#wwb talks

[wolfwoodboobs]

HOLY SHIT HOW WAS THIS URL NOT TAKEN

[inifinitypink]

World War Blue thread jumpscare

I've never done these "rant threads before" so, please excuse my very nonsensical language.

World war blue is a fantasy manga. Written by Anastasia Shestakova and illustrated by Crimson, retelling of the 90's console war between Sega and Ninteldo (which are labeled as SEGUA EMPIRE and NINTELDO EMPIRE), featuring characters inspired by video games.

but, I'm not here to tell you the history of this manga series and how did it become to be. nono.. I'm here to tell you that there was indeed, SONY characters in this series. well, most of them are represented in a very redesign for whom was already a humans and gijinkas to the anthropomorphous and other creatures.. and that shows up with the character representing a certain mutt..

everyone, say hello to the Parappa The Rapper's rep in the series, Melissa Elissa! isn't she a cutie? according to her bio (AKA what I gathered from JP fans and) she's a care-free rhythmic gal who adores singing and has habit of repeating what people say, but, brutally honest. in which, her rhymes coming off as insults and not a very liked figure in Zoldia kingdom (sony). she has a childhood friend named Balzack (a menace I'll talk about in another time, for now, he's crash bandicoot rep) who.. honestly, I don't know what kind of interactions they had since I can't read the chapter where the Zolida empire debuted. however, I know that the few moments I found of these two together, Melissa always gets punched to the oblivion. a running gag I guess.

now, you may be wondering about those rings in her hands? what role do they serve? well, in WWB, every character that's was inspired from a non-fighting franchise did obtain a weapon that fits to the theme of the character they represent. or atleast some kind of super power to buckle. in Melissa's case, she got "Sharp Metal Rings" that can slice her enemies and take them down. also while roasting them or referencing Parappa songs like the chop rap or.. even the gah damned anime (that's her standered first lines ever, plus the parapa bubble scap line things. which are referecing the "paraparappapunpun" hum from the first game.

[boundlss]

✨ Where do I start? Well, to this day, I'm glad and thankful to have come across this blog out of pure chance (aka me looking at the LH rp tag). LH is severely underrated and needs more love (obviously), so I'm happy that someone appreciates this gem, as well as other series that is obviously given so much passion and love which POURS like an endless waterfall through the writing, be it threads, asks and headcanons. Even the OOC posts are a joy to read. Speaking of writing though, saying I love your writing is an understatement. I ALWAYS look forward to writing with you. The characterizations are simply divine, and so so... YOU. I re-read our thread/s often coz it's like I'm just reading/watching some episode, but only between our muses (Shiroe and Souji as a dynamic needs more attention in the actual series AAAAA). Anyway, very grateful to be writing with you and looking forward for more fun stuff to come! Cheers!

AAAAHH THIS IS SO SWEET !!!

first of all, i really really appreciate all your kind words. i get really nervous when it comes to writing specifically shiroe against other people who've seen log horizon, because i know my takes on him are a little unconventional especially considering the genre, so hearing you say you like my portrayal of shiroe makes me SO happy.

i'm also really glad you stumbled across my blog because it's genuinely so hard to find people who've seen the show, and i've loved every bit of our interactions! you write souji so well and i've loved seeing you go through your log horizon rewatch and WWB reading on the dash. really. it makes me happy to see how into talking about your muses you can get!

(as a sidenote, i was also SO glad you were down with the idea of souji/shiroe. i've also been really loving their dynamic and i can't wait to see where it goes!)

writing positivity! / accepting.

[writtenonreceipts]

Hi friend! How are you today?

I have an idea for a multichapter fanfic but I've never written one before and usually my fics are are more or less 1.5k words long and oneshots. I wrote a oneshot of around 3k once, but that's it. I don't know if it is because English isn't my first language and because I've been told once that I tend to focus too much on descriptions instead of narration, but it looks like to me that I have some sort of "summarizing style" 🥲 also, I write with fear of commitment to long-term fics, as I tend to loose focus and feel drained by the idea of writing so much. Even if I enjoy sitting with my laptop and write a lot (it's satisfying reducing the zoom on Word and watch how many pages I've completed 🙈)

Please, do you have any tips about not fearing a project? How did you stay focused writing FTLOTG and any other multichapter fic you have? And which is the minimum word count for a chapter, in your opinion?

Thank you for reading my ask!

Hey friend! I’m doing well, kept thinking today was Monday when in fact, it is not, haha! So I kept being pleasantly surprised tomorrow is Thursday, thus almost the weekend…any ways

Thanks for reaching out!  As usual once I start talking I don’t shut up.  Made worse that this is written and no one is here to physically restrain me from continuing…take what I say as it works best for you!

First and foremost, all the encouragement and excitement I could possibly rain down on you, I am right now.  Multi-chapters are so much fun, but it is a bit terrifying to take the plunge with.  I think the most important thing to remember is making your style your own and using that to your advantage.  There’s no right or wrong way to tell a story and finding what works best for YOU is the most important part.

Admission time—I am always terrified.  I have been writing for a long time now—not just fic.  I’ve written a few OG novels in between fic and such and really?  It is scary!  Especially when it’s a longer project that you are excited about and really want to share but worry about how well you’ve written or if anyone will like it or if you’ve just wasted time.  (Spoiler: I don’t believe you’re ever wasting time when you’re creating/writing.)

The more I’ve written the more I’ve come to the unfortunate conclusion that plotting is actually really good for your story.  I usually love starting with my random idea (Aelin is a journalist and has to put up with Rowan being a jerk and the tension that flares between them) and just going for it.  FTLOTG mostly came around by me flying by the seat of my pants, only planning when I had to.  When I knew how it was going to end, that’s what gave me a little better direction on the in between.  But if I had taken more time to actually plan that story and work on expanding the plot and characters, I think I would have been more satisfied.

Plotting and outlining also are great ways for you to stay excited and see where the story comes together.

SWAK is one that I’ve plotted out a bit and I can see where different development points have to come in.  Feyre and Rhysand bridging the gap of hating each other?  A hurt comfort scene of Feyre having a nightmare can help with that and open up more ways for them to be vulnerable together.  So now I know how to make the next few chapters a bit more interesting while working with the main plot of the stalker.

Finding these side plots and development features can be a lot of fun and add to the main story so much!  I love the little scenes that at first don’t seem that important but in the end really show off a character’s development.  Like in FTLOTG, Aelin taking Rowan to Malakai’s shop for the first time, how vulnerable that made her but left room for the two to grow together in that moment.

I don’t think there’s any proper word count limit for a chapter, really.  Each chapter can serve as a mini story arc and when the arc is done, it’s done.  I usually tend to aim for 3k words though.  For stories like WWB WWG when I’m trying to get a lot more in (and trying to move plot along a little quicker) I extend that to 5 or 6k words.  But really?  It’s what feels right to you.  I would suggest not cutting off without giving a certain lead in to a fade to black.  Unless it’s a cliffhanger…if that makes sense.  Sometimes abrupt endings just leave a sour taste when there’s nothing BIG happening.  Make sure things are cohesive and work together within the chapter, you could almost consider a chapter a mini-oneshot.  If a chapter feels complete at 1k, that’s it.  If you need to expand some scenes and it gets a little longer, great!  Generally I would say no less then 1k, thought.

But really, and I cannot emphasize this enough, do what works for you! 

Again, sorry, I probably just dumped so much on you that you don’t even care about…I just like talking about writing, haha.  Anyways.  You are going to do great!  The most important thing is to have fun and write for yourself.  If you are proud of the story your telling, that’s all that matters.  Also, your English is great <3

[bentosandbox]

So apparently from the new cny event we’ve learnt that chixiao’s last move(?) is 天瞠 and not 云裂 which is not a surprise since it’s been in the art book for quite a while now… but what got me thinking is the description for the last move and idk why it’s a foreshadowing to chen having to make a decision to kill someone important to her…… who do you think she will have to kill?

And oh god seeing chen in her depression arc…. I don’t think my heart can take it (mom I’m scared-

i-its in the art book?? which page...

by description do you mean the part where chongyue was asking wei about the move and they were spitting characters 4 at a time or somewhere else because what youre saying sounds vaguely familiar but idk if im mis-remembering something here lol

iirc the conversation in WWB was something about swinging the sword/acting without regrets, and backfiring if you do so i guess she will..have to kill her demons

(thinking about this more because JP had an anime theater screening + talk event today and Chen's VA said that the speech to Amiya in ep 8 was as if she was talking to her younger self....i thought that was just my personal delusion lmao (it does make sense why she didn't say the 'if you want someone hate me' line though 🧎‍♀️)

i mean i hope she will kill wei 💥❕❗

jk not kill just hashtag slay him i don't hate him but the family drama would be poggers... i feel like she would already have had a depression arc as a kid but i guess having it as an adult with all the extra responsibilities sure hits different right h-haha

[grad603-poppi]

Week 1

For my personal organisation I created a folder system to effectively group and keep track of my progression week by week. 

Project Details:

The key concepts I took from this brief:

- Consider interaction with publications

- Build on previous knowledge

- Acquire intermediate skills to utilise industry-standard software to design and produce a printed publication.

We were provided with a document outlining the information about typografika. This document contained many grammatical errors, which I assume was done purposefully for us to proof read and edit as part of showing out intermediate level design skills.

Documenting Process:

As a designer, I have my own way of organising, grouping and documenting my process in a way that is most effective for me. I personally use folders on my desktop and write my thoughts and feelings on notes. I find Tumblr in-effective for me to document processes, so I will use my own documenting processes, then update Tumblr at a later time. 

I will be using this Tumblr blog to document process, experimentation, outcomes, learning etc. Each week I will populate and update the blog with new information relating to this project. 

What is Typografika’24?

Typografika’24 is a typography conference and event. It brings together many talented creative mind to inform. There are workshops and talks where designers will share their knowledge. 

The Speakers at TYPOGRAFIKA’24

There is not much space for too much information about the designers on the publication, so I have selected the designers I am most interested in, and done thorough research for my own knowledge and understanding.

Verena Gerlach 

(source: https://www.oneclub.org/awards/adcawards/-judge/3273/verena-gerlach )

Verena Gerlach is a graphic/type designer. She specialises in typography and has been extremely successful in this industry. 

She is most recognised for her fonts she created for global font companies such as:

http://www.identifont.com/show?18W ^^

She has created a vast range of fonts with varying styles and purposes. She has both formal and playful fonts, as a type designer she is versatile in her work. 

Verena officially began her work in the design world in 1998 when she founded her studio for graphic design, type-design and typography in Berlin. She began lecturing in type design and typography in 2003 and now gives workshops and lectures globally. 

To develop a better understanding of how Gerlach functions as a type designer I watched this lecture that she gave called “How to find the real (type) face of a city.”  Video : https://artmuseum.pl/en/doc/video-wwb-tv-typespotting

In this presentation she speaks about her project of over 10 years which was to create a typeface that takes inspiration from, and represents Berlin. Below are some notes I took from the presentation about her project and her design processes. 

Below are two images that Verena found that display the original “block” typefaces that were used in Berlin around the time of the Cold War along with the original images she took of real type she found in East Berlin. 

And now below is how she used the theory of “ staying true but allowing change” in a recreation of the original fonts used in a new current way:

You can see the use of the pictures she took of the original typeface, but embedded into a “new era” of design for Berlin.

As someone who often struggles with the design process, this presentation gave me new ideas of ways to inspire my work. For example, if im feeling stuck, in can be as simple as going outside and taking pictures of areas/buildings/landscapes etc to help me broaden my thinking when designing. It can be easy to get into your own head when in a creative space, and stepping outside of your own head and allowing new ideas to come to you can be eye opening and inspiring. 

Johnson Witehira

In design research in my first year I did a project on Witehira using his design principles and style to influence my own work, so this is a speaker that I am very familiar with. This is the research I had on him for this project:

 - HIS LIFE

Born in Taumarunui, Witehira grew up in Gisborne and now lives in Fielding with his wife and two children. Reflecting on his childhood, he says it was bereft of Māori design: “When I was growing up as a kid the only thing in my home that was Māori was the people, and I think that's such a strange thing.” Now when he walks through his own home he looks at objects – like a chair or cutlery – and wonders what they would look like reimagined; what it would be like – and have been like – to grow up surrounded by practical Māori design. From a young age Johnson Witehira took notice to the lack of Maori influence in New Zealand. He recognised that Maori culture and tradition deserved more attention and recognition. “Before our Pākeha ancestors arrived we designed everything in our world. We designed our clothes, our tools, our vehicles, everything, and now for the most part what we’re often doing as Māori is decorating other things people have made to make them Māori.”

In Highschool Witehira decided in being a designer and went on to study graphic design. After this he studied a Doctorate in Māori visual arts at Massey University where he explored how to include Māori visual culture in a contemporary way. ”I went from Western design knowledge to learning about Māori design and practice. It’s been a long process – about 12 years.” “When people think Māori art or design they think patterns stuck on something and that's often what we do - put patterns on a thing and say that's a Māori design. People make Māori tools, but they do them as art objects - we should be using them. “I've got the same view of people making kete to go on walls in homes - you don't see Pākeha making bags and putting them on their walls.” 

 - WHAKARARE

One of Johnson Witehira’s biggest achievements as a designer would be his creation of the first offical Maori typeface “WHAKARARE“Māori designers have a responsibility to bring Māori visual culture back into the world they live in. For Witehira, typography is identified as an area of particular interest because it concerns both design and the written language. The wero (challenge) was to create the first by Māori for Māori typeface, a typeface that reaffirms Māori ideas about the world and stakes a claim to the printed page. The name of the typeface, Whakarare, is borrowed from a pattern in Māori carving which inspired part of the design. Meaning to confuse or distort, whakarare creates a distorted effect in carving by traversing the pākati notch and other elements. An example of the pattern in context and an illustration of the element can be seen in figure 2. Witehira was motivated to create a Māori typeface for three reasons. Firstly, as a Māori designer he wanted to use a typeface that connected to his culture and identity. As acclaimed typographer Jeffery Keedy (1994) points out, we need more voices in typeface design, voices that relate to who we are and our own experiences in life.

 - DESIGN STYLE

Witehira’s work has a strong aesthetic that comes from combining traditional Maori form and pattern with ideas from graphic design and contemporary Western arts practice. Through his numerous projects he looks to develop indigenous and Maori design in the areas of typography, graphic, product, packaging and fashion design. He has also been involved in the development of Māori design education through teaching and the development of new Maori-centred design programmes.

Red is a staple colour in Johnson Wisterias work which is associated with  energy, willpower, anger, leadership, courage, longing. Which are all things that relate to the purpose behind Johnson Witehira’s work. He is pushing Maori influence in the design world and is reverting the westernised design in current times back to indigenous influence.

This is his work displayed in Times Square.

Commissioned by the QT Hotel Wellington to create a wallpaper.

Nadine Chahine

Kouyifa Typeface:

I Love Typography:

More Fonts By Nadine Chahine:

Sources:

https://arabictype.com/about/ 

https://www.linotype.com/1185618/koufiya-family.html

https://www.myfonts.com/collections/nadine-chahine 

Structure:

In class we discussed and attempted different types of folds for a 4x4 brochure with a poster on the other side. I experimented with an accordion/concertina style fold and a gateway fold.

*insert videos here

 After experimentation I decided a portrait poster with a gateway fold would be a more interactive way of displaying typography as it requires more attention to unfold as well as being more unique in terms of regular brochures. However, I wanted to be sure that my brochure would be interacted with in the way that I was designing it to be. So I got someone who isnt involved with design and asked them to open the brochure the way they thought it was meant to be done. This was successful and gave me confidence in the interactive side of things.

*videos of Armani opening

INDESIGN SETUP

In class we were shown a tutorial on the format and set-up of our InDesign file for the brochure. There needs to be one page set-up as a poster and another page divided in 4X4 sections to construct the brochure side. We used grids in InDesign to create a functional template. 

Learning Outcomes: TEXT

- I learnt how to continue text from one text box directly to another

InDesign will let you know of there is text that is running outside of the text frame. We know this because of the red box icon attached to the text frame.

By clicking this icon you can create another text box (whatever size and shape wanted) and the text will continue where you left off.

The by selecting “show text threads” you can see what order they are in and in what order there are meant to be read.

I really think this technique will benefit me in the brochure making process as it means you can ensure all text is included in the brochure, and using the “show text threads” option will allow me to keep my text organised and ensure it is read correctly by my audience. 

Learning Outcomes: A-PARENT PAGES

On the pages panel there is an “A-Parent” option. This means the page I am working on is the template for the other pages in the space. This allows fluidity throughout while also saving time. It means you dont have to create grid guidelines on each page, instead just on one and InDesign will paste it across all pages. 

[beomglocks]

Call me chiro, cuz I’m back. So srry I’ve been inactive/not talking to u. I feel icky cuz my period 🥲 - werewolf beomgyu anon

wwb anon ive answered your asks out of order and ik its been a couple of days since this but are you feeling better??? rest and stack up on snacks plz love~~

[mewtonian-physics]

An Honest Review of Nancy Drew: Stay Tuned for Danger

Spoilers under the cut!

Hi! Penny (not that one) here with the next installment of my Nancy Drew game reviews! 

In case you haven’t seen the previous review, a quick overview of how I’ll be doing this: 

I’m going to include several different factors in my review of each game. First, the plot; obvious enough. The plot is, after all, the driving force behind the game. I’ll also be talking about what I think of the characters, as well as how fun it is to play/replay, and the general atmosphere/setting of the game too. And, of course, I’ll talk about my opinions of the music. I’m not going to be doing any ratings or anything like that, no numbers will be coming into these reviews; I’m just going to say my honest thoughts. (Even when they are not nice thoughts.)

Please remember that these reviews will be my entirely subjective opinions! If you disagree with me on any points, that’s absolutely your prerogative, and in fact, I’d love to discuss it with you and hear some perspectives aside from my own. These reviews are not meant to hurt or invalidate anyone’s feelings, but only to put forth my own.

So without further ado, my review of Stay Tuned for Danger!

Plot

This one has a pretty fun plot! Nancy gets called to New York by famous soap star Mattie Jensen to find out just who has been sending death threats to her co-star, Rick Arlen--but it doesn’t take long for the death threats to turn into actual attempts on Rick’s life! Nancy has to figure out which of the suspects has enough of a motive to actually try and kill ‘daytime television’s biggest hunk’, while working largely undercover as an extra on the set, with all of the restrictions that entails. The game itself isn’t a particularly long one, but there’s enough red herrings tossed around to keep you guessing as to who the culprit is up until the end. It’s a huge improvement on the previous game, especially since the culprit actually makes sense. And the twist involving exactly who is sending the threats is great, too, because it turns out it’s not just one person--it’s three!

Characters

The characters in this game are another big step up. We have Mattie Jensen, Rick’s co-star and on-again, off-again girlfriend both off and on the set of Light of Our Love; Rick Arlen himself, a rather self-obsessed, incorrigible flirt; Lillian Weiss, a director with anger management issues and a bit of a history with Rick herself; Dwayne Powers, Mattie’s agent (and formerly Rick’s); and Millie Strathorn, the owner of WWB Studios and the props master, who seems to have some trouble distinguishing real life from a soap! Each of the characters has their own reasons why they might want to hurt Rick, seeing as how he’s a rather unlikeable guy, in my opinion, but I will say that most of them could use a little more fleshing out. They’re more multifaceted than the characters from Secrets can Kill, that’s for sure, but I still wouldn’t exactly call them complex. Dwayne, though, is a character that will stick with you for a good while after finishing the game, if only because of how absolutely terrifying he is as a culprit! Seriously, that ending gives me chills. 

Gameplay

...The gameplay for this one isn’t that fun, to be honest. It’s better than the last game, it’s a big step up from ‘oh great, another bulletin board code’ ad infinitum, but it’s still not super engaging. Talking to the characters is more enjoyable though, seeing as how they feel a little bit more like people. Oh well, there’s still 31 more games with which to improve. 

Atmosphere

The atmosphere in this game cracks me up, okay? I think about ‘where to, lady?’ at all times. No joke. Otherwise, it’s mostly just okay. It’s not particularly creepy (except for the terrifying ending) despite the fact that we’re dealing with death threats and attempted murder... Actually, wait, it literally just feels like a soap opera. Cheesy and a little absurd, even as these extremely serious events unfold. Yep, that’s a soap for you. I take it back, this game has the perfect atmosphere.

Music

The music for this game doesn’t particularly stand out, I’m afraid. It’s not bad, but it’s not great, either. There aren’t any tracks that I can call to mind unless I’m directly listening to them. It doesn’t really stick. That probably contributes to the atmosphere of the game being a little bit weird. It’s still decent, and the music is fitting enough, but it’s not really memorable, you know? In comparison to the fabulous soundtracks of some of the other games, it’s a bit disappointing.

Conclusion

Still not exactly one of the strongest games in the series, but it’s not bad, either! And it’s still early days yet, so I’m not going to be too hard on the developers. Plus, the plot is good, and the characters are decent (and I can neither confirm nor deny rumors that I have a bit of a crush on Lillian), and it introduces one of the most iconic culprits of the series--so even though the gameplay is a little bit tedious and the atmosphere and music could use some work, it’s still definitely worth playing, at least once. (Also, you kind of have to, because otherwise you’re going to be very confused later.)

See you next time, when I review game #3: Message in a Haunted Mansion!

[wolfwoodboobs]

with ao3 currently down, and twitter on the verge of going down forever, i have lost access to like 90% of my trigun nsfw collection :/

[mspaleoart]

Basilosaurus cetoides

Late Eocene (41-34 Ma)

Bluuughhhhhhh. I forgot the clocks were going to move forward last weekend, and my schedule is completely off-kilter. But after slamming most of a big cup of coffee, I'm here to talk about a really cool whale. The Eocene was a great time to be a mammal. After taking their first shaky steps into the limelight during the Paleocene, mammals took over the world in the Eocene. Whales were among the most immediately successful groups, and Basilosaurus was one of the earliest whales fully adapted for marine life. It had a fusiform body and a powerful fluked tail, with its forelimbs adapted into flippers. They ranged in size from 15-20 meters, making them not only one of the earliest large whales, but possibly the largest animal in the Paleogene period.

It's no secret that I love taxonomy, so let's talk about it!

There are two species of Basilosaurus: The type species, B. cetoides and the slightly smaller B. isis. ‘Basilosaurus’ means ‘King Lizard,’ which is weird because, you know, it’s a whale. It’s called that because its discoverers thought it was some kind of sea serpent thanks to its weird body proportions. After the realization it was a whale, the name Zeuglodon was suggested as a replacement. However, since Basilosaurus was the first name given, it had priority, and Zeuglodon became a junior synonym. It gets wackier. Another junior synonym is Alabamornis. This means 'bird from Alabama,' and was given to what was thought to be a big bird's shoulder bone in 1906, but was actually a pelvis of Basilosaurus. And on the less scientific side of things, in 1845, Dr. Albert Koch unveiled the skeleton of a giant sea serpent he called “Hydrarchos,” which would have been really cool if it wasn't really fake. It was probably two Basilosaurus skeletons stuck together, but we don't know for certain because it was destroyed in 1871 by the great Chicago fire. 

Despite looking like a modern whale in many respects, Basilosaurus was still weird. Compared to modern predatory whales, it has a proportionally longer body and neck. Its head was smaller, with no room for a melon (the adorable name for the hearing organ toothed whales have in their foreheads). It had a smaller brain too, and probably wasn’t as social or intelligent as say, an orca. Its flippers also had a functioning elbow joint, like sea lions. It was probably best at swimming in two dimensions near the water’s surface, rather than diving.

Perhaps the strangest thing, though, is its pair of tiny hind limbs and pelvis disconnected from the vertebral column. Some whales today have tiny, vestigial hind limbs, but they're reduced to a few useless bones hidden beneath the skin. Basilosaurus' back legs were recognizable as such, and were used for... something.  Maybe holding onto each other while mating, almost certainly not for biking.

This animal was widespread throughout the Tethys sea, the ancient waterway between Gondwana and Laurasia in the Mesozoic. As Africa and Eurasia moved toward each other, it was beginning to split in the Eocene, but it still covered swaths of land in shallow, warm sea. The two species of Basilosaurus have different teeth, and probably fed on different prey. B. cetoides typically ate large fish and sharks. B. isis, though, is known to eat Dorudon, a smaller basilosaurid whale. Specimens of Dorudon have been found with bite marks in the skull, attributed to Basilosaurus, and the damage done to the skeletons around it suggest B. isis hunted by delivering a fatal wound to the head before tearing the body apart with its jaws, which sounds metal as hell.

Basilosaurus has always been a favorite mammal of mine. It has a certain elegance and beauty I've always admired, the first of the cetacean giants. Although I'm not a particularly religious or spiritual person, there's something magical about seeing such a huge animal swimming in open waters. I hope I captured some that mystified feeling with this drawing. I first saw Basilosaurus in the second episode of Walking with Beasts, wherein a pregnant B. isis has to find food at the beginning of a climate crisis. WWB constitutes a good 70% of my Cenozoic knowledge. It probably won't be long before I've drawn every mammal featured in it, and I swear I'm not doing that on purpose. Mammals aren't really my strong suit, especially not whales, but I had a lot of fun drawing this. And part of the point of this blog is to teach myself about groups I otherwise don't really study, so I guess you could say I did a good job of that.

SOURCES

Riley Black, 2009 – The Rise and Fall of Alabamornis

Gingerich, 1998 – Paleobiological Perspectives on Mesonychia, Archaeoceti, and the Origin of Whales

Voss, et al. 2019 – Stomach contents of the archaeocete Basilosaurus isis

******************************************************************************

Buy me a Ko-fi, if you’d like!

[womenintranslation]

An Aside to “Close-Up: An Experiment in Reviewing Translations” in Words Without Borders

I'm a big fan of the-translator-talks-back genre—the letter to the editor or blog post by a translator in response to a critic who has picked apart or dismissed their work. One of my all-time favorites is translator Marilyn Booth's letter to the editor of the TLS setting the record straight about her translation of Rajaa Alsanea's 2007 Girls of Riyadh. After being slammed by reviewer Stephen Henighan for "incorrect possessives, plural forms and past participles, cultural footnotes which repeat explanations contained in the text, typographical errors and a dull ear for colloquial speech," (TLS July 27, 2007), Booth blasted back:

...there’s a “scandal” here of which Mr Henighan is unaware. When I submitted the translation to Penguin, complete except for Saudi vernacular terms with which the author had promised to help me, I was informed that the author intended to rewrite it, and thereafter I was kept entirely out of the process. The resulting text, with its clichéd language, erasures of Arabic idioms I had translated, and unnecessary footnotes, does not reflect the care that I took to produce a lively, idiomatic translation conveying the novel’s tone and language, which are crucial to its critique of (globalized) Saudi society. (TLS, 27 September, 2007).

Full letter here.

Booth's letter speaks to a gnarly issue for translators: most contracts establish that publishers can assert final editing privileges, at which point the author can also jump in to seize back authorial control. Reviewers, of course, can't be expected to know the acrimonious back story of the translations they review. On the face of it, it's the translator's work that's up for review, not later revisions and overwritings by others, who, in this case, apparently made a mess of it. As far as I know, neither the publisher, Penguin, or the author has ever responded publicly to Booth's letter.

What's the point in bringing this all up now, thirteen years later?

I was recently surprised to see Booth’s translation of Girls of Riyadh mentioned in an interview in Words Without Borders with the critics and writers Lily Meyer and Mona Kareem, who are inaugurating a new series "Close-Up: An Experiment in Reviewing Translations," intended as "a response to the dearth of book reviews that take translators and translation into account."

In the interview, while discussing the need for cultural competence while translating or reviewing Arabic literature, Mona Kareem remarked:

I notice, for example, that sometimes translators rely too strongly on the author for guidance, which is very tricky and does not account for the power dynamic; I can refer you to the case of Marilyn Booth and what Raja Sanea has done to her translation of Girls of Riyadh. The author decided to remove certain cultural aspects to make the work accessible in translation, which instead compromised its cultural value as a feminist text.

I paused over her observation that "sometimes translators rely too strongly on the author for guidance," which was then backed up by the example of Marilyn Booth and the author of Girls of Riyadh. I thought, isn't querying authors a fairly standard practice among translators of living authors? In what way did that make Booth rely too strongly on the author? The suggestion was that Booth opened herself up to problems. If only she had known the Saudi vernacular terms she queried about, the author wouldn't have meddled in her translation and screwed up the English-language book.

Maybe the story is too messy to tell in a brief aside. But the suggestion that Booth (the co-winner of the 2019 Man Booker International Prize for her translation of Jokha Alharthi's Celestial Bodies) was an overly-dependent translator seemed at odds with her record. It prompted me to post a comment at the end of the interview asking Mona Kareem to expand on how she saw power dynamics being played out in this case between the author and the translator. I then sent her a tweet that my comment on the WWB site was up. In response Kareem sent me a link to an article written by Marilyn Booth in the journal Translation Studies setting out the story of the translation at much greater length than in her TLS letter.

But Booth's journal article didn't really clarify Kareem’s comment in the WWB interview. So when I followed up to ask her to comment directly on it, she tweeted "....I was rather referencing her case to warn of the author's authority." [Link to tweets.] I'm not sure readers of the interview will draw that same conclusion, however. In any event, my comment is there for all to read (scroll to the bottom). I hope Mona Kareem will expand on her views on the power dynamics between translators and authors (and publishers), both in general and in this case, if not in that same comment stream, then in her future reviews for this new and much-welcomed "Close-Up" series.

—Margaret Carson

[cantcheckthatoff-yet]

013. Stay Tuned for Danger | Mattie Jensen’s Apartment pt. 6 & WWB pt. 4

I head back to Mattie’s and skip to day again. I give some calls to the gang, and Bess muses that I can rule out Dwayne as a suspect because if he’s so broke, it’d be idiotic to kill Rick because then the soap would be cancelled and he’d lose his contracts. To that, I say that jealousy makes people idiotic. 

To be clear, I say that - not Nancy. Nancy doesn’t acknowledge what Bess just said at all and simply says goodbye and hangs up, in true Nancy Drew PC game fashion.

I want to talk to my WWB people about this Owen guy and anything else they might wanna share. So I head on over to WWB and have some chats. Here’s what I learn: 

Mattie is good with names but doesn’t remember an Owen W. Spayder. 

Rick claims to remember him, but he’s also a professional bullshitter (proven by how much he flirts with us). 

Millie has never seen Owen in person, but he does check things out of the prop room a lot.

Lillian is entirely uninterested in saying anything about Owen at all.

However, something interesting happens when Nancy asks Lillian if Rick’s flirtations were serious. She becomes protective of Nancy’s heart because Rick will break it, and says if he keeps messing with Nancy, let Lillian know. 

Suddenly, I like this woman. Nothing makes me turn around on someone faster than female-female loyalty.

The conversations weren’t especially informative, except furthering my suspicion that Owen is just Dwayne with a mustache and beard glued to his face.

So, I head back to Mattie’s and here’s where things get a little spicy.

As soon as I walk in, I can hear something... ticking.

*sweats*

Oh you motherfucker. It’s a clock and a note, not a bomb.

This is your final warning Nancy Drew. You better mind your own business and go back to your little life in River Heights. I mean it! Leave town NOW or next time you won’t be so lucky.....

My next idea is to maybe sneak into Dwayne’s office again, maybe to find evidence that he sent me this letter. I transition from day to night in the game, but before I can leave, the phone rings.

It’s Lillian, and she wants me to meet her at WWB later that night, saying, “I know you can find your way in.”

I believe this is a good time to call my friends again, considering a threat has been made on my life today and a clandestine meeting has been planned.

George doesn’t answer, and Nancy doesn’t even bother telling Ned about the fake bomb, but does tell Bess! Priorities, we got ‘em. Bess thinks we’re getting really close and can’t give up now. Well, I was just gonna go back to my little life in River Heights, but okay, if you insist, Bess. I’ll keep going. She also says that meeting Lillian may mean I am close to “the end of your mystery” which I think is video-game-speak for “Get your shit in order, the climax is about to arrive.”

Next up, WWB to have a friendly nighttime chat with our new and loyal best friend Lillian.

[mouthmoodz]

i was tagged by @7rc!

10 quarantine songs:

1) we will become silhouettes- the postal service

2) life during wartime- talking heads

3) empty- metric

4) sleeping in- the postal service

5) nothing bad ever happens to me- oingo boingo

6) good to be alive- they might be giants

7) nothing but time- metric

8) left to my own devices- pet shop boys

9) take a walk- passion pit

10) space monkey mafia- neil cicierega

Are you staying home from work/school? yeah both. doing college online but my job can’t be done remotely so i am just getting paid to do nothing for now

If you’re staying home, who is with you? my mom and my brother

Who would be your ideal quarantine mate? my brain automatically went “neil” which is either a stupid answer or a genius one

Are you a homebody? yeah 

An event you were looking forward to that got canceled? anime central :(

What movies have you watched recently? i don’t watch very many movies but the last one i saw was the rape of europa (i watched it for a class). very interesting documentary about nazi looting of art during the war. other than that the last movie i watched was chicken run but that was before quarantine.

What shows are you watching? i just rewatched good omens but nothing other than that. but i have just finished catching up on tma and i have also been watching a lot of bjd unboxing youtube videos.

What music are you listening to? been listening to the postal service again. which was originally was because listening to the lpotl series about jfk reminded me of sleeping in, but now wwbs plays in my head every time i go for a walk

What are you reading? i just reread good omens (before i rewatched the show). now i am trying to finish making comics by scott mccloud

What are you doing for self-care? watching griffin play animal crossing, taking long showers, wearing my kigu and fuzzy slippers

I tag any of my mutuals who want to do this!

[krickis]

What about 4 and 5? If you still feel like answering these questions ^^

4. How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Care to share one of them?

Oh man, do I... do I count all my WWB ideas? If we include them then I’ve got probably about twenty or so fic ideas, if we don’t then I’ve got far fewer. I should use this as an excuse to talk about my original story, but I don’t know what to say about it tbh, and I don’t know how to talk about Empty Sky without spoiling other preceding stories that people may not have read.

So filtering out WWB stuff, I actually have very little to talk about. Recently on my Discord server, the idea of me writing a Rarity x Shining Armor x Cadance shipfic came about, but most of the ideas for that aren’t even mine. Still, it’s something I may write, so the basic idea is that Rarity gets called in to give Shining Armor some lessons on being a high-class pony now that he’s a prince, and oh no they fall for each other. Cadance sees what’s going on and spends a bunch of time half trolling half comforting Rarity because she doesn’t care they’re poly but like Rarity is so flustered and it’s adorable.

5. Share one of your strengths.

lol is this meant to be revenge for me asking you this question? I think one of my greatest strengths is my narrative voice, especially when I’m in the character’s head. I skew my third-person narration close to being the POV character, and it tends to come out very interesting, I think.