Audacity and Medusa

Posted on February 5, 2012 by becky

Becoming blind had turned out to be a real blessing for her. Never before has she been able to hear, feel or smell with such clarity and intensity. View had been a noise-filled world, constantly filled with a range-restraining fog, full of entirely uninteresting details and, above all, way too dark for her liking. Now that her eyes were permanently wide shut, it was her other senses’ turn to shine and cast their wonderfully bright light around her.

“Hey, Audacity,” Brenda’s angelic, high-pitched voice asked above the cacophony of the clock tower they were currently traveling through, “are you really sure we’re alone? I can’t help but feel we’re being stared at.”

She smiled. “I only detect your manly presence, dear.” Continue reading →

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The encapsulation process

Posted on January 30, 2012 by becky

Although I’m a proud Mac user, I’ve only been one for about two and a half years. Before my fateful encounter with Amandine (my first Mac, a 13 inches MacBook Pro), I worked on Windows XP, both by default and because I didn’t have access to Apple technologies for economic reasons (also, no way I was installing Vista – I’d heard enough about it to know I didn’t want it anywhere near me).

I met Berenice (second Mac, a 27 inches iMac) a few weeks ago, and Amandine rejoiced. Berenice’s a very, very strong and bulky girl, so Amandine was able to give her most of her workload and specialize for mobility (something Berenice simply can’t handle, weighting a dozen kilograms).

Now, I’m talking about this all because I recently discovered a very blatant example of what I call encapsulation, while trying to help a colleague tinker around with her Windows Seven-enabled computer (she wanted to record an audio advertizing she’d found on the Internet). Continue reading →

Posted in Reflexion | Tagged | 13 Comments

Star Eater

Posted on December 31, 2011 by becky

Zerua examined my face for a few seconds, before silently nodding. I felt my aureole shift, bathed in her magic, and noticed a huge increment in my mana reserves, as well as a slight, purple gleam at my skin’s surface. I somehow had a feeling I had no idea how powerful she’d just made me.

“Be careful out there,” she shouted while I left her office.

“I will!” I answered her before exiting the academy’s world through a newly-created portal.

***

Navigating the Sea of Time, the space between the worlds, was proving to be harder than I’d imagined, but Zerua’s reinforcements meant I didn’t have to worry about running out of mana. Continue reading →

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The Arpentors Academy

Posted on December 22, 2011 by becky

I stopped toying with the black pen I’d taken from Dalwyn’s room and looked at my interlocutor once again. She appeared to be about forty years old; she was wearing a purple dress with golden embroideries, suggesting a certain level of refinement. Her most striking features, though, were her pure, light gray eyes. I couldn’t help but feel they granted her an intrinsic ability to stare at my soul, which was one of the reasons why I kept our visual encounters as brief as possible.

Her name was Zerua, and she was the one in charge here.

“So…” I recapped, staring at Dalwyn’s Z-encrusted pendant, “basically, Arpentors are your ambassadors, and their main purpose is to make sure nobody starts colonizing the worlds that haven’t managed to reach the Sea of Time on their own yet… am I getting it right?” Continue reading →

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Multidimensional

Posted on December 21, 2011 by becky

This whole world felt awfully empty. I couldn’t pick any form of mana up in the ambient air. Granted, I’d already been in very low-magic worlds where I couldn’t use magic before, but being unable to even detect mana was a completely new experience for me.

At some point, I heard a horn blowing in my direction. Another one quickly imitated the first, and soon, a huge concert of horns had formed. Apparently, these highly disagreeable sounds were caused by the big metallic boxes which were surrounding me.
I assumed my presence annoyed them. After all, there weren’t many lifeforms who could stare at me and not be disturbed – why would they have been any different?

Suddenly, something grabbed on one of my limbs and started pulling. Continue reading →

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From crutches to wings

Posted on December 14, 2011 by becky

Arts and skills have always had a very complicated relationship.

There are artists who try to rid themselves of technique’s realm in a quest of purity, and technicians who refuse to be called artists out of modesty or because they sincerely don’t believe their work to have any artistic range.

There are artists who extensively rely on skills – some would say, in a vain quest of perfection -, and technicians who consider their skills to be what art is about, full stop.

There are also people who basically screw categorizations and make both arts and techniques slaves to their will, and people who consider themselves unworthy of either of these two realms.

None of these positions is intrinsically better than the others. As always in art, everything is a matter of point of view, nothing is absolute (including this very statement!). That being said, I do have an opinion on the subject, an opinion I intend to express here. Continue reading →

Posted in Reflexion | Tagged | 4 Comments

The Beast of Revelation

Posted on December 10, 2011 by becky

The Beast of RevelationI entered Zerua’s office, and was greeted with the rare sight of her voluptuous, purple-covered posterior. She was standing in front of her window, looking at her garden. Appreciating the view, I decided not be the one to break the silence.

“Stella managed to break out once again,” she eventually declared without turning to me – which I was perfectly fine with. “Could you go retrieve her?”

I nodded. “Any info on her location?”

“Apparently, she’s in a parallel of Rebecca’s home world.”

I refrained an urge to ask her which Rebecca she was referring to. Considering Everwalk and De Graff had decided to go by their nicknames only, it was clear she was talking about Rebecca Earth.

“It’s a very low-magic world,” she added after a few instants, “so make sure you’re ready before you leave, and don’t forget your aureole, just in case.”

***

Upon landing, the first thing I noticed was I was sitting on something red. Continue reading →

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Material Girl

Posted on December 1, 2011 by becky

A few weeks ago, I received my paperback copy of Material Girl by Mike Schmit. Mike Schmit (also known as HeartGear) is a budding author and artist I first discovered a few years ago on DeviantArt. His work deals with gender identity questioning and damsels in distress (DiD); his references include comic books (notably, Calvin and Hobbes) and video games (such as Super Mario Bros and Metroid, as exemplified here).

Cover art for Material Girl

The first thing you see when looking at a book is its cover. And as far as I'm concerned, estimating a book's value by its cover doesn't have any negative implications (it's only an estimation, after all). Material Girl's cover art includes an color drawing featuring the main character, with Material Girl pages in the background. Very fitting.

Material Girl (TV Tropes page) is HeartGear’s first complete comic. He spent a little over a year in its making, and thorough this time, he gathered a noticeable fanbase (I had the chance of witnessing Material Girl‘s development, and it truly was a wonderfully motivating experience). Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged | 8 Comments

The chains of language

Posted on November 27, 2011 by becky

Last year, I prepared the ENSAD (Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs) application contest (it was my original university of choice upon entering Prép’Art). This contest is usually viewed as particularly difficult (there’s an important focus on skill and culture); notably, candidates are expected to read three books (these books change every year) during their preparation, and may be interrogated on these books’ content.

That’s how I got to read Giorgio Agamben’s Qu’est-ce qu’un dispositif ? (in English, What Is an Apparatus?). In this book, Giorgio Agamben discusses and extends the concept of apparatus (in French, dispositif) which was introduced by Michel Foucault in the 1970s. Continue reading →

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Chuck Checked

Posted on November 21, 2011 by becky

I checked the address on my smartphone one last time, and finally pressed the doorbell. Someone fumbled with keys on the other side of the door before slowly opening it, revealing a cute girl face. She stared at me, silently urging me to state my intent.

“Hum… Is Chuck around? I’m Leroy, an old friend of his. He told me I’d be able to meet him here.”

She blinked a few times, carefully examining my face and making me wonder whether I was mistaken. Continue reading →

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