#I do not apologize for my screaming

[thesoulofasurvivor]

The Last of Us Episode 4

I'M GNJRDKBGHRDKGNDR THIS EPISODE WAS MY SPIRIT AND SOUL. This is the content I've been absolutely DYING FOR. Just good ol' Joel and Ellie I LOVED IT SO MUCH

AND EPISODE 5 RELEASES ON FRIDAY INSTEAD OF SUNDAY THIS WEEK AND I AM SCREAMING

spoilers under the cut, do NOT look if you've not watched The Last of Us Episode 4

Ellie being so proud of herself looking in the mirror with the gun she got from Bill and Franks is just so cute tbh. I am lowkey very sad the episode was only 45 minutes long AHHHHH too short too short I NEED MORE. I loved the good quality shit between Joel and Ellie in the car, hearing more about Tommy and how things went for them prior to "today." Tommy being in the military and having that sorta hero... complex?? Is that the right word? I dunno, he just wants to help people.

Ellie pulling out her joke book while they were filling the car, great stuff and I just so loved how she casually refers back to the joke book, like at night when they settle down and she just, and Joel answers the pun correctly because he knows the joke IT'S SO CUTE??

I LOVE how they did the car crash scene, how that played out was so great, I loved seeing that. Poor Bryan but listen MY DUDE if you didn't want to die why you out here starting the fight bro? You knew the risks my dude. It sucked though, I kinda, a part of me wished Joel would have let him go but honestly that would have been a bad idea anyways cause you bet your ass Bryan would go running back home to set more guys on Joel and Ellie to kill them. Things just ain't so black and white, letting him go would have been nice but it also would have been such a huge risk on their lives. If it was Joel in Bryan's situation, I highly doubt Bryan would have let Joel go.

Can we talk about Kathleen? I've known her for five minutes and I kinda like her. Sure she wants Henry's head on a pike... And probably Joel's as well, but hey, she's got a nice attitude and listen she's running that whole place like a total boss, I like her.

I love Joel being all "you're young, you shouldn't have to do that kinda thing" and him just trying to talk to Ellie and be helpful and he straight up "I ain't good at this" gosh I just love him. I really really enjoyed watching the two of them traverse through the place together, and they have such great chemistry.

Henry and Sam have been changed up significantly, but I really like it so far. They've clearly wronged Kathleen and she wants Henry dead, so they're on the run.

The end though, Ellie bringing up that last joke, NJKGRDKGD seriously, and Joel trying so hard not to laugh BUT OF COURSE he can't hold it in and they just be laughing together and it's the greatest thing ever.

Then the episode ends with us seeing Henry holding Ellie at gunpoint and Sam pointing a gun at Joel and THEN IT JUST ENDS LIKE THIS!!

Such a fantastic episode.

[egophiliac]

do skully have pokemon?

Pumpkaboo is the obvious one, but y'know, sometimes the obvious one is the right one! (we'll say SUPER SIZE Pumpkaboo, just for fun. big pumpkin for big skeleton boy.) and another person actually also suggested Greavard, which I somehow hadn't considered, but feels so perfect that I feel like I should have. dangit.

(they can also have little Nightmare Suit costumes :D)

[s1x-foot-deep]

scene from the radio drama+Great Soft Jelly-Thing concepts

[teaboot]

Your post about art vs content got me thinking about the differences between the two. To me there is no difference besides the mindsets. One is of creator and the enjoyer, the other is content and consumer it removes the personhood, the joy/emotion, from the equation. Like a writer or video creator may not see their work as art so content creator maybe a way to refer to themselves comfortably but it sounds so machine, emotionless and lifeless, like a cookie cutter recipe mass producing something verses people lovingly crafting something...then again Disney uses a cookie cutter recipe for the most part and it brings out bangers cause people lovingly make it their own so maybe I'm thinking too hard on this

Does my long-winded rant make sense?

see, I get what you mean, but I still feel like the willingness to entertain calling art of any kind "content" reduces it to the facet of consumption where in reality, the experience of consuming art is not the sole defining trait of it.

Reducing arts like music, writing, painting, dance, voice acting, theater, etc. to the role of "content"- a thing created to be consumed, measured and valued by how pleasant or easy it is to digest- I feel that it was our biggest red flag to herald the incoming tide of AI "art".

Because if art is "content", if arts are nothing but consumable matter, then obviously the key to success is to produce as much soft, tasty, edible paste as we possibly can at the lowest possible expense.

It's the same issue I have with "meal replacements", diet culture, nutrient slurries, twenty-step skincare routines, 24/7 body padding and shapewear and laxative teas and "grind culture". It's not a cause, but a symptom, of the disease that is late-stage capitalism.

Things must be produced at low cost and remain in high demand forever. Things must be perfect and palatable and the new hit trend forever. People must pay hand over fist to consume without asking anything in return, and if they start dropping like flies at the unending unrewarded thankless demand of it all, then that must be treated as a weakness. We should all take pride in how much we can spend, pay, give, produce, and think as little as possible about what we ask for ourselves.

So, who cares if, of two identical paintings, one was made by a person and one was made by a computer program? It's the same work, so what does it matter? What does it matter?

I am an artist. I make art. I ask a question, make a statement, declare something horrific or challenging or upsetting or wrong or grotesque, and when you respond, we are together experiencing a conversation. We are existing, two people living one life and reaching out and touching across time and space. No matter the work, you're at the barest minimum saying, "I'm alive, and you're alive, and at one time or another we shared this same world, and at the end of the day we aren't too terribly different. My heart is worth sharing, and your heart is worth the struggle of understanding."

An AI-generated piece, a computer-generated voice, a CGI puppet of someone long since dead and gone, they cannot speak. They have no voice. Ay best, they are the most chewable, consumable, landlord-beige common denominator possible that you can sit and listen to like the lone survivor of a shipwreck listening to the same three songs on a broken record, and at worst, they're the uncaring vomit of an empty, unloving, value-addled hack wearing the skin of someone I know over their own.

When you abandon art to say that you make content, that should not be a point of pride. That's an embarrassment. That's not sitting down for an intelligent discussion with an equal, that's kneeling at the feet of the crowd and saying, "what do you want to see me do? I can be anyone you've ever loved. I can be them, I can be anyone, as long as you love me."

I can make content. I can be consumed. What do you want to consume? I'll make myself consumable. I'll make myself just like anything you like. And I'll make so much of it that you'll never have to go anywhere else, because it'll all be right here, and under all the cut-and-paste schlock you've seen before I will sit alone in the dark and the silence and I will know that I am safe, because I am valued, because I am desired, and I need to be desired or else I am worthless like a factory that no longer churns out steel or a hen that no longer lays eggs or a cow that is too old to make milk.

Content, the most literal meaning, is something which is contained inside a container. What it is doesn't really matter, and the best it can hope to be is something worthy of being scooped out and used.

Art is an experience that transcends value. Art is something you can eat without paying for. You can make it out of anything and anyone can do it. It can be crude and vulgar and bad, and that's a strength because it means something. It always, always means something, and it doesn't matter if you like it or not. It's not content because it doesn't fill anything. It's a living, breathing thing, and whether you want to birth it or eat it, then you're going to have to be willing to put the fucking work in

[lunar-years]

I’ve already explored and seen other people explore the idea of Jamie texting/reaching out to Roy in the wake of the season one finale because he feels reasonable/guilty about Roy’s injury. But WHAT IF…Roy is super depressed one night and/or has had a few drinks in an attempt to drown his sorrows and then decides to text Jamie…to blame him. Now, I don’t think Roy in his right mind would *actually* blame Jamie for his injury, because that would be dumb and they were both just doing their jobs, which Roy fully knows. However, in a very distressed state I can absolutely see Roy launching at whomever he can blame. Particularly when that person is Jamie, a person he already hates.

[almondcroissantsandink]

was absolutely stopped in my tracks and BLOWN away yesterday at work when a coworker called me pure; I literally haven't been called that in over a decade and there's always been something about it that rubs me the wrong way

[birdy-babe]

HELLUVA BOSS FULL MOON SPOILERS

I AM ASHAMED TO SAY BUT THERE REALLY WAS A PART OF ME THAT THOUGHT THIS MIGHT GO WELL

I was so wrong

[tubelight-404]

FIRST TIME GIVES INEFFABLE HUSBANDS VIBES AND I DONT THINK I CAN HANDLE IT 😭😭😭

[smile-files]

there's something interesting to be said about how nickel's female friends have to constantly school him on how horrible he is but animationepic won't say it

[egophiliac]

swipes everything else off of the table to yell about diasomnia flower bookmarks

(I gave Silver one too :D)

[dipplinduo]

Phew!!! Sorry I took so long to finish this. Hope you like it!

[cos-chloo]

I NEED to scream about the next episode of Protocol once it hits on Thursday.

It's really hitting hard now, and I am so excited and so damn anxious in equal measure!

[butts-bouncing-on-the-beltway]

Local parent visits child and comments on the shyness of one of the cats in the household, child decides not to mention that said cat has literally never met a human she didn't try to climb like a cat tree while headbutting them for attention, more at 11

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

if dorian didn't show up, do you think louis would have shot minnie?

I do. I know some people think either he wouldn't have or he would've missed so that's why the writers had him shoot Dorian instead, but mmmmmm no, I don't personally think so. I like to think that if he had taken the shot, his shaky hands would've caused him to shoot her fatally.

Mostly because I'm already so normal about the fact that of the Ericson crew, Marlon and Louis are the only ones with a body count. Well, that we know of, but shown to us in the game, at least. Plus, we know it's Louis' first kill.

Like yeah, Clementine and AJ become part of the crew and they have bigger body counts, and if we're counting indirect kills caused by actions, then Tenn has a count... and I guess everyone has blood on their hands for blowing up the boat... but I'm talking about killed directly with a weapon like....... I lied, I'm not normal about that at all, Louis and Marlon are the ones who have killed someone in Louis' route. I'm also not normal about the fact that Louis kills Dorian and then even as he's clearly in shock, he tries to go with Clementine to get AJ, and then later on when they talk about it, he says it feels like bile but not quite and he's glad he has it in him to do it.... listen, listen, listen... I'm obsessed with that.

Anyway, so if Louis shot Minerva, I think he would've accidentally killed her and can you imagine? He's already enough of a mess after killing the woman who pinned him down and tried to cut his finger off [or succeeded] but he knew Minerva, they were friends before the twins were taken. Even Violet couldn't kill her even though that would've been the smarter thing to do, and we know thanks to meta knowledge that killing her would've saved lives, but Violet couldn't, and I don't think Louis would intentionally either.

Speaking of Violet, if Louis killed Minerva, I hate to think about what that would've done to Vi. I think she might've actually left at that point, like what was planned before it got changed to her being burned. I don't think she would've attacked Louis over it, though, like yeah she attacked Clementine in the cell but Louis? I don't know, but I don't think so just because it's Louis and he'd be a mess about it anyway.

Though if he did kill her, it would be a neat parallel to draw... y'know, because Louis forgave AJ for killing Marlon even though he was pissed and heartbroken, and Violet was annoyed with him the entire time... but could she ever forgive Louis for killing Minerva? Y'know? We already have a similar parallel with AJ shooting Tenn, but still.

If Clementine killed Minerva in that moment, though, then I could see Violet attacking her since in her eyes, Clem proved her right.

So yeah, I get why they added the Dorian kill to his route. It adds another compelling element to Louis as a character, but we also need Minerva alive for episode 4; Louis can't kill her, he can't miss, and he's not going to stay with her because we need Violet to stay on the boat and him to be on shore for all routes.

[avianii]

vaguely irritated every time I hear someone call my life depressing

[skitskatdacat63]

2023 Australian Grand Prix - Fernando Alonso(ft. Max Verstappen & Lewis Hamilton)(my personal post-race highlights)