#I don't get why people find it offensive if someone says they're rich if they are

[serial-unaliver]

I defend rich kids who call their family rich with my LIFE

[secriden]

so, i'm fascinated by the choice to have Thongkam and Sek have a durian farm in The Paradise of Thorns. this is purely speculative and based of some BTS pictures and the trailer but I think it's intentional that they've chosen to make it set in a durian farm.

durian is a fruit that's very popular in many South East Asian countries and i grew up eating it. 'durian season' is a Big Deal because so many people love it and its very expensive when its out of season, and my family used to have special get togethers with all the cousins to eat durian together. i've seen my cousins 'fight' with other customers for the best pieces before in the market. we call it the 'king of the fruits' and it's known for its strong smell, its hard/thorny exterior and how rich and delicious the fruit is. the smell is also known to linger for ages; it stays on your breath, your clothes, your fingers, the air. if someone has had durian in the house, you'll know for hours afterwards. some people hate the smell (they say it smells like rotting food), others love it (it smells good to me). a durian farm can also be a very dangerous place because the trees grow very tall and fruits drop on their own when they get ripe sometimes and people have died without proper protective gear.

so i think it's an intriguing allegory for the relationship between Thongkam and Sek and the story being told - how they're together and everyone knows they're together (the scent: lingering, obvious, clinging to them both) and the relationship is both wonderful (delicious, nutritious - fulfilling because of their love for each other) and dangerous (because some people hate it, even when they aren't eating it - they find the smell offensive. just like people find gay relationships offensive even when its got nothing to do with them). Sek's family doesn't honour the relationship, uses the fact that they aren't legally married to take what should be Thongkam's, literally fighting over the durian farm, just like people do in the markets. perhaps even the thorny shell of the durian is reference to Thongkam's or Sek's mother and how they both are hurting and could be the source of each other's comfort but instead choose to hurt each other to protect their soft insides.

also one of the only ways to get rid of the durian smell from your hands is to wash your hands with water that has run across/over the inner skin of the shell of the durian fruit (don't ask me why it works, but it does; my family has been doing it for years). And idk if it'll be part of the scene when Thongkam and Sek "marry" each other (if there is one) as a reference to the water blessing ceremony but if it is I'm going to SOB MY FUCKING HEART OUT. T_T

it'll be interesting to see if any of this winds up being in the movie but honestly it's really cool that something so culturally significant and specific to the region is being featured in the movie.

[clara-maybe-ontheroad]

Random thoughts about Sand/Ray (Only Friends ep 1)

Rewatched the first episode of Only Friends and I have a few (many) random thoughts, here are just the ones about Ray and Sand because they deserved a whole post (everyone else is in this other post) :

Ray mentions his dad in the first scene we ever see him in, getting mad at Sand who told him not to be a burden on other people and replying "are you my father ?"... Foreshadowing much ?

The first interaction between Ray and Sand ends with Sand telling Mew to take care of his friend, and you believe that's what Mew is doing but then next party he abandons him

Ray throwing up and his friends immediately letting him go and pushing him away is... funny in the context of the scene but again I think telling us something about how they're all going to treat him

(Sand/First opening and closing the intro is *chef's kiss*, he's not the main character clearly but as an outsider and a "morally straight" guy he's going to be a force to shake things up I'm sure)

Sand and Ray's second interaction immediately revolves around once again Ray being a burden but also Ray's friends not being present enough for him and Sand disapproves of both

Did Ray already drink and drive before this ? Did anyone stop him before?

Ray's throw up sound in this episode are truly awful and make me quite uncomfortable. Good acting though

Him immediately passing out on a random man's shoulder after being taken to this stranger's place does imply a worrying lack of survival instinct. Baby he could steal your livers ! or what's left of it

(The owner of YOLO bar is Yo, as reiterated many times by Ray and Sand, and given how often he's mentioned he must have a role in the story, but he's hasn't shown up yet ?) (Edit : didn't know Yo was played by Jennie so we have actually seen her around, just haven't gotten a proper scene with her, looking forward to really meeting her !)

Ray becoming aggressive and accusing Sand of stealing his stuff only after Sand says he didn't sleep with him and didn't even consider it seems to indicate that Ray truly thinks people can only take an interest in him for sex or for money. Arf this continues to get more sad

The fact that Ray actually checks his pockets when Sand gives him back his clothes is so indicative of what's actually important to him : not his safety or consent but his material possessions and external signs of wealth

Ray complaining to Mew that he got kicked out by Sand for no reasons is so rich, but again I think Ray truly doesn't realise how what he said was offensive because he's so closed in his own bubble

But Mew saying he thought Boston was taking care of Ray when he literally just asked Ray how he got home last night and knew that Boston refused to take care of Ray is so hypocritical ?! And goes to show he wasn't really bothered to make sure Ray had a way to go home safely. He assumed he'd be fine on his own and didn't care that much

Ray sad that his crush is talking to someone else and driving home alone in his fancy car in a tee shirt that says "Poor Boy" is High Comedy

Boston asking Ray why doesn't he just become Mew's boyfriend was such a dick move, but also Ray is so convincing at denying he would be ? Is it because he's so used to lying about this, or because he doesn't think he's worth Mew's affection so he doesn't even dream of being his boyfriend ?

Ray does have a habit of just exiting the situation for something that his friend all excuse as being one of his addictions (drinking, smoking) and they don't even try to stop him

Sand tells Ray he has his lighter because he got him drunk and stole from him with such confidence I don't care that he's joking he could be telling the truth and I'd find it hot

The moment Sand actually gets visibly angry is when Ray tells him that Sand caring is "boyfriend behaviors" and that's telling on how Sand is disgusted with the idea of being his boyfriend but also resents the fact that caring about being respected is something only boyfriends do... when in fact people who are only friends can too ! (see what I did there)

That dialogue between them does illustrate the power of not just saying sorry, but saying thank you. Which is an actual thing I try to apply in my own life so I thank the show for reminding me haha

the softness in the voice of Sand when he then says "obviously" and agrees to give his lighter to Ray made me melt

Ray's eyes during the whole scene are truly so seductive, Khao does know his fuck me eyes very well

There's no conclusion except to say Sand is going to get fucked by Ray in more ways than one and I'm looking forward to it

[chameleonspell]

HTDC commentary - 13: legs & 14: plan & 15: claws & 16: door

[Looking back at HTDC after nearly ten years: comments on lore, character notes, influences, art, whatever. May contain spoilers for later chapters.]

chapter text: 13: legs & 14: plan & 15: claws & 16: door

Four short chapters, in which Iriel prepares for and undertakes his first real Mages' Guild quest. Everything goes well, until it doesn't.

“Anaaaaarenen…” The slightly high-pitched, panicky quaver in Ire’s voice was unmistakable.

Iriel's fear of bones is something that comes up frequently after this, but fine, yes, it only started because I wanted to make this one joke. In my defence, it's an amazing joke. Anyway, I'm mostly making fun of myself, because I'm extremely arachnophobic, and I play out this scene with my long-suffering partner on the regular.

“It’s the only Conjuration spell I can do,” Ire said dolefully

Actually, I'm lying, there was another origin for this scene. I had Iriel learn a Summon Skeleton spell ingame as a plan to defend himself in battle, but when he tried casting it, safely shut away in his Mages' Guild bedroom to prevent any accidental aggro from other NPCs, this happened:

And the sight of it just... standing there... on his BED... waiting... LOOKING at him... was so horrifying and invasive and weird that Ire developed a phobia on the spot, and never cast it again.  They're so creepy, and they raise unpleasant questions. Whose skeleton is this? Where does it come from, when you summon it? A tomb, a graveyard? Does some poor bastard, who once made an ill-advised Daedric pact, go suddenly extremely floppy?

Iriel tries conjuring other things, later, and finds it differently uncomfortable. If magic is expressing how you wish to affect the world, then conjuration is... what? The ancient and mystical art of Delegation? It's just getting other people to do things for you, isn't it? Which is exactly what Ire's doing now, summoning Anarenen to protect him from the thing he summoned to protect him.

I do not think Dwemer animunculi are susceptible to pleading eyes and tragical expressions, which are your primary offensive weapons, as far as I can tell.”

Every time i see a sphynx cat, I'm all, "who leaked Iriel's nudes?"

You are extremely good at getting other people to take care of you

Iriel is baffled by this characterisation of himself, but you can see why Anarenen thinks it's true, since Anarenen falls for Ire's pathetic wooby act, and takes care of him. Iriel, though, is familiar with the downsides of a tactic that amounts to a display of abject weakness and vulnerability. The people who don't fall for it, (i.e. the ones without the intelligence, taste and compassion,) tend to want to punch him.

but it is no way to go through life. You are a grown man now, and need to learn to act like it.

And even the ones who start out compassionate quickly get judgemental and critical, trying to change him, fix him. At least, this how (if he hadn't stopped listening) Iriel would have interpreted Anarenen's mild scolding, though Anarenen is really only trying to help him survive. People are often tempted to be parental towards Iriel, but it doesn't usually go down well. Because Iriel has a terrible relationship with his parents, and the minute someone starts talking to him in ways that sound like his mother, he hears everything they say through a poisonous veil.

if this is the reality where I’m good at getting people to take care of me, I can’t imagine what my life is like in the reality where I’m bad at it.

Anarenen has no idea Iriel just got out of jail, or what his life's been like, recently. He doesn't understand why his comment made Iriel bluescreen from irony quite so hard. Since Ire is educated and well-spoken, Anarenen assumes he has a spoiled rich-boy on his hands, but that's not fair. Iriel isn't noble, grew up poor, and hasn't ever been spoiled. But he has been sheltered, and never before been in a situation where he had to fight for his survival - even jail was another form of enforced dependency.

Iriel doesn't know how to interact with the world, isn't sure if he even can. He often needs help from other people to do it, but hates all the possible ways this can play out. He hates living with his weakness on display, waiting to see which path others will choose with him, compassion or cruelty. He knows that even the compassion always comes with a price, sooner or later.

Edwinna Elbert trotted in. “Iriel, there you are. How are your preparations coming along?”

He doesn't much like taking orders, either, or getting sent on stupid errands. But advancing within the Mages' Guild is his current plan for taking control of his life. He's sick of playing Blanche Dubois, always depending on the kindness of strangers, and he knows he has magical skills. If someone like Anarenen can make a living via alchemy and enchantment, he doesn't see why he can't, too - but he needs to be higher rank.

He emerged from Arkngthunch-Sturdumz panting but triumphant, the Dwemer tube safe in his pack

I really didn't explain anything about the Dwemer, their ruins or anything else, did I? Oh well, it's a ~mystery~, right? Edwinna gives this quest, and instructs you to bring her a Dwemer tube. You don't have to get it from this ruin, and there are actually many others across Vvardenfell.

He had cast a Mark spell in the doorway, so an emergency exit wouldn’t mean trekking all the way back from civilisation again.

Teleportation spells, like healing spells, threaten to make a character's life too easy. Still, you can also have some fun with them, and the various ways their exact placement (or misplacement) can complicate their travel options.

Centurion spiders and spheres fell quickly to frost spells

Look at him go, doing destruction spells all on his own! It's much easier to handle, when you're not setting fire to a person, you're just turning off a machine. Quiet and clinical, no screaming.

there was a Steam Centurion, a huge mechanical warrior that shrugged off every spell he threw at it. [...] All brawn, no brains, thought Ire smugly.

Iriel's first encounter with an anthropomorphic robot, and I just want to point out that despite the scurrilous rumours his awful friends keep spreading, he was totally not weird about it okay? He paid it no special attention, and was just glad it didn't kill him! For fuck's sake, leave him alone!

he had turned a corner and come face to face with a frost atronach. Taken by surprise, he had run like hell, paying little attention to where he was going.

Pure gameplay record. Do not mess with Daedric ruins at low level.

All of this contributed to his decision, coming across a cave entrance on a small island, to [...] shelter inside. Where, in the damp, oppressive darkness, someone swiftly cracked him over the head, and knocked him out cold.

Again, pure gameplay chance that he stumbled into a smuggler's cave while trying to find Gnisis. Given that Ire was in no position to defeat a gang of slavers, it gave me an opportunity to send things in another direction. You can track Ire's little journey on this map, he ends up in Assarnud.

“Sarvur, do y… …. ….?”

My intention was that the gist should be intelligible from context, but if anyone wants it, the full conversation that Iriel barely hears runs as follows:

“Sarvur, do you recognise this elf?” "I have no idea who that n'wah is, but he's obviously a mage. What if the Telvanni are onto us?” “I don’t think that's likely. He's Altmer, so more likely to be Mages Guild or something.” “What are we gonna do now, boss? He might not be alone, there might be others.” “She's right. The Assarnud route isn’t secure anymore. We're gonna have to move out, fast. Forget the slaves, they’re too slow to travel with. We have to focus on the shipment, and get it out tonight.” “OK, Bazgulub. I’m on it. C'mon, you fetchers, let's pack up” “What should we do with him?” “Bah, just take anything of value and throw him in the slave pen.”

"claws" might be the first chapter I'm really happy with, in terms of achieving the thing I wanted to. It feels dark and bleak and confined, with moments of kindness and awkward humour that are warmer and brighter, for how small and pointless they might seem.

“Does the softskin yet live, Akish?”

Obviously I love a lot of things about Morrowind, but one of my favourite details is that the vast, vast majority of NPCs are named, including enemy smugglers in caves who exist only to attack you, and including slaves, who wait in the dark to be rescued by the player. Most games would have them all be copy-pasted "Orc Bandit", or "Slave", because that would be so much easier for the game devs, but not here. These are people. They have names.

It was an hour before Ire was in any state to talk, and another before he could sit up

Look, head injuries are no joke. You don't just get knocked out for plot convenience, have a little nap, and then wake up fine. Ire's lucky he only had a concussion, not a cracked skull or bleeding on the brain. Do not fuck around with head injuries! If you get brained by a smuggler, do not just take skooma, go on a hallucinogenic rampage and hope for the best! Consult a medical professional as soon as possible, and no, Telvanni wizards do not count!

“While there is life, I will do what I can to pressserve it.”

This sticks with Iriel, as an approach to caring for someone. Despite the awful surrounding circumstances, he doesn't hate the feeling of being cared for this way, because it's not about being pitied for his weakness. It's not about him, personally, at all, it's about preserving life, as an abstract principle. Ire's not sure if he agrees with the principle, necessarily, but he understands it, and he respects Akish for it.

An Argonian named Huzei, claiming to be a bard, tried to raise their spirits by singing a bawdy song involving fish 

This would be the song in question. I mention it, because Iriel's recent literary and media intake will be relevant, shortly.

Later, they slept, all together in a heap for warmth, the cold-blooded Argonians in the middle, and the furriest Khajiit on the outside.

You might read Lord of the Flies and assume it's natural for people to turn on one another violently, when trapped together in desperate circumstances. When actually, maybe William Golding was just cripplingly depressed and coming off the horrors of World War 2? Because in reality, when some schoolboys got shipwrecked, they co-operated and kept one another alive for over a year. Not to make sweeping statements about human nature based on one example, but if we have to pick a side, I do choose optimism. I think the vast majority of people will try to care for each other and keep each other alive, even in situations where it seems pointless to try. I think the point is to try.

Akish held out her wrist, placing it next to Ire’s. “What do you see?”

I almost didn't explicitly gender Akish in this chapter, on the basis that Iriel can't tell, and it never occurs to him to ask. But I thought people might assume she was male, if I didn't specify, which would annoy me.

Iriel does not immediately assume Akish only monitored his health for self-interested reasons, which is surprising, given his usual brain patterns. True, he's been hit onna head, but mostly, Akish was just so sincere and impressive with her life-above-all line that he doesn't think past that.

“You mussst. You are the only one with a chance.” Akish tapped the slave bracer with her claw, and left him alone.

What is magical capacity, or magicka, and how does it work? What is it, that a slave bracer drains away? For Iriel, in prison, losing his magic was part of the torture of it, to quote a later chapter, he felt it as a partial loss of self: locking around his arm, draining part of his mind away, taking parts of himself he went without for hundreds of buried days, some parts he was still missing.

I suspect that in Tamriel, the nature of magicka is, like so much else, the subject of debate. Probably mages like to claim it's a measure of your soul - of course they would! And there is a relation between complexity of consciousness and "soul value", i.e. how powerful a gem you need to contain it. But others might very reasonably counter that a lack of aptitude for magic is not a sign of an impoverished soul! You could take a middle way, and argue that all people have powerful souls, but not everyone can harness their potential for magic. It fits nicely with the idea that sleeping souls visit Aetherius, and sleeping recharges magicka. Maybe. Furthermore, in Morrowind, you almost always need Daedric components (and comberries, for some reason) for restore magicka potions. Make of this what you will.

Instantly, the white hot pain seared into his brain, and, gasping, he let the words fade, the spell lost.

Even if the soul is involved, I refuse to believe a head injury wouldn't affect spellcasting. Unlike the slaves, Ire is still technically capable of it, it's just causing the sort of pain that is very difficult to power through, because it feels like his brain is being torn to shreds by the strain, and for all he knows, that's exactly what's happening. It feels suicidal, and his survival instinct rebels against it.

It will hurt, yes He began again. and you do not like to hurt.

Iriel has to free everyone, but it's going to hurt. And his mind dredges up what Dro'Zaymar said about escape being painful, and Ire's fixating on the condescending little barb the Khajiit threw in, about Iriel not liking to hurt. As if not liking to be hurt was something ridiculous, as if that made him weak. Which he is, (Ire thinks,) since he still hasn't escaped his addiction.

Trapped in the dark and hanging by a thread in all manner of ways, it's not possible for Iriel to find the strength he needs in thoughts of being heroic, of being a good person, of helping others. He doesn't have the time or energy to construct that persona, doesn't even have a blueprint. So he turns to what he has plenty of: self hatred.

Once he deserved it, it was easier.

Iriel endures the pain by not enduring it. By surrendering to it. By smothering his survival instinct, drowning the parts of himself that don't like to hurt, because pain is bad and good people don't deserve pain. So he achieves something "heroic", but in doing so, he completely blowtorches any shreds of personhood and self esteem he has left, and destroys any ability he might have to see himself as a hero.

We are free!” A feeling of pressure about his shoulders… a hug, he thought.

To the point that it's actively painful, when other people react to him positively at all.

“No! Really. It’s fine.” He worked to make his voice sound warm and encouraging. 

It really is incredibly dangerous, when someone has gone so far into a violently depressive breakdown, that they put all their limited energy into pretending they're okay. Because even a cry for help requires being able to tolerate the idea of deserving help. Other people are a hazard to the self-destruction project, and must be removed as soon as possible.

“Ra'Mhirr found these in the cave, dropped by the smugglers in their haste. Ra'Mhirr… thinks you need them more than he does.” The Khajiit met Iriel’s eye, knowingly, and transferred two small bottles into his hand.

Ra'Mhirr knows the signs of sugar withdrawal, and is trying to help. Under other circumstances, this might have been a really stupid thing to do, and it does worsen Ire's addiction. But it also saves his life.

please don’t be like this now you have to get out of here, the door’s open, you just have to 

Iriel feels trapped, like he was trapped in jail, like he's breaking down the way he did in jail, like he's trapped in himself but also losing himself because he can't stand to be in himself. It is exactly the same sort of breakdown he has, much later, in Tel Fyr, in another situation where, by all logic, he should be happy and celebrating.

He looked at the skooma. He was well aware it was dangerous, but at this moment, his unadulterated brain was even more dangerous.

Drugs are not evil. Drugs are just chemicals that affect the body, and which ones are legal or illegal is often extremely arbitrary. Even addictions are not, in themselves, evil, and the people who have them certainly aren't. Life is hard. If people choose to self-medicate in ways that aren't available on prescription, they often have good reasons - or no other options. Ire is definitely out of options.

Ire chose life.

Yes, fine, I admit it: this is the single pop-culture reference in the fic. At least, I hope there are no others, I certainly intended to avoid them! (Song lyric echoes are not intended to be legible, and so I maintain don't count.) This one is only allowed because it's undetectable if you don't know the reference, and makes perfect sense without it. But also because the irony was so appealing: "choose life" in the Trainspotting quote is set in opposition to choosing heroin, but Iriel is choosing both at once. Life, in this moment, means doing hard drugs.

Playlist pick: Portishead - Roads. Because it sounds like how being trapped in a damp dark cave feels: all sad, wet and echoey. Subterranean drug-sick blues.

next: 17: VCDRKAA & 18: language & 19: knowledge & 20: again previous: 11: books & 12: silence

[sizzlingpatrolfox]

It's really silly that people are using 'alpha and beta' male for anyone in BTS let's be real they're all 'alphas' by stupid incel / pick-up-artist logic. Being soft-spoken or shy or introverted isn't the definition of alpha v. beta, it's a man who can command resources and partners because he has enough male / able-bodied / hetero-patriarchial / capitalist / lookist privilege. I'm sorry even if someone in BTS is a pillow-princess sub bottom they're plenty 'alpha' in life's hierarchy.

Perioddddd, this is something I agree with. They're MEN and most of all, they're rich men.

In all seriousness, I think it's just really intense and unnecessary and kind of crazy to talk about real people as alpha/beta/omegas(?) there are other words to describe the way we develop our personality and relationships with people. So in that sense, I don't take this discussion too seriously because alpha is not a word that's in my vocabulary. I don't use it and I don't think it should be used to describe people seriously. I don't even understand why it was a discussion to begin with, because if someone told me Jimin alpha I'd take it as a joke, say fuck yeah daddy🤭🫣 and move on.

Whatever the reason, I just usually end up thinking the same every time I see discourse like this: a lot of people here just doesn't seem to interact with a huge variety of men in their daily lives, or maybe they don't interact with men at all.

Take my dad as example. You can picture a brown man, buzz cut, 180cm, calloused hands, doesn't talk too much, obviously doesn't text or make phone calls, I've never seen him cry, he's never told me that he loves me, he's never said anything sentimental and I used to actually be scared of him until I was like 16 because he was so strict. He would unplug the internet cable at 9pm no excuses and off to bed.

My dad is literally what anyone would describe as an "alpha male". I would also tell you he's one.

Nevertheless, do you wanna know who cooks at home? My dad. My mom hates cooking and doesn't know many recipes. My mom used to work during the mornings and he worked afternoons so it was my dad who woke me up every morning to go to school until I was around 9. He braided my hair, he literally did my hair every morning, he sprayed perfume on me, he got my clothes ready, he made me breakfast, he'd go to my school meetings, he did art with me, he painted my nails. My mom was screaming at me and making me cry while teaching me maths 😭😭 (I hate maths) it was my dad who'd come up and tell her to be more patient.

I don't get it, I don't understand why people feel the need to take a man who does something they think it's not "stereotypically male" and label him as feminine or queer. For half of my life, my dad did at home everything mothers are "supposed" to do and I would've never thought of calling my dad feminine or a not stereotypical cis straight man, because in the end he is a cis straight man, no matter how many times he's braided my hair or no matter that he even knew how to braid a hair in the first place.

It was just funny to me that a whole essay was written about how calling Jungkook or any BTS member an alpha male is so wrong and uncalled for and he's actually the opposite of that, only to end up saying Jimin is an alpha male lol. So they think it's pretty much an offense to think of JK as an alpha male but Jimin sure, you can think that of him.

The whole discussion was taken way too seriously because of jikookers constant need to reinforce JK's soft boi image. They've always jumped at anyone who doesn't think of him as sugar star baby bambi candy. Maybe if you have to constantly "defend" someone's feminity/feminine traits and how dainty they are and you need to search through thousands of hours of content to find a one minute compilation of someone tucking his hair behind his hair to prove that he doesn't look or act like a stereotypically cis straight man, then maybe his "feminity" or delicate character isn't as predominant as you think it is.

I personally do think the parts that would make people think of JK as an "alpha male" are more obvious or in-your-face than other parts of him. And that's okay. Even one look at his Instagram posts (both deleted and present) would tell you the same. He knows how to craft an image of himself that he wants people to see, he's been learning how to do that since he was a kid and anyone who sees in him the bad tattooed emotionally constipated guy on a black motorcycle, they're literally going off with what they see and he's chosen to show. Not everyone has the time or the interest to watch 10 years of bangtan bombs and DVDs to see if there's more to him.

[gayahithwen]

Hello, @ladycelebrianofimladris - as someone who knows exactly who Lady Celebrian of Imladris is (well into my third decade of Tolkien fandom), and as someone who has read the infamous badfic Celebrian and therefore finds a great deal of joy in you bearing her name... hi.

First of all, your initial premise is bad. No one has ever said we should not be making demands on the politicians we elect. In 2016, the concerted efforts of the people engaging with Hillary pushed her significantly further left than she was originally. If people hadn't sat out the election or protest voted (some of the people who were going to vote for Bernie Sanders literally went on to vote for Trump, because they were so pissy their candidate didn't win the primaries), we'd have had Hillary Clinton be president for four years, instead of Trump. And I don't care what you say - she would've been a better president than Trump.

If you had listened in 2016, the US could've had more choice by 2020.

In 2020, we got the safest, blandest, most broad appeal candidate they could find. Biden was not really the first pick of most people, but he had the experience and the centrists who didn't want another 4 years of Trump.

And progressives have been pushing him slowly but surely towards being more progressive. You may think it's just empty gestures, but politics is to a degree about symbolism, and the fact that Biden stood with striking workers matters (if you bring up the train workers strike, I will get quite angry - because yes, he shut it down, but do you know what he did after shutting it down? He went into intense negotiations for months that gave the train workers the guarantees they were prepared to strike over! He got them what they were asking for, without shutting down the country's rail infrastructure!).

The fact that he's banned for-profit prisons on a federal level? That matters.

The fact that he's increased taxes on corporations and given the IRS more funding to go after rich people who cheat on their taxes? That matters.

The fact that he's reinvested in infrastructure and affordable housing matters.

The fact that he's set a max price on insulin matters.

The fact that he's acknowledged and actually taken steps to reduce America's impact on the environment? And rejoined the Paris Accords? That matters.

The fact that he's given families with children tax credits? The fact that he offered some student loan forgiveness at all? It all MATTERS.

These are things that would not have happened under Trump. And not all of these things are necessarily things Biden considered a top priority. But because progressives have been making demands of him during his term as president, some progress has been achieved.

Your initial premise is inherently flawed, and the fact that you don't even see why it's inherently flawed is really fucking depressing.

The general elections are not when you make demands. In a first-past-the-post bipartisan system like the US? That's when you vote for harm reduction.

The four years between elections? That's when you get involved and yes, make demands on your politicians. Call your representatives. Badger them relentlessly to do better.

With the GOP willing to openly cheat at democracy (between January 6, 2001 and Project 2025, they've really shown their true selves), the Democrat party is more open to election reform than they've ever been. The Democrats know they're a big umbrella centrist party, and they'll be fine even if they get rid of the electoral college, or even if they institute ranked choice voting.

These are things we, as progressives, can push for.

Note that I'm saying we, because I suspect you, me, and OP have way more in common than not.

Despite my call for people to vote for Harris/Walz, I consider myself a democratic socialist. I take no offense when people call me a full-out communist. I'm an idealist who believes in the ideals of Star Trek. I believe in the Federation, a post-money, post-scarcity society. I believe in fighting against both evil and apathy. I don't think you are evil. But I do think you are apathetic.

The problem is, the democratic aspect of living in a democracy means we have to convince people en masse to join together and vote for the common good.

And since the US currently is a bipartisan system, sadly that means there's not very much nuance in voting come election day.

So, if you want a system where you can have more choices, you've got to actually do the democracy bit. The bit I'm currently attempting with you. The bit where you face someone who's angry and disenchanted with the options currently available, and you convince them to help you take on a task that seems as impossible as getting the One Ring to the fires of Mt Doom.

Because yeah, I know the system is fucked right now. I know it'll take immense effort to reform it. But, democracy works by engagement. If we engage together, if we work together to push these issues, then we might be able to actually destroy the bipartisan system and have more than two options going forward. So that the future you can vote for your preferred candidate when election day rolls around.

And we can do that while preventing a second Trump term.

This got long, so I'll leave you with two things. First, this quote:

“We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art, and very often in our art, the art of words.” ― Ursula K. Le Guin

And secondly, with this clip of Sean Astin from the recent Geeks and Nerds for Harris/Walz, in which he talks about how he's been working on getting a Masters degree in public administration and public policy, and how convinced he is that voting Harris/Walz is the path that will lead towards something better.

With Kamala/Walz going up DAILY, I've seen more people talking about voting third party/Jill Stein (EW) and I believe the above screencaps from @three--rings can explain WHY Third Party votes NEVER work NOR is this the election to screw around in.

Everyone....like she says above.....PLEASE LEARN FROM HISTORY!!!

(Because if Trump gets in, he's NEVER LEAVING).

[aquariushv]

-rising signs as I know them🌿

Aries rising: That type who says things, offensive lot of time, without realising it. Their words cut. The fighter. The one who fights for whatever feels worth it. The one who will cry when no-one sees. Tries to catch attention, sometimes they are not trying at all. They are the people who laugh at silly jokes or laugh at literally everything. Hot headed tho. Ready to smass anyone if it's needed. Sadly people may hate on them without reason. But they're one of the most loyal and reliable creatures out there.

Taurus rising: They observe everything that happens. Notice every single detail but don't say anything. Also notice every difference at people character, acts, vibes. Fun to be around. Weird type of beauty. Realistic expectations but deep down inside they believe that magic always happens, they believe they can do the impossible. Appear as a cold person but they are not once you know them. They can't open up easily to others. Shy. Really calm and they can relax others too.

Gemini rising: Impulsive. Act before they think sometimes. Anxiety for everything. Knows everything for everyone. Cries a lot but they prefer to keep it for themselves. Talkative and usually smile a lot. Worries about every subject. Likes to be the center of attention. Looks like dolls, with cute characteristics. Dreamers. One of their dreams is to travel as much as they can. Can lie to get out of a trouble. Unfortunately they can lie about everything without reason. That's why people tend to not rely on them. Witty as well.

Cancer rising: They love to stay home. That's the aura and vibes they give tho, they feel like home. Likely to have one cozy place at their house only for them. They like blankets too. Warm hearths full of love. Motherly way of love. They love children and animals so much. But can be possessive with their loved ones, because of their fear if their loved ones find someone better. It's sad that they can't feel enough no matter what. Low self-esteem.

Leo rising: Act like lions. Not afraid to be alone and fight for everything they want. Ambitious but get frustrated easily. Enthusiasm. Can be selfish and self-centered. Looks royal. Fiery way of love. They give everything but rarely get back what they have given. Also they remind me of gold. Very beautiful, expensive and bright. But not all people gonna see their worth. Don't take it that personally. I have observed that usually are tall people.

Virgo rising: An extrovert introvert. Can communicate with the others, even if they met them two minutes like they know them all their life. Can be in every friend group but still be an introvert. They keep things for themselves and just listen the other during a discussion. As a Mercurian kid are very intelligent and curious to learn more. Can be freak about their health. Discretion, courtesy and modesty.

Libra rising: People who always have a smile at their face. Very protective especially with their friends or partner. Charming Venusian. Once they care about you never stop. They try to balance everything at their life, sometimes try to balance others life too. There are times when they are quite determined and dynamic and other times their insecurities bring them to the need for support from those close to them. They can be impulsive and unambitious as well.

Scorpio rising: Mysterious, dark aura above you. Really intense eyes. They have developed intuition and great magnetism. They have a rich imagination and they like that it has to do with mystery, metaphysics and spirituality. They are distinguished for their great endurance, determination and perseverance. Many difficulties through their life, especially at childhood. Can be clingy and possessive because of their super intense way to love.

Sagittarius rising: Childish humour. Generally they act like kids or teenagers. Carefree and lack of fear. Bold. They manage to overcome all the obstacles and difficulties of life simply with a smile and in a good mood. Very generous. They have open spiritual horizons and easily adapt to situations, changing perceptions and ideas when they discover the new that overthrows the old. They do not remain static and have no obsessions. But lack of patience does not allow them to reach their goals

Capricorn rising: Dominant personality. They are restrained in the manifestation of emotions, they express their feelings only when they feel intimacy, confidence and security. They are very critical of others but especially of themselves. Cold and distant around anyone who don't know. Warm hearted and giving around people they trust. They remind me of ice. Unbreakable if you don't know how to manage them and you don't have patience. They melt with everyone who finally got to know them and had the patience.

Aquarius rising: A popular loner. They belong everywhere and nowhere. Very different from the ordinary. They like it tho. Very beautiful and mysterious also. They are a spirit of contradiction and controversy, and a revolutionary many times for no reason. They are ready to offer their help and support to anyone who needs it. They support people even if they made mistakes, made bad choices. They try to change the society and make it with more justice, fun. Can be really egocentric and they have high standards, sometimes impossible.

Pisces rising: A psychic, a healer. They are a sensitive and compassionate people. They feel joy and satisfaction to offer their help generously to their fellow human beings and they can even sacrifice their personal desires to give support around them. They have a rich imagination, they are a dreamer and many times they create in their imagination a dream world of their own which is very far from reality. They give up their weapons easily, they do not have much self-confidence and they do not have the perseverance to fight to achieve what they want.

[neroli9]

🤡

What's a line, scene, or exchange you've written that made you laugh?

Uh, well, I often laugh at the bits that make me think "they're going to fucking kill me for this once I post it." My husband calls it 'pre-cackling.'

Aside from that, Sasha always makes me laugh. I guess it's the total bluntness paired with the total brazenness. Some of my favorite Sasha lines underneath the cut:

"You've obviously got a crush on him. Don't ask me why, but you do," she says in a long-suffering tone. "Crushes make people stupid, and no offense, but you're being stupid. I mean, it's like he's got you on a leash. A rational person would be like --" She tugs at an imaginary collar around her neck, making exaggerated choking noises. "'Oh no! Get this thing off of me!' But you, you're licking his shoes and doing tricks for him..."

Her lips curl up in that way that means she's a half second away from annoying the crap out of you. "Is sex really that great?"

"Sasha!"

"I mean, I might die without ever finding out, least you can do is tell me."

You roll your eyes. "You are not going to die."

"So you want me to find out on my own, once I get out?"

"No! Not until --" Until she gets married? She would pounce on the hypocrisy there with glee. "Uh, not until you're older, and you find someone you can trust, like really trust, and you always always ALWAYS make the guy use a condom and if he says no, I don't care how much you like him, you tell him to take a hike, and -- and you always pee after you're done, because urinary tract infections hurt like hell --"

She perks up. "This talk beats the heck out of the first one you gave me. How about size? Does size matter?"

You smack your hand to your forehead. "Oh, for God's sake. Uh, kind of, but I mean, lots of things matter. For me, what's most important is what's between the guy's ears..."

Sasha ponders this. "So... Stepstool Man is really handsome? 'Cause that's sure not how I'm picturing him."

You burst out laughing. "I meant his brain!" Or magic, or whatever. You're not entirely sure there is anything between where Sans' ears would be, if he had ears.

"Oh. So... he is ugly, then?"

"I think he's handsome in his own way."

This makes her laugh until she has a coughing fit. "Yeah, but we've established that you're suffering from sex-induced temporary insanity."

You can't help but smile. "Maybe a little."

Sasha's the one to break the silence. "So you're not just a bitter rich girl, you're a kleptomaniac too?" All three of you stare at her, and she blinks. "What? I meant it in a good way!”

She continues, "A skeleton's human-shaped, at least. Uh, but... doesn't that feel... creepy? Like incredibly creepy?"

"A little, at first. But now, it's just... it's just how he is, you know?"

"Uh, I can't really say I know at all... I mean, uh, how does he even... uh... oh God I don't want to know let's just stop right there," she says, the words tumbling out in a rush.

You laugh. "Good idea. I said no more secrets, but it’s probably better for some things to stay secret.”

"Yeah, if you tell me any of those kinds of secrets I’m going to stab my eardrums out with a thermometer. Changing the subject."

Taking more questions to celebrate the upcoming Halloween chapter! Find the list here.

[im-in-love-with-pizza-bites]

Before The Streetlights Come On: Chapter 3

Steve Rogers X Fem!Reader (Highschool AU)

Series MasterList

Summary: it's the summer of 1994 and you find yourself falling for your childhood best friend. There's a lot that can happen before the street lights come on.

Warnings:

The summer was going fast. It was already July, and it was Steve's birthday. You guys were chilling at a nearby park, Tony and Bruce were gonna meet up with the two of you soon. For now you two were just chilling.

"What do you think the future will be like?" You asked him staring at the sky.

"I don't know, I would like to think that we'd still talk, Bucky and Nat's kids will be our godkids. I'll have a beautiful wife who is my best friend." He sighed as he looked at you hoping you'd get his hint. But you didn't, you were still looking at the sky.

"That'd be nice being married to your best friend." You smiled softly, sending a hint his way that went over his head too.

"Hey love birds!" You heard a voice say from the left to you. You looked up to see Tony and a 8-year-old boy with a mop of brown hair and a goofy smile.

"We're not dating Tony." Steve was quick to turn it down not noticing how your face fell for a second. "Who's the kid?"

"I'm Peter!" The kid said happily.

"He's the kid-"

"Someone was stupid enough to let you be alone with?" You cut your friend off.

"My aunt isn't stupid!" Peter defended.

"No, she isn't. But Tony is." You smirked.

"Oh! He is! He didn't want to watch star wars the empire strikes back with me!" The young boy crossed his arm pouting.

"Why wouldn't you want to watch such a cinematic master piece tony?" Steve said feigning offense.

"Shut up Rogers." Tony rolled his eyes as they sat down.

"Don't talk to him that way on his birthday!" You slapped the rich kid.

"Happy birthday!" Peter said happily.

"Thanks buddy." Steve high-fives him.

"I'm here." Bruce said walking over.

"Took you long enough!" Steve teased.

"Mhm. Happy birthday."

———

"When are you gonna tell her you like her?" Tony asked noticing Steve wasn't playing attention to what he was saying but instead you on the swings next to Peter.

"I don-"

"Don't deny it it's obvious." Bruce laughed.

"I'm not gonna tell her. It'll ruin our friendship. A friendship we've had most of our lives." Steve sighed.

"Oh yeah you've known each other since way before you met me and Tony. How long?" Bruce asked.

"We met 10 years ago. When we were six."

"And then we met you guys when Thor's brother started picking on Clint so for some random reason all of us had to stop him. Thor probably could've handled that on his own." You said walking over. Peter was still on the park playing with a kid he had told you was his bestfriend, Ned.

"You gained friends though." Tony teased.

"Yeah. We also got suspended for beating a 6th grader up even though he was bullying a 8th grader. They didn't take us seriously!" You rolled your eyes.

"Yeah but Loki is fine now I think." Bruce shrugged.

"My mom made me do the dishes for a month." Steve said.

"Where's thor and Loki anyway? Weren't they gonna come too?" You asked your best friend.

"No they're gonna meet us for Fireworks though."

"Why are we letting Loki join us. He's a kid, and a jerk." Tony groaned.

"You brought a 8 year old with you and a 14-year-old is a kid too you? Your 2 years older than him." You rolled your eyes.

"Well Pete doesn't bully people."

"Oh shut up Tony. Loki redeemed himself, so I think you can stop hating him." Steve defended.

"Let's go get food!" You suggested, before they started fighting.

"Okay."

Taglist: @honeyyxashes

[sweetsuenos]

Final thoughts:

It's truly a time capsule of 2009-2010

Gave me nostalgia for the time before full face makeup normalization like I think the mc's head would explode if you told her about "makeup gurus". She wasn't that weird about it, she just kept being like "I'm glad I don't wear makeup bc I keep crying and it'd be very inconvenient"

I think the appeal for first person pov ya stories is that its like reading someones diary. Like it doesn't have much literary value tbh, it's more like just listening to chisme? So still kinda fun.

Its funny how bad it is but its still good? Maybe because its nostalgic for me? But I had to read the whole thing.

Author had good taste though like she referenced a lot of really good music and talked about classic literature often (she was getting an english literature degree so maybe that's why)

A lot of the jokes did NOT age well and some were quite jarring. A lot of jokes that only washed up cringey "offensive" comedians of today would call funny. Most made by the annoying teenage boy type characters but even the mc made a couple dumb ones. Cannot emphasize just how much they pulled me out of the story and immediately reminded me what year the story was uploaded.

Misogyny prevalent. It's funny because it's supposedly not bad that female characters be sexually experienced, the mc has friends with lots of experience and doesn't shame them, they just hate a couple specific girls so they call them sluts ?? The main girl they hated was kinda mean but their insults against her were just misogyny and fake tan comments which like. okay.

Gay jokes that don't get condemned really? In this universe calling people gay, joking that they're gay is okay. Joking that being gay is bad, however, isn't okay. 2010 logic. The main character wasn't free from this, even though one of her bffs is gay, she mentions clothes "being tight but not gay tight" and says the ML has lips that "aren't too big for a boy" like sjsjdkdj??

Also had racist moments. A latina maid that the mc calls cute and supposedly loves but she makes a lot of comments about her 'little accent' which is funny considering the author is french so at times the characters speak in the same broken english the maid speaks by default..so can I even be mad? She says the maid "definitely looks mexican" sksjdhd? And talks about how short she is. All of this is okay though because "she's like family" to the rich ml. There's also a moment where some of her friends randomly ask another friend about her boyfriend (who we just find out in this moment is black) and 'whether the stereotype is true' (to paraphrase), it was weird and uncomfortable. Also whorephobia was abundant. Constant jokes about sex workers and the mc and her bffs called their other bff their pimp. Really 2010 era stuff. I guess people still make those jokes but I feel like a lot less people find them funny. Because they're not.

The MC repeats things too often which I guess was common in stories back then. Like they don't let anything speak for itself. Gotta keep reminding you about every incident that's happened and about every character's personality.

I thought it was interesting when mc narrates an internal monologue (around other characters) she canonically is literally spacing out? For as long as it takes you to read her ramblings? Makes you feel kinda pressured to read it quickly.

"Smirk" is used too much (common for the time) wtf does smirk even mean...evil smile? I don't get it. 2010's writer's obsession with the word is honestly so strange. Also "eye rolling". Too much eye rolling. Go to the doctor.

Mc 'helped' people too much. Idk why characters wanted to randomly confide in her...her advice wasn't all that great? I guess she was nice? She also would think of random inappropriate things during serious situations like girl get a grip??? Really truly main character powers to have everyone randomly obsessed with being your friend and telling you all their secrets.

So much random rawr xD humor. Definitely not funny anymore.

Good banter though I'll give the author that. Especially when it didn't lead to shitty jokes.

Nice slow burn romance. Like. Takes 70 chapters. My favorite kind.

Nice twist at the end that didn't affect me because I already read it multiple times ten years ago but if it was my first read it would have affected me. I think I reccomended this story to people and when they read the twist they were really mad at me.

Did they give up on school at some point? She stopped helping him with math and science? I guess the plot at the end focused on other things but still...that was part of the deal that starts the whole story.

Also why did they only pick out vinyls once? Its the title? She goes to the huge collection and takes a few of them home one time. Also part of the deal that started the whole story. They still talk about them and listen to them often but she only takes some home once. Both things were abandoned so quickly.

The epilogue skips to her being 25 with a kid.. that's so crazy to me. I know lots of people have kids young, but I feel like in a lot of books and movies, 25 is NOT Parent Age. In teen romance, 25 is usually Break Up For a Few Years Age.

These types of stories are obsessed with telling you how """hot""" characters are supposed to be and even as a teenager I wasn't convinced. Maybe because I was gay? But at some point you have to stop mentioning how hot a character is, I truly do not care. Like they just keep repeating "oh [character] is so hot uwu" like okay? Repeating it 50 times is just annoying and unnecessary.

They are obsessed with skinny ppl in these stories, too. Especially ones that don't make an effort to be. Because making an effort is shallow, you should just be naturally conventionally attractive and tiny. The mc even calls herself shallow for straightening her own hair and trying to dress up nicely, debating whether to wet her hair to make it curly again.. Hate the extreme beauty standards of today but also don't miss the any type of beautification feeling foolish era of main characters. Like just be normal bro. Do whatever you want.

But genuinely I think the author could make a good story, hopefully in another format though. It's been 12 years so maybe her writing has evolved. Maybe there's less cringey jokes and misogyny. The story has a 4.3 on goodreads, which is higher than I expected.

And now I can go back to being a person after reading almost nonstop for two days.

There was this like 500 page novel on wattpad that I used to read as a teenager and I wonder if I should go back and read it with adult eyes...

[literatigifs]

anonymous asked: rogan fans are like: we're so oppressed, we love the bestest guy in gilmore girls and we're bullied and hunted down because of it 🥺 before going on a rant about how anyone who likes jess excuses rape, is anti-feminist and will bring about the next plague on the earth that will wipe out all the feminist women that ever dared to speak out against men

Ok I will obviously preface this by saying that not every rogan fan does this, but forgive me for laughing a bit at this message.

But yeah I feel like the obvious point is that there's a lot of weird hypocrisy in the fandom over which fan prefers which guy, and I can understand discussions over it, but in a lot of times I've just seen rogan fans result to name-calling and weird degrading statements like how any person who likes Jess has really no idea what they're talking about, that they just have this preference because they were mindless teenage girls who loved Jess because he was hot, that he has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. I mean, after a certain point it just gets weird and mildly offensive, because apparently anyone that likes Jess has no mind of their own and can't analyze a piece of media without being so 'affected' by the hot guy. It's also weird because a lot of people also find Logan hot? And in his introduction in season 5, he fills out a lot of the stereotypical rich bad boy stereotype. So by their logic, am I supposed to say that every rogan fan's opinion is invalid because they've just got the hots for the rich blonde guy stereotype? It's even the same for Dean who at the beginning is introduced as the new guy/small town newbie who woos the small town girl for the first time.

It's why I think there's a lot more complaints regarding these fans in how they can't argue against someone's preference without resorting to insults that have nothing to do with the details of that preference. Because frankly I don't think I've ever seen Jess fans say that people only love Logan because he's the rich guy.

[accidentallyadramablog]

Review: Down With Love (2010)

I felt a little nostalgic this week and decided to rewatch Down With Love, a romcom out of Taiwan featuring Ella Chen (from Hana Kimi) and Jerry Yan (Meteor Garden).

This is more of a brain dump as opposed to a real review. More below the cut.

Let me just start with the fact I love dramas with tomboys, gender benders, and gender non-conforming women and girls in general. I'm a 40 yr old gnc bi-woman, so some of these storylines really resonate with me - despite the trend of making those female characters glaringly stupid and pitiable.

Tags: Nanny, Love Square, Tomboy, Male Chases Female First, Sismance, Rich Man/Poor Woman, Pretends To Be Gay, Single Parent, Sisterhood, Boss/Employee Relationship

Our girl Ella Chen plays tomboy Yang Guo. Yang Guo works, has friends, and a shitty boyfriend of 5 years. She acts naïve, but she actually has a lot of life experience due to a *tragic backstory*. After her mother died, her father ruined the family business. Their family plunged from riches to rags and their father abandoned them. Yang Guo is 6 when this happens and it falls on her older sister Yang Duo to raise them both while homeless, starving, and navigating the homeless camps in the parks of Taipei.

Yang Duo (Kelly Huang) has raised her little sister by herself, beginning from poverty and homelessness to having a house and making a life for themselves. They bicker good-naturedly, but Yang Duo is very protective and supportive of her sister. She's managed to earn a job at a prestigious law firm as an admin assistant with strong accounting skills. She is seen as frugal, clever, and competent. Several characters make comments throughout the series about how it was a shame that she didn't go into certain careers because she's so accomplished despite not having a formal education. It's obvious that Yang Duo has put her own dreams and happiness on hold to make sure that she and Guo have financial security. Yang Duo is my favorite character btw. She is a supporting character that is multi-faceted and has her own character arc. I really like seeing her growth in this drama, and she gets some cute side couple action later in the series. Skip the last episode.

Due to growing up in poverty and scrabbling to lower-middle-class, the two girls work nonstop. After Guo is fired from her job waiting tables, Duo gets Guo a job as a nanny for her boss Xiang Yu Ping by lying and saying Guo is a lesbian.

Xiang Yu Ping (Jerry Yan) owns his own law firm and is seen as cold and overbearing. He is raising his dead brother's kids and none of the nannies he's hired have lasted either due to being chased off by the kids (a la the Sound of Music) or by trying to seduce him because he's a rich handsome lawyer. Relieved to have found a nanny who definitely wouldn't seduce him (because he thinks she's a lesbian), he just pays an unreasonably huge salary to keep her there with the kids despite their abuse.

Supporting characters: Amanda Chu as the best friend Yan Ling with the messy dating life is also delightful, but I've enjoyed all her roles. I may rewatch Lion Pride for her, now that I'm walking down memory lane. The office of 'just some lawyer dudes being dudes' are funny. I love when they gather around to watch drama and place bets on what's happening. They're also slackers. I would love/hate to work with them.

So that's the setup.

Honestly, I hate the 'pretends to be gay' plots. It's typically really offensive and this was no exception in a lot of places. (It's not at the same level as Personal Taste, but it's bad.) One of the cases Yu Ping takes on is unlawful termination and blackmail of a gay teacher and he asks for Yang Guo's advice to help the man. Taiwan was trying in 2010, but it wasn't exactly good representation to have a fake lesbian help an actual gay man faced with employment discrimination and blackmail over his orientation. When I compare this with Love is Science (2021 twdrama) that has two out lgbt characters employed in their office with significant roles, I'm just so happy that lgbtq media representation is still progressing.

I don't care about Yu Ping's best friend Qi Ke Zhong or Yu Ping's ex-girlfriend Ding Hui Fan because they're both terrible people that don't deserve forgiveness and their only purpose was to drag out our leads getting together. Since this was a rewatch, I knew how much I hated their scenes and skipped them as much as I could. You're not missing anything. Someone on YT needs to just make a Yang Duo/Xiang Yu Ping cut, tbh. Also? Go ahead and skip the deadbeat father.

The nanny bit only lasts three episodes (the kids are adorable), but it's long enough for Yu Ping to catch feelings and think his lesbian nanny is cute. He actually is not cold and overbearing as episode 1 makes him out to be. Yu Ping is supportive and tries to be a good friend to Guo. When he thinks her 'girlfriend' is cheating on her, he absolutely flips out because he feels she deserves to be respected and loved in her relationship. He learns about her family. He learns about her friends. He knows where to look for her when she's upset. He knows how to cheer her up and later, he knows how to make the perfect date. When he finds out she lied about being a lesbian, he's not even mad. He admits it was his fault for making certain demands in the employment contract. He's just upset that he's lost chances to flirt and court her.

Listen. It's a dumb premise in this drama and the misunderstandings suck. But it's so refreshing to see male leads be decent to women that are romantically and sexually unavailable to them. The bar is so low, in RL and in dramas, that Yu Ping belongs in the top tier of male drama leads. This dude was just going to continue in a supportive friendship for an undetermined time, both when he thought she was a lesbian and later when his shitty weasel of a best friend dated her under false pretenses. He didn't burden her with a confession until her relationship was over. And whenever she asked for space, he gave it to her. And when she confronted him on instances of jealously, he apologized and gave her space.

Yu Ping never tries to change Guo. He doesn't give her a makeover. She has a makeover scene that is instigated by another character and all he does is try to make her comfortable when she's so obviously uncomfortable. Then he cheers inwardly when he sees her overcome her awkwardness and have confidence. But by the end of the drama, she is still dressing and acting the same as in act 1. It honestly reminded me a little of Coffee Prince in that the fancy male lead is still just as enamored with his gnc woman by the end and the way she presents herself doesn't have an effect on their romantic relationship. Again, this is content catered to me as a bi & gnc woman in a relationship with a cis-het man. I often am mistaken for a man when I go out with my spouse and he's still super into me so let's normalize gnc people with gc people already it's 2021.

Anyway, if you watch romances for kisses, there's really only a couple of pecks and one nice passionate kiss and they're all in basically the last 3 eps of the series.

The last episode sucks. Stop at episode 15. Seriously. Don't watch episode 16. Why oh why do you let terrible people back in your life? Qi Ke Zhong and Ding Hui Fan are toxic and should but cut out of their lives. The end of ep 15 had a happy ending with a family-style breakfast for our two sisters with their boyfriends. Ep 16 threw in some more misunderstanding, jealousy, and separations followed by a time skip for no reason and brought back my two least favorite characters.

Anyway, I will live in my little world with Yang Duo and her sweet lawyer boyfriend Liang Zhi Hao (Ian Yim/Cyran Yan/Yan Yi En yeah, this actor has three stage names) that supports her interests and self-determination while they save money on mass transit by using his motorbike. And they build her dream home that she designs. Perhaps they put aside funds for her to pursue a degree in what she's passionate about.

[thelonesomequeen]

Am I the only one who thinks that Chris and mark and everyone that’s a part of ASP is just tired of having these meetings and conversations for the website?

I’m not attacking him but it seems like to him it’s all just meeting after meeting and he seems tired of it compared to actual politicians who work day and night having these conversations. Of course Chris isn’t a politician but I think for him to make a political website and include himself in these conversations with politicians I feel like he should he should say more instead of the same responses he gives after someone finishes talking.

You don’t have to respond to this it’s just a thought

If Chris wants people to get more on board with ASP and get less hate, he's seriously going to have to change his word for word answer "it'd be far more pernicious to act like these politicians aren't making laws that affect ur life". He says the exact same thing every single time- it's like he doesn't have anything else to defend it w and if he uses a "big word" like 'pernicious', ppl are gonna agree w him more. It's almost like he's been told to say it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

is asp even doing well? outside of the fandom, I've never heard a single soul mention it or talk of it. I do find it funny when Chris talks about how it won't be that hard to get ppl engaged when they're provided w the info from this website. Like, Chris, u haven't exactly come up with a unique out there idea. Literally 100s of other sites have been doing what ASP is doing for longer and in a better way- + we still have so much apathy when it comes to politics. Chris isn't going to save politics

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Ever since Chris started on ASP, I feel like he's retreated more and more into his own little bubble of privilege. I have to admit when he said last year in that esquire interview about how he's going to hold back on Twitter bc of asp, I was so annoyed. So he's not going to use his voice for disenfranchised minorities anymore just bc wants his little website to do well + get all cushy w more rich, privileged old men? He's been so silent on many issues recently bc of it when he has huge platform

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I don't think Chris has ever really been invested in politics as he thinks he is. All of his political tweets just seem to be surface level complaining about ignorant, offensive things trump and a few others have said. He never really had spoken about other issues or given his opinion and a part of me thinks that's because he doesn't actually have opinions of certain things bc he probably doesn't care😂

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I agree with others saying the website should include the views of other people instead of politicians. It’s one thing to only put what D and R think about each topic but I really think they should include the views of the people who will be affected by these decisions. The website has potential and it was made with well intentions but it should include more than information that can be found with a quick google search.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Great point from that anon on the lack of substance behind his tweets when you actually look at them. Last week in the Ace interview the host complimented him on being vocal, I believe, on BLM and I was like 🤔🙄🥴 was he? Granted it’s certainly not his time to be the loudest voice but I wasn’t exactly impressed with his activism on literally anything in 2020/ 2021 considering he paints himself as quite the ally. It was like 1 tweet or 1 Instagram story. He also has been silent on Georgia and other voter suppression efforts which seem like slam dunk easy causes to speak up about considering he throws out “everyone get out and vote” anytime he’s backed into a corner on question or with ASP criticism. He can use his platform and his voice however he wants, but for someone who paints himself as and is seen as a politically vocal person he doesn’t actually do all that much. If he truly did care that much about these causes and ASP would prevent that I don’t see why he would even start the website. Put your money into voter registration or vocally support gun-sense or prochoice or progressive candidates. That said, I wanna hear zero things from the Evans boys on Covid considering the amount of unnecessary flights they collectively took around the world from Day 1 of the pandemic.

[rpmemesbyarat]

RP meme from Scream Queens Ep 6 "Seven Minutes in Hell" (Note: Offensive content, use at own discretion)

Everyone would immediately assume the killer is me.

Are you one of those idiot savants who's heavy on the idiot, light on the savant?

I am simply a victim of my times.

Are you aware your pants are on backwards?

Then whose fault is it?

I am never talking about anything ever again!

Yeah, super sorry about what happened down there.

Why are you laughing?

What about that fit you threw down there?

You're not mad at me?

Oh, I meant everything I said about you.

I still think you're useless. I'm just not sad about it.

You never, ever want to be the boss in a time of extreme crisis.

As soon as you become the boss, you get a target on your back, from the feds, the other families, ambitious underlings.

Sure, seems like you have all the power, but you also take on the most risk.

Oh, don't judge me for trying to stay alive.

Do not give an inch.

What's your game here?

I trust you about as far as I can throw you.

I know we don't know who the killer is, but we know it traces back to this house.

There are two things that always happen at a slumber party; someone experiments with lesbianism and secrets are revealed.

We can create situations and scenarios to really prime the pump.

We'll lock everybody up overnight, and we're bound to find out something.

A slumber party sounds fun.

Let's play spin the bottle.

Someone always goes lesbian.

We're playing spin the damn bottle.

Why spin the bottle?

That is not a nasty rumor. That is a true rumor.

So I propose a panty raid.

You taste like wax.

I guess we have to kiss.

You're a great kisser.

Was I interrupting you?

I was just practicing looking disinterested.

I'm pretty sure I was born without that part of the brain that actually feels stuff.

We have so much in common.

I'm starting to think we have something very important and specific in common.

My sex life up until this point is what you'd call unusual.

I think the only way to be sure of your feelings is if you let me gently rub your uterus right now.

When I love someone, it drives them insane.

Believe me when I say that if it was possible for me to feel anything I would totally be crying right now.

That doesn't seem healthy.

All the doors are locked solid. Windows, too. Upstairs and down.

I decided to have the whole house turned into a panic room.

But wait, doesn't that mean that there's some sort of switch somewhere to deactivate it?

I hate being trapped in small places.

There's only one reason why the killer would do something like this-- to pick us off one by one.

Guess it's just a matter of time before one of us or all of us ends up dead.

You have to help us.

Look, I'm prepared to say I'm sorry I did that.

What I'm not prepared to do is say the sex was bad.

Yeah. I'm not gonna apologize for that one.

I'm about to get murdered, so can you please just hang up and get over here?

How on earth are we supposed to get in if all the doors and windows are locked?

Dude, we climb up the ladder, break the windows upstairs, save all the girls, climb back down, then it's vagina city for all of us.

Why would you bomb-proof upstairs windows? For what, like, a flying bomb?

Don't be an idiot.

It's hero time.

Save me and I'm yours forever.

I'm not really sure I'm ready for that level of commitment.

Break the glass!

Stand back, fair maiden.

Give him the dignity of watching him die.

Someone in this house definitely knows who the killer is.

It's truth or dare time.

Whatever it takes to stop the douche that's trying to kill everybody.

I mean, do you ever just stop and ask yourself if we can actually pull this off?

Maybe we all just need to get out of here.

The best way to avoid a shark attack is to not go in the water.

We all have a crisis of faith sometimes.

Maybe you're hiding something.

I'd pick truth and then just lie.

If you want to lie, you can just pick dare.

That's the whole point of truth or dare. You can't lie.

Does your vagina have teeth?

I'm not lying.

My vagina doesn't have teeth.

Does your vagina still have teeth?

So it used to have teeth, but you got them removed?

So your vagina still has teeth.

Sounds like you're trapped in a web of lies.

You're forfeiting your turn, bitch.

Okay, I guess it's my turn, then.

You promised you wouldn't tell.

Sorry. I had to tell the truth.

Of course you're the killer.

I propose we take a little break, You know, take a whiz, get a refill.

You know what? I'm sorry. I'm sorry I ever trusted you.

I wanted to talk about the other thing you said, about how you thought you had feelings for me.

The only feelings I have for you now are rage and pissed offedness.

Now go sit in that bathtub and think about what you've done. And try not to rub one out, okay?

Come on! I said I was sorry!

If anybody's down here, please don't jump out at me.

Is that blood?

Wait. If you're gonna kill me, at least show me who you are first.

I knew it. I knew it was you.

Please. You don't have to do this. I could help you.

There's never any food in there. Just laxatives.

I got the impression that you and I are on the verge of being the next "it" couple.

See, this is the problem with texting, you know? You can't hear the context.

Even though I decided to not wear a bra, you haven't been staring at my shirt raisins once.

Okay, look, I was waiting to talk to you about this 'cause secretly I was hoping you'd be killed and I wouldn't have to hurt your feelings.

I just don't think it would work out with us.

You're nuts, and not like a typical crazy-eyes co-ed, but wake-up-with-my penis-in-a-jar lunatic.

I love space mountain. Best ride at Disneyland. But I love my penis more.

Number one-- I never take second place. And number two-- I don't stop till I get what I want.

Was that salad spinner hitting on you?

I am super turned on from her, and I need some sweet release.

Is there any, like, Crisco or cooking oil here? Just, like, dry handies bum me out.

I propose we treat ourselves to a little heaven. Seven minutes in heaven.

Whatever your plan was, it isn't working.

Would you like to pat the little man in the canoe?

I want to take our relationship to the next level.

I want us to be together, but I want it to mean something.

I love boning girls all over this great land. But really, at the end of the day, I just kind of want to bone one girl. Like, that one special girl.

I just didn't think that girl was you. Because, obviously, there's so much wrong with you.

Will you get back together with me?

I would consider taking you back under one condition.

You have to pinky-pledge that you will be monogamous to me.

You will not have sex with anyone else. Do you understand me?

Dude, she looks like prepackaged meat from the supermarket.

Oh, god, has someone checked on the kids?

Pretty convenient that you're the one who found the body.

You're the darkest bitch of them all.

Those are some serious accusations, and they make no sense.

I would be opening myself up to a lot of trouble if I were to turn you in to the authorities.

It doesn't do any of us any good to start accusing each other with no evidence.

I suggest that we just have someone stand guard and watch me for the rest of the night, or until someone else dies, therefore proving that I am not the killer.

This feels so good.

I tried to scream, but nothing came out!

Interesting. That's all I'm gonna say. Interesting.

There is a trapdoor with, like, a tunnel system.

But wait, there are secret tunnels in this house perfect for a killer to use, and you neglected to tell us?

That's a little suspicious.

We are losing sight of the big picture here.

I'm not going down there. I do not dig on cobwebs, and I'm guessing there are loads of cobwebs down there.

If you get murdered in those tunnels, I promise I will never bang anyone harder than I banged you.

You're so rich and hot.

These are the nicest secret tunnels I've ever seen.

Wow. What amazing legacies they all have. What do you think ours will be?

If we can get through this year without everyone getting killed, I think we'll go down as the greatest of them all.

You came back for me.

Purely selfish.

You are probably the worst cop ever.

Wait, where are we going?

I won't go!

In three seconds, I'm gonna pick you up and carry you out of here.

I just kind of came over here because I farted over there and it smelled bad.

Wait, you're a lesbian?

Basically, I'm in love with love.

The next time I feel love for someone, I'm going to tell them. Right away. Just in case they're murdered before I can.

I just feel like I'm never gonna find a guy who likes me.

I'm a freak.

Nobody actually likes me.

You are totally gonna find another guy.

They're custom-made pink nunchaku.

Thank you for making that announcement that no one cared about.

No slumber party is finished without a kickass dance party.

This is so wonderfully random.

What a great way to pretend all these people we know weren't brutally murdered.

[punkscowardschampions]

Sick Kids

gotspoons: [A chatroom/forum situation for teens with invisible illnesses/disabilities, a resource that is recommended when you can't go to IRL groups for your health/they aren't in your area etc] gotspoons: Ticked one whole thing off my to-do list today, feeling like a champ 💪 also feeling like a 2-hour long nap, who here relates? 🥱 tigerbalm: 🖐 took my nap earlier & yet 😴💤 brainpain: 💕🛏 brainpain: long lasting relationship with my memory foam mattress gotspoons: There is NO limit on the number of naps necessary to make it through the day tigerbalm: or the number of abandoned to-do lists, what was your 1 thing? gotspoons: 🚿 looks like breakfast will have to wait tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: @brainpain I have so many memory foam pillows in every room of my house I'm basically a shareholder 🙌 brainpain: @tooexhaustedtolivevicariously same but I've got my fave, I call him Edgar tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: 👏🙏 thank you for your service, Edgar tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: must name mine, only named the chariot 🦼 Charlton gotspoons: [ihatemyguts has entered the chat] gotspoons: A newbie, welcome! tigerbalm: 👋 tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: love the username, what ails ya? tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: because this is the only place it's acceptable to ask 'what's WRONG with you?' but not the only place you encounter it, right brainpain: but you don't have to answer cos it's also somewhere where you're encouraged to 'express yourself' translation: be an arsehole if you want brainpain: if you don't go hardcore enough to get blocked brainpain: @fibrofog LMAO tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: the normies get to be rude as their default, and it is NOT encouraged to hit people with your cane, let me tell you ihatemyguts: Hi, everyone ihatemyguts: I'll do my best not to be an arsehole, even if my problem only lie directly above said orifice, which makes it a struggle not to be at times ihatemyguts: UC, first flare totally fucked over the family holiday 😬 sorry to that hotel toilet and my long-suffering parents and brother brainpain: newbie got jokes AND comedy timing ihatemyguts: 🚽 humour isn't all I have, I swear, though my life now does revolve entirely around the porcelain throne so it's no surprise I'm anally expulsive, thanks to Freud for that read tigerbalm: Freud's the perv, am I right? ihatemyguts: Totally ihatemyguts: and a big believer in the cocaine cure-all, which my Doctor just wasn't going for, shame tigerbalm: sounds like my sleazy uncle in every way tigerbalm: why does everybody get one? gotspoons: 😂 This chat is worth keeping my eyes open for gotspoons: every family is a play, and we're destined to be the 'sick kid' part gotspoons: other players react accordingly, from the 'can't look at you without crying' to the 'thinks you're making it up for some reason' brainpain: I vote we all go off script like @fibrofog 🤬🚨👿❗️ ihatemyguts: I guess I'm lucky in the sense that if anyone doubts the legitimacy of my illness, I can offer to show them the contents of my stomach/toilet bowl ihatemyguts: that shuts them up relatively fast, not had to go full 🐒 and throw it at anyone yet ihatemyguts: though I'm intrigued by the infamous @fibrofog, who are they, where, and why the infamy? Fill a girl in brainpain: the myth, the legend brainpain: so angry cos I turned 'em down for a romantic rendezvous ihatemyguts: No way! ihatemyguts: I'm glad that napping isn't the only action the memory foam is getting ihatemyguts: we're just like any other teens, right guys? 💁 tigerbalm: @brainpain you know the rules, fedora pics or it didn't happen! tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: you know what they say about disabled chicks, grateful 😉 tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: #dontkillmeladies #iamnotasleazyuncle tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: don't think Mr. Fog was even a legit 🥄 tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: total predator tigerbalm: if it was my uncle I'm SO sorry 😂 tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: family who piggyback are THE worst tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: no, MY disability doesn't make YOU automatically WOKE for not drowning me in the tub or throwing me off the nearest high place I can access ihatemyguts: Honestly, I've never felt as simultaneously popular and unpopular in my life ihatemyguts: people 💬 a big acceptance game on the socials ihatemyguts: but no one wants to actually hang with the girl who can't eat shit and will spend half her time in the 🚽 gotspoons: Everyone's supportive until your disability gets in the way of THEIR perfect life even slightly gotspoons: imagine if they were one of us 👽 brainpain: speak for yourselves, my slurred speech makes me a hit with all my hard partying peers brainpain: get weird without a 🍹 ihatemyguts: hey man, don't let us drag you down 😎 ihatemyguts: if @fibrofog was feeling you, you're WAY too cool for this chat right now brainpain: never have, never will, baby 😉 brainpain: [inandout has entered the chat] gotspoons: OH MY GOD, that's a whole different story...my parents = you need to socialize more, live life! my parents = I don't know if this group is good for you, we think you're being encouraged to display and give in to even more problems gotspoons: thanks guys, you're literally making me more disabled with your disabledness 😂 tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: It is a cult, well-known fact, leave your productiveness to society at the door and let's all lie here and feel sorry for ourselves, doesn't that sound like fun, kids? 😈 tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: and 👋 sup, inandout, not seen you in a while tigerbalm: my parents act like y'all are catching too! Would you like to cage me like a legit 🐅 or? inandout: baited breath inandout: out living that life like @gotspoons parents want tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: It'll be the Olympics next tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: 🥇 Hero status with the normies, inspirational, dude inandout: if it'll make adults I've never met proud of me ihatemyguts: I can't believe I've not checked if I'm disabled enough for the paras, oh my God ihatemyguts: are there enough of us for a basketball team? brainpain: if ONLY my former lover were here brainpain: he's gotta be so tall ihatemyguts: Pining for @fibrofog is productive, yeah? ihatemyguts: can pine from my throne just fine brainpain: hands off newbie! I will throw mine brainpain: LOL imagine gotspoons: This group has always had a bias towards too many girls gotspoons: it's almost as if even disabled boys don't wanna talk about their feelings gotspoons: what say you @tooexhaustedtolivevicariously and @inandout? 🤔🤴🤴 inandout: I'd bring friends but you know us CF kids aren't allowed to congregate inandout: and what could I possibly have in common with someone who doesn't share my disease ihatemyguts: So, what is the deal with that, are some of us catching? ihatemyguts: 🐅 parents might have legit concerns inandout: cross infectious but only if you've got what's got me inandout: none of you do so you'll need another reason to turn down hanging out in person tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: my fedora is in the wash? inandout: Fibro could easily say it's my jewishness brainpain: but it's your hunkiness, babe 💪😉 inandout: I'd whistle back at you, Lauren but.... inandout: let's just say you leave me breathless tigerbalm: No names, Zach tigerbalm: it's like a rule ihatemyguts: uh-oh ihatemyguts: if you had a name, Tiger, in theory, like ihatemyguts: 🧐 tigerbalm: Robyn ihatemyguts: Pretty, you others may as well just come out with it now ihatemyguts: even if I'm a massive perv with mad hacking and tracking skills, I pinky promise I won't be able to find you from your given name alone brainpain: give us yours, newbie ihatemyguts: I will, but you'll think I'm giving you a fake one ihatemyguts: it's the gift and curse bestowed upon me at birth, along with potentially dodgy genetics brainpain: your life is 💩 brainpain: but still ihatemyguts: Zelda ihatemyguts: a reference I'm sure you won't get, 'cos you're so 😎 brainpain: I game, the stream was fibros fave hunting ground brainpain: no 💩 tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: Turns out being a nerd is way easy from the relative (barely but beats death, yeah?) comfort of the memory foam tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: and Rich 👍 only in name, destitute until my next pittance comes in tigerbalm: she's not supposed to 🎮 -headaches -dizziness -light & sound sensitivity but she's a REBEL brainpain: 👌 MOM maybe I'd love a seizure, what do you know? ihatemyguts: I respect it ihatemyguts: gonna be fondly reminiscing over all those dirty, evil trigger foods when they're resecting my bowel 🖕🚔 brainpain: I had a life before I had a TBI, no offense to 👶 Zach inandout: none taken gotspoons: You're all being bad and I cannot support it 🤐😜 gotspoons: and I'm Rosie, I will just 😴 out on you all the time and yes, it's a fantastic excuse for when you don't wanna respond ihatemyguts: I'll commit all of those to memory in a normal, non-creepy manner ihatemyguts: but whilst I'm allowed to be a n00b, what do you all do for school? brainpain: I was nearly done before 🤯 which got me my pity pass ihatemyguts: pity with a point, at least, alright tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: I'm waiting to start uni, absolutely no thanks to my school and their totally ableist refusal to make reasonable adjustments for accessibility tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: but fedora or not, I can be a real arsehole, a loud, persistent one at that tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: take my applause now brainpain: 😍 brainpain: take my 💘 tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: as long as it's not heavy, m'lady brainpain: you could 💔 brainpain: hold the pieces tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: 🧠 just isn't poetic enough brainpain: you know me gotspoons: you guys are so cute 🥰 and your broken brain is beautiful, Lauren gotspoons: me though, I'm barely struggling through school still, so many sick days, so much catching up to do 🥱 just thinking about it and therein lies the problem tigerbalm: my parents are trying to get online classes set up but my headteacher is like a million years old inandout: is he a demon? inandout: that was some scary fiction brainpain: or was it? brainpain: cue up those sound effects tigerbalm: if we're gonna talk about hypnosis, I'm out ihatemyguts: that was some serious creepy uncle vibes ihatemyguts: why did he need that level of control ihatemyguts: 🐘 in the room tigerbalm: I have a hippie cousin too, alternative therapy talk is so triggering ihatemyguts: I need a memoir re. your family sitch immediately 😂 ihatemyguts: you get the food purists coming @ me as if I just eat the right thing I'd be 'cured' tigerbalm: I'm working on a screenplay but I've never written a script before, I did find an online class for that easily though ihatemyguts: that's actually 😎 ihatemyguts: soz, Lauren brainpain: she's our lil busy 🐝 brainpain: step your game up, Zachary brainpain: supposed to be you, bro inandout: let Robbie have it, she has more sick days to fill up ihatemyguts: always have your 🥇 inandout: I can pin it on like a star when I got to school with the masses inandout: let them know I'm not what normal looks like ihatemyguts: only the others like you need to have the scoop on that though ihatemyguts: really fucks with the segregation in a big way inandout: “I feel like someone breathed new air into my lungs. I am not Abnegation. I am not Dauntless. I am Divergent.” ihatemyguts: Tattoo idea inandout: if I make it to 18, I'll do it ihatemyguts: how long you given yourself there? inandout: I turned 14 in may, the party was a full blown rager inandout: 🏥🎂 ihatemyguts: you like ruining events too? ihatemyguts: what a coincidence, don't just do family holidays inandout: if I can't blow up 🎈 nobody can ihatemyguts: 🥳 smug bastard inandout: I find that party blower offensive inandout: Rosie! That's a strike for the new girl ihatemyguts: Come to me when it's as culturally iconic as 💩 ihatemyguts: my next (first) tattoo right there inandout: how long are you waiting for that masterpiece? ihatemyguts: was 14 in March ihatemyguts: if we both make it, it's a date inandout: cool inandout: way I'm going that'll be my first one brainpain: now I feel like a pervy OLD uncle brainpain: thank you 👶s ihatemyguts: Lemme guess? ihatemyguts: I'm thinking 19 brainpain: spooky brainpain: I'm an Aquarius if anyone cares ihatemyguts: our 🌟s aligning might be too close to alternative for comfort tigerbalm: I'm a cancer, which is awkward tigerbalm: not my diagnosis ihatemyguts: at least it's memorable ihatemyguts: literally tacked on at the end, who's remembering 🎣 tigerbalm: I hope my 16th will be, for the right reasons tigerbalm: I've still got 5 months left to plan ihatemyguts: 🤞🤞🤞 tigerbalm: I'll add your name, the others know they're all invited ihatemyguts: that's so nice ihatemyguts: considering this introduction has given away nothing if not I am a terrible guest brainpain: another chat about online safety, Robyn, REALLY? 😏 brainpain: did my failed romance teach you nothing? ihatemyguts: if that isn't a challenge to send a photo and make you feel really weird ihatemyguts: why are we anon anyway, to stop us uprising? ihatemyguts: metaphorically if not literally, no offense xoxo brainpain: f it brainpain: I need you all to sign up to my stream to pay my bills anyways brainpain: [a selfie] ihatemyguts: @fibrofog, I get it brainpain: don't flock to tell me how sexy I am, that'd make it weird brainpain: plus, I know tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: I picked an awkward time to check back in tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: Rosie falls asleep and anarchy reigns? tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: I'm proud brainpain: 💔 YOU haven't showered me with compliments, but hey tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: if I made it that easy you'd never be 💘 brainpain: 😩 tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: to save any of the rest of you following such a hard act tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: [pic] tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: it's old but still a rough estimation of what I look like on a good day brainpain: 😍 brainpain: You're up, girl Z ihatemyguts: if you're all good looking though, I'm so mad ihatemyguts: [a selfie] ihatemyguts: 💩 inandout: I'm not good looking, I'll go next inandout: besides, Robbie would never bow to peer pressure and Rosie is out for the count inandout: [a selfie] tigerbalm: I am 🙀 tigerbalm: but everyone else has tigerbalm: [the shyest selfie of all time] ihatemyguts: 😻😻😻 ihatemyguts: seriously ihatemyguts: representation done us dirty on so many levels now ihatemyguts: when we're not invisible, why we not so gorgeous tigerbalm: there should be a blushing 😸 tigerbalm: that's the representation I need ihatemyguts: Call me out all you need but I was convinced this whole thing would be a lot more tragic than it has been inandout: tragic Tuesdays are a thing brainpain: no they are f-ing not brainpain: Zachary, just cos the new girl's in your age bracket + shares your 1st initial brainpain: she is not corruptible to you inandout: check us on our date, Lauren inandout: but watch your profanity brainpain: watch me give you a DIY lung transplant gotspoons: Excuse me gotspoons: what is going on here brainpain: nothing babe, it's all a dream gotspoons: 😖 gotspoons: if it was, none of you would be here gotspoons: sorry to say brainpain: we love you too brainpain: hit us with that sleepy selfie gotspoons: You know we aren't meant to give out personal info in the public forum gotspoons: if you choose to privately, that's okay though gotspoons: also I don't look any better for my shower now 🥴🤫 brainpain: you're a hottie gotspoons: 😘 gotspoons: well, my blog IS going to be featured on [insert disability awareness news moment] next month, so it isn't as if you couldn't find 🖼 if you really wanted gotspoons: [photo] tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: Congrats, Ro tigerbalm: a genuine 👏👏👏 tigerbalm: I love your blog gotspoons: Ty, ty 🙇 gotspoons: it's the same as my username, if you wanna check it out, newbie 😄 brainpain: but have you been on the news for being the victim of a violent crime? 😏 just me LOL inandout: Lauren's trading on her fame again inandout: let Rosie have her moment ihatemyguts: pass along all relevant info and I'll 🤓 right up brainpain: @inandout 🍒😃💩👅 brainpain: enjoy the profanity, bro inandout: today's highlight tigerbalm: Zelda could take offence at that, Zach tigerbalm: I think it was nice to meet her ihatemyguts: Not at all ihatemyguts: though it's cultural appropriation to use that emoji without my permission, I'll let it slide 😉 ihatemyguts: nice meeting you all too tigerbalm: I really am gonna have to tell you about my family now ihatemyguts: All I wanted, tbh tigerbalm: everyone else knows this but my parents are white Americans & they adopted me and my brothers who are Native and African American respectively tigerbalm: & you saw me, the Korean girl so ihatemyguts: Ohh tigerbalm: it sounds like a show that should air on ABC family, right? tigerbalm: hella awkward ihatemyguts: I'm brainstorming (p. sure we're not meant to say that, soz) titles rn ihatemyguts: inappropriate question alert, verbal smackdowns appreciated if needed ihatemyguts: did they adopt you knowing you were disabled or is that a new development? tigerbalm: I was gonna call it building bridges but we can't really say that the USA has wronged Korea like the other nations tigerbalm: though they did adopt me knowing so maybe it still works 😄 ihatemyguts: it's got legs tigerbalm: 🦿 ihatemyguts: Ugh, must dash ihatemyguts: 🩸💉s tigerbalm: best of luck ihatemyguts: 💕 total pro by now 💪 brainpain: if I don't 👀 you on my stream I'll 🔎 you here in the forums inandout: a threatening goodbye inandout: can't compete tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: 👋 Hope to see you back here, Zelda tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: though you wouldn't be the first person to 👻 after dropping in, so no pressure, @Lauren gotspoons: but actually, we're always here, some of us more than others, but you'll always find someone to chat to about the things you can't with non-spoonies ihatemyguts: ✌

[sadienita]

Okay so in the comments @hungariansuiteheart said it perfectly and I strongly recommend people go through and find their comment and read it. There were others trying to get at the point but it got derailed unfortunately.

Now, I can't tell other black people what to think so at the end of the day if you wanna dismiss this you can but speaking as someone who is within that demographic I really don't know why black stays are offended.

On first glance it looks like it might be black face and I get that. But, you take the time to look into it and you realize that's not what it is and it has nothing to do with black people at all. So there is nothing to be offended by.

We can talk all we want about if its morally right or wrong to mock people but black face is wrong because of its history. Because it was created by white people to mock black people and the acts included heaps of stereo types about black people that were harmful.

The character Hyunjin is doing is not that. As fully explained in the post its something else entirely. Black people are not the only ones on the earth with full lips. Lots of people curl their hair. I can't speak to if Koreans will or should find this offensive but I can say that it's not about black people and if they act he was doing was also meant to be this character than it does nothing that blackface does. It's not mocking black features, its not perpetuating black stereotypes, it's not reinforcing racist ideas to Korean or other non black fans.

The only way this is in any way anti black is if you ignore Korean culture and slap your own culture and history onto what's happening. And for how much black fans make a stink about Korean idols not knowing enough about black people and race relations and what is and isn't racist its honestly pretty rich to me that they're so willing to ignore Korean culture or history and how that influenced the situation. There are so many things for us to feel pain over but this really just ain't one of them.

what happened with hyunjin really proves the lack of black stays