#also trying to charm people agaisnt their will is bad actually

[cnl0400]

Maybe controversial but I think it's silly that when a demon in this game does something "problematic" (Honestly, this mostly apply to the brothers tbh, because this happens less with Barbatos, Diavolo and Mephisto) it's always excused with a "they are demons! You can't apply human standards to them!" But a human who has spent a large part of his life with them, who owes everything he currently is to a demon (Nightbringer/Barbatos) and has basically seen how demons interact with the world (and probably, His fellow sorcerers/witches, does anyone remember Helene or Is just me?) is criticized for his cynical way of seeing pacts with demons.

Like, most of these demons in S1 were refering to the MC as "just a human" and threatening to eat them/kill them (like, even Lucifer said to "not care about how humans breed" to the MC in their fucking Birthday lmao) and dimissing them in general and Solomon, a human who probably has heard all of this for like, centuries, Is the bad one for not seeing demons as his equals, when demons probably did the same until very recently

[dr-spectre]

Guess who turned 7 years old?

SPLATOON 2!!!!! Everyone's favourite Splatoon game!!!! Right? Right guys....? We love Splatoon 2 yeah....? It's the best one right.....? Totally not gonna become the middle child of the series that gets overshadowed by the new fresh Splatoon 3 and the nostalgia of the first game right.....?

Okay, jokes aside about if Splatoon 2 is actually good or not. This was the game that actually got me into Splatoon, I knew about the series since it's announcement but I couldn't play the first game because like the rest of general public, I didn't own a wii u. Still don't but I would love to have one to mod. (And play Splatoon 1 online with fan servers...)

I think Splatoon 2 really did bring a lot of cool stuff to the table and it had a lot of quality of life features and interesting weapon, sub and special concepts.

It gave us the dualies!! THE DUALIES! I LOVE THE DUALIES!

It gave us the brellas! Which.... were kinda bad at launch and still are bad till this day....

BUT! I dont wanna talk about weapons because thats BORING! I wanna talk about one of the best things Splatoon 2 gave us...

OFF THE HOOK! PEARL AND MARINA! These girls are some of the most popular characters in the series and for good reason. They are both funny, likeable, charming, witty and have developed backstories by the time Octo Expansion comes around. Plus their chemistry is top-notch and so damn CUTE! It's almost has if they are somehow more than friends and that kind of connection is canon and people who try to deny it are fucking idiots and will never be in a relationship of their own.....

Also Splatoon 2 gave us a pretty solid hero mode at launch, sure it was basically more Splatoon 1 hero mode but hey, the first hero mode was fun so more of the same is fine by me. Plus you get Marie's classic snark too while you go through levels, she's nice company surprisingly. Way better than some old ass crusty dude...

It also gave us....

totally didn't fuck up my mental health this year and last year and caused me chest pain and discomfort until I had to dig and dig AND DIG for knowledge just to salvage it and make sure my favourite character in the fucking series was given the respect she deserves....

....hypno/octo Callie.... totally didn't fuck up this villain arc for her huh Nintendo? Totally didn't throw away the depth you built up (and was shown in concept art) only to try and hastily fix it 2 years later with an obscure relationship chart no one fucking talks about, not even the timeline explainers...

totally didn't use the wrong terminology to describe her situation and made everything so much worse because you wanted a simple black and white story for the kiddies yeah Nintendo? Despite you making stuff grey in the dlc expansion so the both story modes now clash like oil and water theme wise.

And yet you still treat her like dirt. Still using the wrong poorly localised words. If I still gotta repeat to the sky one more time that callie was under hypnosis and not forceful brainwashing I might have a stroke. You can't even fucking brainwash someone with hypnosis because the limitation of hypnosis is that the person under it must be fully comfortable with the suggestion and the suggestion cannot go agaisnt their morals and ideology. AND GUESS WHAT BRAINWASHING IS! FORCING DIFFERENT IDEOLOGIES INTO SOMEONE'S HEAD! DO YOU GET WHY I HAVE AN ISSUE NOW?!?!?! JUST USE THE WORD HYPNOTISED NINTENDO! THATS ALL YOU GOTTA DO!! ILL BE SOOO HAPPY!!!

YOU TOO INKIPEDIA! I CAUGHT YOU USING THE WORD TOO MULTIPLE TIMES! you better change it... just change brainwashed to hypnotised and I would literally kiss you on the lips or something idk... I love you inkipedia but that's all you gotta change okay? Pretty please? With a cherry on top?

ENOUGH OF THAT! I WANNA TALK ABOUT SOMETHING ELSE!!!

Do you know what else Splatoon 2 gave us?

OCTO EXPANSION BABY! I know people love to call this overrated now but I really don't care. It's not overrated, it's perfectly rated. It also gave us PLAYABLE OCTOLINGS! Which was a highly requested thing people really really wanted and they gave us what we asked for! Even though they lacked a lot of customisation options.... still do till this day... (Nintendo is it really that hard to come up with new hair? The community has been doing that for years for you man.)

And of course... the last thing I want to talk about...

This is probably my favourite Splatfest to date. It brought in a lot of actual genuine philosophical discussion on what kind of world is best, a world of chaos? Or a world of order? I chose team chaos because when the youtuber/streamer Etika was still around he chose team chaos and I chose that team because of him... rest in peace...

The shifty station too was phenomenonal as you got to hear Fly Octo Fly and Pearl would come in AND YOU GOT TO USE HER PRINCESS CANON!!!! IT WAS SO FUCKING COOL AHHHH!!!

God Pearl is so cool... i can't believe I actually used to dislike her. I wanna beat up teen me so badly for having such bad takes. Marina is hot sure, but, Pearl is just so fucking funny. Man what was wrong with 13 to 17 year old me....

Anyways, I wanted to ramble about Splatoon 2. It's pretty special to me as it was the reason I am here today, so I can't really criticise it as much as others do. Well... aside from one obvious thing but, I've done that many times.

Also, before I go... NINTENDO!!! BRING BACK SHIFTY STATIONS FOR SPLATOON 4!!! DO IT!!! STOP BEING COWARDS!!!!

[liveandloveandlearn]

The case against Self Help books at 5:30 AM

I didn’t intend to write this cuz the case is very clear to me. But I woke up at 5:30 AM and couldn’t go back to sleep. Then i run into a post from an  old...acquaintance (friend is a strong word) on facebook, sparking some pretty personalized thoughts on this case. Here’s what he wrote:

“Stay Calm. Speak Clearly. Don’t be nervous - Advice that will get you out of a sticky situation 99/100 of the time. Agree/Disagree?”

Before I shred this “advice” into pieces, I would say that if this “advice” had been worded slightly differently and reflects its essence a bit more accurately, I would be totally on board. As someone who not too long ago learnt that she’s been carrying around about 3000 tons of social anxiety her whole life, I cannot down play the importance of“staying calm”, “speaking clearly” and “don’t be nervous”. That’s essentially a part of the foundation for building a strong presence and communication, for accessing your knowledge and critical thinking on the spot, and for good decision making. I’m still in my strive to practice that. Totally on board. These are very worthy GOALS for someone who wants to improve themselves or keep something in mind to remind themselves how to act.

Now to the shredder. 

HOW are we supposed to stay calm, speak clearly and not be nervous when we’re human and part of our brain is prone to freak out and be nervous? 

WHAT if we have social anxiety? 

WHAT if no one really taught us how to speak (which is not a what if btw)? 

WHO has this advice helped getting out of sticky situations? WHAT KINDS of situation? 

HOW did you land at the 99/100 statistic? 

HOW can we so sure this would work? Would it still work if you do this but also don’t have a shred of self-awareness, or had done something really bad to get yourself into this “sticky situation”?

Oh potato tomato. “You’re just a downer, a nitpicker, a hater”, I can hear the originator of this “advice” says. I would be tempted to say “Well you’re a generalizer who doesn’t think the details through, and your advice is only good for charming people into agreeing with you, but won’t actually help anyone who needs help”

But I’m not gonna say that in this imaginary exchange. “You’re X” is not a great argument. How about I say: “If you really wanna help people, you might wanna get down to their level and the specific"

...

My acquaintance has a blog of hundreds of posts on self help topics. He has been writing often and consistently on this blog for years - which is very respectable. His blog is full of titles such as:

“You only have 2 choices at any given moment”

“The talent you lack is focus”

“You’ve been thinking about happiness all wrong”

Let’s be perfectly clear, I’m not gonna ridicule or make fun of him. The strive to be better, know better, do better is an absolutely admirable strive, not just in the “oh hey im a good person because I try” sense, but more so in the “I have so many reasons to succumb to nihilism but I’m still trying instead” kind of sense. But here’s the thing. He writes so much about what other people think/say/popularize/market that I can barely see him or hear him. It’s just pretty much a series of “ways to think about things” type of deal. I follow his logic and reasons, and then I feel absolutely nothing.

I get a feeling he struggles to engage an audience that he does want to engage, but he’s still pushing through and continue on. I considered dropping him a note as a reader telling him how much i admire his grit, but he might wanna personalize his lessons a little bit if he wants people to relate to it. Not just write about himself, although that does help, but could also be abused. But write about real stuff that happens, not just idealized, polished, curated logic and reasons. But I’m sure he thinks friend would be a strong words for me too:)). I don’t think i’ve earned the right to be super honest with him.

Maybe I would still say something, I don’t know. Why the hell do I care:))

I guess maybe i feel like such a committed writer should get to speak his own voice, not recited self help bs.

...

Lol i just realized I meant to make a real case agaisnt self help books and then i totally rant about something else. Ok how about this. Self help books might convince you not to think. They might tell you hey you’ve been dumb, blind, feral this whole time. Let us show you the way to absolute fulfillment, because you’re wonderful and you totally deserve it. Who wouldn’t want to believe thats true? Who wouldn’t want to believe that they are capable and totally deserve it? So they put their own voices and thoughts aside, deeming them unhelpful. They give up their unique vulnerabilities and strengths for a couple tips and tricks. That’s my case agaisnt self help books.

[kuuderekun]

I think more Sailor Moon fans need to check out other Magical Girl Warrior Anime

Back during the era of Nolan's Batman movies it was in certain places online like IMDB message boards very popular to express the opinion that Robin's existence is inherently bad for Batman.  That Batman should be a loner and throwing in this kid sidekick only dumbs the stories down. I was always agaisnt that mentality, and today most major voices in the internet Western Comic Book Nerd community reject that as really narrow minded and know that your really not much of a Batman fan at all if you completely reject such a large portion of what the Batman mythos are. As someone who remembers all of that while currently being a Millennial Otaku in an era where our current Nostalgia cycle has brought a number of old 90s Anime back into public conciseness.  I feel like the Anime equivalent of that is the prevalence of Sailor Moon fans who wish Tuxedo Mask didn't exist, that position is nearly unanimous among the guests on the Sailor Business podcast. I actually have more sympathy for this position even though it's less supportable (Tuxedo Mask was there from issue one unlike Robin) because my own preferences for female lead Anime and Superhero stories are often similar, I'm a Yuri Fanatic who likes watching Anime where it's possible to pretend men don't even exist in that fictional world.  But when it comes to Sailor Moon my position is Mamoru/Darrien is just as essential as  Lois Lane is to Superman, or Mary Jane to Spiderman, or Iris West to Barry Allen, or Sif to Thor. Now talking about Tuxedo Mask is complicated by how the 90s Anime handled him very differently.  This may shock some people to learn, but there are Sailor Moon Manga purists who hate everything about the 90s Anime.  He's not in High School not Collage in the Manga (and in the Japan the age difference between middle school and high school is smaller then it is here, they are in fact only 2-3 years apart) Mamoru isn't constantly a jerk to her early on, Usagi isn't nearly as childish and Tuxedo Mask actually contributes more. That element also fits the Robin comparison, the rejection of Robin was partly from how for a long time the mainstream public perception of Robin was Burt Ward and Chris O'Donnell.  And indeed I think the best western Comic Book analogy for those Manga purists who hate the Anime are people who still hate the Adam West and Shumacker takes on Batman.  Those of us who have read Robin(s) as written by for example Chuck Dixon or Marv Wolfman know the concept can be taken seriously. However some people don't like Mamoru even in the Manga, or heck some even find him worse in the Manga.  These people simply hate the idea of tuning in to a show about a Superheroine (or "Female Superhero" as the CW's Supergirl pilot kept insisting on saying) where she is also constantly being rescued.  Now most of those "rescues" range from cheer-leading her to adding a little minor assist like female love interests of male superhero get to contribute all the time, and the final climax of the original story-line is her saving him.  But these fans want male love interests to contribute 0% to their Superheroine stories. Thing is that apparent contradiction is not a bug but a feature, it is kind of the entire premise of Sailor Moon.  Film Flux did a video on the Sailor Moon Manga that helped me to clarify this.  Superhero stories are at their core wish fulfillment fantasies, and like it or not many young girls fantasize both about being a Superhero and being a Damsel rescued by a handsome prince (and some young boys have the same fantasies).  While most Mangaka might have written two completely separate stories to express those fantasies Naoko Takeuchi said Frak It and did both simultaneously, she wrote a story where an average Japanese school girl gets to be both Snow White and Wonder Woman at the same time.  The premise of Sailor Moon is foundationally about having your cake and eating it too. Now you don't have to also be into that, my point is that this Prince Charming isn't something that's part of the story because of executive meddling.  (If anything it's having other Girls helping her that was, Takeuchi's original vision was a solo Super-heroine, it was Toei that wanted a team so they could sell more toys.) And so if you fundamentally don't like that, you kind of don't like the premise of Sailor Moon. The reason why in America Sailor Moon is popular with many people who actually share only half of Takeuchi's fantasy is because on mid 90s television she was the only Superheroine we had to choose from at all. Thing is it's now possible for Americans to watch almost any Anime they want to, and the sub-genre Sailor Moon spawned has evolved to provide plenty of shows that can better provide what these Sailor Moon fans actually want.  I think there are plenty of people who might actually like the rest of the genre more but have still only seen Sailor Moon because they've never searched for Anime beyond what airs on Toonami, or because they're assuming them to be Sailor Moon knock offs with no actual creativity.  But the truth is even the ones most similar to Sailor Moon are still just as distinct as Green Arrow is from Batman. All or at least most Pretty Cure shows have no Tuxedo Mask analogue, a few have Het love interests who are civilians, like Peter Parker crushing on Liz Allan or Mary Jane in the Raimi films, but most don't even have that.  Madoka Magica and Yuki Yuna Is A Hero and Symphogear provide no Het romance for the main character at all.  Pretty Sammy and Nanoha also work, and Prisma Illya is....... not a good one to start with. Corrector Yui doesn't seem to have a Tuxedo Mask figure from what I've seen so far, on Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne there is one kinda but he's a rival thief.  On Saint Tail the love interest is the guy trying to catch her, so it's like Batman and Catwoman but if Catwoman was stealing things because God wanted her to do it???? I'm still not sure what show's premise actually is.  In Galaxy Fraulein Yuna there is a Tuxedo Mask but she's a woman, so those of you who enjoy having your sexuality confused by Takerazuka style Mamoru in the new Musicals might enjoy that. Even Wedding Peach is distinct on this issue since the person who could be called the Tuxedo Mask of the show is not the title character's love interest. So I'm hoping once these Sailor Moon fans can get their no Tuxedo Mask Magical Girl fix elsewhere they can be open to appreciating Mamoru once they seem him portrayed correctly on Crystal( just make sure you're watching the BluRay rips) or even the Live Action show PGSM.  I also still recommend that Sailor Moon Fan Film from 2016.

https://jaredmithrandirolorin.blogspot.com/2020/08/i-think-more-sailor-moon-fans-need-to.html