#I’m actually an English major

[cranberrytea451]

My dumbass feels the need to write.

[magnoliasforyourmedic]

Things really hit home for Derek one day in 2001 on the trip to Normandy, in, of all places, the buffet line at lunch. He tells the story in his words:

My fiancée went to the line first and I sat down at random at a table with an older man, one of the originals. "What are you doing here?" he said gruffly. I told him I was the grandson of Doc Roe. His countenance completely changed, and then he laughed. "You know, I always saw your grandfather at reunions and he'd say, 'You know, I don't remember you, but if you drop your pants and show me the bullet hole in your butt, I'll probably remember which one you were.’”

— An excerpt from A Company of Heroes: Personal Memories About the Real Band of Brothers and the Legacy They Left Us by Marcus Brotherton

[jester-step]

i just know a band is good when they make me want to print out their songs and annotate their lyrics and write essays drawing connections between their albums

(this is once again about the amazing devil)

[stephofromcabin12]

Favorite TOA book and character? I’ve only gotten to book 2 but I procrastinate with every book lol. Does Artemis actually save Apollo/Lester in The Tyrant’s Tomb?

Honestly probably book 4-5? Book 5 is probably The book I pick up the most when I want to re-read something Riordan.

Fav character….Arrow of Dodona I fear lol

But Meg truly grew on me as well! She is so so underrated

As for Artemis and Apollo, you’ll just have to read on to find out!

[ao3-shenanigans]

welcome to the Bread Bank

(hi)

In your opinion, would you read a fanfic that followed the prompt of The Bread Bank meme? I just wanted to know a professional's opinion before I jumped ship

Sure why not!

Honestly though, yall don’t need my permission or opinion to write something silly. I can guarantee someone out there will enjoy it, even if it’s just you, and I think that makes it worth it

[glorfys-glorioushair]

Story in the Castlevania Games

Buckle up this is a long one!

I understand that there is often a divide about which of the Castlevania game types are better (Classicvanias, Metroidvanias, and the 3Ds) but I think this is kind of shallow because they each offer a different perspective of style. 

Personally I love the Igarashi era because the first game I 100% completed was Symphony of the Night (I started with Super Castlevania on a SNES). I also connect with the style because I’m a terrible gamer and you can easily scrape through those (yes I went as mist throughout a lot of the inverted castle don’t @ me) as opposed to the classicvanias which make you pay for it (I like the tough concept and the reward, but I can’t tell you how many times I have screamed about falling off stairs). I haven't had a chance to play the 3Ds yet, but I have watched the Curse of Darkness cutscenes in 4K numerous times!

My own preferences aside, we all know that despite gameplay, every Castlevania game (the ones that follow the timeline, bc idk anything about the Lord of Shadows series) have the same simple plot with the sole purpose in defeating Dracula. And I sometimes see in the gaming community that their simplicity of plot is marked off as terrible and shallow. In a surface level view this can be true if you just play games to play games. But in regards to Ernest Hemingway’s Iceberg Theory that “emphasizes the idea that a writer should only reveal a small portion of the story, with the bulk of the meaning and emotion implied or hinted at”, the Castlevania games explore such deep concepts of love, human struggle, identity, gender roles, sexuality, good vs. evil, religion, and other philosophies. 

By having the same basic objective, the writers are able to explore the different avenues in going about the completion of the task of defeating Dracula and point to the ideas of what it means to be human. Some examples under the cut:

Symphony of the Night has the debate of how evil and even good can have radical ideology evident with Dracula obviously, but also in Richter who got so consumed with being the force of good he was manipulated by darkness. Thus Alucard, who is a product of both good and evil is the only one who can reinstate this balance and leave behind the quote from the Sega Saturn version, “However, you must never forget this: the one with the power to destroy this world is not him... Humans themselves possess this power.” The dialogue is actually good and complex in this game when you compare the different versions. 

CVIII: Dracula’s Curse is argued to have one of the hardest gameplays (outside of the original Japanese version) and couldn’t this have an impact on the fact Trevor Belmont and the gang are the first ones to take down Dracula? It had to have been hard for them to achieve such a feat! Also the different motives for all of the playable characters. Trevor and his family’s fealty to fighting the night and who was once Mathias Cronqvist. Grant Danasty who seeks revenge for getting temporarily turned into a monster and fights for his country’s safety. Alucard who wants to stop his father from tormenting humans. And Syfa Belnades who was a female magic user for the church in a time where that mysticism could be deadly, but was necessary to preserve humanity. I think Syfa is interesting in terms of hiding versus showing true identity (something Yoko Belnades eons later talks about). 

Curse of Darkness. Y’all this might be the most complete and obviously complex story (supplement material aside) that they have ever produced, yet it’s the one that’s the most sidelined. And for what?? Hector is an outstanding foil to Dracula even to the point of the goal is to use him as a vessel to resurrect Dracula. Like that is so interesting!! Even Isaac and Julia have great characterizations. If you want more stuff about this game, check out @beevean they have great content. 

My second favorite game, Aria of Sorrow explores how Soma is actually a reincarnation of Dracula and it’s a battle of the self, temptation, and his love for Mina that can defeat the evil within. Also Alucard’s change in terms of approaching the situation of defeating his father under the guise of Arikado Genya. Now that’s a can of worms right there.

Order of Ecclesia and the discourse of cults, Harmony of Dissonance regarding how the Belmonts are just as cursed as Dracula, friendship and more in CV: Bloodlines, Simon Belmont’s battle with outward and internal strength, Lament of Innocence and how the women are fridged for both good and evil, the list can go on.

Now I won’t say that every single Castlevania game achieves this well, most things are left to speculation and interpretation like deeper information of what happens between games and what the Belmont lineage canonically looks like. But the fact you can draw these intense and deep messages from pixels and gameplay is incredible!  

What may be my biggest frustration with Konami sidelining the Castlevania series is the potential of a complex story within a well-thought out gameplay and style. Grimoire of Souls may have failed with repetition and it being a gacha game, but the story was interesting because they explored what it looks like with the characters from different games comparing and contrasting themes. It shows that there are people in the writing room who still care about the games because of the story. But money seems to be the problem for Konami which is stupid because they would make bank with this game franchise imo

Anyways my real point here is that taking a minimalistic approach to the story-telling within a game isn’t a bad thing because there’s always going to be deeper meanings. Perhaps this is why I myself gravitate so much towards this series. For me it’s not always about how good I can get through a level or boss fight, but the subject of what speaks to the human soul.

TL;DR: don’t get hung up on what gameplay is better, pay attention to the fact that all the games share a simple plot in order to explore complex themes of humanity, saying that less is more.

[camelots-daffodil]

Literally who gave bbc merlin the right to genuinely have an impact on my life? That wasn’t supposed to happen.

[twentyfivemiceinatrenchcoat]

ari, would you want to study literature later down the line post undergrad? i honestly think you're really talented at writing... my english teachers at school would've absolutely adored you, i think ahaha

anon!!!!! that’s so sweet of you to say 🥺🥺 this should come as a surprise to no one but i’ve spent my entire academic career trying to get my english teachers to like me <333 i had this one super good eng teacher in ninth grade and i adored her sm….. she made my mommy issues worse i think.

but aaaa … to answer your question!! i genuinely have no clue what to do after i graduate 😭 like. zero. the future feels wayyy way too blurry to picture anything like that which i’m hoping is… fairly normal when you’re on the cusp of your early twenties? probably hopefully?? :’3 literature is very much my greatest passion and love in life though so i think i’d like to do anything involving that!!! whether it’s writing books or just working at a library or whatever… maybe trying for a doctorate….. not sure i’m cut out for it though. studying arthurian lit would be fun….. we’ll see!!!

but yes, literature will hopefully be apart of my life forever and ever <333

[gggoldfinch]

me trying to be yay supportive when my best friend gets a job without even really wanting one meanwhile every place I’ve applied to has turned me down

[thatgoddamngingerundercut]

“If you just see the artist as a product, how can they do anything creative?”

SUGA for weverse magazine 2021.07.30

[xinanigans]

“WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU GOT ON THE AP LANG EXAM”

“A FIVE-“

[pierog]

so i applied for a DREAM JOB and out of 6000 applicants!!! I ended up in the final 15 😟

…and I did SOOOOO soooooo well til the very last round 😔 i accidentally became privy to some scathing information from the judging panel. ouuuuuuuchhhh lol my insecurities.

proud of myself for being true to myself and getting far as i did, though.

[sochilll]

Wrote my essay and set it to double spaced expecting to be done and it’s only half the page count lmao

[inksandpensblog]

I find it funny that so many posts on here are begging readers to comment on fics. Meanwhile I’m over here tearing my hair out with apprehension over the idea of reading the newest chapter of something because I know it’s gonna take me at least an hour just to write the comment, not counting the time it actually takes to read the chapter. Because the author writes with so much nuance and I want them to know I noticed it. And I have to articulate exactly how every moment of that nuance made me feel.

And it’s fun to notice those things while I’m reading but the time commitment makes it hard to start reading. Because once I read I know I’m gonna want to comment.

[rosesradio]

.

[silvery-stars]

oughhh the want to study something in college because you love it and want to learn so much more about it and practice it and refine your skill vs the knowledge that you’ll likely never be able to make a profitable career off of it so it’s not financially worth the thousands of dollars of college debt………