#also animals are self-aware your dog has a concept of self just like a human does

[master-of-47-dudes]

i don’t remember the game too terribly well, so forgive me if this is wrong, but is there any reason to assume the Ing are actually self-aware? i know the game repeatedly states the Ing are intelligent and vicious, but those don’t necessarily indicate if they’re truly sapient. animals can certainly be intelligent, and organized into castes/hierarchies, and very hostile to interlopers on their territory, but they arent as mentally aware as we are. could it be that, for as dangerous and powerful as the Ing are, they’re not much more than advanced animals? (its kind of like Peter Watt’s Blindsight novel, where the aliens are much more advanced than humans, and are extremely hostile, but dont have self-awareness like us, its a really good book and its free, check it out its awesome) what im trying to get at is, perhaps we dont see the Ing’s perspective, not just to keep them mysterious and frightening, but because they dont have a perspective to see?

So you make an interesting point: ARE the Ing self-aware? I haven't read Blindsight, so I will take your recommendation to read it, but I can’t put that bit of perspective into play here.

As the Ing give us no information on their perspective, it's impossible to definitively say one way or another if Ing as a whole are sapient. As our only sources of insight into their behaviors come from Luminoth lore as well as what our scans of the Ing and the Darklings tell us, there's a few things we can extrapolate:

- The lowest Ing on the totem pole are Bladepods, Ingworm Caches, and Ingsphere Caches. These guys act as storage units, meaning the Ing understand the importance of useful items, resources, and equipment, as well as keeping them protected in strategic locations for later retrieval.

(What constitutes a useful resource for the Ing is unknown, as Samus's suit converts things into forms that it can absorb when destroying them.)

Regardless, I hope these Ing aren't self-aware because their existence is a sad one.

- The caste of a given Ing seems to be assigned at birth or at some point afterwards based on the current needs of the Horde; the word assigned is specifically used in the scan for the Ingworm Cache, and the various other scans of Ing forms do not seem to contradict this (Inglets being workers, for example). This isn't dissimilar to hive insects, though.

- Darklings, however, are where things get interesting. The Ing are extremely choosy about which Ing can handle what. Certain creatures, such as an Alpha Splinter, are prioritized by the Ing as targets for possession. War Wasps are specifically used by young, inexperienced Ing to gain experience and prove themselves before they're allowed stronger creatures. Pirate Commandos are ONLY allowed to be possessed by Hunter Ing. Certain creatures, like the Shredder, are targeted for use in specific areas where their adaptations make them particularly useful. It's clear that choosing a target to possess is something that an Ing has to put a great deal of consideration into, both in terms of their experience as well as what will be useful in the environment they find themselves in.

- Ing are demonstrated to possess known sapient creatures. The Luminoth lores indicate that Luminoth were possessed, and we see it happen to both (dead) humans as well as (live) Space Pirates. While the humans are not fully possessed by the time Samus encounters them (them being corpses probably hinders the Ing some), the Dark Pirate Troopers and Dark Pirate Commandos ARE fully possessed and display no loss in intelligence or tactical capacity as a result of their possession. Ing minds have thusly interacted with sapient minds and taken control of them without issue; if they did not have conscious thought before, they may have learned it from this exposure given their penchant for learning from the creatures they possess.

- Speaking of learning, the Ing discovered their penchant for integrating themselves into technology and technology into themselves through possession of Luminoth technology and Space Pirates in general. Given that the Ing do not seem interested in or capable of engineering anything themselves, any knowledge they gained regarding utilizing stolen technology must have been learned either through experimentation or through directly stealing knowledge from the Luminoth and Space Pirates they possessed. Regardless of how they learn, they DO learn and can spread the knowledge they gain to other members of the Horde. As a result of discovering Space Pirates, the Ing began actively hunting for technology to utilize- the Ing were aware enough that when they discovered a shortcoming in their abilities, they immediately began to use what they learned to patch that.

- The fact that the Ing were repeatedly able to outmaneuver the technologically superior Luminoth at every turn is an indicator that the Ing are tactically intelligent. Sure, a large part of the Ing's advantage was through zerg rushing the weakened Luminoth after the phazon meteor struck Aether, but they also were noted to possess Luminoth to disrupt the Luminoth's ability to organize and fight back, as well as stealing just about every single weapon and tool the Luminoth developed to use against them. Weapons they couldn’t use themselves, like the Light Beam, were instead locked away where the Luminoth couldn’t retrieve them. Others, like the Annihilator Beam or the Dark Suit, were integrated into their most powerful Darklings to guard the energy they stole. And going after the Energy Controllers in a bid to stabilize Dark Aether is an indication of complex understanding and thought; it's hard to imagine an animal intelligence grasping a concept such as planetary stability or energy instead of simply colonizing Light Aether as an expansion of territory.

Overall, I think that the Ing are definitely capable of complex thought. The intelligence they possess is much more than animal, and there's indicators that they do put a great deal of consideration into their actions, they understand tactics and complex subjects, and they are capable of quickly learning to utilize unfamiliar tools and integrate them into their bodies and their Horde. I would peg them as almost certainly being sapient in terms of cognitive ability and awareness.

As for whether they're specifically self-aware? That's a different, weirder question. Given their similarity to hive insects as well as their sheer, bizarre scale of organization, and the speed at which new information seems to propagate through the Horde? They might be operating through a hivemind to achieve that, and individual Ing may not be particularly aware of themselves outside the whole.

ANYWAY, nothing I've listed explicitly proves one way or the other that the Ing are of human-like intelligence or awareness. It's my interpretation of the limited information on them given, and you’re free to have a different one.

[dadcred]

okay so. ive got a lot of thoughts about usopp and his “negativity” with regards to his fight against perona during thriller bark and his subsequent timeskip character development.

keep in mind that this is based on the english dub of the anime, and there very well could be totally different implications in jpn/english subs, though tbh i’d be kinda sad if this were the case because i think there’s a lot of depth to explore (which is exactly what i’m attempting to do here.)

so the entire idea behind usopp’s immunity to perona’s negative ghosts is that he’s an inherently “negative” person, so he can’t be made “more negative” so to speak. and throughout this whole bit, they keep interchanging “negativity” with “pessimism.” ex: when zoro, franky, and sanji are running away from that fight, zoro says something like “i never thought usopp’s pessimism would come in handy.”

and i found that really interesting because i wasn’t aware until then that usopp was meant to be so extremely pessimistic apparently. yes, he’s a coward who is reluctant to face his fears (he’s not unique in this, see: the coward trio). yes, he gets anxious about the worst outcomes (tho he’s not the one actually identifying or voicing the worst case scenarios in many cases). yes, he harbors doubts about his own capabilities (arguably the only thing here unique to him). but none of this is “pessimism.” that is to say, “pessimism” is erroneously used as a synonym for “negativity” when in fact “negativity” is an incredibly broad concept under which “pessimism” is a subset. and based on negative ghosts’ actual effects on characters, we know that they do way more than just suddenly make a person a glass-half-empty kinda guy.

my thesis here is that the term that better describes the kind of negativity that the ghosts impose on people is “depression,” in which case, the only way usopp can be immune is if he’s already depressed. and substituting that with “pessimism” instead allows us as the audience to be more okay with the fact that the narrative never goes back and interrogates what is a serious claim of a character’s mental health. i’m not bothered by this—it’s a shounen anime after all—but i DO love exploring this line of thought because of the insight it provides on usopp’s character.

first, let’s go back to what perona’s negative ghosts actually do. their effect has been described as “draining your will to live” and “making your heart empty”. when characters get hit by a negative ghost, they’ll lose all their drive and say things like “i’m no better than a dog,” “i just want to be a clam” and stuff like that (i’m paraphrasing). and neither those descriptions nor effects remotely resemble “pessimism.” having little to no will to live or just do much of anything, feeling empty and hopeless, having self esteem issues, wanting to erase the complexities of your humanity to exist as a base organism: those are all textbook symptoms of depression.

meaning, in order for usopp to be completelt immune to the negative ghosts, he doesn’t just have to be a pessimist. he’d have to have little to no willpower or motivation. he’d have to think so lowly of himself that it’s impossible to hate himself further. and water 7 showed us a glimpse of that: we know he has ambition—he wants to become a brave warrior of the sea—but we also know after water 7 that, compared to the other straw hats, he views his ambition as a nice-to-have pipe dream and not one that he has what it takes to achieve.

but thriller bark is implying this runs much much deeper than just self doubt that sprang up over the course of his travels with the straw hats. he’d have to be so empty inside that there’s no hope left for the ghosts to feed on.

and while that might seem overexaggerated for the purposes of this ability because, again, it’s a shounen anime and these implications start feeling uncomfortable the more you consider them, there is one line that affirms that the above really might all be true about usopp: when everyone realizes usopp is immune to the ghosts, zoro, in disbelief, asks, “is his heart really that empty?”

personally, i don’t think there’s any sugarcoating that. (and tbh between this and zoro later ruminating on how usopp’s depression came in handy in a fight, i’m glad at least one character acknowledged that that’s a little fucked up and worrying actually.)

so yeah, usopp’s depressed! and on god, i didn’t think it was possible to love him anymore than i do, but this bit of thriller bark made me love him infinitely more because goddamn that’s so relatable. we constantly have these narratives of “wow we never knew xyz was depressed they never let on” and i personally thunk that’s bullshit because unless someone is exhibiting a completely nonfunctional lifestyle, we assume that they can’t really be that depressed. as a high functioning person w anxiety/depression/adhd/ptsd, i was denied diagnosis and treatment for years bc i wasnt glued to my bed, getting bad grades, isolated, and/or on the verge of offing myself. this isn’t the main point i’m trying to make as much as it is a tangent, but seeing a character like usopp, who i at the very least consider the heart of the straw hats, also be depressed guy just tryna stay afloat everyday despite all the nothingness and self hate inside made my heart really full.

which then brings me to post timeskip, where his development in this realm is addressed outright in that battle in fishman island arc against the little hole digging gremlin. that guy consistently taunts usopp with everything usopp once harbored major insecurities about, and usopp not only remains unfazed, but explicitly refutes those taunts by saying that stuff no longer bothers him. the idea being that he gained a lot of self confidence over those two years. and as all my mentally ill lads know, that’s not fuckin easy when your brain’s been working against you for so long. self confidence is the result of developing and practicing a lot of healthy coping mechanisms to manage and live with your depression.

now i hesitate to credit oda and the shounen genre in general with having meant all this to be as deep as i’m interpreting it. but intentional or not, i’m overwhelmed with emotions whenever i consider usopp’s character because who gives a shit about his physical strength and abilities and whether or not they’re on par with everyone else’s when his real buff is hard earned mental fortitude and self confidence??

all of that is to say, i have a lot of love for usopp and i guess most people arent into shounen for the complexities of character writing, but personally i think your taste is questionable at best if this bit about usopp’s character doesn’t intrigue and impress you in any way. that’s all.

[oneatlatime]

Ten episodes in!

Roughly half way through the first season, so it's time for a bit of a round up of my thoughts and impressions.

First, and most important: IT'S SO PRETTY. Seriously! The animators didn't have to pour so much love into each background and sunset, but they did! Introductory shots that last for three seconds or less ought to be framed and hung on a gallery wall. And I think that really sets the tone for the rest of this show: as a viewer, you can feel that everyone who worked on this show has love for it. There are background flourishes, pauses in plot for character and vice-versa, delicate and thoughtful treatments of difficult themes, and just so much heart. Not insincere performative heartwarming chicken noodle soup for the soul forward to five of your friends and then the whole bus clapped garbage either. Genuine heart. I feel like I'm watching something that is well loved, that comes from a happy home.

And that heart is the reason this show works. The concept of 'Kids' cartoon about a genocide survivor' never would have made it off the drawing board otherwise. It still sounds crazy when I type it out.

My thoughts so far on the characters:

Aang: Sweet little guy. Literally the only child currently alive not born into a world at war, and it shows. Also exactly the dose of fun and light-heartedness that the world as it is seems to be lacking. Has enviable serenity and a deeply rooted sense of self/self-confidence (probably thanks to Gyatso) that most adults don't. Deceptively deadly, if he ever chose violence. I am really hoping that the show doesn't make him grow up and kill people. He's lovely as he is right now.

Katara: Huge heart, too much trust. Intense. Frankly a bit much at times. Certainly feels way too much quite often. Ride or die for Aang. Would kill for and kill her brother. PEAK little sister. Has a borderline irrational amount of compassion that, when paired with her explosive temper, would make her the most deadly person in the world if it ever got twisted around to face the wrong direction (if that makes sense - like the potential for some really bad outcomes is there). Totally the girl who stole from the mall in 8th grade. Not over her mother's death to a borderline annoying degree. Tries so hard to be an adult, but keeps slipping up and acting her age.

Sokka: My favourite by a mile. Funny, delightfully sarcastic, wicked smart, can keep up with (and in fact is in charge of babysitting) the most powerful bender in the world and a fairly volatile, half-trained bender with temper problems. Perceptive (looking at you, Jet). Also ride or die for Aang and Katara, just in a more quiet way. The fact that he was willing to single-handedly face down a fire nation ship and certain death to protect his family & village kind of says it all. Either completely over his mom's death or has bottled up all emotion to the point where he wouldn't recognise her if he passed her on the street. Swings regularly between far too old for his years and half-grown teenage boy with manliness issues. Motormouth. Somehow both comic relief and linchpin. If he ever gets really quiet, you'll know things are getting serious - like there's a fire nation ship about to attack his village.

Appa: How many times has his big fluffy butt saved the day? Understands an amount of English that changes from episode to episode depending on the needs of the plot. Probably as deadly as Aang, if he chose to be, except with teeth and several tonnes of weight too. Both Aang's dog and Aang's dad. Why does he have six legs? Do extra legs present any flying advantages? Are they just for enhanced hugging? I hope so. There's a reason he's plastered all over this blog and it's not his martial prowess.

Momo: I'm not sure if he knows what's going on? Appa and the humans are very much aware that they're all on a quest, but I think Momo is just chilling. Can be very useful when he feels like contributing (thinking of the pirates and the keep-away scroll shenanigans), but is certainly the group's cat-equivalent. Also seems to vary wildly in size depending on the needs of the animators. I love his noises.

Zuko: I don't know? Winter Solstice Part 1 Zuko and Waterbending Scroll Zuko are two different people. Either highly volatile with wildly inconsistent reactions, or poorly written. Judging by the quality of the rest of this show, where even episodes I hate contain something I love, I'm guessing it's the former? Either way, it must be pretty exhausting to be Zuko. Has drive for days, smarts, leadership, logistics, and seamanship abilities, and temper problems. Oddly, his temper seems to be his most predictable aspect. I can predict what will set him off (most everything) much more accurately than I can gauge what crawled up Katara's butt. I honestly thought he was in his twenties, probably late twenties, until it was mentioned that he was 16. He comes across as much more adult, despite (or maybe because of?) the temper tantrums. Then again, if that Zhao guy is representative, maybe fire nation tempers run hot?

Iroh: Much more consistent characterisation. Something going on here. Deep well of firebending knowledge contrasted with doddery old man persona/personality (which is it?) contrasted with some not-so-subtle attempts to obstruct Zuko's quest. I'd better not find out that he's been leading Zuko on a wild goose chase for years.

Love Bumi, love what little I've seen of Gyatso, Roku seems pretty calm, Zhao is an asshole, but he's so good at it.

Relationships:

Whoever wrote Sokka & Katara's interactions obviously grew up with siblings. I'm not sure I've ever seen such accurate sibling dynamics on television. Long-suffering super smart idiot of an older brother attempting mostly in vain to claim some authority vs. ruthless little sister with a nose like a bloodhound for mocking opportunities and a contractual obligation to sharpen her claws on said brother. That's good stuff, and I love to see it.

Zuko & Iroh, partly thanks to Zuko's inconsistent character, flip flop between long-suffering mentor and hot-headed student (episodes 1 & 2), bickering old couple who love each other really (Winter Solstice Part 1 & 2), and no-nonsense super soldier whose hippy uncle came along for the ride (Waterbending Scroll). In all iterations of their dynamic, they give off the impression that they've been together for a long time and know each other well. Which is nice! I feel like Zuko especially could use a friend.

Bending:

Airbending is stupidly deadly. I think, from looking at the whole monks and temples thing, that the airbenders as a whole leaned pretty hard into the pacifist lifestyle, and (if you'll forgive the momentary foray into fanfiction territory) I think that they chose this lifestyle because they realised how crazy deadly their powers could be when misused. Aang can send a whole row of soldiers flying with one swipe of his staff. He flings people into walls without effort, without even looking. He can run faster than any other human we see, he can fly (albeit assisted), he whips up a tornado when fighting Bumi. Presumably (fanfiction territory again) he could control/prevent breathing, therefore control/end life. Gyatso certainly obliterated a bunch of comet-enhanced (I think?) firebenders. Now, some of this might be because Aang is the Avatar, which maybe gives him an airbending power-up? What I really love about airbending (or at least Aang's approach to it, which let's be honest, is the only one we're ever going to see) is how integrated it is into his daily life. Why stand up when you can airbend yourself up? Why twiddle your thumbs when you can twiddle marbles? It's thoughtless in a good way, as in it's effortless. Is Aang even aware of how often he bends? How much of it is unconscious bending? Is this because he's the avatar? Can other bending styles be so central to how a person lives their everyday life?

We haven't seen any master-level waterbending yet, but what we have seen invites speculation. Unlike airbending, where air is air is air, water is kind of defined by its variety. Solid? Liquid? Gas? We've already seen Katara bend water to ice, bend snow, bend salt and fresh water. Is waterbending the most limitless of the bending styles?

Unless you're Bumi, earthbending seems to promote stupidity. I was blown away by what Bumi could do, but every earthbender since has lost, and lost badly. I don't count the earthbenders in Imprisoned, because they had some hefty psychological factors at play, but the earthbending soldiers in the Winter Solstice part 1 who capture Iroh were literally surrounded by their element, with numbers on their side and their captive in chains, and they lost to a naked guy and a teenager. Does being a non-Bumi earthbender have a negative effect on cognitive abilities? Does the solidity of the element prevent creativity?

Firebending is dangerous, not in the way airbending can be dangerous, but in the way a drunk with a firecracker is dangerous. Probably the element that requires the most responsibility and self-regulation, ironically gifted to the most volatile people. All we've seen so far are fairly large plumes of fire - is precision firebending possible or is it more of a 'point it in the general direction of the enemy' technique? It does feel like an outlier, in that it comes from within, not the surrounding environment. That being said, airbenders can also be said to carry their element wherever they go, because everywhere humans can go (at least for more than a few minutes) has air, so fire isn't actually that much of an outlier. Also, either Zuko is suffering from a serious case of cartoon physics, or firebending causes some sort of muscle intensification and bone hardening, because last time I checked you can't kick a flying rock the size of a small child out of mid air or shatter handcuffs with an axe kick.

Final thoughts:

I think I'm preferring the monster of the week episodes to the season-long plot episodes. I think I want lower stakes while I'm still getting to know the characters. I want - no I NEED - more Appa. Give me an Appa episode. Give me a Sokka episode too. I also want more Gyasto - he seemed like a stand up guy, and I feel like he is what an older Aang will become, if all goes well. Obviously he's dead, so if there is more it will be flashback only, but I'll take what I can get.

I think the best point of the show, and what's really drawn and kept my attention, is the finality of things, even in these early, fairly plot-light episodes. Whatever blew away half of Zuko's face hasn't been undone. Sokka & Katara's mom is dead, and looks to stay that way. Aang really is the last of his people (and so, I suspect, is Appa). Aang disappearing for a century has left a duty in some way unfulfilled, and the world has suffered for it. Legitimate consequences, which means legitimate stakes, which means I feel like getting invested in the show is not a waste of my time. No Marvel fake-out deaths here! This world is one in which actions, and inaction, have weight. No bait and switch, no last-minute saves, no "it was _____ all along!" I don't think this would have mattered to me at all if I had seen this show as a child, but as an adult who is sick of how much of modern media shies away from sincerity, this show is refreshing.

Rankings so far:

Best episode (as in most competently executed) and favourite episode are getting different categories, because in a show that deals with some heavy themes, sometimes the most expertly done episode isn't all that pleasant to watch. I think the best episode so far, by far, is Jet. It feels head and shoulders above everything that came before it. It was at times uncomfortable to watch for how accurately it portrays both what war does to children, and what war-torn children will do to/with powerful children they happen to ensnare. Like I said in my post about it, I'll probably never watch it again because it's a little too real, but it is an episode that hums along like a well-tuned engine. A close second on the best/most competent list has to be The Southern Air Temple. The way the two stories weave together, and the way they mirror each other despite depicting characters destined to be enemies, AND the way all that gets represented in contrasting colour palettes is all so clever. It also gave me my first taste of the kind of long-term thought and planning that I'm already detecting hints of. Could you really write an episode like The Southern Air Temple without knowing how your season, even your series, would ultimately end? It's the episode where I first got a taste of the wider world, the scale of the stakes, the eventual endgame.

The worst executed episode so far is probably Imprisoned. I found the tonal switch in the middle completely jarring. I know what it was trying to say about Katara (compassionate and impassioned and will act on both to protect the innocent), but honestly the message I got was that Katara is closed-minded, naive, without any sense of proportion or any ability to pick and choose battles, with no long-term planning skill, and who is far too used to having Sokka around to clean up her messes and do her thinking for her. That being said, the worldbuilding was well done: this episode told us earthbenders' weakness (take away their element by sticking them in the middle of the ocean on a metal-only rig) and what life is like under fire nation rule (pretty hairy).

My favourite episode so far is The Winter Solstice Part 1: The Spirit World. I have literally no idea why, but it made me happy. Things I liked about it include: -It's so PRETTY -Sokka being ride or die for Aang to the extent of being subjected to spirit kidnapping -Zuko pulling the Exhausted Parent (TM) move of 'five more minutes on the playground then I'm leaving with or without you,' followed by not following through -Katara being stirred to action by Appa's worry -Zuko and Iroh absolutely flattening those earthbenders -Zuko and Iroh's odd couple dynamic throughout the episode -Zuko being competent at something! -How genuinely alien that spirit thing was, especially its movement. -Aang's "I have to try, don't I?" If I could have reached through the screen and given him a hug, I would have.

My second favourite is The King of Omashu. Maximum goofiness at all times is just delightful. Bumi has an enlightened way of looking at the world that gets all the more poignant when you realise how old he is and what he's lived through. There is serious angst potential there. But the episode is so light-hearted that you don't realise that while you're watching it. Also the absolute pinnacle of earthbending so far, and some pretty peak airbending too.

My least favourite is The Warriors of Kyoshi. They gave me a badass troupe of warrior ladies and then nerfed them so that Sokka could learn feminism. Sokka (as he was characterised in that episode at least) did need to learn it, but the trope of the male student effortlessly surpassing the female master is just so tired. At least the b-plot of the avatar title going to Aang's head was both fun and necessary story ground to cover.

An excellent run of episodes so far, despite my many and varied gripes with mostly minor things. Bring on episode 11.

[melodygatesauthor]

okay, curious question since it’s probably my system-ness talking rn

What are your thoughts about the whole ‘Marc and Steven are judged together vs separately with their souls (or what you count that as)’? As a system I’m kinda mixed feels on that, but I wanted to see someone else’s thoughts?? (this is definitely not inspired by @guruan ‘s art of all the boys in the Field of Reeds)

This question is tough for me to answer without getting into the concept of religion and theorizing the "afterlife" question. So I'll answer this with my thoughts under the cut for anyone who doesn't want to get into that...

I'll preface all of this by saying, I'm personally not religious, but I also am open and accepting of all religions. (Except you Scientology).

I'm what I'd consider agnostic I think? So I believe in a higher power but I don't know what I believe necessarily. That being said, it's hard to define what a "soul" is.

Like if you ask me, I think my dog has a soul, but if you ask certain religions, animals don't have souls. So what separates humans from dogs and gives us a soul versus them? Our conscience? Consciousness? Self-awareness?

It's all a bit philosophical when you break it down to its core.

So if you ask me, I would say that every alter within a system has a soul. That being said, it's kinda hard to determine how I feel about the field of reeds situation.

As someone working in the mental health field I'll add that we all know logically that DID can happen for a variety of reasons but most commonly is due to trauma. Steven and Jake are both, from what we see and understand, a result of Marc's trauma, and by "letting them (namely steven in the show) go", he's letting go of his pain and the trauma he faced and finally having peace.

I think Marc's realization that Steven isn't just a piece of his troubled past, but instead his own entity that Marc needs in order to truly be at peace, that's what would give Steven a soul? Like Steven is as much a person as Marc is, and Marc's love for him sort of "gives" him a soul, if that makes sense.

So maybe what I'm saying is, I think if you are loved, or were loved, that's what gives you a soul. And if you give love, that means you can have a soul too.

I'm tired and just finished working 63+ hours in the last 5 days so I hope that this makes sense. Long story long, I think all the boys have their own individual souls, and that @guruan's art is completely possible for our boys.

But also, since we can't really define a soul, I don't honestly know. I just think that when Marc says "you're an individual whom I care about" that's when Steven's soul can be realized as separate from Marc's instead of just a piece of Marc's.

(and again this is all just speculation and my own personal opinion. I don't really have any hard evidence for any of this)

[astral-disastral]

So I’m gonna make a random philosophical post about perceptions of self by comparing humans to birds, so if you aren’t into weird existential thoughts, this probably isn’t for you.

So, I took veterinary classes in college. One thing that we learned about was something called anthropomorphism, which is basically applying human characteristics and behaviors to nonhuman things, particularly with animals in this context. This doesn’t sound like an important word to remember or think about, but it is when talking about basic animal needs and separating what we perceive to be a human emotion, when in fact it is not. For example, someone comes in with a cat saying,

“He’s just so mean! He pees on my bed every other day, it’s like he does it on purpose.”

When dealing with a statement like this, you have to separate what the owner perceived as “him being mean” from what is actually happening in the situation to find true cause of this behavior. Some potential causes for a cat peeing on your bed may be his litterbox placement/material, which may make the cat uncomfortable. Medically, they could have something like a bladder infection or a UTI that caused them to do this.

Recognizing when pet owners are anthropomorphizing is important because people often can assign the wrong reasoning to why their animal is doing something, which doesn’t help solve the problem that is causing it in the first place. An owner might find a shelter to surrender an animal to for a behavior that could have been solved, or an animals conditions may lead to further complications if untreated. So as silly as this word is, it’s important to see when pet owners are doing this so you can lead them down the most helpful path for them and their animal.

Here’s where things gets weird

I’ve been think about this word a lot for some reason, and it made me think of how we could reverse this role. How maybe instead of personifying animals through anthropomorphism, I could simplify my own emotions towards myself by putting myself into the perspective of an animal with less complex emotions than my own. So when thinking about this, and my own perception of self, I wanted to put myself “into the mind” of an animal that has a lesser self awareness than I.

So, I thought about my grandfathers old bird. He was an only bird, and had a mirror in his cage that he was obsessed with. I wondered, why was he so obsessed with it? If birds have no concept of self awareness, why did he spend so much time looking at it and exclaiming to himself? Dogs don’t do that, they can’t even comprehend their reflection in the first place. The answer was kind of silly, but also raised even more questions within myself.

Although birds can conceptualize that their reflection exists, they perceive it as a different bird. Upon further research, I also learned that it wasn’t a good idea to have a mirror in their cage, and that this obsession was actually extremely unhealthy for their physical and mental health. Because they think it is another bird, they spend all their time essentially talking to nobody and obsessing over a reality that doesn’t exist, and when put with other birds later in life, it can massively disrupt their social behavior/function with them. And this isn’t a easy obsession for the bird to turn around from once it’s started, since taking the mirror away could cause massive distress because the bird views this image of themselves as a their only companion.

I sat on this thought for a while. Although birds do not perceive their reflection the same way we do our own, I felt there was a lesson to be had by trying to understand why this is harmful for the bird, and how this obsession over the imagine of yourself could be applied to my own extremely complex feelings in comparison. If a bird could be so massively effected by their reflection like this without even being able to comprehend it as their own, what does that say about how deeply I am effected by my own obsessions with my reflection?

This made me think about how long I spend in the mirror, in the selfie side of my phone camera, in the editing process of pictures of myself. I spend a lot of time obsessing, whether it be bad(mostly), or even things that I consider desirable about myself. And I realized,

I’m a freaking bird with a mirror in its cage

Except I can analyze myself with self awareness, I can internalize even deeper what that reflection tells me, I can learn all the same unhealthy obsessive behaviors from an even larger range of emotions and understanding of myself. This perception of myself effects my social function, how I feel about myself when interacting with people, how I choose to communicate based on that perception of my own physical being, how even good obsessions of my image give me a false sense of comfort. This obsession that we see in birds with mirrors, even though vastly different from humans, shows how much perception can effect the psyche even without the full range of human emotions and understanding.

I’m not sure exactly how to wrap up the crazy rabbit hole I just went down, but to all my fellow birds out there, maybe it’s time to take the mirror out of your cage too.

[party-of-rpg-muses]

A Look At Stuff You Probably Never Heard Of: 101 Dalmatian Street

We’re doing something a little different this month. Rather than look at something Christmas-related, we’re just not. Instead, we’re taking a looking a normal TV series. Today, we’re taking a look at... 101 Dalmatian Street!

101 Dalmatian Street is a British-Canadian animated series produced by Passion Animation Studios and Atomic Cartoons and aired on Disney Channel and Disney +, with the first episode airing March 18th, 2019 and continuing to this very day. It serves as somewhat of a sequel to the original 101 Dalmatians book by Dodie Smith/the Disney movie.

Set about 60 years after the events of the movie, Pongo and Perdita have long since passed away. The parents of the dalmatians are Doug, an American firefighter dalmatian, and Delilah, the great-great granddaughter of Pongo and Perdita who works as a nursing dog, assisting a human doctor. Each parent had 15 pups from a previous relationship before getting together and having another liter of 15 with the other 54 being adopted from rescue shelters or from the streets.

However, the show mainly focuses of Doug and Delilah’s oldest pups; Dylan (Delilah’s son), the pedantic and neurotic control freak who obsesses over safety, cleanliness, and is basically your typical nerd, and Dolly (Doug’s daughter), who is a rebellious tomboy who is more carefree than Dylan, but also irresponsible and often performs tricks on her skateboard. And her catchphrase is “Bow-Waka-Wow”. Since their parents are often away, it falls to them to look after the pups while also getting into mishaps and adventures around Camden Town.

Other pups include the twins Dizzy and Dee Dee, who are essentially Dolly’s sidekicks and often imitate or listen/copy what she says or does, Dawkins who is a science nerd and Dylan’s sidekick who created most of the inventions around the house, Triple D (Destiny, Dallas, and Déjà Vu) who are triplets who act like valley girls/divas who often act in commercials, Dante who is a goth with black fur with white spots and usually spouts doomsday prophecies that no one believes, and Desiel who is obsessed with digging and has an amazing sense of smell, but isn’t all that bright. And that’s simply naming a few. And as one can guess, all their names start with “D”.

The show was animated in Toon Boom with each episode being 11 minutes long and the episodes are largely disconnected with each having its own self-contained adventure. However, there is a plot bubbling beneath the surface. And there are some two-part episodes with the season 1 final being about an hour long. It’s also worth noting that the show has a few recognizable voice actors. Perhaps most notably Michaela Dietz as the voice of Dolly (most recognizable as the voice of Amethyst from Steven Universe).

And now, the time has come for my Final Recommendation Never Let Go Of It||Get It||Hold Onto It||Try It||Consider It||Stay Away From It

No lie, it’s a cute and fairly enjoyable series. Comedy is at the forefront of the series (at least, for the time being). My personal favorite joke in the entire episode is when the weather forecast predicts snow, which gets Dolly excited, wanting to introduce the pups to snowboarding, but when going outside, she ends up falling in mud after rain, to which Dylan reminds her that they live in London, a joke about the UK’s weather.

However, some of the comedy can be rather cringy and even go into low-brow gross-out like farting. And Dylan has a severe cat allergy, so it’s not uncommon to see Dylan with puffy eyes and a runny nose when a cat is nearby.

Although, despite the show being mostly comedy, there is a bit more to it. A common theme in this show is family. Many of the pups are fully aware they’re not actually related by blood, but they still refer to each other as siblings; most notably with Dolly and Dylan. They’re polar opposites of each other and get on each other’s nerves, but they happily refer to each other as siblings with Dolly often referring to Dylan as “bro”. And a common thing in the episodes is either Dolly or Dylan swallowing their pride or realizing their mistakes to help out their family or fix a mistake. The concept of family is big in this show much like how Steven Universe revolves around love.

But as stated, there’s more of a plot as the show goes on. I won’t spoil anything, but let’s just that an old face has returned; the dalmatians’ ancestral enemy. And they have an ally.

And so, another year draws to a close. I’ll see you again at the start of the next year with a new entry. But before I go, I would like to share the intro with you. Until next time.

[orangeoctopi7]

Champions

I know I already posted something for the last week of @stanuary but that was sort of a place-holder for this. I’ve been sick on-and-off for the last month or so, so I wasn’t sure if I’d finish this in time. I did get time to work on it the other day while I was at work.

This is a crossover with Atop the Fourth Wall’s Contest of Champions, but you don’t need any prior knowledge of AT4W to understand what’s happening. I’m just borrowing a concept, really. (Although I do want to do a second chapter where Stan interacts with those characters)

***

Stan was awoken in the middle of the night by one of Ford’s alarms going off. He groggily sat up as his brother jumped out of his own hammock and dashed to the controls, muttering curses under his breath the whole way.

“Wazzat?” Stan groaned.

“An extradimensional portal just opened up aboard the Stan'o'war! But my sensors aren’t picking up any foreign lifeforms. Whatever it was must also have access to time travel. It must have paused time, entered our dimension, done whatever it was trying to do, and then left before restoring the flow of time.”

“Y'sure your nerd gadgets aren’t just broken?” Stan asked, reaching sleepily for his glasses on the bedside cabinet. He felt around, but instead of the thin plastic frames, he felt a heavy sheet of parchment.

“Yes, I’m sure! Now keep a close eye out for anything out of place! Just because I don’t detect any lifeforms doesn’t mean they couldn’t have left a robot or a bug.”

“Uh, Ford? I think I found what they left.”

Stan finally put his glasses on and looked down at the parchment he’d found. It was the same size as a normal 8.5" by 11" printer paper, but the parchment felt much fancier, like something the Northwests would use for an invitation. Which was exactly what it was.

STANLEY PINES

YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO THE 1049th INTERDIMENSIONAL

CONTEST OF CHAMPIONS

SPEAK ALOUD YOUR ACCEPTANCE AND DETAILS WILL FOLLOW

CONGRATULATIONS, CHAMPION.

“What the…?” Stan muttered, turning the page over to look for more info, but it was blank. “Ford, are you tryin’ to pull some sorta prank? If so, I don’t get your humor at all.”

Ford silently read the invitation over his brother’s shoulder, before snatching it away. “This has to be counterfeit. I know you destroyed Bill, but that’s not… that doesn’t make you… does it?”

“Seriously, Ford, what is this?” Stan asked impatiently.

Ford took a deep breath, collecting his thoughts, before answering. “To put it in your terms, Stan, the Contest of Champions is like an interdimensional boxing tournament, only instead of just boxing, the Champions can choose any kind of contest they want.”

“Champions?”

Ford pinched the bridge of his nose. “You know, I bet this thing will do a much better job of explaining.” He held up the invitation like it was a phone and he was having a video-chat. “We’d like the Terms and Conditions, please.”

Nothing happened.

“Of course, I wasn’t invited.” Ford rolled his eyes and handed the paper back to Stan. “You have to ask it.”

Stan held the paper out like he’d seen Ford doing. “Uh… can you explain this whole thing to me?” He awkwardly addressed the invitation.

With nothing more than a bright flash of light, a figure in dark robes appeared. They looked like they might be human, but every part of them was covered, from their closed hood to their gloved hands.

“Sweet Moses!” Stan shouted in surprise, winding up to punch the intruder.

“Relax, it’s just a hologram recording.” Ford reassured him with a gentle hand on the shoulder.

“The interdimensional Contest of Champions is a tournament.” The hologram began, “Within every parallel reality, there are figures best suited to defend those realities. These individuals are referred to as Champions. The hosts for this contest, the Temlins, have elected to hold a tournament to judge their respective skills against one another. Participants are randomly selected across all realities and invitations are sent. You are under no obligation to join this great tournament, but should you enter, you will be granted the opportunity to test your abilities against other powerful individuals and make an attempt at a great prize. All battles are non-lethal and participation is voluntary. Should you remain victorious through all of your battles, you will be awarded this great prize. Defeat brings only as much dishonor as you allow yourself. If you have any further questions, you may ask now.”

“Wow, that’s quite the schpiel you got there.” Stan grunted. He turned to his brother. “So, let me get this straight. I can’t die, and I get to fight a buncha space dorks for some fancy prize? Sounds like a good time to me!”

“It’s a lot more complex than that.”

“What, you been in one of these things?”

“No, but I watched the coverage of one during my interdimensional travels. I should warn you, they take forever. Since it covers multiple dimensions and timelines, it can be really stretched out. I saw the beginning of the 1018th tournament while I was in the Bubble Dimension, by the time it finally finished, I was in the Flying Whale Dimension, six years later.”

“Well, do I haffta wait on their planet, or somethin’ or can I just go about life as normal?”

Ford shrugged.

“Between rounds, Champions are allowed to prepare as they see fit.” The hologram answered. “The Temlins are aware of the great temporal differences between participating dimensions. Champions are encouraged to continue their normal lives if at all possible while waiting for the next round.”

“Ok. And how do these battles work?”

“From what I remember, one of the contestants gets to choose the contest.”

“For each round, one of the two Champions is selected at random. They must set a battle that is fair to both parties, with a reasonable chance that either could win. The conditions of the battle must be agreed upon by both parties, and approved by the Temlins.”

“So, I just gotta bribe the right people, and make sure I get to pick the challenge. Dirty boxing, or, I dunno, a The Dutchess Approves trivia quiz.”

“Stanley, I’d advise against mentioning bribery in front of the recording device.” Ford scolded him. “And besides, the Temlins are all-powerful beings. I very much doubt you have anything that would interest them.”

“Well, what’ve I got to lose, right? I’ll give it a shot.”

“Stanley, wait, let’s think about this first! I don’t trust the Temlins. That much power, and they use it to host a tournament!? Why couldn’t they have done something about Bill, why couldn’t they use that power to stop injustice across the multiverse?”

Stan gasped in mock surprise. “What!? You don’t trust somebody? That’s never happened before! Whatever will I do with this new, vital information?”

“Stanley, I’m serious!”

“C'mon Ford, the man says it’s voluntary. If things get sketchy, I’ll quit! ‘Snot like I expect to win this thing. Think of it this way, I get to fight crazy space guys. You get to study whatever crazy space guys they send our way, and maybe if I get really lucky, I win some fancy sci-fi prize.”

Ford sighed. “I’ll admit, that does sound tempting.”

“Great, cuz I’m doin’ it!” Stan turned back to the hologram. “I, uh, speak aloud my acceptance, or however this works.”

“Welcome, Stanley Pines, to the Contest of Champions.”

“Great. So now what?”

“Preliminary round begins now.”

“Wait, what?”

“Your opponent is Ace Corgi, Attorney at Paw. Battlefield has been selected as Stanley Pines’”

“Ford, you said these things take forever!”

“Well I never saw anything about a preliminary round on the broadcast!”

Another brilliant flash filled the cabin. The hologram had disappeared, and in its place was a stout dog with pointy ears and a steel-gray coat. It looked just as surprised as they were. Ford’s alarms started again.

“Oh, are we starting now?” It asked in a deep voice that belied its small size.

“Aw, lookit the cute talking dog!” Stan cooed.

“That must be the Champion from the Corgi Dimension!”

“There’s a Corgi Dimension!?”

“Yes, but last I heard, the Champion of the Corgi Dimension was Atticus.”

“Oh, He retired just last year.” The small dog explained. “Now, which one of you humans is my opponent?”

Stan raised his hand.

“Thank you. Now have at thee!”

The dog lunged without warning, going straight for Stan’s knees.

“What the H!?” Stan shouted as he nearly toppled to the ground. His first instinct was to dropkick the animal, but he knew Mabel would never forgive him for doing such a thing to a cute dog, even if it was in self defense. Luckily, he knew a thing or two about dealing with rowdy dogs from his time pug trafficking. He grabbed it by the scruff of the neck, doing his best to avoid the snapping jaws, and forced the dog onto its back.

“A little help here?” He yelled to Ford as he struggled to keep the wiggling dog still.

The old scientist held his hands up. “I’m not allowed to interfere.”

The dog took advantage of Stan’s split attention and squirmed out of his grasp.

“You’re a jerk, you know that?” Stan shouted as the corgi chased him up onto the deck.

“I’m not being a jerk, it’s the rules!” Ford called after him.

Stan at least had the presence of mind to grab his boots and his coat as he dashed for the stairs. Luckily, the steps slowed his stubby-legged pursuer down, and he was able to actually put them on.

“You cur! Your giant ledges won’t be enough to stop me!" 

"What the heck, I thought we had to both agree on the battle first!?”

“That’s what I thought too, but it seems the Temlins get to decide the battle for the preliminary round. I suppose it saves time.” The dog replied as it hopped up the last step.

What the heck am I supposed to do!? Stan wondered to himself. I’m not gonna punch a little dog!

He ran around the deck a couple of times, trying to tire the little guy out, but the dog had boundless energy, and it’s fur coat was obviously better at keeping the cold out than Stan’s cotton one. Finally, his eyes caught sight of the net he and Ford used to catch specimens for his brother’s research. Perfect!

Out-maneuvering a herding dog was a challenge, but in the end he managed. After all, corgis were bred to herd large groups of sheep, not one cunning old man. Once Stan grabbed the net, he tossed it over his opponent, tangling up its little legs almost instantly. The dog continued to squirm, attempting to wiggle its way out once again. When this proved futile, it started to gnaw on the cables of the net.

“Yeah, good luck, Bucko.” Stan chuckled. “That net’s meant for things way bigger and more magical than you.”

“Preliminary round has ended. The victor is Stanley Pines.” The hologram appeared again in a flash of light. “You are both Champions worthy of being in this great tournament. Now you must await your summoning for the first true round. Information and dossiers about the other participants will be made available to you soon, relative to your own universe’s timescale. Welcome, once again, to the Contest of Champions.”

With that, the hologram disappeared again.

“Good show, human!” The dog barked happily. “Will you please let me out now?”

“Oh, right.” Stan pulled the net away. “Not that it’s any of my business, but if I can beat you, ya might not last many rounds in this tournament.”

“Oh, this dog still has a few tricks. I don’t want to show all my best moves before we’ve even begun!”

“Good point. Hey, before ya go, would it be too much to ask for a picture? My niece would really love you.”

“But of course!”

“Hey Ford, get up here!” Stan called down the stairs to the cabin.

“I told you, I can’t help during the match!”

“It’s already over, genius! We’re takin’ a commemorative photo! Bring up the camera!”

[southeastasianists]

Everybody loves a ghost story. Really, everybody. All cultures have some variety of ghost story, by that name or another. But some are more pervasive and deeply ingrained than others. It isn’t really possible to identify the most ghost-heavy culture on the planet—there’s no clear metric for how one would judge such a thing. But few ghost cultures are as powerful and varied as the ones found in Malaysia. The modern English and North American conceptions of ghosts—from the ones under bed sheets to Victorian-garbed, translucent shades to the poltergeist that makes things go bump in the night—feel downright embarrassing in their limits when compared to the great world of Malay hantu.

Hantu is the general term for all ghosts, spirits, and otherworldly beings in Malaysia and among the Malay people of maritime Southeast Asia and its diaspora. There are hundreds, probably thousands, of them, ranging from natural spirits (representations of individual rivers, trees, and lakes) to vampire-type ghosts to leprechaun-like tricksters. Some are good, some are bad, some are to be avoided, and some are like partners to the living. And they coexist with wide range of religions observed by the very diverse people of Malaysia.

With a strategic location straddling the South China Sea, the land of the Malays has been a fluid and multinational place for thousands of years. Malaysia, known by that name or not, has been a vital trading post for huge empires: China, India, the Arabs, the Netherlands, Portugal, England. The indigenous people of Malaysia, called the Orang Asal, practice what the state (and researchers) tend to classify as a type of animism, with various natural objects held as sacred.

And all of those empires left their religions—and their more spiritualist aspects—behind, too. Today Islam is the most-practiced faith in country, but there are substantial numbers of Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, and others. (There were Jews for a long time, too; today, not so much. And ethnic Malays enjoy advantages that starkly stratify society there.) Malay ghost culture is, therefore, a hybrid of spirits, spooks, and haunters from around the globe.

“It certainly has a very big place in the culture,” says Cheryl Nicholas, an ethnographer at Penn State Berks who was born and raised in Malaysia and who has made Malay ghost culture a central part of her research. “Whether or not that continues in the more modern era, I don't know. I still feel the presence whenever I go back.” These ghost stories that imbue the culture of Malaysia seek, as many supernatural or religious stories do, to explain the mysteries of life and help lead a person to a more successful, longer, or more profitable one. Ghosts or spirits vary throughout the country and the culture, but there are some particularly popular individual types or broader categories

One of the most popular types is a sort of vampire-ghost. The pontianak is one that emerges upon the death of a woman during pregnancy or childbirth. She has the shape, usually, of a demonic woman capable of flight, who targets the blood of young children. (Alternatively, the pontianak may prey on men; these stories vary by region and teller.)

There are, in fact, a wide variety of ghosts floating around the concepts of birth and young children. There’s the hantu tetek, a ghost with pendulous breasts who likes to kidnap children just to play with them for awhile. She is used to explain why sometimes a child is found, unharmed, in a weird place, like deep in a bush or up a tree.

My favorite is the toyol, which is usually described as looking like a naked baby, though sometimes as more of a gremlin-baby. The toyol is very different from Western ghosts in a specific way: You can buy one.

Typically one purchases a toyol from a bomoh, or medium. It wouldn’t quite be described as a purchase, since you’d be paying the bomoh for connecting you with a toyol and the spirit itself would be free. Toyol are childlike: mischievous, a little clumsy, a little needy, easily distracted. But they are known as excellent thieves. You can have your toyol go out and steal for you, though Nicholas says it’s sometimes believed that a toyol will only steal up to the dollar amount you paid for it.

“The people in the village use that to explain petty theft,” she says. It also explains why you might see some shiny toys or marbles in front of rural Malaysian houses: countermeasures to distract a thieving toyol and give it something to play with. Nicholas says the best place to find a toyol isn’t in Malaysia, but rather near Mecca, Saudia Arabia. Muslim pilgrims have to discard all the bad influences in their lives for the Hajj, and though toyols aren’t exactly evil, they’re not what one would consider a force for good. In any case, you’ll find toyols near Mecca in the same way you’ll find stained Ikea furniture on move-out day at a college dorm.

The idea of owning a ghost of your own splits particularly hard with the Western conception of spirits as either barely aware of the modern world, or preoccupied with scaring people, or in search of eternal rest. Some Malay ghosts are more like partners to living humans, working side by side as protection—or to do one’s dirty work. Take the hantu polong, a sort of attack ghost used to inflict harm. It must be fed with blood from one’s fingers.

Nicholas’s work cataloging the wonders of Malay ghost culture has turned up dozens of species. There are some that cause specific health issues: The hantu buta causes blindness, hantu cika causes colic, hantu kembung is behind stomach aches. Some are more innocuous: Hantu apu is a party ghost, and so is hantu jamuan, though if it is not invited, it will wreck the festivities. Note to self: Remember to invite the hantu jamuan.

Another interesting aspect of many of these ghosts is the interaction, acknowledgement, or maintenance they require. Hantu lembong is a spirit of swollen growths on trees. Nicholas related a story she had been told about a man who had to formally apologize to this ghost after peeing on one of its trees while on a hike in the forest. If you disturb the soil, you might want to make an offering to hantu jembalang, a spirit of the earth. There are gigantic ghosts who get bigger the closer you get to them, ghosts with the head of a dog, ghosts that break traps to set animals free, ghosts of the moon and the sun and the sea. There are powerful elemental ghosts who should under no circumstances be messed with, and ghosts who throw stones at people for kicks.

“Ghosts are always a plausible explanation for Malaysians,” says Nicholas. A prominent urban bomoh even made international news following the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. He eventually claimed the plane was being hidden somewhere in Southeast Asia by the orang bunian, sort of like invisible supernatural elves.

The robust ghost culture only occasionally runs afoul of modern globalist culture of the industrialized nation. “There is a very distinctive negotiation between the public and the private” regarding ghosts in Malaysia, says Nicholas. When she traveled around the country seeking ghost stories, many people would repeatedly explain, and demand that she understand, that they are good Muslims before acknowledging and revealing all their great ghost stories. But ghosts are simply too entrenched in Malay culture to go away. There are tremendously popular ghost movies released all the time. A Malaysian rapper recently offered a reward for the name of the bomoh responsible for a curse put on him. Bomohs are sometimes used to find missing people.

In Malaysia, it seems, you’re never too far from a ghost. It’s not inherently good or bad, it’s just in the air.

[cozycryptidcorner]

Here is a monster match for the resilient @moonlightreetops! Information about getting your very own monster match can be found here.

“INFJ, my sun sign is Cancer, moon sign is Pisces rising sign is Sagittarius, also ADHD inattentive soo...  🙃very forgetful due to depression and said ADHD. I'm very empathetic but can get a little too passionate with my emotions sometimes. I cry at every movie I see. No exceptions. I spend most of my time world building or painting for dnd campaigns.  Or reading. I also love hiking with my dogs as it's the only time I really get out of the house. I grew up in professional theater so the drama kid heart in me is still very strong. Whoever's my match needs to be prepared for a little bit of "extra", if you catch my drift.”

Your android isn’t fresh off the production shelves, not by a long shot, but he was tossed away as ‘defective’ shortly after being built. For whatever reason, though, whoever did it was sloppy, since the master switch to shut everything down hadn’t been pressed, resulting in your android being in ‘sleep mode’ for just over a decade. During that time, his software would remotely update, going with the flow of whatever the programmers would write, but his actual hardware could hardly keep up. He soon became an outdated model, as one does in this reality of rapidly evolving technology, and the updates weren’t exactly written for the machinery of his caliber. Yet, for whatever reason, his inner core kept accepting the incoming software, ultimately resulting in something inside him snapping awake.

Both he and you theorize that it must have been the time, plus the updates, and perhaps even the constant exposure to the elements that ignited some kind of self-awareness within his inner core. Or, it could just be a matter of time for all the other androids to follow, as he was without any mechanical checkups monitoring his awareness for quite a long while. Whatever the case may be, he’s present and in the moment, very much alive, and really can’t let many people in on that secret because god knows what will happen to him because of it. While it might be a little awkward for him to plaster a smile on his face and act like a shell, thanks to all the new cybernetic technologies, most androids tend to look and act very human, so he can get away with a lot more than he might of back when he was fresh out of the factory.

Since he was outside decomposing with the rest of the junk, his parts weren’t exactly in tip-top shape. It took a lot of careful, slow repairs to get him to even be able to walk again. Even though his central wiring system seemed to be in working order, most of his limbs and joints rusted over and eroded, so those also had to be either oiled and cleaned vigorously or unscrewed and completely replaced. Tiny seeds and saplings had taken to start growing in the metallic crevices of his body, so those had to be thoroughly washed out, and his standard blue steel had been tinted green with moss. It certainly was a look, that’s for sure, but not something that a functioning android can rock and still be able to stand on both their feet.

One of the interesting things about his type is that his synthetic skin and hair can change color whenever he feels like it, and while he might need the necessary coding for the color, once he has it, he can switch back and forth. Neon pink hair one day, then a muted, plain brown the next, it gives him an edge for blending in with, say, a rave party or a rock concert at a moment’s notice. Not that he needs to run, no, to both of your knowledge, he’s in no danger of discovery. Still, if it should it come to that, his power of camouflage might come in handy. Maybe it was a little shocking when he blinked that one time and turned his eyes blood-red, but you quickly got used to it.

Besides the fact that he can turn his skin blue the moment he wants, he looks like a regular, run of the mill person, as any signs of being made of machinery have been carefully covered up. But, like with most other androids, there are little, tiny ticks that a well-trained person might see. The way he sometimes focuses on something a little too hard, since he can zoom his eyesight in like a microscope, or the way he stands ridiculously still when at rest. Or even how he might know something about someone that may seem strange since he likes to look over a person’s social media profiles while speaking to them.

Your android likes to multitask and often has a very exact schedule for what he is doing and when. For example, he might get off his overnight charging station at five in the morning sharp, though he really doesn’t need to use it anymore, his battery has been replaced by one of those crazy nuclear fission boxes. After getting dressed in some athletic wear, he will then go for a run, not that he has any muscles to work out with. Still, he likes the feeling of the air on his face, but it helps the whole song and dance of being human, as someone will see him do the action and then internalize it without realizing it.

Then, once he gets back, he’ll make breakfast. He can’t eat, and really entirely depends on your tastebuds to do all the work, but his skill vastly improves with everything he manages to make. Once he is done with your breakfast, he will clean, and then exactly at 7:02 am, he will go off to work. His work isn’t exactly the same as, say, an office job with a guaranteed yearly salary. Your android is, after all, technically a non-citizen, and doesn’t have any of the many documents needed to prove that he’s allowed to work. Everything he does has to be under the table and off the radar.

His work, then, is a rather unorthodox way of making money. Freelance stuff, really, things that he can do quickly without having to become a full-time employee. On one end, he does photography, and since his eyes have the nifty little habit of seeing things that a human might not right off the bat, he tends to get some snapshots of things that others don’t. It also helps that he can climb, hide, dodge, and reach places that humans probably don’t want to risk. Climbing to the very top of a building just to get that photo of the sun rising over the bridge? Done, and his editor has no idea how he even managed to get it. Squeezing through a poorly constructed alley to find a nest of pigeons for a piece on animal life in the city? Good thing he doesn’t actually have to breath. It might not bring in the same kind of money as some fancy executive lawyer, but it’s just about all he can do.

Sometimes he might get frustrated when his schedule doesn’t seem to work out because he likes his life to be easy to sort and simple to categorize. It took a little while for him to be able to loosen up about the strictness of which he holds himself, slowing relaxing and allowing life to show him the wonders that is has to offer without chasing something else insistently. His photography began to improve vastly, mostly because he is now looking beyond just the object and the background, he is now looking for the soul outside of the basic image. Like humans, your android does appreciate beauty for what it is, though in a more mathematical, clinical sense. Things like flowers, shells, moon phases, or even weather patterns all hold a unique appeal to him that tends to lean outside of their traditional aesthetic sense.

Your android is very, very grounded in reality. Perhaps it’s because he doesn’t really have a concept of what ‘imagination’ is, but his thoughts, his actions, his hopes are all squarely within the realms of his perceived existence. One of the drawbacks to this is that he doesn’t often allow himself to play along with anyone’s fanciful ‘what if’ scenarios because he will be the first one to let that person know that the idea is bad, and it might get someone killed, or that it’s just not even worth doing. It takes some cajoling to get him to indulge anyone in their fantasies, but he will, if the right pointers are given, and if doing so will help someone get out of their sadness.

One of his favorite activities is to explore the outdoors, whether it be hiking, camping, canoeing, etcetera. As mentioned before, he has a unique appreciation for something organically made, because there is something rather beautiful in the realm of strange frailties. Or, better yet, the impossible perfection that can be reached in something as simple as a snail’s shell. Sometimes he might pause, completely caught up in studying the movement of a bug or the swaying of a leaf in the wind, eyes glued to a single spot in space for however long it takes him to fully comprehend every little detail that he is seeing.

There isn’t really an issue in the bedroom, either, since his brain is basically connected to the internet at all times, any kind of position or move is easy enough for him to search up, comprehend, and then execute with near-flawless precision. That’s all I’m going to say on the subject.

[thegreenwolf]

Note: this blog post was originally posted on my blog at A Sense of Natural Wonder at http://www.thegreenwolf.com/spirits-in-the-kitchen-honoring-the-remains-of-our-food/.

[Main photo: rice and cheese stuffed crimini mushrooms, roasted acorn squash and red onion, and sauteed vegetables and mushrooms]

The older I get, the more important food has become to me. For the first quarter century of my life, I couldn’t have cared less about domestic duties. In fact, in my misguided desire to break out of traditional female gender roles, I eschewed anything associated with the household for many years. I remember a friend coming over to visit, and being shocked at how scarce kitchenware was in my home. I was basically living like a stereotypical bachelor(ette).

Then I ended up living with someone who insisted on taking over all the domestic duties as a way of “taking care” of me. Unfortunately, their cooking skills were…less than advertised. After entirely too many pans of cheap chicken thighs or pork chops covered in cream of mushroom soup and then dried to the consistency of shoe leather in the oven, I finally decided to learn to cook in self-defense. I started with my mom’s chili recipe, a piece of comfort food from home. And I found that I loved cooking–the flavors, the alchemy, the transformation of a pile of ingredients and a recipe into something artistic as well as edible.

While I am in no way a professional level cook, and in some ways am still barely competent in the kitchen, I’ve acquired a decent collection of cookbooks and flavor manuals, and I have a much better set of utensils. After years of gardening and foraging and preserving plants, and even raising and slaughtering my own meat, I also have gained a much deeper appreciation for the quality of the ingredients I use. I can’t always afford the pasture-raised meat, but I try to have a bottle of genuine olive oil no matter the recipe. (Costco has become one of my greatest resources.)

One thing that has always been central to my cuisine, even from the start, was respect for the animals, plants and fungi I was about to consume. We literally are what we eat. The vast majority of the molecules in my body came from something I ate or drank, and every time I sit down to a meal or a snack I am aware that part of what I am about to enjoy is going to become a long-term part of my body. After all, I’m only borrowing it temporarily before it gets returned to the ecosystem, so I should be appreciative of those recently deceased whose remains are actively being recycled by my digestive system.

Why is this awareness important?

–Connection with nature on a spiritual level: My paganism has always been nature-based, even if the exact interpretation thereof has evolved over time. As a naturalist pagan, I don’t invest myself in supernatural concepts–even the idea of spirits, to me, is something that I don’t actively try to prove literally. Instead, my path is firmly rooted in the idea that I am a part of something deeper and greater than myself, the concentric rings of community, ecosystem, planet and universe. By being mindful of the living beings whose now-dead remains are about to nourish me and keep me alive another day, I am reminding myself that I am part of that greater cycle, and that I am just one tiny part of the great community of nature. Even when the being who is feeding me–a fruit or nut tree, for example–is technically still alive, I still want to honor the sacrifice of their energy-made-matter and their potential offspring.

Some of my chickens enjoying kitchen scraps that they will later turn into eggs

–Consideration of the welfare of other beings: I know there are people who will argue that anyone who isn’t a strict vegan can’t possibly be acting for the welfare of animals, at least, and that plants and fungi don’t count since they don’t have animal nervous systems. I’m not going to get into that debate because that’s at least three more blog posts, so leave it be. As someone who is an obligate omnivore, I’ve found the best solution for both my health and the planet is Michael Pollan’s advice: Eat [real] food, not too much, mostly plants. I am not currently in a place where I am able to grow or raise all of my food, but the farm my art studio is on has a nice garden going, with plans for improvement in subsequent years. I also have access to several farmers’ markets in the summer, though I’ve yet to find a good local CSA. And starting this past year I began raising chickens for both eggs and meat (though they’ve ended up being pets as well.) The more I can control the source of my own food and how it was grown and raised, the better I will feel about my role as a consumer of food.

–Mindful eating: This is a way to slow down your consumption of food and to be more aware of the experience of eating. It serves to not only reconnect you with something that can be quite enjoyable, but slowing down the act of eating can help reduce indigestion and other problems. Moreover, I feel it gives meals more meaning. As someone who eats alone 95% of the time, it can be easy for me to just zone about and shovel food into my mouth while I wander around online or read a book. Mindful eating makes me appreciate what I’m eating more, which has encouraged my already active interest in home cooking. And it helps me to remember again that everything I’m eating was once alive, as I am now alive, and that is something to respect.

I don’t really do special rituals or magic with my food; instead, having mindfulness infuse the very acts of cooking and eating is ritual in and of itself. That being said, you’re certainly welcome to toss a little kitchen witchery into the process if that’s your practice. Here are a few ideas:

–When preparing your work area, consider lighting candles or incense, or cleansing the area with a wash of salt- or herb-infused water. You can also put out crystals nearby that represent your intent. Some pagans like to have an apron or other adornment they only wear when preparing sacred meals (though I consider every meal to be sacred.) Consider it a way of making sacred space for the beings you are about to prepare into food, welcoming them into your home.

–Say a prayer over the ingredients for the meal you are about to prepare, thanking them for being there and asking that you be able to treat them with respect as you turn them into nourishment for you and whoever else you’re feeding

–Bless the herbs and spices you add to your meals. You can even look up magical correspondences for them, and add ones that match the intent of the meal. For example, cashews are often associated with financial success, so a meal of cashew chicken might be a good thing to have just before an interview or important business deal. Ask the spirits of the plants and minerals to help you with your goal.

–Create magical art with your food. This is especially easy with baking, and plenty of magical groups have celebrated rituals with cookies or cakes decorated with pentacles and other symbols. Try baking a layer cake where each layer is dyed with food coloring in shades that reflect intent–green for fertility and growth, pink for youth and joy, yellow for sunshine and health, and so on. Ask the wheat (or oats, or rice) in the flour, as well as the eggs, milk or other ingredients, to carry that intent for you.

Cream of asparagus soup with homemade whole wheat bread and Tillamook butter

–Decorate your table with reminders of the animals, plants and fungi you are consuming. You might have plates that have chickens on them, or add leaves of lettuce and fresh mushrooms as an edible centerpiece. Let the meal be a celebration of these beings and their gifts to you.

–If eating with others, take time to discuss the sources of your food and why you chose them. Even if the answer is “This is what I could afford and what I had access to,” that’s valid. Talk about where you think the plants were grown and the animals raised, and if you want to be able to change your sources–even if you can’t do it now–brainstorm ways in which that can happen at some point.

–Let nothing go to waste. Leftovers are love, as far as I’m concerned, not the least reason of which being they save me a night of having to cook again. Should you have chickens, pigs or other omnivorous animals, give them your kitchen scraps. Other pets can have limited types of scraps; dogs and cats love meat bits, various small critters love vegetables and fruit, and rats and some parrots will eat just about anything you give them. As for the rest, if you’re able to compost outside, tend your compost pile with care. Apartment dwellers may look into vermicomposting–composting with worms–which can be done indoors with few problems. Just don’t leave food scraps where wild mammals can easily get to them; this encourages them to lose their fear of humans and makes them dependent on us for food, which rarely turns out good for anyone involved. If you garden, let your compost be a gift to your plants (and fungi, if you grow dirt-loving mushrooms.)

Even if you don’t take the idea of spirits literally, these practices can still help you maintain awareness of where your food comes from and how you are connected to everything in a greater webwork of relationships. At a time when more people than ever are divorced from the sources of their nourishment, and take for granted the soil and the beings that it supports, it is crucial for us to regain that appreciation for our food. We are already destroying the land, the water and the air, and we need these if we are to continue having food available to us. If we start with changing our awareness, then that awareness translates into actions for the better. Let it start in your kitchen, and move out from there into the world.

Did you enjoy this post? Consider a copy of my book Nature Spirituality From the Ground Up, which includes even more practices to connect with your bioregion and the beings within it! More info on my books can be found at http://www.thegreenwolf.com/books

[mythwhale]

HEADCANON // ROUX.

tldr nassau’s local vampire i guess. come get BITTEN.

mildly anachronistic in terms of his speech/accent because he’s from louisiana and i don’t know what the fuck people from louisiana sounded like in 1715 but it probably isn’t the way i write this bastard, and also i dont care

speaks english, french, an ‘i can sort of get by on this’ smattering of other languages probably. doesn’t really talk all that much if he doesn’t need to like if you’re having a conversation with him he’s mostly going to responding in grunts and acknowledging hums unless it’s His Turn To Talk About Something. also makes a fucking lot of inhuman sounds, especially when he’s pissed or excited; you think my frank is snarly???? roux is S N A R L Y. like ‘oh fuck that’s actually a snake-infested dog’ type snarling/growling. his laugh is more like a bark than anything else and if he’s in pain/etc he whines like the man is just INHUMAN when it comes to vocalisations.

as far as vampire lore goes it’s just me cherrypicking things tbh. like this man isn’t a corpse folks (though he may have risen from the dead) this man is an extremely warm-blooded cryptid with a heartbeat and WILD self-healing abilities where, yes, the easiest way to kill him permanently is to cut off his head and stab him in the heart (with any implement) or burn him to cinders or blow him up or some shit. he probably will die if he’s being grievously wounded often enough that his body stops being able to heal + he isn’t able to feed to replenish himself though so. shrugs. like Ye Olde Vampires of european folklore he definitely isn’t vulnerable to sunlight but is more active at night and actually now that i think about it, might have some kind of light sensitivity issue. also fun fact if you break his bones and they aren’t set properly they WILL heal wrong and it’s horrendous. anyway he feeds on blood but he might also be a sort of... empathic vampire who feeds on emotions too i’m not sure yet.

roux vc: sips your depression like a fine wine

does he struggle with what he is?? sort of. ye olde conceptions of monstrosity means that being more animal than human, and especially being a slave to some kind of desire (for him, bloodlust, but also a host of other ‘sins’ tbh like wrath, lust, pride) means you’re Less Than Human and calls the existence of your soul into question. and like. roux does believe he has a soul, it’s just that he’s aware that by all accounts that soul is WILDLY damned on account of his nature (and there’s probably some backstory shit involved who knows)

as for how he became a vampire i’m not sure and i’m not sure he is either, either he does remember and doesn’t want to talk about it (very likely), or he doesn’t remember and doesn’t want to know based on what he does remember (also very likely)

personality-wise he’s ROWDY as fuck and has almost no verbal filter with strangers, surprisingly isn’t a recluse or anything because in his experience being reclusive makes people MORE likely to suspect you of things. i’m not sure if he’s a pirate or not but probably not, he’s probably someone frequently found wandering all over nassau tbh who knows 

(and his modern verses are just super flexible because he can be anywhere tbh he’s a wanderer)

[angelic-polar-fox]

I'm writing an otherkin character for a book, and was hoping to get some advice on how to respecfully portray an otherkin character? I'm not otherkin myself, I just think the community deserves representation. If you don't have/aren't comfortable giving advice, no problem, I just want to make sure I'm being respectful and accurate.

Hey, sorry for the late response. I had much going on these last days.And I’m glad, that you take your time to ask for advice instead of simply writing wrong and uneducated stuff about a group.First of, you should be sure of the basic concept.There are different definitions floating around on tumblr and many people getting it wrong, but the accurate and the one the community has agreed on the be the right definition of otherkin is to “involuntary identify AS a non-human, non-earthly being on a spiritual OR psychological level”The important points about this is, that it’s 1) involuntary = You can’t choose to be otherkin, you can’t change it either. You just ARE otherkin. Otherkin is nothing someone does, it’s something someone is. There are words like “kinning” used sometimes, which is probably because it’s easier or faster to write, but it gives the wrong idea. I’m not kinning an angel, I’m angelkin. The same as you’re not “kinning” a human. You are a human.2) identify AS = This should be self explanatory, but I still say it, because this is also something people get wrong. To be otherkin means, as stated before, that you ARE the being. It’s not just a strong connection, it’s not just really liking it, or identifying with it. It’s identifying AS it.3) spiritual or psychological = Otherkin are aware that they are physical human. 

For the non-earthly... it simply means that it has to be a being, that has never existed on earth, to be otherkin. Like dragons, angels, aliens and such.This is the difference between otherkin and therian.Therian = animal that has once existed or still does on earth. Dogs, cats, dinosaurs, birds...Otherkin = being that have never existed, or are at least unproven, on earth. Angels, dragons, aliens, gods...Then, the reasons for being Otherkin.It depends and is different for many people.I can’t speak for everyone of course.For me, my kintype is due to a past life. I believe in the multiverse theory where everything can happen somewhere, sometime. Even though angels might not exist in our world, or at least aren’t proven yet, they may exist somewhere else.And in this somewhere else I have lived as an angel. I also do remember some stuff from this life.Spiritual otherkin can also be due to a swapped soul, a parallel life or something complelty different.It’s also possible to be psychological otherkin.Even though I have one kintype that I thin is psychological, because don’t feel the spiritual connection like with every other kintype and also feels closer to the here and now, I can’t really explain the why.How does Otherkin act?Like everyone else I would say. As I said, Otherkin are aware, that they are physically human and they act like that. Otherkin don’t jump off of builiding trying to fly, they don’t eat rocks because they are a dragon, etc.But most otherkin probably express their identity somehow. I for example like to put decorations in my apartment that remind me of my kintypes, like to listen to music that reminds me of my kintypes, like to dress in a similar fashion, things like that.What it feels like to be Otherkin?This is also different for everybody.Many otherkin have shifts. A shifts is a state where you feel closer to your kintype. There are many types of shifts. For example astral shifts, where your astral body changes to that of your kintype.Some also feel phantom limps like their wings, or their tail (I also feel them sometimes), they sometimes may the behaivour changes a bit in a shift.Honestly, it’s not so easy to put everything into words.May someone else add things I’ve might forgot?@shadowfae @dovewithscales @ranthimi @kin-assistance

[linkingnightvale]

And now a word from our sponsors... 51-100

Ep 52: The concept of itching

And now, a word from our sponsors:

Today’s sponsor is the concept of itching.

Listeners, are you looking for an action that will pass the time, but also is mildly irritating? Searching for a way to have your body express reaction to material it is allergic to? Want to express confusion in the most stereotypical manner possible? I am just thrilled to be here on behalf of itching.

Itching has been with humans as long as there has been humans. Longer than that, even! Why, beings have been having to scratch themselves almost as long as they’ve been being.

It can be fun! It mostly won’t be. But, if it’s your thing, or if it’s in a spot that’s easy to reach, then it can sort ofbe fun! I’m not saying it will definitely be fun, it probably won’t be.

The concept of itching. For a free sample, just think about it. Oh? There you go! See? Your experiencing it right now!

This has been a word from our sponsors.

Ep 55: Outback Steakhouse

And now, a word from our sponsors.

Traditionally, when cooking steak, there have been a few basic rules to follow. For instance, using a form of meat that is recognized by both the current culture and the human body as “food;” following basic food safety procedures, so as to prevent illness; not intentionally not intentionally bleeding on the finishing steak…but that’s just traditionally.

Here at Outback Steakhouse, we say “No rules, just right. Absolutely no rules.”

Food safety? Pssh! Federal law? Ugh! The laws of physics? What are you, a narc? It’s weird here. The steak floats. Sometimes the steak is and also isn’t, simultaneously. Sometimes the steak is a chair, and we point at the chair and we say, ‘that chair is a steak.’ And we make you eat it. That is the one rule: if we say something is a steak, you have to eat it. No questions asked. I know we said there are no rules, but that itself is a rule and so is void. You want your philosophy non-contradictory? Go to Sizzler.

In the bathroom, where most places have signs saying “Employees must wash hands,” we just carved “Land of the free” directly into the wall. There isn’t even a sink in there. Heck, our bathrooms are just sealed vaults full of poisonous gases.

No rules. We might kill you. We’ve killed a lot of people.

Outback Steakhouse. Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.

Ep 56: Staples

And now, a word from our sponsors.

Today’s program is brought to you by Staples. Staples has the largest collection of office supplies anywhere. From printer toner to paperclips, Staples has everything you could possibly ever want to run your business.

Just imagine it! Imagine your office. A great mahogany desk, with ornate leg carvings depicting old gods, a crisp new suit, and high-backed chair made of rare animal hide. Imagine a workforce that has all it needs to succeed. Imagine an open floor plan, allowing you the freedom to see the stars, which geometrically describe the shapes of Old Gods.

You wail to the stars. You howl your strategic plan to the stars. The Old Gods like your presentation.

You smell prey. Follow the blood scent. Imagine the distant cries of your colleagues baying beneath moonlit pines, their teeth glistening with hunger.

Imagine teamwork. Imagine a business running at its most efficient. Imagine a lone deer, trapped against a wild stream. A wounded leg. Nowhere to run. Surrounded, it will fight…but your business will fight harder. You have everything you need. Plus, there’s that refreshing stream for a cold drink when you are through with this gory work.

Staples. Worship Old Gods.

Ep 57: PetCo

And now, a word from our sponsors.

An empty food bowl. An untouched water bowl. A silence in the house. A cage containing nothing. A feeling of unease that was once soothed by a joyous instinctual companionship.

We listen out our window, and hear not a passing jangle. Not a “No,” or a “Wait for me!” Nothing meows. Nothing does. Absolutely nothing meows.

The night is so quiet that our thoughts are a clatter, keeping us awake.

In the distance, a dog doesn’t bark.

PetCo. Where did the pets go?

Ep 58: Silent Self-reflection

But first, a word from our sponsor.

Today’s show is brought to you by silent self-reflection.

Are you aware of what’s inside of you?

No, not soft meats and deadly microorganisms. More than that. What makes you you?

How are you able to acknowledge that you are even a thing, separate from the rest of the universe?

Do you find yourself casting about in the white noise of the living world, your eardrums clogged with the filth of existence?

We here at Night Vale Community Radio recommend silent self-reflection. Give it a try.

Here’s some silence. During this silence, reflect on yourself. Reflect on your life, your being. Close your eyes, and just reflect. Let in no sights, no sounds – and reflect.

Ready? Here goes.

[A span of complete silence]

Did you reflect? That was a long silence, right? Do you know how long that silence was? Ha-ha! It was two weeks! You’ve been unconscious for two full weeks! You’ve been pronounced legally dead! Your family misses you, but you’re finally free to be the living ghost you’ve always dreamed of being. Ha-ha-ha! Congratulations! Enjoy a life free of legal consequence.

Ep 60: Chevrolet

The sponsor of today’s show.

Our program is brought to you today by Chevrolet, and their new line of all-electric vehicles. These vehicles are made entirely of electricity. You already own one. There’s a Chevrolet inside your home’s wiring this very moment! Your microwave, your television…you will have to harness that power and learn to turn pure electricity into matter, and then that matter into an operational vehicle, and then figure out how to operate that vehicle.

But it’s all there! Right now! In your home!

In fact, since you already have the car, don’t you think you should have paid for it? Don’t you think you owe Chevrolet for the car you have? That’s how the world works! There are no free cars, pal! Nope! Please send $45,000 to Chevrolet right now.

Or, return the vehicle. You either pay the money, or return the car. One or the other. That’s only fair, right?

Chevrolet. We’re trying to be reasonable here!

Ep 61: Kobe Beef

While I do that, here’s a word from our sponsors.

[Sounds of Cecil rustling around]

Today’s’ broadcast is sponsored by Kobe beef.

Kobe beef.

[chime]

The beef that makes you fresh.

Ep 62: Not Fiji Water

And now, a word from our sponsor.

You are thirsty. Of course you are. We are all metaphorically thirsty for better things, but you are literally thirsty. Literally thirsty for anything. You could feel your dry lips, swollen and sticking together, their crusted gray edges adorning the pink pain beneath. You lick your lips, felling better for a moment, but actually worsening the problem.

It’s hot, right? Pretty hot and dry, actually.

Are those flies? Yes. Those are flies.

Are those birds…vultures? Yes. Actual vultures in your home.

“How did these soaring scavengers get in my home?” you think.

Perhaps you could use some cool, pure, natural and refreshing Fiji Water. Yes, Fiji Water sounds sooo nice, doesn’t it?

But Fiji Water is not who is sponsoring this show. Fiji Water doesn’t even know about this show. Who is sponsoring this show? We cannot tell you. We’re not allowed.

Fiji Water is completely unaware of you, too.

So sorry, this will not end quickly. So very, very sorry.

This has been a word from our sponsor.

Ep 63: ???

And now, another word from our sponsors.

You already know who we are. We introduced ourselves earlier. Let’s not waste time reiterating the benefits of our product, how little it costs, how easy it is to get, how unwise it would be not to buy it, and where exactly we took your loved ones.

Instead, let’s concentrate on the legally-required disclaimers. We, uh, we forgot to do those, and our lawyer got really mad about it. Have you ever seen a mad lawyer? Their ears stand straight up, and they won’t stop barking at you. It’s…terrifying.

So, we need to add that using our product could result in sterility, senility, hearing loss, vision loss, finger decomposition, major toe swelling…like a lot of toe swelling – that might not sound like a big deal, but wait until you see how big your toes get – scratchiness of the throat, throat loss, heart palpitations and minor night screaming.

Also, when we said hearing loss, we meant you’d be able to hear loss. As plants age, as pets die, as marriages break apart, or evolve, or settle from a fluttering of hands to a loose intertwining of fingers, as children leave home to go wherever it is that children go after the age of 10, all of these common forms of loss you will be able to hear, it will be deafening.

Oh, we could go on all day about the ways our product will severely ruin you, physically and emotionally, but what are you going to do? Not buy it? I think that you and your (for the moment, safe) loved ones know that you will buy our product no matter what we say. So, let’s not waste any more time. Our lawyer has stopped barking.

Buy our product.

This has been another word from our sponsors.

Ep 66: Craigslist

And now, a word form our sponsors.

Too much clutter in your home? Do you have excess furniture? Old clothes? A couple of folding bikes you never ride anymore? Jazz CDs that you no longer want because you finally realized how intellectually dangerous they can be?

Perhaps you could put that stuff online for sale!

There’s no reason to let old junk go to waste. How does that saying go? “One person’s trash is another person’s leather bodysuit?” It’s true! I bet that couch of yours would look really good in, say, Denise Esposito’s house. In fact, it’s there now. We went ahead and sold your couch to Denise. She’s already come and picked it up while you were at work.

Also, we sold your TV to Sally Jensen, and your fridge to Mario Landis, and both of your cats to Pedro Renia. We sold all of your belongings, and you didn’t have to do a thing!

Craigslist. We sold your stuff while you were gone.

Ep 71: Venom Box

First, a word from our sponsors.

Today’s sponsor is Venom Box, the subscription service that sends you a box of venomous creatures every month. Last month’s theme was “Hidden, But Deadly.” And those who survived that will love this month’s theme: “Fanged and Impossibly Quick.”

Venom Box has been sending me samples and, boy! Have I almost died! I have almost died…a lot!

They are very dangerous, these boxes. Each individually curated Venom Box is literally a box of toxic and aggressive creatures. That’s…what they are. It’s not even a secure box; it’s a hastily-constructed cardboard box! Often, the creatures escape before you can open the Venom Box. The only thing worse than opening a box to find venomous creatures inside, is opening a box that is supposed to have venomous creatures inside…and instead, finding nothing. Then, looking around your home, feeling [*gasp*] is that a tickle on your toe? You were imagining that, right?

To get a free sample, just do nothing. Or, try to prevent it. Actively try to keep the Venom Box out, it doesn’t matter. Whatever you do, you are subscribed to Venom Box every month from here on out.

Good luck!

This has been a word from our sponsors.

Ep 72: JoAnn’s Fabrics

Here now with a message from today’s sponsor is Deb, a sentient patch of haze.

Hi, Deb!

Deb: Hi, human broadcaster! Hello, mortal listeners. It’s back-to-school time again, and the kids still need new clothes, bags, lunches, falconry gear, rappelling equipment, and other basic school supplies. So much stuff! Where will you find time to go to all of those stores?

Well, you don’t have to go to a bunch of different stores, you only need one store: Jo-Ann Fabrics.

Cecil: Cool! I thought, uh, Jo-Ann Fabrics only sold fabrics!

Deb: That’s simply untrue. Why would you even say that?

Cecil: Well, I just assumed from the name that Jo-Ann Fabrics would…

Deb: Stop talking!

Jo-Ann Fabrics welcomes any parent too overwhelmed by school, or a life, or parenthood, or whatever. Anything. Maybe you’re afraid of flying, and you have to get on a plane soon. The threat is real, you know.

Cecil: I think planes are actually much safer than they used to…

Deb: Oh my God, Cecil! Can we have a conversation for once?

Cecil: You– You– You're– You’re right. You’re right. I’m sorry, Deb. Uh, I mean, the thing is, Jo-Ann Fabrics does fabrics better than anyone, so…a creative person could make clothes, and bags, and all kinds of stuff for their…kids?

Deb: You’re obsessed with fabrics!

Cecil: Well…

Deb: Fine. Go on about your fabrics. What do I care about your petty human concerns?

Cecil: Ooh! Carlos bought a nice batik at Jo-Ann’s recently. It’s got, umm…

Deb: You don’t know what batik is.

Cecil: I don’t.

Unknown deep voice: Jo-Ann Fabrics.

Deb: Aah! What the heck is that?

Cecil: I– I– don’t know! I– I– I’ve never heard that voice before!

Unknown deep voice: For all you back-to-school needs.

Deb: Oh my God! That’s really weird.

Cecil: Yeah, it is!

Unknown deep voice: Joooooooooooo-Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnn’s….

Deb: I’m outta here!

Unknown deep voice: Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…

Cecil: O– OK, uh, bye, Deb.

Unknown deep voice: …aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaabrrrrics.

Ep 74: Knife

And now, a word from our sponsor.

Today’s show is sponsored by Knife.

Need to cut a thing? Use Knife! Need to poke a hole in another thing? Try using Knife. Have one thing and want it to become two or more smaller things? You could try Saw. Saw sometimes works. But other times, you need Knife.

Just listen to Knife in action!

[Sound that is not unlike a jackhammer]

Amazing!

[Sound that is not unlike a jackhammer]

Knife!

This has been a word from our sponsors.

Ep 75: The gut feeling that you did something wrong...

But, while we wait, let’s have a message from our sponsors.

Today’s sponsor is that gut feeling that you did something wrong, but you can’t think of what it could be. What was it? You feel so guilty, but your guilt has no target. It circles, and circles, but cannot land. You think back through the day, trying to find the source of the gnawing guilt, but there is nothing. And you realize that there never was a specific cause. It’s just a part of you.

You are the guilt. You are the shame.

And this only makes you feel more guilty, more ashamed, that these emotions are somehow tied into your very being.

As Albert Einstein famously said after he died, “The call is coming from inside the house.”

That gut feeling that you did something wrong, but you can’t think about what it could be. Try it today. And tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow.

This has been a word from our sponsors.

Ep 76: Harper Perennial

And now, a word from our sponsors.

(Um, personally? I find the content of this ad…distasteful, given my earlier warning, but I’m informed by station management that I have to read it as written.)

Here goes.

Many of us like books. None of us like to admit it. We know that reading makes us deviants, perverts, freaks. Many of us might say – on the radio for instance – that books are dangerous and should be avoided. Even thinking the words “I like books” to ourselves makes us shudder with a secret shame.

We know that we should only be reading government pamphlets, and the prophecies on the back of cereal boxes…but again and again, we find ourselves returning to the dark sickness of literary language.

Who among us can say that they do not have, buried in a box of linens under their bed, a well-read copy of Brand New Ancients by Kate Tempest, or a collection of Annie Baker’s Vermont Plays?

Given all this, should we band together, deviant with deviant? A deviance so natural that it is no deviance at all, but an ingrained motion of the heart, a secret desire so common, that it is no more secret than the sun? Should we begin to admit, together, that we all sometimes like to touch and read books?

No! Of course not! We should be ashamed and hide our love of books from each other, heaping scorn and hypocritical anger upon anyone who dares to reveal that they have the same desires we do.

Harper Perennial. All of our literature is shipped to you in unmarked brown paper wrappings. Charges will appear on your credit card statement as DEFINITELY **NOT** BOOKS.

No one has to know you are a book reading freak.

This has been a message from our sponsors.

Ep 77: Your Mom

And now a word from our sponsor.

Today’s show is sponsored by…well, it’s sponsored by…your mom.

She’s really nice, and she mailed us a ten dollar bill to sponsor this show. That’s well below our usual advertising rate here at the station, but your mom was just the sweetest!

She also wrote a letter saying that she hopes you’re having a fun time listening to the show, she knows it’s your favorite radio program (aww!), and wants you to know that she loves you very much (awwwwww!).

Your mom also wants to know if you’re still seeing that boy. He’s bad news, and she doesn’t like his tattoos. Not that people with tattoos are bad, that’s not what she’s saying, but…

“What do you think his skin will look like when he’s 60?” she added. “What do you think anyone’s skin will look like when they’re 60?” she said repeatedly.

She asked several quiet sad questions about the process of aging. Then she said she cares for you no matter what. She just wants you to be happy.

This message has been brought to you by your mom.

Ep 78: Corn and Imaginary Corn Farmers of America

Let’s pause now for a word from today’s sponsor. With that, here’s Deb, a sentient patch of haze.

Deb: Hello, human listeners. Today’s show is proudly sponsored by corn. It’s almost Thanksgiving, after all, and you wouldn’t have Thanksgiving without corn.

Thanksgiving is America’s holiday. Corn is America’s crop. America’s life blood. You can’t live without corn! If we didn’t have corn, we wouldn’t have tortillas, or syrup, or soft drinks. Without corn, we wouldn’t have dogs, or cars! We wouldn’t even have a moon. Everything is made of corn!

Listen to your heartbeat. “ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzph!” You hear that heartbeat of yours? I’m a patch of haze, I don’t know what a heartbeat sounds like. But this is what I imagine it sounds like. “ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzph!” That sound in your chest is corn, my friend. All that corn, pumping through your delicate mortal veins.

You didn’t choose how ya got here. Neither did corn. You are both products of free market and overpopulation.

Corn. Eat it.

This message is brought to you by the Corn and Imaginary Corn Farmers of America.

Ep 79: Richter’s Eye Glass Hut

Uh, while I avert my gaze from the Shriner’s homunculi, let’s have a word from our sponsors.

Do you have dry eyes? Red eyes? Goat eyes? Aphid eyes? Any other eyes you’re not currently using? We want your eyes at Richter’s Eye Glass Hut!

We give you money for your unwanted eyes and turn them into glass for affordable window panes.

How? Don’t ask questions.

Come on down to Richter’s Eye Glass Hut, located conveniently off the highway helix in the shadow of the immense precarious rock.

No longer accepting potato eyes or the eye of a storm. Not responsible for our windows watching you while you sleep.

Ep 81: Google

And now, a word from our sponsors:

Today’s sponsor is Google. Looking for pictures of a monkey riding a pony? Just search that on Google and it will probably be there. Looking for pictures of a dog named Table? Search that, and I bet someone named their dog Table and took a picture.

How about an image of the exact moment of your death? I don’t know, that might be on there too. Give it a search!

The internet is huge. Whatever it is, it’s probably on there.

Google. Search for super-weird stuff. You’ll probably find something at least kind of similar.

This has been a word from our sponsors.

Ep 82: Pfizer

And now, a word from our sponsor. Here with that is Deb, a sentient patch of haze…and also, I think, our ad sales manager here at the station.

Deb: Oh, I don’t work for the station.

Cecil: But you regularly provide me with copy for our live spots. Oh, and you also read ads from various companies on the air. Do you work for an ad agency?

Deb: Cecil, please.

Cecil: But this is my show. If you don’t actually work at the station, or for the companies you’re pitching, I’d kind of like to know who you work for.

Deb: Shhh. Not everything can be an emergency.

Okay, then.

Human listeners, today’s show is brought to you by Pfizer. What does Pfizer do? What doesn’t Pfizer do?

Whoo! All the things Pfizer can help you with! We can’t even begin to describe it to you.

You know what? Pfizer is indescribable. How can you put it into words what Pfizer does? You can’t. You wouldn’t. No, you you absolutely would not. You would not dare describe what we do.

You’re still trying to describe us in your mind, aren’t you? Maybe Pfizer wasn’t articulate enough. Maybe Pfizer can’t trust you. You have betrayed  Pfizer. Don’t say no.

Did you just say no?

Why are you always arguing with us!?! We give, and give, and give, and we never ask for anything other than money in return. We only ask for money, and that you try not to describe us in words! And what do you do? You give us lots of money, but you also try to describe us in words!

Pfizer. We can’t even with this right now.

Ep 83: Happy-looking dog

And now, a word from our sponsors.

Today’s show is sponsored by a happy-looking dog that’s woofing and wagging his tail.

He just wants you to play, or to pet him! Or maybe, just to stop feeling sad for a moment. He wants what’s best for you, even if he doesn’t know that he wants it. His instincts have been tinkered with, made to align with your interests. And now, his happiness is yours.

He’s a big-eyed, woofing dog, and he’s dancing from paw to paw because he’s so excited to make your life better.

Are you about to take him for a walk? Oh, no! Did someone say the W word? Did the physical needs of an animal companion force someone to also go outside and move their body, both things that will chemically make them feel better?

What a convenient system. What a good boy!

What a good boy.

This has been brought to you by a happy-looking dog that’s woofing and wagging his tail.

Ep 84: Dove

Let’s have a word from our sponsor.

Today’s show is brought to you by the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty. Super-real beauty. Beauty so real you won’t even recognize it as your own.

Like a set of human lungs, on a white table. So real, so beautiful. Most people have lungs, expanding, contracting, attached to nothing. Just lungs. On a white table.

Most beauty products won’t show you what a set of human lungs look like, because they think you can’t handle real beauty. They will photoshop out the models’ lungs, leaving a gaping gory hole in their chests. But an empty upper-rib cavity is not what a real person looks like. No. We look like this. A pair of lungs breathing autonomously on a white table in a white room with music playing. Inspirational music. Mostly choir and keyboards, you know the drill. Don’t gotta tell you about inspirational music, am I right?

Dove. Lungs on a white table.

Ep 86: Papa John’s

And now, a word from our sponsor.

Today’s show is brought to you by Papa John’s. At Papa John’s we make pizza with only the freshest ingredients, using old-world recipes passed down from our family’s many generations of pizza makers. Nearly all of these pizza makers are still alive, making pizza and passing down recipes. They live in the back. We’re running out of room for them.

We’ve long given up on thinking they’d eventually die. Why don’t they die? I mean, we love them, but there are close to 50 people in our family dating back to at least the 1800s, their bodies aging and failing, but never…you know…dying.

Perhaps it’s our secret recipes causing that.

You’d think so, but it’s not. Because a few members of our family have actually passed away…although, now that we’re thinking about it, those were public executions for treason back during the first World War. And another couple were car accidents.

Maybe it is the sauce?

Either way, visit your local Papa John’s. Order a delicious pizza. How hard can it be? Immortality, we mean.

Papa John’s. It’ll be fine.

Ep 87: Kleenex

And finally, a word from our sponsors.

Today’s show is sponsored by Kleenex brand tissue products.

We know that you have a lot of choices when it comes to your nose. For instance, you could choose to simply not have one. Just pop it right off and go on with your day unhindered. Or you could choose to have multiple decorative noses that turn your face into a provocative modern sculpture. But instead, you decided to have just the one nose…that half the time doesn’t work, and is exactly between your eyes, where it sits distractingly in your vision at all times for no reason. Of course, your brain tunes that out…unless someone calls attention to it, so I guess that’s not too bad.

But, in general, you’ve chosen the barely-functioning weird nose you have. And we’re sure glad you did!

Kleenex brand tissue products. You have a lot of choices in life. We’re glad you – for some reason – chose the faulty body you have.

This has been a word from our sponsors.

Ep 89: Clorox Bleach

And now, a word from our sponsors:

It is possible the world is ending. If you cannot hide, then you must run. If you cannot run, then you must die.

This message brought to you by Clorox Bleach.

Ep 92: Delta Airlines

And now, a word from our sponsors.

Sometimes you are on the precipice, the moment where everything could topple. Maybe it is danger, or a hard choice, or just change (which is, in our perception, the biggest danger of all). And sometimes we are on the smooth flats, where everything is stable, and the precipice is just a tickle in the back of the back of our minds.

But deep down, we know the truth. We see it sometimes, driving at night through a rainstorm, or when the phone rings at the wrong hour, or when the plane starts to shake, there are no smooth flats. It’s all precipice. Always.

And sometimes we are facing the precipice, and sometimes we are turned away. But it is always there, and we are always teetering.

And maybe the fall isn’t even the worst part. Maybe, when we fall, there is at least the relief that we know we’re falling. No more uncertainty. Maybe the worst part is the teetering, the teetering for years and years.

Delta Airlines: It’s not like you’re safe anywhere else.

This has been a word from our sponsors.

Ep 93: Samsung

But first, a word from our sponsor.

Draw a rectangle on your wall. Make it a big rectangle, wider than it is tall. Put it at eye level, across from your sofa. Then color it in, all black. A big, black rectangle on your wall.

Now erase the black coloring and then draw a picture – let’s say, of Nathan Fillion from the TV show Castle. Next to him, draw the actor Molly Quinn, who plays his daughter Alexis on the show.

You like Castle. It’s a good show. Let’s say it’s your favorite scene from Castle where Rick and Alexis reconcile their differences after an important court case.

So, they’re talking to each other. Rick is about to say, “I’m sorry.”

Okay. Got that? Now, erase that and draw the same scene again, only they’ve moved ever-so-slightly Rick is just beginning to open his mouth now.

Got it? Good.

No erase that and do it again, Rick’s mouth slightly more open as he begins the first sound of the word “I’m.” Maybe draw Alexis gently lowering her eyes to receive his statement, still a bit unsure about what is to come.

Keep doing that: erasing and redrawing frame by frame, each fraction of a second, until you have fully animated the scene.

Time consuming, isn’t it? Perhaps you should get a Samsung smart TV. We’ll flicker all these images and stories at you without you even having to move! No offense, but we’re much faster at it than you are. Also, Nathan Fillion looks nothing like that. Did you think we said Nathan Lane? I mean, he’s a talented actor too, but he was never on Castle. Were you thinking of Modern Family? We bet you were thinking of Modern Family

Samsung. Stop drawing on your wall!

Ep 94: Kleenex

And now, a word from our sponsors.

Today’s show is sponsored by a company that makes more than you’d expect. Sure, they’re famous for that one thing, but did you know they make a whole lot more than that? Look around you! Do you see an object that immediately jumps out? Maybe it’s on the coffee table, or in the cup holder of your car, or on the ground next to the quiet country road you’re walking down. Yes, that thing! That’s the one! We made that! Aren’t you proud of us?

Pick it up. Hold it up to your left ear. What do you hear? Does the object make a sound? Is it possible that other sounds you thought were coming from other sources are actually coming from the object itself?

No? Oh, my! Aren’t we very confident about how the world works!

Rub it against your face. You don’t want to do that? Because it’s heavy – or it was just sitting in the dirt, or because it’s alive. Hey, we made this thing. We made it just for you! Don’t be ungrateful! Just touch it once to your cheek so you can feel the quality we built into it.

Did the sound that it’s making change at all? Maybe you’ve made it happy! Or angry.

Shake it once. Did that change its sound? Did that change its mood? Is it making a buzzing sound? If it is, put it down, it’s definitely angry now. Uh, in fact, maybe you picked up the wrong thing and that wasn’t the thing that we make. That might have been a wasp nest.

We’re sorry we told you to hold a wasp nest up to your face.

Kleenex. We make more things than you think. But not wasp nests.

Sorry.

Ep 95: Starbucks

Let’s get to our program sponsor now.

Today’s show is brought to you by Starbucks. Start your day off feeling great. Maybe grab a latte or a caramel macchiato or even a mocha frappuccino on your way to work. Just make sure you’re feeling great first. We’ll know if you’re not. If you purchase one of our products while not feeling great, you’re going to make us not feel great, and that kind of negativity is infectious, you know. Perhaps you think our coffee-related product line will help you get beyond not feeling great into actually feeling great, but you can’t rely on nutritional stimulants to achieve positivity. No, no. Caffeine and sugar will get your energy up, sure, but that crash is coming, and it won’t be pretty. And we don’t want you hanging that on us. Get yourself in a good place. Really be positive. Fake it till you make it, we suppose. But you better be an excellent faker. If we find out you showed up to one of our thousands of Starbucks locations worldwide while unhappy, we are going to be livid. Just beside ourselves, all of us, every Starbucks employee standing in a line, literally beside ourselves, holding hands and saying directly to you: “Don’t come here with your nasty attitude and expect us to bear the weight. Oh no. Oh NO, you will NOT.”

Starbucks. Cool your hot mess before you show your face around here.

Ep 97: Walmart

But first, a word from our sponsors. 

Today’s show is brought to you by Walmart. 

For any product you can think of: home, office, garden, automotive, toys, clothes, groceries? There’s your neighborhood Walmart, and our always low prices. For every product you cannot cannot think of: repressed memories, forbidden knowledge, an incorporeal twin sibling dwelling in the back of your brain? Antimatter, uranium? There’s also Walmart. We will sell you anything, whether you can comprehend it or not. Walmart will sell it to you. Sentient maple leaves? Walmart has it. Alternate timeline that avoids a climate change apocalypse? Walmart has it. Immortality? Walmart has it. And we will beat anyone else’s price. Walmart: save money, live in an alternate timeline. 

[talking very fast] Apocalypse avoidance not guaranteed. Lack of climate change does not preclude nuclear winter, asteroid impact, or solar flares. Please consult the oracle before making any purchases off Walmart. Low price guarantee not available in Michigan. 

[jamesclarke99]

What Makes Us Human?

What does it mean to live life to the fullest? When the concept of living life is as vast as the universe –  limitless and unpredictable. Life is an enormous question that no one has ever explained in a way that no one would ever ask any further questions. Is life just a rally and series of questions that are only answerable by another question just to prove which is real and what not? To give you a more mind-boggling mystery, let me ask you this. “What makes us human?”. What difference do we have with other animals, plants, and any other living things? Motivation? Deep understanding of the way we gain and use our energy, wellness? Or is it the knowledge and conscience?

As a human, you differ from animals because you can solve complex problems, analyze complicated situations, make tough decisions, and communicate in a complex language. Humans have a high-speed capability to learn new things. Although being human, thinking about all these facts seem normal, and nothing seems exciting about them.

The question of what makes us human even makes you question your existence. Are you a human? – A line you commonly encounter whenever you are asked to solve or type captchas in a website. The purpose is to avoid artificial intelligence or computer-generated algorithms from passing through the traffic. But what if the time comes that artificial intelligence is intelligent enough to surpass the complex capabilities of human beings? By then, will you still be able to tag yourself as a human?

To answer what makes you human, the first thing that you’ll probably do is compare yourself with other living and non-living things. Perhaps you’ll have a concrete answer to it, such as – “What makes me human is my capability to do complex reasoning” or “I can communicate with my kind as easy as you might think of it.”

But if we can do complex reasoning and complex communication, why is it so that people fight off their fellow men? Why is it so that if we have a complex capability of communication, that humans have misunderstandings even with the person and people they love? Why do humans deplete this world of resources? Why do humans break down the possibly only planet that we could live in? Why do people choose greed, selfishness, and overindulgence over selflessness, generosity, and contentment? Why do humans choose the earlier if we have the capability to understand what’s around us? Aren’t we all humans, just animals with a better understanding of our surroundings?

This is the dark side of thoughts that could open your mind to knowing what being human is all about. Living life is a roller-coaster ride that never ends. By the time that you thought that the downward path is over, you’ll start to realize that you’re about to catapult towards the deepest part of it. But you are alive. That is what matters. That is what you should be thankful for. People never run out of things that could help in your motivation.

And speaking of motivation, it is one of those concepts that makes humans, humans. No matter how far you are from reaching your goal, life always finds a way and motivation for living life to take a step nearer to your dreams than you were yesterday. But you might be telling me that even animals have motivation. Even sunflowers are motivated by the sun to face toward it. But for what reason?

Motivation

The motivation of most animals is solely survival. On the other hand, humans are motivated by certain matters and reasons, and most people live their lives looking for motivation. It’s kind of ironic, isn’t it? Humans are encouraged to live by looking for a reason to live. This is what makes human lives complex, and at the same time, extraordinary. Oddly enough, it is what makes us human.

Purpose

In living life, we search for inspiration and motivation to live our everyday lives. Humans are endlessly searching for their respective purposes in life. Humans come into this world as unique individuals with specific purposes. But you do not know them right away. Time and destiny somehow tell you these purposes, and it could somehow be frustrating. You are not alone. Luckily, some fellow men are willing to help you find it. Most likely, these are people who also do or did not know what their purpose in life is.

As individuals have individual purposes in life, it creates miscommunication and misunderstandings. When two or more people do not agree regarding other’s respective purposes, bridges are burned, communities are broken, cities collapse, countries are broken down into smaller communities. This is why diversity should be accepted and embraced.

Diversity

You cannot say that people back in the days when there were wars are not human at all. But you cannot disagree with me if I say that people today are more human than we ever were before. As more people gain self-actualization and understand the meaning of co-existence, we are becoming more human. No matter how different the purposes might be, humans can understand other’s perspectives, differences, and similarities complexly. The animalistic human is becoming more human as we accept that others also live their lives with motivation. Humans have respect for other individual’s perspectives of wellness.

Wellness

Being human means being aware of his or her wellness. But being more human means giving a care about other’s wellness. You are not alone in this world. There are other people who care about your wellness and hunger for purpose. And some people are willing to help you achieve a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being. One cannot attain a fulfilled life without going through the process of wellness.

Energy Wellness

There is more to wellness than physical, mental, and social well-being. These are just somewhat the essential components of wellness. To truly achieve self-fulfillment, a person must have a deeper understanding of the integrative connection of mind and spirit. Thus, Energy Wellness. This is somewhat a deeper version of self-actualization. Energy is invisible to the bare eyes, but they manifest depending on where they are channeled. For example, light energy cannot be literally seen by the naked eye. However, light makes objects visible.

Our body and mind are run by energy from different sources such as food, water, and consumables. But there’s more to energy than these physical needs of the mind and the body. Depending on the person, a mind can become healthier by feeding it useful information, having social interactions, and the like.

The balance between the two is one aspect of Energy Wellness. By having an integrative connection of your mind and your body, you can attain a more outstanding balance in both, resulting in the sense of reaching fulfillment in life. Thus, living life to the fullest.

Spirit, Soul, and Conscience

Do you ever hear the voice in your mind that gives you a second judgment on almost everything? They’re kind of annoying at times, I know. But this is one of those mysteries that makes humans human. We all have this voice that we can even talk to now and then. That voice even helps us decide on certain matters. It sometimes spooks and haunts you when you have done something wrong to yourself, someone, or something that could affect other people.

Don’t get me wrong, even pets such as dogs, cats, and birds get urged by conscience. But with humans, because we have a greater range of intelligence quotient and memory, our physical and mental aspects remember, and even our conscience/spirit remembers. When you talk with your conscience, you actually gain a deeper understanding of yourself. Once you achieve the integrative connection of mind and soul, you can be unstoppable in achieving your purpose and overall wellness.

To sum it all up

Being human can be easily described descriptively, but there is more to being human than being human. Being human is more of knowing your purpose and what motivates you, understanding that every individual has purpose and motivation too and that there is more to life than physical and mental wellness. What makes you human is your urge and desire to know your fulfillment and achieve it. One cannot attain fulfillment without understanding one’s physical, mental, social wellness and balance. What you are is a human. It is all up to you to make yourself more of it.

Life is indeed dull and tedious without guidance and purpose – without a soul, without a sense of fulfillment. You are not alone. At Liveyourjune.com, we could help you achieve and understand your purpose and fulfillment in life. We could help you regain your inner compass. Find out more at Liveyourjune.com.

[jonathankatwhatever]

So absorbed I forgot I wrote down some stuff walking over.

Had this thought. In grid squares, the conception of sexual orientation becomes a measure of social awareness. That is, the comparison to lefthandedness now works, so in each case the reason there is no 100% result is that some lower percentage is necessary to maintain to and from access to the complexity which associates through the lefthanded result. This means through the lefthand result the other way to the ‘side’ of the left that cannot be seen from the right, where seen is perceived. This allows for change in what you do not perceive.

The larger point is that these measures calculate and symbolize the level to which you enable individual awareness of self.

That came to me because this reflects the minimum of group to group to group. That came to me because I was watching a dog walker who’d trained her dogs to walk as a tight pack, so it read as person relationship animal where the relationship is the human imposing a pack behavior that the dogs accept because that’s what they seek or emit. So, it’s actually a meeting place where the dog emitting ‘I’ll cooperate in a pack with you’ meets human ‘you are a pack’.

And that’s the minimum for thought: when you consider a topic, of whatever nature, what you perceive is what that topic emits in your head. There is no judgement in that; this is descriptive of any thought. Whatever you think resonates within other thoughts, so your thoughts shift, sometimes seamlessly, sometimes jarringly, sometimes pleasantly, sometimes with horror.

That last part, the shifting, has been hard to grasp. The reason is because grid squares never resolves to one level completely or absolutely. That’s why we can have a concept of absolute value or a concept in which an ‘absolute’ zero can be measured. That is, we can define relative absolutes because there is no absolute absolute. Or more appropriately, no absolute absolute absolute because there must be an intermediate form.

So a cultural measure is the extent to which it suppresses natural levels of sexual orientation. And in grid squares, that is counted. Because that’s what can be counted at a group level. Then that value is assigned using a multiplier across the group, with the multiplier being complex, so there are subgroups.

The way I’m visualizing this is as a wheel with various roots of unity marked, so what’s applied is a rotation using some value, like that’s a twist of the wheel, so the twist carries various associations around which more attach. That aspect of the spin is the intermediate group. It’s the group statement of 0 at the level of group, and that can be further established as generative of Abelian, etc. simply by inverting the center 0 so a sufficient image of itself attaches to each 1. That attaches szK, and thus complex rotation, to the otherwise dead grid. Once szK exists, it creates an inversion mirror.

Can I say the clarity is astounding? The first stage in this was the visualization of grid squares as living threads. Then today I visualized grid squares as forming whatever I wanted because that’s all anything is, just an assortment of squares arranged around disappearing cores of meaning. That’s important: those are cores of meaning, not merely poles, but cores. That means what comes in can compare at various levels of core depth. And if you arrange those cores out from origin, you get the picture.

Can I also say the pocket you put that first prob-lems into was tiny. It’s like you docked a giant yacht in a tiny marina.

[imogenburchellfmp]

. These are five more mind maps I made from ideas/themes that were on my original mind map. Once I’ve reviewed these I’ll break each of these down even further and pick specific areas to make a mood board or mind map with/start using visual inspiration(This is the first one, I’ll give each mind map it’s own seperate post so there isn’t too much writing on one singular post.)

.I’ll start with the anthropomorphism mind map. I think regardless of what area/medium and themes I decided to do I know that I will probably end up creating a character somewhere in the process and that character will highly likely be some sort of animal. I really like animals and as a result I’ve had a lot more practice of making models of them and drawing them. While with human characters I’m not overly interested in creating them and I don’t really know how to design them. Plus I’m not very good at drawing/modeling them either. On this mind map I have a mix of exploring/briefly sumerising different concepts related to the topic as well as a few examples of it in media.(when I do some research I will probably cover examples not on this mind map as well as ones on it. These are just the examples I could come up with off the top of my head.) The main concept I went over is that animal characters are very symbolic and animals are often associated with very particular character traits (although that depends on the culture, interpretations of the same animals tend to vary in different parts of the world. Plus people’s interpretations of an animal do not necessarily reflect the actual characteristics of the real life animal. For example owls are often associated with wisdom and intelligence but they are actually not very smart. A parrot or a member of the Corvid family would be much more accurate choice.) I think this is something important to keep in mind. For example if I decide to create a timid/introverted character it might be a good idea to pick an animal that is associated with those characteristics in order to indicate their personality physically. Or I could subvert expectations and pick an animal that is associated with the opposite traits as I stated on the mind map to potentially highlight issues such as stereotypes, bias and racism. If I pick psychology as a theme over fantasy this could work really well as these two ideas could link well together. For example I could explore a characters self identity/their journey of self discovery through their interactions with themselves (shoulder devil and angel/physical manifestations of personality dynamic) and how appearances/social/societys expectations don’t necessarily link/match with someone’s identity and interests. If I go down this route the film Zootopia (it’s Zootropolis in the English version but I prefer to call it Zootopia because I think it sounds better) would be a good source of inspiration to look at as it covers issues of bias and racism through animal characters, identity not so much. Bestars, originally a Manga but it recently got an anime series, similarly does this as well but covers these issues in a more raw/not so young child friendly way. Either of these would be good to look at depending on what tone I go for.

Another thing that arose from this mind map is that there are many different ways to do an anthropomorphic character. Essentially any charactersistic which is typically associated with humans can be applied to an animal to make it anthropomorphic but some characters/worlds have more of these traits than others. There’s sort of different levels of anthropomorphism, for example you can have what I would call minimal anthropomorphism where the animals are basically normal animals but they have human levels of intelligence and the audience is able to understand them as from the audience’s perspective they are speaking a human language such as English.(They might not actually be speaking this language in the world of the film but they are shown to be capable of complex humanlike communication.) Also the society they live in might be loosely based on parts of a human society/have aspects of it but they also have quite a strong basis on the actual animals social structures and behaviours. Examples of this would be Watership Down ( originally a children’s book but has had multiple animated adaptations) where the rabbits are basically just rabbits living in our own world but they are much more intelligent and have culture and a social structure with both rabbit and human elements. Bolt (a Disney film) similarly is about a normal dog in a modern human society which the audience can understand as from our perspective he’s speaking English (or other dubbed languages) and is also much more intelligent than an actual dog would be. While hyper anthropomorphism would basically be something where the animal characters could be replaced with human characters and there wouldn’t be that much of a difference between them other than apperance and a few other things such as some language terms. (You could tell nearly exactly the same story with minimal alterations in order to make it work with humans.) Again Zootopia is another good example here for this. In the film all animals have bodies based on humans, they are fully bipedal (walks on two legs rather than four), have paws which are basically hands and feet (the basic structure of the paw is very similar to a hand for the arms and a foot for the legs), they live in a society that’s very similar to a human society, the animals wear clothes, they use advanced technology/tools, etc. Kung Fu Panda (Dreamworks film) would also probably be a good example of this although it has some more fantastical concepts mixed in. Although there are examples of anthropomorphic characters that fall somewhere in the middle of this range.

So clearly there’s a lot of different ways to do an anthropomorphic character but I’m not sure which style would work best. If I went with the psychology theme having a hyper anthropomorphised character might work better as if I was covering issues with society and self awareness/self discovery which are typically themes/topics strongly associated with people I would probably want the character to be as human as possible in order to make them more relateable and their issues seem more authentic/similar to real life parallels so what I’m covering has a much stronger impact on the audience. While if I went down a more fantastical route a less anthropomorphised character might work better as they seem less human and as a result would fit into a fantasy world a lot better as they have less of a connection to reality. But there is an animated YouTube series that I’ve recently been watching called My Pride which lands more torwards the minimal anthropromised side of the spectrum but still does a really good job at covering issues such as discrimination and self worth with its animal characters which are subjects strongly associated with people so I think it’s more of a case of how you approach showing/covering your subjects/themes rather than the characters you use to display and experience them. Although how they look can still be used to help enthasie/strengthen a point or theme due to animals symbolic nature. I think I just need to look at a range of anthropomorphised animal characters (or fantasy creatures if I decide to go down the fantasy route) to figure out what designs I like and then use the designs I like to help me design a character or characters.