#essay time

[timebomb-tiefling]

GREAT GOD GROVE ESSAY????? GREAT GOD GROVE ESSAY!!!!!!

[hereforthevibes5]

I know I usually don't say much on here, but I can't keep these thoughts to myself. The Thunder Saga for EPIC: THE MUSICAL, was fantastic. Everything about it was wonderful, I actually cried during Thunder Bringer. Also, all the revamps of the first and second saga, were equally as lovely. I feel like my brain chemistry has been actively changed due to this musical. I am so blessed to have found it and I love it very dearly. I am currently writing up a essay over it, poorly attempting to breakdown the musical meanings and such. (For I am very much a sane person.) Anyways I wanted to praise it, it has yet again exceeded every expectation that I could have ever put for it.

I can't wait to see all the new animatics and other things this fandom has to offer, and maybe I can actually do something for it! Try my hand at some new stuff. Anyways I'm gonna continue to loop the entire new official music and go a wee insane over it.

[orangedogsquad]

oh wow your dogs look so interesting I've never seen these breeds before

what are they like? do you recommend them to people new to dogs? do they have really awful legs like Basset Hounds under the fluff?

I think they're great, but I have a soft spot for scent hounds in general.

I find the basset fauve de bretagne is fairly adaptable. They're quite happy to have couch potato days, but equally happy to go out on an all day hiking adventure. Most of the ones we've met are pretty laid back, but they are a hunting dog, and get vocal if they catch a scent. (Tess in particular is very good at singing when she smells a rabbit or kangaroo). Fauves can be a bit independent in personality, and can have a 'what's in it for me' attitude when asked to do things, though not nearly as much as other hound breeds I know, and they are still trainable and very responsive, with a tendency to be very food motivated. When it comes to socials, they aren't the most forthcoming dogs, and tend to be fairly polite/neutral to strangers. With people they know, they are very affectionate though!

They're also quite a small dog (Tess is around 12.5kg, and Henry around 13.5kg) and are very portable and pick-upable. A fact which I imagine delights me more than them, lol.

The grand basset griffon vendeen on the other hand is a bit bigger. Maple is a small gbgv at around 20kg, but her siblings are closer to 25kg-30kg. I don't have as much experience with gbgvs overall, so it's harder to tell what's just Maple vs what's the breed, however in general, they seem to have a lot more energy than the fauves, and less of an off switch. They're also very vocal. Maple is one of the loudest dogs I know, which is saying something considering I live in a house with Koda.

Gbgvs are your more stereotypical hound, a level up from fauves in my opinion. Maple is Very independent and does what she wants, and doesn't have as strong a food motivation. Plus she's been a lot slower to mature.

But on the other side of it, gbgvs are very social, from what I've seen of Maple and her siblings. They Love people and other dogs, and Maple thinks everyone is her best friend.

One thing to keep in mind with both breeds is that they're wire-haired, and ideally should be hand stripped. On this front, a typical fauve's coat is a lot easier to strip and maintain than the gbgv's.

It depends on what kind of dog you're after, but I think either breed would be fine for someone new to dogs as long as you were prepared to deal with their hound quirks. I might be biased, but based on my experience, the basset fauve de bretagne would probably make for an easier first time dog experience than the gbgv.

To answer your other question, both the fauves and the gbgvs have much better legs compared to Basset Hounds. The fluff makes it a bit harder to judge, but their legs are a lot more proportionate to their bodies than what you would see in a Basset Hound. This isn't a perfect comparison, but you can see how Tess has more leg to her than the basset hound on the left. She's still fairly short overall, but has a lot more ground clearance, and is more structurally sound. Tess is also the smallest dog we have, so both Henry and Maple have more leg than she does! Because of their better structure and proportion, the fauves and gbgvs aren't prone to disc and spinal conditions like basset hounds are.

This has mostly been about the basset squad so far, but if you're curious about the other two:

Lagotto romagnolo- I wouldn't recommend a lagotto to a first time dog owner, no offense Koda. The lines in Australia tend to have Issues, at least from our experience and what we've heard from the vets we've spoken to. The idea of a lagotto is great, since they're very smart, energetic, sweet and affectionate to their owner, and don't shed, but for some reason it is very common for the ones here to be not quite right, lol. They're prone to anxiety, noise sensitivity, resource guarding behviours, and so on. Depending on where you are in the world, you might have better lines who don't have these issues, but in our context, I'd only recommend one to somebody who has a quiet, predictable household, no kids, no other pets, and who knows a good behavioural vet. If you want a smart, trainable, affectionate, non shedding breed, a poodle is a nice alternative.

Groodle- Holly is a great dog despite her 'breed'. Her traits are pretty much poodle, and the majority of the other 'groodles' we know are the same, so I would recommend getting a well bred poodle over any oodle mix! Very affectionate, eager to please and readily trainable, with a more solid health base.

[ashs-nerd-den]

Of course my psychology nerd ass is writing about the link between weed and psychosis in my fadhbanna sóisialta essay.

[rednightmare18]

I've never seen anyone mention this, so I will: Kingdom Come is balls-to-the-wall obsessed with symbolism. This is fitting for a medieval game (the medieval world was obsessed with symbolism), and it's loaded with symbols in both its art and storytelling elements. What I find worth remarking on is that KCD takes a far more subtle, literary, and artful approach to its symbolism than most games within its genre; its symbolism thrives in the margins, as with literature. It doesn't flounce in the spotlight with a megaphone as with most games.

[Cut for rambly analysis.]

One of the things I deeply appreciate about the script is that it doesn't talk down to the player. If you don't actively think about the storytelling while you play -- if you don't watch for foils, parallels, symbols, motifs, read character expressions and pay attention to the content of the conversations as well as the emotional delivery -- you'll miss half the meat and meaning and message of the writing. That's a rarity these days; even "writing-based" games tend to spoon-feed players embarrassingly facile stories, childish depictions of trauma, and insultingly thinly-developed character arcs (ahem, rhymes with Why-o-Bear).

And sure, you can shut your brain off or come in with bad faith blinders on and steamroller through KCD's main quest, walking away having had a coherent if mediocre medieval video game experience. But you'll miss Theresa's apples scattering on the ground at the moment the daily life she ambivalently but carefully tended to is torn asunder. You'll miss how Henry's speech tics mirror his mother's word-for-word in delivery and in text. You'll miss that Hans presents himself as a swaggering hunter but is consistently visually associated with a hounded, hunted stag. You'll miss how Henry and Hans's relationship so doggedly parallels what we know of Martin and Radzig's, and to a lesser extent Istvan and Erik's. You'll miss that certain characters' clothing matches or contrasts in color schemes (another enormous medieval obsession). You'll miss how the sacking of Skalitz is what enables village bullies Matthew and Fritz to descend into real villainy, and how Henry gradually gains the sense of self to step outside Matthew's sphere of toxic influence. You'll miss that Radzig speaks honestly to Henry through metaphors and riddles and wordplay since he's far too awkward to speak to him openly. You'll miss that after forming a friendship with a peasant, responsibility-avoider Hans develops a new concern for how his actions affect everyday people, meanwhile layabout loafer Henry develops a sense of accountability to society at large. You'll miss that Theresa is almost always pictured nearby water (rain or rivers or puddles) just as Hans is associated with the forest and Henry is so often cinematically staged facing hills (and usually among flowers). You'll miss the journal entries, some of which are genuinely heartbreaking in the simplicity and earnestness of their longing, and in their hopes for better things ahead.

Some portions of the narrative are so well-crafted in this regard that the weaker portions/writers really stand out. That's the downside of writing in teams, but oh man, with an arty storytelling approach like KCD's, you can fucking tell when someone's writing skill wasn't up to snuff (ahem, Lady Tone-Deafany)... or when the team just wasn't in love with a character or a subplot enough to flesh out the symbolism.

But I'm getting away from my point now and starting to ramble, so I'll rein myself back in.

I edit books, so my storytelling field is a bit different. But by my metrics, the most successful novels—the ones that manage to both perform commercially and offer something of genuine artistic, emotional merit to audiences—do it like KCD does it. The basic narrative must be simple enough for casual readers to understand at a foundational level. But for readers who relish the experience of deep reading—who come equipped with thoughtfulness, a real desire to appreciate storytelling (at context and subtext levels), and the ability to critically & emotionally engage with multiple character arcs at once—there's so much more than the surface.

Many gamers praise game developers for designing game mechanics that don't baby them. Likewise, I praise writers who don't baby me.

[bitrashteddy]

Wade: So Petey Pie, how is college?

Peter: You know, I think I'm actively poisoning myself with soup right now and I've put more effort into fixing Harley’s trainwreck of a philanthropy essay than I have into self care and any of my own work

Wade: do you want me to come over and bring chimichangas?

Peter, relieved: Yes please

[shreddheir]

Rohan Kishibe is actually incredibly lonely: a character essay.

As much as we talk about Rohan, I feel like we don’t really say anything beyond the same jokes, ect. I’m here to change that. In this essay, I will explain as to why Rohan Kishibe is actually an incredibly lonely character due to debilitating social anxiety.

The first main point for this is heavens door. This stand allows Rohan to do a LOT of things, including reading the memories of others. Beyond spawning from his desire to get inspiration, why this ability? There’s another reason, one laid out but never acknowledged. It’s what he wants, on some level for himself. He wants to share things about himself with other people, but won’t straight up do that. It’s definitely because he’s too good for them and not that he’s locked himself off from social relationships. He explicitly states that he writes manga because he wants to be “read.” He keeps working to make his manga more real, because If it isn’t no one will ever see the real person behind it. He wants to express himself to other people, despite being isolated.So he tries to impress with his manga, to interpret the acclaim of it as acclaim of him, though he thinks that all the praise will stop if he doesn’t keep getting better and better. it’s never good enough for him, never real enough. Because ultimately, he wants to make real connections with people through his stories of other peoples lives. if he wants to be read, why doesn’t he write about his experiences? And why doesn’t he just talk to people? Well, There’s a reason why Rohan doesn’t do that

Pre-DIU, the only person rohan was EVER close to was Reimi. His family relations are implied in TSKR to have been strained, and despite his fame and talent he never gained any friends. The closest pre DIU relationship he had was Reimi, his babysitter, who clearly knew him well. And Reimi died. She died protecting him, in a manner so traumatic Rohan completely repressed it. The (maybe only) person who cared about him enough to sacrifice herself so he could live DIED WHEN HE WAS JUST 5. I don’t think he could ever open up to someone again after that. I mean, kira was implied to have killed her pretty brutally. Even if he couldn’t see it, he definitely heard her die. Anyway, back to what I was saying. Even if he doesn’t remember this, he certainly closed himself off from people after that. The extent of his interactions with most people are practical, for inspiration or necessities. He still wants to understand others, and he still wants people to understand him, but he doesn’t want to actually talk to people. He can’t let himself get close. He can’t open up. Unbeknownst to him, Reimi’s death instilled a deep fear of ever relying on or connecting with people.

Rohan COULD go out and talk to people. He could get these stories normally instead of looking into peoples heads and taking them for himself. He could write about himself. But he won’t. He never will. He relies on himself, does everything himself. He’s painfully self reliant. He’s arrogant, thinking he’s the best at what he does and at the same time worried that if people really read him, they won’t like what they see.

In conclusion, Rohan Kishibe is incredibly self isolated due to his deep seated fear of connecting to others, which fueled his stand’s ability to learn about people without having to actually interact.