#( SO )

[may12324]

Legends and Lattes ☕

I really enjoyed rereading this series recently with my gf. It's so cute and wholesome, and really good coffee propaganda actually. Also! The audiobook is so fun! I love that the author got to do all the voices 🥰

[captainclickycat]

Whoops turns out I have Further Thoughts on this.

So, here's the thing. We could argue a lot about whether or not characters in horror films make stupid decisions and how it depends on the individual film and what have you all day long. And I'm sure we could come up with a few examples on either side of the argument.

But I think there's a broader point here which is that when people say "what if there was a horror movie that featured a convenient and straightforward way for the characters to get out of trouble without making any sacrifices along the way, so they did that and were fine, the end", and especially when they present this as some kind of refreshing new take on the genre...

Well, aside from the fact that this would make for a very boring and disappointing story for anyone who actually wanted to watch a horror film, it has the same energy as those people who are presented with moral dilemmas as a thought exercise and get fixated on "what if there was a way to stop the trolley and save all six people" "what if you could replace the Omelas kid with a robot" and so on. It's a copout, and it really does come off more like they're balking at the idea that suffering is sometimes unavoidable, that sometimes there are no easy answers and any decision you make comes at a cost.

It reminds me of this other post that was going round a decade or so ago, where the title was something like "horror movies for our generation" and the gist of the whole thing was essentially "if millennials were in a horror movie scenario we'd be able to fix everything and save ourselves straight away because we're so smart and progressive and have the best resources!" (Which to add a bit of extra context was clearly pushing back against a lot of the "millennials are stupid children who don't know how to do anything" think piece discourse that was floating around at the time) and a lot of people in the notes (possibly even including me, at the time) going "omg I need this!! I'd watch the shit out of this!!" which, when you think about it, is really weird when you acknowledge that the scenarios being described were essentially just "what if something that claimed to be a horror story actually just had no plot."

The idea of a horror story where the characters make sensible, realistic, understandable decisions is potentially a great premise (and again, there are plenty of existing horror stories that already meet that criteria.) Crucially, though, that can't be enough to get them out of trouble, at least not instantaneously.

If you could avoid getting lost in the scary woods just by using your trusty functioning gps tracker, there would be no story. So in an actual horror story, the gps wouldn't work, or it would be hijacked by some sinister entity and end up landing the characters right back where they started, or lead them further into danger. The characters happen to have the exact right combination of personalities and skillsets to instantly defeat the monster and go home? Well, first of all that's just dumb luck, and second of all that can't work right away either. There would be a different monster that they can't defeat so easily, or they simply don't have enough information or opportunity for most of the story to be able to actually use their collective skills against it. You managed to evade the killer and get out of the creepy log cabin unharmed? Congratulations. Your best friend is still in there, though, and they might be injured. Are you comfortable leaving them behind and hoping they can fend for themself while you get away? What if it's your child? Sometimes the "stupid" decision is the one you wouldn't be able to live with yourself if you didn't make.

I'm going to give the "cozy romance" person props because at least they're honest about the fact that they don't actually want a horror story, and at least the story they're proposing would actually have a plot, just not a horror one. I can see where their thought process was going; there is something cool about the idea of a secret secondary plot going on in the background that the protagonist managed to narrowly avoid, that we can put the pieces together about if we pay close enough attention. (It's not the best example, there are undoubtedly better ones, but it reminds me a bit of Shaun of the Dead where we get these hints that there's a doppelgänger squad running around in the background, and it seems like just a one-off joke until one of them shows up at the end with the military in tow.)

But the thing about that example and a lot of the other ones is that there's eventually a payoff. Ultimately it does affect the protagonists in some way, even if it's sometimes a subtle way. And there's something sort of weird, and just a little jarring, about the idea of reading a story where you're sort of vaguely aware that horrible things are happening to some poor bastard in the background, and your only takeaway from that is supposed to be "oh well, sucks to be them. Let's continue to enjoy watching these Sensible people kiss! Yay!" Apart from maybe being a cool sort of easter egg, what exactly is the point of this subplot, besides imparting the profoundly unsatisfying message of "you can easily avoid danger and have a wonderful life if you're just smart and sensible enough!" when that's so often and so tragically untrue in real life.

And that's why I feel like this would be a much better premise if the horror eventually caught up with the protagonist. Because sorry folks, but escaping the genre unscathed is too easy and too unsatisfying. It has to at least be a challenge, or there's no story worth reading.

You can't just replace the Omelas kid with a robot.

people are so mean about horror movie victims like. sorry but if i had gone to a cabin in the woods with my friends as a teenager you couldn't have stopped us from reading aloud from the evil tome. how were they supposed to know the ancient curse was real they're like 17

[thelostpretzel]

[thecosmopossum]

Lamb through the centuries!

I've finally decided to upload how the Lamb's wardrobe changes. I tried to make their wardrobe more layered and/ or extravagant as time goes on. After all, pride is something that only continues to grow as they save the Bishops from purgatory as the only living god.

Closeups are under the cut.

[procrastinatingwritersblog]

light angst… you know what fair enough

spin this wheel of fanfic tags. this will be the theme of your day tomorrow.

[endless--rain]

Oh I'm absolutely about to write a fic about macdennis violently blackout drunk fucking over this superbowl game

[yourlocalwh0ree]

Panties of the day 💕

[sproutmoie2]

He has 500 disorders and isn't allowed in public spaces

[petite-guignol]

i used to work at a game store where i had to lock up when closing. one night i became completely convinced that i'd forgotten to lock the door. i worried about it so much that i walked all the way there (about a 25min walk) at 2am in sub-freezing temperatures to check it.

needless to say the door was locked. in the 3 years i worked there, i never once actually forgot to lock the door.

i dont know where i picked up this tip but it helped a lot: if you have something routine that you are constantly unsure if you did (like locking the door), do something unusual every time you do it, like clapping or snapping your fingers or something. it helps the routine bit stick out in your mind.

OCD symptom i struggle with but don't see talked about a lot: inability to trust your own memory and/or perception.

as an example: i put my headphones in my bag. i say im sure they're in my bag, but what if i imagined putting them in my bag? i have to check, so i stick my hand inside and grab them. but then i have to check *again* because what if i just so happened to have another object shaped and sized exactly like my headphones that i just forgot about? so i have to pull them out of my bag and look directly at them to fully confirm they were in my bag

this is a fairly benign example but this also happens with other worse scenarios for me and it's. not fun

[yellow-dejavu]

JUMPSCARE BLONDESCARE BLUESCARE

sometimes all you need to make a good show is a pretty french blonde with scary blue eyes.

[penguin-stars]

//Spoilers for P1

The side character that I'm the most unreasonably attached to is definitely Choi Jung Gun

I had my eye on the author of Birth of a Hero ever since Cale noted how many words he used to describe the Whale King's beauty in detail

I see you whale dilf enjoyer, I see you

And the silly names of the abilities of Dragon Slayers, which the title itself is also in English in the original Korean text

"Dragon Slayer", not because it meant that there was any actual dragon slaying involved, nononono. It was because he and Sheritt thought it sounded cool I can't. I bet this guy was super-sentai posing after he won a battle, I can see it.

His relationship with Sheritt gives me "Finally a worthy opponent! Our battle will be legendary!" vibes

He was so much fun during the sloth test (stupidly long hair? hello? that's my favorite)

And beating GoD with a broom? He is so iconic, I fear

Anyway, all of this just to say that Chuunibyou Choi has a special place in my heart

[americanipatranscriber]

təg aːn hɪz goɹdʒɪt foɹ ə kɪsi kɪs do̞ʊ̯ʔ juː əndɚstænd

tug on his gorget

[babybooa]

Available for fun tonight...

[kurgy]

miku expo 2024 is the dashcon of vocaloid concerts. the projectors were replaced with LEDs and organizers told no one, still charged ppl for the projectors. someone stole the Miku canada cut out. vocaloid producers are really mad that attendees are mad that they got scammed because nothing comes before Product. the event banned glowsticks and upcharged the sale of their own, under the excuse that average glowsticks would interfere with the projectors, that the organizers knew they did not have. someone pissed on the floor. car crash outside the venue in san jose

[mariflexion]

Trucy and her aunties on a Europe shopping trip (they got lost)