#Or can I just not translate that academic writing into something I can understand?

[bowithoutadaemon]

Today is the deadline to fill out a questionnaire in preparation for a meeting with some external peeps for a thing for the student committee.

And apart from the questions like "name" and "do you have a team" I am stumped on basically all of them. So I feel very stupid and kind of want to cry.

[cryptotheism]

Oh, yeah ofc fantasy is fantasy and can be anything. I guess the question I was trying to ask is how that happened to alchemy specifically. Like, why did one field of study get mythologized and turned into shorthand for 'medicine but magic and weird' in fantasy when that treatment hasn't been given to other real pursuits of antiquity?

Like, smithing is also pretty prevalent in fantasy but is mostly represented realistically save a bit of dramatization and cutting out the stuff that isn't particularly cinematic about it. But something like alchemy, the golden age of which is not appreciably longer ago than that of smithing in the grand scheme, is almost unrecognizable in its translation. I just wonder why that is I guess

Honestly? I think the real answer is that actual historical alchemy is complicated. It's dense reading that even historians with degrees regularly struggle with. I'm not any smarter or dumber than the historians and writers of old, but I've hyper-specialized for understanding a particular type of obscure text.

It's also evocative. The narrative code that a lot of alchemists wrote in is frankly beautiful. It's hard not to get caught up in the imagery of the Exhumed Venus and the Moor and the Headless King. Especially post-paracelsus, these texts really do read like some kind of esoteric ritual prayerbook. Sometimes they straight up are esoteric ritual prayerbooks. (But generally you gotta go back to Zosimos for that.)

Many, many alchemical texts come pre-mythologized, partially as a natural consequence of how academic writing got passed down in the pre-byzantine era. You kinda had to tie your work to some legendary sage. People didn't give a shit if Joe Alexandrian wrote some shit about copper. But if you make up a legendary wizard, people care!

[meraki-yao]

Now I'm curious to know all the "candies" between Nick and Tay 👀 lol I don't ship them but I also find it interesting that some fans really ship real people together and gather evidence or proof of it. If its fine with you to share it pls do 🙏 but if not its also fine :)

Huh...

Actually, sure! I kinda wanted to share some of these at times but again I understand that rps is a complicated subject.

A couple of quick prefaces though:

1, If you’re uncomfortable with the subject, again, please don’t read under the post

2, I don’t have all the candies because I really just view them in passing, so I’m just gonna write/translate the ones I’ve seen, remember and find at least a logical speculation

3, I need to reiterate this in case my position in this gets misunderstood: Me writing about “candies” isn’t because these are MY opinion or things *I* found or *I* believe in them being evidence. I am just a translator and messenger.

4, (this one is gonna sound a little academic lol) Two things I realized when thinking about this “candy eating” culture is that Chinese people have a very difference understanding of platonic/romantic affection/relationships with the Western world, and that they look at the candies with rose-tinted glass. Chinese/Asian people are generally a lot less affectionate with their personal relationships, for example friends wouldn’t say “love you” to each other if they’re just friends, nor would they expand their friend group to the others easily or other stuff. And these people who look for candy go into their “investigation” already with the belief that “they are together”, everything remotely resembling a close relationship will automatically be interpreted as romantic. I thought about it a lot, and honestly among the “candies” I’ve seen, most of them are a matter of interpretation: yes those are things couples will do, but it wouldn’t be weird if friends did it too. So they’re not that seriously or up for further speculation. There is I think only one “candy” that I can’t quite say the same, which I will explain and elaborate on in this post. 

5, Please remember that the people who do this do it in good nature: something I didn’t make clear in my post yesterday, which is on me, is that the fans do want them to be together, but they’re not like… yandere level or something. If they’re just friends the fans won’t be upset or betrayed or anything, they just prefer to see them as romantic. They don’t mean any harm, and they don’t cause any harm because China is physically and digitally too far away for them to actually fuck shit up, and they understand the lines of parasocial relationships: those who met with Taylor during his China trip in December know to, and didn’t bring up this in front of him. They know where to draw the line, and whoever doesn’t and starts becoming a problem gets kicked out of the community. This is meant for fun.

6, Ok Future Meraki here, turns out, there’s a lot to translate, a lot more than I anticipated Jesus Christ and I do want to get this post how within today and make it a reasonable length, so I’m just gonna do two events and the one that I mentioned in 4. If yall want a part 2 let me know.

Ok with that being said, the main event under the cut:

In December they made a whole article about “candies” from December, and to quickly summarise (again noted that all of this is speculation, I didn’t and can’t fact check them, and I’m just a translator) (also this ended up way longer than I anticipated so for photo reference if you can please go to the link of the original article):

Academy Gala:

Nick and Taylor both attended the gala: Since the strike ended up to that point, the two times Nick attends a public event, Taylor’s there too (GQ men of the year and Academy Gala), and for both times he’s wearing Cartier’s Tank Must Watch (remember this watch, I’m gonna elaborate on it later because it is the only candy that even I can’t say it’s a matter of interpretation)

In various pictures of the night’s party that other people took, the boys can be seen together in the background

How the photography worked that night was magazine photographers wandered around the venue and randomly found people to take some relatively candid photos: so people who were walking/sitting/in any way sticking together would be photographed together. So best friends and married couples would be photographed together, which is what happened to Meryl Streep, Greta Gerwig, Saoirse Ronan, and Christopher Nolan, Cillian Murphy and their wives. With that logic, Taylor and Nick were caught by the photographer together TWICE, in clearly different places. Later Korean fans (with the same “candy-searching” mindset) read the time on Taylor’s watch in the photos: one was 8:30, one was 9:50. The implication is that they were together for at least that period of time (nearly 1.5 hours)

In both photos of the boys together, Nick’s elbow is…straight up leaning into Taylor's chest. In a photo with Kaia, Nick’s friend and co-star from Bottoms (Brittany), there’s visible space between Nick and Kaia but none between Nick and Taylor (… okay I’m gonna pop in with my own opinion on the latter one real quick: I really think that one is just Nick being a gentleman)  

During that night, Taylor re-posted an Instagram post from July onto Little Red Book: but the things is in the comment section of the original Instagram post, Taylor teasingly pretends to not know Nick; and according to the posting time and the time calculated in 3, Nick would have been watching him post that to Little Red Book.

Nick got a photo with Taylor’s friend Jay Ellis (Jay and Taylor follow each other on Instagram, and Taylor comments under Jay’s post), even though Nick and Jay don’t seem to have any direct connections. Kaia and Taylor started following each other on Instagram after the event.

While other people who got photos with Taylor posted them, in Taylor’s Instagram Post for the night: He only included his photo with Nick, the rest are all solo portraits of himself. Not only that: he edited the background of the photo so it’s just them, and proceeded to put the photo in the middle of the post.

a bunch of Taylor's good friends, including Taylor’s cousin went to like Nick’s post for the academy gala night. Taylor’s sister Ash shared Taylor’s post to her stories: 2 photos of Taylor himself, and the one photo of Taylor and Nick. Taylor mentioned in a past interview if he had any emotional or relationship (I don’t know which one is the right translation, the original wording is 感情) issues, he would talk to Ash. (please note that I didn’t not and don’t know how to fact-check any of the things mentioned above except for Ash’s Instagram)

Conclusion/ Speculation (okay the academy gala part alone took me 40 minutes what the fuck): I cannot reiterate this enough: THIS IS JUST SPECULATION DO NOT TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY but under the assumption that Taylor and Nick are a thing, the serious of shenanigans that happened that night, especially with the family and friends stuff in 6,7,8, was interpreted as they announcing it to their personal social circle. AGAIN THIS IS SPECUALTION DON’T TAKE THIS SERIOSULY 

Taylor’s China Trip

On 7th December, Taylor had a photo shoot at the GQ gala venue, but spent the rest of the afternoon taking photos and signing things for fans. Among those, one was the photo of him and Nick from the academy gala just three days ago. He was visibly extra happy and showed off the photo to the crowd, unlike the other photos which he simply gets it, signs it, and then gives it back.

This day was also the start of “Taylor giving Nick/Henry a moustache”: throughout the trip, he drew on four photos of the two of them

(This one is a … really big stretch) among the four, one of them was the GQ magazine shoot, and he first drew the moustache on Nick’s face, giggling “I’ll sign on Nick’s face”, signed his own signature, then just when he was about to give the magazine back he suddenly changed his mind and said “wait wait I wanna do something on my face”, and then drew a crown on his head while muttering “crown prince”. And the thing is… historically, George Villers had a moustache. And then he drew a moustache on Nick and a crown on himself. Also, one of the most popular Chinese RWRB fic on AO3 is called “The King’s Palace”, and the premise is putting Henry in George place as the social climber and the Duke of Buckingham (it is literally George’s character with blonde hair and a different name), and Alex as the crown prince who ascended to the throne and is also utterly infatuated with Henry. So… yeah.

When he drew the fourth photo, which was the piano scene, the fan who asked said “Oh you’re so nice to Nick!” and according to their description (there’s no video), Taylor blushed a little and said “yeaahhhhh” with a big grin

While Taylor was in China people were stirring shit up on Twitter about him, and during the Twitter drama, Nick liked Taylor’s Academy Gala post.

The boys liked the same video on Instagram but from different accounts (a video about a pony in the snow)

During the trip, Taylor was seen wearing a white button-up with blue stripes. Nick has been seen wearing a shirt that looks identical before.

Cartier Watch (aka the one that makes me do a double take)

Taylor used to wear a lot of Cartier watches until he started wearing Tagheuer last July due to a commercial partnership

Nick likes wearing Omega watches. In fact, Henry’s watch in the movie is Nick’s own omega watch. He also has a commercial partnership with Omega.

But then starting last year, both of them were seen wearing matching Cartier’s Tank Must Watches (the silver on with a black surface and a sapphire crown): Taylor can be seen wearing it in the 5th photos of his September post, while Nick can be seen wearing it during the GQ gala, the Academy Gala, in Milan during fan interactions, and last weekend in his TIOY co-star’s Instagram story.

And the thing about this watch is (and here is where I need to reiterate that I’m just translating, I didn’t fact check this) 1, watch is a typical thing to give a lover, and you must be familiar with their wrist size 2, Cartier is a pretty romantic brand 3, the price of this watch is closer to what Taylor’s used to wearing but much cheaper than Omega 4, This specific watch is a popular watch to give a partner/lover, 5, David and Victoria Beckham’s relationship was discovered because paparazzi saw the Cartier watch he gave her and connected dots together

Jesus Christ at this point I should consider getting a part time job in translation

This was fun but this took me so much time, it’s ~2000 words long

Again, all of this was found and speculate for fun, and mean no ill will, and haven’t, and won’t harm the boys, please understand that and don’t take this took seriously. If you find this interesting and want a part two, let me know.

[yakultstan]

What advice would you give someone who is writing poetry

Hey! I definitely have a lot to still learn myself as I'm quite new to my attempt at poetry (so I’d love to hear everyone else’s opinion/writing process in the comments) but since you're asking here's my take (sorry in advance if you just wanted a one-line answer..I’m not so good with that)..

In my opinion, poetry is all about provoking emotion..making you feel something..therefore “good” poetry is subjective due to the way individuals experience life and emotions differently.. In most cases (especially writing for fun/self-expression), it’s not something that needs to be technically correct (imo) like an academic essay, rather it just needs to make you feel something, so here are my tips/step-by-step process at this current time

Write for yourself AKA make sure that you like(love even) what you have written.. don’t write with other people’s interpretation/perception in mind (as “good” is subjective and you’ll never be able to settle on anything). You’ll feel much more motivated to write if you are encapsulating your own experience as accurately as you can (it feels productive to turn your pain into something more tangible).. Write the thing that you wish someone else had written that makes you think “damn.. that is so me” if you’re able to do that I’d call it a success. (My fav pieces still make me feel something each time I read them and make me feel glad I wrote them, as noone else had). I say this because we are all human at the end of the day if you’re feeling it, there’s likely going to be another human out there who is grateful that you have so accurately been able to translate a generally indescribable feeling into words.  

To be able to do the above (make yourself & others “feel”) I’d start by reaching as far down into your emotions as possible.. Everyone knows about surface-level happiness, sadness etc. but what is it more specifically that you are thinking and feeling.. or what is something that you think you might feel or do if you were to become totally unhinged.. Imo poetry isn't the place to downplay your emotions or soften your language - say the things noone wants to say, the things that are “wrong” to say, don’t hold back, allow yourself to be violent, angry, sad, toxic, or pessimistic in your writing, even if you’re an optimistic/cheerful/kindhearted person irl (people are often SHOOK regarding the strikingly different persona I portray in real life vs my writing..we are all multifaceted creatures at the end of the day).

Now you might be wondering how to put the above into actual poetry..a lot of people will just “find the words” because they are talented like that, but for the rest of us.. Controversial (whilst beneficial)I don’t think an advanced vocabulary is necessary to write impactful poetry (my vocab is shit & has barely developed since I was 10 years old cause I stupidly stopped reading books until only a couple years ago).. So instead what I personally do is I write out in as much detail but in simple language, how I am feeling/what I want to portray..like you’re trying to express something in your diary or a text message you’ll never send…  At first, this is going to look like a 10yro has written it and that’s so fine because you want a clear understanding of what you’re trying to portray in your piece.. now all your related thoughts are out, attempt to rewrite it in a way that is slightly more comprehensible (usually I’ll write it in notes app so I can still have the original versions to refer back to to make sure I am encapsulating what I originally wanted) and basically rewrite a couple times until it appears more refined

Then, your original wording might be perfect as is (I would say always go with your gut feeling) but the thesaurus and dictionary are your best friend!(bless google) If a certain word kind of “ruins the vibe” of the piece and it no longer feels “poetic” just google synonyms for that word, you can even search “synonym poetic” for further options. Don’t just use any synonym though.. If you’re undecided between a couple words I would highly recommend googling the specific definition of each word and compare, because usually definitions will have a very nuanced difference and that nuance can make all the difference in being able to accurately portray your point. 

Have fun with the spacing, the lines the layout, the use of grammar (idk the terminology).. utilise these things to transform everyday sentences into an art form! Don’t get caught up in the right or wrong!

 Now reread, you want that poetic rhythm of some kind, a state of flow.. Read in your head, then read out loud then read with your own experience in mind, then detach your mind from your own experience and read from an external point of view if you wish! Reading out loud will help you see if it’s readable (duh) and the wording problems, whether that be needing to change word or remove a word or add a word will likely fix themselves! I personally would focus more on emotional impact than aesthetic but ideally a bit of both is great!

This seems like an in-depth process but all this usually occurs within about 5-10 minutes per poem cause I don’t have the attention span to spend any longer on it (maybe oneday I’ll actually refine my work properly lol but for now it’s just my form of therapy). You’ve got this! <3

Other random things I’ve learned

-Keep a log of specific words, phrases, sentences, ideas etc. even if not at all refined in your notes app on phone as you randomly think of them so you can potentially come back to it later! (If you don’t you’ll likely forget and never think of it again lol)

-Sometimes the most simple thought/concept to us (based on the fact it has circled in our brains for a lifetime so we are bored of it) can be super impactful & significant to others, so just write it anyway

-Go with your gut feeling if you’re tossing up any of your ideas, words, expressions

-Remember that quote “art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable ” - you’re never doing toooo much

-personally ive had to drop the academic ego and learn to be more than okay with being shit..you’ve gotta just do it and accept most the things you’ll write could be shit but it’ll mean there is opportunity that you write something decent amongst it all.

-DO NOT compare yourself to other people writing poetry cause it can be so disheartening!!!! we are our own worst critics.. just remember we are uniquely ourselves, no one else can write the way we write.

-PRACTICE!!!! But basically just do that by writing as much as you can. I know it’s always said but seriously I started writing daily 4 months ago and whilst I wasn’t actively trying to improve there is a massive difference noticed by myself and others between the quality of what I wrote 4 months ago and now.. It’ll just start to click! I write every day but some days I don’t have it in me to write a poem so I’ll just write a thought or feeling or diary entry for that day to keep the routine plus you can possibly come back to it for poetry inspo. 

-fake it til you make it !!!! poetry is expression !!! anything can be poetry if you want it to be :)

-I also read not long ago that writing isn’t something where you peak in your twenties (thank god for me) but rather a lot of writers become successful a lot later in life! So this gives me a lot of hope that things can only improve! Considering I was able to improve in 4 months, imagine 4 years or even 1!!(exciting! I hope I get much better!)

-If you want to know how to be more creative, more metaphorical or a lot more visual with your poetry.. Don’t ask me.. In fact I need tips myself!! I’m going to guess it has something to do with my shitty vocabulary.. I hope that I can challenge myself to improve with this overtime as well, but for now I find it cathartic to just work with my literal thoughts and emotions. Similarly, if you want to know how write about uniquely positive experiences hmu in the future when I’m more healed but maybe not yet lol.

CONGRATS if anyone actually read through all this… you deserve an award! (let me know if anyone actually did and if it was at all helpful) I hope you can find even just a component of this somewhat helpful??!! maybe it was all obvious who knows haha but also please remember I’m not very experienced in writing poetry myself, this is just my attempt at keeping myself sane :) All my love x 

Edit: as someone else mentioned.. another great tip is to READ lots of poetry written by others, this will help immensely :)

[lovetohate001]

I was thinking about an imagine with 001 that starts with smut and the next day 002 tells dr. Brenner that reader and 001 are secretly dating and the reader says it's her fault. So she gets tortured and shit. Then Brenner decides to let her go and Peter comforts her after and takes care of her PLEASE I LOVE YOUR WRITING!!!!

Never Let You Go

Peter Ballard x Female!Reader | ANGST, R-Rated sexual content

CW: spoilers for season 4, shock treatment scene

word count: 1.4k

© lovetohate001, 2022. reposting/translating is not allowed.

He was never harsh. And he was never cruel. Whatever he had done to end up here was something you would never fully understand. Because how could someone so gentle and so beautiful possibly have been a monster, when he was so gently touching the parts of you that you weren’t even aware of.

“I need you to use your words,” he whispered softly into your ear, his breath against your neck sending a wave of desire through you.

 “Please…” you sighed. “Please touch me.”

“Like this?” he circled your entrance with his index and middle finger, putting the lightest of pressure there. And he was almost-so close to pushing in. 

You whined when he pulled back again and met your gaze. 

“You look so beautiful like that,” he marvelled, his eyes sweeping over your body underneath him. “And it’s all for me.”

You held back a yelp as he pushed his fingers into you slowly, and softly. His eyes never left yours, his kiss-swollen lips parted as he watched what he could do to you, what his fingers did to that pretty face of yours, furrowing your brows and squeezing your eyes oh so tightly in pleasure.

Nights like these weren’t uncommon for the two of you. As orderlies in the Rainbow Room, the two of you spent large amounts of time together, and while you had established a beautiful friendship, the two of you grew older, and feelings blossomed into something a little bit more. 

This night was special, though. Peter wanted you to escape. He wanted the two of you to have a life outside of this lab where you both could be more than this. But he needed a plan. And he needed 011 to do it. 

Your nails dug into his back harshly as he left small bites down your neck, his hands still continuing their ministrations, his fingers gliding in and out of you perfectly, the other at your breast, kneading it softly. Breaths coming out in small gasps, your body went lax as warmth spread throughout you, Peter holding you close and peppering kisses across your face, muttering hushed words of praise.

 “I love you so much,” you finally said, your breath caught and your eyes drooping with sleep. 

“Sleep, my love.” He held you close and curled up next to you on the small bed.

You’d never felt safer in your life in a place that was crueller than the world outside. 

The next morning was just as mundane as all the others before. Breakfast. Training. The Rainbow Room. Break. Training. Lunch. Academic Tests. Training. Rest. Dinner. What shocked you most was when Doctor Brenner approached you personally on the way to the dinner hall after your shift was over, his face grim and his frown etched into the crease between his brows. 

“Please, come with me, there are some things we need to discuss in a more private setting.”

You did not like the sound of that. You trailed behind Brenner down the hallway, to his office on the other end. The smell of books and polished wood hit you as he opened the door and guided you in. 002 sat in one of the two chairs facing Brenner’s desk. His grey eyes shot up to meet yours quickly before going back to the ground. He threw a cocky smirk your way while Brenner’s closed the door.

 “As you may know, Y/N, we have strict rules regarding fellow employees and test subjects at this facility,” Brenner started. “And with this in mind, you can confirm that you are very aware of the consequences if you are caught compromising these rules?”

“Yes, I am aware,” you answered, your gaze unwavering as you made direct eye contact with the doctor. 

You could not under any circumstances let him see through your façade. Your loyalty and love for Peter ran deeper than that. Brenner couldn’t scare you into admitting a single damned thing. He’d have to kill you.

“The you are also aware that you have compromised these rules already,” Brenner said coolly, tilting his head 002’s way. “002 came to me this morning to report an incident he came across last night on his way back from the infirmary after his training. He states that you and Peter Ballard were in a rather compromising position regarding your place in this facility.”

You sat up a little straighter in your seat before replying, “I have no recollecting of such happenings, Doctor.”

“Well…it seems it is 002’s words against yours,” Brenner sighed. “It seems like we will have to take disciplinary action either way, since we have no way of confirming or denying these actions.”

“Cameras aren’t allowed in anyone’s rooms, as you clarified in our contracts, Doctor Brenner,” you confirmed, nodding your head in respect. Your sweet words tasted bitter on your tongue.

“They were together!” 002’s outburst made you and Doctor Brenner start. “I saw him go into her room. She’s lying!”

You looked at 002 with the best look of disbelief you could muster. This child. For all he was worth, you wished one of the other children would put him in his place. He was arrogant. And selfish.

 “I trust that you aren’t lying, 002,” Brenner started, his voice calm and understanding, “but I am concerned as to why Y/N has decided to take the other side.”

“I am not lying. That was in my contract too.”

“I trust that 002, and all the other subjects here would never lie. But you are an outsider,” Brenner explained, his eyes cold and distant. “And I know outsiders don’t have the same amount of trust and respect that these children have. But I think you know where I’m going with this by now…”

“Take her to the therapy room,” Brenner said, waving a hand to one of the other orderlies who stood by the door. 

You felt strong hands wrap around your arms and hoist you from your chair. You didn’t even fight it. If you did, he’d think you’d had something to hide. Something worth fighting for. And so, you allowed yourself to be dragged through the hallway.

 You cast your eyes down to the floor when they strapped you into the chair. The hum of electricity filled your ears. an orderly placed a cap over your head. Stuck wires to your temples. Tied your hands to the armrests. A metal taste filled your mouth. You’d bitten your tongue when they’d let the current out, to run through your body, through your skull, your arms, your torso. If it weren’t for the straps, you’d have slid down onto the floor. 

Your fingertips buzzed and your toes prickled with what felt like pins and needles. They asked you the same question every time: have you had any unprofessional relations with Peter Ballard? And every time you shook your head, before another current was sent through you, cutting into your bones and spiking your heart rate.

The dial went up, up, up, and so your consciousness swam down, down, down, until you allowed the darkness to swallow you whole. 

“Y/N…”

It was a soft voice. A gentle voice. One you knew well, that dragged you back to the fluorescent lights of the infirmary.

 “Y/N…”A calloused hand squeezed yours, harder and harder as you came back. Urging you to stay with him.

“It’s alright. I’m here. I’m here….” Those words were whispered by your ear as you felt arms lift you into a sitting position, coaxing a glass of water into your hands.

 The sound of ice blocks clink clink clinking against glass. The water wet your dry lips and moistened your dry throat. You coughed. It stung to swallow. You couldn’t speak. Tears welled up in your eyes.

“Don’t cry my love. Don’t cry.” Gentle hands brushed your cheeks, wiping your tears away.

 “My love.” Peter hugged you tightly and pressed a kiss to the top of your head. “My love, you are alright. You are here. You are alive.”

You let out a small whimper, allowing your tears to fall freely now. You thought Brenner had taken him. You’d had such horrible dreams.

“We’re getting out of here. Tomorrow,” he murmured in your ear. “011 has agreed to help me. To escape with us. Tomorrow, my love. Then this will be all over.

”You nodded and took in a shaky breath. Soon. Soon it’ll be all over. For now, you would rest.

“After tomorrow, I’m never letting you go, never letting you out of my sight again,” he said into your hair.

The world had been cruel enough. It was time he showed them what monsters they had created. Even if it meant a few deaths for their freedom. Everything had a price in life for the means of restoring balance. And he knew the cost. He knew it all. For you.

MASTERLIST

SEND AN ASK / FIC REQUEST HERE

[thewrothode-if]

Just so you know your page is giving racist. Not only are you proud of how little research you have done but you also have decided that no black people existed in the Scandinavia... I understand that Google is hard but putting in academic journals or looking at peer reviewed articles could really help you. Ps I'm not doing the leg work for you. I hate when people need to be spoon fed so they aren't racist. White supremacy is on the rise and many fascists have used "viking culture" as a blanket to hide under. Many well read readers will be majorly turned off by how... let's just say indelicately you are handling this. I'm hoping that you are just young. I saw your wip and enjoyed it but will unfortunately be dropping this due to your followers and your own take on race. I hope you learn from this. Don't let your followers make you complacent, you have been racist. Not allowing diverse skin tone, racist. Not capable of doing any research on the topic knowing damn well that many people of African descent were all over Europe in general. Literally Icelandic and Nordic peoples travelled all the way to North America but pop off with your dog whistles. This was overall extremely disappointing hope you get better or hope you stop writing either would be great 👍

I’m so sad that I have to address this once more but here I go.

“Literally Icelandic and Nordic peoples travelled all the way to North America but pop off with your dog whistles.”

First things first, this tells me that you didn’t quite read through all that I have written on race on my blog because I did talk about that right here.

I’ll add it down here as well:

“It is interesting to note that Vikings found their way to North Africa (more specifically Morocco) at some point because they really were such vast travelers. So it was more so the Vikings coming to Africa rather than the other way around.”

2. “…you also have decided that no black people existed in the Scandinavia..”

No, I did not decide that no black people existed in Scandinavia. Maybe the way I talked about people of color being in Scandinavia made it seem like that, especially here when I said, “so it was more so the Vikings coming to Africa rather than the other way around.” But that doesn’t translate to, “there were absolutely no black people in Scandinavia.”

3. “Not allowing diverse skin tone, racist.”

Not allowing diverse skin tone is not racist, especially for this IF because as I said, you are playing as a Viking in Denmark. You are not a Viking from China or South Africa or Brazil or Italy, but Denmark.

I want to write a story where the main character is a white viking. I don’t see why that is a big problem. As many people have told me, A Tale of Crown has a lack of white skin tone options because the story is based in the Middle East. That is not a problem and what I’m doing here shouldn’t be a problem either.

4. “Ps I'm not doing the leg work for you.”

Then if you won’t do the leg work and I won’t do the leg work, why are we both fighting about something we have no clue over? I think that if you are going to start an argument about this, maybe you should research a little more so you can factually tell me why I’m wrong instead of just saying I’m racist.

5. “… hope you get better or hope you stop writing either would be great.”

I won’t stop writing, but I will probably take a small little break to calm down so I don’t let this affect me too much.

[anarcho-physicist]

My favorite weird phase of matter (and also some intro-y stuff that you can skip if you want to look at the pretty pictures)

[Fig. 1 (a) from Mur, M., Kos, Ž., Ravnik, M. et al. Continuous generation of topological defects in a passively driven nematic liquid crystal. Nat Commun 13, 6855 (2022).]

Hi again! In my previous posts, I described what the term soft matter means to a physicist, and how physicists really understand phases of matter mostly in terms of symmetries. In the future, I'm similarly planning to write more long form, in-depth explanations of specific concepts/topics in soft matter physics.

I'd really like to be able to dive into the math behind everything, but I also want to keep things as understandable and enjoyable as possible to those with little to no math background. So I'll try my best to explain every bit of every equation I show, and I think forcing myself to do so will help me understand them better.

I might also post some things other than long-form essays. One idea I've been thinking of doing is to post a daily/weekly/whateverly arXiv update, where I pick one or a few soft matter physics preprints that have been uploaded recently, and write short, informal summaries of their findings. I think that might be a good way to keep myself and anyone who's interested informed on the state of the field. I also intend to do shorter posts on specific papers or results I think are really cool. My research and academic responsibilities keep me very busy, so I'll likely make shorter posts when I don't have the time or energy to write longer, deeper explanations.

Another idea I've been toying around with is potentially using this account as something like a radically open research notebook/journal, where I immediately write up and publicly post each little research milestone I've made for the day/week/whatever. My paycheck comes mostly from government grants, the research I do is publicly funded. I think the public ought to be aware of exactly what they're funding, and particularly, I think the members of the public who are interested in what we do should be able to engage with researchers, to learn about the current state of the field. I also think this ability to engage with current research should be accessible to all members of the public, not just those wealthy enough to be able to spend a lot of time around universities. On the other hand, there are some ethical and logistical considerations when it comes to sharing unpublished research, and I'd at the very least need to get approval from all of my collaborators, so if I end up doing something like this, it wouldn't be for a while.

Anyways, for now, I'd just like to show you some really cool experimental realizations of a gorgeously weird phase of matter that is very dear to my heart (and my CV):

Active Nematic Liquid Crystals

[Video taken by the Dogic Lab]

These two-dimensional, spontaneously flowing "line fluids" host topological defects (the little comet-shaped and triangle-shaped dark spots). These are quasiparticles with fascinating dynamics, and some really beautiful mathematics behind their structure. To quote my PI who was quoting some other physicist I can't remember:

Materials are like people; it's the defects that make them interesting.

The term liquid crystal refers to a general class of materials with symmetries and properties in-between those of a crystal and those of a simple liquid. Nematics are a particular type of liquid crystal, one with full translational symmetry, but S^1 / Z_2 -broken rotational symmetry. Active nematics are nematics that also break time-reversal symmetry, and thus energy conservation (I'll explain how this is possible in an energy-conserving universe sometime soon; the short answer is "coarse-graining").

Here's what happens if you put an active nematic on a sphere:

[Dogic Lab again -- they're great they do a lot of really cool stuff]

Fun fact: These defects attract and repel each other just like charged particles (via Gauss's law), except they aren't electrically charged, they're topologically charged. Rather than electromagnetic fields, the medium of interaction here is the elastic free energy associated with curves in the line field. The comet-shaped defects have a +1/2 topological charge, while the triangular ones have a -1/2 charge. If you bring two defects close enough together, they'll effectively "add" their charges up. This means oppositely-charged defects can annihilate each other into the uniform/vacuum state, and that a sufficiently perturbed vacuum can pair-produce oppositely charged defects. That eye-catching picture at the top of this post is a cross-polarized image of that pair-production process in an externally-driven passive nematic. The two arrows point to two individual defects.

In an active nematic, things get even more interesting; the +1/2 defects become effectively self-propelled, while the -1/2 defects do not. At least, not if the activity is spatiotemporally constant (this is a hint to a really cool upcoming paper I'll hopefully be publishing before the end of this summer). This results in all sorts of weird nonequilibrium behavior, like the chaotic state displayed in the first animation, or the oscillatory swirling of the four +1/2 defects on the vesicle depicted in the second.

Why do we only see four +1/2 defects, and no -1/2s on the sphere? For two reasons: 1) The sphere is fairly small relative to the active length scale, which is roughly the average separation distance between defects. This is governed by the balance of active and elastic stresses. And 2) The hairy ball theorem necessitates a net topological charge on the sphere of +2 = 4 x +1/2.

All of the nematics I've shown you so far have been synthetic, but nematics (and even active nematics) show up in nature too. One really good example: look at your hands. I mean, really look at them. Do you see any familiar little triangle shapes? Maybe some little whorly comets? Fingerprints are a frozen nematic texture! But the defects in your fingerprints aren't very interesting, because they don't move (I hope). What else is there?

This brings us to my favorite experimental discovery ever made. Hydra are microscopic freshwater creatures that regrow their limbs. It turns out, the hydra's supracellular actin fibres, which play a major role in this morphogenesis, order like an active nematic. They have topological defects, which appear to correlate with sites of new organ growth. You can see them in the hydra itself:

[Fig. 1 (a-f) from Maroudas-Sacks, Y., Garion, L., Shani-Zerbib, L. et al. Topological defects in the nematic order of actin fibres as organization centres of Hydra morphogenesis. Nat. Phys. 17, 251–259 (2021).]

It's literally algebraic topology come to life.

[antigonick]

this is maybe a messy question but — is there anything you wish you knew before going for an academic career? i ask my profs too but most of them have had tenure for longer than i’ve been alive. (it’s the senior year career crisis! i adore my literature undergrad, but i realize the job market does not love me back.)

Okay, first things first, academic careers and circles depend on where you are, so—take this with a grain of salt. My situation might be very different from yours (the first obvious difference is that university is a state institution where I am, so it's public.)

So, you're right, and we all know this before we even go for it, the job market in humanities does NOT love you back, and neither does your institution: what we're doing can seldom be turned into something lucrative by private companies (if you even would want to work for them anyway), which means that funding is rare. In effect, it means that you don't really have work hours: you always wear different hats, with a lot of responsibilities in the university proper (teaching, preparing to teach, exams, administration, lab tasks, networking, lab projects, student supervision, academic jury positions, etc), other endeavours depending on your specialties (publishing work? translation work? paratext work? didactic experiments?), and then your personal research, which invades all the time you have left (reading, corpus work, writing, conference communications, publishing—in academic journals at least, you do not get money for your publication, and it's not always that you get funding to travel to conferences, either—in that case, you are literally paying to work).

All of these are indispensable, because the solidity and growing of your research, and thus your standing as an educator and a researcher, are judged by 1. your research not stagnating (don't spend 6 years giving the same seminar in different places); 2. your research being disseminated (publishing, communication); 3. your activities as an active member of this small, small world (administrative tasks; active participation in laboratory missions, events, projects; and later, advising and supervision of students and young researchers).

I don't think that's surprising to you, but it's worth thinking about. Deciding to go into academia feels like following a passion, and a passion project — at least it felt like that for me. But passion has only a very slim place in the day to day, and while it's good, important fuel, it won't be enough and it won't be fulfilled every day.

The one important thing that I hadn't really thought about before going into academia and that I find very important now is this, though: even if you are going into this for research, and learning, and writing, you will be an educator. Teaching will take a huge place in all of what you do. You and your knowledge don't exist in a personal bubble of self-nourishing: this is the privilege of a student. Whether you are teaching a class, writing an article, giving a conference, or talking about your specialisation to others, you are always teaching (while continuing to learn yourself, of course). I've met a lot of academics who behave as if being knowledgeable or expert affords them superiority, the right to belittle, the comfort to consider misunderstanding and difficulties as a failing from the student rather than a failing from their teaching—and all in all, the privilege to just come in, spew out what they know, and not care what is retained (in writing, by using obscure jargon, for example; in class... We've all had those teachers who don't give a fuck about whether you're getting it, and steam ahead with concepts they haven't bothered to bridge into what you're supposed to know). Those are the same people who say their students are "idiots" and get frustrated about the thankless chore of teaching when they could be doing something so much loftier with their time.

That's not it, though. Honestly, I don't even understand how you get there, because research teaches you quickly that you are ignorant and always will be; that there are no answers, only questions and perspectives. As an academic, your job is not just to dig into them further, but to make them graspable by others.

So. Being in academia is not a gateway into working in abstracts forever; it's a job, like any other jobs. It is a gateway into learning forever, if you make it that, but then again you don't need to be in academia to learn everyday. Most importantly, it comes with a duty of transmission that shouldn't be brushed aside, but rather should be part of your academic thinking: an epistemology of the subjects you teach, and the didactic shape you will give it.

There's a huge difference between knowledge and pedagogy, and going into academia for knowledge alone will only lead to disappointment. Excitement (for me at least) comes from the abstract, the work that you do alone, with the text, in that moment when you're not yet sure what's going to be sparked. But that's a minuscule part of it all; and it's the ethics of transmission, rather than the solitude of assimilation, that fill your day to day.

That being said, you can learn from transmission very much too, so it's not to say that it's bad.

ALRIGHT. This got super long, and I don't know if that really answers your question but... Here's my two cents about it!

[dear--mars]

Academic rivals…? Pt 5

Synopsis: You hated Alhaitham. From his arrogance to his grades. Even looking at him made your stomach turn. But then why were you two embracing each other in the broom closet intertwining breaths together…?

Notes: Fem reader, OCC Alhaitham, Kissing, Graduation Ceremony

[Translations at the bottom]

Taglist: @sharkiestory

900+ words [not edited]

4 years. You endured 4 years as a student in the Akademiya. It was your graduation ceremony. 

“Please put your hands together for the valedictorian Alhaitham!” claps were heard throughout the gymnasium. You rolled your eyes at him before zoning out of his speech. That was until you heard your name being called.

“As for my dedication, I’ll be dedicating my speech to [Name].” Your head shot up. 

“And that concludes my speech.”

“...” Everyone was silent. The sage fake coughed before he asked.

“Are you not going to elaborate as to why…?”

“I don’t feel as if I need to.” was the last thing he said before he walk off the stage.

“Well, now we will be moving on to the awards.”

It was safe to say that people were getting annoyed at the fact that the only people who were getting any awards were you and Alhaitham. 

“For the creative writing certificate: [Name] and Alhaitham!”

“The mathematics award: [Name] and Alhaitham!”

“The science award goes to [Name] and Alhaitham…”

“Geography: [Name] and Alhaitham… Wait. I’ll be right back.” We watch as the announcer walks off to the back only to come back shocked. 

“Well, I’ve been told to call out all at the same time. Art, history, music, physical education, biology, chemistry, physics, social studies, technology, philosophy, graphic design, literature, algebra, and geometry will all be awarded to [Name] and Alhaitham.” 

“...” The gym was silence. No one said anything. 

The rest of the graduation proceeded as usual. 

It was only when the afterparty started when things got weird. 

The party was going fine but someone had spilled some juice all over the floor, so like a good person, I volunteered to get a mop not knowing what your friends had in mind. 

“Yeah, the mop should be in the broom closet!” One of your friends yelled as you made your way down the halls. Just as you opened the door you felt the sensation of hands pushing you. You collided with someone. Just before the door closed, you heard one of your friends say “Have fun!”.

“What's that supposed to mean?-” You were cut off be a deep voice.

“Could you stop pushing against me?” You let out a small yelp at the sudden voice.

“A-alhaitham?!”

“What?”

“Why are you here?”

“I came to get a mop but someone pushed me in here and locked it.”

“Wait. Was it because someone had spilled juice?”

“Yes and I’m guessing they got you too?”

“...”

“Why would they do this to us specifically?” He questioned before you gulped. 

“Probably because you like me…” You feel his breath hitch before he let out a scoff.

“There’s an error in your logic. I’ve never stated I’m romantically interested in you.” You think very carefully before blurting out that you knew what he said in Zulu.

“...”

“...”

“Hey, Alhaitham!” You called out to him.

“Hm?” He turned around to face you.

“I heard you can speak over 7 languages!”

“Yes, I can.”

“Wow! Tell me something in a different language.”

1 “Ufuna ngikutshele ini?”

“What did you say?”

‘They don’t understand me…?’

2 “Ngiyakuthanda. Ngikuthanda kabi ngaso sonke isikhathi uma ungekho kimi, kungenza ngifune ukukhipha inhliziyo yami. Ngiyakubamba kakhulu, noma ukhuluma nentombazane kungenza ngibe nomona ngoba udonsa umoya kangangokuthi ngisho netshe lingawela kuwe.” 

“That was so long. What did you say?”

“Figure it out by yourself.” he said before walking away.

“Wha-! Come on! You can’t just leave! Tell me!” Unfortunately, he was out of earshot.

“How long have you known…?”

“I found out a week afterward. People had heard you and spread rumors… Someone came up to me and congratulated me on dating you…” You said as you tilled your head down, hoping he didn’t see your face growing red. Fortunately, he didn’t but that was because he was looking away so you weren’t able to see his ears growing red. 

“How long do you think we’ll be trapped here..?”

“Knowing them, they’ll probably forget. Let’s wait for a little bit and if not we can just break the door.”

“Whoa! This is someones house! We can’t just break the door down!” You said as your head shot up. 

“It’s their fault for locking us in here…” he said tilling his head down only to meet eyes. Silence overtook the closet as your eyes lock with his. Your eyes scan all over his face and you ultimately land on his lips. It wasn’t long before Alhaitham started leaning in. 

You started leaning in too but as soon as you wrapped your arms around his neck a shock ran through your body and you pulled away. Alhaitham raised an eyebrow. 

“A-are you sure you want this?” You asked. His eyes widened.

“You have no idea what I want.“ He said, snaking a hand to the back of your head before pushing your head towards him. The kiss was a lot more tender and passionate considering Alhaitham. It was a long, deep kiss that left you breathless. You pulled away trying to catch your breath. But Alhaitham followed your lips, wanting more. Your chest swirls at the feeling of care and affection behind the kiss. Warmth spreads throughout your body as your knees get weak. 

You finally break away. You huffed heavily as you try to catch your breath. You looked up at Alhaitham who was as red as a tomato. Your eyes widened before giving him a smirk. 

“Oh~? Is the all mighty Alhaitham blushing?“

“Shut up.”

“Wow. We literally just made out. Don’t tell me to shut up, bro.”

“Don’t “bro” me. I just had my tongue down your throat.” 

Translations

1 ”What do you want me to tell you?” 2 “I love you. I’m so madly in love with you every time you’re not with me, it makes me want to rip out my heart. I get so possessive of you, even if you’re talking to a girl it makes me so jealous because you’re so breathtaking that even a rock would fall for you.”

[Pt 1]  [Pt 2]  [Pt 3]  [Pt 4]  [Pt 5]

- Navigation -   - Prismarine -

[lanymme]

Reading through AK story is kind of frustrating because its so good, but something about the writing, and the way that it only hints at and speaks around things, and fact that there’s so so so much lore makes it nearly impossible to pick up the full measure of what any scene is trying to convey.

It often feels like reading an academic paper in a subject outside my area of expertise, where I can only grasp the shape of it unless I spend significant time picking through it.

I’m reading through A Walk in the Dust right now, which is fantastic, but I’ve just finished the story node where Lilia and Kal’tsit assassinate the Grand Duke, and I can tell there’s so much of the emotional narrative I’m missing and it makes me terribly sad.

I have no idea what Finance Minister Witte is talking about, nor what the emotional core of the scene between Kal’tsit and the Archduke is supposed to refer to. I have zero clue why the man that Witte was talking to cut off his own hand, and I can only vaguely guess that the theme of this story segment is the different kinds of hopes people in high Ursus political circles have for the future, and how the foundation they have built on death and violence makes their noble-sounding ambitions to bring a new Spring and age of vigor to their country impossible.

My problem is I have no idea whether it’s the translation, the writing itself, or my lack of background that makes it hard for me to pick up what’s happening. And even if it is a lack of context, it’s impossible to determine what I could read that would give me that context.

It really is very frustrating. I’d like to understand all of what’s being said because even the vague grasp I can get carries some heavy emotional weight, and I just don’t know if that’s possible.

[soaps-mohawk]

As someone who has written a chaptered fic, I completely understand that you need to take a break. Clearly the anons who are all mad have never tried writing outside of any educational purposes (like for school and university) because it takes a lot of effort and time!!

Please take as many breaks for as long as you need. While I was writing mine, I literally didn’t update it for 3 months because I was so burnt out and my characters were on average half the length yours are.

I’m actually happy that updates are planned to be once a week because then it’s something I can look forward to and not some chore to catch up on.

Writing is so hard and it does take so much time and effort. Published books, fanfiction, academic writing and everything in between takes time and effort and energy to do well. Honestly that anon was giving "I use AI for my writing" vibes. Head's up anon, most of us in creative spaces don't. We write out every word, type out every letter, translate every idea and vision onto paper and a lot of us do it for free. Fanfiction is free. I put these chapters out for free in my spare time. I choose to share because I want to. I absolutely don't have to. I can keep all of this to myself. I know a lot of creators that are now because people are abusing fanfiction and making being part of a fandom not fun anymore.

Even published authors that do this as their job take breaks. Things happen, they get delayed. Capitalism loves to convince us that we have to put in maximum effort all the time and that taking breaks and time for ourselves is weak and frowned upon and we should just be working 24/7, but that's not sustainable. It's not human nature to work ourselves to the point of breaking just for the sake of someone else. I already know if I try to push through and try to put out as much content as I possibly can, I'm going to burn out. I'm going to quit writing because it's happened to me before. Happened with the last fandom I was in (of course there were other things too that happened), but I haven't written for that fandom since October. I put out almost 80 fics last year for one fandom and I have no plans of going back because I'm so burnt out still almost seven months later.

So yeah, fuck that anon, I'll take as many breaks as I need. I know most of y'all will wait patiently and eagerly for another update, no matter how long it takes. I appreciate all of you so much and I especially appreciate your support.

[callowyn]

20 Questions for Writers

Tagged by @oakashandwillow

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 42...the perfect number

2. What's your total AO3 word count? just shy of 500k which is an insane number

3. What fandoms do you write for? >_> look. is the top fandom on my ao3 page supernatural: yes. am I still actively posting spn fic: technically also yes. but the incoherent scum villain tweets that don't make it onto ao3 are where my heart truly lies rn

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

#1 and #2 are the double header of Cumplane (Pairing), an in-universe meta for @cleromancy's threadfic, and Cumplane Forums AU, an archive of @flightlesscrowkids's communal threadfic that I shamelessly enabled. #5 on the list is also a scum villain chatfic, It's Fine Cause I'm Wearing Cat Ears, where shen yuan is still insane on the modern internet but this time binghe and liu qingge are there. thank you cucumber stans for your support and good taste.

#3 is my untamed big bang from these nettles, alms which I cowrote with @zorrosuchil (chengxian, but also wangxian and a lil tiny bit zhanchengxian, much to jiang cheng's disgruntlement).

#4 is my pacific rim reverse bang Our Blood in the Machinery in which raleigh becket is possessed, but joke's on you, he's into that shit.

5. Do you respond to comments? I try but unfortunately I often give myself the fake homework of needing to reply Meaningfully which means it simply does not happen

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? hmm probably the most it-didn't-have-to-be-this-way classic tragedy fic is The Dismemberment Song (the untamed, nieyao); the deadest dove is Jettison (pacific rim, hansens badtouch)

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? I was going to say Only Human but then I remembered the last chapter ends with one of the main characters announcing her imminent demise lmao so perhaps my cql fix-it of Waking / Rising

8. Do you get hate on fics? thankfully not, I don't think they get enough attention to have haters lmao

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? only for siblings

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? fandom fusions are my faaaaavorite to spitball. way back in the day I had grand plans for Merlispn which (as the name should make clear) was very silly

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? not to my knowledge but cambionverse did once get cited in an academic paper

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? funnily enough one of my smallest and least-viewed spn fics, Driftwood, was translated into chinese!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? nearly all of them in fact! shout out to @thegeminisage and our series Cambionverse which is old enough to be in middle school now

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? I am a multishipper til death do us part ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? fuckin. Envesseled lmfao. ON GOD WE WILL POST THE LAST FIVE CHAPTERS I JUST DON'T KNOW WHEN

16. What are your writing strengths? *eye* think my own jokes are very funny hahaha and I love to write banter & arguments

17. What are your writing weaknesses? I can brainstorm plots all day long but executing upon them is So Hard

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? as a monolingual it is something I would do very sparingly if at all, and only if there wasn't another way to convey the same tone/emotion

19. First fandom you wrote for? the first thing I ever posted to ao3 was The Quest for Camelot which is found poetry from the merlin fic finders comm. before livejournal I did post a few things to ff.net but they are going with me to the grave

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? listen. I understand why it deals psychic damage for my followers to see supernatural content in the year of our lord 20 whatever. but read Cambion those are my kids

[jarenka]

Couple of weeks ago I watched Boris Godunov in our local opera house.

I don't remember if I've already told you that, but I has zero education in music, I don't understand musical theory and my knowledge of musical history is scattered at best. For last couple of years I've learned a bit about musical history, but I still isn't able to tell apart baroque music from music of classical period.

Why I am telling you about it? Because I've heard Mussorgsky before (and I heard about him of course, but only super basic things) but I don't have any time scale in my mind to put him on. I've never seen Boris Godunov in opera house before, for me it was one of these classical Russian operas on a historical topic:  A Life for the Tsar, Prince Igor, The Tsar's Bride, etc.

So, I was sitting in opera house reading theater program. Mussorgsky was born in 1839, he finished Boris Godunov in 1869. It's something near Tchaikovsky (Swan Lake was written in 1876), but Tchaikovsky followed European music trends of his time and Mussorgsky was from different circle of composers Mighty Handful. They tried to invent distinct Russian style of classical music, collected and studied folk songs and Orthodox church singing and incorporated them in their music (this wasn't in the program, I just know a bit about this group).

And then during the opera I was like: "Why the fuck this 19th century opera was bitten by Stravinsky????", that doesn't sound like a 19th century opera at all (later I found out that Mussorgsky's peers (including Tchaikovsky) didn't understand Boris Godunov at all, they mostly called its music terrible).

What I mean by "was bitten by Stravinsky":

Modest Mussorgsky - Boris Godunov, Coronation scene performed by Royal Opera

Some other examples and comparisons (and Ivan the Terrible's lover) are under the cut

Modest Mussorgsky - Boris Godunov, Varlaam's Song performed by Daniil Akimov (bass) and Alina Smirnova (piano)

Excerpt from The Rites of Spring by Igor Stravinsky

Varlaam's Song was the most obvious example (but I've wrongly attributed it as "Stravinsky vibe", see below) because right before it there was another "folk" song, the innkeeper's song:

(scene from 1954 Boris Godunov film, sings Alexandra Torchina)

It's a typical "folk" song from Russian opera:

Sadko's song from Rimsky-Korsakov's Sadko opera (performed by Vladimir Atlantov)

or this choir from Eugene Onegin (performed by all-women choir "Pearl")

Varlaam's song is completely different. And I'm sure I've already heard something like it written in 20th century.

This?

Igor Stravinsky - Infernal Dance from The Firebird performed by London Symphony Orchestra.

No, I've heard something even more similar. And I have no idea why it took me so long.

It's Oprichniks dance scene from Ivan the Terrible movie:

The staple of Russian queer culture with a twink Fyodor Basmanov in woman's dress.

(the liking even more obvious when you compare it to the orchestral version of Varlaam's Song)

Stravinsky wrote his Firebird in 1910, Sergei Prokofiev wrote music for  Sergei Eisenstein's film Ivan the Terrible in 1944, and Mussorgsky was writing his works in the middle of 19th century. He died at the age of 42 in 1881, long before avant-garde music became a thing, surrounded by people who thought that he can't write music like a normal composer. No, he just wrote like a 20th century composer.

And some other works by Mussorgsky:

Modest Mussorgsky - Pictures at an Exhibition (arr. by Maurice Ravel) performed by St.Petersburg Symphony Orchestra

Modest Mussorgsky - Songs and Dances of Death performed by Polina Shamaeva and Novosibirsk Academic Symphony Orchestra Zou can found poems in English translation from this cycle here. Yes, they are about different ways to die.

[titleleaf]

@rocket-eighty-eight mentioned you on a post “The real saw trap is reading an incredibly wrong...”:

@titleleaf WHERE did you see this red dragon take?!?!!

​Why, here on Tumblr Dot Com, of course! I thought I had it screencapped but I managed to restrain myself from engaging with the original post -- the OP was all of 20 and God knows I made absolutely boneheaded Tumblr posts when I was 20, I make some pretty stupid ones now. Regardless, it had pretty hardcore "hasn't actually read Red Dragon" energy. As you might also expect it was a post gassing up the NBC Hannibal s3 finale, framing Will's participation in the killing of Dolarhyde as him embracing queerness and aligning himself with his true love, Hannibal, rather than his fake comphet love, Molly.

Paraphrased, their interpretation was: "the end of Red Dragon, the book, has Will triumphing over Dolarhyde and successfully saving his wife and child, reaffirming the integrity of heterosexual marriage and exorcising the queer threat that Lecter poses to Will's identity of himself as straight, while the show's s3 finale has the better and more affirming depiction: Will leaving behind his wife and child and going to be with Hannibal and embrace his nature as a killer, showing that he's accepted his true self and what he holds in common with Lecter." Which... all of that aside, that's not remotely what happens in the book Red Dragon!

The ending of the novel is so notoriously downbeat and ambivalent that I have read multiple pieces of academic writing commenting on it, and it's something both film adaptations have felt the need to change. It's a fucking downer. You can't even feel good about Molly killing Dolarhyde because you've seen enough of Dolarhyde as a sympathetic wounded beast to wish that outcome, however inevitable genre conventions make it, could be different. Will's relationship to his stepson is already fatally wounded before Dolarhyde shows up, and Will's marriage is fucking toast -- even as Will's lying in his hospital bed he knows this, that Molly will leave him because of what's happened, and by the time SOTL takes place it certainly seems to have come true. Will's physical and mental well-being have been burned through, and by the next time we hear about him he's a deeply traumatized alcoholic whose face looks like damn Picasso drew it, and, we can assume, very single. Heterosexual love is not enough in this book to save anybody! Not Dolarhyde and Reba, not Will and Molly, not the Leedses, not the Jacobis, not Dolarhyde's mother and her new husband, not even Freddy Lounds and Wendy. Will comes to a fuller understanding of the "vicious urges" within him that humanity more broadly struggles with, not just outliers like Dolarhyde and Lecter, but it's not a comfortable exorcism of the destabilizing threat of violence, the emotional tone remains uneasy and weird. It's a bummer. Nobody is living happily ever after and it's Lecter who gets the last word. (And he's such a bitch about it, too, I'm obsessed.)

My own feelings on how the show does the RD plotline with Dolarhyde in s3 aside (short version: badly) I think people have a tendency to back-project the show's framing of Will and Hannibal's relationship onto the first novel when it doesn't apply. Their relationship in the book is interesting and imo very fun but it's very different because the rest of the canon from which the show will draw to pad it out just does not exist yet -- the show sort of Frankensteins together parts of Clarice's plotlines to make up the difference and while I enjoy the results in isolation Will and Hannibal's relationship dynamic in the show isn't remotely a straightforward translation from book to screen or some kind of more correct, uncensored version of what the book was too timid to show. (Clarice's whole perverse union with Lecter in Hannibal the book follows its own different trajectory, and I can see how people read it as liberating and/or affirming, but uhhhh I'll get back to them on that later.) I don't think the show does the fusion of those two relationships particularly elegantly (or the distribution of other aspects of the Hannibal-Clarice relationship onto other characters' relationships to Hannibal, though it did bring me one of my favorite parts of s3 with Bedelia) but I think it's really muddied people's ability to talk about the actual books (and films) on the merits of what they actually contain versus what they assume they must contain or would like them to contain. It's a hot mess express.

[qqueenofhades]

Hiii! I hope this is not too random but you always have such good advices and it's always interesting to hear your opinion about different things.

So, I have this idea for a serialized web-novel that I really want to stick with, write it and actually publish it. But I'm afraid that I'm not good at writing and I'm not sure how to improve. As an academic/teacher who writes fiction, is there anything in particular you would recommend? Like the list of books?

Also, everyone says you can be good at only one thing so you should invest your time in mastering that one thing, otherwise you are going to always be mediocre, Jack of all trades. I have BA in Philosophy, work as a video editor and dream of writing that particular story. Am I too over the place? I thought that I could connect writing to philosophy as there are a few philosophers who write fiction, and connect it to video editing bearing in mind that video editing is also a form of storytelling and can be connected to scripting, in a way.

Ideally, I'd want my story to be in a comics formats, but then I'd also have to learn drawing, which I would absolutely love to do, but then will I be turning into mr. Jack even more? Lol.

First off, my chillun, I am here to safely inform you that the idea of "jack of all trades, master of none," thus implying that it's stupid to do a lot of things when you could devote your time to Doing This One Thing Only, is a pile of crap. What is life even FOR, if not to try new things, experiment, see what you like, make mistakes, and learn how to do it better? Especially when it comes to art??? It is the primal and timeless impulse of human beings in all ages of the world to make art, the end. Someone who has written a "bad" story or drawn a "bad" picture is still 100x more of an artist than some yokel who feeds stolen art into an AI algorithm and presses a button. They have made something original and creative and maybe it's not as good as those who have been doing it more or for longer, but WHO CARES? You can try again! You can laugh it off or pretend it never existed or whatever, but honestly, you should NOT be ashamed.

This whole "do only one thing and don't waste your time with unproductive side hobbies" idea is also an extremely capitalist conceit: you should spend your time being Financially Productive At Your One Skill, and not doing things that bring you joy solely because they bring you joy (even if not money). It presupposes that the only purpose of life is to be generating Profit at all times, which you can't do if you're not "good," etc etc nonsense. (Clearly, I have strong feelings about this.) So if you want to learn how to write and draw in order to make a web comic, you should do that! It doesn't matter if this is totally unrelated to anything you've done before. You don't need to justify it to anyone. You can just go "you know what, I want to do this" and do it!

That said, if you want to produce it to a publishable level in a reasonable timeframe, in this case it might be good to partner up with a person and/or persons who have more experience than you. You can be the storyboarder/show-runner/ultimate mastermind, but you can also reach out to writers and artists who have already practiced to the level needed, so you don't have to spend years becoming good enough (whatever your definition of that might be) to produce a quality product. You have experience with video editing and production; great! You can find someone else whose skills enhance and collaborate with yours, and who can do something that maybe you can't. But if you practice in the meantime, you'll understand more about how it works, what you want to do, and how to translate that into narrative/art form.

As ever, my only advice for people who want to learn how to write better is a) write, and b) read. Find writers whose style you enjoy, whose particular technical skills you want to emulate (is it character development? World-building? Plot twists? Smooth prose? All of the above?) and see how they do it. Sure, there are plenty of writing books out there who purport to tell you How To Do It The Right Way, but honestly, I don't think I've ever read them. I started writing around the age of 7 and worked at it ever since (along with a lot of reading, so yes). Some people might benefit from a more structured/guided approach, so if you think that sounds like something you want to see, even if it's just someone putting words down on a page about the basic technical craft of writing, then I do encourage you to check it out. But if at any time you go "eh, this doesn't feel like my style" or "I don't want to do it that way" or "this isn't quite what I'm looking for," you can shut that book and try something else. This, too, is entirely fine.

I realize that for many of us, writing is the Mortifying Ordeal of Being Known, and it's hard to share it if you feel like it's less than perfect, but at some point, you will also need to start doing that. The nice thing about fandom is that we are all amateurs (i.e. not being paid for it, not necessarily "bad," since I have seen plenty of professionally published books that make me go YIKES), and there's generally a forgiving and supportive atmosphere. If you want to write about two blorbos kissing or not kissing (as the case may be) or whatever else, chances are there is someone out there who wants to read that story, and they will enthusiastically respond to you about it. Strangers who offer unsolicited criticism on fanfic are obviously dicks, but there are also beta readers, people who read your writing to support you and also suggest what can be made better or more polished or otherwise better. So if you think that's a feedback structure you might benefit from, put your toes out and see what kind of response you get.

Anyway, this is all to say: write, draw, make art, do it badly, do it again, you'll get better, and don't feel like you have to excuse it or explain why. In the case of this particular project, if you have a strong artistic vision but not the technical skills to execute it to the level you want, consider reaching out to people who DO have those skills and might be interested in collaborating with you. Write a lot. Read a lot. Find what works for you. And have fun.

[flowersofevilvn]

I'm reading flowers of evil because of you BTW. It's really good! I was never one for poetry because I thought I was just too stupid to understand it, but I feel I have been missing out.

How have you been? Any development or life issues that we can help with? I think your game is really something special. Take care. 💚

I'm so glad to hear that!! I'm a firm believer that art and writing is for everybody and it always makes me happy to hear people are expanding their genres and experiences :) there are lots of resources that provide annotated versions of classical poetry so flowers of evil is actually a great text to look at if you're wanting to break into the romantics a little bit more! Different translators also change the tone of the work significantly, I have 3 separate copies of Flowers of Evil in the printed English format by dofferent translators, some with and some without original french text and annotations, but my favorite of all time is Ruth White's 1969 early electronica album based on the text! your personal experience with the writing is more important than an "objective" truth some people may try to convince you is true of the thing- historical context and literary analysis only go so far. Your enjoyment of a text doesn't have to have anything to do with what is academically accepted. I like flowers of evil the poetry collection mostly because of the visceral descriptions! Other people might enjoy it more because of its peculiar place in its time period, its relevance in the modern goth scene or the classic gothic literary scene, its gorgeous bound editions in book collecting circles, its raunchiness, its holiness, whatever! all that is to say, I don't believe in stupid people, and I belive even less in a stupid way to approach poetry, writing, and art- art is for everyone, and there are lots of ways to feel and interpret an artists work!

I wish I had good news on the development front- I had a week off of work I was hoping to dedicate to working on the game but I mostly either slept or cleaned. Being disabled and working has. Significantly altered my trajectory on the game. I wasn't expecting to have to use my body to work and it's been affecting me pretty brutally. Unfortunately because it's been so long since I started it up I'm wondering if I should gut and reproduce it entirely into something newer and cleaner instead of continuing to roll with a framework I've come to find pretty flawed and hard to work with. I haven't dropped the project by any means but I'm struggling to find the motivation to finish it. In any case! I'm really hoping to have at least a major update by March. fingers crossed, and happy reading to you!