#and the circus would have been very diverse

[clockwayswrites]

Orange, Mavis (Song Thrush), Danny/Dick

@wisteriavines cw: stitches

“You know, we do have people paid to do this,” Dick commented idly as he pushed the needle through Phantom’s skin.

“Yep.”

“People who are far better at it than me,” Dick added.

“You do fine.”

“They’ve got this great stuff to numb your skin—”

“’Wing,” Phantom said. Dick could tell from Phantom’s tone he was a hairs trigger away from actually snapping.

Dick sighed.

He wanted to push the mater. He always wanted to push the mater. To ask why did no one else seem to know that sometimes the wounds Phantom got carried over to this other side. To ask who even knew about this other side. To ask why Phantom trusted him above everyone else.

But he wouldn’t. Phantom and him were too much alike. They both kept too much buried under quips and grins and a devil may care attitude. Dick refused to be the one that broke Phantom’s carefully constructed damn keeping the real emotions back. It would happen and Dick worried sooner rather than later, but Dick refused to be the one who caused the break.

He would be there to help after though, just like he was always there to help patch Phantom up like this.

Dick sighed and pressed a fleeting kiss to the skin above the wound and went back to stitching it up. In out, in out… the rhythm of the needle brought an old song to mind, one his mother used to sing. He thought he half remembered the words…

“Luna și cu stealilii Să-ți păzească viselii Să-ți mângâie geanilii Geanilii sprânceanilii…”

Yes, he’d be there when the damn broke.

-

prompt set 3, feel free to continue this is you'd like to song link

[jokeroutsubs]

[📝ENG Translation]: Souvenir Pop Through the Eyes of Joker Out Members

Original article written by Boštjan Tušek, published 27.11.2024 on 24ur. Photos by Miro Majcen. English translation by @kurooscoffee, review by drumbeat, proofread IG GBoleyn123.

Full translation under the cut 👇

We visited Joker Out in their rehearsal space, where the band members shared their thoughts on their new album and explained all the songs from their third full-length album, Souvenir Pop, in their own words. The album has already been released on digital platforms and CDs, and they are promising a vinyl edition as well.

About the Title SOUVENIR POP:

Bojan: We were sitting here in the rehearsal space, struggling to find a short, universally understandable way to summarise everything that happened to us during this time. After some serious thought, we realised that the music is essentially a collection of memories—“souvenirs”—that we’ve gathered. For the first time in our lives, we traveled so much and spent so much time away from home. Everything was very “pop,” and we lived out all the pop star dreams we used to admire. We shortened this journey into “pop,” making it a souvenir pop journey.

Photo: Joker Out recently unveiled their third album, Souvenir Pop. Together with Bojan, Kris, Jan, Nace, and Jure, we analysed all the songs on the album. PHOTO: Miro Majcen.

On the Cover Photo Taken in Bed:

Jure: The cover photo was born long before the album got its title. It was captured on the morning of the semifinals last May in Liverpool. We kept it under wraps for almost a year and a half. We liked it already back then and immediately thought it could one day work as an album cover. When we started looking for a cover, it still best reflected our feelings.

Bojan: It was taken on an iPhone during the filming of a promotional video, so basically a completely randomly captured moment.

On the “Circus” Surrounding Them Because of the New Album:

Kris: What's particularly noticeable is the mental and emotional fragmentation. The songs are quite diverse and colourful, and at first glance, they didn’t seem to belong on the same album. But as Bojan said, they remind us of fridge magnets, which perhaps reflects that we were “all over the place,” and that we were exploring ourselves on a broader musical, lyrical, and instrumental level than usual.

Nace: You can tell the songs are ��hyped up” because we were in that mindset. Different things influence you, and it would have been quite different if we had stayed home for a month before that instead of being on tour.

PHOTO: Miro Majcen.

On Lack of Time:

Kris: We had to intentionally carve out time to write and record songs. We spent two months in London, a month in Hamburg, and last year we took a week in Kočevje to work on 'Everybody’s Waiting'. Carpe Diem took 14 days. We were maybe even under a bit of pressure, knowing we had to produce something.

On Three Languages on the Album:

Bojan: We spent a lot of time with all three languages; speaking, listening, and thinking in them. The stories naturally emerged in all three languages, and we didn’t resist that because it would have been truly foolish.

I see language as just another tool for conveying information, like how a specific guitar effect suits one song but not another.

PHOTO: Miro Majcen.

On Egos:

Bojan: Egos have to clash because they’re an important part of our drive. I wouldn’t say our egos fight; they occasionally disagree, but everything generally moves in the same direction—to create something the five of us like. We have a healthy dose of competitiveness, and we’ve never truly had a fight. We separate the person from the musician, which I think is important.

Kris: There was never much ego, but for this album, we threw out what little was left. On this record especially, we faced moments where someone else did something on your instrument that you should have done. But that opened new possibilities and ideas—a fresh perspective. This happened to all of us except Bojan with vocals.

Kris: Today, a friend sent me a message from Venice; they were playing 'Carpe Diem'. Last year, we made it onto the top 40 charts of a Lithuanian radio station. PHOTO: Miro Majcen.

Comments on the songs from the album SOUVENIR POP:

1. MUZIKA ZA DECU (Serbo-Croatian):

Bojan: When the idea came to me, I was thinking about how much I liked what was coming out of the speakers; quite grown up. Then I had a flash of cynicism and sarcasm: it’s all just for girls, for kids. Hence, “muzika za decu” (music for children). Initially, it was called Zlatna kosica (Golden hair), haha. I wrote the intro, then improvised the rest of the lyrics in Hamburg while we were playing it.

Nace: You might have changed two words.

Kris: The intro I play on guitar was originally done by Bojan on the piano. While recording, I was strumming along, imagining a piano intro. But when we listened to it later, everything felt so wrong that we started liking it. That’s how it stayed. We recorded it all together in one room, in one go.

Bojan: Žare was thrilled that he had to “clean up” the vocals (laughs), which we recorded in the kitchen.

Jure: This is one of the songs which features guest performers; a children’s choir at the end.

Nace: The kids from our crew and their relatives sang. The first group sang too in tune, so we recorded another group that was a bit less perfect. In the end, we combined the two recordings, and it turned out just right. There were about 15 to 20 kids altogether.

Jan: The guitar sound came from my Whammy pedal, which the producer Žare Pak didn’t always like, haha.

Nace: We have to commend Žare for producing in such a way that everything unnecessary is stripped away. He never hides anything like some other producers might.

PHOTO: Miro Majcen.

2. ŠTA BIH JA (Serbo-Croatian):

Kris: This was the first song we created in London. Within a week, we already had the structure, though it initially resembled Bijelo Dugme. Some elements were later removed.

Nace: Yeah, Žare came in and said, “Guys, this is unnecessary” (laughs).

Kris: His reaction was hilarious. When he heard it, he said, “Did I send you to the UK to make yugo music?!” (laughs). It was our first Balkan reaction to being foreigners in a foreign country, and it just poured out of us. Bojan already had the lyrics “šta bih ja u ovoj crnoj noći bez tebe radio” (what would I do in this dark night without you), and we recorded it.

Bojan: I actually prefer hearing my voice in Serbo-Croatian over Slovenian, the position of the voice seems more natural.

Jure: It's interesting how the colour of Bojan's voice changes with different languages, which is actually quite normal.

Kris: Yeah, Bojan, in a 'Balkan language,' your rocker alter ego comes out even more, I think.

PHOTO: Miro Majcen.

3. CARPE DIEM (Slovenian):

Bojan: This is the original souvenir. And pop. It’s hard to believe how one song can change everything for you like that. It’s literally just one of our songs; not necessarily better than the others, maybe not even one of my favourites. But as our Eurovision entry, it perfectly conveyed our message. The whole story and image of the band are captured in those three minutes. It’s an excellent channel for our energy, which got people to believe in us and become interested.

Kris: Today, a friend sent me a message from Venice; they played 'Carpe Diem' there. Last year, we were on the Lithuanian radio top 40 charts.

Bojan: The most bizarre thing I’ve ever seen in my life was when an older Mongolian singer and his band played and sang Carpe Diem live at a reception for our president, Nataša Pirc Musar, in Ulaanbaatar. We also received a recording from Zanzibar, where someone played it on a hotel terrace.

Bojan: I wouldn’t say our egos fight; they occasionally disagree, but everything generally moves in the same direction—to create something we all like. PHOTO: Miro Majcen.

4. STEPHANIE (English):

Bojan: Of course, Stephanie isn’t really Stephanie, but these are real people who exist.

Jure: I didn’t have any part in this one since there are no drums; everything is programmed (laughs).

Nace: Yeah, everything was done by Casio, haha.

Kris: For many songs, we had a sample beat to practice with, and in some cases, it stayed in the final version. 'Stephanie' is one of those songs as well.

5. AKO TOGA VIŠE NEČE BITI (Serbo-Croatian):

Bojan: You believe in Santa Claus until you realise he doesn’t exist. It’s the same with love; until something destroys everything so thoroughly that you simply stop believing in it. This is a song about very raw disappointment with love.

Nace: I’m in a long-term relationship, and when you leave home, it’s a sacrifice both partners make. In the spirit of it being good for both of you and your partner supports it, everything is okay.

Kris: Full respect to your partner for enduring how you went from ‘zero to a hundred’ in six months.

Nace: We have to commend Žare for producing in such a way that everything unnecessary is stripped away. PHOTO: Miro Majcen

6. BLUZA (Serbo-Croatian):

Bojan: I wrote 'Bluza' a long time ago, up to the chorus, about three years ago. For a long time, nothing happened with it until I presented it to the guys on an acoustic guitar. From there, it developed quickly, in a day or two. We even played it on tour before its release. Initially, it was more guitar-driven than it is now. The title, 'Bluza', literally just comes from the lyric “u ritmu tvoga bluza” (in the rhythm of your blues), but I quite like it.

Jan: A lot of our songs are titled after a phrase from the first verse that has no connection to the chorus.

Bojan: Similarly, back in university, my friends kept nagging me about 'Gola' (Naked), why we gave it that title, but nobody thought of the phrase “za naju” (for us), haha.

Kris: It’s probably because, during the creative process, we repeat the first part a lot, and that phrase naturally becomes the title.

Bojan: The story of a song always takes shape in the first verse.

PHOTO: Miro Majcen

7. LIPS (English):

Bojan: We heard there’s a lot of money in music for films, so the song sounds like an apocalyptic ballad (laughs). Initially, it was quite Franz Ferdinand-esque. We even considered a duet with a French singer but didn’t have a clear vision, so we dropped the idea. Later, Žare and I restructured it, and then Nace tied everything together into a cohesive piece.

Jure: The song went through quite a few iterations.

Nace: Originally, it was a completely different song called 'Je t'aime'.

PHOTO: Miro Majcen

8. MESTO DUHOV (Slovenian):

Bojan: Trumpeter Luka Ipavec collaborated on this track, adding trumpet parts to the choruses. We created it in England and named it after the street we were living on; it had quite a dark vibe. Initially, the song was about a girl who cheated on me, leading to my suicide. Then we introduced the “papapapa” part, creating an atmosphere of a funeral, a procession. When we decided the song should be in Slovenian, we tied it to how the current social climate feels incredibly negative overall. People are always ready to quickly react to something negative. It’s no longer pleasant to go outside; everything reflects the weight of what’s happening around us. There’s unfortunately an air of superficiality around us.

Jan: The solo came to life in Hamburg. Later, when we were finishing the songs, I had the idea to rhythmically slice the solo so that it spells out “baby boo” in Morse code.

Jan: A lot of our songs are titled after a phrase from the first verse that has no connection to the chorus. PHOTO: Miro Majcen

9. SONCE (Slovenian):

Jan: I play the keyboards on this one. Bojan had already outlined the song on guitar with chords. The idea was to create something orchestral, like in 'Novi val'. I, however, approached it differently and arranged the piano part. I showed Bojan a melody that, in my view, reflects the essence of the song.

Bojan: This song is a direct reaction to events in Palestine. It’s the story of a deceased son speaking to his mother. It’s undoubtedly the most emotionally heavy song on the album. The structure is also unconventional; no part repeats, and the chorus appears only once. Jan captured perfectly what the vocals are saying with his piano part. It’s like a haiku, a single thought; not a classic pop song. Jan nailed the final take on his first try.

Kris: We could quickly get stuck creatively if everyone only insisted on their own instruments. Many songs only broke through when someone pressed something different. There were many moments where we needed that kind of freshness.

PHOTO: Miro Majcen

10. EVERYBODY’S WAITING (English):

Kris: This was a song we didn’t know what to do with until Žare offered the most basic beat, and Jan started working with the Rhodes electric piano, which set the direction for the album.

Bojan: Jan picked up the Rhodes out of nowhere and according to Žare, he plays better than 90 percent of Slovenian keyboardists (laughs).

Kris: Žare’s modus operandi is to break your conventional thinking and enhance your intuition. He believes intuition is superior to thinking.

PHOTOS: Miro Majcen

[contemplatingoutlander]

The House GOP is a circus. The chaos has one source.

Republicans spent two years sabotaging the U.S. House. Another two years would be ruinous.

Dana Milbank does a masterful job of describing just how dysfunctional the House GOP members have been in the past two years.

This is a gift🎁link for the entire article. Below are some highlights:

The Lord works in mysterious ways. Six weeks after his improbable rise from obscurity to speaker of the House in late 2023, Louisiana’s Mike Johnson decided to break bread with a group of Christian nationalists. [...] “I’ll tell you a secret, since media is not here,” Johnson teased the group, unaware that his hosts were streaming video of the event. Johnson informed his audience that God “had been speaking to me” about becoming speaker, communicating “very specifically,” in fact, waking him at night and giving him “plans and procedures.” [...] Today, Johnson’s run looks anything but heaven-sent. In the first 18 months of this Congress, only 70 laws were enacted. Calculations by political scientist Tobin Grant, who tracks congressional output over time, put this Congress on course to be the do-nothingest since 1859-1861 — when the Union was dissolving. But Johnson’s House isn’t merely unproductive; it is positively lunatic. Republicans have filled their committee hearings and their bills with white nationalist attacks on racial diversity and immigrants, attempts to ban abortion and to expand access to the sort of guns used in mass shootings, incessant harassment of LGBTQ Americans, and even routine potshots at the U.S. military. They insulted each other’s private parts, accused each other of sexual and financial crimes, and scuffled with each other in the Capitol basement. They screamed “Bullshit!” at President Joe Biden during the State of the Union address. They stood up for the Confederacy and used their official powers to spread conspiracy theories about the “Deep State.” Some even lent credence to the idea that there has been a century-old Deep State coverup of space aliens, with possible involvement by Mussolini and the Vatican.

The above article was adapted from Dana Milbank's (2024) book: Fools on the HILL: The Hooligans, Saboteurs, Conspiracy Theorists, and Dunces Who Burned Down the House.

[See more below the cut.]

And this is on top of the well-known pratfalls: The 15-ballot marathon to elect a speaker, the 22-day shutdown of the House to find another speaker, the routine threats of government shutdowns and a near-default on the federal debt that hurt the nation’s credit rating. They devoted 18 months to a failed attempt to impeach Biden, which produced nothing but Marjorie Taylor Greene publicly displaying posters of Hunter Biden engaging in sex acts. One “whistleblower” defected to Russia, another worked with Russian intelligence and is under indictment for fabricating his claims, and still another is on the lam, evading charges of being a Chinese agent. As soon as Biden withdrew his candidacy, they promptly forgot their probe of Biden’s “corruption” and rushed to launch a new series of investigations into Kamala Harris (over her record on border security) and Tim Walz (over his military service and “cozy relationship” with China). After a number of failed attempts, they did impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas (the first such action against a Cabinet officer since 1876) without identifying any high crimes or misdemeanors he had committed; the Senate dismissed the articles without a trial. House Republicans created a “weaponization committee” under the excitable Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), but it was panned even by right-wing commentators when it produced little more than a list of conspiracy theories from the likes of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard. They lapsed repeatedly into fits of censure resolutions, contempt citations and other pointless acts of vengeance. In all of its history, the House had voted to censure one of its own members only seven times; in the two weeks after Johnson became speaker, members of the House tried to censure each other eight times. [...] In lieu of consequential legislating, they passed bills such as the Refrigerator Freedom Act, the Gas Stove Protection and Freedom Act and the Stop Unaffordable Dishwasher Standards (SUDS) Act. On the House floor, the Republican majority suffered one failure after another, even on routine procedural votes. Seven times (and counting), House Republicans voted down their own leaders’ routine attempts to begin floor debates — something that hadn’t happened once in the previous 20 years.

[homestuckreplay]

Gushers Tasting Notes

(page 974-979)

John is, once again, coming along in leaps and bounds with his sylladex activities. His array of queuestacks (great band name) looks like a circus tent in the panel overlay. Perhaps John is recalling the embarrassing memory of Cirque du Soleil filing a restraining order against his dad (p.253).

But mostly this update is Gushers themed, so let’s get some important historical context. Gushers were created and marketed by Betty Crocker in 1991, a subsidiary of General Mills. Betty Crocker is a fictional character crafted by the company to be relatable to 1920s housewives, and she also makes Fruit Roll-Ups and Fruit by the Foot, so John needs to be careful.

Gushers were originally made in strawberry and grape flavors, but tropical and watermelon have since become popular. Since the start they’ve been made in the famous hexagonal bipyramid (‘grist’) shape. They’ve always been marketed to kids, as focus group testing showed that younger people liked the product far more, and are known for their weird commercials. From 2005-2009 they’ve run the ‘Gushers Re-Do Your Room’ flash game, where players can rearrange furniture and paint walls in a digital bedroom, and get extra items through codes on Gushers packs . The gushers-grist connection and this game being a simpler Sburb makes this a very unexpected, but possibly intentional, Homestuck intertext. In 2009 Gushers are also running the ‘Beware the Gush’ promotion. They’ve created thirteen pieces of web content, accessed by codes on Gushers packaging and ranging from a fake German TV commercial to a Google Maps tie-in, intended for kids to “gush their friends” – the multimedia aspects of this are also very Homestuck, and I bet John is gushing his friends.

I found a mini packet of Gushers in my craft box, so have done a taste test right now instead of relying on memory. Now my favorite candy is Welch’s fruit snacks blue variety bag, so to me Gushers are a pale imitation of the king, but even so I will taste these Gushers like they are a fine wine.

Appearance. Mass manufacturing takes its toll on the Gushers shape. The barest hint of the bipyramid is visible, but these candies have been squashed and battered into near-unrecognizable blobs.

Flavor diversity. The Gushers packet still includes nine candies, the same as in 1991, although the size of the actual candies has shrunk. I got all four flavors, but four blues and only one orange.

Smell. Gushers of all flavors carry a gentle aroma of wax, reminiscent of a basic candle, which makes me wonder how one would behave if set on fire.

Texture. The outside of a Gusher is a homogeneous squeaking silicone with just enough resistance to provide enrichment. The inside liquid is surprisingly cool, resulting in a pleasant contrast in temperature as well as consistency.

Taste. A lick of the Gusher’s smooth outside reveals The green Gushers are fairly sour, with notes of sherbet, while the red have the overt, juicy sweetness of a maraschino cherry. The common blue Gusher’s notes of pineapple and mango conjure ideas of ‘island time’, and the rare orange Gusher dares to suggest bright, ripe clementine.

After effects. Having recently consumed Gushers, I can feel a faint film of sugar clinging to my tongue. I have not begun tripping or suffered any adverse health effects as of (13.4 minutes post consumption) but I will update this post if this changes.

Overall opinion. As the ancient truism states, ‘Gushers don’t gush, they ooze.’ I found that the oozing center of the Gusher best revealed itself when eating the Gusher in two halves, otherwise, the liquid was too engulfed in its prison to come to the forefront. With this in mind, I award Gushers a 7.5/10. I would be cool with getting these for my birthday.

For a moment John considers taking an extended candy break, and honestly he’s earned it. Unfortunately it seems like John may never eat a Gusher again, because he’s realized for the first time that his arch nemesis the ‘heinous batterwitch’ is the mastermind behind them.

In [S] John: Mental breakdown (p.979), John, looking very smart in his new suit actually, is surrounded by pulsing Gushers and definitely-real flavors: Cool Fructose Monsoon, Kiwi Mango Colonic Rush, Wicked Watermelon Groin Injury, Mixed Berry Social Anxiety Disorder, Neon Green Ecto-Facial Blast, Jammin Sour Diabetic Coma, Wild Cherry Apeshit Apocalypse and Ranch Dressing Rampage. (His new box is Massive Tropical Brain Hemorrhage). He looks concerned, then afeared, then terrified and near-screaming, and eventually comes to the conclusion that ‘this is stupid’, accompanied by record scratch.

I do not think this is stupid. I do think it’s notable that John’s had similar breakdowns before when WV has been commanding him, and John doesn’t respond to anything besides the voice shouting in his head. Watching this I wonder if this is a problem John has dealt with more generally – I think there’s a solid argument that John has depression and/or autism, and freezing in the face of a difficult situation could be linked to either of these.

In terms of this specific trauma, John has had food pushed on him to the point of pain or sickness, I find it very believable that he’d physically struggle to eat anything made by the brand he associates that with, even if he knows it’s irrational. Betty Crocker also represents the ideal of the American housewife, someone who devotes her life to cooking and caring for the house and kids. Someone who, due to the expectations on her, might be considered stuck at home. Or something. Dad is filling that role in John’s life so it’s not quite so gendered in their house, and Betty Crocker the cultural idea could be another reminder of a suburban nuclear-family future that John wants to avoid.

On another note, I’ve noticed a few instances of color in the narrative text recently, which has previously always been black. This first showed up on page 919 where Jade takes over the narrative with her speech, finishing with a red ‘<3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!’. It happens again on page 934 with the green word ‘ectobiology’, and it’s here on page 978 with John’s ‘WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY???????????’ in Betty Crocker red. The only earlier examples are page 640 (an embedded image reading ‘SWEET CATCH!’ in green) and page 663 (a link to Sweet Bro & Hella Jeff using red Comic Sans). Based on all this, I wonder if color enters the narrative text when one of the main characters ‘takes over’ and wants to add something. Although these uses don’t correspond to Pesterchum colors, they all seem intended as things the kids are saying or writing, except for ‘ectobiology’, which is so closely associated with John that it’s practically his name.

> John: Search house for non-Crocker branded candy.

[xunzilla]

Having resolved to investigate the dubs vs. subs question, the DYEWSPH2TER SOCIETY watches the new Dungeon Meshi.

IZUTSUMI (DUB): The name of your race is pretty strange. I heard it came from your kind getting one of their legs chopped off for committing too much thievery!

GIANLUCA D'BOVRIL: She would not say that.

ZEPHANIAH EZEKIEL THUD: Why not?

GIANLUCA D'BOVRIL: "Committing too much thievery"? She's a slave bought from a freak show and she speaks fluent Ciasslcal English?

SIMPLICIO J. RHETORICUS: Is the language of the island diglossic?

GIANLUCA D'BOVRIL: They're ruled by the elves. But let's not get into translatology. (A horrid, ill-formed word: two parts Latin, one part Greek.) The manga renders Senshi's dialogue in an atrocious fantasy accent, but it makes clear a nuance of the original: he's a weird foreigner who lives alone in a cave and his only friends are orcs.

SIMPLICIO J. RHETORICUS: Does Izutsumi's country have a different language?

GIANLUCA D'BOVRIL: Izutsumi's country is fantasy Japan. Look at their names. "Shuro" is a mispronunciation of a name Laios is unfamiliar with.

SIMPLICIO J. RHETORICUS: The dwarves' names also fit Japanese phonology. Senshi, Namari...

DICTIONARY: 鉛 なま̅り̅ nàmárí, lead (chemical element). Perhaps related to Goguryeo 乃勿 *namur; cf. Korean nap, OC (Zhengzhang) ra:b.

TYPESETTER: U+0305 COMBINING OVERLINE should render above the characters ま and り, but on some systems may display as spacing characters following them. We apologize for our inability to reliably display simple linguistic text without platform-dependent markup in 2024. 😔👎💩

ENCYCLOPEDIA: Vowel length in Zhengzhang Shangfang's reconstruction of Old Chinese represents Type A syllables.

GIANLUCA D'BOVRIL: Izganda?

SIMPLICIO J. RHETORICUS: Is that an official name? The scan thought Laios and Falin Touden were Laius and Farlyn Thorden.

ENCYCLOPEDIA: Lajos is a Hungarian masculine given name, cognate to English Louis. People named Lajos include Lajos Kossuth, who in 1849 presented the Hungarian Declaration of Independence. A bust of Lajos Kossuth was added to the Small House Rotunda of the United States Capitol Building in 1987.

ZEPHANIAH EZEKIEL THUD: 1987?

ENCYCLOPEDIA: "A Gift to the People of the United States from the American Hungarian Federation"

GIANLUCA D'BOVRIL: Did you think he was more important? At any rate, he was a nobleman.

ZEPHANIAH EZEKIEL THUD: It sounds Greek to me.

HANPHECIUS HUMBUG: Hungarians don't have saunas.

ZEPHANIAH EZEKIEL THUD: Didn't you think he was Faroese? It's a fantasy west.

GIANLUCA D'BOVRIL: Why would Japan care about Hungarian names? But this is a stupid diversion. Where were we?

SIMPLICIO J. RHETORICUS: Dubs vs. subs.

GIANLUCA D'BOVRIL: Of course! A critical matter. A noble pursuit. In this fallen world, in which the noblest by nature are forced to toil in drudgery while petty-minded merchants build generational fortunes that their mediocre heirs piss away, many are unfortunately unable to read Japanese. So we debate dubs vs. subs.

SIMPLICIO J. RHETORICUS: I grew up on 4Kids. I can't stand the English VA voice. The Japanese one is bearable.

GIANLUCA D'BOVRIL: Thank you for your valuable contribution.

VRISKA: why do you all have the same voice

ZEPHANIAH EZEKIEL THUD: We live in a bourgeois republic.

SIMPLICIO J. RHETORICUS: Let's grant that Izutsumi's country speaks a different language. "Committing too much thievery" is a clumsy phrase. "Thievery" sounds silly compared to "theft". And it's a vague Latinate verb that lets the noun carry the meaning - very indirect! We don't live in the kingdom of nouns.

ZEPHANIAH EZEKIEL THUD: Why couldn't Asebi, Toshiro's retainer, have been taught to speak like that? Toshiro went to the island for training. But would they pay real islanders to teach them the nuances of the language?

SIMPLICIO J. RHETORICUS: She was bought at the age of six; even if the circus had the same language as the island, that's well within at least the tallman critical period.

ZEPHANIAH EZEKIEL THUD: She would've been taught out of dictionaries, which don't say anything about connotation.

VRISKA: okay not to be rude but can i say something about some of the papers i've read

GIANLUCA D'BOVRIL: I didn't pay that much attention to "thievery". It's simpler, more regular. For all I know "theft" might be too hard a word to put in a mass-market translation. "Committing too much theft" would still sound too classical. It seems like the wrong intent.

ZEPHANIAH EZEKIEL THUD: Why couldn't a slave learn the acrolect?

GIANLUCA D'BOVRIL: How broad-minded. Would your escaped slave also write her own sermons?

VRISKA: oh my god shut up

VRISKA: what does the sub say

IZUTSUMI (SUB): That odd name for your race. I heard it's because lots of you got a foot lopped off for stealing.

VRISKA: the manga?

IZUTSUMI (MANGA): I hear that the reason your race got that name is because a bunch of halflings got punished for theft by having one of their feet cut off! Guess they had to deal with having half as many, huh?

VRISKA: yea the dub is bad

ZEPHANIAH EZEKIEL THUD: It could be a deliberate choice. I personally think that "thievery" is awkward, but it's a possibility to keep in mind. We'll see if what follows bears it out.

VRISKA: marcille sounds like a college republican horse girl

VRISKA: #notwrong

[hcfiles]

Big? No. Huge! Ok. People here are claiming my sentences are long and that I don't give space. Apparently, reading is not a habit around here. So, I'll try to give space and write shorter sentences. Sorry, if this will end up giving the idea sentences are being repetitive.

After a last post of the naked belly, they apparently got tired of gaslighting - Did they? - To be honest, that picture was weird and didn't convince. But, I'm not denying she could be pregnant. It's possible. I just don't believe he is the father.

He is a single immature bachelor who doesn't like commitments. He has weird habits most women wouldn't support. He apparently, has a certain reserve towards women. And, he seems to feel much more comfortable in the presence of men. He is addicted to gaming. These men, usually have difficulty keeping a healthy relationship. They prefer hours in front of a computer to having a conversation with a partner. Because real life is boring for them.

I also think making her show with that belly in NY (first belly appearance) was his idea. She was obviously, against it at first. But, as soon as she saw the paps outside and some known faces giving her support, she immediately changed her mind. That's why I'm more inclined to think she's not pregnant. The bigger boobs (she already had before the belly) could be implants.

If he is against her, that's not what he shows. On the contrary. He seems very comfortable (as he can be) in her presence playing the clown of a circus. And he even has fun, laughing NOT AT her, but WITH her, at fans and followers. He has fun with the idea he's gaslighting people (strange for a guy who complained about being bullied in school).

This PR stunt was never about her. It was about promoting his manhood, giving an unknown a chance to make a living in the red carpet. Otherwise, after so many years, she would have been in talk shows, giving interviews and called to be in some movie or series. This was about him, about selling the straight womanizer persona.

It, later, became about her with a disastrous damage control, as a response to negative publicity. She became an unsympathetic diversion (her idea, proposed at FL coffee shop) to, intentionally, tease fans, so they could be accused of being accountable, aggressive, haters, toxic. And he agreed to it. He was never responsible.

He didn't feel miserable because of her (Of course she was irresponsible, not cleaning her IG before the plot). He felt miserable, for being severely criticized by his own fandom. He felt miserable for his own stupidity and for agreeing with his Godsent idea in pranking his fandom. It all happened not because the fandom is jealous - 'cause there's nothing to be jealous of. It happened, because of his weakness, of his vanity and thirst for the spotlight.

He continued with it, because this was her proposal at FL coffee shop, which he agreed to. He continued with it to show his support for the woman with a very questionable reputation. She was being rejected and exposed to public execration, because of him. For he's a gent, right? Apparently, he felt responsible. But, she could handle it. She's apparently used to promiscuity.

A person like that, can always handle anything. And, based on what we've seen, she didn't care a bit for the exposure she was having. She loved it. She was so OK with it, she didn't even care for what her existence and reputation caused in his life. For she was having the attention she wanted.

The contradiction is first, to have him accept this kind of stuff. Secondly, he felt so in debt with her, but didn't feel responsible for all the negative publicity nor the reactions he caused. Instead, he pointed fingers and accused people of reacting to the narcissistic PR stunt his team managed. These narcissistic strategies were intentional to make him the victim and the fandom, the enemy, while using a promiscuous who liked the attention, as a diversion. This way, they could have who to blame and avoid accountability.

This was definitely the worst management in Hollywood! A shenanigan! It was a perfect example of an actor's self destruction with the help of his amateur manager, team and a lurker. Never seen an actor consciously expose himself to ridicule, while discrediting himself for not having the guts to fight for his integrity.

It can be forgiven, but never forgotten. Now, he is no longer able to sustain the persona he created. He doesn't even practice what he preaches. One of the most pathetic scripted speeches he made recently was about accountability. When, in practice,:

- he runs from reporters "following the lead" that put him into this mess,

- he hides in a shell avoiding unnecessary appearances, probably ashamed,

- he only shows for professional and merchandizing purposes,

- he blames his fans for his mistakes and amateur disastrous strategies his team adopts and

- he acts as if he and his team had different ways of seeing things. But, both are very aligned.

He's not actually aligned with his old persona nor speeches. His words are empty and scripted and his persona is no longer convincing. He became a joke, because of his management and a gold digger. It's pitiful to see what he was reduced to. He had it all. He went from:

- a gorgeous A-lister (as he was classified) with potential,

- respected and admired by his fandom,

- who was always seen as a dignified and respectful actor,

- to an actor who prioritizes escorting, who accepts immoral plots to sell his image, disrespects his fandom by gaslighting and teasing them to exhaustion with a circus, so he can, as a clown, run from the responsibility.

My guess? He has a lifetime-clause contract with his manager, in which he accepts certain conditions in exchange for fame and money. And, he can't deny fulfilling it, because he didn't feel the need to include a counter-clause, giving him autonomy to decide. I suppose the lifetime condition of this contract is to promote products and people.

They probably convinced him that it would be the best way for him to succeed as an actor. He put himself available as a promoter, a salesman, an escort, a coach. And part of the money he gains from those, goes to his manager.

He could have preferred to invest in his acting career, rather than only in his looks. And, he could have said No to this dirty service called escorting. Many actors do. But, he chose the easy spotlight and to trust and make deals with the Devil.

[primatechnosynthpop]

Bustin' meshi. Or something idk (click for full view)

[ID: drawings of fantasy versions of the real ghostbusters, specifically set in the universe of dungeon meshi. Peter is a cat beastkin and is sitting with his knees drawn up and a somewhat sullen expression. Ray is a half-foot who's reading with an excited smile from a book that's giving off magic energy. Egon is an elf who's wearing a cape and holding a staff, hair blowing in the wind as he casts a spell. Winston is a tall-man wearing armour and has a hand poised near his sword, but is otherwise relaxed. Janine is an elf hybrid holding a staff with a sly smile. The colours of their outfits evoke their designs from the show. Each drawing is accompanied by a short bio, transcribed under the cut:

Peter- His father had him made into a werecat as a young child so he could earn money as an attraction at the traveling circus his family worked for. He reluctantly agreed only because he and his mother needed the money. Unbeknownst to either of them at the time, the spell didn't include the ability to switch between forms. After his mother died, he took up refuge in the dungeon, scrounging and scavenging to survive while searching for a way to remove the spell.

He bartered with adventurers for supplies and sometimes ripped them off, but never robbed anyone directly. When he got a little older he started working as a rogue for hire, but never stuck around with anyone for long until he met his current party members. He has solid fighting skills, and lately his teammates have been trying to teach him magic, but he’s largely disinterested despite showing aptitude for it. He doesn’t care much for monsters.

Ray- When his parents died deep in the dungeon, he was taken in by gnomes who were their former party members. They taught him gnomish magic, but his curiosity ran deeper and he began researching elven magic as well. He can’t use much offensive magic himself, but he likes learning about it anyway.

Apart from an impressive collection of tomes and grimoires, he also enjoys books of the non-magic variety. Lately he’s taken up blacksmithing as a hobby. He’s weaker in direct combat and often has to stay on the sidelines during fights-- much to his own frustration, as he’d like to see monsters up close

Egon- A top student at the country's leading magic academy, he's obsessed with magic of all kinds, including the forbidden sort. He knows all there is to know about monsters and the dungeon.

His parents were court magicians and wanted the same for him, but he chose to venture into the dungeon against their warnings because he wanted to see monsters up close and prove to himself he could defeat them. His spellcasting ability is tremendous, but his arrogance has gotten him in trouble often and his healing magic, though effective, is quite painful for the recipient. His long-term goal is to destroy the demon.

Winston- He wasn’t interested in joining his father’s carpentry guild but knew he had to support his family somehow, so he left home and spent some years as a soldier in his youth. When he returned home, he put the fighting skills he’d learned to use as an adventurer for hire despite not being especially interested in dungeons. His lockpicking skills also came in handy here, as some parties would hire him as a rogue if they already had enough fighters. He’s skilled in his trade and has a lot of valuable experience, but knows very little about monsters or magic apart from what his grandmother taught him as a child.

His father didn’t want him exploring dungeons or hanging around magic users, which deepened the existing conflict betwen them. His mother doesn’t mind as much long as he keeps himself safe, and even gets along with some of his party members. He had never gone deeper than the third floor before joining his current party.

Janine- Raised in a diverse community in the Southern Central Continent, she has gnome ancestry on her mother's side, which often leads to her being mistaken for a half-elf. Because of this, she has some hangups about her appearance, particularly her red hair. Her magic is largely self-taught and there’s a lot she still doesn’t know, but several parties have hired her as a healer/support caster, and she’s proven herself quite capable. However, she’s not content to stay in support roles, and tries to contribute to fights even if she still needs to work on aiming her fireball spells. Her healing magic is only mildly painful, but her bedside manner leaves much to be desired.

She's not too interested in monsters, let alone the dark arts, but she'll follow the person she loves down any path, no matter how dangerous it may be-- although not without voicing her complaints now and then.

End ID]

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 11/28/2023

tuesday again no problem will be taking a break for the 12/12 edition (not next week but the one after)

listening

previously featured Os Mutantes, a countercultural brazilian rock group, is back bc i heard A Minha Menha on an instagram reel by @/ vintagepulps on a showcase of brazilian pulp magazine covers.

the SECOND that driving riff hit i experienced a brief moment of fuckor bc this is exactly and precisely the kind of song i like. this translation tells me it translates to My Girl. it's got moon/sun imagery. it's exactly the kind of song to drive around to in the summer while having an absolutely crippling crush on the person in the passenger seat. spotify

-

reading

you wouldn't download a woman...

TWICE

-

watching

I'm No Angel (1933, dir. Ruggles) a 1936 black comedy written by Mae West and starring the babiest Cary Grant you've ever seen. i added it to my letterboxed bc i saw screenshots of this one specific dress. that’s so much sideboob. good for her.

we don't use the term "adventuress" anymore to describe a woman who does various physical or social stunts to land a husband and i think that's a shame. Tira (yes) is a burlesque dancer and (separately) a lion tamer at a down on its luck circus, becomes famous through putting her head in a lion's mouth, and leverages that fame to fall in and out and back into love.

your enjoyment of this movie will hinge on your tolerance for astrologers, circuses with animals in them, and depictions of black housemaids that have not aged super well, even if they're mostly there to stroke her ego. i'm sort of torn on what rating this would get today-- i'm assuming R bc there's a woman expressing desire but nothing actually happens beyond kissing and some sitting in laps. some peril for the lions i guess?

i do not think this particularly nailed its landing, and i'm not totally sure why they got back together, but mae west in straight up burlesque and the shimmiest dresses you've ever seen is so much fun to watch it doesn't really matter. this is sort of sidelining the her very funny, extremely quotable script. apparently any movie she wasn't allowed to write or heavily doctor her own lines just completely flopped, which i also think is very funny.

just straight up on the internet archive

-

playing

triple header for Things That Came Out This Decade: Genshin Impact (September 2020), Deliver Us Mars (2023) and Gamedec (2021).

brief Genshin update: your main companion in the game, Paimon, the little fairy bitch, has been the recipient of some worrying foreshadowing lately. hey Paimon you wanna tell us anything???

Deliver Us Mars, free on Epic this week. i want to like this game. i think there should be more weird little eurojank original scifi B-franchises like this and you should be able to feed your family by making them. i do not want to continue playing this particular little franchise.

it's the second game by KeokeN (The Netherlands) and published by Wired Productions (UK, although they are partnered with Koch, which means they’ll be bought up soon), a studio of under 20 counting support staff (some of who are certainly part time or on hourly contracts) and an intern. after doing that basic background research i ratcheted my expectations back a couple notches and deleted a somewhat catty paragraph about video game hair.

this is a sequel to Deliver Us The Moon, which was a successful Kickstarter and Steam greenlight (TM (C) R) and it seems they spent the four interval years mostly polishing up the predecessor Deliver Us The Moon, which i do not own and do not plan on playing.

Deliver Us Mars bills itself as an action-adventure, but during my time with it, it was more of a cinematic movie/walking sim with extremely light puzzle/platform mechanics. there are extensive childhood flashbacks following a dad around as he trains his daughter to be an astronaut. the timing and insertion of these never quite clicked for me-- they take forever and they were never as interesting as what they interrupted.

this game is not good at signposting or tutorializing. i had to restart a chapter twice bc the unique controls popped up for a brief fleeting moment on screen and weren’t in the keybinding settings. i could never quite get the mouse and keyboard camera sensitivity right, and platforming/vertical elements seem to only be partially implemented: you can only really successfully approach certain segments from extremely specific dead-on angles. there are like three big boxes in your path that you have to clamber over at one point and i do not think it should take a solid minute and a half for me to get over them. some reviewers praised the lack of signposting during the launch sequence (causing you to frantically look around at a million unlabeled buttons and levers to see if any of them were highlighted as a thing you can click) as a fun way to ramp up stress but i fucking hated it.

after two and a half hours, and only just making it to a ship OUTSIDE mars, i decided there are other games in the world. this hits some sort of minimal viable story benchmark for me, i can see why some people love it, but i don’t want to find out what happens bad enough to play through a slow game that handles terribly and isn’t much fun to exist in.

does get points for big fuckoff dishes.

Gamedec is an isometric RPG, where you are a near-future private investigator who handles delicate personal matters inside wildly popular MMORPG VR games. unfortunately all the trailers suck shit.

this is catnip to me. i love a no-combat game where i have to walk around and talk to everyone and click on everything and write things down in a little notebook. i loooooooove being nosy. i've played through the first two and a half chapters (kinky second life, racketeering farmville, and real life uh oh) and i'm having a fucking marvelous time. the writing team clearly had a lot of fun, the VR game worlds feel very alive and vibrant-- there's a ton of possible weird little flavor interactions that go a very long way toward making me forget this is a limited-perspective isometric. this is like praising an RPG for doing what it says on the tin and being an RPG, but the most recent RPGs ive played have been fucking terrible. it's not shoehorning me into one-true or main-path choices. extremely forgiving of failure, which is good bc i straight up accidentally killed my first client. i know he was a kid but he kinda had it coming imo. sometimes kids just suck shit

im so delighted by this shitty little apartment-- it's got to be fucking bizarre to exist in, bc of the ultra-loft ceilings you need to make it be isometric, but it somehow manages to feel like a studio apartment and a seedy back office all at the same time. a game that is in general very fun to Look at. will have more thoughts as i continue playing but this is really scratching some sort of itch for me. commits to the bit. funny but sincere. a pastiche in ways i personally do not find annoying. has not hit me with like konami code style references yet. due to the fact this is also in my epic games store library i believe this was also free at some point

-

making

fallow week for me. phil has been regrowing skin at a good clip and i can no longer feel each individual vertebra, AND we have another vet appt on friday to get more/different antibiotic goop and all of her vaccinations and microchipping done. mack made a hairball and is getting put back on an actual wire slicker brush grooming schedule. my beautiful girl seems to have a particularly dense coat among the domestic shorthairs of my acquaintance, although that may be bc she is a new england girlie and we constantly exist in air conditioning?? mixed feelings about scheduled brushies from her, even with short and light sessions. we’ll get there.

helping.

[baobhanlore-art]

So Vivzie just tweeted this and I have thoughts that won't fit well into tweets so here I am

For starters, the criticism of fanfiction isn't targeted towards the queer aspects. In fact I've found that some of the most extreme critics of fanfiction culture are also queer people. From the fujoshi fandom that causes an extreme rise in MlM shipping but largely for fem gazey smut, the unrecognised untagged unhealthy relationship tropes, to the misogyny often within these works, stories like these come with many issues.

The criticism of writing feeling like fanfiction, especially towards Helluva Boss, is that the elements of the stories people heavily critique feel unnecessary, tropey, and derailing from consistency.

In The Circus, I do not fault the idea of a queer character having a childhood crush on a same sex friend. The problem is more to do with how it stunts the desperation Blitz has to keep his business alive, since he's no longer just sleeping with some rich guy but an old friend, and the sudden unexpectedness of their situation. It's also a common trope where the live interests actually knew each other as kids so it feels overdone and generic.

In Exes and Oohs, the mafia setting feels completely bizarre considering the intense bigotry and classism within the world. Not only that but the daddy issues, fridged mum, forced marriage and overall unrealistic depiction of the mafia is very common in fanfiction written by teens who do no research and just want the aesthetics.

Secondly, there are plenty of straight works that have a similar label attached to them. ACOTAR and TOH both have writers who originally wrote fanfiction and they didn't develop out of the negative habits within fanfiction writing. Therefore their original work feels like fanfiction. Riverdales "I'm weird, I'm a weirdo" speech was heavily critiqued for sounding like a fanfiction line.

Thirdly, a big reason for being compared to fanfiction is the unfinished feeling of the scripts. I've already pointed out in a previous post that some of the dialogue in Western Energy felt like it needed to be cut down by an editor. And most people agree that the situations and logic aren't often very well thought through, such as how the aging machine could have just been reversed or how DORKS should have been killed off. The scripts feel like loose first drafts that could use additional edits. Fanfiction usually doesn't have an editor or even a beta reader, I've seen more "no beta we die like *insert character*" tags in many of the fandoms I read for than "beta" tags.

If people critiqued the owl house for feeling fanficcy because it had a diverse cast in a highschool setting with a quirky MC, I'd agree it's a bad descriptor because it's directly the queer and neurodivergent stories that are being attacked. Or if Murder Drones was labelled as fanficcy because it has an edgy teen female MC I'd say it's unfair because a lot of girls genuinely act like that and deserve to be represented and have our stories told. But most of the criticism about Helluva Boss to do with its LGBT rep is less to do with its inclusion and more to do with people feeling it's falling into yaoi tropes. Not the fact it includes queer stories.

This is something We Are Not Alive said recently that such with me, but just because it's an indie project doesn't mean we have to settle for subpar writing. There are loads of indie productions you can support! Murder Drones, Lackadaisy, the animated Anne Frank movie, and these are just some of the more popular ones!

And I wish people would stop weaponising every single argument to try and defend issues in Helluva Boss. The fandom says "of course it has issues" then cries when we point that out.

[carriagelamp]

I don't know what to say here this month. February, eh? Hate February, the Thursday of months, I'm just clinging to sanity while I wait for spring. Here are the books that helped me through what is basically a month of overcast skies and fucking winter rain.

Candy Color Paradox v6

Candy Color Paradox is a series I’ve been reading for years now and I’ve really enjoyed how the relationship in this one has progressed over that time. It started somewhat similar to how you’d expect a yaoi manga to start — lots of tension, drama, smut, and some light antagonism between the two main characters who both work at the same weekly magazine. But it’s eased into something that’s really quite genuine. This most recent volume focused entirely on moving in together and all the little complications and insecurities that arise because of that.

Circus of Fear

A 1980s D&D choose your own adventure novel so the quality is exactly what you would expect, but at the very least it was a fun little diversion. Doing a CYOA book with a friend can honestly be a blast, they just feel so silly, and the setting of a magical, vaguely sinister circus is always an enjoyable backdrop. We managed to get a good ending on the second try! So yay! I'd honestly like to read it again and try some of the other routes that also sounding intriguing.

Dungeon Meshi // Delicious in Dungeon v1

Me and my girlfriend started watching Dungeon Meshi because we’d seen so much about it on tumblr lately and wow. Just wow. It really is doing something special and we’re completely enamoured. Since we’re waiting for new episodes, I picked up the first book so we could compare it and the show — it’s really impressive how closely they align! And the art is really lovely, it stands out and not just for it's food glamour shots.

For those who haven't been seduced into watching the anime yet: Dungeon Meshi / Delicious in Dungeon is a DND-style parody in which the adventuring party needs to enter the monster-filled dungeon to save one of their companions who got eaten by a red dragon. They need to get to her and revive her before she entirely digested. However, to hasten their quest (and indulge one of their member’s strange obsessions) they begin to hunt and eat the monsters that fill the dungeon instead of trying to bring food in from the outside. This is 80% a cooking anime and 20% a comedic adventure anime. Book or show, doesn’t matter which, you should give it a try if you haven’t.

Down Among the Sticks and Bones

I really enjoyed the first book of the series, Every Heart A Doorway, and was excited when I found out there was a prequel about Jack and Jill and the world they visited. This can either be read as a prequel or it works fairly well as a stand-alone novella; the story is about twin sisters who have always been forced to fill very precise societal roles by their parents. One afternoon, they stumble across a magical door in the bottom of a chest and venture down into the sinister world of the moors where one sister is taken in by a vampire lord and the other by a mad scientist. The story looks at how the sisters grow and change when apart from each other and their controlling parents. Excellent story, the language is just so enticing.

Midnight Sun

My brother has been watching all the Twilight movies with a couple of his friends. Listening to him bitch about Jacob like it was 2007 reawakened something in me, so after laughing myself sick I had to go and relisten to Midnight Sun. Still genuinely and unironically love this book, it’s pure trash but by god it's my trash. I’m a simple soul.

Odder

I’ve been hearing great things about this book, and it’s hard to go wrong with Katherine Applegate so I was excited to finally read it. This is a book written entirely in free verse poetry about an orphaned otter and her experiences being rescued by the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It’s inspired by a true story (several true stories, actually!) and it's very worth picking up even if you don't usually go for poetry. It's charming and reads very easily.

Old-Fashioned Cupcake

A middle-aged salaryman is feeling worn down by the humdrum nature of his life, which is filled mostly with work these days. This manga kicks off with his coworker suggests that if he wants to deal with the feelings of boredom and aging, then he needs to do something to shake up his life: so he suggests that they “act like a pair of teenage girls” and go to a fancy new pancake shop just because it seems fun, never mind that it’s not something grown men are supposed to do. This manga ended up being pretty darn cute -- it was slow and compassionate and loving -- and it managed to convince me to buy its sequel.

Professor Calculus: Science’s Forgotten Genius

A ridiculous little book I bought on impulse that was nevertheless a lot of fun to read. It’s a tribute to Cuthbert Calculus, celebrating the 80th anniversary of his first appearance in Tintin. It dives into some of the inspirations that went into the character, and also lovingly and cheekily explores some "facts" we know about Calculus as a person… and wildly extrapolates more from there. It was a cute little read for anyone who’s a fan of the series and wants something a little extra.

Return to Oz

I recently rewatched this movie and maintain that I like it more than the original film, sorry. It made me decide to grab the novelization because I’m always a sucker for a novelization <3 This one was pretty solid too, it actually included details that were left out of the film and improve the stories overall cohesion which is always the marker of a good novelization.

Return to Oz takes place several months after the original film, when Aunty Em and Uncle Henry are trying to build a new house and get the farm back in order before winter. Concerned by Dorothy’s continued belief in Oz and her increased insomnia, Aunty Em decides to take her to a doctor who offers healing through electroshock therapy. Yeah, it’s exactly as fucking creepy as it sounds… You get a scary aslyum, a sinister head nurse, being strapped to a hospital gurney, and new baddies that scared the bejeezus out of me as a kid. Anyway, before she can be electrocuted, Dorothy manages to escape back to Oz where she discovers her friends are in dire need of help. It’s like Alice: Madness Returns but from Disney. Go watch this movie.

She Drives Me Crazy

I had very mixed feelings about this book. It’s about high school basketball player, Scottie, who has suffered a bad breakup with her girlfriend who moved schools to play on the opposing basketball team. Things go from bad to worse when she gets into a car accident with her arch-nemesis, the cheerleader Irene. One things lead to another and bada bing bada boom we have a fake dating scheme so that Scottie can get back at her ex.

This book had some genuinely fun moments (I’m always a sucker for a fake dating scheme, and the characters were reasonably fun) but it’s biggest failing is one that I’ve seen more than I like in current queer lit. It just tries so. fucking. hard. to be unproblematic. Like yeah, it’s great to see healthy relationships but it was SO explicit about it. So much therapy speak, way more than feels natural for a conversation or internal monolgue, especially when they’re in high emotions. The “banter” was very scripted. It was a book that felt like it had a laugh track. And while the ending was satisfying enough, it was also… I don’t know. Anticlimactic. We just spent so long tying everything up in a perfectly neat little bow that it really just strolled to an ending that was obvious from a mile away. 

Like look, I get it, we want this to be squeaky clean and beyond reproach, but I have NEVER entered a fake dating story hoping that everyone was going to be really sensible and respectful and level-headed. Fake dating is the slapstick of the romance world, I want some Shakespearean level bullshit, please don’t try to gussy it up for me. Gonna go and rewatch 10 Things I Hate About You or something just to feel things again. Or maybe pop over to AO3, your average fic writer at least understands that when I say fake dating I mean I want something absolutely fucking unhinged and filled to the gill with mutual pining.

So yeah, if you want a sports-based high school sapphic romance: it’s not a bad book. It went down easy, I liked listening to it in the mornings when I needed something light before work. Some bits I even quite enjoyed. But it’s not going to rock your world.

Shuna’s Journey

Well, if nothing else you can really, definitely tell this was done by Hayoa Miyazaki. I’m honestly not really sure how I felt about it. The art was beautiful, and the story was pure undiluted Miyazaki through and through. The narrative was very nice. The story and message was poignant. It was a nice book. I can’t say it’s stuck very heavily in my mind, but I enjoyed reading it. It felt like a precursor to Princess Monoke / Nausicaa, perhaps?

The Witches

The story of one child and his grandmother needing to contend with witches. Not fairytale witches. Real witches. And all their horrible, child-hating ways. One thing I will always love about Dahl is that when he wants to write about something Horrible, nothing will stop him. His villains are truly villainous and the witches are a prime example of that! I loved the description of the witches and their horrible, sinister deeds, especially in the first half of the book. This sure is Child Murder: The Novel! The ending was absolutely not what I was expecting, and I appreciate that. Such a bizarre book.

[celebstylefinder]

For this week, we are tracking on the journey of designer-couturier John Galiano.

Source: https://youtu.be/JgRAgvWpdhs

How John Galliano changed the face of fashion...

John Galliano is a British fashion designer known for his innovative and theatrical approach to haute couture. Rising to fame in the 1980s, he became one of the most influential designers of his generation, particularly for his time as creative director at Givenchy, and later, Dior. At Dior from 1996 to 2011, Galliano infused his collections with dramatic, imaginative designs and lavish runway shows, earning a reputation for redefining high fashion with his flamboyant style and creative vision.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240314-the-dramatic-rise-fall-and-rise-of-john-galliano

The turbulent journey of John Galliano’s rise, fall, and resurgence

John Galliano's first major commercial show in 1985 took a surprising turn when model Mimi Potworowska, who had purchased fresh mackerel for dinner, impulsively tossed them at the audience from the catwalk, nearly hitting fashion icon Joan Burstein, owner of the renowned boutique Browns and one of Galliano's strongest supporters. The collection, titled The Ludic Game, blended diverse inspirations: London’s pearly kings and queens mixed with forest nymphs with leafy headdresses. It was also influenced by Angela Carter's novel Nights at the Circus (1984), which features clowns, journalists, and its main character, Fevvers—a fin-de-siècle aerial performer claiming to have wings.

Some of John Galiano's creations:

For Christian Dior:

For Givenchy Haute Couture:

Linda Evangelista wearing a dress from the Givenchy Haute Couture Fall/Winter 1996 collection by John Galliano. Getty Images.

Source: https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/john-galliano-maison-margiela-contract-career-history-dior-givenchy

For Martin Margiela:

Galliano's work for Martin Margiela (centre) has been acclaimed, and McQueen's early work (left and right) retains its cachet (Credit: Getty Images)

Going back to his roots --- at The House of Marginal

Source: https://www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/fashion-week/a46552616/john-galliano-maison-margiela-couture-spring-2024-show/

And his extraordinaire creations:

There's a lot more to see of John Galiano's creative allure. Follow the links below to see more of his work..

If you liked what you see in here, please leave a comment below and let me know how what and who you want to see featured. I'll be very happy to bring them on to you.

Thanks and xoxo.....

Rolando D. Suarez

email: rolandodsuarez@yahoo.com

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Is Hedi Slimane Taking Over at Chanel? It’s Official—He’s Left Celine.

The fashion world is buzzing! Could Hedi Slimane be the next creative director at Chanel? Rumors are swirling, and we can’t wait to see what’s next. Known for his edgy, rock-inspired style and his game-changing work at Saint Laurent and Celine, Slimane would undoubtedly bring a bold, fresh vision to Chanel's iconic brand. Expect sleek tailoring, modern edge, and a whole new era of Chanel chic. The fashion industry could be on the verge of a major shake-up!

Source:

PARIS FASHION WEEK OCT. 3, 2024 Hedi Slimane unveils his vision for Chanel, featuring miniskirts, Fair Isle pullovers, and party shifts—paired with what may be a nod to Coco Chanel’s iconic flower

💥 #HediSlimane #Chanel #FashionNews #NewEra #ChanelRevolution #IconicFashion

Here are some of Hedi Slimane’s Best Celine Red Carpet Moments: From Lady Gaga, Kaia Gerber to Naomi Campbell and on to his Male Celebs List from Timothée Chalamet to Austin Butler.

"Like at his jobs before, Hedi Slimane wasn’t overly thirsty for celebrity placements during his tenure at Celine" . by Carolyn Twersky, Oct. 2, 2024

Image Source: MICHAEL TRAN/AFP/Getty Images

"Dakota Johnson was the first person to wear Hedi Slimane’s Celine on the red carpet, nabbing a bright red, sequin-covered mini dress for the premiere of Suspiria in 2018."

Image Source: Steve Granitz/WireImage/Getty Images

Paris Hilton’s 2023 Grammys dress, in a striking gunmetal hue, was the perfect choice for the occasion.

Image Source: Amy Sussman/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Naomi Campbell embodied pure glamour in a silver sequined gown as she graced the red carpet at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival's opening ceremony.

Image Source: Marc Piasecki/FilmMagic/Getty Images

Naturally, Slimane couldn’t resist introducing his signature sequins to menswear, creating a custom look for Timothée Chalamet at the 2024 Golden Globes.

Image Source: Gilbert Flores/Golden Globes 2024/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Austin Butler’s three-piece pinstripe suit at the London premiere of The Bikeriders exuded pure sophistication, while his steel-toe, cowboy-inspired boots brought just the right touch of rock and roll flair.

Image Source: Mike Marsland/WireImage/Getty Images

Emma D’Arcy brought their signature cool style to the New York premiere of House of the Dragon season two, rocking a Celine Homme ensemble with an embellished jacket and leather pants. Image Source: Kristina Bumphrey/Variety/Getty Images

PRODUCT RECS BELOW:

TAG US IN YOUR RECREATIONS AND INSPO PICS @celebstylefinder !

LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW WHO YOU WANT TO SEE NEXT WEEK... WE WILL BE DIVING INTO SOME MORE OF YOUR FAVORITE FASHION ICONS! UNTIL THEN...

xoxo

celeb style finder

Designer Rolando D. Suarez

Photo courtesy of Henry Nicdao, Dubai, U.A.E.

[centrally-unplanned]

Like some of the commenters on that post, i also have a pretty negative impression about twg bc if his association with jesse singals podcast. Less about the trans stuff (its just not a topic i have the energy to investigate, tbh) and more about that podcasts whole conceit. On principle i have never dived much into it, but my sense just from looking it over is that it is basically a glorified lolcow farm: deliberately seeking out otherwise obscure and usually psychologically unwell internet weirdos to gawk at them like circus freaks before a public audience

The david gerard piece is not itself in this vein, bc gerard is very much a public figure centrally involved in socially significant shit-flinging campaigns. But the techniques twg has on display in that post of are themselves tools of the lolcow trade, and it makes me kind of uncomfortable

Yeah I think that is fine! I have read my share of Jessie Singal/Blocked & Reported, not a big follower but I see it around, and I think some of his coverage is really good, and others are meh. (I actually helped Jessie get some very obscure sources for his book once in a happenstance moment using my earned-in-China torrenting skills lol, was a nice guy). I certainly would not describe B&R as always "lolcow" types, like it is often doing things like looking into niche-but-impactful local government fights or policy outcomes. TW for example has his biggest claim to fame leading on the B&R episode on the rigging of the air traffic controller exams by a connected union group, not at all "punching down". But while I haven't listened to them I know of what you speak, podcasts on like spatfests between Portland coffee shop owners or the like.

I would generally share your distaste of that content - it is just platforming irrelevancy, and has a sense of being invasive of the privacy we all deserve regardless of what we tweet. Still, while having no survey data or anything here I do find the few I have seen around tend to be say interviewing a victim of this or that thing, and that person deserves that right even if the stakes are petty to us. It is rarely just a "laugh at the idiot" podcast even if it includes that. Something I can only say having listening to a few episodes of course, not robust here.

Overall I am very viewpoint tolerant, particularly when people do diverse media. It would be incredibly cringe to be a 24/7 dunk show, but if you are blending true investigative journalism with the fact that, as a professional media outlet, you have to made content on a tight schedule and sometimes take cheap shots in that process, and doing that kind of work makes you view things a bit differently as you see it all as one big project or w/e, I am not myself going to be a hater for that. I will say this episode is bad and this is good, and respect the good. But nothing wrong with someone else having a different line, and I have them myself; an episode that trucked in anti-vax stuff would really piss me off while others would shrug it off as a bad day. TW's long form written journalism has been consistently interesting enough to me that I am tolerant of the level of snark in other projects, but I totally do get how one would see it as cringe. Not like any writer must be read!

(Though I do think TW was generally involved in primarily the more investigative stuff. Personally, if one wants to dunk on Jessie & Katie for their cheap shots go for it, but I do think TW shouldn't be seen as the third wheel on that just by default. God knows how hard any journalism job is to get)

[findroleplay]

🎪 – 21 ; theythem

a bit of a shot in the dark, but i am seeking a 21+ mxm circus rivalry plot inspired by a book i have read!

has anyone read the night circus by erin morgenstern? i am craving to write an original retelling of the book's plot, perhaps with our own world building, or at the very least, i would like to make it our own in some way. for those who have not read it, i am not against giving you a summary of the book and writing together!

the overall story is about two magicians who are pitted against each other in a duel of life or death, a tradition which has been held for centuries by their mentors, which takes place in a traveling circus in ahistorical victorian england. do keep in mind though that this is a traveling circus, and i would love to write against diverse characters! bring me your muses of all backgrounds!

i am particularly looking to write two of my characters, and i give you the choice of which you would like to write against.

first is an oskate wicasa, an indigenous (oglala lakhota oyáte) show man. he excels in equestrian martial arts. he is also a storyteller. he can be a bit of a short fuse and also rather impulsive, but he is very observant and attentive and rather quiet. however, do not dismiss their quietude for being an easy mark; he is incredibly well-spoken and forthright, but very mature. he is ftm.

the second is a legerdemain magician and an illusionist, whose show is actually not illusory but entirely magical. part of the group of founders of the circus, he knows the circus and its staff like the back of his hand, and also administers it. his administration of the circus, however, goes deeper than what you would expect firsthand though...

i'm looking for someone open-minded and someone who i can go back and forth with about ideas, characters, and so on. i love to world-build and expand on characters, setting, etc. i would love to have a long-term roleplay partner who is communicative and will talk to me outside of roleplaying!

if you are interested, feel free to like this post and i will reach out ! 🎟️

-

[gxbtx]

Teezo Touchdown Captivates with his First Solo Show in Austin

On May 31st, I embarked a 225 mile journey to a familiar venue, Emo’s. Despite having an early flight the next day back in Dallas, there was one reason I just had to make the drive; Teezo Touchdown was about to headline his first ever “Spend the Night Tour” in Austin.

Months prior I had attended Circus Maximus performed by Travis Scott. While Scott’s performance was impressive and definitely one to remember, Teezo Touchdown’s opening stood out to me as a true demonstration of what a promising upcoming performer looked like in the flesh. Teezo made it clear he was committed to become the very best he could be for his live performances. My first time seeing Teezo made me feel like I was witnessing history; He was becoming more comfortable with performing for a crowd and energizing them to enjoy the show, that of which I needed to follow up on.

While Teezo may not be mainstream yet, he brings a unique quality that serves as the key to what it takes to be mainstream. Teezo Touchdown creates a sentiment that being unapologetically yourself even in the face of discrimination reaps fulfilling rewards through consistency. Sitting at 32, Teezo felt at points in his career that he would become too old to succeed with his music, represented by the song “Impossible.” However, Teezo never gave up on working on himself, which eventually led him into the opportunities of working with the likes of Tyler, Chance the Rapper, and Travis Scott. Touchdown’s genre is hard to pinpoint as he is consistently creating unheard fusions of genres, flows, and sounds. With that being said, his jabs to show the world who he truly is has clearly paid off in his upbringing, just taking a little more time than we typically expect.

Although Teezo has been in the industry for a few years now, Teezo has a unique way of posing himself up to be the next big thing. At the concert, he reminds the crowd that even if you weren’t there since day one, your day one could begin that night. Teezo’s feeling of novelty has allowed him to reach a sweet spot in his career, as the audience he curates at “smaller” venues (as compared to stadium tours) is passionately excited to see something completely fresh. Walking us through his story starting in his small town of Beaumont, Tx, Teezo’s performance felt like seeing colors for the first time. Touchdown has this very apparent determination to reciprocate all the love and support he receives by giving the people a show that represents pure creativity; Thus, this show gave us one of the most excited and diverse audiences who maintained the energy throughout the very end of the show; all while wrapping up by 10:45 (an under appreciated trait to live shows!)

His love for Austin added to this sentiment, as the phrase “Keep Austin Weird” was something that spoke to him throughout his time growing up in Texas. I want to say at this point, Teezo has given me (twice) an unforgettable performance that has given me a glimpse into what Austin stood for decades ago, long before the sudden influx of population seemingly saturated the culture. I couldn’t help but compare this performance to what I imagine seeing Michael Jackson live felt like, as his truly captivating aesthetic and energy brought what felt like magic to all of us. I commend Teezo for reinforcing the values I am actively pursuing throughout my early career, that of which creativity, personality, gratitude, and connectedness reigns rule, ultimately illustrating the power of love through music.

[jovies]

Just out of interest do you have a problem with the Britney Spears circus album / tour

(It happened before the issues with her mental health / legal limitations I think)

I never engaged with it positively or negatively. She honestly wasn't as in-your-face omnipresent as TS (I was alive then and I didn't see ads about her every 2 min) and there wasn't as much of a meta culture of analyzing social justice implications in that era so it would have been surprising if it WAS something I thought much about then.

Now that I consider it, the nuances are different IMO even given that the conservatorship started the same year the "Circus" album came out. The effects of the conservatorship weren't felt immediately but would amount to exploitative forced labor so the circus reference is so retroactively fitting. Addressing this without that in mind as you asked, her period of highly publicized erratic behavior started before that (2006-2008 per the internet) and generated unprecedented public interest in her perceived behavioral dysfunctionality and public suffering. She and TS do share being papped relentlessly which I agree is a level of scrutiny most people can't take (look at Princess Di who was literally killed by it). But it's just a bit different when the source of the scrutiny is your public manifestation of what would be diagnosed as bipolar later vs it being about your work's intentional specific references to your personal life in a culture you created of easter eggs and puzzles. I am not stating it has inherent political consequences but the pattern of dissecting clues in an ongoing and consuming way is what QAnon is. I'm referring to the process, not the morals or the message. People like feeling like they have deep insider knowledge of an opaque situation based on their own intelligent analysis of a symbol system with hidden meaning. Even us antis do it because it's pretty irresistible in a culture based on meta, but we were kinda trained to do it by TS.

Please keep in mind as an old person I recall the music world as an industry where women like Britney had very little control over their image, marketing strategies, probably even wardrobe and styling. Britney grew up singing gospel music as a kid but commercial relevance required a Marilyn Monroe-eque image of a teen halfway between sensual womanhood and childlike innocence. She could sign huge contracts based on that image but I don't think her decision-making powers matched TS'. And I give TS credit for gaining control over her image, label, creative output and brand to a large extent as it IS a step forward for women. Like Liz Taylor signing a million dollar contract for Cleopatra and crafting her own contract stipulations.

But in Brit's case the public scrutiny circus about her progressive bipolar-influenced behavior is not one she created and ultimately it put her into slavery. If she were brand and brand manager at that time, designing and booking and adding dates to tours on her terms, speaking cogently about her marketing strategies, gaining control over every aspect of her business and seeming to do it with as much savvy influence as TS does, no, I doubt I'd love the circus imagery. I don't really care for it as a baseline narrative or metaphor for fame by itself. But if used I would like it to be in the hands of those who are marginalized. "The Greatest Showman" the film is a massive rewriting of history but there was something massively cathartic for me in seeing a pacific islander woman who is not just "Hollywood heavy" (like Renee Zelleweger as Bridget Jones playing 'fat' at a size 12) but actually plus size and also playing someone with genetic excess hair. PCOS gang (me!) found a bigger woman who falls under at least 3 categories of minority being the vocal backbone of the movie and the heart and soul of the diversity message undeniably compelling even when much of the historical rewriting was a hot mess and ick.

Taylor has been a victim of misogyny and I didn't mind when she spoke about it and it was truly the source of the criticism. But outside of that and in her billionaire era she is losing credibility with many when she goes for underdog status. Fame is a cage, I get that. Her parents are culpable for overly emphasizing her career and brand management from childhood. But when you set the tour dates, have unprecedented financial returns for them, etc it's hard to see the circus and public interest as not also being the source of much of your gain.

Britney's bipolar diagnosis apparently came at 2008 as well, same year as the Circus album. I am bipolar gang gang and I can't imagine having a sense of control of your life that would render the circus metaphor wholly offensive. She's beautiful and gained riches but everyone could see it cost her more than privacy and we were all worried. Taylor's control of her brand is the thing that separates them. In general, circus metaphors are a bit derivative tho.

[tsunflowers]

I started drawing more outfits for kris and luke. I keep thinking about them

kris grew up in a lightly spooky manor house deep in the woods. all the women in her family are psychic mediums for real and people come from far and wide to hear the dead through them. most people with magic get it through the maternal line and every family has a specialty, with some talents appearing only once every few generations. kris is the only living member of her family to specialize in necromancy, physically raising the dead rather than just channeling them. her mom and aunts and grandma all hate it bc it is not marketable. they're not con artists, they really can speak with the dead, but they're businesswomen first and foremost. the people who come to them are Not interested in seeing what kris can do. for most of her teenage years she got put on entertaining the clients' kids duty and learned a lot of sleight of hand magic tricks (many of which she cheats at using blood magic bc if her blood is on something she can call it back to her)

but kris's true passion was always reading necromantic tomes and forbidden spells and raising squirrels in the woods and her family was like STOP!!! so they sent her to spend time with the youngblood family as a diversion and it was the worst mistake they ever made. although it did end with her getting out of their hair so maybe it was good

luke's family moved to the country for him to convalesce bc he's dying of fictional disease that has only the symptoms the writer wants it to. he loves reading but has been losing his eyesight due to this mysterious disease. his mom is old friends with kris's mom so they hatch a plan to keep kris out of trouble by having her come read to luke. they hit it off and started hanging out without being forced but eventually kris started talking about necromancy bc shes crazy for the stuff

luke's condition gets worse but kris's skill at necromancy improves and the topic naturally comes up. does luke want kris to kill him and raise him as a zombie. zombies have excellent night vision so he would be able to see and read again. they don't feel pain and they have enhanced strength. in a lot of ways it would be very cool to be a zombie. there is the problem of being entirely dependent on the person who raised you for continued survival but kris swore a blood oath that she would keep him alive for the rest of her natural life or until he wanted to pass on, and a blood oath from a blood mage is serious business. they really thought they had thought everything through and they hadnt but, young love, you know

kris's specialty returns the soul to the body in the condition it was in at the time of the ritual. since she and luke plan everything together and she's the one to kill him that means his body returns to about 30 seconds after his death at the age of 19 every month when she re-ups the ritual. they did not really consider how this will work out for them in the future but since luke looks like shit he can probably continue to pass for the same age as her into his 30s

they run away and join the circus where kris uses her charisma, sleight of hand skill, and dark magic to wow the crowds. luke as her handsome assistant mostly helps by showing off props and getting cut into pieces before "miraculously" standing up whole again. they put makeup on luke when performing so he looks a little more alive to the audience but I think everyone who spends any amount of time with them realizes that theres something wrong with them. but necromancy is a big taboo and most people wouldn't think of it so they're just like oh there's kris and her gaunt greenish boyfriend with the dead black eyes that don't reflect light

after they get tired of the circus they settle down in a big city with lots of crime and solve those crimes by reanimating the victims and asking them who did it