#SO many typos fuck

[lgbtlunaverse]

I've been wrestling with two beliefs I hold simultaneously but that I previously (incorrectly) thought were contradictory: that sexuality is inherently harmless, but also that specific kinds of sexual desire have been used to enact and justify grievous harm. The notion that men's sexuality is more important than women's consent, that white men's sexual access to white women must be protected from the "threat" of men of color, the idea that this specific kind of desire is so inherent to a proper society that if you have the wrong kind of sexuality you deserve to be shunned and harmed.

How can sexuality both be inherently harmless and measurably harmful?

Anyway, the answer is very easy, and part of why I feel like we should stop treating sex as something completely unlike other things and horniness as unlike all other emotions. Because I realized that, oh, right, this happens to other feelings too.

You know another feeling that is not inherently dangerous but is frequently used to enact and justify violence? Fear.

Fear is not inherently evil. Not even if it's irrational and your level of fear does not correspond to the level of danger you're actually in. In fact, irrational fears are such a common phenomenon we literally have a word for them: phobias. Which you are not evil for having. (Am I calling phobias the fear equivalnet of kinks? Kind of... I guess)

But fear and discomfort are used all the time to harm people. Let's say some random white woman is walking home late at night, and she notices a man is following her. This man might just be walking in the same direction by coincidence, but there's a small chance he's following her on purpose. It is quite natural for the mind to wander, and we frequently fear what we do not know. Discomfort or fear, in this situation, is neither inherently harmful nor unusual. However, if this white woman has been inundated her whole life with 'stranger danger' narratives and stories of women being brutally kidnapped, assaulted, and murdered by strangers. (Even though the vast majority of female victims are killed by someone they know, most often a romantic partner or family member) and she then, by the flash of a streetlight, spots that the man following her is black, and she has also been fed a narrative that black men are inherently violent and dangerous, that feeling of discomfort is enhanced and distorted until she believes she is in genuine danger and calls the police.

Statistically speaking, that guy really was just walking in the same direction, and is unlikely to be a threat. However she has now seriously endangered him, and justified it by the fact that she was scared.

A man justifying sexual assault because he couldn't help it, he was just so attracted to her. (And she led him on! She was barely dressed!) Is weaponizing his horniness in exactly the same way as people who call the authoroties on a disabled homeless person because they were "acting weird" are weaponizing their fear.

And all emotions can be weaponized this way. Anger is used to justify domestic violence ("you shouldn't have provoked me") Happiness and fun is used to jeoparidize safety (the last 30 years of olympic games have had a death toll among construction workers of over 116. The 2022 world cup alone has an officially admitted death count of 40, but the real cost is likely in the hundreds) disgust is used so often it's hard to restrict it to a single example (queerphobia, ableism, fatphobia, racism, misogyny, it's everywhere)

Sexual desire is just one way among many where the comfort of the powerful is valued above the safety of the opressed. It's not unique, but instead painfully common. And it's useful to keep this in mind not to devalue it or deny it's happening, but because we can borrow tactics and learn from similar situations rather than getting stuck on endless debates on whether porn is intrinsically evil or not, which will get us nowhere.

[clourey]

kaiser detests the conundrum that has been created of his emotions.

he wants nothing more than to celebrate his team’s victory — his victory — with you. he yearns for your praise, for your kisses, yet he’s not next to you like he should be.

instead, he has found rest in a lonesome corner, keenly observing you from afar.

you laugh heartily, so engaged in your conversations with the others. actually— if kaiser were to put it more accurately, you not only engaged in the idle chatter, you indulged in it.

and it is at rare instances such as this, that kaiser begins to doubt himself. it’s almost as if he set tests for you, to gauge how much he means to you. he needs to know if you’d keep choosing him, even if he pushes you away.

so when you finally approach him, he (subtly) rejects it. he’s petty, but also equally as driven.

“regrettably, liebling,” kaiser waves his phone at you, which seems to have manifested from thin air, “i’m expecting an important call soon, why don’t you hang out with.. ness? you’ve been talking to him a lot.”

you mouth an “oh,” making quick sense of the situation.

you may not necessarily be the most perceptive person in the room, however, you’re confident in you ability to discern kaiser’s behaviour and what it means.

“you know, love,” you start, ever so discreet, “ness suggested that i spend some time with you.”

there, his brow twitched, “yeah? he wants you to spend time with you now that he’s, what, feeling guilty about taking you up to himself the entire night?”

make no mistake, kaiser is not one to be trigged easily—

“you sound mad,” you press.

“can a man not be appalled?” kaiser quickly retorts, scoffing as he crosses his arms. to hell with keeping these annoying feelings to myself.

—unless it’s you. yes, you always draw out the rawest of emotions that lay waiting in his heart.

“ness was talking to you like you’re his girlfriend, and you didn’t bother reminding him that you’re taken,” his eyes narrow, and his forehead creases, “or maybe you forgot that too, huh?”

your stupid giggles answer him, and he sighs defeatedly.

his attempt at nonchalance that was so effortlessly dislodged and replace with a tirade, was tantamount to entertainment for you. infuriating.

“you could at least tell me this, then,” kaiser clutches your wrist, pulling you closer, “am i your first choice?”

he already knows how you’ll respond by the time your hands reach to cup his cheeks, your utterances of love never failing to reassure him.

[deoidesign]

One of my first digital pieces (2010) versus one of my recent ones (2024)

We all start somewhere!

[pokemonedits-outofcontext]

[coquelicoq]

There are 60 million people in Britain. There are 200 million in America. (Can that be right?) How many millions of English-speakers other nations might add to the total I cannot even guess. I would be willing to bet, though, that in all those hundreds of millions not more than 50, at the outside, have read A. Roemer, Aristarchs Athetesen in der Homerkritik (Leipzig, 1912), a work untranslated from its native German and destined to remain so till the end of time. I joined the tiny band in 1985. I was 23. The first sentence of this little-known work runs as follows: Es ist wirklich Brach- und Neufeld, welches der Verfasser mit der Bearbeitung dieses Themas betreten und durchpflügt hat, so sonderbar auch diese Behauptung im ersten Augenblick klingen mag. I had taught myself German out of Teach Yourself German, and I recognised several words in this sentence at once: It is truly something and something which the something with the something of this something has something and something, so something also this something might something at first something. I deciphered the rest of the sentence by looking up the words Brachfeld, Neufeld, Verfasser, Bearbeitung, Themas, betreten, durchpflügt, sonderbar, Behauptung, Augenblick, and klingen in Langenscheidt's German-English dictionary.

The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt, i, 1, p 17

[crows-of-buckets]

Viago, 20 years old: I'm going to let this 10 year old kill >:)

Viago five minutes later, realizing he has a mess to clean up: oh no

[bleue-flora]

idk if this is the correct place but i wanted to talk a bit about this and wanted to see you opinion bc I like you analisys on canon a lot.

A big question people have with the lore about cstagedduo it's that if cpunz actually cared for cdream or not- The same with crivals after prison break but that's for another day- and if cpunz would have helped cdream out the prison if he took too long.

I personally think it's a more grey anwser. We know cpunz cares, yeah they are small moments but he does care for cdream. He wouldnt be defensive over the fact they are friends in the ending and let cdream speak to ctommy without protesting to him and still be worried he and cdream both escape the nuke together if he didnt care for him. But it is true he left cdream make his crazy plan of making everyone hate him and insolating himself for god knows how much time they expected the imprisionment to last. And that he left cdream alone a lot in the prison after the prison break while everyone on the server wanted him death. But i think this is more of a fucked up vision cpunz has than signs of lack of care. He cares about cdream but he also trusts his plan is working and he can handle himself just fine and that he's totally not in a bad mental state. He's also on board with the plan so of course if he wants to recolect knowledge and power and trust his friend to know what he is doing, he will in favor of this even if we know as viewers this is a bad idea in all aspects.

Cpunz has flaws as a friend and characther but I do think he cares about cdream. It would have sense if he didnt for me. At the end there's lots of friendships that are pretty grey and imperfect on the dsmp, Like c!clingyduo exist

As far as the prison goes, it is hard to say. How long would have been too long? And how did he not know about Quackity’s torture when it was’t like he was trying to hide it or anything. I think it comes down to trust. Specifically, Punz’s trust and faith in Dream. I’ve talked about it before, but in the stream we get of the two by themselves, Dream is filling Punz in on his plans, but not all of it. Just enough for Punz to understand what his part to play in it is. So, I don’t think Punz really knew what Dream was subjecting himself to, not to mention that things did not go as planned. Sure, while Dream considered all the possible things that could go wrong, like losing two lives and someone coming to torture him, that doesn’t mean Punz knew that and allowed Dream to go through with it. I feel like the perception a lot of times with Punz is that he is like a viking helping an older person up a mountain only to have him jump off. I think we give Punz too much credit to say he saw the big picture just because Dream did. I more so get the impression that he’s by Dream’s side and helping him climb or go wherever he needs to go not necessarily focused on where they are going, because he believes in what Dream believes, he wants what Dream wants, and be trusts Dream as his friend, who is clever and has never given him reason to question him before. 

Because of this trust, there is also an element of betrayal. If he pulls the plug and makes plans to rescue him from prison, he is going against Dream, he is doubting him. If he makes a move to end things without Dream’s support, he is expressing that he doesn’t believe in Dream and not only does that seem like something Punz would not want to risk, but also the reason he looks so bad is because of the conditions of the prison. But see, I don’t think he got to see it before Dream’s incarceration, so he isn’t aware of how inhumane it is. Sure, he likely heard from Bad, but Punz is probably also aware that Dream could be just manipulating Bad so how trust worthy is he. 

We as an outsider perspective can see Dream breaking at the seams, but the other characters certainly aren’t aware of it, so it’s a little unfair to say Punz would either. Dream has been formidable, always prepared, planned out, 10 steps ahead, why would Punz have any reason to doubt Dream in prison? Punz is also one to follow orders, he’s a mercenary after all. You pay him $10 bucks to log off and he will, why would he defy orders, especially if he didn’t know how bad it was. Hell, maybe Dream was supposed to use Ranboo to send a message to Punz if things went wrong, but after Ranboo stopped visiting that was no longer an option, but that Punz necessarily knew about that. So maybe Punz was just sitting on his hands waiting for the go ahead to do something. 

Now after prison, when Dream is such a wreck, is when we see Punz more so go off script. We see him give a passionate, detailed proposition to Purpled (that there’s no way Dream signed off of as it makes him look bad) and we see him reveal he has the revive book to clingy duo and bring Dream back in front of them. Because after prison, when it is revealed just how “south” Dream’s plan went, Punz more takes things into his own hands, especially when it comes to Dream’s well being as Dream can clearly not be trusted to look after that. 

A lot of people seem to get the impression that they did not spend a lot of time together, but see I don’t think that’s true. For starters, there is the "we" in this [clip] where it seems to me that Punz is helping to lead them to the saw trap room almost like he helped make it. Secondly, according to the map [post], placing Vik and Lazar’s experiments after prison this leads us to figure they at least spend a lot of time working together on that. If Dream is to be believed in the finale, months even. And Punz’s protective behavior seen no clearly than this moment [post] makes me more so inclined to believe Punz doesn’t leave him alone for long, especially with everyone out to kill him. I mean he can’t stay at the prison full time, he still has a cover to maintain, but just because he’s in his house in the finale, I don’t think means he kept his distance from Dream, especially after everything with Las Nevadas.

Then as far as the plan goes, we really don’t know even what it is, nonetheless if Punz fought against it. I think Punz stayed by his side and he had the same goals as Dream and they did things together, but that doesn’t mean that he trusted Dream fully after prison or didn’t push back on Dream’s self destruction or that if they survived the nuke that he would continue the plan without Dream. Like I mean this in the nicest way possible, but Punz to me seems to be more so a follower, akin to Tubbo, loyal even if maybe they should hold their friend back from doing something stupid (except Dream is a liar and good at making his stupid seem smart lol making the situation worse). Punz isn’t like Techno, who will call out Dream’s bs, he isn’t the mastermind or thinking 10 steps ahead or seeing the big picture, he’s following Dream who does. He and Dream have been friends from the start, he and Dream want the same things, and he trusts and believes in Dream...

And yes, I think this is apart of what makes their friendship flawed, unbalanced, and tragic, but as you said, so are the other friendships on the dsmp and honestly, so are friendships in real life...

(anyways... I've talked a lot about staged duo, so if I didn't say or explain it here I may have said it somewhere else like in one these other posts: [<> <> <> <> <>] though their dynamic has been shifting in my brain a bit since noticing the map so...)

[raisedbythetv89]

in an alternate universe somewhere kristen bell saves jason dohring from scientology and in return he saves her from ever marrying dax shepherd bc the two of them get together instead.

[chocolate-cream-soldier]

Well that was a Finale!!!

[stabbyfoxandrew]

also hi. me and jess ended up binge watching iwtv s2 yesterday.

[velvetjune]

idk if this is worded right but. It’s a shame there’s barely any academic lit or analysis around remedy games. the first thing that comes to mind is jacob gellers video involving control but I’d love more on the themes of these games and how they use different mediums to tell their stories

[sdmsims]

Holidays in the mansion! TS3CC requests open until January 1st, 2025!

this year has sucked so bad for me in more ways than one. but we can still end it with some fun? maybe?

requests are open!! thru google form because i dont want my askbox to implode and become more of a mess than it already is

you can find the request guidelines and form here! it's open to everyone!! excited to see what y'all have in mind!

[unityrain24]

Saw your tags about Star Wars, it seems Star Wars stans and modern MCU stans are two peas in a pod. :/

im not entirely sure which tags you were referring to, because i have reblogged several starwars posts with Tags, but honestly, the mcu and starwars really are two peas in a pod. And im honestly surprised there isnt more comradery/comparing between the fandoms

both started out as, while definitely not "high art" or anything, legitimately good enjoyable films, with relatable characters the audience could feel empathy and compassion for, exciting new powers and places, fun and adventurous stories, and more, which instantly became beloved classic that people thought about with nostalgia and pleasantness. And they were and by people who cared and the people who watched them were compelled to care and create communities.

But then both franchises saw a shift, from making films from a passionate and moneymaking point of view, to purely making films from a moneymaking point of view. While star wars saw this happen with the franchise being picked up a few years after to make sequels, the mcu's shift happened more gradually, since there was no time in-between making movies.

now, while i would not consider myself a StarWars Fan, my sister and cousins most definitely were, so i had to watch basically everything in order to keep a conversation with them (not that i didnt enjoy it, i quite liked it and all the lore, it just didnt hold the special place in my heart that thing i consider myself a Fan of do). I've watched the movies, the clone wars series, rebels, the mandalorian, etc all the way through. It's been a while since i was keeping up with everything, so forgive me for not having quite a comprehensive understanding and opions of it as i did say, 3-4 years ago lol.

But the starwars sequels are a lot like the latest phases of the mcu. While i cant remember if they explicitly go against any prestablished canon like the later mcu phases do, they definitely go against the spirit and point/purpose of the original (and even prequel) films.From what i remember, the sequels also had went through several different directers and had direction and script changes and was a whole mess, so even the three films were sort of inconsistent or at the very leat felt oddly-thrown together (<-i may be wrong on the specifics of that its been a while. but it was something along those lines). Also like the later phases of the mcu, they relied a lot on the "nostalgia factor" with not only easter eggs but bringing back old ideas, concepts, plots, even characters, since it "worked so well the first time," when really what the "first time" did was think of new things, present old things in new ways, and tell make art from a place of passion, community, and connection, rather than a "whats the least i can do to make the most money" mindset formula (a point brought up a lot by @therese-lokidottir on many of their recent mcu critiques).

Starwars, unlike the mc, did have a brief period of "redemption" where it looked like the franchise would be saved and given back to the hands of people passionate about starwars, stoytelling, and film, with stuff like the final season of clonewars, the mandalorian, and a few other things. That was a great time to be a starwars fan. I wasn't even a fan, and it was kind of magical for me. But now it seems like they are back of the capitalist art-destroying path, hard. They have been pumping out series after series after series (once again going for the "nostalgia" thing, bringing back the clonewars artstyle, several beloved characters, and more), but it all feels so hollow. The stories feel more like they are just putting in a whole bunch of "wow, thats so shocking" and sewing them together with "hey i loved that character!". The costuming and makeup is absolute trash. The worst by far is hera (an alien character from the animated Rebels series, showing up live-action in Ahsoka). It is hideous. I have seen cosplays of her better than what the actual multi-bullion-dollar corpoation disney with all the best resources put on that screen. The costume looked like it was from spirit halloween, the makeup looked patchy and strange, they left out simple details of her design, and all the colours were Off. Examples:

Hera in Rebels:

Hera Cosplayers (x and x):

Hera in the Ahsoka Series: (it is like. seriously disconcerting to me)

and again, the costuming was not the most pressing point. Its actually relatively low on the list of points of everything bad with current starwars. But its good for a visual example. My sister and my cousins loved starwars. Passionate. Ahsoka was one of my sister's favourite characters. She couldnt even get though a full episode of ashoka. I havent heard anything new of starwars from our cousins, either. And we see eachother relatively often. I havent watched a new starwars thing in like... forever now. And it seems like neither have they. And not because they got sick of starwas, i can tell you that. They got sick of the new starwars being pumped out and shoved down their throats where the only things that resembled what they had loved were twisted into something else. Which, at least in my experience, is far, far worse than if they just ended things ubruptly and unfairly. At least mutilated corpse can rest.

The mcu's decline was, again, more gradual, like boiling a frog. Thor ragnarok is where i would probably pinpoint the beginnings though. I didn't like it at first, because it was out of character, sort of reversed elements of the character's well-developing character arcs , narratively picked on some characters more than others, etc. But, it was still a well-beloved film by many, in-universe explanations for why the characters, arcs, and plots were so different could be plausibly thought up, it was fun and unique, and i could make myself ignore the bad parts and focus on the good and enjoy it for a while. But by the time the loki series came out? There wasnt even any of that anymore. No passion. No community. No love of art. No respect for the previous artists and their art, that the new makers were supposed to honour and continue. While ragnarok's morals of the story could be a little iffy at times (attempting to critique colonialism/imperialism, but falling flat because mocking loki for dismantling it; making jokes at points of the film where it was a little inappropriate), the loki series was straight up horrifying. Perhaps most noteably, fucking. GLORIFYING AND EXCUSING/SYMPATHIZING FASCISM??? and labeling genocide as a "necessary evil?" (though, once again, that was not the only immoral "moral" the series preached). Disgusting. And the MCU is pumping out way more films than starwars, and seem far deeper in the money-lust trenches too.

either way, both are suffering and both are bought by disney (and oddly, both keep giving more and more screentime to the fascist characters. but at least starwars isnt romanticizing it like the mcu is...)

and it hurts so much when something important to you is taken from you, and twisted, and ruined, and its mutilated corpse is hung up on string and paraded around as a puppet before your eyes, and burned into your mind even when you finally tear yourself away. And then swarms of people thinking your ridiculous for caring so much about something so unimportant, and others defending the very monstrosity that did this.

But its not ridiculous or silly or inferior to be attatched to a fictional character or fictional world or fictional story or whatever. They can provide comfort, and ways to explore and understand and even come to terms with yourself (or even others!) (and can be especially important coping mechanism for mentally ill people!). And art is a such an innately human thing, for us to express ourselves, and communal art (like film!) is a tradition across humanity and time!

And with the whole thing with people these days defending/denying what capitalism is doing to art, and denying the notion that art has any influence or effect on "real life"... why are these such absurd concept to you, that you liken to some crazy conspiracy theory? Are you really so blind as to not see it happening before you? Is the blindfold over your eyes really so soft it feels like nothing there? They say a bird who doesnt know its in a cage thinks its free. These people seem to think that drastic, unfair, unjust, immoral, inequal changes and systems are only things of the past. And often, the past doesnt feel real. Dinosaurs and the roman empire and some genocide in some faraway land in some faraway time can at times seem just as unreal as mythical creatures and stories. And even if such terrible things were to happen now, surely theyd be able to see it coming. But things like this dont change in an instant. They are gradual. Like boiling a frog. You dont notice. And even if things arent the worst they can be, and never become the worst they can be, they are still bad. Things arent required to be certified the worst of worst in order for change to be allowed to happen. The worst of the worst isnt even a thing.

Our art is being taken from us. We are being overworked and underpayed. Our whole lives are dictated by how "valuable" we are. Our environments are being polluted and decimated and our planet is becoming more and more inhospitable. Racism and queerphobia and ableism and more are taking lives. And none of those things are at the very worst they can be. They could all be much, much, much worse. But we shouldnt just sit around and be grateful its not worse and do nothing more, nor should we deny anything is wrong at all. If you had cancer youd want to do what you could to get better. If you If broke your leg youd do what you could to make it better. Even if you just accidentally cut your hand or finger while chopping vegetables, youd bandages it up. We always should try to make things better.

We deserve to have our art continue to be art. Just as we deserve all the much more pressing areas of our lives to be better too

Anyways, marvel and starwars really are two peas in a pod. And that pod is with other pods, and the plant those pods share is film. Or perhaps even art as a whole. The mcu and starwars are just really good examples of whats happening right now, because not only does it feel like perhaps its hitting them the most, but also because since they are such large franchises, you can really see and document the progression of whats happening with each instalment.

two peas in a pod :( <3

[milk-lover]

Y’all help me, my paper has a 5 page limit, section 1 of 4 is 3.5 pages already.

[ilovemylaptop]

in the meantime: portal 2 is such an objectum game. or i guess the concept of glados as a whole is? specifically how she has near full control of the facility and its basically an extension of her but also its own thing??

anyways the reason i started this post is because of the panels. omg the panels

the ones before one of the first chambers and make way for you to pass through, the ones hitting the wall in frustration, the ones that can't quite fit back into the floor and keep readjusting OR JUST ANY OF THEM BUILDING AND FIXING THE NEW CHAMBERS <3

like. i know technically its glados controlling them but in my head its like they're her employees or something lol

[princess-self-shipping]

Man if I had a nickle for each fandom I'm in where there's two characters in it that are connected by circumstances outside of either's control and said connection fucks things up for them in a way that could only happen under their unique circumstances

I would have two fucking nickels