#Also very jewish way of thinking IMO but well I am. Jewish.

[noisytenant]

I like challenging the idea of hope as fragile but I don’t connect with the idea of hope as some kind of gritty fighter.

I think hope is more like the sun: A force of life that is always present, but not always visible.

Despite the clouds and rain, night and winter, the sun is the central source of energy on earth, and evidence of its presence is always there in our continued existence.

Even when we’re layering jackets in the coldest night of the new moon, the promise of unconditional warmth and light fuels us to seek it out where we are.

And in this way I think the reason hope comes across as fragile is because our grasp on it is fickle; In its rawest form it can be overwhelming and even painful to the point that we can’t hold it in our gaze. We have to experience it at a distance, filtered, through proxies to sense it at all, and so often lose sight of it, and approach it cautiously.

But I think it is worth fighting for. As living beings we are motivated by hope but complicated by context, and the challenge is to believe in hope while recognizing the struggles we undertake to bask in its warmth, including the times we turn away from it.

In essence, I don’t think hope fights for us, but we fight for it ☀️

[carchariascarcharodon]

fuck it ellen headcanons that no one asked for let's Go (under the cut because i'm shy. and it's longer than i meant it to be.)

^^ this is backed up a little by the scrapped scene of michael's birthday party in one screenplay, where she asks (mr? mrs? unclear) taft if at the very least sean would be considered an islander had he been born there (the answer is no, by the way). she wants to belong; if she can't have that, then maybe the boys can.

ellen grew up in a small town. i know this i can feel it in my bones. she left after graduating high school. moved to a city for... college? general adult life? i'm not sure yet. probably nyc though, given... *waves hand*. like the line "but when do i get to become an islander?" reads to me as a desperation to have that small-town connection again, in spite of how othered the brodys are by amity. i like to think that ellen would have assumed she'd be right at home again with amity's relatively tiny population, but gets totally thrown off when neighbours refuse to acknowledge her as an islander.

i do think that the brodys' decision to move there would have been a mutual one - they respect each other too much to allow for any other possibility, imo - but i think adjusting would have been harder for ellen than martin. she would feel so simultaneously both at home, being from a small community similar to amity's, and totally alienated. it would be hard.

she's jewish! lorraine gary speaks briefly in the making of jaws doc about how her being a jewish mother contributed to her characterization of ellen's guilt, so that's where that comes from! (if hooper can be jewish by way of dreyfuss, then so can ellen . basically). to what extent she's a practicing jew, though........ Shrugs

ellen can't drive. martin drives her to work in the blue police truck in jaws 2 - and that + the original yellow truck are all we see them using, as far as i can recall - so i figure them as a single car household. she never got around to learning as a teenager, never needed to drive in new york.

she's a bookworm :> i cannot remember for the life of me who it was, but i know someone's mentioned ellen being really into reading alongside brody. i think she'd also be a sucker for cute romcoms and melodramas.

^ speaking of other peoples' ideas, i know ellen getting along with quint after a while is another headcanon that bounces around sometimes. i think it's cute.

martin's anxiety is much worse than hers, ESPECIALLY post-orca, but i think she has a bit of a nervous streak too.

it's not a constant/permanent headcanon for me, but i am *exceedingly* fond of transfem ellen. t4t ellen/martin 👍👍

still haven't seen jaws 4 oops lol but she's probably close with mrs kintner after martin & sean die, given that kintner shows up at her house to console her. assuming we actually accept that film as canon to begin with

the book does also (iirc) describe ben gardner's wife distraught after he's killed, so if there's a mrs gardner within the film's universe i think they would get along as well. amity support group for people whose family members keep getting eaten by big fucking sharks

[matan4il]

hey, are you Israeli/do you speak Hebrew? what is Israeli media saying about how Netanyahu has handled relations with the US? or at least his decision to cancel the DC trip after the UN vote?

Hi Nonnie!

I am, and I do. But I'm not sure how well I can reply to you. You know that joke about how, if you ask 2 Jews about something, you'll get at least 3 opinions? Yeah, so imagine the range of opinions, many of them contradicting each other, in a state full of Jews. Add to that the opinions of non-Jewish Israelis, which also have a variety of view points. Now imagine the opinions expressed by those who end up working in the media, meaning the most opinionated and outspoken ones. IDK that I can condense it all into one coherent reply.

But basically, any opinion you can imagine, someone expressed it. I will say that most did seem more upset with the US, for allowing what's seen as an anti-Israeli resolution to pass at the UN unvetoed, because the harm from that is real, massive, and could affect us for years, maybe even in ways we can't yet foresee. So keeping in mind that the UN resolution is harmful to Israel, and that the US was absolutely making a political point by allowing it to pass, most understand Netanyahu's reaction in that context.

That said, even with that context in mind, there were a lot of different opinions and reactions on whether it was the right move.

Personally, I do not like Netanyahu and have never voted for him. I used to dislike him because I thought he was anti-peace. It took me time, but I realize that actually, the biggest issue with him is that more than anything else, he wants to stay in power. He doesn't actually have (IMO) an ideological spine. At the same time, I won't demonize him, either. I very much hold him to be the person responsible for a lot of terrible things that have happened to Israel, to a great degree because he chooses to believe that if something didn't go wrong so far despite him not doing anything about it, then it will continue that way and he can go on ignoring it, but I don't believe that he would actually willingly sacrifice masses of Israeli civilians just for his own sake. In other words, I do think he is guilty of neglecting many things until they get to the point where people pay with their lives (while convincing himself it won't get to that), but I don't think he's an unfeeling monster who will intentionally get people killed.

So... let's put it this way. I was not surprised he canceled the trip, and I was not surprised that he re-instated it about a week later.

The trip had to happen, because a total break in communications is against Israel's interests, and becuase Israeli and American officials sitting together in person to talk about the Rafah operation is the best way to figure out an action plan that fits both. It was therefore in Netanyahu's interest for the trip to happen, but also in his interest to take some stand, and show the White House that their UN move is very upsetting to Israelis, enough for even him not to ignore.

I hope this kind of helps! xoxox

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[creekfiend]

Wow I just caught up on the "culturally christian" "discourse" due to being the type of jew who is allergic to being Part Of Jumblr and uh

Confused

I would be more than willing to have some good faith discussions w non-Jewish atheists about their feelings about the imprecise use of this term; with people who have Christianity Trauma who politely request to not be Called Christians even if that is part of their cultural background or upbringing (I am happy to not do this & always try to say ppl from culturally christian backgrounds because like... identity and Christianity are complex and I know and love a lot of people who have been horribly hurt by Christianity and I don't think it is productive or kind to insist to those people that they be aligned in some way identitywise with the institutions that have hurt them! As a jew I understand trauma very well and a lot of interacting with people and groups who have a lot of trauma is meeting them where they are, imo. I think it's important to do that.

But (you knew the but was coming)

I am UTTERLY BEWILDERED that even the people who are on the side of "this term is useless and you are stupid for using it" who seem to have like, interesting philosophical perspectives and mostly seem to not be engaged in outright antisemitism themselves ARE NEVERTHELESS happily rubbing shoulders w people who call jews and anyone who believes in anything "unscientific" 'fairytale cultists' and who happily assert that the very act of believing stuff that cannot be Obejctively Proven is like, oppressive and harmful

And if ppl are on your post saying antisemitic things and you do not block them or go "hey whoa uhhh let's not do that" then I don't trust you!

And like also

A lot of the jews participating in this discussion are getting violent anons calling them kikes and saying they should die in horrible ways!

WOW. THIS IS WILD AND UM. KIND OF DEEPLY ALARMING. TO ME. HI. WHAT THE FUCK.

[theambitiouswoman]

Do you believe in or practice any religion? How did you know that that particular religion is a fit for you? What practices are a part of your daily religious sentiments - like rituals …

Thanks in advance for answering it!

I am a spiritual person but I do not practice any specific religion. I was raised evangelistic (Christian) and have read the Bible, in full- several times- I was in Bible study growing up from Tuesday to Sunday as well- and studied its full history in terms of the origination of that religion. I know about Catholicism (who frequently call themselves Christians- but to Christian’s they are not the same) I’ve also studied some religions in depth like Hinduism (first/oldest actual religion), Zoroastrianism (also one of first/ oldest) (also where a lot of religions originated from) and the Torah as well as Jewish History, and love to learn about different religions and their origins, beliefs, views etc. Recently I purchase a few books about Greek Mythology, I’m currently obsessed with anything history but haven’t gotten to those books yet. I am very receptive to everyone’s spiritual beliefs because all In all everyone believes in some sort of higher power.

I believe in God. I believe in spirituality(and spirits), I believe in prayer, faith. I believe in good values and morals. I practice this daily. Those things are important for ME and my life. I think a personal relationship with God(s) or any persons view of who God is based on their views, is important. If you don’t believe in God, that’s your journey and absolutely okay too. And all that’s very different IMO from the concept of religion for many of todays religions. I also believe everyone’s views on this or no views, should be respected.

In my opinion, I think a religion would be a good fit for you if your personal values align with it. If you start learning about religions and feel some sort of spiritual connection to it or brings you peace. Then it’s maybe something you should lean in to. I think faith outside of ourselves is important. Even if you are someone who believes not in God (or any God) but energy as a powerful life force. I noticed that a lot of people try to twist religion and words from the Bible to fit their specific narrative. And it shouldn’t be that way. Religion is about spirituality as much as it is about our personal values and how we decide to live our lives. It’s how religion started to begin with. All in all, it’s personal and you should decide what feels right to you. Not your family, friends, what the current trend is etc.

[dykefever]

ooh you’re watching mrs maisel? i would love ur thoughts on it :))

i literally just finished the final episode and i would Love to give my thoughts!! just a bit of disclaimer i know the show has been criticised for stereotypical depictions of jewish people and i don't want to discount that. i can't really comment on whether this makes the show something that shouldn't be watched but i am aware when watching it. to me it does depict a breadth of jewishness with lots of different characters but ofc welcome to hearing what people have to say on this. and with that --

overall i think it's a pretty hilarious and at times brilliant show! i have a lot of fondness for it because i watched s1-3 with my family at christmas as they came out but to me s1 and 2 are pretty impeccable in terms of comedy, character, midge's growth and journey! s3 definitely a bit slower but the sets, direction and possibility of midge's big break make it one i still enjoy a lot. also introduces some great changes in terms of abe and rose and becoming more aware of the world around them (never entirely though haha). i watched s4 like three days ago and i don't even know what happened. literally nothing happened. lenny's speech in the last episode saved it in a huge way but the way it took eight episodes to get there..girl. s5 overall very solid and im really happy with the way it ended!! i enjoyed the flash forwards and midge's final big break performance had me laughing, it was very much her!

just general thoughts: abe is the funniest character on the show imo and the actor is fucking brilliant - rose too, the palladino's have always been great at colourful side characters and this is no exception, rachel brosnahan is hilarious, stunning (the outfits midge wears fuck me!!!!) and she does the comedy sets very well esp considering she's not actually a comedian.

the show falls victim to some classic palladino weaknesses -- overlong unnecessary musical numbers, female protagonists never quite having to reckon with being wrong despite consequences (they are somehow always the Victim), dialogue that becomes so absurd it's annoying to watch (their greatest strength that can quickly become their worst weakness), piggybacking off that overlong bits that have no reason to exist other than absurdity (thinking s4e1 ferris wheel conversation. i was already dreading the season after that.)

but finally. susie and midge should have fucked.

[underestimated-heroine]

re-evaluated myself and agree with you in retrospect, i am sorry i was an asshole about it. thanks for catching me and standing your ground even though it was unpleasant and I was not receptive.

Hello again. Sorry for the delay in response...I was honestly deliberating how to answer/post your ask. Ultimately decided to handle it how I did your previous one--posting it but making it unrebloggable--because I felt that was most fair (hopefully? please lmk if not). Plus I took some time to articulate my response:

I truly appreciate you re-evaluating yourself and saying this, and accept your apology (insofar as I'm the one to do so). Like I said, I have not been perfect, either. Not too long after October 7th, a mutual of mine was kind enough to DM me & gently call me out on a very harmfully inaccurate post I had not only reblogged, but linked in my pinned post. Subsequently, I went through all the I/P stuff I'd reblogged/posted and realized I needed to do way better. Since then, that's what I've been fumbling to try and to do, though I am well aware I still have a long way to go.

Plenty don't want to hear it (and that's beyond fair imo, because whether or not this is our fault, it's our responsibility) but I think it's inaccurate to deny that avoiding antisemitism in fighting for Palestine has been genuinely difficult for a lot of gentiles throughout this conflict. When white supremacy isn't straight up hijacking the conversation (ex. *cough* J@ckson H*nkle* *cough*) and tricking leftists into amplifying it, it's permeating the groundwater, fundamentally warping the conversation.

The problem is that for the victims of systemic abuse and oppression, the only indicator for trust and safety they have is peoples' actions - and I think you and I can agree that includes reblogging and posting even if some act like that's silly. It's not fair or right to ask people to assume the best intentions from us when we've made mistakes, especially when antisemitism's been a growing problem in our country for the past several years.

idk. I am not trying to lecture or something, just to present my thoughts a bit more clearly, maybe? I struggle with social cues and articulation at times, so I worried about how I came off especially in my first response to you. I am also truly sorry if I was condescending or it seemed like I was attacking you. Emotions have run high through all this, and it's been hard to keep a level head through all the horror, fear, and anger.

I just truly think one of the most impactful, meaningful things we can do in our day-to-day lives to help (yes, even & maybe especially Palestinians) is to make our Jewish neighbors--and Jewish people in general--more safe, which obviously and honestly needed to happen long before October 7th.

Anyways, thanks again for saying this. It gives me comfort and motivation to see another person whose perspective I relate to, admire, and understand making the effort to take accountability and accept nuance like I am. May we both find a way to navigate through this which our future selves can be proud of, and more importantly which does the most good possible for those who are suffering.

[supercantaloupe]

alright operablr might hate me for this one but i...was not wild about don carlo, tbh. i think it's kind of a mess. before i elaborate i want to stress that a lot of my opinions are taste based and i am not saying that the opera or anyone who likes it are Bad or Wrong, i just don't think it's quite For Me. adding a cut so you can ignore all this if you want

anyway after having seen both nabucco and don carlo within a week of each other (thereby doubling my previous experience with verdi of traviata and otello), i'm starting to feel like, stylistically, early/mid verdi is much more my speed than late verdi. i remember coming away from otello thinking "that was alright" whereas with nabucco and traviata i was thinking "wow that was great!"...after finishing don carlo last night i was just...confused. i feel like i'm missing something.

actually, i definitely am; i've seen people posting about recurring motifs and beautiful arias etc in the music and i definitely missed those. again, late verdi (along with a lot of late romantic music tbh) just Is Not My Thing, i think. and considering how late don carlo is in verdi's output i'm not surprised (very much a post-wagner composition, don carlo is. same with otello). i'm planning on writing a separate post about this so i won't go into much detail here but the music really lacked a lasting memorable-ness for me; what was there was nice, yes, but it didn't feel like anything stood out much. i mean, numbers like the brindisi and amami alfredo in traviata, va pensiero in nabucco, and la donna e mobile in rigoletto -- these all Stand Out, even after only a single listen, but i am not even 12 hours off watching don carlo and i don't think i could hum for you one of its melodies. again, this has a lot to do with personal taste; in general i tend to prefer 18th and early 19th century music styles, and i plan on going into more detail about memorable music in theater in a different post.

and man, the plot is a mess. also, not to apply too modern a lens of story criticism here, but the pacing is all over the place: act ii is, like, twice the length of act i, and act iv is no quick jaunt either, then v is pretty short again. (and really who am i to complain about a 3.5 hour runtime, as a giulio cesare fan, an opera which bumps up against 4? well, at least giulio cesare has a consistent if slow pace...)

it is all over the place. one moment it's a typical operatic romance, then a political intrigue, another it's a gay psychodrama, and then it's about the catholic church. i think this is a feature rather than a bug for some people but it really did not work for me. like it's all well and good watching rodrigo and carlo swearing their loyalty for one another in the most totally heterosexual way possible or making plans to save flanders or deal with carlo's embarrassing crush on his stepmom or whatever, but when the very next scene (with no real warning) is a public parade of heretics for shaming and burning...bit of a tonal whiplash there, i think!

again, taste is a factor here. known sexy oklahoma enjoyer sasha supercantaloupe is no stranger or opponent of tonal whiplash in theater, but when it comes to "no one expects the spanish inquisition!" i think there's a difference between guys with silly outfits and silly accents popping out from behind a corner and a crowd of people dressed in friar habits carrying crosses and torches around onstage...especially to a jewish viewer like me. the plot very much feels like something someone who doesn't like opera would make up to belittle the art form imo: it's like four different things at once all thrown together in a very long, kind of jumbled mess. (i mean, what does eboli even do other than show up, make things Even More Complicated, and then disappear within two acts?)

and...i get the sense that verdi/contemporary audiences might've thought this, too. obviously the fact that it got so many productions that it HAS so many different versions at all shows that people liked it enough to keep performing it -- but there being so many different versions of the opera (disregarding translations), four acts versus five, cut or revised arias, etc, i think also indicates that something about the opera was not working quite right that they kept trying to fix. now i've only seen one version (granted it came highly recommended to me by mutuals, but only one nonetheless) and can't comment on other versions of the opera; maybe another version works better for me, idk. on its own i actually think it's really interesting that there are so many different revisions out there to study -- a real lucky glimpse into the dramaturgical process that you don't normally get to see from shows of the era or earlier. (ask me about hadestown if you want to know more of my thoughts on changes made over the course of a show's development being for better or worse.) but the finished version of the opera (at least the version i saw) is a bit of a mess imo. i definitely think it has its high moments, but i don't think they completely overshadow its lows. comparing it again to otello, which was a much more consistent product in tone and pacing etc. to me, although a bit less interesting overall too.

i feel like i might be disappointing some people by saying all this lol but i have to be honest. don carlo was just not my thing. suffice to say that i think late verdi has absorbed too much wagnerism for my taste, musically and dramatically. maybe i'll rewatch it at some point -- i'd be curious to check it out in french this time -- but i don't expect to be doing that anytime soon, unless a friend or something is watching and really wants me to join (and i can spare four hours...). i can see why y'all like it (well, some of why y'all like it) and i do admit there's some good stuff in there to like. namely the carlo & rodrigo shit. i understand now lol. the opera definitely feels like it's ripe for shitpost/meme content and i am here for that. but i can't say this one is going at the top of my fave shows list. sorry everybody!

[seefasters]

Hello again! Anon who started watching mash cus of ur regina spektor amv. currently midway thru season 5. Margaret's development is so satisying to watch :'>). Shes currently in her hating on frank burns era, which is just so fucking good after seasons of being w him. And shes starting to loosen up w the nurses and stuff which i am soooo here for<3. Shocked that i love radar as much as i do. That bit where he cries seeing footage of his family made *me* cry. BJ hunnicut has already replaced trapper in my heart (srry trap). I dig the outwardly cleancut and easygoing vibe in tandem with his internal mischeviousness and stress. Love that hawkeyes starting to crack up a bit also. Other notes: a lot of the racial and sexual politics are pretty dodgy, but also its a lot more progressive than i thought it would be, wrt to margaret and some of the asian side characters as well as its antiamerican exceptionalism stuff (though nothing can wash the taste of that moose episode out of my mouth. No fucking excuse for that shit.) And its rlly good with the klinger stuff to, i was shocked at that. also as a jewish person i was rlly pleasantly surprised to see how the show interacts with jewishness and jewish characters, tho i suppose i shouldnt be surprised given that the showrunner was jewish. Father mulcahy is such an appealing, inclusive presence and i like how respectful and enthusiastic he is with all religions. That bit w/ the bris rlly got me too :,>).And hawkeye uses so much yiddish in his dialogue, his name and the way he navigates the world seems very gentile but his vibe tells me he hung out with jewish folks a lot growing up or in college if hes using those terms all the time. Having a lot of fun with this series and im so curious how its gonna develop in future. Thanks for introducing me to the series, im rlly digging it!

OMG ANON i really didnt expect to see you here again this is so lovely <333 i'm glad youre enjoying the show and i'm so happy we have another beejgirl (gender neutral) in our ranks

and yeah the treatment of women and margaret's development specifically gets only better from here on out imo, esp once loretta swit got involved. i can't wait for you to see "inga" lmao. and margaret in her frank hater era is so fun. some ppl say they feel bad for frank but tbh fuck him

yea the moose episode is absolutely the peak of mash's white saviourism and cultural insensitivity. its..... confused to say the least. they do get a bit better as the show goes along (as in, start using actual korean words and cultural elements lol) but overall it still aged poorly. i think the best they ever did was in "in love and war" so look forward to that

a lot of ppl hc hawkeye as jewish! i'm not jewish myself so i can't say anything for or against that but there's a bunch of really good posts on jewish hawkeye in the mash tag if u ever want to read them after ur done

again, i'm sooo glad youre enjoying the show and the characters <33 its so nice to see someone new discovering mash

i can't wait for u to meet charles lol. very curious to see what your thoughts on him will be

[vamptastic]

i know logically that my endocrine issues would make a pregnancy very bad for me physically and emotionally but i do feel pretty hopeless at the idea of having a child through other means. if i end up with someone willing to carry a pregnancy, i don't care about using a sperm donor, and i suppose i could theoretically find someone willing to volunteer as a surrogate if not, but those possibilities are both well, possibilities. realistically if i want children i will need to adopt and i am very, very disillusioned with the state of adoption in the US. hell, i don't even know how likely getting approved even is for a transgender jewish person, even if i didn't have an ethical issue with the concept.

foster care is probably what i'll end up doing-i mean, not that foster care is great, but BEING a foster parent is generally morally good-but it does bug me a bit to never be able to raise a jewish child. i wouldn't want to impose my religion on a kid with their own background and beliefs but it's important to me and if i raised an infant they'd certainly be raised jewish, though of course it's ultimately up to them what they believe and do.

just. in this country and society the only way to guarantee you can raise a child in the legal sense is to birth one yourself. and i physically cannot do that nor do i particularly want to. but i do love kids and i would like to have a kid. kids are cool they're like, little guys. they're fun. and also raising children (well) is generally like, a morally good or at least not bad thing to do imo. and also, wtf else am i gonna do with my life, that would genuinely be important and matter to me more than say, a successful career or the opportunity to travel. but every time i think about it it seems logistically impossible and with a lot of people even mentioning that i want kids someday makes them immediately think of me as either a mother or a predator. shrimply tiring.

[dreamytfw]

Just to be clear I'm not trying to defend him. Or woobyfyi him. And I know when he talked about the genocide it did cause harm. But I'm trying to see it from a perspective who does have an emotional stake on it and u think more than anything that's the main influence. So I don't see the maliciousness of it. What he said was wrong especially with genocide but I also think him not filtering out or deleting ppl replies calling him out on genocide (specifically on the article) that he did see that he was wrong and IMO that should also mean something as well.

Palestine deserves to be free, be seen as humans, deserve their land. I have boycotted brands that are working with isreal and i am against isreal. I do understand the seriousness and there needs call for action that need to protect the Palestinian ppl.

Yeah, I just answered this in another anon, but I don't think he said the things he did to be intentionally malicious. He just kind of demonstrated how he's never really taken a critical look at America's legacy of colonial white supremacy, how he fits into that legacy, and how that legacy maps on pretty neatly to what Israel is doing to Palestine (only in their case I'm not really sure if you can call it white supremacy so much as a type of theocratic supremacy. Take that with a grain of salt though as I'm not Israeli nor am I Jewish and very much understand the ethnicity of Judaism is extremely complicated and that complexity very much is not helped by Netanyahu's fascist ideals and the way he tries to tie all Judaism to Israel). Him not taking that critical look is a problem, but it's not a knowingly malicious act or anything. I just... REALLY wish he'd taken the time to educate himself on the history of Israel as we know it today and Netanyahu in particular before ignoring the people who said he shouldn't publicly weigh in and stumbling ass-backwards into genocide denialism.

[textingaboutprometheus]

This is the last I am going to talk about this subject because this is not the best space for this level of discussion. I would like you to publicize this, but I will shut up after it. I’m very tired.

There are people who believe Israel is 100% right and never did anything wrong. They are a minority and on the right. Ben Shapiro, Meghan McCain, etc. There are people who believe Palestine is 100% right and never did anything wrong. They are more than the 1st group and are all on the left. These groups don’t matter to me.

The biggest group, and the one Crooked belongs to, believes the situation in the Middle East is complicated, it’s nuanced, it’s not black and right. So, what happens when Israel military attacks Gaza, and kills civilians? What is the reaction from this group, from the LEFT (I don’t care about right wing bigots)? Is there a discussion about context? Explanations to why Israel did the attack? Again, I’m interested only on the LEFT and what they say. Any examples?

No, there’s no context discussion. Israel IS criticized by the LEFT all the time when it attacks Gaza. It doesn’t matter if it’s a reaction to a previous attack, the fact that civilians are killed during these military attacks as collateral is never accepted by anyone on the LEFT. And it’s OK if you (a general you) think this is how it should be done. Many Israelis feel the same way. I feel the same way.

But this is the thing. When a TERRORIST ATTACK 100% focused on killing civilians, kidnapping, torturing, rape, etc happens… well, nobody can be found to just say the words “this is wrong”. There’s always an ‘explanation’ on how things got so bad. People in GAZA are celebrating? There is context to that. Extremist Jews celebrate when Palestinians die? They are bigots and should be jailed. There’s always context when Jews are being hurt.

So, to end this. It says something about our society that every time something horrible happens to Jews, and only specifically against Jews, even people supposedly on our side believe they have to explain “how” and “why” it go to that point. And Jewish people see that. Lovett was super diplomatic and polite and very timidly explained this, the refusal that the LEFT has in simply saying what happened was bad and FUCKING NOTHING ELSE. Start a new thread, a new Twitter to discuss the history of the conflict, but your first reaction should be to just acknowledge the terror that happened against civilians without dancing around “both-sides”.

I know exactly how Lovett is felling, not only in regards to what happened in Israel but also with the reaction happening among people who he/we thought were on our side. A LOT of people showed their true colours, how they really feel about Jews, Israel, etc. I will never forget and forgive this. And Lovett? Well, he is his own person and will deal with it the way he decides. But imo he was hurt.

This is for me, I won’t respond to this anymore because I AM TIRED.

I don't know what to say. I am grateful for you taking the time to come and say this. I hope you're OK.

I must admit, I don't know how to process this. It's a fault of mine. I haven't yet come to terms with it. My brain short-circuits everytime I try.

I wish you well. Please find some comfort and peace today. I am trying to find a way through and I hope everyone can.

I offer you love and friendship if you need it.

[corvidcall]

okay!!! (rubs my hands together like im making an evil little scheme) (because i am)

first off, im gonna suggest Sagan Hawkes, who does retrospectives on indie horror stuff. my personal fave videos are There Will Never Be Another Petscop (which is about two projects that started as Petscop knock offs but developed into really interesting art in their own right) and Diminish: The Rage Game Lets Play About Loss (about an unfiction series where a man is playing a game his late twin sister made for him).

next, Jacob Geller has a voice that i think is really unique in the video essay scene. A lot of his videos are really... idk how to describe it. Poetic? Lyrical? Artistic in their own right? They seem very reminiscent of the way people write personal essays, which imo sets him apart from his peers (who seem to lean more towards a less personal, more documentarian style). I've recommended one of his videos on my fallen london blog before!! The Golem and the Jewish Superhero is really good, as is Who's Afraid of Modern Art. and his video Fear of Depths is great if you wanna think too hard about dying in a cave and then get oh so scared

in the opposite stylistic direction (imo) is Dan Olson, who makes really thorough and compelling videos about movies and culture, and has recently been focusing a lot on debunking the tech hype cycle. His video about crypto and NFTs, Line Goes Up, may have quite possibly influenced the crash in the NFT market?? But Line Goes Up is pretty dry, so I would probably suggest A Lukewarm Defense of Fifty Shades of Grey (this is actually part 1 of a series where he talks about all the 50 shades movies and the books, and theyre all great. the videos i mean. 50 shades is pretty bad) or That Time Geocentrists Tricked A Bunch of Physicists (which is about a documentary that featured a bunch of physicists seeming to say that heliocentrism is wrong and the sun actually orbits the earth, and about some really crazy tradcaths). In Search of Flat Earth is really good, too, but its kind of a bummer because its about Qanon

Big Joel is also one of my faves (both for his videos, and because i think its very funny that his youtube channel is named "big joel" even though he isnt big and his name is not joel). Trash Disney Remakes is fun, and you might also enjoy A Reality TV Dystopia: I Wanna Marry Harry

...oh my god this post is already way too long and ive only suggested three people. i am so sorry. god made me wrong as a joke. lets do the rest of these much faster or your flight will have landed by the time im done talking. speed round.

I Debunked Every "Body Language Expert" on Youtube by münecat

European History is Not White History by Shaun

MyHouse.Wad - Inside Doom's Most Terrifying Mod by Power Pak

Why Is Conservative Comedy So… Not Very Good? by Some More News

also, i cant recommend any specific videos, but you might enjoy PhilosophyTube (talks about philosophy, obviously) and Well There's Your Problem (a "podcast with slides" about engineering disasters)

to round out my excessively long list, theres a bunch of commentary youtubers who arent doing video essays qua video essays, as their videos are more focused on being funny and less on being informative, but i think theyre sister genres, and i enjoy them very much, so heres some good ones if you want a chuckle:

I followed a bunch of tutorials on how to get taller by Drew Gooden (the guy from the road work ahead vine)

I Tried Ghost Hunting To See If It's Fake by Danny Gonzalez

Alpha Tips & Tricks by Chad Chad

The Worst Talk Show Is Still On The Air (Maury) by Jarvis Johnson

I Drove to Every Rainforest Cafe in North America by Ted Nivison

I ate at every Rainforest Cafe in the County by Eddy Burback

anyway. uh. sorry about all this lol. i almost exclusively watch youtube every day all day and i have many thoughts and opinions. this isnt even everyone i watch and enjoy. this was me attempting to curate my recommendations.

I have a 4 hour flight this weekend so if anyone has any video essay recommendations for me to download on my phone feel free to tell me

[thistle-and-thorn]

Do you have any headcanons about religious/cultural practices and beliefs in Westeros? How do you think they vary between Dorne, the rest of the South and the North?

I talk to Lilium-convallium (who I know is lurking on this blog 👀 love u darling 🥰) talk about this ALL THE TIME. I need to re read the books because I don’t remember a lot of canon detail honestly so this will not be a meta post, just Vibes.

But how I imagine it when I write about it when I write fic is classical mythology in the form of the Catholic Church. Ancient Valyrian has a very traditional and recognizable mythology that is Greek, Roman or its predecessors/contemporaries like Sumerian or even Egyptian etc. like I picture elaborate burial rituals, Parthenon-like structures, etc. I think when the Targaryens invaded there was some marriage between religious beliefs.

I always imagine the literature of the Seven’s religion to take on much more of the mythologized story/poems/hymns of Ancient Greece, with that strange sort of circular and concurrent timeline, rather than the sort of linear arc that Jewish and Christian texts often seem to be (like, I don’t think, first there was Westerosi Adam and Eve, then Cain and Abel, the Noah, then Abraham, then Isaac and Ishmael, etc. or the idea of a House of David that eventually leads to Jesus, etc within Westerosi religion). It’s not a chronicle. There also appears to be no Savior figure, not in the Christian conception of a deity come to Earth. We have Azor Azhai but that is more reminiscent of Arthur—an extraordinary man with magical friends and strength of character rather than a literal God—and has the vagueness of many prophesies that appear in Greek or Roman mythology.

A lot of Southron Westeros is very Italian/Roman to me. The Lannisters are blatantly copied from the Borgias imo (side note: Tyrion’s storyline is literally about GRRM’s journey to atheism you cannot change my mind), the High Sparrow storyline is literally just Savonarola fanfic (the way the tale of Baelor the Blessed contains elements of George III fanfic). So the form that religion takes in Westeros is Catholic and thus really tactile as opposed to the more academic Protestant religions. Even though we have maesters, I think a lot of the social programming is provided by septons and septas. We also have, however, the sept taking indulgences, lots of man-created liturgies, cult sites, pilgrim tokens and relic tours—all the hallmarks of medieval Catholicism. Can you imagine how sexy Westerosi sainthood could be?!?! They don’t mention it like that but like—I love this idea!

I think it would be interesting to lean into that—are there different varieties of septon, the way there are Cistercians and Benedictines and Franciscans? (I literally am obsessed with monasticism don’t mind me) I think it would also be interesting to consider potential schisms—Like Eastern Orthodoxy and the Western Churches. To me, the schism would clearly occur in Dorne. Do the Dornish practice the Seven? I don’t remember tbh but any form of the Seven would be distinct in Dorne from the rest of Westeros.

The North reminds me of Christianized Scandanavia where many of the indigenous mythologies were re-adapted to folklore and superstitions and occurred alongside the practice of Christianity. The Northern religion is fascinating to me—there is no pantheon. I like to envision its stories as being Celtic or Norse but I think this would take the form of the non-god related stories: giants, fae, brownies, Tolkien-style dwarves. I think there’s something apocalyptic about Northern mythologies—celestial battles, etc. Their traditions are oral, often sung—later developing into troubadours—and stories of heroes similar to Beowulf, Fionn mac Cumhaill, etc. would be popular as well as fabled histories similar to the Aeneid, Arthur, or the Iliad. I don’t think they would have fondness for trickster characters like Loki or Odysseus and would instead focus on the moral or chivalric meanings of the myths.

The Red Priests and Priestesses are Zoroastrians. And I think that’s cool because Zoroastrians are cool.

Anyway, those are my initial thoughts. More will bubble up—this is my literal favorite topic. What about your head canons?

[constellaj]

so after seeing your character models + your talk on sam yesterday, i'm curious how you approach her in your hc stuff?

oh geez a got a lot of asks abt sam last night and UHHH. idk in the back of my brain im like “gotta save the good stuff for the fanfic youll never write”

BUT LIKE. ok 1) shes lesbian because i am lesbian and i think its neat. 2) she starts the series very anti-femininity and making fun of Popular Girls bc she is Not Like Other Girls. she and danny get together and laugh at lipstick commercials and stuff. she gets SUPER political and needs everything she does to be done with the utmost conscious and sometimes it gets in the way of her actually going abt her life. she skips class and vandalizes school property always

i see a lot of the dp characters in terms of their relationship to anger right and i think sam imo has misdirected anger. shes a very angry person all the time but she has to learn where to aim it

eventually she and paulina have to team up to stop a Threat(TM) and sam is like “ugh i have to save the Princess” and then its revealed that paulina is an actual capable human being right. i mean the girl does cheerleading she can definitely out athletics a lot of people. and she def has a bazillion other secret talents that sam never bothered to pay attention to. and then sam is like “bro.... i wanted to say... im sorry. i thought you were just like other girly girls. i saw you as just an airhead and a ditz who wanted a boyfriend, but now i find out... youre ALSO not like other girls.... you are so pog”

and paulina goes “HELLLO?” and digs into her with this whole “even if i WAS an airhead and a ditz who wanted a boyfriend you would be an ASSHOLE? dont ATTACK GIRLS bc theyre not YOU? get over yourself dipshit”

blahblah relevant plot happens and paulina takes sam shopping cause sam was afraid of wearing purple but now that she knows she can carve her own identity shes like “i would like a purple please” and she gets a wardrobe update

and they kiss somewhere in there idk

heres some (OLD) art i dug up for this ask specifically. notice that prepaulina her outfits are very blegh and have no purple cause purple is a girly color and she refuses to dye her hair bc GIRLY girls bleach their hair. and post paulina its purple city

that aside shes very much an activist and my sam is NOT a pacifist my sam can and will throw hands with anyone anytime. (she would also have a vlad vengeance but my vlad is different so. hes safe. for now). she is VERY into the occult but COMPLETELY lacking in emotional intelligence. one character she DOES actively fucking hate is dash’s dad

she and danny will get into hour long streams of just the worst possible puns and tucker hates them both for it. they dont make ANYONE laugh but each other and they have never stopped

sam IS danny’s like best friend but they fight almost all the time like sam has no idea how to back down from a conflict. if they didnt have tucker they would have actually killed each other by now

my favorite quote ive come up with to summarize sams relationship w tucker (boy have i rewritten tucker i hate canon tucker <3) is Sam: You can't just AVOID CONFLICT for the REST OF YOUR LIFE! Tucker: sorry Sam, I won't, Sam: ...you're supposed to say "YES I CAN WATCH ME"

sam WAS affected by embers spell actually because as previously mentioned she is a lesbian. the ember episode was actually tucker-and-dash centric (ace-and-gay) bc they were like the only main characters who were not sucked in by ember’s singing (almost all of casper high is bi; paulina kwan and danny of course are). she spent the entire time being very gay.

sams parents are like “i can excuse being a lesbian but i draw the line at wearing boots to a ballroom dance” and i think thats beautiful

(also she isnt like super loaded shes just well off bc uh. does anyone else find it weird that the one canonically jewish character is also the one who is secretly rich  🤔)

one of the ULTIMATE sam ships is sam x princess dorathea. they are BEST FRIENDS and sam just breaks into her castle every now and then to fucken hang out. they have metalhead lute concerts

[doberbutts]

Hey, I think you've come in a little hot here, and made several assumptions that are not true.

I'm speaking as someone who went through a serious health crisis and lost a shitton of weight almost to the point of starvation. I am also currently the heaviest I've ever been, due to a medication change, and have been trying to resolve my feelings of relief to not have to worry about my body deciding to starve itself to death while also being somewhat uncomfortable with my growing waistline.

While what you say is true- fat people can and do starve, sometimes to death, and still remain fat, because it's not always about the volume of food being consumed, this is not that type of story. The book is more obvious on this, the movie as said has its largest flaw being how they handled the weight of the main character. Stanley is in a prison labour camp. He is spending long hours performing heavy manual labor and then getting half rations, if that, once per day. If you survive these conditions, you will lose weight. Rapidly. And eventually you will die anyway. As many of the kids who went to this prison camp did die before Stanley got there.

Armpit is fat in the movie. I actually after this post looked it up and he's *not* fat in the book, he's tall and muscular but not fat. None of the boys are because they've been in these conditions longer than Stanley.

The book is a critique on racism and our prison system. It's comparing modern day US prisons to other labor camps throughout history, and I thought it was fairly obvious that the author was trying to draw a visual parallel to Jewish prisoners under similar conditions during the Holocaust. These prisoners did not stay fat while they starved to death. They died looking skeletal with immense muscle wastage. Stanley, as well, goes from being quite large to in crisis due to his rapid weight loss over the course of the book, and many people make (negative!) comments about his dramatic change in weight when he's freed. Especially his parents, who see his condition and know immediately that their son suffered while he was there.

I, too, when dealing with a health condition that made me empty my stomach unwillingly multiple times per day, dropped a ton of weight very very quickly. I went from 170lbs to 112lbs in only a few months and eventually crashed and burned. I looked terrible. I looked skeletal. I honestly looked like a corpse. Someone who is 5'10'' should never be 110lbs. That's just not healthy. I'm now far healthier and happier with more stamina and way less symptoms and I'm 190lbs which is 20lbs more than I've ever been in my entire life.

And that was sort of the point of Stanley's weight loss in the book. It wasn't "Stanley lost weight during his stay at the prison camp and now he's healthy", it was "Stanley went from being a perfectly normal child who was, in fairness, a bit big, to having *multiple* health crises because he was deliberately starved and overworked and could have died, the effects of this still blaringly obvious even after he's recovering back home".

With all due respect, you're supposed to be envisioning this, and these boys' and men's weight IS an indicator that conditions are, in fact, very very bad. Stanley does not get regular person skinny. Stanley gets emaciated. As said with Hathaway's Fantine, this type of weight loss is dangerous for anyone, because it puts your body into crisis mode, and it has long term negative consequences. But that doesn't mean it doesn't happen in real life, because clearly, it does. They just can't do it in a movie starring minors, because it's already incredibly dangerous for adults to do that to their bodies (imo borderline unethical now thst we have CG to do that), so I can understand Disney's reluctance to make the kid actors do this.

BUT, then, as said, the issue becomes that part of the author's message of "American prison labour is not that far of a cry from other forms of prison labour" and "American prison labour is a form of genocide" gets missed when you do that, because it's very important that Stanley starts off fat, and it's also really shitty to take the little fat rep we do have and cast a skinny kid in his place. I just don't know that there's a way for a 2003 movie to resolve this.

@doomspaniels

Holes is a Disney movie adaption of a book by the same name, starring one Actual Cannibal Shia Labeouf, and is largely considered to be one of the best book-to-movie adaptions specifically BECAUSE it is so faithful. But the thing is that it does change stuff, so it's not a one-to-one remake. The people making it simply understood what the book was trying to say, and so despite the changes it remains a strong adaption.

Holes is a kid's book, don't get me wrong, it was required reading when I was in 5th grade. But it deals with some heavy topics such as racism, literacy, class and poverty, and even the unfairness of the prison system and the school-to-prison pipeline, as well as prison labor.

It's a quick read being a kid's book, and a pretty good movie, if you're ever interested in experiencing either.