#I feel like this constitutes a solid answer

[micewithknives]

Top 5 archaeological sites in Australia that you feel people should know more about? Or top 5 Australian artefacts?

I feel like I’ve talked a bit about artefacts in a few recent asks, and also I feel like a lot of Australian archaeology (and as such, sites) are very underrated, particularly on a global scale. Its often acknowledged in Australian archaeology that getting international academia to recognise the importance of our country’s archaeology is very very difficult.

While there’s a million and one sites I’d love to talk about, I’m going to TRY and give sites that relate to different aspects and locations

This is probably going to be long, so...

1. Nauwalabila, Madjedbebe (Malakunanja II), and the Deaf Adder Gorge region, Northern Territory (Aboriginal)

Rock shelters in this region, and specifically Madjedbebe, are currently the oldest location of human habitation in Australia. Dating evidence from 2017 excavations provided an estimate of earliest occupation of 50 000 years at certainty, possibly extending back as early as 65 000 (+/-6000). It also has provided a lot of evidence for research into the extensive grind stone technologies of the Pleistocene.

2. Cloggs Cave and the Buchan region of the Victorian Gippsland (Aboriginal)

So much research has been done into this region in various ways. Josephine Flood focused her research on Bogong Moth usage (and festivals) within this region, providing some of the earliest accepted academic research in support of Aboriginal peoples’ claims of large scale Bogong Moth Festivals in Australia’s highlands (although the fac that no one really believed communities until then…………..). In 2021 grind analysis found Bogong Moth residue, making this the earliest stone artefact with evidence of insect food remains. And in addition to that recent 2017 research in the area investigated Holocene occupation with Aboriginal community members, with a focus on understanding the interaction of spirituality with the resources found in the caves.

3. Mabuyag Island, Torres Strait Islands, Queensland (Torres Strait Islander)

Mabuyag Island (alternatively known as Mabuiag or Mabuyaagi) has archaeological evidence of human occupation since 7300 years ago. The island is both associated with recent religious practices associated with he heavy processing of dugong remains, and totemic associations with these, which played a role in early 2000s into community lead and directed archaeological research into ritual and religious traditions and practices. In addition to this, Mabuyag is the location of the first archaeological excavations in Australia to find pre-colonial pottery fragments. The fragments at the two sites on the island were associated with Melanesian and Papua New Guinean pottery trade. The excavations relating to pottery on the island played an important role in our understanding of domestic and international trade in pre-colonial Australia, and also formed an influence for the recent excavations at Lizard Island, 300km south, which identified the first datable domestically made pottery technology found in Australia.

4. Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney, NSW

Hyde Park Barracks is part of a collection of colonial heritage structures in Australia, relating to Australia’s time as a penal settlement. Hyde Park Barracks in particular were the location of the housing of convict men from 1819 to 1830, with the 1830s to 1840s also involving the site being a location of additional convict punishment, and the base for the Board of Assignment of Servants. Following on from a reduction of convicts to NSW in the 1840s, the Barracks became the Female Immigration Depot, and the Orphan Institution, later becoming the Asylum for Infirm and Destitute Women.

This time period of women’s occupation provides some of the most interesting archaeological remains, as redevelopment and management of the site has found high rates of preservation within walls, and in areas below floorboards. This includes textiles and fabrics, papers, and other non-organic materials such as pipes (with their tobacco intact) stashed in what was once floor, wall, and ceiling cavities. Archaeological investigations in the area form one of the most detailed assemblages of artefacts relating to instituted women in the British Empire during the 19th century.

5. Notch Point, Western Australia (Multicultural heritage)

Notch Point is a site of varied and mixed archaeology, ranging from pre- and post- colonial period Aboriginal heritage, to diverse 19th century occupation of the region by Chinese, European, Malay, and Aboriginal peoples in association with pearling industries off the coast. In addition to this, the point is located on Dirk Hartog Island (otherwise known as Wirruwana), the site of the earliest European arrival in Western Australia in 1616, and contains archaeological evidence of both various early Dutch interactions with the island in 1616 and 1697, as well as French arrival in 1772, 1801, and 1818. Notch Point in particular also contains evidence of conflict between the predominantly Chinese population of the pearling industry, with white-Australian and European pearling masters, and pastoral agents. Its not a site that is widely discussed, but provides a fascinating overlay of the amount of varied cultural groups that can be present within Australia’s archaeological sites.

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Honourable mentions to:

Lake Mungo and the Willandra Lakes which should 100% be on this list, but also I feel like I talk about it ALL the time and I wanted to mention sites that I actually don’t see discussed a lot. Theyre super important for cultural reasons, for archaeological reasons, and also for their role the development of archaeology, Aboriginal community consultation, and the role its played in developing repatriation practices in modern Australia. I have multiple posts about them HERE

Budj Bin Eel Traps in Victoria (same reasons, I’ve definitely talked about them before).

Juukan Gorge (and its destruction, im still horrified)

Harrietville Chinese Mining Village

Strangway Strings and The Peake Afghan Cameleer sites

Recherche Bay in Tasmania, and its 1792 French settlement sites

Homebush Mill & Mission Hall in QLD and Beowa National Park sites containing South Sea Islander heritage

[makeitastrength]

I just know you'll have a lot of requests, because you're so good at these! But I'm tossing my hat in the ring just the same😊

6x04 Tim takes Lucy home after the shooting and draws her a bath.

Better late than never, right? Thanks so much for the prompt 😊

Lucy is silent in the passenger seat during the drive to Tim’s house.

They don’t bother to return to the station for Tim to change out or to pick up her car; she’ll get it when she heads in tomorrow to give her statement. She did change into the clothing from her go-bag before they left the hospital, though, now clad in leggings, a t-shirt, and a hoodie. Her uniform, badge, and gun were taken as part of the investigation into the shooting, and she knows she’ll be on leave for at least a few days while it’s all sorted out.

It's just as well. She’s immensely thankful that Budny survived the surgery, but it doesn’t change the fact that she very nearly killed someone. And she doesn’t feel at all ready to be back out on the streets with a loaded gun.

Truthfully, right now she doesn’t feel much of anything.

She’s lost track of what day or time it is, or even where they are, when Tim finally maneuvers his truck into the driveway and shuts off the engine. Slowly, Lucy unbuckles her seatbelt and opens the door, gingerly exiting the vehicle. Her chest might feel numb, but now that the adrenaline is wearing off, the rest of her body is very much feeling the aftereffects of the day. Her left hip aches, and the rest of her joints don’t feel much better.

She’s still taking inventory of her various injuries when Tim joins her, her bag thrown over his shoulder and worry evident in his eyes. One hand rises to rest on her lower back and he gives her a gentle nudge, guiding her up the walk and through the front door, pulling his hand away only when he needs to disarm and then reset the security system.

Kojo greets them at the door, tail wagging exuberantly as he excitedly pushes his snout into Lucy’s thigh. She squats down to pet him, scratches behind the ears earning her a few enthusiastic kisses, and Tim is happy to see that the canine manages to put an almost-smile on her face, at least for a minute.

Gradually, though, the excitement of the reunion fades; her hands still and Kojo ambles away, leaving her crouching in the entryway staring blankly at the floor.

“Lucy.” Tim���s voice is as soft as the touch of his hand on her shoulder, coaxing her back to her feet. She rises and he immediately pulls her into his arms, one hand cradling her skull just as he’d done back at the hospital. “What do you need?”

“You,” she answers without hesitation, her fingers rising to curl into the fabric of his shirt, keeping him close. She just… she needs the reminder that she’s not in an alley pointing her gun at a man, about to pull the trigger. That she’s not firing a bullet into his chest. That she's not at the hospital waiting to see if she's a killer.

She’s at home with Tim, breathing him in, the solid planes of his body pressed against her own and his strong arms surrounding her, blocking out the rest of the world.

“I don’t wanna be alone,” she whispers into his chest.

“Do you wanna go to your place instead?” he offers, suddenly wondering if he and Kojo are enough to constitute not being alone.

Lucy shakes her head. She doesn’t want Tamara to see her like this, doesn’t want to burden the girl with the harsh realities of her job or her current fragile emotional state.

“You hungry?” Tim tries again.

She shakes her head once more, sniffling and reaching up to swipe away an escaped tear.

“Want me to run you a bath?”

Lucy finally lifts her head at that suggestion, watery eyes shimmering in the light of the entryway and still full of so much pain that it breaks his heart.

“Come with me?” she says by way of answer.

“Of course.”

Read the rest on AO3

[cecilxa]

aesthetics, complexity and deep affection

summary: kaveh is an architect in love

contents: fluff, established relationship, gn!reader, kaveh is so hopelessly in love, character driven

cw: nothing i can think of, tell me if you find any!

recommend listening to: let you break my heart again by laufey + philharmonia orchestra

a/n: happy belated birthday kaveh 🎉🎉, more at the end

To find something beautiful is entirely subjective. One person may argue that the depths of the sea contain all the beauty of the world, whereas another would argue the stars. On certain days when the moon hangs low or when the light streaming through the stained windows at Puspa Café hits his wine at an angle, Kaveh likes to ponder this topic. Flowers blooming, the desert sand glimmering, eyes smiling. Beautiful things. 

None quite as beautiful as you.

Call him superficial; call him an aesthete; call him yours. If Kaveh is the light of Kshahrewar, then you can be the butterfly to his sunlight, so he can hold you in his hands and bask in your attention. He wonders what colour your wings would be, how they would unfold, and how he would stare at them in awe, mesmerised. But you don’t need wings to lure him in, nor do you need anything more. Because if he is the light of Kshahrewar, then you are his muse, his own solace in a world of sorrow.

In architecture, there are several components that make up even a miniature wooden box, let alone a palace made out of brick and concrete. But no matter how complicated, no matter how long the hours spent, no matter how frustrating, a palace was created as a palace, and that will never change. On the other hand, what constitutes a ‘home’? Can you have multiple? Is it something you can create and then mould, or is it something that evolves and transforms itself? Grandiose staircases and lofty ceilings seemingly mean nothing if you can’t hear echoing laughs and joyous gasps. 

Kaveh thinks that he may have an answer. A ‘home’ is people. Good people, who care for each other. Like when he was younger, his parents–however long gone they may be–cared for him with all the tenderness of a coddling touch. He found a home in them. 

Now, this ‘home’ is you. 

As idealistic as Kaveh is, there are no lofty assurances he swears that float just out of reach. Because what he whispers quietly in your ear late at night, he vows to keep. On his life, which seems that much brighter with you. 

“Whatever you wish for, I’ll give.”

He kisses your shoulder. You laugh softly. You can’t count the many times he’s lured you into a slumber through the aid of sweet nothings and comforting touches. But as you turn around in his arms, the laugh manages to get caught in your throat. Kaveh isn't laughing back. There is adoration in his eyes, yes, and there is devotion in his gaze, yes, but there is something else–something special–that makes you wonder whether you’ve underestimated the depth of his feelings. The bed makes a slight creak as his face comes closer. 

“You have no idea how much I’m in love with you.”

He’s telling the truth. The beginning of a solid house starts with a solid foundation, which is then built upon. Kaveh is the foundation to your house, and he would gladly let you grow and flourish from his dedication, if only you’d let him. From your house stems a home that contains all that he cherishes, from the gleam in your eyes to the smile that he’d frame with the slight tilt of your chin. An architect should be able to indulge in all that they find breathtaking, which, for Kaveh, he has the privilege of being able to admire every day. And yet, every single day, he manages to fall for you again and again.

Kaveh promises that one day he will be able to grant all that you wish for, no matter how impossible it may be. You deserve more than the constraints of what constitutes ‘possibility’, and then will he be able to see your smile, and see his reflection in your eyes, and not notice anything else but the happiness enveloping both your bodies. 

But for now, he’ll have to make do with unbreakable whispers and the feelings in his heart that beat in time with the flap of a butterfly’s wings. 

He finally grins at you, never faltering in his gaze. 

“I want you to know how much I truly do adore you.”

a/n: I’M BACK BABYYYYYYY, I MISSED WRITING!111!1!1! my posting schedule will now be much more regular :) as always, likes, reblogs and comments are always appreciated 🩷🩷

[ordophilosophicus]

What it means to be a Moreau:

An essay and analysis of Jean Moreau's character-conflict  (Aftg and TSC - spoilers)

What this will not be about: The actual content of the book. Ok, that's not fully true. I am not about to discuss if something that happens itself is good/bad, in character etc. Or criticize topics.

What this will be is an analysis of parallels, character-motifs and questions concerning their trajectory and hindsight of actions. Questions AND Ideas how to answer these questions.

What does it mean when Jean states "I am a Moreau '', Why does TSC feel a bit like a crunched up Aftg? What constitutes the actual conflict of Jean - since either choice (staying or leaving) appears to be certain death? Why does Rikos death and Kevin's betrayal (the hand thing) matter to Jean?  

The book came out and my heart went racing. These books (aftg and tsc) bring me great joy, all I will criticize and analyze in this tiny, a bit too long essay, is said with greatest love and sincerity towards these books. But there can be said a lot - especially about TSC.

Get a snack and hop on.

Parallels between aftg and tsc - Stories about identity:

First of all let's begin with Nora's great writing of POV's. In this book we do get two pov's, giving us contrast to Neils in Aftg. Meaning we see the world, the characters from three different perspectives. And Nora makes them all matter. In the end I will tie it back with interpreting Jeremys pov, but for now let's only look at Neils and Jeans. A lot of characterization is made by what is focused on in their respective povs. What characters are interesting, how much rumination (thought) vs action is expressed. Both are unreliable narrators, and both tell us so much about what matters to them.

Both Aftg (Neils arc) and TSC (Jeans arc) are about the loss and gain of identity. From the retrospective, the arc consists of questions such as: Who am I?; Can I change who I am?; and what am I worth? But both arcs start with a clear sense of identity which is threatened.

However, somehow Neils arc is more concise and clear cut. Of course, part of this can be attributed to the simple fact that there will be a (second and maybe third part) to come for TSC, but it's mainly the groundworks I think which are "lacking". They are not necessarily lacking but rather not as (clear/spelled out).

The theme of "Identity" is special, since the stakes in the book/ark are about identity and its loss. Other stakes (death, loss of friendship, love etc) are not the main focus. The characters struggle and peril is about the loss of identity, which would mark a step into an unknown world they cannot navigate, and bring other dangers they avoided or dealt with the current identity. (Example: Lying vs telling the truth. Former obstructs the consequences of the truth, the later means you need to deal with the consequences.) On the other hand, it is the alternative identity which provides something of interest for the charatcer, creating a conflict of WANTING and perception of SELF. They WANT friends, but would need to GIVE UP their former sense of protection.

We are introduced to Neil Josten, and his very solid perception of identity. He is "nothing" = He has no right and no attachment to anything. He is a liar and alone. The conflict is created by offering him Exy and later on a team. Security stands in conflict with ending his loneliness and the feeling of not mattering. Nora introduces this conflict very early and very clearly. It is what makes us sympathize and, more importantly, understand and buy into the crazy thing Neil does to keep his secrets.

However, there is another identity which rides that one of "Neil Josten." Nathaniel Wesninski, the identity attached to that name, becomes more prominent throughout the books, and in the end, Neil needs to accept this identity to move on.

Nathaniel Wesninski's identity is very much spelled out in AFTG and it must be so, to make this shift of identity so impactful. A Wesninski is: loyal, does not lie, cruel but true. The very opposite of Neil Josten.

Nathaniel Wesninski is tied to the Moriamas, and is tied to his father. To pain, loss and a life of consequences and responsibility. (Not to run). The stake to shift to this identity (to be this person) is made clear by showing throughout the books how each of these parts are dangerous. And every step Neil takes (especially in the first and second book) is to avoid having to lose Neil Josten and be Wesnisnki.

And it works excellently. We fear WITH Neil when he makes the shift to Wesnisnki in Lolas car, and it is an epiphany when Riko dies and Neils makes a deal with Ichiro. When he wins in Exy and can play Exy. Because he not only shifted in the identity, he did not lose Neil Josten. He successfully changed to a Wesninski, to then further to a NEW Neil Josten. (Important: It's not losing an identity, which makes the arc powerful. It's the change of self. Nora is very explicit by making it a three step program. Josten. Wesninski, and "New" Josten.) We see what is the conflict, we get the stakes, and we see how Neil resolves the problems and takes on a new, stronger identity.

TSC is about Jean and a similar problem. However the swap, or rather the whole conflict does not appear as strong as with Neil. And the reasons for it are very simple, though still relevant for the trajectory of the story and possibility for the reader to emphasize and root for Jean.

TSC starts out with the bonus that we are already entranced with the fate of Jean and understand The Nest and Riko. However, what we do not know is Jeans' identity. Who does he think he is?; What stakes does he think hinge on being "Jean Moreau, the Raven, belonging to the Moriyamas' '? WHY is it so tremendous to leave the Nest, and what does he have to gain? What is the trade and what is the challenge? Etc. All that we have established with the Neil example prior.

Through Jean's mantra we get told that Jean has some kind of values attached to being "a Moreau '' and being "part of the Nest/belonging to the Moriyamas". The fatal problem is, we are never told what this actually means.

As readers we can understand why Jean is afraid to leave the nest, what Riko has done and could do to them. But this does not create the conflict we are looking for and plays out in the book. The conflict is happening, but the pov Nora gives us through Jean does not sufficiently explain what this conflict actually is about.

The answer is given implicitly and between the lines. These few bits I will try to spell out and interpret. Further, there could be a stronger case in certain scenarios, to make the conflict around Jeans identify stronger, and his relation to other characters more impactful.

First let's consider:

"What does it mean to be a Moreau?"

When Jean realizes he had been taken from Evermore, he tries to bargain with others and himself that he cannot leave. "Because he is a Moreau", and he belongs to Riko/the Moriyamas. But we are not let in WHY this exactly is a problem. Oh no, how horrible to not be beaten to death. If Jean leaves, Riko and his family will be angry and could try killing him. But the same appears to be possible if he GOES BACK. The whole first chapters establish that Jean is neither safe in nor outside the nest. (He might think it's safer inside, but for the reader, it  is clear this being not the case.)

Therefore, this conflict is not of external stakes, but internal. If Jean leaves, it would mean breaking with his identity, losing himself, creating or letting in problems he formerly avoided or dealt with through the identity he is trying to keep. It is essential that we understand WHAT HE IS TRYING TO UPHOLD.

Duty and being reliable:

I think we can define "being a Moreau" by being a person who has a strong sense of duty. Who is reliable and  sensible. I mainly read this from the fact that Jean asks Jeremy to add "being conform with USC appearance" to his contract. He has a duty to serve Ichiro, and by putting conformity in the contract, by extension he has a duty to be conform.

""You will have to pen it in," Jean said. "I won't sign it unless you do." It was the only way this worked: If Jean signed something that said he had to behave to be allowed to stay on the lineup, he could bite his tongue and stay his fists. It'd piss him off beyond telling, but he could follow orders if it meant surviving another day." p.71(kindle)

But this does not fully explain why breaking with the ravens is problematic for Jean in the beginning of TSC. Nora has not forgotten or overseen this, but it's not explicitly put in the text. Jeans backstory is about being sold to the Moriyamas. He is given the duty by his parents to serve Moriyama. Nora had portrayed it very much in a way that Jean was very reluctant to do. Although understandable, I propose to read this character more strongly. Make this matter more:

Jean is an older brother, prior to being sold, he had already understood himself as a reliable and dutiful person. An older brother to take care of his baby sister. A Moreau to in the future take care of business. resourceful and reasonable. Dutiful and compliant.

When he is told by his parents he is sold "as Moreau" - not as anybody, he is sold with a duty to represent and pay off the depth(?) of his family. Perform on the court, show the worth, protect his family, his baby sister.

His place at Evermore and belonging to Riko would be/is tied to his understanding of being a Morou. Leaving Evermore, would mean to not fulfill his duty, to give up, to be unreliable, since his parents and his sister counted on him.

If we accept "duty" and "reliability" to stand in the center of Jean's identity and conflicts, all other relationships and actions are to be seen from the perspective of Jean trying to protect this identity and stay conform with it. Most notably this strengthens both the events and dynamic between Jean and Kevin, and Jean and Riko respectively.

Riko & The Ravens:

Imagine Jean had been brought to the Nest, unwilling, hurt by betrayal, but with a strong sense of duty to go through with this. Take this burden given to him, and perform. Riko would have picked up on this. The amount of violence, the "breaking in" of Jean was not simply cruelty or any weird family feud thing. It was Rikos testing, an attempt to break Jean's sense of self. If he would not be able to perform on court, not achieve it - he would break his promises. Jean's small but consistent rebellions against Riko are an expression to keep his duty. He plays games even if he is hurt, he does not kill himself. For Jean to fulfill his duty and sense of self(worth) means going along with whatever, and holding out whatever.

Giving up on Evermore is not only breaking his sense of identity and purpose, but also making the pain he insured pointless (as Jeremy notices so fittingly). It means Riko wins by breaking him. His fear of Riko is tied to his fear of losing his sense of self. And him losing Riko means he has failed his duty to play for him on the court. The ravens are described by Jean as "loving and hating" each other respectively. And that nobody in USC could ever understand. But nor can we truly. Why does Jean not hate them, why is he not happy Riko is gone? because it means he failed, and they all contributed to his identity and achievement of his promises. The deal he made with Zane was one of the best insights or examples we are given to understand the Nest. To FEEL the Nest dynamic. Survival, reliance, schemes, dependance. Cruel intimacy to others, to know their secrets and fears. If you are not tight with someone (Jean and Zane, or Jean and Kevin) you also cannot find a way to protect yourself. Knowing Zane loved that one Raven girl and wanted that number, gave him the ability to stay away from Grayson and not break. The ravens, and Riko are not only an obstacle to his success and upholding of his promises, they are the means to an end. He needs them as much as he despises them. That's why leaving them, and Rikos death matters for Jean.

Kevin:

On the other hand we have the relationship between Kevin and Jean. We are given more insight on how Kevin got out of the Nest: by fucking over Jean. This scene or event is gutwrenching BUT it could be STRONGER if Jean would have known and been complicit with Kevin. Jean loved/liked at least cared about Kevin. Although his sense of duty is tied to Riko and the court, there would also be such a sense towards Kevin. Especially if Kevin came and asked him, directly. Confronting Jean with concieving him as a reliable, to be trsuted person. The one friend you count on the get you out of the shit. If one can help him, it is Jean. Because he is a Moreau. If we would read it as Jean accepting the consequences of helping Kevin, we would lose this ark of betrayal. But we would not need to erase the discontent and hurt Jean holds towards Kevin. For Kevin would have known and relied on Jean's self understanding, and played him. Used him as means of an end. Asking a person who is used to compromising their own safety, who understands themselves as a rock at a shore and understands the pain and fear one goes through - calling/playing on that is as much as a betrayal and use of a person as it is simple "not telling him". It makes it worse in some sense, because it highlights the intimacy between Kevin and Jean. They knew each other very well, and Kevin used that knowledge, in raven fashion, to survive.

(On the other hand, I would agree one could read it in the original way, Jean not knowing, because Kevin is aware of Jean's understanding of duty. That Jean would feel the sense that he NEEDS to betray Kevin. So there is still room for interpretation.)

SUMMERY:

Okay, okay. That was a lot. Let's surmise what I claim: That Jeans sense of self is shaped by duty, more explicitly the one he holds from his parents to be perfect court, please the Moriyamas and protect his family (sister).

Leaving the Ravens endangers all of this, all his sense of self and all he has done to achieve it.

Riko dying means there is never a way back, and he has failed. It upheaves all he is and wants, even though Riko and the Ravens did horrible things to him.

Neil making the deal with Ichiro formed a new duty, and gave him a way out. A compromise. Play court, but with USC. And still Jean loses a lot, or everything he considered constitutive of himself when he leaves the Ravens and comes to USC.

Whom he has duties to? Formerly his Raven partner, now? Jeremy offers to take the role. His experiences and background make him take duties towards the other Trojans to give him a sense of worth (asking if Cody is ok with touching/flirting with them.)

Neil drags him to the FBi and Stuard, and he comes to know all of his efforts to protect his family had been in vain. And it is that point in which his last tie of "old" sense of duty, breaks off. He cannot hold onto the same ideas and rules, duties and objectives as before.

For Jean, this break  is what is for Neil the end of a whole arc.

Whilst AFTG and TSC are similar in theme, they are very different in their outset. Whilst Neils whole arc is about getting and learning his new identity, Jean has to go through that all in one book. That's why we see and feel a great parallel between both characters, but also the arc itself. The telling of information, the parallel of fear of losing the old and gaining the new. Of betraying one's old identity/family in the end, and offer of a new, better, alternative.

However, Jeans arc does not end there. His story appears to be more about healing and the disconnect between outer, imposed, duty and value, and self-worth.

I think that's also why we get so little insight of Jeremys conflict in the first book. We get enough hints that have very likely to do with Jeremy being gay, stepfather, cops, maybe drugs and the family being publicly known. It has to do with imposed identity from the outside, self vs outer worth and dealing with that. We get so little from Jeremy, not only because he is an expert in talking and thinking around his own problems and issues, but because the story has Jean not ready yet. Jean first has to come in the same state Jeremy has been, or is in, before they both start pushing and pulling each other. Like Andrew and Neil could only start developing after Neil starts to compromise and change his sense of self, his willingness to be more than simple lying Neil Josten.

The same applies for Jean and Jeremy. But the end goal is about healing, and creating one's own self worth, rather than becoming a whole new self.

Thank you for coming to my ted talk.

p.s. I love Kevin, don't touch him.

[girlartemisia]

Do you think Dante was jealous of Guido? And do you think Guido was jealous of Dante? And why? They seemed to be very, very close. God, I can't stop thinking of these emo, fruity poets

Hi anon it is very understandable that you cannot stop thinking of these emo fruity poets, this is what the whole community does after all ahdfghs your question is very interesting I'm very happy you asked. I do want to say though that this is only my personal opinion and I do not think it has any solid evidence, so take it as such :')

First of all, when talking about jealousy I imagine we are not referring to possessiveness but rather to an envious resentment in regards to something that another person has (at least I hope so or this post will be completely useless lol); in this case, we are stating that the other has something desirable that we are lacking, meaning this feeling has to start from an underlying positive perception of the other. Now, this positive perception was certainly there in the first years of their friendship, first of all in the form of admiration. Guido was, in a way, an authority figure for Dante, especially in his earlier years. He was the one who recognized Dante's poetical talent and encouraged it; he was also one of the best poets in all of Florence, a great thinker, and was noble and rich, so Dante had a lot to gain from his friendship (poetical knowledge, connections...) but most of all it would only be normal to not only look up to such a person, but also to be influenced by him (let's remember Dante met him when he was only 18 and Guido was 25-28!! and the fact that they were best friends also implies another layer of idealization of the other). On behalf of Guido, we can just as confidently say that there was admiration. First of all because if Dante said they were best friends then it implies the feeling was mutual: Guido had to hold a high opinion of Dante as a person. Second of all, he had to appreciate him also as a poet as he chose to be his teacher and included him in the élite circle that constituted the ideal public of his poems (let us remember that Contini did describe him as snobbish, after all).

In both of them we can find a need to be distinguished from the others, and the fact that they found in each other that uniqueness would potentially give us a fertile ground for jealousy. However, I don't see it as something likely. Why? Well, in these early years we are talking about, their relationship was characterized by a strong unity of wills, as attested by Dante's poem Guido, i' vorrei. In this harmonic dynamic it seems unlikely that some kind of jealousy was harboured by either of them, as that would've rather created difficulties between the two. Yes, Guido did answer to that poem with S'io fosse quelli che d'amor fu degno however that sonnet only shows that their thoughts were starting to diverge. In fact, when their friendship teared, it was because they strongly believed in diametrically opposed theories, which can thus not provoke any envy. This can also be seen from a bigger picture, which is their pride: Dante himself believed he was too prideful and from what we can gather of Guido's personality he was not someone who held a high interest in others (something we would call pride too ;) ), so a feeling of jealousy? No, they could never.

I actually had another thought but I got interrupted and forgot... I'm trying to remember but I can't so I guess the post has to end here. sorry about that ;-;

anyway, have a nice day :]

[studies-in-the-art-of-deduction]

Chess and Deduction

Okay so, this blog is meant to be the place where i put a lot of my more fluid ideas, things like rants about a specific concept or theory in deduction, or posting some deduction that i made. I tend to use @amateur-deductions for more article-like posts explanations so here's a bit of a rant for you about what deductions can look and feel like.

So recently i've been answering questions about how to squeeze information out of the things you observe, how to break down what you see into information that can constitute as actual deductions. And while i was in that mindset to make one of my last posts, my Youtube feed blessed me with videos of Levy Rozman, (Gothamchess on youtube for those of you who don't know), and i've started to draw some parallels between chess and deduction.

Now, i'm by no means an amazing chess player, i've been more into it recently since i have time, but it's not really something i dedicate a lot of practice to. That being said, Levy said something in one of the videos i watched that caught my attention: As he was explaining very basic chess concepts, he mentioned how once you start pushing your pieces forward and entering the middle-game, the moves you make in the opening start tying together.

Essentially what he pointed out is that, once the opening is done, your pieces start to naturally intertwine with each other, they protect each other and take control of a plethora of squares, so many that sometimes you don't realize it until the game starts to develop more. You start to notice that the knights you moved in the opening can attack a certain way because the rooks that you also moved in the opening are conveniently in a position where they can cover the attacking pieces. Or you notice that as the opponent pushes pieces to attack you there's no reason to panic because a piece you'd moved during the opening is conveniently guarding the area the opponent is pushing into.

Now, you may be wondering what the hell does this have to do with deduction. Well in the same way that you don't always have to think about every single little implication about your moves during a chess opening, and even if you don't, you still can start formulating a plan in the middle-game with what you built during said opening, in deduction you're not necessarily always looking to make a "plan" from the beginning, or to set up your observations a specific way to get to a specific conclusion.

The way that deduction works a lot of the time is, you just start observing, maybe drawing small conclusions like someone's handedness or their extraversion level, and then as you start piling onto these conclusions you start to realise that a lot of them conveniently tie together, you start to notice that you can make forward progress because a new conclusion that you might consider happens to be supported by an observation or conclusion you made in the "opening". In the same way that, in chess, as you start to get into the middle-game you realize you can attack with certain pieces because other pieces are now set up in a way that can defend them. You're looking to realize that you can push forward in your conclusions because previous observations and simple deductions have been set up to defend these conclusions.

So taking a deduction from Sherlock for example. As you look at someone's phone and start to realize that it's expensive, and that it has an engraving and scratches, you start to draw small conclusions, like "huh, this is a gift because this person is clearly not in an economical position to buy this", or "huh, this has had a previous owner". This could be considered the "opening", you're sort of just going through each piece, developing it, getting control of the center of the board, and just scanning around for your next moves.

Once you have a solid footing, once you have a solid opening position, you start pushing forward, and start realizing that the pieces that you've set up can start moving and tying together, so you make a move that looks optimal with the piece set up (the information) that you have, something like "well if the phone was given to him by a previous owner, and that previous owner is a close family member, why not move in with them? hm, maybe they don't get along". And as the deduction goes on you try to keep making these optimal moves, moves that are supported with what you've already uncovered.

And like a chess game, yes, sometimes you blunder pieces, sometimes you reach a conclusion that isn't supported by any evidence, and it leads to you loosing the game. Sometimes you make a counting error and you realize that your pieces are not as protected as you though. Translating this from the example, sometimes you think every conclusion you're drawing makes sense and is fully supported, only to be corrected and realize that you didn't account for something, or that there was another, simpler explanation for what you've found, and this leads to loosing the game.

And when this happens the next move is to plug the chess game into an engine and see what you did wrong and what you did right, did you blunder anything? did you make a move that was horrible but the opponent didn't notice? did you miss a mate in one? or in 3? or in 5? In other words, did you reach the right conclusion with the wrong reasoning? or did you miss a clue that would have led you to a massive deduction? or did you just jump to a conclusion without a good base for it? As always the goal is to analyze this and make sure these are not mistakes you make in your next game

Here's where i'll leave this rant, i do hope it was informative (hopefully it wasn't confusing). If you have any questions feel free to send them over in my asks.

Happy Observing!

-DV

[the-path-to-redemption]

My problem with rwby is that it was hard to hate people for doing evil when the heroes were no different.

For example cardin is a racist se we’re supposed to hate right? Racism bad? However we see yang using a laser pointer on Blake, manga Yang talking about faunas acting like actual animals? Strangely the show tries to treat it as a joke which is wrong on so many levels. (Those anon posts were spot on!)

Jacques is considered abusive because of the slap to weiss right? Then later Blake slapped sun and was considered “funny”…somehow. (Weiss even pointed a gun at her unarmed civilian brother…and the show was trying to consider that as heroic)

If there is no standards or decency within the heroes then why should I support them?

No anon you don't get it! A heinous action is only heinous if the bad guys do it, and RWBY aren't the bad guys! So don't question them when they are racist to their own friends, abuse their loved ones, and are allowed to get away scot-free!

If my sarcastic irritation at this narrative choice isn't clear yet...

Unfortunately, RT does not know how to create a morally complex narrative without being hypocritical as fuck, and I highly contribute this to the fact they do not have a solid idea of what constitutes as "bad" or "good" regardless of the good or bad being in-universe discrimination or showcases of abuse.

CRWBY established that comparing Faunus to animals is a racist thing in-universe, but its Faunus characters behave like animals and have animal attributes literally tattooed onto themselves (Sienna), and we are left to question what is and isn't racially discriminatory. News flash, people, if you don't put a clear and distinctive guideline of what racial ideas are in your made-up race but instead allegorize its issues with ANTI-BLACK RACISM, you fucked up. I have a few posts that go more in-depth about this here and here.

And with the abuse? Listen, RT has made it very clear that they do not believe that male victims of abuse exist. Whitley, Sun, Ren, Ozma, and Oscar all went through abuse of some kind, and their abusers (most were women) never got called out for it. You're shit outta luck if you're trying to find a modicum of respect that this kind of subject matter demands.

To answer your question, anon, is that you DON'T. You are valid in feeling frustrated about this, as do we, because the creators sure as shit won't care.

[steampunkforever]

Almost every American has thought about the prospect of a second Civil War. Considering the man hiding pipe bombs around DC last election year, it becomes clear why this would come to mind. Which is why this election season is the perfect opportunity to release a movie about a modern civil war written by an Englishman who quite apparently doesn't know anything about American culture, politics, or small unit tactics.

Alex Garland's Civil War is a movie about the fall of democracy as the US is shattered by a violent military conflict as its fascist President violates the constitution in order to retain power, but it actually wants to be a movie about a cozy witch in a small German village in the alps. Ok not really. This is a movie that promises to be about political violence in America but is really about War Journalism. It tries to do both and does none of them well. But first and foremost it's a showcase of regrettable AR furniture and trite culture war references.

After January 6th, 2021, I was discussing the Capitol riots with some right-voting blue-collar workers, and the most memorable takeaway from that conversation was being told "it was our turn." This one sentence told me everything about American cultural rage that this film completely misunderstands.

Every now and then I come across a film that's very good from a visual and structural standpoint but completely falls apart thematically. This is Civil War. Alex Garland knows how to make movies, and this is a solid film that knows how to position needle drops and position the camera to really Say Something About America. Except it doesn't do that last thing.

Politically, this is a film you could make if you fed the AI bot that writes Nancy Pelosi's campaign donation emails ten thousand hours of January Sixth footage and asked it to write an article for The New Republic. Close readings reveal that this is a film about Covid, particularly journalism, but Garland shoehorns the story he wants to tell about journo ethics Cloverfield-style into a much more complicated narrative. It's simply intellectual laziness to make a movie about a morally and politically complicated war and then handwave it away with a simple "it doesn't matter." You're releasing this on an election year! This is a movie that needs a spine! How does Micheal Bay have a more biting criticism of American presidential candidates in his movies than you do?

The movie isn't politically neutral necessarily. Nick Offerman looks exactly like a certain 45th president of the United States (he even dissolves the FBI). There's a proud boy/boogaloo boy militia committing war crimes. One of the main battles we see is fought in Charlottesville, a city that saw little fighting during the actual Civil War but is infamous for the 2017 murder of a counterprotestor at a confederate statue rally. And let us not forget the film's much-quoted "what kind of American are you?" segment so prominently displayed in the trailers. The movie displays the prototypical NPR host handwringing, and this level of political commentary only serves to make the film feel even more out of touch, made all the more lukewarm at the film's halfhearted play at neutrality in the pursuit of something that #makesyouthink.

The film is like Apocalypse Now! if Coppola really wanted to shoehorn in a thematically irrelevant main plot and never answer any of the questions raised by the much more interesting events that make up the movie's backdrop. It's like Children of Men if the director didn't really care about the atrocities his characters were witnessing as much as he just wanted to make a roadtrip movie. It's not bad, it's lazy, and this makes me angrier.

This is a movie that reminded me about Greta Gerwig's Barbie. A very well shot film with a solid director, great cinematography, and no idea what its message is. Except Garland didn't have a feel good montage at the end to save the movie for him. Just underwhelming combat. The only thing this film got remotely right about a modern American Civil War 2 is the fact that the Ford Excursion is the perfect vehicle to take into a war zone.

No matter how gorgeous the cinematography, don't let this movie fool you.

The White House isn't so cartoonishly simple to storm. Attack Helicopters would not be performing air support roles that close to buildings. M4 pattern rifles have a much sharper report. An abandoned JC Penny doesn't mean that America has fallen, it just reminds you that the Shopping Mall was never a sustainable business practice. The sniper scene is really good, I'll admit, but also not how any of this works.

This movie lacks the spine and the conviction to say anything real about the American Condition in any meaningful way other than "they own guns and experience cultural polarization," a take much too bland to be worth the price of tickets + popcorn.

[danjaley]

Specially for @nocturnalazure here are Matt's answers to the Bold-the-facts tag.

[ PERSONAL ]

$ Financial: wealthy / moderate / poor / in poverty (He can afford to live comfortably, and there was a lot of money saved over the last years, as there were no younger brothers to educate. However, he has to make sure the estate is prospering to maintain his lifestyle.)

✚ Medical: fit / moderate / sickly / disabled / disadvantaged / non applicable (Apart from his cleft lip he inherited Fiona’s robust constitution. This helped him survive to adulthood and enables him to lead an active life running the family estate.)

✪ Class or Caste: upper / middle / working / unsure / other (Gentry/Landowner.)

✔ Education: qualified / unqualified / studying / other

✖ Criminal Record: yes, for major crimes / yes, for minor crimes / no / has committed crimes, but not caught yet / yes, but charges were dismissed (Unless you count eloping with Alice as an offence)

[ FAMILY ]

◒ Children: had a child or children / has no children / wants children (Soon to change, only delayed by author's real-life projects.)

◑ Relationship with Family: close with sibling(s) / not close with sibling(s) / has no siblings / sibling(s) is deceased (Close to his cousin Jonathan)

◔ Affiliation: orphaned / adopted / disowned / raised by birth parent(s) / not applicable

[ TRAITS + TENDENCIES ]

♦ extroverted / introverted / in between

♦ disorganized / organized / in between

♦ close minded / open-minded / in between

♦ calm / anxious / in between

♦ disagreeable / agreeable / in between (Depends on his mood and what he thinks of the person in question.)

♦ cautious / reckless / in between

♦ patient / impatient / in between

♦ outspoken / reserved / in between

♦ leader / follower / in between

♦ empathetic / vicious bastard / in between

♦ optimistic / pessimistic / in between (Not the kill-joy sort of pessimistic, but he usually expects the worst. If the worst doesn’t happen, there’s still time to relax and enjoy the good things.)

♦ traditional / modern / in between (He’s traditional as in he wants nothing more than to be a respectable family father. On the other hand he’s unusually tolerant regarding same-sex relationships.)

♦ hard-working / lazy / in between (Due to his social status he’s expected to leave the physical labour to others, but he’s out on the grounds every day to make sure everything is done properly.)

♦ cultured / uncultured / in between / unknown (He’s not as much into culture as Jonathan, but has had a solid education. To strangers he often seems more uncouth than he actually is. Partly he does this on purpose as he feels he’s just giving them what they expect of him.)

♦ loyal / disloyal / unknown

♦ faithful / unfaithful / unknown

[ BELIEFS ]

★ Faith: monotheist / polytheist / atheist / agnostic (Protestant. As the local landlord he’s expected to be seen in church regularly and is content to fulfil this role. He doesn’t think about religion too deeply, but also doesn’t question it.)

☆ Belief in Ghosts or Spirits: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care (Growing up in a family and a house with some haunting-history, ghosts have always been part of his life. He doesn’t usually see ghosts, but he feels a special connection to his father.)

✮ Belief in an Afterlife: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care (Mixture of Christianity and ghost-lore.)

✯ Belief in Reincarnation: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care

❃ Belief in Aliens: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care (As I said for Jon, stories about life in other worlds or on other planets were a medium of satire, like in Gulliver’s Travels. When Matt read it as a child he didn’t get the satire aspect at all. He was doubtful even then about the truth of the dwarfs and the giants. But secretly he still believes Gulliver was an exiled Houyhnhnm.)

✧ Religious: orthodox / liberal / in between / not religious (Tolerating Alice’s orthodox opinions – and those of her brother of course.)

❀ Philosophical: yes / no (Sometimes brooding, but without theoretical background.)

[ SEXUALITY & ROMANTIC INCLINATION ]

❤ Sexuality: heterosexual / homosexual / bisexual / asexual / pansexual

❥ Sex: sex repulsed / sex neutral / sex favorable / naive and clueless (Gaining experience, but it was further complicated by Alice’s pregnancy. Made him more than ever afraid to break something.)

♥ Romance: romance repulsed / romance neutral / romance favorable /naive and clueless / romance suspicious (Being gruff and romantic doesn’t go together very well. He’s deeply convinced that sweet-talking with his pronunciation would be nothing but ridiculous.)

❣ Sexually: adventurous / experienced / naive / inexperienced / curious (See above)

⚧ Potential Sexual Partners: male / female / agender / other / none / all

⚧ Potential Romantic Partners: male / female / agender / other / none / all

[ ABILITIES ]

☠ Combat Skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor / none (Unlike Jonathan he knows how to shoot, at least in hunting. It’s sometimes needed on the estate. After the pirate fighting incident, he avoided brawling situations for fear of further damage to his face. He’s strong though, so he could definitely defend himself if attacked.)

≡ Literacy Skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor / none (He can read and write in English and French, but the only literary genre he really enjoys are stories of travel and adventure.)

✍ Artistic Skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor / none (His only artistic talent is for music. He plays the violin and the piano. Recently it came up backstage that he regrets not being able to play the bagpipes. His drawing skills are as poor as Andrew’s.)

✂ Technical Skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor / none

[ HABITS ]

☕ Drinking Alcohol: never / special occasions / sometimes / frequently / Alcoholic

☁ Smoking: tried it / trying to quit / quit / never / rarely / sometimes / frequently / Chain-smoker (Similar to playing the bagpipes, he can’t smoke. So he’s excused from doing it at social gatherings, but still takes part in the conversations.)

✿ Recreational Drugs: never / special occasions / sometimes / frequently / addict

✌ Medicinal Drugs: never / no longer needs medication / some medication needed / frequently / to excess (Sometimes he regrets that he’s dependent on mushed food being served wherever he goes. He likes to think that without this condition, he’d enjoy travelling much more.)

☻ Unhealthy Food: never / special occasions / sometimes / frequently / binge eater (As stated for Jonathan, they sometimes go out to drink hot chocolate in Edinburgh. Matt’s weakness for hot chocolate is an autobiographical detail – it has saved my life more than one. Of course Matt can always drink fresh milk at home. To him, chocolate is one of the few kinds of luxury food that he can enjoy just like everyone else.)

$ Splurge Spending: never / sometimes / frequently / shopaholic (Although he did indulge himself buying three new horses :)

♣ Gambling: never / rarely / sometimes / frequently / compulsive gambler

[ofhouseadama]

I don't have any specifics but I'd love more cardassian breeding kink

Garak is drunk. On kanar, yes, but definitely on power. He doesn't get this way but rarely -- after he strongarms a particularly important piece of legislation through the Assembly, after securing critical funding in the budget, after giving a political rival a solid trouncing. But on this, the night on which the constitution of the New Cardassian Republic has been ratified, Julian Bashir finds his husband in rare form.

And they haven't even made it home yet.

Ass perched on the solid wood desk in Elim's office -- it's a joke, on the Imperial Plaza, the no one quite knows what Garak does for the Ghemor administration, his title a slippery thing, but his work gets results and his physical office shows it, large and spacious and in a quiet corner of the executive building overlooking a reflecting pool -- Julian acquiesces to the state that his neck will be in tomorrow morning. He could stop Elim, if he wanted to. If he wanted to. He thinks Elim gets off on it, on knowing that Julian could so easily overpower him. That Julian chooses to let Garak debauch him, to make a mess, to sink his teeth into him.

He'd come from the hospital as soon as he could be spared; they had all watched the vote live on the holofeeds, holding their breath.

There were threats -- of course there had been. Threats that bombs would be planted under the capital building, at the executive building, that one of the violent remnants of the old regime would storm the Imperial Plaza. That Ghemor would be assassinated if he stepped foot out of the Castellan's dwelling. Their own household had been assigned security, in the end. It was an open secret in the capital that the Son of Tain was now one of the Founding Fathers of a free and democratic Cardassia and main authors the document that would now govern it.

Garak, of course, could not be bothered if someone took at shot at him. But when the threats were aimed at his Federaji husband... concessions could be made. (We both fought in the same war, Julian muttered. I know how to be shot at.

Yes, dear.

I've been shot at by Cardassians!

Of course, dear.)

"And what we once thought could only be made glorious in war, shall be made victorious in peace," Garak says, low and in his ear. (Because of course he had a hand in Ghemor's speech tonight, too, wrote damn near half of it.) He's got a hand down the front of Julian's trousers, stroking him with an irritating kind of precision. He's dripping, and Garak knows it, desperate for a finger or two inside him. But he'll keep touching him just like this until his thighs start to strain and tremble. "For our son, and all our sons."

And there's the slip--

Our son.

(Except Elim says it in Kardasi, and Julian hardly makes use of his UT anymore. And what Federation standard and the Universal Translator decides must be the Kardasi word for son isn't quite a literal translation. Kardasi has many words for sons and daughters and children who are good and bad and illegitimate and born in the marriage bed, orphaned or abandoned, foundlings or raised up in a good and reputable family.

But dutiful and serving child of my house doesn't translate quite so lyrically.)

"Is that next on the agenda?" Julian asks, because even if the answer is no, tonight the answer is yes.

There's nothing more heady and intoxicating to a dutiful Son of Cardassia than the idea of coming home with his blood still up from battle and breeding. It must feel decadent to the point of taboo -- to be a bastard son, a former exile, returned home and given the right to plow the field and let the rain fall into the soil and conceive as many legitimate heirs as he wishes. To be the head of a bountiful family. A political family. A ruling family. And to do it with a human man, a former Starfleet officer? There's scandal, and then there's this.

Elim's thumb rolls over his clit, making him gasp.

"Don't tease."

He rewards him then, or punishes him, three fingers into his cunt right to the knuckle. This is the part where being married to a retired torturer can be either a blessing or a curse -- Julian has no way of knowing if Garak will keep him on edge of a knee-melting orgasm for the next thirty minutes, or if he will make him cum immediately, and then again, until the only word his mouth can shape is his name. No way of knowing, when Garak knows where all the nerve endings are and has them all at his mercy.

"Who's teasing?" Julian moans, letting his head drop back. "Am I wrong? You want -- you want to. I like that you want to. I like that you want to flood me with your rains and fertilize the soil." Garak noses along the hollow of his throat, teeth scraping along delicate skin. "You want everyone to know who I belong to. That you brought me here and kept me here, filled me up with good legitimate Cardassian children--"

Garak growls, and nips. "Sweet talker."

Julian could laugh, if Garak wasn't find new and innovative ways to bring him to orgasm in record time. Rapidly losing sensation in his toes, he brings his hands up to curl into Garak's shoulder ridges, basking in the resultant hiss.

"Keep telling me about the new constitution you just wrote--"

"Singlehandedly, one could say," Garak counters gamely.

"And you'll see how sweet I can talk."

[redadm1ral-moved]

48 for all of your ships in their respective universes? Or if you wanna narrow it down, Soap/Corvo in COH and Makayuri across different AUs?

~Jasper

Do they talk about their future together? Why or why not?

OH GOSH HMMMM............gonna go with Soap/Corvo and maybe a little Makayuri because answering this for too many ships will make my head spin rn

Soap/Corvo

I think there's a silent agreement between Soap and Corvo that Soap will follow Corvo anywhere, and Corvo is fully dedicated to Emily; unless she abdicates, dies, or literally orders him to step down, he intends to be her Lord Protector until he physically cannot anymore, and intends to continue being her Spymaster until he dies. So likewise, Soap will stay and serve the crown for as long as Corvo does, even if it means he stays in Dunwall Tower the rest of his life.

They still entertain cozy little fantasies about retiring, stuff like retiring to a vineyard in the Serkonan countryside or going sailing around the Isles. Stuff they don't really think will come true. They both have parts of them that long for a little bit of rest, but going back to civilian life is not a choice made lightly for either of them and I think on some level, they're both afraid of adjusting poorly and needing something to dedicate themselves to; so they're fine with leaving their fantasies as fantasies.

Makayuri

HM yeah this one is 'verse dependent, but I think Makarov is the dominant voice in the relationship in most of the Makayuri 'verses, for better or worse--usually for worse, but I've got some AUs where Makarov is like...normal. Not abusive, at least.

For the ones where he is, and/or he and Yuri are massively codependent (so canonverse and AUs like Venator and Apoptosis), I think Makarov works under the assumption that Yuri will follow him and his word anywhere no matter what, and any conversations about future plans are usually related to Makarov's goals and involve Makarov completely bulldozing over Yuri. Yuri is not completely passive about this and will argue with Makarov on things, but for the most part, he is willing to follow Makarov pretty much anywhere (or at least he thinks so; he does have a breaking point, at least in canon and most AUs), and most of the time, he won't argue about something unless he thinks it's a bad idea and/or he's absolutely certain he'll be able to get Makarov to listen to him.

In AUs where they're more normal, I think they're both people who find a lot of security in a solid plan, even if their approaches and what they believe constitute "solid plans" may be different. I feel like Yuri and Makarov have varying levels of flexibility on certain things that differ from each other, and view each other as neurotic in different directions that are really difficult to reconcile; they like to get their future planning Over And Done With, so they prefer to have a long conversation (usually involving an argument, knowing Makarov) about a milestone they want to reach, reach an agreement on their individual approaches on how they'll contribute toward that goal, and then chug along toward it without another word until it's reached and it's time for them to decide what to do next.

They do entertain idle fantasies and stuff in those kinds of AUs, I think; I think Yuri ultimately wants a comfortable, calm domestic life, and while Makarov loves piles of money and everyone wanting to suck his dick (unless it's an AU where he's more solitary, like Oasisverse), for the most part he wants to be able to retreat to a private, comfortable place where he has only a few close, trusted people he can be himself with. Ultimately what they want is dependent on the AUs they're in and I've got too many to bother digging into all of them rn.

[superfluouskeys]

35, 57, 69 for the fic writer asks?

Thank you for indulging me!!!

35. What’s your favorite fic you’ve posted?

This is hard to answer LOL, like almost every fic is special to me for some particular reason, and ya girl has been blasting the internet with her nonsense for a solid 20 years at this point. I always have a particular fondness for fics that were especially difficult for me to write for whatever reason, especially when I feel they turned out well, because it's so satisfying to be able to see the work I put in paying off. But then again I'm looking at my recent fics and I'm like "okay but the hawkeline one was easy to write and I really love it :( and [redacted--i promise it's NOT the prisoner LOL] took 10 yrs off my life and i hate it :("

But with that said the fic that came to mind was New Disaster (portal chell-focused chelldos fic) because it was hard to write in the sense that it's so self-contained within one character who canonically doesn't speak. It's hard to strike a balance between heavy introspection/character-focused pieces and actual story progression, which I think I did well in that fic. Not to say it's my favourite ever bc I think that would just be impossible to choose but I still feel a lot of fondness for it and it's not like super recent!

57. How conscious are you about including symbolism or foreshadowing in your fics?

Extremely conscious--it's almost always very intentional! Although don't go looking too hard or you'll just notice that I love to put a scene in the rain and you won't be able to unsee it.

69. What are your favorite fics at the moment?

Oh this is gonna be so bad I'm so sorry in advance. So I don't read very much fanfic anyway, and as I am currently in my first year of law school that pitiful number has been reduced to near-zero. Pretty much if I read something it's bc a friend wrote it/sent it to me or I stumbled upon it somewhere and immediately liked the writing style--like we're talking IMMEDIATELY like if you don't have me in the first sentence I literally have to go back to reading about the constitution or whatever.

The only time I usually search AO3 for stuff is when a particular pairing has made me insane and I want to see what's out there for it, and I'll just open a tab of anything that looks vaguely legible and go through mercilessly judging them on the first few sentences akjsndkjasdnad like I don't read tags at all and very often get absolutely BLINDSIDED by something I could have easily seen but that's part of the fun tbh.

So this has been awhile at this point but the most recent fic author whose style I was absolutely obsessed with is thepapernautilus/thenautilusknoweth--I stumbled onto her fics bc of wol/g'raha from ffxiv and her prose is just so evocative and gripping that by the time I realized what level of spicy fic I was reading I was too deep in and was just like welp whatever I'm along for the ride at this point LOL.

Another fic that never leaves my mind is April Come She Will by tetrahedron -- it's Hawke/Varric and Hawke/Fenris (set in da:i) and it's just......exquisite pain. I can only dream of writing angst so good. Altered something fundamental in my DNA.

And of course no such list would be complete without the incomparable menzosarres, known by many names, who totally 100% definitely doesn't write anymore and if I went looking for an anonymous fic that may or may not have been written by her as SOON as I had the relevant show knowledge to understand it well then that is a matter for history to decide.

Fanfiction Writing Asks

[thirstyforred]

roderick/albrecht slash thingy

i got sorta bored halfway thru, but i guess I'll still revisit it at some time, posting now bc why not really

Looking at Roderick, actually looking at him, without the veil of pretenses, Albrecht can see why he’s like that. Sort of. It’s not that de Wett is some beauty, or has an incredibly dreamy body - he’s lean, with some muscles, just enough that you can tell he's a solid swordmaster. He’s pale, paler than Albrecht even though he’s the one hailing from the far north, but it matches well with the narrow dark eyes…

And so on and on. What actually Albrecht means has less to do with Roderick’s looks and more with the way he carries himself. The infuriating arrogance of someone well-born and capable enough to not be called a complete failure and freeloader. A mouthful, but there’s hardly a better way to describe it.

And Albrecht knows it, intimately even, considering that that’s exactly what he tried to emulate for the most part of his life. He would even carry on like that, if not the capricious destiny, putting them both in each other’s way, on both sides of someone they both needed equally bad.

(It would be much nicer to think that Jacques de Aldersberg ‘needed them’ and not just ‘had use of them’. Alas truth was never that sweet and gentle.)

For that reason, it was unimaginable for them to be anything more than rivals. Enemies in a single cause. Unwilling companions on this blessed road. Soulmates of the worst grade, if the world was truly cruel like that.

Albrecht smiled at that last thogyht…

“Stop,” murmured Roderick. His eyes were closed, mouth lax, up until he spoke one could be sure he was asleep.

“I’m hardly doing anything.”

“I feel like I can hear you thinking. A single cog running in that empty head of yours.”

“You know what wise men say: first you ought to empty your mind before you try to add any more new knowledge into it.”

At that, Roderick raised a single eyelid, scrutinizing the other man. Not friend, nor enemy, but a sacred third thing, that only the two of them could understand. No matter how much they would both prefer to pretend it wasn’t a thing in the first place. And then snorted with laughter. Something deep and true.

“So?”

“So what?” repeated Albrecht, feigning ignorance. But he reached toward Roderick and ran his hand on the naked biceps and down to the elbow. Roderick let him, didn’t even wince.

“Are you thinking about something so engaging right now?”

Albreach hummed inlay of an answer. 

Roderick blinked a few times and looked up again. He was half-lying on the bed, shoulders propped on the headrest. “What is it then?”

There was a small pool of blood under Roderick’s forearm, dripping from the cut there. Albrecht's fingers moved, ghosting the skin until he reached the exposed bone. Hovering right above the open fracture.

“I heard that bones stick to the tongue when licked. Because of their spongy structure.”

“That’s what are you thinking about? Licking my bones clean? What are you, some sort of vampire?”

Albrecht just shrugged with a lazy smile. Roderick was sweating, ridding off the big dose of fisstech that numbed the pain. But his eyes were still blown wide, deep and dark like the abyss.

Jacques told them to play nice with each other, but that left a lot of field for interpretation, what exactly constitutes “nice”. They had safewords, painkillers, healing magic even, they were both reasonable adults. Besides Roderick had a mean punch, and would start biting if Albrecht did something he didn’t like.

Breaking bones and then setting them back was easy. Childs play.

“I thought you studied monster lore with the boss? There are more flesh-eaters than just plain vampires…” However, if their beloved master was to be believed, suckers were the only ones that would be also interested in sex.

Which is something Roderick and Albrecht did a few times. Sporadically. Both are high as kites on the Salamandra merchandise. Nothing too involved or intimate, just hands and rolling hips, just enough to get off the edge. Something to pass the time.

But they fitted together, like two pieces of something… Something that shouldn’t be together in the first place, because of the danger for the surroundings. Like Cadaverine and good wine. Like rubies instead of diamonds in a megascope’s matrix. Something volatile and bad…

Roderick’s fingers, the ones from the unbroken arm, found their way inside Albrecht's waistband. Sneaky little things. “What about it,” started Roderick. Only slightly out of breath. 

Albrecht leaned closer, so whatever the other man had in his mind, he had a better grasp on it. Mindful of the broken limb Albrecht lowered his head to Rod’s chest, his warm breath causing a groan.

“You fix me up, and then I jack you off?” finally asked Roderick. A little bit more and he would start begging instead of proposing.

“But why? You already have a hand on me, don’t you?”

Roderick groaned again. There was new, red bite mark on his chest.

[desertleviathan]

Today, June 5th 2024, is the 20th anniversary of the death of Ronald Reagan.

Which seems to me an optimal time to mourn the dissolution of the GURPS Fantasy Presidential Knife-Fighting League some time before the Gipper became eligible to participate.

What, you may ask, was the GURPS Fantasy Presidential Knife-Fighting League?

Before I go on, let me make clear the spirit of this post; Fuck every last US President, living or dead, they're all mass-murdering pieces of shit. Even Jimmy Carter. Even Abe Lincoln. Part of what made the League fun was how cathartic it was to imagine these men trapped in a custom-tailored Hell, damned to spend eternity puncturing each other for the amusement of merciless gods.

ORIGIN OF THE LEAGUE

Back when I was in high school I got into GURPS (the Generic Universal Role-Playing System by Steve Jackson Games) in a big way through a friend in my school's TTRPG club. Running GURPS is a lot of work for a novice GM, so I found my way to various online enthusiast communities, some of which were more helpful than others. You know how TTRPG communities are, and they're so much friendlier now than they were in the mid 90s. There was one community I found where the moderators had a much more solid grasp of how to maintain a positive community vibe, so I concentrated my time there even though they were more interested in the Historical Fiction/Tactical Wargame style of play compared to the Fantasy Adventure style I preferred.

This community had a pretty lively sub-forum dedicated to figuring out best guesses for historically accurate setting details. You wanted to know what skills would likely be known by a phalanx of Athenian Hoplites? You wanted good guidelines for the equipment carried by Prussian Mercenaries hired by the American Revolutionary War (either side)? You wanted a list of just what type and quality of alchemical laboratory materials John Dee would have had access to when he was Court Magician for Queen Elizabeth I? These forum folk loved nothing more than digging up answers (back when that involved physically going to the library a lot more often). They knew where to find the info, and more importantly when they posted it they would thoroughly list their citations, which was a tremendous part of what kept that place from devolving into standard TTRPG forum bickering. If someone came along with a better source, the standard of what actually constituted a "better" source was well enough agreed on that everyone was able to play nice together even when they were directly contradicting what someone had offered earlier. We were all too excited to learn new things to get bitter about having our own expertise challenged.

It was honestly a paradise the likes of which the Internet will probably never see again.

So anyway, in that subforum there was a very active thread about making stats for actual Historical Figures who your player characters might Forrest Gump their way into encountering. And at one point, I and a handful of other regulars decided to just preemptively fill in a roster of individuals who would probably all get requested eventually anyway - former presidents of the United States of America. In assembling our research, priority was given first to disclosed medical data, followed by military service records or job history in similarly demanding fields, followed by things like peer anecdotes about physical fitness and temperament.

We quickly figured out a couple things. Firstly, that George Washington and Abraham Lincoln had both been so heavily mythologized that it was next to impossible to agree on what constituted a credible source, and any character sheet we compiled for either of them was going to have too many footnotes to actually feel authoritative, so we just wouldn't bother. Secondly, a lot of these guys had pretty decent Combat Stats. Like... none of them were any kind of one-man army. Well, few of them were. I can probably guess which two you're thinking about, and we'll get to them specifically in a minute. But quite a few of them could demonstrably handle themselves in a brawl, according to sources we considered trustworthy. And quite a few more of them were invested in projecting the appearance of being able to handle themselves in a brawl.

So the idea of the league evolved from there. I forget who suggested a battle royale, but I definitely proposed Knife Fighting as the medium for the conflict.

GENERAL RULES

1.) Each combatant was issued one knife with ordinary GURPS combat knife statistics.

2.) If a combatant had served two consecutive terms, they were issued a second identical knife.

3.) Battles concluded when one opponent was slain, had surrendered, or was rendered incapable of fighting further in the opinion of the referee (the GM).

4.) Players were assigned Presidents at random, but honestly individual player skill didn't really come into it since everyone could solicit advice from the whole forum before taking each turn. Usually we had enough players that no one was controlling more than 2 Presidents. If a player controlling multiple characters found two of them facing each other, one of them would be chosen at random and reassigned to another player (with the exception of the special rule for Grover Cleveland below). Whoever was in control of a character when they won a match would continue to control them afterwards.

5.) Each combatant was informed before entering the Arena that if a victor failed to emerge within 24 hours, Space Aliens would vaporize the whole planet Earth.

6.) In all following tournaments, the memories of all combatants were erased of previous battles so they would not find their willingness to kill or die influenced unduly by the knowledge that their tormentors were capable of resurrecting them on a whim.

7.) A contestant's in game statistics were to be generated based on the best health they showed while in office. Good news for William Henry Harrison, whose fatal pneumonia didn't settle in until shortly after his ill-advised coatless winter inauguration speech. Overall the later a President's tenure of office, the more conclusive data there was about them. Bad news for John F. Kennedy, whose carefully cultivated public image of youthful vigor was in stark contrast with the medical history that's been declassified since his assassination.

8.) Running "out of bounds" in an arena was permissible, but trying to leave the venue entirely, by moving off the boundaries of the map we had prepared, would result in disqualification.

9.) In any venue with appropriate seating, civilian spectators were present to full capacity. While it was considered unsportsmanlike, the rules did not specifically forbid a combatant from taking hostages to try to force a surrender from their opponent.

10.) Each match would take place in one of the following locations, randomly chosen by rolling 1d6. * A featureless and borderless gray geometric plane, with lighting, gravity, temperature, atmosphere, friction, and other physical properties sufficient only to ensure no bonuses or penalties to combat mechanics. * The Roman Colosseum. 50% chance between a fully restored version, or a modern ruins version. * Denver's Mile High Stadium, which I had detailed maps of because one of my Shadowrun characters had once been hired to excavate the remains of a demon buried under the 50 yard line. * The Oval Office, with furnishings based on its appearance on The West Wing TV series. * The Boxing Ring at Madison Square Garden. * Air Force One, in a holding pattern over Dulles International Airport.

11.) A President was only eligible for participation if they had been dead for more than 10 years. The forum held it as an unofficial polite guideline that it felt a bit ghoulish to generate game stats for anyone who hadn't been dead for at least 10 years, but the mods had the foresight to warn us very specifically that this was going to be a hard rule for our particular project if we wanted to talk about it there. Everyone still remembered that the Secret Service had once raided Steve Jackson Games HQ on suspicion that "GURPS Cyberpunk" was actually a RL guide to Elite Hacking Secrets instead of a complete work of fiction, and we were of the opinion that participating in a GURPS forum at all probably meant we were at least marginally of interest to the Feds. At the time of the first tournament, Carter, Ford, Bush Sr., Clinton, and Bush Jr. were still alive, Obama, Trump, and Biden hadn't been President yet, and Reagan was too recently dead. Nixon barely made the cut though. Ford had also died by the time the fourth and final tournament was held. If we ran a fifth tournament today, we'd still be waiting six more years for Bush Sr. to become eligible.

SPECIAL RULES FOR SPECIAL PRESIDENTS

Additionally, the following Presidents were subject to special rules:

1.) As I mentioned, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln have entered a state where weeding out the myths, propaganda, and outright silly lies was causing too much strife in our otherwise sedate community. So we set them aside. We talked about having them do sports commentary throughout the matches, but the timing of forum-based GURPS combat wasn't really conducive to that.

2.) The first time we ran the tournament, it became clear that letting Teddy Roosevelt and Andrew Jackson compete with the rest of these guys was like watching the Harlem Globetrotters play basketball against a bunch of Junior High kids. We put them off to the side as well, but were happy enough with their respective stats that we held a feature "TITAN MATCH" between the two of them as the capstone to each annual tournament. The winner of the regular tournament got to pick which of them they would play, and the second place from the regular tournament would play the other.

3.) Making Franklin D. Roosevelt fight was, in our unanimous opinion, pretty fucked up. We did not like how we felt making a simulation of a polio victim roll his wheelchair around a bloodsport arena, even if he would have had four knives. He was exempted from participation.

4.) Grover Cleveland served two non-consecutive terms, and therefore was entitled to two knives... but not both at once. Our compromise was to allow Grover Cleveland two different starting positions in the tournament brackets. In the event that the Grovers Cleveland found themselves matched up, if they had been assigned individually to different players they would fight to the death as normal. However if control of both of them had been assigned to the same player they would merge into a single Grover Cleveland with two knives who would be declared the victor and continue from there. Sadly, circumstances never permitted us to witness either variant of the Grovers Cleveland meeting.

RESULTS OF THE TOURNAMENTS

The first time we ran the GURPS Presidential Fantasy Knife-Fighting League, it was as a free-for-all where all Presidents were dropped into the Colosseum at once, we ran down the initiative list, and we brawled until there was one man standing - Teddy Roosevelt, once Andrew Jackson's berserk corpse finally accepted that it had reached 0 HP several rounds earlier.

It took forever to complete, and we decided to swap to Brackets so we could run concurrent one-on-one matches after that, and also to recruit three assistants for the one extremely harried GM. It wasn't an official rule, but the top 4 players each year volunteered to be the GMs the next year. I was one of the GMs years 2 and 4, but never the tournament winner. Coincidentally both years I made it to the final 4, one of my two characters was Richard Nixon, but in neither tournament was Richard Nixon the character I got to qualify for the final 4 (James K. Polk and Dwight D. Eisenhower).

The first run of the tournament using those updated rules was later that same year, and we ran it again three following years before the community lost momentum and eventually disbanded.

Without the Presidents who were excluded from the league, but plus the two Grovers Cleveland, we had 32 participants, a very convenient number for this style of event. Plus the TITAN MATCH between Roosevelt and Jackson at the finale.

Year 1 Tournament Winner: Lyndon Johnson was an infamous bully, only half an inch shorter than Lincoln, and not at all afraid to throw his weight and superior reach around. It was close fought, but the fact that he was well-documented to be among the most aggressive and confrontational of this cohort turned out to be just as strong of advantages as his stature.

Year 1 TITAN MATCH Winner: Teddy Roosevelt was just... absurdly sturdy. We dialed it back a little after year 1, but not much. We still had to try our best to genuinely reflect a man who was once shot in the chest by an assassin and decided to finish giving his speech before seeking medical attention. Jackson got in like five or six stabs and Roosevelt was still able to stay on his feet.

Year 2 Tournament Winner: Harry Truman was one of history's most prolific mass-murderers, arguably the US President with the highest death toll, and his proficiency at dealing slaughter was not greatly diminished by our tournament insisting that he do it with his own hands. Genuinely, fuck every last one of these guys and I hope they're all burning in Hell, but I hope Truman has it even worse than the rest.

Year 2 TITAN MATCH Winner: Victory to Andrew Jackson. I don't think we overcompensated when we reduced Teddy's HT score and ranks in the "Hard To Kill" advantage after year 1, I think the guy who was piloting Old Hickory was just on top of his game, and the dice liked him better. But this was the only time Jackson ever won, and I don't think that's a mistake. To be clear, Jackson was a glass cannon. He was tough as hell because of willpower and viciousness, but by the time he was president he was falling apart. His mobility was shit, he had two bullets still inside of him (one of which was finally removed while he was in office and one of which he took to his grave), and he was being dosed regularly with mercury because it was a popular Malaria treatment back then. Strategically, he had two real show-stopper moves: let the other guy hit first, grit his teeth through the pain, and take his sweet time to set aim his return (a tactic better suited to a pistol duel than a knife fight), and go in with a berserk all-out attack the second he was in melee range. The player opted for the latter until he was able to land a very lucky strike and stun Roosevelt, then took his time to line up a kill shot while the Bull Moose was reeling.

Year 3 Tournament Winner: Ulysses S. Grant was called "The Butcher" both by enemies and admirers. We were never super happy with his combat stats though because so many stories about him had untrustworthy origins due to widespread Confederate propaganda. There's a popular perception of Grant as just a catastrophically depressed alcoholic who only knew how to fight by grinding away with numerical superiority, and the reality may have been a lot more nuanced.

Year 3 TITAN MATCH Winner: Now that we'd all seen how rough Jackson's opening volley could be if he caught you at close range, Teddy's player this year wasn't having it. We did all agree that strafing tactics would have violated the spirit of his "Code of Honor: Good Sportsmanship" disadvantage, so instead he just got in Jackson's face and launched his own devastating all-out attack first. Jackson did bite Roosevelt that time though, that was pretty memorable.

Year 4 Tournament Winner: Lyndon B. Johnson again. What can I say, the guy was a belligerent jackass. A real arrogant piece of shit. At least most of these other guys had the sense of decorum not to do things like literally whip out their dick and slap it against a desk as some kind of primate dominance display, or force people giving them briefings to follow them into the toilet and talk to them while they pissed. Johnson's biggest advantage was that he didn't respect anyone else even a tiny bit, and he fought like it. The aliens probably didn't even need to threaten the earth with annihilation for him to do it.

Year 4 TITAN MATCH Winner: The closest of the four, both combatants ended the final round unconscious with their knives in each other's bodies, but Teddy was just plain bigger and had more HP to drain via ongoing bleeding damage so he won in the end.

IN CONCLUSION

If I ever found enough fellow GURPS players who were willing to participate, and tracked down where I had everybody's stats written down now that that forum is long defunct, and made satisfactory new stats for the competitors who have become eligible since the last tournament... I think Gerald Ford would do well for himself because he was a pretty big dude and a college football player, and I think Reagan would fold like an absolute chump even with stats based on his time in office before the Alzheimer's became unmistakable, because his entire career was about delegating everything and then claiming personal credit. He'd be completely lost in any situation more complicated than a photo op without some underling to do all the work for him.

[nothieflike]

Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 (2023)

★★★★☆

Written and Directed by: James Gunn

Based on the Comic Book series by: Marvel Comics (Arnold Drake and Gene Colan)

The last film I reviewed for this blog before I sort of let it peter out was 2012's The Avengers. Obviously a lot of Marvel Cinematic Universe... er, stuff occurred in the intervening years. All three Spider-Man movies, for one thing, but also any mention of Black Panther, Doctor Strange, Scarlet Witch, Captain Marvel, Ant-Man, even the Infinity Stones. Heck, the first glimpse of Thanos came during the mid-credits bonus scene at the end of The Avengers. And, of course, in between that review and this one, we got two Guardians of the Galaxy films.

I won't get into my thoughts on those two previous films except to say that I understand why these films have been so frequently emulated in the years since the release of the first one. It's a formula for an ensemble movie where the characters are (probably) not known ahead of time, but by the end there is enough work put in to make the audience genuinely care. So with James Gunn apparently signing off from the MCU to take the reigns on a new chapter of DC films, Vol. 3 exists here in a space where the MCU has floundered a bit (or a lot, depending on your point of view) since the conclusion of The Infinity Saga and we see what Gunn's Guardians franchise is going to do to right the ship.

The answer, it turns out, is: nothing. Guardians Vol. 3 does not make any effort to "fix" The Multiverse Saga, Phase 4, or the MCU. Well, except in one specific way: Vol. 3 returns to a strategy that served the MCU extremely well in earlier eras which is that it sets out to make a solid action/adventure film first and leaves all the inter-connected broader universe stuff either to the backstories, the post-credits scenes, or just other franchises/films. And it's fairly obvious that is absolutely the right move to make. Guardians has been a bit of an outlier in the MCU for some time in that they are team movies but not team-UP movies. But the fairly minor flaws of this film don't have anything to do with it feeling distant from any of the Kang/Thunderbolts/Celestials nonsense going on elsewhere. That's a feature, not a bug.

So, what holds Vol. 3 back from true greatness? Mostly it comes from a trend in the cinematic universe model that has been in place since Avengers: Endgame, and that's catering to the most indulgent excesses from the comic book arm of Marvel. See, in the early days of the MCU, Marvel Studios rightly recognized that movies based on comic books needed to do several things simultaneously: firstly, appeal to broad audiences mostly by focusing on being self-contained and well executed films in their own right but secondly, they needed to also be as unassailable as possible by the hardcore comic book nerds who constituted the very core of the movie's audience. Plenty of earlier "successful" comic adaptations (Byran Singer's X-Men films from the 90s, for example, as well as edgier adaptations like Batman Begins and 2003's Hulk) seemed quite often to be embarrassed by their brightly-colored source material. They downplayed the elements that had originally endeared some of the characters to comics fans in favor of mass appeal, often in ways that quickly dated them. Marvel Studios though decided that the thing holding super hero movies back wasn't flashy costumes or somewhat trope-y, goofy fantastic elements but rather a self-seriousness that sucked the inherent fun out of escapism. And, ultimately, they were right.

Very, very right. The problem though? They were almost too right. For about ten years Marvel Studios stuck to a particular formula for making their movies fun and approachable and true enough to their funnybook roots that they avoided hardcore nerd outcry while gaining huge amounts of new fans who maybe otherwise had little to no use for comics themselves. But no one can keep a streak like that up forever. So what happened?

My theory is that Endgame happened. And it didn't just happen, it was (and still is as of this writing) the biggest MCU film in terms of box office grosses. It crushed. Looking at the overall plot of Endgame, it really did feel more like a direct adaptation from a Marvel Comics summer crossover event: time travel, alternate realities, key character deaths, the whole shebang. Up until this point Marvel Studios had been smoothing over some of the more comic-book-y elements of their storylines, running a riff on their Ultimate line where popular, foundational elements of the modern myths they traffic in were given a fresh pass under the guise of expanding the audience. But it worked so well, pleasing core comic fans with it's rootsy takes while gently easing moviegoing audiences into their world, they learned the wrong lesson.

The lesson they should have learned: don't stop doing that.

The lesson they did learn: if everyone loves every risk we take (galactic setting? portal wizards? funny Thor? yes, please!), we got so much more where that came from!

Which starts the straight line that leads us past unmentioned-afterward canon including: dueling myth-gods, literal Zeus, half-hatched god eggs, robot K.E.V.I.N (Feige), alligator Loki, and a giant popped-out eyeball in New York City. Oh and, like, Kang.

Now, to be fair, most of those things would feel a lot more at place in a Guardians of the Galaxy movie. As in, it's pretty weird they aren't the excesses Vol. 3 is guilty of. Rather, Vol. 3 reaches into the vault of dark, over-expository sorta-allegories straight from the fashionable grim-n-gritty late 90s era of the comics. It decides to push boundaries even beyond what a Sam Raimi MCU film felt inclined to push. And it does it all while daring to have a happy ending.

Vol. 3 picks up somewhere after the events of the Disney+ Holiday Special, which is (I believe) where we learned the Guardians had inducted Kraglin and Cosmo the dog and set up shop over in Knowhere with a bunch of... friends? Locals? Refugees? It's not clear. What is clear is that Guardians' leader Peter "Star-Lord" Quill (played with an unexpected complexity by Chris Pratt) is still struggling with the loss of the teammate Gamora (played here with as much nuance as possible by Zoe Saldana given the disservice the script pays her) he'd fallen in love with, particularly in light of the fact that a version of her lives on somewhere out in the universe, at best hostile toward him and at worst indifferent. A gold-skinned guy arrives, wreaking havoc, seeming fixated on Rocket (voiced with a lot less wise-cracking than usual by Bradley Cooper) and manages to mortally wound the mutated raccoon. When they try to heal him, they discover Rocket's creator put a kill switch into him and if they try to operate without removing it, he'll die.

This sends the Guardians on a desperate quest to find a way to save Rocket by digging into the past of his creator, a being who calls himself the High Evolutionary (played with a vulnerable gravitas by Chukwudi Iwuji). As the team crosses paths with Gamora and the Ravager faction she's been running with for the inevitable awkward reunion between her and Star-Lord, the film then begins cutting back and forth to the time when Rocket, well, became Rocket.

It's here that the film makes a choice to swerve hard into the pitch black in tone and visual aesthetic. The scenes of Rocket's creation and the introduction of his fellow discarded experiments are harrowing, ghastly things that might as well flash a bright yellow, all-caps title card: "ANIMAL EXPERIMENTATION IS ANIMAL CRUELTY!" Or maybe just, "HURTING ANIMALS IS EVIL!" It's a lot, in all honesty and I was very glad I pre-screened this before taking my kids to see it.

Eventually the Guardians track down the High Evolutionary on a planet called Counter-Earth, which he created as part of his quest to fabricate a perfect utopian society. Here, again with the dark, we get essentially a genocide that occurs without much more than a passing mention by the main characters. And, y'know, narratively it mostly serves as a ticking clock and bit of chaos to keep the team from forming Voltron and making short work of the film's conflict before we can wring a bit more pathos out of the audiences' greater concern for a computer-animated raccoon than an entire planet of sentient and uncomfortably human-adjacent animal hybrid people.

The rest of the movie takes a few more dark swerves which really felt like the movie was setting me up for a huge gutpunch of an ending. I was thinking, fool me thrice, or whatever but I see where this is going. And then it swerves again and says, "actually no, you know what, sometimes things really suck a lot but then it turns out to be some flavor of all right." And it sorta turned out I was right because while I was waiting for the inevitable slug to the breadbasket, I got a different, gentler strike and dammit if it wasn't even more effective because of it.

I know it sounds a lot like I have some pretty major gripes with the film and I did find it's brazen and ballsy approach to the MCU as a bit off-putting. Buuut... the last several tentpole MCU entries that have been trying to stick with "the formula" have been pretty off-putting as well so even if I didn't say anything else positive at all, I'd still have to give it to Vol. 3 for at least failing to stick the landing in a novel fashion. And I genuinely do have a lot of positive things to say about this movie. The dynamic between the characters is loose and feels lived in, no matter what configuration is on screen at the time. I'd go so far as to say the acting is all best in Cinematic Universe for these characters. Not only do Pratt and Saldana do a fantastic job with adding new layers to their performances that carry the backstory in a way that means they have to do only minimal "as-you-know-bob"ing to sell their scenes. Unsung heroes abound as well from Pom Klementieff's smooth portrayal of a woman growing into an affinity for compassionate leadership to Karen Gillan's deft and subtle arc of "How Nebula Got Her Groove Back." Even Cooper manages to deliver a stellar vocal performance, really dragging the audience that extra few feet across the finish line to genuine concern for... well, for a computer-animated raccoon.

The stakes are smaller than expected but the satisfaction of the resolution is so rewarding it feels like it's been a bigger journey than even saving the universe with a dance contest. The soundtrack adds the same kind of welcome texture to scenes as ever, the visual effects are great, and though there are fewer jokes than earlier entries, when they do come they mostly all work. I could cite a few more minor bits of both nitpicking (Groot's regeneration ability seems very ill-defined and at this point amounts to "it's just whatever we need it to be for the current scene") and complimentary (the way they handle the lampshading on Groot's signature dialogue is super satisfying and wonderfully subtle), but I think I can summarize it all with this: it's not perfect, but it kind of feels like exactly what we needed right now. And if that doesn't summarize the Guardians of the Galaxy, I don't know what does.

I recommend Vol. 3, with the minor warning that it has some squirmy, uncomfortable scenes and subject matter. If you have some younger kids who have enjoyed previous Marvel films or if you're a squeamish type who generally finds nothing distasteful about these films, tread carefully because this one takes even some of the shocking moments from Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and more or less says, "hold my beer." But if you can stomach it, it's one of the best Marvel features in a long time and well worth the wait.

[whereareroo]

DEAR NANCY,

WF THOUGHTS (12/5/22).

Honorable Nancy Pelosi

Speaker of House

Longworth Building

Washington DC 20515

Dear Nancy:

Just think, in only a few weeks you'll be a "regular" Congresswoman and you'll be free of the headaches that come with the Speaker's gavel. I know that it will be a bittersweet transition, but I truly hope that you're looking forward to a more leisurely life. You've earned it, and you deserve it.

As a final gift to the House, I hope that you will use your influence to pick the next Speaker. I have a suggestion. All of America will be grateful if you perform this final task.

As you know, the Constitution does not require that the Speaker be a member of the House. By majority vote, the House can elect anyone to be Speaker. I know that all Speakers to date have been House members. Please remember that we're living in extraordinary times, and such times demand extraordinary measures and extraordinary leadership. You should not feel constrained by historical precedent. In these very unusual times, your colleagues should not be constrained by historical precedent.

Although one House race remains uncalled, the Republicans will probably win that seat and thereby control 222 seats. You and your Democratic colleagues will occupy 213 seats.

To elect a Speaker, the Republicans need a majority coalition of at least 218 votes. Right now, the leading Republican candidate for Speaker is Kevin McCarthy. He is a relatively unintelligent opportunist with no backbone, no governing principles, and a history of sucking up to Trump. Many Republicans don't respect him. Many Republicans don't trust him. As of now, McCarthy doesn't have 218 votes. At least 5 Republicans have publicly stated that they won't vote for him. There are probably more. The names of other candidates for Speaker have have been quietly circulating within the ranks of the Republicans.

The chaos within the Republicans creates a very unique opportunity for you and your Democratic colleagues. If the Democrats can find at least 6 Republicans to vote with them, that bipartisan coalition can elect the next Speaker of the House. It's a long shot, but you've never shied away from a challenge. America needs you. Please pursue this challenge. All you need to do is find 6 Republicans who will work with you.

Obviously, you'll need a candidate who will attract Republican votes. I have the answer. Liz Cheney. Wouldn't she be perfect?

I bet that there are dozens of Republicans who would seriously consider Liz Cheney for Speaker. She's a solid Republican. She's very Conservative. She's smart. I bet you can convince at least 10 Republicans to vote for Liz Cheney for Speaker.

The Democrats need to accept the fact that the next Speaker will be a Republican. Liz Cheney is probably their favorite Republican. She sacrificed herself, and she lost her seat in the House, because she stood up to Trump. She's a champion of democracy. She reveres the Constitution. She exudes class and dignity. Even though she's Conservative and Republican, she's shown that she's willing to work with Democrats. You should be able to convince every Democrat to support Liz Cheney for Speaker.

Nancy, please accept this final challenge. All you need is a small number of votes from Republicans. You can do it! Putting Liz Cheney in the Speaker's chair would be the perfect way to end your leadership career. You can change history.

We're all praying for you. I've spoken with God, and he likes Liz Cheney too. Need I say more?

Sincerely,

A Friend From SC