#classics flavors

[tanatola]

[machinafulmen]

dude hes just like sea of thieves

[aroaceleovaldez]

Your blog is the only blog where I feel safe enough asking this question. What do you think of Percy Jackson fans who feel as though they and the series have a moral superiority to Harty Potter ? Obviously, Harry Potter and its author are laden with questionable and sometimes straight-up hateful takes and views. But the way PJO fans constantly compare the two, its authors (even though RR is far from flawless), and the two MCs (ignoring how the two both share similarities in the fact that they are both traumatised, abused, angry teenage boys). I'm sorry that this ask got so long, but this has been annoying me for a while now.

This is an interesting question - for one, fandom fights over superiority is a concept that has been around for ages and has never been constructive. PJO and HP fandoms have been fighting in that exact way (and it has gone both ways!) for literal decades (remember, PJO turns 20 this year) so this isn't new, it's just taken on a moral flavor. Let's go over some things though (but please keep in mind i never got into HP and never read the books or fully watched the movies so my knowledge of HP is primarily pop culture absorption/secondhand from my family and friends):

Are either series perfect? No. HP absolutely is full of hateful sentiments and JKR is a hateful person and I do not respect her for that. Disney's marketing recently has absolutely fully leaned into trying to put Rick above her as a moral paragon and emphasizing how progressive he is and his support of diversity in middle grade series, despite some failings to reflect that in the actual text. Are Rick and JKR equally bad? Definitely not. Rick has had tangible good influence on adhd/dyslexia awareness that very directly impacted people like me as a neurodivergent kid going through school in the 2000s. JKR meanwhile has directly negatively impacted trans laws internationally very recently.

Rick absolutely isn't perfect, but he's vocally supportive, has made a lot of effort in the past to be inclusive, and still attempts to do so. Most of his issues simply stem from his own unaddressed internalized bigotry/biases and his research on varying topics not being great (plus poor management decisions such as not hiring a sensitivity reader actually fit for the story he's trying to tell). But he's not hateful. JKR is. JKR is very vocally hateful and bigoted and this is absolutely reflected in her work as well even in earlier HP. They are comparable in that they are both middle grade authors of easily two of the most popular middle grade fantasy (or specifically hidden world fantasy) series out right now. They are not equivalent in the slightest in their bigotry or tangible damage.

In terms of Percy versus Harry, I personally don't think they're very comparable. They share some similarities, but mostly just in that they're both the protagonists of their stories and thus serve protagonist purposes. Beyond that their use within the narrative is pretty different functionally. Their worlds' magic systems are not comparable. The hidden world aspect in both their universes isn't even comparable, since in PJO the "hidden world" aspect is very different from most hidden world fantasy formats because the entire point is that it's functionally not a hidden world. The characters themselves are very different as well - Percy's personality and the way he behaves and reacts to his environment is absolutely nothing like Harry's.

Most of the anti-HP-in-general sentiments stem from wanting to cut off JKR's notoriety, which I think is valid to want to do. And I do think there are a lot of issues with continuing to support JKR's work especially in ways that functionally promote her work or support her financially. Obviously, we will never be able to scrub HP from the cultural zeitgeist. It's just not feasible and I'm very anti-book burning so I do think it's important to acknowledge the role HP has had in pop-culture alongside acknowledging its harmful materials. HP is a text you absolutely can't death-of-the-author your way out of because a lot of the vitriol is baked into the text and worldbuilding in very overt ways - and there are plenty of other pop-culture staple novels like this. But fandom in general, at least true fandom and not mainstream fandom, is so obscure most of the time that I don't think, so long as people are not ignoring negative themes of the source material and are being thoughtful as they navigate engaging with it, that it is an inherently bad thing for HP fandom to just exist at all. It's never going to just stop existing no matter what people do. And HP fandom are not the only ones who should be thoughtful about how they engage with their source material - PJO fandom is not exempt from examining some of the problematic aspects in our own text and figuring out how to be respectful with those topics. It's just a lot easier for PJO fandom to tune it out without it being noticed because there's less of it and it's (at least sometimes) less overt. Honestly if HP fandom decided to go more down the path of a fandom like Warriors or Miraculous Ladybug, where the average sentiment is more along the lines of "Oh god no don't read/watch the source material it sucks/we stopped paying attention to it year ago and it's not relevant at all to what we're up to. We're over here functionally rewriting everything from the ground up/doing our own thing" I would very much support them in that endeavor. I do think there is merit in limiting promotion of the HP source material as much as possible, though.

Hopefully that all makes at least some amount of sense.

[boycritter]

my english class is very empty (3 students (including me)) and fucking full of adhd (me and my friend (idk about the other student but i suspect)(also the teacher)) so we are never on topic ever. this is fantastic for my senioritis.

[itsmearia]

[xeniums]

having a staring contest with the stag who keeps appearing in my hallucinations is my morning wish of the day

[djevilninja]

I got a letter from the government the other day; I opened and read it, and said they were suckers. They wanted me for their army or whatever; Picture me giving a damn, I said “Never!”

Public Enemy - Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos

[jaquitor]

my classic warrior....i think ill stick to dps lmao

[androdragynous]

powerade has like a supplemented version now and I shan't lie it does feel like drinking some kind of elixir

[whisperingrockers]

finally finished this diongisu piece… they are so silly 

[team7-headquarter]

The fact that it is a trope in Naruto that Kakashi saves Sakura before Sasuke can or when Sasuke is in a position to do so himself is so unhinged.

What was Kishimoto trying to do there?

The first time it happens (just outside of Konoha while traveling to the Land of the Waves), Sasuke very clearly thinks Kakashi is showing off. It's one of those funny moments where you can see how both Sasuke and Kakashi like being dramatic.

From that point, the story somehow establishes that it's Kakashi's job to protect Sakura as Sasuke and Naruto fight. At least Sasuke thinks that's the case...

It happens during the fight with Haku. I know that Sakura screams and Sasuke immediately wonders what Kakashi is doing when Sakura is in danger. I don't think he'd wonder the same if it was Naruto out there, since he'd probably criticize Naruto and not Kakashi for Naruto's own safety.

When Kakashi saves Sakura from both the chidori and the rasengan, they don't mention it at all, like it was natural for Kakashi to be there and for him to save / protect Sakura. At the time, Naruto was panicking because he couldn't stop, in the sense that he knew he didn't have the skill to do so, but Sasuke was more shocked that it was Sakura he'd hit. Once Sakura was safe and the thing was over, Sasuke went immediately back to thinking about how he was weak compared to Naruto.

He wasn't worried about Sakura not because he didn't care, but because that moment reassured him about Kakashi being there to protect her.

(It's worth mentioning Sasuke was upset over Naruto being the one who rescued her from Gaara because Sasuke was too used to having the role of second protector of the team, since it signaled he was the second strongest around).

Then, in Shippuden? Sasuke doesn't see Sakura as a real threat. He did mean to kill her during the Land of Iron, but the narrative again placed both Kakashi and Naruto there to protect her life. As soon as Kakashi and Naruto appeared, Sasuke forgot about her.

That encounter was the farthest Team 7 had been from the old days and the roles they had at those moments. Teamwork was absolutely gone.

During the Fourth Shinobi War, things went back a bit to what they were. Sasuke and Naruto tried to protect Sakura by telling her to stand behind or step back, except Sakura refused to be protected. They worked seamlessly for a few minutes, until it all went to hell and Kaguya appeared.

Kakashi spent almost the entire battle protecting Sakura. Understandable, since the first thing she did was run to get impaled like she didn't care at all about her own life. (Kakashi was scared shitless that something would happen to her).

TWO TIMES during the Kaguya fight Sakura was in danger and Naruto pointed out (commanded, really) that Sasuke could help her and Sasuke did move to do so, he did face her to act, before his mind could process what he was doing. In both cases, Kakashi was faster and had her safe and sound before Sasuke could even reconsider.

First in the lava world, where Kakashi had Sakura and Obito already secured, so Sasuke moved to protect Naruto. Second when Obito gave both his eyes to Kakashi and he decided to go all Susanno to pull Sakura out of danger, to Sasuke's surprise.

Time to mention that the narrative of the manga makes explicit the petty rivalry between Kakashi and Sasuke. Sasuke does hate him for having the sharingan, you know, and Kakashi would not stop when recriminating how Sasuke decided to use the things he taught him, like the chidori, to hurt his comrades.

Anyway, Naruto decides to use that moment to tell Sasuke that Kakashi's susanno was cooler and talk about how the Copy Nin was amazing and all of that. If I had to guess, Naruto was more than a bit irritated because Sasuke was rude to Kakashi and Sakura and called them useless. It is a good guess if I'm allowed to say so, since Naruto also made a point of telling Sasuke to thanks Sakura for helping Obito bring him back from another dimension.— After all, Naruto did also complain about Sasuke being the leader, since he thought Sakura and Kakashi were better at making plans.

It kinda reached its limits when Sasuke put her under a genjutsu (of getting hit with a chidori to the chest, of all things) and Kakashi lost his cool. He was so visibly frustrated with Sasuke and the feeling was mutual.

It was call back to sooo many moments between Sakura and Sasuke:

When Sakura cried and calmmed the cursed mark back at the Forest of Death, when Sakura tried to prevent Sasuke from competing with the cursed mark during the Chuning Exams preliminaries and Sasuke told her to shut up, or when she tried to stop him from leaving Konoha to find Orochimaru and Sasuke knocked her out. It was an echo of the way Sasuke did almost hit her with a chidori back when they were kids without meaning to and then years later when he did mean to kill her; it was the memory all the times she worried about him and rushed to put herself in danger for his wellbeing when he didn't want her to.

When Sasuke left to fight Naruto, Kakashi was the one who stayed with her. When Sasuke left on his journey for atonement, Kakashi was there to tell him to behave, but also he was there next to the girl he had been protecting for years now. I don't know what all of that was supposed to mean...

I guess that Sakura played a part in Sasuke and Naruto's rivalry as much as she played a part in Kakashi and Sasuke's animosity.

[alteredsilicone]

The Hex, but I assign them different flavors of Kārums (Latvian curd snack).

Arthur - Classic Vanilla Aoi - Caramel Amir - Lemon Lettie - Candied Fruit Eleanor - Chocolate Quincy - Hazelnut

[eatofit1]

𝗜 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝘆 𝘆𝘂𝗺𝗺𝘆 𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸 𝗺𝘆 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁 😍😍 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂 .............📍 𝑹𝒆𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒈 𝑵𝑶𝑾, 𝑪𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝑳𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓! 📍 ............ 🐔 Chicken Cordon Bleu Soup 🥣 A comforting and creamy soup with all the flavors of the classic Chicken Cordon Bleu dish! Ingredients: - 2 tablespoons butter - 1 small onion, diced - 2 garlic cloves, minced - 3 cups chicken broth - 2 cups cooked chicken, shredded - 1 cup ham, diced - 1 1/2 cups Swiss cheese, shredded - 1 cup heavy cream - 1/4 cup all-purpose flour - 1/4 cup milk - 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard - 1/4 teaspoon black pepper - Salt to taste - Fresh parsley, chopped for garnish Directions: 1. In a large pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add diced onion and garlic, sautéing until soft and fragrant, about 3-4 minutes. 2. Stir in the flour, cooking for another minute to form a roux. 3. Gradually whisk in the chicken broth, ensuring no lumps remain. 4. Add the shredded chicken, diced ham, and Dijon mustard to the pot. Bring to a simmer, allowing the flavors to meld for about 10 minutes. 5. Slowly stir in the heavy cream and milk, cooking for another 5 minutes until the soup is creamy and smooth. 6. Add the shredded Swiss cheese in batches, stirring continuously until melted. Season with black pepper and salt to taste. 7. Once the soup reaches your desired thickness, remove from heat and garnish with chopped parsley. Serve hot and enjoy! Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cooking Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 40 minutes | Servings: 4 servings 📌𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐭 : KitchMeTHAT.com/

[fictionadventurer]

Potential December Reads

Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope

Last Christmas in Paris by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Volume 8 by Beth Brower

Prudence and the Romantic Poet by Nina Clare

A Christmas-related book

The Cricket on the Hearth and/or The Haunted Man by Charles Dickens

The Christmas Blossoms by Priscilla Smith McCaffrey

One of the American Girl books

A religious book

Church Fathers: From Clement of Rome to Augustine by Pope Benedict XVI

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis

St. Francis of Assisi by G.K. Chesterton

Arriving at Amen: Seven Catholic Prayers Even I Can Pray by Leah Libresco

A middle-grade book

Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell

Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling

The Happy Prince and Other Stories Oscar Wilde

The Wanderer by Sharon Creech

Mandy by Julie Andrews

[manderleyfire]

The Prince of Darkness took me in his arms. And I almost gave myself the works. But I haven't let it go to my head. <...> Hey, what happened back there? Someone declared war.

Inside Daisy Clover (1965), directed by Robert Mulligan

[cheyj05]

It's really apparent how different people of the same classpect can be when you consider the fact that Rythian Enderborn, Nagito Komaeda, and Eridan Ampora would all be the same classpect.