#book talk with jess

[greenconverses]

again i say to you

if this man would just let the percy series mature and dig deeper into the emotional arcs he presents in chalice and wrath instead of hopping from one kooky adventure to the next and undermining any story depth with fart and piss jokes and blatant flagging to the disney+ audience, we could have had a very good set of stories on our hands

but NO

percy's rage issues, grief, trauma, and just the general angst of being an older teenager on the cusp of a huge life change are all there and every time the story touches them, it's like RR gets electrocuted and told to get back to Conflict Free Therapy Speak zone before things get too messy

additionally, the third act upping the stakes to Oh Shit We're Gonna Die doesn't work if we already know 1) everyone lives and 2) PERCY GETS INTO COLLEGE at the end of this. the whole point of the series has already been decided!! there are no stakes with your main plot or any of the bullshit mini quests! the opportunity to go for a deep dive character book is there and waiting and ready

but NOOOOOOOOO

gotta make sure all of our main characters have been peed on instead, it's fine

[crowreys-wormstache]

We're off to a strong start

[leek-inherent]

My drawing of the pre-trial attorneys from We Object To Fear :) I love every character in that musical but the image of what these two look like was so strong in my mind I just had to draw them.

[columboscreens]

[jessmmariano]

Jess is the best boyfriend for Rory because he just fit in so well in her life.

First off, the two have so much in common. From books and music to both having absent fathers, the two fit so well. Yet (as Rory said) they’re not too similar that it’s boring—Rory gets Jess to branch out a bit more whereas he encourages her to pursue her dreams.

Secondly, the Stars Hollow connection. Dean was too involved in Stars Hollow that he would keep her back, and Logan was so disconnected that he would pull her away. Jess is the perfect balance—someone connected to Stars Hollow through family (mainly Luke) yet isn’t afraid to go other places and pursue other options.

Third, he got along with Rory’s friends. Him and Paris would’ve definitely hit it off if they had more screen time, considering the conversation they had together about authors. Him and Lane weren’t super close, but they had the music connection that definitely could’ve began a friendship. They also have a connection through Luke. Also he and Lorelai have such similar personalities the two could definitely get along if they weren’t both so stubborn.

Anyways Jess fits so well in Rory’s life and Rory in his and that is why they’re the superior couple. Definition of right person wrong time.

[alicentsaegon]

The main characters of that Fourth Wing novel look like poor Feyre and Rhysand copycats it must be said because at first glance I did not even realize it wasn't acotar art. The day that fantasy romance authors stop making their love interests dark handsome Schrodinger's MOC airbrushed dudes and the women Mormon lookalikes is the day nature heals

[shrimptacodaniels]

Thinking about these four bears. These teenage bears. Who woke from the sex dream they’re having.

(I’m so hyped for 15 y/o portal you don’t even know but the bear college bit gets stuck in my head so often HOOOOLY-)

[skunksintheportal]

What's your fucking name? Ep. 265 "Frozen in Time Lake (With Wolves of Glendale)

[leviackermanscleaningbuddy]

Beta Readers Wanted!

Hey my babies!

This is a shout-out post on behalf of my hubby.

He’s currently writing a book and needs some volunteer beta readers!

It’s sci fi genre, mature content (so no minors please!)

What I’ve read so far is really good and I said I’d try to spread the word and try and find him some more people to read and give their honest opinions!

If you are interested, or know anyone who would be, please share with them or DM me!

Please share and reblog so we can find people who would be into this!

Thank you babies! 👍🏻💕

[gaybearwedding]

one thing about me is i WILL treat silly little improvised musicals like full scripted media. i’ve written cornhole in one fic. i know all the mallapalooza kids’ last names. i have designs for many off book/pibe characters that look nothing like zach and jess. off book episode 66 we object to fear live from the curious comedy theater in portland is no longer a podcast episode to me it is the jumping off point for an entire world that i created and spent the better part of a year being absolutely fucking insane about

[greenconverses]

rick riordan write a book without fart/scat jokes challenge

[crowreys-wormstache]

One of these days Adrian Tchaikovsky is gonna drop a novel about sentient spacefaring leeches and for about 600 pages I'm gonna be forced to care about those bastard creatures and I'm gonna LIKE IT

[leek-inherent]

My designs for the characters from We Object To Fear :) I love this show a lot and have watched it many times.

In order they are Matthew and his mum, Brian and Clark (prosecution), Alicia and Spencer (defence), and Xander and his unnamed friend (pre-trial).

[jesse-cosay]

[canadiancryptid]

How does the Train decide where passengers start their journeys?

Whenever I start thinking about Infinity Train again, I always find it interesting how the Train seems to have rules about what can exist within a car and how passengers interact with it.

One of these rules is how it decides where to drop off passengers to start their journeys. We've seen 5 passengers after they got dropped off by their pods, and all of them are in a car that's somewhat similar to where they were when they got abducted picked up, and that's at least relatively peaceful in its normal state

Warning: this is gonna be a long one.

Looking at Book 1, Tulip doesn't even realize she's not where she was before until she finds the door. She just wakes up in a snowy landscape and assumes she passed out and dreamed the weird glowing train. Even the giant snowman doesn't seem too strange. The least 'normal' thing in her starting car is One-One, who got dumped there by Amelia and isn't meant to be part of the car. It's quiet, uninhabited, and while certainly cold, she was dressed for colder weather. Sure, the Train picked her up in a forest area, but while the Snow Car may not have as many trees, it has some, and they even seem to be the same type. It's a close enough match that she doesn't even realize she's somewhere else.

Next up we have Jesse. We only see his arrival in a flashback, but we can put the pieces together. We see from his video of the incident with Nate that he was in some sort of grassy, vaguely hilly area with a bunch of trees, and considering he said that he never got to talk to Nate again before the Train took him, he probably stayed in the area to think about what happened and how badly he screwed up. Even if he did head home at some point before the Train picked him up, it's clear he never made it back, and the area around his house still has a ton of massive, grassy hills with trees.

When he wakes up on the Train, he finds himself in the Hill Car.

We know from the Train Documentary about it that its a peaceful car, albeit inhabited by giant birds, and that some of the hills can talk. Comparing the car to where he was before, we see the same kind of hilly, grassy plains, just with seemingly no trees and bigger hills. And if there are giant birds, there's a decent chance there are trees somewhere. It's not a bad match, all things considered.

There's even a piece of crew art on Owen Dennis' Instagram that shows him sitting on a hill contemplating his actions, with the filing cabinet from the incident lying nearby. This art shows fewer trees nearby and bigger hills, making it look even MORE like the Hill Car. Crew Art may not always be a perfect reflection of canon events, but the small differences in the surrounding area only make the parallels even stronger.

Before we see the flashbacks of Jesse's arrival, we see Lake passing by Mrs. Graham getting her orientation video from her pod. We don't know much about her other than the fact she's a lunch lady at Jesse's school, and that she got picked up while still wearing her hairnet and apron. For as many questions as I may have about where she was and why she got picked up at all, there's not really anywhere on earth that looks like that.

At first glance, it might seem like this disproves the idea of any sort of algorithm that decides where passengers start based on where they were picked up, and while yes, it does throw a wrench into it, I wouldn't say it proves that there wasn't one at some point.

When Mrs. Gramm got picked up by the Train, it was well after One-One was back in charge after his period of unwilling absence. It's not hard to tell that his time experiencing a passenger's journey first-hand with Tulip has changed the way he runs things. He started leaving passengers in their pods until they wake up, keeping them safe instead of just dumping them out in the open, and giving them a little orientation video to explain where they are and how things work. While how much this actually helps them adjust to the fact they just got abducted and got stuck in the world's worst therapy program is… debatable, it's clear our little Conductor is trying to work on some pain points he saw with Tulip.

Doing the math, Jesse got there before Mrs. Gramm. He was already on the Train for a while before Lake found him, but she sees Mrs. Gramm just starting off not long before. They both got picked up after One-One started the orientation videos, and if he's only been back in the driver's seat for a few months now, he's likely still working on changing things. The Doily Car is unlike anything on earth, sure, but most importantly, its safe. It's peaceful, there don't seem to be any native denizens that could pose a threat, and it's just generally a decent place to wake up in. There's a good chance that One-One is trying to start prioritizing a safe starting car over a smooth transition.

Tulip's first car had the risk of freezing, even if she was dressed for the cold. Jesse's first car was pretty safe, but there was still the giant bird issue. Mrs. Graham's first car was perfectly safe. The biggest threat in there was Lake, and she was just passing through.

Even with the surreal landscape, the Doily Car actually sort of loosely fits where she may have been before. As previously mentioned, she's still in her work clothes. Doilies are typically used as decorations when serving desserts or other sweet foods. While they aren't the sort of thing you would see in a school cafeteria, they do share a theme of serving food. The attempt to match the context of where the Train picked her up with her starting car is still there, but could you imagine how crazy a cafeteria full of denizens could be? That would only serve to scare her more, if not put her in more danger.

If we look even further back, we find Ryan and Min-Gi. When they got on, the Train was working as it was seemingly intended to. Amelia hadn't taken over, One-One was still One, and yet, the two of them got dumped in a frozen wasteland. You might think this implies there wasn't an algorithm for this sort of thing before Amelia started whispering in One's ear and convincing him to make some changes, but this car is actually a decent match.

The problem is, this car has multiple states, and the ice age obviously isn't the one that fits best.

In the car's "normal" state, when the Erastat dial is set perfectly in the middle, the car reflects a relatively modern city. A little futuristic, perhaps a little alien, but still a 'normal' city. With how long it takes Lake to get to the Number Car, we know the pods can be travelling for a while, so when it sent them off, it probably WAS a modern city. Kez just came in and messed with the dial after the car was selected.

If the modern-day state of the car is what was used to decide where to drop them off, its not that far from where they were before. Its not a perfect match, but it could have been so much worse. The Train doesn't have a lot in the way of modern cities that don't have some big twist. A dial that changes the time era isn't really that wild.

Overall, it seems like the Train has some sort of system that uses where the Passengers are picked up to help decide where it should drop them off. Like most of its other systems, it doesn't do it amazingly, but there seems to be something going on behind the scenes.

The Train is such a fascinating machine to think about. Its one of the many reasons this show always seems to stay creeping about in the back of my mind.

[skeletal-butterflyy]

Lord give me a man like Jess Mariano 🙏