#I don’t mean that in a hyperbolic or fandom way

[kaxtwenty]

It really is insane to think about how foundational the original Mobile Suit Gundam is to gay literature.

[literaryvein-reblogs]

From the Slang Dictionary

Brainrot - (sometimes spelled brain rot) used to describe the effects of being “perpetually online” and consuming large amounts of low-value internet content. The term, which can be used as both a noun and verb, is also used to describe an intense and often obsessive preoccupation with a particular topic, such as a TV show, movie, fandom, or idea. People experiencing brainrot often find themselves mindlessly scrolling through never-ending social media content.

Delulu - a slang shortening of the word delusional. It is especially used to describe superfans or dating partners who display odd or extreme behavior. Frequently, delulu is used in jokes, memes, hyperbole, or lighthearted mockery, especially in memes and social media videos depicting people acting bizarrely or obsessively.

Girl grip - holding multiple items in one hand by grasping them between fingers. Typically, the phrase refers to a person using a clawed hand to hold multiple items at once. For example, a person may hold a paper cup using primarily their thumb and pointer finger while holding a smartphone, keys, receipt, and wallet with their remaining fingers on the same hand.

Goblin mode - a way of behaving that intentionally and shamelessly gives in to and indulges in base habits and activities without regard for adhering to social norms or expectations. The phrase is typically used to be at least somewhat humorous and is commonly applied to oneself as a way of embracing such behavior. It is often considered the opposite of and a reaction to the kinds of healthy, organized, productive habits and lifestyles that are commonly presented (and glorified) in highly curated social media content. It is also sometimes used in reference to people and animals who suddenly become “wild.”

Nepo friend - a person who is thought to benefit from having a famous or influential friend. It is often used to imply that someone is only famous or successful because of their association with a famous person. The term may be used playfully, but it is often at least mildly negative.

Out of pocket - a phrase with three different common meanings. It can refer to a person having to pay money themselves, a person being unreachable, or a person acting unnaturally or in a wild, inappropriate way.

Side character energy - a characteristic that describes how a person sees themselves and their attitude toward life. Side character energy is typically associated with people who are funny, content, and self-assured or who don’t seek to be the center of attention. It is often seen as a counterpart to main character energy or main character syndrome.

Situationship - a romantic or sexual relationship that is undefined and noncommittal. People in a situationship are more than friends but less than committed romantic partners. It can often vary in what happens within it. It could involve casual sex, romance, dating people, spontaneous meetings, a lack of plans, a lack of emotional connection, or possibly all or none of these things.

Unalive - a slang term used on social media as a replacement for the verb kill or other death-related terms, often in the context of suicide. It is typically used as a way of circumventing social media platform rules that prohibit, remove, censor, or demonetize content that explicitly mentions killing or suicide. The term is used both seriously (such as in discussion of suicide prevention and awareness) and in nonserious posts and memes (such as saying My mom is going to unalive me if I don’t clean my room).

Yassification - the act of making something better, especially more visually appealing. Specifically, it is often used to refer to an internet meme in which pictures of people are edited using photo editing software or beauty filters to resemble an exaggerated, hyperfeminine version of a woman adhering to stereotypical beauty standards.

Source ⚜ More: Word Lists ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

[merriclo]

i’m 100% vagueposting here but so many very popular BSD analyses are essentially just huge reaches that can be easily disproven, made due to a deep misunderstanding of the narrative and a lack of genuine respect for the process of analyzing.

i’ve seen entire essays on how Dazai didn’t abuse Akutagawa, and how Akutagawa doesn’t abuse Higuchi. i’ve seen post after post discount the importance of the trust that rests within Double Black. i’ve seen people argue over whether or not Kunikida’s ideals are healthy.

and half the damn time, sources aren’t cited whatsoever: there’s no quotes or manga panels used anywhere!! scenes and moments will be referenced, but without a proper citation there’s so many different ways you can present and misconstrue what actually happened. and with a series like BSD, where so many aren’t able to read the light novels or watch the movie or read the manga, that can change so much.

and then it’ll be revealed that the author only spends like,, 3-4 hours max on the entire process behind one post. the information gathering, the writing, the formatting + aesthetics, and then the posting. if you’ve never gotten deep into analyzing media before, just know that 3-4 hours is a painfully short amount of time to give an analysis.

it boggles my mind, too, because it will be these exact kinds of posts that are written with nothing but contempt for the readers. their words will be laced with pure annoyance and distaste for the audience and general fandom. i’ve even witnessed people publicly insult commenters who praised them, calling them stupid sheep for being hyperbolic in their compliments. it’s cruel, and incredibly mean-spirited.

speaking of which, there’s also a conversation to be had about how bigotry impacts these discussions. several character analyses i’ve seen have been nothing but poorly-masked attempts at discounting popular queer ships, or ignoring the abuse present in heterosexual ones to provide an alternative. but that’s… its own entire can of worms that i’ll crack open at a later date.

tl;dr, think critically, and always for yourself. an analysis shouldn’t be trying to end a conversation, they should always be seen as an addition to them. the author attempting anything else is a major red flag. you should always be trying to find the parts of analyses that you agree and disagree with!! don’t let anyone tell you want to think, that is for you and you alone to decide.

i know this is honestly seems like a non-issue, but media literacy is an incredibly important skill to have in the real world, and it starts with the very media (and commentary of said media) you consume. stay critical chat ily

[dearweirdme]

Ok but anon isn’t just making up assumptions about Jk not knowing that Tae was in Hawaii. I am guessing they think so because of what Tae himself said in that post. In the post he said he called Jk and said he was in Hawaii. Why would he have to call Jk to tell him he was in Hawaii if Jk already knew he was there?

Just a few days ago, when someone brought up the fact that Tae didn’t seem to know about Jk’s travel plans for the AYS shoots either you said you don’t think they always necessarily know every nitty gritty detail about “work” plans and we know Hawaii was work and not leisure for Tae so why is it impossible to think that Jk probably didn’t know just the same way Tae probably didn’t because they were work schedules? At the end of the day we don’t live under their beds and we definitely don’t know what they know or don’t know. The only way we get an idea of what they know if by listening to what they tell us and sometimes watching their actions and body language and in this case, as well as the case of Tae probably not knowing about Jk’s AYS trips, we got to that conclusion because of the things they themselves said. Yes they may have been together before and they hang out but that doesn’t mean they will know about all the details. I mean we speculate that they might call or text each other a lot but what exactly do they really text or call each other and say when based on what Tae said a lot in 2023, he always got to find out about a lot of Jungkook’s schedules via a groupchat and not from his frequent conversations with him? Yes there is the element of them probably telling white lies here and there for the purpose of their privacy but some of these things don’t expose them in any way if they tell the truth about them right? Like how could it possibly affect Tae or Jungkook to say they already knew about a trip or schedule from each other? Why would Tae word things the way he did implying that he only informed Jk about him being in Hawaii at that point if Jk already knew? What’s the point?

Hi anon!

So, I am absolutely not on the side of fandom that takes everything they say literally. I know that’s offensive to a lot, but imo that’s just not the way things work. There’s the element of them being entertainers, there’s the factor of them wanting to keep certain things private, and in Tae and Jk’s case I believe they’re also closeted.

Like I already say in another post, I’m even open to Tae’s words about learning about Jeju from the groupapp being false for the sake of it fitting more in the ‘guest’ scenario. It’s not always about ‘something affecting Jk and Tae’s hidden relationship’ but in official content I feel it’s much more about a certain storyline that’s deemed interesting. The ITS talk for example was completely unnecessary and imo not how Tae and Jk communicate in real life, it created a desired storyline though.

All of that doesn’t however apply to Tae’s mention of Jk in Hawaii. What it was most likely like is that they were on the phone or texting and Tae just said.. alright I miss you, why don’t you come also? And Jk went. The posting of those pictures a year or so later was a different situation. Imo it was Tae wanting to let us know Jk went to Hawaii for him. He wanted to shine extra light on Jk’s gesture. Just like Tae talked about Jk directing him during Layover recording. He wants to shine extra light on how amazing Jk is. I see it as a hyperbole. That is the point of Tae’s wording.

[giggly-squiggily]

OKAY LITTLE BIT OF SPOILERS FOR SECOND SELECTION (I think? It’s when they’re like if you lose, you gotta give me one of your dudes.)

Okay yeah, ReoNagi this, Kunigiri that.

What about Nagigiri?? Even better, a deep friendship btwn the two.

Two insomniacs, yapping in tender silence. Gentle conversations and about anything and everything. They start early and end late, and the next thing they know, it’s well into the morning.

Two soft-spoken men, enjoying the gentleness of one another’s company. They like to watch videos on Nagi’s phone, a part of them always touching.

(Pushing my Nagi has POTS headcanon into the fandom)Two medically-mysterious men, sharing hospital horror stories until they’re blue in the face. They giggle over the diagnoses the doctors have given them.

“They used to tell me I was anxious and had a vitamin D deficiency. I mean, it’s true, but, that’s not the reason my heart likes to explode at random.”

“Explode is a bit hyperbolic, don’t you think?”

Two secretly playful men, trashing their room as one tosses random items to the other, hoping the latter can catch them with his foot. “It’s practice,” they told Barou.

Two secret drama queens, gossiping in the bath about their crushes—or in Nagi’s case, lack thereof. (Yes he’s aroace to me, fight me.)

Two touch-starved men, indulging in one another’s unspoken needs: head scratches, back rubs, foot massage, neck traces, even just being snuggly. Again, a part of them is always touching each other.

Ducky you have such a way with words holy- 😍 the platonic-side of my Nagiri loving heart has been FED!

Them talking well into the night, watching videos and always physically connected like the gentle boys they are AHH! (Nagi with POTS!!!! I love, I love!)

Chigiri being concerned by Nagi's heart "Exploding" but being such a good guy staying by him when he has an episode. Nagi in turn learning all the best stretches to help Chigiri out with his knee whenever it's starting to ache. They compare "battle scars"- Chigiri's surgery incision and Nagi's various scars from pre-diagnosed POTS incidents.

Nagi catching everything with his foot and Chigiri finding more and more increasingly strange items to chuck- at some point Barou has to physically intercept them to protect the few sacred clean spaces left of said room- often times getting smacked in the face with shoes or socks or at some point a hair-dryer ("In my defense, I warned you to duck!")

The crush discuss!! They're gigging in the bath, ranking the guys on a 1-10 hotness scale, who likely had a partner outside of here, who'd Chigiri could seduce if he tried (Nagi being AroAce!! Girl I won't fight ya- lemme join the army, I'm vibing with it!) Nagi taking special note at how soft and sweet Chigiri gets when they talk about Kunigami. Chigiri in return being so supportive and sweet when Nagi comes out to him (the only person to know really- he doesn't know how to tell Reo)

Nagi playing with Chigiri's hair, Chigiri's hand always finding the exact spot on Nagi's back that itched. Nagi naturally leaning into Chigiri, the other fitting into the crook of his arm with ease. Hip to hip in the same bed talking about everything and nothing at all. Their souls are connected and nothing will break that- even post Blue Lock they'll always find one another <3

This made me so soft! Thank you for sharing, Ducky! <3 <3 <3

[darlingpoppet]

20 Writer Questions

Tagged by @baejax-the-great… sorry it took me a while to respond to this but it had interesting questions so I wanted to circle back around to it eventually!

Tagging forth to: @sonderlivra @passingfair @levislattes @sleepy-pigeonn @goddamnchou @galpalpetraral @lostcauses-noregrets @bigweldindustries (no pressure to respond ofc <3)

1). How many works do you have on AO3?

22! Not bad for 3 years of posting I guess… two separate pages on the works list :3 

2). What’s your total AO3 word count?

246,488 words… almost a quarter of the way to 1 million lol!

3). What are your top five fics by kudos?

Closest To My Heart (pza) 347

Flourishing Into Greatness (pza) 247

Strain (eruri) 236

Where The Dead Forget (patrochilles) 232

Pressed Flowers (eruri) 219

I love how this top 5 keeps changing constantly lol… but also that it has a variety of ships and ratings… thank you for appreciating my range :’)

4). What fandoms do you write for?

attack on titan/shingeki no kyojin (eruri, etc); hades/the iliad/tsoa (patrochilles, pza, etc.); I might start eventually writing some fics with hades 2 characters since I already have a couple of ideas, but I kind of want to wait for 1.0 and take some more time to get to know the characters first and see which ships (if any) possess my brain 

5). Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes, I do my best to respond to all comments (though unfortunately I’m still way behind in replies for a couple of my older fics💦) The reasons are I want to show my gratitude to anyone who takes the time to give me their thoughts, but also it’s really fun to be able to talk about the characters & relationships with other people who love them as much as I do! Not to mention it’s an opportunity to talk about my writing, so anyone who is willing to indulge me pretty much has my heart 😂

6). What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Tbh I write a lot of angst fics and can’t resist giving a touch of melancholy to most of my endings… Pressed Flowers and Liminal Spaces are both tagged with MCD so maybe by that virtue alone they would be considered to have the saddest endings? But at the same time I don’t think any of my fics including those ones are 100% bad/downer endings either. I’m usually aiming for a beautiful ache, iykwim :) As an aside, I love the fact that I wrote In Full Bloom with the intention of ending it on a happy note, but Hades 2 coming into existence has given it that twinge of melancholy I always covet without me even having to do anything! >:D 

7). What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Me, write happy endings?! Well, Closest To My Heart has a happy ending, right? >:3c Nah but fr I do have a couple of stories that you might be able to categorize as “fix-it” fics, which means they’re happy by virtue of the original source materials being tragic: I’m thinking of Sea Of Love for Patrochilles and Nonbiri-Ya for Eruri.

8). Do you get hate on fics?

Not really, maybe like two times total? And both times were extremely low effort non-comments… like maybe they were a teenager who didn’t read the tags and realized they were at the wrong circus and had to say “what the fuck?” out loud before walking out type stuff, haha. Idk they could’ve been complimentary in that edgy, hyperbolic internet speak way but since these people are talking to a complete stranger, it just comes off as weird so it gets deleted uwu

9). Do you write smut?

I’m ngl, at the start of all this I kind of thought I was going to be the sort of fanfic author whose bread & butter is atmosphere-rich, deep-dive character-study type stories in which smut would be secondary… but then the horny bug bit me and I realized how much writing smut fics is fun for me, and so now currently 14 out of my 22 works (almost 2/3rds) are E rated, LMAO 🫣 tbh it’s actually kind of great because I’ve also always admired a lot of smut fics too, so why not aspire to do both, yk? Something for the sophisticated, slowburn epic enjoyers AND something for the decadent, depraved sex perverts! (there are two wolves inside of me uwu)

10). Do you write crossovers?

Not really. I do kinda mix & match with the “canons” of different greek myth retellings but does that really count?

11). Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of… hopefully not!

12). Have you ever had a fic translated?

I’ve translated several of my own fics into Japanese, two of which are currently posted on AO3. I received one request to translate one of my fics into Russian… if it ever got done it was probably posted somewhere on ficbook and I haven’t seen it. Also another fic of mine was translated into Russian and Ukrainian concurrently as part of a group project I and some other friends did together.

13). Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

No… I’m not really sure how it all works but I may possibly be interested in trying it out someday 👀👉👈

14). What’s your all-time favorite ship?

Oh god, all-time? Idk, get back to me on my deathbed and ask me then (Old Lady Me: “It was called, ‘the Ship Of Dreams’… and it was. It really was.”)

15). What’s the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Idk… I feel like I’m early enough in my fanfic writing journey that I’m optimistic that I’ll at least finish all the ones I’ve started eventually. Now that Liminal Spaces is done, Where The Dead Forget is back to being my only serially published WIP and I am absolutely determined to finish it no matter how long it takes! There are some ideas I have that I’ll probably never end up getting around to writing… would they even count as WIPs if I haven’t started them, though?

16). What are your writing strengths?

Oh god… chat what do you think? I suppose I get a lot of compliments about atmosphere and tension. I think I’m good at creating a satisfying rhythm and a sense of timing to emphasize the impact of whatever I’m trying to express. I also think I write pretty good endings!

17). What are your writing weaknesses?

I think writing Liminal Spaces exposed that I need to work on my ability to diversify narrative voices. Or maybe it just seemed challenging to me since I don’t often do modern AUs, and for some reason I had it in my head that it should sound more casual and less lyrical? lol. At the same time I’m not sure how I would’ve been able to fix it and have it still read like something I wrote. Idk it might be something I continue to puzzle over and experiment with in the coming years. Also, just as I think my endings are good, I wish I was better at writing intriguing first sentences/paragraphs. I always admire stories that completely capture my interest from the word go (don’t we all?) so I think I should practice getting better at that

18). Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in a fic?

I’ve never done it before so maybe my thoughts are that it’s unnecessary? Unless I was like, writing a situation where the pov character is being spoken to in a language they don’t understand, perhaps. Slightly related, I’m planning on attempting to write some song lyrics for a fic in the near future and I’m toying with the idea whether or not to write them in a foreign language or if I should just do it in English. Understanding it probably wouldn’t be important and it could be a vibe… but idk, might be a bridge to cross when I get to it

19). First fandom you wrote for?

Omg I just answered this for a writer meme on bsky and it made me giggle so much to remember this: I was 12-13 years old and it was for Gundam Wing… I wrote a childhood au where the gang goes to summer camp. I had never been to a summer camp in my life so I have no idea why I thought that would be a good setting but my self-insert OC was in it and I’m pretty sure it was peak tween cringe <3 Alas, I'm pretty sure it’s lost to the sands of time. The other thing I mentioned on that bsky meme was also that I very vividly remember my first smut fic being a dead-dove James/Sirius (from Harry Potter) fic that I wrote when I was 16-17 maybe? I believe it’s also lost to time despite trying to find it again recently so I can’t confirm how good or bad the writing actually was… but I’m ngl I’d still kinda fw the premise now, even if teenage me was trying a little bit too hard to be edgy, lol. If I weren’t completely done with that franchise for moral & ethical reasons I might’ve considered writing it over again just for fun. Oh well! :) 

20). Favorite fic you’ve ever written?

Would you ask me to pick my favorite child? :( I guess if I’ve published it on AO3 then it means it’s something I created with love and am proud of in some way. They all have a piece of me folded inside of them! Idk you tell me, what’s YOUR favorite fic I’ve written? 🫵💕

[total-feminism-takes]

Yeah yeah tdi writers when it comes to female characters could be better but can we please focus on the fandom? Y’all have no excuse as to how you treat these characters!!!

Hello some of the best written and intriguing characters are female, some of the best dynamics include females but y’all are too busy with your male characters and male ships and your internalised misogyny I mean what who said that???

But fr to go onto some of my most hated things in the fandom because I’m in a whingey mood and want to complain and this blog is great if it’s okay I’m gonna dump these here;

Courtney haters need to SHUT UPPPPPPP!!!! I don’t care if you think she’s badly written she’s not and especially not for tdi standards y’all just want to complain about an interesting female character there’s sooo much to her you can just dig into it’s delicious I love her!! And yet she’s still antagonised by the fandom??? I’m not gonna act like she did no wrong and wasn’t the villain because hello did we see action but it’s more nuanced that her being annoying and evil! Y’all just need to look at her more!!!

Svetlana is ALWAYS neglected by the tdi fandom hello she’s one of the alters we see the most yet everyone hates her!! Why!! She’s not my favourite sure I prefer Vito, Manitoba and maybe Mal maybe but come on! She’s a part of the gang too stop ignoring her!!!

People who hc male characters as misogynistic are icky stop itttttt!!! It’s not fun!!!! I have more to talk about this later but I hateee when people say that male characters are misogynistic when either they’re clearly not or they make such a deal of it cough Ezekiel. I’m fine with it being a joke once again I will make fun of Ezekiel till the day I die but when people low-key make the male characters misogynistic it’s like why! Especially when it’s male fans sorry had to be said.

Can we please not ignore platonic male and female friendships pretty please!!!!! We saw how many of the male and male friendships were fake and caved in on themselves we saw the downfall of the guys alliance why do we act like it’s only the females?? I swear the male and female friendships are the only normal ones in the show bar like Gwen and Duncan because they had to do that but hello we all love a bit of DJ and Heather why do we act like we don’t???

The way tdi fans treat the male x male relationships compared to the female x female relationships is soo gross leave them alone please! They can be just as good!!! You don’t believe me well gwourtney has just as much potential as any male x male relationship but y’all don’t want to hear that! And they’re all so fun hello?? Mkulia did more for the homosexuals than anything pride ever did (jokes). Also you can have your toxic yuri like you have your toxic yaoi y’all just can’t understand that there isn’t as critical of a difference between females and men as you like to act there is oops sorry

The way y’all treat Dawn… sighs. She’s not some cute little garden fairy especially not after tdi she definitely doxxes people on Reddit if they’ve wronged her she definitely leaked Scott’s ip address after tdi. Like yeah she’s nice and a good person and likes animals but let her have fun too please

The way roti fans treat zoey is despicable. They treat her either likes she’s the devil and evil and poor little Mike zoey is so hypocritical and evil and mean, or they treat her like she’s a two dimensional piece of cardboard. Didn’t want to say this but she had some of if not the funniest lines in roti. Yeah she sucked in AS but everyone did and im predicting people treated her like this before AS even came out.

Uh TL;DR treat the female characters like how you treat the males please they’re not that different you just hate women.

Uh take this all with a pinch of salt if you do any of this you don’t hate women im just being hyperbolic but there is clearly some issues with the way you view women if you do any of this. Sorry it’s true I’m sending anonymously because I fear this will strike a nerve.

❤️

[castlebyersafterdark]

you recently mentioned that you've made peace with foah being or not being a thing, and enjoy it for fun instead of getting too involved.

do you think that getting too involved is the main issue for fandom as regards byler and mileven? when I see people doubting, its not because they are being impartial and appraising the show in a way that shows they love it but would also be fine if it didnt work out the way they want. i see people who genuinely behave as if they wouldnt be able to cope with no byler outcome. do you think this is indicative of a fan emotion issue rather than a writing issue? 'its just a show' is dismissive, but i can never tell whether people are exaggerating or if they genuinely will be unable to cope and need to like... take a break from work and life. I'm always confused at the latter, because its not a real life situation, not real friends or people they know, and having such an attachment to fiction doesnt seem advisable purely because we have zero control over the outcome. even with irl friends and partners, at least you can discuss things with them and be involved in the situation. but we have zero control over this, we're just viewers. i dont see why people would let themselves get to a place where they're so invested to the point it could cause them real emotional harm. people need to take care of themselves and have more eggs in more baskets!

seems like you chose to do this with foah, i wonder if you had a method or if you spoke to your partner and gained some perspective?

I found that getting wayyyyyy too involved with celebrities is more where I'm less wanting to focus, compared to fiction, I'm rediscovering. I'm personally just not built for certain things, as much as I enjoy gossip and drama.

It's different than just being interested in their lives and careers and having my crushes. I'm enjoying Foah, but there's stuff about the fandom surrounding RPF that I'm not cut out for and it's been mentally more peaceful for me to mellow through the vibes and chill out. I've been having a nice time! Aloof, admiring bliss.

The reason stemmed from me getting a bit of anxiety over having to constantly overanalyze things happening on places I don't frequent like other social media etc., keeping up with every detail, having an opinion about everything, and feeling really responsible for trying to talk down and reassure and justify to those who doom about the boys being or not being in contact and their travel habits... instead focusing on passively interacting and enjoying rather than taking on a role where I feed into other's emotions like having "Foah doubt" is not my responsibility?? If that makes sense?? I just wanted to have fun again. I'm observing all and picking and choosing more.

I think it's a bit more difficult with the television show "ship" because of the nature of fandom, where it's almost a hobby? The emotional investments into a story is greater? (Though I know for some the emotional investment is in fact just as great for celeb relationship) I know despite my incredible confidence, the threat is not zero and if Byler is in fact not the storyline - admittedly I will be incredibly devastated. I'll need a bit to process - which just would mean a fandom/online break until I return to write my creative works and continue on, mourning bad writing.

And I'll... live? I'll be depressed, but I'll live. I do worry for those who threaten very serious things because I don't find those things light or to be joked about in the way some do, so is it tasteless hyperbole or something troublesome? I don’t know what to think either. I know it IS that serious for some people, because many dooooo attribute entire happiness to fictional topics and the investment and escapism is major.

I think a healthy sense of self awareness is pretty important overall and it is really really important also to have more than one point of focus and interest in life, otherwise if the pillar is toppled, there's nothing to hold you up. Have more going on just as self preservation. Thoughts!

Be kind to each other and be kind most of all to yourselves ❤️❤️

[biblioflyer]

To boldly go backwards?

Unpacking the attitudes behind people burned by Burnham. No, not those people. The other people. The ones who authentically seem to care about something other than protecting their image of Columbus as a cool dude.

This will be a series. If you’re reading this on the day it escaped my queue, the rest are queued for a 1 a day. If not, all will have the ‘Star Trek ethics’ tag in common. If I’m really on the ball, I’ll come back later and edit in links to the other chapters here.

I can see it now. Enterprise had its 1701-D cameos, Star Trek Picard had its Enterprise-G moment, and now Discovery’s finale will likely be controversial on the basis of Burnham placing the Progenitor’s technology out of reach of pretty much everyone. There will be many different ways of contemplating this, but I think you can sum it up as:

Did Discovery “give in” to techno-pessimism and in doing so undermine a core theme of Star Trek?

I don’t personally think so, but you might and I think I know why. Burnham is kind of, sort of applying a reverse Prime Directive on the Federation. She comes away believing that the Progenitor tech should not be entrusted to one person or even one civilization, and that ultimately it's unnecessary. So she “throws it away.” 

By throw it away, I mean she has it yeeted into a Black Hole where theoretically more advanced civilizations than the Federation can access it if and when it comes to it, but by that point it will likely be more of an anthropological curiosity to them rather than a new technological singularity.

Thus, the series finale of Discovery is one in which some observers might feel that a core premise of Star Trek, that of techno-optimism, is betrayed. While the grousing I think is likely to be hyperbolic, not all of it is necessarily a mask for something more nasty, feral, and likely to get a person kicked off any reasonably well moderated platform if expressed in the open.

What you think the core values of Star Trek are may actually be just that: a different understanding of what the core values are, and thus a different understanding of when they have or have not been undermined. I have my own take on those values.

For instance I despise Section 31 as a concept and storytelling device, believe it has directly attacked one of the most important core conceits of the setting: its fundamental optimism, and the damage this embrace of cynicism has done is continuing to ripple through Trek into the present day.

Yet at the same time, I also understand Trek as a set of modern fables, that the Federation is not a real place, and that it has a narrative function. That function being to model becoming aware of and confronting that which we should find repugnant and unacceptable in our own society if we were not desensitized to it.

Thus Burnham’s choice is one that can be read a few different ways, and that’s without getting into whether it was satisfying as a climax. While it is often derisively referred to as “NuTrek”, a label that both describes a worldview and a storytelling style anathema to those who prefer the more professional affectations, high regard for Classical Education, and “competency porn” of TOS & TNG or the more “neo-realist” shades of gray of DS9; Discovery is in many ways a fusion of the Treks of yesteryear. 

Sometimes it can be a lot closer to The Original Series in worldview than one might imagine in its willingness to indulge moral gray zones: “the Vulcan Hello” being a prime example. Other times it affirms the TNG obsession with personal and civilizational virtues as a thing one actively commits to upholding even when there are tremendous, even transformative benefits to be reaped by conceding. The refusal of the Progenitor tech being one of those examples.

This is something I’m going to unpack in subsequent posts in an attempt to try to sidestep some of the nastier fissures in the fandom and uncover what I think may be a genuine difference in the worldviews and orientations of some fans rather than, at best a distaste for the story structures and affectations of Discovery, and at its worst naked hostility to a crew that isn’t predominantly Anglo-European, heterosexual, and male. 

Next: What is the Kirkian ideal?

[sitp-recs]

I am once again back on your blog scrolling for a fic to read, so wanted to show my appreciation and say that it is no hyperbole to say that your blog is what keeps me coming back here. A lot of my fandoms are quite quiet right now but I can never leave Tumblr because how would I follow your blog if I did?! So thank you for being the greatest of fic reccers

gosh, I don’t even know what to do with myself after being showered with so much appreciation this week, thank you so much 💜 and I probably wouldn’t be still around if it wasn’t for the Drarry community, either. this is such a vibrant fandom with so many active fests and creators it’s hard to keep track of everything (I’ve been taking short breaks since last year and the fomo is real! so much to read, so little time 🥲). it really means a lot to hear that my blog keeps pulling you back, what a wonderful way to start my day! I hope you continue enjoying the recs, take care xo

[pricemarshfield]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Spread the self-love ❤️

thank you for the ask, neutral!! time to show my deeply multifandom roots and not have any of these share the same fandom 🫡 below the cut because i’m chatty as hell

number one on the list is a recent one but absolutely my all-time favorite thing i’ve ever written: talk, a bg3/raphtav-and-also-haarlep-is-there smut oneshot

i don’t use this tweet here because it’s smut, but because no fic has EVER gripped me by the brain and haunted me for months until i wrote it like this one did and also because the devil’s hot. i laid awake at night in a cold sweat thinking about this even before i’d finished house of hope for the first time. i’m not even being hyperbolic here, this fic GOT me. also this fic converted me from haarlep-neutral to haarlep’s personal cheerleader. they’re so fun

my beloved darling tav already had a very strong characterization to me but i still feel like i Learned her through writing this, and certainly learned a lot about her dynamics with raphael and haarlep. enough that i’m braving actually writing a longfic for them, and feel free to hold me to this because otherwise it’ll languish in my drafts for another six months. but i’m actually formatting the first chapter for ao3, it’s Genuinely almost done !! promise

fun story about this is i cheerfully told my mom i’d finished writing something after i posted this and she asked to read it. i was like haha. well i’ll do that after work! and then i didn’t ♥️

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number two on the list is what i’d have confidently said was the best thing i’ve ever writtennbefore talk, and that’s one of my dimension 20 big bang 2021 fics: plant a garden in the yard, then, a fantasy high/aelwyn & ayda friendship fic where they explore the deeply haunted tunnels beneath aelwyn’s deeply haunted house

it’s hard to overstate how personal this fic ended up being to me, enough that i hold it as close to my heart as my other d21bb fic which i wrote about grief while Actively grieving. both fics for that event ended up being a good deal more melancholic and introspective than i thought they would at the start, but this one Feels more intimate (for lack of a better word)

aelwyn & ayda are both characters that mean a lot to me on their own, and figuring out their friendship—prickly and uncomfortable as it starts—was honestly healing. there’s something really cathartic about writing a character who’s gone through such extraordinary circumstances in their canon finding a path Towards genuine connection and happiness, even if they don’t find it and Especially if things still aren’t perfect.

also the only time i’ve ever actually hit ao3’s comment length limit was on a reply to an absolutely lovely comment my friend shark left on it so :) the response to this fic was also really nice!

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number three on the list is my queen b magnum opus even though i have one that’s like 8 times longer than it: teeth, the book 1 mc/poppy romance i craved/theoretically a smut oneshot that became something more.

this is a remix of another fic i wrote, so it feels weird to prop it up higher than the original, but i’m just so fond of this one. queen b is a very silly game and poppy min-sinclair can be a VERY silly character but my bea for this fic is another oc i grew deeply attached to, and i think the sheer self-indulgence of the fic shines through, in a good way.

also, i think the characterization in this is strong enough that i’ve been able to recommend it to friends with better taste who haven’t played queen b, and they’ve still enjoyed it! which is just IMMENSELY validating as a writer :’)

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number four and five on the list are my niche oneshots which i wrote for a target audience of me, myself, and i, and i think that’s part of why they work as well as they do!

four is a session with dr. martin whitly, a prodigal son fic which focused on ainsley & martin, namely ainsley relying really heavily on her father, despite the fact he’s a serial killer that she Knows he’s manipulative and terrible.

the fact that i wrote this before the season 1 finale is astounding to me. i have never called characterization beats harder than this, and i feel comfortable saying that even though the actual plot points are quite different, and also even though ainsley isn’t canonically gay. that’s okay because i know and perceive the truth <3

prodigal son’s cancellation is something i’m hard-pressed to say i’m Upset about this far out, but i wish every day that the episode where some ainsley issues got addressed had lived to see the light of day.

this fic i Cannot recommend to people who haven’t watched prodigal son because it’s me extrapolating and picking at lines of dialogue that Suggest a lot without confirming much, but that’s also really fun, in its own way. some of the best fics i’ve ever read are enjoyable specifically as transformative media.

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five is walk with the devil, a the martian/ares3some noir au which was honestly 90% a style experiment but like i fucking nailed it?? there was a stretch of a couple years where some of my best work were from smashing together whatever pairing i wanted to write with a bunch of prompts and seeing what i could make from it (werewolf au caitvi was also one, and a runner-up on this list)

this fic has a lot of hallmarks that i know people aren’t usually a fan of, but i love it. non-linear narrative. major character death but also maybe not, you won’t get closure and neither will the characters. actively avoiding concrete details in favor of a strong, hopeless tone. bringing in a ton of the cast for no reason. LOTS of 1940s slang. and because of that it’s my baby. weirdly i feel like my johanssen characterization is better in this than in either of my two canonverse fics?

i don’t know that i’d write fic for the martian like this again—a lot of what i like about it is really different from the more transformative fandom approach for the things that compel me to write—but i’m glad i did, because this fic is my darling. more people should be experimental in their fics because some of the weirdest stuff will almost always be some of the best !!!

anyway answering this made me so very hyped to write more once i’m off work !!!

[theimpossiblescheme]

👀🔥🌙📌

What’s your LEAST favorite song? Why?

"Growltiger's Last Stand"--we all know why. Fuck you, T.S. Eliot, and fuck you, ALW, for not having the good sense to leave it out.

Share one (1) hot take/opinion about the show/fandom/etc.

No more London-style replica designs--society has progressed beyond the need for London-style replica designs. More Broadway replicas or, better yet, Hamburg replicas, you absolute cowards.

Do you think Cats has a theme/message? If so, what is it?

I do think it has one, albeit not one that I think its creators were aiming for. The original poems have a distinct element of British classism to them, i.e. "these cats' jobs/roles in the household constitute their entire lives, and there is nothing else notable about them" (yes, that is partially me projecting based on what I know about T.S. Eliot as a person, but I'm not wrong, am I?), which you still do get some of in the musical. But by nature of almost all of the cats being onstage the entire show, we do get to see that these cats have more to their lives and relationships than just their human-designated jobs. And for all the "Hal, it's about cats" of it, there is quite a lot in the show about the importance of community and acceptance and cherishing our lives and loved ones while we still have them and how growing old is something that happens to all of us with the only difference being how we handle it and how others treat us. I wouldn't call it a message so much as a theme, but I'd say if there is a central one, it's (to paraphrase a certain poem) "sing, dance, and be merry for tomorrow we die."

What was Cats 2019’s biggest mistake, in your opinion? (OTHER than 'bad cgi’) If you don’t think it made any notable mistakes, what’s your favorite thing about it?

I think so many of its flaws can be laid at the feet of Tom Hooper as the director. The dude clearly does not know how to handle a show like Cats (he barely knew how to handle Les Miserables, and that's me being generous), and I'm still baffled that he wanted to inject more realism into it, like... my guy, it's about singing and dancing cats. Realism has left the building. Not only that, but the movie feels like it has a certain amount of contempt for its source material, like it's having a laugh alongside everyone who thinks Cats is weird and bad, which would have made for a mean-spirited and bizarre-in-a-bad-way watch even with a more competent director. I don't hate the Cats movie--I'm not overly fond of it, given all those reasons, but I think all the hyperbolic hate for it got really tiring really fast. If anything, I feel protective of it--if you're gonna criticize the movie, criticize it on its own merits, and don't drag Cats as a whole down with it.

[theprincessandtheblog]

Not to enter the fray but there are good points on both sides. Yes, people are still making (or I suppose the better word would be “prompting) “experimental” AI art and obviously this doesn’t mean they deserve to die. But meaningful discussions about AI are best had without hyperbole.

We all know that AI wasn’t created to be a fandom toy, and its existence does constitute a threat to creatives in general. Especially artists and writers who want to move beyond hobbyist aspirations. But we’re talking about hobbyists, right?

What’s happened with the “good art” AI epidemic is less that the people who were doing interesting things with it were bullied off the internet and more that AI market penetration has made AI a paintbrush in the common man’s hand. AKA, fandom spaces have (rightfully decided) that most of us don’t want to have anything to do with it, but the world beyond our tumblr bubble doesn’t have the same qualms. The “good art” is being generated because people less chronically online than us have convinced themselves that sure, AI is an acceptable way of making art actually. And, because of this, they aren’t pushing themselves to make anti-art, freakish art, or anything close.

But remember! AI was created to be profitable, and the only way it was able to come close to achieving this was by the most ruthless and relentless vampirism. AI is a vore, and a pirate, and a thief, and it cannot be those things ethically in the way, idk, a random anon on Tumblr “sticking it to the man” can be. That is because AI is itself “the man” or, more honestly, a puppet of “his” policies.

To return to op’s point: the era of interesting AI art *is* dead. And not because people have stopped making it. But because the people left creating it are doing so without principle or awareness of the impact. And “artists” who have their hands over their ears going la-la-la while the world burns are, for the most part, rootless idealists. Ergo, not worth listening to. The whole point OP was demonstrating is that art cannot be made in a conformist apolitical vacuum and AI art is made in a conformist apolitical vacuum.

So. These nerd/fandom AI artists are incapable of the kind of lasting innovation that could hypothetically triumph over AI synthesis. This is why AI Art can never be a “movement.” It simply remains an epidemic.

The era of interesting AI art is pretty much over. The glitchy early generations were fun, but as the kinks get ironed out it has become boring. The fundamental problem is that the process of aggregating content and creating output based on that aggregation is going to inherently lead to the blandest possible outcome. Human artists draw inspiration from earlier artists and work within an artistic tradition, but they also can choose to rebel against tradition or against specific aspects of traditions. People tend to roll their eyes at the idea of being contrarian (see: all the mockery of hipsters throughout the years, as well as people being mad at dadaism for "not being real art"), but the fact is that the complicated interaction between conformity and contrarianism is what makes art interesting. AI is not capable of internalizing the values of an art movement, imagining what the opposite might look like (and again here there is a space for creativity: any given set of values can have more than one set of opposing values to choose from*), and intentionally doing the opposing thing. Art based purely on synthesis is always going to be bland and forgettable. *To drill down more into the "each set of values can have more than one opposing set of values" idea: the fundamental issue is that "negation" is a part of human psychology, but it doesn't actually correspond to anything in the material world. Since matter can't be created or destroyed, pure negation is impossible; things can only be transformed into other things. Even the idea of "opposition" is a figment of human psychology. There's no such thing as "the opposite of a chair." In the realm of aesthetics this mean you can't replace an aesthetic value with an "opposite" aesthetic value, you can only replace it with what you judge to be "the most different" aesthetic value, which is always going to be somewhat subjective.

[nerves-nebula]

I sometimes get uncomfortable around arguments about if certain characters are abusive or not- obviously I see this the most with 2012 tmnt and nobody really needs my opinion but I keep thinking about it so here’s some words to chew on.

Keep in mind I haven’t seen much of 2012 so I’ll mostly be talking about the WAY I see these discussions being had here, rather than the show itself.

I doubt the creators intended for the turtles to be abusive and I kind of just assume that everything they do is within the genre of slapstick kids show. But I also don’t think people who cringe away from the way they treat each other are reading too much into it.

I’ve seen people argue that ppl who think the brothers are abusive just don’t have siblings and that’s an insane take to me. Obviously its probably hyperbole in some instances but as someone with more siblings than most of the people I know, I 100% see the abuse reading of this series. It’s a very obvious idea to latch onto for me as someone who HAS been abused by my siblings- and who’s probably been abusive too.

The main thing that really gets under my skin is when people point out how much the turtles actually care about each other as evidence against abuse. Cause that doesn’t make any sense ??? you can abuse people you love and care about deeply.

And it really rubs me the wrong way when I see a post that’s like Raph can’t be abusive because he does X nice/cute things with Mikey or something like. That’s not how abuse works. You guys have to know that right?? Abuse isn’t just a person being mean 24/7 without pause.

A bit of a tangent coming up, but growing up, I really hated Mabel from gravity falls. not because she is inherently any more annoying or selfish or anything than other characters but because the way she treated dipper was extremely triggering for me as a child with a lot of anxiety. Like if Mabel was real and my sibling, I would’ve considered a lot of the shit she did abusive. Obviously I’m normal about her now cause I’m not 12 anymore but the biggest hurdle about watching that show when I was younger was that I would sometimes be brought to tears of frustration, imagining how scared and distressed I’d be if Mabel did that shit to me.

THE POINT of this tangent is that saying “the 2012 turtles aren’t abusive because I do that stuff with my siblings all the time/cause teenage boys are just like that” isn’t a genuine critique because abuse isn’t just about the action it’s about the relationship. Punching your sibling who’s actually ok with being punched isn’t abuse. Punching your sibling who really doesn’t want you to, and who you KNOW really doesn’t want you to, and who you KNOW would be genuinely upset by being punched? That is abuse.

And I find it annoying because I think we’re all aware that abuse was likely not the intent of the show. (Probably not even the text of the show but once again can’t say for sure) Maybe some dysfunction for drama, but probably not abuse, so you’re really just arguing against someone’s headcanon/personal interpretation of this show. And it’s like.. ok you have a different reading cool I guess.

In the show they aren’t treated as abusive, but fandoms are built around exploring different aspects of art that weren’t explored in canon. So I guess idk why this is a big deal.

Idk I think people have this idea that abusive = evil and always wrong. But abuse is just someone hurting you repeatedly and refusing to stop for whatever reason.

And with a show like 2012 where it’s all played for laughs it can be hard to tell if that’s how they are with each other because they’re ok with it or if that’s how they are cause they don’t know any other way. The turtles are kind of really mean in 2012, and wether that’s a familiarity kind of meanness or not is up to you in fandom, yknow?

Does Mikey actually consider Raph hitting him as like a fun part if their banter or is he coping with jokes about being physically abused? You decide! Like genuinely it can be either and I think that’s fun!

I mean obviously you all know what i’d pick, but that’s because I’m blissfully aware of what I want out of stories and what i want is nuanced discussions of abuse.

Personally, I acted very similarly to the 2012 turtles when living with my siblings, but I didn’t actually fucking like it. It was a defense mechanism because being genuine would only be met with ridicule. So I’m not inclined to agree that it’s fine because it’s just what they do.

Once again though, I doubt it was on purpose. And if you don’t think that they’re abusive then congrats! The show probably doesn’t either! So I just don’t see why people get super upset about it. Don’t you love that someone got a different story out of the same media??

Anyway obviously it doesn’t super matter and I don’t really have a horse in this race. I just got a bit annoyed with the way abuse is discussed and as a hobbyist Abuse Analyst I thought I’d weigh in.

I wrote this instead of going to sleep and it’s sooo late and also so much longer that I meant for it to be… y’all better not have bad takes in response or I’ll be annoyed as hell tomorrow morning, guh.

[trigunwritings]

So I have some THOUGHTS about episode 9 now that I finally was able to watch it, so I’m gonna ramble on about them below the readmore

- The brief flashback to Knives and Vash playing the piano together was interesting, not only in that it means both of them are fairly talented on the instrument, but also because it means the song that Knives has been playing in the times we’ve seen him has been only one-half of the full thing perhaps? I’m sure there’s something quite symbolic about it and how it pertains to the brothers being so interconnected, so I wonder how that might show up later 🤔

- Though I would have preferred to get some more depth to Knives via the scenes with Tesla (since that both showcases the stark difference between their viewpoints and establishes a really good reason for Knives to fear/hate humans so much) I did like that we got to see a direct act that shows the audience just how little the common population thinks of plants as anything more than tools

- “We’ve hit the production limit. They put too great a load on the plants, it cut them off from the higher dimension. They can’t maintain their bodies.” <- I have no clue what the hell that’s supposed to mean but, as the person becoming known in this fandom as the feral plant headcanon-er, I am VERY interested to see if they’ll ever elaborate on that since the manga/first anime never did. *shakes the Stampede series* LET ME KNOW THE SECRETS OF THE INTER-DIMENSIONAL ALIENS

- The ‘Last Run’ scene in general was fairly disturbing, but I know that was the point in order to hit home how Knives so far has interacted with humans (the mental pain had to be horrible, given how bad the distress of a single plant had affected Vash)—but who was the man he was with? Was that supposed to be Conrad? Has Knives already started up his cult?

- Even though Knives totally murdered some dudes, he sure did look cool while doing it

- “Outside of human control, plants use up all their energy in one burst and die.” / “So you bought into that nonsense… No matter how comfortable, chains are still chains.” 🫣

- WHAT THE HELL WAS GOING ON WITH VASH’S ARM

- “Is that… a gate?” WILL SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN THAT AT SOME POINT THANK YOU

- I find it interesting how Vash losing his arm was not from the direct influence of Knives—either his Angel Arm doesn’t exist, or its a wildly different kind of power. Either way, Knives having to make a split-second decision to remove his brother’s arm in order to keep that ‘gate’ (looks like a black hole to me tbh) from swallowing up everything is a really neat twist on intention.

- I saw a post recently joking about Knives being utterly obsessed with his brother and I thought it was hyperbole. I SEE THAT IT IN FACT ISNT. Knives you are a lonely fucker I swear to god.

- Last episode I was so confused on the timeline and was worried that they had shortened the time between the flashbacks to the present day—and I’m super happy to be wrong! Putting Luida and Bradley in cryosleep in order to prolonged their lives was a very creative way to keep those characters interacting with Vash.

- Meryl being SO surprised and impressed by flowers really hit home that they straight up DON’T exist on Noman’s Land…. which, jesus, that was a surprise. I assumed at best sickly little potted plants might have existed, but none? Very interesting…

- Roberto being pessimistic is really hitting home that I know he’s going to die soon and will likely be replaced with Milly in the following seasons. I really enjoy the way his character pairs with Meryl’s energy and positive realism 😭

- Ngl Zazie the Beast is lightly growing on me, mostly as a neat antagonist since they represent the native species on Noman’s Land before anyone else arrived. Wonder if their alliance will alter at any point…

- “Outside of human control, plants use up all their energy in one burst and die.” / “So you bought into that nonsense… No matter how comfortable, chains are still chains.” 🫣

- Totally thought Luida was going to die either by Vash (accidentally) or Knives (purposefully).

[thatgirlonstage]

Yes, of course it did. I’m aware. But considering that was the easiest option at the time, the contemporary corollary to what I wrote would have been something like “imagine sending a personal messenger to 124 people’s houses to knock on their doors and hand deliver my fanfics straight to them”. The point is not the notion of the literal physical letter; the point is the extra step and investment that an ao3 subscription represents.

Fanfic in the days of printed fanzines was more underground and involved more effort by default so I can’t really backdate what I’m trying to get across in fandom terms. But consider the difference between walking into a normal bookstore and happening to see a new book by an author you’ve read and enjoyed previously vs subscribing to that author’s personal news letter (whether that is via email, blog post, physical letter, carrier pigeon, whatthefuckever). That subscription means you like this author so much that you always want to know immediately when they have something new out. What I’m saying is that it’s incredible and more than a little surreal that 124 people like my writing so much that they want to know about it every time I post a fanfic, no matter how smutty or self-indulgent or dashed off at 1AM or written for some new fandom I’ve fallen into headfirst this week it is. I phrased it in a silly and hyperbolic way to get the point across (I am also not literally kissing every single one of my Ao3 subscribers on the lips) but the emotion is very real. I mean, do you know how overwhelmed my email inboxes constantly are? The fact that people—people I don’t even know! People I may never have even spoken to! I can’t tell who they all are specifically bc Ao3 doesn’t share usernames of who’s subscribed to you, but like, I don’t have 25 people that I’m close friends with and talk to regularly in fandom, let alone 124, so it’s not like these people just feel an obligation of friendship, a lot of them must be here because they actually just love my writing—care enough about my fanfiction to make me another email they receive and sort through on a semi-regular basis is so genuinely touching. It’s incredible!!! It feels like the kind of investment that a handwritten letter, in the age of the cell phone, represents. The specificity of direction, that they’re not just on their phone idly and looking at their most recent activity, but are hoping to hear more of my words and my thoughts, specifically. The idea that if I did, for some reason, send out handwritten letters to let people know I am putting a fictional guy in situations again, there would be 124 people excited to receive that letter. That’s the point of it: my amazement that that many people care that much. About my fanfiction. And what a silly, glorious, heartwarming notion it is.

Ao3 subscriptions are so fucking wild to me. Every time I write my silly fanfictions and post them 124 people get an email just to let them know that this idiot is posting their fanfictions again. I send 124 people an email every time I write smut. Imagine sending 124 physical letters out just to be like “hello everyone, I put some guys we made up in our heads through the horrors again.” Absolutely absurd. I am kissing all of you on the lips.