#Mr Medicine

[senorboombastic]

Live Review: Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs at O2 Ritz in Manchester 30 September 2023

Words: Andy Hughes It seems like only yesterday that we were packed into the Star and Garter in Manchester to watch this relatively new band with a funny name creating a proper racket to a rapt crowd. Well, they were relatively new to us at least, but at that point we were catching Geordie lot Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs on their ascent. Darlings of BBC 6 Music (favoured by the one and…

[xstea]

After a year, how the suitcase is.

A peek into how the suitcase is by our wonderful reporter Regulus.

It's cannon. Mr Apple and Lilya have drinks together and he seems to be the one to get intoxicated quite easily.

Vertin places people associated with one another close by, and Reg alongside Medicine Pocket frequently blasts music in their rooms much to X's annoyance.

Regulus going silent and cutting off the cam once she receives Sotheby's gift is hilarious. (that being said, how would cheques work considering the whole back in time stuff?)

Aww noo, Sonetto knows that she appreciates and loves the suitcase but can't truly accept this appreciation as she thinks that she's taking Vertin's quality of life improvements to the suitcase for granted. No wait. is that why she goes out of her way to show immense amounts of gratitude for her? Is that why she has to 'make it up' for Vertin? Through the missions she has to show her upmost resourcefulness and contribution to the Timekeeper by performing beyond what's mandated? Just like in Chpt. 5 when she felt as if she didn't perform well enough or perhaps even useless when unable to respond to the Island's questioning on her trial and had to be 'rescued' by the Timekeeper and 37? It ties back to her own belief that something is only deemed as valuable and worthy if they are proved to be useful to other parties in some way (Foundation indoctrination). Bluepoch please you can't keep doing this I'm going to melt and pass away.

[cyren-myadd]

[gutfaced]

re; ableism in the hunger games, infantilism of the traumatized/shunning of the traumatized.

okay so i woke up & my awesome mutual @ongreenergrasses made a post about this too (i JUST saw it and like oooh my god. i agree so hard and so much) and i'm just going to talk about what i've been thinking.

the hunger games is doused in some really nasty thinking when it comes to mental health, and then even more so when it comes to disabilities, addiction and PTSD. i'm going to break down this post in parts based on each character who represents this, and any misc. ones will simply be the issue at hand alone. i find that suzanne writes a certain stereotypical sort of rhetoric that goes unchecked by this fandom because the majority are not those who have experienced these things, but the ones who *have* should at least bring this to more attention if possible. katniss to me, is one of the most ableist characters (not of her own knowing) as the good and mighty protagonist, and seeing people headcanon her as autistic is very interesting when her takes on people with any sort of difference in mental states is.. it comes into question constantly.

𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐄

annie is very truthfully, a character who is only based on being the ‘poor mad girl who wins finnick's heart’ and yes, a victor with more severe PTSD which has come to affect her daily life, or at least when it comes to the games. suzanne collins’ constant use of the term ‘mad girl’ comes from katniss as protagonist, which reads as so ableist. watering anyone to their inpairments or their level of health is dehumanizing, and it reads to me like she regards annie as a sort of special case, like a wounded animal almost. the only positive talk about annie as a character minus her wedding, minus her relationship with finnick is when peeta explains annie's experiences in the games, which comes with empathy and understanding that most,,, are overbearing with. i see so many people water her down to just, being finnick's, and only being whatever level of trauma has enabled her consistent struggles. this i won't put a label on because i don't know what collin's was trying to achieve.

i even believe that finnick as her lover commits a level of ableist thinking in their relationship. he withholds information of the rebellion from her (despite her being extremely smart and just as career as anyone else from four,) and despite that not changing anything because she's still tortured, still abused in some way, he has a level of extreme overprotectiveness that reads as infantilism of his partner, and it seems to me like everyone considers finnick as annie's carer, and doesn't consider annie as his partner. yes his *lover,* but not someone on equal ground as far as their mental health issues go. the way annie is seen on both coins of fandom and book are incredibly ignorant and very, very harmful to disabled people. just because someone has a debilitating issue does not mean you get to treat them like they're a child, does not mean you go onto label them from that single trait. like i said, the phrase ‘the mad girl back home’ is so, so degrading to annie, who is a survivor and has overcome her experiences with respective scars. respect her humanity, because it's sub human thinking to call someone mad based on PTSD. leave that in the 1910s/20s.

𝐌𝐑𝐒. 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐃𝐄𝐄𝐍 & 𝐇𝐀𝐘𝐌𝐈𝐓𝐂𝐇

(note that the haymitch part will be longer than the rest because i have enough content to go off of & this is my specialty)

mrs. everdeen and haymitch as characters both experience deprecating grief, to the extent where their mental health is tarnished from that. mrs. e becomes withdrawn and stiff from family; only able to function for the sake of work. her love, her husband dies and it emotionally disables her and severs a proper relationship to her two daughters. her mental health being dependant on the man/the loss of him and the fact that she discards her family is not only somewhat realistic for *some* cases, but also equally spitting out ideas of tradition and how "women need a man," with hazelle contrasting this and having to work for her 4 children to the point of blood. katniss’ perception of her mother's issue do come from hurt, but also internalised prejudice against those with mental health as she can see the extent of agony her mother is in and still loathes her, never leaving the door open for empathy.

the treatment of haymitch in both book and fandom is equally prejudiced and incredibly uneducated on addiction, and again — grief. haymitch self-medicates because his trauma, the extent of it is so mutilating to the point where he has to be flushing out memories on a constant basis. the fandom calls him a stupid drink, looks down on his intelligence. the books make him look volatile, squalored. the way in which suzanne collins describes his kitchen (which is filthy with old food, hazards, bottles and mice droppings) is VERY true of several people with severe mental health. katniss makes fun of him while he's in a state of approaching withdrawal, saying that the smell brings tears to her eyes, and at the end of the conversation ‘to take a bath.’ people with depression (which is what mrs. e and haymitch both have in different cases) find it difficult to do everyday chores and simple tasks, and katniss also repeats the idea of haymitch being unhygienic when she says ‘he's disgusting, but I'm greatful’ alongside commenting that it must've been a long while since he had bathed. haymitch is the richest man in the district, but not even that can stop the blatant hatred that katniss parrots. haymitch is to me, ill, and it reflects in his attitude during the games and when he's in withdrawal. suzanne hones in his mental state the most, and what he is a functioning alcoholic, and while that differs from regular alcoholism, people are consistent to demean his character with misconceptions and text books beliefs of what an alcoholic looks like. there are *many* takes, many examples of these sorts of people in society, but the constant abusive, violent, hateful, squalid, hedonistic ideas are parroted in fics when it comes to haymitch when he isn't.. any of those things. the society around him cares to consider the extent of his suffering and he doesn't have a good enough support system, as all whom he has loved are dead. i finish this by saying what i always do; he's extremely intelligent, extremely empathetic and wholly feeling, extremely caring and protective, and is meant to *defy* stereotypes. his ending however diminishes his ability to get better, and practically undoes any hope of his betterment despite it all.

𝐌𝐑𝐒. 𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐄𝐄

mrs. undersee is mentioned a few times through the trilogy, and when it isn't related to her late twin maysilee donner, or her daughter madge, it's her chronic illness. katniss basically only mentions her when referring to her constant headaches and her morphling addiction, which makes me wonder why suzanne collins doesn't go into depth about how she's taken care of, who she's getting support from as the wife of the district mayor, and how she functions as a mother. she is basically made useless to the narrative despite her important role as a mayoral first lady & family member to someone who experienced and was slaughtered in the arena. i see next to no content on her which upsets me as she does play such a big role in the scheme of things, and has connections to the everdeens, to haymitch and to the donner family. she's got next to nothing on her wikipedia, and it's unfortunate as she could've been a good example of chronic ilness in an already revered YA series (which now comes under scrutiny for the faults being uprooted.)

[bristledthistled]

Sun needs to find him some eldritch horror to date. That boy needs some unfathomable abomination to rizz him up.

Sun needs to gaze into the void and have the void wink back at him

frightening nightmare monstrosity that resides in your mind, or easily accessible boyfriend.

[anonymocha]

Hello again! I’m back for another request, if that’s okay (the last one I asked anonymously tho, but I’m choosing to expose myself this time). So maybe an interaction between Medicine Pocket and Lilya? I feel like they would either be frienemies that seem like they’re beefing, or they’re actually beefing with each other (it’s pretty chaotic either way). Like, Lilya would just laugh when Medpoc tries to insult her and say stuff like “Okay, buddy. Go pet some puppies or something.”

YOU ARE SO RIGHT….. 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹 The sillies!

[littleblood]

[velveteencosmocrat]

Y'know as much as I love the new lore drops of Bill's backstory after so long and the new works and headcanons and aus made with Bill's parents, I am kinda sad that it essentially dethrones @pengychan 's flat dreams fic from what a lot of people probably accepted as his backstory, even if just fanon. If only for the sole purpose that Liam wouldn't exist.

but then I remembered I could do whatever the fuck I want.

So in my personal au, I like to think that Liam does exist and still is Bill's brother, but their roles would be reversed (ages can stay the same or swap, either would work for different dynamics). Bill would be the treated irregular child. Liam would be the 'right' one. Just an average triangle in Euclydia, with normal eyes not made to see the stars. I think he'd still read to Bill, still spend whatever time he can with him. Not because it's all he can really do constrained, but because of his own love and care for his brother, accepting even if he doesn't exactly understand him. Liam would be happy for the most part, healthy, and just living his best life as he can.

And Liam would be purple.

[mismess]

Hey. i just met The Monk. what was up with that greeting with Leland. literally brushing noses. what.

HEY. LITERALLY THO. First instinct is to grab him and nuzzle the man? Alright sir.

Alright. The face of a man who has been wanting to do that for years. Deepest innermost desire.

[overdressedcarp]

Me when Ratio has to be moderately competent about providing medical care

[senorboombastic]

Release Rundown - Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs and Pile

Words: Ben Forrester Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs – Land Of Sleeper(Rocket Recordings) If there’s one thing that could be said about the last Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs record, it’s that it brought the sludge rock party! Though still bashing you over the noggin with stoner riffs and slow, doomy drums, it was the subtle nods to thrash, punk and raaawwwkkk that made ‘Viscerals‘ such…

[fictionadventurer]

Who says writers need to do medical research? Just write like the greats and use

Classic Writer Medical Tropes

including such useful plot devices as

Having Too Many Emotions gave her a nebulous physical illness that nearly killed her

She had an actual physical illness or disability, but the Power of Love cured her

She had an illness, but I gave her a medicine (no further details needed)

[wolfsbanesparks]

I had a sudden great need to talk about Captain Marvel and his villains with you, bc something about them seemed connected in a grander scheme of things to me and it's late at night right now but I needed to sing about this

Dr. Sivana - (movie version) A man who in his childhood was teleported against his will and essentially temporarily kidnapped to a strange and horrifying place in the middle of the night, forced to be tested for something he had no idea about but continued to be called delusional and insane for when speaking about it to anyone. Driving him mad for being unworthy, feeling like he was rotten despite the circumstances out against him were unfair at the time in his eyes. That moment stayed with him permanently, keeping him locked in that memory forever, never truly growing up, but also losing his heart.

Mr. Mind - In most versions he is an alien or magical creature, but in one version I was told about, apparently he was an abused child who loved to read as an escapism. One day he accidentally ended up in a magical room, where he was transformed into what we now know as Mr. Mind. Human experimentation as a child, possibly. Never having a chance to live as a child and forced to grow up into something he did not want to become, but had to.

Chain Lightning - From what I heard from you, Chain Lightning is a girl with multiple personalities, one (or more) of them being villainous in nature, but one of them being genuine and in love with a boy. Trapped in her own body and mind, a child who has no will of her own to live her life as she wants to.

Lady Blaze/Satanus - Children fathered and abandoned by the wizard. For reasons, I do not know yet, I'm still researching, but this sounds like serious issues that caused them to go mad, vengeful that they were not seen as worth anything in their father's eyes to leave them their "rightful inheritance" after his passing.

Sinclair Batson - A reanimated puppet made by Lady Blaze, a wish by Ebeneezer Batson. A false son. No childhood given, no innocence given, just given a purpose to fo as he is told by people he does not know in a world he does not know.

Black Adam - An ancient and crusty old man, who, in his mortal life, murdered his own nephew for the power he coveted and was not meant to be his. He took the life of the child he was meant to protect and love, and yet when the child protected him instead, he returned the act with malice. The boy was chosen as champion, for the sake of the world, an innocent boy, and the world ripped him apart via his own family.

And then, there's Billy Batson. Orphaned, foster child, homeless (depending on the version), and alone. A child that the world does not see and is also against at the same time somehow. He struggles so hard to find a place in the world for himself, but remains pure of heart during all the bad times. He refuses to become as rotten as the people who see him suffering and ignore him. When he is chosen, it is not by his choice. He did not know what he was in for, and became a superhero with more responsibility and power than he was ready for at his young age. He did not consider himself able to have a childhood before, but WITH the powers he had now?? He couldn't ever think about being a kid ever again.

Just. Them. The theme of lost innocence and being forced to grow up, or the event in childhood ruining them forever and that event being the catalyst for so much more.

At one point in all of those origins for those characters, there were children who needed help, guidance, love, understanding, etc. But they were never given any of that, and look at what happened in the end. Billy seems to be the only one who managed to turn out good, but he could have been so different

Sorry if this is a lot and if there's spelling errors or mistakes, this is just something I wanted to talk about for a long time, and something I'll make my own post about at another time, but I felt like you would have great insight on this

Okay so I've been thinking about this all day because childhood innocence (and the loss of it) have always been a central theme of Captain Marvel’s comics.

This got very long so I'm putting my analysis under the cut.

In captain marvel comics, unlike in other places, innocence isn't equated with naivete or stupidity. Billy is a very innocent character in the grand scheme of things, but he's both very competent and savvy to the issues people faced. This childhood innocence, which is reflected in Captain Marvel’s own behavior even when they are separate people, is about doing the right thing, about not succumbing to things like selfishness and anger even when it's tempting to do so.

And your last point about Billy being the only one to turn out "good" is really important because it's why he was chosen to have these powers in the first place! He was pure of heart not just because he was good and kind, but because he continued to be that way even when he faced hardships that can (and often do) lead people down a darker path.

Now let's talk villains.

The movie versions of Billy and Dr Sivana have very clear and explicit parallels with each other. I think his story is the clearest in terms of how a loss of childhood innocence/trauma can haunt a person throughout their life. His lack of control of those circumstances is definitely one of the biggest factors in why he became obsessed with this one moment, a moment he believes his life was unfairly ruined.

I can't say I'm familiar with the version of Mr Mind you mentioned here, but based on what you've mentioned it's really interesting that his appearance and his powers are from something out of his control. Ironically he is now able to control others, continuing the cycle of abuse.

As for Chain Lightning (Amy is the main alter) is like many characters who canonically have DID in that her alters exist in part to protect her inner child (one of her other alters), to take on any pain or suffering in order to keep their childhood innocence in tact.

Lady Blaze and Satanus take after their mother, a demoness who may or may not have used magic to seduce him. His immediate and continued rejection of them, his assumption that they were evil from birth, certainly had an impact on them and the people they became. They never got to be innocent because Shazam wrote them off as evil from the start. Their insistence that they are owed his power and his place in the Rock of Eternity can be read as them longing for connection to a father that abandoned them and proving they were worthy of wielding his powers despite his rejection. (I'm starting to sense an additional theme of needing to feel worthy in Shazam's eyes but that's another post)

Sinclair exists in an unnatural and not fully autonomous state. He is Ebenezer's child first and foremost even if he isn't actually a child at all. He lost his innocence somewhere between death and resurrection.

And then there's Black Adam. There are a number of different versions of his story but all of them revolve around loss. Whether it's the loss of a child (his nephew or son) or the loss of his wife or brother, he gave into his pain. He have up on childish things like doing what's right and let himself be lost to his own worst impulses.

I think on top of the theme of innocence there's also this parallel theme of autonomy, of wanting male your own choices but having someone or something else taking that control away from you. Which definitely resonates with children who often don't have much control of their circumstances.

This was a lot but the English nerd in me loves talking about themes~

[strivia]

3.09 Mr. Monk Takes His Medicine / 3.15 Mr. Monk and the Election

[elliot-ayy]

Study date!

[valengory1234]

Dracula really is a comedy of errors at this point