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bakersimmer · 1 year

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Sims 4 Flower Garden Legacy

This legacy is inspired by flowers and the meanings attributed to them. I used the interpretations from two books I found on my mother's bookshelf.

These are more like guidelines and thoughts on how to make your different generations more interesting, especially if you are like me, and you need goals and challenges to stay engaged. I didn't have time to playtest all the generations, but I know it's possible to push your sims to the limit without cheating.

First things first

TS4 is easy enough to play without cheating

Different generations are linked to different expansions

Objectives are not in chronological order

To add more excitement, try out different mods

There are no assigned traits, but some traits would make your sims life easier. Follow your gut on this

There are no assigned colors. Again, follow your gut

English is not my first language, so please ignore any grammar mistakes 🙃 unless I wrote complete gibberish and you don't understand a single word in a sentence, then let me know

G1 Azalea

Azalea symbolizes friendship, family, joy, and tradition. With the right amount of sunlight and water, this low-maintenance plant will bring an abundance of color and beauty to your life.

You have a gentle and nurturing personality, with a talent for caring for others and creating a warm, welcoming environment. You prioritize spending time with loved ones and creating meaningful connections with others in your community. You find joy in the beauty of nature and have a passion for gardening and spending time in the kitchen.

Aspiration: Big Happy Family

Have at least three kids

Develop the highest possible skill level in cooking, baking, gardening, flower arranging, and parenting

Have some kind of social event with family and friends every Saturday (dinner, bbq, etc.)

Grow at least 10 different types of flowers in your garden (As of May 2023, there are 24 flowers in the game)

Use only low to mid-range furniture and appliances. Never replace anything, fix it yourself

To make money, you can only sell what you have grown or made yourself (vegetables, flower arrangements, preserves, cakes)

G2 Hollyhock

Hollyhock symbolizes ambition, abundance, resilience, and determination. With little care, this tall and sturdy flower will bring vibrance to your garden.

You always felt like you had to compete for the attention. You are highly ambitious, striving to achieve your goals and exceed expectations. While putting a lot of emphasis on your education and career, you neglect your close relationships. You struggle to express your feelings and connect with others on an emotional level. Despite all this, you are a loyal and supportive partner who does everything to show your feelings in a more practical way.

Aspiration: Academic -> Fabulously Wealthy

Complete the first aspiration and move to the next one

Get the best possible grades in elementary school, high school, and university

Have a career in business. You aim for the top

Marry the first sim you have a romantic relationship with

You are the breadwinner. The spouse quits their job after marriage and never works again

Don't spend much time with your child/children

Your home has medium and high price items. When something breaks, you always replace it with a new one

Pass the family money to the next heir

G3 Hydrangea

Hydrangea symbolizes vanity, arrogance, and desire. With little care, hydrangea brings elegance to your garden with its large and showy blooms.

You are highly creative and have a refined sense of style. Being in front of the cameras feels natural to you. You are self-centred and tend to prioritize your needs and desires above those of others. Thanks to your skills and fame, you accumulate a large amount of wealth.

Aspiration: World-Famous Celebrity

Develop the highest possible skill level in charisma, comedy, and acting

Go to a club/restaurant at least twice a week

Have one Meet and Greet in every season

Use mean interactions often

Change your hair color at least 3 times in your life

Hire a butler

In old age, an unexpected wave of generosity hits you, and you donate all your wealth

G4 Yarrow

Yarrow symbolizes strength, courage, overcoming and recovery. This flower will grow even on the poorest soil and doesn't require any care to thrive.

You grew up in luxury and wealth, but now you have nothing. Despite the obstacles, you are determined to provide for yourself because you want a stable and secure life. It is very important for you that your children are equipped with the necessary skills to be independent and successful by the time they move out.

Aspiration: Renaissance Sim -> Super Parent

Complete the first aspiration and move to the next one

Start with 0 money and a tent

In addition to work, dumpster dive to find valuables that you can sell (Don't sell collectibles or paintings/music/books for extra cash)

Attend different skill classes

Choose medicine as the last career and work in that field until retirement

Fall in love with a patient and end up marrying them

All your kids must gain a Top-Notch-Toddler trait

Always help your children with homework/school projects

All your kids must gain at least one positive character value trait

G5 Gardenia

Gardenia symbolizes sensuality, passion, and secret love. This sweet and intoxicating flower requires a little bit more attention from its grower.

You have a magnetic personality and natural charm. You are a hopeless romantic who tends to get caught in the passion and excitement of new relationships. You avoid long-term commitment because you fear that the daily routine will kill the excitement and passion. For that one special person, you are willing to take a chance on love despite your fears.

Aspiration: Serial Romantic -> Soulmate

Complete the first aspiration and move to the next one

Have a childhood friend who later becomes your soulmate

Work in Public Relations (Social Media career)

Get married at least 3 times

Woohoo in 10 different locations (As of May 2023, there are 23 locations/ways on the list)

No kids until adulthood

Reconnect with your childhood friend and settle down with them

G6 Protea

Protea symbolizes dreams, exploration, courage, and resilience. This plant needs a lot of space and sun to grow. It should not be planted deeper than the surface level of the soil.

You have a strong sense of wanderlust and a need for adventures. You love new experiences and cherish old memories. For you, a job is just a means to an end.

Complete two adventure/location-based aspirations

Develop the highest possible skill level in fitness, photography, programming, and logic

Work as a freelance programmer

Complete the postcard collection

Move repeatedly and live in at least 3 different worlds

Settle down in one of the desert/warm climate worlds (Oasis Springs, StrangerVille, Sulani, Del Sol Valley, or Tartosa)

Go on a family vacation in every season

G7 Snapdragon

Snapdragons symbolize passion, deception, denial, duality, and strength. This eye-catching, mostly warm-colored flower spices up your garden.

You are a master of deception, leading a double life. At first glance, you appear ordinary or even mundane, but looks are deceiving. Beneath your boring surface lurks something more sinister. Your purpose in life is to make others' lives a living hell because seeing them suffer is your favorite pastime. You are very passionate about your hobbies...maybe even a little fanatical.

Aspiration: Chief of Mischief

Develop the highest possible skill level in mischief, singing, piano

Fight with 5 different Sims

Become a Triple Agent (Secret Agent Career)

All your kids have to play one musical instrument at the highest possible skill level before they become young adults

All your kids have to have one negative character value trait

G8 Daffodil

Daffodil symbolizes new beginnings, rebirth, truth, and creativity. Daffodils love sunlight and well-drained soil. Therefore, the best growing place for this flower is an open and raised flowerbed.

You are a detail-oriented individual driven by a deep desire to uncover the truth. While searching for the truth, you stumble on a secret that will profoundly challenge your worldviews. You are loved and supported by your community, who admires your dedication.

Aspiration: StrangerVille Mystery & Friend of the World

Work as a journalist

Be a member of at least two clubs and host club meetings every week

Solve StrangerVille Mystery

Get married to a sim who helped you defeat the Mother Plant

Host at least 8 different types of social events in your lifetime (As of May 2023, game has 25 different social events)

All your kids have to complete the Social Butterfly aspiration

G9 Rudbeckia

Rudbeckia symbolizes justice, fairness, motivation, and optimism. Rudbeckia is a hardy flower that loves evenly moist soil but can also survive drought and scorching sun.

You are a highly principled individual deeply committed to upholding justice and protecting others. You are willing to make great sacrifices to ensure that justice is served. After work, you enjoy creative pursuits which allow you to unwind from the stresses of your work. You desire balance and harmony in your home life.

Aspiration: Painter Extraordinaire

Develop the highest possible skill level in wellness, painting, knitting, and cross-stitching

Work as a detective

Have a romantic relationship with one of the suspects but break it off eventually

Own a house with a large and luscious backyard where you spend most of your free time

Be strict with your kids, and never miss an opportunity to discipline them

All your kids have to earn the Emotional Control trait

G10 Lavender

Lavender symbolizes spirituality, intuition, devotion, and growth. Lavender needs a lot of light and warmth. Although this flower looks hardy, it's highly receptive to changes in the soil.

You are fascinated by the concept of magical and mystical, so you spend a lot of your time exploring spiritual practices and rituals to connect with this hidden world. You are determined to connect with and become part of the supernatural world. You have a soothing energy that puts others at ease.

Aspiration: Choose a vampire, spellcaster, or a werewolf aspiration

Develop the highest level of Medium skill

Work as a paranormal investigator

Become a friend with a vampire, spellcaster, or a werewolf

Become a vampire, spellcaster, or a werewolf

#ts4 #sims 4 #ts4 legacy #sims 4 legacy #sims 4 flower garden legacy #ts4 flower garden legacy #flower garden legacy

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donnerpartyofone · 4 years

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Can't remember who, but some writer pointed out that narcissism is commonly mistaken as thinking you're great, when its more accurately described as seeing everyone else as extensions of yourself. The reason they're so hard to be around is that they don't and won't ever accept allow people to develop their own identity because other people are essentially puppets to them. Also, if someone calls them self an "empath" it's a dead giveaway that they're a narcissist

[uh this turned into kind of a rant and i can only hope it’s coherent, i’m extremely sick with allergies today and completely overmedicated, but i’m too compulsive to wait until later to answer this so...sorry!]

ha, that’s very interesting, like on the one hand psychopathy is often colloquially defined by narcissism and a lack of empathy, but then if someone claims to be strongly empathic then they might be a narcissist! i’ve never heard that before, but i can follow the logic. the puppet theory reminds me of something i heard about the psychology of babies, that they can’t conceive of separate subjectivities. it’s not like, I’M hungry and YOU have to feed me, it’s more like the whole universe is hungry, there just IS hunger, and its unjust persistence is a cause for outrage. (and maybe it’s worth mentioning that every obvious narcissist i’ve ever armchair-identified is usually kind of infantile)

this is also interesting to me because of something i was just thinking about what causes long term relationships (platonic and romantic) to break down. i suspect that when you’re close with someone for long enough, you start to feel like you and the other person exist on some kind of continuum. then there can arise (at least) two problems: 1) that the qualities that are unique to the other person, and not on the continuum, start to seem confusing and disruptive (where they may once have seemed exciting and new), and 2) you become so acclimated to the illusion of the continuum that you start to feel like it’s all just YOU, which gives some people the urge to seek out more external stimuli. (i know this sounds a lot like “familiarity breeds contempt”, but i think the problem is deeper than pure boredom, i think it involves what you feel makes up your own consciousness/identity/boundaries of self at a given time, what you believe is appropriate for you to control, and what remains excitingly alien)

...none of that is pathological, of course, it just seems adjacent to the problem of narcissism as you’re framing it. i definitely agree that describing narcissism as just egomania doesn’t cut it; if you were happily leading a functionally selfish life, then you might not have what we could describe as a problem for a doctor. and actually, there are probably a lot of sufferers who will never have the helpful realization that narcissism is what’s hurting them, because they don’t really experience it as the popular cliché of exaggerated self-love; they feel that they are the victims of a tragic, ongoing insult, committed by the world at large. (and we all know the world is unfair, so why should they question themselves?) the most clearly identifiable (and destructive) symptoms of narcissism result from the pain this condition causes the owner, not ego satisfaction but its opposite. your puppet theory is pretty analogous to the way i tend to think of it, as a mismatch between self-concept and the feedback that you get from the world. like, what you’re saying suggests that the narcissist thinks of other people as just appendages of himself, so therefore it’s upsetting when all these limbs of his act on their own volition, rather than dutifully responding to his commands the way an arm or a leg should. (excuse the “his”, otherwise i have too much “they” going on) the way i think of it is only slightly different, which is that the narcissist thinks of himself as objectively special and important, so it’s confusing and painful when other people do not prioritize him as such; anything short of deference and admiration fails the standard that he has assigned to himself. these failures are often perceived as abuses (rather than just the absence of desired response), and abuses are just as important as compliments, as they provide the narcissist with an opportunity to try to assert his importance. instead of accepting that he simply isn’t AS important to others as he is to himself (a relatively normal, expected condition of life), the sufferer sees himself as conspired against, obsessively hated, or if he can’t prove he is celebrated in this way, then he must be the “most” neglected and ignored person in the world. he always has to be famous or infamous, a hyperbolic being one way or the other; he can’t possibly be somewhere in the middle like the rest of us, since we only exist to respond to him.

take the classic (though admittedly extreme) example of ted bundy: it’s easy to say that he killed people because he considered his own pleasure more important than others’ pain--which he manifestly did--but the greater reality seems to be that he killed people in a rage caused by the cognitive dissonance he experienced, between self-image and feedback. he couldn’t get the girl of his dreams, or his dream job, or have the academic career he thought he would enjoy, or the fortune he thought he would amass, because he was above average at best in most areas in which young men are judged. the B- report card that life handed him so flew in the face of his concept of what he deserved, that he had to soothe himself, and prove that he was as powerful as he believed he should be, through revenge. not to say that this is like the ONLY problem with bundy or that it’s all this simple in such a case, but it’s pretty easy to say, very broadly, that a lot of his behavior came from this conflict between how he thought others should value him, and how they valued him in reality. (or at least, how he PERCEIVED this social value; certainly he had a very obedient long term girlfriend who worshipped him, but no form of acknowledgement could ever satisfy the narcissist’s fantasies) i think that’s not really THAT different from saying that someone like bundy thinks all the world is just an extension of himself, therefore he experiences pain and rage as the world relentlessly proves that it is not dependent its connection on him. to be completely fair, it can painful and enraging for anyone, when people contradict your beliefs about basic consensus reality: a fairly sharp, fashionable, with-it friend of mine once insisted that he had never heard of a crunchberry, and for a brief moment i felt sure that i might have to kill him, to restore order to the world, and prevent everything from descending into the chaos and darkness of a demimonde where ordinary american children of the 1980s are allowed to pretend they don’t know what crunchberries are.

#crunchetize me cap'n #anon #maybe narcissism and codependence have a lot in common #and i kind of feel the same way about people who dream of getting famous #like they think it's a fantasy about self-actualization but it's actually a fantasy about controlling other people's opinions

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allegiance01-blog · 5 years

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Career Counselling | Career Consultants - Allegiance Educare

https://allegiance-educare.in/

Career Counselling is a need in India and career planning should be a meticulous process. It is imperative that students refrain from decision on career choices based on unprofessional career guidance from family, friends, etc. And follow a scientific process to choose a career.

It is very difficult to visualize and anticipate if a particul ar career is the perfect career for you, hence after years of switching various jobs after graduation you select a career which suits you. Some of them might compromise on working in a career for the rest of their lives with which they are unhappy. The reason why it becomes so difficult to choose the perfect career is because people might consider only one parameter in choosing a career or might actually get into a career just based on the fascination with the name or maybe that particular career is glamorized to convince you to get into it and when you start performing the tasks while working, then you realize it is not your cup of tea.

To solve this problem, a scientific approach for Career guidance with the help of career consultants is important. Psychometric online career counselling tests which career counselors conduct is designed in a way where with the help of the questions they interpret the real interest, aptitude and personality of the students.

Career Counselling for students and online career counselling test can help you narrow down your job choices and choose a career path that is compatible with your interests, skills, values, and personality.

Career guidance, in the form of tests can be very useful for those who are uncertain about the array of career possibilities.

Allegiance Educare Career Selection Test (AECST)

Our test is divided into three parameters Career interest, Aptitude and Personality test.

1) CAREER INTEREST

Career interest test is basically a process for discovering / learning about one's like, dislike, interest, knowledge, etc. relating to a particular activity / thing or a job title. Which is then interpreted into his/her career interest.

Example: If a child likes performing physical activities, then a career involving field job or physical activity would suit his interest more than a desk job.

2) APTITUDE TEST

Aptitude is an innate or an inborn capacity for learning. An aptitude test is taken to determine a person's ability in a particular skill or field of studies. This test is divided into seven parts which it measures seven different abilities of a person such mathematical, verbal, mechanical, etc. Often, the discovery of potential leads to the development of new interests.

Speed and Accuracy Test-This is a test to see how quickly you can compare number combinations.

Visual Skills Test-This test requires you to hold an object in your mind, while also turning it upside down, around and pulling it out of shape. The ability to do this is associated with success in the area of design, where a sense of shape and form would obviously be required.Occupations in which an individual is required to imagine how an object would look if made from a given pattern include art, clothing design, dentistry, drafting, carpentry and architecture.

Mechanical Reasoning Test-It measures the ability to interpret the basic mechanical principles of machinery tools and motion. Each item consists of pictorially presented mechanical situation and simply worded question. Items require reasoning rather than special knowledge. Those who do well in this test usually find it easy to learn how to repair and operate complex devices.

Verbal Ability Test-Verbal ability tests tell us how well a student can understand and work with meaning, information and interpret from the given text. This aptitude is useful in areas of work where words are used in the analysis and in precision of communication. Literary careers would demand this aptitude, as would education, legal work, business, journalism and some areas of sciences.

Writing Skills Test-This test measures the students' ability to find errors in grammar, capitalization, punctuation. The ability to spell is the very basic skill required for many academic and vocational careers. A high score on this test implies a possible success in careers like teaching and writing.

Mathematical Ability Test-These tests contain questions that test your knowledge of percentages, ratios, number sequences, data interpretation. Numerical Reasoning is important for succeeding in careers such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, engineering, etc.The ability to reason with numbers is also important in many occupations like bookkeeping, laboratory work, carpentry and tool making.

Logical Thinking Test-The logical reasoning test includes broad category's questions ranging from time, distance, seating arrangement, blood relation,etc... This aptitude test which measure a person’s problem solving ability. Logical ability is useful in many careers, but particularly required in careers that need significant problem solving ability or higher use of logic.Careers under this includes Anthropologist, Business Consultant, Career Advisor, Forensic Psychologist, Doctor of Medicine, etc...

3) PERSONALITY TEST

Although you behave in different ways, depending upon the Circumstances you are in or the people you are with, you nevertheless have a personality that remains identifiable. If this were not true, people would not be able to anticipate your reactions; the very fact that there are aspects of you which are predictable testifies to your personality. This is not to say that your personality will never change. It may well do so, especially if you make efforts to become aware of your potential and give yourself experiences which are developing. There is no right or wrong personality, we are trying to Co- relate an individual's current personality to relevant careers.

Why student needs counselling and guidance in education to build their future?

With increasing number of student dropouts and working professional quitting or changing their jobs, career counselling is a need of an hour. One of the main reasons for an increase in the number of college dropouts and job quitter is due a simple fact, people aren't satisfied with their current job profile or college course. They took admission in a particular college course, simply because their friends choose the same course or their parents convinced them to do so. Same goes with working professionals they enter a job just because of its demand in market or high paying salary. People usually don't bother to check that whether the job requirement matches with their own aptitude, interest or personality.

Like in the case of engineers, many engineering students drop out of engineering course or land up in sales and marketing jobs which are completely different from their field of studies. They end up wasting a year and also money. So in order to avoid these situations is advisable to plan your future ahead by taking career counseling.

Who needs career counselling and when?

Though it is widely believed only student or job seekers who are confused about career or job requires counselling but this is not the fact, as each individual should do career counselling. Career counseling isn't only about getting information about a particular career or job it also includes knowing your abilities, learning about alternative and new career options in the market etc. It basically means making a road map to your future goals. So it's advisable for every student.

Counseling Tips:-

If after the counselling, a student is still confused between two- three career options or degrees or not very confident with a careers shortlisted always ask him/her to go for generalized degrees like B.com/ B. sc/B. A for their bachelors and not specialized degree like Bachelor in Animation to keep their options open later.

It is always advisable to choose Maths in Science, Commerce or Arts stream to keep your options open to many degrees which require Maths. Eg. A commerce student can get into IT by taking admission in Bachelor of Computer Application if he had taken Maths in his 12th.

Use elimination process from shortlist careers to decide on the final career choice.

Aptitude is the most important parameter, even though interest and personality is not matched, the Aptitude should be an average match.

If a student is insisting on a particular career, which is not shortlisted in our strongly and average recommended careers, then we can check the 3 aspired careers section and if at least the student's aptitude is an average match.

Below are a few tips which you suggest to the students during the counseling session-

Learning Techniques

Time Management Judicious use of available time by scheduling helps to adjust study periods and extracurricular activities according to the need of a student.

Suggestions:

(i) Preparation and Follow “To Do List” - as a Daily/weekly planner to write important study activities. Do the same for monthly activities so that you can plan in advance.

(ii) Avoid Interruptions and Distractions - Learn to say ‘No’ according to your study plan to basic distractions e.g. internet, games mobile, TV etc.

(iii) Reading Speed - Generally, one reads 100 words per minute in mother tongue and 50-75 in any other language. As a habit, read few words; to understand their meaning and usage on a daily basis.

(iv) Read Early in the Day when your mind is clear and sharp as your grasping is at its best.

(v) Read in the Proper Position - Angling your reading material at 45 degrees improves reading speed and reduces eye strain. Avoid reading on a bed. Always prefer to sit on a chair.

(vi) Paraphrase in own words, write key words and summarize to make personal notes.

The best effective order while taking notes are:

Listen ->Look- ->Think- -> Understand --> Paraphrase --> Make Notes

While reading, underlining important points and preparing notes is helpful.

Find a source of inspiration: who or what could inspire you to complete your goals?

Positive self-talk like “I am going to prepare perfectly for this exam.” improves your motivation.

Memory

Some techniques to improve your memory-

Relax Your Mind – Being relaxed allows us to think clearly. Thus, we tend to perform effectively and efficiently. Under tension we struggle to remember information..

Use Your Body and Senses to Improve Your Memory - It has been said that people remember 90 percent of what they do, 75 percent of what they see and 20 percent of what they hear.

Mental Imagery - Use visualization by creating mental images that you can associate with the information you are trying to learn. The more visual you can make the learning process, the easier to remember the information.

Examination Techniques

Examinations need careful preparation, many feel nervous on the examination day, but with careful revision and good examination techniques you can do well.

Suggestions: Before the exams-

Devote more time and attention towards weak areas Even Under nervousness/ pressure never study the entire night before a paper. The mind gets clogged and you might forget what you knew nicely also.

Having a calm, cool and relaxed attitude towards examination is beneficial and can be gained only after good preparations.

Keep your Answer sheet neat as possible with:

Keeping sufficient margin between answers & paragraphs

Minimum cancellation on answers sheet

Never leave an exam hall early. You can utilize available time for checking and rechecking. There is always something you can do to improve your answer sheet.

Parents Role during Exams

Use the Magic Words: “Don’t worry, It’s just an Exam”

Don’t give unnecessary stress to study long hours.

Reward the student, if he scores good!!

Make sure student is eating healthy and on time

Avoid watching TV, inviting guests/relatives OR anything which could distract the student.

Pick up and drop from Exam Centre.

#career counselling #career guidance #career consultant #career advice #career planning #Career counselling online #career counselling for students

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ooey-and-gooey · 6 years

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Here is Ran’s bio!

Name: Ran Minamoto

Gender: female

Age: depends on what point in the story, usually 16 in RP

Ssxuality: Bisexual

Occupation: student

Height: 5'4

“Hair” color: cool purple

Eye color: inverted black eyes with yellow pupils

Narionality: Japanese

School: UA

Hero Stuff- Hero/Villain Name: Ran (undecided)

Costume:(none yet)

Quirk: Goo

Weapons: a whip

Personality- Personality: Ran is a very passionate person, the kind of passionate that only pages and pages of essays and debates could help with. She has strong ideals of being a hero and sticks by them closely. She is observant and quick thinking. She knows what she can handle and is the type of person so try almost anything once. The girl is friendly to everyone except those who have- in her eyes - skewed morals/ideals. Ran gives off a very chill vibe most of the time except when it comes to her academics and career, as well as her ideals, any other time she will go with the flow. She’s an extrovert and acts very cool though when she is alone, can be very obsessive. Ran is very very paranoid. She spends most of her time researching things about her parents and such and barely get much sleep. Her calm and collected facade is brought on with people surrounding her - That is when she is the most relaxed. If it were not for her baggage, Ran would probably act this way always. She is easy going and a risk taker around people, but a mess when not.

Likes: pro heroes, social media, winning debates, writing, being listened to, talking, supporting her friends, passionate people, people on journeys, cats, researching, breakthroughs

Dislikes: her parents, people who follow the ideals of stain, stains ideals, villains, people with weak ideals, people easily swayed or persuaded, the crowd mentality

Interests: writing, reading, presenting speeches, sparring Fears: Society changing for the worst, being vulnerable, failure

Goals: - Ran would very much like to confront her parents and try to argue with them -She would like to be the one to capture her parents -She wants to be an influencer, weather that means being a big role model as a hero or trying to become a teacher, she’s all for it - Ran wants to make sure she is known. She makes it a point to make good first impressions so that she is never forgotten thus her ideals are never forgotten.

Family- Parents: Haruhi and Kazuhiko

Siblings: none Relationships-

Friends: Maki Aiko, Maki Harumi, Hitoshi Shinsou

Crush: hmmm

Enemies: her parentsahaha ~~~Quirk~~~ Quirk name: slime Description: 80% of her body is made of the goo like texture you see. She has basic organs and can function like a normal human being however most of her fat, muscle, and other parts are made of the substance. She can transfer her mass but is limited to a simple human body shape. The only removable part of her body is her hair, which she can rip parts of and stick places.

Strengths: most projectiles will not affect her, mostly just getting stuck in her. She can change her appearance. She is a quick thinker and knows what bite would be too much for her to chew. Has a high pain tolerance as some attacks (with blunt objects) can bounce off of her. She can become slippery?

Weaknesses: She lacks in one on one combat and full frontal attacks. She can get carried away with emotion in some cases which causes her wits to become faulty. She can be affected by projectile attacks if they go all the way through her. She does not do well in intense heat, can melt without being about to control it.

Costume description: she wears a tough material (usual hard to rip, water resistant and fire resistant fabric) as a leotard. Her shoes/ankles, bracelets, belt, and rubber band are actually hidden whips - each rectangular shape being a handle. (In her shoes’ case, the handles are built into the sole of the shoe). Her whips are gold in color. Her leotard extends in a drippy pattern to her legs. In the chest area of her leotard, there is a teardrop shaped keyhole though it is placed above her neck and is only there for decoration. (Its not there to show her breasts, That’s why it’s places a litter higher)

Character summary: Ran was raised by her parents for a short amount of time. Because they had seemed so busy with their “work” - some undescribed business they run- Ran was mostly watched after by her grandmother. The family lived in her grandmother’s house, all seeming to get along somewhat. Her parents raised her with a specific set of ideals, telling her to think for herself, to always question authority and question what the general public thought was right. Though she didn’t have much say, this was suspicious to Ran’s grandmother. Years of week long business trips and the occasional conflict between the parents and Ran’s grandmother flew by. This would lead to Ran being a sort of mature child, that tried to keep as in-the-know as possible whenever her parents were leaving and weren’t leaving - that way if she had needed them to be somewhere, she would or wouldn’t get her hopes up. Suspicion began to grow as the windows in which her parents were absent began to grow. This tense curiosity would breech it’s breaking point for Ran’s grandmother when an event was exposed on the news. Some sort of group, terrorizing the city and trying to spread their message- down with hero society. When the leaders of this group were identified, it was Ran’s house that was searched endlessly and the two were questioned. Of course both Ran and her grandmother had no idea what had happened, nor did they even know that both these people had the capability to do such an act. Though the event did not kill anyone, it did injure some with the use of firework-like bombs and some thick smoke that flooded the area. After this horrendous event, Ran’s grandmother was left to care for Ran. At this point, Ran had some vague idea of what was happening, though never asked her grandma about it- feeling she would receive no answer. Ran grew up very loving with her grandma. She was very close to the woman and acted as good as any kid could, though had always been mature for her age. Ran’s parents were on the run, though would most likely never return. As time went on, Ran became more and more interested in the ideas of justice and what it meant to be a hero. At first she was not fascinated by the glamor of heroes, their desire to help people, or the fame, but by the concepts behind it. She had become deeply interested in philosophies of what it meant to be a hero and though she had some mincsule problems about the hero industry, she decided what better way to change it for the better, than to become a hero herself. She also took interest in past crimes and organizations, wanting to be knowledgeable on all potential threats. This was when she had found out about her parents, leaders of some dangerous cult, once that had caused harm then vanished. This wasn’t the biggest effect on Ran, only taking her a couple months to get completely over. They had probably fled the country or something, and she wasn’t even particularly attached to them. With her interest in heroes now becoming a full on blossom, Ran found some interest in the genuine ideals of a hero- helping people and making people feel safe. And so, she had applied for U.A, general studies of course. Though she was excited to become a U.A. student, she hasn’t felt like she could transfer into the hero courses just yet. She hasn’t had much time to train and by entrance exams, the gooey girl wasn’t ready. After being accepted into the general studies, Ran worked extra extra hard to make sure she would be able to at least make an impression at the sports festival. In general studies, the girl found a friend in Hitoshi, who seemed to be one of the most, in her opinion, genuine people she’d ever known. The two hold a tight companionship. Around the time of her first getting in, Ran received a letter on her doorstep. This was one of the few letters that was ever addressed to her. Too early to be an entrance exam result, Ran was confused by its presence. Upon opening this mysterious note, she found it was sent from none other than her parents. A sort of “Good luck! :) We’re keeping an eye on you and Gramma!” Letter, which caused Ran to spiral into a paranoid state. Research and research and connecting the dots online led her to hints that the group might still be active. Rather than going to her grandma for help, Ran decided to take matters into her own hands. Apart from training, Ran protects her property as best she can, swearing that she will always take care of her grandmother and if her parents decide to somehow do harm to her, she’ll be ready for it. Though, the way that her grandma acted had made Ran feel she knew what was going on.

Fun fact #1: Ran must keep her PH from becoming too acidic. If she comes in contact with something too acidic, she may involuntarily melting. She may use this to her advantage though! Ran had a certain party trick where she will get everyone to gather around her. She demonstrates how her mouth looks, sticks out her tongue, takes a gulp of the freshest soda she can found, swirl it around in her mouth and swallow. She will then show everyone the damage it does on her mouth (mainly her tongue) which becomes a slimey and dripping mess. People usually react in disgust to this or think it’s really cool.

Also I’m always always always open to RP! I love OCs and I do literate RP so :^) RP also helps my characters develop more soo Thank you for reading!! Have an amazing day!!

#ran art #bnha oc #my hero academia oc #mha oc #original character #canon x oc #oc x canon #ran minamoto #ran's bio #important

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agoodmanisdead · 3 years

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Chapter 2: We have a synopsis! (really?)

Anything new you want to start in your life, demands even more energy. And, believe me, it’ll to demands even more. The difference later is that you know a little bit more where and when you need to put your energy harder.

The moment I started writing the project, we had just the intention of keeping us busy and artistic creative during a catastrophic moment in the humankind. Artists, definitely and specially the performative/dramatic ones, suffered a lot from all the social restrictions. Actors were incredibly impacted by all this prison. Actors need a stage, no exceptions.

Without this possibility, we had to move ourselves to a “new” stage. The online stage. But our idea, at first, wasn’t to create a play to be performed on camera. We thought that we could create a series of videos where everyone in the group might perform. As I was studying cinematographic genres, I was really interested in the film diversity.

So, these were the three first drafts of plots that we might perform:

COMEDY- 8 actors who want to make a desktop movie and have no idea of how to do it. They wrote their own scripts – monologues – with one premiss: they have to be based on each other impressions. When they start the rehearsals, they feel themselves exposed through their scripts and conflicts installs.

DRAMA– A jury has to decide the destiny of two children in the middle of a couple divorce. One group supports the father and the other one the mother. As the discussions gets warmer and warmer, they lost the civility and start arguing not more about the case, but about each other’spolitical and social judgements.

THRILLER\MYSTERY - An indoor online funeral in the middle of the pandemia. 8 people, between parents and friends, share their stories about the person who is just dead. Throughout the relates, they start suspect that the person can be not the same. Can it be a strange?

I can’t remember exactly why did we like more of the third one. The third one looked like easier to share the roles between everyone. The moment they choose this one, I started working deeper on a plot. So, one more time, the moment I’m writing this diary (tired, lack of sleep, like many adults between 25 and 60), I can’t remember how I ended up on this project, that follows (update: 23/07):

A good man is dead

START: A COFFIN… 8 PEOPLE RELATED TO THE DEAD… AN ONLINE FUNERAL… A STRANGE ULTIMATE STREAMING SERVICE OFFERED BY A VIDEO PRODUCTIONS COMPANY.

Synopsis

WinstonLumiére (George Orwels’ 1984)is gone. Nobody knows the reason, but most people think is related to the coronavirus outbreak. He was only 36 and afamous Englishphotographer who travelled around the world taking pictures of normal and famous people.

He was in love by the human nature and its variety, unpredictability and idiosyncrasies. With only 31, he won his first photography award, and this became a sequence of other ones in a row, year after year.

Besides, Winston was a journalist devoted to talk to strangers, create unusual friendships and trip into different and contrasting social levels. He went into the poorest one to the high stakes of society, in a charming, lovely and charismatic way. This exciting and free way of living allowed him to meet loads of people.

On the other side, it had its price. On this funeral, 8 people were invited to pay a tribute to him on a live recording. However, they have no idea who is behind of this invitation and which company is this.

The background story of each character is a story itself, in a particular way. I wanted to explore and use different personal, cultural and intellectual references in each one’s development and personality. Thereafter, as the project has been growing, obviously, I had to change some points on each one’s biographies, but, essentially, they remain the same so far.

The reason from most characters are Irish is that most of the cast met themselves in Dublin and are currently living there, though, afterwards, this territoriality was an unnecessary point.

Plotline:

Eight people are invited to pay a tribute in an online funeral to Winston, a young famous photographer, when they suspect this is a plan to get their personal informations.

Hiswife just discovered she istwo month pregnant. Simone Capitu (de Beauvoir, French, Capitu, the Brazilian Machado de Assis’ most famous character)met Winston when he was travelling to France.

They met during a contest in the middle of the Paris streets. He took pictures of her and then they started to date. He felt in love for her strong support to the feminist ideas, her passion for a cause, for human rights and against poverty.

She loved his adventure and wild way of living, his sensibility and always empathetic perception. She had no time to say about the pregnancy,regarding is unsure who the child father actually is.

She wonder if the father is Dorian (Gray), an Irish bohemian buskering singer that she met during a terrible performance of him at the Dublin’s Grafton Street. Dorian’sdream is to be a professional singer and make a living onthis. To get some money, he works calling people to eat in the restaurant where he works.

Dorian wants to be the father of Simone’s baby as a strategy to get public notoriety, but he is confused about the ethical problematic about that. At the end, he will regret of his pursuit and start studying on an arts school in order to improve his artistic skills, when finally he’ll figure out his path to the fame. (this subtext is still being developed – update: 23/07)

One of this mates was Jane(Baby Jane), a frustrated musical actress who feels miserable to be forced to have a meal in a popular restaurant. She was portrayed by Winston and feel sorry about his dead, evenshe complains about his preference for other famous actress that avoids to mention hername.

Jane is in love for Oscar (Wilde), who was portrayed by Winston as well. He is a young transgender bisexual male model, who is just starting his career at the fashion business. He uses his personal charm and sex appeal with the objective to go further into this industry, and has no reserve in talking openly about what he got used to refer as his “flexible” ethics.

Oscar is divided between the love of Jane and the love of Wendy (Torrance), a weirdo hotel director who promised him to get in touch with the most celebrated models agency in the world. Wendy uses a strange technology that allows him to watch inside all his guests room, in order to satisfy his voyeur desires and get personal details to theultra-secret company where he works to.

This corporation sells algorithms to other companies in order to manipulate populations consume and emotional trends and was Wendy who offered this “online funeral service” looking to get private informations.

One of Jack’s guest was Laura (Mulvey), a provocative Brazilian ex-politician, that moved to Europe after a disastrous career and started to get evolved withexcused business. She is hidden on the hotel, as she met him before his death, running from a dangerous mafia that was using her to get favours from its targets with lobby, extortions and similar crimes.

She is tired of having to "use her body" to manipulate men and reach what the mafia wants, but wants to use public notoriety to her self benefit. As the hotel is a phantasmagoric place, she got possessed by a spirit that is trying to dissuade Wendy from her connection to Winston’s businesses, but actually desires her sexually. Wendy will be murdered on the last episode and crime will be expose 225Flix and Cookies and Donuts into an ending crisis.

In the middle of those impossible connections, there is Benjamin (Private Benjamin), simply the sister of Wiston, who has no idea what all those people are doing on this online funeral and why she accepted the strange invitation to do it, despite she knows her brother’s notoriety.

She is a school secretary and an auspicious scriptwriter with two children that dream to be Youtubers and live the adventures as his dead uncle used to live. She uses her epic imagination to distract them with adventures while complains about her husband absence and incapacity to be a father.

And last, but not least, we have HIM, a negationist, who clams to have dangerous informations about Winston. Slasher films addicted, he is a reactionary fanatic that wants to prove that Earth is flat, the History is wrong, and everyone is just manipulated by external and fantastic forces. He lives with his parents, is addicted to the Powerpuff Girls and uses this nickname because of the homonymous villain.

Is there and end to this “story”? The correct answer is: we don’t know. There are short stories directly or indirectly related to the same guy. We have an ending with all the characters singing together and showing the process of making a film this way. (about this, we changed, as the story, as any other, needs an end; so, even the end might not be the “final” end, is an end “for a while”_update: 23/07)

As you can see, the plot is mixed with different influences that don’t have a clear or logical connection. As I mentioned, I wanted to use the academic knowledge in a practical way. I wanted to “transform” the discussions and classes in an entertainment product. And that’s the result so far. References keep growing and changing and I'll explain better each one in the next chapters.

With this plot, at least, we had a story. Not “perfect”, but we had a starting point. Amateur or not, we could, again, TO ACT.

TO BE CONTINUED

#creative process #entertainment #webseries #creativediary #actor #acting

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guide-philippines-blog · 4 years

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HOW TO WRITE A RESUME: FORMATS, SAMPLES, & TEMPLATES | guideph.com

Applying to work? Think of a resume as an instrument for marketing yourself.

Resume showcases your background, your skills, and your education so that a potential employer can quickly and easily able to see how your individual experience can contribute to a company’s success.

Here’s what you need to know about writing a resume, the step-by-step procedure, samples, and tips to help you create an impressive one.

WHAT IS A RESUME?

A resume is a concise written account that summarizes an applicant’s personal, educational, and professional qualifications and experience written when applying for a job. It is probably one of the most important tools in assisting you for a job whether in the private or public sector.

Resume vs. Curriculum Vitae

These two documents differ mainly in terms of what each is used for, the length of it, what details are included, and how it is formatted.

HOW TO WRITE A RESUME?

Writing a resume shouldn’t be that complicated. Make it as simple as possible. Below are the tips and procedures you must consider.

INFORMATION YOU NEED TO INCLUDE IN YOUR RESUME:

Here are the important elements you must consider in writing your resume:

NAME – Your true and full name.

CONTACT NUMBER – Your contact number should be the active one – so that the employer can contact you easily when you got the job.

E-mail Address – Other employers send an update about the application in E-mail Address. As much as possible your E-mail address should be the combination of your first name and surname.

HOME ADDRESS – The employer should consider how far you’re away from the workplace.

OBJECTIVE – What is your objective in applying for the position you are looking for?

WORK EXPERIENCE – Include your past work experience so that the employer will see what you are capable of and what you’re already good at.

EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT – This is important especially for those who are fresh graduates that don’t have any work experience. Believe it or not, other employers consider the school you graduated from.

Steps in Writing an Effective Resume

Since your future career depends on the quality of your resume, it is important to make the most out of it. Make it simple and concise. Provide a clear structure so it satisfies your recruiter in the beginning.

STEP 1: Find the right resume format.

Resume formats differ in the qualifications they emphasize. So choose a format that highlights whatever you want recruiters to notice on your resume.

You may consider your work experience, skillset, career goals, and the job you’re applying for.

Here are the different resume formats you can choose from:

a. Reverse-chronological. This classic resume format that highlights career progression by listing work experience in reverse-chronological order, starting with the latest and working back through past jobs.

b. Functional. It emphasizes an applicant’s skills rather than work experience.

c. Hybrid. It is a combination of both reverse-chronological and functional formats. This format consists of two parts: the first part highlights relevant qualifications and skills, while the second part lists your work history.

d. Infographic. This format uses graphic design elements such as colors, illustrations, icons, charts, and font styling instead of just basic text.

STEP 2: Type in your header.

Always put your name and contact information at the top regardless of the resume format you use.

Must-have information on a resume header:

Full name

Location

Telephone number/Mobile number

Email address

Optional information on a resume header:

Professional title (e.g., “Marketing Professional,” “Web Developer,” etc.)

LinkedIn profile URL

Website/Blog URL

Link to an online portfolio

STEP 3: Write the introduction.

The introduction highlights the candidate’s most important qualification and it’s placed somewhere at the top of the page.

There are different ways to present a resume introduction. The right option depends on the job applied for, as well as the candidate’s skillsets and work experience.

a. Qualifications Summary. This is a list of key career accomplishments with four to six bullet points. Use this type of intro if you have a great list of work experience with quantitative achievements and distinct skill sets.

b. Career Objective. This field states in two to three sentences why you want a specific position in the company. This introduction is ideal for fresh graduates, entry-level candidates, and career-switchers with little or no relevant work experience.

c. Professional Profile. This introduction combines the qualifications summary and career objective and its perfect if you are applying for a position in the same industry, have particular expertise in your field, and have a major career achievement to highlight.

d. Professional Summary. This section highlights the top skills, experience, and achievements in your career. You can also mention the job title and years of experience.

STEP 4: Make a list of your relevant work experience.

The work experience section is your chance to prove your qualifications to possible employers.

Just choose up to three to five experiences that are most relevant to the job you’re applying for instead of listing your entire career.

How to list work experience on your resume.

The standard format for listing work experience includes the following information:

Job title

Company name and location

Employment dates

Key responsibilities and achievements

STEP 5: Add-in your Educational background.

The education section shows that you meet any academic requirements for a specific role, such as a bachelor’s or master’s degree in a related field.

How to list education on your resume.

List your education by starting with your highest degree. Follow this format:

Degree

School name

Location (city/province or country, if you studied abroad)

Graduation date (month and year)

Honors and awards received (e.g., cumlaude, dean’s lister, leadership excellence, scholarship, etc.)

If you have a college degree, no need to add your high school and grade school information.

STEP 6: Male a list of your hard and soft skills

Your resume should have a good mix of hard and soft skills because employers are looking for both in a candidate.

Hard skills are qualitative abilities that get a job done like a video editing, bookkeeping, and social media management.

Soft skills are personality traits such as leadership, professionalism, teamwork, initiative, persistence, and self-motivation.

How to list skills on your resume.

Select five to eight of your hard and soft skills that are most important for the position you’re applying for.

If you have a long list of hard skills, group them into categories. For example, if you’re a virtual assistant, you can categorize your skills into administrative, email management, social media management, etc.

For each hard skill, include your proficiency level if you are a beginner, intermediate, advanced, or an expert.

STEP 7: Personalize your resume with additional sections.

Include a personal touch to your resume. Depending on your profession or industry and what you prefer to highlight, here are the optional sections you may list on your resume.

a. Certifications/Licenses. If you’re in a profession with certification or licensing requirements (such as nursing, medicine, and engineering), make sure to include any relevant information in your resume.

b. Volunteer Work. Your volunteering experience is worth adding to your resume. Studies find that listing volunteer work raises a candidate’s chance of getting hired. By showing that you help the community, you give the impression that you’re a loyal, committed employee.

For this section, the typical format lists the name of the organization, inclusive dates of volunteer work, achievements, and a short description of volunteer experience.

c. Languages. The ability to communicate in two or more languages is a valuable asset especially in fields such as translation, ESL teaching, writing, and customer service.

d. Hobbies and Interests. The hobbies and interests section may be the least important section, but it can boost your resume if it’s related to the position you’re applying for.

STEP 8: Review your resume multiple times.

Save yourself from possible humiliation and rejection due to obvious mistakes. When you’ve finished writing your resume and cover letter, edit and proofread them multiple times to catch and correct errors.

Remember these pointers when proofreading your resume and cover letter:

Read the document slowly from the beginning. Then read it backward per phrase. Pay close attention to every phrase.

Proofread your resume several times at different times of the day.

Run a grammar and spelling check on your computer. You can install online tools like Grammarly to help you spot errors you missed from your manual proofreading.

Ask a friend or family member for help. Take note of their feedback and suggestions for improvement.

TIPS IN PREPARING YOUR RESUME

Below are the tips that might help you in preparing your resume:

Select the best 2×2 photo that you have – you should look presentable and pleasant to the eyes of the employer. To make it simple, you should look professional. Remember that the first impression lasts! The background of your photo should be plain white.

Choose a font that is readable and looks formal – Arial, Calibri, and, Times New Roman. Also, consider that your font size shouldn’t be that too small or too large. Font size 12 is the standard size that you must consider.

Make sure that your layout must be neat and clean because it reflects your personality. What does it mean by a clean/neat layout? Don’t use multiple font styles.

Print on a short bond paper – it depends on the size required by the employer. Don’t use specialty paper and scented paper. Don’t impress your employer too much.

A resume is not noble – make it as simple as possible. The employer only needs the important information that he/she will get from you.

To finalize, ask for help! Let one of your family members or friends, to read and proofread your resume.

If you want to know HOW TO WRITE AN AUTHORIZATION LETTER, CLICK HERE!

#resume #howtowrite #guideph

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kiiruna-a · 7 years

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INTRODUCING : the hypochondriac .

name : sascha müller . gender : male . specie : human . nationality : german - american . age : forty . residence : washington, the us . occupation : audio engineer & freelance sexual health educator .

dream daddy oc .

germany, 1970s / 1990s .

sascha grew up as an only child in münchen, germany. he was raised under protestant christian parents that both worked as teachers, his mother for a university & his father for a high school. he grew up alongside the other babies that were born into the same church, & they made bonds that would hold through their entire life. he had the same friends with him through childhood, puberty & growing up into a young adult. his youth was nothing but idyllic, though the state of europe, & germany in particular, was far from recovered after the war, he lived under the best circumstances he could. his parents were academics who helped him develop into an avid reader, a hardworking student & the one kid who never missed a single piece of homework. he didn’t only have a group of friends who he knew would follow him to the end of the world, but he was also fawned upon due to his looks that did not help him avoid what happens to all people at a certain age, however. grow ideas. grow individualistic goals & dreams. sascha dreamed of a conversion of the church that he grew up in. he felt he heard the voice of god speak to him, speak of love, openness, tolerance. he saw the lacking in the world, & so had everyone before him, though they could barely see the dirt underneath their own nails. sascha dreamed of an open church, to everyone, who would treat people as equals no matter if they’re priests or prostitutes, beggars, homosexuals or rowdy teenagers. he did not see rules or borders, but saw love. before he was brave enough to go through with this change, talking out loud about safe sex education & same-sex marriage within church, he traveled to usa with his group of friends for a whole year of bible studies. completely unexpectedly, he got stuck there. he fell in love with every piece of america & the lack of a grim war aftermath not lingering in the air he breathed. he fell in love with the nature, the great lakes & tall mountains, deep woods & vast desert. he felt his heart beat in the same pace as the side of the world that he found there, on his first trip outside of his home country that he ever made. so, young & dumb, sascha stayed while his friends, who had been by his side his entire life, went back home.

america, 1990s / 2010s .

sascha met her two years later. cynthia. he had lost his path in life, gotten lost in work, bills & being able to get by in a place where he knew absolutely no one. she changed that. a wild, passionate, warm woman that swept him away with her ways. a loud fighter for feminism; women’s rights, reproductive rights, minorities & natives. she was the dawn that woke sascha the hell up. he fell head over heels in love with her. she wasn’t religious, but she stood for everything that he stood for, & he felt safer & more relatable around her than ever before. he wasn’t afraid with her. he got married at twenty-one to the woman of his life. his parents did not approve of her, which was a great misery in sascha’s life at that point. they believed that she pulled him away from church & his faith, even though sascha didn’t feel less confident in his faith than ever before. they couldn’t listen to him. they could act polite when she was in the room, but they did not hesitate to let sascha know how worried they were once she left. for the first time since the move, sascha was glad that his parents were left in europe, where only letters would reach him. if they couldn’t see how happy he was, then they thought religion was more important than their own son. he could barely believe it, but with the years, they did lose touch almost completely. it was all on sascha himself. they never got to meet their grandson, jameson. he was born when sascha had turned twenty-three. due to the many ups & downs that sascha & cynthia experienced during both reproduction, pregnancy & birth, sascha was really shocked over the lack of knowledge that he, himself, had all years prior to his son’s first day in the world. he started to feel a need to change it all. he joined up with independent business focusing on education about sexual health, consent & safe sex. he became a sexual educator, passionate about answering every question youth had without making it awkward or uncomfortable, without incorporating fear or shame into their minds. sascha’s passion was however not just good for him, or for his family. the obsession that was hiding underneath it started to grow as fast as he knew that his wife was pregnant, & it included many sleepless nights researching the complications of pregnancy & giving birth. sascha had always been a bit of a paranoid man, but something in cynthia’s pregnancy really triggered something much more serious inside of him. an obsession with illness, an obsession with overanalyzing the most minor symptoms. despite his wife’s objections, he would constantly have a need to visit or call the doctor due to symptoms that weren’t at all unusual or dangerous, to the point where cynthia didn’t feel comfortable telling sascha about what she was feeling. he was obsessed with keeping her & the baby healthy, but it grew into a constant, undying anxiety that he’d carry with him long after the baby was born–– only with focus on serious illnesses of all sorts, for himself, for cynthia–– & for the baby. sascha grew into a sickly paranoid & overprotective father. he spent their money on unnecessary check-ups & lots of non-prescription medicine that he was never advised to buy. cynthia, however, still loved him, & this new side of him was simply something that she’d have to get used to. she wanted to help him. the two never had a fight over it, because sascha knew he had issues, he just couldn’t help it. he would often go to therapy, but he found himself there to be just as paranoid of the mental issues he could be diagnosed with as he was for cancer, tumors, bowel & skin disease. many years he dedicated his life to his new career of sex ed. he traveled the country from one school or youth center to the next. he was criticized & he was praised, but the appreciation that he received would at least for a long time feel as if it’d always keep him going. that was, however, not the case. as he got older, more people started to get uncomfortable. it was such a slow change that it took a long time for him to realize what was wrong. he became a middle-aged man, & suddenly the trust that he got from people faltered. when he was a handsome young man, women thought he was exciting & men thought he was cool. now, they all questioned his motives. parents was scared of their kids approaching him. after all his hard work, he was labeled a creep. he had to stop & find a new career. he felt defeated, but he couldn’t give up, because he had a kid to get to college. he started to educate himself in audio operating, engineering, & radio. he had always been working for free in the church to be in control of their audio during sundays, & he had his basic knowledge. it wasn’t an occupation that seemed like it’d bring amusement or englightement into his life, but it was something he could bear. he had no other idea what to do. so, after a rough year of counting pennies together with cynthia, he got his first job at a radio station. after that, he has jumped from place to place, & is now a very appreciated audio technician working for a bigger podcast. his personal life has, however, gone to pieces. all it took was one prediction to be right, one worry to be taken as another delusion. a wife sick of taking roadtrips to the hospital. an automatic action of calming down her quirky husband. then, it was too late. pancreatic cancer took cynthia away from him. one of the toughest type of cancers to spot before it has spread to other organs. she wasn’t a case unlike the rest. he should, however, have believed his instincts. he should have pushed it further. he–– he is never going to forgive himself. the death of the love of his life only made sascha worse with jameson. the two had always had a good relationship, but it soon came to the surface that it was all because of cynthia’s hard work of keeping them all sane. left on their own, sascha was suffocating & would sometimes even scare jameson, which would eventually turn into anger. while sascha never meant anything but love, never wanted anything but to simply not lose his last piece of cynthia, his last family, his only son, he couldn’t stop doing things that jameson hated, & eventually, jameson’s attitude became so bad that social services had to be contacted. he really wanted to get out of the house as soon as possible. now, he lives with a foster family during weekdays, & with sascha during weekends, so that he won’t feel that his father’s paranoia is choking him. all sascha ever wanted to do was prevent death. all he ever wanted to do was be a good husband, be a good father. all he wanted to do was help. looking back, he realizes, he has never made that happen.

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antoine-roquentin · 7 years

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The McCarthyite pressure, at first, was the stronger. To fight the witch-hunters, universities needed to do exactly what Allen told the Examiner that UCLA was doing: quickly and quietly identify communists on campus and remove them from teaching positions. There was, however, a problem with this: wasn’t it censorship? And wasn’t censorship what we were supposed to be fighting against?

It was Allen himself who solved this problem when, as president of the University of Washington in 1948-49, he had to fire two communists who had done nothing wrong except join the Communist Party. Joseph Butterworth, whose field was medieval literature, was not considered particularly subversive. But Herbert Phillips was a philosophy professor. He not only taught the work of Karl Marx, but began every course by informing the students that he was a committed Marxist, and inviting them to judge his teaching in light of that fact. This meant that he could not be ‘subverting’ his students – they knew exactly what they were getting. Allen nevertheless came under heavy pressure to fire him.

Allen’s justification for doing this became known across the country as the ‘Allen Formula’. The core of it ran like this: members of the Communist Party have abandoned reason, the impartial search for truth, and merely parrot the Moscow line. They should not be allowed to teach, not because they are Marxists – that would indeed be censorship – but because they are incompetent. The Formula did not end there, however. It had to be thoroughly argued and rigorously pervasive, because it had to appeal to a highly informed and critical audience: university professors, whose cooperation was essential to rooting out the subversives in their midst. Ad hoc invocations of the ‘search for truth’ would not suffice. It had to be shown what the search for truth – reason itself – really was. Allen’s ‘formula’ thus became philosophical in nature.

Like the logical positivists of his day, Allen identified reason with science, which he defined in terms of a narrow version of the ‘scientific method’, according to which it consists in formulating and testing hypotheses. This applied, he claimed in a 1953 interview with The Daily Bruin, even in ‘the realm of the moral and spiritual life’: Buddha under the banyan tree, Moses on Sinai, and Jesus in the desert were all, it appears, formulating hypotheses and designing experiments to test them.

The Allen Formula gave universities two things they desperately needed: a quick-and-dirty way to identify ‘incompetents’, and a rationale for their speedy exclusion from academia. Since rationality applies to all human activities, the Formula could be used against professors who, like Butterworth, were competent in their own disciplines, but whose views in other fields (such as politics) had not been formulated ‘scientifically’. Moreover, and conveniently, rationality was now a matter of following clear rules that went beyond individual disciplines. This meant that whether someone was ‘competent’ or not could be handed over to what Allen called members of ‘the tough, hard-headed world of affairs’ – in practice, administrators and trustees – rather than left to professors actually conversant with the suspect’s field. Professors thus found themselves freed from having to deal with cases of suspected subversion. Small wonder that, according to the historian Ellen Schrecker, Allen’s actions, and his rationale for them, set a precedent for universities across the country, and catapulted Allen himself to national fame – and to a new job at UCLA.

The Allen Formula was administered, at UCLA and elsewhere in California, through something called the California Plan. Imitated to varying degrees in other states, the Plan required the head of every institution of higher education in California, public and private, to send the name of every job candidate at their institution for vetting by the state senate’s committee on un-American activities. The committee would then consult its database of subversives and inform the university whether the candidate was in it. What to do next was, officially, up to the university; but the committee’s policy was that if an identified subversive was actually hired, it would go public, issuing subpoenas and holding hearings. As Schrecker notes in No Ivory Tower (1986), no college could hope to deal with such publicity, so the Plan effectively gave the committee ‘a veto over every single academic appointment in the state of California’.

The California Plan was supplemented at the University of California by a memo in April 1952 from President Robert G Sproul to department chairs and other administrative officers, directing departments to canvass the publications of job candidates to make sure that they ‘prohibited the employment of persons whose commitments or obligations to any organisation, communist or other, prejudiced impartial scholarship and teaching and the free pursuit of truth’. As the language here makes clear, it is not merely communists who are the problem, but anyone who is not ‘impartial’. Sproul, like other academics, followed the Allen Formula.

This official emphasis on scientific impartiality excluded adherents of a number of influential philosophical approaches from employment in California. Non-communist Marxists whose beliefs reposed on readings of history rather than on logic and mathematics were said to have abandoned what was rapidly defined as philosophy’s ancient concern with strict objectivity in favour of what Allen called ‘leading parades’. Existentialists and phenomenologists did not follow the experimental method (and the former tended to be atheists as well). Many pragmatists did not even believe that there was a single scientific method: true to their name, they believed that scientific enquiry should be free to apply whatever procedures worked. Moreover, whether a method ‘worked’ or not in a given case should be a matter of its social benefit, a dangerously collectivist standard in those difficult days. It was far safer to see the scientific enterprise as what Allen called it in Communism and Academic Freedom (1949): a ‘timeless, selfless quest of truth’.

The California Plan operated in the greatest secrecy. Ending someone’s career in public required extensive justification, multiple hearings, and due process, all of which could provoke damaging public outcries. The need for secrecy also explains why the Plan emphasised preventing hires rather than rooting out subversives already in teaching positions. As the committee noted in its annual report for 1953, professors already on campus had networks of friends and supporters. Efforts to remove them often produced loud backlashes which, in the committee’s view, invariably benefitted the Communist Party.

According to its advocates, the Plan was a great success. In March 1952, 10 months after it was implemented, the committee’s staffer, Richard Combs, estimated that it had prevented about one academic hire per day in the state. The next year, Allen himself declared that ‘so far, the arrangement is working to mutual advantage’.

As long as Allen remained chancellor, the Plan’s secrecy was successfully maintained at UCLA. Two years after he left, however, attacks resumed: the anthropologist John Greenway was fired in 1961 for suggesting that the Roman Catholic Mass exhibited traces of cannibalism. Three years after that, the philosopher Patrick Wilson was denounced by leading Los Angeles clergymen for the way he taught philosophy of religion. The seven years of silence while Allen served as chancellor at UCLA are testimony to his, and the Plan’s, success at tamping down controversy. We will never know, of course, the number of job candidates who lost their careers before they even started.

Things took a different turn at the university’s other campus, Berkeley. Unlike Allen, Berkeley’s chancellor, Clark Kerr, refused to cooperate with the Plan – with the result that, unbeknown to Kerr, a university security officer named William Wadman took it over. Wadman’s view of his job went well beyond merely forwarding the names of job candidates. It amounted to a general political policing of the faculty, and this attracted national attention. In March 1954, after Wadman’s activities became public, an article in the far-off Harvard Crimson quoted Richard Combs: ‘If, after looking over charges against a professor and investigating them, Wadman thinks the man should be removed, he goes to the state committee and discusses the case. If the … committee agrees with him, the information is passed on to the president of the university [Sproul], who calls for the professor’s resignation.’

The initiative in this arrangement clearly belonged to Wadman. The committee itself was known to be rabidly anti-communist and eager to justify its existence by capturing ‘subversives’, while Sproul’s assent to its findings is portrayed as virtually automatic. The Crimson article goes on to summarise Combs as saying that ‘any professor in the college – not merely those in classified research – can be dealt with in this manner’. Which means, if true, that every professor in the college – not just those in classified research – owed his job to the benign disregard, at least, of Wadman.

As all this was happening, US academics also faced the task of coming up with a philosophical antidote to Marxism. Rational choice theory, developed at the RAND Corporation in the late 1940s, was a plausible candidate. It holds that people make (or should make) choices rationally by ranking the alternatives presented to them with regard to the mathematical properties of transitivity and completeness. They then choose the alternative that maximises their utility, advancing their relevant goals at minimal cost. Each individual is solely responsible for her preferences and goals, so rational choice theory takes a strongly individualistic view of human life. The ‘iron laws of history’ have no place here, and large-scale historical forces, such as social classes and revolutions, do not really exist except as shorthand for lots of people making up their minds. To patriotic US intellectuals, rational choice theory thus held great promise as a weapon in the Cold War of ideas.

But it needed work. Its formulation at RAND had been keyed to the empirical contexts of market choice and voting behaviour, but the kind of Marxism it was supposed to fight – basically, Stalinism – did not accept either free markets or contested elections as core components of human society. Rational choice theory therefore had to be elevated from an empirical theory covering certain empirical contexts into a normative theory of the proper operation of the human mind itself. It had to become a universal philosophy. Only then could it justify the US’ self-assumed global mission of bringing free elections and free markets to the entire world.

Scientific method was already installed as coextensive with reason itself – philosophically by the logical positivists, and politically by the Allen Formula. All that was needed was to tie rational choice to the scientific method. This was accomplished paradigmatically by the UCLA philosopher Hans Reichenbach’s book The Rise of Scientific Philosophy (1951). In a crucial paragraph, Reichenbach wrote:

a set of observational facts will always fit more than one theory … The inductive inference is used to confer upon each of these theories a degree of probability, and the most probable theory is then accepted.

Facts always underdetermine theories, and this requires scientists to choose from an array of alternative theories, under a preference for highest probability. Science thus becomes a series of rational choices. Which meant that by 1951 there was a unified intellectual response to the two pressures: appeals to science fought the domestic subversives, and when science was integrated with rational choice theory it entered the global conflict. The battle was on, and what I call Cold War philosophy began its career, not only in fighting the Cold War of ideas, but in structuring US universities – and US society.

To be sure, interest in the California Plan seems to have petered out well before California’s anti-communist senate committee was disbanded in 1971. Even before then, the Plan was not entirely successful, as witnessed by the hiring in 1964 of the Marxist philosopher Herbert Marcuse to the philosophy department at the University of California, San Diego. That hiring was not without problems, however; public outcries against Marcuse culminated, in 1968, in armed guards, organised by his graduate students, spending the night in his living room.

But to say that with the waning of McCarthyism Cold War philosophy itself vanished from the scene is far too simplistic. The Cold War lasted until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, and Cold War philosophy is still with us today. Thus, humanists long ago abandoned McCarthy-era attempts to subject their work to scientific method (as New Criticism was held to do). But in universities at large, intellectual respectability still tends to follow the sciences.

Cold War philosophy also continues to structure US society at large. Consider the widespread use of multiple-choice tests for tracking students. Whether one takes an ACT or a SAT, one is basically being tested on one’s ability to choose, quickly and accurately, from a presented array of alternative answers – under a preference, of course, for agreement with the test designers. Rational choice thus became the key to one’s placement in the national meritocracy, as illustrated by what I call the ‘40’s test’: if you know that someone has got 440, 540, 640 or 740 on the SATs (under the scoring system in effect until March 2016), you usually know a lot about their subsequent life. Someone who scored a 440, for example, likely attended a community college or no college, and worked at a relatively humble job. Someone with a 740 was usually accepted into an elite university and had much grander opportunities. Many countries, of course have meritocracies – but few pin them as tightly to rational choice as the US does.

Cold War philosophy also influences US society through its ethics. Its main ethical implication is somewhat hidden, because Cold War philosophy inherits from rational choice theory a proclamation of ethical neutrality: a person’s preferences and goals are not subjected to moral evaluation. As far as rational choice theory is concerned, it doesn’t matter if I want to end world hunger, pass the bar, or buy myself a nice private jet; I make my choices the same way. Similarly for Cold War philosophy – but it also has an ethical imperative that concerns not ends but means. However laudable or nefarious my goals might be, I will be better able to achieve them if I have two things: wealth and power. We therefore derive an ‘ethical’ imperative: whatever else you want to do, increase your wealth and power!

Results of this are easily seen in today’s universities. Academic units that enable individuals to become wealthy and powerful (business schools, law schools) or stay that way (medical schools) are extravagantly funded; units that do not (humanities departments) are on tight rations. Also on tight rations nationwide are facilities that help individuals become wealthy and powerful but do not convey competitive advantage on them because they are open to all or most: highways, bridges, dams, airports, and so on.

Seventy years after the Cold War began, and almost 30 after it ended, Cold War philosophy also continues to affect US politics. The Right holds that if reason itself is rooted in market choice, then business skills must transfer smoothly into all other domains, including governance – an explicit principle of the Trump administration. On the Left, meritocracy rules: all three of Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominees attended law school at either Harvard (as Obama himself did) or Yale (as Hillary Clinton did). The view that choice solves all problems is evident in the White House press secretary Sean Spicer’s presentation of the Republican vision for US health care, at his press briefing last March 23: ‘We’ve lost consumer choice … The idea is to instil choice back into the market.’

Part of the reason for Cold War philosophy’s continuing dominance is that though it is really a philosophy, proffering a normative and universal theory of correct reasoning, it has never been directly confronted on a philosophical level. Its concern with promulgating free markets and contested elections gave it homes in departments of economics and political science, where it thrives today. Philosophers, for their part, have until recently occupied themselves mainly with apolitical fields such as logic, metaphysics and epistemology.

On a philosophical level, however, Cold War philosophy has some obvious problems. Its ‘ethics’, for example, is not a traditional philosophical ethics at all. From Plato to the pragmatists, philosophical ethics has concerned the integration of the individual into a wider moral universe, whether divine (as in Platonic ethics) or social (as in the pragmatists). This is explicitly rejected by Cold War philosophy’s individualism and moral neutrality as regards to ends. Where Adam Smith had all sorts of arguments as to why greed was socially beneficial, Cold War ethics dispenses with them in favour of Gordon Gekko’s simple ‘Greed is good.’

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spilledreality · 5 years

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phillips as poplit

It was spring, around 11am and cold; we had teas with condensed milk in a small Malaysian place in the Lower East Side and I held up an AbEx painter book that was on sale and you made a joke about the page layout.

For about a week the prior May I’d wondered whether or why there hadn't been a poptimist moment in literature, whether that was even a coherent concept. I’d been convinced by a friend the main reason was popular literature was missing the impassioned obsession with craft and technical production, the “Futurist (as in Italian) machine-worship thing.”

But now I was wondering, somewhere between Ludlow and Allen Street, whether this might be an entirely separate question from whether there was admirable or highbrow pop literature. George Melly who raises the topic of pop literature in the 1970 Revolt Into Style thinks the answer to this second question is also no:

The written word, at any rate ‘between hard covers,’ represents a permanence of a sort. Thought is trapped there... There is a further objection: to write and to read are solitary activities. Pop is communal, tribal, a shared experience.

None of these convinced you when I read them out loud, which made me finally sure they didn’t convince me either. Records are as physical as books, you said; the digital has untethered writing from any distinctive permanence or aura thereof; pop experiences can clearly be solo and yet also somehow communal (think the opening scenes of Almost Famous, the discovery of his older sister’s record collection, its portal into another world).

With the Sticky Fingers cover in my eyes I told you “I have this weird suspicion that writers like Kaitlin Phillips might be innovators of pop literature. All the traits are there (for a masculinized version, think rock’n’roll). An emphasis on style over content, the way and electricity with which you deliver a line, the cult of personality and aspirational quality of fandom, the quasi-total package of high-status youth, the conversion of private life into public life, image and glamour. This seems like one of the most exciting developments in recent writing; we probably needed a pop literature, or at least it was inevitable.” But I told you I also thought we needed to be clear about what pop literature was. Reading Maggie in contrast, what strikes me always is her honesty, her willingness to bear the grotesque or deeply shameful without immediately redeeming her image, without the savvy branding or the sleight of hand that turns flaw into costly signal, or weakness into an display of competitive femininity.

By the time you checked email over kabocha squash & sake I was mostly talking to myself: “The vision’s always felt to me like, ‘let's replace a history of brutal economic hierarchies with a future of brutal social hierarchies,’ which, middle school sucked for a lot of people and might be worse than capitalism but, your mileage may vary.” Maybe I don’t see a serious problem in reveling in bad ideology, maybe the style makes up for it. Maybe it’s the sometimes Janus face of some of these scenes which grates, one face making, with moral indignity, a claim towards the radically anti-hierarchical, while the other indulges gleefully the pleasures of life at the top.

ii.

Of pop music Alva Noë writes, “the artist is not a vehicle for music; instead music is a vehicle for the artist.” Pop music is the “art of pure personal style,” a manipulation of cultural codes to enthrall and to convert. What propaganda is to art, advertisement is to pop, a hypnosis, an attempt at psychic implantation.

The music, or here, the writing, is a conjuring act of personality, an apparition summoned by the right triangulation of tone, the attitude, and taste (these all being orientations towards, the how instead of what— in a word, style). The material world is transformed into iconography: objects are used by people, therefore status is transferred through association. “We can all agree that bath salts are passé,” Phillips opens a college essay of hers, “Eastern Promises,” written for the Spectator. Five years later, her Bookforum review of a Rhonda Lieberman tribute begins in explosive baroque prose:

Not just because I—Barnard shiksa from the boonies—was conditioned to envy my more socially savvy Jewish American counterparts for their sunglasses (from Selima), their scarves (not Hermès, actually) knotted the way their mothers taught them, and other birthright privileges awarded young ladies of a certain socioeconomic-religious-cultural demographic, who I imagine learned about Freud from their fathers (this is just a fantasy!), am I fascinated by Rhonda Lieberman.

These links between people and objects, and their history, constitute a cultural graph on which the pop work has been positioned. The objects gets separated out like God on the first day, splitting darkness from light: in or out, low or high, melted into sacred vs profane. In a poptimist or “post-critical” era, this is one of the few discourses which revels Roxy-like in aristocratic sentiment. Often, relatedly, there is in pop a a deep interest in fame and inner circles, celebrity and its half-sibling fashion— see Warhol, Bowie, Gaga.

From early in Phillips’s writing career, agile code-switching is a cornerstone of the performance. “You might shvitz—uh, sweat—with Dad at a Mikvah” she writes aside references to W.H. Auden, Mick Jagger, and Benjamin Britten in “Eastern Promises.” The article, which sells the virtues of bathhouses to her college classmates, includes as primary selling points the potential for brush-ups with celebrity, the history of Someones who have been sighted through the steam. (Another article from that time is a sprawling amateur-journo investigation of St. A’s, the hyper-elite Columbia fraternity which sports a private chef.) Like a young Joan Didion, there's a self-deprecation in her writing that can only be read as irony in-context: “I came up from [the pool] shrieking... I report only that I made no friends.”

Another piece from 2013, a longform on Tao Lin, was linked to by the LARB, Ron Silliman's blog, and some alt literature sites. She wrote about Lin’s demonstrated savvy at building an online following, speculated on the mechanics at play: “Many critics, and fellow bloggers, ask ‘why?,’ but perhaps the more pertinent line of inquiry is ‘how?’” She had started a Twitter account at n+1, @nplusoneinterns, that took as its shtick the pretense of being a group account. Tao Lin himself ended up asking her to make a similar account for him; she gave out the password to classmates to post whatever they wanted. She wasn’t alone in fielding this kind of request; there was a small army of Lin fans that he led and encouraged in growing his reputation through stickering public spaces and making fan blogs.[1]

Phillips’s iconographic matriarch is always Rhonda Lieberman. “She embodies the particular kind of East Coast sophistication I ideated and craved, a wry dinner-party companion known for asides about her complicated relationships with intellectuals.” In Lieberman's writing, the academic-intellectual is turned into a life texture: “1) daily horoscopes and tarot readings; 2) Friedrich Nietzsche; 3) listening to [others on] Prozac.” Like Lieberman, Phillips smashes the high and the low side-by-side (more code-switching, the cultural-linguistic equivalent of turning on a dime): “Derrida is the Madonna of thought. He’s antiphallogocentric and a total diva.” Or, “Thorstein Veblen’s pecuniary emulation, i.e., the Jewish American Princess who buys a Coach purse at twelve only to learn about Prada a year later.” Abstract --> concrete via the i.e.. Lieberman herself is proto-pop, a total mother. “Reviewing a book by Lieberman weirdly feels like reviewing her,” Phillips confesses.

iii.

The flags are at half mast in Union Square: I’m watching you watch a squirrel, seriously fat, scaling Lincoln’s brass left leg. The trees are black-denuded still, it’s too early in the year. Post-structuralism, psychoanalysis, and Derrida: the dollar used bookstands are stacked with them, some kind of sign. The end of an era or an era’s perpetuation? The last clearings or signs of health? Internal readings (formalist, structuralist, New Critical) vs. external readings (Marxist, biographical, sociological, Bourdieuian). The visiting European intellectuals who come lecture, give panel talks, do their continent disservice so routinely out of touch, or banal, or sentimental in that way middle-aged liberals get.

You had recently started switching from kairos, event-time, to chronos, sequential-numeric. Off of summer’s “after the party,” or “when we wake up,” and onto the worldtime of 9:00 a.m. It was making me grumpy, a feeling counteracted only by the way the teenagers next to us were talking: “perf,” “def,” “I’m totally jeal.”

[1] Is it only fair I trace her provenance this way? From her essay on Lin, “His decision to be a writer seems to have cemented during his senior year, in 2004, when Lin went into self-imposed isolation. He left the dorms and moved to New Jersey.” Later: “His first three years out of college are marked by their tenacious, discursive productivity. In fact, from his output during this period, it is hard to tell he lost hope at all.”

#kaitlin phillips #bookforum #red scare #george melly #peli grietzer

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fakediplomajoy-blog · 5 years

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seven. What exactly are your strengths and weaknesses?

eight. Why should really we seek the services of you?

nine. Why did you choose to be a teacher, nurse,...?

ten. Where do you see yourself in five many years? 10 years?

11. Why Are you interested in to depart your current career?

Immediately after INTERVIEW

With a satisfying smile, say thanks and ask with regards to the next move in the process. Abide by up. Simply call them If you don't get yourself a call inside of a presented time period and dont neglect to jot down a thank you letter to an organization for using out their treasured time on your interview.

Few explanations for not acquiring a career.

Might be you deficiency oral interaction abilities or writing techniques.

Your inappropriate attitude could also Permit you to down in the job interview.

Lack of knowledge about the Doing the job environment.

Insufficient self confidence.

Inappropriate/bogus diploma.

Lack of practical experience.

Insufficient enthusiasm.

Observe Job interview Techniques.

CHIN UP And kit UP FOR YOUR Subsequent INTERVIEW!

#fake certificate #fake diploma #fake degree #fake academic transcript

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nameasart-blog · 6 years

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INTERWIEW WITH DANILO SANTINELLI

(spelling saved)

- How old are you, where do you live and do you have an art education?

- I am fifty years old, I live in Jesi, a small town in central Italy. I have been drawing since the age of five, I was a teenager and I attended in the State Art Institute of Ancona, the capital of the region in which I live. Later I graduated in Visual Arts at DAMS in Bologna

- What do you think about academic drawing school?

- The school of academic drawing is an excellent gym, where you learn to handle some necessary tools, but it is important that it does not turn into a cage, the risk of turning into virtuous without expressiveness and language is always high. The technique must be at the service of the expression and the construction of its own pictorial language.

- What inspires you?

- My pictorial research is centred on the expression of time, generally I take my cue from banal episodes of my everyday life: they can be roads that I usually travel or even moments of family life.

More recently, in the series entitled "Dissolution", I paint portraits of people I know, friends or students, or of famous people, writers, painters, scientists, politicians, etc., always placing behind them streets. So the road becomes a metaphor of the meaning I want the subject to assume portrait. The road, after all, I think is an excellent metaphor for life, we follow a road as we walk through life, we do not know where it will take us or what it will bring us together, but certainly we are In an artistic journey I believe that the most difficult thing is, using a metaphor, not to lose the way. Do not be tempted by the easy and short ways, if it happens, the research disappears and is produced for the market and in that case you can only make paintings insignificant and ugly. To a lot of art, since the eighties of the last century, this has happened, it has become a phenomenon and a product of the market totally unrelated to the purposes of research.

- Do you have a hobby besides creative activity?

- I like to read and study, but it is not a hobby, I consider study an integral part of my pictorial research without which I could not progress or express myself. I spend my free time with my children and my partner.

- How does your family relate to your creativity?

- My children have always seen me paint or draw or teach things about images, so I think it's normal for them. I'm a normal father who does this instead of doing anything else. My partner has known me for so many years that I think it's normal for her too, it's something that is part of me. Of course it can often have been difficult for her, she has always been with me, in difficult times and in good ones and I can only thank her for her patience and perseverance.Mine is just a normal family life, at least that's what it seems to me.

- What was the most difficult in your profession?

- A question that is difficult to answer, I must first of all ask myself if the success of a work of mine is to be referred to the public or to myself, to the path within my pictorial research. Generally I tend to consider, out of unconsciousness, only this second aspect

- In the countries of the former Soviet Union, there is an opinion that the artist should be hungry, how do you feel about this?

- I'm mainly hungry for curiosity, I can't stand still and I need to discover new things that I don't know, I need to see what I already know from another point of view. The Russian opinion that you mentioned, I imagine, is due to the difficulties experienced by different artists during their career, episodes more related to aspects of their pictorial research that tended to detach themselves from the taste and fashion of the times to which they belonged.The last period of Rembrandt's or Goya's life is a clear example of this. For this reason, they are all the greater, especially when compared to the softness of so much of today's painting, designed more for the market and its needs, than as research processes in relation to the development of society.

- What would you like to achieve next?

- The objective on which I am working in this period is actually an aspect on which I have been working for some time, I think about the end of 2012, when I started looking for and archiving a whole series of painters around the world who do things similar to mine.

So I tried to trace the historical and pictorial roots and social reasons. In short, to give a historical reconstruction that I carry on in my blog and that I consider an intrinsic aspect of my own pictorial research. It would be wonderful to be able to bring them together in a single exhibition, but it is an idea that I don't know if it can be realized.

- Your most successful work, in your opinion?

- The aspects that give me the greatest satisfaction are the esteem of painters that I consider "great" painters, or the esteem of ordinary people who have nothing to gain from my work, but who still feel the need to write to me, communicate their feelings about my paintings. This is the most interesting thing, the fact that one of your works has induced someone to talk about it.

Of course, public recognition is also a pleasure: the prize received, participation in important exhibitions, the mention by a person in charge of the work, but, as if to say, the person who writes to you or says something about your work because he felt the need, seems to me a more valuable gift. But, as already said, I tend to be unconscious.

- What are your favorite artists?

- I have so many favorite artists, I'll just say a few: Leonardo, Titian, Tintoretto, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Giuseppe Maria Crespi, Salvator Rosa, Füsli, Guardi, Goya, Géricault, Constable, Turner, Bonnard, Munch, Schiele (especially the landscapes), Kirchner, Giacometti, Bacon, Diebenkorn, Ajmone, Cremonini, Morbelli, Boccioni (even the pre-futurist works), Ernst, Fautrier, it is impossible to list them all, past and recent, even living, even living. I have written about many of these painters in my blog, highlighting above all the different use of the pictorial matter and trying to explain the reasons, reconstructing an uninterrupted path that reaches up to the present day.

Danilo Santinelli "The streets of Istanbul 2012"

Danilo Santinelli "Breakfast at sea" 2012

- Your most successful work, in your opinion?

- What are your favorite artists?

Artist's page and our page in the instagram

#art #artist #artists on tumblr #artwork #interview #modern art #интервью #творчество #интересное

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titmasjack · 6 years

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Weekly Summary

With three weeks remaining before my first deadline on the 26th of February, much like the previous unit, I wanted to dedicate a set amount of time to work on my 1500 word essay. With academic writing not being the strongest aspect of my work. I found it really helpful giving myself the time to focus on the production of my essay last unit, as it not only benefitted me by giving me allocated time to produce at least a first draft but gave me the lack of stress about having to complete it last minute.

Wanting to ensure that I continued this trend throughout this unit, I gave myself the majority of week 7 to focus on the research narrative project for my upcoming peer and tutor reflection on the 5th of February. Using this time to my full advantage I broke down the necessary paragraphs and functions of my essay to ensure that I produced a methodical and progressive essay that reflect a range of opinions and ideas responding to one of the five questions posed by Lynsey herself in a previous week.

Directly focusing my work on this project, I definitely sidetracked not only my other projects but my blog, as I haven’t had the opportunity to produce a range of other written content having been focused on my essay itself. In the upcoming weeks, I hope to be able to reflect and build back up the work on my blog, responding to the tasks that I completed and missed to ensure that I don’t fall behind in any other projects I’m currently tasked with.

Although I feel that I could have continued the trend of producing a blog every evening, academic writing has always been a weak point in my work and didn’t want it to affect the flow and dynamic of my essay, when having to produce a much more formal outcome.

I feel that having given myself the time to work solely on my essay will definitely help me in the long run as it means that I have taken action to prioritise what I know is a weakness in my own work. Getting myself ahead of the curve in receiving the best feedback possible on what I can improve and develop upon in my upcoming iterations. Although I know that I have to add formal citations and references to my work, this is something that can be done when given feedback and isn't reliably needed when asking for a response from my tutors and peers.

Although I still had my timetabled lessons, I felt that now was the best time to work on my essay as throughout the previous week we have had a lot more independent study. In preparation for my deadline and next project, now was the best time for me to pursue my essay to get the most out of my time available.

Research Narrative

Solely focusing on my research narrative essay, I made great strides in being able to produce a completed first draft with a total of 1458 words that fit into the 1500 word count. With a 10% leeway I was originally sceptical that I would be able to create enough content to meet the required word count, but soon found that the extra 500 words in comparison to our previous units essay, gave me enough breathing room to explore and discuss in more depth a few ranges of points, rather than highlighting many points with little detail. Focusing on a couple of main theorists, I was able to constantly refer back to the original intentions of my essay, clearly responding to the original thesis that I stated in my introduction.

In comparison to my previous essay, I believe this showcases a much more clear and concise response to a given question, with alot less unnecessary fluff surrounding the topic of discussion. I was happy to have had also included a lot more of the cultural and historical context to my work as a driving factor to drive home my opinions. Having the chance to research the background information surrounding a films incentive and foreign culture has definitely widened my eyes to the possibility of interpretation and stylised choice as a director.

I am happy with how this week turned out in regards to this project, as it gave me a good way in demonstrating how I can get ahead of the curve in producing and finalising a project before its deadline. This will give me a great setup for the upcoming week as I now have the opportunity to ask for the tutor and peer reflection on my work, to how I could further improve or expand my studies.

Although I haven’t fully completed my bibliography, I wanted to ensure that I had a completed first draft to present on the day of my reflection. As I wish to continue to expand my bibliography as I create a variety of iterations, I hope to look at alternate sources and begin to use the library as a tool of resources that can support my studies.

Digital Morphs

N/a Whilst focusing on other tasks, I didn’t find the time to make any significant developments on this individual project.

Animated Sketchbook

N/a Whilst focusing on other tasks, I didn’t find the time to make any significant developments on this individual project.

Intro to Stop-Motion

Developing our initial introduction to the software we took our animations past ball bounces by interacting with humanoid characters. Having them complete the task of lifting a box, we experimented with injecting character by varying the timing and spacing of our animations to portray various characteristics and responses to picking up a box. With a variety of variables I could consider throughout my experiments I got the opportunity to highlight the effects of a lightbox, heavy box, consider age, and form, technique and context. This gave me enough variety to create a range of experiments through stop-motion animation, video reference and story-boarding my initial ideas.

Although I only had the opportunity to animate two box lifts, I felt that my tests were a lot more effective than my original experiments with our ‘introduction to stop-motion’ with animator Tine Kluth. Using a much more simplified armature, I found it easier to not only pose but bend and articulate the humanoid figure due to its wire limbs compared to the previous ball and socket animation experiments I had previously made.

With the much-improved flexibility, I believe that I was able to convey a lot stronger posing that established the characters weight and momentum throughout each action.

To best support my work, I also filmed a series of box lifts by myself, friends and peers documenting the subtle differences in completing the action, accounting for size, weight body shape and age. Having the opportunity to use this alongside as reference when animating, made my life significantly easier as it allowed me to establish a realistic sense of the posture of the characters and how they reacted to varying weights. What I found most interesting was the vast amount of secondary actions in the simple task of lifitng a box.

Next week we’ll be establishing a more character driven task that relies on the emotion that I as an animator can portray through the physicality of a puppet. Much like before I intend to not only shoot reference footage but support my work by creating a range of storyboards that expresses the emotions I want to explore.

Intro to Digital 3D

Jumping further into the new software of Maya, this week focused on the modelling aspects of the program, looking at how we could bend, expand and distort original shapes to create a series of outcomes based on reference imagery. Specifically using the modelling tools available, we established how I could use them to my advantage to create a series of tools and everyday objects based around reference art and imagery we were provided beforehand.

Staying away from animation, modelling is a huge aspect of the animated film industry that could be a potential gateway for me to pursue as a career later in life. I found that I got to grips quite comfortably with the modelling aspect of Maya and was something I definitely pursued further in my own time. Whilst not having the opportunity to fully complete the task of the session in the dedicated time, I took it upon myself to independently develop my modelling session by changing, developing and working on my original models to ensure they best reflected the original reference images we were provided.

Taking the time to independently pursue this further, I found it rather fun to be working in software I hadn't tried before. Unlike After Effects, although I want to be introduced to a range of new tools, I found it personally easier to create outcomes and creatively develop ideas using the tools available. I hope that in the last week of the project we get the opportunity to explore our own ideas in creating a modelling task that leads to animation. Amalgamating both techniques and processes we have learnt using this new program.

Overall, I found it very helpful to have dedicated the majority of my time this week to my narrative research essay. Having the chance to now get peer reflection on my work, this will allow me to iterate and create multiple drafts without the stress of creating a full essay closer to my deadline.

To summarise;

With my deadline of the 26th approaching, I need to focus on my digital morph and sketchbook project to get them to the standard I want to create.

Having prioritised my essay, I need to catch up on my blog to showcase the work I have been creating outside of my narrative research project.

In the upcoming week, I need to get peer and tutor response for my essay on how I can improve and adapt my outcome to best suit the brief.

Continue to develop and expand upon my two mini-briefs introducing stop-motion and digital 3D animation.

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ullielwrites · 8 years

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「☩」 UPLOADING CRIMINAL RECORD…

ALIAS(ES): Stefan Romulus Aleksandrov мороз -- Or “Moroz”

AGE & BIRTH DATE: 28 | 14 February 1989

ALIGNMENT: Lawful (Walking the Line Between Neutral and) Evil

CLASSIFICATIONS: Sky High Dropout (Hero) | Super-Villain | Faculty Member

OCCUPATIONS: Historical Analysis of Good and Evil | Detention Room Monitor

POWERS & ABILITIES: Cryokinesis | Cryo-Regeneration | Cryostasis

「☩」 RUNNING BACKGROUND CHECK...

In 1849, in a small Russian town, there were two super-powered brothers whom were running against each other for mayor: Cezar and Vodim Aleksandrov. While Cezar held an honorable campaign, Vodim sought to sabotage his sibling at every turn for reasons unknown even today, and eventually won the election. When Cezar learned of the scandals, this caused a massive fight that led to the ruination of not only the town, but the creation of the eternal snow in what are now the wilds of Siberia.

Though both brothers survived, a rift was formed between them and, as they went on to have families, a rivalry was born as either side was forbidden to even speak to the other, and almost all meetings resulted in a brawl. Stefan hails from Vodim’s side and, naturally, was raised with what had come to be villainous intentions to lead society into a new era of peace under the thumb of the powerful. Namely, their family and those whom they had deemed worthy to rule beside them.

By the time Stefan was supposed to enter high school, he had succeeded most of his parents’ teachings and already developed most of his power’s potential. The boy’s mother masqueraded as their family’s good half, enrolling him into Sky High with the mission of understanding the mindsets of future heroes and learning all he can about their superpowers so that he’d have an advantage.

While he was highly successful at both objectives, he’d lost his way upon befriending a few students, beginning to undertake a change of heart. Though, before it could fully manifest, his father withdrew him from the high school and took him out to their original home in Siberia, never to been seen again for many years.

After completing his training and going through several initiation trials, Stefan took the helm as this generation’s мороз; a mysterious - and immortal, as far as normal humans know - world-class villain that wants to control the homeland (Russia) and use their status to seek conquest on the rest of the world, giving evil a permanent upper hand.

For six years, his operations to overtake the President’s Council went smoothly as the family began manipulating over half of the ministers. Stefan had broken a lot of new ground for the villainous cause as he turned the citizens on their own leader, and they’d almost reached a tipping point as mutinous outbreaks started over the radically controversial laws that were passed under the corruption.

Tragedy struck when the heroic Aleksandrov, the first female in the other sides’ lineage, figured out and exposed the entire scheme, throwing five generations of hard work down the drain. Tracking him down to his headquarters underneath Siberia’s Kholat Syakhl, Stefan was defeated and publicly unmasked before being thrown into the International Super Society’s prison, where each cell is specially garnered for that particular villain.

Upon serving three years’ time with good behavior, he was given the chance to serve parole by becoming a teacher at Sky High, to which he dismissively agreed to. In reality, he would’ve taken on almost anything to get away from the torture of being stuck in an eternal dry heat while blindfolded and shackled. He currently acts as the history instructor, as well as the detention room monitor during after-school hours in exchange for comfortable housing and freedom to use his powers on-campus.

「☩」 DOWNLOADING MISCELLANEOUS ANALYSIS...

ACTIONS LOUDER THAN WORDS: Though the extent of them are unknown as he never speaks much outside of lessons, he is, first and foremost, a gentleman at heart, abiding by a code of conduct and honor. Secondly, he has been bred with evil intentions, and so his loyalties will always fall on family members, then fellow villains before all else. Thirdly, his personal actions must follow the laws set before him, which has allowed for some creative, slimy tactics on his part in the past. Since his father was normally out being a famous super-villain or on business (he owns a law firm in New York City) when not training the young boy, Stefan was raised under his mother’s protective wing. These sculpted his more tame “live, and let live” philosophies in comparison to his male ancestors’ vicious tendencies.

DEADLY BEYOND RECOGNITION: Aside from his masterful prowess over frozen tundra and the freezing of elements, he is classically trained Russian royalty i.e. has been taught traditional swordsmanship (mainly with rapiers and daggers) and highly versatile hand-to-hand combat (Krav Maga and Sambo). Stefan utilizes all-in survival techniques with quick and efficient strikes as well as many counter-attacks, alongside “sniping” when not in close quarters; his style combines agility and speed to reach maximum potential of his capabilities. Having both his hands and sight as catalysts for his capabilities - a deadly combination denoting that he inherited traits from both his father (another ice manipulator) and his mother (infamous for her Gorgon-esque powers), he is easily capable of killing normal men, and yet...

INNOCENT YET UNCLEAN: While charged with over 100 murders amongst other accusations, he is personally responsible for none of them. Imprisoned them? Yes. Emotionally and mentally toyed with them? Of course. Killed, physically touched (let alone tortured), and/or maimed, however? Never; his underlings carried out punishments of their own volition, and are much more outwardly aggressive than he has been.

FORMER MUSICAL PRODIGY: Through his mother, he developed a deep-seated passion since her day job was as a cellist for the New York Philharmonic. He learned to play the cello, piano, and also can sing quite well. Music became the way he coped with his morality struggles, making a routine out of practicing late at night or just singing to himself as he reads to whatever songs he’s listening to in the evenings. Though he once showed off his talents as a child, when Stefan grew more introverted post-education, he hid his skills so that other villains could take him more seriously. Though he’d never voice it aloud, Stefan’s dream career would be that of a composer, or at least a singer-songwriter, or a musician in a group with other equally talented minds.

RUMBLE AND SWAY: Though the heir apparent of the Aleksandrov’s former empire, he has a brother named Percival whom he almost always butted heads with. Don’t get him wrong -- he loves his only living direct family member, and would never give away his location, nor his current alias. But the younger sibling has teetered farther into neutral alignment, and has aided their heroic cousin in the past.

「☩」 SEARCHING FOR KNOWN RELATIONS...

IM SOO JIN - OLD FRIEND, FORMER PEN PAL: When he first started out at Sky High, Stefan was an intimidating figure; sharply dressed and groomed every day, he made it clear from the get-go that he was an academic that knew more than he let on, and almost always took dueling and team matches a little too far. In his small circle of friends, he was the quiet guardian, and it especially applied with the young senior, Soo Jin. Despite her graduating and moving away, as well as his eventual defection to evil, they maintained contact throughout the years, and she is one of the reason why he hasn’t completely gone on a revenge spree against every goodie two-shoe out there... yet.

KEIKO MINAMOTO - FRIEND OF A FRIEND, CARETAKER: (NOTE: BURN AND SCAR MENTIONS.) Meeting through her cousin, Soo Jin, the ice manipulator has trusted her with the terrible task of helping him maintain the burn marks inflicted across his torso and back; the permanent physical damage that the International Super Society left on him during his imprisonment. She’s one of few whom is aware of these constantly reopening scars, and he prefers it being kept hush-hush as to not show weakness in public. They generally enjoy each other’s company time to time during the school day, though there have been times Stefan’s been tempted to take advantage of her goodness to work in favor of his programmed drive to help sway students to evil.

#v: heroes and sidekicks #long post

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thexavierinstituterp · 8 years

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20 Day Character Development Challenge

Please try to stay on top of these from day to day until all 20 days are completed. As the challenge indicates, the 20 days’ questions/prompts are not meant to be answered all at once. The challenge was made by me (Admin Bri) specifically for this group and is designed to allow you and others in the group to know your character a little more in depth.

Be sure to complete all 20 days by Friday, March 17. Members of the group, please ‘like’ this post to indicate you have read it. If you have any questions, contact the main!

-Day 1- Does your character have a middle name? Do they go by any nicknames or aliases? How old are they currently? What pronouns do they prefer for themselves? What is their academic standing at this time? How tall are they? What color are their eyes? Describe their hair length, color and texture. Do they have any tattoos or piercings? List them, if so.

-Day 2- Create a media mood/aesthetic board of your character. You may use 9 gifs and/or still images of any kind.

-Day 3- What is their relationship with their parent(s)/guardian(s)? Do they have siblings? If so, what is their relationship like? Are they close to any other relatives of theirs? In 3 words, describe what your character was mostly like as a child: Did/do they have any pets at home? Did your character mostly live in the same home or have they moved prior to attending the Xavier Institute? Did they have many, if any friends back home?

-Day 4- What are your character’s most notable physical traits/features? Do they have any birth marks? Do they have any notable scars or marring on their body? If yes to the above, how did they get them? Are they allergic to anything? What are 3-5 positive personality descriptions of your character? What are 3-5 negative personality descriptions of your character? Would they consider themselves easy to get along with, or generally tougher to get along with? Are they comfortable being a mutant?

-Day 5- Favorites:

Color:

Music genre(s):

Scent/aroma:

Comfort food:

Time of day:

Season:

Leisure activity:

Book/book genre:

School subject:

-Day 6- What is your character’s general fashion aesthetic? Feel free to include images.

-Day 7- Describe their overall academic performance (Do they tend to struggle? Are they at all driven? Do they only do enough to get by? Are they prideful? Competitive? Lazy? Naturally gifted? Studious? Have they ever been held back?). Have they ever been punished at school (detention, suspension, expulsion, etc.)? Have they ever been a part of any teams or clubs? Do they have an interest in any extracurricular teams or clubs?

-Day 8- Where do they generally align on the morality spectrum (Lawful good, lawful neutral, lawful evil; neutral good, true neutral, neutral evil; chaotic good, chaotic neutral, chaotic evil)? What, if any sort of circumstances might sway them from this usual alignment to another?

-Day 9- Favorites II:

Cold beverage:

Hot beverage:

Snack:

Outdoor activity:

Indoor activity:

Cuisine:

Animal:

Movie/TV shows &/or genres:

Actor &/or actress:

-Day 10- Take this MBTI test in-character and share their results (including the description)!

-Day 11- If your character was likened to an animal, what animal would it be? Why? If your character could vacation anywhere for 1 week, all expenses paid, where would they go? If your character could change anything about their mutation, would they? What would they change if they did? Which adolescent clique(s) would they most identify with: Nerd/Geeks, Jocks, Thespians, Preps, Drama/Gossipers, Troublemakers, Slackers, Loners, Class Clowns, Fringe/Followers, Trendies, Hipsters, Do-gooders/Teacher’s pets If you could put your character into a [different] fictional setting (television series, film, book/novel), what one would you put them in?

-Day 12- This or that:

Passive or aggressive responses to wrongdoing?

Night owl or early bird?

Typically arrives early, on time or late?

Adventurous or cautious?

Rich ally or loyal ally?

Driver or passenger?

Pens or pencils?

A day at the beach or a day at an amusement park?

Coffee or Tea?

Expressive or Demure?

-Day 13- Are there any phrases or expressions that your character habitually says or uses? Does your character have any particular ticks, fidgets, or habits? Is there anything your character absolutely will not leave their bedroom without (aside from clothes)? List 3 of their biggest pet peeves: Identify at least 1 of your character’s vices: How do they generally regard peers/people closer to their age? How do they generally regard authority figures?

-Day 14- When your character is truly angered (beyond annoyed, pestered, etc.), how do they typically conduct themselves? Someone offers them to redo 1 day in their life without having to carry out any favors: does your character take them up on this offer, and if so, describe the 1 day they choose to go back and redo. Has your character ever used their powers/abilities/mutation to purposely harm someone/something else? In cases of conflict, are they likely to engage, withdraw or observe?

-Day 15- Has your character ever believed in a higher power/higher being? Do they ever celebrate holidays? Do they have a favorite holiday if they do? How do they typically approach their birthday: with revelries, with quiet, with disdain, or with the same regard as any other day of the year? Are they superstitious? Do they have any irrational fears or phobias? Do they tend to value handmade gifts, store-bought gifts, or no gifts at all from others?

-Day 16- Is your character a wild/restless sleeper, a still sleeper or somewhere in between? Are they someone who frequently takes naps? when they do, are they able to nap anywhere? Do they snore? Grind their teeth? Are they particular about where & how they sleep (on a bed, on the floor, on a certain side of a bed, with a certain number of pillows, etc.)? Have they got any nightly rituals? Do they sleep in pajamas, underwear, nothing, or the clothes they have on? Have they any sleeping quirks or habits such as sleepwalking or talking in their sleep? Has your character got any standout dreams/nightmares?

-Day 17- Does your character know how to cook? Without the use of their powers/mutation, if your character were lost in New York City, would they be able to find their way back to the Institute? Can your character play any instruments? If so, which one(s)? Do they know how to dance? Would they consider themselves tech savvy? Can they ride a bike? Roller skate? Use a skateboard? Are they more dependent on objects and others, or are they more self-reliant?

-Day 18- What is 1 short term goal they hope to accomplish? What is 1 long term goal they hope to accomplish? Is there anything daring or extraordinary that they want to do? How likely are they to create a bucket list for themselves? Do they have a future career for themselves in mind? Do they have any conventional future aspirations for themselves (marriage, children, travel, etc.)? Would they likely live luxuriously, modestly, or simply? Do they think they might want to be an X-Men member someday? Is there anyone that they might want or need to make amends with in the future?

-Day 19- Has your character ever:

Smoked a cigar or cigarette?

Smoked weed?

Drank alcohol?

Been drunk?

Flirted?

Skinny dipped?

Vacationed?

Kissed someone?

Hurt a stranger and felt bad about it later?

Turned down a dare?

Stolen something?

Harbored regret?

Been arrested?

Given to charity?

Had sex?

Been on TV?

Physically fought someone else?

Lost something (not someone) important?

-Day 20- Pass on what you feel are 3 important pieces of advice to your character.

#xi prompt

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ink-astra · 5 years

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LINO BROCKA & MIKE DE LEON (AUTEUR THEORY)

AUTEUR THEORY: WHAT IS IT?

Auteur Theory, at its very core, attempts to get the viewers and film critics to see film as an art form--and not just as a commercial product or a product of a director. There must be a distinct style throughout a director’s body of work for it to be considered as auteur.

In the 1940s, the French New Wave developed Auteurism, rooted from the “french auteur” which was supposed to contrast the Hollywood studio system. The idea was further developed by Fracois Truffaut in the 1950s, citing that it’s the director’s job to inject “politique” into the film. According to him, a film was tied to the creative vision of the single author, the director, the “auteur”. He claims that: “There are no good or bad movies, just good an bad directors”. Following this, Truffat claims that it is more important for a film to be interesting than good; greatness is a measure of originality and vision rather than craft.

In 1962, Andrew Sarris furthered developed this idea into “auteur theory”, based on his written work, “Notes on the Auteur Theory”. According to him, in order to be considered as an “auteur director”, the director must have the following traits: (1) Technical competence, meaning a great director must at least be a good director (2) Distinguishing Personality and (3) Interior Meaning.

However, film critic Pauline Kael disagrees with this notion, stating that “entangling the perceived quality or meaning of one film with the director’s body of work indicates that you are not capable of really judging either”. She says that: “When a famous director makes a good movie, we look at the movie. We don’t think about the director’s personality.” In simpler terms, we should judge the auteur by the art, not the art by the auteur.

DIR. LINO BROCKA EARLY LIFE AND CAREER BEGINNINGS

Catalino Ortiz Brocka, most famously known as Lino Brocka, was born in Pilar, Sorsogon in 1939. His father was a great influence on him; his father was the one who taught him math, English, and the arts. When he was young, his father was killed in a political murder, resorting him to flee with his mother and brother to his mother’s sister. From then on, his life had not been easy. Brocka constantly experienced physical and verbal abuse from his relatives, he was forced to do hard labour.

Despite his upbringing, Brocka excelled academically and even won a scholarship to a prestigious academic institution, The University of the Philippines. At first, Brocka studied pre-law, but he dropped out in order to pursue literature instead. During his college years, he joined the Dramatic Club, but he was criticized for his provincial accent and demeanour; this treatment disgusted him. He watched American films, films that he had taken a strong interest in his youth, in order to practice his English and improve his accent. This later gained him approval from the Dramatic Club, but he only ended up being a stagehand.

After travelling to American for his missionary work, where he had been offered an American citizenship having lived there for a while, he returned to the Philippines instead to revive his interest in filmmaking.

Lino Brocka’s first film was Wanted: A Perfect Mother which was released in 1970. The film was inspired by The Sound of Music and it was his first and last film that was not heavy on social injustice and drama. After that film, his films became more personal; he started depicting the life, plights, and suffering of the Filipino people. This sparked movies such as Manila in the Claws of Light, which was released in 1975 and Insiang, which was released in 1978.

BROCKA’S ARREST AND DEATH

Due to the heavy censorship under the Marcos dictatorship, Lino Brocka was forced to smuggle his film outside the country to avoid heavy cuts and to screen the whole film. In 1984, he flew to Cannes Festival to support a nomination, which was the film Bayan Ko. During his fight for freedom of speech, he exposed Ferdinand Marcos had taken control of the media, resulting in its heavy censorship. Upon returning to the Philippines, Lino Brocka was arrested.

After the fall of Marcos, he was released from prison an invited by Corazon Aquino, the successor of Marcos, to help draft the 1986 constitution. Brocka later left as he saw that the policies only worked against the FIlipinos.

Brocka died in a car accident years later, in 1991.

BROCKA IN THE CONTEXT OF AUTEUR THEORY

MANILA IN THE CLAWS OF LIGHT AND INSIANG

Brocka’s film, Manila in the Claws of Light was nominated in the Cannes Festival. The film is about a countryman, Julio Madiaga, who came to the city of Manila to find his missing lover.

The film’s protagonist is a fisherman raised in the province, who is subjected to the busy hustles and money-hungry city of Manila. When he first enters the city, he tries to find a job after losing his first one as a carpenter. Through this journey, he realizes that earning money in Manila, a city perceived as “the big city” or a city that promises a good life, is not as easy as it sounds.

Manila's economic situation does not welcome those with little cash in their pockets; Julio is no exception from this. This is given by the line, “It’s nice to live here if you have money, if you don’t, you’ll die.” Being a simple fisherman raised in the province, he struggles to find a good-paying job, often landing in jobs that pay him less. The audience can especially feel his urge to find money when he asks the call boy later in the movie, “Do you think I can work there?”. This indicates that he’s interested to work in a club, where the call boy works, even though he’s never been into one or knows about the business. Julio even attempted being a call boy himself, only to hesitate and eventually quit the job after one client. Julio’s desperation to find a good job is very real and raw; this reflects the current situation of the country--when lower-class Filipinos aren’t provided the means to support themselves because of their struggle in finding better-paying jobs in conventional means. In the hopelessness of their situation, they turn to illegal means such as prostitution.

Julio Madiaga is a manifestation of Lino Brocka himself; his upbringing of being a naïve country folk, who finds it the hard way that the promise of a good life in the big city is only an illusion. In the film, Manila in the Claws of Light portrays, Mrs. Cruz, a wealthy woman from Manila, lures young girls from the province, promising an education and the good life in the big city, only to sell them into prostitution. The unapologetically corrupt people, with little to no morals, and the gritty violence the film portrays; does not shy away from the depressing reality of the FIlipino society. Other than character, Lino Brocka’s portrayal of the state of the Philippines is one of his signature storytelling styles.

Overall, the film does not shy away from exposing and even critiquing the dark side of Manila; how it twists its people to their path of self-destruction or selfishness. In mainstream Filipino entertainment, the overall pattern is to watch the protagonist, usually someone poor, to struggle and then succeed. The Filipino protagonist must embody hope and perseverance. This film deviates from that; exposing the dark truth that not everyone has a happy ending, sometimes the protagonist themselves are victims of a time, place, or setting. Manila in the Claws of Light is bold in that aspect and is not afraid to show the ugly sides of Manila.

Besides social injustices, Lino Brocka also portrays sexuality; a topic that most directors during his time tended to avoid, especially since they were under the Marcos dictatorship. This was seen in Manila in the Claws of Light; when Julio Madiaga met the call boy. When he talks about sex work; there is no shame--it’s shown at is it is, a job. Brocka also tends to have characters like him, as well as prostitutes, street hustles, slum dwellers, etc. shown in his films. Through this, Brocka aims to highlight the marginalized as well as highly ignored sector of the society.

Insiang was released in 1978 and it won a prestigious award in the Cannes Festival called Palm d’Or, solidifying his reputation of being one of the greatest directors in Southeast Asia. The film is about a young woman named Insiang, and her revenge from being raped by her mother’s lover.

Brocka also likes to portray confident and strong-spirited women in his films. Although, that may not be the case at first with Insiang; at the beginning, the film was extremely anti-woman. It showed cases of street harassment, cat-calling, sexism, and objectification of women. An example of this scene was when a friend of Insiang was harrassed in the streets; Insiang’s family made excuses for the harasser by saying “he was drunk”, making Insiang and her family enablers of this harassment.

The peak of this anti-woman notion in the film was when Insiang was raped by his mother’s lover, Dado. Insiang’s mother, Tonya, was incredibly angry towards Dado. When Tonya confronted him, Dado blamed it on Insiang, saying she seduced him. Tonya then turned her rage towards Insiang, cursing at her. This reflects a sad reality that women have to face, especially in the Philippines where the society is patriarchal and sexis, rooted in traditional perspectives.

Insiang, distraught and disgusted with herself, plots her revenge. This was not evident at first, since women were viewed as weak and sexual objects. Furthermore, Dado continues to have sex with her, thinking that she’s in love with him--but in reality, she was slowly gaining his trust. On top of that, Insiang would continually provoke Tonya. Insiang was going as far as lying and telling her that Dado finds her disgusting, much to her dismay. When Tonya finally had the last straw, she stabbed Dado to death and was eventually imprisoned. Later, when Insiang visits her mother, it was revealed that Tonya killed him so that they wouldn’t be together. This was given by the line, “If I can’t have him, you won’t either”. This was not the case, however; Insiang said that she was never in love with him, she only wanted revenge and so she did what she could to provoke Tonya into murdering him.

The final revelation exposed Insiang’s true colors and twisted desire. In normal Philippine setting, no one would expect a woman to be capable of doing such vile actions; but that notion was twisted in Insiang.

Unlike Manila in the Claws of Light, in the film Insiang, the protagonist somehow got what they wanted; and it was through taking advantage of what society perceives as women. Brocka wanted to show strong-spirited women in his films and Insiang was one of them. Despite being raped and cursed at by her mother, and working in the slums of the Philippines, she was still clever enough to come up with a plan to murder her rapist. She has shown intellect and perseverance, albeit in a wicked way. In Insiang, the audience can see the elements of a story that Brocka liked to include in his body of work; (1) a protagonist being subjected to hard labor that does not pay well (2) a protagonist that is not entirely well-off, just like Julio and (3) the protagonist is a woman, who is also part of a marginalized or oppressed group in the Philippines.

Overall, can Lino Brocka be counted as an auteur director? If using Andrew Sarris criteria--which Technical competence, Distinguishing Personality and Interior Meaning. Then yes, Lino Brocka possesses all these traits to be counted as an auteur director.

IMPORTANCE OF LINO BROCKA’S FILMS IN THE PHILIPPINES

Lino Brocka died in 1991, and most of his most prominent works were released decades ago; however, its importance still prevails today, as the same issues back in his time are still prevalent, and more issues arise every year.

Brocka, being an openly gay man, included homosexual narratives in his body of work, despite having that topic shunned upon by directors during his time. On top of that, the Philippine society in general turns away from the LGBT community. According to a report written by Outrage, “Thirty percent of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people in the Philippines reported being harassed, bullied or discriminated against by others while at work because of their sexual orientation, gender identity, expression and sex characteristics (SOGIESC). This is according to a United Nations (UN) study that looked at the levels of SOGIESC-related discrimination encountered by LGBTI people in three countries: China, Thailand and the Philippines. It is in the Philippines where the rates are highest, compared to 21% in China, and 23 percent in Thailand.” Filipinos need directors like Lino Brocka, who does not only represent the LGBT, but also directors who are not afraid to talk about topics despite the current conditions in the Philippines.

Brocka was also an advocate for women, having a strong female lead like Insiang in his body of work. The film treats Insiang as a woman capable of being strong. On a light note, women have more opportunities these days and their voices, concerns, and campaigns are more listened to than before, equal to me. The sad reality is that there are still people who do not see women are equal to men, some are even unconsciously sexist. While women are more than capable of handling the same jobs as women, there is a mindset that holds them back, that mindset is that they primarily belong as housewives. According to BusinessWorld, “Society is generally the last trisector element. Deeply rooted attitudes play an integral part in limiting the potential of women and an investment in public awareness can ease the path for working women. According to statistics from the Department of Labor and Employment, about 30% of working-age women report that household or family duties prevent them from working.”

Another aspect that Brocka was not afraid to show the current conditions of the lower class Filipinos; which, until today, remains the same. There are still improvements in this situation. According to Rappler, “The PSA said the country's poverty incidence among Filipino individuals in the first semester of 2018 was estimated at 21%, lower than the 27.6% recorded during the same period in 2015. This is referred to as the proportion of the population living below the poverty line to the total population. "Over the course of 3 years, we can see that poverty decreased substantially – down by 6.6 percentage points – thanks to sustained economic growth and critical and broad-based reforms and investments that have translated to employment generation and social protection," said Socio Economic Planning Undersecretary Adoracion Navarro.” Despite the improvement and the slowly declining poverty line, there are still plenty of Filipinos that cannot afford basic human needs such as food, water, and social protection. This results in FIlipinos getting sick, a worsening mortality rate, and majority of Filipinos in danger during a disaster.

DIR. MIKE DE LEON EARLY LIFE AND CAREER BEGINNINGS

Mike De Leon was born in Pasig, Pineda in May 24, 1947. His interest in film began when he pursued his master’s degree in Art History at the University of Heidelberg in Germany.

De Leon’s first film, Itim which was released in 1976, speaks about guilt and violence. This shows De Leon’s skill in delicately balancing cinematic elements to project mood and character.

DE LEON IN THE CONTEXT OF AUTEUR THEORY BATCH ‘81 AND KAKABAKABA KA BA?

Much like Manila in the Claws of Light, a film that he was a cinematographer in, Mike De Leon does not shy away from the true conditions Filipinos have to go through. According to an article in BusinessWorld, “Most significant of all, Mike is a concerned Filipino citizen who has often portrayed, exposed and criticized the ills of his country through his art. Citizen Jake is one such portrayal by citizen Mike.” This is also evident in his other films, such as Batch ‘81 and Kakabakaba ka ba? Wherein in Batch ‘81, he uses a fraternity as a political allegory for the Marcos regime. Meanwhile, in Kakabakaba Ka Ba? It is a more direct portrayal of the drug trafficking issue here in the Philippines.

Batch ‘81 revolves around Sid and the other neophytes going through an initiation from the university's most prominent fraternity, Alpha Kappa Omega. The film portrays a fascist society through hazing and their fraternity. The neophytes or newcomers are subjected to humiliation, physical, and verbal harm; all coordinated by the fraternity’s seniors, the masters. The neophytes were forced to do inhumane and humiliating things; they were told to strip, run around in public naked, and even silenced until told to speak. The story has underlying fascist tones, akin to the Marcos regime where even reporters and media were silenced.

Sid represents a part of that fascism, an enabler. As the initiation goes on, Sid only gets worse and more brutal. This is given off in the scene where Ronnie is tied to an electric chair. Every time Ronnie’s answer is incorrect, a neophyte would have to press the button and electrocute him; the intensity of the electrocution depends on how hard a member presses it. The act is deemed as inhumane and cruel. When Ronnie answers incorrectly, the other neophytes press lightly. The audience would expect Sid to do the same; however, he does not. He pressed the button for so long that it “kills” Ronnie, the other neophytes called him insane. At this point, the audience can conclude that he would do anything to the fraternity, even if it means killing another brother.

The film sets up Sid as someone who would develop in the end, someone who will change and see the wrong in the fraternity. This was made obvious by how flawed and brainwashed his views are; he believes that one should follow and trust the masters no matter how abusive or manipulative they would get. The characters around him, such as his best friend, his girlfriend, and even some neophytes of the fraternity express how they truly feel; that they fear for their safety and the masters’ abuse. This was not the case for Sid. Despite the constant physical and verbal abuse, Sid does not get his development. This is reflective of the Filipinos who are not only brainwashed, but blindly follow the beliefs and ideals of Ferdinand Marcos.

Being a socially conscious citizen, De Leon does not hide Marcos’ abuse and corruption through the film, Batch ‘81. During the making of the film was the Marcos regime, in order to slip through the prying eyes and avoid censorship, De Leon hid Marcos’ dictatorship through a seemingly harmless college fraternity.

In Kakabakaba Ka Ba? It follows a group of four friends who get wound up in a drug war between two foreign gangsters--the Japanese and the Chinese. Johnny, one of the friends, gets ahold of a premium-grade opium from an unsuspecting cassette tape. Throughout the movie, they are being pursued by both gangs, especially the Japanese gangsters. The audience is taken on a journey with the four friends as they try to escape them, while attempting to discover the people behind the drug trafficking, and eventually report them to the police.

The film also shows how the church or organized religion in general can also be corrupt under all the perceived innocence. It was revealed towards the end of the film that the Japanese gangsters and the church work together in smuggling and even producing drugs to be sold. It shows that even for a country that’s dominantly Catholic, and even for an institution that is shown to be “in good faith”, wicked intentions are still present, there are people who hide their intentions by putting on a mask of innocence.

The two gangsters fighting over opium is also a symbolism of how giant corporations in the Philippines constantly fight over resources. According to a review in Film Police, “The film posits the idea that we Filipinos are helpless yet still blithe victims as underground forces battle for control over our resources. One such institution, according to Kakabakaba Ka Ba?, is the Catholic Church, the hypocrisy of which the movie pokes fun at in several scenes, such as when the characters take opium like Holy Communion – a quite literal depiction of the well-known if disparaged Karl Marx phrase ‘Religion is the opium of the masses’”

The four friends, who are just ordinary people, also symbolizes how the masses have to be the ones to stand up against oppressors when those people in power--like the government, or even the church--do nothing about it or get involved in the problem itself, despite having the responsibility to serve and protect the people. They symbolize how everyday people have to be the ones to risk their lives for society in order to solve the problem that endangers them.

There are story elements that are present in both De Leon films; (1) Unlike Lino Brocka’s films, both protagonists are well-off; they are able to pay for basic things such as education, clothes, food, a house, etc. (2) If Lino Brocka’s films are character-driven, Mike De Leon’s films are driven by the broader issues that they present, such as drug-trafficking and the Marcos regime.

To elaborate on the first point, Sid is studying in college as a zoology major. He does not need to earn money to pay off his education, or to help provide for his family. Sid’s mother also appears in the film; displaying her posh demeanor, wears nice clothes and jewellery, nothing about her feels poor or starving. In Kakabakaba Ka Ba? All four main characters also seem to be well-off and not worrying about money. Their houses were shown in the film; they were big and extremely lavish; Johnny even has a maid in his house. The four main characters were also able to afford their dates with the respective partners.

IMPORTANCE OF MIKE DE LEON’S FILMS IN THE PHILIPPINES

Overall, between Kakabakaba Ka Ba? And Batch ‘81, there is a huge difference when it comes to genre, synopsis, style, and treatment. Both films, however, cover a broad issue that is still present in the Philippines, especially with Kakabakaba Ka Ba? Mike De Leon wants to give light in these issues, as he uses his platform as a director and the film industry to uncover these. In Batch ‘81, Mike De Leon exposed the Marcos dictatorship; even if Marcos is long dead, there are still people in government seats who abuse their power. In addition, exposing someone else’s power and abuse makes the masses more aware if it is happening to them. Mike De Leon’s Batch ‘81 is more relevant than ever, as corruption still persist and there are people like Sid who blindly follow their leaders. Batch ‘81 shows how one who was brainwashed into dictatorship can be turned into an abusive dictator himself; what the audience can take away is that one must be aware if their leader is truly a selfless servant, or someone who only wants power.

The broader theme that Kakabakaba Ka Ba covers is drug trafficking in the Philippines; other issues include abuse of power, particularly the Catholic Church and the two gangsters. As for the gangsters, they use their power and money to do illegal activities such as smuggling drugs in order to profit off of it. Meanwhile, the Catholic Church, one of the most powerful institutions in the world, use theirs to get involved in drug-trafficking, presumably to earn profit as well. The hypocrisy is evident; even in real life. Despite being a beloved, multinational institute, Catholic Church is guilty of many crimes, not just money-related, but sexual abuse. According to an article from CBC: “The Roman Catholic church does, which is the only explanation for why, after the release of a grand jury report that detailed more than 1,000 cases of sexual abuse in Pennsylvania over several decades by more than 300 predators in clerical collars, many of whom are still alive, millions of American Catholics continued to attend mass. The report detailed anal, oral and vaginal rape. It told of cases like the Pittsburgh priests who forced a young boy to strip naked and pose as Christ on the cross, then photographed him and shared the pictures for their later enjoyment – an in-church child pornography operation. Or the priest who forced a nine-year-old boy to perform oral sex on him, then "purified" the boy's mouth with holy water. Or another priest who forced his victim to confess to him.” Again, this urges the masses to be more aware and conscious of the people they choose to give power to, especially in a democratic country like the Philippines, as much as they paint themselves to be harmless.

CONCLUSION

Just as there are people born into different race, skin color, personality, sex, etc.; there are many directors with different upbringings, influences, styles, treatment, themes, and narratives to talk about--they’re all what makes a director unique and stand out. Everyone has a story and a way of presenting them; however, it’s also important to look into the bigger picture and see art truly for what it is--an art form, and not just a product of a name.

WORKS CITED

[1] Culture Trip. “Lino Brocka: The Philippines' Greatest Director.” Culture Trip, The Culture Trip, 17 Oct. 2012, https://theculturetrip.com/asia/philippines/articles/lino-brocka-the-philippines-greatest-director/.

[2] “Mike De Leon.” IMDb, IMDb.com, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0209672/bio.

[3] “Capturing an Era: Revisiting Mike De Leons Timeless Films.” SPOT.PH, https://www.spot.ph/entertainment/movies-music-tv/73126/capturing-an-era-revisiting-mike-de-leon-s-timeless-films-a27-20180313-lfrm.

[4] bw_mark. “Citizen Mike De Leon.” BusinessWorld, https://www.bworldonline.com/citizen-mike-de-leon/.

[5] Cruz, Francis Joseph A. “Understanding the Many Moods of Mike De Leon Through His Films.” Esquiremag.ph, Esquire Philippines, 1 Jan. 1970, https://www.esquiremag.ph/culture/movies-and-tv/the-many-moods-of-mike-de-leon-a2186-20180604-lfrm.

[6] Cruz, Edgar O. “Mike De Leon, Presumptive National Artist.” Philstar.com, The Philippine Star, 3 May 2017, https://www.philstar.com/entertainment/2017/05/04/1690678/mike-de-leon-presumptive-national-artist.

[7] Staff, OutrageMag.com. “30% Of LGBTI Filipinos Report Workplace Discrimination Because of Their SOGIE.” Outrage Magazine, 16 Oct. 2018, https://outragemag.com/30-of-lgbti-filipinos-report-workplace-discrimination-because-of-their-sogie/.

[8] Espinoza.james. “MOVIE REVIEW: Kakabakaba Ka Ba? (1980).” Film Police Reviews, 18 Dec. 2015, http://www.filmpolicereviews.com/reviews/kakabakaba-ka-ba.

[9] “Auteur Theory vs. Michael Bay | The Whole Plate: Episode Two.” YouTube, 30 Apr. 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srk-tPbQVcs.

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