#but it's important to keep in mind 1. people don't set out to be Evil. it can be more helpful to think about what encourages people to

[jacksprostate]

the prototypical child and or grown man who greatly misinterprets fight club has a preternatural hold on most tumblr fight clubber's minds and i think it's time we all let it go... firstly if you're imagining a 13 year old please realize that dunking on 13 year olds because they have bad critical reading skills is more and more pathetic the older you get. secondly even if these people exist they're not on tumblr and will not be disturbed by your actions because they'll never see them. thirdly, defining yourself and your interpretation in Opposition to another without taking care to understand why that interpretation developed beyond 'well they're just evil' will only leave you cut off from people. it is better even, to understand exactly why they think terrible things, what leads them to it, than to just dismiss it and position yourself as the good to their bad guy, defined by doing whatever you consider opposite. fourthly? fourth? using 'this movie is GAY and or liked by women actually, ooga booga, you're gonna HATE that hahaha' as an argument reinforces the idea that these things are stigmatized and things they should hate, and even contributes to the (very flawed) perception that these things are 'stealing' from them, and once again reinforces negativity. it's pointless. certainly, write your analyses and reference the interpretation, even analyze it, but take care to consider whether you're acting on solid ground or performing against an unpresent bogeyman for the cheers of your peers, and consider whether you want to gain cred by shitting on others, even if it's the conceptual ghost of a shit person.

[stu-dyingstudent]

Sakura Haruno fic recs: ANBU

AHHHH!!!! I love ANBU fics, especially when they involve Sakura. It was such a cool concept, which was unfortunately never fully expanded upon. However, our lack of knowledge regarding the shadow corps allows for some really cool fic ideas since authors can take creative liberty on the structure and workings of the division.

In my opinion, Sakura had the most potential out of team 7 to join ANBU (at least more than Naruto). It's all about being discreet and efficient and although she wasn't strong during og, she possessed abilities that would be valuable for this. Her clever mind, chakra control, and genjutsu potential would've made her a good fit. Naruto was too flamboyant and Sasuke was too reckless and cocky, but this is just my take. However, with her new skill set from her training with Tsunade, I don't think she would be able to go down that path anymore.

Started: 2024.08.06

Last Updated: 2024.08.29

note: feel free to check out my master list which has a bunch of Sakura Haruno fic recs (all organized)!

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Masks by mads999 || ao3 || kakasaku || E || canon divergent || complete

1. Sakura's Inner is far more diabolical than anyone ever expected 2. Crows prove to be cruel mentors 3. Sakura comes to learn exactly how much she hates Kakashi (as well as how alike they are, in the most terrible of ways)

Kakashi is a hateful turd and Sakura is spiteful! I hate this ship and I'm not a big fan of Kakashi here, but boy is this fic good. One of the best character developments I've read for Sakura and she certainly becomes of force to be reconned with. The ANBU lore in Masks is absolutely phenomenal and I love the whole system that is put into place as it adds for some drama (lol). Also, can we talk about how awesome crow summons are????

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Five Kingdoms for the Dead - Evil Is A Relative Term || ffn || M || canon divergence || complete

After the Forest of Death, Sakura comes to realize that being weak is no longer an option. However, she finds that change is sometimes painful and that truth doesn't always come easy. Luckily, she'll have some help along the way.

It's been a while since I've read Five Kingdoms for the Dead, but I just remember it being absolutely great! I'll be honest, I found a lot of the mind stuff pretty confusing at times, but it was still enjoyable. Also, some great characters are utilized in this fic such as Neji, Sai, and Itachi. Makes me really wish that we saw more of Sakura and Neji working together in Naruto since I think they compliment each other quite well.

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Trials of Change - Espoiretreves || ao3 || gen || time travel AU || complete

Haruno Sakura made a promise. Looking in the eyes of her Shisou and the reanimated Hokage, she took on the most important mission of her life. Go back in time and try to prevent the 4th Shinobi War. Now, Sakura is back to her 5-year-old body, with all the knowledge and haunting memories of the future. She vows to keep her precious people safe and stop certain events from happening, without altering the timeline too much. The trials her emotions and logic put her through have her questioning her very existence, but for the sake of peace, she has to push forward. No matter what.

Trials of Change is actually apart of a time travel series and I have to say that it is probably one of the best of the genre! Now, Sakura is not in ANBU here, but she works very closely with team Ro (Kakashi's ANBU team) and it's a huge part of the story, so I'm choosing to count it anyway. I really adore all of the worldbuilding and backstories going on here in addition to the fact that there are breaks. Yes, the story keeps moving, but there are other things going on, like playdates, and not just Sakura trying to save the world. Also, if you love Shisui then definitely check this out since he has a huge role and his and Sakura's friendship is just so precious.

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bite me and see, said the fly to the spider - MirrorImage003 || ao3 || itasaku || T || non-massacre AU || ongoing

In which Sakura is not initially a part of Team 7. In which she wears her failures like armor and brandishes her fears like her most trusted weapons. In which I do what hundreds of other authors have done before me, and rewrite Sakura's story. Non-massacre AU. Canon Divergent. Slow-burn.

After Sakura's first team, consisting of the graduating class's "expendables," dies, she joins team 7 and faces backlash along her shinobi journey. Sakura doesn't join ANBU until the later chapters so fair warning that there isn't too much content in that regards (unless it updates). Nonetheless, Sakura views ANBU as vital to her career as it offers her the highest clearance she can get. Gaining her opportunities for information her civilian-born status didn't allow her privy to.

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The Sixth Shadow - thinknicht || ao3 || kakasaku || M || canon divergent - eventual time travel AU || ongoing

No one seemed to find it odd when little Haruno Sakura threw herself smack dab in front of a Chidori and Rasengan. Not even Kakashi stopped to wonder.(He really should have.)

The story of how Sakura came to be the sixth hogake despite all of the challenges thrown her way. I especially love Sakura's drive in addition to the political aspects. However, be warned that Kakashi is an absolute HATER (in the beginning), but he gets better! The Sixth Shadow is extremely long and I only just recently got to Sakura's introduction to ANBU, so I can't say too much in that regard.

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Daughter of Fire - justjstuff || ao3 || kakasaku || E || canon divergence || incomplete (maybe ongoing)

Sakura got up and didn’t bother brushing the dirt from her dress. She had a feeling she was about to get even dirtier.She looked at the memorial stone one last time, memorizing the characters without even realizing she was doing it. It would serve from that moment on as a reminder of her determination. She wouldn’t let Naruto and Sasuke join the names carved on that stone.That was her nindo.

Sakura's growth throughout Daughter of Fire is great and realistic all while pointing out aspects from the original series which were flawed and dare I say misogynistic. I struggled a bit in the beginning to justify her abilities, but overall the story is really well done and the ANBU aspects are quite intriguing.

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cut the head off the snake - itsthechocopuff || ao3 || T || time travel AU || complete

when eighteen-year-old, post-war Sakura is thrown back into her tiny, pre-Academy body, she makes a decision. she'd had a childhood once already, and this time, she's more interested in Not Dying when the inevitable shit hits the proverbial fan. so she will work harder, care less, kill more, and smile when she's done.and hey, if she ends up reviving an extinct nature transformation to attract the most corrupt, power-hungry man from her timeline, all the better for her, right?

Such a unique take on a time travel AU and Cut the Head Off the Snake executes it perfectly. Sakura decides that her first order of business is to infiltrate ROOT and that's exactly what she does. Sai, Shin, and Shisui are all great characters and team Ro is present as well. Very good!

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Flowers - Idunmy || ao3 || E || kakasaku || canon divergence || ongoing

Flowers only bloom just before they wilt When Sakura loses her fight against Ino in her Chuunin exams, she questions her ability to ever become a kunoichi, too weak to protect herself, let alone her village One wrongful promotion later and Sakura gets a second chance in the shape of a mysterious new teacher who against all odds is willing to put her faith in a young girl with potential and a willingness to fight. Or- a fix-it inspired fic where Sakura grows to be the powerhouse she was destined to become.

Flowers is a newer series (which has recent updates) and I love it! Critiques are made towards the medical ninja training, which I believe needed to be discussed and it's refreshing to see. In most ANBU fics I've read, Sakura is immediately put onto the strongest team, but here it's a bit different. She begins on a demolition squad, which not only suits her skill set quite well, but is a realistic approach to how she would be introduced to the corps. Anyway, it's one of my favorite reads at the moment and I really like where the story is going.

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names. - waterpllar || ao3 || T || gen || canon divergence || complete

There are no names or faces in ANBU. Everything is designed to be strictly formal, efficient and professional. A recently orphaned Sakura, however, learns that some regulations aren't meant to be followed, and finds a place in Team Ro after being shunned from her former teammates. (fic prompt from anon on tumblr: orphaned sakura in anbu with yamato, genma, and team ro.)

AHHHH poor Sakura. After her parents' death Sakura seeks Tsunade's help out of desperation to become useful. Under recommendation, Sakura's new goal is to make it into ANBU.

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Equinox - FM_White || ao3 || itasaku || M || anbu AU || complete

ItaSaku (Post Uchiha Massacre) AU: Climbing through the ranks of Konoha, Sakura finds herself with the invitation to join ANBU and a chance to learn from one of the most renowned and legendary ninja in the world. Despite her efforts to grow stronger however, she finds the world isn't as black and white as it looks and that some truths are easier to hide than others.

I don't remember Equinox very well, but I love most works by this author sooo. Anyway, Itachi stays in Konoha and instead it's Sasuke that goes rougue. Sakura, Naruto, and Shikamaru are newly joined ANBU members and all placed on a team with Itachi and things go from there.

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stars in our eyes as we dream of the heavens (the gods walk among us, sweet child, do not forget) - snickiebear || ao3 || kakasaku || T || age-swap AU || oneshot complete

“Kakashi-sensei,” Naruto whispered, staring at his teacher, horror plain on his face. “You’re married?” Lazily, Kakashi looked down at his gloveless hand where his ring rested, “It would appear so.”

Sakura is born in the same generation as Kakashi and turns out as a badass ANBU married to him. This is super wholesome as it's a lot of the two of them bonding with Kakashi's genin team (Sai makes three) in an effort to help them out. It's a series so you can read more of the events taking place prior to the fic.

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Anachronistic Drift  - Elesrea  || ffn || gen || T || time travel AU || incomplete

Her plan was flawless. Save Shisui. Save the world. Time-travel, Sakura-centric AU

Sakura spends years training to be sent back in time and save the world from Sasuke. She isn't in ANBU, but rather poses as one in order to keep an anonymous status on her doings both in and out of the village.

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Sakura - lilac haze || ffn/ao3 || M || minasaku || time travel AU || complete

AU. Non-Canon. Time Travel. Please see inside for full warnings. Cross posted on Ao3. On his deathbed he was granted eternal peace and place to rest for all of time. Of course that was not appealing to him. Ever unpredictable to the end he had a counter offer. One that the Sage had to consider. In which Sakura's going to have a rough time. A really rough time.

Sakura is probably one of my all time favorite fics because the emotions are just spectacular. The story is pretty heavy on ANBU and ROOT aspects, which I always enjoy, but I wouldn't say it's a major focus. However, there is an emphasis on the unfair treatment towards kunoichi. Anyway, the characterizations and storytelling are beautifully done. Please share this author some love.

Check TWs before hand!!

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Hope y'all enjoy these recs, and please feel free to send me some if you have any!!!! I really appreciate when you do :)

[fruitgumy]

one thing i don't like about how hori wrote afo's backstory is that the narration makes it seem like afo was just born evil by saying that he was just born greedy and selfish. a major theme of the series is how otherwise good or even just neutral people become evil because of societal failures, but it's like all of that goes out the window when it comes to afo.

i'm in no way excusing afo, but he was a "meta" born in a time where people hunted his kind for sport. if you're a toddler with a deadly power that both makes you physically different from others and is so powerful that it scares people (spearlike bones) of course you're going to be ostracized. and with that ostracization comes the people who want to kill you. so what do you do? what is the only thing you can do? it becomes kill or be killed. then you become desensitized to killing, you may not even fully understand the weight of a life — you're only, like, 4 years old. you learn that problems can be solved with violence. need something for you and your brother? kill to get it. you realize that what you want can just be taken, not to mention your power incentivizes you to take what you want anyways.

many people point out that yoichi grew up just as poor and abandoned as afo, but there's an important distinction to make. yoichi was thought to be quirkless. he would not have been hunted like afo was. he would not have had the pressure of keeping a weaker, sicker sibling alive. although yoichi's life was no walk in the park, he and yoichi would've had an entirely different worldview. afo craves power because power is what has allowed him to survive his childhood. yoichi's lack of power and victimization because of his weakness leads him to understand the importance of wielding power responsibly. so with that in mind, it must've been hard for him to understand yoichi's talks about justice when they likely only survived because of afo's ruthlessness.

i realize this post makes me sound like afo's #1 dick rider which i kind of am, but i'm not delusional. the man is evil, he chose to stay that way, and he was well past any form of redemption, but i just hate the idea of an inherently evil newborn baby so fucking much. i think that he's like tomura in the sense that with the right guidance, he could have been a somewhat normal person. (that's a whole other post in itself, how he literally gave tomura his own trauma because he knew from experience how it would break him) yes of course it's possible for him to have grown up without becoming evil, but honestly i think anyone, if handed those specific set of circumstances, would more than likely go down a very very bad path.

[outisgivingpac]

PAC: Little things you can do to improve your everyday life

Because there are days when simply existing feels like an extreme sport, this PAC shall give you some mundane advice to make your day a little bit easier 🌱☔✨

Check out my pinned post for my masterlist and personal readings ❤️

🐸Pick a pile/image you feel most drawn to🐸

Pile 1. Pile 2. Pile 3.

Pile 1: Queen of Pentacles reversed, the Empress reversed, The High Priestess

Dear Pile 1, there're a lot to unpack here so I hope you would stay with me till the end. Firstly, I can feel your fatigue streaming through, as it seems like you're buried under all kind of house chores and errands. What you can really use right now is a helping hand, not just someone who would nod sympathically to your struggle. Many of you could just be living alone, but some might share the place with someone who have different living standards as yourself. Either case, you could cut yourself some slack by asking for help, or simply letting others help you. On a side note, you might not have been eating properly as of late. Either you eat too little, or only fuel yourself with the kind of food that has little nutritional value. Though, it appears you're fully aware of all these problems, and just have to listen to your body more. You know better than anyone when you need to take a break, when to take a sip of water, or what you crave. So, yes, you should trust yourself on that as often as possible, rather than deeming it evil whisper your inner goblin lol

Pile 2: 6 of Cups, 7 of Pentacles, 9 of Wands

As it seems, people of this pile need a lot of activities and/or stimulations during a day to feel good in general. At the same time, idleness will weight you down like a plague. Without busying yourself with something that can be considered productive throughout the day, you tend to spiral hard in your head and become restless at night. This is often the case on those days when you don't have to go out for school or work. Aren't you a workaholic high-achiever with reasonable expectations for anyone but yourself? You're much encouraged to not take your day-off for granted, spending it worrying about work. Maybe you can pick up a hobby like handcraft (f.e. knitting, origami ect.), playing an instrument or engaging in certain outdoor sports. I know it could be much when you're low on energy, so it's important to find out something you truly enjoy to keep you (or your mind) active (maybe something you can do even when lying on bed?). The progress you make with your personal project will keep you in a more positive mindset. Lastly, some of you totally should keep your daily caffeine intake in check 👀

Pile 3: 7 of Pentacles reversed, 2 of Cups, Temperance

For Pile 3, I can tell you guys are goal-oriented people, who could get impatient when your effort are not met with immediate results. The lack of progress or productivity, whether it comes from your side or other party, could frustrate you greatly and taint your day in a sullen mood. To make your life a little bit easier, it's important to turn a mental switch when you're off work. Set your priority and boundary clear, knowing that you have tried to do the most you can with the cards you're served. There's always another day to continue or try again. Besides, if you have the "all or nothing" mentality, having compromises and taking the middle road will cut you some slack. As the world is not black or white, and it's completely normal to have inconsistency in your energy level. If you have a significant other, a close friend or family member, spending quality time with them is like swallowing a health potion. Oftentimes, they act like your personally cheerleader, hyping you up and helping you feel like your effort is seen, waaayyy before it is recognized by practical results. But hey, you can start giving it to yourself, too! Start to talk about/to yourself more kindly, like you would for someone you love.

[y-rhywbeth2]

Lore: Baldur's Gate #2

Demographics of the Western Heartlands

Link: Disclaimer regarding D&D "canon" & Index [tldr: D&D lore is a giant conflicting mess. Larian's lore is also a conflicting mess. There's a lot of lore; I don't know everything. You learn to take what you want and leave the rest]

The City | Demographics | Law & Legal System | Administration & Government | ??? - WIP

A sort of overview of how people fit into the region. When I say "Baldur's Gate is a human city" I am not overexaggerating.

So: detailing the five main human groups of the region: the elves would rather stay in Evereska, thanks; the half-elves would rather not stay in Evereska: the halflings are cheerfully exploiting the local adventurers; the gnomes mind their own business; the dwarves have a local history that's just the world hitting them with sticks; and for some reason the Hells have it out for the Western Heartlands, and tieflings are resented for being a reminder. (And the occasional half-orc and dragonborn is there too, I guess.)

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While the exact percentages may have shifted up or down somewhat over the course of events at the end of the Era of Upheaval and so on, they're still a pretty solid idea of what to expect from the Western Heartlands, and thus Baldur's Gate as the largest population centre (it's also where the most diversity is, being the only major port city for miles).

The breakdown is:

78% Human 7% Elven 4% Half-elven 3% Halfling 2% Gnome 1% Dwarf 1% "Other" [Tiefling, Half-orc, Dragonborn]

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So 78% of the entire population of the Western Heartlands is human; consisting mostly of five ethnic groups. These groups being defined by their shared inherited cultural norms and genetics across Faerûn. Chondathan culture heavily shapes Baldur's Gate.

80% of these humans are Tethyrian [melting pot of cultures and genetics, predominantly Calishite and Chondathan by ancestry. By average: brown skin; black hair; blue eyes (northern) or brown eyes (southern). Their primary ancestors were the native people of the lands that became Tethyr and Calmishan. The further north you go the more Netherese and Illuskan genes enter the pool, and lighter skin and blue eyes becomes more common. In the Western Heartlands - they mostly follow Chondathan cultural norms. They have a history of being colonised and enslaved (largely by Calimshan), value freedom and community above all else; slavery is the pinnacle of evil. They have a strong bardic tradition due to relying on oral lore and song to keep their histories and what remains of their distinct culture alive (the majority of their cultural norms will be determined by the dominant culture they've mixed with). The average Tethyrian is raised to mistrust authorities with more jurisdiction than a city state (kingdoms and empires = bad). -

10% are Calishite [dark brown skin; black hair; dark brown eyes. Tend to be short. Due to genie ancestry, most genasi are Calishite]. The percentage is probably higher in the 15th century, due to a wave of refugees. The ancestors of the Calishites were slaves of genies who came to Toril, set up their empires, annoyed the local elves and got wiped off the map and left the humans to inherit their master's empire. Calimshan is one of the oldest human empires still standing, and they're very proud of this fact. They value reputation above all else (personal and family, both highly interconnected) which is basically a form of social currency. Very strict social divides: Class matters, traditionally they're patriarchal and gender roles are strict, marriage is important and the father determines social class (only women may marry "above their station"). In recent history, a return of the ruling djinn and efreeti led to a lot of war and destruction in Calimshan, sending a wave of refugees into the world. Most of those refugees live seperate from the main city in "Little Calimshan" in the Outer City. Said war has recently ended, due to the actions of a Chosen of Ilmater, and many Calishites in Baldur's Gate are considering returning home (especially because there is considerable friction between the refugees and the locals). Sorcery is a common occurance, and Calishites have a strong arcane and divine tradition. -

5% are Chondathan ["tawny" brown skin; light brown to black hair; brown or green eyes. Tend to be tall]. Their ancestors started off as warriors, whose many wars led to them destroying an elven city and a retaliatory tidal wave that eventually led them to discover that trade worked better for them (this did not stop them pissing off elves everywhere they went), they did such a good job that they dominated Central Faerûn through mercentile skill, and Chondathan culture (i.e. language, the Thorass alphabet and such) is a major influence pretty much all over Faerûn. Typically Chondathans have adapted quickly and peaceful to the norms and laws of other peoples, and a Baldurian, Cormyrian and a Sembian will not be perfectly interchangable. Still they will often have shared values: Violence is tacky and counterproductive. a reputation for honesty is paramount and breaking your word is taboo. Tend to be cat people, with a strong appreciation for tressyms. They value hard work, industry and admire wealth (which is power and evidence of a good work ethic). Social standing is determined by money and influence. Class divides don't tend to be rigid, and it's generally believed that hard work should open doors. You start work at 12 (apprenticeships) and if you're able bodied you will be shamed for "not pulling your weight". The elderly tend to hang around after retirement and tutor the next generation. They have little in the way of magical traditions, or interest in it. -

3% are Illuskan [pale skin; blonde, red or black hair; blue or grey eyes. Tend to be very tall]. Rarely found outside of the North (including the Sword Coast North, across the border), most Illuskan cultures are tribes and settlements on the frontiers. They value courage, battle prowess and survival and haven't been as successful in the larger world because they tend to prefer war and raids to trade. Larger civilisation hinders growth and encourages weakness and dependency, and is largely shunned. The rest of the world considers them "no better than orcs" and the Illuskans think the rest of the world are a bunch of cowards unworthy of respect. Not being able to be the warrior hero of some kind of epic tale (or being bold enough to aspire to be) is not necessarily a thing to be ashamed of that you will be mistreated for, but you won't be given any respect past basic courtesy either. Magic is not infrequent amongst Illuskans, due to Netherese ancestry, but it is mistrusted due to the history of the Arcane Brotherhood of Luskan, who are evil bastards. Religion is eh. Illuskans generally only have uses for gods who serve a practical purpose (so appeasing the gods of fury (such as Auril and Umberlee) and Tempus, god of war). -

1% consists of the Gur [brown skin; thick, straight black hair; dark brown eyes. Tend to be hirsute and short, but "stocky"] The ancestors of the Gur were Rashemi, a people they still strongly resemble, physically. The modern people feel no kinship with their distant kin though. They're mostly nomads, but some Gur can be found permanently settled in the slums of cities like Baldur's Gate and Elturel, where they're treated as subhuman. Their patron deity is Selûne: protector of travellers and outcasts, and a patron of diviners, which the Gur practice for protection and aid in navigation (as such they also worship Savras, god of truth and fate, patron god of divination). Amongst their own the Gur speak a unique dialect of Rashemi that no outsiders are privy to. There's not a lot on the Gur, but if they share any cultural norms with the Rashemi, it might be something like this: The Rashemi value personal skill/strength (in whatever form that takes) and achievements, and scorn the concept of inherited (unearned) titles and wealth. They also value the wellbeing of the land itself, to which they show respect. While they don't shun work, they don't live for it either; the youth are often found carousing loudly with their friends, and while the adults are expected to contribute to society, they also enjoy a good time. Children are subject to tests as they mature, and elders are afforded great respect for their experience and the challenges they have overcome in reaching their age. Interestingly, Rashemi expats also have a reputation for being "nuisances" outside of Rashemen: many struggle with culture shock, and the stereotype is that they will get drunk and wander around picking fights everywhere (the Rashemar norm of challenging others to help them and you improve comes across as aggression to outsiders). -

The remaining 1% is a mixture of the many, many, many different humans on Toril. This canonically includes one of Faerûn's only Maztican communities, consisting of the Nexala people living in Baldur's Gate (I think they drew inspiration from the Mexica?) and there appears to include a Kozakuran (Japanese fantasy counterpart) minority. TSR's decision to start creating fantasy world counterparts to real world cultures for "exotic" expansions is... hmm, contentious, and I don't know enough about the real world counterparts to know if I'm handling it well, so I'm not going further into that.

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7% of the population of the Western Heartlands is elves, making up the largest non-human population of the region.

It's mostly moon elves [fair skin, often seen in literal white hues likened to alabaster and marble, with blue undertones; white, silver (like the metal, not grey) or black hair; eyes always flecked with gold] and then some wood elves [copper brown skin, tinged with green; blonde, red, brown or black hair; brown or green eyes. Metallic sheen to hair and skin.] Some sun elves returned to Faerûn in the mid-1300s [gold, bronze or amber skin; blonde, red or black hair; golden brown, green or black eyes. Metallic sheen to hair and skin.] (both moon elves and sun elves are categorised as "high elves", in BG3 mechanical parlance). Moon elves are individualistic and have a reputation for flightiness, thrill-seeking and hedonism. Sun elves are conservative, more observant of social hierarchies, have a strong cultural focus on magic (divine and arcane both) and extremely wary of humans due to historical conflict and human expansion into (now lost) elven lands. Wood elves are known for their open mindedness towards non-elves and many hope for elves to live fully amongst the non-elves one day, but due to their nature-oriented spirituality and way of life they rarely venture into human civilisation and are usually highly uncomfortable there. When compared to the percentages of other demihumans in the area, the elven population seems very high, though that 7% accounts for Evereska, the last major bastion of elven civilisation on Faerûn. Although apparently the elves are trying to rebuild Myth Drannor yet again, and good luck with making that stick. While elves do make up the largest non-human minority group in Baldur's Gate, the vast majority of that 7% traditionally remains in Evereska and refuses to leave their homeland's borders, and of those that leave it's almost entirely moon elves, who are the most likely to assimilate into human culture. A minority of wood elves might be able to get comfortable in cities. Your average sun elf, to whom preservation of elven culture is a sacred duty given by Corellon him/herself, would be horrified by the concept of assimilating into the N'Quess, and any that aren't are going to be under immense social pressure from their house/clan to come home and conform (especially because there's a chance that their family may view humans as dangerous). That said, the flightiness of youth can generally be forgiven (they'll grow out of it). Most encountered are young adventurers under 100 years old and semi-nomadic family groups of moon elves who wander between human settlements as their whims (and/or the mercantile work of their clan/house) takes them. Older elves are unlikely to be found in Baldur's Gate in high numbers, as the rapid, demanding pace of the metropolis clashes badly with the "take your time" philosophies and lifespan of elves. A few families of sun elves also established themselves in the minor human cities of Iriaebor and Berdusk, further South East, after returning from the Retreat.

- 4% of the population is half-elven, almost entirely of moon elven descent, and, on the human side, likely to be of Tethyrian ancestry.

It's likely most are found in human cities, even if they weren't already born there. The noble houses of Evereska have traditionally been extremely xenophobic (even the elven commoner clans were considered beneath them), and the only non-elves permitted entry for most of Evereska's existence have been Harpers: the opportunities for half-elves to be born within the realm have been fewer that otherwise. Human civilisations also saw an influx of half-elven immigration during the late 14th century - albeit most moved North - when the Spellplague caused Evereska and the Feywild to merge slightly, and an increase in xenophobic attitudes made many feel unwelcome.

- 3% is halfling, almost entirely lightfoot [very, very wide genetic pool. The hin have moved around enough that no features or colouration has become a norm for an entire geographic population.]

Lightfoot halflings - or hin, amongst themselves - are pretty much all over Faerûn, having made themselves comfortable and unobtrusive living alongside humans. They mostly assimilate into human cultures, though there is still a focus on clan and family. There is a small village in the region called Gullykin, which mostly keeps to itself and profits from its brewery (which also happens to be the temple of Yondalla). They also cheerfully make a side profit off of the frequent adventuring parties who use the village as a rest stop while exploring the nearby ruins (Durlag's Tower and the Firewine Ruins). The locals have no interest in the ruins themselves, considering Firewine particularly cursed, and pride themselves in being as peacefully boring as they possibly can.

- 2% consists of gnomes, almost entirely rock gnomes [brown skin; white hair; no information given on eye colour, although "glittering black" has been used as a descriptor.]

Gnomes prefer to stay well hidden, in secret villages scattered around the world and unseen by outsiders, but a minority are drawn to Baldur's Gate. Rock gnomes split their time and focus between their career (usually craft of some sort, and rock gnome working environments are known for their very relaxed, friendly atmospheres) and partying.

- 1% consists of dwarves, shield dwarves [pale to light brown skin; dark hair; blue eyes] and gold dwarves [light to dark brown skin with a reddish hue; black, grey or brown hair; brown or hazel eyes]. Exact numbers aren't given, but as, historically, the shield dwarves almost went extinct due to wars where the gold dwarven numbers reached such levels of overpopulation in the Great Rift during the Thunder Blessing of 1306 DR that many were forced to migrate in droves, I would assume that it's either, like, a 50/50 split, or the gold dwarven population is the higher one.

Gold dwarves put their success and survival down to adherence to dwarven ways of life and are staunch traditionalists, cleaving to family, clan and faith: Dwarven history being characterised by the loss of homeland after homeland, they are very keen to ensure that their way of life survives. They have a bad history with the various inhabitants of the Underdark (especially drow). Shield dwarves have been in the area the longest. They have lost many of their homelands in the North to orc invasions and the expansion of humanity in their subsequent weakened state. Those found in the Western Heartlands belong to a subdivision called the Wanderers; dwarves who after the loss of their ancestral homes took to a more nomadic life, making a living as mercenaries and crafters in the settlements of other races. Many may have non-dwarven ancestry, as shield dwarves started intermarrying to bolster their numbers due to wars and an infertility crisis rendering their population dangerously low - non-dwarven ancestry is mostly humans and gnomes, though some hin and elven blood can be found. The same traditions their gold dwarven kin hold to exist in shield dwarven culture, but due to the pressures of survival many traditions are looser or have fallen by the wayside. The most successful dwarves are presumably the Shattershield clan, who settled in Baldur's Gate at the time of the city's origin and became the Gate's sole non-human Patriar family. There have been attempts to create new homelands in the Western Heartlands, and all of them met with disaster. The town of Kanaglym, established in 722 DR eventually discovered that they'd accidentally found a portal to the Fugue Plane in the town well. The half-dwarven adventurer Daeros Dragonspear established Dragonspear Castle aboveground, over the town's location in 1255 DR, creating a safe haven for the dwarven people that was also guarded by Daeros' copper dragon companion Halatathlaer, who had a lair nearby. Then a mage, seeking the dwarves' wealth, decided to embark on a complicated plot, of which the most relevant step was opening a portal to Avernus and tricking Daeros to walk into it, and also destroying the castle with an invasion of dragons. A dwarf by the name of Durlag Trollkiller also established a home for his clan (Durlag's Tower) at some unknown date, and that was later annihilated by an infiltration of doppelgangers and mind flayers. The Orothiar clan settled in the Cloakwood, however they were forced to abandon their clanhold when a mine wall was accidentally breached: the river flooded their home, and wiped out most of their people, bar a few survivors.

- 1% covers everybody else. Hobgoblins, gnolls, goblins, kobolds and such will make up the majority of this category; the recently established Yuan-ti kingdom of Najara has also joined this percentage; with a minority of half-orcs (orcs are not really found in the Western Heartlands, the nearest are mountain orcs in the North), and then a smaller handful of planetouched (tieflings, genasi, aasimar (mostly tieflings and genasi)) and dragonborn left over.

While generally not popular anywhere, tieflings are particularly mistrusted in the Western Heartlands. They're associated with the Dragonspear Wars - the first of which took place in 1356 DR - where Waterdeep and Baldur's Gate went to war with the invading forces of Avernus (coming from portals set up in the eponymous Dragonspear Castle). There was another invasion in 1363 DR. Then that time Mephistopheles invaded Waterdeep in 1372 with the intention of conquering Toril and turning it into the tenth layer of hell probably didn't help their reputation either. Nor the fey'ri invasion of Evereska in 1374 DR. Nor did the Elturel incident... It's not unlikely that there are a fair few people with dormant infernal blood in their veins, but the tiefling population isn't likely to see much growth, as the birth of a tiefling child to human parents is not infrequently met with panic and infanticide.

There's nothing I can really find on half-orcs, but I would imagine most are of mountain orc and Illuskan heritage, and they or their ancestor/s migrated from the North.

I'd hazard a guess that the entire dragonborn population of Baldur's Gate - possibly the entire region - can be seen in-game. They have no history in the area that I know of.

[sunnydaleherald]

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Tuesday, June 18

Faith: Finally decided to tie me up, huh? I always knew you weren't really a one-Slayer guy. Angel: I'm sorry about the chains. It's not that I don't trust you... Actually, it *is* that I don't trust you. Faith: The thing with Xander; I know what it looked like, but we were just playing. Angel: And he forgot the safety word. Is that it? Faith: Safety words are for wusses.

~~Buffy Episode #49: "Consequences"~~

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

Tease (Angel/Darla, unrated, multiple xovers) by rhodrymavelyne

Home Is Where the Heart Is (Ensemble, E, SPN xover) by

Quitting Us No More (Buffy/Spike, T) by VeroNyxK84

[Chaptered Fiction]

Highlands and Tropical Islands Ch. 10 (Buffy/Faith, M) by

Three's a Crowd Ch. 4/8 (Jenny/Giles, G) by HAL1500

Devil Inside Ch. 2/? (Buffy/Willow, M) by Xyex

In Case You Haven't Noticed... Ch. 19/? (Buffy/Giles, E) by Sdhuskerfan

Ghostsforge's 21st Century Spangel Challenges 586/? (Spike/Angel, unrated) by Ghostsforge

Casts Shadows Ch. 1/? (Ensemble, T) by arcanedreamer

hit rewind Ch. 60/? (Buffy/Spike, M) by untiljanuary

In the Company of Witches and Slayers: Ch. 71/200 (Willow/Tara, E) by VladimirHarkonnen (TheLightdancer)

The Degradation of Duality [Series Part 2], Chapter 4-5 (Buffy/Spike, E) by Ragini

Maclay Down, Chapter 10 (Buffy/Spike, E) by Soulburnt

The Neighbor's Point of View, Chapter 114 (Buffy/Spike, T) by the_big_bad

The Devil's Trill, Chapter 12 (Buffy/Spike, E) by Murray

Boyfrenemy, Chapter 11-13 (Buffy/Spike, E) by Lady Emma

Morning Stretches, Chapter 4 (Buffy/Spike, E) by CheekyKitten

Carnival , Chapter 1 (Buffy/Spike, M) by Alyot

Indirect Sunlight Only, Chapter 2 (Buffy/Spike, T) by scratchmeout

Bruises, Chapter 23-24 (Buffy/Spike, E) by hulettwyo

Ever After, Chapter 3-6 (Buffy/Spike, T) by Desicat

Love Lives Here, Chapter 77 (Buffy/Spike, E) by Passion4Spike

Something Lost Something Found, Chapter 10 (Buffy/Spike, M) by Safire

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A Piercing Glance, Chapter 1 (Buffy/Spike, M) by Girlytek

Smoky Darkness, Take Me, Chapter 1 (Buffy/Spike, M) by bruskiboo

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[Reviews & Recaps]

Chosen by andthesunwillalwaysshine

PODCAST: BTVS 518 - Intervention by Another Buffy Podcast

[Community Announcements]

Tuesday Prompts: Poem Titles by comment_fic

[Fandom Discussions]

it really is nuts by moistvonlipwig

Wesley going to break Faith out of prison by nicnacsnonsense

An important thing to keep in mind by nicnacsnonsense

You know, I think Angel could have spun the “I only eat evil people now” thing so Darla would have accepted it. by nicnacsnonsense

Kudos to Angel for the growth implied by the soul removal spell in AtS s4. by nicnacsnonsense

DARLA SPIKED HERSELF by momsforroadhead

there’s a whole additional level of deranged going on by nicnacsnonsense

You know how when Wesley shows up in s1 of AtS he’s doing that whole rogue demon hunter thing by nicnacsnonsense

i hate to say it i hope i don’t sound rude but i think maybe buffy summers should stop sleeping with vampires by joe-spookyy

One thing that they did right was portrayal about how hard it to integrate into the scooby gang by there-are-many-ways-to-smile

Let’s be real all of Buffy romantic relationships are horrible. by there-are-many-ways-to-smile

by there-are-many-ways-to-smile

TOP 5 fav spuffy moments since they became canon in no particular order by andthesunwillalwaysshine

two people walking next to each other SHOULD NOT HAVE THIS EFFECT ON ME by raisedbythetv89

i’ve always loved buffy x spike by idknikkip

So I was talking to a friend about binge-watching Buffy/Angel by ladymirdan

I don’t think Olivia shows up, (at least as like her actual self), after Hush. by finalgirl1984

Dopplegangland could’ve been a great episode for Willow to bond with Faith actually. by theredpharaoah

Faith has a completely different relationship with violence than Buffy. by theredpharaoah

YOUR TAGS ON THE SPIKE WILLOW TARA SET by sspoike

My Top 100 Ships (#56: Buffy/Giles) by echoes-fandoms

btvs casting clea duvall to play the unpopular girl by lesbianmarrow

just hit I Only Have Eyes For You on our Buffy rewatch by antiquery

Watching Angel S2 alongside Buffy S5 is extremely overrated by AndHerSymbols

Anyone else miss the well timed scream in the first 3 season intros? by AxelNoir

Do you wish we could have seen Buffy, Faith and Kendra in a scene together? by IntelligentPumpkin74

The deeper I get into Angel, the less I like Wesley by KuzyBeCackling

Favorite Willow and Giles moment? by Tytthetha

Who created the spell which doesn’t allow Vampires to enter without permission? by AegeanAzure

People who never watched Angel, please do it. by kindaweird0

How many men watch buffy? by Bpd_embroiderer18

How was it like to watch Buffy come back from the dead when it was airing? by brwitch

Which group or entity was most frustrating as a concept? by InfiniteMehdiLove

I still can’t get over it that they pulled the plug after AtS season 5 by SneakoGonzales

Does Whedon just hate Charisma?? by EuphoricNebula1947

Anyone else find the quality of stunt actors horrendous but hilarious? by Drm5145

Favorite moment between the Summer Sisters? by Tytthetha

Can anyone tell me why these fellas needed 7 hearts? by Soulless--Plague

Just Watched “Passion” Wow! by Organic_Individual52

End of my re-watch. by SharpieD85

Finding Reference Picture by Mysterious-Angle8457

I don't actually hate Xander... here's why by Weary_Tap_8299

even tho i ship spike/buffy, drusilla/darla these two were so iconic by melaniemoth13

Season 7 contradiction? by Kammym1021

SMG stunt double by Kammym1021

Faith, and how the Buffyverse treats redemptions by jogaforacont

"Helpless"; Watcher's Council. by Big-Restaurant-2766

What would Cordelia be like if she magically got the slayer powers instead of Faith? by Eagles56

Examples of teen dialogue written by middle-aged adults by Tuxedo_Mark

Buffy should have let him blow his head off by Wutanghang

Was Faith from a religious background? by IntelligentPumpkin74

Xander's reasoning in OMWF by sxlor

The Actors that Played the Potential Slayers by Tuxedo_Mark

What are Alyson Hannigan and Amber Benson saying here? by Background-Neat-8906

[Articles, Interviews, and Other News]

PUBLICATION: 32 Times Angel Proved Buffy Should Have Picked Him by Cinemablend

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[gildedmuse]

So, I just know all of Tumblr was wondering, "hey, you remember that really weird ZoLaw fan with the annoyingly overly stylized post? I wonder if she's seen this and if she has any theories or thoughts, an observation or two?"

Well, allow me to set your wandering mind at ease, fictional Tumblr fan. The answer is: No. No, I really don't.

I have like three hundred.

[I also spent time just trying to track down as many translations as possible. Is Tera A Criminal's Daughter or The Daughter Of Thieving Bandits! These are CLEARLY separate things and can ENTIRELY change how her utter nonpresence in Zoro's life shaped him! Though I can take comfort in knowing that, regardless of what kind of crimes her father was committing they were more important than anything his daughter ever did in her entire life.]

And, hey, as might as well jump right into that whole mess.

1. Wait, Zoro's mom is dead? Thank goodness, I was worried Oda forgot one!

(AKA: Stop. Murdering. Moms.)

I'll go first, I don't mind saying when I was wrong. True, in the past I may have suggested that the vast majority of female characters in One Piece come off as ever so slightly, "leaning into sexist tropes with unadulterated joy; it's the misogynistic tropes equivalent of a child running naked through a grocery store. It's right there, everyone sees it, yet people shut up and continue shopping in part because, well, these days you just expect most people to cover that junk! What would you even say? And if you DO speak up and call out the inappropriate, be prepared for blank stares and tantrums; but THEY don't mind! THEY don't think it's wrong! You're just being mean!"

More or less a direct quote.

However, I see now that I rushed to judgement and the reality of the situation is far more nuanced. With that in mind, I was just wondering if someone could help answer some of the questions I have.

Like: Why does Oda believe that it's illegal for (maternal) female characters to survive other character's backstories?

More importantly, why hasn't someone just reached out to explain the misconception!? It can't be that difficult. If nothing else, just have a lawyer or judge or other expert in censorship on hand. Or is the one of those cases where back in highschool his friends made something up and then kept pretending it was real to see if he'd believe you and not only did he fall for it, it took over 20 years before he learned that, what, no that's not illegal. That would be crazy if it were an actual law. Cause you know, after the first 10 years I think yeah you have to just lean into it. Pretend it's a creative decision on your part and definitely not because you were terrified of being sentenced to a slow and humiliating public death.

Just to be clear that's definitely what's up, right? I mean, I'm struggling to think of another reason....able excuse why a story that I really enjoy keeps playing the same old sexist tropes cards again and again to the point of absurdity. It would just help if I had a valid excus- explanation. I almost mistyped the word explanation.

....

....

So I imagine it went like.

"That's the third mangaka they've had to Publically Execute this week!"

"They've started taking this law way more serious lately."

"This one really deserved it though! I heard his main character has a mother in her late forties!"

"That does seem old to have your first child."

"No, he's the middle of three and 22 years old. The story even has flashbacks of defining moments in his childhood and never once did she try to sacrifice herself for him, get murdered by his enemies, or die in meaningless unrelated accidents."

"Damn, that's cold to be there for all the protagonist core moments and not die and help him develop and grow a character? They must have a very antagonistic relationship. Is she actually the villain."

"Not that we know, and when they asked about this being a possible plot twist since - obviously if she's evil no laws are being broken."

"Well, of course, that's the whole reason Statue 2-dash-57 exists; if creators can show they have consistently been building up to a surprise twist then the female character in question can continue to live so long as she continues to be unrepentant and unlikable until the resolution of her arch by the protagonist."

"That's the thing! Under oath not only did man present no evidence to support her identity as a secret villain, he went on the record stating he wanted to depict their relationship as one of a normal modern 20 year old and his mother."

"That can't be true! What publishing company would even print that!?"

"It gets worse. I told you he was a middle child? Well, according to those who've read the actual manga, his younger sister was really sick as a child."

"Oh, well, at least-"

"It was just a fish allergy. She's perfectly fine."

"Sometimes I feel this law is unnecessarily harsh but.... Then you hear stories like that, and you realize that some people really are monsters."

[apocalypticavolition]

Let's (re)Read The Great Hunt! Chapter 21: The Nine Rings

You can tell I'm getting into the weeds when it comes to chapter art. Frankly, the people who made this card were getting into the weeds when it comes to game mechanics because that card effect has nothing to do with Mr. Caldevwin. Is that a spoiler? The whole rest of this post is full of them when it comes to this series, so don't keep reading if that bothers ya.

This chapter starts up with the Harp icon as Rand performs this evening and reflects a little on Thom. I suppose it also reflects inns in general.

The innkeeper was a lean woman with a long nose and graying hair, but her wrinkles seemed part of her ready smile more than anything else.

A thin innkeeper? She must be evil! That's why she's giving a home to these soldiers.

“As you say, my Lord.” Mistress Madwen’s glance flickered to Rand’s sword; the bronze herons were plain on scabbard and hilt. She frowned slightly, but her face was clear again in a blink.

I was kinda joking because I don't remember much about this gal but she is very snoopy. I suppose part of it is just her job but her disapproval of Rand's weapon does make me wonder.

“We are not hunting the Horn, mistress.” Rand did not glance at the bundle in Loial’s arms; the blanket with its colorful stripes hung bunched over the Ogier’s thick arms and disguised the chest well. “We surely are not. We are on our way to the capital.”

A thousand miles away, Moiraine feels a sudden surge of pride and does not know why.

The innkeeper gave a surprised blink when Hurin sat at table with them—an Ogier, it seemed, was one thing, but Hurin was clearly a servant in her eyes.

All of this is pretty good set-up for how stratified the societies of the eastern subcontinent are. In Baerlon and the Borderlands there wasn't much concern for any divisions within the party except gender lines and Moiraine's being Aes Sedai, and it's hardly unreasonable to expect blurred lines in social divisions in a small group traveling like this, but it's clear that in Cairhien the wilderness is no excuse to start fraternizing.

Selene’s was still half full, but she motioned curtly for one of the girls to take it.

Lanfear's wondering what the odds are of her finding a stasis box with some proper Chinese food in it.

Rand hesitated only a moment. It had been too long since he had practiced the flute rather than the sword, and the coins in his pouch would not last forever.

Here's that important theme again. We're in book 2 and already Rand's worried he's losing his sensitive side to war. He doesn't even know.

Selene looked at Rand as if wondering what he was...

I wonder if LTT had ever picked up any instruments. Probably not.

Did she really let me go? I wonder if she’s following me. Or waiting for me. “Sit down, Captain. Please.” Caldevwin drew a chair from another table. “Tell me, Captain, if you don’t mind. Have you seen any other strangers recently? A lady, short and slender, and a fighting man with blue eyes. He’s tall, and sometimes he wears his sword on his back.”

Note here how Rand is already succumbing to the paranoia associated with his condition. Book 1 Rand wouldn't have had these thoughts and he wouldn't have felt compelled to ask questions like this immediately either.

“A wondrous place I have heard, Lord Rand—I may call you so?—and fine men, the Andormen. No Cairhienin has ever worn a blademaster’s sword so young as you. I met some Andormen, once, the Captain-General of the Queen’s Guards among them. I do not remember his name; an embarrassment. Perhaps you could favor me with it?”

You can tell that this guy is only a Captain because he's nowhere near subtle enough to play in the Cairhienien Major Leagues.

Just as Selene opened her mouth, one of the serving girls let out a cry and dropped a lamp she was taking down from a shelf.

Lanfear's really restraining herself here to not make the Captain himself have to run away screaming.

The Cairhienin’s eyes sharpened. “It is part of the statue, my Lord Rand,” he said slowly. His gaze flickered toward Loial; for an instant he seemed to be considering something new.

"Are the Ogier allying with Andor to steal our old statues?!" Sure it sounds silly but like, what else can they be thinking? They probably don't know that the statue's a sa'angreal (it's way outside of the usual) but why couldn't it be a war asset from ancient days? Why would the Andorians even know about it to send a spy? Rand's causing trouble again and he barely even knows it.

“I have five hundred laborers in camp beyond the diggings, and even so it will be past summer’s end before we have it clear. They are men from the Foregate. Half my work is to keep them digging, and the other half to keep them out of this village. Foregaters have a fondness for drinking and carousing, you understand, and these people lead quiet lives.” His tone said his sympathies were all with the villagers.

Well based on the size of the village, five hundred carousers hitting them up every night would probably get the place burned down in a week or two. Keeping civil order is an incredibly difficult task!

For twenty-three years Barin Madwen and I were arguing when we weren’t kissing, so to speak. That’s by way of saying I have some experience. Right now, you’re thinking your Lady never wants to see you again, but it’s my way of thinking that if you tap on her door tonight, she’ll be taking you in.

Again, the "skinny innkeepers are obvious Darkfriends" things is a joke but... it could work for Mistress Mad wen, couldn't it? Moves from Lugard to Cairhien to escape bad deeds there, runs the inn to keep her eyes open in case anything happens, Choedan Kal discovered so she becomes important, Ishamael takes her to the party so she's up to date, and here she is with advice that could be entirely innocent or could be straight from Lanfear - and why attack Rand like all the DFs from last book did when he's already in a Forsaken's clutches?

It's probably not remotely intended in the text but hey.

“Daes Dae’mar, Lord Rand,” Hurin said.

In the Game of Houses, you win or you die.

Okay maybe I'm getting my fantasy epics confused but I do enjoy how Jordan managed to communicate all of GRRM's themes even though they're not central to his own thesis.

“He has the right of Daes Dae’mar, Lord Rand. Cairhienin play it more than most, though all southerners do.”

And this is a bit of cultural blindness, really. We saw that Malkier's end came from someone playing Daes Dae'mar and while everyone has to fall in behind their leaders for obvious reasons there's going to be some jockeying. The Borderlands are just so far away from the rest of the world that they don't have to play the game at all, especially since Tar Valon actually comes through for them consistently - but then, that's the Game too, in its own way.

But in the morning, Selene was gone. When Rand went down to the common room, Mistress Madwen handed him a sealed parchment. “If you’ll forgive me, my Lord, you should have listened to me. You should have tapped on your Lady’s door.”

I'd say this still fits the Darkfriend theory.

Loial almost missed a step. “I never like to be far from my books, Captain.” His wide mouth flashed teeth in a self-conscious grin, and he hurried to strap the chest onto his saddle.

Okay Loial, I guess I was a little mean calling you naive before.

“He had the inn watched, Lord Rand,” Hurin whispered. “The Lady Selene must have gotten past them unseen somehow.”

Caldevwin has every reason to wonder if Lord Rand murdered his wife and is having the Ogier carry her corpse around in a box at this point. Good thing we'll never see or hear from him again, unlike Mistress Madwen who apparently gets mentioned again in Winter's Heart for some reason? Bizarre.

“Nothing is happening the way I expect,” Rand said.

And it never fucking will.

Next time: Stuff doesn't happen as Moiraine expects either! (Unlike Rand though, she'll sharpen up on her understanding of the future)

[possessionisamyth]

not gonna lie felt bad for Dylan in DI for a short time however it turned into boo fucking hoo very quick

it was so why not focus on Maria? why not focus on Jill (it makes no sense Jill charging in recklessly at the start Leon turns up and she lets him take charge)

can't wait to rewatch it whenever that maybe (got the dvd wrong region code of fucking course and i don't know how to make dvd do it)

Okay. After watching the movie several times, I definitely feel more equipped to answer this question (which I own the blu-ray of but am watching totally legally online in another place when I don't want to set up the dvd/blu-ray player).

When Death Island dropped, and everyone was throbbing over Leon, I was annoyed by many of the missed opportunities to make the movie entertaining in order to focus on "realism" like they have been with the remakes and with Inifinite Darkness. Yet, the biggest dropping of the ball was with Jill Valentine, and we gotta talk about Jill so that we can talk about why Dylan sucks ass fails as a character foil to her. However, let's do a little definition first so we're on the same page.

The narrative purpose of a character foil is that when these two characters are on screen interacting with each other, their differences become highlighted. You got Romeo and Mercutio, Betty and Veronica, Chris and Wesker, these characters are foils that we can easily recognize without putting any real thought behind it. We can clock their motivations and the patterns they execute to reach their goals and see where all those little funky lines cross. They can be friends, antagonists, or enemies, but their purpose is to bring out the other characters good and bad traits to deepen our understanding of them.

Jill Valentine is a character that is an active player. She doesn't let things passively happen to her. She gets shit done. She's very hands on about everything. We see it in Resident Evil 1 where you play as her route, and if you play Chris' route the only thing holding this woman back is the cell Wesker trapped her in wherein she has no tools to utilize whatsoever. We see it in Resident Evil 3 where Carlos often takes a backseat to Jill pushing the narrative forward until she's infected and needs help only to pick up where she leaves off as soon as she gets that cure. We see it in the Lost in Nightmares DLC where she's keeping pace with another active character, Chris, and ends the fight by sacrificing herself. In Resident Evil 5 where she's just been saved from mind control, she's actively yelling and shoving at Chris to leave her and save the world when Chris doesn't want to after getting her back. We see it in all of Revelations 1 in juxtaposition to Chris' route. Jill is our Ripley in Alien , she is our Sarah Conner in Terminator, and so on.

Dylan Blake is a passive character. Death Island showcased this to us much more heavy handed than they needed to, but we got the picture. He accepts orders to evacuate important people and kill civilians warily but with no real fight behind it. He cried out on the ground when his friend killed the rest of their infected teammates after failing to wrestle the gun away. Doesn't get up and try again. He's active in saving himself after his friend got infected, but that's it. He hires people to kidnap a guy to build robots for him. It's heavily implied the virus in the bots is one of Glenn Arias' weapons meaning he didn't even make the damn thing. He doesn't commit to suicide and hasn't for 17 years because Russian Roulette absolves him of any fault when he fails. (Something they stole from the movie Bullet Train btw.) He could've shot Claire to teach Jill a lesson, but that decision would be too active for his character. He talks about cleaning the slate with no plans to stick around to see if the slate gets cleaned. Even as a giant bloody poopoo monster he's just swinging his body around listlessly until things break. Unlike every other antagonist or villain we've had up to this point, Dylan is the most hands off when it comes to this schtick. He is the guy that says "I'm going to do this thing, but whatever happens next is out of my hands" as if he's not responsible for glassware breaking after snatching away the tablecloth.

On a surface level, you'd think after both of them went through Raccoon City that Jill and Dylan are perfect foils of each other. Which they would be if Jill wasn't immediately shuffled into the passive role herself as soon as Leon came on screen. Examples of this? Well, we can watch the movie together, and I'll point them out scene by scene, but for the sake of answering your question here I'll try and bullet point them. Of which I will also be listing things people have already complained about because they all take place in Alcatraz.

-Why does Jill keeps losing/not using her gun?

-Jill struggles with zombies the same as others despite enhanced strength and non-existent aging from the virus.

-Jill struggles with lickers.

-Jill doesn't shoot Dylan during his monologue.

-Jill doesn't shoot or fight Maria during Dylan's monologue.

-Jill doesn't shoot Dylan during his second monologue before he kills himself despite seeing the gun he holds that injects viruses.

-Jill is responsible for hand flare to get Dylan's attention, not driving the car or giving her the big gun. She has to yell at him when his mind is basically not even there anymore.

-Jill has the bag of bombs that is supposed to off him and drops it after setting off one under water.

"But Jill is fighting in those scenes." Yeah, but Leon has to save her ass by giving her a gun. Leon has to kill all the lickers. Leon has to info dump about Alcatraz, a place the BSAA should've collected intel on like they always do before missions. A place Jill would've researched herself if she were allowed to be herself. Leon had to give her the opportunity to run from Maria. Jill just yells at Dylan for most of his nonsense even when he loses and is trying to run away as a giant bloodied poopoo monster. Is this the behavior of an active character after we see her at the start go into that house by herself to look for civilians, and later deny Chris his friendship speech in the shooting range? Is this highlighting her normally active traits against Dylan, a person who just lets things happen around him? Short answer: No. Long answer: Hell fucking no. If Jill is not doing the same thing as everyone else in the scene, her actions are reduced to passiveness matching Dylan's and not contrasting them! They don't even put Dylan into more active positions when Jill is made passive, so what the fuck is the point of this guy?! We hate him. That wasn't hard to do. Where's the rest of it? Where is the rest-?!?!?!

Listen, I'm not saying Jill needed to shoot Claire to inhibit her and possibly buy the scientist more alive time, but I am saying Jill needed to be firing at someone because it's not like Dylan would've handed her the cure if she kept him alive. Plus, Rebecca was already making a cure. So-?!?!? It's not like Dylan wouldn't have snapped his fingers sooner to make Maria act had Jill first gotten a good shot in his kneecap. If we want to highlight anything, why isn't Jill's brash actions leading to screw ups in contrast to Dylan's passive actions showing how he's winning and thus strengthening his spiel about all of them being pawns? I'm not expecting the world from a CGI Resident Evil movie. I know the quality to expect, but we have done better before this. I was more satisfied with Rebecca doing her smart thing in Vendetta despite the weird wedding dress scene of her on the table. I was more satisfied with Ada doing her spy thing in Damnation. I was more satisfied with Claire doing her thing in the first 20 minutes of Degeneration. But Death Island? For Jill? As a summation?

Jill Valentine has been used and abused by Wesker. She's been away from the BSAA for 6 years. She's been tossed aside by Capcom game wise. And in what's supposed to be the movie about her getting back on her feet, she gets sidelined because the director and writer were too busy furiously jerking off Leon Scott Kennedy to give her more than the bare minimum script wise in order to "achieve this goal". They didn't achieve the goal by the way. The little fist bump between Chris and Jill was not fucking earned in the slightest.

However if you truly want to know how dirty they did her overall, I can show you by simply comparing her famous rail gun scene depiction. In the original Resident Evil 3, the rail gun was a gigantic machine no one could lift unless they were a giant. For the Resident Evil 3 Remake, they changed it to something she can lift. In Death Island, they decided to do a callback to that rail gun from the Resident Evil 3 Remake as it's her pivotal final fight against Nemesis. They had her turn this iconic weapon, her iconic weapon, against Dylan.

Now anon, look at this big ass rail gun she gets in the Resident Evil 3 Remake where she barely flinches with the recoil. This is 1998. She is not buffed up by the T-Virus. It's a strap metaphor. This gun is two Jill's long, it's heavy as shit, and the camera angles tell us how hefty it is when we play the game.

Now, look at this fucking peashooter they have her struggling to heft around in Death Island. This is shorter than her. You could argue that because it relies on a generator and is portable, it's made of a heavier metal than the one on the charger in the Remake. It's still bullshit that she gets thrown back by the recoil considering she's buffed up from that T-Virus that doesn't let her age compared to how little she struggled with a bigger gun with a stronger recoil in the Remake.

Things that would've fixed this movie? Stop giving Leon all the lines. Make Jill the one that has clever thinking with the gasoline in exchange for Leon finding their exit out of the tunnels. Make Jill fight Maria during Dylan's monologue to emphasize that she's wasting time while her friend's are dying, thus making her take action role look futile compared to Dylan's passivity OR at least have her try to shoot and it fails by her gun jamming. Give Jill her gun back with one bullet in it after Maria wins the fight to then try and make her choose to kill Claire. Let her fire it once at someone and it do nothing. Liven up that Russian Roulette motif. Let the running away be her choice, not something Leon has to give her the opportunity to take. Let Jill have one flashback to any other fucking game which highlights how her usual method of decision making led her to failure before the Dylan showdown. Let her shoot Dylan as he shoots himself reiterating the foil contrast before the last big fight. Cut Leon and Chris' quirky little dialogue so Jill can have several more lines that would make the final shout at Dylan more hard hitting.

As for Maria, when we roll back that footage in Vendetta, she should've been beating the shit out of Chris in Death Island for killing Diego. It could've made the movie better with any of my changes of Jill VS Dylan by adding Chris VS Maria since Chris and Jill always do everything together.

[creativewaygrace]

Bible Verses on Focus

1 Corinthians 2:14- But the person without the Spirit does not receive what comes from God's Spirit, because it is foolishness to him, he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually.

1 Peter 2:24- He bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that having died to sins, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds, you have been healed.

1 Peter 5:8- Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour.

2 Timothy 1:7- For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but one of power, love, and sound judgment.

2 Timothy 2:4- No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in the concerns of civilian life, he seeks to please the commanding officer.

Colossians 3:2- Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

Ephesians 4:29- No foul language should come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need.

Hebrews 12:2- Keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfector of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Isaiah 26:3- You will keep the mind that is dependent on you in perfect peace, for it is trusting in you.

Isaiah 41:10- Do not fear, for I am with you, do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you: I will help you: I will hold on to you with my righteous right hand.

Isaiah 42:5- This is what God, the Lord, says who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk on it.

Isaiah 50:7- The Lord God will help me; therefore I have not been humiliated, therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.

Joshua 1:8- This book of instruction must not depart from your mouth: you are to meditate on it day and night so that you may carefully observe everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in whatever you do.

Luke 21:36- But be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that are going to take place and stand before the Son of Man.

Matthew 24:13- But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

Matthew 24:22- Unless those days were cut short, no one would be saved. But those days will be cut short because of the elect.

Matthew 24:42- Therefore be alert, since you don't know what day your Lord is coming.

Matthew 24:44- This is why you are also to be ready because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Matthew 6:24- No one can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

Matthew 6:33- But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.

Nehemiah 6:3- So I sent messengers to them, saying. " I am doing important work and cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you?

Philippians 4:13- I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Philippians 4:8- Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any moral excellence, and if there is anything praiseworthy, dwell on these things.

Proverbs 16:3- Commit your activities to the Lord, and your plans will be established.

Proverbs 4:25- Let your eyes look forward, fix your gaze straight ahead.

Psalm 119:15- I will meditate on your precepts and think about your ways.

Romans 12:2- Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

Romans 12:21- Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good.

Romans 13:11- Besides this, since you know the time, it is already the hour for you to wake up from sleep because now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.

Romans 15:4- For whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that we may have hope through endurance and through the encouragement from the scriptures.

[talentforlying]

👫 this but it's just me holding up a microphone because I Would Like To Know how your john feels about dream, corinth (1 or 2) and the endless in general--

dream:

unnerves him more than he lets on. his dreams are fucked, it's weird to think that someone's pulling the strings on those macabre little dances his brain does every night.

the circumstances of their first meeting have definitely colored constantine's impression of dream permanently, in a bit of a negative light. it's one thing to blithely assume that all immortal beings / constructs / anthropomorphic representations of the intangible world are cruel and uncaring. it's another entirely to see one directly faced with human suffering and dismiss it.

he likes to poke fun at their aesthetic differences. as far as his limited human perception goes, dream is classic goth while constantine is old-school punk; they get along, but the applications of hairspray are very different.

i think there will always be a nasty part of him that wants to pull a burgess and keep dream in a bottle, though he'd never act on it; he recognizes the pride and the arrogance of that impulse all too well. doesn't mean it ever really goes away.

the corinthian (let's say 1, i don't know all that much about 2):

scares him absolutely shitless, on a primordial level. like i said above, his subconscious is already fractured to hell and back, the last thing he needs is someone digging around in there and sampling him like a wing platter.

weirdly enough, corinth is probably the one he finds the easiest to interact with out of all given options?? dream is definitely the safest, but constantine knows how to navigate The Horrors better than he does The Endless.

he approves of the monochromatic suits. "taste recognizes taste" - said the most tasteless man alive. if you're gonna be evil, have a bit, as a treat. keeps things interesting.

i'm legally obligated to report that he finds the corinthian very hot and no he is not put off by the eyeball eating part. maybe a little. not enough to make better decisions.

the endless in general:

MAN. summarily, they freak him the fuck out. he's a very tangible person, he likes certainties and sets of rules (if only so he knows which ones to break), so all these concepts and anthropomorphisms and liminalities really mess with his head. he prefers not to think about them if he doesn't have to, he'll stick to acknowledging the existence of dream and call it a day. it also bothers him that it's possible for the facets of human experience to be affected by something so banal as family tensions; he likes to think the greater good of humanity is more important than petty squabbles, but he's almost always wrong.

i think he'd get along great with death if he actually sat down and talked to her for a minute. he gets so angry about losing people to unfair circumstances that his inclination would be to accuse her of cruelty and rail against her purpose, but seeing how she actually cares about the people she's ferrying would change his mind. in fact, i think she'd remind him of his sister, a bit.

if he ever set foot in delirium's realm, i don't think he'd come back out. he's lost himself enough as it is without being in a place where that's a feature, not a bug.

if he saw the chance to make a little nook for himself in one of the realms, he'd do it in a heartbeat. he likes to make contingency plans and set up secret hideaways, and he likes to think it would piss them off if they found out he'd been squatting in their domain.

@nightmarecountry / RELATIONSHIP HEADCANONS ( always accepting )

[kanohimineka]

Omni-Man Isn't Superman

So, I'm not someone who is super into evil supermen. It can be a fun little gimmick for a single story, don't get me wrong. However, I think there's a problem when in one decade, there are more evil Superman stories in pop culture than there are good Superman stories. It is the single reason I haven't watched the show about boys. I'm sure its great, or whatever. However, I think that the satire falls flat when people aren't actually able to understand the nuances of Superman. It sucks, man. However, I do like Invincible. I know, that seems weird. One of the big two evil Superman edgy bloody superhero series on Amazon Prime. I shouldn't be interested, but I thought it was EPIC! So why. Well, I think I found it out, finally, as Season 2 came out. Omni-Man, for the purposes of this story, isn't the Superman analog. Invincible is.

SPOILERS FOR UP TO S2 EP 1 OF Invincible

Allow me some time to explain. Yes, on the outset, he seems more like Superman than Invincible. He fits in with the Superman spot for the first season's Justice League analog. He has the "Biggest Earth Hero" character archetype, at least at the start, on lock. He even looks more like Superman in costume than Invincible (Though they do both have a letter on their chest, Mark's is just more abstract). However, that's really where it ends. For me, the big sticking point is the amount of age and knowledge at the start of the story.

One of the big elements of Superman is that he is practically unaware of his home world, only really learning from recordings in the Fortress of Solitude. However, Omni-Man is fully aware. He came to earth in his adulthood, he grew up on Viltrum (Invincible's Krypton analog). Meanwhile, for Mark, he grew up entirely on Earth, learning its ways, its culture, its people. You know, like Superman.

However, even more key to this argument, is Omni-Man's actual role in the fucking plot. Yes, he is an antagonist, but I'm thinking deeper. This story is about Mark, not Omni-Man. It's about Mark learning about himself, his role in the world, so on and so forth. But where does Omni-Man fit in. He's his dad.

Yes, I posit that Omni-Man's true satire is being an evil version of Superman's dad...s. For the sake of efficiency, he merges Jor El and Pa Kent, being more Jor than Pa. This is an important as the satire shifts from the usual, "WhAt If SuPeRmAn WaS eViL" shtick, and changing it to more of, "What if Superman came from an evil Fascist family line," Which I find much more interesting.

Mainly, in that it feels much more in line with the original Superman, oddly enough. Many of the evil Supermen ignore the idea that Superman is so cool because, in part, he fights against the idea of the Ubermensch. The idea of someone who is super strong taking power is bucked away by Superman, as he places himself under all those he is stronger than, the ultimate altruist.

Invincible keeps this in mind, and pushes it further. The world has set Mark up to be what the Fascist powers that led up to him want him to be. Heck, season 2 starts with the idea that most Marks team up with Omni-Man. However, that makes Mark even more revolutionary, he is the buck in the trend, the one who shows that Superman can be, and should be a hero. It is wonderful, and makes this show really good.

[dotdotslump]

Is misandry the other side of the coin of Incel mentality?

I've been on radblr for roughly 6 years now, i'd like to extend an invite to @rad-siren for opening thoughts, awesome new person on radblr, but please do rb/reply at your leisure, as this has been on my mind as i've noticed what-would-be internet troll extremes a few years ago start to manifest in real life lately. @radfae @desaturated7 @terf-scorpion please get in here too. I'm a massive advocate for women growing up with a backbone, acquiring self-esteem, strength, and having the confidence to do whatever they want in their lives without the ever-lingering concern about the interventions of men in their lives setting them back. Being a man, I can clearly see the power imbalance, it exists on all levels, and begins at the most basic level, the fact that we live in a material physical tangible world, that men are on average, larger, more aggressive, and physically stronger than women, and that they have a much wider range of capacity and willingness to exert violence to meet their ends. This tiny advantage, while large and important a long time ago, is now much smaller in the grand scale of things, but is one of many of things that keeps a perceived "advantage" in the minds of many men I've encountered, among all the other crap that tends to poison the minds of developing boys that rots their behaviour going into their teens/adulthood into that of a permanent moid. Their inability to look past their nose leaves them blind and incapable of befitting the shoes of the other sex, even in emulation, and gives them the blissful capacity to commit incomprehensible horrors they'll never understand nor care to. On the other hand, women are taught at very young ages to be submissive, to stay thin and beautiful (don't build muscle mass, stay weak), to be kind and forgiving; even in the face of firsthand injustice. It's so painful to see women exerting genuine kindness from their soul knowing this harsh world is going to snuff out the smile from their face and spring from their step one day. Their attempts at maintaining this character in the face of such vileness turns their stomaches, fills them righteous fury, and they either collapse mentally, from realizing the world they were promised was a lie; the men that cross their lives are spiteful piece of shit they wish they've never encountered; and never want to again, and they either retreat and give up, take their own lives; stuffing themselves away mentally; silently suffering in this world. Or they survive, and fight the uphill battle, of being a woman in this world, each finding their own way to do it. I've read so many passages by women describing what their experience is like in their lives, they tend to invoke and describe a miasma of melancholy, a tired smile, a genuine human experience. But I've yet to see an honest man write how they truly view a woman's experience without the goggles of their own manhood. In my eyes, being born a woman is like being a protagonist character in a Shakespearean tragedy, cursed to live a dreadful journey of events from the beginning. It's so sad, how the good of this world is brought up only to be stomped out by the evils of Men. I don't want to derail, just wanted to build the right context, so let me pull it back to the topic of discussion. So on the one side, we have these fucking idiots with large capacity to exert violence, with the capacity to do so, and are raised with the seeded idea that the world is theirs and to take what they want and do as they please. on the other, we have these (tend to be) physically smaller creatures, who are generally raised to be good in nature, trusting, docile, and to stay weak and only take what they need, and be forgiving no matter what. Of course this is going to end poorly, I don't know why people keep raising their children this way, baffling. Pardon my mspaint, but in my mind the average radfem sits a healthy 4-6 on this scale.

Where anyone sitting in the 1-3 area just probably hasn't had their "peak men" moment but hold some dislike for your average idiot, and everyone -10 to 0 lives lalaland; in a tower in a faraway castle on a cloud, or is an extremely sheltered child of a very wealthy and good intentioned loving family that has overprotected them for far too long. But even women in the 4-6 region, let some men into their lives, or hold some fondness to have one in their lives, but wish they didn't have to go through the bullshit that is dealing with 99 porn brainrotted assholes to find 1 man; who may not even be a match. And I genuinely admire everyone in the 7-8 region of hate, because they know whatsup and have an extra kick of energy/fire that just makes you stop and say, damn. But, 9-10, to utterly deject and go out of your way to oppose half the population and want no association with them (to the point of political lesbianism in very few extreme cases). I see this as the same branch of mentality that drives the creation of Incels - dejected, ugly (physically, mentally, spiritually), spiteful men, who would only want the opposite sex to meet the means to an end("Women should be slaves"). All because women reject them and their inherent ugliness, and their lack of desire and intent to genuinely introspect leaves them twaddling their thumbs in intense frustration quelling for the grace of Pisteis in their lives. While Misandrists are generally arising of people who have had an overwhelming instance(s) of "Peak Men" moment(s) that just flipped the table, and though their cause and anger are just, their calls only invoke violence and create situations where men are silenced in the same way women have been. When a man saying an opposing viewpoint leaves him looking like hes trying to say "not all men", or a Woman bringing up her differing experience leaves her as a "pickme", he/she will be instantly written off without thought and silenced because the embarking situation heeds no call from the opposing side, it's a cry of rage and spite that wants to place a blanket viewpoint and erase everything that it covers. Even though these two sides arise for much differing reasons; from this point of view, the way they're arrived at where they are comes from the same path of intense hatred for the opposite sex, where they just want to quelch the other side. it's destructive, and achieves nothing but short lived "victories" in the name of banners raised in hate. P.S, send me misandry memes in pms i think they're the funniest thing ever and i love seeing guys throw a fit over them when i drop them in social media group chats. The truth only hurts those who live a lie.

[roseposts-stuff]

doctor who rankings series 11 edition!!! we've reached the series that inspired this series because basically i think it is NOT that bad. anyway, just my opinions that i will probably disagree with in a moment, so feel free to disagree as well

1. Resolution (11x0) - it's peak i fear... i think chibnall actually understands the daleks unlike moffat. the dalek is overconfident, extremely cruel and sadistic and distinctly evil by nature. the resolution is good and actually creative, and i like that they explored ryan's character a bit more. i don't really have any complaints about this episode, there are slight questions about how the dalek stayed alive like that etc. but it can be overlooked VERY easily, suspension of disbelief is an important thing to keep in mind. can i say that this is currently one of my favourite dalek stories in new who or will i be executed

2. Demons of the Punjab (11x6) - i love it. i love prem. i love the wedding. i love that the aliens weren't evil. i love this episode so much, and also man am i glad to get HISTORICALS THAT AREN'T SET IN EUROPE OR NORTH AMERICA, yeah i really really like this episode and i've literally got no complaints

3. The Witchfinders (11x8) - i really like the historicals of this series!! i like the whole theme, it's interesting and i like the story, alan cumming is brilliant as king james, and it's just pretty good doctor who, i think. it might've been better as a pure historical, but i do like the aliens too, so i'm not mad about it

4. The Woman Who Fell to Earth (11x1) - i think it's an alright introduction to a new doctor. it's very tell not show, but there are some cool scenes and i think it establishes her pretty well, the villain doesn't take too big of a role etc., but honestly, there were a bit too many new characters in it

5. Rosa (11x3) - (as a white person) i think this is such an important episode to have on doctor who, and i'm glad chibnall got a black woman to co write it (russell t davies, take notes), and i'm really glad they actually paid attention to the racism and didn't have it just be one moment, it's a constant in the background and you're a bit scared for ryan and yaz. it makes you uncomfortable and it should, because racism should make everyone uncomfortable. plot is okay and though the dialogue is pretty stiff (which is common for this era), i think it's an alright episode. this episode also has some great jokes balancing it, i love the jokes as well they're actually pretty funny

6. Arachnids in the UK (11x4) - i won't actually tolerate any slander against this episode, it was far better than i remembered, and i enjoyed it a lot. the ending is weirdly out of character for the doctor and her being so against killing the big spider is stupid when she was going to do the same thing except slowly, but other than the ending it's really enjoyable and fun

7. The Tsuranga Conundrum (11x5) - it's not exactly anything special, but still enjoyable and a fun ride in my opinion. the pting is a funny looking little guy, and i actually kinda liked the side characters tbh

8. The Battle of Ranskoor av Kolos (11x10) - it's surprisingly good for a first draft i'm not going to lie. it is not good, and it being a first draft shows, but i actually do think there's some good and creative stuff happening, and i can appreciate that. i like the way it's resolved with the psychic powers and i like the idea of a planet affecting people's minds, but it's far from being as good as it could've been because it is a first draft

9. The Ghost Monument (11x2) - i don't hate it but it's a bit boring at places and very tell not show to the point that it's just annoying, it's a problem with especially the first few episode of the series. still, i really liked the opening, it was really good, and the scene with the floating cloth things is GORGEOUS and really cool. also, i think the ending is nice and i like the introduction to the TARDIS

10. Kerblam! (11x7) - thing is, it's actually a pretty well written episode. but it is SO out of character for the doctor. the doctor would NEVER side with the big corporation my guy is basically a socialist, their every-day activity is hating rich people and siding with the workers, so why on EARTH is the doctor saying the systems aren't the problem??? why on EARTH would you make an episode for doctor who that's trying to convince people, especially kids, that the systems want their best when they absolutely DO NOT??? thank you for coming to my TED talk

11. It Takes You Away (11x9) - it's got a brilliant premise and it's such a good idea, but it just falls flat. there's so much completely unnecessary stuff that takes away from the ACTUALLY IMPORTANT THINGS OF THE EPISODE, like it should've used way less time having a completely unnecessary adventure between the universes and way less time trying to find the NON-EXISTENT MONSTER and we would've needed way more time with solitract-grace and graham because everything in the solitract universe felt rushed and didn't really have an impact because of that. i like the frog tho, but again, the scene with it and the doctor was way too short and had no impact

there we are then, thank you!!!

[cksmart-world]

SMART BOMB

The Completely Unnecessary News Analysis

By Christopher Smart

February 13, 2024

CARPET BOMBED BY TAYLOR SWIFT

She's here. She's there. She's everywhere. She's on Facebook. She's on Instagram. She's on Tic Tok. Taylor Swift is Time magazine's person of the year. You're right Wilson, it's like we're being carpet bombed by Taylor Swift. She is in Tokyo. Will she make it back for the Super Bowl? She's over Hawaii. She's made it to L.A. Yes, she's in Las Vegas to see beau Travis Kelce play pigskin hero. Oh thank goodness. Taylor Swift won four Grammies — four! More than 535 million follow her on social media — 535 million! Taylor Swift has 12 houses — 12! Her Eras Tour is set to make $1billion — $1 billion. She gave each member of her Eras Tour staff a $100,000 bonus — $100,000. Taylor Swift has a new album coming out called, “The Tortured Poets Department.” But why is there no apostrophe on “poets?” Is it one poet and they forgot the apostrophe — Poet's — or is many tortured poets — Poets'? People want to know. Not since Paris Hilton have we needed to keep up with someone's every move. Did she wear panties to the party? Does she have a sex tape with Kelce? Why do those MAGA people think she's a secret agent for the Pentagon? What does feng shui say about her future? Does she marry Kelce? Does she defeat Trump? Can you stand it, Wilson. Can you stand it.

UTAH — LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT

Some people might not like Utah on account of were not woke here. Well if you don't love Utah's “weird” ways, as Gov. Spencer Cox put it, then by all means hit the road. Brainiac analyst Andy Larsen at The Salt Lake Tribune noted that some of our policies enacted by the state legislature might encourage some folks to leave or not come here in the first place. Cry us a river. According to the data, Utah is losing promising students, graduates, doctors, scientists, techies, teachers and the like — a veritable brain drain — because we're a little narrow-minded. Boohoo. These people want reproductive healthcare for women, they want diversity at schools and work, they want to be free to teach in classrooms without Puritan overseers, they want books in libraries and a place were their LGBTQ kids aren't prone to suicide. Picky, picky, picky. When it comes to morality and culture wars the righteous brethren on Capitol Hill know what's best. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) is “almost evil,” according to Cox and Utah lawmakers couldn't move fast enough to show the Republican National Committee how we roll when it comes to things that aren't The Great Salt Lake. So stuff that in your blue blazer and don't let the door hit you in your heathen ass on the way out of Zion.

THE BEST LAWS ARE MADE IN THE DARK

Utah Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, knows a thing or two about lawmaking — keep it secret and make it quick. He's proposing legislation that would create an all-powerful Water Development Council and Water Agent that could plan massive projects, like pipelines and dams, out of sight of the public. Pretty slick. The proposed legislation would exempt the council and agent from the Utah Open Meetings Act and open records law. Is that cool, or what. Why mess around with a democratic process when you can just meet in the basement and get stuff done without a bunch of citizen whining. After all, it's just water they could import from other states. It's so much more efficient than airing the details out in public — like how much it could cost and little things like that. It might be just coincidence but some folks on Capitol Hill are talking about building pipelines from the Pacific Ocean or the Columbia River to The Great Salt Lake. That could cost hundreds of billions, but it's just taxpayer money. So, why buy water rights from the alfalfa growers along the Bear River, where much of the lake's source water is sucked up. After all, farming is tradition and we don't want to mess with that. And anyway, how would the Chinese feed their cattle without Utah alfalfa.

Post script — That's it for another Super Week here at Smart Bomb, where we keep track of Tayor Swift so you don't have to. Ha! Just kidding. No one can keep track of Taylor Swift. OK, trick question: Who won the Super Bowl? Answer: Taylor Swift duh. Pop star Adele has this advice for people complaining about seeing Taylor Swift at football games: “Get a f-ing life!” So take that, Wilson. Moving right along: Speaking of the Once-Great Salt Lake, Brian Steed, the lake's new commissioner, told KUER that 800 square miles of now-exposed lake-bed pose a health risk from blowing dust containing carcinogens and heavy metals. It would cost an initial $1.5 billion to hold the dust down plus $15 million a year in maintenance. Or we could fill the lake back to healthy levels at a fraction of the cost. But hey, no worries, the legislature thinks the Lord will take care of it. And then there is this: According to the Deseret News, Jim Leany took the furnishings from Lamb's Grill, the old Salt Lake City landmark, and moved them to his TRUreligion Pancake and Steakhouse on Orem's State Street. Lamb's, of course, was where Utah's powerbroker huddled to remake the capital city with taxpayer money. And maybe there was a little bit in it for them, too. Ah, those were the days.

Well Wilson, we could do something to honor Taylor Swift but she really doesn't need any help or accolades. Still, this whole thing with the MAGA conspiracy that Swift is a psyops agent is really a gas. So, what do you say, Wilson, you and the guys in the band must have something for those real secret agents out there that keep evil at bay:

There's a man who leads a life of danger To everyone he meets he stays a stranger With every move he makes Another chance he takes Odds are he won't live to see tomorrow Secret Agent Man Secret Agent Man They've given you a number and taken away your name Beware of pretty faces that you find A pretty face can hide an evil mind Oh, be careful what you say Or you'll give yourself away Odds are you won't live to see tomorrow Secret Agent Man Secret Agent Man They've given you a number and taken away your name Swinging on the Riviera one day And then laying in a Bombay alley next day Oh, don't you let the wrong words slip While kissing persuasive lips Odds are you won't live to see tomorrow Secret Agent Man Secret Agent Man They've given you a number and taken away your name

(Secret Agent Man — Johnny Rivers)

[ranastro]

Self-help Observations #1

Please take what is relevant to you and useful, leave out the irrelevant things because this is personal experience and observation.

If there is something that strongly motivates you and urges you, reminds you in your stomach, in your thoughts and in your mind, it is a sign you should reconsider your worldview if it is wrong with what your heart really tells you, even if it goes against the times, the media, advertising, and the opinions of your family members.

Everyone has a different journey, so don't ignore the signs telling you, maybe your higher-self, or ancestors, divine forces (if you have faith) are reminding you.

For example, the media in some countries have some standards for women's beauty and limits men's preferences, some differences with the majority around you will make that person feel uncomfortable. lonely and lost, but I'm here to sit with you and tell you that it's completely okay, people who set their own standards about other people's appearance are also using strings to tie themselves. them, your health and peace is what matters.

Many people often feel pressured by the lights of others, for example, famous people of the same age, or billionaires,… they feel guilty and have low self-esteem and at that time they don't have those things and have can have long-term confidence that their future will be the same. That's a wrong belief and an incorrect view, it's because I haven't seen the darkness of those people, everyone in this world has suffering but because of their career they need to hide those things. their own, they promote a good image to benefit themselves and others as well….

There are segments where it is often at that level and maybe when you try to follow your own higher calling, when you look back at your own time, you will see even those who are considered famous. Fame and success on screen also have something that they keep hidden from anyone

There are many singers who joined the entertainment industry too early, so many people have shared that they feel sorry for not being able to experience their time in school… We often feel small and lacking. Poor and imperfect with those in authority such as parents, schools, social scales, but everything changes and nothing is fixed.

If inside you want to be a vegetarian, be a vegetarian, want to follow a certain religion (be careful with the sect you follow because there are many evil sects that will make you miserable and stuck), verify them first. when planning to do it.

Wishing you the best, always having good conditions to support you and enough will to achieve!

(If you believe in karma, please continue reading, otherwise please continue scrolling to the next idea)

There are blessings and bad consequences you have sown in previous lives that you will receive and suffer in this life, it can happen at different stages of this life. Therefore, fairness can be said to be difficult to happen if in this life, practice living with gratitude and learn to receive and give, depending on each stage, you will suffer and receive good things.

The planning method that I often use with myself is:

Determine your desires and what you are motivated to do, have a purpose to use that result

See if it is possible at the present time, can you complete it yourself or do you need someone else's help (this can change depending on the situation)

If you can't do it now, you can consider whether you can do it in the future and put it aside, don't think about it anymore to focus on other urgent, more important things. If so, estimate the time to complete it. Maybe it has a certain schedule such as class schedule, exam schedule, work schedule, project completion schedule,… then consider from the present time to that point. How much free time will you have to do that and incorporate the 2nd step

If there is an existing roadmap for it, try to see what each milestone corresponds to the level of requirements that need to be achieved to avoid missing important and necessary ideas to move forward; See where your abilities and level are and what you can do and how to do it to choose the time to study and how to study effectively for yourself.

It is also important to consider the situation because not everything will go according to the plan you have set out, there may be better or worse things that come your way, helping to speed up the process or not. process interruption, so there also needs to be flexibility for the old plan

Combine concentration (avoid distractions by unnecessary forms of entertainment) and appropriate rest to avoid overload and body fatigue and exhaustion.

When you complete something or succeed in something, there need to be many good factors around you that support you to get there, so it is impossible to achieve success alone. All merit is one's own, say thank you and be grateful, appreciate the help, giving and efforts towards people, situations, yourself, spirituality or Even your pets at that time.

Then review the entire process to see what is necessary and suitable for you and what are the limitations and difficulties at each stage to find solutions to that problem, thus improving your progress. Plan and execute more effectively. Wishing you luck, convenience and success

This is just a document for you to refer to, I hope you will have a way to do it and make a plan for yourself.

This is just a document for you to refer to, I hope you will have a way to do it and make a plan for yourself.

(will be updated)