#blah blah 'when' and optimism

[malimaywrite]

i love my story. i genuinely do so, so much, but MAN am i tired of reading it over and over and over and over lmao

[fiyr-cap]

updating my characters’ designs and working out the little details, particularly for Kendra.

[metamatar]

communist from the periphery here. i think insisting upon defeatism from imperial core communists is silly. "israel will fall" is not "manifesting" it is a statement of support of the resistance, especially the palestinian resistance. it is an acknowledgement of the inherent contradictions of the occupation. it's clear you tumblrites have not spoken to a single palestinian the way you cast this glib cynical outlook on all discussion of the matter. praxis and hope are not mutually exclusive, and i challenge you to mobilize people for a cause that you are loudly proclaiming is dead in the water

realism and hope are not mutually exclusive, and im sick of this pretence that we should not acknowledge the fact that it has been a year of losses – from hospitals to the destruction of rafah border crossing to the expansion of the front to lebanon.

this ask going on about just talking to a palestinian and a childish challenge to actually mobilise blah blah is genuinely like detached from reality. i challenge you to keep people organised for a year while you do not acknowledge the obvious fact that your movement has neither the numbers nor the plans and has a long way to go. nobody, not even iran who has after months of eating israeli aggression finally thrown a missile barrage at airbases and hit nothing has stopped us from watching a genocide for a year in our homes. even when mobilization succeeds the actions it is directed toward do nothing to move the war machine. the left in both the core and periphery has been damnably disorganised and ineffectual. communism requires recognising where we are in this particular moment, this is not the time to acknowlege the inevitable end of israel due its inherent contradictions and letting it soothe you. israel must be stopped by us. israel will fall lets us disclaim that responsibility. the palestinian resistance needs more than our statements of support and urgently. and if we're competing for aphorisms, this is my pessimism of the intellect. my optimism of the will is not packing it in regardless of how dire it has gotten.

[wawamouse]

Personally, for some reason I think it'd be fairly amusing if the person who noticed Chico was Like That with Miguel was Mukada.

Maybe after McManus realizes Chico has been involved with a lot of Miguel's troubles and forces them to make up in hopes that it'll help Miguel (and the patting hug), he mentions the whole Chico being connected to some of Miguel's problems thing to Mukada. So, Mukada observes them out of concern. And. Well. (I don't think McManus noticed anything beyond Chico's beef with Miguel making Miguel's life difficult.)

(Tho this may be because I also think Mukada is a little like that with Miguel, though he wouldn't have to be when exploring that. I still think he'd be weird about it, regardless.)

That would definitely be the safer option (safer than the possible outsider POVs I was thinking 🤣)

(Side note: I just made myself laugh with the realization that McManus probably thought he was being smart, making that connection, but actually no: Chico just happens to be the only member of El Norte (in Emerald City) who’s been there the whole time and is still alive …)

(Side note 2: I started writing out this answer with the intention of bringing something to the table, but having finished babbling, I’ve looked back and realised that I was basically stream-of-conscious brainstorming a potential fic ���� So this may read like a dude pacing the floors… It’s essentially just that, me trying to work out the premise of a fic that may or may not actually come into full fruition)

Mukada as the outsider POV definitely works because he is more invested in Miguel’s well being and blah blah. 🤨 Hm hm hm (stares out window) What would Mukada be thinking?

Alarm, I think: he must know Chico is part of El Norte and surely has at least a passing familiarity with him, since we do see Chico at mass at least once in the show. It’s possible that Mukada is already vaguely aware of Chico’s beef with Miguel… though the gym stabbing and Velez’s death are never officially tied back to Chico nor is he ever acknowledged as a suspect, maybe Mukada somehow put two and two together and has his own suspicions. (Idk, maybe he’s seen Chico staring down the bench before from up at the pulpit or something )

Some suspicion, perhaps mixed with hesitant optimism, I would guess: if McManus tacked on something about maybe Guerra accepting the terms of the truce and seeming willing to make up after some initial reluctance, then Mukada might keep that in mind while observing them. Where would he have the opportunity to observe them? First thought is mass, assuming they both still go at least some of the time. In the past, they sat apart during mass; after they make up in the show, they pretty much immediately (per the episodes) start sitting together to watch TV, so maybe Miguel also tags along and sits in the same row as Chico, which Mukada takes as a sign that McManus was right…?

Then maybe he has continued concerned because Miguel’s been doing so well lately and it would be tragic if making up with and associating with Guerra (and El Norte) then led him astray, intentionally or not… and I think Mukada could still be weird about it here because honestly, if he’s to observe Miguel and Chico, he has to go out of his way to enter the same space as them. Outside of a situation/fic where Mukada’s observations span a long long time*, honestly, I struggle to think of a scenario where their paths are crossing that often organically. Still, it’s not like Mukada isn’t nosy, so I think if he’s decided to go into Miguel Monitoring Mode for a period, because he hasn’t really followed up since the Velez incident (was in the hospital and all for a while) he’d have to be like, hanging around places more than usual… hm, idk, do you think he’d bring it up to Miguel directly? Catch up and ask if any inmates are giving him trouble? Guerra, for instance? Do you think he would try to lecture Chico not to bother Miguel? 😂 (Chico's like wtf, I already got this form McManus...)

*Then again, it would be interesting if he observed Miguel and Chico pre-evacuation and then post-return to Oz, perhaps noting a marked change, not just in Miguel’s states (if he’s still floating), but in Chico’s (if he’s become protective). I feel like this would also be a good place to set a fic, Mukada putting a pin in it after McManus’s remarks and deciding to check in on Miguel some more but ultimately not having too much time to do so outside of his talks with Miguel at Morales’s coffin being shipped away. He sees then that Miguel still seems to be in good spirits and doesn’t delve too much more into it, since I think that was around when he had Hoyt to focus on, too…

— A scene that came to mind:

(Note idrk how to write Mukada lol) (Also this snippet goes nowhere)

—

He heard it rise about the rest of the noise as the inmates stood and began filing out: Laughter.

It wasn’t that uncommon to hear within the walls of Oswald. The men were under tough, often stressful conditions, but there were still moments of amusement to be found, Ray knew, although many of those moments often came at the expense of others, too. That afternoon, the throaty cackle that Ray heard didn’t seem to be a schadenfreude based reaction to another event. It was joyful—a burst of genuine mirth that drew Ray’s attention as he closed the notes of his sermon. He glanced up, reactively searching for the source of the noise and finding his gaze dragging over familiar faces.

He saw Miguel with the lines of laughter still etched on his face. Head tilted toward another inmate standing on the other side of him, he had that rose-tattooed hand half-raised as if to catch the trailing snickers still making his shoulders shake.

Ray blinked, struck by the thought that it’d been a long time since he saw Miguel wearing such open ease in his expression. His years at Oswald had been up and down—more up in recent times, but still not without his moments of stumbling. Praying for Miguel to feel God’s love and take strength from it had long become a daily habit for Ray. There was so much potential for rehabilitation there, if only Miguel could hang onto his faith, see that, and follow the path that Ray was so sure was there for him.

The inmates continued shuffling through the exit of the cafeteria, and over the next couple of seconds, Ray observed Miguel’s laughter fade into a quiet smirk, a light still in his eyes, after everything.

That was good, he thought, followed by a twinge of guilt. It had been a while since he had checked in on Miguel one-on-one. The days of long sessions of spiritual counsel were in the past, left behind after Miguel’s months long escape from Oswald several years ago. So much had happened since then—to the both of them—and while it was always a pleasure to see Miguel’s face in Mass, as it meant he was no longer locked away in Solitary, Ray wondered if he had been neglecting Miguel personally by keeping him mainly in his thoughts.

Gathering his Bible and papers, Ray turned to exit the stage, supposing that it was his old pride talking again, impairing his vision of his congregants. Belief that he held a special key in guiding their souls to safety was pure arrogance. Miguel had still come to seek his advice over the years, which was what mattered—that he knew Ray was there to help him if he asked, a sign he knew he was not alone as he had often claimed…

He had not neglected Miguel spiritually, Ray concluded as he returned to the familiar walls of his cluttered office. Though, thinking about that laughter in the cafeteria, he could admit that he was feeling a personal curiosity. Parole was coming up again for Miguel, too, and Ray knew that that beacon of hope always brought with it a potential for devastation for the inmates at Oz. For Miguel, the downs always seemed to hit harder…

Yes. He’d schedule a short session with Miguel in the coming weeks, Ray decided. If Miguel was in good spirits these days, then it wouldn’t hurt to check in on him and see what he could do to help keep it that way.

—

Thought: another way to make it sorta weird (not really, I guess) is Mukada not really noticing Chico that much… Sure, Guerra’s presence is noted in the back of his mind, but I think it could be shaped in a way where he is more concerned with Miguel’s state of mind/being, that How Is Miguel Doing is his original main concern and the observation of Guerra being the source of any changes in Miguel registers on a delay, the whole of what it looks like coming all at once and with a note of curiosity and surprise. Surprise, maybe because Mukada doesn’t know Guerra that well but can observe his body language and recognise that Guerra seems, like him, focused on Miguel. Not so much like him, though (in this fic anyway) (and I’m not a Mukada/Alvarez shipper either, so I don’t read it that way generally lol), is how Guerra’s eyes linger on Miguel, a hint of something beyond platonic interest there. Maybe Mukada recognises the look, having observed the other inmates, straight and gay alike, and as soon as he has that suspicion as an outsider, he’s just bamboozled by the obviousness of it, and begins wondering if there was some hot gossip he missed about Miguel (impossible!).

I think it would be fun to see Mukada subtly poking around, getting thoughts from other staffers, especially Sister Pete who might have a better understanding of Chico, at least, him being in at least one of the groups she runs. Inquiring after updates from McManus, I imagine Mukada would just get a shrug of “yeah, looks like their truce has held”. And then he’s just walking around like ‘Am I crazy? Am I imagining things??’ lmao. Cue going out of his way to do more observing… and in more observing, only becoming more and more convinced that something is going on between Miguel and Chico 🧐 Buuut, I think Mukada’s quiet conclusion would be that if it isn’t harming Miguel, hey, it must be a good thing. Sure it’s a sin, but Miguel needs all the love he can get. Much like with Keller and Beecher, Mukada can ignore the sin part under the circumstances. Also he doesn’t thiiiink Guerra is going to pull any Keller moves and fuck Miguel’s shit up. Hard to say. But given their tumultuous history, perhaps Mukada will being keeping an eyes on Guerra, lol.

[victoriaplaysims]

i gave the goths the makeover they deserve

i think i'll always see the goths as i did in ts2 (except mortimer is younger and bella is yk, not kidnapped). i did my best to represent them that way. this includes giving them all new traits, interests, likes and dislikes, jobs, skills - everything.

by: @victoriaplaysims

cc links and character presentations under the cut

bella goth: growing up, bella constantly daydreamed of glamour, fashion, paparazzi, the biggest stars in del sol valley - and of course herself, being right there in the center of it all. bella loved the years she had spent in the city, surrounding herself with the hottest it girls and heart throbs. she had it all; the perfect life, the perfect clothes, and the perfect top ranked soccer player fiancé - until she found him in bed with his personal assistant, that is. bella left del sol valley that night and never returned. she moved back in with her parents and six months later, she ran into a childhood friend at bella's mom's art gallery, and as they say, the rest is history.

hair, makeup, lashes, dress, skin details: one two three

mortimer goth: coming from a long line of succesful ceos, scientists and world leaders, mortimer had his life planned out since before he was born. there was no choice, no option other than to always do better, do more, change the world of both business and knowledge. all he has ever known is hard work, scientific break throughs and black tie events as a member of the board of the goth institute of science. he often stays late at the lab, working on his special, very classified project. rumour has it he is optimizing and redefining what it means to be a sim today - but is there such a thing as the perfect sim? and is perfection always a good idea?

glasses, pants, skindetails: one

cassandra goth: yes, she has grown up in an old haunted mansion and yes, her dad is a weird science guy, but cassie is more than just a goth. she's the perfect mix of both of her parents - she inherited her mom's charisma and her dad's brain power. cassie refuses to acknowledge her future as a member of the goth board of blah blah and locks herself in her bedroom as soon as mortimer starts talking about the future. for now, cassie just want to be a normal teenager, doing normal teenager stuff, and focus on her book club simstagram. she has the rest of her life to worry about her future.

hair, eyebrows, eyelashes, glasses, sweater, skirt, skin details: one

alexander goth: from an outside perspective, alex might seem too young to be involved in what it means to be a goth -a future leader and all the pressure it brings. but his father has been preparing him for over a year already. "one can never start too soon, when there's much to do" mortimer always says, and then goes on and on about things alex never understands. so he just nods along and tries to keep an attentive smile on his face - but that's only on the outside. on the inside, there's a big, scary monster in his stomach that's trying to eat him alive. alex is lucky to have simon by his side when he starts feeling this way. simon is a boy around alex's age, he says he has lived in the goth mansion for a very, very, very long time and he can walk through the walls. alex, however, can not.

hair, eyelashes

thank you to all the cc creators: @simstrouble @oshinsimblr @miikocc @kijiko-sims @sentate @tamo-sim @wildlyminiaturesandwich @lamatisse @imvikai @twisted-cat @johnnysimmer

[pookietsunoda]

Glad I haven't been seeing a lot of people send hate to Liam (or Yuki) so far in the wake of Daniel's exit, but I have been seeing an Amount of Checo hate??? The same type of "Checo sucks and he only has his job bc of Carlos Slim and Mexico GP ticket sales" blah blah stuff we saw months ago. I get that it hurts to see your blorbo get cut for underperforming when another driver under the same team family keeps their job, but realistically IDK how this is Checo's fault. (Also, notice how this narrative *always* gets trotted out for POC drivers...)

Like this is all my opinion, but I was always skeptical of the idea that Daniel would be doing much better than Checo had Daniel moved to Red Bull, especially given the performance issues that even Max is now having with their car. Realistically, I do not know who Red Bull could bring in to replace Checo. (Besides Yuki, but more on that later). Red Bull seems to want someone who's a clear second driver to Max (no Brocedes/ Papaya Rules), but who is also good enough to help get the Constructor's and drive a car optimized to Max's very unique driving style. They haven't had any luck rushing junior drivers into the seat (ex. Pierre and Alex), and IDK who on the grid is both free and qualified.

Yuki is obviously an option (and to me even tho I like Liam it's kinda crazy how people are talking about how *Liam* could replace Checo and not Yuki). However, IDK if Red Bull takes Yuki seriously enough to consider him as Max's teammate. I feel like they've always been weird about him and not seriously considered him even tho he's been rotting away in Alpha Tauri/ VCARB purgatory for years. (Which might have something to do with racism but. Ya know.)

[nerves-nebula]

Fuck it, we ball.

—

Leo groaned as he kicked off his blankets, his whole body felt gross and nasty as the summer heat made the farmhouse feel like a sauna. Donnie was still working on fixing the A/C, but he kept mumbling about not having pieces he needed to get it “optimal”.

Leo refused to complain about the heat to her brothers, though. She took the room with the worst air conditioning so they wouldn’t have to. It had a window that practically worked like a death ray when the sun was high in the sky, cooking her in her shell.

“Try to think of the positives.” She rubbed her face, “I’m probably getting a nice tan from this.”

She practically jumped out of her shell when a loud banging came to her door, Mikey and Raph’s voices behind the knocks, calling her name in their “we’re trying to be obnoxious on purpose” voices. He groaned and pulled himself from bed to throw the door open, glaring at the boys standing on the other side.

“What?” She snapped, trying to put on an air of being annoyed. In reality, she could already feel her brother’s excitement radiating off them and infecting her own mood.

“It’s too damn hot.” Raph said, “So we’re gonna have a picnic down by the lake and go swimming.”

Donnie nodded excitedly, “We haven’t had a good soak in real water in ages. It’s good for our health.”

“Donnie says baths don’t count as real soaks because of micro-blah blah blah.” Mikey mimed Donnie’s talking with his hand, sticking out his tongue, “I say: Cannonball contest. Biggest splash gets first pick at the picnic basket.”

“Bet.” Leo grinned, “I’m getting antsy anyways.”

The other three all yelled in excitement, hurrying off to get ready for the excursion now that they knew Leo was coming.

-

Donnie was the first one in the water. It made sense, he was the most aquatic of them all, and he’d been sick plenty of times from drying out when they were kids. They had barely even set up the picnic blanket before they heard the thunk of Donnie dropping his shell cover and running for the water. He dove in like the natural swimmer he was, resurfacing moments later with a laugh.

“It’s cold!” He shouted, “It’s almost 90 degrees outside, why is the water cold?”

“How should I know, genius?” Raph yelled back, “You’re the smart guy here!”

Donnie just dove back down, the only hint of him visible from the surface being the bright purple shorts he wore.

“What a dork.” Leo grinned, “He’s gonna get a sunburn and complain all day tomorrow.”

Mikey and Raph just laughed, Raph grabbing the sunblock to start smearing over himself. They formed a circle, each getting the others’ backs and shells for them. Leo purposefully poked his fingers just a little too hard into Mikey’s sides, laughing when Mikey yelped at what he thought was an attempted tickle.

“You watch your hands, Leonardo.” Mikey glared.

“Why, Mikey, whatever do you mean?” Leo placed a hand to his chest, feigning innocence, “I’ve never done anything wrong in my life.”

Raph laughed this time, reaching over to shove Leo, just hard enough to knock him over into the grass, “That is the biggest fuckin’ lie.”

“I’m an innocent angel!”

“You’re full of shit is what you are!”

Mikey squealed as Leo pounced on Raph, the pair scuffling through the overgrown weeds, staining their clothes as they tussled. They yelled names at each other, but unlike years before their tones held no real heat. Mikey watched as they pushed and shoved at each other, happily deciding not to tell them that they were very quickly rolling towards the lake.

Leo’s last insult was cut off suddenly by a loud shout as Raph tumbled into the water, surprised both by the feeling and how Donnie had been right- it was fucking cold!

“What’s wrong, Raphie?” Leo teased, “Can’t handle a little water?”

Mikey took that moment to bolt, heading directly for where Raph and Leo had landed, hopping at the last possible second to leap over them and splash into the lake, subsequently drenching his brothers with the lake’s water. Leo and Raph both shouted loud enough for hun to hear beneath the surface and he was quick to escape before he faced their combined wrath, diving down towards where he could see Donnie, who had surfaced near the center of the lake to float and stare at the clouds.

“I’m causing problems on purpose.” He told Donnie, who just rolled his eyes.

“You’re a menace, Michelangelo. Forget the fact that we’re mutants and obviously inhuman, your actions are the reason we can’t join proper society.” He reached over and lightly bapped Mikey on the head, “You’d probably become a criminal.”

“My goal in life is to be an episode of a true crime podcast.” Mikey giggled, kicking up onto his back so he could float next to Donnie. They relaxed, enjoying a moment of comfortable semi-silence (seeing as Leo and Raph were still wrestling on the shore), taking in the wonderful feeling of the lake’s gentle waves against their skin.

“Did you ever think we’d get here?” Mikey asked, uncharacteristically quiet, almost like he was afraid to ask it.

“No.” Donnie’s answer was easy, “But I’m glad we did.”

——

I figured we’ve had a long streak of sad and angery lately, I wanted to show the light at the end of the tunnel.

-Monster Anon

STOPPPPPP THAT'S SOOO SWEEET AUGHHCKAGHAG. raph and leo play fighting instead of REAL fighting,,, gaougahh, the way they would have to get wAAAYY more comfortable with each other to even get to that point cause they'd associate each other with violence and pain for the longest time,,aggajfjmga... stoppppppppaghgosjfmgan.

[samueldays]

The widespread human barrenness of otherwise-prosperous countries is one of the weirdest things about this age to me.

Via Gapminder - the color coding is Europe yellow, Asia+Oceania pink, Africa blue, Americas green. Caveats about data sources, blah blah, I note that the correlation holds even if you take out the African data points.

Between 32k and 64k there's two pink dots which superficially look like cause for optimism, and I want to note what outlier countries they both are:

The sheer amount of non-policy circumstances surrounding both these countries makes it unlikely that one can draw policy lessons from either one.

Part of what makes this whole phenomenon so weird to me is the degree to which it resists explanation by common approaches.

Hypothetical Leftist: "GDP per capita is a shit measure, the rich are hoarding all the money and everyone else is too poor to afford raising children, we should redistribute more and have more parental leave!"

But this is wrong, because the poorest half of Americans are having more babies than the richest half, while Norway has four times the parental leave of America but a lower TFR.

Hypothetical Rightist: "The West is undergoing moral decay, women are slutting it up on OnlyFans and men are watching porn instead of getting married, muh based [insert reactionary country here]!"

But that is also wrong, because based reactionary country such as Russia has a TFR of only 1.51, and that wealthy pink dot with the lowest fertility in the whole chart is not exactly West, it's South Korea at TFR 0.87 -- and falling. With caveats about different ways of estimating TFR, other reports have SK dropping another 0.06 from 2022 to 2023 AD.

It isn't physiological, the rich countries have great medical treatments for that. It isn't personal, there have always been lots of individuals who didn't reproduce. It isn't economic, child subsidies and tax breaks and various monetary incentives have been tried with minimal effect.

This feels to me like a poorly-explained and under-appreciated mystery. It's apparently something social and/or structural. Nobody seems to have a good idea of how to stop it or why it happens.

The fact that it happens is undisputed, The Demographic Transition is well known, but that's just a label and the attempts at explaining its causes seem oddly lacking. I can look up a specialist paper studying the Causes and Consequences of the demographic transition and it's one line of causes ("decreasing mortality") and four pages of consequences, I look up a common public explanation and Wikipedia suggests everything but the kitchen sink:

 birth rates fall due to various fertility factors such as access to contraception, increases in wages, urbanization, a reduction in subsistence agriculture, an increase in the status and education of women, a reduction in the value of children's work, an increase in parental investment in the education of children and other social changes.

This does not sound like an explanation of causes to me, it sounds like speculatively listing stuff that happened at the time.

And as with the hypothetical partisans above, there's a mostly-counterexample: Japan.

I'd ignore the pre-1860 data because it looks to be two estimates and a connective line. Still, Japan had "various fertility factors such as access to contraception, increases in wages, urbanization", etc. in 1900, and fertility stayed high, until after losing WW2 when TFR collapsed in short order.

Short, not immediate, because 1947 has higher TFR than 1946. One might suspect that the new American-written Constitution of Japan coming into effect in 1947 had something to do with it.

Perhaps I should spell out the assumption that the fertility crisis is a problem.

It is a threat of cultures and nations ceasing to exist if they can't reproduce, it is a threat of economies collapsing for lack of specialist labor and specialist products, it is a threat of pensions being unfunded and old people starving and freezing to death because their retirement plan was based on certain assumptions about the population pyramid. "I can move to another country" isn't reliable in the long term if the other country either has the same problem and will cease to exist as such or if the other country isn't accepting of you and your mindset, "We'll import immigrants" is both politically contentious and of dubious effectiveness because if the migrants do assimilate then they'll also have low fertility and if they don't assimilate then you lose your culture anyway, the place you live is now a colony.

For South Korea in particular, the bleeding edge of the fertility crisis, at this rate the Korean peninsula will be reunited by means of "North Korea walks over unmanned border" - if South Korea manages to level off TFR at 0.87 and not fall any further (already falling, see above), its population will drop by 80% by the end of the century.

If you're reading this on Tumblr, imagine 80% of the media you like not existing, because the people who would have made it were never born. You get two of your top 10 shows (not the best two), and then delete 80% of the good fanfiction about those as well. The rest is slush pile and reruns.

With tongue firmly in cheek: Maybe our future is bimbos - people who really love sex (specifically PIV sex) and are too dumb to use contraception and have too little self-control to keep their legs closed, because that's what evolution will select for.

The problem will, in a sense, eventually resolve itself. The future belongs to those who show up, bimbos or someone else, whoever manages to keep a high birthrate and a high food supply. But it's hard to say who that will be, or what complications there will be on the way towards a blind evolutionary resolution.

Technophiles like to imagine exowombs or cloning will soon be good enough for mass production and replace "birthrate" with humans-production-rate, but I don't see that happening any time soon because progress is slow (Dolly was 30 years ago and still hasn't gotten widespread adoption even for sheep), and I don't see that happening any time later either because the technophiles are most subject to South Koreafication and there will be none of them left to run the cloning tanks.

Across from them we have various Africanists who like to point to countries like Nigeria with its TFR of 5, but that's going to run into food supply problems because Nigeria already imports a hundred million dollars' worth of food from the US every year, and another hundred million dollars' worth of food from Germany, and over a billion dollars in all. In addition to growing the food there's the difficulty of running international logistics from Germany (TFR 1.58) which in the long run might not have the people to operate all that. High-tech mechanized agriculture concentrates the stress on the smartest and best-educated section of the population to make and fix the machines, and that's the section with the lowest fertility!

Things are weird and they're going to get weirder.

[hellsbellschime]

Are you implying that those who write the article know that this is all slander and still release a hoax to defame Sophie? Why not write the truth, why continue the slanderous campaign against a young woman, the mother of two kids? Sophie is so wonderful, she doesn't deserve all of this

LOL I'm sorry but are you familiar with TMZ in the slightest? They are the sleaziest tabloid outlet out there and they will write whatever a celebrity tells them to write and that they are legally allowed to. TMZ was actually created by a lawyer named Harvey Levin, and the thing is that they will spin the shittiest, falsest narratives imaginable, but they DON'T slander anyone, like they will LITERALLY go right up to the line of what they can legally say without defaming someone but they leave just enough leeway to escape any liability for writing something that is undeniably false.

So while I'm not an expert, I have some extra insight into this because of my job, and a lot of TMZ's tactics are incredibly transparent and it's not hard to figure out what's going on and who they're serving. Because again, they are the scummiest, lowest of the low in tabloid journalism, so if they are the ones who broke a story then, unless they broke that story because they literally found court documents filed by a celebrity (which they actually do fairly often), that story is coming from someone directly involved in said story. In this instance, it is comically obvious that they're being fed info directly from Joe Jonas and/or his PR.

And because TMZ is so sleazy, if you ever see someone who is actually famous who appears to be feeding info and trying to spin their own narrative via TMZ, then that is because they know that TMZ will put whatever spin that they want on the story in order to get the exclusive. Like in this situation, they have "sources" saying that Sophie is a partier and a negligent mother and blah blah blah, and they can say that because TECHNICALLY that is true, they are being directly told this by someone on Team Jonas, but because they can deflect onto their "source" they can print whatever they want and it's not considered slander even though they did nothing to verify what they're being told.

TMZ will also game search engine optimization to favor the celebrity that is spilling the tea, which is why you'll see them suddenly churn out a dozen articles about the same topic with the same spin, because having a bunch of content on a topic will make search engines categorize them as more of an authority on that topic, ergo their content will be pushed towards the top of the pile.

Beyond that, they (and a lot of other tabloids do this, but TMZ is the worst because again they'll just print whatever wild shit they're told with no regard for whether or not it's true) break a story and include a source because once other outlets start reporting on the story, they will refer to TMZ and repeat what the source has said. It's actually an incredibly quick and easy way to craft a narrative, because essentially if the other sites who are covering the story don't include what these "sources" have said then it will make their coverage seem less credible. So, in a matter of hours, there are 20+ articles that include at least something referring to Sophie Turner being a party girl who abandoned her kids, and to people who don't understand how this all works it makes those allegations seem credible because EVERYONE is reporting on it. However, EVERYONE is saying this in reference to one single source, and that source is probably just someone acting on Joe Jonas' behalf and saying something that they know is a lie but that can be spun into a story and dominate the narrative.

Lucky for Sophie, there isn't a lot to actually back this narrative up, but again, tabloids will run a lot of bullshit stories if they think they can get some traction off of it, and TMZ is unequivocally the worst of the worst when it comes to spewing absolute bullshit so they can get a scoop and get more inside info from a celebrity. They also know how to game the fuck out of SEO and how to craft articles in a way that lowkey forces every other outlet that reports on it to refer back to them. So as an incredibly tl;dr answer to your question, they aren't reporting the truth because they have an in with Joe Jonas specifically because they're willing to lie on his behalf, and that is far more valuable to them than actually writing the truth.

[felidaefatigue]

just watched a tiktok of an elderly woman reading aloud her experiences of going to the doctor with a prolapsed uterus and her doctor being overly nonchalant about it being a non emergency and "natural"

(pregnancy talk n rant abt lack of education)

and it just reminded me of how it felt when i was bawling (not an indicator of seriousness i bawl alot) while trying to explain why i am so stressed out about taking steps to make pregnancy a potential option in our future, and while he is generally better educated than your average dude and supportive of my own bodily autonomy n all that. at one point after I went on about how c section involves literally tearing you open, ripping your muscles (which is a good thing) and how permanently your body can be ruined and your life ruined he was like "well if anything happens-" (regarding complications and injuries) and idk if my anger came across but i had to go its not IF. its WHEN. pregnancy IS damaging to your body. I dont care if you want to consider it natural and that "ruined" is strong language and unnnecessarily negative- thats fine it is. and i dont think a post pregnancy body is "ruined" obviously. But it is FUNDAMENTALLY changed and LESS FUNCTIONAL. regardless of if it is worth it and beautiful because it birthed your child it is DAMAGED. damaged things can be beautiful yes.

anyway just. trying to make a man understand that it doesnt matter HOW smooth your pregnancy is, wether you tear or not, it is a fucking parasite. its not if it will damage your body. its just how MUCH damage you personally get. it can range from just a little minor brain shrinkage to fucking dying horrifically. yes im fucking stressed about it. but thats the LEAST stressful part. you not fucking knowing anything even though i ADORE you and youre smarter than most is fucking stressful. the world being really fucking dumb is fucking stressful. knowing i dont condone fucking breeding when the world is going to end (because fuck you im not fear mongering we are on that path it might not happen immediately we mIGHT fix it sure yes IM HERE FOR OPTIMISM CLEARLY but we. are on. the fucking path. and sprinting at this point jfc.) but am still insane enough to consider the prospect is fucking stressful.

anyway. thats a rant. i was leaning heavily towards it being a viable reality in the future. so im pretty annoyed that im back to feeling like theres no fucking way because i dont know who is more delusional me or everyone who keeps saying im paranoid and overly online but fucking votes for fucking facists because they cant stop to fucking listen to the words out of his own fucking mouth.

sorry for making u read the f word every .2 seconds lol

also please dont. take any tidbit of this too seriously like start being like the wORLD will be fine- blah blah. i know. im fucking chronically online in these spaces. this isnt a well thought out essay this is me being very self indulgently angry at work while i put dumb little stickers on books its not meant to be terribly smart do not take anything away from it other than i am stressed the fuck out.

[aerodaltonimperial]

Hook/Jack/Darby prompt: only one bed

(I KNEW YOU WOULD COME THROUGH 💚🧡⚰️)

"Oh my god, it's so fucking hot in this room."

"Jesus, Hook, just turn the damn thermostat down. Did you know you can control that? Amazing how they offer little boxes on the wall for—ow!"

"Not sorry. I meant to get the pillow zipper in your eye."

"Guys, stop. Look, Hook, just get up and turn the temperature lower. This bed isn't really very big, and we're just gonna have to get snuggly."

"Snuggly?"

"Don't even pretend like you don't fucking love it, Darby, you absolute sap."

"Whatever. Jack, your elbow is in my spleen."

"You do not know where the spleen is."

"Sure, I do. It's right there where your pointy-ass elbow is digging into my side."

"Fine, I turned it down, but seriously, it's so fucking hot. Jack, why do you run at like a million degrees all the time?"

"Probably because I'm so sexy."

"Hah. Good one."

"You know, you're very rude, and I will push you off this bed without a second thought."

"If you do, could you scooch over a bit, cause you are taking up way too much room."

"He's got two pillows, too."

"Jack, what the fuck."

"I need the pillows! I need to feel cradled and supported when I sleep."

"Oh my god, shut up."

"No, that was one of those wiggly eyebrow comments he expects us to pay attention to."

"Well, to be fair, I kind of expect you to pay attention to all my comments, Hook."

"Jesus. Fine, fine; c'mere."

"Thank god, you got his elbow out of my side."

"Well you're supposed to move over, too, what—no, this way. Why are you like this, Darby, I swear."

"But you're so fucking hot. Are you on fire, how."

"Just—what are you doing? Why are you getting up?"

"I'm taking my pants off, Christ. I'm going to spontaneously combust here."

"That'd be kind of neat to watch."

"Hook, I will shave all your hair off when you sleep."

"Blah blah, you big talker. Hurry up, he's all squirmy."

"Ugh. Okay. This cannot be the optimal way to do this."

"Is there an optimal way to do this? Plus, c'mon, we can't even figure out how to take selfies right. It's gonna take us years to get this configuration settled."

"Years, huh."

"You plannin' on going somewhere else, Darbs?"

".... not really."

"Sap."

"Fuck off, Hook."

"Stop. Seriously. Okay, let's just—good lord, you don't—ow, don't kick me."

"Fuckin' hell."

"Okay, okay. I think we're good."

"Yeah, we are."

"Now shut up and go to sleep."

"Yes, mom."

"That's a horrible mental image, thanks."

"Heh."

"Mm... hey, did someone set an alarm? The free breakfast ends at 9:30."

"... I can't reach my phone."

"Well I can't reach mine, I'm in the middle!"

"You demanded to be in the middle."

"Not the point, Hook. Grab your phone. I don't want to miss breakfast."

"Yeah, you get pissy when you don't eat."

"I have to get up to reach my phone."

"Oh my god, this is the worst."

"Okay, okay, we'll just wake up. Somehow."

"Yeah, cause we're so good at that."

"Whatever. I'm tired. Can we please go to sleep?"

"You're hogging the pillows."

"It's cause he's got two."

"Jack!"

"Why are we so bad at this, seriously."

[captainnameless]

Cap, would love to know your opinion about today's race

conflicted, i liked the race for most of it to be fair. Charles optimized that start and drove a beautiful faultless race. Carlos also did really well, gave me a minor heart attack when he started talking about smelling fuel tho i was so scared he was gonna have to retire.

that incident with Max/Lando definitely left a sour taste in my mouth though. like i said, i hate seeing race result deciding penalties even if i think the penalty was deserved.

Lando is once again let down by his pit wall as everyone and their mother saw that he wasn’t ahead at the apex and it was their job to tell him as it’s too hard to judge from inside the car.

and i just hate that whenever it’s Max involved in one of these it immediately turns into a conspiracy where he’s gifted everything blah blah blah. which pisses me off because Max drove an insanely good race today, gave a masterclass in defending. Lando really made those hards work and overturned a pretty big gap and it’s all (mostly Max’s race craft) being overshadowed by bullshit.

Lando’s penalty was deserved albeit it unfortunate. George’s penalty was also deserved since he was also way behind on the apex (i genuinely do not know how/why we’re even questioning this) and in my honest opinion Max didn’t deserve a penalty for turn 1 (lap 1), they’re always lenient in lap 1 and him and Lando didn’t even touch.

Charles literally took out Lance Stroll in Russia 2020 on the first lap and didn’t get a penalty. but we want to discuss Max getting one for forcing Lando a bit wide when it looked like Max was ahead at that apex too? the most hilarious thing is it wasn’t even noted.

anyway, the block button worked overtime today. <3

[expectiations]

https://www.tumblr.com/expectiations/761756220818325504/reading-fate-the-winx-saga-vol-1-dark-destiny?source=share

Beatrix's sisters are Isobel and Darcy (mentioned at the end of season 2). The author even admitted this, but she changed it because she doesn't own the rights to the characters of Icy and Darcy (bad excuse) she doesn't know how to write, because she admitted that she could have done nothing. The second volume will probably rewrite the sisters' part due to complaints.

Also, haven't you noticed the inconsistencies it has with the series? The second season makes it clear that no one can enter the Realm of Darkness, no one can do it. And we have two characters entering it like it's nothing.

And if they don't rewrite the Beatrix sisters thing, they'll probably do it in a third volume. So no, Beatrix and Bloom aren't sisters. It's just a stupidity from an author and a publisher who don't know how to write, which will most likely change in the third volume, if there is one.

Oh thank you so much for this! My whiplash was valid.

I do remember Beatrix's sisters on the show as I recently finished season 2 when I read the comic. The inconsistencies were glaring but as a friend pointed out, I have too much optimism. I was like "???" the entire time but also "maybe the author has a point or something in here" which was why these pictures were at the forefront of that post.

I know the inconsistencies were there but I also had too much faith in the author. Something along the lines of "surely they must have a reason for giving the green light to the production of this material" but apparently not 🥴

Besides, as a Farah (and Silrah) girlie first and foremost, I will always grab at straws of any indication she's existing out there somewhere, disregarding how s1 ended lmao don't even get me started on how she died. It's on sight for those mfs who wrote that wtf ending for her.

Yes, yes, I know we had to lose Farah to get Rhaenys blah blah. I can still complain about the shoddy writing though. I love FTWS but I can also understand why it was cancelled lol

[suckitsurveys]

Are you content with the current weather? I am, it’s finally rainy. I love fall rain. Do you own many pairs of shorts? I do. Is there a place you’d rather be right now? I’m actually okay right now but I wouldn’t mind going home lol. When was the last time you were disappointed? I’m disappointed I probably have ZERO chance of getting into SNL when Mulaney is hosting.

Do you miss someone right now? Yes, always. Have you ever taken a close up shot of a flower? Yeah. Is there an article of clothing you need to buy right now? I could use some leggings. When was the last time you had alcohol? A few weeks ago. Do you feel like you just need to be with friends and relax? Yeah, that would be nice. Is there a situation you currently feel hopeless about? Yes. When was the last time you wanted to do something, but couldn’t? Currently. See my complaint about SNL a few questions ago. When was the last time you sang out loud to yourself? Earlier today. Are you one to often make typos? Yeah but I usually correct them if I see them. On a hot day, would you rather prefer ice cream or a popsicle? Ice cream. Have you ever wanted to get drunk and get your mind off everything? Yeah. It doesn’t work. Who was the last person you texted? Sarah. Is there a fan going in the room you’re in? No, but the window AC is on. When was the last time you felt like letting it all out and having a cry? This whole month. Do you feel you’re fighting a losing battle? Eh. Have you played cards recently? Yeah, Mark and I played a few week ago. Is there a band you like with amazing music but a bad vocalist? No, if I don’t like the vocalist I’m not paying attention to the music. When was the last time you had a headache? I had one the other day. Does pizza sound good to you right now? Yes it does. Have you ever relied on coffee to keep you awake? Yeah, every damn day. Do you sleep well during the summer? The seasons don’t make a difference in how I sleep. Anything you might be giving up on soon? Blah. Have you ever captured a moth? Not intentionally. Does long grass irritate your bare legs? Sure. Will you be going to the beach anytime soon? I don’t think so. Have you ever made any kind of video? Yeah. When was the last time someone made you feel like an idiot? Blah. Do you have sympathy for others when they’re upset? Yes. Are you one of those people who can’t dance but love to anyway? Yes. Is there a band/artist who has strange lyrics but you love them anyway? Sure. Have you ever been to New York? Yup!! I wanna go back!!!!!! Is there a song you used to like but are annoyed of now? That definitely happens sometimes. Does your optimism sometimes hurt you? Sure. Have you ever had a premonition? Sure. Are you dying to see someone very soon? Yesssss. When was the last time you wore earrings? I always have earrings in my cartilage piercings and I am currently wearing some in my lobes as well. Are you currently saving for anything? A new car. How many pairs of heels do you own? Zero heels, I’m more into wedges if anything. Has it thundered lately? It did a little bit ago. Have you ever gotten stitches? In my mouth. Do you need to repaint your nails right now? YES thank you for reminding me to text Lolly. Are you having one of those lazy days? I’m at work. Do you have any plans for the next week? Yeah, I don’t feel like like listing everything out. Has today been a good day? Eh. When was the last time you changed your picture on Facebook? Like a month ago. What do you do to cool down on a normal hot day? I’m usually inside in the AC but if I’m outside I just try to stay hydrated and in the shade if possible, or in a pool or the lake or something. Have you ever felt something was slipping through your fingers? Yes. Describe three emotions you’re feeling right now. Tired, hungry, annoyed.

Do you have a brand of deoderant you prefer? I’ve always just used Secret. Would you consider yourself to be physically strong? Eh, in some ways. Have you ever painted a piece of furniture? Yes. If you could change something about your life right now it would be: My health. Are you currently confused about anything? Yes. Do you have a really fat cat? She may look overweight but it’s honestly mostly fluff and whatever breed she’s mixed with. The vet has said she’s perfectly normal with maybe a lil chunk to her. Have you ever kissed someone who’s first name started with B? No. Do your initials spell a word? Nope. What is the closest red object to you right now? A sharpie. Do you currently have your cellphone in your pocket? No, it’s on my desk. When was the last time you questioned someone’s intelligence? No idea. Do you have a favorite quote? Several. Do you believe the fortunes in fortune cookies? Nah, I just read them for fun. When was the last time you went to a playground? It’s been a bit. Are you one to give ‘thumbs up’ to people? Sometimes. Do you ever call your cellphone when you’ve lost it, in order to find it? I’ve done that before, yeah. Do you know someone who’s blatantly sarcastic? Yes. What’s your signature funny face? Tongue out. Have you ever made a business card for yourself? No. Have you ever had an idea that you just couldn’t put on paper? Probably. Do you own a pool? No, I wish. What do you prefer more: waffles or pancakes? Waffles. What was the last thing you took a picture of? My cat. Are you going on vacation? At some point. Do you have a favorite curse word in a different language? No. Can you stand drinking vodka straight up or do you have to mix it? Nope. Have you ever spun around until you got dizzy and fell? Probably as a kid. Don’t you hate those games that expire and try to make you buy them? Not sure what you mean. Do you have a specific phobia? Eh, nothing major. Did you love playing hide and seek as a kid? Yeah. There’s nothing wrong with dreaming, right? Right… why would there be something wrong with dreaming? Are there any recipes you have memorized? Yeah. Do you have a favorite font on the computer? Yeah, I like a few. Have you skipped class? Yup. Do your parents allow you to have your privacy? Yeah, I’m 35. Do you have a friend who is rather quiet? Uh huh. Are you able to swim? Yes. Is your hair tied up or down on your shoulders? It’s well past my shoulders. Have you ever used your iPod as a mirror? Sure. When it comes to shapes, do you prefer stars or hearts? I like both. Are you good at creating logos? No. How about catch phrases? No. Have you ever been told you’re good at imitations? No. Got plans after you finish this? Yeah, i have to pick up my nieces from school. Have you ever been severely burned? Not severely, no. Is there a song that seems to have been written just for you? Sure. Have you ever heard of Free Hugs? Yes. Do you have multiple email addresses? I have a personal one and then one for work. Has there been someone you couldn’t stop thinking about lately? My husband. Did you ever dream that you had a baby? Yes. Are you a visual learner? I prefer to learn that way but I don’t have trouble other ways. Have you ever gone snowshoeing? No. Do you or anyone you know have a rabbit? A girl in high school had one. What was the weirdest thing you ever saw cross the road? I don’t know. Are you good at coming up with jokes? Sure. Have you ever stepped on a tac? Yeah. Are your legs loaded with scars from your childhood? Not loaded, no. Have you ever skinned your knees, elbows, and hands all at the same time? I’m sure. If someone paid you $1,000,000, would you dye your hair electric blue? Absolutely. Do you have wireless internet? Yes. What was the last thing you cooked on the BBQ? Mark and I made steak a few weeks ago.

[junk-culture]

on the one hand i'm like oh whatever it'll be fun life's too short let's all pay for an old man's divorce and have a good time. if divorce-fueled brotherly reconcilement/nostalgia bait in a sea of 50,000 40 yr old blokes is my only way to see oasis live then what the hell. cringe but free hashtag celestial biblical etc. but on the other hand it's like. thinking about definitely maybe and how the rawness and punkiness and working class optimism and youthful swagger and energy and blah blah of it all is partly what got me into oasis in the first place and the concept of 2 rich guys in their 50s trying to recreate that is a bit sad. i can't be bothered to find the quote but something something the jam were our beatles and thank god they'll never be our rolling stones. etc. but at the same time i am still just like well it'll be fun. maybe they do genuinely like each other now maybe it's fine to not let go of the past maybe it'll be really jolly. i don't know. im a chronic fence sitter. a lover and a hater. and all this will be irrelevant anyway when i discover on saturday morning that tickets cost £500 or something and therefore there's no way in hell im going. etc

[1016anon]

On Bridgerton's Queen Charlotte & Mental Illness

I've only watched the first three episodes of Queen Charlotte and I have not read any reviews about the series. I didn't plan on writing this, but apparently I have Thoughts and mental illness is something which has always been important to me.

Spoilers under the cut.

Trigger warnings: Discussion of suicide, depression, substance abuse. Mention of post-natal depression, eating disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder.

The problem is: love is not enough.

At the end of the third episode, Charlotte manages to convince George to stop yelling at the sky and come inside.

Why is she able to do this?

Because she loves him.

Reynolds, who's known George much longer and therefore has likely seen and learned the ins and outs of George's episodes stands uselessly to the side with a blanket, but Charlotte, thanks to her Great Love for George, is able to draw his attention away from Venus and get him inside.

Perhaps I will be proven wrong when I watch the fourth episode next weekend, but I know how this story usually goes: She gets him warm, gets him safe, surrounds him with tender loving care and understanding so that when his episode is over, he may not believe he is deserving of love, but he will know that he is loved.

Love will give Charlotte the strength to stay with him and have fifteen children. Love is patient, love is kind, it always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. 1 Corinthians 13.

It's a common trope, well worn, familiar as that fucking bible verse. The trope is not only used in a romantic context. It speaks to the great love parents have for their children, or the Power of Friendship, or whatever kind of love it is you're looking to validate. It's got enough verisimilitude to be persuasive and enough optimism to be seductive.

And it's wrong.

Not only is it wrong, it's actively harmful. Because the corollary to this idea is that when love fails to heal, it is because the loving person did not love enough, or the person who is ill did not love them back enough.

Love is not enough, it has never been enough, and it will never fucking be enough. I hate this trope and I bristle every time I hear it in songs, see it in movies and tv, or read it in stories.

If love were enough, people would never commit suicide. They wouldn't become addicted to drugs; they wouldn't become alcoholics. They would be able to snap out of their manic depressive episodes; they would always be able to distinguish between what is real and what is not; they would be healed of PTSD; they would not obsess over routines. They wouldn't have eating disorders; they would stop exploding into rage; they would never be depressed.

If love were enough, the people who love individuals with mental illness would not feel helpless, frustrated, angry, desperate-- because their love would be enough to fix it all. Their love would be enough to convince their suicidal partner to stay. A child's love would convince their alcoholic parent to quit. A parent's love would be better than lithium.

To reduce the treatment of mental illness to love is to reduce the failure of that treatment to love, and as a result place the blame on the people who are supposed to love.

Mental illness is chemical. It is biological. It is because of neural pathways and neurotransmitters. It is a result of the strange coping mechanisms the human brain has developed over the thousands of years of evolution. I'm not denying that there is an enormous environmental factor.

However, I do not believe that anyone gets cancer because they are not loved enough, and I do not expect anyone to be cured of cancer by the power of love.

The human brain is an organ. Sure, we can dress it up with fancy terms about it being the seat of intelligence, wax philosophical about the soul or spirit, houses the essence of humanity, blah blah blah, whatever. It is first and foremost an organ and like any other organ, it can and does fail.

Mental illness is a lot of things, and only recently recognized as Real thing. Prozac was approved by the FDA in 1987 and while antidepressants are now widely recognized as helpful, that was definitely not the case even twenty years ago. Today, there's still a very real stigma associated with its use that makes people hesitate to actively consider it an avenue of treatment.

"Well, what did you expect from a spinoff of Bridgerton?"

I don't expect anything. That doesn't mean I'm not allowed to criticize it or point out things which are harmful. It's a really popular series. Number 1 on Netflix or whatever.

What I want to do is write this for myself, and for anyone else out there who is either asking themselves now, or will ask themselves someday, why love has not healed everything like it ought to have done.

Because I've heard it time and again from people left behind after a loved one commits suicide: Why wasn't I enough to make them want to stay? Didn't they know I loved them? (Why didn't they love me enough to keep living?)

Loved ones dealing with substance abuse: Why don't they love me enough to quit? Why wasn't I enough to convince them to get help? Where did I go wrong? If they really loved me, they would stop.

And the flip side, during an argument or in a moment of frustration: You don't love me enough to stop! If you loved the baby, you wouldn't be depressed. If you loved your parents, you wouldn't put them through this! If you loved your partner, you would have gotten help.

That's why this trope is destructive.

Mental illness and the treatment of mental illness are not about love.

Sure, love can help. But sometimes it doesn't.

Again, perhaps I will be proven wrong in the subsequent episodes of Queen Charlotte. But for me, the damage has already been done. She tells him that she is Venus. Goddess of love. Venus is going inside, so George needs to follow the love and go inside also. Love is going to lead him home.