#all other cases had a pretty clear “reason” for the job and they're all personal regrets

[protect-namine]

hey so. random thought. what are the odds that liu xiao was the client that approached qiao ling for the S1E1 case

[st4vk1nmybra1n]

I love you, don't act so surprised?!

cont: Model!Gojo x GN!reader, sweet sweet gojo and his silly thoughts!! Wc: 1.5k.

Lovestruck. A little stupid, admittedly. Not charming, and surely not as cool. That's how Gojo Satoru would describe himself in the presence of the only person who can tolerate his ideas, sometimes even surpassing his stupidity to give him a reality check and shut him up. Like really quickly. To the point where he feels embarrassed for himself. And he never feels embarrassed about his beautiful brain and its beautiful thoughts. He knows everything about him is beautiful. I mean– he's a model for a reason, you know?

You were sort of an enigma. You weren't his manager, but sometimes he wishes he could just have you be his manager because you were just that good at making him seem like a saint. He faintly thinks it must be because of those really expensive media training classes his dad paid for. The one that he, you, and suguru had taken. Not like he really paid attention then. Oh well! He has a pretty face, why should he hold back his words? Though he'd definitely argue you'd make a better model. You had the media training, the professionalism, the skill, the knowledge (about a lot of things. Some things, more than the other. But you were smart!), and you definitely had the looks! 

You were gorgeous. Drop dead gorgeous. You had the right features. No matter what anyone else thinks, he's sure he could probably capture your beauty with a camera. He's no photographer or whatever, but even he knows you can look good under any circumstances. Whenever he watches back his interviews and any and every video of him on the internet (which he does because he knows he's hot. That's it.), you always seem to capture his eyes. You're not even the main focus of the videos in most cases. You appear briefly, fixing his hair or telling him to straighten up a bit more. Or maybe the camera pans to you when you're behind the scenes, grinning at the camera as you make a cheeky remark about him. He thinks you look.. a little too good when you're feeling sly..

You have your own job and life going on, but it's so heavily ingrained in his head that his days can't pass without you in them. It's like the day's exhaustion washes away when he shows up at your doorstep after a long day of shooting. Or when you show up in the morning with waffles for breakfast, first thing in the morning when you know he has a big shoot coming up. He just loves you– or well– spending time with you (???), nothing more. Yeah, for sure!

Most people feel nervous in his presence. He knows he exudes an energy of confidence and self assurity. It may sound egotistical but it's simply a truth, a fact everyone knows. He's not surprised when people stammer and stumble over their words when talking to him, or when their eyes wander over him. He knows it's only natural for them. It's something he doesn't pay much mind to, it just makes him feel even more satisfied. Whenever he'll crack a joke, they'll crack a smile, laugh with their cheeks tinted. It almost feels as though he's entertaining them. Don't get him wrong, he loves being ogled at, but he needs entertainment too! Then there's people who look at him in such a way where he can see the gears of creativity churning in their heads. All the ways they could film him, all the angles they could use to photograph him to bring out his best (which is also something that's just him existing), all the ways they could draw him or paint him. He's observant like that, he sees it all.

But for you, Shoko, and Suguru, it's different. His friends don't have that look of wonder or nervousness when they look at him. They're all used to it, he knows. After spending so many years together, it's clear that's the case. Suguru himself was into photography, though not as much to pursue it as more than a hobby. Suguru often did capture photos of satoru. But he didn't care to skirt around the subject when he felt satoru was doing something he hadn't envisioned. He would tell satoru straight up to pose again, and 'leave out the sass this time'. His friends won't hesitate to shut him up if he says something stupid, maybe even whack him against the back of his head. They don't care to sugarcoat their words, or to conceal the fact that they'll laugh in his face if he does something that they think is stupid. And he likes that! It's something he especially likes about you. That when he cracks a joke, you'll double down with something funnier that'll send everyone into another 10 minute laughing fit. He likes it when he asks if you could pass him something, and you answer 'no' with the straightest face ever, as you hand him the mentioned object. He likes when he asks you a dumb question, you answer with something even dumber. Sometimes to add to the joke, sometimes to humble his stupidity.

 Oh, and he loves when he's taking a video and he calls you over, you'll look up at the mention of your name, and instinctively smile as you see his camera. He loves it when you give him and Suguru ideas on their next photoshoot, demonstrating Satoru's potential poses with a dramatic face, sometimes breaking out into a cheeky grin as you tried imitating satoru. He loves when you get sassy and cheeky, he loves it when you know you've caught him slacking, your knowing and sly grin making him feel even more heated than he could imagine. He probably mentioned that earlier, too. He loves way too many things about you. Next thing you know, he probably loves you! But that's not true.. definitely not! 

He's also a liar. He does love you. A lot. A recent revelation. Shamefully, he thinks the way that most people get nervous around him is oddly reminiscent of how he is around you. Except, he's not boring and dull. If anything, he makes the funniest jokes ever! His eager eyes are always finding your frame everytime he cracks a joke, just to see you burst out laughing at him. He's made himself the butt of the joke more times than he can count, just to see you give him a sarcastic and satire response, or even better– when you laugh at him. Maybe it's a twisted feeling, to feel joy from such a thing. But he really could handle doing anything if it meant seeing you smile at him.

"You've been locked up here for an hour. Do you wanna start getting ready for our photoshoot or do you wanna continue to stare at that photo frame of you and your.. family." Suguru's voice interrupts his thoughts, his brow raised at his friend as he looks over at Satoru, who had been staring at a picture of you, him, and your cinnamoroll plushie and his digimon plushie. 

Satoru remembers that day. It was after Suguru had finished taking pictures of him, and you'd been sitting just watching, with his treasured plushie in your hand, while your own cinnamoroll plushie was also seated on your lap. "Let's get a photo of the whole family. Satoru and I, and our two sons!" You chimed in, rushing into the frame as you leaned in against Satoru. You both took a sequence of photos, ranging from bright grins on your faces, to your faces completely serious, like a true family portrait. And then later on his birthday, you gifted him a large frame of the photo (alongside other gifts, of course), which he put up in his bedroom, without even having to put much thought into it. 

"Are you gonna confess? Stop staring at that frame and do something about it." Suguru chided, clicking his tongue. 

"Give me a break! I only just realized like.. 2 weeks ago. I need time to process everything!" He responded to Suguru, tone whiney and dramatic.

"2 weeks too late, maybe. We all noticed like, 2 years ago. You're late to the party. Do something about it before I do something about it." Suguru threatened loosely, placing his hands on his hips.

"Ey! You can't do that! Mine. Mine only." Satoru gasped in offense, brows furrowed as he crossed his arms, lips forming into a pout.

"I meant I'd air out your business, not ask them out, you idiot!" Suguru sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Oh. Oh! That's good for him, Satoru thinks. He plans on telling you, sooner or later. But sometimes, he just likes to stare at you and admire what you have already. But he knows he can't risk it. You're more gorgeous than he is, and that's saying something. He knows there's a chance someone may come in and sweep you off your feet, and he would never allow someone as beautiful as you to end up with someone who isn't him. It's simple logic, really. An ethereal person such as you, only deserves someone who's as breathtaking as you. Not to toot his own horn, but he's pretty sure he's the only one who fits that criteria. It's just meant to be! You and him. He's known it deep down inside all along. He wouldn't have it any other way, of course.

side note: i just wanna add that i almost LOST the ENTIRE fic and cried for 10 mins before i eventually found out how to restore it! so i hope you guys enjoy this as much as i did <3333

[lizzyscribbles]

Today's MHA ramble is either gonna be great or ineligible and there will be no in-between. I'm on my computer instead of my phone today so I can type so much faster, but, I am slightly dehydrated and out of it because I just spent like eight hours outside in the sun for a renaissance fair so maybe I'll just pass out half way through, who knows.

Lizzy's MHA thought/ramble of the night: MHA and why I think it does the "power of friendship" trope the correct way (IE: Not cringy/weird).

Now, I honestly think trying to wrap up the intricacies of the end of MHA in just "the power of friendship!!" is doing the series a huge disservice, but in its simplest form, that kind of is what happens. To be honest, I'm such a sucker for this trope. I love it when we get to see all the people the MC (Izuku in this case) has made an impact on over the course of the series and they all come together to back the main character, that is thee shit and I will eat it up.

However, the thing I love about MHA's approach to this is something we see explored a lot through the series: the idea that you don't have to go at it alone. Like, I feel like the ending has so much more of an impact because instead of them all the other characters standing behind him and going "Yay!! You can do it!! Good job!!" No, instead they run beside him and say "rest, we'll clear you a path. We know we can't do this for you, but at least let us do this".

Because that's what a friend is. That's what friendship is. It's realizing that not only is a friend someone you want to protect, but it's someone who protects you.

It gives me chills Every. Damn. Time.

It's through that we get to see the impact Izuku has made on everyone in the series. I joke with people that even when Izuku has nothing to do with something that's happening, he has something to do with it, and that really comes to a head in the final chapters. In a sort of ironic way, it's what ends up defeating All for One, because it's literally the only thing he never managed to get. Deku says as much while they're fighting, that deep down All for One really is just a lonely man. He had power, people to do his bidding and hang on his every word, but the top of the world is a very isolating place to be because there's no one who can look you in the eye. Followers and friends are two different things, a friend is an equal, a follower is a pawn.

I think it's why All for One was so attached to his younger brother Yoichi, because deep down, he knew All for One in ways that no one ever could. It was the closest to a genuine loving relationship he ever got.

Honestly, it's part of why All Might failed the first time around too. He had a few friends, sure, but in the end he was surrounded by mostly fans. People who adored and appreciated him, but did so from behind a barricade. All Might pretty much worked alone - and Deku definitely couldn't have made the progress he made without the trail All Might blazed - but Deku had the one thing All Might never did: People who fought alongside him even when he didn't want them to.

And, honestly? I can't blame All Might for avoiding it. After all, Deku almost does this same thing. They both wanted to protect people so badly they don't want to accept help. They see themselves as the only person who's allowed to make sacrifices because they're so scared they'll loose someone. It's part of the reason I find such comfort in Izuku as a character, because he never wants to see anyone else hurt because of him.

However, because Deku reached out first in the beginning, because he made friends and took care of them whenever he could, because treated them as equals, they said "too bad so sad, you get our help whether you like it or not, because that's what you'd do for us". It's the beauty of those final episodes of season six and why I love them so much, because 1-A had no reason to go after Deku other than they were worried about him. They didn't take no for an answer, because sometimes it's a friend's job to take you by the hand and scream in your face to "TAKE A NAP!!! EAT SOME FOOD!! YOU'RE WEARING YOURSELF DOWN AND YOU NEED A BREAK!!! SIT DOWN AND LET US CARRY YOU FOR A WHILE!!!"

It's exactly like Ochaco says, they don't want to be protected. They're not fragile victims to be looked after. They didn't get blindly wrapped up in this mess, they dove in head first because they cared about Izuku and wanted to stand at his side.

And therein lies the difference.

All for One had followers.

All Might had fans.

Deku had friends.

Followers will only do as they're told. Fans will only cheer on. But friends? You can't tell them to do shit, they do what they want, and if they want to help you then they will. Friends go the extra mile. Friends run beside you when no one else can. Friends clear the path for you so you can deliver that final big ass punch.

That's the magic of this trope, and you can see it so clearly here because it's realistic. And by that I mean Izuku doesn't get a magical burst of energy because everyone was cheering his name from the sidelines. It came from them actually doing shit to give him a chance. It came from Aizawa bandaging his wounds, it came from Iida grabbing his hand and half-dragging him across the battle field, it came from Eri giving a little bit of her quirk, it came from Bakugo showing up at the last second to blast the crap out of someone, it came from the countless attacks launched by the rest of the heroes to give him a chance to get back on his feet.

You know what they say, actions speak louder than words, and that's the magic of this kind of storytelling. We don't need to be told they care through chants or claps, they just show us.

That's the true "power of friendship". People who don't just stand beside you, but sometimes run in front of you so you don't trip over that stump in the path.

That's friendship. That's love. And I think that's incredibly beautiful.

...these posts get longer every time. Maybe I need to stick to my phone so my thumbs get tired faster. 😂 This is what happens when I'm allowed to cook late at night. If you made it to the end, thank you and I salute you.

[mellonhead58]

Hi all I've been seeing a few posts about Vinesh Phogat's situation and as a former wrestler myself I am compelled to explain precisely what is sensible vs not sensible to be mad about, because I see a lot of people getting mad over the wrong details and if you're going to be mad about a situation you should be mad about the right situation.

tl;dr: If you're going to get mad about the situation don't get mad because she couldn't compete due to not making weight, get mad because she didn't get the silver medal she would have absolutely won if she had made weight. Still, everything that happened happened by the book.

So to summarize, Vinesh Phogat is a competitor in the 50kg bracket of Women's Olympic Freestyle Wrestling. She seems to have a pretty damn respectable record and was going to be a finalist, but was disqualified on Wednesday morning for failing to make weight: she weighed 100g (3.5oz) over the 50kg (110lb) limit. This is where I see a lot of people getting mad and saying "they're seriously disqualifying her for being a few grams over the limit??"

Yes. That is how weight classes work.

In the 2024 Olympics, women's (freestyle) wrestling has weight classes for 50, 53, 57, 62, 68, and 76kg. Each wrestler registers to compete in one and only one of these weight classes. That means that, on the morning(s) of the competition each wrestler's weight must be less than or equal to their weight class. Hypothetically somebody under 50kg could compete in the 53kg weight class, but that doesn't happen very often for the very same reason weight classes exist in the first place: weight is a very significant advantage in wrestling. Tournaments generally (as far as I know) do not simply allow people to compete in a different weight class if they weigh in above their weight class. Tournaments take long enough as it is when everything goes according to plan, but changing up the bracket to accommodate an over-weight wrestler in a way that's fair to everyone else who did make weight in that higher weight class doesn't make things easier.

Regardless of gender, sex, nationality, race, identity, or any other demographic category you can think of, this is the case for any person who wrestles in any wrestling tournament that took real effort to organize. If the scale can tell you're over the weight limit, then you are not allowed to compete.

All of this is to say that not allowing someone to compete because of a measly 100g above weight is perfectly typical in the world of wrestling. Vinesh Phogat made weight on Tuesday and did a fantastic job making her way to the finals, but did not make weight on Wednesday and as a result could not compete in the finals, and that this is completely standard procedure.

What's the big fucking deal then?

The big deal is that Vinesh Phogat did not only de facto lose the gold medal, but she was denied a silver medal despite earning it by all measures. That is why she's upset, and that's why she's appealing the Court of Arbitration for Sport. She successfully made weight and won her semifinal match on Tuesday, but was denied a silver medal despite having met the conditions for the silver medal.

Now to be perfectly frank, the treatment of this case is made pretty clear by United World Wrestling (the governing body for Olympic wrestling) in its rulebook. Taken from article 11 - Weigh-In:

If an athlete does not attend or [fails] the weigh-in (the 1st or the 2nd weigh-in), [she] will be eliminated of the competition and ranked last, without rank (Exception: cf. Article 56 - Medical Service Intervention).

That being said, I personally get how she feels because if she had made weight it would be impossible for her not to earn a silver medal at the worst.

The upshot of this is to remind you that if you're going to get mad about a situation, please research the details of the situation and get mad about the right thing. Phogat didn't make weight, and at any wrestling tournament across the world that would mean she doesn't compete, and getting mad about this is silly. Because she didn't make weight, she wasn't given her medal, and although that's by the books I think there's a legitimate argument to be made that she deserves the medal she earned on the day that she did make weight.

[bisupergirl]

i’ve seen some talk lately about how superhero civilian outfits have become boring and uninspired, and that their outfits in the 70s/80s showcased a lot more individual personality. which kara outfits from back then would you say suited her the most?

thank u so much for this question i love thinking about kara's civilian outfits <3 here are some of my favorites from the 70s/80s:

(my favs from this are the green pants/black top and the pink skirt outfits from the top row <3) they're all very cute and fun. there was obviously effort put into designing something she would genuinely wear, and i think everything that they put her in does a good job at getting across what her personality was at the time. she was very confident and actually really enjoyed fashion, which you could chalk up to male writers thinking "what do women find interesting? clothing, obviously." BUT i do view kara as a very artistic person (in every field—acting, painting, music etc etc) so it definitely ties into that for me!

and because i spent a good half hour collecting panels of kara's more modern outfit choices, here's my thoughts on her fashion from other eras:

when kara was first reintroduced in 2004 it was clear that the outfits she was put in were chosen to maximize her sexual appeal:

to me this just reads as what the artists (ian churchill and michael turner in this case) found attractive. there's no real character reason for why she chooses to dress this way, which i guess is fitting considering how she was characterized during this time. imo she really didn't have a discernible personality beyond "oversexualized 2000s teenage girl". later on (when loeb and kelly stopped writing her) her clothing choices get more personality and it seems like there's genuine thought put into what she's wearing:

i'm generally not a fan of 2000s/2010s fashion (i do think a lot of these outfits are cute though!), but it's clear to me that the artists thought "what would kara—someone who's in her late teens and had been on earth for a couple years at this point—choose to wear?" instead of "what is the sexiest thing that i, a grown man, can think to put this teenager in?"

now for rebirth—i don't like how she dresses (i think it's boring and uninspired), BUT i do think it's fitting for her personality at this time. early on in rebirth kara was characterized as being pretty reserved and unsure of herself. all her clothes are fairly plain and she also worked at catco (cw supergirl my enemy) so she pretty much just wore business casual outfits all the time:

and i don't love it! it's just shirt-jacket-pants over and over again (with some exceptions). and it makes sense! she's trying to stay out of the spotlight and keep her identity hidden, so i get that she'd wear some plainer clothing that contrasts with what she wears as supergirl. and obviously it's important to keep in mind that she's like 16 at this point, so it's not like i expect her to have a super intricate wardrobe, but again it's just boring to me. it's somewhat fitting! but it stinks.

[quaranmine]

The Backcountry Permit Situation

Rereading Firewatch AU again and I want to make a clarifying comment about the backcountry permit thing, since it's a such an important part of the plot from Chapter 5 - 10. I haven't seen anyone be confused about this yet fortunately, but in my opinion the distinctions in the plot get pretty in the weeds here. So this is just me walking through it.

The Forest Service IS supposed to be in the wrong about the permit. That was an actual mistake that probably cost Mumbo dearly in a roundabout way. They are also wrong to have not disclosed this to Grian or Mumbo's family.

But here's where I say that it's not a conspiracy. Grian's thoughts about the mistaken permit is that it impacted Mumbo's search process. He thinks that the Forest Service wanted to cover up their mistake, and as a result botched the search to hide it. Admitting that they made a mistake with the permit would indicate they were at fault, and they don't want to be at fault because they're the government, so they continue to search the Cloud Lake Trail like nothing happened. Grian thinks that they knew Mumbo wasn't there and kept searching it anway to make themselves look good. He thinks they purposefully searched an area Mumbo wasn't in to hide their mistake. He thinks that they should have pursued other areas, but didn't want the liability of admitting Mumbo wasn't on the trail. He and Scar both think it was unprofessional to not, somehow, explore areas that weren't even connected to the original trail because SAR should have been "able to predict that."

The non-conspiratorial reality is much simpler. The Forest Service mistakenly issued Mumbo a permit for a trail that hadn't been reopened yet because the person who issued it simply didn't know. It's pre-computer, so it's not like they had an electronic system to flag this. So when Mumbo is reported missing, they have 1) Mumbo's permit for that trail, 2) Mumbo's car at that trailhead, and 3) a witness who said they saw Mumbo on/near the trail. There is NO reason to assume Mumbo didn't go there anyway. All evidence actually points to him being there. In fact, as stated in the files Grian later stole, the SAR incident commander had determined that the damage to the trail made it more likely for Mumbo to get lost. He would have entered altered terrain where the trail was obscured, and might have taken a wrong turn since everything was no longer marked or clear. I have seen real life cases where this happened to hikers who got lost!

It's stated that the SAR did do aerial searches of some other locations around Cloud Lake, but only of official trails off the same road as Cloud Lake. Since, you know, those are the ones that officially connect and are close to where his vehicle was found. Grian himself says he never made it to Cloud Lake because he was "asked to help in other areas." So we can already see that there was search acitivity that wasn't concetrated on the the rockslide area.

When Scar asks what the Forest Service thought about Mumbo's things being found on a completely different trail, and why he was permitted for a closed trail, he's told they were "operating on information inconsistent with reality and conducting an investigation of it." They both treat this as sinister-sounding but it's pretty much just a roundabout polished governmenty way of saying "we have no clue why he was at Pinnacles either and are looking into it" lol.

When Grian confronts the District Ranger, he's mad. The District Ranger admits fault to him about the permit, but explains again that they didn't see a reason why Mumbo wouldn't be in the Cloud Lake area. Grian accuses them of purposefully blocking off the spur trail Mumbo took—essentially saying that the Forest Service knew Mumbo took that path, and quietly blocked it off without mentioning it. The District Ranger replies that the trail crews were just doing their jobs. That's the truth. Since the Cloud Lake Trail needed repairs to reopen, a trail crew worked heavily on it. Part of their job is streamlining the trail.

Unfortunately, most of the critical errors in Mumbo's case were always his own. He shouldn't have taken the unmarked trail, he should've turned around once he realized the Cloud Lake Trail was messed up. I don't mean it in a victim-blamey "he deserved his outcome due to stupidity" way. I simply mean it in the sense that we're all human and unfortunately some silly mistakes or moments of poor decision-making are final.

So basically:

Forest Service issuing the mistaken permit and not admitting it: actual mistake, they were wrong

Forest Service purposefully botching the search and focusing on an area they knew Mumbo wasn't in, to decrease their own liability: this didn't happen, Grian is wrong

Mumbo's family could probably sue them for wrongful death based on the permit thing, though. I don't know how successful it would be but in my purely amateur opinion I think there's a reasonable case to be made that Mumbo never would've been in the position to make his mistakes if he'd never stepped foot on the trail. He might've gone elsewhere and had an entirely normal trip. If only :(

[abislwise]

gonzalez v. trevino, and why you should care.

SCOTUS has ruled on Gonzalez v. Trevino in an 8-1 vote. Per the ruling, when suing the police for retaliation, the person suing does not need to provide precise instances when others were not arrested on the same charge. General evidence that they would not be likely to be arrested is enough.

The story behind this case is wild, and this ruling is pretty important. Hit Keep Reading for both.

Gonzalez in this case is Sylvia Gonzalez, a 77-year old woman who, it must be said, was the first Latina elected to the city council of Castle Hills, TX (pop. ~4,000). Edward Trevino is the mayor of Castle Hills. If this is starting to raise alarm bells for those of you involved in local politics, you're absolutely right.

Gonzalez was a local resident who ran for office because she and many, many others felt that the city manager, Ryan Rapelye, sucked at his job. She ran on the promise of getting rid of him. Well, she got elected. Then the city attorney and the rest of the city council tried to claim that, since the sheriff who swore her in wasn't technically qualified to do so, her votes didn't count. A judge threw that out. Then Gonzalez got started on circulating a non-binding citizens' petition to get rid of Rapelye.

Here's what happened next: after Gonzalez submitted the signed petition (at which point it became a government document), at the end of a meeting it was sitting among some documents on top of a podium. Gonzalez put all the documents in her binder.

Now, before we all get excited here: a key point in Gonzalez's case which this decision does not cover is whether she did this intentionally or not. There are questions about whether all the signatures are legit; some residents have said she coerced them. On the other hand, that could just be the council's faction talking. That part is going back to trial, so no answer here.

HOWEVER. What's clear is what happened next: weeks later, Gonzalez was arrested on the charge of tampering with a government document. She was thrown in jail overnight, and her mugshot was released. The charge was almost immediately dropped, but she wound up paying I think over $10,000 in legal fees and her reputation was hurt. Because of this, Gonzalez then sued the police, claiming retribution.

What's retribution? What it sounds like: if you engage in protected First Amendment activity, and the police arrest you, that's retribution if you can prove that they didn't have probable cause. In that case, you can sue them.

Wait a second. Sue the police for arresting people? That's right, darlings, this is a qualified immunity case!

Now, in 2019 SCOTUS added a second way to prove retribution. Instead of showing they didn't have probable cause, you can sue the cops if you can prove that someone doing the same thing without the message you were stating wouldn't have been arrested. For example--and this is the example SCOTUS used when it was argued--if you shout "FUCK THE POLICE!" and then jaywalk, and you get arrested and jailed for jaywalking, you have a pretty fucking good case for retribution.

Tampering with a government document is, basically, a ridiculous charge in this case. Gonzalez showed that at trial by citing stats saying no one has been arrested for picking up a petition ever. The trial court agreed, but an appeals court ruled that no, she had to cite specific examples of people picking up petitions and not getting arrested. Thus, SCOTUS.

So… what the hell happened?

This ruling is a per curium ruling. There are a number of things that can mean, but in this particular case it means that no Justice's opinion got the five votes necessary to be the majority opinion. Thus, this is another case where we have a bunch of concurring opinions.

Alito's concurrence actually gives some reasons for why they ruled what they did. They're technical, but they amount to, basically, saying that you can't decide whether evidence counts for this exception at the same time you're trying to figure out if there's enough of it. Kavanaugh's is the--technical term here--weakest shit ever, literally saying that this ruling is fine because it "does no harm." Jackson's concurrence (Sotomayer joining) says you should allow all kinds of evidence for this!

And the lone dissenter? That's right, iiiiiiiiiiiiit's Thomas! His dissenting opinion says that this exception shouldn't exist at all and you should always have to show probable cause, likely because he's a bitter old man who hates goodness and joy.

Okay, why does this matter?

One, because it protects free speech from retribution and makes it easier to fight back if that happens. Two, because this is a (very, very) small chink in the armor of qualified immunity, which should die in a fire. (For those who don't know: qualified immunity is what makes it so you can't sue cops.) Those two together make this a big deal to me, narrow as the ruling is. It's a good day for protesters and objectors everywhere.

It's also interesting just how much this fractured the court, especially given how often that seems to be happening. The conservative supermajority we've all been fearing is--ever so slowly, bit by minuscule bit--weakening. I'm still extremely worried about many upcoming decisions, but this has given me some hope.

[welcometoteyvat]

i am very curious (and i'm asking this not with any malicious intent) but what ages do you see the genshin characters! i personally see them (most of them) as adults, even collei. even if they were teenagers, time passes in-game (i.e. lantern rite happens every year and we already had 2 lantern rites in-game) so they'll eventually grow to be adults.

tldr: I have schrodinger's age headcanons

long answer: if they're in a ship with a ""clearly"" adult character, I'll assume they're young adults; idk I feel like there's some blurring of age and what growth stage you're in when people are around 17 to 20 (from my experience) so I think it's vague-ish enough that you could probably do what you want.

If they're not in a ship I see some of them as adults and some as still teens/underage. as a general rule of thumb a character's age is solely dependent on what I want at the moment, although I do think the way some characters are written (ie character arcs, character stories and general personality) pushes me to view them as underage (will explain more but the character I'm thinking about most w this is Xingqiu). Some of them read to me as clear adults, and then there are some in-betweens where I just have "vaguely young looking" in my hcs LOL

you bring up a good point that time is passing in game although we don't see it reflected in the character models—everyone points out that Xiao opens up a bit more every lantern rite, but fandom (and genshin devs too ig 💀) definitely forgets that all the other characters are also growing/changing. w/ 4.1 around the corner my personal wish is for hu tao, xingqiu, and chongyun's relationships to each other get developed more so that their relationships (as described through their voicelines abt each other) don't feel so flat,,,,,, it would also help with the sense of "time is passing in game for ALL characters", since we almost never get this kind of evolving relationship portrayed between 4*s/non endgame important charas.

I have too much time on my hands so I'll also just run through all the teen/short models there are for each region and list whether my personal headcanons are adult or minor (at least their ages when we "meet" them in canon):

liyue (mortal/mortal adjacent characters): yanfei, chongyun, xingqiu, hu tao, xiangling, xinyan, yun jin, keqing

yanfei and keqing are solidly adults to me, yanfei's a lawyer and keqing's also in a govt job so both of them feel around like 25-27 to me. Definitely somewhere around their mid-20s, although I can also see them as younger, especially Keqing, because of her overall attitude/perspective on life and the gods. iirc her character stories show how her worldview's grown/broadened to be not as naive/black and white, so I feel like she's still in the process of maturing. If you told me Yanfei was like 23 (appearance wise) I guess I'd believe you too, since she's a very peppy person who seems to be running all over the place all the time, doing errands for madame ping, checking on her clients, taking new cases etc. I feel like it gives her youthful energy, so I can see it if people hc her on the younger side of her 20s (in human years I forgot how her half-adeptal blood works).

I see the other 6 as a friend group (liyue 6ang let's go) so they're either all teens or all adults depending on the portrayal. You can obviously view them as adults all the time, but I don't get those vibes. Xinyan and Yun Jin might be like 18-19, but if that's the case, I can't see the other 4 being any younger than 17, just because I think they're all almost the same age or 1-2 years apart maximum. For some reason so many people view Hu Tao and Yun Jin as adults but at the same time think the others are minors? Idk about that.. genshin has shown that Xiangling, Xinyan, and Yun Jin are pretty close friends, and then always put Xingqiu and Chongyun together for the ship bait, so maybe that's the root of fanon's age hcs. However, I think if some of them are young adults, then all of them are. There's a max 2 year age gap between all 6 of them idk idk I really can't see it otherwise.

To me, Xingqiu's arc reads like a 16 year old finding his footing in the world. Hiding martial arts novels under his bed, tired of playing dutiful 2nd son and sneaking out to live out his idealized wuxia dreams, his multiple voicelines where he's implied to be super worried about us giving away his involvings in the Guhua sect, they all read like he's still trying to figure out his role in his family (what he wants it to be, and what his parents want it to be). He's also very naive about the world, but learning. He just feels a lot like how (chinese) teenagers grow up and like. growing into or out of the paths given to us by our parents. ... or i could just be projecting! Anyways, in my no ships world, he's a 16-17 yr old. Chongyun's clan and family play a not-insignificant role in his backstory, so I think he's the same age as Xingqiu, just older by a month for the flex. Lowkey I don't have as much reason for him as the others, but I think they're in the same age range by association; probably almost 18 at most. Hu Tao's character stories explicitly state she's 13 when her grandfather passed away, and I think she becomes Director not long after this, so I would say she's also around 16-17 when the game starts. @.acatoner who draws quite possibly my favorite interpretations of the gang(TM) once mentioned they see her with spoiled younger sister energy and honestly yeah. she's an only child but has the strongest solidarity with Xingqiu (they're the bratty younger siblings of the friendgroup). Out of all of them, Xiangling is the one with the most plausible job if she was like, young: being a chef apprentice with her dad to continue the family business is pretty reasonable. Middle child energy, probably 17. We did meet her when she was in Mondstadt foraging ingredients, so I'd say she's not very young, but still young enough for her dad to chew her out during moonchase for being like messy or clumsy or smth? Xinyan and Yun Jin.... I think Yun Jin is at least almost 18—running a well acclaimed opera troupe is a pretty big undertaking imo, even if her parents are there to like guide her and whatnot. Same with Xinyan, 17-18 range, although she def started playing rock publicly when she was way younger.

inazuma: shinobu, heizou, kazuha, kirara, gorou, kokomi, ayaka, yoimiya

Disclaimer I have not read the Lore and don't know whether actual ages are given for Ayaka and Ayato (specifically pointing them out because iirc their and Thoma's character stories are the most specific ones wrt the timeline).

I see basically all of them as adults, ayaka might be an exception but she's like 17 minimum in my head. That's pretty interesting considering I labeled almost all the liyue short models as teens. From what I can remember of their character stories, the Inazuman characters seem to be portrayed as having their formative struggles set In the Past (probably a couple years before we meet them) so perhaps that's why I see them as solidly young adults. Additionally, Inazuma's arc and its war pushes me to see all of them as adults, even if they're still obscenely young to be generals and strategicians. The exceptions I can see to this are only Yoimiya (smaller role in archon quest and not related to the government), and Shinobu + Heizou, who were released later. Yoimiya's maturity really stands out to me—from the way her neighbors and old people converse with her, and her overall character arc + second story quest, I cannot see her as below like 19 at least. Shinobu manages an entire unofficial gang and has countless certifications under her belt plus ex-shrine maiden stint—she probably isn't less than 23. It would be cute if she were the same age as Yanfei but just started law school later, so Yanfei's still her senior. I think there's not much to say on Heizou either, he's friends with Kazuha and has a real job, so I can't read him below 20-21. I don't know anything about Kirara (don't have her, haven't read her stories) but I also just get the vibes of like 20-something errand girl SDFDSSKDFJS in a modern au she'd deliver to teyvat/inazuma's college campus for sure

mondstadt (humans): barbara, razor, bennett, fischl, mika, amber, noelle, sucrose

this is a mix again, for Barbara Razor Bennett and Fischl they give me kid vibes, like little adventure gang things. Reddit apparently cites Mona called Fischl an adult in the 2.8 Midsummer Fantasia GAA event, so I mean. I guess she's 18 there—might've been 16 when we met in game the first time (1.2?? scaramouche fake stars event or something?) Idk really. Their group collectively gives me 16 year old vibes, at least when we start the game. I can see it if all of them have aged to 18 now—it just makes sense in my head lol. Mika feels like an 18 year old; mostly because of his relationship with Huffman. Amber seems vaguely adult-ish, I'd say 19 or so, maybe 20 during shadows amidst snowstorms in 2.3. there's some logic behind this that ties into her search for her grandfather but it's like vague and hazy in my head. I haven't given much thought to Noelle and Sucrose— Sucrose also gives "vaguely adult" vibes, idk if her character story about wanting to make a wonderland to meet her past friends in has any relevance to timeline estimation. I'd say Noelle also falls into the vague adult age range, but to me she's a puzzle, because her personality seems incongruent to how I thought she might act if she's like 23 or so.

anyways, anon if you read all this i will declare my love for you. thanks for giving me an excuse to genuinely think on this and then dump my thoughts out for the internet. you can clearly see none of my braincells really go towards Mondstadt headcanons but I hope you're happy w my response ehe

[chris-aok]

Notetaking

If you had told me years ago that I would now enjoy taking notes, I would have told you to get the hell out of my face with that mess.

I've always recognized the value of taking notes, and while I would take notes at times, I can't say I much enjoyed taking notes, knew how to best take notes, or how to get the most value out of my notes.

In fact, I would argue I'm still mediocre at taking notes, but thanks to some technology and a few habits I've developed, I've gotten better at it, enjoy it more, and get more value out of it than I did for years.

The first rule of notetaking is: Assume you will forget everything. Write your notes accordingly.

The second rule of notetaking is: Don't write everything down. Write the most salient points down so you can connect the dots and make the necessary connections when re-reading your notes later.

The third rule of notetaking is: Assume you are writing your notes for a complete stranger. Make your notes clear enough that anyone can re-read them and understand them clearly. This is because when you will re-read your notes much later, you might as well be a complete stranger to who you were when you originally took the notes.

I find notetaking especially valuable to me when I'm learning something new. Notes are a way of making sure the time and effort I spend learning isn't wasted or lost because of my poor memory. More than a tool: They're a friend. They're there to help. They're you helping yourself later.

I love technology, so I'm always trying to find ways for tech. to help me with things. Hand-written notes have their value and I won't debate their merits, but I'm more efficient with a keyboard than I am with pen and paper. Plus, with notes taken electronically, you can search for a specific word or phrase through all of them, which has come in handy several times.

For every job or task, you need the right tool for the job. In the case of notetaking software, you need two kinds of notetaking tools:

A tool for quick notes: We all have notes that we need to quickly take but don't necessarily need to keep in the long term. This is what this tool is for. Formatting and presentation are not the priority here: Speed is. Good software for this are Microsoft Notepad, Microsoft Sticky Notes, Microsoft Visual Studio (VS) Code, Sublime, Atom, Notepad++, Apple Notes, and any other lightweight text editor that isn't necessarily pretty but that you can start writing in within seconds. Despite not necessarily needing the notes to be kept, I still like something with a cloud backend that synchronizes notes. Just in case. I also like being able to access my notes from the various operating systems I use. For these reasons, I prefer Microsoft Sticky Notes on Windows and Apple Notes on macOS, iOS, and iPadOS.

A tool for persistent notes: This is the main event. This is what we usually think of when we think of notetaking software. This lets you add various forms of media such as diagrams, pictures, video, audio, or even hand-written portions. The need here is to be able to make complex, pretty notes that will be accessible for years to come. This necessarily means the tool has to have a cloud backend to make sure your notes are always saved online so they are never lost and are accessible from everywhere. The major contenders here are Microsoft OneNote and Evernote, among others. I personally prefer OneNote.

The thing I noticed after making my notetaking software choices was that once I had picked them, I ended up using them more. A tool you use more because you want to, is a good tool. As a result, this has helped me keep more things for posterity (Hello, my name is Chris, and I am a digital hoarder.) The benefit is that I take and keep more notes now than I ever did before, which means I retain more knowledge, thoughts, ideas, and information than I did before and that's a net positive.

Notetaking isn't just about the software you use, though.

There needs to be a methodology to make sure you get the most out of your notes. Follow these steps:

Write your notes as you're learning the thing. They don't need to be pretty; but they do need to be minimally understandable. This step can be done in a quick notetaking application with a cloud backend.

Within 24 hours, go over your notes and rewrite them so they are structured and pretty (Heading 1, Heading 2, bulleted lists, identify action items, etc.) This is the most important and valuable step that I didn't do for years. This step helps you make sense of your notes, but more importantly: Of what you learned. Most of the value of your notes are yielded in this step. In this step, you might even come up with questions you hadn't thought of when you first took your notes. Questions whose answers will likely yield further insight and understanding into the new thing you're learning. This step needs to be done in a persistent notetaking application.

Within 7 days, review your notes. This helps you make sure your notes make sense, but also helps you recall what you learned. Feel free to edit, update, or tweak your notes to make them even more easy to understand

Refer to your notes whenever you need to in the future. You will likely have a better understanding of your notes because you now master the subject better, but your notes are also much clearer than they were in the first step

To be clear, I am not some notetaking guru or expert. This is just what has worked well for me over the years.

[mokeonn]

Ive been drawing for 10 years and no one wants my art and i live in a community of people who dont care for each other i reslly just dont see how it gets better for me in this case and i just wish i had you optimism

Well, I don't truly know your situation so there's a lot I can't comment on or give advice for. However, I am noticing some language in this message that gives me an idea (whether it's a good one or not is up to you) of what could help.

NOTE: I'm an unemployed 23 year old who is off their depression medication. I am NOT the one to go to for life advice, I'm just speaking from personal experience.

I think the first and easiest step is to take a moment, breathe, and just think. What do you want? Do you enjoy art as a hobby and would enjoy a non-art related job? Do you want art as a job/career, but you're not exactly picky on what that job should be? Do you have a specific dream in mind, i.e., comic artist/game developer/fantasy writer/illustrator/independent business owner? Because the answer to this question means a lot to what you should do!

For example: I'm all three.

I could absolutely keep art as a passionate thing I do for myself that I happen to post online while also working at, say, a library or a laboratory. I would love to make art my primary job/career, but I'm not very picky on how I get there! I have some ideas in mind, but if they're not a good fit, I won't be too upset. I would also love to be a comic artist/game developer, I am currently working on a comic and a game right now, actually. It's taking a long time, and it's going to take ages before I get to a point where I can even post things related to it online.

So I have a metric fuck ton of options. Let's make that clear, my goal in life is to just be happy, fulfilled, and surrounded by my friends. How I get there? Doesn't matter. As long as I stay true to my personal core values and it makes me happy, I am down for whatever. This absolutely gives me an advantage over someone who, say, only wants to be a professional animator or someone who wants to sell their knitted goods in shops and online.

So once you identify what you want to do, you gotta get ready for the next step: research. Ask yourself a million questions, find an answer, talk to other artists on or off the internet, find an answer.

For example: let's say you want to be a tattoo artist, but everyone in your area thinks tattoos are of the devil. Well, some questions to ask yourself would be:

How do I become a tattoo artist? What does that entail?

Are people the next town over more alright with tattoos? What about the nearest city?

Are these locations too far to travel to?

Would I have to move to make this dream a reality? Or could I start a tattoo community here?

How will I make the money in the meantime while working towards this?

And so on and so forth. In fact, imagine under every single one of these questions, there are sub questions that expand upon your answer, ask you if that answer is achievable, and ask you if that would make you happy. Like I'm taking dig deep, man. Get into the nitty and gritty of what you want to do and how you're gonna get there. Because, at the very least, this will give you some basic goals to work towards and ideas of what you are and aren't able to do. Don't be afraid to get out of your comfort zone! If you spend your whole life in your comfort zone, you're never gonna learn anything.

However, I think the biggest obstacle that gets in a LOT of artists way that I pretty much spotted immediately when I read this ask: having low self-confidence and being pessimistic is absolutely getting in your way.

I've been working on my self-confidence for the last 10 months, give or take, and to say that there is a difference is an UNDERSTATEMENT. I had extremely low confidence, possibly because of a lifetime of bullying, mistreatment, depression, and a childhood of undiagnosed autism... but in all honesty the reasons don't really matter. I made self depreciating jokes ALL the time (the really harsh kind that made people uncomfortable rather than laughing with me) I constantly held myself back from doing things because I didn't believe I could do it, I hid myself all the time (metaphorically because I rarely showed others the things I was passionate in and kept myself very private out of fear of judgement... and literally too. I never fucking left the house.)

I basically was my own worst enemy, and what got me out of it was working with my friend. One day, I made a self depreciating joke or something along those lines, and she just looked at me and said "You know, it makes me very said to hear you talk about yourself like that."

She then went on to explain how I was a kind and wonderful person and it made her sad to hear me say things like that because it wasn't true and it was only preventing me from seeing what she saw. I ended up crying because it was so kind, and I never even thought about that. Around that time as well, I had made a joke around my Dad, and he said, "You know, I wish you didn't talk about yourself that way."

Over the upcoming months, I started working on my self-confidence. My friend helped a LOT whenever I went to her place to help out with her art business. She helped me gain confidence in asking questions, because before I would just avoid asking out of fear. She never yelled at me or got upset at asking questions, and would compliment me or thank me for asking a good one. It helped me learn that if someone yells at me for asking a question, they're the jerk! They're the problem, not me!

I slowly switched my language from "I think I can..." to "I can", "I'll try my best", and similar language. I went from being afraid to trying new things because I was afraid of failure to feeling completely fine with trying new things because a majority of those new things are completely low risk! If it doesn't work out, it just doesn't work out! I didn't lose anything but a little bit of time! A year ago, if something didn't work out, you might as well thought I shot your puppy or something with the way I would cry and apologize. I got better at not apologizing all the damn time, because there's no point in apologizing for things that aren't your fault!

I went to a pretty awful show with my friend where pretty much everything went wrong, and during the show it ended up POURING. We had an absolute downpour of rain. It ended up destroying a ton of stock and packaging for transportation. I had to stop myself from apologizing so much, why? Because I don't control the rain! It's not my fault that we got rained on and things got destroyed! Apologizing is not the right thing to do in this situation because there's nothing to apologize for. I ended up being a huge help in putting things away, and when I later told my friend that I had to stop myself from apologizing, she said the same thing: "it's not your fault it rained."

I can safely say that since working on my self-confidence, my mental health has been at an all-time high. My medication is more effective than ever, I am no longer struggling with depression unless off my medication, my anxiety is pretty much gone unless off medication (I need to make it abundantly clear that I have chronic depression and anxiety and I need medication to be able to function and I know that my mental health struggles are nowhere near as bad on medication, because I am currently off my meds due to doctor problems)

I have been more willing to get out of my comfort zone, learn, try new things, and work towards actual tangible goals. Because I took the time to work on my EXTREMELY LOW (I can not emphasize enough how bad it was), self-confidence, with the help of those who care about me.

Your anon message absolutely tells me you do not have very high confidence in yourself. The way you talk about "no one wanting your art" (I don't know how you know that for certain), and how you wish you had my optimism because you see no options for yourself remind me SO MUCH of how I used to be. So my biggest message really comes down to this:

If you want ANY success in life, you're going to have to allow yourself to have it.

Having low self-confidence and being pessimistic is honestly just... denying yourself the happiness you deserve. You're going to have to work on that because you deserve that happiness.

[wrestlingisfake]

All Out preview

Orange Cassidy vs. Jon Moxley - Cassidy is making his 31st defense of the AEW international title. He has not lost a one-on-one match since September 21, 2022, but this is easily his toughest opponent yet.

These two were scheduled to meet for the first time one-on-one in November 2021, but that match was canceled. Other than that, these two had very little to do with one another until July 21, when Cassidy and the Best Friends confronted Moxley's partners in the Blackpool Combat Club. Moxley wasn't there, but on July 26 he made up for lost time with an ambush on Cassidy. The two factions and their allies have been feuding for weeks, including a ten-man brawl last week at Wembley Stadium, where Cassidy scored the winning pin. I wouldn't say these two in particular have had a personal issue, but they're the biggest stars on either side, and sooner or later they had to face off.

This is the biggest match of Orange's career. You wouldn't expect a guy with a comedy gimmick to last two minutes against a protected badass like Moxley. But a win, or even a well-fought loss, would prove Cassidy can hang with the tippy-toppy guys despite (or because of) his silliness. Beating Chris Jericho in 2020 meant a lot, and an 11-month title reign helped even more, but this match can take him to the next level.

It's pretty clear at this point that CM Punk vs. Ricky Starks was supposed to headline this show, until Punk was suspended last week and fired yesterday. Now this match has to close the show, in Punk's hometown. Both guys are making this match about which of them will carry the company through troubled times. We know Moxley can handle that kind of pressure. Cassidy has a chance to prove he can too. The best case scenario for AEW would be if Moxley makes his opponent a bigger star, so that people remember this week for Orange stepping up to make chicken salad out of Punk's chicken shit.

I could see this match going either way. Moxley has expressed a desire to "give back" by putting over younger guys; that doesn't mean he'll always do the job, obviously, but he's looking for the right time and place to do it. On the other hand, Cassidy's storyline for months is that he's fighting hurt and refuses to take a break, and that clearly won't end until someone breaks him, so he can return stronger than ever. I'd kinda like to see Moxley hold the international title just to add to its prestige, so I'd be cool with him winning here to set up Orange winning a rematch later on. But under the circumstances, you've only got one chance to headline a PPV with this matchup, for this title. So there are plenty of reasons to just let Cassidy win the big one.

MJF & Adam Cole vs. John Silver & Alex Reynolds - Max and Cole won the ROH tag team title at Wembley Stadium last week; Silver and Reynolds, representing the Dark Order, won a battle royale to earn this title shot.

I expect both sides to get a babyface reaction. The fans love MJF and Cole, even though the entire basis of their friendship is that they bonded over being pricks, and we'll never be sure one won't betray the other. I think the Dark Order is supposed to have turned heel, but they're still so lovable and cuddly that I'm not sure anyone really buys it. Their whole deal now is that they resent Adam Page for "abandoning" them to reconcile with the Elite, so now they're ruthless and looking out for themselves. But it's not going to be easy to get over as selfish heels in the ring against MJF of all people, even if he is a babyface.

It's pretty clear this match is just a pit stop for Cole and MJF, on their way to a reckoning with Cole's former friends Roderick Strong, Mike Bennett, and Matt Taven. Unless those three guys interfere somehow, I don't see any chance of Silver and Reynolds winning the belts. Actually, even if there's a bunch of interference, I'd say the champs are heavy favorites to retain.

Kenny Omega vs. Konosuke Takeshita - Omega and Takeshita have since clashed in various tag team matches, but this is their first singles encounter. As Don Callis has helpfully pointed out, Kenny has not won a singles match since Don betrayed Kenny on May 10.

When Callis arrived in AEW in late 2020, he was symbolic of Omega's heel turn. Once Kenny basically went babyface in 2022, it was only a matter of time before Don turned on him. By November 2022 Callis was scouting Takeshita, raising questions about whether he was looking to replace Kenny. It seemed like Takeshita was too pure of a cinnamon roll to become a ruthless enforcer for Callis, but that's exactly what happened on May 28.

Omega does need to get some payback against Callis and Takeshita, but I don't know that he needs it right now. If he just beats Takeshita clean in the middle of the ring, the storyline's over. That doesn't make any sense when Don has spent months talking about building a new "Don Callis Family," and despite working with half a dozen heels he hasn't actually recruited anyone except Takeshita. We need more guys in this faction, which makes this the perfect opportunity for a new recruit to run in and cost Omega the victory.

Bryan Danielson vs. Ricky Starks - This is a strap match, so the participants will be tied at the wrist to either end of a long leather strap. The goal is be the first person to touch each corner of the ring in succession. I hate strap matches, because the build is "dudes whipping the shit out each other" but then the payoff is "dudes tangled up and reaching for turnbuckles." They always try to lash each other with the strap, but with both ends tied to the wrestlers it's hard to get your body in the proper position for the strappation, dudes.

The setup for this was when Ricky Steamboat refereed CM Punk vs. Starks on August 5, and Starks took Steamboat's belt off and whipped him with it. That was probably going to set up a Punk-Starks rematch on this show, but once that was off the table Starks issued a challenge to Steamboat. Steamboat produced a contract, except it was for Starks to wrestle Danielson, who unexpectedly returned from breaking his arm ten weeks ago. I assume Danielson let Dr. Proper know, and Dr. Unger know, and Dr. Hughes know, that the release forms have been signed, so those guys aren't responsible for the last couple fractures in the forearm, brother.

I assume Danielson will play babyface and get the big comeback win. But I'm rooting for Starks, because he did an amazing promo on September 2 about starting over after the rug was pulled out from under him. Danielson needs to be protected but not nearly as much as Starks needs to be elevated.

Luchasaurus vs. Darby Allin - Luchasaurus is defending the AEW TNT championship, even if his mentor Christian Cage is the one carrying the belt and all but calling himself the titleholder. Cage will be in Lucha's corner, and Allin will be cornered by his young ward, Nick Wayne. Last night Cage told Nick he'd have to throw in the towel for Darby, which may be telegraphing the finish. I suppose it'll be interesting seeing Allin fight someone the size of Luchasaurus, but this feud has been ice-cold for me and so has the Nick Wayne storyline, and combining the two hasn't made either of them better. I get the feeling Luchasaurus retains to drag this out further.

Kris Statlander vs. Ruby Soho - Statlander's AEW TBS title is on the line. Soho is 2-0 against the champion. I vaguely remember that after one of those matches people were outraged because Statlander deserved to win, but honestly that happens so often nowadays that I'm not even sure the match I'm thinking of was these two. Anyway, I don't see much point in a title change right now so I'm sure Statlander will get one of her wins back.

Samoa Joe vs. Shane Taylor - This is for Joe's ROH television title. Taylor was the runner-up to Dalton Castle in a July tournament to earn a title shot, but after Joe defeated Castle they immediately booked another tournament to choose another contender, and this time Taylor won. I have not been terribly impressed with the storytelling in Ring of Honor.

This is a huge opportunity for Taylor. He was with ROH for years, and Tony Khan brought him after the buyout, but he's not one of the ROH guys that got an AEW contract or time on AEW television. This may be the biggest crowd Shane has ever worked in front of, and I think he can deliver at this level. I mean, Joe's still going to beat his ass and retain. But I still think Taylor will turn a few heads.

Miro vs. Powerhouse Hobbs - I decided not to attend this show (last time I went to see wrestling I got COVID) but this is the one match that gives me second thoughts. I don't know what the hell these guys are fighting about but I don't care, and I don't think they do either. They're both huge and mean and they're gonna have a MEAN GUY MATCH~! and I am here for it. Well, not as "here" as I could be, I guess. I am on my couch for it. I'm always gonna root for Hobbs, but honestly it doesn't matter who wins as long as both guys pound the stuffings out of each other.

Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler & Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson vs. Jay White & Juice Robinson & Austin Gunn & Colten Gunn - FTR (Dax & Cash) and the Young Bucks (Matt & Nick) continued their rivalry last week, and the Bucks were salty that they lost. They were trying to have a civil conversation about it on August 30 when Bullet Club Gold interrupted and suggested an eight-man tag match.

Last night's Collision (in the same building as tonight's show) ended with the Bucks saving FTR from Bullet Club Gold, and the Chicago crowd was hostile to CM Punk's top enemies asking for handshakes from CM Punk's top buddies on CM Punk's show, on the night where they announced CM Punk is fired. Thew show went off the air with the Bucks smugly shaking each other's hands, which seems like a ballsy thing to do in Punk territory, when so many weirdos think the Bucks set him up somehow.

Anyway I expect Chicago to be radioactive for the Bucks for years to come, but if they are they'll just love FTR all the more. So the crowd reaction here could be complicated. Kinda thinking White's team should win.

Eddie Kingston & Katsuyori Shibata vs. Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta - Claudio vs. Eddie and Shibata vs. Yuta were two top matches on Ring of Honor's April pay-per-view, so I guess we're running those back as a tag match. We have to be getting back to Claudio-Eddie for the ROH men's world title at some point, but they don't seem to be in a hurry. The babyfaces should win, and it'd be nice if one of them pinned Claudio to set up a title bout.

Billy Gunn & Max Caster & Anthony Bowens vs. Jeff Jarrett & Jay Lethal & Satnam Singh - This is scheduled for the pre-show. Last night Jarrett's group gave celebrity guest star Dennis Rodman a hard time, so the Acclaimed and Billy offered to give them a shot at their trios title, with Rodman in the champs' corner. Billy and the Acclaimed just got new custom pink title belts, so there's no way they're going to lose the championship this soon.

Athena & Diamante & Mercedes Martinez vs. Hikaru Shida & Willow Nightingale & Skye Blue - Another pre-show match. I heard Tony Khan wanted to book Athena vs. Billie Starkz for the ROH women's world title, but Billie's not medically cleared. I don't know why that means Athena can't defend her title against one of the other five women in this match, but whatever. WIllow has has been feuding with Diamante and Martinez of late. Skye is a local girl so she always gets a good Chicago pop. Shida should probably be higher on the card, but maybe she can get an ROH title shot out of this if she wins. Actually, I think Athena's side will win.

Over the Budget Battle Royale - It's a battle royale for the pre-show, and that's all I've got. No participants have been announced, as far as I know. The winner will get to donate $50,000 to the charity of his choice. I assume that's 50k of AEW's money, not the winner's. Literally anything could happen with this, but I suppose a babyface needs to win.

[petrichoraline]

wait stay by my side is good??? and no one told me??? or maybe i keep confusing stay by side and stay with me lol

as someone who is all caught up on both shows - they're both fun 😄

this ask is from three days ago when I talked about how stay by my side (taiwanese show about a boy who can hear ghosts and the guy who gives him a break through touch) had a very fun sixth episode. i wasn't into the show that much but ep.6 gave me some heart-fluttering moments and cute angst that I neither took seriously nor disliked - it was fun for me because of the execution, the fact I don't take anything happening in the show to heart and because the show is short enough so I sensed a resolution was coming very soon 😁

now ive seen episode 7 as well and I can say 6 is definitely my fave. the conflicts are predictable, theres nothing really new but thats what goves you the safe feeling - you dont risk breaking your heart watching it haha. i'd recommend this in case you want a quick sweet watch with "cute silly boy denying his feelings" and "cold rude guy turned passionate suitor". it's the lightest watch i've seen in a while and it's my palette cleanser these days (everything I watch is angsty apparently and the angst supreme™️ trio of loa, of and dr hasn't even reared its ugly head yet lol)

stay with me (the og title of which I find real cute: "gege, don't run") is as far as I know a remake of addicted - a chinese bl that was Very direct in regards to what it's about and therefore got canceled AND banned and the main actors - banned from interacting with each other on tv or at public events for years; I thought swm would be a story set in the same universe or smth but as I watched the first episode I kept getting deja vu until I realised it's the same plot lol

it's about two teens whose dad and mom, respectively, got together - the boys claim to hate each other before they even meet, then fate brings them together without them recognizing each other and shenanigans ensue. it's about found family, finding common ground with parents you can't communicate with, about forgiveness and acceptance. the characters are very lovable <3 the crew is doing their best fighting censorship so it's very clear that the couple are not just bros. they can't, however, do what addicted did so many might prefer the 2016 show. I, personally, was not a fan of the mains in that - wu bi is too possessive for me in this version but his predecessor was Something Else

it's a very standard modern mainland china show. the reason im mentioning this is because of clips on tt and having not seen a cdrama in a while, i had the impression itd be more like a taiwanese or korean bl. the editing, dubbing, bizarrely cut scenes - nothing new in cdrama land. i was wondering if I would recommend it but I think I would, yes. some coincidences and plot points are just so beyond belief that you'd roll your eyes but it's not smth unheard of when it comes to asian dramas haha and I think you'd get so caught up in the angst, domesticity and hunting down hints spread around like easter eggs that you just won't mind the convenient plots (if you would care bout such a thing in the first place)

I'm doing a bad job at promoting this show but I do want more people to see it. the cast is perfect imo (..except for duo duo, I'm sorry but that bby cannot act..her face and aura suit the character though), the sets are all amazing (I like the school, I like su yu's home, I like the shared space later on etc.etc., all decor is very well picked and pleasant to the eye) and the moral of the story is heartwarming, its execution too.

you get passionate hot-headed athletic rich boy who's crazy for his equally smitten furrow-browed genius humble guy - they both value family and each other very much and are willing to do everything for those close to them. it's very endearing and their dynamic is swoonworthy, they're a complete power couple.

(also, spoiler, you get enemies to friends to lovers which is pretty neat)(the spark is there from day 1 tho)

EDIT: i wrote this before the final two episodes were released so disclaimer - POST FINALE SPOILER: if you don't like open endings, esp distressing ones, i don't advise you watch it now - better wait for a secure second season

[dukeofankh]

...nah though. For real, you don't have to do all that.

Look. Communication is a group project. There is no centralized universal meaning for literally any word or concept. The exact same phrase can read radically differently depending on the cultural context it's placed in. It's not the sole job of the speaker to communicate perfectly. It's also the job of the audience to do the work of trying to understand what they meant.

This thing you're doing? Creating all of these hypothetical audience members and rephrasing what you're saying to accomodate them? It is just as possible for the reader to do that with the speaker. It is possible to read something and go "oh, when they say that bdsm is sex for autistic people, they're probably making a statement about the clear communication and vocalization of expectations and how afterwards you get explicitly told that everyone had a good time so there's no reason to worry. They probably weren't like, saying that all autistic people like bdsm or that if you like bdsm you're autistic." For example.

People just don't tend to do that because empathy is exhausting. Trying to see things from other people's point of view takes effort, and it's pretty common and frankly rational in a lot of cases to just not bother. Because if a person is actively malicious and hates you, seeing things from their perspective hurts.

You don't have to do this nearly as hard in irl conversations because you have a set, concrete context for what is being said and who's saying it. Social media does away with that. Suddenly every statement is anonymous and devoid of context. Anything could be said by a monstrous, malicious asshole, or by a sweet lil angel.

You see just as many posts on this site that demonstrate the other side of this. A commenter radically misunderstanding posts to be endorsements of their way of thinking, even when they're explicitly the target of the criticism.

Frankly, most of the time, people are more likely to decide how they interpret a statement based on who they think said it and their socio-political allegiances than an appraisal of the words they said and what they likely meant--because it's just frankly easier than actually engaging with the intended meaning of a person's words and ideas. And that goes for both enemies and allies.

When talking to toddlers, you have to be extremely, explicitly clear about what you say, cover every possibility you can think of in which they might misunderstand it, and with trial and error and experience, you'll learn to also cover the possibilities that wouldn't have crossed your mind. If you tell a toddler, "whatever you do, do not touch that electric wire. Not even with your pinky finger, because if you do, you will die" and once you're finally sure they understood that, you'll turn your eyes away for two seconds

and they're right at the wire, trying to see what happens if they'll touch it with their pinky toe instead.

You don't usually have to do this with adults. An adult who is allergic to pineapples can hear someone say, "eating pineapple is good for you", evaluate this piece of information, conclude that this is probably true for people who aren't allergic to pineapple, shrug it off and carry on with their day.

Unless you're on tumblr. Tumblr posts must be worded like toddler talk, cover every possibility in which someone might misunderstand it, remember to mention people who do not have this problem you are talking about, cannot employ this solution, or who otherwise have nothing to do with this conversation.

You can't just say "eating pineapple is good for you", you'll have to make sure to specify "eating pineapple is good, unless you are allergic to pineapple, in which case do not eat pineapple". And then get promptly informed that you you forgot to mention people who suffer from some extremely rare cliantro-soap-gene that makes pineapple taste like ass, and consequently offended someone who still ships Harry Potter Characters.

[fagcrush]

"maybe I should share my list of shit I had to put up with" Doooo it

Well here u go anon!

Wasn't gonna do this but if ppl wanna sit here and vague me I'm gonna be the one to actually say whats up.

I do want to say I do not think I was fully innocent in this group. I did tend to vent to much and drive topics into the ground. I was in a pretty awful place for awhile, was not being treated for stuff I needed to be treated for, had few ways to cope, and made it others problem. I've had time to reflect now that my head is more clear and I'm more medicated and stuff and yeah removing me was reasonable but the way they went about it and the way one mod (who I'll call Mod A through this) was constantly aggressive with me and took issue with things that weren't actually problems is my issue.

It's a long list (literally went over nitro limit) so. Under a read more

When I first moved in w my now ex roommate, we had an incident where they went on a week long vacation when we were struggling to pay rent, and the only thing they talked about was how they were going to have sex I started confusion offer them going so far out of town and only talking about that, and Mod A snapped and said it's not my business and I'm being weird. I think it is my business if they're taking time off work when we have bills to pay.

There was a point where I wanted to try to do content creation full time bc of all the stress trying to find a consistent, good job post-pandemic, working a fucking shitty ass job (one of those ppl trying to sell you shit in the middle of Walmart), I made a little half-joke about paying for the stream coaching advertised on a bottle of soda I had. Mod A for some reason felt the need to get snippy about this, and I kind of snipped back about how I just really want to stream full time because my job is making me extremely unhappy, and it was like "well if you worked better at your job maybe you'd be happy" (which. Damn. How's that boot taste)

I shared a post where I felt someone was being incredibly cruel over a small innocent comment, and Mod A said that the person was justified and funny. Which. I don't remember the thread exactly but it was a small comment that the person could have silently blocked over if it bothered them that much, rather than making a show of it and putting a person on blast, especially given tumblrs hobby of telling people to kill themselves after theyve been "owned." The argument ended with it telling me to "get over" being bullied for being too weird for others, which I stated is the reason I hate the cruelty over minorly "annoying."

Several people in the server were the "it's the fault of third party voters and people who abstain of trump wins" type. The argument happened very early into the election season but

Someone sent me a very vague anon about something a friend of mine did, with zero detail or anything, and then blocked me and now people treat me like a horrible person for taking the side of the person that actually gave me context and talked like an adult.

I was removed from the "irl" side channel some of the closer members were allowed in without being told or warned because I got mad that an ex friend (also incredibly petty drama) gave some personal info out about me for like. No reason.

I was frequently given advice when I did not ask for it, and then people would get mad that I wasn't taking the advice. I think the worst case of this was being given advice on how to make my rp replies longer when I was ranting about elitism in the rp community. That's not what I said. I said I want people to be more accepting of short form and even gave an example of my own rp that's well developed when a lot of our replies are dialogue only. Yeah I should have dropped it long ago but is it really that hard to say "Do you want advice?"

One person was just. Really set on ignoring everything going on in Palestine because "it makes me sad."

Another person constantly huffed and puffed about the PS5 not having exclusives, and ignored me when I tried to explain that most people STILL can't afford a PS5 because it came out smack dab in the middle of a recession and at one point cost basically as much as a used car.

This person also got real huffy and pouty about person giving valid criticism to genshins character models always drastically changing from the announcement art.

I talked frequently about how much I love the group mygo from bang dream. About my frustration when they were delayed, about how I wish I knew more ppl that liked them, about how much their music means to me. When they got added to en, Mod A decided to just say "idgaf about mygo" and it just. Felt rlly hurtful, especially considering it can't handle people not liking bnha

it also loved to hate on morfonica, another group I frequently expressed my love for bc I relate to the singer Mashiro and her struggles. And idk in general I think having this much vitriol for fictional teenage girls while you like bakugo just makes you look like a clown.

Mod A was talking about the BNHA Burger King Collab in France, and I pointed out we shouldn't be celebrating this since Burger King is on the BDS list, and it just kept talking about how excited it is.

When I was visiting an out of town friend, we were thinking of going to see a movie. The only things playing the day and time we could go were Beetlejuice and the Deadpool and Wolverine movie. My husband is incredibly uncomfortable w Beetlejuice bc of the whole dating a teenager plot point, and I was hearing mixed things on Marvel movies being boycotted bc of the Captain America movie, so I asked the server if they knew. For some reason someone got... Really passive aggressive with me for asking, without even knowing why I was asking, and told me to just pirate it. Like I know I can do that. I was asking because I want to go out and do something with a friend but our options are limited. (And yet someone celebrating an actually BDS boycotted thing is perfectly fine! When I found out later that the only thing BDS asked people to boycott was Captain America!)

Mod A was just. Weirdly obsessed with omegaverse stuff w b/akudek/u (censoring so it doesn't pop up in the search) and while the conversation was technically sfw, omegaverse is still at its core a fetish that you shouldn't be applying to underage character. You literally can't seperate it from its core being "There are people who need to fuck monthly or they get incredibly sick/die." And especially w BNHA's tendency to sexualize underage characters it's just. Nasty.

They were really nasty and negative toward vtuber merch and I would ask ppl to cool it down bc I love vtuber merch and they like. Wouldn't.

Also really nasty towards people that like Project Sekai knowing I liked it.

In general there was honestly a lot of hypocrisy with "You can't even criticize my interests, but I'm gonna totally trash on yours."

I was like... Removed without being told. And they didn't consult the owner or anything.

While some things were understandable like me venting about things and not stopping, part of their problem is what I've talked about with people saying it's "TMI" for me to use vague terms to talk about my husband and I trying to have a baby. Also apparently me talking a lot about how I hate how the Deco*27 song Rabbit Hole was kind of bastardized by a really weird animation and how the animation ended up more popular than the official key art. God forbid I want a song about trauma not to turn into "LOOK Miku is having SEX LOL."

Tbh just... Overall the way Mod A was allowed to bully me constantly was so weird.

Oh and this stuff from Mod A and another mod on Tumblr after I was kicked

I'm sure I'm missing shit bc that was just such a bad environment but hey.

[rainy-weather-supremacy]

I STRIKE BACK!

Which character would survive being exiled in Antarctica?

Funniest thing a character has said or done?

Tell me some more about your magic system! I love magic systems!

Where do your characters live?

If her brother is a evil landlord then what’s Marys job?

Who would you NEVER want to hang out with?

Who is most like you?

If you could put them in a specific time period and place in history, where would it be?

Does your story have multiverses?

Who are Granny’s and Mary’s wives?

Why did your characters end up the way they did?

One: Probably Mikaela, since they can make magical fire that would keep them warm.

Two: This one is hard bc as I think I mentioned I don't have any real story yet.... One thing that's kinda funny is that Jamie has had two seperate occasions where both she and the other person wanted to kill each other and ended up dating both. Also once Avery was trying to dig a grave for someone and accidentally dug up Daniel who was just vibing in the earth.

Three: The magic system doesn't really have any hard rules, there's just magic everywhere manifesting in different ways- Trees that make their surroundings cold or drain the light like a cloud around them, green flames carried on the wind etc. People can use this magic to do whatever they were born to do and with some studying, you can also learn a few other kinds of magic.

Four: I don't know what country they're living in, but Daniel, Jamie, Ozan and Avery live in a house in the city. Jane and Mary live on a top floor apartment somewhere in a different city. Mikaela and Tara live on a pirate ship, Camilla in Nature and Jackson also has a house. For the rest I don't know.

Five: Mary doesn't really have a job. If she does, the description is something along the lines of 'storm witch' or something like that. She can't really keep the storms away, nor does she want to, so sometimes there's just a storm and she runs around looking cool. That is her job. (Thank jod she has a wife with a job lmao)

Six: Hmm, tough one. Most of them can be pretty scary, but I actually think I couldn't stand to be around Granny without feeling bad for her and also for myself and she has a kind of weird effect that makes you feel weird too which I wouldn't wanna be anywhere near- Yikes!

Seven: Most like me... I think Arthur is kinda similar to me, because he likes watching the stars and has social anxiety and stuff but still is cool (Like me obviously) (And you in case that wasn't already clear :D 👍)

Eight: The french revolution, just to watch all of the chaos they'd cause. Mary would 100% try to get Daniel beheaded. Tara has never had more fun getting people that deserve it killed. It think they deserve to go there. As a treat.

Nine: They don't explore the multiverse or anything, but it does simply so that I can make the story where they are all in medieval times canon.

Ten: Granny's wife is Esther and Mary's wife is Jane.

Eleven: Ohh okay. Well, Mary is the way she is because her parents were really ducked up and she responded to violence with violence. The storms make her feel free. I made her because I wanted a cool character. Jane hates the way her flesh is, partially because she's trans, so she is now working on replacing it with carefully carved wood. I made here so Mary can have a cool wife. Daniel started off as a kind of antagonist to Mary but I really like him now, he had the same bad parents as her and he's like that because his first path of action is now manipulation bc if it worked then why not now. Avery was a bit more fucked up first but it's the way it is because it came from a very rich family where people where cold and backstabbers to even their loved ones. They also hunted a lot, so she does that now too but different (TM). Ozan lost his legs for some unknow reason and just started telling lies about it and now the reason he lost his legs are different every day (It's the worst when he wakes up and finds that he currently still has legs because then he actually has to go through it again). I'm not sure why I created him but he's here now and not leaving. (CW: CHILD DEATH) Leon I thought of when listening to 'welcome to the internet' and heard the phrase "here's a nine year old who died". He is the way he is because he was always very indifferent about death, so much so that when he got run over by a car he didn't really die. He's a ghost now that can only touch things that will die soon. That's also the reason his sister Camilla is like that, tough I'm not exactly sure what lead to her cooking with rotten food and having moss grow in her hair. She's just silly like that. Created because I thought of the phrase "my cousine Carmilla from the Corruption" and thought it was funny. For Tara I just took the aroace siren and added agender. I think that probably something fucked up ahppened to them but who knows, they just want revenge on everyone now. Mikaela was also just there someday and their story has something to do with running away, but once again has not been worked out. Toby didn't mean to start taking happiness from the people by watching them but it happened because he liked to observe them and I guess he was just so happy about them being happy that they were no longer happy, if that makes sense. I made him because wouldn't that be fucked and Arthur was based on another character I made once that started existing when humans observed the stars for the first time and ceased to exist after the last. Arthur was kinda bullied and stuff, so he just turned to the sky for comfort. His loneliness attracted some kind of magic power, so here he is. Jamie was kind of smiliar, with being made fun of in school until he was afraid of being known. The darkness, where no one can know what you look like, called to him so much that he can now shapeshift freely as long as he's in the dark. Esther I made because I thought a mysterious but kind grandma with kinda evil intentions would be cool. I have no idea why she's like that she just is. Granny was the last one I made but I kinda just got the idea fully-formed in my head one day. She's like that because she magically went insane, but I don't know why yet. Jackson I made because it would be funny to have a normal dude and tbh he's just vibing and George the monster baby bc it would be funny to have a baby in the family. He's a monster because his parents where and he might actually come from another world.

Thanks! I will return it tomorrow 😈

[vvatchword]

I'm Gonna Die Mad about It

So: I finished Stephen King's It.

This book was nearly "perfect" with a capital "P." So fucking close!! I cannot begin to explain to you how pretty the prose was, how well-written and unique the book is on a technical level, how neatly the research and symbolism and theming all fit, the Grade-A characterization and setting.

Just one element holds this book back: his treatment of women is fucking dire. Just the worst thing you've ever seen. If he were a shitty writer, you could just chalk it up to him being shitty, but--like I've said in a previous post--his second-rate treatment is obvious precisely because of his god-tier skill.

Spoilers follow.

Women Are Cardstock

I have been reading this book in chunks over the past six months to a year--I don't even remember when I started, now--and for a while I took my time because I enjoyed it so damn much. On two occasions, I had to put it down for a few weeks because I got so fucking mad. Beverly and Audra are treated like sexual objects over and over and over, which is a big deal because Beverly is our major female character and Audra is as close as we get to a second.

Oh, actually: there's another major female character. You just didn't realize it. The monster It was female, and part of the story involves the main characters curb-stomping her eggs before they can hatch and escape.

There's nothing wrong with It being female. In fact, thematically speaking, this fits. There's just one problem, and it demands just a little explanation: you know how most Stephen King stories have two-dimensional characters, usually in villain roles? They're just nasty for the sake of being nasty, and they do horrible over-the-top things to other people, and we get to clap when they die in horrible ways. Some good examples would be Henry Bowers and some of his friends.

Well, King doesn't do this to just any character. Most of his characters are well-rounded, and even minor characters feel like someone you might meet on the street. Frankly, I enjoy his villains. It is definitely an acknowledgment that every now and then you get an awful human being, and it's enjoyable from an entertainment standpoint.

In a story that is absolutely filled to the brim with supporting characters, most are male, all with a variety of roles, jobs, personalities, and so on. But absolutely every single female character is reducible to a two-note role. Beverly and Audra are two-note good because they're sexually available and pretty; Mrs. Kaspbrak is two-note bad because of her comical ugliness (read: you don't want to fuck her) and behavior and is as close as we get to a fourth major female character. The other reoccuring female characters are so minor that they are essentially two-note themselves. Women fill very limited roles, perform very limited tasks, and are mostly notable in stereotypical ways--Mother, Grandparent, Wife, Nurse, Teacher, Clerk, Waitress, Sexual Assault Victim--all the way up to the monster, who is Itself a two-note Evil.

Looking in the Mirror

Sometimes, when a book has an obvious flaw, it's just a small comment on the author, and you can go on. It's not really worth talking about because the Yikes isn't always foundational. But Its sexism is astoundingly foundational. It's downright thematic. Women are represented as wellsprings and sexual, almost magical in Bev's case. Don't do that, jesus christ. A "good" stereotype is just as bad as a bad one. You shouldn't reduce Native people to "noble savages," you shouldn't reduce Chinese people to "always savants," you don't do "magical heart of the family" women. Part of equity is recognizing that people can be bad and complicated. ALL people.

A good example would be the underage sex scene. Now, it wasn't as bad as I expected it to be--only King could have fucking pulled this off without making me throw the book across the room--but I am also going to say: the reason he wrote it was extremely suspect. See, it was clear he had a hard-on for Beverly as a character--constantly noting her sexuality both as an adult and as a prepubescent, which went to skin-crawling levels--and he wanted her to be fucked. Oh, god, he needed her fucked so so bad.

Now, the ending of the childhood arc could have ended with the children cutting their palms and holding hands. This would have satisfied his need for a symbolic illustration of the Circle, the joining of the wheel, the coupling of the links, and, I guess, the exchange of fluids. But, true to form, he wanted something with a bit more pizzazz--most specifically, to show the death of childhood. Now, I'm not sure how else to do it--and it's certainly possible that sex could have played a role--but he did NOT need Bev to fuck everybody. It was transparently clear that he wanted everybody to fuck her for other reasons, and I must stress: she was a fucking child, and would be one for some time afterward.

I feel like I could go on for about ten paragraphs about the meta of a book--why authors choose the characters, subjects, problems, symbols, and contexts that they do--and when those choices become transparent and reveal the magician behind the curtain. See, there are moments where It becomes more about the author than the story being told. That's the gross factor, not the fact that underage sex occurs. It doesn't mean that authors can't write about underage sex or unfaithful spouses or kids being motherfuckers or use those elements symbolically. I mean, those things absolutely happen, and harsh truths are some of King's calling cards, and I am grateful to him for that. What is gross is an adult getting a hard-on for a baby and wanting that baby to get fucked.

Why Fucking?

As we all know, fucking is not in and of itself a sign of childhood's end. Why couldn't Bev's period be just as symbolic, for example? Well, we can't use that, because boys don't have periods, so how else do we show that everyone has stepped up out of their old roles into new ones, preferably simultaneously and directly after their first encounter with It?

I'd argue that the act of leaving childhood is a number of life experiences that put the Fear of God into you, and that you really only hit adulthood sometime in your 30s, and some people never hit it at all--due to anything from limitations of intellect and dogma to the cushion of wealth. I'd argue that trying to illustrate it by sex is extremely simplistic and even a bit insulting. I mean, you've never seen dumbass teens flying after that forbidden fruit? Do you ever think, "Yeah, that sure isn't a child! That highly unstable horny motherfucker right over there."

First of all: King used this as a way to show the kids stepping over the boundary from childhood to teenhood. To which I say, as a lifelong asexual: lol. But I guess that's 80s America for you. Sex was a bigger deal back then.

Secondly, he used this to show the Losers as binding to each other--joining the circle, in essence. Okay, then why didn't all of the characters fuck each other regardless of sex? This would have been as equally symbolic of the joining, if not MORE so, because the Losers' linkage should have been about the union of EVERY MEMBER, not of everyone unifying to fuck the same person. Why was Beverly's fuckhole more sanctified than, say, Bill's? Or P in V more noble than a handjob?

Here's where we see that double standard in action: Beverly was an object to be fucked and romantically desired, but the male characters were fully-fledged beings whose sexuality was one part of several parts. She was only there to fulfill them. They were not inherently sexually desirable--only she was. They are certainly spoken of sexually in the book, but these descriptions tend to be obvious, clinical signs of puberty for the most part. They're treated respectfully, in short.

(Notable, too, that Mike Hanlon and Stan Uris--as the other token minorities in the group--get more explanations of and respect for their backgrounds than Bev does. If you don't think I'm taking this lesson to heart...)

Thirdly, it's a sign of how 80s-era King saw sex and women: as symbols of life, with the act of procreation in the face of death and destruction. That's not necessarily incorrect, but it can be taken to a regressive place, and he went there. I'm just gonna say that the death of the only obvious gay character in the book becomes a little more interesting with this reveal.

This also makes It more interesting as a character: It reproduces asexually. I suppose it is also possible that it can't create anything of its own--perhaps It consumes children to create its own? Regardless, this implies that the act of fucking itself is something more than the act. Now, by the end of the book, King defines the true life drive as "desire"... not sure I followed him there, but then again I did read the book over an enormous period of time and probably missed a lot of connecting tissue. I'll have to come back to this.

I'm Coming Back to This

As mad as Its stances on sexuality and women made me... this book is incredibly fucking good. I already want to read it again. King is a master of the craft. Not many people can do this shit. The very act of intertwining the childhood parts with the adult part, which could have been clumsy or terrible in anyone else's hands, works perfectly here. His prose is beautiful and there are lots of wonderful lines. He fully develops every character and setting. I want my own copy to scribble in.

My favorite part was when King brought each adult characters' fears to life. Up to this point, I may have been a little, uh... well, I may have laughed a few times. King has this one stylistic fetish where he gets gratuitously gross and there's a point where it's not scary, it's just kinda stupid. It's the equivalent of an 8-year-old boy with his sleeves folded over his hands coming up to you and slapping a frog into your open hand. Like, yep, honey, that's a frog. Put it back.

So while there were a couple of monsters that definitely gave me chills, for the most part I was like, "Ohhhh are there worms in his mouth now, Stephen? Are you gonna talk about exposed intestines now, Stephen? Is the head leaning halfway off the neck with an eyeball hanging out, Stephen? Hurrrrr that's not how bodies work hurrrrr"

Needless to say, because I wasn't scared, I was basically doing that thing where I was thinking: "Well, if I saw this monster in quite this way, I would have done this or this or this."

But with the appearance of one of Its final forms, it clicked. I got it. And I was able to extrapolate from the fear a character felt to some fears in my own life. It was remarkably powerful. Its appearance was perfect in that moment, and a lot of the book slotted into place for me. I was able to look at my own fear in the face--realize what shape It would take in adulthood.

That right there is the magic of literature, lemme tell you. I had a healing moment last night.

I highly recommend giving It a read.

As for me, I'm about to read a LOT more classic King. Stick around to hear me huff and puff about Carrie or something, idk