#btw this was from 2020 so its been 4 years and counting

[simon-loof]

Okay anon, who wanted to be convinced about Loofmar *cracks fingers* ekhem, this will be longish 🕵️‍♀️

Am I 100% sure they’re dating? No. But tbh it took me a while to believe o and n were dating. But like i said before, cause that was me as well, when there’s smoke there’s fire. And listen, there is that possibility that they’re just casual fuck buddies, ofc. They both belong to that „incestuous” group of friends haha

If you look at Omar’s IG this year (posts, not stories, although it stays true for stories as well i think), he doesn’t post his friends. At all. We don’t count Edvin because he’s been posted either as a part of YR or OMR. And even his last year’s posts – the only posts unrelated to projects were his own selfies. And his mom. Once. I checked lmao. 2022? Nothing, except 2 vacation posts with n (who used to be in those vacay pictures but they’re deleted now). Maybe some friends posts in these years were there before, but if so, they’ve been deleted as well which means Omar changed his posting habits and just doesn’t share the kind of stuff he used to (and omg the yesterday’s archive account show us what we lost 😭).

So why all of a sudden he decided to share 3 work-unrelated posts from his vacation, that included photos that were questionable? Posting the photo of him leaning on Simon with double hearts on his story as if to put emphasis on this photo which btw was not the first one in the post so that was not automatic. And then the spainmar tiktok with a glimpse of Simon? FOR WHAT PURPOSE, if not to soft launch. He’s not stupid, he knows all this would be questioned and investigated by fans. He admitted to watching people’s reactions on twitter. So why? For promotion? It’s not like he posted photos with Shawn Mendes lol, Simon is just a random person for his international fans. Simon, whose social media presence at the moment is super rare. Why would Omar randomly shone a light on him?

Think about how we have like 5 pics in total of Omar and Simon being in the same photo/video from 2020 to 2023, and now all of a sudden we have so many this year? Those black and white photos on the bed from someone’s birthday in April. The parade. I know Hugo was apparently there as well, but still. And the family picnic with loofs (hugo was also there, which makes me think he’s dating hilda maybe?). and the concert with loofs (and hugo, which again, hilda?). that Pedro person birthday from a few weeks ago. the selfie at the concert with a third-wheeling hilda. I know omar has some bold photos with many of his friends, but why this particular one was posted and deleted because it belonged to his private account? Simon at grona concert, which on its own no big deal, but that’s my entire point – on their own, none of these things are much/convincing. It’s when you put them together, when you see the patterns change, when you connect the dots. C o m e  o n. Has omar EVER said „hey, i have a bf, this is n?”. no! And he won’t say anything directly now either.

Which brings us to the last thing, the nail to the coffen: the stolen man tiktok. Let’s recap. 1. Omar’s not stupid and knows his fans are little detectives 2. Omar doesn’t say relationship stuff directly 3. Omar doesn’t post his friends outside of work (Sabotage TT was an exception) 4. Simon's kinda lowkey so Omar implying a relationship of any kind for shit and giggles makes no sense. So we take all that and still think that Omar went to Simon on a random day, in between formal events, radio interviews and Zoom interviews, in the same clothes, just to shoot a TikTok with him, shirtless, with a bag on his head, in his flat, playing the role of his „stolen man”. Sure :)

At the end of the day, it’s not that deep and this analysis is just in good fun because I'm bored 😎 If they’re not together, omar seems super content and that’s what matters

That must be my longest anon ever 😍 love it. I know a lot will just think tldr, but it's a nice long little recap of what happened over last few months.

And the last paragraph- whatever is or isn't going on, I just hope they're both happy. We're not seeing much of Simon but Omar looks super happy, so that's the most important thing 🙂‍↕️

[makeste]

BnHA 6th Popularity Poll Reaction Post - Risky Spoiler-Dodging Edition

hey guys, so seeing as the results from the 6th popularity poll were leaked today, I figured I would do a separate reaction + analysis post this year, rather than piling it in as an extra on top of the chapter reaction post tomorrow. I figure this makes more sense anyway, since they’re really two completely different things. also this way I can write as much as I want lol.

also, just fyi, I am still completely unspoiled for chapter 293. and probably the smart thing to do to keep it that way would be to log off tumblr and hold off posting this until tomorrow, but I apparently have no impulse control today so oh well. anyway, so I’m hoping you guys will keep this spoiler-free if you don’t mind! as always, I would prefer to just jump right in completely unaware tomorrow like Troy returning to the study room with the pizza boxes lol.

okay so this first part is just going to be my predictions. fyi I am writing this part on Wednesday night, and then I’ll add on the results part on Thursday or Friday (ETA: Thursday, apparently, since I am impatient.)

okay so first of all, just as a refresher, this poll was open to Japanese voters from Aug 3 to Sep 30. meaning chapters 279 through 285. meanwhile last year’s poll took place around the tail end of the MVA arc. so between then and now we had Heroes Rising, the Endeavor Agency arc, and the War arc up to the part where the 1-A kids took on Gigantomachia in Gunga, and started battling Tomura in Jakku. so technically only a couple of arcs, but a LOT of stuff going down in them. oh and season 4 of the anime as well

so! firstly, I predict that my truculent africanized honeybee son will hold on to his crown at #1, coming off a year in which he did some internship-boosted soul searching, borrowed OFA in movie canon, and finished out the voting period as the my-body-moved-on-its-own character development MVP. like CALL ME CRAZY lol, but I’m pretty sure his title is safe. and then after him will be Deku and Shouto as usual

Aizawa should hopefully also have a strong showing because the dude had a banner fucking year. reunited with his old dead friend, took on Tomura with his hopelessly inept hero pals, and then chopped his fucking leg off. he had better be in the top 10. his fucking leg died for this, idk what else he has to do

Endeavor also stands a decent chance of doing well given the internship arc and the final episode of season 4. which I’m sure will go down just swimmingly if that does happen lmao. especially if he somehow manages to rank higher than...

Dabi, which I don’t think he will btw, but you never know. anyways though, but I’m thinking Dabi’s going to have a stronger showing than in past years (in the last poll he only got 367 votes and was ranked 19th). mostly because of his fight in the Gunga mansion, and his cheekily censored name reveal to...

Hawks, who is also going to rank pretty high here, I think. might be he loses some points for killing off Twice, but his back was basically to the wall there. and he has always been very popular, and I think season 4 will also give him a boost, along with his heavy involvement in the first half of the War arc

Tomura was already in 6th place last year and I think he cracks the top 5 this year. he’s gotten exponentially more popular since the MVA arc, and got a boost in the last poll even though his flashback had only just barely happened, and he hadn’t finished Awakening yet and all that stuff. anyway, so he’s only gotten cooler and more tragic since then so I think he makes a big play here

Kirishima, Momo, Tokoyami, and Mina should also hopefully do well, since the poll opened right in the middle of all that Gigantomachia action, and Toko had just got done being an absolute badass and protecting his birb dad. I don’t think he’ll quite make it to the top ten, but he should

and last but not least, I’m hoping that Mirko will come out and take the polls by storm, although I have no clue how popular she is in Japan lol. she’s clearly Horikoshi’s favorite though. she SHOULD be everyone’s favorite, but I mean, we’ll see how it goes

anyway that’s it as far as predictions! and so now, through the magic of writing stuff at different times, we will fast-forward to the part where we actually find out the results!

OH MY GOD YES, STEAMPUNK KHLKSLLKL. HERE FOR IT. JOLLY GOOD SHOW. 5 STARS

Kacchan looks SO COCKY and SO HAPPY and SO ADORABLE, YES I SAID IT. he is adorable as FUCK. I don’t quite know what it is about this particular Kacchan that just screams “LOOK HOW FUCKING CUTE MY STUPID, LOUD SON IS WITH HIS BIZARRE WINDOWPANE-LOOKING CONVERTIBLE SUNGLASS GOGGLES and his POORLY TIED CRAVAT”, but I think it’s because he looks like if a Digimon character and a FMA character had a baby

anyway, so it looks like most of the people present here are more or less who we expected to see. except that I can’t tell for sure if that’s Dabi or Shindou, and if it’s Shindou I’m going to punch somebody in the face so you will have to excuse me

Iida wearing a TRENCHCOAT and a TOP HAT with ENGINE EXHAUST GOGGLE ACCENTS is my new favorite Iida of all time. take note how there is no possible way he can wear those goggles with them sitting on top of his hat like that. plus he’s already got glasses on. these are just purely for aesthetic and IF THAT AIN’T JUST THE STEAMPUNK WAY

Deku out here speaking softly and carrying a lead pipe. Kacchan you best look out. seems like he’s done watching you take first place year after year while he languishes in the number two spot. your only hope is that he trips while attacking you because his boots are unbuckled

Shouto’s standing over there with the rest of the non-first-and-second-place characters, but what are the odds his results are actually within spitting distance of Deku’s same as always. anyway he doesn’t mind, though. also his outfit is by far the most sensible one here, but if you look closely he’s got some sort of fire extinguisher/jet pack thing strapped to his back that’s got a control switch on his belt. Shouto are you jetpacking or putting out fires

Kirishima out here all “I’m not sure what steampunk is so I’m just going to take off my shirt and pose”

AIZAWA WITH THE EYEPATCH SKLKSDLKFJLSKJLDFKJSLDFFJLDKSJFL:KS. SIR. SIR. also, lowkey furious that Horikoshi refuses to show us the automail leg that he is clearly sporting here but which we just can’t see, SHOUTO MOVE GODDAMMIT

Endeavor has TWO fire extinguisher-slash-jetpacks. THE BETTER TO... WHATEVER. look at you here in the top ten again. you really live for that controversy

HAWKS OUT HERE WITH HIS STEAMPUNK BEATS BY DRE AND HIS WEARING A RING ON EVERY FINGER. nice to see you’ve still got your wings there, kiddo. then again Deku still has both of his arms too so who even knows what is going on

BUT SERIOUSLY THOUGH, IS THIS DABI OR SHINDOU. as if I don’t know the truth deep down in my heart. y’all I am gonna flip lmao. it’s not that I dislike Shindou, strictly speaking. but just... I can’t explain what it is, but if you put him and AFO next to each other and told me “you can only punch one”, I would be having a serious crisis. just, THIS FUCKING GUY, idek. STOP SMILING

Tomura looks like he just wandered onto the set here by mistake and has no idea where he is or what is going on. it’s because you’re wearing a bigass severed hand that’s blocking your entire view, Tomura. just take the hand off your face my sweet murder dumpling

anyway! so I managed to also find a link to the full poll results while somehow managing to avoid spoilers, and then I wanted to compare the results to last year’s poll, and so I made... this

hopefully you can all see this. if you’re on desktop you might be screwed, but on mobile you should be able to click and enlarge it. I mean, assuming you actually give a fuck about boring poll analysis spreadsheets lmao

anyway, so there were actually 13k fewer votes cast this year which is a bit of a surprise. is the series not still growing in popularity? do people apparently have better things to do during their quarantine lol

anyways but despite this, and despite getting 8k fewer votes overall, Kacchan still managed almost twice as many as his closest competitor. well fought, Deku. please put down that pipe

I somehow always underestimate the power of ship popularity to influence these things. but for example, it looks like Present Mic got that Vigilantes Trio bump. ride that wave for all it’s worth my man! hell, you got me on board

Iida fucking Tenya somehow got some sort of POWER BOOST out of NOWHERE which I can’t explain at all lmao, but I’m here for it. NOT BAD FOR AN OLD MAN

Sero managed to get the exact same number of votes in both 2019 and 2020. clearly the most loyal fans in the business

Mirko being all the way down at #20 is, of course, a travesty, and I hereby nominate her to be the one to punch Shindou in the face

ngl though, the lack of a single female character in the top ten hurts just a bit. it’s not overly surprising, but still. the worst part of it is that even if you kicked Shindou to the curb and moved everyone else up one slot, it would still be all dudes since Mic beat out Momo by a margin of a little more than a hundred votes. hard to stay mad at Mic for too long, though. ah well

Tomura actually lost a bunch of votes which is a genuine surprise to me. I know the villain standom isn’t as dominant in Japan as it is in Western fandom, but still. you can go ahead and punch Shindou too I guess

Tokoyami lowkey doubled his vote count over the past year while hiding down there at #18. he is slowly becoming more powerful. biding his time

anyway so I think that’s it! I mean not really, but I’m getting kind of tired lol. so just, you know, insert the usual gripes at Overhaul’s ranking here, although we can be happy about Magne making her way onto the list (r.i.p.), and Mineta and AFO taking a very satisfying slide down (all the way out, in AFO’s case; good riddance you bum). Hadou also got a huge boost which is awesome. Mustard’s persistent ownership of the #36 spot will forever remain a mystery to me, but oh well

anyways, this was fun. and I really do feel like everyone is looking away on purpose so that when Deku brains Kacchan with that pipe in about two seconds from now, there will be no witnesses, oh my fucking god

[kanmom51]

I mean it's kind of true that BH is "pushing" TKK but I don't mean it in "ship" way. They've been pairing them a lot, I recently saw they paired them again to do something for the Japanese FC (Jungkook has blonde hair btw so it's at the beginning of the year). Now, if we count Festa, New Year's Video and the decoration of BE's photocards we have 4 times that they've been paired constantly (meaning end of 2020 and beginning of 2021).

It's kind of obvious but I personally don't have a problem with it because at the end of the day they are all friends and love e/o. However, people can't deny that BH is most likely doing this because of what happened in "In The Soop" and they are trying to push the OT7 agenda.

I just wish they had done it differently because it seems "forced" in the sense that they have no other way but to interact because they are alone. They want them to interact to send a message like "see? everything is okay between them".

Of course everything is okay between them? They are friends and family and will always be, no matter what? I just don't understand the need to always put them together for these kind of things because they are fueling a group of deranged people at the same time 🤷‍♀️

It looks like BH are mixing it up a bit, perhaps pushing the OT7. We have seen JK&Tae pairings lately, but not only.

Look, the end of 2020 was Jikook heavy, but super heavy. I know Jikook are a popular ship in SK. Not as a gay couple though. And the content at the end of 2020 was pushing the boundaries, not a bit. A lot.

Not being Korean I don't know just how bad the backlash was from the Black Swan choreo followed the the Dynamite Christmas remix. Was that one of the reasons to what we are seeing more in official content now days?

Was ITS conversation something that weighed in?

This couldn't be a dumb ass way for BH to deal with the online hate JM has been getting, could it?

Was it one specific ship taking too much of the spotlight and BH just re-calculating the course back to OT7?

Most options above seem possible to me (not the JM hate one though), perhaps all of them together.

[naivesilver]

not to be totally predictable but top 5 Pinocchio adaptations? :) <3

Libby not only do I appreciate your predictability but every time you send me a Pinocchio ask three years get added to my lifespan. Also I shit you not I literally just put hand to my infamous adaptation ranking last night, so I actually know where I’m going with this. At this rate the next step will probably be an adaptation uquiz, so I can assign random Pinocchios to unsuspecting people.

(Joking)

(I know at least one person who would insult me if I did)

Anyway, thank you! Let’s get into it.

Ask me my top 5 anything

1) Pinocchio (2019) by Matteo Garrone

This one has everything - a little shit who I love and cherish nevertheless as a protagonist, a realistic depiction of life in the Italian countryside, even some details previous adaptations had deemed unnecessary, like the Snail, the Gorilla and the transformation from girl to woman the Fairy went through. Plus, it solved at least a couple of my decade long pet peeves (the size of one of which I wasn’t even aware of until I sat down in the theater to watch this movie), along with cutting out a specific scene towards the end that saved me a lot of heartbreak. Perfection doesn’t exist, but this one cut it really damn close.

2) The Adventures of Pinocchio (1972) by Luigi Comencini

You know that Wonder Woman gif that says “A BABY” and positively drips with awe? That was me when I first watched this adaptation. It has its flaws, of course, but it makes it up by having some of the most entertaining character interpretations around. Making me laugh out loud at Master Cherry scenes of all things is a credit to any show. Pinocchio is bothersome, cheerful and almost endearingly chaotic (AND he gets outfit changes - Garrone could never, alas), and he’s joined later on by the SWEETEST junior asshole that is Lampwick. My heart was so full I couldn’t take it anymore.

Also, the soundtrack is amazing! How can you listen to this and not lose your goddamn mind bopping along?

3) Piccolino no Bouken

This choice is dictated completely by the heart. Well, not really, because it is a genuinely good show, but I don’t know if I would have ranked it this high if it hadn’t been such a big part of my childhood. My mom probably has yet to recover from me tuning in to it every morning and jamming to the Italian soundtrack as I got emotionally invested into the life of a bastard puppet. Later on, when I started studying German, I tried watching some of it in the OG version, but I didn’t go very far. I should have a go at it again.

BTW, Pinocchio is an ADHD icon in this. No, I don’t accept criticism on the matter.

4) Pinocchio Vampire Slayer

I swear to God, I haven’t lost my marbles yet. This comic was one of my 2020 epiphanies - I found it while doing research on other adaptations and gave it a shot, and HOLY SHIT did it deliver. The premise may sound dumb - it picks up right where the book ended, but with the caveat that there are vampires in the world and Pinocchio can use his nose to fight them - but the way the author treated it shaped the story into something infinitely more precious than I could ever have expected. Van Jensen said he has had an emotional connection with the book since childhood, and I believe him with my whole heart. It’s painfully, heartwrenchingly well done.

My only issue is that they called the Fairy Canpenella in the story, and I can physically hear every Italian teacher I’ve ever had shrieking that you CANNOT put an N before a P.

5) Pinocchio a fumetti by Luciano Bottaro

Does it count as cheating? Well, I don’t care. This is a comic rendition of the original story, except Luciano Bottaro (who I love dearly as a comic book artist - his art style is off the rails, though I still have nightmares about some of his Donald Duck story illustrations) took some liberties with the narration to better suit his style. It’s such a peculiar look for Pinocchio and I read it so young that I’m afraid it shaped my mental picture of the story permanently. Also, it constantly goes balls to the walls at unexpected times. Like, look at this:

What does it mean? What does it all mean?????? No one knows, and certainly not me! But I wish I had this edition all the same. Nostalgia and all that shit, you know.

[churchkey]

2020 Writing Wrapped

I was tagged by the lovely and talented @anthrobrat and one of my resolutions is to do the stuff people tag me for (and also, Laura is just wonderful and I’m lucky that she’s my friend) so I’ll give this a twirl. 

Rules: It’s time to love yourselves! Choose your 8(ish) favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world in 2020. Tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome work.

I don’t know if I can make it to eight but we’ll see. Here’s a fun story - I used to be in this fandom back when we just shared stuff in a super-secret private community on LJ because many of the IRL guys were still alive and we were horrified of people finding out about us. But that was like 15 years ago and a lot has changed so here I am back on my bullshit and really so grateful that this fandom is still around because my love for this series and the very beautiful actors responsible for the fictionalized versions of the IRL guys and their crazy passionate ships who live rent-free in my soul has not dimmed a bit. So THANK YOU for being here and reading my stories inspiring me with YOUR stories and headcannons and being my friends. 

So here we go. All of these are Winnix, btw. Someday I’ll learn to write for another ship. 

Total (posted) Word Count: 119,294

1. A Spell of Riot (E) This is hands-down, no question, the fic I am most proud of having finished, not just this year but in all of my fandom career. I got the idea to write it from a kiss prompt last summer, just a light little thing about Dick saying goodbye to Lew as he drops him off for alcohol treatment. I never dreamed it would turn into 62k of something into which I ended up pouring three months of love and stress and tears and fairly painstaking research. The feedback I’ve gotten from you about this has been so incredibly humbling and I truly believe I’ve become a more compassionate person from this experience. You just never know what invisible battles people are fighting. I feel lucky to have had this opportunity to tell this part of their story.

2. It Is My Heart That’s Late (E) This was the first thing I ever wrote for the LLSS prompt meme, so it was kind of the first step I took toward actually being a part of the community rather than just going about my work in silence and isolation (which, tbh, I still do... I’m just that kind of writer, but I’m trying to get better about connecting with other creators). For this one I got to flex my description muscles, which was probably the biggest challenge of this story. I wanted to make readers feel immersed in the whole sensual world of Iowa in the summertime, as well as the inner nostalgic world of lovers coming back together after five years. It was also the first time I wrote an OC and had a lot of fun channeling what I think my mom/aunts would have been like at that age (as the whole thing was based on what she’s told me about growing up in that place at that time... Dick as the hired man is based on her family’s hired man, Tommy, who lived in a little cottage on their back 40. Sorry that’s probably more than you want to know.) ANYWAY. I was really happy with the subtlety (I think) I was able to bring out in the way their love has changed over the time they’ve been apart. And I got Dick’s ass to Chicago, finally!

3. Roger Wilco (E) I like this one because I think it’s the ultimate Porn with Feelings, even though when I started I tried to just make it straight-up porn. But I’m a sucker for them being completely smitten with each other, and those feelings sort of bleeding into everything they do/say/think/feel. I also think it’s pretty hot, if I do say so myself. Describing Dick pleasuring himself is like... maybe my favorite thing to write about with him, sex-wise. 

4. Things He Cannot Lose (T) The very first story I posted when I came back to the BoB fandom was Long Ago and Far Away, but that was a collection of ficlets I’d written many years ago. This one was the first new thing I’d written in many many years and it felt so freaking good to be writing again, and being in these guys’ heads again, and trying to do justice to the pining and brooding and angsting and loving. It was also the first peek of erection-probs Lew, which you all know by now is a thing I love to work in whenever I can. Sweet, drunk, lovelorn mess that he is, bless his soul. 

5. Free Kittens (T) It’s so silly but I’m proud of this one because I feel like I can’t write fluff and, aside from some of Dick’s decidedly non-fluffy attitudes toward the barn kittens, I think I managed to make it pure, uncomplicated domestic fluff. I hope so, anyway. I also freed myself of my narrative structure of staying in one character’s POV for an entire scene, trying instead to do a little more free indirect discourse and float back and forth between them. So even though it’s silly AF, this one has poked its sharp little claws into my heart. 

And I’m awful at the tagging thing and feel like I'm just annoying people by tagging them and also that they’ve already been tagged a million times but here we go @speirtongirl and @rillalala

[psychic-refugee]

My thoughts on Fate: Winx Saga

SPOILERS

I was never into the cartoon, it was only in my peripheral growing up. I did like fairies in general, particularly that they had magic and could fly. Other than that, Winx just didn’t have a pull for me. I wasn’t that into the animation style, and every character was just so weirdly tall and skinny for me.

So, in terms of nostalgia or any connection with the cartoon, it’s just not there for me. I don’t have those type of complaints.

I do think the criticisms of whitewashing are fair and hopefully the writers/directors/casting directors take note.

This review is written de novo, it’s watching it as a totally outside viewer and judging it on the series itself. I will be reviewing as if I had NO prior knowledge of the show (which I basically didn’t) and will review as if the whitewashing hadn’t happened.  I'll also admit that I was in and out when actually paying attention because I got bored, so some questions might be things I missed.

I think there’s way too many references to the cartoon without any world building. They keep mentioning different realms and different types of people, there’s an entire monarchal system that it all just kind of is mentioned but not built upon. Sky’s apparently a prince but they totally glaze over that.

Some other things they mention are the Specialists. Are there “humans” in these different realms, is that what they call non-magical people who aren’t fairies? They just kind of drop Bloom into this world, and us with her, and I feel there’s no foundation. I’m just lost and clueless as to where she is and what is going on. They do some flashbacks, but they only serve to show how traumatized Bloom is and I guess make her more sympathetic.

So, there’s too many references to the show for new people…but it has none of the charm and nostalgia for fans of the cartoon series. It’s the worst of both worlds.

I don’t get why it was only six episodes. Most Netflix originals are at least 8 and usually 10 episodes. It feels like they didn’t have that much confidence in the series, or was it cut short because of Covid? I feel like they should have used those missing 2-4 episodes to world build. I would have preferred they actually show Bloom on Earth (1st realm?) pre-powers and show her meeting Dowling. Then Dowling does an in-depth explanation of Other Realm.

They basically need a Hermione to infodump.

Once again, to make the series “dark and edgy” they hire 25-30somethings to play teenagers. Bloom says she was born in 2004? If it’s 2020/21 then she’s 16/17…yeah no. Abigail Cowen is a beautiful woman, but she is not a teenager. Alfea is a school to teach fairies their magic, are they all supposed to be around that age? NO WAY they are. The girls who know they’re fairies, why are they just now going to school? It feels like they’ve known about and had their powers for a while, why is there no fairy highschool?

What’s the time period of the series? It feels like it takes place over a week, two at most. The relationships and pacing feels super rushed. Everyone is like protective and “we’re deeply close friends” even though we’re super bitchy to each other most of the time. Nothing was resolved.

Was it really just a 6-episode trailer for the actual season if it did well enough?

Why is Bloom so insanely gullible? She literally believes EVERYONE’S story they tell her even though she literally just met them.

I thought Aisha just blurting out, second day she’s known Bloom btw, Bloom’s a changeling was like super fucking harsh. Like this is beyond tactless. “Let me tell you this possibly traumatic and lifechanging news even though I literally don’t know you and I know nothing about your family or history.” And she told Bloom in the middle of the fucking mess hall, in a public place. This is just messy and lazy writing, they’re bum brushing through the season and plowing through important plot points.

Everything else feels like tired tropes on steroids. Beautiful rich girl is a megabitch with a sad rich girl story. Fat girl is shy and awkward with a heart of gold and a crush on a guy who doesn’t see her at all. They dress her in the most unflattering clothes they can find. Not that anyone has a particularly eye catching fashion sense (especially not in line with the cartoon), but fuck them for making Terra dowdy. Dane is I guess the outcast that gets pulled into what looks to be a fascist extremist group with Beatrix. Sure, why not.

Why is Dane all up in Beatrix’s snatch? “She makes me feel…” asshole, you’ve hung out with her once and aren’t even sleeping with her. He basically commits treason for two people who haven’t even shown romantic interest in him. Furthermore, Riven and Beatrix are bitchy to him, what does he get out of this friendship?

The Sky-Silva-Andreas plot makes NO sense. So, Andreas thinks Rosalind committed a war crime and wants to report her. Silva is like, no we’re soldiers and must follow orders, he is loyal to Rosalind/their military order to the point he actually “kills” Andreas to prevent him from reporting what they had just done. Sometime after that, Rosalind saves and convinces Andreas to her side…and convinces him to keep pretending to be dead and effectively abandons his son, in addition to his kingdom because he is king to another planet in the Other Realm.   

We don’t actually know if Rosalind killed regular civilians or blood witches. The latter is the story she tells and it seems Dowling and Silva believe it right away…but why? We never actually see anyone alive in that town, we only see it from a distance when Rosalind lays waste to it, and its ruins when Beatrix and Bloom investigate. We sort of know that Bloom is special, but why save Beatrix? Is she also part of a secret royal line that gives her the electricity power?

What did Rosalind tell Andreas to convince him to her side? What was worth giving up his crown and his son for 18 odd years? If he’s raising Beatrix (I guess that makes Sky and Beatrix adoptive siblings), why not snatch Sky and raise him in secret as well?

And why Andreas? I figure the guy (Silva) who literally killed his friend in order to follow Rosalind’s orders would be the guy to pick. How does Andreas go from “I’m going to report this” to Rosalind’s crony?

If Andreas is presumed dead, doesn’t that make Sky king? He may need a regent until he turns 18, but I feel like that’s something that ought to have been expounded upon.

What exactly is the hierarchy here? The Specialist train at Alfea and appear to be quasi-military/paramilitary force…but who do they report to? Alfea is on Solara, which is ruled by Queen Luna. If Andreas is a king, why is he a Specialist for a foreign government?

How where they able to cover up Andreas’ death? He’s killed by a fellow Specialist in the middle of nowhere, how could Silva not know he hadn’t killed his friend in the time it took for help to arrive?

Overall, I think the story is insanely weak. It feels like they were counting on fans of the cartoon for all the hype…but then didn’t do anything for the fans to like.

[axzymuth-mundane-shit]

Calessa's 10 Fave Female Characters from 10 Fandoms.

eve(Well, they’re actually seven Fandoms, but, Who cares?)

So I've never been tagged in this kind of blogs interaction before, but I found it pretty interesting so, I decided to do it because I wanted to. Thanks to @jatp-headcannon-theories​ by considering me for the tag, I found it interesting and fun. I really wish we could talk later. Lots of love.  (Sorry if my English is bad, it's not my first language.) 1. Sergeant Amy Santiago interpreted by Melissa Fumero in the American police procedural comedy television series "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" created by Dan Goor and Michael Schur (September 2013).

I just love her, I feel like Teddy every fucking time I see her. And I feel so proud every fucking time I say that she inspires me to be the best version of me, to not conform and to be proud of who I am.

2. Demon Mazikeen "Smith" interpreted by Lesley-Ann Brandt in the American urban fantasy television series "Lucifer" developed by Tom Kapinos (January 2016).

We all should learn a thing or two about her.

3. Forensic scientist Ella López interpreted by Aimee Garcia in the American urban fantasy television series "Lucifer" developed by Tom Kapinos (January 2016).

She’s so cute I want to cry. I love how she doesn’t have to be an archetype to be a strong woman.

4. Musician Julie Molina interpreted by Madison Reyes in the American musical comedy-drama television series "Julie and the Phantoms" created by Dan Cross and David Hoge (September 2020).

She’s just so talented, I wish I had a character like this when I was younger. I wish I could tell in my younger years “I want to be like Julie when I get older.” Just and Icon fro these and future generations. 

5. Knowledge bank Janet interpreted by D'Arcy Carden in the American fantasy comedy television series "The Good Place" created by Michael Schur (September 2016).

She’s just, uh, perfect. I mean, not because she knows everything, but because even knowing everything that can be know about the universe, she continues improving, she becomes better by allowing herself to feel and be a little more human, even if that doesn’t make much sense.

6. Trauma surgeon Doctor Audrey Lim interpreted by Christina Chang in the American medical drama television series "The Good Doctor" developed by David Shore (September 2017).

Since the first time I saw her in the show I fell In love with her, I don’t know why I know how, but she’s so powerful without having to be cruel or rude, she’s optimistic and she pursues her goals and achieves her objectives without having to step over someone. She’s just, the woman I aspire to be, I just love her.

Adopt me Dr. Lim!

7. Surgical resident and internal medicine Doctor Morgan Reznick interpreted by Fiona Gubelmann in the American medical drama television series "The Good Doctor" developed by David Shore (September 2017).

How can I begin to explain how much I love her? It’s just, I don’t know, she doesn’t take anyone's crap because she knows she can do it. Things aren't easy for her and some parts of her personality sometimes scares people away. She might be seen as the rough or emotionless one, but she’s willing to do everything for the people she loves and her patients and it’s not an easy thing. I relate her a lot with the phrase “I want to be brave, but that doesn’t mean I’m fearless. I want to be brave so then, others who can’t be, can rely and count on me.” I just can’t explain to anyone how much I love this woman, I want to marry her.

8. Werecoyote Malia Tate interpreted by Shelley Hennig in the American supernatural teen drama television series "Teen Wolf" developed by Jeff Davis (June 2011).

Just as Dr. Reznick, she’s such a wonderful character, she has charms and flaws and, even though she spend a good amount of time in the wildlife, she’s human. I was in love with her since the first time I saw her. Her character had so much potential and Davis just “Meh” her and I hate it. She’s my favorite always, without a doubt.

9. Ola Nyman interpreted by Patricia Allison in the British comedy-drama television series "Sex Education" created by Laurie Nunn (January 2019).

She’s a lot more than Otis love interest Wikipedia!  I think that the think I love the most of her is her kindness, sometimes it’s easier to be evil or blame others for things, and sometimes, kindness it’s taken for granted or its seen as a weakness when its nothing like that. And sometimes, kindness it's just what we need to be better.  How can we improve without love and support?  Ola Nyman is Iconic too and I love her.

10. Aimee Gibbs interpreted by Aimee Lou Wood in the British comedy-drama television series "Sex Education" created by Laurie Nunn (January 2019).

I just LOVE how she stands for what she wants.  I LOVE how she is not another “Barbie Girl”, I love the depth in her character and how she learns she deserves better and that she is not alone, but most importantly, how she’s not weak in any way. Even though Maeve she is just lovable and real, a person that can improve for her and who discovers what she really wants.

I think that’s all, I don’t have anything more to say. 

I'd like to tag @aleksixsixsix​ because i don't know anyone here, and you look like a nice person, sorry for bothering you btw. Keep informing yourselves, be nice, it costs $0 and as always, lots of love. Sincerely Calessa.

[kaleidodreams]

2020 Fanfic In Review

Idea taken from @floraone! (FYI, if you saw this yesterday, I’ve deleted the original and reposted it again now that the glitches that were plaguing my Tumblr the past couple of days have been fixed.)

1. List of fics completed this year:

Sailor Moon

Selenophilia Series Taste Test Adventures In Babysitting Better Than A Unicorn Dahlias and Coffee Real Parents Awaken Shopping Trip Usagi, Mamoru, and the Three Mattresses Bad Day Blues Meet The Grandpa The Return of Nurse Minako

A New Future

Do No Cry For Me

Distraction

Stoplight

Investigation: Mystery Date

Kaleido Star

Friends With Benefits

Heart to Heart

Yuri!!! On Ice

What Happens In Vegas

A Morning Proposal

Reunited

Taking The Plunge

Perfect Idol

I’ve Been Thinking About You

Triple The Love

Confusion

The Bonds We Choose (WIP)

And a few more fics for the upcoming YOI Rare Pair Week, but since those won’t be posted until next month, I’m not going to list them.

2. Number of words written: I don’t really keep track. Posted? Around 130,000 or so, I think, but that doesn’t count unposted stories (like the Rare Pair fics I mentioned) and chapters. Plus, some stuff I posted this year was actually written earlier, so… 150,000 to 200,000 seems like a good estimate.

3. Your most popular fic: It’s always hard for me to judge popularity because there’s different ways you could look at it, but I’d say “Distraction” was probably the most popular at FF.net and “A Morning Proposal” at AO3.

4. Your personal fav: Probably my WIP, “The Bonds We Choose”, but of the completed stories… I actually really love “A Morning Proposal” even though it’s just a short, fluffy ficlet. I’m also quite proud of my two Sailor Moon Smutember fics, “Distraction” and “Stoplight”

5. Your fav scene: This is a tough choice… Probably the scene in “The Bonds We Choose” where Otabek takes Yuri to an open house and surprises him by asking Yuri to move in with him and Mila. I’m a bit of an HGTV addict, so it was really fun to write Yuri making snarky comments about the interior design.

6. A fic or scene that challenged you: “Do Not Cry For Me”, without a doubt. Most ironic title ever, because there was a period of, like, three or four days back in August when I’d start crying if I even THOUGHT about that fic because I hated the first chapter so much. (And that is NOT a normal reaction for me, BTW. I’ve never cried in frustration over a fic before that I can remember.) Just ask everyone on the SS Bang Discord. I was a mess. It was so bad that I got to the point where I wanted to drop the fic altogether and start a new one (I came up with “Stoplight” as a backup story) even though 1) my artist had already drawn a rough draft of the artwork and 2) there was only a couple of months left until posting. With the help of my beta and a couple of others, I managed to get it to the point where I wasn’t exactly thrilled with it, but I at least thought it was okay. Then a couple of days after I finished posting it, I had another sobfest over it because only one person left a review over at FF.net (and it wasn’t really a review; just a prediction of what they thought was going to happen). Which, in hindsight was pretty silly because I know FF.net was having problems the week I posted, and I actually received the most comments I’ve ever gotten over at AO3 (thanks mostly to @teamvanessacloud and @vchanny-og being nice enough to leave a comment on all seven chapters *hugs*) and a decent amount of kudos, but something about that one single FF.net review really got to me and seemed to confirm my fears that it was a terrible fic. I don’t know… That fic messed with my head so much, y’all. (Probably didn’t help that it’s probably one of the most depressing things I’ve ever written. You guys know I love angst, but maybe that was TOO much angst.)

7. A line of writing you’re proud of: I have two picks for this, and both are actually from my Smutember fics.

First one from “Distraction” - After a weeks-long drought, they indulged in each other like weary travelers drinking from an oasis, almost frantic as they writhed together on the bed.

And the other is a piece of dialogue from “Stoplight” - “Your vow of chastity during our previous lives didn’t stop me from loving you, Rei,” he reminded her. “A lack of sex sure as hell isn’t going to stop me from loving you in this life, either.”

8. A comment that touched you: I’m not sure if “touched” is the right word, but I was really happy that a lot of people praised “Distraction” for its realism even though I actually don’t have any personal experience with sex. I guess I did all right, though! *laughs*

9. Something that inspired your writing: I can’t really think of anything in particular, honestly. Oh, wait, “Dahlias and Coffee” was kind of inspired by a piece of Taiki/Setsuna artwork! Which, of course, I can’t find anymore to link to, although I know I reblogged it a while back. I know the artist’s name was Alex Asakura, though. (EDIT: Now that I’m able to search my Tumblr again, I found it. This is the picture.)

10. Your proudest accomplishment (that one scene; finally finishing that one fic; posting your first fic; etc): Despite all the tears, I guess I am kinda proud of myself of rewriting it to the point that I no longer hated the first chapter of “Do Not Cry For Me”, and I actually do think the ice-skating battle is the best action scene I’ve ever written. Also, finishing “Friends With Benefits” – one of the reasons I decided to return to fic-writing after a long hiatus was the desire to finish that story, so I’m glad I did, even if the fandom is mostly dead!

11. Do you have any writing goals for next year?: I’d like to finish “The Bonds We Choose”. Other than that, maybe get back to one of my Sailor Moon WIPs. Oh, and maybe learn to stop hating writing kissing scenes so much? *laughs*

[and-the-world-is-quiet-here]

Live 2020 debate commentary from a salty, disabled, and VERY pissed gen Z

 Yall he just said he’s immune

My dad just left the room

Bitch are u saying Johnson and Johnson is going to make the vaccine?

sir that’s the diaper company…..smh

Biden just said its going to be a dark winter

#winter is coming

“virus.....that came from china” -trump 2020

“were learning to live with it”-trump 2020

apparently “Biden lives in his basement”-your president 2020

totally accurate.....obviously

ohhhh biden just said were learning to die with it

trump interrupted biden

Mam I thought you said you were muting them?

biden laugh count at 3

he all about the once percent till its the dead ones

trump interrupting at 3...nvm its now 4

this debate is making my dog sad

interrupting now at 5 for trump

trump saying his young sons illness just “went away”

bitch he’s may age and no it did not just “go away”

he was in quarantine for two weeks

apparently nyc is a ghost town 

its not a ghost town trump I live right next to it

loudest neighbors ever

trump don’t call him Anthony

his name is DOCTOR Fauci

treat him with the respect he deserves

Biden looks so sad

nvm he legit looks like the joker right now

HALFWAY MARKKK

why is this at 9?

sir its a school night

I need time to scroll through my feed for hours before collapsing

Biden don’t use the word sovereignty

trump doesn't know what it means

thats discrimination against trumps

ohhh hes attacking hunter (biden) again

so he has a wee drug problem?

at this point everyone got one!

your the one making lewd comments about your infant daughter on national tv

(look it up he talks about his 6 month old daughters legs but and breasts)

get him big b!!

h876689908776- my dog 2020

he wants to express his disappointment

the light boxs is stealing his mother attention

ohh hes being rude to the moderator again

u a strong independent Indian woman get him girll!

mute his mike

prty plz

I am dissapionted in you

he’s saying he’s not allowed to release his taxs

(that is a proven lie)

“i was put through a phony witch hunt”- you'll never guess 2020

hes going after his BROTHER now

how is this allowed?

who decided trumps strategy would be to accuse his opponent of his own crimes?

look at the insults guys its a crystal ball

stay ahead of the scandal's

WILL YOU LEAVE HIS SON ALONE PLEASE

THESE ARE HIS CHILDREN LEAVE THEM ALONE

“i was a business man doing business”-trump 2020

no sir you were another rich white guy taking advantage of tax brakes and cheap foreign labor in asia

#american jobs as long as i don’t have to pay minimum wage

#you know like a DECENT FUCKING PERSON

Trump interrupted again

I lost count a while ago

Biden is staring into my soul

oh Biden just played the middle class childhood card

I haven't heard a single mute so far?

trump just said his bromance with kim jung un saved america from nuclear war

dont through my boy Obama under the bus

and another interruption

my big bro just screamed “MUTE BUTTON MUTE BUTTON MUTE BUTTON”

honestly same

10 more min guys

hang in there

OHHH trump just got MUTEDDDDDD

Biden is now on legitimate policy 

ahhh hes proud of his plan

annd trump just interrupted

trump just kissed up to the moderator

trump just said biden’s more liberal than bernie

ohhh

biden just said trump dosent know who hes running against

hes like “this is joe biden”

like I know bro but slick burn anyway

ohhh they muted trump again!!!!

perfect opportunity to mute missed

trump just blamed healthcare issues on nancy peloski

biden says the the republicans wont pass it

(btw hes actualy right)

2 mins left

and trump is speaking through it

1 min left

omg what a waste of air

I really want him to test his “immunity”

preferably during a harsh winter

ITS TEN GUYSSS

there running over

they still haven't covered immigration

shit

I have just learned there is 30 min left

I think I would rather kill myself than watch the rest of this

I’m seriously have a sensory overload right now

I’m doing this for u

“children are brought here by coyotes”-presedentail cown 2020

what a wack ass sentence

hes like ohIi haven't been putting kids in cages

and then just went but I didn't build them they were built in 2014

(contradiction much)

“who built the cages”

“who built the cages”

“who built the cages”

yes it was Obama but guess what

THEY WERNT BUILT FOR KIDS

there ment to house animals, evidence, and adult prisoners in emergency situations

THEY WERNT MENT FOR 3 YEAR OLDS

Biden was just like “well no actually kids come with PARENTS”

(kids hardly ever come over with out parents)

and then he was like and also WHO LOST TRACK OF OVER 1,000 PARENTS

(thats 500+ new orphans at the least)

hes saying only the illegal immigrants with the lowest IQs come back after being deported

we said the same thing in december about you but ya’know

my mum was like “anyone eating chocolate” and I was like “im snaking on this ignorance” and she was like “dont do that you'll get indigestion”

“no one has done more for the black community then Donald trump except for maybe Abraham Lincoln”

oh yeah Biden just brought up how trump publicly campaigned for the execution of the central park 5

WHO WERE CHILDREN

AND OH YEAH THEY WERE COMPLETELY INNOCENT

trump just yelled at Biden, got muted, and just yelled louder

trump just said he cant see the audience but hes the least racist person in the room

“Abraham lincoln here is one of the most racist presidents in american history”- biden 2020

biden just went “oh god”

he just said that he used to not support the blm movement because they chanted rude things about police officers

I would like to reiterate that “pigs in a blanket” has never been chanted in a protest or been a prominent statement in the blm movement nor “fry em like bacon” so what trump is saying is factually incorrect

unless hes on some sort of far right conservative twitter feed were he came across a video of some drunk white college kids chanting it 

but you know what ever fits you narrative

plus I would be pretty pissed if I kept getting shot at for no reason so....

Biden making more logical decisions

trump was like why have you never done all this stuff when you were vice president

“we had a republican congress” -biden 2020

we have the cleanest air

we have the cleanest crystal clear water

sir, i know you've been to mexico

don’t lie

the waters gorges down there

and not owned by your smug ass

trump just called china filthy

so you know....

*whispers* racism

ok 5 min left

for real this time

trump just went “aoc plus 3: and then hes like she knows nothing about the climate

ummm.... you dont even believe in climate change

bidens like “are....is...is is”

good for you

correcting your grammar

trump just said “the wind kills all the birds” out of the godamn blue

(he means wind mills and its untrue)

“Whats the next question baba”

“the final question is leadership which he doesnt have”- baba 2020

I feel bad for anybody watching this on the toilet

bidens starring into your soul

he knows what your doing

there officially overtime

its 10 33

they haven't even done the last section yet

btw ITS A SCHOOL NIGHT

why do they host these so late

I should be pretending to be asleep right now

this is generational discrimination

plus trumps supporters are so old there asleep by now

ohhhh its over

1036 final time

okay so thoughts....I generally dont like the party system i think its ridiculous the system was not designed for it, and its now more about loyalty then the actual candidates. I also am really hesitant to put another strait white male in the oval office, especially one thats from “the lucky few” I.E. the smallest voting generation in the country and also the one that already holds the most positions. That being said, at this point its really anyone but trump and I think bidens got the experience to turn things around. 

I AM IN SCHOOL I CANNOT VOTE. I am relying on all my older friends, followers, neighbors, and community members. To make an educated decision that wont further degrade the once hopeful future my generation awaits. Please if you can vote VOTE the kids are relying on you!

P.S. sorry i wasn't able to edit this earlier i struggle alot with spelling and didnt have the time to edit this because I HAD TO GO TO BED AND THEN GO TO SCHOOL. Why am I more politically active then people twice my age you might ask? Well, thats because adults are lazy and need to get of their gd asses and VOTE. So kids dont have to do the legwork for them. 

I have said my peace now, have a wonderful day!

[99liners]

CAA protests;

okay, i want to talk about something important. let me start off with the fact that i'm not an American and i live in India. so basically, i am asian, brown and also a Muslim.

this in no means is saying that i do not support BLM, i do, i support the protesters and their cause. yes, i signed all the petitions.

i want to use this as a platform to talk about a similar thing that happened in India during November, 2019 - March, 2020, when lakhs of people took to the streets of India (all over the country) to protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) being passed by the government. according to which, the government will be discriminating us based on our religion and strip people off their citizenship. yes, you heard that right. so we took to the streets to protest and the police brutality was through the roof. not only did they beat up civilians on the roads but also raided national level universities to beat up the students for protesting against the government. we live in a democracy, it is well within our democratic rights to raise questions and protest. the government is directly responsible to us, the prime minister's office. (its in our constitution, the president is not answerable to the people but the PM is.)

i study law at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). on the night of 15th December, 2019, police forcefully entered our main gates (they've no jurisdiction inside the gate btw) and beat up students protesting peacefully on the road. 24 consecutive expired poisonous tear gas shells which maimed a student, lathicharge (beating with the police batons), shot with rubber bullets, you name it we went through it. they raided the hostels, and beat up the kids who weren't even part of the protest. they kept hurling abuses at the students and also kept saying "jo log kashmiri hai, un madarchodo ko maro pehle" (the people who look like kashmiri, beat up those mfs first). yes, that's verbatim btw, i'm not exaggerating.

i can go on and on about that night really, so instead you can read what happened in AMU here. i also have the original investigation report by the committee that is mentioned on that site. 

other universities faced similar and worse atrocities. you can read how brutally Jamia Milia Islamia (JMI) students were beaten up, here and how local goons who feel that Hinduism is threatened but the presence of Muslims in the country entered another national university, Jawaharlal Nehru University and beat the students up with metal rods, you can read about it here.

and yes, none of the perpetrators of these attacks are arrested. even if they were, they are out on bail now.

we boycotted classes for months but got ZERO justice, instead, now under the guise of lockdown, the government has been arresting the leaders of the protests. lmao, you know the first the government did when lockdown started? they cleaned the graffiti off the walls of the universities which the protesters had made. they cleaned off fucking graffiti which were just quotes by historical figures in the spirits of dissent while the doctors kept begging them for PPE. the government clearly have their priorities set straight. 

the women of the country took to shaheen bagh (Delhi) when the students were attacked and sat there in protest for 101 days. even in cold temperatures of below 1°C. mums with their one month old babies sat there, old ladies as old as 80+ sat there too. literate, illiterate both the groups of people sat there and they meant to sit there indefinitely but because of lockdown that wasn't possible and they had to vacate the place. oh, even they were attacked (more than once) by a guy carrying a gun who was ready to shoot at the protesters while the police WATCHED. they fucking stood there and watched. a guy advanced towards the attacker with his hands raised saying “let’s talk calmly” and that fucking privileged jackass shot the protester in the hand. all the while, the police just watched. you can read about it here. (he said "only Hindus will have their way in this country.")

a 4 months pregnant PhD student of Jawaharlal National University has been jailed without any justification. her case is still not being heard before the court and she's being denied basic human rights, living in a prison during a fucking pandemic. an excerpt from the Print, "Zargar, a 27-year-old M.Phil. student from Jamia, is over three months pregnant, and was arrested by the Delhi Police’s special cell on 10 April. She was later denied bail and, on 21 April, charged under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). She was associated with the Jamia Coordination Committee (JCC), and was part of the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests organised by university students in December and January. She was arrested for allegedly leading the anti-CAA protest at Jaffrabad metro station in February."

this is nothing, most of the Muslim people arrested during this protest haven't been released or are simply forgotten. lawyers were not allowed in the police station to bail them or being allowed to talk to them. most lawyers in the country signed up their numbers and other contacting details on the Internet with their locations so that if someone was arrested, they could call them up and the lawyers would bail them out (free of cost).

this discriminating and draconian bill not only affects the muslims but also the people on the lower rungs of the social ladder. i don't believe in caste. i do not agree with the system but it existed widely at a time when i wasn't even born, so there's not much i can do about that. but right now the government is bringing up the caste again, people who are Vaishyas and Shudras will also be stripped off their citizenship while being sent to detention camps. yes, India is already stocked up with their detention centers. so yes, i wasn't there at that time but i am here right now and i refuse to be okay with the government discriminating against us based on caste and religion.

lmao i totally forgot to mention the riot that broke out in February, 2020 which resulted in a recorded deaths (murder) of 53 civilians (mostly Muslims). that's the recorded death count but according to various people who were present in Delhi at the time and witnessed the riots happening, they claim the missing persons report (unreported) is in thousands. and over hundreds were killed. you can read more about the February 2020 Delhi Riots here.

there's so many more incidents that happened, and all the government has done is: NOTHING.

our current PM is the prime suspect of the Gujrat Riots 2002, which was a pogram led by him and it killed over thousands of muslims who lived in gujrat.  

i didn't write this here to ask you for help, no, instead i want you guys to read this and remember this. don't forget our voices, because we're all together in this fight and the others to come. forgive but please don't forget.

like faiz ahmed faiz said, "bol k laab, azaad hai tere."

[florrickandassociates]

TGF Thoughts: 4x01-- The Gang Deals with Alternate Reality

I had a lot to say about this one, guys. 

Welcome back! I see this season TGF has decided to be It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Is this some sort of joke about how last season it was always raining? Is every title going to be like this? And where are the numbers!? There is no counting of any kind in this episode title! 

When you think about it, the central argument of this episode-- that 45’s election brought new life to resistance movements that would’ve otherwise laid dormant-- is also my central argument about why TGF is a good show instead of a passable one. Remember how in season one the point of the show was supposed to be a fake scandal about Maia? 

So it’s fitting that we begin season four by going back to the show’s pilot: Inauguration Day. Only this time, Diane is happily watching Hillary Clinton’s inauguration. Did I say happily? I meant ecstatically. 

As Diane pops champagne, the TV goes to static-- something’s off-- and the credits begin. Same credits as season 3 but with one key difference: things are coming together rather than exploding. I see what you did there. (The TVs still explode, though, and they still have the real 45 on them.)

Yeah I didn’t need to see the credits to know the Kings wrote this one. 

I think the notes the Kings left in the script for this episode for Brooke Kennedy just said, “Make Diane look like a glamorous badass.” I’m like one minute in and she’s already popped champagne and worn trendy sunglasses.

Brooke’s directing in this episode is so stylish and it might be my favorite ep she’s ever done? The showiness (and sometimes campy performances) REALLY work for the tone of this episode. 

Diane takes the elevator to work and looks quizzical. One may be tempted to ask how Diane knows to go to RBL if it’s the day after inauguration and she’s still at Lockhart Deckler whatever (one may then snark that RBL is in the LG space so she’d go there no matter what). The answer is: dream logic! 

(But really, little disorienting moments like that-- and yes, I know this was probably only disorienting for me and one other person-- help the episode work long before we know this isn’t a true alternate universe.)

Marissa is waiting at reception to inform Diane that HRC’s press secretary is in her office. Diane then asks Marissa who the president is, and Marissa asks Diane if she’s microdosing again. Ha! Also, that’s another clear clue that something’s up-- Diane wouldn’t have already microdosed right after inauguration. And why would Diane have microdosed in this AltVerse? Again-- dream logic. And I love it. In episodes like this, when things don’t add up, it’s wonderfully disorienting instead of frustrating. (Plus, this line is a knowing wink at fans about the absurdity of the microdosing storyline.)

Marissa confirms that it’s 2020 in show time. Diane has a flash of a selection of horrific images that have come out of these last few years, then says, ”God, have you ever had a dream that is so real that it takes you a long time to wake up?” I wish.

Diane wants to know how Hillary won, and Marissa says she won in a landslide-- 3 million votes. “Same as in my dream,” Diane says. Marissa thinks she means the other candidate had 3 million more votes, and wonders how he won if he had fewer votes. On one hand, Marissa totally knows about the electoral college. On the other hand, would “3 million votes” and hating the electoral college be cliched and top of mind enough to work as the joke in this scene if those votes had actually mattered? Probably not. I doubt many people would be talking about abolishing the electoral college, or that Marissa or even Diane would be SO quick to understand how one could win the popular vote and not the election, if we hadn’t all lived through the past three years. Also dream logic. It’s a great way of explaining things that are out of character.

“Whatever, it’s a dream, it doesn’t have to make sense,” says Marissa, making my point for me.

Oh hello there Lucca, your jacket is very bright. Lucca asks to sit in on Diane’s meeting with the press secretary. Lucca was up for a partnership in 3x10 but in this episode she’s very obviously an underling (and honestly seems a bit lower ranking and hesitant than usual-- I’ll need another episode or two to understand if this is how the writers are writing Lucca, how Diane views Lucca, or just what was easiest for the plot). 

The White House is now asking Diane to take on cases. Way to dream big, Diane!

And Diane will be arguing in front of the Supreme Court! 

In the alternate universe, Liz’s wonderful bathroom belongs to Diane.

Diane gets to do so many things she wouldn’t usually do in this ep, like furiously shake her head to prove to herself she’s not dreaming! 

Diane still has that Girl With Flower As Head painting and I do not believe she would have that painting if HRC were president because it’s too friggin weird. Also has it always had a US flag in the background?

In the alternate universe, Garland and Warren (as in Elizabeth) are both on the court. It’s a good laughline precisely because it’s so plausible. (Well, idk about the Warren part, but she’s a recognizable name.)

Diane looks so happy she could cry when she learns Warren is on the Supreme Court. 

There is a shot of Lucca that is so very clearly from Diane’s POV and I like it. I read a review of this episode that said it didn’t have enough character development. To that I say, one, this isn’t TGW-- this show has always been more about tone and theme, and two, there’s PLENTY here that’s about Diane’s POV and how she views others and thinks of herself. Because it’s dream logic I can’t make nearly as much out of it as I can make out of an episode like A Few Words, but there are little touches here and there. Even this shot of Lucca, where Lucca’s in the center of the frame shot from a high angle, grounds me in Diane’s POV. You could even make an argument about hierarchy based on the angle. 

“Who’s that?” Lucca whispers when Diane asks about Kavanaugh. Diane is elated at that response. 

Somehow we leave Diane’s POV (whatever, it’s a dream so I won’t be as brutal to this choice as I was to a similar but more subtle one in Don’t Fail) and follow Lucca into Adrian’s office. She immediately tells Liz and Adrian she’s concerned about Diane. That sounds like Lucca alright. 

Diane is DANCING in her office as she watches news coverage that isn’t a garbage fire.

I’m curious y’all-- are people in your area cheering at a certain time? Hearing cheers every night during this pandemic is one of the few things I like about this awful moment in time. (My recap writing was just interrupted by cheering, if you couldn’t guess the reason for this abrupt digression.) 

News stories in alternate reality: Cancer has been cured, there is polar bear overpopulation, the rainforest has been saved, 45 is REDUCING the amount of content he’s putting out into the world, and $35,000 is missing from some government agency. Ha. All that and people are hung up on $35,000? Sounds about right, actually.

Diane hugs Liz and Adrian because she feels like a weight has been lifted off of her. I appreciate that Diane acts without restraint or concern for what other people think in this episode. This is central to why I think this episode is actually a pretty good character study: this is who Diane imagines herself to be, more or less. Real Diane, no matter how bizarre things are, probably would handle herself more professionally in a work meeting and probably wouldn’t let feelings like this show. Dream Diane has no reason to double check herself. This is just how she thinks she’d react if there were absolutely no constraints. Not that she’s actively thinking- she’s just doing. 

Diane is very excited to be watching the news, and Adrian thinks she’s nuts-- there are scandals! Like the missing $35k and THE EMAILS. The GODDAMN EMAILS. Even a fictional joke about how they’d still be a scandal makes me mad. Twenty years from now it will still be too soon to remind me of the emails. (And to play Fight Song, that song is cancelled.)

A haircut is also a scandal because sexism.

I admire this show for calling attention to problems on both sides without ever screaming BOTH SIDES ARE EQUALLY BAD. This episode may call out some of the good things that have happened as a result of the 2016 election, but the whole premise of this joke rests on the fact that only one of the two potential administrations could run through a year’s worth of scandals in a day. 

Might circle back to this later on-- btw I write these after watching the whole episode, so I do know what’s going to happen next-- but I don’t think the show is trying to make the case that it’s good 45 was elected. I think they’re trying to ask questions about how the world has changed and cause and effect so we can understand the moment we’re in. Above, I said I liked hearing my neighbors cheer every night. And I could write a lot of words on how that collective activity inspires me, makes me feel connected even when I’ve been stuck inside for a month, etc, how I’ve gotten better about keeping in touch with old friends, whatever, and NONE of that would mean that a global pandemic is a good thing. It just means that like any huge societal phenomenon, its implications are complex. 

TGF and TGW have always, always, always been shows about understanding where we are in time. That’s what this episode does. And it makes sense to do a thought experiment like this now, at the start of season 4, in a season opener. We’ve had enough time living in this world that we can reflect on it.

Diane laughs, because what Diane dream sequence would be complete without a glorious laugh?

Adrian’s kinda suspicious of Hillary. Sure, cancer’s been cured, but it’s not public how or when! 

God it’s weird to hear some of the most absurd happenings of the last three years as punchlines. 

The line about the Obama’s overall deal at Netflix is fire. 

Diane laughs AGAIN. 

Oh right, Harriet Tubman was going to be on the $20 bill. (Is it obvious yet that I am the exact right target for this episode?)

Julius is VERY mad about Hillary’s $500 haircut. Heh. He’s also publicly supporting Trump which is interesting (and probably a dream logic thing; Diane knows he supported Trump therefore in her dream he isn’t ever hesitant to share that he voted for Trump.)

“Only Hillary could cure cancer and turn it into a scandal,” someone else adds. I’m loving all these jokes. He is mad cancer wasn’t cured earlier and that it’s been cured in an election year. This joke is funny because it’s exactly what would happen in this scenario.

I wonder if Julius would be more likely to speak up about his political affiliation if the stakes were lower. If 45 lost, then is supporting him as much of a thing to hide in a place like RBL? People would be mad but they probably would get over their moral opposition to his views a lot faster when it isn’t a real threat.

Diane’s brought in a huge client, which is news to her. And that client is none other than Harvey Weinstein, which… my God this is an interesting thought experiment. 

“I’m amazed you got him away from Lisa Bloom,” Adrian says. YIKES!!!! (If y’all haven’t read Catch and Kill yet, pick up a copy ASAP.)

No one’s heard of Weinstein’s sexual assault issues. I believe it. I mean, I think some women in power might have known before 2017-- I still vividly recall how many journalists reacted to the release of the story not with “Oh my God, how has this been going on for so long?” but with “Holy shit, someone managed to publish a story about this?!”-- but I’ll believe that the general consensus in elite liberal circles was to set the rumors aside and not share them widely.

I can’t watch this episode without thinking about VIP Treatment (2x05 of TGW). That episode, which raises the question of what happens when someone accuses a liberal legend of sexual assault, feels so ahead of its time. It aired in 2010. And I just, right this moment, learned that it was ripped from the headlines about accusations a masseuse made against Al Gore. Guys. I didn’t know there were allegations in 2010 about Al Gore. Is that because I was 16 in 2010 and just never heard of (or forgot about) the story? Is it because he had less power? Is it because of something specific about the reporting or the allegations? Or is it because we as a culture swept it under the rug since it was (allow me to be the millionth person to make this awful joke) an inconvenient truth? 

I don’t know the answers to the above. What I do know is that this episode is making me ask those questions.

In Marissa’s world (“you mean reality?”), 45 bragged about grabbing women by the pussy and then lost the election. And the story ended there. There was no women’s march, no #MeToo.

Sarah Steele gets to react to a lot of things in this episode and it is very delightful to see her say things like, “what are pussy hats?”

Diane looks so angry and stunned when she realizes that Weinstein is still “a thing” in the world. 

He won the Presidential Medal of Freedom because of course he did. 

His wikipedia page says his only controversies are about his managerial style. Yikes.

Marissa’s reaction to the phrase “masturbating into plants” is one of the best things about this episode. I love that she gets so hung up on it. 

Charlie Rose is the first name other than Weinstein that comes to mind for Diane when Marissa asks what other men were serial harassers. I’ve got to think that Rose gets the most attention here in no small part because he was part of the CBS family-- he was even on TGW. 

I’ve seen Annaleigh Ashford in so many things recently. 

Diane handles the meeting with Team Weinstein VERY poorly (she also does not care to handle it well), while Adrian covers with the “all options are open to us” gibberish that Diane absolutely would be able to convincingly deploy in a meeting she couldn’t follow. I point this out because it shows that 1) Diane isn’t behaving the way she would in reality and 2) Diane does not give a fuck. 

If this were reality, would Diane push so hard in this meeting? I don’t know. This situation is so far removed from reality it’s hard to tell. But my sense is that Diane would like to think of herself as someone who would never waver in her commitment to Doing The Right Thing, but she’d probably be a lot more diplomatic-- even in real 2020-- in initial meetings. It’s a bit dated at this point, but in VIP Treatment Diane was hesitant to believe the victim because the man accused of assault was a high profile liberal. To her credit, she does eventually choose the victim over her own politics. But I could totally see Diane-- with no knowledge of the real timeline-- behaving like her friend/HRC’s press secretary Zoe does in this episode.

All that to say: personally, I don’t think #MeToo would’ve caught on to the extent it did if women weren’t already angry. I believe there could have been a hashtag and some stories (maybe even the Weinstein story). But I also believe women felt an urgent need to speak out and organize. And I believe that more women were inclined to believe victims and get angry. And I believe that it was only because of the world in general that #MeToo spread outside of a few online circles. To put it another way, you know how there are sometimes cases of the week on this show where you might know the reference in detail, but if you ask a co-worker or friend about it they’ll know either nothing or only the very basics? I think all of #MeToo could’ve ended up like one of those cases if it hadn’t played out with 2017 in the background.

Dreams aren’t subtle: Weinstein’s publicity tour includes appearances with Charlie Rose and Matt Lauer. (This joke also serves as a reminder that sexual harassment is a systemic problem.)

Diane is SO confrontational in this meeting. Also, the woman they’re meeting with is SO FRIGGIN COMPLICIT. 

Weinstein’s team frames sexual assault allegations-- which are still floating around even in alt2020-- as a Republican conspiracy. I have no doubt they would have used this approach if given the chance. 

I’m on page six and fifteen minutes in, damn.

Adrian, or Diane’s version of Adrian, does not believe women and seems to hate Hillary Clinton a little bit too. An accurate portrayal of Adrian? Lines that betray Diane’s suspicion of where Adrian stands on women’s issues? Or just that Adrian is there to be the person pushing back and it could’ve been anyone? (I think it’s somewhere between the first two, personally. If this could’ve been anyone, why not Liz?) 

In this alternate universe NBC’s refusal to broadcast Ronan Farrow’s investigation is proof of Weinstein’s innocence, because in the alt universe we still apparently have faith in the corporate culture at NBC. (Perhaps the most surprising thing to me about Catch and Kill is that a LOT of it is dedicated to exposing the shit that went down within NBC. It’s fascinating and also makes it crystal clear how assault is a systemic problem and not just a few bad apples you should avoid being alone with.)

Adrian’s reaction when Diane mentions Reddick (Adrian knows nothing of the accusations in this universe) changes the tone of this scene in an instant and it’s breathtaking. This is the one moment in the episode where she knows she has to shut up. 

The one thing about this ep I am not sure I buy is that the firm is struggling because of the rise in corporate taxes. But I know so little about this issue I don’t care if it’s right or wrong. 

After Diane leaves Adrian’s office, Liz asks, “What about my dad?” meaning she somehow heard the conversation through the wall. (The door was definitely closed so either their office design is worse than I thought or it’s just dream logic.) Diane doesn’t share the rumor with Liz.

Lucca is for some reason on this case, and they are for some reason in court on the same day they learned about the case. And the best part is that I don’t have to worry about whether or not this is plausible BECAUSE IT’S ALL A DREAM

Another thing I’ll say about this ep-- it’s pace remarkably well. The opening previews what’s to come, there’s just enough happy liberal utopia with funny jokes at the start, the Weinstein twist comes at the right moment, and the shift to the more dark, character focused scenes that wrap up the episode come exactly when the writers have gotten as much mileage as they can out of this premise. I knew this episode would be fantastic the moment I saw it was only 41 minutes long.

The judge keeps saying the opposing counsel’s full name, Ann Howard. Is this supposed to be a familiar name to me? I am not getting the reference. 

The judge’s ruling is basically that no one would take the risk involved in assaulting someone at work these days so the case must be bogus. And then we see, immediately (because, dream) that the judge is totally corrupt and just wants to get his daughter an internship with Weinstein. 

“Justice is an equation. Justice equals the law times the zeitgeist. The law on its own doesn’t stand up. You need the mood of the times on your side,” Diane eloquently explains. That’s basically what this episode is saying. To put it more simply: Context matters and nothing happens in a vacuum. (TGF and TGW were always about the context-- you simply couldn’t do a show about a woman standing by her cheating politician husband and being REVERED for it in 2020. That’s not about the law, but the same principle applies.)

Lucca says they won, so the zeitgeist worked for them-- and how could it be against women when the president is a woman? Remember how the Kings used to say that TGF was going to be about Diane retiring because she thought the glass ceiling had been shattered? I always thought that sounded wrong, but this episode is helping me understand what they were thinking a little bit. 

Lucca calls out Diane, a bit abruptly, on how only the woman partners probably would get to say “no more” if there were to be a women’s movement because the associates can’t risk it. Lucca’s right and she’s wrong-- her words underestimate how mainstream and trendy it’s become to publicly talk about sexual harassment, but she’s 100% right that there are still underlying power dynamics.

Diane’s Lucca is V V V V V V V concerned with power dynamics and VERY much wants to be higher ranking. On the one hand, actual Lucca wants to rank higher too. On the other, is there a piece of Diane that sees Lucca as power hungry? 

Lucca’s asked to take documents to Weinstein, and she’s flattered. Diane, like every viewer, sees this as a car crash in slow motion. She knows exactly what will happen when Lucca gets to his hotel with the documents. But Lucca, who’s in the dark, only knows it’s a good opportunity to impress a huge client.

Diane tells Weinstein’s… whatever she is? That she is “Harvey’s pimp” and she is not wrong. Also since I don’t actually know this woman’s job title I’ll just refer to her that way moving forward.

(See what I mean about Diane just saying things that are totally unprofessional bc this is a dream Diane who does what she wants and not actual Diane making tough decisions?)

Lucca is REALLY bitter about how Diane is always taking opportunities away from her. They’re definitely trying to do something with Lucca in this episode but as I said earlier, I think I need to see what they have planned for the rest of the season before I can fully understand what they’re going for. 

Diane tells Lucca exactly what is going to happen when she goes to drop off the papers. Lucca won’t hear it, so Diane asks Marissa to keep an eye on her.

Another possibility for what they’re trying to do with Lucca (and Adrian): Maybe it’s supposed to be about how different Types would react-- the powerful man who benefits from not questioning things and has some latent sexism issues; the ambitious young woman who gets caught in a bad situation because she’s trying to move her career forward. The more I think about it, the more I think this is what they’re going for-- and the question I should be asking is what does it mean about Adrian and Lucca (in terms of how the writers see them, in terms of how Diane sees them) that they can take on these roles so easily?

(It may say nothing about Diane because… idk, do YOU do thoughtful character analysis in your sleep? Because I don’t!)

Marissa is still stuck on the plants and I love it.

Lucca catches Marissa right away, but all that accomplishes is that both of them clearly see that Diane is right. These scenes feel a little unnecessary (they’re also not in Diane’s POV, though surely dreams can have tangents) and I think they’re only here to illustrate how the system works. I can’t imagine this scene is teaching many people new information.

Also there’s… just not another scene with Lucca in this episode? And I don’t know if I feel like that’s a bad thing or like it’s part of dream logic? I think it’s probably just bad plotting that the unnecessary sequence ends abruptly and doesn’t return.

“With the presidency, women can do whatever they want,” says one of Diane’s liberal friends at a women’s event. I’m… not 100% sure anyone would say this. If this were true why would they even be having a gala for a women’s charity? But point taken. People love this type of statement.

So Diane’s extremely low cut dress like has a mesh thing covering her exposed chest??I can’t figure it out. 

Weinstein is also a hero to everyone at the feminist charity. When Diane hears this, she gives an interview to a reporter about having a long way to go, which I 100% believe would be the message no matter reality we’re in what because literally no one is going to say please donate to my cause we have no battles left to fight BUT I DIGRESS. Diane tries to ignite #MeToo (and even name checks Tarana Burke, so that’s awesome) and is quickly cut off.

Then, after giving the interview, she has Jay (hello!) set her up on Twitter. Dream Diane is revealing just how little she understands how social media works. She also wants to link to a “Me Too Site” which is… not how any of this works, Diane.

Diane sees herself on the news-- she’s mostly cut from the piece and her words are taken out of context. 

Adrian and Liz stare Diane down for calling Weinstein’s pimp a pimp and Diane defends herself. Liz doesn’t believe this either. Diane is asked to sign a VERY RIDICULOUS (like it sounds like 45 more than anything else) apology letter and laughs. 

Liz reminds her that they’re close to bankruptcy and that they’ve defended killers before (oh, and, most relevant-- the assholes to avoid case, I can’t believe I went to 205 to think about how Diane would react in a more nuanced present day situation when I had that example!), why would Diane draw the line here? “Everyone deserves a defense. Just not everyone deserves MY defense,” Diane says. You know it’s a dream when a character on this show actually says that. Do you know how many times (if you’re still reading this you probably do know) I have written something to the effect of “SAYING EVERYONE DESERVES REPRESENTATION IS NOT THE SAME AS REPRESENTING THEM YOURSELF, LIZ/DIANE/ADRIAN/WILL/ALICIA/CARY/LUCCA/WHOEVER”? It’s been a lot. 

(Here is something I wrote in a case in which Diane, at the height of #MeToo, defended some assholes for money: “‘I wouldn’t say hate. We’re obligated,’ Diane says. Ohhh yes this is a new pet peeve. Y’all are not obligated. You were not assigned this case. You chose to take it for the money.”)

Idk what my point is here, maybe that this feels like a dream because the characters are never this principled in reality.

Zoe, the press secretary, wants Diane to shut down #MeToo. Lucca’s there too, but she says nothing (despite the experience she may have just had, because dream). Zoe doesn’t want women to get angry about abuse because “that’s not the message that helps us in 2020.” Ooof. But I buy it. I am not sure if it’s ACCURATE that anger wouldn’t help but I can completely see campaign staffers being afraid it would hurt, especially given that Bill Clinton has… more than a few issues. 

This scene veers into Diane’s POV. The camera gets closer and closer to her as she feels boxed in, and Liz, Adrian, and the pimp stare accusingly at her. Suddenly she realizes she doesn’t know where Kurt is because she’s spent the last few days at work. I think the most dream-like thing about this is the way Kurt just suddenly pops into the dream and shifts the tone of the whole thing. 

She runs off. Liz and Adrian ask Diane to step back from the firm for Weinstein and she’s like, okay, I’m going home, “I don’t know how I changed my clothes, I went to that event last night and I have different clothes on now and I don’t know where Kurt is.” I LOVE watching this whole episode twist into something this weird.

When Diane gets home, there’s a man fixing her door. He’s watching Trump TV, which is currently airing Felix Staples singing “This Wall is Your Wall” and honestly this is the best use of Felix Staples in the show so far.

The man fixing Diane’s door also remembers reality. He doesn’t know why he’s fixing Diane’s door. It’s disorienting. 

Diane gets a beer with the man fixing her door and wonders about if she even likes this world where HRC is president (or if the problem is just that she doesn’t believe it). (I think she’d like it just fine if she experienced it linearly, tbh.)

Sexy gun lady from a previous episode is back, and Kurt’s guns are missing because he didn’t want them to be confiscated (I do not believe this would ever be a policy but this is a full on illogical dream right now) and now Diane is talking to the TV.

“I’m in the car, right?” Diane says while standing in her bedroom and pretending to grab a steering wheel. Heh. 

Diane drives to a cabin in the woods (the way this is shot is SO atmospheric) and finds Kurt, in shadow, in the woods. So THIS is what Robert King was going for in Mind’s Eye in the clumsily directed scene with fake Will in shadow. Gotta say, the whole “person you love and can’t quite picture” thing works a ton better when it is obvious it’s an intentional style choice.

This scene is so weird because suddenly politics doesn’t matter and Diane only cares about Kurt and also Kurt might be dead? I am not sure I understand what this is saying. And I’m pretty sure I spent the entirety of this scene the first time through alternating between thinking “ooh pretty”, “this is what 614 wanted to be,” and “please don’t kill Kurt!!”

Kurt pulls Diane to reality and gets her to recap where we left off. She wakes up on the floor of her bedroom. She and Kurt have both, thankfully, survived Book Club’s SWATting. 

HA the first thing Diane says when she wakes up is “What happened?” which… that HAS to be intentional right???? 

To check that Diane is of sound mind, one of the agents asks her how many fingers he’s holding up and who’s president. She laughs. 

This episode is UNDER 40 minutes if you exclude the credits and promo.

Guess we’re not doing recap songs.

Had a lot to say about this one. I’ve liked TGW’s mind-y episodes more, but that’s not really a fair comparison since the point of this wasn’t character study… it was tone setting.

What this episode does NOT give me is a sense of what season 4 will be about, other than the usual absurdity. 

[evilelitest2]

If Bernie does actually win this thing, would the DNC give in and will Democrats fall in line or will everybody be this stupid right up to November? I really hope it is the first one but we've never been in this situation to my knowledge so I don't know.

Ok, so we need to understand that the DNC is not a monolith, there isn’t a vast council of like 12 shadowy democrats sitting around being like “Which candidate will we give our support too” its a vast organzation with a bunch of factions and conflicting desires and interests .  In 2016 they largely sided with Clinton, but that was a 2 person race and Clinton had 16 years to get their loyaties, which...just isn’t the case for anybody in this race cause of how fractured the race is. And the DNC is separate from the Super Delegates.   The DNC’s goal is to beat Trump, generally speaking they don’t particularly like Sanders, but they also clearly don’t view him as like...a threat to their existence, they can live with him.  

If Sanders is the nominee, I think the DNC will put all of its efforts into defeating Trump, because they genuinely think that Trump is a threat to the country and also personally hate him.  I don’t think Sanders will face problems from his own party if he is the nominee.  

Bloomberg on the other hand...that worries me more, i am scared he won’t support the winner if his feelings were too hurt.  

Now the bigger threat to Sanders (or any nominee for that matter) is not the party supporting them in 2020, its the nomination itself.  If Sanders wins like 50% or more of the votes, then I think he can just sail to the nomination, cause the DNc wouldn’t want to cause a civil war.  But what if the voting ends and he has a plurality of 32%.  Ho should the nomination go to?  he has the most votes but 68% of the democratic party didn’t even vote for him, so is it correct to call him the frontrunner?  Of course, many of those 68% might have him as their second choice or be perfectly ok with him as the leader, but that can’t really be judged.

This is the problem with this primary, it was designed with the idea that after Nevada, there would only be like 4 candidates left at most, and instead we are days way from South Carolina, and 8 of them are still in this damn race.  When you have a field this crowded, it is really hard to determine who actually deserves the nomination.  And then the question is, how much does everybody else have?  Like if Sanders has 32%, Biden has 30%, Warren 20%, and everybody else 10%, then you could argue that 52% of democrats support a progressive and Warren could give her delegates to Sanders.  Or Sanders could win 32%, Biden 20%, Warren 20% Bloomberg 15% and everybody else holding the remaining then that implies that Sanders deserves it more.  Or if Sanders has 32%, Biden 30%, Bloomberg 30% and everybody else 8%, then Moderates clearly got the majority overall.  That is the problem with this primary system.  Also what about second choices

Like lets say Pete drops out after Super Tuesday, so his nomination total is 5% of the vote.  Should those votes go to Biden cause he is a centrist?  Should they go to Warren because they were competing for the same votes?  Should they just not be counted because he dropped out?  

Now if Sanders wins with a plurality of like 44%, then its a bit more clear cut in my mind that he deserves the nomination and Warren should turn her votes over to him.

BTW, do you wnat to know how Primaries should work? 

There are three votes held across the nation.  On at the start of February, one at the start of March, and one in mid April.  The first two votes are “ranked choice” So you pick your first three choices.  Anybody who doesn’t get at least 5% in the first vote is automatically eliminated.  Second one requires at least 25%.  Third one is just majority.  

That way no state gets preference and the candidate who wins will have at least some degree of popular vote.  (thanks to @randomshoes for the idea)

[borisbubbles]

22. UNITED KINGDOM

James Newman - “One last breath”

Ha! Funny! Only now, as I’m sitting in front of my desktop writing this entry, do the paralells between Lesley and James hit me.

Both bring a pleasant, if somewhat anonimous sound. Both are attempts by their shit broadcaster to establish themselves as cool. Both are performed by terminally haggard people who would’ve done way worse than they deserved. Only apt they were ranked back-to-back and I actually didn’t plan it that way. However, despite ranking him adjacent to Lesley, I feel like James’s song is a lot better?

Song Analysis

I AM NOT AFRAID OF DEATH. I AM AFRAID NOT TO LIVE. EVERY MOMENT SHOULD BE LIVED LIKE IT WAS YOur last b r e f. .

IT HAPPENED, THE BBC ACTUALLY PUT EFFORT INTO AN ENTRY!!! I can’t believe this is the BBC, tbh. They flew out to some Polish woodlands mid-winter to record their VC and hired a Dutch woodsman as a staging prop? They paid man to PERFORM LITERAL SPOKEN WORD in the VC and possibly on the Eurovision stage as well <33333 so extra, so ridic, so perfectly viable for Eurovision and approx zero musical paths outside of Eurovision <3

Btw, a BBC entry which has a continuous storyline, characterization and depth? The concept of the BBC entry having a concept!!!! Does this count as “conception” i think it does, as it may conceive a turning point in how the UK is perceived by the fans should their continue. 

Granted, I’m not in love with it, but look how far the UK have come.  Compare this to how dire the UK Decides entries have been. How eyerol-inducing Storm’s lyrics were? How fucking repetitive and bland and Xfactoresque “Bigger than us” was? How “You’re not alone” vaguely touched upon bromoeroticism before withdrawing into a permanent status of catatonia? “One last breath” blows all of these songs out of the water by comparison.

So good ideas and good effort led to a good song, right? If that’s so, why don’t I like it more? 

A lot of“One last breath”’s novelty for me comes from its Union Jack banner - The UK were the country that unironically sent Jemeni to a contest and were  shockpikafaced when they bombed. However, I’ve found that this novelty factor wears off very quickly. By the time I reach the first chorus, to be precise, my mind reaches a state of “oh, this is *that* sort of song” and I zone out each and every time. “One last breath” may be better than what I’m used to from the UK, but it also can’t hold a candle to the music I hear on the radio on a daily basis. 

As for Eurovision 2020′s entries, this is where my biases come in: A dumpy 30-something man with an okay pop song from a mehburger country is never going to entice me as much as... well, look at all the colourful entries still left in this ranking. Why would I settle for a sponge cake, when I can have a merengue? 

"Onel ast breath” made for a decent entry, but I never saw it as more than the role it probably would have played in ESC 2020: that of likable filler. 

UK 2020 & UK 2021

“One last breath” absolutely deserved to rank in the top 20 and avoid that dreaded bottom five, but I doubt it would have happened. I am still shook by the utter lack of second-hand embarrassment, but that’s largely because the BBC have dug themselves a wormhole into the seventh circle of failure hell over the years. After decades of pain, nobody has any expectations of the UK anymore, besides more of the same palpable lameness we’ve learned to love and expect from them. 

This also makes the UK entries a harder sell than they normally would be - even the British reviews, such as this one by The Guardian, cynically recognise that while “One last breath” is a full tier ahead of the regular Brit entries, it won’t change the general perception that the UK entries aren’t worth getting excited for. 

Personally, I hope the BBC continue taking the contest seriously in 2021 - talent has never been the issue - the problem has always been the lack of  a song worth voting for. “One last breath” was a step in the right direction and hopefully the first of many. 

No word on 2021 yet. I don’t expect James to stay on, but I do expect another internal selection (anything than letting the GBP decide - years of following BBUK under my belt and still I am sometimes shocked by how wrong their decisions can be) 

Freaky! Friday! Factor!

“One last breath” is far from brilliant and I have since come over my inital shock of how alright the overal product is... that said, given how often the UK have slung steaming piles of faeces at our faces (Scooch are still considered a national treasure somehow and honestly, that’s all which needs to be said.), it is SO REFRESHING to actually see them take a more relaxed, mellow route. You may find the score to be too high, but “One last breath” is so UNLIKE the UK (and actually more in line with France's repertoire) in all the right ways and that’s what the Freaky! Friday! Factor! is all about. 

Score: 4 Senhits out of 5. 

[indowolfgang]

About Jurassic Park’s lack of feathers: (y’all this is long)

most dinosaur related media doesn’t have feathered dinosaurs and a lot of people blame Jurassic Park. dinosaurs are my special interest and Jurassic Park is a big part of that so ima prove them wrong. first off i wanna say haters get owned: 2011: NASA scientists said it was the 7th best SciFi movie and 2012: Popular Mechanics said it was the 6th accurate and “was faithful to early '90s speculative genetics theories”

anyways... lets get into it

Games (that i have lol):

Ark: Survival Evolved: 10/29 dinosaurs

Compsognathus,  Deinonychus, Gallimimus, Megalosaurus, Microraptor, Oviraptor, Raptor, Therizinosaur, Troodon, Yutyrannus (this dino was actually found with direct evidence of feathers!)

at first i had no idea what type of ‘raptor’ they were referring to, but i checked and its a Utahraptor. the largest-known individual of Utahraptor was about 7 meters (23 feet) long so size is a-okay with me

i debated including the Pegomastax because the wiki says it has fur and quills, which could be argued as protofeathers, but since its from the early Jurassic its hard to say.. just to be safe i left it out

i only looked at dinosaurs cause there are a ton of made-up/mythical creatures, prehistoric birds/reptiles, and just a straight up vulture

The Isle: 3/30 dinosaurs 

Therizinosaurus, Orodromeus (AI), Austroraptor 

none of these are playable in survival mode btw

also i’m not sure if the game is going for accuracy or not, Dilophosaurus and Velociraptor are the right size but still... no feathers on known feathered dinos: Velo, Rex, or Utahraptor

technically feathers have never been found on Utahraptors but there is strong evidence that all dromaeosaurids had them since Microraptor and Dakotaraptor had them

Jurassic World Evolution: 0/69 (nice) dinosaurs

based on the movies Jurassic World, Fallen Kingdom, and eventually they added a Jurassic Park DLC. despite the Jurassic World movies not counting the Jurassic Park sequels (Lost World and JP3) as part of its time line, the Jurassic Park DLC includes skins from those movies. not much to say here... i’ll get into the movies further down

i didn’t count the pteranodon, cause its not a dinosaur and, still, no feathers

Saurian: 4/8 dinosaurs

Dakotaraptor, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Acheroraptor, Ornithomimid

i’ve only included the dinos that are currently in-game, the wiki says they are planing to add another playable dino, Anzu (feathered), but so far it hasn’t even been added as an AI yet

they are actually going for scientific accuracy so all the dinos that should have feathers do and they are, as far as i can tell, realistically placed. Good Job!

games are hard to talk about... usually games that feature dinos will have an element of ‘fantasy’ (Ark especially) and JWE is based on the Jurassic World movies so its dinos can only look like the movies dinos. The Isle is most likely suffering from the status quo, most dinos in popular media look like big lizards so they didn’t want to take a risk. the game isn’t finished and its possible it’ll go from a dinosaur sim to a shooter, since there are human models in game and controls for weapons. i’ve also heard players rumor that you’re not actually playing as the dino but as a camera that follows it around (which would explain the nigh vision mode). chances are The Isle will end up like Ark: man vs dino

Movies:

i thought about discussing The Land Before Time movies (cause i was obsessed with them as a kid lol), but that was pre-Jurassic Park so i’ll give it an honorable mention. ANYWAYS... Jurassic Park, Jurassic Park: Lost World, Jurassic Park 3, Jurassic World, and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. none of them have feathered dinos. lets look at why that might be 🤔

Jurassic Park:

no feathered dinosaurs. BUT, feathered dinosaurs were not very mainstream in the scientific community until about 3 years after the movie came out,

“Three years after the first Jurassic Park debuted, paleontologists announced that the small theropod Sinosauropteryx was covered in a fine coat of fuzzy protofeathers. This was just the initial drop in a flood of feathery dinosaur discoveries which confirmed that a wide variety of dinosaurs bore archaic forms of plumage, from simple filaments to asymmetrical feathers that would have allowed them to fly.”

[from this National Geographic article (x)]

looking more into the history of feathered dinos, i found well... a lot. its really difficult to find a concrete time for when paleontologists discovered (and agreed on) feathered dinos, some places say 1860, 1923, 1979, 1983, it goes on forever, one source even said 2001. Archaeopteryx, which an early Jurassic creature, had complex, bird-like feathers. so why no feathers on other dinosaur reconstructions? its possible these discoveries were ignored by the larger scientific community in favor of the well established depictions of big, slow lizards

[if u wanna do even more reading about feathers check out this All About Birds article (x) and the History of discovery section on the Archaeopteryx’s wiki (x)]

JP definitely upped the Velociraptor’s size and did my Dilophosaurus dirty, so i will fault them for that. the big ass raptor has stayed in pop culture for-fucking-ever. it feels like everyone is making naked Utahraptors and calling them Velociraptors. and g*d... my poor Dilophosaurus... why’d they make you spit? and why so small? you’re really 6-7 meters (20-23 feet) long! you are a large carnivore!! also it is possible that Dilophosaurus had feathers, though again, because its from the early Jurassic, it would have been more like a fur

Lost World:

no feathered dinosaurs. i cant really fault them for not changing the dinosaurs looks in a sequel, also trust me when i say it could have been worse the dino depictions in the book are insane... Chameleon Carnotaurus anyone?

the movie also didn’t explain why there were different dinos at Site B compared to the actual park. my best explanation is from the book: Site B was where the dinosaurs were actually hatched and raised, they were moved to the park just before they got to big to handle. so we are to assume that any non-Jurassic Park dinos we saw in Lost World were originally planned to be moved. sucks that they left this detail out of the movie adaptation, cause a lot of fans got confused (including me lol)

Jurassic Park 3:

no feathered dinosaurs. an incredibly mild attempt at ‘feathered’ raptors was made in JP3 by giving the males quills, but at that point the movies had an established ‘science’ and completely changing the look of the animals at the end of a trilogy might have confused a few people (even if it was more scientifically accurate)

Jurassic World:

no feathered dinosaurs. they literally stated in the movie that they left out accurate feathered dinosaurs because Dr. Wu was asked to create: “Dinosaurs that look like what the public expects dinosaurs to look like. Scary. Scaly. Wild.” Dr. Wu also states that the dinosaurs have never been actual dinosaurs. their DNA is a melting pot of DNA.

(i swear i read something about Dr. Wu attempting to make feathered dinos, but because of all the non-dino DNA he couldn’t get the genes to stick, i can’t find a source or any proof of this so i guess that can be our lil headcanon lol)

though for a more real life reason,

“The reasoning behind this being continued through the subsequent movies, though, is more about how imposing the featherless versions look.” ... “It seems more likely that the filmmakers went with how most people would perceive dinosaurs in the hopes that dino experts would take notice.”

[from this Screen Rant article (x)]

so basically JW cared more about scary, recognizable dinos than accurate ones

Fallen Kingdom:

no feathered dinosaurs. again a sequel is a bit too late to change up your designs. unfortunately the change had to happen in JW or not at all

In Closing:

basically Jurassic Park came out just before paleontologists announced Sinosauropteryx, which popularized feathered dinos. even then Jurassic Park was restricted by the technology of the time. the early ninety’s was not the best time for CGI and i can’t imaging making feathered animatronic dinosaurs that could stand up to the rain they filmed in. new media is definitely stuck in the past, look at the movies that come out and compare how many are sequels or prequels or remakes or whatever. Jurassic Park was a great movie and obviously the vultures that make movies are gonna try and ride its brand into the sunset. blaming the movie for stopping new scientific discoveries from entering the mainstream isn’t fair. the movie did a lot to bring current science into the lime light, it popularized warmblooded, avian dinos and showed them as intelligent, fast moving animals instead of slow movie monsters

but JW had no excuse!  they should get majority of the blame for making the public afraid of feathers cause they themselves were afraid of feathers! they had the technology, the budget, and the opportunity to follow in its parent movie’s footsteps. they could have at least TRIED to be accurate but they just stuck to what people knew cause that was more profitable. science is only as interesting as the toys you can make of it i guess...

a final note, just for my sanity: JP dinos aren’t real dinosaurs. not even in fiction. they’re DNA is so full of garbage that their inaccurate appearances could be explained away with that alone. the books get into this more, talking about all the failed embryos and how many diseases these creatures had. even delving into their lack of social skills and how the raptors didn’t act like a pack, but a group of aggressive individuals. unfortunately the average viewer isn’t gonna know about all this set dressing. hell, i didn’t even read the 2 books until recently (end of 2019/ start of 2020) so i was as ready to believe whatever the movies showed me. honestly the books and movies are all good in different ways, not accurate, but good. read the books if you want more gore and technical explanations and the movies if you want, well... more story, they add a lot of stuff that wasn’t in the books

one day i’ll get into the differences in the books and movies.. one day

[ this was originally a response to someone but tumblr hid it, cause links. so i’ve edited it to be a standalone post and also WAY longer. feel free to add on or correct any mistakes i’ve made (be respectful tho) ]

[midnatt-heronweather]

2020 review

Disclaimer: You won’t hear much about the virus in this. I’m not a denier, I know the damage and destruction covid19 has caused and the death toll, therefore I am not yet cold enough not to realise this is going to sound completely selfish, but that is my decision.  My reviews focus on MY year. Just so you’re aware. “I accept chaos, I’m not sure whether it accepts me.” Bob Dylan.

2020... What can I say?

This was the year I decided to officially identify as Non-Binary, not that anyone actually cares or believes me or things i'm "(insert stereotype at will)" enough. except for those very VERY rare people who do and who actually listen and hear me when I speak

Anyway -It has been a trashcan fire of a year since February/March February when I saw the Hu and Counterfeit alongside Ally. And I say February/March because that was the weekend I say my year ended...the good part anyway. Because it was that weekend when I got the ultimate honour, privilege and miracle of meeting Jason Carter, After that it was like a Dementor had French kissed the year and I can’t be the only one who thought it? Conventions and gigs postponed, rescheduled and ultimately cancelled, masks, social distancing, lockdowns the works. And can I just say - I didn’t clap, and I don’t feel in the slightest bit ashamed for it. Despite or maybe because I have friends and a few family who work in the NHS I couldn't bear to be a part of the hypocritical BS idea. I live in a country that will clap for their 'beloved' life saving NHS but then stand silent when Pay rises are frozen and when the NHS is in danger, we as a country expect a lot but don't lift a finger to gave back, clapping doesn’t pay bills. But...Bright points in the year let’s try staying positive and leaving the crap outside shall we...well... The main one has got to be that the US finally found their sense and President Elect Joe Biden will b sworn in January 20, 2021. After that... I’ll have to get back to you. Oh...no..no that’s not one... seriously I’ll have a think and get back to you. Conventions: Just one this year, for me, because of the obvious... But what a convention FCD Events presents 2258 a Babylon 5 Conventions: Where, as well as finally being among actual self confessed fans and being able to tick a b5 convention off my bucket list after starting cons way too late to attend the OG cons I did the impossible... I MET JASON CARTER... have I mentioned this? Have I? Should I say t again? I MET JASON CARTER!!! Also Mira Furlan, Tracy Scoggins and Patricia Tallman, but I met him! Finally! And... Just a reminder I did warn you guys, several times that it was likely hell would freeze over if I ever got that particular honour, do not say I didn’t. I’d never done an FCD before, I’d meant to, even bought a ticket but it just never seemed to happen, but the second someone said b5 con, I was so there! Karan Robinson made my year by making me the Anla’Shok uniform. And Nadine added the cherry on top by making the belt buckle that ONLY Marcus and Entil’Zha Sinclair wear: D (for the record: Velcro still hates me) David one of the organisers of FCD kept randomly shouting “We live for the one.” And when people other than m actually knew the response and responded... dude kick in the feels I kid you not. Next Year (Angel Willing) Adam and I are attending the Teen Wolf conventions entitled “Howl at the Moon 4” in Paris, France... which is cool on so many levels not least of which being I get to meet JR Bourne and Daniel Sharman again and get to visit the church of St Julian of the poor. And yes, there are cons planned here in the UK. But... well. It’s already looking Grey, and not the good kind. Music and Gigs: Two gigs one after the other at the 02 Ritz in Manchester. The First:

The Hu a Mongolian band who Ally really likes and I think are pretty cool. They are amazing live there’s no doubt, can hold their own in England even in a room of idiots. The 2nd :

Counterfeit (also with Ally) I went VIP and got to meet the boys again, and listen to a Q&A with them. I will forever love them, not just because of Jamie’s acting side despite what people say. Didn’t realise how special until recently though because;  after keeping fans going and hyping up new singles during lockdowns, they recently decided to go their separate ways. Jamie’s gone solo and he’s put three songs out on YouTube. _ I was meant to be attending a one off gig by Ruelle and Fleurie both of who had music used on Shadowhunters, even talked my friend Lou into it, but it was a victim of the lockdowns and things and I’m not the optimistic type so I doubt it’ll ever happen now, will be lucky if even one of the ladies comes over here if I’m honest. Recently I’ve rediscovered a love for Black Veil Brides and their leader Andy Black’s solo stuff. Olivia Hyde of Bad Pollyanna recently killed everyone in her black unicorn’s fanbase with an amazing solo album, me included. Ally has introduced me to a few interesting bands this year, *Wingtips – very 80s Goth, very Ally (translation: very cool.) *Allegiance Reign – a Japanese Samurai metal band,  not sure what Ally actually thinks of these guys, she found them while perusing YouTube and thought of me :D Suggestions greatly accepted, I am always up for giving new stuff a try. Hopefully next year things will even out and gigs will be able to be put on again. TV and Fandom’s: *We FINALLY got Roswell: New Mexico in the UK, and ITV blitzed through 2 seasons in less than a month, but it was enough for me to decide I loved it, maybe more than I did the original. Alex is my fave, but obv Michael isn’t half bad, nor is Max when he’s not making goo-goo eyes at Liz. * Finally got to see 9-1-1 Lone Star and I absolutely love it, (I kinda knew I would from all the talk) * Decided to give the Charmed reboot a 2nd look and it’s proved addictive, now waiting for s2 to be downloadable on Amazon or something. *In march I was so, so excited for the return of The Expanse and the fact the main cast were coming to a con in the UK, then.. The verse went to hell. I still Love the Expanse, but I’m not as die hard as I was, not for lack of trying. Still love it for Anna of course, any excuse to see her. *After 15 years Supernatural finally ended in 2020 with season15: I stopped watching religiously at the end of season 6 but that does not mean I stopped liking the show just that I didn’t like the direction (like with The Expanse recently) I loved watching the reaction of the fans, and how much they (we if I’m counted) mean to the cast. * I have to mention Cursed... If only to say HOLY HELL DANIEL! 𝑴𝒚 𝑭𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝑻𝑽 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒘𝒔 𝒐𝒇 2020 Cursed 9-1-1 Lone Star & 9-1-1 Warrior Nun Prodigal Son Penny Dreadful: City of Angels Doctor who (Officially season12) Roswell s1&2 (it counts cos ITV only just got the reboots) Charmed s1&2(it counts cos E4 only just got the reboots) Call the Midwife (s9 btw) Our Girl Strike Back: Vendetta Friends: “Friendship ... is born at the moment when one man says to another "What! You too? I thought that no one but myself . . .” ― C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

My understanding of "friendship." is skewed, and I’m not saying that to be "Vulcan." it’s honest, and anyone who wants to know how or why just has to ask. But let’s leave it at that for this. It makes some things more stark... and I've said this recently, but this binfire has made even me more aware of who’s out there in my verse, whose pack, who’s potential, and who’s just pathetic. The last I’m not going to waste my breath on. The first two: Pack and Potential (read: new acquaintances /potential friends) Pack: Yes I go on about friends as 'Pack like a person whose OD'd on Teen Wolf... because I am so :P My pack as a whole are varied, and spread out across this country with a few dotted around Europe and Aus. hopefully they know who they are because I don't do mushy crap as they know. But if they do know, they know I'm there when I'm needed and more than willing to sod off when not. Yorkshire brass makes me frank and I’d hope fair. There are 2...mayb 3 who sit above the rest, in special place for the things they've done and things they've been through with me. I make no denial of that. But everyone is important to me. I wouldn't change them for anything.... Ok... tell a lie, maybe 1 or 2 when they do my box in, but that’s only like for a week maybe less. I've spent too many years and got too many scars and burned too many photos and bridges because of fake people and users to not be honest to a fault. It’s who I am. Potential: the Counterfeit gig in Manchester, 2258 and yes even Tiktok have given me the opportunity to make some interesting acquaintances this year, and some I hope will become friends in the real in the future, but for now I will say - "I am defensive, stand off ish, sometimes bull headed and of course opinionated, but I am by no means blind. Or blinkered despite what may be said of me. I am there when needed, if I can be of use, just poke me."   Ave Atqua Vale This section has its own post these days. Sadly. Pictures Will try and make one of my “a year in ten pics.” Posts later. Final words While I am not fond of this time of year, Enjoy your celebrations whatever for they may take, I will be watching The Magicians / Call the Midwife and plotting 202? Cosplays. I will be here when (fk knows why) I'm needed. Otherwise-  Compliments of the season, now go get a beer, i'm sure you need it after reading this crap.

in the words of The one and only Jason Carter  “Hindsight is 2020″

[arcticdementor]

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I feel like 2020 has scoured me from the inside out. I swear this year is at least a thousand years as experienced. The person who started this year was tired, a little down. My rights being caught in the maw of a very bad contract and the company not deigning to respond to my requests for reversal were part of it. The rest was the toll of 10+ years of severe illness. You can fix it, and I’d been fixing it for the last three or four, but the scars remain. In my mid to late fifties I’m not as flexible and do not heal as fast. And I was tired.

Which of course is why looking back I smile at the earnest naivete of that summer child. Because since then I’ve seen my country put under house arrest, its citizens stripped of the rights that were the very reason of the founding. I’ve seen dubiously elected governors and mayors clamp down on the citizens who pay taxes, while freeing the criminals and letting the ferals run rampant. I’ve seen the deliberate destruction of the best nation on Earth, mankinds last and best hope.

And our internal traitors, knowing and unknowing (a lot of them are just being mean girls because it’s fun and it’s always worked before. The same with virtue signaling. And many are doing it because they’re afraid) have turned the right into painted devils, while unleashing destruction on us.

��

Even if our courts — snort — and our judges — snort giggle — manage to find a shred of non-corruption, we are what is technically known as “fucked.” Because the media is busily convincing our dunderheads and assholes that Trump is a dictator, who will take power by force, which this win will “sort of kind of” give the appearance of, while in fact their steal is the real grab, combined with destroying our elections forever.

The enemy is within the walls, and worse, it is in a position of command.

…

But it puts us in a pickle, because our mentally deficient would-be elites will destroy us without even realizing they’re doing it, and will do anything to keep the fact they’re massively corrupt and hypocritical hidden.

That’s what they have on all the tech lords, and btw, I suspect it’s why they hate Trump so much. His peccadilloes are banal and almost endearing compared to the raw moral sewage of the Bidens, the Obamas, the Clintons, and let’s not even think of what Harris has in her closet, if what’s known is that she climbed up in the world by sucking cock. So he didn’t fall into the trap. Which means the entrapped ones hate him even more.

But even with the BEST intent in the world, and if they weren’t in China’s pay and employ (they are) these people would kill us all, because they have no idea how the western economy works, or how free people work.

I’m not actually making this up, please believe me, I’m as serious as I can be: They will start with an engineered famine, but they have no clue how any of this works, and before they are done, people will die for other reasons and of other things or what makes this country live and thrive. If they get full control, within two years, I suspect more than half of America will be dead. Mind you, they might not manage it. None of their plans work as planned, because they’re not good at people and specifically they’re not food at America. But the unintentional destruction — though in spots — will be at least as bad as the intentional.

So we need to fight back. More specifically, I need to fight back.

Look, guys, I know this makes no sense whatsoever, and is not objectively true, but I’m broken in very specific ways. One of those is that in this type of situation I feel guilty for it having happened at all, like I should have prevented it. And I feel responsible for protecting everyone in its path. Which is …. on its face insane.

I bet a lot of you, by nature or training sheep dogs are feeling the same. We know what we are. We’re not good people. Frankly, we’d rather eat the flock, and be muzzle-deep in blood.

But we or something in us knows better. Something in us chose to harness the predator to defend the flock. It’s our flock. And though the predator still howls for blood, it’s wolf blood.

And we’ve been tearing ourselves apart since the lockdown happened, because we sensed the wolves rounding in that move. We sensed the threat to the flock. But we had no idea how to fix it, how to protect “ours.”

…

When we think about it, we think in terms of the fourth box. Because we’re Americans, and we have the power.

But the fourth box is not the only box. And if used, it catapults us into a completely different world. More importantly, it’s not up to any of us to start. It will start — or not — at some point, at some flare instance. What I’m afraid of is that those are being “spiked” somehow.

And the sheepdogs are going crazy. The smell the wolf and they can do nothing.

I woke up this morning thinking of Poland. When they’d had enough, the communists were brought down with a general strike.

Um…. Sure. UNTOLD damage and pain. But guys, less than where we’re headed with or without the fourth box.

To work it would need to be like the tea party. I don’t know how to do that. But I know some people reached by this do. They were part of and instrumental in the tea party.

And as horrible as a general strike is, it’s better than slavery to China, or CWII and better than the utter destruction of our republic and its institutions. If done, it should be done for two things “A stop on the infringement on our constitutional liberties, no matter if in the name of a virus. And a new election, free and fair. One day, purple fingers, in person, with ID. AND the ballots counted in front of everyone who desires to attend. By hand. No shenanigans.”

…

And in that spirit, there’s things you each can do to turn this around. They’re smaller, they take a long time, and each of you will have very little impact. Some of you will recoil from them, because they imply fighting in our own circle, and some of you will scream “we become like them.” No. We do not. This is defensive. Shooting at those who are shooting at you is not “you become like them.” It’s defensive. This is the same. If we don’t do this, they WILL win, because they’re attacking and we’re not defending.

Will it tarnish your soul? Likely. All war does, whether lethal or not. But we didn’t choose this. We’re under attack from an enemy without who has activated an enemy within. And we have to win this. We have to win it for us, for the free men and women in the world. Or we all live under the boot of China, who make Nazi Germany seem cuddly and gentle (Note to the inevitable idiots: and yes, they were pretty horrible monsters.)

So, operation Swamp Fox (a) because an American Hero b) because we’re fighting the swamp).

I’m going to give you the basics. You’re my people. you’ll improvise, innovate and imagine new ways to make things work, ways I never even thought about. So the basic maneuvers (and you’ll need to dislocate your mind a little to do some of them.)

1- Tit for tat Many of you work embedded in the liberal world. You know what these people think of us, and how they behave if they have a chance to get back at us, including a million little acts of sabotage and defiance. Well? Tit for tat. If there’s a way you can make the life of your liberal co-worker a living hell, sabotage their career, make them feel incompetent? Start now. IF you can do it without it coming back on you, do it. And do it as hard and as often as you can. “But they’re a good person” you’ll say. Oh, are they? What would they do to YOU if they knew your politics and had the chance? That’s all we’re asking for. Tit for tat. What this will do: make the organization shakier; make the leftists anywhere come across as putzes (they sabotage, belittle, etc. any out conservative which is how they’ve managed to project that “conservatives are not very smart or creative.” This is JUST pay back.); put them on edge so they make mistakes, and make themselves seem less competent. If we have to do this for four years it’s going to hurt like a mother, but we’ll make sure it hurts them more.

2- Be the Uber Karen What is that I hear? Oh, yes. You see…. Karens don’t follow their own rules very well. Have you considered walking up to the mask police and LOUDLY telling them they’re wearing their mask wrong? Same with ANY liberal you know to be so in public. MAKE them live by their rules. While you’re at it, make them live by ALL their rules. They’re writing a letter? Well, using paper is Chinese appropriation! They’re doing/wearing something sourced to another continent? Come down on them like a ton of bricks on the flimsiest excuse. They drive a car? Oh, dear. What about global warming? They have kids? But the OVERPOPULATION! Chase them around and preach their own gospel at them at the most inconvenient and bizarre times. Publicly. Loudly. What this does: the stupider ones will crack. The brighter ones might end up red pilled. 3- Bangs arm on chest “He’s OUR leader.” Go on and on about the wonderfulness of your local petty tyrant, and how they totally deserve to get the best. And how great was it — tee-he — that the election was rigged, uh? Those votes just pulled from under the table in Atlanta! (Eyes wide with admiration) There’s even video! How great is it that now our great leaders will have power forever? Notice Obama is in charge again? That’s what I mean. Isn’t it wonderful? Look at all the HEALING he managed in his time. Etc. Be as fullsome as you can. What it does: those with a shred of humanity will revolt inside and eventually it will bring them around. This works best if you are under deep cover. Seriously. They won’t know what hit them.

4- Be the ditsy aunt

This also only works if you’re deep under cover, but find all the things they don’t want the rank and file to know, and say them, with the deepest and greatest possible approval. Hunter Biden’s laptop? “Well, of course it’s true, but the media was so right in covering it up. The poor poor boy. Very difficult, all those addictions, and of course Joe took what payments he could from where he could. The poor boy needed help.” “China is so wonderful. They control their population. Oh, sure they have camps, but really, if they need to reduce population, how else to do it?”

5- NOT ONE red cent I confess my dad is responsible for this. When he turned eighty and retired he announced “My life is too short to read communists.” This one is the one that will hurt most of us. We have gotten used to consuming entertainment from the assholes. Because for a while it was all you could get. It’s time to cut back. And I feel like a total hypocrite saying this, because I read from Amazon and sell on Amazon. But I’m not saying to do it in everything, only where you have a choice. If you have a choice of whom to do business with, do it with people you know to be conservatives. Grow our own. The reason we don’t have money on the right is that asymmetrical economic warfare has been waged on our people for decades. It’s time to return fire. If you have a chance, buy from your own, and give breaks to your own. One easy thing you can do, on Amazon even, is read your own, and as much as you can avoid things from China. Starve the beast.

6- Make connections. Find the other conservatives in your circles. Make connections. This might be needed in the future. In fact, it will probably be. I don’t need to explain how or why, right?

7- Make them live up to their claimed ideals. This can be used even if the liberal is your nearest and dearest. You might think it makes no difference but a comment like “How very Hitlerian of you!” when they talk about punishing political opponents or how some people are inherently bad from birth can fester and eventually bring about a crisis of conscience. And hell, it’s worth a try.

Now go and make with it. And spread the idea to anyone you can trust. The effect of one of us doing it is minimal (though often satisfying, particularly tit for tat) but the effect of all of us doing it, much less anyone else, will be noticeable and leave a mark. And maybe weaken their position until those bigger than us take action.