#also it has. a fucking barometer??? for some reason?

[ttngummybear]

My new phone arrived today, and I found out that USA models of Samsung devices can't be rooted at all. Poo.

... But, at this point, I've already learned all the workarounds I need after all my struggles with the teracube over the years. I know how to preserve my jotterpad documents, and I know how to fix my alarm app so it can access all my music files. I even know how to dig all the way into my storage, even with the restrictions they have on that these days.

If I ever need a rooted device for something, my teracube will still be around, retired to a drawer.

I'm not fully switching to the new phone just yet. I'm waiting on the case and phone grip I ordered for it to come first. That's gonna be a few days.

[nanshe-of-nina]

Trent: … He (John Malm) said, “I’m also gonna tap out” because, um, for whatever his reasons were, felt like it ran its course. And he said, “just please keep me in touch with what you’re up to because, you know, I think you have talent.” And as I was working on these songs in the studio at night, and I had Chris Vrenna who was my good friend, right hand man, drummer, confidant. We weren’t sitting jamming together creating music, but it could be, “Does this suck?” “No, it doesn’t suck.” That’s all I needed; you know? Or, “It kind of sucks”, you know.

Rick: Friend with taste that you thought was at least give you some barometer.

Trent: Kept me sane. And was a good friend and, and did have good taste, you know. It was his insistence of, I remember when De La Soul’s “3 ft high and rising” came out and he was working in a record shop and he brought it home because he, he’d get promos of everything and we put it on. And we’re looking at each other like, “What the fuck is this? Is this, this could be the worst thing I’ve...  They can’t do that, can they? What’s that? A fucking, you know, that French demo of some sort there, you know, like you’re not allowed to do that.”

You know, it, it puzzled me in a way that was, but it was him saying, “You know what? I listen to that record again without you, man, I’m gonna put it on. I gotta listen to that again,” you know, and I realize, “You’re right, man. I, I didn’t understand it and we...

Rick: Didn’t have any context to it. That’s the beauty of the early hip hop stuff. It really did come from outer space.

. . .

Trent: And I may, I may have fucked up the timeline here, but before Nine Inch Nails is out playing live. And I’m trying to think about how to make it work in my mind. What I don’t want to do is have someone faking playing drums, standing up hitting a pad. I don’t wanna do that. I want it to feel visceral and I want to feel like it can fuck up if it needs to, you know, it can have some volatility to it. Jane’s Addiction puts out Nothing Shocking. I had not heard the triple X record before that. Chris Vrenna brings that record home and right after De La Soul, “Let’s check this out.”

I don’t know, kind of retro-y, kind of fucking weird. Kind of cool. Kind of, I’m not sure, you know, it was in that phase of the first exposure, right? It sounds weird, you know, it sounds cool. But is it, is it cool or is it, you know... Now, also, as I recall, they’re on Warner Brothers and Warner Brothers is really pushing the shit out of this band and it was the opposite of what we had, right? And they’re gonna be playing at the club downtown Cleveland Peabody’s down under and it’s subsidized by the record label. It’s only five bucks to go see him. Motherfucker! You know, I’m jealous of that, you know? All right, let’s go see him.

And it was the perfect time where we heard the record in a handful of times enough that we’re familiar with it. Don’t quite get it. Not in an avant garde, I don’t understand way. I just, I’m not sure. I’m not, I don’t know yet. It reminds me of something that you told me, I’ll get to in a second. Standing in the middle of the floor. It’s club. They come out; it was so fucking good. I mean, it sounded great. They looked like freaks. Perry was hypnotic and in a weird trance and a ... God damn, you know. I look at Chris and he’s looking at me like...  defeated in a good way, you know, like just utterly …

Rick: Inspired!

Trent: Inspired in an all right, I’m coming at it with a little competitive, like, you know, and it, it’s OK: that’s where the bar is. In terms of, we have to be able to make an audience do that. Not, not with the same rules and levers, but it has to feel as vibrant and as dangerous and as volatile and beautiful as that. It can’t be a fucking tape playing back.

It has to have that thing that makes it, you know, and that became a kind of thing we thought about quite a bit in terms of... when I saw we I mean Chris and I... figuring out how to pull it off and ... The decision was made to have a drummer playing real drums and have a guitar player. But keep that aspect of the sound that we like, which is the mechanized sequence, rigidness, the purposely nonhuman bit of it. And the easiest way to do that would just be put it on a track of tape. So, it’s two things can break: the tape or the tape machine. It’s not a computer and a fucking bullshit. Right. Drummer has a click. There’s a playback track of sequence. Live band. Let’s try it. And, and that recipe, I thought worked really well.

— excerpts from Rick Rubin's Tetragrammaton podcast, 14 June 2023

[delta-lethonomia]

Re: the most recent ask prompt you reblogged.

I suppose this would be under the "asks about your works" section, but really it's a question about craft/process.

So, as a fellow author but not a writer of smut, I'd love to know how you approach writing sex scenes. I've only ever written 2, and neither are very graphic. I struggle so much trying to find an engaging way to block the characters and follow the action in such a way that doesn't drag down the pacing and/or just come out super cumbersome, so I wanted to ask you.

For All the Wrong Reasons has (no exaggeration) masterful sex scenes, both because they're smoking (lol) and because they do so much work in the story still—like they're not at all superfluous. So yeah! I would love to get some insight into your process/approach.

Oooh! Thanks for asking <3 Funnily enough, FATWR's starts off with literally the second sex scene I'd ever written in my whole life, so I feel like I've learned a lot as the fic progressed.

I'll get to pacing and action in a moment, but to start: the most important thing is why are they having sex right now. I do really enjoy smut scenes, but there are so many that are superfluous, even intentionally so, and I think that's probably the first mistake people make.

In a relationship, having sex for the first time (or in general) can both be a big deal but it's also an excellent barometer of what's going on in the relationship itself: people are more honest, more vulnerable, and the things they do (or conversely don't do) can say so much about them. There's a tendency nowadays to pretend that sex scenes don't add anything to a story, that they're purely for a vaguely pornographic, misogynistic, "male gaze"-y purpose and therefor "bad/unethical", or they're made deliberately superfluous so they can be skipped (for commercial release, to lower the rating, to let sex-averse or underage readers skip without missing the plot) that I think people overall have absorbed this notion that sex scenes in general are pointless - and that's false. Sex scenes and smut are great opportunities for character development!!!

Ok, so, I'll be using Tav as the example because you're familiar with her and the fic overall. Tav's a very sexual person who has repressed that for some time, so when she decides to go for Astarion, a lot of repressed desires bubble to the surface. Sex is her main way of connecting with people: she wants sex when she wants to connect more deeply, and struggles when Astarion wants to take a step back because it feels like a rejection of intimacy and the building relationship. But because sex is so tied to power with her, she also wants to have sex when she feels the need to clarify the power dynamics between them (hence the gauntlet of Shar scene, and why she choose certain acts as well). A character without such a fucked up/power-driven backstory is probably not gonna wanna bang every time their partner disagrees with them. Some characters might want to bang after an action sequences; others might want some physical comfort only once they're safe and secure at home. Tav would fuck in a hallway: Astarion hits on her once safe within her house. It needs to make sense for the moment and the events that lead them there.

Smut also needs to serve a point. Some plot point or character development needs to be made, otherwise it is superfluous. All the smut in FATWR either reveals something about Tav's past (via her reactions) or is a breakthrough in terms of what Astarion is willing to put up with and/or how much Tav decides to push him. If the scene can be skipped - if any scene can be skipped - you should probably cut it.

Onto the smut itself: the things characters are into (or not into) needs to make sense. It's infuriating when people write characters that are people in the book, but once their clothes come off they suddenly degrade into bioessentialist "male/female" puppets that act out some boring heteronormative fantasy sex, which is especially egregious in same sex couples where authors go "but who's the lady, though?" Everyone has sex differently, but honestly, it's probably gonna be pretty in line with who they are as a person in general, especially if we're talking about an older, more self-confident character. Younger people can surprise you - i.e. "super shy girl is actually a secret dominatrix" - but that's a lot less common with older characters as they grow older unless there's some serious outside pressure to keep the freakyness hidden.

Pacing and detail: when people are aroused, they read faster. This makes writing smut a bit different than writing other sections, because in smut, sometimes you actually want to write more than you would otherwise. You want to make it last so they can enjoy it. The readers are reading faster, so feed them more and control their pace that way. Shorter sentences and/or broken sentences are good for climactic scenes, because those speed up the pace again.

Like in real life, the difference between good sex and great sex is the emotion. Definitely keep track of the bodies and the hands - nothing worse that picturing a scene in your head and realizing the character must be twisted up into a pretzel - but the feeling, the emotion, the intimacy is what really matters. Describe enough to titillate and set the scene, but honestly, with less detail, people are going to picture what they want to picture, and it's gonna be hotter than anything you could write anyway because it's straight from their own minds. Some people like a lot of detailed cocks - others think they look like naked mole rats. Can't make them both happy!

Which ties into the most important point of all: Write what gets you (or your character) off. Don't be ashamed, don't pull any punches - commit. Go wild. There's no barrier too far. Reading is all about suspension of disbelief and you as the author need to take people on a journey that you fully 1000% believe in. I read a smut scene once where a girl got off using worms in her vagina. Gross? Yeah. But for the duration of reading it, it was hot, and that's what made it memorable. Delude yourself that you're completely into this one particular thing like your life depends on it, because if you don't think it's hot, then your readers won't either.

Last but not least: Don't be too strict with it. Here's where I made a mistake recently: there was a post going around about Astarion trying weed and having sex while under the influence, and like the rest of us degenerates, I went "oooooh that's hot, yeah, I wanna write that." I'd already decided months ago that there was a blowjob scene going to happen because I wanted to write a blowjob scene, so these two ideas merged into "Astarion tries weed at Tav's house, and gets the best head of his life." Nice, right?

No. This was not easy peasy lemon squeezy, this was lemon fucking difficult. The weed was fine - it made sense for Tav's character, and I lowkey wanted to imply her potions work had a seedier/drug-related side. But she would only smoke if very stressed, and Astarion's a judgemental prick who'd only go for it in certain circumstances. Hence, the Astral-touched tadpole cockblock. Great, now they're high, and Astarion's got the munchies - well, Tav's already down with being bitten all the time, she smoked to get out of her head and enjoys pain for the same reason. Now we're going for a masochistic biting fest with lowered inhibitions, and Astarion, who has not forgotten his intention to seduce her, starts to make some moves.

I wanted to write a blowjob scene because of my oral fixation because I literally never see them in smut. A lot of smut is written by women, for women: blowjobs just feel like work, sometimes, or can be gross if you think dicks look like naked mole rats. A blowjob, for Tav, was always going to feel like work just because of her history, even if she loves Astarion enough she wanted to give him one.

What I wanted to write was a cute sloppy blowjob in the sunlight after smoking a bunch of weed together (that also pointed to Tav's prostitute history). What I got was a violent throatfuck. My "requirements" were too strict, and I contorted the plot to make it work. I am happy with what happened because it pushed the plot forward, so yes, hold your characters over what you think ought to happen - but because I was strict about it, it didn't go the way I planned, and the overall vibe is different than what I wanted. So, really, like with sex in real life: keep it organic. Go with the flow. If you try and force it, it might go directions you don't see coming, for better or for worse, but that's also just writing in general tbh.

....but also have a document of sex scene ideas that sound hot. For inspiration. Yes. You never know when you might need them. 👀

Sorry that was really long. I hope that made sense? <3

[waffliesinyoface]

The Akatsuki, Ranked by How Normal (and/or insane) They Are

Now, listen. I love the akatsuki. You, dear reader, presumably love the akatsuki.　They’re great. They are also, however, the biggest collection of walking buckwild basket cases to ever exist. So. Lets rank them.

Kisame - he is literally a shark. He is literally a giant blue shark man with face gills and a semi-sentient sword that can eat things. This is our barometer for “normal person” here.

Sasori - i hear you protesting but, hold on. Yes, he has literally turned himself into a puppet man. Not a deal breaker! He’s just. Dedicated. You could have a reasonable conversation with him. Provided you don’t annoy him in some way, and/or don’t qualify for his internal standard of “artistic”, he is no more likely to kill you than any other S-rank criminal ninja. 

Kakuzu - Similar to Sasori in that you could probably survive a conversation with him, but also, he has a lot of anger issues and not a lot of self restraint. “Normal”, but only relative to other ninja.

Deidara - We are now at the point that other ninja are giving you the side eye. Excitable, loud, obnoxious, a little mean, and passionate about art. That by itself would not be out of place on like, any college campus. However he also has mouth hands, a penchant for arson, and the ability & desire to explode anything that looks slightly artistic.

Konan - Not even normal from a distance because no one looks that put together all the time. Flies around with giant paper wings and calls herself god’s angel with a straight face. Genuinely means it. Enters and exits rooms/conversations by turning into paper and fluttering away on the breeze. If you’re not a citizen of Rain Country, your life is of less consequence to her than an ant. Absolutely fucking inscrutable woman.

Zetsu - “isnt zetsu literally a fucking alien plant dude or something?” yeah “doesnt he literally shlorp out of the ground all the time?” yeah “isn’t he actually two people, and frequently talks to himself” yeah “how the fuck is he not the LAST person on this list?” listen to me. the rest are worse.

Itachi - You think he’s normal but then he opens his mouth and oh no,  he’s so not. His plans have plans. None of these plans are good plans, but he will genjutsu you into going along with them anyways. Stabs people in the face while calling himself a pacifist. Logic is a distant relative and he killed all of those. You do Not want to be a target of his affection by any means.

Hidan - He’s an asshole and god loves him for it. Will ritualistically disembowel himself and then complain about the rain five minutes later. Even when viewed through the lens of Jashinist ideology, he is an outlier and should not be counted.

Obito - His plans make no sense and he is basically losing his shit throughout the entire series. Good times. Has weird hangups about kakashi. Got kidnapped by an evil grandpa and was convinced that using the moon to reflect a super genjutsu onto the entire world was Necessary for the Greater Good. Decided to pretend to be Tobi for months, if not years, for ??? reasons, instead of actually advancing his plans. Despite being obviously in his early twenties he decided to tell Pein & Konan (& Itachi) that his true identity was Madara Uchiha, century-old-grandpa, and they fucking bought it.

Pein - Named himself Pein. Because he was in so much pain, you see. His best friend died so he decided the clear and logical thing to do was to pilot his corpse around and call himself god, and also grab like 5 other corpses and dye their hair the same color. That’s a lovely coping mechanism, Pein. You do you, buddy!!

Honorary Mention: Orochimaru - there are not enough words to describe this man adequately. What the fuck, sir.

[adultswim2021]

Aqua Teen Hunger Force #74: “Hoppy Bunny” | February 17, 2008 - 11:45PM | S06E05

Hey, some of these fucking episodes have DVD commentaries for them. I am mostly watching these on HBOMax for this blog, and I popped in the DVD to check to see if a moment in this episode was censored on both versions (it is). Imagine my surprise when I clicked the episode title and it asked if I wanted to watch it with commentary! When I was getting ready to cover this season, I checked the DVD to see if there were commentaries. Nothing on the packaging or the menus advertised that they did. Squidbillies volume two on DVD also suffers from this issue. Contemporary DVD reviews fail to mention the fact that select episodes have commentary tracks, probably because the person reviewing them opted to “Play All” and would not ever know the option was on the table.

I’ll start off this as a way to play catch-up: Reedickyoulus also has a commentary track. Dave Willis says that he got the idea for not featuring the Aqua Teens in the first few episodes by riffing during an interview that in the upcoming season the Aqua Teens move out because they realize the house was somehow causing all the strange things to happen, and that the show was just going to be about the empty house. So that’s what got them going down the path of the Marcula arc-ula.

The commentary for this episode features two writers, Thom Nicolette and Ted Murphy. They cop to the fact that they were the ones who wrote the scene where Shake microwaves cats in Reedickyoulus. It was in their first draft, and it was never changed. Dave Willis muses that he found other examples of on-cat violence in the show to go to far, but for some reason found the microwaved cats to be funny, so maybe his barometer is off for that kind of thing. 

This episode is Hoppy Bunny, which is a reasonably funny but not terribly memorable episode. I’m saying that because I really didn’t remember this one much at all. In fact, most of the episodes from here on out are ones I saw once, MAYBE twice. I remembered the character of Hoppy Bunny, but that might be because I saw the screengrab from the episode that accompanies it on episode guide sites and on various streaming platforms. It’d be like if you remembered what Bugs Bunny looked like, but didn’t remember him clearly being Jewish.

The plot! Carl buys yet another sexually-charged product; this time it’s a pied-piper program that includes a recorder that can summon turned-on broads. When he finally gets it, wires begin making their way into Carl’s body, eventually turning him into an elfin flutist, playing for the benefit of Hoppy Bunny, a man in a round bunny costume. He’s voiced by Scott Adsit, and the episode makes sure you know that he’s just some dude. In fact he’s a surgeon. 

A bunch of other furries show up. I don’t recall the episode calling them furries specifically. I was hyper aware of furries at the time because I was extremely online, and I wonder how much furrydom was in the zeitgeist in 2008. It was 5 years after CSI did an episode about them, which I remember a co-worker complaining about. He’s the only furry I specifically knew, and he balked at the inaccuracies of the episode. I pray CSI never comes for the middle-aged Adult Swim bloggers. It sorta seems like the episode was playing it safe by not using “furries” as shorthand, but if you know, you know. 

The moment in question that I was wondering if it was censored? Remember, from before? One of the furries (a unicorn) has a wet spot on his crotch, I think implied to be a cumstain. It’s pixelated out, which seems silly to me.

Frylock tries to solve the problem using science, but Shake torpedoes this by offering to give Frylock a massage and ripping off the diamond on his back. Shake gleefully celebrates obtaining the diamond. Dana Snyder highlights this moment on the commentary; how funny it is that Shake’s ultimate goal seemed to be to steal the diamond for the entire series and he’s spent this many episodes biding his time. Shake, even after experiencing the power of the diamond by taking flight and feeling it’s power, is so unimaginative that his plan culminates in him taking it to a pawn shop to try and get 20 dollars for it. 

I definitely like this show better than Squidbillies, but this uses the same formula as the “Wing Nut” with a plot that is specifically unresolved and given an ending that flaunts how little this all matters. I liked this episode fine, but it benefits mostly from the fact that I’ve seen it fewer times than “classic” Aqua Teen episodes. I am perfectly pleased with these characters and these settings! I am glad to have watched this! What more do you want from me?

Stray things I haven’t mentioned yet:

Matt M stars in the commercial that Carl is watching. It’s live-action!

There’s a part where he shows sheet music and the writers claimed that it was the Communist Manifesto transcribed into music notes. 

The shot of Cars jammed into Flylocks room is funny. Shake was using it as a parking lot for the furries.

The original ending was Frylock getting seduced by Hoppy Bunny, and Carl evolving into a griffin who slaughters the furries.

That’s it! STOP READING THIS

EPHEMERA CORNER

[colorisbyshe]

The MCU has finally awoken. I usually lurk in Marvel subreddits because the comics have me by the balls and all Marvel subreddits, even those about the comics, are about the MCU unfortunately. And wow the fandom is PISSED. Marvel Studios burned their last bridge. You still have one or two corporate shills, but the tides have changed. It would've been totally unheard of a year ago to see people actually asking Disney to fire Feige. I don't think they have five years. The bubble burst.

Reddit is a horrible barometer for the general public. I'll say that first and foremost because it's true. Reddit was convinced Avatar 2 would flop, thinks films with diversity will flop becaus ethey don't wanna see diversity, and is surprised when like... children's films do well.

And I'll say that Marvel sweaties turning on the MCU isn't... surprising. But they're also so self loathing that a lot of them will bitch about a film (or the comic books) and line up for a midnight viewing.

These people have no concept of integrity, boycotts, or even just moving onto new hobbies/interests.

So, them being bothered, doesn't... mean too much for the MCU's immediate future.

Especially bcause the general audience doesn't know shit like "Disney is suing to find out who leaked the ant man script" or "A beloved subreddit was shut down to cover up a movie flopping."

THAT SAID, a lot of people have been shifting their opinions on Marvel. Again, I still think it's gonna dominate for a decent amount of time. Because people love... spectacle. It's the same reason why fast and furious sells so fucking well or why transformers made BANK even when everyone was like "jeez these movies fucking SUCK."

But... as more and more people realize they can just wait to wathc the spectacle at home, on their 60+ inch tvs, for cheap... the MCU is gonna lose that odminance.

Y'all can't be too greedy for it to happen fast, cause it won't, and it'll disappoint you.... but we are at a turning point.

They'll still have some high highs in terms of box office but they'll never, ever return towhere they were pre-endgame and we can celebrate that

[diamondcitydarlin]

Not shipping related because I'd like to know why there are people that maintain Mobius was a villain. A VILLAIN??

lol so this one actually kind of get- that's not to say I agree, but if you think about the narrative solely from a perspective of 'only things that I deem are good and enjoyable can happen to my fave', as these people are, then yeah it's not difficult to get that reading particularly if you made your judgements in ep 1 and then refused to see any nuance to Mobius beyond that. It's a very common approach to media in fandom, given that so many people (esp in comic book fandoms) have long term favorite characters (like Loki) that they've latched/projected on to. A villain, by its most basic definition, is any character that works against the main hero/protagonist's motivations.

So yeah, if you're approaching Mobius with the moral barometer of whether or not he gives Loki in particular everything you deem Loki deserves, then yes. It makes sense you come up with that interpretation. It makes sense you'd ignore that Mobius is a nuanced, morally complicated character the same as Loki and that's part of what makes them get along so well. It makes sense that you'd ignore that Loki kind of latches on to Mobius for this very reason, because he's neither 'all good or all bad' as indeed Loki says.

While I tend to defend Mobius under the explanation that his working for the TVA was an act of kidnap and brainwash and I don't know how fair it is to condemn him for something he's technically never consenting to, I understand the arguments that he still, brainwashed or no, contributed to the pruning of innocent variants and took pride in it. I understand that his interrogation of Loki puts them both in a kind of horrifying position if thought about critically.

But hasn't Loki done some pretty fucked up shit too? While technically possessed? No one making these arguments wants to condemn him for those things, but they definitely want Mobius to be held accountable. Maybe it's because they feel Loki has already been punished enough, and I think that on its own is valid. I mean, all of this is valid, take away what you will.

For me though, the moral ambiguity of both characters is part of what makes their dynamic so compelling. Had they been given the proper time and arc as a duo to explore these moral complexities better, I think more people would've seen it doesn't have to be a matter of cut-and-dried 'this character is good' and 'this character is evil'. Moral ambiguity and complexity could have easily been one of the themes of the show, had they carried through with things set up in ep 1 and 2 and if they show just generally hadn't sucked ass.

I also get that this is kind of hard to grasp, given that we're talking about superhero media, the pinnacle of heroes vs villains, good vs evil, and that tends to be the basis from which all MCU discourse must come; 'who is the good guy that I like that I think deserves all the things' and 'who is the bad guy who I DISLIKE and must DIE', not really aided by the fact that tumblr has long been the place where we have to divide everyone, fictional or no, into groups of oppressor and oppressed. And sometimes it is that clear cut, but sometimes it isn't.

As with so many things the show could have done, there was potential here to explore more of a morally nuanced take on comic book/superhero media and, by extension, the complexity and imperfections of being human. We might have more clearly seen Mobius come to grips with who he was at the TVA and what that means for his own self-perception now that he knows he was complicit in something that maybe wasn't good or fair (or was fascist as some people say, which fair) and that would have been an opportunity for him and Loki to grow closer; because Loki has been given more time and opportunity to see the moral complexity of people, that no one is entirely good or entirely bad, whereas Mobius had been doing his job at the TVA without any doubt or question as to whether it was right and good. That's stuff that could have been sussed out better. Think themes and discussions they have in The Good Place and how the characters in that show are morally ambiguous as they grow and learn more about the fluidity of morals and ethics, what it means to be a 'good' person- or as much as one can be.

This got long, but it kind of ties into the feelings I have about where fandom discourse is currently at as a whole. There's still this pervasive belief that any characters worth being liked/depicted as sympathetic must also be justified in everything they do and must subscribe to real life morals and ethics regardless of who they are, where they are, and what makes sense for their personal motivations to be. It's just kind of a...pit of discussion that I wish we could move on from because it stilts so much.

So, idk, one can see Mobius as a villain if that's the takeaway they must have, but it's the very reasons they consider him one that makes him and Loki such a powerful combination. Also, it doesn't seem Loki is on the same page of 'Mobius is a villain', he actually adores and trusts him implicitly even at the end of the whole garbage fire story and at that point there's really no reason for him not to. So.

[ingravinoveritas]

Hello dear ! I love your blog, it's fantastic ! I'm very happy to see our Michael without his beard, cause : 1. He lost 5 years at least ; 2. It gets him and us closer to Aziraphale ! But I feel nauseous when I saw Anna's last post, where she kisses him on his newly shaved cheek. He doesn't seem at ease on this one and it made me feel uncomfortable. What do you think ?

(These two messages came in very close together, so I thought it would make sense to combine them.)

So, to the first Anon, thank you very much for the kind words, re: my blog! I genuinely appreciate it. As I mentioned in a previous post, I’m also happy to see Michael shaved, knowing it means we are on our way to Aziraphale and GO season 2.

I think a good place for me to start addressing the rest of this is to look at these two pictures together. The one on the left is from the Royal Albert Hall event a few weeks ago, and the one on the right is what Anon #1 is referring to:

(Side note: Seeing these pictures side-by-side is fucking with my head, because it’s like beardy!Michael has been replaced with a Welsh pod person--or “Werson,” if you will.)

There are two things that stand out to me about these pictures. One is that Michael’s expression is exactly the same in both of them. It’s more clearly visible in the second pic, sans beard, but it is identical. Right away, that makes these pictures seem posed, instead of natural/candid. But that ties into the other thing that stands out, which is Michael’s point of focus in both pictures.

As I’ve said previously, my barometer for comparison tends to be David, because I wasn’t around when Michael was dating Kate/Rachel/Sarah. Yet if you look at pictures of him with any of those people, his focus is on being in the moment with them. In these pictures with AL, though, his focus is on taking the picture. “Oh, we’re taking a picture now? Right. Yes.”

To me, the feeling in these pics is completely, visibly different than in the ones he’s taken with past girlfriends and with David, and are a reflection of the way Michael is feeling. And if you're in a relationship where you look or feel uncomfortable with your partner even after three years, that’s probably not a good sign. I also think that discomfort could be for any number of reasons, but I don’t think it is because of what Michael thinks other people feel about his relationship (because Michael has never been one to care what other people think). I think it’s because of what he knows he feels about his relationship, and that it’s not a love story…it’s him trying to do right by his daughter and make the best of a bad situation.

One thing I do want to be clear on, however, is that I do not think Michael is miserable, nor do I think he dislikes her. People tend to want to ascribe things as being black and white--that the opposite of love is hate. Just a few posts ago, I mentioned the sparkle and passion in Michael’s eyes during that outtake from Staged, and how his eyes truly do light up whenever he is around David. Here, in these pictures, that light is nearly gone, and that passion is absent. I don’t know if I would’ve noticed it so much except that it’s made particularly obvious because of how evident it is when Michael is with David. The opposite of passion isn’t misery...it’s resignation, and that’s what I see here.

Again, all of this is my own opinion, and I know I could be thoroughly off-base. So many people have been DMing me privately to share these same thoughts, though, so I do think I’m not the only one seeing what I am seeing. I just hope things will change now that GO 2 filming is soon beginning, and that Michael can eventually find some genuine happiness...

[bigskydreaming]

About all the stuff you were talking about, do you know any fics that handle those things well? It is exhausting trying to go through the Dick Grayson tag to try and find ones that handle even one of those remotely well so any you can tell me would be wonderful.

I use my Bookmarks page as a go-to for people looking for that sorta thing. I haven’t added to it in awhlie which is like, a useful reminder for myself to rectify that.

I’m not sure off the top of my head what fics on there address these particular areas of canon or fanon issues, but they’re in there, and I don’t bookmark anything I wouldn’t reread since that’s....the only reason I bookmark stuff lol. Aka nothing that contains elements or fanon tropes/issues that would’ve pulled me out of the read on the first go-through.

Specific authors who I consistently like for their takes on all of that, hmmm....off the top of my head, @dustorange only deals in Quality Stuff and her Hierarchy of Needs for Dick’s characterization has similar enough rankings to my own personal one, that I’m always like, yes, this hit all the beats I was hoping for from this summary, I am full, I could not eat another bite. But maybe a dessert course later. I guess. If you insist.

In terms of specific takes and tropes I’ve been talking about tonight, @themessofthecentury has a fic that delves into all the Spyral aftermath in a really satisfying way. Y’ever been like, ugh can someone please write a lengthy beast of a multi-chapter that takes all of that and says ‘Lo, there is Gold in these hills” and has a range of POVs but that all consistently prioritize and center Dick in the areas and matters he should be the one prioritized? That’s the one, that’s Fault Lines, its a WIP but its alive and kicking and very much what you’re looking for to read something actually catharctic after the way all of that was handled in canon and most related fics.

Umm, lessee.... @hood-ex is all about Top Notch Tropes, especially for great scenes where Dick’s with a wide range of characters, and its like, casual slice-of-life stuff, but delivered in a way that Just Says No to fanon and even when writing Dick as light-hearted and having a good day, its like...actually in character for him and he’s not Dick Grayson, The Balloon Animal That Walks Like A Man (but is actually 70% sugary cereal). You gotta follow her on tumblr though to get all the fics, cuz she’s like me in that she writes a lot of done-in-one scenes that never get moved over to Ao3 because eh, we’ll do it tomorrow but also we’ll forget about it by tonight so no actually we won’t. And thus there’s a lot of hidden gems to be found there.

@ckbookish writes a lot of stuff set in the early Nightwing days when Jason was Robin, and from what I’ve read there’s a lot of focus on Dick and Jason bonding and also exploration of Dick’s thoughts and reactions to Bruce’s “Bruce NO” behavior of that era that’s very much in character and IMO hits all the right notes in the complicated arrangement of allowing Dick his Feels there and placing the appropriate blame where appropriate but without demonizing Bruce and over-embellishing the more than enough to work with fuck-ups canon helpfully provided for that era. 

In fact, in general I’m inclined to say the author sticks as closely to canon as possible while just....making it better by just adding the little ingredient that is ‘Actual Exploration of Dick’s Feelings and Choices As Viewed Through Empathy-Colored Glasses By Someone Who I Feel Actually HAS Met or Been A Teenager At Some Point in Their Life and Thus Is Aware They’re Not Actually Unreasonable Wild Animals Whose Behavior Even When Rational Is Actually Irrational Cuz Hormones Yeah I Know I Was Surprised Too’. So I’d say their work consistenly delivers the story and emotional beats I look for from Bruce, Dick and Jason in that era, actually humanizing all three of them without going overboard with adding flaws all willy-nilly just cuz.

The only reason its not on my bookmarks page is cuz unfortunately, the sticking close to canon means Dick joining the Bludhaven police force to try and clean it up from the inside, and like.....not a criticism or condemnation of the execution of that premise at all, like, Dick’s clear in his reasons and from what I read goes about it in a way that actually fits if Dick had criticisms of the institution as a whole and an earnest belief he can effect change to it from the inside, its just like, purely as a personal subjectivity thing, Dick Grayson and Being a Cop is like my ultimate NOTP, I see it and I reflexively hiss like a vampire who forgot the sun was a thing. Its just not for me in any execution, but if that’s not true for you then its got everything else I’d look for in fic and thus while I can’t vouch for his characterization or the dynamics in later stories, like, I’m pretty sure you’d still be in Primo Characterization territory. 

There’s stuff on my bookmarks page from an author named discowing(amelia from a fairytale) - something like that. I can’t recall their tumblr off the top of my head but I know she says it somewhere in some of her author’s notes. Anyway, her stuff runs the gamut but consistently delivers on moments I really wish we could see in canon, so def worth a read. And I know her views on the Spyral aftermath and what’s needed for actual catharsis there are right in my wheelhouse, just in general, so if that’s the barometer you’re going by, then like.....idk whatever a barometer says or does when it gets the readings its supposed to, look its late, that’s the metaphor I’m going with, just pretend it was solid.

Those are just some of the authors where I’m familiar with more than one of their works off the top of my head and tend to like their focus and narrative/character choices across the board. I don’t know the full extent of work of every author linked on my Bookmarks page, like a lot of people write a lot of fic in a lot of fandom and I see a long list of fandoms and fics all organized by date posted so its more like one DC fic per page, and my ADHD self is like hahaha what if it was naptime tho zzzz.

But yeah, that’s not nearly enough to sate my greed and want for Good Dick Grayson Takes but it should get you started. There’s some good stuff out there, that’s never been in question, its just that like you said, it can be exhausting trying to wade through fics that you can’t tell at a glance if they’d be to your liking or not because the tags are all complimentary of Dick but two chapters in you’re like wait is this the other kids’ brother or is this their nanny, I feel like I’m reading about what if Fran Drescher wore tights and fought crime with flippity-flips. Which I mean, that’s a Premise right there, alright, its just not remotely the premise I look for out of fic where I have the weird expectation that Dick should be treated and regarded more like equal family to his siblings than like, okay what if he was actually just an au pair that was mostly hired to be eye candy.

[vaguely-concerned]

The Mandalorian s2 ep1 Reactions Post That’s right I’m BACK

and none of you not even god himself can stop me from rambling about space cowboy dad and tiny green baby stuff for much longer than any sane person should 

the TL;DR is that I still love this show SO MUCH, beware a bunch of spoilers under the cut!

- costume design wise I LOVE how badly the armour fits Cobb Vanth

 especially when you get shots with him and Din side by side for contrast:

It’s not just that it’s clearly not made for him (it seems he’s a lot lankier and more wiry than Boba is), he simply doesn’t know how to wear it, and he doesn’t know how to take care of it, because he doesn’t know what it means. Remember when Din’s breastplate got bent completely out of shape by the mudhorn and he had it repaired to the best of his ability long before they even finished with the ship? That’s why he looks so grounded and natural in it and Vanth has sort of a clumsy Spiderman-in-his-first-home-made-costume air about him. (also Boba’s helmet has a beautiful heft and solidity to it in this, they make all the beskar have a Feel and weight to it, makes it feel important)  

I like that Vanth is taller than Din; everything that drives home that Din’s strength doesn’t come from being naturally physically imposing or impressive is a joy to me 

- Boba’s armour seems to be confirmed to be real beskar, which gives me so much hope that they’re doing something actually nuanced and interesting with Boba and Jango’s cultural identities as Mandalorians (whether they do consider themselves that or not, for example), unlike George Lucas’ inexplicable yet unbending stance of ‘They aren’t and never were lol get fucked Fetts’  

the way the triumphant heroic part of the mando music sputtered and died when the man himself showed up tho... uh-oh this might be bad news 

man but that’s a stunning and surprising way to introduce a well-known character divorced from what makes them so iconic, though, just from that I’m going to trust they know what they’re doing (AND they got temuera morrison back I’m so EXCITED!!!). without the armor there’s the face of someone who shared that face with literal millions and at the same time must be looking older than his father ever got to at this point, and that’s super interesting as a starting point to me. (I... guess there’s still a chance it’s a fakeout and that it’s actually another clone, but that would be such a letdown when they’ve already given us this haha) 

- an excellent [mando sighs] moment

this opening scene did a great job of re-summarizing him for the audience -- establishing again that he gives you one chance at dealing with him fairly and if you insist on continuing to be an asshole about it, you’re toast, the fact that his fighting style is so much about being able to tank blows rather than not getting hit in the first place, the horror movie monster mando setup as he stalked the dude down and strung him up, the Poetic Justice predicated on some very careful word choices, and most importantly “where I go, he goes”... all wonderful, I’m sure I’ll watch this scene back for fine details and better looks at the background characters many many times 

(word seems to have spread about him and the baby for real now, which makes me VERY nervous btw)

- Pulserifle’s back! Jetpack’s back! Razor Crest’s back! Grappling line’s back! PELLI’S BACK!!!!!! Tattooine... is also back *Finn voice* Why does everyone want to go back to Tattooine????

I really enjoyed the way they fleshed out and (for lack of a better word) humanized the sand people, though, if you are going back to this desert hellplanet again that is a worthy reason to do it 

- Din swearing :O!! and one of the less egregious star wars swears too, I’m fine with this

- in campaign star wars news: I guess there was sort of both a binbon and a jubna in this ep! what a time to be alive

- as usual I love the jawa. a bright spot in any day, just a bunch of lil goblin-y friends hanging out having the best time loving sparkly crystals and rescuing silver foxes.  

get in loser we’re going shopping

-  

I uh. Do you think. Hm. Is there maybe a metaphor here somewhere. Is there perhaps a hidden, one may say double, meaning, at play, right here, in this image? Who can say, it’s just niggling at me (there’s a very similar set of shots with Toro in season 1, but seemingly the show went ‘I fear we might have gone too subtle with it, let’s amp it up this time’ over the season break loool)

honestly though this dynamic really highlighted everything I love about the ways Din performs masculinity. It’s so much softer and more community/collaboration focused and more comfortable to be around than Vanth’s version -- and Vanth isn’t a bad dude by any stretch of the imagination, it’s not hard to see why he’s like that considering where he’s from, he’s just such a... man. The lone person who can protect this village! The only man who’s got what it takes! It’s all on his shoulders and no one else’s, so do exactly as he says or he’ll put a hole in you! (I think it’s telling that one of his first comments to Din is ‘I’m sure you call the shots wherever you’re from, but ‘round here, I’m the person who tell folks what to do’, because as we as the audience knows, Din very much does not call the shots of where he’s from lol) I guess it says some nice things about the tribe of Mandos Din is from that this is how he approaches things, and it says some good things about Vanth how quickly he comes around to this smarter and less confrontational/domineering style of doing things once he’s been exposed to it and sees how it works. it’s just neat

(it’s smart of Favreau to set his ~*lone gunslinger*~ character up like this, too, it makes him so much more interesting and versatile)   

- With the way Din says ‘a Mandalorian Armorer sent me on my path’ it does seem confirmed that’s the equivalent of a priest role or a sort of shaman -- I wonder if he knows the name of ‘The’ Armorer or if they take on the role as a whole identity 

- the sheer contrast between the two people who wanted Din to take his helmet off for them in this ep tho... wants Mando’s armour off for horrible awful reasons and got exactly what he deserved:

wants Mando’s armour off for entirely sympathetic and understandable, just culturally uninformed, thirsty thirsty reasons & also having drinks together:

 (the sort of... little lick over his bottom lip he does there? keep it in your pants vanth my GODjflsadf he’s a good dude tho he understands and respects the ‘no armour removal before marriage’ thing and backs down gracefully)

- This is a nuanced thing: I don’t think I actually ship it (not in a requited way from Din’s side, anyway, Vanth I’m 100% sure about lol), but the incredible potential for out-of-context-taking of “Take it off, or I will”/”...we doin’ this in front of the kid?” is uh astounding  

(anyone got the vibe Vanth sort of had something with the bartender too? no just me? well well)

- I was never really scared Din was actually dead or hurt b/c baby wasn’t scared and I figure he’d know lol, a very useful fear barometer 

- “What’s the plan?” “Take care of the child” “What are you gonna do?” “I don’t know, but wish me luck *yeets his new bro out of harm’s way before diving in head first himself*” fksdjhfkjlashdfkjsldahfkasldjhfskldajhfsadkjfh WHAT a summation of Din’s entire approach to battle & life, dad please you carry a not insignificant part of my heart around with you be careful 

(Also with the heavy implication that Boba was watching the whole thing... can you imagine him just looking on as Din throws himself down that gullet like a madman. There must have been some ‘o_-7 *headscratch headscratch* ???’ going on for him there)

it’s kind of sweet that din trusts vanth will take care of the baby if something happens though, they really bonded quickly huh 

- the sand people who kept willingly going over to the krayt dragon’s cave are honestly braver and more admirable than anyone else has ever been, I kept just shouting in anguish as they were gobbled up, they deserved better 

- can we talk about how clear it still is that Din’s just... lonely. When he thinks he’s found another Mando and he sounds almost reverent with relief... and then it gets odder and odder (’uh... drinks? I guess... does he have drinking straws with him or -- HE’S TAKING THE HELMET OFF???’ oh buddy)

I wonder if they’re building towards something about him realizing it doesn’t have to be Mandos for him to trust and bond with people longer term? Basically all the characters he’s met and we’ve watched him form attachments to and get help from are non-Mandos -- Kuiil :’^(, Cara, Omera, Cobb Vanth, IG-11 :^’’(, Greef Karga to a degree. Establishing so firmly what he’s looking for this early would be good setup for a ‘what a character thinks they want vs. what they need’ thing later on just on a writing level, anyway, Boba Fett could bring in some interesting points of view about Mandalorianness too   

- baby’s happy gurgles when he sees pelli!!!!!! din speaking sand people language and petting alligator doggies!!!!!!

- pedro pascal’s voice work remains an utter joy to me. din’s measured, earnest, occasionally slightly stilted way of talking is still so good, and then he does things like inserting some more... idk life is the wrong word but that more charged and dynamic tone he took on when he said (”I thought you weren’t a gambler”) “I’m not”. *chef kiss*

- if the pulse rifle’s stun is able to do that to a fuckn krayt dragon... that’s some serious shit din is carrying around with him lol (interestingly the actual shooty pew-pew part of it didn’t seem to do much to it, but then I guess he was shocking it from the inside out and not through thick hide, so idk)

- my only real complaints about this ep: Vanth’s backstory ran a bit long, and not enough baby & dad interaction. the concept art’s got me tho: 

 (din often wears his original/old armour in concept art still, incidentally, don’t know what that’s about)

awwwwwww

+ omfg ;______;

- this sand people person conscientiously brushing a bantha’s teeth... blessed

- Customary flame thrower report: there was a rare useful deployment of the flamethrower. Good job Mando’s flame thrower for furthering the field of diplomacy

ETA: I CAN’T BELIEVE I FORGOT TO MENTION THIS: DIN BEING COMFORTABLE(ISH) AROUND DROIDS NOW!!!! GROWTH????!?! IG-11 WE MISS YOU??????????

[omahasnakes]

2003: Some Years Just Don’t Age Well

Right off the block, the first two songs are “In Da Club” 50 Cent, where he really does just go for it with the f-slur, then “Ignition- Remix” a true banger by [checks notes] [sharp intake of breath through teeth.]

Song of the year: “Crazy in Love” Beyonce feat. Jay-Z. I used to feel like this song didn’t fit together as a whole, but I’ve since changed my mind and embraced it completely.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViwtNLUqkMY

Forgotten gem: “The Jump Off” Lil’ Kim. The outrage machine over WAP clearly chose to forget Lil’ Kim because she was extremely dirty…

Wait, stop the presses, this song has been eclipsed with a last-minute winner for 2003 forgotten gem! It’s “Hell Yeah” by Ginuwine. This song would be a perfect club jam without the minute-plus-long skit at the end where Ginuwine extremely improbably picks up a woman on the street through a technique I’d describe as “annoy her by talking too fast until she gives you a hopefully fake number to get rid of you.”

I also find myself unwittingly charmed by Nelly’s “Air Force Ones.” Men do love shoes, amirite ladies? The line where he says “cuz once you scuff ‘em, you fucked up your whole night”? Oh my god, get over here for a big hug, honey!

This year’s misguided Superman song comes courtesy of Eminem. Em’s version of Superman seems to spend a lot of time slapping women off barstools.

“Bring Me to Life” is the big Evanescence hit this year, and it hit me at the time in the same vein as Linkin Park. I was way too old to be into this junk already at this point, and I knew it. It might make a good karaoke duet in 2021, if one of you wants to rip up your voice.

Something else that maybe we should take with us into 2021: people sexily whispering “Murder, Inc” in the beginning of a song, which happened multiple times in this chart.

If you’re looking to cure your time-consuming allosexuality, consider “Right Thurr” by Chingy. Amy and I had slightly different strongly negative reactions to the song, but consensus is that it’s “discouraging of sexuality” across the board.

“I Can” Nas: an uplifting anthem about how you can be anything you want to be! And if not, it’s your own fault for dressing like such a slut.

“Beer for my Horses” Toby Keith feat. Willie Nelson: a fun country song about [checks notes] [checks notes again] a good old-fashioned lynching?

“Have you Forgotten?” Darryl Worley. I leave you with the entire lyrics of this post-9/11 classic of logic and reason:

I hear people saying we don't need this war

I say there's some things worth fighting for

What about our freedom and this piece of ground

We didn't get to keep 'em by backing down

They say we don't realize the mess we're getting in

Before you start your preaching

Let me ask you this my friend

Have you forgotten how it felt that day

To see your homeland under fire

And her people blown away

Have you forgotten when those towers fell

We had neighbors still inside

Going through a living hell

And you say we shouldn't worry 'bout Bin Laden

Have you forgotten

They took all the footage off my TV

Said it's too disturbing for you and me

It'll just breed anger that's what the experts say

If it was up to me I'd show it everyday

Some say this country's just out looking for a fight

After 9/11 man I'd have to say that's right

Have you forgotten how it felt that day

To see your homeland under fire

And her people blown away

Have you forgotten when those towers fell

We had neighbors still inside

Going through a living hell

And you say we shouldn't worry 'bout Bin Laden

Have you forgotten

I've been there with the soldiers

Who've gone away to war

And you can bet that they remember

Just what they're fighting for

Have you forgotten all the people killed

Some went down like heros in that Pennsylvania field

Have you forgotten about our Pentagon

All the loved ones that we lost

And those left to carry on

Don't you tell me not to worry about Bin Laden

Have you forgotten

Have you forgotten

Have you forgotten

Country music barometer for 2003: 13% (good lordt)

[makeste]

When it comes to non canon content, which of the characters would you say is the best indicator for poor characterisation? Who starts to feel like someone in a mask before the others have shown a crack? Who tends to become almost a different person when others become shadows of themselves? Who is the ultimate bad characterisation barometer???

the problem isn’t really that any of them are out of character; it’s the exact opposite. the problem is the writers are so afraid of accidentally writing something OOC that they only ever stick to a small handful of Approved action and dialogue options that are Safe, and refuse to ever branch out, and as a result all of the characters feel dumbed down. for starters, their quirk usage is severely nerfed. Ochako and Momo could have done so much more with their respective quirks. and Shouto as well, honestly. Tokoyami too, since Shouto was there! they even pointed out that Shouto could use his quirk to help keep DS under control, only to come up with some flimsy explanation about Shouto not wanting to use up all their O2. but like, that’s only a problem if you’re not using DS to aggressively blast your way up to the surface and to freedom lol. anyway so there were a lot of things like this. mostly little things but they added up.

and their intelligence is also significantly downplayed. for instance, Kaminari and Kirishima act like they’re not capable of taking any kind of independent action unless Bakugou is there to order them around. why is Bakugou the only one who can figure out how to apply Kaminari’s quirk? why can’t Kami figure that out himself. he literally doesn’t catch on until Bakugou is holding the wires out in front of him and spelling it out for him explicitly. he’s basically just portrayed as a dumbass for the sake of comic relief. by contrast, canon!Kaminari is a lot more vibrant and intelligent. he has a tendency to overreact, but he’s also more than capable of improvising and holding his own. he also makes fun of the other characters a lot more, instead of always just being the butt of the joke himself. basically he does a lot of clowning, but he’s not a complete idiot, you get me?

and there are also just some little character touches which the anime writers either don’t pick up on or refuse to apply, and as a result the characters just feel a little bit off. a good example from this OVA is Bakugou’s movement. just the way he moves around. in the OVA he keeps shuffling around in this awkward slow-paced gait with his big fat grenade arms slowly swinging back and forth, and it’s fucking bizarre tbh. whereas if you look at Bakugou in the manga, he’s fucking all over the place. he is not slow or deliberately calm and cool at all; he’s flying around impatiently and yelling at the others complaining that they’re too slow and they need to keep up with him. just look at the Joint Training arc. or the battle against Soda Sam after he and Shouto get their licenses, where he climbs a fucking streetlight for absolutely no reason other than that he can. he has a flying quirk! he moves in a 3D space! and the one thing he absolutely does not do is saunter around like he’s got all the time in the world. he is far too impatient for that. he wants to get the job done and usually prefers a direct approach, and is a very powerful kid who’s constantly on the verge of having all of his pent-up energy boil over completely, and his body language and movement reflect that, or should at any rate.

so basically it’s just a bunch of little details all marked by a general unwillingness to take risks, and a tendency to paint the characters in very broad strokes rather than with any nuance. the overall feel, for me, was one of vaguely BnHA flavored fast food content. which is perfectly fine, and just as capable of feeding everyone! but I just wish it would acknowledge that it’s fast food, and take itself a little less seriously in that case. in the first OVA there was a running joke where Kacchan kept whining that the plot was pairing him up with Deku, and Tsuyu kept reminding him that they were in an anime special. and that was fucking awesome. they just fully embraced the fact that they were fucking around for the sake of producing some cool fanservice. but in this OVA I don’t think they so much as cracked a joke throughout the entire thing, and honestly even something as small as that would have made it a lot more enjoyable for me. this wasn’t grade A wagyu beef, and it didn’t have to be! but it felt like they were trying to act like it, and I personally would have liked it much better if they had just been upfront and accepted the fact that they were a Big Mac, and weren’t actually trying to bring anything new or revolutionary to the table and were just microwaving up some comfort food.

anyway, for all of my long-winded whining about it, it really is not That Big Of A Deal at all and I’m happy to see that most people seemed to enjoy it. I’m not going to write a long Karen letter to the editor and demand my money back or anything lmao. it is what it is. and honestly, seeing more positivity and enthusiasm in this fandom is always a good thing.

in conclusion, regarding this other ask I received,

I don’t really have any specific things I’m absolutely dying to see per se; I just would really like to see something with a little more emphasis on fun, rather than trying to Very Seriously hit the same old notes over and over again. to this end, my writing strategy would probably be one of the following:

grab a set of gaming dice and recruit 20 volunteers to roleplay the class while I DM on the fly, and use the resulting mess as a basis for my script

in a similar vein, give some BnHA action figures to a group of seven year olds, and set them loose and document whatever wacky storyline they came up with

literally use the exact same OVA plotline we actually got, but with a sloshed Aizawa narrating it like an episode of Drunk History. “so basically I gathered them all up and was all, ‘listen up, I’m going to divide the class into two groups of Important Characters and Less Important Characters. try not to think too hard about this.’ anyways so then...”

anyway! I will stop complaining about this now and let everyone live their lives in peace.

[dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram]

I went to Twitter wondering if people were getting impatient about the status of H’s North American tour so I search Jeff’s @. I dk if I’d have seen anything about tour if I scrolled past the tens of tweets I did see, but they were all about two things.

One was a screenshot of some clothes website with a TPWK top that has the same design as one of Harry’s and the other was a screenshot of a pic of Ashe standing in somewhat similar pose to H’s FL cover and a t-shirt I assume she’s selling with Take care of each other (I think) on it. In both instances, they were showing Jeff in the hopes of getting the company/Ashe to stop (stop standing Ashe!), it was very much a get them/sue them mood.

I don’t know if fascinated is the right term, I of course know that people will defend their faves, but this was a lot for me to wrap my head around. I have a hard time understanding the motivations of these people as I was expecting people to @ him for their own interests like I said with tour. Basically, I guess I didn’t know that Harry has the rights to standing in a certain way and that people would go to metaphorical war about it.

So I’m a little distracted by the main question of this anon by your framing anon.

Why on earth would it be fans own interests to be @ing Jeff about the North American tour? Why would people be impatient about the status of the tour? The dates have been announced, there are a lot of big public health and regulation questions outstanding before anyone can say whether or not they’ll go ahead, but they’ll try. Do people expect an artists management to have a special COVID pandemic barometer? Do they want the gigs postponed again (which is almost certainly what an early decision would result it)? As a fan, I think it’s in my interests for gigs to go ahead if it’s possible.

Anyway, back to your original question.  I also had a look at Jeff’s mentions and yikes! For some reason it was the number of tweets that called him ‘bestie’ that really did it for me.  What nasty bootlicking pieces of work some fans are.  (I searched after you, so there was also a really terrible thread entitled ‘why “harry only dates blonde skinny women/finds blonde skinny women attractive” image is damaging him AND TO HIS FANDOM’. I fucking hate that sort of faux politics to justify what people already think.  And I can’t help but wonder about the posters’ view on Harry only dating skinny white men).

But also this taught me that life is too short to pay that much attention to what other fans are doing on twitter.  There are lots of incredibly annoying people and lots of them will @ Jeff.

The more serious point is that a lot of fans feel entitled to a huge amount of control of Harry, his career, and anything in the world that they think of as interacting with Harry. This is creepy and terrifying, particularly when you think about fans people also existing in the world.

[asotin]

madara deserved better: implanting hashirama’s cells wasn’t as grotesque as it should have been

note: it’s all horror under the cut

1. everyone has them

yamato got them. danzou got them. orochimaru got them. obito got them. madara got them. everybody’s got hashirama’s dna! this season’s must-have accessory is the first hokage!

it’s a convenient plot device. you can’t surprise or horrify people with something they’ve already seen

2. there are no ill effects

other than all the dead children (yamato’s origin story is horrifying! good!) there are no direct casualties of people getting grafts of hashirama’s cells. they don’t even all grow the face

which can be covered up with the right clothes

3. there’s only one visible change

give me more body horror! if a recognizable human face can grow, why not other things? it doesn’t even have to be additional body parts!

hashirama could use sage chakra, and it’s established that if you can’t get the balance right, it can fuck a person up. having his dna doesn’t give people mastery over sage chakra, so how about some fucked up shit from that

a few suggestions: the area with grafted cells turning to wood; their whole body slowly becoming wooden; their skin peeling like bark or at least having the texture

maybe you don’t even need to try to use sage mode for that to happen! maybe his chakra automatically tries to compensate for sage chakra and that’s enough to trigger a response

4. the same reveal happens more than once

danzou shouldn’t have had a hashirama face to begin with. it was lazy and added nothing to his character (oh, the guy with a bunch of stolen eyeballs in his body also decided to try out some of hashirama? of course he did! boring!) and, most importantly, it took away from the impact of madara's chest piece

plus, both implanted hashiramas look the same until madara tries out sage mode with his, which isn't even interesting because we’ve already seen the real Hashirama do it and the same thing happens to chest hashirama

5. it disregarded psychological horror

this is where my complaints get more meaningful, because the revelation that madara has hashirama's cells should have brought body horror and emotional horror together, but it doesn’t because madara's role as a founder hasn’t mattered. his connection to hashirama is little more than him yelling about how cool hashirama is

so as far as the audience knows, this is just another danzou situation. madara and his plan are too vague. the fact that he has a chest hashirama doesn’t matter because it’s already been done, and you can’t retroactively add horror to something when it’s been flashed around for a couple episodes and another fight has gone down

the timeline is a mess, yes, and complaining about it is tired, but in this particular instance, it isn’t as abstract as things like when the third war happened. the order that things happen in the present is what’s actively detrimental to the story

madara's bond with hashirama should have been established before we saw the face. until we get the flashback, we have no reason to think madara's fixation has any meaning. he's just an angry, OP man with a superficial reason for his big bad plan who knows hashirama, but we've never seen them together

hashirama’s flashback, combined with obito’s flashback and his conversation with sasuke as “madara”, gives madara more character. madara’s life has pivoted around hashirama since they were children. konoha exists because of him and hashirama’s bond with him. tobirama killed the last of his brothers. he tried to destroy what he and hashirama had built together. he died by hashirama’s hand. except he didn’t. he only pretended to die. he let his closest and only friend believe madara was dead because of him

now he’s back to do even worse, and he’s doing it by using hashirama’s own body as a power source

6. nobody was that bothered?

fine, yes, they’re ninjas and they essentially have magic, but hashirama doesn’t have much of a reaction to finding out madara had been brought back to life and was starting a war

he doesn’t even mention that madara is wearing hashirama’s face on his chest 

okay, hashirama isn’t a great barometer for madara

but tobirama doesn’t react? tobirama?

what madara is doing and the fact that he’s using hashirama’s own body, albeit extracted from a stolen bite of meat, to do it, should fuck hashirama up. madara doing this should fuck him up so hard

+1. a potential fix

let’s say everybody did need to have hashirama's dna/face and the timeline couldn't be fixed. there is still a way to give madara’s mini hashirama impact (which should have been done no matter what imo bc it’s creepy and gross)

madara needed to have more than a blobby face like danzou had. he needed a physical face that matched the psychological horror of madara doing this to his best friend

in other words, it needed to be alive

not to the extent of speaking or seeming engaged with conversations, but its expression needed to change. it needed to react to madara. it needed to react to or with hashirama. it should have looked at peace when madara and hashirama talked about drinking as war buddies

tl;dr the face on madara's chest should have been used to drive home how far madara is from the man hashirama loves so deeply

[ellietalebian]

HOW DO I KNOW ALL THIS MENTAL HEALTH SHIT WORKS?

It has been a short while since I have been in a situation entirely beyond my control, and yet last week, I was stood in Ibiza airport being told I couldn't fly home. Being unable to board a plane may sound like a small first world problem, ok it is - but I know myself and what tests my resolve. Or I thought I did until that moment.

There were no tears. My heart rate remained the same, and I was breathing normally.

I would also be late to collect my beloved son from school the next day, miss a valued client appointment, out of pocket, miss the test I had booked for the following day and unable to take my son away on our annual school camping trip. Quite the cluster fuck.

All of the above incoming situations, legitimate reasons to create disharmony, for my fight or flight to kick in and send me breathless, completely dizzy with anxiety.

Only that didn't happen. There was no BIG emotional response; there was no BIG drama. There was an acknowledgement of the situation and surprising ease and efficiency to resolve it.

Despite knowing I'm 'in check,' it felt like a massive moment for me. I get tested all the time, but this was different - this was a green listed green light to throw me off course, and it didn't.

Outside of my Instagram grid, I have been reminded this week through tragedy, conflict, emergency and betrayal that life is short. These pivotal moments have also gently highlighted my flaws.

If I let them direct my energy to the places it doesn't need to go, my longstanding flaws can quickly sabotage situations and create time wasting moments. The time-wasting moments where we don't liberate ourselves by addressing a problem correctly, where we don't quite catch ourselves.

The thing is, I don't care that much about my flaws because, for the most part, I can control them. I can create values out of them, which form the makeup of my self-respect. I know who I am and who I am not, and my self-respect now radiates so high that I won't accept anything less than I deserve.

And I surround myself with people that will kick me into touch should my flaws create issues, should they hold me back from experiences and opportunities.

That's how I know that this mental health shit works because years ago, my self-esteem wasn't where it sits today. So saying I have an ego out loud is in some ways a good thing because there was a time when I didn't have any sense of self-esteem or worth.  

I will, however, be the first to admit that there have been at least two situations this week that would have created an insatiable desire to fulfil my rage in previous years.

I was thrown back to a time where I would allow a red mist to descend and combine it with an incapacity to accept responsibility for my actions, words, etc.

How do I know that this mental health shit works? There was no red mist. Ooof it wanted to surface. It tried to come but then, nothing.

Last night I spoke with a friend I haven't connected with in 10 years. We've known each other since I was 19. We lived together, and he's seen me - really seen me at my best and worse. My hedonistic days, my ill-tempered days. We talked about the new versions of ourselves, the mature, refined and self-aware versions of ourselves—our best selves.

So how do I know all this mental health shit works? I can share my flaws with the world without wincing or feeling ashamed. I know because I didn't have a panic attack last week at the airport, and trust me, I had a panic attack at an airport 15 years ago, and it was terrifying.

I know because of late I have been put through my paces. 

I know because at the peak of long covid I was flirting with a depression I haven't experienced since I was 16 - the illness sent me descending into a chasm of isolation and weakness at great speed. 

My body failing, my speech slurred, my brain foggy and with barely enough energy to do the simplest things. I resisted the illness. I ignored the advice from my Doctor to stop and recover. I pushed and pushed myself to the point of no return. Being so ill, feeling so weak, I had neglected the very thing I am passionate about getting right. 

Depression and anxiety were reaching out their hands to me like an old friend, the comfort of feeling bad seducing me into giving into the darkness. But I didn't. I called it, saw it, and chose to get better. I decided to invest in whatever I had to to get physically better. I decided to do one thing a day for my mental health.

I remembered the discipline I bestow to others. I did the work.

'the work' is different for us all.

Self-care is a personal responsibility. For most of us, self-care is a choice we are in a luxurious position of making.

I say this as the niece of a schizophrenic who didn't have the same choices I do. The options that we do.

Everything is a choice. If you do something that you know will hurt someone, know and own that you have chosen to inflict pain on another person with absolutely no barometer for how deeply they feel.

If you choose to push someone's buttons, you will get a reaction. You know that, at your deepest level, you know that.

If you choose to reflect and understand your role in situations of conflict, you will create harmony.

If you choose to pick up a book to better understand yourself and the people around you - well thats exactly what will happen. 

If you choose to listen to people, you will hear, learn, and become better not bitter.

If you choose to wake up every day and do the work, you will become your salvation.

Harmony is created by focussing on solutions, not problems.

Understand that love in all its forms is acceptance, distance and support.

We shouldn't settle for those that bring disharmony into our lives.

We shouldn't settle for ourselves, creating a catastrophe.  

We shouldn't settle for speaking to ourselves poorly.

We shouldn't settle for not trying every day to be better at life, a little bit better at ourselves.

We shouldn't settle.

[shutterupp31]

Toxic masculinity-Whats wrong with our boys?

For centuries men have been condemned for acts of aggression, violence, and sexism, contributing to the ongoing popularity of the phrase ‘toxic masculinity’ which distinguishes these traits as toxic and unhealthy. The American psychological association have even recently introduced new guidelines for therapists working with both men and boys, indicating that early signs of extreme ‘traditional masculine behaviour’ can root themselves in personality traits that encourage outcomes of violence and misogyny, and must be disestablished early.

With the increase in male suicide rates and drug overdoses in the western world, combined with the rise of fourth wave feminism, as you can imagine, the debate on toxic masculinity is becoming all the more relevant amongst both genders. Mass media have blamed toxic masculinity for rape, mass shootings, online trolling, climate change and even the election of Donald Trump.

BUT is the phrase toxic masculinity actually helpful, accurate or universal? Let's discuss. 

Like any phrase or term regularly recycled within gender debate, the stereotypes it highlights have divided peoples opinions drastically, a predictable conflict that has most definitely contributed to the terms rise, (Yay politics). On the right we have many conservatives who allege that the charges of toxic masculinity is itself an attack on manhood. With mental health problems amongst males consistently rising, combined with the challenges the men's right movement already face, including paternity rights, homelessness, education to name a FEW, these people argue that it is dangerous and unfair to strip boys of what some would say is a necessity for them to discover their true selves as men in their time of need.

On the other side we see many ‘progressives’ who believe that the detoxification of masculinity is absolutely essential on the road to gender equality.

NOW, i'm sure (I mean I hope) we can all agree that issues including sexism, rape, violence and so on are obviously important and anyone male or female that possess these traits and/or actively defends them, needs help! Research consistently shows that those who hold sexist attitudes are more likely to perpetrate gendered violence. (DUH), but the potential biological and cultural contributions to why these figures are disproportionate amongst men and women is not something I wish to discuss at present, that's a whole other debate. 

What I do want to talk about (and what a lot of people aren't talking about) is this ‘painting every male with the same brush’ phenomenon and the extent to which this could be harmful.

My issue with the shift we have seen in which masculinity is rapidly becoming a dirty word, is that it genuinely encourages a narrative in which masculinity is fundamentally toxic. 

The assumption that the majority of what can be considered as male specific characteristics, as fundamentally harmful, is becoming increasingly worrying within socialist politics. Traits such as aggression, violence and dominance are more and more often being lumped in with those such as strength, confidence and independence and this is the problem. Yes masculinity can indeed be somewhat destructive, (AGAIN VIOLENCE IS BAD VERY BAD, NON VIOLENCE GOOD VERY GOOD) but both conservative and liberal stances on this issue commonly misunderstand how the term functions.

When people use it, they tend to diagnose the problem of masculine aggression and entitlement as a cultural or spiritual illness, something that has infected today’s men and leads them to reproachable acts. But toxic masculinity itself is not a cause. Over the past thirty years, as the concept has morphed and changed, it has served more as a barometer for the gender politics of its day and as an arrow toward the subtler, shifting causes of violence and sexism.

Acts of violence, aggression and sexism arise for a whole host of reasons, including socioeconomic factors such as education, class, and poverty, NEWSFLASH, not all men that celebrate the idea of being emotionally or physically strong intend to murder and rape the entire female population!

THOUGHT EXPERIMENT TIME

How often do you see women on social media celebrating what it means to be a woman? All the time right? Now, don't get me wrong, this rise of what I'm gonna call ‘girl power culture’ is phenomenally empowering.  

But how often do you see men innocently celebrate their manhood or say they are proud to be a man online in the same way?

Very rarely, and if they do they are often immediately attacked for being misogynistic and failing to recognise their privilege by Feminazi’s who fail to read context and get triggered by buzzwords. 

Ooooo Controversial? Perhaps, but AGAIN, I'm not failing to recognise that things like lad culture, and boys will be boys culture exist, and perhaps this obvious difference on social media has something to do with the years of oppression against women up until very recently, in fact it probably, most certainly is, however not acknowledging the multiplicity of reasons for these toxic behaviours, and not allowing men to celebrate that they like and may even enjoy being one, in the same way as its widely excepted amongst women, is well, kinda just dumb.

Don't believe me yet? Let's look at the evidence. 

First I think it is important to establish where the term originated. Despite the term’s recent popularity among feminists, toxic masculinity did not originate with the women’s movement. It was coined in the mythopoetic men's movement of the 1980s and ’90s, motivated in part as a reaction to second-wave feminism. Through male only workshops, wilderness retreats, and drumming circles, this movement promoted a masculine spirituality to rescue what it referred to as the ‘deep masculine’, a protective ‘warrior’ type masculinity, from toxic masculinity. Men’s aggression and frustration was, according to the movement, the result of a society that feminized boys by denying them the necessary rites and rituals to realise their true selves as men. 

The claim of a singular, real masculinity has now been roundly rejected by a new sociology of masculinity. Led by the sociologist Raewyn Connell, this school of thought presents gender as the product of relations and behaviours, rather than as a fixed set of identities and attributes. Connell’s work describes multiple masculinities shaped by class, race, culture, sexuality, and other factors, often in competition with one another as to which can claim to be more authentic. In this view, which is now the prevailing social scientific understanding of masculinity, the standards by which a “real man” is defined can vary dramatically across time and place.

Connell and others theorised that common masculine ideals such as social respect, physical strength, and sexual potency can of course become problematic when they set unattainable standards. Falling short can make boys and men insecure and anxious, which might prompt them to use force in order to feel, and be seen as, dominant and in control, HOWEVER Male violence in this scenario doesn’t emanate from something bad or toxic that has crept into the nature of masculinity itself. Rather, it comes from these men’s social and political settings, the particularities of which set them up for inner conflicts over social expectations and male entitlement.

The popular discussion of masculinity has often presumed there are fixed character types among men, and I think it's become increasingly more important to be skeptical of this in order to understand the situations in which groups of men act, the patterns, and the inevitable consequences, because without doing so ,YOU may be contributing to the reinforcement of the toxic masculinity in which you despise so much, which brings us on to….

The blame game-are you contributing to toxic masculinity?

Where do these sexist attitudes come from? Are men and boys just the victims of cultural brainwashing into misogyny and aggression, requiring reeducation into the ‘right’ beliefs? Or are these problems more deep rooted, and created by the myriad of insecurities and contradictions of men’s lives under gender inequality? The problem with a crusade against toxic masculinity is that in targeting culture as the enemy, it risks overlooking the real life conditions and forces that sustain culture.

It is more than likely that you have somewhat contributed to the reinforcement of toxic masculinity without even realising. Something I see so often is both men and women emasculating men for being emotionally vulnerable and this specific topic is something I personally find alarming. In the same way I defend a man's right to choose how and whether he verbally expresses emotions, I strongly believe that there is work to be done to deconstruct the stigma that is attached to this, when and if they choose to do so.

In similar fashion, in the way we have fought so hard to reject female beauty standards, it's really essential that we consider the male equivalent. Don't think there is one? Ask any man under 5 foot 8, ask any bald man under the age of 30, ask any man who has been shamed for the lack of, or excess of body hair. We have to start recognising that there is a double standard, and without too much speculation, could these expectations and lack of attention we are giving them in comparison to a lot of feminist issues in mass media, be somewhat contributing to the frustration and anger that manifests into these toxic traits we have been discussing. YEAH, FUCKING PROBABLY.

Anyway, in summary what I'm saying is, in the same way that the toxic traits we subscribe to masculinity are not universal amongst all males, the solutions to those issues that we have identified within this culture, are also not universal. Recognising differences in the lives of men and boys is crucial to the effectiveness of efforts to resolve gender violence and inequality once and for all, some food for thought. 

Stay kind always, Abbie x