#also there are layers to this ice berg

[localfanbaselurker]

Watching Voltron:Legendary Defender for the First Time and Recording my Thoughts

S1-2 | S3 | S4 | S5 | you are here! | S7 | S8

<this debrief/review is pretty rant heavy because of how the season personally impacted me, but fret not! i (hopefully) made it to be still enjoyable/fun to read! just a heads up tho!!>

You get to see the “Pre” thoughts before the read more this time! As a treat <3

Pre-S6 Thoughts

->for the most part I think I understand what’s going on with shiro, but I want to really make sure. jussssst in case.

->they gave lance a big focus in season five so hopefully “we” get to see what that’s culminating to. Super excited about that!

->I don’t fw Lotor all that much despite him being the blorbo by proxy (oomf’s fav) but hopefully this season can change that. I’m just beginning to like him (beginning!) and it’s a 400k slowburn melting an ice berg of hate at that. but it’s getting there. soon they’ll hold hands.

->despite my personal enjoyment of allurance, I would be okay with lotura if Lotor got fully redeemed (in the show and in my heart)

-> PLEASE MAKE KEITH COME BACK!! AND WITH HIS MOM!! I’M BEGGING.

->I’ve noticed a sort of pattern where the characters get a specific episode(s) dedicated to them each season (shiro s1, keith s2, keith+allura s3, pidge s4, and lance s5) So hopefully hunk gets his focus episode this season

->I NEED to see what happened after keith found out about krolia

->hopefully more haggar/honerva lore, maybe even lotor lore to redeem him using Tragic Backstory™ points

Post-Season Six

-> what the actual frick.

-> what WAS this season bro.

-> This season had me getting punched,kicked and tortured left and right and up and down and everywhere. the plot twists and dramatic turns and cries and gasps just kept coming

-> this season left me like lance at the climax of a langst fanfic (yk like right b4 they save him and he’s all fucked over)

-> there are lots of things i liked and also SO MUCH i didn’t like this season

-> so pros and cons basically that’s it that’s the “review”

->WE GOT HUNK APPRECIATION!!! HE GOT TO BE THE ENGINEER AND BE SUPER HELPFUL AND ACTUALLY USE ONE OF HIS SKILLS ABDUWBDJSN IM SO HAPPY FOR MY BOY. MY SON. AAAAHHH.

->^LITERALLY LOOK AT HIM!!! HE GOT SOLID CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT TOO!! He reacted much calmer than his s1/2 self would have in a far less stressful situation!!! He grew up!!! HE GREW UPPPP!!

->^He looks like he’s itching to make a gay joke

->why did lance “die” in the first ep?? It was so random and literally served no purpose?? like it was never talked about in the other episodes and was literally just randomly put in the episode’s run time. it had nothing to do with the shield or whatever was going on with Shiro or lotor either

->does it get talked about in the next seasons or?? like it was literally just a throwaway scene

->KEITH AND HIS MOM!!! THEYRE BONDING!!! KEITH MAKES GOOD RELATIONSHIPS!!!!

->the whole “two years” thing is a little difficult to comprehend on all of its layers but I like to think of it positively because that means Keith and krolia got to spend time building upon their relationship and everything that krolia missed, more than just those flashbacks were “memory shared” between them, and keith resolved some of his internal conflicts.

->however it is probably going to make Keith be even more distant with the team because in his mind two years passed while in theirs only like 2-3 months passed from seeing him in person (if you don’t count 5x04 but they barely saw him there) so the relationships that he was building with them have fallen back a little on his part but the others still feel super close to him, so I hope that also gets resolved in s7

-> LANCE IS CUBAN!!! I got super excited you guys don’t understand. maybe you do considering the notes on my post where I said that. But still. I actually squealed so loud when he said it.

-> The mock DnD episode was super fun!! the calm before the storm though I guess

->i looooved the fact that keith came back to the team but that episode pissed me off SOOOOO FREAKING BAD BRO.

->^“we need to attack Lotor when he comes back” OMFGGGGGG NOOOOOOOO THATS literally so STUPID. make a PLAN first you freaking IDIOTS.

->^Literally if they had just played it cool when lotura came back and then told Allura about everything privately THEN stage an intervention/interrogation with Lotor like in Season 5, NONE OF THAT WOULD’VE HAPPENED.

->^but nooooooo we have to be STUPID and ATTACK IMMEDIATELY because PLOT REASONS. istg. don’t get me started this isn’t even the beginning of that rant. I just… *long suffering sigh*

->^and the way they immediately took the altean girl’s word and turned on Lotor? Y’all some fake ass bitches fr didn’t even let the man defend himself. it could’ve been a misunderstanding but okay. damn.

->^WHY ARE YOU INCRIMINATING YOURSELF BRO. OH MY GODDDDDD. every time i told myself that this episode couldn’t get any worse,, it. got. FUCKING. WORSE.

->^low key get the altean girl’s frustration tho because that shit was traumatizing. literally my live reaction right there

-> the only good things that happened that episode were lance calling keith hot and the team meeting krolia. maybe the lotura kiss. (I would’ve enjoyed it more if it wasn’t for the knowledge that they were straight up gonna beat Lotor’s ass when they got inside the castle)

->I guess I have to suffer for the absolute SQUEAL I gave when Kieth went up to the black lion and said “FORM VOLTRON” making them do the thing where they’re divided into 5 frames like a comic

->^that bitch ass clone better be ready to catch these hands. you do NOT say that to my boy.

->I got so excited when keith went all galra! ultimately yeah he did it because he was incredibly stressed but still it was super cool!

-> I was actually a little sad that Lotor didn’t get a real redemption. Like yeah I saw it from a mile away by the way he talked about quintessence and overall attitude but idk,, like him and allura actually seemed in love. even if he was just doing it for the quintessence you could tell he actually ended up genuinely falling in love with her. maybe it’s just me, but i think it would’ve been nice.

-> maybe keith and him could’ve bonded about being half-galra, and keith would finally get some solidarity with someone who knows exactly how he feels? idk it’s just a lot of missed opportunity there.

-> and then they just…kill him off…wow. that was a lot to take in. I had to actually take a moment. I mean it wasn’t even his fault, really. the quintessence got to him just like his parents. it’s actually super tragic now that I think about it. reminds me of family jewels by MARINA.

->I will say though that final battle was absolutely amazing. Beautifully animated and the action was great. I loved getting to see all the lions powers in the quintessence field. And the flaming sword?? that was literally awesome.

-> my hopes of allurance died but i think this is actually a really good step, Allura still felt bad for lotor when she didn’t wanna leave him in the quintessence field because she still loved him and after the conversation she had with the mice it was obvious she doesn’t (and won’t) like lance back, (she could’ve began to in s4/5) and lance seems to accept this as well, (seeing how he handles it when allura confides in him) which would be good for their relationship. so im happy about that 😊

->ngl if they ended it here it could’ve been pretty good, solid ending. Like, leave the rest up to interpretation sort of thing. (Yes I know there are some strings to be tied yet but yk what I mean) The ending was really satisfactory and if they just fixed a couple plot holes it would’ve been the perfect way to end the show tbh. Idk tho I still need to watch the last two seasons so I’ll see if I still keep my opinion then

->lance’s s5 focus didn’t really culminate to all that much, but he got to be taken seriously when he cried about shiro, so there’s that.

-> the clone!shiro vs keith fight was literally beautiful too omg. The emotions were perfectly captured and the flashbacks were just so perfectly timed it was incredible. the way you could just feel exactly everything keith felt as he fought what looked identical to the man who practically raised him was just. wow.

->^literally gorgeous. look at that, man. beautiful.

-> Don’t get me started on “you’re my brother, I love you” because I will start crying immediately

-> So. yeah. This season was a mess. I laughed. I cried (a lot) I got super pissed in the middle. But it was really super enjoyable otherwise. Bittersweet, really.

-> Hopefully Season Seven doesn’t disappoint! I really hope there’s more Keith+Shiro lore. Just. In general all their family lore.

These are thoughts I’ve been compiling for a while. I will continue to post my thoughts on the tag “Laura’s first VLD”

Please Remember that I am just a person with a life and responsibilities and try to be patient about updates.

Thank you 💞

[saints-who-never-existed]

Rereading The Terror

Oh gang... oh gang you're not going to like this one...! :((( Big spoiler at the end so I'll put it all under the cut just in case.

Chapter Forty-Seven: Peglar

As they strike camp and begin to haul the boats out onto the ice toward the new leads, Peglar reflects on the near-mutiny - he heard all about it from Bridgens of course who saw the whole thing first-hand from the medical tent where he'd been assisting Goodsir. Peglar always thought of Hickey, Manson, Aylmore et al as treacherous shits and so he's more surprised and offended to find out about the previously loyal men who also took part - his Erebus counterpart Robert SInclair, for instance, and Reuben Male who he describes as "a dependable man, but strong-willed. Very strong-willed."

Hauling across the ice again is hard-going, not just because of all the peaks and troughs to negotiate but also because it's getting thinner. Private Daly, scouting ahead to test said thickness, falls straight though into the water at one point - Goodsir has him stripped naked then and there on the ice, bundled up with two other men in layers of blankets and sleeping bags and even then he only just survives.

Peglar is worried of course, and the thought of open water makes his heart flutter which in turn has him reflecting on a childhood including scarlet fever and chronic chest pains. He's been so crippled with his throughout his life that he's often had to climb the rigging one-handed due to the shooting pains in his left arm - "The other foretopmen thought he was showing off."

As they progress further, Crozier places a boat hauled by Lieutenant Hodgson, Hickey, Manson, and Aylmore among others, at the head of the procession and in the position of greatest risk. Every man there knows it's a punishment and Peglar hasn't much sympathy at all: "Peglar thought that young Hodgson looked as if he might weep. He knew how hard it must be to be in your twenties and know that your Naval career was over. Serves him right thought Peglar. He'd spent decades in a navy that hanged men for mutiny and lashed them for the mere thought of mutiny, and Harry Peglar had never disagreed with either the rule or the punishment."

Once they final reach the open water proper, Crozier assigns Peglar to the boat that will be lowered into it to scout the lead out fully. Lieutenant Little will lead the men, along with Ice Master Reid and a select group of seamen including William Wentzell, Alexander Berry, and Henry Sait. Crozier expresses trust in Peglar specifically, and clearly values his input on the viability of the lead - "I need a good man on the sweep oar and a third assessment as to whether this lead is a go."

Once in the water, their journey is relatively uneventful. The lead narrows at several points and is blocked at others but every time they manage to find a way past until finally, they emerge into a massive lake of clear blue water in the middle of the ice with several huge flat bergs floating in it. "We could camp on 'aton and have plenty of room left over," said Henry Sait, one of the Terror seamen at the oars. "We don't want to camp," said Lieutenant Little from the bow. "We've had enough camping for a fucking lifetime. We want to go home."

They literally start to sing with happiness as they row their way out into the lake but soon enough that joy fades as they find no way out of it except the way they came in. Little even boosts Berry up onto Wentzell's shoulders to scout all round with a telescope but the ice is thick and impenetrable. Dejected, they make their way back to their entry point, which they marked with a pike.

But something is wrong... It's Peglar who notices it - a big ice boulder right next to that way-marking pike that wasn't there before... Little understands what that means straight away, orders the men to row backwards away from it, but it's already far too late. Then comes one of the simplest but best and most utterly chilling lines in this whole godforsaken book - "The ice boulder turned."

[leclerced]

Also☝️ I discovered icebergs(?). I mean I think it’s generally called like that. Yk when you have layers and like it goes deeper and deeper into the topic. And I’m watching such a good one on the most controversial F1 races. Now I want more

i tried posting this twice alr and it wouldnt let me.. but i love iceberg videos i watch sm of them. partially got into f1 bc i found a 3 pt iceberg series and just kept watching and being like.. woah wtf? this is crazy i have to get into this. idk if u want recs for them but i got em. this is like a special interest of mine.

i love video games so i find myself watching lore ice bergs for a lot of games i like - the elder scrolls and fallout series are rly good for this. so are the witcher and hitman.

history and science ones are also rly fun! this is a good one on weird experiments. cool one on paradoxes. space!!! didnt finish this one on ww1 but i liked the first half, and heres a ww2 one that i also haven’t finished.

usually when im watching i listen for cool stuff and then google it and go down rabbit holes ab them.

[supernovaa-remnant]

Re: my last post, I'm talking about Europa anyway <33

It's just so so cool. It's one of the few currently geologically active worlds in our solar system (I'm using world to count planets, satellites, and asteroids btw), with the others being Earth, Venus, Io, Titan, and Enceladus. They're all also incredibly interesting worlds, so feel free to ask about them.

But, Europa. Unlike Earth, Europa isn't powered via radiactive decay, but, rather, via the tidal forces from Jupiter and from being in resonance with Io (which is the most geologically active world in our solar system, btw).

So, Europa has a density of ~ 3 grams per centimeter cubed. Which means it's actually mostly rock. However, in the outer solar system past the snow line, water ice is the most common building block, so Europa's surface is entirely water ice. All of the rock is at Europa's core. All of the terrestrial worlds in the outer solar system (with the exception of Io), not only have water ice, but also have liquid water. However, this liquid water is far far beneath the surface, instead creating a sub-surface ocean.

So, why is Europa special? Europa's liquid water ocean is actually pretty close to the surface.

Here's a picture of Europa. (Also, please note that pretty much all pictures you'll see of other planets have have had the contrast increased)

Do you see those big lines of fractures along the surface? Those are because of the tidal forces from Jupiter. Basically, what happens is that the actual shape of Europa is being changed as it orbits Jupiter (and this is seen far more with Io, but it still affects Europa). So at certain points in its orbit, it's more oval than spherical and vice versa. (The same thing happens with the Earth's oceans as the moon orbits us, but the affects it has on the satellites in the outer world is a bit different due to a) having other satellites in resonance, and, b) the difference in size and mass between Jupiter and its satellites).

So, as Europa is orbiting Jupiter, these fractures are sometimes pulled apart. When that happens, the liquid water ocean underneath becomes exposed to the vacuum of space (because Europa doesn't have an atmosphere), so very very quickly a new layer of ice is formed. When the fractures close again at different points of Europa's orbit, that ice is pushed up and creates kinda ice-berg like mounds I'd say?

Anyway, it's one of the reasons we know Europa's ocean is pretty close to the surface.

But!! But. The most exciting thing is the fact that, due to the tidal forces from Jupiter, there's heat/energy sources in the ocean. Why is this important?

Because every single place on Earth where there is liquid water and a heat/energy source, there is life. Because this means that Europa is the most likely extra-terrestrial place in our solar system to have life.

And astrobiologists love Europa because of this.

[supermaks]

have you seen max’s recent interview about daniel’s career and how he never should’ve left red bull and should’ve talked more with the team before just walking away… he says more and the tone is very interesting. your take on their relationship is so right!! … when you said that daniel leaving rbr was the last time someone left max on a curb and drove away and now he maintains a comfortable distance bc it hurt so bad!!! yeah!! #confirmed!!

Yuh I just rb it it’s crazy how like it’s been 4 years but the way max talks about it’s like it just happened. It doesn’t come across as finished business at all. I’ll be unhinged again 😭so Max is kind of an emotional ice berg right. Like from the surface it doesn’t look like much but then u take a peek down bellow and ur like 😐 ok so this IS a big deal to you. So you WERE hurt. And with Danny ric there’s the added layer of his own role in what happened. Not just that Daniel left him but also Daniel left because of him. Imagine being 20 and finding somebody who makes racing fun and not just something to be the best at but also something to enjoy and that person then chooses to leave you. A lot of the rationale that max applies in that interview ((u gotta choose between success and comfort)) could be said about their relationship. Because yk max would’ve gone to the wire for them. I’m not even talking about anything romantic, I’m talking about what they had as teammates. Max would’ve seen that shit thru because to him that was worth more than comfort. But Daniel didn’t. And I think that’s what he resents the most. It’s not as much u could’ve worked things out with the team as much as it is u could’ve worked things out with. Me

[captainmartinisblog]

Day 4 at Sea & Another Diversion!

Wednesday 19th June 2024 – The Labrador Sea.

I love sea days but the trouble is that the gentle rocking (or rolling) tends to be very soporific. Admittedly, I’m a slow reader but the day before yesterday, I read 3 pages of my new book and fell asleep. Yesterday, I managed a couple of chapters (short ones!) and fell asleep again. At this rate, it’s going to take 3 months to finish it!

Yesterday evening, we saw whales; no photos I’m afraid – too far away and not on the surface long enough but a lovely sight.

Dinner was ‘casual’ last night ie. in the World Cafe where the Seafood selection is second to none!

I also couldn’t resist the beautifully rare Mustard glazed Roast Beef, with a jacket potato and all the usual condiments. I didn’t take a photo of the Rhubarb crumble because it was actually cold and in a tiny pot; no custard either but it was nice just the same.

The show last night was the second outing for special guest performer Mark Hussey, an accomplished British classical and flamenco guitarist. Nice sense of humour too.

With another hour back on the clocks and a decent night’s sleep, we’re now 3 hours behind UK time.

This morning though, Jacques and Aloysius were on ice-berg watch as we passed by more ice-bergs – quite large but before poor Johnny at home has kittens again, quite a long way off!

Zoom lenses are an amazing invention, don’t you think? Can you see the sea bird just below centre in this next photo?

Interesting Fact: Did you know that ice-bergs generally float on their side, rather than upright? Well you do now! This is why their striations or layers often appear at an angle.

However, there was more bad news to come in Captain Olav’s noon announcement (by the way, Andrew has pointed out that it is ‘Olav’ and not ‘Olaf’).

Apparently, heavy rain and gale-force winds are predicted at L’Anse aux Meadows tomorrow and since it was to have been another tendering stop, we shall not now be going there! Instead, arrangements are being made for us to make a call at Sydney, no, not in Australia but on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. But that’s not till Friday, so it’s going to be another (cold) day at sea tomorrow – that makes 5 since we left Isafjordur, Iceland!

Missing Newfoundland altogether is bit of a bummer, especially on top of missing both Greenland stops, but we visited Sydney on Celebrity Summit in 2012 and there’s not much there of interest!

In today’s programme, the event was described as ‘The Great Cakes’ poolside but to be honest, after some of the elaborate displays we’ve seen over the years, it really wasn’t much to write home about.

But as Marie Antoinette is reputed to have said, “Let them eat cake!”

[sf-images]

What Happened To the Icebergs?

Third in a five-part series

As I said earlier, our primary reason for visiting Newfoundland was to photograph icebergs. So what’s so great about icebergs, you might ask? Well, foremost, they are pretty dramatic to look at. Although you can only see about ten percent of their mass (i.e., the “tip of the iceberg”), some can rise fifty feet above the surface. They move about ten miles a day on average, depending on their exact location among the ocean currents, tides, and winds. Furthermore, as they melt, their centre of gravity can change, resulting in a no-warning rollover (that is why boats maintain a wide perimeter). At other times, they collapse into a bunch of ice chunks. Speaking of which, people harvest those ice chunks and sell them to restaurants for drinks. They make great ice cubes because the ice is ten to fifteen thousand years old, long before humans learned how to pollute the waters and atmosphere.

You might wonder why icebergs are blue instead of white. According to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, One reason snow is so reflective is because there is so much air trapped between the snowflakes. Air bubbles scatter all wavelengths of light, making the snow appear bright white. The same is true of newly formed ice, which also traps air bubbles. But over long periods of time, glacier ice is buried under new layers of ice and snow. These heavy layers press the air out of the deeper layers of ice. This not only removes much of the air, it also causes the ice to form large, dense crystals. When light hits these crystals, they absorb long wavelengths of light. At the same time, they scatter short-waved blue light, which makes the ice appear blue. We can only see that blue colour when we see the deeper layers of ice. This happens along the leading edge of the glacier, where the ice is calving, or breaking apart.

So why did we not see icebergs? Well, there were many out there, as you can see in the May 15 Iceberg Analysis diagram, below. Climate change is affecting Newfoundland and Labrador over the long run as warmer ocean temperatures reduce both sea ice, and larger icebergs from making their way further south. This, despite the fact that there is more ice calving off the glaciers as the atmosphere warms. But, then there is the short-term effect of El Niño that has added to the effect of climate change this year. Lastly, northerly winds tended to push the bergs farther offshore during our stay, and the rougher waters prevented the tour boats from venturing very far out.

This is the dilemma that environmental photographers face—nature does not always present the conditions that we are most interested in. Still, the trip was well worth it.

If you have any iceberg photos and would like to share them (duly credited), let me know.

Coming next: Newfoundland’s land- and waterscapes

[dsandrvk]

Monday, February 19 - Winter Island and Petermann Island

Today we finally experienced the Antarctic weather we had expected all week. It started cloudy and gloomy, then turned snowy and windy. But it was still a wonderful day.

We began at the furthest south point of our trip - the Argentinian Islands, which are a group of relatively flat islands separated by narrow passages often clogged with ice. We were able to take a Zodiac tour all around Winter Island because by this time of year the route is mostly clear. We began by the Vernadsky station which is the only one in Antarctica run by Ukraine. It was originally a British station and was the place where the infamous ozone hole was first discovered and subsequently monitored.

Around the time of the breakup of the Soviet Union, the Brits wanted to close this base, but current rules here do not allow someone to simply abandon a base - it has to be dismantled and removed, which can be prohibitively expensive. The Argentinians, who have the largest number of bases in this area, keep them open by using them for a few weeks every other year or so, and doing some regular maintenance like painting. So the Brits sold "Faraday" to Ukraine for one pound, it was renamed Vernadsky, and everyone won. The main change since is that Ukraine added a sauna.

We were also surprised to see a sailboat moored nearby. It seems that private boats can come to Antarctica if they are equipped for it and have the necessary paperwork. This boat was a long way from its home harbor of Antiqua.

There was an amazing amount of color in this area with red and green algae staining the snow, lichens in orange and black streaking the rocks, and mosses and a few grasses enjoying the brief Antarctic summer. Add to this the deep blue of the older ice on the bergs, and it's obvious this is more than a black and white world. And instead of mountains in this area, there were colorful cliffs of layers of snow. Breathtaking.

We saw a few penguins on one island, but there were lots of nesting Kelp Gulls here, along with terns and several fur seals. But the stars were the ice bergs and bergy bits - every one different and corrugated in different ways

During lunch we moved slightly north to our last landing, Petermann Island. Here there was a small natural narrow harbor for the Zodiacs and we disembarked onto rocks rather than a rocky or sandy shore. This harbor was used in 1909 by one of the first explorations to overwinter in this area (on purpose), and the team put a chain across the entrance to the harbor to try to keep the bergs out. It must have worked, since their ship wasn't destroyed. Today there is just a small historic emergency hut. Our paths were slushy and rutted, sometimes with a foot of slushy water on top of granular snow, but our Bogg boots were dry and best of all, warm. They are also relatively easy to clean and sanitize, a necessity in these times of Avian flu and other diseases

The island is home to breeding colonies of both Gentoo and Adelie penguins - a rarity. The Adelies were pretty much gone, except for a handful of juveniles hanging out with Antarctic Shags, and one adult bird. The Gentoos had bred later, and there were still lots of chicks of all sizes, as well as some moulting adults. Some were "swimming" across the snow, which on steep slopes looks more practical than waddling.

By now the wind had really picked up and snow was pelting everything - even the chicks with their heavy down coats were huddling together. Of course they don't have their waterproof and windproof feathers yet, so what good is insulation without a good shell over it! Towards the end of our stay on the island, while we were waiting for Zodiacs to unload so they had room to take us back, a Skua came down towards a group of chicks who immediately formed a tight "creche" - safety in numbers. There was a lot of squawking and beak pointing, and eventually the Skua gave up, probably to try again later.

The expedition team was motivated to get people on and off the island as efficiently as possible, especially since some folks passed on this last opportunity, mostly because of the weather. As soon as everyone was back on board and the Zodiacs loaded, we headed first west and then north towards the Drake Passage.

Despite the weather, we had a little end of the season celebration on the large back deck to enumerate all the polar plunges, landings, submarine rides, etc. from this season on the Venture. It was quite a list. The last picture is of our Cruise Director, Captain, and Expedition Leader, all of whom were outstanding. We have been so fortunate to have been able to get in two activities every day, and also a bonus landing the first afternoon because of our quick trip down here to avoid high seas. We have seen and experienced so much, and it is truly overwhelmingly beautiful and otherworldly here.

We have a couple of days to decompress, sleep in and try to sort out our memories. About 100 of us on the ship are continuing on, so for all of us, the adventure will continue.

[lindsaystravelblogs1]

Day 10, Sunday, 25 December

Happy Christmas everyone.  I hope Santa rewarded you all appropriately – or better! Alas, I must have been a naughty because Santa didn’t leave me anything.  Maybe his reindeer just don’t like the cold in the ‘land of ice and snow’, or Santa may have decided that it was just too far to drive for the small number of people down here.

Christmas Day and we are surrounded by ice and snow. There are lots of icebergs of varying sizes outside as well as large areas of brash.  Most of the mountains are black on top but otherwise smothered in deep layers of snow.

I woke in the night with a raging headache and a raw sore throat.  My throat was swollen and I could hardly breath, much less swallow.  I was very thirsty but could hardly get a mouthful of water down my throat was so sore.  Fortunately, I was a little better in the morning, but still suffering with a severe cold or flu.  Heather has been carrying a bug for a couple of weeks and has rarely been feeling quite well, and it seems like I have succumbed with a vengeance.

There was supposed to be a landing at Brown Bluff during the morning despite conditions being marginal but we both decided that resting up and trying to recover was the wisest strategy so stayed on board rather than brave the elements for doubtful benefit and the risk of worsening our respective conditions.  As it turned out, conditions deteriorated, and no landing was possible due to wind and sea-chop, so the ship just cruised along with spectacular mountains and snowscapes right outside our window.  Despite the heavy overcast, the scenery down here is quite phenomenal. We have seen huge icebergs carved into the most amazing intricate shapes as well as gigantic tabular bergs. Towering black or dark brown mountains have stood silent as we have passed and thousands of square kilometres of blazing snow have dazzled our eyes.  Sometimes the sea is choppy, sometimes rough, occasionally quite calm, but always moving and carrying brash, growlers, bergybits and huge icebergs along in front of us.  Sometimes it is quite eerie with a strange quality of light and there is almost always a moody feel about it.  It is exciting and awesome at the same time.  It made me want to stay snug and warm inside, rather than out there experiencing the somewhat alien environment.

The landing planned for the afternoon was also aborted due to extreme weather.  I participated in a couple of citizen science projects.  One was a cloud survey and had to be done outside on the deck.  I rugged myself up in almost all the clothes I had so I could keep warm, but simply standing in the wind was pretty scary.  I reckon if people weren’t careful, there was a risk that someone could have been blown overboard.  We were cruising in the Weddell Sea where very few people have been before because it is normally impassable due to permanent pack-ice. For some reason, this part of the Weddell is almost completely ice-free at the moment – lots of big bergs, bergybits and growlers as well as areas of brash, but completely navigable – almost uniquely so, at least at this time of the year.  A number of ships have been trapped and crushed here, including Shackleton’s, so it is something of a Christmas present to be able to explore this amazing area.  The mountains and snow are as majestic as elsewhere (but perhaps more brutal and rocky) and there are dozens of glaciers dotted all along the shore for many kilometres.

A few people have complained that we never got to see some of the promised sites in the South Shetlands and along the eastern peninsula, but in my view, cruising the Weddell Sea is a big bonus because very few people ever get to go there due to almost constant ice cover.  This year seems a bit of a freak so enjoy it while you can.  (And we did visit Elephant Island in the South Shetlands a week or so later.)

After the Cloud Survey, a few of us participated in an eBird Survey, one of the extremely rare surveys that have ever been possible in this area.  Although the entire area looks inhospitable and lifeless, we found quite a few birds – maybe close to 30 in 45 minutes – Adelie Penguins, Skuas, Antarctic Terns and Kelp Gulls.  I was very focused on the task and probably found at least half of what we saw – before I bumped into a waiter and knocked his tray flying.  Only one cup, but I suspect it was a special drink made to order for someone.  Several staff helped him clean up the mess – and several other spills on other days - and seems that he forgave me before the end of the expedition.

They decided to attempt another brief landing at a place called The Naze but we decided not to go out.  Heather damaged a rib getting out of the water after the polar plunge yesterday, possibly cracking it, and she is in a fair bit of pain most of the time and my cold or flu is inhibiting me a bit too – certainly discouraging me from doing anything that could exacerbate it.

The landing was a pretty easy one and those who went out obviously enjoyed it despite lots of complaints about the bitter cold.  The zodiacs had to cross a few hundred metres of open choppy water to get people back to the ship and even from our cabin, we could see the waves splashing right over the zodiacs and everyone in them.  We were glad we decided not to ‘take the plunge’ as it were.

We had a cocktail and there was a very short Precap and then it was Christmas dinner.  We had fancy serviettes and Christmas crackers with funny hats and unfunny jokes but a nice meal with all the trimmings.  Santa arrived while we were eating and did the rounds of all the tables except ours – maybe he realised that we had been naughty during the year.  I am not sure who on the crew was Santa but he had a pillow stuffed up his costume to make him look a bit more jolly.  Unfortunately, it was not secured well and he had to keep hitching it up and repositioning it or he would have had very fat knees.  Interestingly, two passengers had their birthdays on the Christmas Day and everyone had to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ twice.

It had been a very unusual Christmas for us but a very enjoyable one too; except for Heather’s pain and my sniffles.  She was going to see the doctor but the lift was turned off (again) and walking three floors down and back holding her ribs was not attractive so she deferred the visit until the following morning.  The lift is routinely disabled when the seas are rough to avoid damage.

[circlique]

Avatar DND Session 22!

I got my notes cleaned up quicker this time, so I don’t have to have it hanging over me all week.

Summary: The party is reunited—briefly—at the Northern Water Tribe before Laminar’s attack on the city begins. We spend most of the session trying to convince the populace to fight. Kelsang almost gets shot by the invasion force’s crude, bending-powered guns. Flamer, somehow, accidentally starts a cult of personality, and begins to wield his influence as “Major God.”

Previous Sessions/Avatar DND Masterpost

——————-

Eight hours later, the main party is in the council room (without the council). General Flamer is laying on the giant table looking at a map showing troop positions and stuff. He suggests using the waterbenders to create some fog as cover, since they aren’t sure if the attackers are coming by land, sea, or air. To defend from a sea attack, he suggests creating ice bergs to act as obstacles and slow the attackers down. For a land attack, he suggests melting the ice underneath the top layer to make a thin layer of ice that they can fall through, basically a moat. And once they fall through, they can freeze them there. Oh, and also, the defenders should try to funnel the attackers in a certain direction and pick them off in the bottleneck. Also, Syntagma and Zhongchung can make stone pillars as obstacles. Wow, this guy really was a general once huh? Klo tells Yee to write this stuff down.

Flamer rolls perception and notices someone peeking through the doorway at them. He calls out to them, but they shut the door, and he runs after them. He notices it’s a woman and yells at her to stop, but she just turns around and bows to him, addressing him as “Major God.” He goes “oh shit you’re one of mine…which truth did you hear from me?”

She replies “The majority of The Major’s Testament. I’m really looking forward to your sermon in two hours.”

Uh what?

But Flamer steps into his new role as a prophet effortlessly. He says the beings of “The Above” have warned him about the people of “The Below” coming to destroy him. All his followers must gather and prepare to fight. Only those who die valiantly in battle can enter “The Above.” The lady nods furiously and goes to deliver this message…somewhere. Flamer wonders if he should inform Klo that he accidentally started a cult…he decides not to.

The rest of the party catch up to him. Just then, a messenger runs in and addresses Klo. Apparently, another sky bison has arrived, and one of the passengers— someone with eyes like daggers—and a VERY authoritative presence—said they were approved to be here. :) There was also an airbender and “some guy” with her.

Klo runs down to the city gate to greet Kelsang, Chai Li, and Juno, and directs them towards the stable. While they’re doing that, one of the guards flags down Klo and shows her a recruiting list. It’s…a work in progress. Most of the people they have tried to recruit ended up being cowards. Klo decides to stay down at the gate and directs the three new arrivals to follow her messenger back to the palace.

They follow the messenger through the streets. Chai Li rolls perception and discerns that there is an individual on this street that is a Dai Li agent! This agent also recognizes Chai Li. Chai Li winks and the other guy shoots him a little hand sign trying to convey him to meet him in the store he’s standing in front of later. Kelsang and Juno do not notice this exchange. The store looks like a weapons store, and there are four other agents inside. Chai just nods and keeps going.

Kelsang, Chai Li, and Juno arrive on the steps of the palace. There are six guards. Chai Li thinks he recognizes one of the six as also being Dai Li.

Suddenly, there is a loud noise and one of the guards falls dead from a PROJECTILE. Chai Li is able to discern the direction from the blood splatter and yells for everyone to get inside. There are ships visible on the horizon now. I asked the DM to roll history here to see if we noticed these ships on the way in, rolled a 19 or something, and he says we did not see these ships despite possibly having flown directly over them.

Back at the gate, Klo also hears the noise and starts looking along the wall, and determines it must have come from over the water. Klo tells the guards they must start building fortifications and start evacuating civilians into the underground tunnels. She says the first shot has been fired, everyone prepare for battle.

There’s a little plonk, and a chunk of ice falls out of the wall to her left. Klo sees two ships out in the water, about half a mile away. She tells the guards to prepare to attack the ships any way they can when they get within range. As the ships get closer, they will make icebergs to slow down the ships. They start making an ice wall to defend themselves.

Another projectile strikes the wall near one of the guards, causing part of the wall to collapse and the guard to fall off. As the fallen guard bends himself back into the wall, Klo tells them to keep fighting and fall back if it’s too much.

She heads to the center of the city to tell the newest recruits where to go. She tells half to reinforce the front of the city and the other half to help evacuate citizens.

Meanwhile, Flamer and Ong are on the edge of the city making holes in the ground. Flamer rolls perception and thinks he heard a loud noise in the distance, but can’t see the ships from where he is. He notices a hobo and decided to go ask why he’s there. The hobo says he has nowhere else to go. Also, he doesn’t have any legs, as he apparently lost them in a mining accident. Flamer says they could use someone if his skill sets…and asks if he’s a religious man. Flamer calls Ong over and tells him to bend “air legs” for him. Ong is confused and Flamer says try to lift him up with airbending. Ong rolls a nat 1 and bends him up…and over the snow drift behind him. Ong runs over and tries to pull him out. Flamer helps. He has a sudden idea, and asks if the guy wants to die…? The hobo says not particularly. Anyway, Flamer says the guy looks relatively harmless and asks if he’s a bender. He says he used to be a earthbender but has lost his connection to the ground since he doesn’t have legs. Flamer says he has plan, but he’ll come back to him. We did not come back to him.

Flamer goes to talk to the other soldiers. They’re freaking out a little at the sound of the gunshots. Flamer tells Ong to scout and see if this is the start of the attack. He also tells him if he finds gunpowder or something that can be used to make a bomb to bring it back. Ong is kind of confused but he agrees. He also tells him to stop at the temple and tell the people the rapture has begun, and that people who fight will go to “The Above”. Ong says “ooookayyyy…” and flies off on his glider.

Meanwhile, Syntagma and Zhongchung have gone down to the water to start bending up pillars. They hear the gunshots. Seem like the invasion is here early. Syntagma doesn’t think they have enough time to bend up these pillars, but the water here also seems shallow… Syntagma decides to harvest some rocks and puts them in the boat, then has someone start pulling their boat back up the wall. When they get back to the top of the wall, the soldiers there don’t seem very motivated to fight. Syntagma tries to persuade them but rolls nat 1. The guard says he’ll just fight from up here. Syntagma says if he refuses to fight he’ll be tried as a traitor. The soldier continues to insist he’ll just fight from up here. Frustrated, Syntagma punches him for 14 damage and breaks his nose. He then turns to the rest of the soldiers and tells them that if they don’t want to end up like him, go find Klo for orders. But he rolls TWO nat 1s in a row (for a total of 3 in a row) after being told to roll intimidation with advantage. Zhongchung steps in and tells the guards he’s just trying to get them to do their jobs. Syntagma just grabs Zhongchung and leaves, feeling he can make better progress elsewhere.

Klo realizes the soldiers who were told to whip up some cloud cover must be having trouble, because it seems that the cloud cover process is going slow. She goes to find a Kelsang back at the palace. When she arrives, he tells her they literally just flew in and didn’t see these boats. She asks for his help making the cloud cover, and he agrees to help.

Kelsang takes off on his glider, but almost as soon as he’s above the buildings, a shot whizzes past his head but thankfully misses. He flies lower to use the buildings as cover, although it takes him twice as long to arrive at the wall above the city that Syntagma and Zhongchung just left.

Meanwhile, Chai Li is telling a Klo he’s noticed a lot of Dai Li agents around the city. She tells him to go back to the store and disable any agents there, assuming he’s still on their side. Chai Li says he should try and keep his cover, and suggests trying to just throw them off course instead. He mentions his orders form the Dai Li are to get Juno to the South Pole, so his plan is to tell the agents in the city that he has Juno under his control. Klo agrees and Chai Li runs off.

While she’s got Klo here, Juno says that Laminar may have changed the plan after realizing they’d been made, and says she’ll gather her undercover chiblockers and render first aid. She disappears.

Back to Chai Li. He arrives at the shop and finds five Dai Li agents inside. The guy from earlier welcomes him back and asks if he’s “ready.” Chai Li makes up something about Dai Lee being concerned about Dai Li agents getting hurt so close to their own operation and suggests letting Laminar’s forces take the fall here. They seem to agree. Chai Li asks if they have any of those weapons with them. The agent in charge says they have one, and a firebender is on his way to help them operate it. Chai Li tells them he has Juno’s trust and needs them to not blow this for him. The guy asks if they should step in if his cover is blown, Chai Li says step in if she attacks him, but wait until the last moment. He also says he may do things counterintuitive to the plan, but it’s only to gain her trust, so don’t worry about it. They don’t have any reason to doubt this. He is the fucking ultimate double agent. He goes back to report to Klo.

Flamer, meanwhile, is talking to Ong, who has returned. He reports that everybody is in a panic, but the people of the temple just started bowing to him when he arrived and regarded him as a disciple of “the Major”. They’re arming themselves and preparing to fight. Ong is kind of concerned about them tbh, because it’s pretty clear that they’re just misguided civilians. Flamer asks if he found any gunpowder. Ong says no. Flamer tells the other soldiers to keep making puddle traps and walks off with Ong.

He asks Ong if he trusts him. Ong says yeah but admits that some of his plans are kinda dicey. Flamer says he’s about to tell him another dicey plan. He thinks they’re about to get obliterated, so he suggests he pretend to execute Ong to manipulate Laminar. Ong asks what if she calls his bluff? Flamer says he just hopes he can stall long enough. Flamer says if Ong feels uncomfortable, they can disguise the hobo as Ong and pretend to hurt him instead. Ong doesn’t think the hobo could pass for him.

Syntagma and Zhongchung are heading towards the capital building and run into Klo. They asks where they’re needed. Klo asks them to go back to the guy at the pier and ask for his boats. Syntagma suggests they gather earthbenders to get in those boats to go bend these pillars. DM informs us there are only four earthbenders (Syntagma, Zhongchung, pier guy, and the hobo). Syntagma suggests then that they put waterbenders in the boats then and have them create waves, or create some kind of ice weapons.

It occurs to Syntagma that his encounter with the guards on the wall made him think the guards wouldn’t want to go into the boats. There is a real morale problem going on among the ranks here.

Chai Li arrives and reports back on what happened with the other Dai Li agents. He also tells Klo the whole reason they’re attacking is to take over the city, so they’re either going to kill all the government officials or mindbend them to act for the Dai Li, and suggests they hide. Klo says she’ll send the council to hide and have everyone wear their anti-mindbending headband things (I haven’t addressed this much, but much like the dragon bone ink that protects some of the airbenders, there at one point was a mineral deposit that also had these anti-mindbending properties that was used to make these headbands, but they fell out of use after the Dai Li was believed to have been defeated ten years ago, so the NWT has a limited number of them).

Syntagma asks Chai Li to come help him convince the guy at the pier to help.

Klo stays behind at the palace and goes into council chamber and finds them hysterical. Fondui is trying to calm them. They are clearly only thinking of themselves, worried about their factories, assets, families, etc. Klo rolls high enough on persuasion to calm them down a little bit.

Meanwhile, Kelsang has arrived up on the wall above the city and manages to convince the waterbenders up there to help him whip up some cloud cover. They get it going, but it’s pretty slow. When it becomes apparent that this is taking way too long, Kelsang jumps on his glider, flies into the cloud, and bends it across the entrance to the city. Unfortunately, the cloud is pretty thin and not doing a lot for cover. I ask the DM if Kelsang can lower the air temperature to the dew point to thicken the cloud. I have no idea if airbenders would be able to do this, but DM is a physicist and a nerd and lets me roll for it. I roll high enough that he allows it, so the cloud thickens up and now Kelsang can’t see two feet in front of him.

This has its advantages and disadvantages, as the attackers can no longer see him, but now Kelsang is disoriented. There’s a bang and a shot rips through his glider. He starts losing altitude. He picks a direction and flies, just trying to get out of the cloud, but ends up flying towards the ships instead of away.

Once he sees them, he memorizes where they are, does a 180, and flies through the cloud to the city gate, where he lands on the wall. The guards up there are totally shell shocked. A couple of them are dead and the rest are cowering behind what little cover they have. Kelsang tries to reassure them, telling them the attackers won’t be able to aim properly anymore. He helps the guards aim some ice spikes at where the boats are, so that they will impale themselves on the spikes when they get close enough. One of the guards asks if Kelsang can go for backup, because this hoard of civilians who showed up with brooms and pitchforks hurling ice chunks that are falling well short of the boats—are not helping. Kelsang debates if he should try and get said civilians to safety, realizes at least THEY seem motivated to fight, then promises the guard he will go for backup. He flies off.

Meanwhile, Flamer and Ong head to a different part of the city’s flank, find some more soldiers, and ask if they have seen or heard anything suspicious. One of them says no, but everybody is getting really cold. Flamer wonders if maybe the attackers are coming from under the ice. They send someone under the ice to check. Flamer sends Ong to fly above and scout the boats. After Ong believes, the head guard turns to Flamer and says “by the way…I’m a believer.”

After a few minutes, Ong returns and says he didn’t see any tracks, no shelters, nothing. There’s no sign of a land-based attack force. Flamer theorizes maybe it was a ruse, and the main attack will actually be at the front where the defenses are weaker (since the original battle plan Kelsang saw and relayed to Klo was for a small frontal force and large flanking force). Flamer sends five people from this force to go to the city gate. Ong says he’ll wait at the palace for this mock execution and flies off again.

Syntagma returns to pier guy (named Granite) and tells him the plan to pelt the attackers with ice balls from the boats using trebuchets. Granite asks how they’re gonna make those. Syntagma says they’ll make them out of rocks. They start putting rocks in the boats and make a trebuchet with bending somehow.

Syntagma then tries to convince the surrounding waterbenders who are milking about the rocks to come fight for their country, with Chai Li mindbending some patriotism for support. He says something about legacy and being remembered as heroes rather than cowards. It’s a tough crowd though, and they don’t seem very motivated by legacy and patriotism. So, Syntagma switches strategies to praising “Major God.” This…actually works. They’re believers. Flamer apparently has more power here than Klo. Several of the waterbenders jump in the boats to go fight.

Chai Li asks who Major God is. Upon learning it’s Flamer, he’s not surprised and just shakes his head.

Armed with this new intel, Chai tries to mindbend the one straggler to agree to the plan. The last waterbender says he will not go without Klo’s orders.

Meanwhile, it’s time for Flamer’s “sermon” at the temple. After doing what he can at the flanks, Flamer heads down to the city to “inspire his people.” When he enters the temple, everyone stands up and stares at him. Kirin (the lady he told the earth was a donut before) is leading this gathering at the front. She invites him forward. He approaches the alter and finds a book there. Apparently, someone has been writing down all the bullshit he says. Flamer opens it up and starts reading from the “book of Ong.” It ends up being something about spirits. He tells them he came directly from the spirit world, so they should listen to him. He reads another verse about his words being smart. He says they need to use their smart, important words to win. He finds a quote about sleeping with students??? And says that’s about the enemy and thats bad, don’t do that. Also, he’s a timebender, and in the future this battle will be spoken about and remembered if they fight in the glory of Major. But those who don’t fight will be subject to “The Below”. Ignorance is your fault! So don’t be ignorant. Major will fix that for you. He can’t tell everyone, so you must go out across the holy land and spread the good word about the glory they will receive from battle, and stop the evil leader named Laminar. Also, his right hand spot is open, and whoever brings him Laminar’s head can have it. :) That person can be Lieutenant God and go down in history. He challenges them to go out there and remember there is nowhere to hide from Major’s illumination. He rolls 19 on persuasion.

The crowd is crying and weeping with joy (the table is also crying and weeping with laughter—wtf is happening?) A man jumps up, says let’s get going, rips the legs off a bench and yells charge. Everyone follows his lead and starts making weapons out of furniture. This will have NO future consequences, surely.

Meanwhile, that one waterbender at the pier is still refusing to go fight because Klo didn’t order it. She walks up just then and asks what’s the meaning of this. She tells him to go defend the wall, including this boat. He finally agrees and hops on. Syntagma and Zhongchung board the boats and they push off.

Klo and Chai Li decide to go check on things at the front. When they arrive, they see the sorry state of things, and decide they better go scout the enemy boats. So, they grab one of the bison to fly above the fog and see what the situation is. There’s still only two boats, with four people per ship, and they don’t appear to be moving. Klo feels like something is wrong and wants to go back.

When they get back, everyone who was on the wall above the city gate is dead. They don’t appear to have any external wounds, and yet, they are all very clearly dead. Yes, something is indeed very, very wrong.

End session.

[bybdolan]

the person who sits next to me in some classes has really interesting taste when it comes to movies (very anti-Hollywood, very international) and it is obviously uber cool and they are much more educated than me in that regard etc but unfortunately they are not super fun to talk to about art :/

i feel youuuu. it’s the same thing with people who like older music from the 60s and 70s and judge people who are into modern music… its like, yes i love joni mitchell and bob dylan and all these guys but i can also really enjoy people like tswift and phoebe yk? the idea that “high art” is only exclusive to a certain group of artists is not itttt

Yes! I 100% agree with the assessment that the trend to label people pretentious simply for watching foreign movies or being into things that are only slightly off the mainstream path etc. is super dangerous and reflects a larger issue, howeverrr as with many things there is a bit of nuance to the conversation. Generally speaking, taste is something often shaped by circumstances beyond our control and the whole notion of "high" and "low culture" is a bit classist and also does not work when looking at the constantly changing landscape of pop culture, so there's that, but I also think it comes down to the simple question of how we interact with other people lol Like obviously it is ultimately not that deep and I am just making a bitchy little post on tumblr, but there absolutely are people whose good taste, be it intentionally or not, makes them talk down to people who might not be on the same level as them. Which is understandable to some extent, but can really ruin a conversation when one party is left with the feeling that their opinion is treated as something that should be corrected. And obviously it is never bad to critically examine a piece of media you are consuming, but sometimes you walk away from it still liking it! Because a lot of that is... subjective. It's just important to have a diverse media diet and be aware of which impulses the media you are consuming might have emerged from.

[linkspooky]

There Are No True Heroes

Dabi is shown wrapped in shadow as he confronts Hawks this chapter. That is because as his foil, as both of them were abused by the hero system as basically raised as child soldiers under the name of “hero training” they are two sides of the same coin. No one is closer to Hawks than Dabi, because Dabi is his own shadow. Dabi however is not just serving as a shadow for Hawks in a Jungian sense, but as a collective shadow for hero society as a whole. Read More underneath the cut explaining Dabi’s words for how there can be no true heroes in a society that doesn’t save people like Twice or Touya Todoroki. 

1. A Society of Repression

Before getting the ball rolling I’m going to introduce some terms important to Jungian Psychology. 

Jung saw the conscious mind divided in two. This is often referred to as the “iceberg model” because for the same reason that the titanic failed to dodge the ice berg, most people don’t have a true comprehension of personality because there’s much more going on than just what can be perceived in the surface. 

The surface of personality is called the ego or the conscious mind. This is all of the thoughts you are aware of, all of the decisions you make, like your behavior, how you act, what you say, what you think, all of these things are conscious aspects of personality. They’re referred to as consicous because  we can see, look at, control them to some extent. For example people tend to behave differently depending on their environment, you don’t usually swear in front of your grandparents but you might around your friends. The fact that you are choosing how you present yourself means part of personality will always be a performance. 

The unconscious mind is specifically what you are not aware of. It’s everything else that makes up personality. Jung believed the unconscious mind existed in a form called the shadow. The shadow is cast by what the light of consciousness projects, and consists of everything that consciousness excludes. It is the unknown side. If the consciousness is the face, the shadow is the reverse face. 

It’s the difference of who you choose to be and who you are at heart. 

“We can speak of the conscious ego as the subjective personality, and of the shadow self as the objective personality.”

Because one tends to reject or remain ignorant of the least desirable aspects of one's personality, the shadow is largely negative. There are, however, positive aspects that may also remain hidden in one's shadow (especially in people with low self-esteem, anxieties, and false beliefs).

The mechanism that people use to remain unaware of these aspects of their personality is called repression. 

Repression. Repression. The unconscious suppression of psychic contents that are incompatible with the attitude of consciousness. Repression is a process that begins in early childhood under the moral influence of the environment and continues through life. [“The Personal and the Collective Unconscious,” CW 7,]

In general, people have a tendency to avoid rather than confront issues, especially if those issues are personal ones. Repression is a technique of avoidance to try to keep the mind healthy in spite of internal or external stress. Psychologically speaking it’s avoiding the problem. While of course it’s impossible to live life confronting every single problem possible, there’s still a difference between acknowledging a problem and admitting that it’s a problem and dealing with it by simply pretending that it is not there. Repression renders problems invisble by turning a blind eye to them, which is why this meta will be speaking of societal repression on a whole later one.

Jung suggests the idea that repression, having a shadow, being two-faced is not something that certain individuals do but rather something everybody is doing at the same time. In a society of people who all have this unconscious aspect of their mind Jung suggests the collective unconscious exists. 

That the shared human experience of everybody existing within a society will create a collective suboncious amongst these people. The collective unconscious is unconscious ideas of society or life that just seem to be there. The myth of the hero itself is a product of collective unconscious, Jung posits every culture comes up with myths of heroes because that idea exists in some deep layer of our minds and it’s something we all have in common beyond the bounds of personal consciousness. 

So just to summarize quickly you have three layers, personal conscious who you choose to be, the shadow who you are, and the collective unconscious what society is. 

In Jung’s terms absolutely everything has a shadow. 

"The image of God has a shadow. The supreme meaning is real and casts a shadow. For what can be actual and corporeal and have no shadow?"

All Might and All For One are literally a symbolic hero and shadow pairing. All Might is someone who attempts to influence society by being the best hero he can be, All For One tries to control society too through violent methods. All Might is conscious of how he wants to create a peaceful, controlled society but unconscious of the violence inherent in his actions. 

The shadow is something that everyone collectively ignores as well. Someone even points out that All Might’s actions are still violence whether it’s heroic or not and All Might doesn’t even address the argument he just blows it off. In a repressed society the issues that everyone wants to avoid aren’t dealt with they’re insvisible. 

So not only is there an individual repression, but there are also aspects of societal repression. If everything casts a shadow then society itself can cast a shadow. The issues that everyone is avoiding, the issues that everyone is ignorant to will manifest in some way. 

"Unfortunately there can be no doubt that man is, on the whole, less good than he imagines himself or wants to be. Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual's conscious life, the blacker and denser it is. If an inferiority is conscious, one always has a chance to correct it. Furthermore, it is constantly in contact with other interests, so that it is continually subjected to modifications. But if it is repressed and isolated from consciousness, it never gets corrected."

This is an idea that has been expressed in comics several times before. One of the most famous ones is Rorsharch’s monologue from Watchmen. 

Rorsarch’s monologue is expressing a strictly Jungian idea. If no one attempts to deal with the problems that are inherent in modern day society and effect everybody, then those problematic elements will eventually float to the surface no matter how much they’re ignored. If one person litters it’s not a big deal, but if one hundred people litter then there’s going to be trash everywhere. If people keep ignoring the trash everywhere and make no attempt to deal with it, the problem is just going to stick around until it’s impossible to ignore. 

This is what we are witnessing happening in My Hero Academia as of this arc. The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will form up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout, save us! 

The League of Villains are not just characters. They are the manifestations of what has been repressed about society. They are the filth that has accumulated floating to the surface. This is an inevitability with repression. Everything that is repressed will show eventually. 

2. There Are No Real Heroes

Dabi’s statement “There are No Real Heroes” isn’t just him being an edgelord. It’s a genuine response to the trauma he’s suffered. There’s on example from another piece of media I think illustrates this perfectly. 

Dangan Ronpa: Another Episode is a story where children who were abused begin a rebellion first by killing the adults who abused them, and then against the society that ignored their abuse, but they begin taking it too far and slaughter adults who were not involved. 

There is one moment in the game where the main character, a normal girl who has never been abused by an adult confronts one of the children about this. The best argument she can come up with is “Not all adults...” 

The child’s response is to scream: “Then why didn’t anyone save me?” 

If the world is good. If people are just. If heroes exist. Then why did this little girl not get saved? Why was she abused by the people around her? Why did no one else come to help? 

Remember Jung, people are on a whole not as good as we imagine them to be. The heroes in My Hero Academia are the same. We are told that they save people. We are told that they are good and right. Yet we witness countless examples of heroes not saving people. We see heroes being used as tools of violent suppression, rather than saving people. 

There are no real heroes. In Stain’s words, heroes are phonies. That’s because heroes are not as good as we are told they are. Society is not as good as we are told. 

What’s important is that a child is screaming this. What good is a society that can’t save one little girl? How do you expect a child to understand the reasons why they weren’t saved? For Dabi, for Stain, heroes are people who we are told are good but don’t act good. This is especially prevalent for Dabi who was hurt personally and had his entire family destroyed by one of the bad heroes. How is Dabi supposed to believe that heroes are good, when not only does Endeavor who doesn’t care about saving other people only defeating strong enemies is constantly praised as a good hero, but also completely got away with what he did to his family. 

There is Endeavor the hero. 

There is Endeavor’s shadow.

How can one of his victims. Someone who was most likely killed by him really believe that heroes exist when he was killed by a hero? How can he believe society is good when his father is praised by society. This is what repression does it makes people ignorant, and therefore complicit. Endeavor is not just the problem he’s propped up by society as a whole. Even people who are good, well-intentioned people end up supporting Endeavor completely ignorant to what he’s done. 

All might literally not only openly supports a child abuser like Endeavor, but praises him as a good hero, and even reccomends other children like Bakugo and Deku study under him. How much of this is genuine igonrance, and how much is intenitonal negligence? Todoroki walks around with a scar on his face and a clear chip on his shoulder about his dad. All Might doesn’t notice because he’s never questioned hero society before. 

This is something we are shown over and over about hero society. That it thrives by intentional negligence. Shigaraki’s not being edgy once again he’s talking from experience. 

Shigaraki suffers a terrible accident and despite wandering around looking for help at five years old in one of the most densely populated places with several heroes running around not a single person comes to help him. It’s not just ignorance it’s intentional negligence, because Shigaraki’s not a good or virtuous victim, because Heroes don’t save people they beat up villains. They’re a tool for violent suppression. 

All Might acting as the symbol of peace also acted as a symbol of repression. Because there are groups of people who don’t get saved by All Might. People like Twice who will never get saved. How can they call themselves heroes if the weakest, the worst off, the most damaged are always thrown to the wolves. 

3. A Reckoning

What is repressed cannot stay repressed forever. Dabi is covered in shadow this entire chapter, because he’s acting as a stand-in for the repressed id of society. The shadow that is there and is created by the heroes. He even parallels the way Hawks was a few chapters ago.

Another unheroic hero. A hero who doesn’t save someone crying and begging for help in front of them and instead decides to stab them in the back because that’s is what is easiest and most convenient. 

Hawks. Endeavor. Heroes in general, claim to be heroic, claim to never give up. But then don’t bother to save people like twice, even when they’re crying and begging in front of them. We are being presented with heroes as they exist in the ideal, and then the way heroes actually act. Miruko says a hero never gives up, Hawks gave up on Twice and tried to murder him ridiclously fast. 

The light casts a shadow, this is a paradox we’ve seen before with Endeavor too. Hawks sees Endeavor as an ideal of someone who never gives up. 

Natsuo rightfully pointed out that Endeavor gave up all too quickly actually. He gave up fighting against All Might and instead abused his wife and children. 

For every single action there is the light and there is the shadow. However, hero society never acknowledges the shadow and chooses to repress its evils instead of confronting them. It’s not that Endeavor abused his family it’s that he got away with it, not a single person held him accountable. Hawks was taken in by the hero commission in the exact same way that Shigaraki was by AFO, and nobody held them accountable for doing that to a child.

Child abuse is still child abuse even if the “good guys” are doing it. In Jungian ideas if nothing is confronted about society then eventually something will rise up. 

"[The figure of the Trickster] is the collective shadow."

A collective shadow. A collective societal Id. Returning to Rorsharch’s quote it’s quite literally the trash that everyone threw away floating back up to the surface and brought to light. This is why people are moved by Stain’s words, because it is in a way a wake up call to confront what is wrong about society. 

Stain, Shigaraki, Dabi all three of them are manifesting of literal collective shadows of society. They are there to confront what everyone is told is good and show the darker sides to things. 

That is essentially what Dabi is talking about. Dabi himself is not just an abused child, he stands in for all of the abused children who get left behind or ignored by society. 

What Dabi is talking about is a reckoning. The confrontation with the shadow of society that will inevitably happen. The garbage floating to the surface. Dabi is embodying that shadow in his actions. Individuals don’t matter. What matters is the collective will of everybody, all of the outcasts banded together, everything which can be no longer ignored. 

Which is why in a Jungian sense, the league themselves do not matter. Dabi himself does not matter. Not even Hawks matters. What matters is the ideas they represent behind them. It’s why Dabi cannot be killed, because eventually hero society continuing on unchanged will just create another Dabi. 

Individuals and individual suffering do not matter in the face of hero society. That’s what Dabi is angrily reminding Hawks of. He may have just saved a bunch of people by killing Twice, but nobody is going to thank him, his deeds are going to go unrewarded, because in the end Hawks too is somebody as equally disposable as Dabi and Twice. What matters is the ideas they represent, and Hawks has murdered someone in the name of resisting change to the status quo while Dabi is trying to fight it. Hawks too is complicit in the same system that abused him as a child, and his actions do nothing to stop that abuse. 

A reckoning. A fall. A shadow that is not confronted or acknowledged will never change. If it is repressed it will never get corrected. My Hero Academia posits that not only is hero society falling inevitable, it is also necessary. Dabi himself is a villain, but he’s also acting as the shadow of all of the ills of society in order to force society to confront those ills rather than just continue on ignoring them. 

[etherealhighway]

Hello There..!!

Namaste everyone! 

Newbie here! Really confused where to start and who will be reading this. But let me introduce myself now.

 Hey! I am Charlie from South Asia. I have a passion for music, arts and mindfulness. I am an amateur artist and I love to edit pictures and videos. This Covid -19 pandemic lockdown has took a toll on my mental health and well being which lead to my rediscovery of soul ! And that’s one big reason I am starting this tumblr blog - to share what I felt and experience with a hope to resonate with others! I hope I’ll adapt soon to the algorithm and how tumblr works. If anyone would love to give me a heads-up about tumblr that would mean so much to me. I won’t be just posting and act like a bot. I would love to meet people and interact with Y’all. So, please don’t hesitate to hit a message! I am slowly learning the html and building my theme & aesthetic, so, please hang on :)

Here to share, learn and to grow as a community. Thank you so much for stopping by . I hope you have an amazing and a safe day!

Meaning behind the username - Ethereal Highway :-

The word ‘Ethereal’ means -  heavenly or spiritual. I don’t know ,but I have a very special bonding with this word not only because of the meaning but also the word itself sounds heavenly! 

I used the second word as ‘Highway’ - because ,every matter that we see, hear, smell, touch, feel, everything in this word is heavenly. Every creation is beautiful yet to be felt so truly. Our eyes just binds with the layer of the ice berg which is seen but the real beauty lies beneath. So, beauty, spirituality , emotions, ethereal is everywhere around us. It’s not small or narrow but it’s huge ad wide like a highway!

And that’s how ‘ETHEREAL HIGHWAY’ came alive!

Let’s make our Mother Earth a better place and worship her everyday!

Namaste!

[inkblotstuff-blog]

Black and Beyond

“In order for light to shine, darkness must be present”- Anonymous

Close your eyes: you see a space. It’s empty, it’s dark. While your eyes are closed, think of the words that come to your mind when I say the word “Black”. The most common answers I’ve heard are – Dark, Fear, Nothingness, Empty, Death, Evil, to name but a few. When I asked a bunch of writers in a group discussion, their responses amounted to and rested on the fact that most observations and insights fell under the category of negative connotations.

 Why is it that this colour which is a contradiction in itself, attracts much more negativity than it deserves? I decided to dive in and look at various areas where black goes against these misconceptions. I think the best way to begin is to know that Black is literally the absence of colour. This contradicts the phrase “colour black”.

If we look at the colour pigments like RGB or CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Krypton(black) Red Green and Blue mixed together give us black, and the colour scheme CMYK consists of the colour black. In the world of Physics, fast rotation of the colour wheel gives us white, whereas, if all the colours in the colour wheel were mixed together in pigment form, the colour obtained at the very end is a dark hue (black). This in a way twists the theory that black is colourless. In fact, it houses all the colours.

 Emo and Goth cultures are two of the most common cultures that incorporate black in their attire. While Emo cultures derived their style out of the music they listened to (mainly Punk), Goth culture emerged from an offshoot of the post Punk period. The Goth culture dates back to the Gothic and Victorian era attires and styling. Emo culture focuses more on styling that incorporates black and music band t-shirts. The similarity is that both these groups associate with the colour black, because it binds them as a community.

A misconception exists with the term Emo. A lot of people who are “Emo” are categorised as depressed, sad, suicidal and the colour black seems to enhance those assumptions even more. Such people are said to have pasts of hurting themselves, and always being extremely quiet. People have branded them as “Emotional”. Speaking to a fellow student of mine who identified themselves as Emo, said “Emo doesn’t mean Emotional. Rather, it means Emotive”. Emo people are more in touch with their feelings. They are sensitive and express their feelings and so does their music”.

 Comparison is one of the most visible ways of knowing the differences between objects, materials, colours and ideas. When you hear someone talk about purity or cleanliness or angel like, the word your mind associates it with is the colour white. At the same time white is the purest because it is compared to the colour black, which our mind is conditioned to perceive as something impure, dull and devilish. White without its counter part black would not mean the same thing as is does today.

In the concept of positive and negative space, positive space is white and negative space is black. What’s interesting is that even though black is negative space, it is the background that gives definition and context to the object, without which it would be unrecognisable.

  Why is it that black is always associated with death and endings?

Every movie ending, where some character of importance dies, their transition into the heavens above is always shown as a beam white light. This light is shining and “pure”. It marks the end of the journey of that person in the physical sense. But have you ever noticed how movies depict the moment a new born child opens their eyes to stare into the unknown world: to meet the eyes of their parents and see what is in store for them? It begins with black. It seems that the end is not actually black. In fact, it is the beginning. Before the eye allows light to penetrate and illuminate a new-born’s mind, life has already been gifted. The eye makes its way through black: the very beginning and then emerges, into its physical sense.

 It is said that a certain amount of darkness is required to see the stars. Those stars, float around in space that is has no colour, and bring life and beauty to the residents that inhabit this limitless lake. Space: black and infinite, stretches from unknown points, and its end, might just be something else’s beginning. This space has infinite possibilities, it stores the unknown and it captures and emits curiosity.

The black hole: what is it? It’s a section of space that has a huge magnetic force. It sucks in everything close to it, even light. This entity of measureless black now also houses a black hole. It is an abyss within a larger endless rift. The power, possibilities and the sense of infinite can only be experienced within this colourless colour black.

In physics, we learn that certain colours are more absorbing and some are less absorbing. It is said that white is a colour that keeps the heat and light away, while black, absorbs all the energy. It is a colour that absorbs everything, embraces everything and receives everything. So, black is not a colour that always depicts claustrophobic spaces and caged surroundings

 Is white really pure? Or is black the purest of them all? If a tiny speck of dirt falls on a white surface, this blemish is noticeable to the naked eye. If dirt falls on black, it goes unnoticed, absorbed and masked by black. The colour people associate with being dirty is in fact the purest colour.

Polluted, soot, unclean this is what coal is. This material, that gets every person’s hands dirty, blackened and filthy, is also the very same material that enables ever woman to live the fairy tale dream. On their wedding days, sitting on the bride’s finger is a diamond ring. This diamond is called beautiful, sparkling and polished. It is a gem that is obtained from coal. It’s refined and elegant body is the result of this black and filthy coal, shedding its layers to bring alive this beauty.

 Our bodies, this sacred house, is coloured in different shades. The result of these shades is due to a pigment called melanin. Throughout the course of history, many instances of white people, degrading, insulting and looking down upon people with darker skin has existed. This supremist mentality arose due to the people with lighter skin, feeling that lighter tones of   skin are superior. What’s ironic is that cause of white or pale skin is actually due to them lacking in melanin. It’s interesting how people with lighter skin feel proud, while in reality they lack the pigment in their body, that would have otherwise let them enjoy the beautiful sunny days without having to stay way from the brightest light.

 We perceive the world in a variety of ways. This article may to some of you, be the most relatable and engaging one, because your favourite colour is black. While there will be a few of you who think that there can be two sides to this. This is what the conscious mind thinks. The mind that is aware and present. But what about the unconscious mind. The mind that we are not aware of, the mind that holds mysteries and secrets. This space of unconscious, is best describes in terms of being black, vast, unknown and mysterious. Similar to space its possibilities and potentials are limitless and infinite, but like space if we delve deep into this realm of the unknown a lot can be found out about ourselves, and our ways of thinking and perceiving. Sigmund Freud depicted and explained the conscious mind is like the tip of the ice berg, only a portion of it is visible and that is what we comprehend. And the unconscious mind that is the other portion of the ice berg is entirely submerged in the vast ocean. No one knows hoe big and the ice berg is and how deep it goes into the ocean, into that vast black space both holding atmospheres of unknown.

Our mind is like the yin and yang: a Chinese symbol that portrays the perfect harmony required to maintain balance. If there was only white then the balance dips to one side, and if there is only black, it dips more to the opposite side. Combining both, allows for structure, free flow and stability. Same goes for the balance between the conscious and unconscious mind. A person requires both the conscious mind: that’s aware and continuously getting illuminated by the world, as well as the unconscious mind: that’s unknown, unexplored, limitless and secretive, to complete a person and bring balance into their life.

 This entity that houses all yet none of the colours. It has properties of being undefinable. And it turns these features to its advantage. This undefinable property makes space for multiple possibilities to exist together. Such properties allow room for change to take place, making sure uniqueness can be found in its monochromatic plane. While black embraces change it doesn’t forget to pay equal attention to its property of mutability.

Black has another feature, duality. Colours like green, yellow and red, just to name a few are extremely noticeable whereas black as compared to the brighter colours goes more unnoticed. But this is the power of black, it can choose when to get noticed and when not to. This ability of duality allows black to complement everything.

 Black is all around us, silently assisting other colour to shine and be notices while it stays as a background unnoticed. We unknowingly used black as a metaphor to express our deepest desires and secrets.  It’s limitless and abyss like nature allow for it to absorb and give out multiple meanings that otherwise no other colour is capable of doing. It’s been used in a various area as symbols for harmony and balance, and it contrasting nature makes it a colour that’s compatibility is 100%. In conclusion I would like to say that while visible to the naked eye, black is dull, dingy, awful, and obscure it also houses meaning of infinity, power, strength, possibilities, balance and possibilities. All of which are what makes this colour inclusive, unique and a body that can house millions.

[dsandrvk]

Friday, February 16 - Cievra Cove and Mikkelson Harbor

We had another gorgeous day, with mixed clouds and sun, and temperatures around freezing. Our first activity was Zodiac cruising in Cierva Cove, which has an island in the middle aptly named Penguin Island. This is host to a large colony of Chinstrap penguins, which were a little far away for good phone pictures, but were extremely busy. There were still some almost grown chicks still around, as well as molting adult birds, so there was lots to see.

We are further south now and the bergs that have calved off the glaciers here are bigger and take on fanciful shapes. Some show the dirty layers from the glaciers, while others have been melted into caves and holes, and others show evidence of repeated rolling and small collapses. As our guide today, Udo, said, most people only go into an ice cave once.

There is a small Argentinian research base behind Penguin Island, optimistically called "Primavera". Several of their boats launched about the time we went by, and drove past us quickly. We were a bit more careful, as there is a lot of floating ice that makes for beautiful photos, but is hard on propellers.

Once everyone was back on board we headed over to our landing site for today - Mikkelson Harbor. It was sunny and warm enough for several of us to have lunch on the back deck, and as we left the cove, Russ and I saw a couple of Minke whales, followed later by a Humpback.

Mikkelson Harbor was used for many years by the whalers since it is about the only flat beach type area for miles around. It is on a very small island surrounded by glaciers on three sides, and has a Gentoo penguin colony. Unlike on Half Moon Island, where the only Gentoos were a few molting adults, here there are still a number of chicks. We were able walk up to a good vantage point on the island, and watched the penguins for a while (lots of opportunities to photograph parents feeding chicks), before heading down and around to some sleeping seals - about four Weddell Seals and one Antarctic Fur Seals. They were all zonked out, although occasionally one would do a stretch. Weddell seals are considered "true seals" and keep warm with their thick layer of blubber, while the fur seals have exterior ears, large forelegs, keep warm with their thick fur, and are more closely related to sea lions.

The beach here is littered with whale bones from the previous century where the whalers would drag the whales, flense and butcher them, leaving the rest of the carcasses to the birds, who picked the bones clean. There is also a boat still here - another testament to an industry thankfully in the past. Down here on the beach were lots of molting Gentoo adults, as since they are fasting and using a lot of energy keeping warm without their old feathers, there is no reason to waddle up the hill like the breeding pairs.

We usually have about an hour to hour and a half on shore, and our Zodiac rides are about an hour, although our guide this morning took us further and we were gone over 1-1/2 hours. In that time we can see plenty, although we could spend hours just watching the penguins. The locations are tightly controlled and reserved so only one ship is at any place at one time. Our expedition leader was able to pick up Mikkelson Harbor and add it because of a cancellation. So we were surprised after dinner to see two other ships nearby - one traveling our way and the other heading the other direction. Most of the time it is like our private Antarctica.

We had our recap, short educational segments and briefing for tomorrow in the early evening (they have mostly been before lunch), so delayed going to the more casual restaurant until a bit later, stopping up in the Club to listen to the live music and watch the ice go by. It is a small ship, but there can be a little crush in the eating venues when everyone is released at once.

Tomorrow we have an early landing (starting at 7 AM for some), and then an evening landing that our Expedition leader just picked up for a spectacular spot. The ship that has that "anchorage" during the afternoon is our sister ship, the Pursuit, so we will be in communication with them and may be able to start earlier than the scheduled first group at 6PM. We stayed here at Mikkelson until after 7 tonight because of the submersible schedule, but it was lovely just to watch the light change on the snow and ice. We are almost two months from the Solstice now, and although the daylight hours are still long, it is getting dark by 10PM or so.