#the main trait of artists and their audience is the connection they feel

[nkogneatho]

am i the only one who doesn't like the "stream culture"? like if you like a song, it's okay to occasionally enjoy it but you don't have to force yourself to listen it 24/7. and you definitely shouldn't force others. consumption of art matters a lot. while there's not a "right" way to consume it, but forceful streaming takes away the purpose of music and that song.

[perpetual-stories]

Eight Strategies for Improving Dialogue in Your Writing

Well, hi! Oh my… wow! It’s been a long time since I’ve posted! I’ve been very busy and I am genuinely sorry to all my followers, but that doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten about this account, but here is one final post for the year!

Hopefully next year I become consistent with it again!

Let’s begin!

One of the best ways to help a reader connect with your writing is by crafting excellent dialogue. Use these tips to learn how to write dialogue that showcases character development, defines your characters’ voices, and hooks readers.

Why Use Dialogue?

Good dialogue performs all sorts of functions in fiction writing. It defines your characters’ voices, establishes their speech patterns, exposes the inner emotions, and showcases their character development. Beyond mere characterization, effective dialogue can also establish the setting and time period of your story and reveal information in a way that doesn’t feel overly expository.

Authors use lines of dialogue to reveal a character’s personality and express their point of view. For instance, an archetypal football coach might speak in short, terse sentences peppered with exclamation points and quotations from famous war generals. By contrast, a nebbish lover with a broken heart might drone on endlessly to his therapist or best friend, speaking in run-on sentences that circle around his true motivations. When an author can reveal character traits through dialogue, it cuts down on exposition and makes a story flow briskly.

Eight Writing Tips for Improving Dialogue

The first time you write dialogue, you may find it quite difficult to replicate the patterns of normal speech. This can be compounded by the concurrent challenges of finding your own voice and telling a great story overall. Even bestselling authors can get stuck on how a particular character says a particular line of dialogue. With practice and hard work, however, lackluster dialogue can be elevated to great dialogue.

Here are some strategies for improving the dialogue in your own work:

Mimic the voices of people in your own life. Perhaps you’ve created a physician character with the same vocal inflections as your mother. Perhaps your hero soldier talks just like your old volleyball coach. If you want to ensure that your dialogue sounds the way real people speak, there’s no better resource than the real life people in your everyday world.

Mix dialogue with narration. Long runs of dialogue can dislodge a reader from the action of a scene. As your characters talk, interpolate some descriptions of their physical postures or other activity taking place in the room. This mimics the real-world experience of listening to someone speaking while simultaneously taking in visual and olfactory stimuli.

Give your main character a secret. Sometimes a line of dialogue is most notable for what it withholds. Even if your audience doesn’t realize it, you can build dynamic three-dimensionality by having your character withhold a key bit of information from their speech. For instance, you may draft a scene in which a museum curator speaks to an artist about how she wants her work displayed—but what the curator isn’t saying out loud is that she’s in love with the artist. You can use that secret to embed layers of tension into the character’s spoken phrases.

Use a layperson character to clarify technical language. When you need dialogue to convey technical information in approachable terms, split the conversation between two people. Have one character be an expert and one character be uninformed. The expert character can speak at a technical level, and the uninformed one can stop them, asking questions for clarification. Your readers will appreciate it.

Use authentic shorthand. Does your character call a gun a “piece” or a “Glock”? Whatever it is, be authentic and consistent in how your characters speak. If they all sound the same, your dialogue needs another pass.

Look to great examples of dialogue for inspiration. If you're looking for a dialogue example in the realm of novels or short stories, consider reading the great books written by Mark Twain, Judy Blume, or Toni Morrison. Within the world of screenwriting, Aaron Sorkin is renowned for his use of dialogue.

Ensure that you’re punctuating your dialogue properly. Remember that question marks and exclamation points go inside quotation marks. Enclose dialogue in double quotation marks and use single quotation marks when a character quotes another character within their dialogue. Knowing how to punctuate dialogue properly can ensure that your reader stays immersed in the story.

Use dialogue tags that are evocative. Repeating the word “said” over and over can make for dull writing and miss out on opportunities for added expressiveness. Consider replacing the word “said” with a more descriptive verb.

[ill-say-anything-i-hafta]

Jack’s main personality trait in 92sies is that he’s a huge liar. He’s not an artist. His leadership seems pretty accidental. His WHOLE DEAL is being a fantasist. I think this leads to come neat storytelling.

We, the audience, know right away that Jack’s parents aren’t in Santa Fe. And unlike straightforward, naive David, we understand pretty well why this lonely teen might be lying about it. We probably didn’t guess that “Jack Kelly” is an alias, but we aren’t surprised when that is revealed. We are set up to believe that most of what Jack tells us about himself is a lie, so the Teddy Roosevelt thing sounds like his exact brand of bullshit — a story so farfetched, only gullible kids would believe and repeat it.

When TR actually shows up in the third act, it is a pleasurable subversion of audience expectations to learn that, hey, he and Jack DID share a carriage! Jack was telling the truth for once!

I feel like in the stage musical, we’re supposed to believe Jack and Crutchie's claim about TR from the start. Crutchie cites that the escape got news coverage, and Jack gives David a reasonable-sounding explanation. Plus, the whole play hasn’t been working to undermine every single thing “Jack Kelly” says the way the movie does. I think it’s a loss, and it makes Roosevelt feel like a Deus Ex Machina instead of the earned payoff to a long joke. (Also, the Denton connection is a way more convincing reason for Roosevelt to show up than Medda being his lover, which is insulting to her as a character IMHO, but that's another post.)

Anyway, hooray for Jack the liar!

[ubaid214]

Genre-Bending Goodness: The Development of Indie Audio

In the great water of the audio market, there exists a realm wherever imagination understands number bounds, where musicians are destined neither by commercial limitations nor by the objectives of main-stream culture. This kingdom is the entire world of indie music—a diverse and ever-evolving landscape that constantly presses the boundaries of sound and expression.indie music blog

At its key, indie audio embodies a spirit of independence—a refusal to comply with the norms formed by major record labels and industrial interests. As an alternative, indie musicians embrace their autonomy, leveraging their creative flexibility to examine new sonic territories and connect with readers on a further level.

One of the defining traits of indie music is its incredible diversity. From lo-fi bedroom tracks to rich orchestral plans, indie musicians draw enthusiasm from a wide selection of styles and impacts, producing a rich tapestry of noise that defies categorization. Whether it's folk, rock, digital, or fresh, indie audio encompasses a vast spectrum of variations and emotions, offering something for every single listener.

But probably the many engaging aspect of indie music could be the feeling of closeness and reliability that permeates every observe and lyric. Unlike the refined shows of conventional place, indie audio often revels in their problems, embracing the rawness and weakness that include imaginative expression. It's this honesty and sincerity that allows indie musicians to go real associations making use of their market, transcending the barriers of reputation and star to generate significant and sustained relationships.

Recently, the rise of digital tools and loading companies has democratized the audio market, empowering indie musicians to attain audiences on an international scale without the need for major brand backing. From Bandcamp to SoundCloud to Spotify, these systems are becoming important incubators for indie skill, giving a place for artists to display their perform, relate to supporters, and build sustainable jobs not in the traditional music business infrastructure.

But while the digital revolution has undoubtedly opened up new possibilities for indie artists, it has additionally produced a unique pair of challenges. In a oversaturated market flooded with an incredible number of tracks competing for attention, breaking through the sound and finding recognized is an uphill battle. For several indie musicians, achievement is tested not in information positions or history revenue, however in the ability to relate to a loyal and involved fanbase who reveal their passion for music.

Despite these challenges, the heart of independence remains to succeed on earth of indie audio, fueled by a community of musicians, supporters, and supporters who believe in the major power of music to motivate, provoke, and unite. As we navigate the ever-changing landscape of the audio industry, let's observe the range, imagination, and resilience of indie music—a beacon of hope and enthusiasm in an significantly homogenized national landscape.

[jaleaciaharris01]

Product and Artist Management Course Mastery Journal

In this course, I learned about Product and Artist Management in the entertainment industry. My main goal for this course was to gain knowledge of the different traits of a manager and how they go about managing products and their artists. I'm a professional musician and I wanted to learn how to properly manage myself, and to know what is required of a manager so that I know what to look for when hiring one. I was able to get an understanding of the purpose of an Artist Manager and which is to help artists to achieve their long-term goals, find opportunities, by selling and pitching their artists to different companies. A manager's job doesn't stop there. Managers are also leaders, mentors, advisors, and trusted friend.  I found this class very useful because it taught me how important it is to know my target audience and how to market myself to them. When it comes to selling and marketing products, I learned to use demographics, geographics, and psychographics to determine who, where, and how to sell my products. Demographics were broken down by race, gender, and age. Geographic states the location of the target audience and psychographics is about what connections the audience has with the product that makes them want to buy. This connection as I learned in this course could be that the audience is inspired by the lifestyle that I have, and they want to be or feel a part of that lifestyle so they’re willing to buy something that’s a part of my lifestyle that connects them with me. One thing I enjoyed doing in this course was looking into major companies to see how they promote and manage their artists, and what makes them so successful. I plan to apply all the knowledge that I learned from this month's course to my business by evaluating the audience I have now and determine my target audience and continue to build a broader audience within that market.

[borkthemork]

The Wu Whereabouts Theory

Now that people are getting hyped for the month countdown toward Amphibia Season Three’s release, I am going to be talking about a theory my friend and I talked about over the past few months, and it’s time to buckle up because we’re going to be tackling this theory from a production, character design, and semantics perspective.

And why these specific factors? Because the theory revolves around these three characters.

And why I believe all of them are related in some way.

Now, you might ask yourself: Bork, how in the hell are these characters related? The old woman character doesn’t seem to have any semblance of features relating to Marcy. What about the dad, are you going to explain the dad? Are you pulling my leg?

And to that, we’re going to have to start small. I’ll first explain why the character on the right seems to be an important character to the story, how all these characters can be connected through deliberate design/semblance, and then I am going to hit it out of the park with the probability from a logical perspective with what the intro and past Marcy interactions seem to give us on why everyone is where they’re currently at.

Especially where Marcy’s father is currently located.

This theory is very, and I mean, very long, so hang on to your seats as we dive into my thoughts about where Season Three might lead us.

And credit goes to @CynDavilaChase on Twitter because she made me realize the probability of this theory in the first place.

And with that, let us begin!

Section One - Who’s This Woman?

With animated introductions, I think one of the big things I noticed with Amphibia Season Three’s intro is that it’s heavily serialized. Compared to Amphibia’s introduction with Seasons One and Two, there are a lot of animated scenes found in the sequence where the story is already being told in a narrative.

You get shots of Anne being introduced to her house, you get new important characters introduced in a lot, there appears to be insight into future events such as Anne getting a moped while being chased by government agents or the massive monkey robot chasing her through the alleyways.

A lot of the intro is prioritized over its serialized format, and that means the characters seen and animated in the foreground have to be important characters or else the studio is basically wasting time focusing on a background character that will never be seen again.

Of course, you get some sliding shots like with the construction workers or the beach scene with the beach-goers but that’s only for a second and they’re not truly the forefront.

But during the shots between 0:29 and 0:49, the sequences we see include a lot of what appears to be important scenes with important characters that will play some role in the story itself.

There are no parts in the sequence where background characters are put in the foreground. Each bit of the animation needs to count, it needs to tell a story of what’s to come and what the audience can anticipate to see.

Now that begs the question:

Why is a supposed random background character in the foreground?

We got some reason as to why the engineer lady looks important since she was in a shot full of important or supporting characters, but why her??

Sure, one could argue this shot could just be indicative of Andrias’s invasion, but there are numerous other ways to show that there’s an invasion without putting too much animation effort on one background character, especially from a composition perspective.

Pardon the messiness, I had to do this quick, but look at how all three ladies are lined up.

The far left grandma, when following from her head to the the front lady’s creates a line that not only creates a sense of direction for our eyes to follow but follows the more significant and foreground character of all three. Look at how the dragonflies occupy most of the top of the frame while the two older women stay in the marketplace’s form, and how this leaves the younger woman to be abruptly placed in the open — creating a visual that this character in particular is more important than the rest in the shot.

Check the way the characters move their eyes when the scene happens too: the background characters quickly look to the right, then the woman out in the open then directs her eyesight to the skyline, where all the dragonflies are flitting by.

Now, I’m not a storyboard artist or composer, I could be wrong on how the crew created this scene all together, but regardless it is still so odd to put emphasis on a background character in the front and then just leave it at that.

She has to be important in some way, and this is where I want to talk about character design.

Section Two - All Related or Am I Just Racist?

When it comes to character design we need to talk about how the character designers make sure to give Anne some form of semblance to her parents, and in this case, she looks a lot like her mother.

They got the bushy hair, the same skin tone, eyebrows, etc. And with her dad you could even see that Anne got her fluffy bangs from him specifically. Only one shared genetic trait, however.

This is deliberate, we know that for sure, and that is why I need to make this very clear as we transition to the similarities found in Marcy and the theorized characters, and why I believe they’re related in design. Mainly because the concept of race and appearance could be quite a debacle and I wanted to make sure that all of you know I am not assuming things out of naivety, and if I am, feel free to get my ass.

Other than that, let’s look at them again.

And here I shall compile the appearance stuff that each character seems to have.

With these three characters they seem to connect to one another with one genetic trait, but if one looks closely, there comes the question of the older lady (who I will just call Marcy’s mom at this point) and why she’s vastly different to Marcy when it comes to skin tone, hair color, and hell — if we look between Marcy and the engineer — why these two characters have vastly different hairstyles compared to the woman.

Even though I could give speculation and some doubt to the engineer and Marcy’s mom being related, and on first glance I couldn’t do the same with Marcy and her mom either, but then I did some digging and realized something. I can connect Marcy and her potential mom in one way — hair design.

Marcy and her mom both share the same poofy hair, it’s just that one is more short and the other is allowed to grow out in a nice little nest.

Don’t believe me?

They got the same floofy bangs with that specific hair line.

And when Marcy was little, Marcy appeared to need a hair tie because her hair was growing out, and it looked like this.

If we consider that what Marcy’s hair tie is holding up might be her bangs — bangs that might cover her eyesight from how floofy it is — then if you removed the hair tie then she and the woman would have a very similar looking design hair-wise.

Even with these hair similarities, however, there is still inquiry as to why Marcy is vastly different compared to her mother when it comes to skin and hair color, and here is where I go into some speculation to piece all of it together:

Marcy actually carries the appearance of her dad more than her mom.

Her dad has olive skin and black, straight hair, while her mother harbors tan skin and floofy, brown hair.

It’s this one piece of speculation that basically slides everything into place, but regardless it’s still speculation and one that I cannot confirm or even argue much about due to the nature of genetics and the limited info we have. But with this piece set in place, we could start to create the argument that maybe, just maybe, these characters are related.

But if they are, why do we only see Marcy’s mom and her supposed sister and not her dad?

Why do we get no indication of Marcy having a sister until Season Three?

How do we put all of this together?

Section Three - Distance and Finance

I rewatched True Colors numerous times when it came to understanding and interpreting what I could with the limited Marcy-centric flashback we had. I even went through episodes such as Maddie and Marcy, New Wartwood, and a lot of other episodes just to fit everything into place. And I think I have a good indication as to why this family is the way that it is.

First off, we’re going to be talking about Marcy’s dad and his new job out of state.

California is a very expensive state. And as someone who lives in California, the housing crisis and the ability to even stay in a house/dorm without sweating over the idea of being bankrupt is a very real thing.

So it is a curious thing that one of the reasons that the Wus had to leave came out to moving out-of-state due to a new job offer, one that infers a lot more money and probably a more stable living environment.

You could even hear the dad saying “Marcy, you have to understand!” when Marcy runs out, meaning that there’s probably a good reason as to why the parents believe that the move is essential, and I am banking on the idea of money for a number of reasons.

One, living in Los Angeles is expensive as hell.

Two, the coping mechanisms Marcy has makes sense if finance is the main comeuppance.

Three, the background art.

And four, why this girl has straight A’s and a PSAT book.

We already covered number one, but let’s take a look at what I mean about coping mechanisms.

Marcy Wu’s many flaws come from what looks to be the fear of being alone, and the fear of being seen as unvaluable and worthless; that if Marcy doesn’t prove herself lovable and essential to the people around her then she gets anxious and will do anything in her powers to make the people around her like her or stay with her.

She will omit information, move along objectives through passive and indirect persuasion, allow people to assert their will over her because they said so and, most importantly, does all of this because she fears the consequences when she gets outed or rocks the boat. Because rocking the boat means people will get mad at her, and she appears to try to avoid that situation of vulnerability like the plague until it all culminated into True Colors.

She is terrified of getting hurt. She is terrified, specifically, of consequences — punishment through stress, frustration, the people she loves looking at her differently because of the mistakes she’s made, etc.

Why do I say this? It’s because if we look into Marcy Wu with her pre-Amphibia self, a lot of these fears could be placed into that middle school scenario very well. Marcy Wu plays videogames and loves fiction because it is a form of escapism or happiness away from stress; she has this intense curiosity to basically anything of interest and uses that to thrive with getting straight A’s and an overall very solid record, but there’s still a probability that high expectations or making the people around her love her comes through said status of being the smart one (after all, she prides on her intellect, and sees it as essential to basically surviving the day to day).

Look at Marcy’s flashback in True Colors. She’s a middle schooler but is studying for the PSAT, which is mainly held in High School, and I’m no expert but I don’t think you read that stuff for fun or at least study it that early.

And I find it interesting that that’s the first shot we get of Marcy before we dive into her parents’ argument — education, studying, the expectation of high scores.

And then when you remember that Marcy is the least athletic of the girls, the thrift shop’s street she retreats to away from her parents is not that faraway from her neighborhood.

And this street, is messy as all hell. And with the revised background art for this area, nothing about the place changes but instead gets emphasized through more shots of how rundown it all looks!

The fact there’s a bail bonds building behind Mar-mar also doesn’t reassure me in the slightest.

So here’s where we are: Studying, getting good grades, a serious financial situation, lives near a rundown section of the city, high expectations, and the evaluation of one’s worth through intellect and academia.

What we are witnessing is a nuanced family situation. If we go by the assumption that the three girls’ lives are not only vastly different in personality but upbringing, then on an income scale, Anne would be middle income, Sasha would be high income, and Marcy is low income.

Her family’s struggling to be stable in a city that they can’t afford to live in, there’s a very high emphasis on good grades and education in the household, and the situation is so bad that her dad would take the proposal of a higher-paying job out of state than finding a similar job out in the city.

However, in this household’s struggle to have a better life, the parents had to focus on their children getting better living than them, and this means Marcy had to live in an environment where the biggest source of reward and praise is through intellect, academics, the approval of the parents.

And I could probably assume that this focus on finance also lead to very rough patches where Marcy was unable to be encouraged over stuff she loves like C&C or videogames, since the level of attention is low compared to the amount of happiness and pride her parents get when she gets an A+.

Especially when we consider that in the dialogue we hear from Mr. and Mrs. Wu, her dad is more assertive while her mom appears to care but doesn’t seem to go against her husband’s tone, so a lot of the probable issues might’ve come from Marcy wanting her dad’s approval and her mother never standing up for her when he became frustrated.

That would make a lot of context with Andrias even worse in retrospect, because that means the moment a male adult figure decided to care about her and give attention to what she loved, then Marcy fell for it hook, line, and sinker.

And could you blame her?

Now, let’s finally get a glimpse on one other character I’ve been neglecting in this essay.

This gal! Because if Marcy and her are somehow related, then we need to question why she was never mentioned or why she wasn’t involved in the conversation between Marcy and her parents.

I’ve done a massive theory post about this already, but the biggest probability comes in the design itself, since if Marcy’s sister went through trade school to be a mechanic/engineer then there’s a high probability she’s in her mid-Twenties. And if we consider that Marcy is 13, then Marcy would’ve been born when her sister was 12 or 13, and ultimately leave the household when she turned 18.

This means Marcy would’ve gone on with less contact from her sister for 6 years, and that’s a lot for a developing child.

It’s not improbable for Marcy to have lost contact with her big sister, or at least had lesser time to meet up with her due to work, college, or her own adult life now that she’s out of the house.

After all, in Maddie and Marcy, I find it very interesting that out of the advice Marcy could’ve given to Maddie about siblings, Marcy tells her that even though Maddie is the older sibling and is allowed to have her own life she suggests that maybe she should make some time for her sisters occasionally. Almost as if this was a ditto moment for her, that she understands but also had a good example of a sister who made time whenever she had the chance.

On more speculation terms, it would be cute to think that the reason Marcy has so much fire and spirit toward her fiction and love for games is because of her sister. After all, Marcy harbors the same interest toward engineering and robotics, it wouldn’t be a stretch in the imagination that perhaps her sister encouraged her to keep on going with what she felt passionate for regardless of their parents’ lack of response, to basically be unapologetic of what she loves, and this mantra kept her going for a lot of her life even when her sis went for trade school.

But let’s go on a side note here. I find it quite interesting that the character design of Marcy’s sis is also very telling, because not only does it tell a supposed story about who she was in the aftermath of graduation, but we could find a way to also put the theme of income and finance into her story as well.

Let’s be real these two are partners in all the way — from mechanics to engineers to straight up girlfriends, these two basically have their own business going on and I find it interesting that none of them just go with robotics or mechanics as a full-time thing, it’s mainly two jobs rolled up into one.

Why is that? There is some speculation that maybe they’re specialists and work in a very science-related area, but it seems highly likely that their main jobs are being car mechanics by day and robotic expert nerds by night. After all, the city can be hecked with money so I wouldn’t be surprised if they did two jobs at once to keep the lights on. I could also see them doing freelancing to repair or experiment with engineering projects since they take more money than actually makes in most cases.

Overall, money plays a big part with the family, and culminates to what I like to call a Massive Shitfest TM when they get alerted over the girls’ disappearances.

Section Four - Massive Shitfest Boogaloo and Where They Are Now~

In the aftermath of their teleport to Amphibia, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Wus had a big argument over Marcy and what should be done in the aftermath. Really, the family still needs to take that job because of finance, people are blaming each other over who pushed her to the brink, and then you have Marcy’s sister — who was probably out of the loop but probably knows how it was in the household — getting added into the mess of what just happened and adding her grief into the mix.

It is a blunder, terrifying and could break apart a family if I’m being honest. but what comes through is this:

People have now become stubborn in the Wu household, and no one is going to back down.

And what I mean is that Mrs. Wu, devastated by what happened ever since the argument in True Colors, will stay in Los Angeles out of grief and a supposed hope that Marcy would return. While Mr. Wu, determined to keep the finance going and keeping everyone stable and safe, abides by Mrs. Wu and decides to go out of state regardless, bringing back a flow of money to keep the Wu household stable through the aftermath.

It would make sense as to why Marcy’s mom is present in the intro but not any suspecting candidates for the dad.

Or how we see that there’s two older ladies with her in the intro. They might actually be close relatives who moved into the household out of the obligation to comfort Mrs. Wu but to also keep her company throughout this dark time in her life.

After all, when one loses a child, a lot of prior relations start to unravel as the status quo changes, and we are definitely going to see Anne confront the Wus and Waybrights when it comes to upbringing and home life.

But really, it is all up in the air. With Season Three around the corner, I am excited to see what the story has in store for us when it comes to the deep-diving into Marcy’s home life. She might’ve had a nuanced family life. She might’ve had abusive parents, perhaps no sister at all but a lot of relatives who grieved for her.

But with this theory out to the public, thank you all for reading along with this massive beast of a post, and I hope we get to see Marcy out of the aloe vera sauce very soon!

[magnhild]

Nora Valkyrie, Identity, and Purpose

Hey everyone, Blaire here, and almost exactly a year ago, I made this mess of a post where I laid out all of my thoughts on Nora and what I thought the show could have in store for her.

And honestly, most of my ideas were way off, and not at all correct. Also, the post kind of flopped.

Thankfully, Volume 8 has given me a chance to redeem myself, and write another, more coherent, essay about my favourite RWBY character; where this Volume seems to be taking her character, and what it means to me, personally.

Buckle up.

To the vast majority of people in the RWBY fandom, Nora is the least-developed character, and the one most lacking in dimension. Most of her character seems to be defined by two things; her energy and love for fighting, and her relationship on Ren.

Volume 8 took note of these conceptions, and addressed them head-on.

Of course, any keen-eyed viewer will have noted Nora’s hidden depths even before this volume, which I noticed in last year’s post. She is perhaps the most perceptive of the main cast, at least, when it comes to people’s feelings and relaionships. She was the only one to really comment on Pyrrha’s crush on jaune, and the first to bring up Blake and Yang’s growing relationship. It was also her level-headedness that resolved RNJR’s argument in Volume 4, Chapter 9.

Volume 7 also showed us her innate desire to protect the weak, and her disdain to those who have the power to help, but refuse. I personally get the feeling that this was her driving motivation in becoming a Huntress; to protect people who cannot protect themselves, perhaps because she doesn’t want anyone to have to grow up as she did. Nora’s fury at Ironwood in V7C7 is esepcially signifigant, because it’s the angriest we’ve ever seen her before, even more so in that this anger is directed at someone with much more authority than her.

But these little details were only the tip of the iceberg. These were traits she already had, and while they help to add layers to her character, they’ve done very little in terms of her actual development. 

This is where Volume 8 came in stronger than any other.

Volume 7 hinted to us that Ren and Nora’s relationship was beginning to get more complicated, between their bickering, Ren’s dismissiveness at Nora, and their kiss in V7C6. By the end of the volume, it was clear that they were still struggling, despite their clear love for each other. Volume 8 carried this thread along, having them split into different parties, and Nora giving Ren a bit of attitude we’ve not really seen her direct at him before. 

She’s frustrated with him, and disappointed that he can’t see what she sees. But despite her tough front, V8C2 then hints that she’s sadder about the split than she’s letting on, after May brings up Nora’s ‘friends’. C3 then brings this to a head, where we get a conversation that sees Nora opening up to Blake and Yang, and revealing a deeply sad truth about herself- that she has no idea who she is without Ren, because she’s spent so much of her life with him and him alone, and her feelings for him have shaped so much of who she thinks she is. We’ve never seen her so hopeless and lost, especially after she reveals that, as far as she’s concerned, all she’s good for is hitting stuff.

Right in these few minutes, the show takes how the audience percieves Nora, and reveals to us that those two core traits are the gateways to a far deeper insight of her character. She’s known for her relationship with Ren, but wait- what about when he’s not there with her? She’s known for hitting stuff, but wait- that’s all she thinks she’s good for. 

It’s revealed to us that, not only is this how most of the audience percievs Nora, but it’s how she percieves herself. And for all her energy and upbeat attitude, deep down, she thinks incredibely lowly of herself. For all her confidence in her fighting abilities, she lacks confidence in herself as a person. 

Surprisingly enough, the ‘who am I?’ character arc is one that was hardly explored at all up until this point, despite it being one of the most common and signifgant character arcs in fictional media. And I don’t think many of us at all could have imagined that Nora would be the one to get that arc, when she’s always seemed so self-assured on the surface.

And then, when Penny is in need of help, Nora takes Weiss’ advice to heart, and does the one thing she believes she’s capable of- being strong, and hitting stuff.

Nora overcharging her Semblance to take down the wall is seen by a lot of the fandom as some kind of win for Nora; as her ‘big moment’. But while it’s certainly a really cool and badass scene, it was far from a triumph for her.

This was Nora at perhaps her lowest point so far in the series. This was Nora figuring ‘well, if this is all I’m good for, I’ll do it to the extreme’. This was Nora thinking her only purpose was to greatly endanger herself for the sake of others, because she figured she was the only one who could. And she almsot got herself killed for it. 

While certainly a defining moment, it was far from triumphant. It wasn’t a win. It was a self-destrcutive act that reflected how little she thinks of herself; that she’s not worth anything unless she’s pushing herself to the limit doing the one thing she thinks she’s good at.

And to drive the knife in harder, it backfires horribly. 

Because now she’s bedridden and critically injured, with scars that are probably permanent; a reminder of her lowest point, forever marked on her body. She can’t fight now, can’t help at all, and Salem has launched her attack on Atlas.

And in her half-unconsious state in V8C7, she realizes this, delivering an absolutely heartbreaking line:

As far as she’s concerned, her last attempt at doing what she thinks only she can do- what she thinks is all she can do- has prevented her from doing anything of worth at all. She lost one half of herself when she split from Ren, and now she’s lost the other half too. The two things that she defines herself by are gone. And the worst part is, we don’t know if she’s awar of the fact Salem has begun her attack. We could very well see her fully wake up, only to realize that the world has begun ending while she was unconsious, and she can’t do anything about it.

Now, this scene, and Nora’s struggle in this Volume as a whole, hit home for me in particular.

If you follow me on Twitter, you’re probably aware that Nora is only of my hightest- and only- kins. And I’ve only been able to relate to her more and more after what we’ve got of her in this Volume.

I am chronically disabled. I have a connective tissue disorder known as Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, which fucks up my body in a multitude of different ways, but signifigantly affects the joints. For me, it hits worst in my back, ankles, and my fingers. The fingers are my main problem. To make matters worse, I’ve also been victim to intense pains in my shoulder, which came out of nowhere a couple of months ago and have only gotten worse since. The slightest movement aggrevates it. As any follower of mine would know, I am both an artist and a writer. I create both for fun, and I’ve studied writing as a profession. It is these things I’m known for being good at, and not much else. 

Thanks to my disability and my shoulder though, I have to do these things less. Even on perscription pain medication, it still hurts. It hurts to write this even now; my shoulder feels like it’s burning up from the inside. It will only get worse over time.

So, I’m finding myself in Nora’s position. I can’t do what I’m good at anymore, and I don’t know what to do with myself as a result. Not doing these things makes me feel lazy and unproductive, and makes me feel that the people around me will abandon me so long as i can’t keep providing them content. And I’ve gotta say, it hurts a lot, and I don’t just mean physically. 

Because of what I’m going through, it’s especially important to see my favourite RWBY character just so happening to be dealing with the same problem; the same loss of idenity and purpose. We don’t know who we are or what we’re good for without the things we think define us.

While I’m unsure of my own future though, I find comfort in knowing that Nora’s problem will be tackled and addressed; that her friends will help her to rediscover herself and find her true worth. And while we’ve got a while to go until we’ll be able to see the Volume continue, I’m incredibely excited to see where Nora’s arc goes, especially if we can get some backstory along the way. I find myself wondering if her life before Ren is part of why she thinks so little of herself without him- was it the way she was raised to think? Is this the fault of her childood circumstances? Or is this just something she developed on her own, after becoming too dependant on Ren for comfort?

Whatever answers we get, I have faith that Nora’s story will be told well, and I’m very sure that it’s only just beginning. Even if she finds her worth before the end of the volume, her story won’t be over yet, not when we’ve still likely got at least four more volumes to go after this one.

In just seven episodes, Nora Valkyrie has gone from one of the least developed characters, to one of the most interesting and relatable, at least, in my eyes. There is so much more depth to her character than having a crush on Ren, and being the strong girl who hits stuff. There’s a layer of tragedy to her character that we’re touching upon now, and I’m excited to dive into it.

Thank you all for reading!

[bulletballet-arch]

REALLY LONG  CHARACTER  SURVEY. RULES. repost ,   don’t  reblog !    tag 10 ! good  luck ! TAGGED. I took this from Minnie’s archived Bioshock blog. I’ve been looking for this meme all this month. TAGGING. @hammurabicomplex. @bluuxriising. @ Me - for Sal on @bulletsoverbensonhurst​. @immaterialed (charlie) @soypeor (bella) @svmmercmance​. @mrflayed. and you!

BASICS. FULL  NAME :  Eve Delores Littlejohn NICKNAME : Evie, Little Evie (by her maternal side of the family), Delores, Didi NAME  MEANING / S  Eve is from the ancient Hebrew name  חַוָּה (Chawwah), which was derived from the Hebrew word חָוָה (chawah) meaning "to breathe" or the related word חָיָה (chayah) meaning "to live". Delores is a variant of Dolores, meaning "sorrows", taken from the Spanish title of the Virgin Mary María de los Dolores, meaning "Mary of Sorrows." Littlejohn is a surname that has historically been found in England and Scotland. With potential origins being either ‘to distinguish a beloved child that was not the eldest.’ Or, ‘a contradictory nickname for a large man.’ HISTORICAL  CONNECTION? : She’s named after her grandmother, Evelyn Hollins.

AGE : 42 BIRTHDAY :  June 2 ETHNIC  GROUP : Black-American. Meaning she’s mixed with a lot (Some of her relatives are respectively Creole and Italian) but uses Black as a catch-all term. NATIONALITY :  American LANGUAGE / S : English, Italian, Spanish, Latin, some French SEXUAL  ORIENTATION :   Bisexual ROMANTIC  ORIENTATION :  Biromantic RELATIONSHIP  STATUS : Verse dependent, usually married -or connected- to Salvatore Scozzari in some way. CLASS : Upper-Class HOME  TOWN / AREA :   Brooklyn. Spent time between Bedford-Stuyvesant - with her paternal grandfather and Park Slope - with her maternal grandparents.  CURRENT  HOME : In her childhood home in Bedford-Stuyvesant. PROFESSION : Ballet Instructor. Former Professional Ballerina. ( Other verses see her as a professional thief. )

PHYSICAL. HAIR : Black. In terms of her natural hair, Eve has springy, 3C hair she seldom shows off because she was raised in a family where straightened hair was deemed presentable and professional.  EYES : Thin almond eyes. Dark brown. NOSE : Straight and small. FACE :  She has a prominent, high forehead, that’s accented with high cheekbones and a pointy chin. LIPS :  Full. COMPLEXION : She has a light brown (tawny) complexion.  SCARS : None major. TATTOOS : None. HEIGHT : 5′4″ BUILD : Eve has a slender build. One of those people who have been small and petite since childhood. Despite this, she also stays skinny because she is obsessively conscious of the food she consumes. The older she gets the more she weighs, however. USUAL HAIR STYLE :  Her hair is cut short. Reaching her shoulders in a neat, even bob. She either curls it in a retro fashion or curls the tips. For work she wears it in a traditional, pinned bun. USUAL FACE LOOK : In public, she appears stoic for the most part. Any emotion shown (such as the length of a smile) is carefully calculated. She has to seem perfect.  USUAL  CLOTHING : Form fitting dresses. Incredibly chic and fashionable for the time. Shoes include heels - never open-toed, unless she has on stockings. Extravagant earrings. Jewelry that can include either necklaces, crosses, pearls, or dainty rings. Prone to wearing black sunglasses in public.

PSYCHOLOGY. FEAR / S : Thunderstorms, airplanes, creatures like weasels, snakes and ferrets, break-ins, men she doesn’t know, harm coming to her children ASPIRATION / S :  Formerly wanted to become a major [black] ballerina in the elite world of ballet, now she just wants to expose more [inner city children] to dance through her job. Personally, she wants her children to change the world in some form or fashion, too. Eve also has good ideas on improving the community, but at the moment has no idea how to go about these ideas. POSITIVE  TRAITS :  Generous, compassionate, patient, protective NEGATIVE  TRAITS : Strict, sullen, hard to read, represses her emotions, secretive MBTI :  Advocate - INFJ-T ZODIAC :  Cancer TEMPERAMENT :  Melancholic ANIMALS :  Lioness VICE / S :  Pride & Lust FAITH : Christian. Grew up Baptist, but Catholic influences have been around her since childhood. Attended a Catholic High School in Park Slope, her grandmother Evelyn was also a practicing Catholic.  GHOSTS ? : Yes and no. She feels that objects formerly owned by the deceased posses the essence of their previous owners and that they essentially live on through these pieces of property. AFTERLIFE ? : Yes. REINCARNATION ? :  No, but it’s a romantic concept. ALIENS ? : No. POLITICAL  ALIGNMENT :  Democratic ECONOMIC  PREFERENCE :  She likes being where she’s at now. But honestly, being upper class is all she’s ever known. SOCIOPOLITICAL  POSITION : Bourgeoisie, basically. The Littlejohn’s represent The Historical Black Elite.  EDUCATION  LEVEL : College level. FAMILY.

FATHER :  William ‘Bill’ Littlejohn MOTHER : Linda Littlejohn ( nee Hollins ) SIBLINGS : None EXTENDED  FAMILY : Amos Littlejohn (paternal grandfather) Liza Littlejohn (paternal grandmother) Evelyn Hollins (maternal grandmother) Giuseppe D’Aietti (maternal grandfather) and a wide host of cousins, aunts and uncles.

FAVOURITES. BOOK :  Night Song by Beverly Jenkins. The Color Purple by Alice Walker. Some sort of old, French erotic novel that was published before she was born. MOVIE : Eve watches films along the lines of...Waiting to Exhale, Beaches, The First Wives Club and Fatal Attraction. She loves Made-For-TV movies from the time period. In regards to plays, her favorite one is Sunday In The Park With George. 5  SONGS :  Meet Me On The Moon / Essence of Sapphire / No One In The World / People / The First Time I Saw Your Face  DEITY :  Persephone  HOLIDAY : New Years Eve, Christmas, Thanksgiving. Major holidays during the colder season. MONTH :  October SEASON :  Autumn PLACE :  The dance studio she works at. WEATHER : Sunny, but cool. SOUND : The voices of Anita Baker and Sarah Vaughn. A skilled hand running over piano keys. Soft trumpets. Running water. Cats making chipper little meows. SCENT / S :  Perfume, floral scented lotions, her partner’s cologne TASTE / S :  Caramel, the tang of dark chocolate, strawberries coated with either chocolate, or sprinkles of white sugar. Light Vinegar.  FEEL / S : Performing in front of an audience. Hot water engulfing your skin after a long day. Satin - whether it be the fabric of her clothes or sheets, your fingers tightly intertwined with another’s, feeling your significant other’s chest raise and lower against your skin with each breath they take. ANIMAL / S : Cocker Spaniels, Afghan Hounds, Cats, Birds - she loves all ( well, a majority ) of animals. NUMBER :  Doesn’t have one. COLOR :  White, Pink, Gold.

EXTRA. TALENTS :  Dance, Eve is trained in ballet when it comes to her main verse. She has attended ballet classes since the age of eight and ever since then she placed all of her focus into it. Similarly, Eve has always had the makings of a good artist - as a child she enjoyed drawing and had informal art lessons with a man who lived in the basement of her grandfather’s brownstone, but she never invested into that half of her. BAD AT : Singing, Being interviewed, Public Speaking (as in Speech Giving), Decision Making TURN  ONS :  Charisma, Leadership Skills, Temperature Play, Phone Sex, Heavy Kissing, Light Roleplay TURN  OFFS :  Public Sex, Tearing [ Her ] Clothes, Threesomes, Cruelty, Senseless Violence HOBBIES :  viewing plays & some musicals, reading romance novels, shopping, working out (she was into the whole celebrity VHS tape exercise trend), playing tennis, decorating AESTHETIC :  Vintage Black Glamour, Black Ballerinas, Champagne and Wine Glasses, Paintings by Melinda Byers and Edward 'Clay' Wright QUOTES :  "I'm bad with words, I hope you're good in reading eyes." / "There are truths I haven't even told God. And not even myself. I am a secret under the lock of seven keys."

FC INFO. MAIN  FC / S : Lynn Whitfield ( A Thin Line Between Love & Hate ) ALT  FC / S : Kylie Bunbury ( Twisted ) OLDER  FC / S :  Lynn Whitfield ( Greenleaf ) YOUNGER  FC / S : N/A VOICE  CLAIM / S : Lynn Whitfield

MUN QUESTIONS.

Q1 :   if  you  could  write  your  character  your  way  in  their  own  movie ,   what  would  it  be  called ,  what  style  would  it  be  filmed  in ,  and  what  would  it  be  about ?       A1 : Recently I decided that if/when I try to write anything serious about Eve again, it’ll center on her being a jewel thief because it presents me more fun, and emotionally diverse, opportunities. That and I have a very specific cover image in my mind. Ideally, her adventures would be a series of books. I have no title in mind, no idea about how ‘it would be filmed’ ( although a style replicating 90s films would be excellent, film grain and all. ) but, I do have a bunch of plots in mind that I really don’t feel like typing out here.  

Q2 :   what  would  their  soundtrack / score  sound  like ?         A2 :  Her score would have a vintage sound (or a jazzy Spike Lee sound, if you will) with instrumentals by Dorothy Ashby (a Jazz Harpist) the Ahmad Jamal Trio, Pharaoh Sanders, Yusef Lateef and Tarika Blue. For music with lyrics, the soundtrack would include the likes of Julie London, Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald, and Dionne Warwick.

Q3 :   why  did  you  start  writing  this  character ?   + Q4 :   what  first  attracted  you  to  this  character ? A3 :  Whenever I make NPCs for my character’s lives I actually can’t just let them just be NPCs. I start thinking about them too much. Developing them too much. And then I’m like, ‘wow! I really like this character!’ Eve was a different character when I began writing her, and likely wouldn’t be considered the same character as she was previously, if I told someone in real life who knows about my writing (like my grandma) about all the changes she has undergone. Originally Delores was a university professor, because I thought it could lead to interesting interactions with college-age muses. And her previous history with the mafia was also something interesting to tap in. But then I started thinking about what was realistic, what wasn’t realistic, what did I feel comfortable/interested writing? What didn’t I feel comfortable/interested in writing?  So as time went on, things would alter about this character. And the new things I came up with attracted me more. 

Q5 :   describe  the  biggest  thing  you  dislike  about  your  muse.         A5 :  I have a love/hate relationship with Eve’s quiet demeanor. On one hand, I think quieter characters need love and the ability to be fully dimensional but on the other hand, writing louder characters has always been more fun for me. But really, Eve’s guarded behavior makes writing her stressful in some cases with others because sometimes...if I’m going to be honest...people don’t know how to carry a thread and interact with someone of her demeanor effectively. 

Q6 :   what  do  you  have  in  common  with  your  muse ?       A6 : We’re both black, we’re both into art (although our exact interests and aesthetics with art differ)

Q7 :   how  does  your  muse  feel  about  you ?         A7 : Realistically she would think I need to take better care of myself.

Q8 :   what  characters  does  your  muse  have  interesting  interactions with ?   A8 :  We skippin’ this question.

Q9 :   what  gives  you  inspiration  to  write  your  muse ?       A9 : Films such as, “Waiting to Exhale,” “The Kitchen” and “Widows.” Books by Alice Walker, like “The Third Life of Grange Copeland” as well as her short story, “Roselily.” The historical mob figure Stephanie St. Clair.

Q10 :   how  long  did  this  take  you  to  complete ?       A10 : A few hours.

[bibliofiles-in-a-greenhouse]

Mad, Bad, & Dangerous to Know: A Review

Today I will be reviewing Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know by Samira Ahmed. As always, there will be spoilers ahead, so read at your own risk.

~~SPOILERS AHEAD~~

Khayyam Maquet should love her holiday with her studious parents in Paris. But instead she finds herself at a crossroads - her sometimes kind-of boyfriend is ghosting, she may have blown her chance of getting into her dream college, and all she wants is to go back home to Chicago to figure out her life. 

But things change when she meets Alexandre Dumas, a descendant of her favorite writer. On top of that she finds letters to a mysterious woman, who just might give Khayyam another chance. 

Meanwhile, centuries before, Leila is trying to hide her love from the pasha, and survive as she is ‘gifted’ a position of favor in said pasha’s harem. As Khayyam begins to trace the threads of Leila’s life, the lives of these two women will intertwine as both lives are changed forever. 

~~TIME FOR MY THOUGHTS~~

I’m rather sad to say that I didn’t like this book. It felt like a chore to read, and my issues with the characters and the plot only made it worse. 

For starters, this book was presented as a feminist and poc narrative, but both protagonists spend the majority of the book bending to the will of men, and not even nice, respectful men. Being a feminist and hating all men do not go hand in hand, but these characters, and Khayyam especially,  are at the beck and call of the men in this story, above their own autonomy. Leila is not much better, making strong, well-grounded decisions and suddenly throwing them all away for a man despite the fact that it might very well get her killed. 

Another thing that wrankles with me is that, from what I can tell, this book has some good poc representation, especially in that of the two leading ladies. But Khayyam makes me feel like she’s ‘not racist towards the french’ in the way that Emily in Paris is a love letter to France instead of a bunch of Americans taking a shit on French culture. Khayyam is such a cool intersection of cultures, race, and religion (she’s French, Indian, American, and Muslim), and I think it would have been really cool and interesting to take a look at how all of these intersecting identities affect Khayyam, regardless of where she is*. 

Instead she spends so much time confused over which boy she should pick (she calls them ‘problematic faves’ - more on that later), that the story (these two women centuries apart coming together) that I came here for comes second. 

Back to Khayyam’s ‘problematic faves’, or more accurately, her use of that term. It makes sense that a seventeen-year-old would speak like most of gen z, however, sometimes the volume of gen-z buzzwords in what Khayyam is saying reminds me of Riverdale, and not in a good way (side note: is anything involving Riverdale good? I mean seriously, would anyone ever say ‘I beg your misogynistic pardon?’ unironically?). 

For a complete change of subject, where were Khayyam’s parents? Their few appearances are only to further the plot progression (and by plot I mean what should be the subplot of which boy Khayyam is going to pick), despite the fact that their daughter breaks and enters on multiple occasions. They let said daughter run around Paris with a guy that they met once (and the only thing they know about him is that he’s related to Alexandre Dumas), and though I appreciate that they are giving their daughter more independence, I’m a little concerned that they didn’t seem to fear for Khayyam’s safety at all. 

The story has such a cool premise, but I feel like so much of it is spent mooning over different men (almost entirely on Khayyam’s part by this point, since Leila’s major paramour died) that it takes a back seat, and could be lost entirely without really affecting Khayyam’s journey at all. I don’t see a lot of character development in Khayyam, and she sort of comes across like ‘i’m not like other girls’ in the way that Bella from Twilight isn’t like other girls. 

Later in the story, in an effort to prove that she really is feminist, and she doesn’t need men at all, her two love interests are demonized (which is fair, both of them are flawed, but given the fairly positive view that the reader has gathered of them from the previous 200-ish pages, it’s kind of out of nowhere), but that doesn’t erase the fact that Khayyam has been pining for the both of them throughout the book. I also think that Khayyam could have been a lot less damaging with how she handled the situation. She didn’t try to communicate sensibly and instead hurls insults at them until they both leave (In the case of Zaid, it kind of makes sense, he was not good to Khayyam, but Alexandre’s feels a bit less justified). I understand that given that she is 17, she may not be the most mature person in the world, but I think her outburst is kind of sudden and poorly handled. 

She chooses herself, yes, but at the cost of some, if not glowing relationships, then half-decent ones. I feel like the book fell into the common pitfall of ‘romantic relationships are the be all and end all of teen life’ which is simply not true. 

Khayyam is so focused on being feminist and defying the patriarchy in the present that she forgets that the whole point of this was to discover Leila’s story, and take down the patriarchy by telling it. The whole point of Alexandre appearing at all (his connections to the Dumas family helping discover Leila) is thrown out of the window when Zaid shows up, just like it has been for the last few hundred pages. Khayyam, and by extension Leila, are jerked around by men, the patriarchy, despite Khayyam’s whole deal supposedly being defying said patriarchy. 

Khayyam reminds me of how white cishet male authors write feminists - spewing all the relevant rhetoric until a man comes along and ‘fixes’ it. I guess the only reason that i’m so bothered by it is because this is presented as a masterful feminist story, but all Khayyam really does is say feminist things while she is a doormat for the male characters. It doesn’t even feel like quality observations, because she spews all of this hate towards famous men - not entirely without reason - but she doesn’t acknowledge the cultural influence that these men had. She does not separate art from artist from gender. 

Nevermind that these men are helping the plot move forward, and without them there would likely be no plot at all. Khayyam’s main personality trait is supposedly being feminist and not needing men, yet she consistently bends to the will of men for the sake of the plot or drama, both of which are in such contrast with how the reader has expected Khayyam to be that they feel almost physically painfully out of place. 

In short, I think that this book had a really amazing plot idea and a lot of things going for it, but the way is was executed in contrast with my expectations based on the synopsis and the author’s note make me feel massively let down. The book has pitfalls that while not always massive, are commonplace enough and reoccurring enough that I couldn’t ignore them, and subsequently couldn’t find myself enjoying the book, no matter how hard I wanted to. 

- Marigold

*note: I know that the race, religion, and/or cultural identity of a character, especially a poc character, should not be their only personality trait. However with Khayyam, I feel like it is not addressed in any way at all, despite the fact that within the first few sentences of the book it is put in a position to be a focal point. I just feel as though her saying vague things like ‘that lady was kind of rude to me’ leaving the insinuation that she (the woman) is racist, or ‘it’s paris so i probably won’t get shot by a cop’ (which is a fair thing to say, I just think that if you’re going to mention that you might as well add something to make me invested in that idea with regards to the character personally. That didn’t happen, therefore it feels very abstract; since she’s not in America, where such a comment would be most relevant it falls flat) really leaves out the audience and makes it hard for them to relate or sympathize with Khayyam’s struggles against racism. It feels performative, obligatory and perfunctory when it would have been such an effective device to get readers invested in Khayyam’s life, regardless of whether she was in the US or not. There are no flashbacks to help ground the things that Khayyam references, so it’s far too easy to forget that she said them at all, and that in her hometown she has a very good reason to be concerned for her safety (in special regards to the cop thing).

[yourcoffindoor]

Bulletproof Heart Pt. 1

Pairing: Gerard Way x Reader

Prompt: Request from Anon- “ could you write one where the reader is a rock singer and they and mcr are on warped tour together, and they both lowkey like each other but think they’re both out of each other’s league, and find out that they’re both secretly into nerdy stuff + maybe getting together? thank you so much xxx”

AN: This is a multi-part series--I couldn’t help myself! Also, I based this fic around something Gerard said in a Rolling Stone interview:

Hope its ok Anon! enjoy!

You had dreamed of this moment since you first picked up a guitar. Back then it felt like an impossible fantasy, being on stage with your band, playing in front of a crowd of screaming fans; which is why it felt so surreal when your manager Tim told you that your band, The Violent Delights, had booked Warped Tour.

"June 18th," he told you with a satisfied grin, "you're in for the long haul, kids."

Your band-mates let out a collective shriek of joy, while you planted a grateful kiss on Tim's cheek.

"You're an OK manager, you know that?"

"Yeah, yeah," he said, dramatically wiping his cheek where your lips had been. "Now you guys better get practicing. This is a good opportunity to really get your name out there. Plus you got some real popular acts to compete with."

Your interest was peaked. "Oh yeah? Like who?"

"Off the top of my head? Fall Out Boy, Dropkick Murphys, and I think a band called My Chemical Romance."

"Oh shit, My Chem?" your bassist, Gavin, piped up excitedly. "That's the band I'm always trying to get Y/N to listen to."

"I'll have to finally borrow their last album," you replied, "gotta scope out the competition after all." Gavin rolled his eyes while you laughed.

Your manager got serious. "It's three months on the road, and its gonna take a lot of energy and hard work. Quite frankly, it ain't glamorous."

"Tim, when have we ever been glamorous? I wouldn't care if it were a 12 month tour," you declared, "I wouldn't miss this opportunity for the world." Liz, your drummer, nodded in agreement beside you.

"You might be singing a different tune when you haven't had a shower in three days."

"As long as I'm singing it in front of an audience, we'll be fine."

* * *

Back at your apartment you marked June 18th on your calendar with a star, feeling invigorated with excitement all over again. This was it, you thought, the next level for our band. You were determined to give it your very best, outperforming every other band there.

After all, you had worked so hard to get to this point. Starting in friend's basements and tiny cafes, the band had slowly built up a sizable following of loyal fans. You were no longer the opening act, drawing sell out crowds more often than not. You made a promise to yourself that the band wasn't going to lose this momentum. There would be no distractions for you on this tour, just hard work and the thrill of performing. That meant no parties, and absolutely no boys. You weren't ready for another relationship, you told yourself, especially since the last one ended in disaster.

Yes, this was the moment the band had been waiting for. You let the warm excitement that this knowledge brought envelope you, and you lay your head down on your pillow, falling asleep to fantasies of what lay ahead.

* * *

Its a long road from Maryland to Ohio. Columbus was the first stop of the tour, which meant your band had 6 and a half hours to go over the set-list, make adjustments  discuss their hopes and fears for the three month experience. Gavin gave you a few CDs to listen too, including My Chemical Romance's Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge.  You had heard their first album ages ago and enjoyed it, but there was something incandescent to the music you were hearing now. It stirred a whirlwind of heavy emotion, and you were enthralled from beginning to end. You made a mental note to see them perform at Warped as soon as possible.

When your bus arrived at its destination, you felt the unwelcome buzz of nerves building in your stomach. This was real, you thought, this was happening. You were used to performing at this point, but it was the amount of people you'd be performing for that was nerve-wracking. Not to mention the fellow artists who may be watching and judging your sound. You breathed deep and tried to push past the nervous thoughts that hummed incessantly around your head like insects.

Your band-mates were buzzing about with excitement, but you needed to distract yourself. Fresh air always helped settle you, so you grabbed your shoes and decided to go for a walk around the venue.

It looked almost like a circus with all the trailers and tents that had quickly populated the surrounding area. Merch stands and catering tents were being organizes as dozens upon dozens of vans and trailers pulled in. There were already a few fans camped outside of the chain-link fence that surrounded the area, eagerly awaiting a glimpse of their favorite artists.

You kept wandering, and you saw that a band was being interviewed in the media tent. There were five of them, each holding a microphone; but one member, a dark haired boy, was doing most of the talking. He was cute, you thought, and your stomach did little flips watching him respond to the questions that were being asked.

You watched a little bit longer from a distance, until you felt a tap on your shoulder. You turned to see Gavin and Liz, who had been doing a bit of exploring as well.

"Hey, there you are! I was talking to a few people by the catering tent. They said some bands are having a party on their buses later tonight, we should check it out." Gavin informed you excitedly.

You hesitated. No parties. "I dunno, I want us to be in good condition to perform tomorrow."

Liz chimed in. "All work and no play, Y/N. C'mon, it'll be a great chance to make some connections with other bands."

"If you don't come with us," Gavin pronounced dramatically, "we'll be far too devastated to perform tomorrow." His hand went to his forehead, as though he was about to faint.

"Somehow I doubt that."

"Pretty please?" Liz stuck her lower lip out pathetically.

"With sugar on top?" Gavin added.

You glanced at the black haired boy in the distance. Maybe he'd be there, a small voice in your head piped up.

"Ugh Fine! But I'll only stay for a little bit."

Satisfied, the pair stopped harassing you, and left you to continue wandering, promising to meet up with them later.

* * *

People spilled out from open trailers as music blared from an unknown source in the background. Some were already far gone, stumbling from place to place, or lying on the ground blacked out.

You followed Gavin inside one of the trailers. You watched as he interacted with the strangers inside with ease, a trait you envied. He managed to find you both drinks, and you grabbed the mystery beverage, sculling it in hopes that it would numb your nervousness. You may have been a great performer onstage, but offstage it was easy for your social anxiety to take the wheel.

Gavin began to walk away, ignoring your whispered pleas not to leave you. Fuck. It always felt awkward to not know anyone at a party. You clutched your red cup like a life jacket keeping you afloat in a sea of drunken strangers.

A man approached you out of nowhere, the smell of alcohol emanating from every pore on his body.

"You look lonely." He leered at you expectantly.

"Then it seems like you need glasses. I'm just fine on my own."

He laughed. "Ooo! I like you. You've got spunk. Name's Brent, guitarist from Midnite Heist."

"Can't say I've heard of you guys."

Brent was either oblivious to your indifference, or just chose to ignore it. "So how'd you end up at this party?"

"I'm in a band on the tour too. Lead singer actually."

"No way! That's awesome, we need more talented eye candy on this tour."

You screamed internally while he droned on, tuning him out as you continued to sip from your fast emptying cup.

You scanned the room, watching people laugh and dance. Your stomach suddenly flipped again as you noticed the black haired boy from this afternoon, solemn faced and quiet, silently nursing a diet coke in his hands. He was clearly not having a good time. The guitarist who had been talking you up soon saw you looking at the sullen figure and turned his attention towards him, his eyes lighting up with recognition.

"Gerard fucking Way!" he bellowed, carelessly sloshing his drink as he waved him over, causing a stream of alcohol to fall to the floor below.

Gerard seemed to hesitate before walking over. "It's been awhile man," he said softly. His eyes, a warm hazel, flicked to you repeatedly as he spoke. "you here for the whole tour this time?"

Brent laughed, his sobriety dangling by a thread.  "Yeah, but still not up on the main stage, unlike you big-shots." he said, punching Gerard in the arm. Gerard offered a crooked smirk in return, his patience already wearing thin. Brent nudged you in the arm. "This is Y/N, her band is new to Warped. I told her I'd show her the ropes." He grinned at you. Ugh.

Gerard seemed to sense your discomfort. "Welcome, nice to see a new face around."

Brent interrupted before you could respond. "How come you're wasting time with a coke? I would've expected you to be the first one wasted here."

Gerard's jaw clenched, and you cringed internally at the sheer awkwardness of the encounter. "I'm sober now," he informed Brent, "I don't touch that shit anymore."

Brent laughed dismissively. "Dude, you?  Do you even remember the last Warped tour? I'll give it 2 days before you're lying face down in the bushes again." he laughed as if he had just said something hilarious.

You were livid, and Gerard was on edge. You decided to step in when you noticed his knuckles turn white from clenching his coke can.

You moved slightly, ready to get between them. "Hey you know what? I'd really love a coke right now too. Mind showing me where they are?" you looked pleadingly at Gerard. He took the hint.

"Follow me."

You gave a curt wave to Brent, who looked on in confusion before continuing his drinking binge.

You stepped outside, and the sounds from the party behind you became a faint, thumping buzz in the background. You were both silent for a moment before you decided to break the ice.

"So that guy was a dick."

Gerard's scowl turned into a thin, lopsided smirk. Your heart melted a bit. "Yeah. I just realized some of these people are only tolerable when I'm drunk."

Stop. Move away. You don't need a distraction like this. You tried to scold yourself but words kept escaping from your lips, prolonging the encounter.

"This is my first time doing Warped Tour, but I'm assuming these parties are pretty much never-ending?"

Gerard pulled out a cigarette and lit it. "Oh yeah, its every night for some of these bands. You're in for an interesting experience." You looked at him for a moment, perhaps for a bit too long. You had never seen anyone look so beautiful while surrounded by clouds of smoke.

"Yoohoooo! Y/N!" you heard the hollering of a clearly tipsy Gavin call from the doorway of the next trailer. "Where'd you go? The night is young! Get back here!"

You sighed. "That's my cue. Well actually that's my bassist, but he'll never let me live it down if I don't go back in there."

Gerard turned his head to the side and exhaled. "Catch you around. Next time you need rescuing from a douche-bag just light the bat signal."

You gave him a soft smile, forcing yourself to turn away and walk back to the trailer. As you did, you whispered aloud to yourself as a reminder:

"No distractions. No boys."

[luxurypackaging9]

Innovative Luxury Packaging Design Agency

It focuses on its set of target audience depending upon its necessities and feelings. Here merchandise don’t should put efforts to get seen whereas the best set of the audience attracts in the direction of the product. Immersion–we immerse ourselves in your business to fully perceive your strategy. We design every brand round its distinct personality traits, rooting it to a singular positioning. ARC Worldwide are the great brand activation arm of Leo Burnett and have received a number of John Caples Awards, Campaign Big Award, IPM Awards, MAA Best Awards and DMA Awards within the last yr alone.

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A one-stop-shop for all your marketing and design wants might be very beneficial for your small business. You get to work with teams that perceive your brand, offering companies that assist you to obtain goals in a single cohesive effort. The newest research from the Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs reveals that 63% of businesses don’t have a documented content marketing strategy. Just like a person, a model could be socially awkward and ship confusing messages — one thing nobody needs from their business. Content advertising consultants can help you employ this missed promoting alternative to get ahead of the competition. We wrap up by checking whether agencies implement packaging design strategies with security, functionality, convenience, protection, beauty branding recognition, communication, budget, and ROI in mind.

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Lumen is specialised in creating innovative beauty branding and packaging solutions for both the FMCG and luxury product categories. R-Design is an award-winning branding & packaging design agency with over 27 years experience working with major retailers, international manufacturers and start-ups. Bulletproof is an independent strategic model design company founded in 1998 by two school associates annoyed with current company offers. Today Bulletproof is 165 strong throughout London, New York, and Singapore, delivering strategic design and innovation for international shoppers including HEINEKEN, Mondelēz International and Diageo. Driven by the identical stressed power and entrepreneurial spirit that began it all, Bulletproof stays a fiercely unbiased strategic and inventive force with a unique tribal tradition that units it apart from different companies. Based in London but working globally for more than twenty years, Jo’s talent delivers unequalled and delightful luxury design solutions.

We like to begin each project with a minimal of a certain amount of time getting to grasp the scenario. This would require getting to understand the demographic, the channels, brand structure and product range, geographic reach and more. Today in 2020, buying is all concerning the experience, and the journey one goes throughout the entire course of. Luxury packaging design isn't just about money however to create a memorable expertise in each step.

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We partner with shoppers at every step to make sure we design collateral and packaging to match the characteristics of your products. Our staff can be based in your office, working hand-in-hand with you to further improve the partnership. 1HQ was in at 15th place in the Design Week Top a hundred again in 2010 with 2 top 5 finishes in both the packaging and product design sections. But what's most essential within the award stakes are the truth that within the Drum Client Poll 2013, SomeOne were voted the No1 design company by their peers within the UK design business. I think Dew Gibbons and his mates have been on the wacky backy when they came up with their new model name ‘Free the Brids’, read the story and it’s quiet a tenuous link to say the least. Some of their clients, such as Boots, Boehringer Ingelheim and P&G, have been with them since they began as an company, which says so much.

The companies’ case studies let us study their work in motion, with real shoppers. We verify how the agency approached and solved a specific problem; from technique and recommended options to the implementation course of, and establish the components that led to success or failure. We use multiple qualitative and quantitative factors in our analysis process to rank the companies. We check each firm’s scope of providers, depth of experience, creative expertise, the professionals concerned in it, and, most importantly, the power to craft a strategic and visually-pleasing bundle that sells.

We can offer larger portions if required, however smaller runs allow more creative freedom via not being confined to the limitations of equipment. Higher levels of innovation and personalisation are also much more feasible for smaller quantities, with rigorously considered hand-finished components – as seen in a super yacht espresso table e-book field we just lately completed. Luxury brands demand premium packaging with unparalleled craftsmanship and exceptional materials.

Since 1995, we've produced award profitable packaging designs and have established a powerful popularity for inventive excellence and the business impression of our work. Our specific experience in meals packaging design has allowed us to become certainly one of Ireland's main food packaging design specialists. We focus on providing revolutionary packaging design options having immediate artistic influence whereas remaining useful and cost efficient.

We have developed high-standard ranking standards for advertising corporations that came in helpful when choosing the right names in artistic packaging design that double as successful, full-service advertising businesses. This established packaging design company counts major brands like Rhed’s among their clients. Based in London, The Packaging Boxes brings a brilliant and impactful strategy to every distinctive enterprise project they take on. SO help luxurious and aspirational brands look better, sound higher and think better.We love what we do and are fortunate enough to have labored with a wonderfully various vary of past and present shoppers.

The packaging design companies that totally fulfill our criteria and present excellent ranges of creativity get a boost in our rankings. To remain aggressive, brands must spend money on advertising and artistic efforts, with companies preferring agencies that supply a full scope of providers in addition to packaging design. We additional analyze the companies' portfolios to find whether they have a proven track record of helping purchasers drive gross sales. We take the time to check their purchasers' efficiency before and after hiring a particular packaging design company.

We end by checking the bundle designers’ narrative expertise in phrases of visible graphics and slogans. Those might help the package deliver an enticing story, inspiring consumers to take motion. For example, Brandality completely revamped and packaged the Number 1 well being drink by creating a fresh design for the cans. The new, eye-catching design created better awareness of the drink’s health benefits, highlighting the inclusion of energy-enhancing ginseng, B-vitamins and biotin. Working with licensed brands from Marvel, Spider Man and Avengers, influential Design created absolutely permitted market prepared ranges for lunchbags and tablewears for children.

The data-led report predicts picture, video and music kinds set to dominate advertising campaigns, which could also affect packaging designs. Brand design company JDO is holding its annual competition to encourage and establish emerging design expertise. If you have a project in thoughts, don’t be shy, we’re on hand to talk via your necessities and would love to have you ever and your brand on board. We can help you convey your values to the fore, and form a cohesive brand identity you can be happy with. We offer all of the greatest bits of a artistic company with none of the nonsense.

We are simply showcasing the data for design inspiration and creativity. The colors used in the premium or elite packaging aren't brilliant; as a substitute, they are from matt finish to metallic and glitter shades. Pearlescent coating raised UV coating, metallic sheens and gentle contact are some of the commonplace luxury effects mixed with a singular structure.

We evaluate these companies intimately against our criteria for graphic design firms to make sure only the most effective safe a spot on our record. What matters most to us is whether or not or not the companies have diverse in-house teams that supply versatile and in-depth expertise. We interview staff members, ask for measurable results from previous initiatives, and evaluate their expertise first-hand. Underneath one of the best packaging design lies intelligently applied creativity. Teams that method technique and design processes with outstanding creativity rank on prime of our list. We check the agencies’ trade and shopper focus to make it easier for you to filter the choices that suit your wants.

Oh and earlier than my reminiscence slides away, they were additionally named 'Design Team Of the Year' on the 2011 UK Packaging Awards & 'Design Company Of The Year' on the prestigious UK Packaging Awards in 2009. This listing of really helpful packaging design & branding agencies pack a huge quantity of inventive punch between them, the tally was conceived and composed to showcase the best of talent within the UK. All entries are alphabetically listed and not ranked in anyway towards each other. Jewellery branding, packaging design and website company Grain Creative counts among its purchasers Damiani, Bliss, Devotion, Richemont, Gucci, Forevermark, Avakian, Spence Diamonds, Savage and Rose and Amanda Wakeley. We go beyond pretty photos, creating jewelry model identities from scratch in addition to refreshing historical names in jewelry. Firms ought to be capable of elevate consumer’s expertise past the mere utility of a services or products.

Companies looking for a package design companion should seek the advice of firms that also have capabilities in product design and branding. P&W is a London-based inventive design consultancy with 30-years of expertise serving to manufacturers by way of the business jungle by delivering intelligently crafted design solutions. An in-depth understanding of retail environments is what differentiates P&W. We at all times contemplate brands in context, excited about the broader market, store setting and buyer expertise. This has resulted in 100+ international design and marketing awards, proving our design solutions meet commercial objectives.

Agencies should worth transparency, and supply purchasers with reviews on agreed-upon intervals. Whether it’s a conference call, in-person assembly, or written temporary, companies should update customers in regards to the results and may optimize further efforts, primarily based on these outcomes and suggestions. Packaging design firms with versatile expertise in branding, marketing, and design get a rating boost.

Design studio Marmalade on Toast has lately rebranded as Thursday, following a successful period of growth. Creative company STORMBRANDS has hired a model new inventive director of communications. By submitting this type, you acknowledge that the knowledge you provide will be transferred to MailChimp for processing in accordance with their Privacy Policy and Terms. Premium packaging not only will increase the perceived worth but additionally turns into an unforgettable unboxing expertise.

And of course there are private label brands, excessive avenue retail brands, begin ups, native, forecourt manufacturers, the record is countless and the necessities for information vast. However, getting the experience and model proper means the difference between success and failure. The best method to put luxury into your packaging is to assume about it as a compelling mission. One of the most important differentiators between commonplace and luxurious packaging is the diploma of interplay required. Hence ensure your packaging is distinct and inventive when your model is elite.

[inscapeblog]

Subculture in Design: Through Kpop Subculture-Deylin Patel

Introduction

The main topic hat will discussed in this essay is Subculture in design. When people think about subculture they think about what that subculture have to do with design, what impact does it have on the design world. The only way to understand why subculture in design is really needed is to see if it has been applied to a certain subculture and how it has influenced design or not. This essay with argue if Kpop subculture in design is important and the influence it has on graphic design. The essay will show his by defining what subculture is and what Kpop subculture is. The characteristics of Kpop subculture, as well as the characteristics of Kpop subculture’s style in graphic design. To support my argument the essay will cover how Kpop has influenced the  graphic design in the styles of designing. The examples that will be discussed with make decide weather Kpop subculture has either helped design or not.

  2. Defining Subculture in Design

To understand what Subculture in Design is we need to understand the definitions of what subculture is and design. The meaning of subculture is when ideas, art, the way of life that a group of people within society are different to other people of society.(Definition of subculture, 2021) this basically means that people are different in the way they are because of the ideals of the subculture. The meaning of design is is to have a particular purpose or intention in view of an individual or group. (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2021). Understanding what subculture and design is we can know put them together we then understand that we can say that subculture can be connected through values, in the way of design we can then decide what works with the style of the subculture, thus making that different subcultures might have the same sign for something but they mean something else. This is when a designer needs to understand the context of what happens. (Design & Subculture, 2021).

To focus on the subculture of design I will be looking at Kpop as the subculture to argue if it impacts design or not. The meaning of the Kpop subculture is an international music genre that has different music styles that began in South Korea. (Spatichia & Otolorin, n.d.)  Kpop has become a huge part of the music world. The thing that makes Kpop different from the normal kind of music is that they have a particular design style that they use for what they want to do. 

The Characteristics of Kpop subculture 

Before one goes into Subculture in Design, we must understand the characteristics of what Kpop. These characteristics include large groups which means that the music group is from four people to about 23 members, this is mainly because they want fans to have different people to look and support. They have a hybrid sound which makes use of he traditional Korean music elements with the influence of jazz, soul, hiphop and funk, this is what makes their style of music so interesting. They have a Unique style which relates to fashion design this helps in that the style of clothing that they go for will influence design in many different ways.(MasterClass, 2021) 

Now knowing what the definitions are and what the characteristics are it makes it clear that Kpop can very much be an influence on graphic design in that they have different views on how they do things and they have a connection to design to make them different from other subcultures. This is shown with how they produce their music videos, it is shown that they have themes and stories that are about unrequited love and coming to age and the other things that happen in life. (Lee, 2019)

This helps me as a designer in that I can argue that Kpop subculture is something that subculture in design can help with graphic design and make a difference in the way we think about subcultures and the design style they bring. 

3. The significance of Subculture in design in identifying and solving a design problem

The significance of Kpop subculture in terms of it being used in graphic design. This is made significant in that Kpop’s art is influenced by Pop Art in terms of the art and illustration. Kpop uses the idea of sleeky minimal deign work, this is shown by the work of different artists playing with photography, typography, colour, illustration.  When wanting to understand the style that makes graphics important is that it has a very different take on the use of different elements to make the design stand out. 

Some unique characteristics of Kpop design is the ability to tel a story, this is mainly shown in the music videos of Kpop, the idea of making something a story of something is important in that as designers we need to think about how will the subcultures influence the way the work is done and influence the way design thinking goes with everything that has been done. Kpop’s idea of making the subject matter light they have a unique way of making it look amazing in tat the viewer can be part of that journey. 

Kpop also keeps in mind who the audience is and who they are advertising to and how they market themselves. This helps with social media in that when graphic designers need to look for ideas on how to promote new ideas they need to make sure that they follow the tight ideas of who will people see and what they think of them. 

Kpop design is also very particular in the way they use colour. They make sure that they have captured the right amount of attention. This achieved in that they make somethings stand out in some cases but in others they make it over colourful that they make it look like a dream party filled of colour. They also make use of black and which which can also mean a lot depending on what they want to achieve. 

The most important trait that stands out of Kpop and graphic design is the use of the design principles. This is because they make use of good balance, positioning, symmetrically and visual balance and unity as well as using the idea of persecutive in their work. (White, 2016)

With all this the idea of Pop art comes in, in that Kpop artists and designers think about how to make the audience feel as if they are the best and they are the ones that everyone needs to see. 

This brings us back to the idea that subculture in design is important in for graphic design. Thus saying that the ideas that Kpop subculture is a strong example to show that they think in creative and unique ways that they are not just a subculture that dresses a certain way or creates music in its own style but it rather creates a place that makes them think in a designer way to make design more easy on the eye for everyone. 

4. Examples of successful application of Subculture in Design through Kpop  in spatial design

When looking at examples of how the techniques of subculture came into existence in the albums of Kpop albums is that they used colour, typography and photography .  

   Figure 1 - Poster (Lee, 2019)

When looking at this poster one gets the feeling of balance and good use of colour and harmony. This is because the use of how the idea of the subculture is still evident in the work. The application of the use of typography makes one look at the image and makes them interested in away. 

 Figure  2 - Flashmo Instagram (Lee, 2019)

When looking at this image we can see the idea of pop art being used. In terms of the Kpop subculture it shows that they also took inspiration form the west and took the idea of using typography and a pop art take on creating this new type of design. Which is something graphic designer would do and see how to make it fit with the idea of how things work and get made. 

Figure 3- CD cover (Lee,2019) 

In this CD cover we can see different elements with use of colour and photography and very little typography. The way that design is used to show the subculture for what it is and what it stands for. The colours and photography makes one want to see what is happening and what will happen next. 

The application of all the examples help to create a feel that graphic design has a part to play in designing covers and ideas to make the message that Kpop artist want to show off. The whole idea that being Subculture in Design is important and it is also very important to make ideas and traits in to design. 

5. Conclusion

As a whole for my argument I can agree that Subculture in design is important. Thus saying that subculture can bring about new ideas and influences in the way we work and do things as designers. The exploration of subcultures and design is that subcultures have an influence in the way we think and look at design. With going into depth of graphic design in Kpop culture shows that design is used in different ways but it can always be connected when one looks and analysis’s the fine detail in what they do. The final argument is that subcultures need to be taught on how things are and how designers can apply the thoughts and ideas of subcultures in their design work. Subculture in design is important and it makes the world of showing things in different ways can open doors for people. Graphic design might not be the core components of Kpop but it can start becoming one of the factors.  

Reference List

Definition of subculture. (2021, March 10). Collinsdictionary.com; HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/subculture

Design & Subculture. (2021, March 10). Blogspot.com. http://globaldesignstudies.blogspot.com/2009/10/design-subculture.html 

Lee, G. (2019, May). How to design for K-pop: the design queen for BTS on branding idol chart-killers. Digital Arts. https://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/features/graphic-design/how-to-design-k-pop-bts/

‌MasterClass. (2021, January 14). All About K-Pop: Inside K-Pop’s History and Signature Sound. MasterClass; MasterClass. https://www.masterclass.com/articles/what-is-kpop#what-are-the-characteristics-of-kpop

‌Merriam-Webster Dictionary. (2021). Merriam-Webster.com. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/design 

‌Spatichia, D., & Otolorin, M. (n.d.). K-pop Subculture International Impact K-pop Subculture International Impact. Retrieved March 10, 2021, from https://scholarshare.temple.edu/bitstream/handle/20.500.12613/472/p15037coll12_2705.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y 

‌White, J. Z. (2016, June 28). What k-pop can teach us about design. FreeCodeCamp.org; freeCodeCamp.org. https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/what-k-pop-can-teach-us-about-design-6253a85f469c/ 

[ciphers-error]

« basics ! »

stage name ↷ leishen

birth name ↷ wen jianghong 

korean name ↷ lee jaehyun

date of birth ↷ june 15, 1996 ❜ gemini 

hometown ↷ hong kong, china

ethnicity ↷ chinese 

languages ↷ chinese  ❜ cantonese  ❜ mandarin, korean, thai, english

« career ! »

profession ↷ idol ❜ choreographer 

years active ↷ 2014+

label ↷ clockwork creative 

social media ↷ leilei ❜ instagram (december 2015), thunderfilms ❜ youtube (may 2016) 

position ↷ main dancer, vocalist

representative color ↷ blue-gray (#6699cc)

« physical ! »

face claim ↷ xu minghao (seventeen) 

blood type ↷ o 

height ↷ 179 cm ❜ 5’10.5”

« personality ! »

positive traits ↷ dedicated ❜ energetic ❜ precise 

negative traits ↷ bossy ❜ particular ❜ aloof

« fun facts ! »

𝄞 if jin had not been voted by the members to be the group’s leader, it is likely leishen would’ve been appointed the role due to his standing among the members. he’s seen as the ‘responsible older brother’, even by the two members older than him.

 𝄞 his father is currently in the musical industry, despite appearing to follow in his footsteps, leishen has confirmed he wanted to be a martial artist or stunt double when he was younger. 

𝄞 leishen discovered his gift of dance early on, and started taking classes to master all styles of the art as soon as he was able. considering his father’s connections in the musical industry, the knowledge wasn’t difficult to obtain. he’s featured in a lot of dance covers predebut. he was later scouted by an agent of clockwork creative after a street cover of shinee’s lucifer.

 𝄞 he is often the choreographer behind the group’s comebacks. usually, leishen is helped by sol and eli. leishen tries to forge something fresh each comeback, and hopes to give the audience a feel for the title track’s story and emotions through his routines.

[dreamcatch22]

Movie Thoughts: Pulp Fiction

One of the most talked about films of the past 50 years is Pulp Fiction. Director Quentin Tarantino reinvigorated how a film's story is told based on multiple subplots which eventually lead to a complete resolution for all the characters and their circumstances. Although the unique, nonlinear storyline gave the film much publicity, Pulp Fiction was also a financial success. This was especially good news for an independent film back in the 1990s. It grossed over $107 million dollars domestically, making it one of the first independent films to break the $100 million dollar mark. Due to the success of Pulp Fiction, more independent films started to appeal to a bigger audience. Like other financially successful films, its advertisement was instrumental in its popularity. Over time, people became more interested in seeing Pulp Fiction after learning about the fast-paced, clever, quotable dialogue and surprising performances from actors like John Travolta.

Quentin Tarantino's scriptwriting and directing revealed how the reputation of a star can improve based on the material he or she is given. Before Pulp Fiction, John Travolta was not exactly taken seriously as an actor. Stars such as Samuel L. Jackson and Uma Thurman immediately became household names due to the sudden success of Pulp Fiction. Within Pulp Fiction's plot, the most important factor was the sublime and even indistinguishable mixture of drama and comedy, while presenting it in a neo-noir fashion.

The film was controversial because of the frequent profanity and unsettling violence. Yet, the mature content still meshed well with the character development, especially during conversations that alluded to pop culture or typical life experiences. Pulp Fiction has been categorized as a postmodern film because of how Tarantino blends different movie genres together. Postmodern films develop the plots and characters in a stylized, non-traditional method. The character's ideas and mannerisms are shown in a manner that are more surreal or unpredictable. Movies that utilize and depend on techniques such as flashbacks and narration can qualify as postmodern.

Pulp Fiction is also known as a neo-noir film. Neo-noir films bring elements of traditional black and white films from the 1940s and the 1950s and add modern or current features to the movie such as different but captivating settings, edgier characters, feisty dialogue, and a timely mood in order to be relevant to its release. Like Pulp Fiction, other well-known neo-noir films are Chinatown, Blade Runner, and L.A. Confidential. Pulp Fiction emulated the label as a neo-noir film with a nonlinear plotline, which allows the audience to pick up on the main characters' most significant traits at just the right time. Since there is a vastness of homages in Pulp Fiction, Quentin Tarantino has been criticized for how original his films actually are. He has cited influence from directors such as Akira Kurosawa, Jean Luc-Godard, Sergio Leone, and Martin Scorsese. Tarantino has used action-packed, unnerving storylines in order to enhance the purpose of his film and while imitating notable scenes from films directed by a plethora of filmmakers that inspired him in the first place. Films associated with multiple generations are referenced and mimicked throughout Pulp Fiction from The Great Train Robbery to The Crying Game.

Pulp Fiction revived an earlier, forgotten era and made it appealing or intriguing to a new, younger audience. Pulp Fiction's soundtrack perfects this approach. Surf music and rockabilly were popular back in the late 1950s to the early 1960s. The soundtrack includes artists such as Dick Dale, Dusty Springfield, and Chuck Berry. However, Pulp Fiction connected with another generation when Urge Overkill covered "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon." People who were growing up in the 1990s could now have a feel for what was popular over thirty years ago. Tarantino embraces a method that connects retro customs with the latest trends. Pulp Fiction executed this style perfectly with a dark sense of humor, sudden violence, and dialogue that influences scriptwriters to this day. It also raised the standards for the latest movie trends, cast members, directors, and production companies.

Grade: A+

[reanimatedrenaissance]

The Renaissance Used as Symbolism

Animation likes to utilize artworks and literature from the Medieval/Middle Ages era (476-1299) as well as the Renaissance era (1300-1700) due to not only the fact it is part of the public domain (meaning anyone can use it without legal repercussions) but also due to its significance upon the present. Animation tends to make use of the Renaissance as a way to quickly develop characters or settings by showcasing elements that resemble the Renaissance or simply act like they are of that period.

One of the blatant ways animation uses elements of the Renaissance is to name characters after well-known people from this time. The Disney TV series Gargoyles during the 1990s many references to Shakespeare’s plays, and characters are no exception. Creator Greg Weisman introduced characters such as Macbeth, who plays a major role throughout the series as an antagonist. This character is a direct reference to Shakespeare’s powerful tragedy Macbeth (1606).

Gargoyles (Walt Disney Animation, 1994), character Macbeth

Along with that namesake, Macbeth acts fairly similarly to the character he was named after. He is very suspicious of everyone he encounters and resorts to violence more often than not. He also deals with the twisted torture of three witches who have watched over his actions during his life thus far. As Weisman is a huge fan of Shakespeare, his references continue, as is showcased during an episode in which the character/mythical spirit Puck is introduced. Puck was a character who appears in Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1605).

Gargoyles (Walt Disney Animation, 1994), character Puck

Puck is also very similar to the character of his inspiration, and thus is very mischievous to those who try to take control of his magic. What is similar between both Macbeth and Puck is that instead of having to spend a lot of screen time showing exactly what the personalities of these characters is, Weisman instead chose these Renaissance names due to the weight they already had in pop culture. People more than likely expected Macbeth and Puck to act similarly to the way they were portrayed in their Renaissance equivalents and that is certainly true in Gargoyles.

This kind of exposition through previously established, historical recognition is seen in other shows besides Gargoyles, such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles T-shirt merchandise (Murakami-Wolf-Swenson, 1988).

The four main turtles in this franchise are named after four prominent artists of the Renaissance: Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo. While these turtles are more warriors than artists and are vastly different in personality than their namesakes, their names serve a purpose to give them a kind of historical influence to their character that would have been lost if they were simply named “originally” without reference to previous works. Funny enough, the creators Eastman and Laird are history fans and landed upon the idea of the turtles having the name of Renaissance artists by chance (Tucker, “6 surprising facts”). Even though this may have been a seemingly random decision, the creators none the less gave the turtles a meaningful backstory, where their caretaker, Splinter, chose to name them out of a history book found in the sewer. Thus it emphasizes that these names are of important historical figures.

A kind of animation that takes historical recognition to a more interactive level though is the video games of the Assassin’s Creed Franchise. The games in which the most Renaissance references occur are Assassin’s Creed II and Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, in which the player travels through Renaissance Italy. Along the way the player encounters characters who are also people from history, such as Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527), Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), and Rodrigo Borgia (1431-1503). Besides looking like their namesakes, these animated characters also have some of their most notable personality traits.

Assassin’s Creed II (Ubisoft, 2009) and Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood (Ubisoft, 2010) characters Machiavelli, Leonardo da Vinci, and Rodrigo Borgia, respectively.

Leonardo da Vinci is particularly interesting as they make him obsessed with inventions which end up aiding the player through the game. This kind of detail did not need to be added, but because it did, players who enjoy history likely would feel more engaged as it would feel as though these characters are living up to their perceived expectations of how they should act. Pop culture has told us that these Renaissance men are extremely complex and cannot be fully understood due to the lack of evidence of their everyday existences. However, providing interactive, animated experiences such as Assassin’s Creed has given consumers a new way to analyze the past and pose questions that will lead to further dialogue (Sheppard, “Historical References”).

Besides being relatable by name, other works can show a clear symbolic connection to the Renaissance through visuals. During one class session, my classmates and I were introduced to an image from Disney’s 1959 animated film Sleeping Beauty in which two kings, the fathers of Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip, are shown talking together throughout the film.

Sleeping Beauty, dir. Clyde Gironimi (Walt Disney Animation, 1959)

The stout king on the right, named Hubert, is shown to be a slight reference to King Henry VIII as Hubert’s stature and clothing mimics the visual look of the Holbein portrait. From the poofy sleeves to the facial hair, Hubert exudes the kind of flair that the Holbein portrait conveys. Artists take these historically recognizable characters into consideration when creating character designs, as it can make a rather complex role suddenly simply to understand. Instead of having him look like a completely original king with no base in historical fashion, the artists went with a design that would instead conjure up this kind of kingly appearance that continues to permeate our society.

One of the last examples that comes to mind when discussing historical recognition is Disney’s 1973 film Robin Hood which tells this classic tale using anthropomorphic characters. 

Robin Hood, dir. Wolfgang Reitherman (Walt Disney Animation, 1973)

Besides sharing the title character’s namesake, this fox version of Robin Hood also carries with him the signature bow and arrows that the legendary figure was told to have as his trusty weapon of choice. This Robin Hood therefore is similar to Gargoyles’ Macbeth in that the characterizations as well as the name are integral parts of the way the audience gains an understanding of the characters.

Whether the symbolism in animated media is blatant or subtle, it is important to recognize that imagery and historical figures are and will more than likely continue to be an important part of this medium, as it gives this era a chance to continue to influence the world of today. This is due to the fact that as a society we continue to claim the Renaissance as a crucial era of human history. We believe it should be remembered and built upon, even if our cultural understanding of the true nuances of this era happens to be very skewed into the belief that the Renaissance exemplified perfection in every way.

Sources:

Omar, Mohd and Ishak, Sidin. “Understanding Culture Through Animation: From the World To Malaysia.” Malaysian Journal of Media Studies, vol. 13, n. 2. (2011): 1-9.

Sheppard, Sally. “Historical References in Video Games: The Italian Renaissance.” Academia.edu Database. vol. 1 (2008): 1-6.

Tucker, Reed. “6 surprising facts about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.” NY Post, (2014).

[softwonjunnie]

X1 12:TH MEMBER ☆

STAGE NAME : jiyoon (지윤)

FULL NAME : lee jiyoon (이지윤)

NICKNAMES : jiji, angel ji

GREETING : “hello, X1′s happy virus, aaachoo!” *fakes a sneeze* “jiyoon imnida!” 

BIRTH DATE : 99.10.04

HEIGHT : 164 cm

BLOOD TYPE : O

NATIONALITY : korean

HOMETOWN : seoul

COMPANY : starship

TRAINING PERIOD : 4.5 years

POSITION : main dancer, lead rap, sub vocal, happy virus

FACE CLAIM : im dabin

FAMILY :

- father, half japanese half korean, born and raised in japan, works as a bassist 

- mother, full korean, born and raised in jeju but moved to seoul in adult age, worked as a sketch artist, died on the 4:th of october 1999 

- brother, 3 years older, works as an engineer 

LANGUAGES : 

- korean (fluent)

- japanese (fluent) 

- chinese (almost fluent)

- english (almost fluent)

- portuguese (only a couple of words, taught by seungyoun).

INSTRUMENTS : 

- guitar

- bass

PERSONALITY TRAITS : 

- extroverted; not at all afraid to talk to new people. she always talks in groups and can’t help it - she just can’t be quiet in some situations. she always wants everyone to feel comfortable to she speaks to and invites everyone in the group into the conversation. if she needs energy or if she is sad, she just goes to talk to some of the boys and then she will instantly feel much better. 

- slow; she’s a little slow, or “stupid” as some people would say. she gets confused very easily and doesn’t get all jokes until they’ve been explained to her. therefor, people need to be very cautious when explaining things to her. she also has a hard time watching movies, since it can be tough for her to connect some sorylines in her head. her slowness also leads to her zoning out quite easily, when she doesn’t follow along with a conversation, so she will often just sit there in her own little world until someone wakes her up. 

- ambitious, good fighting spirit; this girl never gives up. she jumps over setbacks and problems as if they’re no big deal, and since she knows she will learn from them. every time she crashes, she just gets up again. she dreams high and isn’t afraid to show it. 

- perfectionist; she’s a huge perfectionist and never stops working until everything is just as she wants it. this had brought both a lot of good and bad to her - it’s made her a wonderful dancer and someone who always gives her all, but it’s also made her spend many hours in the dancing studio instead of getting some sleep. 

- bubbly; a true sweetheart. she’s always happy and always has a smile on her face and she always makes everyone around her happy. everyone loves to be around her because of her cheerful and bubbly personality. this all also earned her a spot in the beagle line, and the four of them have a lot of fun together.

- is a member of the beagle line along with seungyoun, hangyul and dohyon.

HABITS : 

-  gets whiny when tired 

- cuddles into things in her sleep 

- zones out easily

- sneezes a lot 

- starts talking in japanese when she’s mad 

LIKES : 

- strawberry milk 

- tonkatsu 

- hugs 

- braiding hair 

- cats 

- nct 

- blankets

- sleeping 

- singing trot 

DISLIKES : 

- scary movies  

- getting up early 

- cutting her hair 

- mnet, just like us all

FEARS : 

- darkness 

- loneliness 

- death 

- spiders 

TRIVIA : 

- was a part of a dance group for 5 years before she decided to become a trainee.

- her father was a bassist so he taught her to play it, and she learned to play the guitar over youtube.

- her mother died while giving birth to jiyoon so she’s never met her. her father and brother raised her and took care of her. during her speech when she was announced as one of the final members, she stayed calm until she mentioned her father and brother. she broke down crying as she thanked them and said she’d be nothing without their constant help & support.

- she knew she wanted to be an idol when she went to ailee’s concert in 2015. she loved her passion and the way she brought joy to everyone who listened.

- she took extra language courses at school, so that’s why she knows a lot of languages.

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HOW DID SHE JOIN X1?

jiyoon was a participant of the most recent female season of produce, where she placed 14:th. she was many people’s favorite in the season, so it was a big surprise when she didn’t get into the final lineup. she was a wreck for having to leave her friends who went to debut in iz*one, and because she had worked so hard for this and produced only well performances all season. but she continued practicing in her company and improved her skills - and a year later, she got an offer from mnet.

mnet had a plan to add another X member to the final lineup - one of the top 20-13 girls from last season. that member would then join X1 in their promotions and become a part of the group for the next 5 years. they revealed it in the final episode and told the audience that they only had 1 hour to vote. jiyoon had been really active on social media after she was eliminated, and she had been out busking a lot and meeting fans, so her fanbase had been growing after the show. after the voting had closed, she was revealed as the X member and became the only female member of X1. 

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