#as opposed to engaging with the art in all ways that it is presented to you

[mimiyanna]

Final Fantasy XIV Online I love you so much I love you I love you sooooo much

[mymoongirlreadings]

The Birth Chart of Italy 🇮🇹 🤌

Italy Birth Chart Placements 🌌:

Rising in Libra | Sun in Pisces | Moon in Gemini | Mercury in Pisces | Venus in Pisces | Mars in Taurus | Jupiter in Leo | Saturn in Virgo | Uranus in Gemini | Neptune in Pisces | Pluto in Taurus

Sun & Mercury in Pisces: The Sun is known for being theatrical & represents how we express ourselves. Mercury represents how we communicate. Italians are not just talkative; they're animated, full of vitality, & theatrical in their self-expression. Italy's Mercury happens to be Rx in Pisces, and Rx Mercuries can naturally lean towards being either very quiet or, on the flip side, extremely talkative. Italy's Mercury is conjunct the Sun, a planet that likes to shine and has a big energy in astrology. This can connect to Italians being infamous for talking with their hands (Mercury rules over the hands) & their mix of grand, dramatic, lighthearted, direct & enthusiastic expressions (Leo qualities).

Gemini Moon: Italy's Gemini Moon is reflective of Italy's culture in the way they openly interconnect with one another in their immediate environment (Gemini rules over immediate environment, neighbors & friends) & in the way they enjoy exchanging thoughts with others. Italians are known for being emotionally engaged (The Moon) with ideas or stories (Gemini). Italy has been known to prefer artisan designs (ex: hand-stitched clothes) as opposed to mass production.

Venus in Pisces: Venus, the planet of values, food & habits. In Italy, it's a cultural tradition that meals are seen as an opportunity to enjoy food, to socialize, to spend quality time with loved ones, and to relax rather than seeing eating as being simply a means to satisfy hunger. Venus in its sign of exaltation showcases the love that pulsates, the generous hospitality, the infamously beautiful architecture/ craftsmanship, and healing pleasure in its most spiritual form. When Venus in exaltation is located in the 6th house, it states that love & art are not just luxuries—they're daily parts of life.

Mars in Taurus: Mars represents what a country exerts a lot of energy into, and Taurus is strongly connected to slowness/the present moment, nature, & food. Italians practice things like seasonal eating, slowed & shared eating, table manners, and nifty food hacks, as well as experiencing pleasure in steps—the tempo is noted, all Venus-related. Italy's Taurus Mars is squaring to its Jupiter in Leo, meaning there's pride in how you do something, not just what you do. There's pride (Jupiter in Leo) in how (Mars) you eat, not just what you eat. There's pride in how we savor, not just indulging.

Pisces Sun 27° conjunct Pisces Neptune 29°: Pisces is a sign that likes to take its time; it is the 12th & final sign, after all. The 29° is a degree that sits at a very developed, masterful, & final energy of the sign, indicating natural powers & talents with any placement that sits here. Neptune, in its sign of rulership, the final sign of the zodiac, in the final decan of Pluto, sitting at the VERY last degree, shows how Italy's powerful & influential identity (Sun) with Roman mythology (Neptune represents spirituality) is reflected in so much of our modern knowledge seen through learning and breaking down subjects like literature, astrology, language, etymology, philosophy & psychology.

9th House Gemini Moon & Vesta in Cancer: Since the 9th house represents culture/religion, I'm using this house to interpret what the culture/main religions of the country are like. The Moon being in the 9th house (Italy's Vesta is also in Cancer) indicates that home life, family, socializing, expressing & relaxing are not only a big part of culture, but sacred to Italy's inner world.

Uranus in the 9th house in Gemini: Wherever Uranus is located in a chart can represent where we are influential or have a larger-scale impact. The Moon is linked to events of the past, and the 9th house represents travel, the Akashic Records, religion, politics & culture. Whether it's the Italian language, the Vatican, the Roman Empire, Italy's history with mythology/philosophy, or simply Italy being the 5th most traveled-to country in the entire world, the history, innovation, influence, quality, and comforts of Italy have been highly influential and what makes it a continuously popular destination today. The 9th house represents history, Uranus rules over influence, and the Colosseum is one of the most visited historical sites globally, with many tourists opting for tours to learn further (Gemini). It's interesting because with Gemini in the 9th house with Uranus and the Moon, this makes Italy such an influential place that people genuinely end up learning about the roots, the culture, and the history through visiting some of the most popular religious & historical sights in the world. They don't just take a grounded form; Italy's influence is also found verbally with their popular Italian sayings (Uranus in Gemini) like "Mamma Mia" & "Ciao."

Pisces Venus in the 6th house opposing Virgo Saturn in the 12th house: Saturn in Virgo can speak to Italy's strictness & order with their indulgences, their attention to detail with their routines, & subconsciously prioritizing practicality. Virgo rules over the digestive system, and Saturn represents limits & boundaries. Italians acknowledge coffee as a digestive, so they typically offer espresso after meals and lattes, whereas cappuccinos are an exclusive morning ritual. This opposition between Saturn/Venus + Pisces/Virgo energy can manifest as idealism & perfectionism simultaneously existing, which can result in "Magnificent, no one can create it like we do, it's so dreamy, so Venusian, so Piscean, so beautiful!" while sometimes also fretting over the tiny Virgo Saturn details.

Pluto in Taurus in the 8th house: Both the 8th house & Pluto are related to power. Not only is Italy popular & influential from their strong cultural heritage, ranging from their art, cuisine, and fashion. Italy holds power in many other ways structurally. Italy is ranked #2 globally in the world for cuisine taste (Taurus), has a strong global economy (Taurus), has strong cultural/architectural power, and has a significant military force (Italy's 8th house also contains Mars, which is connected to the military). Italy is consistently among the top 5 most visited countries in the world for international tourism. Italy also has a strong luxury goods market (Taurus rules over luxury goods).

[scarwasright]

Asking white people why we feel the urge to portray the Elrics as brown.

To nip this bad faith reading in the bud: No, I'm not speaking against the re-imagining of protagonists as people of color because a fan might want to see themselves in a work of art where they are underrepresented.

I'm speaking to the very specific recent (last ~5-10 years or so) fandom trend of giving Ed and Al darker skin and changing absolutely nothing about the context under which they move through their fictional world.

Any person with even some faint trace of a critical pulse can smell the stink on FMA's, particularly the manga's and PARTICULARLY BH's, racial politics. The protagonists are descended from a mythologized dead race of pale blond people from the desert, and Edward is also posited as the ultimate moral compass on which the series' thematic logic turns. The latter is archetypal of a Shounen. From jump, if we're delivering A Lesson, Edward is always right. The series generally doesn't think there's anything wrong with the militaristic status quo (so long as we rout the shadow cabal living under the capital (don't think about that too hard)), so Edward also thinks there is nothing wrong with it. This causes him, from time to time, to butt heads with survivors of a genocide perpetrated by the army that he works for. Because FMAB wants to have its cake and eat it, too: It postures as being about Serious Things, like industrialized imperialism, but it also abjectly refuses to shed its Shounen trappings, lest it come to the not-so-feel-good conclusion that it was the militaristic status quo that enabled horrific violence in the first place. The protagonist is a willful member of an elite class of soldiers who were deployed in recent living memory to wipe an indigenous population off the map, but he is ideologically opposed to using guns because they kill people. The protagonist must always win with friendship, might, and vague niceties about how all lives matter.

Making Ed brown does not alleviate this contradiction. It only highlights the insecurity of the white people in the room who can tell that something is Off, but aren't willing to engage with it in a meaningful way.

The knee-jerk reaction to make Xerxians darker isn't an unreasonable one. The canon as it is presented could have been lifted from one of many white supremacist pseudo-histories about mystical ancestral white people. The fact that FMA wasn't created by a white person does not negate this, especially when that person is of the majority within her own imperial nation. Hiromu Arakawa is not Ainu, and she has never claimed to be. The idea that she is comes from a game of fandom telephone based on an interview where she mentions that she has relatives who are. This erroneous extrapolation fits within the same bubble of white comfort as redesigning Ed to be brown: If Arakawa is indigenous, she has implicit authority on the subject of indigeneity within her fiction. If Edward is brown, then all the Ick that self-proclaimed progressive people get when he is talking down at Scar or Miles goes away.

But both of these sentiments are self-comforting fallacies.

Making Edward brown within the fiction of Fullmetal Alchemist while changing nothing about his worldview and experiences does nothing but provide a notion of legitimacy and authority to his moral stances that clash with other brown characters who have less favorable views on the military status quo. He is still a willing servicemember in an army that only a decade ago wiped an entire ethnic region off the map.

Brown Edward is just another entry in fandom's long legacy of "brown paper doll" characters-- Characters who are visibly people of color, but who have no cultural or ideological grounding that might reasonably stem from their racialization within the fiction. Characters who are palatable to white people because they do not force us into discomfort, whose suffering is Noble because it does not move them to hatred or violence against the systems and people who oppress them. Characters who very often have skin that's been eyedropped a shade darker, but who lack any other features deemed unfavorable by white supremacy.

I don't engage much with fandom critique these days, because after so much time here, I have come to the conclusion that the vast majority of people would rather dig their heels in and continue to pretend that an anime they like is something that is simply is not. That a cartoon "likes women" (whatever the fuck that means) simply because it has more women in it than others of a similar genre. That it is "anti-imperialist" because the imperialists who have more power when the curtain closes than they did when it opened Feel Bad about the genocide they did. This post is already written from the assumption that the reader is aware of the reactionary undercurrents of FMAB's themes and political messaging, which means it's already going to miss a lot of people who are, frankly, ignorant, be it because they lack the critical framework to deconstruct a story's contradictory or problematic elements, or because they simply don't want to or don't care. I know I'm not reaching them. I haven't even gotten into how glaring it is that the vast majority of fandom would rather put a coat of paint on Good Golden Edward than meaningfully engage with the characters of color who already exist in the show and whose identities are not so toothlessly convenient for a white audience's comfort.

My hope is only to encourage that, rather than shoving the discomfort out of sight and mind with a performance of progressivism, we face it down in our art. Edward Elric is a racist dickhead. How can we meaningfully explore that? How does he become a better citizen of the world? And by extension: How do we? Certainly not by reframing our thematic mouthpieces in the facsimile of a marginalized identity to lend legitimacy to everything they say in support of the oppressive status quo.

[moonlit-tulip]

Purpose and Technique

There are two distinct things which are both often referred to as 'style', in creative contexts like writing / art / music-composition / etc.

The first—let's call it style-of-purpose—is style in the sense of patterns in one's choices of creative objectives. What sorts of concepts or themes or emotions or aesthetics or suchlike one is looking to convey to one's audience.

The second—let's call it style-of-technique—is style in the sense of patterns in one's choices of techniques to use in pursuit of those objectives. How one fills in all the implementation-details which, while necessary to fill in to fulfill one's objectives, aren't objectives on any deeper level than that. Prose-style, in a story being told for the sake of conveying a certain plot; character-design, in an art-piece being created for the sake of conveying a certain sort of brushwork; described events, in a set of song-lyrics written for the sake of conveying a a certain sort of feeling; et cetera.

Style-of-purpose is pretty much inevitable for anyone engaging in deliberate production or presentation of creative work for an audience. There's no practical way to avoid it, and not much reason to want to. Style-of-purpose is a habit, but not a constraint: it doesn't prevent you from doing what you want to do, but rather emerges naturally from doing what you want to do.

Style-of-technique, on the other hand, can very easily turn into a constraint. A technique effective in pursuit of one work's objectives can easily be counterproductive in another work. Someone who leans heavily on Hardboiled Detective Narration might have some trouble conveying their desired tone when trying to write a (prototypical, non-subversive) cute-girls-doing-cute-things story about water-skiing, for example.

As such, it's important, when doing creative work in any field where one intends to create new material, as opposed to just variations on the same themes over and over again, to have range. To practice a varied and ideally ever-growing array of different techniques one can use in any given part of one's work, so that no matter what one's creative objectives are one can pursue them effectively. Developing a strong distinctive style-of-technique across one's works, then, is a trap: an artist with that sort of style is one who isn't getting enough practice doing anything else, and who accordingly will have trouble doing anything else when they want to.

It's very easy to fall into a feedback-loop of finding a single effective technique in a given domain—a method of narration one is good at, or of lineart-drawing, or suchlike—and then, since that's the technique with which one produces one's best work, to use it and neglect other techniques. The longer one does this for, the larger the gap in quality between one's output with that technique and others grows, and the more tempting it becomes to keep on using that technique more and others less. And thus the less able one becomes to create works up to one's quality standards with any other techniques, even when those other techniques would, if performed with the benefit of practice, lead to more effective realization of one's artistic aims.

People talk a lot about trying to find their styles, when doing creative work. This is fine, when it comes to style-of-purpose. But, for style-of-technique, I recommend against trying to develop it for oneself, and in fact recommend actively avoiding developing it; it's far too easy to become trapped in a niche narrower than one can comfortably fit in.

[blossomajesty-archive]

What to do what to do

Tldr; before I become consumed by the Monhun brainworms again come Wilds I want to move operations to a proper sideblog because:

1) tumblr never implemented account switching and it’s mad annoying to log in and out

2) I'm not allowed to make my real account an admin of this blog and operate that way bc this is a “main” blog. Lame.

Otherwise, just tossing up the question of if I should delete this blog (bc I dislike having an unused account) or keep it up as some sort of archive, since I know people hate when somewhat popular blogs go deactivated. Original post got long so under the cut it goes;

It's been awhile as you can see, but tbh I haven't been "present" much on social media in general. I closed out my last semester of college (yay) so it's been rough for the better part of the past year as I went through the torture gauntlet that is exams and graduation, and another internship. Anyhow this blog is 5 years old woagh, but I haven't actually posted anything related to the story or characters introduced here in like, 3 years.

For this blog in particular, a decently-sized conundrum is that it's not a true sideblog but a separate account, and since Tunglr never made it easy to switch between accounts, its really annoying to log in and out so much (the rest of my blogs are attached to my main account now). Aside that, i've had enough of Wilds' marketing (i'm already sold and don't need to see more tbh) so I haven't been engaging a ton with monhun news and posts recently. In the meantime I was thinking of just making a MH sideblog of the same name for its original purpose of a place to spill my dumb thoughts/screenshots/ocs/whatever (one that's not so out of reach).

The question is what to do with this one; I tend to keep as few accounts as possible so I have no issue deleting it, but i'm also not normal when it comes to art and sure some would be opposed to this blog vanishing. I could compromise and make this one one of those "-archive" blogs for now if that's the case? (For more clarity I never abandon my fanfic stories/ocs if you're thinking you'll never see Surah and the like again. I tend to rotate between a couple casts of characters as my vidyagame interest shifts, bc making fanart and stories for the same series forever is a fast track to boredom and burnout. That also means No, you still can’t repost the art here or use the characters, those are still mine).

One last thing I guess is that the old "ask-a-monster" blog community/phenomenon actually went extinct a long time ago, this blog was set up the way it is for nostalgia mostly. I was planning on making note of all my unanswered asks here for prompts/inspo, but I don't see myself leaning as heavily into in-character asks ever again (with MH characters and anyone else).. It's been fun for character-writing purposes but as the fate of all the ask-blogs tells, building around it is a lot of work and always tends to fall off after a couple years. Heck, it wasn't even supposed to have so many ask posts in the first place (but don't get me wrong, it was still fun and I learned quite a bit). I’ll probably get around to posting the actual writing I’ve done that fills in some of the story gaps, but elsewhere (or in whatever new side location) as I’d rather put the blog to rest as-is than try to revive/reboot it when I'm not too keen on jumping back and forth.

No idea how many people are actually gonna read all this so I'll add this old Surah wip as compensation

[mariacallous]

The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) "acknowledges and respects" concerns about the ‘Russians at War’ documentary, but will not cancel its premiere.

“Our understanding is that it was made without the knowledge or participation of any Russian government agencies. In our view, in no way should this film be considered Russian propaganda,” the TIFF statement reads.

Previously, the movie received a wide public backlash. The film provides only small glimpses of the actual combat and does not reveal the extent of the destruction being inflicted by Russia in Ukraine. The documentary features a Ukrainian who fights on the side of Russia saying Ukraine bombed its own eastern regions. Another character broadcasts spreads the narrative about Ukrainian Nazis.

“As a cultural institution, we stand for the right of artists and cultural workers to express fair political comment freely and oppose censorship,” wrote TIFF. “Because filmmakers, like all artists, work in dynamic engagement with their societies, we believe that our role as curators and presenters of film must stand for an unequivocal defense of artistic expression, and a commitment to provide safe, open spaces to engage, critique and reflect on artists' work.” 

TIFF concluded its statement by expressing its understanding of the suffering of the Ukrainian people due to the Russian invasion, while emphasizing the importance of freedom of expression.

“We understand and deeply feel the suffering of the Ukrainian people as the result of an illegal Russian invasion. As we engage with the art made at this politically charged time, we are guided by the democratic values of freedom of conscience, opinion, expression and peaceful assembly as protected in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms for all Canadians including Canadian artists,” TIFF added.

Ukraine’s Minister of Culture and Strategic Communications, Mykola Tochytskyi, noted that legal actions will be taken to fight propaganda.

The publicly funded TV network TVO (formerly TVOntario) released a statement on September 10 announcing no longer airing the 'Russians at War' documentary.

‘Russians at War’ was filmed in temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories, without official authorization. The movie was directed by Russian-Canadian filmmaker Anastasia Trofimova, who formerly worked with Russia’s state-sponsored RT news agency, who stated seeing “absolutely ordinary guys with a sense of humor” and “no signs of war crimes during her time near the front.” 

[kalahannikolai]

My original Megatron design, in his Present form (left) and a sketch of his Civil War form (right). Easily both my best Transformers art yet, and also my favorite designs I've ever executed. He is truly my magnum opus, it's amazing.

Lore and story below!

Lord Megatron, former leader of the Decepticons and now a shadow of his former self. Once upon a time, he and his sister Arcee had been masterful gladiators in the Pits of Kaon. They were the ultimate fighters, but Megatron found himself wanting for a better life for the both of them. He sought it out beyond the gladiatorial pits, and climbed his way past the obstacles of society to call for a better Cybertron.

But one's path doesn't always go the way they originally intend.

As followers came to his side, rallied by his call for the Senate's dissolution, Megatron would find himself losing his way. Glory and conquest would wet his appetite, and give him a craving for more. The Decepticons he'd founded, gathered under the desire to break down their oppressors, began to wholly relish in destruction. Megatron himself began to laugh during battle, engaged his combat that made him feel the vigor of the pits again.

But Megatron's bloody path would not proceed without an obstacle in its way. The young Orion Pax had been chosen, raised to Primehood and ready to fend off the Decepticon hostilities. Thus was the Autobot Resistance forged in opposition to Megatron's own ambitions. And oppose him they did, so fiercely that they would lead Megatron to fall on a last resort.

Megatron tapped into the dark forces of the universe, and found the gaze of the Destroyer fell upon him.

Unicron himself overwhelmed the Gladiator's true wishes, and began to seed the Decepticon faction with darkness. Seeing his own men reduced to bloodthirsty monsters opened his eyes to what they'd already become. Unwilling to see their people become slaves, Megatron called for a true between the Decepticons and Autobots. The deliberations mediated by Vector Prime himself, it ended with Megatron stripped of command and sentenced into exile.

He took the fall from grace with honor, and left Soundwave as leader in his place.

Today he lingers in exile as he wanders the fringe wilds of Fódlan. Unwilling to interfere in history anymore, but unable to keep himself away, Megatron has found his fate intertwined with a one Byleth Eisner. He watches her journey from the shadows, nudging her when necessary in the right direction; to become the hero he knows she can be. After all, it had taken a hero to defeat him once upon a time. Byleth will need to become a proper one to be what the world needs her to be, and the once and glorious King of Kaon will ensure it.

[taegularities]

i mean this in the nicest way possible because i truly love you, but i wish writers in general wouldnt try to force reader engagement. i often reply with feedback, but at the end of the day, you should be writing because you want to, not because you want validation. i dont know if its just me who feels this way, but when writers constantly mention needing feedback or they wont write/will stop writing a popular series, it feels like a threat. i dont want reading to feel like a chore, where i need to constantly be validating my favorites so they dont get taken away from me. i love you and your writing and i wish my likes were enough. sometimes i, as a reader, dont feel like engaging/leaving notes. sometimes i just want to read and move forward. i feel like many writers have turned appreciative comments from readers into an obligation.

again in no way is this meant to be hateful towards you, i feel like this can apply to many of my favs. i just needed to get it off my chest and hopefully assure you that we like your writing, even if there's less engagement. if you disagree with any of my points, please tell me/ask me to clarify. i dont want to hurt your feelings and i would love to hear from the writer's side!

hiii! no worries, thank you so much for being respectful and wanting to hear my opinion, as well. i know some people let these things out in the rudest manner possible, so i appreciate that <3

so, the reason i haven't been writing atm is because i lack the time and energy to write :') this year has been crazyyyy busy, so i just don't get to it anymore – and since i've been away/less present for a while, i guess i also drifted away from tumblr, too, and then felt like people might've forgotten about taegularities, and then i wasn't sure if the effort would still be worth it (i get insecure at times, but that's a me-problem). now, the reason i (and many other writers) have this worry is bc writing requires an insane amount of energy and brainpower – when i tell you that so many of us actually slave over just a scene or even a paragraph for ages 😭 (example: the last cmi update was far shorter than what i usually drop, but it took me days to just edit one scene). we ache to write all the time, but life also gets in our way – i barely get time to sit down and work on my fics these days… so when i do get time, i want to put it out there into the world and then see the reactions, too… i write for myself, ofc, but for you guys, too, so i can share that joy; or else i'd keep the fics in my docs, right?

and in that sense, when we write something in the rare free time that we get and that we hope others will love just as much as we do, we do seek some sense of validation, even if that sounds odd. it's like – imagine you studied for a test for like 2 weeks, but then don't get the results you hoped for (which might be a weird example, but effort-wise, it's similar, even if fics don't affect writers' lives in that sense). i know there are many who just write and don't care for feedback (even tho i've seen even those who say this be sad about reader engagement which – very valid), but i think that most who expose their soul and heart like this, do want to see people enjoying it/speaking about it/hyping it up. every creator, be it in the movie, music or art industry, loves to see reactions! and think about it – most writers get so genuinely excited when someone sends an ask that doesn't say more than "i loved this so much!! you're such a good writer!!" which is insane?! like, i know that i do – i get so happy and remember these comments 5ever, and it's a 2 sentence review as opposed to thousands of words. the effort here is unbalanced, but we still love it so much. and you don't need to write an essay, you never never do!! i swear, it's always enough to even get a few words or sentences <3 which, in the end, isn't a lot to ask for, you know?

i'm not saying i will stop writing my series. i would stop if it got 0 reactions OR if my life stood in its way too much; i'll keep loving what i write and write out of joy, no doubt. and tbh, i don't care about notes either. like, i remember "ruin you" getting way less notes than cmi but GOSH we had so much fun back then bc of the interaction and the craze made me so happy hahaha and yeah that's what it's essentially about – community. does that make sense? it's tumblr where likes don't make a post circulate – reblogs do, so yeah, unfortunately, likes are not enough :( i wish they were. i totally get what you mean, though. even feedback shouldn't be an obligation, but if you truly like somebody's work, it never hurts to send a tiny message. it really means the world to us when something we adore and are so proud of – creating art, sharing our heart, wanting everybody to see this love – is met with so much joy. and it's fics, you know – we love love love writing, but it's something that can be read. and we want people to read it and we're legit sitting there like "👀 and?? aaaand?" lol it's so nice to know when someone truly appreciates something… ofc you don't have to comment on my stuff, but i promise feedback makes a difference. it's why so many do leave :/ i hope that made sense!! once again, thank you for being respectful!! i love you, too, and am truly grateful that you're here and enjoying my stuff!! <3

[askgothamshitty]

How do you decenter men but actually do it?

For me, decentering men means conceptualizing myself, my opinions, my interests, my priorities, and my life as completely independent of men (as a class) and their influence. Because of compulsory heterosexuality, this is not the default for many women and girls, and much of what they do is to appease men so they can eventually fulfill the all-important goal of getting a Husband. So the objective of decentering men means learning to let that go and reorient your life towards yourself and women (as a class) generally.

This may at first be an upsetting thought! Girls grow up being taught that the ultimate goal in life is to get married and have kids, and it’s presented in such a fantastical, fairy-tale way that they can’t imagine anything else being so fulfilling. So the realization that this is not realistic or conducive to a truly autonomous and independent self is unsettling.

Now I don’t think there is a one-size-fits-all approach to doing this. Every woman is different and is engaged in male-orientation in different ways, especially when other axes such as race, class, and sexuality are involved. So I think it’s important to get input from different women to see what they say worked for them. Luckily decentering men and 4B-adjacent politics are flourishing right now so there’s a lot of content out there. Go through what you see and think about what might work for your life.

What helped for me specifically was going celibate and not dating men for an extended period of time (3-4 years). This was while I was in college and in my early 20s so it was an important time to be focusing just on myself and my life. This allowed me to learn who I am naturally as opposed to who I am when I’m trying to attract a man. It also helped me let go of that impulse to always think about being attractive, approachable, agreeable. Now this definitely alienated me from others; I did not have the “typical” college experience. But that was a sacrifice I was more than happy to make because i understood that it didn’t serve me and was actually probably not that good anyways.

Feminist theory also played a role; in order to counter male-orientation, you have to understand it and identify it. Lesbian feminist theory is particularly great for this, and I think any woman, gay or straight or bi, can benefit from learning about lesbian perspectives.

Further, getting into women’s culture and enjoying women-made music, films, books, philosophy, art, history, etc. helped build an appreciation for women as humans instead of objects.

Decentering beauty was also a huge factor. I just answered a question about that a few posts down.

That’s all I can think of for right now. An important note: this journey is never finished! So long as we live in a patriarchal society, we will always be negotiating men’s interests vis-a-vis ours. Also do not let any person make you feel bad for just starting out.

[nyalternatehellkitten]

@madharemuses replied to your post “((I have a headache so I'm watching an FE:Engage...”:

[I want to enjoy Engage. I like the art design, I like the characters, I like the gameplay, but for some reason I just can't really bring myself to enjoy it. Also, it lacks replay value compared to most previous titles, so I feel like I spent too much on it.]

@gensokyogarden replied to your post “((I have a headache so I'm watching an FE:Engage...”:

ENGAGE GOOD

((Ayyyy we have the big two(tm) opinions here! Joking aside, I reply to these responses in the same post because I want to share some general thoughts. I'm not trying to pit you against each other by highlighting your opposing opinions lmao. Even though it's been a few days, Engage has been swirling around in my head for about a week or so now, and I do want to give my thoughts to you two, who responded to me, at least, so that post I made doesn't just become a big jebait or whatever the term is. So, spoilers, Zane's thoughts, and etc. etc. beneath the cut. Oh yeah, and it's long so don't read it unless you want to know what I think of a game I've not played, that a lot of people have been dismissive towards.))

I am writing this across several sittings. At the time of writing this statement, I'm watching the Avalanche map, so basically I'm right near the end. (I've also seen some supports, but the guy whose playthrough I'm watching is doing them offsceen because he doesn't want to waste his audience's time with grinding.)

This isn't going to be a structured review, it's more of a slightly-edited thought-dump.

My overall thoughts of this game so far, which is an impression unlikely to change, is this:

Fire Emblem Engage is a game unfairly criticised as worse than it actually is. It's not a super good game, but it does not fall as far below the 'average' standards of the series as much as people say it does.

Before I get into the full swing of things, I need to offer a disclaimer: I am out of touch with the series. I've played FE3-12 and Echoes, which means I'm missing FE1, the game that started it all, and Awakening and Three Houses, two immensely popular games that made big changes to the way Fire Emblem works, brought many new people to the fanbase, and generated a lot of attention. (I also haven't played Fates, but it's a bit less relevant to what I have to say.) I have never been interested in Awakening or Three Houses, but they changed the Fire Emblem 'landscape' so much that I would consider myself out-of-touch simply because I haven't played them.

Addressing some common criticisms

The two main complaints I see first-and-foremost on the internet that dominate over the better-formulated criticisms are: It's too anime and the writing sucks.

Now, the anime thing is stupid. Fire Emblem has always been anime; it's a stale and tasteless counter-argument, but it's objectively true. Most Fire Emblem games at least partially reflect the anime style popular around the time they were made, and all of them draw some influences from anime in general. The designs are too colourful and fancy for my taste, but I still find them enjoyable (Chloe and Etie are probably my favourites? Not super fond of Etie's Archer outfit but the player I'm watching made her a Warrior and she looks fine). In fact, I think this design choice was good; they clearly wanted to deviate from the grimness and seriousness of Three Houses, and can they be blamed for that? Making that sort of story can get heavy at times, so for an anniversary game I feel like going for something lighter was the right choice. Overall, the presentation in this game is excellent; not enough to make me love it like I loved Echoes (which was carried by the presentation alone for me), but good enough that I enjoy seeing it on my screen.

The second criticism is the writing, which is semi-valid. It's almost-good in a lot of places, but there's always one or two tiny details holding it back in my eyes. It's frustrating, because I feel like Engage would actually be quite well-written with a few fairly small edits that remove some of the issues or make the stupid parts (Chapter 10-11 Time Crystal) less stupid. The issue I have with the criticism is not that it's wrong, it's that people act like all of the other games in the series are god-tier writing or something. This is objectively untrue; most Fire Emblem stories are fairly straightforward or cliche plots carried by a cast of one-note, but enjoyable and likeable characters. Liking the characters makes you overlook the flaws in the plot. Just think about how many Fire Emblem games are about awakening or summoning some kind of all-powerful dragon or dark god (or both), and then think about how often that actually bothers you simply because you like some of the characters.

Let's talk about the writing for a moment, since this is an RP blog and therefore revolves around writing

It sounds to me like Engage's writing is actually really average by Fire Emblem standards (it can't be worse than the GBA games at least, if you ask me) but it's issue is that it came after Three Houses, a game which tried to be very different from the rest of Fire Emblem when it comes to writing. I haven't played Three Houses but I have seen people react to it. The amount of time people spend debating and arguing over who's in the right or wrong, beyond just which lord/house they like, shows that the game provoked more thoughts from its players than just "Oh I like this character more than this other character." Engage clearly has not done this, and parts of it that could form a good running theme just don't quite connect. The dots don't quite link up and the stars don't quite align. It falls just short.

In my head, I'm comparing it with other Fire Emblem games and I don't think it's that much worse than some (fairly well regarded) entries in the series. For example, in FE7, everything Ephidel does doesn't really make sense since he's formenting a rebellion in Lycia to gather Quintessence for Nergal to summon dragons... even though Nergal already has enough Quintessence to summon a dragon. In Sacred Stones, Eirika is supposed to be the diplomacy route, and yet everywhere she goes, stuff(tm) happens and she gets dragged into fights because Fire Emblem requires things.exe to happen so that each chapter can be a fight. In Binding Blade, the big exposition was Jahn explaining Idoun's backstory... through the medium of Roy seizing like 20 thrones in one chapter. In Monshou, the big main idea of Hardin being turned evil was great and executed pretty well, but most chapters are "So you're fighting dudes loyal to Medeus or Hardin" and the story is mostly about Marth trying to figure out what's going on in Akaneia. It's not bad, but it's hardly some god-tier story that has the player hanging off the edge of their seat at every chapter.

By comparison, Engage has an issue with build-up and payoff. The payoffs are often good, but the build-ups often don't do them justice. For instance, Morion was a good payoff because while what happened to him was quite predictable, Alchryst and Diamant's boss conversations with him are great. What's lacking is the fact that he gets captured by Hyacinth like... one chapter after he's introduced, after raising a million death flags. If he had been a green unit (or even a playable character with a big "Morion will go back to ruling his kingdom after next chapter" warning, or his stats transferring over to Diamant like with Nils and Ninian in FE7) for a while to let the player get to know him better, then his death would have been more impactful. Let Alear agree or argue with him about certain things; Alear needs to interact with Morion's pretty strong force of personality (that I think is pretty well demonstrated, even if it's quite one-note, in his first appearance).

Likewise, Lumera died too quickly. We needed a few more chapters for her and Alear's relationship to ripen. If the game had opened with Alear sent to Firine (upon Alfred's request, to help deal with Corrupted and bandits), with Lumera accompanying them but not helping them in battles to help him readjust to being awake, then it would have probably worked out better pacing-wise. Little happens character-wise in those chapters, so slotting in some Alear-Lumera interactions would have helped establish Alear's personality and motivations for the rest of the game. After Firine, they could return to Lythos for a little bit of R&R with Lumera promising to teach Alear more about the Emblems. Then the attack happens, she dies before she can, and the game proceeds with Brodia after that. It makes Lumera more impactful because the player gets to see her relationship with Alear more, and it makes their feelings for her stronger too, since they now have time to experience how she's their mother and acts like it.

One last example I will give is Zephia. Her whole death scene is kind of invalidated by the fact that she's been speaking as if the Hounds are her family for the whole game. I think a little tweak could really have fixed it. Take 'family' to be the theme of the story; a lot of Fire Emblem games place emphasis on bloodlines and family. Engage could have taken that both ways: that sometimes, blood family is important (e.g. the royal sibling pairs in the game) but sometimes your found family is just as important (Lumera and Alear) and sometimes your family can be abusive and bad for you (Sombron and Veyle, Zephia and Marni). How does Zephia fit into this? Well, imagine if her dialogue was tweaked ever so slightly. The idea is that she misunderstands how family should be because of Sombron (what he said during the time travel part). She longs for a real family, but because of Sombron she thinks that family should be abusive. Seeing Alear and Veyle helps her appreciate what family should be, and she helps them because of that. She dies thanking Griss, and hoping that Marni will forgive her in the afterlife. There we go, a villain given a better redemption than the weird one she got in the game, and completing a theme/story/lesson for the game as a whole.

Zephia also suffers from the buildup thing. The Hounds have a lot of screentime but they don't really do much with it; Griss and Zephia get their motivations and backstories infodumped as they die, and Mauvier spends the first half of his appearances being all "I am a knight I follow orders" when he should have been dropping hints that his true loyalty was to Veyle, rather than just mechanically following orders. If some of that screentime had been used to develop that Marni wants familial love, while Zephia misunderstands what a family should be, and Griss thinks of Zephia as his mother/older sister but struggles to convey that since his world is dull when he's not feeling pain, then it would have made them more compelling than the four big mooks you knock over 13 times throughout the story. Oh yeah, and of course, they do the "I must retreat" thing way too often. Fighting them feels completely insignificant because they never die until they suddenly do.

Lastly, the characters are all quirky and... oh boy. I've seen people complain that the Engage characters are more one-note crazy than usual. That... doesn't feel true to me. They feel like they're less serious than usual, but that's Engage being light-hearted. I've seen serious stuff (Alfred's illness, Hortensia's feelings about stuff) but mostly it seems to be on the lighter side. I don't mind, but I think it should have perhaps been a bit more of a balance. I will say this thought: of the supports I have seen, character motivations at least seem to make sense and stay decently consistent.

Some of my other criticisms

I would argue that there are a few things holding the game back. The writing, I have already mentioned. While there are plenty of good individual moments, there's often a lack of good build-up or connectedness that makes the whole feel like wasted potential and staleness. The gameplay, I think might actually be the most tactical in any Fire Emblem game so far; you can't just air-drop a god-unit into any situation with 1-2 range as easily because of Weapon Triangle breaking, and chain strikes mean that positioning actually matters, and tanking isn't infinite. This might not be a good thing, however, as I get the feeling that the average casual Fire Emblem player... doesn't care about gameplay much. It can't suck, but a lot of the time they do just want to make their favourite unit into a god and drop them into whatever situation.

One of the biggest problems is the Emblems, however. They're not really written as themselves. They're more like echoes or shadows or ghosts of the character they're meant to be. They often feel like they were written by someone who'd only read a synopsis of what that character was like, instead of seeing and analysing them (which... is probably what happened). The Emblem ring bond supports are bland and soulless most of the time, with often no connection between the character and the Emblem based off their commonalities (though to be fair, writing 12 Emblem supports for each character would have been hell). Regardless, all of the Emblem characters feel way too superficial to actually matter most of the time, they mostly exist to reference their own games a lot or provide the same basic statements about things. The advice they offer in the story is... logical but kind of bland and uninteresting. Sometimes they feel right, but most of the time they feel... not very good, which is not great when they're meant to be a big selling point of the game. It's like the Emblems are supposed to make you so excited about seeing your favourite characters that you don't stop to think if they're acting in-character. I won't comment on them too much gameplay wise, since I think that as much as they are meant to somewhat represent their own games (e.g. Sigurd being mobility and canter, Lucina having dual strike stuff) there's a limit to what you can do since most Fire Emblem games play quite samey.

Another issue I think that Engage has is the lack of post-game. Relying on DLC and Multiplayer to create replayability for a single-player game is just... objectively a bad idea? It's not what people are mostly there for. Watching the playthrough made me think "If I were playing this game, I'd want to run some of the other characters in side battles to see their supports and find out more about them." A post-game would be good for that, maybe with a bonus series of maps like Thabes was in Echoes. As it is, I've seen no evidence of that sort of thing.

I want to say some nice things

So I actually quite like Alear. Not a lot a lot, but a fair lot, if that makes sense. Based on everything shown about past Alear, and the way Alear loses their memories, their character makes sense for most of the game. Past Alear was emotionally stunted because Sombrero is the worst Fire Emblem dad in the series, and present Alear has a serious case of no-thoughts-head-empty at the start of the game. Given that everyone treats them super well (worships even...), it makes sense for them to develop a positive outlook on life, a strong fondness of their friends, a solid sense of duty towards everyone counting on them, and also feel kind of creeped out at being worshipped. Alear also feels a little more complete as a main character to me, oddly enough? I haven't played those games so I can't say for sure, but Robin and Corrin both often gave me a weird vibe like they're meant to be the player's self-insert but didn't commit to it enough. Like they wanted to make a self-insert character but then realised they needed to insert more character for supports, interactions, and story beats. Alear, on the other hand, feels like they wrote a complete character and then had to shove the self-insert in, to their detriment.

I also need to talk about Yunaka. I think Yunaka did something no other Fire Emblem side character (non-main character) has ever done: she immediately made me want to read about her supports to learn more about her backstory. Most Fire Emblem characters show up and I'm like "Okay, so this is this character's vibe. I'll find out more in the supports, I bet." Yunaka though... as soon as I heard her battle/crit quotes and saw how much that differed from the quirky "OwO I am cute thief" personality she was projecting, I was immediately like "There's more here. I need to know what her deal is." The game immediately shows that she's good at acting, and as soon as you put her into combat you see a side of her completely different from the one you saw before, and that sparks curiosity. That's good. Fire Emblem doesn't do that, instead it tries to establish the one note that its one-note characters are based around in a good way so that the player knows what that character's deal is. This time, it did that, and more. I haven't seen all of Yunaka's supports yet, but I will go through all of them when I get the chance to. I must know.

The music and voice acting are pretty good. The presentation and CG art is good. I don't think I need to elaborate on this, I think they're presented in a way that accentuates the atmosphere they're trying to create most of the time.

I'm hesitant about this last bit, but I think the game conveys its characters well. This is something Fire Emblem has never really had trouble doing, so it's not really a thing in Engage's favour, it's just another thing the game is not bad at. The supports (or those that I've seen at least) are good at showing what each character's deal is. That's not hard to do, though it is occasionally not done well (Vaida and Dorcas... a support that shows what their characters are like, but repeats the same joke dragged out three times in a row without really resolving anything).

Edit: Oh, and I can't believe I forgot to say that the really cheesy and campy moments are amusing rather than cringe to me. I think they just barely toe the line at times, but like... given how often the games try to shoehorn the 'Fire Emblem' into it, this really isn't even the worst.

Conclusion

This is the part where I pretend to have a conclusion so it feels structured. I already said what I needed to say at the start, so this is the part I put a bow on it.

I feel like it's hard for me to assess this game. I haven't played it, and I haven't played Awakening and Three Houses, two games that I feel like probably influenced both the fanbase and Engage a lot. But I can't help but feel like it's better than all of the hate it gets. I don't really think it's god tier, but it's definitely not as bad as it's said to be. I think if I did have the opportunity to play it though, I'd enjoy it at least as much as I enjoyed FE6, FE8, and FE11. With the others I played, I think it'd be a bit more up in the air.

If I had to say though, there's enough problems for it to be disappointing, but enough good for it to not warrant the amount of hate I've seen. I feel like the hate it gets is often an instinctual rather than logical thing; rarely do I see people fully explain how they feel, and sometimes some of the people criticising it talk like they're series veterans but it turns out they've played like... 4 games. Still, I can't help but feel like if this game came out after Fates rather than Three Houses, people would have a better view of it.

[longlistshort]

Depicting various locations during different seasons, Dylan Vandenhoeck’s paintings for Right Under the Nose at Jack Barrett Gallery, explore the way selective vision creates and distorts our memories of moments and places.

From the press release by Jonathan Crary-

One of the important features of the Western European modern world that begins to emerge in the decades around the year 1500 is a reorganization of the human senses. Taking place over several hundred years is a relentless prioritization of vision and its isolation from the other senses. What some theorists have called “ocularcentrism” is this privileging of the eye and its alignment with rationalized forms of knowledge that distance a human observer from the physical world and estrange them from the multi-sensory immediacy of perception. Since the Renaissance, the arts have been shaped by practices and techniques that have posed the fiction that our vision is a faithful mirroring of an objective external reality. This model has been a crucial underpinning for the rationalized forms of knowledge and utilitarian, extractive priorities of Western modernity. But there have long been artists whose counter-practices have challenged this dominant framework, including, for instance, Hans Holbein and his Ambassadors, William Blake, J M W Turner, Roberto Matta and Stan Brakhage. 

Dylan Vandenhoeck is part of this lineage for the ways in which his work foregrounds the embodied, or subjective nature of our vision. One of many examples of embodied vision is the fact that our optical impressions are shaped by the actual curvature of our spherical eyeballs. Yet the most pervasive systems of visual representation, such as linear perspective, have “corrected” this phenomenon by imposing rectilinear organizations onto perceptual experience. Another feature of lived vision to which Vandenhoeck is attentive are afterimages, the response of our eyes (as part of our nervous system) to  strong stimulation of various kinds, but notably sunlight. Afterimages are vivid evidence of how our vision is a composite of sensations produced by our body and of the diverse effects of the luminous environment in which we are situated. His paintings present this hybridity as a heterogenous field of divergent events with different temporalities, but which nonetheless coalesce into the dynamic world of immediate experience. Using the terms of Deleuze and Guattari, Vandenhoeck creates a smooth space as opposed to a striated one, that is, non-metric, de-centered and open to metamorphoses. 

Around the Mound, for example, manifests some of these qualities in its disturbance of conventional spatial cues, such as altering our reading of what is near and far. It affirms an aggregate field of vision composed of perceptual fragments that don’t cohere into a unified whole. But notably, while Vandenhoeck has crafted a landscape shaped by these disjunctions, he has also interwoven into the work swirling and pulsating flows that engage the viewer kinesthetically. Part of his project is to challenge the ways in which our attentiveness has been regulated and impoverished by the digital milieus in which we are perpetually immersed. The monotonous omnipresence of electroluminescent color and powerful forms of perceptual control, such as eye tracking, have routinized and diminished our visual capacities.  Vandenhoeck conveys intimations of the sensory and libidinal gratifications of a heightened bodily response to the vibrant plurality of a living world. In this sense, there is at least a limited utopian underpinning to the images in this show. Yet if one dimension of his work poses the possibility of revivifying our perception, he makes clear that this can only occur within the broken actualities of the early twenty-first century. His revelatory images are all grounded in the prosaic periphery of New York City, marked by highways, shopping malls, and cell phone towers. Thus, one of Vandenhoeck’s remarkable achievements is the reclaiming of an expanded, transfigured vision amid the familiar terrain of the everyday. 

This exhibition closes 6/22/24.

[nitefyre443]

What is Memento Mori ? Well its an essay a 3 in 1 but follow me here.

Well, I never thought I would be back here but life is works in strange and mysterious ways. What is Memento Mori, well that is a long story but the short of it is after following, listening and chatting with @allgirlsareprincesses and @MarieCGould Mythologist and Creator of @whattheforce, learning and listening I came to two conclusions.

First Conclusion: These ladies were smart and I should hang around for a while and listen. I will come out of this a much better writer.

Second Conclusion: There is something broken in American Pop Culture, and it rears its head every now and then but nothing worst than Dec, 2019..something fundamentally broke and it has created this schism as to what Hope, Love, Death and Sacrifice mean , why they are so vitality important to not only storytelling but art in any form that its comes in. However I could not put my finger on, couldn't put into the words but the ideas and thoughts were forming and then...I got COVID.

So after first surviving and a good year to stew on this along with recovery. This idea finally start to coalesce into thing something. And it start with this thought. American Pop Culture is afraid to deal with Death. What do I mean? Most American Pop Culture and or the American monomyth use Death as a tool. It is an impersonal thing visited upon an evil doer and put back away in its little box. Yet not many actually in engage with the frail, fleeting nature of human life and how beautiful that is.

We have had lost what the meaning of Love and Sacrifice means, sacrifice is an selfless act to given willingly not for the reward of salvation or redemption but an act of love itself. The key word here willingly keep this in mind because Choice will come back later on. And Death, death is never the means in which we find salvation but the end state of life, one we must all face it because we are human. We neither rush towards it blindly, nor should we irrationally fear.

To wrap this up, Memento Mori is my little project were I am going to look at 3 stories that are outside of the Hollywood bubble, and were we can see how Hope, Love, Sacrifice and Death are not opposing forces but work in hand in hand and are deeply part of the human condition, all of these stories end with the death of the Protagonist but as I will present they are not as tragic as they seem. This is going to be in three parts as follows and I can't wait for everyone to read them:

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners - Selene who dared to kiss the Sun

Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans - The Blood Stained White Demon of Hope

Final Fantasy XVI - The Fallen Angel that loved God's creation imperfect creation

[erwin-l]

“Ferdinand” by Blue Sky Studios Production

"Ferdinand," a Blue Sky Studios production, is based on the renowned children's book about a gentle-hearted bull who defies preconceptions and follows his own way. This animated adventure, directed by Carlos Saldanha, is known for his work on the "Ice Age" trilogy and presents a heartwarming story with recognizable characters, spectacular visuals, and a positive message.

The plot centres around Ferdinand (voiced by John Cena), a massive bull with a heart the size of his body. Ferdinand, unlike his fellow bulls raised for bullfighting, prefers to sniff flowers and appreciate nature's beauty. When Ferdinand is mistaken for a strong and aggressive bull due to a series of events, he starts on a journey to discover his place in the world.

One of the most attractive and relatable qualities of "Ferdinand" is its endearing and sympathetic protagonist. Ferdinand's unrelenting determination to remaining true to himself in the face of society expectations is both motivating and heartening. With his warm and honest voice acting, John Cena brings the character to life, making Ferdinand a beloved and unforgettable presence on film.

The animation in "Ferdinand" is visually amazing, capturing the brilliant hues of the Spanish countryside and creating a rich and engaging environment. Blue Sky Studios' artistry is evident in the attention to detail in the character designs as well as the smoothness of the animation. Every frame is a visual feast, from the delicate petals of flowers to the elegance of the bullfighting arena.

The supporting cast of characters lends complexity and humor to the plot. The three hedgehogs, played by Gina Rodriguez, Daveed Diggs, and Gabriel Iglesias, provide comic relief and memorable moments throughout the film. Ferdinand's encounters with his newfound buddies are packed with witty banter and real friendliness.

Aside from its fascinating plot and charming characters, "Ferdinand" conveys an essential lesson about embracing one's uniqueness and opposing conventional standards. It instills in both children and adults the importance of kindness, empathy, and the strength of being genuine to oneself. This underlying idea lends depth and value to the film, elevating it above the level of a fun cartoon adventure.

While "Ferdinand" is a fun family movie, there are a few scenes that may be too strong or emotional for younger audiences. The bullfighting scenes, while done tastefully, may need a discussion with parents about the sport and its ethical implications.

Overall, "Ferdinand" is a touching and artistically appealing animated film that will leave audiences of all ages smiling. Blue Sky Studios has created a feel-good movie that highlights the importance of keeping true to oneself and embracing differences with its uplifting message, appealing characters, and breathtaking animation. "Ferdinand" is a bull-sized dosage of fun and laughter that will entertain and inspire both children and adults.

[murdertrashbabyrat]

Look there’s truth to parts of this but I’ve had a completely different experience so I’d hesitate to label it a “causality” for everyone like fandom tumblr isn’t alive and well?! (‘Sometimes I can still hear their voice’ ‘stop telling everyone I’m dead’) I encourage you to find new fandoms and new creators because I’m neck deep in this shit fam. You might be moving on but I’m out here in the trenches with the other people that don’t stop loving what they love and showing it to everyone year after year with no pause. My tumblr experience hasn’t changed in ten years because I follow people who love things and love them hard. Fandom culture is very much alive and well on here even if it doesn’t seem like it to you and I’m sorry that you’re not seeing it in whatever you have interest in.

Besides from my view we can hate one way without worshipping the other just to be in opposition. Streaming services suck for a lot of reasons. That’s a fact. But also “real television” or cable being the only way to watch our favorite shows actually made it harder for a lot of us because the episodes came out at specific times, someone else was using the tv, you missed the first five minutes and now nothing makes sense, etc. Each episode was chocked with ads and MOST importantly, a large chunk of tv was written with the sole intention of bringing you back the next week rather than making any damn sense. Also you constantly feel behind and like you can’t speak to people about it until you see the episode which you might not have time for which is a way worse feeling to have every single week as opposed to a few a season.

To be clear I truly think they both have their pros and cons I just don’t get this idea of worshipping ye olden times like boomers (what like ten years ago lmao Jesus Christ) and calling it “real tv” (omg just realized that sounds like the Watcher tv drama recently lmao) when there were so many problems y’all used to complain about with that too.

It’s okay that it all just sucks because every last piece of it is sadly driven by money(no offense to the artists themselves tbh I’m thinking of the studios). I think it’s just going to keep you down if you insist EVERYTHING is worse fandom tumblr is totally dead and then also straight up disrespect the art that’s being produced on streaming.

I DO think they could fix this problem by just releasing the show episode by episode on their own site goddamn but like sorry I’m not still jerking off to long ass seasons with convoluted plots that are half finished so they can get it on network television fast enough?? Sorry I’d rather see shorter pieces of art then to see someone dragging a dead horse of a show behind them for fifteen seasons and I’ve gotta watch like I’m in a horror movie as it transforms into something boring and deeply repetitive like sorry I’m not still part of the Supernatural fandom let me get right on that I only burned out after ten seasons bet I can watch FIVE MORE of “real television” like are you kidding literally kill me. (To be clear this isn’t even shade on spn it’s just gods perfect example)

A lot of us don’t or can’t commit to long ass fandoms with long ass shows that doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy the same level and quality of fandom engagement this just all feels very nostalgia heavy rather than let’s really sit and consider if this is worse or simply just as bad but different as most things presented by rich people for profit are throughout history.

fandom tumblr was another casualty of streaming services. we used to be on here posting about the episodes that were coming out weekly and posting gifs and writing insane shit about the tv shows we liked. now a new season of a show will drop and we’ll talk about it for a week. two weeks tops. and then that show will leave collectively conscious for 1+ year till the next season drops. there’s a reason succession sundays was a blast on here

we used to have real television

[cesium-sheep]

I read the first volume of dandadan last night, heads up that there is a pretty violent/graphic but unsuccessful sexual assault attempt by aliens including attempted use of mind control in the first chapter. I probably would not have made it past that chapter if ignacio hadn't vouched for that being by far the worst of it, which is accurate so far.

also less vital heads up that one of momo's friends is a very over-the-top gyaru that could easily come off as. yknow. bad optics. she's only present for like one page but they also haven't been at school since the very start of this volume so I have no idea if she returns at all let alone if she gets any better. or worse.

the art style is very modern sj in my mind, like a demon slayer as opposed to a naruto if that makes sense. aside from the Very Shaky first chapter the fanservice has been not absent but fleeting, at least for our main character, which makes her grandma's design more tolerable lol

I like that it really feels like momo is the lead rather than okarun. we meet her first, we stick to her perspective, she has desires and makes decisions that are well beyond just demurely trotting along behind the Real Lead, we really have no idea how okarun feels about her or anything other than what he says outright but we do know he's genuinely starting to win her over already despite not seeming to try to at all. which is cute! lord knows I love an actual earned romance as a b plot to an action series (the mummy my beloved) and this is clearly being set up from literally the beginning, rather than something that will get thrown in arbitrarily in like volume 15 cuz they need a banner event or whatever.

the whole depression joke thing feels like it could easily become grating, but it hasn't yet, and it only shows up when he's actively using turbo granny rather than him just being a perennial mope. (which, it is entirely possible to write depressed characters but they tend to be real hard to love for me in particular. keeping it a fairly mild and undisruptive joke works a lot better for me.)

I also get the impression the like, unique set up really isn't going to matter much in the long run, they both believe in both things now having encountered them both and that's that. so it's a little weird that so much of the marketing seems to focus on that, at least for the manga.

I really like that both of them are pretty quickly determined to protect each other in a way that does not feel impersonal or forced (or inept), and I really like that aside from the first chapter when they first get their powers they're not winning by being stronger or leveling up but by being observant and clever. (which to some degree is even true of the first encounter.) and they feel like they work as a team like, immediately, even though they basically don't know each other and it would have been very easy to write them as a lot more selfish or bumbling. (and maybe for some people that feels unrealistic, but I've met people who feel like that myself, like the one who recommended this to me in the first place lol)

overall, engaging characters, engaging fights, definitely Loud but somehow not over the top for me despite my very low tolerance for Loud. I am pleasantly surprised and I would definitely like to read more. (or con my friend into telling me more of it)

[hayzelnothazel]

Week 3: Is Tumblr a public sphere?

A popular microblogging and social media platform, such as Tumblr, may not seem like the most obvious example of a "public sphere." But hear me out: this platform demonstrates many of the characteristics of a space for public deliberation and discussion, as described by German philosopher Jürgen Habermas. According to Habermas (1990), the public sphere is a space where private individuals gather to discuss and use reason to generate critical knowledge, resulting in political change, and Tumblr fits this description in its own unique way.

Unlike platforms like Instagram or Facebook, which prioritize curated personal lives and algorithm-driven content, Tumblr thrives on anonymity and community-driven interactions. Every user can engage in discussions without the pressure of real-world identities, allowing for more honest and diverse perspectives. 

Furthermore, Tumblr has long been defined by many of its users and the media as the “social justice” platform and “social justice warrior” (McCracken et al., 2020) because of its role in empowering vulnerable groups like feminists, people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals. For example, Tumblr had a huge impact on the LGBTQ+ community, particularly for young people to explore their gender and sexuality via shared experiences from others. A 2016 study, "Scrolling Beyond Binaries," found that 64% of LGBTQ+ respondents had used Tumblr to connect with "people who are like me" (Menz, 2022). And it is not only about identity, the growing presence of the LGBTQ+ community on Tumblr also attracts creative communities, such as artists, musicians, and writers, who create art with LGBTQ+ themes because they can’t find much visibility for lesbians in traditional media like TV shows, movies, or art (Ables, 2019). Therefore, Tumblr has proudly called itself "The Queerest Place on the Internet" (Garcia, 2021), presenting an obvious contrast to platforms like Instagram that have faced criticism for censoring LGBTQ+ content (Levesque, 2020).

Tumblr - An Imperfect Public Sphere

On the other hand, this platform's algorithm and tagging system can lead to echo chambers, in which users only see content that supports their beliefs (Kathleen et al, 2008). While niche communities can be empowering, they can also isolate users with opposing viewpoints, reducing opportunities for meaningful cross-community interactions. Then there's the issue of moderation (or lack thereof). Tumblr's anonymity promotes free expression, but it additionally promotes cyberbullying and harassment in some ways.

Worst of all, Tumblr has struggled with harmful and illegal content, including child pornography. This got so bad that Apple removed the Tumblr app from the App Store in 2018 (Silverstein, 2018). In response, Tumblr implemented a controversial NSFW ban, alienating many users and further harming the platform's reputation.

So, yes, Tumblr is a public sphere, albeit a flawed one. It's a place where voices from underrepresented groups can thrive, but it can also be hindered by echo chambers, harassment, and ineffective moderation.

REFERENCES

Ables, K. (2019, June 25). Tumblr Helped a Generation of LGBTQ+ Artists Come of Age. Artsy. https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-tumblr-helped-generation-lgbtq-artists-age

Garcia, J. (2021, May 7). Tumblr Dubs Itself the “Queerest Place on the Internet.” MUO; MakeUseOf. https://www.makeuseof.com/tumblr-queerest-place-on-internet/

Kathleen Hall Jamieson and Cappella, J.N. (2008). Echo Chamber. Oxford University Press.

Levesque, B. (2020, December 30). Instagram’s anti-LGBTQ trolls use algorithms & zap gay influencers. Washington Blade: LGBTQ News, Politics, LGBTQ Rights, Gay News. https://www.washingtonblade.com/2020/12/30/instagrams-anti-lgbtq-trolls-use-algorithms-zap-gay-influencers/

McCracken, A., Cho, A., Stein, L., & Hoch, I. (2020). A Tumblr Book : platform and cultures. University of Michigan Press.https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.11537055

Menz, A. (2022, May 2). How Tumblr Acts as a Crucial Resource for Online Queer Communities - Debating Communities and Networks XIII. Debating Communities and Networks XIII - This Is the Official Conference Site for the Debating Communities and Networks 13 Conference 2022. https://networkconference.netstudies.org/2022/csm/1191/how-tumblr-acts-as-a-crucial-resource-for-online-queer-communities/

Silverstein, J. (2018, November 20). Tumblr app disappears from Apple’s App Store because of child porn. Cbsnews.com; CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tumblr-app-disappears-from-apple-app-store-because-of-child-porn/