#citizen what did you DO?!

[comite-de-salut-public]

[a box containing completely normal and ordinary brownies is delivered to the committee's doorstep. Please don't step on it.]

Everyone enjoyed them wholeheartedly, but when I came back after my lunch break there was quite a scene:

-Citizen Barère is reciting some poetry that I believe he made up on the spot. I think it's about grass? -Citizen Billaud-Varenne is trying to braid Citizen Collot d'Herbois's hair. -Citizen Collot d'Herbois is at least half-asleep. -Citizen Couthon is doodling rabbits on the back of a draft decree. -Citizen Jeanbon is mumbling about Protestant theology. -Citizen Lindet is trying to engage him in a debate by recounting his time as a constitutional bishop, complete with dramatic gestures. He nearly tripped over a chair. -Citizen Prieur-de-la-Marne is lying on the floor and snoring loudly. -Citizen Hérault de Séchelles is laughing hysterically while pointing out all the spelling errors his colleagues have made on the new draft of the Constitution. -Citizen Prieur-Duvernois is talking about non-Newtonian physics again. And something about ghosts. -Citizen Saint-Just has been sitting very still and staring into space for a long while. At one point, he quietly murmured 'if Plato isn't right I'm killing myself'. He hasn't spoken since. -Citizen Robespierre keeps asking if we can please open the window to let the pigeons come inside. (Our new meeting room does not have a window.)

...What have you done?!

[inkskinned]

no, but really, we need to talk about the casual objectification that has become the fallback discourse of the internet: if you're pretty and dressed nicely, you're a slut. and if you're even vaguely outside of their body standard, you're fucking disgusting.

too-frequently, people position sex workers as being "the problem". they sneer you're addicted to pornography, you don't know what a real woman looks like. but real women are in pornography. the real bodies on display are not the issue here: the issue is that other people feel extremely confident when commenting on someone's physique.

2000's super-thin is slowly worming its way back into the public ideal. recently i saw someone get told to "go for a run", despite the fact she was on the thinner side of average. not that it would ever be appropriate to say that: but it's kind of like sticker shock when you see it. people think that is fat? holy shit. do they just have no idea about things?

but what are you going to do about it? that's the problem, right. because chances are - you're a normal person. we can say normalize carrying fat on your body, but we are not the billion-dollar diet industry. we are not the billion-dollar fashion industry. we are just, like. people. who are trying to make content on the internet, without being treated shittily.

as someone who has been on both sides of things: you are treated better when you are thin and pretty. this is statistically correct. i am not saying that you cannot be bullied for being thin; i'm saying there are objective institutional biases against certain bodytypes. there are videos of men and women who lost weight all saying: i now know for a fact exactly how much worse you're treated. in the comments, some asshole inevitably says something akin to you deserved to be dehumanized when you were fat.

which means that ... the easiest thing to do is be pretty and thin. it is the path of least resistance, because of course it is, because any time you post a picture of yourself without a thigh gap, someone immediately comments something like you need to try a diet.

the other half is also dehumanizing though, huh, just in a different way. when i put on makeup and nice clothes, i am told i slept my way to the top as a professional. do you know how many women in STEM have told me they purposefully dress to "unimpress" because they already struggle to be taken seriously and if they're ever considered pretty - it for some reason takes away from their authority.

so they make it seem like it's your fault. you, existing in a body - it's your fault! if you didn't want shitty comments, don't have a body. they position us against each other like chess pieces; vying for male attention we don't even need.

and i can be an authority on this unless you think i'm fat and unattractive. when i am pretty and thin, i'm an activist. when i am just a normal person who makes a good point: i am immediately dismissed. nobody fucking believes you if you're not seen as attractive. you literally lose value. you cease to exist.

but the whole time, it feels like - is anyone actually grounded the fuck in reality? the line of "pretty and thin" keeps shifting. nobody seems to understand what "a normal weight" even looks like, because it's not something that exists - you cannot tell a person's health by looking at their body. even if you think you could tell that, even if you're sure a person is dangerously overweight - people are not your dolls. they do not need to be dressed up or displayed properly to soothe your aesthetics. you aren't concerned for them, you're stealing their agency. you don't get to say if they're "allowed" to take pictures and post them on the internet - you don't get to tell them how to exist.

people hide behind "the obesity epidemic" without any actual qualifications. they crow things about "normalizing unhealthiness".

but it's bullshit. i have visible abs. there is a pair of parallel lines on my body, even when i'm relaxed; where my obliques meet my abdominal wall. i am proud of this because it means i'm strong, because i overcame an eating disorder only to be ripped as fuck. it is genetic and physical luck that i even get any definition, i'm pleased as punch.

but it does mean that my abdominal wall sticks out a little bit. the other day i posted a video of myself dancing, and, for a moment, my shirt slipped. you could see a little bit of my stomach. i was cartwheeling to the floor. moments before this, i'd had my foot over my head.

a guy slid into my DMs. a row of vomiting emojis prefaced: you should really lose some weight before you think about dancing.

i stared at it for a long time. there was a time when i would have been triggered by this, where it would have encouraged me to starve myself. i would have ignored the fact i'm flexible, agile, good at jumping: i would have lost the weight for a stranger's passing comment. i would have found myself and my body fucking disgusting.

and for what? to please what? because why? so that he can exist in this world without an unchallenged eyeball? what would my self-hatred even accomplish? usually i write paragraphs. obviously. on this particular occasion, in this body i've been at war with for ages: i just felt exhausted.

it shouldn't be even worth saying. it shouldn't be hard to explain. all of this emotional turmoil when he cannot even comprehend the most basic truth: i am not an object on display for him.

[snekdood]

"if we make america worse and more of a dictatorship that will be even harder to unravel and make it the way we want the country to be, maybe then everyone will join our Glorious Revolution!" bb girl you cant even be in the same room with someone who thinks you should vote, how in tf do you think you're gonna unite people to fight in The Revolution with you? it's gonna be you and your 5 friends, i hate to break it to you.

[musical-chick-13]

This is the only thing I'm going to say about the election until it's over:

Anyone who did not vote for Harris or who attempted to dissuade people from voting for Harris, you are indirectly responsible for whatever shit Donald Trump does if he gets elected. That blood is primarily on his hands, yes. But it is also on yours. I hope you can live with that because I sure as hell wouldn't be able to.

[hazel2468]

I love how that person who was like "oh ew a Zionist" also has reblogged posts about not being antisemitic and buying into antisemitic conspiracies while ALSO like.

Reblogging posts about how Israel is a uniquely evil "colonial scar" and how Israel is "murdering children" and like. Literally straight up antisemtic shit.

Leveling criticism at Israel that positions it as a unique evil among all other countries and doing literal blood libel (IE, Israel murders Palestiaian babies in a way no other nation kills children) is FUCKING ANTISEMITIC. Israel is JUST A COUNTRY. It is JUST another nation, doing the shitty stuff that other nations do. And if you find yourself railing against Israel EXTRA hard right now, or ever, in ways that you do NOT rail against other shitty countries that do shitty things (and, I can't believe I have to say this, if you find yourself saying that the kidnap, rape, torture, and murder of any civilian ever is justified because "uwu this radical extremist group is freedom fighters"!) then you're a fucking antisemitic, racist bigot.

Like. It blows me away how so many people don't seem to see that Israel, the Jewish state (whether you agree with how it is run or not, whether you agree with how it came to be or not) gets SO MUCH MORE SHIT than other comparable shitty countries... Come on.

Because the alternative is that you DO see it. That you DO agree with all of those things that are STEEPED in age-old antisemitic conspiracy. And you agree.

[whumperofworlds]

Whumpee commits tax fraud and is put in jail. Prison whump ensues.

[scionshtola]

i’m still thinking about this sorry but the idea that the wol’s actions are the same as the garlean army’s actions just really rubs me the wrong way. like i dont think its actually a nuanced position to suggest that theres no difference between resisting imperial violence and committing it. the reason the garlemald section stands out to me is not because well it’s okay, the garleans thought what they were doing was right and we committed violence against them too so who’s to say who is right or wrong. it’s that they are demonstrably in the wrong and we help them anyway. because we can, because they need it.

[vyeoh]

Having been through the exact airport they likely flew in through makes Jimmy's customs story infinitely funnier

[birdmenmanga]

right-wing hypercapitalist vegan brazilian dude who is convinced that I'm a cis guy has started to suspect something is amiss based on my yaoiposting and today asked if I was a fudanshi, which is immensely hilarious on many accounts because like. 1. the gendering me correctly with the right technical term (telling on yourself? why do you know this) 2. too curious about what my deal is that he HAD to ask (tried to fish it out of me by loudly mentioning there was a ton of yaoi and BL in the manga section of the bookstore and when I dodged that he asked directly not 15 minutes later) 3. I said that like the isekai genre 95% of yaoi is garbage but the remaining 5% is worth reading and he felt like he needed to defend himself and said "well I just prefer reading things I can see myself in" and 4. took it quite well all things considered when I came out as bisexual to him. so maybe there's hope yet for this guy

[paintsplash1712]

What I love about Hobbie as an English Person (TW: Flashing Lights)

God does it feel great to have a British character in a none British film that actually feels, well, British.

So to the rest of the world, you guys have this stereotype of us being poor ass Conservative assholes that only care about ourselves and its sad that stereotype is so common because (appropriately) its a tiny percentage of people.

Now I'm not from London (another thing guys we're not all from London! It's like saying every American is from California) so I don't know every reference Hobbie made and I was born far after the punk movement so take my observations with a pinch of salt but...

He feels so real!

I work in retail so I see a lot of unique colourful characters and I've met people similar to Hobbie, you'd think they'd be intimidating or stone-faced but they're so chill and more likely to treat people in our work place with more respect then others. And I totally believe Hobbie would too (he's punk he has to).

I love all the little references in the way he speaks, I find it hilarious that the film had to translate what a jumper is or other things I thought were universal.

I love how kind and open he is to Gwen and Miles. If his story is anything like the comics I would've expected him to act more douchy or angry but he doesn't give a toss he just wants to play his music and make Miguel angry (which I respect).

His art style is collage! My favourite medium!

(Also very appropriate from what I learned in college, where we analysed album covers and artwork by punk bands and artists and how it stood out in a time of same-y looking artwork) So very appropriate for Spiderverse.

Anyway I didn't have a structure to this. I just love having English representation that actually feels like the writers talked to actual British people (not posh assholes but actual people) and did their homework.

So Daniel Kaluuya got to use his actual accent for once! Yay!

[thesiblingsoftheblackandwhite]

@shadowbrightshine that is a wonderful idea. You’ve bullied Wiggog, and now mentally tortured my oldest brother. Fuck listening to all of you. We’re going to help Tinky, and we’re doing it ourselves. Goodbye.

[femme-foucault]

Award Season Guesses - late December 2024

Alright, well I still haven't seen The Brutalist (or Nickel Boys) because it's not releasing outside NYC and LA until sometime in January and I have no intention of seeing A Complete Unknown precisely because I am a Bob Dylan fan. So I haven't really updated my list of predictions from about a month ago or so. I am tempted to include The Substance but it is a sliiiiiim possibility given how the Oscars snubs work in horror. So here are my predictions as of late December 2024.

Above the Line Awards:

Alphabetical order as usual. My suspected winners in bold and runner-ups/potential "upsets in italics.

Best Picture:

Anora*

The Brutalist

A Complete Unknown

Conclave

Dune Pt 2

Emilia Perez

Nickel Boys

A Real Pain

Sing Sing

The Substance (????)

Wicked Pt 1

I am going on a limb and guessing The Substance does get in even though I think it is reeeeally a stretch. The Academy snubs horror films all the time, especially in acting (see Toni Collette in Hereditary and Mia Goth in Pearl). But the GG noms made me reconsider even though the GG is a critics/journalism awards show and the Oscars are an industry awards show and like any "election," demographic patterns vary. But actually if anything I think critics are snobbier about horror than industry people so that's a good sign. No idea what will win -- which is fun! 2024 was not nearly as good as 2023, which was an unusually packed year for great movies. But in a way, that makes Awards Season more fun because there isn't a clear front runner. I am leaning Anora right now for BP like I have been all year, but I would NOT underestimate either Wicked or Emilia Perez. I don't like the latter movie very much and while I did really enjoy Wicked I wouldn't say it was the best of the year. But don't underestimate the Oscars leaning populist because all three of the last BP winners in awards season were very much "crowd pleasers" over more "artsy" choices like Power of the Dog or Poor Things. (It feels odd to call Oppenheimer a "crowd pleaser" as that movie is so bleak, but technically, it counts in the sense that many people saw it and both general audiences and industry people liked it. So I'd put it next to EEAO and CODA as a "crowd-pleaser" Best Picture winner and a "populist" choice due to it making so much money because of Barbeheimer despite being, technically, a kinda weird movie when you dissect it. So don't underestimate Wicked!).

Best Director: Sean Baker (Anora), Edward Berger (Conclave), Brady Corbet (The Brutalist), maaaaybe Coralie Fargeat, but ONLY if The Substance gets into Best Picture. I have taken Denis Villeneuve (Dune Pt 2) out of my predictions even though he deserves it because Dune Pt 2 was better than the first one. But until I see The Brutalist, I can't evaluate it. I wouldn't be surprised if we got a rare Best Picture and Best Director split.

Best Actress in A Lead Role: Cynthia Erivo (Wicked), Karla Sofía Gascón (Emilia Perez), Angelina Jolie (Maria), Mikkey Madison (Anora).....and if and only if The Substance The Substance gets into picture, maaaaaybe Demi Moore. She probably deserves it (I haven't seen The Substance because I'm squeamish), but the Academy is awful about nominating horror performances (see Toni Collette for Hereditary). The alternative might be Nicole Kidman for Babygirl.

Best Actor in a Lead Role: Adrian Brody (The Brutalist), Timothee Chalamet (A Complete Unknown), Daniel Craig (Queer), Colman Domingo (Sing Sing), Ralph Fiennes (Conclave).

I am leaning Brody based on trailers alone (the Academy loves an accent and a WWII-post Holcaust drama) but even if Chalamet is mid -- and apparently he is quite good -- the Academy isn't above rewarding lame music biopics. See Austin Butler's nomination for Elvis and Rami Malek winning for Bohemian Rhapsody. ACU is apparently good -- I really hate that kind of biopic so I am not there for it -- so all Chalamet has to do to be decent for the boomer crowd who likes Dylan to vote for him.

Best Supporting Actress: Ariana Grande (Wicked), Felicity Jones (The Brutalist), Isabella Rossellini (Conclave), Zoe Saldana (Emilia Perez), Margaret Qualley (The Substance).

Still leaning Saldana but Grande is not to be underestimated (the Academy are more likely to award comedic performances in supporting -- see Ryan Gosling's nom last year. He might have won if RDJ didn't have The Narrative). I am putting Rosselini in there now that she got into GG and if I am going to lean towards The Substance, maybe Qualley. Felicity Jones isn't doing well in critics circles but I think if The Brutlaist is popular, she could be the Emily Blunt of the season (the person who gets nominated for being in a popular movie and tags along but doesn't win anything, which is what happened with Emily Blunt last year because Oppenheimer was so popular with the industry and critics that she got a lot of "tag along" noms but no real wins).

Best Supporting Actor: Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain), Clarence Maclin (Sing Sing), Guy Pearce (The Brutalist), Denzel Washington (Gladiator II)...and someone else. Idk maybe one of the Anora guys (Yura Borisov (Igor?). I don't see the supporting performances from Conclave aside from Rosselini getting in because while everyone was good...that is part of the problem. No one but her really stood out because everyone in the supporting cast was so solid and I think Anora is a bit similar in that regard except that Borisov's character sticks out as having a sliver of decency. It's weird to think that the sentence "Oscar winner Kieran Culkin" might be a thing. As much as I like Culkin from Succession, my actual vote would be Maclin. But no one saw that movie :( I am including Washington even though Gladiator II got poor to mixed reviews because he's Denzel. He is such a great actor who was snubbed for his best performances that now they nominate him all the time to make up for it, and it's such a weak year in this category that I'm not complaining.

Original Screenplay: Idk what is original and adapted, but I think Anora wins Screenplay, especially if it doesn't win Best Picture. The recent trend is sometimes to throw a movie that won't be awarded anywhere else a screenplay award (see last year with both American Fiction and Anatomy of A Fall). The other possibility might be A Real Pain if they decide to award it.

Other than Anora, I think: The Brutalist, A Real Pain, The Substance, and maybe September 5 if they follow the Globes (which they don't always do because the Golden Globes are a press/critics award and the Oscars are industry so different voting demographics).

Adapted Screenplay: No idea what is even in this category. The distinction between Original and Adapted is pretty arbitrary at times (see: Barbie in Adapted last year). My guesses are A Complete Unknown (based on a specific Dylan bio apparently), Conclave (based on a novel), Emilia Perez (I think inspired by something?), Sing Sing (loosely based on a true story) and idk what the fifth slot is.

Who I think will win in the tech categories:

Best Production Design: Wicked. Dune Pt 2 might be an upset.

Costume: Obviously Wicked.

Special Effects: Probably Dune Pt 2 but it could be something I haven't heard of that the effects branch likes, because that happens often.

Hair and Make Up: If The Substance gets in, maaaybe. This is the one category that horror is recognized so I wouldn't be surprised if The Substance and maybe even Nosferatu gets in. But it might be Wicked if the Academy does what it often does and people outside the nominating branches just vote for the movie they like more, in which case it would be Wicked. Dune Pt 2 should get at least a nomination for Rebecca Ferguson's possessed henna.

Cinematography: Either Conclave or Anora. It really depends how 1) Anora does in general and 2) if it does well, if there is a "share the love" vibe. The Academy doesn't do the massive Titanic/Lord of the Rings sweeps anymore (and I'm fine with that) -- see last year giving Zone of Interest the Sound award and American Fiction got Adapted Screenplay when a lot of people thought Oppenheimer was a lock for both because it was the BP frontrunner and, if this was the 2000s, probably would have taken them by default. In the EEAAO year, an Edward Berger film (All Quiet on the Western Front) won cinematography over EEAAO in an upset, so it wouldn't be unprecedented if that happened again with Conclave.I hope it's not Emilia Perez. That movie is very flashy but I don't like the cinematography much. It's all flash no style. Dune Pt 2 will definitely be nominated but I feel like its spring release hurt it.

Score: It'd be cool if Challengers got nominated but I don't see it, unfortunately. The score branch is not that cool and prefers instrumental scores over tech/synth music, even though Trent has been nominated before. I don't know what will win, since Dune 2 is not even eligible.

Sound Design: It better be Dune Pt 2. I think Wicked and probably A Complete Unknown will get nominated because of the music mixing (which, in Wicked, was very subtle and well done and apparently ACU sounds great too). But I really don't like biopics about musicians so I'd rather it not. I wouldn't mind a Wicked nom here, but Dune Pt 2 is so inventive in its sound design that I am rooting for it.

[rigginsstreet]

the whole like "cool excuse, still murder" mindset has really rotted peoples brains like obviously there are certain situations that are just inexcusable and cant be reasoned but when you look at the wide spectrum of humanity like.... many things do in fact have not necessarily excuses but certainly explanations. but yall are so focused on everything being definitively right or wrong that you wont even allow yourself to consider the grey areas and the fact yall cant even do this with fictional characters.... appalling behavior quite frankly

[aceteling]

For real tho. My best friend is right it's really hard to get excited about the mundane anymore I need sth to look forward to that isn't just. A fuckin day of rest and that everything all over again

But it all feels pointless anyway

[ghostjelliess]

Hi, if you're a millionaire (or more) I think you ethically owe it to society to show up at community sporting activities in full kit but be absolutely mid-at-best in everything.

Show up to the pick-up game in FULL (I mean full) Ronaldo/Messi/Jordan/LeBron/Mahomes/Ovechkin/whoever kit, top of the line everything, and be absolute trash. Or ride Tour de France level gear down the local bike path really poorly and get mad when the amateurs and hobbyists pass you. Float your yachted kayak down the river in peak gear but never catch a single fish... Try to lie about it.

Anyone can be goated at something and show up in an old man disguise, I want the old man to show up in the goated disguise and be a disappointment. This is what you can do for society. I mean, pay to fix nets, salt the winter trails, put up night play lights, fund a community garden, whatever, yeah, that's all great, get an article about it, but there is nothing more community bonding and personally satisfying than feeling your hard work and training outplay the money.

[barrymccaulkinem]

so apparently my mother is feeling overwhelmed again

if i suddenly stop posting forever its bc she slipped back into imagining im what she wishes i was (able) so she can be mad at me instead of herself, and really pushed me into a corner. maybe i survived but she made me homeless. i tend to catastrophize so lets hope this is just that and it goes away