#But it is still worth reading.

[thebeatles]

The Fifth Beatle: The Brian Epstein Story (2012). Vivek J. Tiwary, Andrew C. Robinson (Illustrations).

The Fifth Beatle is the untold true story of Brian Epstein, the visionary manager who discovered and guided The Beatles from their gigs in a tiny cellar in Liverpool to unprecedented international stardom. Yet more than merely the story of "The Man Who Made The Beatles," The Fifth Beatle is an uplifting, tragic, and ultimately inspirational human story about the struggle to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds. Brian himself died painfully lonely at the young age of thirty-two, having helped The Beatles prove through Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band that pop music could be an inspirational art form. He was homosexual when it was a felony to be so in the United Kingdom, Jewish at a time of anti-Semitism, and from Liverpool when it was considered just a dingy port town.

[egophiliac]

I DID IT I GOT MY PINK HAYATE now I am never doing that again!

(at least until they give me, like, a frilly unicorn Kamui or something)

[polite--cat]

heart-wrenching & beautiful excerpts from the article on esteban ocon

[ging-ler]

drew a lil comic for probably my favorite shinkami scene ever from the fic Sunflower | Lilac by altering. This fic is AMAZING and if you are a fan of shinkami you must read it immediately!

[tinartss]

sometimes i think about how kaveh was alhaitham’s first friend and collapse a little inside

[drtbrennan]

"I intend to leave you, as soon as possible." "I'll never leave you."

[spitblaze]

Really, REALLY good article that helps put a lot of the shit I've been seeing lately into perspective, along with highlighting the weird intersectionality and social concepts that inform transmasculine issues and why they're difficult to discuss (and also makes me glad that I've like...rarely ever seen any of the Toxic Transmasculinity this article talks about holy hell)

[bixels]

The Ryoko Kui interview's reception is such a disaster over a pretty normal (yet still flawed) interview between a non-Japanese fan and Japanese artistic. This is discourse for discourse's sake, and it's no surprise that almost every Twitter user I've looked at who's using this interview to parade Kui around as a goated mangaka standing strong against Western ideology is anti-trans.

Like, I do think the interview was kinda wonky with its focus on fandom culture, which Kui clearly didn't have much interest in. But sometimes that happens. Sometimes interactions between two people, especially a fan and a creator, two people who view and interact with a piece of media in completely opposite perspectives, don't click. Does this really need to get blown up into a "West vs. East culture war" issue.

Anyways, Kui saying "I don't consider my audience's interpretations when writing. I leave it to their imaginations, but I have my own read on things too" is the healthiest, most normal thing an artist/writer who wants a non-parasocial audience could say. Artists and writers use this line all the time. If Kui didn't enjoy autistic Laius or Farcille headcanons, she would have probably voiced/signalled her discomfort, like she did on the topic of Senshi fanservice. Overall, Kui handled the interview really well. Props to her to sticking to her guns and keeping a healthy disconnect from the fandom. While I think the interviewer could've/should've been more tactful and restrained, the flaws in their questions is not a symptom of the woke mind virus trying to wriggle its way into the pure Japanese psyche. It's the sign of an over-eager fan who sees a piece of fiction differently than its creator.

[merverelli]

"you just feel yourself let go."

still thinking about this episode. man. 💪💥

[kpchrs]

Anyway, Buffy used to be an "I'll die for you" girlie but then she became an "I'll live for you" girlie, if you care.

[triglycercule]

horrortale waterfall game broke me sorry (hey just like horror!)

[evercelle]

2024 art summary! it sure has been a year

[pencilofawesomeness]

All the HSR I know is second-hand, but @therosefrontier 's long oneshot fic, live for tomorrow (let the past dissolve like sand), is living in my brain and gripping me by the throat so obviously I had to make a reaction meme for how that Sunset Savana homecoming was going to go.

Rip Neji and, and probably the rest of the palace staff and maybe Farena, for the absolute heart attack they're going to get when Leona "makes pretending like he doesn't have a heart an olympic sport" Kingscholar comes home with a traumatized kid. Anyway I can't wait for Dan Heng to be loved and fed well and exposed to sunlight, etc etc. Luckily for him I imagine Neji will immediately start the care routines while strangling Leona when Dan Heng isn't looking.

Bonus Neji Vision:

[maelancoli]

i'm kind of late to this but i just finished reading the scholomance trilogy by naomi novik and i feel like it is such an underrated urban fantasy?? taking the chosen one trope and turning it on its head with a fmc who has been prophesied to bring death and destruction, who is imbued with terrible power, but cannot even properly use said power to solve any of her obstacles because it would obliterate them and her soul. it takes a tired trope and the idea of an 'overpowered mary sue' and throws it back in your face by showing how all the power and destiny in the world is useless against a system filled with corruption that has burdened you with an easy way out (evil/destructive magic) that you can't take so now you have to work twice as hard as everyone else just to do simple, constructive spells instead of flicking your wrist and being done with it.

[deoidesign]

Time and Time Again comes back tonight!

Thank you all for being so patient with me, I know it was a long hiatus.

My health was struggling, my arm was (is) hurting, and I decided it wasn't worth it. I'd rather be slow!

So thank you for giving me that grace, and I hope you'll be there with me for the rest of the series.

[sad-leon]

crawling out of the shadows with this as an offering