out how to be Mondstadt's god without becoming Decarabian, and while still being able to survive, and make sure they survived, and see the world for his friend, and carry on his friends legacy.

And this is a lot of stuff for what was once a carefree elemental being, and there were certain things that had to be done for this to happen. He couldn't just stay in Mondstadt, or he would grow weak and his people would be vulnerable to attack, but he couldn't abandon it, because despite being able to fend for themselves, there's always hat just in case. He couldn't stay in any one place outside of Mondstadt for very long or he'd be found and killed. He knew in order for Mondstadt to survive he would have to take an active role in the war, strengthen himself so he could defend Mondstadt, and thats exactly what he did.

He started by going after the less powerful gods, ones he had a chance at beating with the power he got from the Gunnhildr clan and the rest of Mond, and by wiping them out, he would grow stronger, so he kept it up- working his way up the metaphorical ladder.

but he couldn't let anyone near him either, because he knew just what would happen if he was attacked then. Were it not for Gunnhildr's prayer, the early years of the Archon War would have been without contest the loneliest time of his life, and there would be nothing he could do about it, bound by survival and his attachment to the legacy of his friend, constantly fearing for his life and going against his very nature as the god of freedom. Frankly thrust into that circumstance that early on, and having to face it alone, it's likely that Venti would have caved under the pressure and dropped his attachment to either his survival, or to his friends legacy... or just something entirely worse(isolation messes with brains) so I'm attributing the fact that he didn't do that to Gunnhildr's companionship, speaking to him and guiding him through it as he had guided her through the blizzard some time ago.

I also like to think that she's responsible for founding at least a number of the different celebrations that still happen in Mondstadt even now.

Ugh supportive warrior priestess- we stan

anyway meanwhile! we got the Ragnvindir

He hears about Venti taking part in the Archon war during his wanderings and returns to Mondstadt to check in, wary of what he might find.

Venti, who hadn't seen him since the rebellion, is elated to say the least and they do a bit of catching up because they need it

and then the conversation turns more serious, and the Ragnvindir brings up a third thing that Venti needs to hold onto- his humanity.

See, in the early years, just desperate to get a foothold on the world, Venti's first number of targets were just indiscriminately going after those he knew to be weaker than him, and the Ragnvindir points this out, saying that while it's not necessarily bad, if he keeps doing it, it won't be long until he causes his and, by extent, Mondstadt's legacy to be tainted by a reputation for slaughter, no better than any of the other bloodthirsty gods that frequented the war's fields. "Think of what the bard would do, we were both close enough to do that much"

And Venti becomes yet more caged, but recognizes that he's right, and this is another turning point, that in the coming years would keep Venti from losing himself.

also- Gunnhildr, Venti having told her about the Ragnvindir's concerns that he now shared, probably organized some kind of event (not unlike the right of part, but also, yes unlike it) that was deliberately intended and designs to serve as an excuse that Venti could chose to take to visit Mondstadt, something she know he desperately wanted to do, but wouldn't allow himself for fear of putting them in danger. But if she made it an official celebration, then it would give Venti the opportunity to visit his people again, under the guise of it being a responsibility, not having to deal with the moral implications of doing so at a time when he was already dealing with enough of those already.

Also on his travels, the Ragnvindir probably started and spread a number of rumors that could end up working in Venti's favor, not that anyone ever knew it was him of course.

basically Gunnhildr protected the people of Mondstadt and did all she could to keep everyone in as high spirits as possible, Venti included.

And as for the Ragnvindir, he took a more realistic approach, traveling and getting venti followers in far places, spreading false information about him, and just overall making sure that Venti didn't do things he'd regret.

And when they died, Venti would carry their legacy with him as well, not losing his humanity to the tide of war as he very nearly had(though he still often came close), and trying to spreading high spirits where ever he could without fail.

[tlbodine]

Reverse-Outlining Revision Method with Plottr

So in my editing guide, I give a step-by-step method for structural editing that I find really useful, and I wanted to do a visual follow-up to kind of show what that process looks like. I’m using Plottr for this, because I was gifted a copy of the software in exchange for them using my horror-writing beat-sheet as one of the templates, but you could just as easily do this with Scrivener, scrap paper, or any other organizational system you like. 

Whether you’re a fellow pantser who struggles with story structure (hi!) or you’re an outliner who needs to make sure your draft matches up to your vision (or the second draft has a good structure), this will work for you! 

Step One: Write a one-sentence log-line of the story + jot down the major themes 

There’s space for this in Plottr. I’m doing Neverest.

Premise: A woman’s search for her missing husband’s body on Mount Everest sends her into the grip of ancient forces that don’t want her to leave. 

Themes: Putting your name on something doesn't make it yours; colonialism and the urge to conquer and codify; relationships as a form of control and change vs understanding

You’ll also want to write a one-page overview summary of the story, similar to what you’d put in a query letter. Here’s mine: 

One year ago, Sean Miller -- journalist and mountain climbing enthusiast -- reached the summit of Mt. Everest, and was never seen again. Unable to move on without knowing the truth of what happened, his wife Carrie flies to Nepal to meet with Sean’s best friend and former climbing partner, Tom. They assemble a small crew and begin an expedition up the peak in search of Sean’s body and a better understanding of what might have happened in his final days.

Guided by a travel journal left behind from her husband's expedition, Carrie ventures into the frozen, open-air graveyard of the world's tallest peak. But as Sean’s diary and Carrie’s experiences reveal, climbing the mountain is more than a test of endurance; it’s a battle of wills with an ancient and hostile force protecting the mountain — and the dead do not rest easy at the summit.

Doing this helps you to identify the core elements of your story -- the characters, the conflict, and the stakes. You should be able to answer the questions: who is the main character, what do they want, what’s stopping them, what happens if they succeed/fail. 

In this case: 

The main character is Carrie, the wife of a journalist who disappeared while summiting Mt. Everest (character) 

She wants to find his body and get closure about his death/understand how and why he died (what does she want)

But there are supernatural forces at work that led to his death and now have the same in store for her (conflict/stakes) 

Step Two: List out every scene in the book 

Plottr is an outlining software, so it makes this step really easy (and conveniently color-codes things for me at the same time!). There are multiple views this can take, but this one screenshots well so I used this one for the example. 

Basically what you want to do is write down everything that happens, scene by scene. You can color-code them however you want -- in my case, I have three narrative threads, so I made a timeline for each one. Then I just mapped out all the scenes -- across 24 chapters, each dot is a scene, and you can see that some chapters have multiple scenes and also that the primary and secondary plot alternate chapters. 

When you look at it this way, you can tell really clearly that the tertiary plot needs some work -- it’s only there for four scenes in the first third of the story. I either need to cut it completely and incorporate any essential information into the other plots, or I need to expand it. 

In this particular case, I decided to expand because 1.) my word count is low, and I’d like to fill in more story and 2.) a big theme I want to explore in the story is what it’s like to love someone who’s deeply passionate about something you don’t understand -- so this tertiary plot is a great place to explore that and fill in more characterization that should add some depth to the primary and secondary stories. 

I can also see at a glance that I have a variable number of scenes in each chapter. Sometimes that makes sense (the green ones are diary entries, so it’s logical that one chapter = one entry) but sometimes it hints that those chapters could be a little thin and need more content. If I’m looking to add additional conflict, I should do it in those blue chapters that only have one dot as opposed to the ones with multiple dots! 

Step Three: Look at the overall shape and adjust for pacing and genre

Plottr has a bunch of templates pre-loaded into it that make this easy, but you can also just google various different story structures and beat sheets such as Save the Cat or the 3 Act Structure etc. But just look at the overall map of story beats and see how they line up with the outline you’ve made: 

This is just a small snapshot view, but you get the idea -- when you look at the scenes side-by-side with the beat sheet, you can see some things. For example, it sure would make more sense if the flashback scene where Carrie decides to embark on this journey got its own chapter and lined up better with the “putting the players in action” plot point rather than being smooshed into the first chapter with the introduction to the world! The fact that I’ve got it smashed into that first chapter is probably a sign that my opening scenes/chapter itself is a bit thin and needs to be fleshed out a little more. 

Step Four: Figure out what you need to adjust and make the changes accordingly 

So after looking at everything mapped out this way, I’ve got a little list of things I need to do: 

Come up with more scenes for that red plotline

Rearrange some things a little bit to better fit the structure I want

Figure out some more blue scenes to fill in the gaps caused by rearranging things and smooth over the pacing/amp up the conflict/alleviate some areas where critique partners hae expressed confusion

I also moved around the categories in Plottr (you can drag-and-drop storylines and chapters) to make it a bit easier to see everything all at once. Basically you can edit the story’s outline first, to save you the confusion of manually moving around whole paragraphs/chapters in your actual story document. 

Now, I haven’t finished that step yet for this particular project (there’s a lot of brainstorming to do re: filling in those gaps!) BUT I did want to skip ahead to show you the next step (let’s pretend this is a TV cooking show where the finished pie is pulled right out of the oven). 

Step Five: Re-Type everything based on your new scene list

This is a really neat thing about Plottr. If you swap from the “Timeline” view to the “Outline” view, you get these editable text windows where you can type whatever you want, and it’ll keep it organized into chapters and scenes. 

So, just pull up your original in one window, and the Plottr screen (or other outlining/drafting device) in another. Dual monitors are great for this but we make due. Now, retype the original document into the new document, making changes as you go to fit the new outline and also cleaning up language and so forth as you go. For example, this time around I’ll be changing Carrie’s blue timeline scenes to present-tense instead of past, so I’ll rewrite them in present tense in the new window. 

Once all that is said and done, in Plottr you can export the file directly into Scrivener or Word. (If you’re not using Plottr, you’ll have to figure out for your own self how to transfer the final product into a final document -- I trust you can sort through that). From there you’ve got a fresh clean copy of a second draft all ready to go for the final copy-edit/proofread/polish/formatting and then you’re off to the races! 

I hope this was helpful for you! I talk more about editing in my Gumroad guide here: https://tlbodine.gumroad.com/l/jkLpr

If you’d like to receive all of my existing + future guides and support me in making more content like this, consider subscribing to my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/tlbodine

And you can pick up a copy of Plottr here: https://plottr.com/

This post isn’t sponsored or anything, but I did get a free copy of the software from the developer and I think it’s pretty neat. It’s still in beta so new features keep getting added, and the team that makes it are very nice and responsive to feedback. 

[hazzabeeforlou]

Walls Masterpost

It’s the 28th of pride month, and fitting to post this now. The soul of Walls is the unabashed, fierce, tender, and brave love of a man who has shown for years that he is proud. This album isn’t a cohesive story line, nor do I think it’s even the album Louis envisioned himself putting out. He only flirts with true indie music like that of his idols; Always You is a pop masterpiece, TOU is a ballad, and Perfect Now a love song in the style of Little Things. The album is a collection of letters each addressed to a singular recipient, personal, self-searching, blunt, too vulnerable to be easy listening (if you really listen). Walls shows us the scope of Louis’ capacity for love. It’s the culmination of years of pain, heartbreak, and hope, written with the raw honestly of an archeologist stumbling upon his own personal memoirs. 

Please feel free to ask questions if any of the technical stuff is confusing, and remember these are my interpretations as a classically trained musician. I will use the name “Subject” for the implied “you” in each of Louis’ songs. 

Kill My Mind: in F minor. The verses are i VII IV, the tiny bridge IV III I (?), and the chorus is VII IV I, repeat. 

There are two oddities about this. First, in a natural minor key, the forth chord is minor (iv) but Louis keeps this B flat chord in major, changing the D flat to a D natural. Secondly, in the chorus, Louis changes from using a minor one chord to a major one. He raises the A flat to an A natural as he sings “Raise my body [A natural here] back to life.” This bit of text painting not only illustrates his words, but lends the song an off kilter feel, confusing the key signature between F minor and B flat Major (which has an A and D natural). 

Kill My Mind is Louis’ only ‘drugs’ song on the album, and I say that both because the metaphor is obvious and because he uses that obvious metaphor to compare addiction to a relationship. It reminds me, lyrically, of Back To You, and, like that song, could easily be interpreted as about a controlling force in his life on whom he’s become dependent, or a lover. 

Don’t Let It Break Your Heart: this is easily in the key of B flat Major. The verses are I IV vi 6/4 V 6/4, the bridge vi vi V IV vi V, the chorus same as the verses, I IV vi 6/4 V 6/4. 

This is Louis’ most hopeful track, and is so clearly about grief. Much has been made of the first line “on our way to twenty seven” being a reference to the 27 Club, a cultural phenomenon of icons/musicians/artists that die at that age due to fame/high risk lifestyle, but Louis then says they’re “doing better,” implying that both he and Subject are in this category. The rest of the song is him counseling and comforting Subject, empathizing with the hurt of loss, encouraging Subject, “Don’t let it kill you even when it hurts like hell.” He knows this pain, knows it deep, and knows that it takes time to heal. 

Two Of Us: IV I V iv V IV I V vi V. This progression is the same for both verses and chorus. The bridge is a bit hard to decipher as it moves in 3rds and not triads, something like IV V vi V vi V. 

Not much needs to be said about this song. It’s Louis’ beautiful ode to his mom, and he sings it with incredible vulnerability and heart. 

We Made It: this is the revolving door song. One progression is used, IV I V iii, and repeats from start to finish. It keeps reminding me of Coldplay. 

What’s interesting is that each chord functions as the subdominant or leading chord of the next, basically spinning us ever forwards so we never stop on a tonic home base. The E flat IV chord leads to the B flat I, the B flat I then functions as a IV chord to the V chord (F Major), then the D minor III chord functions as a major VII leading to a I of E flat (the beginning IV chord we started with in B flat Major) and the cycle repeats. 

Louis leaked part of this song several years ago, and a line about moonlight replaced the “met you at your uni” section, interestingly. “Playing something pop’y on the same four chords, used to worry bout it but I don’t no more.” Young love. He remembers how it tasted. Subject was high on what? Adrenaline? Orgasm? It’s a tender reminiscence with a hint of tragedy, “don’t know why they put this all on us when were so young.”  

Too Young: in E Major, the verses and chorus are IV I V vi (the vi is omitted at the cadences), the bridge is vi I V IV I V. 

Louis is once again looking back, regretful. Louis doesn’t speak in metaphors, the lyrics are to the point and precise. He’s hurt Subject, he’s given in to pressures, he’s cut subject off... the “2 years since I’ve seen your face” of course doesn’t fit the chronology of the album, but rather of his public life, as does the previous song’s line of “met you at your uni.” It’s interesting, then, that while Louis takes the blame for so much, he still says ‘we were too young’ and not ‘I was too young,’ implying that Subject was at least partly to blame for the hurt too, if only by fault of immaturity. 

Walls: This is in B Major. The chord progression for verses is

 vi I vi I, V [V7 with the melody note on the E natural] IV V V7 II IV i6 (passing chord)

chorus, IV I V I6, IV I V III6 vi V II6 Vi ii I (IV I passing chords) 

bridge, IV vi V, IV vi V, Vi vi III6 vi V II (this holds over til chorus) 

This is Louis’ tour de force. Walls is as complex as it is beautiful. His use of Major II chords, altered from a normal ii chord in Major key signatures, and his use of a Major III chord (which, again, is minor in Major key signatures) adds an unconventional twist. The opening and closing lyrics, “nothing wakes you up like waking up alone,” are set against a sparse vi I; but you see the vi chord doesn’t normally go to I, usually ii, IV, and V have that role, so by using a vi to I Louis is showing us the tonic alone, nothing ‘surrounding’ it. This song is so complex and layered, and I would argue it’s the one song besides OTB that is ripe for poetic interpretation; on first glance the lyrics seem so obvious, but there’s the music video to consider, the metaphor of him being left alone, high on a wall that has not fallen down, a blank name tag on his chest. The door opening to a desert on one side and a bullseye masquerade on the other has no happy implications, yet Louis has become a man through it all, he says, and he has no regrets about letting his walls crumble for love, damn the consequences he’s suffered. 

Habit: in G Major, the verses are I ii IV I, the bridge vi V IV I vi V IV ii7, the chorus I ii IV (vi V added when leading to next verse). Interestingly, in the verse that says “come so far from Princess Park,” the repeated line “in front of me, in front of me” adds two chords to the verse, between the IV and I, a vi and V. 

Like in too young, this is an apology, and Louis lays out his sins plainly. And while it’s unequivocal, we can see the extenuating circumstances: “took some time ‘cause I ran out of energy playing someone I heard I’m supposed to be.” There is no more damning line of lyrics. Louis has been exhausted holding some line, an invisible current through his music that he never truly addresses, yet always its there, a background character, a force of cruel divinity. “Don’t know why they put this all on us when were so young.” “I’m too far gone to pray.” 

Always You: This song could conquer radio in half a heartbeat, given a chance. It’s in E Major, verses are I vi IV, chorus is I vi IV, the same. 

This is world tour of missing Subject, this is Miss You but rephrased, reworked, gone from punk to pop princess. We have Amsterdam, Tokyo, LAX, Heathrow, which speak for themselves. “My baby,” Louis quotes over and over. He’s been “chasing a high,” and I’m reminded of the high in We Made It, “baby you were still high.” Orgasm? Adrenaline? Love? 

Fearless: A minor. Verses, i VII VI (added VI VII when leading back to verse), bridge is i V VI (III VII passing chords can be heard) i V VI VII

Now the very short chorus (”fearless, fearless,”) is, if we stick to A minor, III, III4/2, i, VI. I think, however, that at this point the piece modulates, going from A minor to C Major, (A minor is the relative minor of C Major, which means that the two keys share a key signature and can go into and out of each other easily) making the progressions I I4/2 (4/2 is an inversion of a 7th chord) vi IV. Now to add complexity on top of that, having a I7 chord is incredibly unusual, so I wouldn’t label it that, I would label it a V4/2 of IV, meaning that C7 chord functions as a cadential chord leading to F, or the IV chord, of C Major. This is all rather complicated, but knowing how it was constructed shows the song’s complexity. The final “fearless, fearless” progression then is: I, V4/2 of IV, vi, VI. 

In this song I believe Louis’ Subject is himself. it’s a song about fame and anxiety and the lost innocence (and gutsiness) of youth. It’s a brutal song that I doubt Louis would write to anyone besides himself given how he focuses solely on his own faults and doesn’t lay anything at the feet of his other Subjects. The laughing children heard fist and last are a cutting effect. 

Perfect Now: D Major. Verses, I I7 [again this is technically a V7 of IV, and functions as that since it leads to IV] IV6/4 iv6/4

bridge, iii vi ii vi

chorus, IV V I IV V I, IV V I IV I

second bridge, V vi IV I, V vi IV vi (then to chorus) 

This is a strange little song, perhaps its most unusual quirk being the switch from a Major IV chord to a minor iv chord in the verse. The Subject in this song loves to dance, and I’m reminded of KMM. Subject isn’t just not feeling pretty, they’re depressed, they are reticent to be looked upon (”don’t hide away”) they are a crown-less queen, and tears are the norm. Subject has a platform - everyone is looking at them - and is a scene stealer, charismatic without trying. I’ve attempted and failed to understand this song in any way other than that Subject is dealing with dysphoria, and that this is Louis’ ode to their perfection, an affirmation of an identity that perhaps can only be realized in private. It is in this interpretation that the Major to minor flip of the 4 chord makes me absolutely crumble into pieces. 

Defenceless: C flat Major (a most unusual key for a pop song). Verses are I V6 vi IV, bridge IV vi I V, chorus is IV vi I V (the falsetto second bridge is the same) 

Defenceless is Louis at his most honest. Who writes these lyrics in a pop song? “You don’t have to keep on being strong for me and you,” “just want to be loved by you,” “you don’t have a thing to prove,” “I’m too tired to be tough,” “Wish I didn’t need so much of you.” A moth to a flame is different from a moth to a light; immolation is a theme in love stories. This is too honest for a love song, and it feels intrusive just to listen. Louis has a deep love for Subject, an abiding care and need for them. 

Only The Brave: E flat Major. Verse, I (IV I) IV I, I (IV I) IV I

Chorus is vi V IV I [ii iii IV V OR IV V IV V, I can’t determine because of the movement in 3rds] I 

This song. I can only compare it to when I used to cry when I’d see speeches about gay love; I never understood why, but I just knew, in my heart, before my brain had figured it out yet, that I was the same. This song is that. It is so intrinsically gay, the metaphors are woven in every word, every nuance. Burn history, break rules, cry like a fool, close enough to touch... the church of burnt romances. “I’m too far gone to pray.” Love is only for the brave. Of course it takes a great deal of bravery to love anything completely, to face the prospect of loss knowing how that love will rip you apart. And in the end, some might say from the cradle to the grave you are ultimately alone. Yet Louis knows better than any that those you love are always with you, “even when I’m on my own, I know I won’t be alone.” I believe this song is Louis’ concluding thesis to an album filled to the brim with anecdotes of his own love, a gift to us speaking of the commonality he shares with the wider community, a history of brave love, of loneliness, of too many dying stars in the sky. The tall tales, only hello hello, no goodbye; we don’t focus on the goodbyes. We tell our stories with happy endings, but love, sometimes it doesn’t have those, for some of us it’s a solo song. 

Louis Tomlinson, I’m sure there’s not a chance in a million you’ll ever read this but, if you do, I see you, we see you. You are so loved. Thank you for this album, thank you for giving us this gift of love. Continue your artistic journey and follow your heart. We’ll be here, because for us, it’s Always You. 

[brittledame]

𝐏𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐊𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐢 𝐓𝐚𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐢/𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

𝐓𝐚𝐠𝐬: 𝐒𝐅𝐖, 𝐁𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐒𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞, 𝐓𝐚𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐢 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐞, 𝐄𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩, 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐍𝐞𝐮𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 

𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 𝟏.𝟏𝐊

𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: 𝐓𝐚𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐢 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭 𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤. 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐲𝐨𝐮.

𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬: 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐓𝐚𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐢’𝐬 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐞, 𝐬𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐢𝐭!

Birthdays, a single day marked down on the calendar. It’s the same date, unchanging, yet year after year, Taichi’s birthday still catches you by surprise. Nevertheless, while curled up in bed with his legs completely entangled in yours, came the discussion on how to spend it.

Taichi seemed indifferent about celebrating, soon claiming exhaustion and that had put the topic on ice until the next day. From the conversations in the weeks leading up to it, you gauged that he wasn’t into a party on his actual birthday, which unfortunately placed on a Tuesday this year. You wholeheartedly agreed – a mid-week hangover wasn’t in the cards.

After much back and forth with Taichi arguing he’s fine without a party for his 24th. You both finally come to an agreement of a small gathering with new and old friends and family that weekend.

Taichi, in all the years you’ve known him, can be summed up in two words: easy going. He was happy to have a party so long as it didn’t put either you or him out in anyway. As the date neared, you could tell from snippets of conversation that he was looking forward to meeting up with old high school friends and his parents that he hasn’t seen since January.

What Taichi didn’t agree or know about was that you were planning a surprise on his actual birthday. What he didn’t know won’t hurt. It was probably for the best because in the end, he was scheduled an entire gruelling day of university classes and work.

You bemoaned that it was a poor way to celebrate his day, but he shrugged it off. What else was he to do?

Now with today being the day, he was already up and gone before you could muster a kiss and a ‘happy birthday’. The rest of the day saw to you darting in and out of the shared apartment, followed by a stressing in the kitchen.

It was unexpected receiving a text that they asked him to stay back and being who he is, Taichi reluctantly agree for the paycheck. Guilt swelled inside you at the relief you felt reading that. The extra hour would give you plenty of time to finish arranging everything.

An hour later found you finishing up cooking a miniature feast to make up for the lacklustre day. You ended up ordering in some dishes in that you weren’t brave enough to conquer – the spread was enough to astound a food critique. You hoped that Taichi is hungry after nearly losing a finger by making the sukiyaki that he constantly craved.

You had asked his mother for the recipe, knowing that he’d appreciate it even if it wasn’t as great as hers. She was more than happy to pass it down to you, gushing about how sweet you are for doing it for her son. You weren’t compelled to tell her that you’d walk over a bed of fire for Taichi and everything he’s done for you. This was the least of what you could do for you.

It was as you rinsed off a plate, table set out with the modest layout of food, when the door creaks open.

“Babe, I’m home!” He calls out, keys rattling as he places them in the key dish.

“In the dining room,” you call out in kind.

Dropping the plate in the dish drainer to deal with later, you dry your hands and dart into the adjoining room, beating him by a hair of a second. He blinks at the streamers thrown around the room, following their colourful trails until his eyes widen as they alight on the food-laden table.

“Surprise!” You announce, arms held wide and invitingly. “I know this isn’t much, but I thought-“

Taichi doesn’t let you finish, instead sweeping you up in a strong, all-encompassing hug that quickly became his trademark.

“It’s perfect.” He murmurs into your hair, grip somehow becoming tighter as you run your hands through his hair.

Patting him on the back, you try to delay your own welling emotions by whispering back, “Happy birthday, iron giant.”

Taichi pulls away with a small grin. “I’m not even that tall, but okay.”

“Sure, mister six foot four.” You roll your eyes and grab his hand, tugging him towards the table and seating him. “Please tell me you’re hungry because I think I might cry if I have to throw this all out.”

“Absolutely famished.” Taichi replies, picking up his chopsticks and letting them hover in the air between dishes, as if he couldn’t decide where to start.

“Here, let me serve you up,” you offer, scooping up his bowl and piling it full of food that you think he’ll enjoy the most. His eyes light up at the loaded dish as you pass it off with a caution, “Please remember to chew, I don’t want to take you to the emergency room tonight.”

“I dunno,” he drawls, plopping a bite into his mouth and swallowing it. “Sounds like fun to me. They might even give me a sticker for being a good boy.”

Shaking your head at him, you take a seat and start eating alongside him. The conversation doesn’t waver, instead taking off to him gushing about how good everything tasted and morphs into surprise when you confess that you made some of them.

Even after long and tedious day, it warmed you to see him so full of vigour. Well, at least Taichi’s own special brand of it.

After the dishes are nearly empty and the table is cleared away, Taichi and you set up shop on the lounge. Stretching and drifting away in the post-food coma, the both of you watch the random movie Taichi selected with little interest, instead paying more attention to each other’s quiet comments on the acting.

From all the food you hated to see wasted, you were full enough to contemplate a life living out on the lounge, comfortably perched between his askew legs on the over-stuffed lounge. The poor slice of the cake that you had to rushed to pick up earlier today at abandoned on the coffee table Taichi was brave enough to put his feet up on – neither of you being eager enough to eat again so soon.

You softly knock your elbow into his ribcage. “No feet on the table, not when food is on it, please.”

He exaggerates a long-suffering groan before he bends forward and picks up the cake, settling back into place behind you with a mischievous glint in his eyes that you didn’t trust in the slightest.

“If you smash my face into that cake, Taichi, I swear-“

“Wouldn’t dream of it, darling dearest.” He purrs, swiping some of the frosting off with his forefinger.

Knowing Taichi wouldn’t expose his plan, you’re silent as he tilts your head to meet his gaze head-on and smears the frosting on your lips. His breath fans across your skin and warms your rapidly heating cheeks.

“Now it’s time for dessert.”

You couldn’t deny Taichi on a good day, but on his birthday? You were happy to spend a night indulging every request he made.

𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬: 𝐒𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐟 𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 ��𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝!

[late-stagechosen]

So on my rewatch, I found a website called Anime Dao has Digimon 02 original audio, streaming, and I'm taping it, because a smartphone is my only concession to the 21st century (I live in a place reminiscent of my childhood, intentionally so)

Anyway, so my hearing loss is worst in the higher end of the speech range.

Even though my neighbours do it, I won't turn things up loud enough to disturb the neighbours, and I also live in the downtown of a very...lively city, and closing the window doesn't shut out as much noise as one would think.

Holy heck, I cannot hear half of what Miyako says. Also when the Digimon are in their little head forms, I have trouble there, too.

And that reminds me, I'm playing Ken as having not insignificant hearing loss from all the screams and explosions of the Digital World, both when he was conquering and enslaving, and afterward, when he overcame the Dark Seed and was taking down towers and stuff.

Really, any of the 02 Chosen could be candidates for this (I actually don't know about Adventure. I jumped aboard because of stuff I later found out Konaka was writing in 02, and Adventure never really seemed like something I'd get into going back and looking at) They're close quarters with a lot of things that could cause hearing damage.

Hearing damage just doesn't get a whole lot of representation in fiction. And gets so little love in the real world where not being able to hear someone never gets a response better than annoyance. And nowadays, closed-captions are no longer worth anyone's time, and they all use the same thing YouTube does, and I honestly gave up on worrying about having a modern-enough TV (never mind that only English and Spanish language TV even gets closed captioning in the US in the first place, so I'm not completely covered anyway)

And also, affordable hearing aids for a music lover? Blegh. If you thought early smartphone speakers sounded bad, you've not heard the half of it.

I don't know about modern closed captioning in Japan, although one can generally assume "standards higher than American" on most things. (Except decadent breakfast foods... America has that market cornered) (This does also vary by area, as to be expected in such a huge country. The SF Bay Area is second only to Hawaii in progressiveness, both above 2019's federal bar in a LOT of countries, LDP-ruled Japan included)

But frankly, anything else I enumerated, Ken probably struggles with. Although it's a lot easier to hear a high-pitched voice from a real person in front of me. English and Spanish, I drop words, but I have no problem carrying on a conversation with an excited two year old in Japanese. So since Miyako's real life to him, and I'm playing Ken as Yamato Japanese, native speaker, he likely has no problem. (Your highs are the first thing to go in hearing loss)

(Also, this blog defaults to age 21, so she's assumed 22 if she's a third party. Estrogen doesn't cause a vocal change, but having an adult sized body does somewhat)

He would drop words over the phone. Same as Japanese animation. No readable lips, coming through a speaker (no, not the same problem as mondegreens)

Most hard of hearing people prefer texts, although in Japan, your carrier gives you an e-mail address tied to your phone, so people either use that or apps like Line instead of the base SMS app we use in America. (That's all I can say because I left Japan in the first half of the '90s)

But, either way, written is better than phone.

So when Ken is actually talking to someone as a late teen or later, when this technology got big, he's more likely to message you back and forth that stay on the phone for hours on end. (Even if he really wants to be face-to-face with you, you have to ask for that because he's afraid of imposing his awful self, because he has less self-worth than rotten bean sprouts)

He has actually picked up a bit of JSL, but...see, again, it would be asking someone to do something for *his* sake.

With most people, he'll sort of pretend he heard the whole thing if it seems feasible. I think most people with some hearing left do this with strangers or when it's more of a bother to ask than fake it. But Ken would probably take to heart the treatment hearing impaired people get as *he's a problem* (exactly how you get treated, but I know that's a "them" problem. Ken doesn't)

He doesn't expect anyone to learn how to communicate with him better, he doesn't turn things loud enough to hear (he probably won't put on a record when you're over because he doesn't want to impose music you probably don't like [eyeroll])

(How to get my muse to marry your muse: one day, just start talking in JSL and not have any other reason to learn it than him www He doesn't exactly keep it secret that he studies it in a world of... Facegood? www he just doesn't expect anyone else to)

He can hear the teacher in a classroom. Lecture hall, dodgy. Toukyou streets? He's gonna miss things.

His hearing loss is both ears, fairly even.

Will it decline further with age/wear? He's not sure--hence learning sign.

I default here to assuming "once a chosen, always a chosen," so I don't assume an end to his adventures/role in the Digital World. The epilogue went one way, and then I saw a trailer for either Tri or Kizuna last week where Agumon was asking Taichi if they'd have to separate because Taichi was gonna be an adult soon, and he said no, but the narration was saying it was their last adventure, and I don't like that, so I'm rolling with lifetime appointment here.

I will say, no way Wormmon can sign effectively. If you don't know, you really need fingers. I don't see having ten legs being an effective stand-in.

The point is, there's always potential for more hearing damage, even if damage doesn't snowball with age. Not that it's ever not a good idea to acquire a new language.

NHK has free resources to learn many languages, including JSL. Ken has copies. There's also a guy as of 2018 posting JSL teaching videos (and he's from my province!) on YouTube. This is an extra resource of Ken's since he can mail order stuff and take community college classes and all that because he's not in a whole another country. So by the time those videos come out, they're vocabulary expanders, which seems like what they're meant to be.

(I want to learn to sign in my native as well as ASL)

I feel like this would dovetail nicely with his eventually going into nursing.

But yeah, Ken's hearing impaired because representation. And there's my full thing on it.

[readyplayerhobi]

Symphony of Sin - The Graveyard Series

A series where I just post whatever I’ve written of fics I have no intention of finishing. Someone may as well enjoy them! They’re obviously not finished, nor are they proof-read, nor will they likely make sense! Scenes may jump around and so forth but...who knows, maybe you’ll enjoy?

Metal Vocallist!Taehyung x Reader

Word Count: 2.8k

Synopsis: Your world is softness and sweetness, gentle ballads of pure words and light, catchy beats merging together in dreams come to life. His world is hard and loud, songs of anger and rage pounded out of instruments in nightmares given song. But what happens when those worlds collide?

-

The tinkling of windchimes in the light breeze combined with the warmth of sun as you leaned back on your hands. Eyes closed, it felt like a tiny piece of heaven right here on Earth and you were loathe to ever let it go.

“Okay, nice! I’ve got it!” Momo called out, causing you to open your eyes and look over in her direction. She’s knelt on the floor, a Canon camera in her hands with a large wide-angle lens protruding from it that she’s currently intensely looking at, checking over the photos she’d taken.

You were both shooting your new music single cover image, lovingly titled ‘Afternoon Sun’. Sitting down next to her, you take a peek at the photographs and smile fondly. In the tiny image viewer, you’re sat on the windowsill with rays of sun beaming in and lighting up dust particles the float aimlessly around you.

The sheer, gauzy white curtains are blowing gently and the lighting gives an odd juxtaposition of shadows and brightness. A navy blue dress reaches mid-thigh and your legs drape over the edge, ending in pointed toes that years of ballet have given you.

It looks ethereal and whimsical, like a dream sequence that has been brought to life and to you, it’s like your song has taken physical form. Smiling at Momo, you connect up the camera to your MacBook and begin to upload the images, getting ready to edit them to perfection.

There’s plenty of people that happily call you hippie, deriding your indie music and style with a sneer. Your music is light hearted lyrics that belay deep meanings, softly sung words that when listening closely reveal your soul being poured out.

Songs about love and life, your health and your friends. Songs about heart wrenching love and songs about soul crushing despair. They are the songs that live in your head and are poured out onto paper, a keyboard, a piano; whatever you can find that will let the melodies and words flow.

While artists such as Shawn Mendes, Ed Sheeran, Lorde and Adele have made music and songs like yours more popular, there seems to be a limit to what people will accept. Music that is produced by the big labels is lauded as beautiful and game changing, smaller singer-songwriters like yourself seem to struggle and get derided.

Hippie music, boring music, music to die to. It seems that if there isn’t a voice layered over itself sixteen times along with a little auto-tuning and a ton of electronic instruments, people aren’t interested. It doesn’t bother you though, as you’re just happy making the music you like with the people you love.

Your little musical corner wasn’t very big, and you’re listener count hovered somewhere around 10,000 people on Spotify. Not even remotely enough to make a living off but you enjoyed self publishing your music. Your main job was as a photographer and videographer, though even that made living hard sometimes.

It did make shooting your music videos easy though as you simply asked your friends to help and your boss, the owner of the photograph studio, was always happy to expand his skills on his time off. You’d become a little renowned among your small circle for your high quality videos made on a low budget that spoke of sincerity while showing creativity.

But despite your small following on Spotify and Soundcloud, your fans were incredibly loyal and supportive. Any negative tweets when you were having a bad day were responded to with plenty of love and attention, causing a smile to rise each time.

You loved each and every one of them, even if you couldn’t meet all of them. The small fanbase you had was part of the reason you kept doing this, even though you had no real reason to carry on like you did.

So caught up in your photographs, finding the perfect one required close scrutiny to ensure there was nothing wrong and that the angle and lighting were perfect, you didn’t notice Momo’s sharp inhale of breath next to you.

It’s only when she begins to poke your stomach insistently that you look over, a frown marring your forehead at the interruption. She doesn’t notice though, too busy focused on her phone and gesturing to it insistently.

“Oh my god, oh my god! Y/N, oh my god!” Is all she says constantly, waving her phone around so much you can only see a blur of light. Scowling, you grab her arm to stop her.

“What?! What is it?” Momo looks at you with wide eyes before turning the phone screen to you, allowing you to see the familiar layout of Twitter staring up at you. The tweet is from some verified account that you’ve never heard of, answering someone else’s tweet. The original tweet is in a little box under their answer and you read that first.

Claire Fairngold @3scap3th3vort3x

@enterthevortex Taehyung! What’s your favourite song lately? #kimtaehyung #taehyungtime

The verified account had answered it and your eyes read over it for a moment without quite taking it in.

Enter The Vortex @enterthevortex

Thanks for your question! My favourite song right now is ‘It’s You And Me Against The World’ by @Y/N. Probably not what people expected but check her out, she’s very good!

You stare in confusion at the words, confused as to who on Earth this person was that had recommended your song. It was a year old song and one of your favourites, written when you thought you were in love and could conquer the world. The relationship had fizzled out but you still remembered happy times when you listened to it.

It’s only then that you capture the retweet and like counts and your eyes widen immediately in shock.

67K retweets, 367K likes and over 10K replies, to a tweet from someone you’d never even heard of! Tapping the user handle, the page loads up to reveal a cover photo of a huge arena crowd with six guys stood in front of them, hands held up together as stage lighting illuminates them from behind.

The profile picture is a band logo that is elegant yet imposing at the same time, white text on a black background. 7 million people follow this group, and you’ve never even heard of them. Looking at Momo in confusion, you watch as her lips twist into a smile before she’s leaning over, fingers pressing on the touchscreen and navigating back to your own profile.

“Look at that. That’s just in the last half an hour since he tweeted that. This is ridiculous!” She squealed, hands clapping together excitedly. In complete opposition, you sit in silence as you stare at your own follower count.

It had been hovering at just over 5,000 people for a few weeks now and you’d been pretty happy with it. But now you had over 100,000 followers and the number kept rising and that was to say nothing of your mentions which were exploding with people replying to the original tweet, including your own handle.

“Who...who are Enter The Vortex?” Momo stops looking at the phone to stare at you with creased brows, shock written all over her face like a New York Times bestseller.

“You...you’re kidding right? I know they’re a metal group but they’ve had a few songs hit the Top 40 over the last few years,” Your blank stare causes her to face forward in shock. “Okay, hold on.” She grabs hold of the phone and brings up YouTube, typing furiously before scrolling to find the video she wants.

Turning the device around, the screen rotates to fill out the whole width and you proceed to watch the video. At first there’s nothing but a haunting cello playing, the video taken up by a wide shot of a dead tree surrounded by mist. And then the wall of noise sounds.

Well, a wall of noise is being cruel. You can hear the melodies underneath the pounding bass, frenetic drums and relentless guitars, with an underlying piano subtly heard throughout. But it’s the screaming that causes your face to scrunch up.

Loud, like it has been filled with the rage of a thousand souls who died too soon, the vocals sound as if they are being ripped from the guy’s throat. And just when you think you’re ready to reach out and press stop, they suddenly vanish and a hauntingly sweet voice takes over, harmonising over the top of a deep and sultry voice.

They play with each other, rising and falling together before sliding in between the gaps each leaves open in the song. The unending energy and heaviness of the instruments makes it hard for you to truly love the song, but from a musical perspective you appreciate the complex melodies they have produced and the vocalists take your breath away.

“Well, it’s not my cup of tea I guess but the vocals were beautiful. I never thought that you could have vocals like that in a metal song?” The words are tinged with confusion and surprise, causing Momo to look at you with a raised eyebrow.

“I think you of all people should know to not judge things like what kind of music someone makes, right?” You look down at that, suitably chastised as you remember all the people who’ve criticised your music and put it down.

“Okay, but I did say they have nice vocals. How did they manage to crack the Top 40? This is not Top 40 material.” The video has ended now and it’s only then that you notice that the entire thing had been telling a story, with no band members present. Or at least you’re 95% positive that girl is not a member, though maybe she plays an instrument?

Momo chuckles lightly, taking the phone back as her fingers begin to tap away once again. “Oh girl, metal may not be your style but let me tell you...these guys are to die for. I’m not ashamed to say I started listening to them because I’d let every one of them ravage me.”

Eyes popping wide, you lean back at the phone that’s been shoved back into your face. The image you’re now staring at is of seven guys, which seems a little excessive for a band but what do you know?

And you have to give it to Momo, she’s not wrong. Each member exudes bad boy, and given the music they make they can probably back it up, but you have the disconcerting feeling that they could walk into Gucci tomorrow and come out models.

The main things you notice are muscles, oh holy wow muscles, tattoos, so many tattoos, and piercings. Momo begins pointing to each member and talking about them individually, the drummer called Hoseok with all monochrome tattoo sleeves that match his black hair that’s swept up to the rhythm guitarist named Namjoon, with his black hair shaved on all sides but the top platinum blonde, intricate art scenes blooming up his arms and along his neck.

She taps two individual members suddenly, two fingers pinching the screen and expanding it. One of them looks youthful with bright, colourful tattoos spreading along his arms and throat, a ring speared through the centre of his lip and a ridiculously large number of piercings in his ears. Black hair that looks soft but mussy, as if he’s rolled out of bed and run his hands through it a few times has a slightly blue tinge.

He’s unbelievably attractive with the cocky little smirk on his lips, just a hint of white teeth peeking through but its the glint in his eye that makes your stomach clench. He has a face of innocence and eyes of sin.

“That’s Jungkook, he’s the second vocalist. The one with the higher voice?” Momo sounds uncertain of how to describe it but you nod anyway, remembering the almost sweet voice that soared high. His face suits his voice, but the man next to him does not.

Hands pushing back fire engine red hair that looks soft and silky to the touch, his arms are dominated by bright splashes of colour that spiral their way up his muscled limbs, creeping underneath his shirt only to reappear around his neck. His lower lip is caught between his teeth, tugging the two lip rings on either side gently while his dark, eyeliner smudged eyes are hooded as they stare deeply into the camera, promising all sorts of dirty things you suspect he could fulfil.

Jungkook has the kind of youthful beauty that will make him popular for years to come, but this guy has a refined attractiveness that would inspire statues to last centuries. A sharp, cutting jawline is met with a perfect nose, a ring piercing his septum, leading up to two intense eyebrows that just add to the sheer magnetic pull of his face. You’d never considered eyebrows attractive until right now.

“He’s the main vocalist, Taehyung.” Momo’s voice is almost background noise right now as you observe him closer. This man, this celestial body turned into human flesh, did not look like he was the one who had been screaming out rage. But at the same time, he didn’t look like the kind of man who would croon darkly seductive tones with a deep voice. Everything about this man was a walking contradiction.

A face that belonged in artwork that would be revered in centuries to come and yet he had turned his own body into a walking canvas to be displayed to the world. A voice that could sing an angel into a fall from grace and yet he chooses to strain those vocals with unrestrained power and emotion.

Momo must take your silence as a positive as she nudges your shoulder teasingly. “He’s the one who recommended you, if you can believe it.” A soft giggle lets you know she’s just as shocked as you are, she’s just handling it better.

10 minutes ago, you would have said a metal band was incapable of listening to your music and enjoying it. Hell, even after seeing the pictures of them you’d think the same thing. But looking at Taehyung now, you’re not surprised.

Because his colourful tattoos, that would be taken as gaudy and offensive at first, are interwoven with layers of culture spanning centuries. His left arm, from wrist to elbow, at first looks to be a wild mess of colour but you spot the intricacies quickly. Blues, yellows and whites swirl together beneath musical notes, melting timepieces and more. He’s brought Van Gogh’s Starry Night to life on his arm.

His other arm has a stylised version of Edvard Munch’s The Scream that melts into the hyper coloured world of Leonid Afremov’s paintings. While there are plenty of things merging into these, they cause a smile spreads over your lips without warning as you realise that this man, who’s vocals sound like his throat is being ripped out, is a man of the arts. Something that surprises you intensely, instantly making you feel bad about your stereotypes and preconceived ideas.

Passing the phone back to Momo, you simply smile as she continues to scroll through all your new notifications. Picking up your own phone, you unlock the screen and navigate to the Twitter app, heart racing as you see the continuously increasing follower count. You’re not entirely sure why you do it, given their music really isn’t your scene, but you press that little blue follow button on their account.

It takes exactly three minutes for them to follow you back.

For a few days there’s no more interactions between the two of you, though that might be because you’re too busy making sure that your new song is fully mixed and ready to go. It’s at 12pm exactly that you release the song on Spotify and YouTube, sending out a quick tweet with a link and a little ‘surprise! Hope you all enjoy it!’.

So it’s a shock to find your tweet almost instantly liked by the verified account and a reply a few minutes later.

Enter The Vortex @enterthevortex

@Y/N love the new song!

Is all it says, but immediately your timeline begins to fill up with people practically screaming into it. You can’t quite figure out why this metal band has taken such an interest in your work, particularly given you can’t even get most mainstream artists to listen to your stuff.

[aion-rsa]

How Metroid Changed the Way We Explore Video Games

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Whenever Metroid comes up, I always think of how hard it must have been to squeeze the phrase “The last Metroid is in captivity. The galaxy is at peace…” out of the SNES sound chip for Super Metroid. After all, spoken words in games were still uncommon in 1994, and most other 16-bit titles were more than happy to be able to relay important dialogue through text. Metroid had always been a little different, though.

While that spoken dialog may have felt revolutionary, the words themselves weren’t entirely accurate. After all, the galaxy is never really at peace in the Metroid franchise. Upcoming Nintendo Switch game Metroid Dread promises to end the story that began in 1986’s Metroid, but that remains to be seen. What we do know is that Dread will be the latest entry in a proud line of Metroid adventures that task us with exploring, searching, and uncovering hidden passages in all the back-and-forth ways we’ve come to expect from this series over the last 35 years. Of all the ways that Metroid has done things differently, it’s the ways it changed how we explore video games that have had the most lasting impact.

It might seem strange to some gamers now, but before Samus Aran’s ship landed on Planet Zebes, players were accustomed to following linear paths through video game levels. Most video game worlds were conquered from left-to-right or, on occasion, top-to-bottom. While Metroid initially presented itself as another 2D game, its developers were unafraid to present you with seemingly impassable obstacles such as a gap that was just a little too small to fit through or doors that couldn’t be unlocked through any means you can imagine when you first encounter them. These instances were designed to make you consider the previously unthinkable possibility that you may have to move left-to-right…and then left again for that upgrade you need to proceed.

That lack of guidance may have felt strange to most, but this was the team’s way of embedding mystery into this debut adventure and properly putting you in the boots of an intergalactic bounty hunter bold enough to explore an alien world. The Legend of Zelda tasked you with overcoming conundrums using key items within a series of multi-layered puzzle boxes, but Metroid went a step further by making its whole world feel like one giant puzzle box. The onus was always on you to get out there and discover it all for yourself. It was a much more complicated design strategy, but it was also often a more satisfying one.

35 years on, the original Metroid still boasts a uniquely unsettling atmosphere, and the limitations of the NES weirdly contributed to that lingering sense of mystery. Your dives into the depths of its secret-filled planet are set against pitch-black backdrops that lend Zebes an appropriately otherworldly feeling. Your limited ability to properly read your surroundings coupled with the constant presence of a swathe of villainous critters ready to take you out in just a couple of hits firmly established the feeling you just don’t belong there. Feeling so helpless during those early hours only makes gaining later power-ups like the Bomb and Screw Attack more liberating.

It isn’t long until you realize those upgrades are more than damage dealers; they are the key to navigating areas like Brinstar and Norfair. Bombing rocks to reveal previously blocked pathways and jumping higher than you ever dreamed are key to discovering the heart of Zebes. The best part was that the vast majority of those routes were entirely optional. Whether you chose to explore them was based on your own sense of adventure (or how bad you needed another Energy Tank). Like The Legend of Zelda before it, Metroid let you decide how powerful you wanted to be through exploration. In Metroid, though, items were woven into the world naturally, which only enhanced the feeling that something incredible could be waiting around any corner.

If there’s one aspect where the original adventure reveals its age, it’s in the lack of a dedicated map. Exploring Zebes without any indication of where to go is arguably the key to the game’s premise, but it’s hard to deny that it’s also often quite frustrating. For that matter, not being able to shoot omnidirectionally or be able to crouch to fire also feels a little unfair compared to the conveniences that would be introduced in the next generation. Thankfully, 2004’s Metroid: Zero Mission, a near pixel-perfect remake of the original adventure, simultaneously honors and iterates upon everything introduced until that point in the series timeline.

Metroid II: Return of Samus‘ may have sometimes struggled to advance the original’s innovations (it was a handheld game, after all), but from Super Metroid onwards, the franchise started to hit its stride. Mechanics like the Morph Ball and Bomb remained a staple, but new abilities like the Grappling Beam, Speed Booster, and Power Grip opened up additional opportunities for exploration during Samus’ fight against the Metroids. They’re all examples of Nintendo’s desire to stay true to the heart of the series by removing boundaries while finding new ways to force you to examine your environments and ultimately navigate them. This series has grown in a lot of ways, but almost every new item and feature are designed to reignite that “aha moment” many of us had when we realized how to get past Metroid‘s first roadblock.

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It’s not hyperbolic to say that Metroid has changed the way we explore video games and traverse their remarkable worlds. From Batman in Arkham Asylum using the Line Launcher to cross large gaps to the way Hollow Knight’s ruined kingdom of Hallownest gradually opens up to you as new charms are uncovered, the influence of the subgenre now known as “Metroidvania” has become so commonplace that’s it’s easy to take it for granted. Yet, we should never forget that the idea of picking away at a single location to unlock its mysteries began 35 years ago on the NES. The galaxy may never be at peace, but the innovations of Metroid have certainly made the world of gaming a better place.

The post How Metroid Changed the Way We Explore Video Games appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[dailyaudiobible]

07/05/2021

1 Chronicles 1:1-2:17, Acts 23:11-35, Psalm 3:1-8, Proverbs 18:14-15

Today is the 5th day of July, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it's great to be here with you today around the Global Campfire together as we move further and further into the year and get all settled into this new month that we have. Big day of celebration around the United States yesterday. Of course, we were celebrating Jill's birthday yesterday and so, yeah, we’re just kinda turning into this month and settling in, and as we do that, well, we’re reaching some new territory. It'll be familiar territory but it’s new territory. So, yesterday we concluded the Book of 2 Kings which concluded the Books of Kings and in that final reading from 2 Kings we saw the Babylonians enter the land of Judah and eventually conquering it, displacing all of the Jews. This is where they get their name that they were from Judah and so they were called Jew's and they were there they were taken into exile. This is actually massive and when we move through the territory in 2 Kings and then finished that book and it doesn't seem apparent just how monumental what is happened actually is. So, we remember, right, that the Assyrians came and took the kingdom of Israel, the northern tribes the 10 northern tribes, they took them into exile and they disappeared. They were assimilated. Now, we have the kingdom of Judah, falling, falling to Babylon and now they have been carried off into exile so the promised land that we worked forward toward from the book of Genesis, basically until yesterday, is over. It's the end. I mean, there will be remnant, a returns after exile yes, but it will never be this kind of independent nation like it was again in ancient times. Ancient Israel has come to an end.

Introduction to Chronicles:

And so, today we’re going to begin 1 Chronicles and of course there’s a 2 Chronicles and if we’ll remember these were all one text at one time and then were broken up, especially with the with the translation into the King James, that’s when a lot of these distinctions and breaking up of books and stuff happens but that's the Middle Ages, that’s like 500/600 years ago. So, for the thousands of years before that these were one text from the time that they were written and it's not really certain who, who collected these Chronicles, there are traditions like there's a Jewish tradition that suggests the priest Ezra, who has a book in the Scriptures by his name was involved, and it's not exactly clear specifically, ya know when and where these were chronicled, but it seems that about 4 1/2 centuries before Christ’s time the first century and that is contemporary with Ezra and what will notice is that we’re covering a lot of the same territory. It will be familiar. Chronicles, both 1st and 2nd Chronicles look at this same history that we've been covering in Samuel and Kings. But it's just from the perspective of the priestly view and these Chronicles were probably chronicled from exile during the exile, at least partly in an attempt to not forget who they were. Because empire building was the process of assimilating conquered people, we’ve talked about this a couple times how, you know, the nation will come in and conquer one another nation, and then carry off those conquered people into a different region of the empire and then relocate other conquered peoples in so that it’s just all mixed up, so that as the generations pass there’s, the identities are lost and so impart this is to not forget. So, as we begin Chronicles, we’ll be reading genealogies a little bit, lots and lots of different names and this is that part that’s kind of famous in the Bible because almost in a negative way like what was up with all these names and I certainly had those feelings early on in reading the Bible, but even being aware of them in my childhood, like who sits down to read page after page of names? And it really settled in, probably a decade ago for me, traveling into Africa, going into the into the country of Rwanda and experiencing the memorials from the genocide that happened in Rwanda. And I explain this most every year because this is the best way, I can make what were about to read meaningful to us. So, in Rwanda, I mean the genocide, it wasn't like warfare, it was, but it was like with machetes and knives and stuff like that and a lot of people were killed by machetes. There was a lot of places, even churches where, like priests gave up their entire congregations to be killed off. It's just a horrible, horrible story, but it's also a remarkable story of redemption in the end. But yeah, these things happened, and in many places throughout the country, places were mass murder, basically, genocide happened they’re preserved and really preserved in a way where people are left where they died, like their skeletons all over in bones and bones and bones. But anyway, there's a national museum about the genocide in Kigali in the capital city. And, you going there, super, it’s super sobering to say the least to see clothing that was worn when people died, blood stained or bones, skulls that have been, you know, you can see where the machete crushed their skull and they died and it’s just like, it's really, really sobering to think of what humanity is capable of doing to each other. And, there is one darkened, dark quiet room you go and there’s pictures everywhere, wall-to-wall pictures of people who died in the genocide. And there's a female voice, just very quietly saying the names of the people who were lost in the genocide. We need to understand that as we go into Chronicle’s exile is upon these people. They have been dragged from their homeland, the temple of the most high God has been burned to the ground. They have been carried away because it's warfare, many, like there’s been rape and pillage and plunder and separation, people are being pulled away from other members of their family and sent to different places. No one knows if anybody's ever going to see each other again. There are lingering questions about who’s still alive like, you can only imagine the kind of agony that these people would've been going through. And so, as we go into the genealogies, if we’ll remember that this is written from exile as an attempt to not forget who they are and to have a memorial to remember how things are connected but then it gives rich meaning. Actually, when I read this section now it's a sobering reminder of what I experienced in Rwanda, but any of the Holocaust museums from World War II, similar to this, any kind of genocide memorial similar to this because as a people were trying to not forget what happened so that we don't forget who we are, but also so that this doesn't happen again. So, with that we move into some new territory. The book of 1 Chronicles chapter 1 verse 1 through 2 verse 17.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word and we thank You for bringing us into this new territory 2 Chronicles and as we move through these names help us Lord understand that every single name represents an entire life. People who laughed and cried and smiled and frowned. People who ate and drank, planted and harvested, enjoyed festivals and celebrations, endured the grief of loss. These are the names of the people who formed the story. The story that we’re reading the story that affects our lives until today and so, we thank You for allowing us to recite these names and we ask that they be meaningful to us and even as we continue to journey with the apostle Paul, under arrest and the chaos going on in Jerusalem. We recognize that Paul, all of the sudden, although in chains, is communicating with power, communicating with powerful people, he’s been able to under the protection of the Romans speak to the Jewish Council and yes, they wouldn't hear and they want him dead but he’s able to tell the story and we will continue to observe this as we continue through the Book of Acts. So, Holy Spirit we invite You to plant the words of Scriptures deep into our lives. The soil of our hearts that we can see that You have been doing that because we have reaped a harvest, we are being transformed. This is changing us, so we invite You to continue the work of transformation. We ask this expectantly in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it's the website, it’s where you find out what is going on around here and its day after tomorrow, what’s going on around here. The 7th of July is coming up and that is our own holiday here around the Global Campfire. We lovingly call it the Long Walk and it's exactly that, a day that's on our calendar each year in the center of the year. A day to be, not to do so much. A day to go out somewhere beautiful whether it's a little walk down to a park or whether it's a, you know, a long drive somewhere that’s beautiful and meaningful, somewhere lovely and we go there and go for a Long Walk. And, I mean, the best way to imagine it is, think, think of when you've been in love, when you fell in love. You do that all, all the time. Time standstill when you’re love and you’re on a Long Walk with somebody that you love and you’re just talking about your life and about your future together are just dreaming or thinking. The beautiful thing about going for a Long Walk with God is yeah, you can talk out loud if you want, be silent if you want. That's what happens when you're comfortable and comfortably in love right, it's communicating with words and beyond words. It's being together and when we’re out in nature and we realize not only does God love me, but he made all this. All of this life that's bursting forth that I don't even hardly pay attention to and it’s healing and it sets us up well to go into the second half of the year so that's what we'll be doing on 7th of July. It's what we do every 7th of July so make plans for that. We will post a post on the Daily Audio Bible Facebook page for the Long Walk, 2021, and in that post, you can post your pictures or videos and all the sudden we have this place where we've gone on a Long Walk but that we can join in or appreciate. Go on a little mini holiday all around the world by looking through the little windows of each other's cameras and it's so it's a solitary beautiful thing but it's also a community event. So, that's coming up on the 7th, on Wednesday. There is a resource that we have created that is really perfect for this kind of event, it’s called Heart: A Contemplative Journey and you can get that at the iTunes store or the Google play store wherever it is that you can buy music. Just search for my name or search for Heart: A Contemplative Journey and you should be able to find it and it is a really good companion for the Long Walk because it's really good conversation starter. It's really good to allow prayer to, through prayer to open up our emotions and our heart, which is why the projects called Heart, open our heart to God in the things that we've been feeling and then just to allow music to speak while we’re in nature and to contemplate, invite God into those emotions and that gets us going on the Long Walk. So, check out that resource, it's available wherever you get your music.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com there is a link on the homepage and I thank you with all of my heart for your partnership. If what we do here, bringing God's spoken word read fresh every day and offered to whoever will listen anywhere on this planet, whatever time it is, if that has made a difference in your life than thank you for being life-giving. So, there's a link on the homepage. If you're using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996 Springhill Tennessee 37174.

And as always if you have a prayer request or encouragement 877-942-4253 is the number to call or you can hit the Hotline button in the app which is the little red button up at the top.

And that's it for today, I'm Brian, I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Prayers and Encouragement:

Dear DAB family this is Russel from Superior. I’m calling cause I heard Little Sharie’s prayer about using her walker for the first time. And it really touched my heart because my mom started using her walker about 8 months ago because she has back problems. She had surgery and for the first time she’s at the casino with my step-dad and she’s away from me for the first time for two days. And I was just sitting there thinking about her and Little Sharie came on talking about her walker so I see you too Sharie. Ya know, it really touched my heart right now. Stay strong, I love you and I’m praying for you. God Bless.

Hi everyone, my name is Isaac and I am from Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. I’d like to give a little inspiration. Back in October of last year I spoke to one of my doctors about going off medication that had side effects of severe weight gain. Now, at this time I was 20lbs short of 300lbs. I’m happy to say now that as of right now that I am probably 75lbs down since October. With that being said, there’s more work to be done. I’m gonna trust Jesus because I’m tired of trying to live my own life the way I want to live it. So, what I’m asking is for prayer. Prayer for my anxiety, my depression. Right now, my anxiety is so strong that I can’t work and I want to work, I want to be a hard-working person. I’ve had doctors tell me my anxiety is too strong and that they can’t help me. And I don’t want to listen to that anymore cause I know that’s lies from the devil. Not only that but I’ve had a head twitch, turrets head twitch for the last 11 years and it’s just painful, it’s frustrating and it’s just, it wears me out. If you could pray for that, that’d be great. Not only that but could you please pray for my mom. She needs both of her knees replaced, she needs surgery on her spine done, she’s got something called sciatica and it’s not fun, she’s in constant pain. The nerve twinges are unbearable for her and it’s hard because somedays I just I can’t stand seeing her in pain especially when all she can do is cry into a pillow because it hurts so bad. I know that Jesus can help but I know He will. Would you please pray for me and my family? Thank you, guys. Bye.

Hello family, Drew from the Bay area. Listen, just wanted to call in a quick prayer for Travis from Alberta, Canada. Travis, I’m so excited for you being in the pastoral internship and learning all about how to teach others about God, that’s awesome. I just want pray for you. Heavenly Father, You are an awesome God, You are Holy, beyond perfection. You created everything in 6 days. Lord, the God of Isaac, Jacob and let’s not forget Abraham, Moses and David, Lord, although we are imperfect men You are with us and when you are with us Your power, Your love spills out all over the place. Lord, we thank You for the love story of Your word, we thank You for this ministry. We ask You to bless Travis and the ministry that You have before him. Lord, encourage him, take away any doubt, confusion, anxiety and help him to show others that Your word comes from You and that You encourage through people like Travis, You encourage others. So, we thank You for Travis, bless him. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family this is Nathan Basset from Bloomington, Illinois. Hopefully your day is truly going well. I have a prayer request. One week ago, today this, pretty much this very hour my step-son and his wife and their 7-month-old were involved in a very serious car accident. They hydroplaned on the highway going 70+ miles an hour and lost control, rolled the car multiple, multiple times and ended up going to the hospital. Seven-month-old, he actually was discharged a little bit after that, he was doing fine, no bumps, no scraps, no nothing. My step-son, he had some bumps and he’s still a little sore even a week later. My daughter-in-law actually fractured two vertebrae in her neck had surgery on Sunday and was released on Monday which kind of baffles me how that works. So yes, that’s my prayer request for healing, emotionally and medically. But here’s the other request that I have: my wife had a very good conversation with my daughter-in-law about Jesus on Sunday. She was asking questions of my wife about relationship and she was raised catholic, really hasn’t gone to church since her childhood probably. And she really was seeking a change of a heart. And so, this whole week we’ve been praying, praying for that, that they attend church. We’ve even invited them several times but that they see that Jesus really did protect them. And she even said when they were rolling over, she saw two big hands surrounding their child and my wife says that was God. that was God Allie. So, please pray for them. Embrace you …

Hello, my DAB family my name is Terrell Revenelle. I actually stumbled across this app a few days ago. I’m all things devotional, I love devotionals, lover of God, lover of Jesus, Holy Spirit and I was looking for a different type of devotional I already listen to several others and when I stumbled across this it blessed my soul immensely and then at the end when I was able to hear all the testimonials, the prayers, the prayer requests for different individuals, family, friends and also for the DAB family, that just lit up my soul. So, so I’m hear today just asking for you all to stand in agreement with me for my son who is 24 years old, my only son, his name is G and a couple years ago he woke up and he couldn’t walk. He had already been dealing with a bulging disc and he found out that he had seven bulging discs so just imagine, you know, how debilitating that was for him and his life. He’s newly married of two years. Him and his wife just moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. And he’s really just trying to get back in step. He’s not a 100%, he’s able to walk now. We’ve gone through spinal non-decompression therapy, we’re trying to avoid surgery at all costs but now the issue is more neurological and muscular having issues of weakness of muscle, weakness of limbs. He gets exhausted very quickly after doing just a little bit of activity. He was once very active, he played college basketball, weightlifting and all of these things, dancer, and all of these things and I know that this is spiritual warfare that God is drawing him closer to Him. So, the prayer is two-fold that his spirit is enlightened and that he’s totally healed in Jesus’ name. Thank you.

[chilly-territory]

K ~ Four Seasons of K: Wall

October’s story, with the Blue clan. I have some backlog with these short stories, I’ll try to work on it.

The original Japanese text is kindly provided by blueseraphima, as usual.

Wall by Furuhashi Hideyuki

In a corner of Scepter 4's training ground, a wall had appeared. Seemingly made of logs stacked sideways, it was about 5 meters wide and 3 meters high. Metal fixtures and posts fastened it to the ground reliably so that it wouldn't so much as budge from a human's push or shove.

First, the troops went to Awashima and asked her about the meaning behind the wall's appearance. Awashima, as bewildered at the question as they were when they had discovered the construction, went straight to the office of the organization’s head and inquired about his motives regarding the installation.

"---Ah, that." The head of Scepter 4, Munakata Reishi, flashed an enigmatic smile as he acknowledged the question. "Well, it's, uh... fufu... a wall, I believe." "Yes, I assure you I have gathered that much, sir." "It is an installation borrowed from a certain place." "Uh-huh."

Indeed, the wall in question was a prefabricated construction that bore evidence of long-time use. It did look like an equipment belonging to some organization. Still, that didn't explain its purpose... or better yet, Munakata's intentions behind it.

Awashima waited for him to elaborate further, but Munakata offered no other explanation, just stared out the window at the autumn sky above, as if to purposefully avoid the questioning.

*

"...So... what are we supposed to do with this wall, anyway...?" "For starters, what's it even used for?"

The troops of the Swordsmen Division, lined up on the ground with Awashima facing the line and the wall visible behind her back, exchanged perplexed glances.

Only, among them...

"Mmn, isn't that..." "Yeah, sure brings back memories."

...there were those who looked at each other in recognition. The individuals in question were the two prominent members of the Swordsmen Division's elite unit, the Special Ops squad, Akiyama Himori and Benzai Yuujirou.

"Does this thing ring a bell for you two?" Awashima asked. "Yes, it does," Akiyama volunteered. "I believe it is a hurdle race wall."

To provide a demonstration, Akiyama broke into a light-legged jog on the approach to the wall and, kicking the tips of his boots against its surface, ran up it. Then, planting both his hands on top of the wall and using them as a pull-up point, he swung his body up, easily scaling the 3 meter wall and landing on the opposite side of it.

"The same equipment is used for training new recruits in National Defense Force. Back there, such walls were often part of standard running courses and training drills." "Ohh," the troops exhaled collectively, internalizing Akiyama's explanation and being impressed by his trained movements. There was a reason why that earned their admiration.

The thing was, fundamentally, the members of Scepter 4's Swordsmen Division had been selected and brought together mostly based on 2 conditions, those being you had to be a young man of about 20, give or take a few years, and you had to have aptitude for superpower. So long as those requirements were met, your personal history or origins mattered little. So if anything, the troops who, like the ex-members of the National Defense Force Akiyama and Benzai, underwent professional combat training in their previous line of work were in minority.

Moreover, since Scepter 4's main premise assumed utilization of your superpower when in combat, it could be said that even after enlistment, purely physical training was kept to a minimum and designed only to allow the recruits to reach the most basic level of physical prowess.

"So am I to take the Captain's aim with this is a boost of physical performance through more physical-geared forms of training, I wonder?" Awashima asked no one in particular with a pensive look on her face. "Aww." "Sounds like a tall order, if you ask me." Hidaka and Fuse from the Special Ops grumbled behind her.

Whipping her head to give them a withering glare, Awashima turned back to Akiyama and Benzai.

"Operative Akiyama, operative Benzai, can you make some time for me today after your shift is over? I'm planning to revise our training program, and I could use your input."

*

And so...

"Well then, first, Akiyama, Benzai... show them how it's done." "Yes, ma'am!"

A few days later, singled out by Awashima, Akiyama and Benzai took a step forward, breaking away from the line.

"On your mark!" Awashima ordered. "Ready... Go!"

Together with the command, the two broke into a run. The track they were running on was a newly built hurdle race course, circling the grounds. Under the ban on using their superability to reinforce their bodies, the two galloped in leaps, propelling themselves with just their raw leg strength, in full uniform and with the sabers strapped to their hip.

Their speed was about equal. Like two arrows fired from the same bow at the same time, they were advancing through the course shoulder to shoulder.

30 meters in front of them, there stood the wall. As if by some sixth sense, they kicked off at the same time, pushing up and scaling it.

"Ohh..." the troops stirred behind them.

The wall wasn't the only hurdle in the hurdle course. The track could also boast the typical obstacles used in track-and-field events, ditches dug to imitate trenches and nets strung to make one crawl under them - Akiyama and Benzai, running side by side at the exactly same speed, were clearing the hurdles with the exactly same movements. Completing one full lap took them about 3 minutes. The requirement to complete 5 such laps in one go was Akiyama and Benzai's own proposal as the ex-National Defense team. Passing in front of the lined up troops, they went for their second lap, scaling the wall together a second time. Their speed didn't drop any.

"Alright, now, Team 1, on your mark! Ready... Go!"

"Team 2, on your mark!"

A lap behind Akiyama and Benzai, one by one, the troops started on the course. The moment the previous team scaled the wall, the next team was given the go-ahead signal to begin pursuit, and if that team caught up to the team that started on the course before them, they were declared winners and were to continue pursuit of the teams in front, overtaking them one by one. Those were supposed to be the rules. Since none aside from a handful few were used to such physically taxing exercise, a certain number of dropouts was within expectations.

Only...

The result was far more dreadful than anyone could have expected.

What's worse, the aforementioned wall had literally become the insurmountable hurdle in the troops' path. On the first try on their first lap, only about half of the members were able to scale it. Although the rest were able to clear it on their second try after adjusting some things like the speed of the approach run, on their second, third and fourth lap, due to evident lack of stamina, those who simply gave up on overcoming it had started to appear one after another.

As a result, by the time Akiyama and Benzai had finished their fifth lap (arriving at the same time), there was no one left who could still run maintaining the pace, and Awashima declared the exercise suspended.

Most of the troops sank down to the ground around the wall.

"Huff, huff, huff... this is... just meaningless! Especially seeing that we could leap over a wall like this in no time if we just used our power...!" Doumyouji, another member of the Special Ops squad, grumbled, being a sorry loser, as he stretched out his legs. "Puff, puff... Our superpower is not... limitless though. And when push comes to shove, your physical endurance might be... what can make difference..." Kamo Ryuuhou, also a member of the Special Ops squad, folded his arms and nodded primly... except he, too, was gracelessly seated right on the ground.

"I had no idea our troops' stamina levels were this badly all over the place...." Awashima sighed, observing the troops, or rather, what looked more like heaps of corpses lying all around. "To be honest, it came as a complete surprise to us, as well," Akiyama and Benzai agreed with her, visibly discomfited. "From here on out, I'll have all the troops focus on building up basic endurance for a while. I ask you two to cooperate with me." "Ma'am, yes, ma'am." "Uwaaah~~~" Hidaka, stretched out on the ground, let out pathetically.

"Still..." Akiyama said in a voice barely above whisper, taking in once again the disgraceful sight his coworkers made, "To see through this state of affairs before even any of us field operatives could and make a preemptive move like this..." Knowing what Akiyama wanted to say by that, Benzai, too, felt great admiration as he said, "Yeah, that's the Captain for you... He truly is a frightening person."

Just then, a lone truck rolled onto the HQ premises through a side gate, carrying additional equipment Munakata Reishi had arranged for.

*

The 'Stamina Buildup Training Circuit', prepared for the Swordsmen Corps based on the first day's hurdle race, was to be put to use in the form incorporating Munakata's further proposals. Namely...

The wall was to be utilized in 'Candy Hunt', the hurdles in 'Bread Eating Contest', the tranches in 'Spoon Race', and the crawl sections in 'Scavenger Hunt'.

"Buwhoo...!" Akiyama, face white, chocked. Unexpectedly, he was positively no good at this game that required participants to find a candy hidden in a tray of wheat flour without using their hands.

"Uwooooo...!" On the other side of the field, Kamo, emitting an angry growl, charged the bread hanger stand, but the more he strained, the wilder the anpan, hanging by a thread, swung back and forth, not letting him put his mouth on it.

"Kamo-san! Remember that using your hands is against the rules!" Hidaka taunted, skillfully balancing a ping-pong ball in a spoon on the run. Having conquered the crawl section, he checked the slip of paper to find out what item he was to borrow for Scavenger Hunt.

"Eno, Eno, Eno---! Glasses, your glasses, gimme your glasses---!!!" Sweeping the glassed off the face of his fellow Special Ops squad member, Enomoto, who was spectating outside the course, Hidaka rushed back.

"Nfufu... Hidaka always gets so excited when it comes to things like this." "Well, the dude's basically a party animal." Two more members of the Special Ops squad, Gotou and Fuse, let lopsided smiles curve their lips.

"Things like this, huh..." Enomoto intoned, squinting accusingly at the course without the aid of his glasses. "...Isn't it just that the Captain wants to have a sports meet, no?" "Hey, you're only realizing it now, man?" Fuse couldn't help making the quip. "Nfu. He must be watching us this very moment on the monitor in his office and grinning like there's no tomorrow." Gotou himself broke into a wide grin.

As he did, Doumyouji, not looking enthused in the least, ran up to them from behind to comment, "But apparently, there are people who don't exactly share that view."

"Hey, you over there!" As if to prove him right, Awashima, who was observing the course, shouted to him right then. "You're in the middle of training! Cease your idle whispering this instance!"

"See?" Doumyouji said quietly to Enomoto's group. "Yes, ma'am!" he then replied loudly to their superior officer and made his way back to the course at a speed calculated to be just barely above the level where she'd snap at him again.

"Buwhoo...!" Benzai choked up ahead. "Hell yeah---!!!" Above the head of Hidaka, who came in first, decorative balls split open, spewing confetti to dance against the autumn sky.

[inkbucket]

In Praise of Meekness

The corona virus has jostled pretty much everyone by this point, and when people get jostled a bit you get to see what sloshes out of them - often in a much more obvious way than when everything’s steady.

It’s helpful to see what sloshes out of your own heart, as well, since “the purpose in a man’s heart is like deep water” and you might not know yourself some of what’s going on inside you.

One thing I’ve noticed - both in myself and others close to me - is a tendency toward anger:

“Why can’t they just do the math? Is it really that hard?” “How can you claim science is on your side and then ignore legitimate evidence?” “How can you say that about other Christians?” “So you’re aggressive and theatrical and then act like a martyr and claim persecution?”

Yes we need bravery right now - lots of Christians are rolling over and playing dead (or perhaps showing that they were already dead).  The fear of death reigns unchecked in churches and people I thought better of, and breaking bread together with the saints just isn’t worth the 0.029% risk of dying.

But for the rest of us, I think we need to remember that ditches usually come in pairs: our temptation towards cowardice and indolence on one hand comes with a temptation toward wild anger and unjustified meddling on the other.

If the ship’s in a calm sea everyone can stand up straight, but when the storm comes it takes strength, coordination, and constant re-adjustment just to keep from falling on your face.  This is a “scambling and unquiet time” that tends towards extremes and mocks meekness.  But meekness is the antidote to the anger I’m struggling with right now.

In English, the word “meek” rhymes with “squeak” and “weak” and definitely lives in an unfortunate linguistic neighborhood.  But maybe that’s a good thing.  Wanting to be labeled “meek” requires - well - meekness.  

Let’s back up in time and start with Aristotle, to give some cultural context for the Greek word for meekness (praos) that’s used in the New Testament:

Now we praise a man who feels anger on the right grounds and against the right persons, and also in the right manner and at the right moment and for the right length of time. He may then be called gentle-tempered (πρᾶος/praos), if we take gentleness (πραότης/praotēs) to be a praiseworthy quality—for ‘gentle’ (πρᾶος/praos) really denotes a calm temper, not led by emotion but only becoming angry in such a manner, for such causes and for such a length of time as principle may ordain although the quality is thought rather to err on the side of defect, since the ‘gentle-tempered man’ (πρᾶος/praos) is not prompt to seek redress for injuries, but rather inclined to forgive them.” (Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 4.5)

So the meek man possesses “tame anger” as opposed to “wild anger” - the word is apparently also used by Xenophon to describe breaking in wild horses and taming growling dogs.  It makes you think of Jesus sitting down to braid a whip of cords and then driving the money changers out of the temple.  Presumably he could have commandeered a whip from somewhere (as he did in fact commandeer the donkey for the triumphal entry), but the text tells us specifically that he made it Himself right before he used it..

This is mostly humorous - but maybe before you post something angry on Facebook, you should force yourself to look up and read the full definition of each word you’re using in a big unwieldy paper dictionary first.  You’re braiding words together to sting someone, and you should take your time about it and make sure you choose each word yourself with painstaking care, rather than thoughtlessly reaching for one of the pre-bundled whips which litter the internet and reposting that.

When Jesus said “blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth,” it’s a quote from Psalm 37 - and we should definitely elect the passage “Psalm of the Year” if that were a thing.  Here are the first eleven verses:

Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers! For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb.

Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.

Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!

Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil. For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land.

In just a little while, the wicked will be no more; though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there. But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace. …

I’m going to go out on a limb and just say it: Psalm 37 is extremely un-American.  There are very good things about our culture - rewards for hard work, generous optimism, and a fierce sense of justice and hatred of oppression.

However, every virtue becomes a vice when it’s not tamed and these ideas embedded in our cultural DNA also make us expect to be able to fix every problem we encounter if we just find the right equipment and then spit on our hands and give it the old college try.  And who knows, maybe God even helps them who help themselves?  In fact, you’re basically not a Christian if you don’t even care enough to take part in the YOUR_CAUSE_HERE attempt to force political change by human pluck and cleverness.

Contrast that attitude with Psalm 37.  That psalm is about real injustice - probably much more obvious and brutal than our typical experience today.  The evil prosper and good men do nothing.  They’re sitting there quietly and not lifting a finger to resist or protest or march or hold signs or yell slogans and all the while the wicked rage and surge around them.  

This is not a cloak for cowardice and indolence - God will call you into situations where you’ll be uncomfortable and tempted to hang your head and stutteringly deny Christ before men.  Don’t do that, ever.  

But we should be highly suspicious of any attempt to manipulate the Church into doing  anything that a political action committee would think of as valuable.  God’s kingdom operates according to different priorities, and (especially since the New Covenant, which far surpasses the Old in every way), those priorities are completely foreign to the mechanisms and machinations of political power.  

Jesus is born into a powder-keg of a conquered country which knows it should be free.  The Jews rightly recognized that slavery is not fitting for the children of God.  Jesus sees the humiliating oppression they’re under: “Hey you - stop what you’re doing and carry my pack for the next mile”.  The Pharisees try to enmesh Him in the divisive patriotic arguments of the day: “How can paying to taxes to a brutal tyrant who literally believes himself to be a god be permissible?”  And Jesus shrugs and points to Caesar’s face on the coin, then goes back to teaching about sin and love and the Father.

And yet - quietly, faithfully, without taking matters into their own hands - the meek will inherit the earth.  Do you actually believe that?  Do you believe that the heart of the most foul-mouthed, fanatical progressive beats or ceases to beat at the discretion of King Jesus?  And the fact that it continues to beat in the person in front of you right now means that God is giving them to you as a test, which has been planned from the foundation of the world, to see if YOU really believe Him or not.

The minute you force yourself to be still and pursue meekness, you become inoculated against a whole class of temptations that we’re hereditarily susceptible to as Americans.  You don’t have to shout now because - in His own good time - the Lion of Judah will roar.

[opinions-about-tiaras]

This one is for my bro @hiddenhistoryofwesteros and my other ASOIAF peeps. I know I got a lot of followers who do not give a darn about my essays on this, so it goes under the cut and everyone else can keep scrolling.

Well, @hiddenhistoryofwesteros did say he wanted comments and critiques, so we’re going to go hugely in-depth here on the most recent post on the Westerlands.

The actual content here is uniformly interesting and well-conceived. It could just stand to be presented better. That said, let’s start with the good stuff.

I love the idea that there’s been more than one Brightroar. Because it makes total sense that the people sitting on top of an unending fountain of gold would have picked up a Valyrian steel blade back when you could just go to Valyria and, you know... BUY one. And the idea that a master wrote a whole book about inventory discrepancies among the artifacts and treasures claimed by the great houses is a very, very maester thing to do.

Norwin the Niggardly and the expanded saga of his wife and sons is pretty great.

I’ve said it before, but I will again: Letter #9, with King Jaime and Queen Cersei and their son and heir Prince Joffrey, is hilarious. I’d never have thought of doing it but of course. Of course that happened. It’s one of those things that is obvious in hindsight but that you don’t think of until someone more clever than you stumbles on it. Well done, sire.

Letter #11 is one of those things that attempts to answer a question that really bothered me throughout WOIAF, namely, “why the hell didn’t the Westerlands or the North ever try and just CONQUER the ironborn to make them stop the constant idiotic wars that way?” It’s missing a lot of detail, but it was nice to see someone add in a king who decided “yeah, I don’t want the ironborn rising again, I’m just going to add their realm to mine.” It seems odd that he didn’t succeed; it should have been a pushover. Maybe the Reach or the Riverlands intervened? The whole crab-bucket politics of the Great Game intervening, “oh shit, the Lannisters controlling the ironborn? We’d better do something about that.”

The one-liners of Letter #13 are an excellent collection of plot hooks and story ideas. I want to know more about all those guys!

Having said all this...

I’m trying not to be a jerk about this, my fine friend, but... you should maybe spend a bit more time editing these things. They’re riddled with grammatical errors and awkward constructions, and that really detracts from the joy.

First big thing I’ll point out: paragraph breaks, please. Not indentations, like in books, but actual line breaks.  Not just between letters, but within them as well. Giant walls of text online are no fun for anyone. New paragraph, do a line break. It will MASSIVELY improve scansion, trust me on this.

Try and cut back on the run-on sentences. I think, but am not sure, you’re trying to emulate the “maesterly style” of being very long-winded? Which is a great stylistic thing to do! But you have a lot of run-ons and I think they’re not all working.

Example, from letter #6:

All, however, were noted for their generosity…save perhaps for King Norwin Lannister, better known as Norwin the Niggardly after he refused to ransom his youngest son, the future Lancel V, when the latter was captured by Perceon II Gardener near Red Lake whilst returning from a pilgrimage to the Starry Sept in Oldtown, forcing his long-suffering queen, Alys Farman, to pay for the release of her favorite child herself though it took seven years to raise the necessary funds and beggared her personal holdings in the process.

That’s a mouthful! I might suggest, instead, something like this:

All, however, were noted for their generosity…save perhaps for King Norwin Lannister, better known as Norwin the Niggardly after he refused to ransom his youngest son, the future Lancel V, when the latter was captured by Perceon II Gardener near Red Lake whilst returning from a pilgrimage to the Starry Sept in Oldtown.

This forced his long-suffering queen, Alys Farman, to pay for the release of her favorite child herself, though it took seven years to raise the necessary funds and beggared her personal holdings in the process.

That’s a bit cleaner, I think? It flows more naturally. (Also added a comma.)

In that vein, I do think you could also benefit from adding in commas and semicolons and other things to improve flow; there are some constructions and word choices I think you could stand to maybe ruminate over more?

Like, I’m going to take a shot at Letter #9. The original:

On a somewhat less morbid note, Jaime II Lannister became known as “the Just” after he celebrated the seventh anniversary of his marriage to Cersei Lydden by sponsored the construction of seven new towns and septs in the Westerlands as well as roads to connect all of them to both Lannisport and Casterly Rock, from which the royal couple rode forth on a never-ending progress. Their son, Joffrey (III) the Precious, in turn, would build a golden sept at Lannisport twice the size of the Starry Sept. When it was destroyed during a great fire three generations later his grandson Jason I built a new one twice the size of the original. That one too was destroyed a century later but by Ironborn under the command of Othgar the Degenerate rather than fire and, just as before, it was again rebuilt, this time thrice the size of the second. As a result, when a merchant from the Reach later shat in it while services were being given a long, terrible war ensued between the two kingdoms that left both realms crippled for generations and for once the golden sept was left to lie in ruin, which it still does to this very day, its beauty having slowly faded from memory into myth.

And after an editing pass:

On a somewhat less morbid note, Jaime II Lannister became known as “the Just” after he celebrated the seventh anniversary of his marriage to Cersei Lydden by sponsoring the construction of seven new towns and septs in the Westerlands, as well as roads to connect all of them to both Lannisport and Casterly Rock, from which the royal couple rode forth on a never-ending progress.

Their son, Joffrey (III) the Precious, would in turn build a golden sept at Lannisport twice the size of the Starry Sept. When it was destroyed during a great fire two generations later his grandson, Jason I, built a new one twice the size of the original. That, too. was destroyed, a century later; but by ironborn under the command of Othgar the Degenerate rather than by fire. It was again rebuilt, the third one thrice the size of the second.

Later, when a merchant from the Reach shat in it while services were being given, a long, terrible war ensued between the two kingdoms that left both realms crippled for generations, and the golden sept was left to lie in ruins, which it still does to this very day, its beauty having slowly faded from memory into myth. 

I added some commas and made some changes to construction and word flow, particularly in the second and third paragraphs. Maybe good? Maybe bad?

Finally... it’s a little thing, but you don’t capitalize “house” a lot when it should be. This post had “house Lannister” at least twice, as well as “house Hightower” and “house Payne”

Also too: if you want these to get wider play (and you might not! and that’s okay!) you’ll want to add more tags to them so that they’ll show up in the feeds of more people who are tracking said tags. “the westerlands” is a good start, but you definitely also want to tag all these posts “asoiaf” and probably “house lannister.” For ones pertaining to them, I mean; obviously when the Vale comes along you’d want to tag “house arryn.” Tumblr will spread your posts through, I believe, the first five tags you put on them, so you should fill them up with everything relevant so they get the most play. It’ll help you build an audience.

I apologize if I’ve been too forward here; if you want me to back off on the critiques, I will.

[thelastdiadoch]

SARGON THE GREAT OF AKKAD ‘Destruction leads to a very rough road but it also breeds creation’

This is an excerpt from my post: ‘THE AKKADIANS AND THE SUMERIAN RENAISSANCE, BRONZE AGE TITANS OF MESOPOTAMIA’. 

The region known by the later Greeks as Mesopotamia (Μεσοποταμία, “land between the rivers”) is seen as one of the earliest cradles of civilization. Within this fertile region many great civilizations would arise, one of which was Sumer. From the numerous independent Sumerian city-states grew a sophisticated and advanced civilization that is given credit for some of the earliest discoveries or inventions in history like a system of writing (cuneiform), the wheel, irrigation, the plow, the arch, sailboats, astronomy, astrology, the abacus, duodecimal and sexagesimal number systems and the division of time into segments of 12 and 60, the 12-month calendar, and the 360-degree circle.

A migration of east-Semitic speaking people from the area of the Levant (modern Palestine, Israel, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon) entered Mesopotamia and inhabited the fertile river plain north of Sumer. The arrival of these migrants coincides with the collapse of the Uruk period of Mesopotamia (which was weakened by a wet and dry period known as the Piora Oscillation), and the rise of the Kishite civilization. Named after the city of Kish, lying between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, this regional power had access to the waters that the Sumerians to the south relied upon. From here the Kishites would be able to either cut their water supply off or open them up and flood Sumer. Holding the title ‘King of Kish’ effectively implied that you held power over the greater majority of central and southern Mesopotamia.

^ The Sumerians at war by HongNian Zhang.

During the Early Dynastic period the Sumerian city-states to the south were in constant conflict each other, severe droughts forced these independent city-states into long drawn out wars over fertile earth, access to water, limited resources and trade routes. The rivalry between the cities of Umma and Lagash was similar to that of the Mycenaeans and the Trojans, Athens and Sparta, York and Lancaster… House Stark and House Lannister. Growing in power and wealth. 

These city-states would reach new heights under great kings like Eannatum and Lugalzagesi, warlords that would lead large armies on campaigns throughout Mesopotamia and as far west as the Mediterranean Sea. Two other civilizations to sprout from the previously mentioned east-Semitic speaking migrants were the Akkadians and the Assyrians which have seldom been spoken of up to this point and had little impact on the course of history… until the rise of Sargon.

^ Believed to be that of either Sargon of Akkad or his grandson Naram-Sin.

Sargon’s origins have much in common with that of the biblical story of Moses:

“My city is Azupiranu (“city of saffron”), lying on the back of the Euphrates. My enitum (high-priestess) mother conceived me, in secret she gave birth to me. She set me in a basket of rushes, with bitumen (petroleum based waterproof glue) she closed my door. She cast me into the river, but it did not overwhelm me.”

In the ‘Epic of Atrahasis’ it mentions that women in religious orders weren’t allowed to have children so this may be why she gave him up. Akki (Aqqi) the “drawer of water” (gardener, irrigator) found him in the river among bulrushes, raised him and had him employed as a gardener.

Destined Warrior

Ishtar is the Akkadian version of the Sumerian Goddess of love and war, Inanna, accounts say that “Ishtar showed me [Sargon] love”, that he was an “overseer of Ishtar” and “arose in the era of Ishtar”. Like you’ve read above, much like Eannatum the Great of Lagash himself stating that he was supported by an  given a divine birth by the war goddess Inanna  which meant that you were more likely to have a life in warfare. Though this is said to have just been a form of propaganda to justify wars and show the people that their acts were righteous as they were fighting on behalf of the gods.

Like the classical Greeks the Sumerians and Akkadians may have believed that whomever won these wars, the gods favored more so. Countless tablets show both pictorial representations and written text which depicted gods warring when it was actually known that kings fought these conflicts. An example of this is when Umma and Lagash was warring the texts say that Ningirsu (patron war god of Lagash) battled against Umma and “By the command of Enlil, he cast (his) big battle-net upon it, and its many tumuli (burial mounds) he laid upon the ground in the plain.”

When he was older he became a cup-bearer to the king of Kish, Ur-Zababa. This position sounds kind of lowly but was actually one of the highest and most respected positions one could have. For one to be put in such a position, to be so close to the king and serve royalty and at times were required to test foods and drink for poison, the king must have trusted him immensely. Ur-Zababa “became frightened in his residence. Like a lion he urinated, sprinkling his legs; the urine contained blood and pus. He was troubled, he was afraid like a fish floundering in brackish water.”

Sargon slept and dreamt that “holy Inana drowned Ur-Zababa in a river of blood”; Ur-Zubaba heard his groans so he asked him what he dreamt of. Ur-Zababa frightened by Sargon’s dream, attempted to have chief smith Belish-Tikal assassinate him. He failed as Sargon never made it to the location so Ur-Zababa, now even more frightened, sent Sargon off to Lugalzagesi (of Umma and king of Uruk) with a message written in clay which directed Lugalzagesi to kill Sargon.

According to the poem ‘Curse of Agade’, the gods themselves paved the way for Sargon’s ascension by doing away with Uruk and Kish:

“After the frowning forehead of Enlil had killed (the people of) Kish like the “Bull of Heaven”, after he had ground the house of Uruk into dust, like a giant bull, after in due time, to Sargon the King of Agade from the lands above to the lands below, ‘Enlil had given him lordship and kingship.”

He warred against the greatest power in Mesopotamia at the time, the above mentioned Lugalzagesi of Umma, King of Uruk.

“The city of Uruk he subjugated and its wall he tore down; in the battle with the inhabitants of Uruk he was victorious; Lugalzaggisi, king of Uruk, he captured in the battle, and he brought him collared [like a dog] to the gate of Enlil.”

Victorious in battle against Ur, and later Umma, these two cities fell to a similar fate as he took them and tore down their walls.After conquering all of Sumer he washes his weapons in the Persian gulf, this is believed to be a symbol of the south’s subjugation.  

“all the territory from Lagash to the sea he subjugated, his weapons he washed in the sea.”

Puppet master

He set loyal Akkadian supporters as shakkanakum (governors) over his conquered cities (over 65) in order to keep the power of his empire in the hands of his own people and to keep them from rebelling as they did under previous rulers. Going as far as placing his daughter Enheduanna in the prestigious position of high-priestess of Inanna at Ur.

“Enlil gave him the territory between the Upper Sea (Mediterranean Sea) and the Lower Sea (Persian Gulf); from the Lower Sea onwards, natives of Agade (Akkad) are the governors.“

King of Kish

Sargon took the title King of Kish and was ultimately victorious in thirty-four campaigns and “the city-walls he destroyed as far as the shore of the sea”. The country of Razalla he turned “into ruin-mounds and rubble-heaps; his destruction left no place for a bird to perch”. His empire encompassed Sumer and Akkad, while stretching as far southeast as Elam, to the Mediterranean Sea in the west (Lebanon and Syria).

^ Akkadian mod for Sid Meier’s Civilization V.

In the epic “King of the Battle” (Akk. Sharru Tamkhari) a group of merchants sent representatives to ask Sargon if he could overcome the wealthy city of Purushkhanda (Hittite Parshukhanda) in  Anatolia (modern Cappadocia, Turkey) from King Nur-daggal (Nur-Dagan). He engaged in one of the earliest descriptions of logistics gathering in history, he agreed to aid the merchants but before advancing he sought to find out how dangerous the journey ahead would be by sending merchants out as scouts.

“The road, O lord, that you wish to travel – it is month-long, it is dangerous.”

King Nur-Daggal of Purushkhanda boasted about how impossible it would be for Sargon to make it to his city.

“Who could, with such a huge army, cross these tracts, climb up the summits of these unparalleled mountains, and penetrate jungles? Even the bushes would become nets hunting the army.”

Sargon undermined the walls of Purushkhanda, creating a 120 meter (393.7 ft.) breach and then places his throne before the gate, urging Nur-Daggal to surrender, which he does. Nur-Daggal submitted to Sargon and stopped repressing the merchants; this land is later mentioned to have been part of the domain of Sargon’s grandson’s (Naram-Sin). One of the possible reasons for him involving himself in this foreign dispute may have been because the riches that the Silver/Tin Mountains (Taurus mountains) held.

Late into his reign he writes:

“In my old age of 55, all the lands revolted against me, and they besieged me in Agade [Akkad] but the old lion still had teeth and claws. I went forth to battle and defeated them: I knocked them over and destroyed their vast army. Now let any king who wants to call himself my equal. Wherever I went, let him go.”

Like Alexander and Caesar, Sargon was the prime example of the ideal warlord and would forever after be mythologized and admired. Sargon fought alongside his men in the front lines and is depicted as a fierce presence on the battlefield.

“Was it not because of his frightening radiance and his bellowing roar that no one dared to approach him? I, Sargon, am your raging lion … when there is combat, invoke my name!”

Sargon, like all great leaders, was able to rally his men behind him, bringing out the best of them. Sargon instilled upon his men the virtues of “courage, strength, vigor [and] heroism” comparing them to “strong bulls” and rewarded those who had proven to be valorous.

“Courage, strength, vigor, heroism – [they] have always found you (in battle) since times past. Valor is fitting for you. Take heed of our well-being whereof, I spoke! … [damaged text] … Stand Tall! Proclaim! Be proud!“

“He took control and the army purified/mustered. The strong bulls, the warriors he put into action. 40,000 were they, filled with battle. Those from the city, threefold heroic, those of the escort, adorned with a gold breastplate, from the marketplace of Hashshum. The ironclad, raising (their) frightful head; the linen-cloaked dressed in mountain-gear, swift of knee, finding in each other in heroism. Those (warriors) like the stars (in the sky), covered the plain.”

If there are any errors please privately inbox me so I can update it. As always, if you’d like to read or learn about any specific historical subjects just let me know what they are and I will take note of them.

Featured photo at the top: Sargon of Akkad the first emperor by neutronboar.

See Also:

For information on one of the earliest recorded civilizations on earth, the Mesopotamian flood myth, the evolution into city-states and their rivalrous history - read: THE SUMERIANS, FOREFATHERS OF CIVILIZATION IN MESOPOTAMIA.

For information on Sargon the Great and his Akkadian Empire, the revival of the Sumerian Empire, the Gutian and Amorite invasions as well as the Sumer-Akkadian military - read: THE AKKADIANS AND THE SUMERIAN RENAISSANCE, BRONZE AGE TITANS OF MESOPOTAMIA. 

[hollyhark]

Hey! I am struggling with writer’s block right now myself, and just a general lack of energy, which is why I haven’t been online much—it’s normal for me in January but really bumming me out after last January was so energetic and fun for me, a rare occurrence that made me feel like I had CONQUERED January, but nope :B

ANYWAY I have two methods for getting past this which I’ve had varying success with: one is just to give myself permission to not write for a few days and see if coming back to my current projects makes me look at them less critically (usually my writer’s block has to do with feeling like whatever I’m working on is turning out crappy and therefore not feeling motivated to continue). If I get back to it and still feel sluggish I’ll usually skip to another project or just start something totally off the wall that I’m writing just for me.

I’m very stubborn about linear writing and can get stuck when I find myself getting bored with the scene I’m working on, which is usually a sign to wrap that scene up by any means necessary, because if it’s boring to write it will probably be boring to read. If things are drastic I’ll just throw something like [transition goes here] or whatever into the draft and move on.

I NEED TO BE DOING THIS RIGHT NOW lol I’m stuck on two drafts that aren’t sweeping me away with momentum the way I wish they would—but I also just think it’s normal to go through this once in a while, to some degree I just have to accept that writing won’t always feel breezy and inspired and sometimes picking away at a draft feels like pulling teeth, bleh. Occasionally this is a sign to just shelve it indefinitely and start something else, but I usually try to get some distance from it and revisit it multiple times when I’m feeling less sluggish before I do this.

Editing: I actually don’t think I’m a great editor asoidfjdoi I tend to do pretty cursory edits for the sake of getting things finished and moving onto the next thing before I lose inspiration, at least in fandom (ok, in everything). I do edit as I work, and I guess one tip I have which is maybe weird is that I email the text of whatever I wrote that day to myself before I leave work and then read it on my phone when I’m on my commute home. I always notice way more typos and mistakes and lazy stuff when I’m reading it as if it’s something that’s already posted (ie when I can’t freely edit as I read) and then when I get home and open my draft I tend to spot those things again and remember how I wanted to fix them. 

Motivation: For me it comes in random cycles and at this point I just have to accept that and keep trying to work even when I would rather do literally anything else (I spent all of Sunday doing chores and most of yesterday doing actual work at my desk to avoid writing, dark times). Years ago I read some interview with Sarah Dessen and she said that with some projects working on them feels like going to a party and then with some it’s like a death march or something to that effect—I’ve just accepted that at this point and I do the death march when I have to, just to stay in the habit and not get too deeply into a funk (though writing when writing feels hard can be the fastest track to despair ffff but I don’t really have any other creative outlets so without it I’m worse off). 

I’ve been writing like 200 words a day recently, which is painful after last year’s PARTY MODE writing feeling. Little things I do for motivation are: checking my word count, not constantly, but setting little goals and meeting them, like ‘ok I wrote 250 words in the past hour. Try to write 250 before lunch’ or something along those lines. I’m also usually inspired by reading fiction while I work (usually not fanfic, unless it’s for a pairing I’m not writing about, then I just compare myself too much) and switching back and forth between that and my draft. I always log out of social media if I want to get shit done because otherwise I’ll check it every five minutes and get sucked into things for half an hour at a time etc.

Hope that helps!! And I hope to be around more soon, I’m actually feeling okay but just need to not be too deep in my internet cave right now. Thank you for the notes! <3