#I can't completely hate it. it was pretty ambitious

[centrally-unplanned]

Anyway I wanted to write something a little more serious about the politics of the day - a trend many noticed in the 2024 election, and its aftermath, is all of these notable non-politicians jumping onto the Trump ship. You have certainly noticed the big ones doing it, the Musk-types. What I have also seen is the middle-road types - the podcasts slotting the admin into their current healthcare fad, the policy bloggers being like "Dear Trump, this is how to truly reform the government - my pet idea" and offering support. A sort of opportunistic bandwagoning. This does happen every election to some extent, but it is notable that it happened way, way less when Biden was elected.

Some view this through the lens of fear, of Trump's open willingness to tax or prosecute those who don't bend the knee. That is part of it, for sure. But the other part is that Trump doesn't really believe in all that much - and that is actually a pretty big asset in politics. If you are a "Progress Studies" blogger or a union rep or a tech CEO, does Trump disagree with any of your key issues? He might not! You can just "convince" him, that is actually on the table, and he might take up your cause. And the Republican Party - not always, absolutely not always, but sometimes - will be browbeaten into going along with his whims even if they contradict their previous ideology. If you are ambitious and play your cards right, the structure of the Trump admin can very much reward people along the lines of these pet issues.

This is something the Democratic party could not do. All policy from the Biden admin came from a decade+ process of being discussed within the party. There were absolutely, 100%, "factions" jockeying for influence, but it was insiders, pre-established orgs along known lines, who were doing that jockeying. Is there any big policy that the Biden admin pursued that truly surprised you? That you were like, "woah, where the fuck did Biden get this idea from?" Not really, right? Because the admin was in so many ways an extension of the party.

Now this can be a real strength when your political parties are strong. When the locus of politics is within parties, then naturally they should be informing directions, and your goal as an admin is to court them. But that is pretty much the opposite of the current US political landscape - political parties have never been weaker. Voters hate political insiders, primaries are completely open and people who openly oppose the party sometimes sweep them, voters don't get their political opinion or w/e from politicians or party orgs. Parties are downstream of where more and more political influence comes from (though ofc they are by no means powerless, this is all trendlines). If you are one of these political outsider types, the Joe Rogans or Progress Studies bloggers or crypto coalitions or whatever, the Democratic party is just not going to work with you? You will be "heard", but if you want influence you gotta put your decade+ into the party first.

But Trump? You just gotta show up and kiss the ring. For talented people, this is actually a much better deal. It probably won't work, but the odds are still better than the alternative. And the biggest looming wrinkle is that this strategy is being hamstrung by Trump being a total idiot and backstabbing asshole - imagine how effective these strategies would be if someone competent was doing it. His left-field ideas are not only "annexing Greenland", but also doing it in the most hamfisted way imaginable. The core idea here isn't that crazy btw! Greenland is pushing for greater independence from Denmark, but gets a ton of subsidies so is loath to lose them if they go solo. You can see how an intelligent operator charting some soft power politics here could maybe make something happen, but Trump is a fucking nob and can't do that. So he is often a bad vessel for your niche ideas. But at least he shows up to the game!

People sometimes really want politics to be ideological. They want a coherent political party with a unitary philosophy to implement a cohesive agenda. I get this appeal, but this just isn't how US politics, or democratic politics more widely, works. It is an endless process of factional recruitment for one-off reforms, and otherwise managerial policy (in)competence. Ideology is not elected, a "mandate" does not run for office. Some individual people win and then they invent a mandate afterwards. Democracy does not reveal consensus, it manufactures it. And the US is moving more towards that direction, not less.

My fear is Democrats, in "widening the tent", will focus too much on that internal party process, on trying to make the Democratic Party "coherently" something that is more appealing to the median voter. Valuable work, to be sure, but the other side is you need to make it more appealing to people of influence or talent. As others have commented, it is kind of baffling how the Biden administration committed itself to a policy of green electrification and banning foreign car imports, and somehow made an enemy of America's biggest domestic green electric car manufacturer. You need to be, on the margins, less committed to any specific ideology at all, and instead open to actually winning support from diverse factions. Otherwise the other side will always be more appealing to anyone not of your ideology, because they kind of don't care about ideology. The Dems are already the "bigger tent" party, this should be their wheelhouse. They just need to update their tactics for the modern era.

[wayfinderships]

I just found an animatic from 5 years ago Someone save me please- ←Is cringing at their old art

[archangeldyke-all]

i think i’ll die if we don’t get pt. 2 of sev and her trans identity, it was so good, i let out a breathe of contentment. thank you so much 💗💗💗

omg i'm so glad u liked it! i got another request for more of ceo sev, so i'm gonna combine these two :)

request for ceo Sevika & reader during their first meet/interviewing process pls 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾

men and minors dni

sevika's loving being ceo.

nobody dares to give her even an inkling of shit at work anymore, and she thinks it's kinda funny watching people who were once so vile to her cower in fear when they deliver reports to her office.

she's good at her job, if a little scary when pissed. since she's started as ceo, the company's seen better numbers than ever before, all thanks to the changes she implemented the moment she took over.

the pay raise has been great too. with so much more disposable income, sevika's started to treat herself more and more frequently to pretty things and fun experiences.

most of her wardrobe is designer, custom tailored to her measurements. she's got several nice pieces of jewelry, gold chains and watches that all cost more than her yearly paycheck when she was working as a busser as a kid.

she's gotten herself two new cars, and moved herself into a penthouse apartment high above the twinkling lights of the city below.

she's been getting weekly massages and facials, and she's started getting her toes and nails done too-- nothing fancy, just a clear coat on top of perfectly manicured nails.

all in all, sevika's living her best life.

but there's one problem.

(two, if you ask her when she's drunk enough.)

the main problem is that she still can't find a good assistant. it's been a year and a half of her new position, and she's already gone through six assistants.

(the other problem, which she holds much closer to her heart, is that she's got a giant, luxurious bed at home, and nobody to cuddle her in it.)

her first assistant was... fine. he wasn't anything special, but he did his job well enough that sevika was willing to keep him around. he quit after four months, though, apparently 'tired of the office environment.'

the next three assistants all came and went within a week. the first was fired when sevika caught them snorting a line of cocaine off of her desk. the second quit after her she spilled an entire pot of coffee on herself. and the third made a sly remark under her breath that sevika hadn't been meant to hear, but heard anyways.

she found a reliable assistant in an ambitious young man, but he left after six months to return to university to get his graduate degree. he recommended his cousin take over the position, and sevika took him up on it.

his cousin was a nice young woman who held out for a few months with sevika, and made her coffee just like she liked it. but when her boyfriend proposed and asked her to move cross-country with him for his job, she said yes, and left sevika high and dry once again.

so now she's back to interviews. she fucking hates interviews.

she groans as she struts to her office door trying to give herself a pep-talk as she swings her glass door open and looks toward the reception desk for her next interview.

she chokes on her tongue when she sees you sitting in a chair, fiddling with the corner of your resume as you wait.

you're... beautiful. everything about you. sevika takes a moment to gawk at you before you notice her. you're like a walking wet dream just fucking... appeared in her waiting room. sevika's not sure if she's going to be able to get through this interview.

she calls your name off her clipboard, trying to ignore how much she likes the word in her mouth, and she loses her breath completely when your eyes snap up from your resume and you smile at her.

oh fuck. please let her be an asshole. sevika thinks, unwilling to believe someone as seemingly perfect as you could exist.

you're actually the farthest thing from an asshole in the world.

you're charming and giggly and you've got really great questions for sevika, like how she likes her coffee and what time she normally eats lunch.

you're under-qualified for the job, and when sevika points this out you cringe and shrug, scratching the back of your neck endearingly.

"i've never been a personal assistant before-- but i'm an incredibly fast learner, and if i can be honest, for this much money? i'd give a limb to keep you happy." you say, chuckling. sevika gulps, and bites her tongue to keep from saying some of the suggestions swirling in her mind of other ways you could keep her happy.

"well, a limb won't be necessary, but i should warn you. i've been told i can be a bit... cold. i'm no good with words, and i don't talk if i don't need to. it's nothing personal." she says. you smirk and tilt your head at her.

"you?" you ask, your eyes dancing up and down sevika's form in a way that makes her feel... tingly. "yeah, i guess i could see that." you say, giggling. sevika furrows her brow as she studies you.

"what's that supposed to mean?" she asks. something inside of her bubbles up, defensive and ready to kick you out of her office the second you say something wrong. she's been working on her defensive anger with her new therapist, well aware that it's just a way of protecting herself from potential disappointment, but she can't help it right now. because she'd be so fucking disappointed if you-- pretty, charming, slightly ditzy you-- were suddenly an asshole out of nowhere.

you just giggle and shrug. "you're so pretty it's hard to tell at first glance, but now that we're talking i can see that grumpiness creeping through." you say, smiling.

are you... teasing her?

and did you just call her pretty?

sevika blinks at you, the swirl of anger in her stomach fizzling out and leaving her vulnerable. she bites her lip, shakes her head, and reminds herself that this is a job interview. not a first date. she shouldn't be feeling all soft and giddy and excited right now.

she clears her throat and looks through her notes. you've answered all her questions, you've given the right answers for them all too. there's nothing left for her to do but just give in and hire you-- you're clearly perfect for the job.

she needs to find something wrong with you before she fucking... falls in love with you right here and now.

sevika takes a deep breath, then starts her interrogation.

"this job... it's not nine to five. that's what everyone else in the office works, but you'll be here when i get in to when i leave. some days, you'll be here before sunrise 'til after sunset." she says. you nod.

"that's fine with me." you say. sevika huffs.

"and you should know... i'm gay." she says, cringing the second the words leave her mouth. she never talks about this in interviews, but she's just hoping that you react poorly so she can write you off. you just blink at her.

"o-okay?" you ask. "are you asking me out or something?" you say, giggling. this catches her off guard, and sevika's jaw drops.

"what?" she asks. you shrug.

"i mean... i'd be into it, but i'd kinda like to know if i got the job before you take me to dinner." you say, laughing. sevika snorts, a smile pulling at her lips, and she pinches herself to keep from leaping across the table and kissing you.

"i'm trans too." she blurts. you blink at her again.

"...okay." you say, a little confused. "if you want... i could put reminders in your daily schedule for your hormones?" you ask, trying to figure out how the revelation ties to the job interview.

sevika just blinks at you, shocked and a little pissed off that the woman of her dreams has appeared in her life, only to become her assistant rather than her girlfriend.

sevika grunts, rubs her face, then sighs as she looks at you. you look concerned.

"did i do something wrong?" you ask, nervous. sevika sighs.

"no. you're perfect. i'm just... where the fuck have you been this whole time?" she asks, a little hysterical. you break out into a bright smile, and sevika's heart does a backflip.

"so...?"

"can you start tomorrow?"

taglist!

@fyeahnix @sapphicsgirl @half-of-a-gay @ellabslut @thesevi0lentdelights @sexysapphicshopowner @shimtarofstupidity @love-sugarr @chuucanchuucan @222danielaa @badbye666 @femme-historian @lia-winther @gr0ssz0mbi3 @ellsss @sevikaspillowprincess @leomatsuzaki @emiliabby

[stanlunter]

I personally don't like Lumity for a few reasons... 1. It kinda makes Luz a terrible friend to Willow, since Luz is befriending Willow's bully (and former friend) behind her back...

2. Luz loses her backbone almost whenever Amity is angry at her, while Luz's rivalry with Hunter felt more equal cause they get angry at each other and Luz isn't afraid to call out Hunter on his crap (unlike with Amity, where Luz doesn't even get angry at her that much for burning Willow's picture memories). Considering how much of a jerk Amity was to Luz before she dyed her hair purple, it's no wonder Luz kept secrets from her and told Hunter instead...

3. Amity's romantic feelings for Luz make no sense. At first, she hated Luz for getting her in trouble in school and for being a human that lacks magical powers. But then Luz gains Amity's respect, when Luz reveals that she can do magic spells in a different way... So yeah, it would make sense for Luz to gain Amity's respect and later maybe friendship. But Amity gaining a crush and slowly becoming obsessed with the human (who's species that she hated) that keeps getting her in trouble is pretty unrealistic. They also had to almost completely change Amity's personality after she made her hair purple, so that Amity can act like 'Luz's 1# Fangirl' while they're dating... They could've at least given Amity a new dream, since she's an ambitious girl and she can't be in the Emperor's Coven anymore! ಠ_ಠ

Sorry for the long answer

But I absolutely agree!

I swear, I LOVE the potential Lumity had, but its realization really makes me cry. Especially since there are not so many well-written AND interesting supphic couples in media and the way they absolutely ruined even this one (which really could be handled so easily) is really sad. If I had to rewrite toh, Lumity would have been changed the most

[jesncin]

Finally finished Young Justice S2

it was pretty good! Definitely a huge improvement from the first season even if there's a ton of plot holes and problems still, but it's clear that this season really amped the stakes in an interesting way. They took bigger swings, and sometimes that results in bigger misses. Lingering thoughts:

absolutely ludicrous of Nightwing and the other team members who were in on the "Kaldur is being a double agent" plot, to not let M'gann in on that 😭what do you MEAN you're not letting the telepath who has been mind breaking villains casually in on your Kaldur under cover plot? Ridiculous, biggest plot hole ever.

What exactly is the team's stance on M'gann mind breaking bad guys? Obviously Conner hates it, but I remember Bumblebee telling M'gann to "Brain blast him or something" so? Does the team know M'gann does this and are okay with it? Does Conner tell anyone what M'gann did to him? Aayee

lol @ M'gann saying she can only shapeshift into girls/women when she casually turns into men multiple times this season. But even when that concept was introduced they contradicted themselves in that very episode.

There's something,,, uncomfortable about the whole Arsenal plot where he ends up getting kicked out of the team. My memory's a bit foggy since I watched the episodes in chunks but- I thought Nightwing cutting Arsenal off the team was uncalled for? Like sure Arsenal panicked and got everyone captured because of it, but then he essentially single handedly (hah) saved everyone again, leading a rag tag new team to help him save his friends. Sure it was his fault that they got captured in the first place (because he was traumatized from fear of being captured again) but well. If he isn't psychologically fit to be back on the team so soon after being traumatically trapped for so long,,,why is he on the team to begin with? It gets into this uncomfy convo where the Young Justice team just kinda normalizes child soldiers to hop right back into intense crime fighting before they had a chance to recover mentally. Like he more than made up for his mistake in my opinion.

Way too many characters again! Especially by the end of the season. They really should've just focused on the cast surrounding Blue Beetle, Impulse, and Arsenal as new characters because their plots were the center of the conflict really! The Batfam members didn't have a personality and felt superfluous to the cast.

The rag tag team of meta kids were done dirty by the end! Static just joins Young Justice at the ending in a way that felt mandatory instead of natural.

I can't believe they just shipped a bunch of characters at the end again like last season lol I was caught off guard by that completely.

Waaay too much exposition, most of which felt unnatural. I know this season's plot is way more ambitious, but there could've been better ways to give us that information. Many of the episodes were just "plot is progressing" and not giving characters a chance to grow through their arcs.

Overall, I had a good time even when I was frustrated at certain plots. This is definitely not the Young Justice slump era I know is coming eventually, lol.

[pynkhues]

Re: rockstar girlfriend Louis. The trend of feminizing Louis is just irking in general. Especially as it's more often than not a way to make him helpless than be critical about it.

He didn't like being compared to a tradwife or a woman back then and he definitely doesn't like it now. I just think it's a little in bad taste that this is so rampant.

Yeah, I mean, the bits I've seen of it have been pretty fascinating to me, but I have heavily curated my fandom experience, so I'm very aware I'm probably seeing broader conversations pretty minimally. It seems to spread across different aspects of the fandom too, from the ratio of mpreg fic on ao3 to meta about him as embodying the gothic heroine trope, which like - - I'm not going to get all into this, but as someone who studied gothic literature at university for years, I just don't agree with it at all - like, in terms of character archetypes within gothic literature, Louis is a Byronic hero through and through:

Historian and critic Lord Macaulay described the [Byronic Hero] as "a man proud, moody, cynical, with defiance on his brow, and misery in his heart, a scorner of his kind, implacable in revenge, yet capable of deep and strong affection"

The show is interested in gender, and I can't wait to see what they do with Gabrielle in terms of that thread given Gabrielle is very much gender non-confirming and can be read arguably as trans-masc, but right now, I don't think any of the characters we've seen are anything other than cis (including Lestat) and I think to reject that is to ignore the complexity of their relationships with their own gender. Which is important! There's a reason Claudia is the one who's been robbed of choice, controlled and coerced by both her fathers, not just Lestat, the one who doesn't get to be heard at the trial, or in her life, the one who's infantilised, stuck in dresses she's too old for, the one who's killed. That's important, y'know?

I do think a lot of Louis' issues around his gender are tied pretty specifically to his sexuality, and I don't think he relates to or understands women at all. Like you could make a pretty concise argument that Louis has a virgin/mother/whore complex when it comes to women, which you see in Claudia and Grace/Florence/Antoinette + in his role as a pimp. And I think people take that dual insult of Claudia calling him a housewife and Grace calling Lestat Louis' 'white daddy' as literal, when like - - in both instances they are deliberately insulting / emasculating him either for the sake of it or to goad him into action? They're tender spots for him not because he relates, but because he knows that's how its perceived and he hates that he/it is perceived that way. He's always been an ambitious businessman, so the housewife insult stings on its own, but the white daddy thing taps into what even Daniel Hart was saying about the fact that there is a transactional element to Louis and Lestat's relationship, which is why I find it super interesting that heading into s3, Louis is not only successful, but completely financially independent.

But yes, I think feminising Louis in general just completely shoots over the nuance of his character and honestly, a lot of what makes him so interesting.

[the-badger-mole]

Shipper Tag Game

Tagged By @kila09

1. What ship were you completely obsessed with when you were a teenager, but now you don't care anymore?

I wouldn't say I don't care anymore, I just haven't been inspired by them in a while, but definitely Inu/Kag. They were not my first ship, but they were the first ship I wrote for.

2. Which ship would you consider your first one?

Serena/Darien from the Sailor Moon US dub.

3. Your first fanfic belonged to which couple?

Inu/Kag. And no...you can't read it.

4. Do you remember the first couple you saw a fanart over?

Inu/Kag. it was drawn by my friend

5. Did you ever get into ship discourse?

Ha! I am the discourse....yes. I do.

6. Did you used to have a NOTP or have it currently?

Kataang and Sess/Rin. The full body cringe I get when I think of either of them...

7. Who were the couple in the last fanfic you read?

Zutara

8. Currently, do you have any OTPs?

Zutara, forever and ever. Usa/Mamo (now that I've seen the original Japanese version), Inu/Kag

9. Is there any couple, to this day, you are extremely mad about not getting together?

Zutara. They are my only OTP that isn't canon, but they should have been. Hayley and Andy from Modern Family is next. I'm honestly not happy at how they handled Hayley's arc in general. The writers were so cruel to her! I'm still not over it, and I'm mulling over a fix-it fic for her (one-shot probably). Ichabbie (Ichabod Crane and Abbie Mills) are in third place, but a very distant third. I lost all respect for Sleepy Hollow after how they treated both Abbie the character and Nichole Beharie the actress.

10. Is there any ship you used to dislike but now you think they are kind of interesting?

...no. Not really. I mean, I guess you could count CaptainSwan from OUAT, but that's less I didn't like the ship and more I wanted to get rid of Emma so EYE could have Hook.

11. Do you have any ship that, in the past, was considered normal but now would be canceled over?

I mean...probably? I can't think of any right now. I only have a handful of ships that I care enough about to talk about, and most of them don't appear on my blog, so...🤷🏾‍♀️

12. What was your favorite crack ship?

Mai/Aang (or Flying Dagger as I call them). I don't even really consider this a crack ship. Don't get me wrong, I see them being a disaster together, but not in a cracky sort of way. More of a reality show couple way.

13. Who is the couple you read more fanfics of?

Zutara these days. It used to be more of an even split between my top 3 ships, but the fact that I get around to reading anything these days feels like an accomplishment.

14. What do most of your ships usually have in common?

Powerful women and the powerful men who would die protecting them. Also, powerful women and the powerful men who are their biggest cheerleaders

15. What do you absolutely hate in a ship?

I mean...pick a trait from Kataang, and that's pretty much it. Hero gets the girl because he's the hero; the woman becomes the supportive background partner no matter how powerful and ambitious she was before she got with him; Man can't control his violent outburst without his partner's help. Kataang is the embodiment of everything I hate in a ship.

@soopersara @dhwty-writes @veggie-smoothie @vocalvixen20cp the floor is yours if you want it!

[all-pacas]

Is Houseswapped!Chase more or less apathetic than series Chase? Is he still open enough to fall in love with a patient?

Do you think he still longs a little for Cameron? Is he picking fights on purpose because it might lead to something and he secretly craves it? Maybe going to the ER isn't just about getting a new pair of crutches?

He's way more apathetic and closed off.

Even though Chase's life in canon doesn't exactly go great, he loves his job, he likes House a lot, he likes working for House and clearly imprinted on/admires him a lot. Even though things with Cameron didn't work out, they still had several years together where they were happy, and they're on okay terms after their divorce; they don't hate one another. He has friends: Foreman, Park, Thirteen; even Taub. He has House, he knows House cares about him. He has Park's grandmother. He's still lonely, he's still lacking close personal relationships, but he's not complete isolated; he's far from a lost cause.

Houseswapped!Chase? He never had any of that. He didn't have Diagnostics, he wasn't part of a team, he didn't have a mentor to imprint on/admire. He doesn't have a large circle of coworkers turned friends: I don't know what Thirteen is doing but they're not besties, and he also doesn't have Park or her grandmother. He didn't flee Australia and land in a job he loves, he fled and landed in a series of jobs that were okay, that were fine, but there's not exactly a huge difference, right? He could have stayed home and been just as successful, done the same things. He's also got permanent, chronic pain from his stabbing/clot, and who knows what other health problems. He's not addicted to pain pills, but conversely he's also probably under medicating himself, because he doesn't trust himself to not immediately devolve into addiction. Even though he's House in this AU, he's also… a different person, right? He's brilliant, he has the job, he founded Diagnostics. But he's not ambitious. He's not driven in the same way as House, it's not the same level of high for him. His job is all he has, and he enjoys it, he likes it, and he's great at it. But he doesn't get off on it in the same way as House. Can't be head of Diagnostics without being miserable!

He's probably still super prone to falling for patients, but he doesn't let himself act on it, because the last thing he wants is pity and Cameron's broken person kink really did a number on him in this universe, lol. I think they're very much House and Stacy in this universe: he hates her lowkey and resents her openly, but sometimes he does want to be taken care of (and then he hates himself and her for it after the fact). He's absolutely a passive-aggressive twit around her, and absolutely is in a cycle of self loathing/seeking her out/reading everything she says and does as insincere pity kink. Very House and Stacy. He doesn't want her to have moved on because he really hasn't, but he also can't stand to be with her because he doesn't think he deserves it and doesn't trust her motives.

Him going to the ER is partially because he's really dumb and vastly under-medicating himself/walking around with spinal damage and no aids whatsoever, he's going to paralyze himself, but also because yes, he does want to see her and hang out with her. If only because he's lonely and doesn't have many other people to hang out with. (He and Foreman probably get along pretty well in this universe, actually, but Foreman's his boss and they're not going to be buddy-buddy at work lol.)

[yurideification]

maybe it's a bit ambitious but i want to cycle through the perspectives of the 6 different characters like. in a way that's kinda like a flowing river? best way i could describe it. maybe that's incredibly pretentious but like hear me out. we start with character A, who's chapter has some connection with character B. We then have a chapter from the perspective of character B, who has a connection to character C, and so on and so on. the next chapter always moves the timeline chronologically forwards, and we never go backwards in time, which means, by the time we cycle back to character A after a while, their timeline has progressed in the background way beyond what's actually written on the page. it'll obviously turn out completely shit if i mess it up but i think it's fun as an experiment if nothing else

The current characters are (below the cut, since it got pretty long):

Beatrice Schwarz / "Bea":

Femcel conspiracy theorist NEET who frequents /x/, accidental millionaire after a relative died and gave her his inheritance while she was a teen but she's never done anything with the money and has been doing nothing but wallowing in her filth for the last several years.

Dorothea Betoze / "Dorry" / "Dora":

Unhoused girl i mentioned in the last post. If i keep her i'm going to radically change how i've written her out in the planning document because looking at it now it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth so no real point in expanding on it here.

Mindy Harding:

Glazier (installs and repairs glass), no college education but has a sense for people and an inherent knowledge of most things from years of experience. mid 30s. non practicing christian and union organizer. Swears she ran over the devil on a country road once, and makes an amazing apple pie yet claims she can't cook. Long haired butch lesbian & married for several years. By far the most stable person out of the entire cast.

Mark Thee Stopeh / "M.T" / "Mighty":

Runs a homeless shelter (might change depending on what I do with Dorothea). Freakishly tall, works out, simultaneously energetic and somewhat anxious, hates actually making people upset. Cocky but in the way where it's a part of his comedy, never something intentionally mean. When i think of him i imagine Donovan from valhalla but like their personalities are basically polar opposites.

Cecilia Addams-Topps:

M.T's assisant. tumblr user. mid 30s, never been in a relationship. Owns several cats, calls them her fur babies (i swear that's not just because her initials are literally CAT). type to call herself a fandom mom completely unironically. Always tries to keep situations light by using her own flavor of early 2010s lolrandom humor that she never really grew out of. hobby journalist and avid cryptozoologist when she's not on the clock.

Serenissa SeCaterina:

Least developed character so far (discounting Dorothea obv) but i just think she's kinda funny. sticks out somewhat though. just gonna paste what i've written in my notes

Maoist

Cult leader

New age spiritualist

Runs a pyramid scheme selling handmade shampoo infused with essential oils

Claims ancestry from Pope Leo II

Claims to be divinely chosen to lead humanity into the age of Aquarius, which she claims will be characterized by the world entering into a communist one world government led by herself

[johnnysuhbmarine]

My Favorite English Line for each NCT Member

Okay, this is something that has been on my mind for a while, but I think I've finally sorted things out enough to finish the complete list, so now I'm sharing it with the world (cause ya know, to the world, nct)

Before we get started: this is my opinion, and not what I'm claiming to be their most iconic or best line (because then we all know what Jaehyun's would be and it has to do with queso), but these are just my favorite lines to listen to because they make me transcend or something.

Also, I did not include solo stuff when compiling this because otherwise, some line from Horizon would beat out every other Jaehyun line and that's too much personal bias to feel like including - I just really love Horizon.

Now, it's time to share my most ambitious project yet:

Johnny: "ice on with no lights on, but you're still shining yeah" (faded in my last song)

you guys, you guys. the way he sings this is crazy. I love Johnny Suh

Taeyong: "multicolored diamonds like the rainbow yeah, yeah, yeah" (regular)

it's just so addicting I don't think you guys understand. especially with his little choreography, it's perfect

Yuta: "baby we go wild. 127 squad" (kick it)

nothing gets me pumped up like how this Yuta line gets me pumped up. it's so good. he's so good!!

Kun: "it was all out of my control but I really want you to know the truth" (on my youth english version)

the way this is sung, I could listen to it on repeat forever. fantastic job, Kun. wish I could give him a pat on the head for this.

Doyoung: "so stay" (promise you)

Doyoung biases don't come at me for my favorite line of his only being two words. Doyoung is my son, I love him with everything in me, and this is so soft and perfect of him that there's no way it couldn't be my favorite. he's the reason this song is so amazing.

Ten: "oh baby, give it to me" (baby don't stop)

yeah this absolutely raises me from the grave it's so aurally pleasing I can't even begin to describe it.

Jaehyun: "it's a cruel game, I cannot lose" (sit down!)

everyone go listen to this song right now I'm not even kidding. this Jaehyun line is so addicting and perfect and hot wow.

WinWin: "we should be together, you should know" (king of hearts)

I have ALWAYS loved this part, so finding my favorite english line for him was pretty easy because wow. what a pre-chorus this man gives us. thank you, WinWin.

Jungwoo: "hey, I see you" (ay-yo)

back to absolutely transcending this line is crazy. very good, Jungwoo. wow.

Mark: "skrrt pull up in the coupe beep beep. girl, I got your lovin' on repeat" (highway to heaven english version)

I actually cannot explain how much I love this line. my mom even listens to this song with me specifically because she also knows how FANTASTIC and addicting this part is.

Xiaojun: "can I be honest? I so hate to be controlled" (take off)

wow. everything about Xiaojun is just wow, including this line.

Hendery: "falling for a stranger, good gracious" (love talk english version)

you guys. you guys. it's the "good gracious." why is it so addicting and perfect? I love Hendery so much I cannot even begin to explain, but this line is surely one of the reasons why because wow. I am asexual, but when Hendery sings this...

Renjun: "I go round and around like a merry-go" (SOS)

again, if I was going for iconic, I would've put his bridge in ISTJ, but this line of his is so perfect and aurally pleasing that I physically couldn't not put it in this list. this one line is the reason I love SOS as much as I do.

Jeno: "you owe me sleep" (broken melodies)

CRIESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. that is all I have to say about that.

Haechan: "you see my hope was all but gone" (superhuman)

okay this one is a very iconic line but can I be blamed for it also being on my favorites list? no. because this line is the definition of transcendental. everything about it, including Haechan, is perfect.

Jaemin: "shakin’ stirrin’ drinkin’ up" (smoothie)

this Jaemin line is crazy I really don't know what else to tell you. Actually affects every nerve in my body

YangYang: "she's a keeper, but I just can't keep her" (low low)

you guys. you know it's good when I pull out the "you guys" as my only coherent thought at first. YangYang eats here.

Chenle: "guess I finally get back to you" (broken melodies)

is my favorite line for my bias and bias wrecker in NCT Dream both from my favorite NCT Dream song? yes, but the fact that I am in love with how Chenle sings this line has nothing to do with the fact that it feeds into my delusions. I promise.

Jisung: "hate this distance cause I'm just left here singing" (broken melodies)

okay, Jisung isn't my bias nor bias wrecker but my favorite line of his still comes from Broken Melodies because NO ONE sings this part like he does and I have to make sure you all are aware of that. this line was made for Jisung.

Okay that- that's all. I have no clue what to do with myself now.

[deke-rivers-1957]

Kissin Cousins Review

After Viva Las Vegas went over budget, Colonel Parker as the technical advisor pushed the panic button. The next immediate film had its budget slashed and everything was rushed just to make back any money lost. The production was very cheap despite a somewhat ambitious story of having Elvis play 2 characters.

Despite being made after Viva Las Vegas, Kissin Cousins came out first making for a very jarring experience if seen back to back. A lot of people HATE this movie because of the concept and cheap production, indicating that Colonel's plan didn't work as he expected. After all, if you only spend a grand total of a $1 million dollars on a movie, you only need $1,000,001 to make a profit. Does Kissin Cousins have some good parts to it or is it all bad and should never be mentioned again? Let's find out.

Kissin Cousins is a pleasant opening song. It's not something that blows you away but it's a nice little ditty with cute art. It makes me wonder why we never had an animated film as those were usually way cheaper than a regular movie. Yes animation in the 60s wasn't as big of an industry as it is now, but if Colonel wanted to value cheap production, animation would've been the way to go.

We get introduced to the conflict of the movie: The military wants a military base on the Tatums mountain land in the Smokey Mountains. The Tatums don't want to sell as they don't trust the government. As stereotypical as this sounds, this was a pretty common experience. The only issue I have with this element is that they want to show this as the Air Force, but everyone is dressed in Army uniforms. Josh starts off wearing a more accurate uniform but we quickly do away with that. A sign already that no one cared enough to make things accurate.

We also see very quickly that this movie is so cheap they can't even film b-roll footage of the real Appalachian Mountains. Instead we get Southern California mountains and Hollywood sets. As much as it sounds like a nitpick, the mountains are a mega important part of the movie. Depicting the real mountains would add more immersion into the story by showcasing how these people live. Smokey Mountain Boy as a song doesn't stand out on its own. It does sound lovely in the context of the movie. It sounds like the type of song a military man would sing. We get a dumb joke about mountaineers not knowing how to spell and the girls not knowing what Jodie looks like. If you look very closely we get another sign that the movie is cheap in the form of a faint yellow line in the middle of the screen. That's meant to be the filter that allows Elvis to play both Josh and Josh at once. More on that later.

We find out that Jodie actually isn't their brother. He's a cousin too and my whole world just blew up. This whole time I thought they were all siblings because he lived with them like he's their brother. There's Gold in the Mountains is bad. The lip-synching is non-existent. It's very apparent that neither Azalea or Selena's actress are actually singing. They sound nothing like they're speaking voices. I don't think this song was really necessary and could've been cut if it wasn't for a quota. Ma calls Jodie her nephew and man I want to know this man's story. There's so many ways you can go about this and show how this could significantly impact his character and his decisions.

Pappy is an amazing character. Arthur O'Connell really shows his range as he sounds nothing like Pop Kwimper from Follow That Dream. Despite being the same character of the government disdaining patriarch on paper, you really get the idea that this is a completely different person. Pappy and Pop are similar but are not the same. What I don't like is that his clothes are seen as dirty and full of holes. Jodie and the sisters don't have that problem so unless Pappy just got done wrestling some pigs, this is purely for laughing at dirty uncivilized Southerners. While it is unfortunate that some of them lived that way, this isn't the Tatums' situation.

Ma's an amazing character too and it only highlights my point that she wouldn't accept anyone in the family to be walking around in unkempt clothing. She would've immediately patched up any holes she found. You get the idea that she isn't someone to push around. She respects Pappy's authority but she also has her own authority. Ma is willing to flip Jodie right on his butt if he disrespects her despite Jodie easily being bigger than her. In real life, an average sized woman being able to flip over what I consider to be a 200 lb man would be super impressive. We clearly get the idea that Pappy loves it. He wants his wife to be a strong woman who doesn't take disrespect from anyone.

This whole scene insults Southerners by having them own a Confederate Flag in the house, eat possums and other stereotypical "white trash" food like this is a regular occasion. Like it's something they take pride in eating and wouldn't want to eat anything else. Note: people only eat that when there's nothing else available. It would only make sense if they were proud of Ma being able to make do with what little they had but again this isn't what they're going through. They have pigs so it makes no sense why they still eat possums outside of stereotyping.

We get a visual gag of the captain turning green. This is such a cheap special effect. It looks like they just shined a green light over his face like we're in a cartoon. So bizarre and only exists because "haha isn't mountain food so disgusting." Totally unnecessary especially with how long they drag the joke of no one knowing what an ICBM is. In real life, if this family was as ignorant as the movie makes them out to be, they would not survive.

One Boy, Two Little Girls is a very boring ballad. It adds nothing to the movie and is just filler. We already got a song with him singing to the sisters and learn nothing new. You can just cut to Josh talking to Azalea and Selena about how to convince Pappy. This whole interaction between Josh with Azalea and Selena is weird. We're supposed to think he digs both of them.

Catchin On Fast which is just as shallow. The song itself isn't bad, but in the context of the movie it comes out of nowhere. Josh just randomly picks Azalea over Selena. Yes we get the drama that Selena has to get married first, but outside of that there's no reason for him to pick Azalea. Yes it could be a matter of Josh preferring brunettes but it's never established to be the reason why he likes Azalea more. Admittedly I love that Selena isn't jealous of Azalea or mad that Josh picked her sister over her. In a different Elvis movie we know that would've been a conflict that lasted throughout the whole movie.

We get introduced to Midge and Jodie completely looks smitten. This is a completely different side of him. It's implied that he's had relations with more than one Kittyhawk woman but becomes such a different man around Midge. In that moment, none of the other women matter anymore. Midge is the only woman on his mind and you have to wonder what about her captures his attention. Maybe it's because she's not immediately throwing herself at him or seems interested in him at all. Just by this scene alone, Midge does not give a single care that he's staring at her. If anything she straights up ignores him after they're introduced.

Watching Azalea interact with the Kittyhawks when they give them their own bikinis is the only difference we get. Azalea actively stands up to them and puts them in their place. She doesn't tolerate their actions. Ma puts her foot down when she sees that this turned everything upside down and I can understand where she's coming from. If Azalea and Selena are disrespecting her and the Kittyhawks are causing nothing but trouble, of course she would be upset.

The reporter exposes their plan to get the mountain base and the plan is all coming apart when the general contacts the captain about going up to the mountain. The captain orders Midge to go to Ma and try to smooth things over. Despite this being the 60s, the captain treats Midge like any other subordinate. He's not overly harsh or lenient with her just because she's a woman. Now that's gender equality. She runs into Jodie and at first we think Jodie's going to act like a pig and a wolf. And he does act like that, but what makes this movie better than most is that he gets his comeuppance. Yes it's meant to be a source of comedy but given the 60s, Midge being allowed to push back against horny men is incredible. She grins and bears it when it's the other military men because a lot of them may outrank her and pushing back would be horrific. But since Jodie has no authority over her, she pushes back. In other movies Jodie would be a creep who escalates his advancements after every rejection. But he doesn't. He saw the look on Midge's face when she thought he got hurt. She doesn't actually hate him, she just hates how forward and physical he is.

Based on their social situations, you can clearly see how it influences these women's reactions to male attention. Midge is just so used to men seeing her for her body and nothing else that when in a situation where she can push back against that behavior she will do it, while the Kittyhawks hardly ever see men so any attention or interaction with men would be like giving kids candy after denying them that for so long. And whether he fully realizes it or not, Jodie has to acknowledge that Midge really isn't like other girls but her own person. So he changes his approach to serenading Midge with Tender Feeling. Easily the best song in the movie and actually adds depth to Jodie's character. Even though he's a cocky jock, this song actually matters by showing that he's capable of being more than that. It still fails but even when it fails the only thing on Jodie's mind isn't a notch on his bed post it's WEDDING BELLS. He had full choice of any Kittyhawk out there to marry. He could've married any one of them at any time. But he doesn't want to be with any of them. He wants Midge. You can make an argument that as soon as he saw Midge for the first time, he wanted to marry her. Unbelieveable how this side character in a cheap Elvis production actually has some type of character arc.

Meanwhile, Azalea tries to convince Ma about changing her mind. I know the movie wants to make us feel bad about it, but we don't have any reason to feel bad. I don't feel anything for this relationship. Outside of Josh being different than the other mountain men, there's no real reason for her to like him. I care more about Hezekiah missing Pappy and he's a dog.

So they go to find Pappy and all of the men except for the captain and Jodie get captured by the Kittyhawk women. For once an Elvis character doesn't like being appreciated by multiple women. I guess it's meant to show how Josh is more "civilized" than Jodie. We get another Joe Esposito appearance in this movie and he actually gets a line.

Ma actually gets a song lamenting the loss of her husband. Pappy, Won't You Please Come Home is actually a pretty appropriate song. It shows just how much she loves him. The vocals could be better but it doesn't have to be professional because within the context of the movie, Ma isn't a professional singer. Pitch doesn't matter when you're sad.

We find out Pappy got chased by a bear and got stuck in a tree. The wide shot of him being stuck in a tree is so bad. You can tell this is a stunt double since Arthur O'Connell is too old to be doing stuff like this. Even when you can see his face you can tell he's only dangling on a wire and it's not even clear how he's caught. I get we needed something to get Josh on the family's good side but they could've done this a bit better. You would think this would be when Josh and Jodie would have to work together to save Pappy, but I guess that would've just been too hard to film. Again if Jodie had a real character arc this would be the moment when he realizes "hey Josh just isn't doing this because he's told to. He genuinely cares about us. He acts like he's kin."

We get a good old fashioned hoedown and hi where did all these people come from? Up until now we've had the Tatums and the Kittyhawks as the only people who live on this mountain. So why is there a whole village of people here? It completely changes the Kittyhawk women's reason to exist. If you imply that there's literally no other man on this mountain outside of Jodie, then these women being boy crazy make perfect sense. Now that we know Jodie isn't the only young man, they just look like a stereotype that women are promiscuous.

Barefoot Ballad fits so well with Jodie's character but watch out foot phobic people because it's exactly as it says on the tin. The dancing however, isn't that great. It shows just how rushed this movie's production wise. I guess it could work in that in universe these aren't professionals but as a movie it could be better. This is where the song quota kicks in as we get yet another song in the span of not even five minutes. Once Is Enough is fine but it's still filler. The dancing is still bad as one of them actually falls down and it stayed in the final cut. Based on Pappy's little speech I would've thought he would start singing. Heck even the captain who would later play Grandpa Joe showed he could sing in Willy Wonka so it's not like we couldn't have had a Pappy song.

After all this time, Jodie finally gets a character moment where he warms up to Josh. While Jodie internally realizes that Josh was alright when he saved Pappy, this would've been the perfect moment to showcase that he's willing to compliment Josh. If only he had more of a role in the movie because what little we get shows a pretty engaging character arc. Midge coming around would've been a natural reason for him to warm up to city folk. I could make a whole post about how I would write his character since there's so much potential.

The Kittyhawk women actually play an important role by sending the general in circles. That's what makes this movie great. Everyone has a part to play even if they start off as a joke. Pappy gets in a drinking contest with the captain. I have to laugh that Jodie managed to snap Pappy's suspenders when Pappy tries to run away. It actually adds to Jodie's claim that he's the champion and therefore strongest man in the mountains. Ma makes it clear that they have to talk things over so Josh and Pappy try to make a deal over a game of checkers. Jodie actually tries to help Josh out by getting the captain sober. If only they took advantage of them looking alike and had Jodie disguise himself as Josh. Jodie would have to swallow his pride because he knows if this deal fails, he would lose Midge as she's a WAC.

It isn't until Josh comes up with a deal allowing Pappy to continue selling his moonshine without "revenoor" interference. They also get protection and $1000 a month for the land. The deal goes through and everyone ends up happy. The one thing I wish was better explained is how despite all these people being on the mountain, Pappy is somehow the leader. I think if we had so much as a line about how these people came from distant villages would be enough as it's not like the military intended on buying the entire mountain.

Kissin Cousins (Number 2) is a banger of a song and I really like Jodie's twang when he sings but wow the production is cheap. They don't even bother cropping the shot above where you can actually see Lance LeGault (Elvis' body double) in the background. This isn't the first nor only time either. Throughout the movie and during the song when they switch back and forth between Josh and Jodie, we can see his face by accident. Elizabeth Montgomery in Bewitched had to do something similar when she had to play Samantha and her identical cousin Serena. That episode came out in 1966 and managed to do a better job. A TV show somehow did the same concept better than an actual Hollywood produced film. It's so sad that production was rushed to the point of basic editing mistakes and mistakes in general are left in. Even the ending where the characters hold up "The End" signs feels like this is a cheap high school production instead of a Hollywood movie.

This movie has several problems. As I've said the production is cheap with songs that are nothing but filler and at times have noticeable mistakes, Josh is a very boring character with an uninteresting romance in Azalea, Jodie makes you wonder why they wanted Elvis to play two characters when one of them doesn't even do that much, and they outright insult Southerners by using very cliched stereotypes.

So why do I like this movie in spite of these problems? Because the story has enough good elements that you can actually fix the problems without having to completely change the movie. It's like a Clambake in that I would consider the highlights to be enough to cover the glaring errors in it. If this movie had a different production team or a better budget I would say this story is one of the better ones for an Elvis movie. Therefore I would give this movie a 7/10. This is a movie that best exemplifies how Colonel's interference directly hurt a movie that otherwise would've been great. I highly recommend watching it so you get the perspective of how poorly Hollywood thought of Southerners, yet still have the Tatum family feel like real people.

AN: Shout out to the discord besties for providing commentary about how the Tatum family showcased the bad light Hollywood painted the South in. Especially @grizelda71-blog. Your notes in particular helped me see both the good and the bad in this movie. Also shout out to @smokeymountainboy for your work as Jodie inspiring me to review this movie this month.

Tagging: @arrolyn1114, @thedaisymaisy, @that-hotdog, @peaceloveelvis, @imaginationlast, @fuzzymusic94, @helen06dreamer, @sfull12345, @briefpandatimemachine, @alittlemoreelvis, @lynettethemadscientist, @motht-eeth, @ash-omalley, @spooky-hazex, @teamnefarious, @blighted-star, @ab4eva, @oh-my-front-door, @father-of-2cats, @atleastpleasetelephone, @xanatenshi, @crazymadpassionatelove, @burnthheparaphilia, @aliengoth3 @stormie-ryan23, @yksuwyksud, @tacozebra051, @alienelvisobsession, @vintageoldsoul, @ohmygiddd, @lovininapinkcadillac, @stephthestallion, @mistyspresley, @bisexualwvtson, @ahundredlifetime, @karel-in-wonderland, @elvispresleywife, @georgefairbrother, @moonchild-daniella, @musiclover712, @worldofyns, @sillybookmarks, @g00d2balive, @leighpc, @generoustreemystic, @peskybedtime, @thetaoofzoe, @renegadewarrior, @vintagepresley, @tupelomiss, @myradiaz, @pinkcaddyconfessions, @kiankiwi, @presley72elvis, @delulubutidontcare, @januarypresley1969, @livelaughelvis, @hooked-on-elvis, @slayingjd, @ilivebecauseiamforced, @dusintv, @cattcb, @eapep, @jaqueline19997, @richardslady121, @iloveelvis2, @lett-them-eatt-cake, @if-i-can-dream-of-elvis, and @lookingforrainbows.

[wirewitchviolet]

Hey, where's all the endgames?

Any time I'm browsing through my Steam library, I see Stellaris staring out at me, with a big ol' number on hours played next to a prompt asking if I'd recommend it to people. I don't generally do user reviews, but also I never actually know if I'd recommend that one to anyone, because the developers keep doing massive overhauls every so often that it's perpetually a totally different experience from the last time I played it. So now and then I'll fire it up again, put in another large number of hours, struggle for a little coming to grips with some feature that's completely changed, but get a handle on that, start thriving, get to the end game, and then just kinda stall out and quagmire for some reason or another. For the longest time I thought this was happening because the newly redesigned way the game worked meant there was some new concept I had to be mindful of for the whole game or it'd eventually come around and bite me, but on my most recent attempt to get a handle on it, the mid-game complications tipped their hand a little too hard and I realized no, I keep stalling out into an unending mid-game because that's how the game is designed to work.

It helps that this is the first time I've played it since somehow ending up with a big ol' pile of DLC, as the constant redesigns are really pretty blatantly structured such that you really need to have the DLC for it to feel like a properly functioning experience. Otherwise there's just a bunch of weird dummied out stuff basically. But yeah, Stellaris is set up with a variety of both hard and soft systems such that any time you really hit the momentum to start dominating the map and taking everything over, SOME sort of sudden crisis is going to pop up and demand your attention. Do you have a big enough fleet to take out anyone who might oppose you? Well, every other faction in the galaxy is suddenly going to form a federation where if you attack one of them, you're at war with all of them. Reach a point where that's a fight you can handle? Uh... there's suddenly a massive pirate fleet poking at you from behind! Dealt with that? Oh, well, here's a "random" disaster to destroy half your economy. Those fallen empires just sitting on the map with their overkill death fleets the whole game have decided they now have a problem with you. Space Godzilla suddenly appears and starts eating the whole galaxy. SOMETHING is going to happen to perpetually keep you in still a pretty good position but with some big crisis demanding your attention so you can't just go mop the map up.

Attempting to play this game before I realized this was how it worked was super frustrating, because I thought I was just always missing something really important and playing badly, but, OK no, it's just generating new problems on the fly to maintain this eternal mid-game. I'm... not going to call that bad design. I can see it appealing to a certain kind of person, but me? I hate it. And I hate how commonplace it's getting.

Dwarf Fortress is rad, and kind of has a bad endgame. At some point, you're either going to lose your fortress to early bad luck or some critical mismanagement, or get overwhelmed by invading goblins or forgotten beasts or something, but if you play well, you can get to a point where those sort of threats are fully manageable, and from there... either you just get really bored because the normal ways you interact with the game don't have any fresh challenges to offer, or you train up an impressive army and start conquering/destroying/exploring the world in a less than engaging mode most people don't know exists, OR you can go the traditional route, dig too greedily and too deep, crack open hell, and have demons flood your fortress. Like it shows in the intro. I don't really like any of these, but they're something, and Dwarf Fortress is quite famously a super ambitious game that's not anywhere close to finished and may never be.

Dwarf Fortress clones are getting pretty popular, and a feature I keep seeing them advertising is some sort of adversarial event manager that will keep hitting you with random disasters, paced out such that you always get hit with something new if you start getting complacent... and they do this instead of having any sort of end game.

There's a lot of survival type things with infinite procedural worlds. You explore this area and build up tools and defenses and deal with some aggressive enemies, and that leaves you in a position to venture out towards that big landmark on the horizon where even more aggressive enemies will attack you as you try and get even more resources to explore the next landmark, and this just continues forever, this is the game.

Basically every MMO's "endgame" is a series of really hard to survive dungeons/boss fights that give you slightly better gear than what you came in with which should let you just barely manage the next dungeon/boss fight and we're just literally going to keep adding these forever, hopefully at a pace where you aren't just sitting there bored waiting for the next one to go in because you're done with the last one.

And like, again, I dunno, maybe this is just me, but THIS IS THE MYTH OF SISYPHUS! Hades was super mad at a guy and decided to subject him to the absolute worst punishment he could think of- being tasked with pushing a boulder to the top of a hill, but rigging it so that every time he got close to the top, the boulder would slide off and roll all the way back down. So he's just stuck in this eternal loop of the mid-game of boulder pushing. And people who give talks and write papers on game design will say this is great because the strenuous task of pushing the boulder up the hill is the core gameplay loop and that's where all the focus should be.

This feels like a fundamental failure of game design from where I sit, but it's possible I'm just showing my age. I'm just barely old enough to remember when infinitely looping through the same stuff until you screw up and die was just what videogames were. Every arcade game was this single screen challenge where you kill everything or you platform to some goal or you do a race, and then maybe there'd be a few other similar levels, but ultimately you loop back to the first screen you started on but the difficulty's been incremented up in some way, usually just kinda ratcheting the speed up, and yeah, you just play until you lose, maybe get on the high score chart. Then the NES came along and people realized this design philosophy didn't really work when people buy a game up front and that's that, versus feeding quarters in every time they sit down with it, and the fundamental nature of game design changed, and now we've got a more narratively structured sort of deal where you're continually moving through a variety of novel situations requiring greater and greater mastery of the mechanics a particular game is bringing to the table until we build to a proper climax that really puts all your skills to the test and then gives you a nice little ending afterwards.

And like, technically this is subjective, but I am certain that more or less everyone at the time agreed that a game structured like Contra or Super Mario Bros. was just hands down better than a game structured like Pacman or Space Invaders.

Now, it DOES make sense to me why the bloated dying dinosaurs that are big name game publishers are super keen on undoing about 40 years of progress and returning to that Sisyphian drudgery. Ultimately, they want to munch quarters again. And while I would rather passionately debate how true this actually is, the corporate consensus on how to make the most money from games is to... trick people into compulsively playing a game for as long as they possible, while not especially enjoying it, through a combination of having no end game and pressures like "daily login bonuses" while tempting them with little additions that theoretically will make it a more enjoyable experience but ultimately have very little impact (cosmetic DLC stuff, little minor content packs, etc.) and just kinda maintain this false hope that if they stick it out and keep throwing in money it will eventually become a more satisfying experience.

But besides, you know, the fact that the people making their money out of that sort of gross exploitative model keep giving their GDC talks about compelling game loops and player retention and microtransactions and all, I can't for the life of me work out why indie developers who presumably just want to make a really cool game and maybe a better one later are ALSO increasingly designing games with thes endless mid-games and no real longterm goals to work towards. So... please stop doing that? Focus on making games that are only as long as they need to be, where you acquire some skills and ways of approaching problems, then get tested on those, and have a nice satisfying ending, then get to move on to play something else cool, and fondly remember this experience such that they'll hopefully want to see what you do next.

I personally would also very much like to spend all my time making things like that, and it'd be so much easier to focus on that if I didn't have to waste all my time begging for rent money and struggling to stay alive with all the medical problems I can't afford to see doctors about. So... maybe help a gal out there?

[lady-of-endless]

Hello! I hope you're doing well. May I please request a romantic matchup for One Piece?

My pronouns are she/her and I prefer men.

Personality: Leo, INFJ, 1w9, HP house Ravenclaw. Making an effort to understand myself and others is important to me, so that leads to long periods of pondering my actions, as well as others’. I love having me time, though I enjoy being with those close to me from time to time. I'm very supportive, encouraging, reserved, clumsy, easily flustered, athletic, conscientious, witty and sarcastic. Though I unintentionally come across as intimidating, I'm rather gentle and caring. I'm pretty stoic and some misinterpret it as being emotionless (I honestly just want the best for everyone). I rarely lose my cool. I’m adventurous and have completed a dream of mine–living/working in a country that doesn’t speak my native language. I actively search for things to be thankful for to remind myself that there's a lot of beauty in the world, and I'm glad to experience it. I adore challenging myself both intellectually and physically. I am happiest when seeking out information, reason, and understanding. I’m really kinda superstitious…

I work as a foreign language teacher, so my job requires me to have patience, be understanding, be able to think on my feet, and be creative. I'm incredibly determind, which helps push me through difficult days. I strongly encourage those I teach to speak their minds and have open discussions.

My love languages are definitely acts of service and words of affirmation. I don't dislike physical affection when it's from my s/o, but I don't tend to seek it out. Quality time is fine, especially when we're just doing our own thing but sitting near each other. I will always appreciate gifts but hate feeling like I owe others.

Likes and Dislikes: I love discussing topcs that revolve around enigmas. It's not as important to have others agree with me as it is to explore the unknown with them. I like practicing the languages I know, biology, demonology, genealogy, reading, museums, Victorian history, singing, alternative rock and metal music, and exploring my surroundings. Cats and rodents are top tier pets. A large portion of what I read/watch relates to the occult. I dislike storms, large bodies of water, and people who always turn disagreements into arguments.

Hobbies: Writing horror stories, DnD, reading, singing, listening to music, playing the piano, dancing, watching horror movies, drawing, and yoga. As an avid horror fan, animated movies are for sure a guilty pleasure of mine.

Appearance: long wavy auburn hair and my eyes are more of a honey brown. I always wear round glasses. I'm pale with freckles on my cheeks and nose. 5’9, lean, more of an hourglass shape and have a bit of muscle. I mostly wear black and white, but also lilac :) My asthetic is a mix between grunge and dark academia.

I hope this wasn't too painfully long! 💜💜

Author's Note: Thank you for your request! Please dont apologize for the long description, it's helpful and very enjoyable. Hope you'll like it!

I ship you with... Mihawk!

(lovely gif is not mine, please show appreciation to the OP)

- Your ambitious personality draws him in, thinking of how beneficial is to collaborate with someone as ambitious and capable as him. Not to mention your ability to not lose your cool.

- He's feelings go from doubt, to fascination, to respect and then to attraction. He also takes time to understand himself and his feelings so it will definitely be a slow burn.

- He likes that you take time to ponder and then act. Whenever he sees you deep in thought he can't help it but wonder what's going on in that pretty mind of yours.

- Please be a little sarcastic with him too, he'll secretly like that.

- The fact that you try to find the beautiful things in life is something that he wants to learn from you but won't admit. You'll see him try though.

- Unintentionally intimidating looking? You two would look like such a power couple, oh my. Also your grunge and dark academia aesthetic goes so damn well with his aesthetic.

- He thinks that you are a magnificent woman. As days go on and he discovers more about you, you slowly become his muse.

- Because he knows just how determined, analytical and creative you are, he'll probably propose you to come with him to Cross Guild meetings. You'll be a fine addition and a great advisor. (this also gets him the chance to show you off)

- I think that even some of your likes and hobbies will perfectly match his. So perfectly that Mihawk is a bit doubtful at first. He's a bit confused, he always thought that his likes were a bit well, unique.

- Will love to spend a late night talking with you about enigmas and the occult over a glass of wine.

- He will ask you if you could play the piano for him after he had a long day. You may not notice but he looks the most enamoured when you're playing the piano for him.

- Oh and expect reading dates. He takes pride in his library so that's where you two would spend most of the time together.

- He takes note of your dislikes. During stormy weather, Mihawk will invite you next to him to keep you warm. He will start reading to you so that you'll hear his voice instead of the wind and the thunders from outside. He hates it when disagreements turn into arguments as well, so expect him to always come to you and discuss calmly whatever disagreement you two might have.

- Dear, to me you sound like the perfect match for Mihawk, I have nothing else to say.

[itshype]

Ao3 WIP Tag Game!

I was tagged by @nonamemanga a while ago but I didn't have time to do this until now! Thank you for thinking of me!

1. How many works do you have on AO3? Thirty Eight! (37 on my account and 1 that is currently anonymous!)

2. What's your AO3 word count? 170,914 (oooh!)

3. What fandoms do you write for? Netflix's Wednesday (2022), DC Comics (Mostly Batman), Danny Phantom. Other fandoms I have written for but I wouldn't consider myself as currently writing for are; Disney's Descendants first film, Teen Wolf, Fantastic Beasts and where to find them the first film and Netflix's The Witcher. If we're counting my long-abandoned fanfiction account I have also written Dr Who fic, I think maybe a Sherlock one and Without a Trace (2002-2009)

4. What are your Top 5 Fics by Kudos?

In ascending order:

5) Hang On, I Still Need You (Descendants)

4) The Captivating Case of Percy’s Imaginary Date (Fantastic Beasts)

3) Bad Boys, not Bad News (Teen Wolf)

2) Espy Me, While I Watch You (Teen Wolf)

1) a language they cannot understand (Teen Wolf)

5. Do you respond to comments? If I can think of something to say! I can't always though unfortunately.

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I generally write the most unrepentant fluff so I think Once Bitten, Never Shy? But I still wouldn't classify that as angst.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Again, most of them are pretty happy! I'm not going to reread 38 fics to check but the overall fluffiest, happiest AU I've written that comes to mind is The Only Garden My Heart Will Ever Grow In.

8. Do you get hate on fics? I don't think I've gotten hate in my comments but I did get an unkind comment on Tumblr fairly recently saying I needed to get a lot more feedback before publishing (I do have betas) - amongst other less friendly suggestions.

9. Do you write smut? No sorry. When reading fics I'll be like "Hmm this unsafe-kink, publicly-set, PWP is a little too vanilla." But when writing I'm like, "They kiss...with the tongue....I guess."

10. Do you write cross-overs? Yep! A bunch! I haven't always loved crossovers but over the last few years I've really come to enjoy them. On my account is a few DC x DP fics (Danny Phantom and DC Comics) and one, very poorly written Batman and The Witcher I never want to think about again.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated? Niet.

12. Have you ever cowritten a fic before? Yes! Not all of them are published and I don't think I currently have a cowritten fic on my ao3 account but yes, as a process. I enjoy it but also find it challenging to blend writing approaches and deal with time zones.

13. What is a WIP you would like to finish but doubt you ever will? All my fics are completed. However I just begun a new AU (Wyler) that's VERY ambitious so we'll see how that goes.

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship? Malec. Have I ever written a Malec fic? No. Will I? Probably not. The fandom is low key intimidating. But in my heart I have so many AUs.

15. What are you writing strengths? I think my comedy and worldbuilding?? Maybe? I'd feel more confident if a reader of mine weighed in on this.

16. What are your writing weaknesses? Length. It took me almost the whole year to get to the end of A Standing Reservation in the Eye of the Storm. I'll never be one of those people who can smash out 30k in a few days.

17. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I'm not 1000% sure what this question refers to. I think it's important to check that any real-world language is written correctly. But with real-world languages AND conlangs, ensuring readability is so important. My preference is probably the sentence in English with the dialogue tags something like "he said in flawless Mando'a" but an immediate translation in parentheses at the end of the paragraph (hover text is good but doesn't work on mobile) is decent OR have the in-text reply make the dialogue fully evident:

"3456 234567 2345?"

"Oh, I love this song too, I'd love to dance with you!"

Encoded footnotes are alright, and my detested option is full separated out glossaries that give the meaning of each word used for me to string into correct order for each sentence. A headache.

18. First fandom you wrote for? Can't be sure...I think I was involved in a Five Find-Outers and Dog fanfic (not that I used that word) as a child that never made it near a computer, let alone the internet.

19. Favourite fic you’ve ever written? OH easily A million years ago, last night & at the end of all things (also known as AMYAL). The words flowed and I loved every moment. However, I did also love writing Espy Me, While I Watch You back in 2017. I wish the third story in the AMYAL verse came 1/3rd as easy.

20. What fic would you want to rewrite one day? None! Often after a fic is fully published I never think about it aga...That's all a total lie and I feel sad DAILY over the complete hash I made of Pry This Home From My Cold, Dead Mountain because I loved my au so much and I failed to show anyone why. It was just NOT good.

Tagging: @suchaladyy, @cosmic-lullaby, @katwitchwriting, & @writerrose1998 + @ohnomybreadsticks (If you'd like to be tagged please lmk and I'll add you ASAP!)

[valacirya]

Will you be also making an appreciation post about Indis? 🥺 Because honestly, out of all the women in Tolkien, she is the only female character I've observed that is always either erased, written so badly out of character you wonder wherever the hell they even get that shit, or just plainly called a homewrecker. I do not mean to make mountains out of molehills since there's no discourse of her recently or like never but joining the fandom and seeing the absolute shitshow that is thrown at her back then which consequently didn't give her a good rep in the fandom even now, I can't enjoy her character because it's full of asses calling her the worse, especially with all the 'she and her children shouldn't exist bs' and I probably won't give her justice when I make a post. With Miriel, she still gets a good rep because she was Feanor's mom and basically on the Feanorian side which means you get to have a good rep on the fandom (Let's be honest, that's the hard truth). Still, I love the headcanon that is Miriel and Indis's beautiful friendship, it is something rarely seen ya know, female friendship.

Y'know, I really should! I post a lot of headcanons about Indis and anyone who's seen my blog knows how much I love her, but I haven't made a post about why she's such a strikingly unique character.

I agree with all your points about the fandom. The kind of bullshit fans spouted about her was shocking. One essay literally called her a "breeder", it made me want to vomit. I think it isn't as bad now but there are still plenty of people in the fandom who hate her. I just ignore them and they return the favor.

One thing that really bothers me though is how many fans portray her as weak-willed and naive. Nothing in the text supports that. What little information we get about Indis suggests that Tolkien envisioned her as bold, clever, and independent. Instead, I've had to read multiple fics where she's written as a shallow, simpering woman and/or someone who didn't know what she was getting into when she married Finwe. I honestly prefer the ones where she's an asshole. Not to mention, she's often portrayed as gentle and accommodating, which is great, except that in the majority of fics (that I've read) those qualities are positioned as weaknesses in comparison to fiery, ambitious, genius Miriel who was the "true" queen of the Noldor. I hate that. I hate that fans ignore her talents and interests and how they disparage the Vanyar because of her and how often (like you said) she is written completely out of character. And I hate how prevalent the opinion that her marriage was wrong still is in the fandom.

Yeah, I'm pretty defensive about Indis. Thankfully there are awesome fans on Tumblr/Ao3 that do love her and write nuanced fic/meta about her.

[fareehaandspaniards]

Okay, since you said that you don't like Laurence very much because you still don't understand his character (mostly what EXACTLY he wanted), do you want my thoughts? But yeah, he is complicated. Canon left such a HUGE void about his story and character that you'll never love 'a' Laurence, you can only love 'the' Laurence (so, your own interpretation, or someone else's)

My personal vision of him isss not very elaborate? Not elaborate at all? I like @fantomette22 sweet headcanons about him, I must say, they are matching with my hcs! So some of them:

I have strong headcanon that he was that "bully" kid in his teenage years, being really mean to all other kids from lower class. But as it often happens IRL, those who were bullies, pass their teen age and unexpectedly you look at them after years and booom! Completely different person, calm, reliable and maybe even feeling sorry for what they did. Like from an ugly duckling to a beatiful adult duck, I mean, swan. Same to Laurence. Bully in childhood and teenage years ------>hot-headed young man in early Byrgerkinght years, when he meets Rom and Micolash. Kinda stubborn, not nice in communication, ambitious, attention-seeking, a bit shitty, but wants to have a True friend ----> a serious, trustworthy man in late Byrgenwerth era, he suddenly becomes the one who is ready to lead others. He is self-confident and has a lot of soft skills which help him to win any heart (in a political or a social way. I headcanon that he offered Rom to be his gf few times, but she refused. No heart-breaking stories. Laurence tried to find ANYONE for himself, who worth him, be equal. And tried to play with Rom kind personality. They still remained friends tho). Also same time he became more manipulative and cynical. Laurence is a strange one for me. That kind of character I can't accept, but Really want. I don't know why. Maybe something in my memory prevents me from accepting person like him? (Even if I don't remember it) But as it happens PRETTY often, believe me, more I hate character in the beginning = more I like them later I can't imagine Laurence after Byrgerkinght. Yeah, he must be a really good doctor, philosopher, historian and etc. Even excellent. But what made him start all that way? Why blood, not eyes? If he wanted good for people, why didn't he stop when curse appeared? If he wanted progress - everything is fine then! xd I don't understand his motives... Laurence is a strange combo of sincere kindness, eager for progress and curiosity for mysteries, I suppose? Mhm that's all. It's hard. Help. Wait for my ask, Katy...