#I'm using king as a pejorative here

[razzek]

Also humans need more than one kind of feedback, and especially in something like a vehicle going at 50 or more miles an hour, the driver Does Not need to be looking away from the road for even a second! Switches, dials, and keypads are important!

Touchscreens do not belong in cars

[theowritesfiction]

‘The Southern Raiders’

I think in a way Azula's mental deterioration is already clearly showing in this episode. Her attack on the air temple is an indication that she's not herself. She's employing aggressive strategy trying to overwhelm the opposition with brute force, and Azula is normally far too subtle for that. Her demeanor has changed as well. Zuko's betrayal and Ozai's displeasure have been magnified by Ty Lee and Mai's betrayal, and Azula knows that Ozai will be angry at her for the Boiling Rock as well. There's a touch of desperation in Azula's tactics here.

I think the fight between Azula and Zuko is much closer not just because of Zuko's magical dragon power-up, but I think Azula is fighting quite wild and uncontrolled here.

Zuko's comments as Azula falls are a bit odd, because he sounds worried when it looks like she's going to fall to her death, but he then sounds bitter when she survives. Toxic siblings, what can you do.

In the Boiling Rock episode I remarked that Katara was a little kinder when teasing Zuko, and also Zuko helped to bring back Hakoda, so... surely Katara should have warmed up more towards Zuko? So what happened here? My explanation is that seeing everyone else cheering at Zuko and celebrating him as a hero, made Katara just feel very irritated - but maybe also a little bit with herself - that she just can't get over this very personal betrayal even if Zuko by now has proven himself. Her words to Zuko - 'I was the first who trusted you' and 'you betrayed me' show how personally she is taking this.

I think @juniperhillpatient did an amazing job dissecting the conversation between Sokka, Zuko, Katara and Aang, and I literally have nothing to add there. I do strongly object to Aang throwing Jet's name around like a pejorative, like I'm sorry, but are we just going to ignore that Jet was making an earnest effort to change his life and make amends when he got KILLED? 30 Jerk Points to Aang. Also, Aang acting all upset and outraged about Katara trying to take Appa anyway... cry some more kid, it's not like everyone else isn't taking Appa whenever they feel like. Sokka was about to take Appa to the Boiling Rock. 30 more Jerk Points to Aang. Also, I feel like nothing about that scene earned Sokka's comment about how wise Aang was being.

Katara is a scary force of nature during this mission. Her entire aesthetic during this stealth mission is putting weird AU Assassin Katara ideas in my mind. She is just frighteningly driven. I think the dark circles under her eyes as she tells Zuko not to worry about her was a great touch. Like or don't like Zutara romantically, Zuko and Katara make for a terrifying team. (of course, I will say Azula and Katara make for an even better one)

Zuko's face when Katara used bloodbending on the Southern Raider commander... it's the look of a man who realizes that he has been is far greater mortar peril than he ever realized. :)

In a way, leaving Yon Rha to his miserable existence is, I think, a fitting enough punishment. It's almost remarkable the Yon Rha didn't croak from fear when facing Katara. Still, even if I'm happy Katara doesn't have Yon Rha's blood on her hands, it's not going to stop me from slapping Yon Rha with a crazy amount of Jerk Points. 400 seems appropriate.

I do love the ending. Aang failed to understand Katara earlier, and he failed to understand her here that not killing Yon Rha didn't mean that Katara forgave him, and... why would she. Anyway, perhaps my favorite Katara episode and one of the best episodes of the entire show.

Lastly, here are the updated Jerk Point standings for Book 3, and I'll see you soon for 'Ember Island Sex Offenders'!

Zuko - 700 Yon Rha - 400 Aang – 340  Ozai - 250 Sokka - 110 Roku - 100 Hide - 80 King Kuei - 60 Toph - 50 Haru - 30

[lesbiankiliel]

captain archibald haddock's most epic expletives, finnish edition

for @dimdiamond

to preface this post, I'm a long-time fan of the adventures of tintin and have read it mainly in finnish but also in french and a little bit in english (the animation I've seen exclusively in finnish and the 2011 movie exclusively in english). one of my favorite things about the series has always been captain haddock's colorful swearing.

I mentioned one of those expletives ("tuhannen tuhatta turskattia!") in the tags of one tintin post, and my dearest dim really liked it and wanted to know more. this post has been a longtime coming but here it is now.

all expletives have been taken from the book Tyrskyn myrsky! Johdatus kapteeni Haddockin manauksiin, edited by pasi heikura, adapting the original work by albert algoud (le haddock illustré: l'integrale des jurons du capitaine haddock)

important to note: I am only listing my personal favorites. this post is by no means intended to be an exhaustive list of captain haddock's expletives. many of them are not direct translations of the original expletives as far as I remember.

all of the expletives have been either translated or coined by jukka kemppinen and soile and heikki kaukoranta. translations to them are provided by yours truly, as are most of the additional notes about the expletives. some are translated from pasi heikura's notes. in alphabetical order according to the finnish expletive. pictures provided when possible (all photographed from the book)

disclaimer: not all of these expletives are politically correct by contemporary standards, and we have to remember that the original works were written between 1929 and 1976, and the translations were made in the 1970's

A

absolutisti (absolutist, teetotaler - also raitis in finnish, but this word is also often used)

advokaatti (advocate, an oldish word for lawyer - asianajaja in finnish)

analfabeetti (analphabet, or illiterate - lukutaidoton in regular finnish)

analfabeettien kruunamaton kuningas (the uncrowned king of analphabets)

autodidakti (autodidact, self-learned - itseoppinut in regular finnish)

B

baššibazukki (has several different written forms depending on the translator, this is the contemporary one) (bashi-bazouk, ottoman turkish irregular soldiers)

brestin jyräys! (tonnerre de brest! in french, thunder of brest! in english, one of haddock's most common expletives - I believe in english it's often translated "ten thousand thundering typhoons!" or "blistering barnacles" at least according to wikipedia)

brontosauruksen sivupersoona (side persona of a brontosaurus, brontosaurus is a sauropod closely related to apatosaurus. side persona in this case relates to dissociative identity disorder. despite its obviously problematic contemporary connotations this has always been one of my favorite expletives. it's just so absurd)

byrokraatti (bureaucrat)

D

diplomaatti (diplomat)

dipsomaani (dipsomaniac, periodical alcohol user - also tuurijuoppo in regular finnish)

E

ektoplasma (ectoplasm)

eläinrääkkääjä (animal abuser - this is what haddock calls jorge and wolff after they had knocked milou out cold and the poor dog broke his leg)

G

guanokaupustelijat (guano peddlers, plural)

guanokauppiaan irvikuva (the caricature of a guano seller)

H

haihattelija (daydreamer, but more pejorative - this is what haddock calls tournesol in destination moon when the latter has lost his memory)

herkkukurkku (pickled cucumber, think gherkin)

hippiäinen (goldcrest, a small bird)

hunajavohveli (honey waffle)

hyrysysy (a car. merchant abel klam from virolahti suggested this word as the finnish equivalent of the word automobile in 1907. it didn't stick unfortunately. contemporary finnish word is simply auto. so boring. bring hyrysysy back 2k22)

I

ihmisapina (primate)

isovaari ja vaarin vaari (great-grandfather and grandfather's grandfather, vaari is derived from the swedish word far, father)

J

jesuiitta (jesuit)

juoppolalli (alcoholist, from juoda, to drink, and lalli, who is a mythical finnish character. murdered the bishop henry who was allegedly one of the first missionaries in finland in the 1100's)

juopporatti (alcoholist, from juoda, to drink, and ratti, an archaic word for a funnel. in contemporary finnish a funnel is suppilo, and ratti means a driving wheel in a car)

juudas/juutas (judas, a traitor, we know who this guy is. juutas is an old way to say his name as traditionally finnish people have struggled with soft consonants, i.e. b, d, f, g, replacing them with p, t, v, and k, respectively - f has been a bit easier)

K

kaappari (privateer)

kaksituhatta piparkakkua (two thousand gingerbread cookies. these cookies are often baked in finnish households in christmastime)

kannibaali (cannibal)

kerettiläinen (heretic)

kookospähkinän näköinen diktaattorin oppipoika (dictator's apprentice who looks like a coconut. haddock calls general tapioca this)

kurja kamelinkopio (wretched copy of a camel)

kurpitsa (pumpkin)

käymälälaivan kippari (captain of a lavatory ship)

L

lehtikirva (aphid, more commonly known as greenfly or blackfly)

lettupannu (lettu is essentially a crêpe, and pannu means a pan)

logaritmin hännänhuippu (the final tip of logarithm)

lotjauuno (a silly boat worker. lotja is a fairly oldish word for a boat. uuno is a finnish masculine given name that has also gained the meaning of a rather slow-minded person. a famous uuno is the fictional character uuno turhapuro, played by the late vesa-matti loiri)

lörpöttävä papukaija (a babbling parrot)

M

maakrapu (landlubber, literally land crab)

makean veden astronautti (fresh water astronaut)

makean veden piraatti (fresh water pirate. another finnish word for a pirate is merirosvo, which literally translates to sea robber, making this particular expletive impossible, as pirates don't sail in fresh water)

makean veden purjehtija (fresh water sailor, a mocking name for sailors who operate on lakes and rivers that are relatively calm compared to the seas)

mattokauppias (carpet vendor)

megasykli (megacycle, a long period of time)

merinolammas (merino sheep)

mestaritunari (master or champion duffer/moron/dolt/dumbass)

myrsky ja mylväys (storm and bellow, also tonnerre de brest in french, one of haddock's most common expletives)

N

nelijalkainen cyrano (quadruped, or four-legged, cyrano. referring to cyrano de bergerac. haddock calls an anteater this, as both de bergerac and anteaters have long noses)

nelijalkainen suihkulähde (quadruped/four-legged fountain. captain haddock calls a llama this after the animal has spat at him)

O

ohjus (a missile)

ornithorynchi (ornithorhynchus, bird-billed. refers to a platypus - vesinokkaeläin in regular finnish)

P

paviaani (baboon)

periköön piru hänet, hänen vakuutuksensa ja hänen anatole-serkkunsa (may the devil have him, his insurances, and his cousin anatole. captain haddock getting frustrated with the insurance seller seraphin lampion)

planeettainvälinen taivaanrannan maalari (interplanetary daydreamer, an extremely unrealistic dreamer. taivaanrannan maalari literally translates to skyline/horizon painter and is also seen as a compound word, i.e. taivaanrannanmaalari)

puliveivari (a cheater, a dishonest person)

putkisierainlepakko (tube-nosed bat. nowadays in finnish they are called putkikuonolepakko. sierain means nostril)

pyromaani (pyromaniac)

R

rattijuoppo (drunk driver)

riivatun kakara (damned brat. no surprise, captain haddock refers to prince abdullah as such)

S

senkin rasvassa käristetty ihmissusi! (you deep-fried werewolf! captain haddock calls the yeti this)

siansuoro (a pig's penis. suoro is a very old word for penis, a more contemporary word would be siitin or, more simply, penis. I stared at this particular one in silence for a good while when I read the definition for the first time. I had never thought about what suoro meant, just thought it was a funny word. my childhood is ruined lmao)

sillinihrassa kieritetty kermaleivos (cream pastry rolled in the fat of an atlantic herring. yeah. I don't wanna taste that)

sirkus-mussolini (circus mussolini. captain haddock angrily calls general tapioca this during his television speech)

suurbasaari (great bazar. haddock means the grand abbot of the buddhist temple, called suuri ihanuus, or great bliss, in finnish)

suurmoguli (grand mughal. another attempt by haddock to address the grand abbot. he's trying. bless his heart)

säkkipilli (bagpipes)

T

takkuinen merinon kuvatus (a shaggy caricature of a merino sheep)

titanicin keulakuva (titanic's figurehead. titanic famously did not have one but many old wooden ships did)

tuhannen turskattia (also tuhannen tuhatta turskattia, mille sabords or mille million de mille sabords in french, or thousands/ten thousand blistering barnacles in english. one of haddock's most common expletives)

tyrskynmyrsky (a very strong storm at sea. also from tonnerre de brest or blistering barnacles. I know this better as tyrskyntärsky, which is essentially the same thing. one of captain haddock's most common expletives. this is also what prince abdullah calls captain haddock)

V

vaapsahainen (an old word for crane flies. vaaksiainen in contemporary finnish)

vampyyri (vampire)

vihonviimeinen guanokaupustelija (crummy guano peddler. in finnish vihonviimeinen, or more contemporarily vihoviimeinen, means not only the very last but also wretched or crummy, which is what haddock is going for here)

vihonviimeisen meteoriitin veljenpoika (the wretched meteorite's nephew. see above for vihonviimeinen)

if you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer^^

[mmmmalo]

This one gets somewhat out of hand.

I went to WV's intro since he uses a red mailbox flag as a knife (and marched with a red flag during his uprising), but the only thing that really stood out was how Can Town City Hall felt like a mailbox now, turning Serenity and her amber into the mail... not sure what to do with that.

In the case of Jane, it's easy to read the mailbox bomb as confirmation that red flag means danger. Projected backwards, that sensation (and the wrongness of the flag rules) can create a sense that Sburb itself has already been flagged as dangerous. And in WV's case, it's easy enough to read his use of the flag as synergistic with his "secret tyrant" motifs, the implications that WV wants to be a king despite his outspoken love of democracy. All of those fit nicely into things I already believe... feel like something's missing though.

I think... Serenity in city hall affirms my long suspicion that Homestuck is making a mail > male pun, but specifically focuses on male pregnancy? Like the green package locked in Dad's car was already a True Self metaphor in service of transgender motifs, so Dad scooping the package from the mailbox is another instance of authority "forbidding" access to the feminine? And all the stuff I'd read as child consumption in WV's intro (back when I took Grandpa scaremongering at face value), the uranium and pumpkin seeds, become ways of (ironically) presenting the notion of male pregnancy as intrinsically threatening. So PM as a "male woman" becomes a continuation of WV's theming, and AR barring access to frog/child is another example of authority forbidding access to the child/pregnancy...

Caveat being that I'm suspecting lately that miscarriage and abortion mark someone as a "male woman" just the same as being transgender, and that this slurring is at the root of my see-sawing over how to interpret bodies in Homestuck, Roxy in particular. Like the pejorative framework derides transgender women and cisgender women who are unable (or unwilling) to get pregnant on similar terms. Thus the whole "puke blood" aspect of troll reproduction isn't /just/ a sexist jab at menstruation, but more specifically of the role of menstruation can play in abortion, flushing out the embryo -- not coming to term becomes perjoratively masculine, hence the mingling of vomiting imagery with ejaculatory eruptions, maybe... (this maybe screws with my current understanding of the gendering of race but whatever, it will sort itself out)

This line of thinking is nudging me closer to pun I have been avoiding for a long time, on account of it being ridiculous. I've written on the possibility that entry items mapped to the body, since June is arguably forced to destroy Adam's Apple and Jade's piñata could be mapped to the pituitary gland -- not relitigating those here. I never got a sense for what Rose and Dave's items would represent though, in such a scenario. But the above screed on mpreg and "male women" has got me seriously considering that Rose destroying a "bottle" could be a "butt hole" joke. As though blowing up her gate (and with it rejecting a quest pointing her towards motherhood or whatever) meant annihilating a puckering fractal sky anus. As though aborted embryos were effectively turds, letting us read curious turns of phrase like "the shit is downright SACROSANCT" as an extension of Roxy's preoccupation with child death. As though that bit from Dave obsessing over how birds lay eggs and shit from the same hole had some kind of broader thematic significance. Maybe this is why the Ring of Life and the Ring of Void are the same ring?? If pregnancy does not come to term, the vagina is slurred into the asshole! Stop playing games for girls, asshole! cries Karkat desperately.

But the asshole does not give up.

Can't sleep, thinking about Spades Slick having a blade called Occam's Razor and similar gags. Wondering if the pointedly backwards logic of John's mailbox was supposed to be a "red flag" -- like if the inexplicable difficulty John/Jane have describing the thingy, the doodad that announces the mail's arrival (when really it should announce departure) is a mode of literary alienation that marks the phrasing as significant, and thereby nominally ominous. The conversion of objects into abstractions like words is treated with hostility in Homestuck, so that very reluctance on the narrative's part to articulate "red flag" might speak to the mailbox's signification? I don't know -- it's very late

[victoreli]

i'm here for some good old enemies to lovers recs 👀

bear with me a lot of these are like really messy in terms of "healthy" relationships but i loved them. content warnings under the cut!

charon docks at daylight by zoe reed- it's lengthy and messy and has childhood friends to enemies to fuckbuddies to lovers and long(like 1k pages). but it's so compelling how they gravitate towards each other plus zombie apocalypse?

the weight of the stars by k ancrum- it has kinda messed up aftg-esque frienship dynamics that i loved and the mc is butch and black

of roses and kings by Melissa Marr- its a novellette but dark alice in wonderland, sapphics and fucked up power dynamics

the dead and the dark and the jasmine throne also fit the trope and i loved their arcs but they're yet to be released

crier's war and this is how you lose the time war are classic go to recs but i think you've read those? i've heard the midnight lie, the Traitor Baru Cormorant and clear and muddy loss of love are also good wlw enemies to lovers but haven't read them yet!

cdad- gore, d slur used in a pejorative manner, death of a background lgbt character, homophobia, loss of loved ones, parental death, death of a poc (japanese woc dies), attempted rape(not between main pairing), drugs(specifically heroin), forced drugging, loss of limbs, gun violence, death of children, abuse, cannibalism, arson, explicit sexual content

the weight of stars-d slur, underage drug and alcohol use, attempted rape, bullying, assault

of roses and kings-murder and toxic relationships

[agirlneedsgoals]

State of the Me

I'mma just cut this here.

I was supposed to take Suzie to the vet but I think I tore my rotator cuff (because I deserve it, the universe hates me, idk) and I hurt so I asked to switch with mom. She was supposed to be waiting for the installers to come measure for the extra cabinets we're having put in. Except apparently there was never a confirmation call. I have 20 minutes until their window is over and I'm going to take a nap then.

The other day, I was arguing with some lady on Twitter about that dumb Italian restaurant with the plaster cast of the chef's mouth, etc. The lady just happened to be black, which means nothing in this context except she didn't actually read the article we were arguing about, didn't know the restaurant was named Bros', and took offense when I said the name, thinking I was making some kind of racist pejorative comment. I pointed out that it was just the restaurant's name and she said, "Oh, my bad, I'm still in bed this morning, but you still have no taste." Like...I can't honestly get upset at her jumping to conclusions because Twitter is a cesspool of racism and human trash but what I CAN take issue with is a) EXCUSE ME YOU ARE DEFENDING A RESTAURANT THAT MAKES YOU TONGUE FUCK THE CHEF'S MOUTH DON'T TALK TO ME ABOUT TASTE and b) at least read the fucking article enough to know what the restaurant is called. Come on.

I haven't checked my email in a month. It's a symptom of escalating depression but I don't know what else we can do. I don't want to change my meds. The last time we added some, I got WORSE, so. I'm just...uh...not...doing anything?

It is WAY too easy to distract my therapist by putting on my happy baby voice and talking about Pumpkin. This is the danger of therapy over the phone, I can obfuscate. Idk why I do it.

Christmas is this weekend, I am told. I refuse to look at a calendar. Time has ceased making sense. How the fuck is Christmas here already? I don't have presents. I never made cookies. I don't have anything for dinner, yet. I'm supposed to make a cake but also uuuuugh.

I accidentally let Masterclass renew (this is why we check our fucking email, Leslie) and it was guaranteed on mom's credit card. Fuck. She said I can just leave it and it'll be part of my Christmas but that's...a lot of money. I feel really bad.

I got really pretty handmade candy canes to put on my tree and for snackies. They're so gross. They taste like the oil they use on hard candies to keep them from sticking to the extruder. There's no peppermint there. God is dead.

I promise I'm trying to come up with good stuff but it's really difficult right now.

December started well but I just can't feel Christmas anymore.

I've been watching Wheel of Time, that's good, and I watched the first two episodes of Witcher season 2 yesterday. Thank God for the costuming department understanding Henry Cavill looks excellent in high waisted pants.

Unpopular opinion: Batman Returns is a Christmas film.

Maybe I'll take some detailed shots of my new ornaments. I have a manta ray and a little Suzie. There was another one, I forget what it was, but when checking out, the lady noticed it was broken. 💔

I want Christmas dinner too be king crab legs and shrimp cocktail and lobster tails and sashimi. I'd settle for the first two. But I live outside a small town in the mountains and idk if we can swing king crab legs. Guess we'll find out.

😂😂😂 I'm such a spoiled brat. For those of you who are new, I'm jobless, sick, and have zero funds of my own. Whenever I talk about expensive things like crab legs and Masterclass and shit, that's my mom or gifts from friends. I, myself, have no intrinsic financial value.

I'm writing again. Sort of. Not really. I managed a few bits on one fic, one chapter on another. An outline and a half. Nothing for my own stuff but something > nothing, right?

I'm gonna take that nap now. Goodnight and good luck.