#I'm not talking about the book btw

[tamaruaart]

Shout out to Scylla. my girl deserved everything but punk ass Circe decided to be a bitch. All the power to you sister

[thelaurenshippen]

911 really is such a good reminder of the particularly kind of joy that is weekly, seasons-long shows with many episodes per season. every character gets a moment to shine even in a truncated season. the satisfaction of seeing characters grapple with stuff that happened YEARS ago. having multi-episode arcs and one-off arcs that are equally enjoyable. beach episodes (metaphorical). I know we're all saying this all the time but why can't more tv be like this

[coquelicoq]

as a huge unreliable narrator enjoyer i love the fact that the raven tower is narrated by someone who cannot lie. so the narration is not unreliable, and any kind of uncertainty is always couched in "here is a story i have heard" or "i imagine", but it scratches the same itch as unreliable narration because the evidentiality of the narration is still so central, just in the opposite way. stories that don't care about where the narrator is getting their information or what biases are present in the way that information is shared with us are on one end of a spectrum, and stories that do care about those things are on the other end, and the raven tower is firmly situated alongside the unreliably narrated stories even though the whole point is that the narrator is as motivated as it is possible to be to never say something that is untrue. and it's fascinating to see how ann leckie manages to build suspense and subvert expectations without really at any point deliberately misleading the reader. every time i reread one of her books, the bouncing of the dvd screensaver in my brain gets a little more frenetic. how does she do what she does. ann leckie what is your secret.

[grimae]

Last day for my art book's campaign! Only 24 hours left to pledge.

[francy-sketches]

Hiiiii guess who finished her pmv. finally. um enjoy :3

[killingsboys]

it actually pisses me off how common it is for book-to-screen adaptations to just completely disrespect their source material in increasingly ridiculous ways. whitewashing wuthering heights. erasing the queerness of dorian gray. the thing about classics is that they remain relevant in society for a reason: their stories can be interpreted in so many different ways, and they resonate with people in other places and other times. but instead of getting really interesting interpretations of these stories that at once remain true to their source material AND explore the themes in new perspectives, we just keep getting adaptations that remove everything of importance from the story and try to pander to the widest audience possible. but wuthering heights isn't wuthering heights if heathcliff is white. dorian gray isn't dorian gray if it isn't queer. the story does not become more relatable or likable when you remove the social issues, especially considering that these social issues are still extremely present and visible in the world right now. all you're doing is taking a beloved story and turning it into soulless garbage for money. but i guess that's what 90% of hollywood is right now anyway

[valhallavalgrace]

How are you adjusting to the whole Norse mythology situation?

LEO: I’ve mostly been bugging some of the older einherjar, and Hunding, a little bit, to figure this place out. Do you know how cool it is that some people have been here since the industrial revolution?? There's no way that I'm the first of my dad's kids to make it here. I just don't know who to talk to about it.

((Leo's coping mechanism re: Norse mythology is just hating himself more bc of course he doesn't belong in his own afterlife. but he won't admit that to anyone bc he doesn't know who can be vulnerable with.))

prev ask

[ruegarding]

"percy holds nico at a distance and only talks to him when he needs something" the distance between percy and nico is established by nico. percy is the one who initiated their friendship by approaching nico after the big battle in botl and talking to him. and he did this bc he noticed that nico didn't join in at dinner or the sing-along, bc, shockingly enough, percy pays attention to nico's well-being in every. single. book. after ttc. nico responds to this by essentially saying "hey, i can be useful!" but percy never asked for that. all percy ever wanted was for nico to be (relatively) safe.

[hauntingofhouses]

i know I've mentioned my interpretation of mizu's gender a million times on here but i don't think i ever fully elaborated on it.

so on that note i just wanna ramble about that for a bit. basically, it's my reading of the show that mizu is nonbinary, so let me dig into that.

putting the rest under the cut because it ended up being pretty long lol. also here have a cute mizu pic of her being happy and most at ease with herself, symbolised by her letting her hair down. <3 ok let's proceed.

thus, when i refer to mizu as nonbinary, i am interpreting mizu as a woman, but not ONLY a woman. not strictly a woman. she is also a man. she is also neither of these things, she is something in between, while at the same time she is none of these at all. i've said as much many times, but i just don't want people to think that when i say nonbinary, it inherently means a "third androgynous gender" that essentially turns the gender binary into a gender trinary. not only is that going against what the term nonbinary was crafted for (to go against rigid boxes and categorisation of gender identities), but also, not all nonbinary people fall under that category or definition, and that's definitely not the way i interpret mizu.

okay before i go deeper i'd just like to address some important things. first of all, this post is an analysis of canon, and thus everything i am arguing for is about my own interpretation of the show, and not some baseless projected headcanon i am projecting onto the character. please remember there is a difference between an interpretation (subjective; interpretations will differ from viewer to viewer, but ultimately it is firmly rooted in evidence taken from the source material) VS a headcanon (unrelated and often even contrary to what is presented in canon; opinions wildly differ and they cannot be argued for because there is no canonical evidence to back it up).

ALSO please note that nonbinary is an umbrella term. this means that it applies to a vast range of gender identities. other identities that fall under the nonbinary umbrella include agender, bigender, genderfluid, and so on. however, it's my personal preference to use the term nonbinary as it is, simply because i'm not a fan of microlabels (more power to you if you do like them and find they suit you more though!).

also, before anyone fights me on this, let me clarify further that gender means something different to everyone. it's not your biological sex or physical characteristics. but at the same time, gender is not mere presentation. you can be a trans woman and still present masculine—either because you're closeted and forced to, or because you just want to—and either way, that doesn't take away from your identity as a woman. same goes for trans men. if you're a trans man but you wear skirts and don't bind or don't get top surgery, that doesn't make you any less of a man. because gender non-conformity exists, and does not only apply to cis people! some lesbians are nonbinary and prefer using he/him pronouns while dressing masculinely, but that doesn't mean they're a man, or that they're any less of a lesbian. neither does this mean that they're a cis woman.

the thing about queer identities in general is that, like i said, they mean something different to everyone, because how you identify—regardless of your biological attributes and fashion or pronouns—is an extremely personal experience. so a nonbinary person and a gnc cis woman's experiences might have plenty of overlap, but what distinguishes between the two is up to the individual. there's no set requirements to distinguish you as one or the other, but it's up to you to decide what you identify as, based on what you feel. either way, by simply identifying yourself as anything under the LGBTQ+ umbrella, you are already communicating to the world that you are not what a conservative, cisheteronormative society wants you to be.

which is why i find all this queer infighting on labels to be so ridiculous. because we're all fighting the same fight; the common enemy is a societal structure that divides us into set roles and expectations purely based on our biological parts. that's why biological essentialism in the queer community is a fucking disease. because by arguing that women are inherently weak and fragile and soft and gentle and must be protected from evil ugly men, while men are inherently strong and angry and violent and exploitative of women, these people are advocating for the same fucked up system that marginalises and abuses women as well as effeminate and/or gay men.

anyway. i'm going on a tangent. this was meant to be a blue eye samurai post. so yeah back to that— the point i'm trying to make is that there's no singular way to identify as anything, as everyone's views on gender, especially their own, is specific and personal to the individual.

so with that being said, yes you can definitely interpret mizu as a gnc cis woman and that's a totally valid reading of the text. however, interpreting her as nonbinary or transmasc also doesn't take away from her experiences with misogyny and female oppression, because nonbinary and transmasc folks also experience these things.

me, personally, i view her as nonbinary but not necessarily or not always transmasc because i still believe femininity and womanhood is a very inherent part of who mizu is. for example, from what we've seen, she does not like binding. it does not give her gender euphoria, but is instead very uncomfortable for her both physically and mentally, and represents her suppressing her true self. which is why when she "invites the whole" of herself, she stands completely bare in front of the fire, breasts unbound and hair untied. when she is on the ship heading to a new land in the ending scene, she is no longer hiding her neck and the lack of an adam's apple. we can thus infer that mizu does not have body dysmorphia. she is, in fact, comfortable in her body, and relies on it extremely, because her body is a weapon. instead, what mizu hates about herself is her face—her blue eyes. she hates herself for her hybridised racial identity, hates herself for being a racial Other. hates that she has no home in her homeland. thus it is important to note that these are not queer or feminist themes, but postcolonial ones.*

* and as a tiny aside on this subject, i really do wish more of the fandom discussion would talk about this more. it's just such an essential part to reading her character. like someone who's read homi k bhabha's location of culture and has watched this show, PLEASE talk to me so we can ramble all about how the show is all about home and alienation from community. please. okay anyway—

nevertheless, queer and feminist themes (which are not mutually exclusive by the way!) are still prevalent in her story, though they are not the main issue that she is struggling with. but she does struggle with it to some extent, and we see this especially during her marriage with mikio, where we see her struggle in women's domestic spaces.

on the other hand, though, she finds no trouble or discomfort in being a man or being around other men—even naked ones—and does not seem stifled by living as one, does not seem all that bothered or uncomfortable navigating through men's spaces. contrast this to something like disney's mulan (1998), where we do see mulan struggle in navigating through men's spaces, as she feels uncomfortable being around so many men, always feeling like she doesn't belong and that she's inherently different from them. mizu has no such experiences like this, as her very personality and approach to life is what can be categorised as typically "masculine". she is straightforward and blunt. her first meeting with mikio, she tells him straight to his face that he's old while frowning and raising a brow at him. she approaches problems with her muscles and fists (or swords), rather than with her words or mind. compare this with mulan, who, while well-trained by the end of the movie, still uses her sharp wits rather than brute strength. this is a typically "feminine" approach. it's also the approach akemi relies on throughout the show—through her intelligence and persuasive tongue, she navigates the brothel with ease. mizu, in contrast to someone like mulan and akemi, struggles with womanhood and femininity, and feels detached from it.

thus, in my opinion, mizu is not simply a man, nor is she simply a woman. she is both. man and woman. masculine and feminine. she has to accept both, rather than suppress one or the other. her name means water. fluid.

as a side note, while i do believe mizu is nonbinary, i also primarily use she/her pronouns for her, but this is a personal preference. i find it's easier to use in fanfic (singular they is confusing to write stories with, but again, that's just my feelings on it, and this is coming from someone who uses they/they pronouns). i also lean towards she/her because it's what the creators and all the official promotional copywriting of the show uses. and even though i am a "death to the author" enjoyer, i feel that when interpreting things that are left open-ended, it does help to look at the creators' take on things. also because, in general, being nonbinary simply doesn't necessitate the use of they/them pronouns. nonbinary is not just a third gender. it's about breaking the binary, in any which way, and that's exactly what mizu does, constantly.

also, i'd also like to mention that one of show's head of story even referred to her with the term "nonbinary", rather than simply "androgynous" (see pic below). and it's possible this could be a slip up on his part, in which he believes the terms are interchangeable (they're not btw), but regardless i find it a very interesting word choice, and one that supports my argument.

so anyway yeah that's my incredibly long rambling post.

TL;DR nonbinary mizu rights 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 congrats if you reached the end of this btw. also ily. unless you're a TERF in which case fuck off. ok i'm done.

[maddiesbookshelves]

I cannot stop watching cop shows

I mean, I'm enjoying the experience. It's just that I've watched all 12 seasons of Bones, and now I have less than 2,5 seasons of Castle left to watch. I think I might just start The Mentalist next. No one can stop me, not even me

[theoncomingchaos]

How MYATB fits the Gothic genre

WARNING: BOOK SPOILERS

Alright, first off, I know the author was not intending to write a Gothic romance, but it seriously fits the genre so well and I need to talk about it.

Here are the main elements of Gothic horror

Supernatural elements

Omens, nightmares, or curses

Unnerving Atmosphere

Gothic Hero

Gothic Villain

Romance

Emotional Distress

Mystery

Power Imbalance

Here is how MYATB fits the criteria.

Supernatural elements primarily come from the cultivation, the magic poison and flowers etc.

We see Huai'en having nightmares about the cliff pretty frequently, and the poison acts like a curse where the cold weather brings him pain. Particularly, the curses in Gothic horror often connect to the past. This can be ancient or recent, and this curse connects to Xiaobao's personal past.

In this story the weather is the main source of unnerving atmosphere. Winter brings physical, torturous pain, and if it rains at all during the several days it takes to perform the cure, then Xiaobao will basically be doomed.

A Gothic hero usually has some big flaw and struggles against some kind of temptation. For Xiaobao, his flaw is that he was spoiled, weak, and naive. He has never known pain, any time he had a slight inconvenience he could cry out and someone would immediately help him. So, learning to see the world as it is, take responsibility for himself, and fight through pain to do what he knows is right is a huge part of his journey. The temptation he struggles with is desire (lust/love). We see this in him proposing to multiple girls in one night and his frequent patronage to brothels, we see this in the way he throws himself onto Huai'en, and we see this in the way he struggles between his continued desire for Huai'en vs. all the hurt, guilt, and red flags.

A Gothic villain usually encapsulates the temptation that the hero has. They are often powerful, beautiful, and seemingly able to work outside of ordinary societal restrictions without fear or restriction. In a Gothic romance- this can be the/a love interest such as in Phantom of the Opera, True Blood, Interview with the Vampire or Jane Eyre. In love, they are often obsessive and controlling, they are liars (from omission or directly), and often have a dangerous side and/or secret. Huai'en is a powerful cultivator, he keeps his identity a secret for good reason, and he is canonically extremely beautiful. Especially in the book, he is a clear symbol of Xiaobao's weakness: he is both beautiful and lustful which early series naive Xiaobao would have thought was all that mattered in being the perfect partner. Although we know most of his worst traits come from his abusive upbringing and his youth, Huai'en absolutely fits the elements. He is obsessed with Xiaobao and extremely possessive. Xiaobao is the only thing he has ever wanted in his life and he is absolutely willing to take Xiaobao away against his will to keep him. His plotting where he attempted to protect the Jin family often included lies of omission because he was trying to control the situation himself. In both the book and series, he shows his violent side both on the battlefield and in bed. The difference here is that unlike many others in this genre, Huai'en is allowed to change and grow for the better and the narrative rewards this change. Eventually, he becomes more selfless in his love.

The romance is obvious. What is beautiful here is that the way they grow is not only perfect for their individual characterization, but it also makes them more suitable for each other. Xiaobao becomes someone who can be an equal partner for Huai'en, and Huai'en becomes someone who can genuinely love Xiaobao.

Both Huai'en and Xiaobao experience extreme emotional distress throughout the story. Xiaobao has to deal with losing his home and the guilt he has over hurting his family and endangering his friends. He has emotional distress over loving Huai'en and wanting to hate him for everything he has done. Huai'en has emotional distress from first discovering desire and his obsessive need for more love and closeness, the abuse and continued pressures of his adopted father, and then trying to get back with Xiaobao while being constantly rejected and pushed away.

The mystery comes primarily from the courtly intrigue. What did the Jin family do? What happened to Huai'en's mother? Who is his father?

The power imbalance between Xiaobao and Huai'en is obvious. Huai'en can and often DOES do whatever he wants to Xiaobao even against his will and Xiaobao can't do anything about it. Xiaobao originally thought he had the power via his money (and when he thought Huai'en was a woman) and coming to terms with not being the one in power in a relationship for the first time in his life is a big blow for him in the book. Xiaobao does gain power in the relationship, but physical power and even social status both leave Huai'en far above. Huai'en may leave behind his family name, but he is still the emperor's son, and the emperor still favors him as such. In the book, even Yuzhan still protects him within limits.

Anyway, looking through the lens of a different genre can bring some new perspective to a story and because I am a fan of Gothic literature, it just makes me love this story even more to see the connections. The book has some stuff that makes it VERY hard to read sometimes, and there are some moments that make you realize the author probably needs a bit more time to cook, but there is a lot of really nicely done narrative beauty in the bones of the story. I'm so happy to see how the series has taken these bones and elevated it. I really hope they stick the landing.

[idliketobeatree]

Crawly, meeting Aziraphale for the first time, formed three impressions: that he was an angel, that he was a bit of a bastard, and that he desperately needed to be pinned against the Eastern Gate.

[beesinspades]

i know astarion's attitude towards sex is all due to his trauma but. listen. there are some aspects of his romance and experiences that can be so relatable as a sex-neutral or sex-averse ace person. in fact him being ace or acespec on top of the trauma makes him even more compelling and tragic to me. it would've been amazing and interesting if he'd been canonically ace and these aspects plus how his asexuality affected his traumatic sexual experiences had been explored as well

[honestlyvan]

(Crossposted to Dreamwidth)

The thing that makes me the most "run around in circles" crazy about Initiation is that Alan wrote the Casey of the Dark Place into the story to help him, and then made it so that Casey knows even less about what is going on than Alan does.

Alan never gives Casey the opportunity to get past step fucking one to help him, explains nothing to him, and Casey ends up with no idea what he's even doing here, no idea what his assigned purpose is, no idea what his narrative goals are. He's an actor given no script, no stage direction, to the point that Casey doesn't even know they're in a story, and it makes him sink deeper into depression with every passing loop with no knowledge to ground him.

And it's impossible to tell if this is because Alan didn't realise that he had the perfect opportunity to write Casey like the Diver, a living repository of Alan's accumulating knowledge about the Dark Place, a seeing-eye dog to guide him through the dark -- or if Alan did try that, and it somehow went so horribly wrong that now he and Casey can't both survive in the same narrative line without trying to kill each other -- or if Alan did try that, and it went horribly right, and now the Dark Presence can't let Casey live because Alan's bespoke perfect little detective is too good at finding out useful things.

And instead, in the story we currently have, Alan made up a guy for a specific purpose of helping him, but because Alan is the protagonist, because it's his story, his fault, his duty and his job to get himself out of it, he doesn't even let Casey fulfil his narrative purpose. What the hell else is Casey supposed to do, Alan, other than the thing you literally made him for? He's the detective -- he's supposed to solve things.

[captain-crowfish]

The Warrior Cats Phenomenon

A beloved xenofiction series that is, in reality, incredibly mediocre, is subsequently glamorized and over-inflated by the perception of adolescents, influenced by the cultural landscape at the time of the fandom's mainstream conception. The era of the early 2000s brought about the popularization of the internet, and with it came a new sub-division in alt. youth pop culture; which for the sake of this tangent I will refer to as "Alternative animal expressionism." In less formal terms, just about all the artsy kids on deviantart had a fursona that walked on four legs and was adorned with an abundance of accessories and bright colors, as well as punk/emo-resembling hair styles. This is reflective of the commonplace visual aesthetics we now refer to as MySpace/MyScene subculture. MySpace was designed as a platform for older teenagers and young adults, and just so happened to collide with the rise of Youtube, and with it came two other communities that were skyrocketing in popularity; AMVs and furries. The history of furries is too long to elaborate on here, however many of them were pioneers in developing crucial components of code still used in modern operating systems. What defines a "Furry" is debated, but mostly revolves around an enjoyment of anthropomorphized animals. arguably one of if not the most popular forms of media depicting animals with such characteristics at the time was Walt Disney's The Lion King, and the growing number of forum websites meant that multiple forums and websites were bound to surface that were entirely dedicated to The Lion King and its fans, serving as a dedicated space to discuss the film, and potentially their own fan-made characters. AMV is an incredibly broad and potentially outdated term. The Acronym "AMV" was first coined as "Anime music video." Although for reasons I will touch on a bit later it can also mean "Animated music video." Again, with the notoriety of forum websites and online fan spaces, information can much more easily be found, given, and spread. Anime was still a relatively new concept in the world of Western entertainment (and was first popularized by, you guessed it, Furries.), and until files and videos could easily be shared over the internet, the only way to watch Anime was to get your hands on a physical VHS tape, which at the time still proved to be difficult and an incredibly niche practice, especially if you wanted subtitled or dubbed Anime.

Now in the 2000's, the popularity of Anime has increased almost tenfold. And while animation is a media that can be easily translated is necessary and enjoyed by a Western Audience, Japanese music did not quite reach the same level of popularity, at least not alongside Anime. Western audiences often combined clips of various Anime TV shows and films to music, most of which was Western-made. The intent, editing style, and end result of each fan-made music video often differed greatly from each other, although a common idea was evidently present: The music landscape at the time, brought on by the newest wave of counter culture, could be relatable to the situations of the animated characters. (This was not a completely new concept, and full disclosure I do not know how people made fan made music videos before computer video editing software was invented. According to Wikipedia, "The first AMV was created in 1982 by 21-year-old Jim Kaposztas. [He] hooked up two videocassette recorders to each other and edited the most violent scenes from Star Blazers to "All You Need Is Love" by the Beatles to produce a humorous effect.") These were also sometimes referred to as "Anime mixes", particularly if they contained footage from more than one property. Similar media also included MMVs ("Manga music videos"), FMVs (literally "Fan Music Videos") and HMVs (which were obviously created for a more adult audience).

The oldest AMV on Youtube (at least that I could find) After some time, the appeal of creating a fan-made music video spread to other fandoms (again through social cross-pollination, i.e. someone who was a fan of both Anime and The Lion King was more likely to adopt these mediums), particularly The Lion King, and fan made music videos using footage from the film and its sequels began to surface, although still using the "AMV" Moniker. The next logical step for anyone who enjoyed Western mainstream animation was to include other Disney properties in fan-made music videos. But why stop at mainstream? Why stop at films? the medium soon evolved to contain and pay tribute to all kinds of Western animation, from Walt Disney to cult classics such as the likes of Watership Down, to TV shows like Avatar The Last Airbender (the latter of which was often understandably grouped in with Anime and AMVs).  In 2003, a group of authors underneath the pseudonym Erin Hunter released the first book in what would become one of the most popular and most beloved xenofiction book series of all time. Warriors: Into the Wild. Like most budding fandoms, Warrior Cats also sprouted dedicated fan websites for discussion of the series. The up-and-coming Warrior Cats fandom found itself somewhere on the spectrum between the anime and furry communities, combining the ingenuity and creative thinking with the"Sparkledog" furry art style. However, the more "visual" creative types lacked almost any pre-existing media to work with, and before 2009, fan-made music videos often consisted of picture slideshows with simple or non-existent effects and transitions, with some scattered fan-made animations here and there. And then, everything changed when a small team of artists and animators driven purely by devotion, passion, and seemingly sheer creative will, released the first episode of their new Anime-inspired, episodic retelling of the first Warriors book. SSSWarriorCats was so Anime-inspired, both in animation style, direction and pacing, perfectly straddling the balance between the Anime and furry communities, respectfully. The series, although technically incomplete, still garners an enormous fanbase to this day. Evidently Warrior Cats fans have been inspired by these animations for over a decade, and it's not hard to see why. And thus the release and subsequent releases of episodes sparked what is regarded as the “Classic” period in Warrior Cats fan animations, and also sparked the creation of “MAPs” (“Multi-Animator-Projects”), as opportunities to collaborate with fellow artists. To summarize, Warrior Cats had the ingenuity of Anime fans to create music videos out of already-existing content, but upon realizing they had none, looked to the furry, tactile-based artistic side of their fandom’s conception to create it, instead of waiting for an official adaptation to surface. (And considering what Tencent animation is doing… I’m glad they did.) In other, perhaps more unserious terminology, the Warrior Cats fandom is the cultural brainchild of the Anime and Furry communities. To summarize, Warrior Cats had the ingenuity of Anime fans to create music videos out of already-existing content, but upon realizing they had none, looked to the furry, tactile-based artistic side of their fandom’s conception to create it, instead of waiting for an official adaptation to surface. (And considering what Tencent animation is doing… I’m glad they did.) In other, perhaps more unserious terminology, the Warrior Cats fandom is the cultural brainchild of the Anime and Furry communities. The Warrior Cats Fandom continues to persist, even after two decades, seemingly out of sheer artistic will. But, of course, the question remains as to why all of this happened, why does the possibility for these ideas to occur exist in the first place? The answer is simple, The perception of adolescents that such amalgamated fan-made media can be perceived as "mature" or even "edgy" is not one that has disappeared from our culture and probably never will. Cringe culture is dead.

[rotisseries]

chapters 51 and 58 of bloodmarked are absolutely CARRYING bree/nick/selwyn polyamory truthers