#Translation is the marriage of art and logic

[flyoverkushtaka]

bro it would be so exquisitely sexy if u showed off ur language skills by doing an english translation of this five minute video

--

Ah, the famous Goetia of Mathers and Crowley!

Hmm. Dantalion. Andromalius. Who are they?

[Title Card: HISTORY OF DEMONS]

Today we won’t be talking about a single demon, or two, or even three, but four incredible demons! I’m just that generous! Unfortunately I can’t be too generous with information because there’s not much out there, being that most of these sources come from the same place. But let’s start at the beginning. In the hierarchy that I primarily use, that of Jean Wier, we find a list of 69 demons, as well as several princes and grand dignitaries; but in the Lemegeton we find instead 72, corresponding to the 72 angels of Kabbalah who stand in opposition to them. In this list we also find four additional demons: Vassago, Andromalius, Seere, and Dantalion. And 69 + 4 = 73, which raises us to one last demon, Pruflas or Busas, a prince and duke who rules over 26 legions. What are these new demons? Who are they? How are they connected?

Vassago, the third demon on the list in the Lemegeton, head of 26 legions, is a prince, said to be of a good nature, the same nature as Agares. What they meant by that at the time remains a mystery. No information on his appearance, we only know of his powers, which are knowledge of the past, present, and future, and he is capable of finding any lost or hidden thing. He makes men hypocritical, ungrateful, and perjurious. Vassago can be summoned between March 31st and April 4th. He is thus opposed by the angel Sitael. Vassago is mentioned in the Book of the Office of Spirits under the name Usagoo, who appears as an angel just and true in all his actions and rules over 20 legions. He has the power to make women fall in love with his summoner, and will reveal all their secrets.

Seere, the 70th demon listed in the Lemegeton, is a prince ruling over 26 legions, and subordinate to Amaymon, king of the eastern realm of Hell. He’s not an evil demon, but rather nice. He has the appearance of a handsome man riding a winged horse. He has the power to go any place on Earth in the blink of an eye to do what he is ordered, such as to transport messages, objects, or even people. He’s something like Hell’s post officer. In addition, he can reveal hidden things, bring about abundance, and is said to be a demon of letters. Summonable between the 6th and 10th of March, he is opposed by the angel Jabamiah.

Dantalion, the 71st demon listed in the Lemegeton, is a duke ruling over 36 legions, and is one of the most distinguished demons. He has the appearance of a man possessing a number of faces, of both men and women, and holds a book in his right hand. He teaches every art and science, and can read anyone’s thoughts, revealing all their secrets. He can notably influence one’s thoughts and will. His greatest pleasure is to provoke impossible loves. Furthermore, he is able to project visions into people’s heads, no matter how far away. Summonable between the 11th and 15th of March, he is opposed by the angel Haiaiel.

Finally, Andromalius, the 72nd and last demon on the list in the Lemegeton, is a count of Hell who rules over 36 legions. He has the appearance of a man carrying a large serpent in his hand. He has the power to summon any thief who has acted against you along with all stolen goods, and will punish them as he sees fit. He reveals actions meant to harm you and punishes the wicked. If you are wise, he will reveal to you hidden treasures. Summonable between the 16th and 20th of March, he is opposed by the angel Mumiah. These are thus the angel and demon who correspond to myself, having been born on March 19th. Just a little info in case you want to send me a birthday gift.

Like I said, we don’t have much information on them, neither in the Pseudomonarchia Daemonum, nor in the Infernal Dictionary. Most of what we know comes from the Goetia, the Lesser Key of Solomon cowritten by Samuel Mathers and Aleister Crowley and published in 1904. I don’t know where they found all this information. The mystery endures, but if you have any additional information, don’t hesitate to share it in a comment below. On that, thank you for watching this video, I hope you enjoyed it even if it was a bit short, like [EXPLETIVE DELETED]. Thank you to everyone who supports this channel financially. Don’t hesitate to subscribe or especially share this video. And with that I say: ‘Til next time.

[spiders-notagain]

How to tell if your vulcan buddy is into you

The first thing to establish is why your vulcan chose you in the first place. There are two main methods vulcans use to choose an intended mate. The first is obviously based on logical criteria. This is a process that evaluates personality, ethics, and life goals to estimate compatibility. Mental/psychic compatibility is also evaluated alongside other criteria but is often weighted more heavily, with psychic incompatibility being a huge dealbreaker. The other method is shon-ha'lok, loosely translating to love at first sight. This traditionally describes the state of being in romantic infatuation/obsession with someone but is often used by vulcans to describe one who chooses an illogical choice of mate. It is however possible to be in shon-ha'lok for someone who is also a logical choice of mate.

As with human courting, actions are functional, either being used to demonstrate worthiness as a potential partner or to fulfill internal desires. They can be sorted into the five love languages.

Gift Giving: Gifts have a long history of relevance in vulcan marriages. In historical times, gifts were often expensive and extravagant. This is not necessary in a post scarcity society so vulcans commonly give gifts that are thoughtful and personalized to the receiver. Vulcans very rarely give gifts in this manner to another vulcan who is not A. their intended or B. a family member because it may be seen as nosy. Gifts given may be functional (ex. a can opener), decorative (ex. an art piece), or just enriching to your life (ex. a tea flavor you just ran out of, a book you mentioned was hard to find again)

Quality Time: Spending time with another is a logical way to measure compatibility through conversation and psychic proximity. However, vulcans have a looser definition of how much quality time is needed before marriage than humans. Any time spent together that fulfills these criteria is counted as quality time including time spent together for work or social group purposes. Additionally, vulcans avoid complete isolation with their intended (they're trying to avoid the temptation to maul you) and will prefer instead partial isolation, such as public parks or restaurants.

Physical Touch: Hand-to-hand contact is not only a logical way to measure psychic compatibility but is also physically desirable. This may be expressed as subtle touches (ex. brushing hands when giving each other objects, resting your hands near theirs.. etc.) or deliberate (offering the ozh'esta, touching their arm to get their attention, pressing their shoulder to lead them along.. etc.) Physical contact is taboo in vulcan culture so touching someone unnecessarily is specifically notable.

Words of Affirmation: In general vulcans only say things that are true and do not exaggerate facts to flatter. Excessive praise is thus reserved for things that are truly extraordinary. However if excessive praise is given, it could possibly indicate a romantic bias. This includes praise that is a personal expression of emotion (ex. I like your eyes, I enjoyed your performance) Pet names and expressions of endearment are usually reserved for relationships that are more cemented but occasionally if a vulcan is really down bad for their intended, they may use them earlier.

Acts of Service: Caring for one's intended is a logical way to demonstrate capability as a logical mate. This includes an attentiveness to your needs that outpaces even human friendships (ex. providing food or snacks, fetch quests for you) In the courtship stages, vulcans will temper this desire, balancing it with public decorum. However, this may include actions that are nosy and intrusive by human standards (ex. organizing your cupboard, folding your laundry) By vulcan standards, inviting your intended to your home to hang out casually is an intimate milestone and indicates a deep commitment to the relationship, soon before a proposal. So touching their things is not especially more intimate than the mind meld you'll have soon if not already.

You may notice that many of these things are very typical for a normal human friendship and thus not particularly intimate. This is because vulcans are so ridiculously reserved that expressing the love languages at all is very notable.

There are of course, cases where vulcans may do these things not because they've chosen an intended, but because they've chosen to integrate with humans and reciprocate their actions of friendship. In this case, you can tell the difference because vulcans can't pine romantically for years. Not only is it illogical, but biology will inevitably force their hand in some way. If rejected they will either enforce distance and move on (abruptly ending all displays of affection whatsoever) or stubbornly attempt to change their intended's mind, increasing their displays and attempting to resolve any perceived obstructions (if it's another person this can lead to violence)

Vulcans technically have a sixth love language which is their mental contact but nothing substantial is done with this until bonding.

[anotherworldash]

🎉 NEW GAME: Introduce your mutuals to everyone and what do you think of them? 🎉

oH HEY! Looks like I missed this one question. Let introduce you to my awesome mutuals @riniloves : Rini are you still here? I miss you! Met Rini back then in 2010~2012 (?) We both loved LuluCC (Code Geass) and Kuraneon HxH)! Apparently, our prediction about LuluCC living together has became true in Code Geass: Lelouch of the Re;Surrection(2019), despite many oddities present and debates. So did Sessrin in Inuyasha. Awesome huh!

@unuxunu : My fellow OT3 Kuraneokuro shipper. Sweetest person I’ve met in the internet! I met her in ffnet in 2020 when I thought I was the only one left on this earth who actively shipped Kuraneon.(thanks Marriage of Convenience fic) We both are kinda inactive and moving on to another fandom now, but I will never forget the moment bitter world has turned sweet when I am with you T^T We created so much things together. Also she invented the idea of cloud gallery of our OT3 religion... What can I do without you girl? @senorita-jackalope : oh girl where are you? My fellow Kuraneon shipper and fellow Neon lover(YES WE ARE GAY FOR NEON SLURP SLURP). We also created so much things together. Unfortunately she deactivated her blog. Hope you will come back someday senorita-jackalope. @nikushimi-wa-kienai : Also my fellow Kuraneon shipper. Thank you so much for everything you’ve done for this ship. Your works has inspired me to be active in this subfandom ^_^ @fluffygreenkoala : My fellow Kuroneon shipper! Your ideas has helped me created many beautiful Kuroneon art, thank you so much! (And they got 30+ likes and bookmark in Japanese art platform, yay to our teamwork!) @thelovelyghostwriter : If people are looking for something new to worship, now this is the mutual I would recommend to them! Because girl, I LITERALLY WORSHIP YOUR WORKS!!!! (STRANGE BEDFELLOWS, everyone, also @hunterexamcheatsheet). I remembered when you first commented in my MoC fic, my first impression was “Wow I like this girl, she is smart.”. But man you were more than just smart. You literally materializes what I tried to envision for the last 20 years(yes including the innocence day where I didn’t know the term HATESEX yet) and I am so thankful for your presence. I’m so glad someone finally gets the logic of my theory. Pure Genius Girl. Lion-vomiting-water country didn’t ranks third globally in time spent on homework for nothing in 2014. huh? So many things we did together : fanfic, perfecting Kuraneon theory, and punching bullies virtually. As citizen of neighbouring countries, we have close timezone and communicate a lot too beyond just ships.

@bat-belen : Fellow Kuraneon and Kuroneon shipper. Thanks for filling in gap time when I wasn’t active with Kuraneo Week 2021 ^_^ Also thanks for making art of my OTP. Hope you’re always healthy and well! @dukina : Hi Kina! How are you ^_^ I haven’t seen you around in my dash(and I checked you’re hiatus atm)  I hope you’re doing fine there. Dukina is the first to introduce me to selfship (Oh yea, meet my husband Pariston Hill). It’s fun in the office when both our husbands are present! Her beautiful purple blog is so iconic.

@itsmyara : No.1 HisoMachi shipper! We have same view when it comes to fandom and I’m so inspired by her because not only writing fanfic, Myara also drew and make moodboards. I stumbled upon Myara when I first read her Kuraneon fic in AO3. I don’t speak  Brazilian Portuguese  so I used google translate to read it. And boy the fic is so good that I must now admit that I downloaded it.

@cocogum : Coco first approached me regarding my “Neon alive” theory and honestly I REALLY APPRECIATE that. So many people shut down that possibility before even reading the argument or understanding both Kurapika and Hisoka’s characer. Plus we’ve seen Togashi’s false narrative in writing more than TWICE (Ging’s death by Mito and Kite death by Neferpitou). so thank you so much Coco! Coco writes theory and makes cool edits @cautionworks (CMIIW and sorry if it’s not you) so you guys should check it out. Another initial thought is WOW Coco ships Killuretz! I’m so happy my Killuretz art got appreciation after being dusty for a long time in dA!  @cybercowboyduck : My POKESHIPPING fellow! We’ve only met like two or three weeks ago but we had a 34 pages+ of discussion already I think?? Thank you so much for supporting my artworks and article!! Also for filling in informations and trend where I was a silent reader in Pokeani fandom. I love how calm you react to bullies in this bully-prone area lol @hollylu-ships-it : Hi Holly, I hope you don’t mind me tagging you in this although we rarely interact. When I first checked your account. Wow, actually I already consumed your fanarts since back then, when I wasn’t active in Pokeani fandom. (Your Pokeshipping motorcyle date.)  Thank you so much for reblogging my SunMo article ^_^ I love your art and blog so much! @barbiedisneyavenger @fierydense @ultimateoptimus Hey new mutuals! Nice to meet you. We rarely interact but it seems that we share common interest.  Hope y’all healthy and safe wherever you are. Cheers! Sorry I can’t be short about this, I really appreciate you guys for sharing the same taste in ships and character with me.

For you I apologize if my blog isn’t up to expectations. I take no personal offense if you ever unfollow me due to my non-fandom/personal post that I rb/posted.(Also cause sometimes I reply to discourse) . After all we all have to take care of our own mental health.

I am just indulging in the present about how blessed I am to have wonderful internet mutuals :)

[fiftyyearfilms]

50 Years Later: The Still Sweet Legacy of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Image source: https://people.com/food/gene-wilder-death-willy-wonka-pure-imagination/

I first watched Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory during the summer of 2001, when I was four years old. Sometime after the end credits rolled, I waddled into our little English garden and decided to have a nibble of one of the buttercups poking through in the grass. You will be unsurprised to discover that it tasted acrid and bitter and that I promptly screwed up my face and spat it out again. ‘But— but- -’ little four-year-old me thought, ‘—but in Willy Wonka’s garden the yellow butter-tea-cups are edible and filled with a breakfast brew! The toadstools and mushrooms ooze sweet white cream! And the trees don’t sprout boring old fruit, but giant jellified gummy bears!' According to my four-year old logic, in Wonka’s edible garden these synaesthetic saccharine delights could exist and so in our garden they could too. So was the bittersweet belief that ‘Anything is possible’ the film inspired - bittersweet because, of course, it's not true. Today marks the 50-year anniversary of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, which premiered in the United States on this day in 1971. Time reveals a legacy that is more sweet than sour.

The 1971 adaptation of Roald Dahl’s 1964 book ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ has an origins story that reads like a saccharine fairytale, complete with the requisite obstacles. Once upon a time, the story of Charlie Bucket and his lucky visit to a chocolate factory found its way into the hands of a 12-year-old girl called Madeline Stuart, the daughter of a Hollywood filmmaker, Mel Stuart. Madeline approached her father and asked him to make a film out of the story. In Stuart’s memory, his daughter’s innocent plea went something like this: ’Daddy... I want you to make this into a movie!’ A self-confessed chocoholic, Stuart said yes. And the rest was history? Not just yet...

The early 1970’s wasn’t Hollywood’s happiest hour. Low attendance and a struggling national economy meant that the U.S film industry was in a state of near-collapse and financing the movie was no easy feat; studios were cash-strapped. It was a stroke of sweet luck that the producer of the film, Mel Stuart’s friend David Wrober, had a connection to the Quaker Oats Company who, by happy chance, were looking for a way to break into the chocolate industry. In an unprecedented move in Hollywood, Quaker Oats agreed to finance the film on account of the fact that it would allow them to launch a ‘Wonka’ bar. A convenient if imperfect marriage was formed between the food company and the producers. A Happily Ever After? Still not yet...

There were active forces that didn’t want the candy man to make the leap from page to silver screen. Having long been vocal about Hollywood and its poor representation of black people, the NAACP objected to the adaptation because of the colonial overtones of the Ooompa Loompas in Dahl’s story (described as “a tribe of miniature pygmies” who were imported from Africa); they didn’t want additional attention being brought to the novel. The NAACP eventually suggested that “The solution is to make the Oompa-Loompas white and to make the film under a different title.” Mel Stuart agreed. The title was changed to ‘Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory’, a change that would also benefit the marketing of the Quaker Oat Company’s ‘Wonka’ bar. After Stuart consulted with some black actor friends, it also was decided that the elf-like characters would be carrot orange with grass-green hair. Whether this amounted to ‘whitewashing’ or not is a matter for the individual to decide but changing the skin colour was the only way to adapt the book without making more significant changes to Dahl’s story. After all, it was the man himself penning the screenplay.

Image source: https://www2.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/features/search-perfect-willy-wonka

Dahl’s screenplay - bloated and too close an adaption of the book, was eventually revised by newbie screenwriter David Seltzer, but the fantastical elements of the author’s story remained largely intact: chocolate rooms with chocolate waterfalls and rivers, fizzy-lifting stations that send Charlie Bucket and his grandfather floating to the ceiling, and elevators that fly straight into the sky. Harper Goff, famed for his work on the 1945 Disney film ‘20,000 Leagues under the Sea’, was tasked with bringing Dahl’s demanding vision to life in the art department. Then there were difficulties in casting too, and a cross-country search took place for the Oompa Loompas and the lucky ticket-winning children (lamentably, only white actors were cast). With scouting and sketching underway, producers had the formidable challenge of finding somewhere to shoot the movie. After considering the Guinness Factory in Ireland and – wait for it - a national monument in Spain, producers settled on the Munich Gas works and Bavarian Film Studios in Germany as the central filming locations. It was cheaper than America and the location’s foreignness to British and American audiences would work in the favour of creating a ‘Neverland’ story.

Tinged with sweetness and sourness, pre-production on Wonka came to a close in late August 1970 and principal photography began. For the adults on set, budgetary problems were an ongoing source of stress and the unusual marriage between Hollywood and the food industry was one of the main causes. Unlike Paramount or Universal, who might have expected the film to go over budget, Quaker Oats viewed the film as one long advertisement for their new bar and were unsurprisingly less sympathetic when the weather was bad and shooting had to be delayed or when something went wrong on set and more money had to be poured in (or, in the case of the chocolate waterfall, a specially sourced anti-foaming solution). The kids also had their tribulations (and were only renumerated £60 per week for their hard labour). Stuart was a tough director. So tough, in fact, that the child actors used to joke that they deserved Oscars for their roles (or for putting up with Stuart). He treated the young actors as adults and perhaps that’s one reason why the performances are so strong. But Stuart reflected that overall, it was like ‘one big slumber party’ for the child actors. Stories from the set include Paris Themmen, who played Mike Teevee, releasing bees from underneath a bell jar in Wonka’s chewing gum machine. Denise Nickerson (playing Violet Beauregarde) and Julie Dawn Cole (Veruca Salt) fought over Peter Ostroff, who played Charlie Bucket, and took turns being his ‘girlfriend’ day-by-day. After lunch breaks, Ostroff and Gene Wilder, who played Wonka himself, would walk back to set together sharing a chocolate bar. There was an excitable atmosphere on set and, filmed without storyboards or pre-production rehearsals, it translated into authenticity in the final film.

Image source: https://www.thedelite.com/willy-wonka-and-chocolate-factory-movie-facts-you-never-knew/

Filming came to a bittersweet end in November 1970, cast members said their teary goodbyes, and then seven months later, Willy Wonka premiered in the United States. While time has judged differently, the contemporary reception to the film was, at best, lukewarm. From a $2.9 million dollar budget, the film only made $4 million in theatres and ranked as #53 in the box office. There were a number of reasons for this. Several reviewers panned the movie; a critic from the New York Times called it ‘tedious and stagy with little sparkle and precious little humor’. The fun and spectacle of Willy Wonka didn’t sit well with an anxious and cynical audience. In the Vietnam era, The French Connection, The Omega Man, and A Clockwork Orange were in, and optimism and fun were out. The film also had to contend with the declining weekly movie attendance across the U.S, which reached an all-time low of 14 million in 1971 (from 44 million in 1963). On top of this, Dahl didn’t exactly enthuse about the final product. Finally - and this is what the director attributed primary responsibility to: a lacklustre marketing effort on behalf of Paramount Pictures.

But box-office results aren’t everything. Like sherbet - sour at first and then Oh so sweet, Willy Wonka has gone on to gain a mass following of fans and gained the all-desirable ‘cult’ film status. The phenomenon happened over time. Six years after the film appeared on cinema screens, it was sold to Warner Brothers and became one of their best-selling video cassettes. Then, periodic screenings on cable and network television over the following decades meant that it gained an even wider following and stayed within Western cultural consciousness. The never-ending references to Willy Wonka in popular culture - from The Simpsons to Austin Powers to Marilyn Manson’s music videos, is testament to this. The same could be said about the upcoming Willy Wonka origins story, whether it turns out to be a good film or not. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory currently stands as the second most watched film of 1971 on Letterboxd (the Goodreads of film).

Re-watching the film in 2021, it seems almost inevitable that the film has found new and wide- ranging audiences and there’s one main reason for it: a stellar and totally captivating performance from Gene Wilder. The director attributed the film’s longevity to the fact that ‘it was made for adults; it was not made for children’ and it was Wilder himself that brought the grown-up fun. Wilder’s Wonka is sarcastic and witty, ensuring that the final film ended up as a ‘story for children’ only as much as After Eights are for post-dinner treats and Yorkie bars are just for boys. Wilder created a more nuanced and entrancing character out of Wonka than what is portrayed in the book - a Wonka who is dishonest but trustworthy, sarcastic but still empathetic, indifferent but deeply caring, and aloof but charming. Sure, the sets seem slightly dated (the chocolate room in particular) but watching Gene Wilder sing ‘Pure Imagination’ is so wholly captivating that one almost doesn’t notice the set’s limitations. Creating, let alone portraying, such an enigmatic version of Wonka is a tall order, but Wilder made it looks effortless. As evidence of his skill as an actor, Willy Wonka shows Charlie little interest until the very end of the film and then within minutes conveys a parental love to the boy that seems entirely believable. Wilder’s tantalising hot then cold, sugary then sour, sweet then salty performance sustains the whole film.

From the outset, it seemed like the Wilder-Wonka synergy was made to be. Wilder was a relative newcomer to Hollywood in 1970, making his feature film debut in the 1967 film Bonnie & Clyde, but when he walked into the casting room at the Plaza Hotel in New York, Mel Stuart knew he was the man straight away – ‘That’s Willy Wonka!’ he said. Wilder himself immediately seemed to have an intuitive understanding of how to bring the character to life, agreeing to take on the role on one condition: he said to Stuart, “I would like to come out [of the factory] with a cane and be crippled because no one will know from that time on whether I’m lying or telling the truth.’’ Like a magician, Wilder’s Wonka was going to draw you in and keep you in the palm of his hand. To the child actors on set, the Wilder-Wonka symbiosis was very much real. Julia Winter recalled that between takes the kids would crawl all over Wilder yelling, ‘It’s my turn to sit on his lap!’. In turn, Wilder would tell them jokes and stories; he ‘never got cross’. I remember feeling the same captivation as a child watching the film: I wanted to spend time with Wonka. It was only some adults who missed the magic trick. Dahl criticised Wilder’s performance as ‘pretentious’ and insufficiently ‘gay’. Wilder himself recalled hearing talk of mothers saying that the film was ‘cruel to the children’, but he understood that ‘maybe some mothers felt that way, but the children didn’t feel that way...there are limits and they want to know the limits’. The continuing classic status of the film is evidence that the kids (and Wilder) were right. The Wilder-Wonka magic has survived 50 years without souring. The only bittersweetness in watching the actor sing and twirl across the screen is knowing he is no longer with us.

Image source: https://cometoverhollywood.com/2016/08/29/musical-monday-willy-wonka-the-chocolate-factory-1971/

If Gene Wilder carried the film, then what about the story itself? The plot is simple, heart- warming, and doesn’t deserve close scrutiny. Willy Wonka really is a ‘show’, the story is secondary to the individual charisma of Wilder and the spectacle of the image and music. We don’t know if Charlie will be happy or sad once he’s inherited Wonka’s factory. We also don’t know what happens to the rest of the children after they’ve been punished. But who cares? The audience is taken to a joyful fun park where you want to eat everything on screen and play with all the gizmos and gadgets, and where the music is so catchy that you can’t get it out of your head for days and weeks after.

Select ideologues have (and will) taken issue with the story, discarding it as gauche capitalist propaganda. One Marxist criticism of the story even gained enough traction that the director took notice in later years. The parts seem to be there: a businessman running a competition by hiding five golden tickets in his candy bars, competition from other candy makers, the Wonka-Oompa Loompa relationship, and a ‘Rags to riches’ story for Charlie. But one might ask if this is an unnecessary and selective reading. The parts for an alternative vision are equally apparent: from the wild and uncontrolled creativity and experimentation inside the factory to the joy found within the chocolate work itself, and from the relentless drive forward ‘You have to go forward if you want to go back’ to the end picture of the elevator shooting through a glass ceiling and into the skies. If a critic really wanted to make the comparison, such images would sit more easily in Soviet Russia than capitalist America. Wonka might have a capitalist wrapper but take a bite and look closely inside and its ideological filling is incoherent (it is, after all, entertainment). One could imagine how the film might be set in a collectivist community rather than a ‘capitalist’ factory, but it would have made for a worse film. It is the sense of unease that runs throughout the film that has made it timeless, whether its Wonka’s frustration with August Gloop for polluting his pure chocolate river, his fear over someone leaking the secret recipe for the ever-lasting gobstopper, his nightmares in the tunnel sequence, or his anxiety over finding a worthy heir for the factory, which finally manifests as a misjudged outburst at Charlie. It’s the fraught relationship between abundance and greed that makes for such compelling watching. Anyway, as the screenwriter stated in an interview, the film is ‘...not the function of sitting down and intellectualising... it’s the function of scotch tape, cardboard, let’s put on a show!’ Why spoil the fun and examine the parts individually when the sum of the parts is a universal message people need to hear now as much as they did in 1971? Reward honesty and integrity, not greed.

A moral message delivered in an almost subversive tone is another reason for why the film feels timeless. Instead of adults dragging tired and bored children around, the adults in this film are at the mercy of their kids and Wonka. Young viewers can marvel at the gluttony of August Gloop, the smart-mouthed Violet Beauregarde, the wanton bad behaviour of Veruca Salt, and Mike Teevee’s devotion to cable. It’s escapism at its best to watch other kids do what you can’t do: speak back to parents and yell and scream. It’s equally as tantalising when the naughty children are punished in fantastical ways. Augustus, drinking from the chocolate river, falls in and then gets sucked up a chocolate chute. Violet chews forbidden gum and then blows up into a blueberry the size of a small horse. Veruca falls down a garbage chute. And Mike finds himself sucked into a television. Best of all, the parents are equally guilty of bad-behaviour as the kids - and, boy, do they pay for it. Wonka might be a film for children and adults, but you can guess who’s going to really have the best time. It is little Charlie, after all, who wins Wonka’s factory at the end of the day.

In the scene where Willy Wonka drinks from a yellow flower-shaped cup and then eats the cup, the cup itself was made of wax. Gene Wilder had to chew the wax pieces until the end of the take, at which point he spat them out. Adults that once watched the film as children now know that flowers in the garden aren’t edible. Our eyes can pick up the small imperfections in the film - the sweets that look plastic and chocolate river that looks like exactly what it was - ‘dirty, stinky water’. But through a child’s eyes - even coming to the film half a century after its release, the film really can be a ‘world of pure imagination’. In another fifty years, will children still wander into the garden, pick up a buttercup, and bite into it with all the belief in the word that it’ll taste like sweet, white chocolate? As long as parents continue to show children the film, they will - and what a marvellous legacy for a film to have. Fifty years on, it’s safe to say that Willy Wonka has had a sweet and indelible impact on our sadly mostly inedible world.

Sources for post: 

Mel Stuart, Josh Young, ‘Pure Imagination: The Making of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory’, 2001. 

Julia Dawn Cole, ‘I Want It Now! a Memoir of Life on the Set of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory’, 2011. 

Pure Imagination: The Story (Making) of Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yyev_3S_Y4

----

© Fifty Year Films, 2021. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of material from this blog without express and written permission from this site’s author is prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Fifty Year Films with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

[glitterytidalwavedragon]

Expanding into my other Fandoms (I’m gonna have to take a stance) Read the whole thing please.

One of my oldest and most beloved anime is Inuyasha. As of late I have been binged watching the hell out of it as I am getting my BFF into different anime shows. We are really close to entering the Yashahime part of the series, and she asked if I planned to write fanfiction involving the one character which made me even watch the show as a 10-year-old.

Sesshomaru

The first episode I ever watched involved this aloof, entitled dog fighting his brother over the sword in their father’s grave. Specifically, it was part 3 of that whole episode series were Kagome pulled out the sword. I at the time had 3 dogs of German Sheppard/wolf hybrid, they were MASSIVE dogs, fell in love with the big white fluff that was Sesshomaru’s demon form. I use to sneak staying up and watch the show faithfully to see the goodest boy as it was only on at 11pm EST on adult swim. Which meant it was bad and I was breaking the rules, I felt like a rebel.

Now I hesitated answering that question. She has no idea of what is in Yashahime, she is being careful not to spoil it so I told her I didn’t know. Recently, to find out what the feel is for Sesshomaru content, I looked into the tag on tumblr…

OH MY GOD.

Sesshomaru’s tag is FLOODED with hate. Like every four post, there is hate, distain, and attacking happening. As someone who watches Yashahime, I quickly knew why.

Sessrin.

Even now I sigh. And I sigh HARD. I am not for, nor am I against the Sessrin train. Same for the Sesskagu train. I think both sides need to look at things on a logical prospective. I plan to do just that. I know I will get hate from the either side and maybe some support as well. But if I am going to do anything in this fandom (as I like doing ships and reader inserts) it will come up.

So, like my Kaiba post, and my Sebastian Heel post, I will use my research skills as well as my COLLEGE DEGREE WHICH HAS BOTH ART AND MEDIEVAL HISTORY labelled on it to explain why this progression in the story is normal to anti-Sessrin fans and why this isn’t a crime by story standards nor should we look at it as a crime.

AS WELL

Explain to Sessrin fans why it is so weird for non-shippers to see it play out and why so much hate formed.

As I let out another sigh, we shall begin. Let’s start at an historical prospective. (Links at the bottom).

PLEASE READ THE WHOLE THING! I’LL BE ABLE TO TELL!

~~

I will start with the information I can access right away.

While finding charts on the life-span of common folk in 1590’s Feudal Japan is rather difficult, Ancient.edu states that the average lifespan was about 50. To put this in perspective, the average lifespan of Europeans at the time was somewhere between 40-45 with the latter being rare. Since most of us reading are not from Japanese descent, I will through Europe in this first.

If we look at the same time frame of 1590, we are looking at most of Western Europe had now entered the age of Renaissance. According to sources from Learning Resources in association with the National Gallery of Art, marriage was not what TV drama’s from HBO or Hulu depicted. By today standards they would be a crime, as the average age for marriage of an adult female was age 14…

The reasoning behind the young marriage age had multiple factors. First being, females were considered an adult once they were menstruating. Birthing also proved to be fatal, and since the lifespan was at best 40 and 45 if they were lucky, there was really no room to wait. Also Europe at the time had became hugely focused on making sure blood lines were legitimate, meaning to ensure the girl was a virgin, the moment she was able to reproduced she was married off. Those they married were not young teenagers either. Most marriages, a man would be in their thirties, and had probably multiple wives as women died more than men when not counting the battle field.

To make matters worse for the Renaissance Lady, these marriages would leave many young males unable to marry and if their husband died in battle, well, unfortunately they were not seen as desirable. This was due to the idea of a ‘free woman’. Should the girl not have a father, brother or uncle to return to as they too died, a widow had her freedom. But that freedom came at a cost. She would be assumed to have slept around, and in many writings, such as the Canterbury Tales, where Geoffrey Chaucer writes about a Window on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land survived her five husbands and the men in her family. In short, she was made to be a slut and to be looked down upon as no man controlled her.

The point of talking about Europe is because that is something most of us Non-Asian or Japanese people consume and like to paint in large romantic brush strokes of knights and magic. Honestly, reading G.R.R.Martin Song of Ice and Fire, he uses this model as we see the Queen of Dragons, Danny start off at age thirteen shortly after she had her first menstruation.  

Now let’s look at Feudal Japan.

As stated before, the lifespan was around 50 years. In some populations, this was even shorter. Nagaoka, Hirata, Yokota and Matsu’ura’s on demographic data at the Yuigahama-minami area in Kamakura, Japan and found both male and female remains that suggested life expectancy to have ended around age 24-25. This was largely due to living conditions and public health. In areas like these, it would make the most sense to marry and repopulate quickly as the expectancy of life was half the national average at the time.

To my frustration, I could not find a clear marriage age for Japanese women at the time of the edo period. HOWEVER, where there is a will there is a way. I took a look at famous Lords or Daimyo’s of the time. The average age of marriage of their wives was between 12-14. Much younger than I expected, but it made sense considering this is a time where war ran the show and marriage was strictly about political gain. One of these Daimyo’s was Masamune Date, who was also 13, but then as he got older took concubines who became considerably younger than him as he became older. The goal was to have as many children as possible for hires and for political marriages to gain power.

Now lets look at Inuyasha the MANGA

Lets get the manga timeline proper here. The whole adventure took place in 11 months, a month shy of Kagome’s 16th birthday. Doing a few estimations, Rin would have travelled with Sesshomaru about 8-9 of those months. But before we get into the relationship, lets look at something the ANIME made a huge mistake with in the beginning and tried to fix as the story went on.

For some reason I could only fine gifs for the Early appearances of Sesshomaru so bear with me.

Early appearances in the manga

 ^ He was so fickle and a trickster then...

Now early apperances in the anime.

Later appearance in the manga

Laster appearance in the anime

Notice the issue here? 

Sesshomaru was CONSIDERABLY younger looking in the start of the manga. In the anime, he started off looking like an fully adult male. But as the anime went on, they tried to make Sesshomaru look younger with subtle changes to his jaw line, eye size, and his height. Yeah, his height had changed. They made him shorter.

While in the manga, we see this young-teen looking demon, slowly mature over 11 months to look like he is in his later teens and by series end, closer to being in his late teens or twenty. Yes, art changes over time, but the anime went a reverse route. I can only guess they spoke to the author of Inuyasha about her ships, as they did Drama CDs, and realized the mistake that was made in making him more mature than he was.

You can’t tell me he doesn’t look closer to his manga self in the final act, because he does.

Since we are on the topic of the anime, lets be clear. The anime timeline and manga timeline are very different. The story in the anime (in the English) suggests that OVER a year has past since Kagome started her journey. They try to fix this in the final act, but it was still so muddled as previous seasons are to be taken as cannon. This could have been due to an translation error in the early production when the anime no longer had anymore manga material to reference. But whatever the case, for English viewers the time the group spent together felt much longer.

So now we come to the heart of the issue.

Because of the mistakes of the anime, a lot of anti-sessrin see the relationship as father daughter. I’ll be honest, watching the anime and solely the anime as a teenager and as an adult (as the manga was on hold for a very long time due to author’s health. I was in college when it finished.), I too thought it was just a father-daughter relationship and Jaken the nanny who got punched all the time. In fact, the English took hard liberties with Kagura, as the English dubs often do with characters, and made it very clear her feelings for the demon lord and Sesshomaru very much recognized them (though he never responded). Even in her death scene, it felt as if he was saying good bye to a friend more than love interest. But who really knows, as there are things that point otherwise.  When another demon mock’s Kagura’s death, Sesshomaru gets super pissy.

The manga did also play with this fact when it came out in English, idk if the wording or message is different in the Japanese. Translation errors happen a lot even in todays releases, look at Kuroshitsuji.  So of course most anti-sessrin’s did not see this coming in Yashahime when Rin was named mother. In fact it felt like a betrayal as we were sure Sesshomaru had no romantic feelings.

Then there was the Kohaku/Rin mashup that was hinted left and right. The English anime, with its overly dramatic and blunt emotions made it appear one way. That in the end the two kids would probably be married. Then the anime as a whole made Sesshomaru older than intended. I can see why and understand how this became a problem.

On the other side of that coin.

If you followed the dub, seen ‘Swords of an Honorable Ruler’ and read the manga… Sesshomaru was not fatherly to Rin at all. In fact, Jaken picked up all of that leg work. Rin worried for Kohaku, but clearly loved Lord Sesshomaru. Sesshomaru cared about Kagura but he almost CRIED when he lost Rin.

We have to remember that Sesshomaru and Rin’s relationship must have been very hard for the demon. While we never see his mental process expect for a few rare times, we have to remember he hated humans. In the movie, he blamed a human for the early death of his father, Sesshomaru killed without mercy. It made sense that he wouldn’t be fatherly to Rin as her just being there should have caused countless inner conflicts. Hell, he even says his father’s weakness was humans, and look who picked up that trait.

Sesshomaru was designed to, someday, walk in his father’s footsteps. So sess/rin, not a surprise. Also when you see it in a historical perspective, Rin having kids around age 15-16, makes sense. In fact you could argue he waited too long for the time period.

We also need to look more at the manga when concerned with Yashahime. 8-9 months is all Rin travelled with him and he was like hold up, and left her at the village because he KNEW she needed to come to her own conclusion. That no matter what she picked he would live with and protect her. Unconditional love on his end. She cannon wise spent YEARS living with humans and MONTHS with Sesshomaru. Again, by manga standards of cannon.

Now I can already hear the screaming about age and what not. Some sources say Sesshomaru is over 900, by the rule of thumb, if we look at anime and movie releases, we have Sesshomaru being over 500 with no define age and Inuyasha around 270 years old being more pinpointed due to the movie. Just by going by ANIME CANNON. Kagome and Inuyasha, you have a 15 year old with a 270 year old man. If you say being pinned to the tree doesn’t count, then you have 220.

Also, here is something very interesting. In the episode where Inuyasha meets the unmother, he tells her, thinking it was his mom, she died when he was very small and we have flash backs later in the series of him being small running from demons. Demons clearly age much slower than humans, even half-demons. Inuyasha can be 270 but mentally and physically be 15, the same logic works for Sesshomaru, who in the manga is not much older than Inuyasha.

In the manga, there wasn’t any grooming, in the anime, there was a ton of mess-ups but no grooming.

Would this fly in todays world? HELL NO! NO, its gross, she’s a kid. Stop.

I know any fanfic I write will lean heavily on the side of father/daughter because that is what I grew up seeing on the screen. I can’t think of Rin as an adult because years of seeing her as a cheerful little girl. It’s like seeing G.O.T Arya about to have sex for the first time in season 8… I remember when she was a kid on the show. It was way to weird and I had to look away until it ended. But that’s my 2021 mentality.

But Inuyasha is not taking place in 2021. Feudal Japan is a whole other era with its own beliefs, morals and way of life. Those who understand this have nothing wrong with them. They just understand history.

Also, just to bang some nails in…

Anyone remember Bleach? Remember the MOST accepted couple was Ichigo and Rukia…. Rukia who was hundreds of years old and Ichigo who was 15… or Ichigo’s mom who was a teenager and his dad also hundreds of years old.

Most of this also boils down to Sesshomaru being a dude. As in reverse roles in animes its accepted and they don’t have the same historical context. Inuyasha is based off of historical context of Feudal Japan.

We need to stop spreading hate. We can’t accept some forms of literature because its European fantasy but bash other fantasy based literature for doing the same thing.

Sure, its weird for those who were use to seeing the father/daughter dynamic. Yes, there are extreme sessrin fans who post really questionable illegal content when they decide to leave Rin as an 8-year-old…

But this wasn’t ever meant to be perverted. The story was meant to make sense on a logical and historical base.

I hope everyone takes the time to read this. I love Inuyasha, I love Sesshomaru. I am just sick of seeing so many people fighting over what should be the revival of a beloved series. While yes, there is still room for sess/rin not being a thing, until it is stated otherwise, why hate each other? This fandom will only lose people by doing this. Calling people names or accusing them of illegal endorsement can hurt someone these days over social media.

Tumblr allows you to block tags. You don’t have to read anything or watch anything you don’t like. We gain nothing from attacking each other but can lose so much by doing so. Fanart, really good fan fiction, friends, ideas, sharing fond memories. Both sides have the right to feel as they feel, but no right in hurting each other.

A fandom is meant to bring people together. Not start a war…

Thank you.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ajpa.20402

http://www.italianrenaissanceresources.com/units/unit-2/essays/husbands-and-wives/#:~:text=Marriage%20not%20only%20reflected%20order,to%20ensure%20the%20bride's%20virginity.

https://www.ancient.eu/Canterbury_Tales/

https://www.ancient.eu/article/1424/daily-life-in-medieval-japan/#:~:text=Just%20as%20Japanese%20people%20today,in%20Western%20Europe%2C%20for%20example.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_Masamune

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megohime

[tes-trash-blog]

on my own snow elf bs ONCE MORE

What do you think Snow Elf perspectives on face paint/tattoos were? (Also, colors again: would, say, a leaf pattern in one color be seen as adorable, while leaves in another color might raise some eyebrows?  Just as an example.)

Ohai! Don’t worry I’m still working on the color post, but work has been.. well, a word that starts with F.

I have notes on the Falmer attitudes towards tattoos and markings, but up until now they weren’t particularly cleaned up. But now they are, and I present the Non Canon Guide To Falmer Culture: Body Modifications!

It’s hard to think of the Falmer, a race that placed so much emphasis on the body as a temple that houses the Aurielic spark, as a people that would modify their bodies. Luckily for us, every culture focused on decorum has its share of glaring contradictions, and the Falmer were no exception! They certainly practiced the art of piercing as evidenced by excavated earrings and recovered marriage vows. One such example is Phynastic Fragment c-1, translation provided below:

[...] and she pierced the free ear of her beloved, and swore upon sun and sky to look upon her face as she would the first-light of dawn, with gratitude and love boundless [..]

Now those are only piercings. What of tattoos and paint? That requires a bit more digging. The genocide of the Falmer people was complete in every sense of the word - there exists perhaps one tenth of a complete Snow Elf skeleton, and that tenth is a composition of no less than thirty excavations and grim trades in Eastmarch.

Thankfully, we have good old fashioned tablets and records to extrapolate on!

The short answer in regards to tattoos and paint is: Yes, there was significance attached to this form of marking. The most obvious ones have Jephrine connotations, the Divine Inspiration and Bones-That-Nutured-The-World -- the Dancers, Jephrine holy soldiers who moved with such elegance and intention that every step and every breath may as well have been part of a dance, were said to be covered head to toe in art... if you ever caught a glimpse of them, anyway.

Another example, though unsubstantiated, exists in depictions of the Aran-Blessed, Snow Elves who earned the attention and blessing a Prince. Upon receiving a blessing from a Prince, the favored Falmer were said to have a radiance about their face; the one depiction uncovered in modern-day Winterhold shows a woman with stars in her eyes (understood to be an acolyte of the Star-Eyed Syrabane), gazing upward with the Sun of Auri-El on her brow.  Whether this was symbolic or literal is the subject of vigorous debate.

The third example, and the one that has given credence to tattoos as a relative norm, comes in Dwemer records of refugees, of al things. The Deep Elves were meticulous recordkeepers after all, and nowhere else does that shine than in their records of Falmer.. ‘processing’, let’s call it. From Nchuand-Zel Records f-2:

[...] Male, weak of limb [...] golden solar imagery across the forehead [...] Female, of soft build [...] blue-white mist-swirls across the chest and middle [...] Male-born-female, high constitution [...] green, gold, and red leaves-and-branches upon the face [...]

There are hundreds of records that detail the physical appearances of the Falmer, and a fair number of those mention tattoos of all sorts. While each and every modified Falmer could have been part of some sect or order, there certainly was enough variance to argue that permanent markings were a norm.

That being said, there is one color among the rainbow that rarely made an appearance, and that was black. There is only one recording of (what may be) a black tattoo the Society for Falmer Preservation has uncovered, and it is as follows (from Solstheim Tablet c-5):

[...] and she bore the mark of Black wings, and on the wind she flew [...]

Which again, is a matter of some spirited debate on whether this is literal or figurative.

In short: Tattoos and markings existed in Falmer society, and bore their own significance, be it spiritual, martial, or personal. While these tattoos and modifications came in many forms, there was a sort of cultural logic to these markings; a Jephrine acolyte likely would not have the mists of Riana on their body for example, but a Syrabanic acolyte may be recognized by the All-Sovereign and be allowed to have the appropriate markings.

One would wonder if such things apply to any Falmer who survived into the Fourth Era.

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh Ep 34 S4: The Boys (and Mai) are Back in Town

OK, back to the writing table! It’s been a while! So I made the mistake of like...scrolling down on the playlist when I realized...

This duel is like 6 episodes long (7 even? It’s a lot) and like...yo I have no idea if we’ll finish this season in 2020! Damn you 2020. Damn you.

But wtv, what I like about this side project of mine is that I don’t have to rush things, and I can really spend the time with each episode and just...enjoy the moment. So often I watch a whole series in like half a week and then it’s like...I don’t get to enjoy it. This series I’ve enjoyed for years now. That’s kinda neat. So...we’re gonna be slow...but lets just enjoy this weird ass anime moment together. 2020 deadlines are all fake anyway. I’m not even sure if 2020 was a real thing that happened or like...an alternate universe opening a door and letting through just so many terrible ghosts. We might never know.

Last we left off, everyone has decided to hallucinate Dartz’ terrible backstory.

Unfortunately we have NO darts in the past. Was really hoping to see at least one darts reference in this entire season, just one darts board on his wall. But alas, we will not have a Season Zero death darts match with Dartz. (Man I need to get back to Season Zero. And FMA. And a lot of things)

I feel like if I watched the original version there would have been some things different. First off...what ocean? Second off...well, we’ll get to that. There’s some things I think were changed for English TV.

Including censoring the nude people like it’s James Cameron’s Avatar.

Fun fact did you know that James Cameron’s Avatar was supposed to be ass naked and that they were supposed to have like 8 cat nipples? Yeah.

Man, that movie was a mistake. I’m so glad we all decided to collectively forget James Cameron’s Avatar.

(read more under the cut)

The actual locations of anything in Atlantis does not match up with it when it’s zoomed out. We have giant cities, we have sprawling wheat fields, and we have...THIS situation. This active volcano next to...pine trees?

I feel like they wanted it to feel vaguely Pompeii, since I know people like to put Atlantis in the Mediterranean. Maybe? Maybe that’s what they were going for here?

One of my top ten favorite Yugioh plot twists ever was finding out this episode that this snake who has no limbs somehow created these...rocks...that all of our main characters have been wearing and obsessing over this entire time.

And so this is my theory, this is the thesis of my Yugioh college paper. These rocks are turds. There’s no way these rocks aren’t turds. There’s no way this snake didn’t poop out a bunch of glowy magic stones and then stuff them into a volcano.

THE ROCKS WERE TURDS THE WHOLE TIME.

God bless, Yugioh.

Seto spends this entire episode groveling that he isn’t playing cards that will absolutely kill him. Like Mokuba, Seto isn’t happy until he’s cheating death.

(I really wish we got more super past future tech. I love that type of concept art. Instead, we just got a lot of flying boats--the same boat that I think the team flew on in S1 when they went to Seto’s video game universe.

So those boats are 10,000 years old? They existed in the 10,000 year old Pangea, huh?

Neat.)

Anyway, lets take a gander at Princess Zelda circa Ocarina of Time.

SUPER princess Zelda, and I know it’s not 1:1 but damn it feels so much like a late 90′s Princess Zelda outfit to me. Check out that PURPLE. That low poly circlet. The random ass sword. The thick ass belt. 

Also check out this super dead family.

Yo so this is a 00′s thing, a period of time where we liked to tell stories like LOST, with just a bunch of random ass plot twists in flashbacks instead of just...telling a story from start to finish. And can be a great and fun way to do it--but at the sacrifice of actually making me care about these characters while they were still alive.

Like I would have maybe cared about Chris and Ironheart dying if I had known that Dartz was killing his whole family? With...lightning strikes? But alas, these dumbasses decided NOT to tell us they were royal. It’s so strange both from a logical perspective and a storytelling perspective.

Man...missed opportunity, IMO, but I can see why they did it. The wanted the ‘Gotcha!’ I feel ambivalent about it, honestly.

And who am I kidding, people are still doing unpredictable plot twists this. It’s a way to tell a story. Is it the most impactful way? No. It’s...it’s a gotcha!

It’s at this point in the story that things start ramping up, but it’s not clear if it takes place over years or just a couple hours. People just start going a little cray and turning into Monsters.

Straight up, though--did they turn into monsters that already existed and are modern Duel Monster cards, or are the monsters from modern Duel Monsters cards actually descendants of Atlantis who were once human?

They don’t say, actually. Maybe...maybe every card was a human once. That would be a freakin weird Yugioh twist if Kuriboh was like a 45 year old dude.

PS Dartz was married...soak that in.

ROMANCE ON YUGIOH ALERT.

Love it every time. She was there for like...half a second, and Dartz was like throwing so much shade about how “only the people with evil in their hearts were turned” and it’s like...

...dude that’s your wife? OK then. I can see you guys got along real well.

Anyway, so long to the ship of IonaxDartz, you were here for even less than the amount of time that Seto dated Blue Eyes White Dragon in a hallucination, which kind of sets a new record for us.

This might be the shortest-lived ship in all of Yugioh and they have a 12 year old daughter and what I assume was a 12 year marriage for that entire time.

that is if they...HAD the concept of marriage 10,000 years ago on Atlantis Pangea island. Maybe?

I mean they might have not had the concept of dating and marriage yet because he gets over this like immediately. The show will never hover back to that time Dartz watched his own wife turn into a creature. We have no idea if he was like “OK honey lets uh...let just get you a haircut and maybe no one will notice?” We have no idea how long he was desperately trying to remain married to the beast that was no longer human and was also trying to eat everyone else in his court. We just don’t know.

Dartz just had a lot of other things to think about. He’s been King for like...a year...he’s only 21...he’s just doing a bad job at everything.

(Biden opens Pres Trumps bedroom in the White House come January and it’s juts full of glowing green evil golf balls) (OK that was my last 2020 joke I swear to you) 

Anyway, Dad is here, but it’s a little too late to really do anything with the situation. Everyone is worshiping little snake turds. What can you really do about that?

One eye golden, the other eye, the color of a glistening Leviathan turd.

After the rest of the surviving royal family was chased out of the castle, Dartz decides to just wave his hands around a lot.

I’m not entirely sure what Kings do...never really had one...but I think they’re supposed to do more than wave their hands at a crowd like the Pope. Like...everyone’s dead right? Like everyone?

Who’s he talking to?

Meanwhile, Chris and Ironheart decide to revive some monster tablets to get some real actual duel monsters to do their bidding.

So apparently some monsters are in the tablets, and other’s have just always been here...and...

They didn’t know violence but they did have the cards?

There’s a lot of vague stuff they didn’t feel like ever writing, because it would have probably been boring to write about. I guess we’ll just let our imagination fill in the rest and ignore all the inconsistencies. It’s a kid’s anime. well........kind of a kid’s anime. A lot of people have died this episode and I don’t even know how to add it to the death count.

How many people live in Atlantis? I dunno.

Are the inhabitants of Atlantis even dead, or are they just turned into Monster cards? I dunno. Clearly the Great Leviathan wasn’t awoken this first battle so...did all those souls get returned? I dunno.

Either way I’m not gonna bother the death count about it because I just do not know if they died, and since it was neither an implied death or an on screen death...I dunno.

Just feels like a bit of a translation snafu--where maybe they couldn’t kill that many people on English TV, so they were like “AND IT’S A DRAW!” but also...it could be canon to both versions. The leviathan didn’t work the first time, maybe no one died? I dunno.

In this shot, PS, Raphael just gently backs up out of this flying plane, and it looked really funny to me. I probs won’t cap it because it’s split between two other cuts, but just...they just kind of moved that sprite to the right really slowly, no animation, it was great.

Dartz decides to end the backstory hallucination, and we get introduced to a new twist--a better twist than that last one, that’s right, all our boys are cards!

Including this asshole!

Been a while since our boys have been cards! Man, I miss Bakura!

Yes, I looked back to earlier episodes this season to see what was going on with Pegasus’ new look. I think what happened is that it’s always been this shade of gray purple--but when you put purple next to it’s opposing color (which is yellow colors) it looks even MORE purple. It’s just how color works. Love color theory. mm. Good stuff. Good purple hair.

I can’t wait until Yami kills Yugi for the 3rd time in one season.

Anyway, that’s all for now, and like always, here’s a link to read these in chrono order.

[poopycrumbs]

hi guys i love the pjo books as much as the next person but uncle rick has said and wrote some pretty harmful things and complaints done by POC are Valid™ and should be acknowledged

the same way that pro-rick fans argue that he is not perfect, therefore liable to mistakes and shouldnt be bullied or whatever, the fans who critique or call out riordan for his racism and sexism are also not perfect. if you happen to come across a comment that you consider to be "too mean" or something, pls dont dismiss it because ultimately the message that person is trying to convey is more important.

besides, as multiple and more articulate posts have pointed out before me, at the end of the day rick riordan is a Privileged White man and will not ever truly empathise with a POC's culture and experience. to all the POC fans out there, i salute you and i stand with you. i hear you.

also speaking abt uncle rick's representation i just want to call out his characterisation of some of the greek gods. it's a minor peeve of mine BUT i dunno if im going to get another chance to call rick out so uhh hear me out:

while pjo is a fantasy and loosely based on myths, i just cant help but feel that the way he wrote some of the gods/goddesses are kinda,,, not good??? i mean look at apollo. he is the Quintessential Greek God™ who is also the person who resides over rhetoric/logic, arts, music, etc. (basically almost everything important thats why he's quintessential)

im sorry uncle rick but i just cant agree with your writing that portrays him as a dumb teenager who cries about his pimples and is shit at poetry. yeah i know it's humour blah blah dont attack me for this bUT because of that i am having a hard time finding recent posts that depicts apollo as the SMART god that he is.

the pjo fandom has become such a huge platform and i just dont want the subsequent generations to finish reading the books thinking, "aaaah ok apollo is a dumbass and is lame" like nO HE IS COOL BEANS AND I LOVE HIM SO, SO MUCH.

also hera. let's talk about hera.

first of all, she is NOT that bad and i dont feel comfortable seeing ppl praise annabeth and then diss on hera immediately afterwards. like bro don't get me wrong i like annabeth i think she's cool and amazing bUT come on!!! hera is an opressed woman imho. she is the goddess of MARRIAGE and her husband CHEATS on her constantly. they are immortal remember?? it would probs get tiring to be ridiculed and disrespected so much for, like, ETERNITY. dont expect a person to still be nice and cordial when she has spent forever of her life unhappy.

you cant praise one person as an outstanding female character at the expense of another.

it's just that i see a lot of Hera Hate. im not justifying her, but idk she's not the ultimate evil that other ppl paint her to be???? riordan's books encourage u to dislike her, which is fine and all i mean it's his book. i just wish that dislike didnt translate to the actual mythologies

anyways that's it i tried my best to be respectful. pls be respectful as well when interacting with others. thanks guys, i hope that whatever direction uncle rick will take, the love you feel for the books and the fandom wont diminish!!!!

hp survived and thrived regardless of jk rowling's actions, im sure the pjo fandom will persevere in the same way <333

[butterfly-winx]

Zenith

- Do you know about Zenith? No? I mean you own a computer so you must. I hear the whole planet is covered in one large city.

- Zenith lives up to its name, as it is regarded to be the home to the height technological development in the Magic Universe. It houses the more universities, research institutes and engineering testing fields on its tiny surface than Magics and Earth combined.

- Though it is true that the planetoid is covered with a seemingly uniform cityscape, there are patches of untended ground peeking through, mainly the polar seas.  Antitheva and Bitheva may only classify as large lakes elsewhere, but they are perfectly fit for a small planet of Zenith’s size. They even help populations of merfolk at some point in time.

- The overwhelming amount of construction covering the planet’s surface has long become its vice. With no reflective surfaces left and with machinery forced to operate day and night to fuel the latest technological advancements, the whole planet has become a singular heat trap. The seas were boiling and the air was unbreathably hot. What got research going however was the failing performance of their heavy duty machinery, screws sweating and bending out of shape, lasers blinking tired and unfocused. They devised a plan to cool down the surface of the planet by releasing agents to shield them from the thermal effects of solar rays, and achieved the impossible. Zenith’s climate has since then settled on a comfortable average of 250 K.

- The seas froze over and the merpeople disappeared - or maybe they did already during the boiling phase, out of their luck living off already dead fish. Urban development was given final approval and the last patches of earth disappeared from sight, buried under the striving for more.

- Despite its  aforementioned properties, Zenith is no monolith and it would be amiss to describe it as such. Zeniths countries and cultures are diverse, only connected by their burning need for advancement and their fight against the cold. They have a spectrum of governance forms in the different countries ranging from democracy, constitutional monarchy to representative republic and in some cases even direct democracy of people.

- As cities cover all of the planet, it is difficult to determine where individual settlements in a country begin and end. Country borders are the only demarcations, each government shielding itself with force fields, trenches or physical walls from imagined spies and malevolence.

- Techna’s home of Haikar is in a country that still tries to honour the memory of the separate settlements that have melded together. So Haikar is not a separate town as much as it is just a borough with its own town governance, and is considered to be the capital of Transjordan.

- Other Zenith country names with capitals where applicable: Tribilisi (Kandu), Gorgan, Nuzul (Xihat), Tbaku, Navyol, Urzghar

- Most of these countries don’t get along with each other too well. As is understandable, seeing as they are very culturally diverse. Each wants to be the best though and their most bitterly fought battles are usually over patent rights and the tenure of well-respected scientists. As banal as these reasons seem, as brutal are their methods of mutual sabotage to keep the leading edge.

- Transjordan unfortunately is quite small and has many neighbours, so their paranoia and battle readiness is markedly large even on planet. Growing up, Techna went through disaster and terror awareness training regularly, to the point where they could probably recite what to do in case you found a car bomb better than they could explain a simple recipe.

- Oh and are recipes important! As clean edged people think the inhabitants of Transjordan are, there is nothing minimalist about their food choices. They love combining spices and textures and always serve feasts with generosity rivalling Eraklyon’s. Deserts usually have some sort of fruits, nuts AND some preserve in them, the combinations endless.

- While it is true that for the most part, cultures on Zenith value a simple approach to things. If it can be done in a few words, why waste a sentence on it? Bureaucracy is usually a two-click-formula affair, their whole lives are condensed on a sigle digital display ID, shopping comes to you at home. Hell even marriages are just an affair of simple form signing.

- But food is where they really go full ham. It is not seen as frivolous to waste 10 eggs on a cake, because what you are doing creating nutrition and enjoyment. It is simply reasonable and efficient to go to the max when you do that and create an absolute delicacy you can gorge yourself on in one slice or less.

- So if they are so into feasting and enjoying things with purpose, what gives Zenithians such a bad name? Well, it is just that. People of Transjordan for example, like to enjoy things with purpose. They don’t really care much for music or theatre, they are just activities to air your brain out. They will import off-world made products, but there isn’t a lot of room for cultural arts on Zenith because they channel their passion elsewhere.

- Yes you heard right, Zenithinas have passion galore. They just, in the Universe's most efficient move, channel that passion into the work they already do. The majority of scientific discoveries have been made because somebody cared enough to look deep into a topic and push further, because previous answers were unsatisfactory. Children are coached to find something that inspires this level of devotion in them and have extensive education and support networks to get them there.

- On the topic of children: most of them aren’t the genetic descendants of their parents, rather a random selection from the common gene pool. The public gene pool is a hotly debated topic, but a long established structure of procreation that only the very wealthy have the option to contest. (There is a way to gain approval to sire an own baby from just the genes of two people, but it is extremely costly.)

 In some research some time ago it was determined that for the optimal survival of people on the planet, genetic relation to the parents raising the child was not only suboptimal, but actively detrimental to overall population survival. In this “more civilised” approach, parents apply for a baby who is conceived and birthed in bioreactors. This way no people who can conceive are put through undue stress and the public gene pool babies also carry less hereditary health conditions. It is supposedly a win-win situation, yet it leaves a sour taste in most people’s mouth. No wonder less and less Zenithians plan families if that is the process they have to do it by.

- As straightforward as they are, Zenithians often struggle when communicating with people from other planets and not only because of arising cultural differences. Sure any Zenithian would blush and pale when forced into a situation dealing with overly expressive Solarians, but in any other regular case, the Universal Translation Spell is not on their side either. Jordan is a very logical and to the point language and the floralitiy of other languages is impossible to be transferred to it. The UTS instead produces blocky, difficult to parse translations that often leave Techna confused to the intentions of others.

- It is of course evident that the main industry of the planet is electronics production and R&D. Companies on Zenith produce all manners of gadgets, but they are best in creating refrigeration technology (ironic, right?), astronomic instruments, self-propulsion transportation (vehicles) and medical diagnostic tools and applications. The associated application programming industry is also booming with server houses the size of smaller cities. It is no surprise that Zenith’s electricity consumption is through the roof with such a vital sector to support.

- Before their trade for electricity with Solaria, Zenithian people used static electricity discharges to harvest energy. Their planet being covered with one gigantic city didn’t leave much space for utilising the natural resources of their planet. All the mineral ore having been exhausted, no major flowing waters left and stranded with miserable and cold weather the options for energy sources were limited. What they had however was tall buildings and thunderstorms, so they used lightning harvesters for ages.

- With the storm and snow clouds obscuring the sky most days, Zenith is quite dark. The cities illuminate themselves, kind of like year round festive ornamentation.

- Spirituality is an interesting topic on planet that everyone you ask will have a different answer for. Major parts of Tribilisi and Urzghar for example believe in machine assisted immortality. They see machines as superior to biological matter and work towards the unfallability and omniscience of artificial intelligence in which part of their conscience will be able to rest after death. The predominant belief in Transjordan that Techna grew up with is that after death, there is nothing. Based on the theory of energy conservation, what one doesn’t use and convert into heat will be redistributed into the rest of the world. It is selfish to think one could hold on to any energy after death.

- Most people also don’t care for magic. Sure some magic users crop up among them here and there, but they most likely remain untrained. This is why Techna chose a school off planet to pursue their passion and why they weren’t claimed as a Guardian fairy of Zenith after they graduated. (Since this position doesn’t exist.)

- Almost all things on the planet are solved non-magically accordingly. Their transport systems are unparalleled with some regions using small-distance whole structure replication, aka honest to god matter teleportation. The frozen over seas are also fully utilised with air cushion containerships cruising the flat expanse. Along a certain longitude Zenith also sports a unique feature: the longitudinal crust train. A four meter wide segment of the planet, as if cut out of the surrounding cityscape, moves on straight rails around the whole circumference of the planet. It is the fastest mode of civilian transport available.

- They need all the good transportation and radio transmission they can get - by the way, the Universe Wide Web is also a Zenithian invention, who would have thought - as with their living space limited, Zenithian countries have spilled over onto nearby moons, essentially colonising and terraforming those.

- So, you see, Zenith and either of its countries aren’t by far as boring as one might think on the first glance and most of them certainly don’t shy back from showing emotion.

[luvreyn]

My Manhwa List (2019) pt. 4

And the list continues ~

The Reason Why Raelina Ended Up at the Duke’s Mansion

Summary:

Poisoned to death by her own betrothed?! Eunha didn’t wake up in a novel’s story just to get killed off again as an unfortunate extra! To change her story she needs a cover… 6 months pretending to be the fake fiancée of the novel's male protagonist, Duke Noah Wynknight. But will this cold-hearted, angel-faced demon of a man really help her avoid another ill-fated ending?!

WHY YOU SHOULD READ:

this is like my second discovered manhwa so it’s very high on my list

plot = 6/5 the plot twists are awesome hail the author

noah freaking wynknight

mc is smart and capable and knows how to use guns she is no damsel in distress my friends

mc knows and uses her knowledge efficiently

adam 

art style - 6/5

the king is awesome

the villain is unexpected bcuz ohmygahd i didnt see that one coming

R A E L I N A

noah being in love 

the reasons and logic are all justified and reasonable

very lovable characters that you would understand

has the right amount of angst/comedy/romance/drama 

facial expressions are on point they are memeable 

in conclusion: read this because this is one of the best manhwa ever like ever i mean who havent read this gem you’re missing out if you havent

My Life as an Internet Novel

Summary:

Every novel has the usual cast: a gorgeous heroine, handsome boys vying for her attention, and a homely best friend at the heroine’s side. Dani, an ordinary student and avid reader of internet novels, is all too familiar with these tropes. But she never imagined that one day she’d wake up at the center of one herself! Her new fictional world is complete with a beautiful best friend named Yeoryung, and four impossibly good-looking boys who all happen to be in her class.  Dani is determined to stay out of the way and not get involved in the twists and turns of the plot. But is she really just the sidekick -- or is Dani actually the leading lady? Anything is possible in the world of a novel!

WHY YOU SHOULD READ:

the mc’s reasons and fears are justified and reasonable 

the characters are all lovable 

plot = 5/5 very diff from iseka-ish stories that just went with the flow of their new life this mc’s reactions are realistic and shouldn’t be invalidated 

art style is decent

yeoryong loving her bff and prioritising her is love

the characters are complex and have their own personality

yeoryeong x dan - i

the bff’s bro is handsome

the male characters are all handsome and cute and understanding

spoiler: they believed in their friend and that’s pure friendship 

their friendship are goals i just want to cry because they didnt invalidate the feelings and fear of the mc 

yeoryeong x eun ji ho

dan - i x chun young

Lady Beast 

Summary:

An arranged marriage that ends in a body swap?! The quiet Princess Elissa has lived a miserable life thus far. To get away from it all she agrees to marry the war tyrant, Duke Ginger of Landall Kingdom. But by some evil curse, the new couple wakes up in each other's bodies! Between royal functions to attend and getting used to their physical changes, can they keep their cool long enough to find a way to switch back? Or will they be stuck like this forever?!

WHY YOU SHOULD READ:

red haired characters are awesome

plot = 4/5 the body switching concept is put nicely and are nicely done 

art style = 4/5 

reactions are funny

ml is husband material

ml teasing the mc 

number question: why are they swapping bodies no one knows

light read so read it you want to just have a good time 

The Contract Concubine

Summary:

As the deadliest assassin in the Seong Empire, Yeseo is stumped by very few jobs that come her way. But when Emperor Ahon hires her to find the spy hiding in his palace, she must also play the part of his new airheaded concubine as a cover. It takes all her patience to keep up her lovey-dovey act with Ahon during the day, and all her smarts to sniff out the enemy at night. If only she could wrap up this job quickly and collect her handsome reward-- but with so many suspicious officials and the tangled web of alliances inside the court, it's hard to tell who the true culprit could be. Can Yeseo catch this mysterious spy before she loses her sanity and blows her own cover?

WHY YOU SHOULD READ:

what can i say, i just love stories that has politics and history

funny and fantastic

A H H O N

it has a lot to offer 

art style = 5/5

plot = 4/5 

i think this has dark themes but surprisingly it’s a light read for me bcuz of the pov of yesuh

who is the traitor who is the spy

the white silver fox dude reminds me of gin ichimaru

ahhon x yesuh

Daughter of the Archmage

Summary:

Mabel’s been mocked her whole life for her nonexistent magical ability, but when she finally meets her true father, it’s the all-powerful archmage, Raquiel! Forced by an imperial pact to let her go long ago, he can now welcome her into his home, with his half-wolf butler, three nymph sisters, a fox halfling, and a kind disciple to watch over her. But dark secrets from his past threaten to catch up with them. Will his magic be enough to protect her? Could she even come into a power all her own?

WHY YOU SHOULD READ:

if you love wmmap, you’re gonna love this

plot = 3.5/5

art style = 4/5

ngl rykell is one of the top candidates for best daddy award

rykell doesnt hate his daughter ok 

sweet and adorable father-daughter moments

maybelle deserves the world

this is a warm and light read if you just want to enjoy reading 

p.s the scanlation team is dropping this because the author said so BUT there’s going to be an official english translation next year (i think jan 2020?) 

a lot of questions that’s going to make you want more

[azroazizah]

Looking for some new manga to read!! Do you have any favourite manga or any manga you’d recommend? I’m open to reading a lot of different manga since I only began reading manga at the end of last year- so there’s a lot of manga I haven’t read or heard off!! Thanks!!

I........ actually don’t read manga that much guys.....

mostly bc I’m usually so picky fhgkdkfgj pls don’t get me wrong, there’s tons of mangas/manhwas/webcomics that I like, but I only follow a few. I usually follow something that I use as some kind of reference to build my own story, mainly for the art and characterizations, etc so yeah wwww

for ones I obviously read were Fullmetal Alchemist and Soul Eater, ofc, but you def already know about them wwwwww

so uhh I guess I’m just gonna list what I currently follow? I’m currently liking manhwas/webcomics bc it’s easy to read on mobile. these are all that I check p regularly:

1. Gangsta. by Kohske. (seinen, adventure/thriller) Yeahhh p obvious I love this one lmao, it’s mature and pretty dark and interesting even though the plot’s pretty simple. Also, Kohske is cruel. She’s one of mangakas I look up to fgsgsjfd. It’s about mafia fights and drug problems and superhumans. plot is angst-heavy, but the characters are so lovable and did I mention everyone was hot asf? it’s currently on hiatus tho.

2. Otoyomegatari by Kaoru Mori (seinen, romance) this one’s so obvious lmao I like pretty clothes and it’s a great reference for me to learn to be a mangaka. The plot follows the stories of couples and marriages in medieval central asia. I must warn that the art details on this manga is beyond insane. Eyegasm.

3. Kono Oto Tomare by Amyuu (shounen, music) if u like chihayafuru u def would like his one wwwww. it’s about Koto and traditional japanese music. the romance is so cute jhdfsjfgsjkafgjkghgjdgd

4. Akatsuki no Yona by Kusanagi Mizuho (shoujo, adventure/romance). I’m honestly so into  historical mangas wwwwww. it follows Princess Yona and her ‘dragons’ on their journey after Yona was exiled from the palace.

5. Boku no Hero Academia by Horikoshi Kohei (shounen). Yeah this one’s maybe the only popular shounen I follow rn wwww but I haven’t checked it since like four months ago or smt wwwww

6. Flawless by Shinshinhye (webtoon, romance). it’s about a story between a blind boy with advanced senses and a headstrong girl. seriously good romance and even the side characters are all so complex and flawed. The male lead is a bit twisted and so manipulative while the heroine is stubborn and v independent.

7. 7 Wonders by Metalu (webtoon, fantasy/romance) idk if this had been translated or no, I read it in my native lang wwwww. it revolves around Indonesian folktale of Jaka Tarub and Nawang Wulan.

8. The Villainess Reverses The Hourglass (manhwa, romance). Aria Roscente was sentenced to death bc of her adopted family’s schemes, but god gave her a chance to change her fate by sending her back ten years earlier, and this time Aria vows to be a real villainess to punish people who wronged her.

I love this one so much bc we have a villain as a protag, who actually acts like a villain. She actually knows she’s evil, is ruthless, but still so charismatic that we can’t help but think that her actions were justified. I’m weak against greatly written villains. She’s also deeply wicked to the core, and not turning into your typical glorified good hero. Did I also mention she’s a strong woman who absolutely doesn’t need no man? yeah absolutely good shit

9. Suddenly I Became A Princess/Who Made Me A Princess by Plutus & Spoon (manhwa, fantasy, isekai). seriously, I normally don’t do isekai guys but I like this one so much wwwww. Basically an orphan fell asleep (suicide?) and woke up in the body of Athanasia, a princess she’d read about in a novel. The catch is she knows the whole plot of the novel and she knows Athanasia’s gonna be murdered by her own father, the emperor. So we follow Athy as she tries to avoid her death. Good. Found. Family. Shit.

Also the dad’s so tsundere hjgdskgfdk I love him.

10. Lessa by POGO (manhwa, dark fantasy) Completely Underrated™. it splits into a trilogy; Lessa, Lessa: The Crimson Knight, and Lessa: Servant of Cosmos. the last one is ongoing. Following the adventure of Lessa, a fallen god who fathered a demonic race called the Demans, and Rano, a human searching for his sister who was abducted by the demans.

This one also got a pretty dark in theme, considering its heavy symbolic with gods, angels, disciples and believers. I must warn that the art is maybe not for everyone bc it could get pretty disturbing like let’s say, Madoka? but instead of cute girls we have devilish/satanic figures lol. But honestly, the art is very pretty, and it speaks. Definitely my favorite manhwa so far.

Bonus, the ones that already completed (or, ehm, indefinitely on hiatus)!

1. Chang Ge Xing by Xia Da (manhua, seinen) currently on indefinite hiatus, but the published chapters are definitely Worth It™. it follows Princess Chang Ge, who was chased out of the palace after a coup, and living as a man while trying to gather strength for a revenge. I’m a historical fanatic I told you wwwww, but also the heroine is so complex, ruthless, cunning, manipulative, but also independent and v charismatic. The kinda heroine I love the most ughhh.

she seduces princesses and even elected as the male lead’s ‘sworn brother’ lol also she has a wife at some point. A++

2. Zetsuen No Tempest by Shirodaira Kyo (shounen, dark fantasy) follows Mahiro and Yoshino as they try to crack the murder case of Mahiro’s sister Aika through magic, wizards, and logic, at the end of the world. Heavy Shakespeare references. if u don’t have the time to read the manga, the anime is a pretty dang good choice too.

that’s it for now I guess? I def forgot a lot bc I don’t read much these days.

if you have any rec that’s similar to these mangas I’d like to know wwwww

thanks for asking and I hope this answers you ^^

[themulberrytree]

character sheet.

full name: Shallan Davar pronunciation: Sha-Lahn Dah-var (fuck IPA i am not doing that shit again)

nicknames: strong one (by hoid), love, dear (by adolin), storming woman (mostly by kaladin)

height: 5′6″ age: 19/20 (rosharan years) / 21-22 (earth years)   zodiac: gemini (donut ask me when her bday is i donut have a date yet) languages: (spoken/written): veden (native), alethi, azish, selay (moderate skill in speaking only) thaylen (reading/writing only).

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS.

hair colour: rich, deep red, only red. eye colour: bright blue skin tone: shallan is very fair, though she spends as much time in the sun as she can, so her face is dusted with freckles. body type: slim and slender. unlike the curvaceous body type often seen on alethi women, shallan is much smaller both in figure and stature. she could be mistaken for delicate, at first glance. as she spends more time training with her blade, her body becomes much more defined and muscular, but she will never achieve any kind of bulky muscles, she simply does not have the body type.

accent: her natural veder accent would be considered low, given shallan’s isolation out in the countryside. she can speak in a more posh (re: acceptable) accent, but she has little reason to do so. dominant hand: right posture: shallan has the posture of a perfect vorin lady, back straight and shoulders back at all times. when sitting, her freehand always covers her safehand, placed delicately in her lap unless she is sketching. when walking, her hands are clasped in front of her. she is rarely animated in her posture when speaking, and depending on her company, she works hard to blend in. when alone, shallan may slouch when studying, or do her work in a very unlady like fashion on her bed. if she trusts her present company, they may witness this lapse in acceptable posture, but only if she trusts them.

CHILDHOOD.

place of birth: jah kaved hometown: some hick town in the middle of the countryside. birth weight / height: 6 pounds, 3 ounces. 18 inches. manner of birth: natural first words: pa siblings: (all elder, all brothers) helaran, balat, twins: wikim and jushu parents: lin davar, and an unnamed mother, malise davar (step mother), all deceased. parental involvement: shallan remembers a somewhat happy childhood (although the likelihood of that being the case is up for debate). her mother taught her how to draw, and was in charge of shallan’s education in the early years. much of her early years have been forgotten due to the trauma of shallan’s witnessing (see: committing) her mother’s murder. she did not speak at all for half a year afterwards. from that point on, her father became overbearing, and with each year he was less of the man shallan had first known. he was violent towards two of her brothers and the servants, often scaring away tutors, so shallan’s education in those critical years was sporadic at best. her father demanded complete obedience, and any deviation on her part meant that a servant got beaten in her place. in order to spare them and placate her father, shallan worked hard to draw little attention to herself and obey. it was her father who also chose her devotary (purity) rather than her having the opportunity to choose for herself.

ADULT LIFE

occupation: she is the ward of jasnah kholin, having managed to convince the woman she was worthy of wardship at seventeen. after being taken in, shallan begins her education in scholarship, fine tuning her skills in making logic based arguments, study, and critical thinking.

on the shattered plains, she secures work with highprince sebarial as a clerk while maintaining the work in finding urithiru that she started with jasnah, and working to infiltrate the secret group known as the ghostbloods.

she latter assumes a more public role as a knight radiant, the first of the order of lightweavers in centuries. while her status as a radiant is known, she works very hard to keep her work covert. she deals in spywork and information, and uses her lightweaving to form disguises for herself and associates. she has also used her abilities to battle unmade, work oathgates, and help run reconnaissance in kholinar.

as highprincess, her duties would include helping manage affairs of the realm and detecting intrigue to better aid her husband.

close friends: lmafo what are those????? jk, her brothers, later adolin, renarin, kaladin, jasnah (sort of, more teacher/student) wit/hoid (when he’s around). relationship status: verse dependent, married to adolin kholin in canon financial status: her family is destitute, and shallan herself has little experience in personally handling money. that being said, she knows how to balance finances and plan expenses. when working for sebarial, she manages to secure a comfortable pay from him, her later marriage secures her financial security, though her status as a radiant could’ve done that too. driver’s license: she could probably drive, but would be terrible at it due to the fact that she’d keep lookin out the window. she has little experience on horseback, but can manage. criminal record: technically none yet, having managed to get away with murder twice. she had also stolen successfully from jasnah kholin.  

SEX & ROMANCE.

sexual orientation: bisexual romantic orientation: biromantic, could be polyromantic preferred emotional role: submissive (someone pls force her to accept comfort i am beggin) | dominant |  switch  |  unsure preferred sexual role: submissive |  dominant  |  switch  |  sex repulsed | libido: she’s basically DTF anytime and anywhere, and yes, i wish i were kidding, but she’s just horny on main. turn ons: she’s into more traditional kinds of attractiveness, people who look put together. but she really enjoys some kind of hint at wildness, hair that won’t quite stay, a kind of subtle ruggedness. post-battle disheveledness  is HOT. allow her to talk about her studies, things she’s working on or wanting to start, she’ll love that. don’t be afraid to talk about your own interests, she goes off on her own a lot, so she’ll want someone with their own hobbies too. be kind, be willing to grow and change and share. be there if she asks. laugh at her absolutely fucking awful jokes. on the more physical side, not being afraid to show affection in public. that spot on the neck below the ear? yeah, kiss it. leave a mark. kiss the inside of her wrist. do not be afraid to be rough with her, she’s not easily hurt and she doesn’t always like being treated like a china doll. go to town. BUT you must also be good at taking your time. tenderness is a good trait to have in every day life, but if you can translate that into the intimacy of the bedroom, give her a slow buildup, ur golden. turn offs: unnecessary rudeness, lack of independence. anyone who treats her like she needs protecting, or thinks she needs to confine herself in some way, for any amount of time. never laughing at her terrible jokes, or indulging her seemingly random curiosities. being a skybreaker. love language: physical touch is primary, but quality time and words of affirmation are also great. relationship tendencies: shallan has a tendency to fall fast. even when she’s telling herself to be careful and take things slow, it’s easy to pull her in and have her grow an attachment on a superficial level fairly early. she’s good about letting the other person lean on her for support, but she’s not so great when it comes to sharing anything deep about herself. she has a habit of trying to mold herself into what she thinks the other person would like, and clinging to that. if confused she might play around with feelings, though she’s not fully aware she’s doing it. she’s big on positive reinforcement, she’ll let you know if she enjoys your company, and when she’s invested in the relationship, she’ll look for fun ways to spend time with that person. she might attempt to appear more serious and mature than she is, but her silliness will slip out. when she loves though, she loves completely, and a distracted heart is settled once she makes a decision about what she wants.

MISCELLANEOUS.

character’s theme song: flowers, from ha.des.town iris, goo goo dolls moth’s wings, passion pit: this is more a general vibe. i picture it when shallan is in a creative spurt. sun, sleeping at last: for the same creation aesthetic. fire drills, dessa (for when she finally Snaps. and also some lines just really Hit)

hobbies to pass the time: drawing is the big one. she’s always got her sketchbook and something to draw with on hand. it’s an art she’s perfected and uses it both for her lightweaving, and to relax. she enjoys scholarship, exploring history is of a special interest, but taking a closer look at the local flora and fauna is just as fun. she’s naturally curious, so if something grabs her attention, she will want to take a look. she also enjoys discussing what she’s working on with other people, sometimes just so she can use them as a sounding board, but also because they might have insights she doesn’t. it’s very fun for her to explore ideas. she likes going on walks, exploring the area around her. just spending quality time with people she enjoys too. mental illnesses: Dissociative Personality Disorder is the big one. ADHD, PTSD, some depression. physical illnesses: None. left or right brained: right fears: CONFINEMENT. she fears vulnerability and relying others, but she also craves it quite a bit. she fears being understood completely because she’s certain there isn’t anything left to love if someone were to see everything. she fears what she can’t understand, and losing the people she loves, more than she already has. self confidence level: extremely low. she projects an air of self confidence, but frequently downplays her talents. she finds it completely astounding that adolin might actually find her attractive in any sense, let alone be interested in her as a person. her trauma and what she precieves as crimes has left her feeling hollowed out, because she is so terrified of someone really Seeing her, she works hard to hide those corners of herself from others and often feels like she’s failing at even that. vulnerabilities: shallan keeps secrets. too many of them. and she can often dig herself into a pit and struggle to get herself out, and even when she’s in that deep, she has difficulty asking for help. she doesn’t always think things through. her dpd can leave her particularly vulnerable depending on which personality is in control (veil in particular has trouble seeing the Big Picture). it’s easy to goad her into a fight (of the verbal variety) and she will stop at nothing to have the last word. if you have members of her family to hold over her, that’s a good tool. and shallan cannot resist a good mystery, that is a surefire way to pull her in.

tagged by: @luck-crowned tagging: @marblecarved (for mary, emma, or horace!), @melnchly (meg or ros), @minastiriiths, @arturiusrex, @gxtenoughnxrve, @ambiidexter, and @arborvitas

[thebiasrekkers]

Shadow’s Birthright | MYG

Chapter 04: The Winding Road

Plot: Riding in on thunder and lightning, two princes are born. But a crown cannot be shared. It can only be worn by one and one alone. The hands of man have separated the brothers, allowing one to live in wealth and comfort inside the palace while the other grows up among commoners. But Fate cannot be destroyed by the hands of man. A shared destiny reunites the brothers; one to become a king who descends into madness and the other will rise as a dragon whose journey has only just begun in order to claim a crown he does not desire to have.

Rating: NC-17 // NSFW

Genre: series | historical!au | fantasy!au | angst | romance | drama | tragedy

Pairing: Min Yoongi (Lee Yoon) x Female OC (Kalina Shuri)

Warnings: Historical setting, caste system, magic/sorcery, graphic violence, disturbing graphic images, religious tones, angst, slow burn, smut

Previous Chapters: Prologue 01 02 03

Links: FAQ || BTS Masterlist || Admin E’s AO3 || [ REQUESTS ARE OPEN ]

Word Count: 2,795

Tag List: @luxekook​, @pinkpjmin​, @btsaudge​, @flowerwrites06​, @stillcopingxx​, @taevkimchi​, @aroseforyoongi​, @vivpurple7​, @happilystrongthroughthedark​, @sw33tnight​, @nikkitane​, @mini-coop25​, @taegiq​, 

AN: Just a reminder that this series is going to be updated slowly. Please be patient with me. I promise you that it will be worth the wait. If you would like to be added to the tag list, feel free to drop me a line!

P.S. Please bear in mind that while the historical accuracy will be mostly correct, I am setting this in a time period in Joseon history where there was no such thing as a king who had a twin brother. Obviously that’s where the fiction/creative freedom is going to come in. Everything else will be period accurate, trust and believe.

© thebiasrekkers (Admin E). All rights reserved. Reposting/modifying our work is prohibited. Translations are not allowed. Plagiarism/stealing is not tolerated by any means. Legal action will be taken in instances of theft.

“Roads were made for journeys, not destinations.” - Confucius

The soft clink of cups rang out through the silence encompassing the gazebo. The King drank from the white porcelain, watching as Dojin turned to sip from his own cup. After they finished, the two men set their cups back on the table and continued to remain silent. Beams of moonlight filtered in through the space and the King took a moment to simply bask in the serene atmosphere. There was no need to rush this conversation, but it was a talk that needed to be had.

Like the faithful servant he was, Dojin remained silent until the King decided it was time to break said silence.

Sighing, he reached his hand to grasp the handle of the liquor jar but was halted when Dojin grasped the neck of the bottle first. 

“Allow your servant the honor, Your Majesty,” came his former bodyguard’s baritone voice as he lifted the bottle off the table, “and please allow your servant to inquire as to what is weighing on your mind.”

The clear liquor filled the small cup. Dojin poured himself a drink and waited for the King to drink first. Instead of drinking, he merely set the cup back down on the table while pinching the bridge of his nose. 

It had been a long and taxing week. Between dealing with his officials in court and the looming threat from Japan ever on the horizon, the King was fighting the urge to sleep more and more. He had so many edicts to place his seal over and he felt he had so little time to prepare. The sorceress, Kalina, predicted that a harsh famine would hit his country in the coming years. If she followed his instructions to the letter, the people of Joseon would not starve.

Despite all of these problems, the biggest concern sitting at the forefront of his mind was the well-being of his son.

“How is he doing these days, Dojin-ah?”

He watched a wistful smile form on the other man’s face. “He is very intelligent, Your Majesty. And strong.”

The King quipped a curious brow. “You have trained him in martial arts?”

Dojin nodded. “Since he was a young boy, Your Majesty.” His smile widened a bit further. “Soon the master will be forced to yield to the student.” 

The affection that radiated from Dojin’s words showcased the amount of love his former attendant had for the prince. If the King could, he would have wanted nothing more than to spare him from the life of a commoner. He was meant to live in luxury and comfort, able to study anything he wished to learn. He could have even become a scholar if he desired. Living a hard mountain life wasn’t supposed to be his destiny.

But what could he do? The law would not let him live in the palace and his Queen could not bear to see his innocent life taken from him in such an unfair manner. With the Noble Factions breathing down his neck, sowing seeds of corruption in the court, it left the King with his hands tied. The less of a foothold he was able to give them, the safer his throne would be. He did not wish to be a monarch that governed through fear and bloodshed. 

The dark ages of his grandfather’s rule was over. It was up to him to maintain balance and keep the peace.

Why hadn’t he asked Dojin about his son’s educational progress until now?

The King lifted his cup from the table. “Has he shown any interest in marriage yet?”

“No, Your Majesty.” He could see apprehension reflected in Dojin’s eyes. He gestured with his cup for him to continue. “There is one person he likes, but I’m sure Your Majesty would not approve of their union.”

“But you do?”

Dojin lowered his head quickly. “N-No, Your Majesty!”

The King bit back a smirk. It was so easy to tease his former bodyguard, even now. Raising the prince up as well as he had, what right did the King have to complain about Dojin’s parenting methods? There was sincerity in his words and the King had no reason to doubt his attendant.

“Is she a good woman?” he asked, sipping from his cup and savoring the sweet taste of the alcohol. 

“She is, My King. But she is also a dangerous woman.” Dojin lifted his face slowly. “I worry over the sort of influence she has over the prince.”

Frowning, he abstained from speaking right away. The King could only think of one person who was both a good woman and a dangerous woman. If that were true, then this was something the King would, indeed, need to concern himself with. Kalina was a woman who possessed much power and she didn’t age in all the years he’d known her. Ever since she first came to Joseon, when he’d been heralded as the Crown Prince, he believed there was a reason for her arrival. It became even more apparent when she continued to help him advise from the shadows. Since the impending famine was looming ever closer, he valued her council above the others in his court.

She was a woman shrouded in mystery and intrigue. No fool could ignore her when she passed on the streets, purchasing odds and ins for her own personal reasons. But that also bred a level of mistrust and hatred of her arrival. Even the King was not privy to the true source of her power, or her origins.

Troubling still? The Crown Prince was tangled in her orbit as well.

The King set his cup down and sighed. “Would you have me banish her from the kingdom? Even though she’s done nothing but aid in the country’s development?”

“I would never, Your Majesty!”

“The Crown Prince is fond of her as well.” Dojin’s eyes appeared to tremble in the moonlight. The King’s brows furrowed. “Do you still think she should be allowed to stay?”

“Y-Your Majesty…” The warrior leaned back, averting his gaze. There was nothing else to be said. The King knew this and he knew that Dojin did as well.

“The heavens will decide what becomes of their fates, Dojin-ah.” Craning his neck, the King peered up at the moon, basking in the silence for a little bit longer. “It is not our place to intervene, no matter how much we may want to.”

“HA!”

Sweat fell in rivulets down Yoongi’s neck and back with each swing of the wooden sword. Calluses and blisters bubbled in his palms, his fingers screaming from pain. But even so, Yoongi continued to swing. It was the only thing he could do to keep his erratic emotions tethered to the ground. The only thing keeping him from running to Kali’s home and begging her to run away with him. 

If they left the country and traveled to some faraway land where no one knew their names or faces, wouldn’t they be happy? Couldn’t they forget the rest of the world? They could be happy, couldn’t they?

The more logical and reasonable parts of Yoongi’s mind knew that this was impossible. Kali was a sorceress. She was also a woman who didn’t age. Having children or sharing a life with someone was impossible for her and, as such, it was her own curse that she carried on her shoulders. In time, Yoongi would grow old and she would remain unchanged. He would force her to suffer through a different type of agony - the pain of watching him fade away from the world as she was left behind; youthful and untouched.

Yoongi swung the sword across his body, his heart thundering against his chest and ribs. His breath came out in harsh intervals. San was sprawled out across a rock, his head moving back and forth with the sword’s movements. But he didn’t move or fuss at being ignored. It was like the wolf could sense that something was emotionally off-kilter with his master.

“Yoongi-ah!”

San suddenly stood on all fours, his head turning in the direction of where the voice was coming from. At first, his ears flattened along his skull - hackles raising and tail puffing up in response. San’s lips curled back to reveal teeth, but he made no noise. Yoongi paused to wipe at the sweat on his forehead. 

“Yoongi Hyung-nim!”

Smiling, he reached out to stroke San’s back to soothe the wolf’s aggression. He immediately relaxed, barking and leaping from the rock to tear off toward the woods. Jogging after him, Yoongi quickly followed, exiting the forest in minutes and seeing two people lingering around the house. One of them was a young man with a shallow beard and top knot, a bamboo fishing rod draped over his shoulder. The other was even younger, his long hair pulled back into a high ponytail. The two of them were bickering, but stopped immediately when they saw Yoongi approach.

“Hyung-nim!’ called the younger one, waving his arm back and forth in excitement.

Yoongi rolled his eyes as San barked and ran circles around them. “Jungkook-ah. Seokjin Hyung-nim.”

Seokjin held out two large fish tied to a hemp rope. “Brought you a present.”

He eyed it suspiciously. “Both of them?”

“Of course! Why wouldn’t they both be yours?” Seokjin flashed a knowing grin as he scratched at his beard.

“No.” 

Yoongi brushed past them both and started making his way into the house to retrieve the bucket. The two of them followed him inside, griping between each other and yelling for him at the same time.

“What are you saying no for?” Seokjin’s tone was clearly put out. 

Grasping the hemp rope, Yoongi lifted the large bucket and knocked them both out of his path. “To whatever you’re about to ask me to do.”

“Hyung-nim! Don’t be like that!” Jungkook called after him. 

“The answer is no~,” Yoongi sing-songed as he draped his sword over his shoulder, the bucket swinging off the end. San was immediately at his side, craning his head every so often to peek back at the other two who were in hot pursuit.

“Yoongi-ah, come on,” he heard Seokjin whine behind him, “at least hear me out, will you?”

Pausing in his steps, he pivoted on his back heel and whipped around to glare at his two friends. “Is it worth getting flogged by my father over?”

Both Jungkook and Seokjin looked at each other, then their gazes shifted toward the ground. The fact that they weren’t immediately answering meant that there was a good chance that whatever they were asking would get him caned so hard, he wouldn’t be able to walk right for at least two days.

Sighing, he placed a hand on his hip. “What is it you want me to do?”

Again, they didn’t answer right away. Ultimately, they didn’t want to get him into trouble. Yoongi knew this. They were residents of the village, but were the first friends he made when he was a child. In a sense, they were like brothers. But he also knew what kind of mischief they liked to get into. There was no such thing as a free lunch. Seokjin bringing two large trout to his doorstep only meant one thing.

They needed Yoongi’s help with something. That something would most likely get him in trouble with his father. He was not about to tempt fate while his father was away.

“Well?” he snapped, causing both of their shoulders to jump. “Out with it.”

“It’s Namjoon Hyung,” murmured Jungkook finally. He fidgeted with his bangs, still avoiding Yoongi’s gaze. “He sprained his ankle during practice.”

Yoongi bit back another irritated sigh. Instead, he waved with his hand for him to continue. 

Seokjin cleared his throat loudly, stepping in when it seemed Jungkook was losing his voice. “Do you think you could fill in for him in the troupe?”

He could feel his lip curling into a slight snarl. “Come again?”

Clapping his hands, he rubbed his palms together in a pleading gesture. “They were asked by the magistrate to perform for the Crown Prince as a form of entertainment to celebrate his journey to Ming! If they get acknowledged, they’ll be able to perform in the Crown City regularly!” 

Jungkook stepped forward, clasping his own hands together. “Please, Hyung-nim? It’s not like the troupe are strangers to you! They could really use your help!”

Yoongi dropped the bucket at his feet and San skittered away from it. His two friends swallowed the lumps in their throat as he advanced on them. “Do you realize what you’re asking me right now?” He swung his wooden sword around, pointing the tip of it at them. “My father is currently at the Capital. If he finds out, I’ll be lucky to see the morning after!”

Seokjin quickly ran up to him, clasping his wrist so that Yoongi was forced to lower his sword. “That’s alright! The others know how strict your lifestyle is and everything will be fine!”

He scoffed. “Oh yeah? How?”

Jungkook ran to his other side, placing both hands on one shoulder. “You’ll be wearing a mask! No one will know what you look like during the performance.”

“What about rehearsal?” Yoongi narrowed his eyes at both of them. “Won’t they see my face during rehearsals?”

“They’re planning to rehearse in the large field just outside of the Crown City!” His whole body shifted when Seokjin clapped his hand against his back, causing him to cough slightly. “It’ll be fine! I promise!”

Yoongi hung his head in defeat. Truthfully, he had no real reason to deny the request. The members of the performance troupe were his friends as well. Mostly in part to Seokjin and Jungkook introducing them to him. He’d been feeling a little ill while his father was away a few Winters back and they came to cheer him up by performing tricks and acrobatics in the freezing snow. Yoongi wanted to believe that part of his healing process stemmed from them coming to bring a smile to his face.

Brushing his fingers through his cropped hair, he tugged at the fringe until a soft stinging sensation pulled at his roots. This was a pretty big risk he was about to take. On one hand, he would be in very big trouble with his father if he got caught. There was a good chance that he wouldn’t be able to leave to visit the small village at the foot of the mountain for several months. His martial arts training would be literal torture. 

On the other hand, he would be helping his friends out and he would also get to see the Crown City, a place he’d always longed to visit. 

Releasing his hair, he lowered his hand to his face to bite at his thumbnail. If I’m wearing a mask, it should be fine. Even if I run into Father, he’ll never recognize me with my face covered. He gave his two friends sidelong glances, roughly dropping his hand at his side. I’ll probably never get another chance like this again…

Yoongi shook his head, a small smirk pulling at the corners of his mouth. “Get the horses ready. I’ll meet you down at the village.” 

Seokjin and Jungkook jumped into the air, yelling with excitement. They both rambled at once, speeding off with the promise to have traveling gear ready by the time he made it down the mountain. San barked after them, his tail wagging happily as they disappeared through the forest. Groaning, he motioned for the wolf to follow him.

“I need to bathe and get you some food ready.” Yoongi picked up the bucket, gripping his training sword in the other hand. “You’ll have to stay here, San. If you’re with me, Father will discover me immediately.” 

The wolf seemed to understand his words, his ears folding back slightly as he whined. Squatting down, he pet San between his ears and the wolf licked his wrist in response. 

“I know, I know. It can’t be helped.” He smiled. “Besides, who knows how the citizens in the city will react when they see a wild wolf roaming through the streets. I don’t want anything happening to you.”

San stepped forward, licking Yoongi’s cheek. He felt a small measure of relief when he saw the wolf wagging its tail. Now that he thought about it, this would be the first time in four years that he wouldn’t have San at his side. 

“I’ll see if Kali-ssi can check on you tomorrow.” Bringing San close, he hugged his neck and nuzzled his face into his fur. “Don’t worry, you fool. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

[papermoonloveslucy]

THE ATTIC

September 23, 1949

"The Attic” (aka “Trapped in the Attic”) is episode #55 of the radio series MY FAVORITE HUSBAND broadcast on September 23, 1949.

This was the fourth episode of the second season of MY FAVORITE HUSBAND. There were 43 new episodes, with the season ending on June 25, 1950.  

Synopsis ~ One of George's old Glee Club friends is in town and George wants to find his old ukulele, so he and Liz search for it in the attic but get locked in.

“My Favorite Husband” was based on the novels Mr. and Mrs. Cugat, the Record of a Happy Marriage (1940) and Outside Eden (1945) by Isabel Scott Rorick, which had previously been adapted into the film Are Husbands Necessary? (1942). “My Favorite Husband” was first broadcast as a one-time special on July 5, 1948. Lucille Ball and Lee Bowman played the characters of Liz and George Cugat, and a positive response to this broadcast convinced CBS to launch “My Favorite Husband” as a series. Bowman was not available Richard Denning was cast as George. On January 7, 1949, confusion with bandleader Xavier Cugat prompted a name change to Cooper. On this same episode Jell-O became its sponsor. A total of 124 episodes of the program aired from July 23, 1948 through March 31, 1951. After about ten episodes had been written, writers Fox and Davenport departed and three new writers took over – Bob Carroll, Jr., Madelyn Pugh, and head writer/producer Jess Oppenheimer. In March 1949 Gale Gordon took over the existing role of George's boss, Rudolph Atterbury, and Bea Benaderet was added as his wife, Iris. CBS brought “My Favorite Husband” to television in 1953, starring Joan Caulfield and Barry Nelson as Liz and George Coope. The television version ran two-and-a-half seasons, from September 1953 through December 1955, running concurrently with “I Love Lucy.” It was produced live at CBS Television City for most of its run, until switching to film for a truncated third season filmed (ironically) at Desilu and recasting Liz Cooper with Vanessa Brown.

MAIN CAST

Lucille Ball (Liz Cooper) was born on August 6, 1911 in Jamestown, New York. She began her screen career in 1933 and was known in Hollywood as ‘Queen of the B’s’ due to her many appearances in ‘B’ movies. With Richard Denning, she starred in a radio program titled “My Favorite Husband” which eventually led to the creation of “I Love Lucy,” a television situation comedy in which she co-starred with her real-life husband, Latin bandleader Desi Arnaz. The program was phenomenally successful, allowing the couple to purchase what was once RKO Studios, re-naming it Desilu. When the show ended in 1960 (in an hour-long format known as “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour”) so did Lucy and Desi’s marriage. In 1962, hoping to keep Desilu financially solvent, Lucy returned to the sitcom format with “The Lucy Show,” which lasted six seasons. She followed that with a similar sitcom “Here’s Lucy” co-starring with her real-life children, Lucie and Desi Jr., as well as Gale Gordon, who had joined the cast of “The Lucy Show” during season two. Before her death in 1989, Lucy made one more attempt at a sitcom with “Life With Lucy,” also with Gordon.

Richard Denning (George Cooper) was born Louis Albert Heindrich Denninger Jr., in Poughkeepsie, New York. When he was 18 months old, his family moved to Los Angeles. Plans called for him to take over his father's garment manufacturing business, but he developed an interest in acting. Denning enlisted in the US Navy during World War II. He is best known for his  roles in various science fiction and horror films of the 1950s. Although he teamed with Lucille Ball on radio in “My Favorite Husband,” the two never acted together on screen. While “I Love Lucy” was on the air, he was seen on another CBS TV series, “Mr. & Mrs. North.” From 1968 to 1980 he played the Governor on “Hawaii 5-0″, his final role. He died in 1998 at age 84.

Ruth Perrott (Katie, the Maid) was also later seen on “I Love Lucy.” She first played Mrs. Pomerantz, a member of the surprise investigating committee for the Society Matrons League in “Pioneer Women” (ILL S1;E25), as one of the member of the Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League in “Lucy and Ethel Buy the Same Dress” (ILL S3;E3), and also played a nurse when “Lucy Goes to the Hospital” (ILL S2;E16). She died in 1996 at the age of 96.

Bob LeMond (Announcer) also served as the announcer for the pilot episode of “I Love Lucy”. When the long-lost pilot was finally discovered in 1990, a few moments of the opening narration were damaged and lost, so LeMond – fifty years later – recreated the narration for the CBS special and subsequent DVD release.

Bea Benadaret (Iris Atterbury) and Gale Gordon (Rudolph Atterbury) do not appear in this episode. 

GUEST CAST

Hans Conried (Mr. Benjamin Wood / Jimmy the Paper Boy) first co-starred with Lucille Ball in The Big Street (1942). He then appeared on “I Love Lucy” as used furniture man Dan Jenkins in “Redecorating” (ILL S2;E8) and later that same season as Percy Livermore in “Lucy Hires an English Tutor” (ILL S2;E13) – both in 1952. The following year he began an association with Disney by voicing Captain Hook in Peter Pan. On “The Lucy Show” he played Professor Gitterman in “Lucy’s Barbershop Quartet” (TLS S1;E19) and in “Lucy Plays Cleopatra” (TLS S2;E1). He was probably best known as Uncle Tonoose on “Make Room for Daddy” starring Danny Thomas, which was filmed on the Desilu lot. He joined Thomas on a season 6 episode of “Here’s Lucy” in 1973. He died in 1982 at age 64.

The character’s first name is not mentioned here, but it is in other episodes where Conried plays Mr. Wood.

THE EPISODE

ANNOUNCER: “Even in the happiest of marriages both the husband and wife have little habits that prove annoying over the years. With the Coopers it’s George’s habit of reading the newspaper at the breakfast table.  Well, unable to break him of this habit Liz is setting up a counter irritant. As we look in on them now she has just started a barrage of toast munching… It’s a war of nerves!”

The episode opens at breakfast, where Liz is upset that George has buried himself in the morning newspaper instead of paying attention to her. 

This was a common complaint on early episodes of “I Love Lucy” as well. Ricky often didn’t lift his eyes from behind the newspaper.  

LIZ: “I’ll speak to Katie and asks her to buy quieter bread. Or, I could puree the bread and eat it with a spoon.”

The phone rings. It is George’s old friend Charlie Nichols. Charlie is a Bullfrog, a member of their college Glee Club. Liz translates the slangy conversation between the old friends for Katie. George riffs a few notes of “Yes Sir, That’s My Baby” into the phone with Charlie. 

"Yes Sir, That’s My Baby” is a popular song from 1925 written by Gus Kahn and Walter Donaldson. A week before this episode aired, it was also the title of a Universal motion picture starring Donald O’Connor and Gloria DeHaven. In 1980 the film was referenced in “Lucy Moves To NBC” which featured O’Connor and DeHaven in a show-within-a-show sitcom called “The Music Mart”. 

Liz anticipates that George will want to find his old ukulele for his reunion with Charlie. Naturally, she’s right and naturally Liz has no idea where it is! George reminds her of the time she disposed of all his old clothes, a hint at a future episode titled “Husbands Are Sloppy Dressers” (E95) which would become “Changing The Boys’ Wardrobe” on “I Love Lucy”.  

GEORGE: “A man’s old clothes are filled with sentiment.” LIZ: “That’s sediment, not sentiment!” 

On “I Love Lucy” saxophone wasn’t the only instrument she was able to play. Lucy first plays the ukulele in “Ricky Loses His Voice” (ILL S2;E9), “Little Ricky Gets Stage Fright” (ILL S6;E4), and again in “Don Juan Is Shelved” (ILL S4;E22). Lucy Carmichael strummed the uke in “Lucy’s College Reunion” (TLS S2;E11). Fast forward to 1972 and Lucy and Kim Carter play the ukulele in “Lucy Goes Hawaiian: Part 2″ (HL S3;E24).

Liz denies having thrown away George’s prized ukulele. Liz asks George the last time he saw it and he says it was “just the other night at the alumni dinner” - in 1938!  Liz says it’s probably in the attic, and off they go to look for it. 

On “I Love Lucy,” Lucy Ricardo visited the attic to find a musical instrument, too - “The Saxophone” (ILL S2;E2). Of course, she finds other memories along the way. This was the series’ only visit to the attic of 623 East 68th Street. 

In the attic, George thinks he sees a prowler - but it is just Liz’s old dress dummy!  

Lucy Carter and her kids visits the attic for antiques and get a lesson in family history lesson in “Lucy Takes Over” (HL S2;E23). When first entering the darkened attic, Lucy screams when she runs into the dress dummy, just like George!

The box marked ‘ukulele’ is actually filled with ski boots!  Liz’s labeling system has resorted in confusion about what’s inside each box.  

This warped logic foreshadows Lucy Carmichael and Lucy Carter’s crazy filing system on “The Lucy Show” and “Here’s Lucy.”  It never failed to confound Mr. Mooney / Harry (Gale Gordon). 

Liz finds her corsage collection - dried flowers of corsages given to her by high school boys. George finds his old electric train. Liz wants to throw out the trains, while George wants to toss the corsages.  

"Lucy Goes To Sun Valley” (LDCH S1;E5) opens with Lucy searching the living room closet for Ricky’s guitar strings. While doing so, she runs across  a pressed corsage of violets that Ricky gave to her during their courtship.

Hours later, Liz and George still haven’t thrown away anything and still haven’t found the ukulele. They agree to try again after lunch - but the attic door is locked. George calls for Katie - but she’s gone downtown to take George’s Glee Club sweater to the cleaners and is then off for the afternoon.  

From the attic window, Liz yells to neighbor Mr. Wood (Hans Conried) but he is working on his motorcycle and can’t hear them. Jimmy the Paper Boy (also Conried) thinks they want their newspaper tossed through the attic window.  It hits George square in the face.

George decides to ram the door with his shoulder like they do in the movies, but to no avail. 

GEORGE: “They must use fake doors in pictures.” LIZ: “Maybe they use real men!”

George has landed on his ukulele, which emerges unharmed. He strums and sings a few more bars of “Yes Sir, That’s My Baby” - much to Liz’s chagrin.

More time passes and they are still locked in the attic. Liz notices the calendar on the attic wall says March. 

LIZ: “I wonder if it’s been a tough winter?”  

Liz starts to cry, but George wants her to laugh it off and think of it as an exciting adventure. Hunger starts to set in. Liz finds a piece of their ten year-old wedding cake. Petrified!. She spies a piece of cheese in a mousetrap!   

It is here the episode starts to foreshadow “Lucy in the Swiss Alps” (ILL S5;E21) in which the Ricardos and Mertz’s are trapped in an Alpine cabin due to an avalanche, where hunger is also an issue.  

Panic sets in - Liz is stir crazy and wants George to jump out of the window to get help. George gets the idea to make a rope ladder out of old drapes and lower Liz to the ground. 

The idea of escaping a high confinement by knotting sheets (or blankets or curtains) together to form a rope ladder is a familiar trope. It was later used in “The Star Upstairs” (ILL S4;E25) when Lucy Ricardo finds herself trapped in Cornel Wilde’s upstairs suite and chooses this method of escape. 

LIZ: “Just a moment.  Who’s lowering whom?” GEORGE: “I’m lowering you’m!” LIZ: “Over my’m dead body you’m are!” 

This exchange is very similar to “Vacation from Marriage” (ILL S2;E6) which finds Lucy and Ethel trapped on the roof when the door locks behind them. Lucy gets the idea to put a plank across the alleyway (five flights up) to the neighboring building, but naturally she wants Ethel to go first!  Ethel is reluctant to be the one to go first!

Practically speaking, Liz is not strong enough to hold George’s weight, so she has to be the one to be lowered. As Liz climbs onto the window ledge, Mr. Wood sees her and thinks she’s going to kill herself!  He rushes into the attic to save her.

MR. WOOD: “You have so much to live for. You’re young! You’re beautiful! You’re vibrant! Think of your husband!  Think of the children!” LIZ: “I don’t have any children.” MR. WOOD: “Well I have eleven children, you can have a couple of mine.”

Liz explains that she wasn’t suicidal but that they were locked in the attic. She demonstrates by shutting the door - accidentally locking them in again!  Katie arrive just in time and admits that she’s been home the whole time - asleep on her good ear!  Just as they are about to leave - the wind slams the door shut. Katie calmly announces that the firemen will let them out when they arrive after the explosion. 

LIZ: “What explosion?” KATIE: “I left the pressure cooker on the stove!” 

[harryweaver]

Baseline

Individual Point of Perception is Dependent on Conditioned Mode of Thought.

Our conditioned mode of thought is determined by a number of aspects including:

our formal educational conditioning;

our cultural background;

the perceived power personalities that influence our sociological conditioning;

...to name a few.

I originally began this article with a view to confining it within the first classification of educational conditioning, but by way of natural process all seemed to apply.

Then, as it felt presumptuous and unwieldy to force a subject scope worthy of a treatise into a blog format, I have had to restrict the situation to how science has influenced and placed limits on our thinking.

Very much in shorthand....

All of science is based on direction defined by philosophy and Rene Descartes appears to have been the pivotal point in this instance. He introduced a way of perceiving things that took an observable entity and broke it down, analytically, into its individual unit parts. Dualism and other aspects, illuminating then, seem second nature to us now.

The evolution of this form of thinking was passed on into the capable hands of Francis Bacon who, in turn, hand balled it to Isaac Newton, both of whom provided substantial modifications to advance this concept of fragmentation. What we have inherited is what might be termed the 'Doctrine of Direction' for the entire westernised civilisation.

What these theorists neglected to consider and what Quantum theory is in the process of giving back, to those of us who care to take note, is an appreciation of the 'links' or aspects of interrelationship between these basic building blocks of fragmented, alienated entities. An aspect every bit as important as the 'units' themselves, as it is only by way of these continuously, communicating interfaces that we arrive at wholistic entities that are greater than the sum of their individual parts.

Unfortunately, we still model our mode of individual and collective advancement on the thought structures that built Empires that have long ago ceased to exist. Momentum, obviously, is capable of carrying us too far in the wrong direction.

I don't wish to appear to be a detractor of the theories of these giants of our past, or even of the ones who 'stood on their shoulders', who took those theories and gave them application within the sociological framework. What I am attempting is to show how the limited style of scientific mindset, that is drilled into us by way of our current educational process, has engendered our individual and therefore collective point of perception. This in turn has determined our current life situation. Man is a reflection of his environment, yes, but the opposite is every bit as true.

We have made fantastic advances with our 'scientific' thinking. We can gauge, almost to the centimetre, where we can land a rocket on the moon, over an almost unimaginable distance, with a mind numbing number of variables all taken into account. And after that, bring it back again. We are communicating concepts through mediums such as we are employing at this very moment, as you read this, and there are a myriad of other examples.

But, there is a dark side.

Having adopted, through conditioning, this mode of perception, we have alienated ourselves from our environment, from each other and even created alienation within our very selves. Our 'self' from this viewpoint, by way of illustration, does not include our body. 'I' am a separate entity and my body is a mere physical, mechanical housing, when in fact our bodies are a fully incorporated aspect of our 'selves'.

'Us and Them' is destroying 'Us'.

Take a look at what our alienating point of perception is doing:

(1) to our shared environment. We consider our 'selves' to be a separate entity to our environment, rather than an integral, interacting aspect of it, so any harm we inflict on the environment has no real effect on our situation, we surmise. (The comparative example of this would be that of a race of people, traveling through endless space, systematically destroying the space ship they are traveling in.) There have been highly qualified, dissenting voices to this supposition. Even economists, like E.F. Schumacher, who advise that, "If we ever find ourselves in the position of winning our battle with nature, we will automatically find ourselves on the losing side". Conditioned thought structure, however, pays little heed to logic, unless it is incorporated into an 'approved' educational process and therefore transposed into the paradigm;

(2) to our estranged sense of interrelationships. By over emphasising the self concept, to compensate for a social structure that appears intent on drowning the individual in a sea of homogenised anonymity, we automatically place almost insurmountable barriers to interpersonal integration;

(3) within our fragmented personal selves. In this context, the major effort appears to be the creation and continuous maintenance of a self image rather than the cultivation of the actual personality. A self image that bears little relation to the real person hiding within, who sadly perceives the camouflage to be more socially acceptable than him 'self'. Applied to extreme, the individual places so much personal energy into the maintenance of this persona, that he 'starves' himself. A major cause of mental dis-ease and what can amount to total breakdown of the individual existence.

Relationships can only exist between personalities. Relationships are not possible between facades, which are essentially illusions, so the illusion that they do doesn't exist for any length of time. This somewhat pointless exercise only exists because many believe that it's all they have to offer, as the real entity is seen as being insufficient to the situation.

One of the many sociological phenomena that appears to endorse all this is the fact that, in all westernised countries, divorce statistics come close to equaling marriage statistics and quite commonly surpass them.

It's a little unfair, however, to endow philosophers and scientists with the full responsibility of our present life situation. There are other buttressing influences. Sir Isaac Newton's writings within other fields were for all intents and purposes totally ignored, as they still are. The bias of thought at that time was all for the new clockwork bent that held so much potential for industrial advancement, as it still does. An illustration as to how long the industrial lobby, by way of political sway, has been placing paradigms on the full spectrum potential of our advancement as a species.

So, just while we are in the vicinity:

A corporate entity doesn't have a personality, other than the one on loan and frequently patched from the public relations departments, so don't look for human qualities;

The corporate ideal is to be in the position of dictating to the marketplace (yes, that's you!) and they never sleep in the pursuit of this goal;

Corporate entities see themselves as being subject to only one law and that's the law of economics. When economic precept shows any potential to limit short term profit, they're not above bending that out of shape either.

This latter point requires a little expansion, I feel.

Feel free to disagree.

According to the science of economics, there are two varieties of resource: rivalrous and non-rivalrous. A rivalrous resource is one that can be used up faster than it can be replaced, if it can be replaced at all, e.g., fossil fuels and the natural environment. A non-rivalrous resource, on the other hand, is a resource that is inexhaustible, i.e., it can't be exhausted as it is continuously replacing itself at a rate faster than it can be employed.

Now, considering the fact that human beings breed their own replacements, in the sort of volumes commonly described as 'population explosions', which of these two categories do you imagine employees slot into, within the corporate mindset, in these days of outsourcing?

`Safety before Production’, is the corporate catchphrase, but it will never be the reality because it doesn't need to be. An appearance is put up in order to establish a good 'Employer Brand Name', yes, but mostly because other powerful economic entities like insurance companies 'persuade' them to do so. And insurance companies are only prepared to do that because it has direct bearing on their own economic status.

This automatically creates another translation of the 'Us and Them' syndrome, the 'Divide and Rule' format. Musashi's 'The Book of Five Rings' and Sun Tzu's 'The Art of War', amongst other treatise on war strategy, make their way into every board room these days under the arms of those who would subordinate their productive work force to their will. Strategies that work within one set of environmental circumstances don't necessarily translate well into others, however, and 'Divide and Rule' is a classic example. When looking at a combined productive exercise, it simply isn't profitable to view and treat your production sector as though they are the enemy. This will automatically cost you money and the longer you persist with a faulty strategy, the more it will cost you. The variety of tactics employed, to gain the 'ascendency', are far from what is required to assist in establishing a sense of cooperation and self worth within the individuals that make up the bulk of westernised populations. And a sense of self worth is the foundation stone of a happy individual. A happy employee is more productive and produces a better quality product, so the strategy is obviously flawed.

Our mode of technological advancement has cost us dear, obvious in the stultified mental and spiritually bereft realms we have allocated to ourselves, from a set of values that is blinkered to the full spectrum definition of wealth. I have met people who, having worked continuously for, say, $500.00/week for a number of years, don't even consider pressing for more when their mode of employment changes, because they have been conditioned, over time, into believing that $500.00/week is their sum total worth as a human being. The comprehensive definitions of degradation and defeat are achieved when the victim is persuaded.

If western civilisation (sic), would just halt its frenetic, lemming-like race to the cliff edge long enough to look at the life philosophies of the various indigenous cultures on this planet, we would be in a position to provide ourselves with the requisite wholistic life perception required to save ourselves, and those same indigenous communities, from that inevitable extinction that we are imposing on other species at this very moment.

A different way of seeing is there, for our adoption, any time we want it. We find it not just in the wholistic, indigenous community and environmental Gaia mindsets, but in the most obscure of niches as well as the most obvious of places.

By way of an 'obscure' example, I recall reading Aleister Crowley's 'Magick' in the dawning of my adolescent rebellion, somewhere between Enid Blyton and 'The Russians'.

Wholly from memory:

`The practitioner of Black Magic employs his art to raise his level of existence above that of his environment’ - which doesn't sound so bad really, does it? Just looking round, it appears to be what everybody is doing, or attempting to do. Yes/No?

But then he goes on to say:

`Whereas the practitioner of White Magic employs his talent to raise the level of his environment, and in so doing raises his own level of existence’.

A totally different translation of existence, richer by far, achieved by a mere shift in perception.

As a natural extension of our adopting this different definition of existence, the changes within our culture would be dynamic to say the least. Mental health institutions would almost cease to exist, as the dysfunctional personality is no more than a symptom of the dysfunctional group. The dysfunctional group, no more than a symptom of a dysfunctional social order. Primary catalysts of physical ill health, such as stress, would almost cease to exist also, along with associated overloaded hospital systems and massive requirement for, along with associated abuse of, medication.

Street people would not feel a need to retreat to the streets anymore, but would see a form of society that they would want to be a part of. A form of society that they could see themselves as being a part of, alienated no longer.

Dare I mention prisons?

I could continue, but I'm sure you get the gist.

All aspects of our social and personal direction are compromised when we operate from a biased or false premise. Our proud, emphatic (dare I say, arrogant?) denunciations of 'this is wrong', or 'that's not right' appear as shallow as mainstream media. Any observation from a false premise can only produce an inaccurate end assessment. A silk purse don't come from no sows ear, boy!

Therefore it naturally follows that judging others, or even ourselves, by our own standards is automatically a travesty of natural justice and nothing more than a gross, if unintended, hypocrisy. Because we, unquestioningly, inherit standards of judgment also.

It is possible to establish valid existence only by exploring the depths of established standards, understand where they stem from and, by doing so, determine as to whether they still have relevance in regard to personal existence, now, in our current environment. Retain the standards that do have relevance, rid ourselves of false standards that represent the crippling detritus in our lives, and adopt any new standards that are seen to promote required existential standing.

This is normally considered to be the philosophers function, yes, but a little philosophy won't hurt any of us if it results in our finally reaping the substantial rewards of a valid sense of social responsibility. We have that duty to ourselves, each other and toward our shared environment. Wholistically.

The answer to all the worlds' problems lie in the future within our children, but we need people qualified to teach them how to move the world, through a paradigm shift, from here to there. There's only one way to achieve that, so we need to get to work on ourselves, individually, very quickly.

[addictedforbooksquad]

ADDICTEDFORBOOKSQUAD BOOK EVENT # 3   🏳️‍🌈  P R I D E  M O N T H

╙ Week 1 : books

                                                            B O O K  R E V I E W

T H E  L A D Y’S  G U I D E  T O  C E L E S T I A L  M E C H A N I C S  B Y  O L I V I A  W A I T E

genre: romance, historical romance, LGBT, F/F romance

publication date: 25th June, 2019

rating (1-5scale):

writing:   ★ ★ ★ ★ 

characters & character development: ★ ★ ★

could-not-put-it-down factor: ★ ★ ★ ★

general rating: ★ ★ ★ ★  

*ARC provided by publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review*

When I saw a synopsis of this book, I knew I had to read it. F/F romance set in a regency era? Between a rich widowed countess and a girl astronomer? My instant reaction was HOW FUN - COUNT ME IN. This story turned out to be so much more than that. I love reading books - I have fun doing it, whether it's a delighted pleasure taken in discovery of something amazing or twisted satisfaction in finishing a book that makes me want to fling my e-reader across the room. However, the type of...kinship and emotional fulfillment I felt while reading "The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics" is extremely rare and precious. This is certainly a love story, between Lucy Muchelney, an astronomer who has recently had her heart broken, and Catherine St. Day, widowed countess whose marriage was a constant streak of personal unfulfillment and emotional abuse.

After her father’s death and her lover taking a husband, Lucy sets out to London with an ambitious goal of translating work of esteemed French astronomer. Catherine, aka Lady Moth, agrees to take her in as a guest, and, after members of Polite Science Society turn out to be anything but polite, offers to sponsor and publish her translation on her own. And thus, begins a bisexual awakening of Lady Moth and a blooming romance between the two.

Now, let me count the ways I loved this romance. First of all, the apparent respect and support between Lucy and Catherine. While Lucy is ten years younger than Catherine, she’s the one more experienced in having a relationship with a woman. That’s not to say Lady Moth is an innocent miss straight out of schoolroom. No, she’s been married for fifteen years and even had an affair after her husband’s death (HUGE kudos for including that!) and she has a baggage of her own. They both do. Which is why I absolutely loved how they took things slow. And when they finally got together, I could feel how they cherished each other and their closeness. Secondly, this is not just about the romance. The outstanding theme, actually, at least to me, is women supporting and loving women. Women helping each other achieve their dreams and goals and realize that there is more to life than living in the shadow of men. “She ought to have paid more attention to her own self before now. She ought to have allowed herself to want things.” When Lucy and Catherine take a leap and begin a relationship, they don’t only embark on a journey towards love. No, they embark on a path of self-discovery and self-acceptance. And it’s beautiful and oh-so-heart-warming to read about them uplifting each other and being there for each other.

Apart from this, I really have to applaud the author for the way she handled the issue of homophobia in XIX century. Personally, at least, I found it to be the perfect balance between so-called historical accuracy and respect for queer readers. Do I want to read about two ladies getting it on in Regency era? HELL YES. Do I want to be brought down by “historically-accurate” mentions of how they are scorned and ostracized because of their love? NOPE. In this book, we do have mentions of homophobia – it would be impossible not to include it when writing about a time when it was systematic (sex between two men was criminalized). But just because a society you write about is homophobic as a rule, doesn’t mean your characters need to be as well! And I’m glad the author understands that. Not only are there mentions of other F/F and M/M relationships throughout the book, the characters that find out about Lucy and Catherine don’t react with scorn – they turn into allies. “They don’t let you have anything whole, you know. If you don’t follow the pattern. You have to find your happiness in bits and pieces instead. But it can still add up to something beautiful.” Lucy and Catherine? In the end, they don’t need to satisfy themselves with scraps of happiness, no matter how beautiful. In the end, they take it all – love, science, art, permanence, sense of security. To a large extent, this book also deals with sexism and misogyny. But again, the way it’s done leaves you feeling uplifted, not discouraged (and I don't want to spoil but there's a plot twist at the end that makes it even more amazing). Lucy ends up making a place for herself in a field that is almost entirely ruled by men. Catherine decides to follow her dreams in a field that has been discounted as a trivial female pursuit. Both of them team up to help other women have their voices heard. And just like with their relationship, they have allies here too. “But there is no brilliance of thought, no leap of logic that can take place without the power of imagination. Our learning requires intuition and instinct as much as pure intelligence. We are not simply minds, trained like lamps on the world around us, producing light but taking nothing in: we are bodies, and hearts, and hopes, and dreams. We are men, and we are women. We are poetry and prose in equal measure. We are earth and clay, but we are all - no matter our shape - lit with a spark of something divine.”

*stands and claps*

I think there is only one thing in this book that made me recoil as I read it: “First, I would have to count myself in very good company: many of our greatest thinkers through history have been as famous for their mistakes as for their insights. Didn’t Copernicus believe the sun revolved around the earth?” NO. No, he did not. That is, in fact, factually incorrect statement. Mikołaj Kopernik aka Nicolaus Copernicus was XV/XVI Polish astronomer who was one of the very first to introduce heliocentric system, so a system in which it’s the Earth that revolves around the Sun while at the same time turning daily on its axis. It’s just one sentence but I wouldn’t be myself if I didn’t point this out and given the focus this story has on astronomy, it’s a factual error that shouldn’t have been made. Going back to the good things though – I absolutely recommend this book. It was beautiful and emotional and simply a delight to read. Trigger warnings: mentions of emotional abuse, sexism, misogyny