#but I think there would be a big market for that

[sneepity-snoop-snorpity-sneep]

I'ma be real with y'all, I don't think America's massive size and the financial costs of travel are the biggest contributors to the attitudes we have here that make other countries go like

the provincial thing is honestly a fair statement, in the same vein as holding americans who voted for trump accountable - there are bigger reasons for both, but that doesn't minimize how much a lot of americans cultivate and maintain their ignorance to feel more comfortable.

I'd say more legitimate things to mention when talking about american's very self-centric attitudes towards global happenings are things like: the US media deliberately keeps up the image of the United States as a strong, independent world power who don't need no allies, aka the fact that when other countries send us aid in natural disasters or other Big Uh-Ohs, it generally isn't reported by large news outlets. I never knew for years that multiple people, both individuals and organized efforts by various other countries, would send aid to the US when we'd be hit by big hurricanes, fires, and other bad shit

the other day a coworker and I were talking about the recent swan-dive of relations between america and canada and they scoffed at the notion that canada has a military too, and that they also participated in conflicts like the mess in the middle east after 9/11 - But I can't disdain my coworker that much, cuz I didn't know this either until very recently. I'll bet you most americans don't know about the Article 5 collective defense clause NATO has, which was only ever invoked once, on America's behalf after the 9/11 attack, and had multiple countries sending troops to Afghanistan alongside US forces. Canada specifically sent out over 40 thousand. the US as an entity does nOT like to acknowledge when foreign aid has been helpful, and just that kind of 'we pretend we do not see it' attitude does a lot of quiet heavy lifting to influence american attitudes towards the international community.

Additionally, although its more common now than it has been in the past for americans to watch movies and tv from overseas, I'd guess most americans still mostly only watch media centered around american culture, or at least western, english-speaking media (Harry Potter and the Sherlock series are two non-american examples). Now, that's a little weird, considering how much of our media is marketed and consumed around the globe. the US has a LOT of soft power, but we don't import fiction from other places at nearly the same rate. So you end up with this weird correlation between a lot of folks overseas having some idea of american culture while the americans in question have very little exposure or knowledge of anybody else's culture

i mean I've come across quite a few pointed threads or comments online from people overseas about how entitled and aggravating american tourists can be, and I think this is part of why: americans are deliberately presented with a POV that centers them, while not addressing the interconnectedness of modern life in a first world country, and a lot of folks just don't have the curiosity or feel a need to investigate that. add to that the fact that america doesn't really push learning second languages in schools, and many americans won't ever travel overseas, AND that we only share borders with 2 other nations so we don't get a lot of land-based travel from other countries like you see in europe, and its not really all that shocking that the american people don't really grasp how the US fits in to international politics and going-ons

none of this is an excuse. honestly I think the best you can hope for from some americans if you call us out for this is a "well I never actually thought about it all", which is a pretty lackluster defense (i mean, all the moments for me personally where I went "what was i thinkin- oh wait I didn't think" have NOT been my finest), and unfortunately for a fair portion of people, there's a dependence on this worldview and a resulting emotional backlash when its challenged. Basically when a population is propagandized as much as the US is, realistically you don't get a bunch of doe-eyed innocents who mean well but don't know any better, you get a population with a high percentage of people who hold onto said propagandized image as part of their identity and act like ASSHOLES to any info that doesn't fit what they've already been told

its not that the americans you think of when you imagine the ignorant, entitled americans couldn't do/be better - its that people WON'T try to be doing better than they currently are if they believe 'better' is what's in front of them right now so there's no need to improve it

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

I doubt I’m the first person to come barging in saying this, but I’m not happy with how Malleus’s consequences played out. Obviously we don’t have a full translation to work with so this should be taken with a massive load of salt, but he’s really getting off with just the temporarily broken horn?

I understand why the writers did it. You can’t take one of the main cast out of the game for an extended period of time lest you impact the gacha money. And the rest of the overblot guys had but a slap on the wrist too so nothing was ever going to happen.

But still, isn’t it too convenient that there just so happens to be a precedent for Sage’s Island to excuse this exact situation because Malleus feels bad? At least the other guys had the argument that their overblots were relatively contained.

But maybe it is a fitting punishment that Malleus lost the usage of the one thing he used as a crutch. That he needs to learn how to use more than brute magical force to handle his problems. I guess I’m just bitter that Malleus always seems to get away with much more than the other characters, and here he seems to be doing it again.

Sorry if this is repetitive.

[You can read my thoughts on the book 7 finale here!]

To be fair, they did say the broken horn would take an estimated 100-200 years to grow back + would require monitoring. In his current state, I believe Malleus isn’t able to use his UM or similar “disaster-level” magic. It seems he can still use the rest of his arsenal of spells?? But we’ll have to follow-up to see for ourselves what the true range is, since we didn’t see Malleus use much magic at the end of book 7.

But yeah, other than that 😅 Seems like all is fine? Malleus is going back to school, Lilia’s still alive and returning to NRC as well, his grandma seems to be handling diplomatic matters + smoothing over foreign relationships, fae fixed the physical damage to buildings, other countries are settling back into their own daily lives, etc. I guess we should’ve expected this, given the medium and the pattern of letting OB boys off easy. It’s all for the sake of keeping the marketable characters present and still lovable. (Though I do want to point out that, because the story ended sort of quickly, Malleus may not have been granted enough time to show us how he's dealing with the aftermath or what other consequences there were. This could be something covered or expanded on in a future update, or perhaps in the manga, light novel, or anime.)

I think that maybe the new lore surrounding Sage's Island could connect with a future update (there's many theories that it could tie with Mickey or Grim), but its placement here is... I don't know, the framing of it reads as very convenient for Malleus. I'm not saying that Malleus shouldn't be forgiven or granted a chance at redemption (he certainly should, especially if we're giving this to the other OB boys). His OB may have been on a far larger scale than the others' were, but that's no reason to deny him or to think that there's 0% chance he can change for the better. What I am saying is that telling us, "This other powerful mage also did an oopsie and wasn't exiled for it, he only got scolded" feels like we're redirecting attention to someone else instead of focusing on Malleus :/ which doesn't sit right with me.

This really is not helped by the narrative bringing up all these additional details which only seem to minimize Malleus's impact on the world. No one died, no major areas were affected (save for Sage's Island), the only injuries sustained were those of some NRC students, the only physical damage sustained was mainly the Diasomnia dormitory (which was easily patched up with fairy magic), Maleficia + the headmasters are handling the press coverage of the event, there's now a group (the Fairy Dream Life Association) that adore Malleus and want to stay in the dream world, etc. I understand that the point of the big fight against Malleus was to prevent him from doing more harm--and it seems like they were successful, so good for them. I also understand that Malleus's absolute power allowed him to control space and time within his briar barrier (so I guess any deaths that would have resulted from people falling asleep while swimming, driving, cooking, etc. didn't happen?). But that feels... again, too convenient, and gives Malleus another "out" of being forced to realize he's done something truly horrible (since apparently no physical harm resulted + what little harm that did happen was easily fixed), that he potentially has blood on his hands. Does he even truly comprehend the emotional and mental turmoil he put his victims through? Maybe not all 20,000 residents, but definitely a non-zero amount of them. I don't pick up any of that based on how he's acting. Malleus doesn’t talk about or acknowledge any of that.

It doesn't even seem like his classmates hold any grudge toward him for what he did??? Even though NRC students are the exact type of people who would do that??? Yeah, Leona and a few others express shock when Crowley says Malleus is coming back to school, but I didn't see a SINGLE person protest or put up a fight or consider not showing up to Malleus's party. In fact, the first years seem oddly excited to be seeing Malleus again after all of that. It weirdly seems like there was more resistance to going to Lilia's farewell party at the beginning of book 7 (because at least there Leona expresses WANTING to leave early) than there was for Malleus's party at the end of book 7. Is this supposed to show us that the NRC students are now so pro-cooperation they don’t mind Malleus being back?? Even though those same dorm leaders were surprised at the meeting where it was announced?

On top of all that, he also conveniently gets what he OB'd over: Lilia not leaving, not dying, and reenrolling at NRC. Malleus isn't forced to reconcile with that loss, isn't made to confront mortality. It just gets pushed off to a later date. None of the other OBs are magically given what they got mad over to begin with. They had to work to overcome their own issues, but Malleus seemingly doesn't have to (because he no longer has to currently grapple with the distress of Lilia leaving), so it seems unfair that Malleus is the only one that gets it all. This could be something they tackle in like… book 8? Like I’m sure he must have feelings around him killing Lilia—but right now, he can still enjoy a happy ending.

One of Malleus's horns being injured might be a physical symbol of change and may limit his magical powers (no UM, no disaster-level magic), but he's still a powerhouse seeing as he seems to have helped amplify Lilia's UM for the party + sent the invitations to everyone by magic. He can still have his power, I’m NOT saying he should have no magic or that he should be physically harmed further. But if he's to learn to use more than brute strength or magic to resolve his problems, then why not start with words? Words like, "I'm sorry", and "It was my fault", and "I shouldn't have imposed my will on you", etc. And not just to NRC, which happened in canon, but to the world.

If the story won't commit to actually assigning consequences to the world for what Malleus did, at LEAST let him handle the social repercussions of it all. Show us other students being wary around him so he has to earn back their trust instead of it being handed back to him. And why not have Malleus be the one going on TV (after he has recovered, of course) to apologize to the world instead of having his grandma handle it for him? Malleus apologizing just to those in attendance at the party isn't enough, because that insinuates his actions only affected the guests present, when, in reality, his actions scared so many other people and had them intervening. Have him say sorry to S.T.Y.X., to RSA, to all the other countries he endangered. At least do RSA (since Ambrose is also being interviewed), S.T.Y.X. (since they were largely involved in the containment), and Foothill Town residents. I would have liked it if Malleus told us how he is going to make amends. One party's nice and all, but it doesn't tell me what he is going to do in the long term to make things better.

To be clear: To reiterate, I don't want Malleus to be physically harmed or "further punished". What I want is for Malleus to actually understand that everything he did was wrong, acknowledge that he broke the trust of countless people, and actively take steps to learn and to prove to everyone he is worthy of having their trust. I'm disappointed that it seems like Twst skipped these crucial moments in favor of having a rushed happy ending. If there isn't space to do it now in book 7, give us some lines that imply he's got a plan or some ideas in mind for next update or something OTL He has maybe one or two lines tops at the party, and that's it. We really needed more to close off book 7 in a satisfactory way for his arc of learning to accept change.

Here’s to hoping that book 8 (?) can show us the things book 7’s conclusion didn’t deliver on.

[boosandbirds]

Hey ches, I saw your post asking for prompts how about this:

Ship: dead on main (Jason Todd X Danny Fenton)

Prompt: Wing Au, Jason has only one wing left/one wing and a half left from the explosion even lazurus pit could not heal them, Danny's wings are unusable since the accident, only hanging down he can't even fold them to his back, as phantom he has only the skeleton of wings and can fly with them, how about a meet cute or one of them has a bad day (phantom pains) and the other helps them (with cuddles and such)

Thanks in advance

By the time Jason gets back from patrolling the Alley, it's long passed two in the morning.

Not the latest he's gotten back, not by a long shot, but he still feels the ache in his muscles and bruises refusing to be ignored. Jason swears his wings weight at least a ton, missing chunk and all, and he wants nothing more than to peel off his gear and sleep for a week.

But there's a wing thrown over the couch, and he catches a glimpse of another one on the floor. Jason's tired, but even during his worst days, he hadn’t been heartless.

If there's anyone that understands this kind of tiredness, it's Danny.

His boyfriend might not be a hero anymore -- hates the idea of it, really, and goes deathly pale at the mention of it -- but it's not something you forget. Jason doesn't think it's something anyone can forget. Being a vigilante does things to you, and there's no going back from it.

Jason will never back the missing parts of his right wing. In his human form, Danny can barely move his wings at all.

"Oh, Spaceboy," Jason sighs, stepping around the corner. "I've told you not to wait up for me."

Danny groans, propping himself up on his elbows. It can't be a comfortable position, wings sprawled out across the furniture, wood digging into feathers and not providing nearly enough support for how much they weigh. Danny’s wings aren't small, after all, not when you take his short stature into consideration, and this isn't the first time Jason has found him like this. Still, if it bothers him, Danny doesn't let it show on his face.

He smiles like he doesn't have a care in the world.

"Yeah, well," Danny says, wearing a mock pout, "You’re not the boss of me."

Privately, Jason doesn't think anyone's the boss of him unless Danny let's them be. Danny might be looked down upon -- it's shitty for people to judge his broken wings, but Jason has long since learned not to make a big deal out of it -- but he's as free as can be. Doesn't give a shit what people tell him not to do, because if he thinks it's right, Danny will happily do it anyway. The only exceptions may be Jazz Fenton and Sam Manson.

Jason pushes the thoughts away with a quiet laugh. He closes the remaining distance between them, then carefully wraps his hands around Danny’s upper arms. "Up we go," Jason says, lightheartedly, and Danny laughs as he's helped to his feet. "The bed is big enough for both of us to stretch out."

And he's not exaggerating.

Perks of being one of Bruce's kids, Jason can afford the biggest bed on the market. He'd originally gotten to sprawl out after patrol, but after starting to date Danny, it truly became a luxurious thing. Two birds fit on it perfectly, and there were few things Jason more than wrapping his ghost up in his wings.

"I can't see the door from the bed, idiot," Danny mumbles, "I wanted to ask how your patrol went, but hypocritically, I fell asleep and forgot to change forms. So hypothetically, I might have gotten stuck on the couch."

"Hypothetically, of course," Jason says, smirking, "because the great Danny Fenton would never get stuck on a couch."

Danny glares at him playfully. "Fuck off," he says, "maybe I was waiting for my knight in dirty leather."

Jason grins, and just for that comment, he makes a show out of sweeping Danny into his arms. "Well, your Highness, your knight has arrived."

"Dick!"

"Wrong bat," Jason says, and he leans in to press a kiss to Danny’s lips. Then, careful that his wings aren't dragging, he starts walking towards the bedroom. "Now, I don't know about you, but unless Gotham’s about to explode, the rest of them can fuck off. I'm taking my ghost to bed, and not moving an inch until morning."

Danny pokes his face. "Sure," he says, "whatever you say, Zombie Boy. Whatever you say."

[moonstruckme]

MAE! I have a request… <3 reader finds out Steve keeps Polaroids of her around different spots, like tucked in his wallet or the sun visor of his car or in his bathroom mirror

Thanks for requesting!

Steve Harrington x fem!reader ♡ 728 words

“You look like you just came from the movies,” you say. 

Steve turns his head to look at you over the top of his sunglasses. You grin. “I’ll have you know, these are Ray-Bans.” 

“Are you sure? Because they’re just like the ones they gave out for Jaws 3D.” 

Even with the dark lenses, you can sense your boyfriend rolling his eyes as he turns back to the road. “You’re just jealous because you didn’t bring any.” 

Caught. “If you were a gentleman, you’d give me yours.” 

“Sorry, baby. Driver needs to see the most.” 

“Fine,” you sigh, putting a bit of theatrics into it. You reach for the sun visor. “Don’t think I won’t remember this the next time you want a blanket at my place.” 

You flip the visor down, and a little plastic square flutters into your lap. You pick it up. 

“Hey,” says Steve, “that’s totally different. If you ran your heat, neither of us would need blankets. But if you want me to start bringing my own—” 

“Stevie.” 

“Oh, it’s Stevie now,” he mutters. 

You turn to him, holding up the picture. “When did you take this?” 

Steve glances away from the road for a second. “Oh. Don’t you remember? That was at the lake last summer.” 

You do remember, now. Steve’s no master photographer—the light refracts off the water, fuzzing the picture and obscuring parts of your face—but it’s clearly you. You’re standing waist-deep in the lake, clearly trying to splash Steve while cheesing into the camera. You remember the day, but not the moment. 

Steve brings that polaroid camera everywhere. You know where it is now, stowed in the glove box right against your knees. He takes pictures with it sometimes, but always stows them away immediately so they can develop somewhere dark. You haven’t ever thought to ask about them. Haven't seen one until now. 

“Why do you have this here?” you ask. 

“I just like to keep them where I can find them,” Steve says. “Hey, put that back when you’re done, will you?” 

You blink at him. “You mean there are more?” 

“Yeah, of course.” He looks at you again, eyebrows flicking up at the open curiosity in your expression. “You wanna see some?” 

“Yes, please.” 

“Alright. Put that one back.” He shifts in his seat, reaching into his back pocket. “I don’t need any getting lost.” 

You feel your lips tilt bemusedly. “You keep them in random places, but you don’t want them to get lost?” 

Steve digs out his wallet. “Nothing random about it. There’s a system, okay?” You reach for the wallet, but he holds it away. “Put it back.” 

“Okay, okay.” You grin, stowing the polaroid back where you found it before grabbing for Steve’s wallet. The worn leather parts for you easily. “Oh.” 

There are a few pictures in here. You holding flowers at the farmer’s market, you decorating cupcakes, you on your bed at home. Some have you looking into the camera, others not. In all of them you look happy. You think that’s probably how you look most of the time when Steve’s with you. 

“Steve.” Affection aches in the back of your throat. “This is so sweet.”

“It’s nothing,” he says. When you look at your boyfriend, you can see the faint tinge of a blush beneath the frames of his sunglasses. 

You gather the pictures carefully in one hand, using the other to link your fingers through his. “Why did you keep all of these?” 

Steve makes a noise somewhere between a laugh and a scoff. “What, I’m not allowed to want to look at you? Why would I take them just to get rid of them?” 

“I don’t know.” Your voice softens. “I just didn’t know you had all these. It’s cute.” 

Steve grins. He glances over at you once, then again, leaning over for a quick kiss. 

“Hey!” you laugh. “Eyes on the road.” 

“You’re cute,” he says.

“Yeah, you must think so.” 

“Don’t go getting a big head.” Steve uses your joined hands to tug on your arm teasingly. You let it draw you closer to him, smitten.

“Too late for that. You’re like my own personal paparazzi. You know I’m gonna have to start taking a bunch of pictures of you too, now, right?” 

“I don’t think you have to.” 

“Oh, I definitely have to.”

[boku-no-anime-phase]

Been thinking about this more because VS is so right for this. Western society at least values war, but the fact is, war doesn't teach you the most important survival skills; fighting and killing is only an important skill in a world where might makes right which, realistically, isn't the world most of us live in.

What gets you far in life, and how does experience on the battlefield prepare you for that? Did the battlefield prepare Thorfinn to navigate relationships, which is the single most important survival skill a human can have? No. Did it teach him to farm or craft things or otherwise make an honest living? To problem solve? To prioritize tasks or evaluate cost/benefit or risk/reward in the types of daily endeavor he's going to spend the rest of his life doing? To deal with the types of small, personal problems he will deal with every day?

I get the impression that people think that military experience can be valuable to help someone "toughen up", but besides all of the irl PTSD that veterans deal with that disagrees with that, "toughening up" isn't the same as learning to deal with your emotions in a healthy way. Does battle teach you that? Also, there are plenty of people who are "tough" who have never seen battle, lots of people who learned how to deal with their feelings and properly prioritize them from something that didn't involve violence.

Besides, why is it important to be "tough"? There's nothing wrong with having a hard time and showing it. You can deal with your problems and cry about them. There's nothing wrong with wearing your heart on your sleeve. Being sensitive and having big feelings doesn't mean you can't do everything an adult can do, and there are relatively few situations you deal with as an adult where it's actually imperative that you don't cry or show emotion (especially in a world where, like we talked about before, might doesn't make right - like ours). What would the world look like if we all stopped idolizing "toughness" and stoicism?

Battle doesn't make you more kind or emotionally intelligent. It doesn't make you industrious or give you marketable skills. It doesn't make you a better family member, friend or employee. It doesn't make you a more creative person. It doesn't equip you with the skills to live a productive and happy life.

Sure, there are people who served in the military and learned valuable lessons and chose to be kind and productive but, like with abuse or any other trauma, it's not that the experience made them what they are. They chose to become that good person. It was always in them. Violence didn't make them who they are.

Other stories: this person went to war young, so they're jaded by battle and More Mature than other characters their age because of it

Vinland Saga S2: Thorfinn went to war young, so he doesn't know anything about anything. He's like an overgrown child. He doesn't know anything about relationships or life philosophies. He doesn't know where his food comes from or how to make an honest living. He's never thought about the problems faced by ordinary people and how they creatively solve them. He's never done anything he can be proud of. He doesn't know how to appreciate anything worth appreciating in life. And he screams in his sleep. Because war doesn't make you cool, it leaves you broken.

[ilikekidsshows]

Do you think ML would’ve been better if the writers followed the PV instead or do you think the PV would’ve been poorly executed as well?

I usually see people say ML would be a more well-written show if the writers went with the PV, but I personally disagree with that. The issues with ML is the poor writing and I think if the writers are not good at bringing their ideas to life, a different concept isn’t going to save them.

Looking at how the writers messed up a show that had good potential at the start, I just think if we got the PV instead, the writers would have messed it up too. And that’s actually why I’m kinda glad we didn’t get the version in the PV instead, because even though there’s not much, I’m really fond of it lol.

You know how the quality of ML right now ended up ruining the episodes in the earlier seasons for you? I feel like if it was the PV, the writers would’ve messed it up so badly that a good amount of people who adored it wouldn’t be able to enjoy it in the same way. So when I see people say the show would’ve been better quality if they went with the PV instead, I can’t help but think they should be more careful for what they wish for. I mean, I can still see where they are coming from, though. But I just remember how many fans were saying they wish they got Felix instead of Adrien, and then when Felix was introduced in Season 3, many of them were disappointed, saying “This isn’t the Felix from the PV” or “Felix isn’t supposed to act like this.”

As someone who likes the PV but has zero faith in the writers, I couldn’t be more glad ML doesn’t use more elements from the PV. I mean, I don’t want to see the parts I like being botched in the show by the writers. It’s different enough that I can enjoy it as its own thing without being reminded of the current state of the show.

What do you think? Would the show have been better if it was more based on the PV and not the actual show we have right now? Or would it be equally as disappointing, just in a different way?

---

I really don't think the starting concept being different would have made the show better. Because there's one big factor in the creative process for Miraculous that's constant that you also brought up, and that's Astruc as the head of the creative process and the writers working under him. I just don't think Astruc is capable of writer-directing a serious, long-form story the way it seems he really wants to. Like, Miraculous is really meta in the way that characters say a lot of stuff that relates to the creative process whenever they work on a movie or something. I saw someone point out how Harry's struggle to get a dramatic movie made when everyone wants him to make a comedy could be Astruc's own frustration expressed through the Harry character.

If this interpretation is accurate, Astruc is most likely the “clown that wants to make a serious drama movie but is stuck making comedy skits”. Like, maybe, mayyyybe, if Astruc got to make the show the way he wanted, instead of having to worry about what's marketable to executives, small kids and parents, he wouldn't be taking his frustrations out on the characters he made and the fans who dare to like them instead of his precious pretend daughter. That could fix the spite problem visible in the writing of the later seasons.

But, like, Astruc also just isn't a very good storyteller. His team can't keep their plot consistent for a single episode, let alone a whole season. The characters say the opposite of what they insisted half an episode ago when they don't start talking about something completely different being the point of the episode than what was set up. Not all of these problems happen because the crew is forced to sneak in the longform narrative while keeping the show mostly episodic. The inconsistency is caused by a lack of ability to stay consistent. Astruc's previous claim to fame was Totally Spies, which was often completely nonsensical, but it was forgivable specifically because the show was a wacky comedy. I'm not sure Astruc could keep hold of a more ambitious narrative, even if he really wanted to and got the freedom to do so.

Instead, I think he's just going to be stuck being jealous and envious of everything everybody else is doing. Have you noticed how he can make any movie or show that's making a buzz turn around to somehow relate to Miraculous? I really am wondering if that's actual evidence of him being dissatisfied. The Barbie Movie is a big hit? Astruc is on twitter insisting Adrinette is just like Barbie and Ken. The new season of Arcane is being praised? Astruc comes out with a detailed explanation of how Arcane is just so expensive to make because they spend so much time rewriting scripts, all the while acting weirdly smug when he admits Miraculous' script is almost the first draft like that's better just because it's cheaper. The Miraculous movie is praised for its satisfying conclusion to the Agreste Arc? Astruc tweets a weird, incorrect and nonsensical Dark Knight reference about the movie being what fans want but the series being what we need. He also spent that week hating on movies in general.

He also absolutely hates any other magical girl show, most likely because they did what his team is doing, better, at least a decade earlier. If he cared as much about little girls having role models as he claims, he'd be clad there are so many popular cartoons with female leads. But he can't be happy, probably, considering how much he praises his "unique" ideas, because these other shows existing make his show less special.

[onnahu]

Cang Qiong Corporation AU

Making up the Scum Landlord AU opened me to the amazing possibility of SVSSS in office settings. Yue Qingyuan is the CEO, and the peak lords are the board of directors. The disciples are interns or just lower stance workers.

SQQ is the Marketing director, they call this depertament as Qin Jing, since it's supposed to make the company feel more friendly and comforting for the employees. It might have worked if SQQ wasn't The Worst Boss. Is everything working great? Yes. Are the employees terrorised? Yes.

SQH is in Operations Menagement, called An Ding. To be cute and all. He's actually a decent person, but somehow there's literally not one day people can catch more than 5 minute break a day. Where all that work comes from???

Mu Qingfang is in Human Resources. He would be good. He would be nice. He would think up the most insufferable team bonding excersises in existence. People love him and hate him equally.

Qi Qingqi is the head of Finances. She hates her job and is very clear about it. She won't quit from pure spite. As the only woman in power, and knowing she would be replaced with another man, she does her job so fucking good. Whenever she has a say, she employs only female workers. That's why she doesn't have a say. Somehow, most people under her are, in fact, women.

Wei Qingwei is the IT director. He also kinda hates his job but it does pay well, and also because of that he can be in regular contact with his crush work friend Mu Qingfang. Also he is really good at tech stuff. Actually the only thing he really complains about is that now he has to do the administrative job of a director and not, you know, IT things.

Last but not least, Liu Qingge. It's totally not that I forgot about him almost published and then in cold sweat realised I remembered one of my favourite characters exist and i should propably put him in here too. Not at all.

Anyways, Liu Qingge is the head of Legal departament. Before falling deep into the Corpo Trap, he had a short but extremely successful career as a prosecutor. Then he menaged to put some big fish into prison for 70 years and got into danger with mafia. The rumors are he was in the witness protection but the whole thing is very hush-hush, so it's all mostly speculation. Anyways he, just like Wei Qingwei, hates being a director. He is good at it. Doesn't help at all.

Now you may ask, who is Shen Yuan in all of that? And I'm honestly not sure. I think he's Yue Qingyuan's Personal Secretary, just so he can be in all the right places to make everyone smitten with him. Also, I don't think he and SQQ are related. You know. Just to make another relation possible.

That's it for now

[ledetlore]

listen, i know everyone hates nathaniel coal and a small part of me does too, but a bigger part of me ACHES wondering about how much he's feeling right now. i mean!! here is your son. your first baby. you loved him so much. you didn't always get it right, and you did your best, even if you didn't have help. maybe, at some point, you started noticing what he lacked, and maybe you pushed him to be better, but that's only because you saw so much potential in him! for the longest time, it was you and him against the world... until suddenly, it wasn't. and that broke you.

but you got up! bc if there's one thing you know how to do, it's to keep going! it's to keep working! to keep living! you have more kids, your family grows, you have more boys and a girl. you can never replace your first baby, but life has gotten better.

and then suddenly. he's back! the son you thought you lost is back!! and he's different and he's hurt and he's been used and abused and oh, he asks you, where were you? why didn't you come after me? why did i have to be the one to go to you? why did you give up? you didnt give up on my your life here, you got up, got better, but not once did you come after me? not once? you gave up on me that easily, papa?

anyway. here's my partner. this man you think of as a monster. he's my family now. he was there for me when you weren't. he knows things about me i'll never tell you.

gideon never says all those things, but that's what nathaniel hears.

what's an old man to do, then, huh? what's an old man to do with all these feelings? does anyone know? certainly not nathaniel coal.

anyway. i can't wait for the breakdown that's about to happen. your fic has me by the throat.

i miss the boys, though. gricko would not STAND for this behavior from the coals, im sure of it.

also are we ever going to figure anything out about gideon's mom?

okay this ask got me so bad I ran a bubble bath, cracked open a nice cold cider and I'm now gonna answer best as I can. Just imagine me typing this on a layer of white bubbles.

Technically, this is answered over the next chapters, but I can give you a sneak peak.

Okay, let's get into it. Radiohead is playing, I am emotional, and fuck it, I wanna answer.

Without giving too much away;

Pa loves Gideon. He loves his kids. When you love something with your whole heart and it goes, it takes your heart with it. None of Pa's kids will ever know what Pa was with Gideon, and they sort of know it, with the way he gets sometimes - looking at the fields like there's still someone running through them when they're all inside. Hopeful.

Pa woke up to Gideon left on his doorstep, months after what he thought was a casual lay with a woman he thought he had dreamed. Parents dead, ranch just about running, about twenty three with no clue in the world of what to do with himself or a baby.

Giving up his youth for the baby, cause that's what you do when you're a good man with a big heart. He gave every part of that big heart to Gideon, keeping just enough back to keep his body running.

Then it's burning.

He's screaming, your baby is screaming, and you're running out to touch him, save him, stroke his hair and whisper that you'd never let anything happen - when a thud hits you, something dark and sharp across your face like the world's cruelest slap.

You wake up to a friend shaking you, begging you to be alive. You get up and you look for him, for your baby, but all there is are steadily filling train tracks, the scent of sulfur, and a long dark horizon.

You lose yourself. You give up. You drink, but that's not enough. Suddenly, all the coin you've been saving? Women. More drinks. Waking up in ditches.

You meet a girl two years younger than you. You saw her when you were younger, in the market with her mother while you had just lost yours.

You fuck her. She's lovely, she's sweet, it's her first time - it's your fiftieth. A month later she runs to your house, paint peeling, still smoke-stained. She's pregnant.

You could get a healer, sweep it all away, but fuck, she's scared. You feel responsible. Suddenly, you're swearing to do right by her and the kid, barely an hour after drinking another bottle of whiskey down. Maybe it helps. Maybe it doesn't.

So you buck up. Quit cold, you ain't a fucking wimp. She helps you, the first few months, and then you're helping her, she's tired, she's hurting, she's got a baby in her and God don't you remember how hard it was to have one just show up?

She gives birth. It's painful, she's screaming, your favourite hat tears in your hands from how tight you're holding it.

You don't give the baby your name, that was Gideon's. You call him John Markus Cowle - it's a fine name enough. The woman, she's sweaty, exhausted, eyes bagged and hands shaking.

She's never looked more beautiful.

You marry the next year, and the ceremony is empty on your side of the aisle, but she's stunning in her white dress. You fall harder than you thought possible.

Life goes on. Three more children, the third a surprise neither expected but both want so so terribly. She's a girl, and suddenly there's two angels in your life. You love and care for your sons, but baby girl is special- the first deep love you've felt since Gideon.

Life is beautiful, for a while. She grows up, like her mother but so stubborn, like you.

Then he comes back.

The day isn't even special. it's not an anniversary or a holiday. It's the start of another week in growing season.

You feel everything, so you make yourself feel nothing. Close yourself. Struggle to speak. He looks nothing like your baby, but all like you, the curve of his brows like his mother (distant as she is in your mind) and scarred like a circus lion. His tail, which used to smack you in bed, is gone. His horns are smaller than you thought they'd be.

He's shackled.

Then out from behind him comes something you've only ever heard about. A lizardfolk. An alligator. Both predators.

You couldn't protect your son, and now there's four more of your babies that you can't see, can't defend. Your girl, your angel, she's too curious - she's so similar to Gideon, who's here now, and she's going to be hurt.

You can't lose another.

Gideon is so big, you can't fit his face in your palm anymore, he looks like you but just a little off, he's beautiful and everything you wanted to see him grow into.

This lizardfolk is dressed far too nice. That's... worse almost. Because the shackles on his wrists need to come from somewhere.

Dear Anon, you will see more soon. Pa also needs to work through this, and he's spent years treating the memory of Gideon like a drop of diamond, precious and unbreakable.

He's a complicated man. I am crying now, having written this out. God, I am not made for this kind of angst, and here I am, hurting myself.

There's going to be a moment it all crashes down and the rubble may not be able to be used to rebuild. Still, a foundation doesn't disappear.

[ace-t-rex-in-space]

Camp Fam Family/Home life Headcannons

Headcannons about the families of the Camp Fam:

Darius:

Mom works during the day so his brother Brandon helps Darius with homework after school

I honestly don't have many because we see Darius's family the most out of all the camp fam members.

Darius does better in school than Brandon did, but he still lets Brandon help him with homework.

Both him and Brandon attend Public school.

Brandon is more popular at school but doesn't let anyone bully his brother.

Kenji:

Mom passed away when he was young

Mom was a stay at home mom, she previously worked as a teacher.

He was closer to his mom than his dad when he was a kid

Still thinks about her a lot

Only Child

He lived a very lonely childhood after his mom died, he didn't get to have many friends, and the cleaning ladies and tutors his father hired got tired of him as he started acting out after his mother's death.

Kenji and his mom both loved animals. she used to talk about getting Kenji a dog when he was ten, but she passed before that.

Hops between all his dad properties and or has had to change schools if he got in trouble and his dad was embarrassed by him.

Private school

Ben:

His dad is a dentist (don't ask me why I feel strongly about this)

Only Child

Him and him mom garden together

Dad is a germaphobe while mom tries to encourage him to enjoy normal kid things (like getting dirty and going to dinosaur infested islands)

Lives in a nice house in the suburbs

Goes to private school

His dad is allergic to most pet hair, so no pets at home. (He's voiced by the same guy who did Ron Stoppable so he get Bumpy instead of Ruffes)

Doesn't play outside much unless his mom makes him.

Sammy:

Mom and Dad have a very traditional relationship

Her mom is an amazing cook and tries to teach Sammy

She has four sisters, two older, two younger

Sammy looks most like her dad; they have similar personalities.

Sammy is the only vegetarian in her family; her mom makes sure she has vegetarian options at all meals.

Her dad tells all the dad jokes

her and her dad go on cattle drives and horseback ride together.

Sammy's older sisters move out shortly after the JWCC events.

Her grandmother lives with them due to her older age. Grandfather died several years ago.

Names all the animals, is always upset when the beef steer go to slaughter.

She prefers to hang out with the cows like Bessie, who they don't raise for meat.

She wants to raise sheep.

And chickens

And really all the animals.

Yasmina:

Only Child

Her dad is a deadbeat (ran *haha* when he found out her mom was pregnant, so she never met him, doesn't really care about him either)

Her mom works at a hospital in data entry or something similar and gets to work from home some days so she can see Yaz after school

Despite being an only child, Yaz has big sister energy because before her mom got her current job they lived with her aunt and younger cousins. Yaz helped with her cousins a lot before they got their own apartment.

Yaz and her mom currently live in a townhouse.

Her mom 1000% makes time for Yaz, movie nights, never misses a track meet.

Legit 100% involved parent

Yaz fell in love with running because her mom was a marathon runner. They still do marathons together.

Yaz wants to be able to go to college on a track scholarship so her mom doesn't have to worry about paying for college for her.

Private school only because of a track scholarship.

Yaz would secretly love a dog, she really wants a heeler or something that would be a running buddy.

Her mom is more of a cat person. They have an old orange cat named Mango.

Brooklynn:

Only child

adopted

Her one dad owned and now franchises a successful coffee empire, which sparked her love for coffee and espresso. Her other dad works in marketing as a content creator for several brands.

Homeschool

Her aunt is a teacher and overseas her Homeschooling

Never really hung out with kids her age.

Her dad always had birds, so when they settled he adopted a rescue Parrot that he trained.

The bird's name is Jack Sparrow, he used to appear in Brooklynn's blogs but the internet was mean to him.

[puckpocketed]

tags via @degrommunism # I have liked him since draft day when I found out he owns a beagle (I love beagles) # but he’s become one of my fave non-bruins or bruins affiliated players to watch # he’s been quietly one of the best two way centers in the game # and a true playmaker. there’s a lot of narratives of him inheriting anze kopitars role as he trends towards retirement which is fun # 88th percentile in primary assist last year # 96th in even strength defense by jfresh/top down hockey data # other sources have him ranked within that range too

putting this here YEAH!!! he's so good. rambles below and a little transcript I've been meaning to do. he's gonna be so good. MAN!!!!!!!!!

you ask any hockey person to try and create the perfect archetype of a player, they might put together someone resembling Quinton Byfield.

At the draft, teams take swings on huge players who are very rough around the edges because they think they can produce a player like Quinton Byfield. the kings selected him with an understanding that he might take longer to get to the NHL than the guy who was also in the mix to go 2nd (timmy stu) and that Q's ceiling, if he reached it, would be insane.

He’s big. he’s skilled. he’s fast. he’s smart. recently, he's started blending in more physicality. once he figures out how to shoot consistently, it's OVER!!! (he is v streaky, a critique in-market media level at him frequently)

here's a little segment of some amateur scouts talking about him on this podcast i listen to, i think about it a lot

from scouching live [1:10:09 - 1:11:00]

WILL SCOUCH: So four of the last five drafts I would say first overall, like... There are multiple candidates that you would legitimately - that you could legitimately consider, if you ask me.

AJ: And if you revisit 2020...

WS: I had Byfield with him, with Lafrenière.

AJ: But beyond that you could, you could pitch a case, I think, for three players to go first overall in that draft.

WS: Yeah... at the time though?

AJ: No, now. Now, now, now, I'm saying now.

WS: Okay.

AJ: Byfield, Stützle, Raymond. And then Rossi just outside of that, maybe. In terms of like, who you would take first overall now.

WS: I think that's fair.

AJ: Quinton Byfield is a monster. That guy is a monster now.

WS: He's a bad man.

AJ: He is, he is ridiculous. He's so huge, and so silky with the way he passes the puck man. And he's quite the intense boy, too. I love him, I love him.

-

[1:53:20 - 1:56:07]

WS: [reading a chat comment] "You completely forgot about Sanderson and Faber in your 2020 first overall discussion." [Scouch makes a warbling 'auuhh' sound, meant to convey doubt ?] I mean...

AJ: Not over those guys.

WS: I mean, Faber, I think Faber could certainly be part of that group but like, I don't know.

AJ: Would I... Okay, I'd put him, I'd put them more with Marco Rossi than I'd put them with Byfield, Raymond, Stützle.

WS: I mean I'd say Byfield and Rossi and Sanderson and Faber are similar but god, Raymond and Stützle are outrageous.

AJ: Dude, I think Byfield’s about to... I think he's about to take off [laughs]. In like, I think he's about to take off and maybe - there's part of me that thinks he could be the best player out of that draft but, [inaudible] like, grow into it this year and next.

Because he's just - dude, he's just, he's so goddamn big and so goddamn good, and, and I sound like an old man saying that but, he is ginormous and a center and he's fast, too. And the passes he pulls off are ridiculous.

I don't know, I just, I just also value the center position above all the other positions.

WS: Yes, it is very valuable.

AJ: I just do. I didn't in 2021 but I do now, okay?

WS: With Byfield it's like, he's one of the guys that, if he steps on the ice and I'm playing against him, like, I'm scared.

AJ: [Sounding bewildered] How do you stop him??

WS: Like that guy - I mean well he clearly can be stopped because he's not like, shooting the lights out or anything...

AJ: No no, but like, how do you stop a guy that's that big and can pass the way he does. He just threads it in such a weird way, like such a creative way.

WS: Teams are finding a way...

AJ: I, I just love him. And it might be my own bias but I think that guy is going to be, out of all of them, like there's a good chance for him...

WS: He's only 22. He's still only 22 years old. He's just a kid, he's a kid.

AJ: Yeah! That's what I'm saying, that's what I'm saying, he's 22. Four years from now, Quinton Byfield... I'm excited. I'm excited to see what that is.

WS: I wanna see him in the playoffs, like, playoffs...

AJ: He has played in the playoffs and he's been good.

WS: No, no, but I mean, I mean like...

AJ: Not against the Edmonton Oilers in the first round.

WS: Well, or, like... Yeah, yeah I mean like...

AJ: Cuz that, that's all he, it's all he's gotten unfortunately.

WS: He was, like, last year he was - yeah, playing like 10, 15, 17 minutes a night. Now he's like, up at 20, 20-plus a lot of the time.

AJ: Yeah!

WS: So he's playing a lot of minutes now, and so seeing him as a primary guy in the playoffs might be very very interesting.

i dont knwo why quinton byfield isnt the best thing since sliced bread on hockeyblr hello. hello. he kisses his goalie after wins. he dabs with his other goalie. hes always shirtless and silly. he tapes his name to his practice helmet and draws a big smiley on it. hes a big goof. hes got a sad meowmeow backstory (drafted 2OA and everyone thought he was a bust) (he played through sprained wrists the year those accusations reached a fever pitch) (he played through sprained wrists. he couldnt feel his hands). he gives alex laferriere uppies after wins as well. he tapes his stick handle purple. he switched to a tinted visor just cause he thought it would look cool. he was absolutely star struck by the rizzler like 2 days ago and did a boom celly .hello .hello . its so dark in here </3

[ednaarel]

Not dev stuff, rather Severance stuff. I posted it to Severance community but I'm gonna post it on main too.

Spoilers for Severance season 2, episode 9. Additionally, TW for discussion of eating disorders.

In TLDR terms: I do think Helena suffers or suffered from an unspecified eating disorder. I'll explain my reasoning down below.

First of all, you need to understand that Helena is more or less a marketing tool. She needs to be pretty and look good in the pictures that Lumon propaganda is throwing into the world. Her getting severed was a giant PR stunt. She had so many moments of her work and possibly her life documented on camera. Therefore, she's got a lot of pressure on herself when it comes to her looks and her image - after all, she's not just representing herself but also the entirety of Lumon and the Eagan family.

Second: Lumon controls food. The vending machines on the severed floor have small portions of Lumon-branded snacks which can only be retrieved with special tokens, which are limited. Gemma gets her food in small, droplet-shaped form. The egg bar (which is, of course, coveted as fuck) is considered a reward, tying food to something you have to earn instead of something you need.

You need to remember that Helena doesn't exist outside of Lumon. She needs to be perfect as Kier's descendant, she most likely grew up extremely isolated, and if we believe what she said to Mark - that she never brought anyone home - she still is isolated and lonely. Her whole life is dictated by her family, by Kier's word, by Lumon principles. When she's told to go back to the severed floor, she does so, even though she clearly doesn't want to - she's treated like an asset instead of a human being. She's not in control of her own life.

This is a really fucked up combination: expectations of perfection, lack of control and already strange culture around food. Eating disorders in women can originate from the lack of sense of control - the food intake is a way to feel in control of something for once.

Which leads me to another point: the weak enamel line. In certain eating disorders, a person will binge eat, then purge, or, vomit in order to not gain weight. Frequent vomiting erodes your enamel. Lumon's obsession with tiny food portions could lead Helena to eat extreme amount of food as an act of rebellion... just for her to feel shame about it afterwards. Lumon is, after all, quite big on the shame factor (remember the break room?).

I thought about this line a lot but everything clicked into place only after today's episode.

Helena swimming. Rigorous exercise often accompanies eating disorders.

Jame telling Helena to eat and that he'll "watch her". This wasn't just a creepy line (though it really was creepy). Ill-informed people will often try to make sure that a person with an eating disorder will eat as they should, and to achieve that, they will watch them as they eat. This, however, often only adds to the stress and shame, especially if you behave like Jame (not engaging with a conversation that's NOT about food, for example).

Helena cutting that one egg into smaller pieces, clearly being particular about the plating (one half of the egg on one side, one on the other), eating in a highly specific manner (only the white, she didn't touch the yolk).

Jame commenting on Helena's egg preference. If you remember (and I don't blame you if you don't), Jame would prefer her to "take them raw" because Kier's favorite breakfast contained raw eggs. Helena's exercising the little freedom of choosing her own way to have eggs and even then, her choice is being commented upon and scrutinized through the lens of her ancestry.

If I got something factually incorrect, please feel free to tell me, I'm in no way an expert on this stuff. I just think that the whole thing is extremely tragic.

[radioactive-earthshine]

What would KonBart do for careers or do you think they would just be heroes full time?

I know the common headcanon is that Kon goes back into being in the public eye as some sort of personality or marketable icon but I honestly think he would rather eat sand every day for lunch than have anything with being a celebrity again.

So for me that's off the table, forever.

I honestly think Kon would find purpose and meaning in one of these careers.

1.) Farmer. He LOVES Smallville, and he loves being a farmer. I also think it is a great narrative contrast between him and Clark - Clark rejected being a farmer to live in the city and to be a reporter, meanwhile Kon was in the spotlight in some big cities and he found purpose and meaning in Smallville. I feel like it would be something he would love to do, even going as far to get various agriculture science degrees so he can be a better farmer. He's really big on sustainability and climate change and listening to scientists.

2.) Lawyer. There's a lot of areas where he could thrive easily; adoption, family law, immigration, contracts and agreements are the four areas that I mostly see him taking a primary interest where he can do a lot of good and each mean something to him or to the greater Superman mythos.

3.) Conservation scientist. This can tie in with him being a farmer as well (honestly he could do all of these at the same time) but I am attracted to the idea of him loving Earth so much, because he really is a child of the Earth and Water, that he would want to do everything he can to help it and teach others to protect it too. No one wants another Krypton and man, we're close.

As for BARTIMUS I honestly do not want him anywhere NEAR CSI because it's lazy and overdone.

He's so artistically talented I honestly feel he would thrive in the arts but he also needs areas where he can decompress and not be too stressed out because he has to move, run, take breaks and be Bart. A desk job or a job that has a strict routine is immediately OFF THE PLATE. If he has to report in every single day and do the same thing he's going to bored.

1.) Textile engineering & Fashion design. He makes and designs Super Suits, he's an Edna Mode. Not only is this a highly important field for heroes this is something he could do specifically within their own ranks so he's not juggling Bart Allen and Impulse constantly. I think having that complication removed entirely would do a world of good for him. It's also diverse and every day is a little different.

2.) Illustrator. He is an incredible artist, this we have seen, so I feel like him becoming an artist of some kind would be something he would find enjoyment in and people would rave about how fast he can get things done.

3.) Writer. Remember when Mr. Sheridan said he might have a future in video games? Well, modern games need good writers and I think he might find enjoyment from writing video game scripts. Sitting down to design them might be a little too stationary for him, but he might give it a valiant effort before settling that writing them is pretty fun. Sure he wants to PLAY them too but they need to start with a story. He also wrote that RPF comic of Young Justice so... take that what you will.

So these are just my headcanons, I wanted to stay AWAY from obvious choices and handwaved "scientist" because we honestly have enough of that.

[sam-keeper]

yeah this is the thing that kept making me feel kinda bonkers as I was reading, like surely my good bitch you did not just write an entire essay whose premise is "the world seems grey and dull, now that I'm in my 30s. it must be the world that is wrong."

actually, I found it frustrating how frequently I had to search for the art he was talking about just to feel like I had SOME grip on what he was describing. it's sort of a "well you had to be there" article which is weird to publish in Harpers imo, but like, I also think often of the time I worked up the courage to ask some classmates "so, you don't, really just fly to Venice every year to look at art, surely, right?" and they were like, "you mean you DON'T?" it's quite possible that we're both just missing a context that he IS able to assume his target audience just has because they all go to the same events. but yeah so many of his paragraphs are just lists of art works and the only real context he provides is whether it's in a section where he's talking about their unfocused grandiloquent contemporary art vs his friends' pluralistic ambitious art from ten years ago. also, I noticed that he'll name the artists he likes, whereas someone like Puppies Puppies I had to search around for because he just describes her piece as a "bronze self portrait of a trans woman". he doesn't so much explain why the work is bad so much as frame it as beneath consideration in a way that should be obvious to anyone who isn't part of the liberal orthodoxy.

I'm not surprised no one else seems to be engaging this stuff on a level of class/economics/markets and marketing cause that all seems to be pretty taboo in the art world (unless you've made it part of your persona like Damien Hirst has). like I'm thinking of the later edition of John Berger's book on Picasso opening with him saying that people got really offended by the first edition because he (a communist) was talking about Picasso's (a communist) astonishing wealth, and how much money the owners of Picasso's paintings make reselling them. the market is so central, but also so gauche to talk about openly it feels like. especially when it comes to installation or performance stuff, where realistically you kind of need to have an independent source of income to finance the work, unless you're a superstar who gets big institutional grants. maybe that's too cynical a view of the field but I think it would be kind of embarrassing for a lot of people if we started having conversations about financing.

especially for the people in NYC being financed by tech nazis lmao

so this is months after the fact, but i'm wondering if you read dean kissick's now infamous harper's piece about "representation" making art banal, because while it seems to me he has some kind of a genuine frustration, both he and the people responding to him are sort of talking around the actual issue in question, or misplacing blame (classically by pointing the finger at "minority" artists)? my first instinctive response to the assertion that no interesting art exists because of the nebulous project of representation, was that, well, skill issue - interesting "minority" artists exist, very much so, perhaps the more interesting question is WHY they don't make it into shows and what would have to change structurally beyond the lip service of institutions to elevating non-white, queer artists.

...but at that point i realised i know literally nothing about the visual art world lmao and while i can confidently point to why this happens in publishing, i was wondering if you had any thoughts abt the actual piece and some of its very blithe (and what seems to me!) and sweeping assertions?

oh my god I had not seen this piece and it BODIED me. WHAT AN OPENING PARAGRAPH! I read the opening line out to Sarah and she looked like I had thrown a flash grenade in her face. she was blinking the spots out of her eyes. the whole thing is so incredible it's sort of hard for me to get my thoughts together--though, I think it's very Psychological that he keeps complaining that the art world has lost the vitality it had when he was... in his 20s? and my man surely you're not writing a whole article grousing about identity then in one of the last paragraphs dropping a line like, "In the Nineties, when I was a student at a Christian boys’ school in Oxford,"

but that opening though. oh my goodness lmao.

ok confession though on the main subject: I generally feel pretty disconnected from the contemporary high art world myself honestly? I've always had trouble getting an overview of Scenes cause I tend to burrow pretty deep into the stuff I'm most interested in, I've always been a bit too autistic and working class (complicated term for me but w/e) to really... fit in with my peers even when I was in grad school for contemporary art history... you're probably more knowledgeable about contemporary publishing than I am about contemporary art tbh. it's something I actually feel self conscious about as a self professed materialist haha

the annoying thing is I do sort of get what he means, for like, 6 paragraphs or so in the middle of the piece. there's definitely a strain of contemporary identity-focused art that leaves me kind of cold or just nonplussed in part for the reason he lays out: that there's all these things that are supposedly signifiers of this or that or "call to mind" or "invoke" some historical marker... but all of that is present in the descriptive text rather than the piece itself? like, you would need an incredibly specific and *narrowly focused* repertoire to see a chain made of salt and immediately jump to "ah yes it's like the ancient greek slave trade, in particular".

I don't think this is necessarily a problem of bad art though so much as bad ad copy?

like, I do encounter a lot of artist statements that leave me going, like, ok but *does it decolonize the body through the inversion of subject and object* though? or whatever. like what would that actually feel like, to have happen to you, intellectually and affectively? there's a lot of bold claims about what radical things the work is doing and it often feels like upselling, to me. but that doesn't necessarily mean I dislike the art! actually at multiple shows in my area I've seen stuff that I really enjoyed and then looked at the artist statement and learned that in fact what seemed like a shocking, surreal expression of an inexpressible inner experience was actually banal old "social anxiety". like the art has to fit into a consecrated schema of psychotherapy or sociology or ethnography to be marketed or justified. I don't think that's a problem of identity, or politics, I think it's one of commodification, but I empathize, I think, with the author's *frustration* about it.

also, tangentially, I have this whole thing I wrote recently that might make it into an article or might not, about Felix Gonzalez-Torres's "Untitled (Portrait of Ross in LA)", his famous interactive/conceptual piece where a pile of candy weighing the same as his lover's ideal body weight is continuously depleted by gallery attendees and refreshed by gallery administrators. the Smithsonian recently showed that with just, a comically blithe description that cuts out the entire context that this is artwork about gay men during the AIDS crisis. and that's actually a good example imo of a place where it's really important to have contextualizing information because the contextualizing information is part of the piece and shapes how everyone involves participates in the work. like, you might come to the conclusion that it "invokes" communion, and that's great, though I think saying that in the museum guide maybe is a bit over-determining? but you can only get to that invocation if you already have a context about the performance that you've been invited to engage in, if that makes sense. the accompanying explanation is a script that the participants are using to guide their interpretation--interpretation the way an actor interprets a line, I mean. and I think Kissik would just throw this out along with everything else, which is unfortunate.

but! like! I don't really know because he also seems to enthusiastically cite things pretty similar to this as pluralistic art that is of the present instead of the past. why is Wael Shawky's Cabaret Crusades good and Puppies Puppies's bronze nude self portrait bad? I have no idea. (well, she's transsexual so.......) or, like, is he suggesting that the Symphony of Sirens, an avant garde whole city performance honoring the October Revolution, is good because it's not... about anything? sometimes it seems like he just has a problem with people painting in traditional ways but then in others he's like hey look at this cool traditional painting! I find this so genuinely perplexing lmao. I genuinely do not know what I'm supposed to come away from this piece doing, as an artist.

oh, well, except that the bit about Louis Fratino sort of hits, too. his critique of Fratino is that he may be making gay cubism but the fact that it's cubism still makes it aesthetically conservative. I actually think about this a lot, the tendency for marginalized artists right now to paint themselves into history, as it were. it's directly relevant to my own practice, since I'm drawn to art primarily from the turn of the century, or I guess broadly from something like 1860-1960 maybe? I was classically trained, I do a lot of figure drawing, and I love drawing nudes of my queer friends. is that aesthetically conservative, or is depicting trans people happy and horny and beautiful surrendering to bourgeois aesthetic values? if I draw a fat snake furry in a pose based on Ingres's Odelisque is that a clever detuning of the canon, or is that a concession to the canon's authority and an admission that I don't have anything to say that hasn't already been said by a cishet male european?

it's definitely an anxiety for me. (I'd say it's table stakes for him but I guess the opening paragraph's point is that it's all fun and games until somebody loses a leg.) no idea what to do with all this but I do think about it, and I do feel frustrated with how... inward focused so much art now can be? that's not something that appeared in the last 8 years though lol that's the whole postmodern turn! like, architecture for example--yes there's all sorts of ironic quotations of classical greek elements and forms but it represents a historical return that contrasts the break represented by say brutalism. lichtenstein does dot painting renditions of cubist art. practically everyone in the Lowbrow Movement that comes out of comix are addicted to quotation and citation from both fine art and pop culture, and those guys are almost all cishet white guys!

so, whatever. the piece touches on some stuff I've thought about too, basically, but in such a garbled way that I'm not even sure what to really do with it. also I found out from this piece that he's associated with the Dimes Square people. once again I feel vindicated in being prejudiced against New York City and its people, though I can't say more about what kind of performance piece I'd like to see introduced to Dimes Square without getting put on some sort of List. oh, also Helen Lewis thought this article was brilliantly written. lol. and also, lmao.

I feel like there's probably more that could or should be said but I can't really think of what else to say so I'll stop rambling now.

[bitchthefuck1]

Point for the Roman and Shiv twin truthers

[jojo-schmo]

This is not a criticism of people who make Kirby merch from memes!

But as someone who likes the entire franchise and it’s many characters other than Kirby, this is simply an observation I’ve made lately as a regular patron of artist alleys in the United States lol

[picklesthenonbeanary]

Everyone on here has such cool click clack ideas! like omg!!! I think it’s time that I share the one that I’ve made for an au idea I have, had them for about a week and I love them but I’m still trying to get details down for the au and all, still in the planning stage and like this is my first time really actually doing this.

Anyways, click clack design be upon you!

I turned him into a plushie guys and I love him!

More info/rant undercut

This au is gonna be on the more body horror side and I would love to info dump about it once my brain gives me more ideas to write down but honestly I think his design for the au turned out good, their modeled after a teddy bear and I tried to make the face and eyes similar to one as much as I could for just concept sketches

Anyways lemme know if anyone wants an info dump on the au,

been trying to get as much down as I can for it but obviously having your attention split while brain storming isn’t the best. Probably gonna make an info dump either way just the get the brain juices pumping but how much I share in an actual post is gonna depend on how willing I think people are to hear about it tbh. I don’t wanna talk about something nobodies gonna care much about

Um anyways new au idea underways, gonna try and write a story about it but I currently only have a beginning and vague concept of how I want it to end and nothing in between so far so we will see. Would love to trouble shoot with someone but I currently don’t have anyone to do that with so… feel free to reach out if you wanna try helping tho, i've got like litterally no friends in/into the comunitiy so it would be kinda nice

Probably gonna turn out sloppy but so is the ways of life, better to make sthat is bad then nothing at all