#The World is Bigger Now

[darklingichor]

Somewhere Inside, by Laura and Lisa Ling; The World is Bigger Now, by Euna Lee

*This was written about two weeks before the current news about someone crossing the North Korean border broke.*

Awhile back, I watched a Nat Geo documentary about North Korea, where the journalist was Lisa Ling. I found the documentary interesting. I didn't know that she and her sister had written a book about the time that Laura spent in captivity. I was trying to find something to read to put between the entries of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, just so I don’t end up with three weeks straight of writing about the sane books, and I found Somewhere Inside on the random page in Libby.

I find most unknown things to be fascinating and North Korea is no exception. I often find myself thinking, as I do mundane things, that most people, all around the world do the same things, no matter the culture.

I get up in the morning, get dressed and star my day. People all over do variations on the samething

The experience in North Korea is so different from anything I know, but so similar too. Their political system is different, their freedoms much reduced to my western mindset, but there are still people doing the same things we all do.

Connections can still be made.

Somewhere Inside is interesting because the situation the girls found themselves in was so odd. While on a trip to China for a documentary about North Korean defectors, they follow a guide to the frozen river that served as the best crossing. While walking on this river, they briefly cross over into North Korea. Border Gaurds chase down Laura and Euna and drag them into North Korea.

That begins the five month captivity, much of it in the capital city of Pyongyang. During captivity they were subjected to daily interrogations and threatened with long prison sentences, eventually culminating in a trial where both woman were sentenced to 12 years hard labor. This was in part due to the fact that they were coheresed into a confession of wanting to harm the Democatic People's Republic of North Korea.

Eventually, they were released when Bill Clinton was allowed to come and apologize and take them home.

The World is Bigger Now is Euna Lee, the documentary's editor's side of the story. Through most of the captivity, the two woman were held separately. It almost feels as if Euna, originally from South Korea, was treated more harshly, or that could have been her mindset. Laura never thought that they were going to be killed. Euna, however, frequently wondered if they were going to simply kill her.

Somewhere Inside's narritive is split between Laura in her captivity and Lisa doing everything she could in the US, to get her and Euna home.

Both books are inspirational stories Laura and Euna did endure a frightening and traumatizing time in a country whose people are taught that Americans are enemies and want to make their lives worse. During this captivity, both able to make connections with their guards, and their interrogato, and in Laura's case, her interpreter. The young woman who gaurd them like music, and tv, have families, and act silly. Laura's interrogator is a feeling man who doesn't like sending people to prison, and when he feels like he can, is almost brotherly to Laura.

It is important to say, that besides their being held prisoner, and the beating they recived upon being drug nack over the border, (Which I get the feeling was not looked kindly on by people who were tasked to care for them),all the physical hardships that the girls suffer,are suffered by the citizens of the DPRK. The frequent power outages, the cold. They were likely fed better than the average citizen could afford.

This is not to defend the mental torment that was afflicted on to them, its just true.

It shouldn't have happened. They should not have been lead to that area to film, they shouldn't have *asked* to be taken to that area to film, they shouldn't have crossed over, the guards shouldn't have chased them down and they should not have been held. My feeling is that the guide double crossed them.

They showed amazing fortitude during their captivity, even if they, out of fear and not knowing any better, did some not too smart things.

Now, I have to say that what struck me most is the fact that Laura's story in particular shows the amazing privilege of people in the media.

I think that Laura and Euna got out as fast as they did, entirely because of Lisa Ling's connections. Not only did Laura and Euna work for Al Gore's TV network, but Lisa has contacts high up in CNN and other media (Anderson Cooper and Oprah). I mean, shit, she knew someone who knew then sitting President Obama's sister and was able to get a letter to the man himself through that contact.

Now, I don't blame her in the slightest for utilizing those contacts. If it were someone in my family, and I had a way to get the ear of people in the Whitehouse or Hollywood, you better believe I would do it! The point is, if this naive and reckless film crew would have been a group of independent documentarians without connections to the who's who of government and media, would they have been able to get Bill Clinton to fly over there amid nuclear tests and government officials sniping at each other?

I don't know the answer to that, but the cynical side of me has its doubts.

There of course, is a flipside here, if they had. Not been working for a former vice president, and Laura had not been related to someone who was known in North Korea an an enemy, would they have been held held as political bargaining chips? Again, I don't know.

They are interesting books, that made me think.

[thehappyastronaut]

Oh boy! A mass attack!

I wanted to do something a little wacky, hope y'all enjoy it!

Characters are (from left to right):

Adamant Dune, owned by @druidshollow

Paradox of Creation, owned by @skyistheground

Fifteen Feathers, owned by CattyFacePunny

Distant Frontier, owned by @splashpaws and created by @daszombes

Nothing Well-Made, owned by @meatcatt

Twenty Long Spears Pierce the Sky, owned by @prismsoup

Dystopian Arbitrary Endless Possibilities, owned by @hdra77

Defying Amicable Management, owned by @moonsofmachinery

A Glittering Aurora, owned by @skybristle

Sting of a Wasp, owned by @cioror

Notable Endeavors/Erro, owned by @verdemoth

Swirl of Paper, owned by @tamymew

[profoundmakerdreamerss-blog]

Tomarry AU where Tom HATES this book he read because his favourite character dies a miserable death. So what if his favorite character was a no-named side villain? Why does it matter that he only had like seven lines (seven is Tom's favourite number anyways)? He was still gorgeous, smart and strong and beautiful — and it doesn't matter that others think he isn't all that because they would never know him— understand him like TOM DOES.

An AU where Tom has a healthy obsession with a character named Harry Potter, a no named baron's son who was the first to go against the king (MC's father, and the mc who is incidentally known as Draco Malfoy, ahem anyways); he tries to “poison” him. But he gets caught or to be more precise he ends up sacrificing himself for the common girl Hermione Granger (the female lead, I'm sorry guys but imagine the fucking drama.) who gets blamed for his transgressions.

But that is not why Tom falls for this weak villain, no — it's because he respects how this no-named orphan became a baron on his own two feet without anyone being there for him especially in a world where old money and title is everything— and he hates how he had to give his life for the MC to notice the female lead? (Harry is better looking and smarter than her anyways — Tom, in an online forum perhaps.)

Anyways, now imagine Tom dying (he hated it so yes he ends up looking for immorality anyways.) and waking up in the world he hated. Now imagine, Tom Riddle, waking up in the body of a Duke who wasn't even given a name in the novel. (He would know because he has a photographic memory, ok? It's totally not because he read it more than 14 times) and then saying fuck it and owning it.

Just think, Tom taking over the world slowly with his worldly knowledge while trying to keep Harry alive because even though he was right about Harry being smart; the guy treats his life like Draco treats his money - you get the idea.

[werewolfnightwalker]

I just think that, post war, Touya and Keigo should sit on Touya's childhood swing set in the Todorokis' back yard and watch the stars together. With crickets chirping, fireflies dancing, an owl hooting in the distance, and their fingers just barely brushing between them.

[kalivasquezart]

[goodobservationshirley]

They have scales and tails, Rani. They're not like us.

[all-the-angels-stare]

🌧️ The Weeping Great Serpent 🌧️

[laylakeating]

You gotta step into the daylight and let it go.

[puppetmaster13u]

Thinkin of naga batfam, and as it's a prompt there's legitimately no canon for what they are, but here's my takes on which sneks each of them would be based off of, if they are in fact based off of snakes from earth. And not like, the realm of the dead or another planet or something lol.

Bruce- Rinkhals Spitting Cobra

Barbara- Purple-Glossed Snake

Dick- Bluestripe Garter

Cass- Banded Krait

Jason- Blood Python

Steph- Taipan

Tim- Coral Snake

Duke- Eyelash Viper

Damian- Boomslang

Helena- Black Mamba

Terry- Red Keelback

Matt- Bush Viper 

What would Danny be? Good question. Some ideas include puff adder, hognose snake (the ones that play dead), anaconda or calabar python

[ganondoodle]

some more ideas for the totk rewritten project (botw2);

underground general ideas i thought about what to theme the underground after, and since its vaguely like underwater in canon i thought id push it much much further, you cant actually dive and while id love that i do want to stay within a certain possible range of it still being a sequel to botw and somewhat based on totk- so im putting the low gravity effect away from the sky and instead in the underground, the ENTIRE underground, that way it is distinctly different in the way you have to play since you gotta work around the low gravity effect, the entire plant life and enemies will also be based on deep sea creatures- anglerfish like ones that half burrow and lure you with their light, those fish (or are they worms?) that hide underground as soon as you step too close, maybe they hide initially but only to make you go closer and try and snatch at you

much more glowy things too, basically everythings got some sort of light on it, there are different creatures flying around that all feature some sort of glow, so there is stuff to see but you cant immediately know what it is, theres a unique kind of plant that when you bother it spews out a dark cloud of spores (kinda like in tp) that dims any light you had; there are some landmarks you can activate or repair with the help of zelda but there is no way to illuminate the entire map and the lil light ferns expire slowly too

i also want it to be way more wet, not full with water but maybe a thin layer of water at most places and some drops from stalactites that fall constantly

there are shadowy ghosts there as well but they CAN aggro (still working on it), either by taking a weapon from their grave or some other things; also considered them or some other enemy that stalks you for some time and the only clue you get is maybe double sound of your steps or something at the very edge of your screen but you can never catch it when looking around (i dont want to make it a horror game but do want the underground to stay as creepy as when you first get down there), something elusive and shadow based that is rarely encountered but stays creepy for longer than the miasma hands sicne it cant get stuck on anything and the only way to be safe is while in the air

maybe some miasma reanimated corpses of ancient shiekah killed when the ancient hyrulean king turned on them (only foudn in the underground in this way; there are others but unposessed in alot of the broken shrines and old laboratories so seeing one suddendly move and crawl after you is probably pretty scary, kinda like the vroken guardians sometimes being still functional)

the dongos are the main friendly animal you can discover there and tame (still working out more details) they can climb around, always emit a little bit of light and the shadow enemy wont latch onto you as long as you are near a dongo, maybe even most enemies will leave you alone if you are riding one, as they are slower than horses, with the exception of gigamas (or a similar enemy ill redesign for that) as they are the natural predator of dongos; when you get to close to one it will react to it and if a fight is initiated it burrows away (you can call it and it comes back to you if you are out of range of that enemy)

tameable animals since i played skyward sword recently i just realized again how much fun it is to fly on a bird, sicne im already dividing the three map layers a bit more i thought it would be cool to make these layers more distinct, in some part by the tameable animals- the sky has birds (based on dinosaurs), the surface has horses, the underground dongos- neither of them can follow you to one they dont belong and the way to call them switches as you switch layers

im not sure yet if those birds should be ridable or are only able to give you a small boost upwards when you call them

magic bar so instead of actual batteries i planned to, as i said before, to put that into links shiekah arm prosthetic, and instead of giving you literal battery symbols on the screen it would be a bar right below your health and next to the symbol of the current selected arm ability

krog seeds a bit more to the krogs- as i said before they are no longer the way to make your pockets bigger- among an armor set i also thought about making the most expensive reward OR the end reward for finding all of them be the eponator zero- maybe it went missing during the cataclysm and maronus (engl. hestu) finds it at some point, so you get your bike back but its locked behind something bigger so you are unlikely to exploit it early on

(EDIT) (forgot to mention the dragons- im putting them each in one layer of the map- eldra in the underground bc gan is there and youknow, demise coming from the ground and fire being associated with the ground etc, farodra on the surface GREEN etc, and naydra in the sky, bc wisdom and owls and gods and all that weeeeee)

(on a sidenote im also thinking about ditching the building mechanic to some extent since i dont think it fits very well as a whole and it makes it too easy to completely skip stuff- i want the main way to move things or to get around be the hookshot/grappling hook part of links arm; still working on all that though .. so far it does seem likely like it will be much more limited)

[phoenixcatch7]

So there's an actual in game reason you can't get lynel weapons anymore??

So I was looking over the monster statues, just examining the design, when I notice something I'd seen but never really twigged:

Those are nuts and bolts. Huh. That's not natural, that's been added on. In fact, you can still see part of the original scratchy lynel horn from botw underneath, even if it has mutated a bit like all the other horned monsters.

See, lynels, with lizalfos in a lesser way, are the only enemies in the game with the intelligence and cunning to forge weapons. A lizal can only manage one boomerang, shield or bow with varying spikes and occasionally repurpose some hylian armour (and often loot anyway), but lynels are capable of creating their own unique metals and using it to completely outfit themselves. Armour, bows, shields, spears, clubs, and swords, complete with sheaths and harnesses and decoration!

But in totk the particularly pointy ones are missing, leaving only shields, armour, and bows. Their weapons were subject to the Decay as well, but instead of trying to use them anyway, what did they do? They broke down their own weapons and repurposed them as enhancements to their own horns! Extra defence and a new devastating attack!

But... For what reason? They could have kept using those weapons just fine, everyone else is! It probably would have been more practical to start attaching things to the end, like the goblins have all started doing (albeit with mixed results, they seem to inordinately favour mushrooms). Why would the most feared enemy in the game feel the need to put more points into defence and intimidation, even sometimes utilising the rock armour?

What would they be feeling the need to so strongly defend from, even to the point of sacrificing huge attack power over it?

...

Link. It's Link.

The 5 nothing hero of hyrule, who built a whole community of speed running, styling on, brutally murdering lynels almost exclusively again and again and again. Moldugas, hinox, talus, they haven't changed a bit! They weren't at the center of every flashy slow mo clip since the first game came out!

But lynels in totk are running scared, they're building bigger horns to look scarier and armour to hide in, because once they need to get their short range weapons out its already over, or maybe link will just stop farming them for top tear weapons XD.

Tldr: unlike other monsters, which have branched out to kidnapping, riding flying monsters and rolling big spiky balls, lynels have gone entirely the other direction in order to try and scare the hero off after the last round of stylish massacres, and attached their old decayed gear to their horns.

Tldr tldr: botw link is the reason you can't get lynel weapons in totk because he scared them too much.

[fruitsofhell]

Yall, its time to ramble about visual/environmental storytelling cause this is silly article is driving me insane.

I won't argue for if the game should have had more constant and involved cutscenes like Robobot or Star Allies, but what I will say is that this game is VERY rich in story through the world design. The Forgotten Land as opposed to say the Land of the Sky in TD or the entire galaxy of Star Allies is like, DROWNING in writing and narrative. It builds so much mystery and intrigue through the theming of every world and even individual levels, with exploring both how the people of the land originally lived and how it's being reclaimed by nature and the animals.

I think the closest things maybe is Robobot and Halcandra in RTDL, the former having great little designs that key you into WHAT Haltmann is doing and what makes it so toxic. Halcandra though is the ultimate grand-daddy, the contrast between it and the Lor, and Egg Engines and Dangerous Dinner is full of theming and clues about the nature and history of the planet. AND THAT IS STORY, THAT IS WRITING! Especially when compared to say Star Allies, where most of the levels of the levels are just ye average Kirby themed fluff with little to say about the Jamba or the state they've left the galaxy in. But when you play through the casino levels of Robobot, as well as delightful theming and level design, you see that Haltmann is erecting literally the most predatory entertainment centers imaginable. When you step off the sleek futuristic Lor into the scrapyards and wastes of Halcandra, you get fun intimidating final worlds, and a good grasp on *why* the people who made the Lor aren't around anymore, and may even start questioning why Magolor made such a great fuss of dragging you to this horrible place. Music is also deeply important to this storytelling. Each of the factories/towers erected in ever world of Robobot's theme is a remix usually of themes related to older mechanical levels, subtly clueing you into where Haltmann go their technology from. Outside the Lor rather than the comfortable motif of Green Greens is this almost comically suspicious and disoriented theme once you're stuck on Halcandra and returning to Magolor with more doubts about his words. The final level inside of the volcano house a theme that is teasing the twist to come, and the theme for fighting Landia before the big reveal is less triumphant, and more majestic and pensive. Possibly trying to evoke more hesitance than confidence, even if most people wouldn't catch on to that on a first run.

But the cooler thing, is that while Robobot has this cool theming at key levels, and RtDL does at the end, this type of shit is pervasive ALL throughout Forgotten Land. Every world and nearly every level is a unique, well thought-out set piece! You get to see abandoned towns, cities, malls, stores, factories, resorts, and an amusement park, each which serves as more than just a fun location, but a clear picture of the world and the state its in. This intent is made clearer through the music and tone that goes out of its way to not highlight the destruction of these areas but their beauty, wonder, and mystery through the eyes of an clueless animals and our favorite pink alien. The abandoned Alivel Malls theme is a track as upbeat and peppy as what must've played over it's speakers in it's hayday, because the hustle and bustle breathed back into it by the animals and Kirby just exploring this mysterious complex is just as lively. The theme of the Everbay Coast is peaceful and sunny despite the Holine ruins because it's as part of the scenery to the animals and Kirby as the picturesque palms and sands. And Wondaria!!!!!!!!! OMG WONDARIA WHERE TO EVEN BEGIN WITH EVERY FUCKING LEVEL AND THEME IN WONDARIA!!! THIS IS WHY I CAN'T TAKE THAT CLAIM SERIOUSLY - y'know when I cried at Forgotten Land? In world 3. Not because of a cutscene or a line of dialogue, but just from the sheer emotion the setting evoked in me. The sweet, laid-back, starry-eyed wonder that it expressed from Kirby mixed with my own sense of nostalgia being aware of what that place was, and how beautiful it was to see it rediscovered and adored by Kirby and the animals of the Forgotten Land. It evokes such a strong feeling of bittersweetness, of existential dread comforted by the knowledge that the simple joys and memories we create places like amusement parks to share will continue on as long as there is life in the world. And unlike some of my musings about past games, this was explicitly intentional. What truly brought the tears to my eyes was remembering an interview where the devs were explaining how they were trying to keep the tone light and Kumazaki said specifically they wanted to evoke peace and beauty rather than loss.

LIKE THIS IS WRITING! This is storytelling, this is intention. It's just subtle, but not at all unimportant, and it ties into the more overarching plot. It raises the question constantly of where the people went that is answered by Forgo, and expresses the dichotomy between the simple innocence of the animals compared to the ambitions of the people who abandoned them and that is now possessing their leader. It creates stakes for Elfilis and Forgo's intentions to destroy everything so beautiful and pure about the current world, but as it absolves the current world of guilt, it puts into perspective JUST HOW LONG Forgo must have been locked away that things changed so much. And as softly as the exploits of the original people are portrayed by the game, knowing their treatment of Eliflis and Forgo as a thing of entertainment and tool for innovation is sickening placed in contrast with it. Like back to Wondaria, the way it shows how much space travel must have pervaded the imagination and escapism of the people either before or after Forgo's arrival is insanely smart. And it gives me chills in the best way seeing Kirby run around images of cartoon aliens from a civilization who would never meet him. Of Kirby, Elfilin, and Bandana sticking their head into a cardboard cutout of an astronaut meeting an alien, with the text "wish you were here" above in a script they don't even understand. A SCRIPT THE WRITERS MADE FOR THIS GAME SO THAT THEY COULD ADD MESSAGES LIKE THAT INTO THE WORLD FOR KEEN PLAYERS TO NOTICE AND MAKE CONNECTIONS. Like it's insane. The dedication the Hal Labs has to stuff like this is maddening! It's so sweet and heartfelt and crafty, I'm so pissed off how little respect it gets because people don't understand visual storytelling!!!!! Saying Forgotten Land is light on story is preposterous, it might just be one of the most finely crafted stories the series has had to date, and is just a really solid piece of science fantasy writing in general honestly. It is packed with environmental storytelling that drives me Up The Fucking Wall, Man.

[sharpth1ng]

Im not going to reblog the posts these are from because I don't want to give them reach, but if you see shit like this

It's not fucking real! There is no "Native American zodiac" because Indigenous people in the americas are not a monolith! In the US alone there's more than 500 federally recognized groups, and thats just the ones the government has legitimized (and there are massive issues with a colonial government getting to decide who counts but thats another story entirely).

All of these groups have different beliefs systems, languages, systems of symbology, ect. Im sure there are Indigenous groups somewhere doing something like astrology because there are Indigenous groups all over the world doing a wide variety of practices, but I've never heard of anything like this. And even if there were a zodiac system being used by some Indigenous groups it would not be the "native american zodiac", it would be specific to whatever group was practicing it.

Im really tired of people making up new age bullshit, assigning it to "Native Americans" like we're all one thing, and then passing it around the internet like it's real. I did a cursory google search for this term and there's loads of sites talking bullshit about it like it's legit. The few named people I've found claiming to have knowledge about this don't mention connection to any specific group or band, they don't claim to be Indigenous at all, and Ive never heard anyone in my real life talking about anything like this.

So yeah, anyways if you see this know it's fake. I'm tired.

[keikalium]

AO3 is being down at the exactly right moment when I should go to sleep so I'm going to pretend I don't have 40 open cards of fanfics in Entire Work mode and go to sleep

(be brave, rest of the world. And me, if it's still down in 8h)

[spottedenchants]

WIP Wednesday Thursday!

Up to 27.5k in the first time fic, so here is a chunk :D

~

With the stark change of pace his life has taken, Essek must spend his time and his capacity for thought somehow. And while the winding sand-steps of his day-to-day living arrangements between the Nein often are dull at worst, he can appreciate their tolerance of his inelegant attempts at acclimating to their versions of normalcy and quotidian affairs. It is something of mutual enrichment. They get a show of sorts and he gets the protection of their proximity.

Though prolonged discomfort can lend itself to change, a shorter shove and a sharper jostle and a wild spin of a redirecting careen- Essek knows this latter whirlwind intimately; he is still alive because of such. They bowled him over, struck him from his highest delusions. His resentment has mostly run dry.

So what an unanticipated relief it is, to be permitted, even by them, the rabbit-paced, the time to sink in and steep and think rather than to jump blind, or be thrown, or, worse, be swiftly humiliated and dismissed. What a blessing, to be allowed company as he feels out his resettling comforts, company that stays not out of pure necessity or resentful obligation or misplaced pity or ulterior intent, but instead by simple, generous choice.

And that Essek can let himself take the time to examine and articulate fright in-depth with not only Yasha and Jester, but Caleb too, is….

His sigh a fond admission, Essek takes Caleb’s hand from the seat and tugs him up to sitting. Caleb’s silver ring chimes on its chain with the motion.

“You are… sweet, to me, Caleb Widogast.”

Warm fingers follow from Essek’s wrist to his forearm; Caleb cups an elbow, his smile as gentle as his touch. His other hand, now gracing Essek’s face.

“I like to be.”

[petrichal]

she's so cute im gonna diehdslfhdskg