196 refugee

she/they libertarian socialist + vowshist u/Watdaotw66 on reddit

[charlottemilquetoast]

Ironically, even as r/196 is shutting down, I feel more connected to the community than ever. Imposter syndrome is real easy to get over when everyone else is thrust into the same mess as you are.

[miirshroom]

On Elden Ring and Dissection

I think that the basics of the Gloam Eyed Queen are really easy to understand if you were an edgy teen in the late 2000's and your friend who introduced you to System of a Down and Tool rolls up with the song "Maha Kali" by the band Dissection. So of course you know that Kalika is the dark divine mother who dances in cremation grounds with black flames and destroys illusions. It's ultimately how in this previous post I reached most of the conclusions about how to read between the lines and find her story.

The rest of the Reinkaos album released in early 2006 is all themed around anti-cosmic Satanism (represented by an 11-sided star). Lots of evocative imagery about embracing chaos and Qliphothic forces and waking black dragons and snakes and dark gods. The music is melodic and melancholy and I like it even without thinking too much about the darker tones of the lyrics. It's part of the reason that I got into other European metal like Sonata Arctica, Rammstein, and Eluveitie.

Content warning for true crime discussion related to the band Dissection.

I feel that appreciating the music of Dissection deserves the disclaimer that the founder of the band was complicit in a murder on July 22, 1997. And also completely sincere about the Satanism considering that after seven years in prison he reformed his band, completed the Reinkaos album, and then disbanded the group claiming that he had done all that he wanted to do with music, before committing ritual suicide near the end of 2006. This is kindof what I meant with my earlier Bloodborne post where I wondered about the ethics of calling out certain sources as influential on a work of art. Bloodborne is about the process of dissection (and also by being driven mad by blood as a metaphor for music - though that's more of an underappreciated part of the text rather than subtext considering that the Great Ones communicate their runes through song), so if I'm looking for musical allusions then this is the lowest of low hanging fruit.

Example: I can look at the cover of 1993 album The Somberlain and see an image of the coach that travels to Cainhurst. Five songs from the album include references to "blood" or "bleeding" - it's vampiric without ever using the word "vampire" similar to the aesthetic of Cainhurst (i.e. use of a Transylvanian castle as reference/inspiration for the location). Four mention the cold and freezing, which is the main atmospheric detail that sets Cainhurst apart from the rest of the blood-soaked game world. It's dark and evocative imagery...and it was demonstrably detrimental to the mental health and stability of the person who wrote the music and lyrics considering the things that he would later do. Seems relevant as research material for the Dark Souls series, which is themed around confronting and trivializing dark thoughts.

As I could not resist pointing out in that previous Bloodborne post, Dark Souls II: Crown of the Ivory King released on September 30, 2014 - the same calendar date as the birthday of Truman Capote who wrote the prototypical true crime novel In Cold Blood. So it becomes more plausibly an intentional incorporation of imagery from the artwork and lyrics of Dissection to then take notice that July 22, 2014 - the date of the true crime case associated with the band - was the release date of the Dark Souls II: Crown of the Sunken King. This game features as its final boss a black dragon, which is a callback to the previous trend of black dragons in FromSoftware's catalogue, but also a repeated motif from Reinkaos. And like I mentioned, Reinkaos is the album with songs about the queen of black flame.

Anyways, this has been on my mind lately because I've been thinking about the purpose of the frozen Gaol-type structures and the star-lined path of Onze which contains 11 stars like the number of points associated with anti-cosmic Satanism.

[charlottemilquetoast]

Guys Dissection mentioned wtf i love Dissection 🥳

[mysillyium]

i know a spot

[homunculus-argument]

The next time you've got a friend over, set an example and put your phone on the table, visibly there but not too far away, to let them know that you're intentionally present, not distracted, your attention is undivided and you want to be fully focused on being right there to spend time with them. Don't mention it or draw attention to this, you're not doing this to be preachy or wanting praise, you just want to be a good friend and you value your friend's time. Ideally, your friend will either notice this or even pick it up without conscious notice, and set their own phone aside on the table as well.

Then, when your friend takes a minute to go to the bathroom, grab your phone and take a photo of your friend's phone sitting on your table. Do not touch it, and put your own phone back exactly where it was immediately once you've got the picture. Carry on with whatever you two were doing.

Once your time is up and your friend has left for home, wait for a good 15 minutes or so, for them to either get back home or be well on their way there. Text your friend, "hey, you forgot your phone", and send them the photo you took of their phone on your table. Set a stopwatch running from the moment your friend sees the message.

Measure how many seconds it takes for your friend to process this and tell you to go fuck yourself.

[ohshoot]

[a-very-large-pile-of-hats]

[inafightwithgod]

fanart

[a-very-large-pile-of-hats]

hey op here this is the best thing i’ve ever seen

[calciifer]

Me too

[a-very-large-pile-of-hats]

hey. it’s me again. this brought me to the verge of tears. i love this. thank you

[hollowknight-heritage-posts]

Hollow Knight Heritage Post

[silksong-when]

we gotta collect all the art mediums

[a-very-large-pile-of-hats]

A

[squidking220]

[steve-of-the-woods]

[official-megumin]

@a-sentient-cup

[steampaul]

First thing I paint when coming out of an art block.

Yay.

[cheseely]

Yuria of Londor

[navlaanchair]

old iron king was gay ash i would've gone crazy

[l3yri]

whos dick do i have to suck to suck some dick around here

[predatory-lesbians]

[viralfrog]

[deergirltit]

I always see those posts from the horny 196ers that are like ‘reblog if you love grilled cheese or want a hot older woman to shove your face into her tits’ and sometimes it’s like well yeah I would like the horny thing, tits are great, but I would actually rather have the grilled cheese right now. Love a grilled cheese. But you can’t reblog for the grilled cheese because everyone will think you’re horny and reblogging out of love for mommy dommes. And I have nothing against mommy dommes but in this particular case I’m reblogging because I love grilled cheese. Do you understand? Does anyone understand? Can anyone hear me? Hello?

[catchymemes]

[noelle-ism]

*about to go down on my beautiful wife* wait. honey. is this just tabasco on your penis&ball. no no no no sweetie. i love you so much and im glad u know i love spicy. but babe this is just heat by itself. theres no flavor profile. its alright sweetie. i aplreciate it. but i need heat AND flavor. hold on let me go grab some of my sriracha . or maybe weve got some red pepper flakes kicking around

[catchymemes]

[redavexat]

[catchymemes]

[toastbutteregg]

[catchymemes]