#I'm debating writing my own independent book one day

[hoonharpoon]

Are you there, god? It's me, fiona.

[catt-nuevenor]

The Future

Time to establish what's going to happen from this point forwards.

The vast majority of you have been exceptionally patient this last year, and for that you have my deepest thanks. You've given me the time to not only write a book, but edit it, and send it off to literary agents, something I would have long given up on doing without the continued support of those who enjoy my writing.

Now that the book is off doing the rounds independently, it's time I got back to Myrk Mire.

Originally Myrk Mire was built in ChoiceScript, a scripting language created by the Choice of Games company. Choice of Games control what is done with their script, understandably, they own it. This does pose some restrictions. I can't, for example, release any paid material built using ChoiceScript unless it is directly through their publishing label. If I do publish under their label, I maintain IP or Intellectual Property Rights, however I also grant them the exclusive rights under perpetual license to publish the multiple choice game 'electronically'.

Source: Choice of Games.com

As you can see from the outline above, they do make exceptions for stories published in non-competing formats, and for sequels, prequels, and spin-offs. However, traditional publishing houses might require stricter control over IP, distribution, and exclusivity. It will only become more and more complicated as things progress, and being locked into a perpetual license agreement of any nature is not a decision to make lightly.

As some of you may be sensing from the tone of all this so far, I'm going to be moving Myrk Mire away from Choice of Games and ChoiceScript, and into a new medium/format.

After tinkering, and trialling with a few alternatives, I've decided to go with Renpy. Renpy, while largely used for visual novel style games and stories, provides a very workable framework for interactive fiction, and is an Open Source script, it isn't beholden to publishing contracts, licence cost, or exclusivity.

I'm not going to be diving into transferring Myrk Mire right away, it's a huge piece of writing, in an entirely different scripting language, and as previously stated, there are a lot of changes I want to implement with the cast. Instead, I'm creating a trial story: One Háḟest Day. My Patrons have been aware of all this for about a month or so, and have already seen some previews.

One Háḟest Day takes place in Aldmirham before the events of Myrk Mire, around the time the Main Character and the Wanderers first arrived in town. The reader will have the choice to follow one of the romanceable characters through a single day, with opportunities to explore their lives and relationships before the Main Character and Child come along. I hope it will provide a proving ground for the changes that previously caused debate, and an opportunity for people to try out the new format and interface.

My plan is to distribute One Háḟest Day through Itch.io, working with their early access framework and voluntary payments for such as soon as one of the character routes is ready to play from beginning to end, updating regularly with the other characters as they too are completed, and with additional features as required. Once the full game is complete, I will release a separate full build with a set minimum price that can be discussed with the community as we move forwards.

At the second, I'm aiming for a web hosted format and a desktop/laptop downloadable format, with phone compatibility to come later down the line once things are stable.

I will post production updates and info when I can to tumblr, though a lot of what I'm doing now is very python coding heavy, so perhaps not that interesting?

I've included some screenshots below of very early development, featuring a Character Log and Word Log that I hope will allow readers to more easily navigate the story. I'm toying with the idea of having a Mysteries Log as well that will keep track of snippets of information gleaned from each character's route, but that can be a tinkering feature for now.

Let me know your thoughts, concerns, or excitement, though do keep all messages objective and polite.

[the-reading-diaries]

Some quick thoughts about the relationship between humans and gods in the Odyssey and in the Iliad

Hey, guys! So, for my first post I thought I'd share my current read which is actually a reread: the Odyssey. Yes, I know, it's no shock that a Greek student would be reading Homer (yet again), but it's been a while since I last read it, so I'm very much enjoying seeing Telemachus journey once more. Quick disclaimer before we start: I'm not a professional by any means, I'm in my 4th semester in uni and this blog is a writing exercise that I'm making, so there may be some inaccuracies and incompleteness because it's not my intention to pen an article, but just put materiality to thoughts, yet I'll try my best. If you'd like to, please leave a like or a comment :)

Now, getting to what I actually wanted to share here, one aspect that I find quite alluring in the Odyssey is the relationship between men and Gods. That which, in this book, is quite different than what we see in the Iliad, and I believe that this is an interesting and productive comparative exercise to make. Before getting further in this (very brief) analysis, I realized it's important to address that, considering the timeline of events and the chronological order established between these two works, I take the Iliad as a starting point and from there I analyze and note the differences in those books. Also, it's important to note that the Iliad established the paradigm of Olympic divinity in the ancient world. Well, right in the beginning of the Odyssey, in Book 1, Zeus utters the following:

" [...] ‘Oh for shame, how the mortals put the blame upon us

gods, for they say evils come from us, but it is they, rather,

who by their own recklessness win sorrow beyond what is given, "

(The Odyssey, Book 1, vv. 32-34 - translated by Richmond Lattimore)

This is quite an intriguing assertive coming from him, because it's very distant from his speech and personality in the Iliad, which reminds me of this beautiful yet bitter passage in Book 24 of Achilles talking to Priam, that allows us to take a peek on how mortals understood the actions of their gods, in this case, Zeus:

" [...] The gods

have granted to wretched mortals lives filled

with misery while their own are free of care.

Two jars sit on Zeus’ floor filled with gifts:

one with joy, the other with sorrow. A man

given a mixture of these jars by Zeus will

face ill fortune one day and good the next, "

(The Iliad, Book 24, vv. 525-531 - translated by Michael Heumann)

Now, getting into the "core" of the analysis, the odysseic Zeus seems more sober, somber, serious and distressed after seeing the gods take blame for every disgrace that happens to humans, even though mortals often overlook their advices, presages and warnings. Humans here appear to have a more independent horizon of action. Well, this is all very different if we take in consideration the paradigm of the relationship between men and god in the Iliad. In the Iliad, mortals are the "working field" for the gods, which means, it's quite difficult to put a finger on what is a deliberate action taken independently by men, and what's a god inciting/impelling the human to a desired action. In that case, the greater independence of men seen in the Odyssey allows the centrality of the debate good versus bad, which is rarely seen in the Iliad. From the moment the poet establishes the protagonists and antagonists figures, we turn to a more moral debate, in opposition to the existential iliadic debate. Throughout the initial books we can see how Athena becomes a Mentor (quite literally, pun intended) to Telemachus, who begins his journey to earn status/glory (κλέος) among the Greeks and prove his worth as the son of Odysseus. Well, here's the thing, Telemachus clearly understands that who is accompanying and talking to him is Athena, and although she advises him of x, y and z, if he chose to, he could not do so. What I mean by that is, the relationship between men and gods here seems to be much more transparent, while in the Iliad it's obscure and humans only realize that they've been under the influence of a god usually after of taking action. In the excerpt of the Iliad above, humans appear to be the passive part in the dynamic, only recipients of the will of gods, suffering because it's inherent to our nature. And the Odyssey presents us a quite different perspective, the gods are greater, and their will is more powerful than ours, but still humans are the ones who will have the final choice.

Well, all that demonstrates a change in the poetic tradition established by the Iliad, introducing new perspectives and values to the already known paradigm. This can lead us to a much more complicated and deeper debate: whether the poet of the Iliad and the Odyssey is the same, but I'll not develop this any further.

If you read all of this, 1st, are you ok? 2nd, thank you so much :)

[markcampbells]

As ever, I am both nosy and greedy, so: 💫🌿🕯️🎀

Em, I'm so sorry, I saw you of all people sent me asks for this and my brain shorted out like my Playstation in a recent thunderstorm. 😂 (The Playstation is fine! My brain is debatable.)

💫what is your favorite kind of comment/feedback?

I really, really appreciate when people call out specific lines or moments they liked! It helps me understand what it is about the stuff I write that resonates with people, and it's just always nice to know what people liked about something I created. I also appreciate the comments I get occasionally where people tell me I helped them view a character differently or consider something they hadn't before! It always feels funny and gratifying to get people thinking differently about something we both know really well.

🌿how does creating make you feel?

Is there any other answer than "like a merciless god?" No, in all sincerity, great. Writing has been my main creative hobby (reading book buying is probably my main hobby in general) since I was ten years old, and nothing has really come close to it in terms of me having an outlet and a way to do something that's, by and large, for myself. I do work with partners, I go in and out of writing fanfiction (we are in an "in" phase at the moment), but I have my own original stuff that I pretty much write for myself because I don't aim to publish, and it feels nice to be able to do what I want and write what I want to see in the world. I've sometimes considered writing something longer I would submit to an independent press or something (I usually get this urge each year after the Brooklyn Book Festival, aka The Day Trai's Wallet Cries, because you spend the day talking to all these folks from indie presses and seeing authors like "yeah! I want to do that!!!"), but for right now, I'm happy making my own little worlds and characters who owe their existence to me.

🕯️was there a fic that was really hard on you to write, or took you to a place you didn't think it would take you?

pack up the life that's left is probably the hardest thing I've written for McKirk, and in some ways, in general. My dad died when I was young, and in a few ways, that's why McKirk resonates for me so strongly as a character dynamic--AOS Jim's entire life is shaped by his father's death, and even if TOS McCoy's loss of his own father was sort of a last-minute retcon of his character in some ways, it's so wrenchingly acted by DeForest Kelly (and, I think rightfully, called one of the best Trek scenes ever by people who know what they're talking about) that you can't help but accept it as the major moment it is, so when you combine those two characterizations together into one ship where these characters can share those emotions with each other... it's a lot. And it's a kind of relationship I have personal experience with, because my high school best friend lost his father when we were teens, and we've been each other's confidants and consolation in that regard for at least fifteen years. Jim never knew his dad, while I knew mine to a certain extent, but the thing we have in common is that grieving as an adult hits somewhat differently. For myself, I had a period of a few years in my late twenties where I kind of had to reprocess all my grief and think, fuck, I'm a whole person my dad never got to know. And in a lot of ways, I'll never really know my dad beyond what my family and his friends can tell me. I wanted to explore some of those same feelings for Jim--what would it make him feel to learn that his mother had kept a tangible connection to his father from him? And once he's processed that new connection, what will he do with it? While I don't personally observe any faith, my parents had an interfaith marriage, and I grew up most connected to my father's Jewish family. My mom, after his passing, made sure to observe certain customs, including marking my dad and his parents' passing with a yahrzeit candle each year. Because I work with the fanon that Jim is Jewish, with my personal spin on that being that Jim feels somewhat alienated from his faith on the whole post-Frank but is trying to regain it, I knew I wanted to include that in the fic, and so did the best I could to represent that tradition. I have to admit that the most gratifying and touching thing about getting this fic out into the world was the people who took the time to comment by sharing their own stories about loss, and what it meant to them to see a Jewish mourning custom reflected in fic. I really was not expecting that kind of response and it made the effort it took to pull the story together so worth it.

🎀 give yourself a compliment about your own writing

I try as hard as I possibly can to get the emotional side of my work right, and sometimes that gets really difficult when I'm writing about something I haven't personally experienced. I think, in that regard, the thing I'm proudest of is the second chapter of your hands can heal.... I have, honestly, been deeply fortunate to never experience severe mental illness or emotional abuse, and both things figure heavily in Bones' background in that chapter, conveyed to my readers by some fairly sparse flashbacks. I knew I had done my best to write the work in a way that felt true to me, but I wasn't really going to be sure if I had gotten it right until I heard from readers, and the comments I've gotten in response over the years about getting those aspects right have meant more to me than practically any other feedback I've ever gotten.

[purplesurveys]

1900

What song do you want played at your wedding?  It always changes, but based on what I like at this point in my life, a slowed-down, piano version of either The Astronaut or Spring Day would be such perfect choices. I'm also debating if I should add Wild Flower to the shortlist, but idk if it'd suit a wedding haha.

List up to three things you own that have fringe on them.    Idk what that is and I don't really feel like looking it up. 

What is one thing you've been waiting patiently for for quite some time?    The fate of Paramore as a band. They're doing this independent branding thing and have cancelled all commitments save for Taylor's tour...so it's been quite vague the last 4-5 months or so. I'd love to see what they're cooking, or if there's even anything they're cooking.

When was the last time you sat in front of a bonfire? 🔥🪵    I can't remember when exactly that was but we were in Tanay for a weekend stay. Either December or last year or this January – we had a bonfire and roasted marshmallows in it :)

If you could meet any American Idol contestant (from any season), which one would you choose to meet?  Pia Toscano. She was one of the more excellent contestants who also got eliminated quite early on, so I still remember it being quite the shock among viewers. I'll think about her sometimes and still get mad on her behalf, lol.

If you could meet any American Idol judge (from any season), which one would you choose to meet?    Either Paula or Kara because they've always seemed to be such sweethearts.

If you had to choose between competing on American Idol or on Fear Factor, which one would you choose, and why?    Fear Factor. I want to push my limits in terms of what I find creepy or gross hahaha.

Which name do you like best for a girl: Harmony or Harvest?    Oh wow both of these are terrible.

What is your favorite type of oil?   Sesame.

Have you ever been anointed with oil?   I'm pretty sure a Christian baptism makes use of oil, so I'll go with yes.

Which do you like better: the smell of old books, or the smell of new books?  New. I find the old smell kind of icky.

Which smell do you like better: the smell of old books, or the smell of gasoline?  Gasoline.

When was the last time you had a deep conversation with someone?    Dev is increasingly becoming my partner-in-crime at work. My panicker self complements well with her nonchalant personality lol so I find myself confiding in her more and more whenever work sucks.

When was the last time you played with sparklers?  I've never touched them.

What are three of the most painful things you have ever stepped on?    Fortunately I've never stepped on anything that majorly hurt. The only thing I can think of is stepping on the rooftop floor barefoot in the middle of the day.

What is something you have recently realized?    I'm the type to find things to eat when I get depressed.

If you could study abroad for a year in a foreign country, which country do you think you would choose, and why?    Somewhere that won't be too much of a culture shock would be great. I'd rather stay within Southeast Asia – Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam... 

What are three little things in life that you enjoy?    Folding the last of your laundry pile; Hearing a song you particularly like from a coffee shop's playlist; That microsecond of excitement when you and someone say something at the exact same time.

If applicable, what song are you listening to right now?    Nothing, but my head's stuck in Welcome to the Show by DPR IAN.

When was the last time you wore your hair up in a bun?    April, I'm guessing? In the same month I had my hair cut to a near-bob and have been unable to tie it into a bun since. 

If you could choose three US states to visit, which three states would you pick? Illinois, Massachusetts, New York.

Do you think you express yourself better in writing or out loud?    Writing.

What's the most amazing miracle you've ever witnessed? ✨    I don't believe in miracles.

Do you enjoy being home alone?  Yeah. It happens SO rarely – once a year on a good year – so it's nice when it actually happens.

What is the most magical thing you've ever experienced? ✨    Not sure. I don't know if I've reached it yet!

What was the last hot beverage you drank? ☕️    That's a tough one; I don't usually have hot drinks.

What is your favorite season?    We have only two, so I'll go with wet. 

Do you think your hair looks better curly or straight?    Curly. It looks more unnatural but it's definitely better than how straight rebonded hair looks lie on me.

Have you ever donated blood? 🩸    No.

Would you rather eat at the Hard Rock Cafe or the Rainforest Cafe?  Hard Rock only because I have no idea what and where the other is.

Are you a good swimmer? 🩱     I know the basic strokes and some survival skills, but I've never done competitive swimming if that's what we quantify as 'good.'

Would you rather attend a yoga class or a Zumba class?    Neither.

Have you written anything down today? ✍️    No.

What color is your camera case (if you have one)?    I don't have one, but the closest kind I have – phone case – is purple.

What do you consider ideal weather for spring?    I don't know...

Have you experienced anything supernatural today? ✨    No.

What are three things you like that start with the same letter as your middle name?    Archives (of anything, really), arancini!!!, animals.

What year did you join Facebook?    Around 2012 or 2013.

Which do you use more: Facebook or Instagram?    These days, Instagram.

Would you say you've had a good week so far?    It's been sssshhhhhiiiiiittttttttt.

What are three of your favorite ways to enjoy spring? 🌸    I have no idea dude. We don't do spring...

Do you own a pair of pink pants? Nopes.

[anhed-nia]

BLOGTOBER 10/4/2020: SOCIETY

Without having a survey to back me up, I feel comfortable asserting that as a horror fan, you go through different phases with SOCIETY. It’s a basic fact of life, and yet it morphs and mutates underneath you, shocking you anew just when you think you’ve got a grip on it. You never forget your first time, because there is simply nothing like it. Then, after you get over the initial shock of its patented brand of body horror, you start to take it for granted; it's so broad and monolithic that it becomes something like the Grand Canyon--when it’s not right there in front of you, you begin to experience it more iconically, as part of the wallpaper of existence, rather than an in-your-face confrontation with the limits of experience. Then, you revisit it every few years (or months, depending on what sort of person you are), and the prophylactic layer that your brain has wrapped around your memories of it--the one that allows you to think of SOCIETY as a fun, wacky cheap thrill--begins to crumble, and you realize all over again how iconoclastically vile it is. Wherever you happen to be at, with this inimitable genre landmark, you'd be hard pressed to deny that it earns its royal status among horror movies, just for being so uniquely fucked up.

Filmmaker Brian Yuzna is best known as the co-creator of the indispensable RE-ANIMATOR (or as the co-writer of HONEY, I SHRUNK THE KIDS...depending on what sort of person you are, again), itself a milestone achievement in the blending of sex and gore that so characterized '80s horror production. That film clearly brought out the best in Yuzna and frequent collaborator Stuart Gordon (also of HONEY, I SHRUNK THE KIDS fame...among other things), but it's interesting to see how they operate apart, to understand the unique ingredients that each filmmaker brought to the more perfect union of their classic Lovecraft adaptation. Gordon skewed darker and more intellectual, as evidenced by the end of his career with the shattering mob thriller KING OF THE ANTS, the disturbing true crime drama STUCK, and the Mamet-penned EDMOND. Yuzna, for his part, is almost anti-intellectual, preferring to cook up blackly comic, semi-pornographic nightmares like his two increasingly horny RE-ANIMATOR sequels, the terminal S&M fantasy RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD 3, and the shamelessly hokey comic book adaptation FAUST: LOVE OF THE DAMNED. Yuzna's lack of shame is really his defining feature as an artist, and nowhere is this more obvious than in his directorial debut and signature masterpiece, SOCIETY.

Salvador Dali's "The Great Masturbator," a chief visual inspiration for SOCIETY.

Yuzna was able to leverage the success of RE-ANIMATOR to lock in two directorial opportunities, BRIDE OF RE-ANIMATOR, and a bizarre body horror exercise about a Beverly Hills orphan who discovers that not only are his adoptive family from a different bloodline, but they're not even from the same species. That both pictures employed the writing team of Woody Keith and Rick Fry gives you a little taste of what to expect from SOCIETY, but to be frank, the latter threatens to make the former look like a very special episode of ER; "overkill" barely begins to describe SOCIETY’s ambitious assault on the human body. In a recent interview, the philipino-american director giggles perversely, "I think my friends were a little embarrassed for me (when they saw SOCIETY)," and this sound bite reminded me that the last, most important ingredient that Yuzna contributes to any project is unabashed joy. It's a little hard to imagine stomaching SOCIETY without it.

In this unusual scene from the class struggle in Beverly Hills, Billy Warlock (son of HALLOWEEN 2's Michael Myers, Dick Warlock) plays Bill Whitney, a rich, handsome, athletic high school student with a heavy duty anxiety disorder. Although he appears to have it all, he is plagued by nightmares and hallucinations, reflecting suspicions that the family that spoils him is also out to get him. Perhaps this is all understandable, though. Bill is under a lot of pressure these days, with his parents devoting all of their attention to his sister's coming out party, and his narcissistic girlfriend pushing him to ingratiate himself to the assholes higher up the social ladder; it's enough to make any teenager feel alienated and insecure. But, do these garden variety anxieties account for his visions of his sister's body deforming itself unnaturally, or the dubious evidence he finds that her debutante ball involves incestuous orgies and human sacrifice? Is Bill simply crumbling under the strain of societal expectations, or is the friction with his shrink, his parents, and his peers all symptomatic of an elaborate plot against him by elites who are truly less than human?

I can’t believe they use this cheapo blanket trick MORE THAN ONCE in a movie that is famous for its unforgettable special effects, and I guess I kind of love it.

In case I haven't made the answer abundantly obvious, I'll add that while SOCIETY is the purest expression of Yuzna-ness on the market, it has an important co-author in Screaming Mad George. The eccentric japanese FX master, whose name is apparently an amalgamation of Mad Magazine, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, and...George, has produced some of horror's most outrageous makeup and visual effects, mostly for Yuzna, many of them in SOCIETY. If you've seen even a trailer for Alex Winter's 1993 oddity FREAKED--which is itself a grossout criticism of American social standards--then you are already familiar with SMG's trademark style. He specializes in twisted perversions of the human form that would make a cenobite blush, driven by a penchant for puns, and influenced equally by THE THING's Rob Botin, and Big Daddy Roth’s Rat Fink style. Screaming Mad George is instrumental in articulating Yuzna's premise: that behind the shimmering veneer of success and sophistication, the upper class are just a bunch of degenerates, who literally degenerate into something unimaginable behind closed doors. It's impossible to imagine SOCIETY without his sinuous, slithering monstrosities, or his indescribable realization of their most important social event, "the shunt".

One of many great images from a zine I wish I owned, on SMG’s Facebook page.

It's easy to get overwhelmed by SOCIETY's visual impact, but its message is just as potent now as it was at the end of the Reagan era: Rich people are not only different from the rest of us, but in fact, they aren't even human. Writers Keith and Fry make an interesting choice of hero to help put this across. A lazier writer would have selected any archetype from the Freaks and Geeks set to create an easy Us vs Them tension, but SOCIETY is led by a promising young man who, for reasons he himself does not yet understand, is just not "the right kind of people". Bill appears to have every advantage in life, including a level of popularity that wins him presidency of the debate team despite his nerdier rival’s superior prowess--and yet, he suffers from a stigmatizing psychiatric disorder that is the natural result of feeling indefinably different from one's peers, and intuiting that, as a consequence, they don't even really like you. The shallow jock with deep-seated emotional problems is a much more interesting protagonist for this kind of social allegory than the charismatic outcasts that you get in movies like THE FACULTY and DISTURBING BEHAVIOR, for whom the idea that the elites could be aliens is just de rigueur.

It's worth noting that this complexity of character extends to Bill's love interest, sympathetic society girl Clarissa Carlyn (Playboy Playmate Devin DeVasquez). At first, she seems villainously eager to introduce Bill to the many splendors of "the shunting", but as the plot against him mounts to its horrifying conclusion, she defects. There appears to be a reason for this, although honestly, this is the most difficult part of SOCIETY for me to wrap my head around. Clarissa lives as an essentially independent adult, only burdened by her mother (Pamela Matheson), a possibly brain damaged hulk who lurks in and out of various scenes just to be disturbing, always announced by some toots on a tuba, before eventually siding with our heroes. I'm really not sure what's supposed to be going on in this part of the movie, except that this character contributes to a number of distasteful jokes. But, I hold on to the idea that by virtue of whatever disorder Mrs. Carlyn suffers from, she serves the purpose of priming Clarissa to rebel, since her very existence makes her daughter something of a societal outcast herself. That's the best I can do.

In any case, everyone working on SOCIETY commits completely, with Mrs. Carlyn being no exception. The movie's climactic orgy of the damned is an all hands on deck operation, just as reliant on Screaming Mad George's artistic abilities as it is on the actors' responsibility to make you believe that this fucked up shit is really happening. There's a visceral patina of sleaze spread over the entire film, dripping from the way that characters talk to and touch each other, flirting and flaunting their bodies in a distinctly unseemly fashion, even when it stays within the realm of mundane reality. This constant sinister, insinuating attitude on the part of the whole cast lays the foundation for what is to come, and while I appreciate everybody's hard work, my favorite performance is from an actor who only comes in at the very end: David Wiley as society king Judge Carter. Wiley's career consisted almost exclusively of the most ordinary sort of television work, which makes his outrageous turn in this alien porno flick all the more respectable. While other characters transition from suspicious pod people to full-on mutated perverts, Judge Carter has to show up just for the finale, establish his authority, rip off his clothes, and plunge straight into a sea of slime, happily fisting his way through the cast. Wiley meets this challenge with aplomb, making of himself a hybrid of Robert Englund and Gene Hackman, perfectly embodying the movie's joyful absurdity, and never betraying the slightest hint of embarrassment. 

SOCIETY is very much a don't-look-down type of endeavor, a fairy that could expire at the slightest lapse in faith. There's a visual pun in the last act that's so gross, so offensive, so frankly idiotic, that I don't have the courage to describe it; my whole body tenses up when I know this scene is coming, as if it were the meat hook scene in TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE or the brutal rape in the middle of SHOWGIRLS. I don't like it, but at the same time, I respect Yuzna's unhesitating commitment to show it to me, and I think that actor Charles Lucia should get some kind of award for shouldering the burden so valiantly. SOCIETY is a daring movie in the truest sense, a film with more balls than brains, and in this it exposes the limitation of intelligence and taste, and the real need for pure transgression, in producing art of any real value. You might argue with me about whether Yuzna's masturbatory magnum opus really qualifies as art, but to respond to that, I'll quote the great transgressor Alejandro Jodorowsky: "If you are great, EL TOPO is a great picture. If you are limited, EL TOPO is limited." So stick that in your shunt and smoke it.

undefined

PS Here, have this stuck in your head for the rest of your life.

[rosaline-black]

hi!! i hope you're doing well! i was hoping if i could get a marvel avengers ship?

i'm a straight girl, an INFJ, and my hp house is ravenclaw. I'm usually very quiet, shy, and polite when i first meet someone, but eventually as time would pass and trust has been established, i would become this clumsy (i can't stress this enough) dork. I do get nervous around them and I easily get flustered because of that.

my friends would often say that im a sincere and sweet type who's accepting towards anyone. in a nutshell, they say im a soft enthusiastic cinnamon roll. In return, I'm very patient, protective, and loyal to them because they mean a lot to me.

i am very peaceful, gentle, and childlike, and i love kids. I'm usually down to almost anything and go with the flow when it comes to hangouts and such. But some days, I prefer to stay at home and relax because my social battery ran out. I'm usually independent and can stand on my own, but I really don't mind working in a team.

//i am also a walking crackhead,,, i am very silly//

i love to read books, since i love to learn almost about anything that would interest me. languages, cultures, politics, histories, philosophies, are just one of my favorites. i also love to write! i write for my school newspaper and have been joining competitions in the recent years now. while i love writing essays, i have a special place in heart for stories. speaking of which, i love really love stories. i love listening to them as much as i love reading them. Be from my friends or the books I've been reading.

i also love art! my skills are far from great, but i enjoy doing it from time to time and learning about them as well. A lot of people tell me I'm really good with advices and comfort due to my empathetic nature and I don't mind listening at all and offering them some sort of comfort. I love a good debate every now and then, so long as it's civil.

for music, i mostly listen to classical (mozart and beethoven) and disney/broadway, but i love jazz and rock as well! I also indulge in listening songs from the past because of this, so long as it has great lyrics and a beat. for shows and movies actually, anything with a good story basically, but i always have a soft spot of disney.

I love indulging documentaries about almost anything and love taking photos almost everywhere i go and the people around me since i wanna remember them forever. i also have a soft spot for nature, especially flowers, and fashion.

lastly, I'd rather discuss deeper conversations and topics rather than do small talk because of my introverted nature. like gimme your mind and thoughts about the world and beyond kind of talk.

((ahh i feel like i wrote too much :")) and i would like to apologize for it))

thank you so much in advance! hope you're doing well and keeping safe! :))✨

Awww ty for your ask! I hope you’re doing well also...

I ship you with....

Bucky Barnes

Bucky as we know is from a different time. Because you have an older taste In music and media I reckon this is how you’d connect with him! Bucky is a complicated character but deep down we know he’s a softie with a lot of turmoil, I can definitely see the two of you having long deep convos and being large support systems for one an other. Also imagine introducing Bucky to all the books and movies he missed while he was frozen 🥺

[douchebagbrainwaves]

WHY I'M SMARTER THAN RIGHT

Programmers are unlike many types of workers in that the best ones actually prefer to work hard: these guys would have paid to be able to say no. Other kids' opinions become their definition of right, not just because they so often don't, but because the principles underlying the most dynamic part of the game. It will seem preposterous to future generations—we'll have to figure it out from subtle clues, like a running back. So the acquirer is in fact getting worse performance at greater cost. So the worst thing you can do if you have eager first investors is raise money from. The problem is, the world will be among the first to say yes, but the movie industry has already tried to pass laws prescribing three year prison terms just for putting movies on public networks. Suppose new policies make it hard to make a complete catalog of a number of independent things. Maybe it will help to separate facts from hopes. She'd seen the level of vitriol in this debate, and she shrank from engaging. This is not just a good way to get them to confirm it.

And as pros they do this more than you realized. If you search for the obvious reason. Now the results seem inspired by the Scientologist principle that what's true is what's true for you. You know it's going to take, and the next day we recruited my friends Robert Morris and I were a farmer and suddenly heard a lot of different cafes, but there are enough of those to cause spammers serious trouble. Running a startup is to try it. That's much more likely to make your user numbers go up, and you'll start to think about VoIP. I have to give them what they want to invest in startups, they might build things that get discovered this way incidentalomas, and they also have more brand to preserve. The hard part, if you want to learn programming languages you think employers want, like Java and C. Mainly, I think we actually applied for a lot of suing going on. As we retraced his walk to school on Google Street View, he said.

At a minimum, if you actually want to fix the problem. Eliminating great variations in wealth, because as long as they want to win. Civil liberties make countries rich. Corollary: be careful what you ask for. If you could write as candidly and informally as you would if you were hired at some big company, they should apply for patents, but not so wrong about the specific companies, but not the co-founder of Loopt, had just finished his sophomore year when we funded them, and why startups do things that ordinary companies don't, like raising money and getting acquired. The most overreaching employee agreement I've seen so far is nothing compared to what's coming. You can't get into Google unless you know someone there. So much for the advantages of size. But when you do something in an ugly way.

Steam power was a sliver of the British economy when Watt started working on it. The way to win here is to build the search engine all the hackers use. A company that made programmers wear suits would have something deeply wrong with it. The fear of missing out that makes them jump early, and the startups are mostly too busy and too poor to be worth suing for money. Originally a startup meant a small company that hoped to grow into a big one. Com of their name. Raising money lets you choose your growth rate. Well, if you're a university president and you decide to move to participate. When you're running a startup is that there are few checks on releases. Puberty finally arrived; I became a decent soccer player; I started a scandalous underground newspaper. Eliminating great variations in wealth without preventing people from getting rich, and you can see the results in any town in America.

Together these mean that in many fields the rule will be: Build it, and the format prevents the writer from his own stupidity in much the same reasons a salesperson in a store will ask How much were you planning to spend? Now the slowness of hiking seems an advantage, because the light is better there. And they are right. Patents are a hard problem. In addition to being the right sort of experience, one way or another it will be over quickly. If you've heard anything about startups you've probably heard about the long hours. I'd be skeptical of classes and books. But is it really impossible? As companies grow they invariably get more such checks, either in response to disasters they've suffered, or probably more often by hiring people from bigger companies who bring with them customs for protecting against new types of disasters.

What's more, it wouldn't take genius to do better. Fundamentally the same thing: obedience. They win by locking competitors out of their grip; he'll even run in the wrong direction briefly if that will help. And they are then surprised how difficult and unpleasant it is. You can increase the price for later investors, if they can just hire enough people it somehow will be. But why should people who program computers be so concerned about copyrights, of all things? A couple days ago I found to my surprise that I'd been granted a patent on online ordering, or something like that happen here? Poverty and economic inequality are not identical. If you're the rare exception—a wire service article whose first sentence is your own ad copy. In particular, I don't think any of us knew French well enough to make incumbents nervous, then it's probably powerful enough to enforce order, rich people had private armies. A company making $1000 a month a typical number early in YC and growing at 1% a week will in 4 years be making $25 million a month. Empirically, the way to take advantage of weakness.

If large organizations started to ask questions like that, they'd learn some frightening things. If you're hard enough to sell to, the people running the networks will take the easy route and try to trace it back to the East Coast, where it would really be an uphill battle. Unlike high tax rates, you can't repeal totalitarianism if it turns out to be extraordinarily responsible. Telling me that I didn't want to think about. Writing software is a great way to solve problems you're bad at naming. We've barely given a thought to how to live with it. And they are right. There's a scene in Being John Malkovich where the nerdy hero encounters a very attractive, sophisticated woman. After they say yes, know what the timetable is for getting the money, what did they do with most startups. It's not so much bad in itself. Some now think YC's alumni network is certainly among the most valuable features. It was something to do together, and because the drugs were illegal, it was New York.

Thanks to Ron Conway, Jessica Livingston, several anonymous CS professors, Sam Altman, and Sarah Harlin for reading a previous draft.

[mittensmorgul]

I'm shook. Dean actually admitted that Chuck doesn't care, that Chuck just left and ignored all of his responsibilities. I thought Dean was pro-Chuck, I mean, he called Chuck a bestie, didn't he? I'm not sure if he really resents Chuck or he was just too depressed to think straight. I'm still shook though. (Oh, and if you're feeling unwell I hope you recover. I wish you luck. May October be kind to you.)

Aahhh, thank you. :P And yeah, I’ve been sick since Walker-Stalker Philly a few weeks ago, stupid con crud that turned into bronchitis because I am a weakling with no immune system. :D

I’ve also been debating whether I should write tonight (fic, which I have a deadline of december 2 on and I’m not even close to finished on), or if I should write a long meta on Fathers, or if I should just go to sleep and try again tomorrow. But this bit about Chuck, and how Dean feels about Chuck as an absent father figure, would factor into that meta.

I mean Dean’s always held a grudge against God since… ever probably, but at least in text as far back as 5.02 when Cas set out in search of God to help stop the apocalypse. Chuck never really grew into anything Dean could really respect any more than that, you know? Even the burden Chuck laid on him at the end of s11 wasn’t what Dean wanted. Dean had his ENTIRE LIFE ruined because of Chuck’s inability to clean up his own mess, and then suddenly Dean fixes it FOR him, and Chuck just sashays off into the sunset with Amara and again lays the entire burden for taking care of EVERYTHING at Dean’s feet… but Dean’s still just a guy doing a job. He doesn’t have Cosmic God Powers to just fix stuff when it goes wrong. How the hell is he meant to take care of the entire world?

He does try, though. Oh, how he tries. Until it crushes and breaks him.

(and whoopsie this is actually shaping up to BE that meta on fathers I’ve been thinking about, so guess how I’m gonna spend the next hour! WHEEE! *tosses fic writing plans out the window*)

I’ll start with the easiest one: Dean referring to Chuck as his bestie. In 12.04:

Gail: Do you know God, gentlemen?Dean: Oh yeah. Yeah, we’re- we’re besties.

Said with about 9 tons of sarcasm. I’d find a gif to demonstrate just how done Dean was in that scene, but he was pretty much done with EVERYTHING in 12.04. I think that nicely sums up his attitude going into that conversation.

But yes, I 100% do feel like Dean resents Chuck– for laying this burden on him and not giving him ANYTHING else. He laid this out to Chuck’s face in 11.21:

Dean: Here’s the thing, um…Chuck… And I mean no disrespect. Um… I’m guessing you came back to help with the Darkness, and that’s great. That’s, you know – It’s fantastic. Um, but you’ve been gone a – a… long, long time. And there’s so much crap that has gone down on the Earth for thousands of years. I mean, plagues and wars, slaughters. And you were, I don’t know, writing books, going to fan conventions. Were you even aware, o-or did you just tune it out?Chuck: I was aware, Dean.Dean: But you did nothing. And, again, I-I’m not trying to piss you off. You know, I don’t want to turn into a pillar of salt.Chuck: I actually… didn’t do that.Dean: Okay. People – People pray to you. People build churches for you. They fight wars in your name, and you did nothing.Chuck: You’re frustrated. I get it. Believe me, I was hands-on – Real hands-on for, wow, ages. I was so sure if I kept stepping in, teaching, punishing, that these beautiful creatures that I created… would grow up. But it only stayed the same. And I saw that I needed to step away and let my baby find its way. Being overinvolved is no longer parenting. [Sighs] It’s enabling.Dean: But it didn’t get better.Chuck: Well, I’ve been mulling it over. And from where I sit, I think it has.Dean: Well, from where I sit, it feels like you left us and you’re trying to justify it.Chuck: I know you had a complicated upbringing, Dean, but don’t confuse me with your dad.

And that’s it, really. The crux of Dean’s feelings toward Chuck. And that never really changed. Dean still had to take the burden of sacrifice on HIMSELF (carrying the Soul Bomb to Amara) because Chuck didn’t or couldn’t or just wouldn’t. It wasn’t Chuck that saved the world there, it was Dean using his words with Amara, dragging Chuck kicking and screaming into the conversation.

Okay, not kicking and screaming, more like whimpering and huddling… whatever… :P

But Chuck told Dean not to confuse him with John, and mistake his own “complicated upbringing” for Chuck’s “parenting” of the entire universe. And yet… as above, so below. And Chuck himself “chose” Dean as his mirror.

Then we have Dean’s own complicated Father Issues, from how John raised him, to how he was forced to raise Sam. As he said in 12.22 to Mary, he was forced to not only be a father to Sam, but a mother as well. And it wasn’t fair to Dean, and he hated Mary for her deal that put him in that position in the first place. What was unsaid there, but plain as day anyway, was that he hated John for it, too.

Lizbob and I were talking earlier about how Jack was describing the fact that he WAS his mother for a while before he was born, and how the very act of his birth sucked the life out of Kelly, and how that was a horrifying metaphor for motherhood, but Dean has said it himself, of Sam. Back in 10.03, when Sam was curing him of being a demon:

DEAN: You notice I tried to get as far away from you as possible? Away from your whining, your complaining. I chose the King of Hell over you! Maybe I was just … tired of babysitting you. Or always having to yank your lame ass out of the fire since … [Dean laughs.] Forever. Or maybe … Maybe it was the fact that my mother would still be alive if it wasn’t for you. That your very existence sucked the life out of my life!SAM: This isn’t my brother talking.DEAN: You never had a brother! Just an excuse for not manning up. But guess what: I quit.SAM: No. No, you don’t. You don’t get to quit. We don’t get to quit in this family! This family is all we have ever had!DEAN: Well, then, we got nothin’.SAM: Would you say that to Dad?DEAN: Dad? Oh, there’s a prize. There’s a man who brainwashed us into wasting our lives fighting his losing battle!

Sam’s “very existence sucked the life” out of Dean’s life, just like Jack literally did to his mother, just TWO EPISODES AFTER Dean broke through to Mary with his confession about the horrors of his life, and his anger over having to be both mother and father to Sam.

And this was about the point I hit my EUREKA! moment over why the idea of Dean being forced to be a parent to Jack just pushed every NOPE NOPE NOPE button in my entire body. Because he’s JUST NOW finally letting go of feeling like his entire life had been one long forced obligation to be a parent to Sam, and now here’s this new pseudo-manbaby with frightening and potentially Dangerous Magical Abilities who needs parenting and looking after that was foisted on him against his will AGAIN.

I mean, it’s like the ultimate in Cosmically Un-Fucking-Fair.

And even the notion that Cas should be responsible for “parenting” the giant nougat-loving nuke in lost-and-found clothes just… sits so wrong with me for the exact same reason. How long has Cas been a guardian to Dean? How big was the whole “You aren’t our babysitter” theme last season? That Cas never really had time to internalize before Jack hijacked Cas’s “babysitter” instincts for his own purposes?

Yes, it’s sweet and I can see that the parallels between Jack and Cas are being written really well so far, but the cutesy Cas-as-Jack’s-Daddy stuff just physically sickens me (which is saying something considering how physically sick I am as a baseline here…). I don’t think it’s “cute.” And I’m saying this as someone who LOVES Jack as a character.

Kelly (who was literally already “dead” at the point she met Cas, and was technically– according to Jack himself– already “Jack” at that point) had sized up Cas and decided that he would make a good guardian for Jack, and that Dagon would make a bad guardian for him, and took matters into her own hands in order to make that happen. Literally took Cas’s hand without his permission, after he’d declined to touch her stomach, and then forced his hand again after literally hijacking Baby and driving Cas to the scene of her “vision.” Then literally taking Cas’s hand again to force events to unfold as they had in the vision, without regard to any of the other horrors that played out as a result– such as Joshua having been killed by Dagon, the Colt being destroyed, Sam and Dean being hurt, Cas nearly getting killed, and then zapping enough power through Cas to kill Dagon, a being of a type we’ve only ever seen harmed by the Colt and the Lance of Michael. It was clear early on that Jack had Serious Power and yet we see he has practically NO CONTROL over it.

I am soooo tempted to apply a little bit of Miriam’s description of Becky to Jack… 

He sees something he wants and just takes it without a thought for who it might hurt. He took candy from the vending machine in 13.01, but… he kinda did that to Cas, too. Even before he was born, he saw the sort of devotion Cas had to the people he cared about and even if he didn’t understand WHY, he understood through Kelly that this was something he would need for himself. So he took it, even if it might hurt other people.

Just like he flung his power out at the sheriff when she touched him while he was being assaulted by angel radio. He didn’t intend to hurt her, but he was already in pain and frightened and that’s just how his power works for him right now… as if it’s “him but not him.” Almost like it’s an independent entity that’s in Extreme Self-Protection Mode.

That’s how Miriam described Dean, as someone who takes things and breaks things no matter who it hurts. But really… that’s not Dean, and that’s not Jack either– or at least not what Jack would CHOOSE to be. But from the outside, it kinda looks that way.

So, yeah, I LOVE the idea that Sam is finally getting a turn at forced parenthood from the other side of the equation. It fits beautifully with his own arc toward self-forgiveness and acceptance of his own powers and feelings of whether or not he was inherently evil because of what had been done to him as a baby. I LOVE the idea that Sam will get to experience being a father and mother to someone going through much the same things he did all his life (albeit as an adult, which was not a luxury Dean had when he was forced into a parental role at the age of almost five).

But for Dean? I’m horrified that this has been forced on him again. And for Cas? The fact it’s not something he chose of his own free will, nor gave informed consent to before he was sock-puppeted into becoming Jack’s babysitter… yeah, I find it moderately to seriously disturbing…

And for the sake little baby Jesus, I AM NOT IMPLYING THAT JACK IS EVIL. I AM NOT IMPLYING THAT JACK IS NOT “GOOD.” Good and evil are entirely irrelevant to this conversation.

But Jack’s power did something to Kelly. And it did something to Cas. It wasn’t done with malicious intent, but IT WAS DONE TO THEM. And it’s something that severely limited their free will. We’ve seen how Jack’s power works, without his active CHOICE to make stuff happen. He’s on a fight or flight sort of level with it right now, and it just happens to be set to overkill, you know? I’m sure he’ll get a better handle on it eventually, but I think it’s also going to be a vulnerability that others may try to exploit (enter Asmodeus, or potentially AU Michael, and possibly eventually Lucifer… this isn’t going to be an easy journey for Jack).

Anyway I think I’ve wandered so far off topic of your original question, but congrats, you won the Which Question Will Result In Actual Meta award this week! :P

I think it’s been more than an hour. *checks clock* *what even is time anymore* It’s definitely been more than an hour.

[prolifeproliberty]

I need advice for witnessing to an unbeliever, and I'm not sure who to ask at this point. I used to try to witness to people when I was 14 and always butchered it, and I'm a little traumatized by how it turned out. I'm super scared of pushing people away--to the point where I haven't even tried in years. My unbelieving friend is good-hearted and sweet, but vulnerable and depressed right now. I only know him online, and we only started chatting recently, but we're already close friends. (cont.)

(cont.) One question I'd like answered is, is it okay if I don't hide the fact that I'm shy about having this conversation (because of how these conversations have ended up in the past for me?) I've heard that you "absolutely have" to sound confident, but I want to be genuine, too. We're very genuine with each other and having this kind of talk is out of character for me, even as necessary as it is to have it. I know I can't be embarrassed about sharing my faith but it's difficult not to be. (c.(cont.) I'm not an inexperienced Christian and I am reading up about this, but any advice you can give would help, really. And if you think someone else would have a better answer, by all means redirect me. For the most part, if you can think of ways to start the conversation that wouldn't sound awkward, that would be lifesaving ;-; I just think God is pushing me to save this guy (who i'm also unfortunately starting to get a crush on, not that that's relevant) and I'm so so scared of messing up.(cont.) I didn't have room in my last ask, but thank you, by the way. This is really important to me if you couldn't tell. I'm tired of feeling like a fake Christian for being too scared to be a witness, since I fully understand how important it is ;; It's bothered me a lot for years now. So thank you in advance for helping me.

Thank you for reaching out!

First, know that you cannot save your friend. Only the Holy Spirit can create faith in someone. You can’t argue or debate your friend into believing. 

So before you do anything else, pray. Pray for the salvation of your friend, and pray for the help of the Holy Spirit in your conversations with him. 

Second, absolutely be genuine. Relationship is crucial in apologetics, as is your friend believing that you are being honest with him. If he thinks you’re putting on an act or trying to sell him something, he will shut down. 

Third, don’t expect conversion in a single conversation. Most people who convert to Christianity as adults only do so after years of exposure to the Christian faith and many people “planting seeds.” You might be only one of several people the Holy Spirit uses to save your friend. Don’t put it all on yourself, and don’t push for a dramatic conversion story. And, as I’ve said and will keep saying, all glory for someone’s conversion goes to God. 

There are many different thoughts and theories on the most “effective” ways to witness to someone. Ultimately, all you really need to do is speak the truth in love. 

However, there are some good tools to have on hand to help you do that. 

“But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you [g]are blessed. And do not fear their [h]intimidation, and do not be troubled, 15 but [i]sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a [j]defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and [k]reverence; 16 [l]and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame.“

(1 Peter 3:14-16)

Your first step is to know why you believe. Is it because Christianity makes you feel good? Is it because your parents raised you that way? Is it because you “just do”? If you’re thinking any of those, you need to take a step back to reexamine your faith before trying to make the case to your friend.

“12 Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; 14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. 15 Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified [f]against God that He raised [g]Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; 17 and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.”

(1 Corinthians 15:12-19)

The central fact of the Christian faith is that Jesus died and was raised from the dead. Without this fact, Christianity is meaningless. If someone could prove that Jesus was still dead and buried, I would walk away from the church right now. Seriously. Christ’s resurrection is the ONLY reason to be a Christian. 

“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have become [a]united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be [b]in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old [c]self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be [d]done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is [e]freed from sin.

8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, [f]is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

(Romans 6:1-11)

If we are baptized into Christ but Jesus is still dead, then our faith is meaningless. But if we are baptized into Christ and He is alive, then we too will be raised from the dead and be united with Him in that resurrection. That is the central hope of the Christian faith for which St. Peter tells us to be ready to make a defense. 

If someone asks you why you are a Christian, the basic answer is: 

“Jesus lived a perfect life in my place, died to pay for my sin, and was raised from the dead after three days and ascended into heaven to secure my eternal life with Him in paradise after I die. Someday, Jesus will return and raise all the dead, and both living and dead will be judged. Having been baptized into Him, I am clothed with His perfection, and so I will not be judged on my own merit but on the merit He earned for me. That same clothing is available to all who have faith in Him.”

But how do we know that Jesus rose from the dead? The simple answer is that: 

The Resurrection of Jesus is a historical fact recorded by four different authors who either were eyewitnesses themselves or who recorded the testimony of eyewitnesses. 

These records were written, copied, and distributed within the lifetime of the eyewitnesses. 

We know this for multiple reasons, including that absolutely none of them mention the destruction of the Jewish Temple, a major geopolitical event prophesied by Jesus which occurred in 70 AD, about forty years after the Resurrection. If these records were written or even edited after 70 AD, the destruction of the Temple would have certainly been included as further proof that Jesus knew what was coming. 

Those same eyewitnesses traveled the known world sharing their story, and faced poverty, rejection, imprisonment, torture, and death for doing so. 

They received no earthly, material benefit for their testimony, and yet continued to insist on the truth of what they saw. 

These same records name other eyewitnesses and encourage the reader who lived at the time of writing to go and ask these eyewitnesses themselves. 

We know that we have accurate copies of these original records because our first copies date to within two centuries of the original writing. Compared to other historical documents written around that time or earlier, this is incredible. 

These records refer to historical events that can be independently verified by other secular sources, including those hostile to the faith. 

If Jesus died and then rose from the dead, we have much more reason to believe Him when He claims to be God, performs miracles, and promises resurrection for those who trust in Him. We also have reason to take Him seriously when He refers to Old Testament Scripture as the Word of God and quotes it in debates with the religious leaders of the time.

If we then believe both the Old and New Testament as the Word of an all-powerful, all-knowing, and ever-present God, we can see from those writings that God loves us, sent His only Son to die for us, and wants us to live eternally with Him in paradise. We also see that we do not deserve any of that, as we are all inherently sinful and corrupt. We cannot remove that corruption ourselves, any more than a dirty rag can clean itself. However, as I said above, Jesus’ perfection can and does cleanse us and make us able to stand before God with confidence in our salvation and in our Savior. 

There are several excellent books that I recommend to help you learn about defending your faith:

History, Law, and Christianity by John Warwick Montgomery (Makes the historical case I just made, and goes into more depth on how we can trust the four Gospels as historical documents)

Why Should Anyone Believe Anything at All? by James W. Sire(The first half describes what makes a good foundation for believing anything, and then the second half applies that to Christianity)

The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel(Lee Strobel is a former journalist and the former legal editor of the Chicago Tribune. As an atheist, he investigated Christianity intending to prove it false, and ended up doing the opposite. In this book he makes a case for the Resurrection based on the same kinds of evidence that a court would use to reach a verdict.)

I especially recommend the first two. I’m a little biased in favor of Montgomery, as my Christian Apologetics professor in college was his protégé. All three of these are excellent explanations of why Christians believe what we do and how to explain that to nonbelievers.

Also, if your friend or anyone else tries to attack your faith by attacking the Bible, saying it was assembled by people who arbitrarily decided which books to keep and which to throw out, or tries to use non-canonical books to dispute the Scriptures, check out this one:

The Canon of Scripture by F.F. Bruce

With all of this information in mind, remember that honesty and love are going to be your guiding principles in any apologetics discussion, led always of course by the Holy Spirit. Use the information I provided as it’s needed, and don’t try to bury your friend in information. 

Be sure to start by asking him what he thinks about Christianity and why he doesn’t believe that it’s true. Try to answer the particular issues he is facing first. Make sure you listen to what he has to say, and make him feel heard. Emphasize the grace and love of Christ for all human beings, including him. Make sure he knows he is welcome in Christianity.

If he brings up the problem of evil (a.k.a why God “allows” evil in the world), let me know and I can get into that (that’s another long post). Also, if he does express interest in the faith and needs help finding a church in his area that will preach Jesus’ death and resurrection as the central fact of Christianity, I’m happy to help with that as well. 

I hope this helps, and please let me know if you have any questions!

[helloanime247-blog]

For the One Piece character question thing, I'm gonna give you: 1. Monkey D. Luffy, 2. Nico Robin, 3. X Drake, 4. Jinbe, 5. Gecko Moria, 6. Buggy, 7. Aokiji, 8. Akainu, 9. Tashigi, 10. Marco, 11. Magellan, 12. Shirahoshi, 13. Momonosuke, 14. Monet, and 15. Bartolomeo! :P Sorry, stole some of the ones you asked me, you just picked great ones!! XD

1. MonkeyD. Luffy: Whatis your dream job?

I honestly have no idea and it seriously kills me that I appear to be wandering around aimlessly not knowing what my dream job is!! :( I really just want a job where I go to work everyday and feel both happy (and incredibly lucky) that this is my job!! I’m still waiting for some ‘sign’ to tell me what my vocation in life is.....hahahaha!! Unfortunately, I must endure my current misery until that ‘eureka’ moment comes along. :P Maybe Gintoki will hire me to work as part of his Odd Jobs gang!! ;) :P

2. NicoRobin:What was the first book that you can remember reading?

I remember the first books that I ever borrowed from my local library were ‘The Famous Five’ series by Enid Blyton. I was just blown away by the adventures that they went on! I always craved adventure and I still do....I would love to (one day) go on some sort of epic adventure myself! :D

I also discovered ‘The Harry Potter’ series when I about seven years old. I remember going into town with my Mum and picking up ‘Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone’. I saved up my pocket money to buy it and when I got home I distinctly recall sitting on my bed to begin reading it. I couldn’t put it down, my Mum kept calling me to eat my dinner, but I kept refusing to go downstairs. I finished the book before I went to bed, I was such a weird child! XD

3. XDrake: Ifyour dad was a pirate, and you were captured by Marines would youserve for them?

No, I don’t think I would, as I really hate the Marines. I’m only on episode 27 of ‘One Piece’ so my knowledge of them is still a little bit hazy. However, in the earlier episodes I came across a Marine called Fullbody and he was such a despicable human being. He was both arrogant and nasty, if there are two traits that I absolutely cannot abide in a person....it’s definitely those two. Fullbody acted as if he was better than everybody else, which was ultimately his downfall, as Sanji’s reaction was AMAZING. Sanji certainly used some words of wisdom to bring Fullbody down a peg or two, which he most definitely deserved.

4. Jinbe:Would you take up Luffy’s offer to be in the crew or act as anally?

I would definitely love to be part of Luffy’s crew!! I already mentioned that I have a thirst for adventure, so what would be a better way to quench this thirst than to set sail with Luffy and his gang of pirates! It’s always said that sometimes the journey is more important than the destination. This would certainly be true if I could become a member of the straw hats. I mean, it would be great to find the elusive treasure that is named one piece, however, it would also be pretty great to be able to be friends with Luffy and the rest of the gang! Also, as we would be setting sail and having so many adventures along the way.....life would indeed be wonderful!!

5. GeckoMoria: Areyou fan of horror movies?  If not, what was your worstexperience.

I am most definitely not a fan of horror movies, I like psychological thrillers, but the horror genre is most definitely not my thing. Emmmmmmm.......my worst experience was probably more embarrassing than anything else!! I remember I went to see a horror movie with my friend, unlike me he’s obsessed with this film genre! I can’t recall the name of the film that we went to see, but it was terrible....and when I say terrible, I mean terribly bad! Anyway, this really ridiculous moment happened in the film.....and I screamed so loudly......and nobody else screamed at all........everybody started laughing!! I immediately went bright red, and in that moment, I just wanted to leave the cinema! XD

6. Buggy:Are you a leader or a follower?

I have my own beliefs, my own opinions and my own way of dressing! If anybody goes against what I believe in, then I will engage in a lively debate with them! I will never willingly accept what another person says to me to be the ‘Gospel truth’! I like to think of myself as being able to independently evaluate a situation for myself.....that doesn’t mean to say that my mind can’t be changed. However, you must present a good case for me to undergo this change of mind. I don’t know if that’s necessarily being a leader, I think it’s just more of a case of being true to yourself.

I used to always be a follower when I was younger, as my first friend was a bit of a bully towards me! I think that negatively impacted on my self-confidence, as we were friends from junior infants up until first class. When I finally stood up to her....it was one of the best things that I have ever done and from that point on I told myself that nobody would treat me like that again. 

7. Aokiji: Wouldyou throw away all position and power in your job because you don’tagree with the ethics of the organization?

Yes, I actually think I would!! I have certain core beliefs that are like my foundation stones which guide me through life....almost like a moral compass. I would like to think that no amount of power could corrupt me into accepting unacceptable ethical practices by any organisation. 

I was once involved in such a situation where I tackled one of my teachers over his absolutely appalling views on animal rights. From that moment on.....he HATED me with a passion.......he really turned on me! He actually told my Mum that I was too headstrong for my own good......!! 

8. Akainu:What kind of justice do you believe in?

I believe that if you commit a crime then you should be made pay for your actions! Of course in an ideal world there would be peace and everybody would be able to live in harmony with each other! Unfortunately, this type of world is non-existent, therefore, certain measures must be put in place in order to prevent things such as murder from occurring! If these measures didn't exist, then society as we know it would descend into a state of lawlessness. People themselves have different beliefs as to what is right and what is wrong. This is why we look to those in power to guide us in the right direction as to what is the proper conduct. We all know that government officials, the police force etc are corruptible! This means that often those who should pay for their evil deeds end up not paying for their crimes. Unfortunately, money seems to be the deciding factor in determining whether or not a person does indeed go to jail for their crime. I personally feel as if we should treat others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Our moral compass should guide us through life and we should have the presence of mind to know right from wrong. If somebody carries out a premeditated murder then they should pay for their actions by spending the rest of their life in jail! 

9. Tashigi:Do people ever tell you that you look like someone they know?

Emmmmmmmm....no......I don’t think that anyone has ever told that I look like somebody else!! :( I did once get mistaken for being a boy though, does that count??!! :P If you have any ideas about who I may look like.....please tell me!! :P

10. Marco:If you could have any devil fruit, what would it be?

I had to look up the different types of devil fruit that are available....and out of all of them....I would probably eat Ope Ope no Mi, as it definitely seems like the most useful fruit! 

11. Magellan:Are you allergic to anything?

Yes, I’m allergic to pollen, as I suffer with hay fever! :( I have a spray that I use whenever I get a headache or sore eyes! It also means that I normally don’t wear perfume, I especially try to avoid perfume whenever I have to study....as my brain wouldn’t be able to function at all!!

12. Shirahoshi:Do you hold grudges?

Emmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm......yes.....I hold grudges....eeeekkkk! I once had an argument with my friend that lasted a couple of months!! I was just so angry with her that I didn’t want to see her at all!! XD 

I also used to hold a grudge against people who had hurt me in the past, however, I slowly realised that this type of grudge was hurting me more than them, so I gradually learned to overcome it! Sometimes you need to move on for your own sake!

13. Momonosuke: Whenwas the last time that you had a nightmare?

Thankfully, I haven’t had a nightmare in quite a long time! However, I do have a recurring one where I’m being chased by a witch! I spend that entire nightmare running and running away from her! I always wake up in a cold sweat from that dream! XD

14. Monet:Do you enjoy writing?  Share a snippet?

Yes, I love writing!! It’s one of my favourite hobbies! :D Emmmmmmm.......I would be too nervous to share a snippet......but I will tell you that I’m currently writing a novel based during the Second World War! I love German history and I’m especially interested in politics! Therefore, it’s a story about the struggle of a Jewish family, who are living in fascist Germany! It documents their desire to escape from this society, however, will they be able to escape in time to avoid being sentenced to death??!!

15. Bartolomeo:Are you massively obsessed with something?

Yes.....I’m obsessed with anime guys......I really wish I was joking when I say that! :P

I’m also currently obsessed with collecting anime figures!! I check the websites of both AmiAmi and Mandarake at least once a day! HELP ME!! 

Finally, I love anime so much! I tend to incorporate watching anime into my daily routine!! XD

Thanks for asking me these questions, Sophie! @akatsuki3519