#included the interesting facts type pic for context

[infinitegenderlessmess]

Video description: a large concrete block is lowered by crane to stand next to three similar though more weathered blocks. Two construction workers manipulate the block into place as it is lowered. Many people watch. End description.

FOURTH BLOCK!!!

[scaredcrab]

A match! (drabble/hc)

Character: ☼ Wukong x Reader; ☾ Macaque x Reader ☽

✐ Context: You got a match in a dating app!

✐ Category: Funny. Cute. Romantic.

I never used one of those apps before, so I'm basing this solely on what I saw from posts and videos on the internet.

☼ Sun Wukong:

✐ Probably it all started when MK noticed how alone his master seemed to be.

✐ To help, Mk would create the account for Wukong, a thing that the monkey was totally against, but he decided to give it a try to please his student (or maybe he totally wanted some new company).

✐ Your profile did catch the Great Sage's attention easily.

✐ The description said that you like animals, and your hobbies included cooking, baking, and watching a lot of different series that he particularly liked too (the adventure ones with clear inspiration on JTTW).

✐ An animal lover would be perfect to deal with the Monkey King and his little monkeys, the fact that you were into making food was a huge attractive, and it was clear that watching TV would be a nice activity since you two shared similar interest when it comes to entertainment.

✐ And your cute profile picture showing off your beauty kinda made him more interested in this whole dating idea.

✐ Happy news! His solicitation to talk got accepted! Soon the two of you were babbling about your favorite shows and other common interests.

✐ If you choose him as your match, your profile probably stated that you were in search of someone funny. His profile picture was a blurry pic of one of his little monkeys with a puffy cheek for eating an oversized piece of fruit.

✐… And seeing this interest in amusing men, made Wukong put all his goofy charm on display, you would laugh so much while chatting to him.

✐ The fact that your online crush has martial arts as one of his hobbies listed on his profile did get your eyes too. I mean, who doesn't enjoy the concept of a strong person that know how to defend themselves?

✐ Ok, you had to admit that the idea that he would have a sexy fighter body also made you interested.

✐ When you asked for a photo of him, you had to ask him to "turn off the cute monkey filter he was using".

✐ He didn't manage to make you believe that he was in fact the Monkey King, he had to take a photo of him in human form (but continued to say that this wasn't his original appearance, and you laughed at his "silly joke")

✐ When the moment of the first date finally happened, you arranged to meet in a humble cafeteria, but busy enough to have almost all the tables occupied.

✐ Sun Wukong appeared in human form to avoid any type of outdoor confusion. Happiness fuelled him by seeing how things just clicked naturally between you guys.

✐ But when the date ended, and you two were ready to say goodbye, you gave him a surprise kiss in his nose and he literally transformed back in front of you.

✐ A poof sound was emitted in the air, revealing a ginger monkey with a scared expression. Silence tainted the surrounding for a bit, until your partner broke it.

"Uuhhh... Well, I'm the Monkey King, just like I said before... Yey?"

"That was... Kinda cute." - You said with shocked eyes and blushing cheeks.

✐ With you knowing who he really is the dates got more interesting, he took you to fly in his cloud, to see his land, to know his monkeys and his successor, to watch him training.

✐ It would take a long time for him to work up the courage to ask to be your boyfriend.

✐ After plucking up the braveness and arranging a cute, and romantic date, he would appropriately propose (or as appropriately as he could manage).

-✐-✐-✐-✐-✐-✐-✐-✐-✐-✐-✐-✐-✐-✐-

☾ Macaque:

✐ Macaque was probably bored and searching for any distraction when he downloaded the app.

✐ He thought that playing with one stranger feelings was a fun idea.

✐ Soon he found your profile that wasn't just the perfect victim, it was quite of charming to him too.

✐ First, the profile showed a beautiful frame, elegant, yet simple.

✐ The description informed that you were a "night owl", a person full of flaming passion to give, with meditation and writing novels as the main hobbies, but reading and watching theatrical plays as activities you enjoyed too.

✐ It was more than clear that you two would talk about good stories. His interior artist was crazy to show his many shadow plays to someone special, Macaque just didn't want to admit it openly.

✐ Of course, you had no trouble getting interested in this captivating and attractive figure.

✐ The profile picture showed his dazzing human form, and the way he described himself clearly highlighted his dramatically theatrical side, so poetic and mysterious at the same time.

✐ The two of you would spend late nights talking about different ideas for dramatic scripts, judging movies and book scripts you might be seeing, and sharing gossip about any interesting celebrity drama.

✐ Any time you had a question about how something would work mechanically in a fight, so you could write in your book you would talk to him, as the profile made it clear he was a fighter.

✐ Even more fun was asking side effects of specific blows, such as how a person feels after receiving a kick in the chest.

"I'm going to research how much a person bleeds after being stabbed."

"You need to specify how the cut was, if it is superficial, only a few drops will come out of the cut, if it is a larger tear, the blood will come out more quickly, but it depends a lot on the severity of the blow."

"... Wow... You totally have to help me with my book. Let me give you more details..."

✐ Mr Six Ears started to build some unconscious expectations after seeing how enchanting you were. Any amount of flirtation coming from him was returned by you with an even more effective dose of sweet talk.

✐ The monkey didn't notice, but over time any notification he heard made his own heart flutter. Your passionate side was slowly making him delirious with strong emotions.

✐ You set up your first date at a memorable restaurant, sure it wasn't the most expensive in town, but the high quality was remarkable.

✐ Even though the place was full of elegant people, he couldn't take his eyes off you.

✐ Flirtation filled your table conversation, both of you dedicated to making the other feel attractive. You mostly praised his voice, making clear that to you his voice was much prettier than the singers in the background.

✐ In the end he pulled you in for a kiss in the expectation of messing with you, having fun playing with you, but what he felt was something too good for him too.

✐ Subsequently, the end of the date made him notice how he was actually feeling.

✐ He didn't talk normally to you for a month (a thing you didn't like at all, it's super common for people to disappear after the first date), but after that break he got more intense, he clearly had something to tell you.

✐ A date was arranged at the theater where he works. After a beautiful shadow play presentation in which he told the story of the legendary Six Eared Macaque, he called you backstage for a chat.

✐ Macaque showed his true form, he was ready to be rejected for lying, but you smiled as if you already knew he was probably a demon.

"You weren't exactly discreet about your supernatural abilities, I saw you grab a bottle of wine from the shadow of our table on the last date."

✐ The next few dates got better and better, and not long after he found himself officially dating you.

[matan4il]

To the Nonnie who wrote me about screenshots of two Palestinians talking, where one mentioned an exchange between his Palestinian American father and an IDF (implied Jewish) soldier from the US.

You rightly pointed out the duplicity in that exchange -

Why did he phrase it 'we had American citizenship', but the presumably Jewish idf soldier was just straight up American? As if to put distance between he and his father's American identity while framing the Jewish man as solely American and there fore undeserving of being in Israel.

I'll add to this, but first I wanna tell you that by chance, I saw the post you were talking about, and I have to raise the question of context. Because that's not just screenshots from any old conversation between two random Palestinians. That was taken from an anti-Zionist documentary. I've heard about it, I didn't watch it, I did see the trailer for it, which was pretty blatant in how one-sided it generally is. Any Jew who is pro-Israel is presented as a brainwashed, violent mad person, while only Jews who are anti-Zionists are presented as humane, and capable of showing concern for the Palestinians. Who cares if there are Jews, including Israeli ones, who are both? That docu is clearly not interested in letting the nuanced facts get in the way of its simplistic, one-sided conclusions.

That's incredibly antisemitic. To treat Jews who are aware of their history, of the Zionist nature of Judaism, of their native rights in Israel or their connection to Jewish communities everywhere, including in our ancestral land, as if they're motivated by nothing other than brainwashing and inhumane blindness, is at the very least to rob us of our agency, dignity and rights as Jews and as human beings.

I can also say that some of their more high profile interviewees are, in addition to being notorious anti-Zionists, quite unreliable in the way that they refer to the facts of this conflict. Oh, and one more thing about that docu is that it's guilty of spreading the libel that Jews only speak about antisemitism as a form of weaponizing it to protect Israel from criticism. This is such a dangerous form of delegitimizing the voices of a majority of Jews (including on this hellsite) which have spoken up about antisemitism of the anti-Zionist type because IT DOES ENDANGER JEWS. We speak up about it, not to protect Israel, but to protect our people (especially those of us who recognize that the intention to harm Israel has more to do with wanting to harm Jews than with any facts in this conflict, see this post as an example). It is gaslighting and antisemitic to undermine the voices of Jews when 90% of us raise them to speak up against antisemitism, just because we speak out against how anti-Zionism is inherently antisemitic and is so often used to harm us.

So I wouldn't be quick to take ANY material from such a biased, antisemitic documentary at face value, including the accusations against the Jewish soldier and his behavior. Is it possible that the Palestinian man talking about his dad and the soldier, was telling the whole truth about the exchange, and nothing but? Yes. But I recognize that, knowing this is filmed for a propaganda piece, some or maybe even all parts of the story might be distorted, exaggerated or even downright made up. I have no way of knowing, and I do not trust that the makers of such a propaganda piece (only pretending to be a documentary) did their journalistic duty, and verified the truthfulness of all anti-Israel sources. More than that, I've seen how easily anti-Zionists lie about Israelis when they think their story can't be verified, or they trust that they're talking to clueless foreigners (kinda like how they'll have pics with Palestinians dressed up as IDF soldiers committing atrocities, and Israelis would be able to tell immediately that the uniforms are fake, but foreigners wouldn't), so...

Back to the exchange you mentioned. I fully agree with what you said about the duplicity. I'd even add to it.

According to historical research, there is an 80% chance that this Palestinian man's father most likely chose to leave Israel when this country's Independence War was started by the Arab leadership (unlike around 150,000 Arabs who didn't leave, nor attacked the Jews. They became Israeli Arabs, as this man's father could have been, too). Then the speaker's father further chose to go the US (rather than Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, etc) and get citizenship there. Good on him, but that means that as an idea, there's less of a distance between that man and his American identity, which he chose to pursue, and the Jewish soldier who was born having one, and chose to make the difficult decision of relinquishing the safe and comfortable life he had in the US, come to Israel (a country where financially he would struggle more), enlist in the army (which is mandatory for any Jew moving here), and put his own life at risk, all because Israel is his ancestral land. It IS two-faced to act like the Jew's American identity deprives him of a connection to his ancestral land, while the Palestinian dad's doesn't subvert his connection and claim to this place, but it's even worse when you remember the Palestinian man chose to walk away and move specifically to the US, while the Jewish guy did not, and it's even further a reversal tactic, when you remember that while Israel IS the ancestral homeland of all Jews, Palestinians (as Arabs) can are not native to this land. They came from Arabia and COLONIZED the Land of Israel (many doing so as recently as the 19th or 20th century). This is just pure and antisemitic historic revisionism, choosing to replace Jews as the natives of Israel, much like many other forms of antisemitism have chosen one form or another of replacement theory when it comes to our people.

I also found the way the Palestinian man framed the motivation of the Jewish soldier to be very antisemitic, degrading and reductive. "He just wanted to play Cowboys and Indians." And apparently, this American Jew couldn't find a good enough paintball team, so he HAD to make his life much harder, not to mention put it at actual risk, because he just HAD to play pretend with guns. It's not that this Jewish guy feels a strong connection to Israel, it's not that maybe he experienced antisemitism in the US to the point where he realized he had no place anywhere other than in the Jewish ancestral land, it's not that he felt deep kinship with his siblings in Israel defending our native rights here, no... The Jewish soldier MUST have just had a complex where mommy didn't let him play enough with space robots or something, so he decided to play out such fights in real life. Tell me that's not an incredibly patronizing, dismissive, reductive view of Jewish people and why we come here, even when it can be so much easier to stay elsewhere. It's an inherent racism, of seeing Jews as brainless puppets of "someone who told them this is home..."

Like, I'm a gentile but this wording is so frustrating to me. It plays into the untrue idea that the majority of Israelis are European or American when that is false and that jews are not from Israel. It's such an underhanded tactic imo. It's like they don't think the bad things some idf do or the Israeli government does is bad enough unless they add something else to it. It can't be war, it has to be genocide. It can't be soldiers abusing their power (something every army has trouble with) it has to be evil foreign, colonizers that don't belong bullying the pure, innocent native population.

You're absolutely right. War is always bad, horrible things will always happen, no army can control 100% of its soldiers 100% of the time (and that doesn't negate that the overall purpose of said army can be a good, worthy one, like how the atrocities some allied soldiers committed during WWII do not cancel the fact that the allies WERE the good guys in defeating the Nazis), every government can be criticized. But the need to turn the Jewish army into THE WORST, the Jewish implementation of our right to self defense into no less than a genocide (so what if none of the facts support that), the Jewish state into the greatest perpetrator of humanitarian rights crimes (again, with little proof, and while ignoring actual atrocities taking place on much greater scale around the globe) is just another form of antisemitism, of taking Jewish collectives and vilifying them to the point where Jews just no longer have their rights, including at the end of the line, the right to exist.

All of it is antisemitic and infuriating. I guess I'm just grateful that, even as a non-Jew, you can see right through most of that. Thank you for the ask, and I hope you're doing well! xoxox

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[raidergamerspice]

So, this is related to my previous post I made about Sense8 and Sense8 AUs because the other day, I took part of a tweet qrt chain by tweeting these four pics with the caption:

blonde boy x dark haired girl supremacy

It's basically like my old post about shipping blonde guy x black haired girl ships, but now I included Aeon 'cause I kinda like them now (plus, I also hc them as bi4bi because fucking look at them 🥵)

But anyway, the reason I'm bringing this over here is because my timing for this was kinda interesting; basically, there are some rather questionable leaks related to the Spy x Family movie (which I won't get into in case you don't like stuff like that) which, in all honestly, I'm not TOO worried about knowing the full context, but it is ticking me off somewhat, and it made me wanna share this:

I actually did come up with a Sense8 AU involving all four of these ships being in a cluster together (set in a modern setting), and it was mainly because I wanted to see how their respective stories would play out if each ship was open with each other about their feelings due to this type of connection. And now that I had to see those dumb leaks, I feel even more justified in making up an AU where Twiyor falls in love like, a couple months before Operation: Strix began through this connection because I can and I wanna be spiteful, even if it's just in my head 🤣

Plus, the idea of them doing Operation: Strix while already knowing each other's true identities and jobs, and keeping the fact that they're actually married for real a secret from their agencies is juicy - ESPECIALLY from Nightfall.

I have not been shy about expressing my...dislike for her before, so imagining Twiyor keeping their secret real love from her is cathartic as hell. Like, Nightfall is constantly breaking her back in trying to split them up so she can have Twilight for herself, but she doesn't even know that they're already in love with each other and they shit talk her actions behind her back. It's what she'd deserve, honestly, after all the bullying she does to Yor 😈

Oh, and for what it's worth, at least for Twiyor, their secret is also shared with Franky and Anya because why wouldn't it? And maybe also Sylvia, but I've rambled enough about this.

Anyway, if there's anything to take away from this post, it's that I hope anyone who sees this considers making their own AUs where their favorite ship (especially if it's a slow burn ship) is in a sensate cluster, and they can almost always sense each other's feelings 😳

[flufffysocks]

let's talk about andi mack's worldbuilding

sorry this took forever to make! i've been pretty busy with school stuff and i kind of lost my inspiration for a bit, but i ultimately really enjoyed writing it! i wish i could've included more pics (tumblr has a max of 10 per post), and it kinda turned from less of a mini analysis to more of an extremely long rant... but i hope it's still a fun read!

i've been rewatching the show over the past few weeks (thanks again to @disneymack for the link!), and i’ve been noticing a lot that i never did the first time around. this is really the first time i’ve watched the show from start to finish since it aired, and it honestly feels so different this time - probably a combination of the fact that i’m not as focused on plot and can appreciate the show as a whole, and also that the fandom is much, much smaller now, so there’s a lot less noise. so the way i’m consuming this show feels super different than it did the first time, but the show itself doesn’t - it’s just as warm and comforting to me as it was the first time around, if not more so.

i think a lot of that can be attributed to andi mack’s “worldbuilding”. i’m not quite sure that this is the right word in this context, to be honest, because i mostly see it used in reference to fantasy and sci-fi universes, but it just sort of feels right to me for andi mack, because you can really tell how much love and care went into constructing this universe. for clarity, worldbuilding is “the process of creating an imaginary world” in its simplest sense. there’s two main types: hard worldbuilding, which involves inventing entire universes, languages, people, cultures, places, foods, etc. from scratch (think “lord of the rings” or “dune”), and soft worldbuilding, in which the creators don’t explicitly state or explain much about the fictional universe, but rather let it’s nature reveal itself as the story progresses (think studio ghibli films). andi mack to me falls in the soft worldbuilding category. even though it takes place in a realistic fiction universe, there’s a lot of aspects to it that are inexplicably novel in really subtle ways.

so watching the show now, i’ve noticed that the worldbuilding comes primarily from two things - setting and props, and oftentimes the both of them in tandem (because a big part of setting in filmmaking does depend on the props placed in it!).

one of the most obvious examples is the spoon. it really is a sort of quintessential, tropic setting in that it's the main gang's "spot", which automatically gives it a warm and homey feel to it. and its set design only amplifies this:

the choice to make it a very traditional 50s-style diner creates a very nostalgic, retro feel to it, which is something that's really consistent throughout the show, as you'll see. from the round stools at the bar, to the booths, to the staff uniforms, this is very obvious. the thing that i found especially interesting about it though is the choice of color. the typical 50s diner is outfitted with metallic surfaces and red accented furnishings, but the spoon is very distinctly not this.

instead, it's dressed in vibrant teal and orange, giving it a very fresh and modern take on a classic look. so it still maintains that feeling of being funky and retro, but that doesn't retract from the fact that the show is set distinctly in modern times.

of course, this could just be a one-off quirky set piece, but this idea of modernizing and novelizing "retro" things is a really common motif throughout the show. take red rooster records. i mean, it's a record shop - need i say more? it's obviously a very prominent store in shadyside, at least for the main characters, but there's no apparent reason why it is (until season 2 when bowie starts working there, and jonah starts performing there). a lot of the time, though, it functions solely as a record shop. vinyl obviously isn't the most practical or convenient way of listening to music, but it's had its resurgence in pop culture even in the real world, mostly due to its aesthetic value, so it's safe to say that it serves the same purpose in the andi mack universe.

the fringe seems to be nostalgic of a different era, specifically the Y2K/early 2000s period (because it's meant to be bex's territory and symbolic of who she used to be, and its later transformation into cloud 10 is representative of her character arc, but that's beside the point). to be honest, exactly what this store was supposed to be always confused me. it was kind of a combination party store/clothing store/makeup store/beauty parlor? i think that's sort of the point of it though, it's supposed to feel very grunge-y and chaotic (within the confines of a relatively mellow-toned show, of course), and it's supposed to act as a sort of treasure chest of little curios that both make the place interesting and allow the characters to interact with it.

and, of course, there's andi shack. this is really the cherry on top of all of andi mack's sets, just because it's so distinctly andi. it serves such amazing narrative purpose for her (ex. the storyline where cece and ham were going to move - i really loved this because it highlights its place in the andi mack universe so well, and i'm a sucker for the paper cranes shot + i'm still salty that sadie's cranes didn't make it into the finale) and it's the perfect reflection of andi's character development because of how dynamic it is (the crafts and art supplies can get moved around or switched out, and there's always new creations visible).

going back to the nostalgia motif though, the "shack" aspect of it always struck me as very treehouse-like. personally, whenever i think of treehouses, there's this very golden sheen of childhood about it, if that makes sense. i've always seen treehouses in media as a sort of shelter for characters' youthful innocence and idealistic memories. for example, the episode "up a tree" from good luck charlie, the episode "treehouse" from modern family, and "to all the boys 2" all use a treehouse setting as a device to explore the character's desire to hold onto their perfect image of their childhood (side note: this exact theme is actually explored in andi mack in the episode "perfect day 2.0"!). andi shack is no exception to this, but it harnesses this childhood idealism in the same way that it captures the nostalgia of the 50s in the spoon, or the early 2000s in the fringe. it's not some image of a distant past being reflected through that setting; it's very present, and very alive, because it reflects andi as she is in the given moment.

some honorable mentions of more one-off settings include the ferris wheel (from "the snorpion"), the alley art gallery (from "a walker to remember"), SAVA, the color factory (from "it's a dilemna"), and my personal favorite, the cake shop (from "that syncing feeling").

[every time i watch this episode i want to eat those cakes so bad]

these settings have less of a distinctly nostalgic feel (especially the color factory, which is a very late 2010s, instagram era setting), but they all definitely have an aura of perfection about them. andi mack is all about bright, colorful visuals, and these settings really play to that, making the andi mack universe seem really fun and inviting, and frankly very instagrammable (literally so, when it comes to the color factory!).

props, on the other hand, are probably a much less obvious tool of worldbuilding. they definitely take up less space in the frame and are generally not as noticeable (i'm sure i'll have missed a bunch that will be great examples, but i'm kind of coming up with all of this off the top of my head), but they really tie everything together.

for example, bex's box, bex's polaroid, and the old tv at the mack apartment (the tv is usually only visible in the periphery of some shots, so you might not catch it at first glance) all complement that very retro aesthetic established through the settings (especially the polaroid and the tv, because there's really no good reason that the characters would otherwise be using these).

besides this, andi's artistic nature provides the perfect excuse for plenty of colorful, crafty props to amplify the visuals and the tone. obviously, as i discussed before, andi shack is the best example of this because it's filled with interesting props. but you also see bits of andi's (and other people's) crafts popping up throughout the show (ex. the tape on the fridge in the mack apartment, andi's and libby's headbands in "the new girls", walker's shoes, andi's phone case, and of course, the bracelet). not only does doing this really solidify this talent as an essential tenet of andi's character, but it also just makes the entirety of shadyside feel like an extension of andi shack. the whole town is a canvas for her crafts (or art, depending on how you want to look at it. i say it's both), and it immensely adds to shadyside's idealism. because who wouldn't want to live in a world made of andi mack's creations?

and, while it's not exactly a prop, the characters' wardrobe is undoubtedly a major influence on the show's worldbuilding. true to it's nature as a disney channel show, all of the characters are always dressed in exceptionally curated outfits of whatever the current trends are, making the show that much more visually appealing. i won't elaborate too much on this, because i could honestly write a whole other analysis on andi mack's fashion (my favorites are andi's and bex's outfits! and kudos to the costume designer(s) for creating such wonderful and in-character wardrobes!). but, i think it's a really really important aspect of how the show's universe is perceived, so it had to be touched upon.

[^ some of my favorite outfits from the show! i am so obsessed with andi's jacket in the finale, and i aspire to be at bex's level of being a leather jacket bisexual]

and lastly, phones. this is a bit of an interesting case (pun intended), because the way they're used fluctuates a bit throughout the show, but i definitely noticed that at least in the first season terri minsky tried to avoid using them altogether. these efforts at distancing from modern tech really grounds the show in it's idealist, nostalgia-heavy roots, so even when the characters start using their phones more later in the show, they don't alter the viewer's impression of the andi mack universe very much.

so, what does all of this have to do with worldbuilding? in andi mack's case, because it's set in a realistic universe and not a fantasy one, a lot of what sets it apart from the real world comes down to tone. because, as much as this world is based on our own, it really does feel separate from it, like an alternate reality that's just slightly more perfect than ours, which makes all the difference. it's the idealism in color and composition in andi mack's settings that makes it so unmistakably andi mack. even the weather is always sunny and perfect (which is incredibly ironic because the town is called shadyside - yes, i am very proud of that observation).

the andi mack universe resides somewhere in this perfect medium that makes it feel like a small town in the middle of nowhere (almost like hill valley in 1955 from "back to the future"), but at the same time like an enclave within a big city (because of its proximity to so many modern, unique, and honestly very classy looking establishments). it is, essentially, an unattainable dream land that tricks you into believing it is attainable because it's just real enough.

all this to say, andi mack does an amazing job of creating of polished, perfect world for its characters. this is pretty common among disney channel and nickelodeon shows, but because most other shows tend to be filmed in a studio with three-wall sets, andi mack is really set apart from them in that it automatically feels more real and tangible. it has its quintessential recurring locations, but it has far more of them (most disney/nick shows usually only have 3-4 recurring settings), and it has a lot more one-off locations. it's also a lot more considerate when it comes to its props, so rather than the show just looking garish and aggressively trendy, it has a distinctive style that's actually appropriate to the characters and the story. overall this creates the effect of expanding the universe, making shadyside feel like it really is a part of a wider world, rather than an artificial bubble. it's idealism is, first and foremost, grounded in reality, and that provides a basis for its brilliant, creative, and relatable storytelling.

tl;dr: andi mack's sets and props give it a very retro and nostalgic tone which makes its whole universe seem super perfect and i want to live there so bad!!

[betweentheracks]

Are you willing to speculate about Yizhan? If not kindly ignore this ask. I'm just wondering from your perspective which of the "sharing clothes" pics on the internet is more likely to be actual personal choice between those two, if any?

Hello! Sorry for the delay in getting to this, been rather chaotic on my end of things as I adjust to being home from the hospital and establishing a new routine to manage my health from now on. I’ve been thinking on this ask for a while and how I wanted to approach it and think I have finally settled on a proper way to tackle it. 

First, I am not unwilling to speculate on yizhan given that I am very keen on the developments of both their careers and their perceived relationship, whatever it may be. However, I will only be comfortable discussing them from the POV of my role as a stylist and fashion worker/enthusiast. I don’t want this blog to become another rumor mill or become a look-to for “proof” of things in regards to their relationship. There is no true way to prove whether they do in fact share clothes, gift each other accessories, or purposefully “match” their looks. To do so I would have to be their personal styling manager and, dream of exactly that as I may, I am merely a fan with the eyes of someone that works in the field and can therefore only offer my own thoughts and opinions on these so-called candies hidden through their styling choices. 

To avoid any further chafing like my post about the DS2 jeans created I will only speak to what I know firsthand of the operations of the Asian fashion circuit and styling industry. I can provide insight into how their trends rise and fall on a cycle, how they often use fashion and style as a means to express not only their cultures but sometimes reflect the current climate of the entertainment world, and of how China specifically all but corners the market on underground fashion and streetstyle. This would then be laid over the context of, let’s say, Wang Yibo and Xiao Zhan’s evolution of style throughout their career and highlight the key features of how their looks tend to be tailored with a subtle nuance of their status combined with their country’s current trends. You can expect a post at a later time (after some thorough investigating and proper sourcing) which will look into exactly all of this and touch specifically on the best known looks they’ve been styled in with a breakdown on how those styles were framed, layered together, and then finally restyled to give emphasis to each of their unique features and overall image promotion. 

I will also provide my insights on which features are almost surely items they themselves chose, brought in, or otherwise requested be included. These are mostly accessory pieces that, to my trained eyes, do not fit or flow with the overall intended aesthetic and yet have been properly enmeshed by the style as if to blend them into the final result. My own experience lends many points of reference for artists that have comfort items they refuse to part with that I have had to later find ways to make appear to be a legitimate choice which neither clashes with nor belongs to the finished look. This extends to this ask in that this is why my answer on what my perspective on yizhan “sharing clothes” will be short. 

So, what is my perspective on them sharing clothes? It isn’t outside the realm of possibility, nor is it anything I can verify from my lack of personal interaction with them or any of the rumored articles of clothes. What I am willing to comment on is that celebrities and idols, no matter where they are located, overlap in a style and fashion sense both in public spaces and platforms and also in their private lives. It’s not uncommon to buy a brand or even exact style of something and later see that someone else has it as well, and from what I have seen I can say with some degree of certainty that Yibo and Zhan have similar tastes, though still incredibly diverse. 

I will later make a post speculating on which brands they each frequent and, by extent, share preference for as well the alleged gifts of accessories they are often seen to be wearing which are widely talked about. I think less of the clothing they are rumored or thought to share and lean more into the idea of them having exchanged items which would be easier to wear under the watchful gaze of public interest and also the inherently personal or intimate nature of giving someone a necklace, ring, bracelet, or set of earrings. It is also much easier to talk a stylist into making an allowance for such items since they are small and can be properly incorporated into an ensemble, or even tucked away into a pocket or beneath the high neckline of a good shirt. As I said, many artists tend to have comfort items or good luck charms or any matter of small in size items that they are hesitant to leave behind when making public appearances. Artists are still people beneath the veneer we stylists mask them in and sometimes need that little bit of themselves to take with them and be grounding in the face of media being in their personal space and making assessments of the them that is being presented. 

Apologies for the overall evasive answer, but this ask really did get me thinking and rather than leaving it to sit and idle in my box and make the person asking wait until who knows when, I chose to do it this way. The ask itself is the inspiration for why I want to make the posts I mentioned - it really tripped my thinking on all of this and the fashion enthusiast in me is frothing at the mouth with the prospect of real time breakdowns to expose the amount of work that went into some of your favorite yizhan ensembles. The accessories thing also sparked from a similar desire to be as thorough as possible before I give any careless answers. 

You all are very dedicated and passionate and deserve to be treated with a sense of professional courtesy in that I can give you a glimpse into understanding the styles that rendered you speechless or blew you away. Likewise, I think the only responsible way to handle any of the candies that are trademarks of BJYX fandom would be to offer you a different type of breakdown that would adhere to why certain things that you tend to perceive as candy is given context of why some things, to me, look out of place and could truly be a personal touch. This would both exonerate me from having confirm or deny topics I have no means of knowing about while offering a gratifying alternative analysis that stands neutral. 

Thanks for the question! I will surely be back with more and also to let everyone know more about these posts as I get nearer to establishing them! 

[hopetofantasy]

Culture, parallels & meta - S3 E1

Previous season Prologue: Vlogs (1) - Vlogs (2)

°

Zaterdag 21:43

The time lapse already showing us a string of places that will be important later, like the dark alley, the Meir with Noor’s workplace, the university neighborhood, the Scheldt river where the boys hang out, ...

Perfect parallel: 

The second season starts Zoë’s POV with a (washing machine) door, whilst the third opens with a door to a party that Robbe attends.

Robbe glances back at Noor passing through the shot this episode, an action he repeats when he spots Sander in the second episode. - A very subtle hint to where his love life may lead.

The first one starts with two unknown LGBT+ girls kissing at a party, the last episode shows two known LGBT+ boys (Sobbe) kissing at their own party.

The aerial shot through the floor to introduce us to Robbe’s POV here and the aerial shot through the roof to say goodbye to him in the last episode.

Moyo saying “No one would do you” to Aaron in this episode, Aaron realizing “No one here wants to do me!” in the last.

Where’s Wally? Noor greeting Marie, accompanied by Jana and Britt. Max dancing with Keisha in the crowd.

How ‘meta’ of you: Newsflash, yes you are!

Nod to the OG: 

The deliberate messy POV: following everyone that we know already and then slowly settling on the Isak version in a tub.

Robbe saying Noor looks like ‘Natalie Portman’, which is what people said to the OG Emma when they flirted with her. Everyone, except Isak, that is.

Oop, there it is, the homophobia / heteronormativity: Moyo keeps pressuring Robbe into explaining what type of girl he likes. The boys laugh it off when he answers that ‘he doesn’t have a type’.

Lost in translation: Moyo mocks Noor’s Dutch accent, making his ‘g’ and ‘st’ sound harsher, while also adding ‘hoor’ at the end - a typical word used by the Dutch to emphasize a point.

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Jens is playing with the weed bag. Keisha is one of the girls that Moyo mentions as Jens’ ex-girlfriend or ex-fling. Not only did Noor nót flush the toilet, but she didn’t used any toilet paper either!

°

Zaterdag 22:44

C is for culture: 

Noor rescuing Robbe on her scooter - In Belgium, you’re allowed to drive a moped or scooter once you’ve reached the age of 16. Nothing is needed if the vehicle doesn’t go above 25 km/h. If it stays between the range of 25-45 km/h and max. 50 cc, you need to pass a theoretical exam, 4 hours of driver’s ed and a practical exam to get the license. Anything other than that, has a whole new set of restrictions, types of driver’s licenses and minimum ages.  Noor and Robbe are, however, still breaking the law. As long as you’re not 18, you’re not allowed to have an extra passenger with you. Especially if they’re not wearing a helmet. (Plus they ignored a red light. Those rebels!)

“You do know that you always have to have it with you?” - The Belgian law states that everyone above age twelve, has to get an ID to identify themselves. Some might have had a Kids-ID already - for travel purposes - but that’s not mandatory. However, once you're fifteen years old, you’re obligated to carry your ID with you at all times.

Perfect parallel:

Luca being all jealous whilst staring at Noor and Robbe making out in S3, her glaring at Maud and Robbe every chance she got in the last season.

Robbe and Noor having fun on the scooter while screaming and Robbe filming their adventure in this episode. Robbe and Sander doing a similar thing, but on their bikes in a later episode.

Wink to other remakes: Robbe sporting a brown jacket. (Eliott, anyone?)

Surprise bitch, guess who: It’s Willem Chanterie, the on-set costume designer and social media production assistant!

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Noor has a ‘Fuck Trump’ sticker on her helmet. Robbe says “Hey, it’s red” in a very clear Antwerp accent. 

°

Zaterdag 23:11

Hello from the outside: The garbage truck they sprayed, still drove around the city regularly. The art piece itself is named ‘#Genoeg mama' (= ‘#Enough mommy’). It blames the consumer society as toxic, making young people its victim.

Oopsie: Inside the graffiti den, Noor suddenly sports a tote bag with supplies, even though we never saw her wearing that in the previous shots.

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Noor has black combat boots. The photographer is obviously Sander, in case you have missed that subtle clue.

°

Zondag 13:41

Lost in translation/Oop, there it is, the homophobia / heteronormativity: 

“Check die pekie’s”. The word ‘pekie’ is actually Amsterdam slang for ‘beautiful girl, girlfriend’. In recent years, more and more Dutch slang are making their way into the Flemish dialect, because of the Dutch rap songs gaining popularity with the youngsters.

“Vamos, flikkers”. The word ‘flikkers’ can mean ‘wussie’ as well as a derogatory term for ‘homosexual’. Again establishing the fact that the boys use a lot of homophobic or toxic words for each other.

Robbe’s clumsiness meter: +1, him tossing the bag behind Jens instead of into his hands.

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: There is a football right next to the skateboards.

°

Maandag 16:04

C is for culture: “The whole art school was talking about it” - 

Secondary school is divided in four sections: general, technical, art and vocational. Which section you choose can have effect on further education. In one of these sections, you pick what you want to study from your first to last year (‘directions’). That means that you have some courses purely focused on the direction and others that are obligated for everyone, regardless.

Art high schoolers can choose to go to work or study a specialization afterwards. Their coursework isn’t solely art based, there are general required courses too. That’s why some foreigners - including the Dutch - come to Belgium, since they’ll get a more rounded and higher level of art education than in their countries. ‘de!KUNSTHUMANIORA’ is the high school in Antwerp Noor goes to and is known for having students with unique styles.

Perfect parallel: 

Noor waiting outside the school for Robbe and him reacting somewhat confused here, Sander doing the same and having an instantly happy Robbe in a later episode.

Robbe having no problem kissing a girl ‘as a straight guy’ in front of the gates in this episode and scared for what might happen if he kissed a boy ‘as a gay guy’ later on. 

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: The insta caption underneath the art work says ‘An inspirational message on a Sunday! Just discovered this in Antwerp city today. Artist unknown... Can you remember when you last called on your mother?’ (That last sentence, oooofff, the symbolism!)

°

Dinsdag 14:57

C is for culture: 

“Yes, mini enterprises are so chill.” - Mini enterprises are often used as a tool for Economics in the fifth/sixth year. The goal of these is to ‘learn whilst doing it’. Like the name specifies, mini enterprises are actual miniature companies set up by a group of students. During the school year, they’ll try to work together on commercializing a product. All aspects of entrepreneurship are at play here: writing a business plan, holding meetings, doing bookkeeping, marketing the product, produce and sell it, ... If the enterprise idea is good or well executed, it might even win a national prize by the company making this education formula.

“What if he contacts child protection services” - Actually, those services doesn’t really exist in Belgium. There are, however, other youth organizations for these types of things, like JAC - Youth Advice Centre, CLB - Centre for Student Guidance and the Centre for Mental Healthcare.

Perfect parallel: The boys hyping Aaron up to walk over to Amber and talk to her - yet he fails in this episode, them doing the same and he succeeds (after some fails) in the last episode. 

Oop, there it is, the homophobia / heteronormativity: Jens saying “Damn, seems like someone is on his fucking period”, after Robbe snaps at him due to the difficult telephone call with his dad.

Lost in translation: Jens saying “Mijn kop staat er niet naar” (= “My head’s not standing there”) can actually mean different things: I’m not in the mood, it’s not the right time, I don't want to do it, my head’s all over the place, ... It depends on the context, on which interpretation would suit the situation the best. 

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: The girls are all fawning all over Britt’s cellphone, so there is a good chance that they’re discussing (pictures of) her boyfriend, Sander. Also, Jana’s braces are gone! 

°

Donderdag 17:13

Perfect parallel: Robbe stating that he can’t talk to his dad or he’ll fight and Zoë getting that, as she said a similar thing to an understanding Senne about her parents in S2. 

How ‘meta’ of you: Ah, yes, fandom ship names in SKAM. We applaud!

Oopsie: If you look really hard, you see that the body type and hair of Robbe’s dad, doesn’t correspond with the version waiting at the restaurant later on.

Wink to other remakes: This shot reminding you of a certain S3 trailer?  👀

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: The numerous references to Zoënne’s relationship in their room (relationship pics, Senne’s guitar). The paper Milan gifts to Robbe is the written permission by his parent to live with them, as is obligated by law.

°

Vrijdag 20:04

Perfect parallel: 

Senne pulling Zoë up after a kiss here, just like with their first kiss in S2.

Robbe pushing Milan away after thinking he wanted to kiss him at the party in S2, them hugging it out in after talking about it in S3.

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Zoë and Milan making some healthy party snacks like cauliflower and cocktail sauce, cheese with tomatoes and salami squares. She pulls back the bottle of gin that Milan wants to steal. Senne also bought paprika and tortilla chips from Colruyt (a discount store).

°

Vrijdag 20:54

C is for culture: “Noor, Robbe’s girlfriend” - (Teen) dating culture is different in Belgium. Usually, if you have kissed, hung out, texted or just said/did something to show your mutual interest, you’d pretty much consider yourself in a relationship. It can go from 0 to 100 very quick. Unless there is, of course, an agreement that what you’re doing is no such thing. Also, nobody really ask you to be their gf/bf. It just implied or stated to their family or friends. 

Perfect parallel: 

A reluctant Robbe pushing himself to do stuff to Noor (playful dancing, kissing, riling her up) as far as putting his hands on her bra here. A totally different, excited Robbe not even thinking twice about doing these things to Sander, even licking his nipple during their reunion.

Noor pushing Robbe on the bed and climbing over him, whilst Robbe looks all sad in this episode. Him pushing Sander on the bed and being happy as Sander crawls over him during their reunion.

Oop, there it is, the homophobia / heteronormativity: Robbe tries to convince himself into liking heterosexual sex with Noor and fake laughs with his friends about having it.

Where’s Wally? Keisha laughing with Amber and later dancing with Marie.

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Jens is talking to Senne. The decorations behind Milan saying ‘Welkom Robbe’ (= ‘Welcome Robbe’). Noor has a beautiful tattoo of a pin-up girl covered with butterflies on her lower arm.

[caernua]

im indulging you and wanna hear you talk abt basim for the ask 🍀

UH OH

first impression

heheh sexie i think i first saw the promo pic?? instantly intrigued and then i was DELIGHTED to see the hidden ones at the docks bc they seemed so mysterious and the way the camera lingers on them for a moment when you meet them the first time i was SO READY for some wild shit to happen and you know what. wild shit did happen and i am grateful for it

impression now

i think he’s one of my fave antagonists ac has ever had. it’s so fucking cool how interesting they managed to make the modern day just through his character and the fact that he comes back. i never thought i’d find myself wanting to see more modern day, i actually wasn’t a huge fan of it in the ezio games either so now finding myself thinking ‘oh boy hope there’s more modern day in siege of paris’ IS INSAAANE

favorite moment

okay we all know what i’m about to say yes the campfire scene even when i was watching gameplays of valhalla trying to decide if i should get it it stuck with me there’s something magical about it and i absolutely love that the team behind it knew it as well when they saw it completed!!! it’s just such a neat way to do foreshadowing while also strengthening the red herring that they already established. and it’s just beautiful how very lowkey intimate and... respectful it feels?? despite them being surrounded by people

BUT! i also need to mention in the ending because the rollercoaster of emotions i experienced during it was something that again i never expected out of assassin’s creed and boy it got me so bad, especially because i expected him to betray eivor but i expected NOTHING of what followed after. plus he’s just such an interesting character i was just happy that they brought him back and i think i deadass yelled when i heard his laugh in the grey when layla was in the yggdrasil.

idea for a story

i need a full sitcom of him annoying shaun and rebecca as much as possible.

AND honestly i feel like i would have loved to see eivor do a mission with both the hidden ones in england at some point i think it would have been a cool way to include a more traditional asscreed type of mission (or a heist!! imagine doing a heist with basim and hytham) and the banter would have been amazing, i am convinced ✨

unpopular opinion

i’m just gonna go ahead and steal alli’s answer <3 and say yea i don’t think basim is entirely to blame for sigurd’s behavior, obviously he was the one who manipulated him by using sigurd’s desire for glory to motivate him into doing what he wanted esp in the context of styrbjorn taking the kingship from under him, but sigurd is still. a grown man. ya know. i mean it’s at the point where people are willing to blame basim for sigurd calling his dad an old goat at the end of the game lmao. he was just willing to sacrifice a lot for legitimacy of grabbing power and basim exploited that weakness

favorite relationship

HEHEH eivor for sure... they really go through 5394538 stages of enemies to allies to... whatever. children of gods, one who is almost entirely linked with his god and the other broken off. ♡ there’s so much fun banter, so much curiosity on eivor’s side, basim complimenting her during sieges and stuff.. the feeling of yes i must take my revenge but at the end of it all you are an enemy i admire and we are linked... i actually feel like the devs really wanted to give you the feeling that despite everything there is respect between them and that’s just so interesting... the bleeding effect scene!!! the idea that there would be reconciliation after all this time, specifically at a campfire again!! absolutely beautiful and i am obsessed with it

favorite headcanon

that he, like every other respectable assassin, is a devout cat person.

♡ send me a character! ♡

[medievalemma]

emma’s secrets for a Great Presentation

hey y’all, it seems i’m becoming somewhat known among friends for making Really Good Presentations. here’s some secrets for turning your presentation from drab to fab :) there’s a tl;dr at the bottom if you don’t have the time or energy to read everything, but i recommend you do if you can. (also, if something i say doesn’t work for you, don’t worry. a lot of these aren’t hard-and-fast rules.)

APPEARANCE AND TIPS:

use a theme!!!! make it pretty!!! plain white slides are BOOOOORING.

visual interest will keep audience attention. you don’t need a super complex one, the premade ones are generally pretty good. 

for maximum! effectiveness! go for something sleek/modern, with solid color blocks rather than patterns. 

if you don’t like the colors you can change them. look past the colors to the underlying design.

if you add a new slide in powerpoint, it'll copy the format/layout of the slide you're currently on.

don’t just use the same format for every slide! quotes should use a different slide layout to photos or blocks of text.

you can hide slides that don't work, don't delete them just in case! 

please don’t use slide transitions unless absolutely necessary they are a relic of the past and should be left there.

WRITING YOUR PRESENTATION SCRIPT:

 MAKE YOUR POWERPOINT WHILE WRITING THE PRESENTATION. i cannot stress this enough. it is so much easier to do them side-by-side, so you can make sure that your slides are relevant to your text.

you are writing out a script, right? don’t do it off the cuff. save yourself uhhs and umms by having all your words already prepared.

i know y’all sciencey types don’t do this, which imo is stupid. having a script also ensures that your facts are kept straight.

that said, write your script the same way you talk. you don’t talk like an academic journal in your day-to-day life so don’t write a presentation like one. 

keep it formal, but don’t be afraid of simple language and the occasional contraction or colloquialism.

remember, you’re writing something that will be spoken not read so you should be comfortable with the language.

a good guideline is to write as though you are telling grandma (or an interested stranger) about your presentation topic!

your concepts/arguments need to be clear and easy to understand for someone with only the barest context of your research. 

remember: your audience doesn’t have your notes and experience with the topic. even if they do, assume they don’t.

you can assume a basic level of discipline-standard knowledge (i.e. historians shouldn’t need you to define terms and concepts specific to history but if you’re not presenting to an audience made up entirely of people from your discipline, you may need to give a brief definition and context for important discipline-specific knowledge.

i.e. i wouldn’t expect a chemist to tell other chemists what a titration is but i would hope they would briefly define it for a general science audience and i would expect a definition for a general audience including non-scientists.

if you have to turn your script in, cite as you go, same as you would with an essay. 

if you don’t, do make sure to toss in a few informal citations so you know where you found bits you may need to find again. this can be as simple as an author’s surname or a short title and a page number.

don’t use in-text citations in your script -- use footnotes, which you can format as you would in-text citations. this is so you can smoothly read your script without having to skip over long-ass citations.

PICTURES ON SLIDES:

don’t just have text, please. put in pictures. audiences like pictures.

not clipart tho clipart is laaaame and so 2003

that said, how are your pics relevant? you gotta discuss them, don't just have a picture to have a picture. every photo has a purpose.

the bare necessary information for photos is licensing, year, and location. 

full citations of images can go in your sources list, which should be your last slide. (have that up during your concluding paragraph.)

when it comes to diagrams and graphs please ensure they are:

informative

accurate

relevant

use common sense: pie charts should only be used when you are showing parts of a whole. it is a mortal sin to do otherwise. do not use pie charts if the whole does not add up to 100%. if there is category overlap such that it cannot be displayed as a separate category then do not use a pie chart.

i will make an entire post about this if i need to

TEXT ON SLIDES:

don't have tons of text unless it’s necessary: i.e. you're doing a textual analysis, and then highlight the relevant bits with color and/or bold. 

i did an analysis using a list of criteria and i highlighted each criterion as i discussed it with color and bold, then changed the color to a darker one when i moved to the next but left it bold so the audience could see what we’d covered.

if you do have to have a ton of text use either multiple slides or the text animations (just have them appear or fly in, anything else is just...no.) so your audience doesn’t get info overload when you change slides.

when you’re using those animations, i personally prefer if the first bullet point is already on the slide. your header should not be the point of discussion -- it should tie all the points together.

when it comes to stuff you've quoted, put the full quote in its context in the slide. highlight the important stuff if it’s a long one. not necessary but it’s nice to see the full quote when you’re in the audience.

make sure the text is a size (and color) that is readable from a distance! 

whatever the default size on your presentation application is should be fine, usually that’s around 16-18pt.

16pt is generally the smallest you should go for text you expect your audience to read

citations can be smaller, i generally put those around 14pt or 12 if they’re massive.

your text should be readable if your presentation is viewed in greyscale. easiest way to determine this is to take a photo and put one of the greyscale filters in instagram on it. don’t publish it tho nobody wants to see that

ACTUALLY PRESENTING:

have some method of knowing where you want to switch slides, i like to highlight the text where i plan to go to the next slide. however you do it, have something that means NEXT SLIDE in your script.

just as you've put the slides to your text, put the text to your slides. you know that bit you highlighted? put that in the slide notes so you can easily see if the slide is where it should be.

read your presentation with your slides BEFORE you have to present it. this is how you can ensure they work together.

also, since you're reading your presentation (you did write it out didn’t you?), don't read from a script that’s at 12 pt whatever font. 

scale the font up so it is easily readable from a distance. 

if you're reading from a device, try to get it in a format where there are no overt page breaks and you can just continuously scroll. i find the “web format” of most word processors that have page-breaks is generally the best way. 

resize the window so it is no wider than a standard sheet of printer paper (A4/8.5x11″) -- this prevents you from having lines that are too long to comfortably read.

don’t worry about stumbling over your words. everyone does it. nobody really cares. it rarely distracts from your presentation. if you’re stumbling over the same part while practicing, fix it so you don’t. 

have a bottle of water to drink from when you’re done, bc your throat will be dry af. you’re welcome ;)

TL;DR: make it pretty, everything in the powerpoint should be relevant to your script, and of course, write a script that you can read from a distance!

[theculturedmarxist]

Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck; written by Boden, Fleck and Geneva Robertson-Dworet

The production and release of Captain Marvel, the new science fiction superhero adventure from Marvel and Disney, has a number of remarkable features, but none of them involve the film’s drama, action or characters.

Briefly, Captain Marvel, in convoluted fashion, follows US Air Force pilot Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) who absorbs an awesome energy source, making her potentially “one of the universe’s most powerful heroes ever known,” according to the film’s publicity.

However, six years later, she is suffering from amnesia, doesn’t know who or what she is and has become a member of the repressive Starforce Military under her mentor Yon-Rogg (Jude Law). The shapeshifting Skrulls, the apparent enemy, force Danvers to crash-land in the US in the mid-1990s. But all is not what it appears. Danvers discovers secrets about herself and about a “galactic war” between two alien races.

Not much of this is interesting, although it is noisy and “action-packed.” Captain Marvel, as a film, is predictable, empty and tedious. The more “sensitive” scenes on Earth, focusing on Danvers and her African American friend Maria Rambeau (Lashana Lynch) and daughter (Akira Akbar), are possibly the most contrived and least convincing.

The first genuinely noteworthy fact about the new film, not surprisingly, concerns money.

Disney, the film’s distributor, is the world’s largest media company, with some $100 billion in assets. With a market value of $152 billion, it ranks as the 53rd largest company of any kind in the world, just behind Total (oil and gas), Merck (pharmaceuticals), the Bank of China (one of the four leading state-owned commercial banks in China), Unilever, DowDuPont and BP.

Media reports place Captain Marvel’s combined net production and global marketing costs at $300 million. To date, the film’s global box office stands at $774 million.

Captain Marvel is truly “corporate entertainment”—i.e., the very process by which it came into being prevents it from being entertaining or enlightening in any meaningful fashion.

This type of large-scale, officially sponsored filmmaking, whose success is avidly promoted and tracked by the media and business publications in particular, inevitably intersects and overlaps with other aspects of American establishment culture. In the case of Captain Marvel, this means militarism and feminism specifically.

The US Air Force was involved in the production of Captain Marvel.

In fact, Task & Purpose reported that Marvel Studios launched the official start of production “with a photo of Larson, and Air Force Brig. Gen. Jeannie M. Leavitt, then-commander of the 57th Wing and the service’s first female fighter pilot, atop an F-15 at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.”

“To prepare for her role, Larson,” according to The Wrap, visited the Air Force base “to join simulated dogfights. The film’s red-carpet premiere included testimonials from Air Force men and women and a flyover by the Air Force’s Nellis-based Thunderbirds.”

Task & Purpose, a website that follows the American military, also cited the emailed comments of Todd Fleming, chief of the Community and Public Outreach Division at Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs: “The Air Force partners on any number of entertainment projects to ensure the depiction of Airmen and the Air Force mission is accurate and authentic. Our partnership with ‘Capt Marvel’ [sic] helped ensure the character’s time in the Air Force and backstory was presented accurately. It also highlighted the importance of the Air Force to our national defense.”

“[Captain Marvel] is not part of a recruiting strategy but we would expect that audiences seeing a strong Air Force heroine, whose story is in line with the story of many of our Airmen, would be positively received,” Fleming said.

The issue of female recruitment is no small matter. American imperialism, recklessly gearing up for war against Russia, China and other rivals, needs vast new supplies of human fodder. Task & Purpose explains, “The spotlight on airmen [in Captain Marvel] comes at a time when the Air Force, like the other services, is hunting for the next generation of pilots. The Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps are all short 25 percent of their pilot billets, according to a GAO [Government Accountability Office] report published this summer; the Air Force in particular has doled out cash incentives like candy in a vain effort to prevent pilots from defecting to the private sector. Indeed, the branch’s plan to increase its number of squadrons by 76 to Cold War levels will require an additional 40,000 personnel, further straining the service’s recruitment capabilities. At the Air Force Academy, female cadets are increasingly encouraged to vie for pilot spots to help bridge that gap.”

Larson, who has made all sorts of useless (or worse) comments about #MeToo, alleged sexual abuse and her own “social activism,” like most of affluent Hollywood, is entirely oblivious to the criminal role of the US military, the greatest source of terror and “abuse” on the planet by an order of magnitude of 100 times or more.

The female heroism in Captain Marvel, of course, has been greeted with plaudits. Entertainment Weekly noted excitedly that the film would “mark the first time a woman will be headlining her own solo superhero movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It also marks the first time a woman will direct a superhero film for Marvel Studios: Anna Boden will co-direct with her Mississippi Grind partner Ryan Fleck.”

The hope is that Captain Marvel will do “for women” what Black Panther did “for African Americans”—which is, of course, nothing whatsoever, except for a small layer of prominent studio executives, writers, performers, etc.

This comment from Deadline is typical: “One film finance source believes that it’s pretty much certain that Captain Marvel will see $1 billion around the world and break the glass ceiling for female-led pics at the global B.O. [box office], dashing past Wonder Woman’s final global of $821.8M.”

As is this Vox headline: “Why Captain Marvel’s milestone status creates so much pressure for it to succeed—Why Captain Marvel represents more than just a superhero movie.” The article proposes to answer these important questions: “What does a woman superhero mean for Marvel Studios and the MCU [Marvel Cinematic Universe]? What are the takeaways from Captain Marvel’s already overwhelming box office success? What does the film have to say about feminism? What might have happened if it had flopped? And who gets to shape the conversation and narrative surrounding it?”

The final and perhaps most remarkable feature of Captain Marvel involves its writer-directors. (And, secondarily, its performers. What are Larson, Jude Law and the talented Australian actor Ben Mendelsohn, whose acting in The Land of Steady Habits we recently praised, doing in this rubbish?)

We have made the point previously on more than one occasion about the objective significance of the “long march” of numerous so-called independent or art filmmakers toward empty-headed, “blockbuster” movie-making. We noted the examples of Steven Soderbergh (Ocean’s Eleven, etc.), Alan Taylor (Terminator Genisys), the Russo brothers (the Captain America and Avengers franchises), Kenneth Branagh (Thor), Christopher Nolan (Batman Begins, etc.), John Singleton (a Fast and Furious installment), Lee Tamahori (Die Another Day, one of the James Bond fantasies), Marc Forster (another of the Bond films, Quantum of Solace), Sam Mendes (yet another Bond film, Skyfall) and Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman).

To that list, one can add the more recent examples of Jon Watts (two Spider-Man films), Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok), Ava DuVernay (A Wrinkle in Time) and Ryan Coogler (Black Panther).

In a number of these cases, the filmmakers had earlier indicated vaguely oppositional political views or a certain concern at least for the fate of broader layers of the population.

The lure of large amounts of money is obviously an issue. But perhaps the more pertinent question is: what are the social and ideological conditions that make writers, directors and performers susceptible to this “lure”? It is not inevitable. Artists, including in the US, have been known to repudiate such offers with contempt. Almost inevitably, however, such resistance has been rooted in political and social conceptions and opposition of a left-wing character, sustained by a confidence in the better instincts of the population and its willingness to struggle. Those conceptions and that confidence are sorely lacking today.

The directors of the dreadful Captain Marvel, Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, should not be entirely unfamiliar to readers of the WSWS, although the context—big-budget Hollywood—may be unexpected. We have reviewed two of their films in the past, Half Nelson (2006) and Sugar (2008).

The Atlantic notes with surprise that Fleck and Boden “until now have worked in the realm of quiet, sensitive indie films.” More than simply “quiet” and “sensitive,” Half Nelson centers on an obviously left-wing high school teacher working at an inner-city school in Brooklyn.

A 2006 New York Times article about the making of Half Nelson is worth citing. The Fleck-Boden film, wrote Dennis Lim, “is a political allegory, a film about a would-be visionary who wants to change the world but can’t get his act together and is often his own worst enemy. It’s not a stretch to read it as a comment on the sorry state of the American left.”

“‘That was more or less conscious,’ the film’s director, Ryan Fleck, said of the political subtext.” Fleck and Boden “started writing Half Nelson … four years ago, as the Bush administration was preparing to invade Iraq and the antiwar movement was gaining momentum. ‘It felt like we were going to protests every other week,’ Mr. Fleck said recently. ‘But ultimately you don’t have the energy to do it all, and you feel like you’re doing very little. A big part of the frustration was the inability to make meaningful change.’

“The activist spirit comes naturally to Mr. Fleck, who was born to socialist parents on a commune in Berkeley, Calif. As a child he was taken to rallies and protests. As a teenager he read Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn.”

In an interview with Slant magazine, Fleck, asked about religion, replied jokingly “I was raised communist.”

Fleck and Boden’s Sugar, about a Dominican baseball player playing in the minor leagues in the US, the WSWS commented, was “about immigration and acculturation, capitalism and exploitation, hospitality and loneliness.”

Now, a decade later, Captain Marvel.

The same 2006 Times article referred to above contained this passage:

“Mr. Fleck said he hoped that their future projects would remain, however obliquely, rooted in a sense of social justice. ‘Filmmaking is kind of a vain hobby when maybe we should all be taking to the streets,’ he said. ‘But it seems irresponsible not to be informed by politics in some way.’

“Ms. Boden’s idealism is more tempered. ‘I don’t have an inflated sense of what a movie can do,’ she said. ‘But you can at least try not to put something out there that you don’t believe in.’

“Mr. Fleck added: ‘That’s a rule we try to follow, to not put garbage in the world.’”

Unfortunately, they have now.

[rugeon]

The level design of V&A Design/Play/Disrupt

Recently went to the V&A expo on videogames and thought it might be fun to try and think about it’s ‘level design’. I realise its silly to call it that and is more informed by planning an exhibition/ event planning and architecture, but w/e.

[pictured:  how do you Do it?, 2014 - Nina Freeman, Emmett Butler, Decky Coss, and Joni Kittaka]

This is mostly gonna be some simple thoughts on the experience of traversing the space of this exhibition, and how that space is used effectively to create different effects/ experiences, as well as notes on the smarter considerations on how the experience is paced/sequenced.

This warped/truncated/inaccurate/drawn from flawed memory map roughly shows the layout of the V&A expo:

The whole exhibition can be roughly broken up into four fairly distinct parts:

Exhibits of the design of different video games from differently sized studios ~2009 onwards. [blue]

Articles, talking points, video discussions and exhibits of games as part of our broader social context, concerned with violence, gender, sex, sexuality, race, language, protest etc. [orange]

A large video theatre showing some of the communities that form around games. [red]

An arcade showcasing several more experimental games and projects, that is open to free play. [yellow]

DESIGN

When you walk in you are greeted by a huge projector flashing between collages of the various exhibitions and the alternating titles DESIGN, PLAY, DISRUPT.

[pictured slides from Jenny Jiao Hsia’s talk on prototyping to make her game: ‘Consume Me’, 2016]

Seeing this is unavoidable when entering, and it serves as something of a banner to signal the transition into the formal exhibition space. YOU HAVE ENTERED THE WORLD OF THE VIDEO GAMES.

Mapping this first area of the 1. Design section of the exhibit we get something like this:

Note that these numbers are in an arbitrary order of roughly when I encountered them, and are not indicative of density, just general location of possibly several bits of each exhibit. Also this list is not exhaustive, nor is the map strictly accurate, I do not have an eidetic memory, but I do have a notebook and a smartphone.

Design/Play/DIsrupt screen

Large Print Text Binders

‘Journey’ gameplay montage projection

Notebooks, sketches, a headphone + video prototype demo, inspo photos/footage, graph and board of intended player journeys/narrative threads

‘Last of Us’ Dual screen demo showing gameplay and some of the work relevant to make that part of the game happen

Sketches, notebooks, board plotting out story events/setpieces in seasons, film made for atmosphere reference, blue sky concept art, colour scripts

Mocap footage +suit

Matt Lees @jam _sponge describing the anxious, excitable play of ‘Bloodborne’ between 3 screens.

Notebooks, sketches+concept art, level design docs, and SketchUp pics of early levels, headphones to listen to a recording of the soundtrack

Bunch of top designs for ‘Splatoon’

Early Prototype, creature sketches, fashion asset design

Playable prototypes from the making of Consume Me

Notebooks, corkboards, workplace ephemera, unity project demo, headphone + video 40 minute talk on prototypes

Music from ‘Kentucky Route Zero’ / KR0, visual representation of branching dialogue in twine, Margritte’s ‘Spring in the Forest’

Inspirations, typeface considerations, group wiki, twine showcase

Realtime Art Manifesto, Even more notebooks, with sketches and details of designing Tale of Tale’s ‘The Graveyard’

Playable demo of The Graveyard

Bench

Multi-screen montage of generated worlds in ‘No Man’s Sky’

Blueprint tool for spaceships, terrain debug tool, sci-fi inspirations

Visual inspirations

So what are some of the ways we can think about how this expo was laid out? 

For a start it’s fairly linear, there are no branching paths at Design/Play/Disrupt, it’d be a layout ill-suited to somewhere like this where there’s a strong desire for the audience to see all the content and assets (the exhibits) and not miss any pieces that time was spent curating. Thankfully unlike some videogames, this linearity is not gated. There are no attendants fiendishly running up behind you and closing doors as you move from one game to another, people might have missed something, or want to visit an earlier piece while friends are preoccupied with something for a little longer.

Exhibits are visited for the most part in a defined order, with some freedom in the Kentucky Route Zero/Graveyard room as well as the Splatoon/Consume Me room. You are encouraged to experience what is on display for each work and are being guided in a deliberate order, as opposed to set loose in an open hall with no boundaries where some attendees might skip or miss a part of the exhibition.

One thing tying sections you can explore or skip is their loose thematic / tonal linking:

To put it another way, there is a good reason that Bloodborne is next to The Last of Us. Both are triple-A big budget, rated 16+, 18+ action games for blood guts and all the cheery stuff. Consume Me and Splatoon work well next to eachother as the cute aesthetic and playable prototypes hanging from the ceiling work well across from Nintendo’s colourful and playful Splatoon. It would be a bit less natural to have the grotesque and rapacious sounds of Bloodborne echoing within the exact same room as Splatoon. I’m not saying any of these works don’t have some commonality beyond the arbitrary border I’ve drawn, but they fit better together. 

- Plus this open space invites an atmosphere of play after having just been cramped into two games rooms that feature horror elements

[Pictured: Splatoon’s section, as well as Consume Me minigame prototypes open to play, suspended from the ceiling]

This also showcases another thing about this event applicable to level design: the same space can be made appealing to different types of audiences. This is an exhibit about video games. I’ll admit this is just my gut but I’d be willing to bet that this exhibit is more likely to be attended by parents and their children than it would most other exhibits. I don’t know exactly what the V&A’s idea of the ideal attendant is, and that’s probably owed to the fact that this event catered to lots of different levels of assumed knowledge and engagement with videogames. 

Parent’s who might be a little out of touch with mainstream games, are quite likely to have been put off by bringing their kid to something that was entirely wall to wall Bloodborne, Dark Souls and other things as frightening (as much as I personally would have enjoyed that). Standing watching a parent pull their rapt child away from dulcet descriptions of how deadly mistakes are, in the big monster game, the success of the exhibition is apparent; the next room is a bit more targeted towards that kid’s age range (even though they did seem pretty into Bloodborne). 

[The concept art from Bloodborne is such a treat]

It’s no surprise as well that the first game is not The Last of Us, but Journey. More people are playing games now than ever but there remains a fair few people who still don’t really know what’s going on in games. As an exhibition that in part is attempting to show the breadth and depth of games being designed, it makes sense that the first introduction to what games are being made is a game without much in the way of traditional combative interaction. 

To wafflingly reiterate: the sequence of how things were placed matters: The accessibility options: 2. [Large Print Binders] are available at the start. Benches and places to sit are placed later throughout the exhibit (including rather wittily across from The Graveyard; a game where the entire goal is to make an old woman sit on a bench).

Reinforcing this point of how the same space can be made to cater to different people this event was extremely Multimedia. Explanations of parts each games design process written up, sketchbooks, and lots of different drawings, scrawled graphs, charts and plans. Concept art, drawings. Video of prototypes and animation, Sounds of ‘Long Journey Home’ echoing up the hall, and the omnipresent dread of Matt Lees echoing down, as well as headphones to listen to specific parts of the exhibition that might be less suited to how crowded the soundscape is or be for a more narrow audience (I wonder how many of the attendants listened to all ~40 Minutes of Jenny Jiao Hsia’s talk on prototyping. I did. It was good). Just in this section of the exhibit, there were so many different means of engagement, and they all felt very well matched to the story of each games development that they wanted to tell, while still offering different types of engagement. People can be looking at a video display showing how the layers of environmental concept art become important and manifest in The Last of Us, while someone else is poring over sketches of Ellie’s design. 

[Corkboard plotting out events + setpieces across the timeline of The Last of Us]

As an exhibition space, it is made with the fact that multiple people are occupying it at the same time in mind. If something is not available you can engage with something else. And if one type of engagement is not to your tastes there’s a good chance something else will be- not bothered about the wiki used to help the team of KR0 to communicate? Maybe you’ll be more interested in some of Ben Babbit’s sonic improvisations, or the visual inspirations involved in the creation of the game.

There’s more I could talk about wrt this first sections layout of how it winds you around instead of giving you a straightline to the exit, the choice of games playable being fundamentlly simple, an anecdotally sweet image of a child holding the obscenely big original xbox ‘duke controller’  on a pedestal and their dad cradling their hands. But I’ll just leave off this post here for now and maybe continue looking at V&A things and posting about it later.

To be continued..?

[lightsandlostbells]

Skam Austin episode 3 reaction

My favorite comment this week on the Skam Austin Facebook page:

Why do you use the font that SPAM uses and say you are in Austin where SPAM is located when you are actually in Austin TX and have no affiliation with #HormelFoods

Hormel Foods, the manufacturer of Spam is located in Austin, Minnesota, for the record.

Episode 3

Clip 1 - Lying in the back of the truck

This scene was actually new. I think it’s supposed to stand it for the Eva/Jonas lying in bed when she kicks him out and her mom comes in, but most of the ideas and dialogue within the scene were original, not borrowed. They didn’t have Meg mention that Zoya said she should break up with Marlon, nothing about Marlon saying she couldn’t live without him though he was similarly dismissive. She does it in a text later, though, and he tells her she wouldn’t last a second without him.

This camerawork does feel like Julie a lot. Especially the overheard of both Meg and Marlon lying down, that’s some total Skam couple vibes. Except early on Meg and Marlon are not touching and aren’t even on the same level, because as a couple … they’re not on the same level, lol.

Well, I considered the dance team to be sports but Meg disagrees with me, I guess. If you’re funded by the athletics department, then I’d say you’re a sports team. (It might vary from school to school but my high school definitely counted the cheerleading and dance teams as part of athletics.)

Meg: Dancing is about art. Marlon: Nah I don’t think so. GODDAMN MARLON FUCK OFFFFFF

I know a high school dance team has a different purpose in mind than like, New York City Ballet, but dance is absolutely an art form. This isn’t controversial, dumbass.

Can you please just be supportive of your girlfriend, Marlon? She found something that might make her happy and she’s socializing with other girls.

Someone in the FB comments said Meg and Marlon are cute together in a way that Eva and Jonas weren’t and like, everyone has a right to their opinion but I’m going to make a PowerPoint detailing my opposing view, which is 100 slides of NOPE.

Clip 2 - Sloooooooow mooooooooo whiiiiiiiiite guyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Meg is actively lying to her mom about being on the dance team. At least she runs into some new friends when her mom says to tell Abby hi.

KELSEY’S EYEBROWS I’M YODELING

There are some parts where Kelsey seems a little too like a sitcom character. It has more to do with the writing/directing than the actress, who’s been doing a decent job and having fun with the role. The bit where she’s like “SOME people in the group” works perfectly fine as a joke on its own - we all recognize the absurdity of her trying to obscure the person’s identity when there are five girls in the group and everyone knows who Kelsey’s got beef with. You don’t need to add on “you know … Zoya” which is just overkill.

Zoya just got them 100 pounds of free cookie dough to raise money for the team. Or… y’all could eat it … not that this is what I would do or anything.

But good job Zoya! And now Kelsey has to reconsider her position on Zoya. Free cookie dough?

He’s called Penetrator Jo??????????????

“Why is he called Penetrator Jo?” “No one knows.” OK …. I actually find that kind of funny but also … really, Julie? That’s far more obvious inside the narrative than calling a character Marlon.

Now we have what is obviously the most important scene of the season according to certain parties: William/Daniel’s introduction.

I have a confession to make. Uhhhh … taken on its own, I sort of like this version of the slow motion montage over the original.

I was never wowed by William’s intro, and this one at least has some tongue-in-cheek choreography with the football players and has Childish Gambino over it (in my version).

But at the same time I’m like really?

I think if I just watched both scenes side by side with no further context, I would prefer this one, because it’s so OTT ridiculous I would assume the director was making a joke. However, knowing the full situation, with S2’s Noorhelm and William depiction, and Julie’s intense love of the character, it does spoil the effect, because Julie really does believe that stuff about William/Daniel being painted as a villain. Like there’s definitely a humorous component to the scene but it doesn’t work as well when the director buys into the character’s hype. Same with Grace’s unimpressed eye roll and her comment about him being a cliche: on its own it’s a welcome voice for the audience, and I’m sure it’s an entertaining comment for the shippers, but knowing that it’s going to be ironic later spoils the effect.

Thinking about it, I also feel the same about the Penetrator Jo comment, maybe. On its own with no context, I’d find it funny - there’s something ridiculous not just about that nickname but by the fact that “no one knows” how he got something that should seemingly be obvious, yeah? Knowing that show ends up being on #TeamPenetrator is not as fun.

And not gonna lie, part of me will just never get Julie’s love of the William character when she has created so many more well-rounded, interesting, unique characters, and William is a well-worn trope played straight.

On that note, I see the complaints that this is like a very typical American teen drama, and on the one hand I can’t argue with that, popular football player all the girls thirst over is a pretty common trope. But also, lol … the original was just like this, the William character and the Noora/William relationship were the most CW-ish parts of the show. No matter whether you liked them or not! 

Neither William nor Daniel are really my type so I’m not hung up on stuff like whether the actor is hot enough. He’s kind of just like … a generically attractive white boy. I saw four of those at Steak ’n Shake the other night. Not trying to be mean, I get why girls would like him, and I really don’t care about anyone’s appearance on this show. His bone structure does seem above average.

Girl Jo is so cute. “He has a lot of shirtless pics.” “She has places to be, that’s like, adult stuff.”

She is getting a little passive-aggressive with using Kelsey as her cosmetic guinea pig. Kelsey is kind of a pushover, isn’t she? There’s a dynamic to explore there, where the two of them are obviously BFFs but Kelsey is letting Jo commit atrocities on her face. I wonder if that will build to anything or it’ll be a running gag. Maybe Daniel, instead of telling Kelsey she’s not pretty or good enough, will just be like your brows are NOT on fleek.

Clip 3 - Marlon and his crew are the worst

Shay: “I don’t know why we’re arguing about this, you’re freaking rich...ly, killing it in that sweater.” Marlon is selling his Adderall, I’m calling it now. Shay doesn’t want to draw attention to the fact that Marlon has some spare change accumulating from somewhere. I guess Abby could be buying from him and that’s why she was all CALL ME?

That’s not a bad change at all from the source material. Because while smoking weed can get you in trouble, selling drugs can get you into even more trouble. It would also be thematically relevant to the theme of pressure, do everything to succeed, be a winner not a loser, etc.

The way they’re sitting is so (intentionally) awkward with Megan clearly on the outside of their little group dynamic and on a lower level.

They are eating the pizza and someone presumably paid for it already, so this is a strange conversation to have, but then again I have ordered takeout plenty of times with friends where one of us paid upfront and then the rest of us paid them back or covered them. I guess Marlon could have paid for it at the door? Still kind of a weird conversation when you consider they could have been like … looking at the menu and talking about what to order and arguing about who’s gonna pay.

Marlon is SUCH an asshole. DUMP HIM. He started to make fun of her about her dance team in front of his friends. Meg gives Marlon’s crappy music her attention, he can’t support her in her dance team?

This scene made it really clear that it’s not a situation similar to Eva, where yeah, Jonas and Isak did gang up on her and could be mean to her, but she was still a part of the trio. We saw them eat together, go to movies together, have little jokes together. Eva was friends with Isak. Megan is only here for Marlon. Tyler and Shay aren’t her friends.

Some of the joking here - like Tyler saying, “Wait, Megan, you actually became a stripper? You took my advice, bro” - in another context I could see that being fine, like if Tyler was saying that to Shay, it’s just friends taking the piss out of each other, but he and Megan aren’t good enough friends for that not to have any tension or awkwardness.

Marlon being like “I’ve tried to convince her that team sports brainwash people … guess they already got to her though” is so so insensitive. Jackass! This was something that made her happy and she had to give it up FOR YOU.

I am so so glad that she called him out though, and she’s right. He’s got a limited set of talking points.

But it sucks that Shay and Tyler got in on it and called her out. Her attitude about the Kittens was clearly motivated by hurt and resentment over what she’s lost and a person who has since made her feel like shit, not her overall attitude toward sports teams. I would think they would know that much since they have to be somewhat familiar with the Megan-Abby drama. Tyler especially takes it too far when this is not a comfortable situation for Megto be in, she’s not included in anything, she’s just the girlfriend who’s there. Like I do not blame Megan at all for having some interest in Jo, because even if he’s sleazy, he’s the one who’s paying her compliments.

Clip 4 - Party invite

Julie continues with her tradition of “shooting the protagonist from behind as they walk somewhere.”

Kelsey’s eyebrows aksdfalsjnd

“I’m only waxing my mom’s chin so” Jooooooo.

Zoya telling Kelsey to chill and Kelsey immediately trying to chill … I feel like she wants to impress and go along with Zoya more than Vilde did with Sana. Kelsey seems like more of a people pleaser.

See, I heard people complaining that Zoya is too mean (and IDK, there might be some stuff to unpack there) but I felt in this scene she made her intentions pretty clear, that she was trying to help Kelsey calm down and not embarrass herself in front of the football guys, whereas Sana’s motives were probably the same but weren’t laid out like that and Vilde got pissed off at her.

I was kinda hoping that Zoya would be like “You are a hot girl” to Kelsey specifically but it’s nice she referred to the whole group as the hot girls. The only part I found excessively mean was the bit about Kelsey’s eyebrows (and I mean … she’s not wrong, but tact).

Jo is in love with Zoya.

It was sort of random that we pulled back a little and just watched Jo and Kelsey talk about her eyebrows, I mean that kind of casual conversation is fine, it was just the physical distance that was odd when so much of this series relies on closeups. We didn’t even see Meg’s reaction, not even to show Megan and Grace being like well, we’re done with this conversation and walking away.

There was an IG pic of the girls with Kelsey covering her eyebrows, which is adorable, but I’m not sure when the pic was taken because Meg is shown walking up at the start of the clip and Meg and Grace walk away at the end, and it looks like they’re in the same location. I guess Meg ran back to take a group selfie.

Clip 5 - American teen party with red Solo cups

I was wondering how they’d do the slow motion walk since I mean… they’d probably have to drive to the party, lol. And they did have them in the car! With the girls having a good time and Grace in the backseat looking awkward.

Actually I’m really glad Julie didn’t full on recreate one of the most iconic scenes of the original show, I prefer that she gave it a different spin. I don’t think this version of the scene will stick in my mind as much as the OG, but this does feel, well, American and relevant to the culture.

All the girls look great. I’m really digging Zoya’s hoops.

If anyone cares to know what I hissed at Daniel when he was checking out Kelsey.

I like how Abby seemed like she’s holding court among the Kittens.

I hate Marlon/Meg so much that even Meg/”Don’t be a cocktease” Jo is preferable. Though neither is the best option.

Part of me is like SIIIIIIIIGH at them not going to address Kelsey’s religion at all. It’s not that every Christian has to be abstinent or anything, I know Christian girls who were big on partying and had premarital sex. It’s that this is a big opportunity to shake up the story and add another dimension to the situation, and I feel like it won’t be addressed. I’d love if they at least talked about it in the next episode, if Kelsey’s trying to lose her virginity to Daniel and acquire birth control.

“I touch my friend’s boobs all the time” LISTEN UP JULIE ANDEM. Please let Jo be not straight. Please let Jo and Shay interact and possibly date. Both of those characters have some of the most personality on the show, it’d be a hit. Skam France set the precedent and made the equivalent character bi, YOU CAN DO IT.

I am overjoyed that so many people seemed to share my opinion of the world peace guy, which is Daniel who? Penetrator what? Give us more of THIS rando.

Honestly in his limited screen time, he has some decent comedic timing? He might be funny as the Magnus character.

That whole conversation was the highlight of the clip, the episode, and the series so far.

This is super random but I’m glad Meg and Grace went to the bathroom together because like … yes, that is what you do when you’re girls who are awkwardly standing around at parties. Bathroom solidarity.  And actually that’s a good setup for Grace leaving Meg alone and Jo getting to her rather than Noora ditching Eva to take a phone call. 

Marlon’s last name is Frazier for anyone curious.

“There’s another bathroom upstairs I can show you.” Smooth.

Zoya adding some food coloring into her Abby attack was an upgrade, particularly when the target’s in a white shirt. 

Jo taking off her earrings once the fight starts - she is the beeeest.

The shot of the girls climbing into the car is really cute to me, IDK.

I thought this was a fun clip but admittedly that’s 90% because Jo is a gem.

General Comments:

Some of me wonders … what if Tyler has it bad for Marlon and Shay has it for Meg? Tyler being “clingy” in the gc according to Marlon (which is just Marlon’s opinion and may not be that serious, to be sure) and Shay is noticeably nicer to Meg than Tyler is. I think.

Actually that text about Meg being added to their group chat made me cringe. They really aren’t welcoming to her. Meg has been dating Marlon since at least February - I’m pretty sure it was more like Christmas - and he’s only now adding her to the chat. Okay.

When Isak contacted Eva on Skype in episode 1, it seemed like he just wanted to chat with her. I guess maybe he wanted to sniff out if Jonas was there but he didn’t ask about it first, and he and Eva laughed about the Pepsi Max girls, and when he saw Eva was sad, he tried to give her some advice about talking to Ingrid. It was definitely a friendly conversation. When Shay did the same call, she asked where Marlon was, and after Meg said she didn’t know, Shay quickly said she had to go. It wasn’t a friendly, just-to-talk conversation. Meg tried to extend the conversation a little longer by talking about the Kittens - this makes me sad because it felt like she really needed to talk to someone, and Shay’s response isn’t that supportive or like she knows the magnitude of the situation with Megan and Abby. It makes me wonder because Eva was close enough to Isak to confide in him, and Meg will probably do that with Shay, but I don’t feel their relationship is as tight on its own terms to merit that.

I do find all the viewer comments on Meg and Marlon’s IG pics that are like “He’s cheating on you!” and “Why are you lying to her?” to be very funny and endearing.

Some of the FB comments about Zoya’s character … have some implications, like I haven’t seen anything outright Islamophobic, but there is a sense of “she’s too aggressive/too mean” and some of it is hard to judge whether it’s a fair assessment of her character thus far and how much of it is code for “she’s a mouthy black Muslim.”

It also got me thinking because all of the Noora/William combos have been white across the remakes, and IDK, I think it’d be great if the big man on campus that all the girls found attractive was a MOC, but also - can you imagine if a William was black and how differently he would be judged on his behavior, provided it was the same as in the original? The black guy heartlessly using and throwing aside the sweet virginal white girl? Or the black guy relentlessly pursuing the white girl who said she wasn’t interested? Or the black guy smashing a bottle over a guy’s head? I feel like a black William would reveal some ... enlightening viewer reaction. To put it mildly.

Jo is the most popular character by a landslide according to a poll on the FB group and that does not surprise me in the slightest. I’d be a little interested to know who was the most popular character so far in the original Skam. My guess is that opinions would be more widely spread.

Her IG posts/stories with Kelsey’s makeover and eating with the girls are really cute, btw.

I don’t really know how to judge the ratings because Facebook Watch is largely untested as a streaming platform, but there seem to be at least 1,000-2,000 new users following the show per day, maybe more (though stuff like fake/spam accounts need to be taken into consideration) and the full episodes are getting far more hits than the individual clips.

[colinandezra-blog]

Ezra talks falling in love and no longer being isolated in existence.

Everything starts with this Ezra interview for Wonderland Magazine.

The Wonderland interviewer noticed some romantic and poetic tone in Ezra’s discourse about falling in love, in an intense personal powerful connection with someone else and hinting he is ‘no longer isolated in existence’.

Ezra also mentions Nick Cave on the interview. Coincidentally Nick Cave is a singer known to participate in Colin Farrell’s films soundtracks. He was the singer in True Detective’s finale (a soundtrack that Colin himself helped curated) and Colin even sings Nick Cave in his masterpiece work in The Lobster. Nick Cave is one of Colin Farrell’s all time faves and some sort of ‘collaborator’ in many of his projects. Such a huge coincidence that he is also Ezra Miller’s current obsession. 

Ezra mentions Arthur Rimbaud, another poet that Colin Farrell mentions and reads all the time, Colin even uses Rimbaud poetry and entire persona as an inspiration for his characters.  

Surely this is not the first time Ezra has coincidentally shared the same interests with Colin. Here is a pic of Ezra walking around with a book by Colin’s idol, Leonard Cohen’s homosexual themed book Beautiful Losers two weeks after the Fantastic Beasts promo session with Colin. As you all may know, Colin is an avid reader and into deep literature and poetry. This is what Ezra said:

“The thing about Colin that I feel compelled to talk about is his intelligence because it’s really, really staggering. I’m deeply impressed by that man’s brain. When we do interviews together, I usually stay quiet and try to look pretty.” - Ezra Miller

The fact Ezra is caring Colin’s biggest idol Leonard Cohen book just after meeting him, might again be coincidental but knowing how Colin himself said he loves to talk about literature and bonds with fellow actors through books is probably a sign that he and Ezra are close. A few years ago Colin did a film with Sir. Anthony Hopkins, he said that they bonded so well that they used to call each other in the middle of the night to talk about literature and they had this little book club. Maybe that happened between Colin and Ezra as well.

Back to Beautiful Losers, that is a book that Colin has mentioned in the past. The thematic of the book is highly sexual and homosexual, it describes the relationship between the male characters I. and F. they are best friends, mystically connected, I. is younger and F. is and older man with an intellectual and spiritual force that will help I. to escape, they have a pupil and teacher kind of dynamics. Not to be a Gredence-Colezra crazy person, but that sounds extremmelly familiar.

To give a little context about his entire Leonard Cohen obsession, his ex-girlfriend Emma Forrest wrote on her book (inspired on her troubled and passionate love affair with Colin) that he once flew her from LA to Rome just to take her to a Leonard Cohen concert for a romantic night and that he gushed about how Cohen all the time. On his film Crazy Heart, Colin’s songs are molded on Leonard Cohen. He also got Leonard Cohen to sing the iconic ‘Nevermind’ for the opening of True Detective. And then you have Ezra, with Leonard Cohen’s book. That’s an iconic artist for sure, but it is quite interesting to see how Ezra and Colin have the same taste in music and in literature.

  LONDON TO NYC, A VERY COINCIDENTAL COLEZRA TIMELINE:

COLIN + EZRA both in London, from September until the October 18th 2017: 

London, October 12th. Colin at the Gala Screening and UK premiere of The Killing of the Secret Dear in London. 

London, October 13th. Ezra performs in London at The Old Blue Last with SonsOAIF.

London, October 14th. Colin at Graham Norton Show to promo TKOTSD.

London, October 14th. It’s saturday and Colin gets some fry chicken after TKOTSD press junket, the pix is published on the 15th. 

London, October 15th. Ezra has a sunday roast with SonsOAIF. ‘Roasting in our Sunday best. We love you London.’

London, October 18th. Ezra performed with SonsOAIF in London and that reduces the time window for the Wonderland interview and place him on the exact same time Colin was in NYC. Ezra actually got a LON-NY plane on the coincidentally on same day as Colin.

COLIN + EZRA both in New York, October 20th to 23rd 2017: 

New York, October 20th: Ezra was in NYC and the Wonderland interview above happened via phone and the interviewer says ‘Today he’s calling me from New York before he heads to Shanghai.’ The cast of JL arrived in China on October 25th 2017.

New York, October 20th: Colin was spotted by a fan in New York  at Ground Central Coffee Company.

New York, October 21st. Colin at The Killing of the Secret Dear Official Academy screening in New York.

Colin was really promo TKOTSD so he had an excuse to be in London and then NY, Ezra lives in London for FBAWTFT2 but it is quite cute the fact he went to NY on the same day Colin went there for no specific reason. I mean he could have totally taken a plane to China from London. Coincidental schedule in Hollywood is something so rare and this coincidence is kinda cute, especially cause Colezra is adorably cute.

Colin is a person who gets easily obsessed with his adoration for some people. Knowing his history and past relationships (romantic and platonic) one can see a certain pattern. Having read Emma’s book on his personality, the secret nature of his platonic relationship with Elizabeth Taylor, his intense and dramatic ‘marriage’ with musician Amelia Warner, his much publicized affair with once wild Angelina (they made a tattoo together when they met), his love for the ‘outcasts’ and ‘eccentric’ artists and how he describes the perfect love as someone who is a singer and artist, he likes people who live out loud and have a touch for the dramatic, to the wild. 

With his friends Colin is a gentle and loyal soul, he has a tiny group of trusted friends that often includes only a couple of directors and a few selected actors like Sam Rockwell, Samantha Morton, Sally Hawkins and Wes Bentley. He is very secretive about his real friends and rarely is seen with them, another factor that points out that Ezra could be close to him. Not every co-star gets to be his pal, he is nice and kind with his co-stars but to bring people into his life, he is selective. He also loves to hang out with musicians, U2 being his friends for years and years. 

There is also his new protective side that loves to take young actors as pupils, Barry Keoghan being a classic example of that. But a quick examination of Colin’s protective and goofy interaction with Barry who is the same age as Ezra, we can see that he treats him completely differently from Ezra. Maybe because Ezra is well, Ezra! All that lead to a certain type of relationship that I certainly see Ezra fitting into his ideal type of people. When Colin said on Cinema Con ‘Where is Ezra?” this is not a very Colin-esque attitude, he really is not that affectionate with most of his former co-stars. It lead us to believe he and Ezra are in touch cause he already knew Ezra was at Cinema Con. 

Colin also has an openly gay brother (who is an activist) and is himself a vocal supporter of LGTBQ, he is very comfortable around gay people because of his close bond with his brother Eamon and Steven, Eamon’s husband. When people say Colin treats Ezra with so much affection and respect his nature, it’s cause Colin is very open minded and queer people are part of his life. 

Colin has played three queer roles in his career, Alexander, Home at the End of The World, The Lobster and a few homoerotic toned roles like on Phone Booth (the deleted scene between him and Jared Leto), True Detective (his dynamics with the closeted role of Taylor Kitsch), Tigerland (with Matt Davis) and of course, Fantastic with Ezra. He also is very keen of understanding the psychological side of his roles and speaks openly about homoeroticism on film. Therefore, Colin is quite open minded and at ease with queer conversation both in his work and on his personal life. He has also had his share of (speculated or unproven) rumours about his bisexuality and a long lasting myth ‘open-secret’ about having being in a relationship with a famous male co-star.

I think it could have been a surprise to Ezra to have met someone of Colin’s status who is genuinely comfortable with him. Ezra is quite young and has this amazing energy and is in a position that very few, if any, actor have been in the past. I think he got quite stunned and enamoured (in a platonic or even romantic) way with a charming, handsome, intelligent, experienced, open minded and touchy Colin. Of course that is visible on their interactions. I don’t know what happens in Ezra or Colin’s life, but I do believe they got close. The intellectual and psychological bond between them is crazy coincidental, too coincidental. And again, Colin loves musicians, Colin loves passionate eccentric people, Colin loves poetical souls, he usually gets obsessed about the tiny bit complicated ones as well.  

I hope that Colin and Ezra meet sometimes since Ezra is a total fan boy about Colin and those encounters would fit his description of finding a connection with someone you admire. This is less about shipping them romantically, and more about wanting a genuine connection between these two amazing men. I think Colin, having lots of ups and downs in his life could find beneficial to be around such a bright generous soul as Ezra and Ezra could use some poetic Irish calmness and also advice on two to navigate Hollywood safely, I think he is too pure and things are happening too fast for him. Colin have lived through haven and hell on his share of the histeria, he could be a helpful mentor to sweet Ezra. 

As Ezra said in the interview, is about finding another creative soul, to recognize yourself in another person, and no longer feeling isolated. Having been a Colin fan for years and years, I can tell that is so rare to come across with someone that is not only extremely talented, beautiful and kind, but also who shares so many of Colin’s own tastes and tendencies. For people who only ‘ship’ them their connection might seem only a fan fantasy due to the immense popularity if the film these two actors made together, but philosophically speaking I feel this secret friendship between Colin and Ezra is quite plausible. As I said, Colin doesn’t publicizes his true relationships (he legit was friends with Liz Taylor for years and years and nobody knew until she passed away), therefore I wouldn’t expect it to be any different with Ezra. 

This is just a personal essay done out of curiosity of the coincidences of the timeline and tastes between Colin and Ezra and obviously the electric chemistry they share on and off camera. 

[annabethinwonderland]

How to Promote a Brand Image on Pinterest

There became a time when industrial ventures have been now not allowed to participate on Pinterest. Now a organisation can be a part of the web site very effortlessly within the commercial enterprise segment. Pinterest is the 1/3 largest social media web page and its membership is developing swiftly; it's miles a network really worth becoming a member of.

It is essential to understand that developing one board with a few pix of your merchandise is unlikely to work properly. This is like growing an RSS feed instead of taking part in social media that is what Pinterest is absolutely all about.

You need to create 'notion' now not 'tough promote'. You need to connect to clients in a fine, attractive and emotional way. You ought to goal to excite and tell your capability clients.

So suppose less 'catalogue' and extra 'mag'.

Pinterest is a totally visual medium and lends itself properly to any business that gives goods for sale. Otherwise, in case you are promoting a few kind of carrier, infographics and checklists also are very popular pins.

Pinterest draws many thousands and thousands of humans in demographics with aspirations and expendable profits, so they're going to be capability customers for your merchandise Custom Made Jewellery. The majority of participants are female, and women are very often the buyers of products in a household. It is also worth noting that about half of those ladies are moms. It is a completely lively social media platform that you may use for advertising with very little cost.

Although you'll want to show what you need to promote in your forums, reflect onconsideration on your products as being most effective a percentage of your total content material. To create the high-quality impact you may want to area your merchandise in a lifestyle context and this is executed by using other images.

So first think about what characteristics your merchandise have. What factors of them do you need to highlight? Are they brilliant? Are they environmentally-friendly? Are they honest-change products? Do they enchantment to travellers or maybe families? Do your products solve a hassle?

Once  who your products enchantment to, you can ask yourself  in addition questions. How can your customers use your merchandise and what different topics could be of interest to them? The solutions to those questions will give you ideas for your pinboards.

You have to determine how you may provide humans fee for your pins; this is to say how the pins may be of use to them, in order to draw their attention and attract them in your business enterprise. Making income can then follow. If you pin out of your website, a label will automatically be connected in your pins and will journey with them as they're repinned.

So here are a few suggestions which can come up with ideas approximately the way to display your items on Pinterest and healthy nicely into their manner of working. And keep in mind that the great of your pinning reflects on your organization.

Cosmetics companies and jewelry businesses should pin images of make-up strategies, nail art, hairstyles, style, shade co-ordination, pores and skin care within the sun, what essentials to % in a make-up bag and suitcase while happening holiday.

An airline or travel organization can pin pics of stunning places across the World, crowd-drawing gala's and the latest gadgets and tour hacks for globetrotters.

A paint or furniture corporation can take snap shots of room settings in a spread of shade schemes to create an concept of ways their merchandise could look in customers' houses. They can accessorize the rooms to present thoughts to people who've no inventive dispositions or time to spend designing their own dwelling areas.

A knitting deliver shop could pin snap shots of knitted clothes made up of their yarns being modelled in lovely places. A haberdashery employer could pin a wealth of craft projects. Using other people's pins to do this is flawlessly desirable because pins are shared normally.

Estate marketers can consist of facts on how to % packing containers properly, how to arrange putting gadgets in rooms on arrival in a brand new domestic, a way to transport flora, what are counted as furnishings and fittings, how to measure home windows for brand spanking new curtains, the modern traits in décor and numerous techniques to combat strain. This gives customers the impact which you are the form of employer that allows them in each manner you can.

Pet-care organizations can create forums on a way to become aware of breeds of fish, horses, cats and dogs. They can advise approximately symptoms of illness to appearance out for, what sort of cage suits distinctive varieties of small pets, a way to installation an aquarium, the way to look after saddlery, what foods are suitable or fallacious for sure forms of animal and what varieties of pets are appropriate or unsuitable for kids.

Businesses providing eco-friendly gardening products may want to pin pics of the places their wooden or bamboo is sourced from, the way to recycle water inside the lawn, tree species appropriate for small gardens, flowers that are very toxic to pets and youngsters - and plants that are not, vegetation which can be bee-friendly, a way to compost, how to appeal to flora and fauna, the way to layout a courtyard garden, how to construct raised beds.

Companies selling truthful-alternate goods like bananas, coffee and chocolate can pin photographs of their plantations and the people who work on them with the intention to give history and that means to their products. What do the plants seem like when they may be growing? What type of climate and surroundings surround the plantations? What does the trade mean to the lives of those human beings? What recipes can you create with their products?

A motel could take images of beautiful views and locations of hobby in their locale as well as their very own bedrooms, communal regions and dishes. People rarely select a motel as a destination; they pick a motel only when they have decided to go to that particular area - so displaying humans why they need to come to their part of the World on this manner is a good way to attract attention. Adding some recipes from their kitchen and cocktail bar so people will recognize what they have got on provide of their eating place could be a pleasant touch. They can also upload a few amusing via creating forums approximately: seaside style, celebration thoughts, table redecorating, folding napkins and towels, fruit and vegetable artwork and maybe a humour board relating to eating/journeying/holidays.

Don't neglect to add a caption to give historical past stories to the pictures; in this way you can link in addition on your following. Engaging together with your audience is your key to achievement.

Otherwise, famous subjects you may like to feature in an effort to endear other pinners to you're: recipes, lovable animals, funny snap shots, inspirational costs, beautiful surroundings and lovely images. But whatever you pick has to in shape in together with your emblem photograph. Let your persona shine via.

Like some other undertaking, planning is key. So study the Pinterest guidelines and steering pages carefully and do studies on You Tube to get more records approximately understanding analytics and a way to display items. You want to photo your goods in use to show them to the fine impact.

Don't infringe copyright and do not include special provide records with a confined time length.

So whilst you sign in you may want to carefully create your profile. What image might be exceptional to pick out for it?

Decide what the titles of your forums could be - keep them brief. Think cautiously about whether or not every identify will entice interest and provide an explanation for succinctly but truely what's displayed on that board.

Create boards offering your merchandise first so that they draw the maximum interest. More boards may be mixed in after that. Create 5 - 10 forums each containing 10 - 20 pins to get commenced. The first image you placed on a board will continue to be as the largest picture at the pinnacle of the board while it is considered on the page in which all your forums are displayed - so select it carefully.

Then intention to spend a bit time pinning every day.

A sizeable factor about Pinterest is that pins can be repinned so in many instances that they are continuously resurfacing, not like Facebook where posts sink underneath new items perhaps never to be seen again. New pictures are constantly welcome though and so generating unique content is suited. You can use virtual cameras or telephones to create your eye-candy. Vertical shots work satisfactory within the Pinterest format and are less complicated to view on hand held gadgets.

When you join up, choose to comply with classes that fit properly with your products and also observe pinners who operate within those niches. If you comply with people, there will be a hazard they'll follow you again. So the extra you comply with human beings, the more chance you've got of making a big following yourself.

Pinterest recommend that you installation a Pinit button on your website to inspire people to take snap shots from it as pins. They also advocate that the more you pin, the extra you may draw attention to your self; so putting in one board with ten products on it may not come up with the most appropriate effects you choice. Both these points will come up with a better web presence so as to attract customers, get on their wish lists and generate greater income.

[reportsjournal]

Polymer Concrete Market Research Growth by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast Analysis to 2026

Global Polymer Concrete Market Overview The Global Polymer Concrete Market report draws accurate insights by examining the latest and prospective industry trends, helping the readers recognize the products and services that are boosting revenue growth and profitability. The study performs a detailed analysis of all the significant factors impacting the market on a global and regional scale, including drivers, constraints, threats, challenges, prospects, and industry-specific trends. Additionally, the report cites worldwide certainties and endorsements, along with a downstream and upstream evaluation of leading participants. Check out the Sample Report here https://www.reportsanddata.com/sample-enquiry-form/1744 The Global polymer concrete market is forecasted to reach USD 757.7 Million by 2026, according to a new report by Reports and Data. A significant rise in the demand for polymer concretes has been observed in the recent period. The primary contributing factor for the increased demand and market growth of polymer concretes is enhanced performance and mechanical properties of this type of concretes. An integration of factors like the rise in investments on public construction, increase in awareness about high performance of polymer concrete and established upstream players also contributes to the growth of the market. The change in demands in the construction industry has a significant impact on the growth of the market. It is due to the changing preferences in the construction sector, and its continuous growth, and chemical resistance, due to which construction materials are witnessing high demand in this sector. Such increased demand for chemical resistant construction materials is propelling the growth of the market as polymer concretes are known for its high resistance to chemical attacks.       Key players in the global cladding systems include Compagnie de Saint-Gobain S.A, DowDuPont, Tata Steel Limited, Arconic, Westlake Chemical, Etex Group, James Hardie Industries PLC Competitive landscape The Polymer Concrete Industry is extremely competitive and consolidated because of the existence of several established companies that are adopting different marketing strategies in order to increase their market share. The vendors engaged in the sector are outlined based on price, quality, brand, product differentiation, and product portfolio. The vendors are gradually expanding their focus on product personalization by way of customer interaction. Polymer Concrete Market segment by Regions/Countries: United States, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, India, Central & South America. Go For Interesting Discount Here: https://www.reportsanddata.com/discount-enquiry-form/1744 Type Outlook (Volume, Kilo Tons; Revenue, USD Million; 2016-2026) • Epoxy • Polyester • Vinyl • Acrylate • Furan • Latex • Others Class type Outlook (Volume, Kilo Tons; Revenue, USD Million; 2016-2026) • Polymer Resin Concrete (PC) • Polymer Modified Concrete (PMC) • Polymer Impregnated Concrete (PIC) Binding Agent type Outlook (Volume, Kilo Tons; Revenue, USD Million; 2016-2026) • Synthetic agents • Natural agents Raw Materials type Outlook (Volume, Kilo Tons; Revenue, USD Million; 2016-2026) • Thermoset Resin • Lime Stone • Silica • Quartz End-user Type Outlook (Volume, Kilo Tons; Revenue, USD Million; 2016-2026) • Residential Structures • Infrastructures • Non-Residential Structures Application Type Outlook (Volume, Kilo Tons; Revenue, USD Million; 2016-2026) • Waste Containers • Containments • Flooring Blocks • Pump Bases • Trench Drains • Others Further key findings from the report suggest • The polymer concrete market held a market share of USD 456.4 Million in the year 2018. The market is expected to grow at a rate of 6.9% during the forecast period. • In regards to Type, the Epoxy segment generated the highest revenue of USD 146.1 Million in 2018 with the highest CAGR of 7.7% during the forecast period. Traits of this type of polymer concrete-like high resistivity to chemicals, creep resistance, and excellent adhesion are essential factors for its high demand in the construction sector that contributes to the revenue generated by this segment. • In context to class, the market has been segmented into Polymer Resin Concrete (PC), Polymer Impregnated Concrete (PIC), and Polymer Modified Concrete (PMC). The PMC segment generated the highest revenue of USD 241.9 Million in 2018 with a growth rate of 6.3% during the forecast period. The fact that this class of polymer concrete is required in a limited amount when used in construction purpose and its process technology is similar to conventional cement results in its high demand and associated revenue generated by it. Regional Outlook (Volume, Kilo Tons; Revenue, USD Billion; 2016-2026) • North America o U.S. • Europe o UK o France • Asia Pacific o China o India o Japan • MEA • Latin America o Brazil Access full Report Description, TOC, Table of Figure, Chart, etc. @ https://www.reportsanddata.com/press-release/global-cladding-systems-market

[malinallispeaks]

Day 9 - Research Using Beans

We woke up and decided we needed more tostadas. So we set out to the Coyocan market once more to eat, buy supplies for today’s research, and check out some of the other shops.

We saw some exquisitely crafted alebrijes, a Mexican style of art that goes back to prehispanic. Making these little creatures involves creating animal chimeras with and painting them with vivid colors. 

After that, a woman selling fruits saw Glen and I staring curiously at some fruits we’d never seen before and stopped us. She cracked jokes and fed us large quantities of fruits we hadn’t tried, as soon as we’d finished one type she was slicing into a new fruit and giving us samples. We bought a mamey, an ataulfo mango, and a fruit whose name I forget but was intensely soft, sweet, round, and was one of the fruits that the Nahua people of this valley enjoyed. 

She charged 90 pesos for the three pieces fruit, definitely overcharging, but we had such a good time chatting with her and having her show us around that we were happy to pay the turistas pendejos tax. 

We reminded each other to ALWAYS ask for the price of something before we get it.

Then we drove to UNAM: “The National Autonomous University of Mexico (Spanish: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, abbreviated as UNAM) [which] was founded in 1551, making it the oldest in North America. It is the largest university in Latin America and was ranked the best in Latin America, Spain and Portugal, and 95 in the world according to a study conducted by The Times and released in 2005,” (www.topuniversities.com)

We decided that students here would probably have a better grasp of the historical La Malinche than the average person on the street we interviewed. 

Our objective was simple: in the classroom, students have to decide whether La Malinche should be remembered as a hero, victim, or traitor. 

While this question is not terribly nuanced, is rather reductive, and can be answered in many different ways looking at many different contexts, it’s a question that 7th grade students were able to latch onto. 

It allowed them to judge her as a person and it forced them to understand the historical context she lived in for them to decide how her legacy should be seen. 

So we made three baskets, put out a bowl of dry beans, and asked passersby to vote by placing the bean in the corresponding basket (hero, victim, or traitor). Many people stopped to talk with us, to give interviews, or simply to ask us questions. 

The results: 

Hero: 14

Victim: 55

Traitor: 18

We got very interesting perspectives, but most people asserted the fact that her being a slave, and a woman, someone who was an object and property, was the strongest factor in considering her actions.

Many people also scoffed at her being a traitor. “A traitor to whom? The Aztec, the people she hated? Mexico didn’t exist yet!” 

They echoed one of out learning objectives. Although she’s been seen as a traitor for a long time for helping the Spanish, we want our students to understand what it means to be a traitor then question who exactly she was betraying by helping the Spanish forge allies against the Aztec and translating for Cortes. 

One woman commented on how that the strongest bonds and alliances we have are to our family, if she had a child with Cortes, why wouldn’t she be invested in protecting their success? Did this make her more aligned with the interests of the Spanish than that of the natives she lived and worked for? 

What struck Glen and I the most, however, was long people stopped and thought before casting their vote, and the group think that came with it.

Often, a whole group would stop and ponder the question for minutes, before the first person placed a bean. More often than not it went in the “victim” basket and more often than not, the rest of the group followed suit, casting their vote for victim as well. Glen and I wondered if the victim vote was the safest. After all, calling someone a hero or traitor is a personal and subjective judgement. It’s taking a side. Maybe it’s easier to defer to the trauma and limitations La Malinche’s oppression rather than ascribe value to her enormously significant actions. 

After spending hours there talking to people and counting the beans, we head back to Coyoacan to see the Frida Kahlo house and museum. We were very glad we bought a ticket ahead of time for a time slot since the line to enter wrapped around the block. 

I guess Frida Kahlo is synonymous with Mexican culture nowadays, and it’s not a stretch to call her the most important icon of Mexican culture and history to the rest of the world, so the lines weren’t all that surprising. 

 It was masterfully curated, and we got to see her wardrobe that was hidden away until recently. It also showed their house as it was, preserving the original artwork, kitchenware, personal affects, and furniture. 

It was an intimate look at the life of an artists I admire greatly.

After that we saw yet another store that had La Malinche’s name! 

We stopped by for some sangria soda, then we went to la Casa de los Tacos, a place Glen and I had been very excited about visiting.

They have delicious from scratch tacos, including a bunch of prehispanic tacos (mostly bugs and veggies) but also boar and veal, which were exquisite. 

Here are the baja style fish tacos we started with. The ones wrapped in banana leaves were the boar tacos which were my favorites. They were served with a side of sweet caramelized chipole in a balsamic style brine. I ended up putting this on all the tacos and regretted nothing! 

The food was so damn good I forgot to document the rest for y’all, but here are some pics I found on the internet, enjoy!

(Pics courtesy of TripAdvisor.com) 

I still dream of those tacos...