#I'd say we're about a quarter way into the Story at this point

[mushroompollution]

I'm bored and rereading my drabbles for this tl and like lol I'm p sure in the 2-3 months I've had Leo I've already written more for him than I have for Yugi in 2-3 years

[dduane]

Of parsnips and parsnip soup

So the question of parsnips, and particularly parsnip soup, came up secondary to this quote from an interview with Terry Pratchett. (Thanks to @captainfantasticalright for the transcription.)

Terry: “You can usually bet, and I’m sure Neil Gaiman would say the same thing, that, uh, if I go into a bookstore to do a signing and someone presents me with three books, the chances are that one of them is going to be a very battered copy of Good Omens; and it will smell as if it’s been dropped in parsnip soup or something in and it’s gone fluffy and crinkly around the edges and they’ll admit that it’s the fourth copy they’ve bought”.

And when @petermorwood saw this, he immediately reblogged it and added four recipes for parsnip soup.

These kind of surprised some folks, as not everybody knew that parsnips were an actual thing: or if they were, what they looked like or were useful for.

The vegetable may well be better known on this side of the Atlantic. (And I have to confess that as a New Yorker and Manhattanite, with access to both great outdoor food markets and some of the best grocery stores in the world, I don't think that parsnips ever came up on my personal radar while I was living there.) So I thought I'd take a moment to lay out some basics for those who'd like to get to know the vegetable better.

The parsnip's Linnaean/botanical name is Pastinaca sativa, and in the culinary mode it's been around for a long time. It's native to Eurasia, and is a relative to parsley and carrots (with which it's frequently paired in the UK and Ireland). The Romans cultivated it, and it spread all over the place from there. Travelers who passed through our own neck of the woods before the introduction of the potato noted that "the Irish do feed much upon parsnips", and in the local diet it filled a lot of the niches that the potato now occupies.

You can do all kinds of things with parsnips. The Wikipedia article says, correctly, that they can be "baked, boiled, pureed, roasted, fried, grilled, or steamed". But probably the commonest food form in which parsnips turn up around here is steamed or simmered with carrots and then mashed with them: so that you can buy carrot-and-parsnip mash, ready-made, in most of our local grocery chains.

It also has to be mentioned that most Irish kids have had this stuff foisted on them at one point or another, and a lot of them hate it. (@petermorwood would be one.) I find it hard to blame anybody for this opinion, as one of the parsnip's great selling points—its spicy, almost peppery quality—gets almost completely wiped out by the carrot's more dominant flavor and sweetness.

Roasting parsnips, though, is another matter entirely. They roast really well. And parsnip soups are another story entirely, as it's possible to build a soup that will emphasize the parsnip's virtues.

So, to add to Peter's collection, here's one I made earlier—like yesterday afternoon, stopping the cooking sort of halfway and finishing it up today.

I was thinking in a vague medioregnic-food way about a soup with roasted bacon in it, but not with potatoes (as those have been disallowed from the Middle Kingdoms for reasons discussed elsewhere. Tl;dr: it's Sean Astin's fault). And finally I thought, "Okay, if we're going to roast some pork belly or back bacon, then why not save some energy and roast some parsnips too? The browned skins'll help keep them from going to mush in the soup."

So: first find your parsnips. I used four of them. You peel them with a potato peeler...

...sort of roughly quarter them, the long way...

...then chop them in half the short way, toss them in a bowl with some oil—olive oil, in this case—spread them on a baking sheet, and season them with pepper, coarse salt, and some chile flakes. (I used ancho and bird's-eye chile flakes here.)

These then went into the oven for about half an hour, and came out like this.

While that was going on, I got a block of ready-cooked Polish snack bacon out of the freezer.

On its home turf, this is the kind of thing that turns up (among other ways) sliced very thin on afternoon-snack plates, with cheeses and breads. But we like to score it and roast it to sweat some of the fat out, and then use it in soups and stews and so forth.

So I scored this chunk on most of its sides, browned it in a skillet, then shoved the skillet into the oven for twenty minutes or so. Here's the bacon after it was done.

While it was cooking, I made about a liter of soup stock from a couple of stock cubes. If you can get pork stock cubes, they'd be best for this, but beef works fine.

This then went into the pot and was brought up to just-boiling while the bacon and the parsnips were chopped into more or less bite-sized chunks. After that, the meat and veg were added to the pot and the whole business was left to simmer for a couple of hours while I went off to do some line editing.

Finally I turned it off and left it on the stove overnight (our kitchen is quite cool, it was in no bacteriological danger from being left out this way) and then finished its simmering time around lunchtime today.

And here it is. (...Or was. It was very nice.)

...Anyway, this is only one of potentially thousands of takes on parsnip soup. Recipes for more robust versions—based on mashed parsnips and more vegetables, or different meats—are all over the place.

Meanwhile, as regards how much damage this soup could do to your copy of Good Omens if you dropped yours in it, I'd rate this at about 5 damage points out of 10. ...Call it 5.5 if you factor in the chiles. Soups along the boiled-and-mashed-parsnip spectrum would probably inflict damage more in the 7.50-8.0 range. But your results may vary: so I'll leave you all to your own experimentation.

[comicaurora]

What are your thoughts on guardians vol.3? (If you have watched it) I went into it, expecting it went to the garbage like the rest of the mcu, but I was pleasantly surprised by its creativity, trope subversion, and how it wrapped up the previously unresolved arks of its characters.

That's what I've heard!

The thing is, Guardians 3 could be the most transcendent work of cinema ever made, and I'd probably still feel little to no motivation to watch it at this point. It's not Guardians's fault - it's just suffering from the same problem that superhero comics have been struggling with for decades: no matter how good an individual arc or run is, absolutely nothing good lasts or matters in the long term, and the stories are shaped in such a way that "the long term" is the only thing anyone gets to build towards.

Whenever I complain about the MCU I get a handful of people loudly complaining about my complaining, with the general thesis that if I don't like it I shouldn't watch it or talk about it - if I'm not having fun, just stop engaging with it. And the thing is, I have. I am intellectually interested in why this massive franchise is fumbling the bag so hard, which is why I still check in on it sometimes, but I've long since stopped turning to the MCU for uncritical entertainment. And even the good movies or shows with a lot of interesting ideas - good character arcs, fun concepts, interesting planting for future payoff - don't draw me in anymore, because they're hooked into a massive moneymaking machine that will scrap and squander anything if they think it'll make them more in the quarter. It doesn't matter how good the writing is, because the writers are not allowed to tell a complete, finished story, and they have no control over what happens to their characters outside of their own script.

Captain America's arc was set up from literally minute one to answer one burning question at the core of his character: does a world without a war still need Captain America? After that incredibly basic tee-up at the end of First Avenger, half a dozen movies failed to come up with a reason to say "yes," and now Steve is retired for good after getting fumbled through four different storylines that couldn't even pretend that they needed him (the unused Chekhov's Phone from the end of Civil War still haunts me). The foundational arc of his entire character never happened because nobody bothered to keep track of it past a single movie.

Taika did something interesting with Thor in Ragnarok - take away Mjolnir, force him to recognize what it means to be the god of thunder, give him a very Odin-y missing eye - and the very next movie undid all of it. Just kidding, never mind, here's an eye and a new weapon and also his old weapon again, and in one more movie we're even gonna give him his hair back, probably as an apology for all the completely unironic fatphobia we're gonna slather him in for two and a half hours. I'm not even surprised Love And Thunder was such an overblown mess that barely took itself seriously - why would Taika bother trying to give Thor another arc when the powers that be will just roll it back in six months anyway?

I hear Rocket Raccoon has a fantastic arc in this movie. That's great, and demonstrates that he's being written by a writer that deeply cares about him. But he's part of the MCU, and the MCU doesn't let anything end, so if current patterns hold, Rocket is going to continue to serve as quippy plushie-bait for the next dozen movies and none of that depth is going to come through in the long term. Hell, since they're making Kang noises for the Next Big Threat and Kang's entire gimmick is rewriting timelines, literally none of this is guaranteed to matter. By next year, it might not have even happened anymore.

The MCU has successfully shaped itself into a paradigm where the bright spots of good writing are overridden and lost as soon as the writers room turns over, and that makes it really hard for me to muster up the enthusiasm to watch even a really good movie that's locked into the exact same grist mill as everything else. I'm glad people liked it, I hope it gets to stay good this time - I just have no desire to watch it.

[funishment-time]

Kodaka BlueSky Q&As: Male DR Characters (Specific)

⚠️ DISCLAIMER: Please be advised! Translations of all Japanese answers derive from a combination of Google Translate and my manager's three-quarters-remembered Japanese. We've tried our best to work out what he's saying, but there will be mistakes here and there. Do not take this as gospel!

To avoid spreading (too much) misinfo, where we're completely boggled about an answer, we've decided not to even make an attempt. We'll still list the post, but mark it accordingly.

➡️ AN IMPORTANT NOTE FROM KODAKA BEFORE READING:

First of all, the questions answered here are not official. Everything that is official is what is said within the work. In contrast, this is simply what Kodaka, the creator, thinks, and it is not the correct answer. Use this as a starting point to enjoy the depth of each character, or to say, "That's not right!" and enjoy it with your own interpretation. I think of this as a way of communicating with the characters who live in fiction. This is important, so please spread the word.

💕 FEBRUARY 2024:

Q: What do you think of Matsuda Yasuke?!

A: As I was writing, I thought he was a fascinating and cool guy.

/////

Q: Is there any difference in the mindset of Ouma Kokichi (main story) and Ouma Kokichi (salmon mode)?

A: I didn't write Salmon Mode, I left that up to the staff.

NOTE: As stated, Kodaka didn't write V3's "dating sim" mode. You'll see him refer to that a few times.

/////

Q: If you have a favorite character in Danganronpa, I'd like to hear it and why.

A: I wrote them all as if they were the main characters, so I like them all, but I guess it's Monokuma. He was the first character I created.

/////

Q: Before the release of V3, Saihara-kun was often mistaken for a woman, but was that something you were aiming for? Also, was it you who chose the voice actor?

A: That wasn't my intention. I did want him to appear timid, though. I think out of the several candidates I received, Hayashibara-san was my first choice, and I said "Yes, please!"

/////

Q: Were there any characters that you had trouble moving around the narrative after creating them? If not, please tell us which character was the easiest to move!

A: Tanaka Gundam was too much of a chuunibyou and it was difficult. The ones that were easiest to move were Monokuma, Ouma, and Hagakure!

NOTE: A "chuunibyou" is a kid, generally 12-13, who believes they have secret powers or a grand backstory. Gundham's a bit old to be a chuuni by Kodaka's own admission in the DR2 artbook, but that was apparently part of the charm (and why it was so difficult to write him). It's spiritual Naruto running.

/////

Q: A question! Fujisaki's middle school uniform is different in the anime version of DR1 (navy blue collar) and Ultra Despair Girls (pink collar). Is there any intention behind this? I'd like to play Kodaka's games even years and decades from now! I'll continue to support you 🎮

A: With anime, there are a lot of different things going on and things like color settings often change. Thank you! I'll keep working hard so that everyone can enjoy it, even if it kills me!

/////

Q: How happy do you think Hinata would be if you gave him some kusamochi?

A: Hinata: "Oh, kusamochi! I love it! Hey, let's eat it together! Oh, I'll go make some tea!"

NOTE: Kusamochi is a type of sweet.

/////

Q: What happens if you point an electrified hammer or Komaru's megaphone-type hacking gun at Keebo?

A: This is gross discrimination against robots! Don't ever do this!

/////

Q: Ishimaru-kun, do you like to put lemon on your fried chicken?

A: He's the type of person who likes to put lemon on others' portions as well.

/////

Q: After the ending of the Hope Arc anime, what are Hinata and the others doing? Are they still supporting the Future Foundation from behind the scenes? Or are they just normally affiliated with the Future Foundation?

A: I guess he pretends to act the role as an enemy of the world, ostensibly as an enemy of the fallen Future Foundation, but uses his talents to save various people as he moves from one place to another.

/////

Q: Could you please tell us what kind of discussions and circumstances took place among the production team that led to Tanaka Gundam's pants becoming like that?

A: It's just for fun.

/////

Q: Lately, I've been wondering about Ishimaru's life in junior high school, and I'm in a state where all I can eat is sweet food!

A: He had a free-spirited friend like Shin-chan from Crayon Shin-chan, and he was constantly being pushed around by him. But then the friend moved away, and young Ishimaru was lonely.

/////

Q: What's going on with Kamukura Izuru after Danganronpa Anime 3: Future Arc/Despair Arc? Do you feel like Kamukura Izuru has lost his personality?

A: I figured that he had fused with Hinata...or rather, that he had been almost absorbed into him.

/////

Q: I would like to know the people who are "not boring" to Ouma...

A: Boring people.

/////

Q: What do you think of Sakura Ogami, Kenshiro?

A: Although he has mixed feelings towards her, he believes she is a good rival.

/////

Q: Why did Momota-kun want to hug Akamatsu-san in v3-1? Was it because he had romantic feelings for her, or did he want her to hit on him in the confusion, or did he have any ulterior motives?

A: Momota immediately hugged her in gratitude.

/////

Q: Sorry if this has already been said. When I first watched Danganronpa, I was really drawn to Togami-kun's charm, but even though he has no flaws, does he have a weakness for his favorite person or for ____?

A: Weak to Naegi.

/////

Q: Does Komaeda Nagito know about cat memes?

A: I want to see a Komaeda cat meme. Someone make one. A Ouma cat meme would be fine too.

/////

Q: What does it look like to those around you when you are doing Logic Dives or Hangman's Gambit?

A: "Hinata! Come back! Hey, can you hear me?! No good, I'll have to give you stronger medicine!"

NOTE: It's unclear who's answering. Mikan?

🍀 MARCH 2024:

Q: Excuse me for the second question! Komaeda's parents have passed away, so who raised him when he was a child? I'm also curious if Komaeda's hair is bed hair or naturally curly 🙏🏻

A: "I grew up alone. Luckily. I have curly hair."

/////

Q: Hello! I've always loved the Danganronpa 3 anime!! 🥲 (I'm waiting for new merchandise to come out♡) I have a question. After the main story of the anime, Munakata Kyosuke continues to fight the remnants of despair while carrying the memory of Yukizome and Sakakura, but did he end up finding happiness in the end? If you feel like it, please answer! 🙇‍♂️

A: He fights here and there, covered in wounds, and sometimes sleeps, reminiscing about the past... This lonely battle continues. The only time he can be happy is when he is able to forgive his own sins.

/////

Q: Please tell me what type of girl you like, Amami-kun!! (Sorry if this has already been said 💦)

A: Rich.

/////

Q: What kind of clothes does Fujisaki Chihiro like to wear (or usually wear)?

A: Unisex jeans.

NOTE: It's not exactly a question so I won't list it here, but a Chihiro fan responded with excitement, at which Kodaka replied "100 points for your reaction."

/////

Q: What is your favorite food, Momota-kun? What is your favorite drink? Or your favorite planet or your favorite galaxy. Anything is fine, I want to know. Please tell me about Momota-kun.

A: "I like big portions and colorful things. Things that have an American feel to them."

/////

Q: Excuse me for asking a question...! When he goes to a restaurant such as a family restaurant to celebrate a sports festival or cultural festival, does Keebo have to split the bill?

A: "I split the bill. I have fun using the serving robots."

NOTE: Probably referring to restaurants in Japan that have automated servers. Cold, Keebo.

/////

Q: What kind of dreams does Ouma-kun have when he catches a cold?

A: Infinitely multiplying Keebos.

/////

Q: I wonder what would happen if you forced food and drink into Keebo's mouth?

A: It comes out of the lower half of his body as warm as a microwave oven.

/////

Q: I like Kuwata Leon, and I want to know more about him. Are there any stories about him that haven't been revealed yet? I'd like to know if there are any...

A: "I'm always looking for band members. Lately, I've been thinking about getting into TikTok, so I'm recruiting cute girls."

/////

Q: Please tell us what type of girl you like, Komaeda-kun!

A: "I love girls who are full of hope, and I hate girls who are full of despair too much to love them."

/////

Q: Ouma was held captive by Gonta overnight in a pretty hopeless room with a ton of bugs flying around, so how did he manage to survive?

A: "I stopped thinking about it."

/////

Q: Please tell me what type of girl Owada Mondo likes!!

A: At the very least, he seems to dislike noisy ones.

/////

Q: I want to know what type of girl Ouma likes!

A: "Anyone who will listen to anything I say."

/////

Q: Does Fujisaki have a favorite food?

A: Mini katsudon.

NOTE: Katsudon is a pork cutlet bowl.

/////

Q: Hi Mr. Kodaka! What kind of music does Monokuma like? Is it different than what Junko would like?

A: Monokuma likes enka.

NOTE: Enka is a Japanese style of music often compared to the blues or jazz.

/////

Q: whats korekiyos favorite holiday?

A: To make friends with his sister.

/////

Q: What did Jin think of the Reserve Course? Did he see them as a cash cow, like the researchers at Hope's Peak, or as talentless underachievers?

A: Originally it was meant to be a safety net and a growth opportunity, but at some point it became mainly about collecting payments, which caused some conflict.

/////

Q: [You guys are going to think I'm making this up, but I believe the question had something to do with how Nagito would ask Hajime to hang out with him. It's since been deleted, but I think there are still screenshots, which I will find and half-assedly machine translate ASAP.]

A: "First, I have to do something about Nanami."

/////

Q: [Similar to the above, I'm pretty sure this question had to do with how Nagito would ask someone out romantically. Again, it's since been deleted, but I think there are still screenshots, which I will, again, find and half-assedly machine translate ASAP.]

A: "I'll go out with you if you do something about Nanami."

/////

Q: Excuse me for asking a question! In Ultra Despair Girls, Fujisaki Taichi had a photo of Fujisaki [Chihiro] in a sailor uniform, looking like they were in their rebellious phase (?)! It's so cute! I'd really like to know how the photo was taken and if there are any untold details about the Fujisaki family!

A: No matter what Fujisaki [Chihiro] is, their father can't help but take pictures because they are a cute kid, but Fujisaki [Chihiro] themself is embarrassed, and since those around them are becoming more and more rebellious, they are acting a little like a rebel, but later they will probably feel sorry for their father and be depressed.

/////

Q: I want to know what type Saihara-kun likes!!!

A: People with a strong sense of purpose, regardless of gender.

/////

Q: When Kodaka's account was hacked on April Fool's Day, Ouma referred to Gokuhara as a friend from his school days, but is there anyone else Ouma could call a friend other than Gokuhara?

A: "Once I talk to someone, we're friends. If I meet someone, we're friends. However, I don't mind putting my friends through bad situations."

/////

Q: What should I do to date Ouma-kun?

A: I think he would be amused and come up to you if you first implanted a brain into an animal, or mounted in a car, or a full-body prosthesis.

🥬 APRIL 2024:

Q: Sorry if this question has already been asked. Ouma-kun reminds me of someone who can fall in love with anyone who is fun to be with. Does Ouma-kun care about gender, or can he fall in love with anyone he finds interesting regardless of gender? Does he only fall in love with interesting people ・・・? ��‍♀️ Thank you, Mr. Kodaka.

A: It has nothing to do with gender or romantic feelings, it's just about whether it's fun or not.

/////

Q: What kind of girls does Gonta Gokuhara like?

A: A girl who likes bugs.

/////

Q: I have a little question, what kind of sweets Kazuichi likes besides sweet drinks? Gummies, marshmellows, chocolate or maybe something else? :3

A: I think he likes colorful candy.

/////

Q: Even though you have a serious personality, Amami-kun, you look like you're frivolous to everyone around you, so is there a reason why you wear so many accessories? Or do you simply like fashion?

A: "I just like fashion. I dress the way I like when I can, especially since I'm in an environment where I can't dress fashionably."

/////

Q: What does Ouma Kokichi think about being short?

A: "I'm lucky that it doesn't feel intimidating."

/////

Q: Were the execution machines in Danganronpa 1 made by Soda from Danganronpa 2?

A: You've got a good point, don't you?

/////

Q: Excuse me for asking a question! Was Dr. Idabashi, who created the Ultimate Robot Keebo, also a student at Hope's Peak Academy?

A: I'll take that story!

/////

Q: who would you choose to solve a mystery and why? kirigiri, saihara or halara?

A: It would be great if the three of them performed together!

🌺 MAY 2024:

Q: What is Komaeda Nagito usually thinking about?

A: "Is there hope lost somewhere?"

/////

Q: What did Kamukura-kun think of Hinata-kun?

A: The most boring.

/////

Q: Which Danganronpa character do you think would like shark movies?

A: Soda.

/////

Q: Excuse me for asking a question! Is the story about the school festival in the Danganronpa original drama CD written by Kodaka-san? There is a scene in the drama where Fujisaki wants to wear a cute apron, which was quite unexpected for Fujisaki in the main story, so it was a shock. Was there a possibility that Fujisaki would embrace cute things in the main story as well?

A: I think I only wrote the very first one. The one that has a white and black disc. If I remember correctly.

/////

Q: I’m curious, What kind of person does Kokichi like?

A: rich person

/////

Q: Excuse me for asking a question! I think that in the articles(?) released during the development stage there were many scenes that were not in the main story. Were these scenes faked to hide the contents of the main story, or were they actually there during production? I'm curious if there were any scenes where Fujisaki-kun was suspected in court!

[This person included this image:]

A: This is an image made up for a proposal. It was made before the story even existed.

☀️ JUNE 2024:

Q: How many characters in Danganronpa will listen to Komaeda's long speeches until the end?

A: None.

/////

Q: I'd like to know something about Komaeda Nagito's childhood, even if it's something trivial!!

A: "I wore diapers."

/////

Q: I'm curious how Komaeda-kun would express his feelings if he fell in love with someone.

A: He'd put you in a very unhappy situation in order to make you feel the hope of happiness.

/////

Q: Hello, Kodaka! It's an honor to ask you a question... so how can we interpret Nagito's ambiguous relations with certain characters in the series? Just saying.

A: Please interpret it as you wish.

/////

Q: Were Shinguji-kun's parents aware of his relationship with his sister? If so, what did they think about it?

A: I'll keep my mouth shut because if I mention it, I'll get in a horrible lot of trouble.

NOTE: Kodaka's talking as himself here, pretending like if he says anything he'll get hurt in some way. Don't take this as solid fact, but I think the implication here is less an IRL one (Spikechun would be mad) and more an in-universe one (Kork and Korkette would do something to you). But, again: that is me and my manager's theory.

/////

Q: Would Togami also use polite language when speaking to someone higher up in the organization?

A: He does not use honorifics. Byakuya is Byakuya.

/////

Q: Why did Kamukura's hair grow so long and his eyes change color?

A: Abnormal development.

/////

Q: Who is the most possible female character that would or might have a romantic relationship with Komaeda during Danganronpa 2? (Only characters in Danganronpa 2)

A: female character?

NOTE: The infamous post. It's reaaaaaaal.

/////

Q: Excuse me for asking! Keebo is a school uniform wearing robot, but what about summer uniforms? Are there times when he no longer wears a school uniform?

A: [His summer uniform is a] cooling fan installed on the side.

/////

Q: If Hinata-kun were to be punished, what do you think it would be like? I think he would die a boring death quickly.

A: Incidentally, I once came up with the idea of punishing him by freezing both his hands and feet with liquid nitrogen, and then shocking him to death as he watching them get crushed by a hammer… but of course I rejected the idea.

/////

Q: Togami-kun may be the most handsome among 1, 2, and V3, but who are the other students who can be called handsome? I think Ishimaru-kun might actually fall into the handsome guy category!

A: Keebo in terms of being well-groomed and having no skin problems.

/////

Q: Since Nagito Komaeda often says that despair is a stepping stone to hope, I don't have an image of Nagito Komaeda being troubled. However, I would like to hear what kind of worries he has if any!

A: If she were to become an adult, it would be Peko. The one who surpasses her is Tsumiki.

NOTE: As in, he'd worry about Peko or Mikan. Now, whether Kodaka means Geeto would worry about them as people or over the fact that they'll kick his ass, that's less clear. But they're on his mind.

🎇 JULY 2024:

Q: A question from a Teruteru fan (keeping with the topic of it being hot outside): Who do you think is the character with the most romantic potential for Hanamura?

A: Hanamura.

/////

Q: Hello sensei, I have a question. I'm seeing a controversy going on right now with overseas fans being attacked by people who are associating Komaeda with female characters using this post. Is Komaeda really gay? Or is this just a joke post? It's said to be official information, but is it true?

A: It's so hopeless. The more hopeless it is, the brighter hope shines.

NOTE: This was about the infamous Female Character? post.

/////

Q: How do you view women and men, Komaeda? Does he have different opinions about them or is he simply indifferent to both genders?

A: Ask Komaeda himself.

NOTE: I probably won't be archiving many more of the Komaeda sexuality posts unless they're particularly funny or insightful, because a lot of them are repetitive. Sorry. Kodaka's not budging, y'all.

/////

Q: Can Komaeda drive?

A: With his luck.

/////

Q: If there was a cut-in where Togami would rebuttal, what do you think he would say?

A: "Bow down, you fools!"

/////

Q: If Nagito were to play videogames, which game and/or genre is his favorite?

A: Gorilla Tag

NOTE: Like the Steam VR game...? Maybe? Unless this is referring to something I can't parse out. Kind of hilarious to imagine Nagito as a return to monke guy, though.

/////

Q: What's Momota's favorite planet?

A: The first one he'll discover.

/////

Q: Since Matsuda Yasuke worked on the Kamukura project, did he perform the operation?

A: More or less, you know what I mean?

NOTE: Disclaimer on this one, as we're not 100% sure what he's trying to say or if he's just being silly as usual. We think he's casually implying that Matsuda outlined the experiment but didn't actually perform it, so he kind of did "do" the operation in a symbolic/spiritual sense. Especially since we believe it's canon Matsuda did not wield the scalpel so to speak? If we recall correctly? Regardless, if anyone can shed light on this, we'd be appreciative. Completely unrelated: his use of "わかるっしょ" wakarussho made my manager laugh, as she says that's something no middle aged man would say. It's more of a teenaged girl/gyaru kind of thing, but Kodaka often talks like this apparently. Channeling Junko...

/////

Q: If Saihara-kun were to be executed, what do you imagine it would be?

A: He wakes up in a hospital after the ending of Danganronpa V3 and it was all just a dream with him in a vegetative state.

/////

Q: What would it be like if Ouma-kun was punished?

A: It's live action. And the actors are amateurs who just monotone "It's a lie!"

[shizukateal]

Grimm Variations - Episode One Review: Cinderella

Ok, starting with the heavy hitter aren't we Grimm Variations? Really have that much confidence in yourself in spite of your kinda ugly art direction? Ok. Alright. I see how it is.

GATHER 👏 ROUND 👏 CHILDREN 👏 LET'S 👏 TALK 👏 ABOUT 👏 GOOD 👏 VS 👏 BAD 👏 SUBVERSION 👏 SLASH 👏 DARK 👏 TAKES.

This is actually a pretty fascinating example, since it has both cases simultaneously.

(sorry for the shitty gif, I don't know how to reduce size without sacrificing quality)

Let's start from the beginning: This version of Cinderella takes place somewhen at the intersection of the Meiji and Showa Periods in Japan, which is to say in the Roaring 20's. Instead of our usual protagonist, the story centers on Makiko and Sawako, our prospective Evil Stepsisters, as their mother Tsuruko, a former geisha, marries Viscount Otawara, who has a single daughter: Kyoko. Kyoko enthusiastically welcomes her new family with open arms, even gifting precious things to her new sisters, who clearly love the luxuries of the social ladder that they've climbed. However things take a turn for the dark as Kyoko starts manipulating everyone around the house with wounded gazelle gambits to convince them that her sisters are mistreating her and usurping her place. The story thus becomes about Makiko and Sawako going to the ball (hosted by a count's son) to try and escape their Evil Little Stepsister.

There's also some background stuff at the start of the episode about the brothers grimm and that little girl Charlotte up there, who appears as a living doll of Kyoko's, but since none of that is explained here we're just gonna focus on what this dark take says thematically about the tale of Cinderella.

Right from the beginning the overturn starts when the first scene makes it clear that Cinderella's dad holds all the power in the relationship with the Evil Stepmother, whereas the Grimm and Perrault versions make her the one wearing the pants. It's never explicitly stated in either of them, but it's natural to infer that the Stepmother is of a higher peerage than Cinderella's Dad to explain how she would hold power over him and his daughter when trying to rationalize the story, and it's a common plot point in adaptations. However, this alone a subversion does not make. After all, if you read trashy romance in aristocratic settings (like I do), you know that it is extremely common for social climbers to be presented as sniveling usurpers, who get arrogant and greedy and turn into bullies the moment they have a modicum of luxury and rank in spite of their Inferior Manners (unless they are the protagonist of course). Lots of Cinderella stories follow that formula.

And that's exactly what Kyoko uses against her stepsisters.

Makiko and Sawako are stupid. If their unrefined manners are forgivable and a simple matter of environment and time, the way they openly slobber over and covet the riches of their new house makes them no favors. When they think one of the servants stole jewelry from them (and it was a piece that Kyoko had given them at that) they immediately get angry and physically aggressive towards a person whom they were equal in rank perhaps mere days ago. It takes them too long to stop and realize that hey, no servant would openly flaunt a piece they'd stolen from their master, so maybe something else is afoot, but by then it's too late. The other servants of the house can no longer trust them, so of course they continually take the side of the poor, defenseless little mistress Kyoko.

The tale so turns into an interesting mix of one-part hitchcokean aristocratic horror-thriller, impulsed in part by the flaws of the protagonists, and I'd say around a quarter-part view into the hypocrisies of class. Makiko and Sawako's refusal to engage with the servants with respect and compassion, trying to act the rank they've ascended to, cuts them from a support network, even as they are handed wealth and luxury. However it is undeniable that because of their lowly origins and etiquette people view them with scorn, distrust, and antipathy, a fact that is driven home when they are the ones who get mean whispers and comments upon entering the ball. They don't stop from being victims in the narrative just because they aren't likeable. By contrast, Kyoko may wear old plain clothes and do house work, but because she's nice to the staff and is seen as the legitimate blood heir, everyone looks at her with compassion and chucks her unnaturally cheery disposition towards her circumstances to good breeding, to the point that she gets away with poisoning her stepmother for years until she dies.

Likewise, at the scene of the ball the sisters fail spectacularly at captivating their prospective Prince with their uncouth behavior, so all our Cinderella has to do is be pretty and make a scene in front of everyone for things to take its predestined course. Tsuruko dies that night thanks to her stepdaughter forcibly feeding her one last cup of bleach before she leaves. And even though everybody witnesses the sisters grieving over their mother's corpse, nobody has sympathy for them the next day, when Makiko becomes the head of the family at Kyoko's (clearly secret) behest. The moment the Prince appears and declares his intention to marry Kyoko, Makiko and Sawako are expediently given the boot to the ass and thrown out of the house. Thus both of them are forever expelled from aristocratic society... and forever free from Kyoko.

Cinderella has followed her usual course of ascending to a higher to a social strata while reclaiming her lost position thanks to the intervention of a powerful man... But it's the Evil Stepsisters who have escaped an abusive situation by leaving the comforts of status behind, which goes very specifically against the message the original story gives. What's more this is due to their own character development: they knew that Kyoko would sabotage them if they tried to escape her via marriage, so they baited her into pulling a stunt and deliberately sabotaged their own chances with the Prince so that he would take her away from them.

THAT, my guys, is actual subversion. THAT is commentary. It's impeccably brilliant...! Or at least it would be were it not for the biggest flaw in the story: Cinderella herself.

Near the end of the first act the sisters try to warn their mother about Kyoko's nefarious acts. Of course, she doesn't believe them. After all, she asks outloud, what does Kyoko get out of acting like that? It seems that the scriptwriter didn't realize that asking that question explicitly in dialogue would put it at the forefront of the audience's thoughts before the whole thing went into print.

I mean the script makes Kyoko talk about her family being her precious "dolls" or whatever but that explains absolutely jackshit when her attitude is so inconsistent. Keep in mind, this Cinderella kills her own dad when he unwittingly threatens to disturb her status quo and starts the second act by saying out loud that she fears the situation she's created might end, but after the sisters do succeed in suckering her she just goes "oh well :) thems the breaks" and it's implied she'll move on to torturing the Prince for shits and giggles and that's it.

Alas, however, I must be fair and truthful in my final assessments. I came into this series expecting vapid edginess and mediocrity and while it hasn't exactly disappointed on that front, it has just enough thematic juice to move into the tier I was most afraid of: trash but still good enough to be frustrating. Join me next week for more suffering if it keeps up this way.

[blueywrites]

a lil update:

the first major scene of turtle dove & the crow part five is complete, and we're about 4k in, so progress is happening! no eta yet, but I'd say we're about a quarter in, and this scene was one of the harder ones to get through, so progress will likely move faster now.

also, I couldn't get that one fanart from a few days ago out of my head, so I'm writing a filthy oneshot about our older, scruffier, trailer trash drug dealer Eddie 'cause I just had to, guys. How could I resist that 'good babes get free rides' tattoo, ya know? this should be coming in the next day or so, so keep an eye out!

here's a little (basically sfw) excerpt below the cut. I think it gives a good idea of the vibes 😌

You started hanging around because Eddie would likely offer to smoke you out if you did; he let you hang around because he didn't much care either way, and he didn't find you hard to look at. That led to casual sex whenever you saw each other, usually when you'd come by a couple times a month to restock your weed supply. And the sex was great. Eddie had this ability to make you feel special in the moment without having any expectations about whatever-you-and-he-were as soon as you pulled your panties back on, leaving you free to date whoever you wanted when you left his trailer.

It was ecstasy to have all of his attention focused on you in those moments because, though Eddie looks like a mean bastard, he gets off on your pleasure. He's not one to make you feel used or neglected; he's a thorough lover. And he has a knack for straddling the perfect line between sweet and sour. He'd praise you then humiliate you in the next breath, and it drove you wild. Kept you coming back even though he never expressed interest in taking you out or doing anything with you other than just getting high, watching TV, and fucking you 'til you screamed.

And then, at some point, you found yourself declining guys' offers for dinner or drinks. You just didn't feel like going out anymore because slogging through the dating scene to find 'Mr. Right' was exhausting - at least, that's what you told yourself. And Eddie started calling you sometimes, saying he thought he'd let you know he just got in a new strain you'd probably like, some of Rick's fancy shit. Soon enough, you went from seeing him twice a month to twice a week, sometimes more. And slowly but surely, you began to notice a change in yourself. You'd started staring at all his tattoos and wondering what the stories were behind them. Feeling an odd flutter when you'd flop down next to him and he'd sling his arm around your shoulder without a thought. Laying tangled in his musty bedsheets, and when he'd leave to go to the bathroom, secretly burying your nose against his pillow because the smell of him had suddenly become... comforting.

Things were changing for you, and you really hoped they were for him, too. 'Cause if not, it seems your traitorous heart has determined you'll be in for a world of hurt.

[lumisails]

I need to give my two cents about the whole Max' matter. I have been trying to find a coherent way to share my thoughts for days and I think I've got it.

I'd also like to point out a few scenes which are very relevant to both Max' background and the fact she understands how this world works and what the show is trying to show us by telling this story.

This is gonna be a long post with quotes and I'm sorry if I'm not as eloquent as some of the brilliant minds in this fandom but here we go.

First of all, obviously, the scene in 3x03 where she tells her story to Anne. She talks about watching from outside. And yes, it is a very sad story and also a story which was unfortunately, the story of many slave children back then. But I think it's important to point out something here. To quote: "When I was very small, I would sneak out of the slave quarters at night to the main house. I would stand outside the window to the parlor. I would stand amongst the heat and the bugs and the filth on my toes to see inside."

Ever since she was a child, Max has been observing. We know the rest of this speech and how she points out that her sister had safety, warmth, a home and how it tells us what Max' ultimate goal is - peace, ambitions aside. But I think it's also important to note that it tells us she has always been an observer and that is one of the things that makes her one of the best players in the game. Does the show try to frame her as "good" or "bad" because of that? No. As it doesn't with any other character. It doesn't try to tell us a tragic backstory just to we empathize with her. She has a tragic backstory because she was a slave child. The difference between her and Madi is that she has been observing how society works from a young age and has always been trying to find a way to fit herself in it, while Madi has been taught to reject it from a young age. But their origin is the same.

But of course, the show is written to make us see the ugly side of the empire. How it takes and oppresses, so it's much easier for empathize with Madi than Max, but had Madi been raised the same way that Max has instead of living isolated, would she still carry the same idealism? Or would she be more like Max? Had Max been raised isolated from the world with only people like her, would she still want to insert herself in that society? Or would she be a part of the cause?

Madi and Max tell the same story from two completely different sides and points of view but when you put this show under black and white lenses, good and evil and whatnot, it's much easier to see Max as a bad person and Madi as good.

But they are both people.

Anyway. Carrying on, we have Max' conversation with Jack in 4x06. We have been watching her be a player this whole time and we know how smart she is. But this is the moment she says it clearly.

"You cannot fight civilization from the outside in."

This is the moment the show also slaps all of us as an audience on the face. You cannot, indeed. Flint's cause is a lost one. We all know that as an audience, there's no way not to know that when we're talking about a semi-historical show, which is supposed to be a prequel to Treasure Island. Had the British Empire fallen in Treasure Island? No.

So, when Max says that, she is simply stating the truth. Not being a villain who's going against Flint's cause. Not being a selfish person who only cares about her own survival, but simply stating facts. And Jack recognizes that. He does so so much that even if he is absolutely mad at Max in this moment, he stops fighting her, calms himself down and does what she says. Despite what that could do with his relationship and alliance to Flint too, because he knows she is right.

And that is also a result of all of her observing! The thing she has been doing ever since she was a kid. Max calculates everything. But that comes from a need of protection too. She was vulnerable once! Look at where that took her. She didn't have a whole society of people like her isolated in an island to protect her. She has fended for herself for God knows how long, and she has observed. Learned ways that even a woman like her could survive in this society. It's not because Max knows how to navigate in it that it means it will never be good to her. It hasn't been good to her at all. She had to keep slicing parts of herself to survive. What we get is an illusion that she has not been affected by this as much as the other characters, but she has. It's in every nuance of Jessica's brilliant acting.

And finally, we have Idelle's speech in 4x08.

"Cause despite the world reminding her every day of her life that she's undeserving of being given anything by it, that she was unworthy of what little she'd managed to take from it… despite all of that, she never believed a word of it. That woman has been fighting the whole goddamn world since the day she was born."

Again, the show reminds us of where she comes from. And Max may not be a historical character but she is in a way still. (tw for SA) Many slave owners took their slaves and had children with them. And what became of these children? They were also bought and sold, like many others. As Max herself points out that it happened to her.

Max was not a real person, but she's realistic enough. And like any other realistic character in this show, she is filled with flaws and good qualities, but at the end of the day, her flaws and actions were shaped by how the world has treated her since the day she was born. It's how Black Sails frames everyone's stories. This is why we get so many episodes showing Flint's. This is a story about stories and above all, we cannot ignore that it's also trying to tell us how each of these characters backgrounds' shape them. And we cannot forget this is also a story about stories of people that could have existed. Whether Max' triumph in the end is a good or a bad one, it's up to every watcher to decide. But we cannot deny that it is an important story to be told for what she represents.

Just as important as Madi's.

[phoenixradiant]

Writer Questionnaire

My thanks to @paeliae-occasionally for the tag! This gets pretty long so I'm putting it under the cut

About how long have you had your writing tumblr/writeblr?

Dunno, probably a bit over half a year at this point? Was it around February?

What led you to create it?

@ theidealistcynic (not actually @-ing him but he doesn't have a nickname like I do so) had one and he saw some people being less vague than he was and was like "Hey Fen here's a place where you can anonymously rant!" So now I'm here.

What’s your favourite thing about the writeblr community?

Probably the way we can joke about each others' characters. I don't do it too too much because I've gotten aspects of my mutuals' characters wrong before, but it's always fun either way.

What’s one thing you’d like your mutuals to know about you?

If you ever want real-life advice, I'm always willing to oblige. Can't promise it'll be helpful, but I'll try. You're all people with lives, same as me, and I'd be remiss not to try to help when I can.

Is there anything you’d like to see more of on your dash?

I actually made a post about this awhile back, but I'd love to see more unprompted rambling. I run across a lot of tag games, which are great, but not as great as someone choosing what they want to talk about for themselves.

Which wips or writing projects are you noodling about, lately?

I'm actually sworn to just the one until I finish Act II at the very least. Which means it's Kelovir, has been for awhile, and will be awhile longer.

How long have you been working on them?

This is a pretty loaded question to be perfectly honest. I've been working on the prose draft for a bit over a year and three-quarters at this point. But the larger world it's set in has been lodged in my mind for over a decade. I suppose it came to fruition in what can reasonably be called its current form in late 2021/early 2022.

Do you remember what inspired them/what got you started?

No. Ink runs through my veins, light resides in my lungs, lifting me into the sky to see worlds and powers beyond our own. It just sort of happened, kinda like how you just happen to think some things taste better than others. I prefer to write rather than play sports or draw. It's always been that way, I suspect it will always be that way.

How much time, in your best estimation, do you spend thinking about them?

Too much for how little I write.

When someone asks the dreaded, “what do you write about,” question, what do you usually say?

I'm an antisocial prick to 97% of people, so I don't often get asked that. My non-writer friends and family are all decently smart avid readers, so they're familiar with a decent number of fantasy classics and figure that's what I write because that's what I read. Among my writer friends we're all SSF writers, so we don't bother asking for generics. If someone asked that question right now, though, I'd probably say something along the lines of "A fantasy story about finding purpose in a world hellbent on destroying it." Most people who don't know what fantasy is proceed to disparage it if I bother to explain, so I leave off the explanation usually.

Name any characters you created. side characters, protagonists, antagonists, characters who’ve never been written, your first original abomination; whomever you’d like!

Hmm. I'm going to name Jikolovor. He's a very minor character who shows up for one scene with Maiph and Lycoris, but he has a lot of backstory importance for Radiaten specifically. He's an odd fellow who is very big on order and intentionality. He doesn't think of emotions as bad, but they must be in agreement with reason, and he doesn't hate freedom, but thinks it must be bounded to certain moral lines.

Who’s the most unhinged?

Kesh Anyraz. Unfortunately his whole personality is being unhinged so that's hardly an interesting answer. Cellic gets pretty unhinged for a bit there, but he comes out of it, so the character who was once on hinges that has since become unhinged would probably be Anesaru. She's just sane enough to be really dangerous, but just insane enough to... do what she does as a villain (spoilers).

Who comes the most naturally for you to write?

Cellic feels very comfortable to me because I understand and enjoy him. Kar is comfortable-ish because his narration style and speaking style is very informal. Narra isn't ever very comfortable, but her difficult moments are never as difficult to write as the other two either. As to non-PoV characters, Radiaten has a very consistent personality and shares my sensibilities for when is appropriate to quip, so he's about as close to a personality self-insert as I get. So not super close but you get the point.

Do you ever cringe at them?

Only when I'm intentionally writing them to be cringeworthy. Other than that, I have an actor's sensibilities when it comes to earnesty in art. I cringe at real life far more often than I do at my characters, not because people in real life are earnest, nothing against that, but because I'm socially inept and even I can see how tactless and out-of-place they are.

How much control do you feel you have over your characters? do they ever “write themselves,” refuse to cooperate, or do things you didn’t expect? to what degree? are some less cooperative than others?

I'm a student of the "driver's seat" school of art, so I'm in control the whole way along. Characters can nudge me certain directions, sometimes I decide on the spur of the moment to add an extra scene or something, but ultimately I decide on the start and end points and most of how they get there. Sometimes that changes, but individual characters are never the cause of that. It's always two or three characters in confluence or, more often, a more thematic moment. I'm pretty good at wrangling my characters into shape... it just sometimes means writing new scenes takes awhile.

Do you enjoy people asking questions about your characters? and do you have a preferred means of receiving said questions? for example, as asks, as replies, as reblogs, as tag notes, as comments on ao3, etc.

Nods in laconic appreciation.

What makes you want to follow another writeblr account? do you follow ‘em as you see ‘em, or take time scoping out the blog to make sure you align with its content? do you follow based on wips, or vibes?

I follow people who I consistently see making or reblogging posts that I'm interested in. Simple as that. I suppose I can be a bit stingy with my follows, but a lot of it is that I don't want to find out they made one good writing post and then spend the rest of their time complaining about how everyone they know irl except them is a selfish bastard who deserves to be bound, gagged, and thrown into the ocean (yes I have someone in mind, no it's not any of you, don't worry). I am, I have discovered, a more plot-focused reader than a lot of people, and so I appreciate writeblrs who talk about their story as a cohesive unit, rather than just plot or just characters or just world. The weaving of all that together is definitely something I look for.

What makes you decide against following?

Oh whoops probably should've saved part of last question for this one. Ah well. Openly hostile and ungrateful people, mostly. Show common courtesy and you'll be fine.

Do you interact with non-mutuals often?

I mean... Do I?

Okay, so I looked into it, and I do routinely interact with a few non-mutuals, but I follow all three of them. I don't remember the last time I interacted with someone who I am not now following (actually I think I reblogged one writing advice post about dialogue tags). So not much, but sometimes, I guess.

Solid meh

Do your mutuals’ characters occupy space in your noodle?

A couple of them do. Not all of them, but a decent number. There's like a critical mass of information after which they can reliably stay in my head. The ones who I hear more about are the ones who take up occasional residence in my imagination.

This was fun! NP tagging @the-ellia-west, @pluppsauthor, and @somethingclevermahogony!

[thekatebridgerton]

Here me out. I think s4 could be philoise. Sophie is not introduced yet & even if the ball happened in s3 dont forget there I'd suppose to be a gap between their 1 meeting to when the story takes off. Plus 1 of the reason we're polin now is because they don't want to aggravate the fan, well the same applies for philoise. Add the actress playing Marina is sick she might not be up to return to a project so close to what she's going through her story could be wrapped in 1 scene or with her not even present in s3, paving the way for s4 philoise.

Okay so before I answer this I'd first like to encourage all of you to support Ruby Barker, who plays Marina. Like I always do. She's an amazing actress who has been trough a lot and deserves all the love.

Now for those of you who don't know the context, Ruby Barker was quite open about her hospitalization in May 2022 due to mental health problems. She has subsequently been posting pictures of what we assume is a happy and healthy path to recovery. BUT we haven't heard anything about her taking on new projects. Which likely means she's not ready to go back to work yet. (And honestly, acting, is a job, glamourous as it is, if any of us had a job that caused us to have mental health struggles, the least recommended thing would be to go back to that job, until healing was well and truly accomplished)

Because of the situation with Marina's actress I do think s4 is going to be Benophie. I love Phillip as much as any other Philoise fan, but 1) Benophie fans were left pretty high and dry after they polin season was announced 2) Eloise has a lot of growing up to do, before she's ready to start her journey towards true love. At least with Benedict, we know he is open to finding love.

I disagree with what you said about not wanting to aggravate Philoise fans. Because, and I say this with all the kindness in the word, Philoise fans are less rabid than Polin fans. They're even less rabid than Benophie fans. (by a landslide but they are). You will find that when push comes to shove, Philoise fans will be happier to wait for s5 than Benophie fans ever would (and I say this with all the love in the word, Benophie fans, you are as scary as the Polins)

In fact, with the recent recasting of Francesca, there is a possibility that s4 will mash up An Offer From A Gentleman and about half of what happens in When He was Wicked.

I'd also like to add something very very obvious about TSPWL. that for Philoise to happen benophie NEEDS TO EXIST FIRST. at least one quarter of TSPWL involves Eloise and Phillip going in and out of My Cottage. The philoise proposal happens in Sophie's study and the scene where Phillip saves Benophie's son from a fever is pretty pivotal for Phillip and Eloise character development. Netflix can't just cut that part out and I will seriously riot if they decide to substitute those scenes of Philoise bonding with Benophie, with Kanthony or Polin.

the point of showing in s1 and s2 how much closer Eloise is with Benedict than she is with the rest of her siblings. Is to draw a parallel of how they both fall inlove with people who love them and accept them for who they are. Both in Sophie, who has always seen Benedict as his own person, and never confuses him with Bridgerton #1 or Bridgerton #3. And with Phillip who sees everything that people consider flaws in Eloise and celebrates her for it.

isn't it also interesting that Eloise and Benedict have the only 2 Bridgerton spouses who have suffered childhood physical abuse as well. Because here are two people who need to be loved so desperately it hurts because they have received so little love in their pasts, and that just tugs at that weak spot inside of Benedict and Eloise. Because they can give all the love and they just want to feel needed but still maintain their independence and holding on to their right to do what they want in life. Sophie and Phillip not only need them, but also support their individuality and encourage their self expression to the extreme.

So when the Philoise season does come Benophie kinda needs to have already happened.

and that's the tea

[steely-eyedmissileman]

Annihilation (2018)

i feel rewritten on a cellular level, which is ironic, given the plot of the film. i'd previously read the book (just the first one in the trilogy, which may have been a mistake), but the book didn't scare me or change me the way this film did. let's start with the laundry list of things in this film that set me up to like it, without commentary on their goodness: natalie portman, oscar isaac, tessa thompson, non-linear time, freaky alien stuff, colors, actors playing two different characters distinguished only by hairstyle, duplication, science, physics, etc. now here's the stuff i can say in a sentence or two: this film is visually stunning. the cinnamon topography is excellent. every shot has a reason to be there, every scene builds to the next. the score is unnerving, beautiful, terrifying. it tells you which emotion to feel, in ways that never feel overbearing. in terms of the technical aspects of filmmaking, annihilation has it.

so now let's talk about some interesting stuff. first, this movie has made me realize that i like horror movies (thrillers?). i'm a scaredy cat, and i don't think i could find a single person who knows me that wouldn't agree with that sentiment. but i liked being scared here. we don't have time to delve into the personal growth aspect of that, but i think it's fair to say that this movie scares you for a reason. the terror builds the plot. suffice it to say that this movie wouldn't work without the scariness. which is a deeply weird thing to say because, to make this movie not scary, you'd have to cut at least a quarter of it, probably more. the fear is the point, but without the fear, the emotional content gets lost. the value of the resolution depends on being afraid for lena. without lena's fear, the bit with the eyes at the end is incomprehensible. we're afraid, yes, but afraid for a reason. having said that, i don't like gore. there was too much of it.

moving on, let's talk about aliens. i don't think it will surprise many for me to say i like aliens. looking at the trappings of this blog displays an obsession with space, and that often translates to a fondness for aliens. there are types of aliens i like more though. the less like humans they are, the more i like them. if aliens are the problem in your story, it's a bit passe to frame them like the other side of a human conflict. in general, I'm a little bit over person vs person conflicts. anyone can write about fighting other people. it's a large portion of history. what interests me are person vs self and person vs nature. there's some person vs self here, but it's difficult to portray that in films, particularly in films with action set pieces, scary soundtracks, and other weird shit. person vs nature, though, that's something horror and scifi are both well-suited for. the idea of aliens as unstoppable force and immovable object is great. the aliens (alien?) in annihilation don't have nameable desires. they're just doing what they're doing. aliens gotta alien. life's gotta live. let's bypass entirely the question of whether this force is alive, in any sense of the word. more importantly, the aliens are not explicable in human terms. that's why humanity's quest to understand them is fundamentally doomed. humans are great at applying their own motivations to things, bad at accepting inexplicable or absent motivations. (see solaris by stanislaw lem, among many other works on this topic) the aliens here are not a character, so much as an expression of the callous juggernaut of nature.

now, story structure time! this is a mystery, and it does the thing that all good mysteries should do. it gives you information well before you need it and then prevents you from processing that information until it becomes relevant, at which point the revelation is both new and expected. you can't figure out what the shimmer is doing until tessa thompson (i've forgotten here character's name) tells you. however, you've seen the physical expression of this so many times that her words just give structure to thoughts you've thought for many minutes. mysteries that aren't mysteries. and yet, it's a mystery. we know that the shimmer is alien (the film told us in the first couple minutes) but none of the characters do. thus, the mystery the characters are experiencing and the mystery the viewers are experiencing are two different things. they both work, more or less.

but what interests me most about this film is the telos of it all. telos is a greek word that literally translates to end (according to google). ancient greek philosophers used it to describe the ultimate desire of an object (humans can have a variety of teloses, acorns have one: to grow into an oak tree). in literary criticism, teleological is used to talk about the extent to which a story is built to reach its own end. annihilation gives itself a telos within the first half hour of the movie: find out what's in the lighthouse. lighthouses, in themselves, have an implicit telos. the end of a lighthouse is the light at the top. the lighthouse is a structure that invites you to ascend, to discover its secrets by moving upward. the film points us upwards in another way. we know that this phenomenon is alien and it fell to earth. the answer to the characters' questions is undeniably upward. from above, the aliens fell. the characters must move inward to the lighthouse and then upwards.

now, those of you who remember the end of this film have a significant question here. no one goes up the lighthouse. we see the stairs, but lena never tries to climb them. instead, we reach the lighthouse and go downward. the film denies its own telos, contributing to the feeling of wrongness about the circumstances themselves. annihilation set up an ending point (particularly for those who have read the book) and then proceeded to deny the viewer the chance to reach that ending point. we will never know what was at the top of the lighthouse because that wasn't the point actually. the point was below. the point was within. lena and kane both confront their own mirrors. because the aliens weren't the goal of the story (they were a tool for the story to use to bring about its actual goal). the goal is that final scene, the reconciliation of kane and lena. it's a story about people dressed up in the trappings of aliens. that's good scifi, folks, a story about humans. if a story isn't about people, why write it? why watch it?

[theuniversitychallengereview]

I wrote a blog called No Spoiler last year, about how easy it had been for me to avoid spoilers for the previous day's episode of The Challenge, and how that was an oddity in our information-dense, social-media flooded lives. Well, on Tuesday I innocently logged onto Twitter, having missed this week's episode due to my Book Club, and had the result spoiled for me. It was my own fault - as I said in the other post, when you log on to a Twitter account which is specifically for University Challenge then that is the kind of fire you are playing with. 

For the past few weeks, I've been watching the Netflix Tour de France documentary with my girlfriend. With no prior interest in the sport of cycling she really got into it (and really loved Wout van Aert, which did make me a bit jealous, but who doesn't?). Despite the fact that it was about last year's Tour, the result of which has been known for nearly a full twelve months, and despite the fact that we watched several stages of this year's race together, she made it to the final episode with no knowledge (besides her correct inclination that there was no way redacted would be coming back from such a large deficit going into the final few days) of the overall victor. 

What's the moral of this story? Nothing particularly profound, just that its interesting how siloed our consumption of things is. If I had to estimate, I'd say that I read/heard the fact that cyclist A beat cyclist B in the 2022 Tour de France more than a hundred times in the past month, but if you're not looking out for something, or if your personal Internet isn't pre-programmed to show you it then this sort of thing is far easier to avoid. 

It would be pretty funny, I think, if I did go ahead and not review this week's episode, but I've already spent a while looking up cool stats and I don't want to waste them, so with that in mind; here's your first Starter for Ten.

You can watch the episode here before reading my review...

Birkbeck were regulars in the early years of the Paxman era, appearing six times in the first nine series, culminating with victory in 2003, after which they weren't seen for seventeen years. Oxford Brookes, meanwhile, have only been on five times in total, making the quarter-finals twice.

Brookes skipper Manton buzzes early on the first starter, but he's wrong, and McMillan swoops in for Birkbeck to steal the points. An easy bonus set on films nets them a full house, before Manton makes up for his earlier mistake with epiphany. They grab a hat-trick on the Biafran war, but remain behind thanks to the incorrect interruption.

Another from McMillan stretched the Londoner's lead, but Gardner hit back for Brookes to keep things tight. McMillan is then able to give one of the coldest possible UC answers of all time when asked to complete the phrase written on Woody Guthrie's guitar, 'This machine... kills fascists". Rajan shows off his cricket credentials, scolding Birkbeck for mistaking a doosra for a googly, and demonstrating the bowling action at his desk. 

The first picture starter continues the ping-pong nature of the game so far, with Broadbent, eyebrows plastered in a kindly frown, quickest to recognise the Togo flag. He blitzes the bonuses too to tie the game. Two more consecutive starters for Brookes open up the biggest lead of the game, but Birkbeck fought back through Huntley and McMillan. 

It looks like no one knows the musical on the music starter, but Chadha guesses Funny Girl after hearing the lyric 'good for a laugh', which is excellent quizzing. After the bonuses we're back level, at 110 each. 

The scoring has been going at quite the clip and doesn't let up in the second half. Brookes get a couple to go ahead again, but three in a row from Birkbeck nudge them back in front. No one is allowed to build up too much momentum though, and Broadbent buzzes rapidly with games console to regain the advantage for Brookes. Its an absolute basketball match of a quiz, but who is going to be the one to score the dagger?

McMillan puts Birkbeck five points clear, and skipper Chadha gives Taylor Swift (an answer for the second time this series) to put the game beyond Brookes.

Birkbeck 220 - 205 Oxford Brookes

Phew! You can definitely see the effect of Rajan's quicker questioning here. 

This was the first match with a combined score of 400 or more since Durham thrashed Strathclyde 360-55 in 2018. You've got to go back to 2014 for the last match where both teams scored more than 200, when Trinity beat Manchester 285-205 in the quarters.

So despite the fact I think the average score is going to be a bit higher this series than in recent history, Oxford Brookes can count themselves supremely unlucky, and will definitely be returning as high-scoring losers. 

See you tomorrow for Southampton vs Christchurch

[funishment-time]

🔵 Kodaka BlueSky Q&As: Rain Code Characters (All)

⚠️ DISCLAIMER: Please be advised! Translations of all Japanese answers derive from a combination of Google Translate and my manager's three-quarters-remembered Japanese. We've tried our best to work out what he's saying, but there will be mistakes here and there. Do not take this as gospel!

To avoid spreading too much misinfo, where we're completely boggled about an answer, we've decided not to even make an attempt. We'll still list the post, but mark it accordingly.

➡️ AN IMPORTANT NOTE FROM KODAKA BEFORE READING:

First of all, the questions answered here are not official. Everything that is official is what is said within the work. In contrast, this is simply what Kodaka, the creator, thinks, and it is not the correct answer. Use this as a starting point to enjoy the depth of each character, or to say, "That's not right!" and enjoy it with your own interpretation. I think of this as a way of communicating with the characters who live in fiction. This is important, so please spread the word.

💕 FEBRUARY 2024:

Q: I love shinigami chan. Please make games forever!

A: YES

/////

Q: What happened to everyone at Amaterasu Company after the main story?

A: Yomi [Hellsmile] is growing magmatically angry with the opportunity to revolt while imprisoned…!

/////

Q: Why does Vivia wear such stringy underwear? Does he untie it every time he takes a bath or something?

A: I feel like he just goes in like that.

/////

Q: Was Vivia's umbrella tattoo done in Kanai? I was curious because that was the only tattoo related to rain.

A: I think he likes the gloomy rain. I'm sure he doesn't think Kanai Ward is so bad.

/////

Q: The pattern on Director Yakou's uniform is really cool, is there a reason for that?

A: I leave that up to Komatsuzaki-kun, but being a detective is, after all, a job in the underworld, so I think it's better to have that sort of shady side to it.

NOTE: Komatsuzaki is the guy behind Danganronpa and Rain Code's art.

/////

Q: [the question has since been deleted, but I remember it was about the ages of Master Detectives in Rain Code]

A: It varies quite a bit, but let me just say that most are in their 20s to late 30s. By the way, I'm 45. Oh, you didn't hear that.

/////

Q: How much does the director smoke in a day? That ashtray is disgusting.

A: That's probably three packs a day. I smoke half a pack a day. Oh, you didn't hear that.

NOTE: We're pretty sure this is about Chief Yakou.

/////

Q: I would like to hear about your impressions of the masked man, and what you were conscious of when writing. I will continue to support your work☔️

A: He's nonchalant, talks about himself without listening to what the other person has to say, but seems intelligent. That's the impression I get.

NOTE: This is about Rain Code's Makoto.

/////

Q: Kodaka-san!! Thank you for your wonderful works as always ₍ᐢ..ᐢ₎⊹ Amaterasu is exactly my type of organization (especially the head of security...!) Even if it's not a sub-story, I'd like to know if you have any small details that haven't been made public 🙏🏻💞

A: Thank you! Of all the Amaterasu characters, Komatsuzaki-kun was most enthusiastic about the robot researcher.

NOTE: We're pretty sure this is about either the character known as "Akira" or Yakou's wife.

/////

Q: A question about Rain Code: Are there plans to release a book that delves deeper into the backstories of the people who appeared in Chapter 0?

A: If there's a demand, I'd like to see a spin-off novel or something...

/////

Q: Excuse me for asking a question about Yuma, the main character of Raincode! What type of woman does Yuma like?

A: I wonder...! I think he's a pushover. lol

/////

Q: The names of the characters in Rain Code are sprinkled with elements of Japanese mythology, but is there any inspiration or backstory for this? Is there a reason why you named Makoto after the god of fire?

A: It all started with me wanting to incorporate a Japanese flavour.

/////

Q: Rain Code was really fun! I wonder if there will be an "if" story where the five train detectives (all real) arrive in Kanai Ward!? I'm ready to buy all the DLC and whatever else it takes👍

A: I would love to depict stories of their success. It would add more depth to Chapter 0.

/////

Q: Are there any characters who are certain that Halara's gender is this or that?

A: I don't think anyone can ask. Even if they did, Halara would probably think there's no point in answering. They might tell someone they like...

/////

Q: Mr. Kodaka, what is your impression of Director Yakou of Rain Code?

A: He's caring but also lazy, sloppy but cool... I think he's a very human detective.

/////

Q: Is Vivia's name a reference to the movie "Ghosts of the Sierra de Cobre"? Are there any other works that the names of the other characters are also based on?

A: I'm ashamed to say that I hadn't heard of that movie. The characters in Rain Code were named with an emphasis on giving them a stateless feel, and on the sound of the name.

/////

Q: Was there a deciding factor in casting Uchida Yuuma for the role of Seth?

A: I basically leave the casting up to the sound company. They did a very good job.

/////

Q: I'm sure Desuhiko has picked up as many women as there are stars in the sky, but does he actually have much experience in love?

A: Although he is not unpopular, he is most likely rejected quickly.

🍀 MARCH 2024:

Q: I'd like to know the ages of the Resistance members (even a rough estimate is fine if you haven't thought about it)! Since Iruka is planning to receive a birthday present from her parents, is she the youngest member?

A: Judging from his voice, Shachi sounds like he's 52 years old.

/////

Q: Excuse me.Who is most given chocolates on valentine day in raincode ?

A: Maybe, Vivia.

/////

Q: Why did Shinigami-chan give Halara-san the nickname "Hellara"?

A: I wanted Halara to be so stoic it drew Shinigami's attention.

/////

Q: There may not be sushi in Kanai Ward, but I'd like to know what your favorite sushi toppings are, folks at the detective agency.

A: Desuhiko likes sea urchins, Yakou likes mackerel, Vivia doesn't feel like eating, Halara likes maki rolls, and Fubuki tries to save the fish with time reversal.

/////

Q: [The question has since been deleted, but I believe it was about Seth's childhood.]

A: His childhood must have been similar to that of Jataro [Kemuri]...

/////

Q: I would like to hear about Martina's "calculation" of Yomi, which came up in a previous Rain Code interview. Did you have any stories in mind, Mr. Kodaka?

A: She thought she could use Yomi's favor to advance her own career.

/////

Q: I'd like to know the name of the Amaterasu Researcher who appears in Director Yakou's DLC!

A: His wife? It's a secret! I only tell people when I'm drunk, so... nope. (said cutely)

/////

Q: I'm guessing the age order of the train detectives is Zange > Melami > Zilch > Aphex > Pucci, is that correct?

A: There are various theories about the location of Melami [in that order].

🥬 APRIL 2024:

Q: Do special abilities have a genetic component? (e.g., Vivian's family is more likely to see spirits)

A: Sometimes it is and sometimes it is not. It is said that the Clockford family will rarely produce a child like this due to genetics.

/////

Q: Sorry if this has already been mentioned❗️ Harara Nightmare's gender is unknown, but do they ever wear feminine clothes like skirts as fashion?

A: "No. I only wear clothes that are easy to move in."

/////

Q: Halara is often depicted holding a lollipop, but do they have a favorite flavor?

A: Anything as long as it's sweet. It's to get the sugar needed for that person's brain.

/////

Q: I played Raincode to the end ☔️ I love the masked man...! I'd be happy if you could tell me anything about him.

A: "I made the masks myself. I made them suspicious on purpose to scare people away."

NOTE: This is about Rain Code's Makoto again.

/////

Q: A question! I'm curious about what method the Raincode super detectives used to get into Kanai Ward! What other routes could they have taken besides the Amaterasu Express!? I'd be happy if you could tell me who got there and how!

A: I'm saving [this info] so I can make a special edition someday! lol

/////

Q: who would you choose to solve a mystery and why? kirigiri, saihara or halara?

A: It would be great if the three of them performed together!

🌺 MAY 2024:

Q: What do you think about animals other than dogs and cats, Halara?

A: "More precious than humans."

/////

Q: Can Chief Yakou cook?

A: "I can make lazy meals."

☀️ JUNE 2024:

n/a

🎇 JULY 2024:

n/a

[youalmostcapturedjacksparrow]

𝕁𝕒𝕔𝕜 𝕊𝕡𝕒𝕣𝕣𝕠𝕨'𝕤 ℝ𝕠𝕤𝕖 ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝟙𝟞

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14 | Chapter 15 | Chapter 16 | Chapter 17

Chapter 16: Going back.

General POV

The dauntless had arrived at Isla the Muerta. And Norrington and crew were in dinghy's on save distance.

Norrington did bring Jack along. So he was behind them in the dinghy.

'I don't care for the situation.' Norrington said.

'Any attempt to storm the caves could turn into an ambush.'

'Not if you're the one doing the ambushing.' Jack told him he was climbing forward in the dinghy towards Norrington.

'I go in and convince Barbossa to send his men out with their little boats.

You and your mates return to the Dauntless and blast them with your little cannons. ' Jack explained his plan.

'What do you have to lose?' Jack asked Norrington.

'Nothing I'd lament being rid of.' Norrington replied

'Now to be quite honest with you, there's still a risk to those aboard the Dauntless, which includes the future Mrs. Commodore and her best friend Madam Rivers. ' Jack said

Back to the Dauntless.

'Sorry but it's for your own safety' two soldiers said towards Elizabeth. who was struggling getting her towards the captain quarters.

Rose followed with two guards but she didn't give any struggle.

'The commodore, there's something I have to tell him!

The pirates , they're cursed They can't be killed!' Elizabeth shouted. As she got pushed inside the captain's quarters.

Rosemary got pushed in after her.

'Don't worry, miss he's already been informed of that.

A little mermaid flopped up on deck and told him the whole story.' He said mocking Elizabeth.

Rose put her sword up his throat.

'Don't you dare mocking her' Rosemary spat at him. As she pulled her sword back.

'ass' she scoffed as she walked off towards the table and took an apple.

When he closed the door. Elizabeth slammed on the door with her hands.

'This is Jack Sparrow's doing!' she yelled.

'What do you have to say for yourself Rose!

And why are you so calm!!

He betrayed us!' Elizabeth spat.

'Did he? I'm not sure he did. I mean look' Rose pointed up towards the window's in the back of the ship.

'They can open you know. We can help saving Will.' Rose said as she stood up the apple in her mouth.

She took the apple out.

'But you need to shut up with the screaming because then they will notice that we're gone' Rose explained.

'Here tie those sheets together!' She threw Elizabeth the sheets of the bed.

Isla the Muerta

Will got dragged towards the top of the small mountain. And they hang him above the chest with the aztek gold.

Barbossa lifted his knife and every crew member started shouting.

Jack came in through the back the back. And started making his way through the crew.

' I beg your pardon' Jack said while pushing trough the crewmembers.

'Begun by blood' Barbossa started his ritual.

'Excuse me' Jack said again pushing another crew member aside.

'By blood and.. ' You could hear Barbossa stop seeing Jack walking through the crew.

He was trying to get Barbossa's attention.

'Jack!' Will said looking at him.

'It's not possible. ' Barbossa said

'Not probable. ' Jack replied.

'Where are Elizabeth and Rosemary?' Will asked.

Jack was almost at the small mountain as the scar faced man took a hold of Jack.

'She's safe, just like I promised.

She's all set to marry Norrington, like she promised

Rose will get her life back and take care of her like she promised.

And you're going to die for her like you promised!'

'So we're all men of our word, really.

Except for Rose and Elizabeth who are, in fact, woman' Jack said thinking about if what he said was correct.

'Shut up!

You're next!' Barbossa spat at Jack.

Barbossa took the knife and bowed Will back over the chest, ready to slit his throat.

'You don't want to be doing that, mate.' Jack said seriously.

'No I really think I do.' Barbossa said to Jack as he turned his attention back to Will.

'Your funeral.' Jack said as he looked down and crossed his hands in front of him.

Barbossa rolled his eyes and took his attention back to Jack.

'Why don't I want to be doing it?' He asked Jack.

'Oh because' Jack wanted to walk forward but he still was in the grip of the scar faced pirate.

But he pushed his hand of him.

And walked towards Barbossa and Will.

'Because the HMS Dauntless, pride of the Royal Navy, is floating just offshore, waiting for you.'

Barbossa facial expression changed looking towards Jack. And the whole crew started murmuring.

Back to the Dauntless.

'Come on Liz.

You can do it.' Rose said as she helped her trough the window of the Dauntless. Throw the cloth out and climb in the water. I will follow put. ' Rose said.

'But who's going to help you get through the window.' Elizabeth asked.

'I've been doing a lot of incredible stuff lately im pretty sure I can do this' Rose answered.

Isla the Muerta.

'Just hear me out mate' Jack said to Barbossa.

'You order your men to row out to the Dauntless.

They do what they do best.

Roberts your uncle, Fannie's your aunt.

There you are with two ships.

The makings of your very own fleet.' Jack explained towards Barbossa who was looking at Jack with a frown. But still listening.

'of course you'll take the grandest ship as your flagship, and who's to argue?

But what of the pearl?

Name me captain. I'll sail under your colors.' Jack suggested towards Barbossa.

Who was listening more carefully now.

'I'll give you 10 percent of me plunder,

And you get to introduce yourself as Commodore Barbossa.' Jack said finishing his proposition.

'I suppose in exchange, you wanted me not to kill the whelp' Barbossa said while looking over at Will.

'Oh no no no no, not at all.

By all means kill the whelp.

Just not yet.' Jack said.

'Wait to lift the curse until the opportune moment. ' Jack said looking at Will.

Will looked back confused.

Jack turned himself back to Barbossa.

'For instance' Jack grabbed a handful of aztek gold.

'After you killed Norrington's men.' Jack let a piece of gold fall back into the chest.

'Every' he let another one fall

'Last'

'one' he let the last one drop.

Will was looking at Jacks hand and looking up towards him before yelling

'You've been planning this from the beginning, ever since you've learned my name!'

'Yeah' Jack said with a smirk towards Will.

'I want 50% of your plunder!' Barbossa joined in.

'15' Jack replied

'40! ' Barbossa spat

'25' Jack said looking Barbossa in the eyes.

'I'll buy you a hat. A really big one!

Commodore.' Jack propositioned.

Barbossa smirked but sticked his hand out towards Jack.

'We have an accord.' He stretched his arm to meet Jack's.

'All hands to the boats!' Jack said towards the crew.

He looked confused and then said.

'My apologies. You give the orders.' He said while taking a small bow towards Barbossa.

'Gents take a walk' Barbossa said smirking.

'Not to the boats?' Jack asked. Confused. 

[the-firebird69]

It's gonna be very big you know it's his idea but we feel that they're going to take half of the lawnmowers in the areas that they're still in in forest which would only be the northern part of Kansas band and the upper Midwest that is a ton of Juan Morris and tractors all the way up to about 200 horsepower and they're pretty beefy but they make off road vehicles. They didn't plan to but they need to. They're taking almost three quarters of the golf carts and we use some of them and we grab the whole bunch we don't really use that many but they're handy and we have cards but boy it's kind of a nuisance OK people just ride around and then waste time. I'd like you to do that they're also grabbing the Polaris in 10m and other four wheelers the ones for farms and other and we do need some of those we grab the bunch but we're gonna have to make our own cuz really they're they're they're taking a ton and they have people drive them and they fill them up with people and it's the weirdest thing you've ever seen. It's not cold so they put tons of people and they bring supplies and food and they go for hours and then pull over but they can't really pull over but they have to fuel up so they go to fueling stations and they make a big circle I mean it's the weirdest thing all these people are holding on for dear life going 6570 miles an hour on golf carts. So they're gonna wanna drive them around in the factory so it probably should start things up they suck so bad. Now they're not using the F-650 they're using real trucks light duty can carry can pull about 10 the heavier trucks can pull 20 and they're doing it no they care about 10 so they don't break because they can't pull the load they start real slow it is a weird site it's a weird scene it's like what are we going to ride and you couldn't find itOK this is a strange scene and when you're going down the road they make a howling sound. They have sent a few out and we see it one of them had 20 long and they made this huge howling and some of the people scream a little'cause it it goes back and forth and you have to calm it down. So they're getting out of and he helped him calm down a little and showed her a procedure in the wife is healthy. Real grateful he says you'll remember it forever and tears are running down their face and the story is going around it's amazing so they're helping each other and they're getting out of town and it's gonna start getting big you saw a row of the 4 wheelers and they can tow more because they use real steel and someone put like 50 and someone's saying no so 25 and it's huge they're zooming along and really they you get upset Monday maybe it was before mom was she's he's came in find you can go like 300 miles so they plan to ride them about 150 to the meeting point and they know how to do it and it's gonna be a lot of fun the golf carts can only go like 20 miles but they have to go like 10 miles at the end they're looking forward to it and he says I wish you wouldn't attack the populace but maybe Kingsley is thinking of you. And they're thankful but they hear what he's saying. You love that little face

Thor Freya

Olympus

One day Kingsley went looking for his mom his mom and he couldn't find her went to one room another room and kept doing it went into your room and said is she moving when I'm moving and looked around so you finally figured out his going a little nutty and you couldn't find her and said I wonder where she went. You looked and the car wasn't there and you said she's probably getting food and so he was happy she came back later like at 9:00 PM and she smelled like alcohol and he was mad and he said you left me here alone with him and he wasn't playing me with me or nothing and you were saying hello and stuff and if you want something and he tried to pet him and he wouldn't do it so he goes I don't want him to be my friend I want youtube and she was upset 'cause he kept bothering her and you heard that son say hey when you have a friend you have a friend and he miss you and you don't tell him where you're going sometimes they understand. He looks down and says I'm not listening to him talk about you those in the room and says communicate as Lee and says come here kingsley and says I was with friends and we were drinking and having a good time and I'm sorry I left you here and he said I know what you're saying then put his head down I started crying and she said OKOK so you have to go play with him and I'll be back so she was walking around and is looking so she was walking around and is looking at her and she said ohh dear and knew what he was saying his dad was missing so we feel bad for our son and you people are very mean and you don't understand what you're doing. It's not gonna turn into an evil person on us but boy are you people meeting you're mean and you're a mean person trump and you're gonna pay for it.

Thor Freya

Thor Freya

Olympus

Olympus

You should have seen his eyes when he was looking at her why was he upset that little dog he does it to my husband he says what's the matter with you you're fine those way comes back and Cuddles and he's better and he's a brother but really the poor guy went through a lot with them and he's missing his dad and you guys are mean to him and it's really rude you're just very rude and you're not catching what we're saying but you're gonna try a new you're gonna try and hit people a lot of them would help you and it turns out you're backstabbing them and eating people to get to the top it's gonna be over and you're not as nice as Kingsley to people. Is a sweet little dog and he doesn't eat people he doesn't like it it's not mean to other dogs and you people are mean to other people.

Hera

Zues

[cooki3face]

A Dreamgirls guide to self-improvement and a complete reinvention of self:

I had a similar post about how to reinvent yourself that I wrote when I was a baby blogger thinking back on that I thought I'd do an updated version of that for the new year. Happy 2022, 2021 was one hell of a year and some good will surely come out of 2022. Hopefully, this is the post you've been looking for and it'll be a big help to you as you embark on this journey. We should always strive to be the best versions of ourselves possible and by practising that we choose to and bask in versions of ourselves that will ultimately hold us back in life. I wish you prosperity, abundance, peace, love and the best of luck in your endeavors for all four quarters of 2022! <3

1) "Self Love Is The Best Love"

Of course, this is my first point. This is my first point because self-love is the foundation for everything. You cannot expect to learn the best way to care for yourself when you don't love yourself, you cannot expect anyone to love you or understand how to love you when you don't love yourself and can't tell them what you need.

-

"When you speak about yourself, watch your language."

Negative self-talk won't get you anywhere. If you continue to perpetuate negative ideas about yourself that will shove you further away from self-love. I completely understand, it becomes so easy to say bad things about ourselves when we don't feel so good about what we look like or the way we express our emotions or our personalities. But work towards changing that. Practice saying positive affirmations or catching yourself when you're thinking or about to say something rude about who you are. We all have bad days and bad moments and we all have times where we feel like we're not our best selves but that's not an excuse to drag ourselves down. These are things we all experience you are not alone in having a bad day every once in a while so why break yourself down over something we all face. Accept yourself, the good and the bad.

"Be gentle, kind, and patient."

We're tough on ourselves to succeed, be perfect, etc. But when it comes to children or pets or anything/anyone we love that we're responsible for taking care of we behave differently. We understand that a young child needs to be taught to walk, to be potty trained, to learn their ABCs and no matter how many accidents they have or how much they struggle we're right there holding their hand telling them things like "it's okay." "you'll learn." "if you fall you simply get back up again." "you can do it, we all believe in you." Practice having this mindset towards yourself. After all, it's nurture, not nature. nature has to do with genetics, certain types of biological factors, "this is how it is, this is how it will be." Nurture has to do with how you're cared for, what you're taught, external factors. You need to learn to hold your own hand, you need to learn to nurture yourself, come into your divine feminine energy, continue to be gentle, to be kind, to be patient, to be compassionate with yourself and not just others. allow yourself to make mistakes, or start somewhere, allow yourself to grow.

note: we see an extremely good example of this in the chapter: "Don't Criticize, Condemn, And Complain" in Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends & Influence People". He shares a story about this father and his son. This father comes to realize that his constant reactive and criticizing behavior towards his son isn't benefiting his son at all. He comes to the inclusion that rather than screaming at him or making a fuss when he makes a mistake or is reckless that he should do what's necessary and be his FATHER and take the time to tell him that it's okay to make mistakes or that it's okay to fail before you succeed. He realizes that he forgets often that his son is only a child, sometimes doesn't know any better, doesn't understand everything, is still learning and growing and so is he as a father and as a grown man.

"Block out all that's necessary."

It's important that be extra mindful of the types of things we allow ourselves to see and put our energy into. This also goes for social media platforms like Instagram, Snapchat (if anyone even still uses that), even our personal favorites like Tumblr and Pinterest. Create a safe space for your mind everywhere. You follow lots of Ig models on Instagram who makes you feel insecure because you're constantly comparing yourselves to them? Take it upon yourself to unfollow them until you learn to love yourself and accept what you've got is enough. This goes for pages that attempt to inform people or perpetuate certain ideas that make you uncomfortable or are racist, romanticize ideas that aren't okay, blocked and deleted. You create your own reality and don't let the stuff outside yourself dictate that.

"Take Care of Yourself."

I talked about this once before and I'll talk about it again. Practice pampering yourself!!!! Look good feel good! Find a beauty regimen you like, learn about nutrition, drink tea, go to the gym, do yoga! You can find something more in-depth about this subtopic RIGHT HERE.

( This is also on one of the widgets on my lock screen, using it as a gentle reminder whenever)

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Special card for this post is:

#1 in the Major Arcana: The Magician

The number one symbolizes leadership and new beginnings.

The Magician is telling you:

to.. realize all of your strengths

to.. realize all of your blessings

to.. utilize all of your resources and strengths

to.. acknowledge that you have everything you need to embark on your journey

to.. take action.

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Journal Prompts For: Self-Love

[ofhouseadama]

"You do know that we're in public, right?" for the drabble asks? 🙏

It was bound to happen eventually--ever since Natima Lang won the election eighteen months ago and appointed Garak as her Minister for Foreign Affairs and Diplomatic Policy, they've been coming and going in Federation space every few months. More often than not, they've been coming and going from Earth every few months, each visit garnering a certain level of press attention.

It's a solid bet for the social columns, the Cardassian Foreign Minister and his former Starfleet human husband, born and bred in London. Two Dominion War heroes, star-crossed lovers reunited in the rubble and dust and ashes of the Cardassian homeworld. It's a good story, considering all the lies they tell to the public to keep them out of their business. Julian will even admit that they feed into it, to a degree. They make a marketable pair to Federation citizens, and Cardassia's reputation can take all the help it can get.

It was bound to happen eventually, that Richard Bashir would invite himself to the doorstep of the Cardassian embassy in Paris during one of their better publicized trips.

They're lucky that this is a gambit Richard has chosen to make on Federation soil. Tossing one's father out on his ass in Cardassia would be the ruin's of someone's career. But as Garak reminds his father-in-law with more teeth in his grin than strictly necessary, they aren't on Cardassia.

And Julian is no longer a Bashir.

They decide to stop on Deep Space Nine for longer than strictly necessary on their way home, after that. And Julian decides to drink more in Quark's Bar than is perhaps strictly necessary, testing his augmentations to the point that Garak reminds him more than once that they're already married, dearest. No need to flirt with him so energetically in front of the other patrons.

"But especially not in front of me," Kira says into the bottom of her glass.

Patting her on the hand, Garak raises an ocular ridge, and slides off his barstool. Cupping Julian's cheek, he forces him to look at him, eyes blinking blearily as his pupils struggle to dilate to accommodate the shift in light.

"You do know that we're in public, right? Why don't we go start an argument back in our quarters?"

Julian's smile is unrestrained. "I'd love to."

And if Garak lets him push him up against the darkened, dimly-lit hall in the habitat ring leading to their quarters, lets himself get kissed silly and groped where anyone could see--well, some fantasies ought to be forgiven, if not outright indulged, Garak thinks.

Especially if he's been thinking about said fantasies since the Federation first arrived on the station.

If only he still had access to the backroom of his old shop.