Theavatarthatdies - Paradox3

a scooby doo series set in community college where the gang is in a criminology class and end up in a huge debate on the first day of class that leads to them starting a podcast talking about local urban legends, only to realize things aren’t quite adding up and they go to investigate for ~journalistic authenticity~ and end up solving a real-life crime disguised as supernatural occurrences. this happens every week and they’re frequently featured on the school newspaper. they only have twenty listeners

Skip Google for Research

As Google has worked to overtake the internet, its search algorithm has not just gotten worse.  It has been designed to prioritize advertisers and popular pages often times excluding pages and content that better matches your search terms 

As a writer in need of information for my stories, I find this unacceptable.  As a proponent of availability of information so the populace can actually educate itself, it is unforgivable.

Below is a concise list of useful research sites compiled by Edward Clark over on Facebook. I was familiar with some, but not all of these.

⁂

Google is so powerful that it “hides” other search systems from us. We just don’t know the existence of most of them. Meanwhile, there are still a huge number of excellent searchers in the world who specialize in books, science, other smart information. Keep a list of sites you never heard of.

www.refseek.com - Academic Resource Search. More than a billion sources: encyclopedia, monographies, magazines.

www.worldcat.org - a search for the contents of 20 thousand worldwide libraries. Find out where lies the nearest rare book you need.

https://link.springer.com - access to more than 10 million scientific documents: books, articles, research protocols.

www.bioline.org.br is a library of scientific bioscience journals published in developing countries.

http://repec.org - volunteers from 102 countries have collected almost 4 million publications on economics and related science.

www.science.gov is an American state search engine on 2200+ scientific sites. More than 200 million articles are indexed.

www.pdfdrive.com is the largest website for free download of books in PDF format. Claiming over 225 million names.

www.base-search.net is one of the most powerful researches on academic studies texts. More than 100 million scientific documents, 70% of them are free

Azula as the Ophelia of the Avatarverse (Warning: possible mention of self-harm and/or suicide)

If I had to compare Azula to a well-known literary character, it’d be Ophelia from Hamlet. It might seem weird to some people to read that. On the surface of the narrative, Ophelia is very much a passive victim, and Azula would set you on fire if you ever described her that way.

The worst thing to call somebody is crazy. It’s dismissive. “I don’t understand this person. So they’re crazy.” That’s bullshit. These people are not crazy. They strong people. Maybe their environment is a little sick. (source)

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. (source)

Banishing me was they best thing you did for my life. It put me on the right path. (source)

Nevertheless, there are strong parallels between the two in that they’re both teenaged girls whose mental deterioration is directly connected to their toxic environments and the failure of the adults in their lives to intervene before a major mental health crisis.

Even so, most analysis of these characters take a more individualistic approach, aiming to understand what’s wrong with Azula or Ophelia instead of examining the conditions that lead to the outcomes of these characters. In essence, they ask, “What is her problem?” when a more fruitful question might be, “What’s going on that allows this to happen?”

When Ophelia appears onstage in Act IV, scene V, singing little songs and handing out imaginary flowers, she temporarily upsets the entire power dynamic of the Elsinore court. When I picture that scene, I always imagine Gertrude, Claudius, Laertes, and Horatio sharing a stunned look, all of them thinking the same thing: “We fucked up. We fucked up bad.” It might be the only moment of group self-awareness in the whole play. Not even the grossest old Victorian dinosaur of a critic tries to pretend that Ophelia is making a big deal out of nothing. Her madness and death is plainly the direct result of the alternating tyranny and neglect of the men in her life. She’s proof that adolescent girls don’t just go out of their minds for the fun of it. They’re driven there by people in their lives who should have known better. (source)

You could argue that Ophelia’s fate is a consequence of the rottenness in Denmark. Thus, her decline and death can be read as an indictment of the court at Elsinore. Ophelia clearly needed help from the moment she found out Hamlet killed her father. But where was everyone? What were they doing? Why didn’t someone say or do something?

The same thing can be said about Azula. What befalls Azula at the end of the show is a direct result of the corruption of Fire Nation society. That moment by the bonfire in “The Beach” was a cry for help, but why did no one see it for what it was? Why did no one even attempt to help? Where were the grownups who could have stepped in? True, it would’ve been tricky considering her disposition and social status, but not impossible.

More importantly, what does all of this say about the societies that Ophelia and Azula live in? What’s going on in a society where people so clearly in need of help aren’t getting it? What does that say about who that society deems indispensable and who it deems disposable?

How are we encouraged by the narrative and by audience reactions to notice Ophelia’s vulnerability but not Azula’s? How does this reflect our society’s attitudes towards teenaged girls who are mentally ill? What are some things we can do differently to push back against those attitudes?

fanfiction was such a good idea. like put those guys in situations

#thisiswhydukeissuchanicon

so i’m trying to write duke and i don’t think i’m writing him right. how would you describe his personality because with don’t trust fanon lmfaooo

(this was only supposed to be a paragraph or two i swear to god)

1. first things first, duke is a hardcore gryffindor. don’t let the yellow color scheme mislead you, okay. and while most of the time he’s depicted in fanon as “omg this family is crazy and i’m the only sane one,” it’s actually pretty much the opposite? if anything, i think the other batkids would be like “oh finally, someone who can match our level of chaotic energy. HEY DUKE WANNA BUNGEE JUMP OFF WAYNE TOWER—” and an hour later they’d all be in the batcave getting lectured by bruce for leading poor sweet innocent duke astray when really he was already planning on doing that this weekend.

listen, this is the kid who once jumped off a bridge to escape police. this is the dude who decided to fight criminals while they’re still eating their wheaties at 6am in a bright yellow suit. and while duke seems to be the best at following bruce’s command at the moment due to having been trained by him most recently compared to the others and is still figuring out how to be a hero, i’m positive that if bruce weren’t here to guide him, duke would be running around gotham taking down criminals anyway. i mean, he literally did do that with the “we are robin” kids. plus there was the whole thing when he was like ten years old and decided “i am going to singlehandedly stop the riddler in my light up sketchers and pikachu backpack. try and stop me.” 

duke is headstrong and has a strong drive toward heroism. he’s an extremely enthusiastic and passionate person in general, and i try to capture a little of that when i write him, even with mundane things like trying to beat his siblings to the last cupcake. 

2. another thing i noticed is that duke swears like a sailor in comics? seriously, this boy could give jason a run for his money with how many “@#!%” speech bubbles there are. i don’t know if this is just a trend the writers added in the comics i’ve read of him, or if it’s a genuine trait throughout every comic he’s in, but that’s something to make note of when writing dialogue for duke. after all, he did grow up in the narrows, so it makes sense that he’d use a lot of swearing and slang in his everyday vernacular.

3. i would also make a point of noting that duke is fairly young compared to the rest of the batfamily, being the second youngest after damian. duke is still a teenager in high school, and he acts like it. he’s got homework and friends and is eager to make a difference in gotham, trying to juggle everything and make it all work somehow. he’s stubborn and doesn’t give up easily, so it’s important to write him as someone who is trying to save the world while also struggling with finding time to study for his next math test. he's human. he doesn’t get to dedicate all of his time to fighting crime like cass or jason might be able to, since duke is still a mostly normal teenager with teenager problems.

4. and don’t forget that unlike the other batkids, duke still has two living parents. sure, they’re jokerized and might not ever be the same again, but they’re alive and that’s what holds him back from letting himself get as close to the waynes as he wants to. duke won’t be calling bruce “dad” anytime soon, and i think he’d have some internal struggle over stuff like holidays and birthdays with the waynes, remembering what his parents are missing out on and wondering if joining the wayne family is a betrayal to them. duke is very conflicted over this, even if he doesn’t say it directly. stuff like ducking out of movie night early or feeling a bittersweet pang during thanksgiving dinner makes sense for someone in his situation. 

(i usually ignore that aspect in my fics because i want duke to just be adopted and part of the family already, but not everyone does that, and that’s perfectly fine.)

5. honestly, duke is such a caring individual and we as a fandom need more of him being a shoulder for people to lean on because he’s?? so soft?? duke can be so sympathetic and rational when it comes to emotional problems. it seems like duke internalizes every bit of advice he gets from the people around him and uses it to inspire others and help them through their own problems. as tough and hotheaded as duke can sometimes be, he really is good when it comes to emotions.

6. duke is a smartass. he will 100% use sarcasm against any and every authority figure he meets, usually just for the hell of it. 

7. he’s very frank in general, usually the first to be like “okay full disclosure, we’re about to die right now. that sucks. anyway—” in a situation. he’s honest and tends to be upfront about his fears/anxieties, usually for comic relief, but i think it still counts.

8. okay i have to add that duke is also kind of a punk? he and jason have a lot in common because of this: they both grew up in one of gotham’s worse areas (jay in crime alley and duke in the narrows) and they’re both highkey deliquents. duke has no problem getting into fights or talking back to authority figures, and it’s gotten him in hot water on more than one occasion. it’s why he kept getting moved around the foster system before bruce took him in because no one wanted to keep him.

9. he’s also gotten so close with the other batkids and we love to see it!! duke calls cass “sis” and treats damian like the annoying little brother he never had and i adore every second of it. we haven’t gotten a lot of interactions between duke and the others aside from training and stuff, but he and jason have the whole “punk kid who got adopted by batman and is baffled by how rich people live” going for them, so they can bond over that. and duke is a thinker like tim, so they can hang out and do puzzles or play chess or whatever it is that smart people do. (and duke and steph are BESTIES i don’t care what anyone says.)

10. most of all, duke is still learning how the whole hero thing works. he’s young and he’s trying his best, but he also makes mistakes. he will be impulsive and screw up, and he’ll try and merge the lessons batman’s taught him and that his parents taught him and that other heroes teach him until it all makes sense in his own mind. duke isn’t experienced like dick or even damian, so he’s going to be lagging behind for a while until he grows until the role he’s made for himself.

other miscellaneous details to include: 

- duke is dating izzy, who used to be part of the “we are robin” gang with him - he used to live at the manor and now lives with his cousin jay, but honestly i just have him living at the manor in everything i write because i like it better that way - he can control shadows and light now! what a king! - duke secretly writes poetry and is good at creative writing in general  - this:

- duke is super smart?? he figured out that agent 37 was dick grayson without even trying?? i’m so proud of him - his biological father is this supervillain called gnomon so now duke has got four parents: his mom, his dad, his supervillain dad, and bruce (plus selina if you count her as the batkids’ stepmom, which i do) - jason calls him “narrows” and i love that

- and, lastly, the most important panel in the history of comics:

if you take out all the murder, the ending of assassination classroom is reflected in any student-teacher bond. no matter how close they become, there is always a ticking clock on the relationship. you only get one year with that teacher, with that class. the end of the year may as well be the end of the world. everything the students learn brings them closer to the point when they can leave the teacher behind. after graduation, the students will move on to their futures, armed with all the knowledge they've gained, but the teacher can't come with them.

there's a reason every episode's title has the word "time" in it. because the whole show is about the time class e gets to spend together, and the titles are a constant reminder that that time is limited.

the assassination of koro-sensei is class e's graduation. from that moment forward, the teacher, the class, and middle school itself, are no longer a part of their lives. it would seem the message is that nothing lasts forever. the sakura blossoms always fall, children always grow up, and the fun times always end.

do me a solid and just reblog this saying what time it is where you are and what you’re thinking about in the tags.

I donated to a gofundme for someone in Gaza. Do you accept those donations for commission?

Yes! Any donation to a cause that isn't bigoted is welcome for comissions. Just send me a message with proof and your request.

it's always so fascinating and heartbreaking when a character in a story is simultaneously idolized and abused. a chosen prophet destined for martyrdom. a child prodigy forced to grow up too fast. a powerful warrior raised as nothing but a weapon. there's just something so uniquely messed up about singing someone's praises whilst destroying them.

alright we all know about the hamlet+laertes foils thing. But have we considered. Gertrude and Polonius foils

For starters we have Polonius dedicating too much attention towards his kids and Gertrude paying too little attention to Hamlet but also. there is the implication that Gertrude pays not enough attention to Hamlet because she is more dedicated to Claudius. Whereas Polonius is apparently a single parent and this may have caused him to be overprotective. The play thus encompasses both ends of the terrible parent spectrum so to speak

Then we have the moment where Gertrude and Polonius directly enter a conflict. Where Gertrude criticizes Polonius with 'more matter with less art' and Polonius replies 'I use no art' On a literal level this is simply about their different ways of speaking. perhaps their different outtakes on life BUT we have to consider that at this scene they were both competing for the approval of Claudius. If we went with a more sinister interpretation we might speculate that Claudius purposely chose the people around him so that they would be constantly squabbling with each other. So that they would be distracted with petty arguments and won't notice that he is the ultimate cause of all the problems by murdering Hamlet Sr. I think the more important thing though is that Polonius and Gertrude ultimately come to an agreement with each other. It is almost similar to Hamlet and Laertes' sort-of-forgiveness scene during their duel, right? Except that Polonius and Gertrude's agreement is enabling Claudius, while Hamlet and Laertes's agreement (after Polonius and Gertrude both died) ultimately kills Claudius So you could say that this a commentary about the relationship of older generations with younger ones. It's almost like Greek Mythology in a sense, where the younger generation both echoes and displaces the older generation

finally, Polonius and Gertrude's deaths themselves also mirror each other. Polonius died when Hamlet stabbed him through the arras. It could have been either intentional (i.e. Hamlet knew that Polonius was treating Ophelia badly and supporting Claudius) or accidental (i.e. Hamlet mistaking Polonius as Claudius). Gertrude died when she drank the wine poisoned by Claudius. Again, it could have been either intentional (i.e. Claudius intentionally not stopping Gertrude, as she might support Hamlet against Claudius if push came to shove) or accidental. If we go with the both accidental interpretation it adds to the theme of "tragedy occurs when it could have gone another way, but didn't". If we go with the both intentional interpretation, it becomes a bit more interesting. We could say that Hamlet killed Polonius because Polonius harmed Ophelia, while Claudius killed Gertrude because Gertrude would help Hamlet. Ultimately there appears to be no right way to be a parent in the play, because both of the main parental characters die because of their parenting

Anyway I think Gertrude and Polonius deserve to suffer around each other in hell. Yeah

(posted this to the Hamlet discord too)