#because ultimately it just has to be a theme of your lived reality like actual real life stuff that is happening to you

[lailoken]

What are your favorite pieces of media that you think accurately represent magic and spirit work? Movies, books, even music..

This is an interesting question, but one that requires a lot of thought, as I have read and watched an inordinate amount of books and movies. Plus, even really good fiction with pagan themes that I've read/watched is generally inaccurate in most ways, with some realistic aspects of magic woven in here and there. Some of my very favorite media relating to the subject can't really be included, simply because of how inaccurate it is overall, but there are a few that have caught my notice.

I'm sure I'll end up missing ones, which bugs me, but I'll do my best to recount some examples that I can think of:

The Love Witch (2016) is a movie that I think presents a strikingly realistic portrayal of what magic can look like. It manages to show some of the ways one might use magic to great effect, without actually skewing into fantasy at all. Clearly, the magic shown isn't going to line up with every paradigm, and its not exactly a heady or spirit-based story, but I think it's a very real look at how ritual and magic is/can be approached by many folks in the modern day.

The Witch (2015) is, above all else, a great slow-burn horror film and an excellent period-piece. However, it also portrays quite an accurate conception of folkloric beliefs about Witchcraft in the 17th century, which inexorably inform the realities of modern Witchcraft traditions. It does just barely skew into fantasy horror, but the actual folkloric information being presented is quite sound.

A Dark Song (2016) is a film that portrays ceremonial magic realistically in many ways. Ultimately, it is still a supernatural horror film, but the bulk of the magic in the movie is based directly on the Abramelin Operation, which was interesting to see. A lot of the ways that the magic "takes shape" in the film feels real enough to me, too (though it certainly takes it to extremes at points, as horror movies are wont to do).

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson is a horror novel I much enjoyed when I read it a coulple years ago, but I also remember that it happens to contain small, but meaningful, instances of sympathetic magic within the story that I appreciated as a practitioner looking in. This one has been made into a movie as well.

Cunning Folk by Adam Nevill is one of the more realistic looks at magic—including the uncanny side of it—that I've come across. It's still definitely a horror story, first and foremost, but there's an oomph to the ritual and magic described therein that a lot of other similar fiction lacks—even when the ritual act being described isn't necessarily accurate in terms of historicality or my personal experience of the Craft.

The White People by Arthur Machen is a Welsh short horror story from the turn of the century, which I think is worth including here. There are elements and aspects of the story that feel surprisingly real in terms of Gloaming initiation and the Gloaming Spirits—though, of course, it takes creative liberties informed by the paranormal beliefs and trends of the time (1890s).

The Craft (1996) is a movie that I'm sure a lot of pagans have of nostalgia for in one way or another, myself included. I struggled with whether this movie should be here or in the Honorable Mention section, but I included it here in the end because a lot of the ways magic and ritual are presented in the film are accurate enough. I also think it did a fairly good job of capturing how it can feel to discover, revel in, and then become overwhelmed by magic. However, since it is a supernatural horror film, a lot of magic shown is portrayed more fantastically than the real thing, and there are aspects of the magic (rituals, entities, etc.) made up entirely for the sake of the story.

As implied above, there are also some pieces that, while largely inaccurate or too far into the realm of fantasy, still manage to succesfully capture some essence of realistic feeling magic in them. I will list those here as Honorable Mentions:

Practical Magic (1998) is another movie that I'm sure a lot of Pagans have nostalgia for in some way or another. I won't claim that it's a genuinely "accurate" representation of magic—and it certainly strays into outright fantasy at times—but there are little things throughout the movie that managed to ring a bell for me, as someone who grew up with magic in my family. I know this was originally a book, but I actually haven't read that as of yet, so I can't speak to it.

Pan's Labyrinth (2006) is a movie is squarely in the fantasy-horror genre to me, but even still, I include it here as an honorable mention because a lot of the lore depicted is drawn from real lore, and the overall ambience it manged to evoke strongly reminds me of some of my own experiences with chthonic journeying.

The Good Witch franchise isn't one I have ever actually watched any part of before, but I include it here because, oddly enough, multiple practitioners have mentioned to me that they think the magic is surprisingly realistic for a Hallmark series. As I understand it, the main character is a sort of local Wise Woman who helps the folk in her little town using things like folk-knowledge, remarkable intuition, and an uncanny ability to seemingly sway people and circumstances. Since I haven't seen it myself, my take on it may be somewhat lacking, (which is why I listed it as an honorable mention), but based on the description, it actually sounds like it may be one of the more realistic interpretations of magic on this list.

I know this is a strange addition, as it's not exactly magic, per se, but much of how Stephen King writes about psychic abilities like clairvoyance and healing throughout his works manages to touch on something all too familiar for me. I think, sometimes, that he may have known someone with the Sight and/or the Touch in his real life, as it comes up a lot in one shape or another in his writing.

As I said, I'm sure there's stuff I'm missing, but this at least a serviceable overview. I encourage others to share any other media that they think deserves a mention, too!

[soracities]

Hey i hope your day is peaceful 💗

I have been thinking about writing and poetry lately and i wonder if all poetry out there or most of the writings are from the writer's personal experience and suffering/pain/joy i mean do u think some writers just write (aside from fiction stories ofc) about a thing they don't truly feel it resembles them or they haven't gone through (or not going through) but they heard about it or liked the idea of it so they write about it?

In general, I do, but I also think it really depends on the poet, the subject and the poem itself. A lot of the time though, I think it's probably a mix of both. Keats had this thing he called "negative capability" which, if I remember correctly, is about a poet's ability to be receptive to the world and objects around them & express an emotional landscape or reality separate from the poet's own identity & life as an individual person. It's what allows you, as a writer, to put yourself in an alternate experience and imagine the world from a completely different point of view.

I don't think everything a poet writes about pertains directly, or literally, to events in their actual lives--I do believe, though, that a lot of poets have particular themes, questions, ideas and images that move them and that they often come back to or examine in different ways, from different perspectives. But not all of those perspectives relate to something happening to them specifically (do you have to go to war to write an anti-war poem, for example?). Some poets are more personal & intimate in their poems; some aren't. Some poets weave the personal and non-personal in so tightly the question of literal biography is a pointless venture. It really depends on the writer and what the poem, as a space, as an act of engagement, means to them.

I think the whole "sit at a typewriter and bleed" mantra has made autobiography seem like something that is inherent to every poem, but I don't believe that's true; I think the only way you can address the question of "was this real?" is on a poet by poet basis, by looking through their work and their recurring preoccupations, their life and what they themselves have said or explained. But as a default, I don't think it's a fair reading because so much can be happening in an individual poem (emotionally, structurally, linguistically) and it runs the risk of obscuring the larger questions we could be asking about the poem or missing where it's trying to take us. At the end of the day I think framing it as "what is this poet curious about" rather than "did this actually happen to them?" is a far better way of getting acquainted with the world of a particular poem, if that makes sense?

We look at poetry as this deeply intimate form of writing, and it can be, but, again, every poet is different and every poet has a completely different relationship to that writing. It's intimacy is not the same as a diary entry. A poem is also, ultimately, not a piece of reportage: it's a work of art and the work part often gets missed: it has just as much intention, construction, rewriting and reworking and creative license as a novel or a painting. Sometimes a particular event will have inspired something and sometimes that event is front and centre ("Mid-Term Break" by Seamus Heaney, for instance). Other times the event is nowhere near as important as the questions it poses and those questions, in turn, lead somewhere completely different. That's my view on it, at least x

[extasiswings]

I said this to others already, but to me this finale had a lot of 4x14 vibes tbh. Season 4 was severely hindered in it’s production due to COVID and i am, to this day, convinced that that’s also what made them tie it up with such a neat little bow before (at least in Bucktaylors case) undoing a lot of it immediately as season 5 rolled around. Essentially giving everyone the happiest ending they feasibly could.

And there’s something to be said about how mainstream tv seems to think that “happy ending” always equals “in a romantic relationship” whether or not the relationship itself is developed or healthy at all, but for two characters with character arcs so intertwined with their love life, it does make sense.

The thing is, to me this makes sense. Am I thrilled? No. But I’m excited to see what they do because I understand how this fits with the rest of the season and I’m not worried about it.

There were three big themes circling around Buck and Eddie all season. 1) missing the things that are right in front of you; 2) fantasy vs reality; and 3) Fear holding you back/preventing you from living your life. All three of these themes are tied together and need to be worked through to get to a place of Buddie canon and Buck’s “I’m already Christopher’s father” realization. But the last one is arguably the most important in order to get to the heart of the others and that’s where I feel like Marisol and Natalia come in.

Buck and Eddie both started the season single. But not because they necessarily wanted to be, because they were afraid not to be. Afraid to put themselves out there, afraid of being rejected, afraid of making mistakes. But being single out of fear is not the same thing as wanting to be alone or being comfortable with your life as it is, it’s just letting fear control your life. So the way I see it, if they had ended the season still single, that would have changed nothing from where they started.

For Eddie especially, this is a baby step but a necessary one. Whatever happens with Marisol, Eddie’s going to wind up on the other side with some confidence in himself and his ability to be a romantic partner and that’s what he needs to ultimately be secure enough to put himself on the line and really be honest with Buck. It’s low-stakes, it’s fluff, but I think it’s good for him.

For Buck, I disagree with the idea that he is inherently repeating the same mistakes. Yes, it’s not an auspicious start, but we as the audience see things that Buck doesn’t, and also there are some pretty key differences between Natalia and Taylor. With Taylor, they had a preexisting relationship. Buck knew going in all of the things about her that were dealbreakers for him, and instead of being true to himself, he told himself that he could “learn to live with it” and stayed with her for a year. With Taylor, he knew she was fundamentally a person whose values conflicted with his going all the way back to Dosed. He never should have dated her to begin with.

By contrast, he’s been on exactly three dates with Natalia. He barely knows her, and by all accounts she seems like a perfectly nice person even if someone who isn’t ultimately going to work for him (which is something that has been projected to the audience, but not for Buck). She hasn’t done anything wrong (it was pretty reasonable for her to feel overwhelmed and leave when Kameron crashed their date) and there’s nothing about her so far (in her personality or otherwise) that shows Buck is compromising himself and settling. Right now he’s clinging to a woman he wanted to date and get to know better anyway because she wants to be with him too and he’s feeling vulnerable—okay? He wanted to be with her though, I didn’t get the impression this was just about him being afraid to be alone (the way I felt about BT all through S4-S5). If they’re still together after the hiatus when they’ve known each other for more than five minutes and been on more than three dates, and we have actual evidence of him compromising himself where he shouldn’t? Then I’ll be agree that he’s repeating the same mistakes. But if anything right now I’m assuming this is his chance to prove his growth when he is ultimately put in a position to do better—that when something significant comes up he will be comfortable enough with himself to break things off instead of settling for what he doesn’t want. In the meantime, idk about y’all, but it takes me more than three dates to figure out if someone I’m interested in is going to be a good fit for me in the long run. And in a similar vein to Eddie needing to gain some confidence in his ability to be a romantic partner, I think Buck needs to be able to prove to himself that if he’s put in a situation where he’s settling, he’s capable of walking away. And for both of them I think those are important steps for them to take before they’re ready to be together.

[aprito]

(English is not my first language, so I apologize if what I say is not very understandable).

It left me thinking what you said about some people only being interested in your account to escape reality through fandom.

Have they even stopped to think that the canonical history of the fandom they follow is full of wars, and children used to kill?Aren't we all worshiping Sasori, who lost his parents in the war and then became an active participant himself, being just a child?

Are they so oblivious to the fact that these characters made us see the gray of a world full of death and violence, that they cannot realize that all these stories are a representation of the real behavior of our humanity?

Don't delete anything, please say everything you feel necessary to say. These people have me in shock.

Naruto's ""darker"" themes has always been an analysis of how inherently evil militarism, feudalism, hyper nationalism and exposing literal children to the horrors of war and death can be and how these systems enabling these horrors shouldn't exist. It's not black and white like you said, but there are beliefs that will always be red flags to me. Take the Uchiha massacre for example, which would be the closest comparison we can make to current events.

Unfortunately, partly due to Kishimoto's shitty centrist writing and due to how predispositioned and pre-propagandized the audience is, all of these conclusions can get glossed over and lost. How many in this fandom defended Konoha's violent pursuit of Sasuke for the longest time? Saying that he wasn't allowed to deal with Itachi, and then reprimanding him for turning his hatred towards the village? Worse, how many fawn over characters like Obito, Shisui, and especially Itachi - who had no qualms about endangering their clan and ultimatively agreeing that none of them deserved to oppose their oppressors and live? Konoha, not just Danzo, in turn had kept up a heavily propagandized image of the Uchiha due to their own personal hatred and beliefs. In Danzo's case, an excuse to get access to their organs for personal profit. Worse, they (Itachi, Shisui) didn't bother being honest with their own people, ultimatively not allowing them to escape or fight back. Contrast this against the hatred for Fugaku, who not once decided to act on his own and correctly pointed out that they have been ostracised and dehumanised for things they didn't do and feared it would get worse. Sound familiar? People are correct when they call the Uchiha massacre a genocide because that's what it was, but those are the people who actually drew from real life examples to criticially engage with the material.

Analysing real world struggle and applying that analysis to the narrative is the reason I continously empathize that Sasori's hatred for Suna shouldn't be glossed over for cushy high ranking positions because he just so happens to be talented. It's integral to his character and his actions, and it's a valid hatred to have. I honestly wish Kishimoto would have a fraction of enthusiasm for exposing the systems of oppressions as Oda has (a lot of conflicts in One Piece heavily, I mean HEAVILY, draw from the Cuban Revolution), because Naruto as a story would be far better off and probably would have more to say.

This also means, of course, that I recommend the audience to engage with this subject, and not fall for the propaganda of their oppressors <3 Palestine: A Socialist Introduction is currently free as an ebook for a start.

[sapphire-weapon]

I always felt as though Luis and Leon's relationship were a case of lost love or a possible unrequited love (on Luis's side). It makes it sadder.

i wouldn't say that i felt that way in OG, but you can absolutely make a case for it in remake.

i don't have a whole lot to say about luis's perspective personally (@theggning is your resident luis expert, not me), but just in terms of their dynamic in general, i was absolutely shocked by how intimate luis's death scene was.

i'm a former smoker, and maybe i'm weird in this idk, but i only let someone light a cigarette for me once and then never allowed it again because of how profoundly uncomfortable it made me; to me, it felt like that was the most intimate you could be with a person without physically touching them. it crossed a line for me. so that + the angle at which the scene was shot, and just the cinematic direction of it in general... and then for it to be capped off with leon very gingerly placing the lighter back into luis's hand and holding it there -- it was just a very, very intimate moment. far beyond what RE has done in the past -- with any two characters.

remake did a lot of interesting things that OG didn't, and one of the most interesting things was its use of themes. there was a whole lot in there about "can people change" and "penance and atonement" and "chasing the idealized version of the self" and a lot of that shit is shown through leon and luis.

i think, in leon, luis saw someone that he wished he'd personally always been: someone who can view things at a far enough distance to see the bigger picture (though LOLOLOL the irony is that luis has no idea just how much leon had to learn to do that the hard way), and someone who does the right thing because it's right and won't be tempted or swayed or bought off his path. and that's probably ultimately the reason why luis gave ada the finger and threw his lot in with leon instead. ada was too much of who luis already was, whereas leon was someone he wished he could be.

and in luis, i think leon saw a reflection of his own failures, and was forced to face the uncomfortable reality that luis was actually doing something about his past misdeeds, whereas leon himself was just going through the motions and moving forward numbly and blindly.

honestly? i don't think leon could have/would have killed krauser in remake if not for luis -- because krauser was the other side of the coin. for all intents and purposes, krauser had done exactly what leon was in the process of doing -- he was the culmination of years of letting shit build up and not doing anything about it. as a result, he became an angry, unhinged, bitter, unforgiving, sexually repressed traitor who lived for nothing and died for less.

luis was the opposite of that; luis chose atonement and penance, and he died a hero as a result. and i think leon looked at that and made the decision to walk the same path as luis instead of continuing along the path that might one day lead to him becoming krauser. he realized that couldn't keep doing things the way that he'd always done them, because if he did, he'd just get the same results -- and that would lead to the angry, bitter resentment etc etc etc.

and to have the kind of shared growth and inverted perspectives that leon and luis have as characters is absolutely 100% romantic. you see that kind of shit in romance novels all the time. so there is really something to be said about it.

sorry i know that a lot of this is super meta and kind of abstract, but it's something that i've been thinking about for a few weeks, and this ask kind of gave me an excuse to explore it a little bit lmao

[bakedbakermom]

i know others have touched on this before but as i'm currently in s6 on my rewatch i am thinking Big Thoughts and trying to write them down into something coherent.

so much of s6 involves dreams and resets and circular storytelling that ultimately has little to no effect on reality. (the ouroboros of it all.) mulder and scully appear to be learning the same lessons over and over, retracing their steps again and again without actually moving forward. scully first talks about the endless line in never again, and then again in dreamland about how they are in the car together driving past people living "real lives" while they just keep driving. she wants a life, he wants the chase, and how do they reconcile the two? she is asking him - in her subtle circling-the-issue (the ouroboros of it all) way - to Get Out Of The Car With Her, live a normal life With Her.

never mind that the car IS their normal life. she doesn't see that yet. he doesn't see that yet. so they keep driving.

in a way, the whole season is Monday played out in long form. they are repeating the same story over and over because they haven't learned the lesson yet. in a season heavy with Wizard of Oz references, it comes down to this: if i ever go looking for my heart's desire, i won't look any further than my own backyard.

i mean, let's look at some themes shall we:

Drive: we can't get out of the car (literally)

Triangle: mulder is trapped in a ww2 funhouse mirror of his real life and the big thing he comes away understanding is that he's in love with scully, meanwhile scully learns just how much of the world she's willing to burn down (literally all of it) to help him.

Dreamland: mulder would hate a normal life, scully doesn't actually want to get out of the car

How the Ghosts Stole Christmas: scully's back in the car (both literally and "maybe i did want to be out there with out") and mulder is recognizing that it can't all be about him and also YOU IDIOTS ARE SO IN LOVE EVEN THE JADED DEAD CAN SEE IT

Terms of Endearment: what do we really want in this life, and what are we willing to do to get it?

The Rain King: what you want is right in front of you (you idiot)

Tithonus: what is eternity without love

Monday: the ouroboros will only break when you figure out what you need to do to fix it

Arcadia: okay maybe playing house/getting out of the car isn't right for either of us

Milagro: agent scully is already in love

The Unnatural: (incoherent sobbing i cannot talk about this one it's Just So)

Three of a Kind: mulder isn't even IN this one but scully will stop drop everything to get in the car fly to vegas at 2:30 in the morning because she doesn't want to get out of the car if he's not coming with her so i guess we may as well keep driving

Field Trip: their worlds are not complete without each other

obviously i'm leaving some out, mostly mytharc and "meh" episodes that i don't remember well enough to analyze right now but you get the picture.

and it's like ??? these beautiful idiots keep saving each other and throwing themselves on the knife to protect each other and and and and OPEN YOUR GODDAMN EYES

[iiboronii]

Ok so the aforementioned OC universe is known as IDPS, short for Interdimentional Pizza Shop (and Mercenary Work)! There is literal YEARS worth of lore and ideas put into this thing I love it so much :D

This version of Artic is the one in my pfp, and who the oc: artic tag refers to lol- Basically she's embodiment of the season of winter, a huge dragon enthusiast, and the much-needed voice of reason!!

She's not a "true" skeleton per se, like she's not undead, she's just kinda in the shape of one- Though she can disconnect and reattach her bones like a cartoon ouo

She has ice powers, but not in a "shooting ice beams out of your hands" kinda way, it's very contact based!

She can freeze things by touching them, she can make a layer of ice under her feet to sliiide around super fast, and sometimes she physically freezes up under stress so you have to wait for her to thaw out akjfds

She can pick up your drink and little ice cubes form in it, in whatever shape she wants! And when she cries the tears freeze up so there's just little bits of ice on her face you gotta wipe off

In IDPS there are these things called essences, which are the super concentrated (and super illegal) form of a concept, usually in liquid form like a potion. Like if you poured a drop of Essence of Princess onto an apple, it would turn all sparkly and have a big bow on it!

Artic just naturally has the Essence of Winter in her bones instead of blood or marrow! So she doesn't have to worry about vampires bc they'd just get a really bad brainfreeze lol

She mainly fights with dual blades made of ice, inspired by Monster Hunter's dual blades! She's a very strategic and speedy fighter, her movements almost dancelike in combat, and she likes to use the terrain to her advantage!

And since this is a multiverse story, she actually goes through the story mode of Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, saving a village from a giant sea monster! The gal who gives out quests in that game, Aisha, is like an older sister to her hehe ouo

So Artic is a licensed monster hunter, and she is absolutely FASCINATED with these creatures and how they work. And after some shenanigans in her childhood town in the mountains, she even starts her own sanctuary to educate people and care for dragons that wouldn't make it in the wild!

Here she's shipped with Ink Sans, and they live together with her dragon pet / companion Blizzard ouo!

It's this really sweet little story about Ink showing this really anxious and sheltered girl the world, seeing all the potential and life in her eyes and wanting to see her blossom.

And there's a scene where Ink is trying to hide his condition (basically he's undead and needs to drink magic paints in order to feel and regulate emotions), bc so many people have left him after finding out. But Artic doesn't mind at all, after all it's still him and she likes him for who he is ouo

The two are basically opposites, but they work well together and they're just silly little guys in love ouo

Artic's main arc is about identity and archetypes. Like how winter is often portrayed as this harbinger of death that needs to be driven away, but Artic is really soft and sweet-

She wants so desperately to be a hero, but the archetypal hero is confident and charming and brave and super strong; everything she thinks she isn't. But in reality, she's the most heroic of her peers because of her kindness!

There's a whole theme of knights and dragons and legends, realizing that those notions of what she should or shouldn't be don't define her, because people are more complex and nuanced than that ouo

THIS IS SO COOL OUGHHHH I LOVE IT I LOVE IT

My FAVORITE part is that there's literal years of lore built into this thing. Clearly it has been crafted with nothing but love and care in mind and I think that's beautiful.

I didn't even realize that was Artic in your pfp?? That's so cute I love it so so much :DD (Is there a high definition version I can look at? I wanna see her clearer!)

ARTIC'S POWERS ARE SO NEAT IN THIS!!!! I want heart shaped ice cubes that's actually so cute. And the way her abilities affect the way she experiences stress and cries? Chef's kiss. Do her ice powers affect her whenever she experiences other intense emotions? And also can the thawing out process be helped by blankets and stuff or does she just stay frozen? Oooh or does she just continuously keep refreezing bc of the stress? Like trying to thaw her out helps a little but not for long and not much? SORRY I'M JUST SO CURIOUS I REALLY LIKE THE CONCEPT OF HER POWERS AFFECT HER BASED ON EMOTIONS THAT'S SO FREAKING COOL-

And essences!!!!!! Oughhh I really like the concept (pun intended)!!!!! Is there an essence for every concept or just certain ones? And vampires getting brainfreeze LMFAO. Can you drink an essence or does that turn your organs into the concept? And is Artic the only person with an essence in her bones or do other people have it?

THE COMBAT YES OMFG I CAN SEE IT SO CLEARLY,,, STRATEGIC AND SPEEDY AND DANCELIKE I LOVE IT!!! She's so intelligent using the terrain!!! I can see her in my head looking around, eyes darting quickly to survey the area as she narrowly avoids an attack before making her next move!! Effortlessly she slashes her opponent when they're not looking due to her adaptability and quick thinking.

And I'm so sorry I don't know anything about Monster Hunter whatsoever </3 BUT I DID SOME RESEARCH FOR YOU OFC AND IT LOOKS LIKE SM FUN???? I didn't get much of the story aspect of it but it seems great omg. Anyways Artic's curiosity is always something I love seeing!! I can see her killing this giant sea monster (Lagiacrus, I presume?) and then being like "wait a moment- I know this thing was terrorizing you all but I want a closer look at it-" AND FOUND FAMILY MY BELOVED OUGHHH ARTIC AND AISHA <333 THAT'S SO CUTE,,, and the sanctuary <33. Artic is so caring it's so sweet!! It's completely refected in her character and everything she does, I think. Not just in IDPS but across the board! Like. She saves this village from a sea monster and she wants dragons to be taken care of because she's just like that natrually. And even in like Buttermilk Daydreams she just wants to take care of The Onceler as best as she can!!!! And in the Biggering AU even though she's MAD at this man she's STILL telling him that they'll figure something out (they always do). Sorry I'm literally IN LOVE with the threads that stitch your AUs together I got so sidetracked LMFAO-

But anyways Artic and Ink Sans being opposites is SO GOOD AAAAAA- Artic feels so deeply and Ink doesn't feel at all without the paints. Artic has been sheltered and Ink has seen too much. And there's Artic's sweet and caring side coming out again!! Ink is afraid to tell Artic about his condition, but Artic could care less.

ARTIC SELF DISCOVERY YES YES YES YES YES!!!! SHE DOESN'T NEED TO GIVE INTO THE STEREOTYPES!!!!!! She's not winter even though she has its essence flowing within her. She's a hero even though she doesn't look like it. And her kindness being the thing that makes her most heroic?? I'M IN LOVE. This is what I was talking about earlier!!!! She's just so caring and sweet!!! It's something she uses to her advantage!!!!

[garrettwrites]

There's a particular type of post that I hate for it misses the entire point of some online "aesthetic" communities, via total exaggeration of the majority of people that are part of it.

You need to understand what a fantasy is. Even if it's unrealistic and you hate it. Because it's a fantasy, sometimes an escapist one, not reality.

I was raised in rural areas from 11 to around 20, first because me and my mother moved to live with a friend, and then because I was orphaned. I know the hard work of living in the countryside. I know what it is like to carry tones of wood from the truck to the garage to heat up the house and water for winter. I know how cows infest the nearby areas with flies and the smell of shit. I know chickens are disgusting. I know no white clothing would remain white for long. I know you sometimes live so far from the nearest market you need to use a car (thankfully I only had to walk twenty minutes).

Cottagecore or any variation of it are not that. They are a fantasy. An escapist dream. The return to a glamourized pastoral genre of fiction and ideology. Cute homes that remain always cozy (despite you never deep cleaning them). Baking complex recipes in your beautiful and plant covered kitchen (which magically has no flies). Taking a stroll to a nearby river and resting there for a bit (your house came from the sky and you didn't pay an exorbitant amount of money for the location). Having so many books and old fashioned hobbies and knowing how to both tend to a garden, do embroidery, crochet and woodworking (because this is your ideal world so you have no job taking up time). You have time to write your books, draw your art, maybe go out with your countryside friends. You may have a loving, imaginary partner who is just part of the picture too (because they're not real, so you can imagine them as unrealistic as you please).

Same applies to the dark academia or whatever.

It's a fantasy. A fantasy you can try to bring little by little into your life, but it's ultimately impossible to fully achieve. Chill out. You're not cool and quirky by hating on people who make extensive and picture perfect pinterest boards or run sideblogs with pictures of expensive stoves and animal themed pottery. You just look like an asshole.

"But farm life isn't like that!!!!!" So what? As long as people don't think caring for cows is easy and cheap, and get one only to mistreat her due to negligence... I don't see how their fantasy is harming anyone.

Some people accept unrealistic, borderline insipid (imo) books because "everyone has a different taste". Books you actually pay for. But then you shit on people who are posting pictures of dreams with zero real world consequences involved? It's the exact same thing.

"But people will start thinking it's fun when it ain't!" If you go ahead and buy a farm, waste thousands on decorations, get twenty chickens and five cows without any research... it's not because of a pastoral fantasy. It's because you're an idiot who doesn't think of the ramifications of your actions. We all have fantasies. Good lord.

My fantasy is to have a small neo gothic palace with a farm on the back, near the woods and with a small stream running through. It snows there, because I've never seen snow. Everything is dark and with a vague vampire theme mixed with neo-classic stuff, along with wall and ceiling paintings. I have expensive turkish rugs and tapestries with mythological scenes. I have a loving husband and two cats, along with a mare. I spend my days writing books and drawing illustrations, ocasionally doing history papers. My gigantic home is always clean despite no one doing so. Later, I have a child running through the place. Food is always warm, coffee always served.

Do I think I'll ever get this? Fuck no. But it's a goddamn fantasy for a reason, and as a writer, I can also commit it to paper. Who cares about how hard maintaining such a house would be? I don't live in it.

[copperbadge]

watching Guy's Tournament of Champions and I can't help but wonder: what kinds of cooking competitions would Eddie dream up?

See, Eddie likes a competition but he's also very conscious of how modern television really is just incredibly messed up.

Television is moving more and more towards a reality-based model because it's much cheaper to produce. But because reality isn't naturally narrative, reality television tends to build structures that will induce drama. You can see this in Bake-Off, where they've been elevating the stress on the competitors over the years in order to keep people watching and hook in new people who are more used to ultracompetitive American cooking shows.

Eddie doesn't want any part of that kind of television; he doesn't want to make media where people being stressed is the theme. He would enjoy something like Cutthroat Kitchen or Nailed It or Iron Chef, where the participants know going in that it involves a certain level of suffering, but overall he doesn't want people to make themselves miserable. So if Eddie's going to create a cooking competition it would have to be on his terms, which wouldn't appeal to a lot of networks. Not a hindrance, Eddie knows enough about it to form his own production company, plus has the money to do so.

He'd ideally like a show where he could say to the contestants, Here's a food I've found, and I want to know what your take on it would be. You have X amount of time to cook and serve your own version of this dish. Which not only gives people a chance to use their talent but also showcases cultural twists and fusion versions and such. Especially since Eddie's not an expert in local table fare, and while he has a handle on basic Ashkenazi dishes his versions are American, and he's not knowledgeable about Sephardic cooking.

I think he might even design a version where they have to cook it live, but beforehand they get the assignment and have a week, plus a budget, not just to make the dish but to film themselves doing a tutorial so that other people can learn too. That is my issue with Bake-Off and the reason I don't like watching it, they never show enough of the food actually being made.

I could see Eddie making "Cook What I Found" in Fons-Askaz for local television, and it picking up a cult following. But ultimately, in his heart of hearts, Eddie knows no cooking competition will ever be as perfect and enjoyable as Iron Chef. :D

[yusiyomogi]

"outer wilds is a game about death" - no shit, sherlock! in all seriousness though, i have to say, i think overall it's not a particularly deep observation about this game. not because death isn't a major theme in this game, in fact, it is. accepting death and accepting the inevitability of forces that drive the reality (and all the existential dread that comes with it) are extremely important themes of outer wilds, because it's an amazing game about space. i just think that it's not a great idea to base your analysis of outer wilds entirely on death: it's not actually the game's main theme.

to me it's like saying that majora's mask is a game about death. these two games are actually pretty similar in the conceptual and mechanical ways. and majora's mask does in fact put a lot of focus on the themes of death and grief, something that is strewn across the whole game, from different points of view. at the centre is the moon itself slowly moving toward the town, like a constant reminder of the passage of time and inevitable end, with a lot of people in denial of it.

in that way, you can see that gradual stages of the sun turning into supernova in outer wilds isn't much different from the moon in majora's mask. except it is different, because majora's mask, as a story, has a completely different core. the main themes in majora's mask are hope and healing. every time you didn't stop the moon in the end of the cycle, you've failed. you have to do something, try everything to stop it, like the hero of time should certainly do. this is hope and you fight for it. at the same time healing is the way you actually progress through the story. healing in a metaphorical way, of course: soothing fears and heartaches and grievances and always moving forward from that until you reach the dawn of a new day.

outer wilds main theme is actually, simple as it may sound, a curiosity. or rather, thirst for knowledge, the constant pull of the unknown. it's in the core of the story and it's the main driving force of the game. in sharp contrast to majora's mask, by the end of outer wilds you're actually supposed to lose all hope. the more you learn, the more obvious it becomes that the end is just a natural course of events, no matter how unfair it seems. there's no way to save everyone or even yourself (maybe only for a little while).

so what keeps you going then? the only actual power this game has over the player comes from their hunger for knowledge. at some point in outer wilds you stop caring about dying or may even find it peaceful, but nevertheless throughout the game, death keeps being your main enemy, because it always interupts your exploration. in this game, you don't wanna die not because it's scary or sad or annoying in the game-y way, but because it halts your search for new bits of information. you just wanna keep exploring, this is it, the main point of existence.

you start building complicated relationship with death in this game, certainly unnatural one, but it wouldn't be the most relevant thing in the end. because in the end you'd be given a simple choice: and in the sharp contrast to other time loops stories, it's not about "doing the right thing and exiting the loop", it's actually about trading your existence for the ultimate answer to your convoluted search.

at this moment you know that you'll die for real, no matter what. you can keep living only in the time loop. but the craving for the unknown is so strong, that most likely you won't hesitate, because maybe, hopefully in the final moment of your life you'll get the opportunity to see what you've been looking for. and even though your relationship with death is an important factor in this decision, it's not really about death, is it?

[garlic-but-gay]

Hotline miami is so cool to me from a literary and lore-based perspective because of how many different ways and levels on which you can interpret occurrences in the game. Is richard an angel of death through the series or something more innate to the human psyche? Were manny's levels even fucking real or were they all fantasies? If they were real, did he do them out of a sick sense of justice or was he targeting ongoing problems that were overshadowing his serial killings in hopes to bring his murderous persona more of the spotlight? WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED AT THE PHONE COMPANY BUILDING????? AND OH MY GOD THE PRISON RIOT LEVEL! Are the janitors organizing the riot? Is it to kill him off? Some other goal? Are they symbolic of the devs freeing richter from the violent life he's been forced into provided that he completes one final trial? If so, is that a parallel of the hanchman's "one last job" from earlier in the game? Is the level supposed to bring forth a depiction of animalistic amorality in richter slaying all in his path, both cop and crook, or is it him determinedly doing whatever he needs to do to escape before ultimately meeting his doom in *another* parallel to the henchman but with him being happy due to his actions being out of his own free will rather than the orders of another? I could ask so much more about richter ALONE but also is the New Russian Drug made of the same plant found all over hawaii during the russo-american war because they sure do have similar colors. If it *is* then does that make the hawaiian conflict and the russo-colombian drug wars another set of literary parallels? I absolutely *know* that the bodies being dissolved in acid in the sewer was there literarily to show the fans being in over their heads with their action hero fantasies they're trying to live out as opposed to the really fucked up and *real* violence that lies under their very feet but i am going to make an entire reblog to this about my theories regarding them and possible connections to an event in the first game and what those might mean. WHAT HAPPENED AT THE PHONE COMPANY AND WHY DID THE SON HAVE A FIRE AXE IN APOCALYPSE WHEN HE HAS A GUN IN DEATH WISH?!?!?!?! Was martin brown actually a fucked up person or was he just a method actor whose character was invading his psyche? Does tony actually have the same mask that jacket wore or is it from the guy that was tied to a chair in the booby-trapped room? If it isnt jacket's, is that a way to show how tony (like the rest of the fans) is merely following an idea he created in his head of who jacket was and why he did what he did instead of actually understanding him? WHICH APRIL 3RD DID RICHARD MEAN WHEN HE SAID THAT'S WHEN JACKET AND HIM MET? THE METRO? THE BOMBING OF SAN FRANCISCO? Is the use of the pig mask for martin, the first character you play as, meant to subtly show the shift in level design philosophy from the first game through its effect (more guns) therein? Is the whole "enemies frequently shoot you from offscreen" thing symbolic of how the odds are stacked against every character, foreshadowing of the ending, a spiteful jab at sequels, or a further extension of the theme of reality vs fantasy? If youre an english major or like literature, please please please play this series holy FUCK

[icharchivist]

do you think cygames ever intended to kill belial off during the original run of wmtsb and then changed their mind when they realized how much money this slut was going to make them?

I genuinely can't say, honestly.

He was the result of a writer block and we know he wasn't planned to be this important to start with, and they knew he was the riskiest character they've ever made at this time, so it's actually very likely they would just chicken out and keep it as a one-off villain just to get the plot going.

But at the same time it feels like they probably understood that they had something special with Belial. Because the way he took the direction of the wmtsb franchise by his first appearance infused wmtsb with themes that wouldn't have been this much on the foreground otherwise.

Like, Cygames does dwell in popularity yes.... but, credit where credit is due, Cygames especially dwell in good writing. As much as i'd love to see Belial or Lucifer back again for instance it's also obvious they don't actually want to cheapen how strong wmtsb was by bringing them back because they value writing coherence over popularity, and it's something to really command about it.

The moment Belial was introduced as an antagonist i do think some of the thematic elements of the wmtsb shifted.

With wmtsb starting with Sandalphon's journey and setting Lucilius and Beelzebub as the main antagonists, i think the angle of free will and determinism when you're being created for a goal, a purpose that is out of your reach, was probably the biggest core of the story. It's one that is still there, obviously, but considering the extreme Lucilius and Beelzebub push it on their God Complex, i think it was supposed really do be the core of it all. What makes the sky blue, what determine what you are, can you even change if it's not what the skies had planned for you?

But Sandalphon, Beelzebub and Lucilius all have a similar answer to that: if the universe wants them to bow down, then they'll snap the kneecaps of the universe and have it bow down in front of them instead. They're not going to let this determinism take away their free will.

And honestly i think this is probably why there even was a writer block to start with. Because how to you properly introduce two antagonists that, in essence, do have the same morals as the new protagonist of your saga? Like of course you can make it work, but you need to find a way to write to this conflict to see that it's the nuance in the way they approach free will that matters. And to get there, you need some more useful prompting.

Enters Belial and the unique thing he brings to the table by being something who believes he doesn't have any free will, or at least, who convinces himself he doesn't, despite also living for the chaos of it all.

In a story ultimately about rebelling against your creator, about what you've been set on his earth to do, Belial is all about devoting himself to a whole other level to the point of destroying himself.

And with Belial, suddenly the thematic of devotion ends up becoming more important as well, putting even more focus on Sandalphon and Lucifer's relationship than there would be otherwise. Because Belial serves as a foil to Sandalphon, as the comparaison to show us what were Sandalphon's insecurities about his relationship with Lucifer VS the reality of how loved he was. With Belial, Sandalphon's thematic core ends up stronger by contrast, while also genuinely giving more room to explore the issues that can be raised by the initial conflict.

And it added to the determinism plotline. Lucifer and Belial were created equal, but the pressure of how their creators saw them heavily influenced the way they both approached Free Will, and Belial especially has an unique approach to it all.

And Belial's unique approach to all of those themes is not just something they wrote on the side to try to distract themselves until the story was moving forward: it became the thread linking the thematic together.

Because since the thematics of the others players are all so interwined, it becomes difficult to give them space to breath so they can stand out on their own and tell their own story.

Belial didn't just unblock the story by being fun and quirky enough to unblock a writer block, he unblocked the story by giving the theme that was needed for the rest of the themes to fall into places in the story wmtsb wanted to tell.

and as someone who likes literally analysis, i cannot imagine that this is something they just intended to throw out if it hadn't been for popularity's sake. Granblue is smarter than that in the way it tells its stories imo. I do think they gave Belial MORE focus in 000 BECAUSE of the popularity, but even without the popularity Belial would have had something important to bring to the story.

so yeah personally i can't imagine them thinking about killing Belial off by wmtsb p2 if it hadn't been for popularity. I think the moment they commited with this character they realized they couldn't move forward with just the thread he was giving to the plot to start with.

but maybe i'm being too optimistic on the reasons why a gacha keeps a popular character around lol

[pleuvoire]

2023 books i liked recap because why not

top faves, new entries on the all-timers shelf:

piranesi is like a sweet spot of novels made for me i swear. aesthetically beautiful (as far as mental images go), themes of wonder at the beauty of the world, a slowly unfurling mystery, a simple plot but with vibrant beauty and meaning layered on top. It's Good

giovanni's room also has a very simple plot that is so overlaid with soaring passionate emotion i swear it feels like an opera in book form. timeless classic. it's good idk what to tell you

oh man ancillary justice is such good sci-fi. when you start out reading it you're like this is rather dry but it pulls you in so hard. the worldbuilding! the themes of identity! breq is such a good character!

not quite all-timer shelf but still really good

fish swimming in dappled sunlight is ultimately a story about stories and memory and constructed narratives and the reliability thereof. it takes place over a single night and mostly just consists of characters sitting around talking, but manages to pull some crazy twists on you regardless. love the prose style too

i'm glad my mom died lives up to the acclaim. mccurdy has a real talent for narrative voice, effortlessly inhabiting the viewpoint of her younger self at various ages. balances humor and tragedy with frank candor. i sound like a review pull quote here so i'll stop

infect your friends and loved ones is actually a novella so pretty short! it's by the author of detransition baby and has definitely gotten me interested in reading that. really vivid meditation on trans womanhood and transmisogyny that bounces between post-apocalypse and pre-apocalypse settings. pdf here

less stand-out but i still liked it

what are you are looking for is in the library is a nice little series of loosely connected vignettes about people who are stuck at some point in their life and find inspiration at the library. all the staff at my library job wanted to read it so the hold list was a mile long lol. has inspiring themes about always being able to find a way forward when you're in a rut and the power of community and stuff

a people's history of heaven is about the life and times of a group of girls living in a slum in bangalore, india. i liked how it interwove different people's life stories together and used lots of vivid detail and i like how the trans girl's story was written. some aspects were hit or miss for me but it was still nice

temple alley summer is a kids' book but i like kids' books so that's fine. it's about a boy who sees a ghost and the next day she's a student at his school and everyone seems to already know her but him and it turns out this is because his house was built on top of a mystical temple. i like the meditations on life and death and the simple heartwarmingness. it takes a long unexpected detour in the second half which threw me for a loop but ended up working for the story

stuff i started reading but didn't finish and i swear i'm going to try to get to it this year

to shape a dragon's breath is pretty long so i didn't get that far in before i had to return it to the library but i really liked what i read. the worldbuilding is really interesting and the narrative voice feels fresh and unique and deftly avoids the samey YA mold that tends to grate on me. and it's got commentary on colonialism! definitely check this one out

i got halfway through radium girls which is an accomplishment for me since it's long. rare nonfiction entry on this list. goes into insanely meticulous historical detail complete with fiction-style descriptions and embellishments of the girls' lives which just makes it more tragic

i own a copy of the haunting of hajji hotak but it's seriously harrowing stuff so i had to take breaks. it's good man. but whew it does not shy away from the realities of living under war and occupation. death to america

ok that's everything i think seeya next year

[buckevantommy]

totally completely fine

ok. i'm not a fan of australian tv or movies bc they're always overdramatised or too darkly themed or comedic in a way i don't gel with bc i'd rather watch american comedies (not sitcoms, they need to die a firey death). plus i've never really liked the aussie accent, i've found it weirdly unsettling hearing characters speak with aussie voices and maybe that's bc being an aussie myself and wanting to use tv and movies as an escape so having that stark reminder of my own reality means it's harder to suspend and enjoy a different one for a spell. or maybe it's the fact that i, like a great deal of non-americans, have grown up watching american tv so now any non-american accent just sits weird in my brain. 

but that's why i need to express my love for this show. 

everything from the casting (diverse faces and bodies) and the actors chemistry to the setting and set design, cinematography and soundtrack, and of course the plot and characters themselves. It's so well done. It's a heartfelt dramedy that makes you care keeps you interested in wanting to know how things progress and ultimately turn out. the various relationship dynamics are full of ups and downs and it feels real in that messy way life is. 

the premise: vivian is a young mess of an adult who lost her parents in a car crash that she was also in when she was a kid. she's the youngest of 3 siblings who were raised by their grandfather who dies and leaves viv his cliffside beach house. the twist: the house backs onto a picturesque ocean cliff where people go to commit suicide. the grandfather used to try and stop them, and now it's up to viv to try and do the same. 

intense stuff so far. but this show is hopeful, it's not super dark even though it does deal with strained relationships and mental health and suicide attempts/ideation. the characters are distinct and the way their lives entwine don't distract from their individual journeys; viv is the main character but enough screentime is given to every supporting character that they all feel like main characters in their own right which is how it should be because that's how life is. 

more good news is it's short: only 6 episodes at just under an hour each (it doesn't mince screentime) so i binged it all yesterday when i wasn't feeling great and just. wow. i haven't found anything mentioning a second season but if they did more i'd watch it - but the thing is it ends with both closure and the potential for more exploration of the characters, so it feels like a realistic open ending and works as a single season story. 

i don't know if it's available overseas because it was created by and aired here by Stan (which is like our homemade Netflix) but i hope if you guys are interested you'll find a way to watch. 

bonus thing for me: seeing this story play out in my home (settings and details) was actually grounding in a way i didn't expect. like i mentioned above, most of us grow up on american tv and maybe some uk stuff and while that's good for an escape it can actually be jarring to get back into our real world. but (with good quality programming like this show) i realise aussie productions can make it a lot easier to connect with the physical world around me (not the digital world), to not feel so alone, and to know that it's worth finding productions from your homeland and they don't hinder the escape of fiction in fact they can aid in grounding it in a believable way. 

anyway. just one aussie who doesn't really like aussie-made stuff telling folks to give this show a go because i was pleasantly surprised. 

undefined

(note: if anyone has any questions or concerns about triggering content please message me or reply to this post and i'll fill you in on stuff it does or doesn't feature)

[victorianpining]

Oh, but if I may be so bold, I'd love to get some proper book recommendations by you, even without a tag game going on or anything. So if you feel like sharing.... I am always on the hunt for recs 👀🖤

I'd be happy to! Here are 8 books I really love:

The Valley of Fear by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

If you're following me there's a good chance you've already read this, but just in case you haven't, if I could recommend you read one story out of the Holmes canon, it would be this one. It is genuinely so clever and so well written with multiple gut-punch reveals, and the ending scene is genuinely haunting. I am devastated that there's never been a film adaptation (well not since the silent film era anyway), but that's all the more reason to give this one a read!

The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley

This book was a birthday gift from @teledild0nix and it instantly became one of my all time favorites. I'd recommend going into the story knowing as little about it as possible so I can't give you a good summary, but if you like mysteries, time travel, or pirate stories with a touch of romance, I think you'll enjoy this one!

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

I think I mentioned in the retrospective that reading this book in high school was one of the first books I actually analyzed for myself. Since then, my appreciation for this book has only grown. It's exactly everything that appeals to me most: it's set in the Victorian era, it's got clever dialogue, it plays with the contrast between appearances and reality, and most importantly, it's ultimately a clever commentary on what it means to create something, how much of yourself (and your audience, and the expectations of society, and the views of critics, and and and) gets put into and influences the work, and the disastrous effects all of that can have. That theme being the center point of the story makes it even more tragic that this book ended up playing into Wilde's own downfall.

Also, no I will not stop trying to make BBC Dorian happen (and by that I mean mentioning how good a fit it would be for a Mofftiss adaptation at every chance I get)

The Tale of Despereax by Kate Dicamillo

A childhood favorite that has continued to have a tremendous influence on my approach to storytelling. The Tale of Despereax is the story of a mouse who wishes he was a knight, of a rat caught between a life in the darkness when he yearns for the light, and a little girl who is seen as more inconvenience than person because of the abuse she's suffered. Ultimately, it's about navigating the world when you want things you're told you shouldn't and the consequences rigid roles can have on all of us. The way the stories are woven together blew my mind when I was eight, and to this day I'm still so drawn to the comforting narration and the brilliant way Dicamillo made those complicated issues accessible for children.

Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

Full disclosure I haven’t actually made it all the way through this book, but whenever I come back to it and read the poetry it resonates with me in such a profound way. If you need something that will help you feel like life is beautiful and worth living, pick this one up and flip to a random poem.

Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer

Okay, listen. This book has all the same flaws as the rest of Stephenie Meyer's writing (in some cases far more egregious than other entries, I'm thinking specifically about the way she writes the Quileute Tribe here). If you can't get into it for those reasons, I totally get it. But as someone who spent my adolescence hoping this book would come out someday, it's better than I could have ever hoped for. There's a degree of self-awareness in this book, really leaning into the oddness of Edward Cullen's behavior and in light of the ways his decisions in this book really come around to bite him in later entries in the series, it kind of acts as a scalding critique of his worldview. Full disclosure part of the reason this one resonates with me so much is because I saw a lot of myself in Edward's constant and insufferable catastrophizing, and realizing that gave myself the ultimate tool to stop those thoughts in their tracks: "Rebekah, you're Edward Cullening again." Works like a charm.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

Speaking of problematic favorites... This book was written in the 1950s about the 1910s and it completely shows in the way Smith writes about people who aren't christian or white (it's not outwardly hateful, in fact I think Smith thinks she's being very accepting, but some of the choices are very, very stereotyped and the more I revisit it as an adult the more uncomfortable these sections make me). So if someone can't get around that, I get it, I find it harder and harder to get around that myself.

What keeps drawing me back to this one is how vibrant and nostalgic and bittersweet and genuine the narration of Francie's life is. The story is told as a series of vignettes, beginning one Saturday afternoon when Francie is 12 years old, jumping back to the day her parents met, and then continuing forward chronologically until Francie is reaching adulthood. There's a wistfulness to everything that makes it clear a lot of this is based on Smith's own upbringing, but it's clearly a romanticized version of it, I think she described it as "the way it ought to have been," which given how grim parts of the novel are is saying something. I read this book every few years and if you go through it yourself, you'll probably notice how big of an influence it's had on my own worldview and writing.

And finally the big one:

How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas. C. Foster

The book that literally changed my life, if you've ever felt unsure of how or where to begin understanding literary symbolism, this is the book I would recommend to get you started. The way Foster pulls from examples you'll already be familiar with, makes the conclusions seem logical rather than nebulous, and especially the way he describes the interconnectedness of storytelling all make literary analysis both accessible and even captivating. Like with A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, I think if you read this one, the influence it's had on me is going to be immediately obvious.

[greypetrel]

12, 16, and 18 for the Choose Violence ask game c:< (tis an evil smiley)

Here, take a torch to point down your chin as well, let's do an evil laughter together! C:<

With a change of program: we'll have 8 instead of 12 as per request!

Tis the ask game

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

*cracks knuckles*

Merrill is all but unsure of herself and weak. All she doubts about herself is how unprepared she is in an environment that is new. after her personal quest... She never doubts her ideals and her actions. She just regrets that it was all taken so badly by the clan and that they didn't listen. She doesn't regret one single choice she made. She doubts, it, yes! She doubt she should have stayed with the clan, in a world that's more familiar even if she wasn't happy! But repairing the mirror? Communicating with the demon? No. She doesn't blame herself because she's sure in the fact that "EVERY knowledge must be preserved, even the dangerous one" that's what she moves for. That is never put in doubt.

Morrigan never betrayed anyone. Solas betrays you, meaning that he used you, even regretting it, even if he didn't want to, and you couldn't do anything about it because you didn't know it was him all along until the very end. Morrigan asks you if you want to go on with the Ritual. You can say no and she will protest because she doesn't want you to die... But will not insist and force you to do it. It's not a betrayal.

The Arbor Wilds had some great potential. The quest was written badly and by all means there should have been more dialogue options for a Lavellan. Morrigan should have explained her reasons better, and it would have been possible to make her drink from the Well in a way that could be acceptable for a Lavellan. It was poorly done, but the ideas weren't half bad. Luckily there's fanfiction to correct everything.

Sera is creepy and nasty. No, not at all. She is abrasive and will restore to violence? Sure. But if you take your time to actually listen to her and take her seriously and don't diminish her, she's one of the most caring characters in game. (it's easy to miss... Just as it's easy to miss Vivienne being caring.)

16. you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

I hate the star-crossed lovers theme with a passion if it's not done exceptionally well and with strong motivations.

I have a 30 pages dissertation ready to be exposed with a passion every time someone tells me the name of the play, against Romeo and Juliet.

I hate the Romeo and Juliet trope, always had, the only one I like is West Side Story, and because Maria doesn't die in the end (spoiler?).

I never could bear with it, the moment you give me a "We love each other but we cannot be together :<" my eyes roll in the back of my head.

I also stand VERY little the trope that love is the ultimate saving grace, it will be the cure for everything, going from loneliness to mental illnesses and child trauma. ... I wish it could be so, but from a person with child trauma that lead to mental illness, I can positively tell you that it can't. It's a help, sure! But if it's the only thing keeping your character tethered to reality... Yeah, it's not the story for me and I will read that love story as mildly abusive.

(I wouldn't want to be the only reason to live of the person I like, nobody should.) (Mo you managed this greatly in Wander, let me tell you.)

I also personally struggle, characterization-wise, with darker Cullens (...That man FUMBLES, come on let him be awkward).

18. it's absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on...

Him. Give me more Felix content. More Felix for everyone. Bring more Felix in your life.

I can't wait to see Tevinter if you couldn't tell.

Also how Dorian fucking invented time travelling and... THE APPLICATION. Maybe that spell could be modified.

Also how if your Inky is a Knight Enchanter and in a good relationship to Dorian... They worked together in developing the Haste and Disruption Field. They got two twin spells. Aisling and Dorian totally did, the twinsies.