#Fight of Fury 2020

[actionflickchick]

Fight of Fury (2020): All Right, All Right, All Right

Shuny Bee is Shuny Bee aka Brandon in FIGHT OF FURY Like The Room and Fateful Findings, Fight of Fury boasts a quadruple-threat creative force with writer/director/producer/star Shuny Bee, and this film is about as intentionally successful as The Room and Fateful Findings before it. All right! (more…) “”

[whenlifeisscaryanddepressing]

A message to my American brothers and sisters whose candidate lost this election:

Firstly, I am neither American nor did I vote for your election so do take what I say with a grain of salt.

I’m writing to you guys because I know how you feel. I’ve been there.

During the 2020 Presidential election of the Philippines, I too supported a movement. Not a candidate—a movement. A female presidential candidate who raised hope, became a champion for marginalized communities whose only goal was to create opportunities to shift my country away from the vitriol that came from a previous president who strong armed my country into a bloody war on drugs that saw the death of thousands of poor people.

And like you, I lost.

With the spread of misinformation and lies, my country elected the son of a dictator who proved himself to be the ineffective, incompetent and dishonest leader we all secretly hoped he wouldn’t be.

Our hopes dimmed.

Tears were shed.

Resentment flowered in us like a storm.

It was difficult to swallow the results of an election that had so much at stake. You see, like your President-elect, our current President spent millions of pesos contesting a fair election that saw him losing out to the vice presidential position during the previous election.

Through bullying and intimidation, he sought to undermine a fair election that took him out of power.

And like your current President-elect, he still managed to win at the end.

It would have been easier to accept the results had it not been for the mocking of 31 million Filipinos who voted our current president into office.

We all heard them tell us, “You’re crying over an election? You need better things to worry about.”

I want you to know that it’s okay to cry.

Your frustrations and disappointment are valid.

It is rare to find a candidate you’re able to place so much hope in and to have that hope dashed away is a bitter pill that is difficult to swallow.

I know, you’re probably tired of hearing it.

“Turn the other cheek.”

“Accept it and move on.”

“It is what it is.”

“There’s nothing more to do.”

It’s okay. I’m tired of it too.

I know you’re probably scared and angry and so, so, so tired. Two years after our election and I am still all of these things.

I still think about the what if, the what could have beens. I think a lot about how better off we would have been if the right person won.

I want you to know that it’s okay. It’s okay to mourn those things.

You did your part. You voted and you campaigned and you fought hard. Sometimes, we just lose.

If there’s any advice I can impart, it’s that I hope you take your frustration, your sadness, you exhaustion, your anger, and turn it into righteous fury.

Take that fury and do something with it.

Because the movement cannot stop here. The moment we stop fighting, they win.

To lose hope means victory for the other side.

I get it. It’s easier to get mad at the people who voted for him. It’s even easier to spew the same vitriolic hate towards them when they start complaining about how things don’t change and how your country is worse off but theirs is the vote that put a wannabe-dictator in power.

Don’t do it.

Because that divide is precisely why they keep winning. It’s the same divide they sowed into my country and we are still struggling to fight that division everyday.

Losing this election is a step backwards but losing hope would be another step back.

Even to this day, my presidential candidate continues to inspire hope for change in my country.

I know yours will too.

It’s not the end.

I need you to remember to breathe.

Breathe in the hope you desperately fought for;

breathe through the hurt of the loss;

and breathe out the fear they so badly want you to feel.

The road is long and it’s scary.

But there’s about 50 or so million other people on that road with you. You might not be the majority but even David was small when he killed Goliath.

Cause if you voted for Kamala Harris, you already know you have the courage and righteous fury to fight for change and you cannot give up now that you’re so close.

You lost the battle but it’s not the end of the war.

So tonight, grieve. Cry. Hug your friends and family who are right there with you. Be sad and mourn the loss of what could have been.

Because tomorrow, when you wake, you will continue fighting for change.

Because no one else will.

[marveltrumpshate]

November 2024 MTH fills

The best way to see all the fills that have been shared with us is our monthly roundups tag or our #MTH-fills channel on our Discord, but you can also view them through the following methods:

Our Tumblr tags: 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024

Our AO3 collection (only has works posted to AO3; see "subcollections" for specific auction years)

Completed works tag list

To find specific content, use our completed works tag lists above which includes instructions on how to search for a particular character, gen or romantic relationship, universe, and fanwork type. 

SOLO CHARACTERS

Bucky Barnes

deleronicas/@yourheartswerethesame - MCU Bucky fanvid set to "The Apparition" by Sleep Token for @theeternalghost

RoseRose/@tehroserose - "Wakandan Goat Therapy" (a set of haiku about Bucky in Wakanda with goats) for @sofreakinmanyfandoms

Foggy Nelson

thelonebamf/@amazing-spiderling - Custom 616 Foggy toploader for @pomegranate-belle

Frank Castle

thelonebamf/amazing-spiderling - Custom 616 Frank Castle toploader for castlesprincess

Ikari

thelonebamf/amazing-spiderling - Custom 616 Ikari toploader for pomegranate-belle

JARVIS

Kerr Avonsen - JARVIS-themed infinity scarf in shades of electric blue, turquoise, and teal for @airas-story

Jessica Jones

thelonebamf/amazing-spiderling - Custom manga-style Jessica Jones toploader for @castlesprincess

Matt Murdock

@deehellcat - Crochet doll of a smiling Matt in his Daredevil costume, holding his billy clubs/batons for @rufferto9's friend

thelonebamf/amazing-spiderling - Custom Earth-65 Matt toploader for pomegranate-belle - Custom 616 Matt toploader for castlesprincess

Miguel O'Hara

@caiabresebun - Art of chibi cat Miguel in his suit huffily swiping at a mouse for Phoenixx - Art of angry and sad chibi cat Miguel sitting near spilled coffee for @t0nystark1er

Ororo Munroe

thelonebamf/amazing-spiderling - Custom 616 Ororo toploader for pomegranate-belle

Scott Summers

Jason K Jones/@jkjones21 - Art of Scott in his X-Men '97 outfit costume fighting Sentinels for @oerbally

Stephen Strange

DeeHellcat - Crochet Dr. Strange dragon for RoseRose

GEN/PLATONIC RELATIONSHIPS

Alpine & Bucky Barnes

RoseRose/tehroserose - "Bucky and Alpine" (a sonnet about Bucky and Alpine) for sofreakinmanyfandoms

Bruce Banner & Nick Fury & Steve Rogers & Thor & Tony Stark

Lalaith Quetzalli/@lalaithquetzallicaresi - Fic cover of Bruce, Fury, Steve, Thor, and Tony plushies for "The Plushyverse" for @noxelementalist

Bucky Barnes & Yelena Belova

Vostok/@vostok3-ka - "Пачка сигарет by KИNO" (MCU Bucky & Yelena go on a post-Soviet Russian winter holiday trip, adrift and grieving Natasha) for Snooze

Dum-E & Tony Stark

HT/@hundredthousands-art & KandiSheek/@kandisheek-art - MCU art by HT of Dum-E handing Tony a bag of ice for his bruise and coming over when Bucky and Tony are hugging, animated by Kandi for @massivespacewren, @soliloquent-stark, @iseult-1124, @otpcutie, @whinysteve, @polizwrites, and @dracusfyre

Jeff the Land Shark & Matt Murdock

thelonebamf/amazing-spiderling - Custom 616 Jeff & Matt toploader for pomegranate-belle

Jubilation Lee & Logan

@tiffycat - Art of a happy Jubilee elbowing Logan, who's looking fondly at her for @twentyghosts

Peggy Carter & Sharon Carter & Steve Rogers

Lalaith Quetzalli/lalaithquetzallicaresi - Fic cover of Sharon, older Peggy, and Steve on a motorcycle for "You've got my number" for noxelementalist

Remy LeBeau & Jubilation Lee

c_art - Handpainted clock featuring Remy and Jubilee showing off their sparkly powers for @ruquas (also on Tumblr)

SHIPS

Agatha Harkness/Rio Vidal

yeahitshowed/@tadpoleeater - "real hot ghoul shit" (post-Agatha All Along Agatha/Rio fic where a ghostly Agatha decides to give into Rio's pursuit and Rio swears that she's finally done with the pursuing) for @kayedium-writes

Bucky Barnes/Clint Barton/Jason Todd

@carcrash429 - Podfic of "Parade," a Bucky/Clint/Jason Todd AU fic by ClaraxBarton where Clint meets Bucky and Jason while housesitting for Nat for @esoxwrites

Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers

Hermit/@hermit-writes - Typesetting for "Backhoe," a non-powered Steve/Bucky AU for @zenaidamacrouras1

SucculentHyena/@succulent-hyena - "Heart's Devour" (MCU Bucky/Steve body horror fic where Steve comes out of the Vita-Ray chamber wrong) for @bulkyphrase

Bucky Barnes/Tony Stark

DeeHellcat - Hand-knitted fingerless gloves inspired by Bucky's metal arm and Tony's gauntlet for @coralreefpool

Golden_Asp - "Murder and Baseball" (canon-divergent MCU Bucky/Tony AU fic where Hydra sends the Winter Soldier to win a date with Tony, kidnap him, and bring him back for conditioning—a plan that goes awry) for massivespacewren (MTH 2022)

HT/hundredthousands-art - Art of MCU Bucky with a knife and Tony with a gauntlet, ready to fight for massivespacewren, soliloquent-stark, iseult-1124, otpcutie, whinysteve, polizwrites, dracusfyre, and rufferto9

HT/hundredthousands-art & KandiSheek/kandisheek-art - MCU Bucky/Tony art by HT of Bucky handing Tony a towel for his bloody cheek and then hugging him, animated by Kandi for massivespacewren, soliloquent-stark, iseult-1124, otpcutie, whinysteve, polizwrites, and dracusfyre

@tikiwhip - 616/MCU Bucky/Tony comic where fugitive Bucky visits Tony whom he's in a secret relationship with for massivespacewren (MTH 2023)

Clint Barton/Loki/Natasha Romanov

Eustacia Vye/@eustaciavye28 - "Midst of Death" (MCU Clint/Loki/Natasha fic where Loki is recovering from extending himself past the geas placed on him) for wanderingflame

Logan/Wade Wilson

@panties-on-boys - "Play Fight" (MCU/X-Men universe Logan/Wade fic where Logan goes soft on Wade after learning Wade's in constant pain, but Wade still wants to play dirty) for Rayne

Steve Rogers/Howard Stark

Jeniouis - "The Moments In Between" (MCU 1940s fic of Steve and Howard sharing quiet, secret moments alone) for @ladygigiart

Steve Rogers/Tony Stark

Becci_chan/@becci-chan - "Assembling New Beginnings" (Steve/Tony non-powered IKEA meet-cute AU fic) for @captainneverever (MTH 2023)

Bee42/@bumble-bee42 - Two illustrations of 616 Tony flying with a besotted Steve in his arms for @oluka

[hboww2rewatch]

Please read the movie descriptions below

Saving Private Ryan (1998) - Following the Normandy Landings, a group of U.S. soldiers go behind enemy lines to retrieve a paratrooper whose brothers have been killed in action. Dir. by Steven Spielberg

A League of Their Own (1992) - American sports comedy drama film that tells a fictionalized account of the real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) during WWII. Dir. by Penny Marshall

Greyhound (2020) - The film is based on the 1955 novel The Good Shepherd, and follows a US Navy commander on his first assignment commanding a multi-national escort destroyer group of four, defending an Allied convoy from U-boats during the Battle of the Atlantic. Dir. by Aaron Schneider

Mudbound (2017) - The film depicts two World War II veterans – one white, one black – who return to rural Mississippi each to address racism and PTSD in his own way. Dir. by Dee Rees

Twelve O'Clock High (1949) - A tough-as-nails general (Gregory Peck as General Savage) takes over a B-17 bomber unit suffering from low morale and whips them into fighting shape. Based on a novel by the same name. Dir. by Henry King

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) - three United States servicemen re-adjusting to societal changes and civilian life after coming home from World War II. The three men come from different services with different ranks that do not correspond with their civilian social class backgrounds. It is one of the earliest films to address issues encountered by returning veterans in the post World War II era. Dir. by William Wyler 

The Monuments Men (2014) - An unlikely World War II platoon is tasked to rescue art masterpieces from German thieves and return them to their owners. Based on the 2007 non-fiction book The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History. Dir. by George Clooney

Dunkirk (2017) - Allied soldiers from Belgium, the British Commonwealth and Empire, and France are surrounded by the German Army and evacuated from Dunkirk. It is shown from the perspectives of the land, sea, and air. Dir. by Christopher Nolan

Fury (2014) - A grizzled tank commander makes tough decisions as he and his crew fight their way across Germany in April, 1945. Dir. by David Ayer

Valkyrie (2008) - A dramatization of the July 20, 1944 assassination and political coup plot by desperate renegade German Army officers against Adolf Hitler during World War II. Dir. by Bryan Singer

[metalsongoftheday]

Friday, December 20: Van Halen, "Honeybabysweetiedoll"

R.I.P. Edward Van Halen (1955-2020)

A few years after his passing, the general perception of Eddie Van Halen continues to evolve away from the seemingly effortless virtuoso with a boyish smile to a more complicated and frequently troubled genius.  And when that is taken into consideration, certain aspects of Van Halen’s music begin to take on different dimensions.  For instance, while so much of the band’s music radiated effervescent joy there were moments where Ed went out of his way to bulldoze just to prove how heavy he could be, even though nobody ever doubted or even remotely questioned his capacity to tear the roof off.  This strange fixation lasted to the very end, and if ever there was any point when one might’ve felt sympathy for David Lee Roth it was on “Honeybabysweetiedoll”: the track was first written in 2000 when the original lineup tried (and failed) to get back together, and 12 years later Diamond Dave still couldn’t figure out exactly where he fit in the maelstrom.  Eddie’s guitars absolutely smothered the track, and while it was nice to hear Alex roaring with a percussive fury he hadn’t delivered in decades he was also fighting to be heard alongside his brother.  All of that said, the Van Halen family had a telepathic way of locking into each other, and with Wolfgang snapping his father into focus the magic was still there.  In that respect, Dave was almost an afterthought, but he sounded engaged and committed both here and throughout A Different Kind of Truth, seeming to recognize that he was generally considered the weak link and therefore stepping up to at least justify his place in the band.  The smothering ferocity of “Honeybabysweetiedoll” obscured some of Van Halen’s natural talents, but at the same time ripped with such force that, if nothing else, it illustrated that Eddie and Alex had lost none of their power some 35 years after their debut.

[satoshi-mochida]

DOKAPON! Sword of Fury coming to PC in English - Gematsu

Sting will release DOKAPON! Sword of Fury for PC via Steam in English and Japanese “soon,” the developer announced. A specific release date was not announced.

The game, a remastered version of the 1998-released PlayStation title of the same name, first launched for Switch on August 1, 2024 in Japan. It is currently unclear whether the English PC release means Sting plans to release the Switch version outside of Japan.

Here is an overview of the game, via its Steam page:

About

Engage in good-natured fighting with soon-to-be ex-friends! The ultimate relationship-ruining board game x RPG is back, where the best way to succeed is to play dirty! Spin the wheel and set off on an exciting adventure with your friends! Defeat monsters, purchase weapons, and level up, just like in an RPG. Once you’ve gathered enough strength, face off against powerful bosses in epic fashion! Your journey will take you across a wide, diverse world… Just don’t forget that your true goal is to get filthy rich! Money is everything! Anything goes, as long as it lines your pockets…and as long as you’re cool with it! Will you walk the path of thievery and plunder, or will you hold firm to your morals? Will you join hands with your friends, or plot to betray them? It’s dealer’s choice around these parts! Play even with faraway friends in Online Mode, and feel free to pause your adventure anytime with the Autosave function; it’ll be ready and waiting for you whenever you’re available again! There’s also a full range of display settings on offer, including HD and widescreen support, allowing full immersion like never before! Game too slow for you? No problem! Speed options up to 5x ensure you can always keep things moving along at your own pace. A virtually endless array of options allows you to play the game your way: you can substitute in battle background music from earlier titles, set the number of weeks to play, adjust game balance, and more! You can even give yourself an advantage if you’re new to the Dokapon experience; come one, come all, as this game’s for everybody! The Iron Sword of Rage returns to cut through all the nonsense of the 2020s in style. Come grab its hilt and give it a swing for yourself!

Key Features

-Stick it to your friends and aim to become the richest of the rich!

Whosoever winds up wealthiest in the end (meaning, the bearer of the most assets) shall be deemed the winner!

How do you achieve that? Well, by fighting monsters, plundering, pillaging, and betraying your best buds; that’s how! All the rules are made to be broken in this board game!

Need to fast-track your earnings? No problem! Try engaging with the alliance system, entering the Tenkaichi Tournament, or participating in other unique events to ka-ching like a king!

And hey, if you just want an RPG adventure in an expansive (expensive?) overworld, that’s perfectly within your reach here too!

-Possibly the most heinous Dokapon game of them all?!

Can this even fly in the 2020s?! I guess we’ll find out, since this remastered version retains all the same irreverence the original was known for!

That classic pixel-art world from before is kept intact, but with all illustrations and 3D models updated and given new effects for their debut on the big, high-def screen!

Every 3D model is a full-on ‘toon now, while the illustrated 2D art has been fully smoothed out. But if that’s too much change for you, no problem: the original pixel art can still be tagged in as desired!

-“Rock-Paper-Scissors”-style battles anyone can enjoy!

Encounter an enemy and it’s battle time! But not to worry, because these battles are simple as can be.

First off, a coin toss decides who goes first. When it’s your turn, you choose one of four possible attack types.

Choose wisely, and you’ll be doing some good old-fashioned weak-point hitting for massive damage!

But fail to predict your opponent’s defense type, and that massive damage may be yours to bear instead…

Will you be able to read your opponent like a book? Will your opponent be able to read you? The tides can turn in an instant with a single slip-up, so make your move and cross your fingers!

-Same old multiplayer madness, but now with online matches, too!

Up to four players can rumble locally, with only a single copy of Dokapon among them!

Don’t have any friends nearby? (Lost them all to Dokapon fights?) No problem! Online multiplayer’s got your back. The world’s your oyster now!

Best of all, you can stop playing anytime you’d like (you swear!), then jump right back into the fray later on by loading up your save data!

-Utilize the speed multiplier and up the game’s tempo to your liking!

Yes, you can even speed things up to make the game match your pace.

At 3x or 5x speed, even the busiest players have no excuse not to give Dokapon a try!

The speed multiplier can even be used online, cutting down wait times and making the sparks fly faster than ever!

-Add some sugar and spice to make everything twice as nice!

Call them X-factors or secret ingredients; either way, you can access them in the System menu and rebalance the whole game as you see fit!

Just give it a pinch of this and a dash of that—only as much as you’d like.

Maybe turn down the number of rounds, for example, if you’ve got a busy schedule and can’t quite handle the usual length?

Or fine-tune the gameplay experience by giving yourself infinite magic, or limiting the number of times Wallace appears!

You can even change the background music to some classic battle themes from past Dokapon games, for that little extra kick of nostalgia!

What would a remaster be, after all, without that certain “je ne sais quoi” that gives this series its edge?

Watch a new trailer below. View a new set of screenshots at the gallery.

PC Announce Trailer

[tanadrin]

In Subcontractors of Guilt: Holocaust Memory and Muslim Belonging in Postwar Germany, Esra Özyürek describes the way that German politicians, officials and journalists, now that the far right is in the ascendant, have been cranking up the old mechanism of sanitising Germany by demonising Muslims. In December 2022, German police foiled a coup attempt by Reichsbürger, an extremist group with more than twenty thousand members, which was planning an assault on the Bundestag. Alternative für Deutschland, which has neo-Nazi affiliations, has become the country’s second most popular party, partly in response to economic mismanagement by the coalition led by Olaf Scholz. Yet despite the undisguised antisemitism of even mainstream politicians such as Hubert Aiwanger, the deputy minister-president of Bavaria, ‘white Christian-background Germans’ see themselves ‘as having reached their destination of redemption and re-democratisation’, according to Özyürek. The ‘general German social problem of antisemitism’ is projected onto a minority of Arab immigrants, who are then further stigmatised as ‘the most unrepentant antisemites’ in need of ‘additional education and disciplining’. ...

Netanyahu, too, has learned from Germany’s postwar efforts at whitewashing. In 2015 he claimed that the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem had persuaded Hitler to murder rather than simply expel the Jews. Three years later, after initially criticising a move by the Law and Justice Party in Poland to criminalise references to Polish collaboration, he endorsed the law making such references punishable by a fine. He has since legitimised Shoah revisionism in Lithuania and Hungary, commending both countries for their valiant struggle against antisemitism. (Efraim Zuroff, a historian who has helped bring many former Nazis to trial, compared this to ‘praising the Ku Klux Klan for improving racial relations in the South’.) More recently, Netanyahu accompanied Elon Musk to one of the kibbutzim targeted by Hamas, just days after Musk tweeted in support of an antisemitic conspiracy theory. Since 7 October, he has seemed to be reading from the Eichmann trial script. He regularly announces that he is fighting the ‘new Nazis’ in Gaza in order to save ‘Western civilisation’, while others in his cohort of Jewish supremacists keep up a supporting chorus. The people of Gaza are ‘subhuman’, ‘animals’, ‘Nazis’. ...

In a more unnerving illustration of the postwar German-Israeli symbiosis, the German health minister, Karl Lauterbach, approvingly retweeted a video in which Douglas Murray, a mouthpiece of the English far right, claims that the Nazis were more decent than Hamas. ‘Watch and listen,’ retweeted Karin Prien, deputy chair of the Christian Democratic Union and education minister for Schleswig-Holstein. ‘This is great,’ Jan Fleischhauer, a former contributing editor at Der Spiegel, wrote. ‘Really great,’ echoed Veronika Grimm, a member of the German Council of Economic Experts. The Süddeutsche Zeitung, which in 2021 ‘outed’ five Lebanese and Palestinian journalists at Deutsche Welle as antisemites, with equally flimsy evidence exposed the Indian poet and art historian Ranjit Hoskote as a calumniator of Jews for comparing Zionism with Hindu nationalism. Die Zeit alerted German readers to another moral outrage: ‘Greta Thunberg openly sympathises with the Palestinians.’ An open letter from Adam Tooze, Samuel Moyn and other academics criticising Jürgen Habermas’s statement in support of Israel’s actions provoked an editor at the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung to claim that Jews have an ‘enemy’ at universities in the form of postcolonial studies. Der Spiegel ran a cover picture of Scholz alongside his claim that ‘we need to deport on a grand scale again.’ ... Susan Neiman, who wrote admiringly of Vergangenheitsbewältigung in Learning from the Germans (2020), now says she has changed her mind. ‘German historical reckoning has gone haywire,’ she wrote in October. ‘This philosemitic fury ... has been used to attack Jews in Germany.’ In Never Again: Germans and Genocide after the Holocaust, which examines the German response to mass killings in Cambodia, Rwanda and the Balkans, Andrew Port suggests that their ‘otherwise admirable reckoning with the Holocaust may have unwittingly desensitised Germans. The conviction that they had left the rabid racism of their forebears far behind them may have paradoxically allowed for the unabashed expression of different forms of racism.’

(source)

[contemplatingoutlander]

The former Republican David French does a good job of explaining what keeps MAGA folks continuing to support Trump. It's all about the "culture" of MAGA and the sense of "belonging," combined with years of propaganda that have painted anyone even slightly on the left as being "bad" and "out to get" conservatives and their families.

And if we don't understand that, we won't know how to combat it. Here are some excerpts:

I live in Tennessee outside Nashville, a very deep-red part of America. According to a New York Times tool that calculates the political composition of a community, only 15 percent of my neighbors are Democrats. I’ve been living here in the heart of MAGA country since Donald Trump came down the escalator. This is the world of my friends, my neighbors and many members of my family. That is perhaps why, when I’m asked what things are like now, eight years into the Trump era, I have a ready answer: Everything is normal until, suddenly, it’s not. And unless we can understand what’s normal and what’s not, we can’t truly understand why Trumpism endures. [...] It’s no coincidence that one of the most enduring cultural symbols of Trump’s 2020 campaign was the boat parade. To form battle lines behind Trump, the one man they believe can save America from total destruction, thousands of supporters in several states got in their MasterCrafts and had giant open-air water parties. Or take the Trump rally, the signature event of this political era. If you follow the rallies via Twitter or mainstream newscasts, you see the anger, but you miss the fun. When I was writing for The Dispatch, one of the best pieces we published was a report by Andrew Egger in 2020 about the “Front Row Joes,” the Trump superfans who follow Trump from rally to rally the way some people used to follow the Grateful Dead. Egger described the Trump rally perfectly: “For enthusiasts, Trump rallies aren’t just a way to see a favorite politician up close. They are major life events: festive opportunities to get together with like-minded folks and just go crazy about America and all the winning the Trump administration’s doing.”

[See more below the cut]

[...] Why do none of your arguments against Trump penetrate this mind-set? The Trumpists have an easy answer: You’re horrible, and no one should listen to horrible people. Why were Trumpists so vulnerable to insane stolen-election theories? Because they know that you’re horrible and that horrible people are capable of anything, including stealing an election. At the same time, their own joy and camaraderie insulates them against external critiques that focus on their anger and cruelty. Such charges ring hollow to Trump supporters, who can see firsthand the internal friendliness and good cheer that they experience when they get together with one another. They don’t feel angry — at least not most of the time. They are good, likable people who’ve just been provoked by a distant and alien “left” that many of them have never meaningfully encountered firsthand. Indeed, while countless gallons of ink have been spilled analyzing the MAGA movement’s rage, far too little has been spilled discussing its joy. Once you understand both dynamics, however, so much about the present moment makes clearer sense, including the dynamics of the Republican primary. Ron DeSantis, for example, channels all the rage of Trumpism and none of the joy. With relentless, grim determination he fights the left with every tool of government at his disposal. But can he lead stadiums full of people in an awkward dance to “Y.MC.A.” by the Village People? Will he be the subject of countless over-the-top memes and posters celebrating him as some kind of godlike, muscular superhero? [...] Trump’s fans, by contrast, don’t understand the effects of [the MAGA] fury because they mainly experience the joy. For them, the MAGA community is kind and welcoming. For them, supporting Trump is fun. Moreover, the MAGA movement is heavily clustered in the South, and Southerners see themselves as the nicest people in America. It feels false to them to be called “mean” or “cruel.” Cruel? No chance. In their minds, they’re the same people they’ve always been — it’s just that they finally understand how bad you are. And by “you,” again, they often mean the caricatures of people they’ve never met. In fact, they often don’t even know about the excesses of the Trump movement. Many of them will never know that their progressive neighbors have faced threats and intimidation. And even when they do see the movement at its worst, they can’t quite believe it. So Jan. 6 was a false flag. Or it was a “fedsurrection.” It couldn’t have really been a violent attempt to overthrow the elected government, because they know these people, or people like them, and they’re mostly good folks. It had to be a mistake, or an exaggeration, or a trick or a few bad apples. The real crime was the stolen election. It’s the combination of anger and joy that makes the MAGA enthusiasm so hard to break but also limits its breadth.  [...] The battle and the booze cruise both give MAGA devotees a sense of belonging. They see a country that’s changing around them and they are uncertain about their place in it. But they know they have a place at a Trump rally, surrounded by others — overwhelmingly white, many evangelical — who feel the same way they do. [...] During the Trump years, I’ve received countless email messages from distraught readers that echo a similar theme: My father (or mother or uncle or cousin) is lost to MAGA. They can seem normal, but they’re not, at least not any longer. It’s hard for me to know what to say in response, but one thing is clear: You can’t replace something with nothing. And until we fully understand what that “something” is — and that it includes not only passionate anger but also very real joy and a deep sense of belonging — then our efforts to persuade are doomed to fail.

[sharksfood]

An Aromantic Look at Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

Spoilers Ahead

When I first watched Mad Max: Fury Road, I was 5 years past my last romantic relationship, but I still had the baggage of being a failure at love. I knew I was aromantic, but the weight on needed a relationship, a romantic connection with someone, still loomed over my life. Seeing that film, specifically seeing the character Furiosa, it changed me, and I knew I didn’t need romance. She was living without it, fighting not for it but not even addressing it. Sure, she had Max, but they were practically strangers, and in the end, more like siblings. They were willing to die for eachother, Max gave his life blood, and yet he left her, so she could heal and grow without his burden. They didn’t end up together, Furiosa didn’t magically have a man or woman to kiss in the end, she had the Mothers and the Citadel. She didn’t need romantic love, as family love and revenge was fulfilling enough.

I saw myself in Furiosa, I had my friends and family, and now revenge on the world for forcing love onto me this whole time. It wouldn’t be until 2020 that I’d find someone I could love and I didn’t feel burdened by it. Someone who was also demiromantic (as I’d come to understand I was too) and she became my precious flower amongst the Wasteland. But enough about me, why does George Miller want Furiosa and Praetorian Jack to fall in love?

‘Burke explains that he, Miller, and Taylor-Joy “wrestled the whole thing out,” talking through all the different possible permutations of the relationship. Miller was insistent that there was something of a romance between them. Taylor-Joy saw it as a kind of marriage, but in a “weird environment where one is having to be very careful.” Burke, meanwhile, fought for the notion that the two of them push romance to the side until they believe they are riding off to a safer place.’

Furiosa was burdened with everything, she didn’t need the additional burden of romance. She had enough on her mind, enough to fight through to become safe, she didn’t need someone to love in that way. She did bond with Praetorian Jack, whether that be through a similar struggle, their mutual desire to escape this harsh world, or their rawness in the moment they teamed up. I immediately saw them as a friendship, a kinship, a bond between two people who wanted a better life and had so much taken away from them. They were a found family, just like Max became swooped into Furiosa and the Wives’ found family. I never saw them as a couple, and I didn’t want them to be a couple. Mad Max as a franchise (at least the reboot spinoff franchise) was never involved with romance, so it seems ridiculous to me that Miller would want this pair to become romantic. Why? Why would he try to insist that? But thank God Burke talked him out of that path, as I think the ambiguity of their relationship is so much better. It’s better for the story, Furiosa’s character growth, and the movie as a whole.

‘Miller leaves it open as to whether the relationship between Furiosa and Jack blossoms into a full-fledged romance. [...] According to Burke, there was a lot of discussion over just how explicit their connection was going to be.’

In 2017 I was having one of the worst times of my life. It wasn’t anything to rival life in the Wasteland, but it was horrible, and romantic love was thrust onto me without my consent. It made everything worse. I couldn’t trust someone I had considered a friend anymore, they lied to me, they beat down my boundaries by force, and then I was scarred for what seemed to be forever. Furiosa was scarred. She was scared and full of rage, almost all her life she fought to survive and do what she promised her late mother she would do. If Furiosa had a romantic relationship, that could come crumbling down. She did insist that Jack come with her back to the Green Place when they escaped the Bullet Farm, but not because she loved him as a romantic partner. She knew he wanted a better life, too. She knew his life was scarred and he wanted to be somewhere that wasn’t covered in sand and rust. That’s not romantic, thats just kind. Furiosa trusted Jack, and if he had made any advancements for romance towards her then that trust could’ve been broken.

Its true that all of this is up to personal interpretation. I see Furiosa and the series as a whole as aromantic, or at least somewhere on the spectrum (coming from a demiromantic person). But you could also read it as asexual. Furiosa’s mother was sexually tortured in front of her. Furiosa escaped from sexual assault at the hands of Ricktus. Fursioa left a future of sexual slavery under Immortan Joe. She and the films could be asexual. But you could also see her bond with Praetorian Jack as any sort of relationship, which is totally valid. It’s just not what I consider to be correct, given all that the film and Furisoa as a character builds to. I disagree with George Miller’s earlier vision for Furiosa, and I’m forever thankful that she didn’t “fall in love” with anyone, at least not explicitly.

‘There is little actual dialogue between Furiosa and Jack [...] Furiosa and Jack’s relationship thrives in what isn’t said rather than what is.’

I am fully aware that fandoms crave relationships. They love to ship characters, draw ship art, and write ship fanfics. And yes, I did it too for Mad Max: Fury Road. The only bond I could see flourishing into romantic love was between Nux and Slit or Nux and Capable (the latter being the most obvious in the film). So of course the Mad Max fandom would grab at the closest relationship the film shows in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga as being romantic (or sexual), which would be between Furiosa and Jack. I completely understand and accept this, but I don’t have to enjoy it. Furiosa will always be aromantic to me, and she’s probably asexual too considering everything that’s happened to her. 

Finally, I wanted to touch on what is probably the most divisive aspect of Furiosa and Jack’s bond; their age. We don;t know how old either of them are when they first meet or when they become a team. My guess is that the film starts with Furiosa at age 8, and ends with her at age 22 (given that she tells Demetus he killed her mother 15 years ago). Jack is harder to guess, but the Wasteland is cruel, so he could be anywhere from 24 to 36 when we first meet him. That would make him 30 to 42 at his death, and approximately 26 to 38 when Furiosa’s Black Thumb training is complete and she officially joins him on the War Rig. Say what you will about the acceptability and morality about age gaps and “dating” someone you met in their teens, but in the Wasteland they don’t seem to care about that sort of thing. Immortan Joe and Ricktus definitely don’t considering they are keen on keeping a child as a bride (and plaything). Let’s just say Jack is definitely kinder than those two, so I’d assume he wouldn’t romantically pursue a teenager. But this is another reason I don’t read their bond as romantic; it just wouldn’t work for each of their ages.

All that said, Mad Max is very special to me, Furiosa especially. I have a long history of becoming attached to interesting and powerful women who are either queer or GNC in some aspect, and Furiosa is no exception. Whether she is aromantic, asexual, a lesbian, nonbinary, or her gender/sexuality isn't even important for the story, I love her. And the reboot franchise will always be aromatic to me in some aspect, even with its hints of romance. As I eventually discovered my ability to love in my own special way, growing from aromantic to demiromantic, so too can my reading of Mad Max: Fury Road and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. Its Pride Month, and Furiosa killed another one of her abusers in righteous fury, breaking the way for us to celebrate with rage for the queer experience.

“You have to go for a real specificity yourself,” Burke says. “But the right kind of specificity has the right kind of ambiguity.”

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All quotes taken from this article: https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/story/furiosa-tom-burke-praetorian-jack

Image was edited by me and is free to use without credit. Original photo of Furiosa: https://nofilmschool.com/the-ending-of-furiosa-explained

Thank you for reading! I mean no ill will towards anyone who has a different interpretation than me in regards to Furiosa or the films. Every angle is valid!

[mariacallous]

Forty-seven years ago today, everything changed. True believers might already know what it was: On May 25, 1977, Star Wars hit movie theaters and irrevocably altered nearly everything pertaining to the act of moviegoing. Lines around the block, overly excited nerds, an appetite for action figures. Star Wars taught Hollywood that certain genres—sci-fi, fantasy, anything that percolated in the offbeat TV shows, books, and comics of the 1950s and ’60s—had fans, and those fandoms would show up. Star Wars made a meager $1.6 million in the US in its opening weekend. But people kept coming back, and by the end of its initial run it had made more than $300 million. Hollywood’s Next Big Thing had arrived.

Common wisdom dictates that Jaws, which came out in 1975 and made some $260 million, was the first summer blockbuster. That’s true, but it was Star Wars that shifted the idea of what kind of film future popcorn flicks tried to be. In the years after its release, a trove of sci-fi and genre films landed in theaters: Blade Runner, Alien, E.T., the Mad Max sequel The Road Warrior. By the ’90s, the summer movie energy had shifted to action fare—Twister, Speed, Jurassic Park, Independence Day—but nerd stuff still ruled. For every Forrest Gump there was a Batman Returns or Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

Then came a little juggernaut called Marvel. By the time Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movies started clearing nine-figure opening weekends in the aughts, it was obvious that comic book heroes’ true superpowers involved making your money disappear. The Avengers opened in early May 2012 and nearly recouped its $200-million-plus production budget in three days. Suddenly, there were at least two superhero movies every year, if not every summer, and some new Star Wars flicks at the holidays.

The one-two punch of Covid-19 theater closures and streaming pretty much kneecapped this entire process. The summer of 2020 had virtually no blockbusters, and by the time moviegoers returned to multiplexes in 2021 and 2022, there had been a vibe shift. Movies like Black Widow and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness did well, but they weren’t events. Rushing to Fandango for tickets didn’t feel as urgent as it once did. Last summer, Barbenheimer was the buzziest thing in movies. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 made money, but they still got beat by Barbie’s might.

Overall, this year could be a wake-up call for studios that superhero fatigue has fully set in, says Chris Nashawaty, author of The Future Was Now, a new book out in July about how the movies of 1982—Blade Runner, E.T., Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, among others—ushered in the current blockbuster era. That epoch, he says, “was always going to be something that couldn’t last forever; I’m frankly surprised that it lasted as long as it did.”

Nashawaty says the success of Barbenheimer—both movies—indicates that audiences are hungry for smart films, but Hollywood’s risk aversion likely means studios will greenlight more projects based on toys and games like Monopoly rather than movies about physicists. “This is a real existential moment in Hollywood right now,” he adds, and studios need to be bold to stay relevant.

Summer 2024, which unofficially begins this weekend, promises a move away from the formula that has been in play for decades. There are only a handful of big popcorn-ready movies coming, and they’re decidedly less family-friendly than the blockbusters of yore. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, which dropped on Friday, is a teeth-chatteringly gritty prequel about a kidnapped woman (Anya Taylor-Joy playing the younger version of Charlize Theron’s character from Mad Max: Fury Road) who ends up in a war between two overlords and has to fight her way out. Deadpool & Wolverine is a Marvel movie, yes, but it’s apparently a paean to pegging and cocaine so hard-R that Ryan Reynolds won’t shut up about it.

The series of weird indies coming in the next few months—the thriller Cuckoo, Ti West’s latest horror flick MaXXXine, a new collab from Poor Things pals Emma Stone and Yorgos Lanthimos called Kinds of Kindness—finally have some room to get into the summer movie conversation.

Make no mistake: I am typing these things with glee and admiration. Glossy family movies have their place, but they’ve grown awfully predictable. Safe—not necessarily in their plots, but in their substance. No matter how fun last year’s barn-burner The Super Mario Bros. Movie was, you can’t say anything about it was surprising, much less new. No one walked into the theater for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and walked out as gobsmacked as they were when they saw Star Wars, or even Speed.

This is not a “Hollywood is so homogenized” argument. Rather, it’s a reminder that Tinseltown wasn’t always this way. Its influence used to introduce people to the future. What’s happening now has the potential to mark a return to the kind of startlingly original movies that used to be hits. Between the pandemic, streaming, and the Hollywood strikes of last summer, a lot of old habits got broken, and there’s a sense that a renaissance is afoot.

This revitalization won’t come easy, if it comes at all. Summer 2024 still has its share of redos and sequels—a new Inside Out movie, reboots of ’90s summer staples The Crow and Twister. (The latter is the aptly-named Twisters; there are more tornadoes this time, apparently.) But even those movies at least feel like they’re grasping for the prefranchise days, even if they’re birthing franchises in the process.

Furiosa is currently projected to bring in more than $40 million at the US box office this weekend, a figure that would bring it close to Fury Road’s tally but may not convince Hollywood execs that it should bankroll more R-rated, original shockbusters. It would, presumably, best The Garfield Movie, which is also out this weekend and has the makings of a more surefire hit: well-known IP, animated, PG-rated. (For the record, though: Critics seem to think it sucks.) Early ticket sales for Deadpool & Wolverine are already breaking records for an R-rated movie. Should it dominate the conversation for a couple weeks while also raking in money, that embrace of a very not-Disney Disney movie—coupled with Furiosa and Hot Barbenheimer Summer—could signal a tipping point.

Look, nothing will ever completely derail Hollywood’s reliance on sure things. Video game adaptations remain poised to take the crown long held by superhero flicks. (Borderlands, starring Cate Blanchett, is coming to theaters this August.) But if this summer’s ever-sprawling slate turns up just enough weird hits, maybe we’ll once again know the feeling of walking out of Star Wars for the first time.

[theculturedmarxist]

Two members of Moms for Liberty, a right-wing activist group, have reported several Florida school librarians to law enforcement. They claimed they had evidence that librarians were distributing "pornography" to minors and requested that law enforcement officers be dispatched. This represents a serious escalation of the tactics deployed by members of Moms for Liberty against school librarians. 

On October 25, Jennifer Tapley, a member of the Santa Rosa County chapter of Moms for Liberty and a candidate for school board, contacted the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office. "I've got some evidence a crime was committed," Tapley said in an audio recording of the call obtained by Popular Information through a public records request. "Pornography given to a minor in a school. And I would like to make a report with somebody and turn over the evidence." Tapley made the call from the lobby of the main office of the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office in Milton, Florida.

She told the dispatcher that she did not want to provide her name because she was "afraid of people getting mad at me for doing this." Tapley said that she would tell the Deputy Sheriff her name, but she didn't want "any public records with her name on it because then people could look it up." 

In an interview with Popular Information, Tapley said she was "scrolling through Facebook" this summer and saw "a video of a mom reading a book" that was "really disgusting." She later learned that there was a Moms for Liberty chapter in her area addressing the issue and joined the group. As a member of the group, she learned that local schools had "some really shocking pornographic books in our libraries." 

Tapley was accompanied at the Sheriff's Office by Tom Gurski, who is also active in the local Moms for Liberty chapter. Soon, Deputy Sheriff Tyler Mabire and another officer arrived and interviewed the pair. 

"The only reason we are here: A crime is being committed. It's a 3rd-degree felony. And we've got the evidence," Gurski said in a body cam video of the interview obtained by Popular Information. "The governor says this is child pornography. It's a serious crime," Tapley added. "It's just as serious as if I handed a playboy to [my child] right now, right here, in front of you. It's just as serious, according to the law." The video has been edited to protect the identity of a minor:

The "pornography" at issue is actually a popular young adult novel, Storm and Fury, by Jennifer L. Armentrout. The book, which is 512 pages, is mostly about humans and gargoyles fighting demons. The main character of the novel, Trinity, is 18 years old. There are some passages with sexual themes, including a few makeout sessions, and one where the main character almost has sex. In the 2020-21 academic year, the Florida Association of Media in Education (FAME), a professional association of Florida librarians, recommended Storm and Fury on its "Teen Reads" list. FAME says books on the list "engage" teens and "provide a spur to critical thinking." Barnes and Noble recommends the book for readers 14 to 18. It was also recommended for students by the School Library Journal.

Armentrout told Popular Information that it was surprising to learn we are "living in an era where, apparently, some adults find it appropriate to contact the police over a fictional book involving gargoyles." She said Storm and Fury "is very close to my heart, as the main character has the same degenerative eye disease, retinitis pigmentosa, as I do." Armentrout said she wrote the book "to educate people on a little-known disease in a fun, suspenseful, and adventurous way." The purpose of the book, Armentrout said, was not to "incite sexual excitement."  

Tapley told Popular Information that any book that has a "sex scene" is pornography and not "appropriate for minors." She did acknowledge that there may be exceptions for "extreme classics." But the books Moms for Liberty is targeting, Tapley says, are "without significant literary value." 

Florida law, however, only bans distributing a book or other material with sexual content if it is "harmful to minors," a standard established by Supreme Court precedent. Under Florida law, a book is only "harmful to minors" if it  "[p]redominantly appeals to a prurient, shameful, or morbid interest" and is "patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community as a whole with respect to what is suitable material or conduct for minors." Storm and Fury, a book that is predominantly about fighting demons, is routinely recommended by adults for high school students. 

Gurski told the officer that Storm and Fury was checked out from Jay High School "by a 17-year-old, which is important because she is a minor." Tapley showed the officers the book, with the offending passages marked with orange sticky notes.

In Santa Rosa County schools, once a book is challenged for sexual content, the policy is to take it out of circulation within five days, pending a review. Tapley alleged, "we have already turned in this book," but the Jay High School librarian did not remove it. That allegation appears to be incorrect. Storm and Fury does not appear on lists of challenged books in Santa Rosa County maintained by the school district and Tapley. 

In addition to the librarian at Jay High School, Tapley points the finger at Ruth Witter, the head librarian for the county. Tapley presents the officers with a printout of Witter's Facebook page and claims it is proof that "she [has been a] member of Santa Rosa County Stop Moms for Liberty since May." She explains that "Moms for Liberty is trying to… get rid of these books" and "fights for parents' rights." Meanwhile, Tapley alleges, Stop Moms for Liberty "are the people who are against Moms for Liberty." 

Tapley claims that, by following the Santa Rosa County Stop Moms for Liberty group, Witter is "fighting us actively." She also connects this to alleged "death threats" against 

Moms for Liberty members, without elaborating. Tapley does not mention that Witter also follows several conservative pages on Facebook, including Fox Nation and a Republican candidate for local office. 

The librarian at Milton High School is also singled out by Tapley for posting in a Facebook group called Emerald Coast SWEEP, a local chapter of the group Red, Wine, and Blue. Tapley describes Red, Wine, and Blue as "a very liberal activist group of people fighting for abortion rights" that opposes the removal of books from public school libraries. Tapley says the Milton librarian is seeking "liberals" to join the school's book review committee, which Tapley claims is "illegal."

Asked if she would like to see librarians criminally charged, Tapley told Popular Information that it "depends on if there's an intent." She said her hope was that the Sheriff would tell the librarians, "you can't do this," and "if you continue to do this, then there would be charges." Tapley added that she "didn't really want to see anybody have their life ruined." 

In an interview, Tapley downplayed her role at the Sheriff's Office, claiming she was not "seeking out any books and trying to go to the police with it or anything." She described her role "as a helper." She only put her name on the report "so that somebody else could be protected." In an email, Tapley said she "had no interactions with the Sheriff’s Office beyond accompanying a citizen there" and "any reporting that states otherwise would be unfactual."

Popular Information has posted the full video from the Santa Rosa Sheriff’s Office on YouTube.

"To see the orchestrated campaign to remove books from schools escalate to a police station is shocking," Kasey Meehan, a Director at PEN America, a non-profit dedicated to free expression, told Popular Information. "Professional librarians apply sensible measures to curate their collections for diverse audiences of readers, and they should not be punished for making knowledge accessible to students that falls well short of the well-established legal standards for obscene materials." Stephana Ferrell of the Florida Freedom to Read Project described the tactics of Moms for Liberty members in Santa Rosa County as an effort to “bully the district into sacrificing access to protected speech.”

Popular Information contacted Mariya Cakins, the chair of Santa Rosa Moms for Liberty, for comment. Cakins said that she would be happy to speak, but the request needed to be routed through the national Moms for Liberty organization. The group never responded to that request. Popular Information was unable to identify reliable contact information for Gurski. 

The efforts of Tapley and Gurski to initiate an investigation by the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office appear to be unsuccessful. According to a document obtained through a public records request, the Sheriff's Office quickly referred the report to Daniel Hahn, the director of safety at Santa Rosa County Florida School District. The Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office then closed the case. 

Gurski, however, is having better luck with other law enforcement agencies. 

Florida police department has open criminal investigation of Florida librarians

"Approximately ten days ago, I had a book in my hand that was issued by the Milton school library, which is not your jurisdiction," Gurski told Deputy Mabire at the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office. "I went to the Milton police station. Submitted an affidavit and the evidence of that particular book. And they have that now for investigation." Gurski said he considered the book pornography. 

Tapley says the book reported by Gurski to the Milton police was another young adult novel, Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List, by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan. The book is a romantic comedy and has some sexual situations and discussions. It also includes LGBTQ characters. It is recommended by Common Sense Media, an independent non-profit that evaluates media for parents, and Publishers Weekly for readers 14 and older. 

In response to a public records request, the Milton Police Department said it could not release any information regarding Gurski's complaint about the book because there is an "open and active investigation pending State Attorney review." 

The Vicki Baggett connection

Tapley told Popular Information that Vicki Baggett, an English teacher in Escambia County, has been "helping us." Baggett, who Popular Information interviewed earlier this year, has challenged hundreds of books in public school libraries, including many that have LGBTQ characters or address racism. Baggett told Popular Information that she challenged When Wilma Rudolph Played Basketball — the inspirational story of a Black woman who overcame racial prejudice to become an Olympic champion — because it would make white students "feel uncomfortable" as "they are being white-shamed.” In a follow-up report, Baggett's current and former students alleged that Baggett openly promoted racist and homophobic beliefs in class. Nevertheless, Baggett has been successful in getting numerous books removed from Escambia public schools. The Escambia school district is now facing a federal lawsuit from a group of authors and First Amendment advocates. 

Tapley described Baggett as "a valiant warrior for the kids, an amazing English teacher, and a wonderful Christian woman." According to Tapley, Baggett has come to Santa Rosa County and "has been helping us see what's in our libraries." Many of the challenges in Santa Rosa County are duplicates of those Baggett submitted in Escambia County. "She's been the catalyst really for a lot of this," Tapley said. "She taught me how to do it." Baggett initially submitted the challenges in Santa Rosa County herself, but those were rejected because she is not a resident. Many of those challenges have been resubmitted with Baggett's name alongside a Santa Rosa County resident. 

[prismaticpichu]

25 for Seph and 6 for Zack <3

Heck yeah! You got it! ❤️ (I actually just answered #6 with Zack so i’ma skip that one if that’s all good! Though main takeaway is that I associate with his unwavering faith in others <3)

~~~

What was your first impression of this character? How about now? ~ ohhhhh YES YES YES i love this question xDD I always hoped for an opportunity to talk about my first discovery of Sephiroth shshdhhd. So! What was my first impression of Sephiroth..? Did I faint? Did I melt? Did I combust into flames at the sheer majesty?

Oh, no. My first impression of him was complete and utter HATRED…

….

For about 2 minutes.

Okie doke so this isn’t as much as a “first impression” as it is my emotions under the circumstance in which I was introduced to him, but I wanna tell the unasked for story anyway lol. So, basically, imagine this: it’s winter or 2020. Little Pichu is stuck inside alongside the rest of the world. There wasn’t much to do, not much to look forward to. But ofc, I always had video games to entertain me. Specifically, Smash Ultimate—a game I played obsessively during lockdown, day after day. Anywho, like I said, it’s winter of 2020. December. And what was coming up in just a few days…? The Game Awards.

Normally, I really wouldn’t care all too much. I never really gave a poo before lol. But this year??? This year, it was different. It was almost guaranteed that a new smash fighter was gonna revealed. And as someone who’s heart and soul was tethered to the game at the time, this was everything to me xD

So! There I am, sitting on the couch in front of the TV. It’s the 10th of December. The Game Awards would be on any moment. Already I’m sitting there and letting my brain trip over all the potential fighters that can be revealed. The anticipation is REAL, man. SO REAL.

The Game Awards start.

The first thing to appear on the screen is a Smash Bros trailer.

Little Pichu is PSYCHED. Heart tenses. Breath hitches. All the characters are there on the cliff. No indication as to who it can be. All options are valid. Every single hope has a chance. They’re about to fight Galeem. The thing prepares to unleash an attack. The music escalates and the god gets sliced in half and—

And…

Whomst.

The F*ck.

Is that.

So, yeah, um, I was very uncultured and had no idea who one of the most iconic villains to exist was x,D It’s actually REALLY embarrassing lol. Anyways, as Sephiroth descended from the sky and that random choir began chanting in the background, all I could feel was RAGE. I’m tell you. It was cold, bitter FURY. How could they add another swordfighter??? We have ENOUGH. Who is this woman??? What??? WHY??? WHY HER?????? WHY NOT SOMEONE I KNOW AND WANTED—!

You know how I said the anger lasted for 2 minutes.

It was prolly more like 55 seconds.

As almost as quickly as I wanted to chuck my remote at the screen, I had turned into, like, a mesmerized sheep. The trailer was (as my vocab would say at the time) freaking EPIC, man! The dude was UNSTOPPABLE. He plowed through anything and everything and holy SHIT DID HE JUST KILL MARIO?—

Yeaaaaah so that’s how it started tor me xD It wasn’t long until I was binge watching memes of Sephiroth’s entrance to smash, scarfing down comics of him and Pichu, and coming to the realization that I actually wanted to know a lot more about this character. I still remember the moment I opened up Google and typed in “Who is Sephiroth?” That’s how engraved this man is into my essence xD Pichu get help. I was brought to a wiki page, and there was literally no turning back lol. I learned that he used to be a hero—a good guy—which absolutely plunged me into wanting to hunt down the Nibelheim Incident and see his downfall. I became so invested in what I didn’t see from his good side that I hunted down an 8 hour playthrough of Crisis Core, as that’s what I discovered was the prequel to it all. Next came devouring fanfic and headcanoning- and, well, here we are today xDD Needless to say I love this stupid psycho to death, and i don’t think that’s changing anytime soon!

…..This has no right to be this long dhdhdhhd.

[yuraslefttoe]

DOUBLE BONUS i found the full render so here you go : unreleased 2020 tart content warning its really loud and really bad listen at your own discretion lyrics:

Stasis, just like a house of cards I think I’m ‘bout to cave in The things I’ve said look better when put in perspective, A picture-perfect palace stained, but yet the world keeps turning, “ad meliora” Traces, when the world comes crashing, burning, falling, In your places Isn’t that enough? Though you’re still changing, Taken by the sun, down to one Through the light, and the triumph Don’t think you’ve seen the last of me Right hand idle,  Played the devil’s hand for three, I’m burning through time, She’s yet to be appeased And even so, you’d never see her count her woes, Oh, believe me, I’ve seen the sunlight come and go Go and tell your lies, It doesn’t come as a surprise You’re making bets with a dead man’s compromise And tell me again, how you plan to escape the walls that you’ve grown so close to know And even if I cared, You burnt that bridge long ago Let’s put on a show, For the viewers there at home You’re falling again, reaching ever dropping lows How long will it be, until you finally let go   I don’t care about the things you say, And if it comes to love, I’d rather throw my beating heart away So read your morals, “so divine” I’ll call your bluff, shut you up, Until these walls of mine just cease to fight Constricting, the rooms around us push me back up onto my feet With every step you take, you’re drawing closer to me Focus on the sun, now ‘till none Through the rage and the fury Don’t think you’d win so easily Oh, are there you are, screaming again, And by the power in him, You’re too far gone, Tried to keep his true intent I know it’s hard, But continue and abstain, Oh, what’s the point of seeing how I end the game? Simply put, I’d rather read the clues Of who you knew, And how they came in twos, Shove my life to the side, Do or die, and when the tides come crashing down I’d doubt I’d ever hold the crown Half side idle, Played the devil’s game for me, She’s staring bleakly, I’m sure he’s been released And even so, I’ve seen this play out all before, Oh, believe me, I’ve known her longer than her soul And so it seems, the monster’s latched on with his teeth, Singing so faintly, I hope she’s found her peace The years pass by, have you ever wondered why It never fades, even as the stars comply And even if you’re right, I’d be living out of spite, Nowhere else to go, So just make your way back home I’m laughing again, never would I find the time, To look to the sky and see you meet your own demise Find yourself another game to play, ‘Cause when it comes to love, you’re not the one that I’d choose to save So read my morals, They come entwined, Your time is up, called your bluff Don’t fool yourself, I know you’ve seen the light Trigger idle, Don’t play the devil’s games with me And when I see you the whole world seems to convene, And even so, you’d never think I should’ve known Oh, believe me, I know the sunlight comes and goes “Aren’t you sick of life?” The silent speaks up without strife, The vise takes the blows, “Pack up, the labyrinth is closed” You’ve fallen again, How much farther can you go? I think that it’s time for you to finally call home Think about all the things that you’ve said, ‘Cause if I’ve really lost, wouldn’t I be here lying dead, So read his morals, see the light, This is enough, wrap it up, I’ll see you when you finally know right— I don’t really know, If I’m the one that’s all alone, My heart takes the blow, It seems the soulless took their toll I’m starting to crash, farther than the deepest lows, How long has it been since I was clearly overthrown? I don’t care about the things you’ll say, ‘Cause if it’s come from above, then I’ll just take my place and stay The world’s gone under, too far gone,  Don’t call his bluff, pack it up, And run with me if you wanna see dawn

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

November 17, 2023

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

NOV 18, 2023

In an NPR piece yesterday, Bill Chappell noted that “the war between Israel and Hamas is being fought, in part, through disinformation and competing claims.” 

Khalil al-Hayya, a member of Hamas’s leadership team currently in Qatar, told Ben Hubbard and Maria Abi-Habib of the New York Times that Hamas’s goal in their attack of October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists crossed from Gaza into Israel and tortured and killed about 1,200 people, taking another 240 hostage, was to make sure the region did not settle into a status quo that excluded the Palestinians. 

In 2020 the Palestinians were excluded from discussions about the Abraham Accords negotiated by then-president Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner that normalized relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain (and later Morocco). More recently, Saudi Arabia and Israel were in talks with the United States about normalizing relations.   

Al-Hayya told the reporters that in order to “change the entire equation and not just have a clash,” Hamas leaders intended to commit “a great act” that Israel would respond to with fury. “[W]ithout a doubt, it was known that the reaction to this great act would be big,” al-Hayya said, but “[w]e had to tell people that the Palestinian cause would not die.” 

“Hamas’s goal is not to run Gaza and to bring it water and electricity and such,” al-Hayya said. “This battle was not because we wanted fuel or laborers,” he added. “It did not seek to improve the situation in Gaza. This battle is to completely overthrow the situation.”

Hamas media adviser Taher El-Nounou told the reporters: “I hope that the state of war with Israel will become permanent on all the borders, and that the Arab world will stand with us.”

Hamas could be pretty certain that Israel would retaliate with a heavy hand. The governing coalition that took power at the end of 2022 is a far-right coalition, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu needs to hold that coalition together to stay in power, not least because he faces charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust.   

Once it took power, Netanyahu’s government announced that expanding Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank was a priority, vowing to annex the occupied territory. It also endorsed discrimination against LGBTQ people and called for generous payments to ultra-Orthodox men so they could engage in religious study rather than work. It also tried to push through changes to the judicial system to give far more power to the government. 

From January 7 until October 7, 2023, protesters turned out in the streets in huge numbers. With the attack, Israelis have come together until the crisis is resolved.

Netanyahu’s ability to stay in power depended in large part on his promises that he would keep Israelis safe. The events of October 7 on his watch—the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust—shattered that guarantee. Polls show that Israelis blame his government, and three quarters of them think he should resign. Sixty-four percent think the country should hold an election immediately after the war. 

Immediately after the attack, on October 7, Netanyahu vowed “mighty vengeance” against Hamas, and Israeli airstrikes began to pound Gaza. On October 8, Israel formally declared war. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the country’s retaliation would “change the reality on the ground in Gaza for the next 50 years,” and on October 9 he announced “a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed…. We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly.”

Israel and the U.S. have strong historic and economic ties: as Nicole Narea points out in Vox in a review of their history together, the U.S. has also traditionally seen Israel as an important strategic ally as it stabilizes the Middle East, helping to maintain the supply of Middle Eastern oil that the global economy needs. That strategic importance has only grown as the U.S. seeks to normalize ties around the region to form a united front against Iran.

For Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and other envoys, then, it appeared the first priority after the October 7 attack was to keep the conflict from spreading. Biden made it very clear that the U.S. would stand behind Israel should Iran, which backs Hamas, be considering moving in. He warned: “[T]o any country, any organization, anyone thinking of taking advantage of this situation, I have one word: Don’t.”

The movement of two U.S. carrier groups to the region appears so far to be helping to achieve that goal. While Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon and Yemen’s Houthis have fired missiles and drones at Israel since October 7, Iran’s leaders have said they will not join Hamas’s fight and are hoping only to use the conflict as leverage against the U.S.

Militias have fired at least 55 rocket and drone strikes at U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria since October 7 without killing any U.S. soldiers. In retaliation, the U.S. has launched three airstrikes against militia installations in Syria, killing up to seven men (the military assesses there were not women or children in the vicinity) in the third strike on Sunday. The U.S. keeps roughly 900 troops in Syria and 2,500 troops in Iraq to work with local forces to prevent the resurgence of the Islamic State.

At the same time that Biden emphasized Israel’s right to respond to Hamas’s attack and demanded the return of the hostages, he also called for humanitarian aid to Gaza through Egypt and warned Netanyahu to stay within the laws of war.

Rounds of diplomacy by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who flew to Israel and Jordan initially on October 11 and has gone back repeatedly, as well as by Biden, who has both visited the region—his second trip to a war zone—and constantly worked the phones, and other envoys, started humanitarian convoys moving into Gaza with a single 20-truck convoy on October 21. By early November, over 100 trucks a day were entering Gaza, the number the United Nations says is the minimum needed. Yesterday the Israeli war cabinet agreed to allow two tankers of fuel a day into Gaza after the U.N. said it couldn’t deliver aid because it had run out of fuel. 

The U.S. has insisted from the start that Israel’s military decisions must not go beyond the laws of war. Israeli officials say they are staying within the law, yet an estimated 11,000 civilians and Hamas fighters (the numbers are not separated out) have died. Gaza has been crushed into rubble by airstrikes, and more than a million people are homeless. That carnage has sparked protests around the world along with calls for a cease-fire, which Israel rejects. 

It has also sparked extreme Islamophobia and antisemitism exacerbated by social media. In the immediate aftermath of October 7, Islamophobia inspired a Chicago man to stab a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy to death; more recently, antisemitism has jumped more than 900% on X (formerly Twitter). On Wednesday, Elon Musk agreed with a virulently antisemitic post on X. White House spokesperson Andrew Bates responded: “We condemn this abhorrent promotion of Antisemitic and racist hate in the strongest terms, which runs against our core values as Americans.” Advertisers, including IBM and Apple, announced they would no longer advertise on Musk’s platform.

While calling for humanitarian pauses in the fighting, the Biden administration has continued to focus on getting the hostages out and has rejected calls for a cease-fire, saying such a break would only allow Hamas to regroup. In The Atlantic on November 14, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who negotiated a 2012 cease-fire between Hamas and Israel only to see Hamas violate that agreement two years later, explained that cease-fires have only kicked the can down the road. “Israel’s policy since 2009 of containing rather than destroying Hamas has failed,” she said.  

Clinton called for the destruction of Hamas on the one hand and “a new strategy and new leadership” for Israel on the other. “Instead of the current ultra-right-wing government, it will need a government of national unity that’s rooted in the center of Israeli politics and can make the hard choices ahead,” she wrote. 

Central to those choices is the long-neglected two-state solution that would establish a Palestinian state. Biden and Blinken and a number of Arab governments have backed the idea, but to many observers it seems impossible to pull off. Still, at the same time Clinton’s article appeared, King Abdullah II of Jordan published his own op-ed in the Washington Post  titled: “A two-state solution would be a victory for our common humanity.”

“[L]et’s start with some basic reality,” he wrote. “The fact is that the thousands of victims across Israel, Gaza and the West Bank have been overwhelmingly civilians…. Leaders everywhere have the responsibility to face the full reality of this crisis, as ugly as it is. Only by anchoring ourselves to the concrete facts that have brought us to this point will we be able to change the increasingly dangerous direction of our world…. 

“If the status quo continues, the days ahead will be driven by an ongoing war of narratives over who is entitled to hate more and kill more. Sinister political agendas and ideologies will attempt to exploit religion. Extremism, vengeance and persecution will deepen not only in the region but also around the world…. It is up to responsible leaders to deliver results, starting now.”

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[beardedmrbean]

SEOUL, June 25 (UPI) -- North Korea sent some 350 trash-filled balloons toward South Korea overnight, Seoul's military said Tuesday, as back-and-forth provocations continue across a tense inter-Korean border.

As of Tuesday morning, around 100 balloons carrying trash and waste paper had landed in Seoul and the northern part of Gyeonggi Province, Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a text message to reporters.

An analysis of recovered balloons found they did not contain hazardous materials, the JCS said.

The latest launch marked the fifth time in the last month that North Korea has sent balloons filled with debris and even excrement, according to South Korean officials.

Seoul's Unification Ministry told local media on Monday that parasites, such as roundworms and threadworms, believed to have originated in human excrement, were detected in earlier balloons.

South Korea briefly resumed anti-Pyongyang loudspeaker broadcasts at the border earlier this month in response to the launches. On Tuesday, the military said it was prepared to begin the transmissions again at any time.

"Our military's psychological warfare broadcast against North Korea is ready to be implemented immediately and will be implemented flexibly depending on the strategic and operational situation," the JCS message said. "This depends on North Korea's actions."

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol mentioned the North's balloons during an address to commemorate the 74th anniversary of the Korean War in the southeastern city of Daegu on Tuesday, calling their launch "despicable and irresponsible."

Yoon also slammed the defense treaty signed by North Korea and Russia last week during Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Pyongyang.

"Last week, [North Korea] signed a 'Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty' with Russia, which started the war in Ukraine, and promised to strengthen military and economic cooperation, in direct violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions," Yoon said.

"It is an anachronism that runs counter to the progress of history," he said.

The North's launches appear to be a response to the longstanding practice of North Korean defectors floating balloons with anti-Pyongyang messages across the border.

Activist group Fighters for a Free North Korea said it sent 20 balloons carrying some 300,000 leaflets, USB drives containing South Korean media and U.S. dollars across the border last week.

On Friday, Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, issued a statement in official media condemning the launch by "disgusting defectors" and warning of possible retaliation.

North Korea has reacted with fury to the activists' balloons in the past. In June 2020, Pyongyang severed all communications with Seoul and blew up an inter-Korean liaison office over what it called South Korea's failure to rein in the defectors.

The demilitarized zone that has separated the two Koreas since fighting halted in the 1950-53 war has also been the site of multiple border incursions in recent weeks, with North Korean troops crossing the military demarcation line three times since June 9.

On each occasion, the South Korean military fired warning shots and the North's soldiers returned to their side of the border.

JCS officials said the crossings appear unintentional, as the North has been ramping up activity in frontline areas of the DMZ since withdrawing from an inter-Korean military agreement in November.

North Korean soldiers have been observed clearing land, laying mines, reinforcing tactical roads and installing structures that appear to be anti-tank barriers at several locations, the JCS said.

[everybodyloveshippos]

What has been your favorite moment of your current dnd campaign?

Ahhh okay this is def very hard to answer since this campaign started like,,, march 2020 (in person for a bit, then online, thankfully back to in person now) SO....LONG WINDED POST AHEAD,,,

So we’ve been at it for a while! And things get pushed to the back of my mind or are in my notebook somewhere-BUT we did start a discord channel called ‘that one time when’ where we put memorable moments. So I will do my best to list my top three since i could never sift thru this entire crazy adventure and pick just one <3

The first time Valentine cast revivify! We had just levelled up, I had just learned the spell, and I had just bought diamonds prior to us going to the Cassalanter ball (kinda spoilers for dragonheist ahead). So some cult nonsense starts goin down in the basement, we jump in (to the soundtrack of ballroom blitz) and we’re holding our own, kicking ass, but then victorio casts power word kill to instantly kill Hawkwood (artificer half-elf) and it was our first PC death and we were kinda freaking out.

It was a big character moment for a lot of our party bcus it was one of the highest stake things that had happened thus far. Lucien ripped out victorios throat (lucien is a drow werewolf) despite his hesitation over it (past trauma with being used as a weapon and monster) and valentine realized that ‘holy shit. I care about these people more than I care to admit. What a scary thought.” and then flew over to revive him. The imagery was just very cool and pretty to imagine, with high arches and valentine’s aasimar wings and eyes glowing white gold, holding hawkwood to them as the diamond shatters and the pieces rise in the air and he wakes up! I actually drew this a long time ago here

Another moment that had us losing our MINDS (one of us literally) was we were facing down Yandathul, a mindflayer (i think he’s an Ulitharid) who 3 party members have personal beef with (he experimented on our drow twins, disguised as a drow himself) (he ate nick’s uncle’s brain in front of him. Nick is a Githyanki. He has beef w mindflayers on sight anyways) Also we’d just found the corpse of a Draegloth, another experiment and our ally at the time that he had killed.

So basically we were fighting this guy, and he fuckin….Subdues nick and then eats gothi’s (our dwarf paladin, a newer addition to the party) brain in front of him. Then  he casts planeshift, and as we’re all about to get sent to fuckin WHO knows where, we could all land anywhere, not even together, nick-you know how you need to hit the right tune/frequency to travel to a different plane in dnd or something?-Well he screams for us all to grab his hands as planeshft is cast and he screams out the note that’s gonna make sure we all go TOGETHER AT LEAST to the astral sea, where he’s from It was just so intense and insane and emotional bcus nick was doing a scream of fury and grief and frustration but also doing bard stuff to keep us all safe. And it came after a PC death, and we rlly all almost got yeeted to separate corners of the universe. So we all just. Floated in the astral sea for a bit. With a corpse Valentine (my pc, cleric) couldnt revivify bcus his brain got eaten. I think it was our wildest moment. It stands out a lot because we lost. weirdly enough, the final countdown is a song that syncs up w this moment super well.

God anon im sorry to wax poetic theres soooo much more and obvi im biased to valentine’s moments but genuinely, i think my favourite moment was:

Nick slapping his abusive and terrible father on the deck of their warship in front of his crew. I gasped Out Loud in person it was So good i was shocked. It slapped. And so did nick. Lol