#can i tag this 9/11

[marlee-goat]

Never Forgej...!

~ Luijgi, 2024

[klanced]

people like to joke that batman is a furry but my hottest batman take is that batman is actually a metaphor for gender expression and drag (he is performing hyper masculinity)

[trucygoose]

@plyuriweek Day 6 - Angst/Fluff

[ilovefreedelahoya]

Mayblade day 9 except posting on day 11??

I digitallized it

I’m so behind but I have so many ideas but drawing takes so longggg cuz I suckkkk

Bro I was stretching while downloading the speed paint and my back cracked like 20 times…

like in the thoracic and lumbar area- which only has a total of 17 vertebrae-

Anyways happy Mayblade

[bravoechoes]

as someone who had a great time with TFR, still agree with lots of your thoughts. was curious re: your previous thesis on the entity riffing off covid misinformation, how you thought final reckoning handled the central metaphor & whatnot? i’m realizing this is a pretty vague q sorry about that

re: this post

not vague at all! and i guess to answer your question i will go back to DR for a second. imo one of the ways to read Dead Reckoning is that it is "diagnosing" a social problem - the huge rise of online political disinformation, which has been stoked by various governments for political purposes and who all want exclusive control over it as a political tool (the CIA briefing at the beginning of DR makes this point explicitly). Now obviously this is an American franchise about a specific branch of the American government, so the obvious elephant in the room is Trump as the originator of this rise in disinformation (Erika Sloane becoming the president in FR is very much a "the absence itself is a presence" re: Trump). It is also common in certain sectors of academic scholarship (particularly social media studies, plus specific sub-fields of polisci, sociology, and security studies) to locate the Trump presidency as the beginning of/major contributor to this "rise". So like this is a well-established historical narrative about where this disinformation wave comes from, particularly when discussing heavily-online movements like Qanon, Jan 6th, incels, COVID denialism, and so on. And if you read DR this way, then The Entity is a symbolic representation of these concerns.

And DR is part 1 of a 2-parter. so If DR is diagnosing the problem, FR is making a causal claim about the consequences of this problem - this 'destruction of truth' done via online disinformation and government meddling has created the international political conditions for WWIII, has caused the breakdown of civil society (mass global protests), a global nuclear arms race, and widespread paranoia about all your neighbours being out to get you.

This movie is also obviously accessing the very recent collective cultural image of pro-Palestine protests, whether intentionally or not. And I lean intentionally given that they include Israel as a state that has been threatening to launch nuclear missiles (im NOT saying this film is substantively taking a stance on Palestine, just that it is clearly referencing it amongst a range of other contemporary political issues). And I further lean this way given that the movie has a recurring refrain that, while deeply problematic is ultimately inoffensive imo, which is that like, we all just need to put aside our differences, stop fighting, and come together. Ethan early on in the film says something like "there's no ideologies, there's no dogma, there's just right and wrong" and then in the arctic cabin with Donloe and Tapeesa, there are the russian soldiers that I think Grace(?) says let's forget nations for a second, pretend you're not russian and im not british, let's just talk to each other like human beings.

So I think FR is pointing to online disinformation as a cause of and contributor to this increased paranoia and the stoking of our various 'petty' or ridiculous political differences (nationalism is an example used in the film, as is ideology, although that word is certainly being used in the popular sense of the term, ie, a false belief system about the world). And I think it locates the origin of this problem within COVID and/or the Trump presidency. This is obviously a very liberal understanding of history and the causes of the rise of far-right governments (great evil men come in and change the course of history) and has a lot of flaws, some of which are reactionary (nationalism and ideology are not petty differences! they are material forces in the world attached to various forms of power and entrenched political conflicts - to dismiss concepts like nationalism or ideology as things that can be just 'put aside' veers on being anti-intellectual, although I'm by no means accusing the film or McQ or Cruise of being reactionary or anti-intellectual tbc).

And also, given that this movie is very preoccupied with reminding people of Mission Impossible in general (but particularly the first one, given the return of Donloe, the reveal that Briggs = Jim Phelps's son, the handing back of the knife Ethan loses in the Langley heist, etc), the other political moment being engaged with is the Cold War (ie the threat of global nuclear war - Kittridge even says to Ethan in DR that "the next war's not gonna be a cold one"), given that the IMF was created as a Cold War outfit. So I think the film is about a time in history "re-emerging" from the past, i.e. the global tensions of the Cold War (and WWII) returning to haunt us in the present, but via the realm of increasingly hostile technology (something of a "we brought this on ourselves" kind of thing).

sooooooooooooooooo to summarize all of that I think FR is dealing with the consequences of the issues set up in DR, which i outlined above. Is this also engaging with AI? I mean definitely yes, but I don't think that is the primary animating concern of this film. If it was, I think it would be much more preoccupied with like, art and culture and the human spirit or whatever (which is ofc not nearly as high stakes as "evil AI starts nuclear war" but I just do not get the sense that AI re: art is where the film's major concerns lie, nor is AI the major vehicle for disinformation online, an issue that far predated the current AI panic). I think reading this movie as a movie about AI is a fairly literalist (though not incorrect) reading. Which like that's completely fine lol nobody is required to engage with the film in a particular way or the way I prefer, and that reading is legitimate and probably an intended reading of it, but reading FR through that lens is not interesting or productive for me personally because it limits the types of interpretation and analysis that I find compelling.

[yeetusthemighty]

HEY YOU!!

DO YOU LIKE NINJAGO? AND MUSIC??

WELL DO I HAVE THE PROPOSITION FOR YOU!!

I am going to try to make a playlist for EVERY. NINJAGO. SEASON!!

but I have almost no ideas [two songs is not enough playlist for a whole season]

Sooooo…….

Reblog this post or send me an ask with all of your favorite songs that you associate with Ninjago seasons!! [please tell me which]

I’ll listen to it and put it on the playlist of whatever season you tell me to!

[This could be about the season as a whole, or even just a character in that season!]

[These will all be public on Spotify even while I’m still making them, so anyone can listen to them whenever they want!!]

And even if you don’t want it on the playlist, still tell me the songs!! I am always looking for more songs to imagine Ninjago related stuff to

[littlestar-center]

Hey Stamps, it's Clover.

I know you'll call me paranoid but you're gone when I checked this night. I'm hoping you're well, and safe...And healthy...God I'm a hypocrite. It's funny how I tell Connor to be calm in these situations when I'm stressed out right now. I know you told me to stop biting myself but it's getting hard right now.

Please be safe, it's been 5 hours.

Your dearest friend, Clover Honey

P.S. Do you feel weird in this place? I can't help it but Sunny hasn't come out his room for a good 3 months now. I hope he's healthy, keeps taking the food I leave out his door.

Hey Clover, :)

I’m safe, I’m fine. You’re fine, everyone is okay, alright? I’ve actually seen Connor this morning, probably best time to tell you where I am, I woke up at Dr. Crow’s hut. She told me something happened, something about place and time. I can barely read what you’re saying, I only got halfway through! It’s hard to see after taking so many potions.. I’ll try again in a little bit..

(5/5 (keeping this here because I am not making this shit a truth ask)) (also fuck your feelings.) (Annie I know your gonna see this fuck your feelings too *kills jack*)

IM TWEAKING THE FUCK OU-

[battle-subway-ghost]

🏙️🐉🐉

mr. champion a second dragon has hhit the elite 4

[fandom-draws]

Misc stupid stuff I’ve drawn over the past month

[faggottonystark]

i finished ginny and georgia s3 last night and i love watching it bcuz i like watching people with a worse life than me. i really want georgias baby to be paul's because i think it would be funny and dramatic. i think joe and georgia are a nice fling but not endgame i dont think georgia is endgame with anyone especially zion i need zion to move on from georgia like now he is way too entangled with her and they also wouldnt have set up simone like that if they didnt intend on carrying her and zions relationship. i think abby and max is a terrible idea i dont think any of the characters should be with eachother as they currently are i think ginny and marcus is the worst thing for both of them and theyre kind of stupid codependent i dont want them to be endgame at All. umm what else. Obsessed with ginny emotionally manipulating austin and blackmailing cynthia with fake evidence. completely a georgia thing to do. i loved her for doing it. yes it was completely wrong and i dont condone it. no i am not mad at her for it. i think she shouldve told georgia what she did though. ermm i think gil should die i think nick should leave welsbury i think paul should leave welsbury i think austin is on the verge of homicide. i was terrified they were gonna have ginny keep the baby i wouldve stopped watching if they did that unironically. i also think georgia should abort her pregnancy but i iwant her to have a little bit of fun with it before that. joe acts high and mighty but screwing cynthia mid dead husband and then sitting on georgias side of the stand is actually CRAZYYYY work i love joe but holy shit you are not an angel man. umm i think marcus' parents are very like desperately trying to help marcus but theyre still way too in denial about his issues. everyone in this show needs therapy. ginny i fear is only going to get worse from this point on if she doesnt talk to anyone about what was going on w her during the ending episodes of s3. umm season 4 predicted late 2026 early 2027 which is so fucking stupid can we stop doing this austin is going to have a full beard by this point PLEASEE

[byrdybyrd02]

My soulmate perhaps

[deedeedeedeedeedeedee]

9/11 in another universe, but it's two jenga towers and it's just me and my friend having a good fucking time

[pwecie]

I go on TikTok today and like half my feed is 9/11 and the other half is the Splatoon 3 community losing their goddamn minds.

[taviokapudding]

Someone asked me why BTS haven't made an official statement and I-

My brothers, sisters, and pals in kpop hell, the SK military and government are besties with the US and Israel. Like SK solders could train in Israel and vice versa if both governments wanted. Also while all 7 are starting or in military service, they'll be monitored by a government who's had beef with them for 10 years and no protection from UN security on top of not being together 24/7 like they've been

Like I genuinely don't blame them for not making individual/a group statement (nor really any SK citizen who identifies as he/him and will do/are doing/just recently finished required military service) for their recent silence (they have like 10 years of making it clear + have a history of doing donations privately that get leaked) given the circumstances; especially after that one bitch pretended to be military medical staff & "vaccinated" Jin. Plus there's like 3+ decades of using SK celebrities being used as scapegoats by the SK government. There's socio-economic & political history around BTS & kpop as a whole that I don't expect locals and 70% of the international kpop community (who really only came about post Gangnam Style) to know because of the SK media propaganda + twitters downfall destroying access to 2 decades of it

Then you gotta remember BTS are a special case because they were invited to the White House to meet genocidal Joe & are still very much hated by the English speaking music industry- whatever they say can cost people across the industry their mf jobs; they, their lawyers, staff, and BH need to be all together & not under mandatory government surveillance to say something at the end of the day- and that's gonna take a while. This isn't a 1:1 situation of untouchable US citizens like Beyoncé, Rihanna, & Taylor Swift who can do stuff freely because of monetary protection & choose not too, SK plays by different rules.

The real question we should all should be asking is which SK celebrities/idols/infulencers have completed their requirements, have no ties to the SK government tourism division's money, and aren't in a unit who must wait for the rest to finish their requirements that are being silent? Those are the folks you should be actively not giving money nor supporting anymore.

I'm calling it now, BTS probably donated a fuck ton in secret like they did BLM and we won't find out until a leak happens or after all of them are done with their military service time.

[neverendingford]

.

[punkrockisafulltimejob]

Ugh I have to try and sleep soon and I'm not happy about it lol