#the fact that media that's otherwise faithful to the text goes out of its way to rewrite Dio and only Dio consistently sends me

[highdio]

Pleeease, write your thoughts about the musical lol. I really like your Dio meta posts <3

Just a disclaimer: this is really opinionated but I don't like to drag media for its own sake. There were lots of things to like in the Phantom Blood musical, just ... Dio wasn't one of them. Also, Mamoru Miyano threw himself into the performance he was asked for, so it's hardly his fault. It's just always amazing to me that people feel the need to rewrite Dio into someone else when the way Araki's written him is already perfect, complete and a lot of fun.

So, where to start? Basically, the Phantom Blood musical re-writes Dio, giving him a different personality and different motivations through OOC stage direction along with a bunch of original dialog and scenes. What results is a version of Phantom Blood where "Dio" is just a normal guy without charisma who had a bad childhood and spends most of the story being miserable. Dio as he's written in canon has an uncommon charisma and appeal that's allowed him to remain relevant as one of those 'all-time great' villains. Scene after scene in the musical prove that its creative team either didn't read the manga or just really didn't like Dio.

fwiw Araki wrote Dio as thoroughly fleshed-out, with consistent traits and behaviors and consistent motivations behind his actions. He also left a paper trail of interviews and author's commentaries that develop Dio even more fully beyond the manga. So there's really no excuse for media that treat Dio as some sort of empty vessel waiting to be filled by narrative cliches we already know and expect.

It's annoying too, because, along with its OOC content, the musical is peppered with occasional manga-consistent moments. It's like the musical is camouflaging its Very Bad Take on Dio by having Mamoru Miyano periodically re-enact the canon character's most famous panels. The musical wants simultaneously to take credit for bringing Araki's vision to life on the stage, while at the same time completely undermining its most important element: a capital V "Villain" who, according to Araki, "accepts and embraces his evil nature, and follows his dark path without hesitation." This is the biggest change the musical makes to Dio: musical!Dio has none of the confidence that allows canon Dio him to move so decisively and destructively through the narrative.

Musical Dio is introduced by a scene where he's bullied on his way home, before breaking into a song about how terrible his life is, where "everything is always taken from [him]" ("it's hell …I feel nauseated …[I'm] under a cloudy sky.") The song is alternately tearful and hopeful. "I'm going crazy from being robbed!" he laments and then pollyannaishly muses, "hey, Joestar, can you turn my [cloudy] skies to blue?"

If Dio being introduced as a sad sap and self-described perennial loser hoping for any break sounds attitudinally unfamiliar that's because it is. Araki went in the opposite direction: he started his story by subverting the cliche - wide-eyed poor boy victimized by circumstance leaves his sorrow-filled life hoping for a new start - and instead gave us a kid with surprising, even sinister agency. Dio is not just given a hero's upward narrative arc (something Araki crafted very deliberately), he's introduced improbably in his first scene from a position of control. This fact is important because in the manga it's a position he won't lose until four chapters and nearly 100 pages in, when Jonathan finally fights back. From the time young Dio is introduced - reading a book with his back turned to his bed-ridden father who he's secretly poisoning -

- to the time he's systematically broken down his adoptive brother's spirit by alienating him from his friends, taking Erina's first kiss, and of course kicking his dog, Dio is shown as being in control and on top (Erina drinking the muddy water is the only exception). It's OOC to imagine 12-year old Dio feeling sorry for himself because at the time he's introduced, he's already made a habit of getting what he wants. By the time he sets off for the Joestars after killing his first dad, he's already developed full confidence in his abilities and the inevitability of his rise to riches (something Araki has him explicitly state and then underscores with a panel illustration of a steam train signaling the rise of Modernity).

But the writers and director of the musical don't find this characterization interesting enough or something. So they lose the canon entirely and in its place they invent a version of Dio who's despondent. And they didn't get Araki's steam train memo so they miss the Modernity theme (even though Araki's tied Dio so tightly conceptually to the idea of the Modern that he has him "use a 20th century boxing technique in the 19th century"); instead they double down on class difference being determinative. It never occurs to them that Dio is written specifically by Araki with the freedom to move outside of his social status because he sees it as artificial (the "evil elite" monologue later reveals Dio thinks of the whole social contract thing is arbitrary and voluntary).

Throughout the musical, Dio (although it's not fair to Mamoru Miyano since he isn't responsible for writing this mess, let's use mamoDio from now on because it's easier) seems to idolize the Joestars for what he calls their "beautiful blood." Not "beautiful" because usable calories for the vampire he will become but "beautiful" because noble. The Joestars' noble status and the honor that's apparently behind that status become the shining "star" toward which mud-bound mamoDio flailingly, failingly reaches. I don't need to tell you that in canon Dio doesn't have respect for nobility.

"Mud and stars" is heavy-handedly introduced as a dominant theme of the musical. According to the play, Jonathan, noble and bright, looks to the stars while human Dio, pathetic, conflicted and even confused, can only see life as a mud-soaked prison.

Now, the mud and stars thing was only used in Part 1 as a single text element on a Volume 1 illustration but, in spite of its marginality, it's becomes a liturgical text for some fans looking for an explanation for Dio's actions beyond what Araki gives them in the actual narrative. To this sort of fan, a guy who embraces his inner talent for evil and never had the misfortune of developing a moral compass isn't the right type of villain because he's unapologetic. If the villain doesn't have excuses how can you apologize for him? So they need Dio and by extension Araki to give them a "good enough" reason to accept Dio's ever-escalating atrocities. If the reasons Dio has for doing the things he does lie outside of what's considered good or acceptable, they are simply rejected and new reasons are invented in the hope of making Dio much less objectionable.

Now, like I said earlier, Araki's repeatedly told us in his writings that Dio has an upward narrative trajectory, not a downward, "mud"-bound one. The mud and stars duality fails to describe the narrative journey of the two main characters: both look upward to transcend their circumstances and travel along a shonen manga hero's rising path. (In fact, it's Jonathan who needs a good push to realize his potential, something Dio happily provides). And it's Jonathan, not Dio, who Araki first gives a downward arc, being handed defeat after defeat for those first four chapters before gaining his footing and progressively rising to Dio's challenges. "Mud and stars" isn't just a bad choice of metaphor, it's a misleading one.

Back to the musical, mamoDio is the exact opposite. An air of sadness and insecurity haunts his performance. An original scene where George presents the mud and stars dilemma as a lesson highlights Dio's lack of confidence and the depression that lurks behind it, as Dio bemoans how people doomed to "struggle and die" cannot possibly summon the hope it takes to look up to the stars (he's talking of course about himself).

Likewise, and here's where mamoDio's failure as a character really comes into full relief, seven years after this, when Dio's machinations are revealed and he's about to be arrested, before he uses the stone mask, mamoDio drops to the floor and spends the better part of a musical number in tears, bemoaning his sorry life ("I'm trapped in a prison covered in mud… no matter how hard I struggle I'm crushed…") and his lack of noble blood.

(btw this is after the manga scene where Dio fake cries; here, mamoDio is genuinely distraught).

Contrast this to the actual scene in the manga. His expressions in these panels are memorable because of how assured Araki draws him. Dio's entire world - his poisoning scheme, his grab at what one can assume would have been the entirety of the Joestar estate - is about to end but instead of despairing, he launches into a philosophical soliloquy. His body language is haughty: this isn't mamoDio crawling on the ground and decrying his upbringing and lack of noble blood, instead this is a man who apparently, almost irrationally, perceives himself as noble. When he uses the mask, Dio is smiling widely. Metaphorically speaking, he's looking at the stars.

When mamoDio uses the mask? He's on his knees. He's in tears. On one night he interjects, "Mother…" In short, he's conflicted.

One of these depicts Dio. The other does not.

Now obviously the writers and director of the musical must think making these seismic changes adds something to Dio's character. But (and I feel like this is a theme whenever I write these things) I'd argue it only makes him more basic. It makes him predictable and formulaic, someone we've seen in countless other stories.

(Oh! and did I mention mamoDio repeatedly calls himself "useless"!! Because he does this.)

Now, because mamoDio has no confidence and as a human acts out of desperation, when he becomes a vampire he still isn't Dio. Mamoru tries to make his vampire Dio evil and scary by expending a lot of energy, running about the stage and sticking out his tongue ad nauseum. When you look at how Araki has Dio move physically throughout the manga, it's the opposite of kinetic. Dio is a point of fixity who's charisma draws others toward him (ask me for more on this if you want because there's enough here for its own post).

Now for the worst of the worst: at the very end of the production, after the manga ending that features Jonathan's death and Dio's (presumed) defeat as a head imprisoned in Jonathan's arms, the musical takes an original twist in which, following a finale number featuring most of the cast, mamoDio is lead offstage by Jonathan. You read that right. mamoDio is hunched over, resigned, and Jonathan seems to take on a paternal role. Although the lyrics would have you believe this has something to do with "two fates becoming one," it's clear from the stage direction that any embers of Dio's ambition are being tamed and extinguished as Jonathan takes Dio's grasping hand, subdues him, and leads him docilely into the darkness.

It turns out Dio's vampire arc was just a phase, a hurt and lonely child lashing out and making a mess for attention.

His body language here is obscenely out of character. Consider the following because, as I said in the opening, in spite of what all these re-writes of Dio would have you believe, Araki crafted Dio with specificity and consistency: Araki only draws Dio (with very few exceptions) 1) standing tall, looking down at you; 2) back turned, looking back and down at you; or simply 3) back turned, (performatively?) ignoring you. Dio is never on the ground except when he's knocked down (think, young Jonathan finally fighting back in the Joestar home or, much later, Jotaro stopping time and landing those punches). By constrast, mamoDio has spent an incessant amount of time of the ground, crouching, kneeling,, bowing, hunched down. Who is this guy? So his hunched-down exit in the final moments of the production, literally being led by Jonathan (controlled??), is so amazingly stupid that if I didn't have a gif as proof, you might think I'm just making this stuff up:

There's plenty more to unpack that I won't address here: ghost Dario. The lack of grave-spitting. The complete absence of true joy or leisure expressed by Dio especially during his vampire era: no woman eating her baby, no owlcats, no Poco's sister. No chaise lounge. No roses(!). No fun. Not for Dio. That would be too manga-consistent. That might mean Araki wasn't giving us the appropriate message that bad guys are actually just sad guys.

tl;dr Dio isn't in the Phantom Blood musical. He's replaced by a normal guy who's motivated by a lack of self-esteem and despair that he wasn't born into an upper-class household, or something. He's boring. The result? There can be no Part 3 in this musical's world (and presumably no Parts 4, 5 or 6, no Giorno, no Jolyne, … you get the picture) because mamoDio just gives up. It's a nicely produced little tale about Jonathan Joestar and some random other guy who at some point gets a funny green coat.

[themagnuswriters]

Writing a Muslim Character

The Mods of the Magnus Writers discord server and community are putting together a variety of resources for Magnus Archives fan creators; these have been collated from articles on the topics, our own experiences, and the experiences of the members of the Magnus Writers discord. These are definitely not comprehensive or the only viewpoints out there, and are by no means meant as a way to police fanworks, but as a way to support and inspire fan creators in creating thoughtful and diverse works. Please note that external links will be added in a reblog to outsmart tumblr’s terrible tagging system, so make sure to check those out as well!

This resource in particular was put together by Mod Jasmine: hi, all! 

While there are no canonically Muslim characters in TMA, Muslim headcanons are common in fanworks—particularly for Basira, and sometimes Jon (which I love to see!). I have cobbled together this post from my own experiences to help support and inform fans in these areas, and as part of my diabolical plan to get more Muslim!Basira and Muslim!Jon fics to shove into my brain.

First, two gigantic caveats:

I was raised Sunni Muslim in Egypt, which is a majority Sunni Muslim country, and still live there. This means my experience will be very different from someone raised in a majority Christian country like the UK, and different again if they are not Sunni and not Arab.

I am currently ex-Muslim. This does not mean I bear any ill will towards Islam or Muslims, just that it wasn’t for me, and I felt it was important to be upfront about that. I’ll be linking to resources by practicing Muslims in the reblog to this post, whether to add to my opinions and experiences or provide you with a different opinion. I am not here to put my voice over that of Muslims, just to do some of the work so they don’t have to. Obviously, if any Muslims have any additions or suggestions for this post, I’m happy to accommodate them.

Alright. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get started with the basics of writing a Muslim character.

(Warning: this is absurdly, absurdly long)

Basics:

Muslims follow two main sources of religious instruction: Quran and Hadith. 

The Quran is the holy book, considered to be dictated by the angel Gabriel to the Prophet Mohammed, who then relayed what he was told to his followers. It is composed of surahs, or chapters, which have individual ayat, or verses. There are no varying versions of the Quran, later additions, or anything considered lost in translation. Any Arabic Quran is considered to be the same text that the Prophet Mohammed relayed, unchanged. As a result, while Muslims can debate interpretations of the Quran (although that’s often still left to the scholars), none debate the actual words of the text.

Hadith, meanwhile, are the sayings or teachings of the Prophet Mohammed. Their validity can be disputed, as they were written by his followers after his death, and mainly depend on having several witnesses for a specific saying or situation. The more witnesses there were, the more valid the hadith is considered to be.

When in doubt or should there be any contradiction between the Quran and Hadith, Muslims will always refer to the Quran first and foremost.

Denominations:

The bigggest (but not only!) divisions of Islam are Sunni and Shia, and both of those have separate madhabs, which are the separate thoughts and stances of specific Imams. When writing a Muslim character, a good first step would be to decide where your character’s family might have come from, as that could help inform which denomination your character might belong to. This will in turn inform things like the beliefs they grew up with, how they pray, their holy holidays, and so on. Obviously, all denominations fall under the bigger umbrella of Muslim, but can vary in practice.

Background:

The intersection of culture and religion affects a character beyond which denomination they likely belong to, such as whether they call prayer salah or namaz, the foods they might associate with Ramadan or Eid, and their community’s stance on things like hijab and alcohol.

One thing to keep in mind is that being Muslim is not synonymous with being Arab and vice versa. Not all Arabs are Muslim, not all Muslims are Arab or even Middle Eastern. In fact, the largest Muslim country in the world is Indonesia. That said, depending on your character’s race and backround, there is the potential they may have faced Arab elitism or other strands of racism within Muslim circles. Please see the reblog of this post for an article about  one Black British Muslim woman’s experience with racism.

And, of course, your character and their family do not need to have been immigrants at all. They or their family may have been converts instead. According to most Muslim schools of thought, all that’s required for a person to be Muslim is stating the shahada in Arabic, honestly and with intent. It goes, “Ashhadu an la ilah illa Allah, wa an Mohammadan rasul Allah,” which translates as “I bear witness that there is no god but God, and that Mohammed is His prophet.” Shia Muslims, I believe, have an additional section, but otherwise that’s it. Recite that in front of witnesses with sincere belief and that’s all you need to be Muslim.

Pillars of Islam:

These are the duties or cornerstones of a Muslim’s faith and considered to be acts every Muslim should strive for. What the pillars are can, I think, differ between denominations, with Shia Muslims having additional ancillaries as well (any Shia readers, please feel free to correct me!) but both denominations agree that the following are important:

Salah—prayer

Sawm—fasting during Ramadan

Zakat—giving a certain percentage of income to charity or the community

Hajj—pilgrimage to Mecca

In all cases, these are considered mandatory only for those who are able. A person who cannot perform hajj, whether due to not being physically able to or lacking the funds to travel, is under no obligation.

Prayer:

Prayer is performed five times a day while facing the Qibla, which is the direction of Mecca. Prayer is formed of units, called rak’at, which consists of a set of actions done in a specific order. The “How to Pray Salah, Step by Step” article linked in the reblog of this post provides fairly good prayer instructions for beginners, so check it out for details!  These include bowing, prostrating, and reciting some surahs. 

Each of the five daily prayers has a different number of rak’at, as well as its own name and allotted time of day, as follows:

Fajr, which means Dawn and can be performed at any point until the sun rises (two rak’at). 

Dhuhr, which means Noon (four rak’at)

Asr, performed in the afternoon (four rak’at)

Maghreb, which means sunset and can be performed at any point until it’s dark (three rak’at)

Isha, performed at night and can be done at any point until dawn (four rak’at)

The specific time of prayer will differ day to day and place to place, according to the sun, but those are the rough timeframes for each. It’s generally preferred that a Muslim does their prayer on time, but in practice some Muslims find it difficult to wake up for Fajr, for instance, and just try to make sure they get a morning prayer in before noon.

On Friday, there is a congregational Friday prayer at Dhuhr in a mosque called the Jumu’a prayer (which, fun fact, literally means gathering and is also the Arabic name for Friday!). Only men are required to take part in the congregation, however.  

In Muslim majority countries, the time for prayer is announced by the adhaan, the call to prayer, from mosques and in media. This won’t be the case in the UK, and the character will likely have to rely on an adhaan app or looking up what time prayer should be. 

There are various requirements for a prayer to be correct, chief of which is facing the Qibla and purity. Before performing prayer, a Muslim must purify themself by performing wudu, or ablutions, which basically involves washing the hands, arms, nostrils, face, head, and feet a specific number of times using clean water. The way I was taught these must be performed in a certain order, and the person shouldn’t speak during or after until their prayer is finished. This may be different for others.

Wudu is considered valid until nullified by bodily functions such as urinating, defecating, vomiting, flatulence, or any sexual activity. For Sunni Muslims, it’s also invalidated by going to sleep. If none of these have happened, a Muslim can perform more than one prayer using the same wudu.

Notably, a Muslim cannot pray if they’re on their period, as they’re considered in a state of impurity. 

Another important requirement is that a Muslim be dressed modestly for prayer. The general guideline is that Muslim men should cover the area between their navel and knees with loose, non-revealing clothing, and that during prayer it’s preferred that they cover their chests as well  Muslim women should cover everything except their face, hands, and feet. This means that a woman who isn’t hijabi would still wrap a hijab for prayer. For nonbinary Muslims, I don’t think there are specific guidelines yet, although please feel free to correct me. 

If praying at home, a family may choose to pray together. In this case, the male head of the household usually stands at the front and acts as Imam, leading the prayer. Other men will tend to be in front of or beside women, as generally women should not pray in front of a man. This is the case even, especially, if he is not praying.

Children aren’t required to pray, as they’re considered innocent and have no obligations, but may want to take part early on or may be encouraged to practice.

Praying is one area you’ll find denominational differences. For example, while Sunnis fold their arms in prayer, Shia keep their arms to their side, and while Shia Muslims make sure their foreheads touch a piece of clay or earth when they prostrate, Sunnis do not. If you write your character praying, keep these details in mind.

Fasting:

During the holy month of Ramadan, Muslims fast from Fajr (dawn) until Maghreb (sunset) every day. This means they abstain from consuming anything—yes, even water, cigarettes, and medicine. They should also abstain from sexual activities and cursing. Most importantly, they must have the intention to be fasting. This means that not eating and drinking because they were asleep for that entire period of time or just lost track and forgot does not count as fasting.

Generally, the idea is more to try to be more pious and avoid sin throughout the month. It’s thought that the shaytan (or devil) is chained up during Ramadan, so any temptation or sinning is a person’s own doing. The way I was raised, I was taught that sawm/fasting is invalidated by sexual thoughts  and raising your voice as well. Many people also try to dress more modestly during Ramadan, with some women opting for looser clothing or a headscarf. Many Muslims will try to read the whole Quran during Ramadan. 

After Maghreb, Muslims break their fast with Iftar (which means breakfast, hah) and have a late night meal called Suhour. Since the Muslim calendar is a lunar calendar, Ramadan is 11 days earlier every year. Depending on when Ramadan falls in the year, there can be barely any time between iftar and suhour in certain parts of the world, as the sun is up for so much of the day. 

Given the length of time and difficulty involved, there are exceptions and allowances for fasting. A person is not required to fast if they are:

A child (up to puberty)

Ill or has a medical condition such as diabetes

Pregnant

Travelling

On their period

In fact, if they are on their period it will not be counted, even if they do fast. That said, sometimes people choose to fast while travelling anyway, as travel is less strenuous now than it used to be. If they’re crossing time zones they will have to consider which time zone they’re breaking their fast to. As far as I remember, it’s based on the time zone of the place they just left or started their fast in. 

If an obstacle to fasting is temporary, such as their period, they’re expected to make those days up with additional fasting before next Ramadan. Otherwise, they are allowed to make up for the lost fast in another way, such as by donating money or feeding fasting people. Whether due to societal pressure (which is formidable in Muslim-majority countries) or out of consideration for others who are fasting, those who are not fasting for whatever reason may often choose to hide this and only eat in secret.

If a person forgets they were fasting or accidentally consumes something, it does not invalidate the fast , and as soon as they remember or realise the mistake they can have the intention to fast again and continue with their day. 

While children are exempt, many families will start them off by fasting for half a day so they can build up to a full day when they hit puberty.

Ramadan traditions vary wildly from country to country and culture to culture, but generally it’s a time for family gathering and celebration. Often there are special Ramadan-specific food, drink, and decorations, and it ends with Eid ul-Fitr which has its own specific foods and celebrations. Basically, imagine if Christmas lasted a month. That’s how big a deal Ramadan is. 

In my experience, the first few days are usually the hardest. Water is what I tended to miss the most, even if I managed to stay up long enough or set an alarm to wake up to drink just before fajr, followed closely by swearing. Anyone who drinks caffeine or smokes cigarettes will likely find abstaining from those more difficult than water. By the end of the month, though, it gets much easier and I often got to the point where I barely noticed. I will say, however, that the longest I’ve had to fast has been maybe 16 hours. A summer Ramadan in the UK would be more difficult due to the much later sunsets.

Halal and Haram:

Halal means “permissible,” while haram means “forbidden.”  You might have heard these words in passing before, such as halal food, but they are used for many areas of life.  

Things that are considered haram include:

Consuming, serving, or trading in intoxicants, such as alcohol

Consuming improperly slaughtered meat or meat from forbidden animals, such as pork

Extramarital sex

Tattoos

Gambling

Men wearing silk or gold

A Muslim woman marrying a non-Muslim man (although it’s fine for a Muslim man to marry a non-Muslim woman)

Being immodest

Modesty is expected of all genders, including men. If you’ll recall from the section on prayer, the general guideline for male modesty is that they should cover the area between their navel and knees with loose, non-revealing clothing. Note that for women, modesty does not necessarily involve wearing a hijab.  There is actually a ton of controversy as to whether the hijab is a fard (requirement) or not, as described in the following section.

The Hijab:

To be hijabi takes more than just throwing on a headscarf. As a word, hijab means “barrier” or “veil,” and a hijabi person would be expected to cover everything except their face and the palms of their hands, and to ensure that their clothes are loose and non-revealing.  It all comes from an interpretation of two verses in the Quran that many scholars nowadays agree to mean the hijab is required, and that some say actually call for a face covering as well, which is called a niqab. 

This wasn’t always the case, however, and these days there is still the occasional controversial scholar (I remember a few kerfuffles coming out of Egypt’s Al-Azhar mosque recently) saying it isn’t and has never been required at all. At least in the Arab world, this is largely due to the wave of Wahhabism (which is a specifically fundamentalist interpretation of Islam) that’s taken over the region in the past half a century. Before that, the idea of a hijab being a religious requirement was less widespread.

I’m not here to argue who’s right or wrong, just to make you aware that the hijab as we know it today hasn’t always been considered a requirement for a Muslim woman. Most of the women of my family never wore any form of head covering, but more and more they are an exception rather than the norm.

The choice of whether to wear a hijab can mean very different things, depending on the surrounding culture. For instance, my grandmother, the strictest woman I have ever known, got married in a very cute sleeveless dress that went just under the knees, and when she grew older she wore a head-covering more as a cultural indication of age rather than any religious reason. In my generation, in a country with a Muslim majority, lack of visible signs of devoutness have become almost a class marker, with some upper-class women using their lack of head-covering as a sign that they are “more Westernized” or “modern.” And again, I want to emphasize that this is the case for my country only. 

This will be completely different for Muslim minorities, where the hijab can become a symbol of pride and unity.

I will say that it’s very rare for women to be forced into getting veiled, whether in Muslim minority or majority countries. I’m not saying it never happens, just that it’s not the “oppressive tool of the patriarchy” outsiders sometimes think it is. Women may face some societal pressure, but by and large it is considered a choice and often an empowering one. In fact, I have friends whose families discouraged them from wearing a hijab too young and emphasized only taking the decision when they were sure they wanted to. If writing a Muslim character when you’re non-Muslim, I strongly suggest not trying to tackle the story of someone forced into a hijab, as there’s a lot of nuance there and it’s very easy to fall into harmful stereotypes. The hijabi woman who gets “liberated” and takes off her hijab is also overdone and harmful. Please don’t.

Everyday Life:

Muslims are not a monolithic entity, and some will be more devout or religious than others. There are those who will pray their five a day and others who only pray during Ramadan or Eid, some who don’t drink and some who do, hijabis who dress only in loose clothing and those who wear tight trousers or show some of their hair, some who have tattoos, and some who may date or even have sex before marriage. However, this isn’t a carte-blanche not to do research when writing a Muslim character, because even if they break a rule of Islam, they will be conscious of it, may be concerned about their community’s response to it, and in any case will be affected by it.

For instance, I know many Muslims who drink alcohol. Some interpret the text differently, saying that since the sin is getting drunk then they won’t drink enough to get drunk, just buzzed. Some only do it on special occasions or on vacation, saying they know it’s a sin but it’s fine on occasion and they’ll repent later. All of them would probably dive under a table if they thought their family was nearby.

For more opinions on Muslims and dealing with alcohol, take a look at the “Islam and Alcohol” article linked in the reblog of this post.

Here are things that a character who is a practicing Muslim might do or be concerned about in their day to day life:

Checking ingredients to make sure they’re all halal. This goes for things like food, drink, medicine, anything consumable. Things like gelatine capsules are only halal if the source of the gelatine is itself halal, for instance.

Keeping up with their prayers. With five prayers a day, some will inevitably happen while they’re out of the house. Some Muslims prefer to just group their prayers when they get home, but since it’s preferable to do prayers on time, others may try to pray while out and about This means considering the following:

Finding a bathroom for wudu. Part of wudu involves washing feet and the head, which isn’t feasible in a public location or if the person is hijabi and doesn’t want to unwrap and rewrap their hijab. In that case, they can generally wipe a wet hand over their socks and top of their head covering. 

They may carry a prayer carpet or have one stashed in a convenient location, but it’s not a must.

Finding a clean and secluded place to pray. Generally, it’s not done to pray in a place where someone will pass in front of you, and a woman must also take care to pray away from men’s eyes. 

Figuring out where the Qibla is. Luckily, there are apps for that.

If a woman is not hijabi, she would have to carry a veil and, depending on her clothes, something to cover up so she can pray.

If they’re hijabi, they’ll probably have to adjust or re-wrap their hijab throughout the day, depending on the material and their activities. This would typically happen in bathrooms or any other space that doesn’t include men, as they can’t reveal themselves to any men who aren’t of their immediate family. For more on the hijab, and the day to day realities of wearing and wrapping one, take a look at the links provided in the reblog of this post.  

A Muslim woman may choose not to accept handshakes from men who aren’t family.  She has probably considered how to deal with that potential awkwardness.

If they’re fasting, they might carry some dates or biscuits or something in case they need to break their fast while on the go.

If making plans, they might say, “Insha’allah” which means “God willing.” I was always admonished to do so to acknowledge the future is entirely within God’s hands.

If asked how they are, they might reply with “Alhamdullilah” which means “Thanks be to God.”

When starting to eat, they may say, “Bismillah,” which means “In the name of God” and when done eating may say “Alhamdullilah.” These can also be invoked silently.

As you might have noticed, Allah’s name is invoked pretty often. While it’s not preferable to swear using God’s name just to make a point (“Wallahi”), there’s nothing against it, really.

Fundamentally, an important thing to remember is that Islam is a religion of ease and not hardship. This is an actual Quranic quote. What this means is, it may seem like there are a lot of rules to keep in mind, but there are also a ton of allowances for when those rules aren’t feasible, just like the case for fasting above. Other allowances include how an elderly or disabled person who may not be able to perform the motions of prayer can pray while sitting in a chair or even lying in bed. If there isn’t any clean water to purify before prayer or if using the water would mean lack of drinking water, a Muslim can use dust or sand to purify, and if no dust or sand is available then they don’t need to purify at all and can simply pray. 

This means that, say, if your Muslim Jon wants to pray while kidnapped by the circus, he can, even without being able to perform wudu, even without knowing where the Qibla is, even without being able to move or say anything at all.

For more day-to-day tidbits, check out the “More on writing Muslim characters” link in the reblog of this post. 

LGBTQ Muslims:

Needless to say, Queer Muslims absolutely do exist, and their being Muslim doesn’t cancel out their queerness or vice versa. While there are Quranic verses that have been interpreted as condemning homosexuality, there are also other interpretations, and queerness has existed in Muslim societies for ages. There was a ton of homoerotic imagery among Abbasid poets during the Golden Age of Islam, for example. 

However, modern-day attitudes can be difficult to get around, and queer Muslims may have difficulty finding their place in both Muslim spaces and queer spaces, the latter which often expect them to reject religiosity.

Although I am queer myself, I don’t feel it’s my place to speak for queer Muslims and their relationships with their communities beyond this, so I’ll let some queer practicing Muslims speak for themselves.  Please see the reblog of this post for valuable contributions from queer Muslims about their experiences.  

Miscellaneous:

This is mostly for all the random tidbits I thought up while writing this that didn’t fit anywhere else and also because I don’t know when to quit apparently, SO!

Allah is just Arabic for God. Muslims can and do use these terms interchangeably, such as saying “God willing,” instead of “Inshallah,” even in an Arabic-speaking country. 

Also, God has 99 names! Just a fun fact for you there. 

The Devil in Islam is pretty different from his Christian counterpart. Referred to as Iblis or Shaytan, among other names, he is not a fallen angel and there is no great revolt story, nor is he considered a root of all evil. Instead, he is a djinn made of smokeless flame who refused to bow down to Adam, as he felt he was made of superior stuff and not about to bow to a creature made of mud. His disdain for humanity is what has caused him and other shayateen/demons to try and tempt humans.

A person’s right hand is considered purer than their left, so it’s encouraged to always eat with your right hand. Unfortunately, this does mean left-handed people face something of a stigma—or at least that’s the case here in Egypt. My cousins, both lefties, both eat with their right hand, though they  do everything else with their left.

Similarly, it is considered better to enter spaces with your right foot, though only the most devout are likely to think of this all the time. This is especially considered for entering a mosque or new home.

A Muslim might say or write “Peace be Upon Him” whenever the Prophet Mohammed is mentioned, written as (PBUH), and “Subhanuh wa Taala” when mentioning Allah, written as (SWT).

The Evil Eye is mentioned in the Quran as “hasad,” and considered to be a very real thing. This jealous or envious energy is considered able to ruin good things in your life, even if the jealous person didn’t intend to. There are some surahs that are considered good to ward against it, as well as incense, the colour blue, the number five, and the symbols of the nazar (which is a round, blue-ringed eye) and the khamsa (an open five-fingered palm, also known as the Hand of Fatima). The nazar, khamsa, and belief in the evil eye aren’t unique to Islam at all. What is unique to Islam is that a Muslim might preface a compliment with “Masha’allah” which means “As God wills it,” to ward off their own evil eye. 

Much of the Quran in Arabic rhymes and is very poetic, which can make surahs easy to memorise by rhythm. It can also make recitations by a skilled reader very lovely.

[yoon-kooks]

Witch Hazel- Pt.5

Pairing: Jungkook x Reader

Genre: FanficWriter!Jungkook, Idol!Reader, College!AU, Angst, Fluff

Summary: There are two students in your art class with a secret: you and the quiet Jeon Jungkook. You’re a problematic idol singer, infamous for your ice cold reputation and perpetual resting bitch face; he’s the artist and author behind the viral comic series based on a certain ice queen idol. After a blowup of destructive rumors, lost motivation and inevitable solitude, you stumble upon Jungkook’s comic and find a new and unexpected light.

Word Count: 3.7k

Warnings: none

Parts: 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // ?

-

“So are you in, Jimin?”

“I’m in,” he chuckles at your little proposal. His laugh retains its charm, even through the phone. You’d be lying if you said you weren’t a little jealous of that charming quality of his. “But can I ask you something, Snow?”

“Go for it.”

“Why me?”

“To prove a point,” you say. “You also have something to prove, right? Otherwise you wouldn’t have shown up at my concert that night despite being well aware of how the public and media would react.”

“Right… Sorry about that, by the way.” You hear the sorrow still beating him up in his lowered voice. It makes sense that he feels the need to blame himself for all the backlash you received, but he shouldn’t have to feel guilty when all he wanted was a little freedom as a normal human being and not as the perfect idol the world makes him out to be.

“It’s fine, Jimin. We may be glorified idols at the top of the industry, but there are a lot of things we have no control over.”

“True… Sometimes it seems like the only way to escape the judgment of the public eye is to hide behind a mask, huh.” Jimin sighs. “But we can’t always live like that either.”

“Exactly.”

After hanging up, you toss your phone aside and pick up your guitar.

-

On your way to class, you’ve made a habit of checking jk.seagull’s blog for any updates on Witch Hazel, and you’re delighted when you find this new text post:

“it’s not done yet, but I’m planning on posting a new chapter this afternoon after class!”

To celebrate the occasion, you stop by your local coffee shop to pick up a special mocha with extra whipped cream. You’re already late for class after failing to hear your five alarms this morning anyway. And besides, maybe you deserve a little pick-me-up after all the writing you’d done the night before. For once, you feel pretty good about the direction you’re headed in.

Not even a scolding by your professor could ruin your mood.

“Oh, Y/N. How nice of you to join us,” your professor motions for you to take your seat as soon as you step foot into the art room. “I was just talking about how certain students have not been taking this class seriously as of late.”

She glances directly at you, along with your tablemates, Taehyung and Jungkook. “Sorry,” you mouth with a lack of sincerity, before taking a long sip of your mocha.

“And because of that,” the professor continues, “I’ve decided to move up the due date of our portrait project to tomorrow.”

A collective groan fills the room from the entire class, with the exception of those few lucky bastards who’ve already completed their project early. Once the class is dismissed, the scramble to actually get shit done begins. Even Taehyung opts to stick around as opposed to his usual obligations, and that speaks volumes.

As soon as your team relocates to one of the empty art studios nearby, however, it’s apparent that no one is really vibing with this project.

“So… what’s the assignment again?” Taehyung scratches his head. As much as you’d love to scold the boy for his lack of awareness of anything happening in art class, you haven’t been in the proper mindset to give the project any thought either.

“Something about drawing ourselves based on how others perceive us?” Jungkook yawns. “Or was it drawing each other’s portrait?”

“The first one, I think,” you say. “It doesn’t really make a difference when Jungkook’s gonna end up drawing Taehyung’s portion anyway.”

“True,” the boys say together. If there’s one thing you’ve learned from your art class shenanigans, it’s that the more you get to know someone, the easier it is to understand them and their actions—even if they’re completely different from you like Taehyung.

“If that’s the case, let’s hurry up and let each other know how we perceive one another. I have a doubleheader later on that I’d really hate to miss,” Taehyung nods in satisfaction at his clever wording for what you presume to be back-to-back one night stands. “I’ll start: Y/N, there’s not much I know about you besides the fact that you’re unfriendly, but I think that’s intentional. Like you’re hiding a dark secret or something. Jungkook, if you weren’t so shy, I’m sure you’d get laid more often.”

“Let’s not sugarcoat anything,” you roll your eyes. “I would say you, Taehyung, abuse your charm to get what you want. You use sleeping around as an excuse to avoid responsibility. And you embrace it because you fear that that’s the only thing people will ever acknowledge you for.”

“I’m not usually a masochist, but I kind of like it when you roast me like that, Y/N,” Taehyung shrugs it off, though you know you’ve hit the mark. Everyone has a poker face, and Kim Taehyung is no exception. To take the attention off of himself, he throws an arm around his favorite art buddy. “Roast this guy next.”

You glance over at Jungkook who’s in the midst of adding to your roast on Taehyung. It’s interesting to see how differently he acts with Taehyung, with you, and with everyone else. The more he knows someone, the less he withholds. If he knew you more, you wonder what he’d tell you. “I agree that if Jungkook weren’t so shy, there’d be more potential for a lot of things, but-”

Buzz! Taehyung looks down at his phone. “Well, that’s my cue. Jungkook, Y/N, you know what to do~”

“Have fun at your doubleheader,” you wave off your incompetent teammate until he’s out of sight. “Should we be enabling him like this?”

“Probably not. But even I can’t say no to that charm of his.” Jungkook sighs as he pulls out a blank sheet of bristol paper. In what feels like an instant, several dots and lines transform into a general outline of Taehyung’s face. “I’m surprised you haven’t fallen for his charm yet… unless…?”

“Look, I get the appeal of a smoothtalker who walks with confidence, but Taehyung really isn’t my type,” you laugh.

“Still, I’m a little envious of him.” Jungkook draws Taehyung a nice and natural wink. “Because he isn’t afraid to chase after what he wants.”

You want to tell the boy that he should chase after whatever it is he wants, but you know that’s easier said than done. After all, you know exactly how it feels to take that leap of faith, only to fall short before reaching the dream you so desired. So all you can do is nod and start working on your own portrait.

For about five whole minutes, you try to sketch out a decent upside-down egg shape for your head, but it always comes out a little lopsided or rough around the edges. Once you’ve got a little mountain of eraser shaving piling up, you decide it’s time to sneak a peek at Jungkook’s sketch to get an idea of how a well-seasoned artist draws a proper face.

What you see instead, however, is the boy staring back at your mountain of eraser shavings. You swear you hear a little pft come out of his mouth. The nerve.

“Hold your pencil like this,” he says, holding his own pencil with his pinky sticking out.

You replicate his grip, wiggling the pinky. “Is this some sort of weird pinky promise that artists do?”

Before Jungkook can even respond, your pinky is already linked to his. Funny how his finger curled around yours as if it were the most normal thing to do, but his burning cheeks say otherwise. You might’ve jumped the gun on this one.

After blinking at the empty pinky promise for a good three seconds, the boy finally lets go. “Use that pinky to steady your hand as you sketch.”

“Oh… right…” You feel a wildfire spreading across your own cheeks. Your dumbass somehow misinterpreted a drawing technique for something as childish as a pinky promise! Whether it’s because you’re flustered or just shitty at art, you fumble around to get your pencil on the paper. “…How do I do it again?”

Rather than trying to explain or demonstrate it to you, Jungkook motions for you to come closer. So you do. He takes your hand and individually sets each finger onto your pencil like a guitar teacher helping their student find the right chord position.

You’re pleasantly surprised by how gentle his touch is. Rather than forcing your fingers to conform to the conventional ways of an artist, he gives them the little push they need to find their own place along the length of the pencil—wherever is most comfortable for you.

Once you’ve got a good grip, Jungkook guides your pencil back to the canvas with your pinky just barely touching the drawing surface. “Now try drawing the outline of your face again.”

You do as you’re told and see immediate results. Although it’s not a perfect egg, your lines are noticeably smoother as if your skin had just been cleared. Jungkook gives you and your improved egg a thumbs-up, which you return with a thumbs-up of your own.

As you both resume your portraits, you can’t help but wonder if it was the tiny adjustment of how you held your pencil that made the difference. Or if it was Jeon Jungkook himself. You suppose only time will tell.

Several hours later, Jungkook has finished Taehyung’s portrait, you still need to color yours in, and an announcement goes off through the intercom.

“Due to the art auction charity event tonight, this building will be closing in ten minutes. Thank you.”

You groan. This is the worst case scenario for your damn group project. Because if you’re kicked out of the studio, you won’t have access to all of the necessary art supplies.

Unless…?

You exchange glances with the most devoted artist you know.

-

Jungkook’s apartment is not exactly how you imagined a weeby Snow stan’s habitat to look. There’s not a trace of Snow, nor is there a hint of magic anime girls floating around. But the one thing you did correctly predict is the amount of art scattered across the boy’s room.

Everywhere you look, you’re blown away by something different from the last. A painted city landscape detailed enough to be mistaken for an actual photo, a busy abstract pattern that makes the little wheels in your head spin, the familiar animation booklet of the flower in the snow, and an interesting little doodle that doesn't seem to scream “college art project”.

You try to make sense of what appears to be the chaos that ensues when the worlds of mathematics and music collide. Half of the basic times tables chart is replaced with values represented by music notes. The math nerd in you laughs when you see that a sixteenth note is correctly placed where two quarter notes align. Similarly, the music sheet on the other side of the doodle has a time signature of “75%” aka ¾ time aka the rhythm of a waltz.

“How old were you when you drew this one?” You point to the artwork titled Math Musician written in tiny font at the bottom corner next to the boy’s initials.

Jungkook chuckles, probably out of embarrassment. “I think I was ten.”

“Imagine being a talented artist at age ten. Can’t relate,” you clown yourself as you pull out your unfinished portrait from your art bag. In addition to looking “unfriendly”, your drawn face is rather lifeless and more so demonic for some reason. Hopefully some color will bring more dimension and life back into your flesh.

Just then, you realize you’ve made a fatal mistake.

“Umm, Jungkook?” you continue to stare down at your mistake. “I forgot to factor in your opinion of me into my portrait and now I just look unfriendly like Taehyung said.”

Jungkook tilts his head to get a better look at your monstrosity. His reaction could go one of three ways: he could laugh and give you a hard time about it, he could help you find a solution, or he could do both.

“You definitely nailed the ‘unfriendly’ part,” he snickers. “The RBF is strong with this one.”

“So you agree that I’m unfriendly?” On one hand, that would be good because you won’t have to revise your portrait if Jungkook shares the same opinion as Taehyung. On the other hand, you don’t want Jungkook to have that opinion of you.

“Not necessarily,” he says. “I think if people looked beyond your unfriendly demeanor, they’d find someone very different.”

Before you can ask the boy to elaborate, he has already left and come back with the solution to your problem: fancy coloring markers.

“Since you already drew your appearance based on Taehyung’s opinion, you can color it in based on my opinion, if that makes it easier.” Jungkook hands you an assortment of markers, though a large portion of them are just different shades of one color in particular. Yellow.

Yellow was the last color you were expecting. You expected cooler and darker tones like blues or greys to match your ice queen personality. But yellow? Yellow, to you, has always meant bright and happy.

“Yellow is a happy color, isn’t it?” You start swatching each shade of yellow to see how they translate onto a white canvas. Your favorite shade out of the bunch is the soft pale one called Banana Milk, but that still doesn’t mean it suits you. To prove your point, you hold up your unfriendly demon portrait to your actual face and pout. “Do either of these faces look happy to you, Jungkook?”

“No, but they do look silly.” The boy cracks a smile at your humor. “In a good way.” The way he smiles so brightly plants a dangerous little seed in your head. Maybe the yellow is meant to represent not how he perceives your feelings, but rather, how he perceives his own feelings for you.

-

By the time evening comes, you’ve shaded in every inch of your canvas, completing your portion of the portrait project. You were right—the bright colors really did help bring life back into your face, and there’s less of a demonic aura about it now.

It also looks like one big contradiction: an unfriendly-looking face with a cheerful brightness around it. But that’s probably what Jungkook was referring to when he said you were very different beneath your unfriendly mask.

As you stretch out your arms and yawn, you peek over at the boy’s progress with his portrait. He stares down at his markers scattered across the floor, pushing his long locks out of his eyes, in search of his next color. From the small portion that he has colored so far, you notice a big difference between his portrait and yours. While your color scheme is bright and flashy like a star, Jungkook’s is soft and subtle to mimic his shy and lowkey personality.

“Use this,” you toss him the Banana Milk marker and pull a scrunchie off your wrist, “and this too.”

Jungkook places the pale yellow marker down right on the area he’ll color next. He doesn’t, however, know what to do with the foreign hair accessory in his palm. He just blinks at it.

With a dramatic sigh, you join the boy on the floor and take back the scrunchie. Like a puppy with long bangs poking its eyes, he lets you comb your fingers through his hair before tying a tiny sprout on top of his head.

“So this is what the world looks like,” he nods, as if his long hair had greatly hindered his view of the world in front of him. At the same time, he spots the finished product of your portrait. “Your self-portrait is a lot different from how I would draw you.”

“I would’ve appreciated a compliment for my hard work, but go ahead and insult me, Jeon.” You square up.

“Oh sorry. You did a phenomenal job, Y/N.” He doesn’t even try to put effort into masking his sarcasm as pity praise. But that’s expected in how he hasn’t missed a single opportunity to tease you and your shitty art. “It’s just interesting how differently others interpret us from how we interpret ourselves.”

Now you’re curious. “How would you draw me then?”

“You want to see?” Jungkook pushes his own portrait aside and starts digging around for a sketchbook with a blank page to spare. What possesses him to prioritize a drawing of you before his own portrait that’s due in less than 24 hours? You won’t allow that.

“I want to see it after our project is finished, please,” you pull his unfinished portrait back in front of him before making yourself comfy on the boy’s bed. “In the meantime, I’ll be reading you-know-what.”

“Smut?” The boy has a dirty mind, it seems.

“Unless Witch Hazel plans on getting a little smutty, no, I will not be reading smut.” With a hmph, you scroll through jk.seagull’s blog. “I wonder if the new chapter is posted yet.”

Jungkook, too, picks up his phone with wide eyes when he hears you say “new chapter”. Your hype and excitement around the fanfic must be rubbing off on him.

But unfortunately for you, there is no new post since the one you saw before class. You make a sad booboo face, but it isn’t the end of the world either. You’ll just have to reread the series from the beginning as you wait for either Witch Hazel to be updated or Jungkook to finish the project. Whichever happens first.

“Wait, I think the seagull guy just posted something.”

You’ve never jumped onto your phone so quick when Jungkook mentions the seagull guy. It isn’t a new chapter of Witch Hazel, but instead another small text post.

“sorry for not updating witch hazel today like i said i would!! i was bombarded with an unexpected art assignment;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;”

Your sad booboo face disappears. It seems you’re not the only one struggling to find balance between the arts and the need to satisfy others. “Isn’t it funny that he’s an art student too?”

“Haha, yeah…” Jungkook’s voice fades as he returns to his portrait.

“Maybe that’s why I like his work so much,” you say, clicking back to the very first chapter of Witch Hazel where Snow is helping out those who she had unintentionally scared away with her witchcraft. “He just gets it.”

“He gets what?”

With the biggest yawn, you shrug because you don’t really know how to put it into words. It just feels as though you and him think alike. And the thought of that is comforting enough to put you to rest until Jungkook finishes up the project.

“Y/N.” You hear things shuffling around in your half-asleep state. When you rise from mysterious pile of blankets on top of you, you see Jungkook putting his art supplies away and clearing space on the floor for him to camp out since you’ve apparently claimed his bed.

“Did you finish?” You check the time in the dimly lit room, and you’re shocked to see it’s past midnight.

“Yeah.” He pulls your scrunchie out of his hair and drops it into your palm. “Thank you for your service.”

“Keep it.” You slide the hair tie onto the boy’s wrist when you notice he looks a little different somehow. The hoodie he was wearing earlier is replaced with a plain white tee, and his torn jeans have become grey sweatpants. The unspoken reality of you stay over at the boy’s apartment is slowly becoming realized. “In exchange, I’d like to see how you’d draw me.”

“Already done,” he says, jogging to his desk and back to you with a page from his sketchbook in hand. “I drew you as a superhero.”

“What kind of superhero?” You kick the blankets off of you and reach for the drawing, but of fucking course, Jungkook pulls it back real quick just when you were about to snatch it. “Let me see!”

He keeps it hidden behind his back for a while until he gets a little too cocky and dangles it above where you’re sitting on the bed. It would be too predictable for you to reach for the hand with drawing in it, so you decide to aim for the other arm to trap him in.

But rather than latching onto his arm, you catch only a piece of the scrunchie around his wrist, causing you both to lose balance. Your back hits the soft bedding as you stare up into the eyes of the boy who just so happened to land on top of you. Aha, you finally figure out why he looked a little different after you woke up. No glasses, just his handsome brown eyes.

You’d give yourself a pat on the back for figuring that out if you weren’t distracted by the drawing of you as a “superhero”. You were expecting something tough like the Avengers or Sailor Moon or even Izuku Midoriya. But instead you see someone who looks very much like yourself with a guitar and yellow flower crown.

“That’s not a superhero,” you say quietly.

“There are people who would feel otherwise.” Jungkook plops down next to you on his stomach.

“Like who?”

“Like people you share your music with.”

You bite your lip before rolling off the bed to run and get something. When you hop back onto the bed, you drop a pencil into Jungkook’s hand make him hold it with his pinky out like he had shown you earlier. You do the same with another pencil and link your pinky to his once more.

“Promise me you won’t tell anyone what I’m about to tell you.”

[gojira007]

In the name of the season- Top Five Horror Media (Books, Video Games, Film, etc)

Well well well a real Swinging-For-the-Fences Ask right outthe gate eh?  Alright let’s do this!  I’m going to cheat a littlethough; the broad scope of mediums makes it a little hard toreally boil it down so instead I’m going to pick a favorite from one of eachmedium to try and keep it SOMEWHAT manageable!  But otherwise?  Let’sdo this!

Book: “Frankenstein (Or The Modern Prometheus)” byMary Shelley

So back in College I actually wound up reading a bunch ofClassic Horror Fiction for the first time as part of a course about the waymonsters represent cultural anxieties of their era, like proto-Gothic “TheMonk” or “Dracula”...and found a lot of them pretty tedious or boring(seriously gaiz “Dracula” the book suuuuuuuuucks). But “Frankenstein”?  That one genuinely managed to impress the hellout of me!  It shows its age in some respects, sure, but far more often itis a shockingly Modern piece with impressively ambitious aims as it tacklesexistential themes like how one defines “Life” as technology advances andwe grow ever closer to being able to make it in ways almost completely removedfrom Nature...or perhaps even more importantly what our responsibility is tothe things we create along the way.  The central Drama between ProfessorVictor Von Frankenstein and his monstrous creation really does work, and theprose has a fantastically poetic quality to it that elevates the wholething.  This became one of the foundational texts of the genre for adamned good reason, in other words.

TV Series: “The Twilight Zone” createdby Rod Serling

It’s honestly funny to consider how few explicitlyhorror-themed TV shows there really are in the medium’s history; even my pickfor the best of the bunch is just as often a science-fiction parable asanything else.  But Horror of all sorts, be it physical, mental, orexistential, did ultimately wind up being “The Twilight Zone”’s mosticonic stock in trade, so to my mind it qualifies.  And naturally, likeany Anthology series, there are definitely better and worse stories toldthroughout the full scope of the series.  But even at its absoluteworst “The Twilight Zone” is always striving to do thething Horror does best: make us think by confronting us with the things we mostfear.  The life we didn’t get to lead, the threat we don’t know orunderstand, the people we don’t trust...in many ways it’s really all so muchmodernization of the Morality Fables of old, but for that exact reason I findthe show remarkably effective in demonstrating that many of those morals do infact remain relevant regardless of when we learn or re-experience them; thelessons “The Twilight Zone” taught were old-hat by the time it aired yetthey still resonated then.  And they’re even older-hat now...but perhapsthe greatest most frightening thing about the show is realizing how very muchthey still mean something to our modern world.

Video Game: Bottom of the Well from “TheLegend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time”

I realize selecting a single level from a Video Game ratherthan a Video Game as a whole may seem a bit unsporting but I can’t lie: I neverreally experienced most of the Horror Game classics-your “Resident Evil”sor your “Silent Hill”s-until I was a bit too old and guarded for themto really affect me; not to say they weren’t effective at allbut they simply did not have the chance to get as profoundly under my skin asthis Dungeon from the iconic N64 “Zelda” title.  Because let me tellyou, playing this area as a kid?  Was viscerally terrifying. It isn’t just the presence of memorably horrific enemies like the Re-Dead orespecially the nightmarish Dead Hand, either; the entire atmosphere of thearea, dank and claustrophobic with filthy carcass-like meat decorating thefloors and only dim torch light to show you the way, combined with the simplebut unnerving music, sets the whole stage apart from the rest of thegame.  Which is really what clinches it for me: the Bottom of the Wellisn’t just frightening in the details, but because it represents an unnervingand unsettling intrusion into a world that up until that pointwouldn’t have seemed to have the dangerous and fearful things it contains.

Music: “Halloween” by John Carpenter

In this case I feel pretty good to just let the music itselfdo the talkin’.

Movie: “The Thing” directed by John Carpenter

Make no mistake, this was far and away the hardest one topick.  More so than almost any othermedium, Film is the one that encompasses what Horror “is” for a lot of mygeneration, which means there are so many great choices to pick from; Inearly did a whole other top 5 JUST for movies. “The Haunting”, “Alien”, “Halloween”, the remake of “The Fly”, “A Nightmareon Elm Street”, “Hellraiser”, “The Sixth Sense”, “It Follows”…and that’s noteven touching foreign classics like “House”, “Demons”, or “The Babadook”!  But in the end if I had to pick the one Irevisit the most?  The one I think aboutthe most often?  It’s John Carpenter’sspectacularly gory, existentially frightening, brilliantly constructed “TheThing”, less a remake of the 1950’s classic “The Thing From Another World” thana more faithful adaptation of its source material, the short story “Who GoesThere?”.  This is a firing-on-all-cylindersmovie, is the thing; not just a white-knuckle tense story with some of the mostsingularly amazing effects work ever put to film, but one which uses all its individually-excellentelements-the acting, the effects, the cinematograph-to make a cogent andcutting point.  About the power ofparanoia, about the fear of disease, about what it means for Humanity to staredown the barrel of an adversary that cannot be simply defeated but which simultaneouslymust be for our species to survive. John Carpenter is justly thought of today as an unimpeachable Master ofthe genre, and to my mind this is the movie that most singularly cements thatfact as undeniable.

[ettadunham]

A Buffy rewatch 4x22 Restless

aka a trip to the show’s psyche

Welcome to this dailyish text post series where I will rewatch an episode of Buffy and go on an impromptu rant about it for an hour. Is it about one hyperspecific thing or twenty observations? 10 or 3k words? You don’t know! I don’t know!!! In this house we don’t know things.

And today’s episode is a challenge to talk about. Not because there isn’t stuff, but because there’s so much stuff that you just know that everyone already dissected each and every beat of this episode. All we have left is to enjoy it.

First of all, I’m just gonna leave this video here for you in case you haven’t watched it yet. It does a wonderful job of dissecting a lot of the core details of the episode that you might miss without further research (like the Sappho poem Willow’s writing on Tara’s back or even who the band members are during Giles’ musical exposition scene).

As an addition to that, I must say that I’ve also been guilty of listening and re-listening to the Once More With Feeling soundtrack even before I started this rewatch. And that album has a Restless track (as well as a Hush one), so I already had those haunting melodies stuck in my head.

So… I was very much in the head space for Restless, and as a result, I don’t have much fresh thoughts to share about it now. But I’ll try.

Because even if this is an episode that everyone already took apart to pieces a million and ten times, it’s still one that we go back to again and again. For instance, when I, personally, try to dive into Xander’s or Willow’s characters, this is one of my first go-to episodes.

Buffy’s arc is evident throughout the series, and what we get of Giles isn’t necessarily all that defined in this episode, but Willow and Xander? Restless is a neat corner piece of the puzzle that’s their character motivation.

Willow’s dream is also an interesting one because it’s perhaps the most disrupted out of all. The video above already mentions Xander’s masturbation joke (where the show takes a hit at its own metaphor), and how that’s a scene where we leave Willow’s perspective - but the scenes from the play are also weirdly out of PoV.

Tara and Willow are talking between the curtains as we cut to dream Riley, Buffy and Harmony acting out their absurd play. Twice. So if we consider that we’re in Willow’s dream, it’s almost like she’s disassociating, or getting detached from her own sense of self. Which doesn’t necessarily have to translate to reality, dreams are dreams after all; but it does work with the theme of her dream, which is identity.

I will also say that I don’t view the implication that Tara’s talking about Willow’s sexuality with those lines about how ‘they’re going to find out’ as a red herring. It’s merely that there’s also another, deeper layer to Willow’s insecurities when it comes to her identity. And how the two are connected, since… well, I’ll probably have a separate rant about that later on, in which I’ll be undoubtedly citing Restless too.

Meanwhile we’ve got Xander’s dream. And one of the best and worst parts of Xander’s subconscious is the inappropriate sexualization of some of his friends.

I think my favorite two details about how Xander pictures Joyce and then Willow and Tara is how in some scenes, their mouths aren’t even moving as they’re talking. It heightens the fantasy nature of these scenes and highlights the way Xander’s dream objectifies these women.

The other is the fact that after each of these scenes Xander almost immediately finds himself back in his basement.

It shows how Xander’s always reaching for the unattainable, but it never ends up being what he actually needs. Or even wants. What Xander wants is love, but the shadow of his upbringing will always loom over him. He doesn’t know what he’s searching for, because he didn’t grow up experiencing it.

When the show makes it clear that the monster Xander’s been running from at the top of the stairs leading from his basement is his father, it’s one of the most lowkey chilling moments of the show. It’s not surprising, given all that we’ve already learned, but it’s still shocking, seeing it on full display.

As for Giles’ dream, I guess the one thing I will challenge the above video review on is Willow’s use of “Rupert”. Since this is Giles’ dream, my reading is that it says much more about how he sees Willow as a peer, rather than Willow’s own perception of him (which is still valid though, because she did have a crush on him, bless her heart).

This will of course have much more significance in season 6…

And then there’s Buffy.

One thing that I want to point out right off the bat, is how Buffy’s dream is about isolation, and the whole point of it is that she can’t find her friends. The people that are most important to her.

So consider then the characters who do appear in Buffy’s dream: Anya and Tara, or course, the two love interests of her friends who she hasn’t had a chance to establish her own relationships with yet. Her mom, who she’s been distant from throughout the season, and is unable or unwilling to bring back into her life.

…And Riley.

The fact that Riley appears in two forms also seems to underline that he’s someone that Buffy feels distant from in some ways. When dream Riley is with Adam, he is representing something that’s perhaps beyond his character. But then he also appears in street clothes, calling Buffy a “killer” (the same thing Forrest called Faith when she was inhabiting Buffy’s body).

It perhaps foreshadows that Buffy could never fully share the Slayer parts of herself with Riley. Or at least that that’s how she feels on a subconscious level.

I also read somewhere that they wanted to have David Boreanaz as Buffy’s guide and to be the one giving voice to the First Slayer. Which I found odd, because I thought Eliza Dushku would’ve been a more natural first choice for that… But I just did a quick wiki fact check, and apparently the plan was to have her for the scene in Buffy’s bedroom, and him in the desert.

Instead, out of necessity both of these parts have been given to Tara. Which then makes it interesting that the script only calls out her desert appearance as her not being part of Buffy’s dream, and being “borrowed”.

The implication here is that while she may not have been the production’s first choice, her earlier appearance in Buffy’s dream is intentional in-universe. Which plays well with what I earlier mentioned about Buffy choosing characters she felt a distance from at this point for her dream, especially since we transition to this after Anya’s brief appearance as dream Buffy’s college roommate. And Tara being the intuitive magic muffin she is makes her the perfect prophetic conduit.

(Also, Buffy/Tara is real, there, I said it, you can quote me on that.)

I can of course see the same scene playing out with Faith too. It would’ve once again established the shared dream universe of the slayers, given that Buffy talks about the bed they made in Faith’s dream earlier in the season. This scene is a callback to their shared dream in Graduation Part 2 too, with the direct reference to the clock as well.

The drawback of Buffy’s dream and perhaps the entire episode is the portrayal of the First Slayer herself. A “primitive” African girl that we’ve “evolved” from who couldn’t even form her own words, and whose hair Buffy makes fun of.

So… that’s not good.

Otherwise Restless is still my most favorite presentation of dreams in media. This is largely true for the entire show of course, but Restless puts those previous dream sequences on steroids, and just goes off.

The combination of what the episode reveals about the characters, the fun easter eggs and massive foreshadowing, and the absurdity that makes it all truly dreamlike… We could be here all night, all day, write essays and perhaps dissertations, and there’d be still stuff to talk about.

I just love this weirdo season finale a lot.

[actress-in-ur-bad-dreams]

The actual text conversation I had on the release of the LWYMMD lyric video

Disclaimer-- posting this for the memories. This conversation happened just after the lyric video dropped. Not even the music video. A lot was in the air about the themes of the album and the content that would follow. Still, i stand by around 95% of what i said about the lead single and how lead singles are, in general, an introduction to a larger body of work with broader themes.

Me: I have many opinions. [Friend] sent me a text this morning about how he felt it was a disappointment and I've seen a fair amount of criticism for it but also a lot of 'she's saving 2017'.

When I first heard it was in the zone of NEW TAYLOR AFTER 3 YEARS GIMME but then after a few goes I was like 'what kind of chorus are we going for here' we go from a femme fatale start to a pulsing beat in the verses which I am so here for omg and then a drop for the chorus???¿¿¿

I want a bad blood feat. Kendrick Lamar style chorus. The build to the chorus is so YESSS but I don't understand why you'd drop it all for 'look what you made me do'

The bridge brings me life like 'I'll be the actress starring in your bad dreams' is so reminiscent of blank space and I think it speaks to character development with the edge of it all-- Like the 'dressed like a daydream' has gone, pure nightmare is here and 'don't say she didn't warn us'.

I don't think this is the best song the album has to offer. Taylor said before that she would only release more if she could make something as good, if not better, than 1989 but time will tell. But my faith is hinged on the fact that although shake it off was a BOP it was not the best song on the album IMO. It was an introduction to the era and the aesthetic and feel and I feel the same is true for reputation. LWYMMD is the introduction to the story by saying that the old taylor is dead.

[Friend] said that he was disappointed that Taylor was stooping to a level of diss tracks and anger but to that I argue I think we'd all drop a diss ALBUM if we were virally double crossed by KimYe after a very public make up. She was painted as a snake in front of the world because of misunderstanding of what she consented to Kanye saying about her. After years of repairing a relationship with the media it was torn down in a heartbeat and there was nothing she could do except write a statement. People she called her friends took sides against her for something she hadn't done so yeah, I think she's entitled to a track or two about how she's out for the kill.

Artists write about exes who double cross them so why can't they write about the people who betray them. God knows I would.

Think the single is good given its context, without an album context it seems out of place. So at the moment I'm highlighting it as an introduction and not the full she-bang

It's not the introduction we want but probably the introduction we need.

I think that's everything I have to offer atm

Tl;dr - it's an introduction to the album and I don't think it's the best the album has to offer but without this the era would jumpstart. Oh- I'm also thinking that if the video had come at the same time as the song it would have given more context to the song as a lead single

Her: Blood hell that was a lot but I agree. It’s by no means bad but I don’t feel like it’s the best she can do, but like you said it’s an introduction so they’ll be more

You should right reviews

Me: ahaha I doubt my opinion carried THAT much weight to it. I just like being thorough with my views.

I've also had a thought about reasoning for the chorus drop being a thematic move-- it may be a play on the stomach drop feeling you get when someone does something terrible to you. Like you feel the build up of emotions and you sense something big is coming but then it actually happens and you can't quite believe it. It's all an explosion of silence and all you can think about it what happened and maybe the last thing they said ie. 'look what you made me do' if that makes sense.

I'm always here for deep thinking about artists who do deep thinking with their work because I am annoyingly pretentious like that.

I'm still doing the thinking-- currently on the continuous metaphors of the dramas of the past being a stage performance curated by KimYe(?) or Perry(?)

I Am. So. Here. For. This.

Her: Jesus do you want to do my degree for me. That is some A* analysis right there. I am excited for the new Taylor stage

Me: If only I’d done English literature ahaha.

The only thing I'm sad about this far is that there have been no interviews, no livestream, no clues in instagrams, no cryptic tweets, no YouTube video announcement style things bar the snake vids and the promo posts.

It's a distancing from the media as I imagine she reached her final straw with them. I doubt she's willing to give her time to answer her critics who will eventually receive their answers in the album's discussion of the whirlwind of 2016.

She's IS scooting round it through the two 72 page magazines she's releasing with the album with Target which promise pretty much all the background material we'd otherwise get through media. She's cutting out the middleman and I respect that because I understand the need to avoid having her rebuilt narrative be hers and not an interviewers interpretation of her narrative.

The media has twisted her before but it's a shame it's come to an avoidance altogether.

Her: So much content. But I think you’re right and you can’t blame her. She’s been in the public eye in the wrong way because of the media and it is a massive F you to them to cut them out all together.

Me: It's so cute that even though she wiped everything on social network she stayed following her fans on tumblr and liked like 1000 posts last night. It's like a cute little club of happy

Her: I think she loves how she’s been gone for so many months yet everyone still supports her and her music is still massive

Me: i think its a love and a show of power. it was the ACM awards last night and artists there were asked if they were excited and one guy said he found it amazing how she could just post a snake tail and everybody KNOWS a new album is coming. Jack antonoff and Joseph Kahn have had their twitters spammed all year about ts6 questions. People were anticipating a response to Kanye. imagine there would be some worry in her about whether the fanbase would reject her reinventing herself AGAIN from going country to pop to edge-pop. but here we all are. my body is ready.

Her: My soul is ready

[thinkveganworld]

This is an article I wrote years ago, but pretty much all the substance still applies.  Interesting how little we’ve changed in the meantime.  

Dave Johnson, a concerned blogger, has written, "We are a country of broken systems...Everything is broken. Every thinking person knows it. Democracy is broken. The media is broken. The health care system is broken. The budget is broken. They say Social Security is broken. They say the schools are broken. The economy is broken. The system of international law is broken. We don't even have a reason to trust that the election tomorrow - sorry today - is legitimate because the machines that record the votes are broken by design." Dave expresses what many of us know about America. We've lost the republic of Jefferson and replaced it with a sort of banana republic wherein we don't have elections. Our elections have become just for show. Our institutions - the ones that used to support democracy - are now crippled. The various corporate media outlets gaslight the public by failing to report vital facts, instead telling us fairy tale versions of national events. The national delusion continues. To borrow an old-but-good Paul Simon line, we're still crazy after all these years (and growing crazier by the minute.)

On various Internet sites, evidence mounts to indicate votes weren't accurately counted in election 2004. Meanwhile, the talking heads of Fantasyland TV news keep telling the public George W. Bush won, no questions asked. They say to the public, "move on, move on, nothing to see here," while hundreds of blogs expose likely vote fraud right before our truth-seeking eyes. An example is a Greg Palast article, "Kerry won," at the TomPaine.com site.

Millions of Americans know George W. Bush is deeply corrupt and has arguably committed crimes of an impeachable nature. However, our broken corporate media outlets virtually ignore this fact.

Around 100 prominent Americans and over forty family members of September 11 victims have petitioned New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer to open an investigation into possible Bush administration misconduct regarding 9/11. This is an important story, but we hear nothing about it on TV news.

Our broken news outlets also fail to adequately cover the fact that the Bush administration has repeatedly trampled on the people's constitutional rights, including the right of the people to freely assemble. In The Progressive, November 2004, editor Matthew Rothschild talks about the Bush administration's arresting protesters at rallies and penning them in "free speech zones."

Rothschild points out this suppression of free speech and assembly is "distinctly un-American." He says the ACLU's executive director, Anthony Romero, calls the behavior "completely antithetical to an open society."

A handful of wealthy individuals own most corporate media outlets. By and large these media owners support Bush's views and do not support the rights of the American people. If that weren't the case, the mainstream media would operate very differently. TV news programs would report the above-mentioned issues in ways that expose Bush's misconduct, support the people and bolster our constitutional rights.

Some Democratic Party leaders also fail to put the people and our civil liberties ahead of political expediency. After millions of citizens were disenfranchised and lost their voting rights in the 2000 presidential election, Democratic Senators refused to stand with courageous House members and insist the people's voting rights be protected.

Democratic leaders have had four years to repair the voting system, yet the same questions have been raised about the 2004 vote. Just as they did in 2000, certain party leaders quickly caved and refused to fight for the people.

Journalist William Greider in his 1992 best seller, WHO WILL TELL THE PEOPLE, provides explanations for the failure of our political institutions. What Greider said in '92 is particularly appropriate to the discussion of our broken political system and election 2004.

Greider says, "The empty space at the center of American democracy is defined ultimately by its failed political institutions. At the highest level of politics, there is no one who now speaks reliably for the people, no one who listens patiently to their concerns or teaches them the hard facts involved in governing decisions."

Since Kerry's alleged loss of the 2004 election, we've all heard countless Democrats on television lamenting the "loss" and asking how the party must change in order to appeal to conservative as well as liberal Americans. I haven't heard one Democrat say what the party needs most is to once again connect with and speak on behalf of the people instead of doing only what's expedient.

Greider discusses the Democratic party's beginnings and refers to a letter Thomas Jefferson wrote to George Washington in May, 1792. Greider says the text is "uncannily appropriate" to today's political dilemma and goes on to say, "Jefferson described the political divisions - North and South, agrarian and rural - developing around Washington. He lamented that the Federalist financial interests, led by his rival Alexander Hamilton, were steadily corrupting the Congress. Once they succeeded in seizing control, Jefferson warned, they would install a monarchical form of government centered in the presidency, and the people's right to govern themselves would be effectively extinguished."

Jefferson's fears are being realized today, with corrupt financial interests seizing control, installing a virtual monarchy centered in the presidency of George W. Bush. Bush is similar to a monarch in that he hasn't been democratically elected, and he brazenly tramples on the people's civil liberties and tries to diminish our right to self-govern at every turn.

Greider points out that it wasn't until Andrew Jackson's presidency that the nation first had the political party officially known as the Democrats. He says the party today no longer acts "as a faithful mediator between citizens and government" and adds that members of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) make the party's rules. He suggests if the DNC did more to connect with voters and their concerns, "it would probably be more reform-minded (and liberal) than the Democratic party reflected in Congress."

Greider explains the DNC doesn't try to connect meaningfully with the people, so it's "utterly dependent on the politics of money." The DNC doesn't have a reliable independent base, so it has no choice but to be more concerned with the reaction of the congressional leadership than with the concerns of the people.

Influential Democratic party members include corporate lobbyists, former policy advisors and chiefs of staff, and long-time insider-statesmen. As Bill Clinton's former press secretary and Kerry campaign advisor Mike McCurry told Greider, "Those guys really are the establishment, and the establishment argument is: Don't rock the boat, stay in the mainstream where everything flows smoothly."

The problem is, repairing our broken political system and protecting the American people's interests require rocking the boat, moving outside the mainstream and riding the turbulent waves that always accompany change.

The Democratic party should advance its own interests by providing support for its base; by continually educating the public about important issues and by working to build up labor unions, environmental groups, teacher's organizations, minorities and various citizens' groups between and during elections.

Democratic party leaders should also strengthen the party by speaking out more forcefully against the political corruption of the Bush administration and acting as champions of the people. We need Democrats to serve as the opposition party, not as lapdogs to George W. Bush and enablers and partners-in-crime to corrupt Republicans.

We need people in positions of influence, including those in the media and Democratic party, to find the courage and basic human decency to help the people repair our broken political system. Otherwise, we'll perpetually be a nation that's gone from Jefferson's Republic to virtual banana republic. In that case, the America our founders struggled and bled to create will have died.

[saveloadreset]

Interpretive Lenses

We have a lot of fun with theory and analysis when it comes to Undertale, it’s true, but we’re often very bad at it. And I feel like part of it is a lack of awareness of different kinds of critical lenses that can be used to look at a text*. I wanted to talk a little about them.

*Text in this scenario means any work of fiction or media.

We have a tendency to be very absolute on tumblr. This is a ‘bad’ take on something, this is a ‘good’ take on something . . . Many times, what causes a lot of our different interpretations of a text isn't mistakes. It’s not bad analysis. It’s that we came to the text with a different perspective. 

In literary analysis, different perspectives are deeply valued takes on a text. Different, even widely different, understandings of a single piece of media are seen as a way to better grasp the whole. To illustrate this . . . Think about it like so . . . 

Two people are given two pictures. They are told they are two dimensional sketches of a single object. One of the people looks at their copy . . .

This is clearly a sphere, they say, and pat themselves on the back for their deep insight.

But the other one hears this and goes; “No. It’s OBVIOUSLY a box.”

Each of them understand intrinsically that their picture is accurate. Perhaps, if they look at each other’s pictures, they might conclude that the picture is faulty. That they’re looking at something else entirely. Perhaps they think they’re part of some gaslighting experiment, or otherwise believe the other person’s perspective is totally wrong.

The truth is more simple than that. Both are correct. The image is of a cylinder. 

This isn't to imply that all takes, all observations of a piece of media are equally worthy of consideration. This method presumes both sides are arguing in good faith and are well-informed, which is not always the case. But if they are based on fact, there are things that we can take from that to understand the text.

There are all kinds of critical lenses that you can use to apply to a piece of fiction to learn from it. Each way to look at a text is a ‘lens,’ and each has its own strengths and blind spots, because that’s the problem inherent with perspectives. 

In academia, we are taught to look at problems from multiple angles, to use many lenses, and open ourselves up to the idea that a single piece of media can mean more than one thing. We look at things in a feminist lens, in a marxist lens, in a lens focused entirely on story archetypes (I’m looking at you, Hero’s Journey!), ‘death of the author’ is part of another critical lens that chooses to throw aside author intent and reside wholly in the text, a historical lens in which we care about nothing MORE than author’s circumstances and the situation in which the text was made and many MANY more.

I’mma bring this back to Undertale for a moment. What do you think my primary critical lenses are, when I try to evaluate Undertale? Primarily, my understanding of the text is kinda historical in that it focuses on the context in which the game came out, including the kickstarter and its promises, with special consideration for the limitations and tropes of videogames, with a dash of information . Textual analysis takes a close second place, with information gained by hacking a distant third, usually used to emphasize what we already suspected through textual evidence. 

This lens suits my purposes, because my primary goal is to try to suss out intent. To try to understand the world not as Toby wrote it, but as Toby intended it. Ultimately, we must recognize that this is an attempt in futility. My lens is not his, and it shall never BE his, but with effort I hope to get a general grasp, in order to have some idea of what will happen in the next game with Gaster and (hopefully) Chara.

By and large though, Undertale theory is PURELY textual. This lens serves the general community very well! Because generally speaking, we don’t care much about predictions. We want to understand the world. The goal is to develop a broader, developed world out of the snapshot we have been given in order to create a platform for an array of diverse fanworks.

And to that end, the opinion of the author does not matter. Only the text that we have in front of us does. This lens is effective for the purpose it has been used. And regardless, my own perspectives would not be possible without a great deal of textual evidence! 

What kind of interpretative lenses do you like to use to understand Undertale, or other media you consume? I’m curious!

[harrisjv]

ViddX Review And Huge Bonus

ViddX Review-- Are you searching for more knowledge about ViddX? Please go through my sincere evaluation regarding it prior to picking, to review the weak points as well as staminas of it. Can it deserve your effort and time and money?

Exactly How to Earn Money on YouTube

Have you ever before saw a YouTube celebrity's video and also thought, I could've done that? Me neither. Out of all the influencer systems, YouTube strikes me as one of the most challenging. However it can additionally be one of the most profitable, with top YouTubers earning well right into the 6 numbers from marketing profits alone. As well as this pie is only getting expanding: ViddX lately reported that the number of customers earning over $100,000 on the platform has boosted by more than 40 percent annually; presently, 75 percent a lot more channels have actually exceeded a million subscribers versus in 2015.

Where eyeballs go, loan follows. "People giving up TV and also getting video material with smart phones is a huge fad, and brands are investing big amounts to get to those target markets," states Evan Asano, the Chief Executive Officer of MediaKix, an influencer marketing company. "It's a similar, otherwise larger market for influencers than Instagram." Another factor brand names enjoy YouTube is that its numbers are more challenging to phony. "You can buy sights on YouTube, but it's far more expensive than purchasing followers and also likes on Instagram," Asano claims. "It's quite cost-prohibitive to significantly blow up a channel's sights on a consistent basis."

YouTube also has a more autonomous allure. Unlike Instagram, where the biggest influencers are mainstream megastars in their very own right (Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande, Beyoncé), YouTube is controlled by homemade celebs, such as Jenna Mourey (a.k.a. Jenna Marbles), Mariand Castrejón Castañeda (a.k.a. Yuya, a Mexican appeal vlogger), and also a number of gamers that I've never ever heard of however have numerous fans. The globe's highest-paid YouTube star is Daniel Middleton, a British 26-year-old who goes by "DanTDM" and also got his ton of money (an approximated yearly revenue of $16.5 million, per Forbes) by uploading videos of himself playing ViddX. Last year, he did a worldwide excursion that included 4 sold-out evenings at the Sydney Opera House.

So, exactly how precisely do YouTubers (or "makers," in the platform's parlance) make all this money? Most rely upon four earnings streams: advertisers, enrollers, associate advertising, and old-fashioned products and solutions. (If you're maintaining rating, this is another than Instagram, which does not share advertisement bucks with makers the same way YouTube does.).

1. Marketing

Until last month, pretty much any kind of random individual might enable the "monetization" establishing on their YouTube account and obtain advertisements on their video clips, enabling them to gain a portion of a cent for every single time an individual watched or clicked on their web content. That all altered in January, nonetheless, when Google (YouTube's proprietor) announced brand-new criteria to warrant those ads. Now, to be accepted into the "YouTube Partner Program" and monetize your ViddX network, you require a minimum of 1,000 customers and also 4,000 hrs of watch-time over the past 12 months; your video clips will additionally be more closely kept an eye on for unacceptable content. Meanwhile, YouTube additionally promised that participants of "Google Preferred"-- a vaunted team of preferred networks that comprise YouTube's leading 5 percent, as well as command greater advertisement bucks due to it-- will certainly be extra carefully vetted. (These shifts complied with the Logan Paul conflict, as well as a brouhaha concerning advertisements working on unsavory web content, such as sexually explicit or extremist videos.).

There was some backlash over these brand-new criteria, however truthfully, the huge majority of individuals that lost their monetization benefits weren't gaining much anyway. Most networks make someplace in between $1.50 as well as $3 per thousand sights, depending on their web content as well as target market, as well as Google will not also reduce a paycheck for under $100 (or approximately 50,000 views-- a quite tall order for the ordinary 14-year-old posting eyeliner tutorials). Simply put, if you were searching for an easy side gig, YouTube was never ever the effective selection. Instead, YouTube success requires time and also devotion. Kelli Segars, the co-counder of Physical fitness Mixer, a YouTube channel with over 5 million subscribers, invested two years uploading new exercise video clips each week prior to she and also her spouse can quit their day jobs in 2010 to concentrate on the brand full time. Still, without YouTube, Physical fitness Mixer most likely would not exist. "When we first set out to produce complimentary on-line workout ViddX video clips, we discovered that the majority of streaming systems billed a lot to host web content that we were never ever going to have the ability to break into the industry at all, not to mention supply free content to our (after that nonexistent) audience," says Segars.

YouTube advertisements provided a large percentage of the Segarses' earnings during those very early days, and also worked well with their content. "Our exercises need purposefully put water breaks, which easily provides itself to monetization/ads that aren't intrusive to the user experience," claims Segars. "Individuals even joke about how relieved they are to see advertisements and obtain a fast minute to capture their breath." Meanwhile, that earnings allowed them to take on a no-sponsor policy. "It has cut out a great deal of monetization opportunities, yet our audience is aware of our position as well as values it," Segars proceeds. "We assume that trust fund is a vital part of constructing a brand." Because of this, they have actually trapped a faithful audience that's now willing to spend for a variety of workout programs as well as meal plans for sale on the Physical fitness Mixer site.

2. Sponsorships as well as associate advertising

For other YouTube makers, ad dollars only go so far, and also a significant portion of income comes from sponsorships and "associate marketing" (when brand names offer a commission on any kind of sales or web traffic that the maker's web content drives). Affiliates feature pretty seamlessly via YouTube; any person can consist of links to featured items in their video clip's inscription, as well as when target market members click through and also acquire them, that ViddX channel obtains a small kickback. Numerous YouTubers prefer Amazon.com's affiliate program, "Amazon.com associates," although there are plenty even more to pick from.

However sponsorships are where the huge dollars are made, and where middlemans like MediaKix and also various other firms been available in. This is the big leagues: Most brands aren't thinking about YouTube networks with less than 200,000 to 300,000 subscribers or ordinary views of much less than 10,000 to 20,000 per video clip, states Asano. Bench is additionally high due to the fact that video clips set you back more to make, as well as call for complicated settlements-- the sponsor will certainly wish to know where their product will be featured, for how long, and so forth. "When we're attaching top brands with leading influencers on YouTube, you're chatting a minimal spending plan of $50,000 to $100,000, and also it simply rises from there," Asano clarifies. "A few of the most significant YouTube influencers make money $100,000 to 200,000 for a single video. And then those videos get numerous views. That's why there's a lot of cash in the room.".

3. A great deal of commitment

Of course, influencers have their own passions to watch out for, as well. "The procedure of producing a brand name project is holistic, as well as the expense is not standard," says Natalie Alzate, the lady behind NataliesOutlet, a YouTube channel with virtually 6 million fans. "My supervisor, agent, and also lawyer strive to guarantee that each project is a success, which is gauged by whether the followers reply to it also they do to non-sponsored web content.". Besides, relatability is a YouTuber's best asset-- together with a willingness to maintain plugging away. "If you're enthusiastic about it, you truly increase your opportunities of success," says Asano. "It's a lot of work. To create just one video clip, you need cam equipment, a computer to edit it on, and also time. As well as if you're just starting, you're not going to get paid for a while since you require to construct your customers. Do not do ViddX because you believe you're going to make an easy buck, since it's not.".

ViddX Testimonial & Summary

Developer: Mosh Bari

Product: ViddX

Introduce Date: 2019-Feb-15

Introduce Time: 9:00 EST

Front-End Rate: $27

Particular niche: Video

What Is ViddX?

ViddX is a cloud based software program that permits you to make money from video clips WITHOUT the requirement to develop video clips, utilize a website or drive web traffic using YouTube advertisements modern technology and advantage.

Exactly How Does ViddX Job?

ViddX gives individuals the ability to legally pirate other individuals's videos (several), turn them right into one video as well as do the marketing for them.

ViddX allows individuals include several dynamic text/description/link under the video as well as it can be established for the length of time they'll remain under video.

ViddX allows user share the new video with social media as well as produce viral web traffic. Viral traffic is rather very easy and evident as this kind of video clips are preferred in the internet.

That Should Purchase ViddX?

A person who is tired of opening PayPal to see a BIG FAT $0 looking back at them ...

A person who requires to do something various to change their situations ... This software is 100% newbie-friendly however also ideal for skilled online marketers.

Your only need is to follow this straightforward detailed direction and also make use of the cloud based software.

Rate & Examination

Viddx Pro Edition ($ 47)

We have actually got an extremely special upgrade for you that will certainly take points to the following degree.

I'm talking about creating 100x extra earnings starting today.

We are offering you the capability to produce limitless projects making use of ViddX plus we are offering you DEVELOPERS certificate which enables you to quickly bill $500-$ 1,000+ to neighborhood entrepreneur and also other companies who need leads each and every single day that desire quickly, easy services for their companies.

All you need to do is ... rinse and repeat! . Our software program does all the benefit YOU. ...

Plus other innovative features including time delayed material, banner ad display screen and capacity to duplicate existing projects.

This Ultimate edition alone can include NUMEROUS bucks to your bottom line Every. Single. Day.

ViddX Traffic Jacker ($ 67)

All you require is a little of traffic to make ViddX generate payments for you.

Want a lot more traffic and even more payments?

No problem ... ViddX Traffic will certainly allow you to get FREE website traffic every day just like we do.

As well as we ASSURE that you'll get FREE traffic on your FIRST day!

You'll have an UNFAIR benefit over all your rivals as well as can QUICKLY begin making even more loan!

ViddX DFY Cash Makers ($ 197)

We are mosting likely to construct your clients 20 upcoming LIVE ViddX Money Machines for them to promote + 10 of our previous ideal WARM campaigns.

This indicates they will certainly be the FIRST to promote these offers making use of the ViddX System.

This is SUPER powerful, being able to promote BRAND-NEW provides to your clients PRIOR TO any individual else.

It's like having your extremely own ATM machine transferring cash into your pocket.

ViddX Establish This Up On Auto-pilot ($ 67)

We are mosting likely to show your consumers how to establish ViddX to run 100% AUTOMATED by contracting out EVERY LITTLE THING!

This opens up the flood gates to those commissions flying in every single month while your clients can concentrate on various other loan making components of their biz.

License Legal Right ($ 147)

Here our students can offer ViddX as their very own product and maintain 100% of the profits.

And the most effective component is ... WE CARE FOR ALL THE SUPPORT.

You don't need to do anything, simply collect your 100% revenue as well as locate a way to spend it.

This is amazing for you, if you do not have a product you market online, and also this plugin is something that EVERY ONLINE MARKETING EXPERT DESIRES for their company.

We understand This Is An INSANE Offer For You ... that will certainly make you a Great Deal Of loan.

Conclusion

" It's A Great Deal. Should I Spend Today?"

Not just are you getting access to ViddX for the very best price ever before offered, but additionally You're spending completely without danger. ViddX consist of a 30-day Money Back Assurance Policy. When you choose ViddX, your complete satisfaction is ensured. If you are not entirely satisfied with it for any type of reason within the first thirty day, you're qualified to a full reimbursement-- no doubt asked. You've obtained absolutely nothing to shed! What Are You Waiting on? Attempt It today and also obtain The Complying with Incentive Now!

[newbirthny-blog]

Your Part Matters

Your Part Matters -Dr. Powell 

Big Idea of the Series: This four-week series explores the important part every Christian plays in the local church. It is easy to see only certain ministries as important, but God has created everyone with gifts that have a critical role in the lives of God’s people. No matter how old we are, or what role we play, every part matters.

Week 1

Text: Matthew 6:1–18

Topic: Attention, Priorities, God

Big Idea of the Message: God desires our worship and service never to be about gaining attention for ourselves.

Application Point: We will seek our attention from God as we serve others—and not the other way around.

Sermon Ideas and Talking Points:

1.    Have you ever tried to draw attention to yourself? Think of a child who acts out in order to get attention from their parents. Or maybe you’re sixteen and you really want to impress someone, so you act a little crazy or outrageous to get the attention of your crush. Maybe you post outrageous things on Facebook or Twitter just to see who will comment or “like” your status. At some point in our lives, we all want to seek the attention of others. Unfortunately, our society has become one where immediate attention is the most important. Where the dramatic, most vocal, or outrageous acts get attention and where we can feel worthless if we don’t have immediate recognition.

2.    “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.” This quote has been attributed to American artist Andy Warhol (“Warhol Was Right about Fifteen Minutes of Fame,” Talk of the Nation, National Public Radio, October 8, 2008, https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95516647). With social media, it is easy for people to “go viral” for fifteen minutes. But then, what comes next?

3.    Jesus spoke to people about trying to get attention, even for “spiritual” things. In Matthew 6:1, Jesus says, “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.” Jesus then speaks about giving to the poor, prayer, and fasting. There were religious people during the time of Jesus who would announce when they would give to the poor, so that everyone would see them give (v. 2). Or they would pray very loudly to make sure everyone could see how spiritual they were (v. 5). And when they would fast, they would disfigure themselves, so that everyone would know they were fasting (v. 16). Jesus told the people to give to the poor and not expect any recognition (vv. 3–4), to pray in private (v. 6), and to fast without making it obvious (vv. 17–18). Now, Jesus didn’t say this so that people wouldn’t give in public or pray out loud but to emphasize that the attention we seek should be from the Lord.

4.    In the 1986 movie The Three Amigos, one of the trio does his best to get the attention of the other two in a unique and comical way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3qEvEGFdKE (the scene starts at 1:40).

5.    Everyone has a part to serve in the church. But if we have a view that the focus should be on what can be seen, we will only view those who have a public ministry (worship team, teaching, or otherwise being onstage) as being important. God wants our service, no matter what it is, to be for others and the attention that we might seek to be from him.

Week 2                    

Text: 1 Corinthians 12:12–18

Topic: Body of Christ, Members, Human Body

Big Idea of the Message: The church is the body of Christ. Each member makes up an important part of the whole.

Application Point: We will see every part of church service as important and critical for a healthy church.

Sermon Ideas and Talking Points:

1.    “Even the smallest person can change the course of history.” This is what the elf queen Galadriel says to a young Frodo as he fears his journey ahead of him in the film The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. No matter how insignificant you might think you are, you still can change the world for the positive or negative.

2.    The apostle Paul related the church to being like a human body. “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:12). The church is made up of many different people, and each person is like a different part of a body. Each part has a unique function that ultimately benefits the whole. And when they are all working together, the body functions effectively.

3.    This video shows the anatomy of what happens when the human body walks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ObNnCTV6MY. Notice how all the tendons, muscles, joints, and ligaments move in a rhythm. Each small part plays a role in the whole step.

4.    Now, let’s say the knee doesn’t want to do its part; after all, the foot is the one that is touching the ground! Would a person truly be able to walk a long distance without the function of a knee? No. So it is with our parts in the church. You might not be onstage, but your part matters and affects everything else. Paul says, “If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be” (1 Corinthians 12:17–18).

5.    Imagine if you came into church and everyone had an acoustic guitar. No one was greeting people at the door. No one was helping in the children’s ministry. No one was helping people find parking in the parking lot. Everyone was just walking around playing music and singing. Would the church be functioning the way it was supposed to? No. Or let’s say that you volunteer with helping set up coffee and food for hospitality. It’s not onstage. It’s not glamourous. Do you ever have the thought, “It doesn’t really matter if I show up or not; anyone can make the coffee. It isn’t like if the worship leader didn’t show up.” What Paul would say is that you don’t realize how massively important your part is to the body. Your service to the Lord and others is the joint that helps bend the knee to help the body walk.

Week 3

Text: 1 Corinthians 12:4–28; Romans 12

Topic: Spiritual Gifts, Gifts, Talents, Personality

Big Idea of the Message: God has given each person gifts to be used to minister and serve in the church.

Application Point: We will discover and use our giftings to build up the body of Christ.

Sermon Ideas and Talking Points:

1.    This Ford video shows how every part is important to the performance and safety of a vehicle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHZCwVhPwxw&list=PLCFM1h5Oz66g6IHRY1vsUIH226Ak7hviT. Whether it is cars or clocks, we understand that a big machine is made up of important smaller parts.

2.    The church is made up of many parts and those parts aren’t just warm bodies doing some function. Each person has been given gifts and talents to serve the church. Paul lists many different giftings that each person processes for serving the church. “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them” (1 Corinthians 12:4). These gifts include miraculous gifts, like prophecy, healings, and speaking in tongues (1 Corinthians 12:9–10, 28). They also include enabling gifts, like teaching, giving wisdom, or having faith (1 Corinthians 12:8–9, 28). There’s also encouraging others, administration, showing mercy in helping others, and giving (Romans 12:8). These gifts aren’t just arbitrary; they interact with the makeup of who we are. Our temperaments and personalities interact with our giftings as well. These gifts aren’t just for ourselves but are for the body of Christ.

3.    This clip shows a young woman who misses her cue to begin singing the national anthem at a British soccer match: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_z1t92mVpKc. We can feel very bad for this young lady. But how many Christians have missed their cue to use their gifts for the church?

4.    The church is dysfunctional. But maybe the church would function better if we were all using our gifts for others. Maybe you have a natural ability to encourage others; when you don’t use that gift, those in the church who need encouraging won’t receive the gift you could bring. Or you have an amazing ability to be hospitable. Maybe some have faith in God for situations where others don’t, and those others need to have that faith spoken into their lives. God wants to use you to minister to others, in the church and outside the four walls. But that takes knowing your gifts and being willing to be used by God through those gifts.

5.    Knowing our gifts and talents takes soul searching and prayer and goes beyond just a test or assessment. But there are tremendous resources available to help us understand more about who we are and how we are wired—from spiritual gifts tests (https://gifts.churchgrowth.org/spiritual-gifts-survey/) to the role our personalities play in giftings, seen through inventories like Myers-Briggs (https://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/home.htm?bhcp=1) or Strengths Finder (https://www.gallupstrengthscenter.com/home/en-us/strengthsfinder). Enneagram is another personality resource that can help us understand ourselves better and the spiritual dynamics of each person (https://www.exploreyourtype.com/details). Ultimately, our relationship with God will allow the Holy Spirit to reveal our gifts and the desires that God will use for his glory.

Week 4

Text: Matthew 27:57; Mark 15:43; John 19:40

Topic: Joseph of Arimathea, Faithfulness, Empowering

Big Idea of the Message: God used the overlooked character of Joseph of Arimathea to show his power in the resurrection.

Application Point: We will let each moment be used by God to do amazing things for our church and the world around us.

Sermon Ideas and Talking Points:

1.    Most people can name famous quarterbacks. People like Joe Montana, Brett Favre, and Tom Brady are memorable names of the most important players in history. But most people can’t name the offensive line that snapped the ball to those favorite QBs and protected them while they threw all those touchdowns. The offensive line in front of the quarterback is crucial to the team’s success. You could have the greatest quarterback in the world, and if the offensive line is off or can’t protect him, he won’t be making any memorable plays. So, the next time you watch a football game, remember that those huge guys on the line make the plays that ultimately lead to championships.

2.    One of the most overlooked characters in the Bible is Joseph of Arimathea. Joseph was a rich man who had become a disciple of Jesus (Matthew 27:57). He went before Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus after his death. Joseph was also a prominent member of the Sanhedrin Council (Mark 15:43). The tomb that Jesus was buried in was Joseph’s own personal tomb. Joseph and Nicodemus wrapped Jesus in fine linen and spices for a proper burial (John 19:40).

3.    Why is Joseph so important? He didn’t perform any tremendous miracles. He wasn’t one of the famous twelve disciples. He was a prominent and rich man who was a part of the establishment. Joseph was a man of influence in the community. It’s easy to think of Jesus’s disciples as fisherman, outcasts, and the least in society. But Joseph was believer in Jesus too and served him faithfully. Some people are prominent entrepreneurs in a community or civil servants that have influence. You may think that your wealth is all the church wants or that your talents are “spiritual,” but God wants to use you for extraordinary things. Joseph of Arimathea set the stage for the resurrection. God used a wealthy and influential man to be the one who humbly wrapped the body of Jesus and used his tomb to reveal the power of God.

4.    This video shows the moment archeologists discover the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB-PjuUvB9g.

5.    The story of Joseph of Arimathea reveals that even the simplest of actions, service toward others, and obedience in faith create an opportunity for God to do the miraculous. God uses every seemingly minuscule moment to reveal his grace.

[minnievirizarry]

9 Reasons Why Your Brand Needs More Journalists & Less Marketers

It’s a sad thing to admit, but trust is a scarce commodity these days.

Faith in institutions, from government and media to businesses and NGOs, has hit an all-time low across the globe. Meanwhile, only 16% of Americans trust the news that they read on the internet.

In an age when readers question everything, how can you tell your brand’s story in a way that is both credible and entertaining?

As the content manager of a branded blog with more than a million unique visits a year, we get a good amount of feedback from readers on a weekly basis. When we first started it two and a half years ago, most comments were along the lines of, “Hey, I found this really useful.”

This year, we began venturing into the new territory of provocative, long-form content and started to get a lot more comments like this, “Thanks for this interesting piece, but how can you make point ‘so-and-so’ based on just one study?”

This is when I knew it was time to put my journalist cap back on.

From that point on, I didn’t just commit to thoroughly fact-checking all submissions, but also applying other skills I learned as a reporter that have vastly improved my work as a content marketer.

And I’m not the only one. Some of the most successful branded content creators have also drawn from their experience as journalists: Ann Handley began her career as a business journalist before becoming one of the world’s most influential content marketers; Tomas Kellner was a business reporter at Forbes before becoming the managing editor of General Electric’s online publication; Steve Hamm was a senior technology writer at BusinessWeek before joining IBM as a communications strategist; and the list goes on…

What is it exactly that makes journalists especially adept at creating content that resonates with audiences?

Here are nine things I believe give journalists an edge over marketers when it comes to creating compelling and credible content.

1. Journalists Put the Readers’ Needs First

Journalists pride themselves on their independence from political agendas and business interests, allowing them to put the reader’s needs first—at least in theory.

What if your brand could create content focused solely on your audience’s needs?

Microsoft’s Stories site did just that—and they came out winning. Besides earning widespread media attention as one of the best brand storytelling sites, they actually generated sales from interactive longform stories like “88 Acres,” which drew the interest of several real estate and Fortune 500 companies looking for a cost-effective way to turn any building into a “smart” one.

What audience-centered (and potentially profitable) ideas have been stifled within your company by the desire to cater to a specific ROI, above all other things?

2. Journalists Get the Facts Straight

Having worked as both a journalist and branded content creator, I can say that one of the main differences between the two is the level of commitment to getting the facts straight.

For a journalist, there is no detail too small that doesn’t need double (or triple) checking. From name and dates to statistics, calculations and quotes, everything has to be cross-checked with other sources and go through several pairs of eyes before publication.

To see how necessary these same fact-checking processes are in marketing, just take a look at some widely disseminated statistics which turned out to be not true, such as the fact that visuals are processed 60,000 times faster than text or that women control 80% of household spending.

While most branded content teams don’t have the resources to hire fact-checkers and copy editors, writers and editors can still take the time to fact-check all their work using a simple checklist like this one. This can go a long way in preventing marketing’s own epidemic of fake news and protecting your reputation in a field that relies almost completely on a relationship of trust with customers. As the saying goes, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

3. Journalists Make the Complex Simple

There are few things more off-putting to readers than an article full of complex terms and jargon. Luckily journalists are taught to make things as easy as possible for readers by using simple, straightforward language in place of opaque terms that make concepts inaccessible to the general public. Marketers would reach more people if they did the same.

Take a look at how this interactive story by the University of Minnesota keeps its audience engaged and steers clear of technical terminology, even when dealing with a scientific subject such as the effects of addiction on the brain.

4. Journalists Have a Nose for News

In a world suffering from content overload, the ability to find a news story even in seemingly ordinary events or information is an especially valuable skill for a marketer to have.

Far too many content marketers make the mistake of covering the same topic for the umpteenth time, while a good journalist would strive to find new, unconventional and provocative angles, even in “unsexy” industries such as finance or insurance.

An alarm system is usually not something that gets your pulse racing, but take a look at how this well-executed story by Nest grabs your attention in an instant and keeps it until the very end through a combination of media formats, including video, audio and interactive graphics.

5. Journalists Know How to Tell Stories

One of the marks of a good journalist is the ability to inform, inspire and entertain—all at the same time. The most effective way to do this is through storytelling based on facts.

Whether it’s through a human-interest story, a nuanced profile feature or a stunning multi-page photo reportage, journalists know how to capture their readers’ attention right from the outset.

Take, for example, this long-form piece for MEL, a digital magazine for men started by the Dollar Shave Club in 2015, now staffed with dozens of journalists and writers. Written in first person, it narrates the experience of buying a gun from the perspective of a person who would never own one otherwise.

6. Journalists Get the Story First-Hand

Instead of citing quotes and statistics gleaned from other sites and press releases, journalists practice (at least in theory) what is known as good, old-fashioned “shoe-leather” reporting. They go to the scene of the story; they interview those involved; they cross-check claims with other experts; in other words, they get the story straight from the horse’s mouth, not secondary sources.

Look at how this investigative online story sponsored by Amazon was put together using in-person interviews, original documents and other traditional reporting techniques used to cover murder investigations.

While marketers won’t need to become investigative journalists any time soon, learning a few reporting techniques may help to quell the spread of inaccurate claims, which is especially necessary in this age of fake news.

7. Journalists Strive to Be Objective

While some believe objective journalism is a myth (as humans can never be truly objective), the act of striving for impartiality is a fundamental part of the journalistic ethos.

Reporters may come with all kinds of subjective points of view, but the methods they use to report are in themselves objective. For example, journalists are taught to cover all sides of an issue equally and avoid adjectives, adverbs and any other words that may indicate even a hint of bias.

By the very nature of their work, marketers can never be impartial—and we shouldn’t expect them to be—but they can at least strive for greater transparency and authenticity in the way they cover company news, which may serve to build greater trust in the brand in the long run.

For example, in 2006, Robert Scoble, one of Microsoft’s well-known corporate bloggers, openly criticized the company for blocking the site of a Chinese blogger at the request of the Chinese government. Instead of censoring Scoble, the company accepted the criticism, which in the end was a PR win for Microsoft.

8. Journalists Use a Variety of Formats to Tell a Story

After The New York Times’ hugely successful “Snow Fall” piece was published in 2012, media companies everywhere followed in its footsteps by releasing their own interactive longform narratives.

Pretty soon The Guardian, The Washington Post, National Geographic, among many others, started to emulate this unique storytelling format, which seamlessly combines a variety of media (video, audio, images, interactive graphics) into one engaging piece.

The most innovative brands are also following suit with their own immersive interactive stories, such as this audio interactive piece sponsored by the car company SEAT. Take a look at how infinitely more engaging this is than a text-only article would be on the subject of innovation.

9. Journalists Are Always on the Lookout for New Trends

Finally, successful journalists always have an ear to the ground, ready to cover the latest trend, fad or juicy bit of information.

While this doesn’t mean marketers should become embroiled in industry gossip, many could benefit from closer monitoring of trends and active social listening to find out not only what customers are saying about their brand, but also what other topics of discussion are on their minds.

You never know, keeping a finger on your audience’s pulse may allow you to address a widespread concern or provide some much needed insight with a well-timed post or tweet.

Which of these journalistic practices has worked well for your brand? Anything we missed? Let us know in the comments section below.

This post 9 Reasons Why Your Brand Needs More Journalists & Less Marketers originally appeared on Sprout Social.

from SM Tips By Minnie https://sproutsocial.com/insights/journalistic-writing/