#The way Gabe is written is a really good depiction of an abuser but it was clearly done by accident lmaoo

[theerurishipper]

[farm-fresh-hell]

“You know I hate watching the Knicks alone!”

“SO DO I!!!!”

I’mma address something understated about this show. I love, love, LOVE how they depicted Sally and Gabe’s relationship.

I think what the media fails to show oftentimes is that in toxic relationships, there’s a lot of give and take. If being with somebody “unhealthy” was all misery, nobody would ever choose to be with them. If we were completely subjugated, we would never allow that subjugation to begin with. I stayed with my boyfriends (and girlfriends) because they made me feel special. They made me feel like I was the only one in the world who understood them. They showered me with gifts and WILDLY exaggerated flattery and obsessive devotion. I needed that. I needed to feel like I was important. So despite the controlling behaviors and the dismissal and the belittling and the fact that they ignored who I really was as a person? I stayed. They called me their Jessica Day and their Haruhi Suzumiya and their Clara Oswald and their hero. It wasn’t all evil all the time.

That’s not how these things work. There are good times. There is fun. There are things we have in common with our abusers and our toxic partners. We like their company for a reason. Nobody is a monster 100% of the time.

Percy’s mom has a voice. She has agency. She is a survivor, not a victim. And this show really goes out of its way to show that. There’s banter between her and Gabe. There is a clear illustration of what he brings to HER life as well as what she brings to his. This show is interested in three dimensional people - not in tropes or stock characters. This show is interested in grey areas and in emotion and in truth.

And that alone separates it from… most of what is on television (streaming, whatever) these days. There’s heart here. There’s a dedication to faithfully recreating not only what this book series brought to people’s lives, but to illustrating what all this would look like on a realistic world stage. It’s… frightfully well made. And maybe I’m just jaded because cinema has really fucking sucked as of late with all the cash grabs and the franchise formulation and the IPs and the rampant, capitalistic greed for more, more, more���

But Percy Jackson and the Olympians?

…it’s damn fucking good, you guys. From character work to storytelling, this shit is tightly written, expertly plotted (as adaptions go - RR gets credit where credit is due, of course…), and full of life. Those things alone put it leagues above the rest of the shit on our platforms today.

I HATE THAT I HAVE TO WAIT FOR THIS WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME DISNEY

[arwainian]

Reading This Week 2024 #38

hello hello! audiobook reading persists into this week and for the forseeable future. basically any time that i have the bandwidth to be reading a physical book with my eyes i think "oh i should be working on my thesis" so audiobooks are what is keeping me from just sinking into a pile of work and never emerging

Finished:

Bloom Into You, Vol. 4-5 by Nakatani Nio, translated by Jenny McKeon this manga continues to rule, giving me my cute romance fix

Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie, narrated by Adjoa Andoh i'm liking that while this is like the sequel to Ancillary Justice, this was a pretty self contained story. Breq i love you. love the further exploration of ancillary-ship and imperialism and had a good chat with a friend about similarities to elements of Murderbot (we looked up publishing dates so if there was any inspiration taken, Imperial Radch came first)

Squire written by Nadia Shammas and Sara Alfageeh, art by Sara Alfageeh i felt a little undersold on the friendships the protagonist made in this, but the art was amazing the whole way through

Happy New Year by kathkin on ao3

from a clear sky by kathkin on ao3

Survivor Injustice: State-Sanctioned Abuse, Domestic Violence, and the Fight for Bodily Autonomy by Kylie Cheung, narrated by Dana Wing Lau a weird thing that's happened since i've dedicated my research brain to sexual violence is that any book written with an even slightly wider audience in mind very quickly becomes a bit tedious bc I've read all of this before. however i do think the portions of this that are about domestic violence and controlling how people vote, and the prevelance of sexual violence across all political parties in the US was the most worth the read part of this book for me

The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 2: Fandemonium written by Kieron Gillen, art by Jamie McKelvie holy shit?? excited to read the next volume (tho i think i'm going to switch the the Big volumes that collect 10 issues at a time insted of the ones with 5-6)

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo, narrated by Emily Woo Zeller really excellent YA lesbian historical fiction/romance set in Red Scare era san francisco chinatown. really nicely balances the protagonist finding herself, finding community, and finding love, with a realistic depiction of what life was like for a young lesbian during an intensely homophobic era

my real face by kathkin on ao3

Started/Ongoing:

Rethinking Rape by Ann J. Cahill reading for my thesis! my undergrad college gets a shout out in the acknowledgements

Most Ardently by Gabe Cole Novoa, narrated by Harrison Knights ya romance remix of pride and prejudice where "Elizabeth" is actually a trans boy, Oliver Bennet. i think it's sweet but i have one issue with the book generally and one issue with the narrator. first, since i'm familiar with pride and prejudice and have read/watched a few different adaptations at this point, i'm finding the pacing of this book a bit odd. like the disastrous darcy proposal happens 75% of the way through instead of closer to the middle. this throws me off because it means there's gonna be less time afterward to build toward Oliver and Darcy actually understanding each other than i think they deserve. my issue with the audiobook is that Knights has some very distinct character voices, and yet sometimes reads lines with the wrong voice, and no one at the publisher noticed? you can't read one of Jane's lines with the lispy voice you gave Lydia and not expect me to be completely thrown out of the book. however, i do like hidden identity stuff, so the parts of the book where Oliver knows Darcy both as himself Oliver and when he is closeted/girlmoding as Elizabeth is like catnip to me up to a certain point

[expandoducks]

Alderman

Opinion: hate themShip them with: a punch in the fucking faceFriendship them with: that one Cursed ringGeneral: real talk, i project on hearth a lot in relation to his abuse, and by extension I very much associate Alderman with my own abusers, especially my step dad, so long story short I Really Do Not Like Him. I think he's a good character- well written, important to the plot, Riordan's depictions of abusive parents are always pretty good- and I definitely use Hearthstone and Alderman's relationship to cope with my own Feelings (the same way I did with percy and smelly gabe back when I was nine years old) so I'm glad he exists in fiction but like. Definitely not my favorite character lol