#again i'm really not trying to make this like a commentary on capitalism

[dreamlandiasims]

Hi! Updated post is here! Transcript and more under the cut:

previous | next

The Reddit post:

I am very open to feedback on whether I've changed enough to address the issue of Anti-Semitic tropes that was brought up previously. If anyone is still concerned or bothered by this post, please let me know!!

Transcript:

Cahill: You kids are messing everything up, I hope you know that. I’m done, I’m retired, I don’t get involved anymore. But… access to alien tech, knowledge, resources, in the hands of Agnos… shit.

Frankie: What is so special about this one company?

Cahill: Agnos is… more than just a company. They have a frightening amount of influence in the business world. Agnos is a matriarchy, captained by Oasis Springs’ very own Nancy Landgraab. Maybe you’ve heard of her?

Frankie: I thought she was in real estate.

Cahill: She’s got a lot of fingers in a lot of pies, let’s say.

Saf [reading from her computer]: “Landgraab founded Agnos with her business partner Nick Altos, but eventually forced him out and took over the helm solo. To protect her claim on the company, she recruited her closest friends and allies to the board, including other prominent celebrities and champions of business, like Katrina Caliente, Lily Feng, and Mortimer and Bella Goth. They claims to be “pushing the limits of scientific advancements” for the “good of all Simkind”, but it’s all bullshit.”

Cahill: They don’t care what new medicine or technology they discover, only that they do it before anyone else.

Frankie: Ok, I’m getting the picture. But what does this have to do with us?

Cahill: Well, Agnos has a history of looking the other way while their subsidiaries and contractors conduct research in a… less than ethical fashion.

Saf: Shit, Frankie… You might’ve been right…

Cahill: I imagine we’ve got such a situation here, with BioSim Tech.

Erwin: So when people in town go missing, they become the lab’s unwilling research subjects.

Cahill: Well, that’s my hunch at least. But I—what are you doing?

Frankie: Answering a phone call?

Cahill: Wrong. You’re exposing us all to the possibility of being compromised. From now on we need to operate as if they are listening to every conversation. That means no texts, no calls, no emails… nothing.

Frankie: Are you kidding me? No way.

Erwin: Frankie, he’s right.

Frankie: … Ugh, fine. [under her breath] I’m sorry, Saf…

[Frankie’s Voicemail]: Hi, this is Frankie’s phone…

Saf: What the hell?

Frankie: So… what now?

Cahill: Now… I suppose I help you kids get back into that goddamn lab.

[horizon-verizon]

On this here day, GRRM wrote an entry clarifying several things about the dragon lore in his novels, and it vindicates so many Dany stans/Daenerys as the Azor Ahai:

Saying dragon "mysteries", in-world, will be revealed in the last two books AND Septon Barth got a lot right. I'm taking that to mean that dragons change sex (Viserion, here you come, baby!), like two particular Twitter mutes I have (danylanzhou and Branwynwitch). It also seems like he's confirming that dragons and the first 40 Valyrian families (which include the Targs, then and now) mixed dragon blood with their own in some long past ancient event AND that only these families, therefore, can bond with dragons to rides them safely or befriend them.

Which means Nettles is definitely of Valyrian/Targ-descent, which really should have been obvious. One of my mutuals also asserted that this makes the idea of Nettles-Sheepstealer/Rhaena-Morning being interchangeable for their supposed HotD merging GRRM-disapproved bc he makes a point to say that dragons don't tend to move far from their lairs that are usually very high up in mountains and volcanos. Sheepstealer can't be going to the Vale while having a lair in Dragonstone:

As for the thought of Sunfyre flying miles to get to Dragonstone...this is where he/they were born and where the real magic that sustains dragons is coalesced from hundred of years. It makes sense for him/them to fly to this castle even if Aegon weren't there after he had been bodied by Meleys/Meleys & Vhagar, looking for recovery. This is where the Targs get most of their eggs/dragons and it is near where most dragons in Westeros make their lairs.

Note that he says, in the very last paragraph, how:

Fantasy needs to be grounded.  It is not simply a license to do anything you like. Smaug and Toothless may both be dragons, but they should never be confused. Ignore canon, and the world you’ve created comes apart like tissue paper.

It appears he is VERY not happy about something to do with dragons in the show's second season, how they bond in the show, how a certain dragon is "explained" to have traveled a too-long distance for a certain pale-locked young girl who has been trying to hatch her own dragon for years...I see you GRRM, fighting for Nettles AND Rhaena I see.

Oh, and just bc he said he liked epi 2, doesn't mean that he cannot critique anything about HotD ever again...he is the writer and creator of this universe that they are capitalizing on. As long as a writer of any genre stays logically consistent and relatively undiscriminatory in their original writing, they definitely can tell any of us readers what is real and not real or possible in their own creations! That this is even up for debate is a travesty to logic.

Mind you, this is the same man who said the show and the book are two separate canons AND that adaptations "nowadays" tend to fail bc the adapters think they can make the story "better" and ignore critical lore details. And in his latest commentary on HotD's S2 first two episodes, he says, and I quote:

“Rhaenyra the Cruel” has been getting great reviews, for the most part.   A lot of the fans are proclaiming it the best episode of HotD, and some are even ranking it higher than the best episodes of GAME OF THRONES.   I can hardly be objective about these things, but I would certainly say it deserves to be in contention.   The only part of the show that is drawing criticism is the conclusion of the Blood and Cheese storyline.   Which ending was powerful, I thought… a gut punch, especially for viewers who had never read FIRE & BLOOD.   For those who had read the book, however… Well, there’s  a lot of be said about that, but this is not the place for me to say it.   The issues are too complicated.   Somewhere down the line, I will do a separate post about all the issues raised by Blood and Cheese… and Maelor the Missing.  There’s a lot to say.

Note that the latest post was about epi4 and this one I just linked is only abt epi 1 &2....so where are his thoughts for the hated/comedic epi3?! (we see each other, George). (BTW, I gave my thoughts on his thoughts about 1 & 2, HERE.)

I'll say it once again: though GRRM praised the portrayal of grief, defended Cheese being lost, and loved the dog (the last I don't fault anyone for, I also loved them) in the Blood & Cheese episode, he also expressly talks AROUND how Blood & Cheese and Helaena actually interacted and comments on the Maelor-lessness (therefore the lack of Sophie's Choice) that many people--inclu myself--have been saying was a huge problem.

Now we have two different sources that seem to support the ideas of:

GRRM both not being as "involved" with the actual writing of this show for a bit AND not approving of a lot of critical changes

HotD's writers cannot create anything truly "canon" or "real/true" for this universe, it only can make any sort of "sense" if it also retrieves information from the original tale, which is not really just F&B but THE ENTIRE SET OF AVAILABLE BOOKS!

[ohsunnyboy]

never again | yoon keeho ˚₊‧⁺˖

you don't know what's cuter. you're boyfriend, lee keeho, or the delusion that the leafs will win the cup in either of your lifetimes.

TAGS: established relationship, toronto leafs fan!keeho, boston bruins fan!reader, screaming and shouting at a tv screen, fluff, maple leafs hockey is its own tw, drinking games!! keeho is lowk ooc

A/N: based off this iconic video. game 6 changed my brain chemistry and gave me hope until... well iykyk... here's the match recap. this is so niche it's entirely self indulgent sorry in advance lmao

WORDS: ~1000

If you're going to be a hockey fan, you should know the number one rule: don't date within the division.

The notorious ad aside, it's pretty clear, once it gets to playoffs with you two, everything's off the table. Especially if you're throwing couch cushions across the room when you're team can't convert on a power play. Cough, the leafs, cough.

Which made it especially weird when you, a Boston Bruins fan ended up dating Yoon Keeho, a fucking Toronto Maple Leafs fan.

"Oh my god are the refs blind?! That's clearly a holding call!" he cries. Ah, it really doesn't get sweeter than this.

"Shut up, he just boarded Lohrei with that! Penalty for both of them," you snarl out, eyes fixated on the tv screen, watching the play-by-play slo-mo of the hit. Lohrei crumpling against the boards as Holmberg practically folds him. "Look! They're not even calling it. Did you see Carolina yesterday? they were calling everything that breathed wrong."

With a sigh, both you and Keeho take a shot. At this rate, you both could be professional alcoholics with how many missed penalty calls there've been this series. You can already feel the regret in the morning trying to sink in with this drinking game.

Keeho hums beside you, but he's been practically vibrating out his skin the entire game. "That's just Svechnikov no? He's massi—OH MY GOD WILLIAM NYLANDER YOU SWEDISH BEAUTY!"

The screen erupts as Nylander finally opens the scoring for the Leafs. A sea of horrific blue and white exploding into cheers. Idly, you think it's the most lively you've seen Scotiabank Arena in years.

"Ugh, really?" And you just have to flop back into the couch corner as Keeho takes his victory lap around the room. Dressed in, of course, his Nylander jersey.

"Oh yeah baby! I could marry that man," he laughs, before very comically and somehow very seriously turning back to you. "After you, babe. Of course after you, love of my life, angel of my univer-"

You hurl one of your last pillows at him. "Sit back down, idiot." The high flush on his face is pretty adorable, even if his alcohol breath stinks when he curls in next to you on the couch. Both of you are going to be crawling out of bed tomorrow for sure.

From above and below your small apartment you can hear the same screams. With the window propped open, you can even hear horns go off in the streets. Capital of Hockey and all that. Moving here to be with Keeho had been hard to do, but so much more worth it for the hockey. Especially when Boston comes rolling into town: being the only Bruins fan for rows on rows was intimidating but so much sweeter if they won.

"I'm your idiot, idiot," he croons into your neck. Peppering you with cute and sloppy kisses across your skin. You finger's curl idly into his hair as you watch the ads spin by on the tv, signalling the end of the second period. His cold fingertips curl around your waist, idly smoothing circles into it. Curled up like this, it's the cosiest you could ask for - and somehow you don't mind the lack of pillows. You both make up for it with your shared body heat.

Carefully, you extract your phone from under him like he's a jenga tower about to fall, but game-drunk like this, he could probably sleep through the Leafs Stanley cup parade if they did win for once.  

Twitter's the same as you left it: another TicTacTOmar clip of Lohrei and Holmberg, more Steve Dangle commentary and your Boston moots crowing about how the Leafs will lose it in the third period. Very, very secretly, you don't think they will. Swayman vs Woll as goalies are brilliant – and terribly good looking – but it must be the phase of the moon or something stupid, but Toronto might just win it this game.

Looking down at your sleeping beauty, Keeho is blissfully passed out on your chest. Face semi-flushed, mouth agape and drool leaking out. Yeah, this is going in the camera roll.

A quick snap and a venture into your settings is all it takes to set the glorious picture as your lock screen. And, if you squint, you can see Draisaitl's neon orange Skip ad in the background. Exactly why you're dating him in the first place.

"You really are my idiot, idiot," you murmur and you press a kiss to his hairline, a warm feeling roiling in your stomach.

Stashing your phone away, you ready yourself with a minute on the clock until the third starts. Saying that, you should really wake sleeping beauty up. "Hey... hey, get up. The Leafs lost in overtime again."

His eyes blink blearily as he processes your words. Slowly, then all at once, you can see the panic settle into his eyes as he sees your shit-eating grin. “No they didn't,” he whispers, but it borders on desperate.

You really can't help yourself. "Yup! There was even a line brawl," you sigh dramatically, bringing your hand to your forehead with a flair. "Swayman was even fighting Woll, a whole goalie scrap and you missed it."

"Nope! Not believing it." Keeho finally has the common sense to turn to look at the screen and realise the third's just begun. The stare of disappointment he gives you is cold enough to give Winnipeg a run for its money. "Never again."

You roll your eyes but just pat the space next to you for him to settle down properly on. "C'mon, whoever loses this has to get breakfast."

“You’re so on,” he huffs to agree, taking a bodily effort to sit back against the couch and on your cold feet. There’s a fire in his eyes that makes you regret this already. “I’m so making you drive to Timmy’s.”

Deep in your heart, if you had to choose Boston or Toronto to win the cup, you'd still choose Boston. But no matter how this series ends, you'd still love your boyfriend very, very much.

if this in any way endeared you to hockey come check my sideblog @wannadewar where i lament and fangirl! if you somehow enjoyed this, a like or reblog would be lovely :) ⭒ masterlist

[calicohyde]

This is a bit of a weird question, but you're the only one I know about who regularly posts about pirates of any kind (admittedly on your other blog) so I figured I'd ask you: what's some stuff you'd want to see more of in pirate fiction? I'm fucking around with a pirate AU for one of my projects and that made me curious - @transman-badass

TL;DR bullet point lists, bolding for emphasis

Necessities:

even if not going for historical accuracy, make sure character designs accurately represent the setting

queer pirates, in particular trans/GNC pirates

POC (Pirates of Color), in particular Black and Indigenous pirates

pirates with body types befitting their lifestyle

religious diversity

Why did you pick pirates if you're not...

commentating on capitalism, colonialism, class, and "crime"

incorporating pirate legends/superstitions in some way

see above points about diversity

Things I personally want to see:

revisit points on diversity again

antivillains

dramatic irony

song and dance

vulgarity

narrative questions built to have no answers

a wider variety of genres; instead of sticking to action/adventure, fantasy, and romance, try a slasher, slice of life, or heist (etc)

More detail on these points + unintentionally effusive praise for Pirates of The Caribbean and Black Sails under the cut.

This is a bit of a (perhaps?) unexpected answer, but my favorite pirate media (that I remember rip) is actually the original PotC trilogy!

While I love the explicit queer representation in Black Sails and OFMD, as well as the political thriller aspect and social realism + commentary of Black Sails, and I'd obviously love to see more of that, they lack some things the first three PotC movies have that I just really fucking love. I don't think any of them are exclusive to pirates necessarily, but I do think a lot of them are particularly well suited to them, and in some ways when they're not incorporated I personally feel like something is missing.

The og PotC trilogy does have its own political aspect and commentary, it's just a bit less confrontational than BS. I wouldn't say it's so subtle as to be a subplot though, it's still a - if not Thee - primary driving factor to the overall narrative and its plot. In my opinion, no pirate media is complete without some aspect of anticapitalist/anticolonialist/antiassimilationist sentiment at its foundation, even if the pirates are not necessarily heroic or righteous - or are downright wicked (derogatory) - in any other way. Pirates make for the perfect antiheroes, antivillains, and villain protagonists, and the latter two are far less explored than the former. And truly what is the point of having a character cast of primarily career thieves if not to say some type of something about the constructs of money and crime?

Another thing is the incorporation of traditional pirate legends/superstitions! I certainly will not be able to find it at will, but there is a post on this site that I wholeheartedly agree with about how cool it is that PotC has a different set of accepted realities depending on who's territory the story is in - i.e. pirate legends are true when the characters are where there be pirates, but aren't on colonial land. There are also pockets of extra depth to the story and characters that only really occur to you if you look at the work through the eyes of someone who exists within the pirates' world, such as Elizabeth's Kiss of Death At Sea.

It also of course ties in perfectly with the allegory; the further colonialism/capitalism spreads -> the smaller pirate habitat shrinks -> the less magic there is/the more reality is confined to only what Is and can no longer extend to what Could Be, shown most directly by the beached Kraken and Jack's response of "The world's still the same [size], there's just less in it." Which in that particular context also reinforces the above highlighted built-in moral ambiguity/acknowledgement of the beauty and necessity of things that may harm you (or pose a challenge to your conquering power), in that only the movie before the Kraken was a direct threat to Jack, and in fact literally killed him, but he still recognizes its extermination as both an indication of worse to come and as a tragedy in its own right. Also shown really well in how an "incorrect" pirate-drawn map can get you places that, when using an "accurate" colonial-standard map, don't exist. And how Beckett can't get Jack's magic compass to work for him even though he knows what it's supposed to do, only a pirate (or pirate-to-be like Norrington) can use it. The Power of Belief in this way is and always will be my number one homie. I got slightly off topic and just started talking about PotC. Anyway.

The dual accepted realities allow for really great dramatic irony as well. Gods and monsters and cursed treasure and impossibly fast and unsinkable ships and the undead are all real, and the audience knows all that based merely on the setup, but to the characters it's a shocking twist. Black Sails has some dramatic irony that I really love as well. The audience knows that Black Sails is a Treasure Island prequel, and they know the culmination of the featured historical events, but the characters don't. I eat that shit up and it's fucking delicious every time. And I also love that good good opposite of dramatic irony in these too, where the audience will never know something the characters do. BS does it through a well crafted metafiction narrative and unreliable narrators. "A story is true, a story is untrue," and this story acknowledges itself as a story - one told by conquerers, liars, visionaries, and warrior poets. We will never know what "really" happened, and we're not meant to.

Anyway even if pirate legends aren't real or *shrug emoji* in-universe, I again think pirate media is incomplete if a few aren't textually present in some other way.

Back to representation stuff. As I said, while Black Sails and OFMD have it pretty good, there should be way more queer pirates, and in particular trans/gender-nonconforming pirates. I'd specifically like to see a portrayal of Mary/Mark Read as being trans/fluid/whatever, rather than "disguised" or "mistaken" as a man (if the piece features historical figures). Equally so, there needs to be way more racial diversity in pirate media, in particular Black and Indigenous pirates. Probably most of the famous Captains you could name off the top of your head were white Englishmen, but there's a lot of evidence that a high percentage of pirates were not. So tbh I think this is less of a "feels" incomplete thing and more of an IS incomplete thing.

Likewise, there should be more body diversity and religious diversity. These things are obviously inaccurate and a Choice to exclude anywhere, but again imo an extra level of dumbassery to exclude from a pirate thing. Model/movie star body types should be rare; we need to be looking at athletes and laborers when designing Golden Age sailors. We need to be taking into account the available medicine of the time period and the lasting consequences thereof, as well as more of the (known) cultural ideas about body differences, neurological differences, sickness, and death. And as for religion, there seems to be vast swathes of people who think once upon a time everyone was either a Christian (be that Good or Bad) or a Savage (whether Noble/Mystic or not). And that is SO deeply fucking annoying - to say it in the blandest, most diplomatic way possible lol.

Even if you're not going to go in for much historical accuracy, you're doing a fantastical/romanticized/comedic/etc version, or you're making a whole secondary world from scratch, you really should be figuring out what would be accurate to the conditions you create. If your piece takes place on a frigate sailing the open ocean in the tropics for long periods of time while the nearest land is being colonized by monarchic northerners in an approximation of the 17th century, the characters should reflect that just as much as the setting and plot.

Now for some things I wouldn't necessarily be disappointed about being absent, but that I would just be kinda jazzed to see. First: song, dance, storytelling, riddles, foul language, and bawdy jokes. This kind of goes hand in hand with the legends and all, but is an extra layer that isn't put on enough! PotC and OFMD have some song, and BS as already mentioned is pretty heavy on storytelling both diegetically and as a main theme. I just want more.

Second, I'd love to see a wider variety of genres. We're spoiled for pirate action/adventure, fantasy, romance/erotica, and coming of age. I want to see some scifi that isn't just pirates In Space (not that I have anything against pirates In Space or think it's not scifi Enough, but we're not starving for it). Pirate slasher. Pirate slice of life. Pirate whodunit. Pirate time travel. Pirate psychological thriller. Pirate disaster/post-apocalypse. Pirate slipstream/surrealism. Pirate heist!! Pirate procedural? somehow?? You get it.

I think I've talked enough now wkgoiuwksk.

[chameleonspell]

HTDC commentary - 1: numb

[Looking back at HTDC after nearly ten years: comments on lore, character notes, influences, art, whatever. May contain spoilers for later chapters.]

chapter text: 1: numb

This chapter has had the most edits over time, as my writing skills increased, and I got ever more annoyed at the state of the opening, which ought not to be the worst writing in the fic, if I wanted anyone to stick around. It still needs work, but I was not made of infinite energy. I largely just tried to improve what was already there, rather than do what I really ought to have done, which is do some proper scene-setting. None of the early chapters have much in the way of description, especially of places. I was very much working on the principle that it was fanfic, and the whole point of fanfic was that I didn't need to do that. My assumed reader was intimately familiar with Seyda Neen, because my assumed reader was myself. I was absolutely writing only the bits I enjoyed writing, which was dialogue.

I'm still torn on the first paragraph, because in trying to make it more interesting, I mostly only succeeded in making it florid and purple. The reason I let it stand is because of a favourite excuse of mine for slightly ridiculous writing - it accurately reflects the mental state of the protagonist, i.e. tangled and confused. I will use this excuse again.

(See, maybe there's no description because Iriel's really out of it, and can't register anything! Bad writing is diegetic if the characters are having a bad time!)

Iriel was dragged

Not the exact wording of the original first-draft opening line, but I edited it in for symmetry, after I wrote the last words of the last chapter ("Iriel moved forwards").  Which was, according to an email I sent at the time, in June 2015, so less than three months after I wrote the first words? That seems crazy. I do remember writing a first draft of the ending chapter quite early on, but... that early? Gosh.

When I say I wrote the ending three months after the beginning, I mean that I ONLY wrote the ending. I then spent two more years, filling in the 198 chapters in between.

The contrasting significance of the beginning and ending lines was expanded from something Philip Pullman said about making sure the first and last words of His Dark Materials were both "Lyra", because it's her story, and she encompasses it.

the guard had seized the elf by his bony wrist

A running theme of Iriel's physical trauma triggers: grab him by the wrist and he's liable to shut down completely. A jail thing, of course - make sure the magic user can't cast spells.

His bare toes snagged between the planks of the jetty

Every time I read this, I flinch, and feel the exact sensation, because it is such a terrible, terrible sensation. I know I do worse things to Iriel later, but I might hate this one the most.

Oh gods. Come on, Ire.

Many people have told me they found they were pronouncing Iriel wrong, when they read him sound it phonetically in chapter 90: "Iriel. Eye-ree-el." I can see their point, but in that case, I want to know how they were pronouncing "Ire", the shortening he gives, right at the start! Which is an English word, pronounced like the Ire in Ireland, so I hoped that implied the pronunciation of Iriel

Regarding Iriel's name: I chose it because it was visually short, having a lot of long, thin letters in it, and I liked the symmetry of the capital I and the lower-case L at the end. The shortened version, Ire, is even more featherweight, barely more than a pronoun. This is a real boon for a protagonist name that's gonna turn up in almost every sentence - you can throw it in a lot, for clarity, and it doesn't look awkward. 

I think I found it in a name list on uesp.net, and I don't think it was specifically feminine-coded at the time? ESO was only just out, so I refuse to be blamed for things it added to canon, such as two female NPCs called Iriel. My personal headcanon is that it's a unisex Altmeri name and the first i is pronounced short when it's feminine, and long when it's masculine. In his not-strictly-canon tumblr bookclub with @quickchangeartist's OC Moraelyn, Iriel says of his name:

P.S. i rolled my eyes gently at your “dear little bird” bit, but did you actually know my name is avian-derived, or was that an adorable accident? an iriel is a very pretty but sadly extinct type of finch (I am less pretty, but also less dead, a condition with which i am (on good days) content.) My mother selected the name in order to make me more matrimoniably palatable to her bird-mad noble friend. So mercenary

Iriel’s eyes jittered from surface to surface. “I was in the hold! I didn’t see anything! I don’t know anything about boats! I mean, the sail’s clearly square-rigged, but a brig should have at least two masts, I really have no idea what you’d call it, I didn’t get a chance to examine, I… I was in the hold. I don’t know anything.

In draft one, all Ire said was that he didn't know anything about boats. Then I reread it later, when it had been established that Iriel's dad was a fisherman, Iriel knows how to sail a simple boat, has absorbed a fair amount of nautical terminology, and, in general, KNOWS ABOUT BOATS! Which, I have to warn you, from a writer's perspective, is a fucking terrible thing to have your character know about. The research is a nightmare. Never have a character know anything about boats!

Anyway, I decided it was much funnier if he reeled off a bunch of technical stuff about boats, while still claiming he didn't know anything about them, because... he's just that confused? His reflexive paranoid guilt makes him deny knowledge under questioning on general principle? He doesn't think of himself as someone who knows about boats, in comparison to his dad? Yes.

someone a head taller than he was

I forget at what point I established Iriel's precise height. He's 6'4", which is below average, for an Altmer, but tall for Morrowind, a shift of identity and perspective he never quite adjusts to.

“Oh. Well… my name is Iriel of Lillandril. Which is far too many Is and Ls in one name, and really, you’d think my parents would’ve known better. We Altmer use loconymics, as I’m sure you know, so–”

Again, I chose Lillandril more or less at random from the Summerset map, based on it having a lot of Is and Ls, which felt right, all tall and Altmery, and a little bit ridiculous. Say it three times fast and you're basically yodelling. Later, I established Lillandril as Fantasy Wales, accent-wise, which made it even better.

ESO might have since established something different with Altmer surnames, lore-wise, but I don't know or care. Loconymics (being named for the place you come from) seem the norm for Altmer in Morrowind, and I like that.

I made up "loconymic", though googling now, there are other uses. I probably should have used toponym, as loconym is a greek-latin mix, which is bad practice. But I wanted a word for "named after a place" where the meaning was easily inferrable, without knowing either Greek or Latin, and "locus" is more familiar from words like "location" than "topos" is. I was trying to keep my linguistic technobabble vaguely intelligible!

In the very first draft, Iriel claimed he was a foundling in this line mentioning his parents, which was my attempt to stick to the exact terms of the whole Morrowind "uncertain parentage" thing. But I very quickly retconned it, realising there was far more mileage in having Iriel know he was connected by blood to his parents, and all the Altmeri angst he has over that. Only the first of many, many in-game "facts" I decided to bend or outright contradict! But it took me a while to realise I was allowed to do that, now, that I didn't have to keep to canon, as long as everything hangs together. In this case, I justified it later, by saying that the Empire had recorded Iriel as having unknown parents, because that's what he told them when he was arrested, in a futile attempt to prevent his family finding out.

pale-gold Altmer face, amber eyes and soft brown hair.

I had read something that advised writers to give hot, fiery angry characters warm colouration, and cold, reserved characters cool colouration, and I thought that was stupid. Iriel's not exactly cold (just numb), but Altmer in general are seen as cold, especially in contrast to fire-themed Dunmer, and... anyway, I wanted a warm-toned Altmer, because why not? Amber eyes is pretty, but not extravagantly so. I didn't want him to be exceptional, in any way - he's someone who can easily vanish from sight and memory, after all. So, he gets the most "boring" hair colour, mouse brown, which I have a soft spot for.

@Sinilakki sent me a picture very soon after I posted this chapter, and I was delighted, because clearly my limited physical description had worked - it was perfect. My first ever picture of Iriel, and it's still one of my absolute favourites.

“You are male, aren’t you? Hard to tell with you elves.” Ire racked his addled brain for the sort of lacerating response he would have given to that, in better days, but failed miserably.

The first thing to produce an actual spark of defiance in Iriel, even if he doesn't manage to act on it. Ire's experiences of Imperials having offensive ideas about elven gender will reoccur, once he's in a fit state to lecture about it.

Ire squeaked, and shifted as best he could, stumbling towards the door and struggling with the handle until it finally obeyed him.

All this is so early Pratchett, isn't it? Rincewind, but younger and gayer. Make a wet, nervous wizard and give him problems.

previous: 0: intro next: 2: labels

[transmutationisms]

this isn’t rly a coherent point just a thought but i feel like the succession audience anon might be getting at the fact that the sociopolitical commentary of the show is lost as its audience increases? imo jesse’s political commentary is very clear but i also have my commie goggles on. but i know for a fact that the show is was not written nor marketed the way i’m consuming it. maybe jesse leans that way a bit but like he’s obviously descriptive and not prescriptive in his art so there’s that, and the constraints of tv are that it has to have broad enough appeal so you can’t be shoving your politics down the people’s throats necessarily. i think it is marketed to the brooklynite class you’re describing and i think they don’t fully get it and i also think as more people watch the more its themes are ignored in favor of stuff like omg who’d make the best successor, despite that not being what the show is about at all (also jesse has told us from day one who would make the “best” successor). idk like the people who get excited abt kendall becoming ceo you know? like omg it’s a win for him! like… are we watching the same show

ok i agree with a lot of this, and i am certainly also a known user of commie goggles lol. i think the fundamental limitation with the show is, like you said, that it's more interested in a descriptive mode than a prescriptive one, which means at its best it can nail character development and political satire, but it isn't really trying to offer any coherent alternative worldview. the portrayal of logan's gender / body politics is not flattering and doesn't flinch away from either the interpersonal trauma he inflicts on those around him or the broader political harm done by liberal capitalism; the show has also always been fairly sharp i think on the fascistic tendencies of capitalism and the way the latter turns into the former—again, shown both through logan's ideology of domination, social darwinist thinking, valorising certain types of bodies, etc, and through waystar's engagement with politics and politicians. however, i'd agree that this is all motivated by a description of the characters' worldviews and by satire of them, and we would probably see more of the cracks in the writers' and showrunners' politics if they tried to put forth some kind of more active alternative political platform.

that said, the fact that people miss these aspects of the show says as much to me about the political consciousness of viewers as it does about the intentionality of the writing. people with certain beliefs about masculinity are always going to watch 'fight club' and think tyler durden rules, no matter how effectively the critique is or isn't being made. similarly, people who think capitalism is a good or necessary system and doesn't derive value from fascism, or that succeeding in business is a matter of skill and mystical genius powers rather than a game of luck and accreting wealth, are always going to watch 'succession' and think that logan rules, or that the point is to identify the person who 'deserves' to take over waystar, or that capitalist electoral politics is a noble exercise in rhetoric that has simply been corrupted by a few evil apples, or what the fuck ever.

like, i'm not saying the writing is perfect or denying that it hits a wall in terms of actual radicalism. but i do think there are certain critiques the writers consistently and clearly make, often specifically via satire, that large swathes of the audience simply don't pick up on because they're approaching the text through their liberal capitalist ideological lens. you can see this, for example, in the journosphere's takes on the cruises storyline, which by and large completely failed to engage with the broader critique of capitalism as inherently producing death, exploiting bodies, and specifically preying on those deemed other or marginal—namely sex workers, migrants, women, etc. these points were very clearly made in the show and the meliorist viewpoint very clearly satirised (eg, in 'argestes'). ultimately, though, you can't rescue viewers from their own liberalism and you can't make them read the text from beyond those parameters. it's an issue of political consciousness, and although it can certainly be exacerbated by bad or milquetoast writing, even an explicitly radical piece of art will be interpreted through that liberal lens by people who are liberals (anyone remember the reviews of 'sorry to bother you'?)

i also would add that, in my opinion, this season has actually been more willing to overtly engage with the political threads than season 3. viewers can no longer hide behind the idea that the problem starts and ends with logan as an individual. matsson and his people have consistently been characterised as staking their own worth on their supposed biological superiority, with specific references to athletic ability, bodily strength, élite education that forms a class barrier, and the general idea of racial and genetic superiority ("nasdaq master race," "shallow end of the gene pool"). i'm aware there are many viewers, including on tumblr, who are not stringing these things together and seeing an overall discourse on capitalist eugenics and racism—but i do actually think that the satire here is being laid out pretty clearly in front of our faces. is this a show interested in exploring imaginative political alternatives? no, and you could convincingly argue on that basis that its fundamental stance is more self-satisfied snark than anything resembling actual leftist politics. i think, though, that this would be pretty evenly true since day 1, and that, at its best, the writing does hit on some key aspects of how capitalist spectacle functions, the power abuses it creates and enables, and how these things are inherent to capitalism writ large rather than being a unique pathology of the roys or waystar.

ultimately i love to see art that is actually communist / leftist in nature, is interested in alternatives to capitalism and ways out of our current political economic arrangement, etc. 'succession' is not that, clearly. part of the reason i do shit like blog about it is because it used to annoy me so much that no one was connecting certain more radical dots (like the obvious path from the show's historicised thinking -> a critique of capitalism as contingent) that are implied or allowed-for by the writing but never unpacked or explicated. so, often what interests me in the show is at least as much the lacunae left in the writing as the things it explicitly says. again, commie goggles. i also would tentatively agree with you that it's primarily marketed to people who are basically liberal and milquetoast, for reasons of profit motive, although again i honestly take in so little television advertising that i don't have much that's cogent to say about this angle of things lol.

i'm certainly not lying to myself that this show is any kind of radical statement of communist party values—i just also think that there are points of actually interesting satirical critique that the writers are very deliberate about, and that the guardian-new yorker-industrial complex is pretty much inherently going to miss these points or ignore them, for reasons that don't necessarily reflect one way or the other on the actual quality of the writing.

anyway, it was maybe goofy to write this out like an hour before the election episode airs, but these are certainly questions i will continue rotating after i see it lol.

[sclfmastery]

i agree that "joy to the world" felt odd for various reasons -- Anita and the Doctor had more time together, both on screen and off, than the Doctor did with Joy, and it felt like they were better able to connect in that sense i was also thrown off by the reference to bethlehem at the end, as the rest of the ep felt only tangential to xmas (more of a winter-y type of special)

I think those are probably my main issues, too. And I'm all for wink-wink nudge-nudge jokes at the expense of any culturally hegemonic reference (including conventional Christianity), but this felt so peripheral, like you said, that it seemed almost kinda self-indulgent on the part of the creative team? I dunno, it was more distracting than clever or funny, at least to me.

I guess I'm just bummed out. I'm gonna ramble here, so feel free to check out, lol, but agh. I am not a Fifteen Era hater by any means. There were high points in Fifteen's first season (the episode where he's standing on a landmine the entire time and it's a farce on capitalism and war and cultural myth; the one called, I think, Dot and Bubble, exploring the probability of xenophobic herd thinking and racism even in the distant future, and so on), and I genuinely enjoyed it, and an episode doesn't always have to make ambitious social commentary like these examples do...after all, lmao, it's Doctor Who, it has to be a little bit silly always....but I feel very much like the cast is doing all they can with the writing and directing they're getting, and not totally able to clear the hurdle. I feel like it's a good sci fi fantasy show, but I'm not watching Doctor Who.

And I think I know why, and it's not for the reason that one might expect: I really think it comes down to individual creative ego, and to money. I think it comes down to not knowing a balance between continuity and reinvention.

I think RTD, Moffat, and co are eager to virtue-signal that they're the first group to let in a BIPOC Doctor (I know that sounds harsh and I'm sorry, again, I don't clear or totally discredit any of the showrunners, and I don't think I'm exempt of these problematic behaviors, either). I also think that, in wanting to be shiny and new, in wanting the franchise to survive a totally new generation (and a BROADER demographic) of viewers, as Disney+'s latest unique attraction (yeah, I know, BBC claims total "creative independence" from Disney, but who's buying that? Not I, lol)....the Fifteenth Doctor Era team is trying to make the show cooler, sleeker, more "palatable." And I'm like, to whom? There's an unusual break in continuity from the lore of previous Doctors--maybe not their stories or ongoing background plots, not throwaway references to past friends and enemies, but the individual Doctors preceding Fifteen: their personalities, struggles, growth. It's like he's the new One. And that's good for many reasons, but some things aren't quite translating.

It's like we were given Fourteen, who still feels like a weird interruption to me, because they felt the need to give NuWho fans closure from the past (using arguably the most popular Doctor and Companion--Tennant and Donna Noble). They thought this would placate anyone balking at something "radically" new--like Fourteen "coming home" to the Nobles with the face of Ten, and his unfinished business, was a kind of analogy for the entire fandom wrapping up old wounds about past Doctor Who characters and plots. Cameos from Classic Who Companions (like Mel and Ace) ushered in by ongoing favorite Doctor allies (like Kate) were, I think, meant to further cushion the blow of a "reset" to "Season One."

And, team, let's make sure anything new is conventionally popular and broadly appealing: Fifteen is (literally, Ncuti was in Barbie) a Ken, he's so hot and stylish and cool; his love interest happens to also be conventionally attractive, Groff is a Broadway star from Hamilton (at least he's a gay icon, too, which is somewhat subversive and unique, although...not VERY, he's a hot cis white guy). And there's nothing wrong with these decisions, in and of themselves. I'm not saying "the Doctor has to be overt about his trauma all the time," and I am SURE that my confusion is to do with white bias about how people (Fifteen) manifest PTSD, and that's something to consider carefully.

What bothers me still is that RTD Era 2.0 feels like someone on top would rather flatter the people who dont already love Doctor Who than pay back the fans of years or even decades with something that at least acknowledges a rich body of existing content.

And while I do think that wrapping up NuWho seasons 1-13 was a nice gesture, I also think that "reset" was unnecessary. I think the creative team at BBC is underestimating the ability of Whovians to adapt. I mean we grieve basically every three series, when a Doctor regenerates. We're pretty good at change and growth, but we also like to maintain certain "traditions" that make Doctor Who what it is: --the Doctor being a weird misfit who still tries to be better than comes naturally to them; --Companions and the everyday struggle of humanity ("I think you look like giants"; "I've never met anyone who is unimportant") seen through their eyes as the yardstick of focus, not how cool and mysterious the Doctor is; --new and exciting ways to thwart enemies who are always simultaneously silly and terrifying; --and the sheer, perennially novel BEAUTY of our universe. I feel like all those things are still there, but muted for the sake of something kind of tepidly universal, because God forbid streaming numbers ever dip. God forbid "content" ever lose its appeal to be consumed, consumed, consumed.

It's symptomatic of the direction 21st-century creative endeavors are going, and it makes me really sad. But God bless Ncuti Gatwa. He's doing his damndest to make a mark with like, the same five old white guys on top.

(And like, full disclosure, the last straw for me was seeing a video of "all" the Doctor Who opening logos from the official Doctor Who TikTok spercifically in order to hype Fourteen and Fifteen, and finding that multiple Doctors, including Thirteen, were missing. Please don't say "all" when you don't mean "all." I know people are brutally hard on Thirteen's era, but gosh. Leave space for us :( )

TL;DR FREE FIFTEEN FROM THE DISNEYBRAIN >8(

[gabekidd]

(disclaimer that I’m not out here simping for or trying to defend a million dollar company, just a fan with frustrations)

the njpw/aew partnership has always felt incredibly unbalanced. FTR didn’t defend or talk about the IWGP tag belts and skipped out on WTL, Kenny (as much as I love the dude) has done 0 with the US belt, AEW did nothing to promote Willow being part of the Strong Tournament. Desperado set a match with Mox and that didn’t get mentioned. They didn’t even talk about Dominion until after it happened. New Japan social media and commentary make a big effort to keep continuity and talk about things going on in their partner promotions.

Even with Takeshita. DDT has tweeted about the heel turn, their wrestlers have mentioned it, I cannot remember the last time DDT was even mentioned on the show

I get that All Together Again and the Road Tour means 90% of their roster is booked up and it would be a struggle to appear live. But a build to a show doesn’t need to be done 2 weeks before. This is something we should have had going since tickets went on sale. Or at the very least, ask them to film backstage promos to send in, not just play the promotional videos and press conferences that New Japan did themselves.

Sorry, you sent this after I fell asleep, but I agree with everything you've said! Like, I'm not even trying to shit on AEW―it's just facts.

FTR and Kenny were the first people I thought of when Aussie Open had to relinquish the IWGP and Strong tag titles even though Mark would only be out 6 weeks. And Kevin Kelly explained at a later date that if the Dominion match hadn't been set they could have just kept the titles which, okay, fine. But that doesn't change that FTR and Kenny just sat/are just sitting on their respective titles. Also, I was Big Mad when Kenny defended the US title against Jeff Cobb on Dynamite and not a few weeks later at Capital Collision. Like, that's an NJPW belt, my guy. Kenny by God Omega coulda shoulda woulda brought soooooo many more eyes to Capital Collision/NJPW. (And I thought he would have known better, too? That was his home for years?)

But you hit the nail on the head—it's an unbalanced relationship and I frankly don't know what NJPW is getting out of it? Forbidden Door 2 is probably gonna be another routing of their talent like the first FD was.

And like you said, there's absolutely ways to work around people not being able to come to America in order to build a feud/to a PPV. But like I said to that anon, David Finlay been around and available. AEW had the time to meaningfully address the long, long history between him and BOTH Jay and Juice. Juice literally turned on Finlay to join Bullet Club and now Finlay is the leader and you're just gonna ignore that?! And Jay's been exiled from NJPW but he's still out here acting like he's in Bullet Club?! As if (in storyline) Finlay would just allow that happen?! PLEASE. Make it make sense.

Editing to add: there's still a chance to meaningfully introduce the White/Finlay feud AT Forbidden Door. As I said, Jay's been kayfabe exiled from NJPW (and working with NJPW talent, I believe?), so he really SHOULD NOT be anywhere near Toronto on June 25th if they're gonna uphold that. But he could show up because it's also an AEW event. And then Finlay could show up and be like, "Wtf do you think you're doing?" And boom, there you go. I HOPE that happens, genuinely. If not... I will fly to Florida just to smack Tony Khan.

[good-beanswrites]

*Knocks on door* heard we could ask for director's commentary on our punishments...would like to know what you were thinking for the Es Quest Bad End in more detail....

Haha, sure 😂 It's all under the cut, my rambly thoughts in pink!

You open your eyes. 

I'm a sucker for the repetitive loop starts, I had to open with something recognizable :) Writing in second person present tense was a really new and fun project for me, haha. Also, not that this took a long time to draw, but it gave me a new appreciation for you adding a drawing to pretty much every update omg >:0

The temple looks the same as it always has. The thought usually comes as a relief – after a particularly difficult hero, the return to routine is a blessing. Seeing everything back in its place always fills you with a sense of peace. God once explained that all of existence is a circle. Something about eternity and cycles and perfection. You didn’t quite understand, but you enthusiastically told Him that you did. You didn’t want to appear as a clueless child. And anyway, you grew to love the loops. 

My attempt of channeling autistic coded Amane... both seeking the familiar/routine no matter the cost, and trying to act more knowledgeable to avoid the shame of not understanding :( Both in canon and in esquest I'm so emotional about how Amane finds comfort in things that normally are healthy -- religion, community, family, rules -- but they aren't healthy in her case. I tried to paint the loops/eternity as something good here, planning on flipping it around by the end.

(Also, I went with the catholic practice of capitalizing He/Him for God -- I know Amane isn't catholic but I liked the effect)

But not now. 

This time, your head whips around, looking for something that should be here. Well, it shouldn’t be here, but you expected it to be.

You pace the chamber’s echoing floor, but there’s no sign of it. Did you really expect it to be here? Did you really get your hopes high? You should not have been so naive. The hat isn’t here. How could you have been so stupid?

Ah, the painful divide of being hopeful, but trying to convince yourself you were never hopeful in the first place, or that it was wrong to be, so that the disappointment stings less :(

“What are you looking for?”

You nearly startle at the voice. God stands behind you. He does not sound pleased. 

“N-nothing!”

The word come out in a panic. Then, as you’re struck with the realization that you just lied to God, your eyes drop to the ground. “I mean… it’s nothing of importance.”

She's just a kid!!! Kids lie on instinct when they panic!!! (I mean, adults lie on instinct when they're panicked too...) I wasn't sure how rebellious you view her in the story, but I felt like she loved/feared God enough to immediately try and correct her mistake without necessarily admitting to it. A smooth cover up so that she doesn't feel guilty but also doesn't get in trouble. I feel like she'd be toeing this line a lot...

He steps closer, and you shy away from His suspicion. 

Despite the glare He shoots up at you, God’s voice is even. “Are you sure?”

Once again, I'm sure how omnipotent he is in your version, but I pictured him knowing absolutely everything. He knows how high she had her hopes. He knows what she's hiding from him now. But he's playing it cool and making her come out and say it.

“Y-yes. I thought… last time there was…” You take a moment to collect your thoughts. God pauses as you do so. He is always patient with you. He loves you, after all. You inhale. “The last hero tried to change things, but they did not. I knew they couldn’t,” you lie, “so I was just seeing the proof.”

“Yes, they failed. There is nothing to look for here.”

“Of course.”

I debated on having Amane actually witness Es defeated, had proof of some kind. I decided that leaving it up to God's word made it hurt more -- readers (myself included) would still have hope that maybe is Es really is coming back, and God is just saying that to keep her complacent. The unknown makes it even more painful to watch Amane give up that hope and turn her back on the possibility.

God leaves you, then. The temple drops into silence. He is right. There is nothing to look for. You aren’t quite sure what emotion you’re left with. Your chest feels as empty as the chamber around you.

The next hero, however, finds out exactly what you were feeling. They take one step into your cell, and you tear them apart. 

I was trying to keep these are drabbles but honestly there could have been a whole fic focused on this in-between time: how long did it take before the next hero came? What did Amane do when God told her she'd have to do it all again? I wanted to make her Big Choice having to do with accepting punishments, but I could have easily made this the Big Final Choice. What was it like, walking down to her cell and locking herself up, after everything? Is the new hero painful because they remind her of Es, they are nothing like Es, or she doesn't even give them a chance to find out?

It all happens in a moment. It shouldn’t be them walking through the door. You scream, accusing the flailing hero of things they never could have done. You cry, accusing yourself of things you never should have done. You let your claws tear however they please. 

Looking at the mess before you, you feel like the monster everyone feared you were. 

You don’t really care. 

Brief moment of showing just how much pain she's in but still can't process her emotions so she lashes out in violence, but also.... one (1) moment of catharsis as a treat. Go Girl Fuck Em Up! Also giving the audience a brief taste of hope that she's accepting herself and realizing how powerful she is (hinting towards her using that power to stand up for herself) only to drop it immediately after ;-; sorry ;-;

That is, until God appears once more. He looks on the scene with disgust. It’s the type of face the villagers would flash your way before turning away to whisper something. It’s the look you saw from your parents, a silent warning about what was about to follow. You knew this situation was no different. 

You were monstrous, and you would be punished as one. 

“This type of behavior is not why I chose you.” God says. “I chose you to be special.”

This was the closest I could get to the sting of "I'm not mad, just disappointed." I think if God was openly angry or cruel Amane would challenge him much easier, but she's so busy caring if she made people proud, if she didn't disappoint them, if she was good enough for them, that those things hurt the most to hear.

“I understand.” 

“Come with me.” 

This was right. This was just.

Once again a little catholicism while knowing Amane is her own religion -- there's a prayer at the beginning of mass where you chant "It is right and just [to give thanks to God]" It sounds pretty normal on its own, plus I might get to jumpscare people with it lol

Your feet remain stuck. Es...

No. You do need to do this.

For most of my planning process, I was set on using a little photoshop so that the final, desperate ask would come from you, actually! But I was really committed to the emotional pacing of the ending, and nothing takes someone out of the rhythm like "I would not fucking say that" 😅 The same thing stopped me from asking some of the typical commenters to send stuff in (plus I didn't want to implicate them in my crime 😅)

It was really fun considering ways that a fourth-wall voice may influence my story, but I knew the most emotional route was just some simple pleading right at the end. I wasn't sure it it would still hit as hard with the second person pov -- would it really feel like Amane was turning her back on You if you were already immersed as Amane? But I tried anyway asdfsdf

These voices, they were wrong last time. Only one person had proved undoubtedly correct this whole time, and you should have listened to Him from the beginning. 

There is a reason everything is circular. The loops make sense. Routine means perfection. Change never brings anything except pain. This time, you will be good. You will be good enough. 

By this time, I wanted the cycles to suddenly feel suffocating to the reader, and reminding them of the many, many more loops Amane will be trapped in after this ends. And I'm still breaking my own heart with how she values "being good" over being treated decently...

You follow God.

Your chin is held high. You need no saving form heroes, or voices, or anyone. You’re right where you’re supposed to be. You’re special. You may not be perfect, but that is why you must endure these lessons. God must love you so much, since he is willing to teach them again and again. How patient he must be.

She is special, and is strong, and not just a weak child who relies on others to save her, but!!! In this case she does need saving!! She needs people looking out for her and protecting her!! That's not a shameful thing to admit! Even putting God's manipulative love aside, I feel like her insistence in canon to never be treated like a child just shows that she can't accept needing any help whatsoever -- to do so is the exact same as admitting she's weak/a failure/etc.

He turns his face away, in time to miss one last tear that slips down your cheek. You hear the smile in his voice. 

“There’s a good girl.”

Just. Reminding everyone. And hurting myself. About how Amane will literally sacrifice herself physical and mental safety just to hear that said about her. Ah.

[tomasens]

Your thoughts on Fanfik the movie make me wonder what exactly is going on in the book(s?), lol sadly I don't speak polish. I've read some reviews saying the plot was rushed and simplified, but none quite so negative

Hi!! The English post about Fanfik was a jokey parody of a Will Wood post (I assume that's the post you saw!!) haha, my thoughts are still negative but not that... Dramatic ahahah, thank you for asking though and I'll try to explain my biggest gripes with the movie in a (hopefully) comprehensive way since it's 1 am here and I am Big Tired (finals season is starting this week and I am struggling ahhh)

I will discuss only the first book since the movie is only based on it btw‼️

I wanted to like this movie so bad, especially that Fanfik was a book that made me realize that I am not cis myself. I had very high hopes for the movie, especially that they hired a trans actor to play Tosiek! Like! Woah! But of course it couldn't have been good because FUCK YOU JULEK, YOU'RE DOOMED TO NEVER GET GOOD ADAPTATIONS OF YOUR FAVORITE BOOKS!

My biggest issue is that the movie GREATLY oversimplified the social commentary of the book. It involves a regular, dingy polish highschool that is basically a symbolic miniature of the polish public and its largely homophobic and otherwise generally xenophobic tendencies. The movie takes that idea and throws it out the window completely, making the school a lovely, clean and shiny private school (i don't remember if it's stated it's a private school but you can definitely TELL. No polish public highschool is like this. Trust me. And even if there are public schools like that, they're well funded and still don't deal with the same problems as regular schools do). Not only that, but the story's setting (for some unknown reason?? Genuinely I don't understand this choice) is changed from Poznań to the capital, Warszawa and I really hate that since Poznań is a symbol of the more progressive parts of Poland and using it as the setting furthered the ideas about how even the progressive parts of our (polish) society still need work. It could be me looking to deeply into the symbolism though - even then, I don't understand the change. Also, Leon lives in an extremely nice place - in the book his place was, again, dingy, cramped, he was barely getting by in general. These weird choices destroy the mature social commentary the book has to offer and it sucks! :/

Another big issue are the HORRIBLE writing choices and the oversimplification of every. Fucking. Character. I do not have the energy to discuss everyone, so I'll just focus on Tosiek and Leon, plus their relationship.

Tosiek. Oh god. He is not complicated and interesting like in the book, he's a douche. His drug habits are mentioned but quickly forgotten, the fanfic writing aspect is generally abandoned for most of the movie, his character is mean and dicky but because the movie refuses to give him actual problems he looks like a spoiled, whining rich kid. His only problem seems to be his relationship with his father but it isn't explored well enough for the audience to sympathize or at least understand Tosiek's stance. His transness is also flattened, like, to the point that it's comedic to me. I know some people did just. Put on boy clothes once and were like "oh I'm a guy cool" but if we're adapting a story of a character who is definitely NOT like that... Maybe we shouldn't present his trans journey as that simple.

Leon. Oh GOD. Leon is also a douche and that HURTS. He doesn't really face any meaningful consequences for wanting to use Tosiek as a beard when the dude was still girlmoding without telling him (asshole move btw. Like bro had no actual reason to do that he was just being a dick), he generally doesn't face any consequences, his character is boring, and when it's not boring it's rage inducing because like. Tosiek is a fucking asshole but I don't think movie Leon deserves even that guy. He's not a flawed person, he's one dimensional with a bunch of holes in him. Also please stop teaching ur boyfriend how to burp i am eating /j

Their relationship becomes the core of the story which is awful - the book focuses on Tosiek slowly coming to terms with his gender identity, on him trying to find new ways to cope, with him discovering things about his past (shown to him not by his father like in the movie but by the greatest character of all, his aunt, who was cut for... Time's sake I guess? Which is such a big fucking loss), with him learning to love himself. His relationship with Leon is slow, they're friends at first, they slowly, gradually develop feelings for each other, but Tosiek's feelings for Leon are only an excuse for the narrative to study his relationship with gender even more. Their attraction is shown at first by touches, by brushes of hands, not by KISSING. 20 MINUTES INTO THE MOVIE. Sorry I cannot get over it, 20 MINUTES INTO THE MOVIE. and 25 minutes into the movie Tosiek is sure of his gender identity completely and never questions it ever again because it would get in the way of The Cute Gay Romance. Like, the movie could be about Tosiek being a cis gay dude and experiencing homophobia and it would still make sense without changing barley anything - that's not a good trans story in general, but especially if you have such great, introspective source material ffs!

In conclusion, the movie got Netflix'd and Americanized - everything about it is devoid of the inherent polish...ness that was present in the book, the movie truly could've been written about some guy in Connecticut and it would be THE EXACT SAME, which sucks since polish queers are awesome and should have our stories properly shown. And also it feels like it was written for cis people, while the book definitely knows that it's target audience is trans people and shows love to them in many ways.

Keep in mind that I haven't read the book in a while and I might be mixing details up - I was already planning to reread the book carefully and make a post explaining how the movie fucked it up big time after my finals, I'll make sure to translate it into English so keep an eye out for that in the summer!

Thanks again for asking and reading anon! Cheers<33

(Also Tosiek is a nerd and it's a CRIME there wasn't at least one Hamilton reference because OH BOY do I remember being excited reading a Hamilton reference in one of the books when I was younger and still in my theatre kid who cannot sing act or dance era.)

[nyxknocks]

This. Movie. Made me. SO. Angry.

I just finished it and I'm hoping this comes across as coherent and cohesive because boy, did this movie piss me off. It was honestly genius. With the first movie, I didn't get why this guy was so well known and well loved but I'm happy to say this movie changed that opinion but also like in the worst way because ow.

Strap in because this is gonna be A Lot.

Shige is possibly the worst person I've ever seen and that includes Hannibal the Cannibal like I hated her. Violently. Koichi and Keizo also suck. Basically everyone but Tomi, Shukichi, Noriko, and Kyoko suck like. massively. Selfish, arrogant, prideful people. Like, parents or no parents, you treat people with common respect? Decorum? But its made worse by the fact these are your parents! And you treated them like the biggest burdens when they traveled so far at their age to come see your ungrateful self in Tokyo!!!!!!! Oh my god I'm fuming. "They're fine with crackers", "Use my old slippers", "Oh can I have her summer kimono". !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I need to stop. Like, I had a doc open of my running commentary so I wouldn't forget and 90% of it is me absolutely ranting and raving about these awful, awful children. Not Noriko though she's perfect, precious, incredible.

ANYWAY.

Obviously, the terrible children was the point Ozu was trying to make. It's very obviously a "this generation vs. the older generation" type of movie. The parents are shown most often in traditional garb instead of the more corporate "western" (if you could really even call it that because that feels reductive and near-sighted as an American) outfits. They make a point on the way to Tokyo to show the smokestacks that come with industrialization that counteracts the image on the way back to Onomichi of the traditional palaces, clothes on the line, "clean" air. These felt extremely on the nose, but you could also argue that the shipping boats in the water that they show while home at Onomichi are those industrialized/capitalism views essentially encroaching on the once clean or safe area and thus clean and safe ideals. So, I definitely see that anti-capitalistic approach in this movie, but I don't feel like it's the most important aspect that he was trying to show? Would likely require a second watch for me to expand on this thought further as much of the movie was spent of me swearing at the screen because I hated these people so much.

There is also this metronome/ticking sound throughout the entire film that I didn't really pick up on until the scene with Shukichi visiting the Hattori's, where it was almost overwhelming how fast it was. My initial reaction of that was a sense of mortality, because it added to what Tomi was saying basically from the jump. From the moment she got to Tokyo it felt like she knew something was up and that time was running out for her, because the moment she was alone with her youngest grandson Isamu she talks about how she'll never live to see what he can become. You could argue that's a normal thing grandparents would say even at 68, but it feels more important when you take into consideration how she acts and what she says throughout the film. Even before she felt dizzy at Atami, she would often touch her left arm, and then of course after that it was pointed out by Noriko. She even told Noriko that after she left Tokyo she wouldn't see her again, and reiterated that with Shige by telling them not to bother visiting because Onomichi is so far away. It's like she knew for sure she would not see her children again.

This is clearly intentional because its reinforced at the end when you hear the ticking again right before/while Tomi is in a coma (I believe I heard it here, honestly I don't entirely remember. It might've been just at the end in general), and then again by both Kyoko looking at her watch as the train with Noriko on it leaves Onomichi as well as the watch that Shukichi gifts Noriko on Tomi's behalf. Time is a looming presence from the beginning because the first few lines of the whole movie is about what time their train leaves. It was actually genius how Ozu went about showing this because it felt so subtle until it fully slapped you in the face.

Another brilliant thing he did was opening at the close, as I like to call it. The ending scenes mirrored the opening scenes nearly identically only with the obvious difference of Tomi no longer being alive. Noriko takes the place of Tomi packing, Kyoko is still packing up and leaving for work, Noriko replaces Koichi's wife Fumiko's cleaning as she cleans up the home before she leaves, etc. Even the neighbor coming to say her piece. It reminds me of Hadestown and how they do the reprise. The scenes are essentially the same with added context that makes it devastating. Brilliant. I might be gushing a little bit.

The cinematography was also excellent (for the most part) [I say for the most part because sometimes the cuts between close ups + line delivery felt like an old 90s rpg game]. Knowing that Ozu is known for the stationary shots made it a little easier to digest, but as a modern viewer it is so unsettling how still the shots are, especially because throughout most of them the actors/characters are spiking the camera and looking right at you, full eye contact. It's unnerving and really puts you into the middle of the story. It makes you feel like you are physically apart of it, every awkward scene. It forces you not to look away. The choice of long silence stretching throughout enhances this feeling. You have to bare witness to the travesty that is going to befall this poor couple because their children are the worst. There is even a part where they consider themselves lucky still but the awkward silence and the way their faces fall after kind of tells you all you need to know. They know their children are selfish and shitty.

It's also dynamic. Most of the "action" takes place either off to the side of the camera or out of sight because of the angle (re: the hot spring game table scene. You can't see any of the action. Most of the dinner scenes there is a back to the camera. Fumiko walking in and out of frame cleaning). It makes the world feel 3D with the layering that adds to that sense of you being physically present within the world. It's really impressive how he managed to capture that sense with such little actual camera work.

The final song is extremely on the nose about how the new generation is selfish. Still a nice touch.

I could keep going. Noriko and Kyoko are perfect. The rest are awful and selfish and don't deserve anything good. Shige is a vulture. Ugly (in the heart), nasty, and hunting and pecking over her mother's dead body for free stuff. And has the audacity to criticize Kyoko and Noriko for not having mourning clothes? They're grieving, you wretch! Oh I hate her fr.

Also the fire escape/stairs scene when Noriko was taking Tomi and Shukichi around Tokyo (because their awful terrible biological children refused to make time for them omgihatethemsomuch) just reminded me of the Penrose Steps. I have no idea if that's intentional but it just made me a little uncomfortable.

[payphoneangel]

This passage too for the DVD commentary, lol I couldn’t choose… also so predictable of me to choose scenes with Jack and Sam 💀

OUGH OKAY

so once again this is my beloved fic and this is the prompt

So in this voicemail we got the first time Dean is trying to be respectful of Jack's pronouns while he talks about their plans for college. This is definitely one of the fluffier voicemails in the fic.

Originally, I was going to have Jack use he/they pronouns (I actually still think that's more fitting, or even he/she/they, but again i digress) but as I was writing, I realized that anytime anyone (but specifically Dean this is the Dean fic) used 'he' it would still technically be right. So I actually changed it for Jack to use exclusively they/them, because I wanted Dean to struggle. I wanted him to try. I wanted him to mess up but keep going so he could keep trying to do better by Jack. (It's a headcanon-- or I guess it's just canon to Cell Service, bc I'm God here lol-- that Jack actually uses any pronouns with friends but asked Dean/Sam/Cas to use they/them bc they were worried about confusing them lol. You know how it is with parents)

Again, there was A LOT to unpack in the Dean&Jack dynamic that I just didn't have the time and energy for. Plus, this fic was about Castiel and Dean. But I still wanted to show them both trying to connect with each other.

And I think Dean is def the type to act a little more cold/uncaring to the person in question, but gush about them to someone else. It's all a front tho he not so secretly cares a whole whole lot.

I decided that Jack should be going to college because, while I still wanted them to feel naive, I wanted Jack to be a young adult (I'm not a fan of baby jack but that's a spiel for another day). And I thought college could be something 1) to have them mirror Sam and 2) to ahhhh once again make Dean spiral into abandonment issues and feeling useless.

He wants to be happy for Jack, and he is! But again someone is leaving him. And that's hard.

I picked a writing degree for Jack because I thought it would be fun to not have them be capital G God but still imply to take over the narrative in some way. They're choosing to make better stories.

And then we get some classic 'baby birds leaving the nest' worrying from Dean.

I'm going to pat myself on the back for a few of the details in this voicemail-- namely, the use of pronouns.

We see at the beginning Dean trying his level best to use they/them pronouns, getting the swing of it for a second, but as he gets more in his own head and starts worrying about Jack, falls back into the habit of 'he.' It takes a while, even the most well-meaning of people, to get used to a change like that.

And, at the very end of this segment, I thought I did something a little clever.

The pronouns get more personal as Dean keeps talking.

I think Dean as a character says the most in between his actual dialogue. What he doesn't say is almost more important than what he does. All those pauses and restarts in the voicemails are him thinking, rephrasing, not bringing himself to say what he wants, or sometimes changing his mind and speaking honestly.

and at the very end there, he's connecting Jack to Cas. He starts by saying 'You [have a good kid]', then, changes his mind. He's taking accountability for his relationship to both Jack and Cas: 'We've got a good kid.' Then, finally, a testament to his growth: 'I'm trying to be good back.'

Also I'm just a slut for Dean being a book nerd and I think he and Jack would bond over that. I wanted it to be a Vonnegut book and im going to be real I had not read Timequake before putting it in this fic so i was really hoping it was thematically relevant given what little i knew about it.

[portaljumper339]

Honestly, Post-4 Fallout has the exact same problem that the Star Wars sequels had, in that it is way too mired in the imagery of the originals without understanding any of the meaning behind that imagery. It's why, despite that whole trilogy being a wash, I really respected and enjoyed The Last Jedi cuz it had a thematic point to make: LET THIS FRANCHISE EVOLVE IN NEW AND INTERESTING WAYS INSTEAD OF TRYING TO PUT THE LIGHTNING BACK IN THE BOTTLE BY SHAMELESSLY COPYING AND TWEAKING SOMETHING THAT'S ALREADY BEEN DONE!

Fallout has the same problems regarding 4 and 76, in that all it's really doing is making an atompunk sandbox to run around in without necessarily trying to make any real thematic point, which for a series like Fallout that has more or less run off of its scathing commentary and satire about capitalism, American exceptionalism, and the cyclical nature of warfare, is gonna turn off a lot of the sorts of people who play Fallout specifically for the quality of its writing, and it's why people hold New Vegas in such high esteem. NV represents an actual evolution of the themes and ideas present in the original West Coast games by showing that this setting can grow beyond its proto-50's origins (as well as its fairly Mad Max-ish roots as a setting by showing actual proper civilization coming back), in ways that are both for good and for ill, and the core thematic through-line running through it all is that the past not only deserved to die but deserves to ultimately be buried and forgotten cuz every time someone tries to remake it they either get hit with the the "Road to Hell being paved with Good Intentions" stick (NCR and House, plus Honest Hearts and Lonesome Road) or make things indescribably worse (Legion, plus all of Dead Money and Old World Blues). The only ending that feels good to get (imho) is the Wild Card ending simply because it finishes out the theme of the game, and this franchise as a whole: Begin Again.

I do hope that, now that Obsidian and Bethesda are under one roof, we could potentially get some of that biting Fallout satire back in another West Coast Fallout, but that probably isn't happening until Elder Scrolls VI, and given the rather tepid reception to Starfield I'm not necessarily holding out much hope unless they have a real shake-up in their writing staff.

Man I know I'm bitching about this a lot but I think the complete degradation of the satire and edge of the fallout series over time makes me so mad. The first game literally has an occupying American soldier shooting a Canadian protester dead right there in the opening to let you know the game's stance towards the military and the US as a whole; it's a biting attack on the jingoistic, war-and-profit loving country the US was, rooted in reality. It immediately forces the player to recognize the US (especially in this setting) were not heroic, patriotic do-gooders, but violent, colonizing bastards who blew up the world over chasing a white-picket-fence dream. "War never changes" is about the futile nature of war, the repeating cycles of violence and corruption, the very principles of fighting your fellow man never changing over time. It is always abhorrent, it is always messy, it is always reprehensible, and it is always done for the self interest of the elite in some way. Men do not die for their country, they simply die. Contrasting that with the opening of Fallout 4, which seems to idolize the military and pre-war America, is fucking baffling. You have those white picket fences, those perfect nuclear families, and "war never changes" is stretched like an Animorph cover from a harsh condemnation of the violent cycles the world is put through to a patriotic, watered down idea that war is inevitable and so are heroes. There's no fucking edge to how Fallout 4 remembers the country that ended the world; it gleefully eats up the Americana iconography, sanding down every edge that could make the player even consider that the US in the world of Fallout is meant to be our US taken to a logical extreme, instead revelling in patriotic clothes and ideals and icons while the entire basis of the franchise was built on satirizing and critiquing that exact blind patriotism. It drives me insane that these two completely ideologically different games are under the same roof and that one of them fell for the exact propaganda the first game was satirizing in the first place.

[lumios64-blog]

(Concord, Dustborn, etc) - Do gamers really hate inclusivity?

So, do they? Red Dead Redemption 2 has the most diverse cast of supporting characters and it sold 65 millions copies. It has: women, a bri'ish, an indian, an african american, a mexican, an overweight man, a perpetually drunk guy, a disabled old man and many more. Despite this, nobody cared, the right wing didn't care, gamers didn't care. So, what gives?

You hear it all of the time from news sites like Kotaku and Polygon, but like constantly. "Gamers are racist", "gamers are sexist", that sort of thing. I'm sure it's true to some extent and there are gamers who are assholes, but to be honest I do not think the problem lies in the entire gaming community.

I think the simple answer to the issue is threefold, and I'm going to get to it further down, but to keep it simple: Red Dead Redemption 2 is well-written with memorable characters and memorable moments, meanwhile games made by annoying hippy neolibshits are infuriating and have some of the least likable characters ever created.

I know some of you will say and I hear you guys, gals and others in the back plain as day "You like red dead remdeption 2 only because you play as Arthur Morgan, a cis white ma-[…]", no. If you had replaced Arthur Morgan by a black woman, it wouldn't have made a difference to me. In fact, I found Arthur Morgan to be one of the weaker characters in the game. His personality is bewilderingly boring; he is such a do-gooder and portrayed as a hero as long as his honor is in the yellow while he simultaneously is a bandit who CANONICALLY(try a pacifist run on every mission, you can't) kills people which mildly infuriates me when the game constantly tries to paint him as this kind-hearted soul who would never hurt a fly. In the context of the story itself, he isn't that much better - he is so passive and never makes any real move on his own accord other than what the player directly instructs him to, and that one time he threw the accountant out of the camp. However, it's probably for the best he's a straight cis white male plus billions of other "part of the majority" labels because if he wasn't, nobody would put the fault on him as a character, but rather on what he represents. People have been conditioned to perceive poorly written characters that are black/transgender/lesbian/disabled/vitiligo to be tokenism OR wokeism OR rainbow capitalism OR forced diversity OR tumblrism OR slacktivism, and again it's all caused by political activists like the clowns who developed Dustborn since they wanted to make a sociopolitical commentary, but failing to do so in an appropriate manner. You must live happily knowing your anti-racist activism is achieving the exact opposite and doing a disservice to all of humankind.

Not to mention there are many popular games and shows that features underrepresented groups of people as protagonists like Tomb Raider, the Boondocks, GTA SA, GTA 5 or even most indie games - Crosscode, Celeste and Crypt of the Necrodancer are great! Go check them out! None of them receive the same level of bad publicity as Ghostbusters, Captain Marvel, and now, Dustborn.

For the sake of argument; let's say you want to make a game, a movie or a book that is inclusive and diverse. How do you do it right?

Simple, you keep these three aspects in mind and you do everything in your power to not reproduce them:

Writing & voice acting

When a piece of media doesn't become polarized due to being malignantly progressive and cavalier in its delivery, you usually get complaints of "millenial writing". It's a neologism and a pejorative term referring to poor writing and storytelling from inexperienced people who still talk like they are 14. There are two non-political games that come to mind with this sort of garbage. Viewfinder, most infamously known for that one clip of the most popular twitch streamer in the world speedrunning "muting voice acting any%", and Forspoken. Meanwhile, if it is indeed intentional for the sake of the story or political narrative, you get Dustborn where the protagonist is even more entitled than Karen when she's demanding to talk to the manager. Her way of talking is truly adolescent, infantile even - I can almost predict what she's going to say next. Aside from that; when she asks for something, she always wants it and won't have it any other way. There's that scene where she wants to enter a night club or a bar, I couldn't be bothered to remember what it was exactly, and she begs the guard to let her in, even going as far as to use her superpowers on him. Don't tell me that's how a real person acts.

Character design

I often notice in "woke" media how strangely the characters are designed. Apart from immutable characteristics like their ethnicity or gender, their designs usually fall into "tumblresque" clichés: For instance, they tend to have a mohawk haircut with excessive hair coloring if they have not been shaved bald, and with that a flashy outfit. They always seem to use the "punk" aesthetic in some ways, probably because they want the cast to be misfits or anticonformists of sorts, even when it is an eyesore. An even bigger eyesore if you put hair coloring, colorful bandaids and piercings on a black or vitiligo character, the contrast is simply too heavy from light colors to dark colors. Yet, they never seem to notice it, and usually wind up surprised that everybody thinks the character is an eyesore to look at. The entire cast in Dustborn wears some form of neon yellow which looks fine on some characters, but on others, dear heavens, they look awful. It is particularly bad on characters like Theo and Noam who have a muted color palette. Borderlands, Concord R.I.P and Redfall have the same issue, flashy clothes and quirky haircuts for everyone!

The message & commentary

Last, but not least, they always fail to be subtle. Every single one of them loves to tell you what to think and how to think. This is the typical mindset of these people, be loud, be heard and if you don't listen, be shunned. The worst part is they genuinely believe this is making a substantial change in this forsaken world. Tangent aside, this usually manifests in their movies, video games and books in the form of a lack of the aforementioned subtlety. They have no self-awareness and can't think outside their bubble either, so they won't ever look back on anything they've added that might be offensive or obviously propaganda to certain people and ask themselves whether they should rewrite the script to better accommodate their audience. For example, if there is a gay character, he must remind the audience that he is gay repeatedly. This is not only reinforcing stereotypes of gay people being flamboyant, but it actively contributes to homophobic sentiment. Name me any movie, game or book that has a straight male character saying "hey guys I'm straight, look at me!", having him kiss a woman every other scene or making him carry around this subversive abomination of super-straight flag either on his belongings or as a pin. The straightest character I can think of off the top of my head is Mario who gets a kiss on the cheeks at the end of some games, or Homer Simpsons who is married to a woman and has had 3 kids with her. How often does that happen with gay people in media? I'm tempted to say "never". Either the character is a literal stereotype of gay people or they aren't gay at all! That being said; here's an example directly from Dustborn: In the latter half of the game, you fight conspiracy theorists (I think? I can't be bothered to check again) and the game makes sure to remind you how terrible these people are as you beat them up. Here's how Postal 2 and Goat Simulator handled it, they have a bunch of people protesting, and the game just mocks them with how stupid the thing they are protesting is, that is it. Parody is funny, thought-provoking and can change someone's mind. You can choose to beat them up, but it's by no means necessary to progress the story and the games don't tell you how to think.

The only time there's anything in Red Dead Redemption 2 that ever comes close to following any of the principles above is Arthur's willingness to help indians (given that he is, you know, an outlaw who is supposed to be getting the hot cash to travel to Tahiti) and the frequency for which they are depicted positively in the game, and Micah Bell for the sociopath that he is, but firstly he is the antagonist and secondly I find his dialogue rather witty compared to Karen Dustborn. As for RDR2 and the indians, that actually made someone on YouTube so mad they made an exposé on it and claimed it was "woke revisionism". The sigma male that shall not be named complained about other aspects of the game like the feminist in Saint Denis, but really he was primarily bothered by the so-called revisionism.

All in all, what this proves is that gamers don't hate inclusivity and diversity, they hate your shitty politics and your half-assed attempt at turning them into moral puritans.

If you're gonna push propaganda into our games, have the common decency to learn storytelling, character development and character design. It is really all it takes! I bet any idiots could make a game with every single theme present in dustborn and it would, at minimum, outsell it by 4 times the amount it got on steam if they do everything right.

P.S: It took so long to string my thoughts together on this topic that Dustborn is old news and the Minecraft movie dropped its trailer long ago. Time to crack open this one I guess. I got for you several other great examples of bad character designs directly from the trailer, and, to clarify; this movie isn't "woke". I just wanted to point that out since the whole post was lambasting cult-ish progressives who are unable to understand how to read the room and improve on their craft, but in that movie's case I'm just using it as yet another example to make my point clear that everything I've said thus far is important. As a plus, it seems completely apolitical. Anyway… Let's start this list with "Garrett Garrison", who is played by Jason Momoa. He looks absolutely insane and unhinged. He looks fuckugly awful.

Do I actually put the effort to explain what's wrong or do I let everybody figure it out? Ok what-ever, I'll do the homework just in case someone reading is too far lost to see the wrong when it's so blatantly staring at them. Starting off with the clothes, he wears a puffer jacket like those goku drip memes, as a grown ass man with facial hair no less. The cherry on top of the shit cake would be if he'd introduce himself with "how do you do fellow kids" when the movie comes out. The color pink doesn't compliment him at all, and for the record I like the color purple and I don't mind what color you like, if you're a boy and like pink you're perfectly fine. What I'm getting at here is that this color looks ass on him and I think if he wore red or blue it'd still look ass. The best color for him would be either yellow, black or white to go with the shirt. Speaking of the shirt, it looks like the type of shirt a 8 years old would wear. On top of all that, he has a very manly beard and really long blonde hair together which simply doesn't work. Thus the character looks like something a transphobe would design. When the trailer came out I honestly thought he was the token transgender character. Fortunately, the minecraft wiki reminded me that he is, in fact, a cis man by using the he/him pronouns. The moviemakers are so out of touch with reality that they accidentally made the most repulsive and offensive character in the past 10 years. The next character I wanna bring up is Dawn played by Danielle Brooks. Her look isn't nearly as "amusing" as the garbage man, but she still looks like someone's original character with that strange garment on her jacket and around her neck. The jacket itself is flashy and tacky, and is gonna break some fashion conventions if worn in the upcoming 100 years. Then, there is Steve who is just Jack Black with a blue shirt. What else can I add? Seriously, he looks so boring, the polar opposite of the other characters in the worst way possible. On a sidenote, am I going insane or is nobody talking about the fact that Jack Black was specifically chosen for the role? Do I need to remind people he has a darker skin tone than Jack Black? I normally wouldn't bring this up, however the fact that every other day the white neolibs, progressives and the blm community at large lose their collective shit whenever a black character is drawn one shade too bright, while right there you have the most blatant example of whitewashing I've ever seen, and all I'm hearing are crickets is astounding. Guess it's simply easier to harass an artist into submission than the multibillion dollar corporation, isn't that right? Finally, there are those two kids, I think they look the least out of place in the whole trailer, but one of them (the one with the vaporwave sun on the shirt) is wearing a grandma gown which is weird, it's like the trash man wearing a child's t-shirt.

Again, it bears repeating, but this movie is proof that good characters, good writing and enough subtlety go a long way to engage the viewer. You could make a video game, film or novel about climate change and I can guarantee you that if it doesn't go "stop eating meat chud, stop driving cars dipshit and stop doing crypto cretin" (or even visually implying it if not spoken out loud) every chance it gets it'll probably have more of an impact on the viewer/reader/player. At the very least, If you're going to shove propaganda into our media for "the greater good", do it right. Quit further polarizing everyone on everything; all this is doing is contributing to racism, sexism, -phobias, and distrust, including that of science, i.e. climate change, vaccination, etc. - all the things you were supposed to fight against!

I doubt making this post will change anything, and these activists will continue to do what they do best: ruining art and media with their shoehorned political diatribe, but hey, at least I can tell myself that I tried.

Alternative title: When wokescolds don't understand subtlety

[mermaidsirennikita]

ARC REVIEW:

3.5/5. Releases 10/8/2024 (in audio).

The Vibes: The Nightmare Before Christmas (you know this), rivals to lovers, fighting for the same girl but we really wanna kiss each other

Heat Index: 5/10

The Basics:

Nicholas Claus (otherwise known as Coal) is the Prince of Christmas. His father, the reigning Santa, has commercialized Christmas to the point that Coal is rebellious and and chafes at the prospect of duty... which doesn't mean he isn't obligated to marry his friend Iris, the Easter Princess (who Coal's brother is currently pining for). Problem: Hex, the Prince of Halloween, is here to vie for Iris's hand... except he really doesn't. Because Hex actually wants Coal. And also, they made out a couple of years ago.

The Review:

Well.... I really loved this in theory. In reality? It's solid, but it's another one of those "'twill be better for others than it is for me" books that I seem to be running into a good bit lately.

"But Caroline," you say. "Surely you didn't have high expectations for a silly, fun Nightmare Before Christmas but it's rivals to lovers book, right?"

I mean, I didn't expect it to be some sweeping epic romance, no. But I do expect to have a fun and sexy time, and while this is a fun and sexy time for many, I'm sure, it's not MY type of fun and sexy time. Because I do enjoy a silly book! I was so down for silly here.

It is fun and cute and all that, but it's actually way more in touch with reality (our reality) than I expected. With Christmas romances especially, I often want to be swept up into this Christmas world. The Christmas Notch series, for example, is a Christmas romance series set in our world that is still somehow SO. INTO. CHRISTMAS. It feels "Christmas realm but making out". This had some of that, but I really thought I'd get more.

This leans a lot into the daddy issues of Bad Cynical Santa, versus the potential cackling fun of Bad Cynical Santa. And there wasn't as much magic as I expected? Like, I expected the *creepy organ riff* Addams Family type intro for Hex, but alas. He's most notably wearing a corset. Which I love, but MORE. HALLOWEEN.

When you reference The Nightmare Before Christmas, I just expect... more camp holiday joy and less "let's reference Frozen". There is a Frozen joke, and that was JARRINGLY close to our real world. When you combine that with the capitalism commentary, which is a surprisingly big part of the novel, I'm like... But wait. I want like. Peppermint-flavored dicks, or something. Not OUR world.

That said. I love the holiday royals. I loved Iris. There is a lot of cute here. The concept of two guys trying to win a princess who doesn't want to marry either of them, really (but she will because Holiday Royal Duty) making out with each other on the low? Great.

I think I was just looking more for... more.

I also will say, this falls victim to another "this reads like a well-written book but does it read as romance-y as it could because there is one POV and we need both" situation. Being in Coal's head all the time honestly left me feeling like I'd spent more time getting to know Coal's friends and family than Coal and Hex as a couple. Which, again... doesn't mean it's a bad book. But it did keep me from investing in the romance.

I also do have something of a golden rule with romance novels, which is that... if you don't have everyone involved in the romance show up by 20% in, that's a deduction. Hex does show up early. Technically. But then we have a time jump, during which he and Coal never see each other, and then... it's a good bit before he shows up. Not a lot happens in that good bit, admittedly, because we're mostly getting to know Coal's platonic relationships. But I don't know, man. We needed more.

The Sex:

This is lightly steamy, I'd say. There's chemistry, there's Stuff, but it's not super descriptive or super frequent.

I do actually totally get the Red White & Royal Blue comparisons. If you enjoyed that book (I'm more about the movie version) then yeah, I totally see this working for you. For me... it was more of an "alright" experience. Solid voice performance from the narrator, no complaints there.

Thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[dayscapism]

Thoughts on Tomorrow (mostly on episode 2)

TW: Mentions of depression, bullying & suicide

So I watched a couple of episodes of Tomorrow and I don't think I'll be continuing with the drama. Episodes 1 & 2 left me a bit conflicted, and the next two episodes didn't give hope for the series as a whole.

There's some good, but also some very bad: I really like that both Rowoon's character and the female lead Goo Ryeon are always quick and firm when defending people that belittle and invalidate the suicidal people, reassuring me of the intention of the show. But the cases shown so far are all too quickly and neatly resolved, despite being solved through the wrong methods; even the abusers get what they're due (sort of), getting some of the same sufferings and publicly discredited.

I couldn't stand episode 2. I was just screaming at the screen. In this episode, the suicide attempt is solved with harsh words, then the grim reaper Goo Ryeon lets the person fall off a building to save her at the last second, and then somehow it seems like the suicidal person will now magically be happy. More than unrealistic, the whole thing felt dishonest.

Rowoon's character is right when he says how can Goo Ryeon talk to someone suicidal in the manner that she does. She dares them to jump off, by saying stuff like: "Jump, then. No one will care, because who cares about people like you," and then "Did you even try to overcome your trauma? You should have tried harder" or "It's all because you're weak and a coward", etc. And once she's saved her, Goo Ryeon is all: "oh it's the bullies that are evil? Not you. Just be happy from now on, okay? Don't let anyone treat you badly again." Like??? Yeah, that was never in question here!! Our trauma brain isn't usually rational.

I suppose that's the point of Rowoon's character here. He's the empath of the team. (Rowoon as an actor is always so sympathetic and emotional.) And maybe, maybe this approach could work in a specific case, and I'm not a mental health professional, but it's obvious the way Goo Ryeon routinely handles the cases it's not a good approach to helping suicidal people. Sure, she gets results, but at what cost? More trauma?

This poor girl from episode 2 is now traumatized by a close encounter with a callous pink-haired grim reaper (something which she probably won't be able to explain in therapy if she went). She really needed therapy for the years-long trauma and PTSD (probably anxiety too). She needed her workplace to be more humane. She needed for her boss to be reprimanded if not fired for his unprofessionalism, and maybe for HR to intervene when she said she couldn't do the job due to mental health and she should have been excused. No job, no profit is worth anyone's mental wellbeing. Maybe they could have made some commentary on how non-empathetic the company workplaces and capitalism are, and how negatively it can affect people's underlying mental health issues. And that would have been a less exciting and supernatural story I imagine.

These characters have gone through a supernatural event after the grim reapers save them, and sure that would probably change anyone's life view, but saving people from a suicide attempt is NOT usually the end of the journey; they won't be automatically happy and their problems solved.

For this suicide risk management team of grim reapers to make a true difference, they would need to do stuff like therapy accessibility, make sure they have a support system, make sure they have affordable housing & enough economic stability to push themselves out of their mental health struggles (for which maybe they would need to strike them with some supernatural luck so they get a well-paying job)... but can you imagine how complicated this would be when all of these are the systemic problems we face in the real world?

With the alarming suicide rate in South Korea (and globally), it's commendable that more dramas seem to be attempting to incorporate it into their stories. But oh the paradox of writing stories about mental health: either you do it faithfully, with care, and it becomes a terribly structured story and probably boring too, or you do it for entertainment and just give some terrible potentially problematic representation. Because in real life, mental health is complex and intersectional with many other issues like economic stability, race, gender, class, ethnicity, etc, etc. Saving someone like the guy (homeless I think he was) in episode 1 and then just leave him be will probably solve nothing for them.

Yet I'm not sure if this show is going in a direction like The Good Place did, where, in the end, the system and the structures that have been in place for centuries are what's at fault, not the individual. Here they understood that people grow when you give them support and love, while sometimes being powerless against systems (and mind you, The Good Place is also a hilarious show).

Of course the subject matter is different, so it might be unfair to compare the two. I do hope Tomorrow will feature stories in future episodes about victims whose recovery is not as straightforward, bullies who are not so easily taken down, and maybe even cases that actually... fail and end up in tragedy, because it would make the message stronger and more honest.

Maybe that's the entire point of Rowoon's character, maybe at the end it will be a hopeful and beautifully written show about a sensitive topic, and I did try watching 2 more episodes but I couldn't see it happening.

Also, I understand suicide it's still taboo in a lot of places and a charged topic (it seems even for grim reapers) but everyone calls them weak or sinners. I guess grim reapers are as prejudiced and human as humans, and that's why the suicide risk management team is such a small team. Speaking of, this whole "will dissolve the team if you don't show results" warning plot point does nothing for the tension. For what reason do they need this extra layer of a challenge when they're already struggling to keep afloat and save people? It's just distracting and slows down the already slow pacing of this drama.

I honestly had to fast-forward a lot of parts in episode 2. Maybe that's praise for how much it made me feel for the victim, but it's also a bit of a miss when they're also going for a workplace comedy. Ultimately, I think they tried not to be too heavy, too problematic, too much... but I actually think they should have gone all-in with it. Right now it feels like a supernatural comedy with tonal problems, surface-tackling of complex subjects in a melodramatic manner when I feel it should be the opposite: a serious show with complex cases, messy outcomes & realistic portrayals of long-term prognosis of mental health and suicide, while the main characters try to lighten up and cope with such a job on their daily life with comedy, and while also having personal mysteries to resolve. 

I am happy for everyone that is liking this show, I wanted to like it too (I'm having a media slump for me right now where nothing lands) and maybe it will bring some needed attention to the topic of suicide prevention, but I'm honestly not sure what to say, as I probably won't finish it.

Like Tim from the YT channel, Hello Future Me says: writing mental health topics well (especially depression and suicide), it's COMPLICATED. There is no perfect method, and you might have to compromise on some storytelling aspects. Balancing good storytelling when writing about mental health it's very, very hard to do. To be fair, I think the Eastern/Asian storytelling structure is better for this, and also a serialized format like a tv series, a video game, or comic, as opposed to single-installment stuff like a 2 hr movie or standalone book.

If you want a show with a fantasy, afterlife premise with amazing discussions on morals & capitalism watch The Good Place. If you want afterlife & death discussions + buddy comedy watch Goblin: the Lonely and Great God (I mean it's not perfect in the main romantic pair but the all the subjects are treated with sensitivity). Or if you want some ghosts + comedy along with a bunch of good tragedy watch Hotel del Luna.