#paper idea 1: the use of christian imagery

[daddyduncan69]

the feminine urge to drop a twenty page textual analysis on aftg

[blackstarlineage]

Acceptance of Eurocentric Beauty Standards Over Natural Black Beauty: A Garveyite Perspective

Introduction: The Weaponization of Beauty Against Black Identity

One of the most psychologically damaging consequences of colonialism and white supremacy is the widespread internalization of Eurocentric beauty standards by Black people. Across the African diaspora, darker skin, kinky hair, broad noses, and full lips have been demonized, ridiculed, and erased in favor of lighter skin, straighter hair, and more “European” features.

From a Garveyite perspective, this preference for whiteness is not natural—it was forced onto Black people through centuries of oppression, cultural erasure, and mental conditioning. The elevation of white and mixed-race aesthetics over natural Black beauty is a form of psychological warfare, designed to:

Make Black people see themselves as inferior.

Encourage self-hate and division within Black communities.

Keep Black people mentally dependent on white validation.

If Black people do not decolonize their beauty standards, they will continue to reject their natural greatness, support industries that profit from their insecurities, and weaken the global movement for Black self-determination.

1. The Historical Roots of Eurocentric Beauty Standards in the Black World

A. The Psychological War Against Black Beauty During Slavery and Colonialism

European colonizers knew that a people who love themselves could not be conquered—so they launched a direct attack on Black physical features.

During slavery and colonization, Black people were:

Compared to animals and portrayed as ugly and subhuman.

Taught that white or mixed-race people were more beautiful, intelligent, and desirable.

Forced to associate their natural Black features with inferiority and low social status.

Example: The "paper bag test" was used in America and the Caribbean to determine who was "light enough" to enter elite social spaces—proving that beauty was directly linked to proximity to whiteness.

Key Takeaway: The demonization of Black beauty was not accidental—it was a strategic method of oppression.

B. The Role of Religion in Enforcing White Beauty Ideals

Christianity played a major role in promoting whiteness as the standard of beauty and morality.

European religious imagery depicted:

A white Jesus, white angels, and white saints, reinforcing the idea that divinity and goodness are linked to whiteness.

Darkness as evil and undesirable, making Blackness subconsciously associated with sin.

Example: Many Black churches still display white images of Jesus, despite historical evidence that Jesus was not European.

Key Takeaway: Religious iconography was used to make Black people hate their own image and see whiteness as divine.

2. The Modern Consequences of Worshipping Eurocentric Beauty Standards

A. Skin Bleaching and the Self-Hate Industry

The global skin-bleaching industry is worth billions of dollars, proving that millions of Black people feel pressured to lighten their skin to be accepted.

Skin bleaching is:

Extremely harmful to the body, causing diseases, skin thinning, and internal organ damage.

A direct reflection of mental slavery, proving that many Black people still associate lighter skin with higher value.

Pushed by corporations and celebrities, making it appear “normal” and "desirable."

Example: Skin bleaching is most common in Africa, the Caribbean, and South Asia, proving that colonial beauty standards are still in effect worldwide.

Key Takeaway: When Black people bleach their skin, they are erasing their African identity and reinforcing white supremacy.

B. The Erasure of Natural Black Hair

Black hair has always been a political issue, with Black people facing:

Workplace discrimination for wearing afros, locs, or braids.

Pressure to relax, straighten, or wear wigs to “fit in” with white society.

Shame and teasing from their own communities for wearing natural hair.

Example: Many Black schools ban natural hairstyles, forcing Black children to conform to European hair standards.

Key Takeaway: When Black people reject their natural hair, they are subconsciously rejecting their African heritage.

C. Preference for European Facial Features in Beauty and Media

Western beauty standards promote:

Thin noses, small lips, and Eurocentric facial structures as the most attractive.

“Ambiguously Black” and mixed-race people as the ideal Black beauty, pushing out darker-skinned, full-featured Black models.

Surgeries and cosmetic procedures to make Black people look more “acceptable” in white society.

Example: Many Black celebrities undergo nose surgeries and facial alterations to fit into Hollywood’s Eurocentric beauty standards.

Key Takeaway: True Black beauty is African—not a modified version of whiteness.

3. The Role of Media in Promoting Anti-Black Beauty Ideals

A. Hollywood and the Music Industry as Tools of Psychological Warfare

The media constantly uplifts Eurocentric beauty while suppressing authentic Black aesthetics.

Darker-skinned Black women are rarely cast as romantic leads, while mixed-race or light-skinned actresses dominate.

Black men are encouraged to date lighter-skinned or non-Black women, reinforcing the idea that darker-skinned women are undesirable.

Black musicians promote white or ambiguous beauty in their lyrics, further brainwashing the youth.

Example: Even in Black-centered films, Hollywood chooses biracial actors to represent Blackness, instead of casting fully Black actors.

Key Takeaway: The media is one of the biggest forces keeping Black people mentally enslaved to white beauty standards.

B. Social Media and the Digital Reinforcement of Eurocentric Beauty

Social media filters and beauty trends promote:

Skin-lightening, facial editing, and nose slimming filters, reinforcing European standards.

Self-hatred among Black youth, who grow up believing they are “less attractive” if they don’t fit Eurocentric beauty norms.

The glorification of mixed-race aesthetics, sidelining fully African features.

Example: Studies show that Black girls as young as 5 years old already experience self-esteem issues due to beauty standards.

Key Takeaway: Social media is shaping the next generation’s perception of beauty—Black people must reclaim their own image.

4. The Garveyite Solution: Reclaiming and Celebrating Natural Black Beauty

A. African-Centered Beauty Education

Black communities must teach children to love their natural skin, hair, and features from a young age.

Schools and community centers must include Black beauty history in their curriculum, educating youth on:

African hairstyles and their historical significance.

The dangers of skin bleaching and Eurocentric beauty norms.

The importance of embracing one’s natural identity.

Example: In Africa and the Caribbean, beauty campaigns promoting natural Black aesthetics must be prioritized over Western influences.

Key Takeaway: If Black children are not taught to love themselves, they will grow up worshipping whiteness.

B. Black-Owned Beauty Industries

Black entrepreneurs must take control of the beauty industry by:

Creating natural hair and skincare products that embrace African features.

Investing in Black-owned cosmetic companies instead of relying on white-dominated corporations.

Promoting darker-skinned Black models to counter the whitewashing of beauty.

Example: The rise of Black-owned beauty brands like Fenty Beauty is a step toward self-representation.

Key Takeaway: Black beauty must be owned, controlled, and promoted by Black people.

Conclusion: Will We Continue Worshipping White Beauty, or Reclaim Our African Identity?

Marcus Garvey said:

"Take the kinks out of your mind, not your hair."

Will Black people continue supporting industries that profit from their insecurities?

Will we teach our children to love their natural Blackness, or allow them to be brainwashed by Eurocentric media?

Will we control our own beauty standards, or remain mentally enslaved to white validation?

The Choice is Ours. The Time is Now.

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Do you know any good movie aus? Not as in they're actors, but fics written based on movie plots?

Hey Nonny!!

OHHHH! This is fantastic! Because I actually have ANOTHER ask looking for crossovers too, and the list is HUGE. So I’ve used this opportunity to split the list up into two. This one here is for my MFL list, and if anyone has any of their own to suggest, please add them to this list! 

So, check out Below!

CROSSOVERS and FUSIONS (Feb 2021) Pt. 1.5 [FICS TO READ]

See Also:

Fairy Tales and Fantasy

TV, Movies, and Books AU (Fantasy Pt. 2)

Wonderful Life AU

Sherlock / Hannibal Crossovers?

Science Fiction / Fantasy

Faes / Faeries

Disney-esque Fics

Moulin Rouge AU

Crossovers and Fusions Pt 1

Two More Miracles by PatPrecieux (T, 221 w., 1 Ch. || Good Omens Crossover || Angst With Happy Ending, 221B Ficlet, Temporary Character Death) – Tragedy and miracles go hand in hand.

Here, Though the World Explode, These Two Survive by TheTyger (G, 1,194 w., 2 Ch. || Good Omens Crossover || Post-TRF, Ineffable Husbands, Fluff, Reunion, Rings, Hurt/Comfort) – Tomorrow, it would be three years from that day. Three years with no rude text messages, no experiments being conducted while London slept, no body parts in the fridge. And John still sometimes caught himself buying extra milk and looking for cases and making two coffees.

Just the Book by Carenejeans (G, 1,495 w., 1 Ch. || Good Omens Crossover || Humour, Aziraphale’s Bookshop) – John's looking for a book. It's Aziraphale's bookshop, but Crowley provides customer service.

The Case of the Missing.... by Beth H (G, 2,601 w., 1 Ch. || Sherlock Crossover || Case Fic) – Crowley has gone missing, and Aziraphale hasn't a clue how to go about finding him. Luckily, help comes from above...or rather, from the side.

The Curious Case of the Missing Antichrist by Aedemiel (G, 2,865 w., 1 Ch. || Sherlock Crossover || Vignette, Case Fic, Desperation, Bad Ideas) – What if Aziraphale and Crowley had consulted the great consulting detective, Sherlock Holmes, about finding Adam Young?

Eye of the Storm by Calais_Reno (G, 2,996 w., 1 Ch. || The Day After Tomorrow AU || Survival, Cold Weather, Boy Scout John, No Major Character Death) – Weather has become the fifth horseman of the apocalypse.

Nice and Accurate Deductions by htebazytook (T, 3,179 w., 1 Ch. || Good Omens Crossover || Romance, Humour, Fluff) – Sherlock drags John to a certain bookshop in Soho.

Snake In The Flat by PatPrecieux (T, 3,293 w., 1 Ch. || Good Omens Crossover || Magical Realism, Fluff, Humour, Ineffable Husbands) – There can be a snake in the grass, snakes on a plane and now there's a snake in the flat.

The Picture of Sherlock Holmes by CarmillaCarmine (M, 3,306 w., 1 Ch. || Victorian Dorian Gray AU || Angst, Paris, London, Travel, Painting, Major Character Death, Opera, Captain John, First Meetings) – Sherlock Holmes, a rich and frivolous man, after a lifetime of debauchery finally falls in love. His heart chooses Captain Watson.

The Old Town by a_different_equation (T, 3,573 w., 1 Ch. || Hans Christian Anderson Fusion || Magical Realism, Christmas, Fairy Tale Elements, Love Stories, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Museums, Sweet Sherlock) – Once upon a time there were two boys. This is the story how once upon December, they found the missing Christmas Spirit, true love and new beginnings. A Queer fairytale for all seasons.

Holmes vs. Harkness by coinin (T, 3,960 w., 1 Ch. || Torchwood / HHGTTG Fusion || Crack, Mystrade) – In which Captain Jack gets in a little over his head and is introduced to the myriad joys of bureaucracy, Mycroft is smug, the Guide offers up some helpful advice, John Watson doesn't share, and, in a strange turn of events, Jack doesn't get laid even once.

Perfect by TrufflesTheMushroom (T, 3,984 w., 1 Ch. || Good Omens Crossover || The Apocalypse) – Crowley and Aziraphale have made a huge mistake. It's the end of the world and it all boils down to one fight. Crowley has picked John Watson. Aziraphale has picked Sherlock Holmes.

Limbo by Calais_Reno (T, 4,070 w., 1 Ch. || Good Omens Crossover || Waiting Rooms, Ineffable Bureaucracy, Paperwork, Explosions, Apocalypse, Second Chances, Declarations of Love, Nobody Dies) – Ordinarily Sherlock would be quite impatient by now with all this pointless waiting (for what?), but at the moment he feels as if he has all the time in the world.

The Baker Street Flat by Anonymous (PG-13, 5,000-20,000 w., 7 Parts || Lake House Crossover || Angst, Romance, LIVEJOURNAL Comments Fic) – John’s pretty sure it’s a sign of mental imbalance — of which he has been all too frequently accused of late — that he is actually entertaining the possibility that he is communicating with a total stranger two years in the future via the magic mail slot on the door of his new flat. He certainly won’t be mentioning this at next week’s session. On his way out the door to interview for a part-time position at a local surgery, another meeting where he has no intention of mentioning his most recent hobby, he drops a fairly sarcastic note: If you’re really from 2012, is the world about to end?

In the Shadows by Laur (M, 5,029 w., 1 Ch. || Loose Shutter Island Fusion || Disturbing Imagery, Psychological, Angst, Major Character Death, Grief/Trauma) – Do you believe in ghosts? When Sherlock’s eyes snap to him they are anguished.

come be my april fool by a_different_equation (M, 6,473 w., 1 Ch. || Great British Bake Off AU || Writer!Sherlock, Est. Rel., Fluff / Humour, Baking, Marriage Proposal, Military Kink, Domestics, POV John, Romance, Sherlock Wears Glasses, Sweet Sherlock, Bookstores, Queer Themes) – After leaving ‘The Great British Bake Off’, Sue Perkins has written a book about Victorian baking. Tonight, on April 1st, she is reading at ‘The Bard’, Mike Stamford’s bookstore in central London. It is the exact same spot where John Watson, battered and bruised, had learned all about his magnificent bastard – one Mr. Sherlock Holmes, famous gay crime fiction writer – for the first time. A story about found family, DRAMAtical lesbians, how to react when your boyfriend has a military kink but he doesn't want to act on it, oh, and popping the question. Sequel to 'i read your book, you magnificent bastard'. Part 2 of Magnificent Bastard!AU

The Babadook by CatieBrie (T, 6,886 w., 1 Ch. || Babadook Fusion || Post-TRF, Horror, Demonic Possession, Violence, Halloween, Grief, Angst with Happy Ending) – “A children’s book,” John mutters as he flips it open. The pages are scrawled with beautiful charcoal lines and thick black ink. The cover, bright red, edges the open pages and something tugs at the back of John’s brain. It’s a familiar feeling, black and tarrish and thick in his thoughts. He shakes it off and picks the book up off his bed, turning so that he can sit on the edge and spread the book out across his knees. If it’s in a word or it’s in a look, you can’t get rid of the Babadook. He turns the page, ignoring the pressure building beneath his chest. There’s a closet on one page; paper doors meant to be opened by the reader flutter as John reads the text on the other page.

What To Do With An Atypical Animal Within by HarveyDangerfield  & swimsalot (E, 7,804 w. || Harry Potter AU || Animagus, Porn With A Little Plot, Tail Porn) – Sherlock is determined to be an animagus. But what happens when it isn't a fox or a horse or a dog he's turning into?

The Lonely by elwinglyre (E, 7,888 w., 1 Ch. || Twilight Zone AU || Major Character Death, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Firsts, Sad Ending) – Witness if you will a distant planet with a dungeon made of desert sand and mountain stone. This planet holds one inmate, a man wrongly accused, serving a life sentence. His only solace, his notebook and the thought of the day when the supply ship brings him a pardon. Instead, salvation comes to John Watson in a large box and a visitor from The Twilight Zone.

Friend by esama (G, 7,909 w., 1 Ch. || Harry Potter Crossover || Character Death, Kid Fic) – Sherlock finds the skull when he's five.

Spell It Out by prettysailorsoldier (M, 8,344 w., 1 Ch. || Harry Potter Fusion || Teenlock, Christmas, Love Potion/Spell, Pining Sherlock) – Remaining at Hogwarts over break has become something of a tradition for Sherlock and John, staying behind together ever since their very first year, but, when Irene throws a gift of doctored coconut ice into the mix, plans quickly change, even if John doesn't. Part 6 of 25 Days of Johnlock

The Long Goodbye by elbereth (M, 8,367 w., 1 Ch. || Time Traveller’s Wife AU || Doomed Timelines, Time Travel) – Sherlock travels in time. The ending is known even before they meet, yet they choose to live this love. One of them knows the past, one of them knows the future, yet their deepest secret is safe from each other. Limited time, but unlimited love.

Sugar & Spice by Ttime42 (T, 8,476 w., 1 Ch. || Great British Bake Off AU || First Kiss, Baking) – Sherlock Holmes and John Watson compete on The Great British Bake Off.

Pygmalion by ancientreader (T, 9,136 w., 2, Ch. || Pygmalion AU || Magical Realism) – The spell to turn a statue into an animate being has been illegal in the UK for a hundred and seventy years when the -- body? -- is found on Hampstead Heath. It changes everything.

Am I the Current (Tiger) King of England? by Dee_Laundry (T, 9,360 w., 1 Ch. || Tiger King Fusion || Post-S4, Dreams, Friendship, John’s Sexuality, Sherlock’s Sexuality, Quarantine/CoVID-19, Past Character Death, Mentions of Violence, Mentions of Dom/Sub, First Kiss) – “I had the weirdest dream last night,” John said. Seven times.

I Could Try by Arcwin (T, 9,583 w., 5 Ch. || Greek Mythology Crossover || Post-TRF, Orpheus and Eurydice Myth, POV John, Pining John, BAMF John, Depression, Suicidal Thoughts, Horror, Angst with Happy Ending) – John is grieving Sherlock's death post Reichenbach until one day, he sees the violin case, and something inside him tells him to pick it up. Crossover between BBC Sherlock and the Greek tragedy Orpehus and Eurydice, wherein Eurydice is killed for her beauty and taken to the Underworld. Orpheus, being the son of Apollo (the God of Music and Medicine) travels to the Underworld to convince (via playing his lyre) Hades and Persephone to let Eurydice go. Orpheus then must travel with Eurydice behind him, not looking back, until they exit to the land of the living.

Puzzlebox by  standbygo (E, 9,867 w., 5 Ch. || Hellraiser Fusion || True Love, Supernatural Elements, Psychological Horror, First Kiss, Post S2, Angst with Happy Ending) – A love story with horror. A horror story with a happy ending.

you are a paradigm by 1electricpirate (M, 10,013 w. || Harry Potter AU || Wizard!John / Muggle!Sherlock, Magic) – Sometimes, only sometimes, when Sherlock is very far away and absolutely guaranteed not to return for at least three hours, John sits on the sofa and lets the tea make itself. In which John is (reluctantly) a wizard, Mycroft is (apparently) omniscient, and Sherlock is (surprisingly) oblivious. Part 1 of More Things Than Are Dreamt Of

Already Gone by johnwatso (M, 10,078 w., 8 Ch. || Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Fusion || Non-Linear Narrative, Memory Loss, Ambiguous / Open Ending) – Dear Mr Greg Lestrade,  Sherlock Holmes has had John Watson erased from his memory. Please never mention their relationship to him again. Thank you, Lacuna Inc.

A Real Deal by toyhto (M, 10,339 w., 1 Ch. || Black Mirror-Inspired ||  Science Fiction, Post-TRF, Canon Divergence) –  Please be real, he thought and pulled Sherlock closer.

You Don't Need Wings to Fly by Laiquilasse (T, 11,326 w., 11 Ch. || Wonderful Life AU || Bullying, Angels, Suicidal Ideation, Christmas) – John, an angel, is sent from Heaven to help a desperate Sherlock Holmes by showing him what life would have been like if he had never existed.

Backup Copies by etothepii (M, 13,332 w., 3 Ch. || Dollhouse Crossover || Major Character Death) – When John dies, Sherlock doesn't know what to do. But Mycroft does.

Silent Night by khorazir (M, 15,060 w., 1 Ch. || Codebreaker / WWII / Imitation Game-Inspired AU || Care Fic, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Dev. Rel., Reunion, PTSD John, Christmas) – It’s Christmas Eve 1944, and Sherlock Holmes has received his most precious gift already: after a long, dangerous deployment, Surgeon Captain John Watson of the Royal Navy has unexpectedly returned from the front. As if this weren’t enough, there’s a case. Both events make for a night full of promise, excitement, and the difficult task of getting reacquainted with the man Sherlock hasn’t seen in three years and feared he’d lost forever. Part 2 of Enigma

In Arduis Fidelis by Raliena (T, 18,628 w., 10 Ch. || GI Joe Crossover || Captivity, Surgery, BAMF John, John “Three Continents” Watson, POV John Watson, Prisoner of War, Cobra - Freeform, soldier John, John-centric, Doctor John Watson, John is a Very Good Doctor, Violence) – Once upon a time John was a Soldier and a Doctor. And he was known John or Doc or Doctor. But things change. And he *earned* his right to the name “Three Continents Watson”. Part 1 of the Three Continents Watson series

Serendipity by Calais_Reno (T, 18,222 w., 3 Ch. || Serendipity Fusion || Christmas, Romance, Coincidences, First Meetings, Misunderstandings, New York City, Fate and Destiny) – A bit of New York Christmas fluff, based on the 2001 movie.

Magnificent by esama (T, 19,477 w., 1 Ch. || Harry Potter Crossover || Crossover Pairing) – The birth of the Ministry of Magic and his relationship with the British Government.

Much Ado About Nothing or Get Over Here and Kiss Me Already! by MorganeUK (NR, 19,847 w., 13 Ch. || Much Ado About Nothing AU || Mutual Pining, Angst, Lestrolly) – AU in modern time where the Holmes' are a powerful noble family, Mycroft is the chief of defences and Sherlock is working for secret service. Lestrade is a high rank officer in the army. Ms Hudson is an old Lady that took care of her niece and nephew Molly and John since their youth. Part 1 of the Sherlock / Shakespeare series

Dead Letter Office by a_different_equation (M, 20,364 w., 15 Ch. || ‘Bartleby’ Fusion / Office Setting AU || Different First Meeting, Epistolary, John's Blog, Angst with a Happy Ending, Pre-Canon, John Watson is Sherlock's Boss, PTSD John, Military Backstory, Writer John, Drug Use, Texting) – John Watson comes home from the war, gets a new job and meets Sherlock Holmes through Mike Stamford. Same tale since 1891, except this time it’s 2008, John is Sherlock’s boss, and they work together at the Dead Letter Office in London. It's not a love story, until it finally is.

When John Met Sherlock by MorganeUK (T, 21,293 w., 10 Ch. || When Harry Met Sally AU || Friendship, Friends to Lovers, Developing Relationship, Faking It, Mutual Pining, Background Lestrolly, Fluff and Smut, Rom-Com) – At first they thought that friendship was impossible. Then meet again and become friends. After dinners, texts, cases and discussions they become more, best friends. Faking orgasm before falling on the floor together to get real one... Then going back to pushing each other away again... Before falling in love!But not necessarily in this order.

You're The One by Mazarin221b (E, 21,768 + w. || WiP || Underage Dirty Dancing Fusion ||  Period Typical Homophobia, Sexism, Angst, Fluff) – John Watson is seventeen years old and has his life planned out: medical school, a commission, and an opportunity to change the world. He just has to get through three weeks at The Copper Beeches - a resort owned by one of his father's patients - with his annoying sister and his perfect parents before he's off to Cambridge. But John has a secret he's trying desperately to keep, and, it seems, so is just about everyone around him, including the incredibly gorgeous and amazing dance teacher, Sherlock Holmes, and his partner Irene Adler. Too bad Jim Moriarty seems to know precisely what everyone is hiding.

Into the Multiverse by AnAnYaH (M, 21,958 w., 18 Ch. || Avengers / Sherlock / Dr. Strange Crossover || Multiverses, Everstrange, Parentlock / Teenage Rosie, Sad Sherlock, Angry Sherlock, Sherlock/John Fight, Magic, Strange John, First Kiss, Whipping, Graphic Depictions of Violence, Threats of Rape / Non-Con, Mental Anguish, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Heavy Angst with Happy Ending) – Nothing lasts forever. I am beginning to think it's the same for you and me. In a world where we don't co-exist how long will it take to finally break us ? Or are we already broken in need of a fix ?A multi-chapter fic where Sherlock and John had to leave their lives to save the world from universal threats and pursue as Doctor Strange and Everett Ross.Will they ever reunite? Part 1 of the Everstrange series

Addicted to a Certain Lifestyle by KatsatheGraceling (M, 22,751 w., 1 Ch. || James Bond Crossover || Bondlock, BAMF John, Assassin John, Q is a Holmes, Clueless Sherlock, Omniscient Mycroft) – The one where John is a BAMF assassin. With an affinity for cuddly warm jumpers.

Impossible Improbable Truth by KaraRenee (M, 24,308 w., 9 Ch. || Labyrinth AU) – John and Sherlock take a case investigating the disappearance of a teenage girl and her toddler half brother. What they find is an impossible adventure that leads them on a journey of discovery of their sexuality.

The Art Of Seduction: A Study In Pulling by flawedamythyst (M, 25,279 w., 1 Ch. || Queer As Folk Inspired AU || John/OMC, Additional Tags to Be Added Upon Reading) – Sherlock ran a website called The Science Of Seduction, on which he gave advice on the best ways to get laid, wrote blog entries detailing the results of his various sexual 'experiments' and generally contributed to the stereotype of 'every gay man is a sex-mad playboy'. John avoided the thing like the plague. AU in which Sherlock treats sex like he does crime in canon. Inspired by Queer As Folk UK, but it very quickly went its own way. Part 1 of The Art Of Seduction

False Advertising by ravenscar (E, 27,722 w. || Office AU / Devil Wears Prada Inspired || Victor Trevor, Flashbacks, Hurt / Comfort, Angst with Happy Ending, Younger John/Older Sherlock, Marriage Proposal) – Sherlock is John’s boss and mentor at an advertising agency. Can they find love in the cut-throat workplace?

A Wizarding Barista's Field Guide to Seducing a Muggle by paradigmfinch (T, 29,344 w., 9 Ch || Harry Potter Coffee Shop AU || Wizard John, Muggle Sherlock, Bisexual John, Flirting, First Dates, Secret Identity) – To help pay for Healing tuition, John Watson gets a job at a coffee shop in Muggle London, where he soon sets his sights on a particularly gorgeous customer. John's seen plenty of Muggle films. How different can it really be to woo a Muggle?

Time Of My Life by fiveainley_ohmy (E, 29,719 w., 8 Ch. || Dirty Dancing Fusion || Bisexual John, Dancing, Gay/Demi Sherlock) – John Watson takes his alcoholic sister to a summer camp in attempt to rehabilitate her. He didn't expect to fall in love with the dance instructor.

Through Dangers Untold by hogwartswitch (E, 32,003 w., 13 Ch. || Labyrinth AU) – The Goblin King has fallen in love with John Watson and visits him in dreams. But the evil wizard who cursed the Goblin King cannot allow that to continue. Will John survive the labyrinth? Or will he become a lost goblin like all the rest?

Unsettled by AxeMeAboutAxinomancy (E, 33,879 w., 10 Ch. || HIs Dark Materials AU || Daemons, Dark Themes, Non-Con) – Sherlock's dæmon hadn't settled. Once John realised that, so much made sense. Though so much else didn't, because it practically wasn't possible. Part 1 of the The Utmost Edge of Hazard series

The Last Companion by standbygo (E, 34,101 w., 14 Ch. || Firefly Fusion || Prostitution, Case Fic, Falling in Love, Angst with Happy Ending, Slow Burn, BAMF John, Discussions of Non Con But Doesn’t Happen) – Thirty years after the Miranda Wars, there is peace, both on the Rim and the Core planets. There are a number of old social mores still in place, such as the Order of Companions, but there is a sense that even such respected practices are coming to an end… Sherlock is a Companion - the best Companion on Persephone. With a bit of detective work on the side, of course. Then he meets a man named John Watson, encounters a series of bizarre cases, and finds his world is getting turned upside down.

The Great Bakerstreet Bake Off by Elphen (M, 38,058 w., 8 Ch. || Great British Bake Off AU || Caring Sherlock, Sweet John, Fluff, Baking, Accidental Touching, Pining, BJ’s, Banter and Bickering, Oblivious Characters) – John has decided to watch The Great British Bake Off this year and he is determined to do so. As Sherlock joins him, he is certain that that plan is ruined. He's in for a surprise when he's allowed to watch it but the real shock comes when Sherlock decides they ought to bake themselves. What's more, they should bake what they make in the Bake Off. John's not so sure it's a good idea but when his insides flutter at the thought, he finds it hard to complain.

Toe to Toe by standbygo (E, 44,971 w., 26 Ch. || White Nights Crossover || Ballet/Dance, Slow Burn, Spies/Secret Agents, Angst with Happy Ending, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, First Kiss/Time, Shower Sex) – Sherlock Holmes is an international ballet star. After a favour for his brother goes south, he finds himself trapped in a foreign country, with a man named John Watson who could be an enemy... or an ally.

Silence by halloa_what_is_this (T, 44,993 w., 13 Ch. || The Piano Fusion || Victorian Sherlock, Dub Con, Voyeurism, Permanent Mutilation, Johniarty, Mute John) – In 1850, John is a mute young man forced to marry to save his father from indebtedness. His sister as his interpreter and his piano to keep him company, he travels to London to live with his husband James Moriarty. Without John's consent, James sells the piano to his friend Sherlock Holmes, who only asks for lessons from John in return. The lessons turn into a power play between the two when Sherlock proposes a deal: John may earn his piano back one key at a time, certain conditions attached. Part 1 of the Aborted Wings series

Crime is of the Essence by K8BNimble (M, 45,569 w., 18 Ch. || Harry Potter Crossover || Mystery, Slash) – When a man he hasn’t seen in almost ten years appears in his home with a man he thought was dead for twenty years, Harry Potter knew his evening had just gotten complicated. Written for Snarry Swap 2011. Named Hot Rec by "The Daily Snitch"1/18/2011. Snarry, past Harry/Sherlock. Long plotty mystery with light graphic slash sex.

Always 1895 by standbygo (E, 45,901 w., 19 Ch. || Oxford Time Travel AU || Time Travel, Friends to Lovers, Case Fic, Victorian, Period-Typical Homophobia, Pining, First Kiss/Time, First Meetings, Slow Burn, Angst With Happy Ending) – Time travelling historian John Watson goes to Victorian era England to study, and meets detective Sherlock Holmes. He finds himself torn between the work he was sent to do, the exciting life of solving crimes, and the extraordinary Holmes himself.

Curled (A Tangled AU) by crimsonwinter (G, 46,330 w., 13 Ch. || Tangled AU || Alternating POV) – Sherlock lives a limited life, high in a tower, and all he's wanted in eighteen years of isolation is to someday break free and see the floating lights. Somehow, a string of events leads him to John Watson, a surprisingly kind thief who steals his heart. Will they escape the selfish advances of Moriarty, Sherlock's paternal guardian, and will Sherlock find the meaning behind the silver lanterns?

The Boy Who Balanced on the Train Tracks by SinceWhenDoYouCallMe_John (E, 54,894 w., 5 Ch. || Harry Potter Crossover || John/Snape, Period Typical Homophobia, Character Death, Underage Sexual Attraction, Sexual Awakening, Time Turner, First Time, Poverty, Domestic Abuse, Death Eaters, Canon-Typical Violence, Angst with Happy / Bittersweet Ending) – Every year, on the 2nd of May, John Watson dreams of long black hair.

Say You’ll Stay With Me by justacookieofacumberbatch (E, 63,349 w., 21 Ch. || Pretty Woman Fusion || Prostitution) – It was just supposed to be an ordinary business trip, but when John’s car stalls out on Hollywood Boulevard, he meets someone who just might change his life.

Whispers in Corners by esama (T, 64,402 w., 10 Ch. || Harry Potter Crossover || Deathly Hallows, Crossover Pairing) – Everything started with a stumble - his new life in a new world as well as his surprisingly successful career as a medium.

Masters of Ink by Indybaggins (E, 67,382 w., 7 Ch. || Ink Master Tattoo TV Show AU || Angst, Banter, Body Modification, Cheating, Desire, Developing Relationship, Disability, Falling in Love, Feels, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Kissing, Married John, Past Drug Addiction, Pining, Requited Love, Sex, Slow Burn, Smoking, Tattoo Artist John, Tattoo Artist Sherlock) – First-meeting-on-a-reality-show AU, Ink Master edition! There is expert tattooing, slightly less expert flirting, and two men falling hard. But John is married, and they can’t all win.

The Craving in Between by love_in_mind_palace (E, 69,349 w., 16 Ch. || Wedding Planner AU || Infidelity, Romance, Angst with Happy Ending, Misunderstandings, Sexting & Texting, Alternating POV, Mary is Not Nice) – Sherlock Holmes, The wedding Consultant. Picky about his projects and a nightmare to work with. Rejects ninety percent of the couples after just having a look at them and can predict how long a marriage will last. But when unassuming, plain, John Watson reluctantly limps his way in his office, with his more than enthusiastic fiancée, Mary Morstan, instead of dismissing the ill-assorted couple on the spot, he promptly decides that the project, and the groom.. are definitely worth working on.

The Loss of Flesh and Soul by deuxexmycroft (M, 69,712 w., 6/8 Ch. || WiP || Silence of the Lambs Crossover || Serial Killers, One-Sided Relationship) – Five years after John Watson puts the murderous Sherlock Holmes behind bars, a vicious copycat killer emerges. A reluctant John is pulled out of retirement to seek the expertise of the only man who can help, a man who has developed an unsettling obsession with John himself. Part 1 of The Loss of Flesh and Soul

The Vampires of London by consultingdetective (E, 72,660 w., 21 Ch. || Dracula AU || Pining Sherlock, Army Doctor John, Sharing a Bed, Porn With Feelings, Plot Twists) –  Over one hundred years after the first battle, a series of murders have caught the attention of London's police force and Sherlock Holmes. While most of the city has forgotten the vampire that once walked its streets, the descendants of the Van Helsing, Harker, and Seward families have not.

Save Me or Let Me Drown by GubraithianFire (E, 72,986 w., 16 Ch. || Shameless AU || Dysfunctional Family, Alcoholism, Recreational Drug Use, Angst, Humour, Clubbing, Bipolar Disorder, Custody Battle, Mutual Pining, Family Fluff, Smut, Handcuffs, Anal Sex, Shower Sex, Rimming, Come Shot, Angst With Happy Ending) – How Sherlock escaped from his family, John sacrificed everything to his, and how, together, they built their own. Part 1 of the The Watsons series

This Is Your Song by agirlsname (E, 79,990 w., 19 Ch. || Moulin Rouge Fusion || Prostitute Sherlock, Poet John, Acting, Singing, Dancing, Writing, Poetry, Musical, Song Fic, Heavy Angst, Unreliable Narrator, Sherlock is French, Love at First Sight, UST, First Kiss/Time, Frottage, Coming in Pants, Anal Sex, Switchlock, Clothed Sex, Crossdressing, Secret Relationship, Forbidden Love, Jealousy, Terminal Illnesses, Grief/Mourning, Breakup/Makeup Sex, Past Drug Use, Attempted Rape, Canon-Typical Violence)– When John Watson is invalided home from the army in 1895, he moves to Paris to rediscover his writing and find a new meaning in life. His old friend Stamford invites him into a group of artist friends, and suddenly John finds himself auditioning to write a show for the famous brothel across the street. There, he meets the most beautiful man he’s ever seen - Sherlock, the star of the Moulin Rouge. But Sherlock is already promised to the investor of the show, the rich Duke Moriarty.

Sherlock, P.I. by Callie4180 (E, 83,264 w., 11 Ch. || Magnum P.I. Fusion || Past Relationships, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Canon-Typical Violence, Stalking, Creepy Moriarty) – For the Fall TV Sherlock fusion project. Sherlock, P.I. is an American television show that follows the exciting adventures of genius private investigator Sherlock Homes and his friends as they live their lives on the beautiful island of Oahu in Hawaii. Sherlock solves crimes as he wrestles with the ghosts and demons of his past.

Saudade by tunteeton (E, 96,952 w., 30 Ch. || After That Very Much AU || Case Fic, Non-Con Drug Use, Dubious Science, Canon Compliant up to THoB, John’s in Denial, Sub!Sherlock, Fake Non-Con Drug Use, Dom/Sub Relationship, Mutual Masturbation, Oral Sex, Kidnapping, Threatened Torture, Mary is Not Nice, Anal, Fluff, Non-Con Domming, Verbal Abuse, Slapping) – saudade (port.): a deep and melancholy longing for something or someone that is gone and not coming back. Homesickness, an emptiness in one’s soul, a love that remains after the loved one dies. John loses Sherlock, gains Sherlock and learns to never, ever, ever pray. Part 1 of the The Untranslatables series

Rosethorne by suitesamba (M, 98,888 w., 28 Ch. || Secret Garden AU || Injured Sherlock / John, Recovery, First Times, Minor Character Death, Disability, Past Domestic Abuse [Mary/OMC]) – John Watson, WWII army doctor, is injured in the line of duty and can no longer wield a scalpel. Sherlock Holmes, Britain’s best code-breaker, is side-lined by his own devastating injury. In a work inspired by Frances Hodgson Burnett’s “The Secret Garden,” the two men must find meaning and purpose in a world which seems to have taken away all they hold most dear. But of course, it really hasn’t.

Cake and Other Sins by  Indybaggins (E, 100,670 w. || Great British Bakeoff AU || Alternate First Meeting, Angst, Baking, Desire, Disability, Incest (Holmescest/Holmescest with John), Masturbation, Falling in Love, Oral, Outdoor Sex, Past Drug Use, Poisoning, Voyeurism) – Sherlock and John meet as competing bakers on The Great British Bake Off. There’s intense baking, lush recipes and enticing food. Mycroft, guilt, past sins in chocolate and gingerbread. And love. That too.

Fallen Through Time by susandwrites (E, 102,040+ w., 39/? Ch. || Outlander Fusion / Victorian AU || WIP || Time Travel, First Meetings, Meet-Cute, Frottage, Blow Jobs, Anal Sex/Fingering, Riding Crops, Rough Sex, Floor Sex, Breath Play, Light BDSM, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Switching, Romance, Sex to Love) – Inspired by my love of Outlander, but not exactly an Outlander AU. Sherlock Holmes, the world's only consulting detective, finds himself in Victorian London while investigating a murder. The first person he meets is Doctor John Watson, formerly of the Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers and his world is irrevocably altered.

Reichenbach Falls - Déjà vu by VeeTheRee (M, 180,436+ w., 29/303 Ch. || WiP ||Gravity Falls / Multifandom AU || Alternate First Meeting, Gay Sherlock, Mutual Pining, Unilock, Summer Romance/Love, Fluff, Insecure Sherlock, Villain Mary, First Kiss, Slow Burn, Doctor Who, Supernatural, Canadian John, French Canadian Lestrade, Insecure Sherlock, Mystery, Domestic Fluff, Developing Relationship Summer Love, Light Angst, BAMF! John, Case Fic) – Two Canadians, two Brits studying in Canada, and an upkeeper walk into a Mystery Shack…. and live there. Summer holidays are here, and the step-siblings, Irene Adler and Sherlock Holmes, find themselves in a boring town called Reichenbach Falls, Oregon, USA. It isn’t as boring as it seems, however, once Sherlock stumbles upon a mystery journal, and the author is unknown. The journal contains ciphers, a strange colour wheel, and information about magical creatures that are said to be looming in the Northwestern forests. With mysteries to solve in hand, he and Irene set out to get to the roots of the town, and the abrupt disappearance of the author of the journal. But they’re not alone - John Watson, quite the handsome nephew of the Mystery Shack owner Greg Lestrade, is on their side to help out, plus mess with Sherlock’s feelings, in a good way. Shenanigans, romance, fun, danger, and deductions ensue. Oh, and there’s also occasional SuperWhoLock and two dorky Winchester brothers to spark up the action later on. Part 1 of the Reichenbach Falls series

To the Sticking Place by blueink3 (E, 121,973 w., 20 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Musical Theatre AU || Showmance, Friends to Lovers, Bickering, UST / RST, Fluff, Virgin Sherlock, BAMF John, New York City / Broadway) – Renowned Shakespearean actor Sherlock Holmes has finally burned all of his bridges in the theatre industry save for his constant director, Greg Lestrade. John Watson has made a name for himself in the musical theatre circuit, but age and injury are working against him. Can they reinvent themselves for an all-male Macbeth without killing one another? Part 1 of the Screw Your Courage series

Bel Canto by bendingsignpost (T, 127,481 w., 16 Ch. || Phantom of the Opera AU || Secret Identity, Sherlock’s Violin, Operas, Aristocracy, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Disguise, Inheritance, Genderqueer Character, Classical Music, Singing) – After years of waiting for wealthy patrons to faint, Dr John Watson discovers a far more interesting patient in the opera house basement.

Welcome to Silent Hill by Cleo2010 (M, 130,227 w., 37 Ch. || Silent Hill Fusion || POV First Person Sherlock, Unrequited Love, Psychological Horror, Violence / Gore, Monsters, Nudity, Drug Use, Harm to Children, Cults, Distressing Imagery, Torture, Death) – John is missing. When Sherlock receives a text summoning him to Silent Hill he's intent on reclaiming his friend but the town has other ideas. Our detective must battle through a world shaped by his own troubled psyche as he uncovers the town's secrets, attempts to find John and hunt down Jim Moriarty. Part 1 of the Welcome to Silent Hill series

Drift Compatible by J_Baillier (E, 130,380 w., 26 Ch. || Pacific Rim Fusion || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Alternate First Meeting, Angst, Family Drama, Accidental Telepathic Voyeurism, Martial Arts, Sci-Fi, Internalised Homophobia, Rubbish Siblings, Army Doctor John, Medical H/C, Bullying, Neurodiversity, PTSD, Drug Use, Depression, Mourning, Adventure, Hurt/Comfort, UST/URT) – A washed out war hero struggling with his past. A prodigy who wants nothing to do with his family legacy. Both are looking for something—and someone—worth fighting for in a world where human civilisation is constantly under threat.

Out There by DiscordantWords (T, 131,695 w., 10 Ch. || X-Files Fusion || Slow Burn, UST, Case Fic, Government Conspiracy, Aliens, UFOs, Mutants, Mutual Pining, First Kiss, Coma) – FBI Special Agent John Watson, medical doctor and army veteran, is assigned to assist eccentric genius Sherlock Holmes with paranormal investigations on the X-Files project.

Omens On Baker Street Series by WorseOmens (NR, 155,294+ w. across 3 works || Series WiP || Sherlock / Good Omens Crossover || Post S4 Sherlock, BAMF Aziraphale, Soft Crowley, Jealous Crowley, Fluff, Angst, General Idiocy, Misunderstandings, Crimes, Humour, Pining, Crimes, Magical Shenanigans, Unlikely Friendships, ?Slow Burn, True Forms, Ineffable Dads, South Downs) – Sherlock and John are no longer the only crime-solving disaster duo in London. After Sherlock unknowingly wrongs a demon, he finds himself with two mysterious rivals in the detective scene. For Crowley and Aziraphale, it's just a bit of fun, but they end up learning more about human nature than they bargained for.

Skeletons by flawedamythyst (T, 174,262 w. across 3 works || Nightmare Before Christmas Fusion ||  Implied Character Death) – Sherlock's refusal to talk about his past hides far more skeletons than John could ever have guessed at. Halloween-esque AU.

In the Deep, Where Dark Things Sleep by HardlyFair (M, 184,979 w., 26 Ch. || Scorpio Races AU || Graphic Violence, 1960′s, Slow Burn, Past Drug Use, Bed Sharing, Water Horses, Folklore, First Kiss/Time, Horror Elements, Vet!John, Protective John, Magical Realism, Horse Racing, Mutual Pining, Angst with Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort) – The closer time crawls to November, the more water horses the Scorpio Sea spits out. The colder Thisby becomes. Sherlock Holmes is an islander - completely surrounded by the water. John Watson, he knows, comes from the mainland and lives for the Races. On the first of November, Sherlock will race. The man holding steady by his side is someone he never expects. A Scorpio Races AU (Maggie Stiefvater), but no knowledge of the book needed.

Rom-com adaptations... Series by MorganeUK (T, 211,229+ w across 8 works || Series WiP || Assorted Crossovers || Rom-Coms, Friends to Lovers, Fluff, Friendship, Additional Tags Per Story) –  Mostly Johnlock with Mystrade or Lestrolly. If you want a movie to be johnlocked, let me know :-) Each story is completely different from the other!

Enigma by khorazir (M, 289,667 w., 23 Ch. || Codebreaker / WWII / Imitation Game-Inspired AU || Case Fic, Espionage, Period-Typical Homophobia / Sexism, Pining Sherlock, Inexperienced / VirginSherlock, Implied / Referenced Drug Use, Non-Graphic Violence) – It’s the autumn of 1941, war is raging in Europe, German U-boats are raiding Allied convoys in the Atlantic, the Luftwaffe is bombing English cities, and the cryptographers at Bletchley Park are working feverishly to decode their enemies' encrypted communications. One should consider this challenge and distraction enough for capricious codebreaker Sherlock Holmes. But the true enigmas are yet waiting to be deciphered: an unbreakable code, a strange murder, and the arrival of Surgeon Captain John H. Watson of the Royal Navy.

Over/Under Series by khorazir (M, 319,561 w. across 5 works || Cabin Pressure Crossover || Post-S2 / Reichenbach, ReunionFriendship, Angst, Humour, Pining, Cycling, Mountains, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Dev. Rel., Case Fic, First Kiss, Pining, Family Issues, Inexperienced Sherlock) – After his Fall, Sherlock travels the world to destroy what remains of James Moriarty's criminal empire. When things don't go according to plan and he finds himself in desperate need of a discreet means of travel, cue MJN Air ...

[sfaioffical]

SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA:

Pete’s Café - SFAI In The 90’s In the 90s, many SFAI students worked for and exhibited artwork at Pete’s Café, which was situated on the roof of SFAI’s Chestnut Street Campus. On view January 10 through February 16, The Great Highway Gallery presents a group exhibition featuring several SFAI-affiliated artists, including John Lindsey, Dave Arnn, Daric Cheshire, Colin Chillag, Wren Coe, Diana Coopersmith, Adrienne Eberhardt, Connie Goldman, Jeremy Harper, Gerald Hawk, Cliff Hengst, Scott Hewicker, Johanna Jackson, Xylor Jane, Patricia Kavanaugh, Yasmin Lambie-Simpson, Mario Lemos, Ted Lincoln, Lydia Linker, Linton, Jennifer Locke, Sally Lundburg, Mads Lynnerup, Spencer Mack, J Matt, Alicia McCarthy, Barry McGee, Palmerin Merges, Karla Milosevich, Ruby Neri, Eamon Ore-Giron, Maurizzio Hector Pineda, Will Rogan, Cynthia Rojas, Rocio Santillana, Christian Spruell, Steven Starfas, Keith Tallett, Rafael Vieira, Benji Whalen, Mark Wilson, and more!

Lighting the Council Fire: Paintings of Suiko Betsy McCall (MFA 2009) On view through January 30 at San Francisco’s Zen Center, Suikos writes about Lighting the Council Fire: “Whether with a pencil or paint, these works on paper explore the interaction between a structure set up by an evolving, repeating system and the unpredictable chaos of the spill, smudge, or breath-initiated brushstroke. By engaging the repetitive rhythms of practice, my work also aims to reshape my life as an Artmonk.”

Image: April Martin, cali fantazies. © April Martin

Cali Fantazies – April Martin (MFA 2019) Cali Fantazies is a multimedia art installation on view at the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) through March 3, 2020. On February 13, April Martin is curating a special event, Cali Fantazies: Righteous Ratchet Joy, where performers from the legendary underground black queer party “Cali Fantazies” will be performing at MoAD. Come witness the magic, allure, and stunts of performers in a not to be missed experience. This event will be a space where queer Black folks can enjoy the many talents of BADASS Black Women. We will shout with joy and make it shower with flowers as beautiful black women pole twerk and booty bounce in a celebration of Black Women. We welcome you to immerse yourself in MoAD’s latest exhibition, groove to the electrifying sounds of DJ Lady Ryan and laugh out loud at hilarious host Ms. Bleu Sugar from Coochieliscious Entertainment as she narrates the mesmerizing performances by Cali Fantazie’s dancers.

This event will be honoring the legacy of queer black club life and the closure Bench and Bar and Club 21, the last remaining black and brown queer clubs in Oakland.

Mind / Body / Spirit / Land – Susanne Siminger (MFA 1987) Please join Susanne for the artist reception on Friday, January 17 at the Gail Van Dyke Gallery in the MarinHealth Medical Center in Greenbrae for the opening of Mind / Body / Spirit / Land: Oils and Water Colors inspired by Our Beautiful Land.

Panel Discussion: Re-Imagining Equity in the Art World 2020, with Katherine Vetne (MFA 2015) On January 18, Katherine Vetne joins local artists Erica Deeman and Indira Allegra, as well as curators Heidi Rabben and James Voorhies to discuss their art practices, concerns and challenges, and where the equity movement might lead in the coming years. This panel is organized by ArtTable, which is celebrating 40 years of women's advocacy and professional development. Katherine will also have work on view at the Catherine Clark Gallery booth at Untitled San Francisco, July 17–19, 2020.

Image: Michael Jang, Ramones Free Concert, Civic Center Plaza, San Francisco, 1979, gelatin silver print. Courtesy the artist. © Michael Jang

In Conversation: Michael Jang (MFA 1977), Sandra S. Phillips, and Nion McEvoy For the closing of Michael Jang’s California, photographer Michael Jang and curator Sandra S. Phillips are joined by Nion McEvoy for a wide-ranging conversation about the resonances of place, person, and time in Jang’s work. This first retrospective exhibition presents a rare, immersive journey through Jang’s career, from the 1970s to the present, and is curated by Phillips, SFMOMA curator emerita of photography and Jang’s longtime collaborator.

Fresh Focus – Jordan Holms (MFA 2019) Join Jordan Holms on Wednesday, January 14, at 4pm for a meet and greet for Fresh Focus, an exhibition featuring small-size artworks by recent and current MFA artists of the Bay Area.

Spiders from Mars – Ben Venom (MFA 2007) Please join alum, Ben Venom for the opening reception for Spiders from Mars on January 15 at St. Joseph’s Art Society. On view January 17 – February 15, 2020.

Forbidden Illusions – Whitney Lynn (MFA 2007) Whitney Lynn invites you to "forbidden knowledge", anaglyph collages created while an Artist-in-Residence at LightSource SF. On view through February 1, 2020.

Displaced - Spencer Keeton Cunnigham (BFA 2010) Please join Spencer for the closing reception of Displaced at 6pm on February 9 at The Midway Gallery. He is consistently working on new ideas for art whether that is in the form of paintings, drawings, murals and installations that dive deep into topics relating to his personal relationship on Native American rights, cultural representation, social change and activsm. Spencer’s artwork has been on broadcast television, in motion pictures and exhibited throughout the U.S. and beyond. His art can currently be found on display in the Permanent Collection of the Berkeley Art museum, The Crocker Museum in Sacramento and in print form in the permanent book collection at the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C. Cunningham was also recently inducted into the World Congress of Art History in Bejing China by Art Historian Elaine O'Brien.

Video: A preview of Spencer Keeton Cunningham’s solo exhibition, Displaced, The Midway Gallery, San Francisco. Courtesy the artist.

“Rackets” and “Laminates” – Richard Goldberg (MFA 1987) Opening February 1 at 1pm at Far Out Gallery, this show will feature selections from two recent groups of work: “Rackets” and “laminates”.

The “Rackets” are an ongoing group of wall mounted, mixed media sculptural works. Theses sculptures are made with a variety of found objects and materials which take on new identities and meanings as they are synthesized into a single artwork of rhyming shapes, forms and imagery. Each “Racket” work has its own engaging identity, and story to tell.

Shown alongside of the “Rackets” will be collages that are called “Laminates” These works are 2 dimensional, irregular shaped collages of images, symbols, photographs and other visual material. These shaped collages are then laminated and cut out, to become a kind of flat sculpture with shapes and voids around the perimeter of each collage but also within and throughout the entire composition. They are floated in a shadow box frame which brings out their 3 dimensionality. The “Laminates” were a product of an evolution of ideas and impulses that lead the artist to move on to the more robust 3 dimensionality of the “Rackets”.

Mike Henderson: The Black Paintings + David Simpson: Interference On view through March 28, 2020 at Haines Gallery.

Mike Henderson: The Black Paintings (MFA 1970): Showcasing a body of related works made primarily in the 1990s by recent Artadia Award winner Mike Henderson, the paintings included in this exhibition feature a rich palette of lush blacks, steel grays, and ultramarine blues. Set against the darkness, small shapes of bright blues, yellows, and reds flicker like jewels. Henderson’s experimental films from the 1960s, 70s, and 80s will be shown in dialogue with the paintings. Politically charged and wickedly funny, these remarkable shorts have been screened at museums and festivals around the world. In addition to the exhibition, The Mike Henderson Band will be performing on January 17 as part of UNTITLED, ART San Francisco. Click here for tickets and more information!

David Simpson: Interference (BFA 1956): Acclaimed Bay Area painter David Simpson’s exhibition takes its title from his use of “interference” pigments, which shift in color with changes in light and the viewer’s perspective. Each canvas on view is the result of up to thirty coats of paint, meticulously layered to create a deep, lustrous surface. Now in his 90s, Simpson continues to delight with works of remarkable dynamism, evoking the movement of clouds, or the play of light across water, ultimately offering viewers a powerful space of contemplation.

Shaw & Co. - Richard Shaw (BFA 1965, Martha Shaw (BFA 1966), Alice Shaw (MFA 1999), Virgil Shaw & Friends (Extended through January 31, 2020!) Gallery 16’s exhibition “Shaw & Co.” presents a collection of work by members of the Richard and Martha Shaw Family, plus a plethora of SFAI-affiliated artists—faculty and alums—including Richard Shaw, Martha Shaw, Alice Shaw, Rebeca Bollinger, Mike Henderson, Don Ed Hardy, Bob Hudson, Sahar Khoury, Alicia McCarthy, Jim Melchert, Ruby Neri, Cornelia Schulz, Wanxin Zhang, and more!

BoundarySpan – Aaron Wilder (MFA 2017) A group exhibition curated by Aaron Wilder and featuring the work of alums Michael Arcega (BFA 1999), Jimin Lee (MFA 1997), Paula Levine (MFA 1988), Sherwin Rio (MA 2019), and Desiree Rios (MFA 2017), BoundarySpam reopens on January 27 at the Nathalie and James Thompson Art Gallery at San José State University and will continue through February 21.

Wikipedia:Meetup/San Francisco/Black History Month Wiki-a-thon at Prelinger Library – Niki Korth (MFA 2012) Niki Korth invites you to an afternoon of exploring, discussing, researching, writing, and working together to help improve Wikipedia articles. Attendees are welcome to work on whatever they like and are inspired to from the Library's holdings. For those interested, they will have a concerted focus on working toward closing the diversity gap of coverage on Wikipedia of notable persons of African descent and their achievements and related movements, organizations, events, ideas, projects, and more. Prelinger Library founders Megan and Rick will be present to help attendees find resources from the Library's collections, and there will be experienced Wikipedians present to help Wiki newcomers to get started and answer questions.  A Mediterranean lunch will be served, so please come with both hungry minds and stomachs.

Little Rock, Arkansas

American Veterans of Arkansas – Edward Drew (BFA 2014) The Mosaic Templars Cultural Center Museum in Little Rock, Arkansas has commissioned a year-long exhibition from Edward Drew, American Veterans of Arkansas, which uses 5 x 7 tintypes to profile African-American military veterans who are also Arkansans. “African Americans are fairly underrepresented in most sectors, including veterans and veteran contributions to this country,” Drew said. “I thought it was important tthat I speak to the narrative. Then, being a state in the South, it’s important to show tha the rick history of the Southern states has always coincided with African American contributions.”

Wilmington, Delaware

Midnight Mass – Amie Potsic (MFA 1999) Opening Friday, February 7 at 5pm: The Delaware Contemporary has invited Amie to exhibit a large-scale installation on view January 24 through April with over 250 feet of silk. Amie will be working with the museum's gargantuan atrium space to create a fresh design approach to her work.

Miami, Florida

Image: Installation view of Self-preservation (with or without applause), a group exhibition featuring work (far right) by Christopher Culver. Courtesy Primary Gallery.

Self-preservation (with or without applause) – Christopher Culver (BFA 2008) On view through January 28, Primary Gallery is proud to present Self-preservation (with or without applause), a group exhibition featuring alum, Christopher Culver.

Chicago, Illinois

Performance - Norman Long (MFA 2001) Please join Norman Long at Elastic Arts on Friday, January 31, for a special performance featuring LONG/ZALEK DUO.

Massachusetts

"We the People" is a group exhibition featuring work from Aaron Wilder’s (MFA 2017) collaboration with Guta Galli (MFA 2017) entitled "Sugar & Snails," on view through January 31, 2020 at the Dorothy and Charles Mosesian Center for the Arts in Watertown, Massachusetts.

Dancing In The Bardo and Human Impact: Stories of the Opioid Epidemic - John Christian Anderson (MFA 1972) Dancing In The Bardo is a solo show by alumnus John Christian Anderson, on view through January 26 at the Boston Sculptors Gallery. The group show Human Impact: Stories of the Opiod Epidemic is on view at Fullercraft Museum in Brockton, MA, through May 3, 2020.

Baltimore, Maryland

The Breath of Empty Space – Shaun Leonardo (MFA 2005) On view January 30 - March 15, 2020 at Maryland Institute College of Art: "For the last year I have been quietly finalizing plans for The Breath of Empty Space–a solo exhibition of 6 years of drawing concerning violence by the police and American legal system, being shown together for the first time and curated by the insightful and caring John Chaich. I am proud to finally announce this traveling exhibition for 2020 and hope you can join me to witness the work." —Shaun Leonardo

The Breath of Empty Space will also be on view at Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland, June 5–September 6, 2020.

—INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS—

Budapest, Hungary

Untitled No. 20, From Series Room ‘32’ – Michael Naify (MFA 2017) SFAI alum Michael Naify’s work, Untitled No. 20, From Series Room ‘32’, is featured in PH21 Contemporary Photo Gallery’s upcoming international photography exhibition entitled The self(ie) and the other: Portraiture—on view January 16–February 8, 2020.

Hamburg, Germany

Mother Tongue - Mika Sperling (MFA 2018) Mika's practice is based in photography, and engages ideas and concepts of family. Created during the recommended Olympus Fellowship, "the current project [Mother Tongue] is born out of the idea to include my situation as a new mother into my work. I am using photography, writing and video to search for familiarities between my husband’s and my family. I am documenting the evolving bond to my daughter, the changing relationship to my mother-in-law and that to my own mother." —Mike Sperling Check out this video where Mika discusses Mother Tongue and its familial lineages. Soon on view: Deichtorhallen Hamburg, March 21–June 14, 2020; Fotografie Forum Frankfurt, August 7–September 27, 2020; Foam Museum in Amsterdam, October 23, 2020–January 17, 2021.

Cambridge, UK

The Art of Watching Art – Patricia K. Kelly (MFA 1999) On view January 14–26 at Motion Sickness Project Space, The Art of Watching Art is a group exhibition showcasing a broad range of artworks from artists involved in the invigilation of previous exhibitions in the project space since August 2019, including our very own Patricia K. Kelly.

Do you have an upcoming exhibition or event? If you’re an SFAI alum, please fill out this form to be featured in our next roundup of alumni exhibitions and events.

Top Image Credit: Whitney Lynn, Song of the Sirens, 2019 archival pigment print on Legacy Etching paper, 30 x 40 inches. © Whitney Lynn Studios.

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

Word and deed in the Unification Church – Rabbi A. James Rudin investigates

A VIEW OF THE UNIFICATION CHURCH

Presented by Rabbi A. James Rudin

Assistant National Director of Interreligious Affairs, The American Jewish Committee 

at the American Academy of Religion Convention

San Francisco, California, December 29, 1977

Even as the Unification Church has every right in our pluralistic society to present its claims within the religious marketplace of ideas, so do we have every right to examine and analyze those claims in the light of our own studies, experiences, and faith commitments. I deeply believe that a religious movement must be judged not only by what it teaches but also by what it does; the deed is just as important as the creed. The Unification Church is no exception.

My paper will thus examine two aspects of the Unification Church:

1) Its specific teachings about Jews and Judaism and

2) the impact and results of the Unification Church’s teachings upon a significant number of its members. [revealing testimonies below]

In my study, (“Jews and Judaism in Reverend Moon’s Divine Principle,” The American Jewish Committee, December 1976) I assert that “my systematic analysis of this 536-page document (Divine Principle) reveals an orientation of almost unrelieved hostility toward, the Jewish people, exemplified in pejorative language, stereotyped imagery, and sweeping accusations of collective sin and guilt. Whether he is discussing the ‘Israelites’ of the Hebrew Bible or the ‘Jews’ as referred to in writings of the New Testament period, Reverend Moon portrays their behavior as reprobate, their intention evil (often diabolical), and their religious mission as eclipsed. There are over thirty-six specific references in Divine Principle to the Israelites of the Hebrew Bible—every one of them pejorative.” Three examples citing collective faithlessness make the point: “The Israelites all fell into faithlessness” (p. 315), “All the Israelites centering on Moses fell into faithlessness” (p. 319), and “The Israelites repeatedly fell into faithlessness” (p. 343). (Emphasis added)

Unification Church supporters claim that such references actually reflect the Hebrew Bible and present a fair description of early Israelite communal life. For me, it is a limp and highly defensive argument. In all cases of alleged Israelite errors and stubbornness, the hope of redemption and atonement was always present. The Hebrew Bible credits the people with the ability to repent. Divine Principle seeks to discredit the ancient Israelites in order to transfer God’s heritage to another people. Incidentally, the words “faithless” and “faithlessness” nowhere appear in the Hebrew Bible.

In similar fashion, Divine Principle records some sixty-five specific examples and references reflecting the attitudes and behavior of the Jewish people towards Jesus and its role in his crucifixion—again, every one of them is hostile and anti-Jewish. A few examples will suffice: “…due to the Jewish people’s disbelief in Jesus, all were destined to hell” (p. 146), …“we can see that Jesus’ crucifixion was the result of the ignorance and disbelief of the Jewish people…” (p. 145),  “As a matter of fact, Satan confronted Jesus, working through the Jewish people, centering on the chief priests and scribes who had fallen faithless, and especially through Judas Iscariot, the disciple who had betrayed Jesus” (p. 357), “Nevertheless, due to the Jewish people’s rebellion against him, the physical body of Jesus was delivered into the hands of Satan as the condition of ransom for the restoration of the Jews and the whole of mankind back to God’s bosom; his body was invaded by Satan” (p. 510). The last two statements, linking the Jews to Satan, go beyond even the infamous deicide charge—“Christ killer”—that has been hurled for so long against the Jewish people.

Apologists for the Unification Church claim that the Divine Principle passages dealing with this controversial subject have only indicted the “Jewish priests and leaders,” not the people. Yet the record speaks otherwise: the “Jewish people” in their collectivity are implicated time and time again in Divine Principle. The four examples cited here are illustrative of many other selections.

The anti-Jewish thrust of this theological document carries forth into an interpretation of Jewish history and of the current status of Jews and Judaism. There are nearly thirty such references and all are hostile, generally reflecting the worst aspects of traditional Christian displacement theology, and viewing the persecution of the Jews across the ages as punishment for their sins. Thus “Due to the Israelites’ faithlessness, the Jewish nation was destroyed” (p. 431), “God’s heritage has been taken, away from the Jewish people” (p. 519), and the “chosen nation of Israel has been punished for the sin of rejecting Jesus and crucifying Him” (p. 226). Reverend Moon brings the readers up to modern times:

Jesus came as the Messiah; but due to the disbelief of, and persecution by the people he was crucified. Since then the Jews have lost their qualification as the chosen people and have been scattered, suffering persecution through the present day. (p. 147)

Indeed, Moon declared in 1971 [in Master Speaks on February 14, 1974], “By killing one man, Jesus, the Jewish people had to suffer for 2,000 years. Countless numbers of people have been slaughtered. During the second World War, six million people were slaughtered to cleanse all the sins of the Jewish people from the time of Jesus,” In Moon’s linkage of the Nazi holocaust to the Jewish rejection of Jesus we have the total obscenity, the wicked result of a system of indemnity gone wild. This statement is a murderous update of the ancient malevolent deicide charge.

But there is more. Last December, the New York Times carried a full page advertisement signed by Reverend Moon in which Moon notes that if only the Jews had been members of the Unification Church they would have been spared Hitler’s actions. So, even in their death, the 6,000,000 slaughtered Jews are treated as theological pawns to be moved about on a Unification Church chessboard.

Thus, in Divine Principle and in other Unification Church documents, we are confronted with over 130 examples of an unrelenting litany of anti-Jewish teachings. Nowhere in Divine Principle does Reverend Moon acknowledge the continuing validity and authenticity of Jews and Judaism. From Abraham until the present day, Jews are seen as a people devoid of any genuine faith and spiritual qualities. “The inner contents are corrupt” (p. 532), Moon says of Judaism. He depicts the Jewish people as collectively responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus as allies of Satan. Jews have been replaced by a “second Israel” (who, interestingly enough, must soon be replaced by the “third Israel,” the followers of Reverend Moon). Furthermore, the Jews have lost God’s “heritage” and are still being “punished” for their many sins. The Unification Church’s basic teaching document is a feculent breeding ground for fostering and fomenting anti-Semitism.

The Unification Church’s response to my charges of anti-Semitism blandly noted that “Because there are almost no Jews in Korea, there was no danger of a careless phrase (sic!) abetting anti-Semitism as it might in other countries…” I believe I have shown that the anti-Semitism in Divine Principle is more than a “careless phrase,” and a total insensitivity to the Jewish people is patently clear in this tepid defense. Apparently it is all right to malign a group that does not dwell in one’s midst.

One must ask why the Unification Church has the need to transmit such hostility and anti-Semitism. In its announced attempt to build a new religious order, the Church states that “When a brighter light appears, the mission of the old one fades. Today’s religions have failed to lead the present generation out of the dark valley of death into the radiance of life, so there must now come a new truth that can shed a new light.” (p. 10). But as a student of religious history, and as a Jew, I must ask “What does the Unification Church intend to do, first, in a theological way and, then, in a political way with those religious communities who have seen, the “brighter light” but who have chosen to remain faithful to their “mission of the old”? Historically, Jews and Judaism have often stood alone against many of the world’s “brighter lights,” and many times the price for such action was death. That is why I, unlike some other observers of the Unification Church, am appalled and deeply concerned about the extant anti-Semitism in the Church’s teachings. Although it claims to wish to unite the human family in love and truth, the Unification Church continues to transmit in its sacred text and in other writings the same teachings about Jews and Judaism that have historically resulted in expulsions, pogroms, and murder.

Surely, we have the right to demand that the Unification Church, which professes a “New Adam,” a new life, not teach the same pathological untruths that earlier forms of Christianity did. If the Unification Church truly seeks to heal the human family, then its first obligation is to prevent the spread of anti-Semitism in all its forms. What is needed now is a complete revision of Divine Principle that eliminates every vestige of anti-Jewish teaching. No religion can bring harmony and peace to the world if its own soul is corrupted and filled with the poison of anti-Semitism.

And what about the non-Jewish world that does not accept the “new light” of the Unification Church mission? Does the Unification Church, which uses the principle of religious pluralism to justify its right to exist itself, allow for pluralism of belief? The statements of Reverend Moon are not encouraging. In an article in the New York Daily News of November 30, 1975, it is reported that Reverend Moon made the following statement at a private gathering:

So from this time [of peak] every people and organization that goes against the Unification Church will gradually come down or drastically come down and die. Many people will die—those who go against our movement. [Sun Myung Moon, Master Speaks February 14, 1974]

So much for the creed of the Unification Church; now let us look at the deed. What is the impact of the teachings of the Church on its members? How are the ideals of improving the world, of uniting mankind, carried out in the concrete actions of the Church and its followers?

I am convinced that the Unification Church uses dishonest recruiting techniques, hiding behind nearly seventy front groups, of which “Collegiate Association for the Research of Principle,” “Creative Community Project,” and “New Education Development Systems, Inc.” are three of the best known. Recruiters never identify themselves with Reverend Moon or the Unification Church until the potential member has already made a commitment. By the time the recruit realizes what he is really involved in, he is often so confused and disoriented from intensive weekend retreats, long seminars, sleeplessness, constant frenzied activity which is tightly supervised, non-nutritious food, and “love-bombing” that he may not have the will or strength to refute the demands of the group at that point. The skillful Unification Church members play on the recruit’s guilt, forcing him to renounce and remove himself from his past life, including job, school, and family. They weaken his identity, then, with strong guilt-oriented and approval-oriented sanctions, remake his identity according to Unification Church theology and role models.

After his initiation the new recruit is frequently put to work in what is called a “Mobile Fund-Raising Team [MFT].” He may work up to 18 hours a day, 7 days a week, collecting funds from the public, carrying out what is termed “heavenly deception” upon a generous and unsuspecting public. The new Unification Church member usually lies by stating that the collected funds are for various social welfare projects when, in fact, the large amounts of money go directly to Reverend Moon’s New York City bank to support the Church’s many real estate and media operations. Much of it goes also to support an increasingly luxurious life style for Reverend Moon and his chief aides, while the new Church members live in almost abject poverty, without privacy, often, without adequate medical or dental care, and without proper nourishment. Berkeley psychologist, Dr. Margaret Singer, has interviewed over 250 former Unification Church members. Her most shocking finding was the “psychological turning off of the hormonal process.” She has seen “repeated cases of menstruation ceasing in women and of men’s beards ceasing to grow.” Dr. Singer concludes: “These young adults have narrowed down their thought processes, constricted their vocabulary …and wouldn’t let their negative feelings show because of extreme pressure from those around them.”

The Unification Church’s theology and ideology has produced some disturbing actions among its members. Ellen Galligan remembers her MFT speeding across Michigan on a remote highway where one might pass another vehicle perhaps only once an hour. One early morning they passed an accident and they saw a “person flagging us down. Another man was standing there with blood all over his face. Our driver woke up our team leader, who said, ‘Don’t stop. Keep on going.’ You see we had to drive the whole night to get to the city the next morning for fund raising, and it was more important to keep going. There was never any concern about other people. I guess we just considered it was indemnity for salvation for them.”

In case after case, it is clear that the Unification Church’s zealous preoccupation with raising money transcends every other activity, even one of stopping on a lonely highway to assist an injured person.

Tony Gillard, a former Church member, “worked the ghettos. I would go in a migrant camp and take the last dollar from a poor family,” he says. “I did the same thing on Indian reservations.” Gillard, a black, was once brought before Rev. Moon for special praise because of his outstanding fund raising ability. “The Unification Church had its ‘house n*gger’”, Gillard notes, and he now considers the Church racist.

The record of forced separations of parents from children, monitored telephone conversations, intercepted mail, and even the threat of violence is now too well documented over and over again by former Church members to be dismissed as the usual “sour grapes” that any former group member may feel. The following story has been repeated by other Church members.

A CARP leader became involved in a serious automobile accident because of sheer fatigue (a common condition among many members). Faced with the possible loss of his legs and a serious operation, the Unification Church “Family” felt it could no longer tend to the young man’s needs. The Church called his parents, the “agents of Satan,” and they came to help their son. The Unification Church’s theology of love and caring apparently does not translate itself into the real world of accidents, illnesses, and medical operations.

Why do I deal with specific names and cases? What do they have to do with the cosmic theological claims of the Unification Church? I believe a clear pattern has emerged that shows the Unification Church, in its actual practice, to be an organization that is obsessed with raising money by means of “heavenly deception”, and through the efforts of thousands of drone-like members.

Earlier in this paper I called for the Unification Church to completely revise all its teaching materials in order to eradicate every vestige of anti-Semitism. I have two additional proposals to make. I urge that the Unification Church open its financial records to the general public and submit them to an independent audit so that the Church’s members, as well as others, can clearly learn how the Unification Church’s funds are raised and how they are spent. Only in this way can it begin to gain the credibility it so obviously and desperately seeks. Only in this way can the serious questions of fiscal integrity be resolved. If the Unification Church seeks to participate in our pluralistic religious society, these basic steps of openness and candor are absolutely necessary. Anything less than total public disclosure will only fan the flames of doubt and suspicion, and will prevent the Unification Church from gaining the sense of public legitimacy it craves.

I would also urge that a high level “blue ribbon” commission be appointed to investigate fully the many charges of human rights violations carried out by the Unification Church against its members. Such an independent commission would be composed of academic, legal, medical, and religious leaders who would undertake a comprehensive investigation of the Unification Church’s recruiting and educational methods and practices, as well as the Church’s treatment of its members. Even as we profess our deep commitment to the cause of human rights throughout the world, so, too, we must be just as vigorous in our own land in this struggle. If the Unification Church is, in fact, violating the human rights of any of its members, and if it is using coercive measures, then immediate legal remedial steps must be taken. If the alleged violations are not taking place, then I would be among the first to call for a cessation of the charges and counter-charges that are currently swirling about the Unification Church. Such charges, if false, do a grave disservice to all parties concerned.

As I indicated earlier, the Unification Church is free to proclaim its version of religious truth. It is free to press its claims and its doctrines. It is not free, however, in our society to perpetuate and transmit any form of anti-Semitism to its members. That grotesque pollution of the human spirit will continue to erode the Unification Church’s foundation. It is also not free to collect sums of money in America without any public accountability or disclosure. Such a closed system as currently practiced runs counter to the spirit of our open, and pluralistic society. Finally, the Unification Church is not free to violate the human rights of any potential or actual members. This is totally unacceptable, and it flies in the face of the Church’s professed doctrine of justice, love, and compassion, thus undermining the theological basis of the Church,

In Divine Principle we read: “Today’s religions have failed to lead the present generation out of the dark valley of death into the radiance of life, so there must now come a new truth that can shed a new light.” (p.10) That is the claim of the Unification Church, but I am deeply convinced that no new truth can emerge from a group whose teachings foster anti-Semitism, whose financial dealings are hidden from public view, and whose methods and style violate the human rights of others.

Sun Myung Moon:

“Our motto this time is for each of the fundraising teams to earn $12,000.00 a month, a high goal....If I mobilize 1,000 members, each earning $10,000.00, then we will make three million dollars a month, which is a usable sum. I will train the fund-raising team to make at least $3,000.00. When I mobilize 10,000 members, it means $30 million in a month. Then we can buy Pan American Airlines, and the Empire State Building. We shall buy Ford Motor Company, not to speak of the Empire State Building. That’s possible. …

In order for us to be able to do this would you prefer to sleep seven hours instead of six? (No.) We are used to sleeping, for instance, six hours. Would you prefer to sleep for seven hours or five hours? (Five.) Would you prefer to sleep four hours or five? (Four.) Would your prefer to go to work without sleeping? (Without sleeping.) I don’t want you to die so I will let you sleep barely enough to sustain your life.”

From MS-452, 9/22/74, Master Speaks, Where We Are Situated Now. Tarrytown, New York, September 22, 1974,

[haydenstudiesblog-blog]

Paper Tips + Tricks in Lit(erature)

Sorry for that super lame title

Tip #1: Summarize in Lists

It’s always a good idea (BUT NOT REQUIRED) to include some sort of brief summary in your paper, but a common problem is allowing this summary to take up too much space on the page. We don’t need a run-down of the entire story; whoever is reading this paper has already read it. You just need enough to jog their memory. I suggest making a list of the important events in the story, the events that relate to your thesis, and pick the most important ones to use in the summary.

Tip #2: Include Author and Title 

It’s 100% required to mention both the author and title of the story you are analyzing or discussing in your paper. Like, non-negotiable. This may seem annoying, but there’s a super easy way to accomplish this... Just put it at the beginning of the thesis. Super easy, right? 

Here’s an example of an introductory paragraph I recently used in one of my paper, which got high marks (9.5/10 points) - 

Although many refuse to believe it, Christianity has a history of absorbing Pagan traditional values and forms. In her short story “The Company of Wolves” Angela Carter uses the fairy tale “Little Red Riding Hood” to demonstrate the complex relationship between Christianity and Paganism through the use of symbolic religious imagery.

So. Simple. And I didn’t even include a summary (which I did not get docked points for doing).

Tip #3: Include Genre

I took note of this the other day in my literature class. We cover up the name of whoever wrote the paper and project it onto the board to talk through together. One person included the genre in the middle of the author and title mention, so it looked something like this - 

In her fantasy-horror short story “The Company of Wolves” Angela Carter blah blah blah...

My professor commented on that, how she loved the inclusion of the genre, so I took note of it. It’s always nice to take note of the little things your professor likes to see in papers.

***However, I only recommend doing this if you’re super confident in the story’s genre. Or you can always look it up online.

Tip #4: Vampires Don’t Always Work

You may be thinking, “Uhh, vampires? When are there ever really vampires in literature? Why would I assume they always work?” Well, my friend, listen to this... There are more vampires in literature than we think. No, not the literal kind. I’m talking about literary vampire imagery. Example? You got it - 

Karen Joy Fowler’s “Heartland” is a short story about a young girl, Willina, who feels trapped in a tourist-trap version of Oz. She finds solace in a tourist who flirts with her at work, and she makes plans to run away with him. Then he leaves her behind, and she is so lost in anguish and longing that she decides the only way out is to take her own life. In this short story, Fowler plays with feelings of longing, ambition, and love; she successfully connects these feelings to victim-shaming and sexual assault through the use of vampire imagery.

Not my best introductory paragraph OR thesis, but you kind of get the idea, yes? It’s easier to understand if you read my paper, which you can; I posted it on my blog recently, the paper is titled “Vampires in the Heartland” and you can find it by going to my tag. But anyway.

Vampires in literature are any selfish character. They destroy others for selfish reasons. In the case of this story, the tourist is a vampire on this young girl Willina. He does not literally suck her blood, but she does end up killing herself so maybe in a way he sucked the will to live out of her. Vampires can be found in a lot of stories. But they don’t always work, so you have to be careful. If someone is acting purely out of desire and not selfishness, they aren’t a vampire.

Tip #5: Plan Structure

Let’s get straight to the point here - the best way to give your paper good structure is to just word vomit all over the page. But organize it into paragraphs. Word vomit everything you need to say about one point or one piece of evidence, and keep that all in one paragraph. Once you’re done, move on to the next piece of evidence or point and do it all again. Just keep it all separate.

I have a few ideas on how you can stay organized this way, whether you prefer to type or write everything down first.

Typing - Use a Word document, or your preferred place to type (I love Scrivener) and put each major point that you use to support your thesis on its own separate page. Word vomit on each page, then go through page by page and organize what you did until each page has a paragraph for that particular point that includes all of the evidence you want it to have. Once you’ve done that for every point, you can start organizing them in the order you want. The way they all flow together the best from one point to the other. After they’re in the order you want them, you have to create transitions between each point/paragraph. This is always the trickiest part for me, but once you have everything in the best order it makes it a lot easier.

Writing - Use a notebook and do the same thing; put each point on its own page and word vomit on each page. Keep it all separate. Once that’s done, mold each page until they are paragraphs instead of word vomit all over the page (also don’t worry about being neat with the word vomit, just make sure you can read it). Then consider ripping out all of the pages and physically laying them out in front of you, that way you can sort them into the desired order. Then of course you have to create transitions between each point/paragraph. 

If you are unsure about whether or not your points are in the best order, just hold tight...

Tip #6: Evidence/Points Order

Super basic advice here - decide what evidence is the strongest that supports your thesis and put that last. It’s easy to jump right in at the beginning out of excitement to talk about the best evidence you’ve ever found in your life that will make your thesis amazing and your paper a banger, but that leaves a very serious problem. What happens at the end, right before your conclusion? Your reader will be left disappointed. You got them all excited with that amazing evidence at the beginning, and left them hanging with the weakest evidence you had that really doesn’t do much. No. Leave them in amazement and put your best evidence last. Also a good reason to practice those structure processes I just talked about above.

Tip #7: Reevaluate Your Thesis

There’s a great chance that your thesis has somehow wound up in your conclusion. As you were writing, you probably got more and more excited and inspired and your mind created an amazing thesis and disguised it as a conclusion sentence. No. No. No. We’re not letting you get away with that. Hopefully you went ahead and waited until the end to do your introductory paragraph, because everyone knows those never hold up once you finished the rest of the paper, but in case you didn’t - go back and read it. Your thesis probably isn’t amazing anymore. Consider changing it.

Tip #8: Edit Forever

Up until now, you’ve just been writing your life away and organizing. Now, after you write your introductory paragraph (maybe before?), print out that paper and read it. It’s actually super important that you print it out to proofread it because our minds process it differently this way. You’ve been staring at it on the screen for a while now. Not only is your mind used to it, but our brains automatically skim things we read on screens. We read more thoroughly when things are in print. So print it out and proofread it. I recommend making marks in a color that’s NOT black, so it’s easier to see. And when you make a grammatical correction, circle it so there’s not a chance you’ll miss it when you go to fix it later.

Tip #9: Sentence Structure

Have you noticed that the rest of these tips are shorter? That’s because we’re almost done! But not yet.

You have limited space in this paper. You have a lot of points to make, and not a lot of room to do it. So you don’t have time for ramble-y sentences. Go through and get rid of those unnecessary words, like “that” (yes, 9 times out of 10 you actually don’t need the word). Where there are a lot of words where one will do, change it, but don’t do this so much that it doesn’t sound like you anymore. Your professor will notice if you sound like you have a PhD on paper and in person you couldn’t even tell them what half those words even mean. That doesn’t make you sound smart, it makes you look silly.

Also try to avoid going on long tangents in your paper. It can be hard, but try to notice them when you’re proofreading. Be concise in your sentences. Short, sweet, and to the point.

Tip #10: Double Check Citations

I’ll make a completely different post next week(ish) dedicated to citing literature papers. Until then, good luck. 

Tip #11: YOUR Title

You didn’t think I’d forget to address the title of your own paper, did you? Gosh. The key here is to just know your professor. I know my professor loves puns, so I try to make my titles appropriately punny. 

Here’s a secret - you actually aren’t allowed to just use the name of the story you’re writing about as the title of your paper. Annoying, right? Because that’s totally what I’d do if I could. You can use words from the title in your title. For example, the title of my paper of Karen Joy Fowler’s “Heartland” was “Vampires in the Heartland” but there’s a reason for this. The term “heartland” is actually what is used to describe the midwest, which is why it’s the name of the story. It’s used as a clue that this story takes place in Oz in Kansas, since that’s never explicitly stated in the story. There are just a ton of clues and hints dropped in that are meant to help you draw that conclusion. So I decided to use that in my title. And since my paper was about literary vampire imagery in this story, I settled with that name. My professor put a little heart next to it.

It’s fun to come up with punny names for your papers. Another example is my most recent paper, which was over a re-imagination of the Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale as a short story that demonstrated the history between Christianity and Paganism (my thesis statement for this is above). So for the title of that story I used “The Better to Preach to You With” which is actually super corny and I didn’t get a little heart next to it, but I almost got full points on the paper so she must’ve been fine with it.

You have to take the time to come up with a name, you might as well have fun with it.

That’s all I’ve got for now. I hope this was helpful. Feel free to add your own tips. Most of these are tips straight out of my literature professor’s mouth. Look for my post next week on citing a literature paper, which will be 100% tips by my professor. Of course every professor is different, but I’ve been using all of these tips on another literature professor of mine and she’s been good with them as well.

[aion-rsa]

Best Movies Coming to Netflix in August 2021

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As quickly as the summer movie season of 2021 seemed to come upon us, it’s already about to begin its long, languid slide through the dog days of August into fall. That’s not to say that theaters won’t still have plenty of interesting fare to encounter, with films like The Suicide Squad, Free Guy, Respect, Candyman and The Night House all on deck. Hopefully the other hideous sequel happening at the moment — Pandemic 2: The Delta Variant — won’t set any of these potential hits back.

In the spirit of keeping August entertaining, Netflix is rolling out a slew of new streaming additions as well, including an underrated Spielberg gem, fantastic teen comedies both old and new, a couple of stoner classics and perhaps the finest film from the canon of one of the modern era’s most revered directors. We’ve rounded up our recommendations below, and hope you stay cool and healthy whatever you’re watching!

Universal

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Beethoven (1992)

August 1

Hollywood in the 1990s was a glorious and furry era when studio executives never met a family movie that couldn’t be improved with the addition of at least one animal character. Beethoven is one of the most successful examples of this winning formula. Directed by Brian Levant from a script co-written by John Hughes himself (alongside Mystic Pizza co-writer Amy Holden Jones), Beethoven is basically the story of how a husband and father, Charles Grodin’s George Newton, feels threatened by the attention his family gives their new dog, a St. Bernard named Beethoven.

George eventually works through some of his issues and accepts the charming Beethoven into the family, a process that comes to a head when Beethoven is dog-napped into an animal experiment scheme run by evil veterinarian Dr. Herman Varnick. (Honestly, the plot isn’t dissimilar to the story in cinematic masterpiece Paddington.) The deep supporting cast includes Bonnie Hunt, David Duchovny, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Oliver Platt, Stanley Tucci, and Everybody Loves Raymond‘s Patricia Heaton. The film’s sequel, Beethoven Second, will also be available on Netflix starting on August 1st.

Dreamworks

Catch Me If You Can (2002)

August 1

As one of Steven Spielberg’s most charming and laid-back efforts, Catch Me If You Can is a breezy and star-studded entertainment. The story is loosely based on the real grifts of conman Frank Abagnale Jr., who beginning as a teenager was able to pass himself off as a pilot, lawyer, doctor, and many other things. But really, this is a cat-and-mouse chase movie between a still baby-faced Leonardo DiCaprio as Abagnale and Tom Hanks as the FBI stiff who hunted him down. It’s all good stuff, with the movie enjoying a light touch and fresh take on Spielberg’s favorite subject matter: fathers and sons.

Warner Bros. Pictures

Deep Blue Sea (1999)

August 1

A shockingly entertaining B-movie about a bunch of genetically engineered super-sharks which break out and take over a testing facility, this is horror silliness at its best with great turns from Samuel L Jackson, Thomas Jane, Saffron Burrows and LL Cool J. Partially shot on sets built around the same water tanks used for Titanic, with animatronic and CGI sharks, Deep Blue Sea is action-packed, schlocky fun from director Renny Harlin (Cliffhanger).  

STX Entertainment

The Edge of Seventeen (2016)

August 1

A bit like Lady Bird before there was a Lady Bird, Kelly Fremon Craig’s Edge of Seventeen is an underrated gem that stars a teenage Hailee Steinfeld as a young woman stumbling through an especially awkward time in her life. Steinfeld is terrific in her best performance since True Grit, playing Nadine as a bundle of insecurities, yet still nobody’s victim. Also of special value is Craig’s hilarious and authentic script, which captures the specificity of growing up in the social media age while being near-universal in its accessibility and empathy for a wide ensemble which also includes Kyra Sedgwick, Haley Lu Richardson, and Woody Harrelson.

Paramount

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)

August 1

Just in time for the dog days of summer comes one of the best summer movies ever. Relying on charm and sharp characterization instead of special effects for its spectacle, John Hughes’ Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is a truly great teen comedy that follows the easygoing bon vivant (or secret sociopath?) of a high school’s senior class when he decides to take the day off in the best fashion: by faking he’s sick and then guilting his BFF into giving him the keys to his dad’s Ferrari.

Read more

TV

Should Netflix’s Pokémon Live-Action Series Explore the Franchise’s Dark Side?

By Matthew Byrd

TV

Never Have I Ever Season 2 Review: This Netflix Teen Comedy Deserves to Run and Run

By Louisa Mellor

It’s silly yet curiously honest stuff about the pressures of young adult life, at least in 1980s suburban America, and a beguiling showcase for an ensemble that includes Matthew Broderick in his coolest role, as well as Alan Ruck, Mia Sara, Jennifer Grey, and a seriously stoned Charlie Sheen. If you haven’t seen it yet, you’re due.

Warner Bros. Pictures

Inception (2010)

August 1 Still Christopher Nolan’s most complete and satisfying film to date (yes, even more so than The Dark Knight), Inception is a cerebral sci-fi set of stacking dolls combined with a rollicking James Bond adventure that all happens to be mostly situated inside one guy’s head. Leonardo DiCaprio leads a team of professional thieves who steal things from people’s minds — only this time they’re hired to implant an idea, even if they have to dive deep into the mark’s subconscious to do it.

Mind-bending imagery and several jaw-dropping action sequences are wrapped around a surprisingly emotional core, with only the usual unwieldy exposition there to remind you that there are some things Nolan may never get right.

Lionsgate

The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)

August 1 Based on a novel by crime writer Michael Connelly, this gripping, suspenseful 2011 drama arguably kicked off “the McConaissance,” a shift from rom-coms to more serious roles by Matthew McConaughey that launched a new, largely acclaimed phase of his career.

McConaughey is formidable as attorney Mickey Haller, a slick lawyer who works out of his Lincoln Town Car and undergoes a crisis of conscience as his new case starts to feel disturbingly like an old one. In addition to McConaughey stepping up his game, this Brad Furman-directed thriller is the kind of character-driven, literate melodrama we don’t see much on the big screen anymore — although we see plenty of them these days on, of course, Netflix.

Paramount Classics

The Machinist (2004)

August 1 Director Brad Anderson followed up his cult classic 2001 horror effort Session 9 with this surreal, Kafka-esque psychological thriller. Christian Bale plays Trevor Reznik, whose inability to sleep leads him to cause an accident at his industrial job that costs a co-worker (Michael Ironside) his arm. Already physically and mentally deteriorating, Reznik begins an even deeper descent as he tries to unravel what’s happening to him and why. Bale is intense and viscerally shocking as the emaciated Reznik, with his riveting performance anchoring an atmospheric, visually striking film that is sometimes an exercise in style over substance.

New Line Cinema

Magnolia (1999)

August 1

Boogie Nights pushed director Paul Thomas Anderson into the spotlight, but it was his massive, sprawling jigsaw puzzle Magnolia that made him into a superstar filmmaker. Following multiple narratives and numerous characters all finally brought together by a climactic storm of frogs, this is high art packed with standout moments.

Read more

Movies

Top Gun: Maverick Footage Shows Tom Cruise in Real Jet Behind the Scenes

By David Crow

Movies

Best Modern Horror Movies

By Don Kaye

Tom Cruise is electric as a toxic motivation speaker, Julianne Moore is brittle and tragic as a trophy wife who has grown to love her dying husband, while the burgeoning relationship between Melora Walters’ addict and John C. Reilly’s cop added sweetness and hope to a tale of messed up people and damaged families. Epic.

Sony PIctures

Pineapple Express (2008)

August 1 After its trailer introduced everyone to M.I.A.’s amazing “Paper Planes,” Pineapple Express’s work was already done. It didn’t even have to produce a satisfyingly funny movie on top of that. Thankfully the filmmaking team of Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, and David Gordon Green decided to give us one anyway, because Pineapple Express is the ideal of the little-seen-or-attempted stoner action comedy.

Rogen stars as process server and marijuana enthusiast Dale Denton, while James Franco portrays his annoying drug dealer Saul Silver. When the pair witness a murder, they are forced to flee hitmen, a pair of corrupt cops, and worst of all, Danny McBride. The Rogen/Goldberg comedy catalog has very few misses and this one is particularly excellent.

Universal Pictures

Seabiscuit (2003)

August 1

No one would ever accuse Gary Ross’ Seabiscuit of being subtle. With its voice-of-god narration by Ken Burns fave David McCoullough, which helpfully spells out the themes of the movie every few scenes, and its achingly sentimental score and dialogue, Seabiscuit is a Cinderella story which all but asserts its titular race horse ended the Great Depression. Yet Ross captures some of the simple American grandeur of Laura Hillenbrand’s non-fiction source material book, as well as the beauty of this true story where a horse that everyone counted out as worthless was nursed by three men into becoming one of the greatest racing animals of all-time.

It’s the type of feel-good yarn that won people over in the 1930s and which is still winning now. When coupled with a handful of strong performances, including from Jeff Bridges, Chris Cooper, Tobey Maguire, and a seriously underrated Elizabeth Banks, you have a crowd-pleaser that actually pleases.

Paramount Pictures

Team America: World Police (2004)

August 1 Roger Ebert’s one-star review of Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s Team America: World Police sums up the film’s nonsensical political stance nicely. “I wasn’t offended by the movie’s content so much as by its nihilism,” the great film critic wrote.

Rog was right to criticize Team America’s incomprehensible worldview. Nearly 20 years later, its seeming position that Alec Baldwin and Kim Jong-Il are equally bad hasn’t aged that well (despite Mr. Baldwin’s best efforts). But it’s hard to argue that the South Park creators’ nihilism doesn’t lead to some great comedy. The novelty of Thunderbirds-style puppets saving the world amid graphic sex acts and voluminous barfing never quite wears off.

The post Best Movies Coming to Netflix in August 2021 appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[quranreadalong]

#102, Surah 18

THE QURAN READ-ALONG: DAY 102

Let’s look at the first two ayat of the day before I say anything else. Allah instructs Mohammed in 18:23-24:

And say not of anything: Lo! I shall do that tomorrow, Except if Allah will. And remember thy Lord when thou forgettest, and say: It may be that my Lord guideth me unto a nearer way of truth than this.

Please allow me to explain. After the rabbis’ questions were posed to Mohammed, he said he’d answer them the next day. But there was a problem. Ibn Kathir:

The Messenger of Allah said, «أُخْبِرُكُمْ غَدًا عَمَّا سَأَلْتُمْ عَنْه» (I will tell you tomorrow about what you have asked me.) but he did not say `If Allah wills.' So they went away, and the Messenger of Allah stayed for fifteen days without any revelation from Allah concerning that, and Jibril, peace be upon him, did not come to him either. The people of Makkah started to doubt him, and said, `Muhammad promised to tell us the next day, and now fifteen days have gone by and he has not told us anything in response to the questions we asked.'

After he promises to get right on the task of answering those questions, Mohammed behaves like a procrastinating and chronically depressed college senior faced with three final papers and waits fifteen days before answering them (and one of the three answers was “lol idk”). His excuse? He didn’t say inshallah (if Allah wills it) and made Allah mad. So Allah punished him by making him wait over two weeks to get an answer... to the three basic questions... that could have been answered by simply speaking to someone who was aware of these well-known Syrian stories.

What was he doing in those two weeks? Wracking his brain for the stories? Trying to make sure he was remembering the details of them correctly? Asking someone who might know? Consulting some source? What? We have no idea, but somehow I doubt “oh I forgot to say I’ll answer if Allah lets me” is the real explanation...

Naturally, the polytheists laughed at Mohammed’s nonsense because they were evildoers, while his followers believed it. So the lesson of this story is that you should never say “I’ll do this tomorrow” without adding “...inshallah” at the end. “I’ll write this paper for my anatomy class, inshallah. Otherwise it might take a couple weeks sry.” Good save as per usual, Mo.

In a sahih hadith, he dragged poor Solomon into this mess:

The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Solomon (the son of) David said, 'Tonight I will sleep with seventy ladies each of whom will conceive a child who will be a knight fighting for "Allah's Cause.' His companion said, 'If Allah will.' But Solomon did not say so; therefore none of those women got pregnant except one who gave birth to a half child." The Prophet (ﷺ) further said, "If the Prophet (ﷺ) Solomon had said it (i.e. 'If Allah will') he would have begotten children who would have fought in Allah's Cause."

...sigh. Anyway, Mohammed adds a couple more details about the story of the seven sleepers, saying that they were in the cave for around 300 years (the Christian story says 200 but who cares), but only Allah knows exactly how long, and Allah is god etc and people should pray to him. Whatever. This section has been extraordinarily dumb even by Mohammed’s standards, but still neutral. The next one, however, is bad and contains some exciting new hell imagery. 18:29:

We have prepared for disbelievers Fire. Its tent encloseth them. If they ask for showers [other translations: “if they ask for relief”], they will be showered with water like to molten lead which burneth the faces. Calamitous the drink and ill the resting-place! 

Kuffar hell counter: 1, but the more notable thing here is the description of hell. I don’t believe we’ve seen this particular description before. In addition to being forced to drink terrible water, apparently it’ll also be dumped on you. Sure!

The next ayah is a good Muslims go to jannah/will be rewarded one, so I’ll put that one down as good to balance out the less pleasant one above. Now... in addition to the new hell imagery in 18:29, we also have some new heaven imagery in 18:31:

therein they will be given armlets of gold and will wear green robes of finest silk and gold embroidery, reclining upon throne therein

This is the first time we’ve seen the green silk robes and gold bracelets thing, right? Allah makes sure the residents of jannah look fly 24/7.

Anyway, that’s neutral. Following that is a metaphor about two gardeners, each of whom has a garden of grapevines, with a river in the middle of them. One guy says to the other, “mine’s better than yours! My garden is awesome and will last forever!” He is arrogant because he is a disbeliever! Mohammed’s metaphors are as subtle and artful as ever.

The other guy is a pious believer, and chastises his arrogant neighbor for disbelieving and for not saying “mashallah la quwwata illa billah” (Allah wills it, there is no power but from Allah), which is a tie-in to the inshallah debacle at the start of this section. The pious gardener says that one day Allah may destroy their gardens, or take away the river, or something.

That warning comes true when one day the disbeliever’s garden is ruined. “If only I hadn’t been a polytheist!”, he wails. “Clearly Allah is the only real god!” Yes indeed, Mohammed agrees.

...man, just say “polytheism is bad!! Stop being polytheists!!” and save us some effort next time, please. It’s neutral, I guess? The implication is obviously that the works of polytheists are wasted and they will be destroyed by Allah etc, but it’s not as violent in metaphor form.

Let’s see... we’ll finish up the day with these next few ayat. The life of the world is temporary, but good deeds get you to jannah, which is forever (good!). The world will end and people will then be judged, at which point the guilty people will be real nervous.

Well, fair enough. This section was a bit irritating between the inshallah incident and the gardener metaphor, but the next one returns us to our favorite subject...

NEXT TIME: Doom, doom, doom... oh, and Iblis (again).

The Quran Read-Along: Day 102

Ayat: 27

Good: 2 (18:30, 18:46)

Neutral: 24 (18:23-28, 18:31-45, 18:47-49)

Bad: 1 (18:29)

Kuffar hell counter: 1 (18:29)

⇚ previous day | next day ⇛

[dolly-decadatia]

12/3 S.C notes Chap 7 continued

South- fire 🔥: the element of transformation, of passion and change, success, health, and strength. An oil lamp or piece of lava rock can be used as well.

 West: water 💦- a cup or bowl of water can be placed in the west. Water is the realm of the emotions, of the psychic mind, love, healing, beauty and emotional spirituality

 The altar should go in the center (according to Scott) but you have to be flexible about the amount of space you have. Some of us have to place it in a corner or against a wall. I for one currently live in a shitty trailer and will be moving into a tiny rv once my lease is up. It behooves me to not fixate on “my altar MUST be dead ass center in the circle.” A lot of us probably have similar poverty related space constraints.

 Generally the altar is set up facing north (but see my thoughts above).

 Take his altar set up with a huge grain of salt. He’s gendered it. He says the left is goddess, the right god and he’s gendered inanimate objects to reflect cis genitalia and assigned them to the left or right. Cis pussy to the left, cis dick on the right. It’s not so much transphobic as it is just weird and creepy. I probably want to completely design my own altar lay out to avoid this weird dick and pussy fixation. I need to double check how LaVey had his set up. It’s been a really long time since I actually practiced Satanism and I don’t remember his set up. I know he has a straight up phallus on his supply list but imo having. A representation of genitalia that looks like genitalia is less weird and creepy that randomly deciding Wands and athames are cocks and cocks somehow automatically are male. I think LaVey’s phallus was supposed to represent lust or something. Idk, I need to reread it. Don’t quote me.

 If you’re working magic in the circle ⭕️, all necessary items should be within it before you begin, either on the altar or beneath it. Never forget to have matches handy, and a small bowl to hold the used ones. He says it’s “impolite” to throw them in the censer or cauldron but until I see someone I respect say that I’m ignoring it.

 Chapter 8: The Days of Power

 Here, I’m copy pasting notes I already took from the internet while I was waiting for the book to arrive. I skimmed through Scott’s chapter to see if there was anything to add but there wasn’t. These are my first draft of what May end up being my holidays/ Sabbaths/ whatever I choose to call them. They’re not done so don’t judge them too harsh yet:

 “Wheel of the year” ideas

 January- New Years

February- Valentine’s Day

March- bad things happened to me-day of healing ?

April- wedding anniversary and t date

June- my birthday

Aug- partner’s birthday

October- Halloween and dating anniversary

December Krampusnacht

 9 in total this draft

Does not seem seasonal at all so “wheel of the year” isn’t a great name at all.

 I do like some of the seasonal things but I’m having trouble figuring out how to incorporate them. Even when I was Wiccan I didn’t understand the significance of celebrating an agricultural cycle.

 Wiccan wheel:(copy pasted with commentary)

Yule- When is Yule: December 20-23

Themes: rebirth, quiet introspection, new year, hope, setting intentions, celebration of light 

In most traditions, Yule is the Sabbat that begins the Wiccan Year.

(I think January 1st makes more sense to me. As far as the winter holiday goes- I resonate with Krampusnacht and there’s nothing about Krampus that screams “new year” to me.)

 This is the Winter Solstice—the shortest day and longest night we will experience in the Northern Hemisphere.

Yule, a fire festival, is a time of celebrating the return of the light. From this point forward, the days will gradually grow longer again, until we reach the height of the Sun’s power at the Summer Solstice.

Although we will still see comparatively little of the Sun’s light for several more weeks, this Sabbat reminds us to have patience—the waning half of the year is over, and warmth, growth, and light will reign again!

 (This part resonates with me because I have seasonal affective disorder and the light returning is very meaningful personally.) 

 it is a relatively quiet, indoor holiday, as people gather within the warm shelters of their homes to be merry and give thanks. As a Yule ritual, many decorate their altars with evergreen branches, such as cedar, pine, hemlock and spruce, as well as bright sprigs of holly, pinecones, and other festive winter flora.

 Food for simple feast/ gingerbread and ???

 Candles are paramount to this Sabbat, of course, with Yule traditions emphasizing the colors red, green, white, and gold. Images of the Sun are also appropriate. Those lucky enough to have a fireplace can burn a sacred Yule log, but you don’t need an actual hearth to brighten up your home with candles galore! Interestingly, many traditions which are generally thought of as belonging to Christmas—including the Yule log, a decorated tree, wreaths, and even caroling—are actually rooted in pre-Christian pagan traditions. So it’s quite likely that you’ve already been celebrating Yule for years, with or without your knowledge!

 Imbolc- This cross-quarter day—midway between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox—is a welcome milestone for many who eagerly await the warmer months.

 (So do I need to celebrate the coming warmth in December? Wouldn’t this make more sense- or would it make even more sense to wait for the spring equinox to really say “fuck you”’to winter?)

 celebrated on February 2nd. As a holiday celebrating beginnings and renewal,

(Seems like a beginnings and renewal holiday would be relevant to me but maybe I should do that on my t day)

 Imbolc is often chosen as a time for initiation, whether it be through a coven or through a self-dedication ritual.

 (Also seems like a tday thing) It is also a time for ritual cleansing after being shut indoors, largely inactive, for the past few months. (My t day is in April when spring is either here or near and that imagery can make sense then too) The ability of the Sun to cleanse and purify is recognized in various ways. Some people light several candles in each room of the house, or, in a more modern version of this tradition, turn on every lamp to set the old energy “ablaze” with the power of light. Some Witches will leave their ritual tools out in direct sunlight as one of their Imbolc traditions to cleanse and charge them—particularly metal tools and treasured crystals or mineral stones.

Traditional candle colors for Imbolc are white, yellow, orange and red, and altar decorations include fresh Spring flowers, besoms (small decorative ritual brooms) and figurines or images of young animals.

 (The stated foods are all Imbolc specific and don’t make sense for me turning parts of it into my tday festival)

Ostara- (there do not appear to be any themes in Ostara that would be relevant or useful to my practice)

 Beltane  April 30 or May 1

Themes: passion, mischief, sensuality, sexuality, (rawr) beauty, romance, fertility,(eew) vitality, abundance

 Celebrated on May 1st, Beltane marks the transition point from Spring to Summer. This is a heady time of lust, passion and fertility, marking the return of vitality to both the Earth and the Sun. Blossoms on the trees are giving way to robust leaf growth, young animals are growing into maturity, and the daylight continues to lengthen and strengthen as we move toward the full power of Summer. Love and commitment are themes of this Sabbat, along with abundance and creativity. Handfastings are traditionally held at Beltane.

 (Wedding anniversary is April 14. Can possibly borrow some Beltane themes for that)

 Beltane is a very sensual Sabbat in many traditions, celebrating sexual energy

 One distinct custom in England and elsewhere that has never died out entirely is dancing around the Maypole—a tall, wooden pole said to represent male virility. Typically, people gather flowers and green branches to decorate the Maypole, or else use brightly colored ribbons. Many groups incorporate this tradition into their Beltane celebrations.

Fire is also a big focus at Beltane—so much so that many places host a Beltane fire festival. In ancient Irish culture, from which the name of the Sabbat is borrowed, people lit giant sacred fires on this day to purify and protect their cattle from illness. The cattle were driven between two fires to ritually cleanse them and connect them with the Sun. It was also considered good luck for people to jump over a bonfire at this time, and this is another Beltane ritual that is often found in celebrations.

The word “beltane” actually comes from an ancient Celtic word meaning “bright fire,” so it’s highly appropriate to include fire of some kind in your festivities. If, like many Wiccans, you don’t have the means to build a fire either indoors or outdoors, you can still decorate your altar with images of fire. If you have a mini-cauldron, place it over a few scraps of red and orange paper for a symbolic fire right on your altar!

Other ways to celebrate Beltane include making a “wedding feast” . Breads and cereal grains, oatmeal cookies and dairy foods are all traditional Beltane treats. Include seasonal spring vegetables as well for a true feast. Gather flowers and green leaves to decorate your altar with. Many people like to create a “mini-Maypole” for their altar and decorate it with ribbons. If you have long hair, braid it as a symbol of the union between (my partner and I) weaving in some wildflowers or tree blossoms if you like. Traditionally, couples would spend the whole night outdoors, romping in the fields and forests, but if this isn’t practical, take a long walk with your sweetheart somewhere out in nature. The important thing is to make sure you spend some time outdoors on this day! (we like nature and we got married on the beach so this is very useable)

 Midsummer June 20-22 (oh hey thats so close to my birthday!)

Themes: abundance, growth, masculine energy, (love that for me) love, magic

 This is the longest day and shortest night of the year, marking the pinnacle of the Sun’s power to fuel the growing season. From here on out, the Sun will set a little earlier each night until Yule, and so we recognize and give thanks for its warmth.

The crops are reaching their full maturity and the forests are bursting with lush growth. In just a few short weeks, the harvest season will begin, but for now we pause to celebrate the manifestation of what was planted in the early weeks of Spring. The warm sunlight is a welcome contrast to the cold and dark of Winter, and we bask in its comforts. T 

To celebrate this Sabbat, you can decorate your altar with summer flowers, herbs and fruits, and summer colors like yellow, green and blue. This is a traditional time for rites of re-dedication as well as divination related to love and romance. Keep at least one candle lit throughout the day to honor the Sun, and if possible hold your rituals at noon, when the Sun is at its highest point in the sky. Have an outdoor picnic feast to bask in the warmth of the day, and eat fresh fruits and vegetables—ideally from a farmer’s market or harvested from your own garden. This is a good time for magic related to masculine energies and any situation that needs to be “fired up” in your life.

 Lammas: August 1 or 2

Themes: first fruits, harvest, gratitude, benevolent sacrifice, utilizing skills and talents

(I don’t know what to do here. When I was Wiccan, this was one of my faves because I am obsessed with autumn but all the mythology here in the description is harvest related and I am not a farmer or about gratitude. Gratitude is lovely and I want to incorporate it into my practice but doing gratitude amongst the fall foliage aesthetic makes me think of American Thanksgiving which is super gross. This is going to need a lot of thought.) 

 Lammas rituals are related to harvest and gratitude, and recognizing the manifestations of our intentions that have unfolded so far during the course of the year. Bread-making is a common way to mark the holiday, as it represents bringing the seeds of intention into full fruition. People also might make a corn dolly—a traditional poppet made from straw—for use in ritual and magic. Decorate your altar with the colors of summer and fall—yellow, orange, red, green and brown. Use harvest imagery like scythes and baskets and, of course, loaves of bread. A Lammas feast should definitely involve bread, as well as late-summer fruits and vegetables, corn, and other grain dishes. Spellwork related to securing abundance and a happy home is particularly powerful at this time.

(see what I mean? What do I do here? Also I just glanced at the date and its early august which is hotter than the surface of the sun in the modern south where i am trapped. It doesn’t start feeling autumny down here until mid november. This one needs a lot of work)

 focus their celebrations on giving thanks for their skills and talents as well as for the grain harvest, but the emphasis is on gratitude all the same.

 Mabon: September 21-24- Autumn (or Fall) Equinox.

Themes: harvest, gratitude, abundance, balance, preparation, welcoming the dark

(wait, how is this different from lammas? I think this is the one I was actually thinking about when I said “this was one of my faves when I was actually wiccan.” My bad. Ok, I’m dumb but in my defense why do they have 2 back to back autumn colored gratitude holidays???)

Mabon falls on the Autumn Equinox and is the second of the three harvest festivals (Lammas, Mabon, and Samhain). Just like Ostara on the opposite side of the Wheel of the Year, at Mabon the days and nights are of equal length. Though temperatures may still be warm during the day, summer has truly come to an end. The leaves on deciduous trees have begun to turn colors and fall to the ground, (not in my state, homie) and there is a chill in the evening air. The days were longer than the nights until this moment, and after this the nights will begin their reign.. In these modern times, most of us are not involved in agriculture, but we can still take a moment to rest from our labor and relax, appreciating all that we have. It is a time to recognize the need for balance between work and play.

But how should you celebrate Mabon? For starters, Mabon rituals can include decorating your altar with acorns, pine cones, seasonal fruits and nuts, and/or a few of the first colored leaves that drop from the trees. (yes this was deffo the one I was thinking of, not Lammas) As with Lamas, harvest imagery like scythes and baskets can be used. (no wonder I mixed them up. They’re practically twins.) Candles and altar cloths in autumn colors like rusty red, orange, brown, and gold are appropriate. If you have a feast, whether solo or with others, include seasonal vegetables like onions, potatoes, carrots and other root vegetables. Spellwork related to protection and security is appropriate now, as are workings for self-confidence, prosperity, harmony and balance. If you are one who struggles with seasonal depression during the fall and winter months, (YUP) use this time to set an intention for inner peace and strength. You might make and charge a talisman for this purpose, to accompany you through the next two seasons. (OOH i LIKE THAT) 

When is Samhain: October 31 or November 1

Themes: death, rebirth, divination, honoring ancestors, introspection, benign mischief, revelry

The third and final harvest festival on the Wheel of the Year is Samhain, observed on October 31. This Sabbat marks the end of the growing season and the beginning of Winter, which must be prepared for now in earnest. Herbs are dried for winter storage, fruits and vegetables are canned and preserved, and root vegetables are dug up and stored so they may nourish us through the cold months. The word “Samhain” comes from the old Irish and is thought by many to translate as “Summer’s end.”

While the cycles of life and death are implicitly recognized at every Sabbat, Samhain is when the necessary role of death is formally honored. The nights grow noticeably longer with each day. The God retreats now into the shadows of the dark season, symbolically dying back to the Earth before being reborn again at Yule. Many Wiccans and other Pagans consider this to be the most important day on the Wheel, a time when the veil between the spirit world and the mundane world is at its thinnest. Our ancestors and loved ones on the Other Side are said to be more easily able to visit with us and make their presence known at this time.

Samhain is arguably the most visible Sabbat in the mainstream world, thanks to the parallel holiday of Halloween. Many of the Halloween traditions celebrated in contemporary cultures today have grown out of customs dating back to pagan times. As far back as ancient Greece, people were leaving offerings of food to their ancestors, which is echoed in the modern tradition of trick-or-treating. The practice of leaving root vegetables hollowed out with lighted candles inside, to guide spirits visiting on Earth ultimately led to today’s jack-o-lanterns. Witches, of course, have always been part of mainstream Halloween lore. 

 . We also honor our ancestors and invite them to visit with us. You might decorate your altar with pictures of your deceased loved ones in addition to fall foliage, apples and nuts, dried herbs and even jack-o-lanterns. Many people will leave a plate of food and drink out for any spirits who happen to wander by. Samhain is one of the most powerful nights of the year for spellwork and divination. Magical workings related to just about anything will receive an extra boost, but waning-moon work will have the most potent effect. Banishings, protection spells, clearing of obstacles and astral projection are particularly favored. Scrying, tarot reading, rune casting and any other form of divination you practice will bring you very clear results, as well as possibly a visit from an ancestor or spirit guide. Be open to doing inner work as well—reflecting on what you’d like to let go of and what you’d like to improve in yourself over the coming year.

(Ok now I’m going to be repetitious and re paste my list of significant dates and combine my thing with the wheel if applicable. Ran out of time midway through that so I’ll put it into tomorrow’s study notes)

[outofthemundane]

2 Proposal Ideas for Magazine

Option A: LGBTQ+ Fairy tales

1.      The content of this magazine with be a series of short stories about LGBTQ+ individuals. There will be images that will be created and modified that will be spread out throughout the work. These images will show images of for example two kings together, or a different archetypes than the more common heteronormative fairy tales most of us have grown up with. My inspiration is related to my Portfolio project 1 where i will be creating a story about LGBTQ+ family dynamics.

2.      The format of my magazine will be print based, as i prefer to read on paper in comparison to reading on a screen. This format will be effective because of the details of the work, the work will be converted to CMYK which is important for print. There will be a minimum of 300ppi resolution. The magazine will be 8 x 10.5 inches. There will be matte lamination and it will be printed double side. There will be a 14PT satin cover, the type of paper will be 100lb/200m Satin paper. The book will have allemade binding and the binding will be on the longer side. The approximate cost before taxes for two copies will be $116.10.

3.     I was intrigued by the Intuitive, Relational and Conceptual layout strategy in the textbook “Making and Breaking the Grid” (Second Edition Updated and expanded: A Graphic Design Layout Workshop by Timothy Samara). What i appreciated about this layout format was that the writing was very clear and legible, and that is it a strategy that depend on chance for their outcome. What timothy Samara implies by this is that this layout is more instinctually and has a bit more room for the artist’s choice of the visual arrangements for their magazine. (pg 150) 

Option B: Fitness Do’s and Dont’s

1.      My magazine would be about the Do’s and Don’t of Fitness. My inspiration would be one of my all time favourite shows “Supersize vs Super-skinny”. This show is from the UK, therefore i watch the episodes on Youtube. When you watch something from outside of the usual “Canadian” television, it offers a different perspective on what is appropriate in their culture. In the show we follow british physician Dr Christian Jessen who makes opposite sides of the weight spectrum exchange diets. The aspect of the show i want to incorporate into my magazine, is the way that sizes are completely thrown out of proportion. There would be articles about training and dieting and images of food in portions that are astounding. 

2.      The format of this magazine would be online. I would use the web with the square dimensions of 8.5 by 8.5 inches. The techniques i will be using will be the colour effects on photoshop, I will either use Adobe illustrator to draw my foods, or draw then manually and use image trace. This method will be effective because the juxtaposition of the food in contrast to the background will make the work stand out. The unusual layout is what will either attract the viewer or confuse the viewer. In either situation, the viewer will feel something about the work, which is where i would consider it successful. The moment an emotion is felt about your work whether it be good or bad, that is when you know you have fulfilled your work as an artist.

3.      For the layout for the fitness magazine, i was interest in possibly using Pictorialization and Metaphorical Allusion. This layout strategy was compelling to me because ultimately the layout becomes a type of illustration that is relevant to the text. The layout would amplify meaning to the text by guiding the viewer with a visual representation of the narrative. For example if i talk about the effects of over eating, it would make sense to have excess food, or a huge mouth. This technique basically uses imagery as a way to enhance the meaning of the text.(pg160)

[17319531]

 Exhibition Proposals: the Basics (in progress)

Who is involved? Describe your intended work

Eleanor Díaz Ritson -

I will make large, water-based oil paintings on suspended, ‘patchwork’ cotton duck canvas. Painted tapestries (2 artworks: 98.4 x 120 cm each).  I use a non-traditional oil painting style, influenced by raw material, charcoal drawings , woodcuts, and other traditionally water-based media. I am a figurative painter, representing my own image to communicate through gesture and expression. 

I explore sociality as a land-space-place; the tangible body as land, and the intangible social culture as space–place. In this way, the outward expressions of force applied in social interactions are likened to the movements of energy that sculpt geological land-bodies. Through evolutionary ‘deep time’, our social interactions sculpt our bodies and minds too. 

She exists in an interior landscape. A space where She is: 

Dew dripped mountain crag. Squelching, slimy swamp. Beaten and carved cavity. Patient, molten core.

Rippling ash cloud. Salt scarred cliff face. Frozen and glistening glacial shard.

Ruby Wilkinson - 

I intend to make paintings from memories, learning more about the unconscious. Memories are constantly changing, moving and evolving in people’s minds; creating endless false realities and recollections. I want to make work about social interactions, experiences, encounters and moments I have personally experienced in my life. 

Two large scale paper drawings, 150cm x 100 cm. Using abstract drawing techniques combined with paint manipulation of paper there will be a balance of chance and control.

Steph Arrowsmith - 

I intend to create large- scale prints which float in the space between figuration and abstraction and subvert traditional processes of image reproduction. I am exploring the potential for the prints being integrated with strange acid- etched sculptural metal frames. 

I am influenced presently by early print imagery which depicts dark religious fantasies of apocalypse and doomsday, and the artificial realities constructed through reproduced colonial imagery of endemic avifauna, flora and landscape. I want to explore ideas around the fragile and intricate biosphere in the in-between space of devastating degradation and utopic regeneration,  phenomena and noumena, and ghosts of past and apparitions of future coexisting as unseen undercurrents of accepted material reality. 

Trantham Gordon - 

The work that I intend to continue working through explores the redevelopment of image and SPACE. The sculptural object contains the tools to create a reconstruction of the world surrounding it, as the surroundings contain movement, so in turn, does the image. 

In reality this object is a camera (built out of several cameras amongst other technologies). 

The use of these technologies create a pulsating energy -through delay and feedback loops- which imbue into the image a warmth and life - a result that stands apart from the puppeteering and facade of life created by animation.

I am influenced by a continued exploration of our understandings of SPACE and LINE and IMAGE as well as the existence of time within an artwork. The final work should be able to reproduce a moving image of the world in front of it whilst commenting on the deconstruction and reconstruction of the image shown and seen. 

Christian Dimick - 

I intend to make medium scale conceptual drawings on wood panel. Through using a range of direct mediums such as oil stick, charcoal and found object I aim to dictate personal idiosyncrasies of perception and memory. The starting point for these drawings is always walking, which translates into experimental documentitive language and then finds its way into a visual form. I am infl]uenced by other artists/writers who use walking as a means of understanding space, time and connecting narrative with objects such as Susan Solint, Richard Long and Stanley Brouwn.  

What is the concept for the exhibition? What ideas does it explore, what are its reference points?

Our exhibition could be seen as the creation of a materially represented limbo, a between space neither here nor there, in which time and material solidity loses its hold on accepted perceptions of reality. Memories of past and apparitions of future intermingle in a strange fog. The exploration of this space between nothing and something echoes and amplifies the seething atmosphere of this moment of existence, in which we seem to gaze into a chasm, a darkness which could be full or empty, beneath feet run unutterable undercurrents which disrupt and destabilise.

 The work and the intended space cohabitate conceptually in symbiosis. The space is an entrance and exit point, a through- space, a solid, architectural in-between. We intend to explore unconventional lighting and installation , using the limitations of the non- gallery space as an opportunity to break with convention and influence what we create. This space is the mouth to the vast expanse of the great hall, which will be empty and filled with darkness. The acoustics of this space create a dense silence which will be a potent atmospheric facet. 

                     Trantham:  Space, time, movement, object, line, light. 

Christian:   Space, time, movement, object, perception, memory.

Steph:         Space, time, movement, land, energy, degradation, regeneration, creature.

Eleanor:     Space, time, movement, land, energy, sociality, figure, eternal. 

Ruby:          Space, time, movement, sociality, memory. 

UNDESCRIED

Definition: not descried; not discovered; not seen.

Examples:

1. It seemed to the man and woman that they were the only living things in the world, its people, its sounds, its interests, were in some undescried distance where life progressed with languid pulses.

- The Emigrant Trail

2. Fade from suns to stars, from stars into darkness undescried.

- A Channel Passage and Other Poems Taken from The Collected Poetical Works of Algernon Charles Swinburne—Vol VI

 MOVEMENT

Definitions:

1. The act of moving in space; change of place or posture; motion.

2. Motion of the mind or feelings; emotion.

3. The suggestion or representation of motion in a painting, sculpture, or design.

4. A particular rhythmic flow of language (CADENCE a poem's movement).

 LACUNA

Definition:

1. An unfilled space; a cavity or depression; a gap.

2. A language gap, which occurs when there is no direct translation in the target language for a lexical term found in the source language.

Unseen/between spaces

Deconstruction and reconstruction

Layers/ undercurrents of reality

Individual perception

Sensorial perception

Quotes:

Henry Moore

“The mystery of the hole - the mysterious fascination of caves in hillsides and cliffs."

“One of the things I would like to think my sculpture has is a force, is a strength, is a life, a vitality from inside it, so that you have a sense that the form is pressing from the inside trying to burst or trying to give off strength from inside itself.”

"I admire most a disturbing element, a distortion, giving evidence of a struggle . . . . In great art, this conflict is hidden, it is unresolved. All that is bursting with energy is disturbing - not perfect."

“Turner can create almost measurable distances of space and air… The space he creates is not emptiness; it is filled with 'solid' atmosphere.”

W. J. T. Mitchell - Landscape and Power

“An empty space is not the same thing as an empty place. An empty place is filled with space, as if space were the negative void that rushes in when a place is vacated. It is the spectral absence that “fills” a hollow shell or a clearing in a forest.”

"Landscape exerts a subtle power over people, eliciting a broad range of emotions and meanings that may be difficult to specify. This indeterminacy of affect seems to be a crucial feature of whatever force landscape can have.”

“I aim to change “landscape” from a noun to a verb. (to describe an action, state, or occurrence) It asks that we think of landscape, not as an object to be seen or a text to be read, but as a process by which social and subjective identities are formed.”

Steph -

Bennet, Jane, ‘Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things’, 2009, Duke University Press

2009, 

Janet Frame ‘Owls Do Cry’, 1957

Böhme, Gernot, ’The Aesthetics of Atmospheres (Ambiances, Atmospheres and Sensory Experiences of Spaces)

Wynyard, Mathew, ‘Dairying, Dispossession, Devastation: Primitive Accumulation and the New Zealand Dairy Industry, 1814- 2018, Counterfutures 8, 2019, Rebel Press, Wellington

Eleanor -

de Certeau, Michel. The Practice of Everyday Life. University of California Press, 1984. 

Finn, David. As The Eye Moves… a Sculpture by Henry Moore. Words by Donald Hall. Henry Abrams Inc. Publishers, 1970, New York.

Langer, Susanne K. Feeling and Form, A Theory of Art. Routledge & Kegan Pail Limited, 1953, England. 

Lefebvre, Henri. The Production of Space. 1971. Translated by Donald Nicholas-Smith, Blackwell, 1991.

Mitchell, W. J. T, editor. Landscape and Power. The University of Chicago Press, 2002.

Parker, David. Myth and Landscape. Words by Marina Warner and Ibrahim al-Koni. Kehrer Verlag, 2014.

Fehr, E. & Gächter, S. 2002 Altruistic punishment in humans. Nature 415, 137-140. (doi:10.1038/415137a)

Jensen, K. 2010 Punishment and spite, the dark side of cooperation. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B (2010) 365, 2635-2650. (doi:10.1098/rstb.2010.0146)

Ruby -  

Frichot, Hélène, ‘Olafur Eliasson and the circulation of affects and percepts in conversation’,2008

Moon So - Young, ‘Yun Hyong-Keun, retrospective abstract landscape of silence and sublime.’ 2018. Korean culture & arts

Böhme, Gernot, ‘Atmosphere, a basic concept of a New Aesthetic, In Atmospheric Architectures: The Aesthetics of Felt Spaces Chapter 1 pp 13 -35,’. (2017) 

Pallasmaa, Juhani, ‘The meaning of Atmosphere and mood’. 2016 

Trantham -

Arke, Pai. Nuugaarsuk alias Hulkamerafotografi alias Pointen (Nuugaarsuk alias Pinhole Camera Photograph alias The Point), 1990, silver/ gelatine on baryte paper print of Nuugaarsuk Point, Narsaq, 49.5 x 59.5 cm; collection of Brandts Museet for Fotokunst, Odense.

Alÿs, Francis. Bolero (Shoe Shine Blues), 2008. Video Work and Installation

Lefebvre, Henri. The Production of Space. 1971. Translated by Donald Nicholas-Smith, Blackwell, 1991.

Bachelard, Gaston. The Poetics of Space. 1954. Translated by Maria Jolas, Beacon Press, 1994.

https://sites.evergreen.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/88/2015/05/Gaston-Bachelard-the-Poetics-of-Space.pdf

Mariana Bisti, Future Proof, 2015. Performance Piece

Christian - 

Art In America: ‘Provisional Painting’, Raphael Rubinstien, 2009

Susan Solint, ‘A Field Guide to Getting Lost’, published 2006 Donald Judd, ‘Specific Objects’,  Donald Judd: Early Work, 1955-1968, New York: D.A.P., 2002.

Images: what might be shown, conceptual drawings of what the exhibition might look like…

Identify the site for the exhibition and whether secured or aspirational. How does the site relate to the concept for the exhibition?

We are all making primarily wall-based, large scale works. This means we require a spacious exhibition area. We recognise all work as boldly individual, while supporting and enriching one another’s expressions through our various perspectives and interpretations.  

First Choice: Block 10 Great Hall (10B09)

This space ties together our overarching concepts around sensory and individual perception in relation to space/place/time. The group wanted to use a space that pushed our practices out of the standard gallery setting, in our case the space becomes part of each of our works as they respond to its unique qualities such as size, lighting, reverberation and ambience. 

Second Choice: 10A19 This space is also suitable for our group as it is large enough to fit all of our works.

 How will the team work? Are there any organising principles? Are there prescribed roles/duties or are you organising yourselves in a different way? 

We have no defined ‘leader’, instead we are supporting each other in sharing organisation tasks throughout the process. Concurrently we will  work independently on our own projects,  while frequently communicating our progress and artwork developments to one other.

A timeline: what needs to be done and by when?

Once we have secured an exhibition space, we will be able to plan further (layout, lighting, install).

In the meantime we will continue to work independently.

All works will be completed and ready to be installed before exhibition night (Friday 11 September). 

TEXT FOR EXHIBITION DOCUMENT 

Ruby 

Forge the doctor note to get the night off work. Drive in silence. The car knows where to go. It drives so smoothly in fact it’s almost floating now. Bottle it up one more time and leave no residue until the final destination is reached. Listen to the noise and notice the patterns, Listen to the layers of skin. There is a warehouse filled with ammonium nitrate (2750 tonnes). Untangle the inner threads. Do not feel the need to explain yourself today they will understand. Put some lemon on the crumbed fish and allow the sand to fill up under your fingernails for protection. Share the space you have created but allow it to be tampered. Think about the lotto today, Call your mother. Prepare the surface for one week and allow it to breathe before applying the layers. Think about it again and again. Apply the layer of milk, Let the milk fill the void of silence. Relive the memory over and over in order to pay respect. Allow the memory to become distorted with the following factors; Schemas, Source amnesia, The misinformation effect, The hindsight bias, the overconfidence effect and confabulation. The arch will be there, swim within the milk.

 Watch the paroxysm from a distance.

Christian 

I step forward and open cognition, up two sets of stairs, under the lip of the earth. 

Slip into mandatory nostalgia,

listen to the resonance of air. 

Consolation in degradation, in memory afar. I step forward and open cognition, up hill ridges to watch the deep.

Having sympathy for surface, letting the hand relive the step.

Leave space for the solitary eye, but do not let it drag, keep moving. Locomote and arrangements will be made in the equilibrium. Represent singular impressions, 

And their histories, all marks made before. I step forward and open cognition. 

[chris-tea-n]

non-yaoi review #1: Shimanami Tasogare

Status: on-going

My avatar is from this manga, whoop whoop! This is a slice of life manga with a pretty realistic art style that is often more impressionistic so there aren’t much screentones (I don’t like screentones, please don’t sue me). It features realistic queer representation rather than the mainstream fetishisation that is all too common in mangas. There are really interesting imageries like this one below, and coupled with realistic art, the manga is filled with poetic and expressive art.

Story:

A mysterious character called Anonymous commissioned a lounge to be built, which came to be a safe space for queer characters to gather at and be open about their identities, around people queer or not. It has a very progressive take, as the main character, Tasuku Kaname, calls out his crush for making homophobic jokes, defying the usual apathy that greets homophobia in manga. The manga also tackle heavy subjects like prejudice within the queer community, pitching the homosexual MC against a transgender character.

The story starts off with the MC being exposed for having gay pornographic websites in his search history and therefore comes under scrutinity of his peers for being gay. As it was the last day of school, the MC is filled with anxiety for when school reopens. Suddenly he comes across a mysterious woman who jumped off the side of a the mountain he was ascending upon. Intrigued, he went to her place of origin and found a cozy, rustic lounge with people seemingly unfazed by the dive that mysterious woman took, and said that she was out to take a stroll which she had always done.

Characters: 

Tasuku Kaname is the gay MC of the story, a teen troubled by his sexuality, in an environment where his sexuality will only bring him taunts and harm. He spent his holiday at the lounge and doing revitalisation projects with his friends from the lounge, of whom help him to understand and come in term with his sexuality.

The person who started all this is Anonymous, a rather disputed character in the perspective of other characters. The MC seems to think of her favourably because she provided a safe haven for him to confront his sexuality without judgements. However, when asked about identity issues, Anonymous evaded MC’s questions with vague answers, which just makes the MC even more confused about the abstract idea of identity. In response to this, the manga’s adult lesbian character Haruko Daichi adviced the MC to not take Anonymous’ words to heart because he may just end up more confused than before regarding his identity. 

Anonymous is an elusive character but nevertheless important as she symbolises freedom of identity and thus she doesn’t identify with anything. Since she is rather elusive and has little dialogue, the reader does not know her well, and will not be able to describe her (since her dialougues are neutral and pass no judgement, no one really knows what she thinks of anything).

Haruko had also said that “she isn’t anything at all but she can live like that”, which further emphasises her anonymity. Her lack of identification is an antithesis of the MC who feels that his sexuality is ever more apparent, rather than non-existent in Anonymous’s case. He also struggles with identifying himself with homosexuality, as he risk repressive treatment by his classmates if they found out that he is gay. In essence, he cannot live without acknowledging his identity, yet any actions resulting from his sexuality can jeopardise his social standing. This inner conflict successfully portray the turmoil that closeted queers may experience.

In a way, Anonymous’ lack of identity is an attractive state of being from the MC’s point of view, which explains why he constantly wants Anonymous to answer questions regarding his identity. The keyword here is ‘can’, because she can live without an identity, but the MC can’t. When he saw Haruko kissing her wife, he was so overwhelmed by fantasies of being linked with his crush romantically, that shards of glass-like material burst out of his chest. The MC is emotionally and sexually tied to his identity and therefore cannot escape it. And if he does, they may come pouring out of his heart like he is losing a part of himself.

Queer identification is a sensitive topic to thread on as different fields of studies have a different take on it. (e.g a psychological research paper may use a different definition of homosexuality compared to a sociological research paper.) Furthermore, in today’s age, it is a politicised identity and that can cause even more confusion for homosexuals even if they are ‘certain’ and have came out. This excerpt is by a gay man called Benoit Denizet-Lewis who took part in a research where they measured that there were sexual arousal present when he watched pornographic film featuring women:

This shows that anything a queer person says has the chance of being used against them due to the nature of their identities being politicised, and as a result may lead to an existential crisis regarding their sexuality. In this case, there are hints of internalised biphobia as bisexuality can read as a ‘catnip to the Christian Right’, due to bisexuals’ opposite-sex attractions.

For MC, it is at a sociological stage where he could risk ostracism from his social groups, rather than a political one. The reason why he is so attracted to interacting with Anonymous is because he wants to emulate her and be identity-less. On top of not having any affiliation, Anonymous is shown to ‘take a stroll’ by jumping off a hillside and floating around, further emphasising her association with invincibility and freedom, both of which the MC desire.

Conclusion:

The manga has a relatively progressive take on homosexuality and a firm grasp on homophobia and being closeted. Coupled with breath-taking illustrations, and through imageries, powerful metaphors; it is a recommended read of a gay teen struggling with his identity, while trying to balance his social life with his schoolmates and queer community - the latter of which impart wisdom and lessons on tact that teens from conservative societies could possibly want to hear.

Anyway, here’s a bonus page with botanical illustration, just because plants are lovely:

[artdjgblog]

​Innerview​: ​? / ​Grafik Tasarim (Turkey) September 2006

Posters: DJG Design

Note: ​Details on posters featured in ​Grafik Tasarim magazine.

0​1) DJG Goes to Hollywood Originally conceived for a little zine contribution, this turned into a full-scale poster and/or a few hours of pure delight. Most of the imagery is based on a culmination of stencils I have made for posters. A few new ones and mutant ones were birthed as well. Though, I’ve never been to Hollywood, my work has in a sense…and I bet I’m not too far off with this depiction…and I know I’m not too far off in other ways. ​0​2) Federation of Horsepower The great thing about making hundreds of posters is the really ridiculous band names. With most of these I have no idea who they are and what their music sounds like. For all I know, these awesome dudes could be a heavy metal band. Well, this image came into my head the instant I heard the name and they probably wish to beat me to pulp. Indeed it may resemble a bit too much brotherly love…though, it’s got a Paul Rand-like cutesy that really fancied me. Oooohhh, notice the clever fence they prance upon. ​0​3) The Vines & Jet Because I’m a scavenger and have a need to bring home strange and random things and pile them up in my basement…others tend to be on the hunt for me too (sometimes good and sometimes bad). An old roommate of mine gave me a roll of contact paper decorated in jaunty vines. I had to look at this crap every day in our kitchen cabinets…so, I really didn’t want any more to do with it. Well, the left-overs sat in the basement for months until the day I put them to good use with this die-cut, easy-to-carry poster. They are completely done by hand. Which, is what I strive for with almost each piece. ​0​4) Danielson Danielson is a very strange…very strange…Christian-folk-group…did i mention they are very strange?…their latest album is called “Ships”. So…here we’ve got the lamb of the Big Guy. He’s a delicately crippled little cute guy with legs of oar (Sorry J.C…it’s a metaphor for human beings in general). But, he also sports a pretty macho tattoo…well, he just loves his mamma. OK? Oh, he’s also not shy at all when it comes to his droppings…basically, even if the world seems a bit shitty at times…it can still be very sweet…and especially if we have faith…and especially if this little guy is roaming the countryside hills in our souls. ​0​5) The Violet Burning For many days i struggled with concepts for this…and then one day at work it clicked. I was pushing my squeaky janitorial cart , head down (buried in something of the moment) and a nice landscaping lady dumped in some plant and flower scraps. Instantly, the poster became very clear. The scraps were mine and I hurried home after work….(Somehow this poster ended up seeing many countries and oceans…I can now say I’ve done that…well, at least part of me has). 6) Darling at Sea This show took place on New Year’s Eve. I never go out most of the time…I definitely don’t go out on the union of the last and first days of the years. Too much has the opportunity to happen…no, not with me…but, with people in general. Here is my vision of a little Darling with the ultimate pica disease (bizarre eating disorder) on the ultimate night…and the aftermath of it all floating in her ruined stomach and/or on the bar floor. Though, she must have been at my place because all of that stuff came from within a short arm’s length of my office chair. I don’t remember that night at all. Just another day. -djg

[musicandphilosophy]

AMS 2019

Mysticism

Chair, Delia Casadei (University of California, Berkeley)


Edwin Li (Harvard University), “Mysticism as Philosophical (Non-)Foundation: Reconstructing a Daoist Critique of Confucian Discourse of Music in Early China”

Karen Leistra-Jones (Franklin and Marshall College), “Summoning Beethoven: Spiritualism and the Act of Performance”

Martin Scherzinger (New York University), “Music’s Xenogenesis (The African Mbira)”

Codee Ann Spinner (University of Pittsburgh), “Spiritualist Hymnals and Parlor Songs for the Dead”

Phil Ford (Indiana University), “Diviner’s Time”

Abstracts:

Presenter 1: Edwin Li (Harvard University), “Mysticism as Philosophical (Non-) Foundation: Reconstructing a Daoist Critique of Confucian Discourse of Music in Early China”

Confucian discourse of music in early China has been unambiguously characterized as that which is bound up with the construction of the hierarchy of sound (sheng), tone (yin), and music/joy (yue/le). This unanimous voice can be attributed to the “Book of Music” (Yueji), which has, at its outset, provides readers with a clear definition of the three sonic categories. The Daoist critique of the Confucian musical discourse, however, has engendered incompatible interpretations. Scholars have characterized Daoist musical thought as “nihilistic,” (Yang Yinliu) the opposition of “all kinds of man-made music” (Cai Zhongde), and recently, a questioning of “how to eventually reach musical Dao” (Park So Jeong). In this paper, I attempt to reconstruct a Daoist critique of the Confucian discourse of music, which centers on a philosophical foundation these scholars have neglected: mysticism (xuan). Drawing on Laozi’s Daodejing and the Zhuangzi (especially on the under-appreciated chapters), I argue that mysticism is the form and formlessness of Dao (a state of mind in which one does not assert, and forgets oneself), a philosophical foundation for music when it is not—a philosophical (non)foundation. Laozi expresses this by claiming that the Dao cannot be named, and is the shape that has no shape. In other words, to “reach musical Dao” is not to declare reaching musical Dao. Mysticism thus grounds “music” in groundlessness. I conclude by relating Daoist mysticism to the present, arguing that such an ontological blackhole invites an empathetic understanding of musical experiences beyond humans.

Presenter 2: Karen Leistra-Jones (Franklin and Marshall College), “Summoning Beethoven: Spiritualism and the Act of Performance”

In 1893, a “consecration ceremony” celebrated the opening of a museum in Beethoven’s birth house. The ceremony occurred in the room of Beethoven’s birth and included a performance of the Cavatina from the String Quartet op. 130 by the Joseph Joachim Quartet, playing on instruments once owned by the composer. As numerous contemporary accounts noted, the quasi-religious function of this event and its proximity to Beethovenian relics combined with spoken texts before and after the Cavatina and aspects of the performance itself to create a séance-like experience: the Kölnische Zeitung reported that the audience “believed… that through the eloquent tones [of the Cavatina] his transfigured spirit appeared to proclaim itself in the present.”

The notion of performance as communion with a dead composer is a familiar trope in music criticism. Yet its particular foregrounding in these sources invites a consideration of such rhetoric as more than mere metaphor. In Germany in the 1890s there was widespread interest in mysticism and the occult, including spiritualist séances. While these movements are often described as a counter-cultural reaction to modernity’s rationalizing tendencies, recent scholarship has emphasized their interrelationship with contemporaneous developments in science and philosophy and the serious consideration they were given within establishment circles. Mystical claims such as those surrounding this ceremony often implied that music’s vibrational disruptions of matter were what allowed a spiritual dimension to make contact with the phenomenal world; ultimately, they suggest a view of performance that merged Romantic metaphysics with seemingly incompatible materialist concepts.

Presenter 3: Martin Scherzinger (New York University), “Music’s Xenogenesis (The African Mbira)”

Forward Kwenda, an acclaimed mbira player from Zimbabwe claims that the power of the mbira’s sound transports performers and listeners out of the commonplace, into a realm “much greater than a human being can understand” (Kwenda 1997). For the traditionalist Tute Chigamba, the religious and introspective attitude demanded by mbira music renders it unsuitable as an instrument of mere entertainment (personal communication, 1999). Echoing this sentiment, Hakurotwi Mude asserts, “The mbira dza vadzimu is not played for pleasure” (Mude, in Berliner, 1991, 134). Far from providing sensuous experiences alone, mbira music, especially for the traditionalists, is central to the spiritual cosmology of the Shona. It mystically “speaks back” to performers (Chigamba, 1999). Andrew Tracey reports that the idea that one mbira sounds like more than itself is still more pronounced with other lamellaphone-types, like matepe, njari, and nyonganyonga (personal communication). Matepe players actually boast of it. The perplexing ability of the music to elicit audile condundra, issue forth asynchronous sounds, materialize phantom melodies and rhythms, and recoup similitude in contexts of metamorphosis facilitates listening experiences that grow beyond the dimensions of the tactile performance alone, touching instead upon something unguessed-at. These are the ventriloquizing musical lines emerging as if of unknown origin. This is a music of xenogenesis, explicitly designed to invoke the powers of ancestral spirits in contexts of social crisis and upheaval. Set adrift of the generalized project of disenchantment in music studies, this paper aims to re-enchant the material force of xenogenetic sound in the mbira scenario.

Presenter 4: Codee Ann Spinner (University of Pittsburgh), “Spiritualist Hymnals and Parlor Songs for the Dead”

Like their Christian neighbors, Spiritualists in North America have frequently incorporated hymnals into their worship and rituals. Spiritualist hymns often share language, imagery, and entire hymns and texts with mainstream Protestant denominations. I argue that despite these similarities, hymns and singing take on new significance in Spiritualist practice. Analyzing the melodies and texts of Spiritualist hymns, specifically The Spiritual Harp (1868) and Longley’s Choice Collection of Beautiful Songs (1899), I compare song collections to a wider body of religious hymnody in North America—specifically in the Northeastern region of the United States. These comparisons demonstrate the ways in which Spiritualist acoustemologies—understanding mundane sounds in terms of spiritual sources—arose through music. Whereas a Protestant congregation might use a hymn for a metaphorical communication with an almighty power, Spiritualists used hymn—occasionally even the same hymns—to directly speak to and with the dead.

My argument is based on research conducted in a small Spiritualist community, Lily Dale, NY. Founded in the latter half of the nineteenth century, Lily Dale is home to a collection of historic hymnals and songbooks donated by former residents. Though the books themselves are informative for understanding what was important to the community members who used them, they are particularly valuable for the autographs, handwritten notes, and supplemental materials placed there by their former owners. These material publications—combined with the hymns, their music and texts—are vital for understanding Spiritualists’ conceptions of interactions between the living and the dead. 

Presenter 5: Phil Ford (Indiana University), "Diviner’s Time”

Mysticism resists assimilation to scholarly understanding, not because the latter is rational and the former irrational, but because each is defined by its own order of knowledge. Mystical knowledge is gnosis — initiatory knowledge, revealed in experience, that changes the knower. This paper concerns an object of gnosis it designates diviner’s time. In considering the Azande concept of the “second spear,” Joshua Ramey’s essay “Contingency Without Unreason” adds a fifth cause, the divining cause, to Aristotle’s canonical four. The divining cause “is linked … to the singularity of an event”: it accounts not only for what things happen but when, and for the significance of their timing. The diviner’s cause registers on the human organism much as musical time does; indeed, it might be that the temporality of divination makes of human life a kind of music. 

Thus this paper coins the term diviner’s time_ to describe a temporality whereby the sign, charged with emotion, announces itself in experience. Divinatory signs manifest in a paradoxical interdependence of difference and repetition. The sign repeats not in the manner of two identical words on a page, but like a resonance between sounding bodies. The resonance (literal and figurative) of bells arrange a symmetry between the first and third acts of Richard Wagner’s Parsifal, in which the repetition-in-difference of diviner’s time registers as gnosis. In the uncanny repetition of diviner’s time, we might feel not only that we are listening to music, but as if we are living in music, or are ourselves music.

[maiathebee]

Comprehensive Bibliography Of BTS

This is just a list of material referenced, alluded to or related to BTS’s concepts, music, photobooks, albums and music videos.  This is not a fan theory, or an attempt at one! Anyways here’s the precursor to my scholarly paper, lolllll (I’m not joking though).  I’ll update it as we goooooo....

Also, I know almost nothing about the School trilogy, but it’s my understanding that there’s not a lot of outside source material.  I could be wrong though.  Does it reference mangas and stuff??? send me a msg if you know.

(just a reminder that while BTS is remarkably involved in the creative direction of the group, the formation of a kpop groups’ era/concept is made by a large team of people, and therefore the members probably haven’t even considered or explored upwards of half the material on this list).

(asterisks mean that these works are not directly referenced by BTS in their interviews, lyrics or imagery, etc, but which are still tangentially related)

BTS book club list is as follows:

Shim Cheong - a Korean Panseori tale (Dark and Wild)

Demian by Hermann Hesse (Wings)

Seven Sermons to the Dead by Carl Jung (Wings)*

The Collected Works of CG Jung by Carl Jung (Wings)*

Thus Spoke Zarathustra by F. Nietzsche (Wings)

Beyond Good and Evil by F. Nietzsche (Wings)*

The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas by Ursula K Le Guin  (YNWA) 

The Moral Philosopher and The Moral Life by William James  (YNWA)*

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (YNWA)*

Le Transperceneige by Jacques Lob (YNWA)

Then here’s the film club list:

She and Her Cat (dir. Makoto Shinkai)(short film) (HYYH pt.2)(this is according to Bang PD)

Lost River (dir. Ryan Goslin) (Young Forever)

Big Fish (dir. Tim Burton) (reason here)  (YNWA)

The Helpers/No Vacancy (dir. Chris Stokes) (YNWA)* (tbh this seems fairly coincidental to me, which is why it gets an asterisk.

Snowpiercer (dir. Bong Joon Ho) (YNWA)

BTS music playlist:

Wild For The Night by A$AP rocky (Dark & Wild)

Friday Night Lights by J.Cole (Dark & Wild)

2001 by Dr. Dre (Dark & Wild)

花樣的年華 - Zhou Xuan (HYYH pt.1/pt.2)*

Nevermind - Nirvana (HYYH pt.2)

Wasted Youth (HYYH pt.2)

Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd (Young Forever)

Passacaglia in D minor (BuxWV 161) - Buxtehude (Wings)

You’ll Never Walk Alone - Louis Armstrong (YNWA)* (100% this isn’t a purposeful reference, but it’s a good song, y’all should listen to it)

BTS’s art history class bibliography:

Julius Caesar on Gold by Basquiat (Young Forever)

Tricycle by Basquiat and Warhol (Young Forever)*

Orange Sports Figure by Basquiat (Young Forever)

The Fall of the Rebel Angels - Bruegel the Elder (Wings)

The Landscape with the Fall of Icarus - Bruegel the Elder (Wings)

The Lament for Icarus - Draper (Wings)

La Pieta by Michelangelo (Wings)

Personnes by Christian Boltanski (YNWA)*

Further Analysis (and more fan-theory type stuff) in chronological order,  under this read more~~

I’m not sure there’s meant to be a single “correct” reading of the group’s narrative or story. Even in Wings, which drew its story fully from Demian, the ultimate narrative of the BST M/V is more vague.  While there might be a complete and overarching narrative that Bighit is trying to create with Bangtan’s concepts/mvs, I think it’s more likely that there are a lot of narrative threads running through the story, and some are maintained longterm, some are relevant only to as specific chapter, while others are merely aesthetic/cosmetic.  I have a feeling that even longterm narrative ideas are sometimes allowed to fade away for the benefit of moving the story forward at the pace they want. 

Dark and Wild

Shim Cheong is just a throwaway simile on hip hop lover.  I’m pretty sure it’s a reference to the idea that seeing Shim Cheong again allowed her blind father to gain the ability to see.

References like the one to Wild for the Night on hiphop lover (they also tweeted about the song back in 2013) don’t really do much except show that they genuinely like/listen to American rap and also it explains at least 66% of the dumb mistakes Rap Monster has made, probably, my poor problematic child.  Hip Hop lover references a ton of artists, but I just included the ones that are mentioned by more than just name.

The Most Beautiful Moment In Life (pt.1/pt.2)

Zhou Xuan is the first media reference point for HYYH (花樣年華)(It’s what the Chinese title for In the Mood For Love is based on). The lyrics refer to forgotten dreams.

Wong Kar Wai’s In the Mood For Love (花樣年華) is not listed, as RM mentioned in the interview that this was not associated with their album. 

Notes of a Desolate Man by Tianwen Shu is excerpted in a Taiwanese literary anthology by the name of  花樣年華, and I though think it relates thematically, it’s merely my own personal association~ There’s no indication that BTS or Bighit even knows it exists.  Tianwen Shu is greatly influenced by Lu Xun, who wrote the anti-confucian societal norms novel, A Madman’s Diary. 

Nirvana t-shirts are a go to for BTS’s stylists, probably MOSTLY because they fit their preferred grunge image, but the word “Nirvana” fits well into the ideas of tragedy/death, utopia/dystopia and idealism that BTS plays with, while Nirvana the band is obviously a good reference point for realistic portrayals of youth culture and music which speaks to young people, particularly the crazy popular Nevermind (ahem Yoongi’s intro song) with Smells Like Teen Spirit and Come As You Are.  (further fan theory here)

It’s crazy to me that Bang PD found inspiration in a five minute anime about a cat, but read the wiki summary and you’ll believe him:  “When it's over She cries and becomes depressed. Chobi does not understand what the conversation was about or what happened but concludes that it was not her fault. He stands by her and comforts her. Time goes on and it becomes winter. She continues going to work and moves on with her life. In the end Chobi and She are happy with their life together and say in unison, 'This world, I think we like it.’”

Fire (Young Forever)

Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” thematically deals with youth/nostalgia (Shine On You Crazy Diamond: "Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun").  It includes critiques of the music industry and the cliches that the group had to deal with.  The narrative of Wish You Were Here is very much in line with Bangtan’s overall group narrative.

Lost River (a phrase you can see on a wall in the Fire M/V) is a film about a poor community, and specifically a mother and her two sons, going through crisis.  The film includes a scene of a party in an abandoned high school and ends with both a house and a car on fire. The film has an open ending which leaves room for an improved future, but the film is primarily about the limited possibilities and opportunities

As far as I can tell, the “Basquiat” paintings in the fire M/V are just imitations rather than references to specific paintings.  They’re probably being used just as an aesthetic choice - Basquiat’s art was a synthesis of street art, outsider art, social commentary and post-expressionism.  However, his life is also relevant narratively: he died young at 27 and he first gained fame as a graffiti artist.

I’m not putting it above because the film is super inappropriate, but the phrase “enter the void” is used in the Run M/V, and could refer to the Gaspar Noe film of the same name.  The title of that film is, in fact, a reference to The Tibetan Book of the Dead.  However, the term “void” (and the images of the void in the M/V) could just be a reference to five elements in Japanese Buddhism (including fire), particularly the Book of Five Rings.  But this is me getting uber fan theory, lol.

Another graffitied phrase in the Run M/V is “wasted youth.”  This could be one of three things; a reference to the hardcore punk band, Wasted Youth, an allusion to Fast Times at Ridgemont High which also includes a scene featuring “wasted youth” graffitied on a wall, or the phrase isn’t an allusion, but merely a description of the M/V concept.

Wings

The relationship to Demian needs its own post, so I won’t even go into it itself, but the tangential references it spawned are as follows:

The paintings in the Wings video are all in reference to Demian but are also all biblical/mythological in nature, based on the book of revelations, Ovid’s The Art of Love,  and the crucifixion.  The religious references, however, are dulled down -- Jesus is not fully sculpted, leaving him to be a vaguely carved form and allowing the image to stand more as an allegory for the relationship between mother and “son” in Demian.  (some further fan analysis of the art here)(and more specifically on the use of icarus).

The Passacaglia is also a piece which is referred to in Demian in the part of the book where the narrator begins to find spiritual fulfillment through music and art, something BTS talks about a lot.

Demian draws lot from Carl Jung, particularly his ideas about symbolism, archetypes and psychoanalysis.  The book specifically alludes to Jung’s Seven Sermons, and the idea that Abraxas is the ultimate being, uniting both god and the devil.  Thematically, through Demian, this deals with themes of forming ones’ own moral code, and ideas of will and strength of character, with good and evil being both at odds but also simultaneously part of everything. This theory/concept in largely influenced by Nietzsche, most especially his Beyond Good and Evil.  Together these are all philosophies which pull away from the ideas of societal norms or strict social structures and place a premium on personal/creative expression.

Thus Spoke Zarathustra (quoted in the Wings photobook and BST M/V) also furthers this idea that good and evil are “a wheel.”  It posits that Truth (not morality) is the highest virtue and that idealists flee from reality (SEE: Icarus).  The novel also introduces the idea of the overman, which is a gross idea and super problematic, but I can it being applied thematically to BTS as the idea of a ‘fully realized self.’  Zarathustra is a figure Nietzsche borrowed from Zoroastrianism.  (this writer has more ideas on some connections to Nietzsche).

You Never Walk Alone

“Omelas” and the theme of walking obviously references the Le Guin story, which is inspired by the William James essay, which in turn borrows ideas from Dostoyevsky.

Namjoon’s reference Snowpiercer plays into the video’s visual narrative (an inescapable cycle, the train, the cyclical nature of seasons, laundry is a cycle [2mjjk theory speaks to all these, lol]) as the story is about a train which circles the globe, in a world stuck in perpetual winter. Unlike the more environmentally-focused graphic novel, Snowpiercer the (korean-directed) film is intensely focused on class inequality, a theme which runs through BTS’s albums (see particularly Baepsae, but it’s a concern relevant to their School series, since most pressures put on students are related to social class) and which is of incredible concern to Korean people, and therefore is a common concern of a lot of Korean art.  Bong Joon Ho’s other film works are all very heavy on social commentary  (the host deals with the american military and politics/activism, sea fog also talks about social inequality... etc...), so referencing one of his films is a pretty clear statement that you are making a critical commentary on something.  Like the Le Guin short story The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, the film is about a dystopia in which the upper class/middle class/general public is reliant on the continual suffering of another (in this class the lower class or last train) to survive.  Trains provide a very easy metaphor for class given their class divisions into separate carriages.  This was also applied in another Korean blockbuster from the last year, Train to Busan (dir Yeon Sang-ho), which included some pretty transparent commentary on the negative effect that an apathetic, self-serving, lazy (male) middle-aged, middle-class could have on the survival of families and younger generations.

Most fan theories agree that the clothes in the M/V are a reference to the sewol ferry disaster.  Here is the fan explanation for how that connects to Boltanski’s Personnes.

[odalisquexxx]

Gérôme’s Slave Market, much like his Snake Charmer (cat. 154), has become one of the iconic images of Orientalism, particularly since the publication of Edward Said’s defining 1978 book of the same name and Linda Nochlin’s discussion of the Slave Market in her equally influential article, “The Imaginary Orient,” in 1983. Certainly, the sexual and racial dynamics that the painting depicts are provocative, prompting diverse, and at times strongly polarized, interpretations.1 Although Gérôme’s travels in the Near East, his use of his own extensive sketches as well as photographs by others documenting the region, and his highly skilled, impersonal painting style, were intended to secure a factual neutrality for his paintings, the implications and the sheer visual power of the scene depicted in Slave Market are anything but neutral. The scene centers on a nude woman surrounded by a group of men; the seller, at the right, presents her to a prospective purchaser, who probes her teeth with his finger. The dehumanizing nature of this gesture is self-evident; further, as Colette Beaudan has noted, the buyer is the only figure in the scene who, like the viewer of the painting, can see the woman fully, and he is covered head to toe with only his eyes visible, effectively embodying the viewer’s position, and suggesting a degree of voyeuristic complicity.2 The setting evokes the Near East, as indicated by the architecture and the clothing and skin color of the figures, but it is not a specific, identifiable location. Nonetheless, the site is clearly non-European, allowing the observer to censure the practice of slave trading as foreign and barbaric while still enjoying the idea of complete access to the female body, physical as well as visual, that it affords. As Nochlin memorably wrote, imagining Gérôme’s voice, “‘Don’t think that I or any other right-thinking Frenchman would ever be involved in this sort of thing. I am merely taking careful note of the fact that less enlightened races indulge in the trade in naked women—but isn’t it arousing!’”3 A rarely noted detail appears to the right of the central scene, where a nude black male, his back to the viewer, is similarly being examined. This vignette might be intended to counterbalance some of the sexual overtones of the foreground scene, but it also hints at the slave trade’s wider scope, suggesting that any inhabitant of the African continent, male or female, of any skin tone, is equally subject to European domination. Gérôme probably painted Slave Market in 1866, selling it to the dealer Goupil in August of that year; it appeared at the Salon the following year. As he did with most of his paintings, he seems to have drawn from various sources to compose the image. He made two trips, in 1856 and 1862, to Egypt and nearby countries, spending several months observing and sketching the landscape, monuments, and people of the region. The pointed arches of the background building in Slave Market may have been based on architecture that Gérôme observed during his travels, and he peopled the scene with figures wearing the same types of North African costumes that appear in many of his other paintings. It is unlikely, however, that the artist actually observed a scene like this, as there is little, if any, reliable documentation of such slave markets. Indeed, Gérôme may have drawn inspiration in part from Gérard de Nerval’s 1851 account of a similar incident in his partially fictional Voyage en Orient: “The sellers [of slaves] offered to have them undressed, they opened their mouths so that one could see their teeth, they made them walk and highlighted especially the elasticity of their chests.”4 The naturalism of the scene is thus open to question on a number of levels, since Gérôme probably combined narrative sources, sketches made during his travels, and studio models, as he so often did. As early as 1881, Edward Strahan suggested that the model for the central figure may have been the same woman who appears in Cleopatra and Caesar (1866; private collection),5 providing a certain irony for the informed viewer in seeing the same figure as both queen and slave.6 The purported verisimilitude of Slave Market may be further undercut by another version of this composition, in which the figures are dressed in classical togas and stand in a much simpler setting, but the painting’s uncertain status raises a number of questions.7 That work appears to be dated 1857, which would suggest that Gérôme developed the content and composition for the scene several years earlier and reused it, modifying the setting and adding greater detail, in 1866. This sequence would further support the idea that the final painting derived from the artist’s imagination, rather than from an incident he observed. In his revised catalogue raisonné, however, Ackerman lists the earlier Slave Market as a studio work,8 and indeed its relatively rough facture and simplified forms seem uncharacteristic of Gérôme. In this case, a date before 1866 seems problematic, despite the date on the canvas, and the classical scene might conceivably be a modified version after the finished work, rather than a prefiguration of it. Slave Market was exhibited in the Salon of 1867, but because the Exposition Universelle of that year took place at virtually the same time, few critics reviewed the Salon and few people visited. Of the reviews that mention this work, two viewpoints are almost directly opposed, demonstrating from the outset the range of possible reactions to its imagery. In the Gazette des Beaux-Arts Paul Mantz wrote, “If the buyer decides [to purchase the slave], what could he do with a woman made of ivory? . . . The preciousness of execution accords rather well with a certain vapidity of thought and a poor and mannered line.”9 By criticizing Gérôme’s skill at painting, Mantz addressed only the work’s material nature, essentially denying the realism of the depiction while avoiding any deeper discussion of the content of the image. Maxime du Camp, who had himself traveled extensively in the Near East and taken photographs, saw the painting very differently, explicitly spelling out the characters’ natures and reading into the image even greater precision than Gérôme himself supplied. According to Du Camp: The Slave Market is a scene done on the spot. The djellabs [presumably meaning slave traders], once they have returned from their long and difficult journeys on the Upper Nile, install their human merchandise in the large okels that spread out in Cairo alongside the ruins of the mosque of Caliph Hakem; one goes there to buy a slave as one goes to the market here to buy a turbot. . . . It is one of these [more expensive] women, an Abyssinian, that M. Gérôme has taken as the principal figure of his composition. She is nude and being displayed by the djellab, who has the fine head of a brigand accustomed to every sort of abduction and violence; the idea of the eternal soul must not very often have tormented such a bandit. The poor girl is standing, submissive, humble, resigned, with a fatalistic passivity that the painter has very skillfully rendered. A man examines her, looking at her teeth as one looks at those of a horse, and appreciates the merchandise with that defiant eye that is particular to Arabs.10 Du Camp approached the artist’s near-photographic image much like a neutral document to be interpreted, presumably as Gérôme had intended, and his Orientalist reading is unequivocal—thus for Du Camp the slave trader is a violent, non-Christian bandit, the woman submissive, and the buyer characteristically Arabic in his defiant gaze. In addition, without any specific indications from the artist, the site becomes the slave market in Cairo and the woman an Abyssinian, details that Du Camp presumably added based on his own experience.11 Sterling Clark, for his part, generally commented only on Gérôme’s skill as an artist, rather than on the content of his work. Clark seems to have first seen the alternate version of this composition at the Knoedler Gallery in New York in January 1928, when he noted in his diary: “Saw Gérôme. Roman buyer examining teeth of nude slave before purchase. Early work. Beautifully drawn,” an assessment that clearly avoids any acknowledgement of the provocative nature of the subject matter.12 His offer to the owner of that painting was rejected, however, and it was not until May 1930 that Clark purchased the present work. A number of years later Clark summed up Snake Charmer (cat. 154) in the same manner in his diaries, calling it “academic, yes, tight, yes, but what drawing and mastery of the art.”13 He never seems to have remarked, at least on paper, that he owned two major works by Gérôme that presented highly racially and sexually charged scenes. SL

provenance The artist, sold to Goupil, 23 Aug. 1866, as Un marché d’esclaves; [Goupil, Paris, sold to Gambart, 22 Sept. 1866];14 [Ernest Gambart, London, 1866, returned to Goupil, Nov. 1866]; [Goupil, Paris, Nov. 1866, sold to Mayer, 27 Jan. 1867, as Marchand d’esclaves];15 [Mayer, Dresden, from 1867];16 [Knoedler, Paris, sold to Clark, 1 May 1930, as Marché d’Esclaves]; Robert Sterling Clark (1930–55); Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1955. 

exhibitions Paris 1867c, p.  87, no.  642, as Marché d’esclaves; possibly Berlin 1868;17 Williamstown 1955, no. 53, pl. 38; Williamstown 1958b, pl. 24; Williamstown– Baltimore–Charlotte 2000–2001, p. 129, no. 4, ill.; Williamstown 2006, no cat.; Los Angeles–Paris–Madrid 2010–11, pp. 97, 272–73, no. 156, ill. (exhibited in Los Angeles and Paris only).