#(There are exceptions to this rule obviously

[yawping-poets-society]

been Thinking about richard cameron again...

and i think the thing that people don't always see when discussing his character is that we the viewers can and should have a different interpretation of his character than the poets do

i get why charlie punched him. fine, i'll say it, i even think it's justifiable (stay with me here)

charlie was a seventeen year old who had just lost his best friend, and had always been predisposed to dislike cameron. why? because charlie only ever saw cameron as a rule follower, a brownoser, a teacher's pet. when cameron talks to nolan, charlie sees it as a betrayal but not a surprise because to him, this is classic cameron behavior. in his mind, obviously cameron would choose authority over his friends and the one teacher who fought the limits that welton set for them. charlie doesn't ever think about what position cameron was in.

and i get it! again! charlie is a teenager who is experiencing probably the most emotional time of his life. same goes for the rest of the poets. they all feel betrayed. and frankly, cameron's dialogue in the scene where charlie punches him is cruel, and a blatant misunderstanding of who neil was, and what keating was trying to do (as todd points out). he says a lot of shit, and none of it makes you want to like him. he wasn't winning any sympathy points from the poets or from the audience.

it’s easy to watch that scene back and say, “cameron behaved horribly here, therefore he is a horrible person with no redeeming qualities.” but when we're actually analyzing the movie? i think we have a responsibility to really consider cameron's motivations.

for starters, he was always the odd one out among the poets. charlie picked on him constantly, and no one ever stood up for him, except maybe neil. and not only does cameron hang out with the poets, he's charlie's roommate. he probably never caught a break from hearing how poorly charlie thought of him.

more than that, though, he has a clear and consistent need to follow authority. on keating's very first day, cameron is one of the first students to stand up and follow him out of the classroom. he does it hesitantly, sure, but we can tell what he's thinking: when a teacher tells you what to do, you do it. this pattern continues all the way into the aforementioned scene with charlie when cameron says: "in case you hadn't heard, dalton, there's something called an honor code at this school, alright? if a teacher asks you a question, you tell the truth, or you're expelled." true, yes, cameron's saving his own ass. but what choice does he have? in his mind, none. this is how the world works. you keep your head down, you do what you're told, or you get punished.

do i think it was the right thing to do? maybe not. do i think the poets are entitled to their anger towards him? yeah, i do. but i understand why cameron did it. he was a scared kid, who, when caught between a rock and a hard place, fell back on what he'd been taught his whole life.

so, to wrap all this up: no, cameron's not unequivocally good. he hurt his friends, and they have a right to be upset with him. but he didn't set out with bad intentions. he was just a kid, and what he did doesn't make him evil, it makes him complex. he has a right to be treated as such.

[lover-of-mine]

Remember how I made the big framing in buddie conversations meta and then another one when the gym stills came out that comes down to how conversations about Buck, Buck is sitting down.

About Eddie, both of them are sitting down.

About Chris, they are sitting on the same surface

But when they are on the same level and standing up, the conversation tends to be about their relationship with each other.

I know it looks pretty obvious that this is them talking about their relationship, but following patterns on the show, this is them talking about their relationship.

And I'm also interested in what camera angles we are going to get on this scene, because the tsunami for instance they are facing each other but they make a point that for parts of the scene we can see both of their faces, not just them speaking and reacting to each other like in the grocery store for example. I am so curious.

[grian-updates]

Scar doxed Grian in a twitter post!

Yep, our guy is still going.

Fish.

[themintman]

N e ways here's Jack's actual design for the au I posted about the other day lmao

Love this sorrowful lizard.

[karotka]

I've been rewatching IWTV and what's clicked for me were Armand's motivations for betraying Louis. On first watch I thought it was such a confusing and irrational thing to do. Now, obviously it was capital B Bad etc., but we all know that, boring question. But was it a logical (≠justified) decision to pick the coven? I'm starting to think it kind of was 🤔

The café scene is so heartbreaking, makes me kick and scream at the screen, Armand on his way to end it all and Madeleine asks why Louis doesn't want him to know how much he loves him, and Louis confidently replies, “he knows.” Reader, did he know? I feel like part of the tragedy is that it didn't really matter at that point.

Press pause on the betrayal of it all and look at the facts from Armand's perspective:

Louis is suicidal. He has an expiry date, the coven vampires don't. Louis is suicidal, the coven is forever 😂😂 To quote Lestat, “There is one thing about being a vampire that I most fear above all else... And that is loneliness. You can't imagine the emptiness, a void stretching out for decades at a time.” Armand asks Madeleine, “What will you do, in a few decades, when she throws herself into the fire?” and then finds Louis in a pool of blood, his wrist slashed. He voices this to Louis much later – when he has no right to demand anything from him, but the sentiment stays true – “You left me for death. Will I be on suicide watch for the next 1,000 years?”

Louis straight up murdered his previous lover. Now, we know it wasn't all that, but Armand didn't. Major red flag, anyone? “I killed him and he fucking had it coming.” And he DID, but that's beside the point, isn't it? Especially since we know Armand is just as capable of domestic abuse :') He knew that Louis wasn't the kind of person who would just take his shit forever. If you want somebody to trust you, don't let them know you took part in the murder of your ex, heartfelt advice from both of them.

Speaking of exes, Louis is SO not over Lestat. I mean, neither is Armand, they're such a train wreck of a relationship :D But yeah, Louis is not fully committed to Armand, denying publicly that they're companions, hallucinating his ex in the bedroom or while Armand is sharing his traumatic past and, most damning of all, refusing to join the coven.

From Armand's perspective, he's risking it all for Louis and Louis a) doesn't appreciate it at all, and b) refuses to do the bare minimum of getting along with his family. (If someone treated my daughter-sister the way Armand treated Claudia, I'd kill them with my bare hands, but Louis acts like he doesn't mind. Can you imagine me without the burden of her? :/) (and yeah, he could just leave his shitty cult, the same way they could have left each other during those 70 years. Shitty stability > loneliness, I guess.)

A minor point maybe, but the moment you know that Lestat is out there and wants revenge, that only adds to the expiry date part. Especially once Lestat is cooperating with the coven, because I imagine that while Armand is OP enough to fight the coven, all of them + Lestat might be a bit too much. Maybe Armand even hoped once Louis is out of the picture they could get back together? We don't really know what exactly was going on behind the scenes but Lestat's sheer existence is bad for loumand... It is what it is.

And Louis just... repeatedly ignores Armand's warnings. I mean, they both knew Armand was going to execute him that one time. They tried to make it work but Louis was living on borrowed time from that point. Add Armand's apparent MO of “everything I love must eventually burn down so I will take control of the situation by orchestrating the downfall myself” et voilà. He was given a choice and he chose.

And THEN he betrayed the coven for Louis at his most unwell. Iconic!

[bardicious]

After some deliberation I've come to realize I'm just not very into typical masculine dudes.

[fjordfolk]

Talking about culture in dog breeding with fellow norwegians lately and figuring I don't mind 4 being a maximum litter number on a bitch, granted she's an easy birther of reasonably sized (not too big) litters and bounces back well. And that is a highly individual thing. And obvs I come from a breed where the litter average is 3.5 and complications are relatively rare.

What I've come to be a little more bothered about is having litters on bitches that are 2yo (and younger - but thats a full dealbreaker for me) - I don't feel like either of our dogs have seemed like full adults until ~3? Troj is 3 now and shes really come into herself in the past year, I can't imagine her with puppies at 2.

[sapphic-luthor]

Watching Glee after Supergirl I can't tell if the backwards appreciation of Barry and Kara's actors will be cute or not. Either way it sounds like a ton of fun for y'all!

apparently gf only likes the first seasons and thought it all went downhill by the season melissa was in but i’m nothing if not a completionist so we will be watching the whole damn thing against both of our willa

[quillkiller]

why do you think the marauders fandom is like so afraid of making women be masculine

no joke i just think people hate masculine women ! the only people ive ever met who are into butch women are either other lesbians or queer people who genuinely have put in the work to distance themselves from male validation

butch/masculine women or dykes are seen are disgusting for their hairy bodies and no make-up whereas a mans lean body and androgony will simply make him ’hot’ and ’daring’ and ’omg he’s crushing the gender norms!!!!’ <- which is honestly almost never true lmao

anyway. women who don’t shave or don’t wear makeup or are masculine are seen as lazy or ugly ! and women are terrfied of being ugly. im butch and im terrified of being ugly. there’s almost no space for butch women outside of lesbian circles, but feminine men are still relatable and seen as accessible and can still fit in with all genders! people will always love femininity, and honestly almost even more when it’s men doing it because there’s only one thing a patriarchal society loves more than a feminine woman….. men…

[elftwink]

you guys know that "landlords are leeches get a real job" is a haha funny bit you say to illustrate the hypocrisy of the rhetoric surrounding work and what qualifies as 'contributing' to capitalist society and not a coherent leftist belief right? you guys are saying that because it's funny to watch landlords sputter to come up with a response to the kind of attitude they have always subjected tenants and renters to and not because you genuinely believe your worth is determined by the money you earn under capitalism, right? you understand that once you believe it is possible for someone (even landlords) to be a 'leech' on society if they arent working (or aren't working enough, or aren't doing the right kind of work, etc), this will bleed into the way you think of everyone else too, right? you guys know that legitimate and meaningful critiques of landlords are not and can never be based on whether or not they are working because that is irrelevant to the fact that they own property for the express purpose of charging other people for access to shelter, which is a basic human need and shouldnt be controlled by the whims of Some Guy just because its his name on the deed... right???

[oifaaa]

Have you ever read the knightfall arc? I’m kinda assuming not because it’s one of Tim’s and honestly not really in the fandom’s consciousness. But honestly if anyone deserves to be bullied more than Tim it’s Jean Paul Valley. Aka azrael. Aka the first “Batman who kills”.

Just please look at his Batman suit and tell me it’s not funny. The helmet! The pointy shoulder spikes! He’s emo and evilly good!!

When he gets pissed off at Robin he just bricks off his entrance to the bat cave!!!!! I’m not saying that Bruce and dick could have tried harder to stop Tim in a lonely place of dying but uhh… maybe masonry was the answer?

I have read the knightfall arc actually I got into comics way before I got into fandom but also the knightfall arc isn't in fandom consciousness?? Are you sure it's literally the iconic arc were Bruce gets folded like a ironing board and then decides that this random catholic dude hes just met would make a way better batman then literally anyone else - but yeah i guess i just don't really care about jean-paul enough to bully him

[reactor-tech-ermine]

I'm glad there's someone else in this company who plays Little Wars: 0U, Marten was this close to forcing me to print my own army and spending our next date night learning how to play.

[sonknuxadow]

see i can accept the idea of shadow struggling with the concept of friendship and being hesitant to get super close with people or label them as his friends and not being super openly affectionate with the friends he does have. but the idea that he doesnt have friends at all is just so strange. yes he does ? theres plenty of people who like shadow and care about shadow and he seems to feel the same about them at least a little bit. why did sega give shadow friends and then pretend that they didnt actually write all that stuff

[arainaizevran]

also is it not a coincidence that wyll's quest involves finding out that the emperor is actually balduran. and his best friend ansur tried to mercy kill him because he couldn't cure his illithid disease.

and now wyll's lover is turned illithid, a noble sacrifice to save his city, and that may even be the only reason he doesn't kill them right then and there.

so he honours his lover by doing what ansur couldn't do to balduran: let them live, but only how he sees fit. that is his mercy.

[porcupine-girl]

I'm finally watching Call Me By Fire, starting with S3.

My husband and I were SO disappointed that the copy of episode 1 on YouTube skips over Shin's actual performance. Thankfully @tdkeh tracked it down on Weibo for me, so I'm uploading it here for posterity.

I highly recommend taking a look at the original version of this song, by Aaron Kwok in 1990, to fully appreciate this reimagining.

Shin is by far my favorite on this show so far. I mean, Jeff Satur clearly has a fabulous voice and way better taste and stage presence than most of these guys, and a there are a few others on his level, but I want to put Shin in my purse next to Da Zhangwei and carry him everywhere like a small dog.

[turtlemagnum]

one of my favorite parts of strategy games like chess and advance wars is that feeling when you haven't quite won yet but the enemy has no real options so it feels like you're just sloowly wrapping around them like a snake. when all your enemy has is their king and you've managed to turn 3 of your pawns into queens, and all you've gotta do is get in juust the right position, and in the meantime all they can do is squirm. god, that's such a wonderful feeling. nothing quite like it