#I'm gonna have to put my google skills to good use

[blacktofade]

David. Don't ask I already feel bad for this

Screaming!!!! Thank you for your service anon! I have a 10 hour flight home tomorrow and I'm gonna be rotating this in my mind the entire time!!!

[trulyradicalactivist]

Now that many of you are on the same page with me about the fight for radqueer liberation and freedom from oppression, it’s time for us to channel our strengths into meaningful action. To make a difference, we must educate, invigorate, and advocate. These three pillars, I've found, are the foundation of effective activism. In my time of being an activist, these are the things I use the most to gather community. For all of you, I'm gonna take this time to break them down and explore how all of us can contribute. If everyone really is with me on this, we can turn the tide faster than ever before.

Everything is under the cut. I tried to change my writing style a little from last time (a lot of people thought it was AI generated, so I studied some other speeches to try and write more "human", I hope it worked.)

Educate.

Are you good at making posters? Writing essays, articles, or conducting research? Do you enjoy learning and sharing what you discover? Maybe you’re great at debates. If so, education can be where you shine. Education is essential for dismantling stereotypes and misinformation about our community.

There are many ways to educate, some small, and some more direct. Firstly, start conversations with fellow community members. Run polls, collect data, and organize your findings. Then you can store that information, maybe in a folder, a Google Doc, or even in your notes app. Use it to write essays explaining specific topics or write articles debunking misinformation. Share your work with the world, not just our community, but to those who believe the stereotypes you are writing against.

Now, if education isn’t your strength, make sure you amplify the work of others. Share accurate information, send educational resources to those who might be misinformed, and help shift perceptions. Knowledge is one of the most powerful tools we have, let’s all wield it wisely and responsibly.

Invigorate.

Do you love drawing, writing fanfiction, or making memes? Maybe you enjoy putting together jewelry, like Kandi bracelets, making people laugh, or inspiring people through any form of creativity? If so, you can invigorate the community.

Let’s bring life and joy to the radqueer community. Yes, we face a lot of challenges, and that is exhausting, but we can and should create spaces full of excitement and connection. You could start a cooking blog and help your community learn a skill they might need, open an Etsy store to sell stickers or patches, you could design stim toys if you really know how to! Do anything that fosters creativity and belonging. Build spaces for us, by us, and let's make our movement one with vibrancy and culture!

Advocate.

Advocacy is something everyone can do. It’s about amplifying voices, yours and ours as a community. Share your experiences, whether it’s through writing, social media, or art. Speak openly about how your identity shapes your life.

Advocacy is also about challenging stigma. If you have dysphoria, talk about it. If you don’t, explain your identity and what it means to you. Are you a paraphile? Share your journey with pride, if you feel comfortable, and help others understand how your identity connects to your identity as a whole. Advocacy is about being unapologetically visible. Make them see you. You exist and they have no say in that.

These three actions (educating, invigorating, and advocating) are the building blocks of rebellion. And that’s exactly what we’re doing: rebelling against oppression and ignorance.

Let’s take charge together. Let’s fight for the acceptance and freedom we deserve. We are strong, we are resilient, and we are capable of creating change. I believe in all of you, and I love you all. Let’s do this, together, here and now.

[hikari-hellspawn]

ART COMMISSIONS OPEN! FINANCIAL HELP DESPERATELY NEEDED!

The title is what it says on the tin; I'm opening up art commissions, because after my next paycheck I don't know how much I'll be getting after that, or how much, and I'm desperate for work and some kind off income because I am literally in danger of losing a place to live. I need need NEED income if I want to continue to, well, live.

My Ko-Fi

My deviantART

NOTICE: I RESERVE THE RIGHT TO REJECT ANY COMMISSIONS THAT I DEEM INAPPROPRIATE. THIS INCLUDES ART CONTAINING HATE SPEECH/HOMOPHOBIA/TRANSPHOBIA/APHOBIA/RACISM/BIGOTRY/ANTISEMITISM/ETC.

How do I pay you? I take payments via my Ko-fi or PayPal (h.m.reed@mail.com), half before I start the sketch and the other half on delivery. That is set in stone; I will not accept any kind of cryptocurrency or things like Amazon or Walmart gift cards as payment. None of those can be used to pay rent, and paying rent is exactly what I need.

Do you do NSFW? Not at present; I'm not comfortable drawing NSFW content, though doing shirtless and swimsuits are fine. However I won't draw sex, and I won't draw straight-up full-frontal nudity.

Do you do furries/anthros? I'm not gonna lie, I don't have much experience drawing anthros--THAT BEING SAID, if you want to commission me to draw an anthro character or your fursona, it's definitely on the table and I'll do my danged best--even if it takes a bit longer than non-furry/anthro characters.

Do you draw mecha? I...have zero experience drawing mecha. Do I like mecha anime? Yes (Evangelion my beloved). So this is a soft no on my part, purely because of my own lack of skill with the subject matter.

Do you draw horror and/or gore? Hard no. Not simply because I can't draw said gore (which I can't, same reasons as the mecha explanation above), but because it's another one of those things that I'm not 100% comfortable drawing at the moment.

^HOWEVER, this question comes with a caveat: I will draw eldritch horror. Y'know, eyes where they don't belong, tentacles, pulsating masses, bodies that're just...weird? Those are fun. So, negotiable, but keep in mind that if you want slasher-type stuff that ain't my jam.

Will you send me progress pics? YES. At every stage of the process, I'll both scan the image and take photos to make sure that what I'm working on is the direction you want to go.

What about reference images? If you have references you want to provide, whether they're drawn by you, someone else, google image search, etc, then I'd appreciate it so I have an idea of what your character looks like. Written descriptions are also fine if you don't have any visuals--basically, if you know what your character looks like and you have some way to communicate that to me in a way that puts us both on the same page, we're good.

Can I use your art as an NFT? NO. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL I ACCEPT A COMMISSION TO CREATE NFTS, IF THAT IS THE REASON YOU WANT TO COMMISSION ME THEN GO FIND SOMEONE ELSE.

Can I use your art to train an AI algorithm? NO. AI art is the reason why artists like myself are being pushed out of work; if you're only commissioning me to get hold of some works so that you can train an algorithm to make more based on my style, then you don't actually want to buy art; you're just looking for some excuse to screw yet another artist over.

If I don't have the money right now, can I just pay you the full amount later? While I understand the desire to buy art but not having the funds, the whole reason I'm opening commissions is because I don't have enough money to survive. Paying me half now and half upon completion is non-negotiable, because I can assure you my need to be able to make rent and feed the Fuzzballs (aka the cats, please ask me about them I will go total Maes Hughes on them because they are PERFECT) is as strong as yours to make sure your expenses are covered as well.

Are the prices negotiable? To an extent, though the prices you see in the image above are the minimum; I won't go lower than these.

I want something that isn't listed on here/I have an unusual request, can you do it? That is something we'd have to negotiate, but it's not off the table. I do some weirdo drawings for myself in my free time (I've graced several servers I'm in on discord with the little wonders known as Eyeshrooms, no I will not elaborate here), so I can do other weird stuff too (as long as it's SFW).

Do you have more art examples I can look at? Yes! I have a deviantART page, though due to the company's own exploitative and artist-harming features they've rolled out, I've been working on glazing everything in my gallery there (if you haven't heard of Glaze and Nightshade, they're both really cool and you ought to check them out, seriously I really really really want to start using them both on my art SO BAD but I CAN'T) and migrating to Inkblot and Cara.app. Once I have links to both of those, I'll add them to the post!

You said traditional art...can you do digital? No, unfortunately; I don't have a device powerful enough to run a good art program (not for a lack of trying; attempts at experimenting with Krita have only resulted in it crashing the laptop I've been using, which is bad because it isn't even mine), nor do I have the funds to be able to get one--and I don't know when, or if, that'll happen. This circles back to the initial problem; I don't have the funds to pay for what I need to survive, which means I literally cannot afford to save for a new, more powerful laptop for myself. As it is, I've been borrowing my roommate's laptop for everything I need to do that requires the use of a computer, as mine died back in 2020 and I haven't been able to scrape together enough to even get a bare-bones basic one myself.

If there are any other questions you need me to answer, then please please PLEASE send them to me in a DM here and I'll do my best to answer them! And please, I'm begging you, I'm begging you so much, even if you don't buy something please spread this around I need the income desperately. I'm not lying when I say that my ability to continue living is in danger, I literally do not know if I'll even be able to pay my rent next month. I need every penny I can get, just to be able to have a chance of surviving, and what determines if I can keep a roof over mine and the cats' heads and if we're out on the street with nowhere to go is very much determined by if I can get commission work. So even if you can't buy anything, or only get a headshot or two, please spread the word. Reblog this. Share it in tweets. Post the link to this post on Facebook, link it on Discord, if you have friends who are looking to commission art tell them because I'm desperate and terrified that I might not have a place to live come October. I'm begging, please, I need the help. I need the help more than I can put into words. I don't want to die.

(Also big shoutout to @nomnomroko for putting together the commission sheet, thank you so much!)

[pomegranateboba]

Hello! I'm another Arcana Twilight fan, just coming out of the dark. Along with sleepytwilight, you're active when it comes to ArTw content. I hope it's alright to send a request!

Anyway, uh, here's mine: ArTw men with a MC who is a great dancer in jive? (Our dance this year is social dance and we're gonna be doing Cha Cha and Jive 😭) I hope this is okay! Thank you, and have a good day!

Hiiiiii, thank you for the request this is my first actual one 😭🤩Okay so I had to google what that was but I think I got it (sorry if it's a little inaccurate I just learned this dance existed)

(For those who don't know, I copied and pasted the definition from google: Jive is a lively style of dance popular especially in the 1940s and 1950s, performed to swing music or rock and roll.)

A Summoner that is good at jive dancing:

Arcturus

He was pleasantly surprised at what a good dancer you were

Little baby was in awe you you performed it for him

Would definitely encourage you to perform it for others, if you're comfortable with it of course. He won't bug you if you don't want to

Curious to know the history of this type of dance, he hasn't heard it it before (get the powerpoint slides ready)

Your biggest supporter if you do actually decide to perform it for others

If there were some event or festival that involves dance performances, he would recommend it to you if you want to participate

Wouldn't go around telling everyone this piece of information if you aren't comfortable with it

Very understanding

Would try to learn from you to his best ability

He would probably actually manage the basic steps

He's a sweet little baby we all love Arcky

Spica

Impressed

I'm pretty sure this man would do ballet or ballroom dancing, so this more lively dance is probably pretty new to him

It would also give him cultural shock, because he is not used to whatever you are performing to him

Still impressed nonetheless

You would have to make him learn, because he would very much refuse

Though he is interested to know the history and whatever information you can give him (time to pull out the trusty powerpoint slides)

Would also recommend any dancing/performing events if you want to participate

Can keep a secret, if that's what you want

And if you do want to perform, he would make sure everything runs smoothly

He would most definitely get the best seats to watch you perform (hot rich men things fr)

He is proud that you know such a unique skill

Alpheratz

And all of a sudden he is wide awake

Is lowkey impressed

He honestly could not care less about the great history of jive

It's a little loud and feisty af, but it's the summoner, so all is good

Would be very awake whenever you perform

Won't talk you into performing or anything, but he would be pretty happy if you do

And if you do, he would actually get up to go watch, even if he has to put up with Spica

Won't say anything about this, he doesn't gossip or anything like that. It's too troublesome for him anyways, having to go talk to people

He doesn't say anything, but secretly he is so proud of you

He may request for you to dance for him, but no way in hell is he getting up and learning it

He loves you, but seriously no thanks.

He would rather just admire you from the crowd

Will offer to come nap with him if you are tired from dancing

Pollux

The shock on his face.

How come no one told him his beloved summoner could dance?

And why are they actually so good at it??

When you open your phone to play Arcana Twilight, Pollux's affection levels are suddenly at the max level

I don't know how else to describe how he felt in that moment

Would immediately request that you teach him

You agreed, thinking that it would be fine

Spoiler: it was not fine.

Little Misfortune the Second is tripping all over his feet, and you don't think it's just because of his bad luck

Pollux would love to dance, he's just clumsy af and keeps breaking his legs (stars help him)

Even Arcturus came in and helped

Well...Poll tried, at least

He won't give up though, so if he pulls a Sirius at 3am and asks you to teach him, that's your problem not mine

If you perform at an event or festival, Pollux would be at the front of the crowd cheering for you

Is gonna run around and tell everyone how cool you are. You can't stop him.

Would openly flaunt you to the world, even the void monsters won't be spared from his reign (of terror)

This is just an excuse for him to like you more

Vega

The shock on his face (part 2)

Summoner?? You can do that??

I feel like Vega would be pretty poised and elegant and stuff, considering his personality and his house

So to see you so lively is gonna be a shock (in a good way)

Vega may or may not know what jive is, depends on his memory of Mid Earthium

So he may recognise it. May.

Vega wouldn't ask to learn it, but you would probably drag you into learning from you anyways

Besides, he can't say no to his beloved summoner

He would pick it up pretty quickly, though if he seems a little stiff it's normal

He isn't used to having and expressing positive emotions (I'm sorry)

He would still do it though, because it means more summoner quality time

It would remind him of your time together as kids back at Mid Earthium, and all the more he would want to see you happy again

Is secretly your biggest fanboy, if you may or may not be able to tell

If you choose to publicly perform, he won't see him openly cheering or screaming, but he is internally simping

If you have a partner when dancing, he will keep a close eye on that person, making sure they don't get too close to you

He is now your bodyguard (as if he isn't already)

Sirius

You can't tell me he wouldn't tease you relentlessly

He is a menace to society, remember that

You could teach him, but just keep in mind that he will make these sessions somewhat questionable

I think you should do your best to bring along one extra person when this happens

I saw it on another blog once, and I fully agree that Sirius would probably only know how to dance like Michael Jackson

He's so goofy I want to punch him in the face

Would occasionally ask if you would want to actually perform to the public, would tease you a little but if you don't want to he won't bug you anymore

If you do, Sirius will pull strings to do it

You may not see him in the crowd, but just know that he is watching (because he is a red flag like that)

Will take you out (on a date not shoot you) after the performance, effectively stealing you away before other people (Vega) can get you

He may ask you to do a personally performance for him. My suggestion is to decline if you feel the emotion known as embarrassment, because this man is a menace.

Remember to stay hydrated kids :)

[ppeonppeonhan]

Dead Friends Forever Q&A-Style Review

I listen to a movie podcast called The Rewatchables, and they have interesting categories that I want to examine this series through.

Most rewatchable scene: It has to be the last one, because we've been talking about it nonstop since it aired. Plus, it lives in my head, rent-free, like Non is haunting me. Like WE failed him. 😱

But since I'm a BL girlie, who loves a well-crafted sex scene, I also have to include both of Phee and Jin's high-heat moments when Phee's trying to seduce him on the balcony and when they have rough sex in Jin's room. I'm not gonna lie: That was some king shit on Ta's end.

Best quote: "No one could leave this abandoned house — not even one." Come on! It foretold the surreal ending and fulfilled the victim's wishes. Gold.

What aged the best? The way that even the bullies perceived teacher Keng as a groomer, who took advantage of a desperate child — that will most definitely make that subplot still bearable even a decade from now.

What's aged the worst? The unaliving and SA montage in the finale that some have said was insensitive/irresponsible to have included. It was like trigger after trigger after trigger — practically a machine gun of traumatic scenes. The fandom could sincerely organize a class action lawsuit against the writer and director for them to pay for our therapy bills.

Scene-stealing location: The lake. Such a beautiful setting for romance, betrayal, and revenge. 😈

Best shot: Definitely the one of Tan from above when he's successfully drugged all of his victims. Iconic.

Are we sure this person is good at their job? Tee's uncle. The fact that he has so much riding on two teenagers is ridiculous. He didn't just start being a con man / mob boss that week. How does he not have a more stable criminal infrastructure at this point?

Best use of food and drink: Obviously, Tan spiking the beverages, knowing it would be the easiest way to poison everyone.

Was there a better title? Absolutely not. The play on the phrase "Best Friends Forever," an archaic term popularized in the '90s that puts way too much pressure on kids to find their kindred spirit and hold on to them through adolescence and adulthood, was inspired. It truly encompassed the impossibility of it all. There are just so many obstacles ahead of you, like peer pressure, family obligations, love triangles, bullying, ego, insecurity, and cowardice, that it's a lofty promise to make when you've barely finished puberty. Plus, it kind of hints at the ending...

Overacting award: Some could argue Barcode, but part of his performance was meant to be surreal, because it was in the dream state. I, personally, vote Jet (Top). Sometimes I felt like his character was in an entirely different, far more slapstick genre.

The "That Guy" Award: This category is for the actor/famous person you see all the time, but don't know the name of. I noticed a lot of people were excited to see Perth, so I "saw him all the time" on my feed. When I Googled him, that's when I learned that he was on a reality show with other Be On Cloud stars. 

Scene-Stealer (with very few scenes): Honestly, whichever extra/stunt double they had wearing that mask, freaking us out. The most memorable of which was when its creepy hand groped Tee.

Recasting couch:

I think Nanon (Bad Buddy) could've been interesting as the tormented Tan, because we would've bought his innocence longer.

It could've added to the mystery if we had the BL twins, AJ and JJ, confuse the narrative. 

I would watch Neo in almost anything at this point, and he could've played the morally conflicted Tee as he showcased those skills already in Only Friends.

A younger Mark (Last Twilight) would've fit so well into this cast. He plays lost and guilty quite well.

Picking Nits: This category is for pointing out things that just don't add up.

Why didn't Phee's cop dad have more questions about his son's behavior and activities after he saw who his son was involved with?

What teenager is fine going somewhere that has no wifi or reception? Even I wouldn't do that and I've had wifi as long as these characters have been alive.

Why was Non, a teenager, being medicated for mental health issues, but not being monitored by a mental health professional?

If Tee's uncle didn't want to be at a loss if Non died unexpectedly, then why didn't he let him get his wounds treated and get some rest? Unless the plan was always to harvest his organs, which would still have merited rest. Nobody wants shitty organs.

Unanswerable Questions

If Jin and Phee survived, would they have got back together?

If Non were alive, would Phee have ditched Jin?

What did they do with Non's body?

And, of course, after succeeding: Does Tan recover from his grief and move on with his life? Does he successfully escape arrest? Does he leave behind evidence of what the boys did to his family to further persecute them in death? Is his revenge plot really over...?

That was fun! Tag me if you answer the same Qs.

[squarebracket-trickster]

Author Ask Tag Game

A huge SORRY and thank you to @mjparkerwriting for tagging me in this waaaaay back in August (what the heck - how did this happen haha).

What is the main lesson of your story (e.g. kindness, diversity, anti-war), and why did you choose it?

That sometimes being a strong, independent woman isn't enough. Sometimes we can't succeed alone or even with the help of loyal friends. Sometimes it really does take structural, systemic change and that change doesn't happen in a single life time.

As for why I chose this theme... I didn't really. I started with a premise (princess runs away from arranged marriage and accidentally falls in love with guy she was betrothed to). When I turned that premise into a plot with stakes I decided to have something that pressured the protagonist to go back to her marriage. The thing I chose was needing to prevent a war. The theme just kind of emerged from the tension between her saving her people and not being trapped in a marriage she didn't want.

2. What did you use as inspiration for your worldbuilding (like real-life cultures, animals, famous media, websites, etc.)?

Southern England (loosely) in 1333 AD and some other cultures that would have been in contact with, bordering, or having diaspora in England (Wales, France, Breton, Al Andalusia, Persia, Byzantine Empire, Jewish diaspora, and like one thing from Scotland).

Other inspirations include a few Shakespeare comedies, how Tolkien uses English speech patterns to indicate social class, the Robin Hood myth, and Tennyson's poem "The Splendour Falls".

4. How many chapters is your story going to have?

Draft 2 had 15 chapters averaging between 3000-5000 words. I've already broken up one of those chapters in draft 3 and will probably break up more. So, at least 16? But I might split them all in half if I decide they are too many pages when I finally change the page size of my manuscript from standard word doc to book-sized. So maybe around 30?

6. When and why did you start writing?

The immersive daydreamer who loves to read to fandom to CinemaSins to film and tv show critique YouTube to writing advice YouTube to I'm gonna write my daydreams down so I can reread them for fun to I want to try my hand at a properly structured novel (but it's just for me) to dammit, I've put so much work in I want to polish this and publish it one day Pipeline is very, very real.

7. Do you have any words of encouragement for fellow writers of writeblr? What other writers on Tumblr do you follow?

You can edit a bad draft. It is so much easier to fix something than to make something from scratch. Your first draft is not an adequate reflection of your abilities as a writer - neither is your second, neither is your third. Asking for help is a skill, rewriting is a skill, workshopping is a skill, googling writing advice is a skill, taking a break is a skill. Your novel isn't your best work until it's done - feedback, and breaks, and months of writer's block and all. Push through. You're not a bad writer, or a good one for that matter, until there is a finished product to judge. I know looking at an unfinished draft riddled with problems can be demoralizing but you will find those problems and you will fix them. Just be patient.

I'm gonna steal MJ's idea and tag seven of my "other writers" - seven because that's how many questions are on in tag game.

@zeenimf, @ambiguouspuzuma, @macabremoons, @lexiklecksi, @sleepyowlwrites (though you've probably been tagged 1000 times in this haha), @stesierra, @ettawritesnstudies

[ladybarlow]

TAKE THAT ASK GAME

Hello! I'm sick and bored so I thought why not answer all questions in one post. Bare with me as it's gonna be looong and very grammatically incorrect 😊

btw. these are all just my opinions, you have every right to disagree with me, just be nice, ok, thank you.

Favourite member?

If you had asked me this question 6-8 years ago, I would have said Gary without hesitation, but over the years, Mark has earned a special place in my heart, so now it has to be both Gary and Mark - I honestly can't choose between them, although I'm leaning towards Gary a tad bit more.

Favourite voice?

Gary

TT5, TT4, or TT3?

TT4 (with Jason) all the way, always and forever. TT5 (Progress era) never felt 100% right to me, I had the feeling Rob took all the spotlight, mainly because journalists made the whole thing about him wchich was a bit irky imo. I enjoyed this lineup nevertheless. TT3 is fantastic, but I do miss Jason, I miss all the Donage moments, I miss his input to the band. TT4 feels just right - spontaneous, full of genuine chemistry and balanced in a way that makes every member shine without anyone dominating.

Favourite album?

Beautiful World - I mean, what a way to come back to the music scene! Not only did this album rekindle Gary's faith in his songwriting skills, but it also showcased how great the other members are at writing songs. It gave us gems like Patience, Shine, Rule The World (well almost), Hold On and Jay's first lead Wooden Boat. I love how 'warm' it sounds. The only thing I don't like is the slow ballad to upbeat song ratio, I wish there were more fast-paced songs on it.

Favourite music video?

Oh I really don't know! I like 'How Deep Is Your Love' 'cause it's so different and strange lol but I think I'm gonna choose Patience. There's something so significant about them 4 all carrying the microphones almost like a symbol of the struggles they each carried and faced throughout the 10 year break, the way they all come separately from different directions to finally meet and reunite. It is a powerful video for a powerful song.

Favourite song?

Rule The World - they totally reached their peak with this song. Everything's perfect about it : Gary's voice, the backing vocals (especially towards the end where you can clearly hear Mark 💀 ), the production makes it so magical, the chorus gives me goosebumps EVERYTIME, I also loved the movie they wrote the song for. Lyrically it might not be their strongest song, but often with music, it's not just about the lyrics, it's about the emotion it conveys. I have so many beautiful memories tied to this track, I even remember the first time I heard it - it was in August 2010, Saturday afternoon. It blew my little socks off, but I was totally underwhelmed by the music video lol

Favourite tour?

Beautiful World again! I like the intimacy of arena tours. The show they put up with Could It Be Magic was imo their most spectacular performance to date and let's not forget the Give Good Feeling and Sure renditions - outta this world and omg the Never Forget hologram bit -glorious!

Beautiful World or The Circus?

Beautiful World

Wonderland or This Life?

Wonderland

Everything Changes or Nobody Else?

Nobody Else

Take That & Party or III?

Oh God, this is the hardest one yet!! Take That & Party is such a fun album! It proves that Gary is a genius! Creating such a solid album at just 19 or 20 (or maybe even younger) almost entirely by himself… DAMN! Yes, it is a bit cheesy and corny but I'm a cheesy music connoisseur, so I don't mind lol. I love III as well, it seems to be their most consistent album of the 2010's but think I'm still gonna go for TT&P 😁

Progress or Odyssey?

Progress

How long have you been a fan?

My story is kinda weird and random. It was May 2010, I had passed all my exams, I was bored watching TV on a sunny afternoon. I saw THIS Nikon ad, I thought to myself: "That's Robbie Williams, I know him, he has some great songs." I googled him initially just to listen to his music but ended up watching every interview I could find, and I totally fell for him 😬 To say I was obsessed would be an understatement. Doing my extensive research, I found out that he used to be in a band, and I was honestly shocked! I checked them out, and the first song I came across was ... 'Promises'. Now, if that video didn't scare me off, it means me and this band were meant to be xd Then I found out that I knew BFG and Patience from the radio! They'd just reunited for Progress, so I couldn't have found a better time to discover them! My love for them grew with every song and every interview. I started watching old performances, reading up on their history, and before I knew it, they had become a huge part of my life. I developed a crush on Gary almost immediately, I couldn't tell Jason and Howard apart for about two weeks, and Mark was obviously the smiley, cute one. 15 years later, they feel like more like friends or family members than a band to me!

Have you seen Take That live?

YES!!!!! I saw them last year in Łódź, Poland. Undoubtedly the best day of me life, even though I had the most terrible view imaginable.

Do you own any merch/memorabilia?

Yup, I have about 6 T-Shirts, a mug and Gary & TT calendars.

Favourite photo/photoshoot?

Hmmm I like most of their photos, but I'm gonna go with the Beautiful World CD photoshoot. I'm obsessed with that era idk why. Oh and I like how on the cover of BW there's a space between Mark and Jason and I always saw it as 'they made room for Robbie' 🥲

Favourite dynamic in the band?

This won't come as a surprise but BARLOWEN! I will ship these two to my grave lolz. There's something so wholesome about their bromance, you can totally tell Mark absolutely adores Gary and while Gary is a tiny bit more reserved when it comes to showing his affection for Mark on stage you can tell he really, really loves him too. Call me stupid, but I find it hard to think of anything more manly than a couple of straight guys who are not afraid or embarrassed to show how much they care about each other publicly. I was a big fan of Donage too, I bet Jay broke Howard's heart with his departure becuase it was clear they were very close friends as well.

Do you listen to their solo work?

Sure I do. Rob's solo stuff has been with me since early childhood. It could be my own little Mandela Effect but I'm almost sure I remember hearing "She's The One" at a *school in Poland that you attend when you're 6 that has no English equivalent* 😆 Then I spent years listening to the radio and Rob's quite famous here so they were playing him A LOT! Mark's solo work is so underrated I wanna scream until people stop sleeping on his talent! I'm very much an indie girl so his solo material is a gift sent from God. I like his style, his creativity etc. Now … with all my love to Gary and appreciation of his songwriting skills I have to say - his solo material just doesn't do it for me. For some reason he becomes very monothematic when he’s not in the band. Slow, high pitched ballads are just not my vibe, although he does have some great songs like 'Forever Love', 'Lie To Me' or 'Open Road'. Don't throw me out of the TT fandom (am I even still in it? lol ) but his last 2 albums were awful 🤐

A song you skip?

There's only one song that I skip and it's 'Keep Your Head Up'. Was Gary in the middle of eating a sandwich when they recorded it? 😂Honestly, so weird! I also don't listen to 'What Do You Want From Me' too often because it makes me feel a lil bit uncomfortable.

A song you find comforting?

There are so many but 'What you believe in" stands out, definitely. It's like medicine for a troubled soul.

A song that gets you hype?

Strangely, 'Giants' made me scream like crazy at their gig, also 'Get Ready For It" always gets me so excited.

A song that makes you cry?

I shed a tear during 'Rule The World' live but that was to be expected. Usually 'Freeze' makes me emotional because JASON 😭

Favourite lyric?

Everytime I listen to 'Every Revolution' I catch this lyric: "Up ahead the blanket full of stars, a pencil sketch to lie down underneath" and it makes me strangely happy! Unexplainable, sorry!

Any hot takes/general thoughts to do with the band?

What else can I say about the band? I left social media for over 6 years, they also had a longer break. They've changed and so have I. I noticed how their music matured, they've matured as people, minus Howard who hit snooze on the maturity and sensibleness alarms, but nevermind lol. They are still extremely important to me, their music is always safe, comfortable and familiar, like a warm blanket on a cold day. I'm so happy I've been a part of their story for 15 years, on and off. They went through a lot, they made mistakes, but I loved watching them learn from them and grow as people. Their story is wild, full of highs and lows, but that's what makes them so real and relatable. Despite everything they went through, they never gave up. And neither did I. I stuck with them and will support them 4evaaaa.

[theneighborhoodwatch]

Hi! Gonna start off and say that I love the work you're doing with the Welcome Home neocities website! It's perfectly stylized for the project/puppet show and I can see the work you're putting into it.

I'd love to learn how to make my own neocities website (for fun? For a personal project??), so I was wondering if you could provide some tips and/or pointers for a first-timer.

Thank you!

HAHA well first of all i'm flattered that someone would think i'm skilled enough to be giving pointers in the first place. i still consider myself a novice when it comes to web design (for example, if you're wondering why every page on welcome to welcome home has its own CSS, it's because CSS is Way harder for me to wrap my head around than HTML) so i can't give any Super advanced tips, but i can at least write about what's helped me so far:

GUIDES. neocities has its own tutorial and list of HTML/CSS resources, but user-made guides are your best friend when it comes to figuring out where to go from there. a.n. lucas and pauli kohberger both have really good guides for beginners, but for the more advanced stuff, i found myself referencing the resources on solaria's webspace and sadgrl.online the most. w3schools is also very helpful when it comes to answering more specific questions like "how do i use two different fonts on the same page?" (and probably more.) if all else fails, then usually just googling "how to (x) in HTML" or "how to (x) in CSS" will yield at least one useful result. for making your website more accessible, there's the accessible net directory and this masterpost by foxpunk on tumblr.

it sounds obvious, but it helps to have a solid idea of what kind of site you want to build before you actually dive in, and then snoop around on neocities to get an idea of how other users approach the same topic. for example, i got the idea to start a welcome home wiki on neocities after being reminded of the 8:11 wiki on the same site, and then i spent a couple days just looking up stuff like "wiki" or "fansite" on neocities and then clicking on any page that caught my attention to study it.

layouts! there's no shame in using a premade one, and you can even learn more about HTML/CSS in real time just by messing around with the base code before implementing any intentional changes. sadgrl.online's layout builder is a VERY popular choice, since you can already do a lot with the basic options it offers and it's easy to further customize once you have it set up on your page; it's what i used to make welcome to welcome home. sadgrl.online's webmaster links also feature a bunch of other options under the "layouts" tag, and if none of those work for you, then you can even find something just by looking up template/templates/layout/layouts/HTML/CSS on neocities itself.

side note: if you're reading this and you want to make a wiki then you can also use this wikitable code. it came out after i had already established the Look of welcome to welcome home, so i probably won't implement it any time soon, but i TOTALLY WOULD HAVE if it was around when i first set the site up.

you can scale images up or down using percentage, with 100% being the image's default size. i don't know how helpful or acceptable that is, but i use it a lot.

don't feel pressured to get everything done at once, even if you expect people to be visiting your site frequently. usually if you just slap on an "under construction" gif or even just write "hey this site is still under construction" then people will understand. i don't think i've ever seen anyone get super huffy about slow updates on neocities, anyway.

EDIT: OH. GRAPHICS. i mention all of these on welcome to welcome home's front page but i Also wanted to note them here: betty's graphics and websets by lynn both have HUGE collections of background tiles and other graphics that work especially well if you're going for that old web charm. i also like to use this mirror of patterncooler for backgrounds bc of the customization options. you can also make your own background tile and then use a seamless tile maker like this if all else fails.

EDIT 2: ALSO. obviously. do not be like me and use discord or any other chat client as a filehost, no matter how promising it looks, because one day you WILL get a very nasty surprise when the request signature on those urls expire and the images are no longer accessible on other sites. there are a myriad of other filehosts out there, but personally i recommend file garden (and also donating to file garden if you can, even if only for a couple months. i know i said that just yesterday, but if it gets more folks to subscribe then i'm gonna keep saying it.)

[helloitshaley]

Job Interview Tips

look, this isn't my niche thing, I'm a horror babe, but I've noticed recently that a lot of young people really just do not understand the job interview process, which is really REALLY hurting their chances of being hired, even if they could do an amazing job IF hired so I'm gonna help as best as I can here.

Resumé:

Your resumé is basically a way to show your prospective employer what skills you have and what you can bring to the table. There are websites where you can look at how a resumé should be formatted, and google docs provides you with a free format as well so please use it.

What you SHOULD put on it:

First and last name, phone number, email. You can put your address if you want but that may do more harm than good if you live further away than the employer wants.

Your school experience. Even if you have only graduated high school, put that on there! Also the date that you graduated as well. Most jobs don't care about your GPA, but if you feel like the education section is looking a bit sparse, put it on there, it can't hurt.

Previous jobs. Outline how long you worked at each job, if you can provide an accurate start and end date please do. Outline your responsibilities for each job as well, employers want to see your experience.

If you are fresh out of high school and don't have any job experience, list your extra curricular activities and what responsibilities you may have had for them. As you gain job experience, remove this from your resume, but its good if you need to beef it up a little bit.

What you absolutely SHOULD NOT put on it:

Don't just write a paragraph about yourself, again, find a free resume format and use that.

Don't make jokes!!!! It is a professional thing and should be kept professional. I once saw a resume where this person wrote "I be about that money." DON'T DO THAT!!!!!

Basically you can't go wrong as long as you stick to a format and use spell check. Type-os happen, I do them constantly, thats why spell check is your friend! And if you really aren't sure, get a friend or someone to proof read it for you.

How to dress for an interview:

No matter what the job is, look professional for the interview! Try to avoid jeans and leggings, and never wear sweat pants or a sweat shirt. My best piece of advice is to buy one outfit that is your interview outfit. You don't have to splurge, you can find professional clothing at a thrift store. So long as you look well put together they do not care where your clothes came from.

What I recommend wearing is either a nice skirt, or a pair of slacks, a button up shirt, and a blazer type jacket. This goes for whatever gender, you can't go wrong with sticking to that! If you're someone who wears a tie, wear a tie. As for shoes, avoid sneakers if possible. Flats, heels, loafers, oxfords are all good. Do NOT wear flip flops or slides.

Brushing your hair is also a good idea. Makeup is never necessary but if you do wear it, its best to keep it to a minimum. Bright green eye shadow may look amazing, but if you have Mr. Fuddy Duddy bank owner interviewing you, he isn't going to like that. Understand your audience when it comes to your appearance. Make sure your teeth are brushed and that you showered and put on deodorant.

How to present yourself in the interview:

Be early!!!!!!!!!!

Be pleasant, smile! Smiling will get you very far. I know eye contact is a challenge for a lot of people, but do your best. I know that you'll be nervous out of your mind, but if you can fool your interviewer into thinking you're not, that can get you pretty far.

Don't appear too relaxed, however. Make sure you're sitting with good posture, not slouching in your chair. Be attentive, nod along with what the interviewer is saying. Try not to yawn if it can be helped.

Be sure to answer every question to the best of your ability. Responding with 'I don't know' and nothing more is going to put you at the bottom of their list. Even if you have to bullshit an answer, do it as long as the bullshit is eloquent and coherent.

Look up frequently asked interview questions and prepare an answer for them ahead of time. Most interviews follow the same script. They want to know your strengths and weaknesses blah blah blah.

Always thank them for their time once the interview is over.

RANDOM IMPORTANT BITS:

Sending a thank you email is not something a lot of people know about, but has become and expectation in the professional world. Once you get home from your interview, send the interviewer a short email thanking them for their time and consideration. I know this is weird and kiss ass like, but it is expected. This is more so for the corporate world, however, so if you're applying for a food or retail job, this isn't necessary.

A lot of places expect a cover letter with the resume, ugh. Basically this is just a quick paragraph of you outlining why you would fit the role. Keep it short and sweet, don't beg for the job, keep it professional. Outline how your specific skills would fit the job.

Don't be too basic. What I mean by this is, you can embellish a little to make yourself sound better. This can apply to your resume or in person interview. IE: Your last job was washing dishes? Turn that into 'you were in charge of kitchen sanitation and organization.' Don't over embellish, however, don't make it seem like you were the CEO when you were the bartender, right?

When it comes to references, make sure you're putting down someone who will back you up and make you sound good. If you were fired from your last job, its probably best not to list that manager as a reference. Also, unless you have a ride or die bestie that will commit to the bit, its best not to list friends as references.

If the interviewer asks why you left a job that you hated, or maybe you were fired from, DO NOT BASH THAT COMPANY OR MANAGER!!!! That is going to make you look immature and also like you are hard to work with. Say something along the lines of 'I just didn't see myself as a good long term fit there, I have different goals and aspirations that I would like to explore in an environment that more fits the career I want.' again, bullshit until you make it. But whatever you do, don't say, 'oh that job sucked, my manager was a bitch, they weren't fair ect.'

RED FLAGS on their side:

A company should never ask for a picture of you prior to an interview. They also can't make you submit a video either. They should never ask your age, unless that is relevant to the job (like an 18 year old can't be a bar tender). They can NOT ask if you are pregnant. If you are clearly pregnant and they tell you they won't hire you because of that, you could have a suit on your hands.

Hiring you on the spot (when its not fast food) could be a red flag. Tell them you would like to think it over for a day or so.

Not being upfront about the salary is a no-no.

If anyone want to tack anything onto this feel free! I just felt compelled to make this post because I see so many people getting passed over for jobs when it doesn't reflect on them as a worker. Also, a lot of people just do not know this stuff. I think there needs to be an interview class in high school. Anyway, if this helps just one person I will be very happy!

[graphicabyss]

DOS2: A Tale of Frustration

So BG3 doesn't run on my old PC so I turned to DOS2 to fill the void and I finished it out of pure spite. I'm sorry to all the fans but... omg why is it so frustrating? So I'm putting some of the things that were driving me crazy to get it off my chest.

the skill icons on the panel keep disappearing when I try to click them like 30% of the time

the 98 damage types and every enemy has a resistance to each of these

the undead heal from poison damage for some fucking reason

the fucking clouds. poison clouds can be extinguished by fire? makes total sense. Electric clouds? You're fucked unless you know a specific spell.

in half the fights everything ends up on fire, often cursed or necrofire. good luck!

Don't you just love the fights where you start of fighting 3 enemies and end up fighting 12? Not my idea of subverting the expectations.

crafting makes no sense, there are 6834673 items to be crafted and half of them are only useful in early game

how are you supposed to learn the recipes? you get some from dozens of crafting books but it's still only like 30%. How am I supposed to know hammer to a potato makes fries?

I was googleing up quests, crafting, combat and everything else every 5 minutes because I'm tired of going into shit blind but honestly it wasn't enough.

you are free to go anywhere except the areas all have specific levels so you struggle through enemies that are 2 levels higher and then find areas that are 3 levels lower you missed

And what's up with Arx? You expect a chill city phase and end up slaughtered wherever you go. And good luck finding those source points!

Half the quests only work if you have a specific character, specific race or trait and you don't know which. Better prepare for a fight.

Persuasion checks make no sense and you only know the requirements once you fail. Have a fun fight!

Finishing a really tough fight, being really proud of yourself... Looting the dead enemies only to fight... Sir Lora. That little bitch has a deathwish and shall run through necrofire and deathfog like its full of nuts. I redid almost every late-game battle more than once. Goddammit.

I appreciate the immersion but could the NPCs stop pacing for 5 seconds? I need to talk to them! I was running after Hannag for 5 solid minutes and only managed to speak to her after I froze the water making her fall.

The inventory drove me crazy... It's not just gear and potions. You have a pyromancer and the enemies are immune to fire? You better get those scrolls. 97 ingredients half of which you're never gonna use. And I just love putting all my keys into my bag of keys manually.

The armour, man. The armour has physical/magic protection stats, skill points, ability points and sometimes spells. So you wanna swap those gloves? LOL now you can't use 3 spells and are also overburdened.

Faithful Item Set. Just that alone. The set has like 9 items and they're all dispersed all over the map, with the most important parts found on random NPCs! Like, there's no quest relating to it, there are no clues. Just... look in every crate and trade with every single character, bro. Good luck! I got all the items using a very detailed guide... except not. Turns out I got the boots first and sold them off at some point. Woo!

Right-clicking doesn't work half the time. Wanna identify shit or disarm a trap? Nope. Wanna look up that boss that you're about to fight? Don't be a pussy, just hit them and see if it works.

I am using a reasonable number of giftbag perks. I'd probably quit without them by now.

Spent about 260 hours on this game and about 100 of it was just inventory sorting.

The final battle... where do I even start? You get all the spells, all the scrolls, all the potions... only to get one-shot by the fucking Kraken. I expected something epic and received an utter clusterfuck. I only managed to win after about 6 tries and only by drinking invisibility potions, waiting for everyone to murder each other and then finishing Rex.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk. Sorry for your time.

[karliahs]

1 & 10 & 22 !!

from the weird writer questions asks

ty anon!!!

What font do you write in? Do you actually care or is that just the default setting?

i have never once changed the font from whatever the default is, so currently i write in (checks google docs) arial

i do always think that i should try the comic sans trick next time i am stuck. and then never remember that exists when i am actually stuck

10. Has a piece of writing ever “haunted” you? Has your own writing haunted you? What does that mean to you?

oh man. all the time.

for other people's writing: my primary hauntings are sadie by courtney summers and idaho by emily ruskovich. i kind of don't want to even say anymore bc i think everyone should read those books while knowing as little as possible about them (minus content warnings bc there are some extremely heavy ones). if you're not gonna read them: the fates of some characters are left ambiguous in both, and both absolutely haunt me. i think about them all the time

i am definitely haunted by other people's fics also. scenes/lines will become part of how i think about that character and will play on repeat when i am walking around listening to music having my character thoughts

with my own writing: also big yes!! some fics haunt me as i am writing them. sometimes scenes are so vivid it feels like they are writing themselves inside my head. ten of swords felt so much like a haunting. i was mentally writing it as i was falling asleep and then i woke up in the middle of the night and it truly just carried on as though nothing had happened.

things i've written can also haunt me after they are written. i reread my own fics a lot and sometimes i get kind of...stuck...on a particular work. there were weeks when i read the same fic like....10 times? at least? sometimes specific paragraphs even. there was a period where i just kept rereading this one bit of repeat:

Don’t tell him that you’re tired too – not of him, not from lack of sleep, just bone-deep tired of every good thing being so fragile and temporary. Tired of running on a wheel every day, every day, and knowing you can lose these kids anyway. Suspect that he’s noticed anyway, since he’s visibly trying to find a non-impertinent way to ask if you’re alright. Every year they’re kinder and more breakable.

i think it happens when there is something buried in a thing i've written that i don't fully understand yet. or don't understand why it's hitting me the way it is.

i like it. i'm in favour of being haunted

22. How organized are you with your writing? Describe to me your organization method, if it exists. What tools do you use? Notebooks? Binders? Apps? The Cloud?

ha. not organised at all. it's me and 50 google docs against the world. which is mostly fine because i don't write particularly long things, or have long projects to keep track of.

about the only organisational things i do are putting a . at the front of file names if that fic posted to help me mentally skip past it in the list, and putting the fandom in square brackets at the beginning...sometimes. very inconsistently. it's most useful for fandoms where i'm not currently writing for them, so again it's helpful to mentally skip over those

it's funny bc i worked admin for a long time so one of my like work skills is organisation, and i think that makes me less inclined to do that with hobby stuff. being organised is for when i am being paid to do it

[literalite]

asks

these r all the asks i got last night about the whole aesthetic discussion i'll answer in order of when i got them :p

truth b told if i started simblr like. today and knew nothing about photoshop then i'd probably be pretty demoralised too but also thats exactly how it was starting simblr anyway i just worked on it until i was happy w my skills... no one gave me a cheat code i just put time and effort into it

i agree with u im ngl like i do sincerely wish everyone had the opportunity to put hours and hours of their lives into learning how everything about this works if thats what they truly wanted. also if anything doing it solely by urself will make the process all the more time consuming but if u ask around for help people (including me! im down to help fr) will usually give it to u and that'll speed up the process more. being mad at me for having that is pointless what am i gna do go back in time and unlearn it all and for what? dsfghjk

okay i did see this being said a lot and uhhhh i was trying to understand it but like. i also don't. like ok with cluttered aesthetic build shots or yknow the odd landscape with heavy bloom shader on it i guess if ur looking at it completely from that pov yeah i guess it looks like some posts that "blow up" r just sort of the same shit. but the fact remains that its also it's good shit like anyone can clutter a room and take a photo of it what really counts here in my opinion anyhow is shot composition. and there's literally preestablished rules for this sort of thing u can google cinematography basics and get it for free... there's a whole field of study looking into what draws the human eye. like maybe the core concepts behind what makes a popular post popular is the same but thats because it just works. if u wanna shy away from that entirely but then complain about ur posts not being as popular then that's very much a u problem it doesn't have anything to do with the rest of us

amen these are my ocs wdym these are "sims" LOLLL these are the real people living in my head if i bust my ass making them look good then thats a choice i made

u can call this an empathy problem and try explain it to me more but i dont see how other people feeling insecure about what their current ability scales up to is any fault of mine or my problem to bend backwards to try fix... or even how i could. like is the standard high now yeah honestly it is. the learning curve was steep as hell when i first started as well. no disagreements here. but what am i supposed to do about it LMAO like i didn't create the human proclivity to be drawn to beauty i just ride off of it.

idk why i'm the bad guy for being honest for my reasoning behind what i do and don't reblog? lots of other people have been saying they dont really care about aesthetics which is great but if i said that i'd literally just be lying to you. i'm not gonna apologise for not lying... i like being able to see the passion and energy poured into the same video game we're all playing it's only natural to appreciate that- if that reads as passive aggression and u don't understand my stance that's fine by me

i would say for me personally try watch visual media that u can recognise as "beautiful" and not to shit on like. cw shows but i mean stuff that is marked by its cinematography being truly excellent. and just really examine how those set and lighting designers use angles and lighting and how the people filming and editing choose to frame their shots to achieve what works. hell looking at art helps with this too. look at other people's stuff on simblr analytically try to seriously work out why it appeals to people the way it does. ik u asked for editing tips but i think it really starts ingame you can have the most incredible editing style but it doesn't work if ur shot comp doesn't work then it'll won't hit as hard

take time to learn what most of the adjustment layers do on photoshop, and what all the blending layers look like, download other people's psds and play with them on top of ur shots to see what works! what u personally think looks good will be different from what i personally think looks good, i like dramatic lighting and muted colours and mid level contrast so not too strong but i can't speak for whether you will too. ALSO im a religious user of @/simmerstesia's psd set here i think a well chosen shot can be really elevated by using something like this to really give it that final polish

additionally if u have any like really specific questions or need some advice u can ask me on discord my dms are open like i can talk u thru it. promise it's not as daunting as it can look

[arcplaysgames]

okay so I was kinda right about Medjed! is that another victory in my column or not? hm

After sleeping for I think 22 days, Futaba wakes up and gets to counterhacking the hackers.

Reverie and Morgana get bored and start cleaning up her room while she works.

Reverie got them skills. I still want an AU where he's a housespouse who moonlights as a cat burglar, if the fandom hasn't written a dozen of them, what the fuck have they been doing.

gurl, we need to get you some vitamin c and iron, holy shit. i hope you like edamame and oranges, it's all your eating for the next week.

Does anyone else think this voice actor does NOT fit this character, or is it just me? It's a constant distraction.

Aw he looks nice. What horrific creative crimes has he committed?

I finally belatedly noticed that the Palaces are all built around one of the deadly sins. "Arc, how could you not notice--" deadly sins are dumb, it's not in my authorial wheelhouse, blah blah. so anyway we did Lust, Vanity, Gluttony.... then the Thieves call out Futaba's sloth in the calling card, but she's actually associated with Wrath? Which is confusing. That means our options are.... uh. /googles.

Envy, Sloth, and Greed.

If the Final Boss is, like, the dude positioning to be the future Prime Minister, then I would say he should be Greed? Greed for power? But who even knooooows.

OKAY SO I WAS KINDA RIGHT! She was Medjed! But it's basically Anonymous, it's a placeholder name for anyone who wants to use it. Yeah 'cause that always goes well.

looks worriedly at Morgana

Beige Boy shows up to sass Sae some more and

squints at these dialogue boxes

You know what I'm interested in seeing? I figure Akechi is gonna join the Thieves in some capacity at some point, it's being set up pretty aggressively. What interests me is whether we will see his persona awakening or if he'll already have a persona when he joins.

'Cause like.... Okay I'm pretty sure Akechi knows the Thieves aren't behind the mental shutdowns. I'm 70% sure. Ergo:

There is a 70% chance that Akechi is the black masked guy in the Metaverse causing the mental shutdowns.

Or there is a 30% chance that Akechi is being played by someone he trusts, who is giving him bad information re: the mental shutdowns. Which... would dovetail nicely into him joining the crew, actually, if they uncovered the true culprit and Akechi (like his Detective Prince predecessor) swapped sides to the Thieves upon realizing they're the only people who can stop the true perpetrator.

Actually, that would be an incredibly tidy bit of writing, I'm gonna say its 50/50.

He's still sus as fuck 24/7/365 though.

hello i am here for the Futaba and Sojiro Show

Also Sojiro fucking drops the fact that his curry recipe was from Wakaba. He made her curry once and she was so intrigued, she asked for information on how to make it, then returned to Sojiro with a refined, scientifically reinforced recipe, and that's the one Sojiro still uses.

I love Sojiro, what the fuck.

BITCH JUST TELL ME WHO YOU PUSHED YOUR FUCKING MALWARE APK TO AND SAVE ME THE TIME, I KNOW IT WAS YOU.

Makoto has this whole plan to basically give Futaba's interpersonal skills a workout until she's a little more able to handle Thief-y work, but of course Futaba latches onto Yusuke, because she has excellent taste and they are both kindred weirdos.

oh yeah you guys are gonna be besties, i can tell

She also keeps putting on a big costume head when she gets nervous, which is an interesting literalization of "masking" I guess.

I have no intelligent commentary, I just like that when Futaba whines at Sojiro here, he stops and assesses the situation, deems it harmless, and goes back to what he was doing. There's no doubt he'd jump in to help if needed, but also I think Futaba is just the time to simper and tug at his attention because both of them enjoy that. It's very good, I like it.

Also, again: Futaba's VA choice is so fucking good. Love it.

Next up is a beach trip and I cannot imagine it beating P4G's incredible beach vacation, but we shall enter it with open hearts and open eyes.

[youthinkofacoolname]

Hi there! You know how a few weeks back you explained how to add CC to The Sims 4? Yeah, that kinda ruined my life I'm obessed now help was super helpful and surprisingly easy! You're totally right that it makes the game so much better.

I was wondering if you can share some of your fave ones, or if you know websites that have particularly good content to add. I found some great stuff here on tumblr but hey, why not ask for some recs? ✨

Hey! I'm so glad I was able to drag you into my addiction help! Here's some mods that I think are essential for my game that you might like too! (putting it under a read more for convienence to all those uninterested)

^Vicky has a ton of great mods but the ones that change traits, such as 100 base game traits and More CAS traits, plus Better CAS Randomization are literal game changers and I can no longer play without them

^Another great modder but especially for "My x" stuff, that stuff adds realism (like a better memory system) but also small visual details, like a blush when flirty or eyebags when exhausted. They're small details but I personally like it when my sim's eyes get teary when they're sad

^If you're planning on decorating your house at all (although you don't have to cause there are some gorgeous houses on mod sites and the gallery) this is a must. Idk why EA decided that mirrors can't be moved up and down but it's dumb move

^This one is great for adding more realism for weddings. It gives you options such as "Shop for ring" "Sign prenup" and "Shop for dresses". Now they don't really do anything (the mod will send your engaged sim and their partner off the lot for a while and they come back with a mood buff) but I think it adds a nice touch for story telling purposes and is probably the most fun part of planning a wedding

^LittleMsSam is another modder who is absolutely great, these are a bunch of her smaller mods,. There's a ton of them and not all of them might not be needed but I reccomend looking through them because there are some that are life changers (like famous sims gain followers automatically, which makes staying famous way easier)

^This is the most important mod on my list. I don't know if it bothers you as much as it bothers me but I hate it when I tell my sim to go to another room (whether to use the bathroom or check on their baby) and they pause to sniff the the air or to point out a mess, this mod basically makes it so that they do those things while still walking to save time. As much as I love all these mods, this one is probably the best

^This one is really good if you're planning on adding toddlers to your family because it gives you more items that can level up their skills (which can be really hard, esp without a wabbit tablet/their parents are busy)

^Me personally I prefer the method of moving NPCs into my house and then killing them when it comes to making money but if you prefer to make money the conventional way this mod adds more jobs your sims can do

https://twitter.com/PandaSamaSims4

I've decided I'm just gonna reccomended Pandasama because they also make a ton of really great mods

~~I'm gonna reblog with some of my favorite occult mods because I'm running out of space~~

[bustyasianbeautiespod]

Episode 74 Transcript: Goodbye... for now

[intro guitar music]

G: Hello! My name is Grey.

C: And my name is Crystal.

G: And this is Busty Asian Beauties, a Supernatural commentary podcast where I, someone who has seen the show several times...

C: And I, someone who only knows the show through social media, discuss every single episode of Supernatural from start to finish. Also, we are both Asian.

G: Both Asian! For this episode, we will be discussing Season 4, Episode 14: "Sex and Violence," written by Cathryn Humphris, directed by Charles Beeson.

C: I know this isn't that bad of an episode, but I just had the most horrific time forcing myself to watch it. [G laughs]

G: Okay, that is a very, very nice segway to a very big announcement for us. [both laughing]

C: [laughing] Yeah, so, um-

G: Crystal had a rough time watching this episode, and now we're going to do a completely different podcast and we're taking a break from BABPod-

C: [laughing] - For 3 months.

G: [laughing] - for 3 weeks- oh, no, sorry, it's 3 months.

C: [laughing] Bye everyone! Sayonara, you weeaboo shits! But- [both laughing] No, okay, we are taking a 12 week break on BABPod because I'm insane and I begged Grey to do a Good Omens podcast with me because I can think of nothing else in my waking days; it haunts me forever and ever. [both laugh] And we can't run two podcasts at once because this is like, a 10 hour a week commitment for like, each of us separately, so we're leaving in the middle of Season 4. Maybe if Cas was in this episode, this wouldn't have happened. But you know what? He wasn't. [laughs] So.

G: Yeah. And we'll see Cas in 12 weeks. Bye, Cas! [both laugh]

C: Okay, so the name of our our new podcast is "Rubbish and Probably a Podcast." We have substituted the f-slur in the original book for the word "podcast." It will not be on this podcast feed; it'll be on another podcast feed, so if you just like, look up "rubbish and probably a podcast," hopefully, it'll show up for you on the Spotifies and the Google Podcasts and the whatever. But we're sticking to our same Tumblr and email account and Ko-Fi for anyone who wants to chat with us about Good Omens.

G: Yes.

C: Oh, also, we're finally doing the switcheroo, which I've always, always desired, which is where I've seen the show multiple times and Grey only knows about it from social media. So, hell yeah.

G: I don't know about it from social media. I know about it from you exclusively-

C: From me, screaming and crying.

G: Yes. So it'll be a really fun experience for me. And for you, hopefully. If it's not, this is gonna be so miserable. [laughs]

C: And for me, it will be. Yeah, because it is fully an act of charity you're doing for me. [G laughing] You should put this on your tax returns.

G: Exactly. And also, this is a wonderful opportunity for you to show some leadership skills because you're gonna be like, doing the like, hosting of the podcast [C laughs], which I'm very excited about. God.

C: So true. So very true.

G: When we do our intro, you're gonna be the first to speak. Are you excited about that in any way, shape, or form?

C: Oh, yeah, of course. It's all I've ever dreamed of ever since I was a little girl.

G: Exactly. Yeah. I am now the co-host and you are the host of this podcast.

C: Yeah. Yeah. So true. Well, there will be a trailer where we state more things, I suppose. So look out for that.

Back to this fucking show. [laughs] It's not that bad. But I just- to really get you into the mindset of how horrible it was to watch, I started watching at 9PM, and I couldn't get myself to finish until 2AM. And the things that I did in order to avoid finishing watching this episode, like, got a lot of water and snack refills, talked to my mutual Jeb on Tumblr about Good Omens, watched a 13-minunite Mitski video explaining how she wrote the song "Bug Like an Angel." I opened Pocket Frogs for the first time in 3 weeks to play it. [G laughs] I opened Disco Elysium for the first time in 2 months to play it. I also downloaded a game from itch.io that Danica's friend made, and then played all of that, and I watched an 18-minute Good Omens line reads compilation, and only after that 18-minute video of Good Omens did I have the energy to finish the last 6 minutes of "Sex and Violence."

G: I mean, this episode is not that bad, but it is one of those episodes that-

C: Hates women so much it's unreal?

G: Hates women so much it's unreal. And also, like, I think we do a good job in this podcast not talking about Wincest and the Wincest shippers of the world-

C: Yeah. But like, this, episode was like, a huge win for them, I have to say.

G: I would say, though, that every episode is probably a huge win for those people, [C laughs] because like, to them, everything is like- you know what I mean? You know what I mean? C: Yeah.

G: Like, if you're that level of- [both laughing] I'm not going to complete that sentence. It's way too mean. But-

C: This is just because Richard Siken is like- people think that Wincest is okay because he's out here doing good PR work for the evils.

G: Is he? I blocked him.

C: [laughs] Anyway.

G: I blocked him.

C: For real. [laughs]

G: I am of the opinion of Richard Siken's Twitter account is- I need to apply the same philosophy to it which I apply to-

C: As to any other- yeah?

G: - TikTok, which is that if it's good enough to be seen by me, there will be a person who shows it to me in some way. If the Tweet is not good enough to be seen by me, the middleman or the middlemen and women and non-binary people of the world [C laughs] will not show it to me. They will feel no need.

C: Yeah, yeah.

G: And my middlemen, I mean my mutuals.

C: Anyway, we're not mad at Richard Siken because we all knew it already [G laughs], but yeah, it was nicer when it was easier to forget. [laughs]

G: I don't give a shit. I really don't give a shit. Like, people were @-ing me!! Like, people were fucking messaging me! Like, "Grey, don't you love Supernatural and Richard Siken? [C laughs] Have you heard about this thing?" And I'm like, "Look. Look at me! I have heard about it. You are also the same person who messaged me about Misha Collins coming out as straight asking me if I've heard about it. I've heard about it all! [both laughing] So don't fucking go to my house and tell me- and ask me if I've heard about these things." You know what I mean?

C: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So true. I mean, at least he said, "I can guess the t-boy part, but what is swag?" That was at least a good sentence.

G: Anyway! This episode-

C: Yeah.

G: What is going on in Cathryn Humphris's head?

C: I really think it was just like- "Well, we need there to be a twist. Like, it can't just be like, a hot woman." But like, why is he talking like that?

G: No, here's the thing. Here's the thing. Well, first of all, you know the person who I don't like the character's characterization the most in this episode? It's Sam Winchester. Like, I cannot believe that he would-

C: No, he would not do this unless he was poisoned! Like, you're telling me in this glass office with the blinds open? [G laughs]

G: Like, they are working a case where guys fuck women and then they kill the people around them. And he's out here like, "I'm just gonna fuck this woman." [both laugh] And he doesn't even have the "because I was poisoned" because he wasn't.

C: Yeah, no, he just fully chose this with full consciousness of everything he was doing.

G: And then he was like, "I'm so upset at you Dean because you don't trust me because I slept with a woman in the 'man sleeps with a woman and then kills other people' case. [C laughing] What's wrong with you, Dean?" And it's like, "Sam! What is wrong with you?" What the hell? Why's he acting like this?

C: I truly have no clue like. Like, the last time Cathryn Humphris wrote Sam, like, was in "Metamorphosis," right? Like, she seemed to understand things then. Why doesn't she understand things now?

G: Yeah. Well, anyway, let us start the episode. So-

C: What did I know about it?

G: Oh, yeah, we need to do that. What'd you know about it? [laughs]

C: Well, I knew that Nick, the siren, was going to be a man, and that he and Dean would have- would get along very well, but that like, he would be like, wanting to be Dean's replacement, little brother rather than like, a sexual or romantic person in his life, but that it's still like, weirdly homoerotic 'cause, you know, Tumblr is obsessed with this episode.

G: Ye.

C: And I also thought I knew things about this episode, but I think that they were actually for the other siren episode, in like, Season 5 or whatever where there's like the room with like, like, pink sheets and stuff, and then at some point like, Dean goes in, and he like, flips open the blanket where there's like, a naked guy in there like, to check if there's anything underneath. Do you know the the clip I'm talking about?

G: It's not from here.

C: Yeah. Is that from the other siren episode, though, like, in Season 5?

G: Not sure. Not sure. But he does look at the guy's dick once.

C: Yeah, I mean, I remember when Danica watched whatever episode involved looking at the guy's dick, I feel like she told me that Dean also has a conversation with the guy where they like, share a moment of like, bro solidarity, where, like, Dean's like, "Oh, you like, Asian chicks too?" [G laughs] And like, I'm looking forward to whenever that happens. [laughs]

G: Ugh.

C: But you know what? It'll be more than 3 months before we have to see it! [both laughing]

G: That is true.

C: Not that Good Omens isn't racist, but it is a different brand.

G: One of the only few things I know about that show is that once you told me that there was a Supernatural fan on Tumblr who said they don't want to watch Good Omens due to racism, and you were like, "You are a Supernatural fan. You do know that, right?" [C laughs]

C: Yeah. I'd say if I if I had to like, rank them, I'd say Good Omens the book is the most racist, followed by Supernatural, followed by Good Omens the show, but maybe refreshing my memory will change how I feel about it.

G: Well. Let us start the episode!

-

G: We begin at a suburban household where a guy comes home to his wife.

C: Does the "Then" sequence not matter?

G: Well, what is it?

C: Well, okay. It like, starts with like, Ruby telling Sam like, "Oh, like, you need to tell Dean what we're doing, because, like, if it doesn't come from you, he'll be pissed." And then it's like, Dean going like, "Oh, so you're BFFs with a demon? Like, something major must have happened." And that's a voiceover over the clip of the Samruby sex in 4.09, which is like, strange. Like, the implication- 'cause like, in the episode, it's like, "I'm friends with Ruby now because she saved my life when I was like, at my most suicidal." But like, the way that this "Then" sequence is putting it is just like, "It's 'cause [overlapping] we fucked."

G: Yeah.

C: Yeah, and then it goes like, Sam goes like, "Oh, then like, why don't you be more forthcoming? Like, tell me what happened in Hell." And then Dean doesn't answer, and then the sequence ends, which makes it seem like he's hiding something about it, even though, like, he's not. Like, we already got the answer to that. So like, it's just a very odd reframing of Season 4 thus far, which I thought was interesting. And I don't really know what a lot of it has to do with - I guess, like, the Samruby stuff is just like, "Oh, we're gonna make Sam seem extra untrustworthy and unsympathetic in this so that you understand why Dean, like, is looking at his phone and things like that." And then the Hell thing, I guess- like, I don't know. Like, Sam has his line later where he's like, poisoned, and he's like, "Oh, you just keep going, 'Blah blah blah! I'm so sad about the torture.'" which is so like, why didn't you show Dean being sad about the torture in the "Then" sequence? Why did you just end it on him not answering.

I don't know. Strange and odd.

Whatever. It's no pizza man montage. That is the strangest and the oddest thing they've come up with.

-

G: The beginning of the episode is a man shows up at his house, and, like, his wife, is like, asking him like, about work and all that crap, and he's just- every response he gives is one that reeks of like, anger and frustration, right? Like, at some point, she says, "Oh, a friend of ours invited us to a party, so we're going to a party on Saturday!" And the guy got really upset by this because he doesn't want to do that. And the woman just says, "We'll just cancel it. I don't know why you want to pick a fight with me." Then he bashes her head in with a meat tenderizer.

C: We now turn to a motel room, and Dean's like, asleep. But then he wakes up, and he hears Sam whispering on the phone. He's in the bathroom doing his secret phone call, but he's left his bathroom door completely open! Like, man. Growing up gay when your dad isn't around must be so easy. [G laughing] Like, [laughing] do you know what I mean? Like, he didn't learn any basic life skills like, at all. He probably like, never had to like, be on his laptop with like, one finger like, poised over the homework tab as he took "Am I Gay" quizzes. Like, not a single time, you know?

So he's talking about how there's like, no demonic omens nearby, but he'll keep looking, blah blah blah. And then he hangs up, comes back to the bedroom, and wakes Dean up. Dean is pretending that he was asleep the whole time. And Sam's like, "Oh, yeah, I wasn't doing anything. I was like, pissing and shitting. With the door open, you know."

He introduces Dean to a case. the one that we saw in the opening. And this is the third man like, in the last two months in Bedford, Iowa who has killed his wife. So yeah. RIP.

Sam references "The Shining" here. Sam does way more pop culture references than usual this episode. Did you notice that?

G: Yes. He even says like, some stuff that like, I have absolutely no idea what he's talking about, which is new for him.

C: I feel like it's possible that, like, maybe, like, Sam and Dean's roles were like, somewhat switched in this episode originally. And then like, it didn't work out because they wanted Nick as the little brother figure, so then, Cathryn Humphris just like, moved around some lines and things? 'Cause yeah, Sam feels really out of character here.

G: Yeah, that line is pretty much the - like, the whole, like, "You want me to be your little brother" - is pretty much the only thing that is character-specific about any of their interactions with other people this episode.

C: Yeah.

G: 'Cause, like, everything else is like, "That could be Sam" or "That could be Dean," and it wouldn't matter. Like, even in their big final fight, the siren poisons Sam, too. It's not essential that Dean gets poisoned and then says all this shit to Sam, you know? Because Sam gets poisoned too and says all this shit to Dean. So it's equal footing.

C: Yeah. And we'll get to it when we get to it, but like, it's weird that like, during the fight, I feel like Dean was saying things he meant, but I don't know- like, everything Sam said, I was like, "Is that something he actually like, thinks or cares about?" I don't know. Whatever. Maybe it is.

So we go to the prison where the man from the opening is being held, and Sam and Dean are pretending to be public defenders, asking him questions about what exactly happened. And the guy, Mr. Benson, is like, "I am pleading guilty because, like, I fully killed her just because I was angy about nothing at all, and I was completely in my right mind when I did it even though I loved her and we were happy." And then Dean pulls out some bank statements he has for Mr. Benson, and apparently he's recently spent $9,000 at a strip club. So Benson says, like, "Okay, yeah, fine. Her name was Jasmine." At no point in this episode do they like, actually mention that all the names that the siren is using are for like, Disney Princesses.

G: Yeah.

C: Was that just supposed to be like, "a fun little Easter egg 'cause like, not that many people are gonna get it!" Like, I know that men don't know about fairy tales, but-

G: I think it's more of like, "This is just what stripper names are."

C: Like, Disney princesses?

G: I mean, that's the implication, yes.

C: Okay, but like, later, Dean was like, "One of them was a redhead, and one of them was Asian," and he's talking about when the stripper was going by Ariel, and then Jasmine. Like, that's like, not just about the name. Like, they're like, taking on Disney princess appearances, supposedly.

G: I don't think it's enough of like, an obscure thing to be an Easter egg, though. It's just something that they- C: Yeah, I agree that it's not enough of an obscure thing to be an Easter egg, which is why I'm surprised that it wasn't pointed out. Or like, that Nick didn't have the name of a Disney prince or another Disney character to continue the thing to be like, one of the hints that it was him? You know what I mean? Like, this seems like, something that was going to be pointed out as part of solving the case, and it wasn't.

G: [laughs] That is such a goofy thing to happen, something that happened this episode. Like, imagine this entire episode, and then at the middle of it, they're like, "And this guy's named-" I don't even know the names of-

C: Sebastian!

G: [laughing] The guy's named Sebastian! [laughs]

C: Yeah. But then, like why do the like, specifically like, the siren takes on the name Ariel when choosing to be a redhead, etc. thing. Whatever. It's not a big deal. Who cares?

G: I mean, okay, put yourself in the mind of a stripper. You have red hair or you have a red wig, right?` And you think to yourself, "What will make me, like, a recognizable figure in this establishment?" You would want to draw onto your features that differentiate you from the other people there, right? So if you have red hair, you would be like, "Okay, I'm named Ariel now because I have red hair and Ariel has red hair, and I'm trying to stand out."

C: Okay. Alright. Fine. I'll allow it.

G: It's just what people do. Yeah.

C: Anyway, so yeah, Ben says her name was Jasmine, and Sam goes, "She was a stripper?" and Dean goes, "Dude. Her name was Jasmine." Which- I don't think-

G: First of all, many people are named Jasmine.

C: People are named Jasmine. Come on.

But anyway, so he met her when his friend was having a bachelor party, and apparently she was "Perfect. Everything that I wanted." I think he just has a thing for Asians. And then he says, "It wasn't about the money. It wasn't even about the sex. It was- I don't know what it was. It's hard to explain. [G laughs]

G: This literally-

C: We see the siren interact with someone later, and like, it literally is about the sex, because, like, the character that they're putting on has no fucking personality. [laughs]

G: Well, also, this is me in every single two-week fling that I have ever. [C laughing] "It's not about the anything! It's about the connection." God, hearing it from somebody else has made me realize how I annoying I am no matter what.

C: You were fine...ish [G laughs] during the last one. [C laughs]

Anyway, so, but his wife never found out. That's not why he did it. It was just because Jasmine said that they could be together forever if only Vicky was dead. And after the murder, he was supposed to meet up with her, but she never showed up. And he doesn't know anything about where she lives or her name, so he's got nothin'.

G: Here's my question.

C: Yeah?

G: In most like, monsters that Supernatural does, there's always some kind of motivation, right?

C: Yeah, right. Usually they have to kill to eat, or like, with ghosts, they're just so angry about something that happened that they just have to act on it.

G: There's absolutely no motivation for the siren at all for anything ever.

C: Yeah.

G: Like, is it the money? Is it because they're giving the siren money? And now the siren has money? Because, if so, why like, disappear immediately after you have established that this person will do anything for you, no matter what, you know?

C: Yeah, I mean, the confrontation with Nick later, doesn't he say something about how like, "It just feels so good like, knowing someone would kill for you. Like, that's it. I'm just evil." But like, I guess the implication is that there are like, perfectly nice sirens around.

G: Yeah, exactly.

C: 'Cause they don't have to kill to eat or anything. We just like, ran into a real dickbag.

G: But like, I don't even think it's about the "It's so nice that someone is willing to kill for you."

C: You poisoned them!

G: Because as a fan of toxic media, if somebody kills for you, you stay with that person.

C: So true.

G: Because then, you have like, something over them, you know?

C: Yeah.

G: "You killed for me already, so why not-" blah blah blah blah blah.

C: Yeah.

G: So this power play doesn't even work because you're gone before it has any effect. So boo! If you're a siren and you have the power to make people kill for you-

C: Commit to them.

G: Commit to the bit. Exactly.

C: Yeah. Also, I don't know. It's not even a "I like practising my skills of manipulation" thing because it's like, as long as you get the poison in them-

G: They are poisoned, yeah.

C: Right. You don't actually have to interact with that person in any way, like, you don't actually have to fuck them or do anything. But like, is it just about-

G: He didn't even kiss Sam. He just spit on his mouth.

C: Yeah, exactly. So I don't get- is it just about reveling in the power you have with the poison? I yeah, I don't know. I don't get it. They did not really flesh this out.

G: This is a poorly-written episode.

C: Yeah. Sam says, "You didn't think to tell this to the cops?" which, I mean, why would he? This just makes him look worse, doesn't it? Would this actually help his case at all?

And Benson's like, "No, I didn't, because it was me who was in the wrong, and if I don't get the death sentence, I will just kill myself." So yup.

Also, did you notice the just awful zoom-ins on this guy's face while he was talking?

G: There's a lot of it this episode.

C: Right. And like, has Charles Beeson done that before? I thought it was a Robert Singer, but no, this is like, new.

G: This is just like, because of the topic of the episode, I feel. Because the episode is supposed to be like, sexual or intimate or whatever.

C: No, but it was like, while this guy was just talking about how upset he was that he killed his wife. [G laughs] It's like, there's a bunch of weird cuts and like, zoom-ins on his face.

G: Yeah. I don't know.

-

G: We go to a hospital and it's kind of like, a pathology office where the only person there is this doctor who is holding, like, her head in her hands, and she feels a bit sick because of a hangover.

C: Dr. Cara Roberts.

G: Sam goes in, goes like, "Oh, you had a rough night?" and Dr. Cara goes, "No, I had a fun night, but I'm having a rough morning." And, like, you know, immediately you get the vibe of the character that they're gunning for, which is like, snarky, and- It's the type of character that they always pair up with Sam.

C: Yeah, yeah, she does have like, Sarah Blake vibes.

G: She has Sarah vibes. Madison vibes, even.

C: Yeah.

G: Why? Why do they always do this specifically for Sam?

C: I don't know. I mean, what's the vibe of the characters that they pair up with Dean?

G: Anyone? I don't know. [C laughs]

C: Yeah. Anyone. I don't know.

G: The thing is, I feel like a lot of the time with Dean, the characters they pair up with him are more of like, "I'm hitting on you."

C: Mm.

G: And with Sam, it's more of "They are hitting on Sam," you know.

C: Yeah.

G: So it is more like, the concept of, like, a type of woman that likes Sam is more conceivable than like, type of woman who likes Dean. [C laughs] 'Cause honestly, I don't think women like Dean that much. Like, think of one woman that, like, liked Dean instantly or before he was there, before he was like, flirting it up with her. You know what I mean?

C: Yeah. Huh. Good question. Yeah. I can't think of one.

So right, I guess, in order for them to hit on Sam, they have to have some kind of an assertive personality, and they've decided the way to make it hot in a woman is if she's like, snarky.

G: Yeah. Also, like, they always do like, the career woman for Sam. Which I think is their thinking where it's like, "Oh, because Sam was like, in college or whatever [C laughs], so like, he likes women who are career women."

C: Yeah, yeah, he requires a diploma before the smash.

Yeah, and you know, she's pretty, so immediately, you're like, "Oh, here's the red herring of the episode."

G: This doctor is the one who works on all the autopsies from the sheriff's department, and all the like, blood tests, like, tox screens for the people who are arrested and all that. And she says, like, "Nothing's wrong with the autopsy aside from the way they were murdered, which is pretty straightforward." And there was this moment where Sam is like, pressing on about the blood, and she just goes, "Well, can I see your ID again?" And Sam shows it, and she looks at it for a while, and then and and then she gives the file. And like, I think they are trying to do something with this. And like, later on, with the FBI guy siren also, like, checking up on their credentials.

C: Oh, yeah. That makes sense.

G: So I think maybe there would, there would be a portion in the episode where you think they're both sirens or something.

C: Hmm!

G: But like, that's not what they do.

C: I don't think so, though. I feel like they've made it very firm that like, "Oh, the siren only takes the shape of a woman." So I feel like that's enough to throw them off.

G: Yeah, I guess so. I mean, I don't recall watching this episode for the first time at all, ever.

C: Mm-hm. And I already knew going in.

G: So I don't know what my reaction to this was. Yeah, I don't recall what my reaction to this was where, like, I didn't know who the siren was, you know?

C: Yeah.

G: Anyway, there was some stuff in the blood work 'cause there's high levels of oxytocin which the doctor describes as "the love hormone."

C: You know another reason I think this was written for Dean and not Sam? Sam would know what oxytocin is.

G: Exactly!

C: And he wouldn't later go, "So this chemical..." like he forgot the name?

G: It's a hormone!

C: Like, he would not forget the name of oxytocin.

G: And they do this like, little thing where Cara describes what love feels like, and they smile at each other. [C laughs]

C: Cornyass.

G: And then Dean comes in like, "Hey, what's up?" And like, you know, like, he's like, trying to put up the charm. But Cara don't give a shit, and just keeps on talking to Sam. Like, as they head out, Sam turns around and goes, "Hey, you know what cures hangover? A greasy breakfast."

C: Everyone knows that already! Like, how is he, dispensing it like, it's like, a line?

G: [laughing] I don't know!

C: "Hey. Sometimes you can breathe oxygen through your mouth if your nose is stuffy, girl." Like, that's what he sounds like right now.

G: It literally does. Yeah. Anyway, they have a little laugh about it. And then they go out and Dean tells Sam, "Dude, you totally cockblocked me!" But he doesn't say "cock," he says "C."

C: He can't say cock. Yeah.

G: I mean, I'm pretty sure they can say cock.

C: Can they?

G: Maybe not cockblocked, because that implies cock specifically being about the penis.

C: I mean, they can say cock for a chicken, sure.

G: Yeah. But like, technically, they can say "dick" even if it's like, "you're being a dick" because it's like, "You're being a Richard" [C laughs] instead of being a, you know.

C: Sure, yeah. I don't think they can say cock unless they're talking about a chicken.

G: Yeah, is cock worse than penis? Well, I mean, it's [laughs] it is, because penis is the medical term. It's cock than dick? Let's let's explore this.

C: I think so.

G: Really?

C: Yeah. I mean, cock is like, the go-to word in pornography. [G laughs]

G: Okay. Man. I mean, I'm pretty comfortable saying most words in English that refer to genitalia, but make me say it in any- like, in Filipino, and it's like, "Nooo! [both laugh] That's too much!" Like, I don't even know why. I think because, like, there's more of a modesty culture when it comes to like, speaking in Filipino.

C: Yeah, that makes sense.

G: But literally like- [laughs] I cannot- I cannot say it. Like, even right now, I'm thinking, like, "Oh, I should like, set an example and like, say it." And I'm like, "Don't say it in the podcast!" [laughs]

C: Yeah, hey, remember, when we started this podcast, you wouldn't say "bitch"-

G: I literally wouldn't.

C: - and like, you heard me quote it the first time and you were like, "Damn. I guess I have to now."

G: Yeah, I mean, you know. We live, we laugh, we learn, etc.

C: Indeed!

Dean has apparently interviewed the other two men who killed their wives, and both of them went to the same strip club called the Honey Wagon, but they did not hook up with someone named Jasmine, they each had a different person that they said they were seeing. But this person was described as "perfect, and everything that they wanted."

So Sam theorizes that they were under some kind of a love spell and notices that Dean is incredibly cheerful. And he asks him about this, and Dean goes, "Strippers, Sammy! Strippers! We're on an actual case involving strippers. Finally." Well. [sighs] I think we've already discussed how in like, every other episode of Season 4. Dean is like, "I'm in it just to look at naked women," but also in the other half of the episodes he's like, "I'm so guilty about Hell, and these cases are the only things that are like, redeeming me in the eyes of God." So, okay. Cool.

G: Yeah.

C: Leave people alone, Dean.

-

C: They go to the club and Dean's talking to the manager. So the three names used by the siren were Jasmine, Aurora, and Ariel. One is a redhead, about 5'9. The other one is Asian. And then, yeah, he gets cut off because the manager is just like, "I don't have any paperwork. I don't know anything because everyone here works for cash. and I don't keep track of this shit, and this is not my problem." Meanwhile, Sam has called Bobby. Is it always is Sam who calls Bobby? I feel like I haven't been keeping track. Yeah, it is weird that- like, I feel like most of the time when it's like, "I called Bobby and he has a theory," it's like, Sam who does it well, but like, Bobby still considers Sam his least favorite child.

G: Yeah. Sam is just work child-

C: Exactly.

G: - and Dean is his child child. Yeah.

C: Yeah. Their theory is that the monster of the week is a siren. And Dean goes, "Oh, like, in the Greek myth The Odyssey?" And Sam looks at Dean kind of weird and Dean goes, "Hey, I read!" which people like to quote

G: Which is such an odd thing- First of all, siren is just part of the cultural- it's just something that exists in the world as a concept. I don't think you have need to have read The Odyssey once in your life. I don't think you even need to know what the word "odyssey" means to know what a siren is. You know, and it's just this, like, super odd like, "Why is Sam so surprised? Why is Dean literate all of a sudden?" [both] No, I'm just kidding. Like,  why is Sam so surprised, you know?

C: Yeah.

G: And it's just- It does- I don't know. The whole like, "Dean reads, and is actually smart!" I feel like there's a lot of other references that he makes that can be attributed to that that doesn't have to be this stupid of a like, "Oh, this thing that everybody knows about? I know about it too!"

C: Yeah.

G: You know. Like, the guy love Kurt Vonnegut. He's the reason why I started reading that shit. Like, there's- I don't know. He consistently references Lord of the Rings, like, other big fantasy stuff. And also just like, the the sheer amount of pop culture he knows,  like, those things are already impressive. It just- I don't know. I don't know why I hate this line so much, but like, I'm not here to hit on the "Dean Winchester can read" truthers. [C laughs] But like, I don't know. It feels so stupid to me because of the context of it.

C: Yeah, and, I don't know, I feel like- like, he can be smart without reading. [laughs]

G: That's true.

C: Like, we can like, value different forms of intelligence equally, or whatever. Like, [laughs] do you remember that week everyone was- wait, is it okay to make fun of a fanfiction on our podcast? [G laughs]

G: Maybe. Maybe not. I'll decide in the editing room, which is also the room where I record 'cause it's the same room for everything.

C: The "Smart!Dean 'verse"- like, there was like, a series called like, "Smart Dean" or something like that.

G: [laughs] Okay.

C: And, like, it's- okay, okay, can I just read a passage?

G: The synopsis? Oh, okay, okay.

C: The synopsis is- the general plot of one fic in the series is that Dean shows up at Stanford and is hanging out with his college friends, and Sam keeps trying to change the subject to topics he thinks Dean can handle, but Dean is able to keep up with an academic debate and win it. And then the summary ends with "Sam is surprised. Dean's hurt that Sam thinks he's stupid." And at the end of a scene- okay.

Dean attempts a smile. It comes out as more of a grimace, though, so he lets it fall from his face. Finally he sighs, dragging a hand over his face.

“Dammit, Sammy. This is me. You want the real truth? I’ve hidden for as long as I can remember. I’ve hidden from you, Dad, Bobby, pretty much everyone we’ve ever come into contact with. And no, I’m not going to talk about why. No chick-flick moments, remember?”

“Dean—” Sam starts.

"No, Sammy. I get why maybe you thought I wasn’t a goddamn genius, but I don’t think I ever acted like that much of an idiot.”

“And are you?” Sam asks.

“Am I what?” Dean says harshly.

“Are you a genius?” Sam waits with bated breath. [G laughing]

“Yes. Yes, Sammy, I am.” With that, he turns and leaves. Sam watches him go, regretting his words, but most importantly his assumptions.

It has 817 kudos. [G laughing] Anyway. We can move on.

G: [still laughing] What is this? What is happening? What is happening? What is this? [both laughing] What is this?

C: It's like, one of Sam's friends asks him-

G: "I'm a genius." [C laughing]

C: "Sam"- [laughing]

G: "I'm coming out as a genius-"

C: [laughing] "- watches him go, regretting his words, but most importantly, his assumptions."

G: [laughing] "- and you can't ever shame me with who I am."

C: Oh my god. The next day, Sam texts him, and is like, "I'm sorry I never really knew you. Tell me about your favorite intellectual field." And Dean says, "Mathematics as a whole, if we're going to get particular, I'd say differential geometry and mathematical logic. And then there's philosophy. Well, individual philosophies that interest me personally would be a better way to put it." Like- [laughs] [G sighs] This is not- Like, a character can- You can respect people who know about cars and pop culture as their like, main interests! Like, you don't have to do this.

G: Yeah. Like, if you're if your like fucking PETA statement about how "we should treat stupid people niceys!" [C laughs] and your conclusion is "because stupid people are actually smart in the most traditional way that we think of intelligence." Like, dude! Come on!

C: Yeah. Yeah. It's- it's bad. [G laughs]

G: I'm so sorry, fic writer.

C: 817 kudos!

-

C: So Sam's like, "Well, the siren's not actually a myth." Like, that's hilarious. Everything you hunt is a myth that's not actually a myth. But anyway, so apparently, they specifically prey on men, which I guess is why the episode opens with three domestic abuse cases or whatever, and it entices them with their siren song. And okay, the two songs that Dean cites as being like, seductive, are "Welcome to the Jungle" and "Cherry Pie," which I don't know very well. I think I've seen an AMV of Dean set to "Cherry Pie," but I don't know "Welcome to the Jungle."

G: They're both like, songs that are loud and noisy.

C: Okay.

G: You know what? We need, Dean, to listen to Kali Uchis.

C: To what?

G: Am I pronouncing that incorrectly? You know Kali Uchis?

C: I think I may just not know the artist.

G: The first thing who sang "telepatía."

C: Oh. I never really listened to that. I know there's some good AMVs to the song, but like I just never finish them.

G: You've never listened to Kali Uchis? You need to. You and Dean Winchester.

C: Okay. I'll do it just to differentiate myself from Dean Winchester.

G: Yes, exactly.

C: So, you know, Sam says that they don't have an actual song. It's more about an allure. And sirens used to live on islands. but now, if in 2009, they are more likely to set shop in a strip club. Why would you go to like, the middle of nowhere, like, Bedford, Ohio, where it's a small town and like, there's like, one doctor. Couldn't- it's so obvious that something is up. Like, hunters are gonna come immediately, because 50% of the town's population murdered their wives, and the other 50% are the dead wives.

G: No, also, like, you don't have to be in a strip club. You can literally just-

C: You can spit in someone's mouth!

G: Yeah!

C: From 10 feet away!

G: Like, I don't know why anyone- I know like, it's because I'm a lazy fuck, but I cannot imagine wanting to work in any way, shape, or form [C laughs] if I have abilities that will allow me to just go, "Hey, do you want to give me money?" And a person just go, "Yeah." You know what I mean? [laughs]

C: Yeah. Yeah, I agree.

G: So like, I don't know. Why do all this?  If you're in the middle of the ocean, and you're like, "Come to me in the middle of the ocean on this beautiful island," like, I completely understand that. The ocean is beautiful. But like, what would you do in whatever fucking place this is.

C: Bedford, Iowa?

G: Who give a shit about Iowa? Go into the ocean, you know.

C: Yeah, I mean, there are people in Iowa, and I care about them in general-

G: Sorry, people in Iowa.

C: - but yeah, I do think that there's nothing about the siren that makes me think that they wouldn't be better served like, just spitting in random people's mouths on the streets of NYC.

G: Yeah.

C: Yeah. So that is the situation. Also like, the mirror thing doesn't come up this episode at all?

G: It does.

C: I mean, does it that much? Sorry. During the fight is there a moment where, like, one of them sees the mirror, and it helps break them out of it? 'Cause I didn't see that happen. Maybe I missed it.

G: No, there's just like, the whole like-

C: It's just that like, I thought it'd be more relevant that, in a mirror, you can see the siren's true form.

G: Well, I mean, we can, 'cause we see it, but not the victims, you know.

C: Yeah, but like, one of the men that the siren, like, seduces has what? Like, a fucking mirrored ceiling. And he doesn't notice that, like, in the mirror, is a horrific creature? I don't know what the point is if it wasn't going to be relevant to solving the case or realizing something. Also like, I don't know. I feel like strip clubs are often like, full of mirrors, so like, wouldn't you want to go to a more matte establishment if you wanted to like, get away with shit like this? Whatever. Who cares? Bad episode.

G: Do they even mention the mirror in the episode?

C: They don't. It's just that- they don't at all. We just see it. You'd think that it's like, with like, shapeshifters, it's like, "Oh, let's check all the camera feeds because we know this thing about their eyes." But like, with sirens, it's just like- I guess they don't know that they show up weird in mirrors, but it also never comes up that they show off weird in mirrors. Whateber.

So they can read your mind and then disguise themselves as whatever you want best. So this, like, the Ariel, Jasmine, Aurora, were probably all the same person. And, you know, Bobby's working on figuring out the right way to kill him. But currently, it's gonna be very hard for them to figure out who it is.

As they talk, like, there's like, a woman who walks by them, and then like, in the next cut, she's changed appearances from like, a blonde person to a brunette person. And she approaches some youngish guy named Lenny, and he says, "Hey, Belle." And she leads him out to his apartment.

-

G: They do this thing where the guy that she has come home with is taking care of his mom, which we- I think we can assume that's like, old and like, sick in some way. Yeah. So, you know, like, the- Belle is like, "Oh, it's so amazing that you're still taking care of her. Most people would just put their moms in a nursing home." And the guy is very like, "Yeah, I mean, she's my mom, so it's fine." But like, Belle keeps on insisting that like, "No, this is like, a big deal, and you're so strong and you're so wonderful for this."

C: Yeah, and the whole time she's also taking off her clothes.

G: Yeah. And then they have sex. And then, like, after the sex, they're doing pillow talk, and she goes like, "Oh, but it sucks that your mom's here like. It would be so much better if she just wasn't here so you can just be with me forevermore." And then the guy's like, "Okay." And then she goes, "You should bash her brains in." And he goes, "Okay." And then he does!

C: Yeah. Wild shit.

There's no skill here, no personality. Like- whatever. It's just the same thing where I don't know what the siren gets out of it. This is the most generic woman ever that they're playing right now.

G: Also, okay. I have seen many a takes about this episode. People who are like, "This is proof that Dean is bisexual." People who are like, "If you think this is proof that Dean is bisexual, you're feeding into like, the whole incest jujuju that the show is peddling." And then, I have seen a take where it's like, "There's a character in the show where he's taking care of his mom, and then he ends up killing his mom, and like that relationship is very strictly familial, so like, we can assume that, like, [laughs] Sam and Dean's relationship is also familial."

C: I mean-

G: Which like, I would love to- No, I that's a very bad way to put it. I am going to point out that, like, in this one, he is taking care of his mother. and then he has sex with her-

C: Not his mother. He has sex with the siren.

G: Yeah. And she goes, "We could be in love if you kill your mom."

C: That's very different.

G: It's not like [overlapping] "I could be your mother." [both laugh] Yeah! Exactly. So this is not the evidence that you're looking for that this episode is not like, weird in the incest way, you know?

C: Yeah. I mean, I think it's just like, Hays Code era gay villain shit. Like, "There's always gonna be a level of queer sexuality to something that is evil because we're Supernatural."

G: Yeah.

C: So yeah, I don't think they're feeling into the incest shippers on purpose-

G: Yeah, I also do not think so.

C: I think they're just like, "You know what's evil? Being gay. Also, Dean's most important relationship is with his brother platonically. We'll combine these 2 things, and it won't be weird. Prommy."

G: Yeah.

C: Is Cathryn Humphris the one who did bedtime stories?

G: I forgor.

C: I will check. 'Cause I was like, one of the most blatantly homophobic episodes that we had, right? Yeah, that was her. The "dude, could you be any more gay?" I think she's just kind of a sicko. Anyway. [laughs]

G: I've also seen someone say that like, "For a repressed queer person, it is very natural to think of like, [laughing] someone that you desire sexually to be like a family," which is such a wild to say, I feel, personally.

C: Huh.

G: So, I don't know. I don't know. I mean, maybe it is. Maybe it is.

C: I mean, maybe- I guess if you're like, trying to like, rationalize being very attached to someone.

G: Loving someone a lot, yeah, you can be like, "I love them in a family way!"

C: You're like, "This doesn't feel like typical friendship," then, yeah, that is like, one way you could choose to rationalize it to yourself. But like, I don't think that's what is happening here.

G: Yeah, [laughs] I also don't think that's what like, Cathryn Humphris was trying to say. I don't think Cathryn Humphis was trying to say anything at all.

C: She just was like, "Well, I don't want to be too obvious, the end." [G laughs]

G: Exactly. Yeah.

C: Yeah. I mean, but like, she is still saying something even if she didn't intend to say- [G laughs] I don't know. It's so odd. Like, honestly, even- okay, there's like, a way that she could be like, trying to say something that like, could be executed alright, I think, which is like, "Oh, like, for a lot of people like, sex and romance are the things that they long for the most or that they prize the most in their lives. But for Dean, it's like, this relationship."

G: You know what I read the most about it in the queer sense? Dean is aromantic. Isn't that like, something? You know what I mean?

C: Yeah, no, yeah. I feel like that is honestly- right, like, the biggest takeaway. Right. I think that's sort of what I was getting at. The way that it's like, "You don't have to prize a romantic or sexual relationship above all else, like, that could be something you don't even want that much, that you're just doing for the sake of appearances."

G: Yeah. I think if we're going to do like, queer reading of "Sex and Violence," Season 4 Episode 14 of Supernatural, that is like, I think the direction, I mean, I would personally take. Like, all these other people want romance in their lives. Dean... doesn't. He just wants a guy to hang out with. [both laugh] You know?

C: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that could be done well, except they just make the whole Nick thing so... like, it's still a seduction, and it still feels sexual, even as he keeps saying the words "little brother." [laughs]

G: [laughing] Yeah, I suppose.

C: Yeah. There are ways- like, maybe you're thinking like, "There's just not a way to do something like this without making it seem sexual." But, in fact, if you read "bad moon rising" and its sequel, "rising sun blues," like, the author has taken Meg's character and changed it a lot so that like, sort of what she's chasing Sam around for is that she wants, like, a brother replacement for the one that they killed in Season 1, and like, that's done in a very interesting way where there's like, not a single hint of sexual or romantic tension with the two of them at all, but like, it is still like, a trying to convince you and like, longing and all that shit. But like, it's actually done in a way that separates the two modes of like, affection and shit. So yeah, Cathryn Humphris, take notes.

-

C: Dean's alone in the motel room, and Sam has accidentally left his phone unguarded, unpassworded in the room. Again, growing up without your parents in the house truly makes you a different person, I have to say. So Dean spends a long time looking at it, being like, "Do I invade his privacy?" Okay, I don't know if it's like, a "do I invade his privacy?" or like, "do I want to confirm this suspicion that I think is true but that I wish wasn't?" sort of look, but he takes a while before he picks up the phone and then goes to the third most recently dialed number, which there's no contact name in it, it's just a number with a 219 area code, which is Chicago. So maybe that's where Ruby lives.

So he dials, and he hears Ruby's voice go, "Hey, Sam. Sam? You there?" And Dean hangs up immediately and is upset.

So Sam comes in from interviewing Lenny from earlier. Apparently, he brought home Belle, he killed his mom right after. And Dean was like, "Wait. He killed his mom?" And Sam was like, "Well, it was the woman he was closest to," which implies that- I don't even know what it implies. [G laughs] It's weird that it's like, women only, but I mean, I guess Cathryn Humphris was like, "equality is when you try to kill your brother later in the episode."

G: Yeah.

C: And then Dean returns Sam's phone to him and Bobby calls and says that the lore indicates that probably the best way to kill sirens is to nick them with a bronze dagger covered in the blood of someone who is under the siren's spell, and the spell is probably some kind of venom that gets in the victim's blood. And Sam goes, "Oh, and it makes them go all Manchurian Candidate," which is his next pop culture reference that I feel like he wouldn't know. But basically, The Manchurian Candidate- oh, no, I thought I took notes on the Wikipedia page that I read, but I think, instead, I read the Wikipedia page and was like, "I need to go on YouTube and watch Mitski talk for 13 minutes instead of thinking about Supernatural." But basically, the The Manchurian Candidate is a novel that was adapted into a movie, and it was like- there was some guy who was like, the son of a prominent US politician, and he was like, in the army or something, and then he got kidnapped by, like, the Soviet Union during the Korean War, and then taken to Manchuria, which is like, northeast China, where they're like, in a camp and brainwashed into being Communists, and then they become like, sleeper agents and like, go back to like, the US or something, and then he acts as like, a Communist assassin or whatever whatever whatever. And also, his like, handler is his mom, and in some of the movies or in the book, too, he has a sexual relationship with her. I don't know. It just- it seems like just a bunch of Red Scare shit. [laughs] But that is that is what Sam is referencing here. [G laughs]

C: People would just write anything back in the day.

So yeah. So that's what we know. And apparently getting the blood of one of the people who is currently in jail is useless because they're no longer under the spell, so Sam decides that he's gonna go visit Dr. Roberts, Cara Roberts, Dr. Roberts, to pick up the blood samples that she has.

-

G: Sam and Dean go to the hospital again, and Doctor Cara's there, and they're asking her for the blood when suddenly, a guy goes up to them, and Dean goes all, "Hey, we're working a case here, and we're FBI." And then he shows his badge. And the guy goes, "Well, I'm FBI, too." And then they start talking to him. And he is suspicious of them and asks them about where they're from, who assigned them, all that crap. And Dean gives them a calling card of their superior officer, and so the guy calls this, and what do you know? It's Bobby! And Bobby's putting on such a fucking show, he's like, "Ugh. Are you questioning my authority? I checked, and it's under our jurisdiction. Or are you saying I'm wrong?" [laughing] Like, he's putting on bad cop so good.

C: And he's barbecuing the whole time, wearing a "Kiss the Chef" apron.

G: Yeah, he's like, "Next time you want to waste my time, don't." [C laughs] And then he hangs up. And then, like, you see a row of fucking phones that's like, with different tapes over them that says different things. And it's like, "Marshall," "FBI," you know, "CIA," all that crap. And I remember the very first- actually, here's a thing that I remember about this episode. I remember this scene. Is this the first time that we see this phone setup?

C: I feel like we saw a different phone set up earlier with like, a bunch of like, cell phones on a table, but I feel like they were not as well-labeled.

G: I think that was Dean with the phones, like, in the glove compartment of the car. But, like, in the late- I may or may not be misremembering this, but in the later seasons, the bunker kind of becomes this. Like, Sam and Dean would have like, a bunch of phones out in the bunker, so it's just like-

C: Well, Bobby's dead, so.

G: Yeah, somebody's gotta do the job. And I don't know. I always thought that this whole situation of like, "different phones, they build different things, and they have their, like, aliases and their personas, and who is playing who and which jurisdiction is which," like, write down every single thing, like, every single thing is accounted for right down to like, the very specifics. I always thought that was cool.

C: It is.

G: Because I am so interested about the logistics of all this shit, you know? Like, do they have a checklist? Do they fill out a form? [laughs] You know?

C: Yeah.

G: I always thought it was so cool that they just know what to do in these situations and they have their fucking cosplay characters in check at all times.

C: Yeah. So funny that the siren had to like, drive 20 miles to the nearest like, Kinko's to like, print out a fake FBI badge.

G: The guy comes back to Sam and Dean, and he introduces- Well, he introduces himself a while ago. He's Nick Monroe. He apologizes, shares some of his insights, which is that he knows about the strip club and that all of them went there and all of them spent lots of money there, and all that. And at first. when he asks Sam and Dean whether they should go and check it out, Dean was opposed to this idea, but Sam pulls him aside and basically goes, "Well, you just stay with him, keep him out of there, and I will just be here and like, getting the blood," right? So Dean heads out, and they also have this conversation where, like, Sam is like, "Focus on the naked girls. Dean [C sighs]; you'll forget he's even there." And Dean is like, "Okay. I'm doing it for the girls." which, you know, once you know how the episode turns out, it's like, "Okay, well."

C: Well.

-

C: We cut to Dean and Nick heading to the car. And Nick is like, "Oh my god, no way! You drive an Impala? Is it a 67 with a 327 4-barrel? Oh my god!"

G: [laughing] I'm pretty sure that, like, they said, a different 4-barrel number when John was being introduced to this car or whatever.

C: Let me check.

G: I will believe that no matter what.

C:  327 4-barrel. No, it matches up. Same thing.

G: Sad. Devastating.

C: Sorry.

G: What's the other thing that John says?

C: 275 horses. [both laugh]

G: I love that.

C: Yeah. So, you know, Nick's like, "Oh my god! Like, how did you get the FBI to let you drive your own car? Wow, you're so cool, Dean." Meanwhile, Sam's trying to convince Dr. Roberts to give him the blood, and she's like, "Bro, like, do you not trust me? Like, I'm a doctor. I did the tests." But eventually, Sam's like, "There's a specialist. We wanna try out a theory," etc. So she goes over to her cabinet, but the blood is gone. Gasp.

Meanwhile, at the strip club, Dean is not looking at the naked girls at all because he's asexual and aromantic is sort of the vibe of this episode, which I enjoy as a reading. If only there was good writing attached to it. So he and Nick are talking. They're like, basically just like, quizzing each other on Zepp songs, like, what year they were recorded, and then like, who wrote them and things like that. And it's like, man. Is this how like, men have fun? [laughs] Like, okay, you know that, like, probably completely bullshit era of like, people thinking that fandom was like, equivalent to like, social justice or whatever-

G: [laughs] Yeah.

C: - where they were like, "The way that, like, men enjoy things is that they enjoy knowing trivia and like, gatekeeping like, who is a true fan, and women enjoy things by being transformative and writing fanfiction." [G laughing] And like, that's bullshit, but also, like, currently Dean, is not doing much to-

G: Elevate, yeah.

C: - go against this statement that was made. Yeah. So they're having fun- G: I mean, to be fair. I think, like, the last- like, my most vivid experience of being around guys talking about an interest is- I think I mentioned this in the podcast before because I think about it constantly. One time, I was just hanging out with guys in my class, and they were talking about guns in extreme detail, and I was so shocked that, like, they knew anything about this. And they knew like, I think real shit. I mean, I don't know. I don't know anything about guns. So like, they were talking about things that I couldn't even begin to understand what they're referring to. So I was like, "How do you guys know all this?" and they're like, "Oh, we play it in video games." [C laughs] And it literally is just them like, exchanging like, information about guns. [both laughing] And I support that. I love it so much.

C: Yeah, yeah. Whatever floats their boats.

Dean's like, "Oh my god, dude, you know, like, for a Fed, you're like, pretty alright." And they're discussing the case a little bit, and then Nick is like, "Hey. I found something kind of weird at every single crime scene. There was a flower left behind, like a calling card." And it's a hyacinth, and it's blue, and Dean's like, "Oh my god! I think I've seen a flower like this before." And we cut outside of Dr. Roberts's office, where that plant exists.

-

G: Sam is there. Dr. Roberts is there.

C: Can I make it any more obvious?

G: Yeah. [laughs] They're like, watching the tapes.

C: Yeah, security tapes.

G: They're trying to look out for who stole the blood, right? And they can't figure it out. RIP.

C: Can you believe Sam just ditches town and doesn't tell her anything? Like, she's just like, "Well. He left. No arrests were made. The blood is still missing. We have no clue why. Oh, well, I guess at least no one else has murdered his wife." Also, like, again, like, all the people in jail who are going to get the death sentence, like, this is because none of you are willing to tell the world that the supernatural is a real thing. Like, those men are going to be executed because none of you will tell the world that the supernatural is a real thing. I hope you think about that sometimes.

G: And I think this is why Sam needs to be a lawyer, no matter what.

C: Yeah. Yeah.

G: Yeah.

C: This show would be so much more fun if he was a supernatural lawyer.

G: Yeah.

Sam is trying to tell her that like, "Oh, I think there's something that happened to them. Like, maybe they were drugged or something." Cara is just saying that, "Yeah, no. Sometimes you just loving someone so much, but you still want to bash their head in." And Sam is like, "Are you speaking from experience?" And she goes, "Yeah," and then starts going to like, the... fridge?

C: Liquor cabinet in her doctor's office.

G: I guess there is a liquor cabinet.

C: She's a terrible doctor.

G: This may be true. Maybe she's the Dr. House of her generation.

C: Yeah. Good point. She's not mean enough.

She offers Sam the drink. Sam takes it after, like, some banter about like, "Oh, it's a doctor! I'm fine, it's medicine." And she starts talking about her ex-husband, who is Carl, and, you know, she talks about it like, "I loved him. I really did. But one day I just looked at him, and I couldn't recognize him anymore." And then, like, at some point, Sam goes, "So you guys split up?" and she goes, "I suppose it's a word for it." [both laugh] Then, like, later we find out that he died! [laughing] Crazy shit.

C: Yeah. Which, like, okay, sometimes people don't want to say that their spouses are dead because, like, people just like, go full sympathy mode and don't find you hot anymore. So like, I get it. But like, they really did so much to set her up as a red herring that like- it doesn't even work because of like, how obvious they're trying to make it.

G: I mean, it's quite funny to think that like, they didn't technically split up. He just died. [C laughs] And the thing that she focuses on in that event in her life is that one day, she doesn't recognize him anymore and not the fact that, like, I don't know, a week later he was dead on the floor. [C laughs] Like, that shit's crazy to me.

C: One day, I woke up and I couldn't recognize him anymore, because the decay had set in.

G: Exactly.

C: Seriously, yeah. What a funny funny woman.

G: Well, somebody needs to compensate for Sam's absolute lack of any humor whatsoever.

C: Yeah.

G: I didn't know when this running gag of "Sam is so unfunny" in our podcast started.

C: Yeah, me neither.

G: I don't stand by it. I don't stand by it, but I think it's funny to say that I think Sam is unfunny.

C: I agree.

G: So you know what? Sam is unfunny, no matter what. [C laughs]

C: Every week, you bring a new verbal tic that you decide to just sprinkle throughout the episode. And I appreciate that.

G: What, me saying "no matter what" at any given opportunity? Yeah.

Well, they have sex.

C: Well, okay, first of all, Sam's phone rings, and it's Dean, who he knows is out on a case at the strip club where the siren usually works. And he's like, "I don't have to get that." What if he died?

G: Is it even Dean? It's implied that it's Bobby. It's implied that it's Bobby.

C: Oh, really? Okay. Never mind, then. It's fine.

G: But also like, Bobby is only going to call because of the case.

C: Yeah.

G: And he was like, "I don't really give a shit about it right now. I'm going someone in the someone in the 'fuck someone and kill other people case.'" [C laughs] Jesus Christ, Sam.

C: In the glass office! Also, like, you said they have sex so that you could skip the horrible dialogue that comes before they have sex [G laughing]-

G: Yes!

C: - but I think we really need to give attention to every single line exchanged here.

G: I don't wanna think about it! I don't wanna think about it ever again!

C: Because you hauve Covid? Okay, I'll do it. I'll do it. [G laughs]

So Cara's like, "Oh, well, you know, we all have our sad backstories, so let's have fun, no regrets, and live life like there's no tomorrow." Which is like, okay, cool. Definitely a thing a real person would say. And then, like, she starts scooting closer to him. And she goes, "For instance, I have been thinking about you all night. Well... parts of you." And Sam goes, "Just parts?" And then, due to the fact that they can't say cock on Supernatural, she says, "Yeah, like, your [both] lips." Sure man, that's what you were thinking about. And then she says, "Oh, they're very distracting, and I can't stop thinking about kissing them." This is like, a 12-year-old's idea of what a sex scene is. [laughs] And then they do- Sam's like, "That so?" and like, she takes his tie off, but like, she doesn't even unknot it. She just like, moves it around, and it just somehow comes off. I don't get it. And then, yeah, they have sex against the glass window where the shutters are open. Because, yeah. Also, like, the whole time, like, just at the beginning of the scene, like, her shirt is unbuttoned, like, to the waist. I mean, maybe she planned this. But also I just think that- I don't know. Just, you know, we've talked about the Supernatural costume designers, but it's so crazy how the Supernatural costume designers- Really, what her whole outfit reminds me of is like, there's a scene in Elementary where they're like, interviewing a barista who, like, may have interacted with someone that they need to question. And he was like, "Oh, yeah, like, there was like, this super hot woman who came in and like, I know, she was a doctor, and like, I could like, see her cleavage, and it was great." And like, later, Joan is like, "Okay, that was not a doctor because, like, there's like, a dress code for like, hygiene in the hospital, and like, she would not be allowed to have her shirt unbuttoned that much." And that's what leads them to find the actual person, because she's like, "He probably thought he was a doctor because she was wearing a white lab coat, but she was probably like, one of the women who give you perfume samples at the nearest department store because a white coat is part of their uniform." So yeah. I don't know. Cara Roberts and the Supernatural costume design people sure are people who make choices.

G: They are.

C: Do you think that, like, Ruby comes into Sam's thoughts at all throughout this situation?

G: What, you think he experiences guilt about-

C: I don't think he's in a monogamous relationship with Ruby. But like, this is like, as far as we're aware, the only person that he's had sex with besides Ruby in like, a while. Like, does he consider this to be just like, a completely different part of his life, so like, he doesn't really consider the two things similar in any way?

G: I mean, that could be a possibility.

C: Yeah, yeah. It's just- I think it's just because Ruby was so present in the "Then" sequence, especially the part where it's like, "Oh, what really changed his mind was the sex." And I was like, it's weird that that's not part of this at all or that, like, they don't try to draw some cornyass parallel between Ruby and like, sirens 'cause like, it's not a Sam episode.

Also, when I say the shutters are open, I mean, like-

G: They are open, yeah.

C: They are 90 degrees perpendicular to the window. And they're having sex against the window, and she's the one against the window, so like, they are fucking jabbing into her back the whole time! That cannot be comfortable! Whatever. And Sam's not even poisoned at all. Which, I mean, I guess is good cause, like, he's been through enough sexual assault already this season and every season. But like, he would not do this. [laughs]

Okay, well, that was a scene

G: It truly was.

-

C: Okay, so Sam heads back to the motel, and- wait. Why did we think that the call was from Bobby if Dean calls him and goes, "Where the hell have you been?" Doesn't that imply that Dean tried to get in contact with him earlier?

G: Yeah, but also later, Bobby says-

C: Oh, Bobby's like, "Neither of you picked up your phone, so I knew something was weird." No, but but okay, Dean called Bobby after this about Cara. So that was not the phone pickup that Bobby thought was suspicious. He was probably calling them during the fight, and we didn't notice.

G: Yeah, okay.

C: Yeah. So yeah. Dean goes, "Where the hell have you been? And you're not picking up your phone?" So that was him. So Sam was like, "Oh, I was with Cara. Someone stole the blood samples." And Dean goes, "Yeah, I fucking bet. Nick found these flower petals, the hyacinths, at the crime scenes, and those flowers are Mediterranean, which is from the island where the siren myth started, and Cara had those in her office or outside her office. And also, she's only been in town for 2 months, and her ex-husband, Carl, died of a heart attack with no warning." And Sam was like, "Well, I mean, I just don't think it was her!"

G: Yeah. You know the Tweet that's like, "But she apologized and her dick is ten inches throbbing."

C: "And I want her in me," yeah, no, 100 percent. Like, remember in "Monster Movie" when he like, ran over to like, fucking kill Ed at the movie theater with less evidence than this? Whateber.

G: Whateber.

C: So Sam's like, "I just have like, a feeling that like, it wasn't her. And the feeling isn't how like, my ass is still sore from her 10-inch cock." Dean's like, "Bro, like, you're being fucking stupid. Did you sleep with her?" And Sam goes, "No?" And Dean goes, "You're so stupid. That was so stupid. I do not get it." And Sam goes what? And Dean says, "Nothing." And Sam says, "No, say it." just like Edward from Twilight. And Dean goes, "Well, okay, like, first Madison, then Ruby, now Cara? Like, what's with you and banging monsters?" Which, I mean, I support monsterfuckers, but this is not a pattern because this is this is only the- Cara doesn't count, we find out later. But, I mean, what is with Sam and banging monsters? Is this something that we've discussed?

G: You know what? I don't think it's true. You know why?

C: Sarah?

G: 'Cause Rowena and him didn't even have sex, even once!

C: Oh yeah. That's true. I'm so sorry.

G: They had metaphorical sex in terms of he stabbed her to death, and she was holding his hand when the blade impaled her. And you know what? That, too, is, yuri.

C: [laughs] I agree.

C: But yeah. I don't think Sam really has a thing. I think the issue is just that he like, fucks people on cases instead of after cases. I mean, it's bad to fuck people after cases, too. But at least when Dean fucks people after cases, he knows that they're not the monster. [G laughs]

C: And Sam keeps insisting, "Hey, it's not her. I feel fine." and "You don't trust me?" And Dean's like, "Well, yeah, 'cause it could be the siren talking," which is, in fact, a fully reasonable thing to say. And Sam's like, "Hey, no like, let's meet up, and I'll help you out with the case." Neither of them have really considered who the siren would want them to kill. Maybe Sam was like, "It's fine, 'cause there's no women in my life." [G laughs]

G: Yeah.

C: Right. In fact, this episode, in addition to making Dean aromantic and asexual, also makes both of them transfem.

Dean's like, "Nope, you are not helping me. Shut up." And Sam's like, "Are you fucking serious?" And he gets so angy and he throws his phone across the room! God. Men will literally.

G: Maybe this is like, what Bobby means. "You didn't answer the phone!"

C: Oh, yeah, "You weren't picking up your phone because you fucking broke it." Yeah. Yeah. Whatever. I guess they're cheap and they do credit card fraud, anyway.

G: That's true.

C: But like, does he even remember Ruby's number? How's he gonna transfer it to the new one?

G: Man. I don't remember my own number. You know your number?

C: Yeah. And I'll say it right here on the podcast [G laughs]for everyone to prove that I do. No, but yeah, what was your statement?

G: No, I have two phone numbers, and I don't know one of them. So you know what? I know half of my numbers. And that's okay. Just be yourself.

C: Okay, you know what? I also only know half of my numbers 'cause I don't know my work phone number.

-

G: So Sam is so angy, and Dean calls Bobby, just updating him. And he makes another phone call, this time to Nick. He is asking for his help. So now they're both in the impala and they're watching Cara, the doctor. Apparently, Dean has explained to Nick that like, "Oh, I think these people are getting drugged, but I think it's Cara who's drugging all them. And also, I think Cara is transforming into all the strippers who told them to kill people." All that crap. Dean is just saying like, "Oh, you gotta trust me," and the guy goes, "I do, I guess." He hands Dean a flask. The guy has drank from it, and now Dean drinks from it. And then he goes, "Okay, let's say she is drugging the victims. How do you think she's pulling it off?" And then Dean goes, "You know, like, a toxin passed through physical contact." And then Nick goes, "Or maybe saliva. You really should have wiped the lip off that thing before you drank from it, Dean." C: Real.

G: And Dean like, realizes what's happening, but he is poisoned, so he can't do anything about it. And then Nick goes, "I should be your little brother." [both laughing] Funniest thing anyone has ever said ever.

C: Yeah.

G: And he goes like, "You can't trust Sam. You can only trust me. You should kill him now so we could be brothers forever." [C laughs] And then Dean goes, "Hell yeah." Have we considered that maybe they're just looking for excuses to kill each other so bad it's unreal?

C: Yeah, it's possible. Because, it's like, the siren, like, really played the long game with those other guys. But like, this is just like, five minutes work.

-

C: Inside the motel, Sam comes in and Nick is right there, and Sam's like, "Huh?" And then Dean ambushes him and holds a knife to his throat. Sam says to Nick, "I gotta tell ya, you're one butt-ugly stripper," which like, I think he'd be fine at a gay bar. He would get tips.

Sam's telling Dean, like, "Hey, fight this, please." whereas Nick is like, "Hey, like, why don't you just give him a little nick on his neck right there?" And Dean does. And he keeps talking and he says that he "gave Dean what he needed." He says, "It wasn't some bitch in a G-string." [flatly] Love that. Great. And then he goes, "It was you. A little brother that looked up to him. That he could trust. And now he loves me. He'd do anything for me. And that kind of devotion? Watching someone kill for you? It's the best feeling in the world." We've discussed that this is a bad explanation. And then Sam goes, "Is that why you're slutting all over town?" Would he say this?

G: I mean, he did, so. [C laughs]

C: Yeah. And then Nick is like, "Well, I got bored. And I wanna fall in love again and again and again." which, you know, really starts undermining the brother thing, like, right away. And, you know, Sam calls him a "needy, pathetic loser." And then Nick squirts poison right into his mouth. And he's like, "Okay, you two go fight to the death and scream and whatever. And whoever survives can be with me forever." We don't really know what Sam wants from Nick, you know? Like, okay, like, Sam's fighting, but like, why does he want to be with Nick forever? Like, what kind of role is Nick playing for him?

G: Because he's been poisoned!

C: No, I know, but like, doesn't the poison also like, make you think that this is someone that you like- doesn't it at least draw on like, your own desires in some way? Or like, is it just truly nothing here?

G: I think it's just whatever.

C: Okay. it would be interesting to know what Sam wants the most from a person.

G: Apparently, what Sam wants the most from a person is a person who gives him permission to kill his brother. [C laughs] And you know what? Good for him.

C: Yeah. Yeah.

Dean's like, "The Sam I knew is gone, and it's not because of the demon blood or the psychic crap. It's because you've been lying and keeping secrets, like calling Ruby and shit. And you're hiding things from me. We used to be like, a team and have each other's backs, blah blah blah." And then Sam's like, "Oh, well, you know the real reason I didn't tell you about Ruby and our hunt for Lilith is because you're too weak to go after her, and you're holding me back, and I'm a better hunter than you are. I'm stronger, and I'm smarter, and I can take out demons you're too scared to go near." Which we haven't seen- we haven't seen any of that in Season 4, right? Have we?

G: Yeah. I mean, most of it is like, not important to Dean's journey, so they don't show it. Also, I'm so fascinated that the thesis state for Sam and for Dean is like, [fake-crying] "You don't trust me! You don't love me enough!" etc etc. And for Sam it's like-

C: "Skill issue."

G: "You're a loser, Dean. [C laughs] You have a skill issue, and I'm too tired to compensate for your lack of ability to be a good hunter."

C: I know! It's so devoid of any leadup or any evidence or any emotion. I don't know, I just- do they just decide "this episode is gonna be a Sam episode" or "this episode is gonna be a Dean episode," and then they just like, go like, "Whatever. I don't care about the other one's characterization"? Is that just how Supernatural is written?

G: I think it may well be.

C: This is the woman who wrote "Metamorphosis," like, 10 episodes ago. And, like, Sam, stopped the car and yelled at Dean, and it wasn't about him being a bad hunter. It was like, a genuine emotion of like, "You make me feel like shit by like, acting in certain ways." Like, why couldn't that have been here?

G: Yeah. I mean, it could have been like, both of them being like, "You don't trust me because, like, I don't trust you because you don't trust me!" and like, "You don't trust me to do the good thing and like, to know what's right," and etc etc.

C: Yeah. I mean, I don't know. Maybe- Okay, let's- Should we explore the world where we take this at face value and this is truly Sam's number one issue with Dean? 'Cause there is evidence for it. Like, I know, in the panic room, isn't there the scene where Mary comes to him, and she's like, "You're stronger and better than Dean, and you have to get out and go after like, Lilith." So like, this is something that they've been trying to develop this season. Not well, but they've been trying. Right?

G: "Sam thinks he's better than Dean."

C: Is, I think something that they've been going for? I still don't see it. Is he getting arrogant this season? Is that something that's- It's just so many of these episodes are just generic case episodes where they just give each of them a random role. I guess, okay, you know what? I think maybe the only moments I can point to are like, in 4.07 when he tells Dean to like, stay behind and help the kids while he goes and confronts Samhain. Like, that's different from their usual dynamic. And then in "Family Remains," when he tells Dean to remain with the family as he goes to check out the attic or whatever. But like, I don't know. The generic case episodes is just like, each of them give themselves random jobs, and it's like, not really a big deal who does what, and it's not really clear who is better or worse. Like, maybe if he like, rubbed it in more about how like, the uncle died while Dean was supposed to be protecting him or something like that, I could see it. But I just don't- Yeah. I don't know. Like, this is something that's being told to me, but I am not feeling it.

C: Sam's like, "You're too busy sitting around feeling sorry for yourself, whining about all the souls you tortured in Hell. Boo-hoo!" This is how I act and talk about Dean as well, unfortunately. And then they start beating each other up. I don't know. It's just a fight scene.

G: Do you recall why Sam was mad at Dean in "Asylum"? Because this is like, similar vibes, right?

C: Yeah. I think it was about being at John's beck and call.

G: I think it's like, "Dad used to boss me around, and now you boss me around."

C: "You're following Dad's orders like a good little soldier 'cause you always do what he says without question. Are you that desperate for his approval? The difference between you and me is that I have a mind of my own. I'm not pathetic, like you." So okay.

G: I think maybe Sam really has like, a [both] superiority complex thing. Yeah.

C: I, okay, I can see it sort of in "Asylum." But like, that's quite different from like, "I'm a better hunter than you." Like, I think, like, "I'm willing to question dad," that's something that he- I can believe that he feels superior about sometimes. But like, about being a better hunter? I don't see it. It's not happening.

G: I mean, he did bring up that like, in his stint in Hell-

C: Oh, yeah.

G: Sam was able to save more blah blah blah. So I guess-

C: Okay. The pieces are there, but I don't think they've provided us with glue. It's not something that's been emphasized and Supernatural's not very good at subtlety, so I just assume that things have to be emphasized before they matter.

Eventually, Dean gets the upper hand. Sam's like, on the floor, and Dean's like, getting an axe to kill him. And he's like, "Oh, now, who's the better hunter?" basically. And he swings at Sam, but is stopped by Bobby rushing in. He gets Dean in the shoulder with a knife to like, get some blood, and then Sam starts like, yelling, "Noo!" as Bobby throws the knife at Nick, and it kills him. Goodbye, Nick.

So like, Bobby thinks they're gay.

G: Bobby definitely thinks they're gay.

C: Because they did not explain like, "No, he wanted to be like, my little brother." [both laugh]

G: God. Good for them.

-

G: Well, the episode ends with Sam and Dean and Bobby yet under another bridge. Bobby, like, gives them soda, and he's like, "Oh, you can't drink. You're driving."

C: So true.

G: And it's like, "When has that ever stopped them before?" But you know what? I'm glad they're stopping now.

Bobby, like, berates them a little bit about like, "Oh, you should have picked up your phone." And then there's this really awkward like, pause. And then he goes, "Are you guys gonna be okay?" And Sam and Dean are like, "Yeah, we're good! We're good! Yeah, we're fine! Yeah! Nothing's ever wrong in our life!" [C laughs] And Bobby is just like, "Okay." and then turns around back at them before leaving and says, "Those sirens are nasty things. There's no reason to feel bad that they got into you." And as he leaves, Sam and Dean continue sipping their sodas. And Dean goes, "Are you gonna say goodbye to the doctor? To Cara?" And Sam's like, "Yeah, no. What's the point?"

C: To be fucking polite! To be polite, that's the point.

G: Yeah. Well. Sam goes, "Hey, Dean, I didn't mean the things I said." [C laughs] And Dean is like, "Yeah, me, too." [C laughs] And Sam's like, "So it's okay?" And Sam's like, "Yeah." And then that's how the episode ends. I love it.

C: Yeah. I mean, at least Dean will never bring up that Sam called Ruby again because it's all forgiven now, and he says he didn't mean it. So there. A win overall.

G: He didn't mean it! Yeah. Well, what is our overall thoughts in this episode? I think it's not that bad, but also definitely not good, oh my god.

C: Yeah, I think it's- I feel like my thoughts on this episode are encapsulated by three texts I got from Danica while I was complaining about it where she goes "can't believe this is literally the Dean is gay for that guy ep and it's still boring," followed by "I mean, I know it's also the Dean is a misogynist ep, but still," and then, a few minutes later, presumably after she re-read the summary, "god, kind of wincesty episode, huh?" [both laugh] And you know? Yeah.

G: Yeah. Best Line/Worst Line? [C groans]

C: I mean, I'm assuming your worst line is the "I read!" because you spent so long complaining about it.

G: Okay, sure, yeah, that could be my Best Line/Worst Line. [C laughs]

C: I think that Nick and Sam are both very mean to strippers in the last scene, and it just- it seems unkind. Don't like it. So I guess those are my worst lines.

G: You know what? I actually really like the line where it's revealed that the flask is like, he's getting poisoned through the flask. I like that. When he goes, "You really should have wiped the mouth of that thing, Dean." It was like, very effective in being like, "Oh, no!" you know, that feeling. And like, I knew full well what the twist was, and yet I still felt it. So, I don't know. I like that line.

C: Okay, cool. I'm scrolling through the entire transcript, desperately trying to find a single moment I thought was good. Yeah, no. I'll just go with yours 'cause- Oh, wait, no, Bobby was funny. Maybe when he was like, "The next time you want to waste my time with stupid questions, don't."

G: [laughs] "Don't."

C: While he's in the "Kiss the Chef" apron. What a fun look for him.

G: Yeah. Well, spread those sheets

C: Alright. Well, I think there is some misogyny.

G: Yeah.

C: How much misogyny?

G: The thing is okay, like, the misogyny is not that there are strippers in the episode.

C: Yeah.

G: Like, I just wanna make that clear.

C: Yeah, yeah.

G: 'Cause I feel like when when we were starting the podcast, we would like, explain every single thing, you know. But like now, we would do this thing where we just assume everyone has listened to every single episode of everything we've ever said and done.

C: Yeah, and that every time I stop and say, "Okay," they understand what I mean by it. [laughs]

G: Yeah. But like, that's not the issue. The issue is that Supernatural literally only has two types of women in their head.

C: Yup.

G: And like, every time they do a woman, it's like- [both laugh]

C: What if we just didn't?

G: I mean, I don't wanna be like, "the mere existence of women-" [both laughing] I don't wanna be like, "The mere existence of women in the Supernatural universe is misogynistic," but boy, do they do it for fucking real! [laughing]

C: Well, they're gonna have better women. We're gonna meet Claire.

G: Yeah! Claire is the best.

C: And like, Eileen.

G: Eileen, love ya girl.

C: And a lot of people. But currently-

G: Charlie! We're gonna meet Charlie. Can you believe it?

C: - the one-off women in Supernatural are truly, truly Logan Roy-dreamed-up.

G: This could have been an opportunity for them to, I don't know, talk to one of the strippers. And they don't. Like, all of the strippers in this episode are literally just for set dressing and decor.

C: Right. They hired like, ten women just to like, be part of montages as like, untz untz untz music plays and they twirl around.

G: Yeah. And it's like- I mean, the reason why we don't even explain anything anymore is like, the explanation is pretty much, "It's Supernatural!" [laughs]

C: Yeah.

G: Which- I mean, it still is the explanation in this episode.

C: Yeah, it is unfortunate that "It's Supernatural" is the explanation, but like, I don't know, it would just take too much time for us to like, be how we were in Season 1.

G: Yeah.

C: Like, everyone knows everything already. I mean, this is the great like, what like, normalization/desensitization project that shows like this undergo, and it sure does work a little bit.

G: Yeah. Okay, before we tackle the homophobia, let's get into the racism.

C: How much misogyny points did we want?

G: Uh... maybe...

C: 2? 1 or 2? 2? 1? 2?

G: 2, yeah.

C: Okay. Racism.

G: I don't think there's much of it. I don't think there's anything that warrants a point.

C: Yeah, like, there's the one-off thing about Jasmine, but I don't think it like, matters that much. It does bother me that Dean's like, "One of them is 5'9 and has red hair, and also the other one's Asian. These are equally descriptive descriptions." [laughs] But-

G: Also, like, okay, do white people name their kids Jasmine?

C: Uh, let's see. The one Jasmine that I knew in grade school, I think, was Latina.

G: Every jasmine I know is Filipino by virtue of every person I know is pretty much Filipino. [both laugh] Yeah.

C: Oh, wait. I know another Jasmine, and yeah, she's Asian. Yeah. So. I don't know any white Jasmines.

G: 'Cause in the full context of the episode, where all of the names of the strippers are of Disney Princess names, it's like, having one named Jasmine is okay. But like, when the episode was starting, and we just learned like, Jasmine, and-

C: - and Dean's like, "Oh, obviously, stripper name."

G: Yeah. That did put me out a little bit.

C: I also did feel a little uncomfortable about it.

G: But in the fuller context of the episode, I guess it makes more sense. But in that specific moment, before we got the full context, I was like, "Well, why? Many people are named that."

C: The idea of stripper names is just an odd thing to me because I feel like a lot of the names that are considered stripper names are like, more common amongst people of color. Like, I don't know. Like, my sister was possibly going to be named Cherry, and my mom has a Chinese friend named Candy, and like, I don't know like, that's like, language barrier and cultural things and like, whatever whatever. But also like, yeah, I don't know. It's just- yeah. The concept of stripper names feels classist and racist a lot of the times.

G: Yeah. But, you know what? I won't count it. I'm not gonna give it a point. I just wanted to point that out because I did, like, have a reaction to it while watching.

C: Yeah, same

G: 'Cause the content, especially, 'cause I understand that most white Americans do not name people after food, but that is like, quite common in other cultures, you know? C: Yeah.

G: Like, what you said about Cherry, I know multiple Cherrys in my life. I know multiple Candys. I know an Apple, you know. It's like, people are just named that. And I'm not- these are not like, nicknames, but they have a different legal- like, no, these are like, legal names. You know what I mean?

C: Yeah, yeah.

G: So yeah.

C: Homophobia.

G: That's the kicker! What is it?

C: Like, is it? Like, it is but it's not?

G: It can be, but it's not.

C: Yeah.

G: They make no acknowledgement of homosexuality in this episode, even though there is like, aspects of it in it. And also like, surprisingly, it's kind of like, gay positivity. [laughs] 'Cause Bobby being like, accepting. [both laughing] Because there's this like, context of like, "This guy tricked you into falling in love with you. And you know what? It's not your fault." [both laughing] It's like- [laughs] I don't know. I really don't know. [both laugh]

C: That is incredibly funny. You're right. Him being like, "Heym don't feel bad about falling for it" is literally like," Hey, it's okay, if you like, fucked a guy. Like, you weren't in your right mind!" [laughs]

G: Exactly. This is exactly the vibe.

C: Man. What an odd relationship these three must have after this episode.

G: I'll give it a 0, honestly.

C: Okay, if you say so. Alright, it's a 0.

G: Happy 0.

C: Alright. IMDb? I have no fucking clue.

G: This has got to be a low 8s. 8.3.

C: Alright. I feel like every time I've gone higher in the past I've been burned, so I'm gonna go with an 8.2- well, I don't- This is like, sort of a famous episode, though. Like, aren't some people gonna like, enjoy the twi- whatever. No, I'm just gonna stick to my guns. I'm gonna say 8.2.

G: And you've been burned yet again! It's an 8.4.

C: [laughing] Fuck! Alright. Great. Love to hear it.

G: What the hell is this review? I love it. It goes, "Another good episode. 'Sex and Violence' seems to be the staple of any show on TV today. I believe 'Sex and Violence' grabs the viewers primeval urges. I found 'Sex and Violence' [both laughing] interesting." I love it! This is how every reviews can be written.

C: Yeah. Truly trying to match a word count that no one else is maintaining.

G: This one points out that like, it's nice to see the boys crossing paths with another FBI agent, even if they were fake.

C: That's true.

G: And they use gender mutual pronouns for the siren. I love that

C: Love that, yeah. The one that says the words "Sex and Violence" again and again, yeah, mentions that they like the plot twist because- they said, "Dean is an alpha male that has no problem meeting women but real friendship with men is difficult." Which is something that we pointed out with like, "After School Special," right? So this is maybe a- this comes like, right after "After School Special," right? So maybe it is like, an emotional continuity thing.

Yeah, this person points out that Dr. Roberts reminds them of Madison.

G: I mean, they do make a direct comparison in the episode, so.

C: They do. This person has just a paragraph defending bi Dean.

G: Yeah. And like, how it's not a Wincest episode.

C: Oh, no, there's two different reviews about bi Dean. "I think the character could be bisexual, but never went there, because, as we can see, the guy has some toxic masculinity in him. All his digs at Sam are 'you're a girl or gay.'" So true! "It's entirely possible, but come on, not because of this episode of this episode. If this episode is to be taken that way, it doesn't mean Dean is bi," yeah, blah blah blah blah. Yeah. And they end it with, "That's it. No sick Wincest." [laughs]

G: No, exactly.

C: Real!

Yeah, no, it's an earlier- cubsandculture, who talked about the homoeroticism in "Criss Angel" is one who's saying again that Dean's- there's queerbaiting regarding Dean and that he has a lot of homoerotic relationships with men, which yeah, I suppose so.

You know what we'll be watching next week? Not Supernatural! [both laughing]

G: Yeah, we should say goodbye. Goodbye, everyone.

C: For three whole months.

G: I don't even know how- That's it for this episode of Busty Asian Beauties. Next week, we will be discussing Season 1, Episode 1 of Good Omens-

C: "In the Beginning!"

G: Subscribe to us. "In the Beginning." Also the name of a Supernatural episode!

C: Yeah, I mean, it's in the Bible. People really like those words.

G: There are many words in the Bible. [C laughs]

C: It's true.

G: Yeah. There's a famous Filipino song that like, directly quotes the Bible, and it is the only Bible verse I can recite in full.

C: Ooh, what is it?

G: Thank you, Yeng Constantino. It goes, "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast. It is not proud, it is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no records of wrong. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices in the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres."

C: Nice. Yeah. That's from Corinthians, right? It's pretty common in wedding vows.

G: Yep. It is!

C: And it's in Mary Lambert's "She Keeps Me Warm."

G: Oh my god. That's a lesbian song, right?

C: Yeah.

G: Good for the lesbians.

C: Good for the lesbians.

G: It was corny as hell, though. Sorry, lesbians! [C laughs]

C: It's from a different era. I feel like the things that like, I needed to see in middle school and like, cry over in my little room by myself are like, the things that I would find corny today.

G: I never cried over anything in middle school. [C laughs] Probably because we didn't really have middle school. But, you know, that's a story for another day.

C: Yeah. Sure is. And that story will be on the podcast feed of [G laughs] Rubbish and Probably a Podcast, not here! Goodbye!

G: Not here on BABPod.

C: Not here!

G: Okay, well. I don't know. You can subscribe to us and shit. Okay, if you subscribe to us on Tumblr, we'll be there, no matter what.

C: Oh, yeah, yeah, We're sticking- yeah, so follow us on social media. We are gonna still be on Twitter at twitter.com/BeautiesPodcast-

G: We're still not gonna be on Twitter, if I'm being honest. [laughs]

C: We're continue not being on Twitter at twitter.com/BeautiesPodcast, and we're gonna continue being on Tumblr at bustyasianbeautiespod.tumblr.com. Our tag is #BABPod. Do we need a new tag for Rubbish and Probably a- Our official new tag next week will be #RubbishPod. [G laughs] And yeah. Thanks to everyone who's donated to our Ko-Fi, which will still be at ko-fi.com/bustyasianbeautiespod, and check out our merch, which will still only be Supernatural merch at babpod.redbubble.com, though I don't know. Maybe I'll Venmo our artist some more money and have her draw things. Who knows?

G: Who knows? Leave us a rating, something something- but that's not the part. It's [both] email us, at bustyasianbeautiespod@gmail.com. Also, if you're gonna email us about the Gomens stuff, it's still there in there because I don't want to check the other email. Thank you! [both] Bye!

[guitar music]

[beep]

G: Man, hearing you read them reminded me of why I don't read fanfiction any more. [C laughing]

C: Yeah, yeah.

G: I can barely read books that have like, a third person. You know how like, people who read fanfiction are like, "If it's in the first person, I ain't reading it." Well, if a book is in the third person, I'm not reading it, [laughing] because it reminds me too much of fanfiction.

C: Noo.

I mean, didn't we- I had a fanfiction era where I only wrote in second person.

G: I did that also.

C: Is that something that happened? Yeah. I don't know why. It just felt the most natural to me at a certain point in my life. Anyway.

C: Also, like, I need everything I read to feel like a diary entry no matter what. You know? [C laughs]

C: Yeah. So I guess first person is necessary for such aesthetic.

G: Yeah.

[crqstalite]

Okay, so if you wanna be asked about your OCs, I am gonna ask about your OCs. What's your Ryder's (whichever one you like or both) favorite color? What's their favorite style? Like, if they don't have to wear Initiative clothes, what do they wear? Why did they train to become the class that they are?

Ooo, great questions!

Talis' favorite color is a dusky pink, akin to the sunrise. Occasionally some orange as well, considering her current hair color.

Mateo's favorite color is probably closer to an ocean blue. Lot of greens and blues on this boy.

Also fashion is an awesome question because the fashion in the OT and in Andromeda both make me incredibly sad. SO --

Talis' style includes pieces like this, this, or possibly that. I cannot google what I'm thinking of, so eventually I'll have to do an outfit sheet for her. She's very much Big Pant Little Shirt in my mind though -- anything that lets her stay active in her casual clothing, so our idea of techwear I think. Most of it is in this same pink/red palette though, so I like to think bright colors fit in with the Andromeda atmosphere. Mateo alludes me on the best of days though. Arguably something similar, but a little more rugged + jackets, always. He is is constantly somewhere he's not supposed to be and usually this means he's freezing.

(rubs hands together) This is where it gets long btw --

So! It's my canon that both of the Ryder twins are inherently biotic, like both are implanted and will always have rudimentary capability to use their biotic abilities. However, active-as-always Mateo is canonically a sentinel/infiltrator whereas sciency-and-analysis Talis is canonically a vanguard.

Talis trained as such because it fascinated her. Having such fine control over her own nervous system was the pinnacle of being a scientist. She'd run so many tests in the Alliance gym with varying results, but she got incredibly good at it. She knew where her body would be before she moved, her brain could almost work fast enough to make miniscule changes in-motion, y'know, a-la-sandevistan-from-cyberpunk-edgerunners. She and Ellen would work together on it, fine tuning her mnemonics and pushing and pulling at her body. Talis has incredibly fine control over biotics as well, capable of picking up small objects or affecting them with her mass distortion. She blinks in and out of where she needs to be, and puts on a hell of a lightshow when she gets in close on someone -- yet her surroundings remain largely untouched if that's what she's gunning for. Given biotics were still such an unknown in the Milky Way that while she was a Ryder, there was still some prejudice against her when she enlisted. Before Alec's plans went south, she was slated to be part of Kaidan's team as a student after she finished university. She resents Alec for this, watching the opportunity dissolve before her not too soon after. While Alec always appreciated Ellen's work, something about his daughter being capable of moving mass beyond his own understanding never quite clicked for him. That part of her he just never understood.

[And I also headcanon while he was shown using biotics-ish during Habitat 7, it wasn't actually biotics and a rudimentary recreation of it using SAM. He wasn't a biotic and couldn't relate to his daughter who leaned so heavily on it.]

Mateo however never lead with his biotics. No accident, no previous trauma, he just preferred to be without. He didn't have the mind for science needed to finetune his abilities on his own, and simply didn't show the same aptitude his sister did. So combining his interest with cross-species military history, he instead incorporated strategies from other races and jailbroke the hell out of his omni-tool to allow him to do and hack all sorts of things. It allowed him to put his weapon mastery to work at least, with less focus on mnemonics and more on skill with his trusty Viper. But if Alec's opinion didn't affect this, and it wasn't one of the few things that they related on when he was around, who knows what class Mateo would have trained in? Alec's approval when he topped charts in his unit for best shot in basic probably is what kept him going. All his little comments about never quite getting SAM's profiles to work like Talis' and some disapproval of it when he thought he was being quiet (or even in their arguments) probably had a massive hand in Mateo deciding to at least be what Alec wanted. He has the warp/overload combo down pat anyway -- makes him a special kind of deadly when no one sees him coming.

Both of them specialize in hand-to-hand combat though. They have very similar builds too, definitely stockier people who aren't super afraid to throw their weight around. Mateo is a little more nimble than his sister though, especially when using his cloaking device. He also was the one who actually took classes prior to enlistment, so his strategies are significantly easier to predict but harder to dodge. Talis didn't, so while she has basic training, she also makes things up on the fly. Whatever works in the moment, and she just keeps pushing no matter what.

(Talis is also more likely to be able to take a punch. She has a stupid amount of bruises to prove it and Lexi thinks she's going the Asari version of grey)

Thank you for asking!!