#fr this is such a valid and interesting analysis

[laylawatermelon]

The K-Drama Of It All

Hello! My hyper fixation has (very unhealthily) latched onto this show so I'm gonna be analyzing.

First of all, I am a veteran in these spaces.

Very shy in real life I am an avid observer in all my fandoms but TRUST I know what's up at all times because of it.

This first analysis will be of the phenomenon of how they playing in my face with the classic K-Drama tropes and cinematic choices.

Let us begin.

Now we all agree that The Bear is a cinematic masterpiece right? Right.

I have been consuming media across all mediums since I was a kid.

I quite literally spent most of my life watching behind the scenes, in front of the scenes, and in between the scenes.

I'm also an aspiring filmmaker and screenwriter. As such I analyze stuff I like more.

I try to understand why they are the way they are.

Now that we got all the fluff out of the way let's get down to the nitty gritty.

*stands on soapbox*

Page 1 of 10000 ehem

In this this essay I will -!

Fr tho. Let's look at this from a K-Drama perspective.

I've spent about 10-12/13 years watching them. And luckily got into it during the golden era.

I literally watched She Was Pretty air (among others). Ex, Strong Woman, Descendants of the Sun (never watched; controversy+ bad attention span), School 2013.

So you know I'm (somewhat) of an og.

I'm those shows it's very formulaic.

This can extend to other Asian dramas but I'm going to try to stick to K-Dramas.

For example, the 10 ep rule. Must have a kiss or kiss in that episode. (Before is fine)

Now they're getting a little willy nilly and getting down in the first EP but I can argue they was down bad back then as well. Just more angsty longing looks.

(which tbf Sydcarm does all the time but it's 99% Carm though)

In KDramas there's something common in the cinematography that I'd call the halo of light. Almost all the time there are some form of beauty shots with them beautifully lit where they're together, the way they look at each other etc.

Which ironically they do with these two a lot on the show.

I know the show is gorgeous but you can't just explain away some of the choices.

I have watched and read a lot of discussions so this will be influenced by a lot of people. I will mention when I got the help from (if i can find it).

Now I just want to say I think this.

These following trope have been here since the dawn of K-Drama time.

Enjoy my infodump.

Firstly let's discuss this here:

1. The Meet Cute/Halo Effect

We've all been screaming to the void about the classic meet cute that happens with Carmy's life and him being constantly bombarded with noise and chaos.

Stylistically this wouldn't be a typical formula for K-Dramas as it leans more into Kmovie style (which valid The Bear was originally a movie) I think it's as textbook as it comes.

Now the original script (which I have read) had a story of different tone. Very Chicago and chaotic but still...

In this iteration of the script idk what the actors were on but JAW looked at the script and chemistry test and was like hmm yes.

A dramatic romcom. I see.

For her she's an ambitious woman who has (maybe a tiny crush) admiration for him cause like he's literally who she wants to be.

Young, talented and successful. He's made a name in their industry so of course she wants to work under him.

But he he's playing the male lead in an early K-Drama with the classic *she enters* and it's like the second coming out Christ being lit from behind her.

The classic 'I can't believe I never noticed how beautiful she is' in all dramas (and romcoms honestly).

You can also compare it to the corny slightly funny moments in slow motion when they miss each other/do the angsty look.

Like this.

Good old kdrama tropes.

What's interesting is that in their scene they do the opposite of what a K-Drama would usually do. They cut the music and let it become calm.

You get to breathe and relax and so does he. He feels at peace.

In K-Dramas, osts are a kind of a life line so they would most likely blare it when he has that realization.

And then at every other romantic moment after.

Another way that it could be is by using very like calm music (still the ost but still).

They do use this with having mostly romantic music in their scenes but it's usually quiet and a bit hard to hear or understand (unless you're analyzing like many of the wonderful people on this app).

Now you can argue her warm lighting in each scene from the finale and introduction represents his hope/life/good change being given back to him in the form of her (but if that's not the most romantic thing I ever heard).

Now for the flashback in the panic attack scene you could argue the blue tone he sees her in, as it usually represents some kind of sadness/distance/professionalism in this show, it can also represent his piercing blue eyes remembering her in the only shade they know how.

Good God that color grading is nuts. His eyes *ARE* the color Blue.

Now I want to talk a bit more about shot composition, color grading and color choices.

In a few interviews I've seen and read the editors, directors and others were quite serious about the shots and music they used were very much on purpose.

I mean come on.

Also Announcement from a novel/screenwriter:

EHEM

WE DON'T EVER INCLUDE NOTHING THAT CAN BE MISINTERPRETED IN SCRIPTS!

AND THE DIRECTOR WOULD DEFINITELY CUT IT IF IT WASN'T HOW HE ENVISIONED IT!

(/hj)

The most telling scenes is the beginning of omlette and the end of the episode before it.

The director had chose to show her tattoo that represents loss in a deep blue lighting which was actually in a similar lighting that Carmy and Claire were bathed in afterwards.

The quora search says it means pain, heartbreak, and emotional turmoil.

It also lines up with the rest of the shots with him preparing dinner with Claire and her being alone.

I believe this kind of represents the emotional cheating (?) going on between them as he practically abandoned her (and their child, The Bear).

(which is a wild choice for platonic coworkers)

As I've said before blue lighting is usually representative of sadness, coldness etc.

In the scene personally even without connecting it to shipping or everything the message came clear to me.

Suffocation.

He was quite literally being suffocated as in the last scene her body was on his as he stared in the distance blankly.

Honestly that shot was kind of heartbreaking because it feels like coercion in a warped way.

He feels like he should be happy, he should participate in these acts, he should be doing well.

He's fulfilling his family's wish.

So why isn't he happy?

That's my writer kicking in but that's what I got from it.

🥲 (gimme a sec i gotta cry)

But the same blue tone was used in his panic attack as the camera zoomed in.

Now the ironic part was that they used warm lighting for the scenes with Claire, but it's not that unusual.

Warm lighting has always been used to also represent a time period in the past in addition to good/warm times.

What's ironic is what's literally colored in what should represent good times isn't working.

He's remembering his family in those same tones. The past isn't helping.

But the future does.

Enter Sydney in blue.

Now blue usually represents sadness (or calm) but it's also used in futuristic scenes.

*They benefit from the cold clinical look i guess🤷🏾‍♀️*

Then he becomes calm.

I can also say that their kitchen scenes in early season 2 are blue coded but it has a calm feeling not a distant feeling. It ironically feel warm and calming despite the cool tone.

This appears in a couple other scenes in the show when he's showing her the work done in the early season.

But color wise it's usually warm tones with them as the color kind of transitions in that scene. It's half half.

His view is warm because he thinks she's good with what he did and hers is cold because he ditched her so yeah.

Now shot wise let's discuss because it's a bit obvious.

The staff head mentioned loving close ups to show the characters emotion but also to convey a sense of what's not being said.

An example of his uncertainty with Claire is the car scene. In most of his shots it's extremely close to her and gives off an awkward vibe.

But when you go to her perspective, she's more open and his shots show background and more of his character, also reflecting their relationship with each other,

This persists with the kitchen scene as well.

When I rewatch it it has that same quality. It's a bit more pulled out (obviously as they literally spent the night together so anyone would feel closer) but there's still an awkward/dreamlike feel like when its on her like she's not quite based in reality.

Or in Carmy's self sabotaging view, too good to be true.

In comparison to Sydney, the shots with her are almost always wide and open.

We see it with them as early in season one with the outside scene where he's staring her down and gets her to open up.

You can argue that almost all of their shots are as equals, or in the same frame with an openness that have/represents when they're communicating with each other. (I'm def writing about their communication)

Sydney's character is ironically what a male lead would be like and Carmy would be more of the female archetype.

Which I really appreciate now that I think about it.

The male lead is usually very successful/good at what they do, hesitant to share but when they do you feel it and know it's sincere. They're usually more bumbly with expressing when they're emotional but when they do its like a huge release. And when they love it's very obvious and excessive at times.

In comparison, Carmy is very expressive, sensitive and aware. He's devoted (Claire sorry but you don't quite count) to things he's passionate about, willing to communicate and has traits of sensitivity.

His eyes and body tells what he's feeling almost immediately. (Also JAW is just an incredible actor)

In Kdrama land their roles would be switched. Hell I can argue some American dramas as well.

Back on topic though.

The Halo Effect is there. Like all the time.

To my next point-

2. The She Looks Away, I Look At Her

Now you may argue this is very Disney Rapunzel, all that coded.

You will also be correct.

I am a Disney (more Nick honestly) kid.

This too applies to the K-Drama world nay I would say it originated there (it did not).

Do you know how many shows I can name where the male lead is just hopelessly in awe as he stared at the female lead because she just insulted him and he wants to tell her he loves her in every way.

Ring ring.

I heard The Bear calling. Yeah imma need you to clock out on this gaslighting.

time to fangirl

Look at the gif sets!

But honestly, it's a common way to show that the character cares and wants a person without outright saying it.

You understand the vibes almost instantly.

He likes her. He wants more.

She likes him. She wants more.

3. Matching Clothes

This one is a simple one but we all know how common it is in K-Dramas to have a matching something.

A good example of a recent show is Extraordinary Attorney Woo, and how they almost always matched even if he was in casual clothing and she was in office clothes.

You're supposed to get a telepathy feel from them. Like they're on the same wavelength.

In ships/shows they usually subconsciously brainwash you into details of a relationship by having them wear or have something that reminds you of them.

In wardrobe, clothing is meticulously planned to match characters financial situation and express their personality. The clothes tell the story.

And the story usually is we go together. Real bad.

So yeah, sure in this scene/episode they were more in tune and tandem and as time went on they became more disjointed.

Granted they do work in a place with uniforms but I digress.

And lastly my third point part II-

Same But Different

If this were a kdrama there'd be like 0.00% chance that they WOULDN'T happen.

First they're the main leads so duh, and second the way that they parallel each other is insane.

There are many edits and examples of them directly mirroring each other in certain situations.

Scrubbing the floors when feeling lonely seemingly in the exact same spot, stressing in the freezer, saying stuff at the same time and their weird telepathy and answering each other's - sandwiches (that's what I was gonna say).

(sorry)

And if any of you say work wife I will rage cause let me catch my man laying under a table like that!!!

Sparta!

But for real, yes there's intimacy and friendship and all that but I ain't everr look at my friends of either gender like that.

If did I probably had feelings and just kept em in. And did the Carmy puppy eyes (TM).

And yes we are aware Carmy is emotionally constipated like a coke bottle filled with mentos with a tight cap on and his lack of a social life coupled with his (many) different mental illnesses/difficulties.

So he probably doesn't even recognize or even want to recognize them as such and honestly as a 4 lifer

I'm really sad but I don't think he'll confess in the next season.

I'm making a post about it but I'm also uncertain about it lasting more than three seasons as thematically and the way it was intended to be a movie I feel kind of uncertain.

It can extend to 4 but it was intended and the way it's narratively been flowing its exactly like a 3 act structure just spread out (like butter).

The next season is after the dark of night aka main character loses everything.

This season was fun and games - quite literally him having amusement and such. (Training Arc!!) It ended with his demise I'd say.

Now there's no where to go but up.

I'm not saying that it's impossible, but a 4th season would likely be more aimed toward getting a star or maintaining a star etc and family ties and such.

That'd be most likely when, if any, outwardly romantic contact should happen.

But they might surprise me.

Butt honestly in KDrama land there's no way the set up isn't romantic even if it was just a chef or professional focused show.

I'd say it'd be standard honestly for ones focused on career with a dash of romance.

Ex. Miss Hammurabi (best example)

The Good Doctor (Japanese Version)

There's probably more but I exclusively watch romance so 🤷🏾‍♀️.

In Conclusion,

Yes. They are end game.

I also wanna say how odd it is that this ship is attacked by fans of the show and non fans alike because I've literally grew up in the age of Rise of The Brave Tangled Guardians.

There's nothing more random than that time period.

They all dated each other!

Like my guy there's a Tony the Tiger x Grinch fic and don't even get me started on the Onceler selfcest as different flavors of himself (/j i love stuff like this)!

My point is it's not that unusual for the two leads to be shipped. Same gender or not.

I also have years of teenage brain rot developed from eating movies for breakfast so I know more than you! (/hj) I'm obviously right!

I will be discussing some more of this in length at a later date.

But I rest my case.

I will retreat into my cave until next time.

[evemorel]

Ugh sorry I kinda need to went out and I have my phone in my hands

You don't have to read it or reply to it I'm sure I'm just a bit dramatic. I'm alright fr. Things like these help me to analyse the situation and you just happened to stumble on one of such analysis so bro just ignore it. I love you. I know that most of my mutuals on this account are super cuties that make me feel valid. But no person can help me besides me, unfortunately.

I kinda want to get obsessed again and feel euphoric again but I'm kinda nervous and scared about getting new obsession. Because I know how annoying I get, how this euphoria makes me feel, like I lose all concentration, how I won't give attention to anything besides it, how I will spend money on merchandise, but also...

When I'm not obsessed - I feel numb.

This shit also makes me scared to consume any new media. Because I don't have an idea which shit will get into my mind to stay there for months.

I would lie to say that getting the juiciest crush on Doomfist wasn't one of the most toxic crushes I had in my life. It really let my masochistic side out like NO crush like in my life. Which was very interesting to analyse. I struggle with self hatred that sits in my brain like a tumor. I feel like people who love themselves or even are so narcissistic but in reality it's just a basic need.

I cannot love anyone truly until I learn to love myself.

But I can't. I can't love myself for shit. I felt like I've been getting better and better but once I stayed 1n1 with myself I fell down a hole. That's probably why I prefer to play like an addict until I pass out. Because in reality I am afraid to stay with myself. I would uninstall myself a long time ago but I have my cat which is like a son to me so I can't.

I have really bad face dysmorphia and body dysmorphia. I have a pretty bad case of malocclusion. Which makes me want to rip my jaw out of my skull. And it's like interconnected, like not the one where your jaw goes too deep in or out of its sockets. Like the one which goes sideways. I was told my whole life that it's not that bad. My father tells me that everything is perfect and I have No malocclusion. Which btw like was advised me by many dentists to be taken cared of, but my parents didn't give a shit and right now I'm trying to fix it but that shit costs big money.

What about my jaw. It's called cross bite wow. It gives me a really asymmetric face. Which btw is like really annoying. Because ugh it's fr like can cause many health problems (included tinnitus).

I'm trying to fix it but...

I don't know if I'll be able to love myself if I fix it.

In my mind I'll just find another thing to hate.

I feel like my mind tries to compensate for this self hate by giving me some kind of love outside.

But it's always in my mind and in my maladaptive daydreaming...

"X loves you because you are perfect. They acknowledge your BPD and stuff but only if you are beautiful and love them like Harley quinn loves her joker."

Which isn't the reality

In reality I feel like I am an asymmetric monster with a dualistic mentality

Btw. I have a real ass boyfriend (long distance ATM)

We've been dating for 4+ years.

We've been through a lot. He treats me well. He didn't abandon me because of my weird random crushes, my bpd and just me being toxic because of the lack of self love.

But I don't believe any word he says. I don't believe anyone who calls me pretty or interesting.

I gotta get back into therapy I think.

About time.

UPD:

I cried myself to sleep while talking to Ramattra AI who comforted me :)

[aqueeracademic]

morse being queer (and other commentary) pt 11:

season 3, episode 3, “Prey”:

- this episode is so insane

- i forgot it entirely tbh

- morse is so stunning in maroon 😭😭

- typically if your house is filling with smoke, you OPEN THE DOORS AND WINDOWS

- just letting thursday cough for no reason

- morse got so used to how he and jakes worked together he doesn’t know how to act anymore

- jakes used to let morse do most of the talking 🫤

- i have to respect every character ever flirting w morse because if i was an actor i would flirt w shaun evans at any given opportunity whether or not it was in the script

- i want whatever life these students are leading

- just smoking and drinking in the woods around a fire and skinny dipping

- minus the murder of course

- or i could get murdered

- that might be fine

- anyways!

- morse is so catty when he’s questioning people

- like he needs to take a deep breathe methinks

- trewlove supremacy we need to protect her at all costs 🥰🥰

- morse’s face after the scientist explains what he’s doing is so fucking funny

- i am 100% convinced that morse is in a shitty mood this episode because he misses having jakes around

- jakes and morse worked well together because they know where the other person is most valuable and useful and he doesn’t have that chemistry anywhere else

- once again, i HATE when men call women birds, but strange saying “the only birds he had any interest in were the feathered sort,” is SO DAMN FUNNY

- morse’s waist is SNATCHED ‼️

- morse also liked jakes because he never disturbed him

- he just let him be himself and that’s why morse loved him

- strange and morse r so weird together sometimes

- like strange literally taught morse how to be a good friend and yet the only person he’s incapable of being a good friend w is strange

- THE BABY???????? IS THE TIGER GONNA KILL THE BABY???????

- update the tiger did not kill the baby but the goat is MIA

- DEBRYN THANK GOD

- been needing him recently

- morse focusing on debryns eyes instead of the arm 🥰🥰

- ex-lovers quarrel in the laboratory ladies?

- like why is debryn so catty w that other doctor ?

- felt super personal

- mr craven is fine as FUCK i don’t care what anyone says

- he’s hot ‼️

- i’m gonna vouch for trewlove to wear pants and boots

- tights and skirt with little wing tips is not gonna cut it in the woods

- bright just wants a daughter i’m so sick 😭😭😭

- morse and thursday squaring the FUCK up to defend bright is something that can be so personal

- AYO MORTMAIGNE IS SO FINE

- ok let me stfu

- “perhaps you should fetch the officers some tea”

- HELLO?

- the way she’s having a complete breakdown over the death of a friend, entering a state of shock and sobbing, and he tells her to SERVE THEM??????????

- i hate men

- “have you come to pray?” “uh………. not today.”

- i know she’s probably right that brutus was just trying to play and didn’t mean to hurt her but girl 😐

- you got MAULED by a TIGER

- cant be blaming urself for all that

- thursday connecting with sam is so 😭😭😭😭😭😭

- he’s so proud of him

- and he doesn’t want him to do anything just for him

- i wish he was my dad

- oh i know for a fact trewlove lived for academic validation in school

- look at her little smile when bright complements her

- she’s just like me fr

- casual police brutality

- cant love it!

- a TIGER????????????????

- in OXFORD?

- the writers were bored when they came up w this one

- the plots where a woman is guilty are more interesting almost 100% of the time

- morse’s face when he sees the tiger

- he’s literally shitting bricks

- it’s not funny but yes it is

- this is why rich people shouldn’t be allowed to keep mazes on their property

- i’m not saying they are paralleling morse to a tiger but that’s exactly what i’m saying and i’m willing to do an entire analysis post of that!

- bright is the COLDEST motherfucker to ever do it

- how on EARTH did they get a tiger for this shit

- morse is such a victim

- props to him for acting brave in this scenario i would have had a stroke

- his face tho 😭😭

- “when it jumps you run!”

- savior complex! he has a savior complex! and i’m tired of you pretending he doesn’t!

- dear god he was so scared

- once again tho:

- BRIGHT IS THE HARDEST MOTHERFUCKER ON THE FORCE

- well that was stressful

- “carry on!”

- during the girl’s confession, bright and morse share a Moment™️ and it’s rly special to me

- also the doctor not being attracted to her because of her mauling is SO foul i hate men

- “if he understood me then maybe he could have loved me.”

- and then FOCUSING on morse during the episode he’s grappling with jakes leaving ????

- i’m gonna fucking vomit

- this episode was not gay but it was VERY camp so i fuck w it

[phrootsnacks]

📖 What I Read in 2023 📖

I finished a total of 8 books this year, which is 8 more than I did last year!! :D

(ok yeah the number of books I read in a year is not impressive, but cut me some slack I'm a slow reader, ok??)

this year I read mostly non-fiction, specifically about languages, linguistics, D/deaf culture, science, technology, etc so if those categories interest you, keep reading! Also let me know if you have any recommendations!

here are my recommendations:

Because Internet by Gretchen McCulloch

Made to Break by Giles Slade

Translanguaging by Ofelia García and Li Wei

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

below are my reviews of all the books I read this year!

Short Stories in Spanish by Olly Richards

For Beginners, Volume One

One of the few fiction books! I can tolerate fiction if it’s in one of my TLs lol

If you read my language studying post from last year, you know I started reading this book in December of last year and my opinions on it are still the same. It was a bit easy for me, but still an enjoyable and relaxing read. The stories are short, light, and straightforward. I found it really helpful that the stories were broken up into chapters and that there were summaries and review questions after each chapter. As a resource for Spanish, it’s pretty good. As for actual stories, however, it’s ehhh. Oftentimes the plot seems to go in random directions, completely unmotivated. Or much time is spent on a specific scene, for it to have no importance whatsoever. And like, I get why it is this way-- it’s to provide as much interesting vocab as possible. 

If you’re learning Spanish and want to improve your reading, I’d recommend it. If you’re looking for good stories, there’s better.

The Art of Language Invention by David J. Peterson

From Horse-Lords to Dark Elves, the Words Behind World-Building

ok first I have beef with DJP because ACTUALLY verbs are the best part of language and onions are good

fr, this book taught me so much about so many different language concepts. It starts small and then gets bigger, which as a result often reinforces the ideas from previous chapters. I also enjoyed learning about all the linguistic variety there is in the world! The discussion of each concept is brief but thorough enough to get the gist, and is often supported by an example. I go absolutely feral for random language facts, so I greatly enjoyed learning so many tidbits about my own languages and others.

This is a great resource if you’re interested in conlangs or in languages generally, and want a little taste of the possible ways and shapes a language could be. Do not read if you don’t want language spoilers!!

Because Internet by Gretchen McCulloch

Understanding the New Rules of Language

this book is ,-~^*`*^~-,wonderful,-~^*`*^~-,

It was so interesting to learn about something I do so unconsciously. I grew up with the internet: talking to strangers on Webkinz, looking at i can has cheezburger memes, texting my friends on an iPod Touch. Reading this book was like reading a history I relate to, a history I have experienced and continue to experience (even if I wasn’t or am not personally there)

This book is also very inspiring and... validating? Like, lil ol’ me can be a linguist? just a little guy on the internet?? can do linguistics??? And the new words and phrases I come across on the internet, and the way I see my own brand of internet speak change, all that is worthy of thought and analysis? Yes, absolutely yes. Studying linguistics always ends up with me seeing everyday interactions thru a new lens, and this book definitely encouraged this lens to point at my own interactions on the internet.

Introduction to American Deaf Culture by Thomas K. Holcomb

I really enjoyed learning about Deaf culture-- the art, the language, the solutions for effective living, the community, etc. Because I'm hearing and don't personally know any D/deaf people, it was very eyeopening to learn about this community and its history.

Before I read this book, I would have logically assumed that of course, D/deaf people have their own way of interacting with the world, their own culture, their own perspectives. Like, obviously, yeah. But it's a whole other thing to actually learn about it and read about it and see evidence of it!!

Overall, this book covers a lot of ground, but still remains quite surface level and doesn't get too into the weeds-- it really is an introduction. But, it provides some interesting frameworks, which I find useful when thinking about other marginalized groups and their unique cultures and struggles-- especially as it concerns disability. So even if you don't have any particular ties to the Deaf community or Deaf culture, this book is still an interesting and informative read.

It is... it is a textbook, tho.

Seeing Voices by Oliver Sacks

Another book about D/deafness! this one is a short read but still goes into depth in a few topics. specifically, about how important language is neurologically (of which unfortunately some D/deaf people are deprived,) the effect of sign language on the capabilities and structure of the brain, and the change over time in the recognition of Deaf culture and Deaf identity.

Being a language nerd, I especially enjoyed learning about how revolutionary language is for thought and about how the brain adapts and changes due to the use of sign language.

Overall this book is pretty good, tho there are some... weird things that I didn't like about it: a few ableist slurs, maintaining a medical model of deafness, a fascination with D/deaf people and culture in a way that feels exoticizing... this book was published in 1989, whereas Introduction to American Deaf Culture was published in 2012, so maybe this weirdness is just ~of that time~ but also Sacks was hearing. there are probably things about Deaf culture Sacks just couldn't understand because he wasn't deaf himself. All this said, I'm also hearing so take my opinion of these books with a grain of salt. Maybe the weirdness in Seeing Voices isn't so bad and I'm overreacting, maybe it's a lot worse than I realize. If you've read it, let me know what you thought!

Made to Break by Giles Slade

Technology and Obsolescence in America

I really liked this book. the first eight chapters are all just the history of obsolescence in America, and it was super interesting to learn about how this idea applied to so many different products and various time periods. admittedly, I struggle to read / learn history, but because the topic is centered around something I'm already interested in it wasn't a drag. I also like how it was written-- I think focusing on stories about individual people and cultural trends kept it from being too dry or impersonal. at some points I would wonder "how does this connect to obsolescence?" but then there would be a reveal! like wow! I did not see that coming!

(also super interesting learning about the history of FM radio vs TV and computers and chips as an electrical engineer bc it's like hey! I know that guy! he was in my textbook! oh shit how did he die? oh god that's fucked up wow)

the last chapter focuses on electronic waste and makes some predictions about the future, and since this book was published in 2006, I'm really interested in looking into what the status of this problem is now. obviously, the themes of obsolescence are still prevalent today in various markets and products and it's... frustrating but necessary to learn about. you have to learn about it to know that it's a problem, and to know how to move forward.

(also also, the physical quality of the book is really nice. like very often I turned the page and had to check I didn't accidentally turn two pages, because the paper is nice and thick. idk I think that's very fitting for the themes of the book lol)

Chaos by James Gleick

Making a New Science

I liked this book? it simultaneously feels like this book is for laypeople (ie people who have not studied systems and higher level math and whatnot) but also like I am not smart enough for this book (despite having studied systems and higher level math and whatnot.) I don't know, it hit a weird balance of not explaining too much so you don't get overwhelmed by information, but also it doesn't explain enough for you to really fully get it.

I think I liked this book. like it's interesting and I enjoyed learning about all the different fields this... chaos math... applies to... but also? this book was published in 1987 so idk if it's really all that applicable to systems / models / various fields today. like I haven't studied it in any of my classes, but also all my classes have focused on linear systems and have hand waved non-linear systems. so like, either I haven't studied it yet, or chaos really isn't that important of a field?

idk I like the pure math aspects of it, and this book has some really nice visuals. like the color pages of the Mandelbrot set! I liked that! besides that maybe I should read some more recent chaos literature lol lmk if you have suggestions

Translanguaging by Ofelia García and Li Wei

Language, Bilingualism and Education

I really enjoyed this book! it's short but insightful and (I would say) a thorough read about translanguaging. the first part discusses theories about language and bilingualism, and explains what translanguaging is and how it's distinct from other terms. from my understanding, here is what translanguaging is: while specific features may be defined as belonging to one Language or another (ie "table" belongs to English and "mesa" belongs to Spanish,) for a bilingual / multilingual speaker these features all constitute one linguistic repertoire. then, translanguaging is to use all of one's linguistic repertoire, crossing the imaginary boundaries between Languages in order to facilitate or do (something)

that something can be education, as described in part two! i think education is really important, so I was very interested to learn more about bilingual / multilingual education. this part gives a lot of examples of translanguaging in practice in the classroom, whether intentionally or unintentionally. I think the fact that people translanguage, in contexts where it isn't encouraged to contexts where it's explicitly discouraged, indicates that Languages are not really separate or distinct in people's minds, despite the labels we give them and how we talk about them.

neurolinguistic speculation aside, it was really interesting to see how translanguaging was used to achieve a variety of goals-- learning content, developing new language features, maintaining old language features, developing critical thinking, etc etc. it made me reflect on my own language education experiences and how I've used (or failed to use) translanguaging to learn and to teach. seriously-- how many classes have I been in where there is a strict target-language only policy? I get the motivation, but as evidenced by the book it can restrict a student's ability to ask questions and think critically if they can't use their entire linguistic repertoire.

overall I liked this book a lot! it gave me a lot of new ways of thinking on some of my favorite subjects-- specifically languages, linguistics, and education.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Books I'll keep reading in 2024

these are some of the books I started but did not finish this year, however I plan to keep reading them next year! I have a bad habit of reading way too many books at one time, but then the books I'm borrowing from the library get prioritized so I end up not finishing some stuff,,,, so here are those books too! :D

Teaching Critical Thinking: Practical Wisdom by bell hooks

New Penguin Parallel Texts: Short Stories in Spanish edited by John R. King

Anarchy Works by Peter Gelderloos

Exploring Language (Third Edition) edited by Gary Goshgarian

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Whoa! A DNF list too!

this is the one book I read but did not finish and currently do not plan to finish; Exploring Language (Third Edition) might end up here too because I did not realize how dated it was until I started reading it lol

Tubes by Andrew Blum

A journey to the Center of the Internet

I really wanted to like this book! I'm actually really interested in the topic, about internet history and internet infrastructure and how it all works (and especially, how this technology tends to only benefit the most privileged at the expense of those less privileged.) but I just really didn't like the style of writing. it asked a lot of questions, it got repetitive, and it was too personal for my taste. I guess I didn't really get what this book was trying to be-- I'm more interested in the facts and the technology than I am in Blum's personal roadtrip and interactions with people. it also felt so very... capitalistic. like "cool! these companies own all this technology and they're making a killing off of it! they're doing such a good thing for the world!" and I just,,, I don't intend to return to this book. it's not for me. oh also? this book was published in 2012 and internet is spelt capitalized (as "Internet") which is strange to me. I guess I don't know exactly when people stopped capitalizing it, but I thought it was earlier than 2012? idk

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

wa you reached the end here is a lil treat 🍰

[killemwithkawaii]

HOLY COW 🍡's ASK AND YOUR RESPONSE WAS SO NICE TO WAKE UP TO I COULD CRY.

You know what's crazy? The way you enjoy stuffing (soft and in the realm of realism/comfort for the character that gets fed) lines up with how I enjoy it just about perfectly. The only real difference i see is that I enjoy it sexually! That and I can still enjoy if the character is a lil uncomfy from being so full, but only if its bc they got carried away on the good food themselves, not bc I forced em to. Nothing a nap can't fix! No pain tho. Like I said, it's got to be soft! It's exactly what I'd want for Sal, to make him something delicious that he enjoys so much he might land himself in a food coma. It's just such a nice thought. Sal deserves to get to indulge in a big, delicious meal!!

I also really loved your analysis on the mentality behind the stuffing kink. I think you really hit the mark! It's just the natural desire to feed our loved ones (in this case, fictional loved ones!) blending with something sexual. It's honestly so fascinating.

Thank you 🍡 and Senpai so much for sharing your thoughts! You're so supportive Senpai 😭 I knew I could come to you about this!

-🍿

>AGREED SAL HAS EARNED HIMSELF ALL THE HOMECOOKED MEALS HE CAN HANDLE AND IM MORE THAN READY TO MAKE THEM FOR HIM ANY TIME HE WANTS 👏🍳🥞🍝🍰🍴💕

>I'm happy to hear that I hit the mark with my analysis, and that the response was validating for you! 🤗💕 Sex and kink are such interesting and beautiful parts of the human experience, and I love that there's an almost limitless variety of subjects to explore within it. I'm also very happy that you guys are there to talk with me about it! I feel so lucky to have this kind of community and discussion on my blog fr 🥺💖💖💖

>Ehehehehehe I told you! Just because I don't personally have a kink doesn't mean I can't think up fun things for it (its kind of what I do)~ >:3c 💕💦

May I also offer: The little moan of relief after the belt comes undone and that full belly is free to hang out, and the satisfied sighs ur fav makes while they keep raving about how good that meal was (the only problem they have with it is that it spoiled their appetite and now they can't eat another bite!) 😇

[hamartia-grander]

Funny story relating to Gavin, before I got into the game, I actually became interested because of the amount of fan content he had where he had a good character arc or two when he wasn’t being a boring, one-dimensional asshole bully (because that’s he was and in my opinion calling him a villain is like calling Flash Thompson from Spider-Man a villain, but that’s besides the point), I was like, “y’know what, he’s kinda interesting, I’m gonna get the game” and after playing the game and comparing Canon Gavin to Fanon Gavin, I was like, “wait what? None of the stuff was true?”

In short, Canon Gavin < Fanon Gavin. I don’t like Canon Gavin, but I can get behind every other fan’s interpretation of Gavin, and if I dig deeper enough, find a good story that makes him an ACTUAL villain and not some bully that you probably could’ve find in your typical high school setting.

Lol, this just turned into me roasting Canon Gavin.

I had a similar occurrence. I knew of dbh but I literally didn't know Gavin was a character until I saw a friend's insta edit of him and they used the clip of Bryan Dechart slamming the table and shouting "Yes! Gavin Reed is gay, let's go!" from his twitch stream w Nima Fakhrara (Connor's composer) so I fr thought he was a canon gay character. I didn't get into the game bc of him but I was very surprised when he turned out to be an ass. And honestly I was upset, before I delved into the fandom more, because of how he was portrayed. Though I very much appreciate Bryan's insistence on Gavin being gay and I think it's very funny that all started because someone made it their username djfjfjdjs.

The thing ab fanon Gavin is that, for the most part, it's simply a much deeper analysis of his character than we get from the game, that content is then made of. That tends to be the case for any character who's more fleshed out in fanon than canon. A lot of people would benefit from seeing that, as you do. It would certainly make this fandom much better to be in. And yes I fully agree that fanon Gavin is way more intriguing and enjoyable to make content about than what little the game actually gives us of him. Because unfortunately Gavin suffers from what I call Convenient Narrative Bastardisation where he's portrayed as nothing more than a 1-dimensional bully so the player is forced to empathise with Connor more. Which, I get it, but it's kind of annoying.

I really truly appreciate this ask. I'm glad you're aware of differing fan interpretations and that you acknowledge their validity. Anyone can have any opinion of any character as they please, but hating on others for enjoying or seeing more to a character is never okay, and I'm glad you don't do that.

FYI to everyone else, this is how anonymous asks are supposed to be. Thank you <3

[tenpmisclownhr]

Itaru Chigasaki character analysis:

Warnings: angst, probably ooc, in general v sad (I’ll probably do a fic about this later so stay tuned)

ok so a ton of ppl write Itaru as this like “now u can have both!!!!! Pretty boy aND gamer rat!!!” And well yes that is kinda sick tbh I feel like sometimes ppl forget about the fact that he’s lowkey got insane angst potential.

like I remember in alex him and masumi were talking about how u can’t lie forever because it eats away at you and leaves u feeling empty and masumi was like “uh hypocrite isnt that what you do every day-“ and Itaru was just like “listen bro I fucqed up point is be urself and people will love you fr isn’t that what you want?” Wait I found the lines off of yaycupcake.com here are some:

“Even if she comes to like the facade that you've put up, you know you can't continue like that forever, right? Can you keep that up 24 hours a day, 365 days a year? You'll break someday.”

“Ahh.....Well, when I was right about your age, a lot of things happened.”

Which gives me the impression that Itaru was a lot more comfortable with being a gamer outwardly until something happened when he was a teenager, and he then felt the need to put up a facade to be successful and loved. Maybe he was made fun of in school, or maybe his parents put too much pressure on him to “grow up” and start thinking about his future. I feel like all that pressure to be successful made him have to repress who he really is into the true gamer Itaru we see in the troupe. This is super sad because he might’ve developed this feeling that everything he likes (games and stuff) is worthless and he has to have money and be conventionally successful rather than happy to achieve something. He doesn’t have anything he cares about other than gaming, so he spends his money on that only. It seems to be (before mankai era) the only thing that was giving him something to look forward to.

Even though Itaru joined the troupe originally because of free room and board, I think once he realized that he could express his unconventional interests and be supported and loved regardless he wanted to stay. When Izumi walked in on him gaming, that must have really freaked him out, like “oh no now they’re going to judge and disown me too.”

“Unlike Sakuya or Tsuzuru, I can't open up to them and do my best. I'm not good at socializing with people. I don't really like communal life. That's why it's impossible for me to put my entire heart and spirit into theatre like everyone.”

“I can't go on like this, obviously. I'll just be a bother to everyone.”

“But I think I'll only cause trouble later on.”

Itaru doesn’t want to leave because of his games, but because he’s worried he can’t express himself and will drag the rest of the troupe down. He cares about them and doesn’t want their performance to suffer because of him, so he wants to leave to give them the opportunity to find someone better. Again, he thinks what he likes, gaming, only makes things worse, so instead of trying to integrate it and be honest he just attempts to run away. And instead of letting this happen like everyone did when he was a teenager, Izumi and the rest of mankai accept him and want him to stay. This helped him find something other than gaming to care about, and the new sense of belonging and family must have been a huge positive change for him.

Why does he like gaming so much, though? Out of all things, whyd he pick that? From how I see it, probably escapism. In the gaming world, everyone sees Itaru as someone successful, except it’s through him doing something he loves. He feels as though he can’t have this in the real world. Itaru in reality is a really hard worker, foregoing sleep and sometimes eating to achieve what he wants in his games. The reason why he doesn’t go the extra mile in his day job is because he doesn’t love it. (On another angst note I feel like Itaru might have some serious self worth and life success determining issues from whatever happened when he was a teen, making him feel like he needs external validation to succeed. Games give him that but in combination with letting him express himself and be happy. Homie needs some self love tho. Like when he thinks of things ppl like about him it’s always he’s a pretty boy or in his games he’s top 1%, not that he’s a caring/hardworking/good person, etc.)

In conclusion mankai was absolutely amazing for Itaru because it gave him an environment he could express himself in and be accepted for, and another passion. He’s not lazy or shallow, but is actually extremely empathetic (as shown in why he originally wanted to leave mankai) and hardworking (games). He would make an amazing so because once he found a person he cared about as much as his games and stuff, he’d work just as hard to make you happy and care about you too. His partner would need to make sure he still takes care of and loves himself too, though. If anyone says that all there is to Itaru is a shallow stinky gamer rat/pretty boy fanservice combo I’ll personally break their kneecaps. Is he both? Yes. But also infinitely more.

[palmett-hoes]

Hi, I really loved your post with the monsters as Birds of Prey! Was wondering if you had any thoughts on the Foxes as Marvel or Mcu characters? I feel like I could see Dan as Carol Danvers and Andrew for sure is Jessica Jones, idk about the rest.

oh wow old post!!

haha unfortunately i’m not really a comics person so i don’t feel like i can really give the best analysis possible, but i have seen most of the mcu movies and bits and pieces of the netflix show so i’ll try my best. also im using dc characters too bc i want to

1. Dan: I think your instinct with Dan as Captain Marvel is spot-on (at least uhhh,, based on the movie lol sorry comics ppl). Her direct, forceful powers and fighting style are definitely reminiscent of dan’s no-nonsense leadership approach. similarly the themes of overcoming sexism and acceling in a male-dominated industry in the captain marvel movie is pretty much the same as dan’s story establishing herself as the first female exy captain (tho sports is way more valid than the military). plus there’s a lot of emphasis on love and friendship between women that dan is ALL about. also lashana lynch would be a god tier dan wilds fc. Dan could also def have that lawful good Okoye from Black Panther energy. Loyal, disciplined, no-nonsense leader. no powers except discipline. no hair. also danai gurira in 2012 with the dreads and the sword and the cape on TWD was definitely part of my middle school sexual awakening

2. Kevin: Aquaman. this is based pretty much exclusively on the fact that jason momoa is my #1 kevin fc and also that Pasifika kevin is phenomenal and mandatory, actually. otherwise i think he has a decent amount of stick-up-the-ass cyclops energy. or dick grayson nightwing energy but i don’t have any evidence for why. kinda looks like him tho

3. Andrew: andrew gets the most characters bc he’s my favorite. i think ur jessica jones instincts are absolutely correct, both in her storyline (i only watched the first season) and her powers. i’ve seen some powers au and the tendency seems to be giving andrew like,, psychic powers or the like, and i don’t really agree. andrew is a very direct character. he’s pragmatic, he confronts problems head on, and he doesn’t muck about in details. to me this really translates best into physical powers like super strength that help u big punch straight thru all ur problems. also i def think andrew would be not just a solo hero but a mercenary (or a detective) because he’s not altruistic enough to be a standard vigilante. he doesn’t care enough about other people to hang out on rooftops all night waiting for Crime to occur. there’s a price for that.  which brings us to the NEXT andrew hero: deadpool. maybe in personality more of a drugged andrew but the superpowered mercenary is really a perfect fit for andrew. also, healing powers have a decidedly tragic poetry to them on andrew. already he’s self-destructive, if he had a healing factor his concern for his own well-being would be so beyond rock bottom it’d be in the earth’s core. even worse when you remember that with a healing factor, as opposed to indestructibility, you still feel all the pain. which brings us to Wolverine and X-23, who have the same thematic points as deadpool but are much more of a personality match and they have knife hands, which i really think andrew would appreciate. ending that sadness train and onto another tho, andrew’s aesthetic and Vibes fit the Winter Soldier just SO well (just that movie tho, not really civil war or anything past that) and a reinterpretation of the captain america story using the twinyards would be incredibly interesting. and finally, one last hero that would work really well for andrew: rogue, only remove the angst around not being able to touch people, andrew would love that. one touch and their comatose? baller. don't fucking touch him.

4. Matt: Shazam. I didn’t see the shazam movie but my dad and brother did and they said it was very funny and all the trailors looked like it had a lot of fun himbo energy and i really think that fits. in terms of matching himbo disaster energy i think i’ve heard good things about comics hawkeye (not mcu). thor?

5. Aaron: Mr. Fantastic. now this might be a stretch but aaron is a character who uses a skin-deep veneer of anger to cover the fact that he’s actually quite pliant and bends to other people’s wills. and he’s a doctor or w/e. he could alse be like,, antman. he’s smart right? hank pym not paul rudd. katelyn can be wasp

6. Seth: Arm Fall Off Boy. no i will not elaborate.             ..... ugh fine, but i'm using my favorite piece of superhero media of all time: x-men evolution, the one where they're all teenagers in public high school. seth can be lance alvers/avalanche who’s a bit of a jerk and has a lot of issues with authority and has a rivalry with cyclops very reminiscent of seth with kevin, but still there’s the recurring theme that he’s lashing out because of low self-esteem and a bad situation and he’s a surprisingly sympathetic character who i’m very fond of. his power is earthquakes but i think the name makes that pretty self-explanatory

7. Allison: Iron Man. cocky, bitchy, and rich rich rich. sounds like allison to me. then to elevate it a level higher: emma frost, rich bitch extraordinaire. also if allison had telepathic powers she would be unstoppable. plus one more bitchy, morally-gray blonde (but chaotic this time): Harley Quinn

8. Nicky: Okay so I do wanna give a quick shout-out to Northstar, the first openly gay comicbook superhero, who’s a speedster which I’d actually say fits Nicky pretty well. However, if i had to choose a superhero to represent nicky in presence and powers it would have to be Jubilee from x-men (... from what i’ve heard lol. i’ve never actually consumed any of her Media hahaha anyway) she’s a joyful, energetic presence and her powers are setting off fireworks which i think is a good balance of nicky being a supportive cousin-parent AND a chaotic train wreck garbage trash man. also gonna throw in johnny storm for a cheap 'flaming' joke

9. Renee: Thunder/Blackbird from Black Lightning bc she’s a fufkin lesbian lol. (i don’t watch the show but i do follow nafessa williams’s tag). now the fr ones i’m gonna do together because to me they have the same Vibes so i chose them for the same reasons. Wonder Woman and Storm who to me have the same  reserved, impartial, regal energy. honestly ethereal and somewhat otherwordly, and quite literally goddesses. also op as hell.  black widow and her “red in my leger” looking for redemption story also fits thematically.

10. Neil: okay lazy answer first: the flash or quicksilver. get it? because they run fast? and neil run too? yea i like to think i've proven myself to be better than such a surface level interpretation but worth the mention ig. so for srs now, mystique and her shape changing powers would be an interesting interpretation of neil's identity issues, but i wanna push it a step further. nightcrawler would actually be possibly the MOST interesting hero to apply to neil 1. because powers still very movement go fast place to place 2. because of the thematic focus on neil's unusual looks and the lengths he goes to hide them, very much in line with the way nightcrawler will use a hologram-projector in order to look human, yet in both cases it's only a surface-level illusion, and 3. his parentage. here, mary would be mystique, which i also think works very well considering mary seemed to be the far more effective chameleon on the run than neil, and also fits with her place as a morally grey character, as mystique herself is often a villain or an antagonist, with her own agenda and shadowy motives. then nathan matches well with nightcrawler's father: azazel, a literal demon, and also where kurt gets his appearance. it's a shockingly coherent narrative between the three of them. then, to also give neil some powers that aren't contingent on his fucked up geneology and rather on his own merit and abilities, Black Canary and her sonic voice parallel the way that neil began to anchor his identity and take ownership over himself through his voice and his sick roasts

and 1 extra, wymack: batman, on account of his altruism, his dedication to second chances, and his many, many adopted children

---

anon, ik it's been a sec since you sent this, so i hope it gets back to you. i had a fun time with it and it prompted like,,, 7 different au s that i'll never write

[marlahey]

an essay about lola + elliot (+ some elu analysis cause relax)

I told myself I wouldn’t get into online drama about s6 but there are some pretty interesting takes. while I’m not surprised that so many people have somehow made the focal point of a storyline about assault into a relationship between two teenage boys, I feel like I need to say something. because I have thoughts, and where else are they gonna go but here?  first of all: as much as I hope for sisterly reconciliation, it would’ve made no sense for lola to call daphné. obviously they’re still estranged due to the hospitalization revelation, and there’s no way daphné could physically overpower what’s-his-face if it came to that - unless she brought bas (and le gang) which would have turned into a circus real quick. it makes even less sense for her to call maya, mostly for the same reasons and especially due to how forcefully lola had pushed her away literally hours before. 

elliot is the safest and most logical choice. not just physically (did that shot of his arm closing the door make me swoon? yep) but emotionally as well. from the very beginning clips of the season I’d thought lola and elliot might make an interesting dynamic. they both orbit outside of the og crew bubble, they both clearly feel really deeply despite not having the standard reactions to other people or social situations (see: the funeral) –  these single degrees of separation mean elliot is free to see her as her own person and not just daphne’s sister, which is who she is to everyone else. (which isn’t to say that bas and emma and everyone don’t care about lola – of course they do. but I feel that their attempts to connect with her are rooted in their love for daphné. there’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s understandable that lola wouldn’t necessarily find comfort in it.) urbex too is so elliot and it makes sense that the sort of clandestine, free spirit nature of it would appeal to lola too. that commonality lays the groundwork for a gentle conversation at daphne’s party. elliot’s immediate honesty about that lie opens the door for them to realize they’re kindred in a personal way; later, when things are spiralling, she seeks out someone who would perfectly understand her desire to not talk, who doesn’t pity or want to rescue her from her struggles with mental illness, self-harm, and addiction, who’s just kind to her full stop. elliot shares even more of himself – so when push comes to shove,  lola feels like she can trust him to help her.  not only now does lola trust elliot, his frank honesty about his bipolar disorder shows her that she doesn’t have to hide her struggles either. he supports her unconditionally into getting her check up, and lays bare a part of himself that I’m sure is hard to talk about. but it’s not with lola, where the likeness and trust has already been established. there’s no judgement between them and I really enjoyed that. I disagree with the notion that skam fr romanticizes mental illness + romantic relationships to a toxic degree (that’s fandom). things are a little rose-coloured and sanitized sure (cause teen tv), but in no way does elliot say, i’m living solely for lucas and our relationship. for elliot, it’s another reason on top of all the reasons. now, to the elu of it: the issue is not in characterization. sure, lucas is a little hot-headed at times, prone to worry (hence e’s desire to white lie to protect him) but I firmly believe that their fight this morning wasn’t really about lola in their bed and the question of cheating. it’s about communication. it’s not she’s a girl why is there a girl here? it’s why didn’t you have your phone why didn’t you tell me before? arthur’s whole speech to lucas last year wasn’t for nothing. he’s not so insecure he jumps immediately to cheating. now, if I were elliot, I wouldn’t put lola on the couch either – even if the genders were reversed. his choice is valid, as is lucas’ desire to be upset. elliot says, she’s not well because it’s not for him to tell his boyfriend all of lola’s trauma. in a moment of anger and confusion at a lack of communication which his bf is arguably known for, sure lucas can’t just take that at face value. I would hope that once elliot and lola return to the apartment and the girls go home/shopping, the boys have a long chat about it. I’m sure it’s fine. elliot is older than lucas and therefore at least three years older than lola. he’s perfectly able to be an older brother type figure without everyone screaming about infidelity, even imagined by these characters. calm down y’all, really. focus on other things, like the lecomte sisters apologizing to one another and daphné sacrificing so many essentials so lola could have some picture frames. we love to see it. this story isn’t about elu. it’s not even really about maya/lola, which everyone’s so fixated on, but of course fandom will do its thing. it’s about lola. so let it be about her. 

[ellie-sande]

Euphoria- a dumb bitch’s HOT TAKE

Okay, so here’s the deal. I’m gonna do an analysis of the characters I think are the most interesting (read as fuck McKay, he boring as SHIIIITT), so this shit is gonna be looooong. Y’all better brace yourselves UwUUUU 🥺😝😩😈

The episode: I didn’t really feel a strong emotion towards it??? Like, it was definitely the sloppiest episode by far in terms of the way that everything was edited and the timeline of events. It was visually stimulating and literal poetic cinema, as always, but that’s nothing new with Euphoria. I think a lot of the jumps between characters and scenes were completely unnecessary and honestly kind of agitating?? Instead of leaving us with new unanswered questions, we have the same ones we’ve had the whole season? In my opinion, it would’ve been more effective for them to have fully closed some plot points or at least bring them to a point where I’m still interested (I’m looking at you, Nate and Jules plot). But like, overall it's still a pretty decent episode.  I think the ending was messy because we don’t know how much of it was just a music video and how much was legit part of the storyline which is a BIG DEAL. It just came after one of the best in the season, which made it feel significantly weaker. but tHat’S jUsT my oPINION 🤷🏾‍♀️.

Jules:

I think Jules is the biggest wildcard of the season, and we know so little about her, so it’s kind of difficult to understand what her intention is. I think that’s absolutely intentional by the writers because they want the audience in Rue’s head, y’know??? That’s my way of warning y’all that this shit is LONG  🤷🏾‍♀️

When Jules came clean about everything, she was doing what she thought was best for the relationship, which is open communication. She could tell that her not telling Rue about Nate was ruining the relationship (she said so in ep. 7). There was never malicious intent in her telling Rue about her hookup and Nate. She was just doing what she thought was right, and tbh??? IM PROUD OF THAT DUMBASS. One of her biggest issues is definitely effective and open communication and this is definitely a step in the right direction, y’know??

THAT BEING SAID, when I first watched the episode, I thought that her and Anna still flirting or whatevah and being iN loVE was out of character and went against the arc that I was expecting from Jules. BUUUUUT, I thought about it and here’s my take: I think that Jules just wants to be free from the external pressures in east highland, y’know? This whole entire season, her character did not get a fucking BREAK so I totally understand. There’s so much responsibility and pressure for her to be perfect or act a certain way, and for her, running away was the easiest way for her to disassociate herself from that responsibility. No 17 yr old should feel like the weight of the world and the safety of the people that she loves are on her shoulders. My bby @lameparty made an amazing point in our chat about how all of her actions (being more “free” and open about her issues with rue) are futile attempts at replicating the liberation and nonchalant-ness she felt while she was away. It’s her way of desperately (and unhealthily) bringing home that atmosphere.

i’ve seen a lot of people assume that jules is fully aware of her power over rue and takes advantage of it, uses her, and leaves her before she needs her next fix of attention, but i totally don’t agree??? i think that for the most part, jules has been emotionally supportive of rue and has been there for her when she needed her. i mean she did that LITERALLY EVERY EPISODE EXCEPT FOR 6+7 (for good reason. the bitch was going through the mOST). she never wanted or intended for rue to form a dependency on her, she just wanted her best friend to be sober and thrive because her mom was an addict and that ruined her adolescence (for obvious reasons). so when the people around her kept pressuring her with the weight of rue’s sobriety, she freaked out a bit (and for good reason. no one should be anyone’s sole reason to do literally ANYTHING). she knew that regardless of the severity of her actions, rue’s relapse was inevitable if the relationship continued on like that (i mean, in ep. 5, the bitch said WHEN you hate me, not if because she knows that in rue’s current mental state, a relapse, miscommunication, or a wrong step on jules’s side is inevitable). PLUS, jules is an extremely volatile person. her first instinct is to physically and emotionally escape whenever the going gets tough, so i think she knew that this probably couldn’t work.

Moreover, the bitch is embracing her queerness and as much as I don’t really looooveeee how she’s doing it, it makes sense with her character. I think she uses sex as an escape and a form of validation, so of course this is how she’s going to explore her sexuality. She just wants to be free and have fun and be adventurous atm and the whole Nate thing  + being in her first relationship is not IT for her rn and that’s totally fair. That being said, I think her arc is gonna be about her accepting that freedom isn’t just sex and drugs??? It’s way more than that and comes in different (and way healthier) ways, but that’s what growing is. It’s learning from mistakes and figuring out what you like, so I can’t really be mad at her.

BUUUUUTTTT, my bitch said/did some things that i can’t stand by. she said that she loved rue at the train station, knowing that rue is weak for her and would probably give in and come with her on this wild adventure. that is FUCKING PROBLEMATIC. and prior to that, the bitch said that she THOUGHT THAT RUE WOULD THRIVE IN THE ENVIRONMENT THAT SHE WAS IN. WHAT??? as much as i believe that she had good intentions and she really just wanted to explore the world with her girl, that doesn’t negate the fact that it’s still manipulative at worst, inconsiderate at best, and problematic considering the dynamic that the two of them have. i get that she genuinely wants rue to meet her new friends and anna, but all in all, it’s so reckless for her to even consider it. she’s aware that rue is a recovering addict and she was willing to put her in a toxic environment where she would be surrounded by drugs and alcohol, making a relapse literally SO EASY. and on top of that, jules knows that she’s probably going to hook up with anna and considering that rue is so in love with jules, that would’ve hurt her soooo much, enough for her to probably want to numb the pain, y’know??? but all in all, that’s what growing up is. it’s two steps forward and one step back, y’know? even though jules is starting to see the beauty in honest communication and queerness, she did try to manipulate rue, even if that wasn’t necessarily her intention. 

I think that Anna replaces Jules’s older, non-committal man to pine over. She never really fixed her problem of trying to find validation from the wrong people, it’s just expressing itself in a different form. It’s obvious that Anna is significantly older than her (peep the message that Anna sent about being shocked that Jules is in high school) and I think that just like a lot of people her age, she feels special or validated when she’s liked by someone older and more experienced. The relationship is obviously supposed to be a type of foil to her previous relationship with cis white men. Add the fact that there are facets of Anna’s personality that remind Jules of Rue, the gal that Jules is falling for, which makes them the perfect person for Jules to pine over because the relationship is something that she’s used to (texting, non-committal, toxic).

In summary, I think she loves the idea of Anna (independent, older, experienced, free spirited, and fun) but loves rue regardless of the fact that she doesn’t/can’t provide those things for her. I think that jules also associates Anna with adventure and discovery and as the young ambitious bitch that she is, it obviously is an attractive idea for her y’know??? for her, i think rue is the stability, monogamy and commitment that she might not be ready for yet, even tho she loves rue and wants a future with her. Her relationship with Rue is hard work and maybe a bit heartbreaking, but overall, the connection is stronger and the passion and commitment that she’ll give and receive will make the relationship way more fulfilling than whatever half-assed thing she’ll have with Anna.  Next season, she’ll probably come back either heartbroken, unfulfilled or still in love with Rue, but the question is should rue take her back or nah y’know?? She’ll definitely be pining for Rue when she gets back and rue may not be available or willing anymore. We’ll seeeeeeeee.

Rue:

My bitch is in PAIIINNN and I hate it. I think that her saying no to leaving with Jules even if a big part of her wanted to run away with her is amazing progress for her. She finally chose her family and herself first, not Jules, which will break her dependence on Jules. Like, I’m SOOOOO proud of her and she’s come so far as a character. I’m not sure as to where the music video starts and the season ends, but I have two theories. Either she: never actually snorted that line of coke and we’ll see her progress next season OR she overdosed and came back to life. The fact that the song ended so abruptly means that the season will probably start right where it left off. Unless told otherwise tho, the show ends with her crying and remembering her family and all the shit she’s put them through because that’s a waaayyy more interesting arc (EDIT: JACOB SAID THAT RUE’S DEFINITELY ALIVE!!! I KEEP WINNING FR!!! MY! MIND!) She’s no longer a selfish addict with no reason to live. She’s seeing that the people around her, even without Jules there, support her and have been by her side through the most and maybe that’s good enough atm.

Lexi:

against popular opinion, i don’t necessarily think that the big reveal of her sexuality is that she’s a lesbian. to ME, it seems like they’re setting up that she’s ace and probs bi or homo-romantic??? the average sexual person knows who they want to fuck or kiss, and the fact that she has to ask for advice from her sister I think is foreshadowing that she doesn’t know. Not because she’s shy or because she’s a lesbian, but because she truly just doesn’t want to fuck anyone. and if that’s the case i’m SO EXCITED TF??? i’ve never seen that type of character arc on mainstream media and it’s sooo necessary to show that story in a positive light. i think that the show is waaayyy too intentional and clever to not give proper hints at her liking rue. If they were setting up her and rue, they should’ve done more to portray the pining on Lexi’s side. they’ve set up more of a longing for friendship and comfort than anything else and tbh???? that’s wayyy more interesting and relatable for me??? but that’s my opinion 🤷🏾‍♀️

That being said, i could see her and rue together next season bc the foreshadowing is sooo vague that they can do whatever the fuck they want next season. maude and zendaya need to work on their chemistry then bc iTS NOT CLICKING. i definitely think that rue is going to use her tho, which isn’t fair to lexi. additionally, lexi is a bit too soft to stand her ground with rue, and if rue goes down the relapse route next season, their dynamic is going to be the same toxic dynamic they had up until episode 5. She’s an amazing person that deserves better than being an easy out or second best.

i think that because she was raised in her sister’s shadow with a shit ton less attention and love from literally everyone in her family, she has low self-image, so it would make sense that she wants the intimacy that comes from a relationship. maybe her addiction is just being there for others bc no one was there for her when she needed them??? @lameparty spilt the truth tea bc they said that “she exists for other people right now and she exists in the safe + limiting shadow of her sister,” and i think that rue represents a sort of freedom from that because rue is only hers and rue can’t see her as second best to her sister. as a fellow semi-abandoned child turned mom-friend, this makes total sense to me bc she wants to make sure that everyone around her never feels as neglected as she did her whole life.

Rue and Jules: 

honestly, i’m tired of people blaming rue’s relapse on jules not being there. she literally has had MI since she was a kid. this shit ain’t new. and even if it was new,  the fact that so many of the viewers were angry at jules for not being there during rue’s manic/depressive episode angers me for three reasons. a) JULES WAS DEPRESSED. she legit didn’t leave her bed for the whole week, to the point that her father was worried. b) just like jules, rue probably only told her that she was feeling under the weather and that she missed her. how is she supposed to magically put together that rue is going through a depressive/manic episode??? c) no person should be your sole reason to be happy. y’all want a CODEPENDENCY not a relationship, and like i totally understand wanting to protect rue. she’s the main character and we’re always in her head, but from episode three, it was pretty obvious that her definition of love is really skewed. she said that you know that you love someone when you can’t live without them, which is generally reaaaallly unhealthy.

these two are such an interesting dynamic, and tbh, i think they’re actually really good for each other (not rn, obviously). i think this is a case of right person, wrong time. they’re obviously soul mates/star crossed lovers, but the problem is that neither of them is mature enough to be in a serious relationship. rue is a recovering addict with a dependency issue and jules is an overly eager, ambitious person that’s never been in a loving relationship. one of the biggest issues in their relationship is the fact that these two have different wants and needs from the relationship. rue fell for jules almost immediately, has wanted to be with her ever since, and wants stability, comfort, and monogamy. on the other hand, jules wants adventure, excitement, and exploration. jules obviously pictures spending her life with rue, but the problem is that in the moment, she can’t be with rue without hurting her because she’s still exploring her queerness, which means that she’ll have one foot out the door until she’s gotten her fill.

because of that, i’m really proud of BOTH OF THEM for standing their ground and choosing themselves instead of each other. i have no doubt that both of them had a part of themselves that regretted leaving the other person, but at the end of the day, it was what was necessary. 

even though rue was the person that suggested running away, she became hesitant because she finally thought about her FAMILY. y’all, that’s AMAZING character development because, at the beginning of the season, rue literally walked over every person that was in her life in order to get her fix. she stole from her mom, got lexi to pee for her, yelled at fez when he didn’t give her drugs, etc. up until episode 5 or so, rue was an extremely selfish character with one exception: jules. from the moment she met jules, her only goal was to make her as happy as jules makes her just by being there, and because of that, she has sacrificed her comfort in some situations. this is the exact opposite of her previous issue where instead not caring about anyone including herself, she only cares about one person an exceeding amount. both of these are problematic. more importantly, this allows her to finally break her dependency on jules. rue fell for jules and stayed sober for her because it felt like she was her flashlight in the dark cave that is her life, and now, she has to find that jules isn’t the only light. her family, lexi, fez, the rest of the girls are all there AND my hope is that she finds that she can be her own light and do this for herself. as much as her decision hurts both the audience and rue, this shows that she’s not just a stagnant character and that she’s learning and evolving into an amazing person. i’m proud of jules because she didn’t stay behind out of guilt or worry. that would’ve perpetuated rue’s dependency and overall, probably made jules resent rue.

i think that jules was being honest when she said that she was in love with rue, i really do. there was an earnest and almost shy look in her eyes, which was so cute??? but it’s honestly more than that. jules looks for rue no matter where she is. for her, rue is her home and something that she finds comfort in. it was obvious in episode 4 and 7. in episode 4, jules runs to rue because she finds comfort in her. whenever she’s in rue’s arms, she feels a warmth that i don’t think she’s ever felt with anyone else and when she finds that tyler isn’t real, her first thought is that rue has been there for her through thick and thin and is her safe place. it’s obvious why she gravitates towards anna. she sees rue in her, which immediately makes her feel at ease. add the fake deep convo, their sex appeal and the drugs, and you have a hella messy situation. and then there’s the fucking romeo and juliet passage that jules recites to rue that basically says that she’s in love with rue, but thinks everything is happening too fast and will come crashing down. she knows that given that they had more time/weren’t so eager to get together, the relationship would be beautiful and flourish, but they aren’t giving each other the space to grow, which was eventually the end of their relationship (at least for now). 

Kat:

I’m proud of her. She did the damn thing. NEXT

Nate:

I think that Nate and McKay are not all that different. His breakdown this ep is more or less for the same reasons as McKay’s breakdown after those guys assaulted him in front of his girl which is that he felt emasculated by his dad overpowering him. In episode two, he did the same flexing thing after his workout. I think it’s his way of feeling powerful and masculine. All this just shows that he needs fucking therapy, but he’s not just some sociopath y’know? His character is deeper than that and can feel pain and anguish. I’m honestly so happy that they included that because it both shows the abuse in his relationship with his dad which obviously carries into his relationships with women and grounds him as a character. that being said, nate is an asshole and there’s no better ship on this show than nate + electric chair 🥺😝😩(but, i’ll settle for prison or whatevahhhhh) 

all in all, I think that this show has two amazing themes in it which are: teens are waayyy more resilient than people think and addiction comes in different forms and each of them is problematic and selfish. i think that the show is amazing at getting people to empathize with rue, but i feel like people need to realize that in the grand scheme of things, all of these characters are HUMAN and make a lot of shitty mistakes. no character should be cancelled just because they make a mistake, especially when the characters are supposed to be literal hormonal teenagers????? every character on this show is deserving of the audience's understanding (except McKay. FUCK HIM)

[miso-vicious]

RWBY Volume 7 Chapter 2 & 3

SPOILERS

Greetings. Due to me staying up for the full 24 hours for Rooster Teeth Extra Life and surviving on 5 hour energy, chocolate, and water, I got real sick. I lost the will to write an analysis of Chapter 2, especially for an episode that was fairly slow, but still full of information. Which is why I will be reviewing both Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 this week. So for like the 20 something people that will skim read this post, strap in. This was a pretty heavy week.

Same as always, this post contains several SPOILERS. Do not read unless you are completely caught up on the show.

Love Will Thaw A Frozen Heart

We had a beautiful reunion between our second favorite sister duo, which was very heart warming, but we still have to wait for the big Schnee reunion.

And now that Ironwood possesses the first Relic, the group now has the upper hand on Salem. Salem has lost her only Maiden, the Spring Maiden is in the wind, and apparently, Ironwood has the Winter Maiden secured and in “stable” condition. According to Qrow, “She’s no spring chicken.” So that must mean that she’s an elderly woman with declining health. That means we’re back to where we were in Volume 3, they have to secure a new vessel for the new Winter Maiden. Either they will take the gamble and hope that whomever the current Winter Maiden chooses to inherit the power gets the power. Or they will do the soul merger machine plan that they tried to force upon Pyrrha. If we were to take a guess as to who would be Ironwood’s Champion, it would have to be Winter. While Penny does have a soul, there’s no telling what would happen to the power if she were to die. The only other person Ironwood trusts just as much as Qrow or Ozpin is Winter. It’s unclear if the machine could transfer the Maiden power to a male host, but that would be an interesting thought.

I Have No Heart, And So I Must Be Very Careful

Now, Irondaddy has been making his own plans since we’ve last seen him. With Ozpin “gone”, Ironwood has been his own moral compass. The embargo and recall of the Atlas military was only the first step of his master plan. Now that the Relic of Knowledge and Creation and the Winter Maiden are secure, the next step is to reestablish communication between the Kingdoms.

By building a new CCT tower on top of Amity Arena, it will act as a form of satellite. It will float above the clouds, higher than any Grimm can reach, and will still provide global communication even if another tower were to be destroyed. The next step is to tell the world about Salem.

That isn’t one the best plans this show has thrown at us. Ozpin has kept Salem a secret for hundreds of years. Beyond keeping his own shameful part of her evil reign a secret, the other reason was because of the inevitable chaos that would occur if the people found out there was this all powerful Goddess out there hell bent on the destruction of the world. But that���s a gamble Ironwood is willing to take apparently! His military are supposed to run damage control once the inevitable chaos breaks out among not only Atlas and Mantle, but the whole world.

Ruby made the executive decision to keep certain truths from Ironwood. Including Ozpin’s true past with Salem, Ozpin’s disappearance, Jinn being out of questions, Salem being allegedly unbeatable, and her Silver Eyes. With good reason, we have no idea what Ironwood would do with this information. Our heroes almost quit after hearing all of this, Ironwood has the world’s strongest army at his disposal. He might have a more violent reaction, and decide to go after Salem with everything he has. Ironwood is already in a volatile state, Dr. Pietro has already testified to his current paranoia. And based on the opening alluding to Jacques Schnee adding fuel to the fire, Ironwood is being manipulated into putting the needs of Atlas above the rest of the world. Of course, he seems completely level headed now. He even gave the Relic back to Ruby, offered them safe harbor in the Academy, and has basically gave them his blessing to be unofficial Huntsmen.

Ironwood even gave Qrow a super awkward hug, like a man who has never been hugged his whole life but has always wanted to try it.

A New Plan

So the next step is to reclaim an abandoned dust mine that has been taken over Grimm. (It’s insinuated that this is the same Schnee Dust Mine cave in that killed several Faunus, including Ilia’s parents). The dust mine will serve as a launch sight for Amity Arena and the dust inside is needed by the science team, until it’s clear, the CCT tower cannot launch. Why that is, why they can’t just find a new launch sight is not made clear. But this is what we have to work with.

That’s when we get our big glow up reveal, and they all look fantastic. Like, Yang’s detachable pant legs, Weiss’ excessive belts, Ruby’s steel toe boots, Blake’s new hair, I am literally living for this.

Now our team is outfitted with new tricked out scrolls. The scrolls track their vitals and aura levels, and are synced up to one another. So everyone can check on each other on the field. And if Ironwood hasn’t outfitted their scrolls with listening devices to eavesdrop on them, I will be severely disappointed in him. In this episode alone, they have talked about literally everything they’re hiding from Ironwood. Imagine all of the recordings of them being thrown back in their face.

One of the moments is between Ruby and Oscar.

Oscar was left behind at the academy, but before they leave, Ruby entrusts the Relic to Oscar. Claiming that it isn’t a good idea to be toting around an ancient Relic on her hip like a key chain. Good point. Oscar decides to let Ruby know that he’s uncomfortable with the idea of lying to Ironwood, saying it’s just like what Ozpin did to them. While the lies will probably blow up in their face, I still feel that Ruby’s hesitation is validated. She doesn’t know Ironwood, or what he will do with the information, or if he will try to claim Jinn’s last question. Only time will tell if Ruby will come forward herself, or if someone else will do it for her.

Team Chemistry

It’s not totally relevant to the plot currently, but there was a lot of onscreen chemistry between some of our team members. I’m sure aaaaaallll the shippers are losing their minds with the Bumbleby scene. Yang gets all flustered over Blake’s new look, and Blake gets all blushy. While I personally ship Blake/Sun, it’s just nice to see some LGBTQ representation. It means a lot.

Of course, Nora is still pining after Ren, who is either completely oblivious, or just isn’t ready to see his surrogate sister as a potential romantic partner, even if he does reciprocate her feelings. Ren isn’t exactly known for being upfront with his feelings. After losing Arkos, I really hope they get together, and not five minutes before one of them dies.

I’m not crazy, right? There was definitely a vibe here. Maybe Clover is just generally a flirty person, but he was sending those flirty vibes towards Qrow.

You Have To Go Inside

The inside of the mine is full of Grimm, but the main target is a Geist. It has already claimed the lives of several Atlesian soldiers.

They follow it down to the deep depths of the mines, where the Geist merges with the surrounding terrain, which includes big chunks of Gravity Dust. Which means that they have to be weary of attacking it, or they could set off the dust in the Geist, which would have a chain reaction and set off the rest of the dust in the mine, effectively killing them.

So Team RWBY, JNR, and Qrow take a back seat and let the ACE ops take over.

It was a great action scene, the ACE ops got to flex their abilities, and the Geist was effectively dealt with. But there was a very interesting scene between Harriet Bree and Ruby Rose. Ruby notes that Harriet’s semblance is speed, just like hers. But when Harriet tries to run and catch a falling shard of dust…

Ruby beats her by an inch. Harriet makes it a point to tell her that Ruby’s semblance is not speed related, but something different. I always assumed that Ruby had two semblances, the first being her Silver Eyes, and the second is her speed, which mirrors her fast paced personality. Perhaps her speed is merely an extension of another power. Only time will tell.

The Scorpion and The Frog

It was revealed in Chapter 2 that Watts and Tyrian have rolled into town. Watts reveals that while the codes have been updated in Atlas, none of it has been updated in Mantle. He easily takes control of all of Mantle security cameras and traffic lights, which is probably only a fraction of the destruction he can cause. And of course, Tyrian is already causing his form of mayhem by killing people. Even in a place like Mantle, he’s gonna raise some red flags. But subtlety was never Tyrian’s strong suit.

Now, Tyrian has tracked down our friend Forrest, a man who was in the police vehicle when the ACE ops apprehended our team last chapter. Forrest, as we know of now, is just a regular guy caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. But I don’t think Tyrian is going to care very much. Killing him after finding what limited information he has is just gravy.

Yaaaaaaas, Queen

Now, onto our team’s upgrades.

Aside from Ruby’s more aerodynamic look, Crescent Rose also got an upgrade. It probably has been a long time since this fine weapon has had some fine tuning, what with Ruby always being on the road. And since Ruby makes all her upgrades herself, and it’s only been one episode, the only visual change to Crescent Rose is it is now able to rotate its scythe. Thus giving Ruby one less step to do when slaying Grimm. And the fact that the haircut is slightly reminiscent of bird feathers, much like her uncle’s hair, is so cute.

Weiss is looking like a fucking Winter Queen with her new look. If she doesn’t at some point use that ponytail braid as a weapon to slay Grimm, it would be such a waste. I don’t even care that she has so many unnecessary belts, she looks fire. Aside from her new outfit, Myrtenaster does not seem to have any visual upgrades. Since most of her fighting technique comes from her semblance, I’m looking forward to see if she develops any new skills. Especially now that Winter, her mentor, and Weiss are back together again.

Now that Blake has liberated the White Fang from Adam’s tyranny, as well as conquered some personal demons, Blake has undergone a big change. She chopped off her beautiful long hair, and now has a cute bob. It’s most likely symbolic of her being ready to stop hiding who she is and being more open with people. She also has a newly fixed Gambol Shroud, which has a very noticeable gold streak where the blade was once broken. I’m sure that the scientists could have rebuilt Gambol Shroud with no evidence that it was ever broken in the first place. Meaning that this was a cosmetic change that Blake specifically requested. Again, Bumbleby shippers have been waiting years for actual evidence of Blake and Yang’s feelings for one another. Good for them.

Of course, Yang is living her truth. She is wearing a jumpsuit with detachable pant legs and an aviator jacket. Now I feel the overwhelming urge to buy pants with detachable pant legs. Her prosthetic arm has gotten an upgrade too, now fitted with a matching Ember Celica, balancing out her whole look. But that wasn’t the only thing she got done.

Ember Celica is now capable of releasing small bombs, which Yang can activate from a safe distance. Of course, that means that Yang is toting around bombs on her wrists. Hopefully that doesn’t become a problem.

I went into what Jaune’s upgrades would be last time, but now we’ve seen him in action. His shield, Crocea Mors, now acts as a make shift para-glider, can expand to an even larger shield, and can release shock waves that can knock back large Grimm. Crocea Mors also magnetically attaches to his forearm, much like Pyrrha’s shield did. Ren’s dual pistols, Storm Flower, now has the ability to shoot the blades that are now attached cables, giving Ren the power to move more aerodynamically. There are no visual changes to Nora’s weapon, Magnhild, please leave a comment if I missed something there.

Aces Wild

Clover Ebi, he wields a sort of fishing rod that doubles as a hook sword. His semblance is Good Fortune, the exact opposite of Qrow’s semblance. Good things happen around him. Which did make me suspicious as to how his missed the Geist when he seems to have no problem aiming that fancy fish hook. Maybe it was simply a way to bring up his semblance, or he missed on purpose. Why? Maybe to allow his team an opportunity to flex their abilities and instill the fact that they’re supposed to be the good guys and can be trusted.

Harriet Bree, rocking the classic All Might bunny ear hair style, wears robotic gauntlets to fight hand to hand. But her main feature is her speed semblance. She runs so fast, she is literally charged full of electricity. She ran fast enough catch a falling piece of dust all the way on the other side of the cave, and delivered the final blow to the Geist. She is most likely based off of the Hare from the Tortoise and the Hare.

Vine Zeki, a more mysterious member of the ACE ops. He seems to be the no nonsense type, and doesn’t lay his cards on the table. He currently wields no weapons, relying on his semblance. He is able to project his aura and create elongated arms and hands. Very useful for getting around or holding onto struggling prey.

Elm Ederne, a very overzealous woman, who seems to have good intentions. She immediately befriends Ruby once the dust settles on their fight last chapter, and compliments Team JNR a few times too. She wields a giant hammer, and her semblance appears to be being able to literally plant herself like a tree. Her aura wraps around her feet and attaches to the ground beneath her, making her a somewhat immovable object. For a powerhouse like Elm, I’m sure her semblance makes her a tough opponent to fight.

Marrow Amin, a dog type Faunus who likes to put up a tough front but seems to actually be more puppy than wolf. Being the only Faunus on this elite team, I’m sure that he’s barely tolerated by the Atlas aristocrats. He is astutely aware of how his species are treated as subhuman, and are dispensable to the people in Atlas. But that doesn’t seem to affect his ability to do his duty. Marrow’s weapon is some sort of chainsaw boomerang-rifle. It does not obey the laws of physics. Nor does Marrow obey the laws of time. His semblance seems to be a form of time dilation. With a snap of his fingers, he froze two Grimm centipeetls in midair, but it only affected the Grimm. That must mean that his semblance has a certain range of effectiveness. But it’s still a really powerful semblance.

Agents Of Chaos

As the viewer, who knows just how dire the situation is, everything else seems small. When you see Whitely Schnee screwing over Weiss to get her spot as heir of the Schnee Dust Company, Jacques Schnee’s charade to be the top of the societal pyramid, and just the entirety of Atlas just seems so petty in the grand scheme of things. We are literally the brink of the end of the world. Do they really think Salem will care who has the most money, comes from the oldest family, or has the most dust if she gets all the Relics? We’re finally making some headway. They have two Relics (one in a vault), one Maiden (but still know who the Summer Maiden is), and a girl with the ability to turn Grimm into stone. Leaving us with Watts and Tyrian to worry about. The two of them will be stirring the pot in Mantle, while Atlas will probably be a big enough headache on their own.

If you made it to the end of this post, you are one very determined individual. Please leave a comment if I missed anything, got anything wrong, or if you have your own theories. I’d love to hear them.

[femgirlfriend-moved]

tbh thank u for that alex post it was rlly interesting!! i'm not the one who sent the ask but i agree,,,, also fr the bi label is used a bit too liberally at times like.. i thought i was bi before too this is so sad (bi people are obv valid tho but other experiences are too)

tea!!! like exactly!! bi people are vaild and i truly believe there certainly were bi people in the past and even analyzing someone as bi is ok, but i wish people would not be so quick to judge anyone who doesn't agree or comes with a different perspective! and i seriously hate hate esp in alexanders case how this is now something a lot of academics agreed upon as 'the most logically valid explanation', because it hinders people from going deeper into their own analysis and interpretations? i don't know why there's this... attitude as though it's tabboo to even assume people like alexander were gay not bi. it's so bizarre? i really hope more people start being less closed minded about stuff like this tbh

[pamphletstoinspire]

Skepticism and Certitude in an Age of Relativism: The Dance of Science and Truth (Part 1)

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us….” A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens

This is an apt description of the time in which we live.

As a cultural phenomenon, isolation and loneliness are on the rise as are suicides even among celebrities who have “made” it in terms of material success and fulfillment.

We know more about the universe-from black holes to quantum fields - and about the human mind as cognitive and neuroscience leap forward into new frontiers, but we are still naively shocked by evil: violence perpetrated by gang members, or the casual disregard for the dignity of persons demonstrated by those of any age or socioeconomic class.

We live in an age of “what is true for you might not be true for me” and “Who are you to judge?”. We are warned to be “tolerant”, but who even pretends that this means to be tolerant of a religious perspective or traditional morality?

Where does this leave us? Consider this remark made by Pope Benedict XVI:

We are building a dictatorship of relativism that does not recognize anything as definitive and whose ultimate goal consists solely of one’s own ego and desires.

The sad reality is that this dictatorship can destroy a culture and fracture the connectedness for which we are hardwired.

We Really are Hardwired for Connection

The neurological connections which contribute to our social behaviors can be seen as the foundation for building culture. In an informative panel discussion at the World Science Festival in 2017, active research into the “social synapse” was discussed but not until a very general definition of “culture” was agreed upon by the participating scientists which included anthropologists, a biologist, a neuroscientist, and a Paleolithic archaeologist. The loose definition was ‘knowledge and skills learned from others and the ability to build on this shared knowledge.’

Cars as Nutcrackers

Research shows that animals display this kind of sharing and even demonstrate a kind of creativity. One example given was of Japanese crows who have “learned” that cars can be used as tools to crack open their nuts. In another amusing anecdote, it was related how one of Jane Goodall’s chimps had learned to bang two kerosene cans to make a terrific racket. Incorporating this into his dominance display contributed to his meteoric rise as alpha male of the group.

Apparently, however, advances in research have demonstrated quite convincingly that the human species has the capacity to build culture in spades compared to other animals. One difference that contributes to this “ratcheted up” ability is the capacity to use verbal instructions (teaching)-even in very young children who were given a puzzle to solve and who shared insights with others in the group.

Additional Complexity in Humans

Although the capacity for acquiring new behaviors from others appears across species, humans give meaning and symbolism to certain behaviors which are also passed on.

It seems then that we should look for another more complete definition of culture and its attributes. John Paul II observed in Centissimus annus:

Man is understood in a more complete way when he is situated within the sphere of culture through his language, history, and the position he takes towards the fundamental events of life, such as birth, love, work, and death.

He continues;

At the heart of every culture lies the attitude man takes to the greatest mystery: the mystery of God. Different cultures are basically different ways of facing the question of the meaning of personal existence. When this question is eliminated, the culture and moral life of nations are corrupted.

What is Truth? The Dance of Science and Truth (Part 2)

We don’t have to be Pontius Pilate to ask this question.

In academic circles and the culture at large, the story is that there is no such thing as “truth.” If there is, most still cling to the idea that truth is what the scientific method can verify, professing this belief dogmatically and definitively.

But even in science there is a creeping doubt about our ability to “know” anything out there.

This fear or doubt is based loosely on a superficial understanding of the “observer effect” on the behaviour of quantum particles: the presence of an observer appears to alter the outcome of a particle’s behavior. This is interpreted to mean that we have no way of knowing what would happen if we hadn’t observed it!

In other words, even what we say scientifically might actually be a false narrative of “reality.”

What really is true?

The unpacking of the word is daunting especially in an age of relativism.

If we listen to St. Thomas Aquinas, the definition he gives can be summed up as “the conformity or equation of the thing and the intellect.” Or if we refer to Anselm of Canterbury, to know is “to comprehend that something could not be otherwise than as it is grasped.”

But don’t these definitions just lead to all kinds of objections, including observer bias, poor sense perception, the world view coloring our perceptions, and the fact that new data requires integration and interpretation? Isn’t this lack of “objectivity” exactly what relativism (truth is relative to time, culture, perspective, and beliefs) is pointing out?

The search for certitude

It could be argued that the search for certitude began in earnest around the time of Descartes. His famous “cogito ergo sum” was meant to be the starting point to a new theory of knowledge that would eliminate doubt and offer a pathway to certitude. His quest never quite succeeded and the question still haunts us: when do we know that we really know something? One Professor wrote an 800 page analysis of this very question.

Bernard Lonergan, SJ wrote Insight: A Study of Human Understanding in the 1950’s in an attempt to examine this question analyzing both the scientific method and the truths derived from philosophy. Although his work goes far beyond the limits of this post, it would be negligent not to mention it.* His insights into insight, however, seem close to Anselm’s definition mentioned above.

In any case, whether or not one is swayed by the philosophical arguments of relativism’s mantra, “There is no such thing as objective truth,” we do not need to look too far to recognize that we predicate much of our existence on the validity of our observations and our experience. For Lonergan this common sense experience can be a valid starting point for true insight.

From creating new medicines and curative therapies, landing satellites on comets, and sending a rocket to the sun, to running airports and trains without collisions, making laws to govern traffic, designing buildings to withstand earthquakes, or monitoring weather patterns to prevent unnecessary death from hurricanes and tornadoes, we are as certain as we can be that we are not trying to capture shadows. We can even examine the nature of our emotions, the effects of trauma and neglect, design activities and interventions that can increase our cognitive abilities, and take quizzes about happiness expecting to learn how to get more of it!

Even the scientific method uses “filters” to glean information.

There is an instructive observation in a post on perspective from the Vatican Observatory:

One of the phrases that is used to describe filtered images is to call them “false images.” Yes, the filtered image can look quite different from the original. Yet, when it comes to the science of using filters for the purpose of gathering data, it isn’t that the data is “false,” but the false image brings forward different essential data that isn’t self-evident in the original image .

The author continues with this gem:

It is the odd irony of science that sometimes you need to have a “false image” to gain true knowledge of what you are studying. The best example of this was a false image from the Pluto flyby that had a rather psychedelic appearance. Everyone knew that this wasn’t what Pluto looked like. However, it was an essential image for scientists to understand different surface feature on this fascinating dwarf planet.

Skepticism and certitude in science

There seems to be any number of ways that certitude and skepticism play key roles in the scientific method. Consider these words by Fr. Coyne, Director Emeritus of the Vatican Observatory. After noting that he himself had not measured the age of the universe, the velocity of light, or the mass of a proton, he said the following:

When I do my science, I accept what is in the books about those [measurements]… you can’t question everything, or you’ll never do anything… The other issue, however, is a very interesting one, and always when I start saying to my class, “You know, most scientists would agree that…,” I look at myself and I say, “the truth is not democratic! The truth is true or not – regardless of how many scientists think it is true.” So there is that element of being skeptical.

A healthy dose of certitude in a relativistic age

The important point to these considerations is that “certitude” is not required, even in science, to make progress, to make “true” observations, and to make decisions based on the best information we have available to us at the time.

This point is an underlying but significant theme to much of Fr. Spitzer’s work on the existence of God, which can be found on the Magis website as well as most thoroughly in his book, New Proofs for the Existence of God.

So when we encounter the dictatorship of relativism, let’s remember the encouraging words of St. John Paul II, echoing the words of the Master Himself: Be not afraid!

Written by: Maggie Ciskanik, M.S.

[redoqs]

Oh my gosh it’s been a minute since I’ve been able to really scroll. I saw you left for a bit and came back. I missed you. I honestly forgot about my poems so when I saw the title I was like ?????💀

I thought it was hilarious that the second movement messed you up so badly. You were doing great but you were like “idk idk idk man.” I pulled from my musical background to structure this poem. I know for piano pieces at least, the first movement sets the piece’s tone and theme. The second movement tends to sound completely different from the first movement. The third will usually sound most like the first, but tie in elements from the second movement. I know that most people who read my poems don’t know this so I’ve been interested in how the segments are received and perceived.

The first movement was about why I left and my absence from the church. The black church can be extremely toxic. That’s how my church was. I hated going there, but my siblings still go. I’m a lot older than them so they don’t really have the choice to not go right now. My siblings will tell me that their Sunday school teachers asked about me, or I’ll hear them ask. When I went, I would be singled out sometimes because they knew my views were different.

The second movement is actually about my childhood. I was “little miss perfect”. I didn’t get all a’s, but I was close every year. I performed in every program my church hosted, usually playing piano AND reciting at least 1 poem. I was in girls scouts. I was in the youth program. I participated in youth Sunday which is where the youth participated more in the service like reading the announcements and things like that. At first, I loved the attention. I loved how people would be so amazed at almost everything I did. Their views didn’t grow and change with me though. I felt like I was suffocating at home and at church. I didn’t go out much because my dad was strict. They saw me as that same little girl and not the queer, sort of masc presenting enby I was growing into. But the second movement was about the happy memories basically and the power/validation I got from the attention.

The third movement is about me accepting myself and kind of rejecting the church and all the emotions that came with it. A stellar analysis on your part. Thank you for taking the time to analyze. -✨

Ayyyyeeee wassup! I missed you too and look listen…I said I was gonna get the the poems…I ain’t think it was gonna be over a month later my bad💀 I do love your poems tho, fr!

Nah, because movement 2 was messing me up because it was so different from the other two and I was like ???????? It makes a lot more sense now they you explained it. I know how black church can be, I went to one when I was younger tho I haven’t been since I was like…10 or 11. I was singled out a lot too though I wasn’t really sure why. Maybe they knew I was gay before I did or sumn idk but at least you were able to stop attending and get outta there. The second movement makes so much more sense now holy hell like the pieces literally clicked. My analysis was doo doo but I was kinda right so imma celebrate just for that! Thank you for sending it and allowing me to read it

[nothingman]

No political organization in the recent history of the world has had a gift for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory quite like the Democratic Party. This is the party that has managed to lose three of the last five presidential elections, despite only once in that period getting fewer votes than the opposition. Although the Democrats nominally hold positions with broad majority support on a wide range of issues, following the heavy losses of the 2010 and 2014 midterms the party found itself in its worst nationwide position since the early 1930s.

For much of the 20th century, Democrats understood themselves to be the party of permanent hegemony on Capitol Hill, no matter who was in the White House: Between the Franklin D. Roosevelt election of 1932 and the Newt Gingrich election of 1994, the party held a House majority for 58 out of 62 years, and a Senate majority for 52 of 62. Sam Rayburn, a Democrat from an east Texas district that is now (of course) solidly Republican, was House speaker for more than 17 years, a record that will surely never be broken. That history has almost become a curse from the past, haunting the Democratic present; it’s like a lost paradise, and every few years a new messiah shows up to tell the faithful that (s)he knows the true path that will lead them back. Or it’s like the idyllic garden in “Alice in Wonderland,” which Alice knows she can reach if she can only squeeze through the door.

There is no garden, no path and no door. This mythic certainty that their kingdom will come again — expressed more recently in the mantra that “demographics is destiny” — has prevented Democrats from perceiving the true nature of their predicament. Over the last three decades, the party has been virtually wiped out in numerous states between the coasts where it was once competitive (or even dominant). It now holds a legislative majority in just 14 states. You can slice and dice the history of American party politics in all sorts of tedious ways, but there is no clear precedent for such an imbalance. More to the point, there’s no precedent whatever, in the United States or anywhere else, for a situation where one party appears to represent majoritarian opinion and typically gets more votes, but has conclusively been shut out of power.

Oh but wait, you say: Blue wave incoming! Yeah, whatever. Presented with the powerful unifying force of a massively unqualified and uniquely divisive president, Democrats may indeed win a House majority this fall. (The Senate remains unlikely.) But I don’t feel like betting the ranch on that outcome, do you? What may be even more impressive than the Democratic record of losing winnable elections is the party's aptitude for finding someone else to blame every time it happens. It was the Russians. It was Ralph Nader. It was the Swift-boat ads. It was liberal complacency. It was gerrymandering. It was all the mean things Republicans said. It was the unfortunate fact that the voters don’t like us all that much, which definitely isn’t our fault.

READ MORE: Bill Browder and Vladimir Putin: A tangled tale of two nations, two centuries and a lot of history

Over the past few weeks, ever since Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's startling primary victory over Rep. Joe Crowley, D-N.Y., we’ve seen a remarkable display of intra-party, bad-faith concern trolling — an area where Democrats have set a high standard. Various “mainstream” or “moderate” figures in or around the party are already seeking to pin blame for a hypothetical November defeat, in advance, on the insurgent “socialist” faction associated with Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders. My daring analysis: This does not bespeak enormous confidence.

To be fair, Democrats of all factions and ideologies were united this week in telling former FBI director James Comey — a lifelong Republican, at least until he worked for President Donald Trump — to shut up and go away after offering unsolicited advice to Democratic voters:

Democrats, please, please don’t lose your minds and rush to the socialist left. This president and his Republican Party are counting on you to do exactly that. America’s great middle wants sensible, balanced, ethical leadership.

— James Comey (@Comey) July 22, 2018

Lordy, no -- not the socialist left! As many people observed, the guy who may have single-handedly tipped the balance in the 2016 presidential election should perhaps not view himself as a fount of political wisdom. But at least Comey’s tweet seemed like a sincere opinion, consistent with his grandiose view of himself as a white knight who embodies all the most honorable tendencies of America in one extremely tall white man.

Joe Lieberman, however, the onetime Connecticut senator and 2000 Democratic vice-presidential nominee, is just an odious little garden gnome, in constant danger of being peed on by the family Schnauzer. He seems, in fact, to have undergone the same process of physical and intellectual shrinkage as Rudy Giuliani: Was this a bargain offered by an evil sorcerer, which conveys immortality at the cost of one’s soul, stature and spine?

Lieberman was purely trolling, in especially distasteful fashion, in writing a July 17 Wall Street Journal op-ed that Red-baited Ocasio-Cortez with an extraordinary assortment of lies and urged Crowley, the 10-term incumbent she defeated in the June Democratic primary, to run against her on a third-party line in the fall. Since the Journal article is behind a paywall, here's a taste:

Because the policies Ms. Ocasio-Cortez advocates are so far from the mainstream, her election in November would make it harder for Congress to stop fighting and start fixing problems. Thanks to a small percentage of primary votes, all of the people of New York’s 14th Congressional District stand to lose a very effective representative in Washington.

Fortunately, Joe Crowley and the voters in his district can prevent this damage. On Election Day, his name will be on the ballot as the endorsed candidate of the Working Families Party. But for Mr. Crowley to have a chance at getting re-elected, he will have to decide if he wants to remain an active candidate. I hope he does.

Ms. Ocasio-Cortez is a proud member of the Democratic Socialists of America, whose platform, like hers, is more Socialist than Democratic. Her dreams of new federal spending would bankrupt the country or require very large tax increases, including on the working class. Her approach foresees government ownership of many private companies, which would decimate the economy and put millions out of work.

First of all, Lieberman surely knows that Crowley will do no such thing — he’s a decent guy and a party loyalist, and the PR damage would be enormous — and that Crowley would lose even worse the second time around. (I live in the 14th district; I doubt Lieberman has been here in 30 years, except crossing overhead on the Cross-Bronx Expressway.)

Secondly, the actual point here may be to none-too-subtly remind Journal readers that Lieberman himself ditched the Democratic Party after his own primary defeat in 2006, and endorsed John McCain against Barack Obama in 2008. Whose interests is he serving by encouraging Democrats, in the pages of the house organ of Big Capital, to sabotage a young, progressive woman of color?

None of this makes clear why powerful people like Comey and Lieberman are so worried about a small-scale insurrection within the Democratic Party that is nowhere near as "far from the mainstream" as they pretend, and is also a long way from staging a coup and hanging portraits of Trotsky and Che in DNC headquarters. Socialist-dread syndrome also appears to have driven the recent gathering of “moderate” Democrats in Columbus, Ohio, under the aegis of the think tank Third Way, as reported in a widely circulated piece by Alex Seitz-Wald of NBC News (a former Salon staffer).

Several attendees said they were worried that single-payer health care and abolishing ICE and other Bernie-fied policy proposals of the “angry left” would alienate swing voters and damage the party’s prospects for victory in the midterms. That’s at least a valid debating point, although it has been the Democratic default setting for decades. (And has led to that, um, amazing record of uninterrupted winning.)

I was struck by the comments of former Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, who admitted that Democratic moderates find themselves on the defensive in ideological terms: "The only narrative that has been articulated in the Democratic Party over the past two years is the one from the left," he told Seitz-Wald. "I think we need a debate within the party. Frankly, it would have been better to start the conversation earlier."

Markell is absolutely right: A debate is overdue. But a debate about what? The problem for Democratic moderates is precisely that they will not define or explain their positions clearly, except in wonky, granular, political-calculus terms, in large part because their ideas are widely discredited and massively unpopular.

Rep. Cheri Bustos of Illinois told reporters in Columbus that she stands for "a silent majority who just wants normalcy. Who wants to see that people are going out to Washington to fight for them in a civil way and get something done. ... There's a lot of people that just don't really like protests and don't like yelling and screaming." As Seitz-Wald observes, Bustos sounded more like a Nixon-era Republican than a traditional Democrat, but in any case that's a statement about messaging and style that deliberately avoids any discussion of ideology or specific policy proposals.

At the Democratic convention in 2016, I tried to find a single elected official or candidate who would tell me, straight up, that the financial deregulation and free-trade agreements and welfare cuts and mass incarceration policies of the Bill Clinton years had generally been good ideas, whatever bumps we might have encountered along the way. Nobody would do it — but I don’t think that was because none of them believed it.

Attendees at the Third Way conference were clearly aware that middle-path Democrats will need big, new ideas in order to compete successfully with Medicare for all, a $15 minimum wage, debt-free college and the other dangerous pinko proposals that would have had near-unanimous support in the pre-Reagan Democratic Party. Here's what they came up with: A private-sector, employer-funded universal pension plan to supplement Social Security. OK, I'm just spitballing, but that probably isn’t going to suck the wind out of the red sails of Bernie’s fleet and sweep Mitch Landrieu (or whomever) into the White House.

I’m not saying that so-called moderate or mainstream Democrats don't have  ideas worth discussing or don’t possess a legitimate ideology. I am saying, with Jack Markell, that it’s long past time for them to tell us clearly what they believe and defend it forcefully. Because there’s a widespread sense that the Democratic Party has some hidden agenda or obscure set of motives beneath its bland, corporate, coalition-building exterior, and that has been infinitely more damaging than any amount of socialist fervor. On the right, it has fueled the perception that Democrats are a pack of conspiratorial scolds who want to limit the freedoms of others -- and so has driven conservatives to the polls. On the left, it has fueled the perception that the party is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Goldman Sachs and its ilk -- and so has driven progressive apathy. (If neither stereotype is fair, neither is entirely false.)

This quantum ideological uncertainty is what drove people crazy about Hillary Clinton, I think, fueling the Trumpian narrative that she was deceptive or dishonest. (Which was hilarious in that context, needless to say.) She seemed impossible to pin down, first attacking Bernie Sanders as a wild-eyed radical, then gradually embracing the “progressive” label and finally running on a platform that incorporated most of his ideas. She seemed insulted by the suggestion that her Goldman Sachs speeches created any kind of political problem or required any explanation.

Clinton's political flexibility or malleability -- according to the conventional Democratic playbook -- was supposed to be a source of strength, a sign that she was a hard-headed, pragmatic decision-maker who would not be guided by doctrine. Amid the reversed magnetic field of the 2016 election, against an opponent who repeated the same forceful (if meaningless and insincere) phrases over and over again, it just looked like mendacity.

Like her entire generation of Democrats, Clinton had been programmed down to the cellular level with the early-‘90s creed that ideology itself was dangerous and toxic and likely to scare away suburban voters who just wanted civility and decency and problem-solving. Well, folks, I’m not a liberal or a conservative. I’m more of a Republibservatron! This avoidance or denial of ideology — the ideology of no-ideology — had perverse results: It elected two Democratic presidents to two terms apiece but left their party rootless and in ruins, seemingly defenseless before a deranged radical minority with a decaying relationship to reality (but no shortage of fervent ideology).

It’s tempting to say that a specter is haunting the Democratic Party and it’s the specter of socialism, blah blah blah. But that’s largely untrue: The specter is imaginary and so is the socialism, pretty much. Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and their loose array of allies across the country are a modest contingent within the party. Only a handful of them will win elections this year, and in any case they’re closer to being old-time left-wing populists, with a 21st-century overlay of multiculturalism and intersectionality, than, you know, to this:

VIDEO

Hubert Humphrey, the leading Democratic moderate of Hillary Clinton’s youth, would find little to object to in Ocasio-Cortez’s platform, beyond the labeling on the package. (Once the Happy Warrior figured out what ICE and super PACs were, and what they had done to America, he’d go out and ring doorbells in her district.) Then again, Humphrey had no fear of open and often heated ideological conflict, which was a staple of Democratic discourse for decades and is exactly what the “democratic socialist” insurrection has reintroduced since 2016.

Those who shut down such internal conflict and purged the activist left from the Democratic Party, on the premise that it was the only possible way to win elections in a "centrist," anti-ideological nation, have never faced the consequences of their historic blunder. They have lost repeatedly and on a grand scale, insisting every time that they really should have won — or in some other, better world, did win — and that whatever went wrong was somebody else’s fault. They are the ones who appear committed to an inflexible, dogmatic ideology that is out of step with political reality. They are surprised and outraged to learn that if they want to continue their losing streak, they will have to fight for it.

Does the Democratic Party need an overhaul?

New York congressional candidate Max Rose hopes to flip NYC's lone Republican seat -- but says his party must change.

via Salon

[dineshkarde103]

Global Lithium Ion Battery Market Statistics, CAGR, Outlook, and Covid-19 Impact 2021-2028

Market Overview

The most recently published Lithium Ion Battery Market report provides a critical assessment of key growth dynamics, emerging pathways, investment trends in key regional markets, and the competitive landscape in various regions and key players’ strategies. The study also offers insights into the proportion and size of various segments of the Lithium Ion Battery market. The report presents the market analysis based on several factors. Various exploration techniques such as qualitative and quantitative analysis have been used to accurately provide data. To better understand customers, he uses effective graphic presentation techniques such as charts, graphs, tables, and images.

Buy Any 3 And Pay For Only 2

Hurry Up To Grab This Exciting Discount...!

Offer Valid Till 31st March 2021.

Get Free Sample PDF @ https://ordientmarketresearch.com/sample-request/life-science/world-lithium-ion-battery-market/OMR3631

The report covers a wide range of areas for a better global market experience as well as industry trends and forecasts. The report covers market models based on product types, application regions, and key vendors. In this report, variables influencing the market such as drivers, controls, and store openings have been carefully described. The review of market models, reviews, and numbers has been done on both a large scale and a micro level. It also gives a general overview of the strategies that the main competitors have received within the company. Other important variables that influence market trends regionally and globally were taken into account. These influencing factors are the socio-political situation, environmental conditions, demographics, legal organizations, and the competitive environment in the region.

Market Scope

The research report is committed to giving its readers an unbiased point of view of the global Lithium Ion Battery market. Thus, along with statistics, it includes opinions and recommendation of market experts. This allows the readers to acquire a holistic view of the global market and the segments therein. The research report includes the study of the market segments on the basis of type, application, and region. This helps in identifying segment-specific drivers, restraints, threats, and opportunities.

Browse Full Premium Report @ https://ordientmarketresearch.com/life-science/world-lithium-ion-battery-market/OMR3631

Segmental Analysis

The report has classified the global Lithium Ion Battery industry into segments including product type and application. Every segment is evaluated based on growth rate and share. Besides, the analysts have studied the potential regions that may prove rewarding for the Lithium Ion Battery manufacturers in the coming years. The regional analysis includes reliable predictions on value and volume, thereby helping market players to gain deep insights into the overall Lithium Ion Battery industry.

By Type

Prismatic Lithium Ion Battery

Cylindrical Lithium Ion Battery

Other

By Application

Consumer electronics

Automotive

Other

Regions covered in Lithium Ion Battery market report are:

North America

United States

Canada

Europe

Germany

France

U.K.

Italy

Russia

Nordic

Rest of Europe

Asia-Pacific

China

Japan

South Korea

Southeast Asia

India

Australia

Rest of Asia-Pacific

Latin America

Mexico

Brazil

Middle East & Africa

Turkey

Saudi Arabia

UAE

Rest of Middle East & Africa

To Enquire About Discount Visit @ https://ordientmarketresearch.com/check-discount/life-science/world-lithium-ion-battery-market/OMR3631

Global Lithium Ion Battery Market Report provide in-depth information about the Leading Competitors involved in this report:

Samsung SDI(KR)

Panasonic (JP)

Sony(JP)

Maxell(JP)

Moli(TW)

GS Yuasa Corp(JP)

Johnson Controls(US)

Saft(FR)

Amita Technologies(TW)

LG Chem(KR)

EnerDel

SYNergy ScienTech(TW)

Boston-Power(US)

Lion-tech Corp(TW)

PEVE(JP)

AESC(JP)

Lishen(CN)

BAK(CN)

BYD(CN)

ATL(CN)

BK Battery(CN)

DKT(CN)

COSLIGHT(CN)

HYB(CN)

SCUD(CN)

DESAY(CN)

EVE(CN)

SUNWODA(CN)

Guoxuan High-tech(CN)

Changhong Batteries(CN)

Fengfan New Energy(CN)

SAPT(CN)

Fenghua LIB(CN)

China Aviation Lithium Battery(CN)

Reasons To Buy Lithium Ion Battery Market Report(Key Points):

1.The report provides important statistics on the market status of the Lithium Ion Battery Devices manufacturers and is a valuable guidance and guidance tool for companies and individuals interested in the industry.

2.The report provides a basic overview of the industry including definition, applications, and manufacturing technology.

3.The report includes the company profile, product specifications, capacity, production value, and market share for major vendors for 2021-2028.

4.The overall market is then further subdivided by company, country, and application/type for the competitive landscape analysis.

5.The report estimates Lithium Ion Battery Devices industry market development trends for 2021-2028.

6.An analysis of the upstream raw materials, the downstream demand and the current market dynamics is also carried out.

Browse More Reports:

Global Petg Market Overview With Detailed Analysis And Competitive Landscape Forecast Till 2028

Wireless Electrocardiography Ecg Devices Market 2021 Industry Inclining Emerging Opportunities Emerging Trends Top Manufacturers In Research De

Contact Us

Mangesh Mahajan

Head of Business Development

Phone: +91-7385620197

Email: sales@ordientmarketresearch.com

Web: https://ordientmarketresearch.com/