#dune bug character page

[yourlocaltoad]

Assets used for Dune Bug's Character page (skylanders.com, 2013/2014)

[homestuckreplay]

When Will Homestuck Include A Page We Can Eat

(page 1015-1021)

New music is out! Homestuck Volumes 2&3 are now available on the Collection, just in time for the holidays, with most of the tracks from recent [S] pages. Some of them are extended – the final version of Upward Movement (Dave Owns) (p.665) comes in at over 4 minutes – but mostly it’s just a cool way to collect the tracks and listen as background music.

There’s a great sense of scale in this future section. WV, PM and AR(?) are all shown from a distance, like the weird bugs they are. And framed against the massive frog statue and bunker stamped with the Sburb logo, it feels like they are a part of something bigger, another unknowable plan from Skaia. All their ‘names’ present them as purposeless runaways, but Sburb could ‘know’ they would run away the same way it ‘knows’ that John’s session will apparently have four players. (or will it?) WV and PM are both extremely driven with strong ideals, there’s a lot more to them than just wandering, the question is whether it’s free will or Skaia’s design.

I’m also loving the fluid, lineless art of the future pages, especially the way it’s used for skies and landscapes. I can't remember if I've talked about the art before but I need to again because the yellow sky in these specific pages has captivated me body and soul. I want to eat that sky like it’s buttered toast and sink my feet into the soft dunes and crunchy rocks, but right from page 248 we’ve seen WV on these textured plains below these swirling skies – and there’s definitely glimpses of it in the kids’ storyline, too. Page 558, where Dad’s safe is taken to ‘Vaulthalla’, is the best one.

Right now I can’t decide whether I want to see more of this with the kids, or keep the two styles separate. Even though I prefer the art to the sprite style, which really draws attention to the boundaries between objects and to the difference between ‘interactable’ and ‘background’ game elements, I also like the two time periods having such separate identities. The future feels more mysterious and otherworldly due to the different art and the lack of pesterlogs or dialog between the characters. It’s also a natural extension of John’s house, the place where he’s trapped, being in all black and white while the inaccessible outside world is in color. Here’s a world that is hundreds of years and meteors distant from the architectural prisons the kids are in, and yes, it’s a wasteland, but in this absolute absence of human society it is radically beautiful.

There is a furious terror in my heart at anyone turning a gun on WV or PM. DO NOT. They have important mail to deliver!!!! If anything happens to them I will quit Homestuck and delete this blog but for now, very tentatively, the Aimless Renegade’s design kicks ass. WV and PM’s wrappings look like soft cloth, but AR is a walking threat so has a roll of caution tape. I’m guessing that conditions are harsh in the future and they all need wrappings to avoid the weather, and either lost or never had any harlequin gear (or it was too distinctive).

WV came from Rose’s house and PM came from John’s, so it’s a fair guess that AR either already arrived from Dave’s, or was always here at Jade’s. Or, they could be a guardian of the frog statue, here as defense because they know the others are showing up. Their name fits the existing pattern so I probably wouldn’t think that ordinarily, but I have to be suspicious of anyone with a gun that big. Especially since, best I can tell, this isn't one of the guns we've seen in Jade's house.

> AR: Put the weapon down. Make peace with foreign ambassadors.

[moondrama]

In the past 2-3 months, I haven't watched or read many things but I put on Dune/Dune 2 whenever it is on on any TV channel so I think I watch it as background noise at least 5 times a week (I understand most of it but I still can't accurately say what's happening). It's not interesting enough so far for me to pick up the fat book but I i really like having the movie on in the background.

In terms of reading...this is very uncharacteristic of me but I've been reading those longgg Dramione fanfics lately. A couple months ago, I was even grateful to be sick because that meant I could take the day off work and stay in bed reading. I finished the 800+ page Manacled in three days I think. It ruined my sleep because I used to stay up till 4am, and spent all my non-eating and non-working hours reading it. I just finished another 700 page Dramione fanfic and looking for more.

I personally hate the fanfic and shipping part of every 'fandom' I've been in except Dramione. And idk what bug bit me to start these fanfics. I think...the dynamic of these two characters, and they way fanfic authors write about them perfectly capture the enemies-to-lovers trope the way I like it...(Yes I know it's toxic etc etc)

I'm grateful to have something to look forward to reading though, it's a nice feeling and also doesn't involve any doom scrolling.

[wings-of-fire-confessions]

I honestly bugs me that there’s probably quite a bit of bias and even misinformation of Kestrel within her wiki page on WoF wiki. Now, this could be because I’m biased myself, since I honestly hate Kestrel (because of her literal child abuse towards the DoD)-

But I honestly can’t help but feel like there’s some bias and a bit of “over-sympathy” for Kestrel’s character on Kestrel’s wiki page.

For Example:

“She was initially assumed to be cruel and naturally hostile, but was later revealed that this was because she was bitter about being lied to and losing both her dragonets.”

ASSUMED??

Dude, they literally state that Kestrel was ‘assumed’ to be cruel - RIGHT BEFORE literally stating THIS: “[Kestrel] abused Glory due to her being a RainWing and not a "powerful" SkyWing.”

Plus, on Kestrel’s relationship part of her wiki with Glory, the wiki page literally states that:

“[Kestrel] would often verbally abuse Glory by calling her "lazy" and using "lazy RainWing" as an insult to her and her friends.[2][32] She would also often physically abuse Glory.[33] She, along with Dune, would call her a mistake and growl at her constantly.[20]”

And on Starflight’s wiki page, it states that: “[Starflight] would hide in the shadows if the SkyWing was nearby, and would often get burned by Kestrel just like all the other dragonets.”

Physically and Verbally ABUSING Glory and Physically BURNING Starflight and the rest of the DoD isn’t “assumingly” cruel - it IS cruel. Abuse IS a cruel action towards others, especially the form of abuse that Kestrel’s put on the DoD.

(And while her backstory may explain her abuse towards the DoD, it does NOT excuse it in any way at ALL, what-so-ever.)

2. Another Example:

“However, Kestrel seemed to have a protective side, which was shown when Morrowseer and Blister tricked her into believing that the dragonets were in danger. She arrived immediately to "save" them, hinting she did have some protectiveness over the dragonets.[25]”

Kestrel going to Morrowseer in order to save the dragonets - because of the fact that she’s “protective” towards the DoD - isn’t a factually accurate description, but more so a 𝐟𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.

Please correct me if I’m wrong, but as far as I know reading TDP, there was little to no evidence for the reasons behind why Kestrel went to save the DoD within the actual books, especially since the readers can’t hear the character’s internal thoughts and emotions within a good amount of the epilogues, INCLUDING Book 1.

Some people may say that Kestrel came to save the DoD because deep down, she actually cared for them, and some people may state that she attempted to save them not because she cared for them, but because it’s her job to do so.

And whether or not which point of view of Kestrel is accurate isn’t really revealed or supported by the epilogue, so stating that Kestrel attempt to save the DoD because she’s protective of them is more of a fan speculation and/interpretation than a accurate fact within the books.

And putting in fan speculations with factual content in a character’s wiki honestly isn’t very good to do, since it’ll result in fans to believe in certain information within a media that isn’t proven and/or isn’t even accurate within the source of media a character’s in.

3. Another (but I suppose more Nick-picky than important) Example:

“Kestrel seemed to hate all of the dragonets of destiny”

“seemed” honestly isn’t a that great of a example here.

Kestrel, indeed, DID hate the dragonets - or at least, within the prologue she expressed her hated towards them.

“It doesn’t matter how I feel about nasty little dragonets.” - Kestrel, The Dragonet Prophecy, Last Page of the Prologue.

And while it’s ok for someone to hate children in general-Stating that Kestrel “seemed” to hate the DoD while in reality she actually DOES/DID, honestly isn’t a good or accurate description of Kestrel’s character, which isn’t a good thing to put when people want to go the wiki for (what’s hopefully) accurate information about a certain character.

So yeah, there’s (or at least feels like) honestly some bias, some over-sympathy and/or even some misinformation about Kestrel on the WoF wiki.

And while I suppose that’s probably and/or possibly inevitable, due to the fact that fandom wikis are usually run by - of course - fans in general-

Putting in fan speculations and bias for a certain character with factual information of that certain character honestly isn’t good for an wiki page’s credibility and even quality of the information within it, since it can misinform people within the fanbase who may unintentionally believe information that’s actually inaccurate and/or unproven by the media source the fans are into in general.

And although the WoF wiki being this way towards Kestrel isn’t very surprising to me, since there’s (unfortunately) quite a bit - heck quite a lot - of over-sympathy and even abuse apologism - by excusing and/or justifying her child abuse towards the DoD because it was highly likely and believed by her that children her children dead -

(Probably and/or Possibly due to my own dislike and/or hatred towards Kestrel), The fact that the wiki stating that Kestrel’s abuse towards the DoD is “assumed” to be cruel, puts a (positive?) fan speculation of Kestrel being protective towards the DoD, and has some misinformation about a character who’s good - heck, majority - of her character is being a literal CHILD ABUSER towards the DoD honestly…makes feel quite a bit uncomfortable and/or upset.

I’m SO sorry if I’m overreacting and/or nick-picking within this confession, this has been on my mind for quite a bit of a while.

I’m also sorry if there’s any spelling errors and I that I didn’t word anything properly, it took me a few hours to type all of this down.

And if you’re upset about the wiki content within this confession, please do NOT hate and/or harass the WoF staff, but INSTEAD inform and/or educate them about why this should changed if you want to.

And if you doubt the information within this confession, feel free to check out Kestrel’s wiki page if you agree or disagree and/or believe or disbelieve the content in this ask, and form your own thoughts and beliefs of the information with Kestrel’s wiki page and this confession.

I’ll put the link to Kestrel’s wiki page here: https://wingsoffire.fandom.com/wiki/Kestrel

And Starflight’s wiki page (For the First Example): https://wingsoffire.fandom.com/wiki/Starflight?so=search

Original anon, I had to delete the original and repaste it because it had a link to a pirated copy of Book 1. A new rule has been added about links.

[ritzcrackee]

august tbr yayyyyy

rereads are marked by a ☆, new reads are marked by a ♡, and new acquisitions are bolded

physical tbr: 4

dune messiah - frank herbert - ♡

oedipus rex - sophocles - ♡

antigone - sophocles - ♡

medea - euripides - ♡

digital tbr: 2

pandora's jar - natalie haynes ♡

dune - frank herbert ♡

read: 10

alphas - lisi harrison - 1.5/5

wild ass book

movers and fakers - lisi harrison - 1.5/5

similarly wild ass book

beastly - alex flinn - 0/5

didn't like it #weirdandbad. felt like a reworked sold to one direction fic sooooo

juilet takes a breath - gabby rivera - 4/5

this was good and queer and brown and good. I had a really nice day when i read this, i played with my baby brother, i went to a farmers market, i got bit by like 100 bugs, i started learning how to crochet lefthanded, idk it was just good. baby gay coming of age stories you will always have my heart.

twelfth knight - alexene farol follmuth - 2/5

i think i would have liked this better if i read it like,,, 3 years ago, as it stands it was just kind of a mid romance. filipino rep was nice though!!

shojo beat manga sampler: vol 1 - various authors - 1/5

i bought this because it had ouran highschool host club in it? I DIDNT KNOW THE INCEST TWINS WERE????? ACTUALLY THE FUCKING INCEST TWINS???????? I THOUGHT WE WERE JOKING???????????????? anyways i didn't like any of the other manga in this so i donated it lol

out of the blue - jason june - 1.5/5

what the fuck was this book. like. It was cute sometimes? but generally i just felt confused BAOSOSKSODO, all of the merfolk lore was completely thrown out of the window whenever it was convenient???? can we PLEASE commit to a single aspect of merfolk culture PLEASE. it also felt like every plot beat repeated itself 100 times before we could move on? IDKKK SORRY this fried my brain. I can't even talk correctly balsosnd.

the loophole - naz kutub - dnf

i think im just off my game this month because this was??? extremely confusing too?? i couldn't hold any of it in my head idkkkk.

evocation - s. t. gibson - 5/5

WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH DAVID. MY BABY. MOIRA. MY BABY. RHYS. MY BABY. AUGHHHHHHHHHHHHH mwah mwah mwah mwah mwah mwah chefs kiss i loved this im so excited to see more of these characters :>

fresh - margot wood - 2/5

preachy but funny. helped me hit my library book goal last minute so yk. slay it up girlboss

last months goal: read a library book

guess who did iiiiiittttt. meeeeee. confetti confetti.

this months goal: find a tbr system that fits my current goals better lmao

yeahhhh i've kind of stopped buying books? idk the greek plays are like 50 pages each, and then i don't think i'll get to dune messiah for a hot minute. maybe i'll just add a library section? IDKKKK SEE U IN A MONTH WHEN I'VE FIGURED IT OUT

[canmom]

comics comints 1: The Incal

I’ve been reading a whole buncha comics, let’s talk about them on Tumblr!

In fact I’m gonna talk about a bandes desinée, a manhua, a manga and an american comic book. I need to think of more countries that have comics to read! Anyway since I have a bunch of comics to talk about let’s split it up a bit for the sake of your dash.

First up, The Incal!

The Incal (L’Incal)

(Alexandro Jodorowsky and Jean “Moebius” Giraud, 1981-88, trans.Sasha Watson & Justin Kelly)

Oh Moebius. You know I think he’s the shit [c.f. Animation Night 71], so I won’t spent too long here talking about how great old Jean was.

The Incal is one of Moeb’s best known comics, a collaboration with infamous alchemy freak Alejandro Jodorowsky [Toku Tuesday 27]. The backstory of this comic is basically, after Jodo’s Dune collapsed - leaving Moebius, O’bannon and Giger to go work on Alien - he went to comic books, teaming up with Moebius to make this comic. Knowing a bit about Jodo’s whole deal, and watching The Holy Mountain in particular, definitely made it easier to figure out what the Incal is getting at.

Well, sorta understand. I would probably need to crack open some grimoires to get the whole thing. But I can think like, oh, this is the bit where they were on the mountain getting confronted by their fears.

On one level it’s pretty straightforward! It’s a space opera in which hapless private investigator John DiFool (Tarot symbolism!) gets caught up in a big cosmic conflict to stop d-d-d-d-d-darkness from eating all the stars in the universe. On another it’s a kind of symbolic occult narrative where just about everyone is a tarot card and a lot of stuff that happens you just have to say, ok, alchemy is happening.

Apparently it was first conceived in a lucid dream in which Jodo got the image of two pyramids. He says he would conceive the story in a trance and dictate it to Moebius, who would sketch it out in real time. So it’s not quite so simple as ‘Jodo script, Moebius art’, but directly a collaboration between the two. Jodo is full of praise for Moebius’s subconscious, which he calls a ‘lake of colour’. They worked in this way for about ten years.

The result is... a curious tone. It’s actually generally pretty upbeat and funny, otherwise ‘alchemical acid trip’. Of course, Moeb handles everything with perfect aplomb. This is just the second page. I was lucky enough to be given a paper copy by a friend in America, and read it on the plane back, and it’s a treat to just hold this thing in your hands.

For (I can only assume) alchemical reasons, John Difool has no idea what’s going on and just kind of bumbles his way through the plot, chivvied along by the Incal itself, his pet parrot..lemon...thing, and the various characters who join him along the way like square-jawed Metabaron (who Jodo would later expand into a whole line of hypermasculine Metabarons who replicate through child abuse) and austere sexy space princess sisters Solune and Aminah. Before long they’re doing stuff like sending Difool to do various missions to advance their plan while the rest of them have shrunk their spaceship down to a tiny enough size to fit in his blood vessel.

Meanwhile, there’s a whole bunch of stuff kicking off in the background: a growing planetary rebellion, a decadent noble who adopts a series of bodies, the schemes of the Technos... which tie back in to the main story sooner or later. Big sweeping space opera stuff.

This being a Jodo story there’s a kind of weirdly mechanical hetero relationship in there, though he definitely puts some fun twists on it, like the time that a space bug alien impersonates John DiFool’s love interest (for diplomatic reasons), leading down the line to an entire planet of John DiFool clones. That’s kind of what it’s like: there’s never a huge amount of tension, you’re just along for the ride to see what wild turn the story will take next.

(this isn’t the nicest scan, unfortunately. it looks better on paper! anyway sometimes your page is a spider.)

There’s a curiosity to me in that, while the story involves a lot of rebellion, it’s a rebellion to restore the rightful Emporess (a Perfect Androgyne in the form of conventionally male and female bodies kind of sutured together - the Metabarons series goes a lot more into the galaxy’s iteration through a series of Perfect Androgyne candidates) to power against the schemes of the Technopope.

All in all, it’s easy to see why this comic is so influential. Of Moeb’s work, it’s definitely one of the ones that most ‘actually has a plot’, and Jodo doesn’t do the whole rape fixation thing (not that the weird deranged sex shit doesn’t add a lot to Jodo’s works lmao); it’s just fun.

It’s interesting looking at Moebius’s drawing from a more technical eye. He’s very good at balancing areas of detail with space. Panelling is generally conservative, just boxes of various sizes, and occasionally big full page spash panels - though the composition within each panel is exquisite. And what really blows me away is the amount of complex backgrounds and crowd shots.

Moeb knows exactly how to compose a big geometric form; he can supply his characters a great variety of faces and physiques. And there are so many distinctive outfits and character designs. It’s interesting to see how he shifts the art style to fit the tone of the scene; in a comedic scene John’s nose will be long and pointy, in a dramatic scene his face will get angular and accentuate the cheekbones even more, as in this scene where John meets Animah and spontaneously feels motivated to give her the Black Incal (check out the colouring as well):

In the writing side, Jodo remarks in one of the commentary interludes that he wished to have characters who change a lot over the course of the story, reflecting his beliefs about the mutability of people (unlike such infamously static characters as... Shakespeare’s Hamlet. oh, jodo...). For this reason, he writes...

John Difool, for instance, never stops changing. He metamorphoses, progresses, sometimes regresses. In the second volume, he becomes handsome. Then, he loses his beauty as he loses the Incal, but something different remains inside him. He’ll never be the same after that. In the beginning, John Difool is introduced as someone who is not too bright, but he gradually becomes wiser. He is never a totally moral character, he always remains subject to temptation. He might steal or betray, or do anything, because he is human. His energy is sometimes positive, other times negative, but is never properly channeled. In a way he never benefits from his own energy, because he uses it poorly, and usually for the good of others.

This is true so far as it goes, but honestly I don’t feel like any of the characters in The Incal change all that much - it’s not really about that kind of intense character study, they’re all much larger than life. A lot of the changes that do happen feel like they’re more driven by fate or cosmic forces than internal development of the character. And that isn’t a problem, by any means - it might well bog down this kind of comic. It surprises me though that Jodo writes something like this when to me, the characters seem much more like icons or symbols.

John's role is to be the everyman viewpoint character, a role he fulfills well; at one point he gets split into four elemental mini-selves with different emotional valences but this feels more symbolic of like, the forces of work in all of humanity than like, specificity as a character. Jodo is right to say that he rarely ever acts of his own volition so much as gets pulled along by the whole Incal affair. Which fits, because there’s enough batshit stuff happening at any given time that we, too, are just along for the ride.

The digital version I have only goes up to the end of volume 4, so I can’t post any scans of the later pages. Later things get... quite abstract! It ends on a curious note: instead of our ‘pull back camera’, the darkness egg threat is resolved (by a plan that involves sending everyone in the entire universe to sleep at once), and the universe kind of snaps back to the very beginning with John falling down the shaft. It’s not clear if this means the entire story is going to repeat itself endlessly on a loop, or if this time things will play out differently.

Apparently there’s a whole bunch more Incal stories, such as Before the Incal, After the Incal and Final Incal. As well as other Jodo-authored comic books like The Metabarons, which I really need to finish. I’d love to get my hands on those, this comic is such a treat.

Next up: Solo Levelling!

[ccorinthian]

I LOVE it sm when characters in books (and probably the author) is clearly autistic despite it not being part of the story or even a topic at the time… I’m reading Woman in the Dunes (砂の女) from 1964 and the mc is an entomologist (knows a lot about bugs) but he also knows WAY more than average about sand. Several pages has been describing the technical qualities of sand. A grain of sand is on average 1/8th millimetre. At one part in the story, the woman (in the dunes) is wrong about sand and he’s like. Personally offended and starts infodumping

[smashupmashups]

I had recently discovered earlier today that Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will be using the current Dolby logo design starting with the home release of Dune (2021), so I had to replace the 2015 Dolby Audio logo with the 2019 Dolby Audio logo to keep consistency.

As I was passing the time for noon to watch Space Jam with the audio commentary with Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck and Space Jam: A New Legacy with audio description yesterday, I chose to work on this fanmade back cover to a dream Blu-ray release to the Cartoon Network Studios feature film from 2002: The Powerpuff Girls Movie.

This was a two day work in the making. It took a long amount of time to make from making, from tracing the characters and buildings in the background to coloring them and making them 1185×1500px for the bottom half. The DVD and VHS back covers were what helped me.

With the description, it was a hassle; from getting the text accurate and fixing my mistakes from typoes and misalignment. The buildings in the background were made with the help of this wallpaper from The Powerpuff Girls (1998)'s page from HBO Max. Now the screenshot with the Professor the Girls, that was separate and taken prior; all I had to do was add a border square and tilt it with the help of Free Online Image Editor.

Also, the "First Time on Blu-ray" text was added to fill in that blank space above the bar code. And the bottom portion was made with the help of the Blu-ray back covers of Injustice (black cover), In the Heights ("Digital Code" banner and Canadian PG rating), and Tenet (Blu-ray specifications). Also, the runtime was made with the letters taken from the of The Lord of the Rings' 4K release.

[diana-prince-s]

do you have any advice for world building for a story? especially for stories that take place in the past like your spartan au. i personally love folklore and fantasy but i could never write for that genre because i'm so bad at world building so i just stick to modern day, slice of life stuff

hmm world building really is something that's very elusive. I'm not really sure if I'm a good world builder. am I?

for the sake of me giving you advice, let's pretend like I am. to start, I've always been a huge fan of fantasy (even modern day fantasy, like modern witches, monsters, the Shadow Falls series and Trylle trilogy were defining moments in my life) and I love history. I had an amazing history teacher who taught it like a story. Every lecture was basically just a story with a few important dates scattered in there. so maybe that's where I got my world building bug.

(and let me just say, in your modern stories you’re doing world building!! we don’t all live exactly where your characters live, we don’t do exactly what they do! my girlfriend noticed in my fics that I write in characters drying their toothbrush after they brush their teeth, which to me is so normal I don’t even notice I do it in real life. she said she didn’t start doing it until she noticed I do it, and I’m sure not everyone does! world building at its finest)

I think the first thing you have to do is to live in your story or your world. you have to feel like you're there. If while you're writing you don't feel like you're in Queen Elizabeth's court, or on the isle of Sparta, then your reader definitely won't. The next thing is to do research. I'm not one to say that you need to have ten pages of typed notes about a particular place and time before you start writing; but while you're writing, if you need to look up what kind of food they ate or if they had mirrors (two of the biggest things you'll probably need in a fantasy/historical story), look those up!

If you're writing fantasy, remember every decision you make is up to you; there doesn't need to be a precedent, and it's believable as long as you stay consistent and say it with your whole chest. If the new Dune movie can be a blockbuster success with how little world building they did for audiences that knew nothing of the world (🙄) then you can make a believable and successful story. Just believe in yourself and your characters. And almost all the time fantasy is just a retelling of history -- every house in Game of Thrones was based on a historical European nation/ethnicity, and we all know where JK(KK) Rowling got her inspiration. You don't need to reinvent the wheel, but there are ways that you can make it uniquely yours.

If you're writing history, like I've said, pretend like you're living there. Consume other historical media and copy that. But also don't be afraid to change history! Every historical nation or civilization had some aspect of fantasy -- dragons and samurais and knights -- that have become part of the modern cultural consciousness. People eat that shit up. I wrote a TV pilot about vikings and it's about (surprise surprise) a lesbian viking princess who's going to become queen. My idea came from Beowulf and I infused it with stuff that I saw in the show Vikings, and then when AC Valhalla came out I learned a lot more about vikings and added some of that stuff in. I've literally never learned about vikings in school, it's all just my own research and my belief that, after watching a TV show and playing a video game and feeling like I could survive in viking times, I can successfully write a viking show even if it's not true to the viking world (yet).

Once again, this is still fiction. My viking show has a woman leader. Did that ever happen in viking history? We don't know exactly, but the modern legends of women vikings are fun and exciting! We're bored of the men being the defining characters in viking works of literature and media! And, correct me if I'm wrong, people will love it. Her love interest is Black, of African descent, and that's totally believable. You know why? Because even if I didn't have proof of this (which there is historical proof of vikings meeting with other cultures, particularly in Russia and the Middle East), I explain that her grandfather, a great viking traveler, traveled south to North Africa, met an African woman and now there is an African viking. And that's how world building works. You are in control of the story.

I believe that you can write a fantasy or historical story. You can even take what you have going with slice of life and mix it with historical themes or fantasy. Because at the end of the day, across time and space humans have similar goals and similar ways of living. We haven't been around for that long, and over the span of time some of the really important things (love, which you can see in stories and literatures from the past and present; sex, which once again, check the historical writings and art; scandal, have you read Chaucer? those stories in that book about the road trip are saucy) and the really bad things (war, we're still doing it and we're doing it better; religions, because what else?; colonization, which we still haven't grappled with or solved) have lasted millennium.

Fantasy and history aren't out of your reach. If you want to add a domestic cooking scene between two star-crossed lovers in the middle of the Hundred Years' War, you can. I'm sure it happened.

[essenceofhispenance]

Roleplay Information

THE MUN

I’m called Darks! English is my first language. I am also legal and 21+

This blog was formly watersofyourhomeworld. I’ve been writing Chani since 2012.

I have graduated from college and recently got licensed to practice in my field, but I decided to go back to further my studies.

That being said, I may be slow with replies, because education comes first.  I may disappear for a while unexpectedly because of this. Please wait at least a week before reminding me about our thread. Thank you!

THE MUSE

Chani is depicted at a variety of ages on this blog, the youngest being defaulted to 18 ( despite that her youngest canon age is 16). All interactions that include mature themes will not be conducted with muses or muns below age 18.

Therefore, there will be no smut in canon verses. Fade to black will be used instead if at all. Here’s why —> [X]

If you are under the age of 18 don’t even ask. I would prefer not to smut at all. Even in AUs.

Any action the muse does does not reflect how the I feel. I am not Chani and Chani is not me!

RP

Because of school I am selective. I am mutuals only, but am not exclusive. There may be exceptions , but I want tumblr to be fun and safe. You are welcome to send me an IM inquiring about interaction if I haven’t followed you back right away. I reserve the right to decline.

I’m not gonna bug you if I don’t have a thread in mind or at least a vague idea of what I want to do.

I will not write with anyone who does not have an about page. I need to know what fandom your character is from and who they are.

Crossovers are welcome. Please note that if I cannot find a suitable reason for Chani to be in a crossover I reserve the right to reject it.

The same rules apply for OCs.

Regarding OCs:  I’m a dork when it comes to OCs. I love them, I love all the hard work you guys put into them, but I usually don’t get invested in them. If you want the things, jump in the inbox/ IM and sell me on you muse. It’s a lot harder for me to jump into an OC when I know nothing about them. I am not going to reject you outright if your muse is an OC. You just have to come to me with ideas.

Don’t bother sending hate. I’m just gonna delete it. If you have a problem or are upset, anonymous isn’t going to do you any good. Please be an adult and talk to me face to face.

SHIPPING

I like and ship chemistry. To me, chemistry is developed slowly thread by thread or through extensive OOC discussion. You ship our characters? Jump in the inbox/IM and tell me all about it!! Chances are I ship it, too!

I am more than down for friendships , hateships, unrequited lovers, etc. I love all the things! Literally just lay it on me. I. Love. All. The. Things.

EXCLUSIVITY

I will not be exclusive with anyone. I will, however, take on mains. I define mains as muns of characters I have an idea/plot for that I will approach first. Mains list can be found here –> [X]

TAGS, TRIGGERS, & MEMES

Please note that there most likely will be violence,gore, etc. They will be tagged accordingly .

Please look for any tag with ”tw: trigger” or “tw; trigger” at the beginning and blacklist them as you wish.

If you want something tagged, please just tell me. I will tag it.

If you write in the Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings fandoms, I will in all likelyhood NOT follow you back. If you write in these fandoms on a multi-muse please tag all interactions. 

While I’m willing to interact with any character from the Dune franchise, please know that I have reservations about the fourth book God Emperor and declined to  read the rest of the series and most of expanded verse based on  my own issues with LBGTQ+. I’m still trying to be okay with myself, but discussing the last three books, especially God Emperor, and LBGTQ+ stuff really makes me anxious and upset. This is merely personal issues and I’m trying to work through them. The books really show their age in some aspects, and this is one of them.

Anyone can send memes. Memes are good ice breakers as well as relationship developers. I love getting memes. if you send me memes I’m gonna send you memes. Memes are fun and great! the more the merrier!

Because you’ve gotten this far please know that I will read your rules as well and headcanons if you have them. I will not approach you if I have not read them. I expect the same courtesy from you.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my rules! They may be updated as needed. I look forward to writing with you!

CHARACTER INFO

About Page

Headcanon Tag

[allthingsfayz]

FAYZ Asks

Hi everyone! I hope you’re all safe and well. I have a few posts queued up since I have plenty of time on my hands, starting with this one–answering these Gone-themed asks by @hawaii-lp-hawaii! This is a really long post, so I apologize in advance. Also, I received a few asks recently, which I answered, and I would be thrilled to see more! Enjoy!

Question of the FAYZ: If you could get rid of one character, who would it be and why? I have a hard time deciding, since they all seem really essential to the books and small-town community, but if I had to pick, Drake. Would this decrease plot weight and affect progression? Yes, but honestly? It’s worth it.

Probably Hunger, I think that everything in it really helped developed the characters and we got to meet new people and situations, like Duck and the Human Crew.

Yes! I got gifted the Monster Trilogy and although the ending was very shocking, and I didn’t feel as connected to the characters, I still really enjoyed the books.

Although I loved almost all of the characters dearly, my favorites are probably Lana and Dekka.

Although it’s headcanon, my favorite ship is probably Lana and Dahra, since I really think the signs were there…

Caine, because let’s be honest, he was a total villain, not an anti-hero.

Hm…Maybe Astrid? I truly don’t think that she was a bad person but I know a lot of people don’t love her.

Caine…I don’t hate him but I just don’t like him.

Sam and Astrid–there is something to like about their “ideal” relationship, but I hate how Sam tries to pressure Astrid into sex.

Drake–that one’s pretty self-explanatory

So many! I’d say the main ones are Live Like Legends by Ruelle, Gasoline by Halsey, Mother’s Daughter by Miley Cyrus, and any song by 2WEI.

I really want to see it as a TV show, hopefully on a major streaming service like HBO or Netflix!

At least 6!

I found the book at Powell’s in Portland and was immediately entranced!

I’ve been a fan for about 2 whole years now–not a lot at all, but I’m a MAJOR fan.

Probably Caine’s or Brianna’s, since they seem super fun and powerful, but Lana’s or Sam’s is the most handy.

Although I don’t really have a favorite scene, I always tear up in the last few pages when Diana, Sam and Astrid go out to eat.

Honestly, bad. Yeah, he’s technically a kid, but that doesn’t excuse his behavior. Despite his final sacrifice, it seemed to me like he let LP possess him so that he could die and be free of any consequences .

Orc! His character arc was great, especially considering he got killed off so unnecessarily.

Hm…weirdly, Jack’s. It just seemed so offhanded and depressing.

Sam!

Diana!

Not at all, actually. If they were the same age, maybe, but Brianna was such a free spirit that I feel like it could almost be demeaning.

The last book in its entirety .

Mostly the sexualization of young girls, especially Diana.

Yes! I’m incredibly lucky to have been gifted them for my birthday in 2018

I can’t find my copy of Fear at the moment, but the moment where Lana and Astrid recite a quote from Dune has always given me chills, as well as the classic “it’s just a FAYZ” quote.

Weirdly, Lana. We both come from cities, have been forced out of them, etc. Plus, I’ve always kind of thought I looked/acted like her in certain scenarios.

Ok: everyone in life, and Gone, makes massive mistakes sometimes, and I can’t really blame characters instead of writers. However, I think Astrid gets hate for no reason. Yes, she manipulated Sam, which isn’t cool, but you can’t really blame her, especially since their relationship is based on him pressuring her to have sex. Plus, she’s supposed to be a calm, level-headed, genius Madonna figure, when nobody considers that she is also 14 and they can’t blame her for everything.

Hm…I love a lot of the scenes in book one with Caine and Sam’s sassiness, Edilio, and Lana.

SO MANY! Where did John and Cookie end up? Why did Diana end up at Coates (it was explained, but confusing). Did Astrid every really have a power? Did Edilio like Lana as a cover or was he just unsure of his sexuality at the time?

I think Quinn had a strong character arc. He was really essential to the town and learned from his mistakes, and I love him as a character, but honestly, he didn’t seem that essential. In the first book, he aided the Coates kids, which could’ve been done by anyone.

Lana and Cookie!

Hm…to be honest, I don’t know of many other books or shows like Gone.

LANAAAAA!!!!!!! Ok, so, there is debate about Lana’s ethnicity and race. In book one, her grandfather is Chumash, and she’s said to have paler skin, but then Michael Grant said he thinks of her as Latina (he said Hispanic, but Latina is a more inclusive category). Personally, as someone of Mexican descent, I would LOVE to play her (check out my Twitter!). However, if it is decided that Lana is canon Chumash, I would never want to take away that role from a Chumash actress.

So many! I’m thinking about making a post soon.

Hm…probably all of Plague, considering Hunter’s death and Dekka’s surgery.

I’ve found that a lot of people find Lana boring or cold. I can see where they’re coming from, because her storyline is very disconnected from the main Sam/Caine thread by book 3. However, I still think she’s a great character.

The Caine/Brianna battle against the bugs!

My books have the silhouette covers, the first book being lime green, and personally they’re my favorites.

I’m not sure if she counts as a side character, but Dahra! I think that her storyline brought a lot and it could’ve been further explored, since she only really interacted with Lana.

I don’t think Mary deserved to die at all! I think that after a while, her story may have gotten repetitive, but it seemed unnecessary since it didn’t develop any storylines.

There’s so many reasons! I love the strong female characters, the diversity, everything! 

[nitrateglow]

Thoughts on movies I’ve watched this week

The Jazz Singer (dir. Alan Crosland, 1927)

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed The Jazz Singer! I was expecting something extremely creaky (plus as a silent film nerd, I feel like I’m pre-disposed to be salty about this film), but Al Jolson was an engaging lead and the story was interesting. It was largely about the immigrant experience in the US, the protagonist reconciling his Jewish culture with his American identity. If you’re a film buff, then this is essential viewing and luckily, largely enjoyable viewing (save for the unfortunate blackface scenes, but every critic and scholar has already gone over those, so I won’t bother).

Dune (dir. David Lynch, 1984)

Yesterday, one of my friends came over and he brought Dune, a film he’s ranted to me about for years now. I’ve been morbidly curious about this one for a long time now: a lot of people complain about it, both Lynch geeks and fans of the novel, but it does have a devoted cult following. I will admit it’s beautifully produced and shot, and Sting was pretty cool given his limited screen-time. But honestly, I had a hard time staying engaged and the story was a mess of exposition burdened by largely flat performances.

Nothing But Trouble (dir. Dan Aykroyd, 1991)

When my friend and I finished watching this, he said to me, “Well... that was certainly a movie... I guess?”

I don’t even know what to make of it. On one hand, I admire how eccentric and creative it is. It’s basically a horror-comedy and appears to model itself on Beetlejuice with its sinister characters and macabre humor. However, it’s also a lumbering mess of a film where the gags are extremely hit-and-miss and the protagonist is just the worst. He’s so unlikable that you cannot sympathize with him and he’s also so unfunny that he’s not entertaining to watch either. I can only describe this movie as someone’s DeviantArt page come to life. That’s all you need to know.

Love in the Afternoon (dir. Billy Wilder, 1957)

I was disappointed by this one. It was shot beautifully and Audrey was charming as always, but I thought the Gary Cooper character weakened the film. It isn’t his age that bugs me-- it’s the character! He’s unlikable and unengaging; I never understood why Hepburn’s character falls in love with him-- aside from his money, he has nothing else to recommend him as a partner.* As a result, the romance was hard for me to get behind. I also thought the pacing was pretty sluggish at points, sometimes belaboring certain gags until they stopped being amusing. A whole half hour could have been shaved from the 130 minute runtime to the movie’s benefit.

* I know everyone complains about the Linus/Sabrina relationship in Sabrina, since Bogart is also 30 years older than Audrey, and he clearly isn’t happy being in the movie. HOWEVER, at least in the movie itself, we get reasons as to why Sabrina would go for Linus: he’s mature, he’s dependable, he’s loyal, the two of them have a few things in common.

[hatofmischief]

QUICK n’ DIRTY RPer INFO POST

REPOST DON’T REBLOG  - originally from @alannasroleplaymemes

Nickname: Booboo

Age: 24

Timezone: Pacific.

Location: Somewhere in the dunes

Most Active During: at night, as long as I don’t have anything to do

Writing Style(s): One-liners, para, multi para, icons, icon-less, rarely novella

Shipping Policy: Chemistry required. All characters must be adults. Nothing in my rules that I’ve asked to be tagged. Otherwise? I love shipping. As long as the requirements are met I’ll ship just about anything.  

OC Policy: I need an about page, a rule page, and for the character(’s) and their world to have chemistry with Eclipsa. Example: She might be okay in Gravity Falls, but interacting with like, METAL GEAR SOLID characters would fall flat

NSFW Policy: NSFW & Smut are okay. They will be under a read more and tagged. Gore, violence, and other topics will be tagged.

Triggers/Squicks: Tag #rape #incest and #stuffing (the kink)

Please ALWAYS: Read my rules. Pm me if I broke one of your rules or am doing something in a thread that’s bugging you, triggering you, or just squicking you. We can usually replot.

Please NEVER: Try to guilt trip me for not responding fast enough, for unfollowing, for blocking, or similar things.  (Don’t contact me if I’ve blocked you btw???) Never force a relationship. Don’t contact me unless you’ve read my rules. Don’t come onto this blog expecting 0 conflict between my muse and yours/others. I can taper for squicks/triggers/ect but my muses always exist with conflict between others.

Tagged by: no one, I stole it from @conglomeresque Tagging: @weaving--battles @caligoascendant @diktown @moon-of-mewni @rcginaxgnis @vehementfury @usedvessel @isbuffestdad

[biofunmy]

Chuck Kinder, Novelist Who Inspired ‘Wonder Boys,’ Dies at 76

Chuck Kinder, who turned his friendship with Raymond Carver into a roman à clef, and whose long struggle to birth that book inspired a novel by one of his former students, Michael Chabon, died on May 3 in South Miami, Fla. He was 76.

His wife, Diane Cecily, said the cause was heart failure.

Mr. Kinder, who taught writing at the University of Pittsburgh for many years, was known for lively classes, livelier parties, a few memorable if underappreciated books and a certain literary-bad-boy posture.

“In a sense, his ‘outlaw’ persona, while it’s in part a way of camouflaging himself away from preciousness and self-regard, is also completely earned, in artistic terms,” the novelist Richard Ford told The Pittsburgh Tribune Review in 2014 on the occasion of Mr. Kinder’s retirement from teaching. “Somewhere back in the blear past, Chuck might have known some rules about how novels ought to be framed, but he pretty quickly went beyond the rules and found forms and fascinations and imperatives that suited what he thought was important to write.”

Perhaps his biggest claim to fame, though, was being the inspiration for a character in a novel written by Mr. Chabon, who had studied under him in the 1980s at Pitt. The book was “Wonder Boys,” published in 1995, and it involved the tribulations of a professor named Grady Tripp who, among other problems, had a manuscript he couldn’t quite finish. Writer’s block wasn’t the problem.

“The problem, if anything, was precisely the opposite,” Tripp, the novel’s narrator, says. “I had too much to write: too many fine and miserable buildings to construct and streets to name and clock towers to set chiming, too many characters to raise up from the dirt like flowers whose petals I peeled down to the intricate frail organs within.”

In a 2001 interview with The San Francisco Chronicle, Mr. Chabon explained Mr. Kinder’s role in inspiring that character (who was played by Michael Douglas in Curtis Hanson’s 2000 film version).

“I remember peering into his office and seeing this monolithic pile of white paper — the inverse of the monolith from ‘2001’ — under his desk lamp,” Mr. Chabon said. “In my memory, it was 4,000 pages long. He was proud of how big a bastard it was.”

The occasion for that interview was that Mr. Kinder had finally wrestled his long-gestating manuscript into a book of reasonable length: “Honeymooners: A Cautionary Tale.”

Mr. Kinder’s novel “Honeymooners” (2001), many years in the making, chronicled the adventures of two writers, one of whom seemed a lot like Raymond Carver and one of whom was a lot like Mr. Kinder himself.

“At one point, the book really did end up to be about three volumes of about 1,000 pages each,” Mr. Kinder told The Chronicle. “In my mind, it was like ‘Ulysses’ meets ‘On the Road’ meets ‘Dune’ meets ‘Remembrance of Things Past’ meets ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude.’ It was full of magical realism and a lot of ghost stuff, and even some spaceships landing on my rooftop in San Francisco.”

“Honeymooners” chronicled the adventures of two writers, one of whom seemed a lot like Mr. Carver (who died in 1988) and one of whom was a lot like Mr. Kinder himself.

Jay McInerney wrote of the book in The New York Times Book Review: “Like the candy mint that is also a breath mint, it can be enjoyed as either a novel or a memoir. Or, if you prefer, as a metafictional object. Whatever. If ‘Honeymooners’ doesn’t make you laugh, cry and cringe with sympathetic embarrassment, then you should probably adjust your medication immediately.”

Charles Alfonso Kinder II was born on Oct. 8, 1942, in Montgomery, W.Va., to Charles and Eileen (Parsons) Kinder. His father served in World War II, and his mother was an emergency-room nurse.

Mr. Kinder was raised in various towns in West Virginia. He drew on that upbringing in his fiction, and also revisited it in “Last Mountain Dancer: Hard-Earned Lessons in Love, Loss, and Honky-Tonk Outlaw Life” (2004), for which he returned to the state on a sabbatical to write about some of its characters and oddities.

“Geographically and historically,” he wrote, “West Virginia defies easy classification. On the map, West Virginia’s amoebic squashed road-kill shape can put one in mind of any number of unusual things, depending upon the hour of the long night, and what manner of chemicals are raging through one’s bloodstream. Sometimes, and don’t ask me why exactly, when I gaze at a map of West Virginia at maybe three or four in the morning, I think of a more or less anatomically correct representation of a lumpy, damaged human heart.”

He first attended a technical college but then enrolled at West Virginia University, earning a bachelor’s degree in 1967 and a master’s the next year. His master’s thesis, his wife said, became his first novel, “Snakehunter,” published in 1973. It got him a creative writing fellowship at Stanford University, where Richard Scowcroft was leading a creative-writing program that was a magnet for talent.

“That is where he met this incredible collection of writers,” Ms. Cecily said, Mr. Carver among them. “It was just that time.”

She said Mr. Kinder sought to recreate that environment when he joined the Pitt faculty in 1980. They had married in 1975, and their house in Pittsburgh became a center of gravity for students, faculty members and visiting writers.

“He included hundreds of writers in his embrace, and he’d root for you and read your stuff many years after you had the pleasure to sit in his classroom, which was often his living room,” the novelist Jane McCafferty, a former student who now teaches at Carnegie Mellon University, said by email.

Mr. Kinder’s other books included “The Silver Ghost” (1979) and two 2014 poetry collections “All That Yellow” and “Imagination Motel.”

His first marriage, to Janet Weaver, ended in divorce. In addition to his wife, Mr. Kinder, who lived in Key Largo, Fla., is survived by a brother, David, and a sister, Beth Kemper.

On Mr. Kinder’s Facebook page, former students and longtime friends posted remembrances. One was James Handloser, who had known Mr. Kinder since childhood in West Virginia.

“He once referred to our childhood days as ‘those sweet, innocent lightning bug spring and summer times when boy detectives could solve any mystery except those in the center of their own lives,’ ” Mr. Handloser wrote. “Such dazzling words seemed to come easy to him.”

Sahred From Source link Arts

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[peeringthroughthe4thwall]

Woman in the Dunes: A very sandy Japanese classic

I am always on the look of for new films, one reason why I like to comb the pages of Twitter is to find out what others are watching. It is the reason why I enjoy reading websites like Criterion as it is a treasure trove of information on some well known and not so well known classics. It is also why I am attracted to podcasts featuring those who share, discuss and wax lyrical about Criterion releases. Living in the UK means that Criterion releases are both few and far between as well as quite expensive, which is why I have not yet purchased any of them. Yet I dream of the days when I will be able to afford and collect these wonderful films myself, especially when I see that, amongst those limited UK releases, are such classics as Cat People, In A Lonely Place or 12 Angry Men.

It was whilst listening to an episode of Wrongreel with Dave Eves and James Hancock (WR230 here) that I first heard of the US Criterion release of Woman of the Dunes. I'm not sure why it passed me by for so long, I'm a lover of Japanese Cinema, especially Ozu, Kurosawa or Honda, and those giants whose work I have yet to experience - Kenji Mizoguchi or Sadao Yamanaka - I am well aware of their reputations. Yet I had never heard of this film or it's director Hiroshi Teshigahara.

Having listened to Dave Eves enthusiasm for it I was determined to track it down but without much initial success, but I have now discovered that it is available on the British Film Institute's BFI Player. I have already posted two recent reviews of films I have seen on this service – Rashomon (here) and Rossellini's Stromboli (here). One of the great things about online streaming services is that they give you the opportunity to scroll though the available films and create a Wishlist. It was as I was doing this that I discovered the elusive and mysterious Woman of the Dunes.

The story is an odd one. A teacher and 'bit of a' scholar is wondering around some sand dunes searching for bugs. The day gets late and he is offered the chance to stay in the house of a local, which he accepts. The house is little more than a shack and it located at the bottom of a very high wall of sand and the man can only get there by climbing down a rope ladder. When he gets to the bottom he meets his host, a woman who feeds him and helps him settle down. All is well.

The next morning he gets up early, eager to continue his bug hunt, and notices that the rope ladder is gone. He is trapped. The woman doesn't seem concerned and, although he doesn't really pick up on it, she seems to indicate that he is to remain. He is there, apparently, to help the woman dig the sand which is then lifted back to the surface by the locals who drop buckets on ropes down to them. As the days and weeks follow the man gets increasingly frustrated, rebelling against the trap he is in until he is driven almost insane by thirst. In the end he capitulates and reluctantly begins to join the woman digging the sand.

We are not told much about the man or the woman. We know he is from Tokyo and he says he is a teacher and that he has three days leave but beyond that there's almost nothing. We never find out if he is married or if he has children, or what he likes to do, beyond etymology. They are not important.

As far as the woman is concerned we never find out if she chose to live in this pit. We are told briefly that she had a husband and daughter and that they are both buried in the sand somewhere. We also know that other men have been there before this current captive. She seems to accept the situation and that of her guest (her words not mine) as if it is perfectly natural. In fact she takes a certain pride in her job and her home.

She has the obvious desires – to talk to someone, to work alongside someone and to touch and be touched by someone. She has passion within her that she has missed and, in one memorable scene, they have sex on the floor of the hut, her face distorted by the sand sticking to her face, the music almost discordant and antithetical to the scene we are watching.

In fact, there are two elements that really stand out here. Firstly, the music by Tôru Takemitsu which continually creates a conflict between what we see and what we hear. It keeps us on edge at all times making us question what exactly we are seeing and what we should be feeling.

The second element is the sand. It pervades every scene, probably every frame. Hiroshi Segawa's cinematography is stunning and really captures the heat and dust of the first half of the film. We have extreme close-ups of the protagonists in which it is impossible to tell if you are seeing the man's stubble on his skin or sand sticking to them roughly. These shots are in contrast with the vast expanse of the dunes themselves where the sand is always moving, always falling, a character in it's own right. Early in the film there is a shot of the woman sleeping naked, the curves of her body resembling the dunes that surround them.

It is difficult on one viewing to truly understand what the film is about. It is obvious that it is an allegory of some kind. I have read that it is about the Japanese sense of duty – the man soon develops a kinship and a loyalty for the hut, the woman and the job of shoveling sand although I think this could just as easily been a study of Stockholm Syndrome (where someone who has been held captive begins identifying with their captors). Initially, it seemed to me, that it was about life itself. The film begins with the man in the role of a child, helpless and entirely dependent on the woman, then becomes the rebellious teenager until finally accepting and embracing his adulthood.

After watching it I was also reminded of the Laurel and Hardy great The Music Box in which the two heroes continually attempt to carry a large crate containing a piano up a flight of steps only for it to fall repeatedly to the bottom again. In Woman of the Dunes it is not a piano but the endless shoveling of sand.

But these are just side issues. The important question is – is the film interesting? The answer is undoubtedly yes. Although a little on the long side (2 hours and 26 minutes), it never fails to keep your attention. The acting by Eiji Okada and Kyôko Kishida feels real and truthful and the direction is splendid. Woman of the Dunes is a mesmerising film that grips you from start to finish. It doesn't matter that the story is so odd and that it's meaning is ambiguous, it just has to be watched.

The moral of all this, of course, is that if you call yourself a film fan, a film buff or a cinephile, one of the most important things you can do is talk and share with others. If it wasn't for a podcast I wouldn't have heard of this film and that would have been such a pity as it should be on the list of any fan of Japanese Cinema.

[iammyownteacher]

AN INTERVIEW WITH SHAUN TAN

There aren't many artists who have the ability to both write and illustrate their own work; but Shaun Tan is an exception. The Australian artist began working as a freelance illustrator, collaborating with well-known authors, Gary Crew and John Marsden before eventually turning his hand to writing his own books which include: The Lost Thing (1999); The Red Tree (2001); The Arrival (2006) and his latest work, Tales From Outer Suburbia, a collection of stories set in the remote Western Australia, where he grew up. Filled with magical realism, humour and poignancy, it is also the longest book he has written and comes after his acclaimed and controversial The Arrival, a 128-page picture book documenting the migrant experience, without using any words at all. See http://www.shauntan.net/.

To start with, could you tell me about your background as an artist? Have you been drawing and writing since you were young? When did you decide that you wanted to be writer/book illustrator?

I think I'm like most people, I don't remember when I started drawing: most likely as a crayon-gripping toddler. I think everyone starts out as an avid drawer, it's just a primal kind of instinct, and raises the more interesting question: "When do people stop drawing?" I guess the interest wanes, or is replaced by other skills. Some people, like myself, just keep doing it as a form of extended play from early childhood, using this simple craft to express complex adult concerns.

But - to answer the question! - I did exhibit some early talent as a child, or at least found a way of drawing 'convincing' images by the age of three, so that a bird really looked like a bird, rather than a bird-ish scribble. By five I think I understood a set of techniques and tricks at a basic level, that drawing was about finding simple elements in things. My parents, while not artists themselves, both had an interest in the visual arts (my Mum could draw quite well and my Dad is an architect), and I think their encouragement of drawing was far more important than any innate skill. It was always fun to draw something and then show it to them - they would always act incredibly surprised and amazed! Part of a parent's job description, I think. My brother's talent at the age of six was to collect, identify and label rocks: he's now a very successful geologist. I'm sure it's because of that same unqualified encouragement.

The interest in writing probably came from being read to as a child, both at home and school. I think I was quite a late reader and writer, but did find books fascinating, both as stories and physical objects, so I was compelled to create my own. Some of these ended up in the school library, being quite good imitations of real books, which other kids could borrow. They were usually stories about adventurers travelling to another world, finding treasure, and blowing everything up, inspired mostly by movies and TV, with titles like 'The Land Beneath the Sea' and 'Mission to Mars'. One or two went missing from the school library, which may or may not be a good thing as far as my artistic reputation goes.

I had no serious intentions of becoming a writer or illustrator, even though I thought that would be a fantastic job. Growing up in the West Australian suburbs, it simply did not seem like a real occupation. It was only in my late teens that I became very focused on two things: painting landscapes and writing science fiction short stories. I always thought I might end up as a painter or writer, but for a long time saw these as completely separate practices, somewhat incompatible. Generally, I did not know what career I might pursue, and going into university, it was a toss up between biotechnology (another big interest), and an arts degree. I chose the latter.

As a student I funded my studies in part by picking up various small illustration jobs, such as brochures for campus departments and the university's graduate magazine. I was also having some success illustrating stories in science fiction magazines. When I finished my degree, I still did not have any career convictions, but decided to try doing this kind of freelance illustration full-time for about a year, and see if I could make a go of it. It turned out that I could, especially illustrating children's educational and trade books, and fantasy novel covers. That eventually led into picture books, which is where I am at currently, with some recent forays into theatre and film.

A lot of your work deals with displacement. The Lost Thing and the main character in The Arrival: travelling through a foreign land and learning a new way of life. Many of your illustrations also show the characters as miniscule in comparison to the landscape which they inhabit. Where does this interest come from? Do you, like your characters, share a general sense of disconnected-ness from the world?

That's an interesting observation: I'm not so consciously aware of my preoccupations until they resolve into stories and images, so it's a complex one to answer. A psychologist might have a better crack at that! I just find myself strongly attracted, in an empathetic way, to images of isolated figures moving through vast, often confounding landscapes. My intellectual self would say that this is a metaphor for a basic existential condition: we all find ourselves in landscapes that we don't fully understand, even if they are familiar, that everything is philosophically challenging. There is also an idea that any creative thinking carries some problem of identity and meaning, that individuality needs to be endless negotiated, that we are always trying to figure out how we connect to the things around us.

I also always have this sense - perhaps gleaned from science fiction - that our current time and place is quite accidental, one of many possible alternatives, and also that humans are not at the centre of the universe. I grew up in a peripheral suburb of metropolitan Perth, one of the most isolated cities in the world, surrounded by the Indian Ocean on one side and flat, semi-arid bush on the other. Our world was (and still is) a small human incursion into something enormous, ancient, quiet and mysterious: small houses surrounded by dunes and dark, tangled trees; parks and schoolyards populated mainly by crows, parrots and prehistoric-looking bugs. That's since changed as huge malls and carparks have moved in, but the basic fact of a 'transplanted' world remains, one with an unclear sense of place or history. It's full of stuff but it's all somehow insubstantial.

A lot of my early work, whether paintings or stories, have at there core some issue of disconnection between the natural and built environment, which I think is actually a defining characteristic of our time. It's most clearly stated in The Rabbits for instance; and implicitly in The Lost Thing with its awkward and depressing world-by-numbers. That same feeling filters into all sorts of other ideas and themes, a sense of disconnection between people in relationships, issues of cultural misunderstanding, gaps between ideology and reality, intentions and results, language and objects. These things are all great fuel for the imagination too. I would go so far as to say that all art and literature is about some kind of disconnection, brokenness or discrepancy.

Do you like to travel and explore different countries/worlds, or are you happier creating worlds of your own?

Well, both really. I get plenty of inspiration from being in unfamiliar places, and being reminded of the different ways people can think and live, that nothing is 'normal'. Interestingly, though, I rarely feel the urge to draw when travelling, as if travelling alone offers enough weirdness. Likewise, I find it much easier to do creative work 'in tranquillity,' back in my studio which feels very plain and prosaic, working best when little else is going on. Travelling and drawing are very similar activities, in that they force you to look at everything carefully: one is an outward adventure, the other an inward adventure. They are both equally interesting and enjoyable, as well as sometimes being difficult pleasures.

If you could visit any fantasy world, what one would it be?

As a younger person, I would have loved to enter a Tolkien-esque world (and could easily pass for a hobbit too!), and some of the imaginary worlds I was drawing as a teenager, but I don't really have those kind of escapist longings any more. More and more I see fantasy worlds - as in The Arrival - as a way of tapping into the real world, of trying to understand reality better through a speculative lens. If I was to visit that world, I would immediately lose my bearings, like entering a metaphor without its real-world anchorage. I prefer to visit using only a pencil on paper.

A lot of the fantasy worlds that fascinate me the most are ones I would not like to visit at all, like Orwell's 1984, Swift's Gulliver's Travels or McCarthy's The Road. Once again, I'm interesting in places where things are somehow broken or disconnected.

Many of your illustrations are montages of scraps from the everyday that might normally be disregarded or thrown away: stamps; receipts; notes; newspaper headlines. Are you a collector? Do you have an interest in highlighting and preserving these transient objects?

Yes, I do. I'm very interested in things that are overlooked, and in trying to find value in things that are not considered valuable. Collage also introduces an important element of random chance into an image, much like a good brush mark, it's not entirely controlled. It's also a good way to break the 'surface tension' of a blank canvas - just start sticking things on, almost without letting conscious decision-making get in the way.

I do have a tendency to collect things, which I have to control a little bit, limiting it to things that are actually useful to avoid being a pack rat. I have a large cardboard box full of small papery bits, which are always useful. I also have a collection of disposable books and magazines that I use as collage material. The less this material has to do with anything aesthetic, the more useful it seems to be - hence lots of physics, maths and engineering textbooks. In my picture book The Lost Thing, this collage helped develop the central theme of the story, of what happens when playfulness enters a world that only knows calculated certainty.

There's also a lot of optimism in your books, particularly The Red Tree. Similarly, some of the stories in Tales From Outer Suburbia are critical of the paranoia that exists as a result of the 'War on Terrorism'. Do you like to assure your readers or at least let them know that the world is really not out to get them?

I feel no need at all to reassure readers or myself of anything, I'm just trying to be realistic. I don't have a message as such, just some recurring observations, which leave me feeling a little ambivalent actually. The story 'Amnesia Machine' [from Tales From Outer Suburbia] really laments the way mass media can degrade an otherwise good democratic system - and that people fall for it every time, without seeming to learn any broad lessons. But just after that is the story about how citizens find a way to cleverly disarm an absurd government policy (by literally disarming missiles) and being compassionate and conscientious, by refusing to be afraid. I feel that both of these are realistic representations, that there is a constant tension in the world between ignorant acceptance and a higher consciousness (which requires effort). This is also a tension that exists within us as individuals, competing forces of darkness and light, both of which need to be acknowledged.

Many of your characters have no names: the main character in The Lost Thing is referred to merely as "a thing," for example. Do you not name your characters on purpose? Do you think that not naming gives the work a greater universality?

Yes, I think that's it, trying to find the best universal metaphor. Though it's not really a strategy, it just always feels right to me to have characters that don't have a specific identity, to the point of not even being recognisable creatures.

Your most recent work, Tales From Outer Suburbia, is also your most text-heavy book to date. Did this come as a reaction to your previous book, The Arrival, which featured no writing at all?

I don't see Tales From Outer Suburbia as having any real relation to The Arrival, as they seem to me to be quite different books - it might have been good to produce them under pseudonyms! But as far as creative process goes, you are right, there was a certain reaction going on there. I was often sneaking off to write the stories in Tales in between the long hours of rigorous pencil shading that went into each page of The Arrival, so it became a kind of outlet for pent-up words and conceptual playfulness, as well as humour.

I was keen to try something that was very fragmented and varied, grabbing whatever tools I thought might best do the job, mixing words, images and layout designs. Before being a full-time illustrator, I used to write piles of (unpublished) short stories, so it felt as though I was returning to fairly comfortable territory, and finding a good balance.

Could you ever imagine writing a book without illustrations?

Yes, I can't see why not. Some stories don't need illustrations, and are in fact much better off without them. However, because I tend to use visual images as my starting point, I have a feeling they will always infiltrate anything I do one way or another.

Tales From Outer Suburbia was inspired by your childhood growing up in Western Australia, but you also manage to transform a suburban setting into a place of magic and miracles. In some of the stories, Water Buffalos take up residence in vacant lots and Dugongs appear in backyards. A lot of people imagine suburbia as banal and generic; do you believe it has the potential to be something else?

Yes, anything has the potential to be something else. As a child and teenager, I used to think that the place I lived in was far too boring to comment upon, that all the good, interesting stuff was somewhere else. It was only when I started painting local suburban scenes in my twenties that I realised the subject was not so important, it was how much thought and imagination you applied to it. So a painting of a simple suburban footpath could be as fascinating as the most exotic landscape, given enough emotional investment (I often think of Van Gogh's paintings of a chair for guidance, or Morandi's little groups of bone-coloured bottles, brilliant paintings of banal objects).

Of course, I do introduce a lot of exotic, surrealist elements into my suburban visual stories in a seemingly artificial way, as a kind of 'what if?' exercise, but the initial inspiration for these comes from observing pretty ordinary things; like looking at an overgrown vacant lot, for instance, and asking 'who lives there?,' or a walnut shell and wondering if it would make a good little suitcase, or a TV aerial and imagining people decorating for some special occasion. Suburbia is definitely bland and generic, but there's also a suppressed strangeness there, a culture foreign to itself. And the fact that it does, on the surface, seem uninspiring, or escapes creative attention, means that it's an excellent canvas to be painting (or writing) upon; it's blank, quiet and opens up quite easily to absurd intrusions.

When you are working on a story what tends to come first: the words or the pictures?

It's hard to say, but generally a story is triggered by a visual image, either vaguely sketched, or vaguely imagined in my mind. Words may follow, then another image, then more words, so it's backwards and forwards - each element plays with or against the other, prompting new ideas. Words are good for playing with abstract concepts, summarising storylines and outlining structure. Images seem to bring a kind of mystery and atmosphere that can greatly expand a written idea.

Yet the main thing for me is that one does not 'explain' the other, but more often questions the ambiguities of both word and image. In hindsight, many of the stories in Tales are to do with the slipperiness of understanding or naming things, hence a nameless holiday, a Japanese diver who cannot make himself understood; an exchange student with a name that nobody can pronounce; a water buffalo who points without speaking, and so on. Images build upon the mystery that's already present in language, realising that all these sounds and symbols are quite provisional, and can mean different things to different people.

Finally, what are you working on at the moment?

An animated adaptation of an older picture book The Lost Thing, with a production company based in Melbourne, Pasion Pictures Australia. It's 15 minutes long, and due to be completed at the end of the year; animated digitally with hand-painted textures. I'm responsible for writing, directing and designing much of the film, which has been an interesting learning curve over a period of some years - it's all coming together quite well thanks to a small, dedicated team.

I'm also trying to do a little more painting of large canvases, which use to be my main pastime before illustration took over as a profession. These are not for exhibition or sale, rather a means of keeping in practise, and learning how to see and paint, something that you never really accomplish fully. I still feel very much like an art student every time I pick up a pencil or brush, not entirely knowing how things will end up.

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