#and therefore it is rightful to hate everyone

[sunsets12]

My Thought Process on the Capitol Couture Covers

I mentioned discussing my thought process for the Capitol couture covers used in the last chapter of the Shark in Your Water, so here it is:

First of all, everyone in these covers is a nepo baby in some sense of the word. Coriolania Snow was only invited because her grandfather is the president. Ophelia Flickerman is only famous because her father is Caesar Flickerman. And Hester Sealine struggles to "live up to her mother's fame." The Capitol, much like our own society, is not a meritocracy.

...

The movies (and books) focus a lot on the Capitol looking absolutely absurd. In my opinion, it does this for two reasons: to show how far plastic surgery (and cosmetic alterations in general) can go and to condemn consumerism. Both of these goals are admirable, and I tried to stick close to it with these covers, but I also wanted to draw more direct parallels to what we're seeing in trends right now.

This is where the "old money" trend comes in. I was watching a video the other day where someone was talking about how Taylor Swift's current fashion is bad, and they highlighted that her fashion in 2013-2014 was so good because it was "old money" which is in now. Personally, I hate this idea (and trend) for multiple reasons--the main one being the inherent classism of it and the desire to have people look at you as if you are in a certain (higher and therefore more valued) class.

The Capitol adopts this, with many now desiring that "neutral blond" popular in wealthier circles, which we can see Ophelia wearing in her cover. Additionally, the whole idea of having a socialite (Coriolania Snow) on your cover forces this trend further into the mainstream. I could talk a bit about how I think the "old money" trend irl is correlated with the rise in fascism and a push back against gender nonconforming fashion/general acceptance, but I'm not going to get into that here.

...

Notice how quickly the trends change? In the chapter, we learn all of these covers were made within a year of each other, yet on Hester's cover we hear "thin and shaved eyebrows are in" and on Ophelia's cover, we learn that thick eyebrows are in. How is anyone expected to keep up with that? You aren't, but your consumerism drives the economy. Spend more money.

...

Easter eggs: Cecelia (the Victor in Catching Fire who has young children clinging to her legs when she's reaped) is pregnant, Tigris "retired", and Ophelia's role, while not inspired by TBOSAS in universe, is inspired by it in my heart

[the-breadwizard]

Hungarian village in Slovakia gothic

You know who most of the people are. They know who you are. Everyone is a stranger. Except the grandparents.

You see more and more strangers nowadays. You instinctually hate them. You don't know what they are doing in Your home and it bothers you. (it's your home, not theirs, even though you only spend your weekends there, now).

You know two languages by the time you're fourteen - you were taught to despise one and all those who speak it, that on some level they are your enemy, and anyways, they hate you so it's only fair (it wasn't by your teachers but everyone around you), and to love the other, that it is sacred and it is an unreplaceable part of your identity and that They will try to take it away from you. It is unclear who They are.

You grew up knowing that even though this is your home, it was-somehow-taken from you. It was over a hundred years ago. You have to mourn it. You have to. Even your grandparents weren't alive when it happened, but it has to hurt you the same way it hurt everyone then. Otherwise-do you really belong to us?

Behind the community centre are injection needles thrown everywhere. When you were eight, you saw someone sitting there, holding their arm. You didn't quite understand what was happening, but it scared you.

A few years later you can name those from your school who you know deal drugs. You know where they live. You pity them, but don't care much anymore.

Your classmates didn't like you much-but you didn't like them much either, so it was alright. You find out some time later that at least half of them are related to you.

There are statues of saints all over the village. You know what they stand for even though you were never taught about them. There is a Virgin Mary on a road in the middle of the fields. There's also one not far from your house. You hope they will protect you.

The language you speak has words in it that people from two villages over don't understand.

Your grandparents use words you don't understand.

There is a bog in your backyard. Well, more like a lake, but the reeds get closer every year.

The house is decorated with stuffed animal carcasses and deer skulls. Hunting is the only thing you've ever seen your grandfather really care about. You wonder if it has to do something with his military enlistment.

The only thing you ever wanted was to leave here - and it's like the Fields around the village can feel that. Every time you go there, you find something watching you. A hawk, a hare, deers, pheasants. They look directly at you. And don't move.

The Fields - long, empty pieces of land. You know the next village is only five kilometers away. You can't see it. In the summer, when the corn grows tall, it becomes like a wall all around. The canola flowers flood them twice a year - after you pass them, you can't really get the smell out of your nose. For a long while.

You're not fazed by the noise of shotguns - it is hunting season after all. It is always. Be careful when you go into the forest.

Your dad taught you how to shoot with an airgun at ten, for seemingly no reason. You have never been hunting. It's good to know how.

Someone is living in the forest. You've never seen them. Still, be careful. You can never be too careful.

Everyone calls it a forest, but really, it's just a couple of trees most likely planted less than fifty years ago to catch the wind. You can't exactly get lost in them, i mean, most of them are in orderly lines, grown to be cut down later. It's smaller every year.

You were raised to be cruel right from the start. You were praised for killing slugs and frogs and the animals that were unwanted.

You come home from school one day. There is a half-skinned rabbit hanging next to where you always put your bicycle. It will be finished later.

There are always new bones for the dog to chew on. Bigger. More bloody. It still kills the moles that are too slow.

You know the smell of raw meat. It is everywhere in the cellar. You also know how it smells when it's rotting.

There aren't many things to do, anywhere, without going to a city. Most people don't do that. After all, you can drink at home too. Or behind the community house. Or in the forest.

There was a murder a few years ago. You know the house where it happened, you passed it hundreds of times. When you go out with your friends, your mother tells you to be careful. Always more careful.

And don't you smile. You do not get to smile. You should always look at least emotionless. You should be miserable and bitter and pointless like the rest of us decent people

you do not get to remind us of everything we could have been, you have to rot away right here where you were born, you do not get to get out

..................

Come, have a beer. And a pálinka. And another. And another. Another

@mist-the-wannabe-linguist @alexandrintea @thuja-the-gay-monster-lover you get a tag too mert átérzed

[mars-ipan]

so funny to me how ppl on tumblr will read a post that says, within the post, SEVERAL times, “hey this isn’t super well-thought out discussion and shouldn’t be treated as such i’m just sharing an individual opinion and my word should not be taken as fact” and then refuse to understand that whether they agree or disagree with the op

[six-of-ravens]

Errant PM update of the day:

yesterday she met with a client and got revisions for their site that needed to be done for today since the client has to use this new stuff in another meeting

she did them herself instead of assigning them to the proper team (something that sounds nice but is actually a huge problem bc she spends too much time doing other people's work instead of her own, and also she's not very good at it.)

she did not communicate this with anyone. also did not immediately email the client and inform them she has done their work.

my boss, who is also involved with that account since Errant was fucking it up majorly, decides to email them, receives a reply saying "when will our revisions be done" and starts panicking after hearing the team doesn't know about them

(classic Errant move is to get a task and not assign it, so he thought it was rotting in her inbox)

Errant decides this is a great time to not reply to anyone on skype for several hours

Errant finally gets a hold of the boss, explains everything, but by now it's been so long he's royally pissed and gives her a lecture about communicating

She then complains to Lead Dev (who she thinks is her friend but actually files the most complaints to HR Boss about her lmao) about how he isn't praising her for doing WORK THAT IS NOT HER JOB ~just because~ she didn't communicate with him quickly or email the client, and how he's such a micromanager (extremely false, he's a pain sometimes but overall fairly chill) and overreacted horribly because uuggghhh why is any of this his business like she did the stuff right who caaaaares? not like he had to sideline her on this account for several weeks because she spent Literally One Hundred Hours bullying the designer (until she cried) and making her redo things for no reason, and then refused to assign the site for 3 weeks (until there was only THREE DAYS left before the due date) because she wanted specifically Lead Dev to do it (again, she thinks he's her buddy), while the client grew increasingly frustrated with the delays! noooo, it's not like she's lost the right to keep this client to herself at all!! not like over the past few months she's managed many accounts so badly they've put her on probation!

Lead Dev cannot find a way to explain to her that she's living in a really bizarre alternate dimension and like, of course everyone is upset geez, so he's just trying to ignore her. she then decided to start sending him a bunch of ig posts about bad management which he thinks is funny, because there's only one bad manager here and it ain't our boss.

[teeth--king]

Ah, sorry if I caused any worry from the earlier post, I’m still not doing so great at the moment but I’m feeling a tiny bit better. It’s not that I hate my art, it’s just I am so isolated that all I have is the echo chamber of my mind so my negative thoughts are only amplified over time. I still love art and creating, it’s one of the few things in my life I can control and enjoy. At the base of it, I am just dealing with crippling anxiety, depression, and loneliness with no proper support system or help. I’m trying to get better but I am still falling back into bad habits of self isolation and silence as that is what I was raised to do, be silent and only observe.

I keep saying that I’ll stop being so negative on here and again I apologize for breaking that. It’s rough times and it’s breaking me a bit.

[my-thoughts-and-junk]

reading dungeon meshi

[hauntedtotem]

I think the biggest red flag for me regarding the hopelesspeaches and lio convoy stuff, their entire group (especially lio) has near identical speech patterns and dynamics as my mom's online friend group. Which is less of a red flag and more of a raging wildfire tbh

[scorittanius]

eugh, i keep spiralling over the dumbest things..

[theduchessofnaxos]

I just got fucking Catholic anti-queer propaganda blazed to me.

Hey Tumblr, I'm a gay transgender Jew. Maybe don't show me that shit.

Unless the goal was to entrench me even further in my belief that Christianity is a hate religion that's somehow managed to convince WAY too many people that hate is love. If that was the goal, good job, I do find Christians even creepier and more hateful than I did ten minutes ago.

[milevenstancyendgame]

It would make the difference between surviving and living.

UBI needs to happen. via antiwork

[here-there-were-dragons]

my mother is absolutely convinced of some nonsense conspiracy theory that (in her words) "originally humanity lived in peaceful all-woman societies of goddess worshippers who took care of eachother and lived in harmony, while males were roving loners that had no society and never cooperated. that changed when the men banded together and overthrew the peaceful woman-dominated societies, and enslaved us all." and, according to her, this is proof that a woman-dominated world would be innately more peaceful, and that men are innately violent and evil and should be either barred from holding any legal power or leadership roles or at least should be (again in her words) "gelded like bulls" to remove their testosterone before even being considered for such a thing.

she also evidently believes that the problem with all religions today is primarily that they aren't "goddess worshippers", because she seems to think goddess religions are inherently peaceful and pure too and seems to be especially obsessed with "Isis" in particular. the very very few times she's openly considered it unambiguously bad for some population or another to have been exterminated (she's got a bad case of devil's advocating genocide brain), she's gone out of her way to make up some crap about how said people were a peaceful society of goddess-worshippers, almost always of isis. delusions of isis-worship seem to be the only thing that ever causes her to consider any arab or middle-eastern culture, society, or ethnicity to be relatively uncomplicatedly undeserving of extermination, in fact, because every fucking time she doesn't immediately start devils-advocating it and making remarks about how "the rest of the world should box them in and let them blow eachother up" it's when she's whinging on about how whatever specific micro-ethnicity she's thinking about are or were traditional persecuted isis-worshippers.

the sole major exception to her weird fixation on isis worship justifying worthiness of life is the whole israel thing going on, in which she has consistently made very obvious that literally the only reason she's against the genocide of palestine is because it gives her an excuse to even more openly hate jewish people than she already did. and honestly i'm not sure even that's true because i think she's made some offhand remarks about palestinians having probably been peaceful isis worshipers before the jews infected them with christianity or something anyway.

so for the last, however fucking long it's been i've been constantly having to listen to her go off about how this behavior is in the jew's blood or whatever and that they literally invented all genocide because somehow the concept didn't exist before them and wouldn't have ever been invented by the rest of humanity without those jewish aliens dropping it in i fucking guess apparently and she furthermore goes on about how every single genocide and mass-oppression movement in history is directly inspired by them, ESPECIALLY the nazis, and THEN i have to listen to her rant about how, basically, wwii was something they entirely brought on themselves by "dominating the economy and treating everyone not them like shit" and the nazis were just "using their own tactics back at them". and then she goes on a rant about how the people the original jews exterminated back in the day (aka the first ever genocide, which they invented, because jews invented genocide and hate according to her) in the middle east region were peaceful matriarchal isis-worshipers.

and then she starts making comments about arabs being backwards and palestinians either being mysogynist muslims that should be boxed in to blow eachother up with everyone else or secret peaceful isis worshippers corrupted by men's cruel hand, sometimes in the same sentence, entirely dependent on which group she's more in the mood to hate at the time.

it's exhausting. beyond exhausting. her sole purpose in existence seems to be to have the singularly most exhausting set of politics physically possible to fit into one person.

just, sometimes i think, if there really is anything at all to the incredibly stupid and inexplicably popular idea that anyone or anything has a Purpose tm to exist for, i feel like my mother's purpose is to be walking proof to me of a Type Of Guy That Is Real, cause i sure as fuck would have trouble inventing this mess if it wasn't standing right in front of me spewing confusingly bipartisan hate. all of her thoughts and opinions are these long winding nonsense chains that feel like if that man carrying thing sketch about the friend with confusing politics was a person. on meth.

[ritabuuk]

I've decided to give Cohost a try. I'm still ritabuuk!

Is anyone who is following me also over there, so that I can find and follow you on Cohost too?

[grimmauldis]

🏺

[weirdsociology]

hey writers we have to talk.

if you've read any romance or fanfic in the past twenty years (i know you have), you know that there are a certain number of scents associated with hot dudes. you can probably recite the list of Things Men in Fic smell like in your sleep: leather, black pepper, pine, sandalwood, "something uniquely him", clean sweat, and if the character has ever fucking been within 50 yards of a firearm, something called "cordite".

here's the thing.

NO ONE SMELLS LIKE CORDITE.

cordite was a highly specific type of smokeless gunpowder developed in the 1890s by england specifically and used mostly in wwi.

if your good-smelling guy is not (a) english (b) using a very specific type of british rifle (c) dying in a trench in flanders, he does not smell like cordite. technically even if he does meet all those conditions he still doesn't smell like cordite because he smells like trenchfoot.

the point is, cordite is so far from universal that no one but the most hardcore gun nerds give a single shit about it. making your Sexy Hero smell like cordite is like naming a cassette-only bootleg live recording from the 1970s as your favorite grateful dead album. everyone at the party hates you immediately and knows you're doing it for clout. also, it's just factually... wrong. please stop. i know everyone else is doing it, but you can do the right thing here, i believe in you.

so what do people who are using guns smell like?

well if your story is set before the late 1880s, the smell of a fired gun is black powder, which, unfortunately, smells like seventeen flatulent cows have been shoved in a tire factory. trust me, you do not want your Hot Dude to smell like black powder. it's b a d.

if your story is set after the late 1880s, guns are using some variety of modern 'smokeless' powder - which speaking broadly doesn't really have a ton of scent when used. it does have some, but it's sort of non-descript: the best way i can describe it is the sweet, ozone, hot-plate smell of popping your car hood with a warm engine.

people who use guns a lot don't smell like fired guns all the time anyway, so while those scents might work in a fight scene, they're not realistic all the time. but there are some things that your Sexy Shootist will smell like basically 24/7 and that's metal and gun oil. metal you can go and sniff (i recommend non-stainless steel), but if you want a reference, most gun oils have a sharp, organic smell that's not dissimilar to canola oil but muskier and with a tang overtop. it's not unlikely leather is in the mix as well due to routine handling of leather equipment and gear. modern gear also tends to have a certain smell although it varies by production country and storage conditions - lots of opportunities there.

in conclusion: gunslingers and hired killers and military folks can be sexy and smell great on page, but i am begging you not to say "cordite" when you mean "gunpowder" ever again. we can do this. we are writers and therefore pedants. i believe in us!

[chaosandmarigolds]

Ya know how everyone is like Simon is black cat energy- well, I don't deny he can be like that what I would like to counter with is black lab energy around the person he's most comfortable with

Simon, who drags you on his morning runs because he will spend the entire time talking about trucks or something boyish

ie: "And so then you gotta- baby? Why'd ya stop?"

"We-just-" heave, "Ran a fort-four miniute-" heave, "mile."

"Yeah? Cmon, six miles today."

Simon, who will do push ups before bed if he has too much energy and knows he will just toss and turn

Simon, who loops a finger in your belt loop whenever you're shopping because lord knows that man has separation anxiety

Simon, who did once hide your shoes when he knew you had to leave super early in the morning so you would be forced to wake him up to ask him where he put them

"Simon."

Hes been awake, obviously, the phone praticallly thrown at the wall when you opened the door was an indicator, "Mm, noo. sleep."

"Simon O'Donnel Riley I swear to god if you don't give my shoes right now-!"

"...I require somethin' in return."

"You birts and your taxes, 'm going barefoot."

Simon who loves intimacy, yeah sex but he likes being close, like if he squeezed you any closer he may actually break your bones on accident

Simon, who doesn't tell you this but that one time when you got the flu? he had the time of his life, normally because you're the one cleaning him up after missions, tending to his needs, and he liked being able to do the same to you

Simon, who has the worst (best) puppy eyes you've ever seen

"one kiss."

"I have a face mask on, do you want to kiss me when I look like a taxidermy panda?" You reply with a frown, book in lap and craning your neck to see your boyfriend from how he leaned over the sofa.

He blinks at your reply and the next thing you are aware of he's laying atop of you on the sofa completely trapping you under his weight, "Jus take it off if it bugs ya tha' much."

You playfully pout your bottom lip out, "But it's supposed to be on for twenty minutes. It's been ten."

"But I wan a kiss."

"But I want to have a pretty face."

Then it was his turn to playfully pout, "You have the prettiest face."

(long story short you obvious gave in cause...I would so therefore so do you <3 )

Simon, who goes from loving and doting boyfriend to scary military man as soon as he gets out of the car

Simon, who is aware you have a video of him baby talking that you took when he wasn't aware that you were recording

(yes based off that one tiktok, I laugh every time I see it)

Simon, who hates pecks but loves giving them, like this man will just hold your face and shower you with kisses for minutes on end (its his hobby or something)

Annnnyway thats it! feedback and comments, an alllll that jazz mean the world to me! <333

[kroosluvr]

temptation

i lowkey have too many notes to write down properly KDFHKDS but ill write them down for Future Cele so i can read it later and be like omggg past cele ur so fun and interesting

in general, the more "color" the scenes have, the closer it is to "real life" as opposed to the muted/hushed winter blues of maruki's reality

i.e. the dark frames w akira smiling and the very last panel are when reality sinks in: first for akira, then for goro

by the way this is long winter au but sumire is still brainwashed. this also works for canonverse but i just had long winter au in mind:o

youve heard of laundry and taxes now get ready for coffee and pastries

in every panel, akira is smiling! :) and goro is very much not smiling.

intentionally his face is hidden in the last 2 pages so its unclear whether it's the "ideal reality" already (akira/goro's daydreams/wants/desires), or if goro is still fighting akira on making sure he picks the right choice

the smoke from the first page kinda leads into the 3rd page omfg COMPLETELY UNINTENTIONAL BUT REALLY COOL LMAOOO

that's nameless and belladonna in jazz jin!!! i love them. I LOVETHEM. i miss them so bad is it obvious

the cafe is loosely based off of caffe strada @ uc berkeley LMAO. my parents used to take me there a lot as a little kid so that's the first cafe i think of when i imagine one. its like right on the streetside, basically on the sidewalk, so its very bustling and people are always walking by... probably a little disconcerting to see everyones summery bright smiles despite the bitter cold and snow

in long winter AU, the Ideal Reality starts before 1/1 so yeah they get to see the new years fireworks together (or something)

also intentional that they wear the same winter outfits in the whole comic although it Probably does not take place at the same time. in maruki's snowglobe, time seems frozen in place... but akira and goro are both acutely aware that the sands are running thru QUICK

goro's frustrated expression on page 3 is one also of disdain: "don't speak FOR me you fucking imbecile" type of expression.

goro, who's never lived a normal life and therefore doesn't know much abt "normalcy" nor really actively seeks it. this 3rd semester is basically purgatory for him and he doesn't care to try and go through the motions the way akira does. akira what do YOU know about the type of "normalcy" i deserve? how do YOU know if i "deserve" that?

im thinking that this is a naive akira who is mostly set on taking the deal because he feels hopeless... seeing all his friends with good happy lives while goro and himself are alive and miserable and shouldering the weight of the world during the horror of long winter......

oh but if he takes the deal they could all be good and alive and happy!!!.... and goro knows this. i feel like in any other universe (i.e. akira is 100% certain on not taking the deal and goro knows this) then goro would be happy and carefree to do these little indulgences for himself and akira's sake, to just enjoy the snowglobe world while it exists.

but this goro is discontent. he sees how akira is enjoying the snowglobe and knows maruki is depending on this. goro has to be the one to remind akira that none of this is his to keep........ in this fucked up world, routine is dangerous. becoming comfortable is dangerous. they cannot keep any of this.

on that note, goro says "i hate you" in a halfhearted sort of way (it's not true and akira knows that.) but he's trying to think of a way that he can dissuade akira from picking the wrong choice.....

and i think the thing is, goro thinks all of this, but he still falls into the rhythm of routine with akira anyway. in a way, goro feels hopeless too.

all of this is maruki's doing........ paralyzed by the inability to choose... whatever you do, you lose. goro needs to hold akira at arm's length so the stupid sentimental fool doesn't get too attached and falls into the wrong universe. akira needs to make a concentrated effort to detach himself from goro even though he wants the simplest thing in the world: just one more unremarkable day with him. it's lose-lose..........,

also i liked drawing the tentacles in the last pic the freaking blue lines on them were SO satisfying to draw

edit: also the last page: the blood flooding the panel….. the idea of the ideal world being built off of the blood and sweat and tears and bodies of the people who could have been. of those lost in the actualization, of those destroyed, of those stitched together and brought back to life. all just for a little false happiness. goro sees it but akira doesn’t, and it’s a grim sight.