#Please read this

[guerillas-of-history]

The Zionist end game in the West Bank is upon us. The last eleven months leave little room for doubt as settlers continue to actively depopulate Palestinian communities, kidnapping and torturing young men and establishing new colonies. Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir openly boasts about seeking to build a synagogue on top of the al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

None of this should be understood as a new phase of Zionist settler colonialism; rather it is its sharpening, its coming out into the open in a more brazen way. What is happening in Gaza can and will happen elsewhere in Palestine. Not because the contexts or conditions are identical, but because they stem from the same supremacist logic and system of colonial domination.

It is a mistake to believe that a ceasefire, regardless of its form, will put the genie back into its bottle. We will not go back to the pre-October 7 status quo and move on with our lives until the next time Gaza is bombed. If anything, October 7 showed how completely unprepared the West Bank is for what is coming, partly due to stubborn self-deception nurtured over the last three decades: the idea that there can be any semblance of normal life under occupation in return for obedience.

September 12, 2024

[rithikap12]

today is an important day to remember this poem 💙

[rottenclown13]

hellooooooooooo divas. i have a rant about lou because nobody is talking about him. :(

so, he's very dramatic and his main goal is keeping up appearances for the crowd. that's his whole thing. he says multiple times that being pretty is everything, meaning to him, his appearance, both physically and publicly, is the most important.

but by the end of the movie, he's been stripped of both.

you can see the difference here between when he's putting up an act (left) and when he's actually showing strong emotion (right). for a movie that's admittedly not the best quality, he's a very well written villian.

you can tell that his friendship with ox wasn't fake, despite his betrayal.

he used to be kind and caring, though still with flaws. the only reason he turned on ox is because he knew that even though they were close, ox would get to leave and lou wouldn't. i think it was a mix of feelings.

jealousy, because lou couldn't go to the big world and ox could. betrayal, because ox would be leaving him. loneliness, which is pretty obvious.

i mean, being lonely is a classic villian backstory. but his is good because it's not just like: "well he wasn't good at making friends :(" it's literally "he couldn't keep friends".

i think a huge reason that lou values his public appearance is because it's all he's got left. it's the only time that people valued him. eventually popularity got to his head, so he's vain.

i've seen some people argue that the reason he makes his lessons so hard is because he'll miss the dolls. but honestly, i think he's just jealous that they get to go to the big world. which though cruel, is kind of justified.

i mean, look at this shot. it's probably my favorite in the whole movie. he's living his worst fear in this moment. he's lost his popularity, he's lost the game. and the uglydolls passed. everything he's been shown to care about has been taken, and this shot encapsulates it PERFECTLY.

(and it makes me very sad. i could watch the titanic with a straight face but unfortunately i'd watch this and then bawl for like thirty minutes. i don't wanna talk about it.)

anyway, i'll stop ranting. gooodnighht everyone.

[anotherbananasong]

GO READ THIS FIC IMMEDIATELY. It’s so beautifully written, everything about it is perfect. We interrupt your regularly scheduled Alpha beat down for this BECAUSE IT IS AMAZING. 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭🥹🥹🥹

@bloodfin I cannot begin to express my awe and adoration of this. Beautiful.

Earth catching the kit as she fell from the portal because for some reason that was like, my favorite part. 🥹🥹

[lopsidedgryffins]

green’s inner conflict and how it is manifested through greenscreen: an analysis

TLDR at end!

disclaimer: this is probably really ooc, and is mostly speculation by a mediocre at best student of literature ++ i’ve never been good at lit, so this analysis is likely not gonna be great :/ feel free to criticise/comment on this analysis! i’m open to feedback if there’s any :)

SPOILERS FOR INFLUENCER ARC EPS 1 AND 2 AHEAD!

we first see greenscreen when the cg abandons an overdone/overedited video of theirs - he is quite literally borne of neglect, and is thus a symbol of green’s negligence towards his friends and the inner turmoil he faces in trying to cater to all his viewers. 

why does greenscreen appear as, well, green? green is basically fighting with himself, a form of inner conflict manifested through the CG’s fight with what is essentially green’s neglect and negative emotions. 

this is also super interesting because inner conflict is usually internal and invisible: that’s what most of it is about. however, alan and the team present it here through actual physical conflict, which parallels green’s fight with himself - to make the content that he and his friends want to make, or to cater to the viewers and leave his friends behind, becoming increasingly self-centred? 

in the first fight with greenscreen, the CG beat him as a group, and green even takes a photo of them together post-fight to upload to instagram. this symbolises green’s (temporary) triumph over his neglect for others, still caring for his friends. 

however, over time, green starts to drift from his friends. he distances himself from them, isolating himself in a minecraft room by himself to make videos, neglecting friendships, genuine feelings and enjoyment in preference for catering to his viewers and all their preferences, taking each piece of criticism too seriously. therefore, as green’s neglect toward his friendships with the CG continues and increases, greenscreen grows in power as the negativity and abandonment become worse.  

before we continue with that though, let’s talk about the recycle bin!

the recycle bin is a recurring figure across AvA - being used in both AvA and AvM to get rid of applications. that’s what a recycle bin is at its core - a receptacle for waste, left to be neglected, never truly emptied. both greenscreen and the deleted videos of the CG are thrown into the recycle bin, where they perhaps fester into who-knows-what in ep 3. you know who else was also unceremoniously thrown into a recycle bin/deleted? victim! after he escaped from the animator’s neglect towards his feelings and sentience, victim is out to get his revenge. the recycle bin takes it’s inhabitants’ negativity (in greenscreen’s case, neglect), and turns it stronger upon their escape. green’s dunking of greenscreen into the recycle bin in ep 1 is symbolic of him ignoring his tendency to ignore and leave his friends behind in the pursuit of content creation. he does not actively work on stopping such behaviour, instead leaving it in a metaphorical (and literal) recycle bin, letting his habit of neglecting others in the chase for something he desires to grow. 

my theory is that greenscreen may come back in the last episode of the influencer arc, beating green at first, symbolising green’s negligence towards his friends’ feelings consuming him in his pursuit of content creation, but this is overcome as he realises the situation he is in - where he finally beats greenscreen and with him, his internal conflict, not by throwing him into the recycle bin where the neglect will be left to fester, but by coming to terms with his plight, communicating with his friends and agreeing to create the content that they want to create, putting an end to the negligence and laying greenscreen to rest.

(as of writing this, green’s newest video (reacting to my friends having fun without me) shows the rest of the CG being thrown around? it looks like they’re fighting something/someone, which is very likely whatever spawned from the recycle bin - i’m guessing this is greenscreen.)

TLDR: greenscreen is a physical manifestation of green’s neglect towards his friends AND his internal conflict, who will return in ep3 of the influencer arc, but will ultimately be beaten by green which symbolises him stepping back from content creation.

thanks for reading till the end! really appreciate it if you read the whole thing - once again this is purely my own speculation, opinions and theory!

[thespookiestprincessofthemall]

[asphodeline-lutea]

I might get hated for saying this, but to be 100% honest, I am not excited about the new series at all.

I am almost dreading it, for I fear that Cressida may be inserting movie features into the following books… which is really, really not good.

But I saw that illustration at the end of the new story… and I am afraid that is what is happening. ​(The book has not arrived yet, but I have seen photos of it many times)

Seeing book Hiccup wearing movie Hiccup’s armor and prosthetic was like a nightmare come to life to me.

I fear for my dear Hiccup, whom I deeply respect for his personality, and who has taught me almost everything I believe in in this world. I truly hope that Cressida will not go as far as to change him into someone like movie!Hiccup—whom he is not

And I believe— no, I have done analyses and I know— that old Hiccup intended for his memoirs to end there, at How to Fight a Dragon’s Fury, when he became King and ended the war. He circled it back to the beginning (“In my beginning is my end… There were dragons when I was a boy.”), and said that it was complete,that his own life and his role as narrator was complete, and he could rest now (in the sense that he would soon die: “When Toothless flies to me next time, it will be for the last time.”)

An entire sequel series (not just short stories) would, break a considerable amount of symbolism here, even possibly rendering some of the messages and themes in the books as no longer true— especially if it starts to take after the movies. The books and movies are so vastly different that, to me, it seems disrespectful to mix them together.

A sequel might damage the books. An attempt to mix httyd movie elements into it will almost definitely destroy it.

I can’t bear to see it happen.

These books, written by Cressida, and by Hiccup the Third, have shaped me so greatly and made me who I am today, and have been one of the brightest and steadiest lights in my life. If this, my haven, my mental home, becomes ruined, it will be like tearing my vital heart out of my chest.

I cannot and will not leave. But if the worst does happen, especially if Hiccup becomes out of character, then I will be ready to disregard any sequel as canon.

I did not say this earlier, partly because I secretly hoped that it wouldn’t be true, and partly because I did not want to upset those in the fandom who are being so joyful about all of it.

Unfortunately I really cannot share that attitude.

And I also glimpsed a few others, who might have been thinking along similar lines as I did.

Eventually I decided that someone had to speak up and address the issue floating huge in front of us. That is why I wrote this.

I do not want to upset or anger anyone. I just wanted more people in this fandom to realize and know this.

[puppywentzer]

I Never Planned On You / Don't Come A-Knocking - A Phan AU

Dan Howell has been on the streets of Lower Manhattan since he was twelve, and he believes that will never change. Wake up, wait at the gate, see the headline, sell papers, take care of his community, repeat. Until one day a northern boy appears in Newsies Square and sends his once stable and safe life into something unfamiliar to him.

I got no use for moonlight, or sappy poetry.

Love at first sights for suckers, at least it used to be.

No, I never planned on someone like you.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/64079329/chapters/164406055

[hauscrashburn]

This is such an excellent article. The bit about how fanfiction is now disconnected from fandom is incredible. It explains why so many creators are receiving little to no feedback on their work. It also explains the sort of commodification of fanfiction that is occuring in a lot of spaces.

One thing I think that has been forgotten in this new internet where fanfiction is expected is the fact that until A03 came along, most of us scribbled our little fics under the covers and under the fear of copyright attorneys. It was not unusual for blogs, websites, and fanfics to receive cease and desist letters.

[guerillas-of-history]

For a year now in the West Bank, Israel has launched a war against Palestinians. While the genocidal assault on Gaza has claimed the lives of tens of thousands, and according to some estimates, hundreds of thousands, the onslaught in the West Bank has ramped up in the form of displacement, the unprecedented expansion of settlements, rampant settler violence and pogroms, economic warfare, mass incarceration, and the launching of a military offensive on centers of resistance across the West Bank. As of this writing, Israeli forces and settlers have killed 743 Palestinians, wounded 5,250, and displaced 5,947. But underlying these numbers is a far deeper reality of Israeli settler encroachment and creeping annexation in the West Bank.

The Israeli offensive in the West Bank is nothing but random, nor is it detached from Israel’s policies in Gaza. It follows a strategy in line with Israel’s stated plans to annex the West Bank and undermine any possibilities for a future Palestinian state.

Although these Israeli policies have been employed by Israel for decades of occupation in the West Bank, observers argue that Israel’s strategy in the West Bank after October 7 has aimed to create a new political reality, heading towards achieving definitive Israeli control over the West Bank.

October 7, 2024

[goosepool]

I’m adding this to my fic rec list but i fear this fic needed a post of its own. Please please please read this fic it is actually perfection!!

Explicit 36k

[akdjsjjw]

If you haven’t read “feels like we only go backwards” by oldpotatoe on ao3

Do I envy you. I wish I could read that thing for the first time again. How did I miss this craze in 2020. This is the best thing I’ve ever read.

Perhaps I will draw something from it bc Oml.

Edit: GUYS WHAT WAS CHAPTER 19 IM CRYING IM DYING IM RIPPING MY HEART OUT.

also how did no one catch the marvel reference at the end.

Edit numero dos: My therapist will be hearing about the events in Chapter 23. WHAT. LIKE. WHAT. LIKE WHAT THE ATCUAL. LIKE.

[dysphoresque]

— In The Presence of Absence, Mahmoud Darwish

[sanghost]

Hi 👋, My name is Mohammad, and I’m reaching out in a moment of desperate need. I’m a father of three young children living in Gaza, and we are caught in the midst of a catastrophic war. Our home is no longer a safe haven, and the future here seems increasingly uncertain. 💔

I’ve launched a fundraising campaign with the goal of raising $40,000 to relocate my family to a safer place where my children can grow up in peace and have a chance at a brighter future.

Unfortunately, my previous fundraising efforts were abruptly halted when my account was terminated without explanation. However, I remain determined to keep fighting for my family’s safety and well-being. 🫶

If you could take a moment to read our story, consider donating, or simply share our campaign with others, it would make an incredible difference. Every act of kindness, no matter how small, brings us one step closer to safety and a new beginning. 🙏

Thank you for your time, compassion, and support. ❤️‍🩹

https://gofund.me/fd1faea2 🔗

hey sweet strangers on the internet please take a moments to read this and donate if you’re able to - they’re so close to their goal!!

mohammad, i’m so sorry that you and your family are experiencing this awful genocide firsthand. you all deserve to live peaceful lives. i pray one day you will hear birds instead of drones again. please stay safe🩵