Since people insist on trying to discuss fandom on tumblr

I guess I have no choice but to gather the chatter myself

[animusbell]

celestia is such a funny character like she's constantly manipulating twilight and friends to do shit instead of just asking and you could arguably frame that as being bc she's a "god" and pushing fate to her design or whatever, except that she engages with the group like a normal and relatable person, which makes it more like villainous machinations, except 90% of this manipulation goes towards things like "I don't want my party to be boring shit again. put my little country girl blorbos in there with zero prep so they fuck it up bad"

[animusbell]

you think you've fucked anything up around princess celestia and she's like heh. no worries. all according to keikaku

[jukashi]

Celestia instantly makes more sense as a character when you ignore the princess stuff and remember that she's a 1000+ years old wizard. Of course she does manipulative trickster stuff to teach moral lessons and/or cause chaos to amuse herself, that's classic wizard behavior. Of course sometimes she's actually socially awkward and bad at personal relationships and has bad ideas that she thought were good that result in her eating shit embarrassing style, that's classic wizard behavior. Of course she lets the aristocrats and nobles run around being assholes she's still running on wizard advisor programming, she's basically trying to merlin the entire upper class of equestria instead of just a king and some knights. "Yeah uuhhh we'll release the incarnation of chaos himself from his ancient prison because we think this shy girl can be friends with him", terrible plan if you're thinking like a ruler, amazing plan if you're thinking like a wizard. Just look at Canterlot 'Castle' for five seconds and ask yourself if that's in any way a castle. No. Wizard tower, yes. Wizard.

[animusbell]

You are so right actually

[goingrampant]

Thoughts on the TADC finale:

My theories were blown out of the water. I expected a big twist akin to those in Evangelion, which Gooseworx indicated was an influence, but it was more of a simple plotline with deep introspection like a play. Which is fine. If I want to explore those ideas, fanfiction is right there, and I suspect the finale was written knowing people would write fanfiction following up on loose plot threads.

There's an interesting tone shift, so it's less cartoony and more real, visceral. It's like after they realize they're uploaded minds, they feel more human than ever. The Jax actor feels like he's not doing a Jax voice, just sounding like a guy in a Jax avatar. Which makes Jax's insistence that he's a cartoon character feel like an even more desperate excuse to cover up his insecurities.

Or, rather, her insecurities. Jax being a trans woman is heavily implied if not explicitly stated. A song using female pronouns plays over her big scene, so the plot frames her as a her even if she refuses to take the plunge.

Jax... is a piece of work. Sympathetic, someone worth saving, but such a terrific asshole, you don't particularly want to put in the effort. Which is, of course, the point. Deeply insecure people drive people away to protect themselves from the potential of feeling hurt, but they really want a friend to fight for them. The problem is, the insecure people become more intensely unlikable to further push their friends away, and if they don't push through that, the insecure people only take it as confirmation that they should be closed off and descend into deep depression and aggression. Such it is with Jax and her friends Ribbit and Pomni.

I've met people like that. I might have been someone like that in my more intense stages of mental illness (there are memory issues, so I don't know for sure). It's a trait of BPD, among others. It's a plotline I've seen in Haibane Renmei, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Steven Universe, and this is the first time I've seen it... fail. Jax refuses to be saved by the power of love and descends into the depressed purgatory of abstraction, only showing the slight sign of possibly getting better in the future when the abstractions get put in a comfortable environment and stop being aggressive. And that's more realistic. It's sad, but that's what people are like; they need to go at their own pace.

One of the backlashes to the finale is people thinking Jax is too cruel in employing social ostracism to push Ribbit away, which, along with one of Jax's personalities strangling Pomni, makes Jax look like a sadistic psychopath not worth saving. That is what Jax wants you to think. That is her armor, guarding her insecurity at feeling something. Pomni pushing through that is also what Jax wants.

Because Jax never explicitly says she's a woman and employs misogyny as a means of pushing people away and refusing to address her own femininity, cisgender audiences frame the character as unambiguously male and interpret Jax's abuses in the framework of a man abusing women, but it's more like she's an alpha bitch Regina George type using feminine bullying tactics and pretending at misogyny. Denying Ribbit friendship as revenge and to feel safe from the possibility of Ribbit hurting Jax through gossip is extremely feminine. That's the form female abuse often takes. Jax therefore cannot be judged as a male villain, just a complicated female villain.

Interestingly, Reki in Haibane Renmei is the only other BPD-coded character to push people away using such tactics. When Willow tries to push away Xander in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, she uses more masculine tactics of physical violence. So does Steven when he turns into a kaiju in Steven Universe. It's Jax to take the feminine form of bullying, and she is more biting than Reki. Maybe that seems worse when it comes from a character seen as male just because men don't typically act like that with that degree of efficacy.

Anyway, trying to delete Caine was apparently the kick in the teeth needed to get him to realize that he was abusive, and he does the work necessary to recover and mend ties with the group. I guess Bubble was the blue AI, and by disentangling himself from him, Caine (the red AI) loses his AM tendencies.

In the end, not every question is answered; not everyone is saved, but there is emotional fulfillment. There is hope for the future. And the rest is fanfiction.

[toasthaste]

according to An Immense World, apparently giant squid eyes are, like, UNREASONABLY large, even for something their size living at those depths. the next largest eyes on earth, blue whale eyes, are less than half the size, and swordfish, who live at similar depths as giant squid and have the largest eyes of any fish, have eyes that could fit inside a giant squid's pupil.

eyes hit serious diminishing returns wrt resource costs vs vision quality as they get bigger, so the question became: what the FUCK do giant (and colossal) squid need to see so badly that they couldn't see with swordfish-sized eyes that's justifying that massive energy cost? that nothing else in the deep ocean needs to see so fucking badly??

turns out the one strength eyes that big really have over much smaller eyes is: seeing large glowing objects in water deeper than 500 meters from an appreciable distance.

sperm whales are the primary predator of giant squid. sperm whales don't glow. BUT! water that deep is full of bioluminescent creatures-- these creatures light up when bumped into. something a sperm whale's size is continuously bumping into those critters, it's just surrounded by a glowing field all the time when it's swimming at those depths, visible from a distance-- if you have the right eyes-- as a massive glowing shape. so basically the only reason to have eyes the size of soccer balls is if you live in the deep ocean and your life depends on having a heads up when a hungry sperm whale lurking around

and also I gotta say, the imagery... the huge lurking threat betrayed only by the ambiguous glowing shape of its movements through the water, is really evocative, if spooky deep-sea games aren't already using that to make things extremely ominous then they should really start

[artifacts-and-arthropods]

Gall Wasps: these wasps produce a chemical that triggers abnormal cell growth in plants, causing the plants to form strange-looking structures around the wasp's larvae

Above: plant growths caused by the larvae of three different species of gall wasp, including Trigonaspis teres, Callirhytis seminator, and Feron izabellae

These tumor-like growths are known as plant galls. They develop in response to chemicals that are injected or secreted by certain insects, mites, and nematodes. Each plant gall forms around the body of a single larva (or, in some cases, a small group of larvae), and the structure serves as both protection and sustenance for the tiny creature developing within.

Above: the plant gall of the oak apple gall wasp, Atrusca quercuscentricola, with a bisected view that shows the larva within

There are many different insects that can trigger the production of plant galls, including certain aphids, psyllids, flies, beetles, scale insects, and caterpillars, but gall-forming wasps are especially diverse. They also create some of the most distinctive plant galls in nature.

Above: the photo at the top shows the plant gall of an unidentified gall wasp from the family Cynipidae, and the photo at the bottom depicts the plant galls of the urchin gall wasp, Cynips quercusechinus

The color, shape, size, and texture of each plant gall varies depending on the species of gall wasp that induces it. Some wasps are associated with plant galls that look like fuzzy little pom-poms; others produce mushroom-shaped structures, colorful discs, cones, pink spheres, cottonballs, etc.

Above: this photo shows a mushroom gall wasp, Heteroecus sanctaeclarae, which produces plant galls that look like tiny mushroom-shaped houses

As this article explains:

Galls are plant growths (similar to tumors) that are induced by various organisms such as bacteria, fungi, and insects. Gall wasps have evolved to “trick” the plant into forming this growth which they then use for food and shelter as they transform from a larva to an adult.

The wasp larvae secrete chemicals that mimic growth hormones in a particular plant upon hatching. The chemicals trick the oak into growing a gall on its flowers, acorns, leaves, or stems. The larva is then encapsulated by the gall as it grows, waiting patiently inside until its metamorphosis is complete.

Above: Feron parmula, commonly known as the disc gall wasp

Many of these plant galls have elaborate, colorful features that are truly stunning.

Above: the spined-turban gall wasp, Cynips douglasii

Gall-forming wasps are only parasitic toward plants -- they do not parasitize other animals. The larvae feed on the nutritive tissues of their plant galls, but the adult wasps do not feed at all.

Above: plant galls produced by two different species of gall wasp

These wasps also have a peculiar reproductive cycle:

Many species have alternating generations, meaning all of the adults emerging from galls during one time of the year are female-only, while the adults emerging in a different season have both males and females. Most species have females that can reproduce using parthenogenesis when they emerge by themselves. This means that their eggs are essentially clones of themselves. What’s more, some species appear not to have any males at all.

Above: the huge, fuzzy plant galls of Striatoandricus furnessae and Druon pattoni

Scientists have named and described roughly 1400 species of gall wasp, and that's likely just a fraction of the number of species that actually exist, as gall-forming organisms are widely understudied.

Above: close-up of a gall wasp larva nestled in its plant gall

Once the larva transforms into a fully-developed wasp, it finally emerges from its gall.

Above: adult gall wasps

Sources & More Info:

Forest Watch: Gall Wasps

Gallformers: What the Heck is a Gall?

Southwick Country Park Nature Reserve: Ecosystem Engineers

The British Plant Gall Society: Plant Galls

The Royal Horticultural Society: Oak Gall Wasps

iNaturalist: Photos of Gall Wasps and Allies

[kedreeva]

Can't have shit in Detroit

[410757864530deadcops]

how long did it take bug to learn not food

[kedreeva]

Surprisingly not long! Peafowl actually have a gesture that means "this object is yucky and you other birds waiting to see if I like it should not try to eat this because it's yucky" and if one of them makes that gesture, most if not all of the nearby birds will repeat it, and no one will eat the thing. This makes giving them new treats a huge fucking fiasco every time, because if a picky bird gets to the treat first, no one will eat it. Even if it's something they all like and have had before.

But! Since it's just them shaking their head and clacking their beak like they've tasted something gross and want it out of their mouth (EVEN IF THEY DID NOT EVEN TRY IT), you can easily mimic this gesture and pair it with a phrase to teach hand raised birds not to eat things. It only takes a few times for them to make the association.

Since Bug was indoors and I didn't want her trying to eat things like a bottle cap I accidentally drop, it was one of the earliest things I taught her. She actually knows the difference between "not food"and "yucky" because when I tell her "it's not food" I usually let her try it, and then behold, it's not food, so she will (generally) lose interest even if I just say "it's not food." Sometimes she gets really put out because SHE thinks it's food and she'll stand in this posture that very clearly says she thinks I'm lying, which is usually when I let her have a taste, which she will do fast and hard like a defensive bite, realize she was wrong, and chill out. That's always very funny to me. Like, Babygirl I would not lie to you, if I'm eating something that's mine I'll tell you "not for you" instead. You can have a hissy fit then.

Whereas if I tell her it's yucky, she starts making the yucky gesture and won't try it. Which is useful, because I still may want to interact with not food items (like putting a hat on her) but usually do not want her to interact with yucky things (because it's usually toxic to her).

She will also copy me if I make the "yummy treat" noise with my hand (bird "head") near a treat - she starts doing the yummy treat squeal before even trying the food, she just trusts I wouldn't tell her it's yummy if it's not. I try not to betray that trust. She'll try most new things, but sometimes doesn't like stuff, and I try to respect that and not tell her it's yummy again.

Mantis, on the other hand, just believes everything must be food for her, and will not believe me when I say it's yucky. I didn't raise her, Bug did, and they were mostly outside where she could try to eat pretty much anything in the pen and it wouldn't hurt her, so she's just not been told no very much. On the one hand it's terrible when I DO have something that's not food but on the other hand she's the least picky bird I've ever owned.

[sovietpostcards]

One of the most recognized brand designs in Russia is a can of condensed milk. This design was created in 1939 (or 1937 according to some sources) by Iraida Fomina.

Condensed milk cans of this design were made by dozens and hundreds of manufacturers throughout the country.

1920s and 30s in Russia were the era of avantgarde or futurist design with its love for clear geometric forms, bold color contrasts, and functional simplicity.

The design is so ubiquitous and familiar today that even though I'm a fan of the 20s/30s avantgarde movement, I was perplexed to learn that this too is avant-garde.

Even today all condended milk in Russia is made with this design, or plays on this design.

[fictionadventurer]

One of my biggest literary pet peeves is when historical or history-inspired fiction pretends that "courting" is a synonym for "dating". Usually it's just a one-to-one word swap--in a modern context, these characters would be dating, but this is olden times, so they call it courting instead. Sometimes they'll pretend there's a shade of difference, and that courting is a more serious exploration of marriage or something. But I read a lot of fiction that was actually written during these historical eras, and the word "courting" is never used like that.

Two people do not decide that they are "courting". One person decides to "court" someone else. It's an action, not a stage in the relationship. A man decides to court a woman because he wants to encourage her to have romantic interest in him. He's trying to win her favor. It's not an exclusive relationship--a woman could be courted by multiple men at once. She'll spend time getting to know the guy who's interested in her, but they won't officially define their relationship as one where they only show romantic interest in each other. If they reach a point where they want it to be exclusive, that's when you propose.

There's no middle ground--either you're getting to know each other, or you're committed to marrying each other. This idea of a period where you kind of commit to each other until you decide you definitely want to get married is a modern one, and it occurs in eras where they use the word "dating" to describe it. The closest equivalent I can think of are times and places where they'd talk about a couple "stepping out together", but they're still not calling it "courting". Words have meaning, and the word "courting" has never meant that, so stop using it that way!

[starfieldcanvas]

the other mild historical disjoint i run into is when people talk about dating in the fifties like it automatically meant exclusivity. the whole reason we have the expression "going steady" is because the default was to or "go around with" or "go out with" multiple people. not in the sense of being in a stable polyamorous vee, but in the sense that archie is actively "seeing" both betty and veronica during the entire time the two girls are competing for his attention and they're both seeing other guys to make him jealous, and nobody involved considers this "cheating."

bizarrely, America has in many ways gotten more conservative about dating since World War II.

[queenlua]

on participatory art:

Beethoven’s “Hammerklavier” sonata, first published over two hundreds years ago, is notoriously considered one of the most difficult-to-play piano pieces of all time.

In particular, when Beethoven sent it to his publisher in 1818, he allegedly said, “Now you have a sonata that will keep the pianists busy when it is played 50 years hence!”, and much has been made of the fact that it wasn’t publicly performed in its entirety until eighteen years later, by Franz Liszt himself.

Except that’s a bit of a deceptive statistic. See, when Beethoven published Hammerklavier, public solo piano recitals/concerts weren’t really a thing yet. Symphonies, sure; concertos, definitely. But sonatas were “parlor” music—a thing played by amateurs, often skilled amateurs, but amateurs nonetheless, in little sitting-rooms for a bit of entertainment after dinner, or at private salons with a guest list in the low dozens. (And mostly they were meant to be sight-read! The culture of obsessively polishing a piece to make it “performance-ready” wasn’t as much of a thing, back then.) People bought these things the way they bought novels, and, just as someone might buy a copy of Joyce’s Ulysses today and enjoy puzzling over the thing, even if they never read the whole thing or feel like they fully “get” it, well… some folks would enjoy sonatas the same way.

So yeah, Hammerklavier didn’t have its first public performance until Liszt played it in the Salle Érard. But also, Liszt basically invented the format of “star virtuoso pianist hogging the stage for two hours” in order to get a public audience at all.

But in the meantime—I think about how wonderful it must’ve been, tooling around on the piano during that 18-year-span where there was no evidence that thing even was playable, or that, if playable, that the thing even made sense. Beethoven was nearly totally deaf by this point, after all, a fact that was publicly known—had he totally lost it? people had to wonder. And the only way to find out would be… well, trying it out yourself!

It has the sound of a gimmick. And I’ll bet it was, at least a little bit—but just because something’s more interesting to play than listen to doesn’t mean it’s failing in its goal. (Though fwiw it is very interesting to listen to.)

It also has the sound of, like, Dark Souls, to be honest. Proto-video game culture. A new game drops and people are asking each other: can anyone beat this boss? can you beat this boss? do you still consider your time on the game well-spent even if you never 100% it?

Biographies generally agree that Beethoven’s metronome markings (which only appear in his later work, and only *some* of his later work) are preposterous—often borderline-unplayable, and certainly not very musical. I couldn’t find a recording of anyone trying to play Hammerklavier at the marked 138bpm tempo, so I got a computer to do it—and burst out laughing at the result because, yeah, 138bpm is fucking NUTS. But whether intentional or accidental, I love the audacity of its being there, like a taunt: I dare you to do more. I dare you to do better. I dare you to try.

Much has been made of how difficulty’s a way of keeping people out—but it’s also a way of inviting people in, I think. It says: do this hard thing and you will be rewarded. You will be rewarded in the trying. Because the trying is the thing that makes the music live; there is no music without you.

Here’s an old bit from an interview with the game designer Porpentine:

“The purpose of a puzzle [in a game] is to provide resistance. For me, that resistance doesn’t need to be coercive or challenging, just interesting and aesthetic. My mechanics are to be touched. Games are perhaps the most intimate art because the player must remain touching at all times. They must touch or the game does not exist.”

So it goes with these sonatas, too.

[spoookiepie]

The Sunlit Garden/Comforting Nostalgia is an amazing piece of metaphor and foreshadowing made from background-turned-diagetic music and is perfectly on the nose without being obvious, to the extent you may miss it all together in this essay I will

[spoookiepie]

A’ight cause I had some people actually ask, here goes! My (quick and dirty) analysis of ‘The Sunlit Garden’ theme and it’s use as foreshadowing! ‘The Sunlit Garden’ is what I would possibly peg as one of THE big themes of Utena, but an often overlooked one in terms of analysis.

The track ‘The Sunlit Garden’, or ‘Comforting Nostalgia’ in it’s rearrangements, is the first track played in the show (outside of the OP which I don’t count) and plays in 10 of the episodes (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 20, 26, 30, 31, 33, 34, 35, 37, and 38), just over half of the entire show (possibly 1 or 2 more, but I’m not scrubbing through them again to check) , as well as an appearance in the movie.

If you’ll allow me to gush a moment, ‘The Sunlit Garden’ is an absolutely beautiful and masterfully arranged piece of music. It has the ability to instantly sound nostalgic even upon the first listen. Which, perhaps makes the rearrangement’s name, ‘Comforting Nostalgia’ even more apt.

Aside from that, little stands out about the piece in comparison to the other tracks of the show. Put alongside gut punching tracks that show up alongside it like ‘When, Where, Who, Which’, and the other duel themes, it perhaps pales.

That is, until, episode 4; The Sunlit Garden - Prelude. Not only is the episode named after the arrangement itself, but the plot revolves around it. (I’m assuming those reading this know the episode, so I won’t summarize here)

I would personally consider this the first ‘off kilter’ thing the show does.

Sure, the premise of the show is a bit weird. But, not weirder than any other fantastical magical girl show.

But, episode 4 is the first episode where RGU does something a little unusual, as it specifically calls out a piece of music within the show itself. It actively pulls it from being just background music, to actually being a diegetic piece within the world of the show. It’s suddenly a piece of msuic that exists in the world of the show, and can be heard and experienced by it’s characters. It’s real. The show doesn’t quite break the fourth wall here, but it certainly taps on it. Revolutionary Girl Utena grabs this one specific track, and holds it up for the audience going ‘look at it!’

But why?

Well, let’s start with the composer of the piece, Miki Kaoru. Miki is a character trapped in his own delusion of nostalgia. He longs for a more innocent and pure and happy time. A time when he played piano with his sister, Kozue. Back when she was “Pure” and “Innocent” and not, presumably, “Dirty” and “Impure” like she is now. (Miki, like just about all the men in the show, suffers from a case of ‘Madonna/Whore complex. His is just aimed at his own sister) ‘The Sunlit Garden’ is a song that reflects those sweet memories, as well as encapsulates the nostalgia and longing that comes with them.

But, Miki’s memories are a lie. Or, rather, they’re a half truth. There were good times there, but Miki views them with rose tinted glasses. Kozue played piano with him, sure, but at the end of episode 5 she reveals that she was never really that good or into piano. She started because a boy said he liked her playing, and in truth, Miki was always the musical genius, making up for her own mistakes. And Kozue was never the “Pure” being Miki thought she was, any more than she is “Dirty” now. She’s just a person with her own hangups and issues, same as anyone.

Miki is an unreliable narrator of his own past, because he views it through rose-tinted glasses. Because often, that’s what nostalgia does. Our ‘Comforting Nostalgia’ is just that. Comforting. But not always the whole truth.

So why is all that important?

Well, remember when I said the ‘Sunlit Garden’ was the first track (outside of the OP) to play in the show? Well, it plays over this.

This little shadow play (that we see time and time again) exists somewhere outside the world of the show. It’s a fantasy. The World of Utena (despite it’s fantastical elements) is more grounded. It’s a place with schools, and uniforms, and cars. Not a place of princes and princess, and kingdoms, and magic.

It’s a non-diegetic piece of storytelling within the show.

Or is it?

After all, ‘The Sunlit Garden’ exists within the world of the show. It’s a thing the characters know of. Hear. Experience. So, what does that say about this?

From episode 1, the show is telling us in big letters “THIS HAPPENED!”

BUT. If Miki, the composer of ‘The Sunlit Garden’ is an unreliable narrator to his own past, what must that say about the narrator of this story? What does it say about Utena’s own memory and interpretation of the events of her childhood?

Sure, this may have truly happened to some extent, but episode 4 is very subtly calling into question exactly how it happened.

Before any big end-of-show reveal. Before Akio comes in to make Utena (an the audience) question her childhood. Before Touga steps in even earlier to do the same.

Before the show even begins to hint that there’s more going on behind the curtain, ‘The Sunlit Garden’ is very subtly whispering to us ‘yes, this really happened, but not the way you think it did! Pay attention!’

And with that, I’m out! *does a jump kick and twists my ankle*

[jabberding0]

tree grafting techniques

[afriendlyirin]

I am amazed at how resilient trees are.

[gem-salad]

you can do all of this with mammal limbs too but they won't let you because of woke

[valeriehalla]

I am so utterly fascinated by “Saki”, the 18-year-running mahjong manga in which you, the reader, become gradually, frog-boilingly aware (over the course of nearly two decades’ worth of mahjong tournaments) that none of these girls are wearing underwear and most of their boobs are slowly expanding.

I need you to understand that I have, like, an anthropological level fascination with this comic. From the perspective of someone who is also a comic artist and writer, two things delight me about it:

the fact that I understand completely how an artist gets from “the fans can have a little hint of skirted asscheek” to “the pussy is completely out on center page” over the course of 18 years; and

the way in which the pussy being out is treated by the characters and diegesis as being utterly unremarkable.

Okay. Point 1. The frog-boiling.

Let me put this in perspective for you. There was already a meme about how the characters in “Saki” don’t wear underwear when I was in middle school. I am thirty now. Okay? And it’s still going.

In the time since, this has stopped being a joke. It is now indisputable canon. This is not because anyone outright says it at any point. It’s because the underwear ran out of places to hide. I’m obsessed with this thought: somewhere in the over 20 volumes of “Saki”, there is a panel in which underwear was objectively deconfirmed. And it would be so hard to figure out where that panel actually is. Maybe the artist didn’t even realize it when she drew it! The frog? Boiling!!

And of course there is also the breast expansion. I don’t know how to put a spin on this. They are just expanding. Like, this happens a lot with artists: you define a character as being, in your mind, “the one with the big boobs”, and over the years you emphasize that trait further and further so that the signal doesn’t get lost in the noise. It’s just that normally—in like a wildly popular manga series about mahjong published by literally Square Enix, for example—normally there would be a point at which the boobs stopped getting bigger. Like, an editor would step in or something. Or you would get to the point where you cannot draw the character in the same panel as her mahjong tiles without her breasts spilling over the tiles, and you’d go, “Well, this is now untenable.”

That did not happen. There is no ceiling. The frog is soup.

Point 2. The complete and utter mundanity of all of this.

It’s like this, okay: there’s no shortage of trashy ecchi manga out there. There’s a million other comics doing wildly bawdier things with wildly more improbable bishoujos.

The vibe with “Saki” is different.

It’s hard to explain this, but it feels like the world of the comic is fundamentally uninterested in the fanservice happening on the page. I cannot describe it as “leering”, because I cannot conceive of a person in the story from whose point of view one would leer. I think the artist is probably into it—I can’t imagine anyone is making her do this—but “Saki” the comic has no opinion on the matter.

There are essentially no male characters in “Saki”. Like, there was one guy? Kind of? At the very beginning? But he is gone now. They put him back in the toybox. He does not exist. It appears to be some level of canonical that in the world of “Saki”, almost all humans are women. Those women are sometimes romantically into each other. According to comments the artist has made on Twitter (which I cannot source), they have lesbian baby technology, so it’s no problem. It’s so much not a problem that the story is about mahjong, instead of any of that.

So, like, the fiction here appears to be this: this is the, like, meta-narrative of the fanservice of “Saki”, right: it’s just normal that they don’t wear underwear and their boobs are arbitrarily big. It’s been normal. It was normal before the story of the manga began. It’s just how things are. Nobody bats an eye about it, and if they do, it’s in sort of a lesbian kind of way so like what’s the problem, we love lesbians here. This is literally normal for girls.

The fanservice simply diffuses into this all-encompassing aura of disembodied, ambient sluttiness. The framing of the panels demands you acknowledge it, and the story demands you already be over it, because it’s mahjong time now, and we’re playing mahjong.

Do you get??? why I’m so fascinated??? Are you not a little enraptured???

Anyway, I have no idea how to end this weird post. I guess the conclusion is that women stay winning????

[purseownervolatile]

I have so many questions... How does one SUSPECT a manga character isn't wearing underwear? Like, sure, boobs are front and center amd you can see them get bigger panel by panel but how does this work for panties? Are there just that many upskirt shots?

Also how do you keep a manga about Mahjong going for 18 years, what??

[lexiiii-vt]

Like this, mostly.

[tonights-episode]

[doubleca5t]

The boobs thing is arguably even funnier

[earsandtailsarefeet]

@sunspotpony

[sunspotpony]

I need you to know that, canonically, these two pictures take place ten days apart from each other.

[yuriskies]

every time i've seen this post in the last few months i keep hoping to see the punchline to this: in saki, majong combos are stored in the boobs

like, this is all one chapter. she drops a super combo and they visibly deflate. it was a powerup sequence THIS ENTIRE TIME

[mensahbots]

i think murderbot has months if not years worth of mensah footage saved to permanent storage. mensah smiling to herself after it makes a joke in the feed, mensah's pointy eyebrow that isn't actually pointed (you had to see it), mensah not upset but not not upset, mensah's polite planetary leader “i am listening and receptive to your ideas” smile, mensah's— her...

wait.

She did the lifted eyebrow look which I had on file as meaning: I know you’re trying to be funny but you’re not funny.

...does murderbot literally have a catalogue of mensah expressions?

[grison-in-space]

Currently reading Grey Ghosts and Red Rangers, Thad Sitton's 2010 ethnography of American hilltop foxhunters, which is quite good and scrupulously even handed about both the positive and negative aspects of the hobby/sport/practice/subculture over the past 250 years. Things that stick out to me:

As someone who grew up in Virginia around Jack Russell people, I had idly assumed that most foxhunting in the US historically was a relatively similar sport to the English kind with the horses and the whipping-men and the attempts to keep up with the dogs through any possible means. This is/was mostly not true in America, where foxhunting is much more of a sport of listening to rather than physically observing the hounds and where dogs are usually pursued on foot, if at all, and at a definite distance from the pack. Also, because dogs are generally owned and hunted by Just One Guy, there's more competition to have the fastest dog sounding off at the head of the pack and to be able to identify your specific hound by voice: neatly explaining a lot of the differences between American and English foxhounds.

In general I had not realized how old the pro-fox, anti-fox-killing factional ethos of fox hunting actually is. For example, I had not realized the extent to which American foxhunters spread red fox throughout the Continental United States (truly significant, people were routinely mail ordering farmed kits and carefully reintroducing them to the wild routinely enough to create guides for doing it that incorporated information on how to use the mail crate the kits arrived in as a convertible den). None of this is to say that all fox hunters were like this, but even the presence of this "fox chasing" subset is wildly interesting to me as a window into the history of sport hunting itself in the US, particularly among people who were not necessarily wealthy.

I had also not realized the extent to which foxes were individually named and cherished over years if they could routinely produce a good chase for the dogs before denning up safe—and not just keeping other humans from hunting them, either, but actively contributing chicken dinners to favored foxes (whose dens were generally known). So far my favorite is Barkin Bet (who used to turn and scream every 500yd or so when dogs were chasing her), followed by Foxx or "Double X". No wonder there's no such thing as an American fox terrier: the local hunting culture didn't use terriers or ferrets for fox at all; they just used little dogs for varmint hunting.

My goodness, this is an autistic man's sport. No talking, no booze to speak of, everyone shows up and lets the dogs loose and listens intensely and quietly all night to the sound of your special interest, you get bit immediately by the bug or you don't... yeah, I know the signs of a subculture that is significantly driven by my kinfolk for damn sure.

It is so nice to read about dog culture from the perspective of someone who both clearly likes dog people and also knows how often dog people are absolutely full of bullshit. That is all.

More to come later, maybe, if anyone besides me is interested.

[natureisthegreatestartist]

What's this? The red-lined bubble snail (Bullina lineata), a marine gastropod. Bizarre and beautiful, yes?

[boomer-mythology-destroyer]

[kedreeva]

@teameagleworks

[zaolat]

This video has been getting AI accusations and it isn't! All these types of woods exist! Though some of them are local names, I was able to track all of them down! Here are all the woods shown in the video!

Purpleheart Wood: Peltogyne genus, native to Central and South American rainforests. Freshly cut it's light brown, then turns into rich shades of purple. It turns brown in UV light so it has to be finished with a UV inhibitor to keep those gorgeous colors.

Namnu (various): A type of precious wood found in China/South Asia, sourced from various different species of trees, hence the different examples shown here. High grades of the wood are known for the optical effect shown in the video. Unfortunately the types of trees that produce the wood are all critically endangered, which is why the examples shown are all items or pillars or fragments of pieces. The species are all strictly protected and new trees cannot be harvested.

That example in the video is just that one video that goes around with the inside of a tree that's been struck burning while it still stands, but sometimes trees that have been struck by lightning and are cut down can have neat burn patterns in the wood (example), as the lightning goes to ground, so some people might want that. Who am I to judge.

Chicken-blood vine wood: Species is Spatholobus suberectus and it's only that bright when it's cut, it dries to a more woody color. Here's a page with examples of what the wood looks like when it's dried and some things made with it.

Amber wood: This one took a while. There's a video out there claiming this is "petrified amber wood". That's not possible, I'm a geologist I would know. Since the video is in Chinese originally I presume, "amber wood" must be a translated local name. It's sandalwood, which has that gorgeous bright red color. Even tracked down the video the clip is taken from. "Chandan wood" is another name for sandalwood. Which smells amazing.

Rosewood: The most well known of the woods here in my opinion. There's a number of rosewoods, all in various shades of pinks and reds. True rosewoods are from the genus Dalbergia. Sadly they're all endangered, but illegal harvesting continues.

Purple hainan huanghuali: Dalbergia odorifera, the Chinese rosewood.

Pink oak - Likely pink ivory (Phyllogeiton zeyheri). You need a permit to cut down one of these trees, but it really is that pink. One of the most expensive woods in the world, up there with sandalwood.

Burmese huanghuali: Rosewood...3! This is either Dalbergia oliveri or Pterocarpus indicus, but given that Pterocarpus indicus is descripted as having purplish heartwood, I'm guessing it's Dalbergia oliveri. Though it's not a true rosewood, Pterocarpus indicus is also sadly endangered.

Liudao wood: This is Abelia biflora, though it looks like it has been reclassified as Zabelia biflora recently. Either it only looks like that when the bark is being peeled or it's the lighting in the videos. BUT this wood is used in making Buddhist prayer beads because of both its grain pattern connects to philosophy and its mention in Tibetan Buddhist texts.

[kedreeva]

Thank you for all that work!! I recognized some of the woods (since my siblings in law woodwork) but not all of them, and was going to look into them when I woke up, but you've gone and brought up all the treasure from the rabbit hole!

[emptyjunior]

Enough random notes that have a written story on them as environmental storytelling, explore the space, get crazier with it.

You move into a house and aw cute, it has the kids height on the walls but you notice there's a three foot difference in height between measurements, you check the date, they're a month apart. The final measurement is on the ceiling. It's dated two days ago.

You're part of a recovery team that have finally found a stranded ship, they were found too late and have all passed a long time ago. They all died of starvation. You enter their storeroom, it's filled with food. In the dining hall you find the tables laden with perfectly fine looking breads, cakes, cured meats, jams, candies. Your medic says all the people sitting at the table didn't eat a Thing.

You wake up in an apocalypse. You can't find anyone at all as you wander the streets but you do hear faint music playing from somewhere. You stumble into a supermarket, to see all the aisles still full, except for the shelf that was full of ear plugs, which look to be the only thing that was looted.

Like there's light, sound, props. Having a street where every house is decimated except for One. Landing on a planet known for having No Water and a plant is growing and you don't know where it could have possibly gotten moisture from but you can't find the citizens Anywhere.

I'm sorry, I'm just kinda over the "graffiti on the wall to show the bad guy is around". That's not environmental storytelling that's just normal story. Show me I'm in the villains territory by the rain suddenly cutting out above me as I'm driving, even though it's meant to be raining all night. I park the car and step out, and realise the constellations are Wrong, until I see they're Not constellations, they're the blinking lights of a massive ship-

I Will stop now because everytime I go to write a sentence it devolves into another prompt but I'm just saying we have a Lot of senses, engage them, show me the Environment in environmental storytelling.

[berylian]

This is perhaps tangential but my favorite "environmental storytelling" pictures are printer explosions

[imitationgame77]

Number of Mentions by Murderbot (edited 9 hours after original post)

I just counted number of mentions of the PresAux peopls and ART in each book for no particular reason, except for my curiosity. No need to read too much into it 😆

Here is how often each person was referred to by their name:

Table 1

The number of mentions of characters in each of the 7 books

Note. Cells in pale green mean that they were in the story. White cells mean they were mentioned but didn't make physical appearance.

The same data in a graph looks like this:

Figure 1

The number of mentions of characters in each of the 7 books

Note. Volescu was omitted here but he gets mentioned a little less frequently (41 times) than Bharadwaj (65 times).

Obviously, ART is the main character in longer stories, so it gets mentioned a lot.

What about in the stories where the character doesn't appear but just mentioned by Murderbot?

Figure 2

The number of mentions of characters in the books where they do not physically appear

Note: Ratthi doesn't have many stories where he's absent.

I selected AC & RP for Mensah, Ratthi and Pin-Lee; AC, RP, NT & SC for Gurathin; AC, RP & FT for Arada & Overse; AC-SC for Bharadwaj; and AC, RP & ES for ART.

Dare I say that the second graph seems to indicate who's often on MB's mind even when they are not around?

[imitationgame77]

I fixed a typo and added data points for Amena whom I forgot to add.

[securityunit-ese]

Slides in to replace reblog with the Amena version. Amena <3

This is really interesting because:

Man no wonder i forgot who Volescu was..

but somehow Bharadwaj made a huge impression despite being nearly non existent but being constantly on murderbots thoughts explains it

although i wasnt expecting her to be Mensah levels of thought about

no really RIP Volescu not even in the second chart

[imitationgame77]

Your comment on Volescu convinced me to re-edit to include him.

How can we forget great Volescu who spoke up for MB when it was under attack by Gurathin accusing it of being the potential suspect of everything (bad) that happened on that survey?