#and it's only rated that high

[corvus-the-trickster]

Sometimes i remind myself of the fact skyrim is rated younger than syndicate and lose my mind over it

[danikatze]

[ID in alt text]

Guys he's so pretty..

[milkbreadtoast]

guys i started reading this recently and let me tell you. You have to read this one.... ITS SO GODDAMN FUNNY. im having the time of my life... wholeheartedly rec

[elodieunderglass]

Guys GUYS

Concept: Throw Your Heart Over as an animated show of some kind but there are, like, educational appendixes at the end of each episode like “the making of planet Earth” but it’s about some Fascinating Fact. So for example, in an episode in which the Celt and his Irish Hobby have been doing weird feats of equitation in the corner of Killie’s eye, there would be an ENTIRE 20-minute documentary video essay in which people like @mylittlehony would be able to explain to you everything about the Irish Hobby, from whether it did give rise to the Thoroughbred, to how it fared in medieval battle, and how it gave rise to the term “hobby.” We’d bring in linguistics and DNA evidence and people would be fascinated, they’d be like “but my horseboy yaoi show” and we’d be like “it was a TRAP to get you interested in……… medieval horse warfare apparently. Uhhh. next episode has a recipe for Sachertorte though. And then we are getting FULLY into… narrowboats… and Kendal mint cake.”

But but but the funny thing will be that a pennywhistle-based musical motif that pops up associated with the ghost horses would be “concerning hobbies”. and you THOUGHT this was a LotR joke combined with wry commentary about how WORRYING these interests are. But then halfway through you hit the Irish Hobby infodump, find out that it was a joke about hobby horses, and put a KNIFE THROUGH YOUR TV SCREEN

[akajustmerry]

I know many people will watch Dale Jennings use a tanning bed in the Newsreader and think it's just an excuse for some eye candy, which sure, it's probably partly that. But also if you aren't Australian you may not know that tanning beds were banned nation-wide no exceptions in 2015 after a decades long campaign by the skin cancer council of Australia to combat Australia having the highest skin cancer rates in the world. Even before the 2015 ban, their use became extremely restricted by age and commercial use. So, someone casually using a tanning bed in Australian media has become a signifier of something being set in the past. My first reaction seeing that scene as an Australian (even as one who Likes™ Sam Reid) was wincing and cringing at the sight of the tanning bed because tanning beds are quite functionally illegal here now and have been for at least a decade so seeing someone using one in a movie is not dissimilar to watching someone be prescribed smoking by a Doctor in a film set in the 50s. It's kinda like an "oh god yeah people used to that didn't they? Yikes!" But if you're not Australian, you might not know that Dale Jennings using a tanning bed is as much a period-accurate detail to signify the past, as much as it is also inevitably an excuse for Sam to have his clothes off lmfao

[yunmeng-jiang]

every day i wish there had been a better solution for the qin su marriage problem.

in my fix-it fics i either have some other sect leader claim that he was actually madly in love with her this whole time and sweep her away for jgy's sake, have her mom confess earlier, make jgy decide to tell her for her own good and have them work together, or not give them a chance to meet and fall in love in the first place (i guess i could also make qin su have a miscarriage, but that's really sad and awful and not my preferred option at all), but all of those require tweaks to the circumstances, sometimes early on so they don't meet or jgy feels safe enough to talk with her or another confidant, or sometimes later like madam qin finding out they're pregnant before the marriage prep is too far along and telling one or both of them right away so they can make other arrangements.

with the situation being what it was, jgy didn't find out soon enough to do anything that wouldn't involve either marrying her anyway (and he didn't think telling her about it would do anything except make her upset and depressed) or leaving her essentially a ruined woman with no prospects and an illegitimate child who would inevitably grow up fatherless, which is pretty much exactly what his dad did to meng shi. this would be a crueler option than pretty much anything else, and given that he clearly still cares about her, he couldn't do that in good conscience. jgy tries his best to protect the people he loves, unless there is literally no other way for him to survive.

it's one more example of jgy being faced with a situation where the only choices are bad ones, and making the decision that he thinks will hurt the fewest number of people. metatextually, it's one more example of women in fiction being shoved aside and not given agency in their own lives, and getting killed off instead of surviving and growing as people like the male characters are allowed to do. it's just a tragic situation all around and i wish there had been something they could have done.

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

Books of 2025: May Wrap-Up.

Good reading month, in terms of both quantity and quality (many four-star reads, good daisychain flow between books)! Great adulting month (more on this later)!! Even got some good knitting and writing in!

Here's what I read (photos/reviews linked):

GHOST OF THE NEON GOD ★★★★ Impulse buy; wasn't expecting it to worm into my brain but it did. Not perfect, but I had fun! Funny, fucked up, weird--you know my lifestyle.

CATCHPENNY ★★★★ Kitchen sink book (affectionate) about a washed-up thief who can travel through mirrors and doomsday cults and art and a missing teenager, exactly tickled my ODD THOMAS buttons, fucked up and funny and weird.

THE SAINT OF BRIGHT DOORS ★★★½ I really wanted to love this, but it didn't quite stick the twist!ending landing for me. I admire his ambition and his worldbuilding; excited to see how the author grows. Overall a good time.

MINIMIZING MARRIAGE ★★★ Snagged this from the library for Aro Reasons (Brake coined the term "amatonormativity" and discusses its implications with regards to marriage specifically). Chapter 4 was excellent; the rest of it was interesting but not what I was after. Very readable volume in a Feminist Philosophy series.

BRIGHT ★★★★ Thai novel in translation (first one written by a woman!), been on my radar for years. Lovely translation, lovely tonal balance (sweet moments + melancholy; it's a story about an abandoned 5/6-year-old, but it felt Authentic instead of Saccharine or Depressing). Definitely keeping an eye out for her other work in English.

THE LUMINOUS DEAD ★★★★ I didn't mean to binge this in less than 24 hours on a three-day weekend, but Here We Are. This is We Support Women's Wrongs: Cave SF/Horror Edition. Propulsive, tense, claustrophobic, deeply fucked up.

Under the Cut: A Note About ~*★Stars★*~

Historically, I have been Very Bad™ about assigning things Star Ratings, because it's so Vibes Heavy for me and therefore Contingent Upon my Whims. (Example: I don't like that stars are Odd, because that makes three the midpoint and things are rarely so truly mid for me)(I have hacked my way around this with a ½, which is really only applicable for me at ★★★ and up). Here is, generally, how I conceptualize stars:

★ - This was Bad. I would actively recommend that you do NOT read this one, no redeeming qualities whatsoever, not worth the slog. Save Yourself, It's Too Late For Me. Book goes in the garbage (donate bin).

★★ - This was Not Good. I would not recommend it, but it wasn't a total waste or wash--something in here held my interest/kept my attention/sparked some joy. I will not be rereading this ever. Save Yourself (Or Join Me In Suffering, That Seems Like A Cool Bonding Activity).

★★★ - This was Good/Fine/Okay/Meh. I don't care about this enough to recommend it one way or another. Perfectly serviceable book, held my interest, I probably enjoyed myself (or at least didn't actively loathe the reading). I don't have especially strong feelings. You probably don't need to save yourself from this one--if it sounds like your jam, give it a shot! Just didn't resonate with me particularly powerfully. I probably won't reread this unless I'm after something in particular.

★★★½ - I liked this! I'll probably recommend it if I know it matches someone's vibes or specific requests, but I didn't commit to a star rating on Goodreads. More likely to reread, but not guaranteed.

★★★★ - I really enjoyed this!! I would recommend it (sometimes with caveats about content warnings or such--I tend to like weird fucked up funny shit, and I don't have many hard readerly NO's). Not a perfect book for me by any means, but Very Good. This is something I would reread! Join me!!

★★★★★ - I LOVED THE SHIT OUT OF THIS, IT REWIRED MY BRAIN, WILL RECOMMEND TO ANYONE AND EVERYONE AT THE SLIGHTEST PROVOCATION (content warning caveats still apply--see 4-star disclaimer). Excellent book, I'll reread it regularly, I'll buy copies for all my friends, I'll try to convince all of Booklr to read it, PLEASE join me!!

[refractionrailway]

on an unrelated note it's so funny to me that they keep making Heathcliff the defacto "we have an id who's in a position of leadership and we need someone to be their sidekick" sinner, guy who is so "hot dog or hamburger style boss" coded

[the-ghost-rat]

I love how whenever i argue w dudebro gamer on tiktok they always bring up me being a guy who likes dolls/monster high like sorry i have a hobby and actually speak to women 💔

[moleshow]

the 2020s political argument for unionization is that the only activity/location that rivals the phone in terms of time spent is the workplace. once they clock out they are lost to phone

[thistransient]

松山區

[ssongsboo]

bro im seeing one pact next week in the exact same venue all(h)ours performed in like two weeks ago and omg it was SO hot in there i genuinely felt sick as soon as i stepped into that building bUT ON THE 22ND ITLL BE LITERALLY 10°C WARMER THAN IT WAS THAT DAY?????? LITERALLY HOW TF AM I SUPPOSED TO SURVIVE THIS

[gwenie-creates]

so my first ever gp and my fav driver not only has a disappointing quali but he also has a dnf 😭

[night-creeps]

I still think I was onto something when I said that Kim's fixation on the revolutionary air brigades felt kind of like a kid with glasses really wanting to be a firefighter and then learning that you can't be a firefighter if you don't have natural 20/20 visiom because the heat would melt plastic or cause burns from metal frames and contacts weren't a safe choice either. It feels a lot like that. He wanted to work on those aerostatics but couldn't because of his eyesight

[intrigd-voyagr]

the struggle between a decent profit margin to support materials+artistic effort and time put into a Thing vs affordability...........

[tj-crochets]

Hey y'all! Weird question time, but let me preface it by saying these are not symptoms I am currently experiencing and also I have talked to doctors about this, I just didn't think to put the two things together For all the migraine havers out there, do you have tachycardia when you have migraines? Either like during the whole migraine, or only with migraines bad enough to cause stomach issues?