#Commentaries/Opinions

[mindinabyss]

After finishing the MXTX... trilogy(?) that is SVSSS, MDZS, and TGCF, I can say without a doubt that these three are perhaps *the* quintessential danmeis.

I've read countless BLs, yaoi, and danmei throughout my life and none have been comparable to the wonder that is MXTX's works. If I was asked to introduce a new potential fan to the world of BL, it would undoubtedly be one of MXTX's works that I would list first.

SVSSS is undoubtedly my favorite of the list — it has a real wacky energy due to how self-aware it is that makes it feel special. Shen Qingqiu and Luo Binghe's interactions are so unique it's amazing — how often do you see so many tropes overturned in one work?

I wouldn't exactly offer SVSSS as an introduction, however, as it has a whole lot of angst that a new reader might not be prepared for. TGCF is likely a far better introduction for plain romance, and MDZS if they want a bit more spice.

It truly is a shame that these works were produced in a country that's so unaccepting — thus stunting its growth overall.

I really wish I could find more people to talk to about this with in my life.

[ghostpolliv]

Honestly having the biggest writers block. Like I have so many ideas but no ideas at the same time😭 can someone ANYONE give me something to write about with characters they want to see with x reader. I’m down for requests and I do everything! Angst, Smut, Fluff, and other things! Please give me request😭😭

[echo-artemis]

Im new to Tumblr here, and I’ve recently realized how shitty this site is and that people were not exaggerating when they said it barely works, like this shit is cardboard held together with cheap yarn and clear scotch tape. I was not expecting how awful this site is.

10/10, would recommend.

[hankkd7]

The French Girl | Commentary's Darkest Secret

[kurenafujio]

I Was Wrong | iilluminaughtii IS the Problem | These Are Good Channels |... If you missed the premiere, you can still watch the video so don’t miss it!

[spilledoj]

i love creator's commentaries (a rant)

(rants = all lowercase)

ok so i just got done playing portal (the first one) and i played through the developer's commentary and i found it extremely interesting. in test chamber 14, you have to get a cube to press a button that releases a laser into a receiver that then lowers a platform for you to leave the chamber. apparently test players found a way to bypass the entire test chamber and the developers said "we would usually rework levels if people find ways to bypass it but this skip arguably takes more skill than doing the level, so we left the ninja solution in." idk why this started to get me thinking about all the other commentaries i've watched, like the turning red one and the incredibles 2. i honestly love these because it makes me think about how i play games and how they make me feel and what the creators intended. in portal, when you are doing a puzzle to unlock the dual portal device, you solve the puzzle by going around the dual portal device until you get on a platform that slowly moves up to it with music playing that gives you a sense of accomplishment. they did this intentionally to make the dual portal device seem like a great achievement. and honestly it felt like it.

ok that was the rant, you can keep scrolling. if you're reading this. "With all the love in my heart and the wisdom of the universe...

Take it sleazy."

[castor-romeo]

im not dead!

anyone want more cr commentary?

[asikomecom]

Opinion | Western Scientists Cheered On China's Covid Repression - The Wall Street Journal

Opinion | Western Scientists Cheered On China's Covid Repression – The Wall Street Journal

China’s zero-Covid policies have recently come under criticism from public-health leaders—including those at the World Health Organization—who once held them up as a model for the West. “China’s success rests largely with a strong administrative system that it can mobilise in times of threat, combined with the ready agreement of the Chinese people to… Read more

[pandemic-info]

"Any chance we're wrong about Covid?"

It's a valid question many people earnestly think about — even the very cautious.

'it becomes important to ask: "what does the data actually say?"'

Quoting a few good answers from a thread:

"Covid left me disabled in 2020. I know with 100% certainty that I am not wrong about Covid. I live with the proof every minute of every day for the rest of my life."

"The insurance companies and government statisticians care, or rather they have taken an objective interest." > https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LNU01074597 > https://insurancenewsnet.com/innarticle/insurance-industry-coalition-forms-non-profit-to-study-excess-mortality

"There are parallels between how governments are responding to COVID-19 and how they responded to tobacco back in the day. “it would be a mistake to assume governments would automatically protect people from a public health threat in the face of more immediate economic considerations…there would be resistance to change that might be costly until evidence to justify it was overwhelming.”" > https://johnsnowproject.org/insights/merchants-of-doubt/

"I suspect most of us entertain this thought from time to time, especially when it’s this absurdly difficult and lonely to maintain a Covid Conscious lifestyle. But it’s important to remember that history is littered with people making terrible choices en masse: with handling past pandemics, the holocaust, slavery, witch burnings, etc. Hell pretty much everyone used to smoke and putting lead in everything was A-ok. Just because a lot of people believe something doesn’t mean they’re right. So it becomes important to ask what does the data actually say? The research and the statistical data on this subject paint an ugly but fairly quantifiable picture by which we can gauge our understanding of the situation and our choices in response to it. Read the science. Look at the data on things like Long Covid. There are also many of us who have already had our health absolutely ravaged by this virus or lost loved ones to it etc., and everyone in that position has first hand evidence for how dangerous this virus is. It’s tremendously difficult to swim against the current like we are and self-doubt is natural in those conditions, but that’s when seeking out factual information on the subject is the best course of action."

"But what it all comes back to for me is - say we're wrong, and covid is a big nothingburger and lockdowns are the root of all evil. Ok, well, what I'm doing is acting on the best information available to me at this time to protect my family. I can't regret that. I will always be able to look my kids in the eye and say "I did my best with what I had."" ... So if we're wrong - well, we wore masks, changed our social habits, reduced our consumerism and our contribution to the destruction of our planet, and reduced how often we got sick. None of those things are bad. If they're wrong, they and their kids are screwed. I'd rather err on the side of caution.

[sequinsandfins]

my husband rates the 2024 drivers based on attractiveness.

disclaimer: these are all my husband's thoughts and opinions, not my own.

[shyjusticewarrior]

Bruce would be polyamorous if DC weren't cowards

[milkbreadtoast]

idk how i want to draw him yet and not ready to make a srs attempt but here's a bad kdj phone doodle lol🚶🏻

[onyx-was-here]

“tumblr is a website with no censorship” is a factoid. tumblr has no censorship unless you’re a meanie to the ceo and hurt his feelys :(

[lyculuscaelus]

So lately I’ve been seeing a lot of posts asking people to stop trying to make Odysseus look nice in their works cuz he’s a “messed-up person in the mythology”. Your opinion is valid however I have but one thing to point out:

You want to know who started all this? Who started to “make Odysseus look nice” in the first place?

It’s Homer. It’s nobody else but Homer himself.

A non-Homeric Odysseus would try to murder people out of his own interests. He’d murder Palamedes without remorse (and we’d be cheering over this but it’s a murder after all), he’d attempt to murder Diomedes just to get the Palladium himself, he’d volunteer to kill Astyanax…meanwhile you wouldn’t find any mention of either Palamedes or Nauplius in Homer’s poems, neither did he mention anything abt the Palladium heist (and Diomedes necessity did not happen until Conon’s version), the death of Astyanax, the distribution of war prizes, etc. And all the details in the Odyssey seemed to deny the existence of Nauplius’s vengeance at all, so Odysseus would not take any of the blame.

A non-Homeric Odysseus would be depicted as “cruel, treacherous”, meanwhile in book 10 of the Iliad Odysseus was not mentioned to have killed anyone during the marauding, neither did he promise Dolan anything at all. The negative interpretations are denied by these details subtly put by Homer.

A non-Homeric Odysseus would be widely known as a “coward” for only shooting arrows from afar. But Homer gave him a spear and had him absolutely slaying in both the Iliad and the Odyssey. That part of Ajax’s speech was invalid already.

Most importantly—a non-Homeric Odysseus would be having kids everywhere else, and the loyalty to his own wife as seen in the Odyssey is no where to be found. Meanwhile his lineage was a single-son line made by Zeus in the Odyssey, and his love for Penelope was one of his main drives, especially seen in book 5 of the Odyssey. He loved his family as a loving parent—something you don’t get to see in most of the non-Homeric writings—for most of the time they followed a different tradition indeed, in which Odysseus wasn’t half as nice as in the Odyssey.

TL;DR: in case you haven’t noticed, the characterization of the Homeric Odysseus was quite different from a non-Homeric version of Odysseus. It’s not that Homer didn’t know of the existence of other versions—he knew them too well, which is why in his version of the story, you don’t get to see any mention of them.

[kurenafujio]

The Power of Anonymity 1.5hrs New video going up tomorrow in 21hrs! Don’t miss the premiere!