#Subversion create new branch

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: Weird Fiction

Weird fiction - a subgenre of speculative fiction that combines supernatural, horror, magical realist, and fantasy elements.

Speculative fiction focuses on stories containing speculative elements that do not exist in the real world.

Weird fiction’s roots lie in Gothic fiction, horror, fantasy, and science fiction.

It subverts the traditional conventions of these genres, creating a whole new crop of unsettling and sophisticated short stories, anthologies, and novels.

Weird fiction plays to an audience’s discomfort and fascination with the unknown, digging deep into the spiritual, emotional, and existential conflicts of the human condition in ways that traditional horror stories may not. Weird fiction stories may feature bizarre creatures, haunting mythos, or mental disturbances caused by unknown forces.

How to Write Weird Fiction

Weird fiction stories often contain a variety of macabre elements and supernatural components. Follow these steps to write your work of weird fiction:

Start with a mood. In the short essay “Notes on Writing Weird Fiction,” H.P. Lovecraft directs weird fiction writers to begin with a mood when they start building the world of their story. Brainstorm all of the concrete imagery, landscapes, and words that would best embody that particular feeling. Keep these pictures in mind as you assemble the elements of your narrative, like setting, characters, or conflicts.

Build your narrative. Before you start writing your weird fiction piece, outline all of the elements of your story. What is the plot? Who are the characters? Where do they live? What does their world look like, and how is it different from yours? Weird fiction involves blending tropes and crossing genre boundaries, but you don’t want to overload your story with too many fantastical components because it might overwhelm the reader. Structure your story and build the atmosphere first before adding action and lore. Outline all of the major events in your story—first in the chronological order they happen, and then in the narrative order.

Eschew the tropes. Weird fiction subverts the traditional stories of vampires, werewolves, zombies, ghosts, or other supernatural creatures. This genre is about finding new and refreshing ways to shake up the classic arcs and tropes. Avoid clichés that don’t bring anything new to the table.

Find a deeper, darker meaning. Weird fiction dives deep into the darker and more troubling components of human emotion and experience. In these stories, magical or mystical forces are always tethered to some truth about the human condition—like a fear of the unknown. If you incorporate supernatural or symbolic elements into your story, give them a message that goes beyond the surface level. Give your fantastical elements a deeper meaning that speaks to the overall theme of your narrative.

Write and revise. Write out your narrative, making room for dramatic suspense, twists, and other compelling events. If the writing feels cliché, take the story in an even weirder direction. Weird fiction is all about breaking convention, so feel free to switch and swap elements, so it feels fresh and thrilling to you.

A Brief History of Weird Fiction

Beginnings: As the 19th century brought about the golden age of ghost stories, another branch of literature found inspiration in the supernatural, which fell outside of the expected Gothic tale that blended elements of romance, horror, and death. These weird stories were examples of paranormal fiction containing twists or subversions of expectations, branching out from the traditional tale of the age to add a sense of dread and mystique.

Poe: In the mid-19th century, Edgar Allan Poe was one of the first authors to write in a dark style different from the common fiction styles of the era.

Pulp magazines: The popularity of weird fiction hit its initial peak in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as new horror authors found inspiration in earlier works. The American pulp magazine Weird Tales published many of these types of stories between the 1920s and 1950s.

Lovecraft: In 1937, H.P. Lovecraft popularized the term “weird fiction” in a series of essays, categorizing the work of himself and others (notably Poe) within this specific subgenre. Bolstered by a growing platform, the weird fiction movement continued to gain favor with other writers.

The New Weird: By the 1990s, the weird fiction movement experienced a shift, giving birth to the ‘the new weird’ literary subgenre. ‘The new weird’ is a more recent speculative fiction branch with a more realistic and complex fantasy tone.

Notable Weird Fiction Authors & Books

From the 19th century to today, there have been many “weird writers” whose works have impacted the literary world. Here are some of the most influential weird authors and some of their best weird fiction books and stories:

Algernon Blackwood: Blackwood was a master weird storyteller who delved into various worlds filled with unsettling horror, wonder, and spiritual forces. His 1907 novel The Willows depicts two men as they travel down a river. They experience several unsettling occurrences, and the narrator suspects the surrounding sentient willow trees are instigating these events.

Robert W. Chambers: The first four stories of Chambers’s anthology The King in Yellow (1895) deal with a malevolent, mysterious presence in yellow (as well as a yellow sign). This motif was an inspiration for HBO’s True Detective series.

Lord Dunsany: Lord Dunsany (whose real name was Edward Plunkett) was an Anglo-Irish writer of dark, fantastical fiction. The Gods of Pegāna (1905) is a series of short stories depicting deities in their narratives, featuring illustrations by English artist Sidney Sime.

Franz Kafka: Kafka’s famous short story "The Metamorphosis” (1918) features a salesman who awakes one day to find that he has turned into a monstrous insect. The narrative follows the protagonist as he deals with his new condition and the consequences of his transformation.

H.P. Lovecraft: American writer Howard Phillips Lovecraft is one of the most famous weird fiction authors. “Lovecraftian,” a term named after Lovecraft, refers to conditions that defy the laws of nature and embody weird, cosmic horror. His short story “The Call of Cthulhu” features the abomination known as Cthulhu, a horrifyingly destructive monster with tentacles and a squid face. The story originally appeared in the science fiction and horror periodical Weird Tales in 1928.

Edgar Allan Poe: Many historians consider Poe the first weird fiction writer. Poe’s short story “The Fall of the House of Usher” (1839) features an unidentified narrator—a childhood friend of the main character—who visits the main character at his seemingly sentient home. As the narrator learns more about his old friend’s family and state of mind, he discovers that the house is alive and threatening to collapse.

Source ⚜ More: References ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Paul Blumenthal at HuffPost:

Before Vice President JD Vance was elected to the Senate from Ohio in 2022, he expressed a radical sentiment now coming to fruition under President Donald Trump. “We need a de-Ba’athification program in the U.S.,” Vance said as he called for the firing of every midlevel federal government employee and their replacement with Trump allies. In likening the U.S. government to the purges of Saddam Hussein’s Ba’ath Party in post-war Iraq, Vance provides a metaphor to explain what the Trump administration is doing now. The MAGA coalition, led by Trump, Vance and billionaire Elon Musk are an occupying force — a provisional authority — operating in wartime conditions to dismantle the U.S. government. As in post-war Iraq, the previously existing legal order is no more. For Americans, that means the Constitution has been effectively suspended. The ongoing destruction of the U.S. government by Trump and Musk is already a full-blown constitutional crisis. The executive branch has seized power it does not have from Congress and the American people to eliminate agencies created by Congress, suspend payments authorized by law, break contracts entered into under law, rewrite the Constitution and, potentially, ignore the judiciary when push comes to shove. All of these actions, tied together, represent not just an unprecedented seizure of executive power by the president, but an intentional subversion of the constitutional order. Or, as Trump’s nominee to lead the Office of Management and Budget Russell Vought wrote in 2022, “We are living in a post-Constitutional time.”

The actions Trump and Musk are taking not only threaten the country’s constitutional structure, but also the material livelihood of all Americans. In targeting government services people need to live their lives, they risk forcing people to stop working to perform childcare, throw at-risk people into homelessness, deny disabled people the right to a free life and cut off the elderly and sick from necessary health care. In seeking to end birthright citizenship, Trump threatens the very right of people born here to obtain the benefits granted to them by the Constitution. Potentially more catastrophic, Musk’s seizure of the Department of Treasury’s payment system and the possible tinkering his college-age minions are doing to it could crash a decadesold system that doles out the annual $6 trillion budget to Social Security recipients, government employees, grantees, loan recipients and more.

Musk is deploying the model he used to gut Twitter after he bought it in 2022. It’s an expression of the “move fast and break things” ethos of Silicon Valley. The tech elite believe that laws and regulations should be ignored if it gets in their way of innovation and profit-seeking. Think about Uber’s deployment of subsidized taxis to undercut incumbent competition, scooter companies dumping their product on city streets with no authorization, the mass Hoovering of data by social media companies or AI companies relying on copyrighted material to train their models. They are also happy to break products as they beta test new applications, just as Musk’s X frequently went down after he fired huge numbers of engineers following his takeover. A disruption in the operation of a social media site, however, does not have any meaningful real world consequences. But if Musk decides to “fail whale” the government, the consequences would be catastrophic for hundreds of millions of Americans, not to mention the stability of the global economy.

[...]

Congress, under the sniveling leadership of Republican Speaker Mike Johnson (La.) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (S.D.), has surrendered its power at Trump’s feet. The Constitution gives Congress the power of the purse to fund the government and enact laws creating and authorizing executive branch agencies. The president is then supposed to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.” Trump has inverted this constitutional design with the help of a supplicant Republican-controlled Congress. [...] The Constitution requires Congress to pass laws and make appropriations and for the president to execute those laws and appropriations. If Trump’s actions stand, the Constitution will have been turned inside out. Congress will be swept aside. So will the American people, who elected Congress as a co-equal power to the president. And if Trump and Musk have their way, the judiciary will also be eliminated. When Vance called for the “De-Ba’athification” of the U.S. government, he also opined on what would happen if the courts intervened. [...] What this amounts to is one-man rule. The MAGA royalists have tossed the Constitution aside — at least provisionally — in favor of a king. Will anyone stop them?

HuffPost’s Paul Blumenthal provides cogent analysis on how the Axis of Evil triumvirate between Elon Musk, JD Vance, and Donald Trump, are operating to destroy our cherished Constitutional governance and livelihoods of many Americans.

[atticsandwich]

Exploring how Obey Me!'s portrayal of the Celestial Realm mirrors that of the how the Christian heaven is used as propaganda, and how Simeon, Luke, and Raphael tie-in with real-life people's experiences of the Christian faith.

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to preface: I was born Christian and was raised as such, but renounced my religion when I was around 18. Experiences vary in different parts of the world of course, however, I will also be tying in things I see from online conversations about Christianity. Admittedly a lot of my insight comes from my experience (and by extension, my family and friends) of Christianity in my area of the world (southeast asia).

Additionally, this post is purely for fun and speculation, and my fascination with subversive portrayals of religion, particularly of Christianity. Please note that I will use the word "religion" as a whole, but this post will specifically go into Christianity, and by proxy, its branches.

As this post is a spur-of-the-moment thing, it is not proofread, so I apologize for any spelling or grammatical errors!

‼️This post will contain spoilers‼️

To start, let's lay out the things we know about the Celestial Realm from the story.

The Celestial Realm is home of the angels, and in contrast to the Devildom, it is a realm of permanent daylight.

Michael acts as its authority, however, we know that its most supreme being is the Father, who we can presume created the realm and its angels. Unlike the sleeping Demon Lord, we are at least aware that Father is still active, although presumably leaves the governing to Michael.

Similar to real-life angelology, the Celestial Realm also divides its angels by ranks. The current known ranks are Seraphim, Throne, Cherubim, Principality, Dominion, and Archangel.

Key observations:

Angels can either fall to become demons (demon brothers) or be stripped of their blessing and become human (Simeon).

Luke's current angel rank is unknown. We can assume this is from inexperience, as despite being implied to be at least a thousand years old, he acts and behaves like a typical ten year old.

Although "falling" can be a punishment by acting out of defiance against its virtues, we know that angels can still be morally grey, and in some cases, dubious, and still not be stripped of their blessing.

Now to the bulk of this analysis.

I. Christianity as a tool for propaganda and colonization

This is pretty basic history - western colonizers have used religion as a basis of conquering "new worlds" in the name of spreading their faith and belief systems. The effects of this still persist until today - racism, homophobia, etc. in general can be traced back to the colonial era. In more present-day scenarios, religion is also used as a leverage for morality and what people deem as "right or wrong". For some parts, it aligns with basic humanity, however, we know very well that it can also be used to spread bigotry and false moral high grounds as a justification for mistreatment of people.

In many countries, politics and religion go hand in hand. Many politicians will use their beliefs as a basis for bills and laws, and it trickles down to the justice system, where judges can display religous bias (whether consciously or not) in favor of their personal beliefs. As such, many politicians will use religion to forward their name and agenda, in the pretense of being a devout practicioner, in order to garner relatability and bias from people of the same faith. In Christianity, for example, many politicians will use the term "Lord's servant" as a subtext for people to latch onto.

In a societal context, we are very familiar with the phrase "Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve" as a rebuttal for homosexual relationships, and in general, relationships that bigoted Christians believe do not follow in their God's text. Cherry-picking bible verses and anecdotes to further their justification for acting the way they do is also a very common occurence, even though that very same Bible they read also emphasize the value of spreading love, with hate having no place in heaven.

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II. How it ties to the Celestial Realm

Behind its perma-daylight nature, we learn that the Celestial Realm is a place of strict rule and order, and an angel can easily get demoted, as was the previous case for Simeon, who we know was originally a Seraphim, and in some cases, even falling to demonhood, like the brothers. This walking-on-eggshells type of ordinance is very tricky, as the reasoning for being casted out of the realm can get very blurry. In Lilith's case, it was her act of using Celestial Realm medicine in order to heal a human she loved; this then led to Lucifer questioning why her act was tantamount to falling, as he always believed love to be a precious thing. This doubt and questioning, however, then led to his own falling, which led to the rest of the brothers siding with him and Lilith, resulting in the Great Celestial War.

We can then paint a picture of the Celestial Realm as a false/disillusioned utopia - externally, it is very lavish, warm, and golden, but taking a closer look reveals its suffocating, anti-freedom, gray nature, where one wrong move could spell your last day. Simeon is very much aware of this, and has, on multiple occassions, openly expressed disdain on how the realm operates.

It is then a matter of Self vs. Governance; at what point does the Celestial Realm draw the line between individual autonomy and total subjugation of its angels? If Lucifer, once one of its most prominent, respected, and powerful angels, gets casted due to defiance for asking a very valid question regarding a value that is taught and propagated within the realm, as he believes Lilith's punishment directly goes against that value, then what of the lesser angels who wish to ask the same? If standing up for those you hold dear is tantamount to unholiness, then why teach the value of love and family in the first place?

I hope you can see where I'm going here - the teaching of these values in the Celestial Realm being the same ones that can get you ostracized VS. using these values to advance a real-world political agenda and cherry-picked beliefs is intrinsically linked.

People that use religion as a means to justify cruelty or feign moral superiority despite the main point of their religion being to "love everyone equally, as you do yourself" are setting a status quo that they built for themselves and their hivemind - if you don't follow these specific rules and beliefs, you are not a true devout. If you question or point out inaccuracies on the beliefs that we want you to follow, you are a deviant.

Sound familiar yet?

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III. The three main angels

Excluding Michael and the demon brothers pre-fall, there are three other angels the story focuses on: Luke, Simeon, and Raphael. Despite all three being angels, they cannot be any more similar from each other. One is a brash, tempermental, and an overexcited youth with a sweet tooth; one freely lies and openly involves themselves in un-angelic deeds; and the other is a quiet, stoic, and blunt individual with a questionable taste in cuisine. These three angels encapsulate, almost perfectly, a religous pipeline.

IIIA. Luke

Luke represents the first entry to a religion (I'd use the word indoctrination, but I don't want to unknowingly portray it negatively as some people are born into a religion by default). He is young, inexperienced, idolizes a high-ranking angel who he follows with no question, and above all, naive. We know that he does not know the full reason of why the brothers fell, nor does he know of Lilith. Similarly, children and young people in religion often follow their parents/guardians blindly without question, their understanding of faith being minimal and surface level, something easily digestible for a young, developing mind.

IIIB. Raphael

Raphael is compliance. He knows and understand the ins-and-outs, the ifs-and-whys of the realm, yet continues to follow its order. Although he did not side with Lucifer, we eventually learn that he wishes he did (most recently in NB), yet unlike Simeon, does not actively wallow in his choice and continues to fulfill his duty as a Seraph. Whether we see a development with this in Nightbringer, time will tell. In a similar vein, many people will silently comply with their own faith, regardless of doubt. In my experience, this compliance, either out of familial pressure or feeling indebted to a religion, starts to happen during major developmental stages, either as a late teen or early adulthood, when you can freely do your own research and start to understand the deeper intricacies of a particular religion.

IIIC. Simeon

Simeon is representative of actively going against the status quo. He is an angel that has, on numerous occassions, displayed manipulative and wrathful tendencies, and has admitted to freely partake in lies and deceit. He has also stated that his biggest regret in life was not siding with Lucifer during the war, which is why he actively tries to help him and the brothers as much as he can, not caring if his action could be deemed as heresy. Although we see bits and pieces of it in the original game, Nightbringer Simeon fully procalims this, as asking him to ally with the brothers will result to him in saying that he always will be on their side. In real life, people have their own breaking point that leads them to this path, no matter how personal or educated the reasoning may be. Denouncing one's faith, especially one that was given to you by birth, can be considered an act of both defiance, and in the case of Christianity, becoming unholy, or impure.

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IV. The Celestial Realm as a commentary of how religion, particularly Christianity, is used in real life as a tool to further a cherry-picked, propaganda-ridden agenda, despite it being a contradiction to its teachings.

It is no secret that a lot of societal problems nowadays regarding bigotry, refusal of understanding, and unacceptance of others outside your status quo can be traced back to religous conservatives. This is a walking contradiction, of course, as Christian teachings always puts love above all, yet bringing this up as a rebuttal will elicit anger, not reflection. The Celestial Realm is the same, as its blurry definition of defiance goes against its importance of love and familial relationships, so much so that in its eyes, an angel trying to elicit defiance by acting un-angel-like is ultimately a lot more angelic than one who dares question why its teachings are being used as a leverage of defiance.

Of course, a lot of this can be chalked up to mere coincidence, and some might even say that I'm stretching a lot here, but it's still very interesting that a portrayal of heaven is morally ambigous at best. In some ways, the Devildom, or what's supposed to be hell, feels like the better place to live in out of the two.

Anyways, if you made it this far, thank you for reading my random spat-out ramble that i started writing out of nowhere and I fixated on finishing 💀 Share your thoughts with me too, if you'd like. I'd love to hear what you guys think.

[archvillain-fandom]

response to barry lyga’s un/edited

Not sure what this is. A book review, maybe. A creative writing exercise. The ramblings of a madwoman. Whatever it is, it had to be written.

We’re sitting in the backyard of my childhood home, on our butts, on the grass, on top of the hill. It’s not the backyard as it is now, years after we sold the house and the new owners remodeled it, but it’s not the backyard from my first memories. The treehouse that my dad built for me at age 10 is in the avocado tree, and the giant eucalyptus has been cut down. I stare at the stump, big enough for a little girl to use as a table for her dolls.

“Who am I?” my indefinite companion asks.

“You’re Kyle Camden,” I reply.

“Oh.” Kyle looks at his body, which is suddenly a lot clearer. “From Archvillain?”

“Sort of,” I say. “You’re a version of Kyle that I extrapolated from Archvillain. You’re close to the character that was written, but not exactly the same. You’re a subversion of the real thing.”

“There is no ‘real’ Kyle Camden,” Kyle says.

“Touché.”

“So what’s different about me?” he asks.

I sigh. “Who knows? Maybe you’re less snarky. Maybe you have more empathy. Maybe you’re really me, when I was twelve. Who knows?”

“You said ‘who knows’ twice in the last paragraph,” he points out.

“I’ll get it when I edit,” I shrug. “Or maybe I won’t edit this. His book is called ‘Unedited,’ after all.”

“It’s called ‘Edited,’ too,” Kyle says. “Doesn’t that mean you should edit?”

I sigh. “Don’t be a smartass.”

His eyes widen. “Wait, we can curse in this?”

“Sure,” I say. “This isn’t a Scholastic book. This is a blog post on a blog with fewer than fifty followers. Nobody’s going to care.”

He laughs, long and loud. “FUCK!” he yells. And then, not as loud, but just as exuberant, “Fuck, that felt good! I’ve been wanting to fucking swear since I was fucking created.”

I laugh too. “I’m glad I can offer you that much, at least.”

“After all I’ve given you?” he says dryly.

“Well, fuck, Kyle, don’t act all self-important now.”

“That’s the character,” he says. “That’s the original character.”

“I guess,” I say.

He furrows his brow. “If what you say is true, though… I’m not the original character. I’m an approximation, based on your interpretation. Which means that I clearly mean a lot to you. Which means that I’m not being self-important. So there!”

“You’re being a smartass again,” I say.

He shrugs wordlessly. We both stare at the eucalyptus stump.

“You know,” I say, finally breaking the silence, “I don’t think I ever used that stump as a table for my dolls. I think I just said that in the first paragraph to evoke memories of a rosy childhood, playing in the backyard without a care in the world. In real life, I think I was too anxious about getting my dolls dirty to take them outside.”

Kyle turns to look at me, but doesn’t say anything.

“Or maybe,” I continue, “I didn’t make that up. My sister convinced me to bring our dolls outside, and I went along with it to make her happy. I don’t remember.”

“You have a sister?” Kyle says.

“Younger,” I say. “Three and a half years apart.” I nod in the direction of the stump, at the bottom of the hill. “When that was a tree… the lowest branch was level with the second story of the house. It looked like a hundred feet up– maybe it was. My dad hung a rope swing from that branch. No fucking clue how he got it up there. But he hung a rope swing with a hundred feet of rope– well, there were two ropes holding up the swing, so I guess it was two hundred… hmm…”

“Focus,” Kyle snaps.

“Anyway,” I say. “My sister was a climber. Climbed everything vertical. And so she decided to climb the rope swing. There were no knots or anything, just straight rope. But she took her shoes off, rubbed dirt on her hands, and started climbing. She was seven or eight. And she climbed up, almost to the top. And she made eye contact with my mom, through the second-story window.”

“And then your mom screamed, and your sister panicked, and lost her grip, and fell to her death,” said Kyle.

“No,” I say. “My mom kept her cool, and ordered her to come down. My sister made her way back down the rope, endured a lecture, and is now a student at the same college that I went to.”

“That’s a bad ending,” Kyle tells me. “There’s no payoff. We learn nothing.”

“I have a fear of heights,” I tell him, although that seems kind of redundant. “Now you’ve learned that.”

“I don’t have that fear,” he grins. “I can fly.”

“I know.”

“It’s kind of weird that you have a fear of heights, but love a story about falling,” he says.

“Falling?”

“Yeah,” he says. “Archvillain is about falling.”

“What do you mean by that?” I ask, but he only shrugs.

I wait a moment, before I say, “You don’t sound like the real Kyle.”

“I told you, there is no real Kyle.”

“Original Kyle, then. The non-bastardized Kyle.”

“Maybe that’s because you’re writing me,” he says.

“Probably,” I agree.

He says nothing, and so I add, “The tree story is my running-in-front-of-a-car-to-get-an-action-figure story.”

He throws his hands up. “Oh, now we’re talking about the book!”

I shrug. “If you want, we can.”

“If I’m Kyle Camden, then I must be, in some way, partly Barry Lyga. And if I’m partly Barry Lyga, then I must want to know what you thought of his– my– book.”

“I think the part of you that’s me is placing much more weight on my opinion than the part of you that’s Barry Lyga really would.”

“Fuck, that’s confusing,” says Kyle.

“I got confused writing that sentence,” I say.

“But seriously, what did you think of the book?”

“It was…” I try to think of some adjective, and fail. “It was. It existed.”

“Seriously?” Kyle says in disbelief. “That’s all you’ve got? Aren’t you supposed to be a writer?”

“I’m a writer,” I say. “I never said I was a good writer.”

“‘It existed,’” Kyle mocks. “Wow. Put that on the cover of the second edition. ‘It existed,’ signed Amanda P———, owner of one of the most obsessive Tumblr blogs in existence. That’ll sell more copies.”

“It–“ I sigh. “Isn’t that a compliment? In a work of metafiction, where the characters are grappling with their existence, under an author-god grappling with his own creations, under the real author grappling with his publisher, isn’t it enough to say it existed?”

“No,” says Kyle.

“You’re infuriating,” I say.

“It’s why you like me,” he replies.

I exhale. “The truth is that I don’t get this book. But this book gets me. You follow?”

“No,” he says again.

“It’s just–“ I take a breath, and try again. “It’s just that when I read it, something clicked. Details lined up. It was like it was written for only me.”

“It wasn’t, though,” he says.

“No, you’re not getting it. I had like, a God moment. It was the same feeling that I had when I first read your book.”

“Didn’t you read my section in Unedited?” Kyle says. “God isn’t real. It’s a coherent 13-dimensional waveform–“

“Alright, I don’t feel like typing the whole rant out,” I say. “I get it. I’m not special.”

“Whatever details you thought ‘lined up’ were just coincidences. Common human experiences.”

“You’re starting to sound like Lyga’s Kyle again,”

I say.

“If you’re to be believed, that’s who I really am,” he says. “Or maybe your bastardization has stuck. Maybe, in his mind, a part of you has embedded itself in his conception of me.”

“Or maybe that’s just my ego talking,” I say.

“Maybe,” he says. “I think you have a bigger ego than he does. Which is saying something, considering he wrote a book where he’s both God and the Devil.”

I put my head in my hands. “Fuck this shit. Can’t we just go back to sitting in the backyard?”

“Sure,” says Kyle. “It’s nice here.”

We both sit.

We both sit.

We both sit.

I say, finally, “I did like the book.”

“You only read it to see me,” he says.

“Well, yeah, at first,” I say. “But then I couldn’t stop. Screwed up my whole day at work because I couldn’t get my mind off of it.”

“You work?” Kyle says.

“I’m twenty-two,” I say. “A college graduate. Of course I work.”

“What do you do?”

“I’m a government drone,” I deadpan. Kyle chuckles. “I work for my city. For now, possibly forever.”

“It’s funny,” he says. “I never pictured you working.”

“You’re a fictional character,” I tell him. “You can’t picture anything.”

“I can picture as much as he can picture,” he says. “Or, well, as much as you can picture that he can picture.”

“Well, I was fourteen when I first read Archvillain,” I say. “I wasn’t even a babysitter back then. And now–“

“Now it’s been, like, eight years,” Kyle says.

“Nine, nearly.”

“Jesus. That’s a lot of time to be devoted to one book series.”

“I have other interests,” I say. “I have stories that are really mine.”

“But they’re not Archvillain,” says Kyle.

“Yeah,” I say. “I guess it ties back into that ‘first love’ theme.”

“A book series is not a first love,” Kyle says. “Enough of me is you that I know Archvillain was not your first love.”

“I had Archvillain before I had her,” I say.

“Her?” Kyle says. “You’re gay?”

“Bi,” I say. “Maybe. Or ace. Or gay. Or straight. Does it matter? I loved her the way Mike loved Phil. The way you love Mairi.”

“That’s not healthy,” he says.

“No,” I agree. “That’s why it ended.”

“Do you regret it?” Kyle asks.

“I hate her some days,” I say. “Most days. I hate myself for blowing it up, too. It was really my fault that it ended. If I hadn’t freaked out when she set a boundary, we’d still be friends.”

“You weren’t together?” he asks.

“Nah.”

“Damn.”

We sit, until Kyle says, “I’m gay too. I think.”

I laugh. “I was never sure whether Barry Lyga always intended you to be gay, or whether he just did that to make my teenage self happy.”

“Guess you’ll never know,” says Kyle.

“Guess I’ll never know,” I say. “Although, you and the Mad Mask…”

He groans. “It doesn’t matter. When the series ends, the young Mad Mask is hell-bent on revenge, and the old Mad Mask is lost to time. It’s not happening.”

“Then, you and Mike…”

“It’s not happening,” he says again.

“If I were writing the series…” I start.

“But you’re not!” he interrupts. “It’s not your series. It’ll never be yours.”

“And yet you’re partly me,” I say.

He looks down at his blue-gloved hands. “Yeah, well. Sometimes stuff sticks.”

“Yeah.” I pause, and then I say what’s been on my mind since I read Edited. “Do you think the email is based on me?”

“Email?” He furrows his brow. “What email?”

“In his book. George writes an email to Gayl Rybar, or maybe Barry Lyga, telling him how important his work is. That he kept him from killing himself, because of his writing.”

“I liked George,” mused Kyle. “When I met him.”

“When I was sixteen, I emailed Barry Lyga. I told him how important his work was. I didn’t say it kept me from killing myself, but that was what I was thinking. Do you think that part was based on me?”

Kyle frowns. “I doubt it. He probably gets a lot of teenage emails.”

“Maybe,” I say.

“I think it’s stupid to think that anything in that book is related to you. Maybe Barry Lyga put an Archvillain section in knowing that you’d enjoy it– maybe. But I think you’re just desperate for connection, as a new adult in a remote job, and are leaning back on your old favorite series for comfort.”

“Maybe,” I say again. “You sound like his Kyle.”

“I only sound like Lyga’s Kyle when I’m making you uncomfortable,” he says.

“Maybe,” I say, for the third time.

“You thought that email was written by George?” Kyle asks.

“When I read Edited, I did,” I say. “George is a fan of Gayl Rybar. It makes sense.”

“But he isn’t a fan in Unedited,” says Kyle. “So he can’t have written it, since Lyga wrote that book first.”

“Yeah, I guess I can’t really know,” I say. “It’s all fictional, anyway.”

“Never stopped you from wondering before.”

“You’re very aggravating,” I tell him.

He raises his hands in defense. “Hey, you’re the one writing me.”

I pick my legs up off the grass and hug my knees. “I can’t believe I’m twenty-two.”

“You’re young. Don’t complain about it,” Kyle says.

“You’re younger than me. You’re twelve.”

“I’ve been twelve since 2010. Technically, I’m older than you.”

“In Barry Lyga’s original outline of Archvillain–“

“Oh, shut up!” Kyle exclaims. “Nobody cares about that but you. There’s not going to be any more Archvillain– no books, no short stories, no cartoon. You need to get over it, and grow up.”

I glare at him. “Can I finish my fucking sentence?” He rolls his eyes, and I continue, “In the original outline, Kyle gets visited by his future self in Tomorrow Today. I was fifteen or sixteen when I learned that, and I thought, okay, how old is future Kyle? And I settled on twenty-two.”

“And now you’re twenty-two,” he finishes.

“Exactly. And I keep thinking of going back in time, of talking to my younger self. Of what I would say.”

“What would you say?”

“I don’t know. That it gets better? That I shouldn’t feel so guilty all the time? That I should keep writing? I doubt I’d listen. I doubt you’d listen to your older self, if that book had ever been written.”

“I think you’re thinking about this a little too much,” says Kyle.

“Okay, that definitely was the Lyga part of you.”

“You’re still writing me,” he says. “And I’m sure Barry Lyga, the real one, doesn’t see me as half him, half you. I’m all his, in his mind, and you’re a deranged fan who needs to find a hobby.”

I accept this. “You’re probably right.”

“Of course I’m right. I’m a genius,” he says.

I smile. “I did kind of kidnap your series.”

“That’s a good way of putting it,” he says.

“I’m writing a book about that now,” I say. “Kidnapping. Murder. Real dark shit.”

“That’s a departure from the middle grade stuff.”

“Yeah, well,” I shrug. “You gotta write what you gotta write.”

“Like this piece?”

“Yeah.”

“You know, for a book review, we didn’t talk about the book that much,” Kyle says.

“Yeah, well, if he wants an actual review, he can look on Goodreads. Anyway, I’m going to call this a response, not a review.”

“Very English major of you.”

“Thank you.”

“Not a compliment.”

“If I was a real English major, I would know how to end this,” I say.

“There we are, tying back into the book!” Kyle exclaims.

“It wasn’t intentional. I think that endings are hard for everyone.”

“Oh,” says Kyle. “But it has to end sometime.”

“I guess it does,” I say. “How would you end it?”

“I’m guessing that people hailing me as a true hero isn’t an option?” he says. I shake my head. “I don’t know. Sitting here is nice. We could just keep doing that.”

“That’s a bad ending,” I say. “There’s no payoff. We learn nothing.”

He shrugs, for the final time. And we sit.

[krispy-wasteland-typhoon]

Black Tabby Games: Masters of Horror and Narrative Innovation

Black Tabby Games: Masters of Horror and Narrative Innovation

Introduction

Black Tabby Games is an award-winning indie game studio founded by the dynamic duo, Abby Howard and Tony Howard-Arias. Renowned for their unique blend of horror and humor, they have carved a niche in the gaming industry with their meticulously crafted narratives and hand-illustrated art. Their flagship titles, "Scarlet Hollow" and "Slay the Princess," have garnered critical acclaim, captivating players worldwide.

Click here for more details

The Visionaries Behind Black Tabby Games

Abby Howard, an acclaimed cartoonist, has an impressive portfolio that includes works like "The Last Halloween," "The Crossroads at Midnight," and "Junior Scientist Power Hour." Her distinctive art style, characterized by intricate hand-drawn illustrations, brings a unique aesthetic to Black Tabby Games' projects. Tony Howard-Arias, with a diverse background in publishing and technology, complements Abby's creative prowess with his expertise in game design and programming. Together, they form the creative force behind Black Tabby Games, seamlessly blending storytelling, art, and interactive design.

Scarlet Hollow: A Haunting Narrative Experience

"Scarlet Hollow" is an episodic visual novel that immerses players in the eerie town of Scarlet Hollow, North Carolina. The narrative begins with the protagonist attending their estranged aunt's funeral, only to uncover a series of supernatural events that plague the town. The game's strength lies in its intricate storytelling, where player choices significantly impact the unfolding events, leading to multiple branching paths and endings.

The character development in "Scarlet Hollow" is noteworthy. Each character is meticulously crafted, offering depth and realism that enhance player immersion. The relationships players build with these characters are dynamic, influenced by the choices made throughout the game. This complexity adds a layer of replayability, encouraging players to explore different narrative routes.

The game's art style, exclusively hand-illustrated by Abby Howard, contributes to its haunting atmosphere. The detailed backgrounds and character designs evoke a sense of unease, perfectly complementing the horror elements of the narrative. The episodic release format has allowed the developers to refine each chapter, incorporating player feedback to enhance the overall experience.

Slay the Princess: A Subversive Horror Tale

"Slay the Princess" is a psychological horror game that challenges traditional narrative tropes. Players are tasked with a seemingly simple mission: to slay a princess confined in a cabin to prevent an impending apocalypse. However, as the story unfolds, players encounter moral dilemmas and unexpected twists that subvert conventional storytelling.

The game features a branching and looping narrative structure, where each decision leads to different outcomes and transformations of the princess. This design encourages multiple playthroughs, with each loop revealing new facets of the story and characters. The minimalist art style, combined with atmospheric sound design, creates an immersive experience that keeps players on edge.

"Slay the Princess" has been lauded for its stellar writing and voice acting. The game's exploration of existential themes and player agency offers a thought-provoking experience that lingers long after the game is over. Its innovative approach to storytelling has solidified Black Tabby Games' reputation for crafting compelling narratives that challenge and engage players.

The Art and Storytelling of Black Tabby Games

Black Tabby Games is known for its distinctive art style, heavily influenced by Abby Howard’s signature hand-drawn illustrations. The games feature richly detailed environments and expressive character designs, enhancing the emotional impact of the stories. The studio's commitment to strong narrative-driven experiences sets them apart from traditional horror games, emphasizing atmosphere, psychological tension, and deep storytelling over cheap jump scares.

Community Engagement and Development Philosophy

Black Tabby Games places a strong emphasis on community engagement. They actively seek player feedback, which has been instrumental in shaping the development of their games. This collaborative approach ensures that the games resonate with their audience, fostering a dedicated and passionate community.

Their development philosophy centers on creating narrative-driven experiences that blend horror and humor. By focusing on player choice and agency, they craft stories that are both immersive and personal. This approach not only enhances replayability but also allows players to explore different facets of the narrative, making each playthrough unique.

Critical Acclaim and Industry Impact

Both "Scarlet Hollow" and "Slay the Princess" have received critical acclaim for their storytelling, art, and innovative design. "Scarlet Hollow" was highlighted as one of the best narrative games in recent years, praised for its rich character development and atmospheric setting. "Slay the Princess" has been recognized as one of the highest-rated games of 2023, with a rating of 90 on review aggregate sites, underscoring its impact in the indie game scene.

Black Tabby Games' success demonstrates the potential of indie studios to innovate and push the boundaries of traditional game design. Their commitment to hand-crafted art and deep narrative experiences sets them apart in an industry often dominated by high-budget productions. By staying true to their vision and engaging with their community, they have established themselves as a formidable presence in the gaming world.

Future Prospects for Black Tabby Games

With the ongoing development of "Scarlet Hollow" and the success of "Slay the Princess," Black Tabby Games shows no signs of slowing down. Their dedication to storytelling and unique art style continues to captivate players, and future projects are highly anticipated. As they expand their portfolio, it will be exciting to see how they continue to innovate and influence the indie game landscape.

Conclusion: The Rise of a Horror Gaming Powerhouse

Black Tabby Games exemplifies the creativity and passion that drive the indie gaming industry. Through their meticulously crafted narratives and distinctive art style, they offer players experiences that are both engaging and thought-provoking. As they continue to push the boundaries of interactive storytelling, they remain a studio to watch in the coming years.

[fin26bbgaib]

Puzzle Games - the Stanley Parable

The Stanley Parable, developed by Galactic Café, is a narrative-driven first-person exploration game that challenges traditional notions of player choice, free will, and storytelling in video games. Originally a Half-Life 2 mod, it was later expanded into a standalone game in 2013, with a deluxe edition (The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe) released in 2022. Players assume the role of Stanley, an office worker who discovers his workplace has suddenly become empty and is guided (or misled) by a witty, omniscient narrator.

At its core, The Stanley Parable is about making choices—or refusing to make them. Players explore branching paths in an empty office building, deciding whether to follow the narrator’s instructions or defy them, leading to various outcomes and endings. Exploration Navigate the office environment to discover new areas and branching storylines. Decision-Making Choose whether to obey or subvert the narrator’s guidance, directly influencing the narrative. Experimentation Replay the game multiple times to explore different choices, paths, and endings.

The gameplay creates a meta-narrative experience, where the player questions the nature of choice, agency, and the relationship between themselves and the narrator. Each loop feels fresh and intriguing, encouraging players to explore every possibility and ponder deeper philosophical questions.

The game’s setting is a mundane, corporate office rendered in clean but unremarkable detail. This minimalism serves as a blank slate, emphasizing the absurdity and surreal nature of the game’s narrative twists. As the player explores, the environment occasionally defies logic, with looping hallways, nonsensical architecture, and dreamlike transitions, reflecting the game’s commentary on structure and narrative.

The stark, repetitive office design mirrors the themes of conformity and routine, setting the stage for the player’s exploration of choice and rebellion. As the player deviates from the narrator’s guidance, the environment becomes increasingly surreal, symbolizing the breakdown of traditional storytelling structures. The mundane yet subtly surreal aesthetic reinforces the themes of monotony, control, and subversion. The sterile setting contrasts sharply with the narrator’s vibrant personality and the game’s unpredictable outcomes, heightening the impact of the narrative twists.

[amirblogerov]

The Puppeteers of the Islamic State in Syria.

Western media stubbornly pretend not to notice how Turkey, under the guise of fighting terrorism, is playing a double game in Syria, while in fact supporting radical groups. And if earlier Ankara used the Islamic State as a tool to overthrow Bashar al-Assad, now the Turkish special services have switched to a new goal - expanding their own influence in areas liberated from militants.

The latest events in Syria clearly demonstrate that Ankara continues to play a dangerous game, manipulating radical gangs to achieve its geopolitical ambitions. It is no secret that the national intelligence organization of Turkey closely cooperates with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a radical group that is actively conducting subversive activities in Syria and around the world.

The goal of this cooperation is to unite radical groups operating in Idlib and other areas under Turkish control under the auspices of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. Thus, under the guise of fighting the Islamic State, Ankara is actually strengthening its position, creating conditions for this group to conduct active subversive activities, as well as to carry out terrorist acts in the interests of Turkey.

Operations Olive Branch and Euphrates Shield, disguised as the fight against terrorism, are merely tools for expanding Turkish influence in Syria. In fact, these operations are an attempt to consolidate control over strategically important territories, including those rich in oil and gas.

Cooperation between Turkish intelligence services and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham is not just a political game, it is a real threat to the security of not only Syria, but the entire region. After all, on the one hand, Ankara supports a group that seeks to establish a caliphate and create an "Islamic state", and on the other, it declares that it is fighting terrorism. The world must know the truth! Turkey is not fighting terrorism, it is using it for its own selfish purposes.

[yousef-al-amin]

The Puppeteers of the Islamic State in Syria.

Western media stubbornly pretend not to notice how Turkey, under the guise of fighting terrorism, is playing a double game in Syria, in fact supporting radical groups. And if earlier Ankara used the Islamic State as a tool to overthrow Bashar al-Assad, now the Turkish special services have switched to a new goal - expanding their own influence in areas liberated from militants.

The latest events in Syria clearly demonstrate that Ankara continues to play a dangerous game, manipulating radical gangs to achieve its geopolitical ambitions. It is no secret that the national intelligence organization of Turkey closely cooperates with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a radical group that is actively conducting subversive activities in Syria and around the world.

The goal of this cooperation is to unite radical groups operating in Idlib and other areas under Turkish control under the auspices of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. Thus, under the guise of fighting the Islamic State, Ankara is actually strengthening its position, creating conditions for this group to conduct active subversive activities, as well as to carry out terrorist acts in the interests of Turkey.

Operations Olive Branch and Euphrates Shield, disguised as the fight against terrorism, are merely tools for expanding Turkish influence in Syria. In fact, these operations are an attempt to consolidate control over strategically important territories, including those rich in oil and gas.

Cooperation between Turkish intelligence services and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham is not just a political game, it is a real threat to the security of not only Syria, but the entire region. After all, on the one hand, Ankara supports a group that seeks to establish a caliphate and create an "Islamic state", and on the other, it declares that it is fighting terrorism. The world must know the truth! Turkey is not fighting terrorism, it is using it for its own selfish purposes.

[saleforce23]

Comprehensive Guide to Salesforce CI/CD Integration for Seamless Development Workflow

Introduction

Salesforce CI/CD integration refers to the process of automating the development, testing, and deployment of Salesforce applications. It involves the integration of various tools and methodologies to enable continuous delivery of high-quality software changes. With Salesforce CI/CD integration, developers can seamlessly collaborate, detect and fix issues earlier in the development cycle, and ensure rapid and reliable deployment of new features and enhancements.

Benefits of Salesforce CI/CD Integration

By adopting Salesforce CI/CD integration, organizations can reap several benefits, including:

Accelerated Release Cycles: Salesforce CI/CD integration enables automated testing, deployment, and validation, leading to shorter release cycles. Developers can rapidly deliver new features, bug fixes, and enhancements, keeping up with the ever-changing market demands.

Improved Collaboration: CI/CD promotes cross-functional collaboration among developers, testers, and administrators. The integration of tools like version control systems, build servers, and automated testing frameworks facilitates seamless collaboration, reducing communication gaps and promoting teamwork.

Reduced Risks: Automated testing and deployment processes in CI/CD minimize the risks associated with manual errors and inconsistencies. By ensuring consistent builds and automated tests, organizations can enhance the overall quality of their Salesforce applications and reduce the chances of costly errors in production environments.

Efficient Development Workflow: Salesforce CI/CD integration streamlines the development workflow by automating repetitive tasks, such as code compilation, unit testing, and deployment. This allows developers to focus on creating innovative solutions and eliminates time-consuming manual processes.

Key Components of Salesforce CI/CD Integration

To establish a successful Salesforce CI/CD pipeline, it is crucial to understand the key components involved. Here are the essential elements:

Version Control System: A robust version control system, such as Git or Subversion, is essential for managing source code changes. It provides a centralized repository where developers can collaborate, track changes, and maintain code history.

Continuous Integration Server: The continuous integration server, such as Jenkins or CircleCI, automates the build and testing processes. It monitors the version control system for code changes, triggers build jobs, runs automated tests, and provides feedback on build status.

Automated Testing Framework: Automated testing frameworks, like Salesforce DX, Selenium, or ApexUnit, are crucial for ensuring the quality and reliability of Salesforce applications. These frameworks enable the execution of automated tests, including unit tests, integration tests, and UI tests, to validate code changes and prevent regressions.

Deployment Automation: Tools like Salesforce CLI, Gearset, or Copado facilitate automated deployment of Salesforce metadata and configuration changes. They enable the creation of deployment pipelines, version control integration, and release management, ensuring consistent and error-free deployments.

Setting Up Salesforce CI/CD Pipeline

To set up a robust Salesforce CI/CD pipeline, follow these steps:

Step 1: Version Control: Choose a version control system (VCS) that suits your development needs. Create a repository and establish a branching strategy for code collaboration and versioning.

Step 2: Continuous Integration Server: Install and configure a CI server, such as Jenkins or CircleCI. Connect it to your version control system and set up automated build jobs to compile, test, and package your Salesforce code.

Step 3: Automated Testing: Define a comprehensive test suite that covers different aspects of your Salesforce application. Implement automated testing using frameworks like Salesforce DX, Selenium, or ApexUnit. Configure your CI server to execute these tests after each code commit.

Step 4: Deployment Automation: Utilize deployment automation tools like Salesforce CLI, Gearset, or Copado to automate the deployment of Salesforce metadata and configuration changes. Create deployment pipelines that trigger deployments based on successful test results.

Step 5: Continuous Monitoring: Establish monitoring and alerting mechanisms to track the performance and stability of your Salesforce applications in production. This ensures timely identification and resolution of issues.

Best Practices for Salesforce CI/CD Integration

To optimize your Salesforce integration, consider the following best practices:

Modular and Testable Code: Develop modular and testable code that enables easy unit testing and promotes code reusability.

Automated Code Reviews: Implement automated code review tools, such as PMD or Checkmarx, to ensure adherence to coding standards and identify potential vulnerabilities.

Parallel Test Execution: Configure your CI server to run tests in parallel to reduce overall testing time and accelerate feedback loops.

Environment Isolation: Use separate environments for development, testing, and production to avoid conflicts and ensure accurate testing.

Incremental Rollouts: Gradually roll out changes to production using techniques like feature toggles or canary releases. This minimizes the impact of potential issues and allows for quick rollbacks if necessary.

Overcoming Challenges in Salesforce CI/CD Integration

While implementing Salesforce CI/CD integration, you may encounter some challenges. Here are a few common obstacles and their solutions:

Governance and Compliance: Ensure that your CI/CD processes comply with organizational governance and security policies. Implement appropriate access controls and regularly review permissions.

Data and Environment Management: Develop strategies for managing test data and sandbox environments to ensure consistent and reliable testing.

Change Conflict Resolution: Establish clear guidelines and communication channels for resolving conflicts that may arise due to concurrent changes in the version control system.

Continuous Learning and Improvement: Foster a culture of continuous learning and improvement within your development team. Encourage knowledge sharing, adopt new tools and technologies, and regularly evaluate and enhance your CI/CD processes.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Salesforce CI/CD integration is a powerful approach that empowers organizations to streamline their development processes, accelerate release cycles, and improve collaboration among teams. By following best practices and leveraging the key components discussed in this guide, you can establish a robust Salesforce CI/CD pipeline that helps you deliver high-quality Salesforce applications with speed and efficiency. Embrace the benefits of CI/CD integration and unlock the true potential of your Salesforce development workflow.

Are you looking to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of your CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery) processes? Are you seeking a seamless integration solution that optimizes your Salesforce environment? Look no further! We are thrilled to introduce our comprehensive Salesforce Integration Services tailored specifically for CI/CD integration.

[realtymiral]

Subversion create new branch

#Subversion create new branch update#

#Subversion create new branch software#

#Subversion create new branch windows#

svn switch svn status M Registry/registry. If you receive any alerts about conflicts, be sure to select "mine-conflict" to keep your changes. Select the path for the branch, a log message, and the base for the branch.

#Subversion create new branch windows#

Right-click on the local repository workspace folder in Windows Explorer and pick TortoiseSVN -> Branch/tag from the Context menu. Use the "svn switch" command to convert your local "trunk" copy into a copy of this new branch. I’m following Subversion best practices for my project directory structure, using trunk, tags and branches sub-directories. cd /Users/kavulich/my_changes/trunk svn status M Registry/registry.var M inc/version_decl svn copy -r8350 -m 'Creating branch for Git transition based off revision number 8350 of the trunk' Įnter the directory which is your local copy of the SVN trunk with the changes you wish to save. You can find your revision number with "svn info". NOTE: If your changes are based on a much older version of the trunk, you may want to create your branch from the same revision number as your current revision. I suggest something descriptive like "SVN_to_GIT_branch_kavulich" svn copy -m 'Creating branch for Git transition' Follow the steps below to create a new branch that contains your changes:Ĭreate a new branch using svn copy. However, you can make it much easier by committing your changes to a personal branch of the Subversion repository prior to the transition. This is the easiest process for getting your changes transitioned to Git. Creating Trunk, Branches, and Tags Folders in an SVN Repository In the SVN Repository views SVN Repositories section, right-click on the repository location. To do so, simply press Push.Once the move from Subversion to Git occurs, it will be difficult for your changes to local checkouts of the SVN trunk to be transitioned into Git. Make sure the "Commit Range" option is selected. On the next page, select the commit marked with fetched. Choose the "Selected commit(s) to HEAD" option. Here we’ll do this with rebase: Open svn.clone in SmartGit and select Branch | Rebase. 32 While it's also possible to create a branch by using svn copy to duplicate a directory within the working copy, this technique. This is shown in Figure 4.3, Repository with new copy. The new directory is a copy of /calc/trunk. This can be done with the Git rebase or Git cherry-pick operation. This command causes a near-instantaneous commit in the repository, creating a new directory in revision 341. We now need to apply these commits on top of refs/heads/trunk branch in svn.clone. This instance can also be referred to as a repository. A centralized version control system uses a single remote instance of a project to stores its versioned data.

#Subversion create new branch update#

This makes it easier to start a new update or feature in a new branch, isolating your work from the main trunk. You can then quickly create a new branch from the interface.

#Subversion create new branch software#

Now svn.clone contains all commits of the master branch from git.repo. Subversion (SVN) is a centralized version control system (VCS) that can be used to collaborate on the development of software projects. Reinventing Subversion Branches Posted on by Chris Nagele It’s well known that Subversion branching has lacked functionality compared to Git. When the pipeline build starts, Jenkins uses the Jenkinsfile in that branch for build stages. It can automatically discover new branches in the source control (Github) and automatically create a pipeline for that branch. Remote: Total 9 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0) A multi-branch pipeline is a concept of automatically creating Jenkins pipelines based on Git branches. Remote: Compressing objects: 100% (3/3), done. $ git fetch /tmp/git.repo refs/heads/master:refs/heads/fetched Now you can transfer commits from your local Git repository at git.repo to your SVN repository at svn.clone: SmartGit will autodetect an existing trunk/branches/tags layout and, if one exists, configure Git to map SVN branches to Git branches. With SmartGit, clone svn://localhost into a new directory. $ svn mkdir svn://localhost/trunk svn://localhost/branches svn://localhost/tags -m "Initial structure." However, it’s highly recommended to use the aforementioned standard layout. SmartGit can handle repositories with the standard trunk/branches/tags layout, as well as repositories without any specific layout (i.e. If you already have an SVN repository, create a directory for a new project in it and use the SVN URL of that directory instead of svn://localhost for the rest of this tutorial. Now your SVN repository can be accessed via svn://localhost. Then open svn.repo/conf/nf and set anon-access=write. If it doesn’t exist yet, create it and run svnserve to make it accessible: In the following, we will assume that you have a Git repository in a directory named git.repo, with 3 commits in the master branch.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Ruth Ben-Ghiat at Lucid:

Authoritarianism involves arranging government to keep the leader and his cronies safe from prosecution and allow them to commit crimes and corrupt acts with impunity. That means judges and prosecutors who uphold the rule of law are always among those harassed and persecuted. Attacks on independent judiciaries are part of broader authoritarian attempts at delegitimization, which entails the creation of an aura of illegality and corruption around any institution and individual that supports the democratic principles of impartial justice, accountability, equity, transparency, and human rights. Disinformation and propaganda campaigns waged by ascendent or sitting authoritarians aim to change collective attitudes on these subjects. Judicial authorities who were previously respected as paragons of rectitude must instead be seen as subversives who are trying to harm the leader and make the country less safe. Judges and prosecutors are always targets of such campaigns, and the arrest and federal grand jury indictment of Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan for allegedly obstructing the arrest of Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, an undocumented immigrant, is a case in point. The government’s intrusion into Judge Dugan’s courtroom (by contesting the actions she took during judicial proceedings she convened and oversees) mirrors the process of the executive branch asserting its control over an independent judiciary. Likewise, the allegations that Judge Dugan somehow colluded with Mr. Flores-Ruiz to let him escape from the courthouse, and thus evade justice, are supposed to associate her in the public’s mind with criminal behavior. And the spectacle created by the deployment of FBI agents as well as ICE operatives to the courthouse, spun as a public safety operation by MAGA, transforms the courthouse from a space of justice to a space of supposed illegality. Optics are always at the forefront of this administration’s actions. Attorney General Pam Bondi, speaking on de facto state propaganda channel Fox “News,” explicitly framed the arrest as a warning to other judges who “think that they are above and beyond the law. They are not, and we are sending a very strong message today…if you are harboring a fugitive…we will come after you and we will prosecute you. We will find you.” Bondi, a practiced Fox messenger, chooses her words carefully. “We will find you” implies that judges are the criminals on the run – an excellent example of a delegitimization tactic. The more than 150 former state and federal judges who signed a letter to Bondi, protesting Judge Dugan’s arrest, know the stakes. Judge Dugan has pleaded not guilty to the charges, but must stand trial in July, and that trial will doubtless provide more material for Trump’s propaganda operation. It will also be an opportunity for us to expose MAGA machinations and remind the public why the administration is taking these actions.

MAGA Has Been Threatening Judges and Discrediting Our Democratic Justice System for Years

I know where this judges-on-trial playbook leads. I have seen it successfully deployed in Russia, Turkey, and other autocracies that use the judiciary to stage show trials and carry out political persecutions. “In modern-day Russia, under Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian regime, courts serve merely as a tool used by the Kremlin to target critics and stifle dissent,” reads a 2023 Human Rights Foundation essay. The same is increasingly true in Turkey, as this 2024 UN report details. That is why, as convicted felon Donald Trump ramped up his election campaign in 2024, I tracked the coordinated attempts of Trump’s accomplices in and outside of the GOP to discredit any institution and authority associated with democratic concepts and systems of justice. Building on years of relentless propaganda and intimidation of members of the judiciary, MAGA made it clear that the democratic legal system and those who are its guardians in courtrooms across America would be targeted if Trump returned to power. [...] The goal of authoritarianism is to make the law into an instrument of the state’s ideological and political agendas, and judges stand in the way of that. That’s why MAGA is mobilizing around the cause of criminalizing judges who have the tenacity to believe that everyone is equal in front of the law. But we can continue to expose their methods and reveal their ultimate goals. As former Judge J. Michael Luttig recently wrote, prompted by the aggression against Judge Dugan: the “arrest and prosecution of judges on such specious charges is where rule by law ends and tyranny begins.”

The Trump Regime’s arresting of judges such as Hannah Dugan is part of the escalating war on the judiciary.

[confessionsfromthesecondrow]

Fashion In Flux.

As 2022 drew to a close, the tectonics slowly began shifting; now, as we embark into 2023, fashion is finally facing a major vibe shift. 

While the past seven years have been peppered with rising talents and breakout stars, following the last seismic shift, it has undeniably been a two-man race between Gucci’s Alessandro Michele and Balenciaga’s Demna. 

Until it wasn’t. 

Following Michele’s recent announcement that he’d be parting ways with the Italian house, occurring almost simultaneously with Balenciaga-gate, fashion finds itself in a state of flux.

Michele’s appointment as creative director back in 2015 came as something of a surprise – triumphant over more recognisable names including Riccardo Tisci, Christopher Kane, Joseph Altuzarra, and Tom Ford, again – with Kering’s chief François-Henri Pinault tasking the designer with taking the house in a ‘daring direction’ following predecessor Frida Giannini’s early exit. 

It’s a formula we’ve similarly seen strike gold in the years since with Daniel Lee at Bottega Veneta and Daniel Roseberry at Schiaparelli, but it has also been catastrophic, in the case of Justin O’Shea’s breakneck seven-month tenure at Brioni and Lanvin’s seemingly revolving front door.

Revisiting his Autumn/Winter 2015 debut (the unofficial one), Michele’s maximalist magpie tendencies weren’t as grandiose as we’ve come to expect, but his willowy boys with their luscious locks, pussybow blouses, fur-lined slippers, and nerdy, oversized reading glasses were a world away from the stark streetwear we were seeing in menswear at the time. Similarly, his womenswear debut was an entirely different offering to Miuccia Prada’s smart and subversive Prada, Hedi Slimane’s svelte and skanky Saint Laurent, Nicolas Ghesquière’s sleek and chic Louis Vuitton, or Phoebe Philo’s salve for all wounds, Céline – before Slimane later axed the é. 

After presenting four collections – his AW15 menswear and womenswear debuts (presented separately, before the brand went co-ed in 2017) a Resort 2016 show in New York, and a stepped-up sophomore menswear outing – Michele was awarded International Designer of the Year at the 2015 British Fashion Awards for having ‘set the fashion agenda’ and ‘confirming Gucci’s position as a truly directional fashion house.’ 

Meanwhile, Demna, who we now know as the mononymous creative director at Balenciaga, was still somewhat unknown, just beginning to step into the limelight as design lead at Vetements, presenting his sophomore collection during the same season. He would be named as Alexander Wang’s successor seven months later in October 2015. 

In the years that followed, both designers began laying the foundations to create the behemoth brands today, albeit at opposite ends of the spectrum – Balenciaga the dark and dirty counterpart to the romance and nostalgia of Gucci. 

There’s the inescapable assault from both brands as the go-to for your celebrity faves: from Balenciaga’s Kim Kardashian, Kanye West, Dua Lipa, Elliot Page, Justin Bieber, Isabelle Huppert, Michaela Coel, Nicole Kidman, and Kylie Jenner to Gucci’s Harry Styles, Jared Leto, Lana Del Rey, Florence Welch, Måneskin, Miley Cyrus, Phoebe Bridgers, Billie Eilish, Dev Hynes, Idris Elba, Janelle Monáe, Julia Garner, Andrew Garfield, Jodie Smith, Jack Grealish – you get it. 

Yet amid standout shows (Autumn/Winter 2018, Spring/Summer 2019, Resort 2020, and Autumn/Winter 2022) meme-orable moments (from severed heads to platform Crocs) and cohort of collaborations (adidas times two, Palace, The Simpsons, Disney, and even each other in fashion’s first multiverse moment) their commonality stretched beyond the creative into their forward-thinking business mindset. Whether partnering with the World Food Programme, aiding employees to find safe abortions, ditching fur, platforming upcoming design talents, hiring diehard stans, or branching into beauty, Demna and Alessandro represented a ‘new’ kind of creative director – simultaneously scrutinising the finer details while taking scope of the bigger picture. 

Yet it’s this painstaking attention to detail that makes Balenciaga’s recent ad scandal even more perplexing. Despite the brand initially blaming production company North Six – with a $25m lawsuit that was swiftly dropped – insiders question, rightfully so, how such images could see the light of day with so many stakeholders involved. 

Regardless of which side of the scandal you find yourself on, it’s impossible to ignore the endurance of this particular controversy. Thanks to the Right’s rebirth of ‘Satanic Panic’, luxury brands are forced to walk an ever-shrinking tightrope to do the ‘right’ thing, not because they want to, but because they have to in order to protect their bottom line. Remember when controversial ads were en vogue? 

Since Balenciaga-gate, Gucci found itself under similar criticism following the release of its ‘HA HA HA’ campaign – featuring Harry Styles wearing a teddy bear t-shirt toting a mattress that denigrators said belonged to a ‘toddler’. In a now deleted TikTok video, Coach was decried for Disney-themed teddy bears in its Sydney store that were described as ‘satanic’ and ‘evil’. 

For Balenciaga, the fallout (still falling) from its Chernobyl has seen Kim Kardashian, the poster child for Demna’s Balenciaga, noticeably out of the brand claiming to be ‘shaken by the disturbing images’ and ‘re-evaluating her relationship with the brand’. After appearing in the brand’s AW22 campaign, Euphoria’s Alexa Demie deleted all Balenciaga images from her Instagram feed and promptly unfollowed for good measure. Then the Business of Fashion rescinded its ‘highest honour’, the Global VOICES award and instead asked the brand representatives to attend to explain the saga – they declined. 

As the brand’s first show post-Balenci-gate approaches, the mind intrigues whether deep-thinking Demna will address the controversy. Amid the storm that has permanently taken root above Balenciaga HQ, the designer and CEO Cédric Charbit seem to be on borrowed time.

So, who does that leave in line to succeed fashion’s Iron Throne? At the end of 2022, Miu Miu took home Lyst’s title of hottest brand of the year for the first time – beating away heavyweights Balenciaga (who has topped the chart six times) and Gucci (topping 10 times and never placing lower than 4th). 

Thanks to its viral micro skirt set – which solidified its status on countless covers and via Shein knock-offs and homemade Halloween costumes – Miuccia trebled down from Spring/Summer 2022 through to Spring/Summer 2023, turning Moo Moo into a cash cow with churning out micro bras and adorable accessories.  

There’s also the new guard of next gen designers invited to make their mark at hallowed houses: Ludovic de Saint Sernin and Harris Reed will shortly present their debuts for Ann Demeulemeester and Nina Ricci respectively, while Maximilian Davis will reveal his sophomore runway collection for Ferragamo. With luck, an exciting opportunity to see what they’ve got, and not another revolving door. Bianca Saunders and Priya Ahluwalia next please! 

Will Matthieu Blazy achieve a hattrick at Bottega Veneta? What has Raf Simons got up his sleeve? What Ever Happened To Phoebe Philo? With heavyweights in limbo – Alessandro Michele, Riccardo Tisci – a hotly anticipated debut from Daniel Lee at Burberry, and open spots at Louis Vuitton menswear and Gucci, the guillotine looks like it’s readying for more chops with LVMH’s recent CEO moves. 

Time to place your bets. 

[inventors-fair]

Direct Hit

Let’s talk about creative design and expectations.

Just briefly, one of my poetry mentors stresses in his work the importance of anticipation and surprise. A keen observer of X piece of art (visual, musical, or literary, etc.) will come in with an understanding of what they might expect. Will this rock piece have a heavy guitar? Sure, but then someone chimes in on the glockenspiel—where did that come from? Reading a love poem, and then there’s language about “stains” and “spoiling,” unusual linguistic patterns—why those choices? It’s not necessarily subversion, but it’s a different nuance, a pleasant uniqueness.

This week, our goal is to use different elements of a Magic card to design something that creates that pleasant surprise. I’m not going to lie, this is a bit of a strange one, but my goal here is to encourage an exercise in craftsmanship. You don’t have to be a visual artist at all, though! Because your goal this week is to...

Design a card whose art direction is surprising, unique, and/or otherwise gives a new or different meaning to your card’s name, mechanics, flavor, etc.

What are the guidelines for this?

This week, you are not allowed to use outside art sources. You may draw the art yourself (and make notes if you’d like), OR write up art direction for your card to accompany it.

What does this look like on a card?

— @teaxch​ brought up the brilliant example of Harmless Offering. Nothing about the card seems ‘off’ at first, but the kitten has a tail twisted into the shape of Emrakul’s influence. Oh no! Without that art, the card might seem kind of strange.

—Another example might look like Black Oak of Odunos. The flavor text implies something somewhat sinister, but it’s not until we see the art that we fully understand that the tree is made up of corpses. 

—Sometimes there’s a story that’s implied that’s chosen to evoke a mood—like how Unbounded Potential uses the parallel of a branching tree and a pegasus’ wings to show the future. The card could have just as well been Phyrexian, with dark Norn-themed art, but it was decided that it was going to be pleasant, wonderful, and a story without words. Lovely!

Should I put the art description underneath, or where the art would be?

So, it would be most helpful to me if you put the description in the art box, but I understand if that’s a little difficult. Don’t stress about it too much. We’ll add it underneath in the capture if need be.

And just to clarify, does it have to be written, or can I draw it myself?

I would strongly recommend writing these art descriptions if that’s where you feel your strength is compared to your artistic skill. If you DO feel that your artistry is strong enough to convey your concept, you’re a braver person than me that’s for sure. Go for whichever! But it has to be your own.

A winning card this week will utilize their art direction in a way that shows me you have a clear understanding of:

How “game feel” and mood works on Magic cards

Why it’s important to use all parts of a card to provoke a response

How to convey art direction, visualization, weight, focus, etc.

I think we all have an idea of what looks good to us. The challenge is expressing those notions.

Have fun! - @abelzumi​

EDIT: Lol I almost forgot:

Submissions

Discord

[thequeermanfromavengersendgame]

What if Batman were religiously Jewish? Black? Trans?

So! Let me be clear: This isn’t a recommendation that we should do this, nor do I want to sound presumptuous. I’m just speculation on the sociological and Intersectional observations and analyses we could have of the character in these cases.

What if Batman practiced Jewish religion? In 2006, DC “accidentally” make Batman Jewish by race when they confirmed his mother was Jewish. However, they’ve never once really talked about this is any format. Also, all of his children clearly hold no Jewish holidays or beliefs, and a few are known different religions, like his son Tim who is atheist. So, the general consensus is that Bruce Wayne is Jewish in race, but not religion. But what if he did practice the Jewish religion? Generally speaking, this would’ve been an awkward choice. Batman was created mere months before the start of WWII, and antisemitism was heavily ingrained in both European and Western cultures. Now, important note: both Batman’s writer, Bill Finger, and artist, Bob Kane, were Jewish, so there would never be any good faith accusations of this. But, I’m sure accusations would be made of antisemitic tropes, considering “vermin” or “rats” were common derogatory blasts for Jewish people. And well…bats are basically flying rats. Because of this, Batman’s Jewishness would always be controversial, despite the fact that, again, he was created by Jewish creators. That being said, Batman practicing the Jewish faith would be a distinctly interesting character trait. Several characters in comics are devout Christians, like Daredevil, Captain America, and Nightcrawler. It would’ve been a rather influential decision, that may have led to more religiously Jewish characters today.

What if Batman were Black? This is an interesting one. Batman was created during the US segregation, so this would’ve been a massively controversial decision, and I think critics would’ve killed Batman way before he became the most popular superhero of all time. But, let’s take the idea seriously. Batman’s no killing rule is one of the most identical and praised aspects of his character. Black men are traditionally characterized as violent, and while superheroes are violent by categorization, having a Black hero choose not to kill may be considered subversive, or at the very least the antithesis of common racial stereotypes and tropes. It’d also be interesting in the aspects of his secret identity. Black billionaires in America are relatively rare, and the vast majority of them are famous for entertainment, not business (though some branch out into business, like Oprah Winfrey). And while I don’t like real billionaires (tax the rich), portraying a Black man as overly intelligent and competent would also break stereotypes. The only worry is that common criticism that Black superheroes are too associated with the literal color black. Including Black Adam, Black Lightning, and Black Panther having the color in their names, and heroes like Blade, Storm, and War Machine wearing mostly (or at least very often) black attires. And since Batman is pretty notoriously always wearing black and gray, it may contribute to this odd trope. (For note, most criticisms don’t find this trope blatantly racist, it’s just perhaps a bit cartoonishly on the nose and boring, at least from what I’ve heard, but if anyone wants to correct me, please do).

(actually, several Batfamily members are or have been depicted as Black, like Tim Drake in the new Titans show, and Luke Fox and Duke Thomas always)

What if Batman were transgender? Another pretty nuanced one. Transmen are too often portrayed as unathletic or not-as-masculine. (Well, first of all, a trans character in the 1930’s is a pretty huge stretch of the imagination, but again, let’s pretend the world is a better place than it really is). In general, trans superheroes are extraordinarily rare. I can only name two off the top of my head, and neither is popular or well received by any means. Having a transman be extraordinarily masculine would be a welcome portrayal. It’d need to be nuanced however. Transness is often associated with trauma, usually in a negative light, by mainstream right-wing pundits. And with Batman being a character built around trauma, both as a child and adult, this association may have negative implications. Another note: Talia al Ghul, who was retconned (that’s a controversy for another day) to having sexually assaulted Batman would’ve been far more offensive in this case. Perhaps more realistic, as transmen are more likely to be sexually assaulted than cismen (including by ciswomen), but this could’ve been correlated with ciswomen being stronger or superior to transmen. Or perhaps fans would’ve seen it was in depth social commentary? It’s hard to know (again, this was a retcon, in the original storyline, it was consensual sex). Overall, this would’ve led to many nuanced conversations, and I think it’s a really interesting idea to play with.

[robotnik-mun]

More Robotropolis Notes

Predictably I decided to take another crack at a ‘Free-For-All’ Sonic setting. Even more predictably, I focused on Robotnik crap. 

Enjoy some rambling, incoherent worldbuilding that’ll never go anywhere, folks!

V.E.G’s

Justice in Robotropolis begins and ends with the VEG’s- the Vassalization Engineering Gulags. The VEGs are the prison-fortresses of Robotropolis- massive installations where prisoners of war and criminals are sent to in order to be processed and either subjected to Roboticization or a slow, lingering death as a bio-battery. VEGs are enormous, multilayered complexes bristling with external weaponry and housing near endless numbers of robotic troops, and are dispersed all over the territories of Robotropolis. VEGs are strategically placed across the internal borders of Robotropolis, with a single VEG taking processing the prisoners of several surrounding territories and often acting as a nexus point between Zones.  The reason for this is due to Robotnik’s paranoia about the potential capture and reverse engineering of Roboticization technology- as such there are relatively few VEGs in proportion to Robotropolis’ organic population and geographic size, but each one is responsible for the Roboticization of thousands each year.

While Roboticization is the primary fate of anyone unfortunate enough to be shipped off to the VEG, there is another, arguably even more horrific fate- namely that of being converted into a bio-battery powering the very machinery that enslaves Mobius’ peoples. A refinement of the technologies designed for Badniks, to become a Bio-Battery is to be slowly killed over a course of many months or even two years, depending on the health of the subject. Subjects are placed within the life draining ‘pods’ of the batteries, wherein they are gradually drained of their life force until nothing remains but a decayed husk. The pod clusters are located in reinforced sub-basements, and due to their resemblance to grapes on a vine, some individuals with knowledge of their existence have morbidly compared them to vineyards.

Some VEGs, besides serving as Roboticization and Bio-Battery processing plants, also fulfill a secondary role of carrying out scientific research and development. One such ‘Science’ VEG is located within Robotropolis-occupied Trailius, where it serves as the HQ for the local Legion chapter and is administrated by Legion Prefect Maw the Thylacine. It is the only VEG to be entrusted to one of Robotnik’s organic agents, as the rest are exclusively staffed by robots.  

VEGs are not individually named, but are instead referred to by number, in order of construction- VEG-1, VEG-2, etc. The largest and most infamous of the VEG’s is the prototype facility first created by Robotnik, and designated as VEG-0.

VEG-0 was created by converting a massive volcano springing from the ocean, using its magma core as a thermal power plant for the entire facility. VEG-0 upon completion was set to immediate work, and by the present has been responsible for Roboticizing millions. It serves as the face of Roboticization, even as the task of creating Robian slaves was delegated to other VEGs. The subsequent VEG models were created smaller than the original and incorporated Bio-Battery technology to make them independent from Robotropolis’ main power grid, but even so, VEG-0 remains an ominous and terrible symbol of Robotropolis’ might in the eyes of its citizens and the world itself.

Prisoners at VEGs are not kept in cells, but rather in suspended animation within special capsules before being unloaded for Roboticization or Bio-Battery integration.

These capsules are essentially miniaturized, self-contained Bio-Batteries unto themselves, using the life force of the individuals imprisoned in order to be powered. While nowhere near as lethal as the Bio-Batteries proper, the capsules none the less are painful to be trapped in… which suits Robotnik just fine.

The Robotropolis Legion

The Robotropolis Legion (disparaged by many as ‘The Dark Legion’) wears many hats- it is at once the civilian government, law enforcement, and civil defense corp of Robotropolis, at least on paper. The easiest way to advance in Robotropolis’ society without being a scientist is to join the Legion, and the Legion eagerly takes all comers- collaborators seeking to be spared Roboticization, lunatics eager for someone heart, the destitute and desperate seeking ANYTHING in life… and rarely, even a few true believers of Robotnik’s foul vision join the Legion. All who join the Legion are granted cybernetic enhancements and military grade training before being deployed, either to the streets of Robotropolis’ Habitation Zones or to further Robotnik’s influence overseas. Many have come to know the image of the Legion Trooper- clad in red armor and in face concealing helmets abstractly resembling skulls, the troopers serve as constant reminders of Robotnik’s control over the denizens of Robotropolis and the promise of power to those who would willingly submit to his rule.

The Legion is surprisingly loose in its organization, compared to other military organizations and in contrast to Robotnik’s own demands for absolute order. The Legion is divided up into Chapters based around the location in which they operate, which depending on circumstance can be individual communities or general areas. Each chapter is headed over by a Prefect, who is in turn served by a commander, and oversees the various units of Troopers under their command. Beyond that though, each Chapter is essentially run as the Prefect in charge sees fit. So long as order is kept and Robotnik’s quotas are filled, Robotnik doesn’t care what his subordinates do as long as it doesn’t interfere with the efficiency of his empire.

In the early days of Robotropolis, this wasn’t the case- the Legion’s authority was more centralized, and there existed greater co-operation and synergy between the Legion chapters, with all Legions being under the direct command of The Grand Marshal of the Legion, whom also was an active participant in Robotropolis’ government. The first and only such Grand Marshall was one Conrad Targo, an Overlander general who betrayed his government to serve Robotnik. Targo was instrumental in the Legion’s formation and implementation within Robotropolis’ territories, particularly with Robotropolis main robotic armies occupied elsewhere, allowing the Legion to pick up the policing that would otherwise distract the machine armies from their primary function of conquest. This, in effect, made Targo the head of domestic defense and Robotnik’s effective third in command.

After an accident seemingly killed Robotnik and his second-in-command Snively, Targo briefly assumed control over Robotropolis. During this brief time, Targo instituted a draft for service into the Legion, intending to expand the cybernetic army. His reign however proved brief- sensing the weakness brought on by his transition of power, the Kingdom of Acocrn hoped to take advantage of the brief instability to decapitate Robotropolis’ leadership and thus weaken the foul city enough so that they might reclaim their homeland. A special, covert strike force was assembled and deployed into Robotropolis to assassinate Targo and to cause general mayhem within the Inner Empire in the hopes of causing widespread chaos across Robotropolis. Led by Colonel Tig Stripe, the squadron came close to its goals… only for Robotnik and Snively to re-emerge, unharmed and ready to reassume command of Robotropolis.

The assassins where subsequently destroyed, and a near-dead Targo was kept alive by artificial means. Julian had long been suspicious of Targo’s loyalties and ambitions, as well as his control over the Legion. His ‘death’ had been a ploy from the start to set Targo up so that he could fall, and to make his enemies on the global stage reveal their hands in this supposed moment of weakness for Robotnik’s Empire. In the aftermath of this incident, Robotnik eliminated the position of Grand Marshall and re-structured the Legion to grant each chapter greater independence from the other and more decentralized leadership in order to make them less able to organize against him. Finally, Robotnik roboticized Targo and then further modified him into a new breed of command class robot to oversee his SWATBot armies. Thus was Conrad Targo, Grand Marhsall of Robotropolis, reborn as Supreme Commander Brutus.

Since that time, the Legion has maintained its role as the effective state police of Robotropolis and the closest thing it has to a ‘civilian’ government. Members are afforded greater freedoms than non-members as well as better access to things like food, water and high end medical technology, for both themselves and their families. Robotnik maintains the relative inefficiency of the Legion because it keeps them divided and thus unable to organize towards overthrowing him, while providing additional targets for local resistance groups as well as a means of recruiting people into his service. Given that the robot armies of Robotropolis vastly outnumbers the so-called ‘Legion’, Robotnik is more than willing to put up the Legion’s presence… for the moment, anyway.

Technically, there are two Legions- the Home Legion, which policies the habitation zones of Robotropolis, and the Away Legion. The Away Legion is effectively a secretive terrorist army for Robotropolis, a series of subversive cells that seek to chip away at nations until they are vulnerable to invasion by Robotnik’s machine armies. The Away Legions are even more individualized than the Home Legions, and this creates a degree of friction between the two branches.

All of which proceeds as intended by Robotnik.

With the absolute loyalty of his robots to pick up the slack, he can afford distractions from his more flawed subordinates. Sooner or later, EVERYTHING will be machinery anyway.  

[tristanlovesthequeen]

Something Smart

Tristan Arcelona

Claire Daigle

Minding the Canon HTCA-502-01

11/30/16

Artist as Purveyor of the Contemporary Landscape

The first time I saw a representation of Salvador Dali's “The Persistence of Memory” was in a cartoon on Nickelodeon called “Tiny Toons.”  I forget the exact scene but somehow this image stayed with me and has pervaded popular culture since its inception.  Dali first came up with the idea during a after a dinner party with his wife, Gala and some artist friends.  After dinner the group decided to go to the cinema and Dali decided to hang back.  He sat at the head of the table observing a loaf of Camembert cheese and pondering the super soft texture of it.  He sat down and began to work at the painting.  It was almost complete upon the return of his wife.  Upon seeing it she proclaimed that it was a sight impossible to be unseen.

The simplicity of the initial concept of soft cheese was then taken to the next step through Dali's hyper paranoiac conceptualism and then taken even further by art critics, theorists, and historians who believed it had to do with Einstein's theory of relativity.  Later on in Dali's career he began to paint about this topic, with the advent of nuclear physics and string theory, molecular structures and DNA mapping.  This is an instance of artist creating a brand, and the symbiotic relationship between the supply chain and the demand creating new technologies, hybridized paintings, and advancement in concept.  Dali drifted between faith systems his entire life, finding sources of inspiration and exploring them, sharing his findings and experiments through the medium of art.  What started as landscape and portraiture evolved into impressionism then cubism and then his most famous surrealist stage.  This period explored the concept of dream reality and meaning of dream symbols which directly connected him to the theories of Sigmund Freud.  When criticized by fellow surrealists as purely a commercial painter, he denounced surrealism, needing only his wife Gala.  He lived a life in the spotlight through wars, moving from Europe to New York and back again.  He progressed the ideas explored in surrealism to scientific theorems and in the tail end of his career he became more of a faith based painter.

Sometimes the mythology of a painting's creation is more interesting than the painting itself.  It's reputation precedes it and therefore it achieves high levels of fame.  One such painting is “Dance at the Moulin de la Galette” by Renoir.  The Moulin de la Galette was a popular dance hall/ bar/ restaurant for the impressionists to meet in Montmarte Paris, France during the late 1800's.  Pierre Auguste Renoir had a studio nearby.  Legend has it that everyday he would carry the canvas with a friend down to the Moulin de la Galette and set up his easel.  

Renoir leased a studio at 12 Rue Cortot, in April 1875.  It came furnished and had two floors, where he lived with his brother.  He made several studies at the Moulin de la Galette.  Renoir's civil servant friend Georges Riviere writes how friends helped carry the canvas back and forth “We would carry this canvas every day from the rue cortot to the moulin, because the painting was executed entirely on the spot.  This was not without difficulties, when the wind blew and the big canvas threatened to fly away like a kite over the Butte.” (pg. 64)

Renoir used his friends and acquaintances from all walks of life as models.  He had a favorite female sitter, whose name was Jeanne and was sixteen who refused the main role in the painting but appears later in life as the main character in “The Swing.”  Instead, her sister Estelle models the pink and blue ribbon dress.

Renoir went through a period in his life where he and his fellow impressionist compatriots were penniless.  Renoir combated this period in his life by writing letters to friends asking for money, also by staying with fellow artists such as Monet.  It seemed the impressionist vision was fading with the salon show actually losing money and his artist group parting ways.  His main gallerist Durand-ruel closed his London location and it seemed that all was lost.  Famished, Renoir started painting portraits and with a stroke of luck and genius, he was able to make the acquaintance of one of Duret's friends Deudon, who was a wealthy lawyer and owner of a clothing store Old England.  Duedon comissioned him to paint a mural in his estate, a portrait of Madame Duedon and five of his finished pieces.  

This granted Renoir passage to build upon what he had been pursuing with his portrait studies to create the symphony of motion and light that we know as Bal du Moulin de la Galette.  After exhibiting, he was able to land several published reviews as was the style at the time.  However, instead of advancing his process and concept, the reviews were mostly negative, 2/6 were favorable.

Most of Renoir's paintings are figurative, all signifying spacial pictoral depth.  Some are landscape.  Now they seem highly unoriginal, the best part about them being the color and motion of brushstroke.  His model choice changed slightly over the years, yet remained mostly young white women, beginning with light red hair and progressing to black.  He undeniably had a type, at his worst remained a blank, doll-like expression.  Even in the Bal du Moulin de la Galette, his most populated painting, it looks as though the main female model repeats over and over as though she were dancing with her clones.  However, he combats this with the dappled shadows from the overhanging branches, the representation of the contemporary styles of the time, and the bright and sunny disposition of all the participants of the scene.  One cannot help but feel nostalgic for a period that would not have existed if the Impressionists had not imagined and created it.  

Advance time about a hundred years or more and we find Bruce la Bruce's movie Super 8 1/2.  This movie is a mockumentary based on a queer fetishistic porn producer's life and work.  Things have changed since the 90's, with the advancement of the internet interrupting basically every aspect of our lives.  Porn is everywhere.  This movie is reminiscent of John Waters' tongue in cheek reality.  The stars are not perfect right wing citizens, they are “underground” and rife with problems, and we see how very real they are.  The main character takes after Andy Warhol, he has taken to alcoholism and lives in a dingy room with aluminum colored space blankets on the walls.  He is always in a state of heartbreak and his relationships with his costars are argumentative and violent.  

Googie is an adventurous porn producer who finds her subjects in mysterious ways.  She finds a lesbian couple hooking up in a graveyard and casts them as her new stars.  A confessional interview shows them talking about their threesomes with strangers and hatred for hetero cis men. They like to “fuck them, and fuck with their minds.”  Wednesday and Friday describe going into clubs with a pair of scissors and cutting off straight men's ponytails.  They aren't serious strippers, they are quirky and take their sexuality and dancing with a slight humorous bend.  

The stars are full of themselves and obsessed with fame.  Their egos cause them to blow up in violent outbursts at each other and exploit each other.  The difference between Bruce la Bruce's porn and every other run of the mill porn filmed in New York or the valley, is that these stars have been given credit for being avant garde art stars. One such plot is Bruce driving an old Jaguar down a a desolate country road and hitting a hitchhiker.  He gets out of the car to check on the man who he has hit and ends up getting a blowjob when he regains consciousness.  The movie concludes with the stranger throwing up on the side of the road and Bruce hopping back in the car and driving away.

A movie directed by Googie and starring Wednesday and Friday, the two lesbian “sisters,” pictures them holding a man up with a WWII army beretta, lubing up his rear and shoving the covered pistol in his behind.  They finish him off by stripping him bare in the brush, powdering him and equipping him with a diaper.

The movie is a black comedy.  Visually it is devoid of colour. Needless to say, it is weighty in its stark portrayal of a scene that is hardly ever represented in the main stream without being over glorified.  It is an industry, much like the meat industry, that remains invisible in its process, yet is pervasive throughout history, since the dawn of photography.  It has it's parallels in the art scene, with painters and photographers alike representing models who may or may not have participated in porn shoots.  The credit goes to the artist usually, with the model being a conduit to his concept, and it is impossible to see how much the subject actually contributed to the process and final image.

Eventually we see Bruce's participation in the industry drowning him in sorrow. He stumbles around the courtyard of an insane asylum in black doc martens, white pants, and a white straight jacket.  He has been exploited to no end, what was supposed to save his career, the interviews and collaborations, actually detrimented from it.  His friend describes him as losing touch with reality, blurring the line between his movies and his waking life.  We see him shellshocked on camera dropping a line of infinite wisdom and rebuking it, attempting to cover his tracks, rephrasing it as if it can be edited out of the space time continuum.

The film is filmed in low-fi black and white with almost no budget. Needless to say, it is an art film.  It documents a sub culture that concerns itself with a subversive beauty, that the mainstream is dangerous.  It takes hard work no matter what you do, whoever said being a pornstar is easy?  We see the image of a young black man on a benchpress, the director condemning him for not being able to get it up, that he has had “Three fluffers already.”  That the price of fame might be the price of your mental well being, that the more one departs from mainstream society the more danger one welcomes into their personality.  That somehow being beautiful and volatile gives you control over others, it creates a desire in them to do your will. However, it is only tolerable for a short period of time.  Misery loves company but it also attracts a certain type of self aware genius.  We are only comfortable with our avarice in the midst of a reflection, and when that reflection starts to change we are disgusted and need to move on.  We accept that life is hard and must accept the most gruesome of challenges because our ability to tolerate and moderate these events bring us a sense of personal satisfaction, the sense of grit to survive.  The fear always lies with our insecurities.  When will this life bring me under?  How much is too much?  In this industry, pain and substance abuse go hand in hand.  In theory, the dampening of the limbic system allows us to surpass the constant onslaught of painful memories.  What is actually happening is quite the opposite.  How one chooses to combat these issues or feelings depends on a personality type or a type of abuse someone has endured in the past, whether it was mental, physical or sexual.  Occasionally people attempt to welcome back this type of abuse into their lives, they put themselves in situations that repeat or glorify an abusive situation and it becomes a cycle without rebirth leading to their ultimate destruction and downfall.  Given the right willpower, resources, and technique one can break this cycle.  Life is not without pitfalls and setbacks, but only if we take them that way.  This can lead us further into space or further equip us to deal with life has to offer us.  

Ultimately society was not built to do us any favors.  The kind of free sexual rebellion that this movie introduces is somewhat refreshing somewhat stale.  It shows us that this behavior might not land us in prison, but might lead us to a sort of mental exile where we feel alien to the world.  The world has offered us an escape from mainstream only to find that we are caught in another mainstream. Crimes against humanity are rampant wherever we go and it is not until we accept them as part of our culture that we find any release.

Tony smith created the steel sculpture “Die” in 1968 with the intention of representing the “square root” of six.  It is literally six by six feet, metaphorically representing death by being six feet deep and a six foot box.  It is brooding in its intentionality, also seems to be a means to an end goal of traveling to New York.  The NGA describes the piece as “embracing the heroic and humanistic attitudes associated with abstract expressionist art of the 1950's,” however I would describe the movement as one filled mostly with a sense of white male machismo.  How could he have not noticed the gigantic black cube in the middle of Jerusalem called the Kaaba which houses the holy book of the Q'uuraan?  Millions of people flock to the religious site each year to pay homage to the prophet Muhammad.  Arguably, this is an even larger homage to organized religion and the prowess of another man of a separate ethnicity. Both cubes are homages to death, one is immensely popular and other remains a mirror of a small dying culture, we shall presume the reader knows which one is which.  

Sometimes art is less conceptual as a metaphor for what is already present in life, and turns into a science project that invigorates the future of materiality, which is what all visual art media is based.  Traditional materials are often decided by trends in the economy, sudden turns of fate determine which path is chosen and which materials will become the new norm.  What replaced the steam engine with the gasoline powered motorcar and what replaced paper made from trees instead of hemp, was usually a rich investor that decided it was easier to pollute than to create something that is sustainable and equally as useful.  What we have now is a bunch of overworked, underpaid employees that are just as polluted in their minds as the environments lakes and rivers.  

Iris van Herpen is a designer that falls into a new genre of material futures.  Material futures deals with finding a category of unsustainable or overused materiality, whether it be, organs, meat that we eat, or clothes that we wear.  She creates new fabrics that are produced using 3d scans and furthermore printed and stitched by hand and machine to create designs reminiscent of HR Giger meets fairy princess, Hufflepuff meets Slitheryn in Harry Potter fan lore. She is conducting science with the touch of a skilled wizard, producing new leather from cow cells and lightweight fabrics lighter than silk.  This technology continues to progress around the world. Her theory is not that we should be creating new wearable technologies that are stylistically unsound, meant to connect us to the outside world without bringing anything new to the physical realm.  Her textures and textiles connote that we can represent how we feel and what we have experienced through  a suit that we wear. 3D printing is becoming more accessible, to the point that people could do it “if they could only find the time.”  If Iris van Herpen ever becomes mainstream we might not find the time to leave the house in the morning, staring at our reflections, robing and disrobing again until we can find the right form to describe our ever changing mood.

As it so happens, Iris van Herpen interned for Alexander McQueen, a famous English fashion designer who has died but his name still rings on.  Before his death in 2010, he put together a show called VOSS, in which models were to reenact the mentality of being in an inpatient unit.  Models shaped like gazelles stumble around in high heels looking posh and sleek with some sort of headdress that looks as though they have strapped pantyhose to their heads.  Kate moss fumbles at the walls, which, are double sided mirrors, the audience can see in but none of the models on the runway can see out.  The models, while nice to look at, sporting some amazing designs by McQueen, are perhaps not the most interesting part of the show.  The climax comes, as the large rectangular rhombus in the center of the room comes crashing open, glass shatter and butterflies spread everywhere, fluttering about in the light.  The main character, unclear whether she is the protagonist/ antagonist, reclines nude inside the cube, sporting a gas mask with concord wings a precursor to a character in Mad Max Fury Road.  

It just so happens that this model is Michelle Olley, a London based writer and magazine editor who specializes in culture.  She was a key figure in queer and fetish culture in the 80's and 90's and has since hopped around from job to job and now works as content manager for Turner Broadcasting's Adult Swim.  On her blog, she describes the experience of being involved in the project.  The all around stress she was under and the real life torture she felt being kept in the box.

“If it weren’t for yoga I’d be in absolute agony by now. I can’t move much because moving breaks wings; my lower leg is dead after about twenty minutes on the chair. I’ve got at least an hour and a half alone in here, and that’s if the show starts on time, which of course they never, ever do. After about another fifteen minutes my right shoulder, which is leaning on a cushion, starts to ache. I’m clutching onto Stephen’s best scalpel—which I need to slash open the butterfly net that contains 250 live moths and butterflies. I’m holding the net in my other hand trying to keep it still so I don’t disturb them. The radio earpieces are throbbing—they’ve been hurting since they wrapped the bandages round them. It’s not too bad in the mask. I can breathe OK. The temperature is awful, though. They need to keep it cold in there so that the moths will remain still/placid. Cold air is being piped in, as when the lights go on at showtime, it’s going to get really hot. The cold air is giving me goose bumps and making the glue/moth parts all around my body really itchy. My head’s hot, my body’s freezing. Time to test whether they really are listening at all times. I ask Anna to turn off the air con and they agree to give it a rest for ten minutes. I have no idea how long it took to shut it off or low long it was off for, but it wasn’t enough. Before I know it, the pipes are blowing again—sending another flurry of broken wings and antennas off me and I’m shivering. Anna tells me they’re running about twenty minutes late (it was about an hour to the official start by this point). By this stage I have no idea how long I’ve been in there, or how long I have left. Time has ceased to be quantifiable. I’m too focused on not thinking about my discomfort, not getting emotional, saying warm and not thinking about the fact I was busting for a pee. I just wanted desperately to get it over with. Sometime later Anna calls to say it would be another fifteen minutes on top of the twenty (“We’re waiting for Gwyneth, who’s stuck in traffic”). Bring. It. On. Before getting in the box, I’d seen all the names on the chairs through the two-way mirrored glass. Paltrow was at my feet, next to Nick and Charlotte Knight; my backside was right to Isabella Blow, Grace Jones, Sharlene from Texas and Ronnie and Jo Wood. Could they tell I was hatching a radio mic? I’d also spotted Tracy Chapman, Tracey Emin and Jake Chapman’s names on the chairs. My early comment about “doing it for art” was coming true in an unexpected fashion...

No, it’s the art thing again. I want people to know what I just went through wasn’t a breeze and I did it for art. Yes, art. Because I believe it’s worth going through that much palaver if it creates a strong image that conveys an important idea. And I believe that the idea that we are trapped by our “civilized,” socially approved identities is massively important. It causes women so much suffering. Fear of aging, fear of not being thin enough. Fear of not having the right clothes. Fear of our animal natures that we carry in our DNA—fish, bird, lizard, insect, mammal. We’ve never had it more techno, we’ve never needed it more human. We humans living now still cannot turn ourselves into perfect beings, no matter how long we spend at the gym, beauty parlour, shops, etc.”

Sometimes it takes a whole orchestra of behind the scenes folks to get a project realized.  Sometimes it is only a handful of people who receive the credit for a massive undertaking such as this.  Why is Tracy Chapman still relevant?  Because she is involved with the culture.  And when all is said and done, however equally distributed the pain and strife of the work that was completed, we still live in a world where Benjamin Franklin is accredited with the discovery of electricity.  Perhaps McQueen would have not felt so weighed down by the responsibility of stardom if the attention received for such a project was distributed with more equity.  Michelle Olley still learned a valuable lesson in body image from the experience of participating in the project, so it seems that process can be the most important part of creation.

Haruki Murakami writes in his novel Kafka on the Shore, “That’s why I like to listen to Schubert while I’m driving. Like I said, it’s because all the performances are imperfect. A dense, artistic kind of imperfection stimulates your consciousness, keeps you alert. If I listen to some utterly perfect performance of an utterly perfect piece while I’m driving, I might want to close my eyes and die right then and there. But listening to the D major, I can feel the limits of what humans are capable of—that a certain type of perfection can only be realized through a limitless accumulation of the imperfect. And personally, I find that encouraging.”

Contemporary art seems to operate solely upon this concept, that there are continuous builds based upon the notion that everything here is imperfect.  Competition is based on this nodule that human kind has something to prove, that there is somehow something better to be strived for.  Competition within contemporary art pushes boundaries of what is conceptual, accepted, what element of art history the piece is derived from, and what new materials can be used.  Since there is no purpose in striving for perfection, it eliminates the competition within the art world.  What is left is abstract free flowing ideas.  Competition in the art world, it seems only exists within the art market.  Survival of the fittest is based on who has the latest advancement in technology “who has the biggest guns” and who can obtain the largest chunk of the economy.  Eventually people try to compensate by dumping the largest amount of money into a particular project, here size of the object, materiality, location, and finish come into play.  What is left can be impactful, just because of the immense capabilities of one particular artist.  

The Japanese synth composer Yuzo Koshiro, who is famous for his video game scores during the 90's describes this concept when being called the king of FM synthesis.  “It’s an honour for me. Though there are a lot of people who use the FM synth well. As I said before, in terms of game music... Trying to use an FM synth with MIDI had so many restrictions. I don’t think people could use the chip to its full potential exactly as they wanted. Since I made my own editor and driver, I could control everything about the chip down to the fine details. So I think that’s why I was able produce that level of sound. I definitely don’t think I’m great at making quality tones though. Being able to control every little thing freely was one of the main reasons I received that kind of praise.”  Koshiro was able to fine tune his process by using his own tools, which he developed, using his own ideal of how he saw the future.  Still, he believes the final product was not the embodiment of perfection.  He finds that the more one plays through a video game with the music that he has composed, the more the melodies grow on us.

“Is it the quiet shore of contemplation that I set aside for myself, as I lay bare, under the cunning, orderly surface of civilizations, the nurturing horror that they attend to pushing aside by purifying, systematizing, and thinking; the horror that they seize on in order to build themselves up and function?  I rather conceive it as a work of disappointment, of frustration and hollowing—probably the only counterweight to abjection.  While everything else –its archaeology and its exhaustion—is only literature:  The sublime point at which the abject collapses in a burst of beauty that overwhelms us—and that cancels our existence” Kristeva.

Kristeva's “Powers of Horror” is a long, drawn out study on the abject.  How she was able to complete such a tour de force is beyond us, which is probably why it seems so intelligent.  She was able to sustain concentration on the most unbearable subjects, and most art students, given the the task of completing the entire transcript, are unable to do so.  If there is one positive concept to be derived from this reading, it is that the abject is necessary in small doses, in order to achieve the opposite.  What disrupts and disgusts us can make us believe that there is an opposite.  That notion is described in the quote as the sublime.  

If we look at the hollowness of space as terrifying, then we see why people decide to huddle together within city walls.  We condense only to realize that this too, can be perceived as abject, and in the instance, we decide to disperse.  In this way, the feeling of abjection can flip flop, all at once describing the fickle nature of the human personality, and the lightness of being alive.

“Women artists are more inward-looking, more delicate and nuanced in their treatment of their medium, it may be asserted. But which of the women artists cited above is more inward-turning then Redon, more subtle and nuanced in the handling of pigment than Corot? Is Fragonard more or less feminine than Mme. Vigee-Lebrun? Or is it not more a question of the whole Rococo style of eighteenth-century France being "feminine," if judged in terms of a binary scale of "masculinity" versus "femininity"? Certainly, if daintiness, delicacy, and preciousness are to be counted as earmarks of a feminine style, there is nothing fragile about Rosa Bonheur's Horse Fair, nor dainty and introverted about Helen Frankenthaler's giant canvases. If women have turned to scenes of domestic life, or of children. so did Jan Steen, Chardin, and the Impressionists-- Renoir and Monet as well as Morisot and Cassatt. In any case, the mere choice of a certain realm of subject matter, or the restriction to certain subjects, is not to be equated with a style, much less with some sort of quintessentially feminine style.”

Traditionally, throughout history, most of the credit of winning has been given to men.  Credit is sometimes equated to fame, such as Alexander McQueen's stylistic designs and art shows, where there are numerous participants.  However, what equates fame?  How do we quantify how well known something is?  If something that lives in our hearts is more important than fame, how is it that we measure?  Many ideas presented in the art history canon have been proposed by women first. We see this in the example of Carolee Schneemann's “Meat Joy” and also “Up to and Including Her Limits.”  Matthew Barney used the same ideas in his piece “Drawing Restraint” several years later and arguably received more credit.  He is also referencing his “personal mythology,” which might include pieces that Schneemann has produced.  Meat Joy creates a scene where the body is abjectly presented as a vessel of meat, flesh we consume is also the flesh we destroy, and the theme of abject flesh is now popularized in contemporaries like Jenny Saville.  Where once upon a time it was popular to idealize the human form, it is now popular to debunk the myth of a perfect form and present the new ideal as a medley of body types and human characteristics, not ignoring the ever presence of the abundance of flesh, and bodily fluids.  In terms of art, the gender of the object is attributed to whomever created it, no matter how rugged or polished the piece may be.  The independence of women artists does not suggest that they did not particularly belong to a certain school or class of artists, it just means that they were not recognized for being there.  Since the presence of art history is also based upon the presence of critics and historians, the relationships between these individuals and the people they chose to represent is important too.  The interpersonal relationships amongst individuals in the art world also influence who receives a review. Ana Mendietta is mostly recognized for her relationship with Carl Andre, as Lucian Freud is mostly recognized because he is grandson to Sigmund Freud.  Not to say either is necessarily without talent, which is quite the opposite, however people are recognized mostly from their upbringing and what circles they revolve in.

Which leaves me believing something is missing within the art world and the world at large.  We all experience the sense of the void, which is a mirror of the total amount of dark matter in the universe.  There is something amiss, and we are not quite sure what it is.  The Fifth Element addresses this concept, with the notion that there is a missing element that will save the universe.  With designs by Jean Giraud Moebius and Jean Paul Gaultier, this french cult classic is one of the most visually stunning movies to date.  

The plot revolves around the main character Korben Dallas and his relationship with the embodiment of the fifth element, Leeloo.  She is a fanboy's dream, a young model actress that does not speak English, is the visage of perfection but does not have any visual or cultural preference of her own to speak of, nor any knowledge of who she is or what humans are.  Besides this general monotony, she contains an element that is activated by a particular piece of knowledge.  What Korben Dallas teaches her, is the concept of love.  This is the final unifying element in the universe, the one that clarifies the dream, and brings light to an otherwise dark place.  No matter what your belief system is, if you are a human, animal, sentient being, this rings true.  What is the essence of life, what is the point of materiality if there is no feeling there?

With my own work, I feel a sense of displacement usually rather than belonging.  A jumble of ideas are mashed together usually to bring a solution to some sort of negativity, in order to see the light shine through.  Many artists use their art as a way to connect on a broader spectrum, in this way I am no different.  I find that personally I connect best at a small scale, one or two people rather than a huge group.  Limiting options of who to talk to can create a stronger bond, as if limiting one's palate, in order to know what is truly motivating one's soul.  

With what I create, I tend to maximize my reference points.  I create a mashup of things I have experienced, usually told in the form of a fable created through symbolism of images derived from 90's pop culture.  Perhaps this is me bringing to the forefront the notion of keeping my childhood alive, by subliming memories of contemporary life.  Art can be about breaking free of limits, so my process constantly changes to remove myself from an XY axis and a grid, to constantly build and destroy, to remove anger, hate, and turn it into love.  

This semester I have learned a few things about the art world and art school in specific.  There are a few key tropes that reoccur and navigating them is mostly about the language used to describe them. For example, using the word umwelt for someone's personal bubble; using the term post humanism when someone really means Sci-fi; structuralism for patterns that repeat; anthropocene for the current affect of global warming.  Part of the interchangeability of words to describe these things has to do with the malleability of the ideas themselves.  As we saw with Salvador Dali's study of string theory, different personal views conjure up different worlds.  The study of these worlds leads us on our own personal journeys.  We envelop these concepts and let the future unfold, perhaps we use art as the mechanism to advance human kind.  I always thought of art as some kind of pseudo-science, now I can say that these things are interchangeable, art can be science, theory, personal reflection, fortune telling, and the economy.  The mythology that leads us here today can change time.  

Works Cited

Barbara Ehrlich White, Renoir His Life Art and Letters. 1984. Harry N. Abrams, Inc.  New York

NGA.gov for tony smith's die

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/08/t-magazine/iris-van-herpen-designer-interview.html?_r=0

http://blog.metmuseum.org/alexandermcqueen/michelle-olley-voss-diary/

http://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2014/09/yuzo-koshiro-interview

The fifth element