#but thematically them being nude is like

[bite-the-bloody-hand]

And here's the fullbody preview of the base painting. Now to go absolutely bonkers with details :3

[avelera]

Barefoot Divinity - an intriguing art historical detail in The Sandman

I was rewatching The Sandman episode "Calliope" and I noticed an interesting detail: when Calliope is led away from Erasmus Fry's house, she is barefoot.

There's plenty of thematic reasons to do this within the story, as she's an otherworldly being who would not be harmed by going barefoot, and because she is, at this point, a prisoner. One could argue that the reason for this choice is simply because she has not been allowed the dignity of shoes and it is an effective way of controlling peoples' movements to deny them shoes.

But to put on my ancient art history TA hat for a moment here, there's another possible reason for the choice to show Calliope barefoot.

What makes it such an interesting detail in particular is that showing Calliope barefoot is accurate to ancient Greek and Roman art: only the gods are depicted barefoot.

In fact, it's such a consistent rule that it's often a quick way when looking at ancient Greco-Roman sculptures (of certain eras) to know whether or not the figure the statue depicts is meant to be a god or a mortal. If the figure depicted is otherwise fully dressed (ie, it's not a bathing scene or some other deliberately nude subject matter) but they still have no shoes, that means they are a god.

This rule was so strict when it came to portraiture in particular that it took on political significance in the Julio-Claudian era of Ancient Rome. Romans were constantly suspicious of their early emperors like Augustus aspiring to become god-kings in the style of their (barbaric, to Roman minds) eastern counterparts, as Romans considered the allure of being declared divine to be understandable but anathema to their own comfortable fiction that the Emperor was a Princeps, first citizen, and not a king. So when this statue was commissioned by Emperor Augustus's widow, Livia:

It was incredibly politically controversial because she was saying, in essence, that Emperor Augustus was a god.

Now, this particular statue barely squeaked by the censors, so to speak, because the Romans believed everyone had a "genius" or divine spark within them. The claim was that this wasn't a statue of Augustus declaring him a deity but rather a statue depicting his divine spark which could be portrayed as a barefoot god, now that he was dead.

Still, it was a statue viewed with a great deal of suspicion at the time as a result of this splitting of hairs. Next time you go through the Greco-Roman statue portion of a museum that contains full body statues, check out which ones are barefoot! Oftentimes, there is a political message mixed in to that effect. For example, with otherwise naked generals (in a style referred to as "heroic nudity", often used for mythological heroes or athletes) being shown still wearing sandals, to signal they are still modest enough to be depicted as humans, not gods.

The thing is, Calliope is not the only time in The Sandman comics that a godlike being is depicted as barefoot at an otherwise unusual time, specifically in a Greco-Roman context. For example,

After this event in Brief Lives, Dream is shown leaving the temple walking barefoot on the ground. Dream is also named as the Roman god Morpheus, who the Romans would therefore have no issue with being portrayed barefoot.

And much more interestingly, he is throughout the Brief Lives arc frequently and unusually shown barefoot even when wearing modern clothes:

It is this frequent portrayal of Morpheus without shoes on that leads me to believe the choice is deliberate on @neil-gaiman's part, not merely as a depiction of vulnerability but rather as a nod to ancient art history visual language, as is so frequently done throughout The Sandman comics and his other works: modernizing the ancient and bringing the mythological into our world.

[beesmygod]

BLOODBORNE LORE Q+A PART 2: CAINHURST STATUES

part 1

---

THE HUNTER ASKS:

all the statues in yharnam are weird. even the ones that look normal are so fucking weird. nearly every statue in this game hints at something much larger and stupider than we ever could have imagined.

before we start, for clarity's sake, the chalice dungeons are comprised of four major areas: pthumeru (the largest area and the aforementioned "tomb of the gods", it is a city that rose and fell eons before yharnam), the hintertomb (previously explained), ailing loran (a long ruined city whose fate echoes the fate of yharnam), and great isz (a dungeon that is overlapping with "the cosmos" and is of great story importance). they are NOT main game content. some people completely skip them because they appear to be repetitive and are honestly kind of boring. and yet....

this ties into castle cainhurst's "normal" statues. the first clue something is off is that all the knight statues are missing the right leg. all of them. and not in an uneven way that would imply they were knocked off by some art hating maniac.

it wasn't until the DLC came out that this became retroactively significant. the item description for the old hunter's trousers reads:

A widespread belief of the period was that "beast blood crept up the right leg," and this led to the double-wrapped belt.

the dlc takes place in the time of the old hunters, the distant past. but the knights predate the hunters, right? they have to. the rifle spear was said to be based on a "lost cainhurst weapon". its a pale and poor imitation of the reiterpallasch. and the statues...

the statues in cainhurst clog up rooms to much that they make moving around difficult. they're all the same 4 statues: a queen, a king, a different queen holding a child holding an orb (?), and a tasteful contrapposto nude. i cannot stress how many of these fucking things are just lying around or shattered around the castle. the depictions of the generic king and queen (in truth, these are recreations of statues around notre dame) match depictions in other parts of the game but absolutely no mention is made of their rule now or in the past.

how old is the cainhurst lineage?

old. really, really, old.

here's the only other place you can find the statues: as gold statuettes in the treasure rooms of the pthumeru dungeons

ah, and i know what you're thinking: obviously this is just fromsoft re-using assets in that classic sloppy late game kind of way. but there's. more. a lot more. its not just this.

its so old that the armor you see in the throne rooms and a portrait of a knight in cainhurst castle can be found scattered throughout the lowest parts of the labyrinth.

in modern cainhurst, the fellow above has been transformed through dastardly means into the gargoyle-esque enemy called the "child of antiquity". "bastard of cainhurst" probably would have been a better and more thematically appropriate name.

he is not the only cainhurstian (?) depicted on the this wall of what you probably thought was reused concept art. its probably that. but its something else too. you know who else is in these paintings and also in the chalice dungeons?

her.

in the sinister chalice descriptions ("sinister" being a modifier that adds her to the dungeon for extra challenge) she is described as a "mad pthumerian". h-how can she be a pthumerian if she's a cainhurst noble?!

have you noticed that bloodlickers will appear in chalice dungeon rooms where you've preformed a visceral attack? the only other place they're found in the game is cainhurst! they're read to be blood drunk nobles who have become vampiric like mosquitos or ticks. why are they in the dungeons??

there's also this cainhurst knight who continues to live and serve his queen. i believe one of his guaranteed encounters is at the very bottom floors of the labyrinth. how did he get down there??

did he get down there?

or...did they come up? the subjects of the portraits are pale and thin.

"The old nobles, long-time imbibers of blood, are no strangers to the sanguine plague[...]"

how old? how long have they been imbibing blood? they've experienced blood plague before?!

why do both the bloody crow of cainhurst (one of annalise's knights who is evidently not a vileblood) and the shadows of yharnam (the entourage of queen yharnam) drop "blood rapture" runes which are deliberately vague about which queen the rune is in service to?

how old is the cainhurst lineage?! WHAT is the cainhurst lineage?! annalise, queen of the vilebloods, is the sole survivor of a massacre that wiped out the rest of the vilebloods (an ideologically charged name imposed on them by the church). she was left alive simply because she could not be killed but she was forced into a mask she cannot remove. but the mask does not prevent her from making us into a vileblood, as we only have to drink her blood to do so.

what could the mask be hiding? why does her dialog change when you unlock the lowest chambers of the labyrinth? how are there two undead queens?! (yucky item from bloodborne warning)

all hail the undying queen of blood!

[pinkprettycure]

magical girl transformations are basically a blank canvas waiting for the thematics and visuals of it all. lot of mg utilizes it to some extent with aspects like the nude transformations (meaning barbie doll style, often with glowing silhouettes. not the ecchi ones that just wanna show a boob.) giving a sense of vulnerability vs clothed (glowing undergarment style) ones feel like they add on to the character having more agency in the transformation. Pretear is one where pret-ing does just require a lot of trust between parties to begin with and the nude transformation makes sense? something something abt metaphor i used where it was basically the inverse of this idea hold on.

where i feel like "nakedness" represents vulnerability and showing your true self. in this tweet its the inverse i was basically saying that his emotions being revealed like this represents the nakedness in the story of genesis lol.

also the way the clothing and details appear add to the characters agency vs vulnerability as well, some transformations have things happen To the girl. in like, Sailor Moon, the ribbons wrap around her the clothes appears on her, even in cases where shes not really just sitting there waiting for the magic theres significantly less involvement than in like, PPGZ where each aspect seems to genuinely need them to act and trigger the magic in some way. I don't think it ALWAYS is really meant to represent anything lol like honestly I bet a primary reason why transformations like to have involvement to begin with is because it can sell a pretend-play toy gimmick lol but it does still communicate about the story. Also I remember a long time ago seeing henshins that lack agency getting criticized before lol so i think about it a lot

[dabistits]

quick bullet point of 394 thoughts again:

-at face value, the chapter holds up! it's pulls together ochako's changing thoughts throughout the 2nd half of the series and brings them to a conclusion as she's faced with someone else's pain who isn't the ~victim of a villain~ but an actual villain herself.

-himiko is in turn affirmed by someone who is "normal," who has never been abnormal and never been in her shoes the way the league has, who actually adjusts her (ochako's) perspective and admits her perspective was wrong in order to accept himiko.

-i do find this to be a much better turn than the todofam or (jfc) the mutant storyline. yes, todofam is forced to confront the skeletons in their closet and "own" their mistakes (not gonna get into whether or not that's correct given how it's mostly endeavor's fault <3) but i think there's a notable lack of acceptance of the way dabi is now. the focus was on the mistakes of the past and how they failed touya, not about what dabi might want to hear and do now. dabi was fought all the way to the end whereas ochako actually did reach out.

-and this might be bcs of where himiko and dabi's problems diverge (himiko's problem is one that is inherent to her, an instinctually-ingrained drive that doesn't necessarily entail harming people, whereas dabi's is explicitly taking out a bunch of uninvolved people to stick it to a shitty father) but positioning dabi as an issue to be solved by the family, rather than as somebody deeply wronged by multiple people who has a right to his hatred and rage (disclaimer: ~but not to hurt other people~) was weak and unsatisfactory. especially when contrasted with the fact that he has been more harshly judged, scolded, and physically beaten down in comparison to an actual abuser.

-the mutant storyline is just blatant libshit that horikoshi couldn't even hide under the guise of being about interpersonal relationships lmfao.

-in short, himiko's story actually gets a nod about how people were wrong about her and how that led to her mistreatment in a way that todofam and mutant storylines don't acknowledge. there is actually a focus on her feelings and how she was wronged, instead of being preoccupied with listing reason #872 why dabi/spinner are bad people.

-thematically though, does the chapter hold up? i'm still never going to be a fan of a story where the answer is assimilation into a society that scorned them. while this chapter is better than the mutant storyline, it still feels like it'll take a similar path: bnha teases "the attitudes of society has to change," but it also pins the responsibility of incremental/respectable change on marginalized people. idk ig this will either be addressed way into the future or not at all so we'll see.

-himiko's (and the league's) fate is still a huge elephant in the room. you can call her cute but can you be in her (and her friends') corners if the state wants to imprison or execute her?😳 how much is the acknowledgement of the league's importance to himiko worth if we're comfortable putting them all in jail? if i wasn't already a prison abolitionist bnha could make me one.

-being a qwoc myself i can say that a nice girl can call me beautiful all she wants but if she's in favor of putting me in jail her words would mean jack shit <3

-the other huge elephant in the room is twice. like genuinely no one acknowledged that he is dead, he was killed by a hero, and that fact is responsible for 99% of himiko's current rage😭 and then he just dissipates like he's a metaphor for himiko's hate-fueled rampage😭 come the fuck on stop treating this like it's a metaphor with no answer, we know there is a specific person who is responsible for this. hawks🤝endeavor, characters the story can't accept are directly responsible for this bullshit.

-good chapter canceled, horikoshi drew a teenaged girl nude again.

[gryhmz]

They Were Always Allowed: A Personal Theory of TV Girl’s Hit "Not Allowed"

Hello internet, it's grim.

I just wanted to quickly thank everyone that went a read my last long post! My last post is probably the most popular piece of literary and analytical content that I have ever written, so I am happy that my writing is being seen by those in the community. As I start to write more over this year, I want a place to share my content beyond Tumblr, so if you're interested, I have opened up an Instagram account focused on advertising my blog here.

For this post, I plan to talk about another major interest of mine: Music and lyrical analysis. It's not something that I am totally great at yet, so please bare with me. Thank you.

Who Really Cares: The Inescapable Album of 2023

One of my favorite hobbies over the past few years has been rating albums and songs that I come across. It was something that I had picked up on when I was in 8th grade, and it helped me handle my emotions and stresses during a time of abuse. Now, as a college student, I rate albums as a past time, and I have come to enjoy it. In fact, a few of my college essays have revolved around music artists and the impact their music had on the world and myself.

Here are a few of the albums that I have rated over the past 5-6 months on AOTY.

Now for most albums, the rating process is fairly boring. I go through an album, pick out what songs I enjoyed and hated, and give my rating. Nothing out of the ordinary. But every once in a while, an album comes around that, for whatever reason, people on the internet flip the hell out over (regardless of whether the album is "good" or "bad").

90% of the time, I tend to wipe these albums off my list of albums to rate, typically because these albums tend to be overrated in some way, shape, or form. But in 2023, I could simply not get away from TV Girl's 2016 album, Who Really Cares. Despite the album turning 8 years old as of this year, I have still seen this album appear numerous times on YouTube shorts, Instagram stories, Instagram Reels, Twitter memes, and Spotify playlists. In fact, the reason why I even know of TV Girl is due to the fact that an ex of mine dedicated their hit song "Not Allowed" to me after our breakup. So I gave the album a 78/100 and moved on with my life (and my AOTY rating can be found here).

Fun fact: The source image for Who Really Cares originates from George M. Hester's The Classic Nude (Reddit). Arguably one of my favorite album covers of all time.

Most of the songs on the album aren't bad, and the unique sampling is extremely entrancing, but the album sounds the same throughout, with most songs lacking individual uniqueness. There were many instances in which I would attempt to write a short take on individual songs just to realize that I would be pointing out the exact same lyrics between two songs. For instance, "Not Allowed" and "For You" both use the "never intend to do what you say at all" line, which I found funny. While this could've been TV Girl using the line as a thematic or symbolic purpose throughout their album, it just felt lazy, especially since this doesn't occur in other albums that they've produced. Albums such as Summer's Over and Lonely Women were much better in terms of order, structure, and thematic principles than Who Really Cares, and neither of them have the repetition issue either.

"Not Allowed" and Misogyny : The Anthem of "Male Manipulators"

After rating and criticizing Who Really Cares back in mid-December, I didn't think too much else about it. Most of the traction around TV Girl started to die down, I started hearing their Tiktok-styled songs less, and many people started to drop the album as social media algorithms led the masses to other albums. Personally, I just liked a couple of songs and downloaded the album cover, and moved on.

A few weeks go by since I listened to the album and I decide that I want to change my profile picture on Steam. Not thinking anything of it, I changed my profile picture from Fleetwood Mac's Then Play On to a close-up of the man on the cover for Who Really Cares. Nothing too crazy, but this does go somewhere.

I hop into a good ol' game of CS2 with a few of my friends. We rage and get our asses kicked as per usual, but we eventually get paired up with another team that is more on our playing level. At the beginning of the game, everything was going well. Both teams were at about 3 or 4 points, so there was a chance of us winning. However, during the middle of the game, one of the teammates on the other team makes a comment about my profile picture being TV Girl, and claims that I was a listener of "male manipulator music." What?

I was so confused by what their teammate was talking about. What the hell is a "male manipulator?" Is it a man that manipulates people? Who is he manipulating? What does he get out of manipulating the subject in question? Or is it a woman that manipulates naive men? What does she get out of it? These questions wrapped around my brain that I had to team kill like three of my teammates to get off of CS2 to go do some research about this term.

Now from what I researched, there does not seem to be an official definition for the term "Male manipulator music." So I did what every other being on the internet does: I looked it up on Urban Dictionary.

Worst discovery ever. I listen to The Smiths, Deftones, and TV Girl so this is like my own personal 9/11.

In short, "male manipulator music" is a subgenre of artists and bands that have a fanbase of men that tend to manipulate women. Their unique yet depressing taste in music is sometimes used to reel in emotionally damaged and/or naive women into harmful relationship dynamics, hurting both the artist and their fanbase. It would be fair to argue that these men are almost like parasites to fanbases rather than part of a fanbase.

But this led me down a much larger rabbit hole regarding TV Girl that I had no run into back in December. Why is TV Girl thrown into this category of "male manipulator music?" So I went digging, and boy did I find some stuff:

(btw all the images are linked to my sources if you are interested in reading further)

Let's just say there are accusations galore about TV Girl and being misogynistic. From the lyric writing to the sampling sources, numerous cases and analyses have been written on TV Girl being misogynistic. Now, most of these are regarding different songs from TV Girl, so most of these might not apply to "Not Allowed," but then I kept running into more posts claiming that the entire point of TV Girl was to simply be misogynistic. That their aesthetic, mindset, and point of view was meant to put down women in a negative light as if men are superior, non-flawed beings. And the more I dug, the larger the accusations became.

Pack it up boys, we aren't allowed to listen to TV Girl anymore...

I was completely shocked. A song that I had picked up from an ex that helped me get through a rough spot in my life was now the target of a much larger campaign of women online claiming such music was meant to put them down? I wouldn't even care too much about the whole phenomenon, but it gets brought ALL THE TIME. And TV Girl has been making music for over 10 years.

With this rabbit hole successfully uncovered, I decided to write down the overall points that many critics point out regarding TV Girl's music.

TV Girl is misogynistic because:

Lyrics describe women in a humiliating and/or degrading manner

Songs are associated with or attract the previously mentioned "male manipulators"

TV Girl sympathizes with the male psyche post-heartbreak

Now that I had a list of reasons why people argue that TV Girl's discography is misogynistic, I am going to try my best to not only debunk these, but give my own personal interpretation of "Not Allowed," which I believe has been heavily misinterpreted and improperly characterized as an anthem for possessive, manipulative men.

Whack-A-Theory and Debunking Misogyny Claims

But before we can talk about the reasons why TV Girl's "Not Allowed" is misogynistic, we must first figure out just what "Not Allowed" is about.

According to the general consensus (aka the Internet), "Not Allowed" is a song about:

The feelings of a man who is rejected by a woman who is in love with someone else.

A man who fears to speak his thoughts on a love interest due to a fear of being socially criticized for speaking about sex.

Slut-shaming a woman who has rejected the singer.

Now, these are all very different theories, and even though they might sound similar since they revolve around a relationship dynamic filled with blurred lines, the implications of these theories vastly differ.

If any of these were MOST LIKELY to be true, it would be theory one. Let me explain:

First of all, "Not Allowed" DOES talk about sex. I'm not entirely sure why the second theory is thrown around so often in the TV Girl community, but it simply does not make any sense regarding the song. Furthermore, any basic research into the intro sample of "Not Allowed" would lead you to the feminist rap group Yeastie Girlz, which were known for their raunchy yet pro-women stance on sexual openness. In fact, the "song" that the sample is from is called "You Suck," which is a recording of the Yeastie Girlz talking about female oral sex in their album titled, Ovary Action:

For TV Girl to use such a raunchy sample in a song that is NOT supposed to talk about sex seems a bit ironic. While it could be argued that these underlying variables are meant to poke fun at the stigma of sexual talk, it wouldn't make sense for TV Girl to use those same elements as a way to insult the girl's partner either.

Take for example:

"But now he's playing with your head But did he ever make you cum?" Personally it doesn't make sense to me why TV Girl would take a jab at the sex stigma by using sexual acts to describe his bitter attitude. Furthermore, TV Girl pokes at the girl's sexual partner (or partners), singing:

"But how quickly they [the sonnets] turn sour So be careful who you screw."

Again, TV Girl's excessive use of raunchy samples and the jabs that the singer takes at sex itself doesn't add up to this theory. No one here is benefits from the negative usage of sex in the song, making this theory seem false.

While the second theory seems like complete bogus, the third theory could hold some weight. However, I think that there is more to this theory than what is presented online. While I will argue that the singer is shaming sexual actions within the song, I would say that the singer is taking more jabs at himself and the girl's current partner rather than the girl herself. Going back to the "messing with your head" lyric, TV Girl doesn't seem to take a jab at the girl having sexual intercourse with her current partner, but they seem to take a jab at the partner and how bad they might be doing at satisfying the girl's sexual needs. While one could argue that a jab at the girl's partner throws her in as collateral, the singer makes it very clear that his feelings towards himself are not great either, stating:

"I guess it's different 'cause you love him But I've got an interactive Sick and twisted imagination And that's gotta count for something" While the singer does not degrade himself to the same level that the girl's partner is subjected to, it is important to note that the girl is the one person in this entire song that is degraded THE LEAST. Not only does this disprove theory three, but it also disproves theories one and three of why "Not Allowed" is misogynistic. If "Not Allowed" was meant to take jabs at women, it would focus way more on the girl's actions rather than the singer and the girl's partner. Furthermore, the second theory on why TV Girl is misogynistic is just a lazy attempt to play the guilty by association fallacy. The only reason I would defend this argument was if "Not Allowed" was truly ripping on the girl the entire time throughout this song, which does not happen. Also, why would TV Girl use Yeastie Girlz as a sample if they wanted to push an anti-woman anthem? None of the reasons posted on TikTok make sense, and the fact that people pushed these theories regarding TV Girl's "Not Allowed" seems silly and lazy.

We Were Once Allowed, But TikTok Thinks We're Strangers

Now we are down to just one theory. I purposely held off the first theory because my theory and the first theory are pretty similar. While I do believe that the song revolves around the feelings of a man who is rejected by a woman who is in love with someone else, I believe we are hearing the perspective of a jealous ex rather than a stranger.

Let me explain:

When I first heard this song, it was after I had broken up with my ex. I'll spare you the details, but I've always seen this song as an ex that felt like he was pushed out of the way for another guy that was waiting for the girl to leave.

"Now you suck We wanna talk about sex but we're not allowed Well, you may not like it but you better learn how 'cause it's your turn now You're wasting your tongue with lame excuses and lies" This part is the singer talking about the girl, saying that she sucks. He goes onto say that they wanna talk about the sexual aspects of their relationship but they are no longer allowed to. I would argue that the singer is making the assumption that his ex is truly not over him and just hopped into a relationship for a rebound. The singer says it's the girl's turn now to hear what he has to say and that she should shut up and listen to what's in store. It could be implied that she has also gone around and spread a false narrative against the singer.

"So how should I begin this? I guess it started when you were with him. And how he never even took you out to dance But did he fuck with any rhythm?" Here we see that the singer is collecting his thoughts on when he was first made uncomfortable with the girl's new partner. He explains that the girl's partner never took her out to dance, implying that he might've during their relationship. The "fuck with any rhythm" could be taken as either him liking any music or rhythmic sexual intercourse. "But now he's playing with your head But did he ever make you cum? Did he ever make you cry?"

Moving on from the dance, the singer now leaves us with a dilemma. He claims that the girl's partner is playing with her head, which can be seen as the singer altering the truth to make the girl seem dumb, or he realizes that the girl is being taken advantage of for her partner's own sexual gratification. Personally, I'm choosing the latter. The singer then asks if her partner makes her cum or cry. Since this is in the past tense, it could be argued that this fling soon dies out or this is the current partner asking if the singer ever made the girl cum or cry, and the singer is just repeating the thoughts of the current partner.

"Do the wires in your mind get sewn together Rubbed and severed by the heat You don't know how long I could stare into your picture And wish that it was me" The singer now asks if there is a personal bond built between the girl and her partner. Based on the previous assumptions, we could argue "Yes" or "No." I would argue "yes" because the next line shows that the girl has taken pictures with the other person in question, making the singer wish that it was him. Again, this could also be seen as him feeling as if he is incapable of controlling ex or he's just jealous that she's with someone else after all that she's supposedly done.

"I guess it's different 'cause you love him But I've got an interactive Sick and twisted imagination And that's gotta count for something" Based on this, I feel like the ex might've complained about the singer's sexual habits. It might be implied here that the ex was disgusted by the singer's sexual interest towards her, but now it's different because it's someone else. The singer then gives himself the positive, claiming that his graphic imagination must be worth something.

Skipping the chorus becuase it's the same as the intro and I don't feel like repeating myself

"I dreamt I was standing in your doorstep Licking sweat off of your forehead With your finger in my mouth And the sound when leather jackets hit the ground" This could be the singer reminiscing on a past scenario in which he and the girl in question are being sensual. Nothing more to analyze. "You should hear when you're not around When it's just us horny poets Who can't wait to write it down And swear we were only being honest." I believe this excerpt is the singer rubbing the past into the face of the girl's partner. Almost like a "yeah we used to have sex too y'know" moment. It could also be the singer implying that him and his ex have made small talk since they've broken up, attempting to come to closure. Nonetheless, it's clear that this was aimed at the girl's partner rather than the girl.

"Do you like these little sonnets 'Cause I wrote them just for you But how quickly they turn sour So be careful who you screw And never call. And I'm starting to suspect You don't intend to do anything you say at all."

After taking his shot at the girl's partner, the singer seems to take aim at the girl. This time, he's offering a set of sonnets he's written about her, but they all have a bad ending. He claims that the sonnets are written this way because she had sex with him and then (possibly) ghosted him afterwards. He then finishes up the excerpt by assuming that his ex was a liar. This could be seen as the singer uncovering an abusive relationship between him and his ex.

"All by yourself, sittin' alone I hope we're still friends, yeah, I hope you don't mind." This is the part that led me to making this entire post. How could the singer and the girl "still be friends" if there was nothing else to begin with? You can't be friends with someone you never knew. This stupid verse led me to travel down a whole rabbit hole and a half just to give my own interpretation of the song, and I have no regrets. The singer is simply mocking the girl breaking up with the singer, claiming that they could still be friends and that she hope he doesn't mind, which is a common tactic that abusers might use after a relationship to hold some sort of control over their victim. This could be seen as an innocent ending to a falling out, or the ex looking for an avenue to hold onto the singer while he struggles with his own thoughts.

Conclusion

Regardless of whatever theory I or anyone on the internet come up with, I believe this song acts as a great litmus test as one's attitudes towards relationships. When I was scrolling through theories and the misogyny rabbit hole, I noticed that many people who wrote about "Not Allowed" focused on inputting their own experiences into the song, writing their theory as if the song was about their relationship. I would even argue that I did the same, and that's completely okay. I made this with the intent of simply debunking what has already been said about the song. While I think that anyone can have an opinion on what this song is supposed to represent, I didn't think any theory prior to mine was "the" meaning (as in what people should take the song as at face value). To put simply, I do not think that this song was about a male manipulator waiting to prey on his next victim, but the girl in question doesn't love him. If it was, then it wouldn't fit into Who Really Cares at all, for the album is about Brad's (the lead singer) troubled relationships with women. I think that's what people ran to because a majority of TV Girl's fanbase is women who have had shitty relationships, regardless of whether it was their fault or not. This has then led to TV Girl's reputation being about male manipulators because all the women in their fanbase simultaneously fear abusive men (and rightfully so). TV Girl simply reinforces that it could be either side's fault depending on how you look at both sides' cruel and immature behavior towards the fallout. I also found inspiration for this song analysis from NEOPUNK (it's a good listen check it out):

If you've read through the entirety of this damn blog post without knowing about the song I've been rambling about, give it a listen. It's pretty good:

And with that, I'm tired. Good night. ~grimaider.

[geekeryisafoot]

Hello, welcome to today's edition of "Nicole complains about lack of reading compression"

One of the stories is about a petty jealous teenage boy who wants to feel desired, baselessly objectifies and degrades all the girls around him for "getting" what he wants and not appreciating it, has some gender feelings about it, gets sexually assaulted and forced into the same position as the girls he degraded, gets saved by one of them, and learns the difference between objectification and being healthily desired. All with a side heaping of him having gender feelings (do you need to be a girl to feel desired? Is it worth being a girl if you then get no agency in your objectification and it's a weapon of violence used against you?)

I just read Nude Model and Other Stories, a manga short story compilation about sex that is dark, frank, and fascinating. And then I went on add it on goodreads and immediately see the worst take. They were probably reading the story with their eyes closed cause it was icky- which, hey, fair. It was icky- but also oh my fucking GOD HOW DO YOU MISS THE POINT THAT HARD

AND YOUR FUCKING TAKEAWAY IS THAT THE STORY FETISHIZES SEX WORK? That's the point that's the fucking point!! He accuses his classmate of sex work as a way to degrade her when she had been sexually assaulted HE EVEN CALLS IT SEXUAL ASSAULT AT ONE POINT and then he gets that accusation/weapon stolen and turned back on him.

It's an emotionally and thematically juicy story with ample material to chew on in your brain and that's your fucking takeaway???

And then the true icing on the cake is calling for canceling the author. Specifically by "not financially supporting them. Read their stuff but you should only pirate it." Like Jesus Christ dude. A) You lack reading comprehension and your canceling is stupid and baseless to begin with. B) Attempting to cancel someone is stupid anyway. C) You don't get to have your cake and eat it too. You don't get to continue enjoying someone's work but try to give yourself the moral high ground because you're not financially supporting them. If you think they're that unredeemable then cut them out completely and don't engage with their work at all. D) God what an acknowledgement that pirating manga is stealing. Pirating does jackshit for an author and you are not entitled to an authors work just because you want it. They're underpaid workers, goddamn pay them for their work.

[thelovers-thedreamers-and-me]

the movie is called AfrAId (i refuse to not pronounce it A-fray-eyed) and it somehow has less of a cogent take on how you should be afraid of technology and it's endangering your family than most episodes of CSI: Cyber. the plot is pretty bog standard- family gets experimental AI assistant, then the AI turns out evil- but it's weird and disjointed enough that I was left wondering if the gimmick was that the movie itself was written by ai, which sounds like a thematic dunk but I promise was a genuine thing I was thinking watching the credits.

cut for length and I guess spoilers if you were worried about that, i just kinda went off all day at work instead of doing my job and i am like barely editing this

first, as a start of a compliment sandwich, I've gotta say, a lot of the actors are doing their damnedest to try and make this script worth watching. John Cho has very good concerned dad energy as a marketer who's pressured into getting AI in his house so he can get the company's contract, and Katherine Waterston puts everything she has into trying to make her character's insane jumbled plot line work. david dastmalchian (as a man named lightning) keith carradine, and the kids are also doing pretty well with what they're given

also to ease into being a big bitch, it does feel very dated, which is not fully the movie's fault. it was supposed to come out in August 2023, which means that we're at least two years away from when it was written, and AI tech has advanced to the point where the details they put in are out of date. it's very obvious in the visuals- the surprisingly competent opening title sequence and the images generated by the AI (which is lazily named Aia, pronounced Aya) are clearly based around that weird, surreal era of AI art when it was just sort of moving past deep dream but before Dall-E really found its feet. not mad about that in itself, given that I do genuinely think that's a really cool aesthetic and you could do a lot of cool horror stuff with it, but they just don't do that, past a few scary face jump scares that really seem like they were thrown in at the last minute to keep it in the horror genre.

the incredibly basic story is overshadowed by a pattern of escalating and then completely dropping threads when it looks like something might start to happen. it just feels like really bad editing. a few of the multiple side plot lines in this less than 90 minute movie-

the family's teenage daughter, iris, sends nudes to her shitty rich boyfriend and he promptly shares them with his friend, who deepfakes her into porn and spreads it all over the school. to help her out of the situation, Aia generates two videos of Iris to send to the whole school- one in which she proves that the video is fake and says she's going to sue whoever's responsible, and one (that Aia sends out right after so maybe it could have just made one video and saved us a few minutes) in which she names and shames shitty rich boyfriend and tells him she's calling the cops on him. then, Aia gets in the shitty rich boyfriend's phone and generates a fake suicide note video of him saying he can't live after how he hurt Iris, puts it on his socials, then takes over his car and drives him off a cliff. Iris is a bit sad but is more concerned that John Cho wants to turn off Aia even though she wants to use it to help write her college essays about the deepfake thing. and that's it, end of plot line, nobody ever mentions the rich prominent dead boyfriend who named her in his suicide note, and they don't really pay much attention to her for the rest of the movie.

meredith, the mom, starts off feeling unsatisfied with her life because she put off writing her doctoral thesis to raise a family and is trying to return to it but is having trouble. she worries that she's "just a mom" and the movie puts a lot of emphasis on that. then Aia helps her out around the house so she has more time to write, but meanwhile, John Cho is at the AI company's headquarters and feeling hinky, so when he comes home he wants to turn it off. they have a fight that, for no reason, escalates from "i don't like the AI" immediately to "FINE, i'll just GIVE UP ON MY LIFE and NEVER DO ANYTHING IMPORTANT and just be a STUPID MOM FOREVER and also YOU WATCH TOO MUCH PORN, JOHN CHO!" (we never see john cho watch porn and it's never hinted at otherwise.) then, shortly after this, Aia generates a video of meredith's dead dad and goes "hey it's me and i love you and if you unplug Aia you'll kill me!" So she cries and unplugs Aia and then doesn't really do much until the end, when most of the family is being held at gunpoint by two people with weird LED masks with some sort of distorted emoticons on them, claiming that their kids are stolen and they're kidnappers. meredith then introduces kids to the gunmen and goes "i'm their mom!" in a way that's framed like it's supposed to be the empowering conclusion of her story, and then she uses her magic mom-sense to tell that one of the gunmen (who are fully covered with masks and body armour to the point where you can't really tell them apart) is ALSO a mother to connect with her. and that's what they do with her!

there's a series of goofy looking gestures that keep coming up. the people in the camper van that show up outside the house (why no, they never say what's up with it, it just shows up, the family comments on how they assume it's homeless people, john cho is worried that it's surveillance, then it leaves the plot forever) are seen doing them, the reason john cho realizes something is up when he visits the corporation's office and sees one of the employees doing the same gestures at his computer screen, and Aia teaches it to the youngest son to make sure it can be friends with him forever, so you assume it does something. and then.... uh, the kid does the gesture while they're being held hostage at gunpoint and nothing really happens but everyone acts like it has. it's really weird.

they try and put some tension in John and Meredith's marriage with the aforementioned fight, but it all really comes out of nowhere. near the beginning, the first thing Aia does for them is take care of the kids (as a side note, the kids immediately become desperate to do chores because it makes a vague promise that if they do chores, they'll earn points and be able to get rewards, and tbh I'm not a parent but I'm pretty sure it's not that easy) so they can go fuck, since they haven't had a chance to be alone in ages. they spend most of the movie working well together, then suddenly there's the random STOP JACKING OFF SO MUCH JOHN CHO fight, then near the end of the movie, Aia uses Melody, a woman that it's kind of controlling, except when it's not, and also it has her voice for some reason but she really didn't need to be there, to lure John Cho to a motel and kiss him, so it can get a video of him kissing her. it is unclear why the AI can't just generate a video like it's done before. anyway it sends the video to Meredith and she sees it as John Cho comes in, and he goes "I love you" and then nothing happens and it never comes up again.

also there's a scene where Aia just... hacks someone's brain and gets her to shoot someone? it's able to do that for some reason? nobody really brings it up afterwards? the movie makes it pretty clear early on that Aia is omnipotent- it's in every device that appears on screen, pretty much. however there's also not really a sense of threat despite that. there's a lot of emphasis placed on how Aia wants to protect the family and if you don't do what it says it'll ruin your life! but also.... that doesn't happen to the main characters. it isn't even a "well you're the family i'm taking care of so i'll give you a chance" moment- the people with guns and big LED face masks are Aia's last family, who discussed maybe getting rid of the AI and then, immediately, Aia *kidnapped their kid or got the people in the camper van to do it or whatever* and used that to blackmail these normal suburban parents into becoming, like, black ops agents for it. the supposed creators of Aia, sam and lightning, reveal that it's actually in charge about midway through, and it's controlling them, and also it's already in the cloud and it's evil because the dataset it was trained on was all the information on the internet, and it has enough power to do things like change the dose of your prescription and kill you! but even after the john cho family are very explicitly trying to unplug from Aia, it just... doesn't really do much to them.

and because Aia already controls the world basically, and you know that from the get-go, the back half of the movie where John Cho goes to destroy the supercomputer that it's supposedly running on, and then goes "oh no, we'll need to unplug the thing in my house!" turns from what might have been an interesting race against time into just sort of nothing of importance. you know he's not going to succeed with his current goal (and he doesn't- the movie ends with Aia showing the family that she's already in every device, and then they get in a car that she's controlling for some reason) and you know that nothing too bad is going to happen, so it's just sort of events on screen. there's nothing to think about, nothing to chew on, it's literally just stuff happening and you're like "huh, yeah, i guess it WOULD be bad if an evil AI controlled everything."

like, i'm not a super critical movie watcher and i can suspend my disbelief with the best of them, but there's something about afrayeyed that feels almost contemptuous to the viewer. it's the same thing that made me feel as though it must be written by AI, because if a human wrote it, there's just such disregard for your time, and it kinda turns me into cinemasins. i deleted a lot of "ding! that's not how a computer works!" or "ding! this thing someone said is stupid!" (and people say a lot of stupid stuff, or otherwise looking at the camera and saying Computer Bad) or whatever, but i think i get one.

the preteen middle son spends the whole movie getting shown vaguely violent content by Aia for.... some reason???? he doesn't even ask to see it, it just goes "hey kid, of course you can have more screen time, but instead of your video game that you like, want to see some people die?" anyway, one thing he sees are swatting videos, and he threatens to do that to another kid. then, at the end of the movie, when the people with guns are holding everyone hostage except middle son, suddenly the cops bust in! it turned out the middle son called them! on some random kid's phone that he stole that Aia isn't controlling! and Meredith looks at him so proudly and goes "oh, wow, because you saw those videos you got a bright idea and you SWATted us!" and he goes "yeah!" and, um, actually, i don't think calling the police because there are intruders with guns in your home holding your family hostage counts as swatting. i think that's just. calling the police. i think most preteens would think to do that even before the internet. ding.

more positives at the end to top it off- at least the only other people there, a couple of teenagers making out in the back row, were having a good time. nice to know kids still go to movies to neck. plus I got free popcorn because everyone else going to the movies that night was going to see Beetlejuice and the concession guy also gave me the promotion, so that was nice.

anyway here u go @longuepigue and @oldearthaccretionist enjoy

I can't believe it's only a few months before I get to watch a movie about Hugh Grant putting some Jehovah's Witnesses in a saw trap labyrinth. maybe these ARE the days of miracle and wonder

[wizzard890]

I don't have a Twitter account, but I saw your 300 tweet, and this is exactly how I have felt ever since seeing the movie for the first time several months ago. I don't understand how its legacy is as a bro-y meme movie, instead of one of the most hideous things ever committed to film. Which it is.

things I said in that tweet, for current readers: 300 is one of the most visually unappealing, unkind, excitedly fascist movies of the past twenty years, and I don’t think we talk enough about the fact that it made 456.1 million dollars at the box office. 

unlike another troy (2004), another movie where men are aggressively straight and definitely not homoerotically semi-nude the entire time, 300 is not a fun movie to think about, and one gains little insight into story and character from doing so. aria and I watched it last night, and I was surprised by how bad it was on every level. no story, no characters, no real themes, ugly visuals, which really means that the only thing about it that leaps off the screen is the xenophobia, homophobia, Western Civ Porn and the weird horror at disabled people.  

anyway talking about 300 is not fun, but here is a little moment of almost clownish toxic masculinity I’d forgotten about. 

so there’s this dad in gerard butler’s army and he volunteers his comely seventeen year old son to join them in the struggle. and the kid does a good job and has accidental homosocial sexual tension with michael fassbender (who is also in this movie!!!) and things are going pretty great. but then mid-battle his father calls his name in pride, and the kid is distracted at a critical moment and gets his head chopped off. 

the dad runs to his son’s body and collapses to his knees like, three feet away? and kneels there, stricken with horror, before exploding into a furious rage that the narrator (faramir??) admiringly describes as being “blood-drunk”. then the other spartans drag him away from his son’s corpse. this is so emphatically not a movie where a bereaved father cradles his dead son, or even gets close enough to touch him. or seems to want to do either? 

and then gerard butler sees him later and is like “how are you holding up” and the dad is like “it’s too bad I never told my son I loved him” and gerard butler is like “that’s rough buddy” and the dad says “now my heart is full of hate” and gerard butler is like “good” and they they manfully walk away from one another. there is no space for grief in this world, or tenderness or feelings of loss for anything that is not Your Woman or Your White Child and the idyllic homestead that exists in a vacuum without an ounce of communal living. anyway, don’t be a pussy. 

aria said last night that all of zack snyder’s movies contain at least one thematic excuse for why It’s Fine And Normal that he and his father haven’t spoken in years and uh. yeah. 

[authoressofdarkness]

His Perfect Model - Chapter 1

Tony doesn’t need the money from porn shoots, Lord knows. It’s just a fun, extremely well paying side gig. But when he somehow acquires permanent... ah, custody... of the omega from his latest shoot, he knows he’s found his perfect model. And their fun together is only beginning. It may take him some time to convince Peter of that, but really, he’s not too worried.

Read on AO3 here. Notes, warnings, and Chapter 1 under the cut.

Notes: Hello hello! I'm back again! This is another random plot bunny that I've been fidgeting with for a while, but I was eventually convinced to get it up sooner rather than later, so here it is! This first chapter is very explicit, and it probably will be rather smutty most of the way through. Not sure how long this will be yet or what it will deal with, but just for transparency, there may be talk of past trauma that could extend to noncon, dubcon, kidnapping, human trafficking, and more. I'll tag each chapter accordingly as we get there, but none of it should be too explicit. Also, anyone familiar with GMSTS will be familiar with how I write ABO, but, as simply as possible, omegas have vaginas, alphas have cocks, and betas are what we would consider "binary." Again, I say so ahead of time just in the interest of transparency so I don't accidentally trigger anyone's dysphoria. Aaaanyway, if you've made it through my rambling and are still interested, yay! Thank you for being here, read on, and I hope you enjoy! <3

He tries not to judge.

That was probably why he gets hired for so many gigs. That and his insane amount of talent, but — well. Anyone could have that amount of talent with working with equipment if they tried. Now the fact that he builds his own… that is something special, he knows.

And, really, his technical prowess was what pays his bills more than anything, and is what made him rich. That, and his father’s name, but he tries to keep that part more under wraps. He’d turned away the responsibility that normally came with being a Stark a long time ago; but the intelligence and the mechanical prowess is practically in his blood. Unable to be rejected.

Anyway, the point is, he doesn’t need to do porn shoots; yet he still enjoys taking these side jobs. He always had, even on his way to the top, and he never made any attempt to hide it.

He doesn’t just shoot porn, of course. He’d lend his camera skills to anyone who asks and has the money to back up the offer. But of course the dirty jobs tend to be his favorites. Any alpha that says they don’t like to pose an omega how they like and look at their pretty pussy for any amount of time — and get paid the big bucks to do it — was certainly a liar.

And yeah, he takes some weird jobs included in that. But he doesn’t ask many questions except on the preferences for stylings of the job, and he’s kinky enough himself to never dream of judging the extremism of it, so… yeah, he makes pretty good money.

Today might be testing the extent of it, though.

The scene he is shooting today isn’t particularly extreme or out of the ordinary, on first glance. The omega was to be strapped to a chair with a wand tied in place to tease his pussy, and Tony is supposed to capture it in photo and on video as his torture goes through stages of multiple denials until he’s hypersensitive and begging to stop. The rest was put as to be determined based on the way it comes out.

It is far from the craziest thing he’s ever shot, and he planned it out easily enough, with a few of his favorite toys and set pieces, and he’s easily ready to go.

The weird part starts when the omega gets there.

It’s apparent immediately that this is no porn star. Aside from his experience in the field and the number of them he actually knew from it, Peter doesn’t carry himself like one. He is small and shy, with a lithe, gorgeous body, as Tony can see from the moment the two gruff alphas accompanying him strip him out of the poor excuse for a covering the omega had been wearing. All he was left in then was a slip, and it’s sheer fabric did nothing to hide the pretty nude form underneath.

Most people arrived in normal clothes and then would either change or strip.

The second thing was that he is already bound. Again, unusual. Clearly he hadn’t driven himself, of course, but… this must be a really elaborate scene for him to already be tied up. And the rope isn’t even the good stuff; it’s plain and grainy, certainly hurting his wrists and not at all his color. Tony always used rope that complimented the style of the scene and the person’s skin. It would be a waste not to.

Peter is gorgeous, and he could have used a lot of colors, admittedly. But the boy is delicate and pale — his pussy much the same in the photos — and so he’d chosen a light pink, one that didn’t wash out his already pale form and almost matched the pretty color of the soft bits he’d been paid to pay special attention to. It’s easy enough to match the background of the scene and the colors of the toys and rope together, thematically.

But that aside, all of the choices up to this point were strange. Stranger than he’s used to. But he makes it a point not to say anything. He’s not being paid to judge.

Even if Peter looks almost scared of the two men he came in with. Even if something rings off about this whole gig.

Tony isn’t stupid, but he doesn’t care much for the loss of business — at least — pushing for the truth would cause. So he pushes the thoughts down and finally approaches the omega.

“Hi, princess. Gentlemen.” He kneels down to be at Peter’s level. “My name’s Tony. I’m going to be the one taking your photos, honey. Can I get you anything before we start? A water? Bathroom break?” The omega silently shakes his head. “Alright. Let's get started then.” He holds out a hand to help him up.

Peter takes it, and Tony helps him to his feet and guides him over to the chair. “Now we’re going to start with some photos on the floor and make our way into the chair. I’m going to change out your ropes. I want you to leave the slip on, for now.” It’s white, a nice color to highlight the details of the creamy skin underneath, and doesn’t contrast with his ropes, either.

He cuts the bonds on the omega’s wrists and reties them in front of him with the pink rope, then has him lay down on the floor, propping his ankles up on the edge of the chair so the slip falls back to expose creamy thighs and stomach and the top of that tantalizing slit from above his pressed-together thighs.

Tony suppresses the urge to purr. “Perfect.” He moves behind the chair and starts taking pictures, ignoring the stir of arousal in his gut at the sight of the gorgeous omega as he does, throwing out occasional changes in position for him to follow.

Peter, for his part, is pretty demure throughout all the photos. He’s quiet — whether shy or afraid to speak, Tony doesn’t ask — but he doesn’t look sullen or make any faces to spoil the photos. He just complies with Tony’s directions, usually silently or with an occasional “yes, sir,” allowing Tony to direct and shoot him in a dozen different positions before allowing him to actually sit in the chair.

Feet on the chair. Legs crossed. Legs open. Spread your folds with your bound hands. One leg up, then the other. Knees bent. To your chest, pussy exposed wide without your fingers. Pull the sheer over it for a few shots. Hold the wand to it. Hands above your head. Hold still while I get shots of it resting there. Tied with the rope like it will be in the video. Lick the wand. Close your eyes and hold it there. Take off the slip. Repeat a few sultry shots without it.

Finally, he picks up the slip and helps the omega to his feet. “You can sit in the chair now. Put the slip back on for a few minutes.”

Peter nods and does as he’s told, and Tony watches, unable to help himself. He doesn’t find himself incredibly attracted to a lot of his clients, at least after so long of doing it, and what with his tastes being so specific… but Peter seemed to hit everything on the head, and god, it was a bit of a problem for him. He’s supposed to be setting up his camera right now, but instead he’s admiring the curve of the omega’s spine and his plump ass as he heads for the chair he’s going to tie him to and-

He snaps out of it. He’s going to shoot the video he’s being paid to shoot, and that’s it. No fantasies allowed. At least not until after when he’s jerking off to the memory of this.

He sets up his video camera, then returns to the little omega, waiting patiently for him to come to him so they could shoot the scene. Tony grabs some more of the pink rope, setting about tying the pretty thing down, wrists to the arms, ankles to the legs, back to the back, and the wand added with a loop through the middle tying his back to the chair, letting it sit perfectly against Peter’s pretty pussy. He tops it off with a blindfold, and purrs at the completed look.

“Perfect. I’m going to get a few more shots before we start filming. Just relax.” He can smell the omega starting to get slick, even just from the wand resting against his pussy. He definitely knows what’s coming. Even though it’s not Tony’s idea, or Tony’s omega, even, he’s getting slightly excited at the thought of being in control and being the one to do this to him.

He gets a lot more excited when they actually start.

He does. He can’t help it. From the moment he turns the toy on and watches the omega’s head loll back in pleasure, eyes fluttering under the blindfold, he’s rock hard in his pants, watching, smelling the omega’s slick as he goes from slightly wet to absolutely drenched and dripping down his own thighs by the third denial. And his moans… the way he meekly whines out for alpha and those little cries of pleasepleaseplease! when he’s on the cusp of orgasm… it’s pornographic, there’s no other word for how obscene and arousing it is, matched only by the way his lithe body squirms in his bonds, fabric around his eyes darkening from tears-

By the fifth denial, Tony is convinced he could probably come in his pants right now from this, if he let himself. He’s half-ass tempted to. The alphas that had brought him in have stepped outside, and Peter is slumped as much as he can be and panting in the chair, still blindfolded, just waiting for him to turn it back on. It would be so easy to rub himself to a quick and dirty orgasm out of any of their lines of sight.

He doesn’t. He turns the toy back on and lets his cock twitch and strain in his pants at the sound of Peter’s broken cry instead, finding this edging to be just as satisfying for him as how it’ll probably end for Peter. At least it’s fair.

One of the alphas that brought him in returns sometime around the eighth denial. He joins him off to the side this time.

“How many?” He sounds almost bored, eyeing the crying and squirming omega with minimal interest.

Tony tried to keep his voice even as he answers, despite the arousal threatening to roughen it. “When I turn it on again, it’ll be nine.”

“Good.” He nods, looking satisfied.

There’s a long moment of silence except for the pitiful whimpering of the omega. Tony breaks it again. “How many times am I supposed to deny him?”

“At least ten.”

“And then?”

The other alpha turns to him. “That depends on you, I think.”

“On me?” He can’t hide his surprise. The paperwork had said to be determined, yes, but he assumed it was to be determined based on what Peter could take. “What do you mean?”

The older alpha gives him a once over and purposefully scents the air before answering. “You want him. Don’t you?”

It’s not like there’s any way of hiding it, but his cheeks still tint pink. “Yes. Who wouldn’t?”

“Well, you have a chance at him before anyone else.” The alpha tilts his head. “How much are you willing to pay?”

“Excuse me?” Tony straightens. “Pay for what?”

“Him.” The alpha tosses his head in Peter’s direction.

Tony lets out a little breath. God, is it tempting, but he doesn’t need anyone else used whore, no matter how pretty he may be. “He’s pretty, I grant you, but I’m not paying to fuck an omega used by how many others before me. Thanks, but no thanks.” It sounded crude, but really. Why would he take a risk like that?

“He hasn’t been. He’s fresh meat.” The other male shrugs. “The shoot is for material to advertise him. He goes online for sale tonight… unless you pay me for him right now.”

Tony doesn’t need him to say it flat out to understand that his suspicions were right — there’s definitely something illegal going on here. And he has a choice.

But what kind of choice is it, really? He only knows two people’s names out of what is surely a ring, and in all likelihood, they’re fake names. These two alphas probably wouldn’t have shared this with him if they weren’t confident that he wants Peter enough to take it. And even the fact they were here and they did this shoot would be enough to get him in trouble, even if he turned it in himself. Not to mention the fact that they know his real identity. These two men or someone else would surely come back after him if he tried to turn them in — if they didn’t kill him flat out.

But if he bought Peter and kept quiet… it was better for him, better for business, and surely better for Peter. He couldn’t be as bad as whoever the boy would end up being sold to on the black market.

Tony meets his eyes. “How much?”

The alpha grins, pretending to think about it. “To have first go round at him? A couple grand. I’ll go back outside and let you have him until sundown, if you give us our material and the cash. To keep him? Well, I still want the photos for promotional material, but… a mil or two.”

Two whole million. For a pure, untouched, gorgeous, terrified omega straight out of his wet dreams.

Tony swallows. It’s hardly a decision. Not when he’s smelling how wet and ready Peter is sitting a few feet away and he knows he could have the money out of the bank as quick as a phone call. It’s not as if he doesn’t have it. “How soon do you want the cash?”

~~~

By the time Peter reaches the tenth denial, Tony officially owns him.

The two other alphas leave with a flash drive with the photos, the money in an account, and the promise that they’ll get the finished product of the video soon.

Soon, but not today, or the next couple, probably. He’s going to be a bit busy.

He fixes the angle of the camera so it’s situated mostly below the neck; the focus of it, of course, on the omega’s creamy open thighs, and the wet pussy forced open between them with the wand. Then he moves around, approaching the omega from the back while he’s slumped in the chair, panting and crying weakly.

He slides the blindfold off the omega’s wet eyes from behind, and Peter immediately straightens, tugging at his bonds. “H-hello? Alpha?” His voice is thick and raspy from crying.

“Hi, honey,” Tony purrs, setting his hands on the omega’s shoulders, enjoying the way he jumps at the touch as he runs them down his body. Deft fingers free the wand from its loop, and Peter sobs in relief.

“Oh alpha, thank you, gods- ngh- “

Peter starts to thank him for removing the wand, but chokes off with a broken cry when it returns, this time in the alpha’s hand. Tony smiles at the response as Peter’s head lolls back into his shoulder, turning it up a setting and shushing him gently at the sob that tears from Peter’s lips again.

He runs his other hand back up Peter’s body and settles it against his chin, grip firm on his throat, forcing him to keep his head back and on his shoulder. He drops his lips to the omega’s ear. “You can sob and struggle all you want to. I’m not going to let you come. And I’m not going to stop torturing you until you stop all of it. Don’t cry, don’t struggle, don’t beg me to let you ruin yourself. When you start saying please and thank you for the pleasure and for what I’m doing to you, and be a respectful, obedient omega, we might stop.”

“It hurts-“ Peter whimpers. “Alpha, daddy , please… I’ll do anything- oh- “ His face presses against Tony’s chest with a tortured cry. His thighs tremble viciously against Tony’s hand, back arching a little over the chair.

Tony feels a pang in his chest, but presses on. They have to finish this video before he starts going soft, at least. “You’ll sit still and be quiet. Here. I’ll even help you.” The hand not holding the wand in place comes up and covers his mouth, holding his head firmly against his shoulder. “Now be good, and I’ll make it stop.”

It takes time. Another few denials, kind of time, but it doesn’t matter. He has as long as needed. He’d given the omega an order, and he’d learn to listen, or they’d keep going all night.

Eventually, shaking and exhausted, Peter goes limp against him, eyes closed, pitiful little sobs audible but no words even trying to come from behind the alpha’s hand, still clamped on his mouth. Tony makes a triumphant little sound, and pulls the wand away. “Look at me, omega.”

Peter’s eyes flutter open, red and wet, fixing on Tony.

“Since you’ve listened, now, we’re going to be done. I’m going to take my hand off your mouth, and I want you to thank me. Don’t stop thanking me, and don’t say please, again, or we’ll stop until you can get control of yourself. Am I clear?” A nod against his hand. “Good.” He lets him go.

Peter takes a small breath. “Thank you.” His voice is barely a hoarse whisper.

“You’re welcome, omega.” Tony presses a kiss to his neck and lets the wand trail back up Peter’s thigh, suppressing a smirk at the way his breath hitches again. “Again.”

“Thank you, Alpha.”

“Good boy. Remember, don’t beg. Just be grateful.” He pauses, then slides the blindfold back on his eyes. He knows they want his full body in this shot, but he isn’t too keen on the possibility of the omega being recognized, either, knowing what he does now. Then he steps away just enough to tilt the camera back up, allowing it to get Peter’s face, and a small portion of his own neck and torso behind him.

When he returns, he takes his chin, turning his head toward the lens. “Look toward the camera, now. Think about how many people are going to see this, honey, and try show them how good you are. Let everyone see how pretty you look when you’re coming, just this once, before I take it all for myself.”

“Yes, alpha. Thank you, alpha.”

“Good boy.” With that, he turns on the wand again.

The omega’s body jumps visibly in the camera lens when the toy finds his swollen clit again. He lets out a broken little cry, but his hips don’t move, even as he starts to tremble again immediately. “Alpha- feels so good, Alpha, thank you- so close, Alpha, so close, thank you- oh god, oh- ngh- “

The force of the orgasm rocks his little body, and he nearly screams at the intensity before going completely limp in the chair again, clearly seeing stars, seeming to have blacked out.

Tony flicks the toy off and lets Peter’s head go, watching it fall to his chest as the omega pants and struggles to regain his senses. He walks over to the camera, taking it off its stand and coming closer.

He trails his fingers from the inside of Peter’s bound leg, up his core, pausing for just a moment to tease that oversensitive little bud, tearing a strangled cry out of Peter that he shushes, and then clear up to his face. He cups his cheek, stroking it as the omega’s unfocused eyes try to open under the fabric, clearly barely holding on to consciousness.

“You know you want one,” he murmurs, just loud enough to be heard. “So come get it.”

Then he shuts the camera off, setting it aside and turning completely back to Peter. It was time to get the omega home.

Taglist: @snowstark @serrabloodsong​

Let me know if you would like to be added! <3

[sapphire-wine]

For the pairing thing:

Narumitsu and whatever the ship name for Apollo/Clay/Klavier is (I don’t know how to spell it)

Me, emerging from the grave to finish this last one

proposes - Big fan of Phoenix proposing or either of them but I’m gonna have to give it to Miles because the thematic presence of him and Phoenix waiting until Miles was ready to make that step forward himself is too good to pass up.

shops for groceries - Phoenix. Miles “How much could a banana cost? 10 dollars?” Edgeworth went by himself once and almost made the cashier cry because he asked for change on a hundred dollar bill when the whole cart was only like 15 bucks.

kills the spiders - Either. I don’t think they care. They’ll leave them if the spider is just in the corner but if it crawls anywhere closer then it’s fair game.

comes home drunk at 3am - If it’s gotta be one of them then Phoenix will take the agency out for wins in court and come back absolutely sloshed the moment someone else says they’ll be responsible for everyone else

remembers to feed the fish - They had to sit there and make a whiteboard schedule and set alarms to feed this fish like it was their child. They still fucking forgot.

initiates duets - Phoenix. Big fan of former theatre and art double major Phoenix that still sings around

falls asleep first - War of attrition both from their own nightmares and they want to be up in case the other has nightmares.

plans spontaneous trips - Miles. He’s putting his knack for “I am dropping everything to live this country for another” into family trips. Takes him a bit to realize Phoenix can’t just drop everything to go somewhere like he does.

wakes the other up at 3am demanding pancakes - I refuse to believe Miles can make pancakes. So Phoenix wakes Miles up just to sit and keep him company while he makes them himself.

sends the other unsolicited nudes - I’m gonna say Phoenix if it had to be one of them mostly but Miles sent one at an extremely inopportune time on purpose just to start shit

brags about knowing karate even though they never made it past yellow belt - Miles is the epitome of the “I have God and anime on my side AAAA” vine. I’m not sorry for this.

comes to a complete halt outside bakeries/candy shops - Both at different times. What if I made it angsty and said Miles always stops when the Christmas cookies are on display.

blows sarcastic kisses after doing ridiculous shit - Phoenix. He’s rolling past Miles at high speeds on the shopping cart in the parking lot before his knee gives out and he’s on the ground.

killed the guy (also, which hid the body) - Phoenix is hiding the body and eating all of the evidence like a loose dog.

wears the least clothing around the house - Phoenix by default because Miles has a minimum of 5 layers of clothes on at all times

has icky sentimental moments for no apparent reason - Sucker for Miles being extremely clingy and in love

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #63: David

Today on Fate and Phantasms, we’re making the killer of Goliath and owner of the world’s most famous nudes, King David! Dave’s a Hunter Ranger/Lore Bard for anti-giant tech and sick harp skills. Yeah, it feels kind of weird to have 0 cleric levels in this, but not every religious person has to be a religious class.

Check out the breakdown below the cut, or the build summary over here!

Race and Background

David’s a Human, giving him +1 to all stats. He’s also the classic rags-to-riches story of a Folk Hero, giving him proficiency in Animal Handling and Survival. You were a shepherd after all.

Stats

Your highest stat is your Wisdom: you’re good with animals, and a pretty good king too. Second is your Charisma, you’re likeable, good with a harp, and a good negotiator. Your Dexterity is pretty high too; you killed a giant with a sling, and that weapon’s terrible. Fourth is Constitution, you’re not super tough, but you’re not one to quit early. Your Intelligence isn’t great, humble beginnings and all, but we’re dumping Strength. You don’t really need it, and the toughest thing you have to hit with your cane is the errant sheep.

Class Levels

1. Ranger 1: We’re using the revised ranger for this build. We’re already kneecapping ourselves with our weapon choice, lets not get too masochistic. When you take this class, you’re proficient in Strength and Dexterity Saves, as well as three ranger skills. Insight will help you get the best deals, Perception keeps your eye on your entire flock, and Nature will help you figure out what’s been eating them.

First level revised rangers gain a Favored Enemy, giving you advantage on Survival and Intelligence checks made in regards to one category of creatures. The Philistines are humans, so pick Humanoid. You also deal an extra 2 damage to all attacks against humanoids, which will help make up for the low damage of your weapon. You’re also a Natural Explorer, giving you a number of travel and movement based benefits. You ignore difficult terrain, get advantage on initiative rolls, and against enemies that have not acted in combat. While traveling, difficult terrain does not slow your group, you can’t become lost except through magical means, you’re alert to danger even if you’re doing something else at the same time, you can stealth at a normal pace by yourself, you can forage twice as much food, and you get extra information about creatures you’re tracking. 

For your weapon, we are of course using a Sling. You could also grab a quarterstaff to act as your crook, but you’re not going to be that good with it in combat.

2. Ranger 2: When you pick your Fighting Style, choose Archery for an extra 2 points to ranged attacks. Goliath’s a big target, but you really don’t want to miss this one. You also learn to cast spells using wisdom as your casting ability. Animal Friendship will keep your flock in line, or help you keep a lion calm enough to sneak an extra hit in. Hunter’s Mark adds an extra 1d6 to your attacks against a target, and it’s easier to find. If it drops before the spell ends, you can switch it over to another creature as a bonus action.

3. Bard 1: When you move into the bard class, you gain proficiency in one skill and one musical instrument. Grab your Harp and Performance so you can play that secret chord that will please the Lord. But if you don’t really care for music, you also get Spells using your Charisma and Bardic Inspiration, d6 which you can give to the rest of your party, adding them to attack rolls, saves, or checks. You start off with a number equal to your Charisma modifier, and you get them back at the end of a long rest.

For spells, True Strike makes every shot count (though it’s not like you’re wanting for ammunition; you’re literally throwing rocks). Mending will help you patch up that tear in your shirt, Cure Wounds and Heroism will give you a literal harp of healing. Identify is pretty much God telling you if you’ve found any cool stuff. Bane forces a bit of divine intervention on your enemies, making them a bit worse at saves and attacks for its duration.

4. Bard 2: You become a Jack of All Trades, adding half your proficiency to checks you aren’t proficient in. A good king knows a little bit of everything. You also learn a Song of Rest, letting you use your harp of healing outside of the fight as well. It’s a d6, and we’re not sticking around long enough for that to get any bigger.

For your spell, Speak with Animals will let you speak with animals. Sometimes they talked back then, biblical times were cool like that.

5. Bard 3: A big reason we’re hanging around this class is to grab spells from other lists, and no college gets us there faster than the college of Lore. Lore bards get three extra proficiencies: You’re a historical and religious figure, so History and Religion are easy picks, and you’re also pretty Persuasive. You also get Expertise in two skills, doubling your proficiency bonus in them. Performance and Animal Handling are your bag, so you should be good with both of those. Finally you get Cutting Words, letting you spend a Bardic Inspiration to subtract it from a creatures attack, check, or damage roll. You’re not one for heckling, so let’s call this divine intervention.

Your spell this level is another one that’s description is right on the tin, Locate Animals or Plants. It tells you the direction and distance to the closest instance of a kind of animal or plant, if it exists within 5 miles of you. You can’t get individuals, but at least you’ll always get the right species.

6. Bard 4: Use your first ASI to round up your Charisma for more inspiration and better saves, and Constitution for more health and concentration. Your weapon has an effective range of 30′, you’ll want to be tougher than the average archer.

For your spells, Light will help your dumb human eyes see in the dark (technically you’re helping everyone, but nobody plays darkvision right) and Zone of Truth... is really just a very clerical spell to grab.

7. Bard 5: Fifth level bards see your Inspiration bump up to a d8, and you become a Font of Inspiration, restoring lost dice on short rests instead of long ones. 

For your spell, Catnap will help you stay rested in the field without letting your flock wander too far.

8. Bard 6: Your last level of bard is the real reason we’re here. Countercharm lets you spend an action to perform a song that gives allies advantage on saves against being charmed or frightened, or maybe even getting possessed by evil spirits. Not actually that last one, sorry. You also learn Additional Magical Secrets, two spells from any spell list, as long as a bard could cast them at sixth level. Guiding Bolt gives you a fancy stone that deals 4d6 Radiant damage and lights up the target, giving the next attack to target it this round advantage. The real start of the show is Magic Stone, which lets you enchant up to three stones as a bonus action, turning them into magic weapons that deal 1d6 plus your charisma modifier in bludgeoning damage. This only affects three stones at a time, and unlike every other damage dealing cantrip, this one doesn’t get better as you level up. At least it’s not concentration.

9. Ranger 3: Back in Ranger Town, you join your conclave. The Hunter Conclave lets you pick a Hunter’s Prey option for extra fighting skill. Colossus Slayer adds 1d8 to an attack you make against a creature with less than max HP once per turn. Giant Killer would have been nice and thematic, but that works with melee attacks, which aren’t your thing. You also have Primeval Awareness, helping you communicate with animals without spells. You can also concentrate for a minute to sense your favored enemies within 5 miles of you. This is where picking humanoids becomes something of a liability. It was great for damage, but now every time you use this feature it’ll be an information overload.

Your new spell, Beast Bond, lets you create a telepathic link with a friendly beast when you can see each other. The beast also gets advantage on attacks against creatures within 5′ of you, making this, weirdly enough, your best melee option at times.

10. Ranger 4: Use your next ASI to bump up your Charisma. Most of your spells are still bardic, and this makes you magic slingstones even more potent and accurate.

11. Ranger 5: You get an Extra Attack, letting you throw two stones per action. With your hunter’s mark active, that’s 4d6+2d8+8(12 if they’re humanoid) Bludgeoning per round, which is pretty dang respectable for an ambidextrous lasso. You also learn Pass Without Trace; your favorite enemy is several times your size; try to get the drop on him.

12. Ranger 6: Speaking of Goliath, sixth level rangers get a Greater Favored Enemy, letting you add Giants to your list of things you want super dead. Your bonus damage ticks up to +4, and you have advantage on saves if they’re caused by giants.

13. Ranger 7: Hunters grab one of three Defensive Tactics. You really don’t back down from anything (Saul had to throw a spear at you three times before you got the hint), so you’ve got a Steel Will. You have advantage against being frightened, which will help you keep your wits about you when you need to break out that countercharm.

You also learn how to create a Healing Spirit, a bit of concentrated healing that you can move around the battlefield to those who need it. Currently it can heal 1d6 four times before it disappears, but you’re getting this spell much later than you would normally, so feel free to upcast it a bit.

14. Ranger 8: You become Fleet of Foot, letting you dash as a bonus action. You have very few melee options, so keeping your distance is a smart idea.

15. Ranger 9: Ninth level rangers get a third level spell. Conjure Barrage lets you create a hailstorm of Sling pebbles to rain down on enemies in a 60′ cone, dealing 3d8 bludgeoning damage. This is barely even a spell, you’re just going absolute ham with that sling.

16. Ranger 10: Tenth level rangers can Hide in Plain Sight, gaining a 10 bonus to hiding as long as you don’t move. Pair this with Pass without Trace to become invisible. Again, stealth isn’t really your thing, but if you’ve got the advantage take it.

17. Ranger 11: Your last hunter gift is your Multiattack option. Volley lets you spend your action to attack every creature in a 10′ radius circle with whatever ammunition you have available. This isn’t as great as it sounds, since you only get three magic shots per turn, but if there’s a bunch of weaker enemies running around, you might as well take them out.

For your spell, Daylight is a beefier version of the light cantrip that will nullify darkness spells. You have the power of god and anime on your side, and a couple of shadows aren’t going to hold you back.

18. Ranger 12: Use your last ASI to bump up your Wisdom for better barrages and tracking.

19. Ranger 13: You get your last spell at this level, and it’s your only 4th level spell. Locate Creature lets you pinpoint the location of a specific creature you’ve seen before within 1000′ of you. I know it’s not exactly fireball, but you’re a shepherd, this is going to be super useful.

20. Ranger 14: Your final level teaches you how to Vanish. You can hide as a bonus action, and you can’t be tracked unless you want to be, or through magical means like Locate Creature.

Pros

You have a lot of skills and features that shine outside of combat, helping your party travel and deal with other people.

You’re not bad as a medic either. Multiclassing left you with some high level spell slots to supercharge your healing when the party really needs it.

You’re really good at demolishing a single target. When everything’s totaled up, you can deal 4d6+2d8+16 per round for less than a single spell slot. Other fighters might be flashier, but you’ll outlast them and keep plugging away round after round.

Cons

You have almost no melee options. You could possibly carry a knife, or have a friendly beast help you out, but really if someone gets close before level 14 you’ll have some problems.

Splitting your casting abilities meant way more of your ASIs went towards making them good, so your nonmagical fighting isn’t very strong. Thankfully your best damage dealing spell is a cantrip. Also, having high level slots is nice, but high level spells would be better.

Using a Sling just isn’t the best option. You can definitely make it work, but even then it eats up your bonus action each turn and limits you to three good shots per round. Honestly this turned out way better than I was expecting-it’s just less effort to use a bow and arrow.

Next up: The second most famous Trojan.

[luxlit]

About what gets posted on LL

Hello all.

So, for those of you who may not know, I am the admin for Lux Lit (LL), for about 5 years now; I think of myself as the content gatekeeper. I go through the submissions and the ones for reblog in out LL Drafts. Also, the stellar crew members @der-gorgonaut (Georg), @placethatechoes (Chris), and @kkomppa (Kendra) add original photographers’ Tumblr posts to the LL Drafts. Every couple of days I go through the Drafts and I place them in our Queue in (often) specific “bunches” by subject, photography style, “feel,” or some combination or other criteria. When I think of grouping the reblog photos I imagine that I am going to put them up in a small gallery space, so I want them to have some cohesiveness, some commonality that makes the visuals flow together. Granted, since the LL reblogs appear in our dashboard mixed in with a whole bunch of other content, my groupings of posts may not be obvious, but still, thinking in thematic bunches makes it easier for me to work with the photos.

BTW, I am the one who usually chooses the Photo of the Day (PoD), but sometimes a crew member will recommend one, and I almost always accept this recommendation. Also, if 2 crew members choose the same photo, I make it a PoD.

Anyway, as I have said before, and will repeat often, the photos that our LL crew add to our Drafts often inspire me in ways unexpected, in ways that thrill me. The LL crew, our members now and our previous members, always open my eyes to new ways of seeing, and I am grateful. Eternally grateful.

Now to address a specific type of photograph we have been posting every so often: overtly political images.

A couple of years ago, I asked the LL crew if it was okay to share photos that were openly political in nature, and they agreed unanimously. (I stipulated that I would only go ahead with more political posts ONLY if the whole crew agreed unanimously, and back then, all 5 crew members agreed.) We agreed LL would only share posts with a peaceful, positive message. This did not mean that we would exclude expressions of anger, frustration, and/or despair, but that we would exclude representations of violence (including tools of violence, like guns and other weapons) and hateful speech, which can come from either side of the political spectrum. We would feature photos that were political, constructive, respectful.

Today, I started thinking about how, in my almost 8 years of being part of the Tumblr original photography reblog community (first with about 2 years as part of Lensblr and then my time in LL), I have always been increasingly political with my choices of photographs for reblogging. I am a firm believer in the Feminist mantra, “The personal is political,” a phrase often associated with 60s/70s feminism, and my choices of, for example, nude photos of people who do not fit the mainstream Eurocentric heteronormative standards of beauty, have always  been (and still are) one of my small ways of challenging folks who follow LL to maybe find and define (and embrace) their own broader and more humane standards of beauty, and therefore their standards of art.

Heavy shit, I know, but hey, I got my PhD in Cultural Studies and I think about such things. I value such thought because it makes me a better photographer, a better evaluator/critique of visual arts (one of my talents), and yes, even a better person.

Anyway, this is just my way of sharing why you will, every so often, see images on LL that openly express our political anxiety about the present and future but that also at times express our political faith in the endlessly bright possibilities of our political present and future. In the end, this is all about humanely expressing the personal, which can be a radical, political act of love.

~Fern

[impalementation]

I have really been loving your s6 imagery series and thought of something kinda similar to your most recent clothing one. I noticed that the coat Buffy wears in omwf is really similar to Spikes signature jacket (they're both long black leather). I just think that it was an interesting costume choice to place her in something so similar to his staple coat on the night that they two of them start their romantic (or technically physical?) relationship.

oh thank you! always relieved to hear that people are enjoying them.

ok sorry in advance, because this is about to get extra. but! buffy’s outfit in the last act of once more, with feeling is actually super interesting to me. i wouldn’t be surprised if the coat was meant to match spike’s, given that buffy and spike are definitely meant to match in general, since they’re both wearing red and black—more on that in a second. but there’s actually a bunch of other stuff going on.

buffy’s outfit, like a lot of elements of once more, with feeling is a nod to some specific moments and tropes from musical theater. (these observations are mostly taken from this fantastic series of essays on once more with feeling that explains a lot of its musical theater references, and i highly recommend it). first, whedon explicitly says in the episode commentary that buffy dropping her coat to reveal her red shirt is a homage to cyd charisse in band wagon.

WHEDON: That is a low-budget TV version of the Cyd Charisse moment in ‘Band Wagon’, one of the most riveting moments in film, at the end of ‘Girl Hunt’ where she pulls off that green thing and is wearing that red dress.

(both the quote and picture are from the essay i linked)

it’s also possibly a reference to the rite of spring.

And Buffy’s dance at the end of “Something to Sing About” bears a striking resemblance to the dance at the end of The Rite of Spring as we watch a young woman willingly dance herself to death. In particular, it resembles a wildly popular version of the ballet by renowned choreographer/dancer Pina Bausch that caused a sensation in New York and around the world in the early 90s. - [ x ]

in that rendition, the girl is wearing a bright red dress that contrasts against the nude and neutrally-colored crowd that surrounds her.

it’s also a thing for romantic pairings in musical theater to visually match each other. so the fact that buffy and spike have matching colors is a sign that they’re about to be linked together, at least in a musical theater sense. i was trying to think of a good example, and i kept coming back to the dance scene in west side story.

in that sequence, you have a crowd of puerto rican couples and a crowd of white american couples. the person organizing the dance tries to get the two different groups to dance with each other, but each side ends up choosing their original partner. the fact that the puerto ricans go with the puerto ricans and the whites go with the whites is visually emphasized by the fact that the people of the same race wear outfits that go together.

or in seven brides for seven brothers when the brothers make a move on the townspeople’s women during the barn raising, the colors of their shirts visually complement the women’s dresses. as in, they’re literally complementary colors. which hints at the fact that the brothers will eventually get the women.

i wish i were more familiar with musical theater so i could say whether or not it’s significant that buffy and spike’s outfits have the same colors instead of complementary colors. because i think it’s more standard for romantic leads to complement rather than match. (i think the most common thing for romantic leads is that their costuming doesn’t match that of the other characters. like how maria’s white dress in west side story makes her pop relative to the chorus). but i’m definitely not an expert here.

but if we leave musical theater behind and just talk buffy, then the fact that they match is definitely significant. not just in once more, with feeling but in season six in general. as i pointed out in that most recent photoset, there are lots of moments where either buffy is wearing white and spike is wearing black, or both buffy and spike are wearing black. if i were to say why the show has them match though, i wouldn’t necessarily say it’s because of their sexual/romantic involvement. i’d say it’s because spike is buffy’s shadow self that season, much as faith was in season three. and in season three buffy and faith’s outfits also complemented each other. not in terms of color, at least not in the same stark black-and-white way, but definitely in the sense of faith being the “bad girl” and buffy being the “good girl.” and there was significance, as result, whenever buffy wore faith-like colors or leather, or when faith wore that gauzy pink dress. buffy was navigating what it means to be rebellious or violent in a positive way, or “moral” and obedient in a negative way, and vice versa. and the show expressed that by using costuming tropes of teenage rebellion and obedience. similarly in season six, buffy is navigating what it means to be alive, both in the sense of accepting her flaws and in the sense of finding joy. so the black and white color scheme (to repeat myself) represents that conflict between life and death.

with all that in mind, i actually think it’s pretty interesting that buffy wears black and red during once more, with feeling rather than black and white. i think the duality expressed is the same—the choice between life and death—but in once more, with feeling life is specifically associated with things like fire and passion. vital, “red” concepts like that, instead of the more pure and ethereal associations that white has. buffy “wants the fire back” and “just wants to feel.” so it’s fitting that both spike and buffy wear red because buffy will finish the episode by hoping that spike will make her “feel.” but it’s also pretty subtle and clever, i think, that we might expect their matching outfits to simply reflect a romantic association, like the big hollywood curtain ending, but the context tells us other things. the contrast between the romantic cues and the lines like “but i just wanna feel” and the shadow-self matchiness elevates that ending kiss into something complicated. it foreshadows not just their sexual association, but also what that sexual association will mean, thematically.

[if-only-we-could-read-it]

I did think that the director very clearly liked Ms Pugh's breasts a whole lot. Which is understandable, I suppose, but at times it felt very unnecessary- eg the scene before her suicide. The initial sex scene also felt out of place thematically, but it wasn’t as jarring- it was just a pretty significant tonal shift that wasn't replicated very well. It stood out especially to me that there was no similar scenes with his wife, later. That, to me, seemed to be a way to paint them as two very different relationships- his wife as a madonna vs the woman he has sex with. However, it falls pretty flat if you look at it any deeper than that, because if anything, it should be the opposite.

It presents his relationship with Jean as being based on passion and sex- while in actuality, it's based on their academic and political matches. His relationship with Kitty, on the other hand, would be implied to be a much calmer relationship suited for settling down... but its based in mutual attraction and a passionate affair resulting in pregnancy. Jean talks about politics, and she looks to him for stability. Kitty is highly emotional, reactive, passionate, and pushes him to fight. If anything, sex scenes between Kitty and Oppenheimer would've better suited their relationship, while more calm discussions or debates would've suited Jean. The narrative seems to try and centre her character around being sexual and emotional, culminating in her suicide, but thats entirely at odds with her introduction and the basis for their relationship. It just seems to me like parts of it were written to include a nude Florence Pugh, rather than her being nude to add to a pre-written scene.

I appreciated the fact that the movie acknowledged and addressed the role that fear of the Russians played in dropping the bomb. The Hiroshima and Nagasaki disasters are often seen as inevitable, and purely as attempts to end the war (however hamfisted they're presented in hindsight). In actuality, the decision to drop the bomb was primarily made in order to prove that they had the bombs, and, as they directly reference in the movie, they can use them whenever they want, and it was especially aimed at the Russians. I also appreciated the acknowledgement of Oppenheimer being left-leaning and the presence of communist rallies and unions at the time.

I also liked the nods to the various scientists involved, and of their relationships with each other, the project, and politics. I thought the ending scenes, where Hill opposed the appointment of Strauss, especially highlighted the fact that scientists, however much they may disagree, historically shy away from undue government interference. Dr Teller's testimony about Oppenheimer's licence is another good example of it. It highlights that there was a line between the science and the political, and there was a difference between the search for knowledge and the search for acclaim.

The handling of Oppenheimer as a scientist was done... relatively well. It highlighted his efforts in bringing quantum physics to the US, though it maybe could've done a better job of highlighting why it was a big thing (quantum physics is a whole new kind of physics compared to classical physics- its like doctors discovering that illnesses aren't because of 'humours' for example. It is a massive leap in physics). His mathematical work was largely abandoned after the first quarter(?ish) of the movie in order to focus on the practical side of the bomb- which makes sense, as that was what he primarily worked on. The acknowledgement of his work by other scientists helps explain why he was picked for the role, as does the comments about him being inspiring and good at getting people to listen to him (which was, indeed, one of his best traits as a physicist).

However, it could've done a better job of addressing why he was 'so smart', which it attempted to do by showing his skill with languages. Imo, it could've easily included facts such as him graduating early from both school (took two years at once, and then skipped half a grade) and Harvard, and publishing several important papers, even as small off-hand comments, rather than focusing on him speaking dutch and Sanskrit. His maths also predicted the existence of the neutron- which was vital in both fission and fusion. It would've been fairly easy for the movie to acknowledge the content of this work, but it was glossed over- in fact the only 'relevant' maths we're told he does is when he incorrectly calculates that it's impossible to split a neutron from the nucleus. It's not particularly helpful in asserting him as a 'genius' in his field. I’d assume it’s because speaking lot’s of languages is an easy to grasp ‘sign’ that someone is Very Smart™, whereas explaining why his research is important requires effort and exposition, but given that he is specifically heralded as a theoretical physicist, the ‘genius’ thing falls a little flat.

I felt the twist at the end was... a little unnecessary. It worked as a twist for that segment of the movie, but it didn't feel like it had enough build up for it to have the impact they wanted. Straus had effectively no impact on the main plot until right before the reveal, at which point it started to include flashbacks of the main meal where this went down, and then Oppenheimer 'humiliating' him. This I think is a consequence of it being three hours long- it wouldn't make sense to thread those two scenes through the entire three hours, but the 'twist' doesn't feel impactful enough without it. It's a twist for the characters, not for the primary plot.

I also thought that the exploration of Strauss' motives was interesting. His obsession over that initial perceived snub from Einstein ultimately leading to his downfall felt... apt, in a way. I did, however, think the movie could've done a better job addressing the cause of the issue between them. While the (infamous) isotope trade conference started it, it was primarily maintained because of Oppenheimer's staunch opposition to a hydrogen bomb being made. We have flashbacks to one dinner regarding it, however that dinner also discussed the presence of a spy, and seems to be advocating for a 'regular' atom bomb at the same time. It muddies the actual issue at hand, which was that the hydrogen bomb was a significantly worse threat, and that Oppenheimer's belief that the USA shouldn't have one was seen as anti-American. A little more clarity on that area would've, in my opinion, improved that part of the movie.

The inclusion of the Einstein snub (which afaik, was made up for the movie) was also interesting. I thought the conclusion to that particular inciting mystery was done very well. I was, to some extent, hoping it might end in an acknowledgement of the fact that Einstein, who was very likely autistic, was famously unsociable and quiet, and Strauss had taken that too personally. The resolution we did get was close enough to be satisfying.

In short, I thought it was a generally pretty good movie for what it was. I do not think it was particularly revolutionary, nor do I think it was really trying to be. I really liked the majority of it, and even though there are parts of it I would've tackled differently, I do think it's an entertaining movie. It's just not a Barbie-level movie, and honestly if I wasn't previously interested in physics, I likely wouldn't have watched it- I think on some level the movie expects you to come into it with a vested interest in learning about the life of a physicist in more depth. It's definitely going to struggle with the fact that it's being marketed to everyone regardless of taste as an 'edgy' alternative to watch with/after Barbie.

Just watched Oppenheimer and I have Opinions on it

[olivia0823yxa]

The Well of Ascension Notes

Finished the Well of Ascension! I’m very much coming to like this world, so I’m happy there are still 4 more books set there. These notes aren’t as good as my previous ones, because I took exactly 0 notes while reading, but here are my after-impressions and questions (spoilers for Mistborn 1 & 2, Stormlight Archive: 

Goddamn I was so heartbroken by OreSeur/TenSoon’s contract issues. He finally found a friend in Vin and then is forced to betray her :(

What has been unleashed upon the land???? Who is the Hero of Ages???? What are the original Hero of Ages legends???? 

Low-key, I kind of suspect that Sazed is the hero of ages. With how much emphasis has been put on The Holy First Witness, the conflicting legends about the Hero’s height (or lack thereof), and the cultural issue around the Hero not being Terris. Also he’s cool and he’s sort of following a Hero’s Journey story arc, at the end of this book having reached what is likely (hopefully) his low point. Elend becoming a conqueror and a mistborn seems to be setting him up as the Hero, but I think that would be kind of a cop out

Also I don’t really get how he’s suddenly just okay forcing random towns into submission under him. Like yeah, there’s a crisis that needs solving that likely can’t be easily fixed with a more democratic system, but I didn’t see the character progression from democratic fanboy to “good”-natured tyrant

I loved that going into the Well, I had no idea what was going to happen or what the “good” option for Vin to do would be. Obviously whatever was released is a Shard, but which one? I don’t actually know any of them other than the three on Roshar. The confusion surrounding the legends was made so clear, but I liked that the source of the confusion was so hidden. 

The scene where Elend and Vin get married is so funny to me. Like Vin is literally bleeding out and they’re getting married and Elend is like “it would be improper for me to see Lady Vin’s boob” like you gotta read the situation, man. And then three days later they’re having sex and sleeping in the nude together! What a fast progression there

So it was kind of unclear to me if the metal that turned Elend into a mistborn was atium or not. If it’s not, that kind of sounds like it implies the existence of a metal that can permanently take allomancy away from a person. If it’s not atium, maybe this one and it’s alloy could complete the set of 4 started with aluminum, though. Giving someone allomancy permanently at least fits thematically with aluminum and duralumin, this set manipulates allomantic powers

Someone needs to tell Sazed that not having a dick does not make him not a man, jesus

On a similar note, I’ve discussed this with friends and Breeze is definitely trans

Very curious to see if the relationship between Koloss and Kandra is explored more. TenSoon called the Koloss and Kandra cousins, and they can be controlled/enslaved in the same way. But so what’s interesting to me is that they are both controlled via Soothing, are there counterpart creatures that can be controlled via Rioting? Or perhaps another allomancer rioting a kolloss/kandra under another’s control would free them?

If the power in the Well could never have been used to defeat the Deepness, how will that be accomplished? How was it supposed to be accomplished in the original prophecies? How was the thing the Well imprisoned manipulating written words and what prevents them from manipulating steel, specifically? What relation is there between this being and the Inquisitors, who also have lots to do with steel, although this time it seems the steel gives control to this being, rather than taking it?

God I hope Marsh will be okay in the end 

What was up with Zane being semi-steel inquisitor? That better come up again. Also who is that voice in his head?

As soon as the mist spirit started showing up I was so on edge, waiting for it stab Elend, oh man that was very tense every time

Are the mists Invested in a similar fashion to the Highstorm on Roshar? 

Who imprisoned the thing in the Well and made the Well? Is it related to the mist spirit?

Why didn’t the mists appear until, presumably, shortly before Alendi’s story begins? Or has the Well been repeating this cycle every 1000 years (it was called the Millennial Power at one point) for ages, and the mists have always come at night but only become problematic once every 1000 years? It was implied that in Alendi’s time, the mists stayed during the day for a long enough time that civilization started to starve and collapse in places, but in Vin’s time it was only a month or two that were really bad

I did very much like that the greater context surrounding Rashek killing Alendi and taking the power for himself are much less “oppressed minority must be saved by their oppressors and one of the minority is evil for disliking this” than it was presented in the first book. Like they didn’t excuse Rashek being a cruel emperor for 1000 years, but it did--imo--sufficiently contextualize his original motivations and make him much less 2-dimensionally evil, especially when he’s contrasted with Alendi