#( i have made the executive decision to make this super short!

[physalian]

A Guide to Productive Filler

I was going to write this post about the wonders of fanfic and how it does not do the “forced miscommunication for cheap drama” trope, and it did not stay that post for long.

I’m sure it’s out there, but it’s not saturated in the most popular fics and I think I know why: Fanfic exists in contrast to the established canon, and the canon has forced miscommunication, thus fanfic looks at the perpetual failure of those plotlines and ignores it.

Nobody likes this trope, yet it keeps happening. In TV, at least in the old days when we had full seasons with appropriate and satisfying filler episodes and actual good stories and such (you know, before Disney +) TV shows were contracted to fill a minimum number of episodes and didn’t always have enough content to fill it, especially CW shows.

Enter filler episodes, which, when productive, still entertained the audience with off-beat side quests or gave more screen time to beloved side characters or explored more of the world and the lore. Filler plots meant that you could casually check in on your favorite show once a week, or miss an episode, and not feel completely lost because the plot wasn’t super tight and lean. Some of my favorite episodes of all my favorite TV shows are filler plots and just because they’re “filler,” as in, not a plot-heavy element to advance the narrative, doesn’t mean they were lacking in story.

That was good writing.

Bad filler elements were sh*t like forced miscommunication for cheap drama and it still exists even in the “mini series” that are really just long movies extended to keep people from canceling their subscriptions. TV shows may have one or two head writers, but they’re still written by committee and producers and production companies trying to milk as much from a profitable product as possible, which means they couldn’t write an efficient, epic romance that ended too quickly. They had to faff about for a few seasons before delivering to keep butts on couches tuning in to generate sweet, sweet ad revenue.

Forced miscommunication in TV shows have always made sense in that light. Yeah it’s a product of bad writing, but I can’t point at the head writer or even the staff writer alone and criticize their writing ability because it likely wasn’t their decision.

Forced miscommunication in books, however—that I have no excuse for. Books aren’t written by committee. In this case, I really can just blame the author for their bad choices, which, in turn, maybe came from their favorite TV shows and how they executed similar plot lines.

Fanfic does not do this, usually. It’s not written by committee and has no quota to fulfill to beef up the narrative with extra chapters.

—

So. You want your story to be longer, fanfic or otherwise, but you’re struggling because your plot is too thin and you don’t know where to go from here.

First, a disclaimer: Novellas exist and can be as short as they need to be.

“If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter,” means that  just because it’s long doesn’t mean every word serves a purpose. With enough time, the writer can trim down their thoughts for conciseness and clarity, and say the same thing with better impact with less beating around the bush.

So just because it’s short doesn’t make it bad, just because it’s long doesn’t make it good. It’s about what you do with the words you’ve written.

However, if it really is a thin story lacking substance and oomph, here’s some suggestions that are not sh*t like “forced miscommunication”. These are not meant for generalized application and should be considered heavily before implementing, because any one of them can change your book for the worse by adding in unnecessary detail that distracts from the main story.

1. Consider multiple narrators

Now. I just read a rather bad book that could have lost about ⅔ of its story for a variety of reasons and told the same story in a fraction of the page count. One of those issues was giving the villain several POVs that ruined the suspense and the tension because the reader became privy to their grand plan long before the protagonist and instead of having all our questions dying to be answered with the protagonist, we were waiting around for them to stop fooling around and figure it out already.

With that said, if you have a character of second importance to the protagonist whose perspective would benefit and enrich the story, consider giving them POVs to explore either when the protagonist couldn’t be present, or in contrast to the main narrator’s thoughts on the story and conflict.

I’ve never written anything without multiple POVs and still get carried away sometimes just trying to fill in all the missing time that didn’t add enough to the story to make it worth it. I have deleted POVs from ENNS that were better left up to audience interpretation then all laid out on the table.

This technique very much necessitates restraint, but giving your foil character, your deuteragonist, even your villain some narration “screen time” might help you beef up your word count and tell more than just one biased side of the same story. Fanfic tends to be very efficient with this because, again, one writer working for free tends to want to be efficient and not give pages upon pages of useless prose.

2. Side-quests and character studies

My all time favorite filler episode of any TV show is LOST’s “The Constant”. It focuses entirely on the side character Desmond. He’s an unwilling time-traveler and throughout season 4, struggles to control his temporal displacement and risks dying if he can’t find a “constant” to anchor him to the correct timeline.

This episode is often praised as one of, if not the show’s finest hour. Desmond spends most of the runtime flipping erratically between the past and the present as his romantic relationship spirals for other plot reasons. He ends up making his “constant” his fraught relationship and is able to revert to the past with knowledge of the future to get his then-ex girlfriend’s new phone number so he can call her at an exact date in the future to prove he won’t have given up on them. When Des finally makes that call 8 years later, it’s so emotional, so full of catharsis, so exciting to see him finally reach her after struggling since we met him.

And it has absolutely nothing to do with the plot at large, only Desmond’s arc. It explores some of the world’s lore but doesn’t answer any of the main plot questions or progress any other major character, and Des is the only time traveler so all the risk surrounding time travel is only for him. Critically, it still adheres to the themes of the show and fulfills much of the promises of this character’s role in it.

The show’s worst episode, “Stranger in a Strange Land,” is also filler about protagonist Jack’s tattoos. He makes a relationship with a woman nobody cares about and spends the entirety of the episode’s flashbacks, which is most of the episode’s runtime, dicking around in Thailand. With this quasi-wise woman’s tattoo techniques. Nobody cares what they mean, they didn’t connect with the themes of the show, didn’t tell us anything substantial about Jack or the world, lore, or story, and just felt like a massive waste of time.

If you’re going to write side quests, be more like “The Constant” and less like “Stranger in a Strange Land”. 

3. “Slice of Life” moments

A repeat of referencing this scene and this movie but I don’t care: “Doc Racing” from Cars is just one example. Adding in scenes like these won’t give you tens of thousands of words, but maybe you only need a couple hundred to feel satisfied.

Slice of life moments slow the pacing down, so place them wisely, and just let your characters be people in their world. Small things, human things. In Cars, it’s an old man letting himself enjoy life again when he thinks nobody’s watching. I have a scene in my sci-fi WIP series where two brothers, plagued by their family’s social status, take a drive and pick up greasy drive-thru food to park on a mountain overlook and just watch the city while licking salt off their fingers. I think Across the Spiderverse is about 20 minutes too long, but that scene of Miles and Gwen upside down on the roof before the plot ramps up is another quiet, human moment.

It could be a character who needs a break from the breakneck speed of the plot and the stress to listen to music, walk away from the project and enjoy the sun, anything. Do try to not get overly pretentious trying to make it super metaphorical and poetic, let the audience do it for you. These quiet scenes could end up being the audience’s favorite.

—

If you’re trying to make your book longer, don’t be like Bilbo Baggins, okay? Don’t let your characters be spread thin, like butter scraped over too much bread. Add, don’t stretch. If the romance is on track to come together sooner, let it, or figure out a more meaningful way to delay it than throwing in a dumb argument that won’t mean anything in 20 pages anyway.

This wasn’t an exhaustive list, just what I think could be the most effective with the widest applications across genres.

[zhakyria]

I had the chance to commission Kahl'ryn from @psychededoodle. I have no words for how much I love this. Everything, all the details, the expression, the scar, the cybernetics, everything is so well done!!

And with this amazing portrait - I'm gonna talk a bit about Kahl and what he is up to in my Arclight AU. So... some rambling thoughts under the cut. :)

For reference: The Arclight AU is a melting pot of various sci-fi franchises. Star Wars, Farscape, WildStar, Star Trek, to just name a few. However, the core of it is Star Wars. A lot of the universe rules are Star Wars rules - such as how space travel works and the Force.

The major players from Star Wars include: the Galactic Empire, the Mandalorians, the Sith Empire, the Chiss Ascendancy, the High Republic, and the Grysk Hegemony.

Much like swtor!Kahl, arclight!Kahl was born in the Sith Empire. His father is the (now former) Sith Lord Xhai'tan. He was trapped in a burning building when he was a child, which is how he got the burn scars. He joined the Imperial Academy and joined Imperial Intelligence upon graduating. Some of his first missions included hunting down terrorists and stopping Darth Jadus. For his double agent arc however, he didn't infiltrate the SIS.

In Arclight the Sith Empire is mostly at odds with the Dominion from WildStar. So, Kahl is tasked with infiltrating the Dominion and carrying out his mission there. The Star Cabal is still a threat and Kahl eventually dismantles it.

Now things really start to diverge. You see, most everything from Shadow of Revan onward doesn't happen. So how does my boy meet Theron?

I made the executive decision that since the Republic isn't the same Republic as in swtor and isn't the power in direct conflict with the Sith Empire, that Theron would instead be from the Dominion. ((I know, I know, not the best allegory if you know anything about the Dominion - like they live up to their name. Does make it way easier for Theron to defect though.))

Then I needed the catalyzing event. Enter the Dread Masters. They were imprisoned by the Dominion, but they escape but with Emperor Vitiate dead (did I mention that? no? So, yeah Emperor Vitiate does die, and after a short war between the Sith, Acina comes out on top and takes the Throne - this is also the time of Malgus's first betrayal,) they go rogue.

Kahl is called in to help with the situation by Lana and she eventually wrangles the help of Theron in tracking and defeating the Dread Masters. Much like in Shadow of Revan, Kahl and Theron grow close.

Then the tradegy of Grismara happens. For those unfamiliar with WildStar. Grismara was home to the Mordesh. A elf-like species who were masters of science, alchemy, and art. They were arrogant and proud, sure of their own superiority. That was until the Everlife Elixir, developed by their most lauded scientist became their curse. The Everlife was meant to give immortality, and they trusted Dr. Lazarin so much that it was distributed worldwide. Then the Everlife became the Contagion. Everyone (and the lore implies everyone) slowly turned into super aggressive mindless cannibals (basically zombies).

Grismara was a neutral world on the edge of Sith and Dominion borders. Both sides were trying to ally with them, but when the Contagion broke out - the Sith turned their back on the world and the Dominion set up a blockade and quarantined it.

Kahl and Theron disobeyed orders to try and help the Mordesh. During that terrible year long attempt at saving the Mordesh, Dr. Lazarin made a small break through. He created the Vitalis Serum, which delayed the effects of the Contagion, but also required frequent injections. The remaining Mordesh were trapped in a half-life. They no longer age (they got their immortality) but they also are unable to have children unless a cure can be found.

Kahl and Theron organized for the last of the Mordesh, to escape. Taking them to the Odessen Coalition. A small and new coalition of planets that came together with the help of Xhai'tan (Kahl's father) and Thrass (who is alive and rescued by Xhai'tan - That is another books of thoughts so if you are curious about how Thrass fits in here feel free to ask.)

With the fall of Grismara, Kahl and Theron defect and join the Coalition. Kahl eventually commanding a heavy cruiser as part of the Maarasu Nighthunters - the Odessen Defense Force division in charge of covert operations and missions that take place beyond the borders of the Coalition. It is Kahl who finds Thrawn and Ezra where they have been stranded for 7 years (again another book of thoughts that I can talk about later). Kahl then goes on to support Thrawn, Thrass, Eli, and the others Chiss fighting to save the Ascendancy.

I'll stop there but....yeah so lots of thoughts.....enjoy!

[jamisonwritestf2trash]

not to flood your inbox but... what if the mercs found a freaking cat on the battlefield or base.... i saw that video of soldiers playing with a lil kitten... i gotta know what the boys (and also miss pauling) would do.... would it be an immediate ceasefire so all 16 grown men can play with a kitten... would they use a merc's room to house it.... its ligerallyy a kittycat omg ....

What Would The TF2 Mercs (+ Miss Pauling) Do If They Saw A Kitten Mid-Fight?

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Long title but cute idea!

Also never apologize for spamming my ask box, I love it, it helps distract me from the fact that I have no original ideas!

This is going to be a mix of on the battlefield and if they decide to keep the kitten!

Also rough because I only have a short blurb for the Blu team (sorry 😭)

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Red Team (+ Miss Pauling)

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Demo is the first one to see the kitten. I already headcanon that he has a cat he manages to hide from the other mercs, so he's ecstatic. Like eyes filled with joy, hopping up and down, and seeing kind of ecstatic. Immediately finds a way to get the others to stop fighting, if anyone dared to try and continue the fight he'd kill them immediately. Pets and comforts the poor cat because it's all scared :(

Engie is also very excited! He loves kittens, he would protect them with his life. He lays around and plays with the kitten once it's calmed down. Is already sketching out a cat tower and new room for the baby. Has made the executive decision that the Red team now has a team pet.

Heavy is right next to Engie, holding the kitten when Engie goes off to start sketching. Puts the cat on his lap and immediately almost starts sobbing when it curls up and starts trying to nap.

Medic comes over and I'm not going to lie this man is internally melting, it's adorable! But he's also slightly (insanely) worried because his birds always come first, and is always worried when anything threatens their safety. The other mercs eventually calm him down, swearing on their lives that his birds will be okay. He holds them to that, and eventually let's the other mercs keep it.

Scout is also a mix of super excited and sobbing "It's a fricken kitten! Look at it!" Definitely giving the kitten like a million kisses. Is acting so silly, and doesn't care. Booping it's little nose, slow blinking at it, showering it with love.

Sniper is indifferent at first until Scout steals his hat, turns it upside down, and drops the kitten in it. Then he has fucking heart eyes, a single tear running down his face from under his glasses. Turns away and just says fine to the idea of keeping it.

Spy is so against keeping the cat. It's going to be messy, it's going to be loud, and it's going to be expensive. No one else is going to take care of it. Classic dad does want a cat act. Guess who falls in love with the cat after one day?

Soldier is the most excited, hands down. Is so happy about the cat, it's so cute, it's so fluffy, it's just a baby! He's playing with the cat, giving it love, doing the most out of all of them. If the cat can't be found, you know he's with Soldier.

Pyro. Come on, of course, they're thrilled! Will let the cat crawl all around them, and also let it sleep on their gas mask. Just ugh, they're so cute together. Buys the cat little outfits and buys rainbow cat toys, dumps so much love, treats, and toys on this cat.

Ms. Pauling nearly tears down the door of the base after the match to come and see the cat. She is such a cat lady. She makes sure the cat is okay and even takes the cat to the vet to get all of it's vaccines and a microchip, ignoring Medic saying theirs no need, and claiming he can do it. Definitely began to visit the base more and more often, claiming she's only making sure they don't kill the poor thing.

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Blu Team

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I'll be honest, I don't think the Blu team would do well with having a cat. I headcanon these silly guys as dog people, they would probably be willing to give the cat over to the Red team for the benefit of the cat. They'd call off the match to keep it safe. All the mercs would sit and play, love, or cuddle with the cats with the Red mercs. Honestly, they enjoy the small break from fighting and just enjoy the time with a cat. Occasionally during a battle, they'll ask about the cat inbetween gunfire.

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I was going to work on this yesterday and then I slept instead 😭

I was up until like one writing the anime one but it was worth it to get it out, this one took me a hot minute too, but I kind of love how it turned out, I love cats and love the idea of the Red team being big babies for a kitten. Also! I love adding Ms. Pauling to things, she's such a silly too.

[auberylis]

MyArtGallery 20240526 Major Update

Rejoice, MyAG users, as i have done something i thought was impossible: made the darn thing Actually Work! It took me a bit, but the entire structure was rewritten to be much safer, easier to maintain, and such and such. The idea remains the same, and the database format didn't change, but the execution is about 98% less sloppy now. You can get it here for free; deployment to Neocities takes 10 minutes at most, after which you get yourself an easily managed online gallery - deviantart style, but all yours.

For starters, here's the updated look of the editor - it has tabs now, which is much more convenient. Moreover, the artworks tab allows filtering by group to quickly access & edit your stuff! The item moving procedure became much less flashy and more robust, too.

The entire editing process has been streamlined, and now it's even less clunky than before. What also became streamlined is the page layout: the editor and the default pages now use semantic HTML and same standard CSS sheets that my other projects (and the upcoming neomanager) use. They're readable, lightweight, easily cuszomised.

Better yet, the way MyAG renders your gallery has been improved drastically. I noticed that people were struggling to style the default MyAG page, but MyAG wasn't working with anything but its default page. Now, rolling your own pages that use MyAG as a component is super easy - by just importing necessary scripts and styles, and adding a specific class to some container like a <div> - MyAG will automatically find it and render to it.

The list of default properties available as "easy customisations" to style has been reduced to basic spacing, colours, and such - located in "myag_user/style.css" as before. I figured that instead of making a complicated defaults system for inexperienced users to keep being inexperienced, a short set of defaults and a more open-ended structure is better; new CSS can now be added directly and gradually to the user style CSS file, and will not be affected by updates.

JS settings system has also been changed, so that you no longer have to be manually merging your custom settings with the newly introduced ones on every update. Settings are declared by the main code, not exposed to you the user - but may be overridden in "myag_user/settings.js". As before, the only two mandatory settings are URLs to some Neocities file editor windows to make the update process faster; changing anything else is not required.

Finally, i updated the goddarn manual to read like an actual manual and represent reality. So now, deploying MyAG via the step-by-step guide Actually Works. I added a guide on how to integrate MyAG to existing pages, or make a page that uses it from scratch, omitting the default pageset. I hope it helps - but as always, feedback and questions are appreciated.

P.S. neomanager is on its steady way to a stable version! I had to make MyAG sane first before returning to assuring safety and reliability of neomanager - some crappy MyAG subsystems started influencing my design decisions in a bad way, and i had to get rid of them first. Soon(tm)!

[panther-os]

Nickels' Penny - Final Answers

Summary and avatars towards the bottom.

Okay, so the survey was still overwhelmingly Price-oriented to the point Penny was going to be a Price clone when she's supposed to be a PriceNik child, but rather than discard it completely and come up with everything on my own, I decided to choose one person's responses for each question.

To be fair to everyone, I randomized it by rolling a d10 (10 applicable questions, 10 responses, it worked out well). Any time I rolled a number I'd previously rolled, I rerolled until I got a new one. So there are some things on this that multiple people voted for, but nobody got their answer chosen more than once.

I did have to adjust the first question. Everybody got really excited about trans Price, which is super awesome and cool but then I was reading the British Army's regulations on pregnancy. Price would not be able to remain in command of the 141 and be pregnant, he would most likely have to retire or take leave of a year or longer - because you know he would be all-in being a dad just as he is being a captain. That's retirement or extended leave is not something I feel is in character for him, and it doesn't work with the other answers I got, so I'm making an executive decision as the author.

I am never doing a public survey for an OC again.

Question 1, Response 7: "How did they get Penny?" This person voted for trans Price being the one to carry Penny and for it to be an unplanned pregnancy. For the reason listed above, I'm changing it to Nikolai, but keeping it as a trans parent carrying an unplanned pregnancy. So trans Nikolai carried (unplanned).

Question 2, Response 8: "When did they get Penny?" This person voted for them to get Penny - so for her to be born - between Modern Warfare (2019) and Modern Warfare II (2022).

Question 3, Response 10: "How old was Penny during MWIII?" This person voted for between 4-6 years old, which works out really well for the answer above, HOWEVER I'm going to have Penny born just a year before MWII. The Kill or Capture mission where Ghost and Soap first met is supposed to have taken place on October 28, 2022, but also the Flashpoint mission where they're both already on the taskforce and working together on the same squad takes place "four years" before MWIII. So, essentially, the timeline is inconsistent and I do what I want. This makes Penny 1 during MWII and 5 during MWIII.

Question 4, Response 3: "What color are Penny's eyes?" This person voted for Penny to have hazel eyes. True hazel eyes are something called heterochromia centralis, which means there's rings of different color around the eye, usually brown on the outer edge, green in the middle, and blue nearer the pupil, or vice-versa. It's caused by melanin production in the iris starting and then stopping before the eyes turn fully brown. Don't quote me on that, it's been a while. But this means Penny has both her parent's eye colors.

Question 5, Response 2: "What color is Penny's hair?" This person voted for Penny to have copper hair, like a penny.

Question 6, Response 6: "What color is Penny's skin?" This person voted for Penny to have pale tan skin like Price's. Someone else also wrote in the comment box a suggestion for her to have vitiligo, and I am seriously considering it, on top of her having the pale tan skin (yes, white people can have vitiligo, it's just not as noticeable as on Black or Brown people, and doesn't carry the same complicated relationship with cultural identity) but I haven't made a decision yet.

Question 7, Response 5: "Is Penny short for something?" This person voted yes, author's choice. Someone else voted Spencer which made me go "ooooh" but ultimately didn't feel like it fit, I would have felt really bad if I had rolled their response. It did give me the good idea to look at names that are not traditionally shortened to Penny, though. I was thinking oh, Russian, Stepan, maybe, and I looked up Russian feminine form Stepan, which took from Stepan to Stepanov to Stepanovna to Anna Stepanovna Politkovskaya. She was a Russian investigative journalist who was assassinated for her work exposing human rights abuses in the Chechen War and corruption in the Russian government. She sounds like someone Nikolai would very much look up to. The actual feminine form of the Russian name Stepan is Stefaniya. So Penny is short for Anna Stefaniya.

Question 8, Response 4: "Is Penny's middle name an otchestvo, a Russian patronymic middle name?" This person voted yes, so Penny's middle name is Nikolayevna. As far as I understand, when being addressed formally, if people were doing it correctly, they would use her otchestvo instead of her surname. So like, if she was getting an award or something, it would be awarded to Anna Stefaniya Nikolayevna or Penny Nikolayevna. Her surname would be reserved pretty much just for legal documents and for being full-named by her family. (Which now gives me the awesome idea for Price full-naming Nikolai including his surname, but I already did that with AleRudy, and I hesitate to do it again so soon.)

Question 9, Response 9: "What is Penny's surname?" First off, rolling two answers that have the same number as their question has me tripping. Second, this person voted that Penny's surname is hyphenated, with Nikolai's surname coming before Price's.

Question 10, Response 1: "What is Nikolai's surname?" This person voted for author's choice of Russian surname. Another option on this survey was Belinski, like another Call of Duty character named Nikolai. I do like the -sky/-ski ending for Nikolai, I feel like that fits him, and then I decided to go with the initial p, because I always think it's funny and cute when couples have different last names but the same initial. I wound up choosing Pokrovsky, which because Russian surnames are gendered just like otchestvos, makes it so Penny's surname is Pokrovskaya-Price.

So, in summary: Penny's full name is Anna Stefaniya Nikolayevna Pokrovskaya-Price, but literally nobody calls her that unless she's in trouble. She was born a year before MWII but is 5 years old during MWIII because of timeline fuckery. She looks mostly like her Dad, as opposed to her Papa, with pale tan skin and red hair - although hers is copper while his is more auburn. She also has true hazel eyes that contain both her dads' eye colors. And even though she looks like her Dad, her Papa was the one to carry her. She wasn't planned, but her dads say she was the best surprise.

I have two avatars, here, they do both need image descriptions, if anyone is up for writing them, I'll add them to this post and reblog it from myself so followers see the new version. The first one is Penny around the same age she would be in MWIII without vitiligo, and the second one is Penny closer to a preteen with vitiligo. In both of them, the eyes are a light brown which is usually the closest you're going to get to true hazel.

Sometime in the next week, I'll type up and post a transcript of an rp I did with Nik and Price ai sort of to figure out more of Penny's personality. I've tentatively titled it The Penny Murder Saga and she is certainly a redhead, that's all I'll say for now. XD I'll include links to the AI as well, they're both really fun if that's your thing.

Thank you everyone for participating and make sure to follow me and/or the "nickels' penny" tag for more Penny content. I can't guarantee it will be often or with any regularity, but it will happen.

[faetaleplots]

Rumplestiltskin-ish

*Crossposted on AO3 under the same name

The fairy-tale fic Lighthouseraiders asked for that is due in 22 minutes

2k words

TW: swearing, dubious consent for mariage, mentions of death and execution

Alex was in deep shit.

Sitting in a room filled with straw, Alex was in over their head. Though pretty soon their head would probably be gone, so maybe that was a plus? Except then they’d be dead, which was less of a plus. They sort of liked being alive.

Unfortunately for this love of living, they were facing an impossible task and it was entirely their own fault. Though some of it was also Rex Roofers. Y’know what? Blaming Rex Roofer felt much more productive than what Alex was doing at the moment, so they decided to keep doing that. 

Really it was Rex Roofer’s fault for taking what Alex said as the truth. Everyone knew that very little of anything Alex said was truth of any kind. Everyone knew how much Alex loved to brag. On the other hand, everyone also knew just how much Rex Roofer loved his gold.

So instead of doing something fun, like burning down an orphanage, Alex was trapped in a room, faced with the command to turn straw into gold or be executed. 

Alex groaned. They were gonna lose their head. Their parents would be so disappointed in them.

“Bro… What is with all the straw?” Alex looked up at the deep voice to find a man sitting in front of him. Wait- no, the man was standing, he was just super short. Like Alex-was-sitting-on-the-ground-and-still-a -bit-taller-than-him short. Alex had no clue how the man got into the room, but they weren’t really about to question it. They were just glad to have someone to complain to again.

“Roofer is making me spin this straw into gold. If it isn’t all done by sunrise then he’ll kill me.”

The man sucked air in through his teeth. “That’s rough buddy. I’m guessing you’re just as much of a procrastinator as I am?” 

Alex gave him an incredulous look. “Are you serious? The sooner you get things done the less you need to care about them.”

The man tilted his head, looking confused. “So why isn’t there any gold in the room? The sun rises in…” The man trailed off. He held two fingers up to the sky with a calculating look on his face. “Three hours and twenty minutes.” He said it with a certainty that, especially added to the ridiculous shortness, convinced Alex that the man wasn’t human.

“I can’t, idiot! It’s not possible!”

The man squinted at him. “Huh.” He reached out to poke Alex, but Alex brushed his hand away. “You have some power, though.”

Alex shrugged. “Not that one.”

The man stared at them for a few minutes, long enough to make Alex start to feel slightly uncomfortable. They didn’t normally feel self conscious, but the way this stranger was looking at them made them feel like he had been expecting more from them. Which was stupid! Alex had a good power and a perfect stage persona. They were feared and adored and they basked in all the attention they got, good or bad. But somehow this one person had made them feel like somehow this wasn’t enough.

“I could do it.” The nonchalant way that the offer was thrown out there in no way matched the possibility it brought to Alex’s future. Mostly that they might once again have a future. “For a price, of course. It will be gold, after all, so it won’t be cheap.” Alex nodded eagerly. They didn’t have much, but they very much wanted to have a life, and they would do whatever it took to get that back. They man raised an eyebrow at them, most likely judging the lack of thought they seemed to have put into their decision, but Alex couldn’t possibly care less.

“Sure! What do you want?”

“Uh…” The man paused, giving Alex a moment to take stock of what they actually had, setting it out on the straw covered floor between the two of them like a miscellaneous goods seller at the market on Sundays. It turned out not to be very much. They had a smashed up cookie they had forgotten about, a necklace with their mother’s birthstone they’d been planning on giving her, a multi-tool-knife-thing their dad had given them at some point that they’d never used, a charred lint roller, a dog toy (Alex had no idea where that was even from), and a pocket hairbrush. They really hoped the mad didn’t take the hairbrush, they actually used it quite a lot.

The stranger watched their process as they emptied their pockets looking slightly concerned and more than a little confused. “I guess I’ll take the swiss army knife.” They said, a bit uncertain as they reached for it, warily watching the lint roller like it was cursed.

“Deal!” Alex reached out and grabbed the man’s other hand, shaking it like they were trying to pull his arm off. “Now can you get this done? I really hate being trapped in here.”

The man nodded, maybe agreeing, maybe just dizzy from the handshake. He looked around the room like he was searching for something. “Where’s your spinning wheel?” He asked. 

There was no spinning wheel in sight in the entire room, just piles and piles of straw. “Um… I think it got buried under the straw…” Alex looked around the room guiltily, refusing to make eye contact with the other person.

“Okay then.” The man said with a sigh. “Three hours ‘till sunrise. Let’s get to work.”

They needed to hustle, but in the end they were done five minutes before sunrise. Alex honestly had no idea how they did it.

They heard the echo of boots walking down from the far end of the stupidly long hallway that led to the room they were in. Alex felt the man gently nudge their arm from where he was perched on the window sill.

“If you ever need help with another ‘impossible’ task,” He smirked and handed them a business card with D-Tier written on it in cursive. Alex turned to him, intent on asking about it, but the man was already gone.

—-

“What the fuck dude- again?!”

“Sorry- It really wasn’t my fault though!”

“Y’know what? Whatever. Just- you know the drill.”

“That’s everything.” “...How do you have literally the exact same stuff in your pockets as last time?? Do you even wear different clothes?” “Um…” “Never mind, I’ve decided I don’t want to know. I’ll just take the necklace.”

“It’s bloodstone.”

“Of course it is…”

—-

So, maybe by the third time it happened it actually was Alex’s fault. To be fair, the strange man that showed up when they were stuck in the room was really interesting. He was witty and snarky and kinda cute and didn’t really seem to care what Alex thought of him. Which seemed really unfair to Alex, considering just how much they cared what the man thought of them.

“This is the third time, Alex. I really gotta up the price to keep you outta here, huh?”

“I have new stuff this time!” Truth be told, Alex had actually been looking forward to this. But instead the stranger shook his head. “What?”

“No, something else.” He gave Alex a calculating look, and Alex wondered if this time they were actually in trouble. They really didn’t know much about the man– not even his name! Maybe this was a bad idea. Not that they could really get out now, it was whatever D-Tier wanted or death-by-Roofer, which was really just a humiliating way to die.

“Marry me.” Alex blinked. And then they blinked again. He could not have just said that.

“What?”

D-Tier shrugged. “That’s my price. Agree to marry me and I’ll spin your straw into gold. Unless…” He looked like he was second guessing himself, his confident tone slipping a bit. “Unless you can guess my name.”

It wasn’t exactly that Alex didn’t want to marry him, but they could never resist a good guessing game. “Rumpelstiltskin?”

The short man’s eyes widened. “What the fuck sort of name is that? No!”

“Chad!” Alex was going to have so much fun with this.

D-Tier just pinched the bridge of his nose instead of answering. “God. Just find the wheel so I can start spinning.” He told Alex, who did as they were asked, still thinking of names to guess. Behind them they heard the man mutter something to himself that sounded like, “This is going to be a long night.”

—-

The wedding ceremony was small, just the captain of a ship (they could officiate weddings, so Alex had found one and kept her alive when they burned her ship) and Alex’s parents.

Everything was going smoothly. Except then Alex was supposed to say their fiance’s name. They grimaced.

“Can I get a hint?” The short man’s brow furrowed.

“Wait, you actually don’t know?”

Alex tilted their head to the side, confused. “How on Earth would I?”

D-Tier slammed his palm into his forehead with such force that Alex worried he might have given himself a concussion. “It was on the back of my fucking business card, you idiot! I thought you knew! I thought the guessing game was a joke!” He let out such a pained sigh that Alex worried their fiance did actually give himself head trauma. “Excuse us.” He said politely to the captain and Alex’s parents as he dragged them into a separate room.

“Are you okay?”

“Do you want to marry me?” 

Alex stared. “What the fuck sort of question is that? I’m marrying you, aren’t I?”

The shorter man shook his head. “I said, ‘Do you want to marry me?’ I thought you knew my name. I thought you knew you could get out of it any time you wanted.” He groaned and ran a hand through his hair. It was very nice hair. It looked very soft. Alex wanted to be the one to run their fingers through it. And what a stupid thought that was, being jealous of someone because they got to touch their own hair.

“Well then what is your name?” They asked, trying to get back on track. But that hair-

“Morgan.” The name was delivered with a defeated sigh. “I’m sorry about all of this. I… I had this stupid idea that I could get someone to marry me and then my parents wouldn’t be able to have control over me in things like medical emergencies or whatever, and you’re handsome and I enjoy being around you and you’re really an idiot a lot of the time but that’s okay and…” Morgan trailed off again. “I’m sorry.”

Alex grabbed his hand before he could disappear or walk away. “Morgan.” Alex decided it was a fun name to say and they set themself a private goal to say it as many times as they could without making it weird. ‘Back to Earth, Alex’ they reprimanded themself. Gently they tilted Morgan’s chin up so they could meet his eyes, never forcing him to move his head, just guiding. “Morgan. Will you marry me?”

It looked like Morgan’s face had been pulled off and all that was left was his confusion. “What?”

Alex smiled at the chance to repeat their fiance’s name. “Morgan, will you marry me?”

Slowly Morgan’s face turned hopeful. He bit his lip like there was something he was trying to stop himself from saying.

“Please?” Alex added. Morgan burst out in laughter.

“Yes.” He wheezed when he finally stopped laughing too hard to breathe. “Yes I will.”

“Oh, good, I was really hoping you would say that.” Alex smiled at him, humor in their eyes. “Does right now work for you?”

Morgan hummed thoughtfully, tapping his chin as he did. “I’d have to check my schedule, but maybe I can move some things around.”

“Wonderful, because my parents are in town and I know just the person to marry us.”

Morgan smirked and squeezed Alex’s hand, which was still holding onto his. “Well then what are we waiting for, straw to turn into gold? Let’s get married!”

[allforafro]

I decided to post my opinion on season 1-2 and my opinions on characters in order to best understand my future opinions (mainly because my thought process is a little weird sometimes)

I apologize in advance for my English but for some reason I was very tired of writing this text 😅

For @heroes-trash who is interested in my opinions

Actually, it was my second time watching heroes, but I didn't remember much of it, so it felt like I was watching it for the first time

Without further ado, let's get to the point

First of all, number of episodes was perfect, plot was well thought out and I didn't have the impression that the episode duration was misused. The pace of story was balanced, it kept you in suspense until you wanted to watch it over and over again, characters were nicely presented and interesting. humor was funny. In short, it was pleasant to watch

Knowing that the second season only has 11 episodes, while watching the series I couldn't help but feel that this season was too short. The pace was similar to the first season, which meant that all the storylines ended too quickly, often resulting in poor execution of their endings. But I can confidently say that I also liked season 2. The newly introduced characters were fine, and the old ones had interesting stories (well, maybe apart from Niki and DL, I didn't like their storyline and I had the impression that the scriptwriters had no idea for Niki). It would be nice to see the original idea for the 2nd season of Heroes, but I fully understand the circumstances that existed then and the decision that was made.

Now let's move on to saying what I think about characters

Peter Petrelli - I love Peter. His empathy, positive attitude but also sarcasm created an interesting character. How he grew into the role of a hero was well written, and Milo was sweet and sexy. I liked how Peter interacted with others and his relationships with those closest to him were always enjoyable to watch.

Claire Bennet - I like that Claire is not your typical blonde cheerleader, she is smart. She doesn't step out of line and tries to be an ordinary teenager despite her abilities. It didn't irritate me, I was afraid of it because it often happens to teenagers on TV, they are just irritating and that's all. I liked her friendship with zach and her romance with west in season 2 was ok

Mohinder Suresh - (I know it has nothing to do with my opinion about mo, but in the suggested words after suresh word montana appears 🤷)

Mohinder is quite an attractive, I mean nice person (until he's not). It's quite nice that one of the main characters has no abilities, he's a bit like us (who sometimes didn't want to wake up in a world where super powers exist). It was a bit unexpected for me that Mohinder shot Bennet, but I wouldn't say it was out of character

Nathan Petrelli - I have a very complicated relationship with Nathan, sometimes I like him and sometimes I want to punch him in the face. However, his love for Peter makes me unable to cross him out off completely. I really liked his storyline in season 2. However, despite all this development, I have a feeling that Nathan may make a decision that will make me really punch him in the face

Noah Bennet - my favorite character so far. I liked that his love for his daughter made him decide to stop looking away from the immoral activities of the company he worked for. To such an extent that in season 2 he decided to break it from the inside, even if his reason is selfish, it's good that he decided to destroy it

Matt Parkman - whenever Matt appeared in season 1 I felt sorry for him, man he really tries. When at the end of the 1st season it seemed that everything would be fine, in the 2nd season everything went wrong (well, not everything, his relationship with Molly is sweet, I like his friendship with Mohinder) I felt like I was watching some fanfiction adaptation of the type x years after the end of the series, everything it's bad

Hiro Nakamura - I love hiro, his and ando's adventures from season 1 were one of my favorite threads in the series. His relationship with Charlie was bittersweet 😭. The plot of season 2 was interesting, I liked that it was Hiro who influenced Takezo Kensei to become a great hero from the legend his father read to him

Ando Masahashi - I liked that despite his lack of power and initial skepticism, ando ended up being a good balance to hiro. He controlled Hiro and made sure that his desire to save the world did not end with Hiro's death. He encouraged him and motivated him. His crush on hiro sister is cute

Niki Sanders - it's an interesting idea that an abused girl gains a second, strong personality after her ability manifests (I hope I didn't offend anyone with the way I wrote this sentence) when it turned out that Jessica was the one who framed dl, I thought it was crazy but Interesting. The part about Niki wanting to get rid of her powers was the most interesting part of her plot in season 2, I didn't like the rest

DL Hawkins - at the beginning when it seemed that his story would be; he is black, turned out to be a criminal and is in prison - boring. Fortunately, this was not the case. DL gained even more in my eyes when he tried not only to complain but to be a good father and husband

Micah Sanders - I like that Micah was well written as a genius - I have to be strong to help my mom - I'm just a kid. Genius kids on TV are often annoying, but luckily Micah is not like that

Isaac Mendez - I really liked Isaac, it's a pity they had to kill him. His development from a junkie who paints the future to a hero was good

Simone Deveaux - the isaac - simone - peter triangle is one of the few triangles that didn't piss me off, it was so well written that I didn't know who I wanted Simone to end up with. And then they killed her why. Okay, her death was important in development of Isaac and Peter's characters, so I forgive them

Angela Petrelli - I don't know what to say but I like her. I liked that Angela started in the pilot as an inconspicuous woman and then it turned out that she was more important, and what's more, she still leads intrigues.

Molly Walker - she's sweet. I'm glad that she's trying to be strong despite adversities, too many bad things have happened to her, leave her alone, she's just a child. And Molly, Mohinder and Matt make a lovely family together

Sylar - I've always had a soft spot for people with power to steal/copy other people's abilities, so Sylar is high on my list of favorite. When I saw Gabriel Gray for the first time in the episode Six Months Before, I had deja vu, I was wondering who he reminded me of, until it suddenly dawned on me that he reminded me of Jeremiah Valeska from Gotham. They dress quite similarly, they both have glasses, hair combed to one side and wear a suit and a sweater (or whatever it is, sorry but I don't know anything about men's clothes), they are insecure and end up as villains (I hope I didn't ruin the viewing experience for anyone with this spoiler) This is another reason why I like sylar

Maya/Alejandro Herrera - of the two, I liked Alejandro more. Maya is nice and I actually like her too, but her naivety irritated me

Monica Dawson - nice and positive character. The duo monica and micha was great

Elle Bishop - I absolutely love her, my favorite female character. A crazy but tragic character. I can't wait to see what the next season will show

Adam Monroe - great idea that Takezo Kensei started as a drunk and a cheater, with Hiro's help he became a hero and ended up as a villain. I really liked him (crosses fingers hoping he'll show up again) his alliance with peter, or rather how he framed him, was great. He wanted to release a deadly virus so that humanity would be reborn again through extermination - crazy, but I appreciate the creativity

I guess that's everyone, let me know if I missed anyone and you would like to know my opinion about this character

Ps: it's a pity that there was no lizard!mohinder this season, lizards are cute

[thescrapbookingscientist]

Biweekly Media Roundup

- Avatar: The Way of the Water (Movie) - My brother was hyped to see this so I went with him in my first theater going experience in a while. I’m not really qualified to talk about the problematic politics of the film, so personally my pros were stunning visual effects and environments, interesting alien designs and lore, and some fun whale bonding, while my cons were the dragged out length (especially in the extended whale hunting and ending action scene), mostly flat characterization, and some weird character decisions regarding the character “Spider” and the way people interact with him. I do think this was a bit better than the first one since the focus was on the alien characters and the Ocean tribe was a bit more interesting than the forest one, so I’m glad I saw it, though it’s more of a spectacle than a lasting experience. So uh in short I don’t care much for the story but I’d love to see the concept art designs.

- Glass Onion (Movie) - I’m not really sure what I expected from this but I liked it quite a bit. It kept me guessing on the mystery, I liked the protagonist, there's some fun dialogue, and who doesn’t appreciate a “fuck the rich” message. You don’t have to see the first one to watch it so if you’re in the mood for a fun mystery check it out. I don’t say this about most things but I’d be cool with this becoming a franchise, just Blanc solving various mystery’s and humiliating rich assholes in his funky little outfits.

- Chainsaw Man (Anime) - It’s so good to finally find another show that fits in with the flavor of weirdo casts as JJBA, Golden Kamuy, Dorohedoro and the like. I genuinely don’t know where the plot is going next which makes for a great watching experience, and so far I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how much I like each new freak they introduce to the main cast. Makima still has my heart as the gaslight gatekeep girlboss that she is, and the Devil designs are really cool, I can’t wait for the season finale tonight. 

- Spy X Family (Anime) - Definitely one of my favorite anime this year, super wholesome, lovable characters, great comedy and reaction faces, stunning animation, this show’s got it all. My one complaint is that some of the more over the top side characters really overstayed their welcome but for the most part the cast was very solid and I could definitely see myself doing a rewatch in the near future for some easy catharsis. 

- Mob Psycho 100 (Anime) - The end of an Era, Mob is definitely one of my fave animes of all time and some of the best messaging and best written child characters I’ve ever seen, I’m going to miss it but I’m glad it stayed strong to the end and wrapped up in a thematically cohesive way. Cheesy as it is I believe that the excellent execution of Mob’s “deep rooted message of self acceptance and self worth that tears down the ideology that only ‘naturally talented’ people have a place in society and instead gives worth to everyone regardless of who they are because it is our impact on our fellow people and our ability to be a good person that truly matters” (as the Shrek meme says) has made me a happier person. 10/10 essential watching for all anime fans.

- Project Eden’s Garden (Video Game) - Several youtubers I like put out reviews and or/ playthroughs of this fanmade Danganronpa game, so I did a watch through of the prologue. It’s intriguing so far, I like a lot of the character designs and had fun trying to figure out their animal influences, and thought the writing was pretty solid for a setup. I’ll defenitely watch more when it comes out, Danganronpa isn’t for everyone but I always have fun trying to predict each cases victim/killer and I doubt this’ll change that.

- The S Classes That I Raised (TV) - Trying to resist the urge to just read the webnovel given how much joy I find in the weekly updates but I’m pretty into this one right now, very excited to see what new little creatures Han Yoojin will befriend. 

- Sense8 (TV) - Started this old supernatural drama about 8 people living all over the world whose minds become psychically linked. It is very interesting to see the diverse stories set across various cultures and with 8 separate plots happening there’s always something interesting in each episode. I do wish there were less sex, like I’m not sex negative or anything but uh I’m here for the plot and there's just a lot of sex scenes that make watching it with my sibling a little awkward. My favorite stories so far are Nomis, Suns, and Capheus while Rileys and Wolfgangs are a little eh. 

- Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint (Webnovel) - I would fit right into the world of ORV because much like all the characters in it I cannot stop thinking about Kim Dokja and how badly I simultaneously want to punch him in the face and give him a hug. Stupid little rat boy.

I also watched Hook (movie), Predestination (movie), Groundhog Day (Movie), along with my normal amount of various youtube videos.

Listening to: Holy Water by Michael Ray, Hell’s Coming With Me by Poor Man’s Poison, Red Flags by Tom Cardy, Rasen by jon-YAKITORY, Waiting On A Miracle (Encanto OST), Soon You’ll Get Better, New Romantics, and Anti-Hero by Taylor Swift, I Really Wish I Hated You by Blink 182, Fallout by Marianas Trench, Shoutout to My Ex by Little Mix, Lent by Autoheart, Therefore You and Me by si-o, History Hates Lovers by Oublaire, Tot Musica by Ado

[monriatitans]

Ta-Da! List: Sunday, June 23rd

The image was made in Canva; check it out at the [referral] link here!

I share my “Ta-Da! List” every day so everyone gets a daily update and I have a reminder of what I’ve accomplished.

To learn more about “Ta-Da! Lists”, and other ADHD life hacks, check out @adhdjesse’s book Extra Focus: The Quick Start Guide to Adult ADHD.

Abbreviations

- O&T: Opinions & Truth Blog - TBR: To Be Read - WGS: The Weekend Game Show - LPS$: Let’s Play Some $#!7 - ASO: Artist Shout-Out - IG: Instagram - BMAC: Buy Me a Coffee - TDL: Ta-Da! List

Ta-Da! List

✧ throughout the day: - kept emails manageable - loaded the dishwasher - filled out today’s TDL

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ✧ on the mobile phone: - Hive: shared today’s ASO - IG/Hive: shared today’s Finished Book, “Current TBR Tower”, and VOD Announcement

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ✧ on the bedroom setup: - Movies: watched “The Nightmare Before Christmas” - O&T: shared yesterday’s and today’s TDL to the WGS Ko-fi

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ✧ on the office setup: - TBR: finished “The Affinity Between Us” by Melissa Sweeney; moved it to the “Finished Books” section of the “Current TBR Tower”, formerly “Current TBR Stack”, posts on O&T, Tumblr, Medium, and BMAC, added “The Bonds We Share”, “Smut Peddler X”, and “My Monster Girlfriend” to the tower, and then changed the published date of the post to Jun. 23rd for the O&T and Tumblr posts; added a link to the “Current TBR Tower” posts to the O&T, Tumblr, Medium, and BMAC “SITE MAPS” - WGS: gave a human artist, Varsha Vasudevan, a shout-out by sharing it on O&T, Tumblr, and other social media; did an LPS$ Stream, exported it to YouTube, shared it on O&T, Tumblr, Medium, and other social media, and then updated the O&T’s YouTube widgets; shared a VOD Announcement to The Titans’ Discord and other social media; prepared the ASO for tomorrow, June 24th - O&T: shared yesterday’s and today’s TDL to various social media - Branding: in Canva, created an “LPS$ Watermarking” template - Gaming: played “Super Lesbian Animal RPG”

- YouTube: watched and/or listened to: 1. Jim Sterling’s videos “Delayed Reaction”, “A Cautionary Post-Mortem Of Evolve”, “Falling Out With The PS4”, “Pay To Spray: Overwatch And Microtransactions”, “Game Industry Executives Are Fucking Idiots”, “Nintendo Switch Online’s Cloud Save Debacle”, “Nintendo’s Virtual Console Is Trash Garbage”, “Loot n’ Plunder”, “Can Evolve Cut Down The Bullshit Tree?”, “That Whole CSGO Gambling Thing”, “Fur Fucked”, “Weapon Durability, Fanbase Fragility”, “Why Horizon: Zero Dawn’s Success Is Good No Matter Who You Are”, “I Want To Review The Switch But A Dickhead Dev Accused Me Of Violating Trademarks”, “Resident Evil 7 Bravely Defaulted”, “Pokemon Go, The Best Worst Pokemon Game Ever”, “It’s My E3 And I’ll Whine If I Want To”, “What Would Link Do?”, “It’s Just A Game”, “The Slimy Sleaze Of That Apolitical Bobby Kotick”, and “Activision Is Innocent Because Activision Said So” 2. I’m Autistic, Now What?’s video “5 Traits You Think are Autistic (But They’re NOT)” 3. Kupo’s short “TIL: I laugh like a chicken from time to time” 4. BlackBeltBarrister’s video “Get this wrong and you’ll be at fault!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ✧ chores and miscellaneous: - Food: had coffee and water for breakfast; had leftover family dinner for lunch and dinner; had a bowl of cereal - Chores: emptied and took out the trash; swept the kitchen

—

Well, these are all the updates I had for today! Thank you for reading!

May every decision you make be *in the spirit of fairness* and may the rest of your day *NOT go to $#!7*!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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[junipuzzle]

Sunday, January 14, 2024

"Er, In Other Words..." by John Kugelman

Time: 29:40

Difficulty: ★★☆☆☆ Theme: ★★☆☆☆ Fill: ★★☆☆☆

Favorite Clues:

1A: Hurricanes and Tornadoes (8)

55A: One hitting the space bar? (5)

105A: Big Apple figure (7)

Lookups:

1D: V on the NYSE (4)

5D: "The Jetsons" boy (5)

29D: Stoolie (7)

70D: Not open to appeal, as a court decision (10)

73D: Actress Fisher of "Eighth Grade" (5)

I don't think I can really sugar-coat it, so I won't try: Not a fan of today's puzzle. The comments seem to be quite happy with it, so I'll keep it brief.

Theme was fine in concept (taking an "-ER" in a phrase and interpreting it differently to make a pun) but I don't think it was executed well. NUMB-ER OF THE BEAST @95A was the only one that I got at a point where it was useful and got a laugh. CHICKEN TEND-ER @60 feels too close to the normal use of the word for it to click, and while AN OFF-ER YOU CANT REFUSE @113A/114A would have made me laugh, it was the last area I finished and I was simply glad to be done. I also don't think it was really consistent, as I'm still not quite sure how to interpret 20A's SUPER DUPER. Is it SUPER DUP-ER (and if so, "dup" short for "duplicate" is really weak), or would SUP-ER DUP-ER fit better with the execution of the theme? Bleh.

I wasn't particularly impressed by the rest of the fill, either. Lots of odd abbreviations, proper nouns, niche entries (and not in a good way), and diversions that I don't feel were that interesting. ENBLOC and PROST left a sour taste, and I'm a little miffed about BEEFED, clued as "complained" - as far as I'm concerned, a BEEF is a personal spat with another individual. You can complain about them, sure, but the complaint is adjacent to the central conflict.

As always, not every puzzle has to be for every person. It's clear a lot of people liked this, so I'll just remind myself that there will be plenty more that are on my wavelength.

Answers to noted clues:

1A: VORTEXES (lots of crunchy letters i wasn't expecting at the very start!)

55A: ALIEN

105A: TIM COOK (a good misdirect with the capitalization rules)

1D: VISA

5D: ELROY

29D: RATFINK

70D: PEREMPTORY

73D: ELSIE

[queendumpling]

a list of horror media that i've consumed over the past few months with a bit of my thoughts on them, in no particular order under the cut.

but my tldr recs, even if horror is not your thing: the haunting of hill house, nbc hannibal, my house walkthrough, crimson peak

the conjuring (movie):

it was fine. my first movie that centers around an exorcism but ultimately wasn't super compelling of a watch for me. there's a really funny scene where there's a floating gun that ends up shooting at people and it was so absurd that me and my friends all ended up bursting out laughing

the grudge (original jp ver. movie):

genuinely very spooky. had some trouble sleeping at night and taking showers for awhile (if you know, you know). but when I finished watching it I was just really sad by the end because of the bleak note it ends on and the nature of the cycle of revenge as something all consuming and destructive, sparing no one. pretty straightforward and easy to follow, especially compared to the next one -

kairo (or pulse, original jp ver. movie):

also genuinely very spooky. had trouble sleeping at night for a bit because there are some incredibly eerie and unnerving scenes that give me chills just thinking about them. but was also pretty sad by the end of it because of the bleak note it ends on and the inherent loneliness of people/impossibility of human connection. so it was in a very similar vein of flavor as the grudge, but tbh kairo is probably the movie that has stuck with me more because I have ruminated over it so many times. it's a very weird movie in the sense that a lot of the things that happen don't actually make a lot of sense, even within the irrational nature of horror. but its tone and theme comes across very strongly regardless.

her body and other stories (short story collection):

the thing about this short story collection was that I wanted to like it so badly, but in the end a lot of the stories were very much either hits or misses. it's an interesting collection that's centered around the horror of femininity and the female experience and bodies. the husband stitch is the first story and is still probably my favorite, followed by real women have bodies. especially heinous also stands out to me (imagine an AU of law and order SVU that takes all the episode titles and uses them to construct a very weird narrative with ghosts and doppelgangers)

talk to me (movie)

a really neat concept (teenagers in possession of a plaster hand that you can use to allow a ghost to inhabit your body, briefly, and used as a party game, which quickly goes wrong) that serves as an exploration into grief and how it spirals so out of control in the search of connection, finding stability and sensibility even when your world is falling apart so quickly, all because your bad decisions have snowballed so out of control. more gorey and gruesome than I expected but honestly a really good film, even if it also does end on a really depressing note

crimson peak (movie)

as weird as it may sound, I think this might be a new comfort movie to me? gothic horror romance movie where the setting is immaculate. story might be predictable but it executes it well. it's not terribly scary, imo (a jump scare or two, yes there are ghosts) but the characters, the overall mood, how you can see the way love persists and can protect and also twist. it's *chef's kiss*. also I did not notice the R rating on the movie so got really surprised at the sex scene, lol. tom hiddleston is also in this movie but I only know him for his MCU stuff, so it was pretty interesting to see him as the male lead in this movie (but he did great!)

my house walkthrough (jp short film, available on youtube)

PEAK HORROR, highly recommend. no jumpscares but is a phenomenal piece of work that is everything that I want in horror that creates an unsettling atmosphere focused around a particular setting and the sentiments left behind there. it was also made by like 1 guy and there's a great behind the scenes/making of video that is SO cool to see just how it got made. it's scary and I was definitely so tense and scared while I watched it but it was genuinely so perfect

gretel and hansel (movie)

less perfect movie. confusing in terms of what the actual point of it was supposed to be (I get that they're attempting some kind of "feminist" re-telling of the hansel and gretel fairy tale, but it's executed very poorly. can you tell that it's 'feminist' because gretel's name is first!!!!???!?) and not particularly scary either. there is a hot goth witch though and another very cool witch design that I liked!!

saw (movie):

tbh? a good movie. wouldn't really call it horror as it's more of a thriller imo, but it has such an interesting mystery and is tinged with an escape room plot that made it really fun to watch. idk how the other movies are, but I like the contained story in this movie and the twists in it

american horror story, delicate (tv series)

I'm actually 1 episode away from catching up with part 1, but so far it's been okay. like I enjoy the show enough to keep watching, but it's not exactly the most compelling thing I've watched this fall either. but fun bonus is that kim k is actually very good in her role! the opening sequence has some very cool stylistic visuals

nbc hannibal (tv series)

still have to finish s3, just wanted to take a break because I breezed through s1 and s2 in like.. less than a week I feel. also oddly another one of those comfort media kind of shows. like I felt insane watching it but it's also so compelling and emotional. so so SO good, happy to say that it holds up even after all these years

the haunting of hill house (tv series)

I just watched it in like 2 days and it's gotta be one of the best things I've seen and does absolutely everything right (except maybe landing the last 2 episodes but the gripes are minor). like ok probably obvious by now that I love a horror that revolves around a particular setting and the sentiments surrounding that. but this show is like the perfect haunted house story in which the house is not haunted by a monster per se, but the horror and the haunt is the house itself. the house itself is the monster that is hungry and needs to be fed and the way it feeds on the family is exactly what I wanted to see. the cinematography is amazing and the storytelling is masterful and the way the series eventually becomes less like horror and more like a family drama with horror elements where the story all builds towards understanding the events surrounding one very tragic and traumatizing night. the buildup, the aftermath, the resolution. the way it's about love and family and trauma and recovery. it's absolutely beautiful and honestly recommend it even if horror is not your thing :')

[carlasarmentoassignment]

First things first.

I know, not a very creative name for a blog, but I've been in real deal pain in the past days for being an adult with poor decisions (poor diet, tons of coffee and gastric bypass, results are shocking), and not a native english speaker make creativity not being my forte.

So, Cartoon Network was always great in encouraging new shows and productions, originals. Back in the day, they used to have this segment called Cartoon Cartoons, that was basically one short episode of a new show, about 10 minutes, and depending how the audience responded to it, they started to invest in the new production. The greatest success of Cartoon Network came from this place, such as Dexter's Laboratory, Johnny Bravo, The Powerpuff Girls, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Ed, Edd n Eddy, tons of others productions, and my favorite Cow and Chicken. Sure, as a cartoon freak, I love all (not Johnny Bravo as much), but something about the nonsense, reference to old cartoons, kept me glazed.

Cow and Chicken (1997-1999, Hanna-Barbera & Cartoon Network)

Cow and Chicken was a show created by David Fess in 1997 to 1999, with 52 episodes in 4 seasons, Fess is well known for his taste for the nonsense because of other productions that he also participated in, such as Ren & Stimpy.

An 11 year old skinny and tiny chicken, named Chicken is the older brother of Cow, an 7 year old cow over 400 pounds, with "human" parents, living in some suburbia, attending to school as normal kids, but problems finds them through the Red Guy, comical version of the Devil, who has the main focus to drag the siblings to hell, when he remember how. Chicken always tries to protect his sister, not that he wants that, but it's his sister, and usually she ends up saving the day, turning herself to super Cow, a heroine. The support characters are an extra spice to this madness: Mom and Dad, that always said delusional things, and never show anything waist up, only waist down, just like in Tom and Jerry, where the humans never showed waist up, but in one episode we find out that they don't show waist up, because they don't have anything else, no torso, no arms, no faces! Flem and Earl are Chicken's best friends, and both are in love with Cow. Cow's secret identity, super Cow, is a super heroine who is always saving the day, and she is very inspired in Mexican wrestling, she even speaks spanish! And we finally get to Weasel and I.R. Baboon that runs a spinoff in the middle.

By this premisse, we notice that this is not a regular kids show, and maybe that's the reason why it dazzled me in the first place. Not silly situations with the intent of having a great lesson by the end. It's a different kind of comedy, made to amuse, creating ridiculous situations, with real human emotions that are not so noble, such as anger, envy, hate, etc. This show was my first time experiencing that a cartoon doesn't need to be just for kids, it could be anything themed, any age and kinds of audience. Unlimited possibilities!

The Simpsons (1989 - , Fox/Disney)

The American dream! The stereotype of the perfect north american family living in the USA, with a not so perfect life, with not so perfect dreams and desires. The Simpsons is one of the longest TV Shows ever, with more than 30 seasons and still running, it shows us that a good thing, well thinked, well executed can last forever (or almost). This show tells us a story about Marge, Homer, Bart, Lisa and Maggie Simpson, a typical American family, with mess, fights and love. The geniality behind their script is Matt Groening, who was able to run a Comedy TV show that could fit to all ages audiences, with sutil jokes that adults understand and are still fitable to children (with supervision) to watch, because there is no explicit content. It's all about the acuteness, the sutil art of not making everything so clear, and embracing the flaws of being human.

Steven Universe ( 2013-2019, Cartoon Network)

Who would tell, another Cartoon Network production! Created by Rebecca Sugar, Steven Universe is one of those shows that never is enough, and that great things have to end. The premisse is about Steven, a 10 year-old boy raised by 3 women "friends/sisters" with his mother, who died giving him birth. She and her friends are aliens, and as an alien she becomes part of him, half human, half alien. In this context, Steven starts to find out about his mom's past, things that she did, and in the meanwhile, learns how to control his powers and save the earth. Despite it looks like a classic script of the hero's journey, this cartoon goes way deep in emotions, with emotional conflicts, dealing with complex feelings that all of the characters feel and have in this amazing show, enlightening things like feminism, transexuality, different kinds of love, mindfulness, and etc. Along with that, Sugar also writes and produces most of the songs in the show, it's a very musical inclined show, she even sings the end song of the episodes. Add with a stunning aesthetic, that gives this cartoon a very sutil, magical, sensible and still very strong atmosphere. One of my favorite shows of all time. I'm not a person who cries with shows and movies, but this makes some tears drop a few times. 

As you can noticed in the above lines, a good script, unlimited possibilities and aesthetics that can change completely are the most fascinating things for me in the 2D animation world.

[canadasdjblaze]

#whatshot #djblaze #onthewatch It’s All About @itsleighwood vs @broncolara #fightnight #woodlara #boxing 🔥☝🏿🥊 Blaze-The homegrown Nottingham warrior was well prepared for this bout and proceeded to execute their respective “game plan” as the rounds progressed. I was impressed by Leigh for boxing intelligently and not shying away from Lara who I thought started slower than expected but still kept applying nonstop pressure. Both combatants stayed true to themselves by standing their ground and exchanging some serious leather back and forth making the bout that much more intriguing as the rounds progressed. Although I personally felt like Leigh was winning the majority of the rounds, exchanging blow for blow with Lara may not have been the best way to tackle this particular opponent. Mauricio is known to being a tough competitor with sneaky power that can be unleashed unexpectedly if not careful. That being said, with a competitive seventh round nearing completion Lara was able to connect and drop Leigh with a devastating well placed left hook on the chin for a quick 8 count that saw Wood rise up on his shaky legs convincing the Referee that he was still able to continue. He visibly looked out on his feet which then hastily prompted Leigh’s trainer to throw in the towel to save his fighter from absorbing any further punishment. As upset as Leigh was with his cornerman stopping the bout, the right decision was made, Leigh was in no condition to continue. I tip my “B” hat to Leigh Wood for taking this bout as a voluntary defense. You stepped up and took on a tough contender in your first title defense but fell short – there is no shame in your game for trying to prove the naysayers wrong. As for Mauricio Lara, congratulations are in order. You walked into enemy territory, and silenced the crowd and snatched the belt from the Champion and are now being crowned the new WBA Super World Featherweight Champion of the World. Well done!. 🔥☝🏿🥊#soundtrackoftheday #hiphop #rnb #music 🎶🔊🎶🔥 Blazinone.com For All The #boxingfans #basketball #sports #fans #cigar #smokers #musiclovers #pressplay 🔊🎶🔥Enjoy the #sundayvibes #blazinone https://www.instagram.com/p/Co2Ig3Zuz77/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[gasoliya]

* left to stay

@gataash​

the generous ‘lunch’ breaks are certainly appreciated, especially on days where heavier, more mind-numbing topics are to be discussed. soliya enjoys the three hour gap in the middle of the day where she’s supposed to be getting something to eat, or exploring around the shops closest to the palace. she’s not technically supposed to be in closer towards the middle-outs of the city in a quaint little fabric store.

but here she is, anyways. there’s a purpose, though.

the city is wildly different than air temple island, especially in wind. at any given time soli can feel the playful air nipping at her ankles through her skirts, or breezing past her fingertips on air temple island, but in fire nation the element is significantly more stagnant due to the way the city is built and the buildings (or so that’s what she thinks). either way, she can’t feel the natural wind as easily as she’s usually comfortable with, so she arrives at the store and starts immediately looking for gauzier, lighter fabrics.

it’s when she almost bumps into the sole other occupant in the longer rather than wider shop, that she realizes just how awkwardly set up the space is. an apology is lingering on her lips when recognition strikes. “oh! taash.” he’s always around, somewhere. it became a normal thing to see him around, but she’d never been given the opportunity strike up a conversation. “i didn’t see you when i first walked in - nor did i think i’d run into someone i knew here.” well, kind of. she knows more about the idea of him than she knows him personally. it’s fine - it’s enough to make short conversation without it being awkward.

“are you here for a cut of cloth for something fun, at least?”

[the-badger-mole]

I just read your latest part in Presence (loved it, btw!), but I have a question. I know you've come down on Aang's decision not to kill Ozai before, but in this story it looks like you're making it so Aang not killing him is still the right choice?

I'm glad you like the story!

Just to clarify, and I have mentioned this before, I don't have a problem with Aang not killing Ozai. Some of my favorite super heroes have no kill policies, and I like the idea of Ozai standing trial for his crimes and facing execution. I have never needed Aang to be the one to kill him. I just don't like how the show presented the problem. The way they went about it made Aang look stupid and short-sighted. His reluctance to kill Ozai- the fact that he was expected to kill Ozai at all- should have been brought up much sooner, otherwise, what did Aang think "ending the war" would entail? Why hadn't he considered that question sooner? It's not like there weren't natural opportunities before the second to last episode.

Second, what I was getting at in this part isn't that killing Ozai was wrong. What I wanted was to have Aang acknowledge that there was a part of him- a growing part of him- that wanted vengeance on the Fire Nation for what he'd lost. He didn't want to kill Ozai and Azula to stop the war. He wanted to brutalize them because he was angry. He wanted to feel powerful when he killed those soldiers. He wanted to punish Katara and Zuko for what he perceived to be a betrayal against him. Justice didn't have any part of what he did in those visions.

Hope that clears things up!

[benevolentbirdgal]

Purim: a Jewish holiday and wild ride from start to finish

So let me tell you about the absolute soap opera that is the Jewish holiday of Purim. The scene is set in ancient (appx. 4th century B.C.E.) Persia during the first Jewish Diaspora, in the city of Shushan (typically identified in secular sources as Susa, a now-abandoned ancient city in what is now Iran). I’m telling you, as a work of literature (even beyond theological implications for Jewish people), this book has everything: love, drama, royalty, intrigue, ego, plots, irony, mystery, and a strong female lead. 

[some non-slur swearing below]

Ahasuerus, party-loving king of Persia executed or exiled (translations argue) his wife Vashti, and had to find a new queen. Why did he do this, you ask? Well, it really starts with an 180-day party across his kingdom for all his subjects to celebrate the third year of his reign. After that absolute rager, party-bro KA has another one immediately after for a week, this time just for the capital city of Shushan. Vashti was having a woman’s party in her quarters, presumably living her best life, when party-bro sends his top seven yes-men to deliver a message to Vashti. This sleaze-ball wants her to appear at his party in front of everyone, wearing her crown, with the clear implication being only her crown. Vashti more or less tells him to pound sand (I mean, not the literal translation, but that’s the sentiment). 

KA’s advisors convince him that this is not only an offense against the king but also against all the men in the country (ah, the joys of ancient patriarchy and toxic af masculinity). KA writes a degree that women must respect their husbands so he has an official reason to get rid of Vashti. Vashti is soon thereafter out of the picture and the king is short a queen. Whether she was a Wise Lady With A Point Who Got Screwed Over or a Vicious Jew-Hating Adulteress Who Had It Coming has been a matter of furious debate for over two millennia (the Babylonian Talmud and the Jerusalem Talmud vociferously disagree on her). In any case, KA regrets it pretty quick and wants a new queen. 

At the behest of his advisors (you know, since their last advice worked out soooooo well), KA had a big contest/forcible gathering of young women from around his kingdom and a Jewish woman, Hadassah, was the winner.  Hadassah was an orphan raised by her cousin Mordechai in the city of Shushan. Hadassah is more commonly known as Esther, because she changed her name to hide her identity as a Jew (at the behest of Mordechai). In any case, KA decided he liked Esther best and she became queen (it’s specifically mentioned both that he loved her most and that the palace staff liked her because she was nice to them-it’s unclear how much of an influence the latter was). 

Concurrently, a wicked man named Haman was the top advisor to the king and the king would basically rubber-stamp whatever Haman wanted. Haman was a raging Jew-hater-this will be relevant later. 

Some time into Esther’s reign as queen, Mordechai, who has taken to hanging around the gates of the palace to keep in touch with Esther, overhears a plot by two guards, Bigthan and Teresh, to kill the king. Mordechai alerts his cousin, and she tells the king. It’s recorded in the book of deeds and life keeps moving. 

Some time later, Haman decides (after a promotion to head lackey) that he wants all to bow to him as he passes. Mordechai refused to bow to Haman every single day (citing that as a Jew he bowed to no man), and that did not sit well with Haman. So despite being prime minister and presumably having more important things to do, “genocide the Jews” made it to the top of to-do list. He didn’t like them before, and Mordechai refusing to treat him like a special snowflake was something he took really, really personally (totally can’t think of any modern politicians like that, nope). He told KA, who frankly doesn’t seem to ask enough questions, that there was a people disrespecting the king and his laws throughout the land, and could he pretty-please exterminate them. As a bonus, Haman would “donate” 10,000 silver kikar to the royal treasury (modern conversion vary, but all agree this an absurd amount on money). 

KA handed him the royal seal to do so. Haman was feeling lucky I guess so he decided the best course of action was to draw lots to pick the day for the massacre. [Purim is lots in Hebrew, so that’s where the name of the holiday came from]. The message went out to all the provinces that on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, that they citizens and leaders should murder all of the Jews, young and old, man, woman, and child, rich and poor and take their possessions as spoils. 

As this wasn’t exactly a state secret, the Jews knew and were quite distressed. The planned slaughter was like a year out, but what the actual fuck were they supposed to do? If you lived in Persia at that point that, the empire was functionally your entire world, unless you were fabulously/ridiculously wealthy and well-connected. Having several months notice the other locals and your rules were going to slaughter you and take your stuff isn’t particularly useful when there’s really nowhere to go. 

In Shushan, Mordechai (who, although not explicitly in text, is in oral/Talmudic tradition a leader of the Jewish community) goes into mourning. He dresses in sackcloth and ashes, he weeps, and he fasts at the gates of the palace, as Jews throughout shushan and the kingdom are doing. Esther hears of her cousin’s mourning behavior and tries to send along nice clothes through a messenger, which he refuses. It is then that she learns of the decree. Mordechai (through the messenger) implores her to go ask the king if the Jews not getting murdered could be a thing. Esther explains that she could be killed for approaching the king unsummoned. Mordechai stresses the severity of the situation. Esther agrees to ask the king and tells Mordechai to have the Shushan Jewish community fast day and night (as opposed to just day as prior) for three days, and she and her handmaidens will fast too (no word on what the handmaidens thought of this).

On the third day, Esther bravely approached the king, asked him if she could request something. He said anything, up to half his kingdom (which implies to me that homedude, for all his flaws, was actually into her). Esther invited him to a party, where he and Haman would be the only guests. At the party she asks if she can another request. KA is open to it and she invites him to another party the next night. Party-bro king is obviously down and Haman is tickled to death at this second invitation. 

He goes home to brag to his wife, Zeresh, about the invite and also to bitch about how angsty he is Mordechai is still alive (this angst reignited by passing him on the way home). Zeresh suggests he have fifty-foot gallows built to make Mordechai an example on, with the king’s permission, ASAP. Haman orders the building of the gallows, feeling secure in the knowledge that his bestie the king will execute Mordechai on them. 

Back at the castle KA can’t sleep. He demands a bedtime story from the his records, because those will presumably put him to sleep. The story that gets read, ~coincidentally~, is of Mordechai saving KA’s life. Haman had sidled on up to the castle to speak to the king about killing Mordechai, and the king called him in. KA asks Haman, if he were to honor someone, what should he do? Haman is thinking “this is obvi about me” and tells the king that the honoree should be donned in royal clothing, and ride through the streets on a fancy horse with people someone shouting how great he is. KA is like great, love it, perf, go do that for Mordechai. Haman is not a happy camper but does the thing. After that, he goes home and tells Zeresh about it, who warns him that this is a very bad sign. 

Finally, that night is the night of Esther’s second soiree. Haman and KA attend. The latter offers to Esther anything she wants, up to half of his kingdom. Esther asks that her life, and the life of her people be spared. KA is like “whomst” and Esther revealed it was Haman. At this point Ahasuerus.exe stops working and he takes a walk to the gardens. He comes back to see Haman begging Esther for his life, and KA thinks Haman is assaulting her. Haman was seized by nearby guards.

One of the chamberlains is then like, hey, KA, coincidentally there’s these super high gallows Haman just had built. Why not take care of the problem that way? (The fact that the random nearby chamberlain was like yup, that dude, hang ‘em in the morning, probably says a lot about how Haman treated most people around him, even more than forcing all to bow to him). KA orders it be done. 

Not that Haman was around to be sad about it, but what happened next would have massively pissed him off, as his old job then went to Mordechai. Esther then implored of the king that the degree to allow the massacre of the Jews be reversed. The king couldn’t Cntrl+Z the order to murder-all-the-Jews, but he could issue an order that they could fight back. The proclamation was sent throughout the land, and the Jews were able to prepare. Since the royal decree had been amended, the governments (princes, governors, satraps) largely reformulated their plans accordingly, but plenty of Jew-haters still wanted to use the opportunity. The ability to self-defend meant that the communities weren’t massacred. In most of the kingdom, the Jews were now safe. Outside of Shushan, the fourteenth of Adar became a feast day. 

Shushan was still not safe though. Antisemites were still out and mad (and apparently had not learned from the previous day), so Esther asked the Jews of Shushan to be allowed to defend themselves once more. Her wish was granted, and the Shushan Jews were able to defend themselves once more (so Purim is celebrated a day later in walled cities). 

The story ends with the decision to write it down, and although there some debate on authorship, it is traditionally attributed to Esther herself cowriting with Mordechai. 

Nowhere in the book is God mentioned. Nowhere is there divine intervention (at least not explicitly). Just Jews sticking up for themselves, being brave in the face of mortal peril, and a metric fucktown of chutzpah.