#my friend said using shapes to portray ideas rather than lines is important

[athanmis]

ITS ETHO DAY YIPPEE!!!! etho day!!!!! (redstone break)

[yourfavouritebella]

Theatre Techniques

#1 Post - Acting Tips through Meisner’s technique

After being self-isolated for so long, you’ve finished watching all of the Netflix shows and cook every possible dish in your fridge, now what?

Well, maybe it’s time to touch upon acting through Meisner’s techniques at home.

Sandy Meisner is a well-known actor based in New York. He was one of the curious actors along with Stella Adler that adopted Stanislavski’s technique (also known as Method Acting) til he felt the need to develop his own acting form, which is known as Meisner Technique that conveys naturalism and playing with the tension between acting partners.

Using these techniques, it will help you become a better actor by embracing yourself to be in the moment with your scene partners. You may have to create a zoom meeting with your scene partner for one of the exercises, but what could be a better way to make a reason to meet people again than to rehearse on your own!

The Meisner technique has three main components that all work hand in hand:

Emotional preparation

Whilst reading the line, learn to delve into a given circumstance that will generate real emotions. Be in the character’s shoes and think how would you react when the situation happened.

Repetition

By repeating your lines, it can make you rely on their organic instincts.

Improvisation

As you are getting used to the flow of the lines, it will encourage spontaneity and reduce an actor’s self-consciousness.

1st Exercises:

Actor 1: Your hair is long.

Actor 2: My hair is long.

Actor 1: Your hair is long.

Actor 2: My hair is long.

A: (Noticing B scratched their arm) You scratched your arm.

B: I scratched my arm.

From this exercise, it removes the over-thinking part of acting that after even a short period of time, one realises the ‘text’ becomes essentially irrelevant, and it is the subtext and relationship that really matter. It lets you be more observant of your acting partner and being able to be more perceptive in the body language of each other.

2nd Exercise:

When reading the lines, recall a memory where you were in that circumstance and apply that emotion to the scene.

If it’s not a circumstance you had any experience of, you can draw external sources of research, eg. asking friends or family, watching interviews, reading books, and people-watching, to gather a library of additional material to provide inspiration.

In conclusion, as you try out these exercises, you will feel differently when acting because you’ll be facing the “given circumstances” of the character with different points of view. It gets you to be more observant and analyse the tension between you and your partner to be inspired and provoke your acting decisions. Hence it will make you listen and react with clarity.

#2 Post - Acting Tips through Adler’s Acting Technique

With so many acting techniques nowadays, how will you be able to choose? It’s like contemplating which crisps do you want to eat, sometimes you feel like getting Tangy Cheese Doritos and sometimes you’re feeling for Flamin Hot Cheetos. The choices are endless, but don’t fret! In the end, it’s always good to give a try of each technique to see which suits your taste.

As we had previously touched on Meisner’s technique, today we’re going to go through Adler’s acting techniques that you can try out yourself! :)

Stella Adler is a daughter of two professional actors, hence debuted her acting career at the age of 4. She is regarded highly in the industry due to her professionalism and proficiency in her acting as she learned and earned through experience. After learning Stanislavski’s and Strasberg’s acting technique, she evolved her own acting technique that has more involvement in imagination.

Now, shall we delve into her techniques? whispers yes, we shall!

Here are the three main components of Adler’s techniques:

Analysing Text

She has a great emphasis on script analysis and respect for the playwright. When teaching, she, “gave young actors more responsibility by asking them to understand the play themselves rather than relying on a director to interpret it.” Actors must look into the script to analyse the character’s personality and lifestyle then align their actions with the character’s circumstances. When reading text, you need to ask yourself, “What is my character going through that would produce that experience?”

Cultivating Imagination

As an actor, there is a need for constant observation and curiosity when developing an actor’s imagination. Rather than drawing up your own personal experience, Adler implies to actors to use real observations to fuel their imagination and create in-depth characters.

Elevating Characters

Adler famously told her students, “Don’t be boring”. In context, there is the need to think seriously about human nature and communicate important ideas to let actors reflect something larger than life within the characters.

Since you got the idea of what she aims for actors to achieve, let’s look into exercises that can help cultivate your acting skills.

Exercise #1 - Imagination

Pick an object and describe it. You can talk about the texture, colour, shape, anything just to describe the object. It may be awkward at first, but once you practice on describing things, you will find yourself to be faster in developing your imagination. Then take this exercise to next level by letting your thoughts travel through your mind. For example, a red lamp can remind you of ruby earrings a woman wore at a party you went to which reminds you of the music that was playing and so on and so on.

Exercise #2 - Paraphrasing

Pick a book and write down one idea from the book in your own words, then present it onstage to others. This lets you understand the idea, then respond to it and make it your own until you feel a real need to communicate it.

Exercise #3 - Inner-Justification

Randomly pick a simple line from a play you don’t know and bring it to life by imagining in details the reason why you’re saying that line. Try to make a strong choice, something that stirs you and creates conflict. This exercise helps actors experience their lines instead of just saying them.

In conclusion, Adler constantly challenges her students to think imaginatively and her techniques require a lot of hard work and dedication. All of these techniques are easily done at home whenever you have time and keep yourself occupied when being in the same room starts to bore you.

#3 Post - Acting Tips through Chekhov’s Techniques

Now that you have Meisner’s and Adler’s acting technique in the bag, why not learn one more and get yourself well rounded with techniques! As Michael Chekhov said, “Don’t we have the freedom to make the most of the best in all techniques? There are no prohibitions against it. All it takes is a little wisdom, imagination, and courageous experimentation.” I think you guessed it, but we’re going to teach you some Chekhov’s Techniques that you can try out yourself! :)

Mikhail Alexandrovich Chekhov was a Russian-American actor, director, author, and theatre practitioner born in Saint Petersburg. He was a nephew of Anton Chekhov who collaborated with Konstantin Stanislavski to do production of his plays. He was called Stanislavski's brightest student and was invited to join the prestigious Moscow Art Theatre. It was until 1927, when he did a production of The Case, he was "denounced by Bolshevik officials as an 'idealist' and 'sick artist'", so he forced himself to leave Russia and the Moscow Art Theatre to dodge arrest. He then came to Hollywood, where he taught film stars including Ingrid Bergman, Clint Eastwood, Marilyn Monroe, and Gregory Peck.

The aim is to find truthful moments onstage in a “psycho-physical” approach that develops your imagination while establishing emotion in physical action. This technique relies upon drawing emotion from both the mind, and the body as it helps for actors who are beginners because “psycho-physical” focuses on connecting their body more when saying their lines.

When approaching a script, these are the following steps using the “psycho-physical” technique:

Step 1: Create a gesture in your mind.

Your body is considered as an instrument and trained your body like a musician, constantly learning to move and portray with virtuosity. As an example, let’s look at the line, “Please don’t go.” Think about how your body will react to the line.

Step 2: Begin to rehearse the gesture. Make it huge, full of energy, and abstract.

Now that you got the gesture in mind, this time you got to test it out and give your 100 percent! Also, there’s no one way of doing the gesture, so it’s good to explore your body to find the intention of the gesture. Always be mindful of the intention in the gesture, so that it lets your mind remember physically.

Step 3: Continue doing the gesture in a large, non-realistic way, while saying the line.

When doing naturalistic acting, it always limits you to how you should express yourself as a character, so it’s best to be exaggerated as much as possible.

Step 4: Begin to make the gesture more realistic, while saying the line. Keep the energy!

Now you can tone down the actions, but make sure to keep the same energy when doing it exaggeratedly because the gesture should represent this desire of the character’s intention.

This is not part of the step, but always make time to reflect your experience on what you had experiment and see if the gesture is working out or not. Chekhov always makes his students question whether the gesture is helpful or not. The purpose of this technique is to make a bridge between your body and mind requires a lot of practice, but it does portray your character in an organic sense because the gestures come in naturally once you understand the significance.

In conclusion, Chekhov repeatedly challenges his students to use their body to find the intention of the character and build a strong relationship with your imagination. Hopefully, this technique works for you and you don’t scare off your friends or family when rehearsing at home (I will not be responsible for the weird looks :)

[captains-log-reviews]

Disney’s Peter Pan (1953)

Summary/Overview:

I’ve been considering a Hook-themed review blog for some time now, and what better way to start off than with the classic 1953 Disney film? Originally slated to be Disney’s second animated film after Snow White, the idea for a production of Peter Pan was in Walt’s mind long before it hit the big screen. Walt himself had played Peter in a school play as a boy and had retained a fondness for the story ever since. The first major film version to feature a boy (Bobby Driscoll) in the titular role, Disney’s Peter Pan has since become perhaps even more widely known than Barrie’s original. That being said, I think it’s probably unnecessary to give much in the way of a summary, but for the sake of developing a consistent format for my reviews, here’s the super quick version:

Wendy Darling, a young girl with an active imagination and a love for storytelling, is distraught when her practical father decides that it is time for her to grow up and move out of the nursery with her brothers. Later that night, after her parents have gone out, Peter Pan—the flying boy hero of Wendy’s stories—shows up at her window and offers to take her and her brothers to Neverland, a magical island with mermaids, “Indians,” and pirates where they will never grow up. Unfortunately the kids get caught up in the plans of Captain Hook, who wants revenge on Peter for cutting off his hand and feeding it to a crocodile. Ultimately, Hook captures the children and nearly kills Peter with a bomb in the guise of a present from Wendy, but Tinkerbell, Peter’s loyal fairy friend, saves him just in the nick of time, allowing Peter to free the children from Hook’s crew and fight the captain in a final duel that results in Hook being chased off into the sunset by the crocodile. Wendy and her brothers return home safely, and Wendy realizes that she isn’t so afraid of growing up anymore...only to have her father admit that maybe holding onto her childhood a little bit longer wouldn’t be such a bad thing after all.

What I Liked:

Those of you who followed me over here from my other Hook blog, not-wholly-unheroic, already know that I am more than slightly biased when it comes to Disney’s Hook. I distinctly remember the first time I saw him on screen when I was twelve. The sequel had just come out on video, and ABC was doing its usual Sunday Disney movie (and advertising) by showing the original Peter Pan one weekend, followed by the sequel the next. I was bored and had never watched the film before, so I decided to give it a shot...and I was instantly struck by how different Hook was from any Disney villain I’d previously encountered. While most of the classic villains are motivated by greed, vanity, or the desire for power, Hook’s feud with Pan is at least somewhat justified considering he not only lost a hand but also faces the constant threat of the crocodile as a result of our supposed hero’s actions. Additionally, prior to Peter Pan, Disney’s major villains (Queen Grimhilde/The Evil Queen, Lady Tremaine, the Queen of Hearts) were typically rather flat and lacking in personality. We see only their wicked side (or in the case of “Man” in Bambi, we don’t see them at all!). Hook is a major departure from this trend in that while he is clearly made out to be the bad guy, we also see him in moments of fear, weakness, and self-doubt. We see him sick and in pain and ready to give up at times. Suddenly, he isn’t just a villain anymore... He’s a person we can empathize with. Walt himself recognized that the audience would “get to liking Hook” would not want him to die as he does in Barrie’s canon, opting instead to have him “going like hell” to get away from the crocodile but ultimately still very much alive at the end of the film.

Aside from Hook himself, I love the dynamic he has with Mr. Smee. While Hook admittedly doesn’t treat Smee well, there is clearly a bond of trust between them. Early on in the film, for instance, Smee prepares to shave Hook with a straight razor. It’s a moment that is ultimately used for comedic effect, but when one considers that Hook has a crew full of literal cutthroats, it says a lot about Smee that Hook feels totally at ease with this man putting a blade to his neck. Smee repeatedly attempts to intervene to save Hook when he doesn’t have to, and Hook unfailingly looks to Smee when he’s afraid for his life or when he needs to send someone out to complete an important mission for him. It’s a villain/sidekick dynamic that borders on friendship, and I think it adds a lot to the film and to Hook’s complexity as a character.

As far as artistic choices go, it is a rather minor thing, but I love that they kept the stage tradition of using the same actor for both Mr. Darling and Captain Hook, giving the film a rather dreamlike feel and subtly reinforcing the enmity Wendy feels toward her father in real life as she faces off against Hook in the Neverland. Speaking of the actor, Hans Conried isn’t just voice for Hook, as many would assume... He IS Hook as much as any live-action actor could be. I love the old hand-drawn animation style and how they used to use the actors as live-action reference models. (You can see some shots of Hans as the reference model vs the final images of Hook in the film here.) If you’ve ever seen a recording of Hans in one of his other roles, you’ll notice he doesn’t just SOUND like Hook...he makes the same facial expressions (particularly in how he speaks with his eyebrows) and hand/arm motions. It’s small details like this that make Hook (and all the characters) more human and show just how much time, effort, and love the animators put into their work.

What I Didn’t Like:

RACISM. With a capital “R.” There’s no sugar-coating it. Unfortunately, Disney’s film falls victim one of the many problematic tropes of the time when it was made and portrays the island’s native characters as highly caricatured, ignorant, and—in the case of Tiger Lily—romantically exotic people. Their signature song, “What Made the Red Man Red” is lyrically painful to modern listeners with any sense of decency, and the villagers’ character design—from their bright red skin to their large noses and often extreme body shapes (very fat or pencil thin)—along with their badly broken English is highly uncomfortable, to say the least. On the other hand, Tiger Lily, the most realistically drawn native character, is shown dancing flirtatiously for Peter and subsequently rubbing noses with him in what is meant to be a sort of native kiss (based on the concept of the “Eskimo kiss” which in and of itself is not a politically correct term).

Aside from the glaringly obvious issue of racism, my only real complaint with the Disney film is the music. While the songs are pretty standard for films of the day, I personally don’t find most of the music particularly memorable or catchy. “You Can Fly” is alright, I suppose, but the next few songs have their issues. “Following the Leader” and “What Made the Red Man Red” both have racist undertones, and Wendy’s lullaby, “Your Mother and Mine” puts the kids to sleep for a reason... It’s sweet but rather boring and drags on for far too long to keep the audience’s attention. Less time on the lullaby and more pirate sea shanties, please!

On the flip side, Hook is arguably the first Disney villain to get his own theme song, which is pretty cool. The original pirate song (which you can find here) is a bit more sedate than “The Elegant Captain Hook” we end up with and focuses more on the joys of pirating in general than why Hook, specifically, is someone the kids should want to work for. Personally, I’m glad they chose the song that they did, though I do wish they’d given Hook more lines as originally planned. (You can find the lyrics to the full version here.)

Would I recommend it?

Despite its flaws, Disney’s Peter Pan has had a major impact on the legacy of Peter Pan and how we view the characters as well as Neverland itself. It has long been a personal favorite of mine and acted as a gateway into the fandom for me. It introduced me to Hook as a likable, sympathetic, and complex villain and I’ll always be grateful for that. I definitely recommend it to anyone entering the fandom, those with a fondness for the nostalgia of classic Disney films, and kids at heart of all ages.

Overall Rating:

As much as I love the film and want to give it a perfect score, I’d be remiss if I didn’t deduct at least a few points for the depiction of the “Indians.” Otherwise a lovely version of the story so... 4/5 stars

[will-byers-appreciation]

Season Three First Thoughts

Overall: Regardless of everything I say, overall I really liked the season.  I feel like they did a good job of advancing individual character arcs and introducing/putting new character pairings together. Now for my brain dump of thoughts:

•Opening with Mike and Eleven making out made me uncomfy cause regardless of how long they’ve been dating they’re still just kids (young teens?)

•Discounting this, I hated the direction they took with Hopper on this. I think he was a total prick. Before when he was overprotective it was because he cared about El and that’s was clear but this time around they made him seem more like a typical washed up 80′s dad (à la Ted Wheeler) 

•I’m not entirely mad about Hopper’s attempt to throw Mike off El because it brought the El and Max (elmax) friendship sequence

•I absolutely LOVED everything about El and Max in this season. What Max taught El about being her own person was so so important. One of the main reasons some people have a problem with Mileven is because they’re so co-dependent it’s unhealthy for kids and for El’s personal development (I agree!!). This storyline continued through the season of El realizing her worth on her own and how she should be her own person was probably one of my favorites

•Ima say it, Mike was a dick in a lot of moments this season, especially in the beginning with Hopper, sue me. However he is a teen boy and he still has a lot of growing up to do so it’s excusable

•I really hate how little Will was used this season (I may be biased, this blog is called “will-byers-appreciation” for a reason!). I feel like he was only there to feel left behind by his friends but come on the boy has been through enough 

•I really don’t like how in season two Mike was the number 1 Will supporter and he always was there for him even when Dustin and Lucas had no idea was was going on and this season he basically blatantly didn’t care about Will. I know months have gone by but still, Mike shouldn’t have let himself have gotten so distracted by his girlfriend that he forgot his friends, regardless or not of if he loves her. 

•Mike saying something along the lines of “you do don’t like girls Will” (more gaycoding?? who knows if we’ll ever get what we want)

•I feel like the Duffer brothers tried so hard to kill Byler this season and I’m :/

•Everything including Karen and Billy was disgusting, which goes without saying, but was filmed and edited in a really compelling way in that we really didn’t know what was gonna go down so the duffers did a good job working out how to portray that storyline 

•Speaking of Karen, I loved her pep talk to Nancy. Karen stepping up like that was one of the highlights of the show for sure 

•Nancy: every single scene in the Hawkins Post made me want to punch all those middle aged white men god they were such Assholes. The show did a good job of showing Nancy’s frustration and building the misunderstanding conflict between Jonathan and Nancy

•Jancy shippers don’t come for me cause maybe I didn’t notice anything but I feel like there were no real chemistry filled Jancy scenes? They just kept saving the other from getting beat up tbh

•I feel like a lot of the season was taken up but really long fight scenes which made some parts drag a lil

•Time for my absolute favorite part of the season: Steve, Dustin, Robin and Erica- the Scoops Troop

•I absolutely loved this whole dynamic and I found myself waiting for these scenes. Dustin really shone this season and I loved every minute of it. Erica was an amazing addition!! Dustin and Erica is the winning nerd friendship pairing to be honest

•Steve and Dustin!!! Incredible, beautiful, I love them. I feel like they reverted Steve back to a dumbass at the beginning of the season compared to him being kind of emotionally deep after the Nancy breakup in season two. It makes sense given he had his heart shattered and he built a wall back up in hopes to protect himself and find someone new. Dustin pushing this whole Steve and Robin thing is deliciously ironic now which is great. 

•Steve and Robin: Best new dynamic. The entire bathroom scene as they’re coming down from being drugged was absolutely beautiful. I started tearing up. Steve being emotionally vulnerable and explaining his heartbreak and bearing his feelings for Robin just wrecked me. Then when he slid under the stall and looked at Robin and she explained how she never liked him and how she likes girls was so perfect. Dumbass Steve said “But Tammy Thompson’s a girl” and then realizing and being fine with it. You can see how scared Robin is and then how relieved she is when Steve is accepting. This is what’s coming out is like. The moment of panic is portrayed really well. 

•Steve! Having! A! Badass! Smart! Lesbian! Best friend! Who! Is! Cooler! Than! Him! Instead! Of! Getting! Another! Half-Assed Love Interest Story Line!

•I am worried though that’s the duffer brother’s are giving us an openly gay character hoping to “satisfy” us so they can keep queerbaiting Will rather than making him gay

•The whole Murray x Alexie storyline wasn’t amazing and I loved every second of it. I was genuinely heartbroken when they killed Alexie he was shaping up to be one of much favorites

•Billy’s “redemption” at the end where El breaks through to him while retelling the childhood scenes he showed her and then he goes against the Mindflayer was expected but the way they did it was so heartwrenching I’ll give the obvious turn of events a pass. Hi, seeing Max cry over Billy Killed Me, that poor girl

•Finally, Hoppers death. Fuck you stranger things team. No matter how annoying Hopper was this season, how could you guys do that’s to El?? To us?? That letter just about killed me, I started loudly sobbing halfway through and I didn’t finish till twenty minutes later. I’m also not 100% sure he’s actually dead just saying...

•There’s more but this is already So Much so I’ma leave it at this as I literally just started typing and I haven’t even proof read it. I’m so sorry I didn’t mean for this to be so long but

•PLEASE! If anyone wants to discuss anything I said here or just the season in general please message me 

TL:DR- I loved the Scoops Troop storyline, especially how they handled Steve/Robin. I loved the Elmax friendship and El’s character development independent from Mike. Alexie was basically my favorite. They should’ve used Will more and I’m mad they basically killed Byler 

[inikavulpixelreviews]

Let’s Talk About Pokemon - The Bug Type

Oh boy, it is indeed TIME for the finale of all these type reviews. Covering my absolute favorite type of them all: Bug!

I had always had a loving fascination with insects and arthropods since I was a young child. I'd not be shy to let them crawl on me so long as they weren't outright menacing like a particularly dangerous spider or some variety of ant with some mean chompers. I was THAT KID that caught caterpillars, fed them until they became butterflies, and then let them go. The kid that tried (and sadly failed) to keep an ant farm. I only kill bugs in my house that are being particularly invasive (and even then I always feel awful doing it); the rest I just escort outside. I don't care what any “whoa kill it with FIRE!!!!” kinda commenter says, spiders are pretty much welcome to stay in my room.

How sad is it that as I see it, one of the perks of having an outdoors day-job is I regularly get to make friends with insects?

Point is, bugs are good. They're good for the environment, and important to Pokemon's history itself. The man credited with creating Pokemon, Satoshi Tajiri, cited the major inspiration for Pokemon being his childhood memories of collecting bugs. OF COURSE bug would get its own dedicated element in this sort of RPG! As well as being one of the more populated types in the series.

It's just sad that it's not exactly THE most meta type out there. It's weak to a lot of types that are bad to be weak to like Fire, Rock, and Flying, but don't have much in the way of resistances or type advantages. The one real perk they have resistance-wise is blocking Fighting. They're at least good against some types that are handy to have a counter to. Either way, I pretty much CAN'T go a whole playthrough without picking up a bug buddy. It's impossible.

It also comes to light to me that, when you look over the whole roster of buggies like this, it turns out not one Bug is really designed to be “gross” or unappealing outright. I mean, I guess shed cicada skin can be uncomfortably crusty to the touch, but other than that, hmm. Nah, the closest we get is “arthropod menace” and that's about it. How do was have a COCKROACH Pokemon in the series at this point and the type is more or less squeaky clean as ever?! I guess I kinda do appreciate that Gamefreak rather legitimately celebrates insects as some really neat and fascinating creatures. Bugs aren't gross, they're cool! Bugs aren't nasty, they're neat! It's heartwarming to know a series as big as Pokemon sees insects and arthropods in more or less the same light as I do. Heck, I'm sure you could credit the series to warming up PLENTY of other people to be less squeamish toward bugs. Or at the very least think twice before they go squashing one that's minding its own business.

...That said, I wouldn't say no to them making more gross-looking bugs.

Top 10 Favorite Bug Types:

HNNNGH. This is too difficult. I can't. I gotta highlight more.

The Other Top Favorites:

There. My heart is a little more at peace now.

The Bottom 10 Least Favorite Bug Types:

Okay Fine

The 10 Bug Types I Wish Were A Little Bit Better:

Because the only Bugs in the whole type that just outright aren't my jam are Volbeat and Illumise, and that's it. The rest have just a little tidbit or two that I'd change or do a slight redesigning outright to get em to be up to par with other Bugs. Additional mention to Mega Heracross just because I'd almost rather Mega Heracross was its own, unique Pokemon instead of an alternate form of Heracross.

The Cutest:

Gen 5 is so good with adorable Bugs oh my goodness.

The Coolest:

The Prettiest:

The Spookiest:

...See what I mean? There is a CRIMINAL lack of spooky bugs in the Bug type!

Weirdest/Most Unique:

Shuckle is still a mystery.

Most Inventive Use of the Type:

How many times have I gushed about Shedinja's design throughout this whole review series? It's hard to make “the fact that it's a Bug” a real inventive thing by itself since it's a rather matter-of fact state of being for monsters like this. But these bunch in particular REALLY take advantage of their bughood and really show the designers at Gamefreak did their homework or just in general had some really neat ideas. Araquanid being a reverse of a real-life diving bell spider, a mosquito that sucks blood to increase its FLEXING capabilities, a cockroach that is a self-grooming neat freak just like real cockroaches are. Escavalier and Accelgor lumped together because of their specific interaction reflecting a real-life interaction between a beetle and its snail prey; albeit the ending is a little bit happier for this snail than in real life. Kricketune is a sadly unsung little stroke of minor genius in how a violin beetle gets to actually BE a violinist that plays its own violin body. Kricketune's just overshadowed by its own memey cry, sadly.

The Buggiest of them All:

I'm always perfectly fine with stylized body types when it comes to bugs, but I can also take a moment to appreciate the Bug types that are convincingly insectoid. Plus y’know. It helps when the odd bug type has the correct number of legs.

BUG TYPE WISH LIST:

NOTE: These Type Wishlists were written out before any news on new Pokemon from Sword and Shield. The Pokemon revealed over time will not affect these wishlists. Just to present them unaltered despite spoilers and in the interest of getting the wishlist out there, and to see which items on said wishlists get fulfilled by Sword and Shield!

[Inhale]

A Grasshopper/Cricket:

Despite their english names, Kricketot and Kricketune aren't actually crickets, but are actually moreso designed after beetles. So we've still yet to have any true orthoptera species of insect in Pokemon yet!! And that is a CRIME because Grasshoppers and Crickets are criminally underrated just because they're fairly common insects. God I could comprise of list of just some neat orthoptera I like. You could even kill two birds with one stone here by having an inter-species evolutionary line where a cricket evolves into a grasshopper!

Termites:

I'm still bummed Durant's evolutionary path is painfully underwhelming compared to actual ants. Where's like, the Queens?! And big-headed Majors?!? Either an expansion of Durant's current forms or a new set of Termite-mons would be really nice!

A Fly:

How weird is it that we've still yet to get a common house fly?! We technically have Cutiefly, but I'd love to see a more traditional-looking house fly. Or any other number of fly species if you're feeling adventurous!

A More Traditional Mosquito:

Buzzwole is absolute gold and I don't at all mind it, but I'm still feeling a bit of an itch (hah) for a more traditional looking mosquito. My first shot at making a mosquito monster in the form of my own Fakemon was incorporating the aquatic larval form as a scuba-diver that eventually evolves into a water-drinking and squirting big mosquito. MAINLY because I didn't think Gamefreak would ever even slightly elude to blood if they ever made a mosquitomon, yet here we are.

A Wheel Bug/Assassin Bug in general:

I just point out Wheel Bugs because they're easily my favorite kind of assassin bug, distinguished by the big gear-shaped hump on their back. But I'd love any assassin bug, really. Just look at their goofy faces.

A Giraffe Weevil:

I'm sure tons of people have seen pictures of this thing around the internet. And if you still haven't there it is. You will lay your eyes on this stupid thing and you will immediately understand why we needed a Giraffe Weevil Pokemon like, four generations ago.

A Bombardier Beetle:

While it may not look like much of the surface, this beetle is packing a venomous spray that it ejects from its abdomen to ward off predators! We could always use more Bug/Fire types, so why not pick this thing up and a flame-spewing or actual-bomb-chucking beetle!

A Dragonhead Caterpillar:

There is an irritating lack of insectoid dragons in the Pokedex that are actually classified as insects. You passed up DRAGONflies multiple times, guys! So fine, I guess I gotta pull out a more obscure wish; one of these bad boys! The Dragonhead Caterpillar is easily one of the sickest looking caterpillars out there, and totally befitting a Bug/Dragon type as is! The one sad thing about this is, like the antlions, it's another case where something's larval stage is a lot more neat looking than its adult form; for A Dragonhead Caterpillar would eventually become one of these:

...Yeah, while the Plain Nawab is pretty, its significantly less impressive looking than its caterpillar form, huh? Still no reason you couldn't just elect to give us a draconian butterfly while you're also at it! I guess I wouldn't be TOO upset even if an official Pokemon version of this bug wound up with a more fun base stage than its final stage.

Any Wooly Caterpillar:

I don't care which one you pick, a big ol fuzzy caterpillar is something CRIMINALLY missing from Pokemon at the moment!!

A Devil's Flower Mantis:

Mantids are some of the micro-world's coolest monsters. It's a shame then that the three mantid monsters in Pokemon so far are 1. A lizard with some mantis parts on, 2. More of a lobster, and 3. Not actually a mantis. And that sadly the latter means orchid mantids are out. While I'd be overjoyed to see any new mantis Pokemon, I think a Devil's Flower Mantis would be my personal go-to for a new mantis. It's just so god dang WICKED looking!

This Mind-Controlled Snail:

Because this thing has to be demonstrated in gif form to really portray the oddity of what's going on here. Although, the description is on the gross side, so here's a fair warning to skip past if you're squeamish.

This particular species of parasitic flatworm preys on snails. When they're eaten up by these unsuspecting mollusks, they'll soon find themselves getting their brain taken over by the pulsating worms that wriggle inside the snail's now-bloated eyestalks precisely to make the snail more enticing to birds to eat. Not only that, but the parasite also hijacks the snail's brain. Snails normally prefer damp and dark areas where they're relatively well-hidden away from any predators. These parasites force the snail into bright and wide-open areas like the tops of bushes specifically to make it as easy a meal as possible. They multiply in the bird's stomach before beginning the cycle anew when the bird, ahem, “drops” them off.

Obviously there's a lot of parallels to draw here from this and Parasect. But heck to it if I'd say no to a new, freaky mind-controlled hypno-snail. It'd be such a cool effect on an ingame model to see their eyes pulsating in color. You could even go ahead and make it a candidate for our first Bug/Psychic type!

A Stick Bug:

It's not super pressing that one gets in. I just think stick bugs are neat.

A Black Widow:

I know we got Ariados, but something feels missing from the spider roster in that we don't have a traditional creepy crawly-type spider. A Black Widow is about the most stereotypically creepy spider out there, but I'd love to see it for its potential either way.

A Peacock Spider:

One more spider while we're on the subject of spiders. And offset a spooky spider with a cute one! There's all sorts of fun takes to have on a peacock spiders.

A Pelican Spider:

No hold up. Wait a second. One more spider because I had literally discovered this thing as I was writing this very list. Look at this thing. Look at this spider. What the hell. What the actual hell. What is happening. What. I want one now.

APPARENTLY this Pelican Spider is a species of spider that specifically evolved to eat other spiders. Its weirdly long “neck” and extended mandibles are designed to keep its prey at a long length away from itself so they the spiders it catches can't retaliate with their own bites. That's so neat. I could see how you can intemperate that into a gameplay sense; make it specialize in biting moves and have an ability that makes all biting moves no longer make contact. Maybe that's not HUGE but.

A Dobsonfly:

Again, no pressing reason I can think of other than dobsonfly are underrated, and getting a nice Pokemon to go with em would be cool.

Gah, there's probably a good billion or so I could continue to think up but I SUPPOSE it's gotta stop at some point.

“How on Earth did we wind up with some internet person talking about insects for about half an hour's worth of reading?”

ANYWAY, that's the final of the type reviews. Sword and Shield are just two weeks away, believe it or not. It’ll be a while before I’m back into the funk of making reviews. As I’ve said before, I’d like to take a month or two to really absorb all the new Pokemon they have on offer. For a brief little preview-opinion, the new Pokemon are overall pretty dang good so far. There’s already a couple I’ll be excited to talk about, but if preview event-goers are to be believed, there's’ apparently a TON of new Pokemon to look forward to.

ANYWAY Future-talk:

I dunno if I’ll do something in the meantime review-wise. I would go back to look at the recently discovered Beta Pokemon from Red and Green and Gold and Silver, but I feel like I’ve not got a ton to add to that conversation in particular. (Literally the only hot take I can really come up with is the Baby Vulpix is kinda lame)

I MIGHT look into doing character design reviews for some non-Pokemon properties. I felt like it was eventually gonna happen at some point, I’m just not sure about it happening YET given SwSh are so close and once I’m ready for those reviews I’d have to put the non-Pokemon project on hold. Tell me what sorta series y’all would like to hear my thoughts on for character design. My personal biggest candidates are looking at the creatures from the Pikmin series, the various boss characters from all the various Mega Man games, and looking over the Champions from League of Legends, as well as reviewing the monster cards of Yu-Gi-Oh.

Mega Man would probably be the easiest. Robot Masters don’t exactly require deep analysis to critique their designs. (Though that wouldn’t stop me from getting rambly.) It wouldn’t be until the X, Zero, ZX, and Battle Network/Starforce series that the designs get crazy detailed.

YGO and Pikmin would be easy too, the only issue would be figuring out a format for what order to do them in.

League would easily be the hardest to do. Cause being the completionist that I am, I would want to cover EVERYTHING. Old versions of the characters, NEW versions, as well as every single skin. The problem is figuring out an order to put it all in. The easiest would just to do iit in alphabetical order and cover the skins of each champ as we come across them. But I’d ideally like to do everything in chronological order. Start with the first 40 champions and then pan out to cover each one in order of release, skins included. It’s just really difficult to find a consistent timeline on League content, especially for skins. I dunno. That’d be something I’d have to look into.

Either way, no matter what I end up going with, I’ll see you next time!

[Archive]

[spitaught]

eleven + lucas, season one: an examination of their relationship.

context: what happened before eleven to colour their interactions.  

MIKE AND LUCAS. not only are mike and lucas directly called best friends in episode six of season one   (  to which mike argues that all of the party are his best friends,    a sentiment that dustin only half - halfheartedly agrees with   ),   but there are multiple other references to this throughout    ---    he talks to lucas the most on the walkie talkies because ‘he lives so close’,     lucas asserts that ‘mike would never rat us out’   ;   the two of them,    though their relationship is basically non - existent in season two,    are BEST friends and arguably the closest of the party.    it’s not radical to say that lucas is jealous when eleven starts taking up so much of mike’s time,    but it’s important to note that this is a time where lucas needed his best friend.     will was assumed missing,    or dead,    for the majority of the series.     and mike,    one of the only people who would understand lucas’ mourning ?      he had abandoned him for some stranger   ---   this shades a great deal of his feelings towards eleven who takes the full brunt of his anger.

PENTHURST. in what could be considered a throwaway pair of lines in episode two,     lucas says that eleven is likely a runaway from penthurst   (   the local asylum   )   and dustin asks if lucas has a lot of family there.    though it’s obviously a joke,     these are young boys and i don’t trust that they wouldn’t make fun of something sensitive.    which is to say,    a personal headcanon is that one of lucas’ aunts,    who he used to spend his summers with when he was much younger,   was sent away to penthurst.     the kids mirror their parents a lot and i think his language of ‘weirdo’ / ‘freak’ in relation to eleven was a mimic of his parents language to his aunt   (    consider :    he and max mirror his mother and father’s relationship   ).   therefore,    in seeing someone who closely reminds of someone he loved and then lost, who was subject to his parents’ disapproval, was pretty unpleasant. 

THE DILEMMA OF GIRLS AND STEREOTYPES. eleven is the first girl to ever enter the group and she can’t exactly be seen as a ‘normal’ representation as a result of her own trauma and upbringing. therefore, she does not fit into the stereotype that he has crafted   (   most of his female - based interactions are with his sister,    his mother,    and nancy   ---   who play their roles pretty efficiently in season one   ).    eleven goes outside of the norm   ;   as a young black boy in the 80s who has to FIT IN to not be persecuted,    the idea of someone who breaks stereotypes is a scary and,    moreover,    angering sight.

content: what happened in season one and what it means to their relationship.

‘Lucas was right about you. All along.’ Mike Wheeler. Context: after the train track scene.

though lucas is not present in this scene,        this is the most important definer of their future relationship  ;   it is mike using lucas against eleven in order to hurt her --- i don’t play eleven, and i can’t speak for eleven players, but this sort of mediation between the two   (   who are quite clearly not getting on   )   would have an impact on her ability to trust him.    and lucas doesn’t give his trust to anyone who doesn’t trust him BACK,    so even after they apologise to each other,    even after there is resolution in their arc,    i feel as if this idea of lucas,   as portrayed by the person eleven trusts most in season one,     shapes how eleven reacts to him   ---   which,   in turn,   shapes how lucas reacts to her.

“I mean, look at her.” / “If the weirdo heard him...” Lucas Sinclair. Their first meeting / after its said that Eleven can talk to Will.

the first sentence is used in a derogatory manner   ;   as i’ve said,    lucas doesn’t have much contact with women,    so he’s subject to stereotypes   (   he,    though he gets decidedly better,    is shaped by 80s culture and how it portrays women   ---   overly feminine and petite,   weak and docile   ).   eleven doesn’t fit into any of the represented norms that he’s used to,    so he rebels against the image of her,    ‘   look   ‘   an obvious attempt to make the party SEE that she isn’t normal.    this is to do largely with his own encounters with racism and expectations placed on him   ;   he doesn’t like someone defying the norm when he has to play into it.    as for the   ‘   weirdo   ‘    comment,    not only is it dismissive,    but it plays into my headcanon about his aunt and the mimicking of language.

“I’m not spending my time on her anymore.” Lucas Sinclair. Argument with Mike. 

MY time.    lucas has viewed eleven as a personal investment of his time.    because she’s taking away from time that could be spent on will   ;   i think it’s very interesting that lucas thinks of interactions as investments and transactions.    there’s a thousand other words that can be said when he stops wanting anything to do with her,     but he specifically changes the situation so it’s about him,    about spending his time.    this    ‘    interactions as transactions    ‘    is shown again when lucas refuses to be friends with mike if he keeps seeing eleven.   i think this really shows how strategic he is,     even with his own friends.

‘Weirder than normal.’ / ‘Because she’s a traitor. You did it, didn’t you?’ / ‘I saw her wiping her nose on the tracks.’ Lucas Sinclair. On the train tracks and after.

in the   ‘   weirder than normal   ‘   scene,    we see that it’s lucas who notices something is off with eleven   ---   mike clearly idolises her too much and dustin is distracted by the compasses.   it’s important to note that lucas has been watching her enough to notice a change,    so he’s clearly taken note of her behaviours.    once more,    lucas is the most analytical of the group,   so it’s not a surprise   ;   to play in with my headcanon of his aunt,    lucas felt as if he didn’t watch her enough,    and that it was somehow his fault when her state began to deteriorate.    by watching eleven so heavily,    he’s attempting to make amends.    the   ‘   i saw her   ‘   also shows how lucas relies heavily on eyes and what can be seen.

use of the word traitor / freak / weirdo throughout show how lucas succumbs to stereotypes   ---   even despite how logical he is,     he thinks that people fit a TYPE.    he believes that people can be fit into a single world.    80s culture was defined by a wave of upheaval,     with the people in power   (   johnson and kennedy   )    only attempting to make changes that impacted society.    due to this,    and the various attitudes towards black people in the period   (   negatively socially,    and politically rather lacklustre   )   meant that lucas was raised in a time of great CARE.    he had been conditioned to follow stereotypes so he naively puts them on other people.   

“Maybe she’s the monster.” / Lucas being throw across the field by Eleven’s powers. / “That was awesome. It was awesome.” Lucas Sinclair. Multiple times, when Eleven uses her powers.

MONSTER.     lucas has already strove throughout the season to dehumanise jane,    but the use of monster is obviously the most violent language he’d used in regards to her   ;   at this point,    lucas’ idea of a monster is pretty muddled   ---    he’d seen glimpses of horror movies and he’d had THE TALK at school about human monsters.    but,    really,    his only interaction with monsters are in d&d.    not only is he dehumanising her to himself,     he’s fictionalising her.    logically,    he can’t quite fathom her,    so he files her away with the monsters mike had described.   it’s also another linking of mike&eleven in his mind.  

as for his interactions with her powers,    they’re initially used AGAINST him.    she reminds him of troy,    of the bullies in school at that moment   ---   even after he compliments her powers,    showing an apparent reconciliation,     he doesn’t ENJOY eleven’s powers.   he thinks it’s cool,    sure,    but in the same way that caged tigers are cool.     it’s cool when it’s not used against him   ;    he’ll wince at any use of eleven’s powers and,    on the whole,    feels very negatively towards them.

“Keep Eleven out of sight and keep her safe. That’s the most important thing.”

okay,    everyone has seen the pool scene where lucas starts taking care of eleven after she’s used up a lot of her powers.     more than that,    this line is important because it shows how quick lucas is to form loyalties and bonds with people   ;   after spending so long resenting eleven’s presence and what she represents,     it takes one apology from mike and her for him to commit himself entirely to keeping eleven safe   (   she’s also become useful to him now,     interactions as investments   ---   ).   it’s not fair to say that lucas is completely comfortable with eleven after season one,     there’s healing needed on both sides,     and lucas is still a little scared of her powers,    but it’s pretty easy to see that lucas’ leadership qualities have made it so he’s dedicated to eleven.

[crimsonrevolt]

Congratulations Carrie you’ve been accepted to Crimson Revolt as James Potter.

↳ please refer to our character checklist

Carrie! Excitement doesn’t begin to describe how happy we were to see your name in our inbox, or that you had reapplied for James. You capture him so well and throughout so many portions of your app it’s obvious how you see his growth and character, his relationships and perception on the war and we can’t wait to see where you take him moving forward. Welcome back!

application beneath the cut 

OUT OF CHARACTER

Introduction: Carrie, 22, she/her, EST

Activity: I try to be as active as I can.  Currently, I am on Christmas break, but once I return to school, I have a tendency to work 11-12 hours a day.  Still, I try to check in and do the replies that are waiting for me and I’m usually lurking to get plots going and new threads started.

How did you find us? I used to be a member here like, a year ago.  I had some personal complications while I was here so I had to leave, but I logged into my old account and saw my smol son was still open.  So, I thought I’d reapply. :)

IN CHARACTER

Desired character: James Fleamont Potter.  He tried to keep his middle a name a secret, convincing everyone in third year that his middle name was actually Frederick.  But, his friends caught wind of him trying to hide it, and started loudly calling him Fleamont whenever they saw him.

Birthday / star sign: March 27, 1960 / Aries

Occupation: Currently, James is unemployed.  He has enough money from his family’s fortune that he can live off of, and he’s 100% dedicated to the war effort, so he doesn’t feel like he has time to work a job.  However, once it’s all over, he has plans to try and get recruited as a professional quidditch player.

Faceclaim: I think I was the one who first requested Grant Gustin actually, so I want to keep him around. XD

Reason for chosen character: I love James Potter with all my heart.  He has one of the best character arcs in Harry Potter, despite not ever being represented all that much.  After all, you start out with a kid who thinks the world of himself (because let’s be real, he thinks he’s God’s gift to the world and his parents made him think that was the case until he was about sixteen) and then grows into someone who is willing to sacrifice himself in order to give his wife and child the chance that they can live.  He has such a great energy and one that is definitely contagious, creating such a mischievous band of boys so early on in his school career.

Throughout his entire life, James has always felt pressure to be better.  Better at being a son than any other kid, better at quidditch than anyone else, and better at being a friend to the people around him.  He’s always put a lot of pressure on himself to make sure that happens, often hyping himself up in order to make sure that other people see him the way that he has tried to portray himself.  Very few people know just how much of an act it truly is though. For years, the only people privy to this information, and that had insight into who James truly was were the other three Marauders (and his parents, obviously, because they were gems of people). With his friends, James was able to be much more caring, much more genuine, and much more likely to be honest. They’re the first people that James felt willing to put above himself–learning how to become an animagus so that Remus wouldn’t be alone, adopting Sirius in all but name into his family and making over him for the lack of support he has, making a fuss over just about anything Peter does in order to ensure he feels just as important in their little group.  Their little family.

His goal throughout his time at school was just to see his friends happy.  To make their lives better because he was a part of it.  Over time though, that changed.  They grew up, and James saw other people that needed their lives to be improved.  He saw the way people treated those who weren’t of pureblood status, of the stigma people placed on others that were simply different than themselves and he felt it was wrong.  It was why James decided to join up with the Order in the first place, feeling it was the best way to try and stand up and make life a little more equal for everyone in the wizarding community.

Preferred ships // Character sexuality // Gender & Pronouns: James has always been a bit of a hopeless romantic.  During his sixth year, he was involved in a fairly serious relationship, and it was part of why he started shifting from the arrogant fifth year boy people knew into someone with a more level head. James sees romance as a necessary part of life, because, as his role model John Lennon said: “love is all you need.”  Sex is something that James used to not see as a big deal. He lost his virginity after a quidditch match in fifth year, and would enjoy shagging whenever he could find someone willing to climb into bed with him.  But, after sixth year, when he fell in love with someone truly for the first time, his feelings on it changed.  He saw it more as a way to express how he felt about the people he was in love with.

Ship wise, I’m always down for Jily (because without it… can there even be Harry Potter?) but also, any sort of James/chemistry.  He identifies as a heterosexual cismale, and uses the pronouns he/him.

CREATE ONE (OR MORE!) OF THE FOLLOWING FOR YOUR CHARACTER

James Intro Moodboard

James and Sirius Moodboard

James and Lily Moodboard

James Spotify Playlist

IN CHARACTER QUESTIONNAIRE

The following section should be looked at like a survey or interview for your character. The questions may be answered in character or out of character, with or without gifs.

Do you think it is more important to be feared or loved? Which would you rather be? “I think it’s more important to be loved.  After all, if people fear you then… what’s really the point?  They’re only doing what you want because they don’t want you to be angry and lash out at them.  But, if you love them, then you’re doing it because you want to.  Because it makes their life better.  I’d want to be loved.”

What is one thing you would never want said about you? “That I was a shit friend.  Or a horrid quidditch player.  My friends are the most important people in my life, and I want to go above and beyond for them.  I was blessed with a great life, and I want some of that to spill over into theirs too.  And, I’ve worked my arse off to be good at quidditch.  So I definitely don’t want there to be anything to be said bad about that.”

If you were able to invent one spell, potion, or charm, what would it do, what would you use it for or how would you use it? Feel free to name it! “I would invent something that could give me super speed.  I started getting into muggle comic books around fourth year, and one of my favorite superheroes in them can run really fast.  I’ve always enjoyed running–it kept me in shape for quidditch.  But, I’d like to be faster.  I think it’d be something along the lines of acceloratorus.”

What kinds of decisions are the most difficult for you to make? “Serious decisions.  That sounds incredibly vague, I know, but I hate doing anything seriously.  It’s easier to make a joke out of things and make inconsequential decisions.  But, the second something takes me a lot of in depth thought, and whatever I decide means I lose out on another option, that’s when I struggle.”

REACTION TO LAST EVENT DROP

James was super hyped about the Quidditch Cup, but when the Aversio showed up, it seemed more of an inconvenience than anything.  He gets what they’re doing, he really does, but it’s frustrating.  He sees more of an opportunity elsewhere, and they’re just making life for the Order infinitely harder.  He’s grateful when Marlene comes to him to help find and retrieve Edgar Bones.  Whenever he can be useful, James jumps at the chance, and this is prime time for him to come to someone’s aid.  Whenever Edgar is found and brought back, there’s a definite sigh of relief, and it feels a little like a small victory to be had.

He’ll be excited when he finds out he’s going to be dad.  Well… as excited as he can be when he thinks about the war torn world he’ll be bringing a child into, at an age as young as he is.  But, James believes a child is never something to regret, and so he can only look forward to the life he’s created with Lily.

WRITING SAMPLE

It wasn’t the first time he’d thought about marriage.  No, he’d first thought about it when he was a small child, seeing his mother and father strolling hand in hand around the Potter estate.  They’d seemed so happy and content, and James had wondered when he’d experience something like that.  Nor, was it the second time he’d contemplated marriage.  That happened during his sixth year, in the midst of his first serious relationship.  He could recall clearly the day Gladys fell asleep on his shoulder, his arm long numb, and how he thought he could get used to a life just like that.

But it was the last time that he’d seriously thought about marriage that James knew he no longer wanted to waste time.  It was time to start putting thought into action.  So that’s what he did.

She had seemed so small, lying there in the hospital bed.  So helpless.  It was one of the few times he’d ever thought of Lily Evans as helpless, and it was certainly a thought he never wanted to experience again.  If he had anything to say about it, James was going to ensure that Lily was always safe, for as long as they would live.  And, being wizards, he knew that was going to be a long, long time.

Sure, the few people he’d told of his ideas told him that he was too young.  After all, they hadn’t even broken out of their teen years and he was already contemplating marriage.  In fact, they hadn’t even been together again for very long when the idea entered his head.  

But, of exactly three things James was certain.  First, Gryffindor was the best Hogwarts house in the world.  Second, the best time to go flying was right after the sun had just started to show again after its long sleep.  And finally, he and Lily Evans were supposed to end up together.  Besides, with all the uncertainty that was lurking around each corner, he wanted to make sure that they spent as much time together as husband and wife as possible.  If that was rushing things, then he couldn’t think of a better reason to rush it.

Doing what James Potter did best, he devised a plan: Operation Future Mrs. Prongs.  It was simple, had an easy to obtain objective, and had exactly five steps to execute it perfectly.

Step one: Obtain a ring.  

His mom had offered up her own, insisting that it was a Potter family heirloom and that it was only fitting that he give it to his own girlfriend.  But, James had refused.  While it was a beautiful ring, something about it just didn’t feel right.  It was too big, too obviously used for pureblood wedding ceremonies where the participants had been betrothed as children.  It wasn’t suitable for someone as delicate as his Lily.  Faced with no other option, he’d been forced to go shopping.  

It took him two days to find it.  The first day found him in each and every shop in wizarding London, desperate to find something as enchanting as his future bride to be.  But they all came up short.  The second day, James spent hours going from one jewelry store to the next, until he found it.  Her perfect ring.  It was just nice enough to please his pureblood relatives who cared about such things, while simple enough that he felt it wasn’t overdoing it.  A gold band, one large diamond in the middle, with three smaller ones on each side.  It was perfect.  Step one was complete.

Step two: Ask for a blessing.

Specifically, he had to ask for three.  For him, the first one was the hardest.  He’d had the ring in his hand when he went to Sirius’s flat, nervously tugging at the hair on the back of his head.  Of course, James should have expected the look of shock on his best friend’s face as he explained to Sirius exactly what he had planned for the other best friend in his life.  It took some promising (on both of their parts) that no one would ever replace the relationship the two boys had forged, but both eventually agreed that it was going to be the best.  And that it was the natural step forward in such a crazy and unpredictable world.

The second one was a little easier.  Mrs. Evans had always been kind to James, and he sincerely loved the older woman.  Sure, she had seemed a little reluctant when James told her his plans to marry her daughter, especially considering their ages, but she too, blessed the union.  After all, even though Lily had tried to keep her family as much in the dark as possible as to the terrors going on in the wizarding world, Mrs. Evans was no idiot.  She couldn’t have been to have raised a daughter like Lily.  She knew something was wrong, and if there was one person she could trust to protect Lily (though they both knew that she was capable of protecting herself), it was James.  The meeting ended with a hug and a cup of tea, and James left knowing the next one was the most important.

It was also the most awkward.  For him, at least.  He’d been able to find the grave without much of an issue.  After all, it wasn’t the first time he’d ventured out that way, and he doubted that it would be the last.  But it had always been with Lily before.  Sitting down slightly to the side of the headstone, James once more pulled the ring out from his pocket, turning it over in his hands as he spoke.

“So um, Mr. Evans?  I don’t exactly know how to… you know, talk to you.  But, you’re important to Lily.  And I know that having your blessing on us getting married would mean a lot to her.  So, I figured that I would at least come and ask, you know?”

He paused then, pushing his glasses up his nose as he lifted his eyes from the ring to stare at the marker.  “I love your daughter a lot.  More than I ever thought it was possible to love someone else.  She keeps me grounded, she pushes me to be a better version of myself, and she’s always there for me, no matter what I might need.  She’s one of my best mates, and I can’t imagine a life without her in it.  She’s… perfect, honestly and you did an amazing job of raising her.  She works to make you so proud, and I know that you would be.  I know I’m proud of her.  But… I guess I say all this Mr. Evans because… I want your blessing to marry your daughter.”

Sure, he never got an exact answer.  But a bird landed on top of the stone and chirped, and James decided that was as close to a yes as he would ever get.

Step two was a success.

Step three: Throw the best birthday party ever.

To the average eye, this would have absolutely nothing to do with getting Lily Evans to agree to marry him.  But James Potter and his friends had certainly never had average used to describe them before.  No, his birthday was the perfect time to set things in motion.  There’d been the main party of course: his parents, members of the Order, old buddies from Hogwarts, all invited to share in firewhiskey, butterbeer, and the most complex cake that James had found in some muggle bakery.  

To their credit, most of them tried to avoid talking about the war as much as possible.  But, it still seemed to creep into even the most innocent of conversations.  Such was to be expected, James supposed, when it seemed that gatherings like this would have been the perfect place to target.  Still, everyone stopped long enough to sing happy birthday while James cut the cake, passing a piece around to each guest and thanking them for coming.  One by one, the guests started to trickle out, passing by the birthday boy as he clutched tightly to his girlfriend’s hand.  Each person wished him a happy birthday once more, and were returned with another thank you for coming.  In the background, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were busy opening James’s presents for him, occasionally shouting out an extra thank you if they found that person’s present worthy of one.

Finally, it ended up with just the four Marauders and Lily.  It was getting dark, but that didn’t matter to James.  A flick of his wand and they had enough light to see by.  For a moment, James disappeared into a wardrobe in his house, before returning, grin on his face, with a brand new quidditch set.  “A birthday gift from me to me,” he explained as he set it down.  Each person went to get a broom, before the teams were divided up: James, Lily, and Peter on one side, Sirius and Remus on the other.  But it didn’t matter who was on what team, since there was only one true objective: have Lily catch the snitch.

Which, actually, was going to be more of a trick than James had ever planned on.  Although all the boys knew exactly what was being planned and the true reason behind the game, Lily seemed to simply not be able to catch it.  Once, Peter had almost given up in frustration and reached for it himself.  It took a quick hex from Remus to make him lose balance on his broom and have to use both hands to hold on.

But when she did catch it… oh, how she smiled.  James’s heart flipped as she dismounted the broom, proudly holding it in the air.  It didn’t matter that catching the snitch hadn’t helped them win the game–Sirius and Remus scored far too many points with the quaffle in the time it took her to catch the stupid thing–James had jumped off his broom all the same, cheering as he picked her up to spin her around.

It was easily his favorite step to complete.

Step four: Have Dumbledore use his super awesome magic skills.

Flesh magic was a weird thing.  It definitely didn’t rank in the three things that James Potter knew about.  But he knew what it was.  Once, when he was a mere second year, his parents had gifted him a book all about quidditch.  There, was the first time he learned about flesh magic.  Snitches would forever be tied to the first person who caught them.  It was why the ones James played with were always trying to get away from him.  After all, he was a Chaser.  He hadn’t caught those snitches.  They weren’t his.

It was why he made sure Lily Evans had caught that snitch.

Ring in one pocket and golden snitch in the other, he’d made his way to his old headmaster to ask for help.  There was a twinkle in the old wizard’s eye as James began his tale and he seemed to understand what it was James wanted before he even asked.

Flesh magic, he had explained, was a rare magic that had not been fully studied.  At least, not that he knew of.  It took a long time, far longer than James had anticipated, to accomplish one of the last phases of Operation: Future Mrs. Prongs.  Of course, to a man who was not so anxious, it probably was a reasonable amount of time, but James didn’t care about being reasonable.  Not when there was something so important looming on the horizon.

He’d begun by sitting in the corner, watching as Dumbledore worked with the snitch and the engagement ring, tapping his foot as he waited.  Tapping a foot turned into drumming his fingers on his legs and humming a new McCartney song.  It earned him a sideways glance from the older wizard, and James took that as his cue to shut up.  Deciding that he could sit no longer, he’d stood up, pacing around Dumbledore’s office while he continued working.  If the Hogwarts headmaster found this annoying, he did not say.  At least it kept James quiet.

Finally, Dumbledore held up the snitch, the slightest hint of a smile on his lips and a sparkle in his eye.  The tiny wings flapped wildly, desperately trying to get out of the man’s grasp, but his nimble fingers kept it in place.  James took it from him, quickly stuffing it into his pocket so it would not escape and grinned.  The ring was safely in place.  He thanked the old man and apparated home, grinning wildly.  He was so close.

That only left step five.  And perhaps the scariest and most uncertain step of all.  He could plan as much as he wanted, and James did.  He picked out the restaurant, the spot he’d take her to after, practiced fidgeting with the snitch like he had during their earlier days at Hogwarts, and planned the things he’d say to goad her on to try and have her snatch it from him.  But none of his planning could necessarily help him achieve the final phase of his plan.  It was all on Lily.

Step five: Have her say yes.

[astralcaw-blog]

Auras 101: History and Sight

This post is a basic guide to auras. Consider it a 101 class. We will begin by identifying what an aura is, how it’s seen in use through history, and practices that will allow you to learn to see them if you so choose to work for it and learn. I will then talk about my personal methods of seeing auras, and a small introduction into deciphering and discerning the aura.

Let’s Start From The Beginning: What is an Aura?

The most common description of an aura is an electromagnetic field that surrounds the body, most often in an egg shape. I’ve heard claims that we’ve always had the ability to see the aura. We have it as an inherent ability at birth, which is why babies look over our heads. It’s also been believed to be something many saw before modern times, and many claim the best representations of such are portrayed in the “halos” you see in art of holy entities. The connection to the divine is often portrayed through a white (or sometimes purple) light around the head.

I was born and raised Christian, so I’m very familiar with said representations around Jesus Christ, disciples, and saints. 

However in my auric studies, you can also see said halo around other divine figures, of whom I admittedly know less about. Below are examples of this light seen in a depiction of Krishna

and the Buddha

This link (x) talks about how the aura exists on various layers of the energetic body; the physical, the astral or emotional, lower and higher mental planes, spiritual, intuitional, and the absolute plane. They all tie together to make one big blob. (below picture from wikihow)

Here’s a rather standard concept of the varying planes and where they exist in the auric field.

Sources are varied on exactly how the aura appears. @crystalwitch-in-the-tardis​ has informed me some sources claim the aura is commonly extends larger and farther in the back than the front, and the layers closest to the body itself have the densest energy. The further you go out the finer/higher the energy gets, which is why only so much is accessible to “see” with your eyes. Sources I find commonly show the aura as an egg shape, and the shapes I’ll be showing you make the egg shape clear, but doesn’t necessarily obscure the descriptions of the aura mentioned above.

Below you can see the standard “egg” shape that auras are known to take. (pic from REALfarmacy.com)

The trick is the electromagnetic field cannot be seen with the life dulled naked eye. However, many who have “raised their vibrations” or have trained their eyes to see auras on the physical plane. 

So What are These Tricks?

Well, imaginary other half of this conversation, I’m glad you asked! There are... so many. My suggestion would begin by simply sensing. Feeling the energies that someone brings you when you’re in their presence. I have made a post about sensing energies, linked here. 

Below is a diagram to help you feel it yourself as posted by www.psychicstudent.com. With practice of the below method, patience and focus, you can feel the energies of your own aura between your hand pulling on each other. Some feel it as tingles, others as warmth. It’s different for the individual and the energy being sensed. 

A lot of practicing seeing the aura develops from utilizing your peripheral vision. For similar reasons why you’re more likely to see spooks from the corner of your eye, it’s claimed your retina’s are less damaged and able to pick up on the sensitive energies/colors.

It’s also important to know that an items aura often appears as the opposite color of what it is. For example, I’ve seen a blue-green aura around a red traffic light, until it changed, of course. This is why many methods for learning how to see auras suggest a white background. It’s also important to note the blue aura coming off of Phillip could be his orange shirt. Be sure to utilize discernment. My first method for practicing was with the following techniques, which train you how to utilize the peripheral focus needed to see an aura physically. This practice is one I originally was linked to by a friend to this site: https://www.thiaoouba.com/aura_eye_exercise.htm. It’s honestly my favorite outsourced site on this post. If you want to delve into this further please check them out. 

After mastering that one, try out this one. 

(If the words get in the way of practice, simply crop them out)

Another popular method is seeing your aura between your fingers. The following method was one I found on chakra-anatomy.com. 

Begin by sitting down across from the white wall. Your back should be fully supported by a chair, your feet flat on the ground. Connecting to your breath, take a few minutes for relaxation.

Extend one arm, palm facing the wall, fingers together. Soften your gaze as you look at your hand. Hold this soft gaze for 30 seconds and you will begin to see energy field surrounding your hand.

Slowly spread your fingers apart. Continue with the soft gaze looking at your fingers and the space between your fingers. What do you see?

With time and practice, you will begin to see and outline around your hand and around your fingers. At first, it may appear as a heat wave, almost colorless field, later on, you will begin to see different colors of your aura.

Patiently observe. There is nothing to strive for. Just being here, in the moment, focusing softly on the hand, on the fingers, and the space between the fingers.

Now the above method I practiced with a lot, and I was rather irked, because I was at work passing the time practicing with this and I could never see more than I ever could; the thin line of white heat around the skin. I showed a coworker what I was doing and she could do it in under 2 minutes. I was rather bitter, I won’t lie. 

The above method can also be practiced on a white piece of paper on a table.

To read another person, a similar method is used, but instead of looking at the space between your fingers, you’ll be looking at the person. Some suggest looking at the forehead so you can see the aura in your peripherals, other claim to hold a relaxed gaze just above the head and/or shoulders until the colors begin to show up. You can practice this with yourself in a mirror, too. 

But Hawk! This is just physical auras, right? Basically. With these methods, it’s very hard to see the full “egg,” especially at first. I have a friend who is experienced in seeing auras who can get the whole egg by using the below method. In the beginning, you’ll most likely see a simple aura such as the picture below emulates, provided by 7chakracolors.com.

Yes, the above is another finger test to see an aura on your own body. Instead of looking between the fingers on one hand, you’re looking at the space between your two fingers in front of you. 

So how do you see the full egg? Practice. Heck it takes a whole lot of practice with the above methods, and others like them, to be able to even see auras. I know I’ve fallen out of practice and, though I’ve never been able to see a person’s full aura in this way, I have seen the auras of inanimate objects. But I have obtained the ability to see the full egg. But how?

My Method

I never saw the full egg until I started getting into energy work. I had a friend ask me to check on their wards. When trying to explain what I saw, I made up this picture. (This was over a year ago, and the person this was drawn for has since changed and grown in many protections, so this picture isn’t opening up any danger to anybody). 

I’ll be honest I had no idea I was looking at an aura. I learned, however, how to access these patterns on many many people. I called them energy readings and referred to it as their “energetic egg.” I figured if I couldn’t see it with my own two eyes like the above practices, it wasn’t an aura. The thought didn’t even cross my mind. Not until I went to a powwow this summer and met a designated “seer” of a tribe down state. I told her about what I do, especially regarding energetic readings. I mentioned I go and visit this bright egg shaped energy around a person, and she simply corrects me saying, “The Aura.” I was so stunned in that moment. Like... I finally saw someones aura. I’ve been doing it for months at that time. And this task I had been working at for years finally was something I had already grasped. 

So how do I do it?

I ground. I get my bearings about me. I then enter a trance state and focus on another persons energy. This is usually through a taglock like ones name or an image like a selfie. I then focus all of my intention on that image, like I do when I decide to astral travel, and I feel their energy. It branches out into a chord and I can visually ride it to their energetic body, the aura, the egg. From here, I can observe energy centers, aura colors, I can change levels of intent and focus and observe energetic parasites, relationship chords, blockages, emotional damage, and more. 

I have a variety of these services, and more, available by request or at http://www.clairvoyantclove.tumblr.com. 

Deciphering Aura Colors

I’m not going to tell you what each aura color means. You can google that so easily and have a billion different answers come up with some pretty regular inconsistencies. They will mention green means you’re close to earth. Green could also mean you’re nervous, anxious, sick, or you have a really strong heart center that’s bleeding out into many layers of your aura. You see what I’m getting at here?

I’ve learned that it’s important to understand what these colors have the potential to mean, however, once reading ones aura, if the green=nature doesn’t feel right, go back to the original practice of feeling energy. When you are around it, how does it make you feel? Where do you see it coming from? How is it interacting with the person you’re reading? Use these answers to determine what a color means. 

A general rule of thumb I follow is their shade. We can use the green example above. If the green looks like a pukey or vomit green, it could be illness or anxieties. If it’s leafy and lush, it could be a connection to nature. See where we’re going here? The more practice you have the more discernment you’ll learn. Just make sure to learn. Google and Tumblr can only get you so far.

**Extra Note: **Everything people do in the beautiful world in metaphysics, it is required to hold a certain level of discernment, and that level is a lot. A lot of discernment. Know not everything is always as it seems, and learn methods to make sure you know that what you’re looking at is truly what you believe it to be. You can find information countless places on the glory of the internet from energy workers, spirit workers, and others alike. If you have any questions do not hesitate to question myself or your local energy enthusiast.

I will be adding a bit of another disclaimer; this took me years to learn. After about 2 years of practicing hard and trying to see auras, I stopped. I learned meditation and practiced various techniques of meditation and trance states for about 5 years before learning to trance in a way to astral travel, work with energy, and more. Then it took an extra few months before I was reading auras like this. 8 months after starting working with energy before I met the seer. 

If you’re determined to see auras, keep at it, even if the above methods don’t work at first. You’ll make it. You may even find your own way.  

Best of Luck on Your Path

[clonerightsagenda]

Ok, let's finish this up tonight, now that I've gotten my cover letter ironed out. We're to Cherubquest, and I have a lot to say about the way John interacts with some of the meta stuff in this subact, so let's get started.

As they approach the MSPA terminal, John and Dave have another chance to talk. In John's tirade about Con Air, he reveals he thinks Dave is the true hero of the story. Meanwhile, Dave has repeatedly said he thinks John is the real hero. This is mostly due to both of them holding themselves to silly standards and then putting their friends on pedestals in comparison, and in the conversation, they both agree that's probably a little silly. The conversation closes with

JOHN: now, let's go write ourselves a happy ending!

which is a callback to something Jane said a long time ago.

Now, it's time for the conversation between Dave and Caliborn while John's trying to hack the narrative prompt. This log makes me laugh literally every time i read it. Part of its purpose was to relentlessly mock the theories that Dave would die because he's the most important tragic character ever, but the log also explores some meta stuff about Homestuck as a narrative and authorial control that ties into what I'm doing with John, even if he doesn't participate in the conversation. And I've got a lot to say about this, because I wrote my undergrad thesis on how Junot Díaz portrays the author as inevitably a dictator in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Great book by the way, if you haven’t read it. It has the most kickass opening I have ever read.

In that novel, Díaz quips that writers and dictators have never gotten along because “like recognizes like”. The novel explores the politics of storytelling – how those in power shape or silence narratives – and it makes even its own narrator and author complicit. Any act of storytelling is inherently dictatorial to an extent. The person telling the story gets to choose what to include and what to leave out. Everyone listening is forced to accept their version of events. There's a big motif in the novel of gaps - things that the dictator has covered up, or things that the narrative is not willing or able to tell. The blank pages are a sign of suppression and violence, but they can also be an opening for someone willing to write on them.

Caliborn is a textbook example of putting the author into authoritarian. He seizes control of the narrative and attempts to retell the story in a way that fits his sensibilities. (Some conspiracy theories argue that he succeeded.) This extends way past his Homosuck doodles. As Lord English, he shapes and defines the alpha timeline, dooming any deviations from the path he has set to wither and die. Any story that doesn’t meet with his approval and match the one he’s telling is sidelined. Caliborn has been forcing everyone to be bit parts in his epic from day one.

(As a sidenote, this is a flaw I accuse Dave of having – of thinking of other people’s motivations and reactions as peripheral to his aims, like they’re props in the drama of his life. Of course Caliborn is much much worse (many teens are solipsistic) but it’s intriguing.)

I’m aware of the obvious catch here. After all, the two of us decided we didn’t like the way the story was going, so we barged in and grabbed it. Now we’re telling a version, and the characters are dancing to our tune. My conclusion from reading Díaz’s novel (though not mine alone; I wasn’t fast enough off the block to be the first person writing on this) was that to avoid being dictators, writers have to leave gaps. A motif within The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is the pagína blanco or blank page, something that hasn’t been filled in. The narrator leaves gaps, asks questions, and specifically says he cannot finish telling the story on his own. The readers have to piece things together or make assumptions, and different readers are likely to do that differently. The novel draws on so many different frames of reference, probably intentionally, that no one person will grasp it all.

So silence is one way to not impose your authority over a narrative, but then no narrative gets to exist at all. But the other option is openness, or multiplicity.  I wrote in a gag about Caliborn’s superior headcanons, because he’s trying to make his vision overrule all while wildly misinterpreting the characters we know, but headcanons? Fanfic? Fandom in general? That’s how readers turn a dictatorship into a democracy.

As I was working on the outline for this project, I had to wrestle with what made Lord English a compelling villain. After all, Dave says it himself in his argument with grimbark Jade. He lurks on the periphery. He hasn’t done much to any of them directly. Technically, he’s the reason any of them exist. But he’s also what has them trapped in only one option, punishing any deviation even if it might make things better for them. He’s the reason for the dreambubbles being stuffed with dead dreamers who objectively did everything right. He’s the tyranny of the narrative given form.

I was rather pleased with this conclusion. Then Act 7 happened and a bunch of other people came up with the same idea as an explanation for why canon had to end the way it did, which made me feel far less original, not that I was very original to begin with. Did canon pull it off? That’s up to you to decide. Will we? Same thing. After all, if we want to avoid the same level of tyranny, at some point we have to back off. At some point, we – like all the other authors – have to die. Metaphorically. Hopefully, anyway.

How does this tie into John's arc? As I said earlier, John has a tendency to view things through the lens of fiction. When he gets the retcon power, he now has authorial control over the story. He can defy the alpha timeline, which is the narrative Caliborn/Lord English privileges. Dave makes a joke about Karkat's sickle plus John's hammer meaning they'll seize the means of production, but John does. He seizes the narrative, and he writes them out of the hole they're in. By saving Calliope, he defies Lord English's will and starts a chain reaction that will lead to his defeat on more than one front. 

Specifically, he calls Calliope's name. At the very beginning of Homestuck, we're shown that you have to name the character before you can give them commands. We're told later that the cherubs' names are important, but it never comes up again. So I made it relevant again - maybe  Roxy just saying Calliope's name wasn't enough, but armed with the narrative prompt and Breathy power, John can call her name loudly enough to bring her back from the dead. Plus, with his meta power, he fucks around with the comic proper - clicking links and appearing outside the panel frame. This story is his now. After viewing his life through the prism of a story, he's going to use that to rewrite it better.

Now that I have forced you to sit through a miniature version of my undergrad thesis, let's move on to post-Cherubquest content. As the Betas prepare to fight Jack, John stares up at the sky and is treated to a cloud-memory of his dead father. (Has Gill shared the sketch for this panel? It's ridic.) 

EDIT: She once sent it to me. Here it is.

He's facing these memories now, even if they're not ones he enjoys. As a side note, you'll notice the next panel has everyone drawn in old school Homestuck style to show how far they've come. The thick lines are kinda unsettling tbh.

And finally, our most recent update. John is getting used to the fact that ok, he might be silly and dorky and not the traditional Platonic form of a hero, but he gets the job done. He's actually one of the characters who'll rely on the walkarounds a lot more for closure - be on the lookout for him to sort of settle some of his issues re: emotional repression, heroic ideals, and doomed timeline bias when we get there. Still, he's on his way! And he got to do some stuff on his own terms, instead of just being bossed around, so he's a lot happier, even if he is burdened by the harsh reality of their lives. The past may be brutal, but things are looking up.  

[melinathurmond]

*A Heartfelt Goodbye*

In this entry, I will examine the critical questions: What is the main purpose of this artifact's message and how are ethos, pathos, and logos used in this rhetorical artifact to achieve that purpose? Is the way that these rhetorical appeals are used ethical?

To investigate these questions, I examined Michelle Obama’s Final Speech as First Lady as my rhetorical artifact. Obama builds her ethos by illustrating her line of workers and credibility in the award she presented as well as painted herself as a humorous person so the audience has more comfortability with her. 

Michelle Obama, 54 at the time, married former President of the United States Barack Obama in 1992 and has had two kids since. Obama was a well-known lawyer and Harvard graduate who has successfully written a book since her time in office. During her terms (2009-2017), she launched the “Let’s Move!” campaign, which encouraged healthy eating in young children to decrease childhood obesity and increase outdoor activities, in hopes that this will lead to higher education for these children. 

Herrick (2013) gives precise ways in which logos, ethos, and pathos are portrayed in communication. Logos, in this sense, was “words of a document or speech” (79). The goal of logos was to produce a coherent argument using words. This is without going into depth of what these words could mean to others, but rather do just have words and be able to justify them. Pathos, according to Aristotle, referred to “emotional appeals” and “persuasive messages [that] move an audience into action” (79). Herrick goes on to say how anyone can have emotion, but the way you use it is the most important key to the communication. Finally, Aristotle frames ethos as “personal credibility” (80). Aristotle believes this is the most important part of a speech because a person’s speech should not be liked based on their reputation within the crowd, but rather the facts that they give to prove their credibility. Aristotle as the first rhetorician to coin these terms and use them within his numerous speeches. 

We see Obama’s credibility in ethos within the first few minutes of the speech. Though she does not start the actual speech till about sixteen minutes in, she takes time to give credit to people who made all of her hard work and dedication to this position possible. She gives thanks to “our outstanding secretary of education, John King” and gives thanks to his hard work and “dedication to leadership” and how much it has done for “our country”. She then goes on to mention some well respected friends that she has in the audience, like Usher, Andy Cohen, and Jake Farrow, thanking them for their “starpower to inspire young people”. As mentioned, she spent a majority of her time in office advocating for young people in their health and education. By reiterating these facts in her speech, she is adding to her knowledge of the subjects at hand. Similarly, Obama talks about Terri Brzezinski, 2017 school counselor of the year, and touches on what some people had to say about her. “Once she identifies a systemic need, she works tirelessly to address it” says the principal of the school that Terri was recommended from. This is not directly about Obama, but shows that she is not flattering the candidate with all compliments; she uses the resources that she can to make sure the person is thought of in the highest regard. This shapes her trustworthiness because she not only connects the speech back to this idea of education, which is something Obama has been extremely passionate about for a long time, but she uses it as a frame to see others in that same light as well. She was able to find the passion in others that she finds within things she enjoys, and that is not something that most people would do for fun. 

Obama then goes on to subtly persuade people as to why high school counselors are so important to a young kid's education. She started this award back in 2015 to help recognize those counselors who have done an outstanding job. She mentions Brzezinski again, as she has won the award, and what one of the students had to say about her. “Mrs. Brzezinski has helped me grow to love myself. She has helped me with my doubts and insecurities. My life has changed for the better in all aspects”. Emotions is a huge aspect of persuasion, so for Obama to tie that into why Brzezinski is so deserving of this award was well placed. This also shows Obama’s strategy within her speech to show just how much this counselor deserved this award among all the other counselors there. Obama also lists reasons of importance as to why it is so necessary for school counselors to get this type of recognition. “They work tirelessly to help them be who they were truly meant to be...all in the face of overwhelming challenges: tight budgets, impossible student counselor ratios, endless demands on your time, come in early and stay late, reach into your own pocket…”. These ideas were well received by the audience as a lot of them got “Amen’s” back. She gives realistic situations that probably many of the counselors behind her have worked through, though she has never been a counselor herself. Even though Obama is a well respected woman, this enhances her persuasion, as she relates to the audience on a more of a personable level.  

Finally, Obama uses a great deal of emotion to evoke a positive response from the audience. As it was already stated, emotion goes hand and hand with persuasion and the idea of logos. In this case, pathos was used very well during the entirety of her speech. In the beginning when she was recognizing some of the people she invited to the speech, she mentioned Usher's name, and then joked with the audience saying, “calm down...keep it together, ladies”. On the same token, she mentions “Coach Jim Harbaugh, and his beautiful wife, who is a lot better looking than him”. Granted these are long time friends, she pokes fun at these people which illuminates laughter within the room, creating an easiness of emotion. Sometimes, though, throughout Obama’s speech, emotion was seen through her facial expression and hand movements. It does not take much for a speech like this to make someone feel any type of way, and when she mentioned one of Brzezinski’s students, there was a warming comfort brought to the atmosphere. At the end of what the student said, Obama took a pause and made a face that signified the wonders of what Brzezinski has done. This helps persuade the audience to feel a sort of heroic sense towards counselors, as they do so much for our young kids, and yet most families do not recognize it. She continues to crack jokes and add humour throughout the speech, giving a lighthearted sense of emotion for the audience and viewers at home. 

In many ways this speech is productive for society. First, it helps further the idea of her organization, which helps healthy eating and higher education for younger kids. By creating this award, she continues her enthusiasm for the foundation she built and furthers society into living a healthy and trusted atmosphere. Second, it brings to light a career that Obama believes to be really useful for young kids. She gives concrete examples of the hard work and dedication that these counselors have given to their job, which can only benefit them and society. Lastly, it puts kids at the forefront of this whole idea. Having two kids herself, Obama knows how much kids impact our lives and the future of America. By bringing up students in the speech and giving limelight to her own foundation, she is helping kids who watched this speech a sense of hope through whatever they may be going through, regardless of race, gender, sexuality, etc. 

Overall, Obama uses her years of experience as a lawyer to present a well rounded speech that exudes ethos, logos, and pathos. She shines a light on the many counselors nationwide that deserve to be recognized for their hard work and unending love for each student. The audience is able to connect to each word through Obama’s use of humour, joy, and most importantly passion, as well as her credibility in the subject at hand. While Obama distinguished this award a few short years ago, she continues to use rhetoric each time she presents and gives recognition to those who deserve it. 

References

ABC News. (2017, Jan 7). Michelle Obama final speech as first lady-ABC news. YouTube. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoTTBq2OhjM

Herrick, J. A. The history of theory and rhetoric (2013). Routledge: Taylor and Francis Group. 

[tsis20]

Reflecting on last week’s photo series, I have come to realize the things and people that are important to me and make me, me. I discovered that a lot can be assumed about a person based on who they surround themselves with and how their surroundings are maintained. I approached the idea of self-design very freely because I wanted the images and moments captured to come naturally so that my compilation of photos for our self-design assignment were organic and not pre-planned. That being said, I really tried to focus on the elements of my life that make me happy and have shaped me into who I am today. The photo that I included of myself represents the adventurer within me because I am always striving to go to places I have never seen before. The way I maintain my closet weirdly represents how my mind operates; there sure is a lot of clutter, but I know where everything is when I need it. In my 21 years of life, I have come to realize that the people you surround yourself truly do act as a reflection of yourself. I’m proud of how driven, adventurous, optimistic and funny my friends are because they embody some of my favorite qualities about myself. The city skyline means a lot to me. I could not possibly guess how much time I’ve spent up on my roof, gazing off into the distance. Looking out into the city late at night humbles me and reminds me where I want to end up in the future. The colorful lines featured at Wonderspaces also act as a reflection of myself. Colorful, strong, disciplined and organized. However, Wonderspaces’ current exhibits will only last for another month - this represents how I am striving to always evolve into a better person than I was the day prior. I would never wish to remain stagnant.

Based on the reading, I believe that Boris Groys’ was truly onto something with her ideas about narcissism and self-expression. Many people put forth so much time and energy into portraying themselves as someone they are not. Oftentimes I feel that everyone is trying so desperately to blend in and stick to the status quo that we forget that being different is what makes life so fun and interesting! How boring would life be if we were all exactly the same? Our differences are what make us unique and act as the fuel for constantly advancing our world. Self-design is fueled by the acceptance of others but sometimes you really should act solely for yourself rather than for society. I find that this concept directly ties into how I portray myself on social media. I come across as an incredibly happy, adventurous, light-hearted person. While all three of those qualities are certainly true about myself, that does not mean that that is how I am all the time. Social media is simply a highlights reel. Based off of my social media alone, one would think that I never face a problem in the world and that could not be further from the truth. Social media is precious but powerful and should always be respected as such.

[its-just-like-the-movies]

Date Night!: Death Note (17, F)

I think part of the reason it’s so much harder to really analyze a perfect film than a perfectly shitty one is that a great film leaves you wondering how they did it. What geniuses had the decision to write that score, to edit in this style, to write that character in such a way, to interpret them so fully? I can’t imagine how much time I’ve spent wringing my hands at Annette Bening in 20th Century Women, trying to understand Dorothea Fields as a creation, as a conscious work of art by way of multiple collaborators as well as the actress playing her, amidst a film that feels utterly human and alive, and without seams in any way. I bring up this film here because I had this thought watching Adam Wingard’s disgusting, dull take on Death Note only a few nights ago. You may be asking “Why is it that both of your Date Night pieces have been centered around demonstrably monstrous acts of garbage?” and I say wait a minute, we’ve seen good things. One day I’ll talk about Shin Godzilla. But that’s just me postponing the inevitable. Tommy and I, and our very good friend David, sat down on the first of September and decided to watch a train wreck that was even worse than we could have imagined. It hasn’t just been whitewashed, but striped of all the source material’s morality and mythology, about as far removed as one could be from anything in the original series while vaguely needing to use certain character names and still actually having a death note, and Americanized in the worst possible way. But it steals baldly from other films and makes it central character completely unbearable while everyone else is vaguely more interesting and doomed to the sidelines of the story. No one wanted this film, necessarily, but is it too much to ask that it be good?

The first immediate example we get of the film’s selective pilfering of its Japanese source material is that our central character is named Light Turner. It’s not in any way a typical American name, especially for white boys with dye-blond hair, but because the source material starred a dude named Light, why not? They couldn’t let that central character stay Japanese, though, because this is America, so it has to be about a white dude and his white girlfriend trying to dodge the world’s greatest detective, a young black man who is still called “L”. The white soon-to-be girlfriend is named Mia, and we know that she is Serious and Not Like Other Girls Or Whatever because we see her looking Hardcore and Bored and Over It during cheerleading practice, a brunette in a sea of blondes, who finally just starts smoking rather than letting the Other Girls catapult her in the air. This is probably because they wouldn’t hurl her into the sun itself, which is the only thing Hardcore enough for her to join. And we know Light is Hardcore and Over It but Still Has Morals because we see him doing another student’s homework and later trying to save another student from the most college-graduate-looking motherfuckers who ever decided to teleport from the 90’s to now and bully someone.

It’s almost too easy to tear down this shambling mess of a film. Wingard shoots Ryuk as though the filmmakers either couldn’t afford to make him look presentable or were just embarrassed to look at him. Light is a terribly bland protagonist, made even blander by the far more interesting sociopathic tendencies of said soon-to-be girlfriend Mia and the truly bizarre spectacle of Wingard’s remodeled L. This version of L is at least someone interesting to watch, even if it’s in such a conventional way as to have almost no resemblance to the original version of the character. Mia, on the other hand, is only altered insofar as her obsession with Light is really just an obsession with the death note itself, and a desire to kill off people more indiscriminately than he does. There’s something deeply uncomfortable about how Mia and Ryuk are eventually aligned as the villains of the piece for lacking a moral compass, especially when Light’s feels superficially arbitrary and utterly dull, and even moreso given that Mia’s eventual betrayal of Light feels like some version of “bitches be crazy”, but both are still the most captivating characters on the screen. If Ryuk has almost no real reason to be there after his introduction, Willem Dafoe’s self-satisfied line readings make the character a welcome presence. That this character egs on Light to commit his first killings was perhaps the biggest sticking point to David early on, given the manga version’s role as an excited but impartial audience surrogate more than anything else, but his presence is still entertaining. Dafoe’s reading of the line “Humans are so interesting!”, one of the few moments where Ryuk got an actual close-up, was also the only actual chill I got during the whole 100 minutes, though credit must partially be given to my shock that any line from the manga - let alone one of its best, in the early going - even made it into the film.

My previous interactions with the Death Note media empire is having gotten partway through the manga and the anime dub in early high school, losing interest a little while after the death of a major character, though not necessarily because that character died. Maybe it felt like the end of the series, or maybe I just straight up lost interest, or moved on to a different property. That being said, I still remember Death Note and its characters fairly well, and certainly well enough to know how butchered this abominable film was. It’s astonishing how much Wingard tries to alter these characters away from any resemblance to their source material, but it brings up what strikes me as the largest question I have about this film, and all the grossest politics and connotations I can think of surrounding the terms “whitewashing” and “Americanizing”. Of course America’s version of Death Note had to star a white boy in the lead role, because Hollywood can’t just have a leading character of color for no reason at all. Of course he had to be saddled with a faux, crummy version of “morals” with a faux-tragic backstory behind his killings while his girlfriend is giving the depravity that made the original so noteworthy and framed as the eventual Big Bad for it. Mia Sutton is perhaps the only character Death Note has going for itself, a genuine female sociopath on film who barely seems motivated by her hubby-in-crime and is more than willing to ditch him once he gets cold feet. Apparently Wingard credits Mia as having more of Original Light’s traits instead of Misa Amane’s, which makes sense to think about but speaks plenty about Wingard’s seeming disinterest in actually adapting his source material. I kept thinking about The Hateful Eight’s Daisy Domergue, featuring another case of villainous characters whose only point of agreement is that the lone lady of the bunch is the worst of them all, though there her crimes are left mainly vague, her threats treated like bluffs once she has the room to say them rather than getting smacked around by her walrus-moustached captor. It’s the film’s most toxic element, one that I’m not convinced Jennifer Jason Leigh’s performance makes the right decisions about in portraying her. The Hateful Eight is also a much better film than Death Note - what film isn’t? - albeit with its own, significant flaws, but in Death Note Mia’s crimes and the crimes of her allies and enemies are all equally defined, because the film is so awful it needs her amorality if only to give the viewer someone compelling to root for, as my squad saw it, because Margaret Qualley commits to her character and makes us sad to see her go. I don’t mean to imply that Qualley is a better actress than Leigh, nor is her performance necessarily stronger in these respective films. But sometimes mere competence in a shitty film is easier to like than a commendable misfire in an uneven one, and Qualley’s work is one of the few umbrellas we can run under in this heaving shitstorm of a film.

I truly don’t know how to engage with L, who seems like the most conspicuous victim of Wingard’s rewrites. LaKeith Stanfield is clearly giving his all to the performance, and if you told me he was the only person on set who’d ever read the manga I’d believe you in a heartbeat. But all the intrigue of his work, the intensity it achieves in certain moments, is drowned out in how overly mannered this character is. Repeatedly L is seen sloppily eating gummy bears ascribed with ingredients that enhance thinking capabilities, rather than strawberry shortcake because it’s fucking delicious, that’s why. Twitchy behaviors are augmented by the character’s complete lack of chill, rather than the naturally super-intelligent, laid-back L the manga gave us, one in terrible physical shape and complete physically incompetence. Here, L gets a chase scene by car and by foot, and brandishes a firearm. Here, L gets a traveling Victorian set to be imported into the middle of the San Diego Police Department’s office area. At least he still gets to keep his own brand of amorality, perfectly content as he is to use some criminals as bait to see where “Kira” is based, but he’s not the savvy liar and manipulator detective of yore. This character is conventionally compelling, but perhaps the most emblematic case of Wingard’s seeming desire to write a Death Note film that doesn’t actually resemble any previous Death Note property. Who knows why this character was cast with a black actor in a shocking white version of San Diego - or even if there was a “reason”, and Wingard just liked Stanfield’s ideas about the character - but the spectacle of him being placed in a chokehold by SDPD chief Light’s Dad was easily the grossest thing Death Note had in store. I can’t help but wonder what Stanfield really saw in this opportunity, how much he got out of it, and what the disparity is for having highlight roles in the best and worst horror films of 2017.

And then there’s Light, remixed from a type-A, grade A model student into an angsty loner who has literally nothing going for him but a wonky dye job and being lucky enough to get a handheld killing machine. Putting a hat on the guy makes him instantly the blandest man alive, and he as much as anyone else is shorn of the traits that made the character such an interesting protagonist. Yes, Mia gets so many of Light Yagami’s traits, but can Light Turner have anything going for him? Can he not nearly shit himself once Ryuk (in such a bitchy spectacle of an arrival) storms onto the scene? Can he not have a motivation so forgettably stitched on the film all but abandons it twenty minutes in, and can his morals actually be interestingly complicated instead of bland, Americanly contrived? Nat Wolff’s Light, possibly the worst performance of the year, is such a guileless goon that his last-act transformation into a criminal who’s actually capable of planning out a long con to save his own life and kill one of his enemies is easily the least believable part of the film. It’s astonishing how much the want of having Evan Peters and Emma Roberts in the lead roles is present in how Light is styled and in how much Margaret Qualley just fucking looks like a less actively bitchy version of Emma Roberts. There’s even a little card that says “Normal People Scare Me” in the American Horror Story font in Light’s locker, like some emo kid in 2011, which gets to the heart of this character’s deep mischaracterization. Why make this kid into a Tate Langdon-type who’s so blatantly angry at the world it’s honestly shocking his father takes as long as he does to realize his son is a fucking mass murderer? How is it in any way a bold, difficult statement that the valedictorian can be a sociopath, that kids with ostensibly no real problems can also want to end the world themselves? There’s a lot I didn’t like about the fourth season of AHS but at least it gave us an emblem of corrupted white, heterosexual male privilege and prejudice that this film just can’t recognize, or won’t.

A funny, somewhat poignant, and very quick moment in Okja sees a character flash a newly made tattoo on his arm that says “Translation is Sacred”. Death Note is not just an abominable act of translation, but of adaptation, of fidelity to a source material’s characters and themes. Outside of its vaguely compelling supporting cast, a lot of Death Note feels haphazardly cobbled together from a multitude of sources and bad ideas all meant on making the film more palatable to an audience that only wanted this film because the source material was so rich, most notably that killings in the Death Note seem to be primarily carried out by Final Destination, Rube Goldberg spectacle-type accidents, rather than simple, mundane accidents. Why make a Death Note film if you’re not going to make it resemble Death Note at all? It feels late in the game to say that I’m not fundamentally against molding source material to suit an adaptation, especially with something as dense as Death Note into a feature film under two hours. But there’s not a single alteration that this film makes to the material that helps it in any conceivable way, no small high point worth the heaps of garbage you have to sift through to get it. It’s not so much a misfire as a willful rejection of any sharp edges or idiosyncrasies that made the original property the hit that it became. It’s also, hopefully, the kind of misfire that kills a hoped-for sequel dead in its tracks. If there’s one thing we can do to reckon with the fact that this shambling corpse of a film exists, the best thing we as a viewing audience and as people who want adaptations of ambitious, international properties can shout from the rooftops that hypnotized FBI agents are leaping off of like synchronized divers. We liked them for a reason, and if you shear off that reason to be more appealing, all you’re left with is a boring white boy nattering on about his schemes in a hospital bed, outshone by a demon barely in focus, and failing in every way to live up to that demon’s last, great line. In the world of Adam Wingard’s Death Note, humans aren’t interesting. They’re cardboard cutouts of characters that aren’t tarnished by association, but shine a little brighter in comparison. You couldn’t ask for a less ambitious take on this property, no one did, but we got in anyways, and if no one will bother to learn from it, then all we can do with this maddening pile of shit is heave it straight into the sun and hope it burns into an even greater state of nothingness than the film has achieved just by existing in this neutered state.

[cameron-ashurst22]

Sketchbook Weekly Summaries and Page by Page Analysis

Ba1B weekly summaries- Sketchbook Weekly summaries / Page by Page reflection

Week 12 

Day 1 -sketchbook project

Today I had a workshop on the sketchbook project, this introduced me to the brief through a series of exercises to show examples of how I could fill a sketchbook.The main impetus of this lecture was to draw from life and then develop further using observations possibly turning a real person into a character or an animal into a character. The first exercise was to create drawings from a series of ink blots from the page , I liked this exercise due to the endless possibilities I could create through the way the shades of the colours were on the page.The next exercise was to create a four stage scene with a clear beginning, middle and end about the morning I had before arriving into university.The first scene was of me still dreaming and being prepared for the today , the next scene was me waking up in a panic and rushing to get ready and the final scene was me spilling milk all over the kitchen counter as I was rushing.This exercise shows how you can clearly derive stories from life and twist them to best fit an audience or outcome. The next exercise was to draw from memory a series of objects and animals the most important of this was the bear ads initially my bear looked quite cartoon like as I had no understanding of the form and anatomy of the bear itself. It was not until I watched and studied the motion of the bear I understood the anatomy of it and the further drawings of the bear became more and more refined for the final character I produced.I found that drawing the motion of the animal or object gives the best understanding of the animal or object itself as all angles are seen.This had more weight and value than that of a still image as you can only see what is present and not the inner workings or how muscles react and move with each other .For instance in the bears case its back legs were at first problematic as they are much larger than the front legs.

Week 13 

Day 1- sketchbook project

Today I had a workshop revolving around a trip to norwich castle to create some on sight observational sketches of some of the exhibits and the people within the castle itself. I found that instead of focusing on the individual aspects of each exhibit like one single bird I should look at the entire composition in relation to where I was standing. I was intrigued by the bird section of the museum as after watching videos of how parrots movie in the wild I had a theory of how although birds look differently they have the same anatomical structure. For this I drew multiple angles of a wide range of birds and distinguished they all have similar breast parts were the neck links the body to the head this was especially evident in the pelican and ostrich part of the exhibition.

Day 3- Sketchbook project 

Today I had feedback on my sketchbook so far I found that the best work in my sketchbook is the development from observational drawing to character. Robert said that I should continue doing this especially with the parrot design. Also I should look at using this for further character development so I decided to look at wolves as I feel like I could subvert preconceived views on what a wolf character should look like.

Page by Page reflection

Sketchbook analysis 

Pages 1-3

These pages of my sketchbook show observational drawing form the first week of the project brief. Two of the drawings were observational sketches of people when I was on the train home for Christmas. I used the initial pages to warm myself up for the sketchbook caring more about filling the page with quick sketches than more detailed studies. The first page is a quick sketch of an old man waiting for the train I feel like I captured the emotion the man was depicting through him waiting patiently, however the proportions of the figure are exaggerated as. I tried to turn the man into a cartoon characters. The second page of the sketchbook was the best sketches from the bear exercise which was completed in a workshop. The workshop focused on the movement if bears through watching a video of bears in the wild. The third page is a sketch of my friend Ben on the train it focuses heavily on the routines of his face and with the use of limited lines it creates a simplistic style however there is certain rigidity especially around the hands.

Pages 4-5 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xYpn8HNYEg

These two pages focus on the wild birds of the outback in Australia. I watched a national geographic film on the birds of the outback and  decided for the first page to focus on the movement of the birds and quickly sketch how they move to fully understand the form.The later page shows more detailed sketches of the parrots. I found that the different breeds of birds had very similar features around their beaks as they split into two parts, an upper and lower part which has a glossy surface.

I used coloured pencil to show the wide array of colours of these birds however found it extremely difficult to judge what tone to use and shading technique to best display the feathers of the birds.

Pages 6-7

Pages 6 and 7 focus on Belgian artist Dzia uses geometric shapes and lines to create unique decisions of animals. Theses animal include Birds , foxes , octopi and rhinos.

Dzia uses a variety of different media in his works from stencils ,paint and sculptures to street art and graffiti. Dzia's murals are seen across wide ranges of European cities as he is well known in the urban art scene.

His work inspires me as by splitting the body parts of animals into geometric shapes but never truly distorting the form shows the careful selection and urge to show details of the animal itself.

 His use of colour also inspires me as it appears as a washed out palette most likely achieved by water colour however as it is spray paint the tones of the birds for instance are highlighted to greater effect giving larger visual impact making them stand out against the medium of the wall.

New ideas come very easily to me, so my work is very spontaneous – I paint quickly and in-situ to make sure the original idea stays true to its form.” - Dzia - 

https://dzia.be/WHO-IS-DZIA

I feel like I can use this type in my work for future animations and artwork as by splitting the characters up into these geometric shapes I could use the lines of the shape to morph and bend the character in new ways. Furthermore , this style could be used for backgrounds of scenes and could be used as lines of focus to direct the viewer to the most important images or actions in the shot.

Page 7 uses the sketches of the outback birds and incorporates Dzia’s style in them this inspired me for future animations as the lines and geometric shapes could move and morph to either create backgrounds or enhance the characters aesthetic onscreen. 

I used acrylic paint to create similar colours to Dzia’s work but also maintained the same colours which are present in the national geographic video wild birds to show continuity within the sketchbook. I found that the first test worked better than the second piece as I incorporated fine-liner to create the geometric shapes instead of the black paint I used in the second design.By using fine-liner the line of the shapes was thiner and created more of a contrast on the page rather than the thicker lines in the second iteration.The thicker lines overpowered the simplicity o the design an detracted the viewer from the piece as the other colours become bare visible on the page. 

Pages 8-9 

These pages show the development from the looking at real life parrots in previous pages and converting them into cartoon characters. I decide to try different styles and form when generating the characters. I found that I wanted to portray a proud parrot with a messy hair styles as parrots are synonymous with repeating what humans say so I wanted to incorporate this personality in my design.I chose a proud stance and gave the appearance that the parrot was singing with wings spread wide. I looked at the film rio for inspiration in characters design due to this film being the only film that has portrayed animated parrots in a variety of stances and emotions.

I found  a character I was particularly fond of and decided to explore this parrot further by adding acrylic paint and distinguishing a clear colour palette for the character. I wanted the colour of this parrot to resemble the parrots from the Australian outback so went with a vivid green colour scheme , with yellow beak and red accents to draw the eye. I find that this design can be explored further with series of posing and emotions shown on a character design sheet which is explored later in the sketchbook.

Pages 10-11

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASc-RFofxgM

These pages focus on mountain baboons as I watched another national geographic film and focus on both sides of the baboons personality.The baboons has two main personality traits the dominating territorial baboon and the family orientated baboon. I wanted to understand how the baboon moves so decided to draw images of how they stand and attack when they are territorial.This led me to look further into the movement of apes and ultimately Andy Serkis.

Page 12-13

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpRLTfVEhMk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qMmPSSN2-Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPcwa78JcKY

Andy Serkis is an English actor and film director. Best know for roles as Gollum from the lord of the rings trilogy, king kong and Caesar from the planet of the apes. His work is mainly involves motion capture techniques and cg and for the roles he plays he studies a great deal of animal movements and their forms.

Serkis places large amounts of thought into the way his characters move for instance while playing the role of Caesar and kong he studied the movements of gorillas and other primates in the wild establishing a walk that is synonymous with the character.This also helped influence the movement of Gollum as with him being a highly corrupted figure who walks on all fours studying how a primate would move establishes the animalistic qualities that Gollum posses.

I feel that Serkis influences me in the way to look deeper into how the movements of the animals may help 

influence the future characters and walk cycles that I create. This broadens my thought process with developing characters because it establishes a grounding for how the muscles would move in the body of an animal for instance and would lead me to create a more realistic walk or movement cycle.

I also looked at Serkis’s role as Gollum and did a movement study on how he moves in the hobbit and the lord of the rings. Gollum has ape like movement as he walks on all fours and grovels and squabbles like an ape when they are angry and territorial especially like a baboon.

Page 14-19

These pages focus on the castle and museum trip and workshop with quick studies on exhibits and people within the museum. I tried for the majority of these pages to quickly draw the people moving within the exhibitions as well as making sure that perspective within the drawing is created.I also became fascinated with the bird exhibit and found that instead of focusing on the individual aspects of each exhibit like one single bird I should look at the entire composition in relation to where I was standing. I was intrigued by the bird section of the museum as after watching videos of how parrots movie in the wild I had a theory of how although birds look differently they have the same anatomical structure. For this I drew multiple angles of a wide range of birds and distinguished they all have similar breast parts were the neck links the body to the head this was especially evident in the pelican and ostrich part of the exhibition.

I also looked at the tiger and lion exhibition in the museum and focused on the teeth and facial features of these cats and found that there is a black lip which runs along the bottom of the gums. Tigers also have a different sized head to lions as there is more of a slope to the nose of the tiger the there is to the lion.

Page 20-21

This double page spread focuses on the paint doodle exercise were a series of watercolour paint is placed on a page and I have drawn a series of characters or doodle over the top using the shape of the paint when it has dried.I find this exercise to be ye opening to new character concepts and I found a new dinosaur character that I would like to explore further in future pages of the sketchbook.

Page 22-25

These pages spread focuses on Vince Okerman also known as the youtube illustrator and doodle artist Vexx uses colourful compositions of cartoon characters and objects blended with realistic observational drawings to draw the eye of his audience.

Vexx’s style uses comic markers and fine liners to enhance his unique style.There are no gaps in his work when creating the composition giving the effect of an explosion or cluster of his characters on the page.Each character seems to be reacting to one another and the environment around them with the wide array of facial expressions and actions taking place.

Vexx’s characters and doodles build up the rest of the form of the observational sketch. For instance with the tiger piece the characters build up the rest of the shape of the neck anyhow how there is a clear metamorphosis between the contrasting art styles.

 This has inspired the way I work through the use of colour and the actual art style he uses due to the simplicity of his doodles.This gives me inspiration through by having a character so smile It make them easier to animate as I struggle with consistency from frame to frame. This art style would also appeal greatly to children due to the bright and bold colours used with contrasts being created through the composition and placement of all the characters on the page.

I decided to create a series of doodles inspired by Vexx’s style I found this quite liberating as I was able to incorporate multiple elements into one drawing .I especially enjoyed the lion drawing as I had studied lions from the norwich museum trip. This trip then gave me the grounding to fully focus photographs of the Lions to fully develop their  form. The blend between pencil and fine-liner contradict each other but add a cohesive uniformity to the piece itself.This piece blends the natural life of a lion to the cartoon imagination this helped me understands how the boundary between life and imagination can be bridged both in animation and in art.

Pages 26-27 

The next page revisits the parrot character from the studies from the national geographic film and develops the character further as I received feedback from Robert to create another double page spread on the character. I heavily took inspiration from rio the film on this page trying to incorporate some of the posing from the film in my character . I found that my character would embrace the repeating tone a parrot and give the character a fun personality as he is outgoing and over the top.

Pages 28-32 

The next pages uses the study of Yellowstone’s wolves to develop a character revolving around the nature of the wolf. Initially I took the same approach as the parrot and baboon studies creating quick sketches around the movement and form of the wolves.The next pages adapts the structure of the wolves to incorporate larger eyes to give a cartoon style.I realised that I wanted my wolf to stand up and be sophisticated so I veered away from the traditional form of the wolf.As the character is sophisticated I gave the character a robe and a cigarette to emphasise an aristocratic nature of the wolf.

Personal sketchbook

These drawings are found in a separate sketchbook where I try to explore a variety of different characters concepts swell as recreating the styles of famous characters like the drawing of Hank from finding Dory. I tried to draw as much as possible so these drawings are completed after work was completed for the day and I had free time. I looked at a wide range of animals like lemurs, sloths and monkeys as I want to develop characters in that area. In addition I found myself wanting to come up with interesting concepts such as the robot on the rubber dingy this directly contrasts what a robot does as if he fell in the water he would short circuit.

The next pages are improvement pages revolving around figure drawing. I watched youtube videos to give me the poses and tried a series of quick sketches lasting one to two minutes and longer sketches which were five minutes. I tried a new medium when doing this as I used ink and a calligraphy pen as this eliminated the use of a rubber. I am trying to move away from using the rubber as I become fixated on the perfect drawing. By doing this I create an imperfect drawing but as each drawing is completed I will improve with practice. The last drawing was inspired by Ben Su a Pixar animator who uses figure drawing in all aspects of his work.

[danjanus-blog]

Keehn Blog Posts #1,2 &3

5/20/2017 - Beethovenhaus and Concert

I was expecting the Beethovenhaus to contain a couple of exhibits that contained basic information on who Beethoven was, and some information about his musical career. I was greatly surprised when I found out that this museum actually had a large number of interesting antiques/ paintings that were related in some way to Beethoven. I also enjoyed listening to the some of Beethoven’s compositions on a piano that was historically accurate to something that Beethoven would have played on. This stop far exceeded my expectations.

The concert itself was very interesting because of the instrument used, as well as listening to a piece written by Beethoven that we didn’t study in class. I found this new song to be entertaining, but not as catchy or like able as the Moonlight sonata. Listening to the new song also made the music more interesting to listen to, since you didn’t know what was going to happen next, but also makes you appreciate the music less since you are not going to hear everything going on in the piece the first time you listen to it.

I believe that there was no significant difference in the quality of music while hearing it live or off a recorded version, as the notes are still played in the same order and at the same time. I do think that experiencing the song being played in person is more enjoyable as an audience member, as you get to watch the pianist actually play the piece (which was especially impressive in the third movement) and the listener feels more included in the performance. I also think that listening to the piece live allows the listener to hear more subtle differences of the musicians own interpretations of the piece.

The piano that was used for the performance, which was supposed to be similar to the one Beethoven would have used sounded a lot less “heavy” than a modern day piano. It was also interesting to see how the different pedals were used to change the sound of the piano (and also the number of pedals that the piano had). This piano was also a lot smaller so it could not play the same range of notes that a modern day piano could. I believe that these differences should affect how an individual plays this piece on a modern piano if they are trying to replicate he same sound that Beethoven produced when the song was first played. However, due to different musicians having different interpretations, I believe that playing the piece on a modern piano without taking these differences into account and still be able to play the song and still do the piece justice.

6/1/2017 - German National Museum and Wagner

After visiting the German National Museum, I think that the most interesting instrument to me was the box trumpet. I thought that it was interesting first of all because of the concept behind this being used as a musical instrument (we don’t have box trumpets today) and also because of the processes the museum used to see how the instrument is constructed without actually damaging it (x-rays to look at tube inside).

While our tour guide did briefly discuss aspects of the Harmonic series and how some instruments were constructed so they would be able to play different ranges of note, I think the most interesting aspect of the tour from an engineering perspective was the videos of the cross sections of the instruments. I thought that this was very cool to see what’s on the inside of the instruments and what is really going on when they are trying to produce music. I also noticed that the way some of the instruments that were constructed were expressions of the culture in the area where they were being produced. Some of the instruments had braces on them with crests of different regions in Germany. Other instruments were also decorated if they were being used for nobility, while others were simple when being used by people from lower social classes. Another good example of the progression of how instruments looked were the long line of pianos at the side of the exhibit. Walking down this line, you could see the development of the piano as well as the cultural differences that were being made. I surprisingly did find this interesting, especially when you were able to compare a large group of instruments form different time periods.

After visiting the Wagner Museum, my opinion of how we should treat his music did not change, but I was surprised at the closeness between his family and Hitler. We did mention that the two were familiar with one another in class, but now hearing that Wagner’s daughter-in-law was responsible for providing Hitler with the paper to write out Mein Kampf while he was imprisoned was shocking. The fact that Hitler and Wagner never met in person, and also that I still strongly believe music should be separated from its creator (to an extent) did not change my perception of Wagner or his music. After hearing a quote that said how Hitler became a new, more determined individual to restore glory to Germany after listening to one of Wagner’s operas, I was again amazed how influential Wagner was on Hitler, but at the same one I think it’s important to keep on mind that this was not Wagner’s intent. As stated before, the two never met, and if anything, I believed Wagner’s collection of work was meant to install nationalistic pride. He couldn’t predict how it could be interpreted, and that Hitler would eventually use it as motivation to do all the things he has done. Unfortunately, Wagner’s music will always have this connection, but I still believe that his music should be appreciated for its greatness, and that it would be unfair to have his reputation completely ruined because someone decided his music was the “most German thing possible” after he died (Wagner as a person however and his anti-Semitic personality however can be judged separately from his compositions).

Being in the same place as Hitler was very grounding. Before visiting Germany and learning all about Hitler and WWII, there seemed to be a layer between modern day and what happened during those times. I was aware of the events and the atrocities that occurred, but it didn’t really “click” that it actually happened. After visiting the Wagner museum, the rally grounds and Dacahu, there was a “heavy” feeling that just made all the things we learned about so much realer. I also felt this to an extent when visiting Wagner’s grave although it wasn’t as moving because he didn’t have so much negativity associated to him as Hitler did.

6/5/2017 - Tannhäuser

Wagner had a lot of complaints with the ways traditional operas were organized. These complaints prompted him to create his own style of opera house that would help with these problems. The biggest complaint he had was in the segregation of seats based on social class. While our experience wasn’t as extreme, there was a noticeable difference in the quality of seats throughout the opera house. Wagner wanted to have a colosseum style of seating where everyone would be able to have the same view of the performance. He also wanted to have the orchestra hidden from the audience so that they could entirely focus on the singers. Again, with this not being a Wagnerian opera house, we were able to see the orchestra. While this didn’t necessarily take away from the performance, there were times when I was looking at the orchestra play rather than watching the performers on stage. You experience seating experiences that are similar to what Wagner envisioned when you visit movie theaters or concerts. It seems that a lot of the more modern buildings have accepted Wagner’s seating arrangements, and it is just the older, more traditional buildings that still have social class based seating. A lot of the more modern day visual forms of entertainment also include music, but there is no orchestra producing his music which takes away this whole complaint that Wagner had.

While I was unable to get a great look at the full performance because of my seat location, I still got a general idea of what this opera was trying to portray. It was very noticeable that this was a modern take on the opera, that deviated from Wagner’s large scale, and detailed performances. I would not necessarily consider this interpretation of the performance better or worse that Wagner’s original, I would just consider them different. As stated before, the minimalist approach in the production we saw was obviously a conscious choice to appeal to the modern audience.

After learning a lot about Ludwig II and Wagner, I believe that the two became friends because of their unique attitudes. Wagner was a huge proponent of revolutionizing operas and making them more about just music. He wanted to include as much artistic appeal into his performance that everything that was a part of it (music, acting, backdrop, props) was supposed to help the audience appreciate the performance for its artistic value. Ludwig seemed to be a “cultural hoarder” who tried to replicate cultural buildings and practices from different countries. As a German he probably also appreciated a lot of Germanys culture, and admired the progress Wagner was trying to make with operas.

Overall I really enjoyed the opera. I think that learning about the general summary of the plot really helped watch it. I also appreciated that there were English subtitles for all the singing. I also thought that the minimalist approach to the opera was in good taste, although I would have liked to see a true Wagnerian opera that went overboard on the visual artistic appeal (props, outfits, backdrops, etc). None of the singing voices really stood out to me, but they all did fantastic jobs of singing for their roles. I also really appreciated Wolfram’s piece at the beginning of the third act (one we learned in class). Finally, I was really impressed with the orchestras performance, and I definitely noticed how their music help shape the scenes/mood throughout the performance.

[vitalmindandbody]

Tragic, fascinating, bright- living for’ wild progeny’ Zelda Fitzgerald revisited

Two films and a Tv series out soon portray living conditions of the jazz-age novelist and bride of F Scott Fitzgerald

She is thought of as the original wild child, a pearl-twirling defendant girl who died at persons under the age of 47 after a shoot broke out in the North Carolina sanatorium where she was a patient. Now Zelda Fitzgerald, the southern belle became jazz-age heroine, dubbed the first American flapper by her husband and partner-in-drink Scott, is to have her own Hollywood make-over two movies are in the pipeline and a television series will air on Amazon Prime early next year.

All three projects have starry refers fixed: Jennifer Lawrence will take the lead in Zelda , a biopic directed by Ron Howard and based on Nancy Milfords best-selling account; Scarlett Johansson will bob her hair for The Beautiful and The Damned ; and Christina Ricci will play the young and impetuous Zelda in the Amazon series Z: The Beginning of Everything. The entitle of the Tv line comes from Scotts awestruck provide comments on see Zelda: I affection her, and thats the beginning and end of everything.

So what is it about Zelda that mesmerizes nearly 70 times after her disastrous demise? In portion it is that the cataclysms the couple lived through find an repetition in our own hectic times.

Interest in the Fitzgeralds will no doubt been on the increase not only since Baz Luhrmanns film of The Great Gatsby in 2013 but too from the many latitudes between their lives and labor and the period were living through right now, does Sarah Churchwell, scribe of the critically acclaimed Careless Parties: Carnage, Mayhem and The Invention of the Great Gatsby .

Its a storey of thunder and failure and it reverberates as we are grappling with our own thunder and failure, our own worries about the costs of our extravagances and our own social outages. The lives and lucks of Scott and Zelda peculiarly simulated their periods: in the 1920 s they were roaring for all they were merit, but with the disintegrate in 1929, everything fell apart.

It helps, extremely, that Zelda was so vibrant a chassis. It begins with her allure, alleges Churchwell. But also with the floors told in the 1920 s about the high jinks and enjoyable she and Scott seemed to have. People really liked her: she was surprising, smart, shrewd, amusing and adoration a good party. She likewise liked to be the centre of attention, and so had her detractors extremely. These happens combined to move her a legend.

Scott frequently returned to their relationship in his myth, most notably in his second tale, The Beautiful and Damned , which items the heady early days of their matrimony; and his melancholy fourth, Tender Is The Night , in which the gilded dream has faded into a more tawdry actuality. Zeldas only novel, Save Me The Waltz , presented such relationships from her side.

They were arguably Americas first fame pairing: a carefree golden couple who wrote their method into the spotlight, composing their own mythology of gin-soaked periods and fun-filled nighttimes, simply to linger too long once the light-footed had started to dim. Their recklessness represents the narration exciting and dramatic, supposes Churchwell. But they paid a the highest price.

After a few giddy years, all the youthful promise crumbled away, leaving Scott a perplexed and drunk jobbing hack in Hollywood and fetching Zelda to breakdown at the age of 30, a diagnosis of schizophrenia , now widely thought to be a bipolar illness, and their own lives in and out of sanatoriums.

Her story is both fascinating and terribles, enunciates Therese Anne Fowler, on whose novel Z the Amazon series is based. Here we have a woman whose endowments and power and ability should have obliged her a brilliant success, who was determined to be an accomplished master, scribe and ballet dancer in an epoch where married ladies were supposed to be wives and fathers, age. Her devotion to Scott was, in many ways, her undoing[ although] he was just as imprisoned as she was. Had they affection one another less, they might both have come to better ends.

The idea of Zelda as a brilliant woman trapped by her occasion has gained traction in recent years, with a number of tasks re-evaluating her through the prism of feminism although it is not always the easiest of fits. As early as 1974, the couples daughter Scottie repelled such allegations, writing that attempts to look her mom as a classic put-down bride, whose efforts to express her quality were thwarted by a often male chauvinist spouse were not accurate.

Writing in the New Yorker in 2013, Molly Fischer agreed , note: Saving Zelda Fitzgerald is no easy-going proposition …[ she] does not want to be anyones pet, and theres something flustering about the literary readiness to domesticate her, to change an infuriating maiden into an appealing heroine.

The brand-new films may well further Hollywoodise Zelda, sanding away her bumpy boundaries and reinventing her as a relatable heroine for our modern times. The molding of Lawrence so often described as Americas Sweetheart in the Howard biopic is no accident.

A report about the upcoming Johansson film in the Hollywood Reporter proposed it would draw on previously unreleased textile to indicate that her husband embezzled his wifes opinions as his own.

Mark Gill, president of Millennium Films, the product companionship behind The Beautiful and The Damned , agrees : She was massively ahead of her experience and she took a vanquish for it. He plagiarized her new ideas and applied them in his volumes. The marriage was a codependency from hell with a jazz-age soundtrack. The cinema has, nonetheless, secured the co-operation of the Fitzgerald estate.

Fowler agrees that there is a ripening partiality to apply our own concerns to Zelda. We do anoint her as a kind of proto-feminist protagonist, even though she didnt realise herself as a feminist and didnt amply succeed at anything, she alleges. But her original honour is based on conventional paternalistic the terms and conditions of what the status of women, mom and wife ought to be and do. Her desires and her insistence on prosecuting them were considered inappropriate and undesirable; after her psychotic flout she was literally told that this insistence had created her split mind and that the path to a dry lay in giving up all ambitions that didnt conform to the paternalistic ideal.

Scarlett Johansson, Jennifer Lawrence and Christina Ricci are all set to play Zelda Fitzgerald in the forthcoming yields The Beautiful and the Damned, Zelda and Z: The Beginning of Everything. Composite: Getty Images

The backlash against this image is justifiable given that popular opinion of Zelda was initially driven by Ernest Hemingways notoriously corrosive descriptions in A Moveable Feast , wrote posthumously in 1964, in which he dismissed her as insane and accused Scotts flourishing dependence on boozing on his wife.

Our perception has very much changed, announces Churchwell. We have come to sympathise with her resentment, to recognise her offerings and to be more fair-minded about her selections. That responded, she carefuls against attempts to create a Team Scott/ Team Zelda partition, as is so often the event in far-famed literary partnerships. Its important to say that they always adored one another and wouldnt have appreciated beings taking line-ups Fitzgerald wrote a few years before he was dead that it was a moral obligation that their friends understood they were a couple, a component and would stand that way, even if her illness make they couldnt live together.

Churchwell is too scathing about attempts to suggest Zelda had a larger role in her husbands run than previously presumed. There are people who want to credit Zelda with Scotts work, which is just silly and doesnt do women any favors, she does. Its not a zero-sum recreation: we can recognise both of them for who they were.

Zelda had many endowments, but where writing was pertained she was probably too ill when she started to hone her endows, and while it is true that Scott didnt especially want her to write partly out of territoriality but partly because her doctors told him it was bad for her its also true-life that her work isnt in the same class as his. Her individual convicts are often lovely, and she can create a humor and has clever movements of phrase but her studies tend to be sketches rather than full stories. If they had shaped different choices, maybe she could have been an important scribe, but current realities is that she wasnt.

Perhaps, then, the real key to Zeldas resumed pull on our imagination lies not in her wield but in her modernity. I dont live their lives I want to affection firstly and live incidentally, she extol and it is that vitality and desire for all of lifes experiences, both good and bad, that unfolds down over the decades, permitting each generation to see something new.

Z: The Beginning of Everything will air on Amazon Prime early next year

THEY SAID

I have rarely known a woman who expressed herself so delightfully and freshly: she had no ready-made phrases on the one side and no striving for impact on the other. Critic Edmund Wilson

I fell in love with her fortitude, her candour and her flame self-respect, and its these things I would believe in even if the whole world pandered in wild ideas that she wasnt all that she should be.

F Scott Fitzgerald

I did not have a single mood of inferiority, or shyness, or incredulity, and no moral principles.

All I want is to be very young ever and very irresponsible, and is of the view that my life is my own to live and be happy and expire in my own mode to satisfy myself.

Other folks ideas of us are dependent primarily on what theyve hoped for.

Read more: www.theguardian.com

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