#'tv show' just sounds better imo

[wings-of-waffles]

wings of fire tv show but it's using super detailed Joy Ang style accurate 3D models but with kinda stilted framerate and animation as a concequence

wings of fire tv show but it's just a slideshow of Joy Ang style accurate paintings that move along with the voice track but no actual animation, like just a slideshow a series of still images

wings of fire tv show but it's literally a powerpoint slideshow with like the book covers or basefills stolen from the wiki to represent the characters on a white background with speech bubbles when they talk, still fully dubbed by a voice track though but it's just like a literal actual slideshow in arial and comic sans

wings of fire tv show but it's made in google slides because they can't be bothered to buy powerpoint, also the voice actors are good but have terrible mics and the mixing is terrible and you can barely here what they're saying, also all the transparent pngs are fake

[seungfl0wer]

*I remember my 1st kiss*

Paring: Jisung x Reader (GN)

Genre: Pure Smut

Warning: Mentions of biting, Edging, Unprotected sex, cream pie, Friends to Lovers

This may not be suitable for everyone, this is your last warning.

This is the kinda jisung I think about a lot, it’s (Imo) a soft one here. Idk it’s just cute to me. He’s just cute to me idk man. I hope you enjoy!

-🩵

Getting bored sitting at your place you think to yourself “today’s a good day to go bother your bestie.” You know he’s not doing anything by his snaps of him sprawled out on the couch watching tv. You were already pulling up to his shared space when you texted him “hey you busy?” You could see him typing but before he could send it you were already waltzing through the door.

Saying hi to him as you came in he almost threw his phone at you letting out a screech “y/n what the fuck you trying to give me a heart attack?” He says whinging loudly. You laughed walking over to plop yourself down beside him “sorry sorry but I brought some snacks” you say dangling the bag in front of him. He huffs but takes the bag happily finding his favorites “listen I was board and you’re never doing anything so here I am to brighten your day!” You said with a goofy smile. “Oh definitely brightened it” he replied sarcastically.

“Han Jisung are you saying I don’t make your day so much better? My existence should make you just explode with happiness” you teased being dramatic garnering you an eye roll from him. “Well since you’re here we can watch that show we’ve been talking about” he said flipping through Netflix. You nod watching him scroll through the app. You know he was quite beautiful. Those cute boba eyes of his, his cute marshmallow like cheeks and that gorgeous smile of his.

Jisung might have been your friend for awhile but if he ever gave you the chance you’d happily take it. I mean who in their right mind wouldn’t?

You grabbed your drink sipping on it while he found the show, you guys had a list that neither of you could watch without the other. You remember you did one time and it was like you kicked his dog or something. He started the show sitting back into the couch getting comfortable. A episode in you were still struggling to get comfy “stop moving so much” he said eyes still glued to the tv. You rolled your eyes “fine” you said as you grabbed his arm draping it over you so you could rest your head on him.

You could feel his body tense a bit especially when your hand found its place on his bare knee. His words got stuck in his all he could muster was a soft “comfy?” You smiled contentedly nodding yes. You could see the soft pink blush across his cheeks which almost made you melt. It was so cute. He was so cute. As the show went on there was a kissing scene you made a remark about “I remember my first Kiss” making a joke at how badly the kiss looked on screen.

Jisung tilted his head a bit “mine was awful” he stated “I don’t think I’ve had an actual kiss” he continued which shocked you honestly. He was such a handsome man how could he not have girls falling over him. You looked up at him not even thinking of it your hand found it way to his cheek before pulling him into a kiss. It was deep kiss, you could feel the sparks form in your stomach hoping he would feel the same.

You were about to pull away but jisung chased you lips not wanting it to end. You happily continued to kiss him. You both swiftly moved it was almost like autopilot, you laid down as he laid between your legs on top of you. You both just having to most sensual make out session. Jisung hands began to wonder going under your shirt to softly play with your nipples. As he did your hands also wondered slowly rubbing him through his sweats. He quickly broke away from the kiss pushing his head into the crook of your neck letting out the sweetest little moans.

God was it ever hot, the sounds of his whimpers right by your ear had you soaked. You wanted ton ruin him, wanted to make him a mess. You quickly pushed his pants down just enough that you could with play with him properly. His cock was hard so flushed with red and so ready to explode. When he felt your hand on his cock you thought he’d cum right there. He started to hump into your hand with every movement the most sinful sounds left his lips “y/n-“ he panted out “cl-ose”. You grinned before taking your hand away.

He let out the most desperate whine hips moving to find any contact. You were gonna edge him good, wanting to make him cum hard. Putting your hand back on stroking him slowly before pulling away again feeling him twitch. “Y/n please” he begged but you were enjoying this. You ruined his orgasm a good 4 times before you yourself couldn’t take it anymore. Between his moans, him sucking so hard on your neck everytime you’d stop, the feeling of his cock so close to your heat you needed him. He wasn’t gonna last long at all but neither were you.

You whispered into his ear “wanna fuck me?” With that This man wasted no time. His legs were so shaky as he moved, he struggled taking off your pants almost falling as he took his own off. But he quickly took his position at your entrance. As he slowly pushed into your dripping heat, both of you moaned and groaned.

His body was plastered to you, arms wrapped around you as he fucked deep and sloppy. The moans escaping him sounded so heavenly brining you closer to your climax. His cock filled you so perfectly, he was hitting all of your spots. “Jisung- god you feel so fucking good. Fuck I’m gonna cum.” You screamed out digging your nails into his back as he bit down on your neck he was close to, you could feel it he was barely hanging on. The sound of you saying his name though drew him over the edge his legs started to stutter which made him hit your g-spot.

Your back arched, your legs shaking around him as you came all around his cock. He seemed lost in everything as his thrusts become fast but lazy as he came deep inside you. He plopped his body down onto you both of you heaving. Jisung clung to you tightly his face buried into your neck still. As your breathing calmed down you stroked the his head leaving little kisses on it. “That felt so good” he said breathily. You nodded “you felt really good” bringing his face up to kiss his nose.

He smiled but it faded quickly “Shit! Y/n! I came inside you!” The poor boy was frantic he thought for sure you’d be mad at him but you just kissed his nose again. “It’s fine Sung, I liked it anyways.” You giggled a bit. He smiled kissing you softly “y/n, can this mean we are dating? I’m tired of acting like I don’t love you” he said pausing realizing what he just said. “Oh, you love me do you?” You teased “well good cause I feel the same” you both smiled jisung wrapping his arms round you tightly. You both just stayed like that going back to where you left watching the show.

💙 if you’d like to read more of my stuff you can find it Here: Master List . Thank you for reading and if requests are open or you just wanna talk feel free to send me something🩵

[h0neytalk]

Italian Audio/Books/Videos Masterlist

Now that I’m at the upper A2/lower B1 level for Italian, I figured I’d compile a quick list of where I’ve found the best stuff to read and listen to.

E-Books and Audiobooks

Kobo Rakuten Italia — where I buy my ebooks. You can read them online, in the app, or download them and [redacted] to export them elsewhere. Has a monthly unlimited subscription that functions like a combo Kindle/Audible subscription.

Storytel �� monthly subscription for unlimited access to audiobooks.

YouTube

Learn Italian With Lucrezia — truly the savior of anyone learning Italian. My favorite videos are her Q&As, vlogs, and “n basic phrases you need to know.” I don’t get much out of her grammar explainer videos but that’s because of who I am as a person.

NovaLectio — commentary style mini documentaries. I export them to LingQ to read before watching and it helps me parse what’s going on. Also, they upload some videos dubbed in English so you can watch both.

Vogue Italia — celebrity interviews and fashion content. About 50/50 Italian and English but obviously high production value.

ArtandtheCities — criminally underrated channel imo. 10-15 minute art history/industry videos by an art historian. Super interesting, she’s easy to understand, and has captions.

Chef Max Mariola — utter chaos but fun. A Roman chef cooking various dishes, sometimes with a guest. Gives very “your uncle is hosting Thanksgiving and forgot until yesterday” vibes but in the best way.

TV/Movies/Documentaries

RaiPlay (free!) — Italian version of PBS. Lots of documentaries and some kind of goofy soap operas/narrative shows. You can also watch live TV.

Podcasts and Radio

RaiPlay Sound — basically NPR. Also free! You can find podcasts, live radio stations, audiobooks, and even audio descriptions of movies and TV shows.

Articles

Formula 1 Italia — Formula 1 news. I’m a big Ferrari fan but they cover a lot of news/current events (as long as they can connect it to a driver). The writing is short and to the point so it’s easy to parse for beginners. And honestly the drama is better than a lot of TV shows.

Stile Arte — long, more complex articles about art and archaeology. Cannot recommend it enough if you have an interest in any of those things. There are some straightforward history articles at the B1/B2 level, and also some more creative essays that push C1.

Corriere della Sera — daily news site. I started reading the news only in Italian to keep me from doom scrolling because America is terrifying. This is just the site I have ended up using a lot. Mostly because it’s easy to navigate and they have a ton of content.

[sophies-junkyard]

NOBODY ASKED but… Obviously Simon’s arc in adventure time solidified the series as one of greatest of all time (and I’m so hyped for this ice king sadness renaissance) but now I’m thinking of OTHER Adventure Time moments that rewired my brain as a kid. In no particular order:

1. “Once the strong guys got it how they liked it they said ‘this is fair now. This is the law.’ Once they were winning they changed the rules”. They really had the cartoon dog say that on tv in 2014.

2. “People get built different. We don’t have to understand it, we just gotta respect it”

3. The entirety of All The Little People. That shit was absolutely nuts for a kids show but also like…. I can’t articulate the lesson I just know there was one and it haunted me. The danger of the human ego. Hubris. Irreverence. Don’t play god bro.

4. Lady and Peebles. When PB ripped Ricardio’s leg off and bashed his skull in with it. And it was so hardcore they edited it out of the episode. Bro. I remember watching that after school one day and how my jaw just DROPPED at a PRINCESS being so brutal. They let her be so fucking angry and that was a game changer.

5. [Finn, about a horrific memory] “that one’s going in the vault. Aaaaaaaaaandd. It’s gone.” I quote that CONSTANTLY. It’s a great way to bring levity to a bad situation, but also forces me to go “hey wait a sec that’s not gonna work forever”. Things don’t stay in the vault.

6. Puhoy. He lived an entire life in that pillow world. He had kids. And then it’s just gone like a dream.

7. The deer. It was probably my first real introduction to horror. The hand wiggle. You all know exactly what I’m referencing. Were the candy people stuck in that well for 6 months???

8. What Was Missing!! Obviously now because it foreshadowed (and confirmed past) Bubbline, but back then just because it was so good??? IMO, this is the episode that defined WHO our main cast was, and how their relationships needed to grow for them to be content. It set up the next 6 years of the show! Plus it gave us 2 absolute BANGERS. Ugh i rewatched that recording so many times it wasn’t even funny.

9. Ghost Princess. Really just for the line where he sounds like he’s gonna shit his pants remembering his death and then in a clear narrator voice he’s like “I was a broken man.”

10. The pajama war episode. Now I’m doing this from memory so I could be wrong, but I think this really marks the start of Finn growing up. “I’ve really enjoyed just… hanging out with you.” The ability to start over with someone you’ve got complicated history with. The kindness. The growth from both of them!! It’s a direct parallel of episode 1 but their tones couldn’t be more different and I love it.

11. The slow and horrifying realization that The Mushroom War was nuclear Armageddon. Mushroom clouds. That went so far over my head as a kid even though they reference it constantly. It finally clicked during “I remember you”. Which I am NOT gonna go into because holy fuck that’s like 18 posts on its own.

12. Goliad! A child mirroring EVERYTHING they see, for better or worse. Seeing Jake in a bad moment screaming at the kids and goliad absorbing that behavior. Seeing she can use fear to control people. Also PB was Fucking Crazy! Her line “I’m not gonna live forever… I would if I could” is even more unhinged when we learn (like years later) that she’s already 900 years old. But she does physically age so I guess there’s that. The Suitor also falls into this category of episodes.

Ok getting into some of the more talked about moments

1. OK I LIED I have to talk about I remember you. I was 11 years old. I turned on the new adventure time episode like usual. 10 minutes later I was grappling with a grief I had never imagined before. Absolutely BAWLING not just for Simon and Marceline (the PLOT), but for what it showed me. The reality that every kid tries not to think about: your loved ones will leave you someday, even if they don’t want to. It’s an episode that becomes more powerful with every year I get older. To get a bit personal, dementia has completely taken my grandparents from me. I’ve seen sides of my grandfather that should never have existed, and I must constantly forgive him for what he does… now that he doesn’t remember me. And someday it’ll be my parents. That’s just the way of the world, ya know? Anyways, I remember my mom got home right as the credits were rolling and we had a long talk about keeping people alive with memory, mortality, and how the future was far away and we should decide on dinner lmao.

2. The Hall of Egress. I was almost 15. Life was changing. I was changing, and it was strange and frightening. That feeling where you know you’re losing your childhood but you just want to cling to it. Follow the same old familiar path, stick with what’s comfortable. But life doesn’t work that way. It took me years to really understand this episode and it’s symbolism. Honestly I still don’t think I could fully explain it. It’s like. How do I put this. I was so glad to be in the target age group in that moment. I was so glad that something I was growing up with was assuring me “you’re changing, but we’re changing too”. And isn’t that the theme of adventure time? Everything stays, but it still changes.

3. The absolute horror of Ferns existence. He’s Finn, but he’s wrong and warped. All those memories of the people he loves and they can’t stand to be in the same room as him.

4. Susan Strong. The introduction of a RUNNING PLOT. The show up to that point had really been so goofy and so monster of the week. I think the only really plot heavy episode before this one was It Came From the Nightosphere? And then suddenly they call into question the fact that Finn really is the ONLY HUMAN in all of OOO. And then… is he? It was SUCH a departure from the usual tone. Ending that episode with him reaching below her hat and gasping in shock, but never telling the audience what he found. And then she’s just gone. Which leads us to Islands!

5. Min and Marty. Second saddest episode in the entirety of adventure time, made worse because you know exactly how this family is gonna end up. There’s SO MUCH to dissect about Martins behavior in the series. A reformed con artist receives a traumatic brain injury while attempting to save his son. They’re both lost at sea, and he never looks for him. Was it the emotional trauma? Was it the physical damage? Meanwhile a mother loses her husband and her child in a single night and never EVER learns why. Nobody but Martin knows what happened that night. Also Finns fear of the ocean from season 1 is finally explained. 7 years of ignoring Finns origins and then they throw you THIS??? Watching it live was unreal.

Anyways I’m sure I’ll think of more. I might add on to this later for my own sake lmao, but I’d love to hear other peoples formative moments, quotes, episodes, etc. I really just needed to dump this information out of my brain so I can get on with my week.

[mtkay13]

hi! I have a question, i dont quite understand why zhou zishu is drawn to wen kexing, would you be able to help me? Esp in the earlier chapters, i just get the vibe that he's annoyed with him and doesn't want the guy's company. Do you know when he starts having feelings for wkx or how it progressed? I know zzs is very composed and in pain due to the seven nails so maybe i missed it while being focused on the plot, or maybe the translation is confusing me

Hello there!!! I'm sorry for the time I took to reply, I've been quite busy lately and I am currently taking sort of a break from this fandom (I'm not done or anything haha, just focusing on other things atm.) Anyway! Since you sent two asks, I'm going to quote the other one as well here and reply to both at once! :) Here's your second ask:

i think i answered my own question, i saw the ask where you recommended a certain translation, and the translation is completely different from the one i read. In one, zhou zishu comes off as annoyed w wen kexing and i had a hard time figuring out why tf he was even bothering to meddle. In the other, he comes off as an inquisitive person who suspects more to the situation and to wen kexing, and he's drawn in. Not to sound like an idiot but i understand why there's so many translations of greek classics now. The word choice make the interpretation completely different. I wish i could learn mandarin and learn what the original work says. Random but do you know if it'll ever get an official translation? It has a TV show and all, wouldn't it be marketable to western audiences? Question by the same Anyonymous person

As you put it yourself, yeah, the translation and tone does a lot to indicate what ZZS sees in WKX. I feel like there has been a widely shared sentiment that ZZS is pretty much fed up with him for the better part of the book's first half, and while I think it's a front that he puts up indeed, I feel like the original version and some of the translations do a good job of showing how ZZS finds WKX very intriguing, likely very strong and quite handsome (haha). I like to feel like he started developing a crush quite early on in the book, already seduced by WKX's deep and suave voice in chapter 2. From then on, more and more details about him catch ZZS' interest--WKX's appearance, mystery, his strength and martial arts expertise, and of course the way they seem to profoundly understand each other. It seems to me like there's a big shift during the campfire scene where ZZS recognises WKX's sword technique as being Wen Ruyu, the two of them thus discussing WKX's ancestry and, following that, what it means to be a good or bad person. The connection feels so strong during that conversation that it seems very likely to me that they both started falling in love from then on. Overall, where the translation may play a big role in perceiving ZZS' attraction is how "human and lively" he may seem in some versions. His quirks and "humanness" come out stronger in the ones I have recommended (IMO at least) and thus comes off as much warmer and fun. Through that characterisation, the nuance of him expressing one thing (annoyance) but feeling another (interest) is easier to understand. So yeah, indeed, translation sure is something! Haha, and there are many stories of disagreements and re-interpretations of classics even within professional translators (because for how much I can sometime criticise some versions of TYK, it's important to reiterate that these are all fan translations provided by people kindly dedicating their time and ressources to translate for free--most of the time (cough)--and share for free as well.) Well, I can only wish for you to get to read it in mandarin one day, because it's really, really great (and mandarin is just a fascinating language altogether!!) As for the official translation... I'm not very optimistic. It seems like getting publishing rights is rather complicated to begin with, and on top of that, TYK is currently locked on jjwxc (the website where it was initially published) due to censorship, which I feel makes it even more difficult. Priest has expressed in a rather recent socmed post that she didn't want to edit TYK (whether to censor it or for publication) because it was too old, so it's quite possible that she just isn't interested in putting in the work for TYK to be officially published and translated. That being said, it's just my opinion/analysis of the situation, and I may very well be wrong! Anyway, many thanks for coming to me and trusting my opinion, and I wish you a wonderful day!! 💗💗💗

[cbrownjc]

So I purposefully haven't listened to the Season 2 soundtrack of IWTV because I want to listen to the score in the context of the tv show first. And I'm so glad I have because so much of the score is just making the episodes even better. It is just so cinematic, which is something very rare when it comes to TV scores. (The scores for the Game of Thrones TV universe being one of them).

And there are two musical moments from Episode 2 that really stood out for me; one in particular because of its variations on existing pieces that I heard in it and want to point out, which is the "Paris Sucks" score:

When that score moment first began to play as the episode opened, I said to myself, "Oh, Gershwin's "An American in Paris"? That's fitting! But wait -- it sounds like it's also mixed with "Rhapsody in Blue". . . ?"

And that's, of course, when I quickly realized that it wasn't either those Gershwin pieces that were playing. But oh, it is very much a variation of them both, IMO. The piece is so Gershwin in its feel and tone, it was very easy to mistake it at first. This particular arrangement when it comes to "An American In Pairs" for sure I'd say, from the movie of the same name's dream ballet sequence:

However, the best track from the episode was, at least to me, "They Invited Us For a Hunt.":

The crescendo part of this piece in particular reminded me of "The "Dance at the Gym (Blues)" from West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein. However, this piece, I don't think was a direct variation on, (unlike the one above), but there was still something similar about it to me:

[steveisagay]

Could you maybe write a fluff fic about m!reader x Eddie? Where the reader has had a shitty day but Eddie is there(so it’s immediately better imo). Eddie asks the reader what’s wrong and all the reader does is just face plant into Eddie’s chest and mumbles something about someone at work being awful. Ends in sappy cute cuddles and Eddie making terrible(yet funny) dad jokes to cheer up his boy, with kisses included.

"It's okay, you did good today,"

Eddie Munson x M!reader

Thank you so much for your request! Whenever you show up in my notifications it reminds me that people actually like my writing

Warnings: swearing as always, slight homophobia, slight allusions to a car crash, I accidentally made it more angsty than needed, other than that it's fluff, also a mention of kids

Today was shit. Y/N's work was shit, and so was having to deal with people all day long. Normally he would have no problem with a few needy or bitchy customers, but not when they just came in over and over and over. It took almost everything in him not to walk out or hide in the back until he could go home.

Going home made everything worth it. Not only could he sink into the blankets covering his bed, but he could always sink into the arms of his lover as well. While Y/N had to work the standard 9 to 5, Eddie was out selling different types of drugs to the same dickheads he condemned, well, and the typical loser.

Driving home was tense, he was gripping at the steering wheel, trying to keep it all together. He didn't bother to turn on the radio, as he was already driving 10 over the limit. His fingers loosely played with the keys, but making sure to keep his eyes on the road so he could at least still get home to Eddie.

His hands shook as he fiddled the key into the knob. He already heard the faint sounds of the tv. When he finally got the door open he didn't bother hanging up his keys, instead tossing them on the counter without looking where they actually landed.

"Hi baby!" Eddie practically yelled throwing his hands up in the air, his words muffled by whatever he was snacking on. Y/N took quick steps until he found himself hidden in Eddie's neck. "Baby, what's wrong?" He ran his hands down his boyfriend's back as Y/N finally relaxed after his long day.

When Y/N answered it came out as a mumbled mess where the only coherent words were 'work' and 'people'. "Yeah baby, people suck," Eddie felt as he grabbed onto his shirt harder, moving his hand to stroke their hair, "it's okay, you did good today," his eyes grew wider when he started to feel his lovely boyfriend start to shake. He gave a quick squeeze before saying anything else.

"Baby,"

His heart ached when when he heard the small 'yeah..' that came from the crook of his neck.

"Wanna hear a joke?" His smile gleamed when he felt the small nod against his skin. "Okay so, how do cows stay up to date?"

"I don't know, how Eds?"

"They read the moos-paper" he replied with a small chuckle, "Next," he paused, for dramatic effect of course, "Where do pirates get their hooks?"

Finally, Y/N looked up, eyes glistening as he made contact with his adorable boyfriend. "Where Eddie?"

"The second hand store." He snickered

"Oh my god, that was terrible."

"Why thank you," he was just happy to make him feel better, "Now, what's blue and not heavy?"

Y/N giggled, "I don't know, a bucket?"

"No! Light blue!"

Then he hurled a pillow from the end of the couch, "Oh my god Eddie, when did you become a dad?"

There was a small pause, "Whenever you're ready."

Y/N was stunned, they'd been together for almost a year, but they'd never talked about kids. "Eddie..." A sense of sorrow overtook his eyes again, "We can't..."

Eddie made sure to press a kiss to his forehead, then to his lips. "I'm sure we can figure things out," he pressed another kiss to his lips, then his nose, "I know the system isn't exactly in our favor, but we can figure something out."

His eyes had started to glisten again, they'd never talked about having kids because, well, they're two men.

Eddie pressed three more kisses along his cheeks and back to his forehead. "What's brown and sticky?"

He laughed again, "I don't know Eddie, what is brown and sticky?"

"A stick," he pressed a kiss to his lips once again.

Y/N chuckled, "you are horrible, I hope you're proud of yourself."

Eddie let out a laugh of his own. "Actually I am quite proud of myself."

[gffa]

Hi there! I’m someone who’s been following you for Star Wars for a while but I’ve become really interested in your DC comics posting recently, and I was wondering - since the franchise has been going for so long and has so many instalments - what you would say to someone who wants to start reading these comics/watching the shows/movies but doesn’t know where to start? Have a lot of the comics been retconned? Is there a particular order one has to read in? Where does one even find these comics…?

My interest in this franchise was literally sparked by the Jason Todd telephone poll so I’m definitely interested in reading more about him - he seems like a character I’d like - and the rest of like, the… Batfamily, I think they’re called? I just have no idea where to start lol - my knowledge of DC is limited to seeing bits of Teen Titans GO when I walked past my little brother watching TV, and watching the Lego Batman movie with him xD

Also! If I’m correct, after observing the fandom, Talia seems like an interesting, complex female character (with some bad writing), like Padmé or Bo-Katan? I always love those kinds of characters, just wondering if I’d got the right impression of her.

Hi! You've got a solid idea of things so far, so hopefully, this shouldn't be too hard of a climb to get used to the structure! And I'll do my best to explain the structure of comics without getting too lost in the weeds about it. 😂

INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW: In my view, comics aren't meant to be a single coherent whole and it's helpful to drop that idea before you get started because otherwise you'll drive yourself around the bend in a fruitless attempt to make everything line up neatly, when it just never will. There is no one single "true" version of the characters, there is no one single creator who is the highest authority on a character, no matter who created the character or even who is most famous for writing them, these are shared characters being written and drawn by a multitude of authors and artists who all have varying takes on them. The characters should stay true to a core personality and traits, but the flexibility of an author to write a character differently from the last person who wrote them is a feature not a bug imo. I like to think of comics as stories being told by different authors playing with action figures and we're in the audience enjoying these stories, regardless of how some authors fit really well together and others completely clash with each other. You can try to make them mesh (sometimes that's fun!) or you can just shrug your shoulders and pick what you like out of the pile of comics that have been handed to you (you'll probably drive yourself less over the edge this way!). Jason is particularly difficult on this aspect, because he often doesn't have a regular book to be written in and his overall place/point in the Batman comics is murky at best somedays and so he is wildly different from author to author. I personally enjoy this, because I think it works for Jason as a character who has some core beliefs, but also is kind of a mess who doesn't really know what he wants, so he veers wildly from one reaction to another. You can read comics in a variety of ways, but I genuinely do not recommend trying to read "in order" because it's a nightmare to try to keep track of everything once it's been a few years and the numbering of these series is the most confusing thing you'll ever meet. Instead, I think it's better to focus on picking up trades (collections of comics that originally came out in single issues, but are put together in a single volume that tells the whole story of that particular run) that sound interesting or come recommended. (And, honestly, it's not even satisfying even if you did do all the work to read them in order. Throw out the idea that comics have a coherent timeline, because they do NOT.)

CONTINUITIES AND DIFFERENT ERAS: The ONLY context I think you need (other than a general sense of the Batfam, we'll get there in a minute) is to understand that there are sort of four "continuities" that you're likely to run into, and this is EXTREMELY simplified/streamlined, so nerds don't come for me on this unless you have a better streamlined and simple version. 😂 - Anything published before 1985-1986 is all "Pre-Crisis" and while reading a lot of the older comics can be super fun, they're generally not super relevant to current comics - In 1985-1986, there was a comics event (an event is where multiple different comic books are all written to be part of a bigger storyline, whereas normally, they don't cross over that much, each book usually has its own self-contained storylines) called "Crisis on Infinite Earths" (which is different from "Infinite Crisis") that was basically a way for DC to streamline all the different versions of the characters running around into one manageable universe. This ran up until about 2011 and I'll often refer to it as the "preboot" or "post-Crisis" continuity. (This is where Jason's death happened, in the storyline "A Death in the Family".) - In 2011, DC wanted to reboot their entire universe with an event called "Flashpoint", with the purpose of creating an all new lineup of 52 comics that new readers could jump right into, which isn't a bad idea in theory. The problem was that people were really attached to the preboot versions of the characters, a lot of the Nu52 comics were really badly written, and there was almost no collaboration. You expect a certain amount of contradiction just by the nature of comics, but there were major issues with "nobody is talking to each other, so everything is a giant mess".

- In 2016, for a variety of reasons (probably including that sales for Nu52 had dipped back down pretty far again), DC rebooted their universe again, with "Rebirth", which is the continuity we're in now. I'm still catching up (I left when Nu52 happened) but I think a lot of preboot events are leaking back into the continuity, but that's not the same as saying it's equal to the preboot continuity in total. This is also the era that I generally talk about the most because I've found it genuinely the most engaging to get back into! Generally, as long as you understand those four eras of continuity, I think you'll be fine in understanding how things are put together. If you want to know where something falls, just check the date and that'll tell you! But, honestly, yeah, background details change all the time, so even within a single continuity there will be retcons--just that there are MASSIVE differences in the Nu52 era that might confuse you if you're unaware of the reboot shenanigans. (Or if you want to understand how Jason returned--like, preboot continuity has the explanation that Superboy Prime (don't ask) punched reality so hard that it shook Jason back to life, even if they never found out about it, that's what happened. I think Nu52 said Talia dug him up and put him in the Lazarus Pit? Don't quote me on that. I flamed out hard on Nu52. Rebirth continuity, they have no idea what the hell happened and I'm not sure there's an explanation. I just assume the Reality Punch leaked back in or something.)

SO, LIKE, WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH THESE CHARACTERS? AS SHORT AS I CAN MAKE IT: - Bruce Wayne witnesses his parents being murdered in front of him and this traumatizes him so badly that he withdraws from life to obsess over it, eventually travelling the world for several years to learn every kind of skill he can, until he comes back to Gotham at, like 22 years old or whatever and becomes Batman to fight crime. The only rails on this ride is his butler Alfred who basically raises him from the time he's eight and Alfred is working MIRACLES here, but there's only so much even he can do. He is absolutely Bruce's father figure, even if they rarely frame it in those terms, because Thomas Wayne (Bruce's father) is such an important figure in their lives and because Alfred is extremely British. - Bruce is Batman for a few years, usually depicted as being super grimdark because he's shut his heart against loving anyone ever again because the pain is too much. But then one night he's at a circus performance and there's a terrible "accident" where a little 9 year old boy (shhhh we ignore any other versions than that he was nine, dammit, it's important for the thematic parallels!) witnesses his world-class aerialists parents falling to their deaths. Dick Grayson's grief and loss spark something in Bruce and he takes on this grieving, angry, brilliant little boy as his ward. Now, not even God can stop Dick Grayson, who is going to get justice for his parents' murder, so eventually Bruce reveals that he's Batman and Dick basically barges his way into creating his sidekick persona, Robin. Bruce is not a fan of this, but seriously. He couldn't have stopped that kid, he tried. He could only put a leash on him. Dick brings light and joy back to Wayne Manor and they have the most fascinating relationship--they're father & son, they're brothers, they're best friends, they understand each other like no one else does, they fight like no one else in that family does, they love each other, they're so angry at each other, they're co-dependent and absolutely batshit about each other, they basically raise each other from the time Dick came to Wayne Manor. - Dick eventually grows up and starts clashing with Bruce more, especially as he gains his independence. Different versions happen differently in different continuities, but eventually it hits a boiling point and either Bruce fires him as Robin or Dick quits because he can't deal with this. He goes off to become Nightwing, while Bruce eventually meets another kid who (in the most common version) tries to steal the Batmobile's tires because he needs the money. Circumstances happen, Bruce eventually ends up adopting Jason Todd, who becomes the next Robin. Things are relatively stable for awhile, until Jason learns about his birth mother and runs off to try to reconnect with her, except the Joker's got his sticky fingers all up in this situation, and it results in Jason dying in the exploding building.

- Bruce is Not Doing Well after this, so in comes our favorite horrible little stalker gremlin Tim Drake, who hunts down Dick Grayson and says, hey, you gotta become Robin again because Batman's going to get himself killed if you don't. Dick is like, no, I fucking do not. Tim responds with, well, guess I gotta do it myself then and basically barges his way into being the next Robin. He bonds with Dick as a brother (who is far and way Tim's favorite, imo), he does his best to be as good of a Robin as he can be. - Things are better after that, they're fairly well into Batfamily territory by this point. Jason comes back and, originally, it was supposed to be a trick, it was a villain pretending to be him, but was later retconned to actually be Jason who came back and... it's complicated. I don't think they really knew what to do with him once he came back, so he kind of ping-pongs around with varying levels of villainy for awhile. - Then we get to the time around Batman R.I.P. where a lot of shit happens all at once, especially for Tim. Bruce dies fighting a Justice League villain, Tim also has his bio-dad die around this time, his relationship with his ex-girlfriend/good friend is kind of going to shit, the boy he's in love with (not canon at the time, but current day storylines basically confirm it was true) also died and it wrecked Tim, like he lost his MIND over Conner Kent's death, there's this annoying little shit Damian Wayne who has showed up as the bio-son of Bruce, and then suddenly Bruce also dies. And Dick has to become Batman because Gotham needs Batman and he's in mourning and dealing with Jason being back and everything OFF THE RAILS as various people are like, "No, I'M going to be Batman now!" and Dick has to shut all that shit down and take up the mantle himself despite that he doesn't want it AND deal with Damian being an emotionally traumatized 11 year old baby assassin who has been abused into being a killer his entire life (I mean, it's comics, don't take it too seriously) and he needs something to hold onto or he's going to leave and go back to killing, so Dick and Alfred give the Robin mantle to Damian, which pisses Tim off because he's not doing well and sees it as a betrayal (while Dick was asking for his help as an ally, that he was ready to graduate to being more than just Batman's sidekick) because he's lost so much. - So we have Dick & Damian as Batman & Robin (THIS ERA WAS SO GOOD), Tim as Red Robin (fandom way overplays Tim and Dick's tension, they come back together after their dramatic few months), and eventually they find Bruce who was lost in the time stream (don't ask) and then, WHAM, Nu52 happens. But basically, that's the Robins timeline. I'm skipping over Steph's turn as Robin because it was so short and it was clearly set up just to knock her down, as well as not touching on Cass much because this is long enough as it is and I'm trying to circle back to focusing on Jason-friendly stuff.

WHERE TO START: Ask a dozen different people where to start and you'll get a dozen different answers! I think starting anywhere is fine and it's going to depend on what you like--for example, I'm personally not that into the animated DC movies (not enough of my Blorbo) but "Batman: Under the Red Hood" is generally very well-regarded as an updated version of Jason's return and is nicely self-contained if you want to watch it without much other context. I also think watching the Justice League animated series from 2001 is fantastic if you want a funny, charismatic, streamlined adaptation of what the Justice League is like. (Batman: The Animated Series was groundbreaking at the time and a really good adaptation, but very dated by this point in time, so I hesitate to recommend it too much, even though it's beloved to me.) The Wayne Family Adventures is an absolutely adorable, delightful webtoon adaptation that is very light-hearted compared to the mainline comics! I like recommending it to new fans because I think it's super easy to start reading without too much extraneous context and gives you an idea of the characters' relationships to each other, so long as you understand that it is EXTREMELY soft and is much in the vein of LEGO Batman content--you're not supposed to take it super seriously, there are times it's deliberately crossing into something like parody territory, but that doesn't mean it's not genuinely funny, charming, and a great read. @fantastic-nonsense has an incredibly thorough list of recommendations for comics by character here, and you can scroll down to the Jason Todd section and start reading there! Or you can check out the "A STARTING POINT: BATMAN IN OTHER MEDIA" section because I pretty much 100% agree with everything she says about the various adaptations. I like recommending "Young Justice" as an introduction to DC, so long as you understand that it's a loose adaptation and that the team compositions and various relationships are not always going to be accurate to comics dynamics. I have my own comics recs tag, but I'm more Dick-focused, so your mileage is going to vary on how useful you might find my recs! But basically, you can't go wrong with starting with "A Death in the Family", then "Under the Red Hood" (movie then comics) and "Red Hood: The Lost Days". Basically, anything by Judd Winick has a good chance of being a solid read for him. It's hard to recommend Jason comics, because so many of them are either not great or require knowledge of the events that are going on around the same time--but, honestly, once you're familiar with the set-up, I do think you can pick up almost any trade and pick up context along the way. I personally also loved "Robins: Being Robin" series, because all five of the Robins working to solve a case together and being unhinged weirdos at each other is my jam. (But I like pretty much anything Tim Seely writes!) I also always recommend the 2016 Nightwing series because Dick is my Blorbo, but I also think "Robin & Batman" by Jeff Lemire is a fantastic story to understand who baby Dick Grayson is and his relationship with Bruce, and both "The Long Halloween" and "Dark Victory" are some of the best Batman comics I've ever read, but they can be tough to get through if you don't like Tim Sale's very stylized art.

WHERE TO FIND THESE THINGS TO READ? The movies and animated series should be on HBOMax and/or Netflix, and comics I always recommend hitting up your library to see what they have--so many libraries have a ton of comics available, especially digitally! And, if you have a library card, it's very possible that your library partners with Hoopla, where they have a ton of Batman comics! You can also check out DC Universe, which has almost all DC comics if you get a subscription.

TL;DR: If you want bigger context on how all this stuff works, start with either "Justice League" or "Young Justice", they're really cute, fun adaptations. If you want to get straight to the Jason stuff, start with "A Death in the Family" --> "Under the Red Hood" --> "Red Hood: The Lost Days" --> "Batman: Urban Legends vol. 1". (And, yeah, you have the right impression of Talia! She often gets written as a villain, but she's also often a lot more complex than that, it really depends on who you get to write her. The corner of fandom I hang out in is generally more generous to her, but some of the actual comics can be kind of rough. But she's complex and has a lot of sharp edges, so, you know, I love her, too. 😂)

[3liza]

Do you think humanising the Borg from I Borg onwards was a good move or should they have stayed as the monolithic legion they started as?

readers please take note this is the level of discourse i want to see in my ask box from now on

its been a long time since I saw any borg episodes first hand so im probably forgetting some stuff but heres what i think. as cunt as the borg queen is (and i truly love her...this actress was so good in Silent Hill too), no serious science fictioneur is going to say the borg concept was made stronger by the retconning of the borg collective to be even vaguely individualistic. the reason the borg were so terrifying when they were introduced is solely due to their gestalt nature. there shouldnt be specialized borg (well not beyond insect specialization) or individual borg or even a fathomable borg "mind". I, Borg is a classic episode because it does what TNG and DS9 do best, which is to reexamine the assumptions and prejudices of Starfleet (which are the assumptions and prejudices of the primarily american, 20th-21st century star trek audience) and wrestle with ethics in a vacuum (lol) vs material reality, and really the existence of the Locutus arc already exploded the borg collective concept in a dumb way (as cool as Locutus is) so at that point it was already sort of moot.

i think there are a lot of better ways to handle "borg separated from collective" as a concept than what was done with Seven of Nine, Hugh, the Borg Queen and Locutus respectively, and i think there were better ways to advance the Borg concept for future iterations and to elevate their design and level of threat for narrative reasons. there are so many good examples of both collective lifeforms and parasitism just on Earth that the writers could have drawn from, but the Star Trek writers are rarely allowed to write actual science fiction, and when they get close, the producers always step in to make them dumb everything down for an audience that, imo, doesnt really need things dumbed down for them.

what the star trek producers get wrong (and what all TV producers get wrong) is that the technobabble on shows like this can be scientifically accurate or at least theoretically accurate and the audience members who are not interested in that sort of thing will regard it exactly the same as if the technobabble is bullshit, but the nerds and intellectuals who are watching will be thrilled! dumbing things down is pointless, no one who needs things dumbed down is paying that much attention anyway, they dont care if things make sense or not. a correct explanation of space travel and physics sounds exactly the same to them as one that's just mad libbed together from buzzwords. catering to them is meaningless. but being smart with it and letting the science nerds on staff actually write accurately will in the end make a better show.

i know there are some scenes showing borg infants in the show but im not sure they ever explain it, borg "queens" and "drones" responsible for reproduction would have been a no brainer. you could work a semi-individualistic plotline in with the crew running into a small shuttle or pod-type craft that just had one pregnant queen onboard or a queen and some drones who were looking for somewhere to start a new colony. i think showing borg near the end of their working lives as basically decaying, animate corpses would have been both scary and lore-supported, as would an "ant graveyard" type scene, but that may have been too much for 90s censors. parasitic lifeforms on earth usually have powerful immunosuppressant hormones to prevent the host bodies from rejecting them, i think this is probably mentioned in TNG and handwaved at some point but it would be a really big deal, medically, for rehabbing an individual borg like Seven or Locutus or Hugh.

[charaznablespeteevee]

Would you share your thoughts on the Gundam you've seen? I added the first one to my list based on your posting about it (mostly the transition Char posting, he sounds like a fascinating character) and am not on Twitter to see your liveposting

Good question!! It seems like you want to know if I'd rec them so I'll answer based on that.

The original Mobile Suit Gundam (1979) absolutely I would rec to literally any anime fan. Both because it is a genuinely good anime, but equally because it's like. You know how people say you have to read the Bible to get all the references to the Bible in literature? It's like that. Gundam is one of the Bibles for anime. It's in everything. And you won't realize this until you watch it.

It's also a very good science fiction show just in general. The major characters are all great, the drama is compelling, and while some of the animation has not aged well, the newtype stuff has some super neat effects that are gorgeous to see on a big screen to this day.

It's also super accessible, the full show is available on Crunchyroll or if you don't want to commit watching a 43 episode show the three compilation movies are on Netflix and are a very solid alternative.

Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (1985) - they got a big budget upgrade so everything is Bigger and More. More robots, more character drama, more romance, better music, and some bizarre segues into how men are from Mars and women are from Venus. Absolutely worth a watch if you liked the original Gundam because it continues to follow a lot of the original characters.

Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ (1986) - technically "skippable" if you consider 0079, Zeta, and Char's Counterattack a trilogy, which it kind of is. ZZ focuses on an almost entirely new cast of characters and the first half of the show is VERY heavy on the comedy before jumping directly into some of the best anime I've ever seen for the second half. The mood whiplash is kind of divisive among fans. Personally I like it and the characters are great. Worth a watch if you like what you've seen so far.

Char's Counterattack (1988) - caps off the gayass Amuro/Char rivalry and is just an amazing movie in general. Gorgeous visuals, and the final 15 minutes or so are a series of emotional gut-punches the likes of which I've rarely experienced in media. Must watch IMO.

War in the Pocket (1989) - six episode OVA featuring entirely new characters. This is a truly fantastic little series that lets you into the lives of a small handful of likeable characters and how their lives are affected by war. It's Gundam so guess how that goes. I liked it a LOT and recommend it. BONUS: This is a GREAT "starter" Gundam. It's short, it's very good, and you don't need to know anything about Gundam going in. There's a few references to prior lore, but they aren't anything major and a newcomer could easily figure it all out from context.

Mobile Suit Gundam F91 (1991) - this is a movie that was originally going to be made into a TV show and it shows, they stuffed far too much into too little time and it suffers for it. So unfortunately this is the first thing on this list I probably wouldn't rec. That said the characters are pretty fun and the ending is very good, so you can do a lot worse if you're bored or a completionist.

Mobile Suit Victory Gundam (1993) - this is what I'm watching right now! I'm a little over halfway done with it. This is all new characters and there are some interesting new concepts. For example the first twenty or so episodes were set on Earth so you got some really gorgeous scenery during mobile suit battles that made those scenes really visually distinctive compared to say, a battle in space. That said it's yet to really "pull me in" the way most other Gundam series did. For now I'm still waiting to see if it will do that or not.

Witch From Mercury - I'm assuming everyone knows what this is. It's gay as fuck, what can I say, and it's the entire reason I fell down into this Hell to begin with. 10/10

[paigegonerogue]

y’know, I watched NATLA the other day (I—like 99% of everyone who’s ever seen it—loved the original) and hot take, hear me out, I know this sounds crazy but… I THINK the original animated show was better (😱😱😱)

But because I’m obsessed, it got me thinking about the Last of Us. Making a good TV show is difficult as hell, and making a good adaptation, especially one not based off a book?! Really rough. I think it just sorta goes to show how GOOD TLOU HBO is that it not only captured the magic of the Video Game, but was just so fantastic in all regards. Writing, acting, cinematography, set-design. I think it was really special. It just helped me appreciate how hard it must’ve been to nail even more.

More TV shows should look to TLOU on how to make not just a good adaptation, but also a good show. Everywhere TLOU thrived, NATLA struggled. It’s just a fascinating dichotomy imo

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 3/5/2024

really fucking around in Breath of the Wild and not defeating Ganon, even though i think i am fairly well prepared, which is probably indicative of something or a metaphor for some larger issue. oh well! guess we'll never know!

listening

Rock the Jungle by The Daniel Pemberton TV Orchestra, off an album of music from and inspired by LittleBigPlanet, a video game i have never played. Daniel Pemberton is a remarkably prolific british composer who mostly does film these days but also does a lot of BBC stuff.

this is the kind of scrubby pad to the brain electronica i need sometimes. i think these are heavily filtered and processed kookaburra sounds? at about the minute fifteen mark it adds a rolling, rollicking bassline that is, as im sure we all know by now, fucking catnip to me. at about 2:20 it adds alarm blares that fade in and out of a sort of disco-y organ? it uses its five minute runtime pretty well imo. i think this was off the spotify discover weekly.

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reading

T Kingfisher's The Clockwork Boys, recced by @rae-being-naughty lo these many months ago, and my library hold finally came in. the goodreads blurb is a remarkably accurate sales pitch so let's yoink that

A paladin, an assassin, a forger, and a scholar ride out of town. It’s not the start of a joke, but rather an espionage mission with deadly serious stakes. T. Kingfisher’s new novel begins the tale of a murderous band of criminals (and a scholar), thrown together in an attempt to unravel the secret of the Clockwork Boys, mechanical soldiers from a neighboring kingdom that promise ruin to the Dowager’s city. If they succeed, rewards and pardons await, but that requires a long journey through enemy territory, directly into the capital. It also requires them to refrain from killing each other along the way! At turns darkly comic and touching, Clockwork Boys puts together a broken group of people trying to make the most of the rest of their lives as they drive forward on their suicide mission.

i had a lot of fun with this! very pratchett-esque in its imperial critique through bureaucratic loopholes thereof, which is catnip to me, but i do think Kingfisher is simply better at writing women. the forger is an only child and it fucking shows.

i think if it were 5% more devoted to Humorous Bits and didn't have some nice character work between the forging accountant and the big sad blond paladin man, i would have gotten frustrated with it. i think it is simply more of a comedy than any of its blurbs suggest, and it can be difficult to ride that line between comedy and character growth through desperate acts without getting a little bit of whiplash. this is me being very depressed and a bit nitpicky though. the line "Time passed, like a kidney stone" is going to stick in my brain for a while. i already have the sequel on hold

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watching

if you do nothing else today could you please watch this car chase for me? ok thanks

Gunsmith Cats is a three-episode OVA that's a fancam of the american city of chicago and the cool girls that live and shoot and drive there, but let's just yank the MyAnimeList description

In the dangerous suburbs of Chicago, skilled bounty hunters Irene "Rally" Vincent and "Minnie" May Hopkins run Gunsmith Cats, a firearms store of questionable legality. One day, Bill Collins, an agent for the Chicago branch of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, blackmails Rally and May into working with him on a case. The stakes are high, but Rally’s gunmanship and May’s knowledge of explosives are unmatched. As Rally and May unravel the secrets of the case, the two will need to use guns and grenades while being faster, stronger, and better than everyone else in order to stay alive.

all three episodes are free (in really nice quality) on youtube. i pitched this to wendy as "rally is jigen lupinthethird's little sister" and her driving skills and marksmanship... i'm not sure who would win between them but i wouldn't like to live on the difference.

animators, historically, hate animating guns and cars, except for the masochistic ones who use it to flex. there are at least three shots in each episode where i want to stand up and hold my cat above my head and hoot like a fuckin tusken raider. in the first episode, there's a raid on a smuggling warehouse (you know, a warehouse) where the BATF agent and Rally throw each other their guns and have a really cool FALLING OFF A CATWALK back to back shootout. it's hard to describe. watch the episode. i wish there were more than three episodes.

this is an OVA that, aside from the requisite panty shot and WHOOPS my whole shirt tore (one of each per episode per girl) is fairly normal about women? rally and minnie are...roommates. that bicker and eat pizza. they have a cool network of other slightly shady women they interact with a lot, and the big bad for most of the episodes is also a woman. this isn't like a bastion of feminism or anything it's just neat. sort of middling on the ass portion of the Weeb Ass Shit scale. low on the weeb and shit parts too. again this is a fancam of chicago with cool girls

i watched this bc i was trying to use up kanopy credits and came across the precursor to this, Riding Bean, which i did not love for several reasons (the big one being the legitimately pedophilic lesbian relationship) but the creator took the concept of Rally out of that forty minute...experiment? and that led me to Gunsmith Cats. thank u ppl who put free anime on youtube

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playing

still futzing about in breath of the wild. fucking around with sidequests and a sudden need to at least discover all the shrines.

for example, i did all the labyrinth shrines. underneath the akkala labyrinth is the scariest room in the world, bc six of those fuckers are alive and they will all target you the instant you open that chest.

cannot be bothered with the eventide island shrine yet (the roguelike) bc it frustrates the hell out of me. did the thyplo forest one, which was extremely annoying bc it dimmed my whole TV screen (including the UI) instead of just dimming the game itself. im sure someone thought that would be such a cool detail but instead i found it extremely annoying and vey difficult to swap weapons or start campfires.

and then i trundled through a list of shrine quests, bc i apparently had TWELVE missing?? three were korok trials, one was eventide (apparently it only shows up as a quest if you are on the island or have finished it, bc if u die on the island it kicks you back to a pre-island save lmao) so for the others: three i just had to talk to people to officially start and then immediately complete the quest. remember when i was anxious about softlocking myself out of the jungle dragon shrine quest bc i went right there instead of talking to Kass? never fear, nintendo's got my back

"kay how did you possibly miss reading the giant stone tablet to start this quest--" i am not a clever woman. i go "oh i know what to do!!!" when i see the Orb and hare off without looking around further.

A Brother's Roast i missed bc i forgot to talk to everyone in Goron City after defeating rudania, didn't run across Test of Will (the Goron challenge in the Gerudo highlands) bc i forgot to look off that side of the tower and was very focused on gliding into the labyrinth at the right spot, and didn't run across Guardian Slideshow on the far south beaches bc i hadn't explored there yet.

A Stolen Heirloom was deeply annoying. i had four out of five quests complete to unlock this, but there is an unmarked side quest where you have to go into this lady's house at night to figure out she wants fireflies. maybe she has some ambient daytime barks about this? i have never heard them. this was a little obtuse. also i don't love the stealth in this game. this game's stealth really works when you are well out of detection range bc u have a sniper bow, and i find it works less well for me when i have to follow a target. no i haven't finished the korok stealth trial either.

non-shrine nonsense:

ive been using Stasis as a sort of VATS equivalent. in fallout, i like to hit VATS every once in a while just to see who's out there. how many radroaches are nearby. this also highlights most interactable things which i think is nice of the game

gerudo town stuff: i missed this sand seal racing challenge by SO little the first time which annoyed me so much, it took me six more tries to beat the damn thing. i am very charmed that they actually put in a garden for the kid who was trying to grow a garden!

some beach vegetation mysteries: im really baffled by this singular hearty radish growing in full sun in what is essentially sand with a dusting of palm bark. all the other hearty radishes i have seen are in deep forests with partial sun and lots of leaf litter. what the hell is this then. plus a neat little unique sea wrack? korok circle instead of the usual lilypads.

i didn't know this game knew how to do rainbows at all, let alone double ones!

i will leave you with my many attempts to make stamina potions.

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making

making things requires both the perfect levels of anxiety (too little anxiety and im out doing normal people things, too much anxiety and i shut down, a medium level means im frantically making things to distract myself. we are at the high end of medium) and some level of income bc i inevitably need one or two things to finish projects. eg we are at the level of anxiety where i am only able to do simple things like repainting a whole bunch of big frames for my maps (procured when i had money) but i need more matboard. so they are sitting, 90% finished, in my office closet.

garden update: more than half my bush beans came up with no leaves and promptly died, which could be due to any number of things but im choosing to believe it's bc my bestie's five year old planted them a little too deeply. so it goes. all the sweet peas are fine, all my normal peas and most of my regular climbing beans came up. a little annoyed bc only a third of my nasturtiums came up even after soaking them for 24h as recommended. the shit i Bought (tomatoes, marigolds, mint, rosemary) is doing fine. the spinach and dill i planted are doing fine too, although the spinach also had about a 50% germination rate. this does mean i don't need to thin them but. Hm. yanno?

[bonearenaofmyskull]

Hey! Curious if you're currently into any great shows. If so, mind sharing your recommendations? Always on the lookout for some good TV suggestions!

I imagine you've seen everything I have. I spend more time gaming. Not into anything great at the moment, but I can dig deep and see if I can remember what shows I've watched since Hannibal aired and give my opinions. I binge TV series with my mom who is in her 80's and has Parkinson's and macular degeneration and can't really do activities or read anymore, so I rewatched some old ones with her here largely to torture her with them, so they'll be in here also.

S-Tier (Winners)

My Brilliant Friend. Probably the best thing I've watched since Hannibal. If S4 is out I haven't seen it yet, no spoilers.

Better Call Saul. Possibly tied with My Beautiful Friend. Better than Breaking Bad. Much better ending. So good, no complaints. Nailed the ending. Did I mention the ending?

A-Tier (Runners-up)

Black Sails: God, there were some parts of this that were so gratuitous and tedious, especially early on, and I hated Eleanor Guthrie and not in the kind of way that means good things for a show. Some of the dialogue was just really on the nose too. This sounds like a lot of complaints, but the things it did well, it did SO WELL that it really does make up for the negatives. The acting was sooooo good and the Flint and Silver dynamic was AMAZING and the show looked great, and over all that, it really had something thoughtful to say, and that stays with you when it's over.

Stranger Things: Some parts of this show hit better than others, but I'm squarely in the bullseye of the target audience and get the vast majority of the references and nostalgia, and I love David Harbour. I appreciate their exploration of various types of horror, attempting a new style each season, and I like the charm and humor and cheese, and it's a show that knows its voice and its tone and commits fully to those things. It's trying to be a fun show and it is, and it wants to deal with real fears and real grief, and it does.

The Handmaid's Tale: Speaking of shows that are committed to their tone, this one definitely is that. It's too heavy and relentless for most people, I think, but I don't mind that at all. Parts of it do drag, but it has a lot of the same qualities (for good or bad) as Black Sails: great acting, powerful character dynamics, the things that it does well it does so well it makes up for the shortcomings, imo.

Breaking Bad: Famous show, not much to say here. Rewatched it recently and don't think it's as good as Better Call Saul, so I put it here.

B-Tier (Can't complain but will anyway)

Good Omens: Can't get into it, can't find anything particularly wrong with it. I'm into the ship. I guffaw out loud while watching it yet am thoroughly bored most of the time. Love Michael Sheen and David Tennant on screen together. I know the show can't be that all the time but I wish it was. Aziraphale ftw. I feel like people missed the point of the ending of the last season.

Mad Men: Show could give Seinfeld a run for its money in terms of being about nothing, but definitely had its charm. Watched it with my mom so her nostalgia and appreciation for how historically authentic it felt went a long way. Good performances. God, it could be boring sometimes though.

Vikings: This one was a lot like Black Sails for me. They had a bit of a struggle for a season or two but once going, they really got going. Many great acting performances and characters. Loved Ecbert and Ivar especially. Didn't have Toby Stephens and Luke Arnold, so you know...can't quite make that tier. And didn't have as much to say, or didn't say it as well, and it doesn't stay with you.

C-Tier (Can complain and will, but were good enough to stick with)

LOST

The X-Files

His Dark Materials

Downton Abbey

BBC Sherlock

Game of Thrones (I think most people have misdiagnosed this show's problems, but it sure did have them)

D-Tier (Tried but could NOT, though many people will like these...they were just Not For Me)

Bridgerton

Dark

The Good Place

The Gilded Age

Outlander

The Crown

Outer Range (what even the fuck with this show)

I tried to think of more shows I've watched in this time, but this about sums it up. But here are a couple YouTube channels I really like:

Beau of the Fifth Column

Bistro Huddy

[missielynne]

It actually makes me sad that so many people hate having Patience on the show---she adds humor, sly commentary on Puritan culture AND creepiness! And her dancing in front of the TV was one of the hardest I've laughed at this show! You and I will be the only two who miss her :) That's IF she's gone for good, which she might not be, right?

Other random comments, all of which are just my opinion:

In real life Jay and Sam would obviously be the kindest, best people and Jay and I could happily nerd out together, but as TV characters I think they're just not that interesting as individuals or a couple. I want to love them more and I obviously don't dislike them, but they're just the least interesting and funny part of every scene for me. And do we really need yet another sitcom couple where the female is depicted as basically always right and the male ends up having to apologize at the end of nearly episode even when he did nothing wrong? And I say that even as a feminist. Like if anything Sam should be apologizing every few episodes for shamelessly taking Jay for granted and just assuming he'll always immediately give in to all of her demands with no questions asked.

2. Wow, so this season they're not even pretending that Isaac misses Nigel at all, and his only regret about dumping Nigel at the altar is that it's further evidence of Isaac not being a good person/ghost, not because he really cares about Nigel on any level. I saw you had another message about how the writers have an uphill climb convincing us at this point that Isaac ever truly loved Nigel at all, especially when Nigel was so depressed over losing Isaac and Isaac has been so indifferent, and add me to the list of people who just couldn't see myself ever buying them as a balanced, loving couple at this point. Unpopular opinion, but I hope Nisaac is over for good.

3. I miss Hetty/Trevor. Even their small interactions last night made me happy. They're like the opposite of how I feel about Jay/Sam because in real life I wouldn't like Hetty/Trevor individually or together, but as a couple I find them so entertaining and weirdly poignant. They're similar in ways that enable them to understand each other but also more than different enough to keep things interesting. And the fact that we have an age difference ship where the female is the older one makes them even more unique. Based on interviews I've read, I kind of doubt the show will make them a romantic/sexual thing again, but I'd love it if they did.

4. Okay but why was Sas not there last night?! Was he with The Others, secretly plotting or something? Sas is fascinating to me because he has genuinely sweet moments and is clearly a huge romantic sap underneath his 'ironic detachment guy' exterior, BUT he can also in his own way be way more of a manipulator, instigator and seemingly callous jerk than Isaac, Hetty and Trevor.

5. I have reasons relating to my personal background for being very anti-drugs so I'm sure I'm just biased, but Flower still bugs me and I wish they'd find a way to sober her up and explore other aspects of her because stuff like naming every blade of grass and constantly bragging about "getting high" her entire pre-Ghosts life is just so old for me.

6. I know a lot of the above sound like complaints but I am actually loving this season so far, much more than season 3!

7. You don't have to respond to any of these but I so appreciate you letting us vent to you!

Oh, I am SO answering just because thoughts! ;)

Agree about Jay and Sam. Although they're worked into the show better than the BBC Ghosts couple, IMO, they still have what I see as a typical problem that plagues humans in ghost shows, especially if they are meant to be front and center like Sam and Jay are: they really aren't AS interesting. In a show called Ghosts, we want to know more about the ghosts, so I totally get where you're coming from with that, and I hope that the rumors of marital strife between Sam and Jay this season are because he's finally speaking up to her.

2. I wouldn't mind if Nisaac was over for good because like I've said and you say, the narrative that we're being shown is more about like, idealism and all that rather than something that is a loving and mutually beneficial relationship for both! And that's what I want to see. I mean, if I'm rooting for Chris the Dino stripper to die right before Isaac and Nigel's wedding because they made him perfect for Isaac at least on paper...yeah, that doesn't say a lot about them in the long run.

3. What I like about Hetty and Trevor is that I think they're a good fit for each other but like...friends with benefits was okay, you know? Not only are they incredibly entertaining as two individual characters together interacting but their partner in crime vibes were like way off the charts, and I loved them so much for that. I loved that they tried the formal couple thing and saw that it didn't work out, but kept what did. I hope we get SOMETHING with them as the show goes on, even if it's not a permanent coupling.

4. I love Sas. Honestly, he's probably my favorite male character and like I said in my initial thoughts about the episode last night, I would have loved for him to be there and tag team with Isaac to manipulate Patience back into the dirt. That would have been so fun and I hope they come up with another situation where that happens. I love that he can be the sensible one too, like he was with Hetty and her ankle picture and bringing her back to earth about that. He just entertains me so much. Hopefully he'll be back next episode.

5. Well, I mean I don't think Flower's ever gonna change because she was that way when she died and the things say you can't change from that, but I do think a bit more subtlety wouldn't have hurt because she kind of almost seems like a caricature sometimes rather than a person. Like Trevor was probably some degree of wacky cause of what he took before he died but we don't see that in him. I guess they went that hard with Flower because, you know, people think "Hippie," they think a certain thing and the writers didn't want people to be let down. But honestly, she's the one I could let go of the easiest. When we thought she was sucked off I was like "Okay great...moving on!" So I get you.

6. Don't worry. I love Ghosts to pieces and I have my nitpicks too. We critique because we love. And I agree that season four is off to very solid start and I can't wait to see where it goes.

[ohmeadows]

with the experience you have now, what is something you usually do when you feel the creative block so bad that it makes you want to drop all your writing during an indeterminate period of time? (Not considering talking to someone because i don't have friends with the same interests as me)

Lately i have been writing consistently but now i am in a point between the overwhelming need to keep creating and the suffocating need to just stop. the last time this happened not a single word was written in over a year xd

oh and im so in love with your writing btw <3

thank you and i'm sorry to hear you're struggling with a creative block, i know the feeling all too well. (there's a span of years between 2013 and 2016 where i didn't write at all.)

while a little break does do good, i know the threshold to getting back to it becomes so high it feels insurmountable. but it sounds like you need to replenish the well, as i like to call it. think of your writing as a well you draw from, and it needs a steady supply of water to be able to sustain you dipping into it for the power and inspiration to keep going. feeding it involves engaging in texts in a different way. for me, that's reading, and a lot. i sometimes feel so parched i have to steamroll thru ten books before i feel like i have it balanced again.

i've made some posts beforehand on how to approach reading as a writer (wish i'd tagged them better), but it boils down to:

make lists of beautiful words and sentences that you like; could you emulate them? could you write them in your style?

how do the writers pull off the tricks you struggle with? for me this is knowing when to just move the scene along, or how to showcase that time has passed. (i did a whole study on this from my fave books and it boiled down to just writing "A day later/Weeks down the line/Three months passed before she/It didn't take more than forty-five minutes to get across town but it felt like moving backwards through time" which was fun to learn)

just reading for fun. cannot be understated. sometimes you just need to be pulled into a story and feel too dazzled to stop and think to be reminded of how delicious writing feels

and yes, this goes for mangas, comics, scripts, movies, tv shows, even game writing imo (visual novels are great fun for how they do dialogue and emotional appeal).

another thing to not lose touch with the writing as a practice but maybe take a little breather from the project is to start a journal. i like this one a lot personally, there's the concept of morning pages where you get up in the morning and write three pages without stopping or overthinking.

this leads into automatic writing, which is about setting a timer (25 mins is a good one i feel, but even 15-10-5 does wonders) and while it ticks, you have to keep writing. yes, even if all you write is the same word over and over, or your thoughts as they come to you. this is a key component exercise at all writing schools i've ever gone to. personally i like to "guide it" so to speak with a prompt, be it a word (Lust, Rose, Name, Echo) or a full sentence ("She didn't like where this was going.") or an image. what this exercise teaches you is to shorten the distance between hand putting the words down and your thoughts as they process and come to you, as well as embracing writing messy and ugly and shitty because you can always come back and fix a half-assed page, but you can't do anything with a blank one.

third and final thing: movement. go outside. look around. if you can, get moving, take in the surroundings. there's no expectation on you to write anything from this, just let the movement and your thoughts be it. whenever i hit creative rut, i go for a walk. the first half hour my brain is quiet and annoyed. then things start moving in there as well. i'll walk all the way down to the sea and look at the waves and back home and process an idea from it. (i do keep the notes app on my phone readily available for this, but a notebook or receipt or post-it notes also work fine.)

like all art, writing is a practice and the actual act of writing is maybe 20-30% of what it is. nourish the well and it will nourish you back.

+ for what it's worth, i also often try to edge in rest days where i don't write. at least two a week. be gentle and forgiving on yourself.

[olderthannetfic]

Hi feederism/ed anon here, i'm just curious about what ethics are considered here, i'm not sure why 'its not a concern bcz things are worse and insignificant' is being said when my claim isn't the opposite or to rally against it but i get covering bases. I think binge eating and food addiction is disordered eating. Anyways with anorexia someone entering the fetish world will enable their ed and same with feederism, imo. Ofcourse everything can be ideally done in a safe way and we need to afford more agency to the people and provide frameworks. Perhaps also you don't see a lot of these my 600lb like shows, obvs very minor cases but i would assume anyone would regret destroying their health due to getting into it eventually and my issue is where does the responsibility for the feeder come in.

--

I don't think you see just how much baggage that ask was laden with.

Literally why do you care?

And I don't mean "Why do you care that people harm themselves?" I mean "Why do you care when it's about food and not the rest of the time?"

Tons of kink practices can be dangerous if done the wrong way or done to extreme. All kinksters have a responsibility to think about their actions and make conscious choices.

People with emotional problems of all kinds can get worse in kink spaces. Or better. It depends on the person and is not my business or responsibility as a rando who doesn't even know them.

The feeder is not more responsible than the feed-ee or whatever they're called. If it's a consensual BDSM thing, they both chose it, and they both accepted the dangers.

Why are you treating this as a victim and someone in charge?

Also, frankly, we don't know if a given person gaining a bunch of weight through kink practices is actually all that unhealthy. We know that high weights are associated with bad health outcomes, but they're often a product of an underlying health condition. Sometimes, they're a sign of a sedentary lifestyle, which we know to be massively unhealthy.

Do I think it's probably unhealthy? Sure, but I drink alcohol, and I drink far more tea than the recommended daily level of caffeine. Lots of people do unhealthy things that are part of their culture or that they personally enjoy.

This idea that fatness is uniquely and dramatically unhealthy is very silly.

The kink being rare doesn't make it more or less healthy. That wasn't the point. The point is that because it is rare, you focusing on this is suspicious in the extreme. Why this and not something else?

I don't watch a lot of reality TV, but do most of those My 600 LB Life stars actually get fat through kink?! And if they don't, then why are you making this connection?

On another note, do you actually understand anything about how bodies work? If I entered into some sort of feeder relationship, I'd have to also be bedridden to gain that kind of weight. Genetically, my body just doesn't want to be all that heavy. I fidget it off. Not down to a super skinny size, but down to about my current size. I could gain 50 Lbs, no problem. I could not gain 200 Lbs without a decade and major mobility changes prior to the weight. Even if people are doing this kink IRL, how much are they actually packing on? I don't know, and it seems like you don't either. How can we talk realistically about the dangers if we don't even know what the RL kink community looks like?

If your issue is "I want to be a feeder, but I think I'd be harming my partner", then say so.

Otherwise, this sounds like someone who has watched too much sensationalist media about how fatness is the devil.