#its moma/date <3

[its-coda]

I come out of a depressive episode and the first thing i do is draw middle aged men yaoi

[cricketnationrise]

Ficlet Fest 👏🏻 Ficlet Fest 👏🏻 Ficlet Fest

5:17pm, Sheep’s Meadow (Central Park), Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor

FICLET FEST (my favorite time of year) enjoy!

read the rest of the ficlet fest 3 fills here

❤️🤍💙❤️🤍💙

central park, 5:17pm

With Alex down in DC for the weekend, Henry takes himself on a date around the city to distract himself. Yesterday had been filled with meandering his way through the MOMA and soliciting hole-in-the-wall falafel places from locals. (They’d actually answered him, too – sometimes being a prince has its perks.) 

Today he’d gotten lost in an indie bookstore for a few hours, trailing his fingers along spines of old favorites and plucking out new titles based solely upon, as Alex would say, the vibes. He thinks about going home and reading in the bay window of their bedroom, but the beautiful weather draws him toward Central Park instead. For once, David isn’t with him, so Henry has more options for where to fall into a new book. He’s been itching for a chance to visit in the Sheep Meadow or eat at the Tavern on the Green, so Henry lets his feet carry him to an unoccupied tree at the edge of the meadow, and settles in for a long reading bout.

He comes back to himself in stages. The delighted shriek of a nearby child pierces through the book fog. Then his arse starts to protest sitting on the ground for so long, not letting him dive back into the story. And then his stomach’s empty rumblings make themselves known, and Henry surrenders to his body’s needs. 

Regretfully, he picks up his things, says a silent, thankful goodbye to the tree and strolls away, taking the longest route possible to the restaurant. He’s hungry, yes, but he’s not in a rush to leave this section of the park. He can feel a small smile on his face when he remembers that the first anniversary of Stonewall was celebrated here.

The restaurant has just come into view when his phone buzzes in his pocket and Henry laughs when he sees the name on the screen; apparently Alex updated his own contact card (again) before he left for the White House.

Buttercup’s Strumpet I would never go against Zahra in any way shape or form but AT LEAST three of these meetings could have been an email Miss you

Miss you too Are you free enough for me to call you while I eat dinner? I’m getting a table outside.

Buttercup’s Strumpet Yes! Wait You’re outside??? I figured you were just going to drape yourself over the chaise like the world’s sluttiest blanket waiting for your man to return

Your mind is a wonder that should be studied.

Buttercup’s Strumpet :p Call whenever you’re ready sweetheart I wanna hear all about your day

❤️ Will do.

[pollyna]

AO3 First Lines Tag Game

Tagged by: @oftincturedwords (thank you for the tag! it looks like fun 👀)

Rules: Share the first lines of ten of your most recent fanfics and tag ten people. If you have written fewer than ten, don’t be shy and share anyway.

Did you see the drummer's hair? (wip, top gun, halo/phoenix)

Three a.m. in the morning, and even though the mission was over two months ago, insomnia clings to her body like a second skin she can shed away. It doesn't even matter how many times she calls Bradley in the middle of the night to make sure he's alive and she doesn't lose her best friend once and for all.

2. The adventures of Mr. Iceman and Baby Goose (wip, top gun, gen)

Mav says is good because they're going to bond, Carole nods and smiles and Bradley says Mr. Iceman moma always takes me to the candy shop on Sunday and Ice knows the kid is totally bullshitting him but then Carole asks if they can take some strawberries one and how Ice can say no, at that point?

3. You got MIA before our first (second) date (wip, top gun, warlock/cyclone)

Sicily sounds and looks like a dream after months of forced cohabitation in some bumfuck port in the northern part of Russia, with people who wanted them there even less than they did. Despite its name, Archangel doesn't have anything of the holiness the name promised if one doesn't consider the white of the snow that never seems to end, and when it does, it paves the way for the ice and wind. And even if it's just twenty-four hours before their new assignment somewhere in the world, everyone is hoping for a place with lenient weather. Something in the air makes Warlock carefully optimistic.

4. The good parts (complete, top gun, pre-relationship)

Ice knows there is something important because Slider's head is against his shoulder, but the man is watching the flowers on the table and not the match he had spent all day talking about. And when Ice says he spent all day talking about the match, he means Slider even doodled the teams' logos on his notes, but he has the nagging sensation something did happen between class and when he was on a date with Mav.

5. My kind of love (complete, top gun, halo/phoenix)

Callie doesn't really care about Valentine's day, she never has and probably never will. (When she was in primary school, Valentine's Day was when her favourite teacher baked chocolate cupcakes for the entire class and created silly and funny math exercises that always gave heart-shaped results.)

6. Say it first (complete, top gun, iceman/maverick)

Maverick is observant—maybe not all the time and about everything and everyone around him, but when he wants, he can notice things that most people miss. And Iceman Kazansky? He ends up on his radar for so many different reasons, and Mav can't stop noticing stuff about him, from his favourite type of gum to that little nagging fact that Slider's always asking Ice if it's okay to touch him.

7. Oh, you're the best friend that I ever had. (complete, top gun, iceman&slider)

It's a random morning when Ice writes down I miss flying and doesn't add anything else. Slider doesn't even know if he was supposed to see it or not, but he would take him up himself if Tom wasn't so tired these days. He can barely walk and has to use the wheelchair for most things, and it breaks Ron knowing his best friend is missing the only thing nobody can give him.

8. Halfway home. (complete, ncis, di nozzo/mcgee & di nozzo/david)

Sleep deprivation tastes like coffee with too much sugar on Timothy's lips, looks like three-day stubble and sounds like someone who shallowed an entire fucking encyclopaedia that's getting spewed up all together. It's hell.  

9. Lay be me. (complete, top gun, iceman/maverick)

It has been a day, or maybe a week or an entire year, and Ice can feel the tiredness setting in his bones, the way it makes space in every fragment of his being because he's simply done. Tired, over-stressed, over-caffeinated and sleep-deprived but he knows it's going to be worth it all in the long run, even if every day is a fight against people and his own capacity of not snapping and punching some fucking Senator in the face. 

10. Rise up (complete, top gun, callie halo shen)

The first punch feels liberatory and she feels even better when Bang doesn't stay down. The second punch is another hit because the man thinks he's a big deal but she can't remember him passing a single self-defence class.

No pressure tag: @redhead-writes, @the-ace-with-spades, @semperhuggs, @bearsinpotatosacks, @destinedtobeloved, @icemankazansky, @derpinathebrave, @ettaberrytea, @xihe1874,, @struggling-with-space

[thefandomjournalist]

What Does the Past Say About the Future of Art in Vegas? 

In the past decade, Las Vegas has put effort into undergoing a massive shift in local art. Vegas will never have the MOMA, or the Louvre. We will never have Stonehenge or the gorgeous Niagara Falls. No natural wonders, no nationally recognized art museums, and no heart. We have  Immersive Van Gogh, The Arte Museum, and The Fantasy Lab. And other virtual, high tech, gimmicky exhibits that come and go in six months. That’s because the real heart of the city is off the strip. Omega Mart is the only exception. Seriously, it’s closing soon, check it out while you can. It’s a whirlwind of weirdness, creativity, and local art. But to understand why Vegas is heading in this direction, and why local art may be suffering for it, we need to look to the past. 

In the beginning, there was no art. Well, not exactly. Las Vegas was a different kind of city with very unique focuses back in the day. According to the Special Archives at the University of Las Vegas, Nevada, the earliest art museum in the city is dated back to 1950, but it wasn’t an official museum until 1974. 

Vegas was not made for art. It had to be built by hand, with the effort of many artists and hours of work. The Las Vegas Art Museum was famous for its spot in beginning art history, but even it couldn’t last to Vegas’s modern era. I spoke to Kirby Brownell, an artist living and working in the city since 2000, who said art here is struggling. Brownell, who has been creating since 3 years old, is a curator and creator for several artists and exhibits around town. One of the most high profile is Katherine Gianaclis. You may recognize her work from murals in several casinos on the strip like Caesar’s Palace, MGM, Sahara, Circus Circus, and so many more. 

A mural painted by Gianaclis, unknown location. Shown on gianaclis.com 

She was an earlier contributor to the art in Vegas, who “helped birth the movement” said Brownell. But before her, and people like Brownell in the 90’s and 2000’s, the city never cared for cultivating young artists. And it arguably still does not. 

I spoke to Dr. Sole, the communications specialist at the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art on UNLV’s campus, who seconded this. “Is Vegas heading anywhere?” she said when asked of the future of art in the city. There is still no large-scale art museum in the city, despite attempts from locals. Brownell notes galleries have risen and shut down quickly due to high rent, low revenue, and a general lack of interest. Dr. Sole notes the push towards soulless, tech driven experiences and exhibitions. That the art scene goes up and down, with no consistent scale unlike other major cities. Brownell notes the same. 

Despite Vegas’s attempts to be like Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and every major hub in the United States, we are failing in what matters most. She states that major cities have more options, but the competition is just as high. Brownell agrees. “Manhattan is full of art, but it’s risky”. He said it is partly because of flooding in the areas art has been pushed to, adding a level of danger and carelessness even artists in New York face. Vegas is suffering this in a similar way, with the city pushing their best experiences towards the Strip and keeping everything else out. According to casino.org’s article ‘Police to Evict Homeless From Las Vegas Tunnels Ahead of Super Bowl’ by Corey Levitan and a tip from UNLV professor Steve Salerno, the city has recruited retired police to sweep out the homeless on and under the Strip in a move called ‘Hiding the Homeless’. A controversial choice for sure, but not an uncommon one. 

With ruthlessness in the city growing, our beloved Strip itself has fallen victim to the folly of the future in many ways. After questioning locals, and reading the article ‘Las Vegas continues to walk in the shadow of Los Angeles’ by David Colborne, our home is striving to become Los Angeles. But not just that, to be a hub of technology, highways, industrialism  and innovation. Many of  us remember the infamous Hyperloop, an experimental bullet train developed by Elon Musk that was not to be. Self driving cars made their way to the Strip, only to be quickly hated and bashed by locals and tourists alike, as observed on social media. The city is host to the first ever NFT art gallery, the JRNY Gallery on Main Street. Automated food delivery robots have found their way onto UNLV’s campus. And who can even count anymore the growing number of digital and projection based exhibitions and experiences that have even begun to spread off the Strip into our beloved city. I shudder at the mention of the Selfie Museum. 

Should we be afraid? Knowing what we know, and seeing how the future has already come for us, what does it mean for everyone who lives, breathes, bleeds and creates that calls Las Vegas home? My interviews would lead one to grim thoughts. “There is no medium”, says Dr. Sole. Local contemporary artists will never become these high-tech gods of modern art. Everyone I spoke to reiterated that art is unstable, and there is no guarantee in the struggle to create. But as Brownell says, “the struggle keeps you alive”. And what does Vegas know more than struggle? Articles from Fox, The Las Vegas Review Journal, The Daily Mail, and Data USA show the homeless population is rising and our poverty rate is at 14.9%. While not the highest, it is higher than the state’s average rate of 12.5%. 

This is no reason to lose hope. Dr. Sole states despite our instability, “what is good is we’re heading toward modern and diverse art”. The use of screens and technology also does not automatically make your work bad. “What is genuine really?” questioned Dr. Sole when asked about the low effort that seems to go into these modern exhibits. “Something on a big screen can be art, it could work”. Anything is possible, as it always has been. But what will happen is up to us. 

“Variation is the key to happiness,” says Brownell. What this really means is our future is full of potential. Billionaire and philanthropist Elaine Wynn and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art are collaborating to open a new 90,000 square foot branch in downtown. 

Downtown Las Vegas, from Expedia.com 

This is the biggest opportunity the local artists of Vegas have had in a long time. The famous Omega Mart commissioned locals for its strange, creativity filled exhibition. Locals have put much effort into creating and sharing art on their own too. Brownell himself has put up several exhibitions, has curated for several locals over the years, and offers acceptance to any art coming from anywhere. He says Vegas has peaked in art, but I don’t agree. Dr. Sole mentioned the upcoming LACMA and Wynn collaboration could overlook locals, making it the new MOMA, and defeating the purpose of bringing real art to the city. But she keeps hope as I do. Multiple library branches have galleries of their own, full of local art. While the Barrick Museum doesn’t typically host student art, the school itself, in part with the efforts of Jerry Schefcik, welcomes art and student run experiences. 

Locals have been doing the same thing for a long time, but with the future coming like a freight truck, we have exciting challenges ahead of us. It is on us to make the future we want happen. Visit the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art, go to Gianaclis.com, visit The Arts Factory, find that small gallery, and find somewhere like Recycled Propaganda on Main Street to immerse yourself in what the real people of our home have to offer. Do what you can to support the future of art in the Neon City. 

[whatsonmedia]

7 Must-See Exhibitions: A Curated Guide to the Art World

Explore art's boundless realm through captivating exhibitions. From "Women in Revolt" at Tate Britain to Shinji Ohmaki's installations in "Interface of Being" at The National Art Centre, Tokyo, let art ignite your imagination. Enrich your soul with new perspectives. Feminist Art: 'Women in Revolt' at Tate Britain Experience the powerful voices of over 100 women artists, showcasing the dynamic range of works in Britain from 1970 to 1990. From the women's liberation movement to punk, and the visibility of Black and South Asian women artists, this exhibition at Tate Britain celebrates the resilience and creativity of British women. In a world where women's representation in art collections lags behind, 'Women in Revolt' is a vital celebration of their impactful contributions. When: 8 November 2023 - 7 April 2024 Where: Tate Britain For mere> https://www.tate.org.uk/ Grace Wales Bonner—Spirit Movers' Discover the 16th installment of MoMA’s 'Artist’s Choice' series curated by acclaimed fashion designer Grace Wales Bonner. Explore approximately 50 artworks reflecting Black cultural and aesthetic practices from the African diaspora. Immerse yourself in the intersection of musicality, storytelling, and cultural narratives chosen by Wales Bonner, featuring artists like Terry Adkins, Betye Saar, and David Hammons. When: Nov. 18, 2023—Apr. 7, 2024 Where: MoMA, 11 W 53rd St, New York, NY 10019, United States For mere> https://press.moma.org AN ENGLISH COUNTRY GARDEN, Henrietta Abel Smith Immerse yourself in the captivating world of Henrietta Abel Smith's exhibition from November 15 to December 3. Witness her mastery, from grand portraits to vibrant depictions of flowers, fruit, and unconventional subjects like 'dead mackerel.' Dates: November 15 - December 3 Venue: The Osborne Studio Gallery. London For mere> www.osg.uk.com 'Burma to Myanmar' at The British Museum Explore Myanmar's complex journey over the last 1,500 years, from a pivotal player in Asian trade routes to its annexation by the British in the 19th century. This major exhibition, running from November 2, 2023, to February 11, 2024, at The British Museum, employs art and artifacts to narrate the nation's history. Delve into the transformation from an influential superpower to a repressive regime and gain insights into the headlines surrounding the country's treatment of minority ethnic groups today. Don't miss this opportunity to witness the evolution of Myanmar at a crucial crossroads. When: November 2, 2023 - February 11, 2024 Where: The British Museum For mere> https://www.britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/burma-myanmar Shinji Ohmaki's 'Interface of Being' Embark on a sensory journey with Shinji Ohmaki's transformative installations, transcending borders and mediums. From Nov. 1 to Dec. 25, 2023, Ohmaki invites you to explore the 'Interface of Being' at The National Art Center, Tokyo. Illuminated by celestial rhythms, his work intertwines primeval life and our timeless connection with nature. Immerse yourself in this profound exhibition, a fusion of video, sound, and poetry, enhanced by live performances, offering a rare sense of organic integration in our fragmented world. When: Nov. 1—Dec. 25, 2023 where: National Art Centre Tokyo, Roppongi, 7 Chome−22−2, Minato City, Tokyo, Japan For mere> https://www.nact.jp/english/exhibition_special/2023/ohmaki/ '2023 Wolfgang Hahn Prize: Francis Alÿs' Join us for the opening reception and award ceremony on Friday, Nov. 17, at 6:30 pm, as we honor the remarkable artist Francis Alÿs with the 2023 Wolfgang Hahn Prize. His diverse body of work, spanning painting, drawing, installations, video, photography, and performances, will be showcased in the exhibition curated by Yilmaz Dziewior. From Nov. 18, 2023, to Apr. 7, 2024, explore Alÿs's artistry at Museum Ludwig in Cologne, Germany, as he examines complex social realities through simple artistic gestures, addressing issues like migration, demarcations, and the consequences of globalization. When: Nov. 18, 2023—Apr. 7, 2024 Where: Museum Ludwig, Heinrich-Böll-Platz, 50667 Köln, Germany For mere> https://www.museum-ludwig.de Semiose Presents: Philemona Williamson's 'The Borders of Innocence' Experience the enchanting world of Philemona Williamson's "visual poems" at Semiose in Paris from Nov. 18 to Dec. 30, 2023. With a career spanning over 40 years, Williamson weaves narratives rooted in the complexities of her unique childhood. Her paintings, resembling palimpsests, showcase youthful bodies, toys, and flora in vibrantly colored dreamscapes. Through fragmented and mysterious stories, 'The Borders of Innocence' invites interpretation, blending personal and universal narratives in large-format works that capture the beauty, drama, and vagaries of innocence. When: Nov. 18—Dec. 30, 2023 Where: Semiose, 44 R. Quincampoix, 75004 Paris, France For mere> https://semiose.com Read the full article

[katrinastaitf3000]

The artist’s garden at Vétheuil (no date) Art Object Page. Available at: https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.52189.html (Accessed: 08 November 2023).

Previous work - Nessie Ramm (2022) nessie ramm - contemporary landscape artist. Available at: https://nessieramm.co.uk/previous-work/ (Accessed: 08 November 2023).

Jungbauer, J. (2019) Intricate collages of cities by Anastasia Savinova, IGNANT. Available at: https://www.ignant.com/2016/03/01/intricate-collages-of-cities-by-anastasia-savinova/ (Accessed: 08 November 2023).

Cirrus clouds (no date) Met Office. Available at: https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/learn-about/weather/types-of-weather/clouds/high-clouds/cirrus (Accessed: 08 November 2023).

(No date) Vincent van Gogh. the starry night. Saint Rémy, June 1889 | moma. Available at: https://www.moma.org/collection/works/79802 (Accessed: 08 November 2023).

About Labyrinth by Mark Wallinger: Labyrinth (2016) Labyrinth |. Available at: https://art.tfl.gov.uk/labyrinth/about/ (Accessed: 08 November 2023).

(No date a) Matt Peers. Available at: https://www.mattpeers.photography/ (Accessed: 08 November 2023).

Gunseli Yalcinkaya |3 October 2018 Leave a comment (2019) Rick Owens sets runway on fire at Paris fashion week show, Dezeen. Available at: https://www.dezeen.com/2018/10/03/rick-owens-spring-summer-2019-show-paris-fashion-week/ (Accessed: 08 November 2023).

Admin (2022) Henriette Ousbäck, the keeper of the fire, 2013., TextileArtist.org. Available at: https://www.textileartist.org/henriette-ousback-stitches-upon-stitches/henrietteousback-eldvakten/ (Accessed: 08 November 2023).

Trigg, D. (no date) Albert Reuss, Studio International: Visual Arts, Design and Architecture. Available at: https://www.studiointernational.com/albert-reuss-review-truro-cathedral-newlyn-art-gallery-holocaust-memorial-day#:~:text=Woman%20Reading%20with%20Mother%2Din,%2C%20Rosa%20(n%C3%A9e%20Feinstein). (Accessed: 08 November 2023).

Kieron Cropper - Picture interview (2015) Kollektiv Gallery. Available at: https://www.kollektivgallery.com/artists/kieron-cropper/ (Accessed: 08 November 2023).

Stitched botanicals (no date) HILLARY WATERS FAYLE. Available at: https://www.hillarywfayle.com/new-page-5 (Accessed: 08 November 2023).

Dmitry (2019) Artist paints creatures she sees ‘living’ in the walls due to Pareidolia, Design You Trust. Available at: https://designyoutrust.com/2019/03/artist-paints-creatures-she-sees-living-in-the-walls-due-to-pareidolia/ (Accessed: 08 November 2023).

Snail trail 1 - limited edition 1 of 1 art print (no date) Saatchi Art. Available at: https://www.saatchiart.com/art/Printmaking-Snail-Trail-1-Limited-Edition-1-of-1/423916/3349282/view (Accessed: 08 November 2023).

(No date a) Banksy. Available at: https://www.banksy.co.uk/out.html (Accessed: 12 November 2023).

Hydrangea by colour (no date a) Hydrangeas by colour / RHS Gardening. Available at: https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/hydrangea/shrubby/by-colour (Accessed: 12 November 2023).

Dezeen. (2015). Fall dress by Birce Ozkan drops its panels like leaves. [online] Available at: https://www.dezeen.com/2015/06/03/fall-interactive-dress-parsons-fashion-graduate-birce-ozkan-drops-panels-seasons-autumn-leaves/ [Accessed 12 Nov. 2023].

‌Saxby, C. (no date) CAROLYN SAXBY MIXED MEDIA TEXTILE ART. https://www.carolynsaxby.co.uk/ [Accessed 12 Nov. 2023].

Dazed (2018). The artist using synesthesia to interpret this season’s scents on canvas. [online] Dazed. Available at: https://www.dazeddigital.com/beauty/article/41840/1/synesthesia-this-seasons-scents-on-canvas [Accessed 12 Nov. 2023].

[startagainaprologue]

little work in progress list of who everyone is in the pokemon au!!! not everyone is listed on there (some for spoiler reasons since i want to keep the list spoiler free rn. others because theyre rlly minor characters that i will probably try to figure out last) and not everyone listed has pokemon assigned to them yet but i think im happy with the list so far?

(put under the cut since its long)

(BTW!! big thanks to my friend @flyhighaangle for helping me with some of these choices ^_^!!!)

Date: Meowstic (shiny)

Aiba: Morpeko (hamster form.) Zoroark (Hisuian form or a combo of both hisuian form and unovan form) (somnium form)

Boss: Lycanroc (midnight form)

Pewter: Flygon (???. may be changed in the future?)

Mizuki: Riolu (lucario in nirvana initiative)

Shoko: Lucario (<- she does not deserve a pokemon like lucario :/)

Renju: Kantonian Persian

Iris: Sylveon

Hitomi: Leafeon or Audino (or flareon??? maybe.)

Ota: bunnelby (???. may be changed in the future?)

Mayumi: Diggersby (???. may be changed in the future?)

Takero: ???

So: Gumshoos

Mama: ???

Moma: ???

Rohan: ???

#89: Absol or Mightyena

Amame: Brionne or Primarina

Kagami: ???

Ritsuko: ???

if anyone wants too!! feel free to make any suggestions :3!

[reveriecorridor]

for the relationships game tell me about. kizzylien. go. go. go. go

getting blocked by half of tumblr speedrun any% [JOKE]

also good god im putting this under a readmore

describe their canon relationship/dynamic

christ. i dont even know how to put this one into words. kizuna obviously is a bit more detached from lien pre-timeskip bc. she doesnt know him. but he loves her. and he wants to prove that to her. its all about working through their issues and actually building their relationship on Trust. kizzy learns to trust lien, lien reinforces that he'll be there for her, no matter what.

theyre there for each other unconditionally, it just takes them a bit to See That.

your ideal/headcanon version of it? how does it differ from how it is in canon & why is this your favorite version? any other alternate versions of it you enjoy?

oh my god honestly i dont think my Ideal is much different GVJBKH54GN like theyre amazing as is. my only real Different Thing about them is just lien being a lot less Intense when he first meets kizuna, u know? like i get its like. thats just how lien Is, hes stupid and passionate, and mostly played for laughs (and, arguably, in a much better way than freaking. ota and moma also getting played for laughs) but i would personally tone it down juuuust a bit <3

what do you like about their relationship, why is it interesting or enjoyable to you?

auuuuuuuuhty9550085h4 god where do i start. god WHERE DO I START!!! like immediately uchikoshi already sold me on not going the weird "im going to wait until ur older SPECIFICALLY to date you :)" like. lien actually being onboard with kizuna's suggestion of waiting 6 years to see if their relationship either changes for the better or worse is... its sweet. it actually says alot about lien. like hes not the smartest guy maybe but he's still all in for respecting kizuna's boundaries when the topic of the time capsule gets brought up. and i rlly love that detail pre-timeskip :)

but. god. post-timeskip? literally EVERYTHING about them is interesting to me bc it means Everything to me. lien still loves kizuna. kizuna has come to love lien. but theyre both working through different layers of guilt (lien feels personally responsible for not being able to protect kizzy, kizzy is working through both blaming herself for putting her friends in danger AND not feeling worthy of being on the receiving end of lien's affection bc she thinks he only stays out of pity.)

which is. not true. they both have come to care about the other. but theyre both so deep into it they almost end up breaking up if it werent for mizuki going Out Of Her Way to prove them both wrong. like thats what they NEED. they NEED an outsider to just. break their walls down. make them See whats there already.

and while i dont think it needed to have been mizuki specifically (it couldve been ryuki. I WISH IT COULDVE BEEN RYUKI THEYRE HAPPY BC OF RYUKIS SMART IDEA) their relationship is just. its jsut so good i love it. also they IMMEDIATELY get bonus points bc kizuna's disability isnt treated as a joke, and lien doesnt have any sort of weird bullshit arc of "am i gonna be able to love her now that shes like this" or whatever the hell else ableds can come up with.

what about the individual characters involved? what does this relationship mean to them, what makes it unique among their relationships?

uuu uuuuuuuuuuuuuu Remembering when i went off to you during ur aini streams abt how both kizuna and lien are like... theyre similar. theyre both seeking a meaningful Connection with someone. they want that in their lives. and lien is Perfect for this bc it helps kizuna break out of her lonely rich kid shell. she needs this sort of influence in her life to help her see "hey, maybe this isnt so bad after all." and while it isnt outright Said, them both realizing theyre exactly what each other needs makes them unbelievably happy once they patch up. i love it. its about finding the person who makes u happy and "completes" u and being able to love them unconditionally no matter what!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

favorite interaction they have in canon

SHOUTOUTS TO THIS SPECIFICALLY.

favorite interaction they have in your head/a situation you want to put them in

HONESTLY. I CANT THINK OF ANY IN DETAIL OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD? like ok maybe i wish we got more in the kizzylien ending bc them running off and eloping is actually rlly funny to me and i wish we got to see them being up to smth cute idk!!!

[bopinion]

Book of the month / 2021 / 04 April

I love books. Even though I hardly read any. Because my library is more like a collection of tomes, coffee-table books, limited editions... in short: books in which not "only" the content counts, but also the editorial performance, the presentation, the curating of the topic - the book as a total work of art itself.

björk :archives. A retrospective

Klaus Biesenbach

Monograph / 2015 / Schirmer/Mosel Publishing House

Iceland, the land of geysers, the largest volcanic island on the planet. Home of the Icelandic pony with its exclusive gait of the tölt and the most active literary community in the world. Soccer mecca and most sparsely populated country in Europe. Icelandic names - for example the highest mountain Hvannadalshnúkur - are hardly pronounceable, although the alphabet does not even know many common letters such as C, W, Q and Z. There is a separate holiday for seafarers and a division of time into 3-hour periods starting at midnight. 16 German cities each have more inhabitants than all of Iceland, which has therefore its own dating app to prevent relatives who are biologically too close from mating. It's a fascinating country.

Given the size of the country, it's probably no wonder that Iceland's pop cultural influence internationally is rather limited. Despite the Nobel Prize for Literature winner Halldór Laxness, whose work I don't know, and the crime series The Valhalla Murderers, which I know thanks to Netflix. But wait - wasn't there something else? Yes, that's right, Iceland has a globally successful Gesamtkunstwerk named Björk. Her contributions to music, video, film, fashion and art have influenced a generation worldwide.

Björk Guðmundsdóttir, born in Reykjavík in 1965, has made a name for herself as a singer, music producer, composer, songwriter and actress with a broad interest in different types of music, including pop music, electronic music, trip-hop, alternative rock, jazz, folk music and classical music. To date, she has sold over 20 million albums worldwide. Certainly not only because of the seemingly endless variability of her compositions, but also because of her voice, which one can confidently call unmistakable. She causes goose bumps, whether you like her music or not.

Little Björk attended music school at the age of five and was taught singing, piano and flute, among other things, for ten years. One of the teachers sent a recording of her singing the song "I Love To Love" by Tina Charles to a radio station. The broadcast was heard and liked by an employee of the Icelandic record publisher Fálkinn and subsequently offered her a recording contract - when she was eleven years old. With the help of her stepfather, who played guitar, she recorded her first album. It contained various Icelandic children's songs and cover versions of popular titles, such as "Fool on the Hill" by the Beatles. The album became a great national success.

At 14, Björk formed the girl punk group Spit and Snot, the maximum contrast program to the children's songs. This was followed by the fusion jazz group Exodus, later Tappi Tíkarrass and Kukl (Icelandic for witchcraft), with whom she developed her signature vocal style. First foreign tours to England and West Berlin followed. Then in 1986 came the formation of the band Pukl, later renamed The Sugarcubes. The first single brought respectable success in England and USA, The Sugarcubes reached cult status. The first record deal with Elektra Records led to the album "Life's too good" in 1988, making them the first Icelandic band ever to become world famous.

The transformation into a total work of art began in 1992 at the latest with Björk's move to London. The first solo album, appropriately named "Debut," became the album of the year according to New Musical Express. Now even Madonna wanted to have a whole album written by Björk, but it remained with the title track "Bedtime Story", she remained true to herself and her love of experimentation. The New York based news magazine "Time" named her the "high priestess of art" and in 2015 put her on the list of the 100 most influential people on earth. She rounded off her visual extravaganza, that even her wardrobe was prominently featured in the major retrospective at New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).

Schirmer/Mosel Verlag is an art book publisher in Munich founded in 1974 by Lothar Schirmer and the commercial artist Erik Mosel. Schirmer became friends with artists such as Cy Twombly and Joseph Beuys at a young age and began collecting their works. By buying and reselling art prints and drawings, he earned the start-up capital for his publishing house. With his publishing debut, he ensured the rediscovery of August Sander, a visual artist of the Weimar Republic. There were various publishing collaborations with the MoMA, and in 2015 there was also the retrospective mentioned above. And of course, in keeping with the protagonist, the publication had to become a work of art itself.

"björk :archives" comes in an elegant slipcase containing six parts: four booklets, a paperback and a folded catalogue raisonné poster with the covers of all Björk albums. A closer look is worthwhile: first there is a thematic introduction by the editor and exhibition curator at the MoMA, Klaus Biesenbach. Then an illustrated essay by Alex Ross, music critic of the New Yorker, which deals with Björk's creative dissolution of musical and aesthetic boundaries. Another by Nicola Dibben, professor of musicology at the University of Sheffield, on Björk's creativity and collaborations. And the collected e-mail correspondence similar to a pen pal relationship between Björk and American publicist, philosopher and literary scholar Timothy Morton.

The book itself, the centerpiece of the edition, is about Björk's seven major albums and the characters she created for them. Poetic texts by Icelandic author Sjón, with whom Björk has long collaborated, are joined by a veritable treasure trove of illustrations: Photos of live performances, stills from the music videos of masters like Michel Gondry or Spike Jonze, Björk in stunning costumes by designers like Hussein Chalayan or Alexander McQueen, and PR shots by star photographers like the duo Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin or provocateur Araki.

The design of the publication quotes music scores and comes from the renowned Parisian design studio M/M. It all adds up to an extraordinary visual masterpiece, a tribute to the magical world of Björk. And that at an hardly believable price of € 19.80. A reviewer on Amazon (no, you shouldn't shop there - support local businesses!) sums it up: "This is a collection of art, stories and references very well organized and assembled with care. The price does absolutely not represent how valuable this product is, I am positively surprised." Positively surprising - that could truly be Björk's mission statement.

Björk's music itself is so rich in pictorial statements that it doesn't really need any exuberantly creative videos to go with it. Therefore, according to Slant Magazine, her best video is her first, relatively simple one: "Big Time sensuality" from her "Debut" album purely shows her joy in music. Here's the link:

https://youtu.be/-wYmq2Vz5yM

[weil-weil-lautre]

There is little straightforward about postmodernism, much less its architectural strain. Historians of architecture can’t even agree on the timing of its emergence. While many trace its first stirrings to the late ’60s, when Robert Venturi penned Complexity and Contradiction, Charles Jencks offered up the much more precise moment of July 15, 1972, at 3:32 p.m. But if Jencks’s almost clinical chronology implies a particular place—the razed grounds of Pruitt-Igoe in St. Louis—his peers generally agreed that the context was North American, or perhaps postwar Japanese. Fredric Jameson, a literary critic with an eye for architecture, famously described the new “hyperspace” that developed under late capitalism as an aesthetic expression of its cultural logic. Yet for the most part he circumscribed the operation of this logic to the First World, in step with other theorists.

Second World Postmodernisms: Architecture and Society under Late Socialism, a collection of essays by various authors, challenges such received wisdom. From the late 1960s until the end of the Cold War, architects in the Eastern Bloc made a conscious effort to reintroduce ornament, historical reference, and irony into their projects. If they often carried out this work in dialogue with postmodern architects on the other side of the Iron Curtain, they could also be daring. Their designs, whether echoing their Western counterparts or sui generis, stemmed from a common impulse, contend the contributors to Second World Postmodernisms. Editor Vladimir Kulić, who co-organized a landmark 2018 MoMA exhibit on Yugoslavian architecture, lays out the stakes of their argument in an insightful introduction. “Postmodernism appears to be—to paraphrase Jameson—the cultural logic of late socialism,” writes Kulić, “whether in its revived commercial motivations, nationalist aspirations, or the self-conscious retreat from everyday practice into paper architecture.” Late socialism, he rightly notes, had a far more definite end date than its capitalist correlate.

[clarestrand]

Girl in Two Halves is the 4th print to be released for the Photographers Gallery Golden Editions, celebrating their 50th Anniversary.

The fourth release in TPG’s 50th Anniversary ‘Golden Editions’ series is this playful image by British photographer, Clare Strand (b.1973, Sevenoaks, UK).

Girl in Two Halves, 2007, is part of the series Conjurations, which continues Strand’s long-standing interest in the camera's supposed ability to record the metaphysical. It further explores photography’s fraught relationship to magic and the visualisation of the mysterious, the unseen or the spiritual - in particular its ability to make us believe what we know cannot be true. 

Girl in Two Halves  is intended to be simultaneously believed and disbelieved, to evoke questions as to how and why we believe in technical images the way we do.

Strand describes herself as ‘an artist working with and against the photographic medium’. Over the past three decades, she has worked with found imagery, kinetic machinery, web programmes, fairground attractions and most recently, large scale paintings. She fuses conceptual thinking and traditional photographic processes to create a narrative ambiguity which both exposes and hides the focus of her explorations. Strand favours a subtle, slow-burn approach to the medium, based less on the immediacy of information so often associated with the photographic image, and more on what lies beneath, behind and beyond the surface.

Clare Strand’s work was first shown at The Photographers’ Gallery in 2008 as part of the exhibition Seeing is Believing. In 2020 Strand was nominated for the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize - an annual award, originated by The Photographers’ Gallery, to recognise and support the most innovative, original and relevant photography project within a given year.

Girl in Two Halves, 2007 has been widely exhibited across the UK and Europe and is part of the Arts Council Collection. Strand chose this image to be the wrap around front cover of her first monograph published by Steidl and Photoworks in 2009. Strand’s work has been shown in venues such as The Museum Folkwang; The Centre Pompidou; Tate Britain; Salzburg Museum of Modern Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Her work is held in the collections of MOMA; SFMoma; The V&A; The Centre Pompidou; The British Council; The McEvoy Collection; The Arts Council; The NY Public Library; The Uni Credit Bank; The Mead Museum and Cornell University. She has produced 3 publications to date: Clare Strand Monograph published by Steidl (2009), Skirts published by GOST (2014) and Girl Plays with Snake published by MACK (2017). Clare is represented by Parrotta Contemporary Art, Cologne/Bonn.

TPG Golden Edition # 4: Girl in Two Halves, 2007', part of the series Conjurations © Clare Strand

Girl in Two Halves, 2007', part of the series Conjurations © Clare Strand

Edition of 25

Image size: 10” x 12” with 1mm white border

Digital Fibre based Print From £650 + VAT

For further information please enquire at Print Sales Gallery

[architectuul]

FOMA 45: International Style, Structure and Space

Guillermo Dürig selected five projects for this month’s FOMA. Cases are part of the International Style in North America and Europe, which share modernist principles of volume, regularity and flexibility. Their large-scale structures offer various solutions for public programs creating new spatial typologies and constructive synergies while transcending the classic disciplines of architecture and engineering with specific and unique solutions.

Morphological implementation of the large - scale structure in the context of the city. | Collage MvdR office, © MoMA, New York, scanned from: Phyllis Lambert, Mies van der Rohe in America, Montréal and New York 2001, p. 462.

The two-tone aluminium panels make the structure of the Chicago Convention Hall Project. | Model MvdR office, © MoMA, New York, scanned from: Phyllis Lambert, Mies van der Rohe in America, p. 473.

The entire hall of the Chicago Convention Hall Project rests on the peripheral pillars. | Drawing MvdR office, © MoMA, New York, scanned from: Phyllis Lambert, Mies van der Rohe in America, p. 467.

Mies van der Rohe created his Chicago Convention Hall Project (1953-54) in which the clear-span roof shelter of 219,45x219,45 m creates a polyvalent hall defining a universal space able to host 50’000 seated people and a sports arena or an exhibition space. The exposed structure is engineered as a non-hierarchical two-way truss system resting on punctual supports, aiming for greatest purity following Mies’ ideal: “Construction not only determines form but is form itself.” [1] The composition of the façade is directly derived from the trusses and cladded with different tonalities of insulated aluminium panels, making its constructive logic of the buildings main expression. The hall itself, as the largest of four buildings, sits in the centre of a plane field, flanked by smaller box-shaped volumes in a typical Miesian composition. There is no need for spatial or morphological mediation to the surrounding city as stated by Mies: “A Hall of this dimension doesn’t depend on its environment: it creates its environment.”[2]

The second case is a student Master Thesis by Emmanuel Glyniadakis, entitled A sports centre (1964) under the supervision of Myron Goldsmith, Fazlur Kahn and Davis Sharpe. A minimal structure defines the space for an arena, a track with field area, a swimming pool and a flexible area for diverse sporting activities under an 810-foot-square (246,88x246,88 m) roof.

A minimalistic architecture shelters various functions. | Photo © Charles Reynolds, scanned from: Myron Goldsmith; Werner Blaser (Ed.), Buildings and Concepts, New York 1987, p. 153.

Functions as detached elements on a plane grid. | Photo © Charles Reynolds, scanned from: Werner Blaser (Ed.), Buildings and Concepts, p. 152.

Ground level with different sports arenas in the open space. | Plan © Emmanuel Glyniadakis, from: Werner Blaser (Ed.), Buildings and Concepts, p. 151.

The steel structure consists of a two-way grid with a height of 5,18 m and rests on nine pillars. While the grandstands in the convention hall are sunk into the ground, the project arranges the different elements like furniture objects on a plane field, creating a formal composition. A glazed wall along the roof’s periphery seamlessly shelters the program with the public space expanding as a continuous grid from the inside to the outside. The project’s architectural expression is characterised by the minimal and consequent expression of the structure and its programmatic infills.

Franz Füeg has created a grid based on the dimension of 1,68 m served as basis for the church’s strict modularity and final dimensions of 37,3m by 25,6m. The facade of the St. Pius Church in Meggen (Switzerland) consists of steel profiles, which don’t only hold the marble panels in place, but also support the main structure made out of filigree and custom-made trusses. 

Overview over the church, the bell tower and adjacent buildings for the parish (left). | Photo: Archives de la construction moderne (ACM), EPF Lausanne, taken from: Kunst + Architektur in der Schweiz, 56, 2005, p. 56.

The 28mm thick Pantelikom marble from Athens filters the daylight and illuminates the space evenly. | Photo © Archives de la construction moderne (ACM), EPF Lausanne, from: Kunst + Architektur in der Schweiz, 2005, p. 57.

Diagonal wind bracings in the four corners stabilize the structure. The sloping topography of the site exposes a concrete base acting as a precise and sober volume for the lightweight church to sit on. The industrial use of steel as well as the project’s modularity bases on what Füeg had conceptually described as “start building a church as if it would be a factory.” [3]

The floor plan of the church and its repetitive grid. | Scanned from: Jürg Graser, Gefüllte Leere, Zürich 2014, p. 217. 

The translucent marble panels shine outward during the night and light the hall subtly during daytime, creating a volume of light. The non-industrial trusses excluded, the constructive excellence, the rigorous execution of the details as well as the exposed structure are consciously derived from Mies’ idea of the symbiosis of architecture and construction.

A weightless roof hovering above a glass volume. | Photo © Arne Jacobsen, Royal Academy of Fine Arts Library, collection architectural drawings, scanned from: Carsten Thau, Kjeld Vindum, Arne Jacobsen, Copenhagen 2001, p.454.

The Sports hall for the City of Landskrona (Sweden) by Arne Jabcobsen consists of a rectangular roof of 52x92 m, a podium elevated 20 cm over the ground and a transparent glass wall in-between. In order to remove every vertical sensation and reinforce the horizontal character, the columns are shifted to the inside of the hall and split in two.

The ball field and the bleachers as depression in the plinth. | © Dissing + Weitling’s archives, from: Carsten Thau, Kjeld Vindum, Arne Jacobsen, p.457.

In order to remove every vertical sensation and reinforce the horizontal character, the columns are shifted to the inside of the hall and split in two. The structure and the technical installations are hidden above a suspended ceiling, turning the roof into an abstract apparatus, breaking with Mies’ ideology of the structure as the main space defining element. The focus shifts from the construction to the volume. [4]

Like furniture elements, two wooden boxes stand inside the open space. | © Arne Jacobsen, from: Carsten Thau, Kjeld Vindum, Arne Jacobsen, p.454.

A ball field with its bleachers is sunk into the podium, two wooden pavilions house ancillary rooms. The wardrobes as well as the technical areas are inside the podium. While the architectural language and spatial organization still roots in the International Style, a new facet emerges as the expression shifts to “[…] a dematerialized architecture, an architecture without gravity. The dream of a hovering plane” as described by Thau and Vindum.[5] 

The freestanding, multifunctional concrete oval bowl of the The Memorial Coliseum’s sports arena is wrapped in a 360-foot-square (109,72x109,72m) box. The four reinforced concrete columns are shifted into the inside and are totally independent from the arenas’ structure as well as the façade, offering a clear height of 10,97m.

Filigree pavilion resting on an elevated plinth. | Photo © Julius Shulman, SOM 

Cantilevered steel trusses are optimised in height and width according to the spans and hidden together with the technical ducts above a false ceiling following Jacobsen’s strategy of prioritising the space itself.

Circulation space between stadium and façade. | Photo © Art Hupy

While the spectators access the stadium from the parking lot through the glazed public area surrounding the oval, a plinth containing the restricted program is introduced.

Access level of the spectators. | Plan © SOM

Being surrounded by a new artificial embankment, the glass pavilion appears to hover over the terrain. Staff and athletes access it through precise incisions in the ascending slope. The minimal architectural expression is characterized by the conceptual tour de force between the abstractness of the shell and its sculptural content.

---

FOMA 45: Guillermo Dürig

Guillermo Dürig is a swiss architect based in Zurich. He graduated from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH) obtaining his diploma in 2013. After interning at Juan Navarro Baldeweg in Madrid in the years 2009-10, Guillermo joined Jean-Pierre Dürig’s practice in 2013 and becoming the head of DÜRIG AG in 2021. The main interest of the office lies in the development of radical and conceptual projects, as well as in the execution of public buildings and large-scale infrastructures. In 2015 Guillermo co-organized the summer school ‘MAU’ in Motovun (Croatia). From 2016-19 he worked as a teaching assistant at the chair of Marc Angélil at the ETH, being in charge of organization of the semester on Madrid and Porto. Additionally, he has been a guest critic at the ETH as well as at the ZHAW. His works have been featured and exhibited in various specialized media.

_

Notes:

Mies van der Rohe, lecture, Chicago occasion and date unknown, quoted after: Fritz Neumeyer, Mies van der Rohe on the Building Art. The Artless Word, Cambridge 1991, p. 325. 

Mies van der Rohe, undated typescript, probably prior to 11 November 1953, quoted after Phyllis Lambert, Mies van der Rohe in America, Montréal and New York 2001, p. 463.

Franz Füeg, Gedanken zum Kirchenbau, in: Bauen + Wohnen, 1958, 11, pp. 294-296. Quote translated by the author

On this shift see: Carsten Thau, Kjeld Vindum, Arne Jacobsen, Copenhagen 2001, p. 456. 

Carsten Thau, Kjeld Vindum, Arne Jacobsen, p. 458.

Guillermo would like to thank Joshua Brägger and Philipp Krauer.

[scoutception]

AI: The Somnium Files review

While it wasn’t the first visual novel series I played, the Zero Escape trilogy- Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, Virtue’s Last Reward, and Zero Time Dilemma- is what made me interested in exploring more visual novels in general. Featuring a creative mix of normal visual novel sections and puzzle room sections, with stories involving fascinating pseudo science theories, colorful and interesting characters, fast, tense pacing, and great music, the series is an insane adventure that’s absolutely worth a try. The series also got me interested in the other works of Kotaro Uchikoshi, the director and writer of the series, which led me to the subject of today’s review, and his most recent work: AI: The Somnium Files, which proves to be quite the change of pace, to say the least.

Story: Kaname Date is a member of the Advanced Brain Investigation Squad (ABIS), a special, secret division of the Metropolitan Police Department. Using a device known as the Psync Machine, Date can explore the subconscious of another person by entering their Somnium, a dream world which often holds secrets they would not reveal otherwise. 6 years ago, Date lost his left eye and all of his memories, left with no link to his past, not even his real name, except for Boss, his superior in ABIS and longtime friend. His left eye was replaced by an advanced AI called Aiba, capable of functions such as night vision and x-ray, as well as serving as Date’s avatar within Somnium.

One gloomy November night, Date is called in to investigate a murder victim found in an abandoned amusement park, having suffered multiple stab wounds, tied to a merry-go-horse and missing her left eyeball. The victim is Shoko Nadami, an acquaintance of Date’s, and the ex-wife of Renju Okiura, Date’s best friend and president of the entertainment company Lemniscate. Date’s initial investigation proves unfruitful, and comes to a halt completely when he discovers someone within the merry-go-round’s central column, traumatized to the point of being unable to speak and cradling a bloody ice pick: Mizuki Okiura, the 12 year old daughter of Shoko and Renju, whom Date took into his care 4 years ago.

Date continues the investigation the days afterwards, meeting Mizuki’s friends, the internet idol Iris Sagan, aka A-Set, and the otaku and aspiring light novel author Ota Matshushita, Iris’ mother Hitomi, and Moma Kumakura, leader of the Kumakura yakuza gang. Though Date finds a number of odd connections and occurrences, such as Renju falling out of contact, a call from a mysterious prisoner only known as #89, who claims to know the identity of the killer, and a large number of incidents among the Sagans, the Kumakuras, and others, all of which seem to date back to 6 years ago, he finds little in the way of actual evidence. Left with no other recourse, Date begins to Psync with both suspects and witnesses in the hopes of preventing the killer from striking again.

While it’s a fairly standard plot on the surface, it’s very well done nonetheless. The various mysteries and plotlines are all compelling, and are all given a good amount of focus. Adding to this is the use of a route system, similar to Zero Escape, complete with a flowchart allowing you to easily go to any point in the story. Completing certain Somniums in different ways alters the course of Date’s investigation, causing certain plotlines and characters to gain or lose relevance depending on the route. While every route needs to be completed, each one containing their own reveals and clues, there’s only 5 in total, making keeping track of the distinctive events in each fairly simple. The pacing is also well done, taking its time and allowing you to get used to the characters, while throwing just enough new hints throughout to keep it interesting.

Speaking of the characters, the cast is easily my favorite part of the game. The characters are very, odd and colorful, pretty much to be expected from Uchikoshi. Date himself is a pretty entertaining protagonist, with a tendency for perversion, making bad puns, and coming up with very odd and often ineffectual ideas for progressing in Somnium, going against his serious demeanor and appearance. The supporting cast doesn’t slack either. From the rational, yet sassy Aiba, who turns much sillier within Somnium as well, to the peppy and friendly Iris, to the playful Boss, whose office is an absolute mess decorated with just about any nonsense you could imagine, to my favorite of the cast, Mizuki, the mature, sarcastic, and inexplicably strong kid who spends a good deal of her time arguing with the rather distant Date. It’s hard to dislike most of the characters, with even the most minor of them being good for a laugh or two.

That’s not to say they’re just goofy, though. Almost everyone carries some sort of baggage or secret with that adds a good deal of depth to them, and the various routes give them a lot of development. The game can be pretty damn emotional at points, and the routes focusing more on the characters than the story are the biggest source of them, especially Mizuki’s route. The lighter tone the game takes most of the time actually helps this. Most of the time, interacting with random objects trigger dumb jokes and commentary from Date and the others, and the relaxed pacing and atmosphere, at least earlier on, make it easier to get gradually attached to the cast. Once things do become more serious, the game starts cutting down the jokes, and stops them outright for the most serious of scenarios, meaning it rarely actually becomes jarring. It’s not often a game can juggle a tone as well as this one.

Overall, the writing of the game is superb, and while it’s quite different in tone and setting, it still has enough of the feel of Zero Escape to feel familiar to those who played it.

Gameplay: While I call AI: The Somnium Files a visual novel just for the sake of simplicity, it definitely more has the feel of an adventure game. There’s two types of gameplay segments, investigations and Somniums. During investigations, Date travels to various locations, talking with various characters or investigating important object. Your only control here is controlling Date’s view, and selecting different dialogue options or objects to investigate. Date often has to investigate several locations during a segment, and while you often have to visit them all, you’re given the freedom of picking where to go in whatever order you choose most of the time, giving just enough nonlinearity to not feel like a chore.

The real meat of the gameplay takes place during the Somnium sections, which are comparable to the escape rooms in Zero Escape. Within Somnium, Date and Aiba must break the various mental locks the information they are seeking are hidden behind, which involves interacting with various objects according to the logic of each Somnium. Basically, they’re purely logic puzzles, and it’s actually quite fun figuring out how everything is supposed to work.

Of course, not everything can be that easy. Every Somnium has a hard time limit of 6 minutes. Going over it causes Date’s consciousness to be absorbed into the subject’s, causing a game over. All interactions also cost time, and many incorrect decisions can drain your time pretty significantly. Thankfully, the game has many mitigating factors that keep this from just being stressful. Firstly, time only drains when you’re making choices, or actually moving around. Standing still causes only milliseconds to pass, allowing you to get a clear look around without wasting time. Additionally, all objects you can interact with have a purple outline surrounding them, and are given name tags as well, meaning you don’t have to just wander around, running up to every object in the hopes this one is usable. Not every interactable object actually has a purpose, however, with some only existing to waste your time, so you’re not completely in the clear. The progress meter on the left also gives hints, if sometimes vague ones, as to what you have to do to progress, so you’re not just fumbling in the dark in that regard, either.

Another important feature at the TIMIEs, objects you gain when you interact with objects. These cut the time actions take to perform by varying amounts, or make it take a fixed amount of time. Good use of TIMIEs can save you a lot of time, and a lot of later Sominums enforce it, making it rather strategic. Sometimes, just rushing to the correct solution burns way too much time on its own. You may have to do something you know is wrong, but takes little time and grants a good TIMIE, to be able to save more time on a much costlier action. This aspect isn’t entirely simple either, however. Not all actions display what kind of TIMIE you’ll get, making it a gamble at times, and some, including mandatory actions, give negative TIMIEs, that actually increase the amount of time an action will take, and force you to use them the action after you get them, often forcing you to do something incorrect, but with low time cost, just so you won’t game over.

Each Somnium also has two conditions that unlock album entries, which provide pictures and concept art. The first is for clearing a Somnium with more than 1 second left, as you’re actually allowed to go over the time limit if the final correct action is what pushes you over. The second is for finding special eye shaped items within the Somniums, which are often hidden out of the way. Finally, even if you’re struggling with certain sections, you’re granted 3 retries per Somnium, which allow you to return to a previous part of the section, with all the time you had left at that time, allowing you to optimize and save even more time, though it costs more retries the further back you go. Finally, even if you can’t win, you can simply restart the Somnium section with no penalty, and are even allowed to do so at any time in the menu. Overall, the Somnium sections are actually a lot of fun. Between the interesting logic and strategicness of it, not to mention some of the funniest dialogue in the game between Date and Aiba, they’re some of the most enjoyable parts of the game.

Finally, the game features a few “action segments” during the investigation segments, where Date will be faced with an actual physical threat. Aiba formulates plans to deal with the situation, and you just need to handle each step by pressing a button prompt, like a QTE, or hovering the cursor over a certain area for a long enough time. It’s not exactly difficult, but they serve their purpose. There’s also a few interrogations segments, where you must present relevant evidence to someone in order to prove a point. You can just randomly pick until you get the right one with no in game penalty, but there are achievements for clearing these sections and the action sections with no mistakes.

Graphics: AI: The Sominum Files is a surprisingly pretty game. It has a similar art style to Zero Time Dilemma, which, to put it bluntly, was downright awful in the visuals department, with unemotive character models and terrible animations that killed almost all of its attempts at being unsettling. While a few of the animations in this game can still look janky, it is on a whole much. much improved. The characters are much more expressive, helped by the designs by Yusuke Kozaki, best known for games like No More Heroes and Fire Emblem Awakening, fitting the style much better, while still being distinctive in their own right. The locations have a lot of detail to them, and the lighting is very well done. The highlight of the visuals, though, are the Somniums, which manage to give existing locations very distinctive, well, dream like qualities to them, such as shifting colors or heavy lighting, and are always a joy to explore.

Sound: AI features a downright fantastic soundtrack by Keisuke Ito. It manages to capture a similar feel to Zero Escape’s music at points, despite being a different composer, but still manages to stand out. Every song manages to fit the situation perfectly, while also being very catchy on their own, especially the Somnium themes. The music, combined with the visuals, give the game a very strong atmosphere. Whatever mood the game is attempting to set, nostalgic, tense, peaceful, or unsettling, it nails it very, very well, and had me immersed very easily.

The game also features some fantastic English voice acting. Greg Chun as Date and Erika Harlacher as Aiba are the main stars of the show, with their performances capturing their characters perfectly, but the rest of the cast is just as good. Jackie Lastra as Iris, Zach Aguilar as Ota, Corina Boettger as Mizuki, Allegra Clark as Boss, Kaiji Tang as Moma, pretty much everyone does a great job.

Conclusion: Overall, AI: The Somnium Files is something I highly recommend to most people, even those who haven’t touched another Uchikoshi game. It’s a fascinating, emotional, and satisfying experience that successfully manages to devote attention to just about everything it brings up, and doesn’t overstay its welcome. Honestly, I enjoyed it even more than any Zero Escape game, and considered I still look on those very fondly, that’s an achievement. With that, this review finally comes to a close. I shall likely be checking out the games Uchikoshi worked on before even Zero Escape: Never 7, Ever 17, and Remember 11. Till next time. -Scout

[ebookent]

Top Funny Computer Quotes

All you techies out there, you will love these funny computer-related quotes curated by the ebookent review team.

50. "Some things Man was never meant to know. For everything else, there's Google."

49. "Failure is not an option -- it comes bundled with Windows."

48. "Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music."

47. "COBOL programmers understand why women hate periods."

46. "Artificial Intelligence usually beats natural stupidity."

45. "To err is human... to really foul up requires the root password."

44. "Like car accidents, most hardware problems are due to driver error."

43. "If at first you don't succeed; call it version 1.0"

42. "If Python is executable pseudocode, then perl is executable line noise."

41. "Programmers are tools for converting caffeine into code."

40. "Why do we want intelligent terminals when there are so many stupid users?"

39. "I can't uninstall it, there seems to be some kind of 'Uninstall Shield'."

38. "See daddy ? All the keys are in alphabetical order now."

37. "Hey! It compiles! Ship it!"

36. "SUPERCOMPUTER: what it sounded like before you bought it."

35. "Yo moma is like HTML: Tiny head, huge body."

34. "Windows Vista: It's like upgrading from Bill Clinton to George W. Bush."

33. "The more I C, the less I see."

32. "Life would be so much easier if we only had the source code."

31. "My software never has bugs. It just develops random features."

30. "The only problem with troubleshooting is that sometimes trouble shoots back."

29. "Crap... Someone knocked over my recycle bin... There's icons all over my desktop..."

28. "Relax, its only ONES and ZEROS !"

27. "rm -rf /bin/laden"

26. "I don't care if you ARE getting a PhD in it ! Get away from that damn computer and go find a woman !"

25. "The great thing about Object Oriented code is that it can make small, simple problems look like large, complex ones."

24. "If brute force doesn't solve your problems, then you aren't using enough."

23. “Programming is like sex, one mistake and you have to support it for the rest of your life.”

22. "Unix is user-friendly. It's just very selective about who its friends are."

21. Microsoft: "You've got questions. We've got dancing paperclips."

20. "I'm not anti-social; I'm just not user friendly"

19. The world is coming to an end... SAVE YOUR BUFFERS !"

18. "If you don't want to be replaced by a computer, don't act like one."

17. "Better to be a geek than an idiot."

16. "I went to a gentleman's cybercafe — and they offered me a 'laptop dance'."

15. "After Perl everything else is just assembly language."

14. "The Internet: where men are men, women are men, and children are FBI agents."

13. "There are 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't."

12. "Difference between a virus and windows ? Viruses rarely fail."

11. "Hacking is like sex. You get in, you get out, and hope that you didn't leave something that can be traced back to you."

10. "1f u c4n r34d th1s u r34lly n33d t0 g37 l41d"

9. "Helpdesk: There is an icon on your computer labeled "My Computer". Double click on it. User: What's your computer doing on mine?"

8. “I think Microsoft named .Net so it wouldn’t show up in a Unix directory listing.”

7. “If debugging is the process of removing bugs, then programming must be the process of putting them in.”

6. "Computer dating is fine, if you're a computer."

5. “Any fool can use a computer. Many do.”

4. “Hardware: The parts of a computer system that can be kicked.”

3. "Those who can't write programs, write help files."

2. "You know you're a geek when... You try to shoo a fly away from the monitor with your cursor. That just happened to me. It was scary."

1. “Computer language design is just like a stroll in the park. Jurassic Park, that is.”

For plenty more great tech content and eBooks, check out ebookent today.

[eldritchsurveys]

904.

The last time you were in the fridge, what were you looking for? >> A beverage.

Do you like clowns? >> No.

Have you answered all of these questions honestly so far? >> There have only been two thus far, and I can't imagine lying on a survey question anyway.

What's the third text in your inbox? >> ---

Are you listening to anything at the moment? >> No.

Do you twitch when your falling asleep? >> Yeah, sometimes. Or I have that sudden falling feeling and jerk awake.

Are your dishes in the dishwasher clean or dirty? >> The dishwasher is either still running or finished running, so, either clean or about to be clean.

Are you at home or with friends more often? >> 98% of the time, I’m at home.

When is the last time you were on a bicycle? >> A year ago? At least? I don’t know. I tried to ride for a while but I’m too out of shape to enjoy it and it was discouraging. And by now, I’m worried it needs maintenance from having sat in the garage through a full cycle of seasons and I’m afraid to ride it.

What have you eaten today? >> A veggie burger and chips, a sandwich, and taco mac with Nuggs.

Would you date someone 15 years older than you? >> ---

Do you own a strapless bra? >> No.

Does the person you like know it? >> ---

Do you care if people hate you for no reason? >> I care in some circumstances, but not all.

Did anything brighten up your day today? >> I’m not sure. My day was pretty okay, though. To my pleasant surprise.

How are you feeling at this exact moment? >> Chill. A bit tired.

Are you someone who worries too often? >> I get anxious about things, but I’m not sure “worries too much” is applicable.

If you could date somebody who would it be? >> ---

Do you ever wonder how other people see you? >> Well, yeah.

What is one good thing you're known for? >> ---

How about one bad thing? >> ---

Are you taller than most? >> Most children, yeah. LOL

When was the last time you sang an ENTIRE song? >> Hmm... oh, I sang along to a Journey song while I was in the shower.

Are you the type of person who likes to be out or home? >> I like to be home.

What time do you normally go to bed? >> Between 10p and 12a.

What is one thing that is currently bothering you? >> My neck is still kind of sore, probably from sleeping wrong the other night or something. It’s getting better, but I also keep accidentally twinging it.

What did you do today? >> Read some of the book I’m on, watched a few episodes of Avenue 5, played some Torchlight 2, browsed tumblr, browsed Reddit. Not in that order.

Do you consider yourself to be attractive? >> No.

What was the last thing that you drank? >> A shandy.

Is anything annoying you now? >> No.

Has anyone ever said i love you to you and not meant it? >> How would I know, unless they told me (and in my experience people generally do not tell)?

Do you regret going out with the last person you did? >> Eh. Not really. Like, it sucks and I hate that the trauma from those interactions is still haunting me and affecting my current relationships, but it is what it is. 

Do you realize it when you curse? >> I mean, more or less.

When was the last time you showered? >> This morning.

Who did you last talk to in person? >> Sparrow.

Do you ever have days where you just don't do anything? >> No. Even when I’m deeply depressed I will move my hands to put on Netflix (and then click “yes” when it periodically asks if I’m still watching), lol. That’s something.

Have you ever been extremely tired but refused to go to sleep? >> Yeah.

What is your favorite episode of True Life, if you have one at all? >> ---

Have you ever experienced something paranormal? >> Maybe.

What's the longest amount of time you've been stuck in traffic? >> ---

Best field trip experience? >> ---

Have you ever been to New York City? >> I used to live there.

If so, is it all its cracked up to be? >> What’s it cracked up to be, exactly? People say a lot of things about NYC, not all of it positive. It also depends on, you know... your socioeconomic standing. Wealthy folks’ NYC is a completely different place from poor folks’ or homeless folks’ NYC, despite being on the same patch of land...

What is the most amount of money you've spent on a meal before? >> I have no idea.

What museums have you visited, if any? >> In NYC: MOMA, Museum of Natural History; in Philadelphia: Franklin Institute; in Chicago: Museum of Science & Industry, Adler Planetarium (it’s also an astronomy museum); in Michigan: Grand Rapids Art Museum, Grand Rapids Public Museum. Those are just the ones I remember, mind you. Might have been to a couple of others and just forgotten about them.

Have you ever had a group project and one of your partners bailed on you? >> Maybe when I was in school, idk.

What's your worst traveling experience? >> Probably every time I had to take a Greyhound from Colorado to NYC (or vice versa).

Sims 1, 2, or 3? Why? >> I’ve never played the first one. I like the vast amount of custom content resources for 2, the innovation of 3, and the continued innovation of 4. Otherwise, they’re mostly the same to me except the graphics just get smoother over the years.

Have you ever dealt with noisy neighbors or roommates? How did that go? >> Yes. Poorly, obviously, for me anyway.

Who was (or is) the teacher that gave you the hardest time in school? >> ---

Best muffin you've ever had? >> I don’t like muffins.

Have you ever taken a woodshop class? >> Once.

If so, was it required? >> No, it was an elective.

How much time do you spend on Facebook, if you have one? >> Hardly any. I just check it every few days or whatever, for messages mostly.

What area of math are you best at? Worst? >> I don’t know.

How do you feel when you meet someone with the same music taste as you? >> I don’t care if people like the same music as I do, as long as they’re not rude about genres they don’t care for. I like talking about music with people, but it always ends up being this “this genre is better than that genre” or “this era is better than that era” circle jerk and that’s so fucking boring.

What is the strangest thing you've ever seen outside of your house? >> *shrug*

Do you believe in luck? Why or why not? >> It can be a useful concept.

How often do you "half-ass" things (put little effort in)? >> Whenever I don’t have the energy to whole-ass something, but I don’t want to just not do anything at all.

Do you ever feel self-conscious when you eat around other people? >> No. I feel annoyed when I have to eat around other people, because then I have to hear other people eating.

Has a teacher ever made you hate yourself/your work? >> Probably.

How reliable is your internet connection? >> It’s quite reliable.

Have you ever missed a meeting/event that was required/necessary? >> Yeah.

What's something that makes you incredibly nervous? >> I can’t think of anything off the top of my head.

What's the latest you've ever stayed up to finish homework/a project? >> ---

If you don't have glasses, how would you feel if you had to get them? >> It wouldn’t bother me too much. Unless my vision started failing really badly, because, you know... I like seeing.

If you do have glasses, how would you feel if you didn't need them anymore? >> ---

How many vegetarians do you know? >> I’m not sure.

Have you ever considered going to art school? >> No.

Is there anyone in your life who consistently angers you? >> No.

How quickly can you write an essay? >> I don’t know.

Have you ever had problems falling asleep in class? >> In high school, i was put on multiple psychotropic/anti-depressant drugs, none of which I actually needed, so they all had pretty adverse effects on me. Including making me fall asleep in class almost constantly.

Have you ever been on the barrier or front row at a concert? >> I usually was.

If you have a job, who is your least favorite coworker/manager? >> ---

Favorite episode of Spongebob? >> I don’t like that show.

Do you have any silly/odd emotional connections to anything/anyone? >> I don’t want to call any of my emotional connections silly or odd. Especially since I have a hard enough time making them in the first place -- I want to encourage and support those connections, not disparage them. :/

Are your parents supportive of you? >> I took this survey almost a decade ago, and my answer then was that he was supportive even if he didn’t always approve. I was really on some bullshit then, I guess... because that’s just not true. He only supported what he thought was appropriate for me to be involved in, and when I invariably wanted to do or be other things, he was dismissive and almost derisive. Being supported in my being and endeavours is not a common theme in my life and it starts with that motherfucker.

How often do you take the train to go places? >> I don’t take it much anymore; the last time I took it was to go to Chicago and back, as an experiment (Sparrow wanted to see if it was truly better than driving there and back). When I lived in the City, of course, I took a subway all the time. Really miss that.

Do you play with your phone in awkward situations? >> I guess I would, if I found myself in a situation I thought was awkward. I usually don’t.

[elareine]

(For @reah22​. Set in the future of Adamare.) There are three rules to Magical Monster Trucks.

1. Nothing is off-limits when it comes to magical or mechanical modifications of the vehicles. As long is doesn’t kill anyone, you’re good.

…actually, Duke wasn’t sure about that last addition. Might just be wishful thinking on his part.

Case in point: Damian was currently yelling, “Take that, you old gargoyle!” as he fired a stun-spell ray gun at a truck that  

“They’re out. Good job, team!” Dick gave them both high-fives.  

“Two more out there,” Duke warned.

Today was ‘Teacher Throwdown Tuesday.’ Not that had helped them prepare. An advantage of wizard cloaking: You never knew who might face you. Jason did; as the headmaster, he’d decided he was impartial enough to handle sign-ups.

Duke suspected Jason wouldn’t object if some rando showed up with a truck, as long as that truck was awesome enough.

2. No magic during the fight, not even for communication.

Instead, they got some good old-fashioned muggle comms. The next message on which was: “Yippee-ki-yay, motherfuckers!”

Okay. That narrowed down who was coming at them next.

Steph and Jason, the only two muggleborns among them, had started saying that at every opportunity, claiming it was a traditional saying that dated back to the eighteenth century. Duke was pretty sure Dick had caught on. The others, maybe.  

Damian hadn’t.

“Brown has no decorum,” he seethed. “This small amusement is not worthy of a time-honored battle cry.”

Duke exchanged an amused glance with Dick. A mistake—while they were distracted, another truck sped from its hiding place behind a pile of tires and immediately covered them in a barrage of stick-to-it spells before Dick could react.

Damian’s eyes widened comically. This time Duke couldn’t blame him. “It glitters!”

“Should make it easier to hit.”  

“You haven’t landed much either!” Damian bit back.

Honestly, neither of them was having much luck. Steph and Cass had opted for small and mobile over huge and heavy, and it was paying off.

3. This ends in surrender, or not at all.

“Giving up yet, Triple D?” Steph’s voice was mocking.

Duke would flambé her for that, but the Batgirls managed to land a hit on his flamethrowers three minutes ago. (See why he had some doubts about the ‘no killing’ rule?) Instead, he was left to ruminate once more about how their team name really sounded like a bra size or a porn video. Since Dick and Damian were experts in neither of these things, Duke’s objection had been overruled.

“They’re coming up the ramp!” Dick yelled.

Duke could see it, clear as day. The girls were going to get up there, activate the floating spell Cass was famous for, the one they had named their truck for, and land right on top of them.

They were so screwed.

The noise as the Batgirl landed on top of them was deafening. And then it just stayed there. Dick tried everything, but they couldn’t get away—that thing was heavier than it looked.  

“Owned you,” Steph cooed.

“Well played,” Duke had to admit.

Honk.

“What was that?” Damian asked.

Dick frantically checked his instruments. “I don’t know, I can’t—“

Duke rolled his eyes and opened the window.

“Oh, right.” Dick joined him—not like there was much steering to be done anymore—and they stared in horror at the yellow school bus charging straight up the highest ramp.

“…does that say ‘Bad to the bone,’ or am I hallucinating?” Duke asked.

“I wish.”

There was only one person who would drive that thing.

Honk.

Steph’s cursing filled the comm line. The truck above them shook as the Batgirl rolled off in a desperate attempt to get away; then again when the bus landed right on top of them both.

Silence.

“Fuck.” Steph sounded disgusted. Cass was the one to add: “We’re stuck.”

“So are we,” sighed Dick.

“Guess what that means?” There was loud cheering over the comms, enough to tell everyone that Jason had not been alone in that truck. “We won!”

Damian grimaced. Duke, however, grinned and leaned forward to the mic. “Can you move, then?”

There was no reply at first, but they could all hear Jason revving up the truck and his wheels spinning in the air. The bus was simply too long. There was no purchase.

“Nope,” Jason finally conceded.  

“Draw?” Dick offered. Pretty ballsy of him, Duke thought. They’d been the ones who would have definitely lost.

“Yeah.” “Alright.”

The only way out was through the window, so that’s what they did.

Looking at the pile-up from the outside sure was something. No wonder the students at the stands were cheering so much. There was glitter everywhere. The whole scene looked ready to be a special exhibition at MoMA. Some indictment on modern living and Instagram culture, probably.

“Okay, kids, Miss Cain will now demonstrate the floating charm to you,” he heard Jason say. Of course this was gonna be a teaching opportunity. Duke strongly suspected the kids would float the car parts for recycling purposes next.

He stood back, content to observe. Too many cooks and all that. As he watched, at least two dozen twelve-year-olds lined up to be gently floated down the pile of car junk.  

“I see you’re having fun.”

Duke started, then smiled. “Oh, hey, Tim. Welcome back.”

“Thanks.”

Tim looked tired and pale, as was to be expected after a mission somewhere North, and slightly distant, as was to be expected after being away from his family, Duke thought.  

Dick had been the one to recruit him, back at school, and Duke’s first partner had been Bruce, but he’d worked with Damian and Tim often enough. They shared the ‘Defense against the Dark Arts’ position between them. Jason had wanted to make sure that his kids were taught by people who knew what was up; not some airhead with false notions about bravery and antiquated dueling procedures.

If it had the added side-effect that this was probably the best-protected school in North America, well. That was just a bonus.

They watched as Jason hoisted a kid that looked afraid onto his shoulders, jumping down with her in one fluid motion, then mimicking a horse charging at Steph until everyone was laughing.

Tim radiated fondness. “It’s good to be home.”  

Duke smiled. Yeah. Same.