#also they de-Russianed the Russians which tbh I can understand why

[morhath]

[sitting bolt upright in mild horror almost a week after seeing The Nutcracker] THEY HAD THEIR ONE BLACK GIRL DOING SPANISH CHOCOLATE

[former-leftist-jew]

I really loved your post about religious extremism and I wanted to add that a lot of the people using the "peaceful, noble Palestinian" trope (like you said, the noble savage trope) would have no problem understanding that a Christian population is bigoted against gays because they were raised in that faith and ministered to by bigots -- for instance, Russian leadership using the language of Christianity to make "same sex propaganda" illegal (I literally know someone who went to jail for kissing another woman in front of Russian police) and then holding them to account when said government is removed from power, or even refusing to forgive them even when they've changed. These are totally understandable reactions to bigotry, even societal bigotry (my grandfather remains deeply homophobic due to his Christianity and even if he one day changes, I don't know that I'll be able to forgive him for supporting conversion therapy).

But when it's a non-Western population? Suddenly those people CAN'T be bigoted and CAN'T have been fed antisemitism and hatred for their entire lives because. I don't know, it's different with them! I know so many wonderful, affirming, progressive Muslims who have done the work to reinterpret and decolonize their faith, the same as I do Christians, Jews, Hindus, etc.. But I also know that in the Middle East, many don't DO that sort of reflection -- largely because they don't have the ability to due to decades of corrupt leadership and authoritarian rule. You can be a victim of religious extremism by virtue of being raised in it, but we NEED to hold these people to the same standards as we do Westerners coming out of religious extremism.

I'm not shocked Palestinians support Hamas -- it fucking sucks in Gaza, and has for a while. That's how terrorism gets its roots, same as the Taliban, the KKK, Al-Qaeda, etc; it preaches to a suffering population and promises it everything it wants, if only you'll hate XYZ group, if only you'll give us your children, etc. If we truly want to free Palestine -- which I do, I am a supporter of Palestinian self determination and ending anti-Arab racism and Islamophobia -- then we need to understand all this and help them decolonize and de-terrorize.

(I hope any of that made sense, I just sort of rambled)

Daww, thank you! I'm glad my pot struck a chord with you. ^_^

Yeah, believe it or not, I do have a lot of sympathy for the average Palestinian Muslim/Christian. It's just... like Atticus said of Mayella Ewell in To Kill a Mockingbird, my sympathy doesn't extend so far as to condone anihilating Israel and massacring all Jews.

I do believe that everyone has a right to self-determination and self-government. Gay people have a right to marry who they love, trans people have a right to dress and live as the gender they identify as, Arab Muslims have a right to worship Allah with Muhammad as his last and final Prophet, Jews have a right to self-determine and self-govern, etc.

TBH, I think there's a cruel irony that an estimated 30-60% of Palestinian Arabs share ancient Canaanite/Hebrew ancestry with modern Jews (meaning, they're also descended from ancient Jews), but since the region was forcibly conquered and converted by Islamic Caliphs in the 600's, it's fair to assume their Jewish ancestors were colonized and/or forcibly converted. (Or at least passively pressured to convert over time, since non-Muslims in Sharia Law are made to pay a poll tax and live as second-class citizens to Muslim citizens--so who wouldn't want to switch to Islam under that literal two-tiered legal system?)

Part of me thinks, "Why would you WANT to stay with Islam when your ancestors were conquered and forcibly converted (or at least passive-aggressively pressured to convert) as sure as Vietnam is largely Catholic because of their French Catholic former colonisers? BUT AGAIN, I respect their right to self-determination and their desire for self-government. If the Palestinian Muslims with ancient Hebrew blood want to stay with Islam, live in an Islamic society, and be ruled by an Islamic government, that's their right.

With that said, part of me feels like the average Palestinian Muslims (and Christians) have been duped by their Islamofascist government to see Israeli Jews not as long-lost brothers and sisters who finally returned home after centuries in exile, but as "foreign invaders" trying to take what little scraps they have. Both in the early 20th century and early 21's century.

You know that leftist meme that goes like:

"A CEO, white kid, and black kid sit at a table. The CEO's plate is piled high with 10 cookies, white the kids' are empty. He then tosses a cookie to the white kid and says, 'That black kid wants to steal your cookie.'"?

That is LITERALLY Hamas is doing to the Palestinian Arabs and Jews!

Hamas notoriously hoards as much of Gaza's food, fuel, water, resources, and wealth as they can, throw their people just enough scraps to get by, and then tells them, "Those Jews wants to steal your land, your religion, and your liberty. Help us kill the Jew, and you'll be living in Paradise." When the state of the rest of the Middle East (which have little to no Jews left in them) shows otherwise.

And I'm so disgusted by how the Left West recognizes that manipulation tactic when it comes to rich white CEO's duping poor whites into blaming black "welfare queens" and brown "illegal immigrants" for their lack of the good life, but somehow CAN'T connect the dots when Islamofascist dictators who openly hoard all their country's resources for themselves and spread oppressive violence and misogyny to the rest of the population do the exact same thing to the average impoverished Muslim regarding "Jews" and "Western invaders."

The average Muslim? Believe it or not, I DO have some sympathy. Based on what I've seen and read from various ex-Muslims, it sounds like Arab Islamic culture doesn't really encourage critical thinking, self-examination, or widespread education as the norm. MANY ex-Muslims I've met and talked to IRL, and that I follow on social media, talk about how, when they were growing up

A lot of Palestinians are also pretty upfront about how "we don't question" what they've been taught about Islam and Jews.

But, you know what? As far as I'm concerned, it's time to START questioning. It's time to START thinking about it. It's time to START making room for non-Muslims to live beside and share equal rights and resources with Muslims.

And I'm so grossed out that the Western Left encourages the religious bigotry, intolerance, and "no dogs or Jews allowed here!" segregation because "It's their culture/religion." Well then, they need to change with the times like everyone else.

[hopeswriting]

Opinions on the fanon tropes of tacking on Demort(e)? Or the whole "Cherep" thing?

hi nonny, thank you for the ask!

honestly i don't really care one way or another. likewise about the general practice of giving the arco "real" names and full names that sound less like made-up ones lol. sometimes i love those names a lot and sometimes i really don't think they fit the arco, but either way it's never a decisive factor about whether i'll enjoy the fic and never make me stop reading a fic, and mostly i'm super neutral about it. i do enjoy that it's a thing and find it fun and i'm always curious to see what everyone comes up with, but mostly i'm like, "i guess that's a thing some fans do *shrugs*", and move on with my life lol.

but back to skull specifically, i actually think skull de mort has a super nice ring to it! but funnily enough, just as i've seen russian people say that cherep isn't actually a russian name, de mort is very much not an actual french surname either lol. not that i'm aware of anyway. which is maybe why i first thought it was just fans adding to his stage name, and not them making it to be his actual surname lol. and tbh it's just how i always read it whether it's the case or not whenever it comes up in fics? because i just really can see skull do that, add some foreign cool-sounding language to his stage name and not even getting it right because it's literally not even grammatically correct lmao (it should be "de la mort", tho "de mort" does sound cooler and smoother, so i wouldn't be surprised if it was on purpose).

also another funny thing about it to me is that i literally can't see skull being french to save my life zesdfgfsd. like, i honestly just can't?? for me viper as a french person is more believable, and even reborn before ever being skull lol.

as for cherep, which means skull in russian for those who don't know, it's totally understandable that russian people complain about it/mock it and can't take it seriously when it comes up in fics lol, but as someone who is not russian myself, i can just read it as any other name that has no other meaning to me other than "being that person's name", you know? so it doesn't bother me and i don't feel one way or another about it, tho i personally don't think it's a name that fits skull, but that's just my personal preferences lol.

i also do want to say that skull is an actual name and surname people have in real life! like, among the arco i think he's the one whose name really makes you instinctively go "well, that's gotta be a nickname or something" lol, but for having looked into the arco names for that one post i did, there are people in real life called skull. tho from what i found, it's not actually meant to literally mean skull or be tied to death in general (understandably so lol).

[jennibeultimate]

Personal recap GP Italy 2021 - Ladies SP & FS and Pairs SP & FS

I was at the GP Italy in the arena, so I am writing this recap now on my way home. Sadly on Friday for the SP the arena was super empty. The prices were far too high. Saturday the arena had at the least the double amount of ppl. Nothing compared to the GPF 2019 (the magic of Yuzu's participation!) I don't particularly like the arena as the seats are damn uncomfortable and again sitting on the judges site was hardly possible (for training yes, but not for competition). Nonetheless I love to see skating live and that's why I went there. 😊

Ladies

My highlight in the SP and FS were Mai Mihara, Satoko Miyahara and Loena Hendricks! They all performed so well. ❤️❤️❤️❤️Mai has such an emotional impact on me. Satoko's skating is just not comparable to anyone, she should receive the highest PCS - always. Loena is a joy to watch. She has fire, it's fun to watch her, haa impressive heights on her jumps and star quality. She was so happy after the FS as if she would have won. I am so happy for her.

Anna fought her way back to the top impressively. Tbh I didn't think she would deliver but she probably thought "you can take that title from my cold hands or never". The FS dress is beautiful, the SP dress is horrendous. Her jumps are still ugly, but she is a very good performer and brings the emotions. Sadly her programs are really meh...Anna deserves better programs! Her SP score was way too high, but in the end it wouldn't have changed the results so I can live with it.

Maiia Khromykh - I was surprised about her. Her performance ability is quite good for a 15 year old with programs that don't suit her age - pls don't make 15 year olds skate to Moulin Rouge, same for the SP - trying to sell sexy with a 15 year old is akward at best. Nonetheless she performed well. She is a bit slow and I don't understand how her GOEs come together as most landings were quite wonky, but I guess being at Eteri's helps.

Eunsoo Lim has such star potential! 🔥 She was on fire in the SP. Shame about the fall, but it didn't affect her performance at all. Easily one of my favorites of the day. Even when Tango de Roxanne so overused is. The FS sadly fell a bit apart.

Yelim Kim was better than at Skate Canada, but still far from what she can do. Her dresses are extraordinary beautiful. I think she skates a bit reserved. The fire is missing, but she is still very lovely to watch, her attention to detail is to her fingertips, so even if not as expressive in her face, she is expressing things in movement, which for a live audience is far more important than the face.

The scoring is whack anyway - especially the PCS - but tbh live it doesn't bother me as much as on TV seeing the TES box. 😅 It's easy sitting at home and judging the TV, but live you can clearly see what skaters try to disguise, some skaters are truly slow. Satoko for example skates at lightning speed which makes her hard to photograph. Also some skaters do all her jumps in the same places and it's even more apparent when a program is boring. On TV you have the facial expression, live the face is not always good to see.

___

Pairs

The Pairs that stood out were Peng Cheng/Yang Jin and Sui Wenjing and Han Cong. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

They were a league of their own. Their win was foreseen and rightfully so. They both have beautiful programs, beautiful dresses. Sui and Han really have that super star power. They overshadow everyone. Also their speed is so good. One element just floats into another. Cheng Peng/Yang Jin were so happy after their skates. Sui Wenjing was very emotional after the SP score.

The rest of the Pairs field was underwhelming. I like Della Monica/Guarise, but they made so many mistakes nothing was left. The two new Russian pairs are lovely to watch, but nothing special. They blend into the pool of good Pair skaters from Russia. I was sad for Annika Hocke and Robert Kunkel - there ABBA program is so fun - , but apparently he was ill and I think withdrawing was the right choice.

[salutonriano]

Language Journey Tag

Vielen Dank an @deutsian fürs Verlinken!

1. What languages are you/have you studied?

Umm that depends on what you mean by study. I’ve paid thousands of dollars to take classes in French and German. I've done free courses and read books in Esperanto, as well as gone to the 100th World Esperanto Congress and attended dozens of local meetings. Dutch is probably my next best language. I completed maybe half of the Duolingo tree, maybe more, and spent 10 days in the Netherlands. I have one Dutch friend but tbh we mostly speak in German. Woops!

I also have books for Turkish, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Klingon (a gift from my sci-fi-loving teacher), Arabic, Yiddish and Swahili, but I’ve never really done much with them.

2. How long have you been studying?

French - 7 years

Esperanto - 7 years

German - 2.5 years

3. Did you learn through class or self-study (or both)?

French - 5h / week for 4 years of high school, and now I major it in at university.

German - It’s kinda complicated. When I was young, I did three years of “German School” i.e. 3h each Saturday mostly with German expats’ kids but gave it up. Then I picked it up again in university, taught myself using loads of online resources, then I signed up for an intensive class at university, then I did

4. Why did you decide to learn this language?

French - My best friend in grade school’s dad was from France, it kinda wasn’t really a choice.

German - My grandfather was born in Germany, I‘ve always felt a connection to Germany and its language.

Esperanto - My French teacher was an Esperantist, I loved how international the language was, and how quickly I saw results.

5. What was a major highlight/milestone in studying this language?

French - Last semester, 4/5 of my classes were 100% in French with native French speakers (I study in a bilingual francophone-anglophone city). One of these classes was Histoire de la langue française, in which I was the only non-native speaker. I wrote a 20 page academic paper on the linguistic development of Alsace since the Second World War and then presented it as well. I got an A+.

German - Hmm.. I dunno! A few times where I haven’t said really long sentences, Germanophones have thought that I was German. Other than that.. I guess reading my first novel in German and no longer needing subtitles for German movies (which I LOVE now because it’s so hard to find subtitles).

Esperanto - To be honest, I don’t take Esperanto as seriously as I used to, so there aren’t as many milestones. I guess I remember after one year of Esperanto that I could read basic books meanwhile I only knew the French présent.

6. What was the hardest thing about studying this language?

French - I find French slang extremely frustrating. I get the basics of verlan, but I hate having to prononuce everyword backwards in my head to figure out what it is.

German - The regional variations, I guess. I find it very difficult to understand people who don’t speak Hochdeutsch. At the same time, I find it super interesting.

Esperanto - Esperanto doesn’t have enough native speakers to have a reference to look at when using expressions that are forumlated different in each language, like idioms and slang. For example, how could you say “to play someone”? While an English speaker might understand ludi iun, a Mandarin speaker may not. Another example is how to say “you don’t have to”. I’d say “vi ne devas” because in English that’s how it’s constructed, but a German or French person might understand that as “you musn’t,” because that’s what it would literally mean in their language.

7. What resources did you find most useful for studying this language?

French - The program Antidote is my life. It has the most comprehensive dictionary I have ever seen. It knows regionalisms, what register it’s used in, and usage examples.

German - Deutsche Welle, Goethe Institut, Deutsch.info, Mediathek.. there are SO many good resources for German. I don’t wanna list them all here cause I wanna make a post about them later. ;)

Esperanto - Lernu.net is THE site for Esperanto courses. I used that long before Duolingo was out, and now they redid the site and added new courses and functions. They have courses with exercises, forum to chat with other members, a dictionary and even jokes and poems in Esperanto!

8. Any top tips for studying this language?

Start speaking as early as possible! I honestly find that when I make mistakes in front of native speakers, I remember them a lot better.

9. What’s your next major language goal?

Hmm.. I’d like to read another novel in German, watch a French TV show and well I’d like to finish the Dutch tree on Duolingo at some point haha

10. Anything we can do in the tumblr community to get you there?

Any French-language TV shows anyone can recommend? I’m currently watching How to Get Away with Murder in French but I’d like to watch something original.

--

I tag @historyandlanguages @francaise-de-coeur and @jaevla-underbart :)

[ntshastark]

(this is a post abt my opinion re: the whole iron fist race controversy. please don’t read the beginning and think i’m defending the show, i simply say the good stuff first and the bad stuff last - also it’s 3am so this is a mess

ETA: i edited it a bit after waking up and added some stuff - it’s still a mess tho)

ok so when the danny casting was announced i was one of the few people who didn’t get mad at marvel, mostly bc i didn’t raise my expectations for an asian danny like most of the fandom. and, as i said on this post, i didn’t think marvel casting an actor whose skin color matched the character’s was a reason to be mad at them, especially to the point of boycotting the show. and i still think that, bc if you can overlook danny being white when buying/reading his comics, i don’t see why you couldn’t when watching his show. and who knows, maybe they’d manage to pull off not being racist despite the whole ‘white savior’ thing. i mean, the great wall did it. like, i didn’t really have much hope on it bc daredevil exists, but i was willing to give it a chance. and then the reviews started coming out saying it actually was a racist mess so i was like, yeah, ok, now ppl have all the reason to boycott it.

(parenthesis to explain why i joined the doctor strange boycott but not the iron fist one: i boycotted doctor strange bc of the ancient one whitewashing and the whole tibet thing, not the white saviorism. yes, it’s an annoying trope but if you threat and develop the poc characters well - which ds didn’t - i don’t personally think it’s that serious of an issue individually - as in: the problem is not really the trope itself, but how often it happens. it’s like the sexy lamp thing, it’s annoying, but imagine if we were gonna organize boycotts to every movie that does it. i even was gonna watch iron fist on an illegal site but my college started so i only had the - also very busy - weekend to finish it and illegal sites didn’t have subtitles yet - my first language isn’t english

also: a boycott is different than simply not watching. boycotting is collective, it’s organizing and it usually ends up with the ppl who participated getting mad at those who didn’t)

tbh after watching the show i don’t get why the bad reviews. as my friend put it, it was “not incredible, not exceptional, but good. the kind of show that we’re always wasting time watching but if it’s marvel/netflix everyone goes WOOOAAHH”. imo it was a lot like daredevil, just less gritty. and less racist.

now, keep in mind that i’m a white brazilian, so, while i’m affected by lack of/bad representation on international media, my understanding of what is racist to asian ppl doesn’t exactly come from first-hand experience. but like. the thing with daredevil (especially season 2) is that all asian characters were villains (plus elektra who’s on a grey line here) and had no personality. they were just walking fighting stereotypes. barely even talking. but iron fist had 1. the monks and colleen among the good guys. and, granted, the monks don’t really show up but colleen was amazing. i loved her, loved her characterization (disclaimer: i’ve read only like 4 comics with colleen in them), loved her friendship with claire, loved her relationship with her students, loved her storyline, especially loved how she was the one to defeat bakuto instead of danny, i’d be fucking pissed if that didn’t happen like that. (also a parenthesis to talk abt how the only undeniably good characters on the show besides danny were all women, 2/3 of them being woc - 2/2 if you’re not pretending, as i am, that that ooc barbara kean-esque mess of joy’s last scene never happened) 2. the villains were incredible. madame gao was still a stereotype, but at least she was explored more - and her men weren’t all asian, and were actually military-ish, so no “army of ninjas” mess again. and the one-episode ones were incredible (i’m talking abt the ones from the challenge - ...except the russian dudes tbh - and lewis tan’s character jfc - more on this later). like, even if they had little screentime, they were all unique and fun and i’d totally watch a show about them.

ok, so i’ve said the good stuff (and some bad ones, but always with a “but” after them). now onto the bs:

honestly, the biggest problem with this show is the main actor. i hate saying bad stuff about actors but finn jones was just not the right choice. and, yes, partly bc he’s not asian.

as i said on the beginning of the post, i was more than willing to give white danny a chance. after all, comics!danny is white and is a beloved character nonetheless (even if i’ve read basically nothing with him yet). but, god, it was torture to watch that show and see all the occasions where asian!danny would have not only fit perfectly but made it better and been able to say/do stuff that people need to hear/see, not to mention certain uncomfortable-to-watch moments, especially between him and colleen, that would’ve been fixed by that. like, honestly, i can number so much stuff on this show that would’ve been improved with that - even by a creative standpoint like holy shit i’m not even a writer and i’m itching to rewrite that whole show with asian-american!danny, it’s not only begging to be done by the story itself but it’s also such a fun challenge, it’s such a fucking huge missing opportunity, it’s so frustrating.

and like, the whole “he’s gotta be an outsider” thing (which has been refuted many times already anyway) isn’t even valid bc davos is played by sacha dhawan, who is british of indian descent. and, granted, india is in asia, but it’s so different from east asia that ppl usually forget it’s in the same continent (i guarantee you that the ppl using that outsider argument do). so it basically confirmed that danny being an outsider was never about race, but about not being born in k’un lun.

but anyway, as i said, it’s partly bc he’s not asian, but there’s definitely more.

i’ve already seen ppl commenting on how weak the fighting scenes are, especially to a show that’s supposed to be about that, and i agree (even if there’s some pretty neat acrobatics here and then). while that’s definitely not the actor’s fault, i can’t help but wonder how much better they probably would’ve been with an actor who’s a martial artist himself and could do his own stunts. i mean, this character is supposed to be the 2nd best martial artist in the marvel universe. so much of him is about the fighting, having someone who can actually do that stuff would’ve made the filming a lot less restricted bc they wouldn’t have to worry about not showing his face while doing more complicated stuff (which reminds me: the stunt double’s face is clearly visible when danny attacks those two first guards in the last episode).

but my biggest issue with finn jones’ danny is the way he looks. first of all, he’s a skinny kid with floppy hair. he looks exactly like what we in brazil call “estudante de humanas da federal” (aka a history/geography/philosophy/sociology/etc major from a public university. just google “estudante de humanas”, you’ll understand what i’m talking about - it’s not a pejorative term, just not exactly the ideal look for the character). basically, he’s a punk bitch. he looks ridiculous. when he’s doing (what assume is) tai chi it’s fucking laughable. the whole way he moves is just wrong, and the way he looks just accentuates that, which is why they should’ve hired a skilled fighter to play the part - or at least someone who looks like one. i repeat: fighting is such a huge part of danny’s character, it makes no sense to hire a skinny dude who looks like couldn’t even kick my ass. he just doesn’t sell it, it looks like i’m watching a comedy. like my friend said, “the dude spent 15 years training and his arm is thinner than mine”

i mean come on

like, look at lewis tan (yesss we finally got here) during his fight on ep 8. zhou cheng’s movements /mocking danny/ /while drunk/ are SO much more fluid and natural, it was fucking torture to watch that and see what we could’ve had like jfc LOOK AT THIS

THAT’S WHAT THE IRON FIST FIGHTING SHOULD LOOK LIKE I’M SO MAD MEET ME ON THE FUCKING PITCH @ MARVEL

ETA (25/03/17):

[link]

not to mention his body. like, hotness aside, that’s what an actual martial artist’s body looks like. y’know, with actual muscles. and i’m not above mentioning how show!danny has a beard bc finn jones looks 15 without it.

and honestly his acting is good but nothing stellar. i could swallow this pill if i had a cup of “ok but at least the guy is a fucking terrific actor” to help, but he’s just... nice.