#but i do think it is the one thing in the web novel that SS didn't capitalize on.

[bidokja]

I was joking a while back that the actor they have playing KDJ for the orv movie was too handsome for him and a friend who's read orv was like "KDJ is actually secretly attractive!!" And I just felt my soul leave my body right then

SIGHS...

Okay. Buckle in. I'm gonna finally actually address and explain and theorize about this whole...thing.

I'm not gonna cite any exact chapters cause it's like 11:30 and I've got an 8 hour drive in the morning but I'll at least make an approximate reference to where certain things are mentioned. Also, this post is just my personal interpretation for a good bit of it, but it's an interpretation I feel very solid about, so do with that what you will. Moving on to the meat of things:

There is one (1) instance in the web novel that I know of which describes specific features of Kim Dokja (especially ones other people notice). This takes place when members of KimCom are trying to make Kim Dokja presentable to give his speech at the Industrial Complex (after it's been plopped down on Earth). This is when they start really paying attention and focusing on Kim Dokja's appearance since they're putting makeup on him; I still don't think they can interpret his whole face, but they can accurately pick out and retain more features than usual. If I remember correctly they reference him having long eyelashes, smooth skin, and soft hair. These features can be viewed as (stereotypically) attractive.

Certain parts of the fandom have taken this scene and run with it at a very surface level, without realizing (or without acknowledging at the very least) that this scene is not about how Kim Dokja looks. This is, in part, due to not realizing or acknowledging why Kim Dokja's face is "censored" in the first place, and what that censoring actually means. I think it's also possible that some people are assuming the censorship works like a physical phenomena rather than an altered perception.

I'll address that last point first. The censorship of Kim Dokja's features is not something as simple as a physical phenomena. It's not a bar or scribble or mosaic over his face. If that were true it'd be very obvious to anyone looking at him that his face is hidden. But his face is not hidden to people. They can look at him and see a face. If they concentrate on his eyes, they can see where he's looking. They know when he's frowning or grinning. They see a face loud and clear. But what face are they seeing? Because it's not really his, whatever they're seeing.

No one quite agrees on what he really looks like. And if they try and think about what he looks like, they can't recall. Or if they do, it's vague, or different each time. We notice these little details throughout the series. Basically, Kim Dokja's face is cognitively obscured. Something - likely the Fourth Wall, though I can't recall if this is ever stated outright - is interfering with everyone's ability to perceive him properly. This culminated in him feeling off to others; and since they don't even realize this is happening, they surmise that he is "ugly."

Moving on to the other point about what the censorship means: To be blunt, the censorship of his face is an allegory for his disconnect from the "story" (aka: real life, and the real people at his side). The lifting - however slight - of this censorship represents him becoming more and more a part of the "story" (aka: less disconnected from the life he is living and the people at his side). The censorship's existence and lifting can represent other things - like dissociation or depersonalization or, if you want to get really meta, the fact that he is all of our faces at once - but that's how I'd sum up the main premise of it. (The Fourth Wall is a larger part of the dissociation allegory, but that's for another post).

So you see, them noticing his individual features isn't about the features. It's not about the features! It doesn't matter at all which features got listed. Because they could describe any features whatsoever and it would not change the entire point of the scene. Because the point isn't what he looks like. The point is that they can truly and clearly see these features. For the first time. They are seeing parts of him for the first time. Re-read that sentence multiple times, literally and metaphorically. What does it mean to see someone as they are?

This is an extremely significant turning point dressed up as a dress-up scene.

---

P.S. / Additionally, I'm of the opinion that Kim Dokja is not handsome, and he is not ugly. He is not pretty, and he is not ghastly. Not attractive, nor unattractive. Kim Dokja isn't any of these things. More importantly, Kim Dokja can't be any of these things. The entire point of Kim Dokja is that you cannot pick him out of a crowd; he is the crowd. He's a reader. He's the reader. Why does he need to be handsome? Why must he be pretty? Why is him being attractive necessary or relevant? He doesn't, he doesn't, it's not. He is someone deeply deeply loved and irreplaceable to those around him, and someone who cannot even begin to recognize or accept that unless it's through a love letter masquerading as a story he can read. He is the crowd, a reader, the reader. He's you, he's me. He's every single one of us.

[tamelee]

And that is just it, because maybe next time draw them not cheating and we can be friends. Il even support you. But I will not support yaoi obsessed fangirls that make a compelely different story when clearly there are two happy families that youre trying to ruin just because you want to see two guys together. Can you not read? Have you not seen the anime? And like I said with the other one SS also is happily married it is all canon AND BESIDES THAT they have a daughter. If you say and you claim that, that you like these characters so much, then stop making them look so bad. They go from happy husbands to mean cheaters because yaoi girls are horny.

I dont think youve even read gaiden if youre going to claim things about Sarada. Ive seen what you implied, but I think you just cant handle the truth. You know nothing about it and I dont think youve even read the novel which is canon btw. So why dont you stop making these guys look so bad?

Thankyou.

Man I hate to do this, because in no way do I like to be this negative, and you messaging me telling me what I can or cannot draw, I can still easily ignore. Your other asks similar to this are just funny to me. Fact is, I don’t care about your preferred and superficial ships or your support in any way.

But you editing my art is in no way acceptable, that’s common decency. Worse, you just had to insert Hinata into it, I mean what else is new- no I’m not surprised I’m just pissed off, because it seems as well that you’ve been harassing others too.

Don’t come here trying to lecture me as if I’m a little child, miss princess-hime/sama/chan. Get off your high horse, I’ll only reply once.

I don't know what I said about Sarada/Gaiden, but I have an idea.. so if you must know: yes, I am in fact studying creating a manga. Yeah, that says jack-shit- I’ll get to the point.

I’ve been obsessively studying story/world/character building ever since 2020 when I decided to learn how to draw in order to create my own web-manga, but I’ve been completely ignorant then, thinking that learning that was all I needed to do.

The way you set-up your panels, the flow in which the reader goes through your story, how you carefully pick out every single word of your characters and give anything you see, objects, gestures, composition, expressions.. all are equally as important! (If not more.) Then there are parallels and recurring themes, little hints and details.. the pace. It all matters.

Keep all I said before in mind and in short, Gaiden screams: “Sarada’s very existence is probably (partly) science based and Karin is in any case involved. Perhaps Orochimaru too. Also, they all look guilty, distressed and obviously are keeping secrets about the way she’s conceived/born and there is no proof SS are even married.” The recurring theme from Naruto to Gaiden however still is “connection” and “bonds”.

That’s just a fact. Canon Manga-wise. Same with everything SNS.

Now whether that eventually is the case or not we don’t know, we’ll have to wait. However, we don’t call the author: ‘Kishimoto-sensei’ for no reason. The man’s a genius as he forces us at times to read studiously in order to pick up the complex, though very obvious allegory within the Naruto-verse. He completely makes use of the previously mentioned manga potentials as expressive tools in order to deliver in my opinion the most beautiful narrative between two people ever written as well as darker themes which on the surface may seem like “just an easy-to-read shonen story.”

If you’re going to lecture me on storytelling, then in turn, I’d like to recommend you to look into Allegories in Literature. If you understand this method of writing and you would take off your NH/SS goggles then you might come to know what I mean. Meh, a little far-fetched to ask of you, but I still have hope.

But anyway, Kishimoto implying the Sarada thing in Gaiden and then in the end doing a complete 180 would be..

..well, maybe a repetition of Chapter 700 of Naruto. Defying all storytelling rules, dropping it all in the bin, rapidly diminishing, as if he suddenly forgot he was creating Naruto for a large part of his life.

It wouldn’t make any goddamn sense. But it can happen.

I would hold your ignorant hand to test my own patience and walk you through it, but there are people already who have made very insightful posts pointing out most of the things I had in mind. I would leave links, however I'm sure you’d go harass them also, so go look for it yourself if you must, but keep your shitty opinions to yourself. (Again.. I have hope!!)

NOT ONE SNS fan cares about your silly “they’re married” or “it’s in the novel (fancy fanfiction, you mean)” arguments, trust me. In fact, I can guarantee you that there is nothing you can come up with that’ll make any of us sprinkle some value on your hunched over form as you proudly gush out Viz Media’s latest marketing plans that keeps your little shipping heart temporarily happy.

It’s like stopping a stranger on the street and creepily whisper to them that “water’s wet” and expect them to be so enlightened that they’ll follow you around and join you behind your stalker tree for support.

Idk if you’ve seen Attack on Titan, but this is what you remind me of.

Now get your homophobic ass out of here.

[btawizzle]

Guide to : Essentials Career Path in A nutshell

What makes the most sense to you right now for your career development? Since I’m taking a Journalism major in Uni, I really think that the most sense decision I’ve ever thought about ( right now) is being a journalist and a screenwriter. It may sound silly, “you’re a Journalism major, of course you’re going to be a journalist”, but I seriously have many other things in mind when it comes to my job ( I really wanna be in a rock band, you know. I can play the bass or be the front man, but yeah )

And the things I have to do to develop my career will be everything that is related to writing. I can write fiction, children's books, essays, travel and beauty blogs, or maybe write a news/article. Looking forward to it~

What will complement your interests, skill set and the lifestyle that you want to have?

P-r-a-c-t-i-c-e

Okay, since I really want to have an extra boujee-parisian-lifestyle, I really have to work my *ss off. I honestly have many interests in things that’ll make money such as building a business, baking, drawing and also writing, but sometimes I just have 0 interest in practicing them. ( I guess i really have to) but for the things that I’m excellent at and don't really need a polish, that’ll be public speaking and it applies for any speaking related matters, like storytelling, and also speech ( If I have the material, too lazy to do the research)

I really want to work in entertainment, being a screenwriter and producing some work there, being a news anchor or PD at a radio maybe? but then if I finally knocked some sense into me, I guess i want to be a lecturer in a university that writes cool scenarios for their drama club and bake when bored

What do you find to be the most compelling thing to explore at this moment in time?

Honestly, figuring out what I want to do with my life. Maybe practicing some of my hobbies that I wish has a relation with my future career,like how digital video and design are supposed to work (whole adobe thingy), how to write an article/novel/blog/essays, coding? The most complicated thing I know on earth, that I wish I could just understand in a blink and also think about what I am going to do if I want to move to france.

The path you choose to follow will help you develop your career and achieve your ideal job. Therefore, it’s important to explore the different approaches available before you begin. In the next step, you will start to look at some of these approaches.

Do you already have an idea of what your ideal job is?

I really think that the idea of an ideal job is something that gives you enough money to live but not really draining you out of energy. I mean, if you’re that busy you never get the fun anymore in those jobs, the money , it has to be worth the energy that you drained, you know.

People often talk about how your passion should be your source of money blah blah blah, but sometimes, we just don't get the fun anymore if everyone pushes us to make enough money for living everytime we do what is called our passion.

I’m thinking about being a teacher with ok money and then do my hobby/dreams as the side hustle ( you know, if i’m not pass out because m’too tired), that’s my ideal job

But if we’re talking about dream jobs? Oh how I just want to be in a rock band and do gigs until the day I die, or maybe marry Damiano David from Maneskin and become a housewife? Yeah, sounds good.

What do you think the path to it looks like?

Before we finally become a lecturer, we have to-at least- have a master degree. So, because it’s 21th century and the school tuition is not cheap, I plan to take a scholarship, and hopefully I can go to europe.

I plan to be the best at uni, not that ambitious, but just to make sure I graduate on time. Until then, I plan to do my best as a uni student, like joining some organisation , doing some internship, and obviously practicing my writing abilities. I plan to find a part time job that is related to journalism ( applying to a magazine/online zine/newspaper) or something like that really, anything ( photographer, make up artist for newbie models) and keep a little amount of money for future me.

After that, I’m going to take a B1 placement test on my german, and then maybe korean/french? And of course, IELTS so i can go to europeeee for my master studies

Ok then after uni, i want to work at a magazine while I’m applying to those scholarship studies. Ok then I got the scholarship, quit the job, went to Europe having my studies and living my best life. Hopefully I will be able to still work there and get my PR maybe? And then do literally what I want. Lecturing maybe, or get a job on some movie production ? become their screenwriter. yeah

Have you previously considered that there might be different approaches to your career path? Or is this a new concept for you?

Yes, and I am super open to it. I’m just going to try my best and the rest is not in my hands. Whatever happens later in the future, that’s what my work pays off, or that’s just what god wants me to have in my life. I’ll accept it with open heart ( hopefully)

#I really want to be rich and happy.

Before you explore these further, there are a few key areas you need to keep in mind:📷

Career goals

Knowledge

Skills

Personal characteristics

Experience

In order to start on the career path you want for yourself, you need to make a plan about what you’re missing in each of these areas and what you need to acquire. Identifying purpose or focus in this way is called ‘ikigai’ in Japanese. You can read more about ikigai by visiting the links in the See Also section.

Whichever approach you choose to develop your career, these are areas you will need to focus on to see what could be further developed as you build your career.

Now let’s explore five different approaches:

1. Matrix

The matrix approach is about having skill sets in different areas and bringing them together to create a profile that is distinct to you. You may have a variety of interests you want to pursue. With the matrix approach, you can explore how to combine these interests into a role which is unique to you.

For example, someone who would like to study web programming, as well as design, could look to combine these interests and become a web developer for any company or organisation with an online presence.

2. Ladder

The ladder approach is better suited for those who know exactly what career or job role they want. They have a dream job in mind or a dream company they wish to work for, so they’re willing to work their way up the ladder to get there.

For the person that aspires to work in television, that might mean starting out as a runner on set. They may then work their way up to get a role as a director or an executive producer, or whatever that ideal role might be.

3. Entrepreneurial

The entrepreneurial approach is about turning an idea into a business and learning along the way. You apply your current skill set whilst rapidly growing your capacity in all areas of business. It takes a lot of work, patience and courage, but can be deeply rewarding for anyone who finds this path to be of interest.

4. Network

The network approach is geared around building a network of contacts that will be mutually beneficial. For example, if you were at a tech networking event and you met a few founders, this would be a great opportunity for you.

What is key in the network approach is to ensure that you’ve thought through what you can offer someone, so that it’s a mutually beneficial and authentic relationship.

5. Portfolio

Creating a portfolio might be more commonly associated with jobs in photography or graphic design. However, it is both relevant and necessary across many disciplines. Many employers will want and need to have an idea of the type of work you can do, so the portfolio approach is a great way for you to demonstrate your skills.

If someone were looking to build a career in public relations, for example, they would be at an advantage if they had a portfolio of their previous coverage. This highlights not just their contacts but what type of work they are capable of doing.

A portfolio is just as valuable a commodity as your CV, so you should build one in line with the career you are interested in pursuing. It is also a great way to share your work and skills with people beyond a job application. For example, you could add it to your LinkedIn page, website or any other medium.

Summary

Choosing the best approach for your career is an essential component of your lifelong career development. There’s no guidebook or master plan for building your career. You can take a sabbatical, be a stay-at-home parent, or even move down a position.

The important thing to remember is that your approach is your own. If you find that multiple approaches like those mentioned above appeal to you, find a way to combine those to take the right approach for you.

Share your experience:

Have you already been using any of the approaches mentioned in this step?

Can you find any examples of other approaches for developing your career? Not for this moment, but I’ll definitely go with Matrix combined with a portfolio approach. I am building my portfolio in tumblr, wix and wordpress.

Why not have a go at exploring a few of these approaches further? I wish to explore more and I will do it thx.cash

[dangermousie]

Five episodes in and my verdict is in.

And it’s - hmmmmmmmm.

* Either their budget has been slashed or they are not using it well. Season 1 looked like a movie. In fact, I was first drawn in by the gorgeous views and amazing cinematography. EN2 is nothing to write home about in terms of visuals. It’s better than a web drama like Love by Hypnotic on that score, but not much. When you compare it with Eagle Flag, Tribes and Empires, Rise of the Phoenixes or the original Ever Night, the difference is stark.

* I liked the original supporting cast and the new faces are a mixed bag. I am fine with the new Yu Hongyu but I miss Leon Lai as Emperor, for example. 

* Fight scenes. They are OK. But compared to EN1′s fluid, gorgeous fight scenes, they are boring as hell. The fight with Ning Que and the Bandit Leader in ep 6 or 7 of original EN is probably my favorite cdrama fight sequence ever and it took my breath away. Nothing like this is to be found here. 

* Dylan Wang. It’s always hard to appeal as a replacement especially if I loved the original in the role like I did. He does fine in cute scenes like the above. He is an adorable puppy and I want to pet him. However, he utterly lacks the ruthless, somewhat unhinged intensity Arthur Chen had as Ning Que. I mean, this scene in ep 5:

The line is there, and I can imagine Arthur Chen’s NQ play-snarling it, joking with a hell of an edge, but here I just want to give him a cookie and congratulate him on his stellar report card - the intensity and the menace is not there. With NQ in EN1, he was not a good or a nice person. He had good qualities and made a good friend, but he could be a terrifying enemy and I don’t feel any menace here at all. The edge is gone. This Ning Que should be a hero of a sweet romcom and while there is nothing wrong with that, this isn’t what I signed up for. 

I am not feeling the chemistry either (everyone keeps telling me he and Sang Sang are madly in love but this isn't coming across to me). I didn’t feel amazing romantic chemistry in s1 (which is fine since for most of that drama they were not a couple), but I did believe they’d die for each other, and here it’s kind of blah, I think a lot of it because of the actors still getting used to each other and a lot because the new filming style is just generally less intense and engaging. 

I sound like I am slamming it, and I sort of am. But at the same time, I am going to persevere and hope it clicks more. I am a sucker for ride or die romance even if I don’t fully gel with the execution. Also, it has the narrative beats to keep me interested - like SS is losing her memories for example:

The horror scene where he realizes who the hell child really is and it’s not him is very well done:

I am hoping Dylan will grow in the role or the writing/filming will compensate because a lot of my dissatisfaction with him isn’t because he isn’t doing it the same way as Arthur but because the new NQ is less intense and edgy and anti-heroish and I find that less interesting. And depending on the way you wrote it, it could be interesting, but they don't do that consistently. And the way of filming can add intensity when there isn’t otherwise but they don’t do it either. I do have hopes because ep 5 is much better than the preceding four.

EN2 also suffers because I restarted Joy of Life and Zhang Ruo Yun is killing it as the cheeky, smart, ruthless protagonist. So I keep comparing and grrrrring.

Anyway, I guess Dylan is not, as the Russian saying goes “the hero of my novel,” but I do hope the thing shapes up. Even if it doesn’t, its far from a bad drama. It’s just not an excellent one.

[relishredshoes]

Interview given to The Severus Snape and Hermione Granger Shipping Fan Group.  (sharing here Admin approved)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/199718373383293/

Hello Aurette and welcome to Behind the Quill, thank-you for letting us get to know you a little better.

I'm deeply honoured to be asked.

A true titan in the world of SS/HG fic, many of our readers will have broken their hearts over your story The Tattered Man.

Okay, let’s jump right in.

What's the story behind your pen name?

Honestly, it was a whim. Long before I thought of writing, I needed a login name to read fanfic. It was a play on Auror. I had no idea it was an actual name.

Which Harry Potter character do you identify with the most?

Hands down, Snape. I know that might sound strange, but he was the one that clicked. My niece introduced me to the books. Being in my 30s at the time, I already had kids of my own, so I didn't identify as one of the students. I loved Harry from the start but he had this uncanny ability to keep being wrong about nearly everything. The character who best expressed adult annoyance with that was Snape. And I do love a good jerk. Snape was a jerk.

Do you have a favourite genre to read? 

I'm a sucker for fantasy and science fiction. I hated reading as a child. All there was available when I was a kid was Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys and it was insipid. I glommed on to mythology early but once I'd read all the books in my library on the subject, I gave up reading at all. That was about 4th grade. Children's books in the 70s were total garbage and YA books only had one author: Judy Bloom.

Ironically, my first job was working in a bookstore. It was a college bookstore, so it was all textbooks. I wasn't even a student, so I had no interest in any of them. One semester. A Lit prof assigned Fahrenheit 451. The cover art caught my eye and I read the blurb. Then started reading the book. I finished it in about 5hrs. It blew my mind. I had no idea writing like that existed. And the book was about someone discovering the value of books. It was intellectual Inception waaaaay before that was a thing.

After that, it was like a switch flipped in my head. I sucked up books air. I was never without a book or two. Or three...

Do you have a favourite "classic" novel?

Obviously Fahrenheit 451. I'm going to go ahead and say Les Miserables as well. I was in my 30s when I finally read it and sobbed like a baby at the ending. The care and tenderness Hugo showed when portraying these disposable lives were so unique for that age. Sadly, even today. A lot of our culture is wrapped around the belief that only the wealthy have value and beauty is a pathway to wealth. The poor and ugly are a constant plague to be shunned or dealt with, not humans with crushed dreams that deserve to be valued in their own right. Look at how often fanfic recreatesSnape as handsome or Hermione as gorgeous. Those are always the least interesting stories. (hops off soapbox)

At what age did you start writing?

Whatever age I was when I wrote Safe House. Probably 40ish? That terrible little fanfic is literally the first thing I ever wrote beyond shopping lists and emails. It's an ugly child, but my first, so I love its pointy head. I intentionally leave it up so new writers can see my learning curve. No one starts out good. Read my stories in reverse chronological order and you'll see they get a little worse each time. That's how much I grew as I learned the craft.

How did you get into writing fanfiction?

Reading tons of it. I was at a total loss after the book Deathly Hallows came out and it was all over. Reading it had become an event in my house. My husband and I would snatch the book out of each other's hands "You've had it long enough. My turn." And then there were no more...

I couldn't even tell you how I found fanfic, but it kept me sane. I keyed in on SS/HG because at the time there was a noticeable difference in the talent level in that ship. I must have read SS/HG fanfic for a solid 2 yrs before I took a leap and wrote my own. I was inspired by the amazing stories, but also by the crappy ones.  "Heck, I could do better" became its own form of allowance. So I had a small 'what if' and just went for it. Of course, it was crap, everyone's first is. But taking the leap and writing it was a huge thing for me to have done.

What's the best theme you've ever come across in a fic? Is it a theme represented in your own works?

I'm a sucker for a story where characters overcome emotional adversity, both external and internal. If you squint. You'll see that theme repeated throughout my fics.

What fandoms are you involved in other than Harry Potter?

None. Nothing else ever grabbed me as a sandbox I wanted to play in before or after HP.

If you could make one change to canon, what would it be? Do you have a favourite piece of fanon?

Gosh, I don't think I would change a thing about JK Rowling's work. Things I would change would only be me forcing her story to fit my preferred ideal. However, if you think about it, her world, the good and the bad,  challenged all of us to churn out 100,000+ what ifs. Some out of anger. Heh.

As for fav piece of fanon, probably that Malfoy jr was Snape's godson. He's totally not, but whoever started that created a great layering of the dynamic between them that you can share in so many tones.

Do you listen to music when you write or do you prefer quiet?  

I was a stay-at-home mom when I was writing most of my fanfics, so I wrote in a chaotic and very noisy environment. I didn't listen to music when I wrote, but music was often the inspiration. When I would get stuck in writing, I would leave it and go listen to music that was emotionally similar to where I wanted the story to be while I thrashed out plot points. Colossus by Afro Celt Sound System is amazing for plotting a prelude to a battle.

What are your favourite fanfictions of all time?

Gosh, there are so many. Sadly, many of the authors who first inspired me are gone and pulled their fics off the web, like my fanfic bestie Dressagegrrrl. I would have to call out Pet Project by Caeria as the one I found most inspiring.  Anything by ApolloniaV is pretty high up there in my book. There are dozens I'm forgetting. There was one called Resurrection Man about Snape accidentally creating a hilarious Zombie apocalypse. Best. Fic. Ever. It disappeared from the web when the author moved on. An incredible loss.

Are you a plotter or a pantser? How does that affect your writing process?

Total pantser. The obvious effect is to drive the story right off a cliff and be unable to salvage it. It's why I vowed to never start posting until I had a rough draft ending. Too many dead stories waiting for an ending that never came. But an outline for me is a killer in disguise. I lose interest in telling the tale because I already did in the outline. The fun part is over. Sitting at a keyboard typing your fingers off, while muttering, "What the hell are these people doing? Who's writing this stuff?!" is an amazing experience.

What is your writing genre of choice?

In fanfic, I ran with every genre there was. Mostly I wanted to see if there was one I couldn't tackle.  Most of my o-fic is a hard-to-define mishmash of fantasy and sci-fi. I want to write romance, but it always turns into something complicated and angsty that no longer fits the box.

Which of your stories are you most proud of? Why?

The Tattered Man.

Did it unfold as you imagined it or did you find the unexpected cropped up as you wrote?

It came off exactly as I'd planned in my head. A rare occurrence for me.

What did you learn from writing it?

I could make people cry with my words. Up to that point, I'd made readers laugh and yell and blush, but to get a reader to the point of actually weeping? That's not easy. JK Rowling did it with ease. It was a challenge.

How personal is the story to you, and do you think that made it harder or easier to write?

It's very personal. My father had just died.  He'd had cancer, and it might have got him in the end, but what actually killed him was being sent home with a feeding tube and the wrong instructions. None of the homecare nurses realized the mistake until his kidneys shut down. It was devastating. When I next took up writing, I was still hurting so I tried to make others feel what I felt at a death that didn't have to be. It was crazy easy to write. I wrote it all in one day. Based on the reviews, I achieved my goal. It helped me work through my loss. Pretty sure I gave a few readers PTSD. My bad.

What books or authors have influenced you?

My all-time favourite book is Iain M. Banks' Use of Weapons. Definitely a classic among the eighteen people in the United States that read it. The man was a shockingly gifted author and I was devastated when he passed away. His ability to just drop you into the action from the first page and not bother to explain what's going on is sadistic genius.

How do you think that shows in your writing?

It led to my belief that a writer is always better when they assume their readers are smart. Grab their interest and just run. They'll catch on and even pass you with their theories of what's going to happen next. I've no patience with stories that spell out everything in minute detail. They're tedious and insulting. Less really is more. On the other hand, writing over your reader's head is just as annoying. Intentionally using obscure SAT words in your story just makes you a pretentious twat. Unless your character is a pretentious twat and it's part of the dialogue.  In that case, twat away. *gigglesnort*

Do people in your everyday life know you write fanfiction?

My family all knew. They were tremendously supportive. Especially Mr. Aurette, my personal Snape. Outside of my family, I was less forthcoming. Mostly because it was so crazy hard to explain. I think it's a lot less weird now, but back then? It was far more stigmatized.

How true for you is the notion of "writing for yourself"?

That's a hard one. For someone who'd never tried to write a story before, it was an amazing journey to realise what I could do. That changed me forever. Having the instant feedback of reviews was intrinsic to that experience. The downside is you can get sucked into writing for reviewers, and they will tell you clearly what they want and expect.  That can stifle. I knew no one wanted The Tattered Man to end the way it did. I was pretty terrified of the reaction. But it's what I wanted. It was the entire point. I wrote that ending for myself, but I cowered after posting.

How important is it for you to interact with your audience? How do you engage with them? Just at the point of publishing? Through social media?

I absolutely loved interacting with my readers. I made some real-life friends and some really great fic buddies all over the world. I watched them become friends in reviews too. It was a really great experience. Spam-posting a fic would often take on a festival atmosphere. Unfortunately, when my review count started to really take off, I couldn't cope with the sheer numbers the same way. There weren't enough hours on the day to reply to everyone. Trying to personalize my response to a review grew overwhelming. I actually grew quite depressed over it. Connecting on a more removed, professional level seemed cold. I connected the most on Livejournal when that was a thing. But I had to back off. "Aurette" became far more witty and wonderful than I was in real life. Everyone wanted a piece of her. I couldn't keep up with the bitch. Lol.  I faded away from most interactions on social media out of self-preservation. Even tiny fame can make you whacko.

What is the best advice you've received about writing?

There's a few that come to mind.

1-If you want to be a better writer, kill every adverb you come across.

2-Read your words out loud to yourself. If you run out of breath, your reader will run out of patience at that exact point.

3-Dressagegrrrl was the one that finally made me see how playing POV ping pong within a scene was something that marked my writing as an amateur.

4-Stop trying to be clever. Be clever, if you are clever, but don't try. It comes off hamfisted every time. Readers hate that.

5-Never, ever, ever post something you wrote that day. You've left half of it in your head and you can't tell. It's awful.

6-If you're not even a little embarrassed by something you wrote 6 months ago, you're no longer growing as a writer.

What do you do when you hit writer's block?

That's a bit of a sticking point. Stress is a muse-killer. Anything you can do to rid yourself of stress will help. Writer's block is usually the result of something going on elsewhere in your life. Fix that and the creativity will come back.

That said, my life has turned into constant stress with the result being I no longer write at all.

Has anything in real life trickled down into your writing?

Everything has. 'Write what you know' is true for fantasy too. Whether it's heartbreak, or a drunken hookup that turned into love (Hello, Mr. Aurette) or a moment when you were a child and ignored or teased, or maybe the bully, all of it makes it's way into the emotional truth of a scene or character, no matter how outlandish the setting.

Do you have any stories in the works? Can you give us a teaser?

I have a Dropbox full of stories I've run into the wall or had to leave half finished, both fanfic and o-fic. No teasers, because at this point I don't think they will ever see the light of day. Never say never, but the light of hope is dim.

Any words of encouragement to other writers?

Anyone can write and everyone has something to say. Be open to the process. Part of that process involves having a stranger tell you that your shiny new love is really shit. Being defensive only prolongs your shittiness. Embrace criticism. Sometimes,  the process of justifying something can actually buttress your choice, so you double down with better results. Other times, you'll see your idea wasn't working after all. Be ruthless in your editing, but don't delete. That scene you cut because it caused everything to go off the rails could be a different story trying to get out. Take that leap, you fail at everything you don't try, so why not try something you really want?

Thanks so much for giving us your time.

It's been my pleasure.  Thank you for the opportunity.  *waves to my readers*

[lilicriticallanguages]

How To Stay Motivated to Keep Studying Even If You Don’t Want To

The struggle is alive and well. The struggle of finding the motivation to continue studying languages is an epidemic that plagues even the most diligent and proficient of language learners. Don’t even lie. We have all foregone our language study in lieu of something more entertaining like watching re-runs of the Office or watching funny fails on Youtube. It has probably gotten so bad at some point that some days even just thinking about studying sends shivers up your spine. “But I don’t WANT to!” you exclaim to the part of you that is trying to kick your *ss into high gear. “But you really should.” replies the scholarly disciplined side of you. “Nah, I don’t feel like it. I don’t think I will.” says, well, the other side of you.

Motivation is a fickle thing and I’m going to show you exactly how to keep going in your studies, even if you don’t want to. I’m just gonna get straight to the tips before you lose the motivation to finish this post!

WARNING: Honest, tough love ahead. If you want to hear the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god, please proceed.

Motivation is Stupid

There I said it. In your language learning, DO NOT RELY ON YOUR MOTIVATION. It will often ditch you without notice and go for a drive through and not come back for days. Then when it comes back all drunk and disoriented one night at  2am (because that’s usually when motivation strikes, right?), you yell, “Where the hell were you!?” and it will just shrug, hang around till morning and then disappear. All jokes aside, motivation is an emotion and emotions are flaky. Therefore, it is not reliable enough to base your studies on. Just because you feel like studying one hundred vocabulary words today, does not mean you will tomorrow!

Motivation is wonderful for starting a new language. In the initial stages of your language learning, it is so motivating to write down your goals and picture yourself using Japanese to translate Manga from Japanese to English or write subtitles for anime, but that starry eyed phase quickly disappears when you realize that you have to learn a LANGUAGE with rules, exceptions to the rules and exceptions to the exceptions. When you have to conjugate thousands of words and learn thousands more Kanji. Then the smile fades

So what is a more reliable foundation if motivation is crap? You aren’t going to like it. The answer that I’m looking for is DISCIPLINE. Yup that’s right! That one thing that you try to push into your closet or try to bypass thinking there is some other magical formula that will make you fluent. Newsflash! There isn’t. There is no e-book, no Youtube video, webinar, app or video course that will replace sitting down everyday and grinding out thousands of Japanese Kanji or remembering all those god-forsaken conjugations in French. None. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use these resources for other things like organizational tips, unique methods and study hacks, but you shouldn’t use them thinking they will give you something that can replace hard work.

Unfortunately, the reality is that what separates successful language learners from the rest is simply their ability to keep studying and working even if they don’t want to. To put it plainly, you either study the language or you don’t. You will OFTEN not feel like studying. Ask me if I lack motivation to study and I’ll say often.* But I study anyways and do what I’m supposed to do even if every bone in my body would prefer to be scrolling through Youtube.

The key is. You must fight through you lack of motivation. Period.

Cultivate Discipline Not Motivation

Instead of focusing on how much motivation you have, work on cultivating your ability to work when you don’t want to. You do this through lots of practice and nothing else. The more you work through the lack of motivation, the easier it will be for you to get work done consistently. It’s a muscle you must exercise and there’s no way around. Just like if you wanted to grow a six pack of abs, you must go to the gym everyday or do your at-home workouts regularly. There is no other way. Do what you need to do and you will become fluent in your target language. You become stronger and smarter if you keep going. No matter how slow, you will grow. You will not if you don’t keep going. Slow growth is better than none.

You Will Not Always Be Able to See Your Progress

You may use language trackers to make sure that you are studying as much as you planned for, but don’t take those as indicators of your skill level. When you reach about intermediate level in your studies, you will feel like you aren’t progressing at all. Though you check off many new vocabulary words a day, you will still feel like you’re at the same level because you can’t physically SEE the progress you’re making. THAT IS NORMAL and you are making progress just not the kind you can see. The things you learn in intermediate are complicated and it is hard to measure your progress, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t advancing. Please keep working and moving forward. Keep your mindset on the present and here and now and avoid jumping ahead and overwhelming yourself with all the things you don’t know. You will soon learn it. You only become stronger and smarter when you keep working. You gain nothing if you don’t.

A Few Things To Help Make Your Studies Not Boring and Stuff

Though motivation is trash, your studies shouldn’t be, like, the most boring thing ever either. Something that will help keep you going is to make things interesting. This, again, does not replace hard work, because you probably will lose the motivation to interesting things too, but they will help! Try to use multiple methods of studying that are interesting and stimulating like using video games, movies, Youtube videos, web articles based on topics you’re interested in, novels, and tv shows to learn your language. It will help give you something to look forward to and keep things interesting.

I hope that was helpful to you and that my tough love wasn’t too tough, but I want you all to really understand that so many language learners quit, not because the language is like demon-spawned or anything but because they lose the motivation. They hit a wall around intermediate level and feel like they aren’t making progress fast enough and quit. Don’t be that language learner. Keep going! You can do it!!

Happy learning!

*Yes, I did. Often – The Weeknd

[agentkentuckypresents-blog]

(agentkentucky)

Coloring Outside the Lines Episode 1: Making Machinima and the New Media Maze

~LISTEN ALONG~

WARNING: Volume Down. This one compressed pretty loudly this time around. 

Transcript (with pictures! Most effective when paired with hitting play):

Hi everyone, my name is Erin Christopher aka Agent Kentucky, and you are listening to, “Agent Kentucky Presents: Coloring Outside the Lines: RWBY, Red vs. Blue, and the Rise of the New Media Community”. This four-week blogcast is being completed as a course requirement for my new media class at Florida State University and will use the creation and dissemination of the Rooster Teeth brand as a case study in the formation of new media communities and the impact of digital storytelling. Now, I feel like there was some jargon there, so I’m going to back it up a minute and talk about what new media is, why I’ve chosen to study this company, who I am as a host in relation to the topic, and then we’ll get into the focus of this week’s blogcast, which is making machinima and the new media maze. So, if you can’t tell, I’m a pretty big fan of wordplay and alliteration, sometimes it comes unconsciously so keep an ear out.

Anyway, if you’re not familiar with what Red versus Blue is, I’ll be explaining more in a little bit, but it’s best known as the longest-running episodic web series ever. Still, if you’ve never seen it, you might be wondering why I’ve chosen “Agent Kentucky Presents” as the title of a blogcast with a focus on Red vs Blue. So first of all I’m from Kentucky, and while yes I can do the stereotypical Kentucky accent, I will not be using it in this blogcast because I figure I grew up in Kentucky, this is my voice, this is a brand of a Kentucky accent. Don’t want to do anything disingenuous, here. But moving on, in Red vs Blue, the Rooster Teeth series that launched the whole company, there are 49 Agents called “The Freelancers”, who are named after US states, so you have Agent Texas, Agent Washington, Agent Carolina, but as it stands Agent Kentucky is still out there adventuring and has not yet shown up. So I figure, for my little blogcast, I’ll be the Agent Kentucky’s stand-in until the real Agent Kentucky makes their debut on Red vs. Blue—and, maybe they’ll have the stereotypical Kentucky accent.

Caption: Say hello to the Freelancers! None of these cool kids are Red or Blue, but stand-in Agent Kentucky is goin’ rogue on the Blue Team (Go Cats?)

Moving on, I think I should explain what I mean by a new media case study before we jump too deep into this. So, within this field of new media studies—which is still really getting its footing in the larger academic world—we’re going to be looking primarily at these new ways stories and information are distributed via the Internet. Kind of delving in deeper into this rise of the web series that we really see coming to a bit of an apex today with the popularity and convenience of streaming, also YouTubers and the social media influencers. New media also encompasses things like the web comic, the visual novel, the listicle, the podcast, the fiction podcast—which has actually been my primary area of research for the past six months I’ve been doing my senior thesis, but the thing is we’d be here forever if I named off everything that counts as new media because it’s always growing and always changing, which makes it challenging to keep up with trends and shifts, but provides for a lot of diversity of material.

So, all research starts out with a core question, even though I’m going to be talking about a lot of different things regarding new media here in this blogcast, but my question I really want to focus on is about community and these web series. So RvB, RWBY, really anything that Rooster Teeth is putting out, you have gen:LOCK coming in January, which is this huge exciting new scifi series helmed by RWBY’s director Gray Haddock and Black Panther’s Michael B. Jordan, probably a more familiar name if you’re not familiar with RT’s stuff, but the point is part of this company’s success has grown out of a backbone of community. 

Caption: Michael B. Jordan is back to snap some retainers (and pilot some bad*ss mechs) as the voice of Julian Chase, protagonist of the upcoming Rooster Teeth Animation series gen:LOCK

And I’m not just talking about audience—for the record, I will be referring to community and audience as totally different things. So you can watch something and never think about it again, hardly talk to anybody about it, it goes out of your mind—but you were still part of the audience. You consumed that commodity. Community, on the other hand, implies further engagement, it implies connection with other audience members, sometimes this brings about the production of transformative works, so we’re talking fanart, that sort of thing. All of this long explication here brings me to my central research question which is, “How is the niche web series a catalyst of community unbounded by geography?” So that rhymes a little but it’s still kind of jargon-y, so I am essentially asking here, what is it about web series like RvB that brings people together so passionately? And obviously, you have a lot of discussions like this going on right now about modern fandom, kind of concerning things on mainstream platforms, by mainstream studios, but I think there’s a personal element here when we’re talking about indie content, especially indie web content, that facilitates the development of a different kind of consumer community—there really are tons of these out there now, but I want to focus on the RT community specifically given their time frame, how they really were ahead of their time on these things. So, kind of presenting a thesis for my question here, I think niche has a lot to do with this development of community by the web series—you’re getting people engaging in conversations who have more specific intersections of interests, I also think creator-community connection has a lot to do with it which is really bridged through social media nowadays, and that’s kind of what we’re going to be exploring here through these four episodes.

Caption: The spectrum of Red vs. Blue Heroes

Which, nature of research, one question leads to another, why focus on these series specifically? For the most part, we’re going to be talking about Red vs Blue but later we’ll touch on RWBY, which if you’re not following along in the blog is spelled R-W-B-Y, it stands for the main characters’ names and the colors they’re associated with, and I’m not just doing this because it lets me make a cheeky little title about coloring outside the lines, but these series really have made a profound impact on the landscape of digital storytelling and what we think about when we produce visual entertainment for the Internet. And going off that, the ways in which these stories have brought so many people together. I think one of the reasons I really latched onto what this company does, especially after watching their fifteenth anniversary documentary Why We’re Here, which is also the title of the first episode of Red vs Blue, is because my own mission as a storyteller, as a screenwriter, a novelist is to write things that bring people together. Things people can talk about, make friends through. I’ve made of my some of my dearest long-distance friends over the years over just nerding out about stuff, so what I’m really curious about is what makes these niche series so powerful as a connective tissue among geographically disparate people.

Caption: Community comes together at the 2017 Rooster Teeth Expo (RTX) in Austin, Texas

So quick history lesson, in 2003, two years before the advent of YouTube, which has essentially become our society’s video hosting and consumption crutch, we see the birth of Red vs Blue, and subsequently the group that will become the founders of currently Austin, TX based Rooster Teeth Productions. Now with 16 seasons and 5 spinoff miniseries under its belt, Red vs Blue was created originally using playable characters in the shooter video game HALO, which was then overdubbed with comedic voice acting and released on Rooster Teeth founder Burnie Burns’ website, drunkgamers.com, where he and his friends, as the title suggests, would do the equivalent of Drunk History, but for video game reviews. The first official episode was released on April 1st, 2003, and the series actually found itself as part of a larger new media content movement called machinima, which was essentially the art of making movies out of video gameplay. Red vs Blue however has become probably the best-known example of this new media genre, having ballooned into the internet smash hit that it is today.

Not to say that there weren’t bumps in the road, however. After RvB started drumming up serious views, the crew got into some pretty hot water with Microsoft because, obviously, HALO was protected under their copyright. However, due to RvB’s massive success and the hordes of new players it actually brought the HALO franchise, the team at Rooster Teeth was allowed to use HALO footage to make Red vs Blue completely free of royalties.

Anyway, so the first episode of RvB, after it premiered in April 2003—see, I rhymed again—essentially became a viral video before the term viral video even entered our vernacular. Okay, say that ten times fast. But really, by the third episode, things were really taking off and the team had started to realize they had struck on something pretty special here. Which brings me to discuss, “how does Red vs Blue even fit into this greater new media genre of machinima?” For the record, I’d never even heard of this genre, or knew that there was a special genre for the type of production Red vs Blue is, and the creators didn’t know it either at the time, so I don’t feel as bad about it as I could.

Caption: “What are YOU lookin’ at?”*

*Not the actual dialogue

Interestingly enough, there’s actually an Academy of Machinima of Arts and Sciences, that’s had its own film festival, awards show, and an expo convention that started in 2008. The first Machinima Film Festival and Awards were held in 2002, in which Anachronox: The Movie, a short film created using the 3D role-playing game Anachronox, took home best picture. A year later, the prize went to Red vs Blue: The Blood Gulch Chronicles. The first ever machinima films, however, were created around 1996 using the video game Quake. And similarly to Rooster Teeth, you had teams of producers—two of the big ones were called The Rangers and the Undead Clan, who created these early machinima films and distributed them via the Internet.

Now, even though it’s made using an action shooter game, Red vs Blue really isn’t all that much about the fighting—although there definitely is some, it’s certainly not like what you’re going to find in say, RWBY, where you’ve got these super crazy fight scenes and characters whipping out convertible weapons and all that. Rather, Red vs Blue is more about what happens in these humorous conversations among soldiers, and I think that’s one of the big appeals of it. So many times, content is focused on the action, kind of one of the fundamentals of structuring a plot is asking “is this important to the story? Is this important to the characters?” but Red vs Blue endeavors to make the non-fighting, the cracking jokes and dry humor, the focus, that’s the important stuff. There’s actually academic literature out there on RvB as a piece containing anti-war sentiment, I have it linked in the sources if you wanna check it out.

However, I also think RvB has a big appeal due to the interactive nature of the content, starting with its creation and continuing on into its distribution and consumption. So in an academic article on the art of machinima, Dr. Henry Lowood, who is a curator of science and technology history in the libraries at Stanford University, discusses this idea of the player—that is the player of a given video game—as a performer. Which, you know, machinima—the players become the animators, the modelers, the voice actors, but Lowood argues that this is inherent to video games, that the video game experience actually has laid the psychological groundwork for machinima to arise as a form of new media storytelling. So, when you’re playing a video game, especially an RPG, you are, for the most part, in control, you have to literally be inside your character’s head, making decisions for them. That’s why, when games are talked about or reviewed, you’ll see the word “immersive” thrown around a lot, and that’s because so many times when you’re playing video games you are placed into the psychological position of your playable character. According to Lowood, that makes you an actor. 

Caption: A table read of Red vs. Blue Season 10. 

So, of course, machinima producers like the Rooster Teeth founders go the extra mile here, doing voice acting over staged video gameplay, but the point, according to Lowood, is that impetus to create is already there just through the act of playing a video game. So, if we’re looking at RvB’s production as something that amplifies player-game interaction into this new dimension, is it so much of a stretch to claim that that interactive nature is actually directly reflected in the creation of the Rooster Teeth community? Of course, the founders talk about in the documentary how the community forums were created so the fans could really just entertain each other while there were lulls in releasing content, but you also saw the founders having day-to-day engagements with their fans, sort of befriending them, they ended up actually hiring a bunch of their early fans like Gavin Free, Barbara Dunkelman, and Miles Luna who are now trademark company personalities, so you wonder if interactive was just kind of always in the blueprint, and of course carries on into the company mission today.

Finally, I really think that they’ve capitalized—as so many online content creators have—on the simple fact that people process information via narrative. Really, when you break it down, new media studies as a whole is kind of the study of how stories are connecting people. Via the internet, digitally. I mean really that’s intrinsic to the core of humanities, this idea of stories connecting people. All this to say, of course, that this concept of interactive creation, of including the consumer in the narrative, is kind of what it takes to lay the seeds of such a well-connected consumer community.

So, next episode I am going to dive deeper into this creation of community and I would really love to do a Q and A, maybe an interview, so if you’re part of the Rooster Teeth community and don’t mind me reading off your answers to a couple of questions, or if you want to ask me questions regarding this and my research on it, my ask box is open you just can’t send me anonymous messages—so don’t be shy, I only do that for my own safety and security, and you can always request that I not give away your URL when I do the Q and A. Anyway, thanks for tuning in, and we’ll be back with another episode next Friday.

~Peace out, and check out the bibliography under the cut.

AKY

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Lowood, Henry. “Real-Time Performance: Machinima and Game Studies”. Journal of Media Practice, vol. 2, no. 1, 2006, pp.10-17. https://web.archive.org/web/20060101161233/http://www.idmaa.org/journal/pdf/iDMAa_Journal_Vol_2_No_1_screen.pdf . Accessed 14 September, 2018.

Ott, J. “Academy of Machinima Arts and Sciences”. Making the Movie, 7 Aug. 2005, http://makingthemovie.info/2005/08/academy-of-machinima-arts-sciences.html . Accessed 14 September, 2018. 

Starrs, D. Bruno. "Reverbing: The 'Red vs. Blue' machinima as anti-war film", 'Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies', NY, London: Routledge, 24.2, 2010, pp. 265–277.

Thompson, Clive. “The Xbox Auteurs.” The New York Times Magazine, 7 Aug. 2005, https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/07/magazine/the-xbox-auteurs.html. Accessed 14 September, 2018.

Why We’re Here. Directed by Mat Hames, Rooster Teeth, 2018.

[lilmikomiko]

Title: 髪がもし白くなろうとも Summary: They say, I bet, They’ll never make it. - Shania Twain. Sasuke, Sakura and living the rest of their lives. [31 sentences] Series and Pairing: Naruto, Sasusaku Notes: a) The inspiration and title were taken from this song. It’s one of my favorite OTP songs hahaha. b) I haven’t made a fic for SS month last year. So I’ll post one during the SS canon anniversary? Besides this fic was in my drafts since last year. d) There’s one prompt that I’ve cheated with...Sorry? (thanks to @peonydee for the help on some prompts too)

0701: Necromancer The warmth trickles from her unfurling knuckles, but surprisingly, he grabs her hands, like an anchor, before the light in his eyes faded.

0702: Asylum She tells him stories, trying not to let the tears fall, to lull him to sleep; More so, he asks questions, about the little girl who loved a lost boy.

0703: Old Habits Die Hard He was already half-way warming the clear anmitsu syrup before he remembered that no one will eat it after supper tonight.

0704: Slice of Life Satisfying afternoons were spent in counting the thin slivers of silver in the dark mess of his hair, as they gently burn in pale, warm gold.

0705: Tag The consumed their entire life in chasing after their demons, but now they had each other to exorcise them.

0706: Watch the Queen Conquer No one dared to question the small, old woman that to be let inside the emergency station, demanding to see her ailing husband.

0707: Animal Kingdom "-now I've got a menagerie - a pride of cats, a pack of dogs, a cast of hawks! By the gods, I don’t know what to do with them, because I wasn't prepared for Sasuke-kun's empty nest syndrome."

0708 : Twist of Fate Now that Sasuke was in need of a cane, and frequently had to stoop, Sakura is currently enjoying the sudden height difference between them.

0709: "That will be enough" This time, when her husband thinks of taking on the familiar mantle and sword, she stopped his outstretched hand in protest. No. No more... ”Sasuke-kun, that will be-”

0710: "Fuck the Police" "Back in my day," Uchiha-san rallies, scowling when the disrespectful greenhorn rolls his eyes (discreetly, but it didn’t escape his notice.), “you would be sent to the field without this orientation nonsense.”   

0711: AirBNB This is the last time she would let Sasuke-kun choose their accommodations for their vacation, as it had no slip-proof mats on the bathrooms, resulting in his unsuspecting tumble and almost breaking his spine. (which was already prone to breaks, because of the hugs from his wife, daughter, and grandchildren) 0712: Shade It’s a good thing that pink and white hair colors blend so well, Sakura thinks while plucking the different strands from the teeth of her comb.

0713: Treat Yo Self "You shouldn't be purchasing this behind my back!" She placed the bottle of Cialis in between them with a scowl and cutting him off before he could explain. "I've could've gotten them free! For a lifetime! I own the pharmacy, Sasuke-kun!"

0714: Tinder "I know men age like fine wine, but this is ridiculous!" Sakura noted the tons of swipes her husband had all across the shinobi nations, both from rostered and civilian population.

0715: "Take a Break"

"Wait."

Sasuke whispers, barely suppressing his excitement after she stole his breath with a mere touch.

And because they'll have a long night solely for themselves, he hastily takes off his dentures.

0716: Cards Against Humanity

Naruto: Ever since “the incident” every time I close my eyes, I still see __________?”

Sakura: My husband's Chidori plunging through my chest. Sasuke: My heart quivering its last in a hand that’s saved thousands.

Naruto: It's a pity that kids these days are all getting involved with___________.

Sakura: Conspiracy theories and fake news. Sasuke: Becoming Hokage.

Naruto: How am I maintaining my relationship status? Sakura: My hand that can explode anything with just a touch. Sasuke: My eyes and mouth that can compensate for any dysfunctional limbs.

Naruto: Fuck you, guys.

Needless to say, the game was now forever banned on the biweekly Veteran's Fun Night.

0717: Entropy

“Sometimes, I wish I was selfish.” Sakura’s voice wobbles, and cracks with age while her webbed fingers trace the lines of his face on an aging picture.”Selfish enough to let the world end.”

0718: He said, She said

Sasuke-kun. Sakura’s palms felt heavy against his chest, before she slumped to him, and breathed her last words.

Mata kondo na.

0719: Mnemonic A set of letters defined her - a doctor, a soldier, a founder, a legend - but what she preferred the most is the simplest of her: wife and mother.

0720: Sacrifice It was worth it; Everything - those wars, pain, and hardships - was worth it, as he witnesses the first awakening of his grandson in his arms.  

0721: Anonymous An Uchiha Secret: Sasuke wrote essential travel guides, using a pen name, to support his family through royalties.

0722: Prince(ss) and the Pauper The medical trainees were surprised when the old man Uchiha darkened their skill laboratory, with a thick stapled record sheet

“I’ll take over Haruno-sensei’s class for today’s exams. Let’s begin.”

0723: Bonnie and Clyde To pass the idle time in between his gardening and chores, Sasuke read those criminal romance novels that Sakura liked to keep beneath their bed.

0724: Errands It was surprising to say the least, that he felt the first creak of his knees when he picked up his tomatoes.

0725: Do you believe in magic? She held his gnarled hands, thinking of how everything worked out against all odds and got her fairytale ending in the end.

0726: Us against the world "If you want advice on how to stop the apocalypse, ask the Sixth." Sasuke grumbled at the new faces, knowing that he had enough adventures to last a lifetime.

0727: Final Fantasy Sasuke can only smirk, as his grandchildren crowed in disbelief at how he'd accomplished his impossible speedruns, not knowing that even with his eye-hand coordination, this game was a piece of cake.

0728: Road Trip An old couple going for a drive to their daughter living in Fire Country's capital, no matter how legendary they were, was going to be a disaster.

0729: The depths below / thalassophobia Despite being a living flame, Sasuke preferred to drown in the seas, lost in thought, the distance giving him time to ponder about her.

0730: The defining decade Sarada suddenly exclaims for the entire Hokage Tower (and the whole village) to hear with disdain, “What do you mean we can’t celebrate your Diamond Anniversary?”

0731: Atlas And as she caresses the base of his skull, feels her fingers burrow into his thinning hair, soothing the strain on his body, he feels that no sleep is better than by her side.

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Jaden Riddles Analysis of MAUS by Art Spiegelman Post 3

Chapter 1

Chapter one of book two is entitled “Mauschwitz” and it looks like it foreshadows Vladeks time in the concentration camp. At the beginning of the chapter, we discover that Artie is now married. Vladek fakes a heart attack in order to ensure that Artie calls him back. Vladek then begins to tell the story of the time that he and Anja first arrived at Auschwitz. A priest then tells Vladek not to worry, because he knows that he will survive the Holocaust. At the end of the chapter, the Kapo gives Vladek “special treatment” because he is able to help teach them both English and Polish. Artie feels jealousy towards his late brother Richieu because he feels as though he’s just a disappointment in comparison. The Polish Priest tries to cheer up Vladek by telling him that he ensures he will make it out alive and survive the Holocaust. A Mandelbaum is a person at Auschwitz who is killed by a guard. Vladek has managed to move up the ranks of respect while at Auschwitz, this can be seen when he is given better fitting clothes in return for teaching the Kapo English and Polish, he also donated his prize he won during bingo to someone who didn't win and proved himself to be selfless. Mauschwitz is directly symbolic of the Jewish concentration camp Auschwitz. Catsills is symbolic of the place that Vladek was staying in the mountains when Artie and Francoise went to visit.

Chapter 2

On pages 40-47 Artie portrays himself as a child as gets endlessly hounded by interviewers and people of that nature after the success of his first MAUS book. This section is the first time that we hear that Vladek has passed away, Artie also talks about the therapist he visits with once a week, and he also mentions that he and his wife are expecting a child. This section of the book provides the audience with a full present day update of what is happening in Artie’s life and the personal struggles he is dealing with. In the chapter, we get to see the 10 months Vladek spends in Auschwitz. He had his fair share of odd jobs that he would do for benefits for him and Anja in which he thought that the positives outweighed the negatives. At the end of the chapter, Vladek begins to question what the pool sized holes they were having everyone dig would be used for. It is very ironic that Artie coats all of the bugs in bug spray to kill them as soon as he is done with his conversation with Vladek on how the Jewish prisoners would be covered in gasoline. 

Chapter 3

The chapter begins with another argument between Vladek and Artie, this time it’s about how rude Vladek thinks it is for Artie to not want to take home leftovers and waste food, and how Vladek hated how much food got wasted during the Holocaust. After evacuating Auschwitz, Vladek got moved to Gross-Rosen, which was another camp. They took a train ride the whole way there stopping only to throw out the dead passengers along the way. Vladek ends up getting an infection on his hand while on the train, he actually purposely continued to mess up his hand just because of how much better the infirmary is compared to the rest of the camp. Francoise stops to give a ride to a hitchhiker which angers Vladek and causes an argument. Vladek acted sad once hearing the news of the 3 SS guards who were killed by the revolting Jews. He had seen so much death in the war that he was sad to hear that more harm was coming from the event. He wishes that they could leave all of the revolting in the past and move on to heal into better people. Vladek was able to survive being locked in the cattle car by eating snow. Vladek’s racism absolutely disgusts Franciose. They decide to pick up a colored man on their trip home and Vladek kept mumbling in Polish. Vladek kept worrying that the innocent man was going to steal the groceries they had just bought. This example shows how scarred Vladek was from the amount of racism that was present during the Holocaust and how that kind of thing doesn’t leave a person very easily. I think that Vladek was having trouble remembering small and minuscule things because they weren't significant, where on the other hand he can remember the Holocaust in great detail because of how big of an impact it had on his life. 

Commentary 2

I think Spiegelman handles the Holocaust in a very unique way compared to other works I’ve experienced. He manages to bring a fresh approach to the story by portraying it with the different animals and through the graphic novel medium. He focuses more on the modern implications of a survivors tale rather than dwelling solely on the tragic events of the past.

Citations.

Geographical Map -

Onlmaps. “Mapsontheweb.” Maps on the Web, 5 Apr. 2017, mapsontheweb.zoom-maps.com/post/159221643176/comiccartography-art-spiegelman-maus-vol-1.

MAUS Character Chart -

Person. “MAUS Character Chart.” Prezi.com, 24 Apr. 2015, prezi.com/hqqytmsoxphh/maus-character-chart/.

MAUS Book Two -

Spiegelman, Art. MAUS Book 2. 1980, uniteyouthdublin.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/spiegelman-maus-ii.pdf.