#fan of the demons in the mist though it's a vibe

[regicidal-defenestration]

ANOTHER. DISCWORLD REFERENCE

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 4/23/22

three months unemployed YAY. also wherein i get SUPER pressed about star wars lore

listening

funeral by tele novella. popped open tiktok to see something my best friend sent me and this was there, the first thing on the for you page. let's yoink a description of their previous album from an interview i'm going to quote at length in a bit: "The result was “exactly what we wanted it to be,” a perfumed mist of jingling, jangling, lilting, off-center pop—a strange little snowglobe gathering dust at the back of the shelf."

the lyrics did hit me like a train bc i often find myself mourning places and situations that were not necessarily good for me but were familiar.

Oh, you're not tied up Here comes the train The tracks feel safe because you know 'em

if you had told me this was made in about 2007-2009ish i would have believed you. very spare production in the way folksier songs of the time were spare. a bit raspy and direct in her delivery. there's a bandcamp interview wherein i found out this is the side project of a vintage/antiques dealer and she has a fascinating perspective on her own music:

Her passion for the craft is evident—in our conversation as much as in listening to the band—but music, for her, is a means to an end, a way to transmit stories. “As a musician, I’m mediocre at best,” Ribbons says matter-of-factly. “I think that my talent lies in my storytelling ability. I think that I’m a good storyteller.” It’s something instilled in her by her grandparents, “voracious readers” who were always buying her books and secretly wanted Ribbons to be a writer, she suspects.

i really adored this whole album as a cohesive work. "vampire cowgirl" is another standout for obvious reasons.

You came barrelin' down Rabid with some talk Of a gal who rides at night Picking off the stock

remarkably good at reproducing the general vibe of the midcentury cowboy western album, when tv cowboys were sweeping the nation

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reading

T. Kingfisher's Nettle & Bone. enjoyed it, but not quite as much as her other stuff. whereas her other series are almost always comical and often stray into farce, this one was a bit grim. even with the addition of a demonic chicken. had to stop and really think about if my own experience with funerals and funerary rites (too many, too often) was coloring this for me but i think it is simply not as funny or interested in being funny as her other works. not a ding against it, but not what i was really expecting or in the mood for. image from tor, let's yoink the description from macmillan

This isn't the kind of fairy tale where the princess marries a prince. It's the one where she kills him. Marra — a shy, convent-raised, third-born daughter — is relieved not to be married off for the sake of her parents’ throne. Her older sister wasn’t so fortunate though, and her royal husband is as abusive as he is powerful. From the safety of the convent, Marra wonders who will come to her sister’s rescue and put a stop to this. But after years of watching their families and kingdoms pretend all is well, Marra realizes if any hero is coming, it will have to be Marra herself. If Marra can complete three impossible tasks, a witch will grant her the tools she needs. But, as is the way in stories of princes and the impossible, these tasks are only the beginning of Marra’s strange and enchanting journey to save her sister and topple a throne.

paywalled article, sorry, but i personally have a bone to pick with fanduel due to [REDACTED INCIDENTS] from [PREVIOUS JOB] so it does not surprise me in the slightest that they don't really seem to be doing a single fucking thing about money-laundering. allegedly.

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watching

the bad batch, or the 13/16 episodes of the third and final season that are out. all these images are from comicbookreview bc i watched this on my actual television

one of the plots i hate most is the trying to get someone back plot. for example, i think finding nemo does this really well bc it's also a coming of age/parenting movie. i do not think the second finding nemo movie does this well bc as soon as one person is reunited with the group, through a wacky series of coincidences they lose another member. plus that movie is part of the downturn of modern pixar where they forgot how to tell interesting stories but that's neither here nor there. the bad batch falls into the finding nemo 2 category. it's simply frustrating to watch. it turns into a desperate floundering after whoever happens to be missing instead of using a The Searchers style plot to say something about the act of the search itself. i realize i am once again saying "what if star wars was good" but like. come on.

the bad batch s3 is surprisingly focused on retroactively filling in the backstory of how and why palpatine got cloned with his force powers intact, which is apparently a difficult technical problem. i would have cared about this if this show came out before the last movie and we had a cool breadcrumb style approach leading up to the movie. unfortunately that movie (and the sequel trilogy more broadly) killed a lot of my interest in modern star wars. anyway, this cloning problem leads to a lot of very technical conversations in a children's' show that are interesting to me, a grownup, bc no star wars media has ever successfully explained 1) what midichlorians actually are and 2) the biological processes by which they operate but refuse to be cloned? which is extremely funny to me bc midicholrians aren't supposed to be real. qui-gon has that whole little speech and blood test in the phantom menace but the series had So scrupulously stayed away from explaining how the force works before that. they still fail to explain it but they at least attempt to break two inches of new ground. side note this show gives us TWO canon trans girl clones and i really wish they were in a better show.

it's annoying that i'm annoyed about a children's show meant to sell toys. some fun things: the pyke syndicate shows up, a slew of my favorite bounty hunters show up, this show is much better at painterly backgrounds and has an overall more concept-art feel than the clone wars proper or rebels. i think it would be cool if they stopped whitewashing the clones. i'm going to finish out the season but i don't exactly have a lot going on in my life right now. i am not terribly sad that this is the final season but BOY do they have a lot of loose ends to wrap up in three episodes.

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playing

new genshin update on uhhh thursday and it's kind of exciting bc i THINK it will finally fill in this hole on the map and the associated shorelines of three different countries!

i thought i had long since found all the chests in liyue (the second area released) but in the process of doing a recently released character quest set in liyue i found another chest. this game is very good at hidden objectives and little secrets but i wish it was better at letting you know when you have Actually cleared an area completely of all the little hidden stuff. anyway i have been holding back the last character hangout (ningguang, my best beloved ruthless girlboss business high femme) for a terrible day and that day came! unfortunately hanging out with the fake pretend video game lesbian did make me feel better!

also unfortunately i fucked up and cannot count so the gacha pity system (every 90 pulls you're guaranteed a 5-star character) gave me Neuvillette. who i don't hate but i wasn't really planning on pulling for. i do like his questline and his voice actor, he simply doesn't fit in super well with a mono-electro team bc i play this game like an insane woman.

the real bitch of the thing keeping me from upgrading him is going out in the overworld and collecting enough sea stars. why can't he need flowers or little gears or anything else i have a thousand of.

anyway this gal will be dropping sometime in the next six weeks and i AM extremely excited to pull for her. she has some cool abilities (GUN) and is part of a popular pair with the steampunk lolita character i love and leads my other main team. i hope their abilities play well off each other but she has such a cool storyline and design i don't super care if she fits in with my playstyle. i will adapt for her in a way i am not willing to do with neuvilette

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making

i am once again obsessed with gallery walls, bc a friend has asked me to find the correct gigantic size frames to put some comics on his wall, and that has given me an excuse to go to thrift stores again.

unfortunately i have mostly found frames for me, and the projects i have been working on have kind of a long tail of when they will actually be on my walls. i picked up four 16x20 frames for $2.50 each (solid wood! remarkably detailed!) bc i eventually want to put up these fallout maps in the style of national parks maps up on the map wall in my office. i suppose this means i should join @ruffledringdove and actually play '76, bc that's the one modern game i haven't played. these are getting scuff sanded with 120 and painted with a eggshell paint sample in a bright white u all know the drill at this point. ive painted a lot of frames in the past few weeks.

left is one of the painted 16x20 map frames, right i have also finally sanded and painted both 12x16 deckle-edged wood frames i picked up off the side of the road in MA. and found glass + backs for them! eventually i will procure fancy mats and print + frame my grandmothers' portraits. they will eventually go on the living room wall, which is a neutrals and blue-greens wall of slightly disdainful women. this will help me swap the three maps in there to the office map wall.

i have also acquired this gigantic plaster-over-wood mirror for $15. i am using leftover rub n buff bc i don't have a great spot to spraypaint here without sheeting my entire front porch, and rub n buff is way less susceptible to 80% humidity than spray paint. also i would have to buy spray paint. i am looking up suspiciously bc i thought there was a bug. not sure what mackie was looking at.

[ninjasmudge]

so welcome the Bone King au! (thank you lupin for the name) im disregarding s3 completely for this since i came up with the idea way before it aired, i might come back and retcon the lore a little after the dub airs but for now its spoiler-free! an listen. i know most of my stuff is humour but i love horror so much and its my au i get to choose the nightmares-

in this au swk goes to fight lbd on his own, reasoning it will get the least people hurt, but when he tries, both he and lbd miscalculate each others power. lbd attempts to possess him, but he is the monkey king and he fights her hold more than she anticipated. she is determined to get in his head though, and she does, but not in the way she thought. instead of lbd possessing swks body, what happens is these two ultra powerful beings mash together into one absolutely spine-chilling, unpredictable and mist-shrouded being who calls themselves The Bone King. more under a cut so i dont take up everyones dash

so far, mk and the crew have NO idea this has happened, the only ones who know so far are the mayor and macaque, who were both there at the time.

the Bone King is tall and terrifying in a cold and unpredictable way, and also a huge mess of contradictions. they dont know what they want, their original goal includes erasing themselves from existence, theyre ANGRY, and they change emotional state like snapping your fingers, laughing one second, cold anger the next and then back to a blank watchful look. theyre not very emotive in general, and a very intense slightly bored look is kinda their default, i think the sound vibe that accompanies them would be a distressing silence and a slight whine of power. an also, their voice sounds like swks voice with lbd’s whispering distorting the words slightly.

they trust the mayor but they dont like or respect him, and the mayor serves them as loyally as he did lbd but theres an edge to it bc hes aware this is only Sort of lbd and this isnt the plan they agreed on. they absolutely fucking HATE macaque but the part that was swk doesnt want him dead, and the part that was lbd thinks he could still be useful. macaque is (rightfully) terrified of the bone king since this is two of the most powerful demons in existence and both of them have personal reason to hate him. he tried to slip away when they first combined (the ‘found you’ pics) but the bone king’s first actual agreed on thought was that, while they didnt know if they wanted to kill maq or not, he wasnt allowed to leave. it was also the first time they actually used all the new combined power and they destroyed the temple and most of a mountain just speeding over to where macaque was; they snapped his arm picking him up out of the shadows, dumped him down by the mayor and told him to ‘STAY.’. he did.

i think it would be really interesting to see them interact with mk and the crew, bc swk and lbd are at such odds about what they think of them, but to be honest this is the part that im still unsure of and would have to foray into spoilers territory to figure out so im leaving it for now, but if anyone has any ideas id love to hear them :) i do imagine when they turn up to mk and the crew, that its more like. they see them somewhere in the mists for a second and then theyre gone, making whoever saw them unable to trust their own eyes. a feeling of being followed, lights going out, eyes in the dark. but theyre just. watching. for now

also because im a wimp and not a fan of completely hopeless situations, i think it would be reversible, eventually, and with a lot of difficulty. (lbd and swk remember and oh god the trauma)

[hotdemonsummer]

Obey Me! and Angelology and Demonology

 alternatively titled Lets Get Into Lucifer

This is yet another long, long post about the lore of Obey Me! from the perspective of historical and theological angelology, and demonology or the study of angels and demons respectively, because I think it’s neat. I also talk way too much. I’m scared to check the word count on this.

Disclaimer: I am not an expert on anything, and certainly not on religion. I just like comparative theology. Also, spoilers for lesson 43/44.

What is an angel? And what, in turn, is a demon? It depends on who you ask. All religions that have angels have a general consensus that they are spiritual beings, intermediaries of some kind of higher power. Demons, on the other hand, are much more vague beyond general malevolence toward humanity. Any connection between the two is entirely dependent on the culture and religion in question. Some have angels but not demons, and many have vice versa.

There’s generally four kinds of spirits that are considered demons:

Dead people with extremely bad vibes (think mogwai, yuurei, and other revenants)

Neutral-to-malevolent energy, physical form optional (think djinni or yokai)

Cult subjects (including foreign gods and ancestor worship)

Corrupted angels (either fallen or Nephilim)

The word demon comes from the Greek δαίμων, or daimon, but the concept of a demon is much older than the Greeks. The original daimon had none of the malevolent, evil associations that we now think of. Instead, daimon just described a kind of powerful spiritual entity (for example, δαίμων is the term Euripides uses for the new god Dionysus in The Bacchae). What we think of as demons now didn’t exist in Greek culture, and the negative associations came when the Tanakh was translated from Hebrew to Greek, but even then shedim aren’t identical to the contemporary depiction of demons that we see in Obey Me!, which, like everything else in Western society, came about through the domination of Christianity.

Shedim, the precursor to the Christian demon, was more or less a term for false gods, a title for the various Levantine pagan gods (see: origin of Beelzebub, Belphegor, and pretty much every demon that starts with Bel- or Bal-). 

Obey Me! pretty much canonizes Type 2 and Type 4 demons, with characters like Diavolo, Barbatos, and Satan as Type 2 and the other brothers as Type 4. Historically, Beelzebub and Belphegor are Type 3 (Beelzebub and Belphegor being Levantine gods), Mammon being Type 2 (a general personification of Wealth, although Milton did write him as a Type 4 in Paradise Lost) and Asmodeus being somewhere in between Type 2 and 3 (being heavily derived from a Zoroastrian daeva of wrath). Lucifer is, historically, the only consistently Type 4 demon.

I don’t think I have to explain what a fallen angel is to any OM! fan. But I will. 

Let’s talk about these guys. We’re all familiar with Satan’s weird complex about Lucifer, and I’m sure we’re all equally familiar with how Satan and Lucifer are terms used interchangeably for whatever being is The Big Bad of Hell. However, they’re not synonymous.

Satan derives from the same Proto-Semitic root as shayatan, which... should be pretty obvious, but nonetheless has a pretty analogous role as a tempter of men in the Abrahamic religions. Beyond that “tempter of men” title, though, the actual details of what Satan is is incredibly varied, including whether or not “Satan” is a name or a title. In Christianity, the view of Satan as an extremely powerful and evil corrupter of man, wholly opposed to God, came around the Middle Ages, when witchcraft hysteria spread.

Lucifer, on the other hand, is simultaneously a figure originating in Christianity and much, much older than it. The term of course means “light-bringer”, and is heavily associated with the morning star, aka the planet Venus. To make a very long story short, many Mesopotamian, Levantine, and Mediterranean cultures saw the lowering of Venus toward the horizon at night and thought, “hey, thats a pretty neat image!” and created stories about heavenly beings falling toward the earth. Of course, they didn’t use the ‘term’ Lucifer, that’s Latin, and came from the Vulgate Bible.

The term Lucifer does not exclusively refer to The Evil Fallen Angel™ in Christian texts (some very sacred things like the Exsultet explicitly refer to Jesus as Lucifer), but it sure is the most popular interpretation. In works like Paradise Lost or the Divine Comedy, the general idea is that the angel Lucifer rebelled against God in some way and was cast out of Heaven, then becoming Satan, and thus the two are one and the same.

(inb4 some Quora-type chews me out for accuracy’s sake, the “lucifer” mentioned in Isaiah 14:12 refers not to any angel, but to a Babylonian king. The whole fallen angel thing, much like the beatitudes or Bethlehem or Christmas, is a fusion of pagan influences.)

In other words, Lucifer is always and has always been a fallen angel. Satan, on the other hand, doesn’t have those connections to angelhood, and the two figures have an undeniable connection despite their clear individual differences. Sound familiar?

The next question is then what kind of angel is Lucifer anyway? to which you might be thinking, wait, there are different kinds? Yes, holy shit, there are so many kinds of angels and very little consensus on what they are. In terms of Christian angelology (because again, Lucifer is a uniquely Christian/derivative Christian figure unless you exclude Leland’s Aradia which I don’t because lbr they were Italian anyways), most hierarchies are based on the work of this guy:

This man has the incredibly succinct name of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, and sometime in the 5th century he wrote a book called De Coelesti Hierarchia. It orders the *WTNV voice* hierarchy of angels into three levels called spheres, and each sphere has three sub-levels called choirs. Many, but not all, of the choirs are adopted from various Jewish angelic hierarchies. If you thought that it was just angels and then archangels were, like, the middle management version of angels then you are very wrong. I’m sorry that television lied.

You know who also lied? Tumblr dot com and any post that implies that the true form of angels is a big wheel with a bunch of eyes. That is, in fact, a descriptor for only one kind of angel: ophanim, or thrones. The depiction of angels runs the gamut from winged humanoids to multi-winged humanoids with multiple animal heads to burning snakes to vague heavenly mist.

Archangels and angels are the eighth and ninth lowest choirs of angels, respectively. Angels, or malakhim, are the default messengers of God and the choir from which guardian angels come from. Generally, if someone claims to have a message from God delivered to them, it will be an angel doing it. If it’s really important, it’ll be an archangel. Everyone else literally has more important things to do. No one’s getting visions from dominions.

Lucifer’s (the theological one) actual designation is kind of a mystery. Depending on the text, Lucifer has been described as a seraph (the highest), a cherub (the second highest), or an archangel (the eighth). According to Thomas Aquinas:

Lucifer, chief of the sinning angels, was probably the highest of all the angels. But there are some who think that Lucifer was highest only among the rebel angels.

Not very helpful, but hey. The question remains: what kind of angel is Lucifer, and this time I mean our Lucifer. 

We know that Michael, just like his namesake, is an archangel. We also know that (SPOILERS) Simeon, unlike his namesake, is an archangel as well (Simeon is a saint, not an angel.) Lucifer likely was at their level, if not higher.

However, Lucifer was also a six-winged angel, a depiction generally reserved for seraphim (and cherubim, but far less frequently).

Moreover, in terms of role, an angellic Lucifer fits well with that of the powers, the sixth choir. Powers are in charge of moving the heavenly bodies, and are depicted as powerful warriors dressed in beautiful armor. It's fitting for a being so closely tied to the morning star to be a power, after all.

So, with all that considered, what is Lucifer? 

Well, he’s a seraph (or saraph, technically). Why? Because Simeon is somehow a seraph and an archangel (I have already written too much to unpack that bullshit), and Mammon was a throne (remember those wheels with eyes?) and Beel was a cherub and therefore Lucifer had to be higher than both of them (interestingly big brother Mammon is in a lower choir than little brother Beel). This makes Michael kind of, well... weird, given the archangels’ low rank.

Some like to differentiate between archangel the eighth choir and Archangel, with a capital A, as a term for any high-ranking angel. While this is likely what Solmare is doing, I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that this has zero basis in any religious text whatsoever and is solely done for the convenience of not remembering anything besides angel and archangel. Which is like, fine, but I’m a pedantic jerk who I found claims to the contrary while researching and I felt the need to correct that.

Anyways, the more you know.

[jutsei]

(ART NOT BY ME! Drawn, commissioned from, and uploaded with permission by @cheesecakewitch ! )

“I just kinda got really fed up with people telling me Elderbeak wasn’t real, plus doing all that work for a waking world that doesn’t care about me, I’ve got all I need right here, isn’t that right, Elderbeak?”

“Mrah! (Of course!)”

Context/Behind The Scenes: An OC concept that’s relatively new, I wanted to make an example of a Dream Mage, since I’ve only had Dream Nomads so far! Since Dream Mages are those with Dream Magic and the ability to affect the sleeping world far more than a regular dreamer, it felt like it’d be a fun concept, so I got into contact with my friend Celine... who happens to be a massive fan of Digimon, so I had the concept of a dreamer who had an Imaginary Friend to channel those vibes, in the end we decided to make her be an in-between of a Dream Mage and Nomad, not one or the other! We also decided on a D&D type theme since that’d be a lot of fun to play with in the character

The “Imaginary Friend’ ended up becoming it’s own recurring concept too, unlike Dream Creatures, which are 75% Emotion/Thoughts and 25% Imagination and made from 10-1,000,000 people’s thoughts...

Imaginary friends are more personal, made from 1-5 people’s creativity and imagination, and are far more grounded in reality and less abstract, they’re related to Dream Creatures, though!  Roughly 75% Imagination, 25% Emotion.

Like Dream Creatures, they have symbols upon them! But these are golden (never blue or red), and have symbols that are far more grounded in reality, in Elderbeak’s case, they resemble the dice Phlox so loved in her youth!

Phlox, formerly Philia, is a Dream Mage that has wandered from her home Dream Plane, borne of frustration at her waking world being cruel, constantly defying her attempts to branch out, and never giving her time to pursue her true interests, and on top of that, they keep insisting her very best friend Elderbeak isn’t real! They’re very real... just in the dream planes! For that end, she has begun an extended trip away from her body. Her avatar is based upon her concept for a character in a tabletop game she never quite got to play.

However, the mists of the dream realm are slowly beginning to warp and change her,  in particular, adding a tail and claws to her cloak and making it more like a cape! Should she abandon her waking body, she will fully become a dream nomad, and the draconic additions to her cloak may just become closer than she’d like...

Phlox’s dream avatar/self is specifically based off of what Philia wished to play in a Tabletop RPG that was never meant to be, specifically, she is a half-demoness Thief/Ranger with some gems embedded in her!

Elderbeak, however, is an Imaginary, a creature borne from Philia’s endless wonder and creativity towards a fantasy tabletop roleplaying game she read in her youth, constantly dreaming of playing it and going on an adventure. Due to her sheer lack of friends (And therefore no one to play the game with), Philia kept thinking about a creature with the traits of both an owl and a bear, and then, one day, was greeted by one in her dreams, who quickly became her friend and partner in her duties! The two became friends very quickly...

And every day, Elderbeak grew smarter, kinder, and cuter, until the two became inseparable. As time went on, Elderbeak began getting more draconic traits as Philia’s inspiration and muse soared, until they became a rather original creation! Gifted with the strength and endurance of a bear, the wisdom of an owl... and the sheer unmatched power of a dragon, if Phlox ever stumbles, Elderbeak is there to pick her right back up! While Elderbeak can talk, they prefer to speak in coos that only Phlox can understand!

Elderbeak is an Owlbear with the traits of a Gem Dragon mixed in together, so the technical term would be a Dragowlbear!

Synopsis: Dream Mages are those borne with a most particular ability, that of dream magic, a form of mana that only becomes nascent when the user falls asleep and enters the world of dreams, though they are charged with a most important task, their work is never acknowledged in the waking world, much to the dismay of some.

Philia, as she was known, was one of these dream mages, born to a family that was relatively well off, she was never left wanting for much... and yet, she never could quite make friends. For whatever reason, whenever she opened her mouth, she picked the wrong subject, said the wrong thing, made the wrong expression, wrong wrong wrong, she simply consistently failed to connect to people

And every day, she would return home in a frustrated mess, and retreat to the basement, for there was her source of comfort... books for playing an “Ar Pee Gee” with pen and paper from a time long before her birth, it was meant to be played with up to four people, with one “master” setting the scene... every day, Philia would come home and read every book hidden away in the basement, even asking her parents about the adventures they must’ve had before putting these Ar Pee Gees away! Their tales, as well as every book captivated her imagination, planting a deep desire to play it herself one day, and the fact her parents every so often got her new editions of the books she read certainly didn’t help either...

... And that deep seated fantasy certainly helped her when she learned that she had a sacred duty to protect a realm of sleep only deep sleepers could ever enter, for if balance were to shatter, the real world would suffer. Though she didn’t want to, Philia obliged... if only because it was the closest thing to the adventures she wished to partake in!

And yet, in the waking world, every attempt to connect or even discuss her fantasy game resulted in people mocking her or thinking that her interest in the game was “faked”, whatver that meant. And once more, she retreated to her second home of fantasies that were just out of reach. She wished with all her heart she’d have a friend to play it with... or at the least, something from the fantasy to experience herself... as her eyes turned to the book, she saw something and smiled... a strange creature, the head of an owl, the features of a bear... an owlbear! How could anyone not love something like that? Well... if Philia couldn’t have a real world friend, she’d just make one up!

Quickly thinking up the name “Elderbeak”, she would pretend to have the burly creature nearby her  to protect her and support her when she needed it. Even if she never got to play this game, she’d at least carry a part of it with her.

... And imagine her surprise that when one night, when falling into the realm of sleep, she was greeted by an owlbear that matched her exact  vision of Elderbeak, down to the pattern of feathers...! It introduced itself as Elderbeak, and knew instictively that they were her friend. Philia’s heart swelled, she finally made a friend... literally and figuratively, but Elderbeak was real, right there in front of her! Happily, she hugged her new friend, and began taking them with her on her adventures around the dream plane to protect it.

As the two worked to do their duties together, Philia’s imagination and passion for the “RPG” as it turned out continued to grow, why’d Elderbeak have to just be an owlbear? They could also be a dragon... and with Philia’s passion, Elderbeak too changed, becoming softer, warmer, and cuter (But no less dependable), and gaining traits and features as Philia continued brainstorming, eventually settling on an owlbear with the traits of a gem dragon..

To match her dear friend, Philia had certain traits of Elderbeak attached to her “Dream avatar” as a sign of affection! Since Elderbeak was from the fantasy game, Philia decided she would be too... she weaved an image of a kind but daring purple skinned demoness in her head, and that image became her own... it was the character she yearned to play, a half-demon adventurer named Phlox... and so, that would be Philia’s identity in the dreamplanes!

Years passed, and Philia continued (and failed) to get an adventure in the RPG going, each attempt thwarted be it by time issues, people losing interest, or again, simply thinking she was :faking” interest, and this constant neglect was causing a negative effect on her personality, making her more snippy to those who did show genuine interest, or were simply approaching her, how could she know if they were just pretending to be her friend just to betray her later?

She kept trying when there was genuine effort though... and she came close once, very very close... she begged the “Master’ to allow her to play her half-demon character Phlox with her pet Owlbear... and the Master would allow Phlox... but not the Owlbear. Philia didn’t take it well. She lashed out, yelling about how it wasn’t fair to her best friend, only for the Master to flatly say he wasn’t real.

Getting a black eye and a missing tooth for their troubles, the Master prohibited Philia from ever playing with his group. She did it again. She messed up a connection, and her unhealthy obsession with this “fantasy” as well as an imaginary friend... at age 14 was starting to give her teacher and parents some concern, there were talks of taking away the books, doing a “regiment” to break her dependence upon Elderbeak, Philia... didn’t take it well.

How dare they! How dare they insist Elderbeak wasn’t real! He was real, just not in a place they could see or reach, if she could show them, they’d believe her if she just could...

The stress very quickly became too much to bear as all manner of horrible outcomes stewed in Philia’s  head, why was the waking world so cruel, so banal, so horrible!? Nothing good ever happened there, and Elderbeak wasn’t there was much as she liked... Then... a thought occurred...

“I need a break from all this!”

Philia simply flopped onto her bed, closed her eyes, and decided to stay asleep for as long as possible. She was going to stay in the Dreamplanes for a week, no...a month... no, a year! A year away from all this stress would make her parents forget about all this nonsense, and she’d miss a year of school too, win win! ... She could probably also use a break from her Dream Mage duties!

So, packing up her imaginary things and hopping onto the back of Elderbeak... Ph-... Phlox left, her waking body falling into a comatose state as her dreamself went on an adventure through the dreamplanes, going from place to place, not worrying about any duties but the thrill of adventure.

... Though, lately, dream mist has been coalescing onto Phlox’s cloak, making it appear longer, get a tail, and even golden claws... somewhat concerning, but Phlox is assured it’s probably nothing

For now, she simply wants to be away from the horrific stress of the waking world, and if the dream realm truly appears to be better than the waking world...

...

Then she’ll just decide to never wake up again, plain and simple!

[thebeautifulmountain-blog]

Thoughts on the BlizzCon news?

Oh geeze, where do I even begin.Let’s try, least to most.

Nothing for Diablo, again… maybe one day. (though I’m assuming it’s because they’re actively all off working on something big - which probably isn’t Diablo related)

Starcraft 2 going free to play. - sure, but it isn’t a new single-player experience so why should I care? Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good game and you should definitely play it, but I’m not good enough to play against other people any more so yeah… means nothing to me.

Hearthstone got a new expansion and it’s… kobolds? The trailer for it is as awesome as ever, and Matt Mercer singing is just beautiful. I really hope the K&C expansion is literally just the team going “you know what is fun. Dungeons and Dragons, lets just do a Warcraft version and get Matt Mercer to do the trailer.”. I really hope that was the creative process. Plus it has a PvE Arena mode - which if it is a permanent feature to the game, I’ll definitely probably get into it.

Heroes of the Storm got new heroes revealed - we’ve all seen the spoilers, so no huge shock here. The trailer was a little meh, but Alexstrasza is #1 dragon bae and clearly the best choice for the first dragon aspect into the Nexus. We’ve got two dragons and two shimadas now, but still no proper Gnomes.Feels bad.

Overwatch is finally getting an Irish terrorist. FINALLY! She looks cool to play but her actual design and the fact she kind of came out of no-where without any kind of teasing or cinematic, considering what her backstory is and how crucial it actually is to Blackwatch.Her character design is not my favourite - I don’t think every agent of talon needs the terrible black trench-coat school-shooter vibe. She’d look way better in her Mercy-esque outfit that doesn’t wash out her already pale face and clash with her red hair. And there are other colours that would work well with the whole glowing chemical tubing (which is the only actual cool part about her outfit) and they really could have played up the bioshock alchemist vibe that she seems meant to have. Because honestly, if she doesn’t have a “would you kindly” voice line I’ll quit.I think if she was more monstrous and less just generically pretty like all the rest of the Overwatch characters, she’d be far more interestingly designed. Blizzard obviously knows how to make a good sexy monster - I mean, look at dragon-demon Symmetra, or the Queen of Blades, or Sylvanas Windrunner, the Banshee Queen, Lady of Darkness, Breaker of the Scourge, Reaper of Souls, Bane of the Alliance, Queen of Lordaeron and the Northern Kingdoms.Kit wise, she is absolutely interesting and should be heaps of fun to play. I’m not a massive fan of the beams, but the bouncing orbs, the teleport (as if we needed another one) and the kamehameha wave heal/damage ult is pretty tasty.The cinematic though, I was kind of disappointed in at first because we’ve got a new character and I was hoping it’d shed some light on her and get me invested in her as a character. I’m guessing they’ll do an Ana style thing on her (though I’m still waiting to give a shit about Orisa). But that it was Reinhardt’s backstory was pretty interesting. Turns out Reinhardt was a complete and utter toolbag who left his friends to die because of his own selfish glory-hounding.What a fucking piece of shit.That hair though really was glorious.

They should have given us Balderich. He was a beast, and a team player.Seriously though, fuck Reinhardt - I lost all respect for him.

Warcraft… oh geeze, where do I ever start. It’s all lore for me. It’s all amazing and depressing and happy and dark and fucked up. I was going into it expecting a massive Old Gods mess with major characters dying off and Sylvanas probably getting retconned into some evil monster and maybe Jaina actually ending up an Old God puppet.

Nope, we’re getting Mists of Pandaria 2.0.Lorewise, I’m livid because there is absolutely zero reason so far as to why the Horde and Alliance are so out for blood against one another - but I’m going to assume that that amazing trailer is depicting the Alliance being their usual evil-masquerading-as-good selves and attacking first.Yeah guys, we get it, the original Horde got in one sneak attack, doesn’t mean you get to do it for the rest of eternity.And we might lose Lordaeron - which also makes zero sense. The currently strongest part of the Horde getting driven out of their heartland is like if a group of uncultured Orcs sacked Stormwind - actually nevermind…Doesn’t matter, we’re taking Ashenvale, which means the Orcs will finally have unfettered industrial growth and land to farm. Finally Thrall’s dumb fucking decision to found a city on a desert will be righted. And I’m hoping the Forsaken get Tel’drassil, can you imagine how cool an undead world tree would look? Geeze.

The features of the expansion are cool as well, two new continents, one per faction - which is a real kick for people like me that super heavily invest in one faction over the other. Kul’tiras is kind of like a lore shangri-la, to finally actually have it and that it is Alliance gated (by the looks of it) is salt-inducing, but if I ever manage to pay for that sub again I’ll definitely roll through on my druid.Even better though, the Horde is finally moving to make reparations with the Zandalari - who really are natural allies now that that Old God loving self-proclaimed prophet Zul is defanged.

Plus other stuff, blah, blah. Oh, and Classic WoW servers.

Anyway, about that trailer.That is what the Warcraft movie should have been. I don’t even care if it ended up as Michael Bay-esque single-scene war-porn, watching the Alliance and Horde battle it out for an hour would be bliss. The Alliance are actually wearing armour like they’re meant to - while slowly morphing into the obvious villains they are.

I really super appreciate it as a lore-nerd, a real-world lore-nerd, a military-science nerd and a political lore-nerd. Just that cinematic really underpins why I find Warcraft a compelling setting despite all the flaws of the writing team.

It is a melange of cold-war ideologies clashing, between two imperfect empires with completely different world views and philosophies despite the similarities in their overall structure.You have the Alliance, whose prime goal has always been the destruction of the Horde and establishment of Alliance supremacy, finely honed and heavily armoured. They form up in neat lines and integrate their armies using mixed-unit tactics - the human shield wall and the dwarven rifle volley. With kaldorei archers supporting in the back and siege engines rolling up from behind. Draenei shock troops waiting for the break through and just one Worgen gude (fuck Genn so much) being all like “yeah, Gilneas is totally here as well my dudes.”

The Horde though, they’re messy, they’re all fury and bluster. They don’t need armour, they’re already all like tanks. Saurfang leading at the breach, Sylvanas standing on the walls directing her archers. The Horde doesn’t integrate, they just are. They’re brawlers not soldiers, they’re fighting for survival not some revanchist notion that all Alliance land is their own.Their leaders don’t send in their pawns to die, they’ve always lead from the front - they do it through honour and not a sense of nationalism.You see this when Saurfang stands against the fallen rampart, taking arrows instead of retreating to led his men die. When he personally leads the charge out into the melee. When Sylvanas, realising she can do better elsewhere unleashes her fury on the siege engines and fucking melts an entire squad of alliance footmen.

As factions they stem from the same place but grew to have very different conclusions. The Horde revolutionaries against the Alliance reactionaries, collectivism versus integrationism. Individualism fighting against bureaucracy.

I haven’t always agreed on some of the decisions that the lore team has made in terms of growing these two factions; be it introducing a greedy randian libertarianist Goblins into the largely socialist Horde, or the introduction of the rather obviously communist Draenei into the monarchist alliance. But the fact that they’ve worked on integrating those kinds of problems into the fabric of each faction really makes it feel far more real.

I kind of think it is a shame that it didn’t include at least one Gnome though. Mekkatorque in his battle armour looks pretty friggin’ boss.

I think that mostly covers it.

[briannamediablog-blog]

Music Video Analysis

Video 1: Green Day - Boulevard of Broken Dreams

The picture for the the song features an angel with wings, this could be resembling Billie Joe Armstrong, and how he felt alone, however the fact the wings are whole and not broken, could be showing how strong he truly is.

What style is it?

Green Day is an well known American Punk Rock band and in there seventh album "American Idiot" featured one of their most signature songs worldwide, being Boulevard of Broken Dreams being the second single on the album , the song's lyrics where written by Billie Joe Armstrong himself, and the music was composed by the band, this song was released in 2004. 

 The style in which this particular song is filmed in, is in a narrative way, telling a story of walking alone, due to the front man of the band, being the iconic Billie Joe Armstrong,taking some time to clear his head to get new song ideas, he traveled to New York City alone for a few weeks renting a small loft in a East Village in Manhattan. Here he spent a lot of time taking long walks and taking part in Jam sessions. Armstrong wrote the song basing it on his time in New York City and "feeling alone", he felt the song fit nicely with the album's story line, which is about "going away and getting the hell out, while at the same time fighting their own inner demons."

How is it filmed/edited

The song is solemnly focusing on the front man of group and his experiences of being along in New York City for few weeks, and therefore the video is being cut to the narratives, and having Billie center stage at all times, and when in the music video in a side view he is always the middle man in between Trè Cool, and Mike Dirint, this therefore keeps Billie the main focus throughout the entire video, the lyrics are made to be extremely strong and powerful, such lyrics as " i walk this empty street on the Boulevard of Broken Dreams" and "I walk alone" followed by "My shadows the only one that walks beside me" are seen as the most powerful lyrics within in the song and are repeated to throughout in order to get a point a crossed, that this feeling of being alone is very much real, and everyone can feel very much alone alone at times, which can emphasis on the fact that even though you may feel alone, your not the only one who may feel that way, so it's that reassurance that your never truly alone. However the main focus of the song is to show that everyone can have times of walking alone, and experiencing loneliness, in it's own way, and maybe it's referring to the fact that we aren't truly human if we don't experience this particular feeling. The editing in this specific video is fast paced, considering the topic in which is being address, however it adds the bands original energetic vibes, to the video.

What effects have been used and why?

Within this music video a range of different color grading has been used in order to give the video an old kind of look, with a lot of medium shots, long shots, and close up shots, overlays have also played an extremely important role within this music video, as it makes the narrative, of Armstrong experiences, and emotions stand out, and become a very strong role within it, the advanced editing of filter the video as well as using a range of overlays, adds to making the video look old fashioned, as well as a number of different jump cuts, on top of using a dissolving transition, in order to change one shot into another in the most effect way, to keep the audience engaged, with the video and the band. Also by keeping Armstrong telling his story and emotions, could have the audience feeling closer to the singer, and relating to him in a number of different ways.    

The music video itself is focusing on an old ruined town in a desert type of area, with a women standing outside her house next to a normal looking mail, which could emphases on the fact that this is her "Boulevard of Broken Dreams"

As the video continues on tracking the band as they walk further into the scene the shot cuts into the ruins, of a house will could be used to show people in the area have began to loose all hope they ever had left, however it could specifically be showing the loneliness in which the singer may be feeling on the inside, which is not visible on the out, we see many close up shots of the band member pulling there blazers up covering themselves from the wind, this close up shot also shows the other band members emotions in their eyes as they walk down the road more. Many of the shots, are of Billie Joe Armstrong, as he is being soul of the this particular song, meaning that close up shots of him, is vital, as it is directly showing his emotions throughout the entirety of the song. As of today “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” has 258 Millions views on youtube since being posted 5 years ago, by the band, and is number one on the list of the bands top ten viewed songs.

Video 2: Green Day - Troubled Times

Troubled Times was released in 2016 along with their new album “Revolution Radio”

History of the Song and Editing

Troubled Times was inspired by the terrorist attacks, in which tragically struck in Paris, in November 2014, and where the front man of the band, Billie Joe Armstrong was friends with guitarist, Eden Galindo, who plays the guitar for the band for Eagles Of Death, played at Paris club Bataclan, where 95 of their fans where shot dead in the horrifying attacks which haunts Paris, the song solemnly focus upon the issues in which have happened in the pasted, such as honoring the civil rights leader Martin Luther King, as well women suffrage, it also features captured images of protests, and many other problems in which have shook the world over the years, the song has many different overlays and color filers in order to give it a range of different textures and look about it, it also uses a range of different wipe cuts / transitions in order to make the song effective to the audience in which are watching it, the use of the dissolving of different images inside of each other, can be used to emphasize on the amount of problems in which have happened, and that, it’s time to stop and time for a change.

Also featuring a Trump like figure, wearing a Make America Great Again baseball cap, saying hateful uses of to a crowd, which can emphases that Donald Trump is a problem, in the world and in this video they are criticizing him for all of his actions, however at the time in which this video was made, he was just an elect for President, and maybe Billie Joe was trying to foreshadow the unraveling events in which could occur if he became President, this can also show how Armstrong feels towards Trump and what he is doing, and wants to do is wrong, and by having him as President could cause a Troubled Times for America in the years ahead.

This song touches upon all different types of problems in which effect people world wide, and the lyrics are extremely important, to the telling of the story line, of the point in which the band is trying to get across to people, “What good is love and peace on earth, When it’s exclusive” The leading man Billie Joe Armstrong, ask a rhetorical question in order to point the dryness that despite many known religions and political, movements that preach love for everyone and everything, and how the world should be in this day and age. Throughout the cause of all of their songs Green Day still foreshadows the feelings of loneliness, and being alone, as it is always having a slight appearance within everyone of their songs. This can also show the development of their music over the course of the years, and how the music style is still the same, but the songs are still as good as they were back in the day, and still follow the same kind of pattern which is what links them all together

Video 3 : Green Day American Idiot

Green Day released their seventh album American Idiot in late 2004, the front cover of the Album consists of three main primary colors, red white and black. The white of the hand holding the heart, is used in order to show, peace, purity and tranquility, however the red contrast with this as it has connotations of love unity, and passion, but at the same time it also amplifies the theme of rage anger, and destruction, and with the background being such a bold color such as black, allows the other colors to stand out more, although black still can have that feeling of loneliness hidden within it, which is always shadowing throughout the entirety of their songs, furthermore the bleeding which has be made in such a way, that it looks like a grenade, has been used to really emphases that love can be used as a weapon to destroy a being, as well manipulate another into doing something to another being, love can also be used as a way of controlling and abusing the power of love, and turning it into something that it’s not, therefore love can be one of the most dangerous weapons to have.

Looking at the Music Video 

The style in which this particular song is filmed in is rock, as well as narrative,lioe mist of Green Day's songs they have a meaning as well as most of the bands songs, it is still conveying an important message to be heard, at the begging of the video, Billie Joe Armstrong, the front man of the band from various different shot angels, center stage of the camera, this represents that he is a very important part of the song, and that what he is about to sing is something to be heard, but it can also show his importunity to the band as a whole, and as an individual, and therefore isn’t someone you would want to ignore, Armstrong also wrote this song himself.

The lyrics are specifically based upon the post 9/11 America in which they had to live in everyday, with the harsh politicians, media in which was controlling what to wear and what to buy, and who they should be, and to not allow them to change you into a different personality, and change into the "Idiot America", this songs it extremely important as all of Green Days' songs it is convey a message of importance, as the video continues the camera cuts to a long shot of all three members of the band, this conveys to the audience their attitude toward whatever it is they are about to sing about, this can also show that what they are going to sing about is extremely important to them, and therefore you should listen well to them, and this scene unravels more it cuts to a more closer up to the bands members facial expressions

It then cuts to a lower angle of the front man of the band, Billie Joe Armstrong, by doing it as a lower angle shows that he has power and authority due to me the leader of the band, the camera then cuts soulumly to a close up of his face which can convey to the audience his opinions upon the subject in which he is singing about, and in this case it is about the post 9/11 America they live in, also by showing the front mans face cab also show the emotions and hate in which he feels at this point in time.

Editing

The editing for this music video can be considered as being fasted paced, because of the quickness of cuts, to all the different camera shot, these shots consist of, long shots medium shots, and close up shots, of the front man of the band, which can indicate to the audience just how important he is as an individual, as well as being to the band itself, this could of been done as fasted paced, in order to fit with the pace in which the guitar was being played at, but also to fit in with the front man of the band, and therefore keep the camera attention upon him for the introduction of the song, before cutting to a varied of different shot types, to the other members of the band, however when panning around he other members of band, and as the band as a whole, the motion of the camera is a lot more slower, which contrasts with the band members quick and fast paced playing in a very ferocious kind of way, this has an extremely good effect for the audience, as it enables them to s the the masked up facial expression of the band members a lot more clearly, and therefore the explosion of all their emotions throughout the course of the song is a lot more effective, and visible. The use of zooming in and out of the band members, and focusing clearly upon the, can relate to the energetic vibe in which the band brings out clearly through, through the way they are in center camera shot, therefore the constant change in camera angle can also be referring to the song itself, as well as the America in which they now live in, which can also be a way of conveying their message to their viewers, as everything is constantly changing, and nothing is ever staying the same, and by having the close ups of their faces’s, especially the front man of the band, is a very specific way in which has been used in order to convey their opinion, on the constant change in which they are surrounded by, and it needs to stop.

What Special Effects have been used and why?

Not man special effects would have been used in the making of this music video, maybe some lighting editing would have been used, because while filming in a warehouse give them a lot of high key lighting, and in some cuts there is low key lighting, and therefore some color grading, or light editing would have been used in order to make it look darker than it actually is, which fits with music video extremely well.