#this is like a piece of modern preformance art

[tomathy-inside-of-the-it]

Will never get over this clip out of context it’s so weird. Crimeboys being in sync is my favorite

[a-sandquist-art]

A CRAP load of NPCs for one of my current modern magic DnD campaign PCs: Swan! I'll have to post their actual art once I'm done revamping their own Ref.

Whose Who under the read more!

Haigha - Their mom who is also a nighthag, its a complicated relationship

Grisha Gusev - Their late father, a drow artificer, very gepetto meets wonder emporium, went insane and died before Swan was born

Ruby Rosetta - Their adoptive Mom, bartender and owner of the Drunken Sailor, a pirate themed bar

Bjorn Rosetta - Their adoptive Dad, and bouncer at the Drunken Sailor

Taffetia / Taffy - An aunt figure to them, Taffy taught Swan to be a bard once they were adopted by Ruby and Bjorn, Taffy frequently preforms at the bar

Westley Sniverback - Their talent agent and manager for their Preforming Troupe: The Baroque Arts Collective

Their troupe! In order:

Primrose Golden-Ore (she/her)

Dwelf (dwarf-elf), shes stout and chubby and very bubbly, she is a lead vocalist and has a very operatic approach and voice, closest member to swan as they practice together a lot

Anton Roque (he/him)

air genasi, lean athletic/acrobatic build, typically male lead in both theatrical or dance/ballet type preformance, very confident and a bit egoist but not obnoxiously, he just thinks very highly of himself but still hypes up others too

Harry Fleetfoot (He/Him)

Human, he was raised / adopted by gnomes, kind of anxious and easily flustered but one of their best instrumental preformers, has stage fright when it comes to singing / speaking though

Trip (They/Them)

Goblin, one of two twin goblins,  they are the quick change and backstage managers basically, they help with getting sets and props ready, helping the actors change costume and makeup between scenes, things like that, trip is very excitable and manic compared to their twin but they both kind of feed into their respective energy to level out

Tych (She/He/They)

Goblin, the other twin of Trip, she’s more level headed and logical but still rattles off at a million miles per hour, constantly multitasking, Trip is one of the few who can keep up with their pace easily

Feyfrya Bounty (She/Her)

Eladrin, very tall and slender, she’s the main choreographer and director for their preformances, she is very strict and stoic but is fiercly protective of her troupe, the only one she is a bit more specifically harsh with is swan, as she can tell swan is putting on some kind of facade but hasn’t been able to piece it fully together yet

[terrence-silver]

Are there any classical or instrumental pieces you associate with Terry, aside from La Campanella of course? I get Terry vibes from Prokofiev's Dance of the Knights and Winter from Vivaldi's Four Seasons.

Okay, here's a few more, although I'm sure I compiled a list before:

Waltz from 'Masquerade' suite (Khachaturian) - Playful, rich, elegant, grand, with a hint of mischievousness --- just like Terry himself. One can totally imagine Terry putting this on in his office, study, or merely a mansion emptied out for the day and playing it on some state of the art equipment (Maybe a rare, beautiful vintage gramophone he acquired for authentic sound, or some ultra modern set-up that cost a fortune...or both, really.) and dancing to himself with the biggest smile imaginable after he succeeded in something he planned for a long, long time, perhaps, and he celebrates, by of course, having his own little twirl with himself.

Heller Etude Op.45 No.15 - Warrior's Song (Poco maestoso) - Terry can undoubtedly preform this on a piano. I can literally see him doing it as clearly as daylight. Heavy, booming and dramatic. He might indulge in the companionship this particular piece provides him as he plays it perhaps when he's feeling a tad bit moody and tense as i do absolutely headcanon he has a prefered track, so to speak, for every particular situation, sentiment and environment. Every particular alignment. Think of it as a playlist, except compromised entirely of classical music Terry preforms for himself to cope and settle his thoughts whenever they need settling.

S. Rachmaninov - V. Gryaznov. Italian Polka - Why, oh, why, do I imagine the heartwarming, absolutely precious sweetness of Terry personally playing this for his figurative child or toddler? Soft, almost like a lullaby at the start, I do envision him setting his baby on his lap, or maybe having the crib brought out and placed next to him as he plays this while his child keenly peers at papa masterfully managing the piano, going from a lulling, mellow tune to something more playful as the toddler hiccups and smiles from their stroller at daddy's little show. It becomes a daily ritual Terry uses to bond with his kid and instill a love of music in them.

P. Tchaikovsky, Op.20 / Act 2 - No .10 Scène, Swan Lake - I always bring this up as Terry's "I'm in love'' classical piece of preference because just play this track for a moment and envision, the instruments travelling from sweet and tender to overwhelming, tempestuous and loud, as you imagine him meeting someone sweet, perhaps shy, humble, good and bona fide nice. A kind, ordinary person who's everything he isn't and him finding he can't decide if he wants to destroy them, devour them or have them all to himself forever. Pretty much the song he'd ponder his newfound love and affection to, perhaps in a private opera VIP lodge booth, all by himself, in the dark.

[whothef0ckisalice]

artist research

George Brecht Brecht is a conceptual artist, avant-garde composer, and professional chemist from the United States. He described his own works as a way of “ensuring that the details of everyday life, the random constellations of objects that surround us, stop going unnoticed.”

in 1959 Brecht organised his first one-man show at the Reuben Gallery, New York. Called Towards Events: An Arrangement, it was neither an exhibition of objects or a performance, but somewhere in between (which unfortunately i was unable to find any documentation of this work and while im not working with preformance i can relate to his use of objects and the unnoticed object)

Repository was presented in The Art of Assemblage, a landmark exhibition organized by William C. Seitz at The Museum of Modern Art in 1961. In a letter to Seitz, Brecht observed that "arrangement" was a more appropriate term for his cabinet piece because of the word's association with music and the organization of elements in a particular order.

The objects in Repository are associated with ordinary actions—brushing teeth, opening doors, bouncing balls—and were chosen for their ability to engage viewers in what the artist called "events": everyday tasks that could be performed publicly or privately as art. Brecht, who aimed to blur the boundaries between art and life, was a central figure in Fluxus, an international movement of the 1960s and 1970s that brought together artists working with music, poetry, theater, film, and the visual arts.

Repository 1961 (above) Medium Wall cabinet containing pocket watch, thermometer, plastic and rubber balls, baseball,plastic persimmon, "Liberty" statuette, wood puzzle, toothbrushes, bottlecaps, house number, plastic worm, pocket mirror, lightbulbs, keys, hardware, and photographs Dimensions 40 3/8 x 10 1/2 x 3 1/8" (102.6 x 26.7 x 7.7 cm)

A Box of Yam Festival and Other Rubber Stamps 1962 (above) Medium Wooden box with stamp additions, containing 76 rubber stamps and one eraser Dimensions overall (closed): 6 1/2 × 8 1/4 × 2 1/2" (16.5 × 20.9 × 6.3 cm)

while Brecht moslty has works on paper (see below image) i still feel that the methodology behind his work is important to my practice

Six Doors from Water Yam 1963 (above) Medium Offset card from cardboard box with offset label, containing sixty-nine offset cards Dimensions 3 9/16 x 2 5/8" (9 x 6.6 cm)

Brecht continued to exhibit artworks within more traditional gallery spaces throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Many of these works played with the notion of the Readymade, attempting to retain the pieces' functionality. Chairs feature in a lot of these works; the earliest was Three Chair Events exhibited at the martha jackson gallery, New York City, in 1961.

- Sitting on a black chair. Occurrence. - Yellow Chair. (Occurrence.) - On (or near) a white chair. Occurrence, The white chair was spotlighted in the centre of the gallery for the show, with a stack of Three Chair Events scores put nearby on a window ledge. The black chair was placed in the restroom, while the yellow chair was placed on the street and was sat on by Claes Oldenburg's mother, who was engaged in discussion, when Brecht arrived for the private viewing.

While his work was still featured in a number of significant group exhibits, by 1989 he had declared himself "retired from fluxus." As he became more reclusive in his final 30 years, he only authorised two retrospectives of his work, both titled 'A Heterospective' (loosely translated as a 'Collection of Othernesses'). The second, a big museum installation presented in Cologne and Barcelona in 2005-06, began with a simple sign labelled 'End' and closed with one labelled 'Start.'

I was able to find some sort of interview, and I thought the idea of planning a "artwork" event rather than just one that engaged the viewer could be a good way to work, but seeing as engaging the viewer isn't a traditional artist method, I feel like that would flop if displayed for lack of engagement.

" It all started with this performance we were supposed to do and we tried to find...a title for it. Anyway, after doing these objects and events for a while we realized May was coming up and that May was 'yam' spelled backwards. We decided to do a program of events to cover the whole month. We invited everybody to take part. There were street, subway, all kinds of events. The Kornblee and Smolin Galleries lent space too and got the programs printed that Bob and I had flung together, and we were off. During the month there was a Kaprow happening at George Segal's farm...then there was YAMDAY. The idea was to make a very long performance, to keep things going. Everybody who wanted to could contribute..."

Unfortunately i wasnt able to find much documentation of his works or just the cards were loaded for images to use and with his works evolving performances and audience engagement i dont think ill be able to find any Video documentation

[asweetprologue]

Nili’s Benchmark Geraskier Fic Rec List

hey yall! I officially hit 750 followers (a few days ago, I blew past the benchmark without even realizing!), which is... insane. I truly can’t believe that so many people over the last year have enjoyed my presence in this fandom enough to continue to follow my work. you guys are so great and I love you all so much, so I decided to put together a gift for you!

this is a list of my favorite geraskier fics from the fandom, which I have been putting together over the last year or so. a few of these are big in the fandom, but a lot of them are smaller pieces that I feel deserve more attention! I have provided ao3 and tumblr links where I could find them, as well as ratings and summaries. Most of these are canon!verse because I’m not personally a big fan of modern au’s, but there will be a few of those scattered throughout as well. I’ve divided the fics into two sections: oneshots and multichapter. See the list below the cut!

Being in this fandom truly has gotten me through the pandemic in a big way and I have made so many good friends while here. thank you all for validating my weird obsession with these characters and enabling me in these trying times <3

Oneshots

all that was good, all that was fair (all that was me is gone) | M | 7517 | WARNING: Graphic Depictions Of Violence | @xdandelionxbloomx

Somewhere, deep in a forest, a man drags himself from his grave by sheer power of will. He lies gasping on the forest floor and does not know who or what he is. The world is wide and wonderful, though, and there is so much to see.

Or, Jaskier is so stubborn that he literally comes back from the dead.

Another fascinating addition to the mythology of the Witcher. Jaskier’s slow rediscovery of himself is so well done here. One I’ve come back to again and again. 

As Fast As Love Can Go | T | 9628 | @bygodstillam

There are Faeries in the Wood.

That's what everyone said, at least, not that there was any solid proof. Jaskier had tried, more than once, to find some. Just a hint somewhere, of a real story, of real magic. But all anyone seemed to have was stories.

Jaskier was determined to find proof. He wasn't expecting to find a witcher in the process.

Fascinating fic with some really interesting worldbuilding, and a fresh new take on True Love’s Kiss. Also with some great art by @hehearse!

beautiful, he stirs up still things | T | 2575 | @alittlebitmaybe

“You’re not asking me to dance,” says Geralt.

Jaskier turns his palm up on his knee, offering it. “I think you’ll find I am.”

Just them dancing. This is a lovely sort of pre-relationship dynamic. So soft.

Dialogue Prompt | NR | 2932 | @reinvent-and-believe

Dialogue Prompt 48: “You make me want things I can’t have.” Wordless I-love-you 50: buying them a special treat when you go out shopping

Geralt gets Jaskier a gift, which prompts some confessions.

Even a small love | E | 22,272 | WARNING: Rape/Non-Con 

“Well,” Jaskier replies distractedly. “Lots of things want to strangle you.”

“You don’t.”

It isn’t a particularly troublesome accusation, or even necessarily an accusation at all.

This is one I read early on in the fandom, and it really stuck with me. The dynamic between Jaskier and Geralt is perfect, and the misunderstandings between them feel so realistic. The non-con is not extreme, but do mind the warnings. 

For the Space of a Heartbeat | T | 2021 | @drowningbydegrees

As it turns out, falling into bed with your very best friend who you are privately very much in love with isn't nearly so nerve wracking as waking up with them the morning after.

Just sweet, morning after discussions. I love to see them talking for once.

Greensleeves | T | 10,414 | @rebrandedbard

When Geralt crosses paths with Jaskier in the spring, the world is dressed in green. Quite literally. Everyone everywhere is wearing green, and it all comes down to a song Jaskier has written that, to his mortification, has become popular throughout the Continent. It's torment, being forced to preform the song over and over again and have his heart broken anew. But who is this Lady Greensleeves the people say Jaskier is so maddeningly, heartbrokenly in love with? At the baron's wedding party, Geralt is determined to find out.

This is one of my personal faves - there’s just something about Jaskier’s feelings being put on blast while Geralt remains totally oblivious that I think is so very them. And the resolution at the end is delightful.

I Don’t Wanna Fall (If It’s Not In Love) | E | 13,902 | @writinglizards

The first time it's out of desperation. Things get rapidly out of hand from there.

OR the building of a relationship through mutual wank sessions.

I love everything Ashley writes, but this one was the first fic I read by her and it still has a warm place in my heart. I also highly recommend It’s Been A While (makes me cry every time) and Tell Me Honestly

Like a Storm, Like a Flood | T | 1065 | @valdomarx

Jaskier is leaving for the winter, and Geralt can't bear the thought of not seeing him for months.

It was soooo hard to pick only one fic by George, but this one is so soft and sweet and yearning I just had to go with it. This is really just about Geralt finally hitting a breaking point and saying enough is enough.

one flesh | E | 10,763 | WARNING: MCD 

“Well, then. I’m a ghost.” Jaskier spread his arms grandly. Geralt held his gaze for a moment, then dropped his head and laughed. Jaskier put his hands on his hips. “Do fill me in on what’s so funny.” It wasn’t funny. It was just so - ridiculous, the things Geralt’s fucked up brain would invent. This had to be the last nail in the sanity coffin, it just had to be.

Or: Jaskier is a ghost, and Geralt is a mess.

Jaskier dies and comes back as a ghost to haunt Geralt into taking care of himself. Geralt does not handle this gracefully. This fic is so sad and heartbreaking, but the ending is so sweet.

to render it transparent | E | 23,901

Geralt wakes up warm, peaceful, and utterly content, which is how he knows that something is severely wrong.

Sigh. This fic. This is a time travel fic - Geralt ends up in the future living with Jaskier on the coast, just after the mountain. It’s slow and beautiful and extremely bittersweet, all about how we choose to love people despite how much it can hurt us.

With All the Continent A Stage | M | 4745 | @greyduckgreygoose

Later, Geralt learned that the play was four hours long. Four hours long. It didn’t feel like it. Most of it passed by in a fever dream of ominous music, dance-fighting and dryads in gossamer leaves, swinging from hoops attached to the ceiling. Yennefer made an appearance, played by Priscilla in a glittering negligee. She sang a song to Geralt about putting him “Under Her Spell”, and they had a sensual dance number which was made a little strange by a sickened Jaskier (played by Jaskier) coughing loudly in the background.

(Jaskier invites Geralt to a musical production inspired by his own life.)

Jaskier basically writes Geralt a love letter in the form of a four hour long play. Geralt is an idiot about it.

Multi-Chapter Fics

A Lover’s Lament | M | 25,364 | @somedrunkpirate

So,” Jaskier begins, as casually as he can, “you are telling me, that in theory, if I were to be in love with someone — anyone — that person could well be in terrible danger?”

Of all terrible and ridiculous things that have threatened Geralt’s safety, Jaskier’d never thought that loving him might be what will get him killed.

I honestly can’t count the number of times I’ve read this fic. The monster is so interesting, and the mythos of it fits seamlessly into the world of the Witcher in my mind. Jaskier being so afraid that his feelings are going to put Geralt at risk, clearly unable to see that Geralt is going through the exact same thing. I think about the scene with them looking at each other almost daily. 

A Pair of Gloves, the Scent of Roses | M | 24,134 | WARNING: Graphic Depictions of Violence

In the bustling days before the Midsummer festival, Geralt is sent into the countryside to deal with a monster - with Jaskier once again by his side. But the bard has not forgiven him, and while he's not hiding his contempt for the Witcher, he is recalcitrant about revealing his true motives for joining him. As the hunt turns into a desperate mission to save an innocent man and the monster is not what is seems to be, Geralt learns a few new things about his old friend and decides to finally attempt to mend the rift between them...

This is one of my favorite’s in the fandom - it feels so believable, the world is so rich and the oc’s are convincing and charming. Geralt and Jaskier feel so honest here, stumbling around each other but still drawn together. Beautiful beautiful beautiful

Bearing the will of the flower | NR | 11,449 

The way Jaskier sees it, his hobby of following a witcher around was always pretty likely to get him killed.

The fact that it's happening now because the witcher in question doesn't love him, he thinks as he coughs up crumpled flowers, hardly makes a difference.

My favorite hanahaki fic in the fandom. I’m such a sucker for these, and these two idiots being so incapable of talking about their feelings really makes them prime candidates. 

Food of Love | T | 22,488 | @wallatile-qvibbler

I brought a dead princess back to life through the power of song is the kind of thing that would have got an eyebrow raise even from the stone-faced Geralt of Rivia, so it's a good thing he and Geralt will probably never see each other again.

(or: the one where Jaskier channels magic through his songs, and it almost never goes as expected.)

This is a Jaskier and Renfri centric fic, which wasn’t something I knew I wanted until I read this. Jaskier is a bard which in this AU comes with magical powers, but it feels so well integrated into the universe that I wish it was just... how the Witcher is. Renfri is so good here, and even though Jaskier and Geralt barely even interact you can feel the tension and love between them. Cannot recommend highly enough.

friends and allies of the witcher | T | 10,312 | @theamazingbard

Yennefer crawls over to her newest cellmate. They’re curled up on their side. Breathing, but only just. She’s not sure what she’s hoping for when she turns them over. Still isn’t when she sees that it is indeed Jaskier.

“Shit."

Yennefer and Jaskier each suffer in more ways than one at the hands of Nilfgaard.

Yennefer and Jaskier get capture by Nilfgaard and tossed into a cell together. Exactly what I want out of season 2 honestly. Their interactions are gold.

I’d Be the Choiceless Hope | E | 45,188 | WARNING: Rape/Non-Con | @lesdemonium

As a baby, Jaskier was visited by a fae, who gifted Jaskier's mother with Jaskier's obedience. As Jaskier grew older, the "gift" became more of a curse.

You know I’m not gonna make a rec list without listing Zoe’s Ella Enchanted au. Need I say more?

Silver and Copper | M | 56,139 | WARNING: Graphic Depictions of Violence | @kaer-cuan

Geralt is just supposed to pass through the quiet Lettenhove area. He's not anticipating being begged by its people to help save their viscount from a curse that keeps him from daylight. Lord Jaskier, they call him, and he's likely dying.

As Geralt struggles to untangle the ugly web of history that has lead to the increasingly complicated curse, he finds himself spending more and more time with the strange young viscount and wondering just what he might have been before the curse, and who he might be after. But things are not always as they seem, and as the curse tightens its grip on Jaskier, Geralt is forced to face the fear of failing yet another person whose choices were stolen from them.

Or-

Jaskier is kept from becoming a bard. Geralt finds him anyway.

This is a fic that haunts me. It’s very scary in parts, and mind the tags - there are some very heavy themes here. But it’s beautiful and touching, and Jaskier feels very true to himself even though his origin is so different.

we could be married (and then we'd be happy) | E | 50,222 | @a-kind-of-merry-war

Jaskier reached into his pocket, fingers grasping around the little box. He pulled it out with what he hoped was a romantic flourish, flipping it open to reveal the simple gold band inside. “Geralt,” he said, confidently, cooly, like this wasn’t terrifying, “Will you marry me?”

Geralt and Jaskier fake marriage proposals to get free deserts and shit but it goes tits up when Vesemir catches them in the act. Not knowing how to fess up, they go along with it for a while, which is hell because they’re both pining like mad. As I said, I don’t love modern au’s, but it’s merry so of course this one had to end up on my list.

~

And that’s it! 20 fics for you, and hopefully you can all find one or two you haven’t read before. There are a lot of people and fics that I didn’t include in this list only because I was trying to not put a million down (which I could). I highly recommend anything by @wherethewordsare, @julek, @contemplativepancakes, @witcher-and-his-bard, and @inber, as well as those linked to fics above, and I’m sure there are others I forgot to mention. Yall have truly made being in this fandom worthwhile <3

[cinna-wanroll]

Obi-Wan & Mace Headcanons

1. Yoda absolutely used to babysit Obi-Wan all the time and no one can tell me any different. And since Mace is 18 years older than Obi-Wan, I think that sometimes if Yoda had to go do something but Obi-Wan wanted to practice something, Mace and Obi would train together. 

When Obi-Wan is about ten, Yoda introduces them and then rushes off to do some important business, giving Mace some odd look he can’t quite decipher.

Even though Mace doesn’t really like kids, he knows this is somehow a test so he shuts up and hangs out with this kid that Yoda has taken an interest in for Force only knows why. 

Mace is a little bewildered by this odd little padawan who’s always curious and constantly getting himself into trouble, but he sticks around just to insure Obi-Wan’s antics don’t get too extreme. 

And eventually, the two bond a little and learn to have a mutual respect for one another. 

When Obi-Wan becomes apprentice to Qui-Gon Mace feels a bit more prepared and a bit more open to taking on a padawan of his own, thus taking on Bultar Swan not long after. 

2. Obi-Wan ad Mace’s views don’t often align, but when they do the council knows it must be right. 

Where Obi-Wan is undoubtedly one of the most compassionate and level-headed masters in the order, he is hesitant to take aggressive moves where Mace won’t hesitate to strike swiftly and at the head of the problem.

Because of this, the two often debate in the council chambers, with Mace growing a little miffed at Obi-Wan’s hesitant nature. 

But on occasions where both Obi-Wan and Mace can agree on the best steps to take, it’s rare for anyone to object the course of action. 

This is also why Obi-Wan makes such a surprised face when Mace gives the droids a second chance on Anaxes: it’s definitely not in Mace’s nature. And while it is a bit of a tease to Obi-Wan, it’s also Mace showing his admiration for him. 

3. Mace was one of the people who fought to get Obi-Wan on the council. While some of the other masters were hesitant to put a master who seemed to always be surrounded by chaos and disaster, Mace was a supporter through and through, pointing out that Obi works hard and seems to be surrounded by negative events because he gets to the bottom of the most important issues. 

When the council decides to give the okay, Mace and Yoda go to deliver the invitation personally. 

4. Mace has a serious fine arts obsession, so sometimes he and Obi-Wan will send one another pieces of cultural works from wherever they’re at. If Obi-Wan sees a classic play, he’ll take a quick holo and send it, or if Mace sees a new modern tapestry he’ll do the same. It’s a great way to communicate the positives of their situation, or to at least make the best of it, and also a great way for the two of them to spark conversations when they’re bored waiting for reinforcements to arrive. 

5. Mace is a great inspiration to Obi-Wan in many ways, but also in the language department. Mace is a master linguist due to preforming in many foreign theaters and musicals as a younger Jedi, and gives Obi-Wan tips on learning new ones. 

6. Mace will absolutely judge you if you talk bad about Obi-Wan. He has a massive respect for him and will view you as disrespectful and ungrateful if you dis him. Disagreeing with him is one thing, and it’s something Mace does himself, but insulting him or his lineage is something that really annoys Mace. Especially since Mace has always been so close to Yoda, anyone who talks ill about Yoda’s lineage being tainted by Dooku and Xanatos will get glares x100 by Mace. 

[fromashescomephoenixes]

Sirius Black’s Day Off

author’s note: this is a collab of 80′s movies with the lovely @probably-peeves@thegrxywitch @flymyhp @quadrupledeckertaco @shaynawrites23 please go check out what they wrote for this!

word count: 2.6k~

summary: imagine ferris bueller’s day off.... but with sirius!

****

"Rise and shine beautiful!" Sirius sprang up, flinging my curtains open. The reddish gold morning sun greeted me. In my opinion, it seemed angry and pushy but many might call it 'gentle' and 'beautiful' I knew better.

"No," I grunted. I placed the pillow over my face to block out the sun, and Sirius's loud announcements. Who really knew what he was up to?

"That's the spirit, now I'm going to transfigure some nice yellow warts on your face and you have to cough occasionally. Okay?" Sirius continued bounding around the room before finally leaping onto my bed and planting a kiss across my cheek. I tried to shove him off, but my morning fog finally cleared enough to let me remember why I loved Sirius: it was an adventure every day with him.

"Fine,"I sat up rubbing my eyes, and gave Sirius a morning kiss. "Good morning," He leaped off of the bed, happy to have completed a succesful mission.

"Fantastic! So I'll transfigure us both to-"

"No," I said again, thinking a bit about this plan. Whatever it led to, we certainly would not be taken siriously if we both showed up to Madam Pomfrey with a bizarre illness at the same time. "We need to go in separately or she'll get suspicious."

Sirius nodded, considering.

"You're right!"

"I always am, love," I winked as I pulled on my comfiest trackies. "So are you going to take me to breakfast if you got me up this early?" With a cough, Sirius fell dramatically on to my bed.

"I can't, I'm sick!" he cried, practicing his fake illness.

"Breakfast in bed it is then!" I decided, as I summoned a house elf. Over jammy toast and Beatles tunes, Sirius explained his idea.

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." He began. Of course this was going to be a dramatic monologue. When wasn't it with Sirius? I brushed the toast crumbs from my lips as he spoke, excited to here the rest of the plan. "And so, today we are going...." He paused and appeared to be doing some difficult mental math.

"Actually, it would be quicker for me to say where we aren't going!"

"How are we doing this with classes though?" I frowned. Clearly Sirius had banked on me asking this question, and he began to preform various charms which were set to give me an extremely ill appearance in the first class of the day.

"I am excused from class due to a death in the family." He said much to happily, and I recalled that one of his pure-blood supremacist great-aunts had died recently.

"Sorry for your loss?" I said trying to hold back giggles at his jubilant behaviour.

"Don't be!" He shrugged, "Anyways, you'll be sick. And we'll call Remus out with some message from a teacher once I pick you up!"

"Remus is okay with this?" I was incredibly confused now. Typically Remus steered far away from anything which would cause him to miss classes due to his... unique.. schedule.

"Once he knows I'm sure he will be!"

"Famous last words my love, famous last words."

****

Midway through charms, I noticed a couple of strange glances coming my way. I paused my readings about The Art of Life in Inanimate Objects and looked around for anything that was causing these looks.

I quickly figured it out as I realised multicolored spots were popping up all over my arms, and I realised slight puffs of steam were currently exiting my ears. Godric Sirius. Madam Pomfrey was going to have some issues with that one.

"Professor Flitwick?" I raised my hand and waited a moment for him to notice.

"Yes Ms. y/n!" He responded in concern.

"I think I need to see Madam Pomfrey,"

"Yes, right away!" He agreed in his high pitched voice. I raced into the hall with my bag and bumped into Sirius straight away. He pulled me into the nearest secret passage way.

"Oh bloody merlin, my charms actually did work!" Sirius exclaimed, sounding extremely surprised at their success.

"How do we make them un-work?" I begged, uncomfortable at the site of pulsing pustules that were spotting my arms.

"I don't know y/n I think the multicolored look kind of suits you!" He smirked, raising an eyebrow.

"Fine." I crossed my arms. "But no kisses until I'm back to normal," I challenged smugly. A horrified look crossed Sirius's face, and he quickly got out his wand. After a few muttered spells, I was good as new.

"Thank you darling," I kissed his cheek softly before stepping into the corridor. He blushed and quickly followed me. Pulling out a piece of scrap parchment, aka the Marauder's map, we expertly dodged Filch on our way to  Remus's classroom.

"You go in," Sirius suggested, quickly forging a note if needed. Given it was the arithmancy teacher, I was sure it wouldn't matter. She was usually too focused on the topic to break away from it.

"Pardon me?" I knocked lightly on the door as I came in. "Professor Binns requested I borrow Remus for a while, he needs quite a lot of help with something." I carefully laid the foundation for a long absence to be suspected of Remus. He was currently eyeing me suspiciously, no doubt seeing right through my preformance. I threw him a wink and he simply rolled his eyes.

As we got into the hall he checked his suspicion.

"So, I'm guessing Professor Binns doesn't need my help?"

"Ah, you are smart!" I said in feigned surprise. Remus's lips twitched, nearly smiling.

"And where's Sirius?"

"Proving your smarts again!" I teased. "He's right round this corner, in the Hogsmeade secret passage." I whispered and tugged Remus into the hidden tunnel. That was where our adventure truly began. Huddled between the stoney walls of yet another secret passage.

"So!" Sirius clapped his hands together softly, before letting one hand fall down to hold mine. "Where do you guys want to go today?" I looked at him in amazement, as I had thought we'd be going to Hogsmeade at most.

"We're leaving Hogsmeade area?" I clarified. I glanced at Remus, and saw he shared my expression of shock. Sirius nodded with a glow of glee in his eyes.

"That we are!" He announced dramatically. I giggled while hushing him, sure that Filch would somehow here through the stone wall. Remus shrugged, unsure of where on earth he'd like to go.

"Oh!" I exclaimed, suddenly remembering one of the wizarding villages I'd heard about. "What about Pitlochry?" The small scottish town actually had a thriving wizarding community living right under it's very nose. It's actually where the famous wizard, Michael Scot, spent many years.

Remus's eyes lit up "Oh yes! Let's go there!" He agreed, eager to see what is said to be a beautiful town. Sirius was ecstatic, and jumped at the idea as well.

“Well?” Remus asked, trying to sound slightly bored with the lack of adventure he’d been forced to miss class for so far.

“Well what?” Sirius asked, glancing up from the Marauder's map he had been studying while we discussed where exactly to visit.

“Well how are we getting there dummy?” I grinned with a hint of mischief.

“Hey! You’re my girlfriend, you don’t get to call me dummy!” Sirius yelled indignantly.

“On the contrary darling, it’s one of my special privileges!” I smirked. “Like this!” I gave him a quick peck on the lips, and then raced raced down the passage with a smirk.

"We could apparate?" Remus suggested, but I shook my head slightly. Despite passing my test, I freaked out about trying it with anything farther than a couple of feet away.

"Perhaps use the Floo?" I thought out loud, hoping this would be the chosen idea.

"Or," Sirius began with a gleam in his eye, "We could use my motorbike." Sirius's cherry red motorbike had been bought last summer, and was currently stored in Hogsmeade. It was practically begging to be used. There was just one little snag:

"It's not like it flies or something," Remus shook his head with a small smile. "It would take ages to get to Pitlochry on it!" Sirius's smile grew all the wider. I could practically predict what he was about to say, but I wasn't sure I'd be able to believe it.

"Ah, but my friend, it does fly!" He exclaimed triumphantly. My eyes must have been boggling out of my head, because I simply could not believe it. For some reason it was perfectly logical that magic could give me pulsing polka dots all over my skin, but complete unbelievable that it could make a motorcycle fly.

****

"Wheeee!" I shouted gleefully as we soared through the clouds. Remus also looked like he was loving it, especially since he got the beautiful view out of the side car. He laughed along, as Sirius grinned proudly. As we began our descent, I wrapped my hands slightly tighter around Sirius's waist.

"Be careful!" I gasped as we pointed towards the ground. It was fairly terrifying to be staring straight down to the ground. I pressed my forehead against Sirius's back.

"Alright love?" He turned slightly, a note of concern in his voice.

"Yep," I squeaked while taking a few deep breaths. I was a Gryffindor. I was brave. I was completely fine with being a few thousand feet off of the ground.

****

After many impromptu loop de loops, we finally landed in Pitlochry. My feet sunk into the soft snow, and I felt more grateful than I’d ever admit to be back on the ground again.

“Where to first?” Sirius clapped his mittened hands together in anticipation.

“The museum!” Remus suggested straight away. I nodded, thinking it would be fascinating to learn more about Michael Scot.

The museum was filled with fascinating Latin texts, of which a few had been transcribed into modern English. I perused these before following Sirius into the next part of the museum.

Remus stayed outside once he caught a glimpse of the starry sky. I patted his back gently, attempting a comforting action, before I went in.

The room was a doom filled with a moving mural of the night sky. The only difference was that it had been painted here directly by Michael Scot during his time studying astrology.

“That’s you!” I pointed up to the star Sirius as I took the real Sirius’s hand. “I think I like you better as a star,” I joked, leaning on his shoulder.

“Well you get the best of both worlds here then, because I’m a star as well as me!” He responded, overestimating his rockstar career for a moment.

“You’re my star,” I smiled softly towards him, and we walked back to Remus. I caught Sirius redden slightly before grinning.

****

On our path back to the main wizarding village (hidden from the view of muggle Pitlochry), we came across a small scrimmage of community quidditch. After preforming a few warming charms, we stood and cheered for each of the teams.

"Here snitch-y snitch," Sirius started to call, as if attempting to make a dog come to him. I grinned and joined in,

"Who's a good snitch?" I shouted, and surprisingly, the snitch seemed to respond. It veered towards us and whizzed right over the head of a chaser into the hands of Sirius.

An astonished look filled his face, and both the teams swooped over to congratulate him. After a series of pats on the back and handshakes, we finally excused ourselves and continued our walk to the main village.

We spent the rest of the morning wandering through various shops filled with owls, and potions, and parchment until eventually all of our hands were a bit too similar to ice blocks.

****

“Shall we duck in here?” Remus nodded towards the busy restaurant.

“M’lady,” Sirius bowed and opened the door for me. I giggled and passed elegantly through the door frame.

I wrapped my hands around the warm mug of Butterbeer, and breathed in the sweet, ginger scent. The band was playing a recent Weird Sisters release, and I tapped my toe to the beat.

As the chill wore off, I relaxed into Sirius’s arm which he had wrapped around my shoulders.

“What’s next?” I asked eagerly.

“Going back to Hogwarts?” Remus begged in a tired voice.

“Oh come on! You’ve had a great time Moony!” Sirius slugged his arm, with friendly affection of course.

“I have,” Remus admitted with a sly grin. “But that doesn’t mean I’m not concerned about our grades!” I did see his point, it was NEWTs year. But a little break never hurt anyone!

“Please Moony, your grades are of the least concern. You probably have three O’s and an E or something,” Sirius waved his hand, brushing away Remus’s concerns. Remus looked down bashfully, telling me that Sirius had guessed nearly right.

“Plus Slughorn’s been a real dragon in potions lately,” I recalled the terribly involved animagus potion we had to create last class. Fortunately I was paired with Sirius, which made it ten times easier.

"Fine! Get outta here Abe!" Our cheerful banter was interrupted by the shouts of the lead guitarist of the band that had been playing during our lunch. It would seem that the lead singer had quit for some reason unknown to us. The two other band mates looked shattered, despite their previously amazing performance.

I nudged Sirius. Of all the people I could think of that might be able to help this situation, he was the best fit.

"You should go up there!" I encouraged him. I saw a rare flicker of doubt cross his eyes, but with a friendly smile from Remus and I, he seemed to gather his courage.

"Yeah," Remus nodded enthusiastically.

"I promise to remember you both when I'm famous," Sirius shot us both a winning grin before heading up to the stage. We watched him whisper to the abandoned band members for a moment, who eventually looked enthusiastic.

We heard the energized strumming of a few opening chords, and Remus and I began to tap our toes in time. The song seemed to ring a bill, but I wasn't entirely sure where I'd heard it.

"Well, shake it up, baby, now!" Sirius began to sing. I grinned, realising it was the exact song we had eaten our breakfast to. Pausing to listen for a line or two, I saw how the energy of the quiet pub room changed. Gradually, it came alive. Sirius's energy was contagious. He nodded up to him, and I ran up.

"You know you look so good," He winked, grabbing my hand and giving me a quick spin. As I spun around, I noticed Remus inviting another girl close to our age to dance. And I spied an elderly couple doing a small shuffle together. Something about this tune just brought people together!

After pulling out my finest dance moves alongside a singing Sirius, I collapsed back into my seat and chugged the rest of my butterbeer.

"Merlin," I grinned with a bubbly happiness towards Remus. He grinned eagerly back.

"Don't tell Sirius," He teased, "But I have actually had a fun time today." He admitted slyly.

"I'm glad," I nodded. "I have to hand it to Sirius that this was a pretty fantastic day off."

[thedaemonn]

Demonic Taxonomy

As I have mentioned previously, just as there is a construct of angelic hierarchy, there is a model of demonic hierarchy, this is most familiar is terms of the writings of Johann Weyer's Pseudomonarchia Daemonum, Dictionnaire Infernal by  Jacques Auguste Simon Collin de Plancy, and the Ars Goatia of the Lesser Key of Solomon, (an ancient and infamous occult piece) just to name a few. But these works only entertain the ideas of the larger encompassing domain of demonic powers, and does not touch much on the sub-placements of the devils. To explain this I will first bring up the known structure of the heavens, and the angels who preside over specific concepts and matters.

Per example the heavenly spirit Gabriel is the archangel (depending upon which texts you read) governing January, the responsibilities of the Moon, the day of the week Monday, and even events such as Childbirth, to name but a few. Not only Is Gabriel an archangel, so bearing an equivalence and resemblance to the demon Samael of the hellish beasts. Samael is a fallen angel of particular interest, both an archangel before his descent and an angel of death in both positions (as an angel of death is not an attribute to solely the demonic). Samael's position is in many places, yet remains an overall arching demon in the hierarchies, and a specifically evil and dangerous demon at that.

These examples are of notorious entities governing specific and well known factors (such as planets and elements), yet for every item of creation, there are demons and angels then under that rule. Another example of this are the devils under Beelzebub, the prince of all winged creatures and the element they travel therein. Yet under him is structured another hierarchy, modeled with kings, princes, presidents, etc, that then rule over one another in a Legion-like formation. (From what I have studied, the demons of this category outnumber the demons in the other major groupings, the oceans, and walking creatures), and under their rule the list continues down to legionaries (only preform bidding, and do not govern anything beneath themselves), and servants, directionless demons who hold no desire to preform greater duties.

Even to these specific servants, there is a placement in each major category, just as in the Taxonomic Ranks of the modern world, such as: Moon > water> winter> white > etc, at the bottom of this list there are still devils preforming deeds of the demons above them, but these devils are not seen under any classification of the sun (under Paimon), or of the planet Venus, or it's governing (love, lust), yet an entire other set of demos and their legions serve these positions.

This sheds some light of both the angelic and demonic and their titles. And to tie this back towards the Daemon N, He originated under Gabriel before His fall, maintaining His service under these natural affiliations (moon, water, winter, etc) and is the demon of a more intricate subject: human emotion, in which His title therein is The Daemon of Misery, and where Misery is bred, N is to be found.

It is important to note (and I will write on this further later on, as it is a very important subject) that the hierarchical structures shift constantly, and writings such as the Ar Goatia, though accurate at the time, have long since altered and positions change. Albeit several of the mightiest demons such as Asmodeus and Lucifer (who doesn't necessarily hold a title or affiliate with the hierarchy...I will explain this later as well) have maintained their preferred positions and titles of power.

As you can then imagine there are more demons, devils, and angels than the blades of grass upon this earth, and therefore it would be impossible to catalog them all, especially as a servant can then climb in ranking until lastly becoming a King of hell (which has yet to happen). In this I maintain discovering your own familiar demon, and not just picking a name out of an old grimoire that best fits your momentary interests.

Art by: Éliphas Lévi

[writersblockandapotoftea]

Worldbuilding Post

DWARVES

Dwarves are an agender and asexual humanoid species that frequent the caves and mountains on both continents of Unitien. They are divided into two species, modern and elder. While elder dwarves are largely thought to be extinct, modern dwarves ascribe many of their culture and lifestyles to them, including their love of trap making, forging and their luscious beards.

Now, before delving into Dwarves and their culture, one must learn about Dostine, the goddess of dwarves, tricksters and blacksmiths. She is known by dwarves as All-Creator and creates the dwarves in a secret ceremony that follows the specifications of this poem.

One dwarf is forged of gold, Two are of molten steel and bronze Three from the bones of old The last four are the best, Made from silver and all the rest.

Dostine loves all of her children dearly and the ceremony is preformed every fifty years or so, meaning that there are twenty new dwarves every century. No human, elf or dragon has ever seen it. She also gifted the dwarves with the four massive interconnecting tunnels that allow them to go to whichever part of the world they so please, meaning there are modern dwarves on both continents and in the southern straights, all with their own unique quirks.

Straitien Dwarves ride jewelled spiders, which are blue and white spiders that allow them to climb all over the cliffs and avoid predators. There's even a contest where they joust across the canyon on a massive spiderweb. They also are less likely to wear heavy clothing as they live in a jungle, so it's not unexpected to see a dwarf wearing nothing but a loin cloth around humans, then nothing in the jungle. 

Eastern Dwarves are the dwarves who occupy the Barliosian Empire. They are more adapted to cold weather and take great pride in their workmanship as where they live is full of iron and other ores. 

Western Dwarves don't live underground, rather in massive pyramids built overtop of over-mined quarries. They have darker skin and coarser hair to deal with the sand in their local environment. They like roasting camels over massive fires for food.

Modern dwarves are a welcome and frequent sight in the human cities and towns wherever they are found, acting as blacksmiths, miners, and small business owners. Dwarves are easily differentiated from normal humans by their thick beards, small stature, unique forging abilities and ability to consume anything poisonous with no repercussions.

No one quite knows why modern dwarves and humans get along so well, as elder dwarves and humans often fought bitterly, but where there are dwarves in a community, they are well beloved. Even in the dwarven settlements deep in the mountains, there is usually at least one human. This is because of the dwarven tendency to adopt children from other races, as they cannot have their own. These adopted children are well cared for and are given the nickname of switchers, as the dwarves often rescue them from unhappy homes, leaving cursed jewels in the crib of the adopted child. Other switchers are left at the doors of Mountain keeps to be found by dwarves in times of famine. While many humans view them all as male due to their beards,  all dwarves have no notion of gender in the sense that humans and elves do. They view everyone as equals and organize their society in terms of what needs to happen for everyone to thrive.

Domas: This rank means parent and can be held by anyone with a youngling. They raise and protect their youngling or switcher and teach them the tools of their trade and when the youngling is old enough; they send them to find their own cave, usually nearby so they can maintain their lifelong bond.

Trapmasters: These are the masters of the forge. They craft armour so light that it feels like a woollen coat and shields so strong they protect you from a dragon's breath. Every dwarf practices for years hoping to become a trapmaster. However, as they can only be appointed by Dostine, the goddess of dwarves, there are only two remaining in the world.

Carvers: These fine folk spend their days in pursuit of the true beauty of stone and crystals. They polish, whittle and crack these into beautiful works of art and sculptures. The most talented of them can turn jewels into windows that never crack and reflect light in a thousand different patterns. They tend to never become domas, instead recruiting younglings from larger families. Forgers: These are the dwarves that go out into the larger world. They are talented, hardworking and make things of a much higher quality than human smiths could ever dream. These dwarves are accompanied by switchers because it is an innate dwarven instinct to see a child in need and adopte them.

Miners: These are the ones who are pulled down, down, down into the darkness by some unknown voice. They dig and dig and they have no idea of what they're about to find. They come up with gold and jewels and iron and go back down again. They are probably the strongest of dwarves and are also the warrior class of modern dwarves.

Prayerhands; These are the holy and scholars people of modern dwarves! They are also in charge of dwarven funds, acting as treasurers and conducting official business with human officials. They dress in all grey and shave their beards in reverence to Dostine, who has no beard and are frequently referred to as women by humans. Do not do this. Please ask what their preferred pronouns are. Your head will remain in place for much longer if you do.

Humans and modern dwarves have fairly stable relations, with the humans exchanging gold and silver for various services. However, some concepts that humans have are completely alien to dwarves. These include the concept of drunkenness, as dwarves cannot get drunk as their livers process alcohol inhumanly fast. Other concepts include the idea of marriage, sexual attraction and gender; however, they do understand aesthetic attractions.

If you have stuck with me for this long, congratulations, you have more patience than my younger brother.

We're finally entering the mysterious world of the Elder Dwarves; strange creatures with six arms, thick beards and more talent for forging than all the trapmasters combined. Elder dwarves are currently thought to be extinct, although some trolls claim to have seen them in the deepest caverns.

Thought to be greedy, always hungry and quite mean, Elder Dwarves were considered monsters by trolls, humans and elves, and frequently clashed with them in territorial disputes before sealing off their caves and tunnels for nine centuries, before modern dwarves appeared and began to make ammends. (Modern dwarves argue this point quite fiercely, pointing to the evidence that Elder dwarves had closely knit communities and largely fungus-based diets, like their own) They had their own language, the ability to stick to walls and were terrifyingly quick on their feet. The things they created that were found by humans gave rise to energy-storing crystals, zeppelins, clocks, ballistas, and even the system Epidamnos uses to keep the ocean from destroying it every stormy season.

The few Elder Dwarven caverns that are accessible by modern dwarves are called Pitches and are filled with bones, artifacts that glow with malicious energies and lava pools. Many Prayerhands believe that Elder dwarves bathed in the lava and it was actually an important part of their forging process, as the writings that are translated describe them being friends with a mostly extinct species of dragon, the Earthshaker dragons, who spewed lava so hot that even the gods were fearful of angering one. How the Elder Dwarves managed this, no one is sure. One theory thinks that they watched over the hatchlings, keeping them safe from hungry demons and greedy monster hunters that came from the surface looking for an easy kill. Earthshaker dragons are blind until they reach adolescence so having the dwarves to protect them while providing them with the lava they needed would form an inevitable  symbiotic relationship that benefited both parties.

It is unknown why elder dwarves had six arms and modern dwarves only have two. Humans assume it's because dwarves needed to assimilate better to human culture or risk extinction, but dwarves aren't sure, as some dwarves are born with four arms to this day. They tend to become miners, as the extra limbs make it much easier to fight and mine at the same time. Some believe that Dostine merely decided that she didn't like making the extra bones and gradually shifted. Others think that as the dwarves moved back to the surface, the terrain became easier and there were less demons to fight,  they simply didn't need them anymore, and so Dostine removed them.

Another key difference between Elder and Modern Dwarves is that while Modern Dwarves are agender and asexual, Elder Dwarves enjoyed representing themselves in various genders unrecognizable to humans and made a wild array of jewelry and combs. The jewelry currently found is mostly bracelets that jangle in a pleasing way. With all their arms decorated, they would have been able to compose entire rhythms with their bracelets. Certain bracelets seemed to be reserved for certain people, with one half of all bones found wearing bracelets of pure ruby, with the other half wearing bracelets of amethyst.

However, bones from Elders are incredibly rare because, as stated in the poem above, Dostine enjoys recycling and most of what is known about Elder Dwarves is patched together from paintings, frescos and a few pieces of jewelry found in Pitches. Perhaps if modern dwarves dig deep enough, they will find their answers, and maybe even some old friends.

[keil-beguile]

Reading Response 1 - Postmodernism

Postmodernism is a art category full of variety. Through it’s ability to expand to multiple mediums that can reach a wider range of people all of the world. Whether it sits in a park or is on someone’s t-shirt, this ability allows more people to see it than those who can only see certain art by visiting a specific museum. Escaping the Confines of Museums: The best example of this is art installations in public places. Allowing for the artist to move the piece to widen the audience it can reach overall. Jenny Holzer is a good example of art that is mobile while still having a great impact. With her series VIGIL she shares the stories of those affected by the reality of gun violence. With their words displayed brightly on the sides of buildings, their stories are reaching further and effecting more people all over these cities.

‘VIGIL’ Project Projection on Building Jenny Holzer October 2019 Collapsing Boundaries Between “High” and “Low”: Postmodern art allows for artists to break boundaries that modernist artists put in place to separate their “high art” with things experienced in ‘ordinary life’. Postmodern artists push to break this narrative by including everyday things in their art that allow their art to appeal to a wider range of audiences, whether they are from this “high art” culture or the lower culture. Jeff Koons is a great artist that goes against the “high art” culture with him installation pieces that are often very common/well known objects that he makes in a larger scale. Such as his piece ‘Play-Doh’ which is a very well known child’s craft item that most people can recognize with ease.

Play-Doh Installation  Jeff Koons 1994-2014 Rejecting Originality: Since their is a high value for art to be very original in the eyes of modernists, postmodernists challenge this by questioning the concept of originality in these times. The idea of making a completely original piece is a difficult feat. Since a majority of ideas have been explored in some sense even if you’ve never personally seen it. With a postmodern approach art in a much more liberating way that pulls themes from other sources before adding their own spin. Artists like Damien Hirst uses animals suspended to push a new narrative and allow for an interesting up close and personal perspective that many would never see in their life. Making his pieces simple but very unique. 

The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living Glass, painted steel, silicone, monofilament, shark and formaldehyde solution Damien Hirst 1991 Jouissance: Acting as the postmodern aesthetic experience, joussiance allows the viewer to become lost in a piece through the pleasure derived from viewing it. Compared to the modernist experience which is done at a distance, postmodernists allow for a very personal experience. 

Jouissance Painting on canvas on stretcher Damien Legrain 2019 Working Collaboratively: Compared to modern times, where individual contributions are a lot more valued, in a postmodern environment there is a lot more collaboration in many art pieces. There is now the ability for several artist to contribute to a piece from all over the world, adding many more cultures and interesting perspectives in postmodernist art. In the example I put, the piece is a large collaborative piece consisting of 22 separate layers that come together into one piece. Each layer being made by a different artist.

First Supper Collaborative Piece (22 layers) Artists Include: Alotta Money, Blackboxdotart, Coldie, Connie Digital, Hackatao, Josie Bellini, Matt Kane, Mlibty, Rutger van der Tas, Shortcut, TwistedVacancy, VansDesign, and XCOPY 2020 Appropriating:  This approach is the exact opposite of the modernist views of originality through the use of imagery that already exists. Whether that media be from other artists or generalized imagery (like from the grocery store). Appropriating is a form of manipulation of the previously stated media, and is able to shift and make a new message through borrowed images. The example put is from Richard Prince and his exhibition called Portraits. Where Prince uses Instagram selfies for his own artistic message.

Portraits Photography/Screenshots Richard Prince 2014 Simulating: Simulation art is an imitation/copy of other pieces. Simulacra are copies of things that no longer have an existing original, or perhaps they never had one at all. Another example simulacra is when a cartoon/representation lasts longer than the real person they were based on. Like Betty Boop or Helene Stanley who was the live action model for both Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty from Walt Disney’s famous animated movies. The example put is a photograph taken by Jean Baudrillard who is a prominent figure in the postmodern would in simulacra. 

Saint Clément Giclée print on pure cotton paper Jean Baudrillard 1987 Hybridizing: This postmodern art form is a way to mix various diverse cultural influences in a single piece. These pieces can pull from cultures that the artist is part of personally, or maybe just parts of separate cultures that interest them. Examples of these were western style art mixing with non-western style art. The posted example picture is from Masami Teraoka, who pulls themes from Western and Eastern cultures to make traditional Japanese art prints and adds his own western spin to that Japanese theme. 

Hawaii Snorkel Series/Longing Samurai Twenty-four-color woodcut, etching, and aquatint printed from one copper plate and eleven woodblocks on natural Fuji paper Masami Teraoka 1993

Mixing Media: Mixing media is just that, mixing media! The postmodernists like to explore the limits of a media and how they can mesh with other medias to enhance their piece. Even just small mixing like adding glitter to a piece can change the meaning to an art. The piece show is from the artist Robert Rauschenberg who combines many different mediums on paper and sculpture to make dynamic and interesting pieces. 

Buffalo II Silkscreen Robert Rauschenberg  1964

Layering: Layering is an art form that many artists can preform due to it being inexpensive to mass produce pictures and nowadays there is a lot of images and media available to use without too many issues. The artist shown below is Gabby Frank, who made a piece that is a excellent example of a postmoderist collage. Layer images on newsprint/some sort of print piece. 

Postmodern Collage Paper media Gabby Frank (Date not listed) Mixing Codes: The code being refers to the postmodern approach of mixing societal codes and using those codes to push an alternative narrative. Whether the codes be cultural, or commonly agreed upon. The example shown is from the artist Michael Ray Charles who uses the code mixing to show the viewers the racial biases they may have. Which is an excellent example of the mixing to show an alternative view/narrative. 

(Forever Free) ‘Servin with a smile’ Paint on canvas Michael Ray Charles 1994

Recontextualizing:  Through the use of previously familiar images, recontextualizing in the postmodern view is a way to change the meaning of the imaging being borrowed through repositioning and the use of addition/added on media to give the pieces a new meaning and significance. Fred Wilson is considered a master of recontextualization and his work is an interesting look into his views on the world.

Don’t Painted wood Fred Wilson 2010

Confronting the Gaze:

Confronting the gaze originally refers to the identification of the ‘male gaze’ which a lot of media is made around. Many works of western historical art that depict women are a result of the male desire to stare at and sexualize women. Worse than that, there was some blame from these men towards the women that were the subject. Since then, there has been some artists and pieces that have begun exploring the ‘female gaze’ and used their art to depict what females may actively desire. Tracy Emin is an example of the artists who explore the female gaze and has made many pieces in her simple style, a lot of which follow a similar romantic or sexual narrative. 

The Kiss Polymer gravure printed in blue Tracey Emin 2011 Facing the Abject: The abject in question is referring to the less than lovely aspects of life. Especially things that involve bodily functions. It also involves things like the hatred of food, trash, waste, even animal dung. Facing the abject in art is usually letting piece involve things that are usually considered on the ‘ugly’ side. Kiki Smith, the artist whose piece is featured is something that shows the original abject towards bodily functions. Pushing for people to accept the reality of bodily functions. 

Tale Fiber glass, wax, mix media Kiki Smith 1992 Constructing Identities: People tend to form opinions on those around them based on how they may look, or even surface level information that they may have on them. Due to their own personal ideas on things like race, gender, sexual orientation, etc. Since people tend to have a certain opinion/ideas on people based on these things, whether they mean to or not. Gran Fury was a group of activists that teamed up with ACT UP another group to bring awareness to the problems in the LGBT community and the AIDS pandemic. The piece show below is one of the graphics created in response to this lack of awareness towards AIDS. 

Silence = Death Graphic Gran Fury 1988

Using Narratives: Telling stories is something people have been doing through all of history. Historical works of art often depicts stories whether they be biblical or otherwise. Many pieces of art, even now, have a story to tell their audience. Especially things like modern movies, cartoons, and books. They all usually aim to tell a story to entertain an audience. Artists like Eric Fischl uses his paintings to tell pieces of stories. Like the piece shown below.

A Visit To/ A Visit From/ The Island  Oil on canvas Eric Fischl 1983 Creating Metaphors: To attribute the qualities of something to something else is to create a metaphor. Generally all images can be considered metaphors in some sense, although some postmodern artists work to make imagery of a particular narrative. Such as Chuck Close, who has a self portrait of himself which can act as a persona that the artist is wanting the audience to see of him. 

Self-Portrait Screenprint Silkscreen Chuck Close 2012

Irony, Parody, and Dissonance: All three of these are intertwined with each other in life. Artists are using these three themes/ideas to provoke a new questioning of the viewers previous knowledge. Sometimes these can fall short in the grand scheme of things and be taking literally. Resulting in a great misunderstanding and cause issues for the those involved. To understand the impacts and purpose intended behind the work, it is important for the viewer to understand the original unironic content that has been shifted an challenged. James Luna is an artist who uses irony,parody, and dissonance to convey his political views as a half Mexican, half Indian man. 

Trial and Error Photography Print James Luna 2011 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5280 - 3 Mixed Media Artists Reading Response:

This article is honestly wonderful to look at to explore the processes of artists from Colorado, one of which going to the same school as me! It overall makes me hopefully for what my future has in-store and my hope to one day find where I belong in the artist community.-Tya Alisa Anthony’s collage was dynamic and interesting. Allowing for an interesting perspective into BIPOC stories and their history. Adding color to the piece through the shorts allows for a pull back to modern times and how their are still stories that need to be told!-Mario Zoots was the artist I was the most interested in from hearing that he went to MSU Denver. I like the collage he made, it feels like something one would make in a journal of their travels. It also made me feel like I may have stumbled upon the journal in the woods, adding an eerie feeling to what’s on the page. That is such an interesting dynamic to encounter!-Kelly Duffield’s pieces are overall the most interesting for me to look at. Since the previous two were a lot different in theme and the overall feel they gave off a bit more of a mature feeling. Duffield’s work really tips into a feeling that I would describe as “a weird dream I once had”. The piece is definitely one that can be interpreted in many different ways by different people and that value in a piece is something that can be hard to achieve. Overall these three artists are great at what they do and I hope to see more of their work in the future!

[gcrifin]

&&. META 01. ( MODERN )

     ♕ A well known journalist with countless people skills and a habit of finding things out she probably shouldn’t know. Lulubelle climbed the ranks of many other in her profession by searching in bolder places, routing fighting rings and criminals and writing chilling articles detailing the events of uncovering information. This makes her rather infamous to those with sullied histories.

     ♕ Her parents run an upscale theatre in which they preform and host plays. This varies depending on the event, and their craft is impeccable. Lulu was once well on her way to preforming with them, but the sociability of journalism pulled her away from the arts. The passion of preforming, dance, and acting still stirs within her, making her a very animated personality. Sometimes she thinks about retiring from the danger of bold story writing but her boss, Mr. Morgans, surely wouldn’t let her go ( but that’d be Big News!! )

     ♕ Unlike her boss, she’s in no rush to print a story. In fact she has undoubtedly kept certain things private, whether it be due to moral principal or other personal reasons. Something she’s in the midst of uncovering may halt abruptly and the information simply goes missing. Bribery, though underhanded, is something that can be considered. This makes her a negotiator to a degree. Despite her nosy history thus far, her heart is still kind. Reasons, pleas, and the like are all heeded, especially when it comes to information that may well ruin someone’s life. Killed somebody to protect your family? She won’t tell. Run a fight club with your buddies to hang out and don’t wanna get outed? No worries ( also let her in, maybe? ) The only things she rushes to print are the truly inexcusable. 

     ♕ Lives in a nice one-story house in a pleasant neighborhood. Three bedrooms, two full baths. There’s hardly a use for the third bedroom and, considering this, it has instead been turned into a workroom filled with her past articles and various awards for the writing she has done over the years. Interviews with famous faces and the like are hung everywhere, making for interesting conversation pieces. The place is always clean, smelling of fresh linen and fruits. There are always fruits in hanging fruit baskets ready for meals, fresh cut flowers on the dining room table and coffee tables. A generally relaxing, homely place; very humble in theme. Whites, golds, and blacks abound. People are often shocked at how she keeps a predominately white home so clean.

     ♕ Versed in physical self defense. After being assaulted for having information the first time and earning a nasty navel scar from it, she learned to wrest weapons from assailants hands and render them unable to retaliate in return. Still can’t shoot a firearm, nor does she have a license to. Her palm strikes are precise and intended to strike at nerves. Naturally this protection isn’t foolproof, but it’s much better to be knowledgeable than to risk losing her life openly to the risky business.

     ♕ Goes out a lot. Very often, in fact. Hangs out in mid-high scale places and also visits lower end bars just to hang out and chat. Generally very social. She always walks out knowing something else about somebody she’s never met before. Not afraid to strike up a random conversation. Loves chatting. Gossip is a guilty pleasure. Friends guaranteed to get the latest tea before it goes public. Despite that, she’s not at all loose-lipped when it matters. There’s always something secret stashed away, and loyalty to friends keeps her shockingly oblivious. Don’t know what’s happening in the world of late? Ask her. She probably knows.

    ♕ Has a very nice camera. She uses it for work, mostly, but it’s a personal one she bought herself. Though she’s not photographer, she’s more than happy to take and print pictures. There are often aesthetic landscape photographs blown up onto photographic canvases around her home, and there will undoubtedly be pictures of friends and family scattered about to fill in wall and desk space. There might be an abstract painting or two hanging somewhere, too.

[sunrise2x4-blog]

Module 4 Reading

I’ll admit that, out of everything we’ve read about so far this semester, i know the least about performance art. This isn’t necessarily something that i keep an eye on, and i don’t really follow the works of any performance artists.  That being said, i admire the spirit of performance art as it’s roots were being grown.  I like the phrasing from Filippo Tommaso Marinetti: “We will destroy the museums.”  That’s such a metal way to look and respond to the modern art world.  Their anger towards the way these museums operated is commendable.  I feel that way here in Denver alot.  I don’t remember the last time i saw an artist on the Santa Fe Art Walk that really blew me away.  We’ve kind of gotten stagnant in my very biased opinion, on the museum and gallery works that are on display and promoted.  Anything that goes against the grain of the modern scene gets at least a little respect from my monkey brain. Once i read the part about John Cage, however, i realized that i did know at least 1 performance artist.  I remember seeing his Water Walk on tv at some point in my teenage years and was confused and extremely intrigued by that concept.  He ultimately led to my fascination with tape loop music, and i remember reading about a performance he did with 88 different tape loops playing on 11 tape machines.  The performance started the second someone walked into the room, and ended when the last person decided to leave.  

The Artist is Present

I actually saw the Documentary Now! episode about this film before seeing the real film and had to rewatch it after this assignment to understand the actual jokes of the film.  I’m always impressed when watching films like this, because i had never heard of this artist before, and to see a film where it sums up decades of work by her, some which are massive pieces of work, really shows how little i know about the art world and what it’s accomplished. That performance she did with the bow and arrow being held at full pressure made my hands sweat.  That’s such a simple idea, yet i physically kind of retracted from my seat when i saw it, it really made me uneasy.  I don’t give enough recognition to performance art, because i think the phrase has a stigma around it.  To be honest, i’m not even sure what that stigma is, but i think i am judgemental right off the bat and have a preformed idea of what it’s about.  This film is kind of that harsh reminder to not be so close-minded about it. 

[theatreakasuna-store]

 19 and 11  MEME:   sin.    /  /   Always  Accepting. 

Do  they  follow  another’s  teachings  when  it  comes  to  their  treatment  of  violence ?

Yes,  very  much  so.  Sasori’s  grandmother  is  the  one  who  taught  him  how  to  adapt  puppets  into  weapons  &  how  to  use  them  in  such  a  way.  She  taught  him  how  to  be  cunning  &  ruthless  fighter  since  puppetry  replies  on sneaky  tactics  &  hidden  weapons  to  be  at  its  most  effective.  Although,  truly,  Sasori  became  so  powerful  he  was  able  to  use  puppets  in  bulk  like  no  puppet  master  before  him,  giving  them  brute  &  overwhelming  strength,  not  to  mention  his  own  modifications  to  his  body  which  worked  to  eliminate  puppeteer's  shortcomings  in  taijutsu  /  close  range  combat  almost  entirely.

Though  personally  I  believe  at  least  in  Sasori’s  time  puppeteers  were  taught  a  bit  of  taijutsu  anyway  because  no  one  wanted  them  to  be  useless  if  their  puppets  were  incapacitated. 

Furthermore  Sasori  is  a  product  of  his  village &  their  overall  teachings.  Suna  nin  are  noted  as  some  of  the  most  frightening  opponents  to  face  in  battle  because  they’re  trained  to  win  through  any  means  necessary  or  die  trying   &  anything  less  is  a  disgrace.  Particularly  in  Sasori’s  day  if  you  were  a  Suna  nin &  you  were  alive  but  defeated  /  failed  your  task  you  were  better  off  dead  &  if  dying  was  always  the  only  outcome  it  was  embraced.  

I  believe  when  Sasori  is  resurrected  &  he  &  Deidara  confront  Sai,  a  member  of  Root,  Sasori  commented  that  the  teachings  of  Root  were  incredibly  similar  to  his  own  village.  Sasori  was  taught  basically,  to  feel  nothing  &  to  disregard  the  feelings  &  lives  of  others.  Suna  nin  are  supposedly  taught  that  nothing  matters  but  their  goal,  their  own  lives  &  the  lives  of  their  comrades  &  family  didn’t  mean  anything. 

This  was  further  compacted  for  Sasori  as  he  was  also  trained  as  med  nin.  Typically  med  nins  are taught  self-preservation  above  all. Basically  Sasori  was the  most  important  ninja  on  the  battlefield  &  had  to  treat  himself  as  such  until  the  fight  was  trough  because  if  he  was  killed/injured  no  one  could  heal  the  others. 

I’m  not  sure  if  modern  Suna’s  teachings  are  as  callous  &  brutal.  Keep  in  mind  Sasori  was  also  trained  during  a  time  of  war  &  desperation.  Things  were  considerably  worse &  more  strict. 

When  Sasori  disconnected  himself  from  his  village  their  teachings  remained  with  him  although  they  became  much  more  self-focused  rather  than  focused  on  the  village.  Sasori  fights  now  to  add  to  his  collection &  ultimately  prove  that  his  art  is  superior  to  other  shinobi.  He  fights  with  ruthless  dedication  &  bloodlust  to  win &  when  he  incapacitates  a  rival  he  views  their  lives  as  forfeit  &  he  has  all  rights  to  do  whatever  he  likes  with  them.  He  tends  to  follow  this  standard  for  himself  as  well  of  course.  

I  dont  consider  the  games  completely  canon  bc  theres  a  lot  of  contradictions  but  I  do  like  the  fight  between  Sasori  &  Konan.  As  soon  as  Sasori  was  “beaten”  he  was  happy  to  do  exactly  as  she  said.  It  would  have  been  a  fight  to  death,  which  are  what  typical  battles  between  shinobi  mean,  where  Sasori  would  have  embraced  death  but  Konan  had  him  joining  Akatsuki  in  mind  so  thats  what  he  did  with  no  hesitation.   In  some  way,  Sasori  believes  he  belongs  to  Akatsuki.

Furthermore  Sasori  can  be  extremely sadistic.  He  was  always  conflicted,  he  was  trained  again  not  feel  emotion  for  those  he  kills.  Not  feel  pity.  Not  to  feel  sadness.  Not  to  feel  anything  at  all  but  the  problem  is  humans  do  feel  so  what  Sasori  felt  became  something  twisted  &  evil.  Now  he  just  feels  excitement  &  curiosity &  its  one  of  the  few  times  when  Sasori  does  show  obvious  emotion  beside  occasional  outbursts  of  anger. 

Do  they  have  rituals  or  other  motions  they  go  through  to  calm  themselves  following  violence ?

As  I  mentioned  Sasori  is  very  emotionally  dull &  since  this  wasn’t  really  his  own  doing  he  can’t  help  it.  Its  ingrained  into  him,  he  deals  with  it  by  relating  himself  to  an  unfeeling  puppet  so  typically  Sasori’s  always  fairly  calm &  the  aftermath  of  a  vicious  battle  isn’t  something  that  upsets  Sasori  all  too  much.  Rather,  he  typically  finds  gratification.  Indeed,  what  excites  Sasori  most  about  battle  is  the  aftermath.  Again  hes  usually  fighting  for  his  art  so  winning  a  battle  for  Sasori  usually  means  a  shiny  new  human  puppet  he  can  play  with  or  at  the  least  it  means  he  can  test  his  artwork  against  others. 

The  ultimate  outcome  though  for  Sasori  is  killing  someone  he  thinks  would  make  a  good  addition  to  his  collection.  Sasori’s  ritual  therefore  consists  of  creating  a  puppet  of  that  person  which  he  explains  to  Chiyo  &  Sakura  in  gruesome  detail.  He  starts  by  draining  the  blood,  removing  the  organs &  then  he  washes  the  body  clean  inside  &  out.  Thats  when  he  begins  the  petrifaction  process  &  starts  adding  in  the  weapons  &  mechanisms.  Soon  hes  got  a  new  human  puppet  to  be  proud  of. 

Sasori  can  do  this  kind  of  work  contently  for  hours.  Sometimes  when  he  doesn’t  have  a  new  puppet  to  create  he  works  on  his  existing  ones,  adding  upgrades  &  preforming  routine  maintenance.  Sasori’s  very  relaxed  &  transfixed  when  hes  doing  this.  His  focus  is  hard  to  break  &  cant  stand  being  interrupted.  Sasori  doesn’t  like  to  make  people  wait  but  this  is  one  of  those  times  where  if  hes  in  the  middle  of  it,  its  too  bad,  you  have  to  wait  till  hes  ready  &  not  a  moment  sooner. 

Sasori’s  impatience  however  means  he  will  sometimes  start  work  on  his  subjects  before  they’ve  died.  He  only  needs  his  poison  to  incapacitate  them  &  hes  good  to  go  &  if  theyre  not  killed  through  some  big  injury  they  have  the  ability  to  live  for  3  days.  Sasori  in  fact  prefers  to  use  his  poison  than  anything  else  because  if  administered  quickly  it  leaves  his  victims  bodies  in  a  pristine  state ( no  big  holes  or  missing  pieces)  &  so  he  has  to  do  less  work  to  patch  them  up  /  repair  them  when  hes  making  them  a  puppet. 

[cozy-possum]

I watched a video about the history of ballet. It originated in 17th century (human Carlisle years) France where everyone did it in heeled shoes. By the time of Jaspers human years, female dancers were now wearing pointe shoes. In bella’s time there are now ballet works were female dances were flat shoes or none at all. I wonder if any of theCullens saw a ballet during their human or vampire years?

ooo I love ballet, tbh what i remember from my dance classes and random pieces of history and knowledge i have is that at least in modern times their are two main ways to teach/learn ballet.

 I could see the boys of the Cullen family not being terribly interested, besides Carlisle, but he would have an interest from the Volturi and their obsession with art/culture/knowledge.

Jasper might be interested in it from a tactical point of view, ballet increasing flexibility/adding in specific way to move when fighting.

I could see Esme and Rose enjoying the idea of ballet/dancing but neither of them want to pursue it. I feel like Alice is the same way, just less interested in it.

I could see Bella, having taken dance lessons when she was younger maybe regretting quitting/having to give it up for whatever reason. and Finding that when she goes to pick it up/learn as a vampire she finds herself starting at the very basics like when she was a child, the only difference is she does not become tired and after preforming the positions and steps once she can repeat them effortlessly.

[malacodaus-blog]

Old Blood 

||@exmortum​|| AKA Happy Birthday Cae 

Prompt: 

Sat opposite her, between them on the cherrywood surface of his desk lay a duralumin case on its side, the locks still tightly in place. It had been there since she had entered his office, innocent despite the disastrous contents safely nestled in the plush lining. Leather encased fingers laced together, the heels of palms resting on the polished surface just a twitch or two away. The rest of him appeared as ever; composed, posture straight, but for the tilt of the head. Across the sable tinted lenses of his sunglasses flashed the lights held in generations' old crystal. Behind the shades, his gaze was intent upon her.

‘ Tell me, Ms. Sherawat. . . what would you do for the sake of loyalty ? No, ’ rumble interrupted the query, the smooth expression of calm undisturbed by the undercurrent of danger in freezing waters. ‘ What would you do for the sake of your life ? ’

The metal brief case lodged like a barrier between Jessica and Wesker. An enigmatic little mystery box posed as the center piece of his desk. She could guess the contents but only he could reveal the answer, for certain it was why he called her here. A golden evening glow bathed the desk and office in warm light. It glinted from the windows and kissed Jessica’s throat, a final farewell of the day. Wesker’s office proved to be what she expected, simple but decadent. A minimalistic statement of class and taste. Not hollow or for show; Crystal glasses, art pieces running in the millions, books smelling of warmed leather, polished wood. Wesker appreciated true quality, not money spent for the sake of itself. His clothes were designer for comfort, and durability, to put forth the best appearance. Wesker expected that everything in his vicinity preform to standard. Jessica has stepped from chaotic streets into this den of organized papers, composed into stacks for efficiency. She’d find such skilled artistry nowhere else.

His focus burned holes into her, his gaze nipping like frost bite. In a torrent ocean, a riptide, Jessica was placid. Legs crossed at the knee, the pointed red toe of her heel drawing calm circles. Her posture remained open and inviting, hands on either arm rest of her chair, expression gentle and softened, unchallenging, patient. To his question she hummed, head cocking in thought. A single auburn coil of hair brushed along the collar of her pea coat. Jessica braced her chin against her white silk gloved hand and then smiled, slight and wiry.

A half-dozen handlers had asked this exact question before him. They didn’t use the same words of course, but the gist, the intention, the heart of it, was there. It wasn’t the question that mattered. The words were but a facade meant to draw her attention, so she could stutter over them and reveal all the more of her hand. No, the question was a thin veil for something far more sinister. Life or death, loyalty or betrayal, the binary dichotomy of her career. This was the relationship of agent and handler. No it was quite obvious: Wesker was threatening her. Her comfort was that if he truly wanted her dead, she would be, there was an angle here. He was looking for something out of her. 

The answer he wanted, the correct answer, the ‘I’ll do anything, please don’t kill me’ and the ‘I’m loyal to the end.’ Were the wrong answers, not because they were lies but because they were not true. What a beautifully crafted catch-22 he presented her with. In the original story the logic was simple. Only the insane would fly bombing missions but an insane person cannot fly. If one applies for insanity to escape the missions however, they admit fear in the face of death, which is a hallmark of sanity. Ergo, to apply for insanity is to admit to being sane. Only the insane would work for Wesker but Wesker doesn’t want someone insane working for him. To try to leave, however, would be for Jessica to admit her sanity and yet to stay would be to admit her insanity. And if she was sane and if she was reasonable, the kinda person that would balk under pressure, then he’d have no more use for her because those were not the traits of a good agent. And then she’d be killed. So the obvious, easy answer —the lie— was the wrong answer. Because the sane feared death and the insane were not good agents. Jessica wondered why they had to play cat and mouse. She was content to work with him for now, it was Excella they both hated. The enemy of my enemy is not my enemy, after all.

Jessica inhaled, thin breath through her nose, eyes narrowed imperceptibly. Not a tick on the clock had passed in the ensuing silence of his query. Wesker sat across the desk as unmovable as a statue, man hewn from marble and spun gold. Jessica’s forefinger traced the line of her jaw, eyes running over his form. Broad shoulders, strong arms, hardened and tight jaw. Beneath those glasses were unseen eyes, the windows of the soul folded in shadow. At a glance he appeared as a man, but if she peeled away the layers— what would she find? 

All her handlers were the same. Men of importance and power, charged to keep her in line, no matter what. One liked to belittle and threaten her and another tries to seduce her, cruel or sweet words, all twisted to the same end. Control. Wesker controlled everything. He controlled Excella, he controlled TRICELL, and its employees, and the labs that developed the viruses. Hell, he probably even set the AC in the office. Strong, functionally immortal, intelligent, Albert Wesker was the perfect human being. His files from UMBRELLA said as much. What power he did not have he hungered for. It was in his DNa, his upbringing, nature and nurture intertwined to produce a ruthless man that will stop at nothing. He would not trip over Jessica, no, if she fell in his path he’d crush her beneath his boot heel and she was not afraid to admit she’d be helpless to stop him. All her other handlers she watched crash and fall, hoist by their own hubris. They underestimated her, doubted her skill, when they thought they were the seducer, she seduced them— not many knew to watch her mouth and her hands. 

Behind the glint of those sunglasses, molten gold in the light, Jessica saw no expression. Cold and unfeeling, his chuckle echoed in a hallow chest. If she took her fingers to his pulse would she hear a heartbeat? Or did the progenitor take that from him too. He knew of her four years in Umbrella, the last generation of agents produced from their programs— she supposed that made them somewhat related. Perhaps in an extended metaphor, she could consider herself an adopted younger sibling, or a niece. If he was the beloved golden boy then she was the black lamb, which marked two families she had estranged. 

There were other kids in the program with her. Nine others to be exact, some as young as ten and barely reaching her hip. A couple were boys older than her. They all shared one thing in common: they escaped Raccoon City before the missile hit. UMBRELLA scooped them up like prize fish at a Carnival game. There were more than them initially but Jessica suspected they weren’t up to standard and thus were terminated. They all had ‘strong’ genes. They were healthy and attractive kids, intelligent. Jessica’s parents were wealthy and talented — and bait for blackmail— so the scientists cooed that she was an excellent candidate. No, they weren’t as good as the originals —the fabled Wesker project— but in a pinch they’d do. But she recalled their first two weeks together, huddled scared in a common room of a white washed facility. The young ones were terrified, the smallest cried for her mother every night. The first day soldiers shaved their heads, dunked them into ice baths to scrub them raw, and scientists poked and prodded them with needles and instruments. For a time it was them, together. Then they identified something special in Jessica, or Captain Rodriguez did, as he said, not many sixteen year olds walked out of Raccoon City. The others were shuffled off and they handed her over to the Captain. They told him to break her, and so he did.

It’d been almost a decade but she remembered him like it was yesterday. He was a gangly man in his early-fifties, all hard muscle and scar. A black curled beard hid his face and he always wore an olive green cap over his ice blue eyes. Captain Rodriguez served for twenty-five years as a US Army ranger. He spent ten of those as an instructor. In military training there were pesky things called rules meant to insure recruits weren’t injured or killed. These annoyed the Captain, they prevented him from testing his trainees and helping them reach their full potential, in his eyes. That was what he told Jessica, at least. He had a year to produce a combat ready agent prepared for military operations, covert espionage, and UMBRELLA’s dirty work. They wanted a loyal, tough agent to carry on the legacy of UMBRELLA and its philosophy. She was to be the final testimony; the best of the best. To that end they tested her vitals at every turn and mapped out her DNA. All while Captain Rodriguez forced her to her limits.

Those same scientists and executives told her that power was in the gene pool. Humanity was a potential untapped, evolution had stagnated in the digital age with the touchy-feely attempts of modern medicine that ensured that everyone could survive and reproduce. Only those with good genes should have the right to spawn they said. Power could unify the human race, perfect it. UMBRELLA sought to cull the herd, a few lives lost here and there, nothing compared to the greater future ahead. That was how they justified Raccoon city. A few lives lost, an accident but a reasonable price for the research and data. For the betterment of mankind, the city burned. Jessica’s potential was excellent, a little more time and they could perfect her too. It will be interesting to see how she responds in real combat.

“No”, Rodriguez would growl, head ducked so his eyes were hid beneath his hat brim. “Its not the genes that make a soldier, but the spirit.”

Those old fools, he’d say, trapped in their labs. They couldn’t see pass the numbers on their data sheets. Only later did Jessica wonder if the reason the scientists were so interested in her was because they had nothing better to do. UMBRELLA was dying and their funding was drying up, might as well harass some teenagers. Rodriguez never tried to convince her of the bullshit the executives fed her, probably why she never swallowed it hook, line, and sinker. The Captain told her two things: One, the mission comes first; Two, the enemy is the one trying to kill you.

“I am trained to put my feelings aside,” Jessica said, “And to complete the mission. Whatever it may be.”

The scientists of UMBRELLA had read Jessica’s genetic code and liked whatever they saw. They tried to use it to predict her future. If they had laid out a deck of tarot cards, they would have had more success. Jessica once dreamed of following her parent’s footsteps: she’d be an actress like her mom or an executive like dad. And if all those plans failed, she had Daddy’s money to fall back on. She believed in destiny, and perhaps that’s why she once thought Terragrigia and Raccoon City were inevitable, caught in the cogs of progress and evolution. That men like Albert Wesker exemplified the machine, unstoppable.

She could not see beyond those black shades, nor to the weathered hands under his gloves, or hear the heartbeat in his chest. Jessica did not know the full story of his birth and resurrection, only the hearsay of the rumor mill and what scraps she garnered from the enigmatic man. He was the ur example, everything the scientists wished she had been. The success story, the one that took his inheritance and ran. Quite the prodigal son, Albert Wesker. Then again, genetics and virus and all, he was still a man. It want the inhuman capacity of his muscle fibers or his super speed that impressed her, not even his intelligence, it was his spirit. Even if a scientist cloned him to the exact detail, they could not replicate him. Jessica cared not for his cause or his business, nor his desire for power. paths. For the first time in her life Jessica didn’t care who held her leash, only that he didn’t tug so hard. She’d come along. After all, now was a time for patience. If he needed to be stopped, someone with equal might would get in his way. It wasn’t the strong that survived --survival of the fittest did not mean survival of the strongest, but the one that could best suit its enviroment-- but those who adapted. 

Their genes could not predict their fate. Jessica was certain, nonetheless that they’d be dealt the hand they deserved. She was calm but she was not complacent, she had her own path to walk. Her parents didn’t decide it, UMBRELLA didn’t decide it, Rodriguez didn’t decide it, and Wesker didn’t decide it. That path did not cross over Wesker’s.  Because Jessica saw Raccoon City burn, watched the missile strike and felt the shockwave from miles away. Politics crushed buildings and shattered glass. It happened on Terragrigia too. Monsters ravaged the streets but the true demons sat in plush offices and debated the PR. She had come to terms with her mortality. Jessica once feared death, now she respected it. Her hands were blood stained and the damn spot would not wash out. She had no self-righteous vindication to hold her back, only the quiet apathy of a woman tired of all the games.

The only question is,” Jessica said, and here she leaned forward, arms bracing on her knees. The mask and the lies, the little petty quirks of an actress melted from her frame, she sat before him as raw as she’d ever been. Her eyes found the reflection in those sunglasses and looked beyond. Cold steel and burning gold, the slightest upturn of cocky smirk across painted red lips.

“What is it that you want me to do?”

[exactlydeafeningdeer]

Metal Forging Tools and Equipment and Parts Supplies

This article discusses the significant factors in the selection of forging equipment for a particular process. It describes the characteristics of forging hydraulic presses, mechanical presses, screw presses, and hammers. The article discusses the significant characteristics of these machines that comprise all machine design and performance data, which are pertinent to the economic use of the machines, including the characteristics for load and energy, time-related characteristics, and characteristics for accuracy.

The forging of metals and alloys is one of the oldest metal forming techniques used by humankind. Forging processes were improved over the centuries and are still being refined. Today, we are certain that there is no limit to these improvements and that we will never reach the point when we can say that nothing more is to be done. Despite the enormous knowledge and experience gained over the centuries, we still face new challenges arising from civilizational progress. One of them is the necessity to produce parts that are more and more complex in terms of shape and properties, which requires not only a deep insight into phenomena that accompany forging processes, but also the development of new techniques, riveting machine and equipment, materials, research methods, and tools, as well as the improvement of the existing ones. With the Special Issue on “Forging Processes of Materials”, the Editorial Board of Materials offers authors the possibility of presenting their findings in this field. As the Guest Editor for the Special Issue, I would like to invite you to contribute to this publication, which, I hope, will serve as a source of knowledge for both theoreticians and practitioners. Hence, I encourage authors to submit papers exploring, in a broad sense, the theory and practice of forging metals and alloys. I wish to assure you that we will make every effort to ensure the highest quality of this Special Issue.

Forging is a hot or cold metal deformation process used to produce metal parts where strength is a paramount concern, engine connecting rods and hand tools being two such examples. The process itself involves using compressive forces to mold and deform metal into the desired shape. For most applications, forging entails heating the base metal until it is malleable enough to work with, although cold and warm forging are also done.

The forge, sometimes called a hearth, is the component that heats the metal prior to forming. In its most fundamental form, forging can be understood in the manner of making horseshoes. The blacksmith heats the metal in the hearth, then pounds it with a hammer against an anvil to flatten it, curve it, pierce it, and generally shape it, repeatedly reheating the metal to maintain plasticity. Small gas-fired forges are available for blacksmiths though many forgers choose to build their own.

Modern industrial forging relies on sophisticated, heavy-duty equipment capable of producing small accurate parts as well as large pieces weighing many tons. As with castings and weldments, many forgings are machined after they are made to achieve their final forms.

An anvil is a large slab of metal, usually made of steel, which serves as the workbench for the blacksmith or automated hydraulic closed die forging hammer device. The metal is placed on the anvil, where it is hammered into the correct shape. Anvils traditionally provide a flat hammering surface, though curved anvil tops are available. A hardy hole and punch hole can sometimes be found on an anvil – the hardy hole serves as the square socket for accepting the shank of a hardy, an interchangeable tool in a variety of shapes used for cutoff, bending, etc. The punch hole provides clearance for punching holes in the metal.

Chisels

Chisels are cutting supplies that chip away at metal. They are traditionally made of high-carbon steel and consist of a long octagonal cross-section with a tapered cutting edge on one end. There are two types of chisels—hot chisels and cold chisels. Cold chisels are typically thinner in construction, and better suited for cold forging. Hot chisels, on the other hand, assist in hot forging processes. Chisels are traditionally applicable in manual forging applications.

Tongs

Tongs assist in the transportation of the heated metal from the forge to the anvil. Many different tong shapes are available to provide adequate gripping of multiple metal shapes and sizes.

Fullers

Forming tools that create grooves or indentions in the forging process are known as fullers. Fullers also help round out corners and stretch the metal. Traditionally used in pairs, fullers work through placing one beneath the metal, and the other on top. This enables the indentation of both sides of the metal component to occur simultaneously.

Forging Hammers

Different forging processes are appropriate for different applications—options such as hot forging, cold forging, closed die forging, upset forging, and press forging are simply a few examples. Many of these forging processes require the use of a hammer to enable compression and shaping of the metal. Forging hammers vary in shape, size, and material based on the particular application, but all industrial hammers typically apply force with a large ram. Two basic types of hammers are:

Drop hammers: Gravity allows the heavy ram to fall onto the metal.

Power hammers: Compressed air, hydraulics, or electricity drive the hammer.

Hammers are capable of delivering percussive impact blows with forces of up to 50,000 lbs. in their largest incarnations, with smaller capacity units also available. For increased forging forces, forgers turn to presses.

Forging Presses

A forging press creates force through mechanical or hydraulic energy without relying on the weight of a hammer and the assistance of gravity to pound metal into the desired shape. Whereas hammers shape a localized portion of the metal, a forging press can forge the entire product at once in a process known as closed-die forging. Forging presses also duplicate the action of hammers in the open die forging process. Both horizontal and vertical forging presses are available. The horizontal presses are called upsetters. Two types of forging presses include:

Mechanical forging press: A mechanical device (often a crank) propels a motor-driven flywheel, forcing the ram against the metal. Mechanical presses are not suited for forging large or complex items but are beneficial in applications that require simple shaping effects. They are capable of producing forces of up to 20,000 tons.

Hydraulic forging press: High-pressure fluid propelled by hydraulic pumps forces the ram against the metal. Hydraulic presses can provide higher forces than mechanical presses, and are sometimes preferred for applications that create large or complex components. Small hydraulic presses are available for blacksmithing operations with forces starting around 10 tons and they grow increasingly more forceful from there, with some very large presses operating in the 50,000-ton range and beyond.

Forging Dies

Forging presses used for closed-die forging require forging dies to properly mold the metal. Dies act as molds into which the hot, malleable metal is pressed. Since dies are unique to each forging project, they are expensive and can lead to high set-up costs prior to forging – forging with dies is best suited for moderate to large production runs. There are two main types of forging dies:

Open die: Open dies are akin to the blacksmith’s hammer and anvil and are usually available in shapes that accomplish specific tasks such as squaring. They do not completely encase the metal, providing free flow everywhere except where the metal meets the die. Open die forging is a good choice for custom metalworking applications as it can be used to produce as few as a single forging. It is also useful in forging very large parts. Where a blacksmith might use tongs to grapple the hot metal forging, many larger forgings are handled by mechanical manipulators because of their immense weight. Open die forging depends a great deal on the skill of the forger to produce the desired shapes. In addition to producing stepped shafting, rings, and cylindrical hollows, open die forging is often used to produce the hemispherical ends of pressure vessels.

Closed die: Here, the metal is completely encased. When the CNC hydraulic die forging hammer or press pushes against the metal, the metal flows and fills the die cavity or cavities. Typically, the pre-forged part will have some resemblance to the final forging before it is placed in the die, preformed by a series of so-called blocker dies.

Summary

This article presents a brief discussion of metal forging tools and equipment. For more information on other products, consult our other guides or visit the Thomas Supplier Discovery Platform to locate potential sources. More information on forging and forging equipment may be found at the Forging Industry Association website.

Modern science and industry have accumulated many efficient methods of forming by hammer forging, such as setting with shift or torsion, sectional forging, expansion by rolls etc. However, they are difficult for realization on forging equipment, what hampers their adoption in industry. Hence technological conservatism in forging. Even state-off-the-art forging complexes have brought no fundamental change into the hammer forging process.

Within the present work we have developed a new composition structure of a forging machine suitable for conventional operations of hammer forging as well as for new operations, unusual for hammer and press forging. The structure of the machine, hereinafter referred to as an automated forging center (AFC) permits to solve the problems of combining external forces, producing new shapes of deformation zones, efficient use of the tool magazine.

Physical and mathematical simulation of technological operations have been carried out to estimate forming and forse parameters, some results being presented in the paper.