like okay if sammie hadn't gone to the juke joint, remmick probably wouldn't have shown up. but then the klan would have. okay smoke took those assholes out solo, if it was him and stack maybe they could have handled it. well the juke joint would have shut down in a month because no one had any real fucking money because of the sharecropping scrip. not to mention two seperate mobs are on their way to fuck the twins up (what do you MEAN you robbed al capone??). okay maybe they covered their tracks, well they're still in the fucking jim crow south and stack and mary have a cool 35 years until loving v virginia so best case scenario is he's broke and watching the love of his life from afar until he's 70. plus annie implied the twins were on borrowed time anyway since she'd been quietly protecting them the whole time they were gone.

OP: A shopping mall in Shenzhen, Guangdong hosted a flip-flop kicking contest, and some skilled players actually nailed their shots.

neocities guide - why you should build your own html website

do you miss the charm of the 90s/00s web where sites had actual personality instead of the same minimalistic theme? are you feeling drained by social media and the constant corporate monopoly of your data and time? do you want to be excited about the internet again? try neocities!!

what is neocities?

neocities is a free hosting website that lets you build your own html website from scratch, with total creative control. in their own words: "we are tired of living in an online world where people are isolated from each other on boring, generic social networks that don't let us truly express ourselves. it's time we took back our personalities from these sterilized, lifeless, monetized, data mined, monitored addiction machines and let our creativity flourish again."

why should I make my own website?

web3 has been overtaken by capitalism & conformity. websites that once were meant to be fun online social spaces now exist solely to steal your data and sell you things. it sucks!! building a personal site is a great way to express yourself and take control of your online experience.

what would I even put on a website?

the best part about making your own site is that you can do literally whatever the hell you want! focus on a specific subject or make it a wild collection of all your interests. share your art! make a shrine for one of your interests! post a picture of every bird you see when you step outside! make a collection of your favorite blinkies! the world is your oyster !! here are some cool example sites to inspire you: recently updated neocities sites | it can be fun to just look through these and browse people's content! space bar | local interstellar dive bar creature feature | halloween & monsters big gulp supreme peanutbuttaz | personal site dragodiluna linwood | personal site patho grove | personal site

getting started: neocities/html guide

sound interesting? here are some guides to help you get started, especially if you aren't familiar with html/css sadgrl.online webmastery | a fantastic resource for getting started with html & web revival. also has a layout builder that you can use to start with in case starting from scratch is too intimidating web design in 4 minutes | good for learning coding basics w3schools | html tutorials templaterr | demo & html for basic web elements eggramen test pages | css page templates to get started with sadgrl background tiles | bg tiles rivendell background tiles | more free bg tiles

fun stuff to add to your site

want your site to be cool? here's some fun stuff that i've found blinkies-cafe | fantastic blinkie maker! (run by @transbro & @graphics-cafe) gificities | internet archive of 90s/00s web gifs internet bumper stickers | web bumper stickers momg | gif gallery 99 gif shop | 3d gifs 123 guestbook | add a guestbook for people to leave messages cbox | add a live chat box moon phases | track the phases of the moon gifypet | a little clickable page pet adopt a shroom | mushroom page pet tamaNOTchi | virtual pet crossword puzzle | daily crossword imood | track your mood neko | cute cat that chases your mouse pollcode | custom poll maker website hit counter | track how many visitors you have

web revival manifestos & communities

also, there's actually a pretty cool community of people out there who want to bring joy back to the web! melonland project | web project/community celebrating individual & joyful online experiences. Also has an online forum melonland intro to web revival | what is web revival? melonking manifesto | status cafe | share your current status nightfall city | online community onio.cafe | leave a message and enjoy the ambiance sadgrl internet manifesto | yesterweb internet manifesto | sadly defunct, still a great resource reclaiming online social spaces | great manifesto on cultivating your online experience

in conclusion

i want everyone to make a neocities site because it's fun af and i love seeing everyone's weird personal sites that they made outside of the control of capitalism :) say hi to me on neocities

so let’s say the obvious to begin with: i think vivienne’s outfits are some of the best-looking that dragon age has ever put out. it takes a lot to make someone genuinely look fashionable and at the top of their game, and personally—in my deeply, deeply uneducated opinion—i think they achieved it. and a great fashionable look of course fits vivienne and her storytelling in a way i don’t quite feel it does for, for example, neve. so let’s take a look

these variants of her robes are just really good shapes. i like them. on the left, the enormous imposing collar like the petals of a flower, the big fashion shoulders, the protective plate over her chest adding some sense of practicality and even the impression of armour for our knight-enchanter. the winged elements on her boots bring in a little detail of the traditional fur and feather elements of past dragon age mage outfits, but now in all smooth steel rather than “wild” and subject to natural flaws. then there’s the prominent lacing across the front because, hey, it’s almost as if this character is tightly self-controlled! the design uses lots of vertical stripes and everything is symmetrical, which is all very typical language for communicating a more rigid character who is in command of her appearance and is aligned with Order and living within “the rules”.

on the right is a little bit more of a toned down practical gear vibe but once again there’s a lot of emphasis on the collar and neck area which gives her this imposing leader’s silhouette even when in drab tints. she has this sort of fan shape behind her head that is similarly very regal and also gives me kind of the vibe of... a lizard’s frill... or the hood of a cobra...? i get ‘venomous’ from it which ties into the snake imagery in her tarot, the wyvern quest with its poison/medicine dichotomy, and typical ‘venom/poison = political manipulator/smooth talker’ symbolism. her skin being covered head to toe but in a very form-fitting way says “sexy but untouchable”, and the understated embellishments say “damn this is how good i look when i’m not even really going for it :/ my best looks would probably kill you”. as before, everything is immaculate, everything is symmetrical, visible flaws and irregularities are Not Allowed.

i feel personally less convinced by the versions of her design which show cleavage. like, as a homosexual, i can’t say i don’t see the benefits, but as a thinking person talking about storytelling, i think the closed-off look where she is definitely still hot but very clearly Off Limits feels more true to the character and simply more unique & interesting. and there’s something i dislike about the darkest skinned female companion having to have like an overtly sexy design for us to eye up while still not being someone you can romance. more of a vague thought than a full condemnation. on the other hand, vivienne is a character who plays into the roles she is given by others, for example that of the lady of iron and the horned villainess, because she believes that if you openly accept such a reputation and wear it like armour, it can’t be so easily whispered behind your back and turned against you. it gives her a sense of control, however real or not real, over how she’s perceived. so you can certainly make the case that a more sexualised style of dress is a continuation of that theme and characterisation, showing her publicly embracing the seductive archetype of the mistress who gained access to power through a sexual relationship, rather than trying to deny and evade such a reputation and thereby letting others know it can hurt her. so i think there is a line of thought where there’s merit to this. mixed feelings.

on the subject of the horned villainess: the hennins! i personally am quite excited by the hennins, simply because medieval headdresses are cool and interesting and so underused by modern media. however, i could wish for a little intentionality around vivienne’s shaved head and what it means for her not to grow out her hair. vivienne experienced racism in orlesian society and maybe it would thus make sense if either she didn’t have access in those social circles to people who knew what to do with her natural hair—exploring an aspect of what it means for the circle to separate mages from not just their families but their cultures—or her natural hair was simply not considered acceptable and fashionable by the predominantly white orlesian nobility. instead of mimicking orlesian styles with wigs, she opted for the hennins that became her iconic silhouette. but it’s an ugly meta narrative that of course there was little actual intention behind this choice when bioware itself had as little space for natural hair as this theoretical orlais, and simply didn’t put the effort into making any textured hairstyles for this game aside from closely shaven heads.

otherwise, i think maybe it would have been a fun idea if she wore her hennin all the time including in skyhold, representing a distance she maintains and a role and costume she is still wearing, and you only saw her without it during high approval cutscenes like her last moment with bastien. it at least seems unlikely to me that the eternally composed socialite would ever have a bare head (or in general anything less than her Full Look) while out adventuring or in courtyard cutscenes. given the necessity of the hide helmet toggle being active, i wish they’d worked something out to keep hers as a default look. uhhhh also i think it could be cool to have a short story or high approval scene or something where they reveal the horn design is based on, like, the demon she faced in her harrowing. again, “take what could hurt you and wear it like armour” is the whole concept here

Vivienne: My dear Cassandra, I am impressed with how well organized the Inquisition was in the aftermath of the Conclave. Cassandra: It was chaos, I would hardly call it organized.

Vivienne will be like, 'hey, your organisational skills impressed me,' and Cassandra will be like, 'my organisational skills sucked, fuck off'.

Vivienne: Were you well acquainted with Divine Justinia, Cassandra? Cassandra: I cannot claim to have known her well. Few can, except perhaps Leliana.

Vivienne will be like, 'hey, you knew the Divine well,' and Cassandra will be like, 'no, i didn't, fuck off'.

Vivienne: You know, Cassandra, you really ought to have armor with gilding. Or dragon scales. Preferably both. Cassandra: Would that not be impractical?

I think this is especially evident if you're listening to the audio for these and can hear Cassandra's tone. She is incredibly unenthusiastic about all these conversations. This is not her earnestly considering Vivienne's proposition but wondering whether Vivienne might find such armour impractical. This is her telling Vivienne that her priorities and values suck. Maybe you should consider practicality more important. She's telling Vivienne to fuck off.

Here's another one. If Cassandra decides not to rebuild the Seekers:

Vivienne: I do hope you intend to rebuild your Seekers, Cassandra. Cassandra: I fear the Seeker's time has passed, if there was ever worth saving, it is gone now. Vivienne: With the templars all but lost as well? Vivienne: The threat posed by dangerous magic still exists, my dear. Someone will have to deal with it. Cassandra: Then let it be someone worthy.

She's being very firm. She's telling Vivienne to fuck off, right? If the Seekers or something like them are rebuilt, it's going to be by someone else more worthy than me. End of discussion.

But if Cassandra does decide to rebuild them, this is what she says instead.

Vivienne: I do hope you intend to rebuild your Seekers, Cassandra. Cassandra: Rebuilding is not enough. I would see the Seekers forged into something greater than what they were.

Even when Cassandra is in complete agreement with Vivienne she's still going 'NO! You don't get it! You don't understand! Rebuilding isn't enough! If we were on the same side you'd understand that, but we're not, so fuck off!'

Cassandra is imho pretty deeply hostile to Vivienne and the difference between how intimately and comfortably she'll speak with Vivienne compared to the other companions is immediately apparent. But Vivienne is pretty determined to make the best of all this, out of genuine admiration for Cassandra, or because she thinks Cassandra is her safest bet for the future of the Circles and the Chantry. She's determined to kill with kindness. She's determined to keep these conversations going far past the point that Cassandra has tried to shut her down.

Sera: They'll never really like you, Vivvy. Vivienne: Sera, dear, whatever has your scattered mind conjured now? Sera: Those nobs in Orlais. They barely like their own kin. And you're a mage. Vivienne: Your failing-- among many-- is that you presume I desire approval. Power does not require that I be "liked." Sera: Well, halfway there, then.

I think Vivienne knows this. I think she knows Cassandra doesn't like her. I don't think she thinks Cassandra has to like her.

and yeah cassandra definitely isn't exactly approving of vivienne in their banters, even apart from tone. i think i've compared it to her dialogue with a low approval inquisitor in the past, but even then cassandra is more direct about it with vivienne (which tracks given the inquisitor and vivienne are obviously in wildly different positions)

my supposition that cassandra had any positive thoughts about vivienne prior to meeting her mostly comes from this piece of dialogue:

Cassandra: It’s good that you recruited Enchanter Vivienne into the Inquisition. She is ambitious but has always shown sense in her dealings with the Chantry. My advice would be to watch her but heed her when she speaks. That one wastes no words.

i wouldn't exactly call any of this dialogue nice lol, but of the others about dorian, sera, and cole, this one actually contains a very minor backhanded complement. these dialogues always feel very first impression to me personally. i also just think cassandra wouldn't allow even the "shown sense in her dealings with the chantry" and "heed her when she speaks" on account of how much she tends to narrowly avoid saying anything remotely positive about people she dislikes. and then this gets immediately shattered upon meeting vivienne and she starts being more openly and solely disdainful

in terms of how much of it is vivienne just liking cassandra and how much is for her own purposes—i read it as both personally; we see a little of how she interacts with someone she dislikes but needs with a low approval inquisitor (which is a different dynamic, but the best example we have imo,) but it also can't be ignored that (unless it is suggested that she could be divine) cassandra is her preferred divine candidate (which is what a lot of vivienne's frustration with and occasional comments about cassandra's unwillingness to play the game are about at its root) and that her tone in some of their banters can get very... conciliatory? she tends to backtrack and reframe just a bit more around cassandra than anybody else

and yeahhh. like i find the other banters where she's being antagonized slightly less egregious in this respect specifically because at least she gets to poke back at them a bit more (since for the most part their actions and opinions on her are realistically unlikely to ever matter outside their direct interactions with her,) but even then the fact that a good portion of the people around her are constantly snipping at her and she just doesn't really get a chance to ever expression any kind of emotion about this sucks! especially given her introduction literally being partially engineered revenge about a racist comment, this stuff clearly, like, bothers her. i imagine given her position in the orlesian court and everything surrounding all that, it's probably something she's used to and so is maybe not something that would make her react like it was new, but this Also doesn't get much commentary.