itookthepillyougaveme

Tag: fantasy

  • Blog #7- where my So(u)les have gone

    I chose De Certeau. Although seen by many as ridiculously pseudointellectualized, I adore it.

    Walking In The City is very Tolkien-esque stylistically. Linguistically, I suppose. De Certeau talks about standing above the city — looking down from the skyscraper, where everything looks clean and orderly. He calls it a “God’s-eye view.” How we’ve built these massive, humming machines of efficiency — cities, algorithms, industries — all designed to make movement predictable. The characterization of how we’ve built this world of certainties around us, to lock ourselves into a labyrinth of calculated eventualities. Everything is mapped, planned, down to the millimetre. We’re supposed to walk the straight lines, follow the signals, and stay in sync with the rhythm of the machine. That damn machine. This boils down to our constant quest for comfortability, for explanation(why people are religious). This is precisely why I love this concept. Existence is predicated upon interpretation, as we know. I want to be swayed, finding comfort in dissecting this reality, but too often I find myself leached with more melancholy than not. A silent gargantuan humbling of that which just is our actuality. It shows how easily we get absorbed into these systems — the “machine” of industrialization, capitalism, whatever you want to call it — where we think we’re making choices but really we’re just walking the paths someone else designed. Infinite caveats.

    Slugs. I love linking this video. It’s satire, it’s me, and its so real, and so self aware in it’s futile silliness. Check it out. It’s almost wholesome. Mr.putyouon.

    Upon revisitation.

    I cannot say that the third read of this piece definitively altered by intake of it more than the prior two, but the writing and assignments I’ve undergone since then certainly have. I am lost without my GPS in a new city, a newborn babe chained to dependency upon my “personal” machine, that is just an extension of my dependency on the actual machine. I find myself often wrapping my mind into these rantings of industrial society, oh you’re just an ant you’re just a bug. Haha. You are. I am. De Certeau likens walking to “existing outside of your blueprint, which is both trivial and beautiful, as it’s just a physical arm of defining your existence. I guess that’s what i like the most. The physical take on subconscious, conscious rebellion. For the sake of yourself.

    As Edward Abbey says, “growth for the sake of growth”. We’re all just on Crete, either looking for the exit of the labyrinth, happily wandering it, or in constant dismay that your purpose is to wander it. Looking for what? More? Something…right?

    Where have your soles gone, where do you want them to go, and what shoes will you wear? How will that change where you end up? How will that shape your soul? Very nifty indeed.

  • Activity #7- Wizard. Core.

    So. For my artifact I have chosen a widely fluctuating meme format deemed loosely as “wizardcore”. This entails images that embody any sort of mystical vibe or aesthetic, and for my purposes, include a wizard or a figure clothed in “traditional wizarding garments”.

    Example.

    this is a wizardcore meme, detailing two frogs not being high. They're wearing steezy robes.

    Here we have two humble frog lads, dripped out to their tails in flowing robes, contemplating just how intoxicated they may be. The conclusion: not even high.

    In terms of circulation, I will be using the format in general, not any specific picture, as that is what prompts the widespread nature of this meme template. It can convey anything the creator wills it to, which is why it is so dearly utilized. The term “wizard” itself originated from Middle English, as wys, meaning wise, or wise-man. The “ard” was later tacked on. Although this meme format has been around for a decade or so, it really exploded in 2022 on tiktok, with a slideshow format of wizardly images, with captions like “typa $hit i been on”. This was used to describe scenarios stemming from any sort of root; unemployment, to fantasies about what people wished they could be doing, or how they’d like to choose to view their life. It really boils down to a romanticization of peoples’ inner intentions, the human yearning for a more simplistic, puritan reality. I adore this, as I view it as an effect of how brutalistically concrete and lifeless our reality has become in so many fashions. This “wizardcore” seeks to cast a soft golden light over our frivolous societal struggles.

    These examples do not embody a purely positive, negative, or neutral appropriation, therefore they are able to transcend a simplified impact. Archaic images from 20th century artwork are often used, such as one of the first main posts by @thatsgoodweb in 2021 captioned “Pondering My Orb”. As stated, this later blossomed in 2022, but as far as I can find this is one of the first to utilize such an image in this fashion. Inspiration is often taken from LOTR which is pretty rad, as I consider that the epitome of modern fantasy, with many environmental and life lessons packed into the realm of Middle Earth. While I do not believe the original circulators of this format were, or even could be aware of the popularity that would ensue, it’s always keen to assume that eventuality when creating and sharing anything on the vast interweb.

    Admittedly, I adhere to these romantic notions of a transient, otherworldly depiction of many things, as it softens the asphalt around our eyes, allowing us to paint a reality that is indeed, very real, we are just detached. So detached, and discombobulated from the truly ethereal. And that’s the beauty of it.